Part 25

From the frequent Gaelic terminations and corruptions of the Norwegian names, it is sufficiently evident that the Norwegian language has lost its former dominion in the island, and that the Gaelic has resumed its ancient pre-eminence. The western districts of Skye, as well as the previously-mentioned Norderöer, or northern islands, from Lewis to Barrahead (which last are often called under one name, “the Long Island”), are precisely those places in the Highlands where the Gaelic tongue is most unmixed, and where the greatest quantity of old Gaelic traditions and songs still survives among the people. It was here also, that a great number of the world-renowned songs of Ossian were first composed. It is true we no longer hear the people sing them, but there can nevertheless be scarcely any doubt, particularly if we regard the perceptible traces of the ancient metre in the Gaelic texts, that the so frequently and warmly disputed edition by Macpherson is really founded on ancient songs, although these may have been somewhat altered by lapse of time, and by a not very happy translation. They have quite a peculiar interest for the Scandinavian North, from the striking agreement in tone and spirit which they present to several of the songs of the Sagas and Edda. These last, again, afford a strong proof of the genuineness of those attributed to Ossian, since the songs of the Sagas and Edda, at the time when Macpherson published his Ossian, were either not at all, or but very imperfectly known, even in Scandinavia itself, not to speak of other countries. The real age of Ossian’s songs is very uncertain, and very difficult to discover; but this much is clear, that they indicate a lively intercourse between Alba (Scotland) and Lochlin (Scandinavia), long before the times of the Vikings, and previously to all historical accounts of connections between those countries. We cannot, however, venture to conclude from this that the Orkneys, or any other part of Scotland, were at so early a period inhabited by a Scandinavian people. That such a colonization should really have taken place before the time of the Vikings, which began at the close of the eighth century, there are not only wanting historical and archæological proofs, but likewise all internal probability.

Mull (“Myl”) is the largest of the most southern Norderöer, or northern islands, but it is not richest in memorials of the Northmen. In the narrow strait or sound (“Mylarsund”) which separates the island from the mainland, there lies straight before Tobermory, the most important place in the island, the little island of Calve (“Mylarkálfr”); and somewhat farther south of Tobermory, on a rivulet by the coast, are the ruins of the palace of Aros (from “árós;” _Dan._, Aarhus, the mouth of the rivulet or Aa), once frequently inhabited by the rulers of these islands, called “Lords of the Isles.” Another river in Mull, well stocked with fish, was formerly called Glenforsay (Monro, “Description of the Western Isles,” 1594), from the Norwegian “forsá” (Fosaa; _Eng._, Waterfall-river), to which the Gaelic _glen_ has since been added. With the exception, perhaps, of Assapoll (from _-bol_), in the south-west, the island has no Norwegian names of places. Of such names, however, several are to be met with on the islands west of Mull, particularly on Coll (“Kóln”), where we find Crossapull, Gisapoll (from _bol_), Arnabost (-bolstaðr), and Balehough; and on Tiree, Tyrvist, together with Kirkapoll, Heylipoll, Vassipoll, and Crossipoll. In the bay formed by Mull, towards the west, are found many small islands with originally Norwegian names, such as Ulva (“Ulfey”), together with Soriby, Gometra (“Guðmundarey”), and Staffa (“Stafey”), so famed for its stalactic caverns.

But of all the Hebrides, none is more renowned than Iona (Ithona, “the Waves’ Island”), or Icolmkill, “the island with Columba’s cells,” which lies in the open Atlantic, near the south-west point of Mull. It is not distinguished either by size and fertility or by numerous and splendid ruins; it is now but an inconsiderable island, with some few remains of churches, conventual buildings, and ancient Christian sepulchral monuments. But about thirteen centuries ago it was the light of the western world; for, after St. Columba settled there, it became the central point whence Christianity diffused itself towards the east and north, over Scotland and the surrounding islands. Iona thus obtained such repute for sanctity, that it was said that a deluge which was to overwhelm Ireland, and the islands round about, would have no power to inundate it. Tradition adds, that, for this reason, the ancient Irish, Scotch, and Norwegian kings, besides many other chiefs and mighty men, both at home and abroad, chose Iona as their place of burial; and that at the commencement of the sixteenth century, no fewer than three hundred and sixty splendid stone crosses, or tombstones, were still to be found on the island, which, however, with some few exceptions, have now entirely disappeared.

