Part 22

Another ancient Celtic tower, which tradition decidedly states to have been occupied by Norwegians, and which, on that account, has a particular interest for a Scandinavian, lies on the little island of Mousa (the ancient “Mösey”), close to the sound that separates the island from the south-eastern coast of Mainland. The tower is, fortunately, the best preserved one of the kind in the British Islands. It rises to the height of between forty and fifty feet, like an immense and perfectly round stone pillar, but bulging out towards the middle. Its appearance from without is quite plain, and no other opening can be perceived in the wall than the entrance-door, which even originally was so low that it was necessary to creep through it. To attack the tower, even when the door stood open, was not easy, and the bulging of the wall in the middle rendered the scaling of it almost impossible. The entire tower is about fifty feet in diameter, and consists of two concentric stone walls, the innermost of which encloses an open space of about twenty feet wide. The two concentric walls are each five feet thick, and stand at a distance of five feet from each other. The small space between them formed the habitable part of the tower. From the open yard we ascend a stone staircase, and, before we reach the top, seven divisions or stories are passed, separated by large flag-stones, which form a ceiling for one story and a floor for the next. In the different compartments, which quite encircle the tower, are small square openings, or air holes, one above the other, and looking out into the inner yard. The annexed drawings and sections (taken from Hibbert’s description of Shetland), which represent the tower in its evidently original state, will serve to explain still more clearly the nature of this simple, yet remarkable, building.

This tower appears to have stood deserted as early as the tenth century. Whilst Harald Haarfager reigned in Norway, a distinguished Norwegian Viking and merchant, Björn Brynjulfsön, carried off his beloved Thora Roaldsdatter (Roalds-daughter) from the fiords. He brought her first to his father’s house; but, as his father would not permit him to celebrate his marriage there, he fled with her in the spring, on board his ship, and sailed westwards. After suffering much from storms and heavy seas, the couple landed at last on Mösey, and took up their temporary abode in the castle there, whither they brought the whole of the ship’s cargo. In “Möseyjarborg,” Björn celebrated his marriage with Thora, and dwelt there through the winter. But next spring he learned that King Harald, at the entreaty of Thora’s friends, had exiled him from Norway; and that commands had even been sent by Harald to the jarls and chiefs in the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and in Ireland, to put him to death. He therefore again put to sea, and landed safely with his Thora in Iceland.

A few centuries later, the chief Erlend Junge fled from the Orkneys with Margaret, mother of the Jarl Harald Maddadsön, who was as much celebrated for her beauty as for her wantonness, and shut himself up with her in “Möseyjarborg.” The Jarl Harald, who had opposed their marriage, set out in pursuit of them, and blockaded the castle for a long time, in order, if possible, to cut off their supply of provisions, and thus compel them to surrender; for, by force, says the Saga, the castle could scarcely be taken. But Harald at last became weary of the siege, and concluded an agreement with Erlend that he should have Margaret to wife on condition of swearing fealty to him as jarl.

This old and venerable tower has, therefore, not only been the scene of sanguinary battles and deeds of cruelty, but its strong walls have also afforded a secure asylum to sincere and all-sacrificing love.

SECTION VII

The Orkneys.—“Þingavöllr.”—Monuments of the Olden Time.—Kirkwall.—St. Magnus Church.

The Orkneys, on account of their greater fertility, and of their lying nearer to Scotland, were in ancient times, as indeed they are at present, of much more importance than the distant Shetland Isles. As the chief seat of the Norwegian jarls, they formed the central point of the Norwegian power in the north of Scotland. According to the Sagas, most of the many Danes and Norwegians who settled on the islands to the north of Scotland, resorted to the Orkneys; by which means, the jarls who governed them were enabled easily to assemble large fleets, and to man them with picked Scandinavian warriors. It was chiefly, therefore, Norwegians from the Orkneys, who, under the command of the jarls of Orkney, made such extensive conquests in the territories of the Scottish kings.

