Part 15

This Survey was probably grounded partly on traditions of taxation, as early as the Norwegian Conquest, and partly upon the _Matricula Regis_, King Sverrer’s Register of the Odals confiscated under penal terms of redemption (1196)—and from its results was compiled the first LIBER CENSUS, or SKATT BOOK of Orkney and Zetland, the authentic Statement of the extent of each Odal Tun then in occupation, and of its STENT or proportion of Butter Skatt. As population increased, each _Tun_ or subdivision thereof paid for its enlarged area of cultivation a Malt Skatt also, marking at once the advance from pasture and the increase of culture; and the old _Liber Census_ was from time to time replaced as out of date, by a new and more complete record of such changes. The only specimen extant is a copy of the SKATT OF ZETLAND, compiled by one of the Sinclair Earls, without a date, but so ancient that the scribe of the fifteenth century apologises for the illegible writing and uncouth terms, as unintelligible even to himself. This Skatt Book distinguishes each Thing; describes the extent of each Tun in Marks of so many pennies per mark; and under distinct heads charges against each possession its Odal-Skatt and Leangr, or Tenant’s Land-male of wadmæl, oil, or fish—or sometimes both Odal and Tenant burdens; probably because such lands, though formerly Odal, had fallen by confiscation to the King or Earl, and been set to a tacksman, subject to both the old and new exactions. But though it thus records a few _land-males_ (showing the small extent of land in Zetland under tacksmen), the Skatt Book seems to have been a fair and distinct statement of National Taxation, unblemished by the studied confusion of tax and rent, of Odal and Feudal terms, which rendered its successor, the Rental, so oppressive to the Odaller. Like the Doomsday Book of another Northman race, the Skatt Book was the simple Record of the revenue and rule of taxation—its successor, the Scottish Rental, claimed to be also the substitute for a written title, the limit of every claim, the standard of every burden, the authority for every exaction; but compiled in secret, and jealously closed against public inspection, it rather favoured the claims of the ruler than secured the rights of the subject. The first duty imposed by James III. upon his new vassals, the Earl and Bishop of Orkney, was the compilation of such a rental, including not only the land-males or rents of his own newly acquired Earldom, and of the Church lands, but also the whole Skatts and other Odal taxes of the Skatt Book, exigible from the lands of free Odallers. The “AULD PARCHMENT RENTAL,” Earl William’s last legacy of spite against the Bishop and the Odallers, has unfortunately been lost, but it is evident from other authorities that he revenged himself on the Churchman by pitiless exposure of his fraud and rapacity, and on the Laymen, by suggesting the close similarity and easy identity of Odal and Tenant rights and burdens. The same fate has overtaken the Rental prepared by Bishop William Tulloch, partly for the Crown’s instruction, partly in self-defence against the Earl’s accusations of _Skatts abstracted_ and _lands gripped_, and other encroachments during the Lieutenancy of Bishop Thomas and himself. Of these conflicting Rentals, and their mutually truthful recriminations of embezzlement and oppression, much may be learned from the succeeding Rentals of Henry Lord Sinclair, of which the earliest was prepared in 1492, more than twenty years after the Impignoration, and therefore affording ample time for such Crown officers as Bishop Tulloch to alter every land right in the Islands. Accordingly, this Rental shows an aggravation of the number, nature, and amount of the Odaller’s burdens, and a studied confusion of his rights with those of the Tacksman of the Crown or Kirk. Thus, the Odal lands are charged with the ancient Skatt, but this is sometimes doubled and paid both to King and Bishop. The FÖR-KAUP is no longer the fee of the Lawman (whose salary of £12 is charged against the Crown in the tacksman’s account), but under the feudal name of _Forcop_ is again exacted from the Odaller as a _triennial grassum_ for the use of the once free and common pasture. The _Votn-tel_ is entered under the corrupted name of _Wattel_; but in despair of its lost Norse meaning, the fancy of the Feudalist has explained it as a tax for holy water, or for the good offices of some saintly lady whose profitable virtues had outlived her name; while its ancient purpose of the Underfoud’s fee, is again supplied by the _Balliatus_, a new impost on the parish. Another parish burden of _Hawkhens for the King’s falcons_ is first mentioned in the _compota_ of Bishops William and Andrew (1478–9), and first charged in this Rental, where the Escheits of Moveables and Heritage are entered as an ordinary item of revenue, under the suggestive name of “Chetry.” The purely Scottish claims of Wrack and Waith (which in time ripened into the full Droits of Admiralty and the Leges Forestarum) were new and violent invasions of the Odal freedom of hunting, fishing, and sea-beach; and every occasional or temporary payment once paid became a tax for ever.

