'

LIBRARY

Saga Book
Viking Society
northern IResearcb

for
Founded

in

1892 as the Orkney Shetland and

Northern Society

VOL.

VIII.

PART

II.

LONDON
Printed for the

Viking Society for Northern Research

University of London

1014

FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH

(founded

Orkney, Shetland and Northern

in 1892 as the

Society, or Viking Club).

1913
Patron

The

Hon. LURD STRATHCONA

Rt.

President

AND MOUNT ROYAL, G.C.M.G.

W. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.Scot.

A.

H. L. BR/EKSTAD Professor W. P. KER, LL.D., Past President;

GOLLANCZ, Litt.D., Past President ; Professor ALLEN MAWEK, M. A.
JAMES GRAY, M.A.
The Most Hon. THE MAKQUIS OK ZETLAND; The
Honorary Vice-Presidents
Prof. SIR W.
Right Hon. LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL, G.C.M.G.
WATSON CHEYNE, BT., C.B.. LL.D, F.R.S., Past President J. W. CURSITER,
Past Hon. President; Miss
F.S.A.Scot.; GILBERT GOUDIE, F.S.A.Scot.,
CORNELIA HORSFORD Captain M. A. LAING, Lord Lieutenant of Orkney and
Professor SOPHUS MULI.EK
Zetland; Prof. J. LAWRENCE, D.Lit.Lond.
ROLAND ST. CLAIR Kev. A. SANDISON. Past President; Mrs. JESSIE M. E.
SAXBY; Pastor A. V. STORM; E. M. WARBURG; The Right Hon. T.

Vice-Presidents
Professor

I.

McKiNNON WOOD,

M.P., LL.D., D.L., Past President.

Hon. Treasurer

SHAW MELLOR,

A.

M.A., M.B.Cantab.

Saga-Book and Year-Book Professor ALLEN MAWER, M.A.

Old-Lore Series A. W. JOHNSTON. F.S.A.Scot., and A. JOHNSTON.

Hon. Editors:

Hon. Secretary

MRS. A. WINTLE JOHNSTON,

29, Ashburnham Mansions, Chelsea, S.W.

ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY, D.Sc.

}. STORER CLOUSTON, B.A.
F.G.S.
E. F. ETCHELLS, M.J.I.; J. W. SUTHERLAND LEASK
M.
C.M.
R.
L.
W.
F. P. MARCHANT;
LOWE, M.A
LAUGHTON, M.B.,
J.
W. R. PRIOR; The MARQUIS OF RUVIGNY
DOUGLAS C. STEDMAN, B.A.;
W. BARNES STEVENI, M.J.I. A. W. TAYLOR, B.A.

Councillors:

(Lond.).,

Trustees

Sir W. WATSON CHEYNE, Bt., C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.

Right Hon. T. McKiNNON WOOD, M.P., LL.D., D.L.
Hon. Auditors: T. DAVIES JONES; W. VYVYAN M. POPHAM.
Prof.

The

Hon. Solicitor
T. DAVIES JONES.
CAPITAL AND COUNTIES BANK, WESTMINSTER BRANCH.
:

Bankers

PUBLICATIONS.
Saga-Book (Proceedings), and Year Book issued annually.
Old-Lore Series of Miscellany and Records relating to the Old Norse Earldom
of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness and Sutherland issued quarterly.
Translation Series

Extra Series

Vol.
Vol.

I.,

Cormac Saga,

II.,

Elder Edda,

6s. 6d.
103. 6d.

(pub. 75. 6d.).

(pub. 155.).

Vol. L,
Birds of Omen in Shetland (out of print).
Vol. II.,
Ruins of Saga-time in Iceland, 125. 6d. bound.
Vol. III., Essays on Beowulf, IDS. 6d. (pub. 125. 6d.).
.

Miscellaneous
Review Origines Islandicae,
Library Catalogue of the Society, 6d.
by Eirikr Magmisson. MA., 2s.
Bibliography of Caithness and Sutherland,
is. 6d.
Rev. Alex. Pope, Reay (biography), 6d.
Grdtta-Songr, text, translation
and notes, by Eiri'kr Magmisson, is. 6d.
DarraSaljofi, text, translation and
notes, by Eirikr Magnusson, is 6d.
Sinclairs of Brabsterdorran (genealogy), is.;
Sword- Dance, Papa Stour, and Four Shetland Airs, ?d.
:

Prospectus

may be obtained on

The Council of

the

application to the Hon. Secretary.

Viking Society do not hold themselves responsible for

statements or opinions appearing in
Reports, Papers, Reviews, or Notes in the
SAGA-BOOK and YEAR- BOOK, the Authors alone being answerable for the same.

VOL.

VIII.

PART

II.

REPORTS OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE

MEETINGS OF THE VIKING SOCIETY.
TWENTY FIRST SESSION,

MEETING, JANUARY
Mr. A.

W. JOHNSTON,

1913.

2OTH,

1913.

F. S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

"
The Cultus of Norwegian
paper was read on
"
Saints in England and Scotland
by Dr. Edvard Bull.

The

following

members took

part in the discussion

W.

R. L. Lowe, Mr. F. Marsh, Mr. John

Marshall, Mr. W. Barnes Steveni, Mr. F. P. Marchant
and Mr. A. W. Taylor.
The Chairman moved a hearty vote of thanks to the
author for his paper, and to Mr. A. W. Taylor, for
reading it, which was carried unanimously. Printed
on pp. 135-148Mr.

MEETING, FEBRUARY
Mr. A.

The

W. JOHNSTON,

2isx,

1913.

F.S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

President gave a short account of the pre-Norse

inhabitants of Orkney, Shetland and Iceland, the Norse

colonisation and the conversion of the Vikings to
It is now asserted that there are a number
Christianity.
of large cave dwellings with inscriptions in the South
of Iceland, pointing to a large pre-Norse population and

not merely to the few Irish priests or Papas whom the

Norse found there in the gth century. From the old
forms of Norse place-names, odal tenure, etc., found in

Saga-Book of the Viking

132

Society.

the Orkneys, it is surmised that the settlement of these

islands took place as early as 700.
The Picts having
been christianized as early as 565, this would give 150
years, which is ample time, to account for the numerous
Pictish ecclesiastical remains in the islands.
Mr.

Johnston said it was his opinion that the Vikings

down peaceably and intermarried with the Picts.
This is borne out by the survival of Pictish placenames and church dedications, and the latter indicate
that Christianity never entirely died out in the islands.
This latter theory is also supported by the ease with
settled

which Christianity was established there

in

995,

in

strong contrast to the great opposition offered in pagan

Norway. Moreover, the cathedral of Orkney was built
only some 50 years after the sword-baptism of Earl

Sigurd.
The Venerable Archdeacon Craven

is

of the opinion

two Celtic waves of Christianity affected Orkney

and Shetland, the first being a mission of St. Kentigern
from the East, and the second St. Cormac's historic
mission from St. Columba in the West, represented
respectively by the dedications to St. Ninian and St.
Columba.
The origin of Norse literature was also referred to.
Up to the 1 2th century the laws, sagas, and Edda lays
were oral traditions.
Christianity with its written
that

Scriptures and missals gave the impetus to the writing

of the laws and sagas in the I2th century.
find Earl Ronald, a poet, and Bishop Biarni, the Skald,

We

down
busy

at

with

Icelandic

work

in

that century

in

conjunction
possibly some of the
Western Edda lays were rescued and recorded. Many
of Snorri's poetic words are still used as tabu names in
literary

Skalds,

when

Shetland and nowhere else. This is highly suggestive,

seeing that the islanders changed their Norse speech for
English from two to three centuries ago.
Mrs. Bannon and Mr. F. P. Marchant took part in
the discussion which followed.

Proceedings at Meetings.

MARCH 14,

MEETING,
Mr. A.

W. JOHNSTON.

133
1913.

F.S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

Professor W. P. Ker, LL.D. (Vice-President), read

"
a paper on
Bishop Jon Arason."
The Chairman moved a vote of thanks to Professor

Ker for his paper, which was carried

Printed on pp. 149-171.

unanimously.

TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING.
ST.
Mr. A.

MAGNUS DAY, APRIL

W. JOHNSTON,

i6TH,

1913.

F.S.A.Scot. (President and Founder), in the Chair.

The

Twenty-first Annual General Meeting was held

College, Strand, on St. Magnus Day,
Wednesday, April i6th, at 8 p.m.

at

King's

The Annual Report was

presented to the meeting and

adopted unanimously.

The

nominated by the Council

were
ensuing year,
unanimously elected, Mr.
F. P. Marchant and Mr. Douglas C. Stedman acting
officers of the Society,

for the

as scrutineers to the ballot.

"

Professor Allen Mawer, M.A., read a paper on

Scandinavian Influence in English Place-names."
The meeting terminated with a hearty vote of thanks

to Professor

Mawer

for his paper.

Printed on pp. 172-210.

MEETING,

MAY

2 3 RD,

1913.

Mr. A. W. JOHNSTON, F.S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

The

President,

Inaugural Address,
Notes."

Mr. A.
"

W.

Johnston,

Orkney and Shetland

gave

his

Historical

Saga-Book of

134

the Viking Society.

A discussion followed in which Mr. J. S. Clouston

and Mr. John Marshall took part. Printed on pp.
211-263.

MEETING, NOVEMBER
Mr. A.

W. JOHNSTON,

paper was read on

"

1913.

Temple-Administration and

Pre-Christian
Chieftainship
by Miss Bertha S. Phillpotts,
in

2iST,

F. S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

Norway and
M.A.

Iceland,"

The Chairman, Dr. Jon Stefansson, Mr. John

Marshall, Mr. F. P. Marchant, and Mr. Etchells took
The meeting
part in the discussion which followed.
terminated with a hearty vote of thanks to Miss
Phillpotts for her paper. Printed on pp. 264-284.

MEETING, DECEMBER 12,

Mr. A.

W. JOHNSTON,

1913.

F. S.A.Scot. (President), in the Chair.

"
paper was read on
Thyra, Wife of Gorm the
"
was
or
Danish?
she
Old,
by Captain Ernest
English
Rason.
A discussion followed, in which the Chairman and
Dr. Jon Stefansson and Mr. John Marshall took part.
The Chairman moved a hearty vote of thanks to
It was accorded by
Captain Rason for his paper.
acclamation, and the reader responded. Printed on pp.

285-301.

THE CULTUS OF NORWEGIAN SAINTS

IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
EDVARD BULL.

BY DR.

how

is the distance from the

Orkneys
and frequent as have always been,
from the very beginning of historical times, com-

short

to Scotland,
SEEING

munications

across the Pentland Firth, it is not

that
ecclesiastical customs would be transimprobable
mitted from Scotland to the Orkneys and from the
to Scotland from the earliest times.
As the
mediaeval sources relating to the Orkneys are rather

Orkneys
scanty,

we know very

little

of the

first

movement ws
movement from
;

however, better informed as to the

the North southwards, especially in connection with

are,

the

veneration

of

the

saint,

Earl

Magnus

of

the

Orkneys.
Near the chapel of Ladykirk, in South Ronaldsay,
the southernmost of the Orkneys, whence there is the
shortest passage to Scotland, a stone

is

found, four feet

long and pointed at both ends. It is called the boat

of St. Magnus, 2 and local traditions concerning it still
exist.
Magnus is said to have used the stone as a boat
in the same way that so many other saints have done
before him when passing the Pentland Firth, and
afterwards to have carried it to Ladykirk. According
It is in
to others the stone is really a petrified whale.
fact the very whale which carried the earl on its back
from Caithness to the Orkneys, thus enabling him to
fulfil his promise to build a church and dedicate it to

few disconnected remarks in the Statuta Generalia of the

Church (pp. cxiii. 111-112, 136) are almost all.
2
Mackinlay, Folklore of Scottish lochs and springs, Glasgow, 1893,
pp. yzff. The same, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland, Edin1

Scottish

burgh, 1910,

p. 122.

Saga-Book

136

of the

Viking Society.

Our Lady.

In later times penitent sinners used to stand

barefooted on the stone.
In the northern part of Caithness, on the boundary

between the parishes of Halkirk and Watten, there was

a hospital consecrated to St. Magnus, and in the igth
century an annual Magnus Fair was still held at Halkirk on the

Tuesday before December

26th.

Even

in Celtic literature the worship of St. Magnus

be
traced in the beautiful hymn, A Mhannis mo
may
ruin,* in which Magnus is invoked as a deity of
fecundity, who is besought to be kind to the cattle and
In this
support the growth of plants and animals.

as in nearly all other prayers in the popular language

his direct help is solicited, and not only his intercession
with God.

We

also find

such local traditions relating to St.

Olave in the northern parts of Scotland. The church of

Cruden in Aberdeenshire was dedicated to this saint,
and was certainly very old, even if the tradition that it
was built in commemoration of the defeat of the Danes
(" crow-dan ") at Cruden, in the year 1006, by King
Malcolm, who died in 1033 or 1034, three or four years
after the battle at Stiklestad, sounds highly improbable.
In the parish a holy well, called St. Olave's,
found, of which the people sing

is

to

be

St.

Olave's well low by the sea,

pest nor plague shall never be.

Where
vSt.

Olave's fair

of March.

This

is still

held at Cruden in the

month

last fact leads

us to the

official

Scottish ecclesi-

astical practice in the last period of Catholicism, when

the day of St.- Olave was kept, strangely enough, in
1

Mackinlay, The pre-reformation church and Scottish place-names,

The day of St. Magnus was really Dec. I3th but prob1904, pp. 380 ff.
ably the fair is of earlier origin than the worship of the Saint.
;

Henderson, The Norse influence on Celtic Scotland,

p. 35.

Proceedings o.f the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, III., pp. 144-49.

Mackinlay, Folklore of Scottish lochs, etc., p. 105. The same, The
pre-reformation church,

etc.,

p.

21.

The Cult us of Norwegian Saints.

137

the last days of March.

Here there are two chief
sources of information to be taken into account. The
first is

the Breviarium Aberdonense, belonging to about

same time as the breviary and missal of Nidaros.

It was printed in 1509, by direction of Bishop Elphinstone, with a view to delivering the Scottish Church
from the overwhelming influence of the liturgy of
Sarum, the use of which had been admitted for national
reasons, to counter-balance the claims of York on the
primacy in Scotland. There is full reason, then, to
suppose that this breviary contains fairly good evidence
the

of Scottish church practice.

The other source is a missal from the church of St.

Nicolas in Aberdeen, originally printed in Rouen, in
1506, according to the missal of Salisbury, but with
manuscript notes. These notes, according" to Scottish
investigators, bear traces of Norse influence but other;

wise the calendar in this missal is very corrupt and

2
quite overloaded with festivals.
According to both these calendars the day of St.
Olave is to be kept on March 3Oth, instead of on July
3

breviary, however, lays down that if March

3Oth falls in Easter week or on the first Sunday after
Easter, the celebration is to be put off till after that
29th.

The

Reprinted London, 1854, in two vols. (Pars hyemalis and Pars

The notes concerning Olave are printed also by Metcalfe,
Miracula beati Olavi, pp. nyff. (see also pp. 33ff.)

estiva).
Passio et
-

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,

vol.

33

(1898-99), pp. 440-60.

3

3ist, according to Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, Edinburgh, 1845, II., p. 7.

*
The print by Metcalfe, Passio, etc., p. 33, of these regulations
is very inaccurate
Si hoc
the text of Brev. Aberd. (March 3oth)
festum sancti olaui vel festum sancti reguli infra passionem domini
vel in ebdoma pasche aut in dominica oct. eiusdem contigerit nichil fiet
de ipsis usque post octa. pasche et ibi tune vbi conueniencius possunt
celebrari
de ipsis fiat seruicium cum tribus lectionibus istius temSed cum R. iis et v. paschalis temporis. Et ita faciendum est
poris.
de omnibus aliis festis simplicibus ix. lectionum infra dictum tempus
Ad matuti. ix. lee. fiant. See also Brev. Aberd.
contingenti.
;

July agth.

Saga-Book

138

of the

Sunday, and the day

Viking Society.

then to be observed with two

is

lessons only. The nine lessons which otherwise belong

to the day of St. Olave, in these years, are to be read

on July 29th, upon which day only a memorial of St.

Olave is, as a rule, read. I am not able to explain this
curious feature in the Aberdeen calendar. It is perhaps
to be supposed that the March fair at Cruden is old,
and that later it took its name from the saint of the
parish church, and that then the festival from Cruden
spread either over the whole diocese of Aberdeen, or
perhaps only to the town of Aberdeen, not many miles
away.
That the day of

St.

feast than that of St.

So is it
December

natural.
lation,

Magnus
Olave

is

celebrated as a higher

is quite
that not only the festival of his trans2
i3th, but partly also the day of his

festum duplex),

(as

death, April i6th, is observed as inferius duplex, and

that the breviary of Aberdeen contains rather long
hymns in his honour, while in the case of Olave only
a very short legend is appointed. The worship of these

two saints

in

the northern parts of Scotland has,

of

course, come from the Orkneys, where Magnus must

have been much more popular than Olave.
The cult of the two Norse saints, which we find in
Here we
England, is of quite a different character.
find Olave more prominent, and Magnus seems a more
3

His
or less casual attendant on his great compatriot.
worship is, however, not altogether without interest. In
southern Scotland St. Magnus is not worshipped, and
of the three churches dedicated to him in England,
two belong to the southern parts of the country, LonTo this worship of St. Olave in Northern Scotland belongs also
1

the altar

dedicated to

him

in

S.

Salvator's

College,

St.

Andrews

(Metcalfe).
z

i4th, in Liber Ecclesias Beati

A. P. Forbes, Edinburgh, 1872).
'*
Daaej Norges helgener, p. 206, says that the nephew of Magnus,
the Saint Earl Ragnvald, too, was worshipped in Scotland, but without giving any evidence.
i2th, in the

missal of St. Nicolas

Terrenani de Arbuthnott

(ed.

The Cult us of Norwegian Saints.

139

don and Dorsetshire, and only one is situated in the

North at Bessingby, in Yorkshire (East Riding). Seacommunication of any importance between the Orkneys
and England in the I2th century is not to be thought
of, and a direct connexion with the North does not
seem very probable, as the worship of Magnus is not
to be traced in southern Scotland or northern England.
There can therefore scarcely be any doubt but that
this worship reached England from Norway, and that
owing to the lively traffic between the two countries not
only has Norway been influenced from England, but
That this last was the
also England from Norway.
case in the Viking Period has always been acknow1

Magnus was not regarded as a saint in

before
the year 1135, his worship cannot
Orkneys

ledged
the

but as

have been brought from Norway to England earlier

2
than in the second half of the twelfth century.
This influence surely issued from the western parts

Norway. Magnus, of course, like the other saints

Norwegian church had his altar in the cathedral
df Trondhjem
but all other traces of his worship in
Norway, that can be localized, belong to the West.
Generally speaking, the Norwegian Church only
observe the day of his death (April 6th) but some few
letters from Voss prove that here, not far from Bergen,
the day of his translation (December I3th, generally
called St. Lucia's Day), was also kept.
In the church
of Urnes in Sogn is a runic inscription which contains
the name of St. Magnus and in addition to this Proof

of the

fessor
tion,
1

Olsen, who has deciphered the inscripmentions evidence of active communication

Magnus

Frances Arnold-Forster, Studies in church dedications, London,

Miss Forster has no doubt that these churches

1899, II., pp. 455-60.
really concern the Saint-Earl from the Orkneys, and not some of the
Other saints with the name of Magnus but she gives no evidence, and
I have not been able to
verify it.
2
But on the other hand, not much later; the Magnus church existed
;

already in 1203 (Metcalfe,

*

I.e.,

p. 119).

Historisk Tidsskrift, III., Series

II., p.

103.

Saga-Book

140

of the

Viking Society.
1

between the Orkneys and Sogn in the Middle Ages.

It was from these parts probably that the
worship of
reached
in
the
I2th
Magnus
England
century.

How

long the earl of the Orkneys was venerated in

England cannot accurately be told; but possibly his
cult continued until the Reformation.
Henry Machyn,
citizen of London, who has left an elaborate and very
diary

interesting
in

1559,

the

on

corner

cross,

reason

for

the

September

of

Pye-street

Mary, John and

why

this

1550-63, relates that

there were burnt at

years
i6th,

St.

pictures

of

Christ

Magnus; and

on

there

is

ihe

no

should have been any other than the

had his church in London, near Lon-

Norse earl, who

don Bridge.
A much more prominent part, however, is played in
England by St. Olave. He was popular as well in
Anglo-Saxon times as after the Norman conquest.
At least fifteen churches dedicated to him are known in

England.

The

oldest evidence on this subject seems to be the

that
the well-known Earl Siward of Northumbria
story
the time of Edward the Confessor, built an
(1055)

Olave's church at York, where he was himself buried

but already in the year 1098, King William Rufus
3
gave this church to St. Mary's abbey, and only a
little parish church in the neighbourhood (Marygate)
has kept the name of the Norwegian saint. Probably
also the son of Siward, Earl Wealhtheow, had inherited
his father's love of St. Olave.
During the turbulent
times after the Norman Conquest he frequently
resided in Lincolnshire, where he presented Crowland
4
Perhaps it is from this
Abbey with large donations.
;

Aarsberetning fra foreningen

til

fortidsmindesmerkers bevaring,

1907, pp. i35ff, 160.

2
Diary of Henry Machyn,
London, 1848, p. 209.
3
4

citizen

of

London,

Arnold-Forster, Church Dedications,

II.,

ed.

J.

G.

Nichols,

pp. 45iff.

Monasticon Anglicanum (ed. 1846), III., p. .546.

Worsaae, Minder om danske og norske i England,

p. 169-74.

The Cultus of Norwegian Saints.

141

period that the stone statue on Crowland Bridge dates.

It represents a man with a huge loaf or cake, and local
tradition has supposed it to be St. Olave, whose name
has been transformed to Holofius, and by way of
1
popular imagination connected with the word loaf.
From Anglo-Saxon times also dates the votive mass

honour

Olave, which is prescribed in The

Derby, a manuscript from the diocese of
Winchester, which was written about the year 1061.
In this manuscript not only is Olave the latest saint
2
recognised, but the only one who is not English.
St.
church
Olave's
at
Exeter
is
earlier
than
Finally,

in

Red Book

io66.

of St.

of

It is possible that the Xorman Conquest brought

about a reaction against the worship of the Norwegian
saint, but in no case can this have been of long duraThe communications with Norway, recorded in
tion.
4
the time of Henry I., grew more and more frequent,
and must have kept green the memory of St. Olave.

Characteristic of the prominent part played by St.

in the ideas Englishmen had of Scandinavia, and

Olave

how

they considered him the real centre of

all

the

Scandinavian North, is the tale of the death of

Swein Forkbeard in Maistre Geffrei Gaimar's poem
L'estorie des Engles (written between 1135 and 1147).
At York was he buried

But then after ten years or more

The Danes took up his bones
They were carried to Norway,
To Saint Olaf, there were they laid.
;

In

St. Peter's

When
1

J.

1869.

minster he lay

the Danes took

him away.

Gunn, Illustrations of the Rod-screen at Barton-Turf, Norwich,

Kunst og Kultur, II. (1911), pp. 5<>ff-

The Leofric Missal, ed. F. E. Warren, Oxford, 1883, p. 244.

Historisk Tidsskrift, 3rd Series, IV., p. 357-69.
8 Dansk Historisk
Tidsskrift, 5th Series, I., p. 563, notes.

Diplomatarium Norvegicum, XIX.,

Rerum Brittanicarum Medii Aevi

nr. 32.

Scriptores (vv. 4162-69).

Saga-Book

142

of the

Viking Society.

After the conquest of Ireland, under Henry II., an

Olave's abbey was founded in Dublin from Bristol,
and it continued (till it was abolished by Henry
VIII.) to keep up its connection with the convent of
1

Augustinian monks at Bristol.

As late as in the beginning of the I3th century we
are told that a monastery was founded in the honour of
St. Olave at Herringfleet, on the borders of Norfolk
and Suffolk. 2 Although it is expressly said to have
been founded by Roger Fitz Osbert shortly after 1216,
English writers have considered this impossible. They
have been of the opinion that all English churches
and monasteries in honour of St. Olave of which
by far the greater part cannot be dated must go back
to Anglo-Saxon times, when the Norsemen still formed
a separate class within the English people. And they
have supported their theory by referring to the fact that

Olave's churches in England with but one excepwere situated near the sea, where consequently
the Vikings and their descendants might have had
ready access. Accordingly it has been maintained that
the monastery of Herringfleet cannot have been
founded for the first time in 1216, but was only rebuilt
all

tion

and enlarged at that time.

Of this older foundation, however, nothing is known
at all, and no remains have" been found in spite of careundertaken by the present proprietor
it seems quite superfluous in
If an
this way to contest the express words of the text.
abbey in honour of St. Olave can have been founded
in Dublin at the end of the I2th century, and if the
worship of St. Magnus can have been introduced into
ful excavations,

of the ruins.

Moreover,

P. Rushe, A Second Thebaid, Dublin and London, 1905, p. 59.

T. Gilbert, A History of the City of Dublin, 1854, I., pp. 48ff.
Bits of the garments of Olave were preserved, already from the nth
1

J.

J.

century,
P-

in

the

Trinity-abbey of

Dublin (Daae, Norges

helgener,

57)2

The Victoria History of Suffolk, London,

Kunst og Kultur, II. (1911), pp. 498.

1907, II., p. 100.

The Cnltus of Norwegian Saints.

143

England about the same time, it is not at all impossible

monastery in honour of >St. Olave may have been

that a

founded

in the

beginning of the i3th century.

also two manuscripts
giving evidence of Norse influence on the English
Church. The first belonged to Fountains Abbey near
York, and is a copy of the work composed by Arch-

From

same period date

this

bishop Eystein of Trondhjem, Passio et

Olavi. The other is a psalter, originally
use of King Henry III., but with some
tions, evidently from the i3th century,
1

miracula beati
written for the

calendar addi-

including the
following: i6th of April, Magni duds m.
i5th of
Halluardi
Sancti
8th
of
Sanctomartyris
May,
July,
rum in selio 2Qth of July, Olaui regis et martins. 2
These facts seem to be of no slight importance,
as showing that Xorse influence in England was not
restricted to Anglo-Saxon times, but continued in the
1 2th and
i3th century, at a time when the Norwegians
;

who

England were no longer Vikings, .but only

merchants, tradesmen and clerics.
the greater number of the churches dedicated

visited

more or

less peaceful

far

By

Olave were situated in laree towns at least

London, two at Norwich, one at Chester,
one at Exeter, one at Chichester; and most of the
Ruckland
village churches were situated near the sea
to

St.

four

in

Greeting in Suffolk, Gatcombe in the

and Poughill near Bude in North
Wight,
4
Cormvall.
The age of these churches cannot be established but
the theory of Miss Arnold-Forster that most of them
go back to the time when the Danes ruled in England,
have no evidence
seems to me highly improbable.
in Lincolnshire,
Isle

of

We

Edited by Metcalfe, Oxford, 1881.

Dansk Historisk Tidsskrift, 8th Series, III., p. 232, note.

Blomefield, Hist, of Norfolk (ed. 1806). IV., 2, pp. 65 and 475.
Olave's-guild is mentioned at one of these churches in 1501.
3

An

*
All these dedications are to be found in the book of Miss ArnoldForster (II., pp. 75iff), which, however, is to be used with some
circumspection.

Saga-Book

144

at all that the

of the

Viking Society.

Danes spread the worship of St. Olave

country, and we do not even know

own

outside their

that Olave was regarded as a saint in Denmark itself,

before the death of Harthacnut (1042).
The oldest
evidence of the worship of St. Olave in England

belongs, as

and

sixties

we have already mentioned, to the

the nth century, and some of

of

fifties

these
'

churches may have been founded in these years,

but scarcely all, or even the majority. The twentyfour years' reign of Edward the Confessor seems too
short to include the foundation of four churches in
London, dedicated to St. Olave. And as to the sea
communications between Norway and England, we do
not know much about them in the nth century, but
everything goes to show that the reign of Magnus the
Good (1035-47) an d of Harald Hardrada (1047-66) was
not the time when they flourished most. Finally it may
be mentioned that no one of these churches as it now
stands is older than the Norman conquest, while at

one of them, Fritwell

least

in

Oxfordshire,

is

built in

period when the

early
style.
worship of St. Olave spread most rapidly in England
seems to have been the first 150 years or so after the
Conquest. And in all this time it seems to have spread
by direct influence from Norway, and not from one or

Norman

In

more centres originating

short,

in

the

England

itself.

few such centres, however, existed, and transmitted the worship of St. Olave not so much to other
places as to later times. First of all, London must be
mentioned, where, as late as the last century, there were
founded two suburban churches bearing the name of
2
In the Ghetto of London, Old Jewry, near
St. Olave.
1

If

H. H.,
a

is to be relied upon, there was an Olave's church in

the reign of Harald Hardrada (1047-66).
(The saga of

Snorri

London

in

ch. 57).

At Stoke Newington and

one got its name because

?ld church in Hart Street.

it

at

Mile End, East London. The last

built from funds belonging to the

was

The Cultus of Norwegian

Saints.

145

Cheapside, was situated one Olave's church, mentioned

for the first time in the reign of Edward the First, and
in the City itself also were to be found churches dedi1

cated to this saint in Hart Street

Just outside the City,
London Bridge, is the

in

and

in Silver Street.

Southwark,

the end

at

of

existing Olave's church in

2
other
end of London Bridge
Street.
At
the
Tooley
there stands a church dedicated to St. Magnus, and
thus the very centre of the traffic in old London was
flanked by churches dedicated to Norwegian saints.

To

still

the church in Silver Street

the last period of Catholicism,

is

attached a tale from

which

is

often quoted in

England.

When Queen Mary

resuscitated Catholicism in

Eng-

land, she also desired to revive the old Catholic festivals,

cu&toms, miracle plays, etc., and of this also St. Olave

had his share. For on the 2Qth of July, 1557, the

above-mentioned Henry Machyn says in his diary
"
On the same 2Qth July, being S. Olave's Day, was the
:

Church Holy Day in Silver Street, the Parish Church

whereof was dedicated to that Saint. And at Eight of
Clock

the

at

Night began a Stage-Play of goodly

Matter [relating,

'tis like,

to that Saint]."

To

these London churches finally is to be added one

Queenhithe, on the west side of Bread Street Hill,
which is mentioned in the Liber Custumarum in the
reign of Edward I., but which was very early united
with a Nicholas Church in the neighbourhood, and a
chantry in St. Paul's Cathedral, whose age we do not
know, but which was in the year 1391 incorporated

at

Liber custumarum, ed. Riley,

p. 230.

"
Tooley is the common English corruption of
Tullock (Toolog) is the Irish one.
3

St.

Olave,

:>

as

Strype, Historical Memorials, Ecclesiastical and Civil. London,

The diary of H.M. as we know it has
Fol., Vol. III., p. 379.
several lacunas just for these days but at the time of Strype it was
3

1721.

complete, and has been utilised by him.

probably added by Strype.
still

The words

in

[ ]

were

Saga-Book

146

of the

Viking Society.

into the general property of the church because of

smallness.

its

The

other centre for the worship of St. Olave in

England is the district on the borders of Norfolk and
Suffolk.
have already mentioned the two churches

We

Norwich, the church at Greeting and the most

important the Augustinian priory at Herringfleet. The
coast-line has here, in the flat land, with its numerous
streams of water, changed much in the course of time.
The ruins of the old priory are now situated about five
English miles from the sea, but close by a river whose
In former
valley gives an easy passage to Norwich.
times, when the water-courses were larger and the ships
smaller, the navigation over the Norfolk Broads to
Norwich presented no difficulty the fleet of Swein
Forkbeard is said to have passed Herringfleet on its
at

and by the old ferry as well as later

Olave's Bridge, there must have been
important traffic. Still in our own time St. Olave's

way

to this

on over

town

St.

railway-junction marks this natural topographic turning-point.

It therefore surely was a lucrative piece of business
when the prior in 1226 got a royal license to hold an

annual fair on the day of St. Olave. 2 The priory seems

some parts
to have been prosperous for a long time
;

of the ruins are built in the

Tudor

consequently,
the priory still towards the end of mediaeval times had
enough funds to construct rather important new
style

buildings.
(only 16 English miles), on the highest
neighbourhood, is situated the church of
On a sideBarton Turf, dedicated to St. Michael.
screen in this church there is to be found a painting
from the i5th century, representing four saint-kings

Not

far

away

point in the

Munimenta

Passio, p. 34.

Gildhallae Londoniensis, pp. 230, 233, 235.

Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Richard

II.,

p. 421.
'

Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum, London, 1844,

II., p.

165.

Metcalfe,
Vol. IV..

The

Edmund,

St.

Cultits of

St.

Edward

Norwegian Saints.

147

the Confessor, St. Holofius

and King Henry VI. This last died in 1471, and

Henry VII. later on tried to have him canonized by
the Pope.
Alexander VI. was not altogether unwillbut
The picture of
finally it came to nothing.
ing,
VI.
as
a
saint
therefore
must
Henry
certainly date from
I5th century. The other kings
about 50 years older. 1 It is curious evidence
of the prominent part held by Olave in England, that
as late as the I5th century he is the foreigner people
would naturally represent together with the royal saints

the last years of the

seem

to be

of the country

itself.

King's Lynn, on the Wash,

is the English port

which, in the i3th and I4th century, had the greatest
traffic with Norwegian ships.
do not know if there
was an Olave's church here but at least we hear of
"
2
a place in the town called
The
St. Olave's fleet."
Icelandic Saint, Thorlak, accomplished a wonderful
miracle here about the year 1200.*

We

probable that St. Olave was worshipped

Grimsby, although nothing is known about it from
written sources. Only last summer there was found* on
the west coast of Norway a seal, from the first half
"
of the i4th century, bearing the legend
Sigillum
Monasterii S. Augustini de Grimesbi," and representing a saint king with an axe, who cannot very well be
4
any other than Olave.
The only church in England dedicated to St. Olave
and not situated near the sea, is Fritwell in Oxford5
shire.
It was built in the i2th century; but here, of

Also

it

is

at

Gunn, Illustrations of the Rood-screen

Kunst og Kultur, 1911, p. 50.
Diplomatarium Norvegicum, XIX., 462.
"
Biskupa Sogur, I., p. 357. (" Kynn
F.

at

Barton-Turf, Norwich,

1869.
1
1

is

certainly

mis-script

for Lynn).
*

Now

kept in the Public Record Office (Riksarkivet), Kristiania.

North Oxfordshire Archaeological Society, Publications 1882 and
The only trace of Norse influence in the neighbourhood is a
1903.
manor at Barford St. Michael, some miles farther west, also bearing
6

the

name

of St. Olave.

of the

Saga-Book

148

Viking Society.

course, the worship may be older and date from before

the Conquest. It is not easy to understand how Norse
influence

could

reach

Fritwell

so

late

as

the

I2th

century.
In
St.

this little out-of-the-way village the worship of

Olave has continued with incredible tenacity. In

the old parochial register for November 2Oth, 1720, is

found, among collections for the poor of the parish

"

upon St. Olave 's church near

a
of 2s. 6d.
which
result
And still in our
York,"
gave
own time the day of St. Olave is observed in the parish
a

itself,

collection

as a great festival.

The

priest,

dressed in a surplice with

an embroidered modern image of St. Olave, and the

parishioners walk in procession round the church; and
the sermon of the day treats of the Norwegian saint.
This custom is not as is the case, for instance, at
Herringfleet newly introduced by people with literary
This is proved, if
education, but is genuinely old.
there be any doubt, by the fact that the festival is held

on the

after August 8th, not on the proper

when the Gregorian
Olave, July 2Qth
calendar was introduced in England (1752), the
conservative peasants of Fritwell would not submit to
this alteration of the almanac, and kept the old day for
the festival, even if it got a new name, August 8th
first

day of

Sunday

St.

instead of July 29th.

This sketch of the worship of

Norwegian

saints in

England can probably be supplemented. What we

have set forth already will, however, suffice to show
that in the matter of the relations between Norway and
England it was not Norway alone which was the
and I3th centuries, any more
had been during the Qth and loth centuries.

receiver during the i2th

than

it

ARASON.

JON
Bv PROFESSOR W.

THE glory

of Iceland

the historian.

great

P.

KER,

is lost

V tee-President.

at the death of Sturla

This was not the very end of the

Icelandic

work

mother tongue, but the old

of

prose

spirit

is

history

gone;

the

in

the

true

imaginative rendering of Icelandic and Norwegian life,

the art of Snorri and Sturla, disappears at the union
of Iceland and Norway.
The decadence of Iceland is
manifest in the failure of the great historic school the
decadence of Norway also, when there were no more
;

lives of kings written by Icelanders in the common

language.
But the dull times of Iceland, after the i3th century,
ought not to be made out worse than they really were.
Iceland ran through its good seasons and its fortune;
but it never lost its distinctive character. It lost much;
but it kept that pride and self-respect which is proved
in the history of the language, and which saved Iceland from the fate of Norway, the degradation and
Historians sometimes
disuse of the native tongue.

speak as

if

Norway and Iceland through

much the same. No doubt there

the condition of

the bad centuries were

Both countries are altered for

is a great resemblance.
the worse through their relations with Denmark; both
turn into dependencies. But even though Iceland often
received harder treatment than Norway, as happened
under the tyranny of the Danish trade, Iceland never

gave way

in

spirit as

Norway

did.

The

Icelanders

language and their art of poetry. They were

saved by their good grammar from the Norwegian
kept their

They maintained their self-consciousness

over against the rest of the world a small community,
not as large as Athens or Hampstead.
Through the
lethargy.

Saga-Book

150

of the

Viking Society.

vicissitudes of a thousand

years the Icelanders have

not changed their minds with regard to the use of their
minds; at any rate they have continued to believe that
Also,
they were meant to live as intelligent beings.
from the conditions of their land and society, as well
as from their own native disposition, they pay more
attention to individual men than is common in other
countries. This habit of thought, which is the source
of the great historical art of Iceland, is not lost when
the historical school is closed.
The history of the

and the life of Jon Arason,

show
how little the essentials
H61ar, may
Bishop
have changed in three hundred years from the time

Reformation

in

Iceland,

of

of the Sturlungs. It is true that the life of Bishop J6n

is not written out full and fair like the life of Bishop

three hundred years before.

But the scatand memoirs from which the story can be
put together were made by Icelanders who had the
same tastes, though not the same ability, as the earlier

Gudmund,

tered notes

historians.

Snorri and Sturla must have worked with

similar notes, in preparation for their finished work.

The records of the time of Jon Arason show that there

was the same

tures as there

and advenwas when the Sturlung memoirs were

sort of interest in character

composed.

The history of the Reformation in Iceland is a drama

of persons more than in other countries. The persons,
cannot be compared for dignity, and hardly
humour, with the principal authors and
adversaries of the Reformation, with Luther or Knox,
it

is

true,

for richness of

Henry VIII., or the Emperor Charles. But in Iceland,

unlike the rest of Christendom, there is very little to be
told that is not obviously dramatic; the dramatic, the
personal values, are not obscured by general impersonal
forces and movements the stage i-s compact and comWith earlier affairs in Iceland, with the
prehensible.
matter of the Sagas, it is often amusing and surprising
;

to find

how

readily historical events

seem

to fall into

Jon Arason.

151

their place like things in a novel.

One gets the same
in
the
of
impression
Jon Arason, even although
history

was never

the action

landic narrative way.

and

fully represented in the old IceThe chief situations are intelli-

they might be in a novel or a

one could imagine a chronicle of Barset,
with the Reformation for its substance, instead of, e.g.,
the problem of Hiram's Hospital, one might get something like the Icelandic scale and mode as observed in
gible

comedy.

the

life

clear, just as

If

of Bishop Jon of Holar.

to consider how the

It is

tempting, though
Barchester characters
might have displayed themselves if they had been
transported to the Icelandic scene to think of Dean
Arabin drawn into a raiding expedition by Archdeacon
Grantly, against his better judgment, yet not unwillirrelevant,

ing; of Mrs. Proudie talking manfully and evangelically to the invaders, while Mark Robarts and Bertie
Stanhope were packing up the Bishop to carry him
How the Slopes and Thumbles would have
away.
behaved there is no need to imagine, for the Icelandic
record has preserved their ancestors undecayed and
unmistakable. One of them did his best to edify Jon

Arason on the way to the headsman's block.

