Part 26

The circumstance that those sculptured monumental stones in Man, which are Norwegian, have both runic writings and peculiar representations of figures, certainly affords a strong corroboration of the opinion before expressed, that the sculptured monuments, generally so finely executed, which are found on the east coast of Scotland, are in fact, though called “Danish,” not Scandinavian, but Scotch. As, on the other hand, the runic stones in Man have expressly preserved the name of the person who made them—the Norwegian skilled in runes, Gaut Björnsön, who imitated and altered the Scotch models with great expertness and taste—it is clear that the Norwegians in the remote Western Isles must not be regarded, any more than their kinsmen in the Orkneys and in England, as merely rude barbarians, living only for plunder, war, and bloodshed, and having no feeling for anything higher and nobler. The discovery of Gaut Björnsön’s name may be regarded as an instructive addition to the proofs before adduced, that the cathedral in Kirkwall was originally founded, and partly erected, by a Norwegian layman, the chieftain Kol; as well as that there existed at the same time in England a considerable number of Danish, or Scandinavian, coiners. Of the latter, as we shall see, there were likewise several employed by the Norwegian-Danish kings in Ireland. For the rest, these characteristic Scandinavian runic writings suffice to show that, with regard to the civilization then prevailing, the Norwegians or Danes settled in these districts were by no means deficient in education. The Northmen on the Isle of Man were, besides, at a very early period, Christians. Almost all the Manx runic stones are ornamented with the Christian cross; and on a defaced piece of such a monumental stone at Kirk Onchan we even find the words Jesus Christ (“Jsu Krist”). From the language of the inscriptions there is reason to suppose that they were for the most part engraved in the eleventh century. We cannot, therefore, doubt that Christianity must at that time have been already disseminated among the Scandinavian population in the Isle of Man. There was a bishopric in the island in very ancient times; and we learn from history, as well as from the names of the bishops, that in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries several of them were of Norwegian descent; for instance, in 1050-1065, Roolwer (Rolf?); 1077-1100, Aumond M’Olave; 1181-1190, Reginald, or Ragnvald; 1203-1226, Reginald (son of a sister of King Olaf, of Man); and his successor, John Ivarsön. Unfortunately there is a gap in the chronicles of the bishops of Man from about the year 700 to the year 1025. Had they been perfect, we should possibly have been able to find Scandinavian bishops in the island even earlier than 1050.

The Norwegian monuments in the Isle of Man already mentioned are in themselves numerous and considerable enough to convey an idea of the power which the Norwegians must have possessed there. At all events, the names of places and the runic stones contribute in a high degree to strengthen and illustrate the assertion of the Chronicles, that Norwegian kings and jarls held confirmed dominion in the Sudreyjar, or southern isles. When, in the ninth century, the Norwegian king Harald Haarfager succeeded in subjecting the Orkneys and the Sudreyjar, he is said to have appointed a viceroy or jarl in Man. During the tenth and eleventh centuries a long series of Norwegian kings ruled there, whose descent is clearly shown by their names; _viz._, Godred (Gudröd), Reginald (Ragnvald), Olave, Hacon, Harold, &c. In the eleventh century the connection between these kings and the Norwegian or Scandinavian kings of Dublin was so particularly close, that either the same, or at all events nearly-related kings, reigned over both Man and Dublin.

