Part 21

The older history of the islands exhibits an almost uninterrupted series of bloody combats between members of the Norwegian Jarl’s family. This, however, did not prevent them from making violent inroads on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Long after the Vikings’ mode of life had ceased in the Scandinavian North, it continued to be preserved in these islands. This was not only owing to their remote situation, opposite hostile coasts, and to their characteristic independence, but also to the population having inherited the old Viking spirit, and carefully preserved the ancient Norwegian institutions. As long as Norwegian jarls ruled, Norwegian laws, customs, and habits, as well as the Norwegian language, were absolutely paramount in the islands. The connections which the jarls and other powerful leaders maintained with Scotch and Irish chiefs, and which often resulted in intermarriages between their families, do not seem to have had much effect on the Scandinavian national character of these island colonists. It was not till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when the male line of the old Norwegian jarls had become extinct, and when the Scotch Lord Saint Clair, who had married a daughter of Magnus, the last jarl, had obtained possession of the earldom, that the ancient liberties, customs, and manners of the inhabitants, began to be seriously threatened; nor did it suffice to protect the islands against the progress of Scottish influence, that they continued to be under the supreme authority of Norway. When, at length, the Danish-Norwegian king, Christian the First, on the occasion of the marriage between his daughter Margaret, and the Scotch king, James the Third, in the year 1469, pledged to Scotland the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles as part of Margaret’s dowry, the last tie was severed that bound those countries to their Scandinavian friends. The Scottish kings and their successors, who also ascended the English throne, acknowledged indeed the right of the Danish-Norwegian kings to redeem the islands; but they continually found subterfuges to prevent its being exercised. The lawful claims of redemption, repeatedly urged by Denmark in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were perfectly fruitless. The islands were too important, and far too conveniently situated with regard to Scotland, for Great Britain to give them up, without being compelled by the last necessity. The undoubted right of the Danish-Norwegian kings was forced to give way to the superior power and political influence of the British sovereigns.

The conduct observed towards the Norwegian population of these islands after their union with Scotland was quite as unjust as their separation from Norway and Denmark, and assuredly far more revolting to all proper feeling. A large part of the inhabitants had till then been in the free possession of their lands as freeholders, or “udallers” (Odelsmænd), and had likewise possessed their old Norwegian laws and privileges, which should of course have been respected when the islands were pledged to Scotland. But the Scotch nobles, who, partly as vassals, partly as royal lessees, obtained the government of the islands, took care to destroy all traces of the ancient liberties and Scandinavian characteristics of the people. The resistance of the islanders was fruitless. In the year 1530 they took up arms under the command of their governor, Sir James Sinclair, in order to oppose the appointment of a crown vassal over the islands. The Earl of Caithness himself, who had been dispatched against them, fell, with five hundred of his men, in a sanguinary action near the “Stones of Stennis.” But though the islanders thus asserted their rights for a short period, the Scotch regents soon afterwards succeeded in establishing crown-vassals in the islands.

Among these vassals none has left behind him a more despised or hated name than Earl Patrick Stuart, who from 1595 to 1608, or about thirteen years, oppressed the islands in the most shameful manner. He violently deprived the holders of allodial farms of their right of possession, and converted almost all the freeholders into leaseholders. He arbitrarily changed the weights and measures, so that the taxes and imposts became intolerable. Law and justice were not to be procured, for the Earl’s creatures everywhere occupied the judgment-seats. To appeal to Scotland was no easy matter, as Lord Patrick’s soldiers guarded all the ferries. In the Orkneys the Earl compelled the people to build him a strong fortress at Kirkwall, and in Shetland another at Scalloway; from which places armed men ranged over the country, to punish and overawe the malcontents. The ruins of these castles form a still-existing memorial of “the wicked Earl Patrick,” who, for his tyranny, was at length recalled to Scotland, accused of high treason, and beheaded.