"
When Bishop Jon was led out, there was a certain
priest, Sir Svein, appointed to speak to him persuaThe Bishop, as he came forth from the choir,
sively.
to
do obeisance before an image of Mary but
sought
the priest bade him lay aside that superstition, and said
There is a life after
(among other comforting words)
But Bishop Jon turned sharply
this life, my lord
and said, I know that, Sveinki
(Biskupa Sbgur,
;

'

'

'

'

P- 353-)
Political novels

ii-,

and plays are apt

to fail

through over-

or else, at the opposite

things too obviously super-

weight of political argument,

extreme, because they make
ficial, too simple and easy.

In Bjornson's political
plays the questions often seem too trivial, the politicians
In Icelandic history the casual
not really dangerous.

Saga-Book

152

of the

Viking Society.

may often think that the interests are trifling,

the values unduly heightened by chroniclers who do
The documents often confirm
not know the world.
reader

There are extant from Jon Arason's time

this view.
claims for damages suffered in certain raids which take
up a considerable space in Icelandic history; a householder feels the loss, among other things, of a peppermill and a mustard-mill, and that is recorded.
The
great men, prelates and chiefs of Iceland, may seem on
examination very much like the common people of the
"
There are a thousand such elseEnglish border.

where " in Liddesdale, Redesdale, and the Debatable

Land. Kinmont Willie and the Laird's Wat might
The great men of
have been princes in Iceland.

Iceland, are they not great through the emptiness of

the region round them, the simplicity and inexperience
of their countrymen ? So one is tempted to ask, and this

and depreciation leads of course

is shown in the histories

sort of scepticism

such ignoring of Iceland as

to

of

Europe generally.
This low opinion may be contradicted and

proved

unreasonable. Do not casual readers speak of the

history of Attica in much the same way and with not
much more consideration ?-' But it cannot be denied
that the material weight of Iceland is small, that the
greatest men are not rich men, that the interests are to
all appearance domestic or parochial when compared
with the fortunes of larger states.
There are at least two modes of defence in answer
to this.
interests
Material
may be unimportant
where a principle or idea is at work.
Thus,
to
we observe that the
Barchester,
returning
historian
in
The Warden, has made
Trollope,
the case of Hiram's Hospital into a parable or
1

694

" Iceland, constitution

Cambridge Modern History, vol. x. index,
"
text p. 694, " Iceland received a Constitution."

for,

2
It is a pleasure here to remember Sir George Trevelyan's translation
of Thucydides into the terms of Stirlingshire and Clackmannan,

Jon Arason.

153

allegory containing the whole of politics and the

quintessence of public opinion. The argument of The
Warden does not require a larger scale or a higher
stake, any more than Euclid would be helped if you
offered him triangles of gold and silver.
There is
in Icelandic history.
this kind of moral
Indeed, this seems to be the peculiar office of Iceland
among othef nations. Iceland, again and again, is
found to resemble an experimental table arranged by

sometimes

Destiny to work out certain political problems neatly,

with not too many pieces in the game. So Iceland has
been made to declare the true nature of early German
civilisation
so the life of Bishop Gudmund is a
dramatic conflict of High Church zeal with steady
respectable worldly tradition, and represents in a
;

personal story the contemporary life of Christendom.

So in the life of Jon Arason the Reformation is
exhibited as a dramatic opposition of characters.
But, taking the second mode of answer to those who
depreciate and ignore, we may observe that the history
of Iceland is not purely ideal or exemplary it is itself
part of the history of Europe and contributes its own
share of reality to the actual world.
The life of Jon
Arason may illustrate the course of the Reformation in
Denmark and Norway, but it is also different from anything in those countries, and has much in it that was
;

lacking there particularly some fortitude in opposition

new doctrines and their advocates. The value
of Jon Arason is not merely that his story brings out
some common humanities and some common fashions
of the time he is part of the life of Christendom as far
as Allhallowtide of the year 1550, and what he does is
done by no one else in Iceland, Norway, or Denmark.
The Church in Iceland was not very well taken care

to the

The Bishops were mostly

i5th century.
of
of
them,
foreigners
many
including at least one
little
is
known.
One Bishop of
Englishman, very
of

in

the

Skalholt,

described

as

Confessor

of

the

King

of

Saga-Book

154

Denmark, discovered

of the

Viking Society.

that there

was nothing

to drink in

except milk and water; therefore he made

provision and obtained from Henry VI. of England a
licence for two ship-captains to sail to Iceland with
Before him in the same diocese there was a
supplies.
Iceland

tyrannical Swedish bishop who had thirty unruly Irishmen in his retinue he was at last (in accordance with
;

up in a sack and drowned in

Which, however, was not the last of him, for
in the very familiar manner of ghosts in Iceland, he
"
came again " (of course as a solid body), and gave
some trouble before he would lie quiet (1433).
It would have been a great misfortune for Iceland if
the Reformation had come when there were no better
Churchmen in the cathedrals than this Swedish bishop
or the Danish royal chaplain who was so careful about
his beer.
But, as it fell out, the great debate was not
left to be determined in
Iceland by wholly external
Luther
the
or
powers, by
King of Denmark. Some
Icelanders very early began to think for themselves in
a Lutheran way; and on the other side was J6n Arason.
It is one of the fortunate things and one of the strange

the popular will) tied

Bruara.

Icelandic

things in

history

Reformation the bishop

greatest

in

that

at

the north

the

time of the

was one

of the

of the time, and a man who recalled the

of the old days.
Jon Arason, Bishop of

men

greatness
Holar, was not like his predecessor, Bishop Gudmund,
a great churchman with a consistent theory of the
But he was a
relations between church and laity.
of another old Icelandic sort, a great
a
married
man with a family, fond of power
chieftain,
and wealth and glory, very closely resembling the great
men of the Sturlung age. It was as if Kolbein

churchman

had come back to life

And this great man was not simply
in Holy Orders.
a worldly potentate with the dignity of a bishop he was
the chief poet of his time, and his poems were religious.

Tumason

or Sturla Sighvatsson

He

does

not

represent

any theory

of

the

relations

Jon Arason.

155

between Church and State he is not the successor of

a Becket, or of St. Thorlac. But he represents
better than anyone else the church of Iceland as it was
for centuries from the time of the first conversion
the
rather easy-going but wholesome religion which in so
many ways resembles the Church of England.
Jon Arason 's poetry cannot be explained except to
those who understand it already.
Like all Icelandic
poetry, its beauty is largely a beauty of form, and
of the form it may be said that Jon Arason is a master
of rhyming stanzas, apparently without much or any
suggestion from foreign literature. He worked on the
principles of Icelandic rhyming poetry, derived from
the Latin rhyming poetry of the Middle Ages, and used
:

Thomas

those principles so as to make very beautiful stanzas in

artifice is not so great as to hinder the freedom of expression. One of his poems has had a strange
It was very early taken up by the Faroese,
fortune.

which the

and was used by them at sea for the good of their

"whale-verse" being a popular name for it.
fishery

The Faroese version was edited in Aarb. Oldk., 1869, pp. 311-338, by
R. Jensen.
The first stanza is the proper 'hvalvers.'and the note on it is as follows
" This is what
Lyngby quotes in the appendix to his Faroese ballads,
the so-called 'whale-verse,' the only fragment of the poem which can
be said to be generally known. The name comes from the belief that
1

the singing of it had power to drive away the large whales, if there
was danger from them to fishing-boats at sea (hvis man kom i hvaln0d
ude paa havet ").

Miss Elizabeth Taylor, who has a close acquaintance with life in the
Faroes, points out that the virtue of the "whale-verse" comes from a
popular rendering of kvolum (= pains of hell) as hvolttm (= whales;
pronounced in the same way as the other word). The "whale-verse"
is thus given, loc. cit.
Ljomur Bis/tups Jons Arasonar.
Hsegstur heilagur andi

himna kongurinn

sterki

tu a

meg,
signauSr a sjogv og landi
sannur i vilja og verki
hoyr tu, eg heiti a teg
ForSa tu macr fjandans pi'nu og diki,
feikna kvolum ollum fra maer vi'ki,
ma?r veit tu taS, Mariu sonurin rfki,
lovliga

lit

maela eg kundi naka<\ sva

trer liki

Saga-Book

156

of the

The Reformation was

King Christian III., in

Viking Society.

established

Denmark by

in

his ordinance of

1538,

which

prescribed everything to the kingdom and the church,

The name of
the King being himself the head.

"bishop" was disused, though the office was kept.

Under the ordinance the king appointed " superin"

for the various dioceses.

These "superintendents
"
tendents
are the Protestant Lutheran bishops, and it
the Protestant
may be observed that Bishop Gizur,
"
"
of
himself
calls
Skalholt,
superintendens,
bishop
"
"
bishop
though in Iceland the authority and name of
were too respectable to be supplanted by this new

government description.
The ordinance was imposed without difficulty in
Denmark the King was thinking of Denmark, and not
:

when the ordinance

of Denmark held
Norway also. There was some
or Iceland,

particularly of

Norway

was granted.

But Christian

himself to be

King

of

resistance to him, both to his

Norway, however, had no

that the difference in spirit

III.

title

and

his policy there

and it is here
between Norway and Iceland
real strength,

To the Catholic Archbishop,

clearly.
Olaf Engelbrektsson, in Norway, the Reformation was
loathsome, and there seems to have been little regard
for it among the people.
But there was just as little
effective liking for the old church, and the Archbishop
of Nidaros could make no party of his own out of the
Catholics of Norway.
He had to leave the country,
unheroically though not dishonourably (April, 1537),

comes out most

and the kingdom

keeping

taking no

of

Norway accepted

the ordinance,

for the old faith,

interest in the teaching of Luther.

all

its

sympathies

The Lutheran ordinance

imposed on Iceland

still

of

King

and

Christian III. was

cannot be said that the

of
Iceland
showed
themselves
much more awake
people
than the people of Norway to the meaning of the
change, but there is a great difference between the two
countries.
Iceland being a small country as compared
also.

It

Jon Arason.
with
of

Norway

much more

easily affected by the talent

members. New ideas run more easily
and it happened that in Iceland both sides

is

any one of

157

its

over the land,

were much better represented than in Norway.
The
Protestant Reformation in Iceland was not merely a
Lutheran ordinance imposed by a king.
Although
there was much dissatisfaction with the change, it cannot be said that the Reformation in Iceland was carried
through without the general consent of the people.
Icelandic history brings out very clearly the same
unpleasant interests, particularly the appetite for church
lands, as may be found in the history of the Reformation in other countries.
But there was also very early
a movement for the translation of the Scriptures, and
afterwards the honour of the Reformation was maintained in Iceland by the great translator, Bishop

Gudbrand.
Jon Arason was born in 1484; little is told of his early
life.
His father died, and Jon acted as steward for his
mother at Laugaland (near Akreyrl) till he was 24.
Then he took Holy Orders, and shortly afterwards was
a
married in some form or other to his wife Helga
contract recognised by Icelandic tradition, and not
apparently at any time challenged on any ground either
by Catholics or Protestants. He made two voyages to
Norway for Bishop Gottskalk of Holar, and after the
death of Gottskalk (1520) was elected bishop himself
(1522) by all the priests with one dissentient.
At that time Bishop Ogmund, of Skalholt, had just
been consecrated, a man in some things resembling Jon
Arason, and very well fitted to be his rival or his friend.
At first he was a decided enemy. It is curious how just
the "change of fashion"
before the Reformation
:

(siSaskipti),

as

it

is

called

in

Icelandic

there should

foreign bishops, a return to

the old natural conditions, with two men in the two
cathedrals so thoroughly like their ancestors. Ogmund

have been,

was a

tall

after so

many

stout gentleman, with a remarkable talent for

Saga-Book

158

of

the

Viking Society.

strong language and little regard for his personal

appearance, though much for his episcopal dignity and
power. He was indeed a chieftain of the old school like
J6n Arason, but without his wit and poetry. He tried
at first to keep J6n Arason out of the bishopric of
Holar; he and Jon met once in the old fashion at the
Althing, each with his tail of fighting men, and there
was likelihood of a battle. But peace was made by the
intervention of the Abbots and other clergy, and there
1
was no more trouble of that kind.
The contention between the Bishops is told with some
detail, and evidently with much enjoyment of the old
fashioned tricks and stratagems. In that respect there

was

little

after five centuries.

change

Generally the two Bishops behaved like heroes of the

older Sagas, and made their fortunes in the old way
by authority, maintenance, ingenious use of the law.
There is material for the history of a law case in which
2
the facts resemble those of the
Jon was concerned
time.
of his sons in the same way
He
thinks
Sturlung
as Sighvat Sturluson might
the true meaning of
Ari is made Lawman.
is
when
his
son
proved
heredity
At the same time (in this also like the Sturlung house)
he attends to the liberal arts; to his own poetry
;

especially.

He had

was a common
Reformation,

growth of
was raised
document

it

no reputation for scholarship it

The
that he knew no Latin.
should be remembered, encouraged the
;

belief

classical learning in Iceland

after Bishop Jon's time.

the standard

An

interesting

account of him written by a

Protestant about 1600, pitying J6n for the want of
proper Latin education in his youth. Adeo miserum
est infelici temp ore natum esse.
This author recognises
the
of
native
J6n Arason and his
very fully
genius
is

Latin

the

accomplishment

in

Icelandic verse.

Jon Egilson has a curious story of a wager of battle in the old place
the island in Oxara between champions of the Bishops. See Diet,

s.v. holmganga.
2

Biskupa Sogur,

ii.,

p.

430 sqq.

Jon Arason.

159

not quite easy to make out the extent of his

He was undoubtedly fond of books, and the
learning.
first
printer in Iceland, Sfra Jon Matthiasson the
It

is

Swede, worked under his patronage. 1 The Reformers

did much for the encouragement of study, but they had
not to begin at the very beginning.
J6n Arason does not appear very definitely in the
earlier stages of the Reformation in Iceland.
The Reformation touched the southern diocese first;

was more exposed to innovation, as the

and
government house was at Bessastad
Bishop Ogmund of Skalholt had to meet the impinging
forces alone.
His tragedy is represented with some

the

south

Danish

liveliness in the extant narratives.

The

time

the chief personages are

Protestant
successor Gizur
Bishop Ogmund;
Einarsson Didrik van Minden, a man from Hamburg,
deputy of the Governor Claus van Marwitz Christopher
Hvitfeldt, a Danish commissioner with a ship of war.
is

1539-1541

his

The

chief witnesses, besides original letters

and other

documents, are Sira Einar, a priest who was faithful to

the Bishop, and his son Egil, then about 17 years old.
Egil was alive, aged 70, in 1593, when one of the
narratives was written (Bs. ii. 237-259). Another is the
work of his son Jon, parson at Hreppholar in Arnes~
sysla about 1600.

Bishop

Ogmund was
manners"

old

and

blind

when

the

He was

riding with his

"change
attendants one sunny day when his sight went from
him. He asked and was told that the sun was shining
of

befel.

bright; then he said: "Farewell, world! long enough

"
hast thou served me!

He had
chose his

to find
sister's

an assistant and successor;

son Sigmund, but

Sigmund

first

he

died in

Biskupa Sogur, ii., p. 440 sqq.

in Safn
-Biskupa Annular Jons Egilsscnar, edited by Jon Sigurdsson
Islands,
i.,
29117.
Sogu
i

til

160

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

Norway not twenty days after

Then Bishop Ogmund, with

his consecration (1537).

the assent of the clergy,

chose Gizur Einarsson to succeed him. This was the

first Protestant Bishop in Iceland, and if he was not an
absolute sneak, the witnesses (including himself) have

done him great wrong.

Bishop Ogmund was his
from
patron
very early days, and Gizur made good use
He was a very able man, and
of his opportunities.
It is hard to
the Bishop was right in thinking so.
discover how much the Bishop knew about Gizur's
Protestant sympathies.
There is no reason to doubt
Like other men of
that Gizur was an earnest reformer.
the time, he had unpleasant ways of mixing his own
profit with evangelical religion, but he seems to have
obtained his religious principles through study, and not
in a casual or superficial manner.
He was associated
with Odd Gottskalksson, the translator, and with other
young Icelandic students who came under the influence
of Luther.
In 1539 Gizur sailed for Denmark as Bishop-elect of
Skalholt
and that same year the Reformation disin a Danish attack on the island of Videy
itself
played
at Reykjavik, and in spoliation of the monastery there.
;

The agent
men in an

in this was Didrik van Minden

fourteen
eight-oared boat were enough for the business.
It seems a
paltry thing, but, as usual, one must
remember the Icelandic scale; the ruin of Videy was
no less for Iceland than the ruin of the Charterhouse
was for London. In Iceland the retribution was not
slow. At the Althing, a few weeks later, all the Danes
who had attacked the cloister were outlawed and their
;

J
Bs. ii. p. 269. Sigmund's daughter Katiin was wife of Egil abovementioned, and mother of Sira Jon who wrote the Bishops' Annals.
She was a child of nine, staying with her grandmother at Hjalli when
her grand-uncle, Bishop Ogmund, was arrested by the Danes in 1541.

She was keeping the Bishop's feet warm that morning, and saw what
komu til Hjalla fyrir
happened. Cf. Jon Egilsson, p. 73. Hinir
moSir min la a fotum
dagmal, og toku J>ar biskupinn i bafistofunni
hans og var niu vetra }>eir leiddu hann ut, &c.
.

Jon Arason.

161

The Danes made very little of the

and
its
sentence, but here they were wrong.
Althing
In August Didrik and his men went to Skalholt to bully
the old Bishop, meaning to go further east and break
up the great cloisters of Thykkvaba3 and Kirkjubae.
Didrik blustered in his bad language, bawling at the
"
divelz blindi biskup," but that was the end of him.
lives

forfeited.

The countryside

rose as he sat in the Bishop's parlour

looked out of the window and asked, " What is the
meaning of all those halbards?" The meaning was
that the avengers had come for him
he had to fight
;

lie

for his life; the

all

about

it

man who

(op.

cit.,

p.

killed
70).

him

told

Jon Egilsson
This happened on St.

Lawrence Day, August loth, 1539. It was followed

by strong political action on the part of the Althing.
Iceland was roused not only were Didrik and his men
convicted after execution and declared outlaws (obotamenn), but a strong and clear description of Claus van
Marwitz, the governor, his robberies and forgeries
was sent from the Althing, 1540, to the King, with a
petition for his removal and for the appointment of
no one " who does not know or keep the law of the
The previous
land, and is not of Danish tongue."
summer, after the death of Didrik, arrangements had
been made for carrying on the government business
;

through the

sheriffs,

without the governor.

The

Ice-

was upheld in Denmark Claus van Marwitz

was sentenced by King and Council in 1542 to imprisonment for life. He was released the year after.
So far the people of Iceland were victorious Iceland
had never spoken more clearly or with better right as
a single community. But Bishop Ogmund had to meet
a greater danger than the violence of Didrik and the
other ruffians. His coadjutor, Gizur, then in Denmark,
landic case

King that Ogmund stood

mean Danish it is the old name for the
old Norse language. The ambiguity may have been calculated, so as
The Icelanders address the king as King of
not to offend the King.
Norway and acknowledge the laws of Norway, not of Denmark.
is

said to have persuaded the

"
" Danish
does not
tongue

162
in the

Saga-Book

of

the

Viking Society.

of the Gospel.

In the spring of 1541 he

man-of-war, with Christopher Hvitfeldt,
the commissioner, and set himself busily to collect as

way

came out

in a

much

as possible of Bishop Ogmund's goods.

The
story is pretty fully told from the report of eye-witnesses, and there is a letter of Gizur himself which

shows how

any witness was from exaggerating.

Bishop Ogmund was staying with his sister at Hjalli
when the Danes came upon him. They roused him
from his bed, and took him out to the courtyard in his
long nightgown, but allowed him after that to put his
far

then they collected as much as they could

His sister, Asdis, tried to keep hold of
him, but they pulled her away, put the old Bishop on
a horse and brought him off to the ship.
How the
Bishop's silver was taken is told particularly on very
clothes on

of his silver.

good authority.
silver, and sent

The Bishop promised

to give

up

his

Einar
for the priest Einar to fetch it.
went
the
son
tells
the
to
see
Bishop
(whose
Egil
story)
on board the ship, got his letter and seal as warrant,
for Hjalli along with six Danes and
Asdis gave them the keys of the money
chest, and they swept everything into a sack, dollars,
nobles, Rhenish guldens, cups and pots and all, so
"
"
left.
that there was not a single
liibeck
They took
even the rims of the drinking horns. Asdis claimed
a brooch as her own, and it was given up to her. But
the Bishop was not released. They repented about the
brooch, and said they must have it too and the Bishop
sent a letter to his sister, and the Danes took the letter,
and brought the brooch away. But the Bishop was
not allowed to land again he was taken to Denmark,

and then started

Egil, his son.

and died there. King Christian was not well pleased

at the work of his servants.
J6n Egilsson, whose father and mother, Egil and
Katrin, both saw something of this affair, was told
by his grandfather, Einar, of a letter, written by
"
not to let the old fox
some one to the Commissioner,

Jon Arason.

163

go"; at which Christopher Hvitfeldt shook his head,

apparently not liking the style of his correspondent.
The

letter is extant, and the writer was the new Bishop

Gizur.
It is worth quoting in full, as a document of
the Reformation.
It appears that to do things thor1

oughly Gizur had gone with Claus van Marwitz (who

had not yet been recalled) to another house of
Ogmund's in Haukadal to make a search there. The
letter is written in Low German, which may thus be
translated

"

IHS.

I
Salutem per Christum.
do your worI
that
have
been with
know, good Christopher,
Claus van Marwitz in Haukadal, but there was nothing
there of silver plate or any such stuff, nothing worth a
mite, except one small silver cup about an ounce weight
everything had been carried off before, as the old one
can tell you if he will. And there was nothing here

ship to

any worth, but all cleared away together, as

Claus can inform you. Further, good Christopher, see
to it that you do not let the fox loose on land again,
now that he is safe in your keeping, for if he were to
land the people might raise an uproar. It is not advisable that he should come to the Althing, since many
If possible, I will come
of his adherents will be there.
to speak with you, three or four days before the
at all of

Althing.
"

The

blessing of Almighty God be with you eterin haste in Haukadal, the Eve of Whit-

Written

nally.

sunday, A.D. 1541.

"

GIZURUS EINARI,

"

"

To

Superintendens Schalholt.
and
discreet
honourable
the
Christopher Hvit-

G."
this letter with all speed.
of Sira
evidence
on
the
to
believe,
pleasant

feldt, &c.,
It

is

Einar, that Christopher was disgusted when he read

those evangelical sentences. The author of them,, it
Printed

in Safn,

i.,

128.

Saga-Book

164

the

of

Viking Society.

should be remembered, was the scholar who translated

the Protestant ordinance of 1538 from Latin into the
vernacular tongue
his version has lately appeared,
together with the Latin original, in the Diplomatarium
Islandicum.
Jon Arason, who had taken his full share in the
condemnation of Claus van Marwitz, and who might
have been expected to go further, was suddenly checked
by the appearance of the Danish force and the removal
He seems to have felt that the
of Bishop Ogmund.
proper course for him was to temporise, and if possible
He was on his
to fend off the detestable ordinance.
way to the Althing when he heard of Ogmund's
he stopped at Kalmanstunga and went no
captivity
further.
On the ayth June he wrote forbidding all
:

action against the diocese of Holar, and appealing to

the Council of Norway. He also wrote in bolder terms

sorry that he had been prevented by his

coming to an interview he was ready to
if it were approved by the Catholic
the
ordinance
accept
Church and the Chapter of Nidaros. The King
to Christopher

friends from

summoned

the two Icelandic Bishops to Copenhagen.

of course
Jon of Holar asked to be

Gizur went,

excused, and sent three proctors, his son Sigurd, Canon

of Nidaros, being one (1542).
They did homage to the
and
swore
to
the
ordinance, and returned in 1543.
King,
refused
to
be
bound
Jon
by their oath. But he did not
active
resistance, except in so far as he
attempt any

went on his way neglecting the new religion nusquam

non more Papisiico infantum confirmationes missas
;

lustrationes et dedicationes celebravit aliaque

ejus farinae postliminio introducere allaboravit, to quote
the learned historian of the Church in Iceland. Jon did

inferias

not quarrel openly with Gizur. The malignant may be

"
"
the superintendent of
teach
sorry that he did not
or
at
him
consider it possible
ask
to
Skalholt,
any rate
that he might be mistaken.

But Jon Arason must not be misunderstood through

his heroic death or

Jon Arason.

165

through his spiritual songs.

He

was not a blameless heroic martyr; he was a hero like

the men of the heroic age, working with craft and
policy, and sometimes with violence, and often for very
worldly ends. His fall came about through his likeness
to his ancestors; he

the methods

known

and he came

made

the fortune of his family

hundred or

three

five

by

hundred years

through a mistake about the

The other " big
worldly adversary.
strength
"
buck
(to repeat the familiar Icelandic term), Dadi
Gudmundsson, won the match, and did not spare his
enemy when he had got him down.
earlier,

of

to ruin

The story is as complicated as an}' of the feuds in

Sturlunga. It is part of the great law case of Teit of
Glaumbas, which begins in 1523, and goes on for a
century. It may be enough to say here that the Bishop
and his sons took the old methods of getting their own
7

particulars are extant of the effect of their raids, including the loss of the pepper-mill and the mustard-mill

already mentioned. The monotonous history comes to

a head in the rivalry between Bishop Jon and Dadi

Gudmundsson.
Dadi was one of the powerful men of the West, and
has left his name in tradition. It may be taken perhaps
another proof of the Icelandic impartiality that
tradition accepts with favour both the rivals, and has
not made Dadi into a monster or a murderer on account

as

of the

beheading of Jon.
Gizur Einarsson died in the Lent of 1548. At that
time Bishop Jon's spirits were high, and he was enjoying the old sport of raiding. He had let Gizur alone,
But the vacancy of the see was
for sufficient reasons.
an opportunity not to be missed and when Martin,
;

brother-in-law of Dadi, appeared as the

Superintendent, the temptation was irresistible.

the

new

Martin seems to have been an amiable man, without

He had been
distinction, except as a painter.

much
1

See Jon Arnason, f>j63sogur,

ii.,

121,

66

Saga-Book

winter

the

Viking Society.

he took Orders. He was conPalladius

at
Easter,
1549; having spent the
by
in Copenhagen studying evangelical divinity

engaged
secrated

of

in trade before

Dr. Hans Machabeus, i.e., John MacAlpine,

some time Prior of the Black Friars in Perth, now a
famous Professor of Theology in Denmark. Martin
with

seems to have been treated in rather a condescending

and patronising way by the great Protestant Theobut he got his certificate in good time.
Protestant clergy in the diocese of Skalholt were
fairly strong, and the Bishop of Holar had not made
much way there when Martin arrived. In a raid to the
West, along with his two sons Sira Bjorn and Ari the
logians

The

Lawman, he picked up the new Bishop of Skalholt and

Parson Arne Arnorsson, who as officialis of Skalholt in
had not been pliable. He hoped also to
hold
of
Dadi, and there was a chance of success.
get
But warning was given in time the story as told in one
the vacancy

the

of

memoirs

is

not

far

below the

level

of

the

older Sagas.
It describes the evening at Stadarstad,
Martin's house on the south of the Snaefell promontory.
As the Bishop's sons were sitting there, talking too
freely about their plans, a man came in and sat near the

no one paying him much attention, till as the

dark drew on he stole away. Then he was missed;
then it was asked who was the man sitting at the door
saying nothing; and where had he gone? They looked
for him and called but all they saw was a man riding a
good black horse hard over the moor. He was one of
Dadi's men, riding the famous horse of which other
stories were told long after.
Naturally, when the
Bishop and his sons came to Dadi's house at Snoksdal,'
their adversary was ready for them, and they had to be
content with their clerical prisoners.
Bishop Martin
door,

received

winter;
1

ii.,

doubtful

sort

of

hospitality during that

1
someat table;

sometimes he was a guest

story told in the Annals of Bjorn of SkarSsa

P- 387-

is

translated C.P.B.

Jon Arason.

167

times he was set to beat stockfish.

Parson Arne was
for a time penned in a place of little ease;
Bishop Jon

made scoffing rhymes about him.

Arne comes into a curious passage

memoirs

of the

of

Jon Egilsson. Bishop Jon Arason had excommunicated Dadi

it
happened that Parson Arne came to
Snoksdal the very day that the curse was recited at
H61ar. He and Dadi Gudmundsson were together.
;

Then there came so violent hiccup on Dadi that he

was amazed it was like as if the breath were going out
of him.
Dadi said then
'

'

Of me now there is word

Where I do not sit at board.'

Arne answered
I
will tell you how.
There is
word of you at Holar because Bishop J6n is now
Dadi Gudmundsson said:
putting you to the ban.'
You shall have five hundred from me if you manage
so that it shall not touch me.' Arne says
That will I
not do for any money, however much, to put myself so
in pawn.'
But Dadi Gudmundsson kept on beseeching
him, and Arne then says that he will make the venture
'

'

'

for our old acquaintance sake, but there will be a load

to carry yet, I misdoubt me.'
Then both of them went
to the church, and Arne stayed without, and Dadi

Gudmundsson went in. Arne bolted the door on

Then he stayed long outside, and at last he
opened the door, and called Dadi Gudmundsson to
come out and there he saw that a shaggy year-old pony
was running up and down by the side of a water as if
him.

he was mad. And at last the colt plunged head-first

into a hole or pool, and ended there. Arne said
Now,
friend Dadi Gudmundsson, there you can see what was
intended for you.'
'

'

Christian

In

his turn. King

the Bishop
cursing

Scholastica, 1549;

of

"he

and not regarded our

in

Holar.

Copenhagen was
(Monday after

has treated us with disrespect,

no wise. Therefore we

letters in

i68

Saga-Book

of

the

Viking Society.

outlaw the said Bishop John.") And on Tuesday after

the Conversion of St. Paul, 1550, the King writes to
the clergy of Holar to choose another Bishop.
About the same time, the Protestant Doctor Palladius
writes to Jon Arason a letter which deserves to be read
for instruction in manners, hardly less than the letter
of Gizur Einarsson already quoted.
Palladius says that he is ready to explain the
difference between the doctrines of Christ and the Pope,
if
only Jon will w rite or signify his wishes to the
Governor of Iceland. As a specimen, he offers the
statement that Christ has not commanded such things
as Papal consecrations, confirmations, masses and fasts.
He sends the prayer of Manasses, in Danish, which Jon
"
Send
(if it please him) may use with weeping tears.
r

a Suffraganeus who may stay and winter here, and then

go out to reform churches and monasteries; e.g., your

son Sigurd, or Sir Olaf Hjaltason."

"Put not your trust in the Pope; he died on St.
Martin's Eve (f Paul III., 10 Nov., 1549).
Perhaps
you have already had news of that in Iceland for Hecla
Fell often gives intimations of that nature."
Bishop Jon seems to have passed the winter comfortHis ruin came through overweening; his son Ari
ably.
;

(generally called the

Lawman) had done

keep him from more raiding

his wife

his best to

Helga thought

poorly of her son Ari for this, and stirred him in the
old-fashioned way with the present of a woman's skirt:
so that Ari went along with his father and his brother
Sira Bjorn in the last expedition.
The scene of failure is one that has come into older
history Saudafell, where Jon Arason and his sons were
taken by Dadi Gudmundsson, had been once the house
of Sturla Sighvatsson, and the raid on Saudafell by the
sons of Thorvald, in January, 1229, when the master
was away, is one of the memorable episodes in Sturlunga. It stands rather high at the mouth of a valley
;

looking North- West over the water, towards

Hvamm

Jon Arason.

169

and other famous

places, past the country of Laxdale.

Snoksdal, the house of Dadi Gudmundsson, is close
to it, below, and nearer to the sea.
Saudafell had been
one chief cause of contention between the Bishop and
Dadi both had some sort of a claim to it.
The Bishop went there in September, 1550, not as a
raider, but to keep an engagement and attend a court.
The Lawman Orm Sturluson had been asked, and had
agreed, to hold a court at Saudafell to decide the
differences between the parties.
Jon and his sons came
to Saudafell and stayed there some days.
They did not
understand their enemy; he was preparing a surprise,
;

which was thoroughly successful. The Bishop and his

two sons were taken their followers scattered, every
man his own way, except two who stood fast.
But then came perplexity for the victorious side. It
;

was October; nothing could be settled till the following

summer. The prisoners were to be kept till the
Althing.
Judgment was pronounced in a court held
at Snoksdal, October 23, 1550.
The Bishop and his
sons had been outlawed by the King; the King had
commanded Dadi to take them Christian, the deputy,
was to keep them in custody at Skalholt, with the
But
assistance of Martin, till the Althing in summer.
North
it was not
the
to
them
safe
the
men
of
easy
keep
might be expected to come and rescue their Bishop.
They were removed to Skalholt, as the court had
decided. Christian, the Governor's deputy, who had
come to Snoksdal at once after the capture, was always
in consultation with Dadi.
Then at last some one said
the inevitable word: "Let the earth keep them."
Bishop Jon Arason and Bjorn and Ari, his sons, were
beheaded at Skalholt on the Friday after Hallowmas,
November yth, 1550.
How they bore themselves was clearly remembered.
It has already been told how
Jon Arason answered the
poor well-meaning minister who warned him against
It was long before
idolatry, and spoke of a future life.
;

Saga-Book

170

of the

Viking Society.

the Reformers gave up their unnecessary consolations;

Mary Queen of Scots had to endure the same sort of

importunity.
"
Ari was the most regretted of the three.
into this game against my will, and willingly

went
leave

it."

The Bishop remembered the poor of his diocese; he

always gave away supplies in spring, and now sent a
message to Holar to take care this should not be forHe also made an epigram
gotten.
What is the world ? a bitter cheat,
:

If

Danes must

When
And

The

lay

sit

step forth

my

head

on the judgment-seat,
my death to meet,

at the King's feet.

bodies of the three were at Skalholt

all winter;
spring of 1551 they were brought home to the
North like the relics of martyrs.
Vengeance had already been taken for them, and it
was Jon's daughter Thorun who set it going.

in the

Among

the

men

of the

North who went South

for the

fishing that winter were some who meant to have the

life of Christian, the Danish deputy.
They got him at

Kirkjubol, out at the end of Rosmhvalanes, and

surrounded the house, wearing hoods and masks a
modern precaution.
Before breaking into the house
"
Yes, break
they asked and got leave from the owner
:

you pay for it after." Christian and some other

Danes were killed. It was reported that they came
back from their graves, which made it necessary to dig
them up and cut their heads off, with further preventive

away,

if

measures.

Ships of war came out, too

the

commander who was

late

and

sent from

it is

notable that

Denmark

to bring
Bishop Jon Arason before King Christian III. was the
same Kristoffer Trondsson (a great sea-captain in his
day) who had enabled Archbishop Olaf Engelbrektsson
of Nidaros to escape from Norway to the Netherlands,
in April, 1537, out of the same King's danger.

Jon Arason.

171

The case against Jon Arason is found in the form of

a speech supposed to have been delivered by Christian,
the Danish deputy, in Skalholt, the day before the
beheading of the Bishop and his sons. This is scarcely
less remarkable than the letter of Gizur Einarsson as
an historical document of the Reformation. The following
"

is

good sample

Likewise

it

Bishop John and

is

known

to

many gentlemen how

his sons have set themselves to

oppose

the native people of this land, who have been at cost to

venture over sea and salt water, sailing to transact their

due business before our gracious lord the King, and

many of them for their long voyage and their trouble
have received letters from his Majesty, some upon
monasteries, some upon royal benefices, which same
letters of his Majesty might no longer avail or be made
effective by no means', but as soon as they came here to
Iceland Bishop John and his sons have made the King's
letters null and void, and many a poor man has had his
long journey for nothing and all in vain."
On the other hand, it must be observed that with the
exception of some contemporary rhymes upon his death
none of the records which bring out the heroic character
of Jon Arason were written by Catholics.
The curious
impartiality of the old Icelandic historians is still found
working with regard to the Protestant Reformation,
and it is Lutheran opinion in Iceland that thinks of
J6n Arason as a martyr.
W. P. KER.
Additional Note.
In Nordtsk Tidskrijt for Bok och Biblioteksvdsen I.
(1914) Isak Collijn of Stockholm reports the discovery and gives
plates of 2 leaves of the lost Breviarium Nidrosiense, printed at Holar.
I 534. for
Bishop Jon Arason by Jon Mathiasson the Swede.
i

SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE IN THE

PLACE-NAMES OF NORTHUMBERLAND

AND DURHAM.
BY

PROFESSOR ALLEN MAWER,

M.A.,

Vice-Presitlent.

most striking features of present-day

philological study in England and on the Continent is the attention which is being paid to
the history and development of our English placenames. These studies are of interest not only for the
light they throw on certain philological questions, but
also and for many this is their chief interest

ONE

of the

because of the help they give in the solution of certain

questions of historical or social interest. Recent study
of the place-names of Northumberland and Durham
has suggested the possibility that the history of the
place-names of these two counties may serve to throw

some

however dim, on the very difficult problem

and character of the Scandinavian settleNorth-east England. Attacks by Vikings on

light,

of the extent

ments in
Northern England began before the close of the eighth
century, but it was not until after the middle of the
ninth century that Northumbria fell definitely under
their power. At first the invaders contented themselves
with Northumbria south of the Tyne, but in 875
Healfdene sailed up the Tyne and devastated the whole
of Northern Northumbria. In the same year Northumbria was divided among his followers, and they began
to plough and cultivate it.
His kingdom came to a
violent end in 877, and then, after a six years' interregnum, the rule passed into the hands of Guthred1

Note.

The

part of this paper, so far as it deals with

an expansion of a paper contributed to Essays and

earlier

Northumberland,

is

Studies presented to William Ridgeway,

Cambridge, 1913, pp. 306-14.

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

173

Cnut, a prince of undoubted Scandinavian origin.

Guthred-Cnut's kingdom extended over the whole of
Northumbria, and he was followed by other princes
Siefred and Sitric who were connected with the
Scandinavian kingdom of Dublin. The authority of
these kings centred at York, and it is probable that
from 885 onwards the portion of Northumbria covered

by the present county of Northumberland was once

more under the rule of English earls, acknowledging
Alfred's authority and holding Hamburgh as their
,

In the reign of Edward the elder (c. 915) a

fresh Norse invasion from Ireland took place under

capital.

Ragnall.

