.dt An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and \
Ireland, by J. J. A. Worsaae—A Project Gutenberg eBook
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.it Transcriber’s Note:
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.it This book contains a very large number of Norse letters, \
special characters and some Runes that may not be viewable on \
every ebook reader.
.it There are additional #Transcriber’s notes:TN# at the end of \
the book.
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AN ACCOUNT || OF THE || DANES AND NORWEGIANS || \
IN || ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
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AN ACCOUNT
OF THE
DANES AND NORWEGIANS
IN
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.
BY J. J. A. WORSAAE, For. F.S.A. London:
A Royal Commissioner for the Preservation of the National Monuments
of Denmark; author of “Primæval Antiquities of Denmark,” &c., &c.
WITH NUMEROUS WOODCUTS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1852.
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LONDON:
GEORGE WOODFALL AND SON,
ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
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.h2
PREFACE.
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Mr. Worsaae informs us in his Introduction that the following
pages were not written solely for the learned.
They were designed as a popular contribution to a branch of
historical and antiquarian knowledge, which, though highly
interesting both to Scandinavians and Englishmen, has
been hitherto very imperfectly investigated. The English
reader will find in Mr. Worsaae’s work not only many facts
concerning the early history of this country that are either
entirely new to him, or placed at least in a wholly novel
light, but he will also meet with many names whose form
may appear foreign and unfamiliar. It may, therefore, be
desirable that on the English reader’s introduction to a
more intimate acquaintance with that Scandinavian race
which has more claims than he had, perhaps, imagined,
not only to be regarded as the founders of some of his
native customs and institutions, but even to be reckoned
among his forefathers, he should be enabled to pronounce
their principal names correctly. With this view the following
brief remarks are subjoined;—
The double a (aa), frequently occurring in proper names,
must be sounded like the English diphthong aw, as in
Blaatand, Haarfager.
The ö, or oe, is pronounced like the French diphthong eu.
The u, as in German and Italian, is equivalent to oo in
the English words cool, troop, &c.; as in Ulf, Huskarl, &c.
// 006.png
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C has invariably the sound of k (with which, indeed, it
is frequently interchanged). The names of Cetel, Oscytel,
&c., are to be pronounced Ketel, Oskytel. Where c or k
precedes another consonant, it retains, as in German, its
distinct and proper power. In order to represent this
power, Latin and English writers have sometimes substituted
the syllable ca for the initial c or k; as, for instance,
in the name of Canute (Dan., Cnut or Knud).
This has led to the very common error of pronouncing the
name as if it consisted of two syllables, with an accent
upon the first; as Cán-ute, instead of Cănúte.
J has the sound of the English y; as in Jarl (Yarl,
earl), Jorvik (Yor-vik, York).
The consonants th (the Icelandic Þ[#]) are pronounced
like a single t. The word Thing (assizes, &c.), which the
reader will so frequently meet, is sounded like Ting. The
proper pronunciation is preserved in the word Hus-ting,
but by altering the spelling. Thus, Thor, Thorkil, &c.,
must be pronounced Tor, Torkil.
.fs 85%
.fn #
The letter ð has the power of dh, or dth.
.fn-
.fs 100%
Lastly, the Vikings (Isl., Vikingr, a sea-rover, pirate),
who played so great a part during the Danish conquests,
were not Ví-kings, but Vik-ings (Veék-ings); so called
either from the Icelandic Vik (Dan., Vig), a bay of the sea,
or from Vig, battle, slaughter.
London, Dec. 15th, 1851.
// 007.png
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.h2
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.
In the spring of 1846, his late Majesty Christian VIII.
of Denmark determined that an inquiry should be made
respecting the monuments and memorials of the Danes
and Norwegians which might be still extant in Scotland
and the British Islands. His Majesty was the more confirmed
in this design as two distinguished British noblemen,
his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, and his brother Lord
Francis Egerton (now Earl of Ellesmere), had repeatedly
stated in their letters to the Royal Society of Northern
Antiquaries that, if a Danish archæologist visited Scotland,
he should receive all possible assistance, especially in
Sutherland, a district so rich in Scandinavian antiquities.
His Majesty did me the honour to intrust this task to
me: and the President of the Royal Society of Northern
Antiquaries, and of the Royal Committee for the preservation
of the national monuments—our present most gracious
sovereign Frederick VII.—having, with a lively zeal for
the promotion of the inquiry, furnished me with several
letters of introduction, I travelled during a twelvemonth
(1846-1847) in Scotland, Ireland, and England; where,
partly through the personal kindness of the Duke of
Sutherland and of the Earl of Ellesmere, and partly by
means of their influential names, I invariably met with the
best reception and the most valuable assistance in my
researches.
// 008.png
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The present work contains part of the results of that
journey. My aim in it has been to convey a juster and
less prejudiced notion than prevails at present respecting
the Danish and Norwegian conquests; which, though of
such special importance to England, Scotland, and Ireland,
have hitherto been constantly viewed in an utterly false
and partial light. Whilst writing the work in Denmark,
I have but too frequently felt the want of constant access
to the well-stored libraries of England; although those
literary gentlemen in Great Britain to whom I have written
for information, have received my applications with their
usual readiness and friendship[#].
.fs 85%
.fn #
Amongst the many gentlemen to whom I owe my thanks, I must
particularly name: Sir H. Dryden, Bart., of Canons Ashby; C.
Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A., London; E. Hawkins, Esq., British
Museum; J. M. Kemble, Esq.; Professor Cosmo Innes, Edinburgh; Dr.
Traill, ibid.; C. Neaves, Esq., ibid.; R. Chalmers,
Esq., of Auldbar Castle; Rev. J. H. Todd, D.D., Trinity College,
Dublin; Professor C. Graves; and Dr. G. Petrie, likewise of
Dublin.
.fn-
.fs 100%
However, as my work contains the first fully detailed
examination of the subject from the Danish side, I hope
that, notwithstanding all its deficiencies and faults, it may
prove of some interest in England, and serve to excite
further investigation, which would doubtless throw a
clearer light upon a very remote, but not on that account
less remarkable, period in the history of England and the
North.
.rj
J. J. A. WORSAAE.
Copenhagen, April, 1851.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2
CONTENTS.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 2
.ce
#INTRODUCTION.:intro#
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION I.:intro-s01#
Scandinavia’s greatest Memorials.—Those of Denmark and Norway
at Sea.—Of Sweden on Land.—The Influence of Climate
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION II.:intro-s02#
The Great Memorials of Sweden in their Relation to those of Denmark
and Norway.—Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the
British Isles
.sp 2
.hr 15%
.sp 2
.ce
#THE DANES IN ENGLAND.:daneseng#
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION I.:daneseng-s01#
Nature of the Country.—Earlier Inhabitants: Britons, Romans,
and Anglo-Saxons
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION II.:daneseng-s02#
The Danish Expeditions.—The Danish Conquest
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION III.:daneseng-s03#
The Thames.—London
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION IV.:daneseng-s04#
Watlinga-Stræt.—South England.—Legends about the Danes.—The
Graves of Canute the Great and Hardicanute
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION V.:daneseng-s05#
The Wash.—The Five Burghs.—The Humber.—York.—Northumberland.—Stamford
Bridge
// 010.png
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.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VI.:daneseng-s06#
Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the North of England.—Coins.—The
Raven.—The Danish Flag
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VII.:daneseng-s07#
Danish-Norwegian Names of Places
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VIII.:daneseng-s08#
Resemblance of the People to the Danes and Norwegians.—Proper
Names.—Popular Language.—Songs and Legends
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION IX.:daneseng-s09#
The Outrages of the Danes.—The Danes and Normans.—Influence
of the Danes in England
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION X.:daneseng-s10#
Commerce and Navigation
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION XI.:daneseng-s11#
Art and Literature
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION XII.:daneseng-s12#
Ecclesiastical and Secular Aristocracy
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION XIII.:daneseng-s13#
The Danelag.—Holmgang, or Duel.—Jury.—The Feeling of Freedom
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION XIV.:daneseng-s14#
General View.—Anglo-Saxon and Danish-Norman England.—Sympathies
for Denmark.—The Dane in England
.sp 2
.hr 15%
.sp 2
.ce
#THE NORWEGIANS IN SCOTLAND.:norscot#
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION I.:norscot-s01#
Nature of Scotland.—The Highlands and Lowlands.—Population.—Original
Inhabitants
// 011.png
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.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION II.:norscot-s02#
The Anglo-Saxons.—The Danes and Norwegians.—Effects of their
Expeditions
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION III.:norscot-s03#
The Lowlands.—Population.—Language.—Norwegian-Danish
Names of Places
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION IV.:norscot-s04#
Traditions concerning “the Danes.”—The Southern and Northern
Lowlands.—Danish Memorials.—Burghead
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION V.:norscot-s05#
The Orkneys and Shetland Isles.—Natural Features.—Population.—Oppression
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VI.:norscot-s06#
Shetland.—The People.—Songs.—Sword-Dance.—Language.—Names
of Places.—Tingwall.—Burg of Mousa.—Tumuli.—Bauta
Stones
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VII.:norscot-s07#
The Orkneys.—“Þingavöllr.”—Monuments of the Olden Time.—Kirkwall.—St.
Magnus Church
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VIII.:norscot-s08#
Pentland Firth.—The Highlands.—Caithness.—Sutherland.—Dingwall.—Fear
of the Danes
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION IX.:norscot-s09#
The Hebrides.—The Northern Isles.—Lewis and Harris (Næs).—Skye.—Ossian’s
Songs.—Iona
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION X.:norscot-s10#
The Sudreyjar, or Southern Isles.—Cantire.—Islay.—Man.—Names of Places.—Runic
Stones.—Kings.—Battle of Largs.—“Lords
of the Isles.”—Tynwald in Man
.sp 2
// 012.png
.hr 15%
.sp 2
.ce
#THE NORWEGIANS IN IRELAND.:norire#
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION I.:norire-s01#
Nature and Population of Ireland.—The “Danish” Conquests.—Traditions
about the “Danes.”—Political Movements
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION II.:norire-s02#
Irish and Scandinavian Records.—Finn Lochlannoch.—Dubh-Lochlannoch.—The
Names of the Provinces
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION III.:norire-s03#
Norwegian Kings.—Limerick.—Cork.—Waterford.—Reginald’s
Tower.—Dublin.—Thengmotha.—Oxmantown
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION IV.:norire-s04#
Norwegian Names of Places.—Near Dublin.—Norwegian Burial—Places.—Norwegian Weapons and Ornaments
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION V.:norire-s05#
Ancient Irish Christianity and Civilization.—Trade.—No Irish, but
Norwegian Coins.—Sigtryg Silkeskjæg.—Norwegian Coiners
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VI.:norire-s06#
The Battle of Clontarf.—Power of the Ostmen after the Battle.—Their
Churches and Bishops.—Their Land and Sea Forces.—The
English Conquest.—Remains of the Ostmen.—Their Importance
for Ireland
.sp 2
.ce
#SECTION VII.:norire-s07#
Conclusion.—Warlike and Peaceful Colonizations Resemblances
and Differences.—Before and Now
.sp 2
.hr 15%
.sp 2
#Appendix I. Document of Edward I.:App-I#
#Appendix II. Coinage of the Norwegians in Dublin:App-II#
.sp 4
// 013.png
.bn 013.png
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=intro
INTRODUCTION.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=intro-s01
Section I.
Scandinavia’s greatest Memorials.—Those of Denmark and Norway at
Sea.—Of Sweden on Land.—The Influence of Climate.
.sp 2
The greatest, and for general history the most important,
memorials of the Scandinavian people are connected, as
is well known, with the expeditions of the Normans, and
with the Thirty Years’ War.
In the Norman expeditions the North, mighty in its
heathenism, poured forth towards the east, the west, and
the south, its numerous warriors and shrewd men, who
subverted old kingdoms, and founded new and powerful
ones in their place. It was by Danish and Norwegian
fleets that Normandy and England were then conquered,
and kingdoms won in Scotland, Ireland, and North
Holland; whilst Norwegians settled on the Faroe Islands
(Dan., Faröerne), and discovered and colonized Iceland.
Hence their descendants, having afterwards passed over to
Greenland, discovered America, and were in the habit of
navigating the Atlantic Ocean centuries before other
European nations.
In all these voyages proportionally few Swedes took
part. Inscriptions on runic stones in Sweden sometimes
speak, indeed, of men who had settled or met their death
in the west over in England (Anklant or Inklant). But
on the whole the views of the Swedes were at that time,
// 014.png
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as well as at a later period, mostly directed towards the
east. Swedish Vikings, or pirates, harried and established
themselves upon the coasts of Finland and of the
countries now belonging to Russia; and a tribe of them,
the Varæger, even made themselves there the reigning
people. Partly in consequence of this, Sweden—and particularly
the Island of Gothland, or Gulland—became the
centre of the active trade which in ancient times (that is,
from the eighth to the twelfth century,) was carried on,
through Russia, between Scandinavia and the countries
around the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as Arabia.
The Swedes, however, do not appear very prominently
either in ancient times or in the early part of the middle
ages. They were prevented from playing any considerable
part in the distant lands towards the West by the sanguinary
intestine disputes which took place between them
and the Goths; and it was not till the fifteenth century, and
after these disputes were adjusted, that they could appear
upon the theatre of the world as a nation. The Swedish
Charleses and Gustavuses, by means of the sword, subsequently
caused the Swedish name to be feared and
honoured; not, however, at sea, but on land, on the plains
of Russia, Poland, and Germany. Gustavus Adolphus, in
the Thirty Years’ War, after the disaster of the Danish-Norwegian
king Christian IV., powerfully contributed to
uphold Lutheranism, and by that means to establish
liberty of conscience for Germany and the rest of Europe.
It was, then, principally at sea that the Danes and Norwegians
formerly won a name in the history of the world,
whilst the Swedes obtained theirs on land. Indeed, the
peculiar nature and situation of the different Scandinavian
countries must have necessarily caused the strength and
courage which were the common attributes of the Scandinavian
race, to be exerted from the first in different
directions. Sweden, which towards the west is separated
from Denmark only by the Sound and Cattegat, is in like
manner towards the east separated from the vast plains
// 015.png
.bn 015.png
of northern Europe by a confined and narrow sea. When,
therefore, the thirst of glory and conquest urged the
Swedish warriors from their homes, it was only necessary
for them to cross over to the opposite shores, or at
most to sail along the coasts of the Baltic. In Sweden,
forests, valleys, and rivers, are the most prominent natural
features, whilst the sea is but a subordinate one. It is
scarcely to be expected that such a country should produce
good seamen. But in Denmark and Norway the case is
altogether different.
Denmark is surrounded on all sides by the sea, which
has indented the land with numberless bays and firths,
and cut it up into small portions. Nor is it washed only
by a confined sea like the Baltic, but also by the more
open German Ocean. From the earliest times, therefore,
necessity obliged the Dane to put to sea in order to keep
up his connections with his friends on the surrounding
coasts and islands. Subsequently—when commerce, and
more especially when military honour, required it—he was
compelled to learn how to navigate the open sea, to struggle
with the foaming waves and rapid currents, and to defy the
surf—which is still the constant terror of seamen—on the
coasts of north and west Jutland.
Thus the Dane early became a bold and daring Viking,
and the Norwegian distinguished himself in the same
manner. Norway turns her broad and rocky bosom
towards the ocean. Her wild and broken coasts, split
into deep fiords, or gulfs, bear witness to the never-ceasing
and violent attacks of the Atlantic. Towards the
east, Norway is separated from Sweden by rocks, forests,
and large desert plains. The interior of the country is
partly filled with mountains and immense forests, which
anciently were still more extensive. The valleys alone,
along the banks of rivers, are productive, and capable of
cultivation. The greater part of the inhabitants settled
therefore originally on the fiords, or in the neighbourhood
of the sea, where the pasture land was neither so over
// 016.png
.bn 016.png
grown with wood, nor so sequestered as in the interior,
and where also the sea air rendered the climate considerably
milder. The weather, however, was variable
enough, and the products of the earth being, partly on that
account, but scanty, fishing and the chase became important
sources of maintenance for the continually-increasing
population. The forests supplied them with abundance of
timber, the soil was rich in iron; nor were the people
wanting in a daring and enterprising spirit. Ships were
soon built, capable not only of navigating the fiords, but
of venturing beyond their mouths. The first voyages were
coasting ones, but subsequently they were extended from
the southern part of Norway to the Danish and Swedish
shores.
The Norwegian, who had now become skilled in navigating
his ship through the mountain waves of the
Atlantic and the far more dangerous surfs on the rocks of
Norway, no longer dreaded the open sea. When the population
had increased to such an extent that the Norwegian
rocks could barely afford it a sufficient maintenance; when
the reports concerning the rich lands beyond the sea, and
their defenceless condition, promised at once renown and
booty; and when, lastly, Harald Haarfager’s conquests
threatened the Norwegians with the loss of their freedom—then
thousands of vessels shot out from the fiords of
Norway, and steered dauntlessly for the neighbouring
western islands. A northern life, and the severe winter’s
cold, had not only braced the body of the Viking to endure
all kinds of hardships, and given him strength to wield
the sword with effect; it had also steeled his courage, and
taught him fearlessly to face all manner of danger. The
clear starry firmament of the North enabled him to observe
the course and relative situation of the stars, which were
then the only compass by which he steered his ship towards
foreign and unknown shores.
Norway must naturally be better calculated to form hardy
persevering sailors than Denmark. With the exception of
// 017.png
.bn 017.png
the west coast of Jutland, where there is not a good harbour
to be found, and where, consequently, navigation must,
in ancient times, have been very limited, Denmark is
washed by an enclosed sea with flat coasts. The ocean,
on the contrary, washes almost the whole of Norway’s
rocky shores; where the numerous and deeply-indented
fiords resemble so many harbours. There are sufficient indications
that anciently the Danes were accustomed to visit
only the comparatively neighbouring countries of England,
Holland, and France; whilst the Norwegians sailed also
towards the north on the wide Atlantic, whose storms and
dangers did not prevent them from constantly visiting the
Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and even America.
The discovery and first colonization of these countries are,
with just reason, the pride of the Norwegians and of their
descendants the Icelanders.
A comparison with other European nations will more
clearly show how great an influence the climate of the
North, and especially the Northern Sea, must have had on
the development of navigation among the Danes and Norwegians,
and on their whole maritime life. With the
exception of England, which, in a still higher degree than
Scandinavia, swims in the open sea, and of Holland, which
lies as it were half under water, no country in Europe has
produced a seafaring people which can be at all compared
to the Northmen; and this notwithstanding that Germany,
France, and the Spanish Peninsula, have all a very considerable
extent of coast. The reason undoubtedly is, that
the coasts of those countries are washed by enclosed seas,
which naturally cannot be compared with the ocean; whilst
the countries themselves, especially Germany and France—and
the latter even in spite of its extent of coast towards
the Atlantic—have an unmistakeable continental character.
It is clear, moreover, that the ocean, as well as the smaller
and enclosed seas, have, according to the difference of latitude,
an entirely different influence on the people who
// 018.png
.bn 018.png
inhabit their shores. The Mediterranean, surrounded by
rich and fruitful, but enervating, countries, has not shown
itself capable of producing such seamen as the Baltic,
where the climate is more severe, and the gifts of Nature
incomparably more sparing. Spain and Portugal, it is
true, have a great extent of coast towards the Atlantic,
which may almost be compared with the west coast of
Norway. But both those countries possess a fruitful soil
and a glorious southern climate. Their inhabitants were
not, like the Northmen of old, forced to visit foreign shores
in order to procure subsistence, and to struggle continually
with a raw and severe climate. They preferred to stay at
home and enjoy the blessings of their own country; and
thus the calm energy and the proud self-reliance which are
engendered by a ceaseless struggle with an ungrateful soil
and climate, and which are indispensable to a hardy seaman,
were not developed in them as in the Norwegians
and other inhabitants of the North. This may have been
one of the causes why the Spaniards and Portuguese were
unable to retain, in later times, their mastery over the new
world. They were displaced by the English, a northern
seafaring people, who were more at home on the sea.
It was the same quiet energy which, even amid the
excitement of passion, so strongly distinguished the
northern from the southern races. The inhabitant of the
South was more governed, as he now is, by his passions.
A torrent of words, an animated play of the features, or
even perhaps a violent assault, betrayed the fire that raged
within him. The northern man, on the contrary, was of
few words. His anger was under the dominion of his
cooler reason, and he was capable of concealing the emotions
of his soul. But he had a good memory. Years
would pass before he revenged himself; and he felt a sort
of pleasure in making his preparations, and waiting for the
proper opportunity. The revenge of blood, therefore, took
place in the cold North, as well as in the fiery South: but
// 019.png
.bn 019.png
in the totally different manner in which it manifested
itself we can hardly fail to recognise the influence of
Nature.
It must, however, be borne in mind that in every
nation, except those situated at the Poles or under the
Line, where Nature exerts an almost irresistible and overwhelming
force, this influence manifests itself very differently,
according to their different degrees of development.
In the infancy of a people, and so long as their
immediate wants render them entirely dependent on
Nature, whose unexplained phenomena appear to them as
those of some foreign and unknown power, her influence
on their life is naturally strongest. The effect is the same
as that which education and the companions with whom
he associates produce on an individual. But as nations
gradually become more enlightened and refined, they obtain
a mastery over Nature, whose influence thus grows
weaker and weaker, and at last almost vanishes. It is,
indeed, one of the most marked steps in the progress of
human development, when man becomes Nature’s master,
and makes her obedient to his power. Thus when Englishmen,
Frenchmen, and others who belong to a people of
defined character and perfectly-developed nationality, settle
in foreign parts, the influence of Nature, even at the Poles,
or under the Line, is scarcely strong enough to produce any
great change in their character. And upon the whole, to
whatever degree civilization may be carried, most nations
will never entirely lose that character which Nature has
impressed upon them in the lands which gave them birth.
The influence of Nature upon the Scandinavian people
may be traced throughout their history, even down to the
present times. In their sanguinary internal wars, the
Danes and Norwegians generally gained the victory over
the Swedes at sea. Under able leaders they have sometimes
been victorious on land also; but here the Swedes
have in general been superior. Christian IV. made no
progress in the Thirty Years’ War. On that occasion he
// 020.png
.bn 020.png
proved himself inferior to Gustavus Adolphus, who, when
fighting on land, was in his true element. At sea, on the
other hand, Christian IV. signally defeated the Swedish
fleet. The chief heroes of the Swedish nation, and those
who live most in the memory of the people, are, Gustavus
Adolphus, Charles X., and particularly Charles XII.;
although that monarch, by his rash wars in Russia, Poland,
and Germany, inflicted deep wounds upon Sweden, which
took a long time to heal. But the favourite heroes of the
Danes and Norwegians are seamen; as Christian IV.,
Niels Juel, Hvitfeld, and especially Tordenskjold, who,
singularly enough, was contemporary with Charles XII.
The difference between the people is clearly expressed in
the opening lines of two of the most favourite national
songs. The Danish—formerly the Norwegian also—runs
thus:
.pm verse-start
“Kong Christian stod ved höien Mast
I Rög og Damp,”
.pm verse-end
(“King Christian stood by the high mast, enveloped in
mist and smoke”), where there is an allusion to a fight at
sea. But the Swedish lines,
.pm verse-start
“Kung Karl den unge hjelte
Han stod i rök och dam,”
.pm verse-end
(“King Charles the young hero, stood in smoke and
dust”), allude to battle and victory on land. Even to the
present day it may with good reason be asserted that the
Danes and Norwegians feel more inclination than the
Swedes for a seafaring life. But as the battle in Copenhagen
Roads (April 2, 1801) maintained the ancient
reputation of the Danes at sea, so also recent events have
shown, that both the Danes and Norwegians of the present
day can fight on land with distinguished bravery.
// 021.png
.bn 021.png
.pb
.sp 4
.h3 id=intro-s02
Section II.
.nf c
The Great Memorials of Sweden in their Relation to those of Denmark
and Norway.—Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the British Isles.
.nf-
Russia, Poland, and particularly Germany, were, as we
have seen, the theatre of the greatest victories of Sweden.
The glory of Denmark and Norway, on the contrary, was
founded in the West, over the sea, in America, Iceland, the
British Isles, and France. Denmark’s conquests of the
southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, under the Waldemars, terminate,
however, the times of the Vikings. The victories of
Sweden are of a modern date, and since the last two centuries;
but those of Denmark are of the ninth, tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth centuries. The remembrance of the
Swedish sabre-cut yet remains fresh among the Russians,
Poles, and Germans; nay, in some places, the Swedish
name is still a terror to the common people.
It is often made a subject of complaint against the great
achievements of Denmark and Norway that they are of
such remote antiquity; and that, instead of promoting the
freedom and spiritual advancement of mankind, like
Sweden’s struggles in the Thirty Years’ War, they rather
caused an immense retrograde step in civilization, since
the heathen Vikings acted with unbridled ferocity, burnt
and destroyed churches and convents, and rudely trampled
upon everything that bore the mark of a higher intellectual
development. Thus foreigners, and particularly the German
historians, usually assert, for instance, that the Danish
and Norwegian Vikings brought nothing but misfortune
upon the British Isles; whilst, on the contrary, everything
great and good in England is mainly attributable to the
Saxons, or Germans. This, however, is not to be wondered
at, since these critics were obliged to judge of situations
for whose right estimation they were entirely without
// 022.png
.bn 022.png
the necessary knowledge, namely, that of the more ancient
history of the North.
It would certainly not be gratifying to the national
feelings of the Danes and Norwegians if the progress and
settlements of the Vikings in foreign lands were marked
only by acts of violence, murder, and incendiarism. Nor
would it be a whit more pleasing or refreshing if it were
necessary to dig up as it were out of the earth the memorials
of those deeds, after they had lain for centuries in
oblivion, or if we were obliged carefully to revive them
and procure their acknowledgment in the countries which
were once compelled to bow before the power of the northern
warriors.
But what if the Danish name, and the remembrance of
the exploits of the Danes and Norwegians, in spite of the
many centuries that have passed since they were performed,
still live as fresh in the memory of the people of the
western lands as the Swedish name in Germany, nay, perhaps
even fresher? What if we found that, by means of
monuments, the popular character, public institutions, and
other traits, a constant powerful and beneficial influence
could be traced from the expeditions of the Vikings or
Northmen, so that the natives of the lands which they
subdued accounted it an honour to descend from the bold
natives of the North? Would not the Northman in that
case have a double right to be proud of his forefathers?
Or would he, upon the whole, any longer have reason to
complain?
It is the object of the following pages to convey, partly
in the form of travelling impressions, a picture of the
memorials of the Danes and Norwegians, as they exist in
the monuments and among the people of those countries
which in former times most frequently witnessed the victories
of the Danes and Normans—namely, the British
Islands. It is, however, by no means the exclusive, or
even special, design of them, to present to scholars and
persons of science detailed and critical observations on
// 023.png
.bn 023.png
every individual ancient monument in those islands,
which may be said to be of Danish or Norwegian origin.
Their aim rather is to describe the more general, and
consequently more appreciable, features of actually existing
Scandinavian monuments; in doing which a distinction
will, as far as possible, be drawn between the Danish and
the Norwegian memorials; and in general between the
influence of the Danes in England, and of the Norwegians
in Scotland and Ireland.
// 024.png
.bn 024.png
// 025.png
.bn 025.png
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=daneseng
THE | DANES IN ENGLAND.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s01
Section I.
.ce 2
Nature of the Country.—Earlier Inhabitants: Britons, Romans, and
Anglo-Saxons.
The greater part of England consists of flat and fertile
lowland, particularly towards the southern and eastern
coasts, where large open plains extend themselves. Smiling
landscapes, with well-cultivated fields, beautiful ranges
of forest, and small clear lakes everywhere meet the eye.
One would often be led to fancy oneself in some Danish
province, if the splendid country seats, with their extensive
parks, the numerous towns, the smoking factories, and the
locomotive engines, with their trains darting continually to
and fro, did not remind one of being in that land, which,
with regard to riches and commerce, stands first in Europe.
The plains are watered by noble and smooth-flowing rivers,
which receive in their protecting embraces the thousands
of ships which from all quarters seek the coasts of England.
The winter is considerably milder than in our northern
regions; and the sea air, not permitting the snow to lie for
any length of time, renders the climate, on the whole,
warmer. In summer the fields are clothed with the most
luxuriant verdure. The leafy woods, with their numerous
oaks, are filled with singing birds. The charm that is
// 026.png
.bn 026.png
extended over English scenery, united with that freshness
of life that stirs itself on all sides, cannot fail to make a
deep impression on every foreigner. One feels in its full
extent that the nature of the country presents all the
requisites for greatness to a powerful and undegenerate
people; and one no longer requires an explanation why it
was not till after a desperate struggle that the ancient
Britons relinquished it, or why, in after times, various
nations strove with their utmost efforts for the possession
of such a land.
The farther one travels towards the north or west of
England, the mountains become higher, the valleys narrower,
and the streams more rapid. In the north, however,
the mountains rather resemble high hills. They do
not tower in broken masses like the granite cliffs of
Scandinavia. Their forms are softer and more undulating,
and they are, too, clothed with a rich vegetation, and
frequently overgrown with wood. In Cumberland and
Westmorland are inwreathed those charming lakes whose
beauties constantly attract a number of tourists. Even
the ridge of the Cheviot Hills is not much more than about
two thousand feet above the level of the sea: but stretching
from east-north-east to west-south-west, with the river
Tweed on one side, and the Solway firth on the other, they
form a natural boundary between England and Scotland.
Farthest towards the west rise the mountains of Wales,
England’s real highland. The valleys here are short and
narrow, yet the country has not the wildness of mountain
tracts. Although it contains England’s highest mountain,
Snowdon, whose summit is nearly three thousand five
hundred feet above the sea, still it unites the charms of
plain and mountain. The whole of Wales may be regarded
as a knot of mountains opposed by nature to the enormous
waves of the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea. The middle
is the highest part, whence rivers flow towards the east
and west; the latter of which, after a short and foaming
course, discharge themselves into the sea. The extent of
// 027.png
.bn 027.png
the country, both in length and breadth, is, on the whole,
inconsiderable.
This little mountain tract, which, in comparison with
England, is poor as regards fertility, but all the richer in
natural beauties, contains the last remains of the former
masters of England, the Celtic Britons. By its remote
situation, its rocks and narrow mountain passes, the characteristics
of its former inhabitants have been preserved
to our times. The people speak the ancient Welsh language,
a branch of the Celtic stock; and have also inherited
no small share of that burning hatred which their
forefathers nourished against the English, who gained
possession of their original fatherland by force.
Wales was united to England as early as the close of
the thirteenth century; yet for ages later the Britons knew
how to keep their country almost closed against the intrusion
of strangers; whilst the harpers, by their ancient
songs, kept alive the remembrance of past exploits and
past disasters, and thus, as it were, still more hedged in
and protected the language and nationality of the people.
It was not till later times, when high roads, and at present
railroads, began to open a more frequent intercourse between
Wales and England, that the tones of the harp
became almost entirely mute. The Welsh language gave
way more and more to the English, and the time can
hardly be far distant when the Celtic will become entirely
extinct in Wales, as it has long been in Cornwall.
The people, whose scanty remnant thus spend the last
days of their old age among the Welsh mountains, formerly
belonged, both by possessions and kinship, to the most
powerful in Europe. Not only were the Scotch and the
Irish of the same origin with them, but on the other side of
the channel, throughout Gaul, or France, Spain, and the
middle and south of Europe, dwelt tribes of the Celtic
race. Until about the time of the birth of Christ there
was no people north of the Alps, which, with regard to
power, agriculture, commerce, skill in the arts, and civilization
// 028.png
.bn 028.png
in general, could equal, much less surpass, the Celts.
Yet they were not strong enough to clip the wings of the
Roman eagle, when it began to extend them over the Alps.
The superior military skill and higher civilization of the
Romans, triumphed over the various Celtic tribes, which
were torn by internal dissensions, and could not once, even
under the danger which menaced them, faithfully unite
together. Shortly after the birth of Christ, therefore, the
Roman hosts had already gained a footing in Britain, and,
notwithstanding the violent and repeated attacks of the
natives, soon made themselves masters of the country.
They even fought their way to Scotland; where, however,
the wild highlands, and their brave inhabitants, the Caledonians,
arrested their victorious march. The Romans
were now obliged to erect walls, ramparts, and towers, in
order to prevent the highland Scots from uniting with the
Britons, and to avert the speedy loss of the land which
they had already won. Throughout Britain they laid the
foundations of a civilization till then unknown there.
They promoted agriculture, commerce, and trade; they
made roads, and built towns and castles; and, as they had
not immigrated in any great multitudes, they left the
inhabitants in tolerably quiet possession of the soil of their
forefathers.
But the Roman power fell in turn. It was natural that
their dominion in so distant and sequestered a land as
Britain should decay sooner and more easily than elsewhere,
especially as the British chiefs did not fail immediately
to revive the old disputes. Their rude neighbours
in Scotland, the Picts and Scots, no longer restrained by
fear of the Romans, made serious and devastating inroads
upon the northern provinces of England, where no slight
degree of riches and splendour already prevailed. The
Britons, moreover, under the dominion of the Romans, had,
like their kinsmen across the channel, already begun to
grow cowardly and effeminate. Long oppression had given
the power of the Celts a death-blow: and they were consequently
// 029.png
.bn 029.png
unable to withstand the powerful and undegenerate
tribes of Germany, which now, in the great tide of emigration
from the east and north of Europe, rushed into the
old Celtic countries, and made themselves new abodes,
either, for the most part, putting the ancient inhabitants
to death, or reducing them to a state of thraldom.
In the fifth century Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, from
North Germany and the peninsula of Jutland, invaded
Britain. The unfortunate Britons, when they would not
submit to their conquerors, were persecuted with fire and
sword, and were at last driven to the remote mountain
districts in the West of England, particularly Cumberland
(the land of the Cymbri or Celts), Wales, and Cornwall.
After a sanguinary war, which lasted more than a hundred
and fifty years, all their fine fruitful plains fell into the
hands of their foreign conquerors, who continually brought
more and more of their countrymen over, to build up again
and inhabit the burnt or destroyed towns and houses, and
to cultivate the neglected fields. The Angles settled
principally in the north of England, the Saxons in the
south and south-west, and mingled amongst both dwelt
the Jutes, who do not appear to have been numerous
enough to occupy large districts of their own. Under the
common name of “Anglo-Saxons,” the descendants of these
nations continued for several centuries to be the reigning
people, although the Britons did not cease to make harassing
invasions on the frontiers of their hereditary enemies.
For the rest, the Saxons successfully continued what the
Romans had begun, with regard to the improvement of the
land, and the promotion of civilization among the people.
They were, it is true, divided into several tribes and
smaller kingdoms, which not unfrequently warred against
each other. But Christianity soon began to extend itself,
and about the time of its introduction the separate kingdoms
were united into one. Churches and convents rose
with surprising rapidity throughout the country, and the
pursuits of peace, science, and art, throve luxuriantly.
// 030.png
.bn 030.png
Every plant, though foreign, flourished vigorously in the
English soil.
In the first ages, however, Christianity produced
among the people, as was the case in other countries
besides England, a sort of degeneracy and weakness.
Instead of the din of battle of the heathens there were
now heard songs and prayers, which, joined with the
constantly-increasing refinement, made the people dull and
effeminate, so that they willingly bent under the yoke of
their masters, both spiritual and temporal. In the ninth,
tenth, and eleventh centuries the Anglo-Saxons had greatly
degenerated from their forefathers. Relatives sold one
another into thraldom; lewdness and ungodliness were
become habitual; and cowardice had increased to such a
degree, that, according to the old chroniclers, one Dane
would often put ten Anglo-Saxons to flight. Before such
a people could be conducted to true freedom and greatness
it was necessary that an entirely new vigour should be
infused into the decayed stock.
This vigour was derived from the Scandinavian north,
where neither Romans nor any other conquerors had
domineered over the people, and where heathenism with
all its roughness, and all its love of freedom and bravery,
still held absolute sway.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s02
Section II.
.ce
The Danish Expeditions.—The Danish Conquest.
A fate similar to that which the Anglo-Saxons had formerly
brought upon the Britons, now partly became the
lot of the Anglo-Saxons themselves. The same sea, the
North Sea, or, as the old inhabitants of Scandinavia called
it, “England’s Sea,” which in the fifth century had borne
the Anglo-Saxons to England, and which had afterwards
served to maintain the peaceful connections of trade,
// 031.png
.bn 031.png
and the intercourse between kinsmen in England and in
their northern fatherland, now suddenly teemed with the
numberless barks of the Vikings, which, from the close of
the eighth century, constantly showed themselves in all the
harbours and rivers of England. For about three centuries
the Danes were the terror of the Anglo-Saxons. They
generally anchored their ships at the mouths of rivers, or
lay under the islands on the coasts. Thence they would
sail up the rivers to the interior of the country, where they
frequently mounted on horseback, and conveyed themselves
with incredible speed from one place to another. Their
frightful sabre-cuts resounded everywhere. Their progress
was marked by the burning of churches and convents,
castles, and towns; and great multitudes of people were
either killed or dragged away into slavery. In a short
time they began to take up their abode in the country for
the winter, and in the spring they renewed their destructive
incursions. The terrified inhabitants imagined they
beheld a judgment of God in the devastations of the
Vikings, which had been foretold in ancient prophecies.
Not even the remote and poorer districts of Wales were
spared. It is true that it was extremely difficult for the
Danes to force an entrance on the land side, and, in order
to do so by sea, it was necessary to make a troublesome
and dangerous voyage round the long-extended peninsula
formed by the modern Cornwall and Devonshire. In
general its rivers were not large or navigable, and the
number of good harbours was but small. Nevertheless,
the Northmen seem to have known Wales well, as the old
land of the Britons; since it was always called “Bretland,”
to distinguish it from England. Palnatoke, the
celebrated chief of the Jomsvikings, is said to have married
there, during one of his warlike expeditions, Olöf, a
daughter of the Bretland jarl, Stefner, whose Jarledömme
(earldom) Palnatoke afterwards possessed. The Sagas
often make mention of Björn hin Bretske (Bear the Briton)
as being among his men; and it is said that when he
// 032.png
.bn 032.png
assisted at the funeral solemnities which his foster son,
King Svend Tveskjæg[#], held in honour of his father, King
Harald Blaatand[#], the half of his suite were Britons.
Svend himself had ravaged Bretland; and it was there, as
is well known, that the Icelander, Thorvald Kodransön,
surnamed Vidförle (the far-travelled), delivered him by
his noble disinterestedness from a perilous imprisonment.
.fs 85%
.fn #
Split-beard.
.fn-
.fs 100%
.fs 85%
.fn #
Blue-tooth.
.fn-
.fs 100%
The expeditions of the Danes to Bretland seem, however,
to have been confined to the tracts bordering on the
north bank of the Severn, and to the Isle of Anglesey;
which latter was not unfrequently visited by the Norwegians
in their piratical voyages to the Hebrides and
Ireland. At least the Sagas mention it as “the southernmost
region, of which former Norwegian kings had made
themselves masters;” and it was probably here that
Palnatoke had his kingdom. The very name of the island
recalls a close connection with the inhabitants of the north.
Anciently it was called “Maenige;” but the Danes and
Norwegians, with regard, clearly, to its situation by the
land of the Angles (England), gave it the name of
“Öngulsey,” or Angelsöen, whence the present form
Anglesey may, doubtless, be said to have been derived.
The connections of the Danish Vikings with Bretland
were, however, far from being always unfriendly. For as
the Britons in Wales and Cornwall constantly nourished a
lively hatred against the Anglo-Saxons, on whose lands
they continued to make war, the Danes often entered into
an alliance with them against their common enemies.
The Danish and British armies were either combined, or
else the Britons attacked from the west and south, whilst
the Danes invaded the eastern coasts. These deep and
well-laid plans show that the views of the Danes were no
longer confined to robbery and plunder, with a view to gain
booty, or to overthrow the churches and convents which
threatened their ancient gods with destruction, but that
they now seriously thought of conquering for themselves
// 033.png
.bn 033.png
new tracts of country; nay, if possible, of subjugating or
expelling the Anglo-Saxons throughout England.
Already in the ninth century the Anglo-Saxons had
receded considerably before the Danes, who had obtained
possessions on the east coast, where they quickly spread
themselves, and where fresh arriving Vikings always found
reception and assistance. The Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred
the Great, was driven from his throne, and wandered about
a long time in the forests, whilst the Danes held the
sovereignty in his dominions. He succeeded, indeed, at
length in regaining the crown; but in the mean time the
possessions of the Danes on the east coast had been extended,
and their power continually increased by the
arrival of fresh emigrants, who settled in different parts of
the country, and married the native women. Alfred, it is
true, built fleets for the protection of the coasts; but the
militia-men instituted in his time, in order to repel the
frequent attacks of the Danes, now went over to them,
accounting them their kinsmen. In Northumberland
especially, the Danes, and a considerable number of Norwegians,
had settled themselves securely under their own
chiefs. Here they had sought a refuge against the new
order of things which was now about to make itself felt in
the mother countries, Denmark and Norway.
Partly as a result of the expeditions of the Vikings, and
the frequent contact into which they were thus brought
with Christian States, Christianity began, towards A.D. 900,
to spread itself in the countries of Scandinavia. About
the same time occurred there, as in the rest of Europe, a
union of many small kingdoms under a single sovereign:
and the Scandinavian tribes were subjected to the kings of
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Some powerful and malcontent
ones had indeed migrated beyond the sea; but,
nevertheless, there were materials enough left for dissension
in the new kingdoms, before Christianity could be
generally introduced, and the power of the kings firmly
established. A time arrived when the internal struggles
// 034.png
.bn 034.png
in Denmark and Norway scarcely allowed the inhabitants
to send any availing support to their friends in Northumberland,
or to the other Danes on the coasts of England.
Towards the middle of the tenth century, therefore, the
hitherto almost independent Danish provinces in England
were compelled to submit to the Anglo-Saxon kings, whose
sovereignty, however, was but of short duration; for
after the year 980 Danish and Norwegian Vikings again
swarmed throughout England. Nor was it now, as formerly,
merely the petty kings, who, with a comparatively
inferior force, conducted these warlike expeditions. By
degrees the Danish and Norwegian kings’ sons, and even
the kings themselves, endeavoured, with large fleets and
well-appointed armies, to wrest the sceptre from the hands
of the feeble Anglo-Saxon monarchs. It was in vain that
the latter strove against them. They laid a tax on the
whole land, called Danegelt, in order to defray the great
expenses which the defence of the country against the
Danes occasioned. But the money thus raised it was
often necessary to expend in buying off the Danes, or in
supporting their victorious hosts whilst they wintered in
the country. The Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelred, after
seeing his kingdom harried and fearfully devastated by the
Danish king, Svend Tveskjæg, in conjunction with Olaf
Trygvesön, the son of the king of Norway, first succeeded
in making peace with Olaf in 995, and with Svend in
1002, after paying immense sums as Danegelt, and agreeing
to many humiliating conditions.
As a last resource against the daily-increasing number
and power of the Danes, Ethelred determined secretly and
cruelly to murder these who were settled in England.
The massacre took place on St. Bridget’s eve, the 13th of
November, 1002. Old and young, women and children,
were murdered with the most frightful tortures. Not even
the churches could protect the Christian Danes against the
fury of the Anglo-Saxons. The slaughter was, however,
confined almost exclusively to the south of England; since
// 035.png
.bn 035.png
towards the north, and particularly in Northumberland,
the population was chiefly of Danish and Norwegian
extraction.
No sooner did the news of Ethelred’s perfidious and
sanguinary act reach Denmark, than a strong fleet
was fitted out, and in the following year (1003) the
Danish flag waved on the coasts of England. After
numerous sanguinary battles, the Anglo-Saxons were compelled
to submit to Svend Tveskjæg and Canute. What
could not be conquered by force of arms was obtained
through prudence and cunning. The Danish conquest of
England was completed, and for about one generation
Danish kings wore the English crown.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s03
Section III.
.ce
The Thames.—London.
London, and its wealthy neighbourhood, was naturally the
main object of the Danish attacks in the south-east part of
England. Under the Romans it had already become considerable
as a commercial mart; but afterwards, under the
Anglo-Saxons, it increased so much in wealth and importance,
that it was, if we may use the expression, the heart
of England. It was for this reason that the old northern
bards used the term “Londons Drot” in their songs
about the kings of England. From the first London is
undoubtedly indebted for its greatness chiefly to its situation
on the Thames, which opened an easy communication
both with the opposite shores of the Continent and with
the interior of England. In our days it is certainly a
remarkable sight to observe the numberless ships that
assemble there from all parts of the world, and to mark the
activity that everywhere prevails on the beautiful shores of
the river. But it becomes doubly remarkable when we
// 036.png
.bn 036.png
recollect that this spectacle is neither a new one, nor has
arisen under a single people; but that it has been repeated,
in a somewhat altered form, for about two thousand
years, under the most different circumstances: namely,
under the dominion of the Britons, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons,
the Danes, and the Normans. In this respect
there is no river whatsoever that can be compared with the
Thames. Had it not been one of the most, or indeed
quite the most, favourably situated stream in Europe for
commerce, the greatest commercial city in the world would
hardly have risen on its banks.
But just as the Thames brought, in the olden times,
numerous merchant vessels, and, along with them, wealth
and prosperity to the south of England, so must it also
have frequently drawn down ruin on the surrounding districts,
since it attracted thither almost all the Vikings who
sought for booty and conquest. Nature herself has cut a
deep bay into the eastern coast of England, at the mouth
of the Thames, and thus pointed out to the Vikings the
way they should pursue. The ships of the Danish Vikings
constantly swarmed at the mouth of the Thames.
“When they were not strong enough to sail up the river and
attack London, or when the winter approached, they
anchored under the coast, in places where they could lie in
wait for and seize the merchantmen, and whence they
could easily reach the open sea, if attacked by too superior
a force. Some of their most important stations were
under the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, and the Isle of Sheppey,
(Anglo-Saxon, Sceapige, or the Sheep Island,)
which lies at the mouth of the Thames. Thus these
islands, whose remote situation rendered them sufficiently
dangerous before, suffered doubly from the ravages committed
by the Vikings on the coasts. Another place near
the Thames, where the northern Vikings and conquerors
generally landed when they harried the south of England,
and where they often wintered, was the present Sandwich,
in Kent. As it was an important landing-place even in
// 037.png
.bn 037.png
the times of the Romans, they had already fortified it.
Sandwich (Ang.-Sax., Wic en Stad) became in the
mouths of the Northmen “Sandvic,” or the sandy bay; an
appellation which perfectly agrees with the nature of the
place. We find the same name for places in Orkney and
the Shetland Isles, in Iceland, and Norway. From Sandwich
it was but a few miles to Canterbury (in the northern
tongue “Kantaraborg”), which, being a rich bishopric, was
on that account exposed to remorseless plunder. In the
year 1011 especially, the Jarl Thorkel the Tall, visited it
with fire and sword. Christchurch, the principal church
in England, was burnt down; the monks were put to
death, and only one in ten of the citizens spared. Many,
and among them Archbishop Elfeg, who was afterwards
cruelly murdered, were cast into prison.
To the south of Canterbury, on the channel, lies
“Dungeness;” and at the mouth of the Thames, “Foulness,”
and “Sheerness.” The termination ness, in these
names, seems to be neither Saxon, nor Celtic, but plainly
the Danish and Norwegian Næs (a promontory, or lofty
tongue of land, running out into the sea).
The nearer we approach London by the Thames, the
more memorials we find of the Danes. Just before we
reach the metropolis, we sail past Greenwich on the
left, called by the northmen “Grenvik” (nearer, perhaps,
“Granvigen,” the pine-bay), whose celebrated hospital
contains in our days a little host of England’s superannuated
seamen, who have fought in defence of her
honour, and who, supported by the public, enjoy an old
age free from care. In the eleventh century Grenvik was
also for a long time the resting-place of a host of naval
warriors, who were supported at the public expense; but
that was a host of bold Danish Vikings, who, after having
fearfully devastated England under their chief, Jarl
Thorkel the Tall, had now, in 1011, allowed themselves
to be bought off for an immense sum of money, and to
settle down peaceably in the service of the English
// 038.png
.bn 038.png
king Ethelred. From this time it became the custom for
the English monarchs to have continually a standing
army, composed mostly of Danes, “Huskarlene,” or
“Thingmen,” as they were called (Þingmannalið), whose
duty it was to keep the country quiet, and to defend it
against foreign invasion; whence they sometimes came to
fight against their own countrymen. King Athelstan (925-941)
had, however, almost a century earlier, made use of
Danish warriors to suppress revolt in his kingdom; for
which purpose it was ordered that one of these men should
be maintained in every house, in order that they might be
always ready for the king’s service. The Thingmen were
to the English kings much what the Varangians were to
the Greek emperors in Constantinople. They had certain
rights and privileges, and later, in particular, two places
were assigned to them for their headquarters—London
in the south of England; and in the north, Slesvig
(Nottinghamshire). Under King Canute, they played,
as is well known, a considerable part.
The name of Canute the Great is connected not only
with the town of Brentford (Brandfurda), on the Thames,
near the western parts of London, and with Ashingdon
(Assatun), in Essex, to the north-east of London, and,
as the legend says, to the north of “Daneskoven” (the
Danish forest), in which places he fought bloody battles
with Edmund Ironsides, before he subdued England;
but it is also connected in the closest manner with London
itself.
When I sailed up the Thames for the first time, and
when at length, above a forest of masts, the gray turrets
of the Tower appeared on one side, and London Bridge in
the distance, I was involuntarily led to recall the time
when King Canute long lay in vain with his ships before
the fortress and bridge of the metropolis, whilst a great
part of the rest of England submitted to his sway. London
Bridge was defended by three castles, one of which
stood on the bridge itself. The Danes attempted to dig
// 039.png
.bn 039.png
a canal round the foot of the bridge; and though Canute,
who was well supported by Thorkel the Tall, and by Erik
Jarl, the Norwegian, is said to have resumed the siege
several times, yet it was by negociation alone that he seems
to have obtained possession of London.
Even amid the varied impressions created by the metropolis
of the world, I could not forget—and what Dane
could?—that it was chiefly here that for a long period the
Northmen found, as it were, another home, from which
they returned to their native land enriched by fresh knowledge,
and on the whole with a higher degree of civilization,
which they afterwards turned to account in the
north; that it was here that not a few of the most zealous
promoters and defenders of Christianity in Scandinavia,
and amongst them particularly the Norwegian king, Olaf
Trygvesön, had dwelt before they began the work of conversion;
that it was here, lastly, that several Danish
chieftains, and especially Canute the Great, had played
the sovereign, and held their court, surrounded by the
Thingmen and the bards, who in those times usually
accompanied the northern kings. On surveying London,
its proud river, and beautiful uplands, one cannot help
doubly admiring the power of that king, who, at a distance
from his native land, was not only able to command all
this, as well as the whole of England, but Norway and
Denmark in addition. One feels the truth of the words of
the Saga about Canute: “Of all kings that have spoken
the Danish tongue, he was the mightiest, and the one that
reigned over the greatest kingdoms.”
Although London was at that time one of the most considerable
towns in Europe, it was of course but very small
compared with what it is at present. The walls inclosed
only that proportionally small part of modern London
called the “City,” and which forms the centre of its busy
commerce. Close by lay a castle (whence the Northmen’s
name for London, “Lundunaborg”), and undoubtedly on
the same spot where, not long after Canute’s time, William
// 040.png
.bn 040.png
the Conqueror built the Tower. Somewhat higher up the Thames, on an
island which, from the many thorns growing there, obtained the name of
Thorney (Anglo-Saxon, Thornege), or the Thorn Island, stood
another castle, said to have been inhabited at different times by
Canute. This island, in whose name we find both the Anglo-Saxon
ege, and afterwards the northern ey (island), and which is
therefore sometimes very incorrectly called Thorney Island, has
now lost both its ancient name and appearance. Under the name of
Westminster, it forms at present a continuous part of London.
The Dane who wanders through this immense city, will
not only be reminded by such names as “Denmark Court,”
“Denmark Street,” and “Copenhagen Street,” and by
monuments in St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey, of the
sanguinary battles which have taken place in modern times
between England and Denmark, as well as of the older
ties of friendship, which for a long time found increased
support by means of the relationship and reciprocal marriages
which occurred in the reigning families of the two
countries; but he will also find traces even to this day, of
the power and influence which his forefathers, both before
and after King Canute’s time, possessed in the most
important commercial city of wealthy England.
Approaching the city from the west end, through the
great street called “the Strand,” we see, close outside the
old gate of Temple Bar, a church called St. Clement’s
Danes, from which the surrounding parish derives its
name. In the early part of the middle ages this church
was called in Latin, “Ecclesia Sancti Clementis Danorum,”
or, “the Danes’ Church of St. Clement.” It was here that
the Danes in London formerly had their own burial-place;
in which reposed the remains of Canute the Great’s son
and next successor, Harald Harefoot. When, in 1040,
Hardicanute ascended the throne after his brother Harald,
he caused Harald’s corpse to be disinterred from its tomb
in Westminster Abbey, and thrown into the Thames;
// 041.png
.bn 041.png
where it was found by a fisherman, and afterwards buried,
it is said, “in the Danes’ churchyard in London.” From
the churchyard it was subsequently removed into a round
tower, which ornamented the church before it was rebuilt
at the close of the seventeenth century.