The Scottish kings, it is true, now promised the islanders that they should have relief in their need, and that no vassal of the crown should be placed over them. But this promise was not kept; and so far from the islanders again recovering their lost freedom, the feudal system of England and Scotland continued to take firmer root in the islands. Oppression stalked on with regular and steady step until it arrived at such a pitch that not only did the Norwegian laws and liberties disappear, but the islands themselves, with some few exceptions, became the private property of a few individuals. The successors of the mighty Vikings, descended from kings and jarls of Norway and the North, who in winter dwelt as chiefs, or at least as freemen, in roomy mansions, whilst in the summer they gained glory and booty in their long ships, are now in general obliged to content themselves with inhabiting as leaseholders, or rather as annual tenants, a poor cottage on a small piece of land, where, by hard labour, they are able to gain, at best, a very frugal subsistence. Their dwellings, particularly in Shetland, are of the most wretched description. The walls are formed of small unhewn stones, with turf and sea-weed thrust into the interstices, and, instead of a chimney, the smoke escapes by a hole in the roof. Within the house there are generally sleeping-places in the thick stone wall; but men and cattle live together in friendly harmony in the same apartment. The fire burns freely on the floor, and envelopes all in a dense smoke. If the people seek their living on the sea by fishing, it is usually in boats belonging to the proprietor of the estate, who consequently receives a large share of their profits. The condition of the common people in the Orkneys, and in the Shetland Isles, is certainly not at all enviable, even in comparison with that of their Scandinavian kinsmen on the poor and more remote Faroe Islands and Iceland; although commerce is still limited and oppressed there by a monopoly which was soon abolished in the Orkneys and Shetland Isles after their separation from the united Norwegian-Danish kingdoms. But in spite of all their calamities, the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles and Iceland have for the most part preserved to our times that freedom of landed property which they inherited from their forefathers.

SECTION VI.

Shetland.—The People.—Songs.—Sword-Dance.—Language.—Names of Places.—Tingwall.—Burg of Mousa.—Tumuli.—Bauta Stones.[9]

Footnote 9:

Partly from S. Hibbert, P. A. Munch, and Chr. Plöyen.

If the present originally Norwegian population in the Orkneys and Shetland Islands possessed, on the whole, any strongly-marked Scandinavian characteristics, they would naturally occur most in the islands farthest towards the north. But the oppressions and political changes that have occurred there have done their work so thoroughly, that even the Shetlanders no longer bear in their character and natural disposition any strongly-marked feature of their Norwegian origin. The only ones remaining are, perhaps, their love of the sea, and their skill in contending with its dangers. Even their bodily frame has, through many years of want and debasement, lost much of its strength and nobleness. In the parish of Coningsburgh, in Mainland, precisely where the largest and strongest-built people are to be found, the Scandinavian population are said to have kept themselves most free from mixture. The inclination for disputes and fighting amongst the people of Coningsburgh is well known in Shetland. This trait is, at all events, more Scandinavian than moroseness and want of hospitality to strangers, which are almost unknown in the North, but which in the last century were alleged to be vices of these same men of Coningsburgh. It was said that they would not willingly give a traveller a night’s lodging, and that directly at day-break they awoke him, saying:—“_Myrkin i livra; lurein i liunga; timin i guestin i geungna_;” that is, “It is dark in the smoke-hole, but it is light on the heath, and for the guest it is now time to depart.” That this sentence, which was written down in the year 1774, consists of old Norwegian words, though in a corrupted form, is quite evident.