He

invaded Northumberland, and was vic-

torious in a battle at Corbridge-on-Tyne against

of Bamburgh, and Constantine of Scotland.
his victory Ragnall
into his possession,

Eadred
After

advanced on York, which he took

and at the same time he divided

lands of St. Cuthbert, (the territory covering

roughly the east and south portions of the county of
Durham), between his two chief followers, Scula and
Onlafbald. From this time (c. 921) down to the middle
of the tenth century a succession of kings of Norse
origin held sway in Northumbria, the last being Eric
Blood-axe, finally expelled in 952 or 954.
One of the many problems connected with the study
of this Scandinavian kingdom of Northumbria is the
real extent and character of the Norse and Danish
have seen that in 875 Healfdene is
settlements.
said to have divided Northumbria among his followers
in the same way that East Anglia and Northern Mercia
were portioned out among the Viking settlers there,
but the fact that Ragnall, after his victories in 928,

the

We

made an assignment
would

suggest

of large portions of co. Durham,

that
Northern Northumbria

either

(Northumberland and Durham) had never been settled

in the same way as Northumbria south of the Tees,
or else that there had been some resurgence of
the old Anglian element leading to the ousting of the

Saga-Book

174

of the

Viking Society.

invaders from their hastily acquired land, at least in

Northumbria.
An examination of the place-names of Northumbria
supports this idea. It reveals wide differences in the

proportionate distribution of place-names of Scandinavian origin over Northumbria as a whole, and the
general result of this study, it may be stated at the outset, is to confirm the scanty evidence of history and
compel us to draw a definite line of demarcation between
the counties of Northumberland and Durham, on the
one hand, and the remaining counties of the old king-

dom on

the other.

these other counties

Of

the Scandinavian element in

not

my

purpose to speak,
comparison but the intensely
Scandinavian character of the place-nomenclature of
almost the whole of Yorkshire, of great portions of
it

is

except for purposes of

Lancashire, of Cumberland and Westmoreland, is

evident even from the most cursory examination of the

modern map, and is made yet more clear if we study

works dealing with the actual history of these names,
such as Prof. Wyld's book on the Place-names of
Lancashire, and Prof. Moorman's on those of the West
Riding, or even better, for our purpose, the recently
published work of Dr. Lindkvist on M.E. Place-names
of Scandinavian origin, of which the first part is all
that has at present appeared.
Let us now examine in detail the place-names of
Northumberland and Durham, with a view to deterIn estimating
mining the Scandinavian element.
Scandinavian influence in place nomenclature two
methods may be adopted (i) the rough and ready one
of studying the modern ordnance map, and attempting
to form an immediate and (in more senses than one)
:

number of names containing

Scandinavian elements; (2) the more accurate and satisfactory one of collecting the M.E. forms of all the placesuperficial estimate of the

names
history

of any particular district, establishing their

and development, and finally determining those

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

which may

definitely be stated to be of

175

Scandinavian

In the case of the two counties at least which

origin.

we have under

present consideration both these methods

have their value, for the counties of Northumberland
and Durham stand somewhat apart from the rest of

England

in the character

and extent

of the

documen-

tary evidence which we have for the early forms of

Both alike have practically no
their place-names.
charters belonging to pre-conquest times, a misfortune
which they share, with but few- exceptions, with the

whole of England north of the Humber, and neither

county is mentioned in Domesday. Northumberland
has several valuable cartularies belonging to post-conquest times, and there are abundant references in the
national records, but, unfortunately, there were large
regalities within her borders where the king's writ
seldom ran, and for these districts the evidence is at
times scanty or insufficient.
Norhamshire, Island-

and Bedlingtonshire belonged to the Palatinate

Bishopric of Durham, and though there are some valu-

shire

Still
able early charters there are lamentable gaps.
more unfortunate is the case of the large district of
Hexhamshire, once a regality under the rule of the
Archbishop of York. There the early records are very

and

more

to be regretted as, to judge

Scandinavian
nomenclature,
influence may at one time have been a good deal
stronger here than in the rest of the county.
County Durham itself is in even worse case. She
has, of course, her Domesday Book, in the form of
Boldon Book, but invaluable as that work is for the
understanding of her social and economic history, it is
of comparatively little use for our purpose; for though

scarce,

from

the

it

is

the

present-day

Boldon Book was compiled

in the twelfth

century there

are no copies extant of earlier date than the fourteenth

century, with the result that place-names are recorded
in very late forms, for the transcribers have for the most
part given

them the forms current

in their

own

time.

176

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

There are some valuable eleventh and twelfth century

charters belonging to the bishopric, and the records
of Durham Priory are full and valuable, but a vast mass
early material concerned with the history of the
Palatinate has disappeared through the vandalism of

of

bishops and others, and we are, unfortunately, very

scantily supplied with documentary evidence for those
parts of county Durham in the extreme west, where,
to judge from the present-day map, the influence was
It is peculiarly advisable, therefore, in the
strongest.
case of these counties, and more so in Durham than
in
Northumberland, to endeavour to eke out the

deficiencies of ancient material

by a

careful use of the

modern ordnance map.

In the case of each county we will deal first with the
comparatively certain material to be found in documents of the M.E. period. It should be added here
that one or two names which have often been regarded
as evidence of Scandinavian influence can no longer be
used as such after examination of their M.E. forms.
This applies especially to the two examples of beck
which may be found in the county. The Wansbeck is
early documents written as Wanespic, Waneor
some kindred form, showing clearly that the
spike,
modern spelling is due to folk, or antiquarian, influin

all

ence, while Bulbeck Common, above Blanchland, is so

called from the great barony of Bulbeck, of which it

once formed part. The first baron of Bulbeck took his

title from Bolbec, a Norman village near the mouth of
the Seine, and though the name is ultimately of Scandinavian origin, it is, of course, no mark of Viking
settlement in England.
One other example of -beck
may be found in the form Fullbek, in the Newminster
Cartulary,

but

the

name has disappeared from

the

modern map and is of little importance. The placenames will be grouped as far as possible according to
their geographical distribution.
of the chief abbreviations used

The following
:

is

list

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

177

Placitorum abbreviatio.
Assize Rolls for Northumberland (Surtees Soc.).
Attestatio Test arum (v. F.P.D.).
Att. Test.

Abbr.
Ass.

Boldon Book (Surtees Soc.).

Bjorkman. Z.A.N. (Zur Altenglischen Namenkunde), N.P. (Nordische
Personennamen).
B.B. H. Black Book of Hexham (Surtees Soc.).
B.B.

Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum.

C.S.

Brinkburn Cartulary (Surtees Soc.).

B.M. ('barters and Rolls in British Museum.
Ch. Calendar of Charter Rolls.
Cl. - Calendar of Close Rolls.
D.B. Domesday Book.
Durh. Acct. Rolls. (Surtees Soc.).
D.S.T. Historiae Dunelmensis Scriptores Tres (Surtees Soc.).
E.D.D. -English Dialect Dictionary.
F.A. Feudal Aids.
F.P.D. Feodarium Prioratns Dunelmensis (Surtees Soc.).
Brkb.

Finch.

Finchale Cartulary (Surtees Soc.).

Archbishop Gray's Register (Surtees Soc.).

H. Hodgson's Northumberland.
Hatf. Bishop Hatfield's Survey (Surtees Soc.).
H.P. Hexham Priory (Surtees Soc.).
H.S.C. History of St. Cuthbert (v. S.D.).
Inquisitiones ad quod damnum.
Inq. a.q.d.
Ipm. Calendar of Inquisitions post mottem.
Iter.
Her de Wark (Hartshorne's Feudal Antiquities).
Gray.

N orsk-islandska Dopnamn.
'

Lind.

M.E. place-names of Scandinavian origin.

Moorman. Place-names of the West Riding (Thoresby
N.E.D. New English Dictionary.
Lindkvist.

Newm.

Newminster Cartulary (Surtees

Soc.).

Soc.).

Rotulorum originalium abbreviatio.

Orig.
Pat.
Calendar of Patent Rolls.
Perc.
Pipe.

Q.W.

Percy Cartulary (Surtees Soc.).

Pipe Rolls (Pipe Roll Society, Hodgson's Northumberland).
Phcita quo Warranto.

Red Book of the Exchequer.

R.C.Rotuli Cartarum.
R.H. Rotuli Hundredorum.
R.B.E.

Reg. Bp. K. Register of Bishop Kellaw (v. R.P.D.).

R.P.D. Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense, Rolls Series.
Rygh. Indl. (Indledning til Norske Gaardnavne), G.P. (Gamle Personnavne i Norske Gaardnavne), N.G. (Norske Gaardnavne).
S.D. Simeon of Durham (Rolls Series).
S.R. Subsidy Rolls (MS.).
Swinb. Swinburn Charters (Hodgson's Northumberland).
Tax. Taxatio Ecclesiastica.
Testa.

Testa de Neville.

Tynemouth Cartulary (Gibson's Tynemouth).

Wickwane. Abp. Wickwane's Register (Surtees Soc.).
Ty.

Wyld.

Place-names of Lancashire.

Saga-Book

178

of the

Viking Society.

The basin of the Till and its tributaries

AKELD (Kirknewton). 1169 Pipe Achelda;

1176 Pipe
Hak'elda; 1229 Pat. Akeld; 1255 Ass. Akil, Akyl,
Akyld; 1216-1307 Testa Akild', Akyld' ; 1346, 1428

F.A. Akyld.

and kelda, well, spring. The second

used in the Northumberland dialect of a
marshy place, and also of the still part of a lake or
river which has an oily smoothness (E.D.D.).
Akeld
lies on the edge of the well-marked valley of the Glen,
and Akeld Steads lies low, by the river itself cf.
Wyld, p. 363, and Keld in Swaledale (Yo.). The first
"
element is found also in Aby (Lines.),
the -by on the
Great Eau (or river)." The O.N. a is found as M.E. a,

O.N.

"stream
(v.

river,

a,

element

is

or

watercourse,"

in

mediaeval

documents

N.E.D.).

COUPLAND (Kirknewton).

1216-1307 Testa Coupland;

Couplaund; 1323 Ipm. Coupelande;
1346, 1450, F.A. Coupland.
This name is explained by Lindkvist (pp. 145-6). It
is the O.W.Sc. kaupa-land, land gained by purchase
= kaupa-jor$) opposed in a way to oftals-jorfi, an allo(
dial estate. Only one example of its use is to be found
in O.W.Scand., viz., in Biskopa Sogur.
Lindkvist
notes its occurrence here and in Copeland (Cumb.). It
is also to be found in Copeland House (co. Durham)
(v. infra), and probably in the Copeland Islands, off
Belfast Lough.
CROOKHAM (Ford). 1244 Ch. Crucum; 1254 Ipm.
Crukum; 1273 R.H. Cruchu' ; 1304 Ch. Crukum;
1340 Ch. Crocum; 1346, 1428 F.A. Crokome.
"
At the windings." The dat. pi. of O.N. krokr, a
1255

Ass.

crook or winding.

According to Rygh (Indl. p. 62)

often refers to the bends of a river, a sense which
would suit Crookham well, for it stands on the banks
it

of the Till,
here.

which takes an unusually tortuous course

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

179

CROOKHOUSE (Kirknewton). 1323 Ipm. Le Croukes.

The nom. pi. corresponding to the dat. pi. found in
Crookham (v. supra). The name may have borne reference to the winding course of the Bowmont Water at
Crookes (Moorman, p. 53).
1189 Abbr. Hilderton; 1228 Att.

this point

cf.

ILDERTON.

lldertone;

1255

Ass.

Hild&rton,

Ilderton;

Test.
1291

Hilderton; 1311 Reg. Bp. K. Ildirtone ;

1216-1307 Testa Hildirton; 1336 Ch. Ildretona,
Hildreton; 1346 F.A. Hillerton, Ildreton, Hildreton-f 1428 F.A. Ilderton.
The history of this name is given by Lindkvist (pp.
10-11), viz., that it is the tun of a woman bearing the
Scandinavian name Hild. Hilder- is the gen. form
Hildar of this name. It is also found as the first element in Hinderwell (Yo.), earlier HUder-welle* and
Hilderclay (Suff.). For the loss of initial h we may
compare the history of Oakington (Cambs.). Skeat
(Place-names of Cambridgeshire, p. 16) remarks that

Tax.

all

the early spellings point to

element

INGRAM.

if

in this

Hoeing- as the

first

name.

1255 Ass.

Angram; 1283 Ipm. Hangrham,

Angeharm; 1291 Tax. Angerham; 1216-1307 Testa
Angerham; 1306 R.P.D. Angirham; 1324 Ipm.
Angerham; 1346 F.A. Angram; 1428 F.A. Ayngramme ; 1507 D.S.T. ccccvi. Yngram.
For this name v. Angerton infra. It is very doubtful
this name shows Scandinavian influence.

Bamburgh and

district

LUCKER.

1167-9 Pipe Lucre; 1255 Ass. Lucre; 1288

Locre
;
1216-1307 Testa Lukre ; 1290 Abbr.
Ipm.
Loker; 1307 Ch. Lucre; 1314 Ipm. Louker ; 1346
F.A. Loker; 1379 Ipm. Loker<&.
"
The second element is M.F. ker, " a marshy place
"
< O.N. kiarr,
ground of a swampy nature overgrown
with brushwood." The first element may be O.N. 16,

a sandpiper.

The sandpiper

specially

frequents

flat

180

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

places, such as are often found near the seaThis description would suit the actual site of

marshy
shore.

Lucker.

RENNINGTON.
1104-8 S.D. Reiningtun; 1175 Pipe
Renninton; 1255 Ass. Renington; 1256 Ch. Renigton; 1216-1307 Testa Renigton; 1307 Ch. Renington; 1314 Ipm. Renington.
ultimate history of this name would seem to be
settled by the passage in Simeon of Durham (Vol. I.,

The

pp. 65, 80), which says that Franco, one of the bearers
"
body of St. Cuthbert (c. 880)
pater erat Reina
ilia
condiderat
villa
gualdi,
quo
quam
Reiningtun est
The
name
is
doubtless the
appellata."
Reingualdus
Latinised form of the O.N. name Rqgnvaldr, borne by
more than one Viking chieftain in England and Ireland. The name Franco is certainly not of Scandinavian origin, so that probably Reingualdus was
Scandinavian only on his mother's side. The history
of the form is difficult unless we assume that the name
Regenw eald or Rasgenald, the Anglicised form of
O.N. Rqgnvaldr was in use also in the short form
Regin or Rein, whence the patronymic Reining was
formed.
of the

HOWICK.

1230

Haivyk;

1281

Pat.

Haivic ;

1278

Ass. Hawick.
1288 Ipm.

Wickwane Hoivyk' ;

Ho-wick; 1291 Tax. Hoisoyk; 1311 Reg. Bp. K.

Houivyk; 1318 Inq. aqd. Howyke, Oivike ; 1340
Pat. Hoivyke ; 1359 Cl. Houivyk; 1374; Durh.
Acct. Rolls Hawyk; 1375 ib. Hoivik.
This name is explained by Lindkvist (pp. 182-3) as

from O.N. hdr, hor, "high," and vik, "creek, inlet,

bay," and he compares it with the Norw. Haavik,
which is found in several localities and has different
origins, but refers sometimes to a shore skirted with
high mountains or some (steep) acclivity on the shore.
The early prevalence of forms w ith o may have been
helped by memories of O.E. hdh, M.E. ho(ive) "a
r

promontory."

Scandinavian Influence

in

Place-Names.

181

DKNWICK.

1278 Ass. Dencivick; 1288 Ipm. Dene-wick,

1216-1307 Testa Demayk; 1334 Pat. Denevvyk.
The " wick " or dwelling-place in the valley (O.K.

denu)

or,

possibly, of the

BROTHERWICK.

Danes (O.K. Dend).

Ipm. Brothirwike; 1275 Ipm.

Brothirivyk; 1216-1307 Testa Brother-wick; 1273
R.H. Broyer-wyk.
The " wick " or dwelling-place of a Scandinavian
settler named Broftir.
This is a well-established Norse
1251

and Danish personal name. The corresponding English name, Broftir, is only found in the nth century,
and may well be due to Scandinavian influence.
Bjorkman (Z.A.X., p. 27) finds the same element in
Brotherton (Yo.) and Brothertoft (Lines.). The name
is
common in Danish place-names. Nielsen (Old
-danske

Personnavne, p. 13), gives Brarup (earlier

Brothcerthorp), Brotherstedt, Brodersby, Brorstrup.

The

basin of the Coquet and

BRINKBURN.

1216-27

Brinckeburn

its

tributaries

Newm. Brinkeburn;

1259 Ch.

1252

Ch.
Ass.

Brinkeburn; 1255
;
Brinkeburn; 1313 R.P.D. Brenkeburn; 1507
D.S.T. cccciv. Brenkeburn.
"
The place on the steep sloping banks of the burn,"
It is doubtful if the element
here the R. Coquet.
Brink- is necessarily evidence for Scandinavian influence v. Brenkley infra.
1099-1128 H.P. Routhebiria; 1176 Pipe
Robirei, Roberi; 1200 R.C. Robery ; 1203 R.C.
Robery ; 1204 R.C. Rodbery ; 1210-2 R.B.E.
Roburiam; 1212 R.C. Roubir ; 1219 Pat. Roobiry ;

ROTHBURY.

1228 Cl. Robir; 1228 Pat. Rothebiry ; 1248 Ipm.

1255 Ass. Roubir, Rowebyr ; 1258-9

Roubiri;

Newm. Routhbiry ;

1271 Ch. Rodebir, Robery;

Tax. Routhebyr; 1331 Perc. Routhcbiry ;
1346 F.A. Rotnebury, Routhbery.
1291

The explanation of this name is given by Lindkvist

The first element is O.W.Sc. rowo>, "red,"

(pp. 158-9).

182

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

the diphthong aw being regularly represented in M.E.

by ou the second element is the common suffix -bury.
"
fortrepresenting the dative singular of O.K. burg,
ress, castle," etc., and the name of the place was
originally "at the red fort." It is of hybrid formation.
;

THROPTON (Rothbury).

1176 Pipe Tropton; 1248 Ipm.

Tropton; 1216-1307 Testa Thropton; 1309 Ipm.
Thropton; 1334 Perc. Thorp ton; 1346 F.A.
Thropton.
"
The farm by the thorp." O.E. and O.N. Porptun.
Throp is a fairly common metathesised form of
thorp,

Heythrop
Danish,
thorp in

Hill

Throp

cf.

((Oxf.).
cf.

(in

Hos-trup,

is found
For the use

metathesis

Vam-drup.

Northumberland

Dunthrop and

Mitford),

The same

in

of

v. infra, p.

SKITTER (Rothbury).
1176 Pipe Snittera; 1175 Pipe
S niter e ; 1248 Ipm. Snither ; 1278 Ass. Snytre,
Snyter; 1309 Ipm. Snytir ; 1334 Perc. Snytir ; 1346
F.A. Snytie ; 1439 Ipm. Snyter.
For the Scandinavian origin of this element, which
is found also in Snetterton (Norf.), Snitterby (Lines.),
Snitterfield

(Warw.),

Snitterton

(Norf.), v. Essays and Studies by

lish Association, Vol IV., p. 66.

(Derbys.),

members

Snitterley
of the Eng-

1245 Brkb. Bykerton; c. 1247 Newm.

Bikerton ; 1266 Ass. Bikerton, Bykertone ; 12161307 Testa Bikerton; 1346 F.A. Bikerton; 1428

BICKERTON.

F.A. Beke'rton.
For the history of this name and its Scandinavian
origin v. Essays and Studies, u.s., p. 59.
PLAINFIELD.

The

first

1272

Newm.

element

is

Flaynefeld.

fairly certainly of

Scandinavian

origin, ay representing the common O.N. diphthong ei.

"
It would seem to be the O.N. flcinn,
a pike, an arrow,
"
or the fluke of an anchor
O.E.
flan), and Flayne(=

may have meant

originally a field whose shape

the
fluke
of
an anchor. Less probably the
suggested

feld

Scandinavian Influence
first

element

may

in

Place-Names

be an O.N. personal name.

183

Fleinn

was the name

the

name

is

of a gth century skald (Lind. s.v.), and

also found as a nickname in Aeirikr flczin.

(G.P., p. 272) finds this name also in the Norse

place-name Flensiad. The modern name would seem to

Rygh

be due to the substitution of a form more easily capable

of explanation.

ROTHLEY.

1233-4 Pipe Rotheleg ; 1255 Ass. Rotheley,

Rotheleg; 1271 Ch. Rotheley, Rothelay ; 12161307 Testa Rotheley; 1346 F.A. Rotheley.
The first element in this name may be the same as
that in Rothbury, but the absence of any M.E. spelling
with ou makes such an etymology difficult of acceptance. Otherwise it may be for O.K. Hroftan-leah, the
of a man Hrofta, that being a shortened or pet
form of one of the numerous Old English names of
which HroS- is the first element. A very doubtful
example of Scandinavian influence.

meadow

Basin of the Wansbeck and

its

tributaries

THROP HILL (Mitford). 1166 R.B.E. Trophil;

R.H. Troppil' ; 1216-1307 Testa Throphill;
"

1273
1201

Tax. Throphill.

The

hill

by the thorp."

cf.

Thropton supra.

1267 Ipm. Trennewell; 1280 Ipm. Trane1310 Ch. Trail-well; 1316 Ipm. Tranwell ;
1323 Ipm. Trenivell, Traneivell; 1356 Cl. Tranewell; 1386 Ipm. Trenivell ; 1428 F.A. T rents) ell.

TRANWELL.
well;

For the Scandinavian origin

and vStudies, u.s., p. 68.

of this

name

v.

Essays

ANGERTON (Hartburn).
Ipm. Angerton;

1186 Pipe Angerton; 1261

1278 Ass. Angerton; 1216-1307

Testa Ang'ton; 1312 Ipm. Angirton, Angerton;

1314 Ipm. Angerton; 1346 F.A. Angerton.
For the history of this name v. Essays and Studies,
It is very doubtful if it can be considered
n.s., p. 58.
an example of Scandinavian influence.

of the

Saga-Book

184

iking Society.

FISELBY (Hartington).
1319 Pat. Fiselby ; 1378 Ipm.
Fisildene
;
;
1390 Ipm.
1396 Ipm. Fesilby ;
Fisilby
Fisilby.
1418 Ipm.
This is a place which has, unfortunately, disappeared
It seems to be a
entirely from the modern map.
clear example of the well-known Scandinavian suffix
-by, but if so it is unique in Northumberland, and it
is impossible to explain the first element from anv
known Scandinavian name.

HAWICK

1284 Ipm. Haivik; 1216-1307

(Kirkharle).
Testa Hawic ; 1346 F.A. Hauivyk.
The M.E. forms of Hawick are identical with the
a-forms of Howick (v. supra). The second element here
is probably M.E. wick, O.K. ivic, a dwelling-place,
though it may possibly be the O.N. vik, which, according to Rygh (Indl., p. 55) is sometimes applied to a
bend of a river, and was perhaps used generally in the
sense of "curve,"

"angle"

CROOKDEAN (Kirkwhelpington).
1331 Ipm. Crokden.
"
Probably the
valley

Krokr," though
crook, or twist
cf.

Wyld, pp.

it

"

(cf.

of

be

Lindkv., p. 145).

(cf.

1324 Ipm. Crokeden;

a

Norseman

named

"

the valley with or by a

Crookham, supra). For the former

may

104-5 (Crookells, Croston

Bjorkman, N.P., p. 89, and Z.A.N.,

ton (Norf.), Croxby (Lines.), Croxton

and Croxteth),

p. 58.

Cf. Crox-

(Lines.),

Croxton

(Leic.).

Basin of the Blyth and

its

tributaries

BRENKLEY

Brinchelaiva,
1177
Pipe
(Ponteland).
Brinkelaiva; 1271 Ch. Brinkelawe ; 1216-1307 Testa

Brinkelawe ; 1248 B.B.H. 115 Brinkdagh;

F.A. Brenklaive ; 1354 P ef c. Brenkelawe ;

1346
1479

B.B.H. Brenklaive.

The element Brenk-

or Brink- is of doubtful Scandinavian origin, v. Essays and Studies, u.s., p. 62.

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Barnes,

185

COWPEN (Horton). 1153-95 Brkb. Cupum a. 1197

Newm. Cupum; 1250 Newm. Copoun; 1271 Ch.
Copun; 1292 Q.W. Copun; 1295 Ty. xci. Cupun;
1216-1307 Testa Cupum; 1315 Ch. Coupon; 1346
;

F.A.

Copon; 1380 Ipm. Coivpon; 1428 F.A.

Coupoivne.
For the Scandinavian origin of this name i). Essays
and Studies,

u.s., p. 63.

OUSTON (Stamfordham).
leston; 1346

1255 Ass. Hulkeston,

Ulkil-

F.A. Ulkeston.

O.N. Ulfkell < Ulfketill (cf.

Bjorkman, N.P., p. 168, and Rygh, G.P., p. 269).
Cf. Ouston (co. Durham) infra.

The

tun of Ulkill,

The Tyne Valley

i.e.,

BYKER.

1249-50 Pipe Byker; 1259 Ipm. Bicre

1255
Bykere ; 1298 Ch. Biker; 1216-1307 Testa
Byker, Biker; 1313 Ch. Byker; 1322 Inq. aqd.
Biker; 1428 F.A. Byker.
v. Essays and Studies, u.s., p. 59.
;

Ass.

WALKER.

Walkyr; 1216-1307 Testa

Walker; 1346 F.A. Walker,
Walcar; 1428 F.A. Walker.
The low-lying marshy place by the wall." O.N.
"
kjarr,
copse wood, brushwood, especially on swampy
ground." Walker is on the low-lying ground which
Wautr-e';

1267
Ipm.
1316 Ipm.

'

slopes

down

Roman

to the Tyne just south of the line of the

wall, a little west of its terminus at Wallsend.

WHORLTON.

1323 Pat. Wherleton; 1324 Cl. Wherlton,

Wherwelton.
For the history of
ment is O.N. hvirfill,

name, in which the first eleEssays and Studies, ti.s., p. 70.

this
v.

1
Falkmann (Ortnamnen i Shane) pp. 65 and 95, derives the place-name
Vallkdrra from O.N. vollr (plain) and kiarr. This may possibly be the
source of Walker.

86

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

NAFFERTON (Ovingham). 1182 Pipe Nafferton ; 1212

R.C. Naffertone ; 1221 Pat. Nafretun; 1225 Pat.
Naffreton; 1253 Ch. Naffrcton; 1261 Ipm. Nafferton; 1263 Ipm. Natferton; 1289 Ipm. Natferton;
1216-1307 Testa Natferton; 1280 Ipm. Nafferton.
The explanation of this place-name, together with
that of Nafferton (Yo.) is given by Lindkvist (pp.
187-8) and accepted by Bjorkman (Z.A.N., p. 63),
that the first element is the O.W. Scand. name

viz.,

Ndttfari, night-traveller, found in the place-name Natt

-faravik (Lind., s.v.), and also in the place-name Naffentorp in Skane, of which the earlier form is Natfarce-

The D.B.

thorp.

Nadfartone
except

that

is
t

spelling of Nafferton in Yorkshire

nearest to the original form Ndttfaratun,

has become

d,

accordance with a

in

One objection
fairly common practice of A.N. scribes.
to this etymology however must be raised.
There is a
Worcestershire, of which the D.B.
Nadford, and whose second element must be
-ford.
Nafferton might well be for Nafford-ton, in the
same way that Brafferton (Durh.) goes back to Bradfordtuna ( = tun by the broad ford), Bretforton (Duignan,
Worcestershire Place-names, s.n.) to D.B. Bratfortune,
Swinnerton (Duignan, Staffordshire Place-names, s.n.)
place Nafford in

form

is

to Sivinforton

(= the

tun'

by the

swine-ford), Herving-

(Duignan, Worcestershire Place-names, s.n.) to

Herforton (= the tun by the army-ford). Nadford is
difficult of explanation.
It may be from O.K. Natan-

ton

ford, the ford of a

man named Ndta

Natangrafas and Wyld,

(cf.

B.C.S.

.165,

p. 193, for length of vowel),

in first element of compound

with shortening of vowel

of t to d as above.

and voicing

North Tyne and its tributaries

HAINING (Redesdale). 1304 Pat. Haynyng; 1358 Ipm.
:

Haynyng.
This place-name
In

M.E. hain

is

is probably of Scandinavian origin.

used in the sense of an enclosure or

Scandinavian Influence

in

Place-Names.

187

and Bjorkman, Scand. Loan-words (p. 242) conwith O.W.Sc. hegna, to hedge or fence, O.Sw.
hceghn, Swed. hagn, enclosure, fence or protection,
Dan. hcgn, though he points out that as the word-stem
from which it is formed was current in O.K. the word
may possibly be of native formation. In the modern
dialect of Northumberland and Durham the word hain"
the preserving of
ing (v. E.D.D.) is used to denote
grass for cattle, protected grass, any fenced field or
enclosure, a separate place for cattle," and the first part
of the word is undoubtedly the same as the M.E. hain.
The suffix -ing may be the M.E. ing, meadow, grassland, a word which is itself of Scandinavian origin, or
the word meaning
it may be the verbal suffix -ing,
of
in
the
action
or enclosing, and
hedging
originally
park,
nects

it

then being used of the enclosure

itself,

cf.

the develop-

ment of Riding, originally "a ridding or clearing,"

and then used of the actual space cleared. The word
haining is found more than once in the place-names of
both Northumberland and Durham.
1

TOFT HOUSE (Rochester). 1397 P at Toft.

One of the three examples of toft found
-

in

North-

umberland place-names, and the only one for which a

M.E. form has been found. It is from O.W. Scand.
"

a piece of ground, messuage, homestead,

"
a place marked out for a house or building
(cf. Bjorktoft,

topt,

man, Scand. Loan-words,

p. 113).

1180 Pipe Bingefeld ; 1290 Abbr. Bingefeud; 1295 S.R. Bingefeld; 1298 B.B.H. 69
Byngefeld; 1479 B.B.H. Byngfeld.
For the history of this name, in which the first ele-

BINGFIELD.

ment

is

pretty certainly Scandinavian, v. Essays

and

Studies, u.s., p. 60.

i

Steenstrup, Indledende Studier over de trldstt Danske Stednavnes Bygning,

mentions place-names of the forms Hegtieden, Hegningtn, Heined,

p. 276,

Heiningen and connects them with the O.Dan, word Hagnath used
"
land as opposed to "common"
frequently in the laws of "enclosed
land.

i88

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

GUNNERTON.

1169-70 Pipe Gunivarton ; 1255. Ass.

Cune-warton; 1269 Ipm. Goneiverton; 1270 Ipm.
Gonewarton; 1216-1307 Testa Gunivarton; 1318
Ipm. Gunwertoun; 1346 F.A. Gunwarton; 1479
B.B.H. Gunwardton, Gonivarton.

The element Gunner- in English place-names may

go back to any one of the following Norse personal
names (i) Gunnarr (m.), (2) Gunnvarfir (m.), or (3)
Gunnvor (f.) The last two names appear in D.B. in
the forms Gunivardus and Gunneuuare respectively
(Bjorkman, N.P., pp. 54-9). The old forms of Gunnerton suggest derivation from either of these last two
names if any stress may be laid on the isolated spelling, Gunivardton, the first of these two is the more
likely, but it should be noted that the Norse name
Gunnvarftr is very rare (Lind. s.v.) and Bjorkman
(N.P., p. 59) suggests that possibly the English Gunwardus is a hybrid formation, with the common English
surfix -weard.
The name Gunnvqr is found in Norse
:

place-names (Rygh, G.P., pp. 106-7).

Valley of the South

Tyne

STONECROFT HOUSE (Newbrough). 1175-6 Pipe Stancroft; 1 2th cent. B.B.H. 85 Stancroft; 1262 Ch.
Staincroft; 1298 B.B.H. 109 Stayncroft; 1325 Ipm.
Stayncroft;
Stanncroft.

"The

Ipm.

1326

Staincroft;

1327

Orig.

by some well-known stone," or "the

(p. 90) notes two forms only
and 1298 and suggests that the first ele-

croft

stony croft."
those of 1262

Lindkvist
"

a stone or rock." The forms

given above would tend to show that the name was
originally genuinely O.E., with stan as the first element, which should have given Northern English

ment

is

O.N.

Stancroft.

steinn,

During the M.E. period

substitution of the

form Stain or Stayn, derived from the O.N., took place,

under the influence of the numerous place-names with

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

189

forms like Stainton. In modern English the Northern

form Stan- has been replaced by standard English
Stone-.

HENSHAW

i2th

(Haltwhistle).

cent.

B.B.H.

85

Hedeneshalch ; 1262 Ch. Hethingisalt ; 1279 Iter.

Heinzhalu; 1299 Cal. Sc. Hethenhalc ; 1298 B.B.H.
113 Hetheneshalgh; 1316 Ipm. Hethyneshalch;
1326 Ipm. Henneshalgh ; 1328 Ipm. Hethynsalgh;
1479 B.B.H. Hennishalgh.

The

history of this

name

is

the

same as that of the

The second ele-

Yorkshire Hensall (Moorman, p. 96).

ment

is

element

the
is

O.E.

healh, a corner of land.

The

first

Moorman

as O.E. hceSenes,
"
as the
heathen's corner," that is

explained by

and the whole name

some settlement made by a Dane singled out by

his

neighbours because of his heathen faith.

Bjorkman (Z.A.N., p. 45) suggests, with more probability, that the first element is the common Old Norse
name Heftinn (cf. Bjorkman, N.P., p. 66). This is
very frequently found in Old Norse place-names
(Rygh, G.P., pp. 120-1) with the same contracted form
Christian

as in the English name.

1258 H. 2, 3, 59 n. i. Vlueston;
(Whitfield).
1279 Iter. Ulvestona.
The tun of a man named Ulf < O.N. Ulfr (= O.E.
Wulf). Oulston (Yo.) has the same origin. Ouston
in Leicestershire is from earlier Osulveston, i.e., the

OUSTON

tun of Oswulf, a genuine English name.

FEATHERSTONE. c. 1215 B.B.H. 89 Fetherstanhalcht ;
1222 Cal. Sc. Ferstonehalc ; 1255 Ass. Fetherstonelaive; 1278 Ass. Fcrstanhallu ; 1346 F. A. Fether-

stanehalgh;

1428

F.A.

Fetherstanehaugh ;

1479

B.B.H. F ether stanhalgh.

The place-name Featherstone is found in Staffordshire and also in Yorkshire. The forms of the Staffs,
place name are 994 Featherstan, D.B. Ferdestan, 1271
Fethereston, and Duignan (p. 60) suggests that the

of the

Saga-Book

igo

Viking Society.

first element is the personal name Feader, the name of

a huscarl of Harthacnut, slain at Worcester in 1014.
If so, the name is probably of Scandinavian
origin,

corresponding to O.Sw. Fadhir, O.Dan. Fathir.

name
p.

38). It occurs

Danish

in

The

(Bjo., N.P.,

D.B. as

O.N.
Fader, and

e.g.,

Fatherstorp,

Faderstrup

Fafiir is of fictitious origin in

place-names,

is

found

in

Moorman
p. 24).
this
for
the
Yorkshire
explanation
(p. 71) accepts
place(Nielsen,

Olddanske Person-navne,

name, whose early forms are D.B. Fredestan, Ferestane,

1

122 Fedrestana, 1166 Fetherstan, and Wyld (pp. 124-5)

same solution for the first element in

inclines to the

Featherstall (Lanes.).

KELLAH (Featherstone).
1279 Iter. Kellaiv ; 1479
B.B.H. Kellaw, Kellone.
The first element is possibly a shortened form of the
Old Norse name Ketill. This form is found in Kelsdaile (Lines.) (Lindkv., p. 33), in

Chelebi),

Kelsey (Lines.,

Kelby

Lines.

(Lines., D.B.,

Survey,

Chelesei),

Kelsale (Suff., F.A., Keleshale), possibly in Kelling

alternative
D.B.,
(Norf.,
Kellinga).
possible
is
that
Moorman
explanation
given by
(p. in) in
that
the
first
element
is O.N.
Kelbrook,
viz.,
explaining
kelda, a spring or well, which survives in modern
northern dialects as keld or hell. Rygh (G.P., p. 158)
notes the same possible alternatives in the explanation

some Norwegian place-names.

KNARESDALE.
1236-45 Swinb. Cnaresdale ; 1255 Ass.

of

Gnaresdale

1266

Pipe

Cnaresdale;

Knar es dale ; 1306 R.P.D. Knar es dale ;

1291

Tax.

1325 Ipm.

Knaresdale.
"

has
Hodgson (II., 3, 78) says that the place
the name from the Knar, a rough mountain torrent,
.

which

intersects the western

portion of

it

from west

torrent, however, is not the Knar but

1
Since writing the above I find that Kelloe (co. Durham), whose early
forms are for the most part identical with those of Kellah has a i2th
cent, form Celflawe = calf-hill.
Possibly that is the origin of Kellah also.
to east."

The

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Barnes.

191

Knar Burn, and that would seem to take its name

from Knar farm on its banks. The name is probably
Knardal and Knarredalen
of Scandinavian origin
the

being of frequent occurrence in Norway (Rygh., G.P.,

pp. 162-3, but Rygh is unable to explain their origin.
It is difficult to explain the first element as a personal
name, as that would not explain the neighbouring
Knar, and it is clearly not the same as in Knaresborough (Moorman, p. 118), for there is no form in d
such as Cnardesburc which would allow of its connexion
with O.K. Cenward. Rygh (X.G. I., 199) in commenting on the Norwegian place-names Knarberg, Knarlag,
Knarvik, etc., suggests that the first element may be
O.N. fengrr, a large kind of ship, also used apparently
of a piece of land or hill of that shape.

WHITWHAM

(Knaresdale).

1344 Cl.

Wytquam;
Ipm. Wytwam.
11

White

valley."

1316 Ipm. Le Whitivhom:

1364 Ipm. Whitwham ; 1392

O.N. hvammr, used according

to

Rygh (Indl., p. 57) of a short valley or depression,

surrounded by high ground, but in such a way that
there

is

an opening on one of the sides.

Derwent Valley
ESPER SHIELDS. 1268.
:

The

first

Ipm. Esperscheles.

element in this name

may

be the same as

Norwegian Espervik, which Rygh

old genitive of O.N. qsp, an
"
If
means
shiels of (or by) the
it
the
so,
aspen-tree.
It might also be O.N. aspir, pi. of <$sp,
aspen-tree."
with late substitution of the ordinary Northumbrian
esp (< O.K. cespe) for Scandinavian asp. In that case
"
the shiels by the aspen-trees." There is a
it means
place in co. Durham called Esperley, of which an early
that found in the

explains as being an

form (1230) is Esperdcslegh. The first element here is

apparently a personal name Esperd, otherwise unknown, probably standing for earlier *Aesp~heard (cf.

of the

Saga-Book

192

may be

Esperscheles

Aesc-heard).

Viking Society.
for earlier Esperdesand of d from

scheles, with loss of unstressed syllable

the consonant group dsch.

Scandinavian influence.

If so,

it

is

not an example

of

WASKERLEY

Q.W.

1262

(Shotley).

Waskerleye; 1312

See Essays and Studies,

Hexhamshire

DOTLAND.

Ipm.

Q.W.

Waskerley;
Waskreley.

1292

u.s., p. 69.

1154-67,

Richard of Hexham, Dotoland;

1226 B.B.H. 93 Doteland; 1287 B.B.H. 104 Dottcland; 1355 B.B.H. 140 Dodland; 1479 B.B.H.
Dot(e)land.

The first element may be the Scandinavian woman's

name Dotta, which is found independently (Lind., s.v.)
and also in several place-names (c/. Rygh, G.P., 58-9).
The usual spelling with single t may, however, point
rather to the name Dot or Dotus, found in D.B., which
Bjorkman (Z.A.N.,

p.

29)

attempts to explain.

He

compares the O.Sw. place-name Dotabotha, possibly

going back to a name *Dote. There is also an Old
Swedish and Old Danish woman's name Dota. Bjorkman suggests, as an alternative explanation, that it
be originally a nickname, perhaps given with the
meaning of the Norwegian dialectal dote, viz., a dull-

may

witted person.

ESHELLS.

c.

1160 Gray 275 n,Eskeinggeseles ; c. 1225

Eskilescales, Eskingseles ; 1226 B.B.H.

B.B.H. 90

94 Eskinschell.

The second element

Northumbrian

in

this

"
shiels,

The form

shelters,

name

is

sheds for

the

common

summer

pas-

shows the influence of the

corresponding Scandinavian word scales (O.N. skdli, a
hut). The correct form of the first element it is difficult
to determine. The only theory which could possibly explain all the forms alike would be that which said that
turage."

-scales

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

the

first

This

is

Eskill.

193

element is the O.X. personal name Asketill.

found in English in the form Askill, Askell or
Side by side with this there

is

a well-established

form, Asketinus, in M.E. documents (v. Bjorkman,

N.P., p. 17). This may. well have been shortened to
Askin or Eskin. The name would then have been the
"
"
"
"
or
scales
shiels
belonging to Asketill or Asketin.
Esking- might then be a mistake for Eskin-.
the unfamiliar suffix -in being replaced by the patronymic -ing. Another possibility is to take Esking- as a
"
compound of O.X. eski, ash-tree, and eng, an
ing,"
"
grass-land
grassland. Esking- would then mean the
with ash-trees on it." Esking would in M.E. placenames often be written Eskin. The form Eskil- must
then be explained as due to the common mistake of
1

anticipating the

which

is

to

come

later in the

word.

In various parts of the country.

NEWBIGGIN BY THE SEA.

1268 Ipm. Neubigging.

XEWBIGGIN BY BLANCHLAND.