It has, indeed, been supposed by some that this church
was called after the Danes only because so many Danes
have been buried in it; but as it is situated close by the
Thames, and must have originally lain outside the city
walls, in the western suburbs, and consequently outside of
London proper, it is certainly put beyond all doubt, that
the Danish merchants and mariners who, for the sake of
trade, were at that time established in or near London,
had here a place of their own, in which they dwelt together
as fellow-countrymen. Here it should also be
remarked, that this church, like others in commercial
towns, as, for instance, at Aarhuus in Jutland, at Trondhjem
in Norway, and even in the city of London (in East
Cheap), was consecrated to St. Clement, who was especially
the seaman’s patron saint. The Danes naturally preferred
to bury their dead in this church, which was their proper
parish church.
The Danes and Norwegians also possessed an important
place of trade on the southern shore of the Thames, opposite
the city—in Southwark, as it is called, which was
first incorporated with London, as part of the city, in the
middle ages. The very name of Southwark, which is unmistakably
of Danish or Norwegian origin, is evidence of this.
The Sagas relate that, in the time of King Svend Tveskjæg,
the Danes fortified this trading place; which, evidently on
account of its situation to the south of the Thames and
London, was called “Sydvirke” (Sudrvirki), or the
southern fortification. From Sudrvirki, which in Anglo-Saxon
was called Suð-geweorc, but which in the middle
ages obtained the name of Suthwerk or Suwerk, arose the
present form, Southwark, through small and gradual
changes in the pronunciation. The Northmen had a
// 042.png
.bn 042.png
church in Sydvirke dedicated to the Norwegian king, Olaf
the Saint. Olaf, who fell in the battle of Stiklestad, in
1030, was so celebrated a saint that churches were built
in his honour, not only in Norway, where he became the
patron saint of the kingdom, and in the rest of Scandinavia,
but also in almost every place where the Northmen
established themselves; nay, even in distant Constantinople
the Varangians had a church called after him.
There is still a street in Southwark, close by London
Bridge and the Thames, which bears the significant name
of Tooley Street, a corruption of St. Olave’s Street. On
the northern side stands a church, called St. Olave’s
Church, and which is found mentioned by that name
as early as the close of the thirteenth century.
Within the city, in what may be strictly called ancient
London, where the Sagas already mention a St. Olaf’s
Church, there are to be found at this day no fewer than
three churches consecrated to St. Olave: namely, in Silver
Street; at the north-west corner of Seething Lane, Tower
Street; and in the Old Jewry (St. Olave’s Upwell). The
two last-named stand in the eastern extremities of the
city, yet within its ancient boundaries. In the same
neighbourhood, near London Bridge, there is also a church
dedicated to St. Magnus the Martyr, which likewise undoubtedly
owes its origin to the Northmen, either the
Norwegians or Danes. St. Magnus was a Norwegian jarl,
who was killed in the twelfth century in Orkney, where
the cathedral in Kirkwall is also consecrated to him.
That so many churches in London should be named after
these Norwegian saints, Olaf and Magnus, who, moreover,
were not canonized till after the death of Canute the
Great, and the overthrow of the Danish dominion in
England, furnishes no mean evidence of the influence
of the Northmen in London. It confirms in a remarkable
manner the truth of the old statements, that the Danes
who dwelt in London could at times even turn the scales
at the election of a king; as, for instance, after the death
// 043.png
.bn 043.png
of Canute the Great. An English chronicler, speaking
of the power of the Danes at that period, adds, that the
citizens of London had, by reason of their frequent intercourse
with “the barbarians” (the Danes), almost adopted
their manners and customs. And it was, indeed, natural
that the long voyages of the Northmen, and the important
commerce carried on between the countries of Scandinavia
and England, should have long secured to the northern
merchants an influential position in a city like London,
which was in the highest degree a commercial city, and
particularly when these merchants had once been established
there in great numbers.
But the most striking and remarkable memorial of the
early power of the Danes and other Northmen in London
is this—that the highest tribunal in the city has retained
to our days its pure old northern name “Husting.” The
word Thing, whereby, as is well known, both deliberative
and judicial assemblies were designated in the north from
the earliest times, does not seem to have been employed by
the Anglo-Saxons in that signification, or at all events not
before the Danish expeditions and Danish immigrations
into England. The Anglo-Saxons used in that sense the
term gemót, as in “Witena-gemót,” which was the name
of their parliament. Husthings are also especially mentioned
in the Sagas as having been held in the north, particularly
by kings, jarls, and other powerful individuals.
The Husthing in London was originally established in
order to protect and guard the laws and liberties of the
city and the customs of the courts of judicature; and
the principal magistrates were judges. In the Latin of
the middle ages it is said of a person who attended there—“Comparuit
in Hustingo.” A similar Husting was also
formerly found in the Isle of Sheppey, at the mouth of the
Thames.
London, beneath whose walls and gates the Danes have
fought numerous battles with various success, contains
within it memorials both of their greatest power and
// 044.png
.bn 044.png
of the decay of their dominion. On the same side of the
Thames as Sydvirke, or Southwark, but somewhat higher
up, lies Lambeth (formerly Lambythe, Lambgathre), which
is now a part of London, and the residence of the Primate
of England, but which in olden times was a village outside
the capital. At a country-house there a Danish jarl celebrated
his marriage in the year 1042. King Hardicanute,
with a number of his followers, was present at the banquet;
but just as he was drinking to the bride, he suddenly fell
to the ground, in a fit of apoplexy, and shortly afterwards
breathed his last at the age of only twenty-six years.
Hardicanute was the last Danish king in England.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s04
Section IV.
.ce 2
Watlinga-Stræt.—South England.—Legends about the Danes.—The
graves of Canute the Great and Hardicanute.
In the heart of the city of London, near St. Paul’s
Cathedral, is a street called “Watling Street.” Anciently
it was connected with the great high road of the same
name (or more properly Watlinga-Stræt), which had been
made by the Britons from the Channel and London
through the midst of England to the north-east of Wales,
Chester, and the Irish Channel. On account of the
importance of this road, as communicating with the interior
of England as well as with Ireland, the Romans
improved it. But, like most of the high roads of ancient
times, it was carried over heights, with the constant view
of avoiding streams which would require the erection of
bridges. It followed, as nearly as possible, the natural
division of the watercourse in England, or the ridge of
the land watershed whence rivers take their course in all
directions.
About the year 1000 this road not only showed the
natural boundary between the northern and southern river-valleys,
but likewise indicated in the clearest possible
// 045.png
.bn 045.png
manner a political boundary between the inhabitants of
different extraction, and different manners and customs.
The districts to the north and east of this road belonged
for the most part to the so-called “Dena-lagu,” or “Dane-lagh,”
that is, the Dane’s community (from lag, whence
in the north itself, in Norway, for instance, Thröndelagen,
and in Sweden, Roslagen). For here the Danes, and
other conquerors or immigrants of Scandinavian origin,
had gradually subdued and expelled the Anglo-Saxons,
and here the Danish laws, habits, and customs, chiefly
prevailed.
In the districts to the south, on the contrary, the repulsed
Anglo-Saxons had concentrated the last remnants of
their former power. A great number of wealthy and leading
Danes were indeed also settled here, either in the country,
or, with a view to commerce, in the principal towns on the
coast; as in Winchester, which, like London, long had its
“Husting;” Exeter, where a church was in later times
dedicated to St. Olave; and Bristol. But, out of London,
the Danes scarcely formed at that time any really strong
and united power in the south of England. The predominating
people was the Anglo-Saxon, and in general
the old Saxon characteristics had been preserved.
To the south of Watlinga-Stræt, which had already
often been agreed upon between the Danish conquerors
and the Anglo-Saxon kings as the boundary between the
Danish and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Edmund Ironsides
received his share of England by agreement with Canute.
It was in these districts that the Anglo-Saxon kings had
always found their truest and most numerous adherents,
and they had therefore generally been the theatre of the
more important battles between the Anglo-Saxons and the
Danes. Near Wareham, in Dorsetshire, Alfred purchased
peace with a host of the latter, who swore on their armlets
to observe it; but, though this oath was regarded by the
Danes as very sacred, they are said to have broken it
immediately. During his exile Alfred concealed himself
// 046.png
.bn 046.png
for a long time at Athelney, in Somersetshire; and near
Eddington he again beat the Danes. In the neighbourhood
of Athelney, Alfred also induced Gudrun (Gorm),
the king of the Danish Vikings, to receive baptism. The
oppressed inhabitants were in these parts scarcely ever
free from the devastating attacks of the Vikings and conquerors.
The Danes frequently established themselves in
castles near the coast, as at Exeter, in Devonshire; Dorchester
and Wareham, in Dorsetshire; Winchester, in
Hampshire; and Chichester, in Sussex. At Southampton,
in Hampshire, and under the Isle of Wight, they generally
wintered with large fleets. Thence they made incursions
into the land of the Anglo-Saxons; and if they could not
entirely expel them, and colonize the south of England
in their stead, they at least endeavoured to weaken and
exhaust it as much as possible.
On the whole, it would not have been very easy for the
Danes to settle themselves entirely in any parts of the
south, or south-west, of England; not even on the coasts
near the harbours, though regularly visited by the ships of
the Norwegian Vikings. The inhabitants in these parts were
mostly of pure Saxon descent, and consequently already prejudiced
against the Danes, on account of the old disputes
between the Scandinavian and Saxon races; at all events,
they somewhat differed from the Danes in character, manners,
and customs. These districts were, besides, too remote
from Denmark; and in case of an attack from the
Anglo-Saxons, which might naturally be expected to take
place, assistance might come too late. The Danes were not
so safe there as on the east coast of England, which lay opposite
to Jutland, and where, if any danger threatened them, a
ship could easily be sent with a message to their friends over
the sea, so that, with a tolerably favourable wind, a strong
fleet could be speedily brought within sight of the Anglo-Saxons.
The Angles, whose descendants inhabited these
eastern and northern districts, seem too, with regard to
language and national manners, to have borne a greater
// 047.png
.bn 047.png
resemblance to the Danes than the inhabitants of any
other part of England, so that it was by no means difficult
for the Danes speedily to amalgamate with them. In addition
to this, the eastern coasts offered much the same
allurements to the Danes as the more southern provinces.
They were remarkable for their fertility and for the riches
of their inhabitants, acquired as well by agriculture as by
trade with Saxony, Belgium, and Gaul. Precisely on the
east coast, indeed, were situated at that time some of the
largest commercial towns in England.
It is not surprising, therefore, that, with the exception
of London and its environs, there are not found in the
south of England, as is the case farther north, many
names of places of well-defined Danish or Norwegian
origin, which have preserved the old northern forms down
to the present day, and which thus clearly testify that a
genuine Scandinavian population must long have lived
there. It is only at the extremities of the coasts that an
occasional promontory, or “Næs,” and small islands whose
names end in ey and holm, remind one of the Northmen;
as Flatholmes (Dan., Fladholmene) and Steepholmes in
the Severn, where there are said to be remains of Danish
fortifications; Grasholm (Dan., Græsholm), to the west
of Pembrokeshire; Bardsey, west of Caernarvonshire;
Priestholm (Dan., Præsteholm), near the northern inlet of
the Menai Straits; and several others.
In the south of England one cannot discover any
striking resemblance to the Danes either in the language,
features, or frame of body of the people. What they
have chiefly left behind them here is a name, which will
certainly never be entirely eradicated from the people’s
memory. Centuries after the Danish dominion was overthrown
in England, the dread of the Danes was handed
down from one generation to another, and even to this day
they occupy a considerable share in the remembrance of
the English nation. Throughout England the common
people—nay, even a great number of the more educated
// 048.png
.bn 048.png
classes—know of no other inhabitants of the north of
Europe than “the Danes;” and as they include under this
name both Swedes and Norwegians, the idea of the unity
of Scandinavia has unconsciously taken root amongst them.
That they have so implicitly awarded the first place in Scandinavia
to the Danes, has not originated solely from the fact
that, anciently, the Danes were really regarded as the leading
people in the north—whence also the old Norwegian
language was often called “dönsk tunga” (Danish tongue);
nor because the Danes at that time undoubtedly exercised
a more important influence on the British Isles than the
other inhabitants of the north; it may, likewise, have
arisen from the circumstance that, partly in consequence
of its situation, Denmark has continued to stand, even
down to our time, in much closer relations both of peace
and war with England, than Sweden has; and that the
separation of Norway from Denmark is still too recent an
event to have completely penetrated to the knowledge of
the less informed part of the English people. Even had
the remembrance of the Danes in England lain slumbering
there, such events as the battle in Copenhagen roads in
1801, and the seizure of the Danish fleet in 1807, must
at once have brought all the old tales respecting the
doings of the Danes in England to the lips of the English
people.
Legends about “the Danes” are very much disseminated
among the people, even in the south of England. There
is scarce a parish that has not in some way or another
preserved the remembrance of them. Sometimes they are
recorded to have burnt churches and castles, and to have
destroyed towns, whose inhabitants were put to the sword;
sometimes they are said to have burnt or cut down
forests; here are shown the remains of large earthen
mounds and fortifications which they erected; there, again,
places are pointed out where bloody battles were fought
with them. To this must be added the names of places;
as, the Danes-walls, the Danish forts, the Dane-field, the
// 049.png
.bn 049.png
Dane-forest, the Danes-banks, and many others of the like
kind. Traces of Danish castles and ramparts are not only
found in the southern and south-eastern parts of England,
but also quite in the south-west, in Devonshire and Cornwall,
where, under the name of Castelton Danis, they are
particularly found on the sea coast. In the chalk cliffs,
near Uffington, in Berkshire, is carved an enormous figure
of a horse, more than 300 feet in length; which, the
common people say, was executed in commemoration of
a victory that King Alfred gained over the Danes in that
neighbourhood. On the heights, near Eddington, were
shown not long since the entrenchments, which, it was
asserted, the Danes had thrown up in the battle with Alfred.
On the plain near Ashdon, in Essex, where it was
formerly thought that the battle of Ashingdon had taken
place, are to be seen some large Danish barrows, which
were long, but erroneously, said to contain the bones of
the Danes who had fallen in it. The so-called dwarf-alder
(Sambucus ebulus), which has red buds, and bears
red berries, is said in England to have germinated from
the blood of the fallen Danes. It is therefore also called
Daneblood and Danewort, and flourishes principally in the
neighbourhood of Warwick; where it is said to have
sprung from, and been dyed by, the blood shed there,
when Canute the Great took and destroyed the town.
Monuments, the origin of which is in reality unknown,
are, in the popular traditions, almost constantly attributed
to the Danes. If the spade or the plough brings
ancient arms and pieces of armour to light, it is rare that the
labourer does not suppose them to have belonged to that
people. But particularly if bones or joints of unusual size
are found, they are at once concluded to be the remains of
the gigantic Danes, whose immense bodily strength and
never-failing courage had so often inspired their forefathers
with terror. For though the Englishman has
stories about the cruelties of the ancient Danes, their
// 050.png
.bn 050.png
barbarousness, their love of drinking, and other vices,
he has still preserved no slight degree of respect for
Danish bravery and Danish achievements. “As brave
as a Dane” is said to have been an old phrase in England;
just as “to strike like a Dane” was, not long since, a
proverb at Rome. Even in our days Englishmen readily
acknowledge that the Danes are “the best sailors on the
Continent;” nay even that, themselves of course excepted,
they are “the best and bravest sailors in all the world.”
It is, therefore, doubly natural that English legends should
dwell with singular partiality on the memorials of the
Danes’ overthrow. Even the popular ballads revived and
glorified the victories of the English. Down to the very
latest times was heard in Holmesdale, in Surrey, on the
borders of Kent, a song about a battle which the Danes had
lost there in the tenth century.
Amidst the many memorials of “the bloody Danes,”
the name of Canute the Great lives in glorious remembrance
amongst the English people. It is significant that
later times have ascribed to Canute the honour of important
public undertakings for the common benefit, which,
however, at most, he can only have continued and forwarded.
In the once marshy districts towards the
middle of the east coast of England, there is a ditch
several miles long, called the Devil’s dyke (in Cambridgeshire),
the formation of which is by some attributed to
Canute, although it existed in the time of Edward the
Elder. Canute’s name is also given to a very long road
over the morasses near Peterborough (Kinges or Cnutsdelfe),
although it was made before his reign. Canute’s
name is also preserved in Canewdon (Canuti domus), near
London, and close by the battle-field of Ashingdon, in
Essex, where he is said to have frequently resided. In
like manner a bird, said to have been brought into
England from Denmark, has been called after him Knot
(Lat., Tringa Canutus seu Islandica).
// 051.png
.bn 051.png
It may be asserted, with truth, that not many English
kings have left a better name behind them than Canute.
He does not owe this only to the favour he showed the
clergy, the authors of most of the chronicles of ancient
times. He acquired it by his numerous and excellent
laws, by the power he exerted in restoring order and tranquillity
in the kingdom, by his wisdom in suppressing the
ancient animosities between the Danes and Anglo-Saxons,
as well as by the care he took to promote the knowledge
and piety of his people. He issued severe laws against
heathenism, and endeavoured to wipe out the traces of
his forefathers’ devastations by re-building convents and
churches. He even caused the corpse of Archbishop
Elfeg, so cruelly murdered by the followers of Thorkel
the Tall, to be conveyed with great solemnity from London
to Canterbury, and deposited in the cathedral. To these
traits may be added his many excellent personal qualities,
his sincere repentance for the acts of violence which he
committed in the heat of passion, and his profound humility
before God. The story of his shaming some of his
courtiers, who flattered him when walking on the seashore
whilst the tide was flowing, is, if possible, still
better known in England than in Denmark. It would
be difficult to find any one who is not acquainted with all
the particulars of it, and who has not heard it stated that
Canute, from that very day, placed his golden crown on
the altar of Winchester cathedral, and never wore it more.
This is one of those traits of true nobility and greatness
of soul that are imperishable in all times and ages.
Canute was first buried in the old convent of St. Peter’s
at Winchester; but his body was afterwards removed into
the grand choir of the cathedral, where both his and his
son Hardicanute’s tombs are still to be seen. Over Hardicanute’s,
in the wall that surrounds the middle of the
choir, was placed (1661) a stone, on which a ship is carved,
and the following inscription:—
// 052.png
.bn 052.png
.pm quote-centered-start
Qui jacet hic regni sceptrum tulit Hardicanutus;
Emmæ Cnutonis gnatus et ipse fuit.
In hac cista Lo. 1661. Obiit A.D. 1042.
.pm quote-centered-end
Or, “Hardicanute, who lies here, and who was a son of Emma and
Canute, bore the kingdom’s sceptre. He died in the year of our Lord
1042, and was placed in this coffin in 1661.”
.if h
.il fn=i_028.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Hardicanute’s Tombstone, ship
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Hardicanute’s Tombstone, ship]
.if-
The form of the ship on the tombstone shows it to be
of no older date than the seventeenth century; but it was
possibly carved there because a ship of war had previously
adorned the tomb of Hardicanute. At all events, it indicates
his relationship with the powerful Scandinavian
sea-kings, and his descent from those Northmen who for
centuries were absolute on the ocean.
Above the before-mentioned wall, in the grand choir,
there stands to the left of the entrance a rather plain
wooden coffin, decorated with a gilt crown, half fallen off,
with the inscription:—
.in 4
“In this and another coffin, directly opposite, repose the remains of
Kings Canute and Rufus, of Queen Emma, and of the Archbishops
Winde and Alfvin.”
.in 0
// 053.png
.bn 053.png
.if h
.il fn=i_029.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Canute’s Tomb
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Canute’s Tomb]
.if-
In Cromwell’s time, the coffins of the kings in the
grand choir of Winchester cathedral were broken open,
and the bones dispersed; but they were afterwards collected
together, as far as this could be done, and again
placed in the grand choir in coffins like the one just
mentioned. Thus Canute the Great, whose ambition
could not be bounded even by three kingdoms, has not
retained so much as a grave for himself and his beloved
Emma. The presentiment of the perishableness of all
earthly power that seized him when he deposited his
golden crown in the same place has, in truth, been fulfilled!
The other royal coffins that surround the grand choir in
Winchester contain the bones of several old Saxon kings.
That the Danish kings Canute and Hardicanute should be
entombed among them, in the midst of Anglo-Saxon south
England, is a sufficient proof of the immense change that
had taken place with regard to the Danes in England
since their first appearance there as barbarous heathen
Vikings. Instead of their kings seeking renown by the
destruction of churches and convents, and by murdering or
maltreating the clergy; instead of their despising any
other kind of burial than that in the open fields, on hills
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under large cairns, or monumental stones, their successors
were now regarded as the benefactors and protectors of the
Church, and as such worthy to repose in the most important
ecclesiastical edifices, even in the principal district of their
former mortal enemies. Nay, the clergy there were indefatigable
in handing down their glory to the latest ages;
and thus a statue of Canute the Great was long to be seen
in the cathedral of Winchester.
But this also affords a striking proof that the Danes
and Anglo-Saxons no longer regarded each other so much
in the light of strangers, or with such mutual feelings of
enmity as before; and that Canute had thus happily
broken through the strong barrier which had hitherto
separated Saxon south England from Danish north
England.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s05
Section V.
.ce 2
The Wash.—The Five Burghs.—The Humber.—York.—Northumberland.—Stamford
Bridge.
The Thames certainly brought many Danes in ancient
times to the country south of Watlinga Stræt; but the
large bay on the eastern coast of England, called the
“Wash,” and the rivers Humber, Tees, and Tyne, attracted
still more of them to the eastern and northern districts.
The Wash especially seems to have been one of the landing
places most in favour with them. Whether it were its
situation, directly opposite to Jutland on the one side, and
on the other, on a line with the fruitful midland districts
of England; or whether it were rather the rapid current
which sets in there that attracted the ships of the Vikings,
is a point that we must leave undecided. This much,
however, is certain, that the first and richest settlements
of the Danes were around this bay; and from it afterwards
extended itself quite up to the frontiers of Scotland, the
so-called “Danelagh;” which was a district so considerable
as to comprise fifteen of the thirty-two counties, or shires,
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then existing in England, and amongst them the extensive
county of Northumberland.
South of the Wash, and extending towards the Thames,
lay East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk); which, a century after
the commencement of the Vikings’ expeditions, was already
in the hands of the Danes. Alfred the Great was compelled
to cede it, together with several adjacent tracts of
country, by formal treaty, to the Danish King Gudrun, or
Gorm. It is certain that it had at that time, like Kent,
received many Danish settlers, particularly from the
neighbouring Jutland, and their number continually increased.
Yet in East Anglia they seem to have been
scarcely more in a condition to compete with the Anglo-Saxons,
in regard to population and power, than in Kent.
It was only on the coast, and indeed only on that of
Norfolk, that they had any settlements, as the Scandinavian
names of places still preserved there show. These
districts lay too near to the main strength of the Anglo-Saxons.
The Saxon inhabitants did not easily suffer
themselves to be expelled, and the Danish dominion there
could not, consequently, become of permanent importance.
But to the north and west of the Wash the Danes
obtained a very different footing. In the province called
Mercia (or the Marches), which formed the centre of
England, and in that of Lindisse (or, in old Norsk, Lindisey),
which extended from the Wash to the Humber, they
were not only in possession of a great number of villages
and landed estates, which they had selected to settle on,
but had likewise made themselves masters of several
towns, and particularly the five strong fortresses of Stamford,
Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln. These
places, which as early as Alfred’s reign belonged to the
Danes, and which were distinguished by their size, their
commerce, and their wealth, obtained the name of “The
Five Burghs” (Femborgene). They formed, as it were, a
little separate state, and possessed in common their own
courts of judicature, and other peculiar municipal institutions.
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The hostile and dangerous neighbourhood of the
Saxons naturally compelled them to coalesce together as
much as possible; and for a very long period they formed
the chief support of the Danish power in England.
Protected by them from all attacks from the south, the
Scandinavian settlers were enabled securely to continue
establishing themselves in the more northern districts.
To arrest the sudden attacks of the Britons in the west,
the Danes also had, on the north-eastern frontier of Wales,
the city of Chester, whose name (Anglo-Saxon, Lægeceaster,
from the Latin castra, a camp) shows that it had been a
fortified place still earlier, under the Romans.
Chester formed one of the principal entrances from
Wales into the midland parts of England, as well as into
what was then called Northumberland: under which name
was comprised, at least by the Danes and Norwegians, all
the country to the north of the rivers Mersey and Humber,
from sea to sea, and up to the Scottish frontier. Covered
by the “Five Burghs,” it was here that the greater part of
Danish England lay. It was a country filled, particularly
in the north-west, with mountains, and intersected by
numerous rivers. Near these, valleys opened themselves
in every direction, of which the largest and most considerable
lay around the tributary streams of the Humber, in
what is now Yorkshire. A separate kingdom had existed
here from the oldest times; and here the Danes, like the
Britons, the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons before them,
possessed the most important city in the north of England.
Built on the river Ouse, which falls into the Humber, it
carried on an extensive trade; and, as the principal seat of
the Northumbrian kings and chiefs, was doubly important.
The Britons called it “Caer Eabhroig,” or “Eabhruc,” the
Romans “Eboracum,” the Anglo-Saxons “Eoforwic,” and
the Danes “Jorvik;” whence it is plain that the form
“York,” now in use, is derived.
The Humber and York were for the north of England
much what the Thames and London were for the south.
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It is not therefore surprising that York came to possess
within its walls the largest and most splendid cathedral in
England, which still towers aloft, a proud and awe-inspiring
monument of the power and religious enthusiasm of the
middle ages; nor that the history of York comprises, so to
speak, the whole of that of Northumberland.
The soil of south England received the dust of the
Christian Danish kings, and of Canute the Great, the
hero of Christendom. But the north of England held
the bones of many a mighty Danish chieftain, who had
never renounced his belief in the ancient gods; and, in
the neighbourhood of York, one of the most renowned of
heathen heroes, King Regner Lodbrog, met his death.
The names of Regner and his sons were reverenced and
feared in England from their earlier Viking expeditions.
When about to invade England, he suffered shipwreck,
and together with only a few of his men saved himself on
the coast of Northumberland. The Saxon king, Ella,
advanced against him from York; a battle ensued, and,
after the bravest resistance, Regner was overcome and
made a prisoner. With true northern pride he would not
make himself known to Ella, who caused him to be thrown
into a pen filled with snakes; and it was not till the dying
Regner had sung his swan’s-song, “Grynte vilde Grisene,
kjendte de Galtens Skjebne” (How the young pigs would
grunt if they knew the old boar’s fate), that Ella too late
observed to his terror that he had exposed himself to the
fearful vengeance of the king’s sons; who, guided by
the shrewd Ivar Beenlöse, had long been silently preparing
for the conquest of Ella’s kingdom. Ella was
vanquished and made prisoner; and, according to the
Norwegian legend, Regner’s sons, to avenge their father’s
miserable death, caused a blood-eagle to be carved on
Ella’s back. The place of Ella’s death is said by some to
have been near the town of “Ellescroft,” or Ella’s Grave.
The English accounts make Regner’s sons, Ingvar and
Ubbe, revenge their father’s death in the year 870, by
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murdering in a most horrible manner King Edmund (who
was afterwards canonized) at the castle of Æglesdon, in
East Anglia. They shot at him as at a mark, then cut off
his head, and lastly laid the body among thorns, in the
same forest where their father had been put to death.
Ivar Beenlöse (the Boneless) succeeded to the kingdom
of Northumberland after Ella; where also such names of
subsequent kings as Sigtryg, Regnald, Godfred, Anlaf
(Olaf), and Heric (Erik), unmistakably show their Scandinavian
origin. In Olaf’s time, at the beginning of the
tenth century, the Anglo-Saxon king Athelstane (Adelsteen)
succeeded in subjecting Northumberland, whilst
Denmark and Norway, as before mentioned, were prevented
by internal distractions from sending any effectual assistance
to the Danes in England. Olaf fled to Ireland, and
Godfred to Scotland, to assemble the Scandinavian warriors
in those parts, and Athelstane in the mean time destroyed
the Danish castle in York. It is related that Olaf returned
with more than six hundred ships, and again took possession
of York. He had with him a great number of Northmen
and Danes from Ireland and Scotland, together with a
great many Celtic Cymri and Britons, and the Scottish
King Constantine was also in his army. Athelstane and
this brother Edmund arrayed a mighty force against them
at Brunanborg (Bromford?), where, in the year 937, a
battle was fought; which, though unfavourable to the
Danes, afforded the old northern bards matter for enthusiastic
song, of which the Sagas have still preserved some
remains. Subsequently a treaty with King Edmund, in
941, gave Olaf the dominion over the country east and
north of Watlinga-Stræt; but the dispute soon broke out
afresh. After the death of the Northumbrian King Erik
in 951, Northumberland ceased to be a kingdom. From
this time it became an earldom (Jarledömme), which was,
however, for the most part, almost entirely independent of
the Anglo-Saxon kings, and governed by Norwegian chieftains.
For a long time it constantly received fresh inhabitants
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from the mother countries, Denmark and Norway.
Many Norwegians came over; nay, even the King Erik
just mentioned may possibly have been the renowned
Norwegian King Erik Blodöxe, a son of Harald Haarfager,
the first absolute sovereign of Norway. After the death
of Harald, Erik became chief sovereign in Norway; but
he and his queen, the notorious Gunhilde, ruled here with
so much cruelty, that the Norwegians gave Erik the surname
of Blodöxe (Blood-axe). Driven from his kingdom,
he at length repaired to Northumberland, where King
Athelstane is said to have made him a tributary king, and
where, after many vicissitudes of fortune, he met his
death.
Between the Northumbrian Jarledömme—whence the
dignity of the Northern “Jarls” began to extend itself to
the rest of England, which has still preserved it in the
title of “Earl”—as well as between the Danish part of
England and the proper kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons in
general, disputes must naturally have prevailed of a more
or less sanguinary kind. As a necessary consequence of
this, the Danish kings, in their later expeditions against
the Anglo-Saxons for the purpose of conquest, resorted to,
and sought support in, the Danish part of the north of
England, in the districts near the Humber. In the year
1013, King Svend Tveskjæg anchored in this river with a
powerful fleet, when he came over to conquer England. In
conjunction with his son Canute, who afterwards completed
the conquest, he had previously lain at anchor at Sandvik
(Sandwich), in Kent. From the Humber he anchored in
the river Trent, at Gegnesburgh (or Gainsborough), in Lincolnshire;
whence he harried the whole of eastern, and
part of southern England. The Old Danish land to the
north of Watlinga-Stræt was the first to pay him homage;
the rest of England soon yielded to him, and King
Ethelred was obliged to fly to Normandy. But just as
Svend, in the midst of his victorious career, had returned
to Gainsborough—just as he was fleecing and levying contributions
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both on laity and clergy—he suddenly fell from
his horse at an assize, or Thing, in a fit of illness, and died
the following night, the 3rd of February, 1014. Monkish
chronicles relate that it was St. Edmund who killed him.
Ethelred, who now returned to England, in vain ordered a
strict search to be made for the body of Svend, with the
view of wreaking a cowardly vengeance on the impotent
corpse of the man who, when alive, had been so terrible an
antagonist to him. But the body had been secretly conveyed
to York, where it was kept concealed during the
winter (but scarcely in the cathedral, although that church
had been founded long before, and was, perhaps, even considerably
enlarged by the Norwegian princes who resided
at York). Towards the spring it was brought over to
Denmark by some Englishwomen, who were probably of
Scandinavian extraction, and placed in the cathedral of
Roeskilde, in one of the pillars in the grand choir.
Under the Danish rule, the Danish-Norwegian population
in the north of England increased considerably, both
in strength and numbers; although Christianity, by the
wise arrangements of Canute, and particularly by his
severe laws against heathenism, was almost completely
disseminated there. Even after the Danish dominion had
come to an end by the death of Hardicanute in 1042, and
the Anglo-Saxon kings had again taken the helm, the old
warlike spirit of the north continued, in spite of Christianity,
to stir in the Northumbrian people. The successors
of the Vikings still preferred, to a natural death, a
glorious one on the field of battle; but Christian tenets no
longer permitted them to be marked, when on the bed of
sickness, with the point of a spear, in order to consecrate
themselves to Odin, according to the heathen custom.
The mighty Danish jarl Sivard (Sigeward or Siwerd)
reigned over them at that time, who had fought in many
battles both in England and Scotland, whereby his name
became immortalized in Shakspeare’s “Macbeth.” When
the news was brought to him that his son had fallen in
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battle, he inquired whether he had received his death
wound in front or behind. Being answered, “Before;”—“In
that case,” he exclaimed, “I have reason to rejoice, for
no other death was befitting my son, or me.” When
Siward himself afterwards lay on his death-bed, and felt
the approach of dissolution, an old chronicler (Henry of
Huntingdon) represents him as breaking out into sorrowful
complaints, and exclaiming, “How shameful it is for me,
that I have never been able to meet death in my numerous
battles, but have been reserved to die with disgrace like an
old cow. Clothe me at least in my impenetrable armour,
gird me with my sword, cover my head with my helmet,
place my shield in my left, and my gilded axe in my right
hand, that I, the bold warrior, may also die like one.”
Attired in full armour, he passed gladly to his fathers in
the year 1055, and doubtless with the secret hope of
enjoying in Valhalla a continuation of that proud martial
life for which there would soon have been no longer room
either in Northumberland or in the parent lands of Scandinavia.
Shortly after the death of Siward, the country near
York also became the theatre where one of the last
celebrated Vikings of the north fell. Harald Haardraade
was indeed a Christian, and a king in Norway; but with
him, as with many of his cotemporaries, Christianity
dwelt only on his lips. In his heart he was still the bold
Viking, who valued Hildur’s bloody game more than holy
psalms, and who preferred conquest on foreign shores to
the peaceful government of an hereditary kingdom. Whilst
still young he had distinguished himself in expeditions in
the East, and in the Greek Empire. It seemed to him
disgraceful that those lands, particularly in the north of
England, which had once belonged to his forefathers,
should for ever be wrested from Norway. He therefore
agreed to assist Toste Godvinsön against his brother, the
English King Harald Godvinsön; but on the condition that
he himself, if he succeeded in conquering Harald, should
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have the dominion of England, whilst Toste was to have
the half of it as jarl, or earl. They landed in the
Humber; but in the battle which shortly afterwards took
place (in 1066) at Stamford Bridge, a little to the east of
York, both Toste and Harald fell. Thus the latter gained
no more of England’s soil than the English King Harald
had offered him before the battle, namely, “seven feet of
earth, or as much as he was taller than other men.”
This was one of the last serious attempts on the part of
Denmark or Norway to reconquer England; and in the
same year the Normans, after the battle of Hastings, in
which King Harald fell, seized the kingdom which their
Danish kinsmen had formerly possessed. William the
Conqueror went in person against the Northumbrians; but
before he disembarked he is said to have broken up the
tumulus on the coast (by the Humber?) in which, according
to the legend, Regner Lodbrog’s son, Ivar Beenlöse, had
ordered himself to be buried, in order to avert the attacks
of foreigners. William had to combat long before he could
reduce Northumberland; but, as we shall afterwards see, he
never succeeded in subduing that spirit of freedom and
independence which the Danes and Norwegians had planted
there.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s06
Section VI.
.ce 2
Danish-Norwegian Memorials in the North of England.—Coins.—The
Raven.—The Danish Flag.
If even the old Saxon south England is distinguished by
its richness in legends and still-existing memorials of the
Danes, it is natural that they should be met with in still
greater numbers in the old Danish districts to the north
and east of Watlinga-Stræt.
Here also the Norwegian saint, “St. Olave,” has been
zealously worshipped, both in the country and in the
towns. In Norfolk (East Anglia) there is a bridge called
“St. Olave’s Bridge.” In itself it is a remarkable monument
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of a time when bridges over rivers were regarded as
such considerable and important structures that, like
churches, they were named after, or dedicated to saints;
in ancient Scandinavia they even built bridges, as several
runic stones testify, “for their souls’ salvation.” In the
city of Chester, on the northern frontier of Wales, there
is to be found in the southern outskirts, opposite the old
castle and close to the river Dee, a church and parish
which still bear the name of St. Olave. By the church
runs a street called “St. Olave’s Lane.” In the north-west
part of York there is likewise a St. Olave’s church,
said to be the remains of a monastery founded by the
powerful Danish Jarl Siward, who was himself buried there
in the year 1055. There can be no doubt that similar
churches dedicated to St. Olave were scattered about in
other towns of north England, where further researches
might possibly yet discover at least some of them.
These traces of the importance formerly conferred on
St. Olave in the towns of north England lead one to conjecture
that, even after the Danish ascendancy in England
was annihilated, a great number of Northmen must have
continued to reside there, as was the case in London.
This is so much the more natural, as, long before the
Norman Conquest, the Northmen preponderated in many,
perhaps in most, mercantile towns of the north of England,
and particularly in the fortified towns occupied by the
Danes. At the time of the Conquest, the population in
some of the largest and most important cities towards the
east coast, such as Lincoln and York, is said to have been
almost exclusively of Scandinavian extraction; hence it
was that Lincoln and York, at least, preserved their
original Scandinavian “husting” throughout the middle
ages, and even later.
In and about the last-named city, which was the chief
place in Danish north England, are numerous Scandinavian
memorials. The names of several streets in York
end in gate. In London, where the same termination of
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the names of streets frequently occurs, some have, indeed,
endeavoured to derive this gate from the gates which these
streets adjoined; and, as far as regards London, this explanation
may probably in most cases be correct. But in
York, where formerly there were at least a score of such
streets, it is certainly by no means a probable conjecture
that twenty gates existed from which their names were derived;
and it therefore becomes a question whether these
gates should not be derived from the old Scandinavian
“gata” (a street), particularly when they appear in compound
names, such as Petersgate (Petersgade), Marygate
(Mariegade), Fishergate (Fiskergade), Stonegate (Steengade),
Micklegate (from the old Scandinavian “mykill,”
signifying great); which have a striking resemblance with
Scandinavian names of streets; nay, there is even a legend
respecting Godram, or Guthramgate, that it was named
after a Danish chieftain, Guthrum or Gorm, who is said
to have dwelt there. The historical accounts of the number
and influence of the Northmen in York cannot but
strengthen these suppositions in a high degree.
North-east of York, on the coast towards the German
ocean, is a promontory called “Flamborough-head.” It
is separated from the main land by an immense rampart
said to have been raised by the Danes, and called on that
account “the Danes’ Dyke,” behind which they intrenched
themselves on landing. At no great distance, near Great
Driffield, is “the Danes’ Dale,” and “the Danes’ Graves,”
where remains of the Danes who fell in a battle are said
to have been dug up. South of York, on the Humber,
between Richal and Skipwith, human bones and pieces of
iron have likewise been found in several barrows, or
tumuli, ascribed to the Danes. It is supposed that the
Danes and Norwegians landed in this neighbourhood at
different times, when proceeding up the Humber on their
warlike expeditions.
The popular legend of the bloody battle by Stamford
Bridge, or, as it was afterwards called, “Battle Bridge,” is
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not yet obsolete. A piece of ground near the bridge over
the river Derwent is called “Battle-flats,” and in the
surrounding fields, where, for about a century after the
battle, large heaps of human bones were to be seen, joint-bones,
together with iron swords and other weapons, have
been ploughed up, as well as horse-shoes that would be
suitable for the small Norwegian horses. The English
chronicles which describe this battle are lavish in their
praises of a Norwegian, who, in the midst of the fight,
stood quite alone on the bridge over the Derwent, and for
several hours kept Harald Godvinsön’s whole army at bay,
until at length a man glided under the bridge and ran him
through from below with a spear. The inhabitants of the
village of Stamford Bridge have to the present day kept
up the custom of celebrating this deed at an annual festival,
by making puddings in the form of a vessel or trough;
for, as the legend states, it was in a trough that the slayer
of the Norwegian passed under the bridge. It is certain,
however, that the river Derwent hereabouts has only lately
been made navigable.
It would lead us too far to relate, even in an abbreviated
form, all the legends, or to reckon up all the numerous
memorials, which, to the north of Watlinga-Stræt, are
connected with the Danes. It is not only the common
people in England who in general ascribe every ancient
monument of any importance to the Danes; there was a
time, and no very distant one, when many learned men
were but too much inclined to do the same. In proof of
this it suffices to remark that the celebrated circle of
stones at Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire—the
most superb monument of its kind in the British Islands,
or even in the whole of northern Europe—was also at
one time described by the learned as a Danish place of
sacrifice, although it is clearly distinguished, both by its
structure and whole appearance, from the ancient monuments
of Scandinavia; and although, on the contrary, the
highest degree of probability proclaims its having originated
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from the older inhabitants of England, the ancient
Britons. It is undoubtedly true, that want of adequate
experience and knowledge was generally the real cause
why the learned were never able to distinguish, with certainty,
between what ancient monuments were really
Danish and what were not. Nevertheless they would
assuredly never have given the Danes credit for so many
monuments, at the expense of their own countrymen and
ancestors, had they not acknowledged that the immigration
and settlement of the Danes in England was of the most
widely-extended importance.
Even in our days English antiquarians are not disinclined
to ascribe British, Roman, or Anglo-Saxon antiquities
to the Danes; as well as to suppose, on the whole,
that there are more monuments of the Danes extant in
England, than, strictly speaking, that people can validly
claim.
At first sight it might indeed appear that the Danes,
who so early, and for so long a period, had extensive possessions
in the north of England, must have left there a
great number of tumuli, stone circles, and cairns; as well
as, in consequence of their numberless fights and battles,
a considerable quantity of entrenchments. It is sufficiently
known how careful the old Northmen were to hand
down to posterity the memory of a hero, and of his deeds.
The doctrines of Odin even commanded it, as a sacred
duty, to erect bauta stones in memory of the brave; which
is one of the principal reasons why Scandinavia is distinguished,
even down to modern times, by such a striking
abundance of ancient monuments.
But with regard to England, we must not forget that
the inhabitants of the central and northern parts had for
centuries been Christians when the heathen Danes began
to make conquests there. Among the Danes, as among
the Northmen in general, the belief in their ancient gods
had been weakened, and faith in their own power and
strength had frequently usurped its place. Living among
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Christians in a foreign land, and doubtless, also, often marrying
native females, they easily adopted, at least in form,
the novel doctrines of Christianity, and with them the
customs which they brought in their train. They soon renounced
the usage of placing the dead in mounds, after
the heathen manner, and of providing them with the
weapons and ornaments which were dearest to them when
alive. The bodies were buried in churchyards, or in the
churches themselves; and the precious things which were
formerly thought to secure for the hero an honourable seat
in Valhalla, now for the most part remained above ground,
where they generally found their way into the pocket of
the monk, in order that he might deliver the deceased
from purgatory by masses for his soul, and procure him an
easy entrance into the kingdom of heaven. By degrees,
as the Danes abandoned themselves to the influence of the
higher civilization of England, they must also have
adopted the most essential parts of the English dress, or
at all events English ornaments; and consequently, even
if only some few of these were deposited in the barrows,
it became almost impossible to decide, when these graves
were opened after a long lapse of time, whether it were
Danes or Anglo-Saxons who had been originally interred
in them.
Thus it is easily explained why but, proportionally, very
few really Danish or Scandinavian barrows and monumental
stones are to be found in England. We must not ascribe it to
the progress of agriculture alone that, even in the north
of England, we may search the fields in vain for stones,
which, by runic inscriptions in the ancient language of
Scandinavia, have preserved the remembrance of some
distinguished warrior from the eastern lands beyond the
sea. It is but rarely that one can even fancy that he has
met with a Scandinavian runic stone; but a closer inspection
will soon show that both the runes, and particularly
the language in which the inscriptions are couched, betray
a foreign, and especially an Anglo-Saxon, origin. The
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most important runic stone in these northern districts is
found near the English border, in the Scotch town of
Ruthwell, on the other side of Solway Firth. It is of
considerable height, and is ornamented with a number of
carvings of biblical scenes, mingled with figures of leaves,
birds, and animals. Besides Latin inscriptions indicating
and explaining these Christian carvings, there is a runic
inscription on the stone which was long considered, both
by British and Scandinavian archæologists, to be Danish, or
at least to contain remnants of the old Scandinavian language.
But it is now shown to be derived neither from
the Danes nor Norwegians, but from the Anglo-Saxons,
as the supposed Scandinavian inscription includes some
verses of an old devotional Anglo-Saxon poem. The
whole appearance of the stone, also, is rather Saxon than
Danish. The runic characters are, in part at least, different
from those of Scandinavia, and the words are not,
as in them, separated by points. Ornaments with similar
so-called Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions are not altogether
uncommon in England, particularly in the north. But
as not a few ornaments, as well as runic stones with inscriptions
in the selfsame character, are also found in the
countries of Scandinavia, both in Denmark and Norway,
and particularly the latter, and the west and south of
Sweden (and there mostly in Bleking), it may be a question
whether this runic writing was not originally brought over
to England by Scandinavian emigrants. It would otherwise
be inexplicable that they should have used entirely
foreign runic characters in Scandinavia, whilst they possessed
a peculiar and genuine Scandinavian runic writing
of their own. The true state of the matter will not, however,
be brought to light till antiquarians succeed in explaining,
in a satisfactory manner, the inscriptions with
Anglo-Saxon runes that are found in England as well as
in Scandinavia, and which, for the most part, have not
hitherto been deciphered.
.if h
.il fn=i_045.jpg w=219px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Swords -
Fig. 1. Scandinavian
and Fig. 2. Saxon
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Swords - Fig. 1. Scandinavian and Fig. 2. Saxon]
.if-
It is a matter of course that arms and ornaments should
// 069.png
.bn 069.png
be at times dug up in
England that belonged
to Scandinavian Vikings,
who found either death
or a new habitation on
the English shore. In
the rivers on the eastern
coast, where the Vikings’
ships showed themselves
so regularly, and where
remains of these ships
are supposed to be now
and then discovered, iron
swords have been found,
as for instance in the
Thames, of undoubted
Scandinavian origin. (Fig.
1.) They are in general
longer and heavier than
the Saxon sword (Fig.
2.), and are superior to
them from having a guard,
and a large, and commonly
triangular, knob at
the hilt. On the other
hand, they are exactly of
the same kind as our
Scandinavian swords of
what is called “the iron
age;” that is, they belong
to the latest period of
heathenism. The Vikings,
who often had to combat
from their ships, and who,
being few in number, were
so much the more obliged
to depend on their arms
// 070.png
.bn 070.png
and the strength of their weapons, were necessarily
compelled to have them both long and good. “Danish
battle-axes” are usually mentioned in the old English
and Frankish chronicles as excellent and dangerous weapons
of attack. Nay, even from the distant Myklegaard, or
Constantinople, where the Northmen, under the name of
Varangians, served for a long series of years as the Greek
Emperor’s bodyguard, stories have reached us of the
particular kind of battle-axes which they wielded with
such strength. These axes, like the swords, were frequently
inlaid with silver or gold, and were of excellent workmanship.
It is also related by Giraldus Cambrensis that the
Irish procured their battle-axes from the Northmen. The
Danes in England, at least towards the latter part of their
sway, are likewise said to have used shirts of mail, or
chain armour, in which, however, the rings were not interlaced,
but sewed on by the side of each other; helmets,
with iron bands that covered the nose; and lastly, large
pointed triangular shields. Some are even of opinion that
these coats of mail were commonly black, and that this
gave rise to the Danes being sometimes called “the black
Danes.” Others derive this surname from the colour of
their hair and skin, which must at that time have been
in general considered darker than the Norwegian complexion;
whilst others, again, infer that the Danes generally
used black sails for their ships, and the Norwegians white.
The Scotch and Irish distinguish clearly between “Dubgall”
or the black stranger (whence the present name
Dugal), and “Finngall,” or the fair stranger. Old Irish
authors also call the inhabitants of Denmark “Dublochlannoch”
(dark Lochlans), and the inhabitants of Norway
“Finn-Lochlannoch” (fair Lochlans). Lochlan is with them
the usual appellation of Scandinavia.
Besides their arms, the ornaments and decorations of
the Danes and Norwegians were also of a peculiar kind;
at least they are in general clearly different from the
Anglo-Saxon ornaments now discovered in graves in England.
// 071.png
.bn 071.png
As the Danish and British antiquities of the
earlier, or what is called the bronze period, betray a considerable
and well-defined difference, so also a comparison
between the corresponding antiquities of the iron period
will clearly show, that even if Roman taste formed the
basis of art both among the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes
and Norwegians during the last-named period, yet that
each people followed its own independent course. That
the Northmen, consequently, were not exclusively indebted
to England for all that fresh development of taste which
predominated at the close of heathenism and commencement
of Christianity, but that they had themselves, before
the Conquest of England, already made a great step in
advance, was however no more than what one might expect
from a people capable of building ships that crossed the
Atlantic, and who were acquainted with, and frequently
used, a peculiar sort of writing, the Northern runes.
But though, at present at least, it is scarcely possible
to point out in England proper a single runic memorial
of undoubted Danish or Norwegian origin, still there
are found at times, particularly in north England, certain
antiquities, with inscriptions that perfectly supply the want
of those illustrations which the runic stones would otherwise
afford, respecting the influence and settlements of the
Northmen in England. These are small silver coins
struck by Danish-Norwegian kings and jarls during their
dominion there. I do not allude, of course, to coins of
such kings as Canute the Great, Harald Harefoot, and
Hardicanute; for as these princes held a confirmed dominion
in England—and that at a time when coining was
general in Europe, and when on the whole the light of
history begins to shine clearer—there would be nothing
strange, nor particularly instructive in an historical point
of view, that they also had coined money. I refer to
coins of Danish-Norwegian chiefs, whose deeds in England
the chronicles have related either sparingly or not at all,
// 072.png
.bn 072.png
and who lived more than a century before the Conquest by
Canute the Great.
A short stay would easily have sufficed to erect a runic
or bauta-stone; and great and imminent indeed must have
been the danger which threatened the Northman of the
olden time if he omitted, even on a foreign soil, to perform
the last honours for a fallen friend or relative. But a coin
was not so quickly minted. The countries of Scandinavia
had not a mintage of their own before the year 1000, or
thereabout; when the Danish king, Svend Tveskjæg,
having brought home with him from his expedition into
England, a quantity of Anglo-Saxon coins, began to have
them imitated. The Scandinavian Viking, to whom coining
was a strange and unknown art, had enough to do,
during a short and dangerous expedition for conquest, to
procure a footing and support for his army; and if he
failed in conquering a kingdom, he was glad to bring home
as booty some pounds of foreign money. It was only
when he had made himself king or jarl over a considerable
district, and when he had begun to exchange his wild warrior’s
life for the milder occupations of peace, that he could
have leisure to reflect that he also, like other princes in
England, should promote his people’s welfare and his
own advantage by ordering those coins to be minted which
are so important for trade and commerce. The older
the dates of such Danish-Norwegian coins struck in
England—the rarer the minting of coins in general,
even in the more enlightened countries—so much the more
clearly is the existence proved of well-established Scandinavian
kingdoms, where works of peace were already
capable of thriving.
Some few years ago (1840), a highly remarkable and very
ancient treasure of silver was discovered near Cuerdale in
Lancashire, within the boundaries of the ancient Northumberland.
It consisted of bars, armlets, a great number of
pieces of broken rings and other ornaments, as well as
// 073.png
.bn 073.png
about seven thousand coins, all of which were inclosed in
a leaden chest. To judge from the coins, which, with a
few exceptions, were minted between the years 815 and
930, the treasure must have been buried in the first half
of the tenth century, or almost a hundred years before the
time of Canute the Great. Amongst the coins, besides a
single Byzantine piece, were found several Arabic or Kufic,
some of north Italy, about a thousand French, and two
thousand eight hundred Anglo-Saxon pieces, of which only
eight hundred were of Alfred the Great. But the chief
mass, namely, three thousand pieces, consisted of peculiar
coins, with the inscriptions, “Siefredus Rex,” “Sievert
Rex,” “Cnut Rex,” “Alfden Rex,” and “Sitric Comes”
(jarl); and which, therefore, merely from their preponderating
number, may be supposed to have been the most
common coins at that time, and in that part of north England
where the treasure had been concealed. Cnut’s coins
were the most numerous, as they amounted to about two
thousand pieces of different dies; which proves a considerable
and long-continued coining.
Not only are the names Sitric (Sigtryg), Alfden (Halvdan),
Cnut (Knud), Sievert (Sivard), and Siefred (Sigfred),
visibly of Scandinavian origin, but they also appear in
ancient chronicles as the names of mighty Scandinavian
chiefs, who in the ninth and tenth centuries ravaged the
western lands.
.if h
.il fn=i_049.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Sitric Comes
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Sitric Comes]
.if-
Sitric Comes is certainly that Sitric Jarl who fell in a battle
in England about the year 900. Alfden is undoubtedly
the same king “Halfden,” who at the close of the ninth
century so often harried south England,—where he even
// 074.png
.bn 074.png
besieged London—till he fell in the battle at Wednesfield
in 910. Cnut, whose name is found inscribed on the coins
in such a manner that one letter stands on each of the four
arms of a cross, whilst the inscription R, E, X. (Rex) is
inclosed between them,
is probably he whom the Danes called “Knud Daneast” (or
the Danes’ Joy), a son of the first Danish monarch Gorm
the Old; as it is truly related of him that he perished in
Vesterviking (or the western lands). Sigfred must either
have been the celebrated Viking king for whose adventurous
expedition France, and its capital Paris in particular,
had to pay dearly; or that Sigefert, or Sigfred, who in the
year 897 ravaged the English coasts with an army of
Danes from Northumberland.
.if h
.il fn=i_050a.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Cnut
.il fn=i_050b.jpg w=500px
.caq [#++:TN2#] Coin: Cnut reverse
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Cnut]
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Cnut reverse]
.if-
The steady connection which the Vikings in England
maintained with France affords a natural explanation why
their coins were imitations both of contemporary English,
or Anglo-Saxon, and of French coins. Thus on the
reverse of Cnut’s coins just mentioned, we sometimes
find, as on that engraved above, the inscription “Elfred
Rex,” which is purely Anglo-Saxon; and sometimes the
particular mark for Carolus, or Charles (Karl), which
otherwise is only found on the French Carlovingian coins.