The kings of Man were tributaries of Norway, and acknowledged the supremacy of that country, although in reality they ruled independently. At that time their dominion extended over the rest of the Sudreyjar. But in the year 1077 the Norwegian, Godred Crovan, succeeded in conquering Man, after a battle near “Scacafell,” or Skyhill, in which King Fingal, a grandson of Sygtrig (Sigtryg), “King of the Danes in Dublin,” fell, as well as Sygtrig Mac Olave, the actual Danish king of Dublin. Godred Crovan now assumed the government of the islands, and appears to have declared himself perfectly independent of Norway. Subsequently he conquered Dublin also, as well as the province of Leinster in Ireland. In order to maintain Norway’s right of supremacy, the Norwegian king, Magnus Barfod, shortly afterwards undertook an expedition to the west. He committed great havoc along the firths of Scotland (“Skotlandsfirðir,” or the coasts by the Caledonian Sea), and in the Sudreyjar, Man, Anglesey, and Ireland, and regained the kingdom which his forefathers had possessed. According to a treaty with the Scottish king Malcolm, all the islands lying to the west of Scotland, which Magnus could approach with sailing vessels, were to belong to Norway. King Magnus accordingly caused his ship to be hauled over the narrow isthmus (Satíriseið) which connects the peninsula of Cantire with the mainland, and which to the present day is called by the Gaels “Tarbet” (a place over which vessels can be dragged). The King himself sat at the helm, and thus acquired the peninsula, besides all the Western Islands. Having appointed his son Sigurd king of the Sudreyjar, he returned home to Norway, where, with several of his followers, he adopted the dress generally worn in the Western Isles. “They went about the streets with bare legs, and wore short coats and cloaks; whence Magnus was called by his men Barfod, or Barbeen” (Barefoot, or Barelegs), says the Icelandic historian, Snorre Sturlesön, who, as is well known, lived in the first half of the thirteenth century. It is remarkable enough that this is the oldest account extant of the well-known Scotch Highland dress, whose high antiquity is thus proved.

The Jarl Ottar, who after Magnus Barfod’s expedition was made governor of Man, was expelled by the inhabitants of that island (“Manverjar”), who chose in his place another jarl named Macmanus (or Magnusön). But a civil war now broke out in the island, and as King Magnus Barfod fell in Ireland in 1103, when on a fresh expedition to the Western Islands, Godred Crovan’s family regained the Manx throne. It appears, however, that they acknowledged the supremacy of Norway; at all events, the previously distinct bishoprics of the Sudreyjar (founded in 838) and of Man were united after Magnus Barfod’s expedition, and connected more closely than ever with Norway, by being subjected to the archbishopric of Trondhjem. From 1181 until 1334 the bishops of the Sudreyjar (“Episcopi Sodorenses”) were consecrated by the Archbishop of Trondhjem. In the year 1380 the bishopric of Man was again separated from that of the other Sudreyjar; but the subsequent bishops of Man have retained to the present day the old title of bishop of Sodor (and Man), taken originally from Suðreyar.

About the same time that the proper Suðreyar were, with, regard to ecclesiastical matters, united with Man, many of them were, as to secular government, separated from that island; although, since the time of Harald Haarfager, all had been governed by the same kings. Jarl Somerled, who was related in various ways to the Norwegian chiefs on the islands, had assumed the dominion of Cantire, Argyle, and Lorn (the “Dalir i Skotlandsfirdi” of the Sagas). After a naval battle, in the year 1156, with the Manx king, Godred Olavesön, Jarl Somerled compelled Godred to resign to him all the Sudreyjar from Mull to Man, which possessions afterwards remained in his family (“Dalverja-Ætt”). His youngest son, Dugal, the founder of the family of the Mac Dougals of Lorn, obtained Argyle and Lorn, whilst Cantire and the islands were assigned to his eldest son Ragnvald, or Reginald. Meanwhile Godred Crovan’s successors reigned over Man, and frequently, as it seems, over the islands to the north of Mull likewise, and particularly Lewis. They constantly sought to strengthen their diminished power by forming alliances with royal families, and other powerful races in Ireland, Scotland, and Norway. Thus King Harald Olafsön, whose father King Olaf Godredsön had, in the year 1230, repaired to King Hakon Hakonsen in Norway, and taken the oath of allegiance to him, married King Hakon’s daughter Cecilie; but on the voyage home from Norway in 1248, the royal couple perished in the dangerous Somburg Röst, to the south of Shetland, together with the Manx bishop, Lawrence, and a numerous retinue of Manx chiefs. Harald’s brother, King Ragnvald, was shortly afterwards murdered by the knight Ivar, and was succeeded on the throne by his youngest brother Magnus, who was the last of Godred Crovan’s descendants, and above all the last Norwegian who filled the throne of Man.