The Shetlanders still retained, in the last century, many of the customs of their Scandinavian forefathers. Thus surnames were given both to sons and daughters, according to the genuine Scandinavian custom, from the father’s Christian name. The eldest son, for instance, of Magnus Anderson was called Anders Magnuson, and all the other sons had likewise the surname of Magnuson; whilst the daughters, in like manner, were all called Magnus-daughter, of course with different Christian names. Even the Norwegian language is said to have been spoken at that time by some few old persons in the most remote islands. The traditions and songs handed down by their forefathers still lived among the people, whose poets and poetical feeling have been celebrated from the earliest times. It was customary to revive the memory of former days by festal assemblies, in which the youth of both sexes danced to songs (“Visecks”) and ballads, as they did in ancient times throughout the North, and as is still the custom in the Faroe Isles. At Yule time (Christmas), which was the chief festival, and the beginning of which was always announced at daybreak by playing an ancient Norwegian melody, called “the day-dawn” (_Dan._, Daggry), all kinds of merriment took place. A favourite amusement was the so-called sword-dance, the origin of which may be traced with sufficient certainty to the times of the heathens. The Vikings were frequently very dexterous in playing with naked swords, throwing several at once into the air without allowing them to fall to the ground. This practice was easily converted into a dance, performed by several men with drawn swords; and consisting of many windings and figures calculated to develope a dexterous agility, which, in those warlike times, must naturally have excited a lively interest among the spectators. Later in the middle ages the sword-dance in the Shetland Isles lost by degrees the wildness of its character, the number of dancers being limited to seven, representing the Seven Champions of Christendom, viz., St. James of Spain, St. Denis of France, St. Anthony of Italy, St. David of Wales, St. Patrick of Ireland, St. Andrew of Scotland, all under the command of St. George of England, who both opened and closed the dance by reciting some English verses appropriate to the occasion.

All this, however, is now much changed. In the farthest island towards the west, that of Papa stour (“Papey stœrri,” the great Pap Island, in contradistinction to the neighbouring Papa little, “Papey litla”), a last shadow of the old warlike sword-dance is occasionally to be seen. Instead, however, of being clothed in armour or shirts of mail, the dancing knights have shirts of sackcloth; and, in place of huge swords, they brandish straightened iron hoops, stripped from some herring-cask. The old Norwegian songs are no longer heard. Of the ancient Norwegian popular language the only remains are partly a few words, which, however, appear conspicuously in the English dialect now used; and partly a peculiarly sharp pronunciation, with a considerable rising and sinking of the voice, not unlike the vulgar pronunciation in the Faroe Isles. The old Norwegian words are particularly employed for certain objects and implements which have been in use from time immemorial.

Thus, for instance, the hole through which the smoke escapes (_Dan._, Lyre) in the roof of houses covered with flat turf (flaas) is sometimes still called by the name of “livra” (in the Færoic language “ljowari”). The high seat for the mistress of the house is called, in remote districts, “hoy-saede” (_Dan._, Höisæde); her “bysmer,” which serves her for weighing, exactly agrees, both in name and nature, with the “Bismer” common in the North. The hand-mill, which is fast disappearing, is called as in the Danish part of north England, “qvern.” The turf-spade, called in the Faroe Isles “torvskjæri” (_Dan._, Törveskjærer), is here named “tuysker.” The land-tax also, according to Scandinavian fashion, is paid in “merk” and “ure” (Mark and Öre). The outlying fields are called “hogan,” “hagan” (_Old Norsk_, “hagi,” an inclosed field). The deep-sea fishery (_Dan._, Hav) is called “the haaf;” the fishing itself, “haaf-fishing” (_Dan._, Havfiskerie); and the necessary lines, “tows” (_Dan._, Touge). To the present day the Shetlanders use, in these fisheries, boats imported from Norway, which are peculiarly suited, by their construction, for the high seas and rapid currents on the coasts of Shetland. The dress worn by the fishermen when out at sea bears a striking resemblance to that of the Faroe men. The head is covered with a cap knit in the form of a night-cap, and ornamented with the most motley colours. They wear a coat of tanned sheep-skin, reaching down to the knees, where it generally meets a pair of huge and capacious skin boots, very carefully sewed. On land the Shetlanders use only a simple kind of shoe called “rivlins,” consisting of a square piece of untanned cow-hide, covering little more than the sole of the foot, and fastened with a fishing-line or a strip of skin. The men of Faroe have similar shoes, called “skegvar,” which, however, are far better made.