1262 Ipm. Neubiggyng.

XEWBIGGIN BY NORHAM. i4th cent. B.B. Neivbiginga
B. Newburga, C. Newbinga).
XEWBIGGIN IN HEXHAMSHIRE. 1344 Pat.Neubyggyng.
XEWBIGGIN HALL (Kenton).
1216-1307 Testa. Neubiging.

The " new building." O.xY.Sc. bygging, a buildM.E. bigginge, and X.E. dialectal English
ing,
biggin(g] (Bjorkman, Scand. Loan-Words, pp. 32-3).
Considering the comparative rarity of place-names in
Xorthumberland which are of Scandinavian origin, it
is remarkable to find so many examples of the name

Xewbiggin, which
in

names
1

of

is

counties with a

somwhat infrequent occurrence

much

larger proportion
of Scandinavian origin.

The O.Dan, name

be that same name.

of place-

Eskin, (Nielsen, Olddamhe Personnavne)

p. 22

may

of the

Saga-Book

94

Viking Society.

In summarising the evidence for Scandinavian settlements in Northumberland to be drawn from the placenames found in M.E. documents we may note the

following points
(i)

That there are very

of those

place-name

few; examples in this county

suffixes most commonly associated

with Scandinavian settlements.

There is no -thivaite,
-holm
or
-'with, -beck,
-garth, only one -toft,
from
the
and
a single example of
i4th century,
dating
not
to
be
found
on
the
-by,
present-day map. There
-lund,

however, a considerable number of place-names in

and the name Neivbiggin is of remarkably frequent occurrence. Indeed, there are more Newbiggins
in Northumberland than in any other English county.
The absence of place-names in -garth, -thivaite, -toft,
-by would seem to indicate that there can never at any
time have been any regular settlement of the whole district, any division of the whole territory among an

are,

-ker,

organised band of

settlers.

The prevalence

of -bigging

might at first sight seem to contradict this idea, but

the word biggin is in common dialectal use in Northumberland for a building, and it is perhaps significant
"
new." The majority
that all the biggins 'are labelled
of the place-names of Scandinavian origin either contain some personal name of Norse origin or they contain
some Norse element commonly found in the local
dialect.
This latter statement is true of those containing held, crook, carr, flat, bing, haining, biggin.
Indeed, one noticeable feature of the Northumbrian
dialect is that it contains a far larger proportion of
Scandinavian words than the evidence of either history
or archaeology would lead us to expect, and it is to be
suspected that a good many of them are of comparatively recent importation into that district,
districts to the west and south where

influence

stronger.

That the settlements are rather markedly confined

the river-valleys and to the immediate neighbourhood

(2)

to

is

coming from
Scandinavian

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

195

of the coast, a distribution very different from that in

the Danelagh generally, and pointing again to isolated

settlements rather than to any regular partition of the

whole area.

The modern map yields some few additional points

Along the coast we have a series of skerrs
or rocky islets which must owe their name to O.N.
skicer, "an isolated rock"; near to Long Houghton
there is a stretch of rock bearing the curious name
Bondi Carr. The second element is Celtic, but the first

of interest.

"
a
might possibly be the familiar bondi,
peasant or farmer." Down by the coast at Wark worth
there is a level stretch known as the Skaith (O.X.
skei<5, with various meanings, cf. Wickham Skaith,
Suff.), and near to Monkseaton there is a small island,
now called St. Mary's Island, or Bait Island, of which
the earlier name (i6th cent.) was St. Helen's Baits.
This must certainly be connected with O.N. belt if it
looks as

if

it

"
"
fish-bait
the plural is
sense of
"
pasturage,"
strange, if, on the other hand, it means
the name can only have been given in irony, for St.
Mary's Island is nothing but a stretch of barren rocks.
These names do not point so much to settlements as to
is

used

in

the

the influence of Scandinavian seafarers, and it is worth

noting in this connexion that there is a tradition of a

considerable Scandinavian settlement at Tynemouth, a

tradition which is to some extent borne out by the
evidence of personal names occurring in mediaeval

documents relating
Inland

we

to that

find a few

town.

more Xeivbiggins, and one or

two Holmes, but it should be pointed out that it is not

always certain that holm may not be a dialectal form
of hollin or holly. The element Kip, found more than
once in such names as Kip hill, Kiplaiv, would seem tobe the dialectal kip, "a large overgrown calf," which
must itself be connected with O.Dan, kip (Kalkar, s.v.)
and Sw. kibb (Rietz., s.v.}, used with the same meaning.

Silliwray, near Langley, probably contains

O.N.

Saga-Book

196

of the

Viking Society.

"a corner," and means "the corner where the

willows grow."
Carlcroft in Ahvinton is noteworthy
because there are no Carltons in the county (cf. Charlton in Tynedale and Charlton near Hamburgh) while
Gair Shiel in Hexhamshire contains the common dialectal word gair, meaning a triangular piece of land,
from O.N. geir. In the high lands to the west and

vrd,

south of the county fell, grain and sike are in regular

use, and except for the absence of becks, place-nomenclature

is

much

slopes.
In turning

the

to

same on

either side of the

Durham

county

before, to deal first with those

documents.

The names

it

will

names found

Pennine

be well, as
in medieval

are arranged in alphabetical

order.

AISLABY-ON-TEES.

1225-9

Att.

Test.

Askelby ; 1311

R.P.D. Aselackeby ; 1313 R.P.D. Aslakeby ; 1314

Reg. Bp. K. Aslagby ; 1344 R.P.D. Aslagby,
Aslakby.

The

common Scandinavian

terminanot a metathetical spelling

due to the scribe, the original name was the by of
Askell or Asketill (cf. Rygh, G.P., p. 17, Bjorkman,
N.P., pp. 16-20). The second form points to the name
Aslakr (cf. O.K. Oslac] as the, first element, with a
tion.

suffix -by is the

If

the

first

form

is

tendency to voice the k before following b (cf. Rygh,

G.P., p. 17, Bjorkman, N.P., p. 20), cf. Aslacton,
Norf. (D.B. Aslaketuna), Aslackby, Lines. (D.B.
Aslachebi).

AMERSTON HALL

(nr.

Embleton).

1320 Cl.

Aymunde-

ston.

The tun or farmstead of a man bearing the Norse

name Eymundr, later Emundr (Rygh, G.P., p. 65), cf.
Amotherby (Yo.), of which an earlier form is Aymunderby. The rs in the modern form may be due to a
confusion of the genuine Norse gen. Eymundar found
in Amotherby with the anglicised gen. Aymundes.

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

197

BLAKESTON HILL (Norton).

1099-1128 D.S.T. xxx.
Bleikestuna; 1100-35 F.P.D. n. Bleichestona; 1203
R.C. Blake stone ; 1300 Ch. Blaicheston; 1335 Ch.
Blakeston; 1345 R.P.D. Blaykeston.
The above spellings leave no doubt that the first element is the O.N. bleikr, pale. This is not recorded
as an independent name, but

is

common

as a nickname,

and has maintained itself in the English personal name

Blake. The name means the farmstead of a man named
or nicknamed Bleikr. Lindkvist (p. 25) notes the name
of a person called Alanus Bleik in the Coucher Book of
Selby Abbey (i3th cent.?).
BRANCEPETH.
1085 D.S.T. xx. Brentespethe;
1131
F.P.D. n. Brauncepath; 1155 F.P.D. n. Brandespethe; 1254 D.S.T. Ixxxiii. Branspath; 1311
R.P.D. Braundespath ; 1316 R.P.D. Brauncepath.

The " peth " or path of a man named Brand. The

name is probably of Scandinavian origin, for beyond
one occurrence in a Saxon genealogy the name is not
found in Old English documents before the nth century, whereas the name Brandr was very common in
Iceland and other Scandinavian lands. The distribution

of

English place-names containing this element

Branceholm
origin.
(Yo.), Branston (Lines.), Brandiston
and Brauncewell (Lines). See also

also favours their Scandinavian

and Brauncedale

Bransby
Bjorkman, Z.A.N.,

(Norf.),

p. 27.

BRUNTOFT (nr. Wynyard). 1304 Cl. Bruntoft.

The second element is the common Scandinavian
the first is probably the
suffix meaning a clearing
word burn, a stream. This often undergoes metathesis in compounds, cf. Brunton (in Embleton) and
:

(nr. Newcastle) in Northumberland, of which

Lindkvist (p. 214)
earlier form is Burneton.

Brunton
the

favours the derivation from O.W.Scand. brunnr, a

spring or fountain, but the example of Brunton makes
this unnecessary.

Saga-Book

198

of the

Viking Society.

CARLBURY (Coniscliffe) 1271 Ch. Carlesburi; 1313

R.P.D. Carlebury ; 1340 R.P.D. Carlbury.
The form is from the dative of O.K. Ceorles burh or
Ceorla burh, the burh of the ceorl or ceorls, with subScandinavian Carl (O.N. karlr, a man) for

stitution of

English

ceorl.

CARLTON.

Charlbury (Oxf.).
1025 H.S.C. Carltun;
cf.

c.

1307

R.P.D.

Carleton.

The tun
of

the

of the

Scandinavian carls

the equivalent
The
Charlton.
English
English and
forms are both widely distributed in

native

Scandinavian

England. The Scandinavian forms are specially frequent in Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
F.P.D.
CLAXTON GRANGE (nr. Greatham).
1091
Ivxxxii. Clackestona; 1312 Reg.
iun of a man named Klakkr.

The

Bp. K. Claxton.

The name

is

of

common

occurrence in place-names in the Danelagh.

Claxton
cf.
(Norf., D.B., Clakestona), Long Clawson
(Leic., D.B., Clachestane).

CONISCLIFFE.

c.

Cunesclivc*

1035 H.S.C. Cingceslife ; 1263 R.C.

1271 Ch. Cunesclive ; 1306 Cl. Cones-

dive; 1313 Reg. Bp. K. Conysclive

1336 Ipm.
Consclyf ; 1345 R.P.D. Conesclyf ; 1507 D.S.T.
ccccv. Cunyngsclyf.
"
King's cliff." This name would seem to have been
originally purely English, to judge from the form found
in the History of St. Cuthbert
O.E. c(yn)inges clif,
but the later spellings point to the influence of O.N.

konungr ;

cf.

the history of

Conisborough (Moorman,

Coniston (ib. pp. 49 and 50), Conishead and

Coniston (Wyld, pp. 98-9), Conisholme (Lines., D.B.,
Coningesholm).
p. 49),

COPELAND HOUSE (West Auckland). 1104-8 S.D. Copland; 1313 R.P.D. Coupland; 1340 R.P.D. Coupeland.

For the history of

supra.

this

name

v.

Coupland (Nthb.)

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

COWPEN BEWLEY.
1203 R.C. Cupum ;
Cupum 1446 D.S.T. ccxcvi. Coupon.
v. Cowpen (Xthb.) supra.

199

1335

Ch.

CRAWCROOK.

i4th cent.

B.B. Craucrok; 1311

Bp. K. Cran-wecrok (sic).

"
Crow's crook."
O.K. crawa, a crow,

-f

Reg.

O.N.

krokr , a crook or winding. The place may have been

so named because haunted by crows, or from a man
"
whose name or

nickname was

Crow."

(or

woman)

cf.

Crawe, a woman's name (Searle) and the modern

surname Crow.

CROOK.
1312

1267

F.P.D.

n.

R.P.D. Crok;

Cruketona; 1304 Cl. Crok;

iqth cent. B.B. Cruktona,

Croketon.

O.N. krokr, a crook, a winding, a nook. In Boldon

Book the place is known as " the town by the crook,"
"
later it is called simply
the crook." The town may
be so called because it is on one of the bends or nooks
in the winding course of the Beechburn.

CROXDALE (Spennymoor).

1214 D.S.T. 36 Croxtayl;

1335 Ch. Crokestail.

The first element is the

O.N. personal name Krokr

Wyld, p. 105, Croxteth). The second element, as
shown by the spelling in M.E.,is not the ordinary English dale but the O.W.Scand. deill, "a share, allotment or portion of land." The existence of this word
in English field-names has been clearly proved by
Lindkvist (pp. 30-55), where an exhaustive and interesting account of its history is given, and numerous
examples of its use are quoted from Lincolnshire and
Yorkshire. None of the examples given have survived
on the modern map, and Lindkvist has no mention of
(cf.

Croxdale.

DURHAM.
1227

Ch.

1191,

Feet of

Ch. Dunholm;

Durham,
Dunolm.

Fines,

Durem,

Dunolm, Donelme;

Ch. Durham;

1231

Duresme;

1343-6

1313-8

Ch.

2oo

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

name of Durham was Dun-holmr, a comO.E.

dun, a hill (of Celtic origin), and
pound
O.N. holmr, an island, hence " the hill island," a name
aptly descriptive of the site of ancient Durham, on high
ground within a loop of the River Wear, whose two
ends very nearly meet. The modern form is probably
due to Anglo-Norman influence.

The

old
of

DYANCE

1207 F.P.D. n. Diendes.

Killerby).
difficult name
the first element may possibly be

(nr.

O.N.

dy,

"a

FELLING.

bog,"

1325

cf.

Rygh,

F.P.D.

n.

Indl., p. 30.

Felling;

1434

F.P.D.

Fellyng.

"The meadow

O.N.
The word ing
Mod. English dialect. The name

or grassland below the fell,"

mountain, and eng, grassland.

fjall,

common

use in
the position of Felling, which stands
described
aptly
on the ground sloping down from Gateshead Fell to the
Tyne Valley.
is in

FOLLINGSBY.

Type

1153-95 F.P.D.

I.

1133-40 F.P.D. n.

n. Foleteby,

Foletesbi;
1203 Cart.

Folesceby
Johan. Regis. Foletteby ; 1217-26 F.P.D. n. Folasceby ; 1352 Ch. Folethebi. Type II. 1416 F.P.D. n.
Folaunceby ; 1430 F.P.D. Folanceby ; 1446 D.S.T.
ccxci. Folaunceby.
The explanation of Type I. would seem to go with
that of Fulletby (Lines.) of which the D.B. forms are
Folesbi, Fullobi, while those in the Lincolnshire Survey
(c.
iioo), which usually gives Scandinavian names
more correctly, are Fuletebi, Fuledebi. Here the first
element would seem to be a personal name of the same
type as O.N. HafliSi, Sumarlifti, Vetrlifti. The second
of these names is common as the name of Scandinavian
settlers in England, in the form Sumerled, and forms
the first element in Somersby, and in three Somerbys
in

Lincolnshire, and in Somerleyton in Suffolk.

Fullifti is recorded in Old Norse, but there

name

No
is

an

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

201

"

well
provided with
meaning
troops," "fully able" (v. Vigfusson and Fritzner,
s.v.), and this name, used first as a nickname, may

adjective

full-li&a,

rise to a personal name Fullifti (cf.

Selaby infra.). The forms Foletes- and Folesce- are
due to Anglicising of the name and its being given a

well have given

gen. sg. in -5. Type II. is difficult of explanation,

but as it belongs to the i5th century it stands quite
apart from any question of further Scandinavian
influence.

FULTHORPE (Wynyard). 1311 Cart. Bp. K. Fulthorp ;

1313 Reg. Bp. K. Foulthorp.
"

Foul

or

dirty

village."

For the use of thorp

v. infra.

HAINING

(Houghton-le-Spring).

D.S.T.

1401

cxc.

Haynyng.
See Haining (Nthb.) supra.

HOLME HILL

(Muggleswick).

1446 D.S.T. ccciv.

le

Holme.

The common M.E. holme (O.N.

holmr), an island

or peninsula.

HUTTON HENRY,

c. 1025 H.S.C. Hotun; 1307 R.P.D.

Hoton; 1 4th cent. B.B. Hotona, Hotton; 1430
F.P.D. Huton; 1446 D.S.T. ccxcv. Hoton.
The first element in this name may be O.W.Scand.

hor, a phonetic variant of hdr,

meaning

"

high," which

discussed by Lindkvist (p. 224). This element is to

be found in Huby (Lines.) possibly also in Hoby
(Lines.), and in Huttoft (Lines.), (v. Lindkvist loc. cit.
and p. 218). Lindkvist's warning that places with
is

Hotun in M.E. may go back to O.E. ho(h), heel, projecting ridge of land, is probably not necessary in this
case.
There is no trace of a medial h in the M.E.
spellings such as we regularly find in Houghton-leSpring in the same county, which undoubtedly goes

back

to

O.E. Hoh-tun.

2O2

of the

Saga-Book

Viking Society.

1091 F.P.D. Ixxxii. Culuerdebi; 1197 Pipe

Culuerdebi; 1207 F.P.D. Kilucrdebi; 1312 Reg.
Bp. K. Kylleivardby ; i4th cent. B.B. Killirby,
Kyliverby ; 1435 D.S.T. ccvli. Killerby.
The explanation of this place-name must go with that
of Kilverstone (Norf. D.B. Culvertestuna), Kihvardby
(Lines. Surv. noo Cuherteb') and Killerby (Yo.) For
the forms of the last v. Bjorkman, Z.A.N., p. 54. The
first element is a personal name, probably of hybrid
origin. The first element in the name is O.N. Ketill,
which often gives an O.E. form Cytel, and the second

KILLERBY.

the

common English

full

O.N. form

suffix -iveard (cf.

Ketilvaftr

is

not found

Ed-ward).
(v.

The

Bjorkman,

p. 81).

LUMLEY.
c.
1025 H.S.C. Lummalea; 1196 Finch.
Lumleia; 1304 Cl. Lomelay.
For the history of this name v. Essays and Studies,
u.s., p. 64.

OUSTERLEY FIELD.

The
field

(Yo.),

O.N.

1382 Hatf. Oustre, Oustrefeld.

name is similar to that of Auster-

history of this

which Moorman

austr, east,

OUSTON

+ "

(p.

14) explains as

from

field."

(nr. Birtley).

Surtees (Vol. 2, pp. 126 and 192) gives early forms,

Ulkilstan and villa Ulkilli, showing that the history of
this

name

ham

in

is the same as that of Ouston in StamfordNorthumberland (v. supra).

RABY. c. 1025 H.C.S. Raby ; 1200 R.C. Rabye ; 1313
Reg. Bp. K. Raby.

The second element

Scandinavian
is the common
denoting a town, while the history of the
first element is given
by Lindkvist, pp. 188-9. He says
that it is O.W.Scand. ni, a landmark.
It is found in
more than one Raby, and in Raydale and Raskelf in
Yorkshire. As Lindkvist remarks, all of these names
are capable of explanation from O.W.Scand. rd = a
The old explanaroe, but that alternative is unlikely.
suffix -by,

Scandinavian Influence

in

Place-Names

which connected these words

tion
(v)rd,

nook, corner,

is

stated

\vith

203

O.W.Scand.

by Lindkvist to be no

longer tenable, as Scandinavian words commencing in

vr show uniformly conservative tendencies in English,
keeping the initial v long after it was dropped in

W. Scandinavian itself.
RACEBV.
1344 (45th Report of

Deputy

Keeper

of

Public Records) Raceby.

In the absence of any form earlier than 1344 it is
difficult to say with certainty what may be the origin
of this name.
Raithby (Lines.) has early forms,
Reythesby, Raitheby, which Lindkvist (p. 76) takes to
contain an unrecorded O.W.Scand. Hreifti, a shortened

form of Hreiftulfr or Hreiftarr.

with the gen. of the personal
to

Raceby

RAINTON.

form Reythesby

name might

well develop

in later times.

1125 F.P.D. xli. Reinuntun, Reningtun,

Reington; 1135-54 Cart. Hy. ii. Raintonam ; 1153c.

1185 F.P.D. n.
Cart.
Reinintun, Renintun; 1203
Joh. Reg. Reynton; 1228 Att. Test. Reiningtone; 1253 Ch.

95 Cart. Ep.

Hug. Reiningtone ;

Reignton.

The forms

for

this

place-name are practically the

same as those for Rainton (Yorks,) (v. Lindkvist, p. 73),

and Rennington (Xthb.).
For the former Lindkvist
suggests a patronymic formed from O.N Hreinn, while
in a note on Rainhill in Lanes, (p. 74, n. 2) he quotes
forms for the Durham Rainton, and suggests that the
first element in both these names may be O.W.Scand.
rein, a strip of land which forms the boundary of a
tilled field or an estate (v. Bjorkman, Scand. Loan"
words, p. 63), used in Norwegian dialect of a
long

bank

of earth or gravel."

It

seems, however, impos-

sible to separate the history of the

shire Raintons, and their history

Durham and Yorkmay be either that

suggested by Lindkvist for the Yorkshire Rainton, or,

more probably, that given above for the Northumberland Rennington.

Saga-Book

204

RUMBY

HILL.

1382 Hatf.

The M.E. form

the

is

element

first

of the

Viking Society.

Ronundby.

probably a mistake for Romundby,

being the common O.N. name

Hromundr.
SADBERGE.

1154-89

Finch.

Satberga;

1189

D.S.T.

Coldingham, Sathbergia; 1176 Pipe Sethberga; 1234 Pat. Sedberg

1338 Cl. Sedberne; 1307 R.P.D. Sadberg; 1318
Ch. Seberge, Sedberga; 1435 Pat. Sadberg.
There is a good deal of uncertainty about the vowel
of the first element in this place-name.
The same
found
in
is
the
case
of
the
SedYorkshire
uncertainty
but
whereas
the
e-forms
bergh,
predominate there, in
lix.

Sadberg;

1214, Geoffrey of

the

Durham Sadberge

thing,

the evidence inclines,

to a as the original vowel.

monly explained

as from

O.N.

Sedbergh
"

set-berg,

if

is

hill

any-

comwhose

shape," and it is possible

that this may be correct, though t is never found in
any M.E. form. In Norwegian dialect the forms sete
and sata are both alike used of a little flat place on a
rock or hill-top, and this might account for the variation
in vowel, the voicing of the t being due to the following
voiced b. Another possible explanation is that the first
"
element is O.N. sd5,
seed," used, according to Rygh
top suggests a seat by

(N.G.

I.,

with th

346),

its

as a nickname.

The

early spellings

possibly point to this, though they are

capable of another explanation, and the variant vowel
might be due to the influence of the cognate O.K. seed
> M.E. sed.
In any case the name is probably of
"
"
of SadNorse origin, as there was a
wapentake
of
that
term
north
the
use
berge, the only example of

may

of the Tees.

SATLEY.

1228 Att. Test.' Sateley ; 1304 Cl.

S alley ;

1311

R.P.D. Satteley; 1312 R.P.D. Satley.

The first element in this word may be the O.N.
saata, a haystack, which Rygh finds in more than one
Norse place-name (c/. N.G., v. 276), the meaning being

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

"

meadow by

the

also be the

the haystack."

Norw.

might
on a rock, or the top

The

dial, seta, seta,

first

"a

of a hill," but this

205

element
flat

place

seems

less

likely.

SCHOOL AYCLIFFE.

i4th cent. B.B. Sculacle; 1440

D.S.T. cccv. Sculacley.
So-called in distinction from Aycliffe, and probably
named after its Norse owner, Skull, cf. Scoulton (Norf
D.B. Sculetuna), Sculthorpe (ib. D.B. Sculetorpd).
This Skuli may be the very Scula mentioned above
.

173)-

(P-

SELABY.

1197 Pipe Selebi; 1317 Cl. Seletby ; 1322 Pat.

Seleteby ; 1335 Ipm. Seletby; 1336 Ipm. Seletby;
1460 Pat. Seleby.

man

bearing the O.N. name *Sce-li Qi

name is not actually found, but
sailor.
This
sea-goer,
names \vith See- as the first element are common in

The -by

of a

O.N., and Sce-li<Si is exactly equivalent to the name

Haf-HQi
ocean-goer, which is well established. Scelifti
corresponds etymologically to the O.K. sce-lida,
a word commonly used to describe a pirate. For the

M.E. development of the name cf. Follingsby, supra.

SKERNE, R. 1402 F.P.D. aqua de Skyryne ; 1430 ib.
Skeryn.
impossible to separate this name from Skerne
which the D.B. form is Schirne, while other
The closest parallel
are Skiren, Skyryn.
forms
early
It

is

(Yo.), of

to these is the

hjem), which

Xorse

Rygh

river

name Skirna

(near Trond-

(Xorske Elvenavne, p. 217) con-

nects with skirr, clear, bright, skirna, to clear up, and

skirning (a clearing), and the farm name, Skjern, in

the

same

district,

which

Rygh

says

is

named

after a

stream close to the farm.

SKIRNINGHAM.

c.

1090 Hist, de Obs. Dunelm. Skirn-

1135-54 Cart. Hy II.

Skerningeim
Cart.
Schirningaham ; 1203
Joh. Reg. Skirningeham.

ingeheim,

206

"

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

The homestead by

the Skerne meadows."

The
O.N. engr, " grass-land, meadow," and
the early spellings in heim and eim point very clearly
to O.N. heimr rather than O.E. ham as the earliest
form of the final element.
Place-names Skjern and

element -ing

is

Skjerninge are found in Denmark (Steenstrup, op. cit.,

pp. 334-5), and we probably have the same name in
Seaming (Norf. D.B. Scerninga). Whether the suffix
has the same origin in all cases it is impossible to say.

SLINGLEY HALL

(nr.

Dalton-le-Dale).

1155 F.P.D. n.

Slingelaive.

The first element in this word may be the proper

name found also in the Yorkshire place-name Slingsby.
The earlier form of that name is Slingesby, and Bjork-

man

(Z.A.N., p. 77) suggests that the first element is

from a Norse nickname *S10ngr or *Slengi, comparing
the modern Norw. dial, sleng, used of a growing youth
and also of an idler. In Northern English dialect to
"
to go about idling, to sneak
sling is used in the sense
or slink about."
Bjorkman suggests that this usage
depends on Norse influence. The second element is
very often corrupted in N.E.

O.E.

hlaiiv,

as

from O.E. leak.

if

STAINDROP.

Hy.

II.

hill,

1131

E.P.D.

Steindrope

to -ley,

n. Standrop ; 1135-54 Cart,

1203 Cart. Joh. Reg. Stein-

drope ; 1311 Reg. Bp. K. Stayndrop.

The first element is O.N. steinn, stone or rock, a

common element in place-nomenclature. The spellings
with stan show the substitution of the common O.E.
form stan; cf. Stainton and Stanton. The second element, -drop, is found in other place-names in England
as a variant form of \>orp, due to metathesis and stopping of the continuant J>, e.g., Burdrop (Oxf.) and Souldrop (Beds.), but the early and uniform appearance
of the spelling drop would seem to forbid such an
explanation in this case. Lindkvist (p. 84, n. 4) suggests that the second element is O.W.Scand. dropi, a

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

207

O.W.Scand. drop, Norw. dial, drop, a dropping, dripping

Staindrop lies in a valley on a small
stream called Langley Beck.
drop, or

STAINTON, GREAT AND LITTLE.

1308 Ch. Staintuna.

1284 Finch. Staynton;

STAINTON-LE-STREET.
Strata; 1479

1312 Reg. Bp. K. Staynton-inB.B.H. Staynton-in-Strata.

1387 D.S.T. clvii. Nunstaynton.

NUNSTAINTON.
O.N. steinn-tun = stone-enclosure, the equivalent
of English Stanton.
For the question how far placenames of this type can be considered names of Scandinavian settlements v. Lindkvist, p. 83.

SWAINSTON

(nr. Sedgefield).
1351 B.M. Swayneston.
Swein's tun." This personal name is very common
in place-names (v. Lindkvist, pp. 91-3).
It is also
found as Sivin- in Swinford (Leic.), Swine- in Swineshurst (Lanes.), Sivan- in Swanland (Yo.). There is a
Swainston (I. of W.) containing this name it is prob-

"

ably of comparatively late origin.

THORPE BY EASINGTON.

c.

1025 H.S.C. Thorep

1197

Pipe Torp.

THORPE BULMER.

THORPE THEWLES.
For the use

R.P.D. Thorpebulmer.
1314 Reg. Bp. K. Thorptheules.

1312

of thorp v. infra.

THRISLINGTON HALL

1309 F.P.D. 66 n.
(Ferryhill).
Thurstaneston.
The tun or farm of Thorsteinn, a very common
Scandinavian name in England. It is found in Thurstaston (Cheshire), Thurston End (Suff. D.B. Thur-

Thruxton (Norf. D.B. Turstanestuna),

Thrussington (Leic. D.B. Turstane stone}.

stanestuna),

THROSTON.

c.
1270
Thoreston.
"Thorir's farm."

(List

cf.

of

knights

Rygh, G.P.,

p.

at

259.

Lewes)

2o8

Saga-Book

ULN'ABY

HALL (High

of the

Viking Society.

Coniscliffe).

Newm.

Uluenebi;

1314 Reg. Bp. K. Ulneby.

The -by

or settlement of Ulfheftinn. This is a comIcelandic name, and from its use there Lindkvist
concludes that it was already in use in Norway during
the Viking period, though no example of its use

mon

earlier

than 1300 has been preserved to us.

form,

Vlfuen,

found

is

in a

contracted

Norse document of 1411.

is probable that a similar contraction took place

England, giving the form Vluenebi.

It

USHAW.

a. 1196.

Uuesshaive

Finch. Ulveskahe; 1312

1312 Pat. Uuesshawe.

in

Reg. Bp. K.

The

first element is probably the O.N. name Ulfr

O.K.
(=
Wulf), and the second the O.K. sceaga, a

"
wood of a man named Ulfr." The
wood, hence the
skahe
be due to the influence of the corresmay
spelling
ponding Norse word skogr, a wood.

WHAM. 1315 R.P.D. Northquivam, Qivhom.

v. Whitwham (Nthb.) supra.
Taking a survey of the whole county, the number of
names is of course absolutely smaller than in Northumberland, but

in

we must bear

mind

in

estimating the relative proportion

(i) that a much smaller propor-

whole county is preserved

mediaeval documents in Durham than in Northumberland (2) that the county has only one-half the area of
co. Northumberland. Bearing these two points in mind,
it is probable that there is relatively a much greater protion of the place-names of the
in

portion of Scandinavian names in Durham.

several clear examples of -by, some of -ing,

We

-toft,

have

and

-holm, several containing the element crook, and the

names are scattered fairly well over the county. Still,
they are not so numerous as to suggest any definite

There does not seem to be any special prevaScandinavian names even in those districts
assigned by Raegeneald to his followers, Scula and
partition.
lence of

Scandinavian Influence in Place-Names.

209

Onlafbeald, viz., from Castle Eden south to Billingham-in-Teesdale, and from Castle Eden north and west
to the Wear.
In studying the modern map we find the continued
use of Scar along the coast (e.g., Long Scar), and
Loom, by Easington, may well be the same as the
familiar Norse place-name Lorn, dat. pi. of L6, a word

somewhat uncertain meaning. Medieval documents

show that Holmside and Butterby are no evidence for
Scandinavian settlement.
Holmside is from earlier
Holinside (from M.E. holen, holly), and Butterby is

of

Beautrove or Beautrone (the latter a blunder of the

"
"
the well situated
transcriber), meaning apparently
(beau trouve), a name which aptly describes the position
of Butterby on the well-wooded winding banks of the

Wear

(cf.

Bear Park

in the

immediate neighbourhood

Beau Repair). Biggin and Newbiggin are

common,
garth is occasionally used, there are
fairly
a few tofts, -mire is fairly common,
holms
and
many
and so is -carr, -her. Waskerley in the N.W. probably
has the same history as in Northumberland, and so has
In the high ground at the head of WearNafferton.
dale and Teesdale place-nomenclature is very largely
Scandinavian there are fells, grains, sikes, becks and
gills in abundance, and it is much to be regretted that
from

earlier

a great scarcity of early forms for these districts.

Again, as in Northumberland, the great increase in
the extreme west would seem to point to settlements
there

from

is

Cumberland,

Westmoreland

and

Lancashire,

rather than from the eastern side of the county, though

it should be noted that fell is found as far east as Gates-

head Fell and

The

Low

tributaries of

Fell.

The

use of beck

Tyne and Wear are

is

all

significant.
called burn,

except in the extreme west of the county, and here a

name like Beechburn Beck shows that they are not all
original. On the other hand the tributaries of the Tees
are almost uniformly known as beck, even in the

easternmost parts of the county.

2io

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

Finally, a word must be said about two suffixes over

which there has been a good deal of discussion in dealing with questions of Scandinavian influence, viz.,
With regard to dale, this is the
-dale and -thorp.
common word for a valley in Northumberland and

Durham
we hear

alike.

From

the time of the earliest records

of Glendale, Coquetdale, Tynedale, Allendale,

Redesdale, Wear dale, Teesdale, and as there is so little

Scandinavian nomenclature in Northumberland, and
not much in Durham, it seems safe to conclude that
this use of dale is Anglian rather than Scandinavian,
though it may have been extended under the influence
of

the

later

settlers.

One

piece

of

evidence in

this

connexion seems to have been overlooked. Dalton-leDale is called Daltun already in Bede's history, so
that the use of the word in Anglian place-names is
clearly established.
The case of thorp is

more

There are thorps

Oxon.
and other
Bucks.,
England
counties outside the sphere of Danish or Norse influence, but they are scattered and comparatively few in
number. Thorps are abundant in East Anglia and
Northern Mercia and in Yorkshire, just where Scandiin

southern

difficult.

in

navian influence is admittedly strongest. In Northumberland, the only two thorps are both in places where
there seems to have been a small collection of Scandinavian settlements, while in Durham there are three
thorps, all in those lands of St. Cuthbert which we
know to have been at one time in the hands of Viking
settlers.
While not denying that thorp may often be
of native origin, it seems to be fairly clear from the
evidence of Northumberland and Durham
often a mark of Scandinavian settlement.

that

it

is

ORKNEY AND SHETLAND

HISTORICAL NOTES.
BY

A. VV.

JOHNSTON,

F.S.A.Scor., President.

has been shown by professor Alexander Bugge and

IT dr. Jakob Jakobsen that the Norse colonisation of the

islands must have begun as early as, if not earlier
than 700, to account for the primitive forms of Norse
place-names and institutions which are to be found
there and not in the later colonies in Iceland and elsewhere.
The place-names of Orkney and Shetland
seem to indicate that the colonists came from western
2
Norway. On the assumption that the 68al succession
1

of

Gulathing-Law
however,

have,

Orkney was
Harald

king

was

force

in

historical

at
in

proof

that

the

time,

sagas

we
that

When
colonised, at the latest, circa 664.
fined
the
of
boendr
Orkney,
harfagri

shortly after 893 (say 895), they were unable to pay

him, whereupon earl Einar paid the fine on condition
that the boendr gave him their ofiul, until they were
to redeem them.
have here these facts

We

able

(i) Orkney was in the possession of 65almenn, and

6Sal law was in full force with its lausn, right of

redemption (2) it took five generations of continuous

ownership of land to make it 6Sal consequently (3) the
youngest 6Sal family must have dated from the year
730 (i.e., 895, less five generations of 33 years each).
;

It is

incredible that all these families

began possession
generations before
shall,
therefore, be safe in allowing a
895.
minimum addition of two generations, or sixty-six
years, to allow for the colonisation of the islands, which
in

the

same year and exactly

five

We

Vesterlandenes

Inflydelse

paa Nordboernes, A. Bugge.

Stednavne, J. Jakobsen.
/,

pi. 68ul,

property held in allodial tenure.

Shetlandstfernes

212

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.
*

would thus have begun

at the latest circa 664.

The
later colonisation of Iceland was effected in some fifty
years, but this settlement arose from a definite political

cause in the lifetime of one man, Harald harfagri.

chronology, the Norsemen

appearance in England in 787, and in
the west of Scotland and Ireland in 795. Orkney and
Shetland, being the nearest western land to Norway,
would be first visited. From 565, the time when Orkney
and Shetland were Christianised, three generations, or
ninety-nine years, would be ample time to account for
the Pictish ecclesiastical monuments of which the
remains have been found. It was only some fifty
years after the Norsemen in Orkney were converted
themselves that their earl made a pilgrimage to Rome

According

made

and

to the accepted

their first

built a cathedral.

has been contended that the first Norse settlers

found the islands without inhabitants, because the sagas
make no mention of any having been found there. But
the sagas only commence with the history of the islands
at the time the earldom was founded in 872, nearly two
centuries after their colonisation which is not referred
It

to at all.

It is

incredible that the Pictish ecclesiastical

which the remains have been found,

could have been erected, utilised and abandoned and
the islands deserted in the short space of a hundred
buildings,

of

years or even less.

The
the

total

first

absence of any record or tradition regarding

arrival of the

Norsemen

in

Orkney, and the

continued presence of the Picts, as is shown by the survival of their place-names and church dedications,
appear to indicate that the first colonisation by the
vikings was gradual and peaceful, that they intermarried with the Picts, as they did later on with the
Irish in Ireland, and that perhaps Christianity never
1

ii.,

The

colonisation of Shetland

10,

Stamme,

quoting
119).

Otto

Bremer

lias
:

been already dated, 620 (Ud. N.H.,

der
germanischen

Ethnographic

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

213

entirely died out in the islands. The latter supposition,

if correct,
may account for the ease with which the

vikings ultimately became Christians.

Although no anthropological survey has yet been
made in the islands, it would not be surprising if such
a survey should reveal Pictish features coinciding, even
after all these twelve centuries, with the districts preserving Pictish place-names, presumably the inland
and inaccessible places, as is the case in the Isle of

Man.
The comparatively small number of
names in the islands must be accounted

Pictish

place-

by the predominance of the Norsemen, whose language would

have been consequently adopted by the Picts. Many socalled Norse place-names may be unrecognisable glosses
for

names. The name Orkney itself is a gloss of

If
a Pictish name, and so also probably is Shetland.
the names of the two groups themselves are not of
Norse origin, and only clothed in Norse garments, what
of Pictish

may not be the names of the

The persistency of Norse,
place-names

is

lesser islands

and places

compared with Pictish

well illustrated in the Hebrides, where
as

the population, during the Norse period and until their

cession to Scotland in 1266, was probably bilingual,
the Gaels and the Norse each speaking their own language. Since the cession to Scotland, after which the
rulers

were no longer appointed by or under Norway,

influences very quickly made the Norsemen

And yet after all these
adopt the Gaelic language.
centuries, since the extinction of the Norse language,
Norse place-names still flourish with but a very slight
Gaelic tinge.
Moreover, there are many Norse loanin
words
Gaelic, whereas there are very fe\v Gaelic
loan-words in Scandinavian.
The second migration from Norway to Orkney took
place after king Harald harfagri began to consolidate
Norway into one kingdom, 860-933 during which

political

Old-Lore Miscellany (Viking Society),

v.,

14,

104-8, vi., 10-19, 74-

214

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

period Iceland was colonised. He conquered Orkney

and Shetland, and erected them into an earldom in 872.
The first colonists no doubt took their Norwegian laws
and form of government with them, and these would
naturally have been conformed to Harald's new Norwegian constitution, when he founded the earldom.
It is stated in Heimskringla that Iceland and Faroe
were discovered and peopled during Harald's reign,
and that there was also much faring of Northmen to
Shetland, and further, that many mighty men of Norway fled as outlaws and fell to warring in the west,
spending the winter in the Hebrides and Orkney, and

summer in raiding Norway. It is 'also stated that

before Harald's time, Orkney had been the haunt of
The special reference to the
vikings (vikingabaeli).
faring of Norwegians to Shetland and not to Orkney,
the

in

Harald's reign, appears to indicate that Shetland

had not been previously so fully colonised as Orkney.

This surmise appears to be supported by the researches

who has found

older forms of placethan

in
Shetland.
Orkney
The earliest Scandinavian literature consists of runic
inscriptions.
Writing began in Norway in the middle
of the eleventh century, with the taking down of the
hitherto oral code of laws, known as Grdgds, a work
now lost. In Iceland the laws w ere taken down in 1118.
which was followed by the recording of the oral sagas.
The oral Edda lays are supposed to have been taken

of dr. Jakobsen,

names

in

down

in the twelfth

There can be

little

century.

doubt that the adoption of Christi-

anity by the Norse, circa 1000, with its written scriptures and missals, set the fashion of writing
not to
;

forget the great and uncongenial burden it would have

been on the lawsayingmen to be suddenly called upon
to their memory the voluminous new laws dealwith
the establishment of Christianity.
ing
As regards Orkney and Shetland we may therefore
assume that their laws were written down at the same

to

add

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

215

time as they were in Norway, and also at the instigaking St. Olaf, the great apostle of Christianity
in the north
if indeed his code itself was not
actually
or
adopted by
imposed upon the islands, which seems
tion of

more probable.