// 075.png
.bn 075.png
.if h
.il fn=i_051.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Ebraice
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#]Coin: Ebraice]
.if-
A very frequent inscription on the Scandinavian coins
here alluded to, as for instance in the last engraving, is
“Ebraice Civita,” or “The city of York;” whose ancient
name “Eabhroig,” and in the barbarous Latin of the time
“Eboracum,” was converted into “Ebraice.” On other
contemporary coins struck at York, namely on some of
what is called St. Peter’s money, York is also called
“Ebracec” and “Ebraicit.” For the Cuerdale coins, in
order to express the name “Ebraice,” coins of French
kings of the city of “Ebroicas,” or Evreux, in Normandy,
seem to have been particularly chosen as patterns; for
by a slight change of a few letters this Ebroicas could be
converted into Ebraice; which was the easier process
at a time when the art of stamping coins was not much
practised. An additional proof that these coins were
really minted by Scandinavian kings in Northumberland,
and in the city of York, is, that none such have been found
in any other part of England; whilst, on the contrary, one
of Canute’s coins, which have been so frequently mentioned,
was dug up, together with English and French
coins of the same kind as those found at Cuerdale,
at Harkirke near Crosby, also in Lancashire; and consequently
at places whose names ending in kirke (church)
and by (town), bear witness no less than that of Cuerdale
(from dal, a valley) to the dominion of the Northmen in
those parts.
Should any doubt still exist that, so early as the ninth
century, Danish-Norwegian kings and jarls minted a considerable
number of coins in York, in imitation of contemporary
Anglo-Saxon and French coins, it is at all events
certain that the Northumbrian kings Regnald, Anlaf or
// 076.png
.bn 076.png
Olaf, and Erik, who resided in York during the first half
of the tenth century, caused coins of their own to be
minted there, and which agree exactly with the historical
accounts. Regnald, who reigned from about 912 to 944,
was a son of King Sigtryg, and brother to the Olaf before
mentioned, who fought the battle of Brunanborg; Erik
(+ 951) is either King Erik Blodöxe of Norway, or a son
of King Harald Blaatand of Denmark, who is said to have
ruled in Northumberland about the same time.
In the main points these coins are also imitations of the
Anglo-Saxon, but are distinguished from them by various
and very striking peculiarities, which show them to have
been coined both by Danes, or Norwegians, and by conquerors.
Erik designates himself on them by the Latin
title “Rex,” as was usual at that time even among the
Anglo-Saxons; but Regnald and Anlaf use the pure
Northern title “Cununc;” or, in the Icelandic mode
of writing, Konungr, the ancient Scandinavian word for
King. Some of these coins have martial emblems which
do not appear on the Anglo-Saxon coins of the same
period, and which, therefore, were clearly intended to be
in honour of the warlike qualities and victories of the
Northmen. Erik’s coins have a sword of the peculiar
Scandinavian form, with a triangular pummel at the end of
the hilt.
.if h
.il fn=i_052.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Erik Rex
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Erik Rex]
.if-
Similar swords are also seen on the St. Peter’s money
before mentioned, coined at York during the rule of the
Scandinavian kings. One of these coins represents a bent
bow with the arrow on it, and on the reverse a sledgehammer,
or battle-axe.
// 077.png
.bn 077.png
.if h
.il fn=i_053a.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Olaf
.il fn=i_053b.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin:
.il fn=i_053c.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Cnutr. Recx
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Olaf]
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin]
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Cnutr. Recx]
.if-
Regnald’s and Anlaf’s (or Olaf’s) coins, with the Scandinavian legend “Cununc”
instead of “Rex,” are ornamented with shields placed together (an emblem which
may have been transferred from them to the later coins of Harald Haardraade and
other Norwegian kings); as well as with flags of a triangular form, with hanging
fringes. It is remarkable enough, that though such flags are not to be found on
contemporary English coins, a piece of the Danish-English king’s, Canute the
Great, has lately been found on which the king’s bust is represented, and before
it a striped triangular flag with hanging fringes, of the same form as the flags
on the coins of the Danish-Norwegian kings in north England. The legend on one
side is, “Cnutr. Recx;” and on the other, “Brihtred on Lun;” which shows that
the coin was minted in London.
.if h
.il fn=i_054.jpg w=500px
.ca Coin: [#++:TN2#] Anlaf Cunune
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Anlaf Cununc]
.if-
Thus the coins, in conjunction with the chronicles,
contribute to prove that flags were important emblems
// 078.png
.bn 078.png
with the northern conquerors, which was indeed quite
natural with a people like the ancient Scandinavians.
The old Sagas in particular contain frequent accounts of
the great value that the Northmen set on these flags,
or, as they were then called, “mærker” (marks). Thus
the Norwegian chief Harald Haardraade, before he became
king of Norway, and after his return from his many expeditions
into the Greek Empire, sitting and conversing one
evening (according to the nineteenth chapter of his Saga)
with King Svend Estridsen of Denmark at the drinking
table, Svend asked him what precious things he had that
he set most value on? He answered, his banner, called
Landöde (or, the land-ravager). Svend then asked what
qualities this banner had, since he esteemed it so precious
a thing? Harald replied, “They say that he before whom
this banner is borne always gains the victory; and such
has constantly been the case since I possessed it.”
The class of coins before alluded to as minted by
Danish-Norwegian sovereigns in England not only presents
a remarkable view of the importance, as well as appearance,
of the old Scandinavian flags, or marks, but also serves in
a high degree to confirm the repeated accounts of the
English chroniclers, that “the Danes,” during their
conquests in the western lands, often bore a common
standard, or national flag; a point about which the Danish
chronicles or Sagas are silent. A coin of Anlaf, or Olaf,
king of Northumberland, is particularly illustrative of
this.
It has the legend, “Anlaf Cununc,” and represents a bird
with extended wings, in which English antiquarians have
// 079.png
.bn 079.png
very justly recognised the raven, the chief ensign, or
emblem, of the ancient Danes.
From the most ancient times, and almost since the
period that war was first waged, certain ensigns were
undoubtedly known and used, around which the warriors
rallied in battle. This had its origin, indeed, in necessity,
in order that, in the tumult of battle, the combatants
might always be able to discern where their fellow-warriors
were; and such a rallying point was particularly of the
greatest importance when an army was thrown into disorder,
or began to fly. To this it may be added, that the
commander, or the principal leaders, were generally near
the ensign; which thus became a signal where the battle
was usually hottest, and a point to rally round in order to
protect the chief when in danger.
But these ensigns, which doubtless were originally
boughs of trees or other simple things easy to be recognised
at a distance, obtained by degrees a religious
importance, and must thus have still more excited the
courage of the combatants. For ensigns those figurative
images were principally chosen under which men were
accustomed to represent to themselves their principal
gods, or to which a peculiar religious faith was attached.
In the course of time these ensigns were adopted by whole
tribes as national ones. The eagle, Jupiter’s sacred bird,
served the Romans for a warlike ensign, and animated the
legions on their distant and universally-celebrated expeditions.
With them, however, it did not flutter in a banner,
but was cast in metal and fixed on the end of a staff.
The national ensign used by at least a great part of the
Gallic tribes in the south of France about the time of the
birth of Christ, was of a similar kind. According to a few
still-existing representations of it on monuments, it presented
the image of a hog, fastened, like the Roman
eagle, at the end of a staff. Among the Gauls the hog
was a sacred animal, whence it is afterwards found frequently
represented on the old Gallic coins.
// 080.png
.bn 080.png
Among the German and Scandinavian races, on the
contrary, we cannot point with certainty to any such
early national ensigns. These people, as it is well known,
formed, for several centuries after the birth of Christ, a
number of petty and independent kingdoms, which were,
besides, often divided amongst several powerful chiefs. It
was customary for every chief to have a peculiar sign,
often an animal, delineated on his shield; and which was
likewise represented on the banner that he carried with
him into battle. This banner, or mark, was generally
borne before him in the combat by his “marksman;” and
at sea it waved on the prow of his ship. It was not, like
that of the Romans and Gauls, of cast metal, but of
variegated cloth.
It was not till the time that the Danes and Norwegians
began to invade the countries of the west, and to
make great conquests there, and consequently not till
the ninth century, that we find the oldest traces of the
Danes, or rather perhaps the Danish-Norwegian Vikings,
having fought under one flag; which was not, like the
earlier ones, that of a single chief, but rather an established
national ensign. We must remember that they
were heathens, making war upon a Christian land, and
fighting for Odin and Thor against White[#] Christ. Regardless
of their former contests in the north itself,
the Vikings were now united on these foreign shores
by the ties of mutual interest and a common religion;
and nothing, therefore, was more natural than that the
ensign which conducted them in battle should be consecrated
to Odin, or, as he was called, the father of victory,
in whose presence they expected at some time to assemble
and enjoy the delights of Valhalla. The eagle had been
consecrated to Jupiter by the Romans; among the
Northmen the raven was Odin’s (or, the Father-of-all’s)
sacred bird. One of Odin’s names was therefore “Ravne-gud”
(raven-god). The ravens Hugin and Munin sat on
// 081.png
.bn 081.png
his shoulders, and only flew away to bring him intelligence
of what happened in the world. The ancient Northmen
had consequently an especial confidence in the omens
of Odin’s bird. When the Viking Floke Vilgerdesön
set out from Norway to discover Iceland, he consecrated
at a sacrifice three ravens, which he wished to take with
him, to show him the way. He was therefore called
Ravnefloke. The Northmen, also, made prognostications
from the scream and from the flight of the raven; and the
warriors, in particular, regarded it as a good omen if a
raven followed them as they marched to battle.
.fs 85%
.fn #
An epithet applied by the Northmen to our Saviour.
.fn-
.fs 100%
As Jupiter’s eagle had been the war sign of the Romans
so was Odin’s raven the chief mark of the Danes in the
heathen ages. An old chronicler (Emma’s Encomiast)
relates, that in the time of peace no image whatever was
seen in the flag, or mark, of the Danes; but in time
of war there waved a raven in it, from whose movements
the Danes took auguries of victory or defeat. If it
fluttered its wings, Odin gave them a sign of conquest;
but if the wings hung slackly down, victory would surely
desert them. From the few historical accounts that remain
to us of this raven’s mark we are not, however,
justified in believing that it was so long or so generally
adopted among the Danes as the eagle was among the
Romans. We find it expressly mentioned only during
the Danish conquests in the British Islands; yet, remarkably
enough, at such different times and under such
peculiar circumstances, that we may with good reason
assert that the raven’s mark was really a common flag of
battle and conquest for the Danes and Norwegians.
It is mentioned for the first time in the year 898,
consequently nearly a thousand years ago; that is to say,
about the time of the banner-coins before described,
and especially of that coin of Anlaf, or Olaf, on which
is seen the bird with extended wings. At that time,
it is said, the Danish chiefs suffered a great defeat in
South England, in which they lost their war-ensign, or
// 082.png
.bn 082.png
banner (Anglo-Saxon, guð-fana), which they called “the
raven” (Anglo-Saxon, ræfen v. hrefn. v. hræfen). Another
account adds, that these chiefs were sons of Regner Lodbrog,
and that the flag, or mark, was cunningly woven
by Regner’s daughters. The raven borne upon it was
thought to forbode either victory or defeat.
This ensign is again spoken of a century later, in
the time of Canute the Great. It is mentioned in
the great battle of Clontarf, in Ireland (1014), when
Sigurd, the Norwegian Jarl of Orkney, bore a raven-standard
against the Irish. Two years afterwards, in the
sanguinary battle at Ashingdon in Essex (1016), which
partly decided Canute’s conquest of England, the Danish
army had begun to give way; when the jarl, Thorkel the
Tall, shouted to the warriors, as he pointed to the flag,
that the raven fluttered its wings, and predicted a glorious
victory. The Danes took fresh courage, and victory
crowned their efforts. The mighty Danish jarl Sivard, or
Sigurd, surnamed “Digre” (the stout) (+ 1055), who
ruled the earldom of Northumberland somewhat after
Canute’s time, and after the Danish dominion in England
had ceased, also bore a raven ensign, which was called
“Ravenlandeye,” or the raven that desolates the land.
(“Corvus terræ terror.”) There seems to have been
many legends among the people, both as to the manner
in which Sigurd procured this ensign, and as to its supernatural
power.
After the time of Canute the Great and Sigurd Digre,
there is scarcely any coin to be found bearing the image
of the raven; but fortunately there is a representation
of another kind, belonging to the eleventh century, which
in no slight degree proves that raven-ensigns were actually
borne by the successors of the Danes and Norwegians
in the west of Europe until about the year 1100.
It is known that Scandinavian Vikings, and particularly
Normans and Danes, conquered the French province
afterwards called from the Northmen (Normænd) Normandy;
// 083.png
.bn 083.png
and that the successors of Rollo, or Rolf (Ralph),
continued to govern that land as dukes. From Normandy,
Duke William, surnamed the Conqueror, passed over in
1066 into England, which he conquered by the battle of
Hastings. The whole expedition, together with this battle,
is represented in the old and extremely remarkable piece
of tapestry, preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux, in
Normandy, and said to have been worked by William
the Conqueror’s own consort, Matilda; at all events it
was made shortly after the conquest of England. There
can, therefore, be no question about the fidelity of the
figures represented, at all events, as far as regards the
Normans. It is here seen that the Norman chiefs, after
the old Scandinavian fashion, had each his ensign or
banner of party-coloured cloth cut out into tongues or
points, and fastened to the pole of a lance. But where
William is represented on the Bayeux tapestry advancing
to the battle of Hastings, the chief banner is borne by
a mounted knight clad in chain armour, who rides before
another knight, likewise clothed in armour, and having
on his lance an ensign or flag with five tongues or points,
and with a cross in it.
.if h
.il fn=i_059.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Bayeux tapestry: Two Knights
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Bayeux tapestry: Two Knights]
.if-
On the chief banner, the only one of that form among
the many flags in the tapestry, but which in its whole
shape and pendant fringes bears a striking likeness to the
// 084.png
.bn 084.png
old Danish flags before mentioned, there is seen in the
middle the figure of a little bird, which may, with the
greatest probability, be taken for Odin’s raven. For it is
very natural that the Scandinavian Vikings, or Normans,
who had achieved so many and such famous conquests
under Odin’s raven, should continue to preserve this sign,
even after they had adopted Christianity; and that thus
the Normannic dukes in Normandy should also long bear
their forefathers’ venerable ensign with them as a Palladium
in the combat.
After the conquest of England by the Normans, however,
the Norman kings abandoned the old Scandinavian
raven-mark, and adapted themselves more to the English
customs. Probably each king had his own mark or flag,
after the custom of that time, until the national banner
afterwards received a settled form. But the remembrance
of the Danish raven by no means became obsolete among
the English nation. Whilst the raven-flag has almost
been erased from the memory of the Danish people, the
remembrance of it still exists freshly in the British
islands; and both poets and artists who represent, however
simply, the ancient combats of the Danes with the
Anglo-Saxons, the Scotch, and the Irish, seldom neglect
to make “the enchanted raven” wave in the Danish
ranks.
On the often-mentioned Bayeux tapestry is also represented
the fall of the English king, Harald Godvinsön,
at the battle of Hastings. The king’s flag-bearer, or
marksman, who, as well as the king, is on foot, bears
a flag-staff, on which is fixed a figure, probably of cloth,
cut in the resemblance of a dragon, which was the royal
mark of the Anglo-Saxon king. Close before him lies a
fallen knight, by whose side is seen a lance with the point
downwards, and on which hangs a similar dragon.
// 085.png
.bn 085.png
.if h
.il fn=i_061.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Bayeux tapestry: Harald Godvinsön
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Bayeux tapestry: Harald Godvinsön]
.if-
This fallen knight is without doubt the king. From the
form of his flag, or mark, we may conclude that the Danes’
raven-mark probably consisted at times of the figure of a
raven fixed to a shaft, and cut out or sewed in a similar
manner.
What colours were used for the raven-mark can now
hardly be decided. The bird, or raven, on William the
Conqueror’s war-flag appears to have been of a blue-black
on a pale yellow, or light, ground. This colour
in the tapestry may, perhaps, have been accidental; and
the account of an English chronicler would lead us to
suppose that the ground of the Danish flags, or marks,
was, at least in time of peace, white. But the colours
were certainly different at different times. There can be
no doubt that the ground was often red; for, from the
most ancient times, red was a very favourite colour in the
north, especially in time of war. The old inhabitants of
the north, when they came as friends, used to show a white
shield, but when they appeared as enemies it was red;
then “they raised the war-shield.” In Norway red seems
to have been the national colour from an early period;
// 086.png
.bn 086.png
and it was even ordered in Gulething’s laws, that every
man who possessed six silver marks[#] should have a red
shield. Something similar was probably the case in Denmark.
An old legend preserved by the Scotch historians
relates that, in a battle in Scotland about eight hundred
years ago, the Danes wore red and white tunics. That red
and white appear so prominently on the Danish national
colours ever since the thirteenth century is certainly
owing to an ancient predilection among the people for
these colours. It is perhaps, therefore, most probable
that the banners, or marks, of the ancient Danes were, in
time of peace, of a light colour, but in war time of a blood
colour, with a black raven on the red ground.
In the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries the raven,
the Danebrog of heathenism, waved victoriously in the
western lands. It was with Canute the Great at Ashingdon,
with the Norman William at Hastings, and was thus
present at two conquests of England. But the battle of
Hastings was the last important battle that the raven
won. Heathen Scandinavia had exhausted its strength by
numerous and far-extended conquests. Christianity, and
with it a new and a higher civilization, advanced with a
power not to be checked even among the ancient followers
of Odin. The raven, Odin’s mark, to which the heathen
Danes had attached themselves with all the strength of
religious faith, no longer inspired them as before when
the warriors had lost the hope of the joys of Valhalla.
If they now fought, it was mostly against heathens who
would not bow before that cross on which Christ bled and
suffered for the sins of mankind. In order to inspire the
combatants, it was necessary that the banner which they
followed should be an expression of the spirit which stirred
among the people, of that living hope which animated
them respecting the manner of their existence in another
world. The raven, the symbol of heathenism, paled by
degrees, as antiquated and meaningless, and at last quite
gave place to the symbol of Christianity, the holy cross.
.fs 85%
.fn #
A mark was half a pound of silver.
.fn-
.fs 100%
// 087.png
.bn 087.png
The same representations on ancient coins and tapestry,
which exhibit the raven, and the old flags, also show the
sign of the cross. The flag on Olaf’s and Regnald’s coins
(p. 53) has a figure in the middle resembling the cross.
This is still more distinct on the Bayeux tapestry, where
William’s chief banner is borne (p. 59), for immediately
after the raven follows a flag with the cross. This last,
moreover, certainly represents the identical consecrated
banner with the figure of a cross, which the Pope sent to
William on the occasion of his expedition against England.
The sign of the cross must by degrees have naturally
superseded the raven, not only among the descendants of
the Danes and Norwegians in England, but also, though
perhaps somewhat later, in the north itself. If we may
not assume that the present “Danebrog,” with its white
cross on a red ground, became the Danish national flag
immediately after the introduction of Christianity, it is
at least certain that the Danish kings, in the first two
centuries after that event, bore flags with crosses as their
personal banners, or marks; and particularly in the twelfth
century, when the crusades against the heathen Wends
began. An old Saga, or legend, relates, that during one
of the crusades of King Waldemar the Victorious in
Livonia, in 1219, the “Danebrog” fell from heaven
among the Danish army. This much, however, is certain—that
it is not till after these crusades that the “Danebrog”
appears as the established national flag of the
Danes; and ever since that time, for more than six
centuries, it has continued to wave unchanged in the
Danish fleets and armies. It is remarkable that, as the
flag of the fleet, and of all fortified places, and as the
royal flag, it is split; and it can scarcely be doubted that
this form must have originated from the fringes and
tongues, or points, with which the old Danish and Scandinavian
flags were ornamented in the tenth and eleventh
centuries. The Scandinavian people is the only one which
from remote antiquity has uninterruptedly borne this split
// 088.png
.bn 088.png
flag; and it is possible that Sweden, as well as Norway,
obtained theirs, which is of comparatively late origin, by
imitating the old Danebrog.
.if h
.il fn=i_064.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Flags and Ensigns
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Flags and Ensigns]
.if-
Other European countries also derived from the crusades
flags with crosses as their national banners; as, for
instance, England the St. George’s banner, which was
white with a red cross; and Scotland a blue flag
divided by a white St. Andrew’s cross. About the same
time the different kingdoms began to adopt a fixed
national coat of arms. Thus Denmark assumed that
still in use,—three blue leopards, or lions, on a golden
shield, strewed with red hearts; which was originally the
family arms of the royal house. It has, however, undergone
a few slight changes. With regard to this subject, it
is remarkable that three leopards were also borne by the
Norman dukes, who were of Norwegian descent, and who,
after the conquest, introduced the leopards, or lions, into
the arms of England. Generally the lion was not, nor is
indeed at present, found on coats of arms in England and
France, whereas it appears very frequently in those of the
// 089.png
.bn 089.png
north. Sweden has, besides others, the Gothic lion; the
Norwegian national coat of arms is a lion with a halberd;
and Denmark has, besides the proper national arms,
the Cymbric lion, and the two Sleswick lions. But
the lion is so peculiarly Scandinavian that it does not
even cross the Eider; Holstein, which is German, has an
entirely different coat of arms—a nettle-leaf. There is
also this similarity between the Danish and English lions,
that they are represented standing, whilst those on the
other national arms are depicted springing. Would it,
therefore, be quite groundless to trace, even in the armorial
bearings of England, one of the many proofs of the influence
which the Northmen, and the Scandinavian elements,
still continued to exert there at the time when the national
arms were adopted, and when the foundations of an
entirely new and superior social system had already been
laid?
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s07
Section VII.
.ce
Danish-Norwegian Names of Places.
On the extremity of the tongue of land which borders on
the north the entrance of the Humber, there formerly
stood a castle called Ravnsöre (raven’s point—in old Scandinavian,
Hrafnseyri), and afterwards Ravnsere. Öre is,
as is well known, the old Scandinavian name for the sandy
point of a promontory. Ravn (or Raven) may possibly
have been either the name of the man who first conquered
the surrounding district and built the castle; or, what is
certainly far more probable, the Northmen, on erecting
this important castle on one of their first landing places
on the greatest river in north England, named it after the
bird sacred to Odin, which fluttered in their banner, and
prognosticated to them victory in the fight. In that case
it was a singular coincidence that Harald Haardraade’s son
Olaf should, after the battle of Stamford Bridge, have embarked
// 090.png
.bn 090.png
at Ravnsöre for the Orkneys and Norway with the
feeble remnant of the Norwegian army. The very place
which had before so often seen multitudes of Northmen,
intoxicated with victory, land with Odin’s raven-flag, now
beheld the flight-like departure of their successors, after
they had combated in vain under that celebrated banner
“Landöde” (the land-ravager), which had accompanied
Harald Haardraade in his expeditions to the East, against
the Saracens and other enemies of Christianity. It was
one of the many proofs that “White Christ” was not yet
for the Northmen, at least in battle, what Odin had been
previously.
It is, however, at least certain that the name “Ravenspurn”
(Ravnsöre) is derived from the Scandinavian conquerors.
An Icelandic Saga, written a hundred and fifty
years after the conquest of England by the Normans, or
after the battle of Hastings (1066), says that “Northumberland
was mostly colonized by Northmen; for after
Lodbrog’s sons, who conquered the country, had again lost it,
the Danes and Norwegians often harried it; and there
are still many places to be found in the district that
have names taken from the Scandinavian tongue, such as
Grimsby, Hauksfliot, and numerous others.”
Old English chroniclers also state that many towns in
England had new names given to them by the Northmen;
for instance Streaneshalch came to be called Whitby,
and Northweorthig was named in the Danish language
“Deoraby.”
A surer and more decisive proof than all written historical
accounts of the Danish-Norwegian settlements and diffusion
in the midland and northern districts of England is, that
the above-named places, namely, Grimsby (“the town of
Grim”), Whitby (Hvidby, “the White town”), and Deoraby
Dyreby (“town of deer”), contracted to Derby, are to be
found to this day in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Derbyshire;
and also that in these old Danish districts there is,
moreover, a very considerable number of towns with names
// 091.png
.bn 091.png
of just as undoubted Danish origin. A close inspection
of even a common map of England will soon show that
there are not a few names of places in the north of England,
whose terminations and entire form are of quite a
different kind from those of places in the south.
The greater number of names of places in the south of
England end in ——ton, ——ham, ——bury, or ——borough,
——forth or ——ford, ——worth, &c. These,
which are of Anglo-Saxon origin, and which also serve
still further to prove the preponderating influence of the
Anglo-Saxons in that part, are, it is true, also spread
over the whole of the north of England. But, even in
the districts about the Thames (in Kent, Essex, Suffolk,
and Norfolk) they already begin to be mixed with previously
unknown names ending in ——by (Old Northern, býr,
first a single farm, afterwards a town in general), ——thorpe
(old Northern Þorp, a collection of houses separated from
some principal estate, a village), ——thwaite, in the old
Scandinavian language Þveit, tved, an isolated piece of
land, ——næs, a promontory, and ——ey, or öe, an isle;
as in Kirby, or Kirkby, Risby, Upthorpe and others. As
we approach from the south the districts west of the Wash,
such as Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, the number
of such names constantly increases, and we find, among
others, Ashby, Rugby, and Naseby. As we proceed farther
north, we find still more numerous names of towns
and villages having in like manner new terminations;
such as, ——with (i.e. forest), ——toft, ——beck, ——tarn
(Scandinavian, tjörn, or tjarn, a small lake, water), ——dale,
——fell (rocky mountain), ——force (waterfall), ——haugh,
or, how (Scand., haugr, a hill), ——garth (Scand., garðr,
a large farm); together with many others. The inhabitants
of the north will at once acknowledge these endings
to be pure Norwegian or Danish; which is, moreover,
placed beyond all doubt by the compound words in which
they appear.
It is not of course very easy to point out the meaning of
// 092.png
.bn 092.png
every name of a place that has a Danish or Norwegian
termination; the original form having been partly corrupted
by later differences of pronunciation, and partly
changed, by the ancient Scandinavians having often merely
added a Scandinavian ending to the older names, or at
most re-modelled them into forms that had a home-like
sound to their ears. Still there are names enough of
places whose signification is quite clear. To instance
some derived from the situation or nature of the place:
Eastby (Dan., Ostby; Eng., the eastern village), Westerby
(Eng., the western village), Mickleby (Dan., Magleby;
Eng., the large village), Somerby, Markby (Eng., the field
village), Newby (Dan., Nyby; Eng., the new village), Upperby
(Dan., Overby; Eng., the upper village), Netherby
(the lower village), Langtoft (the long field), Kirkland
(church-land), Stainsby (the stone village), Haidenby (Dan.,
Hedeby; Eng., the heath village), Raithby (Dan., Rödby,
from rydde, to clear away), Dalby (village in the dale),
Scawby and Scausby (village in the wood), Scow, Askwith
(Dan., Askved, or Askeskov, i.e. Ashwood), Storwith (Dan.,
Storved, or Storskov; Eng., the large wood), Lund (Danish
for grove), Risby (the beech village), Thornby (the thorn
village), Birkby (Dan., Birk; Eng., the birch village), Ings
(Dan., Enge; Eng. meadow), Brackenthwaite (Bregentved,
from Brackens), Northorpe (Dan., Nörup; Eng., north
village), Millthrop (Dan., Möldrup; Eng., mill-village),
Staindrop (Dan., Stenderup; Eng., stone village), Linthorpe
(Dan., Lindrup; Eng., lime-tree village), Stonegarth
(Dan., Steengaard; Eng., stone farm), Dalegarth (Dan.,
Dalsgaard; Eng., valley farm), Fieldgarth (Dan., Fjeldgaard;
Eng., rocky farm), with others. A village on the river
Eden in Cumberland is called Longwathby (from a long ford,
or wading place; Danish, at vade); and north and south of
the Humber, at a spot where there is a ferry over the river
(Dan., Færge), lie north and south Ferriby! Almost all
these names, to which a great number of similar ones might
be added, answer to names of places still in use in Denmark,
// 093.png
.bn 093.png
only with this difference, that thwaite has there
passed into tvede, or tved, and thorpe into trup, drup, or rup.
The following examples may be cited of Danish-Norwegian
names of places in England, called after animals:
Codale (Cowdale), Swinedale, Swinethorpe, Hestholm (Eng.,
Horse-holm), Calthorpe, and Hareby.
Names of places containing personal names are, however,
beyond comparison far more numerous, and were
probably taken from the first Scandinavian conquerors;
as, for instance, Rollesby (Rolfsby), Ormsby (Gormsby),
Ormskirk, Grimsdale, Grimsthorpe, Haconby, Gunnerby,
Aslackby, Swainby, Swainsthorpe, Ingersby, Thirkelsby,
Asserby, Johnby, Brandsby, Ingoldasthorpe, Osgodby,
Thoresby, and several others.
Among this species of names of places are found such
as Tursdale, Baldersby, Fraisthorpe, and Ullersthorpe.
Now it is certainly probable that these were only derived
from men named Thor, Balder, Freyer, and Uller, or
Oller; yet we cannot avoid thinking of the old gods
who bore these names, particularly as it was a common
custom among the ancient Scandinavians to name towns
and estates after them. In England also are found
Asgardby, Aysgarth (or Asgaard, in Yorkshire), as well
Wydale and Wigthorpe, or Wythorpe; which two names
have undoubtedly the same origin as the old sacrificial and
assize town Viborg, in Jutland (from Vébjörg, or the holy
mountains); namely, from vé, a sacred place. Even the
name of one of the most important sacrificial places in the
Scandinavian north, is to be found in Yorkshire, in Upsal
(from Upsalir, the high halls). The names of places in England
which have preserved traces of the Danes after they
had become Christians, may all the more assure us that
we are not mistaken in regarding the names just mentioned
as remarkable remains of the short period of their
domination when heathens. The names of Bishopsthorpe
(Bispetorp), Nunthorpe (Nonnetorp), Kirkby, Crosby, and
Crossthwaite, sufficiently prove that Christian had succeeded
// 094.png
.bn 094.png
to sacrificial priests, and that church and cross were now
erected where heathen altars and temples had formerly stood.
The name of the village of Thingwall[#] in Cheshire affords
a remarkable memorial of the assizes, or Thing, which the
Northmen generally held in conjunction with their sacrifices
to the gods; it lies, surrounded with several other
villages with Scandinavian names, on the small tongue of
land that projects between the mouths of the rivers Dee
and Mersey. At that time they generally chose for the
holding of the thing, or assizes, a place in some degree
safe from surprise. The chief ancient thing place for
Iceland was called like this Thingwall, namely Thingvalla
(originally “Þingvöllr,” “Þingvellir,” or the thing-fields).
.fs 85%
.fn #
Wall, Dan., Vold, a bank or rampart.
.fn-
.fs 100%
The before-mentioned names Bishopsthorpe and Nunthorpe
apply to estates that belonged to the church; the
following ones, viz., Coningsby, Coneysthorpe, Coneysby,
Kingthorpe, and Kingsby, denote property belonging to
the kings, or destined for their maintenance. Some towns
are named after the trade or business of the original inhabitants
as Smisby (Smithby) Weaverthorpe, and Copmanthorpe
(Kjöbmandsthorpe, i.e., merchants-thorpe); others
point to the descent of the inhabitants, such as Romanby,
Saxby, Flemingsby, Frankby, Frisby and Fristhorpe (but
this possibly came from “Freyr”), Scotby, Scotsthorpe,
Ireby, Normanby, Danby or Denby, and Danesdale.
It also deserves to be mentioned that many of these
names of places have by degrees become family ones, which
are constantly heard in England; for instance, Thoresby,
Ashby, Crosby (whence again Ashby and Crosby Streets in
London), Thorpe, Sibthorpe, Willoughby, Scoresby, Derby,
Selby, Wilberforce, &c.
In order, lastly, to convey an idea of the abundance of
Scandinavian, or Danish-Norwegian, names of places,
which occur in the midland and northern districts of
England, a tabular view of those most frequently met
with is here subjoined from the English maps. This list,
// 095.png
.bn 095.png
// 096.png
.bn 096.png
which is principally drawn up for the use of those readers
who have not a comprehensive map of England at
hand, will, with all its deficiencies, clearly and incontestably
prove the correctness of the historical accounts,
which state that the new population of Danes and Norwegians
that immigrated into England during the Danish
expeditions, settled almost exclusively in the districts to
the north and east of Watlinga-Stræt, and there chiefly to
the west and north of the Wash. Norfolk, Northamptonshire,
and Lancashire, have each only about fifty names of
places of Scandinavian origin; Leicestershire has about
ninety; Lincolnshire alone, nearly three hundred; Yorkshire
above four hundred; Westmoreland and Cumberland
each about one hundred and fifty. The colonization
has clearly been greatest near the coasts, and along the
rivers; it had its central point in Lincolnshire (the Northmen’s
“Lindisey”), and in the ancient Northumberland, or
land north of the river Humber. Yet it was not much
extended in Durham and the present Northumberland,
each of which contains only a little more than a score of
Scandinavian names.
.nf c
A Tabular View of some of the most important Danish-Norwegian
Names of Places in England.
(Extracted and collected from “Walker’s Maps,” London, 1842.)
.nf-
Part A
.ta |h:16 |c:5 |c:9 |c:8 |c:5 |c:5 |c:5 |c:5|
__
Names ending in|by|thorpe|thwaite|with|toft|beck|næs
__
In Kent, north-east of Watling Street |1 |. |. |. |. |. |4
In Essex |2 |3 |. |. |. |. |3
-Bedfordshire |. |3 |. |. |1 |. |.
-Buckinghamshire |1 |2 |. |. |. |. |.
-Suffolk |3 |5 |1 |. |. |. |1
-Norfolk |17 |24|2 |. |. |1 |.
-Huntingdonshire |1 |. |. |. |. |. |.
-Northamptonshire |26 |23|. |. |3 |. |.
-Warwickshire |2 |1 |. |. |. |. |.
-Leicestershire |66 |19|. |. |1 |. |.
-Rutland |. |7 |. |. |. |. |.
-Lincolnshire |212|63|. |1 |4 |8 |1
-Nottinghamshire |15 |20|. |. |. |1 |.
-Derbyshire |6 |4 |. |. |1 |. |.
-Cheshire |6 |. |. |. |. |. |.
-Yorkshire: | | | | | | |
--East Riding |35 |48|1 |6 |3 |1 |1
--West Riding |32 |29|6 |8 |2 |4 |.
--North Riding |100|18|2 |6 |1 |7 |.
-Lancashire |9|.|14|2 |. |. |2
-Westmorland |20 |6 |14|1 |. |17 |1
-Cumberland |43 |1 |43|. |. |12 |2
-Durham |7 |7 |. |. |. |. |.
-Northumberland |. |1 |. |. |. |1 |.
__
In all |604|284|83|24|16|52|15
__
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
Part B
.ta |h:16 |c:5 |c:5 |c:7 |c:5 |c:5 |c:5 |r:5|
__
Names ending in|ey. |dale|force|fell|tarn|haugh|Total
__
In Kent, north-east of Watling Street |1 |. |. |. |. |. |6
In Essex |3 |. |. |. |. |. |11
-Bedfordshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |4
-Buckinghamshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |3
-Suffolk |. |. |. |. |. |. |10
-Norfolk |. |. |. |. |. |. |44
-Huntingdonshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |1
-Northamptonshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |52
-Warwickshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |3
-Leicestershire |. |1 |. |. |. |. |87
-Rutland |. |1 |. |. |. |. |8
-Lincolnshire |. |3 |. |. |. |. |292
-Nottinghamshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |36
-Derbyshire |. |. |. |. |. |. |11
-Cheshire |. |. |. |. |. | |6
-Yorkshire: | | | | | | |
--East Riding |. |12 |2 |. |. |. |109
--West Riding |. |12 |. |15|2 |. |110
--North Riding |. |40| 4 |7 |1 |. |186
Lancashire |2 |13 |. |7 |. |. |49
Westmorland |. |36 |6 |42|15|. |158
Cumberland |. |16 |1 |15|9 |. |142
Durham |. |5 |2 |2 |. |. |23
Northumberland |. |3 |. |7 |. |10|22
__
In all |6|142|15|95|27|10|1373
__
.ta-
.nf c
Besides many other names ending in -holm, -garth, -land, -end,
-vig, -ho (how), \-rigg, &c., \&c.
.nf-
.sp 2
The same table still further shows that the names ending
in by, thorpe, toft, beck, næs, and ey, appear chiefly
in the flat midland counties of England; whereas, farther
towards the north, in the more mountainous districts,
these terminations mostly give place to those in thwaite,
and more particularly to those in dale, force, tarn, fell,
and haugh. This difference, however, is scarcely founded
on the natural character of the country alone; it may
also have arisen from the different descent of the inhabitants.
For although in ancient times Danish and
Norwegian were one language, with unimportant variations,
so that it would scarcely be possible to decide with
certainty in every single case whether the name of a place
be derived from the Danes or from the Norwegians; yet it
may reasonably be supposed that part at least of the last-mentioned
names are Norwegian; namely, those ending
// 097.png
.bn 097.png
in ——dale (as Kirk-dale, Lang-dale, Wast-dale, Bishops-dale);
in ——force (as Aysgarth-force in Yorkshire, High-force,
and Low-force, in the river Tees, and in the stream
called “Seamer Water”); in ——fell (old Norwegian, fjall;
Mickle-fell, Cam-fell, Kirk-fell, Middle-fell, Cross-fell); in
——tarn (Old Nor., tjörn, or tjarn, a small lake); and in
——haugh (as in Northumberland, Red-haugh, Kirk-haugh,
Green-haugh, Windy-haugh). Exactly similar names are
met with to this day in the mountains of Norway; whilst they
are less common, or altogether wanting, in the flat country
of Denmark. That Norwegians also immigrated into
England, even in considerable numbers, both history and
the frequently occurring name of Normanby in the north
of England, clearly show; but they appear to have betaken
themselves chiefly to the most northern and mountainous
districts, which not only lay nearest to them, but which in
character most resembled their own country. In this respect
it deserves to be noticed, that places whose names
end in tarn, and are consequently pure Norwegian, are
found only in the most northern counties; and that those
in haugh—although there are names of places in Denmark
ending in höi (hill)—must also, from the form, be Norwegian.
They are found exclusively in the present Northumberland,
and within the Scotch border.
We may, however, venture to set down the greater part
of Scandinavian names of places in England as Danish.
The terminations in thwaite and thorpe, indeed, are to
be met with in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, as well as
in the Saxon and Frisian districts of North Germany; yet
as the corresponding English names are for the most part
composed of pure Scandinavian or Danish words, and as
they seldom appear either in the tracts conquered by the
Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland, or in the southern
and south-western, originally Anglo-Saxon, districts of England,
but keep strictly within the same boundaries as the
rest of the Danish names of places, and particularly of
// 098.png
.bn 098.png
those in by (Danish for town or village), these are valid
reasons for regarding them in general as Danish.
The names of places in England ending in by are only
to be found in the districts selected by the Danes for conquest
or colonization. With the exception of a single
Kirby, or Kirkby, in Kent, not far from London, they are
nowhere to be found to the south of Watlinga-stræt (for
Tenby, formerly Tenbigh, in Pembrokeshire, is from a
different derivation); whilst towards the north, they cease
in the most north-eastern county of England, the present
Northumberland; in the south-westernmost part of Scotland
(Locherby in Dumfries, Sorby in Wigtonshire); and
in the Isle of Man (Sulby, Jurby, Dalby). If we except
Duncansby in Caithness, and Oreby in the Isle of Lewis,
as well as some few villages in Orkney and the Shetland
Isles, they do not appear among the many pure Norwegian
names of places in the north and west of Scotland, and in
Ireland; which, as will be explained in its proper place,
have generally quite a different character from the Scandinavian
(chiefly Danish) names of places in England. It
can hardly be said that this was solely owing to the natural
character of the country in England being more
favourable for the building of villages than in those districts
in Scotland and Ireland which were occupied by the
Northmen: first, because the Norwegians seem to have
dwelt closely together in many places there, doubtless in
order to resist the attacks of the natives; secondly, because
the land there, though often separated by nature into
many districts, as for instance in Caithness and the
Orkneys, by no means prevented them from assembling
together in villages; and lastly, because by originally
denoted only a single estate or farm. In Norway, the
Faroe Isles, and Iceland, many names of places are to be
found, which indicate the existence both of single farm-houses
and collections of them, or villages; but they have
this peculiarity, that they generally end in bœr or bö, far
// 099.png
.bn 099.png
more rarely in býr or by; whilst, on the contrary, this last
form is essentially Danish. Names of places ending in
by are spread over the peninsula of Jutland quite down to
Danevirke and the Eyder; are found in great numbers in
the southern boundary of South Jutland, or Sleswick; as
well as in the islands and old Danish countries of Skaane,
or Scania, Halland, and Bleking; whence they extend themselves
over a great part of Sweden, and far into Finland.
From the most ancient times down to the present, this
difference between the Norwegian form bœr, and the
Danish býr or by, seems on the whole to have clearly
prevailed; and thus that, as early as the eleventh century,
the English towns and villages are written in William the
Conqueror’s “Domesday-book,” with the Danish ending
by or bi, and not with the Norwegian form bœr or bö, is
certainly no slight corroboration of their assumed Danish
origin. Besides, as by is not found in the names of places
south of the Eyder, in Holstein or North Germany, and
as it is wholly unknown in the Saxon or German languages,
there is consequently so much the greater probability
that in England it was derived from the Danes.
For the same reasons, towns whose names end in by are
most numerous in the counties situated on the coast
opposite Jutland; viz., in Leicestershire, 66; Lincolnshire,
212; and the North Riding of Yorkshire, 100. In the
two other Ridings, there are altogether about 70 names of
places ending in by; in Cumberland, 43; and in Westmoreland,
20. For the rest, this termination occurs so
frequently throughout the old Danish part of England, that,
of 1370 Scandinavian names of places, above 600 (as the
tabular view given at page 71 shows) end in by, whilst no
other names exceed 280; and even this number is reached
only by the ending thorpe, which also is certainly pure
Danish; whilst the most numerous after thorpe fall down to
140. This remarkable preponderance of Danish endings
in by, will of itself sufficiently prove the important and
// 100.png
.bn 100.png
wide-extended influence of the Danes in the midland and
northern counties of England.
The not inconsiderable number (1370) of Scandinavian
names of places collected together in the preceding tabular
view, could be much increased if we were to include all
the Scandinavian appellations used by the common people
in many parts of the north of England. A hill, or small
mountain, is there called hoe or how (Höi in Jutland:
Höw or Hyv); a mountain ridge, rigg; a ford, wath;
a spring, kell; a holm or small island, holm; a farm (Dan.,
Gaard), garth, &c., &c. We might thus, on a very low calculation,
compute in round numbers the clearly recognisable
Scandinavian names of places in England at one thousand
five hundred.
That they should have been preserved in such numbers
for more than eight centuries after the fall of the
Danish dominion in England, and that they should have
retained, as it has been shown, the original Scandinavian
forms, and that often in a highly-striking degree, completely
disproves the opinion that the old Danish-Norwegian inhabitants
of the country north of Watlinga-Stræt were
supplanted or expelled after the cessation of the Danish
dominion (1042), first by the Anglo-Saxons, and afterwards
by the Normans from Normandy; for if such had been
the case, the names of places would naturally have become
altogether changed and impossible to recognise. As the
matter stands it is sufficiently proved that Danes as well as
Norwegians must have continued to reside in great numbers
in the districts previously conquered by them, and
particularly in the north; and consequently that a very
considerable part of the present population in the midland
and northern counties of England may with certainty trace
their origin to the Northmen, and especially to the Danes.
// 101.png
.bn 101.png
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s08
Section VIII.
.ce 2
Resemblance of the People to the Danes and Norwegians.—Proper
Names.—Popular Language.—Songs and Legends.
The present English people is certainly composed, as we
have seen, of the most heterogeneous elements. The
Englishman reckons among his ancestors Britons, Romans,
Anglo-Saxons, and Northmen, especially Danes and
Normans. All these people, who successively reigned over
England for centuries, must naturally have left numerous
descendants behind them. But as in ancient times it was
a combat of life and death for dominion, the conquered
and their posterity could not immediately amalgamate
with the conquerors. Long after the Norman conquest
(1066) the Britons, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, were
still hostilely opposed to each other. These disputes were
brought to a close during the middle ages; prejudices
vanished; mixed marriages became more frequent; the
different races acquired common interests; and at last,
with the exception of those Britons who kept themselves
aloof in Wales, passed into one great nation. From this
time it was no longer usual in marriages to regard family
descent; it was only some of the richer sort, and higher
lineage, who considered it an honour to preserve the
original blood as pure as possible. There are families
still to be found in England who pretend that they descend
in a direct line from Saxon or Norman ancestors,
and who assert that Saxon or Norman features have been
transmitted to them. But even these families have in the
course of time been considerably mixed with races of an
entirely different extraction; nay, even the Britons in
Wales have not been able to prevent some of the hated
English blood from gradually supplying and deteriorating
that which runs in their own veins. Moreover, if we consider
what an immense number of Irishmen, Frenchmen,
Germans, Jews, and others, have, particularly during later
centuries, immigrated into England, where they have settled,
// 102.png
.bn 102.png
and by degrees married natives; and, lastly, if we
remember that most foreigners have settled on the east
coast, or in the midland and north-eastern districts; we
might almost deem it impossible to point out from the
features and bodily frame of the inhabitants of these districts,
any preponderating degree of descent from Saxons,
Danes, or any one race of people that colonized England
in times so long past. In this respect we can of course
scarcely think of comparing districts of small extent, such
as two neighbouring parishes, or two adjoining counties
on the east coast of England. Nevertheless, if by taking
a survey of such extensive districts as north and south
England, we were able to discover a tolerably decided
difference in the general appearance of the inhabitants,
this would be a weighty corroboration of the assertions of
history, and of the proof derived from names, that these
districts were originally peopled by inhabitants of entirely
different descent.
The Englishman of London, and the rest of southern
England, does not in general betray in his exterior any
perceptible resemblance to the Danes and Norwegians.
On the contrary, he decidedly differs from them. The
black hair, the dark eye, the fine hooked nose, and the
long oval countenance, remind one either of relationship
with the Romans, whose chief seat in England was in the
south, or rather, perhaps, of a strong compound between
the ancient Britons and the Anglo-Saxon and Norman
races, which afterwards immigrated into England. Many
of the Britons seem to have been dark-haired; for among
their descendants in Wales, as well as among their near
kinsmen, the Highland Scots and the Irish, there are
still frequently found—and particularly in remote districts,
as, for instance, in the Hebrides—dark-haired and
generally small people, having on the whole dark complexions.
It was, too, in the south and south-west of
England that the greatest mixture took place between the
original British tribes and those that afterwards came over.
// 103.png
.bn 103.png
But as we proceed from the southern towards the middle
and northern parts of England, we find that by degrees
an entirely different physiognomy, which before we
only got a glimpse of now and then, and which could
scarcely be remarked in the confusion of people in London,
becomes more and more the prevailing one. The
farther one proceeds towards Northumberland, the more
distinct does it become. The form of the face is broader,
the cheek bones project a little, the nose is somewhat
flatter, and at times turned a little upwards, the eyes
and hair are of a lighter colour, and even deep red hair
is far from being uncommon. The people are not very
tall in stature, but usually more compact and strongly
built than their countrymen towards the south. The
Englishman himself seems to acknowledge that a difference
is to be found in the appearance of the inhabitants of the
northern and southern counties; at least one constantly
hears in England, when red-haired compact-built men with
broad faces are spoken of; “They must certainly be from
Yorkshire:” a sort of admission that light hair, and the
broad peculiar form of the face, belong mostly to the
north-of-England people. On the other hand, little
importance must be attached to the circumstance that
Englishmen generally attribute the red hair to the immigration
of the Danes; for though it is true that many
Danes, and particularly many Norwegians, were red haired,
yet some tribes of the original Celtic inhabitants of the
British Isles also had red hair; and the same feature may
likewise be partly ascribed to the Saxons.
In the midland, and especially in the northern part of
England, I saw every moment, and particularly in the rural
districts, faces exactly resembling those at home. Had I
met the same persons in Denmark or Norway, it would
never have entered my mind that they were foreigners.
Now and then I also met with some whose taller growth
and sharper features reminded me of the inhabitants of
South Jutland, or Sleswick, and particularly of Angeln;
// 104.png
.bn 104.png
districts of Denmark which first sent colonists to England.
It is not easy to describe peculiarities which can be appreciated
in all their details only by the eye; nor dare I implicitly
conclude that in the above-named cases I have
really met with persons descended in a direct line from the
old Northmen. I adduce it only as a striking fact, which
will not escape the attention of at least any observant Scandinavian
traveller, that the inhabitants of the north of
England bear, on the whole, more than those of any other
part of that country, an unmistakeable personal resemblance
to the Danes and Norwegians.
Old Scandinavian national names, such as Thorkil, Erik,
Haldan, Harald, Else, and several others, were formerly,
at least, not unfrequently used in these districts. Surnames,
such as Adamson, Jackson, Johnson, Nelson
(Nielson), Thomson, Stevenson, Swainson, and others, all of
which have endings in son or sen, which never appear in
Saxon names, still frequently occur. The ending sön
or sen (a son) is quite peculiar to the countries of Scandinavia,
whence it was brought over to England by the
Scandinavian colonists. It is not, however, confined to
the north of England, but is spread over all the British
Islands where the Northmen settled; for instance, in
Scotland we find Anderson, Matheson, &c. It is very
remarkable that the name of Johnson, which, as is well
known, is one of the commonest in England, is also,
perhaps, in the selfsame form, that which most frequently
occurs in Iceland.
The still-existing popular dialect affords an excellent
proof that the resemblance of the inhabitants of the
northern counties of England to the Danes and Norwegians
is not confined to a, perhaps accidental, personal
likeness. The pure English language itself includes, both
with regard to its vocabulary and inflexions, many Scandinavian
elements, the result of the Danish immigration.
But, in the north of England, many words and phrases are
preserved in the popular language, which are neither found
// 105.png
.bn 105.png
nor understood in other parts, although they sound quite
familiar to every Northman. These original Scandinavian
terms are not only applied, as I have before said, to waterfalls,
mountains, rivulets, fords, and islands, but are also
in common use in daily life; as, for instance, late (Dan.,
lede; Eng., to seek), lite (Dan., lide; Eng., to rely), helle
(Dan., helde; Eng., to pour out), hit (Dan., hitte; Eng.,
to find), clip (Dan., klippe; Eng., to cut), forelders (Dan.,
Forældre, or Forfædre; Eng., ancestors, forefathers), updaals
(Dan., opdals; Eng., up the valley), kirk-folk (Dan.,
Kirkefolk; Eng., people going to church), kirk-garth (Dan.,
Kirke-gaard; Eng., churchyard), with many others.
These originally Scandinavian words are now chiefly
found in the north-west of England, among the remote
mountains of Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and
Lancashire, where they have withstood the changes of
time. On entering a house there one will find the housewife
sitting with her rock (Dan., Rok; Eng., a distaff) and
spoele (Dan., Spole; Eng., spool, a small wheel on the
spindle); or else she has set both her rock and her garnwindle
(Dan., Garnvinde; Eng., reel or yarn-winder) aside,
whilst standing by her back-bword (Dan., Bagebord; Eng.,
baking-board) she is about to knead dough (Dan., Deig),
in order to make the oaten bread commonly used in these
parts, at times, also, barley-bread; for clap-bread (Dan.
Klappebröd, or thin cakes beaten out with the hand) she
lays the dough on the clap-board (Dan., Klappebord). One
will also find the bord-claith spread (Dan., Bordklæde; Eng.,
table-cloth); the people of the house then sit on the bank
or bink (Dan., Bænk; Eng., bench), and eat Aandorn
(Eng., afternoon’s repast), or, as it is called in Jutland and
Fünen, Onden (dinner). The chimney, lovver, stands in
the room; which name may perhaps be connected with the
Scandinavian lyre (Icelandic, ljóri); viz., the smoke-hole
in the roof or thatch (thack), out of which in olden times,
before houses had regular chimneys and “lofts” (Dan., Loft;
Eng., roof, an upper room), the smoke (reek or reik, Dan.,
// 106.png
.bn 106.png
Rög) left the dark (mirk or murk, Dan., mörk) room.
Within is the bower or boor (Eng., bed-chamber), in Danish,
Buur; as, for instance, in the old Danish word Jomfrubuur
(the maiden’s chamber), and in the modern word Fadebuur
(the pantry).