But what particularly reminds the Scandinavian traveller in Shetland of finding himself in a country formerly altogether Norwegian, is the names of places, all of which bear the impress of their Norwegian origin. This remark applies to the names of the islands themselves, as well as to the names of towns, farms, promontories, and bays existing in them. They, of course, resemble, in a great degree, the old Scandinavian names of places farther south, in Scotland and England. Thus, for instance, a fiord is generally called “firth” (fjorðr); a creek “wick” (_Dan._, Vig); a holm, or small island, “holm;” a promontory, or naze, “ness;” a valley, “daill,” or “dale.” But it is peculiar to these districts, that the forms of names of places which occur most frequently in the old Danish part of the north of England, namely, those ending in _by_, _thwaite_, and _thorpe_, are extremely rare in Shetland, and in the rest of the old Norwegian possessions in Scotland. Of those in _by_, only a few instances are to be found; those in _thwaite_ are still more rare; and those in _thorpe_ are not to be met with at all. On the other hand, these districts possess several Scandinavian names of places which are also most frequently found in the old Norwegian colonies in the north and west of Scotland, but which are perfectly unknown in the old Danish part of the north of England. For instance, a small bay (_Dan._, Vaag) is called “voe” (vágr); whence, on Mainland, we find “West-voe,” “Aiths voe” (the bay by the tongue of land), “Lax-voe” (Lax, or Salmon-bay), “Selia-voe” (sildavágr, the “Silde Vaag,” or herring-bay), “Hamna-voe” (hafnarvágr, the Havne Vaag, or harbour bay), together with others. A still smaller bay, navigable only by boats, is called “gjo,” or “goe” (_Old Norsk_, gjá, an opening or cleft). For the rest, many farms have names with such endings as _seter_ (Old Norsk, _setr_), _ster_ and _sta_ (Old Norsk, _staðr_, a place); and also _busta_, _buster_, and _bister_ (contracted from “bolstaðr,” a dwelling-place); whence, for instance, Kirkbuster (formerly Kirkjubólstaðr); all of which names agree just as well with those found in the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and the mother-country, Norway, as the names of places in the north of England ending in _by_, _thwaite_, and _thorpe_, agree with those in the corresponding mother-country, Denmark. Although the difference between the present traces of Danish colonization in England, and of Norwegian in Scotland, is not considerable, still it may be recognised in this manner. In consequence of the remote situation of the Shetland Isles, the names of places, in spite of all revolutions, remain so much the same, that the old political and religious institutions of the islands are visible, as it were, through them. In the south part of Mainland lies the farm of Howff, where in ancient times there was certainly a “Hof,” or house of God; and far northwards, near Hillswick (formerly Hildiswik), is the promontory of Torness (Þórsness), which probably once had a Hof for the god Thor. Nor far from thence is the Lake Helgawater (Helgavatn), or the holy water. Heathenism, however, lasted but a short time in the islands. The Irish Christian priests (_Old N._, “Paper”)—the memory of whom still lives in the names of the islands Papa (Papey), as Papa stour (great) and Papa little—seem to have worked indefatigably; insomuch that the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvesön was able, at the close of the tenth century, to introduce Christianity throughout the islands. In place of the old god-houses there speedily arose a number of chapels or small churches, consecrated to different saints: viz., to the Norwegian saints, St. Sunifva (the daughter of an Irish king who suffered shipwreck in Norway), St. Olaf, as well as, at a somewhat later time, to St. Magnus, the patron saint of the Orkneys, after whom a great bay on the north-west coast of Mainland is to the present day called St. Magnus’ Bay. St. Magnus seems also to have been the patron, or rather the chief saint, of Shetland; at least, the principal church in Shetland is consecrated to him. This church did not stand in Lerwick, the present chief town in Shetland, which has risen far later in the south-eastern part of Mainland, on the site of an old sea-side town near Bressasound (formerly “Breiðeyjarsund”). It lay about four miles to the north-west of Lerwick, in the parish of Tingwall; where, as the name (Þingavöllr) denotes, the chief _Thing_ of the islands was held for centuries, and where, in heathen times, the chief place of sacrifice undoubtedly existed. The parish of Tingwall comprises one of the prettiest and best-cultivated valleys in Shetland. The old _Thing_ place is still to be seen near the church, in a small holm, or island, in a lake, connected with the land by a row of large stepping stones. Secure against a sudden attack, here sat, when the island was free, the “foude” (_Dan._, Foged), or magistrate, with his law-officers, whilst the multitude of the common people stood round about on the shores of the lake, and listened to what passed. Popular tradition says that the church was at that time a free place, or sanctuary, so that a person condemned to death was entitled to a pardon, if he could succeed in running from the holm over the stones, and reaching the church without being killed by the people. If this was really the case the commonalty must consequently have had power to pardon a convicted person by suffering him to escape into the church.