From
Orkney
bishop

the middle of the twelfth century we find the

Rognvald, and, after him, the Orkney
Biarni, the skald, both expert poets, busy at
earl St.

and we have some of their

was during this period that the
Edda lays are supposed to have been taken down, and,
as some of them have a local setting, it is not improb-

work with Icelandic

skalds,

literature preserved.

It

able that some, at least, may have been rescued from

the mouths of Orkneymen and Shetlanders.
It
is
significant that

many Edda

poetic

words are now alone

1

use, as seanames, in Shetland.

Bugge was of opinion that the lays

in

Professor Sophus

were composed

in

the British Isles, in proximity to Christian influence."

Such of these lays as may have been composed in

when the Norsemen first

before 787-795,
in
the
west
of
Ireland and England,
Scotland,
appeared
Britain

could only have been composed in Orkney, where, it

has been shown, the Norse arrived circa 664, and lived
among the Christian Picts, but it appears to be generally agreed now, that none of the lays could have been
composed earlier than the ninth century.
In common with other Norse places, Orkney and
Shetland had their sagas and poems. There are the
sagas of the earls, 872-1206, which were taken down in
writing and brought up to date in 1206. The following
list of works is compiled from Orkneyinga Saga, unless
Fundinn Noregr, mythical.
where otherwise stated
:

Jarla-sogur,
of

made up

of

individual

sagas
Porfinnsdrdpa,

what must have been separate

and
Ro'gnvaldsdrdpa,

earls.

by Arnorr

jarlaskald

(partly

in

saga

The Home of the Eddie Poems, London, 1899.

Gudbrand Vigfiisson was the first to suggest tha.t the Jays were
1

Scot. Hist. Rev. IX., 148.

composed in the British

Isles.

216

Saga-Book

and partly
f>dttr

in

Magnuss

of the

Snorra

Viking Society.

Edda),

written

in

1046-1064.'

Hdkon Pdlssons drdpa, menabout Hakon Palsson and Magnus

jarls.

Visur
Erlendsson, mentioned. Pdttr Pals jarls. Jarteina bok.
Pdttr Rognvalds jarls, which may also be called Sveins

tioned.

Hdttalykill, by earl Rognvald, mentioned,

saga.
in
but
Stockholm.
preserved
Jomsvikingadrdpa
and Mdlshdttakvcefti, by bishop Biarni, not mentioned in the saga, but preserved in Codex Regius of

Snorra Edda (see Corpus Poeticum Boreale). Magnuss

saga helga or Magnuss saga eyja-jarls
(i) Magnuss
saga hin lengri, (2) Magnuss saga hin skamma, (3)
:

Legenda de sancto Magno

The

(six pieces).

difference between Icelandic

and Orkney saga

is

that the former describes personal and family feuds and

litigations, whereas the latter is almost solely concerned
with genuine viking life. Iceland was too detached for

viking cruises, but Orkney was an ideal striking point

for sea-rovers.
As a matter of fact the best saga of
the Orkney collection is that which treats of Svein of
Gairsey, the last of the vikings. He kept a bodyguard
of eighty huskarlar.
Each year, after seed time, he
went on a vdr, spring, viking, and then returned for
harvest, after which he went on a haust, autumn,
viking, and returned home to spend the winter on his
spoils. On one occasion he captured two English keels
On his return
off Dublin, laden with English cloth.
he
of
the
sewed
some
captured cloth on his
journey
sails,

so

that

they

appeared

as

though

they

were

made

of that material, and hence this viking

entirely
was called skruftviking ; skruft is used in old Norse for

and, in this instance, has been translated

broadcloth by sir George Dasent, but, in accordance
with Fritzner, it should be, pragtfuldt vikingetog,
2
As an instance of
gorgeous viking expedition.
finery,

1
Arnorr was an Icelander, resident in Orkney, where he composed
these poems on the two earls, and hence he was nicknamed jarlaskald.
2 In Goudie's
translation of the saga this meaning has also been

correctly given.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

217

Svein's fine feeling and generosity may be mentioned the capture of earl Rognvald's ships by earl
Erlend and Svein, when Svein claimed, as his share
all earl Rognvald's treasures, which he
sent
back to earl Rognvald. Earl Rognstraightway
vald had only just returned from his famous pilgrimage

of the spoil,

Holy Land. He afterwards became one of earl

Rognvald's hirtimenn or bodyguard, and in the end
The saga
fell, ambushed, in his last viking, in Ireland.

to the

ends with the following tribute to Svein

is an end of telling about Svein; and it
is the talk of men that he hath been the greatest man
in the western lands, both of yore and now-a-days, of
those men who had no higher rank than he." Svein

fittingly

"There now

set the splendid example of

to the end in harness.

At the time
1206, the

circa

continuing one's

of the conclusion of the

male

line of the

Norse

life

work

Orkney saga,
earls,

already

half Scottish, came to an end, having lasted only some

three centuries; and was succeeded, in the female line,

by four

lines of Scottish earls, the Athole, Angus,

Strathearn and St. Clair families, 1206-1470.
The Norwegian crown passed through a female to a

Swedish line of kings, which reigned from 1319 to

1387 and then, after the treaty of Kalmar, when Norway, Denmark and Sweden were united in one kingdom, the crown passed to a Danish line, which was
reigning in 1468-9, when Orkney and Shetland were
wadset or pawned to Scotland, in security for the dowry
of the queen of king James III. of Scotland.
;

The

succession of the Scottish earls in the thirteenth

century, and of the Swedish and Danish kings in the
fourteenth century, with their foreign influence, must
account for the complete break in the insular literature,
which was thereafter confined to complaints about Scottish
1

and other interference

ON.

hondi.

tignar-jiafu,

in insular affairs.

name and rank which

raised one above the

common

218

Saga-Book

The

of the

Viking Society.

residence of the crown in

Denmark, with the

and place-men in Norway,
very quickly established the Danish language in Norway, so that, by 1450, Norwegian as a national
language came to an end, and, circa 1530, the NorIn
wegian laws had to be translated into Danish.
influx

of

Danish

officials

Norway

this resulted in the

Norwegian

literature,

complete disappearance of
which is only represented by

charters.

After the transference of Orkney and Shetland to

in 1468-9, the Scottish crown acquired the
earldom (i.e., the earl's rule, title, the public revenues
vScotland,

and the earldom landed estate), from the last Norse earl,
William St. Clair, and thereafter appointed its own
In 1472, the bishopric of Orkney and
Scottish rulers.
Shetland was transferred, by Papal bull, from the
metropolitan see of Trondhjem to the newly created
metropolitan see of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1486,
Kirkwall was erected into a Scottish royal burgh. In
1490, the bishopric was erected into a Scottish regality,
with Scottish civil courts and officers. In 1602, we have
the last mention of a judicial reference to the Norse
law-book of the islands, 2 since when Scottish law has
prevailed.

The

succession of the Scottish earls, with their Scotand retainers, transformed the islands into a
sanctuary for Scottish fugitives and adventurers.
Scottish fashions, habits and language soon took a hold
tish kin

on Orkney, the seat of government, which was also

nearer to Scotland than Shetland was.
The latest known Norse charter in Orkney is dated
1329," and the latest Norse document circa 14.26,* a
1

Norges Historic, IV.

Mackenzie's Grievances of 0. and

D.N.,

*D.N.,

ii.,

S., 6-7.

144.

ii.,

514.

But

this

cannot be

the

Orkney dialect of the

period, as its vocabulary is mixed, and probably represents a sort

of court or chancery language for the three kingdoms of the Union.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

219

complaint to the king of Denmark against a Scotsman

who was then ruler of the islands. In Shetland, Norse
charters occur as late as the seventeenth century, and
towards the end of the sixteenth century it is related
that a Shetland clergyman went to Norway to learn
rather

[or

to

perfect

himself

in]

Norwegian, as the

knew no other language, and he so

"
Norsk."
We have
acquired the nickname of
2
Orkney charters in Scottish in 1433 and after, and
m 1438 the lawman of Orkney gave his testimony in
Shetlanders

Scottish.
If

the insular literature

is

mainly confined

com-

to

plaints during the rule of the Scoto-Norse earls, it is

still more so after the transference of the islands to

"

when

out of the
the position became one of
the
fire."
into
This
was
accentuated
by the
frying pan
strenuous efforts, made by the Scottish government, to
Scotland,

render the redemption of the islands by Norway as

as possible. The outstanding document in the
literature of this period is the report of the royal commission, appointed in 1576, to take evidence regarding
the alleged oppressions of the Scottish ruler, lord
Robert Stewart, 1 an illegitimate son of king James V.
He was, however, afterwards made earl of Orkney,
contrary to the act of Scottish parliament, by which the
title of earl of Orkney was annexed to the crown, not
to be conferred on anyone but a legitimate son of the

difficult

sovereign.
The survival

of Norse words and legal terms in

a state of corruption which
deeds
indicates
Orkney
renders some of them almost unrecognisable.

Norse, as the language of the earl's court in Orkney,

probably terminated with the succession of the St.
Clair line in 1379, if not already with the termination
of the Angus line in 1320, as the last known Norse deed
in

Orkney,

in

1329,*

is

that of the countess of the last

2

Fasti Ecclesia Scoticana,

*Opp. O.Z.

iii.,

441.
4

O. S. R.,

D.N.,

I.,

ii.,

246.

144.

ib.

44.

22o

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

As a dialect Norse, called Norn, continued in corners of the islands until the eighteenth
century.
One unfortunate result of the change of language
earl of that line.

from Norse

to Scottish has been the extinction of Norse

and music, one going with the other. A few
relics have been preserved, and it has been noted that
"
Arrow Lay," Gray's " Fatal Sisters," was recited
the
in Norse in Orkney as late as the eighteenth century.
Norse dialect words survive by the thousand.
Dr.

ballad

Jakob Jakobsen has made a large collection of Shetland

words, and is now engaged in rescuing what survive
in Orkney after which he will extend his researches to
;

Caithness.

Orkney and Shetland

literature of the Scottish period

the
seventeenth
began
century, with topographical
and historical descriptions of the islands. From that
in

time to

this,

with perhaps one or two exceptions, the

The
of all the authors are of outland origin.
when
in
the
of
records
eighteenth century,
study
began
the landowners, with an eye to business, attempted to
names

have some of their grievances remedied, and the work

of hunting up and elucidating the records was done by
mr. A. Mackenzie. 2 In 1820, mr. Alexander Peterkin
edited a volume of rentals of the earldom and bishopric
of

Orkney.

of records

Amongst the names of subsequent editors

may be mentioned those of colonel David

of Balfour, mr. George Petrie, mr. Gilbert

mr.
F. J. Grant, and the venerable archdeacon
Goudie,
B.
Craven.
The most important collection of docuJ.
ments is that contained in Diphmatarium Norvegicum.
It now remains to fill in a few details of the foregoing
very brief historical outline. At the most we can only
indicate the uncertainties which remain to be cleared up
when the necessary documents are found.

Balfour,

Memoirs of

the Life of Sir Walter Scott, 1837,

Mackenzie's Grievances of O. and S.

iii.,

190.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

221

LAND-TAKE: LAND-NAM.
The

original colonisation of Orkney and Shetland

have
been effected in the same way as it was later
may
in Iceland.
Chiefs and their followers would peg
out their claims as they arrived.
The word herafi,
In
district, still survives in Orkney and Shetland.
Orkney it occurs in the name of a defined district,
Byrgisheraft. This place is now divided into two
parishes, Birsa and Harra, the latter was called Hurray
The O.N. term
Brugh, and also Brugh, in 1500.'
byrgi, an entrenchment or mound, may have been

applied to this heraft, or district, on account of the

exceptional number of mounds, covering the foundations of Pictish round towers, which are to be found in
Harra or the name of the heraft may have been taken
from a possible name of the tidal island, now called the
;

Brough

of

Birsa,

*Byrgisey

(which

may be

repre-

by the modern name Birsa), and probably

so-called on account of its mound-like appearance.
The original }>inghdr, ^ing-districts, into which the
islands were divided, would each be probably of the
size of ByrgisheraS.
The colonists must have settled
on the enclosed townships of the Picts, 2 whose chapels
would have been utilised as hof, temples. That the
Picts became thralls of the Norse seems probable.
Dr. Jakobsen calls attention to the Shetland word
sented

tralfangi-nn

(O.N.

*}>rcel-fangi),

applied to a short,
of the aboriginal

square-built person, as suggestive

race who became thralls.

Orkney was augmented by

when
their followers,
and
the
Harald harfagri formed the united kingdom of Norway.
When Harald conquered Orkney and Shetland, in 872,
he drove out the leading vikings, who had been making
reprisals on Norway, and of course would have confis-

The

original colony in
discontented chiefs

cated their landed estates as well as those of other chiefs

ip.R. No. i.
For a description of these, see

Proceeds. S.A. Scot., 1884, 254.

222

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

These

estates would form the len * or

notable that the earl's landed estate
lay scattered throughout the islands, which appears to
confirm the above conjecture that the forfeited estates
in the islands.

fief

of the earl.

It is

of the

Orkney vikings formed the earldom

were

in

Birsa,

Orphir,

Kirkwall,

estate

Burrey,

these

South

Ronaldsey, Hoy, Westrey, Sandey and Stronsey.

This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the
earldom estate included a great part of the north isles,
which would have been ideal viking stations.
Each )>ingha would have had its hof, temple, for
which a Pictish church would have done service. When

was adopted,

Christianity

the jnngha

would become the

hof the parish church. With the exception of ByrgisheraS, there is no indication in the saga
parish, and

its

which the islands were divided.

J?ing was the unit of government in
the islands appears to be proved by the termination
ing in the names of a number of Shetland parishes,
Delting, Sandsting, etc., some of which are
e.g.,
mentioned as early as 1321-1355. 2
of the districts

into

That the parochial

lp

CHURCH HISTORY: KRISTNI

The

ecclesiastical history of

SAGA.

Orkney and Shetland

is

particularly complicated.
The Pictish church would of course be under lona.

Adam

Bremen (1067-1076) stated that Orkney was

formerly
by bishops appointed by the Scots
In 605, Pope Gregory
and
(lona)
English (York).
of

ruled

wrote

to

there

should

Augustine that, after the latter's death,

be two primates of England, one in
London and one in York. It was maintained by the
St.

archbishop of Canterbury,
1

in

1119, that

"

Britanniae,"

Borrowed from mid. low German, or more probably O.E.

lease, to

Norway

simpler meaning
''D.N.,

lizn,

account for the early use of the word, the feudal system in
The true O.N., /<z, has the
being of foreign origin.
ix.,

no;

'

loan.'
iii.,

234.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

223

in Gregory's letter, included Scotland and Ireland.

Meanwhile Orkney was colonised by the Norse, 664-872.
In 822, Rheims was made metropolitan of the North,
and in 831, Bremen was made metropolitan of the three
Scandinavian kingdoms
but there were no Christians
in
In 934, Hakon (son of king Harald
Norway.
harfagri and fosterson of Athelstan of England, by
whom he was converted) vainly attempted to Christianise Norway.
He asked for bishops from England.
In 961, king Harald grafeldr, who had been baptised
in England, succeeded to the Norwegian throne.
In
Olaf
who
had
been
in
converted
995, king
Tryggvason,
l

England, formally introduced Christianity into Norway and Orkney and Shetland, assisted by English
bishops and priests.
Henry, called "the fat" (the
treasurer of Knut, king of England, 1014, 1016-1035,
and of Norway 1028-1035), was appointed bishop of
Orkney, probably by York, when Knut was king of
Norway, 1028-1035. Knut appointed one other Nor-

wegian bishop.

The early Christian kings of Norway repudiated

Bremen as their metropolitan, and looked to England
for bishops.
It was only during the early part of the
of
Knut, when he claimed Norway, that Norway
reign
turned to Bremen rather than England.
In 1050-56, Bremen appointed a bishop of Orkney,
probably at the request of I>orrinn, the earl who built
first cathedral
in Orkney, after he had visited
Bremen and Rome. This bishop was ousted, in 1085.,
by a bishop who had been appointed by York in 1073.
The latter York bishop had been probably appointed
on the strength of the Papal bull which assigned the
primacy of Scotland to York in 1072. After this we
have double bishops of Orkney, appointed by Bremen
and York. These double bishops were probably run
by the rival earls, each having his own prelate. The
the

Pope upheld
1

D.N.,

xvii.

the

York bishops. The dispute was

B, 177, 178.

finally

Saga-Book

224

of the

Viking Society.

in 1152, when Nidaros, now

Trondhjem, was
the metropolitan see of Norway, including OrkHitherto the bishops had been missionary bishops

settled

made

ney.
without

chapters, whereas now they were assigned

cathedrals, with properly constituted chapters.
Bishop
William, the old, of Orkney (who would have been

appointed by Bremen
in

102, or

Norway

in

if his
appointment took place
which
was made metropolitan of
by Lund,
1104, if, as is thought by some, his appoint-

ment took place

in 1112), was the sole bishop in poswhen Nidaros was made metropolitan of
Orkney.
During his episcopate the cathedral was
transferred
from Birsa to Kirkwall.
As bishop
William was the first constitutional bishop of Orkney

session

with a chapter, he is accordingly described in the saga

"
the first bishop of Orkney." In 1472, the bishopric
as
of

Orkney was

to the
in

transferred from the see of Trondhjem

newly erected metropolitan see of St. Andrews

Scotland.

Another cause of confusion arose during the greac

Papal schism in 1378-1429, when double bishops of
Orkney were appointed by the Popes and anti-Popes.
Norway, which was in possession of Orkney, acknowledged the Papal bishops, so that they were alone in
actual possession of the bishopric.
Scotland, which
until
the
1417, had certain
acknowledged
anti-Popes
Scottish clergy appointed as titular bishops of Orkney,
but they had permission to retain their Scottish livings,
in which they resided.

The payment

of tithe, tiund,

was probably imposed

on Orkney and Shetland early

at the

same time as

it

was

in the twelfth century,

laid on Norway, by king

SigurS jorsalafari (Jerusalem-farer or crusader), who

had been earl of Orkney until his father's death
in

1103.

The bishop and his retinue exercised

in the islands.
The nature of the civil
the church over the clergy

great influence
jurisdiction of
of

and over the occupiers

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

225

lands remains to be more fully explained.

are informed, in 1369,' that the bishop had jurisdiction of holy church, lay and learned, without let or

church

We

hindrance from the earl's and king's representatives.

In 1490, the Scottish government erected the bishopric
into a regality, with civil courts and officers of its own,
having civil jurisdiction over all occupiers of church
2

which probably merely confirmed the powers

exercised by the bishop under the Norwegian government.
land,

previously

CODES: LOG-BCEKR.
The

Norway were recited by the

Norw ay, as a united
law-speaker.
in
new laws were
Harald
872,
harfagri,
kingdom, by
framed. Further new laws were framed by king Hakon
early oral laws of

On

the foundation of

hinn goSi (the good), 935-961, and by king Olaf hinn

helgi (the holy), 1015-1030, including church and canon
law. During the reign of king Magnus hinn goSi (the
"
"
was taken down
St. Olaf's Law
good), 1035-1047,
in writing in Grdgds (Greygoose), a record which is
now lost. Old Gulathing Law was taken down about

and New Gulathing Law was adopted in 1275,

while various amendments and ordinances were effected
iioo,

nfter that.

Undoubtedly the Orkney vikings took their Norwegian oral laws, log, and law-speaker, logsogumaftr,
with them to the islands. In the period from the
colonisation

Law,

down

till

of

New Gulathing
have exercised a measure
although it is hard to

the enactment of

in 1275, the islands

may

legislative independence
believe that at the foundation of the earldom, in 872,
Harald did not have his new laws adopted there also.
;

Likewise the new Christian laws of St. Olaf must also

have been adopted in the islands.

Although the Norwegian parliament, logging, had

legislative power, such power was mainly confined to
the adoption of new laws and amendments, framed and
iD.N.,

I.,

308.

P.R.,App.

226

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

proposed by the king or his council a nominal power,

not unlike in nature to that possessed to-day by
cathedral chapters in the election of bishops, in which
there

no alternative but

to elect the king's nominee,

the
conge d'elire.
notwithstanding
The references in the saga to legislation in Orkney
is

are as follows.

It is related,

in 1048, that earl J>orfinn

turned his mind to ruling the people and land and to

law-giving a laga-setning. This was shortly after the
:

compilation of Grdgds, 1035-1047, and may merely refer

to the amendments introduced at that time, if not to
the written code itself, which may have been transmitted
to the earl of Orkney for adoption by his lawthing.
In
1116, earl Hakon set up new laws (setti ny log) in Orkney, which pleased the bcendr better than those which
had been before (ao>). This, again, coincides with the

recording of Old Gulathing Law, circa iioo, which

may have been sent to Orkney for adoption.
In 1137, in order to raise money for the completion
of St. Magnus' cathedral, earl Rognvald was advised
/cera log a, to bring up [for consideration, with the
ostensive object of amelioration], an existing law which

was

felt to

be rather hard,

law by which the

6Sul after all bcendr

viz., that

had hitherto inherited

earls

all

[generation after generation], so that the heirs of these

(i)] to redeem these 65ul [generation
after generation], in order to regain possession of their
ancestral 6Sul, [or otherwise (2) to continue in occupation of these 6'Sul as hereditary tenants, involving the

bcendr had [either

payment of land rent to the earls]. Then the earl called

a )>ing and offered the bcendr to allow them to buy,
kaupa, their 6Sul, so that there would be no need to,
redeem, leysa them, thereafter, which was agreed to.
1

The

translation of Orkn. renders fcera log d

bring in a law,
it should be bring
uf an existing law (see Fritzner s.v.,
med praep. a). This clearly explains this, hitherto obscure
:

whereas
fcera,

The existing law must refer to that by which earl TorfEinar acquired the 6Sul in 895 (see ante], which 6Sul remained;
unredeemed, in the possession of the earls until 995, when earl
'

passage.

'

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

227

mark had

to be paid for every ploughland.

As a
estimated
at
one
acre, and
plogsland
by Vigfusson
in Snorra Edda as equivalent to what four oxen could
plough in a day and night, and as a markland in Ork1
ney averages a little more than an acre, it has been
is

suggested that this

land denomination. 2
buy their 65ul ?

may have been

the origin of this

also have ro

Did the Shetlanders

Sigurd digri gaf upp Orkneyingum oftul sin

gave u-p to the
Orkneyingar their of>ul; which gift would thus only have been for
one generation, after which the 6Sul would again revert to the earls.
During the whole cf the period, 895-995 (during which the 6Sul
remained unredeemed in the hands of the earls) the bcendr, as
hereditary tenants, must have paid rent to the earls.
King Olaf
Tryggvason's account of the transaction was that king Harald
harfagri took as his own all the lands in Orkney and Shetland in
consequence of the slaughter of his son, and that earl Torf-Einar
paid the king sixty gold marks [as the redemption price of the lands],
and so acquired all these lands [the d5ul in Orkney and Shetland
the Orkney saga is explicit in only mentioning the 6Sul in Orkney
as having been acquired by the earl] which he held as a fief from
:

the king.
1

Proceed., S. A. Scot, 1884, 274.

If the mark of land in the Hebrides is of the same origin as that

Orkney and Shetland, it would appear to make the above supposition
improbable. Moreover, a ploughland was of uniform area, whereas the
mark of land, representing its purchase value, varied considerably in
extent.
Fritzner explains O.N. plogsland
arable land
On the
in

basis of the eyrisland rent-valuation (see infra, Taxation), % eyrisland (

6 pennylands= i * ertogland) X 24 years' purchase = i

Was
It has been
eyrisland the plogsland of the saga?
calculated that the pennyland in Orkney contains from 4 to 13 acres
(Proceed. S. A. Scot., 1884. 277), so that J eyrisland, or 6 pennymark.

would contain from 24 to 78 acres. Can the plogsland of

Flateyjarbok (in which this part of Orkn. is alone preserved) be an
extension of a possible contraction pgsland, in the original, for
*
pennyland,' only known in Orkney and
peningsland? a term,
the west with which the Flateyjarbok copyist would have been unlands,

'

while pgsland would also be the contracted form of

If a mark had been paid for a pennyland ( T s eyrisplogsland.
18
of
an eyrisland
been
the price
would
have
land),
an
the
of
marks, as against 3 marks,
redemption
price
In the silver valuation of Orkney
eyrisland at 24 years' purchase.
the
pennyland was valued at from i to 12 and more marks,
familiar,

'

228

of the

Saga-Book

Viking Society.

Norway, Denmark and Sweden,

1389-1523,
Gulathing Law, together with subseamendments
of the thirteenth and fourteenth cenquent

During the union

of

New

"

were the principal source of law, viz.,

St.
Olaf's law and the good old customs," which the kings
swore to maintain in Norway.
That the Orkney and Shetland law-book, I'dg-bok,
was an edition of New Gulathing Law seems clear from
turies,

the following references.

In 1420 the feoffee, lensmaftr,

of the earldom undertook to rule

Orkney according to
In 1425
law-book
and
old
customs. 2
Norwegian
the Orkneyingers petitioned the crown to uphold king
Olaf's law and subsequent ordinances, precisely as in
the royal oath above quoted. In 1538, a district court,
rettr, in Shetland gave its decision in accordance with
the

Gulathing Law, which decision was attested as sound

4
While in the
by the king's council in Bergen.
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was the tradition
in the islands that their laws were received from St.
5
6laf.
One Scottish bishop was so at sea in the matter
that he explained that one Udillaus was sent by the
king of Norway to divide the land in Orkney into
6
He had turned Ulaus
pennylands, hence udal land.
so that one

mark, for

the outright

purchase of a pennyland,

in

would not have been exorbitant as compared with the possible

recurrent redemption price of
mark (i.e.,
eyrir X 24 years'
purchase = ij eyrir
mark). The redemption price would
1137,

undoubtedly have been maintained

on the basis of the eyrisland

valuation in 895, when the lands were acquired by the earl; but,
possibly at a nominal and less rate than 24 years' purchase, as otherwise each bdndi would have paid back the fine every time a successive generation redeemed the land, and if i mark was paid for
each pennyland in 1137, the earl would have received back six
times more than the sum for which it was originally acquired in
895.
J

Ud. N.H.,
O.S.R.

I.,

i.,

69.

D.N.,

ii.,

489.

D.N.,

vi.,

449.

70.

Gifford's Zetland (reprint), 47, 48; Brand's Description (reprint),

41; Hibbert's Shetland, 193, 275; Sibbald's Description, 81.
'
P.R. No. iii., 18, 20.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

into

Udillaus,

the

little

229

by way of folk-etymology. Moreover,

we do know of insular law corresponds

New Gulathing Law, e.g., (i) the daughter

only inherited half as much as a son, whereas by Old
G.L. she inherited nothing; (2) the eldest son had the
first choice of the head house, whereas Old G.L. has
no ordinance on the subject.
The old customs, forn or gdmul sifivenja, or consue-

with

tudinary law, referred to in the royal

include immemorial rights of foreshore,

oath,

would

common

pasturage, etc. and in certain cases fishing rights, which,

in some cases flowed from royal grants these were the
;

emoluments, lunnendi, of 6Sal deeds.

LEGISLATURE, LAWS, LAW COURT:

PING

(afterwards

LOGGING), LOG, LOGRETTA

The original Norwegian J>ing appears to have been

a primary assembly of freeholders, oftalsmenn or hauldar.
By the time of Old Gulathing Law the general
assembly was called the law-thing, logging, and consisted of paid representatives from the various districts,
nominated by the king's deputies; the king was represented by his deputies, lendirmenn and drmenn, barons
and stewards, and the church by the bishops and priests.
In 1164, the compulsory presence of the priests was
limited to two from each fylki, who were nominated by
The representative system arose from
their bishops.
the enlargement of the ]>ing-districts and the growth of
the royal power.

these nominated men the king's depunominated a smaller selection, called the 16gre"tta,
which inquired into and arranged the cases before the
These 16gre"ttumenn
decision of the j'ing was given.
were also representative of districts, and were paid.
It will thus be apparent that the Norwegian parliament of historic times was, like the contemporary Saxon

From among

ties

Saga-Book

230

of the

Viking Society.

purely a body of royal nominees and

churchmen without a vestige of democratic election.
There is not the slightest indication that the earl of

assembly,

Orkney had,

like

the

earls

in

Norway, lendirmenn,

The only appearunder him, ruling the islands.

ance in the saga of a local j>ing is a laun-fying, or
secret meeting, held in Westrey.
We can only assume
that the earldom was, as in Norway, divided into
districts

with district assemblies, the predecessors of the

In Shetland we find notices of parish

bailie courts.

courts and officials and also of a "varding," varying a

2
spring court.

From

.evidence given below

remained

it

will be seen that the

Orkney lawthing
primary assembly.
The representative nature of the persons serving in the
Orkney logretta has been shown by mr. J. Storer
Clouston

in the Saga-Book, VII., 100.

references in the saga to the J>ing
as follows.
In the ninth century a fine

The

and laws are

was exacted

from the whole community for the slaughter of the

king's son at the instigation of the earl land was held
;

with the right of redeeming alienated 6Sal. In

the eleventh century earl Einar rangmunnr held J>ing
in spring with the bcendr; earl Einar's slaughter was
atoned for as for three lendirmenn, and his third part
of the earldom was confiscated by the king of Norway,
in 65al,

for the- slaughter of the king's

horn, and afterwards given

other two earls.
In 1106,

hirSmaSr, Eyvind lirarin len to one of the

Hakon

earl

killed

the

king's syslumaftr, steward, who was looking after

Magnus' share of the earldom. In in6, the two ruling
earls met at the J?ingsta5r in Hrossey (Mainland), and
The National Assembly in the Anglo-Saxon Period, by Professor F.
Liebermann, pp. 38 seqq.
Opp. O.Z., 71. A varying was held in Jamtland in 1463 (D.N.,
Hitherto the Shetland
iii., 627)
varding has been explained as
varS-))ing, but there is no such term on record, and a 'beaconassembly' is not probable.
Logging > logging in Shetland and
elsewhere (D.N., i., 81 and N.G.L.), hence
varying > varying >
1

'

'

varding.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

231

came to terms and bound their agreement with oaths

and handsal. Earl St. Magnus stated that it was siftr
ok log, custom and law, of men of old that the executioner should have the clothes of the person executed.
In 1128, earl Pal is described as a man of few words,
and no speaker at the J'ing. In 1137, Svein was outlawed and his estates forfeited for the slaughter of the
earl's hirftmaftr, one of his bodyguard; a launfying, a
secret J'ing, was held in West rev a J'ing was held in
Hrossey (Mainland) at which there were present rikismenn, mighty men, bcendr, njosnar, spies, and a skald
;

Rognvald constantly held J'ing with the bcendr,

because he had to do with mighty men, stormenn, who
earl

were
In

against

1151, earl

him; he held one

Rognvald

J'ing

called a full

in

.J'ing

Kirkwall.
in

spring,

Hrossey, which was attended by all the hoffiingjar,

In 1152, earl Erlend and Svein summoned a
chiefs.
J'ing of the bcendr in Kirkwall, to w hich they came
from all the isles at this J>ing the king's brief was read,
which gave earl Erlend earl Harald's half of the earldom, to which the bcendr promised obedience. Harald
had got his half of the earldom from Rognvald by
private arrangement and not as a len, fief, from the
king. In 1154, eai"l Rognvald held a hushing (a housething, summoned by a trumpet, in cases of emergency
a war council), regarding the invasion by earl Erlend
and Svein. A sdtiar-ftmdr, peace meeting, was held
between Svein and the earls, at which it was agreed
that Svein should make peace by the payment of a mark
of gold to each of the two earls, lose half of his lands
and his good longship. In 1155, another sattarfundr
was held in St. Magnus' cathedral, in which had been
stored the sail of Svein 's forfeited longship, and at
which earl Rognvald attended with a broad-axe.
in

In accordance with old Gulajnngslog, a breiftox was one of the weapons

breiftox
to be borne in a levy by each armaSr and lendrmaftr
while each bondi had
or sverS (sword), sf>jbt (spear) and skjoldr (shield)
to be provided with tvennar tylftit orva ok bogi einn, two-twelves, i.e., 24,
arrows and one bow.
1

which had

of the

Saga-Book

232

Viking Society.

In 1194, Shetland was forfeited to Norway (skat tr and

skyld public taxes and the rents of the earldom landed
estate), for the part the earl had in the rebellion against

king Sverrir.
the rebels

who

The

estates in

fell at

Orkney and Shetland

of

Floruvoe were also

forfeited, but
their kinsmen.

were redeemable, within three years, by

Shetland was taken under the king's own control, as
well as one-half of all the fines in Orkney.
After this
the foguti the king's bailiff, was appointed to Shetland.
From the foregoing references we find that as late
as 1152, a )>ing of the bcendr was held in Orkney, lo
which they came from all the isles
a primary
This
assembly, which would have had its logretta.
1

years after the recording of Old Gulathing

Norway, where the lawthing of Gulathing was

was

fifty

Law

in

attended by nominated and paid delegates. As Orkney

was such a comparatively small place it seems unlikely
that provision would have been made for the appointment and payment of delegates, so that the assembly

would remain primary.

During 1273-1299 Shetland was in the appanage of
duke Hakon, who became king in the latter year.
The next notice we have is of a logging in Shetland
(twenty-four years after the adoption of New
Gulathing Law), which was attended by the logSingismenn. In 1307, the lawman, eleven men and all the
logrettumenn of Shetland held a court [logretta of the
logging ?] at Tingwall, at which the decision was given
in

I299

by the lawman, with the special advice, rdS, and consent of handgengnirmenn [the eleven ?] and logrettumenn. The handgengnirmenn may have been in the
service of the king or the lawman, as underfouds.
In 1379, Shetland was restored to the earl of Orkney.
It has not yet been shown on what terms Shetland was
handed back. In 1386, the king's steward, drottseti,
awarded certain lands in Shetland to the rightful
3

Sverr. S., 156, 157; Orkn., 231, 235.

D.N.,

I.,

81.

D.N.,

I.,

97.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

233

owners, as they had been illegally taken possession of

by Malis Sperra.
1

The

earl of

his grandson,

Orkney died
was invested

in 1404,
in 1434.

and the next

During

earl,

this inter-

regnum the earldom of Orkney and lordship of Shetland were given out in len, fief, to various persons. In
a grant of a part of Shetland, north of Mawed, in 1412,
the grantee received skatt, landskyld and wesel (wattle,
O.N. veizla, entertainment), with all royal right except
}>egngildi, weregild of a }>egn, thane or freeman, and
friftkaup, the price at which peace had to be bought
from the king by one outlawed for manslaughter. 2
In 1433, the burgesses of Kirkwall had to observe the
3
statute of the country.
In the last len of the earldom
4
in I434,
the earl, as in the len of 1379, had to
serve the king with one hundred men-at-arms out of
Orkney, and had to be answerable for his faults to the
king and council, in accordance with the law of
Norway.

The

first

we have

notice

of

an assembly [logretta of

the lawthing ?] in Orkney since sagatime, is of one held

before 1438 (either in 1434-1438 or 1404 or before), in
the vestry of St. Magnus' cathedral, consisting of
5
Before 1438 (1434sundry goodmen of the country.
1438 or 1404 or earlier), a hirSmannastefna was held by
'

'

and the gentles of the country regarding a

land dispute which had been debated in the abovementioned meeting [logretta of the lawthing], and
which had been reported to the hirfimannastefna, meet-

the earl

ing of the earl's bodyguard.

Orkney was wadset by Norway to Scotland
in the following terms

in

1468,

Damus, concedimus, impignoramus ac sub firma

hypotheca et pignore imponimus atque hypothecamus
omnes et singulas terras nostras insularum Orcadensium cum omnibus et singulis juribus, serviciis ac
iD.N., I., 366.
'N.G.L. (anden

D.N.,

II.,

O.S.R.,

466.
5

raekke),

137.

O.S.R.,

I..

I.,

45.

246.

of the

Saga-Book

234

Viking Society.

justis suis pertinentiis nobis regali jure . .

et habendas totas et integras terras nostras

tenendas
insularum

unacum omnibus et
pr?edictarum
singulis custumis, profiscuis, libertatibus, commoditatibus ac aliis justis suis pertinentiis, quibuscunque,
1
tarn nominatis quam innominatis. etc.
Orcadensium

(Translation.}

and under

Give, grant, wadset,

strict

hypothec and

pledge do set and hypothecate all and sundry our

lands of the islands of Orkney, with all and sundry

and their just pertinents, belonging

us by royal right
to hold and to have all and
whole our lands of the islands of Orkney aforesaid,
together with all and sundry customs, profits, freedoms, commodities and their other just pertinents
whatsoever, as well named as not named.

rights, services,
to

The wadset was redeemable on the payment of the

principal sum of 50,000 Rhenish florins (,20,833,
Opp. O.Z., xii.), by the king of Norway or his successors.

Shetland was wadset

in

the following year

for 8,000 florins (Hvitfeldt, 921).

The hirSmannastefna, which was held by the earl

before 1438, consisted of his hirft or bodyguard, who
were appropriately described as the
of the
gentles
have notice of a hirSmannastefna held
country.
by lord Robert Stewart in 1574, when it is described as
a
sheriffcourt called the hermanstein,' and at which
'

'

We

'

lands

were escheated

for

theft.

This

latter

court

twenty-seven members, including some

Shetland landowners. Lord Robert Stewart attempted
to revive all the prerogatives of the old Norse regime,
and naturally would wish to have his hirft or bodyguard, which actually included some Shetlanders, and
was therefore not an exclusively Orkney court.
Lord Robert Stewart alleged " himself to be as free
lord and heritor of Orkney and Zetland as the king of
consisted

P.R. app.

of

Torfseus' Orcades (1697), 195.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

235

is in his own realm, or the queen of England,

or the king of France in France, and makes his vante,
that in case he be put at by the king's majesty's authoto give the haill countrys into the king of
rity,

Scotland

Denmark's hands."
After 1468, we have the following
lawthing in Orkney and Shetland.
In

held

1510,
at

the

of

court

Tingwall,
[logretta

lawman

at

this

and Shetland. 2

notices

the

of

[logretta of the lawthing] was

carried out the decree

which

of the] lawthing of Orkney

the
time being lawman of both Orkney
In 1538, a rettr, (district) court, was
;

held in Shetland by the lawman, local lawrightmen,

logrettumenn, and other good men, whose verdict was
afterwards certified as correct by the king's court
3
in Bergen.
In 1576, it was reported to the royal

commission, who were taking evidence as to lord

Robert Stewart's oppressions in the islands, that the
lawthing of Shetland was the head court of the county
in

[i.e., logretta] gave decreets and the

of the law thing were all persons having land,

which the assize

members

heritage and great taks, leases, from the king.

court book of Patrick Stewart, earl of Orkney,

The
1602-

1604,* gives a detailed account of the circuit and head

In 1538, a lawman of Shetland
courts in Shetland.

was appointed by Norway.

There can be little doubt

used
Norway
every opportunity of keeping alive
her right of redeeming the islands, by making concurrent appointments to those made by Scotland and
that

by encouraging

insular

the

references to

Norwegian

courts.

The

exact

relationship

between

the

and

insular

Norwegian king's council and law courts has

be
of
the
earl
has
been
cleared up.
As
also
shown,
in
council
to
the
was
answerable
Norway.
king's
Orkney
'Opp. O.Z.,
5

5.

O.S.R.,

Peterkin's Notes, app.

burgh.

I.,

60.

to

'Ibid, 73.
Opp. O.Z., 44, 58.
in the Register House, Edin-

MS.

Original
Norske Rigsregistranter,

I.,

57.

Saga-Book

236

of the

Viking Society.

Orkney, in 1509 and after, we have notices of

"
"
ogangs, district courts, held by the lawman,
the justice and the worthiest and best of the land,
"
landedmen roythmen," or " roythmen and roythmen's sons"; the lawman gave the decree with the
"
advice of the
doomsmen " and, in one instance sealed
the decreet on behalf of the "roythmen." The lawthing
In

several

in 1509 and after, the members of the court

described
as above. After 1519, the members of
being
the lawthing court, logretta, are merely described as the

was held

"assize," as they were later on in Shetland.