According to an old description of the island, by Dean Monro (1594), there was to the north of the Scotch graves an inscription, which ran thus:—“Tumulus regum Norwegie,” or, “the tombe of the Kings of Norroway, in the quhilk tombe, as we find in our ancient Eriske cronickells, there layes eight Kings of Norroway, and also we find in our Eriske cronickells, that Coelus, King of Norroway, commandit his nobils to take his bodey and burey it in Colmkill, if it chancit him to die in the isles; bot he was so discomfitit, that ther remained not so many of his army as wold burey him there.” By the kings of Norway here mentioned we must of course understand only the kings of the Sudreyjar, or southern islands, and the Irish kings of Norwegian descent. It is in itself very probable that these kings often desired to be buried in Iona, where the first bishops of the proper Sudreyjar, “the bishops of the isles,” dwelt, and whose church of St. Mary was consequently the chief church in the islands. The tombs of the kings, however, can at present scarcely be pointed out with certainty; we only know that they must have been in the large and still visible burial-place consecrated to St. Oran. On this place there is likewise a little chapel consecrated to the same saint, which, according to the opinion of some, is of Norwegian workmanship—a point, however, which must be very doubtful.

In the chapel are to be seen the remains of a carved monument erected in the year 1489 to Lachlan Mackinnon (Mac Fingon), and on it, underneath the inscription, is a ship, which is still to be found in the family arms of the Mackinnons, but which is said to have been originally the heraldic bearing of the Norwegian kings in the Isle of Man.

The Island of Iona was of special importance in ancient times, not only to Scotland, but to the Scandinavian North. From it Christianity was assuredly disseminated among the Norwegians in the Sudreyjar, or southern isles, the Orkneys, and the Shetland Isles; whence, again, it was often carried by Vikings and merchants to Norway and Iceland. In the latter place, where not a few men from the southern isles were among the first colonists, there was even a church dedicated to St. Columba. Whilst, therefore, heathen Norwegians plundered and destroyed the churches and convents of Iona, the Christian Norwegians seem to have respected its sanctity. The Sagas, which call it “Eyin helga” (the holy island), state, that the Norwegian king, Magnus Barfod (Barefoot), when in his first expedition to the Sudreyjar and Ireland, in the year 1097, he came to “the holy island,” gave all the inhabitants a guaranty of peace and security, and allowed them to retain their possessions. It is also stated that “King Magnus opened the little Kolumkille Church, and went therein; but that he directly locked the door again, and said that no one should dare to enter; and since that time the church has never been opened.”

SECTION X.

The Sudreyjar, or Southern Isles.—Cantire.—Islay.—Man.—Names of Places.—Runic Stones.—Kings.—Battle of Largs.—“Lords of the Isles.”—Tynwald in Man.

Iona was not always accounted one of the northern isles. Farther towards the north, on the north-west coast of Mull, are the islands of Treshinish, and among them a steep rocky island, called Cairnburg, which is said to have formed, at all events at times, the boundary between the northern and southern isles, or Sudreyjar. Cairnburg is accessible only at one spot, and by its height above the sea it forms an important stronghold, which in former times was often numerously garrisoned. The Sagas, which call the island “Bjana,” or “Bjarnarborg,” state that it was one of those strong fortresses in the southern isles, the surrender of which was in vain demanded by King Alexander the Second of Scotland, from the Norwegian tributary king, Ion Dungadson; and tradition still tells that “the Danes” often fought for the possession of this important place.