Outside, in the garth, or yard (Dan., Gaard), stands the
roomy lathe, or barn (Dan., Lade), which directly shows
how fruitful the soil is that belongs to the garth (Dan.,
Gaard; Eng., a manor, farm). The shepherd or herdsman,
whose nowth (Dan., Nöd; Eng., neat cattle) are restless in
the boose (Dan., Baas; Eng., stall) and crib (Dan., Krybbe;
Eng., manger), is about to cleanse the stable, and with a
greype, or gripe (Dan., Möggreve; Eng., dung-fork), bears
out the muck (Dan., Mög; Eng., dung) to the midding
(Dan., Mödding; Eng., dunghill). If we accompany him
to the fields he tells us in a lively tone about the many
threaves of corn (Dan., Traver, bundles of twenty or thirty
sheaves), particularly of big (Dan., Byg; Eng. barley) that
have been got from the poor ling (Dan., Lyng; Eng.,
fern) which covers the sides of the haughs or haws (Dan.,
Höie; Eng., hills); of all the slaa-torns (Dan., Slaatjörn;
Eng., sloes), lins (Dan., Lindetræer; Eng., linden trees),
roan trees (Dan., Rönnetrær; Eng., Scotch rowan trees), and
allars (Dan., Elletræer; Eng., alders), that grow in yonder
little shaw (Dan., Skov; Eng., wood), or in that lawnd
(Dan., Lund; Eng., grove), which is likewise full of hindberries
(Dan., Hindbær; Eng., raspberries), and which is
resorted to by many gowks (Dan., Gjöge; Eng., cuckoos).
A field farther on, which in its time was acquired by mackshift
(Dan., Mageskifte; Eng., deed of exchange), has been
allowed to ley-breck (Dan., ligge-brak; Eng., to lie fallow).
Through this field winds a beck (Dan., Bæk; Eng., brook),
or rivulet well stocked with fish, in which with a liester
(Dan., Lyster; Icelandic, Ljöstr, grains, or a sort of barbed
iron fork on a long pole) one may be able to make a good
capture.
In the river are the trows, or troughs (Jutland, trow;
// 107.png
.bn 107.png
Old Scan., Þró), made use of to cross over to the
opposite shore. These trows, or troughs, are two small
boats, originally trunks of trees hollowed out, and held
together by a cross-pole. He who wishes to pass over
places a foot in each trough or boat, and rows himself
forward with the help of an oar. It is said that Edmund
Ironsides and Canute the Great rowed over to the Isle of
Olney (in the river Severn) in such boats at the time when
they concluded an agreement to divide England between
them. The original inhabitants of Europe undoubtedly
passed the great rivers in the same simple manner.
Amongst the words in the popular language that still
remind one of ancient Scandinavian customs, those of
yuletide, yuling (Christmas), yule-candles (Dan., Julelys),
and yule-cakes (Dan., Julekager), deserve particular notice.
Christmas was certainly kept as a solemn feast among the
Anglo-Saxons, but it does not appear to have had that
importance with them which it had with the Scandinavians;
of which this is a proof, that the old name of
Christmas (Yule) is preserved only in those districts in the
north that were more especially colonized by the Northmen.
Yule, or the mid-winter feast, was, in the olden times, as
it still partly is, the greatest festival in the countries of
Scandinavia. Yule bonfires were kindled round about as
festival-fires to scare witches and wizards; offerings were
made to the gods; the boar dedicated to Freÿr (Dan.,
Sonegalte) was placed on the table, and over it the
warriors vowed to perform great deeds. Pork, mead, and
ale abounded, and yuletide passed merrily away with
games, gymnastics, and mirth of all kinds. It is singular
enough that even to the present day it is not only the
custom in several parts of England to bring a garnished
boar’s-head to table at Christmas, but that the descendants of
the Northmen, in Yorkshire and the ancient Northumberland,
do not even now neglect to place a large piece of
wood on the fire on Christmas Eve, which is by some
called the yule-block, by others yule-clog, or yule-log (perhaps
// 108.png
.bn 108.png
from the old Scandinavian lág, log, a felled tree;
Norwegian, laag). Superstitious persons do not, however,
allow the whole log to be consumed, but take it out of the
fire again in order to preserve it until the following year.
Exactly similar observances of Christmas customs still
exist in the Scandinavian North. At Smaaland, in Sweden,
a boar’s-head, called julhös (from hös, the skull), is set
on the table at Christmas; and in East Gothland a
large loaf, called juhlegalt, is seen on table throughout the
festival, of which, however, nothing is eaten. Juhlhös and
juhlegalt, as well as the boar’s-head in the north of
England before alluded to, owe their origin unmistakeably
to the expiatory barrow-pig, or “Galt,” offered up by the
old Northmen to Freÿr. The remembrance of the games
of the Northmen is also preserved in England in the
Scandinavian word lake (to play), which is heard only in
the ancient Danish districts.
To enumerate all the Scandinavian words in the English
popular tongue would, from their quantity, be both a
tedious and a superfluous labour. The following selection
of a hundred of the most common of them will
surely be regarded as sufficient clearly to prove in what a
highly remarkable manner “the Danish tongue” has imprinted
itself on the north of England, in comparison with
other countries occupied by the Normans, as, for example,
Normandy; where the Scandinavian language, notwithstanding
the very considerable immigrations from Scandinavia,
has disappeared to such a degree that but very few
traces of it now remain.
// 109.png
.bn 109.png
.ce 2
A Hundred Danish Words, selected from the Vulgar Tongue,
or Common Language, North of Watlinga Stræt.
.ta h:15 |h:15 |h:15
__
Provincial English[#]. |English. |Danish.
__
arr | scar | Ar
attercop | spider | Edderkop
awns | beads of corn | Avner
bank | to beat | banke
bairn, bearn | child | Barn
bede | to pray | bede
bid | to invite | byde, indbyde
bide | to stay | bie
big, biggin | to build, building | bygge, Bygning
blend | to mix | blande
boll, or bole | trunk of a tree | Bul (Træ)
brosten | burst | brusten
clammer | to quarrel, grasp | klamres, fast-klamre
claver | to climb | klavre
cluve | hoof | Klov, Hov
dyke, dike | ditch | Dige
elt | to knead | ælte
festing-penny | earnest-money | Fæstepenge
fra | from | fra
frem folks | strangers | Fremmede Folk
full | drunk | fuld, drukken
gainest way | nearest way | Gjenvei
gammon | merriment | Gammen
gants, ganty | to be merry | gantes
gar | to make | gjöre
gar | to hedge | gjerde
glowing (glouring) | staring | gloende
greit, greets | to weep, tears | grœde, Graad
grepen | clasped | greben
grise | young pig | Griis
groats | husked corn | grudtet Korn
hack | to stammer | hakke, stamme
halikeld | holy-well | Helligkilde
hand clout | towel | Haandklæde
handsel | earnest | Handsel
harns, harns-pan | brain, brain pan | Hjerne, Hjerne-skal
heck | hay-rack | Hække (til Hö)
hesp | latch | Haspe (Dör)
hose | stocking | hose
kaam, kem | comb, to comb | Kam, kæmme
kail, kale | cabbage | Kaal
kern-milk | churn-milk | Kjernemelk
kern | to churn | kjerne
kilt | to tuck up | kilte (op)
kitling | young cat | Killing
laid | just froze | logt (Iis)
mauf, meaugh | brother-in-law | Maag, Svoger
// 110.png
.bn 110.png
mind | to remember | mindes
nab | to catch | nappe
neaf (or neif) neaf-full | fist, handful | Næve, Nævefuld
neb | bill, beak | Næb
nipping | to sip | nippe
pot-scar | pot-sherd | Potteskaar
quern | hand-mill | Qværn
querken’d | suffocated | qværket
raise | a heap of stones, cairn | Rös, Steendysse
read (or rede) | to guess, know fully | raade, udtyde
read | to comb | rede (Haar)
reasty | toasted | ristet
rid | to remove | rydde
rig, riggin | back, ridge of a house | Ryg, Rygning
rip up | to revive (injuries) | rippe op
rise | underwood | Riis (Underskov)
rive | to split, divide | rive (splitte)
sackless | without suit | sageslös
sark | shirt | Særk
scarn | dung | Skarn (Smuds)
schrike (or skrike) | to cry, shriek | skrige
scoll | toast (health) | Skaal (Drikkelag)
sele | to bind, fasten | bind i Sele
skift | to change (clothes) | skifte (Klæder)
slade | sledge | Slæde
sleck | to put out (quench) | slukke
smiddy | blacksmith’s shop | Smedie
smooth-hole | hiding-place | Smuthul
smouch | kiss | Smadsk (Kys)
snirp | to pine | snirpe
speer (or spar) | to ask | spörge
spire | young tree | Spire
stee (or stey) | ladder | Stige
steert | point | Stjert
stew | dust | Stöv
stive | to raise dust | stöve
stumpy | short, thick | stumpet
stot | young horse, or bullock | Stod (Hest)
swale | shade | Svale (Skygge)
sype (or sipe) | to drop gently (ooze)| sive
tang | sea-weed | Tang
theaker | thatcher | Tækker
toom (or tuam) | empty | tom
twine | to murmur, weep | tvine
unrid | disorderly, filthy | uredt, urede
uphold | to maintain | holde oppe
wadmal, woadmel | coarse woollen cloth | Vadmel
wan | rod | Vaand
wark | ache, pain | Værk (Smerte)
way zalt | to weigh salt, a game| veie Salt (Leeg)
wong | a field | Vænge
.ta-
.fs 85%
.fn #
Many of these words are Scotch.
.fn-
.fs 100%
// 111.png
.bn 111.png
These numerous and striking Danish terms, still existing
in the north of England almost a thousand years
after the destruction of the Danish power there, and after
an almost equally protracted struggle with the constant
progress of the English language, show that the Scandinavian
tongue must possess no mean degree of durability.
These Scandinavian words, moreover, taken in conjunction
with the unusually numerous Scandinavian names of places
in England, put it beyond all doubt that a Scandinavian
population must have been far more diffused, and have
taken much deeper root there, than in any other foreign
land.
The popular language of the north of England is particularly
remarkable for its agreement with the dialects
found in the peninsula of Jutland. Several words which
are common to the north of England and Jutland, are not
to be found elsewhere. For instance, in the north of
England, the shafts of the carts used there are called
limmers, a word clearly of the same origin as the Jutlandish
liem, a broom; both being derived from the old
Scandinavian limi, which signifies boughs, branches. But
it is the broad pronunciation in particular that makes the
resemblance so surprising. Thus, for instance, we have
in the north of England, sty’an (Dan., Steen; Eng., a
stone), yen (Dan., een; Eng., one), welt (Dan., vælte; Eng.,
to upset), swelt (Dan., vansmægte; Eng., overcome with
heat and exercise), maw (Dan., Mave; Eng., stomach),
lowe (Dan., Lue; Eng., flame), donse (Dan., dandse; Eng.,
dance), fey (Dan., feie; Eng., to sweep), ouse (Dan., Oxe;
Eng., ox), roun (Dan., Rogn; Eng., spawn or roe of fishes),
war and war (Dan., værre og værre; Eng., worse and
worse); with many others of the same kind, which are pure
Jutlandish.
On the whole, of all the Danish dialects the Jutland
approaches nearest to the English. The West Jutlander
uses the article æ before words like the English “the,”
although the Danish language in other provinces does not
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recognise such an article; and the broad open w, which
the natives of Funen and Zealand can, after the greatest
difficulty, only pronounce with tolerable correctness, is as
easy for the Jutlander as for the Englishman. Many
Danish words pronounced in Jutlandish become purely
English; as, for instance, foul (Eng., fowl; Dan.,
Fugl), kow (Eng., cow; Dan., Ko), fued
(Eng., food; Dan., Fod), stued (Eng., stood;
Dan., stod), drown (Eng., drown; Dan.,
drukne); besides many others. Many words are even
quite common to Jutland and England; such as the
Jutlandish forenoun and atternoun (Eng., forenoon and
afternoon; Dan., Formiddag and Eftermiddag), stalker
(Eng., stalker; Dan., en Stork), kok (Eng., cock; Dan.,
en Hane), want (Eng., to want; Dan., mangle, behöve).
This affords a very important proof of the close connection
which must have anciently subsisted between Jutland
and England. Although it may be doubtful to what
extent the Jutes had tracts specially assigned to them
for their settlements in the south of England (as in
Kent and the Isle of Wight, at the time of the Anglo-Saxon
conquest in the fifth century), it is, at all events,
quite certain that, both at that time and at a later period,
a number of Jutes settled on the east coast of England,
and particularly in the more northern districts. Jutland
lies nearer to England than any other part of Scandinavia.
The Limfjord, which in remote ages was a roadstead for
the Vikings’ ships, and afterwards the rendezvous of Saint
Canute’s fleet when he intended to reconquer England,
certainly dispatched numerous Vikings’ barks to the
British coasts. In legends still existing in Jutland, the
old connections with England, and the wars there, are not
forgotten; nay, in some places the people tell of battles
fought with the English in Jutland itself: of which
ancient names of places likewise bear witness, as in the
neighbourhood of Holstebro, “Angelandsmoor” (Angelandsmosen),
with the adjacent “Prince Angel’s barrow”
(Prinds Angels Höi), which is surrounded with a number of
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tumuli. The remembrance of the same old connections
with England still resounds in the Jutlandish and other
ancient Scandinavian ballads, or heroic songs, in which the
scene is frequently laid on the “engelandish strand.”
The near relationship of the north Englishmen with
the Danes and their Scandinavian brothers is reflected
both in popular songs and in the folk-lore. It is well
known that the old Northmen were in a high degree lovers
of minstrelsy. The Scandinavian kings were generally
accompanied on their Viking expeditions by bards, who
encouraged and cheered the champions with songs respecting
the exploits of former times, and about every
glorious deed that had been performed during the expeditions.
These historical epics passed from mouth to mouth,
and from generation to generation. Nor did the Scandinavian
conqueror in foreign lands disdain to be celebrated
by the bards of his native country. Canute the Great,
who was himself a poet, placed the Scandinavian bard high
in his hall; and numerous lays, which are still partly preserved
in the Sagas, sounded his fame over the north.
After the warlike life of heathenism had ceased, the
poetical and historical talent of the people expressed itself
in ballads and heroic songs, which, during the middle ages,
succeeded the lays of the ancient bards. The old ballad,
in its characteristic form, belongs peculiarly to the countries
of Scandinavia; and it is very remarkable that the corresponding
English ballads, which often, both in their prevailing
tone and in their form—as, for instance, with regard
to the burthen—betray a surprising similarity with the
Scandinavian, are in England found exclusively in the north.
They are, however, heard still more frequently in the
Scotch Lowlands, whither great immigrations of Northmen
also took place. In the north of England a very peculiar
kind of song for two voices was also formerly heard, and
which the English themselves ascribed to the Danes.
It is more difficult to adduce pure Scandinavian remains
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of popular superstitions, as in this respect the Teutonic
races have so very much in common; and consequently
one is afraid to draw too strong conclusions from the
striking agreement usually shown in the phantoms of the
imagination among north Englishmen and their Scandinavian
kinsmen. Yet it deserves to be mentioned that
the Scandinavian name Nök (a river-sprite), is not yet
forgotten in Yorkshire; although some by “Nick” or
“Oud-Nick” erroneously imagine the devil to be meant,
instead of the water-sprite. Many little tricks performed
by the nix (Dan., nisse, a brownîe) are known there, as
well as in Scandinavia. Once, in England, the conversation
happening to turn on these little beings, I related our
Scandinavian legend about a peasant who was plagued and
teazed in all possible ways by a nisse or brownîe, till at
last he could bear it no longer, and determined to flit
(move house) to another place. When he had conveyed
almost all his goods to the new house, and was just driving
thither with the last load, he accidently turned round, and
whom did he see? Why, the brownîe with his red cap,
who sat quietly on the top of the load, and nodded
familiarly to him, with the words, “Now we flit.” One of
the persons present immediately expressed a lively surprise
on hearing a legend related as Danish, and that, too,
almost word for word, which he had often heard in Lancashire
in his youth. The word flit was, and still is, used
there by the common people.
A natural result of the long-continued and extensive
dominion of the Danes in the north of England is, that
they also are classed with the invisible mystical beings,
which, in the imagination of the people, haunt that district.
In certain places among the remote mountains of
the north-west, people still fancy that they hear on the
evening breeze tones as of strings played upon, and
melancholy lays in a foreign tongue. Often, too, even
when nobody hears anything unusual, the animals prick
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up their ears as if in astonishment. It is “the Danish
boy,” who sadly sings the old bardic lays over the barrows
of his once mighty forefathers.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s09
Section IX.
.ce 2
The Outrages of the Danes.—The Danes and Normans.—Influence
of the Danes in England.
It is thus shown, by numerous and incontestable proofs,
that the Danes held dominion in England for a short period,
and that they also exercised, in conjunction with the
Normans, so important and lasting an influence for centuries
before and after the time of Canute the Great, at
all events in that portion of England lying to the north of
Watlinga Stræt, that even a great part of the population
there may be safely assumed to be of Danish extraction.
Nevertheless, the generally received opinion in England
on this subject is expressed in the following passage in a
brief History of Denmark lately published in London
(“Edda, or the Tales of a Grandmother”), which states
that after the suppression of the Danish power in England,
“Both nations [the Danes and English] separated soon
after, and in a few years the Danish supremacy had vanished
like a vision of the night; so little did it leave any traces in
England, or produce any important political benefits to
Denmark.”
It would, however, have been extremely astonishing,
nay, utterly inexplicable, if great effects had not manifested
themselves in Denmark from the expeditions
towards the west, and from the complete conquest of a
country like England, which, in regard both to religious
and political development, stood so far above Scandinavia.
History, also, sufficiently shows of what great importance
the conquest of England was, not only for Denmark, but
for the whole Scandinavian North. The Christianity of
Scandinavia arose, indeed, out of the smoking ruins of the
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English churches and convents. Scandinavian kings and
warriors were frequently baptized during their Viking expeditions;
and it was English priests who proclaimed
the doctrines of Christianity on the plains of Denmark and
in the rocky valleys of Sweden and Norway. Many of the
first bishops in the North were of English extraction, and
even the style of the ecclesiastical edifices attested the
powerful influence of wealthy England. The more advanced
cultivation of science and art in general which
prevailed there, communicated itself in many directions to
the countries of Scandinavia; where it certainly contributed,
just as much as the great emigrations, to weaken
heathenism, and thus, both in a religious and political
point of view, to found a new and better order of things.
But for whatever benefits Denmark and the North received
in this manner from England, they did not fail to
yield a full equivalent. It cannot reasonably be reproached
to the Danes exclusively that, in order to obtain settlements
in England, they made their way with fire and
sword, for this was no more than all other conquerors, and
particularly the Romans and Anglo-Saxons, had done
before them. With regard to bloodshed, and acts of
violence and destruction, the Anglo-Saxon conquest of
England exceeded rather than fell short of the Danish. It
annihilated the civilization which had been so widely
disseminated there by the Romans, and subjugated or expelled
the older inhabitants in the most frightful manner.
It is the circumstance of the Danish expeditions having
taken place at a far later time, when the monks wrote
chronicles, and when on the whole history was more circumstantial,
that has alone contributed to place the Danish
expeditions in so prominent and so hateful a light.
But even the present age, with its severe views, is
scarcely justified in condemning unconditionally the Scandinavian
sea-king, who was not instigated solely, or even
chiefly, by a savage desire of plunder or murder, but who
valued deeds of arms, a glorious name, and the joys of
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Valhalla, more than his life, and who therefore “went to
death with a laugh.” Even with him religion was a spur
to his achievements in Christian lands. He was combating
for his own gods, in whom in general he certainly
believed as firmly as most of the Christians of that time
did in Christ. The ideas, too, which then prevailed respecting
conquest, slaughter, and rapine, were altogether
different from ours. If the heathen Viking regarded it as
an honour to acquire lands and booty by his sword, the
same thought was also cherished not only by the early
Christians, but throughout the middle ages; when Christian
citizens, noblemen, and princes contended in mortal combat,
with fire and sword, for the possession of estates
and lands. The Christian Anglo-Saxons of those times
felt no hesitation in secretly massacring the Danes
who had settled in England; and as many of these had
been converted, one Christian thus murdered another!
To dismember general history into a number of unconnected
events, and then to pass judgment upon these
separately according to our moral feelings, would be an
infamous act, and more difficult to defend before the
tribunal of morality than perhaps all the expeditions of
the heathen Danish Vikings put together. Such a method
of proceeding would lead to the most confined views of
history that can possibly be imagined. No correct conception
can be formed of any part of the history of the
world if it be not examined in its due connection, whereby
both causes and effects become perceptible. Many events,
which the moralist would otherwise condemn, find in this
manner both excuse and defence in the superior historical
necessity that produced them. Viewed in this light, violent
devastations, which have for a time, perhaps, arrested the
progressive development of a people, will appear to have
ultimately founded and educed purer and more wholesome
manners and customs. Severe shocks are now and then
as useful for the general welfare of a nation as a violent
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fit of sickness for the health of an individual, or storms
for the purification of an oppressive atmosphere.
The germ of a higher civilization was first implanted
in the rude and warlike tribes, which then predominated
throughout Europe, by the Greeks and Romans. The
bold expeditions of the latter, in particular, introduced the
arts and sciences into the countries north of the Alps;
and it was from the south that even the Christian religion
began its progress. But before Christianity could take
firm root among the European tribes, before a really
Christian state could be founded, it was necessary that an
immense revolution should take place. Heathenism and
barbarism then collected all their strength in order to
destroy Roman power and Roman civilization. The Roman
Empire, and with it almost all the older states, was overthrown
by the vast national migrations; and a new and
different population, with which a fresh civilization was to
begin, spread itself over Europe. It was these migrations
that brought the Anglo-Saxons into England, after they
had abandoned their ancient habitations on the south and
south-west shores of the Baltic; whence they were expelled
by the advancing Slavonic tribes of the Wends,
or Vandals.
Contemporaneously with the diffusion of Christianity in
the south and west of Europe, larger Christian states
gradually arose. Charlemagne had already, about the
year 800, founded an immense kingdom; and, in order
to strengthen it both against inward disturbances and
outward attacks, had established apparently durable institutions.
But as it was too often necessary, in those
early times, to force Christianity on the people by dint of
arms, without seeking any real support for it in their convictions
and belief—a circumstance that rendered prevalent
a very great moral relaxation, and even wickedness—they
were thus induced to regard the political institutions which
sprang from it as something foreign, which neither proceeded
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from themselves, nor possessed any intrinsic
strength. Both Church and State tottered. The whole
structure of Christian communities was in its weak and
early childhood; and it was not till the people had been
convinced of its necessity, by their calamities and sufferings,
that Christianity was able to gain a really firm
footing.
The Christian States were now attacked at once and
on all sides by the enemies of Christianity, the Mahometans
and heathens. The Saracens, towards the south;
the Magyars, or Madjarers, the forefathers of the Hungarians,
towards the east; and the Northmen towards the
north and west, all invaded the Christian States. Europe
long groaned under this terrible scourge. Meanwhile,
however, separate States grew stronger in this combat
with their exterior enemies; whilst great tribes of the
latter settled in the conquered districts, adopted Christianity,
and mingled with the natives. The destructive
expeditions which for a time indeed retarded, in certain
directions, the commencements of civilization, ended by
exhausting all the strength of heathenism, in preparing a
complete victory for Christianity, and in producing in Church
and State a vigour hitherto unknown in those lands which
had long embraced the Christian faith. It was now that
a period was put to the throes which had given birth to a
new and Christian Europe. The descendants of the lawless
Vikings became the most zealous champions of Christianity.
The Normans, who by degrees had raised themselves
to be the ruling people in several of the western
and southern States of Europe, and had thus brought a
new and wholesome power to the helm, broke many a
doughty lance with the Mahometans and heathens. In
these crusades the knight was now accompanied by the
troubadour, as the Viking formerly had been by the bard
or scald. It was among the Normans in particular that
the knightly and feudal system developed itself, which was
of such decided importance throughout the middle ages,
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and the forerunner of the freer and more advanced state
of society of modern times.
Under the name of “Normans” are included all those
swarms of Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes, which, from the
close of the eighth until far into the eleventh century,
either laid waste or settled on the eastern and southern
coasts of the Baltic, as well as the coasts of the west
and south of Europe. “Norman” signifies neither more
nor less than a man from the north. The Danish conquest
of England was therefore just as fully Normanic as
the conquest, by the Norwegians and Danes, of a part
of France, called, after them, Normandy. Hence there
was a natural reason why the Danish conquerors, and
Svend Tveskjæg in particular, concluded an alliance with
the dukes of Normandy, in order that they might find a
reception among these kinsmen in case they should not be
able to make themselves masters of England; and hence,
in like manner, Canute the Great obtained the more
readily the hand of Emma, the daughter of a Norman
(and consequently nearly related) duke. But between the
above-mentioned conquests there was this difference, that
the Danish conquest of England, together with the Norwegian
conquests in Scotland and Ireland, was of far
greater extent, and of quite a different and more extensive
importance for the British Isles, than the Norwegian-Danish
conquest of so small a district as Normandy was
for France. Whilst the Northmen principally brought
thither only a number of powerful chiefs, who, at the
expense of the natives, constituted themselves into an
imperious feudal nobility, and who afterwards for the
most part went over with William the Conqueror into
England, in search of still greater feudal possessions, the
Danish expeditions to and conquest of England were, on
the contrary, the means of bringing an entirely new
population into a very considerable portion, perhaps even
the half, of that kingdom.
All accounts attest what proud and energetic men the
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Norwegian-Danish Normans were who settled in Normandy,
and who afterwards became the progenitors and
founders of the English nobility. The chronicles of that
time cannot sufficiently praise their bravery and contempt
of death, whilst at the same time they highly extol their
chivalric spirit. In but a short time after their settlement
in France they had readily acquired its politer manners; and
not only these, but that higher mental cultivation which
then raised the southern countries above those of the far
north. It was a distinguishing trait of the Normans that
they very quickly accommodated themselves to the manners
and customs of the countries where they settled; nay,
even sometimes quite forgot their Scandinavian mother tongue,
without, however, losing their original and characteristic
Scandinavian stamp. But what the Normans
in particular, with all their French refinement, did not
lose, was the ancient Scandinavian feeling of freedom and
independence. The descendants of those powerful chiefs
who had quitted the hearths of their forefathers because
they would not suffer themselves to be enslaved by kings—and
who on their arrival in Normandy, when the question
was put to them, “What title does your chief bear?” are
said to have answered, “None, we are all equal”—continued
steadily to maintain their freedom against the
Norman dukes, and not least so against the despotic
William the Conqueror, even after he had distributed
among them the rich estates of conquered England. The
later English nobility, whose power and influence William’s
conquest had thus founded, did not in any way
degenerate from their Norman forefathers. From the
earliest period of the middle ages the English barons were
the stoutest protectors and defenders of freedom against
ambitious kings; and it is also their respect for the proper
liberties of the people that has alone insured to them the
quiet possession of the power which they still continue
to retain. The English nobility have in several other
ways preserved to the present time traces of their ancient
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origin. Thus among the English aristocracy we not only
find the old Scandinavian title of Jarl, or Earl, which in
the North itself has given way to the German one of Graf,
or Greve, but a Northman will easily discover many characteristic
traits that remind him of his own ancestors. It is
truly remarkable that the love of bodily exercises, games,
hunting, and horse-racing, not to mention the predilection
for daring sea voyages so strongly prevalent amongst them,
was likewise manifested, according to the Sagas or legends,
by the rich and powerful in Iceland, and the rest of the
Scandinavian fatherlands.
Under these circumstances it would, indeed, have been
in the highest degree surprising if the Danish-Norwegian
Normans, who conquered England at the same period that
their near kinsmen, the Norwegian-Danish Normans, conquered
Normandy, who had migrated from the north for
the selfsame reasons as these kinsmen, and who were
subject to the same virtues and vices—if these Normans
in England alone, I say, should have been barbarous
“robbers and plunderers,” trampling on and destroying
all that was “great and good,” whilst their brothers in
Normandy distinguished themselves by an early civilization,
and particularly by a lively feeling for poetry and
for a further development both of social and political life.
It must be remembered that the Danish-Norwegian Normans,
who made conquests in England, did not go thither
in one great body, but in small divisions, which only by
degrees, and in the course of about three centuries, settled
themselves in the districts inhabited by the Anglo-Saxons;
and that, though far less numerous than the latter, they
were not only able firmly to maintain their position among
them, but at length even to expel them from a great part
of the country north-east of Watling-Stræt. For this proves
that the new Scandinavian inhabitants of England, along
with greater physical strength and more martial prowess
than the Anglo-Saxons possessed, must have been soon
able to acquire that skill in the employments of peace, as
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well as that higher polish and refinement, which in the
long run could alone insure them the superiority and preponderance
which they enjoyed over the Anglo-Saxons,
not only in the rural districts, but in many towns of the
north of England; and secure for them such an influence
as they obtained in England’s best and greatest city, even
London itself.
Further, that those Northmen, who by the Danish
conquests became the progenitors of a great part, probably
as much as half, of the present population of England,
were just as brave men, and just as great lovers of liberty,
as their Norman brethern, the ancestors of the English
nobility; and that they played a part not much inferior to
theirs in the development of England’s freedom and greatness,
a closer examination will probably place in a clearer
light.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s10
Section X.
.ce
Commerce and Navigation.
The Northmen, who in ancient times sailed to foreign
shores, were far from always being Vikings, bent only on
rapine and plunder, and the conquest of new possessions.
They were very often peaceful merchants. The remote
situation of Scandinavia, and the dangers which the
natives of more southern countries pictured to themselves
as attendant upon a voyage to that ultima Thule and its
heathenish inhabitants, must in ancient days, when navigation
was very limited, have deterred foreign merchants
from visiting it regularly, and bartering their wares. The
Scandinavian tribes, on the contrary, were at that time
almost the only seamen. From the want of all that
belonged to the exterior comforts and conveniences of
life in Scandinavia, the business of a merchant who bartered
the products of the north and south, and who brought
home with him a knowledge of distant and unknown lands,
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must early have become a profitable, and, from the dangers
connected with it, an honourable profession. The trading
voyages of the merchant were not, indeed, held in such
esteem as those of the Vikings; yet from the most ancient
times certain established customs were observed in the
north for the protection of merchant vessels; and the
merchant who, as was frequently the case, had distinguished
himself by warlike qualities and shrewdness of
understanding, was neither despised in the company of
Vikings, nor in the King’s hall. Even chiefs of royal
descent did not regard it as anything dishonourable to
exercise the mercantile profession. Already, in the most
ancient times, a number of trading places were scattered
round the north, and large annual fairs were held. Once
a year the ships of the merchants assembled together from
the whole of Scandinavia, perhaps even from the other
nearest situated countries, in the Sound of Haleyri, or, as
it is now called, Elsinore. Booths were erected along the
shore; foreign wares were bartered for fish, hides, and
valuable furs; whilst various games, and all sorts of
merry-making, took place.
During the Roman dominion in England, and probably
even in far earlier times, a tolerably brisk commerce
appears to have been kept up between England
and the countries of Scandinavia, especially Jutland,
Vendsyssel, and the districts round the Limfjord; where
also, as a consequence of this, genuine Roman antiquities
have been dug up at various times. After the conquest
of England by the Jutes, the Angles, and the Saxons, and
still more after the Danes and Norwegians had begun to
settle there, this intercourse became still more frequent.
We may safely assert that, so early as the close of the
ninth and beginning of the tenth century, a very brisk
trade must have existed between England and the North.
The Scandinavian element was then so well established,
that not only did Scandinavian kings reign, and coin
money, in the north of England, but even that extremely
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important old Saxon city, “North-weorig,” which
lay in the very heart of England, was called by the Saxon
kings themselves, on their coins, by the foreign name of
“Deorabui” (Deoraby, Dyreby, Derby); although this
name, according to the English chroniclers’ own statements,
was first given to it by the immigrant Danes.
Some will even recognise Derby in the name of “Doribi,”
which stands on a coin of King Ethelwulf of the middle
of the ninth century (837-857). At all events it is a
certain and remarkable proof of the early and wide-extended
influence of the Scandinavian settlers, even in
places far in the interior of the country, that “Deorabui”
appears repeatedly on coins of King Athelstane (924-940),
and of his immediate successors. It was this same Athelstane
who is said to have visited Scandinavia, where he
learned the language; and who afterwards educated at his
court Hagen Adelsteen, the law-giver, who subsequently
became the first Christian king in Norway. This fact
also indicates the wide-spread and peaceful connection
between England and the North, which not long afterwards
induced the Norwegian King’s son, Olaf Trygvesön,
in his treaty of peace with the English king, Ethelred,
whose lands he had long harried, expressly to stipulate
for certain rights and privileges in favour of the Scandinavian
merchant ships in the English harbours.
Even in Alfred the Great’s time (A.D. 900) the seas and
lands of Scandinavia were but very little known to the
Anglo-Saxons; for which reason Alfred, chiefly with a
view to trade and commerce, sent Ulfsten and the Norwegian
Ottar on voyages of discovery to the Baltic, and along
the coast of Norway to the White Sea. That according
to the laws of his country an Anglo-Saxon merchant obtained
the rank and title of Thane, or Chief, when he had
thrice crossed the sea in his own ship, sufficiently attests
how desirous the Anglo-Saxon kings were to awaken among
their subjects, by means of large rewards, a desire for such
voyages. Subsequently, however, during the expeditions
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of the Vikings and Normans, when the dangers attending
long voyages had become still greater than before for the
Anglo-Saxons, owing to the perfectly overwhelming force
of the Northmen at sea, the trade, with Scandinavia at
least, must have continued to remain in the hands of the
Scandinavian merchants; who, as we learn from the Sagas,
were continually making voyages, as well from Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway, as from the still more distant Iceland,
to England, and the other countries of the West.
Wherever the Normans had won new settlements, Scandinavian
merchants likewise established themselves in order
to maintain a steady connection with their ancient home.
It is for this simple reason that we find in those times so
many Danes and Norwegians settled in the most important
trading places, not only in England (in London, Southwark,
Derby, Grimsby, York, Whitby, and other towns),
but also, as we shall see in the sequel, in Ireland and
in Normandy, where the city of “Ruda,” or Rouen, is
spoken of as an important place of trade often visited by
the Northmen.
The Scandinavian merchant vessels brought not only
the wares of Scandinavia to the British Islands and other
countries of the West; they likewise brought merchandise
from the remote East. From the most ancient times, indeed,
the Northmen had maintained connections with the
eastern countries; which was a natural consequence of
their having emigrated thence into the North, and left
friends behind them there. By means of these connections,
metals otherwise totally unknown in the North, and
especially gold, were certainly brought thither at a very
early period from the mountains of the East. Subsequently,
in the fifth and sixth centuries, when fresh migrations
from the East had taken place, a closer connection was
opened with the eastern Roman Empire, and particularly
with Constantinople, so that coins of that empire, and
other valuables, began to be circulated in the North.
After the Scandinavian colonists, too, had conquered kingdoms
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for themselves in the countries which now form modern
Russia, and taken possession of the city of Novgorod,
a regular commercial route appears to have been opened,
through Russia, between Constantinople and the North,
by which the Varangians passed, who entered as body-guards
into the service of the Emperors of the East.
But as far as regards trade, Novgorod and the Scandinavian
colonists in Russia promoted a connection with Asia,
which was of far greater extent and importance.
Before the passage to the East Indies by sea was discovered,
and particularly before the Genoese and Venetians
began to trade in the Black Sea and on the coasts of Asia, the
main road from Arabia and the countries round the Caspian
Sea to the Baltic and Scandinavia, lay through Russia,
along the great rivers. To judge from the Oriental coins
found both in Russia and in the Scandinavian countries,
this commercial road must have been used from the eighth
until far in the eleventh century, when it was broken up
by internal disturbances in Asia, and by contemporary revolutions
in Russia and the North. The road ran either
from Transoxana (in Turan) to the countries north of the
Caspian Sea, whence the merchandise was then brought
along the river Volga to the Baltic; or else from Khorasan
(in Iran), through Armenia, to the Black Sea; whence the
Khazars and other people again conveyed it up the rivers
farther towards the North. How considerable this trade
must have been may be seen from the numerous hints
in the Sagas, as well as from the still-existing Arabian
accounts of merchants who in those days visited the coasts
of the Baltic for the sake of trade, where considerable
trading places, such as Sleswick and many others, are
mentioned; but still more than all these, from the very
great number of Arabian coins that have been dug up both
in Russia and Scandinavia. In Sweden, and particularly in
the island of Gothland, such an immense quantity of these
has been found at various times, that in Stockholm alone
// 128.png
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above twenty thousand pieces have been preserved,
presenting more than a thousand different dies, and
coined in about seventy towns in the eastern and northern
districts of the dominions of the Caliphs. Five-sixths of
them were coined by Samanidic Caliphs. Together with the
coins, a great mass of ornaments has been dug up, consisting
of rings and other articles in silver, which are distinguished
by a peculiar workmanship. On the whole, it
appears that silver first came by this way into the North,
where it was not generally circulated before the ninth and
tenth centuries, and consequently at the time when the
trade with Arabia was in full activity.
These discoveries of Arabian coins in the north of Europe,
but which are confined to the shores of the Baltic, the
German Ocean, and the Irish Sea, undoubtedly prove that
Scandinavia, and particularly the countries on its eastern
coasts, together with the islands of Gothland, Öland, and
Bornholm, must have been the principal depôt for Arabian
merchandise. It was the trade with the East that originally
gave considerable importance to the city of Visby in
Gothland; and it was subsequently the Russian trade
that made Visby, in conjunction with Novgorod, important
members of the German Hanseatic league. As long as
the Arabian trade flourished, Gothland was the centre of a
very animated traffic. Even now an almost incredible
number of German, Hungarian, and particularly Anglo-Saxon
coins, of the tenth and eleventh centuries, is dug
up in the island. The collection of coins in Stockholm
comprises an assortment of Anglo-Saxon coins, mostly
the product of these discoveries, which, for extent and
completeness, surpasses the greatest collections of the sort
even in London and England.
The important and extensive commercial intercourse
between Scandinavia and England, to which this so decidedly
points, can also be traced in England itself.
Oriental or Arabian coins, struck in the countries near the
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Caspian Sea, are dug up both in England and Ireland in
conjunction with the very same kind of peculiar silver
rings, and other ornaments of the same metal, that are
also found with the Arabian coins in Scandinavia and
Russia; nay, they are sometimes dug up, as in Cuerdale,
in conjunction with coins of Danish-Norwegian kings
and jarls; a fact which still further confirms the opinion
that they were brought over to the British Isles by the Northmen.
This connection with Arabia through the countries of
Scandinavia may probably have brought to England, as well
as to the North, such a mass of silver as enabled the Anglo-Saxon
kings to mint that surprising number of silver coins,
which appears at once in such forcible contrast to the want of
silver in the preceding centuries. The ancient Britons had
little or no silver before the Roman conquest. The Romans,
who had large silver mines in Spain, certainly brought
silver money with them into the British Islands; but after
the overthrow of their dominion, a want of silver again
prevailed, and continued, as the coins show, until far into
the eighth and ninth centuries. Silver was consequently introduced
into England and Scandinavia, generally speaking,
about the same time; and there is undoubtedly far greater
probability that it was brought into these countries in the
same way—that is, from Asia through Russia—than that it
should have come into England through the Moors in
Spain; of whose caliphs there are very rarely any coins
found in England, and between whom and the English the
intercourse at that period seems to have been but very
limited. In the treasure found at Cuerdale the rings and
other silver ornaments were for the most part broken, and
twisted, or even melted, together. Something similar has
been observed in the treasure trove in the countries round
the Baltic, and in Russia. This clearly proves that silver,
as an article of commerce, was brought from Asia to the
North, where it was melted and converted into ornaments
and coins.
As long as the Norman expeditions lasted, and on the
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.bn 130.png
whole as long as the Scandinavian supremacy at sea sufficed
to protect the Scandinavian merchants and their ships,
they continued to make voyages on their own account to
the countries colonized by the Northmen. Thus the
Anglo-Saxon coins dug up in the island of Gothland indicate
a brisk and uninterrupted commerce between Scandinavia
and England from the time of the Anglo-Saxon
king Edgar (959-975) down to the death of Edward the
Confessor and the Norman conquest (1066). But from that
time, and particularly after the year 1100, there is a remarkable
decrease in the Anglo-Saxon coins found in Gothland;
which is a natural result of the interruption of the previous
connection, through the hostile relations that ensued
between the descendants of William the Conqueror
and the Scandinavian kings, who steadily continued to
claim the crown of England. Later in the middle ages
the countries of Scandinavia fell more and more under
the commercial yoke of the German Hanse Towns; whilst
in England, on the contrary, a freer and healthier state
of commerce was continually developing itself. The
Danish king, Canute the Great, made it a point of the
utmost importance to conclude commercial treaties with
various foreign nations; and the Scandinavian merchants
settled in England essentially contributed to make these
leagues profitable. Old authors expressly notice the influence
of these merchants on British trade. We also find
evidence of it not only in their great number, and the
weight they possessed in several English towns,—especially
London, where they had their own churches, markets, and
courts of law, and where, as before stated, they even at
times decided the election of a king, as in the case of
Harald Harefoot,—but also in the names of money afterwards
retained in the English language, as “March” and
“Ora,” from the Scandinavian “Mark” and “Ore.” It
was a natural consequence that commerce should at the
same time make great progress, as the numerous Scandinavian
settlers in England, and the Danish conquest,
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had infused a new and hitherto unknown life into everything
relating to navigation, without which no animated
trade could have flourished in the British Islands.
The ancient Britons were by no means a seafaring
people. They appear to have confined themselves to short
coasting voyages between the islands, and over the Irish
and English channels. They had, therefore, no fleet to
protect their coasts from the attacks of the Romans.
Their vessels consisted either of the trunks of trees hollowed
out, or of small frail boats formed of interwoven
branches, or wicker-work, covered with hides. The
Celtic nations have, on the whole, never been remarkable
for their love of the sea, or of a seafaring life. On the
contrary, they seem to have derived from nature a decided
antipathy to it; and even to the present day it is very
striking to observe how unwillingly their descendants venture
out to sea. They prefer, under all circumstances, a
landsman’s life, even in remote and barren mountain tracts;
nay, their disinclination for everything relating to a seaman’s
life is carried so far that they neglect, in a way
almost incredible, the rich fisheries on the western coast
of Scotland, and on the greater part of the coasts of Ireland;
although, in the last-named country especially,
famine carries off the inhabitants in shoals. In those villages
where fishing is carried on to any extent, the inhabitants
are in general descended from immigrant foreigners.
Thus it is said that the fishermen on the west coast of
Ireland are descended from Spaniards; and, to judge from
their appearance, the assertion finds some confirmation.
Nor were the Anglo-Saxons a seafaring people, in the
proper sense of the term. They comprised, it is true,
Jutes, Angles, and Frisians; but the Saxons were the
most numerous, and the Saxon disposition has always
clung to a life ashore. It was natural, however, that the
art of navigation should gradually develop itself among the
Anglo-Saxons as they advanced in civilization and refinement.
But how little they were at home on the sea, even
in the time of Alfred the Great, is shown by the feeble
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resistance they were able to offer to the Danes. It is true
that Alfred had large ships of war built in order to protect
the coasts; but he was obliged to man them, in part at
least, with Frisians. We are further told that these ships
were much larger than those of the Danes. Yet the
history of the tenth and eleventh centuries affords no proof
that these ships were able in the long run to prevent the
conquests of the Danes, or that they served to increase the
Anglo-Saxon skill in seamanship.
Even the Greeks and Romans, however much they distinguished
themselves in other ways, as in literature and
art, did not make any remarkable progress in seamanship.
Their navigation chiefly consisted of trips along the
coast or voyages across the Mediterranean; and if an
adventurer was now and then bold enough to pass the
Pillars of Hercules, or Straits of Gibraltar, out into the
Atlantic Ocean, in order to sail along the west coast of
Europe to the British Isles, or countries still farther north,
it was regarded as a great exploit. Regular voyages thither
were scarcely known; nor do the Greek and Roman ships
appear to have been well adapted to keep the sea in the
wide and stormy Atlantic.
It was reserved for a land washed by the waters of that
ocean—the Scandinavian North—to build the first large
“sea-going” ships, capable not merely of successfully conveying,
in calm weather, and under favourable circumstances,
a solitary daring navigator over the Atlantic, but
of affording, in spite of storm and tempest, a secure
passage over its enormous waves. It is only by duly
considering how much experience and talent must have
been exerted, and, above all, how many calculations must
have been made previous to the building of such a vessel,
and before the art could be acquired of steering it with
safety through breakers and in storms, that we shall perceive
how much it redounds to the honour of Scandinavia
to have made these great and most important advances;
which, by founding modern navigation, by extending commercial
intercourse to a degree before unknown, and by
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thus uniting parts of the globe which were previously
separated, may be said in a manner to have changed the
face of the world.
Even before the time when the Danes conquered England,
the Northmen had long possessed large and splendid
sea-going ships. The Norwegians, in particular, were then
constantly making voyages across the Atlantic, to the
Shetland Isles, Iceland, and Greenland; nay, they undoubtedly
reached the continent of America several times;
of which Scandinavian and German historical traditions,
as well as internal probabilities, bear witness. For, first,
it was a natural consequence that a people who could navigate
the dangerous and ice-bound sea that surrounds the
coast of Greenland, and who could establish considerable
colonies both in north and south Greenland—traces of which
are still preserved by runic inscriptions, ruins of churches,
and the foundations of numerous houses—should also be
able to sail to the coast of America, the navigation to
which was always attended with less danger. And,
again, it would have been very strange if the Northmen,
who sailed without a compass, should always have succeeded
in reaching Greenland, and never have been driven
by storms to the neighbouring coast of America. It was,
besides, just in this manner, according to the statements
of history, that America was first discovered. It is quite
another matter whether traces of these early visits of the
Scandinavians could really be still found in America,
which there is good reason to doubt.
The above-mentioned voyages, in the ninth and tenth
centuries, are sufficient proofs of the excellence of the
Scandinavian ships. It is not, therefore, to be regarded as
pure exaggeration if the Sagas use strong expressions in
celebrating the war-ships of that time, particularly the
galleys, or, as they were called, long ships; and amongst
others that magnificent royal vessel “Ormen hin Lange”
(the long snake), which bore the Norwegian king, Olaf
Trygvesön, in the celebrated sea-fight of Svöldr (near
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Greifswald) in the year 1000. These long ships were
also called “Dragons,” because the stems were frequently
ornamented with carved, and even gilded, images of dragons;
or else were beheld there figures of vultures, lions, and
other animals, ornamented with gold. These long ships
had sometimes crews of several hundred men. Other, and
partly smaller, ships had different names, such as
“snekken,” “barden,” “skeiden,” “karven,” “barken,”
and several others. Both Scandinavian and English
chronicles dwell on the description of the splendour with
which the fleets of the Danish conquerors, Svend and
Canute, were adorned. Magnificent images glittered on
the prows; the sails were worked, or embroidered, with
gold; the ropes were of a purple colour; and on the top of
the gilded masts sat curiously-carved images of birds,
which spread out their wings to the breeze.
.if h
.il fn=i_111.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Sailing Ship
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Sailing Ship]
.if-
With the exception of very imperfect representations
carved on rocks and runic stones, there are no images left
in the countries of Scandinavia of these ships of the olden
time. But the celebrated tapestry at Bayeux, in Normandy,
on which the conquest of England by the Normans is
depicted, is a contemporary evidence of the appearance of
the Normanic ships; and the accompanying woodcut
taken from it, representing probably the ship in which
William the Conqueror himself sailed, will clearly prove
how splendid they really must have been. Both this and
the rest of the Norman ships in the tapestry perfectly
agree with the contemporary Danish and Norwegian ships,
just as we know them from the Sagas, even to the shields
hung out along the bulwarks. This, however, is nothing
more than what one might naturally expect, since the
Normans and Danes, on the conquest of Normandy, must
have brought such ships with them, as well as that art of
ship-building which they afterwards carried to greater perfection.
For this, however, they found no models in the
wretched vessels of the Franks and Bretons. But their
steady connection with the Scandinavian fatherlands, at
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all events through the Danes and Norwegians in England,
communicated to them those improvements in the form
and arrangement of ships which the very extensive ship-building
of the Northmen, and their long and uninterrupted
voyages to Iceland and Greenland, must gradually
have produced. That influence on maritime affairs, which,
on the whole, was exercised by the Scandinavian settlers
in Normandy, showed itself also in the circumstance
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that Scandinavian names of ships, together with other maritime terms,
passed into the Romance language; as, for instance, flotte
(Dan., Flaade; Eng., fleet), verec (Dan.,
Vrag; Eng., wreck), bord (Dan., Skibsborde, Rand;
Eng., ship-board), windas (Dan., Vinde, Spil;
Eng., windlass) mast (Dan., Mast; Eng.,
mast), sigler (Dan., Seile; Eng., sails),
esturman (Dan., Styrmand; Eng., steersman),
eschiper (Old Northern, skipa; Eng., equip), from
which are derived the now commonly used French words, équiper,
équipage, (and with us Danes likewise, eqvipere,
Eqvipage-mester; Eng., master of ordnance.)
As a consequence of the Danish-Norwegian immigrations,
the art of ship-building must also have necessarily
developed itself in a similar manner in England, on whose
eastern and north-western coasts the descendants of the
Vikings had everywhere spread themselves, both by the
sea and on the rivers. Christianity certainly put an end
to the life of the Viking. “Söhaner” (sea-cocks) were no
longer to be found, who scorned “to sleep by the corner of
the hearth, or under sooty beams.” But the Vikings’
spirit was not therefore dead. The Scandinavian colonists
could never entirely degenerate from their fathers, who had
joyfully “ridden on the backs of the waves,” and who in
the icy sea, and on the Atlantic Ocean, had greeted the
storm only as a welcome friend, which assisted the oars
and speeded the merry passage. Among the Vikings were
many like the Danish chief made prisoner by King Athelstane
at the siege of York in 927. The King treated him
well, and retained him in his hall more as an equal than a
prisoner. But in a few days the chief fled and put out
again to sea; for it was, the chronicle adds, just as impossible
for him to live on land “as for the fish to live out
of the water.” The immediate descendants of such men, for
whom a seafaring life was a necessity of their very nature,
must have continued to dash through the water, particularly
when, as in England, they were settled near seas and
rivers. During all the internal dissensions and foreign
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wars that occupied England in the first centuries after the
conquest by William the Norman—and which ended by
binding more firmly together the various Celtic, Teutonic,
and Scandinavian races which composed its population—the
maritime affairs of the English were no longer confined,
as in more ancient times, only to commerce with the nearest
neighbouring countries. Through the mother countries of
Scandinavia, and especially Norway, they continued during
the early part of the middle ages to maintain a lively intercourse
with the distant Scandinavian republics in Iceland
and Greenland. But when, in the thirteenth century, the
independence of these republics was overthrown, and they
were placed as tributary countries under the Norwegian
crown, the free trade that had previously flourished became
much more restricted. The consequence of this was, that
the navigation to Greenland from the north decreased more
and more, until, in the fifteenth century, when the Scandinavian
population of Greenland had been annihilated by
sickness and by the assaults of the natives, it entirely
ceased. What also much contributed to this was, that the
trade which the Northmen themselves carried on with
Iceland became gradually, and in the fifteenth century was
almost entirely, although illegally, transferred to the
English, who under the guidance of their Scandinavian
kinsmen had found their way thither. Hull and Bristol—which
latter place is named as early as the twelfth century
as the port for ships from Norway (and Iceland?)—were the
two English harbours whence this trade with Iceland was
carried on. There are even some who think that Christopher
Columbus during his stay in these harbours, through
conversations with Iceland navigators, and possibly by a
voyage to Iceland itself, obtained information of the ancient
voyages of the Northmen to Greenland and America;
and that he was thus first completely confirmed in his
opinion, that a large and unknown continent must lie in
the far west, across the Atlantic Ocean. But even if this
supposition be unfounded, or destitute as yet of certain
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historical proof, may it not at least be probable that
Columbus had heard in some other way of the Northmen’s
former voyages to Greenland; and that this might have
had some influence on the resolution he afterwards formed
to set out across the Atlantic on a voyage of discovery
towards the west?
But under any circumstances, the regular voyages of the
English to Iceland were certainly connected with the subsequent
complete discovery of the New World. They had
served to make them familiar with more extensive voyages
on the open ocean, and thus essentially contributed to
foster that daring Viking spirit, which they had inherited
from their Scandinavian forefathers, and which in process
of time was to become so important in cementing the connection
between the Old and the New World. No sooner
was the latter a second time discovered than the Vikings’
spirit again strongly displayed itself in a renewed form
among the English people. There was the same lofty
tranquillity, the same daring and contempt of danger,
that characterised the Vikings of ancient times. But the
English seaman had now more experience and knowledge,
and quite other means were at his disposal than had
ever before existed. He therefore entered on his first
voyage to the New World with undaunted courage, and not
only soon became familiar with that ocean which his
Scandinavian forefathers had ploughed in the remote days
of antiquity, but also opened a way to new lands over
seas before unknown. Thus was established that maritime
supremacy which has been one of the most important
props of the wealth and power of England.
The first accidental discovery of America by bold adventurers
from the remote north took place so early,
and under such peculiar circumstances, that neither Scandinavia
nor the rest of the world derived any use or benefit
from it. After a transient glimpse, the golden treasure
again sank beneath the waves. It lay, nevertheless, in
the dispensations of Providence, that the descendants
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of those Scandinavian adventurers should bear an essential
part in raising the re-discovered treasure, and
in making it productive for mankind. And had not the
Scandinavians, by their numerous settlements in the
British Islands, engrafted on the population a skill in seamanship
before unknown, together with a daring spirit of
enterprise, England, in spite of its fertility, its wealth,
and its favourable maritime situation, would scarcely have
succeeded in solving such a problem as that of closely
knitting together lands separated from each other by the
Atlantic in all its breadth and vastness.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s11
Section XI.
.ce
Art and Literature.
At the period when the Danes were making their conquests
in the West, art and literature did not occupy any
very high position in Europe. The severe shock which
the fall of the Roman Empire had given to all the more
elevated pursuits was still far from being overcome.