The several exactions may be classed in the order in which they are named in the Rental. 1st. Odal; 2nd. Tenant; and 3rd. District or Parochial Burdens.

The Odal payments consisted of—

1st. STENT, the Butter Skatt assessed by ancient valuation in proportion to the pennylands.

2nd. BUTTER SKATT, _præter the Stent_, an obviously unwarranted and often large increase of the tax—generally as much more.

3rd. MALT SKATT.

4th. SILVER SKATT.

5th. FORCOP, already explained, but of such arbitrary and unequal exaction as fully to warrant the definition of Dufresne, “FORCOP, _Forcapium, exactio, tributum haud debitum, per vim et contra jus captum_.”

6th. WATTEL, the Fee of the Underfoud, paid or estimated in grain.

The Land-male or Rent of Tenants or Tacksmen consisted of—

1st. COST, or victual—generally paid in a commutation of two-thirds of malt, one-third of meal.

2nd. FLESH—paid in cattle or live stock, at a conventional estimate of 2 or 3 head to each Last of nominal quantity.

3rd. PENNYWORTHS—an equivalent in grain, butter, oil, or other produce of the lands, in case of deficiency of the other payments.

The parochial exactions (all of Scottish origin) are summed up with a quaint acknowledgment of omnivorous rapacity; “And all this _supra_, is _præter_ the Skattmarts, Wrack, Waith, Hawkhens, Chetry, Balliatus, and uthir profittis and Revenues that may happen ony maner of way.”

The relative share of the Odaller and Tenant in these new parish burdens is not expressed, but both must have looked back with regret to the worst of their ancient rulers, and watched with dismay the rising tide of Scottish oppression which was slowly but inevitably sapping their rights and overwhelming their liberties.

Of the taxes, rents, and assessments of the Rental, only a very small part was payable in money, and every coinage seems to have been current, though at an exchange often and arbitrarily fluctuating.

The rest of the _Debts and Duties_, as they were called, were paid in kind or produce, and measured by the PUNDAR and BYSMAR—the CAN and BARRELL—the CUTTEL and PACK—the native Standards and Instruments respectively of weight, capacity, and extent. The correctness and uniformity of these instruments was guarded with jealous care by the Thingmen, and the Wardthing of every Parish elected a LÖGRETTMAN or LAWRIGHTMAN to watch the measuring of its debts or duties by the Underfoud, and to take charge of its Standards, which were from time to time compared and corrected in presence of the Thing, by reference to a Common Standard of each kind of instrument of mensuration. Each of these common Standards was more solemnly authenticated by the Common Seal, or the signature or mark of the Lawman, by authority of the Lawthing, and severally kept by one of the Lawrightmen of four different districts, honoured by law or custom with their custody. This system of inspection, counter-checks, and separate guardianship, effectually precluded fraudulent or ignorant tampering with the Weights and Measures of the country, till virtually cancelled by the violence of the Donatary and his agents in superseding the Lawrightmen.