Jarl Sigurd the Stout (_Dan._, Digre), who, as before mentioned, was married to a daughter of the Scotch king, Malcolm the Second, and Jarl Thorfin, his son by King Malcolm’s daughter, pre-eminently distinguished themselves by bold Viking expeditions into the neighbouring countries, and particularly by their conquests on the Scotch coast. They extended these as far south as Moray; nay it is even said that at times they went as low as to the Firth of Forth. Thorfin was the last of the jarls of Orkney in whom the old Scandinavian Vikings’ spirit lived and stirred. His power was greater than that of any of his predecessors or successors; for he ruled, say the Sagas, over no fewer than eleven earldoms (Jarledömmer) in Scotland, over all the Hebrides, and a large kingdom in Ireland. But after the many warlike expeditions, raids, and incendiarisms, in which he had played a part, he at length became penitent, and undertook a journey through Denmark and Saxony to Rome, where the pope gave him an indulgence for his sins. After his return, he governed his kingdom peacefully till his death, which took place about the year 1064. Notwithstanding that a new and Christian æra had irresistibly established itself under this fierce Viking, the Orkneys continued for more than a century after his death to foster men who were Christians only in name, but in reality, both in their way of thinking and conduct, were heathen Vikings. Svend Asleifsön, who, in the middle of the twelfth century, lived on the little island of Gairsay (Gareksey), close to the north-east side of Mainland, occupies a prominent place among these Vikings. He was surrounded by a band of eighty men, with whom in the winter he remained at home in his mansion, living well on the booty that had been won. In the spring, after seed-time, he set out with them on expeditions to the Scotch, English, and Irish coasts. In the autumn he returned home for a short time, in order to gather the corn into his barns; and then again set out and harried the before-mentioned countries until the beginning of winter. On one of these autumnal Viking expeditions he even took Dublin; but whilst he fancied himself secure, the inhabitants suddenly fell upon and killed him, together with a great number of his men, who defended themselves with the utmost bravery.

In consequence of these important Viking expeditions, as well as of the greater life and bustle which prevailed in the Orkneys, not only are more historical accounts preserved of them than of the Shetland Isles, but they likewise exhibit more conspicuously how the warlike spirit of the Scandinavian population, when it began to be curbed by Christianity and the abandonment of piratical expeditions, preyed upon itself, and exhausted its strength in sanguinary internal conflicts. Memorials of this are found on almost all the islands. In going from Shetland, the first island made after passing Fairhill, and when approaching the proper group of the Orkneys, namely, North Ronaldshay (“Rinansey”), was the scene of a terrible revenge taken by Jarl Einar on King Harald Haarfager’s son, Halfdan Haaleg (Long-legs), who had murdered Einar’s father, Ragnvald Mörejarl, in Norway. Jarl Einar is said to have avenged his father in the same manner as, according to the Saga, the sons of Regner Lodbrog punished their father’s murderer, King Ella of Northumberland; namely, by cutting a blood eagle on Halfdan’s back. At Lopnes (“Laupandaness”), in the neighbouring island of Sanday (“Sandey”), Jarl Einar Sigurdsön was killed in the following century (the eleventh) by Thorkel Fostre, so called because he had brought up, or fostered, Einar’s brother, subsequently the famed Thorfin Jarl. Not long afterwards, Thorfin’s nephew, Jarl Ragnvald Brusesön, was killed by the same Thorkel on Little Papa Island (“Papey”), to the north-west of Sanday. Thorkel and Thorfin had previously surrounded and set fire to the house, wherein the jarl was with his men. The jarl’s corpse was then conveyed to and buried on the neighbouring isle of Papa Westray (“Papey hin meiri,” the Great Pap Island), adjacent to Westray (“Vestrey”) and the most northern of all the Orkneys. Thorkel Fletter, surnamed the restless, was burnt in his house in Eday (“Eiðey”), in the twelfth century; and in the year 1137 the Jarl Paal was surprised by Svend Asleifsön on Rowsay (“Rolfsey”), and carried away prisoner to Athol, in Scotland. About twenty years previously (1110) the celebrated jarl, Magnus Erlendsön, was attacked and murdered by his kinsman, Jarl Hakon Paalsön, on the adjacent island of Egilshay, (“Egilsey”). In honour of Magnus, who was afterwards canonized, and became the patron saint of the Orkneys, a church was built on Egilshay, which still exists, though in a somewhat altered form.