Christian art was in its childhood, and groped its way with
weak attempts, and imitations of Roman models; whilst
literature, confined for the most part to one-sided theological
inquiries, or to the inditing of dry and annalistic
chronicles, could scarcely be said to deserve the name.
It was, however, a natural result of the long-continued
domiciliation of the Romans in France and England, where
they founded so many and such important works, and
where Christianity was adopted at a comparatively early
period, that a taste for art and literature should develop
itself in no mean degree in those countries; particularly
in comparison of the far North, where the Romans had never
ruled, and where the darkness of heathenism still rested
on the people.
Nevertheless we should be grievously mistaken if we
// 140.png
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imagined that the Scandinavian people was at that time
entirely unfitted for the ennobling occupations of art and
literature. It has been before stated that the Northmen
early distinguished themselves not only by an
extraordinary skill, for those times, in the art of ship-building,
but that they had also developed, previously to the
conquest of England, a taste, in some respects peculiar,
in the manufacture of their ornaments, domestic utensils,
and weapons, and which had principally sprung from characteristic
imitations of the Roman and Arabian articles of
commerce brought into the North. The Scandinavian antiquities
that are dug up, belonging to the older period, or
what is called “the age of bronze,” as well as those of
the latest times of heathenism, or “the iron age,” may on
the whole, with regard to form and workmanship, be even
ranked with contemporary objects of a similar kind manufactured
in England, France, or Germany. The Sagas, moreover,
state that the carving of images was sometimes very
skilfully practised in the North; and the English chronicles,
which depict in such glowing colours the splendidly-carved
figures on the prows of the Danish or Scandinavian vessels,
confirm the truth of these statements. In Olaf Paas’ Hall, at
Hjarderholdt, in Iceland, the walls were even adorned with
whole rows of carvings, representing the ancient gods, and
their exploits. On the other hand there could naturally
as yet be no possibility of erecting such buildings in the
North as those which the spirit of Christianity had already
produced in other countries.
But no sooner were the Normans from Denmark and
Norway settled in Normandy, and converted to Christianity,
than they began to manifest a lively desire to
erect splendid buildings, and particularly churches and
monasteries. Scarcely had the first violent revolutions in
that country been brought to a close when there sprang up
such a number of great architectural works among the
Normans, that Normandy can still show more such monuments
of art, of the eleventh century, than any other district
// 141.png
.bn 141.png
of France. After William’s conquest of England,
the Normans also founded there a somewhat peculiar style
of building, which, though only a branch of the Byzantine-Gothic,
or a further development of the older Saxon,
constantly bears in England the name of “Norman.”
Previous to the Norman conquest, the Danes settled in
England were naturally unable to influence, in a like degree,
the style of English architectural works. Their sway
there was both too short and too unsettled for such a purpose:
not to mention that the Danes had still much to
learn from the Anglo-Saxons in the art of building; for
the latter had long been Christians, and were besides
settled in a country possessing abundant remains of the
magnificent architectural works of the Romans. Nevertheless
it is not incredible that several of the many
churches and convents then and subsequently erected by
Danish princes and chiefs, and especially in the northern
parts of England, but which are now for the most part either
rebuilt, or have entirely disappeared, may have borne the
stamp of their Scandinavian origin. We are led to this
opinion by the ruling inclination manifested by the ancient
Northmen to let their own conceptions pierce through,
even in their imitations of foreign objects. Numerous and
contemporary evidences in England itself also sufficiently
prove to what a remarkable extent the Danes must have
devoted themselves to peaceful occupations, long before the
Norman conquest. In these, indeed, which relate to only
a single branch of art, the Anglo-Saxons were their
teachers; still they will show that the Danes were neither
wanting in a natural capacity for art, nor in faculty or will
for its further development.
It has been stated before that the Danes, previously to
the conquest of England, were unacquainted with the art
of coining money. At most they only imitated the Byzantine
coins by fabricating the (so-called) “Bracteates,”
which, however, were stamped only on one side, and were
for the most part used merely as ornaments. But the art of
// 142.png
.bn 142.png
coining was very ancient in England. It was customary
among the Anglo-Saxons for the coiners to put their
names on the coins struck by them. The quantity of
Anglo-Saxon coins that has in the course of time been
found and examined, has afforded an opportunity for
inspecting and comparing a considerable number of names
of coiners in England, especially from the eighth and
ninth centuries until far into the thirteenth. About Edward
the First’s time, the names of the coiners were no
longer suffered to occupy so conspicuous a place on the
coins as previously.
In the eighth and ninth centuries the names of these
coiners are purely Anglo-Saxon. But in the tenth century,
and especially after the year 950, pure Danish or Scandinavian
names begin to appear; for instance, Thurmod,
Grim, under King Edgar (959-975); Rafn, Thurstan,
under King Edward (975-978); Ingolf, Hafgrim, and others.
These Scandinavian names are more particularly found on
coins minted in the northern part of England, or at all
events in the districts that were early occupied by the
Danes to the north-east of Watlinga Stræt. But under
King Ethelred the Second (979-1013), who contended so
long with Svend Tveskjæg and Canute the Great (and consequently,
therefore, before the conquest of England by
the Danes was completed), such a number of Scandinavian
coiners arose all at once, in consequence of the rapidly-increasing
power of the Danes, that the names of forty or
fifty may be pointed out on coins of Ethelred alone that
have been found in different parts of England. During
the Danish dominion, Scandinavian names naturally appear
no less frequently on the coins of Canute the Great and
Harald Harefoot; nay, even after the fall of the Danish
power, they are to be met with, in almost the same number
as before, on coins of the Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the
Confessor (+ A.D. 1066).
The following table exhibits, from the coins themselves,
a list of fifty names of Danish-Norwegian coiners in
// 143.png
.bn 143.png
// 144.png
.bn 144.png
England that appear most frequently from 979 to 1066; or
in that period which embraced, as well as immediately preceded
and followed, the Danish dominion; together with
the names of the places in which the respective coins were
minted. We must remember, besides, that there must have
been several coiners of the same name at one and the
same time. Thus, for instance, we find coins of Ethelred
bearing the name of “As-” or “Oscytel,” though minted
in cities so far distant from one another as Exeter, London,
Cambridge, Leicester, and York. Again, as it is nowhere
stated that “Arncytel,” for instance, who was coiner in
York under King Ethelred, was the same man as Edward
the Confessor’s coiner in that city, it is clear that the fifty
names here given might very easily have belonged to
ninety or a hundred different persons; yet they are but a
selection from a greater number. The same difficulty,
however, occurs with these names as in the previous consideration
of the Scandinavian names of places and of the
popular language; namely, that owing to the great similarity
between the Saxon and Scandinavian tribes in ancient
times, it is often almost impossible to decide with
certainty what is exclusively Saxon and what Scandinavian.
But at all events, the annexed list contains, at most, hardly
more than a couple of names that might have been current
in Saxon England before the Danish conquests.
.sp 2
.in 2
.ti -2
Fifty Names of Danish-Norwegian Coiners in England in the
years 979-1066, chiefly from Hildebrand’s “Anglo-Saxon
Coins in the Royal Swedish Collection of Coins found on
Swedish Ground.” (Stockholm, 1846. 4to.)
.in 0
.ta |h:16 |h:12 |h:12 |h:12 |h:12|
__
|Ethelred (979-1013)|Canute (+1035)|Harald (+1040)|Edward Confessor (+1066)
__
Arncytel | York | York | | York
Arngrim | | York | York | York
Arnkil | | | York, Stamford |
Arnthor | York | | |
Ascil | London | | |
As, or Oscytel| Exeter, London, Cambridge, \
York, Leicester | | |
As, or Oslac | | London, Lincoln, Norwich| |
Auti | | | | London, Lincoln
Beorn (Björn) | | York | York | York
Cetel | Exeter, York | Exeter, York | | York
Colgrim | Lincoln, York | Lincoln, York | Lincoln, York | Lincoln, York
Dreng | Lincoln | Lincoln | |
Eilaf | York | | |
Eistan | | | Winchester |
Escer | Stamford | | Stamford |
Grim | Lincoln, Thetford | Shrewsbury | |
Grimcytel | | Lincoln | |
Hardacnut | | | Lincoln |
Huscarl | | | | Leicester
Iric | | London | |
Jelmer (Hjalmar) | | | | Lincoln
Justan, or Justegen | | Lincoln | |
Northman | | | Lewes |
Othgrim | Lincoln, York | York | | Lincoln
Othin | | York | York | York
Oustman, or Ustman | | York | Winchester |
Rœfen (Ravn) | | York | |
Rœienhold | Lincoln | | |
Siafuel, Sœfuhel | | | | York
Scula | | Exeter, York | York | York
Stgncil (Stekil) | Lincoln | | |
Styrcar, Stirceir| Lincoln, York | York | |
Sumerled |Deptford, Nottingham, York, Lincoln |Lincoln, Norwich \
| Lincoln |Lincoln
Swan | | York | |
Swarti | | Leicester, Lincoln | |
Swartgar | York, Stamford | | |
Sweartabrand | | Lincoln | Lincoln |
Swegen | London, Leicester | Leicester | |
Thor | | | | York
Thorald | Leicester | | |
Thorcetel | Torksey, Lincoln | London, Torksey | |
Thorstan | York | York, Stamford | | Norwich
Thorulf | Chester, York | | Stamford |
Thurcil | | | | Wilton
Thurgrim | | York | York | York
Ulfcetel | York, Lincoln, Norwich | London, Lincoln | | York
Valrefenn | | | Lincoln | Lincoln
Widfara | | | Ipswich |
Winterfugl | | | | York
Wintrieda | York | | |
__
.ta-
.sp 2
Although this list cannot make any pretensions to completeness,
still it will prove, even in its present form, that
these Scandinavian names exist on coins from places in the
most distant parts of England, both south and north of
Watlinga-Stræt; as well as from those most essentially
Anglo-Saxon cities, Exeter, Winchester, Wilton, Lewes,
and London. From this last circumstance, some might,
perhaps, contend that Scandinavian names were frequently
borne by Anglo-Saxons, who in one way or another were
related to the Danes; and in this respect one might cite
the instance of the Anglo-Saxon Earl Godwin, whose sons—possibly
by a Danish wife—were called Harald and Svend;
// 145.png
.bn 145.png
and it might consequently be argued, that the proof adduced
from these Scandinavian names of the Danish capacity
for skill in art is not sufficiently conclusive.
It cannot of course be denied that the Anglo-Saxons, in
whose veins there was a mixture of Scandinavian blood,
sometimes bore Scandinavian names. But as a rule, the
names that have been cited must have belonged to Danes
or Northmen, and their immediate descendants. It is well
known that the Danes were settled everywhere in England,
even in the southern cities, particularly those just cited;
and that, too, in considerable numbers: as, for instance,
in Exeter, where in later times there was a St. Olave’s
Church; in Winchester, which obtained a Scandinavian
“Husting;” not to speak of London. This alone affords
a natural explanation why Scandinavian coiners should be
found in the south of England; but we should further
observe, that those names of coiners about which there
might be most doubt are found to the north-east of
Watlinga-Stræt. The preceding tabular view will clearly
prove that they occur especially in the old Danish
part of England, in the five Danish fortified towns, and
in York. The two cities, Lincoln and York, which, according
to the statements of history, had, in the eleventh
century, a very numerous, if not preponderating, Scandinavian
population, are remarkable for having the greatest
number of coiners with Scandinavian names. Some of
these names are so peculiarly Scandinavian, that we cannot
without difficulty assume them to have been borne at that
time by Anglo-Saxons. Such are “Othin” (Anglo-Saxon,
Woden) and “Thor;” names that did not sound well in
the ears of Christians: also “Northman” and “Ustman,”
or “Östman,” by which the Anglo-Saxons designated the
Norwegians and Danes, who came from the North and
East. “Östman,” especially, was an appellation commonly
given by the inhabitants of the British Isles in those times
to the Scandinavian tribes that dwelt to the east of them.
Among other names, those of “Colgrim” and “Valrefenn”
// 146.png
.bn 146.png
may be noticed as frequently appearing, and as peculiar to
Lincolnshire, a district occupied in such great numbers
by the Danes. Names of birds appear on the whole to have
been often assumed in the old Danish part of England.
Thus in York we find a “Ræfn,” or “Ravn” (Raven);
“Siafucl,” “Sæfuhel,” or “Söfugl” (Seafowl); “Swan”
or “Svane” (Swan); and “Winterfugl” (Winterfowl).
Strangely enough, there also appears a “Sumrfugl”
(Summer-fowl) as the name of a coiner, who minted coins
for the Danish-Norwegian king Magnus the Good, in
Odensee; and as English coiners were at that time employed
in Denmark, this Sommerfugl perhaps came over
from the north of England. It was, indeed, quite natural
that Denmark and the rest of the North should procure
their earliest coiners from Danish North England, where
there were plenty of them of Scandinavian origin. The
English names found on the oldest Scandinavian coins
(of the first half of the eleventh century) are consequently
by no means universally Anglo-Saxon, but often Scandinavian;
as Svein, Thorbaern (Thorbjörn), Ketil, Thorkil, Othin,
Thorstein, Thurgod, Thord, and others. It is remarkable,
that the names of “Sumerled” and “Winterled,” answering
to those of Sommerfugl and Winterfugl, were also found at
that time in York. Another remarkable name is that of
“Widfara” (the far-travelled), which seems to indicate
either that its bearer had come from a great distance, or had
made long voyages.
These Scandinavian names, which, as I have said, are just
as frequent on coins minted immediately after, as on those
struck during, or just previously to, the Danish-English
kings’ dominion, by no means cease with Edward the Confessor
(+ 1066). During Harald Godvinsön’s short reign,
we further meet with Outhgrim, Snaebeorn (or Snéebjörn),
Spraceling (Sprakeleg), Thurcil, Ulfcetel, &c.; nay,
even after the Norman conquest, and as long as it was
customary to place the coiners’ names on the coins, Scandinavian
names may be recognised. Thus, under William
// 147.png
.bn 147.png
the Conqueror (+ 1087) we find Colsvegen, Thor, Thurgrim,
Jestan (Jostein or Eistein, Justan and Justegen),
Siword, Thorstan; under Henry the First (1100-1135),
Chitel (Ketil), Runcebi (Rynkeby), Spracheling, Winterled;
under Stephen (+ 1154), Ericus, Siward, and Svein; and
under Henry the Second (+ 1189), Achetil (Asketil),
Colbrand, Elaf, Raven, Svein, Thurstan, and others. A
great number of these names appear in connection with
towns in the north of England; and we have thus a new
and instructive proof that the remarkable influence of the
Danish element in England, and especially in the northern
part, before the Norman conquest, was not entirely lost
after that conquest had long been completely effected.
Considering the distant period in which the Danish
conquests in England fall, it is fortunate that we can
obtain so many palpable evidences of the state of domestic
civilization as these coins afford; and more will assuredly
follow from the discovery of others hitherto unknown.
These coins prove much, and justify us in inferring still
more. They place, as it were, before our eyes, the
earnestness with which the Danish Vikings, and the rest
of the colonists in England, must have applied themselves
shortly after their settlement, to rival the Saxons in art,
and to retrieve what they had neglected in this respect.
In like manner, there is every reason to believe that they
must have devoted themselves with no less zeal to other
peaceful occupations which they had already cultivated in
their own native homes; and that thus they must have
also preserved and cherished in England, both in war and
peace, that love for poetry and history, which flourished in
the homes of their ancient forefathers, and which, on the
whole, harmonized so completely with the heroic life of the
olden times in the North. It was not natural that the
deep desire which filled the Northman to enjoy posthumous
fame in chronicles, and in the songs of the poets—which
left him no peace at home, but drove him out to sea
on daring expeditions—should immediately desert him
// 148.png
.bn 148.png
because he had removed to a foreign soil. It is expressly
related of the Normans that they cherished eloquence and
poetry in a high degree, and that they were accustomed to
entertain their guests with songs and legends. Scandinavian
bards, especially from Iceland, continued to visit the
Scandinavian colonists in France, as well as in the British
Isles. As court-minstrels, they were in constant attendance
upon the Scandinavian princes in Scotland, Ireland,
and England. Their office partly was, to entertain the
warriors with lays of past exploits in the North; and,
partly, to accompany the chiefs on their warlike expeditions;
that they might, as eye-witnesses, be able to sing
their heroic deeds, and by these lays convey to the
North a knowledge of what passed among the Scandinavian
colonists in the western regions. When we add
that the Scandinavian kings, as, for instance, Canute the
Great himself, practised at times the art of poetry, it will
be easily perceived in what high honour the bard and his
lays must have been held.
But it lay in the nature of things that a pure Scandinavian
poetry could not grow up either among the Normans
in France, or their Danish kinsmen in England. For the
development of such a poetry it was necessary that they
should preserve their Scandinavian nationality intact.
But it is well known, that a foreign education and refinement
soon caused them to abandon their belief in Odin,
as well as many of the habits and customs which they had
inherited from their forefathers. Of the change that
took place in them nothing bears stronger evidence than
their mother tongue, which, by degrees, lost more and
more of its characteristics, and at length passed entirely
into the modern French and English languages.
The old predilection for poetry which the Normans
brought with them from the North, was reflected in many
ways in their foreign refinement. Of all France, Normandy
was the country where most historical and warlike songs
were heard. The Normans sang them in battle, and derived
// 149.png
.bn 149.png
from them a sort of inspiration. Before the battle
of Hastings, William the Conqueror’s bard, Taillefer,
recited songs about Charlemagne, Roland, and others, to
the Norman host, to cheer and enliven the warriors after
the old Scandinavian fashion; just as Thormod Kolbrunaskjald,
before the battle of Stiklestad, in Norway,
(1030), sang the far-famed Bjarkemaal. When the poetry
of the Troubadours of Provence began to spread itself
throughout France, it found another home in Normandy;
where it so peculiarly developed itself, that the
French troubadour poetry is generally divided into two
principal kinds, the “Provençal” and the “Norman.”
Even in Italy, where the Normans conquered fresh kingdoms,
their peculiar poetry had a perceptible and important
influence on the development of the art.
In England, likewise, there arose, partly as a consequence
of the Danish and Norman conquests, a particular
kind of composition which, in England, is called Anglo-Danish
and Anglo-Norman. That all poems of this sort
were written by Danes or Normans, I do not venture to
assert. All that is meant is, that they were partly produced
by the Danish and Norman wars; and that, partly,
they were the expressions of the new adventurous and
knightly spirit, which, through the Danish-Normanic conquests,
became prevalent in England. Some of the most
celebrated of them are romances about “Beowulf,” “Havelock
the Dane,” and “Guy, Earl of Warwick.” In the
oldest romances, which are composed of the same mythic
materials as our Scandinavian Edda songs, and some of the
Sagas or legends, adventurous combats against dragons,
serpents, and similar plagues, are celebrated; whereas, in
the later romances of the age of chivalry, warriors are sung
who had fallen in love with beautiful damsels far above
them in birth or rank, and whose hand and heart they
could acquire only by a series of brilliant adventures and
exploits. Valour, which before was exerted for the welfare
of all, and for the honour that accompanied it, now obtained
// 150.png
.bn 150.png
a new object and a new reward, and that was—love.
The heathen poems of the Scandinavian North are all conceived
in the selfsame spirit; and it is therefore not altogether
unreasonable, perhaps, to recognise in this striking
agreement traces of a Scandinavian influence on English
compositions. In later times, and down to the middle ages,
this influence is still more clearly apparent in the before-mentioned
ballads, or popular songs (p. 89), which are
only to be found in the northern, or old Danish, part of
England, and which betray such a striking likeness to our
Scandinavian national ballads.
The Danes in England do not appear to have occupied
themselves with any compositions that can be properly
called historical; at all events all remains of such composition
have disappeared. It is related of the contemporary
Normans in France, that, down to the days of William the
Conqueror, they devoted themselves more to war than to
reading and writing. This, however, is not surprising,
since even the Anglo-Saxon clergy in Alfred the Great’s
time, according to that monarch’s own statement, were so
ignorant and so unaccustomed to literary occupations, that
exceedingly few of them could read the daily prayers in
English, much less translate a Latin letter. Even if we
should admit that the Danes in England, by reason of
their earlier and more extended settlements there, had
somewhat better opportunities for study than the Normans
in Normandy, still there is not sufficient ground to suppose
that they wrote any other chronicles than such dry annals
as some few monks, and other learned men of that time,
composed. The reason of this seems partly to have been
because they preferred preserving the remembrance of
important events in historical lays; and partly, because
neither their national nor political development could proceed
in a foreign land with such freedom from all admixture,
and in such tranquillity, as to allow of more important
historical works, and especially in their mother
tongue, being produced among them.
// 151.png
.bn 151.png
In Iceland, on the contrary, where a great number
of the most powerful and shrewdest of the heathens of
Norway sought, after the year 870, a refuge against spiritual
and political oppression, and where they founded a
republic which retained its independence for centuries, the
Scandinavian spirit obtained a free field. Not only did
the old bardic lays, and the remembrance of the deeds of
former times, continue to live among the Icelandic people,
but new bards arose in numbers, who, spreading themselves
over the whole north of Europe, returned “with their
breasts full of Sagas.” There also speedily arose in Iceland,
immediately after the Viking expeditions, and altogether
independently of any external influence, an historical Saga
literature in the old Scandinavian tongue, which, viewed
by itself, is, from its simplicity and elevation, extremely
remarkable, but which, when compared with the contemporary
dry Latin monkish chronicles and annals in the rest
of Europe, is truly astonishing. The Edda songs, the
purely historical Sagas, the historical novels, and other peculiarly
bold and original productions of the Icelandic literature,
in an age when the European mind was singularly
contracted, form, in the intellectual world, manifestations
of the same thorough individual freedom, which stamped
itself on the arms, endeavours, and whole life of the heathen
Northman.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s12
Section XII.
.ce
Ecclesiastical and Secular Aristocracy.
The supposition that the Danes in England devoted themselves
to study both earlier, and to a greater extent, than
the Normans in France, is not founded only on loose conjectures.
The English chronicles of the earlier middle
ages contain traces of the Danes having not unfrequently
entered into the English Church, in which they sometimes
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.bn 152.png
obtained the highest preferment. On this point
we still possess an important source of information, which
has, besides, the advantage of being for the most part
contemporary with the events and circumstances which it
elucidates. This consists of a considerable quantity of
letters and diplomas issued by kings, bishops, and other leading
men in England, from about the year 600 to 1066.
These documents, which have lately been collected and
published by a gentleman celebrated for historical research,
Mr. J. M. Kemble, (under the title of “Codex Diplomaticus
Ævi Saxonici,” vol. i.-vi., London, 1839-1848, 8vo.)
more especially regard the southern and midland parts of
England, as unfortunately the greater part of the letters
relating to the north of England are lost. Nevertheless,
those that remain, taken in conjunction with the chronicles,
afford valuable information, both respecting the Danish
clergy in the south-east of England, and their diffusion
throughout that country.
In the centre of the east coast of England, in Lincolnshire,
and near the Wash, stood in the Anglo-Saxon times
the large and famous convent of Croyland, or Crowland,
dedicated to St. Guthlac. It was built upon an island,
and so protected on the land side by the vast morasses
which in those times covered the districts nearest the
Wash, that it was a sort of natural fortress. According
to the chronicles of the convent, compiled by one of the
abbots in the eleventh century, it was governed, shortly
after the year 800, by an abbot of the name of Sivard;
in whose time there is also mentioned in the convent a
priest (presbyter) named “Turstan,” and a monk “Eskil”
(Askillus monachus). In the same ancient chronicle are also
recorded several deeds of gift, which possibly, with regard
to the rights conveyed to the convent, may have been
forgeries of the times, but which, at all events, so far as
regards the names of persons and places mentioned in
them, must be perfectly correct and trustworthy; since
incorrectness in these particulars would have easily led to
// 153.png
.bn 153.png
the discovery of the intended frauds. These deeds mention,
between the years 800 and 868, amongst the benefactors
of the convent, three viscounts in Lincolnshire, “Thorold”
(or Thurold), “Norman,” and “Sivard;” and also
“Grymketil” and “Asketellus” (or Asketil), who was
cook to the Mercian king Viglaf. Lastly there appear
(particularly in the year 833) the following names of
places:—Langtoft, Asuuiktoft, Gernthorp, Holbeck, Pyncebek,
Laithorp, Badby, and Kyrkeby.
The names of persons in the convent, and of places about
it, here cited are all, perhaps, or at most with a single
exception, of undoubted Danish or Scandinavian origin.
They not only prove that, even long before the treaty
between Alfred the Great and the Viking King Gudrum
or Gorm, which in the year 879 secured to the Danes
their conquests on the south-east coast of England, and
therefore, more than one hundred and fifty years before
Canute the Great’s time, the Danes really had such a
footing round the Wash that they could give their villages
Danish names, and were governed by their own chiefs;
but they likewise indicate the remarkable fact, that at
least a great number of these Danes must have been
already Christians, since they had villages with churches
(Kyrkeby) and gave landed property to a convent, in
which we find both Danish monks (Eskil and Thurstan),
and a Danish abbot (Sivard.) It was about the same
time that the Jutland king, Harald Klag, was baptized,
together with his whole suite, during a sojourn with the
Emperor Ludvig, at Ingelheim, near Mayence, in the
year 826. This christening of Danish men abroad, in
Germany and England, was the beginning of the subsequent
introduction of Christianity into the Scandinavian
North.
The genuineness of the above-mentioned Scandinavian
names is placed beyond all doubt by the circumstance that
similar names appear in other documents connected with the
history of Croyland at the same period, or the ninth century.
// 154.png
.bn 154.png
In the year 867, swarms of Danish-Norwegian Vikings
landed on the east coast of England, and the Christians
who then lived there, whether Danes or Anglo-Saxons, as
well as their churches and convents, suffered from the
ferocity of these heathens. After a great battle in Lincolnshire,
in which, however, the heathens lost three of
their kings, whom they buried in a place afterwards called
“Trekyngham” (the three kings’ home), they marched
against Croyland. In vain did the Christians seek to
arrest their progress. In a battle near the convent many
of the Christians fell, and amongst them “Toli” or
“Tule,” who had previously been a knight, but who had
now entered the cloisters of Croyland. The Vikings
stormed the convent, and committed a terrible massacre.
Their king, “Oskytyl,” cut down the abbot before the
altar; after which the convent was plundered and destroyed.
The Danish Viking Jarl Sidroc, or Sigtryg, saved a boy
called Turgar (Thorgeir) from this massacre, who afterwards
escaped to the neighbouring convent of Ely, and
gave an account, which is still preserved, of this terrible
devastation. Meanwhile, however, the convent of Ely,
as well as that of Medehamstede (Peterborough), was
plundered and destroyed by the Vikings.
Amongst the monks then killed in Croyland, we may
cite from the chronicle, the prior, Asker, and the friars
Grimketulus (Grimketil) and Agamundus (Amund); and
among the few saved, Sveinus or Svend:—names which,
not less than Tule and Thorgeir, indicate a Danish origin.
Men of Danish extraction continued in the following
centuries to play a considerable part in the history of this
and of the neighbouring convents. A Dane named “Thurstan”
is said to have rebuilt that of Ely; and another man
of Danish family, “Turketul” (Thorketil), certainly rebuilt
Croyland. Thorketil, who (it is stated) was nearly
related to the royal Saxon family, had previously distinguished
himself both as a warrior and statesman. In the
battle of Brunanborg he commanded the citizens of London
// 155.png
.bn 155.png
who were in Athelstane’s army, and during a long
series of years was chancellor to several kings. Subsequently,
however, he took the vows of the convent, and
governed Croyland with honour, as abbot, till his death
in the year 975.
It is, indeed, very striking to observe how many abbots of
Danish origin governed the convent of Croyland from the
ninth to the twelfth century. Sivard and Thorketil have
been already mentioned. Thorketil was succeeded by two of
his relations, both named Egelrik; and after the death of
the last of these in 992, followed an abbot with the pure
Danish or Scandinavian name of “Oscytel.” This Asketil
had long been prior of Croyland before he became its
abbot, which he continued to be till his death in the year
1005. To what extent Asketil’s immediate successors
were Danes is at least very uncertain, as they have Anglo-Saxon
names. During the invasions of the Danish kings,
however, the convent was at times suspected of being
in league with the Danes. Canute the Great is said to
have presented a chalice, and his son Hardicanute his
coronation mantle, to Croyland. Other Danes also made
similar gifts to that convent. In the year 1053 it again
had an abbot with the Danish name of Ulfketil (Wulketulus);
and, what is very significant, after the Norman
conquest, the swampy districts round it became places
of refuge for the Danes and Anglo-Saxons who had
in vain fought the last battle for freedom against the
victorious and advancing Norman conquerors. One of the
chief leaders in this battle was the Jarl Valthiof, a son of
the far-famed Danish Jarl, Sivard Digre (Eng. Sivard the
Stout) of Northumberland. Valthiof, it is expressly stated,
was one of Croyland’s best benefactors and protectors.
Subsequently he made his peace with William, but was
at last executed by that monarch’s directions, and immediately
buried at Winchester. Nevertheless the abbot
Ulfketil, together with his monks, obtained permission to
convey Valthiof’s body to Croyland, where many miracles
// 156.png
.bn 156.png
were soon performed at the shrine of the innocent and
murdered martyr of freedom. Exasperated probably by
this, as well as by the refuge which their opponents found
in and about Croyland, the Normans inflicted many calamities
on it, and at length deposed the abbot Ulfketil. He
was succeeded by an Englishman with the Scandinavian
name of “Ingulf,” to whom we are indebted for having
indited the ancient chronicles of the convent.
The close connection of Croyland with the Danes, as
well as its Danish monks and abbots, was a natural
consequence of the convent’s being situated in Lincolnshire,
a part of England which was pretty nearly the
earliest and most numerously occupied by them. Satisfactory
reasons certainly exist even to justify us in
calling this convent peculiarly a Danish one. In consequence
of its size and importance, it is highly probable
that it was one of the principal places whence the Danish
settlers in England derived their civilization. In this
manner Croyland answers in England to the convent
of Bec in Normandy (from the Danish Bæk, a small
rivulet), founded by the Northmen, and afterwards very
celebrated; which also seems to have been one of the
most important nurseries for the diffusion of a higher
Christian and intellectual cultivation among the Scandinavian
colonists in Normandy.
The very remarkable evidence which the history of
Croyland affords of the Christianity of the Danes in England
so early as the ninth century, is, however, by no
means solitary. Before the treaty concluded between
Gorm (Gudrum) and Alfred in the year 879, the former
had already been converted, and received at his baptism
the name of Athelstane. In a somewhat later treaty concluded
by the same King Gorm with Alfred’s successor
Edward, it is assumed that there must long have been
Christians among the Danes settled in East Anglia, and
that they had at all events allowed the ecclesiastical institutions
to exist unmolested among them. In the year
// 157.png
.bn 157.png
890 there was in Northumberland a king called Guthred
(Gutfred, Godfred?), a son of the Danish king Hardicanute,
of whom it is stated that he extended the bishopric
of Durham, and conferred on it considerable rights and
privileges, which even at the present day distinguish that
see above all others in England. The coins of Danish-Norwegian
kings minted in the north of England in the
ninth and first half of the tenth century (as mentioned at
p. 49), also indicate an early conversion to Christianity;
as they show both the cross, and frequently also parts of
the Christian legend: “Dominus, dominus, omnipotens
rex mirabilia fecit;” or, “The Lord, the Lord, the Almighty
King, hath performed wonderful things.”
About the year 940, Christianity must, on the whole,
have had a firm footing among the Northumbrian Danes.
It would otherwise be inexplicable how, in the wars which
Edmund waged at that time with the Danish king Anlaf,
or Olaf, in Northumberland, even the Archbishop of York,
“Wulfstan,” should have sided with the Danes against the
Anglo-Saxons. Wulfstan subsequently, in the year 943,
negotiated a peace between Olaf and Edmund, whereby the
latter ceded the country east of Watlinga-Stræt to Olaf.
In this treaty a great man, of Danish extraction, took
part on the Anglo-Saxon side; namely, Odo, Archbishop
of Canterbury, whose father was a Dane who had fought
in the host of the Vikings against Alfred the Great. One
might almost be led to believe that Wulfstan himself was
of Danish origin, and that his name was only the Anglo-Saxon
form of the Scandinavian “Ulfsteen.” For under
King Edmund’s successor, Edred, we again find the Archbishop,
together with his clergy, paying homage to the
Danish king’s son, Erik (son of Harald Blaatand?), although
he had shortly before, in common with the Northumbrians,
taken an oath of fidelity to the Anglo-Saxon king.
After the murder of Erik, King Edred caused the Archbishop
to be deposed and thrown into prison; but afterwards
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gave him the bishopric of Dorchester, though far
removed from the Danish possessions.
Another argument in favour of the Danish extraction of
Bishop Wulfstan (or Ulfsteen) is, that several of his successors
in the archbishopric were undoubtedly Danish;
which shows that in those days such men were chiefly
elevated to that dignity, as, through their common descent
and kinsmanship, possessed an influence over the
Danish population in Northumberland; where, also, there
was doubtless a great body of Danish clergy. Contemporary
with Abbot Thorketil, a certain “Oscetel,” or
Osketil, is also named as churchwarden (circeværd) in the
King’s letters-patent in the year 949; probably the same
Osketil who, between the years 955 and 970, constantly
signed the King’s letters as Archbishop of York. As Odo,
the Danish Archbishop of Canterbury, lived long after
Osketil had become Archbishop of York, we are thus presented,
half a century before the reign of Canute the Great,
with the singular spectacle of the two chief ecclesiastics
of England, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
being both of Danish extraction. Oscytel’s successor in
the archiepiscopal see of York was also a Danish man,
although he bore the Anglo-Saxon name of Oswald. He
was both nearly related to Oscytel (his “nepos”), and,
moreover, a brother’s son of Archbishop Odo; consequently
descended in a direct line from the Danish Viking,
Odo’s father. This Archbishop Oswald published some
laws for the Northumbrian clergy which are still extant,
and in which, according to Danish custom, fines are computed
in marks and öre; whilst in the rest of England they
were reckoned in pounds and shillings.
As these facts lead us to suppose that, at that time,
a great part of the inferior clergy in England must
have been of Danish extraction, and particularly in Danish
North and East England; it thus becomes still clearer
that the English priests or missionaries, with Scandinavian
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names—as, for instance, Eskild, Grimkild, and
Sigurd—who went over to Scandinavia in the tenth century
for the purpose of converting the heathens, were, as
their names show, of Danish origin, and undoubtedly natives
of the Danish part of England. Sprung from Scandinavian
families, which, though settled in a foreign land, could
scarcely have so soon forgotten their mother tongue, or the
customs which they had inherited, they could enter with
greater safety than other priests on their dangerous proselytizing
travels in the heathen North; where, also, from
their familiarity with the Scandinavian language, they were
manifestly best suited successfully to prepare the entrance
of Christianity.
The rapid accession of the Danes to the highest ecclesiastical
offices in England must satisfactorily convince
every impartial person how carefully we should discriminate
between the Danish or Scandinavian Vikings, who,
only for a certain period, robbed and plundered, and the
Danish colonists, who, from the beginning of the ninth
century were settled down—particularly in the east and
north of England—as peaceful Christian citizens; and
whose sons soon became sufficiently accomplished and
respected to fill the highest places among the already
powerful ecclesiastical aristocracy of England. Nor should
it be forgotten, that the Danes in England, who, though
fewer in number than the natives, yet aimed at the supreme
authority, were early obliged to apply themselves to study,
and to permit their sons to enter the clerical order; for,
the greater the influence they could acquire among the
clergy, who at that time held a very large share of power,
the stronger and more secure would their position become
in the land of their adoption.
After having had, at least, three archbishops of Danish
family during the tenth century, it is not surprising that
in the following one the English clergy had lost a great
deal of their horror for the Danes, and were so willing to
do homage to the Danish conqueror, Canute the Great, in
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preference to any prince of Anglo-Saxon descent. Nor
did Canute betray their confidence. He conformed to their
manners, and built churches and convents, whilst his followers
imitated his example. Under such a state of
things the English clergy must have become still more
mixed with Danes. In Canute’s time the royal letters
are signed by the abbots “Oscytel” (1020-1023) and
“Siuuard” (in Abingdon, Berkshire); as also by “Grimkytel,”
bishop in Essex; and under Hardicanute, by
“Sivard” and “Grimkytel” as well as by the diaconus
Thurkil. Even long after the fall of the Danish power,
as, for instance, in Edward the Confessor’s time, we still
meet with many high dignitaries of the church, with Scandinavian
names; such as the abbots Sivard, Sihtric,
Uvi or Ove, abbot of St. Edmundsbury, in East Anglia,
and Brand; who was also abbot of a convent on the east
coast, namely Peterborough, close to Croyland. We further
have Sitric, chaplain to the Bishop of Dorchester, and
lastly the Kentish bishop, Siward. William the Conqueror’s
Doomsday Book likewise mentions several such Danish
clergymen; for instance, in the old Danish city of Lincoln,
the priests “Siuuard” and Aldene or Haldan. In St.
Edmundsbury there was still later (1157) a Danish abbot
named Hugo.
The secular nobility, or chiefs, were closely connected
with the high church dignitaries of that time. The royal
letters before mentioned also show, that whilst the Danes
succeeded in placing men of their own race amongst the
highest clergy in England, they likewise procured admittance
into the ranks of the nobility, and even into the
suite that surrounded the Anglo-Saxon kings themselves.
This happened not only from the Danish chiefs frequently
entering the service of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and often
marrying among the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy; but still more
from the circumstance, that certain districts became in
time so strongly occupied by the Danes, as to fall under
Danish chieftains; and consequently the Anglo-Saxon
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kings, inasmuch as they held dominion over such districts,
were compelled to take these chiefs into their court
and councils. History informs us that the Danish kings
Halvdan and Gudrum divided the districts they had conquered
in Northumbria and East Anglia among their
followers, and thus formed there, at an early period, a
resident and wealthy Danish aristocracy.
It has been before shown that, so early as the ninth century,
Lincolnshire had had at least three Shire-greves
(Sheriffs), or earls of the shire, of Danish or Scandinavian
extraction; viz., Thurold, Norman, and Sivard. In the
ninth century, indeed, as well as in the first part of the
tenth, the Danish possessions in England were almost
entirely independent of the Anglo-Saxon kings. It was
at this period that the Danish-Norwegian kings in the districts
north-east of Watlinga-Stræt minted, as independent
sovereigns, the many coins before described.
There could not, consequently, have then existed
in the courts of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs so many
Danish chiefs, or vassals, as when those monarchs subsequently
began to acquire dominion over the previously
more independent Danish kingdoms. Thus, among the
regular followers of King Athelstane (925-941), who subdued
the Danish kingdoms in England, we find, even
before his successful expeditions into the North, not a few
Danish-Norwegian chiefs, who signed diplomas in conjunction
with him, and particularly during the years 929
to 931; namely, besides the Thane “Syeweard” (his
minister), the Jarls Urm, Gudrum, Healden or Halfdene,
Inhwær (Ingvard), Rengwald, Hadder, Haward, Scule, and
Gunner. This may, perhaps, partly confirm the statement
of the chronicles, that Athelstane availed himself
of Danish warriors to suppress rebellion in his kingdom.
It is expressly stated that, at the battle of Brunanborg
(treated of at p. 34), there were Scandinavian warriors
in his army; and, among the rest, two Iceland
brothers, namely, Thorolf, who fell in the battle, and the
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bard, or scald, Egil Skallegrimsen, who stayed for some
time with King Athelstane, by whom he was presented
with rich gifts for his lays. It is by no means improbable
that Egil entertained, with his songs, the Scandinavian
chiefs then at King Athelstane’s court.
Between the years 940 and 960, several of the above-named
Jarls, as Gunner, Scule, Haldan, and Urm, together
with Grim and the chiefs, or ministers, Thurkytel
and Thurmod, continued to sign the Anglo-Saxon letters-patent,
in conjunction with their countrymen or relatives,
the Abbot Thurcytel, and Oscytel, Archbishop of York.
At this time the Latin title “dux” varies alternately
with the Scandinavian title of Jarl, which the Anglo-Saxons
called “Eorl.”
With King Edgar’s reign (959-975) began a fortunate
epoch for the Danish dominion in England. Edgar himself
was educated among the Danes in East Anglia, under
the care of his relative, Alfwena, dowager queen of the
converted Viking king, Gudrum, or Gorm. Hence he
had early conceived such a partiality for the Danes, that
during his reign he was accused of showing too much
favour to those foreigners at the expense of the natives.
It was in his time that the two highest ecclesiastics in
England, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, were
men of Danish extraction; and to judge from the diplomas
issued by him, he must certainly have been served by
several Scandinavians; for instance (959), by the Jarl
Oscytel, and by the Thanes (or ministers) Ulfkytel, Rold,
and Thurkytel. Thored, or Thured, a son of the before-mentioned
Danish jarl, Gunner, is likewise named in the
chronicles as one of Edgar’s most trusted chiefs.
The Scandinavian, or Danish aristocracy had now gradually
taken such deep root in England, that Ethelred
the Second, who can scarcely have favoured the Danes,
since he was repeatedly forced by their kings, Svend and
Canute, to fly his kingdom, was even unable to remove
the Danish chiefs from about his person, and to put in
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their places Anglo-Saxons of unmixed descent. In the
first years of his reign there were in his suite, as the
letters-patent show, several chiefs with Scandinavian
names; as the Jarl Nordman, and the thanes Ulfkytel,
Siweard, Wolfeby, and Styr, as well as the knights (milites)
Ulfkytel and Thurcytel; whence it is clear that
there must have been several chiefs of the same name at
one and the same time in his court, and particularly of
the names of Ulfkytel and Siweard. Nay, Ethelred himself
was united, in first marriage, with a queen of Danish
descent; namely, Elfleda, a daughter of the Danish chief
Thured, Jarl Gunner’s son. By this at least semi-Danish
queen, he had several children, and amongst them
a son, who afterwards became the renowned Edmund
Ironsides. According to the chronicles, many powerful
Danes had now obtained large fiefs even in the southern
and western parts of England; as, for instance, the Jarl
Paling, who was married to Gunhilde, a sister of the
Danish king, Svend Tveskjæg, and who had extensive
fiefs in Devonshire. This Paling, or Palne, however, to
judge from the name, was probably the celebrated Scandinavian
hero Palnetoke, whose possessions are said to
have lain in that district.
The Danes were now so spread over the whole of
England, that the Danish invaders were sure of finding
support in almost every corner of it; and Ethelred consequently
saw that, if their power was not crushed at
once, the Anglo-Saxon dominion was threatened with imminent
ruin. But it was too late. The secret massacre
planned by him in the year 1002 was far from sufficing
to annihilate, even in South England, the numerous traces
of Danish influence; and to North England, as is well
known, it did not extend. Even after the slaughter, we
continue to find in the royal letters-patent nearly the
same Scandinavian names of chiefs as before: such as
Siward, Styr, Ulfkytel, Nordman, and the knights Ulfkytel
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and Thurkytel. The Icelandic scald, or bard, Gunlaug
Ormstunge, also remained some time afterwards with
Ethelred, just as Egil Skallegrimsen had before resided
at the court of King Edgar, a monarch favourably disposed
towards the Danes. The old chronicles also mention
a powerful chief of Danish extraction who was in
Ethelred’s army after the massacre. This was Thorketil,
surnamed Myrehoved (Ant-head); and, according to the
same chronicles, a Dane named Ulfketil Snilling, sheriff
or earl in East Anglia, was even married to Ethelred’s
own daughter Ulfhilde!
Thus, even before the conquest by Canute the Great,
Danish families had frequently ingrafted themselves on
the families of the Anglo-Saxon nobility; nay, even on
the royal family itself. After that conquest the line of
demarcation between the Danes and Anglo-Saxons cannot
have been so strongly drawn as is generally imagined.
Thus the descriptions given in the Sagas of the bold chiefs
of the heathen North, as being also shrewd, amiable, and
eloquent men, gain more and more credibility; and we
cannot help admiring the ability and manliness which
enabled the heathen Danish chiefs, and their immediate
Christian successors, to maintain their difficult position
against a hostile aristocracy, and, in spite of it, gradually
to extend their power in the very midst of Anglo-Saxon
England. Nay, they not only maintained their ground as
the equals of the Anglo-Saxons, but soon became their
superiors. The weakness and depravity of the Anglo-Saxon
nobles under the reign of Ethelred were the best
proof that their day was past. Faintheartedness, bordering
very closely on cowardice, want of union, treachery,
and every other vice, reigned no less among the chiefs
than among their dependents. Luxury and effeminacy
had usurped the place of the old Anglo-Saxon simplicity and
vigour. Scarcely any great men appeared among them,
notwithstanding the urgent need that there was for
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such characters. Even the greatest of their few warriors,
Edmund Ironsides, was, as we have seen, of Danish
descent on the mother’s side.
We may almost say that England was the spoil of the
Danes before Canute came over and seized the sceptre.
What a contrast does Canute the Great, with his proud
jarls and chiefs, present to the weak Anglo-Saxons! What
vigour was at once developed in the government! What
bravery was displayed in the field!
Canute the conqueror must, from motives of gratitude
alone, if not for other reasons, have rewarded his Danes,
and especially his chiefs, with landed estates, large fiefs,
and lucrative posts of honour. He divided all England
into four earldoms (Jarledömmer):—Wessex, the most
Saxon part of England, he himself took, as being the
most dangerous and hostile district. Mercia, or the
middle part of England, which was half Saxon and half
Danish, he gave to Edrik Streon, who was in favour
with the mixed population there, possibly because, as the
proverb runs, he wore his cloak on both shoulders. The
Danish districts of Northumbria and East Anglia he assigned
to his companion in arms, the Norwegian jarl,
Erik, and the Danish jarl, Thorkil the Tall. Thorkil,
meanwhile, had married King Ethelred’s daughter, Ulfhilde,
after her first husband, Ulfkytel, had fallen in the
battle of Ashingdon. A number of smaller fiefs in different
parts of England were made over, in a similar way,
to Danish warriors of lower rank. Canute increased,
moreover, the number of his guards of Scandinavian Huskarle,
or Thingmen, of whom his forefathers had already
availed themselves; and drew up for them a special code
of laws, of such severity, that even the king himself could
not infringe them with impunity. These Huskarle, or
body-guards, being thus totally separated from the English
by a peculiar system of law, became, in consequence,
a really firm support for the kings. This Huskarle law,
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called Witherlagsretten, remained in force in the Danish
court long after Canute’s time.
The letters-patent issued by Canute show him surrounded
by a great number of Danish or Norwegian
chieftains. Among the signatures we find the names of
men celebrated in history, such as “Thurkil hoga,” “Yric,”
or “Iric,” jarls in East Anglia and Northumberland; Ulf,
Canute’s brother-in-law, and father of King Svend Estridsen
of Denmark; and also Hacun, a sister’s son of
Canute, and for a long time jarl in Worcestershire. All
of these met a tragical fate. Thorkil and Erik had to
wander in exile; Ulf was killed by Canute’s order in
Roeskilde; and Hagen, after many vicissitudes of fortune,
perished on a voyage to Norway, where Canute had appointed
him Stadtholder. Besides these we find named
the jarl Eglaf or Ælaf (probably the leader of the Thingmen),
Eilif Thorgilson, the jarls Haldenne (“princeps
regis”), Ranig (Rane), Thrym, Siuard, Suuegen, Svend
(1026), Tosti (1026), Sihtric, and others. Among the
Thanes (ministri), appear Aslac, Tobi, Acun (Hagen),
Boui (Bue), Toui, Siward, Haldan, Thurstan, Thord, Hastin(g),
Broðor, Tofig, and several others; and among the
knights (milites), Thord, Thirkil, Thrim, Broðor, Tokig,
Ulf, and Siward. Several of Canute’s chieftains, according
to the genuine old Scandinavian custom, had surnames,
mostly taken from their personal appearance; as, besides
“Thurcyl hoga,” we find Thurcyl hwita (white), Thurcyl
blaca (black), Thoui hwita, Toui reada (red), and Haldan
scarpæ (Halfdan the Sharp). A letter dated in the year
1033, is signed among others, by the chiefs: Jarl Siward,
Osgod Clapa, Toui Pruda, Thurcyl, Harald, Thord, Halfden,
Rold, Swane, Orm, Ulfkitel, Ketel, Gamal, and Orm;
and as the document relates to some land in Yorkshire, it
is probable that many of these Danish chieftains dwelt
in that old Danish district. A powerful Dane, named
Ulf, a son of Thorald, is named as of York in Canute’s time.
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He gave many estates to the cathedral there, together
with a carved horn, by way of conveyance or title-deed,
which is still preserved in the cathedral under the name
of “Ulph’s horn,” or “the Danish horn.” This Ulf is
possibly the knight of that name before mentioned. A
similar horn is said to have been given by Canute the
Great, with some landed property, to the family of Pusey,
of Berkshire.
Under Canute’s immediate successor, Harald Harefoot,
as well as under Hardicanute, the power and grandeur of
the Danish chieftains continued steadily to increase.
Many besides those just mentioned are spoken of in
letters of Hardicanute’s reign; and above all the celebrated
Danish jarl Siward, surnamed Digre, who in the
year 1040 became jarl in Northumberland. We also meet
with the jarl Thuri; the thanes Urki, Atsere (Adzer), and
Thurgils; the knight Ækig (Aage); and, in the chronicles,
Styr and Thrand. Lastly, Osgod Clapa, and Toui Pruda
are mentioned in the history of Hardicanute, but on a
mournful occasion. It was at the marriage festival which
Osgod Clapa made for his daughter and Toui Pruda, that
Hardicanute had a stroke of apoplexy, from which he
never recovered. Some, therefore, are of opinion that the
marriage did not take place at Lambeth (see p. 20,) but at
Clapham (Clapa-ham, or Clapa’s home), in Surrey, to the
south of Kennington, which now forms part of London.
As long as their supremacy lasted, the Danes must
naturally have behaved as conquerors in the land which
they had subdued. Their innate love of splendour
and profusion found ample nourishment, whilst at the
same time their pride was flattered, by the subjugation
of the Anglo-Saxons. The old English chroniclers complain
bitterly of the severe humiliations which the natives
were compelled to endure. If, for instance, Anglo-Saxons
met a Dane upon a bridge, they were obliged to stand
still, and make low bows; nay, even if they were on horseback,
they must dismount, and wait till the Dane had
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passed. At the same time the Anglo-Saxon nobility
gradually lost the many fiefs and lucrative posts of honour
which had formerly been in their possession, but which
were now transferred to their powerful conquerors. But
what really injured the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy more than
anything else, was the wise and conciliatory policy of Canute
the Great, which, by extinguishing the hatred between
the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, amalgamated the aristocracy
of the two nations to such a degree that the Anglo-Saxon
nobility at length existed only in name, having become by
imperceptible degrees more than half Danish. A contrary
method of proceeding, a violent and sanguinary oppression
of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, would, perhaps, in
some respects, have been more serviceable to them, as
it would have inflamed their hatred, and provoked them
to a desperate resistance; and would thus have incited
them to keep themselves free from the intrusion of all
foreign admixture.
As the matter stood, the Danish power apparently gave
way to the Anglo-Saxon dominion; but, in reality, it was
little more than the name that was changed. It is said,
indeed, that the new Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor,
some years after his accession (in 1048), expelled
the great Danish chiefs and their descendants from his
court, and drove them into exile; as, for instance, Osgod
Clapa, sheriff of Middlesex, and Asbjörn, a brother of
King Svend Estridsen of Denmark, whose second brother
Björn, a jarl in the west of England, had shortly before
been killed by the jarl Svend Godvinsön. He also
banished Canute the Great’s niece, Gunhilde. By her
first marriage with her cousin, Hagen Jarl, Stadtholder of
Norway, Gunhilde had a daughter named Bothilde; by her
second with Harald, a son of Thorkil the Tall, who also
succeeded to the Stadtholdership, she had two sons, Hemming
and Thorkil. Gunhilde went into exile with her
sons by way of Bruges in Flanders, and thence to her
relatives in Denmark.
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Nevertheless the signatures to Edward’s letters-patent
prove that this king, alleged to have been so favourably
disposed towards the Anglo-Saxons, must have had many
chiefs of Danish extraction about his person, even after
this expulsion of the Danes; nay, even to the day of his
death. We need not look for them among the “Huskarle,”
or body-guards, alone, amongst whom are named Thurstan
and Urk; for Huskarle with Scandinavian names are
mentioned at a still later period in England; and we find,
under William the Conqueror (1071), Eylif Huscarl, and,
even in 1230, Roger Huscarl. Even in King Edward’s
suite, and occupying considerable offices, were such men as
“Atsere Swerte (Adser the black), Atsur röda (Adser the
red), Eiglaf (Eylif), Guðmund, Ulfketil, Thord, Siward,
Thurstan, Harold, Turi, Yrc (Erik), Anschitil (Osketil),
Tofi, Neuetofig, Esgar, Ingold, Tosti, Thorgils, Wagen,
Ulf Tofis sune, Askyl Toke’s sune, Jaulf Malte’s sune.”
Also the knights Esbern (Asbjörn) and Siward, together
with several others, the greater part of whose names appear
in letters that were issued after the expulsion of
the Danes in 1048. Many of the royal fiefs were still
in the hands of Danes. Jarl Siward Digre governed
the extensive district of Northumberland with the same
power and influence as before, till his death in the year
1055. Somersetshire, lying far towards the west in the
Saxon part of England, had a sheriff (vice-comes) named
“Touid,” or “Tofig,” who can scarcely have been an Anglo-Saxon.