Of measurement by weight the instruments were—1st, The PUNDAR or PUNDLAR, identical with the Steelyard or _Statera_, and of two kinds—the MALT PUNDAR for weighing Malt and other bulky articles, and the _Bere Pundar_ for Bere only, using the same weights, but each a third less than the same denomination on the Malt Pundar; and 2ndly, the BYSMAR, on which were weighed the butter and other articles requiring more minute mensuration. The following figures will explain the form of the Pundar and Bysmar better than description, and show their liability to error and fraud, and the consequent necessity for the jealous watch of the Lawrightman upon the weigher’s crafty hand.

The first is a facsimile of the woodcut which occurs in the original edition of the _Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus_, of Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, p. 468, Romæ, 1555, folio. The other is copied from _The General Grievances and Oppression of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland_ (by James Mackenzie), p. 19. Edinb. 1750, 8vo.: Both cuts are figured in Dr. Hibbert’s Shetland.

The weights in use were—

8 Eyrar or Ounces = 1 Mark of half a pound 24 Marks = 1 Lispund, Span, Setteen, or Stone. 6 Lispunds = 1 Meil. 24 Meils = 1 Last.

Of measurement by capacity, the instruments were the Can or KANNA of Norway, and the Barrel or BARIEL of fifteen Lispunds.

48 Cans of Oil or 15 Lispunds of Butter = 1 Barrel. 12 Barrels, 180 Lispunds, or 576 Cans = 1 Last.

Of measurement by extent the only instrument was the CUTTEL or ALIN, a wooden rod of the length of the Scottish Ell. The Cuttel of Wadmæl became in Zetland the general measure of value, standard of barter, and substitute for a current coinage; 6 Cuttels being equivalent to an EYRIR or _ounce_ of land taxation, and 6 score or a _large hundred_ of Cuttels being the standard price of an ox or six sheep.

6 Cuttels = 1 Gudling or Gullioun—10 Gulliouns = 1 Pack.

The standards of weight and measure were unchanged till Earl Robert, by raising the weight of the fundamental Mark from 8 to 10 ounces, added in the same proportion of one-fifth to every other denomination—and by increasing the Gudling from 6 to 8 Cuttels, he added one-fourth to every Pack of Zetland Wadmæl. Earl Patrick increased the Mark to 12 ounces, thus adding one-third to every Lispund, Meil, and Last; and subsequent Donataries improved the profitable example by aggravating the Mark to 20 ounces, and thus boldly achieving an increase of 250 per cent. upon every denomination of weight or measure. The only apparent exception was the Barrel, which, being a vehicle of foreign export, could not be enlarged, and consequently could only contain 10 of these aggravated Lispunds instead of 15 of the normal size; but the balance was charged in _loose Lispunds_ of similar overweight.

There is no authentic statement of the revenues of James III. as Sovereign and as Earl of Orkney, but assuming and deducting a rise during the Episcopal Tacks proportioned to that which appears between the first and second Rentals of Lord Sinclair, the Skatts and Land-males of the Crown may be approximately stated at between £500 and £600.

Their progressive increase during the sixteenth century may be more minutely estimated by a comparison of Lord Sinclair’s Rentals (1492–1502) with that of Earl Patrick (1600–1), and an unerring tariff of current prices is found in the Rentals themselves, or in the contemporary Rolls of the Scottish Exchequer. The last Rental of Lord Sinclair stands thus—

1502. _Scat Butter_—1312 Lispunds at 1s. per Lispund £82 0 0 _Scat Malt_—60 Lasts at £3, 6s. 8d. 200 0 0 _Forcöp_ (the exact amount of the Lawman’s fee, £12) 12 0 0 _Wattel_—12 Lasts 40 0 0 ——— —— —— Total Odal Payments £334 0 0

_Butter_, 24 Barrels (360 Lispunds) £22 10 0 _Cost_ (or Grain Rent), 88 Lasts 293 6 8 _Flesh_, 59 Lasts (118 oxen at 13s. 4d. per head) 78 13 4 —— 32 salted Marts at the same price 21 6 8 _Hawkhens_, 440 at 6d 7 6 8 ——— —— —— Total Land males of Earldom 423 3 4 ——— —— —— Total Crown’s Scats and Males £757 3 4 ==== == ==