With regard to the terms " roythmen " and " royth"
"
men's sons," the terms
and " roythman "
royth
2
were used in Orkney, in I544 and after, as meaning
the right of redeeming oo'al, and the person who had
3
that right.
This is undoubtedly derived from O.N.
rd5, rule, management, the. raS which the oSalsmenn
exercised in alienating, as well as in redeeming,
their 65ul.
The same meaning must be attached to

the

members

as

roythmen

lawthing,

viz.,

class

of
of

the

logretta

persons

who

of

the

were

eligible for nomination as members of the logretta

or lawthing court, in virtue of their being 65albornir.
The obvious explanation is that the members of

lawthing court or assize, logretta, were chosen

4
from, the landed men, roythmen and their sons,
which was their property qualification whereas their
the

character

qualification

consisted

in

their

being the

worthiest, best, and good men. They had to be honest

and respectable landowners or persons having the rdS
or right to alienated estates, and their sons, who were
oSalbornir.
There is no indication that the term
roythman was borrowed from the designation radman
or raadman, O.N. rdSraaSr, used for a member of the
konungs rd5, king's council, or the boejar rdS, town
2

'O.S.R.,

I.,

251.

O.S.R.,

I.,

259.

Reg. Gt. Seal, Scot.

"O.S.R.,

I.,

254.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

council of Bergen.

If

237

such a use of the word had been

copied from Norway, one would have expected Shetland to have also done so, considering its closer connexion with the mother country.
It
would be a
contradiction in terms and an absurdity to require that
one must be a councillor in order to be eligible for
election as a councillor. Orkney may have been under
bjarkeyarrettr, town law, and Kirkwall may have had
a b 02 jar raS, town council, of which the rdfimenn, town
councillors, were represented in the lawthing and its
But this would not explain the " roythman's
logretta.
"
son
designation.
Technically the term roythmen
was applicable to all 65alsmenn, and we find their sons
on the assize, designated as younger.' 2
The occurrence of the term lawrightman, Ibgrettumaftr, in Orkney, puts rdSmaSr, councillor, out of
There is one instance of the " landedmen and
court.
roythmen," in an assize, being described as "at that
time," a term applied to officials, whereas the term
"
"
was applied to unofficial perpresent at that time
sons. This instance occurs in a bungled docket on the
back of a doom of the assize of the lawthing in 1516
"
The dome of the best landit men in [deleted] and
"
'

in
royhtmen in Orkna at that ty [deleted] tyme
which doom it is stated that the doom was dempt before
;

"

the

justice of

"

persons

Orkney

(some of

lectively, as

"
by 20
worthy
younger "), who col-

for the time."

whom

were

"

"doomsmen," gave

their

"doom."

The

docket can have one of three possible interpretations,

landedmen and roythmen, in Orkney at that

"
"
in Orkney
present in Orkney at that time,
"
(2) landedmen and
being qualified by "at that time
roythmen (in Orkney) at that time, which would mean

viz.

(i)

time,

i.e.,

Mackenzie's Grievances (1750), reprint, app. ii., iv., and pp. n,

in which the assize of lawthing = ratmen = raadmen, councillors, and hence the fictitious Orkney and Shetland raadmen of
1

12,

modern
2

glossaries.

Ibid., 252.

Saga-Book

238

of the

Viking Society.

and roythmen were reckoned as

an explanation which would involve a number
of absurdities
or (3) landedmen and roythmen in
Orkney, \_doomsmen or assisemen; or present] at that
that the landowners

officials,

The original document is in the Record Room,

"
Sheriff Clerk's Office, Kirkwall. The terms
landedtime.

men roythmen," " landedmen and roythmen," " roythmen and roythmen's sons, "are all explicit definitions of
the qualification of logrettumenn
they had to be landowners who were oftalsmenn or their sons, i.e., 6Sals:

to bcendr in the possession of

a
distinction
and qualification which disbought land,
appeared, with the term roythmen, when the assize was
packed with persons other than oSalsmenn.

bcendr,

as

opposed

Besides the lawthing, ogangs and

also

courts of arbiters and

retts,

the bailie

there were

courts

which

may have been

latter

In

j>ing.

the continuation of the districtShetland the parish foud and bailie were

2
synonymous terms.

The

justice of Orkney and the

sometimes one and the same
person, represented the executive, and were similar to
the syslumaoV of Norway.
In Shetland the foud was
also the receiver of the public taxes and of the rents of
the earldom lands.
There were precisely similar officers in both Orkney
and Shetland
lawman, justice or foud, underfouds
and
(or bailies)
lawrightmen. The two latter terms are
seldom used in Orkney. The Shetland lawrightman,
in 1576 and before, is described as an officer in every
isle and parish, who was chosen by the common consent and election of the foud and commons, as their
procurator and defender, to keep the weights and
measures by which their taxes were paid, and to see

foud, foguti, of Shetland,

1
As for the time,' is the usual official, and present at that time,'
at that
the usual unofficial designation, and as the docket term,
'

'

'

part of the latter, probably '-present

'

time,'
2

is

Opp. O.Z., 58.

'

has been omitted.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

239

the taxes were justly measured.

He was also
specially chosen, for his discretion and judgment, to
be chancellor of the assize in all courts, where he had

that

any legal questions and show the law, use and

practice thereon, and to inform the assize and to pronounce decreets. For this service he was paid by the

to settle

commons.

This payment may have been direct, or

have
been
may
provided for in the skatt. The greater
of
the
in
skatt
part
Orkney and Shetland was undefined
it

was paid simply as butter-, malt-skatt, etc.

Although leiSangr, war tax, is not specifically
mentioned in the Orkney skatt, it, as the fundamental
skatt, must of course be included in the general term
skatt.
One of the taxes paid in Orkney is called

and

"forcop," fararkaup, travelling expenses, the term

used in Gulathing Law for the wages paid to the levy.
This term has hitherto been, incorrectly, explained as
fyingfararkaup, the Icelandic term for the travelling
expenses paid to those attending a j>ing; whereas the
Norwegian terms are fyingfararfe in Frostathing, and
fe in

Gulathing.
"
Lawbook " of Orkney and Shetland,
regards the
nothing is known of its existence after the judicial reference to it in i6o2. 2
It has been shown that Orkney and Shetland, so far
as evidence goes, were under the same code, corresponding to New Gulathing Law, which would have

As

possible for the same man to act as lawman, or

expounder of the law, in both groups, which we know

made

it

was the

case.

In 1611, after the downfall of Patrick Stewart, earl

of Orkney, the Scottish privy council abrogated all
.

O.Z., 18, 27.

Mackenzie's Grievances of O. and S., 6-7. The earl of Orkney referred

" the auld Dans lawis
to it in 1611, as
by which they were governed."
The bishop, in 1642, remarked that 65al
Peterkin's Notes, App. 86.
succession was in accordance with "the law of Norroway," P.R.,
2

III., 20.

Saga-Book

240

of the

Viking Society.
1

foreign laws in Orkney and Shetland, as well as certain

"
whether they be established by acts
specified laws,
and ordinances or received by custom and observation
2

and declared that the islands were

of the country,"
commission
to be subject to the law of Scotland.

was issued to the bishop of Orkney and another to

convocate and assemble the whole inhabitants to concur
and assist them to make, prescribe and set down acts,
statutes and ordinances for keeping the inhabitants
under his majesty's obedience, and to hold sheriff and
;

In 1615, the sheriffs depute held a court

justice courts.
at which certain acts were passed by the sheriffs with

advice and consent of the gentlemen suitors of court

and commons, all with one advice, consent and assent/
In 1623, acts were passed by the sheriffs with the
advice and consent of the gentlemen and bailies ot
5
In 1628, acts were
parishes and suitors of court.

passed by the sheriffs depute with consent of the whole

gentlemen and suitors of court and commonalty present

for the time. 6

These courts would naturally be constituted and conducted on the same lines as the lawthing, their
immediate predecessor, which they replaced a general
assembly of the commons, a primary legislature, by
whose consent acts were adopted, while legal decisions
were given by an assize (logretta) chosen from the
;

assembly.

The

office

of

lawrightman (logrettumaSr) appears,

latterly, to have been divided into two distinct offices,

held by different persons, viz., that of (i) a parochial

"

who

looked after the interest of the

and (2) a member of the assize
(logretta) of the lawthing, chosen at the lawthing.
Probably a fresh assize was chosen for each sitting of
the court, or for each case.

lawrightman,"

commons

in his district,

Peterkin's Notes, App. 64.

Ibid. 66.
5

*Ibid. 69.
4

Ib id. 421.

Barry's Orkney, reprint, 1867, 412.

Ibid. 424.

''Ibid.

420.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

The

following questions remain to be answered

there one manuscript lawbook for both

Shetland, or had each its own copy ?

241
:

Was

Orkney and

Was

the law-

book of 1602 in old Norse, Danish or English ? If

it was in old Norse,
had it marginal explanations in
English ? The possibility of a translation having been
made seems highly probable, especially in Orkney,
where Norse became generally extinct at an early date.
The rentals of the earldom were translated circa 1490,
if not earlier, and several old Norse charters bear a
"

As the
put this into Inglis."
contemporary note,
"
"
in
Shetland
law
had
to
show
the
to
lawrightman
his parochial assize, it seems to be self-evident that
each lawrightman must have had a copy of the Lawbook, in the same way as the later bailies had each
to have a copy of the Acts of Bailliary (Barry's Orkney,
1808, 469, 482).

TAXATION

SKATTR.

Orkney and Shetland on the

which
is
subdivided into 18
ounceland, eyrisland,
and
each
into
pennylands,
4 farthinglands.
pennyland
Skatt

is

assessed in

Norway the eyrir, ounce, of money = 30-60 pennies

mark of silver. The English and Scottish mark =
= 20 pence. The Orkney ounce of
135. 4d., of which ^

In

be explained from the fact that a Shetland

(paid in produce) was reckoned equal to 12
= i8d. The ounce, eyrir, in eyrisshillings, of which J
land, and the penny, penningr, in pennyland undoubtedly represent the amount of the original land rent.
Skatt was only assessed on cultivated land, and it
ceased so long as the land was not cultivated.
In 895, Orkney was fined 60 gold marks, as weregild
i8d.

may

mark

It is
for the slaughter of the king's son.
whether Shetland had to pay a share.

not

stated

This sum
apparently represented the purchase value of the whole
'O.S.R.,

I.,

57.

Saga-Book

242

of the

Viking Society.

estates in Orkney, or in Orkney and Shetland, as otherwise the oSalsmenn would scarcely have given up their
65ul as a quid pro quo.
Sixty gold marks were

3,840 silver aurar.

equivalent to 480 silver marks
very rough estimate of the eyrislands in Orkney, in
1500-1595, gives about 170, which is probably much too
If the eyrir in eyrisland represents the rent value
little.
in 895, then the 170 eyrir x 22^ years' purchase would
equal the amount of the fine paid to Harald. In
circa 1200, land was valued at 24 years' purOf course it is just possible that Harald's fine
amount to the full purchase value of the estates,

Denmark,
chase.

did not
so that Shetland

may have

unlikely that Shetland

been included

would have been

but

it

fined

seems
for

crime committed in Orkney by Orkneymen.

It is not known how many eyrislands there are in
2
Shetland. In 1628, there were 13,392 marks of land
and one pennyland, or v? eyrisland, was valued at 8
;

marks

in

I299.

On

the assumption that the average

value of a pennyland was four marks, as in Orkney,

this would give 181 eyrislands in Shetland, or more
than in Orkney. In the beginning of the I7th century
the relative valuation of Orkney and Shetland was
regarded as 2:1, for the purpose of assessing Scottish

land tax 3
in

1861,

in 1912 the ratio

1.57:1."

was

Eyrisland

in 1881, 1.91 : i ;
is explained in Fritzner's

1.34

Ordbog, as land paying an eyrir of rent.

on the other hand, the eyrisland were a gold
If,
purchase-price valuation of Orkney and Shetland in
895, corresponding with the amount of Harald's fine,
then the Orkney eyrislands *i7o + the Shetland eyris-

lands *i8i = 351, as compared with the 480 gold aurar

of Harald's fine.
On this supposition, and assuming
that 129 eyrislands had gone astray, the difference
between the gold valuation of 895 and the later sterling
1

Orkney and Shetland Miscellany,

Goudie's Shetland, 177.

Peterkin's Notes, 153.

Tudor's Orkneys, 202. 412.

I.,

118.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

land

mark

silver

valuation,

is

as

72

i.e.,

mark

in 895, whereas the

of the eyrisland in sterling silver marks,

silver

243

gold eyrisaverage value

i

was 72 (eyrisx
lands
penny
average 4 marks). The lowest
silver valuation was 18 marks, and the highest 360.
The burnt silver mark valuation of Orkney was
the English mark of 135. 4d. (D.N. II., 146, A.D.,
1329; Proceeds. S.A.Scot., 1884, 273). In England,

land

2os. in

1329

Coinml. Diet.,

66s. in present coins (see McCulloch's

Coins), so that the English mark

s.v.

would be = 445. in present coins. Dasent calculated that the Norse mark of the loth century = 36
shillings sterling (Burnt Njal, II., 404), but it was
probably of the same value as the English mark
which was current in Orkney in 1329.
Assuming
of 1329

that the eyrisland valuation is that of the silver-rent

in 872, then the rent of an eyrisland in 872 was one
= 55. 6d. stg.,
eyrir, or | old Norse burnt mark silver

as

compared with

i.e.,

as

The

5.3,

295. 4d. sterling in 1500, in

Orkney,
an increase which seems reasonable.

calculation

latter

is

arrived

as

at

follows

the

was valued in 1500, on the avermarks silver (4 marks per d.) on

eyrisland of i8d. lands

age at 72 sterling
which rent was charged, on the average,

and the

lod. Scots,

at the rate of

ratio of Sterling to Scots, at that

time was i 3f; 2 so that 72 marks x rod. Scots = 72od.

Scots = 2ood. stg. = 295. 4d. stg., in present coins,
silver rent per eyrisland.
The eyrisland valuation must have been made in 872,
for the assessment of the skatt which Harald imposed
:

for the support of the

of

government

his

The

earl.

ounceland, or tirung, and pennyland of the Hebrides

must be explained in the same way.
It can be proved by the rental of 1500 (P.R., I), that
kviar,

Orkn. quoys, folds or enclosures,

The

Prsceeds

Diet,

earliest record of the

s.v.,

S.

A.

Scot.,

mark valuation
1884,

p.

255.

is

in

com-

the

in 1299, O.S.R.,

McCulloch's.

I.,

38.

Comml.

of the

Saga-Book

244

which

mons,

presumably

Viking Society.

had

been

under

brought

cultivation after the original eyrisland valuation had

been made, were also valued and included in the skatt-

obvious that such new land would not have

skatt-free in the early vigour of the Norse
It may, therefore, be safely assumed
fiscal system.
that Harald's fine amounted to the price of the taxable
roll.

It is

been

let off

land in Orkney in 895, and was calculated, on the basis

of the then existing eyrisland or rental valuation, at

This would give 160

twenty-four years' purchase.
in
in
or
about 10 less than in
895,
Orkney,
eyrislands
which
a
seems
reasonable
allowance
for the sub1500,
of
cultivated
increase
and
taxable
land.
sequent
1

The value

of

marks

the

decreased

evidently

of

land

considerably

in

Orkney had
by 1500,

value

in

when

land, formerly worth a mark of 135. 4d. stg. (the

= 255. stg. in 1500),
sterling mark of 1329 would be
of produce, worth rod. and i2d.
mark
Whereas in 1602,
and
Scots, =2-g-d.
3^d. stg.
2
for
8d.
of
land
was
sold
435. 4d. stg.
(6s.
stg.)

was

let

and

in

for a

payment

stg.

1603, 6
At this

6s. 8d.) was sold for

sterling to Scots money

marks (^4
time

mark

and the

20

was

of

12,
1329
415. 4d. stg.,
sterling
so that the land was sold for about double its mark
i

value.
1

Comparative value of Orkney

A D.

Rent.

895-

Value

/44-

in 895

and 1912

at 24 years' purchase.

i56.

1912.

87,920.

2,110,080, including Kirkwall and Stromness.

1912.

65,254.

i, 566, 096.

Banks and Bu
895.

1906.

of

excluding Kirkwall and Stromness,

Orphir g|d. land.

o2s.9j|d.

3 73. lod.

85.

2,040.

Including the towns, Orkney was about 2,000, and excluding the
towns, 1,483 times more valuable in 1912 than 895; whereas the Bu
of Oiphir was only 601 times more valuable; but Orkney now
includes a large area of new land.
2
3

O.S.R.,

I.,

Ibid., 221.

272.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

The

earl's

acquisition

of

the

6Sul

in

245

Orkney

in

exchange for the fine which he paid for the oSalsmenn

placed them in the same position as the oSalsmenn in
Norway, where Harald appropriated all the oo'ul and
the 65alsmenn became his vassals and tenants. In both
cases the 6Sul were ultimately restored to the
oSalsmenn,
in order to

The Heimskringla, in
Harald himself took possession
of the 6Sul in Orkney, and
gave them to earl Einar as
a len or fief. Pennylands were, at a later
date, valued
at their purchase price in burnt silver marks of
135. 4d.
sterling each, and on this valuation land rent was
charged in Orkney down till 1600. The eyrislands of
1
Orkney are mentioned in I263. In Shetland the marks
of land ceased to be used as the uniform basis of rent
charge as early as the sixteenth century, when land was
leased at so many pennies per mark, the penny repre-

one version,

gain their support.

states that

senting the actual currency value of the rent paid in

This method continued in use in Shetland
produce.
until

the

eighteenth century.
eyrisland valuation of Shetland
only one record of a pennyland

when

The pennyland and

now lost; there is

is

in

Papey,

in

1299,

purchase price was valued at eight silver marks

(=i gold mark), on which the rent was then charged,
as in Orkney. 2
The purchase value in marks of the pennylands in
Orkney varies considerably. Land in the north isles
had not increased so much in value as in the Mainland
its

(Hrossey). This is undoubtedly accounted for by the

fact that the north isles (excepting Rousey, Edey and
Westrey), are flat and without heath or moorland, and
1

Hak.

crown
3

S., 365-366,

estate

where

eyrisland

is

translated, geldable

land

and

It is assumed
and continued
but it is possible that it may have been amended from
unaltered
time to time.
This valuation was only used for charging rent and
for the division of oftal inheritance, except in Shetland, where it
was latterly also used for tithing purposes.

O.S.R.,

that the

I.,

38; Old-Lore Miscellany,

I.,

mark valuation was made previous

;

117-119.
to 1299

of the

Saga-Book

246

Viking Society.

consequently more easily cultivated. They would have

been cultivated to their full capacity when the first
valuation was made.
Whereas the Mainland, with its
heaths, hills, streams and alluvial soil, provided, as it
still does, considerable scope for breaking in new land
In Sandey, as its name
of improvement.
drift
formed
a
sand
serious impediment to its
implies,
The relative value of Orphir (Mainland
cultivation.
parish), to Sandey (north isle), is in pennylands, as
2.
When
i
7, whereas the present rental ratio is i
the markland valuation was made, the average value

capable

of a pennyland in Sandey was ij marks, and

8 marks or over.

in

Orphir

LAW: ODALSRETTR.

6-DAL

Five generations of continuous ownership of land

converted the estate into an oo'al, its owner into an
The 6Sal could
oSalsma'Sr, and his son oSalborinn.
not be alienated without being first offered to the nearest
heir, and, when alienated, it could be redeemed again.
Before 1275, 65'ul were inherited equally by the sons
only; but, after that date, daughters inherited onehalf of a son's share, and the eldest son had the first,
choice of the head house, hbfuftbol, hofufiboeli-, and
this was the law in Orkney and Shetland until the sixteenth century.
On the introduction

of Christianity, the church

speedily got rid of the inability of the 65alsmenn to
bequeath land and goods to the church, by the enactment of laws which permitted oSalsmenn to give
a hofufttiund and dvaxtartiund, a lithe of stock given

once in one's lifetime (usually on the deathbed), and an

annual tithe of income. Latterly the law allowed oSals-

menn
and

to give

away

loose goods,

tiundargjb'f, a tenth of inherited land

fjdrftungsgjb'f, a fourth of self-

and

acquired land and loose goods, terms which appear in

"

Orkney

charters as

tiend

penny and the ferd."

These

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

gifts could

be

247

anyone, and were redeemable in

left to

the usual way.

Upon the death of an 65alsma(5r, a court
the seventh day afterwards, and

was held on

accordingly called a
sjaund, at which the property was divided.
As early as 1544, primogeniture crept into Orkney,'
fortified by crown charters, and is now
general.
1

CURRENCY

VERDAURAR.

we have
when
2id.
Orkney,
In 1500,

butter

and

the last relic of butter currency in

of butter=i spann. 2
In Shetland,
cloth currency was in use until the seven-

teenth century

an

and 4 marks weight

ell

of

va5mal being = 2d.-vaSmal,

and i lispund

of butter = id. -butter,

of butter = 6d.-butter.

In 1575, 2d.-vaSmal = 2s. Scots. 4

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: VAG OK MOLING.

The information on this subject is too meagre and
uncertain to arrive at any safe conclusion at present.
The only certainty is that the weights and measures
were fixed by law in Orkney and Shetland
they differ in amount.

in 1828,

The spann,
tioned

in

butter measure, of 2 id. butter,

Orkney in 1500, as equivalent in

is

and

men-

current

market value to 4 lispunds of butter; and 20 lispunds

of butter as equivalent in value to a barrel of butter.
The lispund, lifspund, linspund, and the setting,
settungr, are, contrary
divided into 24 marks.

to

As

Norwegian custom, each

in Norway, 6 settings =i

meil (mcelir).
In Norway

the

bismarapund = 24

marks; a

sub-

division which probably got transferred to the lispund

and setting in Orkney and Shetland. But here we must
leave the subject, which can only be elucidated

^t.

Seal Reg., Scot.

P.R., No.

MS.

Opp. O.Z., 27.

P.R., No. I.

I.

rental with Viking Society; Goudie's Shetland, 178.

by a

Saga-Book

248

of the

Viking Society.

large and systematic accumulation of facts, and by a

thorough examination and study of the weights and
measures of Norway and the Hebrides.

SOCIETY

FOLK.

In Gulajnngslog,

circa 1100, society was

main
classes
(i) thralls, (2) freed
grouped
thralls, (3) free men and freeholders, (4) noblemen,
feoffees of crown lands, (5) earls and king.
The last

Classes.

into five

four classes were further divided into seven

so

stig,

as

far

the

of

payment

wergild,

grades,

was

bot,

concerned.
wergeld
ratio.

1.

unfree,

2.

ufrjdls

reed-man
thrall :(a)

}>rcell,

pi.

leysingi,

leysingi of the

who

was

}>yrmsl,

original
3.

freed

leysingiar,

first

four generations,
on the

dependent

original owner.
the

when

thrall.

pi.

still

(b) leysingssonr,

\rcelar,

fifth

generation,
dependence, on the

owner ceased.

bondi, pi. boendr

(a) a tenant of a farm,

or the

owner

of

kaupajorft, bought land, as opposed to

d5a/s/orS, freehold.
(b) freeholder, franklin, hauldr, holdr, pi.
oftalborinn
oftalsmaftr,
hauldar,

maftr

land became 6Sal

when

it

was

inherited from five forefathers, in the

2
sixth generation.
N.G.L., see also Seebohm's Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law.
In Seebohm's Tribal custom in Anglo-Saxon Law, 1903, 273, he
quotes from Gulathing Law, 270, an incidental reference to 6Sal
which is there described as land which afi has left to afi, and which
his translator has rendered
grandfather has left to grandfather.'
1

'

Afi in this instance

Fritzner, s.v.,

(3)

thing Law, 266.

).

means ancestor (see N.G.L., V., Gloss,

The full definition of 68al is given

s.v.,

and

in Gula-

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

4.

nobleman,

man
fief,

5.

lendborinn,

(formerly hersir),
of the king.

lendrmaftr,

(b)

To

len,

12
:

holding a Un,

earl,

(a) jarl,

landed-

one holding a

highborn man, tignarmaftr

249

fief,

of the

nil

king.

24

konungr, king.

48

duke, was added

barun and riddari, baron and
knight were conferred, in 1277, on the lendirmen, and
the skutilsveinn in the king's hirft, bodyguard, who
were styled herra, lord. Herra was also applied to
the titled classes the hertogi,

later on.

The

titles

of

bishops, and sira to priests.

In accordance with Old Borgarthings
distinctions

of

class

Law

and grade were applied

dead as well as to the living.

these
to

the

The churchyard was

divided into four quarters for burial. Lendirmenn

were buried east and south-east of the church, under
the eaves if they had taken part in the building of the
church, otherwise they were buried in the bcendr's
Hauldar and their children were buried next
quarter.
to the lendirmenn, and the \>rcelar, thralls, next to the

churchyard wall.

The

following are the saga references to society,

personal appearance, etc., etc.
As regards personal appearance, special attention is
always directed to dark and swarthy persons, who are
sometimes described as unlucky looking, and to very
The inference being that
fair persons with flaxen hair.
the average islander was brown-haired, and not a pure
Scandinavian.
officials,

1
In the Oxford Icelandic Diet., s.v., Holdr, is given a description
of the Norwegian graveyard, which concludes with a statement thai
'the hold had right to twice as much,' etc.; in the Diet, after nearest
to the wall insert sources N.G.L., I., 344, 559, 368, and then commence In cases of landndm, i.e., fines for illegal possession or use
of land, the hold had right to twice as much, etc., and correct the

source to N.G.L., 44.

Saga-Book

250

of the

Viking Society.

In 880, earl Hallad got weary of the earldom,

and

rett, 6Sal right, and went back to

he
When
resigned his len, fief, of the earlNorway.
dom he was only a hauldr or oSalborinn, as there was
nothing else for him, unless the king gave him another
len and made him a lendrmaSr in Norway.
Earl Torf-Einar, 880-900, the famous skald (whose

took up his haulds

name was given by Snorri

to a metre called Torf-Einarshe had an eagle carved on the back of

Half dan, the son of Harald harfagri, and sacrificed him
to OSin, sung a song in which he referred to the
holdar who had warned him of the danger, hcetta, he
had incurred. The Orkney 65alsmenn or bcendr were
therefore called hauldar.
For this crime king Harald, as already mentioned,
exacted a payment, gjald, from the islands. Earl Torfliinar paid the fine, in security for which the bcendr
gave him their 6Sul. The rich, auftigr, bcendr agreed,
because they thought that they would be able to redeem
them, while the poor, snauftr, bcendr had no money
hdltr),

after

pay the gjald.

have here a clear statement that the bcendr of
Orkney (and Shetland ?) were hauldar or oSalbornir.
The designation b6ndi is applied, throughout the saga,
to the 65albornir or oSalsmenn of the islands. The
to

We

Scottish

hofSingi,

Summerled,

is

called

hb'ldr,

in

The bcendr

of Shetland are called fyegnar, thanes

or freemen, in a verse.

1157.

Earl Einar took the earldom as a len, or

fief,

from

the king, and was not required to pay any skatt (as was
paid by the earls in Norway), on account of the viking
raids to

which the islands were subject.

Throughout the existence of the Norse earldom, 8721468, it was always held as a fief from the king of
Norway, each earl being invested. The title was not
strictly hereditary, as it was conferred, at will, by the
king, on any member or connexion of the family, or
on another family altogether.

Earl SigurS, circa 995,

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

251

restored the 65ul to the bcendr for services rendered

him in Scotland. He had a /nrS, bodyguard, which

numbered among its members, Helgi and Grim Njalssons and Kari. He had also a syshimaftr, steward, in
The b&tr, wergild, awarded
Caithness and Stroma.
to

by the king
was fixed as
the above

for the slaughter of earl Einar,

for three lendirmenn, instead of

in

1026,

two as

in

list.

Earl I>orfinn,

who

ruled 1014-1064,

was

half a Scots-

mother being a daughter of the king of

Scotland. He had the whole earldom to manage after
1028 and to own 1030-1035, the period of king Knut's
reign over Norway. He had his foirS, bodyguard, and
treated them and many other rikismenn, mighty men,
exceptionally well, as he furnished them with meat and
drink all the winter through, and not merely at Yule,
as was the custom of other earls and kings, so that no
man needed to go to a skytningr,- a guild or club.

man,

his

Earl Rognvald, 1045, brought certain matters before

his vinir

raSgjafi

and rdftgjafar, friends and councillors. A

was one of the council of a king or princely

person.

When
the

1046,

earl

Rognvald burnt

women and

the

earl

ufrjdls,

f>orfinn's

bu,

unfreemen,

in

i.e.,

were allowed to escape, but the hirSmenn were

burnt in the house, "as they would be no better to
him alive than dead." However, the earl escaped in

thralls,

the dark.

Frequently a sdttar-fundr, peacemeeting, was held for

the settlement of private disputes.
During 1098-1102,
SigurS, the nine-year-old son of king Magnus, was
earl of Orkney, when the two ruling earls were
banished to Norway. The king provided him with a

made

rdftvneyti, council.

During king Magnus' expedition to Scotland and

England, Magnus, afterwards earl and saint, acted in
his /lirS as skutilsveinn.

On

the succession of SigurS to the throne, the sons

Saga-Book

252
of the
earls.

banished earls

Both

of the

Viking Society.

who had

since died were

made

of these earls were married to Scottish

the earl's men, in 1116, are mentioned

merkismaftr, standard bearer, and steikari, cook.
The merkismaSr of the king ranked as a lendrmaSr.

wives.

Among

his

When

Hakon's merkismaSr declined to execute

Magnus, his steikari was ordered to do so. There
a distinction drawn between the rikismen and bcendr
earl

St.
is

who

attended a thing in 1137; the difference may have

been one of wealth, as previously mentioned, auSigr
and snauftr.
There were njosnarmen (news-men),
The bishop, on one occasion,
spies, in those days.
acted as meftalferftarmaftr, intercessor, between the
earls.
There were two gildirmenn, great men, in 1128,

Jon vagngr (wing), at Uppland in Haey, and his

brother RikarS, at Brekka in Strj6nsey.
In 1135, the earl had his skutilsveinn and kertisveinn

page and torchbearer, at feasts. The skutilsveinn was

one of the hirft, bodyguard.
Two earls shared the earldom in 1139, and it was
arranged that one should have ra5, rule, and that they
should have only one hirS between them.
Earl Rognvald, the saint and skald, took into his
Hall, the Icelandic skald, and they collabor"
ated in the composition of the famous
Hattalykill
hinn forni," a key to metres, and used five visur,
strophes, to each hdttr, metre, but the kvcefti, song, was
thought too long, and now two are sung to each hattr.
Other Icelandic skalds were also taken into his hirS.
hirS,

This

earl

had

his syslumaftr, steward, in Caithness, to

collect his revenues.

Svein, the last of the vikings, who was latterly a

hirSmaSr of earl Rognvald, had in his house a heimakona, housemaid, and huskarlar, menservants, followers
or bodyguard.
He had also a landseti or husbondi, a
The earl's and Svein 's
tenant of one of his farms.
huskarlar may have been their hirS, and not merely
menservants because this term is sometimes applied
;

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

253

even to the king's hirS. When Svein and earl Erlend

met unexpectedly, at a time when they happened to be
at feud with each other, they endeavoured to settle their
dispute on the spot.
his hirft

But as the

and

was not accombodyguard and counearl

panied by
rdftuneyti,
cil, Svein offered the services of his

own fylg&, followers or bodyguard, and raSuneyti.

This gives a
idea
of
the
of
status
an
good
Orkney rikismaor, gofugr
maSr or gceSingr, of the period,
1

Other leading men, such as I?orbj6rn klerk, had a

sveitungr or fylgSarmenn, a following of men.
-The designation gceSingr denotes a man of gcefti,
wealth.
In 1064, the earl's gceSingar are mentioned.
Earl Rognvald had the bishop and many of his gceSingar at his Yule

feast.

Svein 's revenues

in Caithness,

In 1153, the gceSingar

1126, are called his gceSi.
went into two bands and took sides with the two earls.
in

remarked that there were many gofugir

menn, noblemen, in Orkney, of the stock of the earls,
In 1128,

it

is

who were all gceSingar of earl Pal. In 1136, earl Pal

summoned the gceSingar and asked council. He had
a great feast with his gceSingar. The earl's gceSingar
when the danger beacons were lit.
a reference in Fms. vi., 442, to the king's
stallari and other gceSingar, and x, 303, to the king's
borS and gceSingar. The conclusion seems inevitable
that the term gceSingar was applied in Orkney to the

came

There

earl's

to the earl
is

hirSmenn, the "gentles" of a

later period.

At any

rate they were the wealthy oSalbornin, and of the stock

of the earls.
gceSingr was described in 1 159, as of the

earl's kin,

and the gofgastr

mafrr,

most worshipful by

birth, in the earl's /iS,. troops.

They are always called
the earl's gceSingar and of his- kin ; possibly they had

grants, during the earl's life, of portions of the earldom

lands at veizlu, in return for which they would have

support him in battle and to entertain him when on

As
circuit, corresponding with the king's lendirmenn.
to

The

translation of Orkn.

is

bad here.

,-v

2 54

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

the earl only held the earldom for

life, in fief from the

he
could
only grant portions of it, at veislu,
king,
his
tenure.
during
A Shetland buandi ( bondi), in 1137, had a leigu-

maftr, servant

dom,

is

An
vice.

and

man-frelsi, giving a thrall his free-

mentioned.

drraaoV, steward, also appears in the earl's serbondi in Caithness was described as gb'fugr,

noble.

In

St.

1154,

Magnus'

was

cathedral

used

as

sanctuary.

Harald Thorbjorn addressed

earl Rognvaldr as herra

only applied to kings and earls at that
In 1277, knights and barons were created in
time.
Norway, to whom the title of herra was given.

in 1139-48,

The

title

king's foguti,

was annexed

it

to

his befalingsmen,
1210.

bailiff,

Norway,
1

appears
in

officers, to

in

Shetland,

when

1194, and the king sent

Orkney and Shetland in

was in the appanage of

afterwards
hertogi, duke, Hakon,
king of Norway.
There were no lendirmenn in Orkney and Shetland,
as the earl was sole feoffee, but their place in society
and in the government of the earldom would be taken
by the rich and leading oSals-bcendr, the rikismenn,
goeSingar, etc., who probably represented the earls in
In

1273-1299,

Shetland

their respective districts.

Besides the political divisions of classes, it will have

been already observed that there were then, as now,
a multiplicity of social distinctions, even in one class.
It has already been mentioned that, as early as 895,
the brendr were divided into rich and poor, as well as
For
the earls' kin, chiefs, great men and such like.
matrimonial purposes there would, undoubtedly, have
1

Orkn. 236

Undals
Boglunga sogur; at
befalingsman does not occur in Norway.
1600) of the

is syslutnenn.

Peder Clauson

lost

Danish

translation

(circa

time (1210) the term

The term used in Sverr. S.

this

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

255

been

still
further discrimination observed,
having
regard to family associations. The islands must have
been a veritable storehouse of genealogical lore, seeing
that five generations had to be traced back to claim 6Sal
right, and four for a freed thrall family to claim to be
freeborn.
In Frostathinglaw, a family of thrall origin

had

to

trace

eight

The law

arborinn.

proved by witnesses

generations, in order to become

required these genealogies to be
in court.

As

regards the 65als-bcendr, they were all, rich and

poor, members of their primary lawthing, and eligible
for nomination as members of the logretta
the humble

owner working
owner with his

his

own patch

of ground,

and the

rich

estate let out to tenants

and, as such,
poor, described as

they were indiscriminately, rich and

g68ir-menn; good men, i.e., good, honest and respectable men whereas the rich, the well-born and leading
men, or rulers, who were members of the hirSmannastefna, were, as such, appropriately described as the
"
"
The hirSmannastefna,
of the country.
gentles
which originally was concerned with court ceremonial,
latterly, in Orkney, acted as a judicial assembly, over
;

which the

earl presided.
faculty for

The inborn

genealogy was maintained

when

in

Shetland until the nineteenth century,

that some families had oral genealogies going back for
centuries, which had been handed down from generait

is

told

tion to generation.

Living.
steads

In the saga

we have

descriptions of

home-

parlour; bakhus, bakehouse;

an
barn
brunnr, well
Ijori,

skdli, hall; stofa,

bygghus, bigghouse,
opening in the roof for light and for the escape of
smoke from the langeldar, longfires, in the centre of
the hall floor; when the fires were not burning the Ijori
was covered with a skjd-vindauga, skin window, formed
;

of a skjd-grind, a frame, covered with skjall, a membrane or skin, to admit light walls were hung with
;

tjald,

tapestry, with mythological subjects.

Saga-Book

256

of the

Viking Society.

There were skytningar, clubs or guilds, and Kirkwall

was a kaupstaftr, merchant town, in 1137. The earls
wore kyrtills and gilded helmets and had underclothing
of lin-klcefti, linen.

Bread-breaking was

performed as a peace token.

when feasts were held
memorial toasts drunk out of horns,

Brewing took place before Yule,

and

solemn

kapp-drykkja. Evening
were the fashion.

meals,

with

drinking

after,

Earl Rognvald indulged in harp-playing, and in

Among games mentioned are
extemporising poetry.

mann-jofnufSr, man-matching, comparing which is the

better of two, frequently ending in bloodshed
tafl,
draughts.
Among sports otter (otr) hunting, hare (heri) hunt;

'

grouse (heiftar-hcend) shooting, in 1154, in Orkney, and deer hunting in Caithness.

Ships. In the mythical part of the saga we are told
of a stjornfastskip, a ship with the rudder fixed, a
term used again in 1098, also bakborfti, larboard, as
opposed to stjornborfii, starboard, which is mentioned
in 1152.
The following notices are arranged chronoin'g,

logically
.880
stafnbui,
:

forecastle men (stafn, stem, bow or

The
framstafn, the bow, aptrstafn, the stern).
term occurs again in 1136, with frambyggvar, bow:

stern

The gangway

sitters.

leading to the

bow was

called

frambryggja.
1029: langskip, longship; framan siglu, before' the
mast; sigla, mast; segl, sail; stafnle, a grappling hook
(le, a scythe); dr, oar; lypting, poop, a raised place
(castle) on the poop.
1046: bdtr, boat; hdls, the bow or neck of a boat;
andceja, to paddle a boat against tide and wind to prevent drifting, modern dialect ando.
1047
tvitug-sessa, twenty-oared ship (sessa, a seat).
.

,1098

fyrirrum, the

the lypting.
J IT
O

first

cabin in the after part, next

Orkney and Shetland Historical Xotes.

1136:

}>iljur

(planks),

the

six-oared

deck;

257

smd skip, small

modern Shetland

boat,
ships; sexceringr,
sixareen ; veiftar-fteri, fishing tackle.
1137
byr&ingr, a merchant ship, a ship of burden;
skuta, a small craft, cutter.
:

1148:

steerer,
skipstjornarma&r,
ship
captain,
at
a
with
ruma-tali,
pritugt
ship
skipper
thirty rooms,
seats or divisions, for sixty rowers ; buit skip, orna;

mented ship

hdlf-fcrtugt at ruma-tali, a ship with

for seventy rowers, and gulli lagi
enni-spcenir ok veftrvitar ok vifia annars-staftar

thirty-five
allir

rooms,

buit, gilded carved heads and weather-vane and many

other parts ornamented dreki (a dragon), a ship of war,
with a dragon's head as beak, and hofufiin ok krokar
;

mjok gullbuit, the head and tail or coils aft much

gilded, and hlyr-birt, stained on the bows, and painted
above the water line.
1152: dromundr, a warship, in the Mediterranean.
aptr

1154: reiQi, tackle, including sails; eptir-bdtr, after

boat, a cock boat of a ship.
tjald, a tent or awning on board ship.
1158
Torf-Einar slew a viking in the ninth
Beliefs.
and
gave him to the troll, trolls he made an
century
:

on the back of Half dan

halegg with a sverft, sword, and skera, cut, the rif,
ribs, all from the hryggr, spine, and draga, draw there
out the lungu, lungs, and gaf, gave, him to OS in for
his sigr, victory; after which he let cast Halfdan's
"
The Xorns have ruled it
haugr, how, when he sung
In
earl
995
rightly."
SigurS digri and the Orkneyingar
were asserted by Olaf Tryggvason trua, to believe, in

Orkneyman

cut an

o'rn,

eagle,

'

ymislig

When

carved gods.'
skur&gofi, various idols or
the king desired skira, to baptise, the earl, the

abide by the dtrunaftr, faith, and the

of
his
siSr, religion,
frcendr, kinsmen, and forfeftr, forefathers (Orkn., 313, quoting Flalcyjarbok, ch. 12).
latter preferred to

A spdmaftr, spaeman, forneskjumafir, sorcerer, or visindamaSr, wizard, was consulted by earl Hakon Palsson,
s

Saga-Book

258

of the

Viking Society.