We find a person named “Toli” filling the same
high office in East Anglia; as well as in Huntingdonshire
a “Tuli;” in Hamptonshire, a “Norman;” in
Lincolnshire a “Marlesuuein.” Northmen, or at least
chiefs of Scandinavian origin, filled the highest posts at
Edward’s court. Between the years 1060 and 1066, a
letter mentions the following royal chiefs, or “Hofsinder:”
“Jaulf, Agamund, Ulf, Wegga (Viggo), Locar (Loke), and
Hacun.” In one of Edward’s letters, dated 1062, the
following names appear:—“Esgarus, regiæ procurator
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aulæ;” “Bundinus, regis palatinus;” “Adzurus, regis
dapifer;” “Esbernus princeps;” “Siwardus princeps;”
“Hesbernus regis consanguineus.” These are all pure
Danish names, viz., Esgar, or Asgier, Bonde, Adser,
Asbjörn, and Sivard. The different Latin titles here given
to Esgar, Bonde, and Adser, are translated in contemporary
letters by one and the same word, “steallere” or
“stalre.” The dignity of “Staller” was also, as is well
known, an established one in the courts of the Scandinavian
kings, at all events after the time of Canute the
Great. The Staller was superintendent of the court, or a
sort of High Steward, and attended the “Thing” meetings
for the king, but more particularly in cases which concerned
the court. From an English diploma, dated 1060-1066,
and signed by “Esegar steallere,” “Bondig steallere,”
and “Roulf steallere,” we see that there were several “Stallers”
at the same time in England; which certainly arose
from the Stallers being also the king’s commissaries.
The last-named, “Roulf steallere,” is probably the Ralph
so much in favour with King Edward, and who was a
son of Edward’s sister and a Norman nobleman. Another
Staller of Norman descent is mentioned in letters of the
years 1044 and 1065, namely, Roldburtus, or Rodbertus,
son of Winwarc. Indeed Norman names begin to be
frequent in Edward’s letters-patent; for, as a consequence
of the favour which he bore towards the Normans, many
of whom he gradually placed in the highest posts of
honour in England, there quickly grew up by the side of
the pure Danish elements, what may be called a half-Danish
or half-Scandinavian influence from Normandy,
which was soon to supplant the Danish power, as well as
annihilate once for all the apparent dominion of the Anglo-Saxons
in England. Thus Edward’s reign was clearly
only a state of transition from the Danish to the Norman
dominion; a national Anglo-Saxon reign it could not well
be called.
How, indeed, should Edward have been able to maintain,
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or rather to reinstate upon the throne of England a purely
national Anglo-Saxon line, after it had long been broken
by the Danes? Edward’s own race may, in a manner, be
said to show how weak and irretrievably declining was
the Anglo-Saxon element. Edward himself was a son of
the Norman princess, Emma, and thus brother-in-law to
the Danish jarl, Thorkil the Tall, who had married his
sister Ulfhilde, widow of the Danish jarl Ulfketil Snilling;
he was half-brother to his predecessor on the throne,
the Danish king Hardicanute; and he was married to
Editha, daughter of Jarl Godwin, by his second wife,
Gyda, who, being a daughter of the Jarl Thorkil Sprakaleg,
nephew of the Danish king Harald Blaatand, was of
Danish descent. Godwin, moreover, in his first marriage,
is said to have espoused a Danish woman, a daughter of
Svend Tveskjsæg, and sister to Canute the Great. Thus
Edward the Confessor’s queen, Editha, and her well-known
brothers Svend, Harald, Gurth, and Toste, who, both during
and after Edward’s reign, played a highly remarkable part
in English history, were on the mother’s side of Danish
extraction, of which the Scandinavian names of Godwin’s
sons bear sufficient evidence. It was partly also in consideration
of this Scandinavian kinsmanship that Toste
sought assistance in Denmark and Norway against his
brother, King Harald; and that afterwards (in the year
1066), both Toste’s son, Skule, and Harald’s son, Edmund,
fled to Scandinavia—the former through Orkney to Norway,
the latter straight to Denmark—after their fathers
had fallen, within a short period, in the battles of Stamford
Bridge and Hastings. It is remarkable enough that
Godwin’s race should return to, and even flourish in, that
same Scandinavian North whence, on the mother’s side, it
had sprung. Toste’s son, Skule, married in Norway
Gudrun, a daughter of Harald Haardraade’s sister, and
became by her the progenitor of so mighty a race, both
of jarls and kings, that their branches extended over the
whole of Scandinavia.
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.if h
.il fn=i_148.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Gravestone: Magnus
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Gravestone: Magnus]
.if-
During the last period of the declining house of the
Anglo-Saxon kings, we further meet with the Scandinavian
names of Guttorm, Hagen, and Magnus. The
name of Magnus, borne by King Harald Godvinsön’s
youngest son, was introduced into Norway through a mistake.
It is related that a son having been born one night
to King Olaf (Saint Olaf), no one dared to awake the King
and inform him of it. The child, however, being very
weakly, the priest Sighvat Skjaldt took upon himself to
baptize it, and called it Magnus, after “the best man in
the world,” Karl Magnus, or Charlemagne; probably in
the belief that the Latin word magnus, which was only
the Emperor Charles’ surname, was a real name. The boy
grew up, and afterwards became king of Norway, where
he was usually called “Magnus the Good.” Magnus’s
grave is said to have been discovered in St. John’s Church,
in the town of Lewes, in Sussex. In the new church,
which has lately been built on the site of the old one,
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has been preserved, and built into the wall, the monumental
stone, which bears the following inscription:—
.pm quote-start
“Clauditur hic miles Danorum regia proles;
Mangnus nome(n) ei Mangne nota progeniei.
Deponens Mangnum, se moribus induit agnum
P(re)pete p(ro) vita fit parvulus arnacorita.”
.pm quote-end
Or, “Here lies a warrior (or knight) of the royal Danish race; his
name, Mangnus, is the mark of his great descent. Laying aside his
greatness he adopted the habits of a lamb, and exchanged his busy life
for that of a simple hermit.”
That this Magnus, “of the royal Danish race,” was
the son of the Harald Godvinsön lately mentioned
(whose mother Gyda, it is true, was of the Danish royal
family) is, however, a mere conjecture. An older legend
states that he was a Danish chief, or commander, taken
prisoner by the English in a sanguinary battle near
Lewes, and who, being well treated, afterwards laid aside
his sword, and became a hermit at that place. (See Lower,
in “Transactions of the British Archæological Association
at its second Congress at Winchester,” pp. 307-310.)
It may, perhaps, be most probable that he was one of those
scions of the Danish aristocracy that remained in the south
of England after the Norman conquest had overthrown
the supremacy of the Danish chiefs in that part.
It was in the south of England, where William the
Conqueror first established his power, that the Norman
nobility obtained their earliest possessions. In the midland
and northern districts, on the contrary, it was neither
easy to subdue the country, nor to annihilate entirely the
Danish aristocracy, which had completely coalesced with
the essentially Danish population. Long after the conquest,
therefore, the Danish chiefs continued to preserve
their independence, or at least their influence, in those
parts. A remarkable instance of this, though taken only
from a single district, is afforded by William’s own
“Domesday-Book,” drawn up about twenty years after the
conquest. In this, under the head of Lincolnshire, are
mentioned the great persons who possessed the right of
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administering justice on their estates, together with other
privileges belonging to noblemen, such as sacam and socam,
and Tol and Thiam; and among them are found “Harald
Jarl; the Jarl Waltef (Valthjof); Radulf Jarl; Merlesuen;
Turgot; Tochi, son of Outi; Stori (Styr); Radulf “stalre;”
Rolf, son of Sceldeware; Harold ”stalre;“ “Siuuard barn;”
Achi (Aage), son of Sivard; Azer, son of Sualena; Outi,
son of Azer; Tori, son of Rold; Toli, son of Alsi; Azer,
son of Burg; “Uluuard uuite;” Ulf; Haminc (Hemming);
Bardt; Suan, son of Suane.” Now even if it be certain
that several of these chiefs were Normans, particularly
since the Norman names at that time still preserved their
primitive Scandinavian form, yet it is clear that most
of them were Danish-English. It is to be regretted that
Domesday-Book does not comprise the ancient Northumberland,
as that district would certainly have afforded
more names of Danish chieftains than even the old Danish
Lincolnshire; for the Danish aristocracy were never
driven out or entirely subdued in those parts; but rather
must have amalgamated in the course of time with their
countrymen, the Norman nobility, until the latter by
degrees gained the ascendancy. This is at once shown by
the notorious fact that neither William the Conqueror, nor
his immediate successors, obtained such mastery over
the north of England and its Danish population, as over
the rest of that country; since the inhabitants of the
north fought, with the bravery inherited from their forefathers,
for their Danish chiefs, and for their peculiar, and
partly Danish, institutions, manners, and customs.
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.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s13
Section XIII.
.ce 2
The Danelag.—Holmgang, or Duel.—Jury.—The Feeling of
Freedom.
The Anglo-Saxons were the teachers of the Danes in
several ways; above all they made them Christians, and
thus communicated to them a new and higher civilization.
The Danes in England reaped advantage from the
civilization of the Anglo-Saxons, just as the Anglo-Saxons
themselves had once begun their own, by building on that
refinement which their predecessors, the Romans, had
disseminated in England.
But as the Anglo-Saxons did not become Romans, because
they adopted and remodelled the Roman civilization;
nor the Normans in Normandy Frenchmen, because after
their settlement in France they soon assumed many of
the French manners and customs; so neither did the
Danes in England become Anglo-Saxons, however much
they might have been indebted to them for their civilization.
The Normans in France retained, in spite of their
Christianity and French refinement, the characteristic
stamp of their Scandinavian origin, which afterwards
caused them to play quite a peculiar part in history.
In like manner the Danes in England, amidst the refinements
of the Anglo-Saxons, undoubtedly preserved
many of their Scandinavian characteristics, which did not
disappear without leaving visible and very remarkable
traces. But the Scandinavian spirit stamped itself, though
perhaps only apparently, in a somewhat different manner
on the Norman race in Normandy, and on the Danes in
England.
Among the Normans in France the Scandinavian spirit
worked, so to speak, only outwardly, in magnificent conquests,
of which the chief theatres were England, Italy,
and Sicily. Chivalry and feudalism, with their crusades,
communicated a new impulse to it; but, internally, it
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effected comparatively little for France. It did not
manifest itself in Normandy by forming political institutions
capable of supplanting the oldest and most essential
French laws and constitutions; nor, indeed, are we able to
point out with exactness what really Scandinavian customs
the Normans established in that country. Yet it can scarcely
be doubted that they introduced there trial by jury, as
well as trial by battle, and other Scandinavian legal institutions.
In England, on the other hand, the northern character
showed itself so far outwardly active as to exercise a vast
and unmistakable influence on her commerce and navigation,
and on the bold and adventurous spirit of enterprise
among her people; which, though at a much later
period than the conquests of the Normans, has nevertheless
extended her dominion over every sea. But in
England it has also been internally a living and guiding
spirit, in the formation of her judicial and political institutions.
It is an incontrovertible and notorious fact, which
has, however, hardly been sufficiently insisted upon, that
about half of England—the so-called “Danelag,” or community
of the Danes—was for centuries subject to Danish
laws; that these laws existed even after the Norman
conquest; and that they did not pass into the general or
common law of England, till the successors of William
the Conqueror at last united into a whole the various discordant
parts into which England had been previously
divided. When we remember that the Normans long
retained a predilection for old Scandinavian institutions
and forms of judicature, it seems highly probable that
the Danish laws, which had for so long a period prevailed
in England, did not disappear under their sway without
the new laws, which they established, deriving from the
old a particular colour, and certain Scandinavian stamp.
A further examination of this point will scarcely be superfluous,
as it will enable us to judge how far those
are right who, in company with one of England’s most
// 177.png
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celebrated statesmen (Sir R. Peel, in a speech in Parliament),
are proud that “the Danes tried in vain to overthrow
the institutions of England, instead of securing
them;” and then reproach the Danes that, on the whole,
they did not, after all their devastating expeditions, establish
anything new, great, and durable.
The population of the heathen North, as was the case
everywhere else at that period, was divided into serfs
and freemen. Even after the introduction of Christianity,
many centuries elapsed in all countries before thraldom
was abolished, and the worth of man, as man, generally
recognised. The serf was always regarded more as an
animal than as a human being. The freeman, on the contrary,
enjoyed a high degree of civil liberty. He was not
only uncontrolled master in his own house, and among his
nearest dependents, but likewise exercised an important
influence on the management of the public concerns of his
own district and of his country. He took part in the
decision of law cases in the “Thing,” and gave his vote at
the great “Thing,” where the election of a monarch, war,
treaties of peace, and other important matters, came under
consideration. Scandinavia was, besides, in ancient times,
divided into a number of small kingdoms; and the smaller
these were, so much the greater was the individual freeman’s
power and importance.
The old inhabitants of the North entertained, therefore,
a sincere affection for those institutions which gratified
their proud feeling of freedom. Personal participation in
the administration of justice, at a time when written laws
did not exist, must have made every freeman a lawyer and
a zealous defender of existing institutions, especially so
far as regarded the main point, namely, the freedom they
ensured. A general knowledge of the laws was still further
promoted by the innate love of the Northmen for disputes
and law-suits. Respect for the law was speedily
carried to such an extent, and in the administration of
justice at the Things old established customs and usages
// 178.png
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were so strictly observed, that the slightest formal flaw was
sufficient to ensure the rejection even of the most important
cause. How deeply rooted the old national law was, is
best shown by the fact that the Roman law, which had
been adopted in the greater part of Europe, could never
gain the supremacy in the countries of Scandinavia. The
present Scandinavian law is by no means the offspring of
any foreign code, but is founded on, and independently
developed from, the law which already existed in the North
in the days of heathenism.
The powerful warriors, who in those remote times emigrated
from the North, were, for the most part, men no
less high-spirited and fond of freedom than their fathers
before them. The old chronicles state, that among
the warriors who came over to England with the conquerors
Svend and Canute, there was not a single serf.
The history of Iceland shows, even at an earlier period,
that most of the colonists who went thither were descendants
of kings, jarls, and other of the most powerful freemen
of the North. These emigrants did not leave their
paternal home because they were dissatisfied with their
ancient hereditary rights and liberties, but because those
rights and liberties were gradually threatened with restriction,
and even annihilation, by ambitious and absolute
monarchs. It was this that led them to undertake the
conquest of foreign lands, and thus to acquire a freedom
which might indemnify them for what they had been compelled
to relinquish.
It is therefore no wonder that the Scandinavian colonists
introduced their national laws, which had always
proved the surest defence of their liberties, at once and
completely both into countries previously uninhabited, and
into those from which the ancient inhabitants were expelled
by their invasions. This was the case, for instance,
in Greenland, the Faroe Isles, the Shetland Isles, and the
Orkneys. But with regard to freedom they even went
still further than in Scandinavia, and sometimes abolished
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the regal power, whose caprices and dangers they had
learned to appreciate and fear, and founded republics
in its place. Even in countries like France and England,
where a large and civilized population, possessing
a complete system of national law, previously existed—and
where the Scandinavian colonists, till they became
strong enough to assume the authority of masters, were for
a long time inferior both in numbers and power—they
adhered immovably to their ancient legal customs, and
caused them to be observed, in spite of Christianity, and
of that foreign civilization which they themselves soon
adopted. But it was at the same time a natural result of
this state of things, that they were neither able to introduce
into such countries all the ancient legal usages of Scandinavia,
nor, generally speaking, any law of a comprehensive
character, without adapting it to the peculiar situation
which they, as conquerors and strangers, now occupied in
regard to the natives and their existing institutions.
A strong proof, not only of the affection of the Danes
for their Scandinavian institutions, but of the complete
settlement of that people in England at a very early
period, is, that in the beginning of the tenth century,
and consequently more than a hundred years before the
time of Canute the Great, they had already established
their own laws on the east coast of England, notwithstanding
that Christianity, as before stated, had gained a
footing amongst them. It appears, from the remarkable
treaty concluded at that time between Kings Edward and
Gudrum, that the Danes settled in East Anglia, and on
the eastern coast of England, were not only placed on an
equal footing with the English with regard to legal rights,
but that it was also determined how disputes between the
English and Danes should be decided, and what fine each
people should pay for certain crimes. Thus the English
were to pay “wite,” or fines, according to the English law,
in pounds and shillings; whilst the Danes were to make
compensation for “lah-slit” (i. e., infraction of the law,
// 180.png
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from the old Norsk, lög, law, and slita, to rend in two,
break), according to the Danish law, in “marks” and “ores.”
About the same time the chronicles testify that the
“five burghs” occupied by the Danes in the heart of
England, together with large districts both in the
east and north, were subject to Danish laws. The
Anglo-Saxon king Edgar (959-975) says, in a passage
of his laws (cap. 12), which shows his partiality for
the Danes, “Then will I that with the Danes such good
laws stand as they may best choose, and as I have ever
permitted to them, and will permit so long as life shall last
me, for their fidelity, which they have ever shown me.”
He likewise says in the next chapter, where mention is
made of a fixed punishment: “Let the Danes chuse, according
to their laws, what punishment they will adopt.”
From this state of things, it happened that four different
sorts of law were in force in four different parts
of the kingdom. Farthest towards the west, where the
remnant of the ancient Britons dwelt, the Welsh law was
in force; among the West Saxons, the West-Saxon law;
in Mercia, the Mercian law; and in the so-called Danelag,
or country to the north-east of Watlinga-Stræt, the
Danish law. Of these four systems of law, the Danish,
beyond comparison, most prevailed. Its decrees were in
later times constantly recognised, not only by Ethelred
(not to speak of the Danish kings), but by Edward the
Confessor and William the Conqueror, whose laws usually
treat of the “Danes-law” (Dene-lahe), with its fines, or
“lah-slit,” in marks and ores. Even in the laws promulgated
by Henry the First (1100-1135), it is stated (vi. § 1),
that England is divided into three parts, Wessex, Mercia,
and the province of the Danes. (“Regnum Anglie
trifariam dividitur in regno Britannie, in Westsexiam, et
Mircenos, et Danorum provinciam.”) And it is further
said (§ 2), that the law of England falls into three parts,
according to the above division, viz., the West Saxon, the
Mercian, and the Danish law, or Denelaga. (“Legis
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eciam Anglice trina est particio, ad superiorem modum;
alia enim Westsexie, alia Mircena, alia Denelaga est.”)
A cursory view of these different laws will soon show,
both that Scandinavian words and juridical terms were
employed in the Danelag, and that by degrees, but mostly
in the time of Canute the Great and William the Conqueror,
they were introduced into the common laws of
England: as, for instance, “hor-qwene” (Hoerquinde;
Eng., adultress), “nam,” “halsfang,” “heimillborch,”
(Hjemmelborg), “husting,” and others. For the rest, it
is natural that most traces of the old Scandinavian
institutions should be found in the districts to the north-east
of Watlinga-Stræt.
The Danes settled there had from the beginning several
chiefs with the title of king, who were for the most part
independent of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and reigned by
means of their jarls and the chiefs to whom they had portioned
out the conquered land. These numerous small
kingdoms were afterwards subdued by the Anglo-Saxons,
and converted into Earldoms. A peculiar sort of Danish
chiefs or Udallers (“holdas,” from the old Norsk hölldr),
is mentioned in East Anglia, who, like the Norwegian
“Höldar,” or “Odelsmænd,” held their properties by a
perfectly free tenure. It is probable that the original
Udallers were the chief leaders, or generals, of the Danish
conquerors settled in East Anglia. From the fines fixed
for the murder of such “holdas,” it is plain that they held
a very high rank. The old Scandinavian name for a
peasant, “Bonda,” was also disseminated in the north of
England. There, as in Scandinavia, the peasants undoubtedly
constituted the pith of the landed proprietary.
The names of places in the north of England beginning
or ending with garth (or Gaard), such as Watgarth
(Vadegaard, on the river Tees), Grassgarth, Hall Garth,
Garthorpe, Garthwaite, and others, show that the peasants,
as in Scandinavia, were settled in Gaarde, or farms, which
belonged indeed to the before-mentioned “holdas” (“Odelsmænd”),
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or other feudal lords; but which nevertheless
seem, in some degree, to have been the property of the
peasants, on condition of their paying certain rents to
their feudal lords, and binding themselves to contribute to
the defence of the country. Other landed proprietors, or
agriculturists, with pure Scandinavian names, appear in
Cheshire under the appellation of “drenghs” or Drenge.
The Danes and Norwegians in North England settled
their disputes and arranged their public affairs at the
Things, according to Scandinavian custom. The present
village of Thingwall (or the Thing-fields), in Cheshire, was
a place of meeting for the Thing; and not only bore the
same name as the old chief Thing place in Iceland, but
also as the old Scandinavian Thing places, “Dingwall,” in
the north of Scotland; “Tingwall,” in the Shetland Isles;
and “Tynewald,” or “Tingwall,” in the Isle of Man.
There were incontestably in the Danish parts of England
certain larger or common Thing-meetings for the several
districts, which were superior to the Things of separate
ones; and it may even be a question whether traces of
them are not to be found in the division into Ridings, at
present used only in Yorkshire, but which formerly prevailed
also in Lincolnshire. Originally these divisions had
not the name of reding or riding, which they did not
obtain till later, and undoubtedly through a misconception.
Yorkshire is at the present time divided into the North,
East, and West Ridings; and, according to Domesday-Book,
Lincolnshire also was (about the year 1080) divided into
Nort-treding, Westreding, and Sudtreding; consequently,
like Yorkshire, into three parts. These divisions were
called by the Anglo-Saxons “Þriding,” or “Thriting.”
Now, as they were foreign to the Anglo-Saxons, whose
historians did not even know how to explain their origin,
and as they also appear exclusively in the two most
Danish districts in England, it is surely not unreasonable
to seek their origin in Scandinavian institutions, in which
a simple and natural explanation of them may certainly be
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found. In Scandinavia, and particularly in the south of
Norway, provinces or Fylker (petty kingdoms), were not
only divided into halves (hálfur) and fourths (fjórðjungar),
but also into thirds, or Tredinger (Þriðjungar), which
completely answer to the North-English “thrithing.” It
was, moreover, precisely to the Tredings-things that all disputed
causes were referred from the smaller district Things.
It is more doubtful whether we may ascribe to the
Danes alone the introduction of the word “Wapentake”
(Vaabentag), as the peculiar designation for a district. In
the northern counties of England, viz., Northamptonshire,
Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, this term
is still used instead of the customary one of “Hundred.”
Yet there is some probability that it may have been
derived from the circumstance that the Danes, like the
ancient inhabitants of the North in general, elected their
chiefs, and signified their assent to any proposition at the
Things, by Vaabentag, or Vaabenlarm (sound, or clang of
arms). Vaabentag (Wapentake) might thus have become
the name of a small district, having its own chief and
its own Thing. A law of King Ethelred’s (see Thorpe,
Leges et Instit. Anglo-Sax., Glossary, Lahman), which
seems to have been promulgated only for the five Danish
burghs, and the rest of the Danish part of England,
orders that there shall be in every Wapentake a Gemot
or Thing. It is at all events very remarkable, that the
division into Wapentakes should exist only in old Danish
North England.
In the towns occupied by the Danes, as in the five
burghs—or, if Chester and York be included, in the “seven
cities”—there was certainly a Danish Thing, as well as in
the rural districts. The English word by-law—still used
to denote municipal or corporate law, which is neither
more nor less than the Danish “By-Lov,” and which,
consequently, must have retained its name ever since
the times of the Danes—shows at once that they must at
least have had some share in developing the system of
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judicature in the English cities. It is, besides, well known
that there was in remote times a Scandinavian “husting”
in Sheppey, London, and Winchester, as well as York and
Lincoln, and consequently in places south of Watlinga-Stræt.
Of the seven cities before mentioned, only York
and Lincoln are with certainty known to have had “hustings;”
but nevertheless, it can scarcely be doubted that
there must have been similar Things in the other five
cities. I may add, that the tribunals existing in them
are called, in the Anglo-Saxon text of Ethelred’s laws for
the five burghs just alluded to, “Gethingd”—a word which
bears an undeniable resemblance to the Scandinavian
Thing; whilst in Anglo-Saxon such courts were called
“Gemot.”
According to old English records, the Danish laws in
force in the Danish part of England, though in several
respects strikingly similar to the Anglo-Saxon laws, differed
from them in many points. It is not, indeed, clearly
determined in what these differences and resemblances
consisted; but it is at all events certain that the dissimilarity
cannot have been confined merely to the difference
before mentioned in the amount of the fines, nor to the
mode of calculating them; which, as previously stated,
was in marks and ores in the Danish part of England, and
in pounds and shillings in the Anglo-Saxon districts.
In law-suits among the Anglo-Saxons, the usual kinds
of proof were by oath, by witnesses, by cojurors, and by the
ordeal of hot iron, or the judgment of God. It was at an
early period also customary, in the heathen North, to use
by way of proof oaths, cojurors, and witnesses; but instead
of the ordeal by hot iron, which was first introduced under
Christianity, the old Northmen had quite a different way of
deciding their legal disputes, and one which agreed better
with their martial spirit, namely, by duel. By some this
method was also considered a peculiar kind of God’s judgment;
but it should rather, perhaps, be regarded as the subjecting
of the original feud, or quarrel, to certain settled
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forms. This sort of combat was called “holmgang,” because
the duel generally took place on a small island, or
holm, where it was conducted according to fixed laws. Both
plaintiff and defendant had the right of challenging their
adversary. Although this mode of deciding legal disputes
might easily be, and indeed sometimes was, abused by evildoers—who
did not scruple to take advantage of the weakness
and want of warlike skill in others, in order to obtain
possession of their estates—still it was far more in favour
in the North than the proofs by oath and cojurors. The
Normans carried it with them into Normandy; and there
can scarcely be a doubt that the Danes and Normans, long
before the Norman conquest of England—nay, long
before Canute the Great’s time—introduced it into the
Danelag in the north of England; where, at least, the
word “Holmgang,” in its pure Scandinavian meaning, was
in use for many generations.
But a peculiar, and in its results highly important,
judicial institution prevailed in the North, namely “Næfn,”
“Næfninger” (Nævninger); or, as it has been called in later
times in English, “Jury.” According to the most ancient
Danish laws the accuser had a right, particularly in important
criminal causes, to select from among the people a
certain number of jurors (Nævninger), who, after taking an
oath, were to condemn or acquit the accused; and judgment
was not pronounced till they had given their verdict. The
accuser’s choice of jurors was limited by law to owners of
landed property who were not related to him; neither were
they to be inimically disposed towards the accused, who had
the right of challenging any of them. The decision of
the jury was declared according to the majority of votes.
In some districts at least, as for instance in Scania (Skaane),
the accused was allowed, if the decision of the jury was
against him, to appeal to the ordeal by red-hot iron, which,
after the introduction of Christianity, became an important
mode of proof in the North. But after the abolition of
that ordeal in Denmark (in 1218), and after the heathen
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mode of duelling, or holmgang, had been abolished by Christianity,
and superseded by the institution of juries, this last
method of trial played an important part, and became
popular with the people because it afforded them a participation
in the administration of justice, and at the same
time secured their civil liberties. Nevertheless trial by
jury was at length obliged to yield to newer forms of law
in Scandinavia; and just in proportion as the ancient freedom
of the people was lost, the political institutions which
had originated from it also disappeared.
England, as is well known, is the only country that,
in spite of all commotions, has preserved trial by jury down
to modern times. But it is a matter of much dispute to
what people may be more particularly ascribed the honour
of introducing an institution which has not only for many
centuries been of much service to freedom in England, but
which has also been transplanted in later times into many
other countries, and is now on the point of being disseminated
over all that part of Europe which may be called
free. Many learned men assert that trial by jury was unknown
to the Anglo-Saxons, and maintain that its proper
home was the Scandinavian North, whence it was carried
by the Northmen into Normandy, and from that country
into England by means of the conquest. Others again assert
almost the direct contrary; maintaining, that the tradition
which ascribes the introduction of juries to the
Anglo-Saxon king, Alfred the Great, though it does not
speak the literal truth in deriving the institution merely
from that monarch, is still thus far deserving of credence,
that trial by jury was known and used by the Anglo-Saxons
long before the Norman conquest. These persons are of
opinion, that the Danes and Normans even set aside the
jury for the barbarous Holmgang, or duel, until in the
course of time that venerable relic of ancient Saxon freedom
again obtained the ascendancy. In order to prove
this, they point especially to a passage in one of Ethelred’s
laws (Ethelred, iii. § 3), which ordains “that every Wapentake
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shall have its Thing;” and “that a 'Gemot’ be
held in every Wapentake, and the XII senior Thanes go
out, and the reeve with them, and swear on the relic that
is given to them in hand, that they will accuse no innocent
man, nor conceal any guilty one.” Further (§ 13): “And
let doom stand where Thanes are of one voice; if they
disagree let that stand which VIII of them say; and let
those who are outvoted pay, each of them, VI half-marks.”
To these passages may be added another, also of Ethelred’s
time (Ordinance respecting the Dun-Setas, § 3), wherein
it is ordered that: “XII lahmen shall explain the law to
the Wealas and English, VI English, and VI Wealas.
Let them forfeit all they possess if they explain it wrongly;
or clear themselves that they knew no better.”
That a jury is here spoken of is beyond all doubt. But
a highly remarkable circumstance has been too much overlooked,
namely, that Ethelred’s above-mentioned regulation
as to the composition of the jury is contained only in the
law just cited; which, according to the opinion of its
latest English editor, was intended only for the Five
Burghs and the surrounding Danish districts. (“The
document of Ethelred, above referred to, seems, in a great
measure, to have been published for the sake of the Five
Burgs.”—Thorpe.) That it cannot have been intended
for the Anglo-Saxon part of England may be immediately
seen from the circumstance that all the fines mentioned in
it are, without exception, fixed, according to Danish custom,
in marks and ores, or öre, and not, after the Anglo-Saxon
custom, in pounds and shillings. In this concise law,
moreover, we find several Danish legal terms which were
not in use in the south of England; for instance, “lahcop”
(Old Norsk, “lögkaup”); “wit-word” (Old N.,
“vitorð”); and “thrinna XII,” or “trende Tylvter
Eed” (i. e. three twelves oath). With respect also to the
“XII lahmen,” or, as they are called in Latin, “lagemanni”
(Old Norsk, lögmaðr), mentioned in Ethelred’s time, it has
long been agreed in England that they must have been
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originally instituted by the Danes. (Thorpe says: “The
institution was most probably of Danish origin, as we generally
meet with them in the Danish portion of the country.”)
They were constantly twelve in number, and it can scarcely
admit of a doubt that their functions were the same as
those of “the twelve eldest Thanes” before mentioned,
and that consequently they were regular jurymen. We see,
moreover, from Domesday-Book, which mentions “Lagemanni”
only in the Danish portion of North England,
viz., in Cambridge, Stamford, Lincoln, and Chester, that
they were Thanes, or at least equal to Thanes in rank and
privileges. Among other things, jurisdiction (sacam and
socam) was conceded to them over their inferiors, or subjects.
In the old Danish city of Lincoln the names are
recited of those who were previously Lahmen, and of
those who remained so when Domesday-Book was compiled.
These names, which are partly pure Danish—as, for instance,
Hardecnut, Ulf, son of Suertebrand, Walrauen,
Siuuard, Aldene (Haldan), and others—prove that sons frequently
succeeded their fathers in the office of Lah-man
(for instance, “Suardinc loco Hardecnut patris sui. Sortebrand
loco Ulf patris sui. Agemund loco Walrauen
patris sui. Godvinus fil. Brictric”).
For the rest, since we might search the old Saxon laws
in vain for any other certain traces of jurymen besides
these, and as special care must be taken not to confound
jurymen with cojurors, it becomes quite clear, first, that
those authors who conclude, from the above often-quoted
passages of Ethelred’s law, that the English jury is of
Anglo-Saxon origin, are in error; and secondly, that their
opponents have not taken a quite impartial view of the
matter when they ascribe the introduction of the jury into
England to the conquest by William of Normandy. For
it must now be regarded as a point quite decided that the
earliest positive traces of a jury in England appear
in the Danelag, among the Danes established there,
and that, long before William the Conqueror’s time, they
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had brought over from their old home the Scandinavian
Nævn, or jury, into the districts north-east of Watlinga-Stræt,
colonized by them, just as their kinsmen and brothers
introduced that powerful safeguard of popular freedom
into Iceland and Normandy. It would, indeed, have
been quite inexplicable that the Danes should have given
up their peculiar Scandinavian Nævn in a country like
England, where the Danish law obtained by degrees so extensive
a footing that, during the reign of the first Norman
kings, it was still in force in one-half of the kingdom.
The provisions in Ethelred’s law, so frequently cited,
respecting the force of the majority of votes in the verdict
of the jury, also betray a likeness, which can scarcely have
been accidental, to the regulations of the Nævn, or jury, at
that time observed in Denmark. According to the most
ancient Danish laws, the outvoted jurymen were also to pay
fines. For the rest, there is this peculiarity in the jury of
the Danish part of England, that from the time of Ethelred
it was no longer chosen by the complainant, as was originally
the case in Denmark, but by the court, or by the sheriff of
the district (“gerefa”); which was a considerable step
gained towards security against partiality. The choice of
jurymen was, besides, still more limited in England than
in Denmark. Instead of landed proprietors in general,
the twelve eldest Thanes alone were eligible; whence it
followed that the jurymen were not only fixed, but also obtained,
as a reward for their labour, a certain rank, with
the rights and income attached to it. This more aristocratical
form of the jury undoubtedly sprang from the circumstance
that the Danes had entered the northern and
eastern districts of England as lords and conquerors. They
could not, consequently, appoint as jurors native Anglo-Saxons,
unacquainted with the customs of the Danish law
courts; nor would they, assuredly, have permitted a conquered
people to take a part in verdicts affecting themselves
and their Scandinavian brethern. The consequence
was, that they chose from among themselves men of consideration,
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and acquainted with the law, to conduct the administration
of justice. It is very remarkable that a later
development of the law in Denmark produced a similar
change in the jury, the jurors not being chosen for a single
cause, but for a period. In Jutland even “Sandemænd,”
or jurors appointed by the crown, were instituted, who seem
to have answered to the before-mentioned Lag-men, or
Lahmen, in the north of England. Eight landed proprietors
were selected in every district by the king, and
discharged the office of jurymen for life, unless they forfeited
it by some misdemeanour.
Not the least trace is to be found in the old English
laws and chronicles that the Danish laws in force in the
Danelag were more barbarous than the contemporary Anglo-Saxon
ones in the south of England. On the contrary,
the fact lately mentioned, that the beneficial change in the
composition and working powers of the jury, which had
long been in force in Danish North England, was in far
later times adopted in Norman England, seems rather to
attest, in no slight degree, the superiority of the laws of
the Danelag. On the whole, the Danish kings in England,
and particularly Canute the Great, seem to have been
excellent lawgivers. Canute’s laws respecting the limitation
of capital punishment, the right of every man to hunt
on his own land, and others, evince a mildness and humanity
scarcely to be expected in those rude times.
From what has been said, it appears that the Danish
part of England must, in William the Conqueror’s time,
have had just as many old Danish popular institutions as
Normandy, nay, doubtless still more. It is, therefore, no
wonder that William and his Normans were highly partial
to the Danish laws then in force in England. Immediately
after he assumed the reins of government, he commanded
that these laws should be in force throughout the
kingdom, and consequently even in the purely Anglo-Saxon
districts, as both his own forefathers, and those of almost
all his barons, had been Northmen, who had formerly emigrated
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from Norway. But in an assembly held at London
in the fourth year of his reign, he suffered himself to be
persuaded, by the urgent entreaties of the leading men
among the Anglo-Saxons, to restore the laws of Edward
the Confessor in the districts in which they had before prevailed.
Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxon laws gradually
gave place to the Scandinavian institutions in force in the
north of England. Thus duel, under the name of “trial
by battle,” came to be considered throughout England as
lawful proof in judicial suits; an evident result of the bold
and chivalrous spirit of the new Norman lords. This
kind of proof caused, however, much disturbance in England,
and at length, though tardily, grew out of use. It
was not formally abolished by law till the year 1818, after
a prosecutor had challenged his adversary to trial by battle;
a proceeding which even the legal tribunals were obliged
to acknowledge that the law, taken in its strictest sense,
fully authorised him in adopting. It is, however, remarkable
enough that the proof by duel, which in Scandinavia
itself was abolished on the introduction of Christianity,
should have maintained its ground for several centuries in
England, which had long been Christianized. We might
even say that down to the present times it has everywhere
left perceptible traces in Europe. For what are duels but
trials by battle, or sort of judgment of God? They were,
however, much disseminated by chivalry, in the development
of which the warlike Normans took so considerable a
part. The ancient holmgang was, as we have seen, called,
both in Normandy and England, “duel.”
The institution of the jury (“Nævninger,” or “Nævn”),
before mentioned as originally Scandinavian, was established
throughout England by the Normans in such a
manner that it has maintained its place to our times.
Under the first Norman kings we find traces of a more
general employment of the jury, which was previously
confined to the Danish part of England, where it continued
to exist after the conquest by William. When, in
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the following century, holmgang or trial by battle, began,
in spite of the limitations it had undergone, to become too
grievous in England, a law was published in 1164, that a
jury of twelve knights, chosen by four knights of the district,
should be substituted in its place. Thus at its first
general establishment in England the jury had much the
same form as it possessed in earlier times in the Danish
part of the kingdom. The provision that the jury should
be composed of knights soon fell to the ground. Subsequently,
after the ordeal by red-hot iron, or the judgment
of God, had been abolished (in the year 1219), it was
appointed, in the reign of Henry the Third, that the
accused, who might previously have liberated himself by
that ordeal, should submit his case to the decision of
twelve Nævninger, or jurymen. In this manner an influence
was secured to the jury in England, which has since
been continually increasing; trial by jury having become,
as it were, the central point of the judicial system in
that country. The English themselves, with just reason,
regard the jury as a wise and happy institution, which has
much contributed to develope the excellence of the national
character, and to maintain the free constitution of their
country. What is more, foreigners pass the same judgment
on it; and it especially deserves to be remembered,
that at the present moment, after the introduction of
popular freedom into the Scandinavian North, its people
are seeking to re-establish the native Nævn, or jury, which
formerly crossed the seas with the conquerors of England
and Normandy, and which has victoriously stood the trial
of centuries in those countries.
We have already seen it proved, from contemporary laws,
that the germ of at least one of England’s freest and most
important institutions was to be found, as early as the ninth
century, among the numerous Danes and Norwegians settled
in that country, to whose successors and kinsmen may be
justly ascribed the honour of further developing the institution
of trial by jury. In like manner contemporary
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chronicles bear witness that these Danish and Norwegian
settlements in many ways essentially contributed to promote
political liberty and the spirit of freedom. According
to that remarkable document, Domesday-Book, there
was, about twenty years after the Norman conquest, a
greater number of independent landed proprietors, if not,
in the strictest sense of the word, freeholders, in the
districts occupied by the Danes, and under the Danelag,
than in the other, or Anglo-Saxon, part of England. The
smaller Anglo-Saxon agriculturists were frequently serfs,
though, for the most part, perhaps, leaseholders, or holding
other subordinate situations; whilst the Danish settlers,
being conquerors, were mostly freemen, and, in general,
proprietors of the soil. Domesday-Book mentions, under
the name of “Sochmanni,” a numerous class of landowners,
or peasants, in the Danish districts north-east of
Watlinga-Stræt, who, to the south of that line, and even
then only just upon the borders of it, are rarely to be
found, (viz., in Buckinghamshire, 19, and in Surrey, 9).
It also mentions a great number of freemen in those
districts, or, as they are called in Latin, “liberi homines.”
Neither Sochmanni nor liberi homines seem, however, to
have been freeholders, in the present sense of that term.
They certainly stood in a sort of feudal relation to a
superior lord; but in such a manner that the “Sochmanni”
may be best compared with our present hereditary lessees.
Their farms passed by inheritance to their sons, they paying
certain rents, and performing certain feudal duties;
but the feudal lord had no power to dispose of the property
as he pleased.
The counties occupied by the Danes and Norwegians,
viz., Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland,
and Lancashire, are not mentioned in Domesday-Book.
In the other fifteen counties to the north and east
of Watlinga-Stræt, the “Sochmanni” and “liberi homines”
are summed up as follows (see Turner’s “History of the
Anglo-Saxons”):—
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.ta l:12 c:10 r:6
Essex |Sochmanni | 343
|liberi homines | 306
Suffolk |Sochmanni | 1,014
|liberi homines | 8,012
Norfolk |Sochmanni | 5,521
|liberi homines | 4,981
Cambridge |Sochmanni | 245
Hertford | " | 57
Bedford | " | 88
Northampton | " | 915
Huntingdon | " | 23
Rutland | " | 2
Leicester | " | 1,716
Derby | " | 127
Nottingham | " | 1,565
Lincoln | " | 11,322
Yorkshire | " | 438
Cheshire, drenches | " | 54
| | ——————
| Total| 36,729
| | ——————
.ta-
The so-called “freemen” (liberi homines), who, it may
be assumed, most resembled our freeholders, seem from
this to have been principally confined to Essex (306) and
the ancient East Anglia, or Norfolk and Suffolk (together,
12,993). “Sochmanni” were also very numerous in these
three counties (together, 6878); yet they appear in the
greatest numbers in the old Danish Lincolnshire, which
alone had 11,322. In the other districts round the Danish
five burghs, they were also pretty numerous: in Leicestershire,
1716; and in Nottinghamshire, 1565. The number
of these independent landowners was consequently greatest
in the districts earliest occupied by the Danes, where they
naturally sprung up from the Danish chiefs’ parcelling out
the soil to their victorious warriors. That the large county
of York had not more than about 440 Sochmanni can
hardly be used by way of counter-proof; partly because
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Yorkshire had been terribly exhausted in the wars of William
the Conqueror, which took place before Domesday-Book
was compiled; and partly because it is clear that
Yorkshire is not so fully described in that document as the
more southern counties. Lastly, it is remarkable that
extremely few serfs are mentioned in the districts north-east
of Watlinga-Stræt, in comparison of the many that are
recorded in the south and south-west of England.
English authors admit that the Danish settlers in England
bestowed a great benefit on the country, in a political
point of view, by the introduction of a numerous class of
independent peasantry, who formed a striking contrast to
the oppressed Anglo-Saxon commonalty. (“The Danes
seem to have planted in the colonies they occupied a
numerous race of freemen, and their counties seem to have
been well peopled.”—Turner.) But unfortunately the number
of Danish-Norwegian freeholders and freemen at that
time in England cannot now be given more closely than by
the above sum of 36,729, which is evidently too low, and
in every respect highly inaccurate.
It is, however, large enough to strengthen and throw
light upon the statements of the chronicles, that the
descendants of the Danes and Norwegians in the country
to the north-east of Watlinga-Stræt, especially distinguished
themselves by a lively feeling of freedom and independence.
From the time of their very first settlement,
they desperately resisted every chief who attempted
to deprive them of their rights as free and independent
men. It was, indeed, but reasonable that they should,
with persevering boldness, defend in a foreign land that
freedom for the sake of which they had abandoned their
Scandinavian homes. Their severest and most perilous
struggle for liberty naturally took place after the destruction
of the Danish power under Hardicanute (1042): although
the extensive Danish tract north of the Humber still retained
its Danish jarl, Siward.
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But on Siward’s death (1055), his son, Valthjof (Waltheof),
was too young to govern that important district,
which was therefore made over to Toste Godvinsön, who
afterwards fell at Stamford Bridge. Toste ruled with
despotic power, set aside the laws of Canute the Great, and
levied taxes which were contrary to the people’s ancient
rights. The Northumbrians therefore deposed him at a
Thing, and expelled him in 1064. When Toste’s brother,
Harald, afterwards endeavoured to effect a reconciliation,
on the condition that Toste should be reinstated in the
earldom, the Northumbrians unanimously rejected the
proposal. “We were born and bred up in freedom,” they
exclaimed; “a proud and ambitious chief we will not endure,
for we have learnt from our fathers either to live like
freemen or to die.”
When, two years afterwards, William began to conquer
England, and to parcel it out among his warriors, it was
chiefly the inhabitants of the old Danish districts who opposed
him with all the energy of despair. The successors
of the Danes and Norwegians, under ordinary circumstances,
would have joined their kinsmen the Normans;
especially as they gave out that one of their objects in
coming to England was to avenge their Danish and Norwegian
relatives, secretly massacred by Ethelred. But
the Normans aimed at nothing less than the abolition of
the free tenure of estates, and the complete establishment
of a feudal constitution; a mode of proceeding which, by
depriving the previously independent man of his right to
house and land, and transferring it to powerful nobles,
shook the very foundation of freedom. The descendants
of the Danes turned from them, therefore, with disgust,
and now no longer hesitated to enter into an alliance with
the equally oppressed Anglo-Saxons; for the common
danger made both races forget their ancient animosities.
Many of the Anglo-Saxon chiefs and warriors who had
been defeated by William in the west and south-west of
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England, fled towards the north, and prepared, in conjunction
with the inhabitants of that district, to venture everything
in self-defence.
It was not till the year 1068 that the Normans succeeded,
after a severe contest, in taking Oxford, Warwick,
and the old Danish burghs Leicester, Derby, Nottingham,
Lincoln, and York. In these places, but especially in Lincoln
and York, the Normans were obliged to build strong
fortifications, for fear of the people of Scandinavian descent,
who abounded both in the towns and in the adjacent rural
districts. But what the Normans chiefly apprehended
was, attacks from the Danes who, there was good reason to
suppose, might come over with their fleets to the assistance
of their countrymen in the north of England.
Meantime, whilst the remains of the united Anglo-Saxon
and Danish-Norwegian armies had withdrawn to
the mountains of Northumberland, where they often surprised
and killed whole detachments of Norman troops,
numerous fugitives and messengers repaired to King Svend
in Denmark, to implore him, in the name of his English
friends, and in that of freedom, to assist them against William
the Conqueror. Svend sent his brother Asbjörn,
and his sons Harald and Canute, over with a fleet, who,
after a vain attempt to land at Sandwich, entered the
Humber, in the year 1069. The Northumbrians, and the
rest of the aggrieved inhabitants, both Northmen and
Anglo-Saxons, flocked gladly together under the Danish
banner. Edgar, who had been chosen king by the Anglo-Saxons,
Valthjof (Waltheof), a son of the old Northumbrian
jarl Siward, and many other fugitives, joined the
Danish host. York was taken, the Normans put to flight,
and their fortifications levelled with the ground. In these
encounters Waltheof gained great honour for courage and
bravery.
But the joy of victory was only of short duration. William,
who had sworn in his anger to lay all Northumberland
waste, knew how to avert by persuasion, cunning, and
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bribery, the danger that threatened him from Denmark.
The Danish fleet went home in the spring; and William
retook York, and extended his dominion in Northumberland;
where his progress was marked by slaughter, incendiarism,
and rapine. The unfortunate inhabitants fled to
the forests and morasses; their last place of refuge was
the marshes near the Wash. Moved by the cries of complaint
which continually reached him from England, the
Danish king Svend again sent a number of vessels, which
appeared in the Humber in the year 1074. But these
were not able to render any effectual assistance. Waltheof,
whom William, in order to conciliate the Northumbrians,
had appointed Jarl in his father’s earldom, fell under the
axe of the executioner on suspicion of being concerned in
this naval expedition; and fresh devastations promoted
William’s dominion over Northumberland, which was so
terribly harassed that large districts were left without
houses or human inhabitants.
The forests of the north of England now became the
last refuge of numberless outlaws, who would not submit
to the ferocious conqueror, preferring a free and merry life
in the green woods; where they united together, and defied
William’s powerful armies and severe laws. They had
secret connections among the people, who saw in them the
last defenders of their ancient freedom. Among the leaders
of these outlaws, who, long after William’s time, continued
to wander about in the English forests, but who were most
numerous in the north of England, we meet with Scandinavian
names, such as Sweyn, and Sihtrik; and in the
legends and songs which have preserved the remembrance
of them, are found Scandinavian traits of character, such as
the story of William of Cloudesley, who shot the apple
from his son’s head. It is the identical legend related in
our old Sagas of the Scandinavian hero, Palnatoke.
The last gleam of any well-founded hope of deliverance
shone upon the successors of the Anglo-Saxons and Danish-Norwegians
in the north of England, when, in the year
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1085, the Danish king Canute, afterwards called the Saint,
assembled a powerful fleet in the Liimfjord, in order to
release England from the Conqueror’s yoke, and if possible
to seat himself on the throne. Sixty Norwegian vessels
had joined Canute’s fleet. William, on his side, made great
preparations in order to resist the expected attack. Danegelt
was again collected for the defence of the kingdom
against the Danes. The inhabitants of Scandinavian descent
in the north of England were compelled to alter their
dress, and to cut off their long beards, that the Danes
might not thereby recognise their kinsmen. The coasts
were occupied by soldiers, who erected strong defences;
whilst William at the same time endeavoured, by means of
secret envoys and bribery, to sow disunion in the Danish
fleet. Canute’s progress was impeded by unfortunate circumstances;
the fleet separated, and a mutiny broke out,
which ended in the murder of Canute at Odensee, in the
year 1086. No further attempt was made by Denmark to
conquer England; for the expedition said to have been
prepared by King Erik Lam in the year 1138 was, at all
events, a very poor and unsuccessful one. Thus the Northmen
in England, being no longer able to obtain support
from Denmark or Norway, were forced to submit to the
Norman dominion.
Nevertheless, in spite of the terrible devastations by
which William coerced the north of England, “the half-Saxon
half-Danish population of these districts” (says
the French historian, Thierry) “long continued to preserve
their old feeling of independence and their ancient indomitable
pride. The Norman kings who succeeded the
Conqueror dwelt with perfect safety in the southern districts,
but did not venture north of the Humber without
some fear; and a chronicler, who lived at the close of the
twelfth century, assures us that they never visited that
part of the kingdom without being accompanied by a
strong army.”
Although no very great number of Northmen, or men
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of Scandinavian extraction, could have remained in Normandy
after William’s conquest of England, and after the
Norman expeditions into Italy, yet even these few, as we
have before stated, were subsequently able to impart to the
popular spirit in Normandy a peculiar Scandinavian
colouring. The Norman knights distinguished themselves
from the effeminate, dreaming, and excitable knights of
the south of France, not only by a greater inclination for
adventures and a bolder martial spirit, but also by a
genuine Scandinavian sedateness and an all-subduing perseverance.
The old Scandinavian feeling of freedom
revealed itself, even in the middle ages, in the cities of
Normandy, which were long the seats of a democratic
spirit and of republican movements. According to William
the Conqueror’s own statement, the ancient Normans,
and, above all, their Scandinavian forefathers, were, in a
high degree, quarrelsome and litigious; and, even to this
day, Normandy is remarkable, above all other provinces of
France, for the great number of law-suits which annually
take place in it. Frenchmen themselves have remarked
that their most skilful and persevering seamen are to be
found among the inhabitants of Dieppe, and that the
most celebrated admirals of France have been natives of
Normandy.
If such was the influence of the Normans in France,
were not the Danes and Norwegians, who had been settled
for centuries in England, in a still better position to fix a
lasting stamp upon the life and character of the people;
more particularly as the Danish-Norwegian elements continued,
long after the Norman conquest, to exercise a very
considerable influence in England? We may truly assert
that the Scandinavian spirit is still clearly to be discerned,
not merely in separate districts, but throughout England.
The love of the English for bold adventures, especially at
sea, their unshaken calmness in the greatest dangers, their
apparent coolness during the most violent emotions, and
their proud feeling of freedom, are surely not to be ascribed
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exclusively to the Normans. These qualities must, in
a great degree, be attributed to the English, as the
descendants of those Danish and Norwegian warriors who
sought dangers on unknown seas; who looked death
steadily in the face, come in whatever shape it might;
who gloried in the feeling that their countenances should
not betray the passions which fermented in their breasts;
and who prized liberty far more than life.
It deserves at least to be mentioned, as affording a
remarkable analogy to Normandy, that England’s most
celebrated and successful admiral, Nelson, bore a genuine
Scandinavian name (Nielsen, with the characteristic
Scandinavian termination of son, or sön). He was, besides,
a native of one of the districts early colonized by the
Danes, having been born in the town of Burnham-thorpe,
in Norfolk, or East Anglia. In fact, the perceptible difference
of character still actually found between the people
in old Saxon South England and in the more northern old
Danish districts, is very remarkable. The southern Englishman
is softer and more compliant. The northern
Englishman is of a firmness of character, bordering on the
hard and severe, and possesses an unusually strong feeling
of freedom. The Yorkshireman is well known in England
as a hasty and touchy, but determined and independent,
character. Great political movements have therefore not
only found reception and encouragement among the population
of the north of England; but this population, from the
interest it takes in the progress of public affairs, and from its
love of freedom, has played a leading part in the great internal
revolutions which mark the recent political history of
England. Public men regard it as a great honour to
represent the northern districts of England in Parliament
(for instance, the West Riding of Yorkshire), merely from
the intelligent political character of the voters; and it is
certainly through the adherence of the lovers of freedom
in the north, that Cobden has been able to struggle so
successfully for the promotion of free trade, for financial
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reform, and for similar liberal measures. That this spirit
of liberty in the north of England is chiefly derived from
the old Scandinavian colonists is by no means merely the
partial assertion of a Dane. The celebrated English
writer, Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, who, in his “Harold,” has
successfully begun to awaken the attention of his countrymen
to a juster view of the Danish conquest, says in a
note appended to that work: “It might be easy to show,
were this the place, that though the Anglo-Saxons never
lost their love of liberty, yet that the victories which
gradually regained liberty from the gripe of the Anglo-Norman
kings were achieved by the Anglo-Norman aristocracy.