These revenues, with the unrentalled profits of Wrack, Waith, Chetry, Balliatus, &c., were farmed by Tulloch and other tacksmen, at a rent or Tack duty varying from £366 to £466, till James V. (1540) ascertained by personal investigation, that under the most liberal tack, a duty of £2000 was not too high for the increased value of official perquisites, and the higher prices of conversion, which had raised the Crown’s Rental as follows—

1540. _Butter_ at £3 per Barrel £262 10 0 _Malt_ at £5 per Last 300 0 0 _Wattel_ at £5 per Last 60 0 0 _Forcop_ as before 12 0 0 ——— —— —— Total Odal payments £634 10 0

_Butter_ £72 0 0 _Cost_ 440 0 0 _Flesh_ (150 cattle at £1, 10s. per head) 225 0 0 _Hawkhens_ at 6d. 11 0 0 ——— —— —— Total Land males 748 0 0 ———— —— —— Total Crown Rental £1382 10 0 ===== == ==

The same Tack duty of £2000 was paid by Lord Robert Stewart as a Feu-duty; and in 1568, the first year of his actual exercise of power, the higher prices of conversion had raised the Crown Rental to the following value, without increase of quantity:—

1568. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels (at £9 per barrel) £787 10 0 _Malt_, 60 Lasts (at £30 per last) 1800 0 0 _Wattel_, 12 Lasts (£360), _Forcop_ (£12) 372 0 0 ——— —— —— Total Odal payments £2959 10 0

_Butter_, 24 barrels £216 0 0 _Cost_, 88 Lasts 2640 0 0 _Flesh_, 59 Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 424 16 0 —— _Marts_, 32 (at £3, 12s.) 115 4 0 _Hawkhens_, 440 (at 6d.) 11 0 0 ——— —— —— Total Land males of Earldom 3407 0 0 ————— —— —— Total first Rental of Earl Robert £6366 10 0 ===== == ==

On his disgrace (1587) and the new grant to Chancellor Maitland and Bellenden on an increased duty of £4000, the Rental, as stated in their Charter, was found to have been raised to the following quantity and value, without distinction of Skatt or Land male.

1587. _Butter_, 1458 Lispunds (at 12s.) £874 16 0 _Grain_, 189 Lasts (at £30) 5670 0 0 _Flesh_, 91 Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 605 6 0 _Money_, in lieu of Forcop and Skatt Silver 109 0 0 ————— —— —— Total (acknowledged) Rental of the Crown £7259 2 0 ===== == ==

But this numerical statement of quantities no longer expressed the actual burdens of Orkney. Earl Robert’s increase of the weights and measures had added a fifth to every nominal Mark, Lispund, Meil, or Last in the Rental, and when he was reinstated (1589) (compounding at a reduced Feu-duty of £2075), the quantities and value actually paid under the nominal Rental amounted to—

1589. _Butter_, 1822½ Lispunds (at 12s.) £1093 10 0 _Grain_, 236½ Lasts (at £30) 7095 0 0 _Flesh_, 113¾ Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 818 8 0 _Money_ in lieu of Forcop and Skatt Silver 109 0 0 ————— —— —— Total Crown Rental in Orkney £9015 18 0 ===== == ==

Accordingly Earl Robert’s final Rental, although the articles of payment differ in arrangement and commutation, amounts, at the former conversions, to nearly the same sum and value:

1592. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels at £9 per Barrel £787 10 0 _Do._ loose, 791½ Lispunds at 12s. per Lispund 474 18 0 _Grain_, 227 Lasts at £30 per Last 6810 0 0 _Flesh_, 97½ Lasts at £7, 4s. per Last 702 0 0 _Hawkhens and other Poultry_, 3242 at 6d. 81 1 0 _Swine_, 3 at £1, 16s. 5 8 0 _Peats, Rabbit-Skins_, and other minor articles 10 10 0 _Money_, in lieu of _Forcop_ and _Skatt Silver_ 144 13 0 ————— —— —— Total last Rental of Earl Robert £9016 0 0 ===== == ==