“The Sudreyjar” (in which, among the larger islands, were included Colonsay, Oransay, Jura, Islay, Arran, Bute, the Cumbr Islands, and likewise the Peninsula of Cantire) are, strictly speaking, far from being so numerous as the northern islands; but in general they are distinguished from these by a richer and more fertile soil, which is the result of their more southern and more protected situation. This remark applies particularly to the charming islands of Arran (“Hersey”), Bute (“Bót”), and the Cumbr Isles (Kumreyar), which lie eastwards of the Peninsula of Cantire (“Satiri”), at the mouth of the Firth of Clyde; and which, together with the rocks, heaths, and moors of the Highlands, possess the woods and corn-fields of the Lowlands. They also enjoy a fine climate.

But although these last-mentioned islands were often under the dominion of Norwegian kings and jarls, they do not appear to have been inhabited by a settled Norwegian population; at all events, Norwegian names of places have disappeared from them. It is probable that they lay somewhat too near the hostile coasts of Scotland, and somewhat too far from the larger Norwegian colonies, for Norwegian settlers steadily to maintain upon them a position against the Gaels; nay, the Norwegian name, “Kumreyar,” the Cumbr Islands, seems to indicate that Cimri or Gaels dwelt upon them.

Names of places on the Peninsula of Cantire, on the contrary, where we find Smerbys (from _by_), Killipol (from _bol_), Torrisdale, and the pure Norwegian Skipness, but more particularly on the islands outside the Peninsula, near the west coast of Argyle, indicate a very considerable Norwegian colonization. Not only have several of the small islands Norwegian names, as Scarba (“Skarpey”) and Lunga (“Langey”), but the largest and most fertile of them, Islay (the “Il” of the Sagas), which Dean Monro as early as 1594 found to be fruitful, full of good pastures, abounding with large deer, having many forests, excellent hunting, and a river called Laxay (the pure _Old N._ “Laxá”) in which many salmon were caught (“_with ane water callit Laxay, whereupon maney salmon are slaine_”), still exhibits various traces of decidedly Norwegian settlements. On its east coast, as is usually the case with the Hebrides lying nearest to Scotland, few or no Norwegian names of places are found; but in the middle of the island is Nerby; by Loch Indal, Lyrabolls, Scarabolls, Conisby, Nerabolls, and Elister; and by a rivulet, Skeba (“Skipá;” _Dan._, “Skibeaaen,” or the ship rivulet); whilst on the west side of the island we find Olista, Culaboll, &c. This agrees very well with the accounts that the kings and jarls of the Sudreyjar of Norwegian descent had one of their chief residences in Islay; for it was quite natural that they should surround themselves with countrymen on whose courage and fidelity they could rely. The island abounds, moreover, in traditions and pretended memorials of “the Danes.” Near the bay of Knoch are two large upright stones, called “the two stones of Islay,” under which it is said that the Danish princess, Yula, after whom the island is named, lies buried. In various parts of the island are shown what are called “Danish” castles, encampments, and fortifications. It is also stated (see Anderson’s Guide), that there is a circular mound of earth on the island, with terrace-formed steps, which may possibly have once been used by the Norwegians as a _Thing_ place, like a similar one in the Isle of Man.

The chief seat of the Norwegian power on the islands was, however, still more southward than Islay, namely, the Isle of Man (the “Mön” of the Sagas), which lies in the Irish Channel, to the south-west of Solway Firth, about midway between the coasts of Cumberland and Ireland. A peculiar dialect of the Gaelic tongue, called Manx, is spoken throughout this island, and the inhabitants have in general the same appearance as their Gaelic neighbours in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. But no other of the western islands affords so many and such incontestable proofs of its having once had a very wide-spread Norwegian or Scandinavian population, who spoke their own language, and who, through a long series of years, must have been the predominant race.

The highest mountain in the island, which is about 2000 feet high, is called “Sneafell” (_Norw._, Sneefjeld; _Eng._, Snow-mountain). On the east side is the rivulet and town of “Laxey” (Laxaa); in the south-east is the long naze, “Langness.” To these may be added the bay called Derby Haven, which the Norwegians called “Rognvaldsvágr,” whence the neighbouring Ronaldsway derived its name. There are also the inlets of Perwick and Fleswick; the islands Calf of Man, Eye (Oë), and Holm, near the town of Peel; and, lastly, the villages Colby, Greenaby, Dalby, Kirby (Kirkeby), Sulby, and Iurby (formerly “Ivorby”—Ivarsby?), &c. The proportionately large number of names of places ending in “by,” which suddenly appear in Man, in contrast to the more northern islands, with their pure Norwegian names of places ending in “bol” and “bolstaðr,”—which, it must be observed, are not to be found on Man,—is a sort of proof that it received some colonists from the neighbouring old Danish Cumberland, by which means a mixed Norwegian-Danish population arose in the island.