And even to this day, the few rare descendants of
that race (whatever their political faction) will generally
exhibit that impatience of despotic influence, and that
disdain of corruption, which characterize the homely
bonders of Norway, in whom we may still recognise the
sturdy likeness of our fathers; while it is also remarkable
that the modern inhabitants of those portions of the
kingdom originally peopled by the Danes, are, irrespectively
of mere party divisions, noted for their intolerance of all
oppression, and their resolute independence of character;
to wit, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Cumberland, and large districts
in the Scottish lowlands.”
It would be impossible to deny that the Danes and
Norwegians settled in England before the arrival of the
Normans not only essentially contributed to the preservation
of popular liberty—which, through the weakness and
effeminacy of the Anglo-Saxons, was threatened with
destruction—but that they also laid the foundation of its
further development, and powerfully contributed to its
complete establishment. We need, therefore, be no longer
surprised that memorials of the Danes are mixed up with
England’s freest and most liberal institutions; and that to
the present day, for instance, the place whence the candidates
for a seat in Parliament address the electors, bears,
throughout England, the pure Danish name “husting.”
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.hr 15%
.h3 id=daneseng-s14
Section XIV.
.ce 2
General View.—Anglo-Saxon and Danish-Norman England.—Sympathies
for Denmark.—The Dane in England.
The various kinds of Danish and Danish-Norwegian
memorials which I have alluded to, such as names of
places, coins, and peculiarities of language (not to mention
contemporary letters-patent and laws), afford so many
incontrovertible proofs that the Danish influence in England
was neither of short duration, nor, on the whole, of a
transient nature. Future and more successful investigations
and comparisons, more particularly in England itself,
will undoubtedly much extend the circle of known Danish
memorials existing there. So much, however, is already
placed beyond all doubt, that in no country out of the
present homes of the Scandinavian race have its colonists
left such various, such considerable, and such clear traces
of their existence, as the Danes, especially, have left in
England. The Scandinavian spirit has not ruled with so
much power in any other, still less in any greater, European
kingdom; nor been able to retain so powerful a
dominion for such a length of time.
The Danes, and their successors the Normans, did not
content themselves with the temporary overthrow of the
Anglo-Saxon dominion; they annihilated it for ever. In
this the Danes may be said to have been more active than
the Normans. They not only gradually settled themselves
under their own laws and their own chiefs, in half of
England, but spread themselves over the whole of it.
In the time of Alfred the Great, they once held all England
in subjection; and at an early period obtained places
amongst the highest ecclesiastical and secular aristocracy
of the country. In the tenth century, the Anglo-Saxon
king Edgar favoured the Danes so much, that during his
reign the Danish power had an opportunity to consolidate
and extend itself. Even the Anglo-Saxon royal family
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became mixed with Danish blood. Among the Anglo-Saxons,
both high and low, weakness and proneness to
vice went on continually increasing; whilst the Danish
dominion, prepared by two centuries of independent Viking
expeditions, and by the subsequent settlements of the
Northmen, established itself completely, as soon as the
sea kings and wandering Vikings were succeeded by
Danish monarchs with considerable fleets at their command.
All England yielded to the conqueror Canute, and under
his wise, powerful, and just administration, enjoyed that
tranquillity and happiness of which it had long felt the
want. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes now became more
amalgamated. But Canute’s sons wanted their father’s
ability and strength of purpose. The old dissensions and
quarrels broke out afresh; whilst violent internal disturbances
in the newly Christianized Scandinavian North,
where the Viking spirit became extinguished, deprived the
Danes in England of the succour necessary in their contests
with the natives. The Danish power in England
fell, but left the population completely mixed and saturated
with Danish elements. The Anglo-Saxon royal race,
as it was called, was now half Danish. The higher clergy
and nobility were connected by the closest ties of relationship
with the Danes and their chiefs, in whose hands
several of the most important fiefs remained. The Danes
had acquired considerable influence in many of the largest
cities; and in about half of England the majority of the
population was of Danish extraction, and possessed Danish
laws and other Danish characteristics. The Danes who,
naturally enough, could not forget that they had been
absolute masters in that conquered land, obeyed unwillingly
a king of another race, though they had not the
power to place one of their own race upon the throne.
The unmixed Saxon population, on the other hand, could
not endure that the royal sceptre should continue to be
borne, in the once independent country of their forefathers,
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by foreign conquerors from Denmark, whose power, besides,
seemed at that time on the wane. Inward dissensions
increased; the kings were too feeble to maintain
efficiently their difficult position; and the power falling
more and more out of the hands of the degenerate Anglo-Saxons,
passed over to the stronger Danes and their
Norman kinsmen.
With an unmixed population, England would have been
able to maintain herself united and powerful in the hour
of danger, and when threatened by foreign conquerors.
But split and divided as she now was among different
races contending for the mastery, real unanimity was
impossible; and, in case of a powerful attack from without,
dissolution was inevitable. Through the Danish expeditions,
the Danish colonizations, and finally through the
fall of the Danish supremacy, it became practicable for
William of Normandy to conquer England with an army
of only 60,000 men. Had not those events prepared the
way, it would be inconceivable that with such a force a
foreign conqueror should have been able to subdue a
country so extensive, so well peopled, and so favoured by
nature; still less that he should have succeeded in retaining
such a conquest for any length of time. William won
the battle of Hastings, which decided the fate of England,
only because Harald Godvinsön’s Anglo-Saxon army
entered the field weakened and exhausted by the sanguinary
battle of Stamford Bridge. This was fought against
the Norwegian king, Harald Haardraade, and the discontented
Scandinavians in the north of England, who
wanted to re-establish a king of their own race on the
English throne.
The Danish-Norwegian settlements, and the Danish
dominion in England, by subduing for a time the political
power of the Anglo-Saxons, had not only prepared the way
for the first victory of the Normans, but also for the future
progress and establishment of the Norman power in England,
and especially for the ultimate triumph of the
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Norman popular spirit over the remains of the ancient
Saxon nationality. The Danes, by expelling the Anglo-Saxons
from the northern and eastern parts of England,
as well as by mixing with them in the south, had by degrees
undermined their national independence and their popular
characteristics, and had thus prepared an entrance for the
Scandinavian spirit, which was so nearly allied to the
Norman, into a great, if not the greater, portion of the
English population. The bold and chivalrous spirit of the
Norman aristocracy, their love of daring adventures, and
their lofty feeling of freedom, completely agreed with the
characteristics of the Scandinavians settled in England at
an earlier period. The Normans found among the Scandinavian
population of England, and particularly the Danish
portion of it, several of those free institutions already in
full force which they themselves, with much advantage to
liberty, afterwards extended to the whole country.
Thus the conquest of England by Danish Normans,
undoubtedly prepared, or, more properly speaking, was the
indispensable and necessary foundation of the subsequent
French-Norman conquest; and it may therefore be justly
called the first act of that great historical drama, “The
Norman Conquest,” of which William of Normandy’s conquest
is only the concluding act.
But many will undoubtedly ask, was the Norman conquest,
on the whole, beneficial to England? Would it not
have been better had the Anglo-Saxon nationality been
permitted to develope itself, instead of being arrested by
such violent devastations and by such bloodshed as the
Danish-Norman expeditions occasioned? And is it not a
proof of the nobleness of the Anglo-Saxon nationality, that
it has since prevailed so preponderantly in England?
On this point let us hear a learned and impartial Englishman.
The latest and most celebrated Anglo-Saxon
historian, Mr. Kemble, says, in his preface to the before-mentioned
Collection of Anglo-Saxon Diplomas:—“With
the close of the fourth volume of this work we arrive at the
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reign of Harald, and the Norman conquest of England;
an event which our contemporary forefathers could only
regard as deplorable, but which we must look back upon
with gratitude and pride, as the remote origin of our own
peculiar character and power. It is hardly possible to compare
the signatures to the charters contained respectively
in this and in the previous volumes, without seeing how
widely a foreign element had become predominant. The
Scandinavians of Ingwar, Guðorm, Swegen, and Cnut, successively
prepared the way for the descendants of other
Scandinavians under William; and the Saxon national
character, like the national dynasty, was too weak to offer
a successful resistance. Defeated, yet still holding a portion
of its domain with unabated perseverance, yielding
somewhat in one place, to break out with unshaken obstinacy
at another, it accommodated itself partially to the
peculiar habits of each successive invader; till, after the
closing scene of the great drama commenced at Hastings,
it ceased to exist as a national character, and the beaten,
ruined, and demoralized Anglo-Saxon, found himself
launched in a new career of honour, and rising into all the
might and dignity of an Englishman. Let us reflect that
defeats upon the Thames and Avon were probably necessary
preliminaries to victories upon the Sutlej.”
The weakness and degeneracy of the Anglo-Saxon
national character contained the seeds of its decay. It has
long since been agreed that, in an historical view, we
ought not to complain that the degenerate, though highly-civilized,
Romans in Britain were compelled to make way
for the rude Anglo-Saxons, since the latter brought with
them the germ of a new and higher development. In like
manner we can hardly regret that the degenerate, but to a
certain degree civilized, Anglo-Saxons, were in turn expelled
by the more powerful, but ruder Danes; since these
also were to prepare, and lay the foundation of a new and
more flourishing state of society. Under the reign of
Ethelred the Second, the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxons had
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already passed away. As a people, they sank entirely, and
left only a part of their civilization and of their institutions
to their successors in dominion, the Danes and Normans.
The transition took place amidst the same shocks
and the same bloodshed which still mark every important
and radical revolution in the history of nations. The
Danish-Norman, or perhaps more properly, the Scandinavian
national character, usurped the place of the Anglo-Saxon.
It was certainly built upon the foundation laid by
the Anglo-Saxons, but it must be observed that it has made
greater progress in all respects. To it especially is owing
the development in England of a maritime skill before
unknown, of a bold and manly spirit of enterprise, and of
a political liberty, which, by preserving a balance between
the freedom of the nobles and of the rest of the people,
has long ensured to England a powerful and comparatively
peaceful and fortunate existence.
The Englishman is justly proud of his native land, of
its internal freedom, and external greatness. But when
he extols his country in respect only of its being “Anglo-Saxon,”
or praises the merits of the Anglo-Saxons and
Norman-French, whilst he unconditionally condemns the
Danish expeditions and settlements, as having been merely
devastating and destructive, he commits both an historical
error and an evident injustice. The Anglo-Saxons performed
their share in the civilization of England, and the
Norman-French did still more; but it ought not to be forgotten—and
least of all by Englishmen, who are so nearly
related to the Danes—that the latter also very essentially
contributed to win freedom and greatness for England, and
that this freedom, and this greatness, are in no slight
degree sealed with Danish blood. From at least the
Danish-Normanic conquest (about the year 1000), the
Danish-Normanic, or Scandinavian, national character has
been the prevailing and leading one in England’s history,
and so it certainly continues to be at the present day.
A perceptible and very remarkable evidence of this is
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the sympathy which the English people in general feel for
the North, the ancient home of their fathers, and particularly
for Denmark. The Englishman himself will generally
aver, with a sort of pride, that he derives his descent
from the North. A Dane travelling in England will everywhere
find an unusually cordial reception. He will in
general be regarded more as a countryman than as a
foreigner, merely because he is a Dane. He will discover
that the English, instead of having forgotten their kinsmen
beyond the sea, with whom they were formerly united, feel
themselves attracted to them by the ties of blood and
friendship. He will continually hear complaints of the
deplorable attitude which the policy of England assumed
with regard to Denmark at the commencement of the
present century; and he will adopt the conviction that in
this mistaken policy, the people themselves, at least, were
not to blame. He will at times be induced to forget that
he is at a distance from his native land and from his
nearest relatives; for the highly-striking agreement between
the character of the English and that of their Scandinavian
kinsmen causes a Dane to imagine that he is
still among his own friends, in the home which he has long
since left. It was certainly also something more than mere
accident that, during the last war in Denmark, the Danish
cause nowhere, out of the North itself, awakened such
general sympathy among the people, nor found so many
bold champions, both in speeches and publications, as in
England. May we not in these facts trace the effects of
near relationship, and perceive the ties of blood?
It should not pass altogether unnoticed that the sympathies
of the English for Denmark, and their fraternal feeling
towards the Danish people, have increased in proportion
as they have been obliged to acknowledge that the
Danes of modern times still know how to defend their
independence, liberty, and honour, with the bravery inherited
from their forefathers. Not to speak of the last
contest, so glorious for Denmark, it is particularly the
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battle in Copenhagen Roads, the 2nd of April, 1801, which
has maintained in England the ancient fame of Danish
valour. The English regard this action not only as one
of Nelson’s greatest triumphs, but as one of their most
glorious naval battles, particularly on account of the
sturdy resistance which they encountered. On Nelson’s
monument in Westminster Abbey, on which his most
glorious battles are recorded, that of Copenhagen is named
first. Nelson himself describes the action as the bloodiest
and most desperate he had ever beheld. That he is correct
in this respect, and that he has not extolled the bravery of
our nation merely to enhance his own, we Danes, at least,
cannot doubt, since we cannot even admit that the battle
must be unconditionally regarded as lost by us.
For the rest, it is remarkable how frequently the English
confound the battle in Copenhagen Roads in 1801 with
the carrying off of our fleet in 1807, and place these two
entirely distinct events under one and the same head.
The English historians have endeavoured gradually to
conceal the dishonour attaching to the robbery of our fleet
in 1807; and this has even been carried to such an extent,
that the rising generation but too often reckons that ignominious
act amongst Nelson’s triumphs. They imagine
that the surrender of our fleet was the result of the battle
in the Roads; and yet Nelson had fallen two years before,
at the battle of Trafalgar, in 1805. Fortunately for his
honour, he was thus spared from partaking in the robbery
of the fleet of a nearly-related people, with whom England
was at peace.
But this is not the only error which the Dane must
correct when he hears in England the name of Nelson
extolled at the expense of Denmark and of historical
truth. Yet he will find it difficult to refute another
similar mistake, namely, a firm belief in Nelson’s “complete
victory” in the battle of 1801. It is just as unshaken
an article of faith among the British people that Nelson
then gained a brilliant victory, as it is an acknowledged
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certainty, founded on fact, that at all events the battle was
neither won by the English nor lost by the Danes. Nay
it is certain that almost the whole of Nelson’s fleet would
have been destroyed, or taken, if the Crown Prince of Denmark—for
fear of engaging in a lengthened war with England,
and from other purely political reasons, as well as,
it must also be observed, at Nelson’s own request—had not
put a stop to the battle. Curiously enough, in two of the
finest poems which the English and Danish people can
produce, Campbell’s “Battle of the Baltic,” and Hertz’s
“Slaget paa Rheden,” the combat is represented in each
as honourable to the respective nations.
Not long since, a Dane in England was led into a warm
argument respecting the disputed result of this battle;
when the master of the house suddenly recollected that
an old invalid, who looked after the boats on the canals in
the garden, had served under Nelson. He called out to
him that “here was a Dane, and that he had certainly
seen that sort of folks before.” “Yes, master,” answered
the honest tar, “but on that day the Danes made it much
hotter than we liked.”
This terminated the dispute. The time, however, in
the order of Nature, cannot be far distant when the Dane
in England may look in vain for such support from men
who were present at the battle. He must then be contented
to state his opinion, without the least hope of its
carrying any weight; though he can, at all events, console
himself with the reflection that, when the conversation turns
on the mutual relations between England and Denmark,
the latter may point to conquests of a very different,
as well as far more important and altogether undisputed
kind.
In the long series of brilliant victories, won not only by
the Danish sword, but by the Danish national character
in England, and which, by the conquest of that country,
essentially contributed to found there a greatness and a
power before unknown, the Danish people possess memorials
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so proud and brilliant, that they may be reckoned
among the most beautiful ornaments in that glorious wreath
which from time immemorial encircles the Danish name.
We may safely leave them by the side of the best and most
imposing memorials of most other nations.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=norscot
THE | NORWEGIANS IN SCOTLAND.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s01
Section I.
.ce 2
Nature of Scotland.—The Highlands and Lowlands.—Population.—Original
Inhabitants.
None of the seas of Europe are so rough and stormy as
that which washes its northern and north-western coasts.
Even in Jutland the effects of the cold north-west wind
which sweeps down from the icy sea between Norway, Iceland,
and Scotland, are severely felt. Along its west coast,
for a distance of several miles inland, there are no woods,
but only low stunted oak bushes, which in many places
scarcely rise above the tall heather. Still farther eastward,
and even in Funen and Zealand, which the north-west
wind does not reach till it has passed over considerable
tracts of land, it has such an influence on the woods, that
in their western outskirts the trees are bent, and as it were
scorched or blighted at the top. The North Sea, whose
surges, breaking on the coast of Jutland, are heard even
in calm weather far in the interior, rises to a fearful height
during a storm. It would long since have washed over
Jutland, and perhaps the whole of Denmark, if Nature had
not placed sand-banks or shoals along the coast, as a sort
of bulwark, against which the highest waves break harmlessly.
The North Sea is, however, an enclosed one, and little
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more than a bay of the Atlantic. Its swell is not so great,
nor its storms so violent, as those of the open sea beyond,
towards the north and west; where the Atlantic breaks on
one side against Greenland and North America, and on the
other against Norway, Scotland, and Ireland. The sand-banks
and shoals which form a sufficient defence for Jutland
against the North Sea, would there scarcely be able
to resist the open and agitated ocean. On the extreme
north-western coasts of Europe, the Atlantic has completely
washed away the earth and sand; the bare cliffs,
which often rise to a considerable height, alone remain,
and still defy the fury of the waves. These rocky coasts,
with their numerous towering and ragged crags, with
their many and deeply-indented fiords, convey an idea
of the power and greatness of the sea as striking as it is
true. Everywhere outside lie rocky islands, which, like
outposts, stop the advancing waves, and only allow them,
if with increased speed, yet with diminished power, to approach
the land through narrow channels, or sounds.
During violent storms some of the islands are flooded by
the sea, which, as it rolls forwards, strives to overtop the
cliffs; whence it glides back, again to repeat the same vain
attempt. The firm, rocky, isle-bound coasts of Norway,
Scotland, and Ireland, are evidently for Europe what the
sand-banks and shoals of Jutland are for Denmark.
It is natural, therefore, that those countries which in the
north-westernmost part of Europe lie farthest out towards
the Atlantic Ocean—such as the Scandinavian Peninsula,
Scotland, Ireland, and part of England—should have their
highest and wildest mountains and cliffs towards the west,
and in the neighbourhood of the sea. This is more clearly
seen the farther we proceed northwards: namely, in the
Scandinavian Peninsula and in Scotland.
In Norway the rocks often rise almost perpendicularly
out of the sea. In the neighbourhood of the coast they
reach a considerable height, and then sink gradually towards
the east, until they lose themselves in the broad and
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comparatively low valleys of Sweden. Whole rows of
islands lie scattered along the west coast of Norway, round
which the sea often whirls in impetuous eddies. On the
coast itself, where the land is most exposed to the bleak
sea winds, such extensive forests are not to be seen as in
the interior of the country; nor do any fertilizing streams
wind their way through the short and narrow valleys. It
is only here and there that the water from the rocky springs
or melted snows, leaps, after a short course, over the edge
of the cliff into the open sea, or into the deep fiords with
which the coasts are everywhere indented. The greatest
rivers in Norway take a more eastern course, and often
make their way from the Norwegian highlands through the
richly-wooded lowlands of Sweden to the Baltic. In
Sweden the coasts are neither so steep nor so indented as
in Norway. The waves of the enclosed and comparatively
quiet Baltic do not require to be resisted like those of the
Atlantic Ocean.
Very similar features are found in Scotland. The whole
of the northern and western coast lying towards the Atlantic
is wild and rocky, with numerous islands, deep firths,
and steep shores; behind which, rock towers upon rock, as
if to form an impenetrable barrier against the sea. The
country is almost without forests, the streams and the valleys
are of small extent, and fertility consequently very limited.
But by degrees the rocks sink down towards the south-east
and east, till they terminate in the broad, well-watered,
and fertile coast districts along the North Sea; which, on
account of their inconsiderable elevation, are called the
Lowlands of Scotland. Thus the Highlands answer very
nearly to Norway, and the Lowlands to Sweden. But as the
Scandinavian Peninsula is larger than Scotland, so also are
its natural features on the whole on a grander scale. The
rocks of Norway are mountains of primitive granite, which
in some places rise to a height of 8000 feet, and of which
large ranges are covered with eternal snow and ice. Scotland,
on the contrary, has transition rocks, whose highest
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peak, Ben Nevis, which is only somewhat more than 4300
feet above the sea, is not even always covered with snow.
Nor can the Scottish Lowlands be compared as to extent
to the Swedish valleys, with their immense forests and
their large rivers and lakes. Nevertheless the natural
features of Scotland are in their way no less beautiful than
those of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The sea, which indents
the coasts on all sides; the well-cultivated, and partly
also well-wooded plains, which, particularly towards the
mountain districts, undulate in hill and dale; and lastly the
Highland itself, with its many streams, waterfalls, firths,
and lakes, afford the richest and most magnificent variety.
To these features may be added a milder climate, and in the
Lowlands a far richer fertility, than in Norway and Sweden;
which have considerably contributed to give the landscapes
of Scotland, even in the wildest districts of the Highlands,
a somewhat softer tinge than is found in the high Scandinavian
North.
A very marked difference exists between the Scottish
Highlands and Lowlands, not only with regard to the nature
of the country, but also to the original descent and the
characteristics of the present population. The Lowlands,
which are the seat of a highly-developed agricultural, domestic,
and manufacturing industry, are inhabited by a
strong and laborious people, speaking a peculiar dialect of
the English language, and descended partly from the Celtic
Scots, but more particularly from immigrant Anglo-Saxons,
Danes, Norwegians, Normans, and Flemings. Commerce
and trade, carried on by means of canals, railways, steamships,
and similar easy means of communication, thrive
vigorously in large and wealthy cities.
The Highlands, on the contrary, which only a century
ago were almost inaccessible from the land side, have
scarcely a large town. Rocks and heaths are found instead
of the fruitful fields of the Lowlands. With the exception
of a few districts farthest towards the north-east, where the
soil is more fertile, there are only seen in the valleys,
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along the firths, and by the sea, small fields of barley and
oats, which would not yield the most scanty subsistence to
the poor inhabitants if the rocks did not afford pasture
for cattle and numerous flocks of sheep; and if the sea,
the firths, which abound with fish, as well as the rivers and
lakes, did not contribute some part of their riches. The
hardy Highland Scots, a great part of whom do not understand,
or at all events do not speak English, but still commonly
use the Celtic or Gaelic tongue, live here thinly
scattered in poor and low peat cabins, which it is often difficult
to distinguish from the surrounding rocks. The
Highlanders in the districts farthest towards the west and
north have preserved their language and other national
characteristics purest; for farther towards the Lowlands, a
more modern civilization has gradually forced its way forwards,
in spite of the mountains. The old warlike dress
which formerly distinguished the Highlander, particularly
so long as clanship was in full vigour, has, since the annihilation
of that system, become every day more rare. The
kilt, or short skirt, has almost entirely given place to more
modern clothing; the tartan plaid alone is still seen
wrapped in the old fashion round the shoulders of the
Highlander.
In our days the various tribes of the Highland and
Lowland populations live in peaceful union under one and
the same government. But during several centuries
Scotland was the theatre of the most sanguinary contests
between the Celtic Highlanders and the Teutonic Lowlanders.
The former, who were animated with an inveterate
hatred of the Lowlanders, continually made hostile incursions
into the Lowlands, and, after burning and ravaging
the country, retired with cattle and other booty to
their mountains, whither they knew well the Lowlanders
durst not follow them. The exasperation and hatred of
the Highlanders were not entirely without foundation.
In ancient times they had been sole masters in Scotland,
from the Cheviot Hills to the Orkneys and the Shetland
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Isles, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea; and
they had retained this mastery even long after their kinsmen,
the Britons in England, had been compelled to yield
to the Romans and Anglo-Saxons.
The celebrated Roman commander, Agricola, had, it is
true, in the first century after the birth of Christ, made
his way so far into the Lowlands that, as a defence against
the Highlanders—the much-dreaded Caledonians, or Picts—he
constructed a wall with a deep ditch before it, from
the Firth of Forth to that of Clyde, in the low tract
through which the Glasgow Canal has since been conducted.
The Romans even extended their conquests farther
northwards, as far as Burghead on the Moray Firth,
to which place they formed regular high roads. But they
were not able to defend themselves against the persevering
attacks of the Caledonians, or Picts, and were soon obliged
to retreat to the south of the Cheviot Hills; where the
great wall, with its many towers and deep ditches, which
they had built from the Solway Firth to the River Tyne,
became their chief defence against the harassing inroads of
the Highland warriors. But this wall also was surmounted
by the Picts, whose courage and daring increased in proportion
as the power of the Romans, both at home and
abroad, was rapidly waning. At last the Picts destroyed
the wall, and after the fall of the Roman dominion, made
incursions into England, where neither the descendants of
the Romans, nor the Britons, found any means to repel
them. It was not till the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England
that the Picts were again compelled to fly towards
the north over the Cheviot Hills, where they found sufficient
employment in defending their own homes.
For, whilst they were spreading themselves over the
rich plains of the north of England, a foreign, though
nearly related, Celtic people, the Scots from Ireland, had
taken possession of their south-western frontier districts.
Hence they spread themselves to such a degree over the
Lowlands that both these and the Highlands, though the
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latter were almost entirely independent of the Scottish
sovereigns, were called by one name, Scotland. After
many battles the older Pictish inhabitants were, about the
year 900, entirely amalgamated with the Scots in the
Lowlands. Meanwhile a storm had gathered which
threatened no less danger to the Scots in the Lowlands,
than to their kinsmen, the Picts, in the Highlands. The
dominion of the Celts, which had long before ceased in
other and more accessible lands, was no longer to find a
sure place of refuge even in Scotland, though its coasts
were protected by the stormy Northern Sea, and its interior
filled with rocks and warlike men.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s02
Section II.
.ce 2
The Anglo-Saxons.—The Danes and Norwegians.—Effects of their
Expeditions.
The same want of unity and the same internal disputes
which had brought ruin on the Celts in other places, prepared
the way for foreign conquerors in Scotland. An
indomitable fate decreed that the newer and higher civilization
of Christianity should here, as in the rest of
Europe, be founded and promoted by a Teutonic people.
But though the Anglo-Saxons had conquered almost all
England, they were not able, by their own power, to
subdue the Celts in Scotland. The Anglo-Saxon kings
undertook, indeed, several expeditions against that country,
in which they were at times pretty successful; but they
were not able to hold steady possession even of the Lowlands.
Subsequently, however, the Anglo-Saxons wandered
by degrees, and in a more peaceful manner, from
the northernmost parts of England over the Scottish
border, and established themselves both in the towns and
in the rural districts. The number of these emigrants
appears to have increased very considerably after the conquests
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of the Danes and Norwegians in the midland and
northern districts of England in the ninth and tenth centuries,
when a great part of the Anglo-Saxons were driven
from their old dwellings, and obliged to fly towards the
north. Saxon institutions may even have been introduced
into the Lowlands in the tenth and eleventh centuries,
after an expedition of the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar.
But the rocky highlands of the interior constantly defied
all conquest; and the northern and western coasts, together
with the surrounding islands, could be subdued only
by considerable fleets, which the Anglo-Saxons did not
possess.
But what in this respect the Anglo-Saxons were obliged
to leave undone, was for the most part accomplished by
the warlike and shrewd men of the Scandinavian North,
who were then masters of the sea. Even from the oldest
times, connections, both of a warlike and peaceful nature,
had existed between Scotland and the opposite shores of
Scandinavia. The old Sagas, for instance, bear witness
that the Danish king Frode’s daughter, Ulfhilde, was
married to “the founder of the Scottish kingdom;” and
that the Danish prince Amleth (Hamlet) married the
Scotch queen, Hermuntrude. From Denmark, moreover,
and particularly from Jutland, many colonists afterwards
emigrated to the Scotch Lowlands, whose coasts were,
besides, plundered by the Danish Vikings.
The Danish colonists, even in the north of England,
were much mixed with Norwegians, and this was still more
the case in the Scottish Lowlands. The more north the
districts lay, the farther were they removed from Denmark,
and the nearer did they approach Norway; whilst the
features of the country much more resembled the Norwegian
fiords, valleys, and rocks. Whilst, therefore, the
Scandinavian colonists in the Lowlands were of Norwegian-Danish
descent, the Highlands and islands farthest towards
the north and west, were conquered, and in part peopled,
by Norwegians only. This happened about the same time
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as the Danish conquests and settlements in England. The
Norwegians founded kingdoms on the northern and western
coasts of Scotland, which existed for centuries after the destruction
of the Danish power in England. They introduced
their own manners, customs, and laws, and gave Norwegian
names to the places colonized by them. They appear not
unfrequently to have married native Celts; at least it is
often stated that Norwegian chiefs married daughters of
the Celtic, or Pictish, and Scotch aristocracy, whose pure
nationality and power were thus gradually broken
down. The unfortunate Celts were now in a painful
position. The Celtic Scots in the Lowlands were pressed
upon by the Anglo-Saxons and Northmen, whilst the
Pictish Highlanders were assailed both from the Lowlands
and from the Norwegian kingdoms in the west and north.
The most essential result of the Norwegian conquests and
settlements in the Scotch Highlands was, that the Northmen,
in conjunction with the Norwegian-Danish colonists
in the Lowlands, and with the Anglo-Saxons who dwelt
there, overthrew the Celtic dominion, and, like the Danes
in England, prepared the way for the eventual triumph of
the Norman spirit and Norman institutions. In the
Lowlands this took place in the twelfth century, but much
later in the Highlands and surrounding islands.
As a close union was thus effected between the long-separated
Highlands and Lowlands, and a higher and more
widely-diffused civilization introduced among the people
in both, it may justly be asserted that the Norwegian conquests
in the Highlands, and the Norwegian-Danish settlements
in the Lowlands, were particularly fortunate for
Scotland. It must always, indeed, be a subject of regret
that so brave, and in many respects so noble, a people as
the Caledonians and their descendants, should be exterminated.
Who can observe without a feeling of sadness how
the last feeble remnants of Scotland’s ancient masters, after
having been expelled from the glorious Lowlands, cannot
even now find rest among the barren rocks, and in the few
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arable valleys of the Highlands, but are obliged, year
after year, in increasing numbers, to seek another home
farther west, in the new world beyond the Atlantic? But,
viewing the matter as it regards enlightenment and civilization,
no charge can be reasonably brought against the
Norwegians or Northmen, for having co-operated in Scotland
to expel a people whose brethern and kinsmen had in
every country which they occupied shown themselves incapable
of adopting the new and milder manners of
Christianity; and who, once before subdued by the Romans,
had been compelled to yield to the fresher and more
powerful Teutonic tribes of the Franks and Anglo-Saxon.
No small portion of the present population of Scotland,
both in the Lowlands and on the remotest coasts and isles
of the Highlands, is undoubtedly descended from the
Northmen, and particularly from the Norwegians. Both
the Norwegians and Danes, wherever they established
themselves, introduced their Scandinavian customs, and
preserved, in all circumstances, the fundamental traits of
their national character. It becomes, therefore, probable
that the Norwegian settlers in Scotland must, in certain
districts at least, have exercised a vast influence on the
development of the more modern life of the Scotch people,
and on their national character. This is indeed actually
and visibly the case. Yet, although the Norwegian kingdoms
on the coasts of Scotland subsisted long after the
downfall of the Danish power in England, still the effects
of the Norwegian conquests in Scotland were far from
being so great, or so universally felt there, as the results of
the Danish conquests were in England. The Norwegian
language was completely supplanted in the Hebrides by old
Celtic or Gaelic; and on the Shetland Isles, the Orkneys,
and the north coast of Scotland, by English. The Norwegian
laws and institutions either entirely disappeared
in these parts, or were formed anew after quite different
models. Not even in the purely Norwegian Orkneys and
Shetland Isles, though they remained united with Norway
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and Denmark until far in the fifteenth century, could the
inhabitants maintain the ancient freedom which they had
inherited from their forefathers. The free tenure of land,
or right of “Udal,” was, for the most part, annihilated by
the most shameful oppression. Established on many
small, poor, and widely-separated islands, the Norwegians
in Scotland could neither obtain such influence for their
laws and institutions, nor concert so united and powerful a
resistance against oppression, as their more fortunate
Danish kinsmen in the open, rich, and densely-peopled
plains of northern England.
In spite of the acknowledged fact that the Norwegians
were the most numerous of all the Scandinavian colonists
in Scotland, we constantly hear Norwegian achievements
and Norwegian memorials referred to “the Danes.”
Under this common appellation are also generally included,
as in England, Norwegians and Swedes. The causes of
this must probably be sought in the long dominion of
Denmark over Norway, in the brisker and more uninterrupted
communication which Scotland maintained with
Denmark, in comparison with any other part of the North,
and lastly, in the reciprocal marriages between the ancient
Scotch and Danish royal families, which in former times
contributed, in no small degree, to bind the Scotch and
Danish people together. But the preponderance of the
Danish name must also be attributed to the pre-eminent
power of the Danes in ancient times, and in the early
middle ages; and, of course, more particularly to that
supreme dominion which they had so gloriously won for
themselves in the neighbouring country—England.
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.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s03
Section III.
.ce 2
The Lowlands.—Population.—Language.—Norwegian-Danish
Names of Places.
The boundaries between Scotland and England were
anciently very unsettled. After the time of the Romans,
the Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings speedily extended their
dominion over the Cheviot Hills, and frequently to the
Firths of Clyde and Forth; whilst considerable tracts of
the north of England, particularly in the north-western
districts, were sometimes united with the Scotch Lowlands,
or with kingdoms which existed there. Until England
and Scotland were at length united under one crown, the
north of England was almost uninterruptedly the theatre
of the bitterest border warfare. The blood of many thousands
of bold warriors has been spilt on that land which
now teems with the blessings of wealth and peace.
Part of this old border land, or the most southern part
of the present Scotland, from the Cheviot Hills to the
narrow neck of land between the Firths of Clyde and Forth,—a
tract of about sixty English miles—has not a much
more mountainous character than the north of England.
The hills undulate in the same gentle forms; and it is
only here and there that a single rugged mountain shows
its heath-covered or bare and peaked top. Large and
well-cultivated plains alternate with charming valleys,
which are frequently narrow, and so fertile that in some
places creeping plants, bushes, and trees, almost entirely
conceal the rivulets that wind through them.
The Highlands extend themselves from the Firth of
Clyde to the north-west and north; whilst the Lowlands
take a direction from the Firth of Forth along the eastern
border of the Highlands, and by the coasts of the North
Sea. To the Firth of Tay, and northwards to the Grampian
Hills, the Lowlands are not very broad or extensive,
whilst the Highland mountains nearly approach the seashore.
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It is not till we have crossed the Grampian Hills
that those large level plains open upon us which comprehend
the north-easternmost part of Scotland, particularly
the present Aberdeenshire. From these less-wooded plains
we turn towards the north-west into the fertile and well-wooded
Moray; whence a transition again takes place to
the Highlands, which begin in the adjoining shire of
Inverness. At this extreme point the Lowlands have, as
it were, exhausted all their splendour and abundance.
Down towards the coast the land is filled with gently-sloping
hills, and intersected by rivers, whose rapid currents
remind one of the neighbourhood of the mountains. At
a distance from the coast the land rises, the tops of the
mountains become barer and sharper, the valleys have a
greater depth, and the roaring of the streams over fragments
of rock is heard more distinctly. The mountains,
as they rise from the Lowlands to the Highlands, afford in
a still higher degree than the more southern border mountains,
the most enchanting prospects over the coasts and
sea. It is with difficulty that the spectator tears himself
from the view of the charms of the Lowlands, to bury himself
in the dark mountains that rise so solemn and
menacing before him.
Throughout the Lowlands, the people, both in personal
appearance and character, very much resemble the inhabitants
of the north of England. This is particularly the
case with the inhabitants of the southern borders, between
the Cheviot Hills and the Firths of Clyde and Forth.
The same light-coloured hair and the same frame of body,
which, in the north of England, remind us of the people’s
descent from the Scandinavians, indicate here also considerable
immigrations of that people into the southern
part of Scotland, and thence farther up along the east
coast. According to a very common saying here, even the
language of the Lowlands is so much like that of Scandinavia,
that Lowland seamen wrecked on the coasts of Jutland
and Norway have been able to converse without difficulty
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in their mother tongue with the common people there.
This is undoubtedly a great exaggeration; but this much
is certain, that the popular language in the Lowlands contains
a still greater number of Scandinavian words and
phrases than even the dialect of the north of England.
We must not unhesitatingly believe that the Saxon language
did not extend itself from the north of England to
the Scotch Lowlands till after it had been mixed with
Danish; although the remote situation of the latter, so
high towards the north, was certainly far more adapted to
preserve the old Danish forms of words than that of north
England, which was more exposed to the operation of
newer fashions. But the Danish or Scandinavian elements
in the popular language of the Lowlands are too considerable
to admit of such a supposition, not to speak of the
Scandinavian appearance of the inhabitants. These
necessarily indicate Scandinavian immigrations; and, to
judge from the present popular language, we might be
easily tempted to believe that a far greater number of
Northmen had settled in the Scottish Lowlands than in
the middle and northern districts of England. We might,
consequently, also expect to meet with a proportionately
greater number of Scandinavian names of places in the
Lowlands than in England.
But this is very far from being the case. Extremely
few places with Scandinavian names are to be found in the
Scotch Lowlands; and even those few are confined, almost
without exception, to the old border land between the
Cheviot Hills and the Firths of Clyde and Forth, and to
the counties nearest the English border. Dumfriesshire,
lying directly north of Cumberland and the Solway Firth,
forms the central point of such places. Northumberland
and Durham, the two north-easternmost counties of England,
contain but a scanty number of them; and consequently
must have possessed, in early times at least, no
very numerous Scandinavian population. Cumberland, on
the contrary, was early remarkable for such a population;
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whence it will appear natural enough that the first Scandinavian
colonists in the Scotch border lands preferred
to settle in the neighbourhood of that county. On the
south-easternmost coast of Scotland, they would not only
have been separated from their countrymen in the north of
England by two intervening counties, but also divided by
a broad sea from their kinsmen in Denmark and Norway.
Such a situation would have been much more exposed and
dangerous for them than the opposite coast, where they
had in their neighbourhood the counties of Cumberland
and Westmoreland, inhabited by the Northmen, as well as
the Scandinavian colonies in Ireland and the Isle of
Man.
The Scandinavian population in Dumfriesshire evidently
appears to have emigrated from Cumberland over the
Liddle and Esk into the plains which spread themselves
westward of those rivers; at least the names of places
there have the very same character as in Cumberland.
Not only are the mountains called “fell” (Fjeld) and
“rigg” (Ryg), as is also the case in the other border
lands, but, what is more peculiar to Dumfriesshire, the
terminations of “thwaite,” “beck,” and “garth,” not to
mention “by,” or “bie,” are transplanted hither from
Cumberland: as, Thornythwaite, Twathwaites, Robiethwaite,
Murraythwaite, Helbeck, Greenbeck, Botchbeck,
Torbeck, Stonybeck, Waterbeck, Hartsgarth, Tundergarth,
Applegarth, Locherby, Alby, Middlebie, Dunnaby, Wysebie,
Perceby, Denbie, Newby, Milby, Warmanbie, Sorbie,
Canoby, and others.
These Scandinavian names of places are chiefly met with
between the rivers Esk and Nith. Various authors have
also endeavoured to show that the fishermen on the Nith
have to the present day characteristic and original Scandinavian
terms for their tackle and modes of fishing:—for
instance, “pocknet,” Icelandic pokanet; “leister,” or
“lister,” Icelandic ljóstr, Danish Lyster; “haaving,” Norwegian
haave, i.e., to draw small nets in the water, &c.,
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&c. Somewhat east of the river, and north of the town of
Dumfries, lies the parish of “Tinwald,” a name undoubtedly
identical with Thingvall, or Tingvold; which, as
the appropriate Scandinavian term for places where the
Thing was held, is found in other districts of the British
Isles colonized by the Northmen. And it was, indeed,
natural that the Scandinavian colonists in the south-east
of Scotland should fix their chief Thing place in the district
most peopled by them.
From Dumfriesshire the Scandinavian names of places
branch off as it were in an arch towards the west and east.
Some few appear at intervals towards the west, as in Kircudbright
(Begbie, Cogarth), in Wigton (Sorby, Killiness), in
Ayr (opposite little Cumbray, Crosby, Sterby, Bushby, and
Magby), and also in Lanark (Bushby, close to the south-west
of Glasgow). Towards the east, some few are met
with in Roxburgh, as, for instance, on the borders of Cumberland,
“Corby,” and “Stonegarthside,” and on the
frontier of Northumberland several in haugh (Höi, a hill)
and holm. But on the whole only a few in by are still to
be found on the borders between Berwick and Haddington
(such as Humbie, Blegbie, and Pockbie). Towards Glasgow
and Edinburgh the mountains are no longer called
“fell” and “rigg.” The Scandinavian names of places cease
entirely in these districts; and only the Scandinavian word
“fjörðr,” or Fjord, is heard here, as well as farther towards
the north in the names of fiords (or firths) namely: Firth
of Forth, Firth of Clyde, Firth of Tay, Moray Firth, and
Dornoch Firth.
In the Lowlands, the number of Scandinavian names of
places is quite insignificant when compared with the
original Celtic, or even with the Anglo-Saxon names.
Whence we may conclude that though a considerable immigration
of Northmen into the Lowlands undoubtedly
took place, it must have occurred under circumstances
which prevented them from being sufficiently powerful to
change the original names of places. We must, in particular,
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assume that the immigration took place much later
than the Danish conquests in England; and on the whole
we shall not be far from the truth in asserting, that as the
Danish conquests in England must have driven many
Anglo-Saxons into Scotland, so also the subsequent Norman
conquest must have compelled many Danes and Norwegians,
settled in the north of England, to cross the
Scottish border.
According to this view, most of the Scandinavian settlements
in the middle and northern parts of the Lowlands
are to be referred at the earliest to the close of the eleventh
century; and at so late a period an entire change of the
ancient names of places then existing there, could not, of
course, be effected.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s04
Section IV.
.ce 2
Traditions concerning “the Danes.”—The Southern and Northern
Lowlands.—Danish Memorials.—Burghead.
We cannot venture to conclude, from the few Scandinavian
names of places found in the Lowlands, that the immigrant
Scandinavian population was but inconsiderable; nor can
we presume to infer either the extent or the period of the
immigration from the numberless traditions respecting the
Danes preserved throughout that district. For, although
the Lowlands were far from being conquered by the Danes
and Norwegians so early as England was, still the number
of alleged Danish memorials, even of a remote age, is proportionately
as great in the former as in the latter country.
Tradition has gradually ascribed almost all the memorials
existing in the Lowlands which are of any importance to
“the Danes;” nay, even the learned have, down to the
present day, been too much inclined to recognise traces of
the bloody Danes in the much more ancient Pictish,
Roman, and Scottish monuments.
The traditions about the Danes have much the same
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character in the Lowlands as in England. They depict in
vivid and touching traits the misery of the people and of
the country under the repeated attacks of the wild sons of
the sea, whose arrival, departure, and whole conduct, were
as variable as the wind. When large bands of Vikings
had landed, and the Scots had assembled an army to oppose
them, it would sometimes happen that in the morning,
when all was ready for the attack, the foreign ravagers
were sought for in vain. In the darkness of the night they
had taken the opportunity secretly to re-embark, and
rumour soon announced to the army that the Vikings had
again landed in quite a different part of the country, where
they were spreading death and desolation. The Lowlander
tells with horror of the many innocent women and children,
not to speak of the numbers of brave men, who were
slaughtered; of the churches, convents, and towns, that
were destroyed by fire; and of the numerous herds of cattle
and flocks of sheep, which, together with valuables of all
sorts were carried off to the ships of the Vikings.
Although the Vikings are renowned in England for
drunkenness and other kinds of dissipation, yet in Scotland
tradition still more highly magnifies the inclination of the
Danes for intoxicating liquors, and particularly for ale. It
is also a general belief among the common people throughout
Scotland and Ireland that the Danes brewed their
strong ale from heather; a tradition which probably arose
from the circumstance that in ancient times the Northmen
spiced their ale with herbs; as, for instance, in Denmark
with Dutch myrtle, or sweet willow (Dan., Porse), which
grows in marshy heaths.
For the rest, there can be no doubt that the Scotch
stories about the drunkenness of the Danes were a good
deal multiplied in far later times, at the period, namely,
when the Princess Anne, a sister of Christian the Fourth,
was married to the Scotch king James the Sixth, or James
the First of England. Queen Anne was accompanied to
Scotland by several Danish noblemen, who introduced at
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court, and among its hangers-on, the same carousing and
revelling which at that time prevailed in far too high a
degree at the court of Denmark. Burns, in his poem of
“The Whistle,” celebrates an ebony whistle still preserved
in the family of Ferguson of Craigdarrock, which is said
to have originally belonged to one of Queen Anne’s Danish
courtiers.
This Dane, who, even among his own countrymen, had
the reputation of a great drinker, challenged the Scotch to
drink with him for a wager, and promised the whistle to
him who could drink him under the table. At the same
time he produced evidence to show that in all his many
drinking bouts at various northern courts in Russia and
Germany, he had never been vanquished. However, after
drinking three consecutive days and nights with Sir Robert
Lawrie of Maxwelton, the Dane fell under the table, and
Sir Robert gained the whistle. Sir Robert’s son afterwards
lost it again at a similar drinking bout with Walter Riddel
of Glenriddel, from whose descendants it passed in the
same way into the family which now possesses it.
But as a contrast to the many naturally exaggerated
tales about the excesses committed by the Danes both in
earlier and later times, it is refreshing to meet with romantic
traditions about Danish warriors, whose bravery and
comeliness could win the hearts of Scottish maidens, even
whilst the curses of the Scots were heaped on “the Danish
Vikings.” A Danish warrior had been carried off by the
Scots during an expedition into Morayshire, and imprisoned
in a strong tower, where a speedy death awaited him. But
the daughter of the lord of the castle, who had fallen in
love with him, and found a requital of her affection, opened
his prison door one night, and fled with him. When
morning came the lord of the castle set off in pursuit of
the fugitives, and overtook them on the banks of the river
Findhorn, which runs through Morayshire. The lovers,
who were both on one horse, attempted to swim the river;
but the jaded animal could not make head against the
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stream, and the fugitive couple found a watery grave in
the depths of the Findhorn. Near Dalsie, in Nairnshire,
is a small sequestered valley on the banks of the Findhorn,
inclosed by smooth sloping banks, overgrown with
weeping birches. In the midst of this charming spot is
seen a grave composed of stones heaped up, at one end of
which stands a tall monumental slab, ornamented with
carvings of a cross and other antique figures. This slab,
the people say, is a monument to the unfortunate lady.
There is nothing intrinsically improbable in this tradition,
since history testifies that the daughters of Scottish
kings married Norwegian-Danish kings; whilst they, or at
all events their countrymen, were making war in Scotland.
In the beginning of the tenth century, the Scotch king,
Constantine the Third, in conjunction with the more
northern Anglo-Saxons, beat the Danes, who had passed
over from Dublin under Reginald and Godfrey O’Ivar
(Godfred Ivarsön), in a great battle near the Clyde.
Although Constantine, during nearly the whole of his
reign, had to fight against Danish and Norwegian Vikings,
yet he gave his daughter in marriage to Anlaf, or Olaf,
king of the Danes in Dublin and Northumberland; nay,
he even fought with Olaf and his Danish-Norwegian army
against the Anglo-Saxons at the battle of Brunanborg.
Sigurd, Jarl of the Orkneys, was also married to a
daughter of the Scotch king, Malcolm the Second (1003-1033),
although he had made devastating incursions and
conquests in Malcolm’s lands.
The attacks of the Norwegians and Danes on the
Scottish Lowlands were so continuous that out of seven
monarchs who reigned over the Scots from 863 to 961, or
about a century, three are related to have fallen whilst
fighting against the Danes. These monarchs are, however,
said to have purchased decisive victories with their blood.
If we compare the unsuccessful expeditions of the Northmen
into the Scottish Lowlands with the great conquests
made by the Danes in England, we shall not wonder that
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the inhabitants of the former country relate with a sort of
pride the many victories of their forefathers over “the
Danes;” nor shall we be surprised that the popular traditions,
which point out the ancient battle fields, scarcely
admit even the possibility of the Danes having been
victorious.
In the southern and middle Lowlands (to the south of
the Grampian Hills) the Firths of Forth and Tay afforded
excellent landing places for the ancient Vikings. Many
battles, therefore, were fought in their neighbourhood. In
the vicinity of a rampart called “the Danes’ dyke,” in the
parish of Crail, close to Fifeness, and between the firths
just mentioned, the Scotch king Constantine, Kenneth’s
son, is said to have fallen in a battle against the Danes in
881. Forteviot, or Abernethy, the ancient capital of the
Picts, which the Vikings often tried to plunder, lay in the
innermost part of the Firth of Tay. The defence of this
place, by King Donald the Fourth, in 961, cost him his
life. Near Redgorton, in Perthshire, is a farm called
“Denmark;” close to which are to be seen remains of intrenchments,
besides tumuli, and monumental stones,
said to originate from a defeat suffered by the Danes at
this spot.
The most famous battle in these parts is, however, related
to have taken place on the northern shore of the mouth of
the Firth of Tay. In the reign of Malcolm the Second, after
the Danes had already made themselves masters of England,
the attacks of the Vikings began to assume a more
dangerous character. A number of them landed in the
Bay of Lunan, in Forfarshire, whence they plundered and
laid waste the country for many miles around. But to the
east of Dundee, near Barry, they encountered a Scotch
army, which defeated them, and compelled them to make
a retreat, during which they were again repeatedly beaten.
Even to the present day tradition points out a line of
Danish monuments extending from Barry to Aberlemno,
in the neighbourhood of which place the last battles were
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fought, and where human bones of a remarkable size are
said to have been often found in the tumuli. At Camuston,
not far from Barry, stands a stone cross called “Camus
Cross,” on which are carved various kneeling figures in an
attitude of prayer. According to the statements of the
common people the cross was erected in memory of the
Danish general Camus, who fell at this spot. At Kirkbuddo
were formerly seen the remains of a Danish camp
called “Norway dikes.” In the parish of Inverkeilor,
and near the farm called “Denmark,” traces of Danish
ramparts are also to be found; and at Aberlemno, Murphy,
and many other places, are seen sculptured monuments,
said to have been erected in commemoration of the
before-mentioned fortunate victories over the Danes.
It is of course by no means incredible that a great
battle may have been fought between the Scots and the
Scandinavian Vikings in this district, and at about the
time mentioned. But it is perfectly clear that most of the
Danish monuments before noticed have no connection
whatever with this frequently-mentioned battle. The
name Camus is not at all a Scandinavian one; and it is,
besides, not only certain that the village of Camuston was,
in more ancient times, called “Cambestowne,” but also
that there are several similar names of places in the Lowlands,
which are most correctly derived from the old
Celtic language. The sculptured monuments in question
have not, in fact, the least appearance of having been
erected after any battle. In a splendid work lately published
(P. Chalmers, “The Ancient Sculptured Monuments
of the County of Angus,” Edinburgh, 1848, folio),
are to be found correct delineations of a number of stones of
the same kind, which are spread over Perthshire, Forfarshire,
Kincardineshire, and Aberdeenshire; and still more
are to be met with along the coasts of the northern Lowlands
and north-eastern Highlands. One, near St. Vigean,
in Forfarshire, has an ancient Celtic inscription; but,
with this exception, no inscriptions are found upon them.
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They are usually ornamented on one side with a cross
and various fantastic scrolls and ornaments, and on the
other with biblical representations, such as Adam and
Eve at the tree of knowledge, Daniel in the lion’s den,
Samson with the jawbone of an ass, &c. Sometimes all sorts
of strange figures are found on them, such as crescents,
sceptres, mirrors, combs, and other articles; as well as
serpents, lions, elephants, horses, dogs, stags, elks,
sphinxes, &c. On some stones we find representations of
the chase, with huntsmen, hornblowers, stags, and hounds.
The carving is for the most part executed with much skill,
and the whole style of the work seems referrible to the tenth
or eleventh century. It is beyond all doubt that these
stones cannot be ascribed to the Danish or Norwegian
settlers, though several authors have asserted the contrary.
They are evidently Christian-Scotch monuments, and have
been erected with a very different aim from that ascribed
to them: some, probably, as boundary stones of landed
possessions and hunting-grounds; others as monumental
stones to deceased persons.
One of the Aberlemno stones—a rare exception to the
rest—which stands close by the church, represents on
one side a battle, in which both foot and horse are engaged,
and in which a bird attacks a man wearing a helmet, who
tries in vain to cover himself with his shield. (See the
annexed woodcut.) Above is seen a mirror, and one of
those inexplicable figures which appear so frequently on
stones of this kind. But in this there is the peculiarity,
that the figure intersected by the cross-bar with the
sceptres (?) at each end, is square, whilst in other instances
it is generally in the form of a crescent. On the back of
the stone is carved a cross covered with the finest scrolls
and ornaments, and surrounded by fantastic figures of
animals interlaced together. The height of the stone is
about six feet. This monument might possibly have been
erected after a victory; but it still remains uncertain,
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whether after a victory over the Danes. At all events,
the stone is Scotch, and not Scandinavian.
