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07 - Vikings by Allen Mawer · Vikings

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Vikings by Ellen Mauer. This librevox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain recording by Kevin Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter six The Vikings in the Orkneys, Scotland, the Western
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  Speaker 1: Islands and Man. When the Vikings sailed to England and
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  Speaker 1: Ireland in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, their
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  Speaker 1: most natural path was by the Orkneys and Shetlands, and
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  Speaker 1: round the western islands of Scotland. We have seen how
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  Speaker 1: early they formed settlements in the Shetlands, and they soon
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  Speaker 1: reached the Orkneys and the Hebrides. From the Orkneys they
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  Speaker 1: crossed to the mainland, to Sutherland and Caithness. The very
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  Speaker 1: names bear witness to Scandinavian occupation, while Galloway Bracket i e.
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  Speaker 1: The land of the Guile, Guide Hill and of Bracket
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  Speaker 1: was settled from the Isle of Man already in the
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  Speaker 1: ninth century. The Norse element in the Hebrides was so
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  Speaker 1: strong that the Irish called the islands in c Gaul
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  Speaker 1: Bracket II the islands of the Foreigners and a Bracket,
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  Speaker 1: and their inhabitants were known as Gail Gaidhil. The Norsemen
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  Speaker 1: called the islands Southraithyar Bracket II. Southern Islands and a
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  Speaker 1: brachet in contrast to the Orkneys and Shetlands, which were
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  Speaker 1: known as northray Yard, and the name survives in the
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  Speaker 1: composite bishopric of Sodor and Man, which once formed part
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  Speaker 1: of the Archdiocese of Troncheaim in Norway. The Isle of
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  Speaker 1: Man was plundered almost as early as any of the
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  Speaker 1: islands of the West, and it was probably from Man
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  Speaker 1: that the Norse settlements in Cumberland and Westmoreland were established.
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  Speaker 1: Boluf the White and Ivar made more than one expedition
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  Speaker 1: from Ireland to the lowlands of Scotland, and the former
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  Speaker 1: was married to Audur, the daughter of Kettel Flatnose, who
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  Speaker 1: had made himself the greatest chieftain in the Western islands
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  Speaker 1: after the Battle of Hafrsfjord. When Harold Fairhair had finally
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  Speaker 1: crushed his rivals in Norway itself. So powerful were the
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  Speaker 1: Norse settlements in the West that he felt his position
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  Speaker 1: would be insecure until he had received their submission. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: he made a great expedition to the Shetlands, Orkneys and
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  Speaker 1: the west coast of Scotland fulfilled this purpose and entrusted
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  Speaker 1: the northern islands to Sigurd, brother of Rogenwalder, Earl of Moore,
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  Speaker 1: as his vassal. The history of the north settlements in
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  Speaker 1: the Orkneys as well and fully told in the Orkneying Saga.
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  Speaker 1: The first Orkney earl was the above named Sigurd. He
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  Speaker 1: entered into an alliance with Thorstein the Red son to
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  Speaker 1: Olaf the White, and together they conquered Caithness and Sutherland
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  Speaker 1: as far south as the River Oykel on the borders
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  Speaker 1: of Ross and Comarty. Sigurd's son, Anar, known as a
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  Speaker 1: turf Anar, because he first taught the islanders to cut
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  Speaker 1: peat for fuel, founded a long line of earls of
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  Speaker 1: the Orkneys. He had a quarrel with Herald fair Hair,
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  Speaker 1: and when that king imposed a fine on the islanders
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  Speaker 1: for the murder of his son and the farmers could
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  Speaker 1: not pay it, Anar paid it himself on condition that
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  Speaker 1: the peasants surrendered their otholl rights i e. Their rights
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  Speaker 1: of possession in the lands they cultivated. Turf Anar's son,
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  Speaker 1: Sigurd the Stout, was the most famous of all the
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  Speaker 1: Orkney earls, renowned both as warrior and poet. He conquered Sutherland, Caithness, Ross, Moray,
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  Speaker 1: Argyle the Hebrides and man securing the support of the
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  Speaker 1: men of Orkney by giving them back their oath all
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  Speaker 1: He married a daughter of Melcombe, King of Scotland, and
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  Speaker 1: met his end as we have already seen, fighting on
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  Speaker 1: the side of the Heathen Norsemen in the Battle of
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  Speaker 1: Clontarf in ten fourteen. After this the power of the
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  Speaker 1: Orkney Earls declined. The North line of Earls was replaced
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  Speaker 1: by one of Scottish descent in twelve thirty one, but
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  Speaker 1: the islands did not pass definitely to the Scottish crown
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  Speaker 1: until the fifteenth century. Of the Norse settlements in the
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  Speaker 1: Hebrides we have no such definite or continuous record. Mention
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  Speaker 1: is made in Irish annals of the middle of the
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  Speaker 1: ninth century of a king in the Hebrides, one Gudrother,
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  Speaker 1: son of Fergus, whose very name shows him to have
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  Speaker 1: been one of the guile guide Hill kettel Finn was
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  Speaker 1: another such In the latter half of the ninth century.
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  Speaker 1: Kettel Flatnose was the chief Norse leader in the Hebrides
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  Speaker 1: until his power was destroyed by Harold Fairhair. Many of
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  Speaker 1: the settlers then betook themselves to Iceland, the most famous
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  Speaker 1: of them being Outher the Deep thoughted, widow of Olaf
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  Speaker 1: the White and daughter of Kettil. North's rule was all
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  Speaker 1: powerful during the tenth and dela seventh centuries. There was
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  Speaker 1: a line of kings, but we find ruling side by
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  Speaker 1: side with them certain officers known as law men. While
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  Speaker 1: in the late tenth and for the greater part of
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  Speaker 1: the eleventh century, the Hebrides were under the sovereignty of
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  Speaker 1: the Orkney Earls Norris. Rule in the Hebrides did not
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  Speaker 1: finally come to an end until twelve sixty six, when
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  Speaker 1: Magnus Hakansen, King of Norway, renounced all claims to the islands.
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  Speaker 1: The early history of the settlements in man is equally obscure.
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  Speaker 1: At first, the island suffered from repeated raids. Then about
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the ninth century it passed under the
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  Speaker 1: authority of the Kings of Dublin and remained so intel
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  Speaker 1: with the Hebrides and Western Scotland generally. It was conquered
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  Speaker 1: by Sigurd the Orkney Earl. From the Orkney Earls, it
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  Speaker 1: passed to the great conqueror, Godred Crovan, the King of
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  Speaker 1: gory or Oi of Manx tradition, who came from the Hebrides,
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  Speaker 1: and his successors down to the Session of the Islands
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  Speaker 1: in twelve sixty six, were known as Kings of Man
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  Speaker 1: and the Isles. Of the details of the settlement of
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  Speaker 1: the Scottish mainland of Caithness, Sutherland and Galloway, of the
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  Speaker 1: occupation of Cumberland and Westmoreland, we know almost nothing. But
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  Speaker 1: when we speak later of Norse's influence in these districts,
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  Speaker 1: we shall realize how strong was there hold on them.
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  Speaker 1: Our knowledge of the Norse occupation of Man and the
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  Speaker 1: Islands is somewhat scanty in detail, but there can be
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  Speaker 1: no question that their settlements in lands, often closely resembling
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  Speaker 1: in physical features their own home country, were of the
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  Speaker 1: highest importance. End of Chapter six