The Scotch kings had long been aiming at the expulsion of the Norwegians from the north and west of Scotland. Alexander the Second (1214-1249) repeatedly sent ambassadors to King Hakon, in Norway, offering to purchase the right of that kingdom to the Norwegian possessions in Scotland; but as they did not succeed, Alexander declared that he would not rest till he had planted his banner on the farthest point of the Norwegian dominions in Scotland. But whilst he lay with part of his army at the island of Kerrera (“Kjarbarey”), not far from Mull, he fell sick and died, after which the army was disbanded. However, his successor, Alexander the Third (1249-1289), zealously prosecuted the plan for the expulsion of the Norwegians. The Scots having at length begun to ravage the Sudreyjar, and particularly the Isle of Skye, with fire and sword, King Hakon, when the tidings reached Norway, equipped a large fleet, and issued orders for an expedition to avenge the attack that had been made on his dominions.

Accordingly, in 1263, he sailed with a large and well-appointed force to Elwick (“Ellidarvik”) on Shapinsay, in the Orkneys, and thence to Ragnvaldsvaag (“Rögnvaldsvágr”) under South Ronaldshay, near Pentland Firth. He had despatched several ships before him to the Sudreyjar, whose crews devastated the coasts of Sutherland, particularly the district around the firth of Durness (“Dyrnes”), where they destroyed a castle and burnt more than twenty mansions. The King then sailed to the before-mentioned isle of Kerrera, where he assembled his fleet, consisting of about 200 ships. King Magnus from Man, and King Dugal from the Sudreyjar, joined him there; but Ion, the other king of the Sudreyjar, or, as he was called in Scotland, Ewen, was exempted by King Hakon from fighting against the Scots. King Hakon permitted his men to devastate the islands and coasts of the Firth of Clyde. Some of his chiefs sailed up Loch Long (“Skipafjörðr”), and hauled their ships over the narrow strip of land, called Tarbet, into Loch Lomond (“Lokulofni”), whence they harried the surrounding district of Lennox (“Lofnach”). Meanwhile verbal messages passed between the Norwegian and Scottish kings, but without leading to any reconciliation. The time was thus whiled away till late in the autumn, when King Hakon anchored with his fleet under Cumbrey in the Clyde, opposite the hamlet of Largs. Here he was assailed by such a furious storm, that his Norwegians, unacquainted with the equinoctial gales on the west coast of Scotland, imagined that the tempest had been evoked by witchcraft. Some of the King’s ships were driven ashore near Largs, when the Scots immediately began to attack them. As the Scotch king had in the meantime arrived on the spot with a large army, a fierce battle took place on the plain near Largs (3rd of October, 1263), in which the Norwegians, who were exhausted by their endeavours to save their ships, and who on account of the storm could not avail themselves of their whole force, were overpowered. King Hakon then sailed with the remainder of his fleet round Cape Wrath to “Goafjörðr” (undoubtedly the excellent harbour in Loch Eribol in Sutherland), and after suffering much from violent storms and tempests, at length again reached Ragnvaldsvaag in the Orkneys. He now prepared to pass the winter in Kirkwall, where, however, he shortly afterwards died (16th December, 1263).

The battle of Largs, the last combat in these western regions between the kings of Scotland and Norway, was of a decisive character. The kings in Sudreyjar and Man, who could now no longer venture to reckon upon adequate protection from Norway, submitted to the dominion of the Scotch king. King Magnus Hakonsön, of Norway, found it most advisable (1266) to cede Norway’s supremacy over the Sudreyjar and Man to the Scottish crown for the sum of 4000 marks sterling and a yearly tribute of 100 marks. But the Scots did not obtain immediate possession of Man. King Magnus died there in 1265, and was buried in the convent of Russin, near Derby Haven (“Rögnvaldsvágr”), which one of his forefathers had founded, or at all events enlarged, in 1134, and which already contained the bones of several Norwegian kings, chiefs, and ecclesiastics (as, for instance, of Bishop Reginald, + 1225; King Olave Godredsön, + 1237; and the chief Gospatrick, + 1240). With Magnus the family of Godred Crovan became extinct; but the powerful knight Ivar assumed the dominion of Man; and it was not till the year 1270 that the Scots, who had landed in Ragnvaldsvaag, succeeded, in a hard-fought battle, in killing Ivar, together with a great number of the leading men of the island, who had fought desperately for their independence.