Between the last-named islands and Mainland are the small isles Enhallow (“Eyin helga,” the holy isle) and Wire (“Vigr”). On the latter Kolbein Ruga had, in the twelfth century, a castle, the site of whose ramparts can still be clearly distinguished. But Mainland itself is naturally the island with which the most numerous and remarkable memorials of the Norwegian dominion are associated. For centuries numberless Vikings’ fleets constantly rode at anchor in its bays and in the adjacent straits; and almost every spot on the island is famous in the Orkneyinga Saga as having been the residence of some distinguished man, or the scene of some important historical event. The numerous Norwegian names of places ending in _wall_ (vágr), _wick_, _firth_, _ness_, _buster_, _toft_, _holm_, and so forth, which are everywhere met with in the island, do not, however, merit particular consideration, since they resemble those in the rest of the Orkneys and Shetland Isles; yet they serve to establish that the Norwegians must have superseded here, no less than in the other islands, the older Celtic population. We soon discover that the vicinity of the Orkneys to Scotland, and their brisk intercourse with that kingdom, as well as with England, have contributed, both in Mainland and in the surrounding islands, to do away with many of those names of places which are still found in Shetland as witnesses of the old Norwegian judicial institutions. Thus we should look in vain in Mainland for that “Þingavöllr,” or Tingvalla, which anciently was the chief _Thing_ place of the island, as is expressly mentioned in old records. We should be just as unsuccessful in finding traces of the lesser _Things_, which, in Shetland, as we have seen, can almost all be still pointed out in the names of places; and this notwithstanding we know for a certainty that the Orkneys had a court of justice in common with Shetland, till the year 1196 at least; from which time Shetland was governed by its own laws. The same powerful Scottish influence has likewise effaced in the Orkneys most of the few Norwegian words, customs, and manners which still sustain a feeble existence in the remote islands of Shetland. The Norwegian language, some vestiges of which might be traced, in the last century, in the parish of Haray (Herað), has left behind it only a peculiar singing pronunciation, and some few characteristics in the English language now in use there; thus, for instance, in addressing a person, the nominative and accusative _thou_ and _thee_ are used, instead of _you_. The present language of the Orkneys is almost a purer English than that of the Scotch Lowlands; which is a natural consequence of English having begun at a later period to be the ruling language in the islands. The present population of Mainland, together with the other inhabitants of the Orkneys, has undeniably preserved a certain Scandinavian appearance; and English civilization has, among other things, both sharpened the people’s innate inclination for a maritime life, and increased their coolness towards, not to say ill-will and contempt for, the Gaelic Highlanders. On the whole, however, Scandinavian characteristics are by no means conspicuous among the people. English civilization, and Scotch-English institutions, have been introduced to such a degree into Mainland, and thence into the other islands, that a traveller would not know he was in the chief country of the former mighty Norwegian jarls, unless he were able to decipher the frequently transformed names of places; or, above all, unless he had such a general knowledge of the island’s history and antiquities that he could apprehend, and in some degree interpret, the hints given by silent monuments of the brilliant but long-departed age of heroes.

The memory of the warlike life of heathenism is conspicuously preserved in Mainland by the many large barrows, or tumuli, which meet the eye on all sides. It is, indeed, certain that several of these—viz., what are called the “Picts’ houses,” which form in their interior stone chambers, covered by small flag-stones laid over one another—must be ascribed to the older inhabitants of the island; yet enough remain which we may with good reason attribute to the Norwegians and Danes. They are not, like those tumuli, or “cairns,” which are found most frequently in the north of Scotland, a mass of small stones heaped together without any filling-in of earth, but are formed, like our Scandinavian barrows, of earth thrown up to a very considerable height. As in Scandinavia, they are met with mostly on hills, and near the firths or seacoasts, whence there is an uninterrupted view of the sea. To the ancient Northman it was evidently an almost insufferable thought to be buried in a confined or remote corner, where nobody could see his grave or be reminded of his deeds. The greater chief a man was the more did he desire that his “barrow” should lie high and uninclosed, so that it might be visible to all who travelled by land and by sea. United with this desire to live in the memory of posterity, the Viking certainly also indulged the secret belief, that his spirit, or ghost, would at times arise from the barrow to look out upon that beloved sea, and to refresh itself, after the gloomy closeness of the grave, with the cool breezes which play upon its bosom.

Some of the largest and most prominent barrows in the Orkneys are found about the middle of Mainland. To the west of the deep fiord in the middle of the east coast, (formerly Örreðfjord “Aurriaðfjördr,” _i. e._ Trout firth, but now called Firth), and cutting its way northwards far into the land, is the before-mentioned Loch of Stennis, with its famous old Celtic stone circles. But the largest of these, which lies on the ridge of a naze, or promontory (from Old N. “Steinsness”), is encompassed by twelve considerable, and partly perhaps Norwegian or Scandinavian, barrows; amongst which two in particular, to the north-east and north-west of the circle, are distinguished by their size and circumference. As the Saga informs us that it was on Steinsnæs that the chief, Einard Klining, at the instigation of Erik Blodöxe’s daughter, Ragnhilde, killed her husband Jarl Haavard, it is not impossible that one of the last-named large barrows may be the jarl’s grave. At all events it is natural enough that the Norwegians should have had a predilection for being buried on that lofty promontory, which was regarded even by the earlier inhabitants of the island as a holy place, and had been adorned by them with a truly imposing circle of immense blocks of stone. Future excavations will doubtless more clearly show which of the barrows are really Norwegian; but this much is certain—that the naze, with the circle of stones and the surrounding barrows, as well as the view of the three immense monumental stones, placed erect in a semicircle on the opposite side of Loch Stennis, afford a prospect not only interesting to the antiquarian, but which must strike every beholder.

Here and there, on Mainland, we meet with graves of the heathen times, which are not at all uncommon in the Orkneys and Shetland Isles. They are, however, of much lower elevation than those previously mentioned, and in general rise very little above the surface of the soil. In some of these, as in Shetland, besides urns, containing burnt bones and ashes, bodies have at times been found that have been buried without being burnt; together with swords of the Scandinavian kind before described, heads of lances, daggers, and knives; as well as bone combs, bowl-formed brooches of brass, and various other ornaments, evidently of Norwegian workmanship.