During the holding of the chief _Thing_, which in the olden times was generally accompanied with great sacrificial offerings, as well as with fairs and all sorts of merry-making, a multitude of persons always assembled, and a great many tents and booths were erected, both at the _Thing_ place itself and in the immediate vicinity. Hence it undoubtedly arose that about three miles to the west of Tingwall, near a bay of the sea, there was a collection of _Skaaler_, or wooden booths; whence the present Scalloway (Skálavágr) which, next to Lerwick, is the most important trading place in the islands.

In Mainland alone there were at least seven lesser _Things_, under the jurisdiction of the chief _Thing_ in Tingwall. The names of five of these are still preserved in Sandsthing (Sandsþing), Aithsthing (Eiðsþing), Delting (Dalaþing), Lunziesting (Lundeiðisþing), and Nesting (Nesþing); but the two other names, which are known from records, Rauðarþing—probably the most northern parish, Northmavine—and Þveitaþing (the most southern parish?), have disappeared. Special _Things_ were, of course, also held on the larger islands, such as Yell (“Jali”) and Unst (“Aumstr,” “Örmst”); but it is certainly very incorrect to infer, as many persons do, from some stone circles near Baliasta, close by Unst, that the chief _Thing_ of the islands was held there in the most ancient times of heathenism.

These stone circles belong simply to low graves encircled by stones, like those so frequently found in Norway, and whose date is of the latest period of heathenism, or what is called the iron age. Skeletons have been found in several similar graves in Shetland; and at different times urns containing burnt bones and ashes have also been discovered, together with other distinct traces of their having been burial-places. For the rest, barrows or tumuli, bauta stones, runic inscriptions, and similar monuments and antiquities of the heathen times, are by no means frequently to be met with; the reason of which must naturally be sought in the short duration of heathenism in these islands. The remains of only a single insignificant runic stone, and that of the Christian æra, have been discovered near Crosskirk, in the north of Mainland. The numerous round towers, or castles, of loose flag-stones laid together, which are often built on islands in lakes, and are called by many “Danish burghs,” are, as before stated, of Pictish or Celtic origin. They have no resemblance whatever to the old fortresses in the Scandinavian North; whilst, on the other hand, buildings entirely corresponding with them are to be found in the Celtic Highlands of Scotland, and on the coasts of Ireland. The most that can be said is that the Norwegians availed themselves of these buildings after their conquests and settlements in these districts. Thus the remains of a tower are to be seen on a holm in Burra Firth (Borgarfjörðr, or Borgfjord, _i.e._ Castle fiord), in the west of Mainland, which may have been inhabited in the beginning of the twelfth century by the chief Thorbjörn, whom the Earls Magnus and Hakon attacked and killed in “Borgarfjörðr.” The ground plan of the ruin (after Hibbert) shows how the chambers were disposed in the thick stone wall.