Thus was terminated the actual Norwegian dominion over the Sudreyjar. As the battle of Largs considerably contributed to this event, it is no wonder that this battle, and above all King Hakon’s expedition, still figure in Scottish traditions. On the battle-field near Largs—where human bones, as well as “Danish axes” and swords, are often found—are still to be seen two almost unique barrows or tumuli, the most remarkable in Scotland, being about 25 feet high, and nearly 20 feet broad at the top, in which the Norwegians and Scots who had been slain are said to have been buried. One of the mounds, which stands just at the back of the town, and close to the shore, is probably the grave of the Norwegians; for the Sagas, whose accounts agree on the whole so exactly with the localities that they must have been derived from eye-witnesses, relate that King Hakon, the day after the battle, buried his dead on the coast, in the neighbourhood of a church. The other mound stands on the plain, a few thousand paces farther off. According to the statements of the common people, on the day of the battle, blood flowed instead of water in a little rivulet or beck that runs past “Killing Craig.” A number of smaller barrows and scattered stones, formerly to be seen on the plain, were likewise ascribed by tradition, though certainly without reason, to the same battle. They undoubtedly belonged to a far more ancient time; as is also the case with an excellent silver-gilt brooch found near Hunterston, about three miles from Largs, which was at once said to have been lost by some Norwegian who fled from the field of battle. There is a short Scandinavian runic inscription scratched on the back of it; but, from what has hitherto been deciphered, it would rather seem to denote the name of a Scotchman than of a Norwegian. Professor Munch reads, and certainly with good reason, as follows:—

“Malbritha a dalk thana” ... or, “Melbrigd owns this brooch.”

In workmanship, moreover, it resembles the contemporary Irish and Scotch more than Scandinavian ornaments.

The remembrance of this last expedition of the Norwegians is scarcely less vivid in several of the harbours which King Hakon visited with his fleet; as, for instance, Lamlash (“Melasey”), in Arran; Sanda (“Sandey”) near the south point of Cantire, where are shown the remains of a chapel and a churchyard, in which are said to repose the bones of many Danish and Norwegian chiefs; also in Gigha (“Gúdey”); Kerrera (“Kjarbarey”), with its “Danish” fort “Gylen;” and lastly, in Kyle Rhee (the King’s Strait), and Kyle Akin (Hakon’s Strait?), in the straits between the Isle of Skye and Lochalsh, on the coast of Ross-shire. According to a tradition, which is, however, entirely without foundation, King Hakon, in his flight from Largs, was attacked in this strait and killed, together with a great number of his followers. With similar exaggeration the Scots relate that all the Norwegians round about in the Sudreyjar were killed after the battle of Largs. On one of the islands near Barra was shown, not long since, and perhaps is even still, a heap of human bones, as the remains of the last Danes murdered there. On Lewis there is the following tradition—that when the Danes were quartered round about in the island, and were very troublesome on account of their oppressions, the Gaels laid a plan to murder them. The “fiery cross” was circulated through the island, with this brief announcement: “marbhadh ghach then a Bhuana;” that is, “every one shall kill his guest.” The strangers, who had not time to assemble together, were thus murdered one by one.

It cannot admit of a doubt that the Norwegians on the Sudreyjar, who for centuries had taken fast root in the islands, and become mixed with the families of the Scotch chiefs, could not thus disappear all at once without leaving a trace behind them. In Lewis, as I have before proved, vestiges of a Norwegian population still exist. The best refutation of the tradition is, however, the circumstance that with the exception of Man, the Sudreyjar continued to be governed by the same chiefs who had ruled the islands under the Norwegian dominion; and who, being descended from Somerled himself, were in a great degree of Norwegian extraction. Somerled’s successors also continued, after the old fashion, to defy the Scotch kings, who often sought in vain to subdue the bold “Lords of the Isles,” so famed in song and legend. Sometimes they declared themselves independent, and sometimes they were compelled to yield to the superior force of the kings, and acknowledge them as their feudal lords; until at length, but not before the sixteenth century, the power of these island chieftains was entirely subdued. Even to the present day many Highland clans assert that they are descended from the Danes, or Norwegians. This much is at all events certain, that several clans have Scandinavian blood in their veins, as appears clearly enough from the names of Clan-Ranald (from Reginald or Ragnvald) and Clan-Dugal (from Dubhgall, “the dark strangers,” the usual name for the Danes); both which clans, it is expressly stated, are descended from Somerled. To these may be added the clan of Macleod in Skye, whose chiefs still commonly bear the pure Norwegian names of “Torquil” and “Tormod.”