Thus showing an increase of quantities and value since his first audit of 1569 amounting to—

_Butter_, 431½ Lispunds at 12s. £258 18 0 _Grain_, 67 Lasts at £30 2010 0 0 _Flesh_, 22½ Lasts at £7, 4s. 161 10 0 _Poultry, swine_, and minor articles 85 19 0 _Money_ 132 13 0 ————— —— —— Total augmentation of Rental by Earl Robert £2649 0 0 ===== == ==

If to this aggravation of the Rental we add his revenue from Tolls, Customs, Droits, Escheat and triennial Grassums, and consider the forced labour, the diminished area of cultivation, and the doubled penal conversions for every deficiency of these impossible quantities, we may estimate the income of Earl Robert and the misery of the Islanders; though the _Rentale pro Rege et Episcopo_ (1592–1600), which exhibits the numerical increase of exaction, is silent as to his aggravation of the Weights and Measures.

This addition of a fifth to every actual payment was augmented to a third by Earl Patrick’s similar aggravation of the Mark to 12 ounces; and increased penal conversions were exacted for all arrears, rests, or unpaid balance of duties beyond what the Islands could produce, till their actual burdens thus aggravated, and valued at the current averages of conversion, amounted to—

1600. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels at £20 £1,750 0 0 _Do._ loose, 1055 Lispunds at £2 2,110 0 0 _Grain_, 306 Lasts at £60 18,360 0 0 _Flesh_, 130½ Lasts at £16 2,088 0 8 _Swine_, 3 at £4 12 0 0 _Hawkhens_, &c., 3242 at 1s. 162 2 0 _Peats_, &c., about 23 5 0 _Money_ 144 13 0 ————— —— —— Total Crown Rental of Earl Patrick £25,650 0 0 ===== == ==

But besides this large revenue, and that derived from the Grassums, Droits, Tolls, Customs, Fines, and other unrentalled, unacknowledged, and unestimated perquisites, to the amount of about £6000 more, the Stewart Earls were also Commendators of the Estates of the Church, to which they proved no less dutiful as nursing fathers during their possession of about half a century. The Rental of the Bishopric at the Impignoration or beginning of the sixteenth century cannot be ascertained, but at the time of James V.’s visit, the articles composing the Church Rental (as shortly afterwards attested, and valued at the prices of the period), amounted to the following sums and quantities:—

1540. _Butter_, 180½ Barrels at £3 £541 10 0 _Grain_, 79 Lasts at £5 395 0 0 _Flesh_, 12½ Lasts at £3 37 10 0 _Marts_, 4 at £1, 10s. 6 0 0 _Hawkhens_, 217 at 6d. 5 8 6 _Swine_, 2 at 15s. 1 10 0 _Wax, Peats_, &c., about 13 1 6 _Silver_ 251 2 6 ————— —— —— Total Rents and Teinds of Bishopric in 1540 £1251 2 6 ===== == ==

These quantities were officially attested by Bishop Adam in 1561, and in 1568 (the date of his first contract with Lord Robert), amounted at the current prices to the value and quantity following, viz.—

1568. _Butter_ at £9 per Barrel £1624 10 0 _Grain_ at £30 per Last 2370 0 0 _Flesh_ at £7, 4s. 90 0 0 _Marts_ at £3, 12s. 14 8 0 _Hawkhens_ 5 8 6 _Swine_ at £1, 16s. 3 12 0 _Wax_, &c. 22 1 6 _Silver_ 251 2 6 ————— —— —— Total £4381 2 6 ===== == ==

These articles, the amount of the Bishopric Rental at Earl Robert’s entry, he increased to the following quantities at the same conversion:—