1090-94, about getting hamingja, good luck, and

hearing his forlog, future fate, by forneskja or fjolkyngi, witchcraft. Heathen sacrifice, blot, is referred to.
in

Svein brjostreip, a hir&'maSr of earl Pal, was forn

tnjbk, versed in old lore or witchcraft, and had constantly uti setift and sat uti um nottina, sat out at night
as a wizard (at the cross-roads), which is described as
ubotaverk, a crime, in N.G.L. Svein preferred witchcraft to attending midnight mass on Yule eve.
The
slaughter of Svein was welcomed by the bishop as land
hreinsan, a cleansing of the land, a term used in Gulathing Law for clearing the land of miscreants.
Society after Saga times. The last Norse earls in the
male line were already half Scottish in 1206; and

numerous Scottish relatives and friends of theirs came

Orkney. As regards Scottish marriages, like rulers

to

like people.

that time

till

After 1206, the Scottish earls ruled. From

1400, and later, is more or less a blank,

except certain misdeeds of the bishops, an elopement,

rival claimants to the earldom, and clergy translated
from Norway to Orkney and Shetland. In 1347, king
Magnus Eiriksson bequeathed, to St. Magnus'1
cathedral, a chasuble, dalmatic tunicle and a cope.

The king

of

England complained

to

Norway about

the bishop of Moray, the excommunicated adherent of

2
and
Robert the Bruce, being harboured in Orkney
later on, Robert the Bruce, who, tradition says, himself took refuge in Orkney, in turn complained about
;

An agreeone of his fugitives being received there.

ment, in Norse, drawn up in 1369, between the bishop
and the representative of the king of Norway, during an
interregnum in the earldom, gives some insight into the
3

social condition of the islands at that time.

agreed that the bishop

men,

in

and the

rikast

Orkney and Shetland, should be

D.N., V., 149.

'D.N., XIX., 544.
"D.N., V.. 63. See also
'D.N., I., 308.

II.,

98; XIX., 594.

It

was

noblest

menn,
first and

fore-

Orkney and Shetland Historical Xotes.

most

in

all

rdS,

259

henceforth as regarded the

councils,

and people, according to the laws and

landssiftir, customs of the country, and that the bishop
should have godirmen (O.X. goftir mcnn), good, honest
men, inlenzkir, born in, Orkney and Shetland, at }>j6na,
to serve him, as the custom was with other bishops in
Norway.
king, church

The

were evidently, at this early period,

from
It is significant
Scottish
adventurers.
suffering
that of the twenty-four leading men who were present
at the making of that agreement, many had Scottish
names, including the archdeacon of Orkney, a canon,
and several clergy. Only two had Norwegian names,
Gudbrand Andresson and Olave Skutt, while Sigurd
of Paplay may be the only native man among the lot.
The wardrobe and belongings of a Shetland gentleman of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries,
sir David Sinclair, great foud of Shetland, captain of
islands

the king's castle in Bergen, etc., are set forth in his will
of 1506; inter alia:
Drinking vessels

"
and one " mid
stoops,
with thirty stopps (flagons and cups?)
"
The Carvell " a little ship; and the Inglis
Ships

two

silver

(English) ship.

Jewelry

gold chain,
"

which he wore daily gold

by the king of
;

collar," given to him

Denmark; great silver belt; signet.
Clothing linen robe bought from the

chain, called a

Flemings blue
with
stones
with
breast
set
hood, set
doublet,
precious
with precious stones black doublet of velvet red hose
short red velvet coat, without sleeves short black velvet
coat doublet of cloth of gold grey satin gown three
black damask gown with silver butostrich feathers
tons grey scarlet hose doublet of down cramese red
:

velvet

coat,

Cathedral

left

to

the

high

altar

of

St.

two-thirds of a black velvet coat,

Magnus' church, Tingwall, and one-third

church of Dunrosnes; green cloth,

etc.

Magnus'
left

to St.

to the

Cross

260

of the

Saga-Book

Harness

"

Book

Viking Society.

three saddles, etc

The Book

of Good Manners."
Another Shetland gentleman, Magnus Leslie of Ayth,
had purloined from him, circa 1576, by the foud of
:

Shetland, besides, food, drink,

"
sixteen

articles:

ells

of

cattle, etc.,

keltar

"

one

the following
pair double

a bed covering
a doublet of cramese
blankets
a
black cowl, which cost a crown of the sun three crystal
stones set in silver, of the Dutch fashion copper kettle
a keg, with twelve pounds of soap
tin cans and
empty stoops honey cruses pigs (earthenware jars)
"
"
stalis
cups; beakers; together with all his servants'
clothing, such as cassies, breeks, doublets.
;

Person-names. Patronymics were in use in Shetland until early in the nineteenth century, when they
became stereotyped. Some names in Shetland appear
to have been taken from local place-names.
In Orkney
the last vestiges of patronymics occur in the sixteenth
In Orkney, Scottish settlers were rife, and
century.
it is
probable that the immediate descendants of the first
settlers, especially those without historic names, would
conform to the prevailing fashion of patronymics,
and, later, unencouraged by local intermarriage
and
the
Scots
set
the
fashion,
possibly began
doubtedly
the adoption of place- as person-names (an advantage
to fugitives).
With the exception of Scottish and
other outland names, nearly all other Orkney person;

names

are

now derived from

local

place-names.

In

the early stages of the adoption of place-surnames, and

when the custom was in its full vigour, such Orkney

place-names as may have replaced Scottish surnames

would become permanent whereas, in the final decay
of the fashion in the i8th century, we find, as was to
;

be expected, that the substituted place-surname was,

frequently, only of a temporary nature. We also find,
in Orkney, that persons readily changed their placesurname for that of a new abode. Taking all this into
!Opp. O.Z..

72.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

261

it would be difficult,
if not impossible,
which families are now of native Norse origin
in the male line.
Even Blaikie and Halcro, which have
hitherto been regarded as the most important OrkneyNorse surnames, are only represented by genuine placenames in Forfarshire and Caithness. Another Forfarshire place-name, Fothringham, is also the surname of
an old Orkney family.
Another factor to be considered is the changing of
place-names for one or other of the following reasons

consideration,
to say

the inclination to acquire a property with the same

or a similar sounding name to that of the purchaser,
and conforming one with the other; (2) the deliberate
(i)

of the place-name to that of the surname of

the owner, e.g., the Caithness place-name Halcro was
given to a place called Holland in South Ronaldsey,
which belonged to the Halcro family, in the sixteenth

changing

century, and in recent times Balfour appears in Shapinsey, (3) personal association has introduced such foreign
place-names as Inkerman, Balaclava, Ballarat, etc.,,
while fables have converted Keeso into Kaesar, and

Grikalty into Agricola.

Of modern English place-names may be mentioned

News = New-house, Nieland = New-land (old name
= Glower-over-all, a
Orquil, in Orphir), Glowrowra
:

house on a hill-side, with a wide view.

There are known instances of the glossing of placesurnames, induced by a sensitiveness to fashion. In
the ascendancy of Scottish influence, Rusland became
Russell, Burgar
Burgess, etc., and conversely, in the
full vigour of the Norse influence, Scottish surnames
:

would have been conformed to Orkney forms.

Each Scottish place-man and notable settler would
have been followed by a train of relatives, friends,
dependents and other persons from the same district,
as actually occurred in and after the sixteenth century,
of which we have records.
Those persons in Orkney and Shetland who can

262

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

prove their descent from the St. Clair earls (which

includes all the descendants of bishop Graham) are of
viking descent.
As an illustration of the readiness with which Scotsmen became naturalised in the islands,- may be mentioned the case of the Scottish-born Scotsman, Lawrence
Bruce of Cultmalindie. He was the principal agent in

1575 of the oppressor, lord Robert Stewart, and in 1592

numbered himself, together with seven other persons
"
odallers," and
bearing Scottish names, among the

as such supplicated the Scottish parliament against the

oppressions of Patrick Stewart, earl of Orkney (the son
"
of his erstwhile employer), and championed the
gwid
subjectis,
in

heritable possessoris of the udack

( !)

lands

Orkney and Zetland."

The bulk of the principal landowners in the islands

have had Scottish names for centuries, including some
such as
families,
Irvine,
Craigie,
leading 65al
Cromarty, Sinclair, etc.
The ascendancy of the Scots is only natural, when
we consider (i) the proximity of Orkney to Scotland,
(2)

the

succession

of

the

Scottish

earls

since

1206,

by Scotland in 1468,
and their following

the acquisition of the islands

since when the clergy, officials,
(3)

have been Scots, and (4) the population, especially

since the adoption of the English language, has been
mainly recruited from Scotland, while considerable
emigration of the viking element has been constantly
in progress.
If the male line of the earls died out in
three centuries, as early as 1206, the same is to be
expected of, at least, the ruling class as well. But there
can be little doubt that there are few in the islands who

do not descend, through the distaff side, from the old

vikings, whose spirit of adventure and colonisation they
have so well maintained in all the British colonies.
.

O.Z.. 101.

Orkney and Shetland Historical Notes.

AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO
INTRODUCTION.
Page references are

D.N.

to this

Diplomatarium Norvegicum quoted by

THE

volume.
vol.

and page.

Norges Gamle Love.

N.G.L.
Orkn.

IN

263

Orkneyinga Saga, Rolls Series of Icelandic Sagas, vols. 1

and translation. As the translation contains additional

text

III.,

text,

referred to by page but the text is used as the authority, as

the translation is imperfect.
In the Introduction this saga is
referred to as " the saga."
is

it

Hak.

S.

text
is

Hakonar Saga, Rolls Series of Icelandic Sagas, vols. II., IV.,

and translation. The translation is cited by page but the text

founded on.

Opp. O.Z. Oppressions of the Sixteenth Century in the islands of Orkney

and Zetland; from the original documents.
Edited by colonel
David Balfour, of Balfour, for the Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1859.
Heimskringla.
Sverr. S.

Rev.
O.T.

Saga Library,

Sverrissaga.

vols. 3-6.

Northern Library, Vol. IV.

Translated by the

Sephton, London, 1899.

Northern Library, vol.
Saga of king Olaf Tryggvason.
lated by the Rev. J. Sephton, London. 1895.
J.

I.

Trans-

Ud. N.H.

Udsigt over den Norske rets historic, by professor Absalon

Taranger, 2 vols. Christiania, 1898, 1904.

Dr. Jakob Jakobsen's works referred

pa Shetland, K0benhavn, 1897.

K0benhavn, 1901.

are:
Det Norr0ne sprog
Shetlands0ernes stednavne,
Etymologisk ordbog over de Norr0ne sprog
to

pa Shetland, a sju. K0benhavn, 1908, 1909, 1912.

The dialect and placenames of Shetland, Lerwick, 1897.
Nordisk minder, isaer sproglige pa Orkn0erne. Svensha LandsmMen,
1911.

Rentals of the ancient earldom and bishopric of Orkney. Edited

by Alexander Peterkin, 1820.
O.S.R. Orkney and Shetland Records, Viking Society, Vol. I.,
completed quoted by page.
Explanations of terms have been taken from Cleasby's Icelandic-English
Dictionary, Fritzner's Ordbog over det gamle Norske sprog, and the
Gloss irium to N.G.L.

P.R.

TEMPLE- ADMINISTRATION AND

CHIEFTAINSHIP IN PRE-CHRISTIAN
NORWAY AND ICELAND.
BY

THE

BERTHA

S.

PHILLPOTTS, M.A.

union of priestly functions and

political

power

exemplified in the position of the goftar in preChristian Iceland is a matter on which all
scholars agree, and it is generally admitted that, to
some extent at least, the political power of this class

Iceland developed as a

in

tration
It

is

Were

result

of

temple-adminis-

regard to Norway that views diverge.

Norwegian emigrants who came to settle in

with

the

Iceland accustomed to see political and religious

administration combined in one office, and, if so, who
were the persons in Norway who wielded this combined

power ?

The

older

Munch,
and Sars, all held that the Icelandic constitution must
have developed on Norwegian lines, and that the NorNorwegian

historians,

Keyser,

wegian prototypes of the go&ar are the petty kings, jarls,

and chiefs (hersar), who, as they maintained, must have
combined priestly functions with their administrative
activities.
Maurer 4 at first supported this view, but on
finding that the word gofti occurred on three Danish
Runic stones, he appears to have modified his opinion/
and came to the conclusion that goftar, and occasionally
R. Keyser, Efterladte Skrifter, ii., i, pp. 6, 23.
P. A. Munch, Det Norske Folks Historic, i., i, pp. 151 ff.
S
J. E. Sars, Udsigt over den norske Historic, i. 220.
4
K. Maurer, Die Entstehung des islandischen Staates, p. 98 ff.
5 K.
Maurer, Zur Urgeschichte der Godenwiirde, Z.f.d. Phil.
1

p. 127

ff.

iv.

Temple Administration
gy&jur,

priestesses,

in

exercised

Norway and Denmark, but

whom

chiefs or kings to

Norway and
priestly

Iceland.

265

functions

in

dependence on the
were
attached, and on
they
in entire

He also admits that

have
in Norway, and sugexisted
private temples may
the
of
that
owners
these
gests
might also have been
V.
on
the
other
Finsen,
hand, fails to see any
goftar.
indication of a connection between the chiefs and the
temple-administration in Norway, and maintains that
the goftar, as an independent class of priests, had
existed from early times among all Northern peoples,
whose behalf they

officiated.

and

that the survival of the

merely due

title

in

Iceland alone

is

to the circumstance that there alone did the

come

to play

any important part in political life.

on Northern religion, including Mogk,
incline to Maurer's later view, but always basing their
opinion mainly on the evidence adduced by him, which
priests

Later writers

Finsen, rightly enough, considered insufficient.

The present essay is due to the writer's conviction
that there is room for a more detailed study of the question. The evidence vouchsafed by our sources, though
meagre and scrappy in the extreme, does yet seem
capable,

when

collected, of

somewhat more

exploitation

than has hitherto fallen to its lot. A systematic review

of all the available items of information may bring us
a little nearer to certainty as regards the main question

and may further throw

at issue,

light

on some other

points.
I.
It

NORWAY.

be best to begin our review of the evidence

will

by considering all that we can glean concerning Norwegian temples and their management. If we begin
with the south, the prehistoric temple at Skiringssalr
1

Om

den

oprindelig

Institutioner, p. 56
2

Ordning af nogle

Herrmann, Nordische Mythologie

Paul's

Grundriss

(p. 610-12)

af

den islandske Fristats

ff.

Hi.,

399).

Golther,

Mogk,

Mythologie
zur germ.

Handbuch

appears to hold Maurer's earlier view.

89

(in

Myth.

266
the

is

Saga-Book

of the

iking Society.
'

be dealt with. Ski'ringssalr is generally

to have comprised the modern
district

first to

considered

of Tj011ing, east of Larvik, in the ancient kingdom of

Vestfold, and to have taken its name from a temple

(Skirings-salr) supposed to be in the immediate neighbourhood of a royal residence. Sacrifice at Skirings2

salr is mentioned in the Sogubrot af Fornkonungum,
and in the extracts of its lost continuation as preserved
3

by Arngnmr Jonsson. The former breaks off with the

words " Then sacrifices were held at Skiringssalr, to
which people flocked from all the
vik.'
Arn:

'

'

grimr continues the story, telling us that King Sigurd

Ring, who seems to have owned lands in these regions,
though he was probably of Danish origin, turned aside
"in Vickiam Norvegiae provinciam ad facienda sacra
ethnica in Sciringssal, quae solennia ibi erant," and
there sees Alfsol, 4 the daughter of King Alfr of Vend-

Denmark. Skiringssalr was thus evidently of

more than tribal importance as a religious as well as a

syssel in

mercantile centre, but all that we can glean for our

purpose is that the temple was to some extent under
the patronage of the Vestfold kings.
However, as far
Norwegian custom of that date is concerned, the Skiringssalr evidence is not really conclusive, since these
Vestfold kings were not Norwegian in origin, but

claimed descent from the Yngling kings of Upsala, and

these were certainly regarded as the chief priests of the
Other evidence for the connection of Norpeople.
wegian royalty with temples, not so good in itself,
but not open to that particular objection, is furnished
by the Fornaldar Sogur. Thus FriSjof's Saga tells us
1

G. Storm, Skiringssal og Sandefjord, Hist. Tidskr. Raekke iv.. Bd.

ff.
Also A. Kjaer: Hvad var Ski'ringssalr, Bd. v. (1908).
Ch. x. (F.A.S., i., 363-88).
Printed in Aarb. f.n. Oldk. 1894, p. 131 ff.

i.,

1901, p. 214
2
3

A kenning containing the word vtbraut, and applied to Harald

Fairhair, has been quoted as evidence that he was protector of the
But it seems that the kenning has no such significance, cp.
temple.
F. Jonsson, Heimskringla iv., p. 28.
4

Temple Administration in Norway and Iceland. 267

of a King Beli of Sogn, who lives close to Baldrshagi,
a great temple, and later on it tells us that his sons,
who had succeeded to the kingdom, sacrificed there.
And Hervarar Saga knows of a disablot, a sacrifice to

the disir, at one

King

Alfr's.

\Ve can now proceed to Vors. Vors or Voss was the

name both of a district in South HorSaland, and of a
homestead in that district. The fact that we hear of at
least one Thing
held at the farm Vors suggests that
1

was the centre

it

name

its

to the

and that
neighbourhood. It seems
of the district,

it

had given

likely, then,

was the residence of the hersir. All w e know

of sacrifice at Vors is from a statement in Viga-Glum's
2
Saga, where we are told of a great feast there at the
that

it

winter nights, said to be a sacrifice to the disir, at the

3
temple ( ?) of the hersir Vigfus, in about the year 950.
next reach Gaular, a district comprising the inner
part of the Dalsfjord, in the region formerly called
From various sources 4 we know
Fjalir, in FirSafylki.
that a certain Atli was jarl of Gaular from about 845-

We

870.

This Atli joins King Halfdan hinn svarti, and is

jarl of Sogn by him, and by Harald after him, but
clear that he was still jarl of Gaular.
Egilssaga

made

is

it

"

Then (about
gives us the following information
He
lived
at Gaular.
hinn
Atli
was
868)
jarl.
mjovi
... It was a certain autumn that there was a great
:

We

gathering at Gaular for an autumn sacrifice."

Atli
further learn that Atli's daughter was present.
was killed about 870,' and his last surviving son,
Hasteinn, must have left the country shortly afterwards,
so we cannot identify the host at the next great sacri270 and probably also F.M.S.,

F.M.S.,

Vgl., ch. 6 (cf. ch. 3)!

"
}>xr var veizla buin at vetrnottum ok gjort disablot ..."
Hkr. Half. sv. ch 3, H.h. ch. 12, Fagrsk. ch. i., 2, Flat, i., 562, 570, etc.

s
4

f>au

iv.,

i.,

64.

Fgrsk. 2, bans hafufl bu var a Gaulum. Hkr., Hh. 12. Atli

ord i mot, at hann mun halda Sygnafylki ok sva Gaulum.

Eg.

So F. Jonsson

jarl

sendi

2.

in his

Hkr.

ed..

but cp. Vigfusson, Timatal,

p. 290.

268

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

fice recorded at Gaular, in the spring of 917,' when we

are told that great numbers from FirSafylki and Fjalir

and

Sogn, and most of them important persons,

attended, including J>6rir, hersir of FirSafylki.
King
Eirikr Blodox was also present.
On this occasion
Egilssaga vouchsafes the further information that there

was a " most splendid chief temple " (hofufthof) there.

But we are fortunate in knowing something more
about Gaular.

Landnamabok

one I>orbj6rn,
"
called
enn
This I'orbjorn had a

tells of

a powerful hersir in Fjalafylki,

gaulverski," the man of Gaular.

who was

son Flosi, who emigrated to Iceland, after killing three

of Harald's officials, but did not come to Iceland till
as

late,

called

clear

is

him

from the

the other settlers

thus revealing that they

fact that

Flosi hinn norrceni,

already considered themselves Icelanders. So we may

assume that he did not go to Iceland until towards 920
or 930, and therefore his father, I>orbj6rn, may have
4
lived at Gaular until nearly that date.
Now Flosi's
sister, Oddny, also came to Iceland with her son Loptr,

and
to

of this

Loptr Landnama

Norway every

third

he went out
behalf of Flosi and

relates that

summer on

himself, to sacrifice at that temple

which I>orbj6rn,
5

his
6

Finsen
mother's father, had had charge of at Gaular.
says (i) that nothing can be deduced from such an

isolated statement, (2) that I>orbj6rn may have had

charge of the temple before he was hersir, (3) that the
verb, varftveita, to have charge of, does not necessarily
imply that he actually officiated. With regard to point
(i), we must remember that it rests on Landnama's

unimpeachable testimony, and that

it

is

exactly the

Eg. 49.
2
Ld. Hauksbcik ch. 315, 323, Sturlubok 368.
(F. Jonsson's ed.
the following pages H = Hauksbok, S = Sturlubok).

'Ld.
4

S.,

In

315.

Cp. also Timatal, p. 285.

Ld. H., 323. Loptr for utan

5
hit iij hvert sumar fyrir bond )>eira Flosa
beggia moSurbroSur sins at biota at hon )>vi er ]>orbiorn moSurfaftir hans
hafdi par var5 veitt a Gaulum.
Cp. also Ld. H., 315 S., 368.
6
Om den opr. Ord., p. 52.
;

Temple Administration

in

Norway and

Iceland.

269

kind of unexpected statement that bears the stamp of

upon it, for it is obvious that it could not be
invented. The second objection is only a suggestion,

truth

and an unlikely one, since it is improbable that I^orbjorn's descendants would have gone to such trouble to
keep up sacrificing, if I>orbjorn had only had charge
of the temple in his youth. As regards (3) we find that
the verb varftveita is used of Icelandic goftar, having
1

charge of their temple.

doubt that the grandson
as the

We

Moreover there can be

at

any

little

rate actually officiated,

word

biota (to sacrifice) is used.

are now faced by several possibilities.

Is the

temple at Gaular of which l>orbjorn had charge the

same as the " chief temple " in Gaular mentioned in
Egilssaga, and was it at this same temple that Atli held
his sacrificial feast in about 868 ?
It certainly seems
probable that 5?orbjorn had had charge of a chief
temple, for his descendants would hardly have thought
it worth while to return to sacrifice at a mere private
temple. Moreover, if it had only been a private temple,
there would have been no reason why Flosi or Loptr
should not have removed it, or its most sacred parts,
to Iceland, as we know was done with a considerable
number of temples. Of course, Atli may have had
another temple
the only difficulty in such a supposition is that there should be two, presumably important,
temples in so small a district as Gaular. Perhaps :Eorbjorn only took over the charge of the temple after the
death of Atli in 870. But there is nothing inherentlyimpossible in a jarl and a hersir sharing a temple, at
any rate, if any credit can be given to Xjala's statement
with regard to the GuSbrandsdal temple. The fact that
Loptr returns every third summer to sacrifice reminds
2
us of the story in the late FriSj>jof's Saga, in which a
:

hersir, I>orbj6rn of

Sogn, had a third of the kingdom,

Eyrb. 15. Snorri varftveitti

ok varftveitti hofuShofit.
1

Ch.

i.

l>a

hof.

Vapn.

5.

Steinvor var hofgySja

Saga-Book

270

of the

Viking Society.

and made a great

feast for the King of Sygnafylki

every third year. It is just possible that torbjorn (or
his predecessor) and Atli, and perhaps another hersir,
took it in turns to hold the sacrificial feasts.
know
that the chiefs of the Inner 3>randheimr district took
over the charge of the sacrifices in turns.
However
this may be, we have at least seen that a hersir certainlv,
and possibly a jarl, actually officiated in a chief temple
in Gaular.
are unfortunately unable to tell whether
the King AuSbjorn of FirSafylki ever played any part

We

We

in this chief

temple.
pass on to the temple in GuSbrandsdal,
where a hersir line ruled from the time of King Halfdan
hinn svarti (or earlier) till the reign of St. Olaf. Njala

We

now

'

us that the hersir Guftbrandr of Jarl Hakon's day

was a great friend of that ruler, that the
two shared a temple together, the second largest in
Norway, which Njala declares was only opened when
tells

(up to 995)

came

the jarl

thither.

This

last is

a more than doubtful statement.

usually regarded as
hear of the temple

We

In 1022, when St. Olaf was

forcibly Christianizing the neighbouring
districts, the hersir GuSbrandr is said to have cut up
the war-arrow and summoned all the inhabitants to a

again

in

engaged

small

Heimskringla.
in

village

called

HundJ?orp.

We

are

told

that

enormous numbers of men attended. GuSbrandr then

"
"
our
makes a speech, in which he refers to
temple,
"
which has always
and to the image of Thorr in it,
aided us."

We

may

discount the historical accuracy

of the speech, but it is clear from Snorri's description

that he regarded the temple as the main place of worship
for the

whole neighbourhood.
2

Hkr. O.h. 112. Cp. Flat, ii., p. 189.

87.
Dr. A. C. Bang, "
Dale-Gudbrand," 1897, casts doubt on the
whole story and even on the existence of GuSbrandr as being a "local
legend" (en paa Lokalsagn bygget Legende), but recent researches in
many districts seem to reveal a greater substratum of truth in local
See Gomme, Folklore as a
tradition than has been hitherto admitted.
Historical Science.

iCh.

Om

Temple Administration

So

in

Norway and

Iceland.

271

we gain

the impression that a hersir admintemple also, especially as GuSbrand builds

a church in the Dales after conversion. At one time
he may have shared the control of it with a jarl. But
the warlike gathering at Hundj>orp is next addressed
by a 3?6rSr istrumagi, and in one good MS. of the
Heimskringla version he is called hofgofii, templeIn the other MS. used for
priest of the Dalesmen.
far

isters this

passage the reading is hofSingi, chief, and so in

other versions of the story. One cannot help feeling
that it is much more likely that hofftingi, a word of
frequent occurrence in the Norwegian histories, should

this
all

have been substituted for

hofgofti, which is rare even

in Icelandic sagas, and not again met with in Heimskringla (except in Ynglingasaga) than that the reverse

should have been made. 2

Moreover, hof&ingi
would need some further explanation, since it is obvious
"
"
that GuSbrandr himself was
over the
hofSingi
error

Dalesmen.

We

now arrive at the largest temple in Norway/ that

HlaSir in Strindafylki. The first we hear of HlaSir
that somewhere about 867 or 868 Haraldr established
"
"
4

at
is

chief residence
there, and called it his home.
Haraldr had made the Jarl Hakon Grjotgarbsson, of
Yrjar (on the north side of the fjord), Jarl over Strindafylki about the year 866, and soon we find Hakon called
HlaKfl-jarl, and we hear of his entertaining Haraldr at

HlaSir.
In 943,
his father,

ed.).

told that SigurSr

was

Indledning. pp. xxiv.-xxvi., and

ff.

Icelandic scribe could the more easily have made the error, as
in the habit of considering gofti almost synonymous with

An

was

*Odds O.T. 17 (F.M.S.

<Hkr. Hh. 9.
5

and we are

Cp. Hkr. (Finnur Jonsson's

xlvii.
8

find Earl Siguror, called HlaSa-jarl like

entertaining King Hakon to a Yule-feast

sacrificial feast),

(i.e.,
1

we

Fgrsk.

2.

x., 265), vj. 87.

he

Saga-Book

272

Viking Society.

and that he kept up all sacrificial

S>randheimr on behalf of the king.
If this

a great sacrificer,
feasts in

of the

phrase means anything, the king, if present, was

expected to preside over, or perhaps officiate at, sacriOf course, Hakon, as a Christian, would
ficial feasts.
refuse to

We
2

feast,

do

this in

any

case.

are next told, apparently a propos of another

that SigurSr was the most generous of men, and

did a famous deed in giving a great feast at HlaSir and

must suppose that
meeting all expenses himself.
he usually provided the horses and cattle for sacrifice,

We

but that the extra expense he incurred on this occasion

in supplying the food and drink, which we are told
the worshippers usually brought with them. The third
3
at HlaSir mentioned in our sources was in the
feast

was

autumn
sit

The king comes

of 952.

in the high-seat at the feast,

to

and

it,

is

made

to

instead of remaining

apart as he had hitherto done.

The

Norwegian temple of which we have

(now Maere), an imporhomestead (later on a royal demesne) in Spar-

record
tant

last

is

great

that at Masri or Maerin

The administration of this temple is

byggjafylki.
unique, but we must begin by premising that there had
been a jarl of the district of Sparabii 1 in the 8th century,
and that he had fled to Jamtaland before a conquering
King

Eysteinn, perhaps about 780.

there

was a king

before Haraldr

Snorri

tells

us that

of this fylki until he fell in battle

Maeri is undoubtharfagri in 866.

Now

edly the chief place in the fylki, so we may assume that

either the jarls, or Snorri's somewhat apocryphal king,
had lived there.

The first we hear of a temple at Masri is from

"
l>orhaddr
Landnamabok, which relates as follows
the Old was temple-priest (hofgofti] in t>randheimr at
6

Hkr. H.g.

14.

The

Jarl is called ves vagi-valdr in a verse:

protecting custodian of the sanctuary," cp. Hkr. vol. iv

2
4

Hkr. H.g. 14.

Ch. 17.
Hkr. H.g. 12. O.h. 137.
Hkr. H.h. 7.
Ld. Hauksbok, ch. 258; Sturlubok, ch. 297.

p. 49.

"the

Temple Administration

Norway and

in

Iceland.

273

He wished to go to Iceland, and took the

Maeri.
temple down first, and had with him the soil of the
temple and the pillars. He landed in StoSvarfjorS and
laid the Masri sanctity over the whole fjord, and allowed
nothing to be killed there but the home cattle." This
is the
only hofgoSi mentioned in Norway besides
note that the
I>6r5r istrumagi in GuSbrandsdal.
temple appears to be Thorhadd's private property,
since he can unbuild it and remove its sacred pillars.
After thus learning that the Masri temple had been
partly demolished by a private owner, we are somewhat
startled, when we next hear of it, to find that it is a
"
"
chief temple
(hofuS hof), and that eight chiefs, who
had most of the management of sacrifices in all Prand-

We

heimr,

are

Hakon

there at a

after that

making preparations to entertain King

Yule sacrifice, 2 only a few months

king had been an unwilling guest

Four

at

HlaSir

we

are told, are from

Inner I>randheimr, and four from Outer I>randheimr.
Their names are given, and we note that each is a lead(in 952).

of these chiefs,

ing landowner representing one of the eight fylki which

These landowners force the
compose 3?randheimr.
luckless king to drink the toasts and eat the sacrificial
meat.

We

read again

preparations for a sacrifice at

of

Masri, but this was less of a triumph for the heathen

"
chiefs
who had hitherto kept up the sacrifices 4 at that

place."

In

998

Olaf Tryggvason

trandheimr heathens

agrees

with

the

that there shall be a -great mid-

summer

sacrifice at Maeri, but shortly before it is due

he invites everyone to a feast at HlaSiir, and suggests
He mentions seven
sacrificing twelve chief men.
5

names, of which four are the same as those of the

Inner I>randheimr farmers mentioned above.
Finally
ip.M.S.
a
3
4

x., 323.

Hkr. H.g. 18.

Hkr. O.T. 67,

68, 69.

Flat,

i.,

p. 319.

" hofuSblotum."
In one case the son.
Flat,

i.,

p. 319

Saga-Book

274

of the

Viking Society.

he enters their temple and throws down the statue of

are not told that he destroys the temple,
Thorr.

We

seems probable that -he would do so.

In the reign of St. Olaf it transpires that the Inner
2
f>randheimr fylki still form a religious confederacy,
and that twelve men manage the sacrificial feasts,

though

it

apparently in turn.
fices in

St.

and there

rante delicto,

is

Olaf surprises them in flag-

an abrupt end

to public sacri-

Norway.

if there could be but one likely explanation of the successive administrations of this temple.

It

seems as

We must suppose that (i) a jarl or king lived at Maeri,

and administered a temple, deputing his functions to
a hofgofti, as in the GuSbrandsdal case, (2) on the
departure or death of the king or jarl the hofgofti continued his functions until he went to Iceland, taking
parts of his temple with him, and (3) after his departure
the leading men of the whole of I>randheimr took over
the temple, and confided the care of it to eight men,
one from each fylki.

We

must admit that there

very strong evidence

Norway is very closely
bound up with chieftainship. Skiringssalr in the south
is under the
patronage of the Vestfold kings. The great
temple in the north, the largest in Norway, is situated
is

that temple administration in

at

HlaSir,
residence.

King Harald Fairhair's

The temple at Gaular is

self-chosen

royal

closely connected
afterwards with a her sir that at Gu5-

with a jarl and

brandsdal with a her sir and traditionally with a jarl.
The temple at HlaSir is obviously kept up by a jarl,
though out of originally royal estates. That at Maeri is
administered by the chief men of the district.
The voice of tradition is not quite so clear as regards
our second point, the exercise of priestly functions in
;

When,

one of the leaders is charged by St. Olaf with

he urges that the buildings are large "hus eru stor,"

later on,

sacrifices there,

Hkr. O.h., 108.

2
Hkr. O.h., 108, 109.

Temple Administration

in

Norway and

Iceland.

275

There is a very independent temple-priest

and probably another, less independent, in
GuSbrandsdal. But otherwise we find the jarl SigurSr
himself officiating at HlaSir, and the hersir J?orbjorn
at Gaular. One of the Fornaldar Sogur shows us
kings
the temple.

at Masri,

With regard

officiating at Baldrshagi.

to this point,

the actual exercise of priestly functions by chiefs, it

may be urged that the evidence just quoted comes

through Iceland, and is open to the suspicion of having

been affected by Icelandic ideas, since the Icelandic
historians were themselves used to the idea that priestly
functions and political power w^ent hand in hand. But,
fortunately, there is some entirely independent
more or less contemporary evidence on this point.
Irish annals tell us that in

and

The
"

"

the Viking
king
his abode in Armagh, the holiest place

841

Turges took up
in Erin, and turned the cathedral into a heathen temple,
in which he himself officiated as priest.
I think this
must be accepted as conclusive evidence for the priestly
functions of Scandinavian chiefs.

I cannot, however,
as conclusive evidence for the priestly functions of kings, as I find it difficult to credit Turges with
it

accept

royal blood owing to his name. Whether it represents

Thorgils or Thorgestr, it is certainly compounded with
Thor, and would be unique for that reason in any
Scandinavian royal family.

One point is worthy of notice. From some of the

genealogies we observe that the jarls and hersar (and
1 The
It can be
following genealogy may serve as an illustration.
l

deduced from various passages

in

Landnama.

VeSrar-

Grimr
hersir or

Ketill veSr hersir of Hringariki.

Sogni

Bjorn buna = Velaug

Sogni

Vemundr

FroSi

Yngvildr =

hersir

hersir or

Ketill Flatnefr hersir.

Hrappr = porunn = Ulfarr

porbjorn gaulverski = Hildr

hersir
\

Oxidnf =

Ormr

of the

Saga-Book

276

Viking Society.

to some extent the petty kings) must have formed an

almost national Norwegian aristocracy, united by ties

The

of blood.

interests of

members

of this aristocracy

far outstripped the narrow limits of the petty

to which the individual belonged.
we

must have

Now

kingdom

have seen that the great sacrificial feasts were occasions

for the chief connected with the temple, whether hersir
Such
or jarl, to entertain his friends and kinsmen.
feasts were no doubt the cause of the rise of certain
It may well be
fylki temples to intertribal eminence.
that this degree of religious union
preceded and fostered political union between the petty states, and
l

made it possible to establish the common Things which

seem to have been in existence before the time of
Harald Hairfair. This must be my justification for
taking up so much of your time in marshalling evidence. The connection between temple-administration
and chieftainship is important not only in itself, but
because, once it is established, public religious observ-

ances are indissolubly linked with an aristocracy which

forms a network extending far beyond the boundaries
To discuss the effect of this
of each little kingdom.
intertribal aristocracy in neutralizing separatist tendencies in religion lies outside the scope of this paper, but

we must

realize

its

probable

effects

in

neutralizing

separatist tendencies in politics. The fact that templeadministration was vested in chiefs may thus have been

very

important

factor

in

the

unification

of

the

kingdom.
II.

The

ICELAND.

results
our examination of the Norwegian
evidence will have shown us the importance of noting
the ancestry of the temple builders, the founders of

goSi-families,

of

among

any large proportion

the settlers.
of

The

them were

of

discovery that
hersir descent

1
The existence of such intertribal religious unions is proved for a
much earlier epoch by Tacitus' account of the common worship of

Nerthus, by seven tribes, probably in Sjselland.

Temple Administration

in

Norway and

Iceland.

277

would show

that the identity of the temple owner and

the chief was, at any rate, partially due to Norwegian
tradition.
therefore proceed to adduce instances.

We

The

BoSvarr of Vors (brother of the hersir

Vigfiis already mentioned) settles in Iceland, builds a
2
temple, and becomes a hofgofti; Ketill haengr, son
hersir

an

of

earl of

Naumudal,

called dgicetr

by Landnama,

4
Rangarvellir Jorundr gofti, son of
Hrafn hinn heimski, and eighth in descent from King
5
Haraldr hilditonn, builds a temple; Ketilbjorn
of

settles at

Hof

in

Naumudal, called dgicetr by Landnama, which uses the

word as equivalent to "of hersir (or jarl) birth,"
settles at Mosfell and has a temple
HofSa-^orSr/
dgicetr, and said to be descended from Ragnar Lo8brok, dwells at Hof in HofSastrond, and is the ancestor
:

of a line of goftar; Helgi bjola, son of the hersir Ketill

flatnefr, dwells at another Hof (apparently in spite of
9

being a Christian in name); Eirikr, dgicetr, settles at

Hof in GoSdalir and is counted among the foremost
10
hinn gamli, son of the exiled
settlers; Ingimundr
hersir
son
of
Ketill raumr, dwells at Hot
the
]?orsteinn,
The two sons of
in Vatnsdal and has a temple.
hersir
son
of
the
Asbjorn,
Heyjangrs-Bjorn of Sogn,

"
come to Iceland, and must
and Ozurr,
Vej)ormr
have
a
had
since Vej'ormr's daughter
temple,
clearly
is called hofgyftja, and Ozurr's son Freysgofti. Another
12
her
is descended on
Icelandic hofgyftja, frorlauj:,
mother's side, if not on her father's, from hersar. Then
11

i. 249
cp. Vgl. 5, Ld. i., 338 ii., 385.
Ld. H. 303, S. 344. (Only the main references are given.;
Hof always means "Temple" in Iceland.

Flat.

*Ld. H. 305, S. 346.

5
Ld. H. 338 S. 385 his mother was daughter
6
See Cleasby and Vigfusson Diet., sub. agcetr.
7
Ld. H. 175, etc.
8Ld. H. r 4 S. 14.
9 Ld. H.
163.
10 Ld. H.
145; Vats. 17.
Ld. H. 276; S. 316.
12 Ld. H.
29.
;

of an earl.

Saga-Book

278

of the

Viking Society.

3?6rSr skeggi, son of Hrappr (called dgicetr),

son of the famous hersir Bjorn buna. J?6rSr brought
2
his temple pillars from Norway, as did also Hrollaugr,
there

is

son of the Jarl Rognvaldr (and half-brother of Gongu-

We

Hrolfr of Normandy).

further note

may

torgrimr

Bjarnarhofn, who is of hersir

go8i Kjallaksson
on
both
sides.
This is far from an exhaustive
lineage
but
in
view
of
the
list,
difficulty of ascertaining who
built temples on arriving in Iceland, and the second
of

difficulty

did,

of discovering the

genealogy of those who

we have mentioned enough

cases to

show

that just

as hersar and jarls had temples in Norway, so a very

large proportion of the more important temples in Ice-

land were built by descendants of hersar and

hand some few

jarls.