Just as the barrows, or grave hills, in Mainland, indicate by their peculiar size that in the heathen times the island was the chosen place of assembly for the mightiest men in the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, so also do the monuments of the early middle ages show that it continued to maintain its former pre-eminence after heathenism had ceased. Farthest towards the north-west, in the parish of Birsay, (Birgisherað), are to be seen considerable remains of the old castle, inhabited in the most ancient times by the jarls. Near the coast lies the Island of Brough (Burgh) of Birsay, on which also are seen traces of fortifications that have served to protect the jarls’ castle on the side of the sea. In the neighbourhood of this castle, Jarl Thorfin built a church, called Christ Church, in which both he and Jarl Magnus were buried. The latter, however, being afterwards canonized, his body was taken to Kirkwall. In the twelfth century, Bishop Wilhelm, the first bishop of the Orkneys, had his throne in this church. In Orphir (“Orfjara”), on the south coast of the island, was another castle where the jarls usually dwelt, until, together with the bishops, they fixed their abode at Kirkwall.

This town, which lies close to an excellent harbour, and opposite the Island of Shapinsay, has for about seven hundred years been the capital of the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles. It seems, however, to have existed even earlier, as a village, or small trading place. Its name, “Kirkjuvágr” (“Kirkevaag,” _Eng._ Church-bay), since corrupted into Kirkwall, was derived from a church which stood there. The elevation of the town to be the residence of jarls and bishops took place in the twelfth century, after Jarl Ragnhild had built a large cathedral there, to which he caused to be conveyed the body of St. Magnus, the patron saint of the island, to whom the cathedral was consecrated. Thus the body of the saint effected for the town what its excellent harbour had not been able to accomplish. In the parish of St. Ola’, within the town, there was formerly also a church consecrated to St. Olaf, the patron saint of Norway, but it has long since been demolished.

The traveller cannot but dwell, when in Kirkwall, on the remembrance of the departed splendour of the island, as he views the proud ruins of the jarls’ castle, which, however, in its last form was not built till the fifteenth century, and of the bishops’ castle, in which King Hakon Hakonsön of Norway died on the 16th of December, 1263. But what is still more striking to him who has leisure to examine it thoroughly, is the magnificent Church of St. Magnus, incontestably the most glorious monument of the time of the Norwegian dominion to be found in Scotland. Only one other cathedral church in all Scotland, namely, St. Mungo’s, in Glasgow, has in its most essential parts escaped perfectly uninjured from the violent religious commotions produced by the Reformation. The annexed sketch (partly after a drawing by Billings) will, at least, better serve to convey an idea of the remarkable appearance of this cathedral than any detailed description. Its length is 230 feet, its breadth 55 feet, or, if the transepts be included in the measurement, 101 feet, and its height about 50 feet. The arched vaults of the nave rest on 28 pillars, of which the four, in particular, that bear the tower are distinguished by their size and tasteful forms.

According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Jarl Ragnvald, by the advice of his father Kol, made a vow to St. Magnus that he would build a splendid church in his honour, if he (Ragnvald) succeeded in gaining the mastery over the islands. He obtained the dominion of them in the year 1137, and immediately afterwards began to lay the foundation of St. Magnus’ Church. “At first,” says the Saga, “the work went on so rapidly that subsequently there was not done near so much in four or five years. Kol was the person who, in fact, defrayed the expenses of the building, and determined how everything was to be. But by degrees, as the work proceeded, the expenses became burthensome to the jarl, whose pecuniary means were much exhausted. He therefore asked his father what he should do? Kol advised him to alter the law by which, upon the death of the owners, the jarls had hitherto succeeded to all the allodial land in the islands, so that the heirs had to redeem it, which they found very hard. The jarl, therefore, summoned the inhabitants to a _Thing_, and offered to sell them their right of Udal, so that they should no longer be obliged to redeem it. The matter was easily arranged on both sides. The jarl obtained a mark for every acre throughout the islands, so that there came in money enough for the building of the church, which is very handsome.”

History, however, as well as the building itself, teaches us that the whole church, as it now stands, was by no means the work of Kol and Ragnvald. For, first, it is known that the pillars farthest towards the east and west, marked in the annexed ground plan with the faintest shade, belong to additions made at a far later period (viz., as late as the sixteenth century); and secondly, it is not even decided whether Kol and Ragnvald built the whole of the remaining part of the church, the transepts included, or whether they built only that part of the present choir which, from the two eastern pillars of the tower, comprises the six nearest pillars to the east, marked on the ground plan with the darkest shade. Between this last-named portion of the choir, which is undoubtedly the oldest part of the church, and the portion lying to the west, whose pillars on the ground plan have a rather lighter shade, there is a perceptible difference of style.