The antiquary is much surprised to find on Man not merely one, but several of those runic stones, with genuine Scandinavian inscriptions, which he may have sought for in vain in England and Scotland. The different districts of the island contain altogether about thirty ancient sculptured monuments or sepulchral crosses; and of these at least thirteen have once had runic inscriptions, which in great part are still preserved. It is remarkable enough that these runic inscriptions are found exclusively in the more northern half of the island (at Kirk Andreas, two; at Kirk Michael, four; at Kirk Braddan, one; and at Kirk Onchan, five); whence we may, with some degree of probability, conclude that, at the time when these runic stones were erected, the Scandinavian language was the most prevalent one in the northern part of the island. The chronicles, indeed, state that the Norwegian, Godred Crovan, who conquered Man in the year 1077, retained the southern part of the island for himself and his followers; but the before-mentioned runic stones are certainly older than Godred’s conquest. The inscriptions on the stones have hitherto been copied and explained only in a very imperfect manner; but since casts in plaster have been taken of them, their interpretation has become incomparably easier and more simple. I have myself closely examined and compared them in two places (at Edinburgh, in the Museum of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, and at Canons Ashby, in England, the seat of Sir Henry Dryden, Bart.); and I have since had an opportunity to renew my examination of all of them, in conjunction with the learned Norwegian professor, P. A. Munch, to whom I am indebted for several very important hints relative to their correct interpretation (amongst others that the rune ᚮ, which in most inscriptions signifies _o_, must in these always be read as _b_).

The annexed cut, after a plaster cast, represents one of the finest and best preserved runic stones in Man, namely, at Kirk Braddan, about the middle of the island.

The stone is fifty-seven inches high, eight inches broad at the base, and when the cross was whole, had a breadth of twelve inches at the top. Both its broad and one of its narrow sides are ornamented with serpents ingeniously interwoven, whilst the fourth side has the following runic inscription:

“Thurlabr Neaki risti krus thana aft Fiaks ... bruthur sun Jabrs.”

(“Thorlaf Neaki erected this cross to Fiak ... brother, a son of Jabr.”)

Another extremely well-preserved monumental cross, on which are carved various scrolls, animals, birds, and other things, such as horses, a stag, cows (?), swine, &c., stands in Andreas churchyard, and has the following inscription:—

“Sandulf ein suarti raisti krus thana aftir Arin Biaurg kuinn sina.”

(_i. e._, “Sandulf the Swarthy erected this cross to his wife Arnbjörg.”)

(The drawing of this monument, as well as those of the following inscribed stones, is borrowed from W. Kinnebrook’s “Etchings of the Runic Monuments in the Isle of Man,” London, 1841, 8vo. But the faulty inscriptions in that book are here corrected.)

In the middle of the village of Kirk Michael, close to the northern corner of the churchyard, is a stone not less richly sculptured than the preceding one, with all sorts of figures of stags, dogs, serpents, horses, horsemen, &c., which are placed round a large cross covered with interlacings, or scrolls. The inscription on it runs thus:—

“Jualfir sunr Thurulfs eins Rautha risti krus thana aft Frithu muthur sina.” (Or, “Joalf, son of Thorolf the Red, erected this cross to his mother Frida.”)

At the end of the inscription is carved the figure of a man (probably Joalf), with a shield on his arm and a lance in his hand. (See the annexed cut.)