On

rank appear
not to have built temples, unless we are to suppose that
their descendants lost the ownership of them.
And
again, other temple-builders are not stated to have been
of hersir rank, though of course it is impossible to
i>6rolfr mostrarprove a humbler origin for them.
4
skegg, who brought his temple-pillars with him from
Norway, and is supposed to have founded the first \>ing,
is sometimes quoted as being of less exalted rank, but
the assumption seems somewhat rash, especially as he
is called the foremost man
on the island of Mostr,
his Norwegian home.
On the w hole it seems safe to
the other

settlers of hersir

assume

not always of hersir

temple-builders,
had
of importance in
at
rate
been
men
lineage,
any
Of
course
we
make
some
allowance for
must
Norway.
of
of
the
conditions
afforded
opportunities
by
rising
that

if

a new country.
we have established that the early goftar in Iceland came of a powerful governing class, it seems
life in

If

worth while to enquire whether the possesion of a

temple was quite such an essential factor in the acquirement of temporal power as it is usually held to have
J

Ld. H.

14.
4

2Ld. H. 270.

Ld. H. 73.

Eyrb.

Ld.
3

H .72.

Temple Administration

in

Norway and

Iceland.

279

been. That the possession of a temple finally came to

be a necessary qualification for a legal chieftainship
we do not deny, but there seems reason to suspect that
chiefs could rule }>ingmenn and hold sway over a district without it.
That this was the case in the actual
For
period of settlement there can be no doubt.
instance, AuSr djupuSga, though a Christian, exercised at least as much influence in her district as any
temple-owning heathen. Of course it is true that her
neighbours were mainly dependents and nominally
2
Christians, but Ketill fiflski, another Christian, who
settled in a district entirely heathen as far as Norwegian
immigrants were concerned, is yet reckoned among the
foremost settlers in the East country. Another case is
that of Ulfr h. skalgi,* fourth in descent from a king.
1

He comes to Iceland and settles in Reykjanes. With

him comes out a man named Hallr, of high birth, who
"
built a temple
because Ulfr was no sacrificer." We
are then told that Hallr was a great chief, and many
men then turned their allegiance to him (i.e., away
from Ulfr). It is thus clearly implied that Ulfr, though
not a gofti, had a chieftainship. But there are clearer
instances than this.

We

know

that Hrafnkell Freys-

on hearing of the destruction of his temple by

"
Samr, decided that it was
vanity to believe in gods,"
and never sacrificed again, 4 nor had he a temple in his

goSi,

new surroundings,

yet he gathers together }>ingmenn,

district, and his sons

and soon has a regular }>inghd or

take on the raawwa/orrdS, 5 chieftainship, after him. Now

Samr, the travelled atheist who destroys the temple,

cannot by any possibility be supposed

of one, yet even without the prestige
suppose Hrafnkell to have retained,
mannaforrdft. This occurs as late as
iLaxd.6,7.

Ld. H., 354.

f>orsk.

i.

to have charge
which we may

he also gains
6
about 947-953.
^Hrafnk.

7.

Hrafnk. 10. The fact that Hrafnkell is said to have a goftorti, ch.
can be explained by the later meaning of the word, chieftainship.
6

Timatal, p. 495.

9,

280

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

must be remembered

that Hrafnkels Saga is remarkUnfortunately this cannot be so

unreservedly stated of the next saga from which we
will quote, Vatnsdada, but the incident in question is
It

ably

trustworthy.

so circumstantially related, and so much opposed to

of the saga would consider probis
that
it
On the death
able,
certainly to be credited.
of Ingimundr his sons decide that whichever of them

what the actual writer

J

make a successful plan to avenge him shall choose

some valuable part of their property for himself. Porsteinn is successful, and he chooses the homestead of
Hof and the land that goes with it. The brothers then
shared up the rest of their inheritance, and the go$or&
fell to 1?6rir's share.
But I>orsteinn became chief (hofover
and Vestrh6p and all those
Vatnsdal
Singi)
districts which had owned allegiance to Ingimundr, his
shall

Finally, in return for good advice given by

Ponr, i>orsteinn begs that his sons may have
All this takes place between c. 935-950.*
the ^oSorS.
father.

him
It

to

is

made

here

perfectly clear that the goftorft,

i.e.,

was distinct from the chieftainship.

we see the reason for the constantly used com-

priesthood,

At

last

bination

goftorft

ok mannaforrdft.

In earlier Icelandic

words are not synonymous, as the

usage
dictionaries would lead one to suppose, and their history is extremely different. GoSorS is an ancient word
these

new word, coined

in Iceland to

mannaforrdft
express
the type of political and administrative power exercised
by Icelandic chiefs. GoSorft meant priesthood, and
is

nothing more, when the Icelanders first settled in the

new country indeed, it may be doubted whether ihe
meanings of these two words were ever merged into
one until after the introduction of Christianity.
It is possible that the revised law of 965, restricting
:

number of goSar, was partly aimed against chiefs

whose authority was solely temporal. Such chieftainships would have no guarantee of stability, since they
the

Vats. ch. 24, 27.

'

Vats. ch. 37.

Timatal,

p. 495.

Temple Administration
would lack

all

in

Norway and

tangible sign of union.

Iceland.

Now

281

Professor

Bjorn Olsen has suggested that the ready acceptance

of Christianity in the year 1000 is partly to be ascribed
to the agitations

and discontent

of ex-^oo'ar or their
dispossessed of chieftainship by

who had been

sons,
the law of 965. It seems more than probable that the
"
"
ranks of these
outsiders
were swelled by families

who had

exercised chieftainship without possessing a

who had allowed their temple to descend to

another branch of the family.
And this seems the place to consider such information as we can glean about gyftjur, priestesses.
are told of one Steinvor in the east of Iceland that she
temple, or

We

was

hofgyfy'a,

and had charge

complained to the

of the chief temple.

She

whose

kins-

local chief, Broddhelgi,

woman

she was, that a certan man, a Christian, had

refused to pay the temple-tax.
Broddhelgi said he
would deal with the matter, but as a matter of fact it
1

was allowed

to drop.
Here
a relative of Broddhelgi,

is

to

we

note

(i) that

Steinvor

and (2) therefore belongs

a distinguished family, and (3) her sphere is entirely

We

know of three other

limited to temple-jurisdiction.
2
well-attested gyftjur in Iceland, of whom two at least
are of hersir family. How entirely one of these, Thorlaug, daughter of Hrolf the younger, must have been
identified with the priestly office seems to follow from
certain words in Landnama which have hardly received

"
Hrolf r the younger
they deserve.
to
Oddi
married his daughter,
J?orlaug gyfija,
Yrarson. For that reason he moved house west to
Ballara, and dwelt there a long while, and was called
3
Hrolf at Ballara."
Evidently his daughter, the
could
not move to her husband's house, as
priestess,
The other two
she could not leave the temple.

the

attention

iVapn., ch.

5.

f>uriSr gySja Solmundardottir (Ld. H. 147) furiSr hofgySja

dottir (Ld. H. 276) and >orlaug gyftja Hrolfsdotta (Ld. H. 29).
2

Ld. H.

29, S. 41,

)>ui

reSzt

hann vestr

til

Ballarar.

Ve>orms-

282

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

Solmundardottir
5>uridr
are
gyfya
gyftjur
Besides this, FriSJ>uriSr hofgyfija VeJ'ormsdottir.
the
wife
torarinn
of
fylsenni, sacrifices in a
gerSr,
temple, at any rate during his absence, and
1
It seems probable that in
gyftja in a verse.

is

all

called

these

some male kinsman or the husband had manna-

cases

/orrdo',

chieftainship.

The

case of I?6rarinn fylsenni,

just at the close of the tenth century, suggests that even

after the revised law of 965 mannaforrdft could still be

held apart from priestly office, if the latter was in the

hands of a kinswoman. We can quite understand that
there would be less danger in the separation of the two
offices, if the priestly functions were performed by a
woman, who would be precluded from winning a real
The mention of four gyftjur in
political ascendancy.
those of our sources which deal with the heathen period
seems to suggest that they were a fairly large class.

We

are thus rendered less sceptical of the Norwegian

mentioned in the Fornaldarsogur, and can

gyfijiir

whom

we are introduced
credit the story of Alfhildr, to
while she is performing a sacrifice at night. The case
of Turges' wife, who acts as priestess at Clonmacnois,
remembered. But in considering priestmust be admitted to be possible, and even
probable, that we must set very definite limits to their
activities and prevalence at the close of heathen times.
There seems to be reason for suspecting that women

may

also be

esses

it

only performed functions as priestesses in the service

group of divinities, Njoror, Freyja, and Frey,
and in dmr-worship, which may possibly be a cult of
ancestors.
know of so few gyftjur that it is surely
of importance to note what a large proportion of them
are connected with these cults. To begin with the
Elder Edda. HyndluljoS mentions the gyftja Hledis,
the mother of that Ottarr who builds a hbrg for Freyja
of the

We

sacrifices to her.
Then there is the story told in
the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, in the Flateyjarb6k ver-

and

iRristni S. ch.

2.

Temple Administration
ch.

sion,

in

Norway and

Iceland.

283

where Gunnarr helmingr meets the

Frey in Sweden. Again, Hervarar Saga

173,

priestess of

shows us Alfhildr reddening a horg at night. Now

all the references we possess to this form of sanctuary
show that in Norway it was dedicated to the Vanir
Then we have J>uriSr hofgyftja in
to Frey or Freyja.
Iceland, whose maternal half-brother (and first cousin
on the father's side), is called Freysgofti, which at any
rate suggests that the family was addicted to the worthus fully possible that while
priests or priestesses
of Frey or Freyja, in late heathen times women were
excluded from public office in the service of Thor.
must note that the temples of two hofgoftar mentioned
in Norway, at Masri and at GuSbrandsdal, are both
1
traditionally associated with Thor.
To sum up. There is reason to believe that besides
ship of this god.

both

It is

men and women might be

We

the persons exercising combined priestly and political

power, there were in Iceland three other classes of chiefs,
at least until 965.

(i)

goSi, exercising political

dence of a temple. (2)

Persons

like

Hrafnkell Freys-

ascendancy in entire indepenPersons like l^orsteinn Ingi-

mundarson, who exercised political ascendancy, but

whose family the priestly office had fallen to another

in

of

(3) Persons like Broddhelgi, or Hrolfr the

Younger, who exercised political ascendancy, but whose
temple was in the hands of a kinswoman.
In Iceland, where there was at first no other bond
to attract dependents, and where at first no settled

the co-heirs.

thing-places brought people together independently of

the sacrificial feasts, the temple must have loomed large
in the public eye, and we can understand that those who

succeeded

in consolidating their

possessed and administered this

and who, further, did not have

power were those who

central meeting-place,
to delegate to others

Tryggvason throws down the statue of

In the GuSbrandsdal temple is the image
always aided us." Hkr. O.h. u?..
1

Olaf.

O.T.

69.

Hkr.
which has

|>6rr at Maeri,

of J>6rr "

Saga-Book

284

of the

Viking Society.

the observances that gave their acts a religious sanction.

Hence the final success of the temple-owners in the
race for power. And here we must be allowed to enter
a protest against the view, recently repeated both in
German and English books, that the mass of the Icelandic settlers were half-Christian, wholly atheistic, or
in special and degrading superstitions.
The inci"
"
dental mention of a couple of
or the
men,
godless
supposition that heathendom must have been sapped by

sunk

a Viking
that the

life,

can weigh as nothing against the fact

communal

strong that

it

was so
and adminis-

religious feeling in Iceland

shaped the whole

political

structure.
Chieftainships not connected with
temples were fore-doomed to extinction.
Indeed, if one may be permitted to conclude with a
generalization, one of the most remarkable things about
early Scandinavian history is the constitutional importance of religion among a people so entirely lacking in
a priestly caste.
understand and are ready to make
allowances for the vast power wielded by the Druids
among the Celtic peoples, but the absence of priestcraft
among the Scandinavians ought not to blind us to the

trative

We

by religion on the social structure.

have seen reason to suspect that at least twice in
the history of Scandinavia religious union preceded and
fostered political union, and I hope we have also had
influences exerted

We

a glimpse of how the political fabric of the youngest

of the Scandinavian States was slowly built up on the
basis of its religious organization.

THYRA, THE WIFE OF GORM THE OLD,

WHO WAS SHE, ENGLISH OR DANISH?
BY CAPTAIN

THE

lecture

which

ERNEST RASON.

am

to

communicate

to

you

not by any means intended as a final

to-night
"
settlement of the question,
Thyra, the wife of
Gorm the old, who was she, English or Danish? " It
is, on the contrary, merely an attempt to state the case
in

England,

is

to call attention to the issues involved,

and

to interest, if possible, other English enquirers.

The lecture is a development of the evidence

I have
on the subject during research on another
"
Russia as the Eldorado of Canute the Great."
theme,

collected

The question of Thyra is

Denmark came largely

me

but a side issue, yet

main work, its history had to be investigated for a certain period before
Canute's reign. Whilst doing this the so-called Con-

as

for

into

my

quest of England by the Danes was forced upon my

notice in a manner it had never been before.
English
boys are rarely taught their own early history, but
rather that of Greece and Rome. It was with a distinct
feeling of relief that I read in Saxo Grammaticus that
Thyra was the daughter of Ethelred, King of England.
If Thyra were the daughter of Ethelred, King of England, then the invasion of Svein and Canute was no
foreign conquest, but merely a dynastic change brought
about by Danish ships and Danish troops, and on the
same principle as the Wars of the Roses, except that

Welsh and French troops were employed.

came to consider the question further I found
the most recent Danish opinion on the matter was

in the latter

When
that

so divided, that in the Danmarks Riges Historie of 1906

Some people say
the question is stated as follows
that Thyra was the daughter of an English king, but
'

'

286

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

more probability that she was the daughter

Klak Harald, Jarl in Holstein." This statement
seemed to call for examination, certainly from an Englishman. There is every appearance on the face of it
that it was written in deference to a divided opinion,
others with
of

although Professor Steenstrup's name

is

connected with

this particular part of the history.

The elder Danish writers before the end of the sixteenth century either followed Saxo in his opinion, or
they had some other source for their statement, except
Cornelius Hamsfortii, who calls Thyra the daughter of
Edward the Elder, and sister of the wife of Otto I.,
Emperor

of

Germany.

This, of course,

points to a general idea that

of an English king.

is

wrong, but

it

Thyra was the daughter

Besides the old Danish writers,

my

authorities for

the lecture are the Heimskringla, by Snorre Sturlason,

the Jomsborg Vikings Saga, and the Knytlinga Saga,
perhaps the best and most reliable of the Icelandic
I shall take
sagas dealing with this particular time.
the latter part of the the question first, and consider
what the sagas say about Thyra as the daughter of

Klak Harald,

Jarl

in

Holstein.

Carlyle, than whom we have no better judge, said of

the Heimskringla of Snorre Sturlason that it ought to

be reckoned amongst the great history books of the

world, were it properly published with accurate maps
and well edited. This saga was translated into English
as long ago as 1844, and it has recently (1899) been

and published anew by Rasmus Anderson, some

time Minister for the United States at the Court of
edited

For the Jomsborg and Knytlinga Sagas

have used Rafn's translation into Danish (1829).

Kopenhagen.
I

The contention that Thyra was the daughter of Klak

Harald rests almost entirely on the sagas. It was not
heard about at all till towards the end of the sixteenth
century, about 1594, when the sagas were translated for
the first time from Icelandic. The Heimskringla tells

Thyra, the Wife of

Gorm

the Old.

287

us that a certain Thorny, the wife of Sigurd Hiortr,

sister of Thyra Danmarkarbot, married to King
Gorm the old, who at that time reigned over the Danish
dominions
this Thyra was the daughter of Klak
Harald. Thorny was the grandmother of Harald Fair-

was the

hair,

King

of all

was born when

Norway, and we are

told that

Harald

mother, Ragnhild, was twenty

Harald Fairhair died about 930, and sucyears old.
ceeded his father at the age of ten, about 860, so that
his mother, Ragnhild, .must have been born in 830, and
his

allowing twenty years for Thorny's age when Ragnhild

was born, we get 809 for the birth of Thorny, the sister,
according to the saga, of Thyra. The same saga tells
us that Harald Fairhair, when he was about fifteen
years of age, wishing for a wife, sent a deputation to
Gyda, the daughter of King Erik in HorSaland, but
she refused to come, saying that she would not wed
until she found the man who could reduce all the kings
of

Norway

This

settles,

as

Gorm

the old had done in

Denmark.

as far as the saga is concerned, the date

had established his paramount power in

when Gorm
Denmark, viz., about

It may be observed that

865.
Thyra, the daughter of Ethelred of England, was not

yet born.

The Jomsborg Saga gives a highly descriptive and

detailed account of the courting of Thyra, the daughter
of Klak Harald, by Gorm. Thyra is said to have been
so wise and intelligent that she was already associated
with her father in the government of his small kingdom,

when Gorm came down from the North of Jutland to

woo her. Gorm had a large party with him, and Thyra
was not ready

to give her love at once, nor Harald to

with
but Gorm, in the rough and ready
her;
part
manner of those days, said that if her father would not
give her to him for wife he would take her by force,
which, it appeared, he was quite capable of doing.
Under these circumstances Thyra decided to play with
him by her wiles and wisdom till she was ready for him,

288

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

or perhaps to give her father time to prepare for resistance.

Thyra told Gorm he must go home there he
:

must have a house built in the forest no larger than to

hold one bed on this bed he was to sleep alone for
three nights, and if he dreamt dreams he was to send
her an account of them, so that she might ascertain
whether it would be a happy marriage.
Gorm went to his place in the north, and had a house
;

constructed out in the forest only large enough to hold

one small bed, in which he slept alone but, being a
wise man, he placed a guard of 300 men round the
house in the forest to guard against surprise. Under
;

these circumstances he dreamt his

dreams in peace;
they are somewhat curious, and have a sort of resemblance to those of Pharaoh. The first dream was that
he found himself out under the open heaven looking
over all the land of his kingdom. Then the sea seemed
to go back from the land till all the salt water lakes
and fords were dry. Presently he saw three boars come
up out of the sea they begged his pardon, and then
they fed on the grass around and went back into the sea.
;

These boars were white. The second dream was that

three boars came out of the sea, but they were of a red
colour, and had large tusks, and behaved just like the
The third dream was the same, but the
first three.
boars were black, and had the largest tusks of all.
When these last boars had gone he heard a mighty
noise, so loud that he thought it must have been heard
over all Denmark, and the sea came back on the land
with awful force.
Thyra interpreted these dreams
the three White Boars were three very cold winters,
when there would be much snow, and all the fruits of
the three Red Boars
the ground would be damaged
were three winters when there would be little snow, and
the three Black Boars signified wars in the land, and
that they all went back into the sea proved that these
The noise of the
troubles would not continue long.
sea when it came back on the land again meant that
;

Thyra, the Wife of

Gorm

the Old.

289

mighty men would come on the land with great wars,

and many of his relations would take part. If he had
dreamed this the first night she would not have married
him, but now there would not be so much injury,
because she would give advice which would be proclaimed throughout the land.
It seems as if these dreams had been added by some
one who knew the Bible account of the dreams of
Pharaoh and their interpretation. They have been
added by the Christian skalds in their version of the
story as told in Iceland. We at least know from another
account in the saga that at that time Klak Harald was

a heathen, a believer in the old gods and all the superstitions attending such a belief.
After Gorm and

Thyra had gone back to their homes in the

Harald was invited to visit his son-in-law

north,

Klak

at Yuletide.

He left for the north in time to be at the Yule-feast,

but on the way he saw an apple tree, on which were
small green apples. This was very remarkable for the
season of the year, and on the ground were many larger
apples, arousing great astonishment in Harald and his
followers, so that they turned and went home again.
The next year Harald went north again to the Yulefeast, invited by his son-in-law, and had almost reached
the Lim-fjord,

when something happened

to the

hounds

he had with him, and this caused him to give up his

The third year he went north
visit and go home again.
and
reached
the
again,
ferry over the Lim-fjord on the
western side. When he was at the ferry it seemed as
if two waves arose, one from inside the fjord and the
other from outside, they met at the entrance to the fjord,
and then they seemed to turn into blood and for the
third time Harald's superstitious fears were aroused,
and he returned home. From the above we can judge,
that as far as the circumstances of the saga are concerned, at the time of his daughter's marriage, and for
three years after, Klak Harald was a heathen, with all
;

the heathen superstitions.

We

also

know very

well

Saga-Book

290

of the

Viking Society.

when

Christianity came into his country, for it was

brought by the celebrated St. Anskar in 825. He
established a small church at Ribe on the west coast,

and another celebrated priest became the pastor of the

church, viz., Rembertus. We also learn from German
He
history when Klak Harald was made a Christian.
was baptized at Mainz in 826.
From the above history we can calculate that Thyra
must have been married to Gorm about 825, which
would make her birth fall about 806 to 812, and point
her out as about the same age as her sister Thorny, the
wife of Sigurd Hiort.

The same saga tells us that Gorm had two sons,

Canute and Harald, that Harald was much younger
than Canute, and that Canute was brought up chiefly
at the house of his grandfather, Klak Harald, and when
old enough was given a portion of his kingdom to
govern this marks Canute down as born some time
before 834, as Klak Harald died in 846, and Canute
must have been twelve years old at least when he was
given a kingdom to govern. This would make him at
least one hundred years old when he was killed in 936.
These three calculations from the side of the Heimskringla of the birth of Thorny, from the side of the
Jomsborg Saga of the marriage of Gorm, and from the
;

story of Canute's being given a portion of the

kingdom

to govern, give approximately the same date for the

marriage of Thyra, daughter of Klak Harald, to Gorm,

and for her birth any date from 806 to 812.

Of Canute, we hear that he was killed in England or
Ireland on a Viking cruise, and he left, so far as is
known, but one son, Gold-Harald, who perished in
969. What the age of Harald was we are not told, but
if his father Canute was seventy when he was born,
Gold-Harald must have been about sixty-six at the time
he was killed, and nearly as old as Harald Bluetooth,

viz., 825,

his uncle.

Now we

will consider the case of

Harald Bluetooth.

Gorm

Thyra, the Wife of

We

the Old.

291

Jomsborg Saga that he was much

than
his
and there seem to have been
brother,
younger
some signs of enmity between them, for we find the
Jomsborg Saga saying that Harald killed Canute,
which cannot be right, yet w e find from the Heimskringla that even if Harald did not kill his brother, he
may be almost considered as an accessory to the death
of Gold-Harald.
He was afraid that Gold-Harald
would attempt to fight him for half the land of Denmark, and, by an arrangement with Earl Hakon, Goldare told in the

Harald was

killed.

one thing certain about Harald Bluetooth

which happened within a year on either
We have decided that Thyra, the daughter
of Klak Harald, was born not later than 812. Can she
possibly have been the mother of Harald Bluetooth ?
We are told in Medical Jurisprudence that sixty years
is the extreme limit of a woman's powers of bearing
children, though we have the account of Sarah, who
bore Isaac at the age of ninety, which has been a standWe cannot suppose that
ing wonder for centuries.
If

there

is

his death,
side of 986.
it

is

Thyra was any exception

tooth,

common lot, and theremother of Harald BlueCnut Danaast may have

to the

fore she cannot have been the

whatever her relation to

been.

We

are told in

Danmarks Riges' Historic

that

Thyra

knew from her

birth the necessity of building a Danevirke, with which the name of Thyra is connected, and
this is considered one of the side proofs that Thyra w as
r

the daughter of Klak Harald, as she was brought up

near the Danevirke. But it is evident that she could

not have been the mother of Harald Bluetooth, neither

could she have governed the kingdom in Gorm's old

age.
I

think

now we have come

to the time

when we may

say that it is most probable that Thyra the daughter

of Klak Harald, was not the mother of Harald Bluetooth.

Saga-Book

292

We

will

now

of the

Viking Society.

take the case of

Thyra as the daughter

Saxo discompany

of Ethelred, King of England, a fact which

Here he is in
tinctly states in his history.

with

all

the old writers of

Denmark

before the end of

the sixteenth century, except Cornelius Hamsfortii, who

says that Thyra was the daughter of Edward the Elder,

and sister of the wife of Otto I., Emperor of Germany,

which of course is wrong; but Thyra as the daughter
of Ethelred would have been a second cousin of Editha,
Otto's wife.

Thyra was, of course, a Christian, but there is a

curious story in Saxo of her wishing for dreams as 10
the future before she would give herself up to her husband, and there is a statement that Canute and Harald
went over to England to wrest the kingdom from their
grandfather; but, of course, this is incorrect, as Ethelred must have been dead before Gorm even married
Thyra. Yet there is no doubt that Harald and Canute
were in England at different times, and they, or at least
Harald, may have had some idea that he had a claim
on the kingdom.
What history teaches us about the children of
Ethelred is very little; we know from the will of Alfred
the Great that there was a difference over their money
matters between the two brothers, and it was finally
agreed that all the money should go to the survivor
Ethelred died first,
unless the other had left a will.
and somewhat suddenly, without making a will, and
Alfred took all the money to himself, leaving in his
only seven small manors to his nephews, Athelmaer and Ethelwold, and six manors between his
daughters; but he stated that he only left to the spindle
side what had belonged to him and Ethelred, and not
what had been left by his father. This may be a reason
will

why no mention
in the will.

brother was

is

made

of

any daughter

In the time of Alfred,

made king

in

of Ethelred

when a younger

consequence of the youth

Great was,

of his elder brother's children, as Alfred the

Gorm

Thyra, the Wife of

then

it

was usual

the Old.

293

for the elder brother's children, if

to inherit the kingdom after their

they were grown up,

uncle,

and not the younger brother's children. But

money and all the power,

King Alfred, having all the

managed that his own son,

Edward the Elder, should

succeed him, to the detriment of Ethelred's children.
Ethelwold, the youngest of the two sons of Ethelred
mentioned in the will, did attempt to establish his prior
right to the throne, in which he was assisted by the
Normans and Danes of East Anglia and Northumberland. It must be remembered that the North of
England north of Watling Street was almost entirely
Danish

at this time,

and

it

was the Danes who backed

Ethelwold.
Gorm might even have been amongst
them. Unfortunately, Ethelwold was killed, and the
rising subsided.
Steenstrup, in his Normanerne, when referring to the
building of the Danevirke and the Burghs in England,
calls attention

to the similarity of their construction,

especially about the escarpment of the ditch, as being

different from the German and French burgs, which
were also being built about that time. He adds that
there was another similarity
that they were built by
women, and women whose husbands were ill at the
time and he adds a third resemblance, if Saxo is right,
that is, that both were built by the daughters of a king.
He might have added that there was no wonder that
they were alike, as they were built by cousins, for
;

Thyra, the daughter of Ethelred, was the cousin of

Athelflaed, who built the burghs in England.
In another part of the same book Professor Steenstrup calls attention to the great number of treacheries
which took place in England during the invasion of

England by Svein and Canute, and he adds

are not

many

instances in

all

that there

history that a nation has

been so often and so thoroughly betrayed by its own

people as the Anglo-Saxons were at that time, except
there had been a dynastic strife. But if Thyra was the

2Q4

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

daughter of Kthelred, then the so-called invasion of

Svein and Canute was a dynastic strife for they had
more right to the throne than Ethelred the II. They
were in fact, almost in the same condition relative to
;

Ethelred

II.,

IV., were to

Roses.

Duke

as the

Henry VI.

The Duke

of

of

York and

at the

his son,

time of the

Edward

Wars

of the

York was unquestionably

heir

general of the royal line through his mother Anne,

daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, son of
Phillippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third
son of Edward III., as against the reigning sovereign,
Henry VI., a weak king, descended from a younger
brother of Lionel.
Similarly we may say that Svein

was undoubtedly heir general of the royal line by his

grandmother, Thyra, daughter of Ethelred I., elder
brother of Alfred the Great, as compared with the weak
king, Ethelred II., descended from the younger brother,

The

Alfred the Great.

similarity in the treacheries

is

be the result of the same cause,

viz., a dynastic struggle, and is strong corroborative
evidence for the accuracy of Saxo's statement that
Thyra was the daughter of Ethelred I.
The number of traitors in both cases was very large,
far too striking not to

and includes

all

sorts

and conditions

of

men.

The

great traitors, Warwick and the Duke of Clarence, in the

Wars of the Roses, are well represented by ./Elfric and
by Eadric Streona the latter's constant changes of side
;

and near connection

to the King Ethelred II. are on a

with
that
of
the
Duke
of Clarence, for the treachery
par
of Eadric Streona has never been properly explained.
It puzzled Professor Ereeman, but I think, in the light
of a dynastic dispute, his change of side may be

accounted for.
Eadric Streona was the son of one ^Ethelric of Bocking, in Essex, who was accused to the king about 995
that he had said that Svein ought to be received in
Essex; this accusation appears to have been kept in
reserve till his will was brought to be confirmed by

Thyra, the Wife of

King Ethelred

Gorm

the Old.

295

Eadric Streona was the Thane of

II.;

Oswald, at one time Bishop of Worcester, and afterwards Archbishop of York, who was a Dane, and a
great friend, I think a nephew, of Archbishop Odda,
who was Archbishop of Canterbury. This gave Eadric
a very good start in life, and his father could not have
been such an unknown person as Freeman has stated,
and as we know Eadric married Ethelred 's daughter.
Amongst the signatures to the will of yEthelric of Bocking is the signature of ^thelmaer, immediately after
those of the bishops, and at the head of the Thanes.
This is most probably ^Ethelmaer, the great Earl of
Wessex, son of the historian, ^Ethelweard, who claimed
descent from Ethelred I., but whether from a son or

These people must

another daughter is not known.
have known that Svein was the head of the House of
Ethelred I., and may have been in league with him to

common ancestors' family to the throne.

Svein came south from Gainsborough we find
the Wessex thanes met him at Bath to give their
allegiance, and when Canute came back in 1015, after
Svein 's death, yEthelmaer and the Wessex thanes welrestore their

When

comed him, and

that ^Ethelmaer

still

clung

the Battle of Sherston near

When

Penselwood we find
Canute, for he was at

after the defeat at

to

Malmsbury.

Canute, after the death of

Edmund

Ironside,

divided the kingdom of England into earldoms, he

reserved Wessex for himself.
Was it because it was
the rightful property of his ancestors ?
The contention that Svein and his son Canute had,
like the Duke of York and his son Edward IV., a prior
right to the throne of
king, accounts for so

England over the then reigning

many difficulties in the history

may be taken as strong corrobora-

of that time, that it

tive evidence in favour of Saxo's account of

Thyra 's

accounts for most of the treachery during the

so-called conquest of England by Svein and Canute,
it accounts for the special form of treachery of Eadric

birth.

It

296
Streona,

Saga-Book
it

of the

Viking Society.

accounts for the change back to Ethelred

when Svein

died, as being the most fitting

descendants of ^Ethelwulf left in England,

was; as well as for the return

proved himself as fitting a

to

man

II.

of the

bad as he
Canute when he had

man

as

his

father.

It

accounts for the willingness to divide the kingdom

between the two rival dynasties, and finally it accounts
for the wonderful manner in which England accepted
the rule of Canute, when once he had asserted his right
to the throne, both by descent and conquest and by
election, just in the same manner as the English people
behaved towards Edward IV., when once his power
was established.
Now I hope I have persuaded you that the account
of Thyra's birth ought to be that some people say she
was the daughter of Klak Harald, a Jarl or King in

Holstein, but that

it

is

more probable

that she

was the

daughter of Ethelred, King of England. I have one

other piece of proof, which, although it could not be
brought in by itself, can at least confirm the already
considerable body of evidence.
About the time that,
according to the sagas, Gorm and the daughter of Klak

Harald were being married, viz.,

was first brought to Denmark by

in

St.

825,

Christianity

Anskar, and he

founded a small church at Ribe, a port close to the sea

on the west coast of Denmark in those days, but now

somewhat inland. It
Fano and Mano,

of

is just to the south of the islands

close to which latter is the now

which was, however, nonRibe there was a Christian

church built, and Rembertus was the pastor. He succeeded St. Anskar as Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen
in 865, but he no doubt kept up his interest in the
church of Ribe until his death in 888, for the port
of Ribe was only a few hours' sail from Hamburg.
flourishing port of Esbjerg,
existent sixty years ago. At

Opposite Ribe, on the south part of the small island of

Eano is the village of Sonderho. Some sixty years
ago, before the great changes which took place as a

Thyra, the Wife of

Gorm

the Old.

THYRA'S FONT AT SoNDERHO.

297

I.

2g 8

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

consequence of the increasing trade of the port of

Ksbjerg, a Mr. Marryat was travelling in Denmark for
At Sonderho he heard a
archaeological purposes.
tradition that

Thyra, the wife of Gorm, the daughter

of an English king, had given the font to the old Sonderho church in consequence of her having been saved

from drowning when she was wrecked off Mano island

on her way to Ribe to marry Gorm the old. Mr.
Marryat did not pay much attention, and merely
remarks that the font was an unshapely mass of
There is no doubt that the font, looked at
granite.
casually, is to-day an unshapely mass, but on examination it may be noticed that from one direction it is very
graceful and symmetrical, although from others most
ungainly and ugly; further examination will show that
the font has been badly treated, and much of it roughly
broken, especially at the sides, just like the monuments
in our churches were treated at the time of the Commonwealth, and that the greater part of the rim has been
chipped away. There are five other granite fonts in Jutland, one close to Sonderho at Brondon, on the mainland. These are of the twelfth century; they have four
crosses on the rim and one or two on the side.

We

can now see

the sides of the Sonderho font were

broken, viz., to get rid of the crosses on the font rim
and on the side. It seems very probable that the font

why

Sonderho had originally some crosses on the side and

on the rim, which at some time were broken away, and

at

away the side of a granite

was done purposely. There is no doubt that at
one time the font was an extremely fine one and very
graceful in its outline, and it was made at a time when
good workers did work for Christian buildings. In
it

takes a great deal to break

font

it

comparison with the

five fonts

made

in the twelfth cen-

was much more graceful in its lines. This font

tury
later fell into disrepute, was roughly treated by somebody's orders, for no amount of casual damage would
equal the harm which has been done to it. Granite is
it

Thyra, the Wife of

Gorm

the Old.

THVRA'S FONT AT SOXUERHO.

II.

299

300

Saga-Book

of the

Viking Society.

The font was again

one of the hardest of stones.
restored to favour, but it was used in its damaged condition, with the tradition attached to it which has
It is situated in the very place
already been stated.
where a traveller coming from England would be
wrecked. It is old enough to have been made at the
It bears evidence of
time mentioned, i.e., about 900.
having been wilfully damaged in a manner which would
occur during a lapse from Christianity, such as occurred
during the regn of Svein, so I think we may add this
as a scintilla of additional evidence in favour of Thyra's
being the daughter of Kthelred I. of England.

The Danmarks Riges

Historie gives a choice of two

solutions for the birth of

Thyra,

should

like to offer

a third, and that is that Gorm the old had two wives,
both of them named Thyra. The first was the daughter
of

Klak Harald, and the second the daughter

Some one

of Ethel-

no doubt ask how did

an English king's daughter come by such a Scandinavian name as Thyra; the answer is that Ethelred's
mother was the daughter of the last of the princes of
Moen, who were of Jutish descent.
There is no difficulty in Gorm's having two wives, in
succession or even together, or even of the same name.
The instance of Halfdan the Black, King of Norway,
red of England.

will

immediately recurs to memory.

have seen that Thyra,
Harald, could not for physical
mother of Harald Bluetooth
physical difficulty about Gorm,

We

the daughter of

Klak

reasons have been the

but there is no great
even at the age of over
his
when
he married the young
father
eighty, being
of
Ethelred
of
daughter
England, who would have been
about twenty-eight years old.
In support of the suggestion I have made I may
remark on the inscriptions on the two rune stones in
Jellinge churchyard, a large one ancj a small one. The
church lies between two immense tumuli. The northern
one is called by tradition Thyra's grave, but by a
;

Thyra, the Wife of

Gorm

the Old.

30!

curious chance the smaller rune stone, which comes

from the southern tumulus, is inscribed as follows
"
Gorm made this monument in memory of his wife
:

It is generally stated that

Thyra Danmarkarbot."
lived
after
which
this monument proves
Gorm,
Thyra

The larger
error, unless there were two Thyras.
rune stone, which is said to have been always in the
churchyard, tells us that Harald the king bade make
an

Gorm his father and Thyra his mother,

who conquered all Denmark and Norway

this stone after

the Harald

and made the Danes Christian.

It is

noticeable that

Thyra

bot on the larger stone.

It

is

not called Danmarkar-

seems

to

me

that there

must

have been two Thyras one who helped Gorm when he

was conquering all the smaller kings, and a second

Thyra who was the Thyra of his old age, who built the
Danework, and who outlived him, and was the mother
of

Harald Bluetooth.

Photographs of Thyra's Font. Photo I. represents

the general appearance of the font, shewing that, with
the exception of the broken parts, it is graceful in form,

much more so than the twelfth century granite

The uneven line on the left upper rim is due
damaged condition. A piece has been broken

fonts.
to its
off

on

right upper corner of the photograph, but the

greatest damage has been done in the lower left-hand
corner, which place corresponds to a cross on the

the

twelfth century font near Skuer in Jutland.

High up
on the left of Photo I. is a broken piece. This is shown
on Photo II. in front view, and corresponds to a Runic
inscription on the twelfth century font near Skuer.
1

It

may

also be noticed that

Thurin, while on the larger

it

is

on the smaller stone the name

Thourin.

Curtis &> Beamish, Ltd., Coventry.

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and Sutherland as well as generally of the Norse race in the North of
Scotland, from all available sources, whether printed works, manuIt is also a medium of
scripts, archaeology, folklore, or otherwise.
notes and queries for all interested in these subjects.

Publication. Miscellany and Records, in separate covers, issued quarterly

Caithness and Sutherland Records issued in separate covers about
six numbers in all annually.
Each member will receive copies of all
Miscellany, four parts, and Records about two
publications, viz.
:

parts.
1.

Notes and Queries, Genealogy, Folklore, Words of Norse

origin in the dialects of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness and the North
of Scotland, Saga references, Archasology, Industries, Bibliography,
Photographs of Local Scenery and Antiquities, Natural History,
Reports on old Manuscripts, and papers which may be sent for

Miscellany.

inspection, etc., etc.

2.

Notes and Queries are invited

Orkney and Shetland Records:
a.
b.

for the Miscellany.

Extracts and translations from Diplomatarium Norvegicum, and Danish, Swedish,

Icelandic, Farbese, and other foreign records.
Extracts from Scottish, English, Welsh, Irish, and Manx records, Parliamentary
Returns, Record Commission Reports, also extracts from all books, Proceedings
of Societies, etc.

e.

registers, Diligence register, Local register, Bailiary

Court Books, Prptocal books, General registers, Parish registers of births,
and
of Orkney and Shetland papers, etc., in the
Collection
deaths,
marriages.
Register House, Edinburgh.
Synod and Kirk session minutes.
Sheriff Court Books.

/.

Burgh and County records.

c.

d.

>.'.

h.

Commissary records, Sasines

MSS.

in private collections.

Orkney and Shetland rentals Revision of Peterkin's rentals, unprinted rentals

Register House and Charter Room of the Town Council of Edinburgh, and
to press.

'.

The MSS.

of three Shetland rentals are

Hitherto no rental of Shetland has been printed.

private collections.

to

in
in

go

Valuation of Orkney 1653.

3.

Caithness and Sutherland Records.

4.

Orkney and Shetland Place-names.

is now in progress.

5.

Translations.

Foula ballad,
6.

now ready

A
is

The Survey

of

Orkney place-names

translation of Professor Haegstad's " Hildinakvad," or

in progress.

Reprints of rare works, tracts, law papers, etc.

Illustrations are used as

itions, such
e North of

much

as possible.

as the collection of words of Norse origin, and the

Scotland printing special volumes of local records,
;

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5.

CANADA

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