But the enduring influence of the Norwegian dominion in the Sudreyjar is best established by the fact that since the battle of Largs, the Isle of Man, through all the vicissitudes of fate, and after passing by sale into the possession of the English crown, has uninterruptedly retained its peculiar position as a kingdom, having its own originally Norwegian or Scandinavian constitution, and its annual assemblies on the identical Thing-hill, Tynwald (or, as it was formerly called Tingualla, “Þingavöllr”), from which, about a thousand years ago, the Norwegians governed the Sudreyjar. Although the British Parliament makes laws for England, Ireland, and Scotland, they are of no validity in the Isle of Man, unless they are in accordance with the ancient laws and liberties of the island, and, after being confirmed by its own Parliament, are proclaimed from Tynwald Hill.

The Manx Parliament, whose origin is lost in the mists of remote antiquity, but whose establishment is usually ascribed to the Danish king Orry (Erik?), who settled in the island in the beginning of the tenth century, consists of the three “estates” of the island: 1st, the king, or superior lord; 2nd, the governor and council; 3rd, the twenty-four representatives of the island (“Keys, or Taxiaxi”). The upper house, or council, consists of the bishop, two superior judges (“deemsters”), and six other of the highest officers in the island. The representatives in “the house of Keys” fill up vacancies themselves, and hold their seats for life, without being in any way responsible to the people for their votes.

This aristocratic mode of election reminds one of the time of the Norwegian conquest, when the Norwegians made themselves lords over the natives. The _Thing_, or Tynwald Court, which can be assembled by the governor at any time whatever, possesses, according to old Scandinavian custom, both the judicial and the legislative power. The house of Keys is the first, and the Council the second court of appeal for certain causes, after they have been tried by the inferior courts in the island. The Council can reject proposals for laws brought in by the house of Keys, and the king again can reject the united proposals of both houses. On the other hand, what all the three estates have agreed on becomes a law (“a Tynwald act”); but it is not in force until it has been proclaimed from Tynwald Hill.

This hill, which stands in the midst of a valley on the west coast of the island, close to the northern side of the town of Peel, is said to have been originally raised with earth taken from all the seventeen parishes in the island. It forms four terraces, or steps, the lowest of which is eight feet broad, the next six feet, the third four feet, and the topmost six feet. There are three feet between every step, or terrace, and the circumference of the hill is about 240 feet. It is covered with green sward. (See Cumming. “The Isle of Man.” London, 1848.)

Once a year, on St. John the Baptist’s Day, the governor of Man, attended by a military escort, sets out from Castle Town, and, together with the Tynwald Court, attends divine service in St. John’s Chapel, situated a few hundred paces from the hill. After the service, the whole court repairs in solemn procession to the hill, whence all the laws that have been passed in the course of the year are proclaimed in English and Manx. The procession then returns to the chapel, where the laws are signed and sealed.

Amongst all the Scandinavian Thing-hills, or Thing-walls (“Þingavellir”) that can be traced in the old Danish part of England, in the Norwegian part of Scotland, as well as in the Orkneys and Shetland Islands, and which also formerly existed in Iceland, Norway, and throughout the North, Tynwald in Man is the only one still in use.

It is, indeed, highly remarkable that the last remains of the old Scandinavian _Thing_, which, for the protection of public liberty, was held in the open air, in the presence of the assembled people, and conducted by the people’s chiefs and representatives, are to be met with not in the North itself, but in a little island far towards the west, and in the midst of the British kingdom. The history of the Manx _Thing_ court remarkably illustrates that spirit of freedom and that political ability which animated the men who in ancient times emigrated from Norway and the rest of the Scandinavian North.

THE NORWEGIANS IN IRELAND.

SECTION I.

Nature and Population of Ireland.—The “Danish” Conquests.—Traditions about the “Danes.”—Political Movements.