The language of the inscriptions, as well as the Scandinavian names which appear in them,—as Thorlaf, Arnbjörg, Frida, and particularly the names compounded after the genuine Scandinavian fashion, as Sandulf the Swarthy, and Thorolf the Red,—sufficiently prove that these monuments were erected by Northmen, or Norwegians, to their relatives who had died in the Isle of Man. A piece of runic stone in the wall of Michael’s Church bears the name of Grim the Swarthy (“Grims ins Suarta”); and in some similar fragments of inscriptions near Kirk Onchan we find the names of Thurid (“Thurith raist runir,” _i. e._, Thurith engraved runes) and Leif (“tra es Laifa fustra guthan son Ilan”). The well-known Scandinavian name, Asketil, is also found on the remains of a runic inscription in the museum in Douglas (“p. Askitil vilti i trigu——aithsaara siin;” _i. e._, whom Asketil deceived in security, contrary to his pledge of peace). At the same time, however, we may infer from names like Neaki, Fjak, and Jabr, that the Northmen must, when these inscriptions were written, have already mingled with the original Gaelic inhabitants of Man. A stone at Kirk Michael, which is ornamented with a finely sculptured cross, on the sides of which are seen a stag, a dog, a harper, and two figures apparently in an attitude of prayer, has a Norwegian inscription with purely Gaelic names, such as Mal Lumkun and Mal Muru:—

“Mal Lumkun raisti krus thana eftir Malmuru fustra sin...;” (_i. e._, “Mal Lumkun erected this cross to his foster father Malmor.”)

Some hitherto inexplicable fragments of inscriptions at Kirk Onchan may also possibly contain Gaelic words. The Manx runic stones bear, both in form and workmanship, a striking resemblance to the previously-mentioned sculptured monuments in the Lowlands, and on the north-east coasts of the Highlands. Yet several of the Manx stones exhibit certain peculiarities; as, for instance, the singular scale-covered serpents surrounded with interlacings, which do not appear in a similar form on the Scotch monuments. But as these serpents and interlacings very much agree with ornaments on different antiquities of the heathen times found in Scandinavia, and, as the language of the runic stones is pure Scandinavian, there is every reason to conclude that the splendid specimens on Man were carved by Norwegians, who, though they imitated the monuments in vogue in Scotland, frequently allowed their own characteristically fantastic ideas to display themselves in peculiar devices. This view is confirmed in a remarkable manner by a few Manx runic inscriptions, the real interpretation of which was first given by Professor Munch. On the stone at Kirk Michael, represented below, is the following inscription:—

“Mail Brigdi sunr Athakans smith raisti krus thana fur salu sini sin brukuin Gaut girthi thana auk ala i Mann.” _i. e._, “Malbrigd, son of Athakan (the) Smith, erected this cross for his soul.... Gaut made this (cross) and all on Man.”

According to this, Gaut, who, to judge from the name, was a Norwegian, erected all the crosses which, it must be observed, were at that time on Man. Another inscription perfectly agreeing with this, though taken from a very much defaced and broken monument near Kirk Andreas, on which has been carved a cross with many scrolls (delineated in Kinnebrook’s work, No. 8), runs as follows:—

“... thana af Ufaig fauthur sin in Gautr girthi sunr Biarnar ...” “(N. N. erected) this (cross) to his father Ufeig, but Gaut Björnsön made it.”

Gaut’s surname, here given, further proves his Norwegian, or Scandinavian, descent. From the language and manner of writing in the Manx inscriptions still extant, we may assume that, with the exception perhaps of some few pieces at Kirk Michael (Mal Lumkun’s inscription) and Kirk Onchan (Leif inscription), which, according to Professor Munch’s opinion, are of a somewhat later period, all these inscriptions were from the artist-hand of Gaut Björnsön. It is even probable that several of the other sculptured stones in Man, which are not known to have had inscriptions (particularly at Kirk Onchan, Kirk Braddan, and Kirk Lonan; see Kinnebrook, Nos. 16, 17, 20, 22, 23), were carved by Gaut, or at least by a Northman. At all events, they are somewhat different from the corresponding stones in Scotland; and some of them (Onchan, 20, and Braddan, 23) prove themselves to be genuine Norwegian runic stones, by the same peculiar figures of dragons and serpents as on those before described.