.if h
.il fn=i_212.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Aberlemno Stone
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Aberlemno Stone]
.if-
.if h
.il fn=i_213.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Aberlemno Stone: Reverse
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Aberlemno Stone: Reverse]
.if-
The case is much the same with most of the so-called
“Danish” forts, camps, stone circles, and bauta stones;
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which are in general of Pictish or Celtic origin. Had
they really been erected by the Danes and Norwegians,
those nations must evidently have held confirmed dominion
in these parts for a length of time; but it is well known
that, in the early period in which these monuments were
raised, they can be regarded as masters, in the south and
central Lowlands, only at very short and far-distant
intervals.
North of the Grampian Hills, and particularly in the
district of Moray (the “Mærhæfi” of the Sagas), the Norwegians
and the Danes, it is true, firmly established
themselves for a somewhat longer period of time. In the
beginning of the eleventh century, for instance, they
defeated the Scots in a great battle near Kinloss, took the
towns of Elgin and Nairn, whose garrisons they put to
the sword, and afterwards settled themselves on the sea coast.
But the kingdoms which they founded were
speedily destroyed without leaving any remarkable traces
behind them; so that, even in this district, we cannot
place implicit reliance upon the many different stories
about the Danish monuments. According to a common
and not improbable tradition, the district of Moray, and
the present Aberdeenshire, were the theatres on which
the last battles between the Danish Vikings and the Scots
were fought. Thus it is said that, in the reign of Malcolm
the Second, the Danes, after the battle of Kinloss,
suffered a great defeat at Mortlach in Banffshire, where
Malcolm, as a thank-offering to God, caused a convent to
be built. This, again, was partly the cause of Mortlach’s
becoming the seat of a bishop. Popular tradition states
that the Scottish leader vowed during the battle to add
to the church in Mortlach as much as the length of his
spear if he succeeded in driving away the Danes. An
ancient sculptured stone near the church is mentioned as
pointing out the Danish leader’s grave; and the skulls of
three Danish chiefs are still shown, built into the north
wall of the church, as a perpetual memorial. A similar
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tradition is preserved about the church of Gamrie, also in
Banffshire. The Earl of Buchan vowed, in the heat of
the battle, to build a church to St. John, to replace that
which the Danes had destroyed, if he gained the victory
over them. Three of the sacrilegious Danish chiefs, by
whose command the church had been desecrated, were
found upon the field of battle, and in a description of the
church lately published we read as follows:—“I have
seen their skulls grinning horrid and hollow in the wall
where they had been fixed, inside the church, directly east
of the pulpit, and where they have remained in their
prison house 800 years!”
It is further stated that, on account of the repeated
defeats which the Danes and Norwegians had suffered in
the Scotch Lowlands, King Svend Tvskjæg sent, in the
year 1012, his son Canute, who afterwards became king of
England, with a large fleet and army to the northern part
of the Lowlands. Canute landed on the coast of Buchan
(Aberdeenshire), near the Castle of Slaines, in the parish
of Cruden (or Crudane). Here a very fierce battle was
fought, which can scarcely have been favourable to the
Danes, since a treaty was afterwards concluded between
them and the Scotch, according to which the Danes were
to evacuate the fortress called “Burghead,” in Moray,
then occupied by them, as well as the rest of their possessions
in the kingdom of Scotland. According to the
same treaty the field of battle was to be consecrated by a
bishop as a burial-place for the Danes who had fallen on
it, and a chapel was to be built there in which masses
should be continually sung for their souls. In this neighbourhood
also there was certainly, at one time, a chapel
dedicated to the Norwegian saint, Olave; but the ruins of
this chapel, as well as the old churchyard, have since
been destroyed by quicksands. The wind, however, by
blowing away the sand, still brings, at times, the fragile
bones of the Danes to the light of day.
Straight out of the town of Forres, in Nairnshire, stands
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a stone nearly twenty feet high, on one side of which is
seen a large and handsome cross, and under it some indistinct
human figures. On the other side is carved a number
of horsemen and people on foot, evidently representing
an execution on a great scale; several bodies are seen, and
by the side of them the dissevered heads. The sculpture
is executed with the greatest care, and displays some very
tasteful ornaments, which, however, are now partly effaced
through the action of time on the soft stone. The pillar
is commonly called “Svenós stone,” and tradition relates
that it was erected to commemorate the treaty of peace
concluded between Svend Tveskjæg and King Malcolm,
and the expulsion of the Danes from the coasts of Moray.
But the sculptures at present existing on the stone do not
in the slightest degree represent anything of the kind.
The stone belongs to the same class of monuments as the
sculptured Scotch stones before described, which are so
numerous in the Lowlands, and in the north-eastern Highlands,
particularly Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, and Cromartyshire.
One of the few places in the Lowlands, which may with
reason be assumed to have preserved considerable traces of
the Danish expeditions, lies in the neighbourhood of the
towns of Forres and Elgin. It is a promontory which
projects in a north-western direction almost a mile into the
sea. Towards its head its steep craggy shores are from
eighty to a hundred feet high. This extreme point, which
incloses a small harbour, and which presents a level surface
on its top, where the fishing village of “Burghead”
is situated, was formerly separated from the main land by
three immense parallel ramparts, fifteen to twenty feet
high, with cross ramparts lying between, as well as deep
and broad ditches, of which there are still considerable
remains. That the Romans had a fortress here (said to
have been named “Ultima Ptoroton”) was clearly proved
several years ago, when a Roman well, which is still used,
was discovered cut in the rock. But for Vikings, like the
// 241.png
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Norwegians and Danes, this place afforded a still better
refuge than for the Romans. Towards the land side, which
is in some degree barren and uninhabited, they could
easily defend themselves; and from the sea, the Scots
could attack them only by entering the harbour, where the
well-equipped vessels of the Northmen of course prevented
their landing. In all probability, therefore, the Norwegians
and Danes still further fortified this important point,
and gave it, perhaps, its present name. Tradition, at
least, relates that the Danes, after taking Nairn, isolated
the town or fortress, and called it “Borgen” (the castle);
in which account it is very probable that the names of
Nairn and the neighbouring Burghead have been confounded.
The latter place gradually gained such importance
that it was the last stronghold the Danes possessed
in the Lowlands.
It is therefore clear that the Danes, or rather the Norwegians
and Danes, have scarcely a right to claim many of
the numberless monuments in the Lowlands which both
the learned and unlearned ascribe to them. In fact, the
whole eastern coast of Scotland, from the Cheviot Hills to
Moray Firth, is entirely destitute of characteristic and undoubted
Scandinavian monuments. It must, however, be
remembered, that the actual Scandinavian immigrations
into the Lowlands certainly took place after the Norman
conquest of England; or, at all events, at so late a period
that the Northmen could not remould the Scotch names
of places into Scandinavian forms. Nor is it strange that
the Scandinavian colonists in the Lowlands, who at the
close of the eleventh century had long been Christians,
and influenced by the civilization prevailing in England,
should neither have erected such monuments as stone
circles, bauta stones, cairns, and barrows, which presuppose
a state of heathenism among a people, nor have impressed
their characteristics generally on that district by
means of peculiar memorials. For at that time they played
a subordinate part there, and afterwards gradually became
// 242.png
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very much mixed with Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and subsequently
even with Normans.
The very circumstance, however, that so large a tract of
land as the Scottish Lowlands lay out of the path of the
Scandinavian conquerors during the ninth, tenth, and first
half of the eleventh centuries, was the cause not only that
the Danes were able to direct all their power with more
effect against England, but also that the Norwegians
could more easily subdue the Orkneys and the Shetland
Isles, the Hebrides, and various tracts in the northern and
western Highlands. In these districts much more perceptible
traces of the Norwegian settlers, and of the results
which they produced, are still preserved, than in the Lowlands
of the in general transient devastations of the
Danes and Norwegians.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s05
Section V.
.ce 2
The Orkneys and Shetland Isles—Natural
Features.—Population.—Oppression.
We might expect that the most northern isles of Scotland,
which lie exposed in a stormy sea, should possess the same
wild and mountainous character as the Faroe Isles and
Iceland. Such a belief gains strength when, for the first
time, in passing from Scotland, we obtain a view of the
southern Orkneys, especially the considerable mountain
heights of the Isle of Hay. Indeed Hay obtained its
name (originally “Haey,” or the high island) from the
old Northmen, on account of the mountains which distinguish
it from the rest of the Orkneys; for on sailing
farther northwards, past Hay and the adjacent South
Ronaldshay (formerly “Rögnvaldsey”), we soon discover
that the Orkneys are in general flat and sandy, although
with cliff-bound coasts. Their heath-covered hills scarce
deserve the name of mountains, though here and there
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called by the inhabitants “fjolds,” or Fjelde (mountain
rocks). The islands are destitute of wood, and exhibit
frequent ling moors and desert tracts of heath. But
there is also much, and by no means unfertile, cornland
to be found; and an improved system of agriculture
has made such advances, that the stranger is sometimes
surprised, in these distant isles, by the sight of luxuriant
fields of wheat.
The waves of the sea, and the powerful currents, have
intersected the Orkneys with innumerable winding bays,
or sounds. Besides Mainland, the chief island (first
called by the Norwegians “Hrossey,” and afterwards
“Meginland,” or the continent), the archipelago includes
a great number of islands of different sizes, which spread
themselves in a north-east direction from the north coast
of Scotland. The farthest of the Orkneys is Fairhill, or
Fair Isle (formerly “Friðarey”). It lies almost midway
between the Orkneys and the Shetland Islands, in the
midst of the rapid current now called Sumburg Roost, but
which the Norwegians in former times called Dynröst
(from “röst,” a maelstrom, or whirlpool); whence, again,
the most southern promontory of the Shetland Islands has
obtained the name of Dunrossness (Dynrasternes). The
Shetland archipelago (the old Northern “Hjaltland,”
“Hjatland,” or “Hetland”), like that of the Orkneys,
forms a long-extended line, but differs from it in consisting
principally of one large island, Mainland (“Meginland”),
surrounded by a great number of proportionately small and
insignificant ones.
The most southern point of Dunrossness, on Mainland,
forms the promontory of Sumburg Head (“Sunnbœjar-höfði”),
which, however, is of no very great height; indeed
the highest mountain in Shetland is only about
fifteen hundred feet above the sea. Although the Shetland
Islands, with regard to mountains, are not to be compared
with the Faroe Isles, still they exhibit a sort of transition
from the flatter Orkneys to the mountainous character of
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the Faroe group. Before the coasts of Shetland stand
many high and ragged rocks, called “stacks” (old Norsk,
“stackr”). The coasts themselves are steeper, and the
mountains larger than in the Orkneys. On the other hand,
however, the valleys are both longer and broader than the
mountain valleys of the Faroe Islands. Heath and moorland
abound, whilst the corn-fields are small, and the
corn harvest in general very uncertain and difficult to
gather. Fishing is the most important source of profit
for the inhabitants.
The Orkneys and the Shetland Isles were, as is well
known, completely colonized by Norwegians in the ninth
and tenth centuries. They were, however, known and inhabited
much earlier. It is possible that the Shetland
Islands were the “ultima Thule” spoken of by Roman
authors in the first centuries after Christ; but it is certain
that the Romans at that time knew the Orkneys by the
name of “Orcades:” whence it appears that the primitive
root Ork, in the later Norwegian name of the islands, is
very ancient, and probably of Celtic origin. Before the
arrival of the Norwegians, both the Orkneys and the
Shetland Islands seem to have been inhabited by the same
Pictish or Celtic race that was settled in the rest of Scotland.
Of these older inhabitants memorials still exist in
different kinds of antiquities of stone and bronze that are
dug out of the earth, as well as in numerous ruins of
castles, or Pictish towers, originally built of flag-stones
laid together, without any cement of loam or mortar.
There are also cairns and stone circles; the most prominent
amongst which are the “Stones of Stennis,” on each side
of Brogar Bridge, in Orkney. They are, like Stonehenge
and Abury circle in England, surrounded with ditches and
ramparts of earth; and, after Stonehenge, must be regarded
as amongst the largest stone circles in the British
Islands. The immense masses of erect stones are remarkable
evidences both of the strength and of the religious enthusiasm
of the old Celtic inhabitants; and it is no wonder that
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they made in ancient times such an impression on the Norwegians,
on their arrival at these islands, as to induce them
to call the promontory on which the largest circle stands
“Steinsnes” (Stones-naze) and the adjoining firth, “Steinsnesfjördr”
(Stones-naze Firth, now Loch of Stennis).
No sooner had the Scandinavian Vikings settled themselves,
in the ninth century, securely in these islands, than
they became a central point for the Northmen’s expeditions
not only to the British Islands, but also to Iceland and
Greenland. Thus when Floke Vilgerdesön, or “Ravnefloke,”
went on a voyage of discovery from Norway to Iceland,
he landed on Hjaltland, or Shetland, in a bay which
obtained from him the name of “Flokavágr.” This bay
must probably be sought on the east coast of Mainland,
about Cat Firth (Kattarfjörðr); for in its neighbourhood lay
the Loch of Girlsta (originally “Geirhildarstaðir”), which
is said to have obtained its name from the circumstance of
Floke’s daughter, Geirhilde, having been drowned in it
during her father’s short visit to the country. By degrees
the islands became the rendezvous of a great number of
discontented Norwegian emigrants, who, to avoid the new
order of things, had withdrawn themselves from their old
paternal home, and from this distant place of refuge continually
harassed the coasts of Norway.
This induced King Harald Haarfager to undertake an
expedition against the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles, as
well as against the Hebrides, on the west coast of Scotland;
all of which he succeeded in subjugating. He gave the
Orkneys and the Shetland Isles, as an earldom under the
crown of Norway, to Ragnvald Möre-Jarl’s family. This
family produced some great men, who extended their dominion
over large tracts in the adjacent kingdom of Scotland.
The islands continued, however, to be the resort of
many malcontent and fugitive Norwegians. The renowned
Ganger-Rolf, the founder of the royal Norman house, is
said to have dwelt a long time on them before he undertook
his expedition against Normandy. When King
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Erik Blodöxe, Harald Haarfager’s son, was driven with
his queen, the atrocious Gunhilde, from Norway, he fled to
Orkney, whence he carried devastation far and wide. Subsequently
he obtained a kingdom in Northumberland; but,
after his fall, his sons again sought the Orkneys; where
they remained till they succeeded in obtaining the kingly
power in Norway. Snorre Sturlesön states, that after the
fall of this dominion, Gunhilde again fled to Orkney,
where her daughter, Ragnhilde, had married a member of
the Earl’s family. Ragnhilde trod entirely in her mother’s
footsteps by occasioning dissension, and even murder, in
the family of the Earl. Somewhat later the Orkneys
were visited for a time by Kalf Arnesön, so well known in
the more ancient history of Norway, who, at the battle of
Stiklestad in 1030, was one of the chief leaders of the peasant
army against King Olaf, the saint. He came to the
Orkneys just in time to take part in a severely-contested
naval battle, fought in the year 1046, near Rödebjerg
(Rauðabjörg) in Pentland Firth, between the Jarls Thorfin
and Ragnvald Brusesön. Kalf supported Thorfin with
six long ships, and thus decided the victory in his favour.
The older history of the islands exhibits an almost uninterrupted
series of bloody combats between members of
the Norwegian Jarl’s family. This, however, did not prevent
them from making violent inroads on the coasts of
Scotland and Ireland. Long after the Vikings’ mode of
life had ceased in the Scandinavian North, it continued to
be preserved in these islands. This was not only owing
to their remote situation, opposite hostile coasts, and to
their characteristic independence, but also to the population
having inherited the old Viking spirit, and carefully
preserved the ancient Norwegian institutions. As long as
Norwegian jarls ruled, Norwegian laws, customs, and habits,
as well as the Norwegian language, were absolutely paramount
in the islands. The connections which the jarls
and other powerful leaders maintained with Scotch and
Irish chiefs, and which often resulted in intermarriages
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between their families, do not seem to have had much
effect on the Scandinavian national character of these
island colonists. It was not till the beginning of the
fourteenth century, when the male line of the old Norwegian
jarls had become extinct, and when the Scotch
Lord Saint Clair, who had married a daughter of Magnus,
the last jarl, had obtained possession of the earldom, that
the ancient liberties, customs, and manners of the inhabitants,
began to be seriously threatened; nor did it suffice to
protect the islands against the progress of Scottish influence,
that they continued to be under the supreme authority
of Norway. When, at length, the Danish-Norwegian
king, Christian the First, on the occasion of the marriage
between his daughter Margaret, and the Scotch king, James
the Third, in the year 1469, pledged to Scotland the
Orkneys and the Shetland Isles as part of Margaret’s
dowry, the last tie was severed that bound those countries
to their Scandinavian friends. The Scottish kings and
their successors, who also ascended the English throne,
acknowledged indeed the right of the Danish-Norwegian
kings to redeem the islands; but they continually found
subterfuges to prevent its being exercised. The lawful
claims of redemption, repeatedly urged by Denmark in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, were perfectly fruitless.
The islands were too important, and far too conveniently
situated with regard to Scotland, for Great Britain to give
them up, without being compelled by the last necessity.
The undoubted right of the Danish-Norwegian kings was
forced to give way to the superior power and political
influence of the British sovereigns.
The conduct observed towards the Norwegian population
of these islands after their union with Scotland was
quite as unjust as their separation from Norway and Denmark,
and assuredly far more revolting to all proper feeling.
A large part of the inhabitants had till then been in the
free possession of their lands as freeholders, or “udallers”
(Odelsmænd), and had likewise possessed their old Norwegian
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laws and privileges, which should of course have been
respected when the islands were pledged to Scotland. But
the Scotch nobles, who, partly as vassals, partly as royal
lessees, obtained the government of the islands, took care
to destroy all traces of the ancient liberties and Scandinavian
characteristics of the people. The resistance of the
islanders was fruitless. In the year 1530 they took up
arms under the command of their governor, Sir James
Sinclair, in order to oppose the appointment of a crown
vassal over the islands. The Earl of Caithness himself,
who had been dispatched against them, fell, with five
hundred of his men, in a sanguinary action near the
“Stones of Stennis.” But though the islanders thus
asserted their rights for a short period, the Scotch regents
soon afterwards succeeded in establishing crown-vassals
in the islands.
Among these vassals none has left behind him a more
despised or hated name than Earl Patrick Stuart, who
from 1595 to 1608, or about thirteen years, oppressed the
islands in the most shameful manner. He violently deprived
the holders of allodial farms of their right of possession,
and converted almost all the freeholders into leaseholders.
He arbitrarily changed the weights and measures,
so that the taxes and imposts became intolerable.
Law and justice were not to be procured, for the Earl’s
creatures everywhere occupied the judgment-seats. To
appeal to Scotland was no easy matter, as Lord Patrick’s
soldiers guarded all the ferries. In the Orkneys the Earl
compelled the people to build him a strong fortress at
Kirkwall, and in Shetland another at Scalloway; from
which places armed men ranged over the country, to
punish and overawe the malcontents. The ruins of these
castles form a still-existing memorial of “the wicked Earl
Patrick,” who, for his tyranny, was at length recalled to
Scotland, accused of high treason, and beheaded.
The Scottish kings, it is true, now promised the islanders
that they should have relief in their need, and that no vassal
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of the crown should be placed over them. But this promise
was not kept; and so far from the islanders again recovering
their lost freedom, the feudal system of England and
Scotland continued to take firmer root in the islands.
Oppression stalked on with regular and steady step until
it arrived at such a pitch that not only did the Norwegian
laws and liberties disappear, but the islands themselves,
with some few exceptions, became the private property
of a few individuals. The successors of the mighty
Vikings, descended from kings and jarls of Norway and
the North, who in winter dwelt as chiefs, or at least as
freemen, in roomy mansions, whilst in the summer they
gained glory and booty in their long ships, are now in
general obliged to content themselves with inhabiting
as leaseholders, or rather as annual tenants, a poor cottage
on a small piece of land, where, by hard labour, they are
able to gain, at best, a very frugal subsistence. Their
dwellings, particularly in Shetland, are of the most
wretched description. The walls are formed of small
unhewn stones, with turf and sea-weed thrust into the
interstices, and, instead of a chimney, the smoke escapes by
a hole in the roof. Within the house there are generally
sleeping-places in the thick stone wall; but men and cattle
live together in friendly harmony in the same apartment.
The fire burns freely on the floor, and envelopes all in a
dense smoke. If the people seek their living on the sea
by fishing, it is usually in boats belonging to the proprietor
of the estate, who consequently receives a large share of
their profits. The condition of the common people in the
Orkneys, and in the Shetland Isles, is certainly not at all
enviable, even in comparison with that of their Scandinavian
kinsmen on the poor and more remote Faroe Islands
and Iceland; although commerce is still limited and oppressed
there by a monopoly which was soon abolished in
the Orkneys and Shetland Isles after their separation from
the united Norwegian-Danish kingdoms. But in spite of
all their calamities, the inhabitants of the Faroe Isles and
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Iceland have for the most part preserved to our times that
freedom of landed property which they inherited from their
forefathers.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s06
Section VI.
.ce 2
Shetland.—The People.—Songs.—Sword-Dance.—Language.—Names
of Places.—Tingwall.—Burg of Mousa.—Tumuli.—Bauta Stones.[#]
.fs 85%
.fn #
Partly from S. Hibbert, P. A. Munch, and Chr. Plöyen.
.fn-
.fs 100%
If the present originally Norwegian population in the
Orkneys and Shetland Islands possessed, on the whole, any
strongly-marked Scandinavian characteristics, they would
naturally occur most in the islands farthest towards the
north. But the oppressions and political changes that
have occurred there have done their work so thoroughly,
that even the Shetlanders no longer bear in their character
and natural disposition any strongly-marked feature
of their Norwegian origin. The only ones remaining
are, perhaps, their love of the sea, and their skill in contending
with its dangers. Even their bodily frame has,
through many years of want and debasement, lost much of
its strength and nobleness. In the parish of Coningsburgh,
in Mainland, precisely where the largest and strongest-built
people are to be found, the Scandinavian population
are said to have kept themselves most free from mixture.
The inclination for disputes and fighting amongst the
people of Coningsburgh is well known in Shetland.
This trait is, at all events, more Scandinavian than moroseness
and want of hospitality to strangers, which are
almost unknown in the North, but which in the last century
were alleged to be vices of these same men of
Coningsburgh. It was said that they would not willingly
give a traveller a night’s lodging, and that directly at day-break
they awoke him, saying:—“Myrkin i livra; lurein
i liunga; timin i guestin i geungna;” that is, “It is dark
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in the smoke-hole, but it is light on the heath, and for the
guest it is now time to depart.” That this sentence,
which was written down in the year 1774, consists of old
Norwegian words, though in a corrupted form, is quite
evident.
The Shetlanders still retained, in the last century, many
of the customs of their Scandinavian forefathers. Thus
surnames were given both to sons and daughters, according
to the genuine Scandinavian custom, from the father’s
Christian name. The eldest son, for instance, of Magnus
Anderson was called Anders Magnuson, and all the other
sons had likewise the surname of Magnuson; whilst the
daughters, in like manner, were all called Magnus-daughter,
of course with different Christian names. Even the Norwegian
language is said to have been spoken at that time
by some few old persons in the most remote islands. The
traditions and songs handed down by their forefathers still
lived among the people, whose poets and poetical feeling
have been celebrated from the earliest times. It was customary
to revive the memory of former days by festal
assemblies, in which the youth of both sexes danced to
songs (“Visecks”) and ballads, as they did in ancient
times throughout the North, and as is still the custom in
the Faroe Isles. At Yule time (Christmas), which was the
chief festival, and the beginning of which was always announced
at daybreak by playing an ancient Norwegian
melody, called “the day-dawn” (Dan., Daggry), all kinds
of merriment took place. A favourite amusement was the
so-called sword-dance, the origin of which may be traced
with sufficient certainty to the times of the heathens.
The Vikings were frequently very dexterous in playing
with naked swords, throwing several at once into the air
without allowing them to fall to the ground. This practice
was easily converted into a dance, performed by several
men with drawn swords; and consisting of many windings
and figures calculated to develope a dexterous agility,
which, in those warlike times, must naturally have excited
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a lively interest among the spectators. Later in the middle
ages the sword-dance in the Shetland Isles lost by degrees
the wildness of its character, the number of dancers
being limited to seven, representing the Seven Champions
of Christendom, viz., St. James of Spain, St. Denis
of France, St. Anthony of Italy, St. David of Wales, St.
Patrick of Ireland, St. Andrew of Scotland, all under the
command of St. George of England, who both opened and
closed the dance by reciting some English verses appropriate
to the occasion.
All this, however, is now much changed. In the farthest
island towards the west, that of Papa stour (“Papey
stœrri,” the great Pap Island, in contradistinction to the
neighbouring Papa little, “Papey litla”), a last shadow of
the old warlike sword-dance is occasionally to be seen.
Instead, however, of being clothed in armour or shirts of
mail, the dancing knights have shirts of sackcloth; and,
in place of huge swords, they brandish straightened iron
hoops, stripped from some herring-cask. The old Norwegian
songs are no longer heard. Of the ancient Norwegian
popular language the only remains are partly a few
words, which, however, appear conspicuously in the English
dialect now used; and partly a peculiarly sharp pronunciation,
with a considerable rising and sinking of the
voice, not unlike the vulgar pronunciation in the Faroe
Isles. The old Norwegian words are particularly employed
for certain objects and implements which have been in use
from time immemorial.
Thus, for instance, the hole through which the smoke
escapes (Dan., Lyre) in the roof of houses covered with
flat turf (flaas) is sometimes still called by the name of
“livra” (in the Færoic language “ljowari”). The
high seat for the mistress of the house is called, in
remote districts, “hoy-saede” (Dan., Höisæde); her
“bysmer,” which serves her for weighing, exactly agrees,
both in name and nature, with the “Bismer” common in
the North. The hand-mill, which is fast disappearing, is
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called as in the Danish part of north England, “qvern.”
The turf-spade, called in the Faroe Isles “torvskjæri”
(Dan., Törveskjærer), is here named “tuysker.” The
land-tax also, according to Scandinavian fashion, is paid
in “merk” and “ure” (Mark and Öre). The outlying
fields are called “hogan,” “hagan” (Old Norsk, “hagi,”
an inclosed field). The deep-sea fishery (Dan., Hav)
is called “the haaf;” the fishing itself, “haaf-fishing”
(Dan., Havfiskerie); and the necessary lines, “tows” (Dan.,
Touge). To the present day the Shetlanders use, in these
fisheries, boats imported from Norway, which are peculiarly
suited, by their construction, for the high seas and rapid
currents on the coasts of Shetland. The dress worn by
the fishermen when out at sea bears a striking resemblance
to that of the Faroe men. The head is covered with a
cap knit in the form of a night-cap, and ornamented with
the most motley colours. They wear a coat of tanned
sheep-skin, reaching down to the knees, where it generally
meets a pair of huge and capacious skin boots, very carefully
sewed. On land the Shetlanders use only a simple
kind of shoe called “rivlins,” consisting of a square piece
of untanned cow-hide, covering little more than the sole
of the foot, and fastened with a fishing-line or a strip of
skin. The men of Faroe have similar shoes, called
“skegvar,” which, however, are far better made.
But what particularly reminds the Scandinavian traveller
in Shetland of finding himself in a country formerly altogether
Norwegian, is the names of places, all of which
bear the impress of their Norwegian origin. This remark
applies to the names of the islands themselves, as well as
to the names of towns, farms, promontories, and bays existing
in them. They, of course, resemble, in a great degree,
the old Scandinavian names of places farther south,
in Scotland and England. Thus, for instance, a fiord is
generally called “firth” (fjorðr); a creek “wick” (Dan.,
Vig); a holm, or small island, “holm;” a promontory, or
naze, “ness;” a valley, “daill,” or “dale.” But it is
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peculiar to these districts, that the forms of names of
places which occur most frequently in the old Danish part
of the north of England, namely, those ending in by,
thwaite, and thorpe, are extremely rare in Shetland, and in
the rest of the old Norwegian possessions in Scotland.
Of those in by, only a few instances are to be found; those
in thwaite are still more rare; and those in thorpe are not
to be met with at all. On the other hand, these districts
possess several Scandinavian names of places which are
also most frequently found in the old Norwegian colonies
in the north and west of Scotland, but which are perfectly
unknown in the old Danish part of the north of England.
For instance, a small bay (Dan., Vaag) is called “voe”
(vágr); whence, on Mainland, we find “West-voe,” “Aiths voe”
(the bay by the tongue of land), “Lax-voe” (Lax,
or Salmon-bay), “Selia-voe” (sildavágr, the “Silde Vaag,”
or herring-bay), “Hamna-voe” (hafnarvágr, the Havne
Vaag, or harbour bay), together with others. A still
smaller bay, navigable only by boats, is called “gjo,” or
“goe” (Old Norsk, gjá, an opening or cleft). For the rest,
many farms have names with such endings as seter (Old
Norsk, setr), ster and sta (Old Norsk,
staðr, a place); and also busta, buster, and
bister (contracted from “bolstaðr,”
a dwelling-place); whence, for instance, Kirkbuster (formerly
Kirkjubólstaðr); all of which names agree just as
well with those found in the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and the
mother-country, Norway, as the names of places in the
north of England ending in by, thwaite, and thorpe, agree
with those in the corresponding mother-country, Denmark.
Although the difference between the present traces of Danish
colonization in England, and of Norwegian in Scotland, is
not considerable, still it may be recognised in this manner.
In consequence of the remote situation of the Shetland
Isles, the names of places, in spite of all revolutions,
remain so much the same, that the old political and religious
institutions of the islands are visible, as it were,
through them. In the south part of Mainland lies the
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farm of Howff, where in ancient times there was certainly
a “Hof,” or house of God; and far northwards, near
Hillswick (formerly Hildiswik), is the promontory of Torness
(Þórsness), which probably once had a Hof for the
god Thor. Nor far from thence is the Lake Helgawater
(Helgavatn), or the holy water. Heathenism, however,
lasted but a short time in the islands. The Irish Christian
priests (Old N., “Paper”)—the memory of whom still
lives in the names of the islands Papa (Papey), as Papa
stour (great) and Papa little—seem to have worked indefatigably;
insomuch that the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvesön
was able, at the close of the tenth century, to introduce
Christianity throughout the islands. In place of the
old god-houses there speedily arose a number of chapels
or small churches, consecrated to different saints: viz., to
the Norwegian saints, St. Sunifva (the daughter of an
Irish king who suffered shipwreck in Norway), St. Olaf, as
well as, at a somewhat later time, to St. Magnus, the patron
saint of the Orkneys, after whom a great bay on the
north-west coast of Mainland is to the present day called
St. Magnus’ Bay. St. Magnus seems also to have been
the patron, or rather the chief saint, of Shetland; at least,
the principal church in Shetland is consecrated to him.
This church did not stand in Lerwick, the present chief
town in Shetland, which has risen far later in the south-eastern
part of Mainland, on the site of an old sea-side
town near Bressasound (formerly “Breiðeyjarsund”). It
lay about four miles to the north-west of Lerwick, in the
parish of Tingwall; where, as the name (Þingavöllr) denotes,
the chief Thing of the islands was held for centuries,
and where, in heathen times, the chief place of sacrifice
undoubtedly existed. The parish of Tingwall comprises
one of the prettiest and best-cultivated valleys in Shetland.
The old Thing place is still to be seen near the church, in
a small holm, or island, in a lake, connected with the land
by a row of large stepping stones. Secure against a
sudden attack, here sat, when the island was free, the
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“foude” (Dan., Foged), or magistrate, with his law-officers,
whilst the multitude of the common people stood round
about on the shores of the lake, and listened to what
passed. Popular tradition says that the church was at
that time a free place, or sanctuary, so that a person condemned
to death was entitled to a pardon, if he could
succeed in running from the holm over the stones, and
reaching the church without being killed by the people.
If this was really the case the commonalty must consequently
have had power to pardon a convicted person by
suffering him to escape into the church.
During the holding of the chief Thing, which in the
olden times was generally accompanied with great sacrificial
offerings, as well as with fairs and all sorts of merry-making,
a multitude of persons always assembled, and a
great many tents and booths were erected, both at the
Thing place itself and in the immediate vicinity. Hence
it undoubtedly arose that about three miles to the west
of Tingwall, near a bay of the sea, there was a collection
of Skaaler, or wooden booths; whence the present Scalloway
(Skálavágr) which, next to Lerwick, is the most important
trading place in the islands.
In Mainland alone there were at least seven lesser
Things, under the jurisdiction of the chief Thing in Tingwall.
The names of five of these are still preserved in
Sandsthing (Sandsþing), Aithsthing (Eiðsþing), Delting
(Dalaþing), Lunziesting (Lundeiðisþing), and Nesting
(Nesþing); but the two other names, which are known
from records, Rauðarþing—probably the most northern
parish, Northmavine—and Þveitaþing (the most southern
parish?), have disappeared. Special Things were, of course,
also held on the larger islands, such as Yell (“Jali”)
and Unst (“Aumstr,” “Örmst”); but it is certainly
very incorrect to infer, as many persons do, from some
stone circles near Baliasta, close by Unst, that the chief
Thing of the islands was held there in the most ancient
times of heathenism.
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These stone circles belong simply to low graves encircled
by stones, like those so frequently found in Norway,
and whose date is of the latest period of heathenism,
or what is called the iron age. Skeletons have been found
in several similar graves in Shetland; and at different
times urns containing burnt bones and ashes have also
been discovered, together with other distinct traces of
their having been burial-places. For the rest, barrows or
tumuli, bauta stones, runic inscriptions, and similar monuments
and antiquities of the heathen times, are by no
means frequently to be met with; the reason of which
must naturally be sought in the short duration of heathenism
in these islands. The remains of only a single insignificant
runic stone, and that of the Christian æra, have
been discovered near Crosskirk, in the north of Mainland.
The numerous round towers, or castles, of loose flag-stones
laid together, which are often built on islands in
lakes, and are called by many “Danish burghs,” are, as
before stated, of Pictish or Celtic origin. They have no
resemblance whatever to the old fortresses in the Scandinavian
North; whilst, on the other hand, buildings entirely
corresponding with them are to be found in the Celtic
Highlands of Scotland, and on the coasts of Ireland. The
most that can be said is that the Norwegians availed
themselves of these buildings after their conquests and
settlements in these districts. Thus the remains of a
tower are to be seen on a holm in Burra Firth (Borgarfjörðr,
or Borgfjord, i.e. Castle fiord), in the west of Mainland,
which may have been inhabited in the beginning of
the twelfth century by the chief Thorbjörn, whom the
Earls Magnus and Hakon attacked and killed in “Borgarfjörðr.”
The ground plan of the ruin (after Hibbert)
shows how the chambers were disposed in the thick stone
wall.
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.if h
.il fn=i_234.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Tower: Burra Firth
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Tower: Burra Firth]
.if-
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,
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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.
.if h
.il fn=i_235.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Tower: Mousa
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Tower: Mousa]
.if-
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.if h
.il fn=i_236.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Tower: Mousa - Interior
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Tower: Mousa - Interior]
.if-
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
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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.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s07
Section VII
.ce 2
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
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
// 270.png
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// 271.png
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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.”
.if h
.il fn=i_246.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church]
.if-
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.
That zealous and skilful archæologist, Sir Henry Dryden,
Bart., of Canons Ashby, to whom I am indebted for the
original of the following ground plan, likewise did me the
favour to give me, among several large drawings, a very
excellent, but here very reduced, section of that part of the
choir which is certainly known to have been built by Kol
and Ragnvald. The section is taken from the middle of
the nave, and represents a part of the northern side walls
nearest to one of the pillars of the tower. It enables us
to form an idea of the very considerable size of the church,
and of the importance of Kol’s and Ragnvald’s labours, as
well as readily to perceive in what style the church was
originally built. This style, which in England is called
the Norman, was indeed already somewhat obsolete in
more southern districts at the time when St. Magnus’
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// 273.png
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Church was built; but it was quite natural that, so far
northwards, it should be retained somewhat longer, especially
// 274.png
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as the architect was a native of the still more
northern country of Norway.
.if h
.il fn=i_248.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church - Floorplan
.il fn=i_249.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church - Interior
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church - Floorplan]
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] St. Magnus’ Church - Interior]
.if-
The next considerable portion of the cathedral which
might possibly have been built by Kol and Ragnvald, or at
least about their time, and which includes the transepts,
the two western pillars of the tower, and the six pillars
(three on each side) farther towards the west, has, indeed,
like the very oldest part, round arches. But in these, as
well as in the whole architecture, a much later style is
clearly visible. It is, as we have said, doubtful whether
this part of the church is also to be ascribed to Kol and
Ragnvald. “Supposing that it is (says Sir Henry Dryden,
in a letter accompanying the drawings), I explain the difference
of scale and workmanship thus. Ronald began a
church on a much smaller scale than the present St. Magnus.
He became short of money, alienated seignorial
rights in Orkney, got plenty of money, and went on with
the church on a larger scale, and with better workmen
than before. But (adds Sir Henry), though I spent
eighteen weeks at the building, and have thought over the
thing many times, I cannot make out the history of the
building to my own satisfaction. There is no doubt that
there is a great deal of copying in it; i. e., of building at
one time in the style of an earlier one. In Scotland the
semicircular arch is used in all styles, down to the year
1600.” In the additions made to St. Magnus’ Church to
the east and west, in the sixteenth century, round arches
are also found between the chief pillars.
In the winter of 1263-1264 the body of the Norwegian
king Hakon Hakonsön was deposited in the cathedral;
and somewhat more than twenty years afterwards the Norwegian
princess Margaret (the maid of Norway), daughter
of King Erik, the priest-hater, and of Margaret, daughter
of the Scotch King, Alexander the Third, was buried in it.
Upon the death of Alexander, her mother’s father, in 1289,
Margaret, though only seven years of age, became queen
of Scotland, but died in Orkney on her passage from Norway,
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in 1290. The cathedral naturally received the dust
of most of the Norwegian jarls, bishops, and other mighty
men, so long as the Norwegian dynasty lasted; but for
their monuments we now seek in vain. By the alterations
and rebuilding in the interior of the church they have all
been long since destroyed.
For a Scandinavian, the church derives its greatest interest
not only from the fact that it was founded, and partly
built, by a Norwegian jarl, but more particularly from the
circumstance that a Norwegian chief, the layman Kol, is
expressly stated to have been the person “who was chiefly
answerable for the building, and determined how everything
should be.” For we thus find on the British Islands,
and far towards the North, a manifestation of the same desire
to build splendid churches and convents, which farther
southwards, as for instance in Normandy, so vividly animated
the Christian descendants of the emigrant Vikings.
The oldest part of St. Magnus’ Church will, on a close inspection,
show not a few resemblances to several of the
nearly contemporary, but somewhat older, Norman churches
in Normandy.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s08
Section VIII.
.ce 2
Pentland Firth.—The Highlands.—Caithness.—Sutherland.—Fear
of the Danes.
The Orkneys are separated towards the south from the
most northern part of the Scotch Highlands by a firth
about eight miles in breadth, called Pentland Firth (Old
N., Petlandfjörðr, the fiord of the land of the Picts?).
The maelstrom, or whirlpool, in this firth, where the
currents from the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet, is
at least as violent and dangerous as the “Röst,” so famed
in ancient times, between the Orkneys and Shetland.
Even in calm weather the meeting currents raise the waves
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to an astonishing height, so that at times the whole firth
is one sheet of white foam. If it happens that the current
runs hard against the wind, or if a severe storm blows, it
would not be advisable for any vessel to venture out into
the firth. In the gales of winter, particularly from the
north-west, the sea rises to such a height where the huge
swell of the Atlantic is inclosed between the Orkneys and
Scotland, and beats against the coast with such force, that
the foam is driven far into the country, even over cliffs
that stand more than four hundred feet above the sea!
The Island of Stroma (Old N., “Straumsey”), which has
obtained its name from the current, lies about the middle
of the firth; and by the eastern entrance of it are the
Islands of Pentlandskerries (Old N., “Petlandsker;” or
Danish, “Pentlandskjære;” Eng., sunken rocks off the
Pentland Firth), near which the waves form whirlpools
that are still called by the inhabitants “Swelchies” (or
Svælg: Old N., “Svelgr;” Eng., gulf).
The old Sagas, indeed, expressly point out the dangers
of the Pentland Firth. Thus, when Olaf Trygvesön came
from the West to the Orkneys with the intention of Christianizing
the islands, he was obliged to run into the harbour
of Asmundarvág (now Osmondwall) in the south of Hoy,
because Pentland Firth was not navigable; and on the
return of King Hakon Hakonsön from the Hebrides in
1263, one of his ships was lost in the Röst, and another
escaped only with the greatest difficulty. Nevertheless
the ancient Norwegians and Danes navigated this dangerous
firth regularly, and do not seem to have considered it as
forming any real boundary between the Orkneys and
Scotland. At an early period the Norwegians had settled
themselves along the south coast of the Pentland Firth,
and founded colonies there which soon became so preponderatingly
Norwegian that they might almost be regarded
as inseparable parts of the Orkney jarldom. On this
account the two most northern counties of Scotland, both
of which united originally bore the Gaelic name of Catuibh,
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are still called after the original Norwegian forms, “Caithness”
(Old N., “Katanes,” the naze of Catuibh) and
“Sutherland” (Old N., Suðrland), or the land in the
south; that is, as regards the Orkneys. It would be
perfectly inexplicable, in any other way, why the north-western
part of Scotland should be called the south land,
or Sutherland. It is, moreover, a remarkable proof of the
Norwegian origin of these names, that even the present
Gaelic inhabitants do not adopt them, but always call
Sutherland, after the old fashion, “Catuibh.” For the
sake of distinction, however, they call Caithness “Gallaibh,”
or the stranger’s land, because so many Norwegians
immigrated to, and settled in, that county in preference
to Sutherland.
The district of Caithness, or, as it was often called in
ancient times, “Næsset,” forms a real naze, shooting out
into the sea in a north-eastern direction. Its farthest
point towards the north-east is called Duncansby Head
(formerly “Dungalsnýpa”), from the neighbouring Duncansby
(formerly “Dungalsbœr”). The broadest bay on
the north coast trends in between the promontories of
Dunnet Head and Holburn Head; the latter of which, by
protecting Thurso Bay from western and north-western
gales, renders it a tolerably good harbour, in a place where
good harbours are scarce on this northern coast. Supposing,
now, that we land in the Bay of Thurso, by the town
of that name, we soon discover the outlet of the rivulet
called Thurso Water (Old N., “Þorsá,” or Thorsaa, Thor’s
rivulet), which has given the easily-recognised Scandinavian
name both to the town and bay. The town and its immediate
environs afford a great number of Norwegian memorials.
The Norwegian king Eistein imprisoned the
Orkney jarl Harald Maddadsön in Thurso itself. Close
to the eastern side of the town stands a more recent
monument, “Harald’s Tower,” erected over the body of
Jarl Harald, who fell there in a battle in 1190. Not far
from thence is the mansion called Murkle (formerly
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“Myrkhóll”), where, in the tenth century, Ragnhilde, the
daughter of Erik Blodöxe and of Gunhilde, caused her
husband, Jarl Arnfin, to be murdered. Immediately to
the west of the town, near Scrabster (“Skarabólstaðr”),
are to be seen the ruins of the palace formerly inhabited
by the bishops of Caithness and Sutherland. In the
twelfth century Bishop Ion was blinded and mutilated
there, at the instigation of Jarl Harald. Five miles west
of Scrabster, and close by a foaming waterfall, stands the
mansion of “Forss,” by the river Forss Water. The
rivulet called Thorsaa runs through a valley in ancient
times called Thorsdal (“Þórsdalr”), adjoining another
valley “Kálfadalr,” or Calf-dale (either the present Calder
or Cuildal), in which Jarl Ragnvald was attacked and killed
by Thorbjörn Klærk. In the “Dales of Caithness”
(probably near Dale and Westdale, by Thurso Water) a
battle was fought in the tenth century between Jarls Ljot
and Skule, in which the latter fell.
Similar memorials present themselves everywhere on
the promontory, with the exception, however, of the most
western and more mountainous part, adjoining the frontiers
of Sutherland. This district is still inhabited by a Gaelic
population, the remnant of the ancient inhabitants, as is
sufficiently testified both by the Gaelic names of places
and the Gaelic language of the people. In Caithness, as
well as everywhere else in the British Isles, it has been the
fate of the Gaels or Celts to be driven to the poor and
mountainous districts, whilst more fortunate strangers
have taken possession of the fertile plains. The whole of
the northern and eastern part of Caithness is a rather flat
and open country, over which the sea wind sweeps freely
without being intercepted by woods. Fertile and well-cultivated
arable land is mingled with heaths, marshes,
and small lakes. Wherever the soil is capable of cultivation,
both on the coasts and in the interior, a great number
of undoubted Norwegian names of places are still found
scattered about, of the selfsame form as those in Orkney
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.bn 279.png
and the Shetland Isles: as, for instance, those ending in toft (as
Aschantoft, Thurdystoft, formerly “Þorðarþupt”) seter (“setr”),
busta, buster, or best (originally “bolstaðr”); but
particularly in ster (staðr). The bays, which are
mostly small and narrow, are generally called goe (from
“gjá,” an opening). The larger ones are called wick (Viig);
whence the town of Wick, the most important hamlet in
Caithness, derives its name; but they are never called, as
in the islands lately mentioned, wall (“Vágr,” or “Vaag”).
Here and there a mighty barrow lifts its head, and sometimes—as,
for instance, near Barrowston, parish of Reay—so
extremely near the coast of Pentland Firth, that the
spray washes over it. In general we shall not be mistaken
in imagining that we have found in such barrows the last
resting-places of the daring Vikings, who, not even in
death, could endure to be far separated from the foaming
maelstrom.
At times the common people dig up in these mounds
pieces of swords and various kinds of ornaments, especially
the peculiar bowl-formed brooches, of a sort of brass,
which are very frequently discovered in the Scandinavian
North, and particularly in the Norwegian and Swedish
graves of the times of the Vikings. These are never
found in England; and in Scotland they are discovered
only in the Orkneys and Sutherland, as well as in some
of the Western Islands, where the Norwegians also settled.
.if h
.il fn=i_255.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Brooch
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Brooch]
.if-
Tall bauta stones are to be seen in several places in
Caithness, to which some legend about “the Danes” is
generally attached; they now stand in a leaning position,
as if mourning over the departed times of the heroic
// 280.png
.bn 280.png
age. A monument of a somewhat later period, according to
tradition that of a Danish princess, who suffered shipwreck
on the coast, was also formerly to be found in a churchyard
near Ulbster. Danish fortifications, consisting partly
of square towers, once existed along the coast, principally
near the navigable inlets; but these also have now, for the
most part, disappeared.
With several intervals, Caithness was subject to Norwegian
jarls until some time in the fourteenth century, or
for about as long a period as Orkney and the Shetland
Isles. After that time, however, it does not seem to have
been oppressed to such a degree as those islands; which
circumstance, in conjunction with the originally great
number of Norwegian settlements in the country, is the
cause that even in the present day we are not referred
only to inanimate memorials of the ancient Norwegian
population. The present living inhabitants bear a decided
and unmistakable impress of their Norwegian descent.
The language in the plains of Caithness, and in the open
valleys, is the same dialect of the English as is spoken in
Orkney and the Shetland Isles, because the transitions
from Norwegian to English have been the same. The
people have in some parts, as in the parish of Wick, pure
Scandinavian names: Ronald (Ragnvald), Harold, Swanson
(Svendsen), Manson (Magnuson), and others; and their
tall and personable figures, as well as their light hair and
broad faces, render them a striking contrast to the shorter
and more swarthy Highlanders. As the descendants of an
old Gaelic and of an old Norwegian population adjoin one
another in Caithness, we have an excellent opportunity of
observing, on a small scale, how the Norwegians and
Danes have actually implanted in the British Isles a more
seafaring spirit and greater nautical skill. Even to the
present day the Gael, in Caithness, as well as throughout
the Highlands, has a decided aversion to the sea, nay, a
downright fear of its dangers. It is pretty well known
that in general, and except on the most urgent necessity,
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one should not venture out into the Pentland Firth in
boats steered and rowed by Gaels or Highlanders; for, in
the event of a storm, all steady command is speedily lost,
and gives place to anxious irresolution. The descendants
of the old Norwegians, on the contrary, who are familiar
with the sea from childhood, and amongst whom lies Wick,
the most important fishing station in Scotland, show themselves
precisely in the hour of danger the worthy sons of
their forefathers, the ancient Vikings. It is only the man
at the helm who speaks, and he gives his orders in a few
decisive words. He is punctually obeyed, and the misfortune
is said to be rare, if his coolness, joined to his
knowledge of the sea and its currents, do not gain the
victory over the violence of the storm and the turbulence
of the billows. This seafaring population of Caithness do
not, like the Highlanders, disdain to resort to fishing, in
order to bring home the riches of the sea. As their
soil, moreover, is by no means barren, and as they have
naturally greater activity and more inclination to work
than the Highlanders, as well as, through their English
dialect, greater facility in their traffic with the more
southern districts, it is not to be wondered at that the
prosperity of Caithness manifests a great and constant progress.
We may even justly assert that the descendants of
the Norwegians in Caithness are in a far more fortunate
situation than their kinsmen in the Orkneys and Shetland
Isles.
In ancient times, a Norwegian population speaking its
native language, was undoubtedly spread over the whole
eastern coast of Caithness, as well as over several districts
of Sutherland. But the English language, which in our
times has superseded the Norwegian, ceases to be the
common language of Caithness immediately to the south
of the parish of Wick. A line drawn from Clyth Ness, in
a north-western direction to the before-mentioned mansion
of Forss to the west of Thurso, will indicate, as near as
may be, the boundary between Gaelic and English. If,
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however, we travel southwards from the parish of Wick,
through the parish of Latheron, where the common language
is already Gaelic, we, nevertheless, pass a great
many villages and farms bearing Norwegian names; as,
for instance, Lybster and Forse (by a waterfall). The
mountains here begin to be higher, and to stand closer and
closer together towards the sea. At length, after passing
the deep valley of Berrydale (Old N., “Berudalr”), and
the beautiful wood-crowned banks of its river, we ascend
the steep mountain ridge called “the Ord of Caithness,”
which runs boldly out into the sea, and forms a natural
boundary between the narrow projecting promontory of
Caithness and the broader Sutherland.
The first large valley in Sutherland to the south of this
mountain ridge is Helmsdale, which is watered by a river
of no mean size. That Helmsdale is a Norwegian name
(in the Sagas “Hjalmundsdalr”) is at once evident from
the present Gaelic inhabitants calling the valley in pure
Gaelic, “Strath Ullie,” or with a strange confusion of language,
Strath Helmsdale; for as Strath signifies in Gaelic
a valley or dale, the word dale is added both at the
beginning and end. It is a similar repetition which we so
often hear when the “Orkney Isles” are spoken of, in the
original language “Orknö,” but which, translated as now
used, is Orknö Öerne (or the “Orkney-islands-islands”).
Along Helmsdale River several places are met with whose
original Norwegian names are still to be discerned; as,
for instance, Eilderabol, Gilaboll, Dviaboll, and Leiraboll.
All these have the ending bol, which is peculiar to a
number of Norwegian names of places in Sutherland and
in some of the Hebrides; but which, in Caithness, the
Orkneys, and Shetland Isles, as well as in Lewis and
several of the Hebrides, appears in the longer form of
“bolstaðr.” To the north-west of Helmsdale are the
vales of Kildonan, which run up as far as the Vale of
Strathmore in Caithness. Here, it is supposed, on the
frontiers of Caithness and Sutherland, lay “Eisteinsdalr,”
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so famed in history as the spot where the Scotch king
William encamped in the year 1198. It is, however, very
uncertain whether “Easterdale” in Strathmore be in any
way connected with the name of Eisteinsdal.
On leaving Helmsdale the coast opens, and fertile and
beautiful fields begin to expand themselves. Past Midgarty
and Wester Gartie (the middle and western Gaard,
or farm, from Old N. “garðr”?) the road runs along the
shore of the Bay of Dornoch (an arm of the “Breidifjördr,”
or broad firth mentioned in the Sagas, in which the Moray
Firth is also included) to the little village of Brora, which
is built on a considerable river, and where for a long
period the only large bridge in Sutherland was to be found.
It was possibly from this circumstance that the Norwegians
gave the village its name (“Brúrá,” the bridge
rivulet). A river in Iceland is also still called Brúrá, from
a bridge which crosses it. The ancient seat of the Earls
of Sutherland, Dunrobin (Robin’s tower, from dun, a
tower), lies on the seashore, in the neighbourhood of
Brora, surrounded by fine corn-fields and considerable
tracts of woodland. The latter, however, were planted at
a recent period. In the background rise considerable
mountains, covered with heath. In this place, so highly
favoured by nature both as regards scenery and fertility,
the Norwegian jarls who ruled over Sutherland undoubtedly
had one of their chief residences; as, for instance,
Sigurd Jarl, a brother of Ragnvald Möre-Jarl,
Sigurd the Stout (+ 1014), and his son Thorfin (+ about
1064). Norwegian antiquities, like those discovered in
Caithness, are found in graves near Dunrobin, particularly
the well-known bowl-formed brooches or buckles. In the
neighbourhood several places with Norwegian names can
be pointed out; for instance, just south of Dunrobin, in
the fertile valley by the river Fleet, Mickle Torboll and
Little Torboll (from Thor and bol); and on the coast,
Skelbo, Skibo, and Embo (from bol, or perhaps more correctly
from bœr, bö). Sigurd, the first conqueror of Sutherland,
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is said to have extended his dominion as far as
Ekkjalsbakke. As bakki in the ancient language signifies
the bank of a river, there cannot be the least doubt that
Ekkjal is the river Oykill, which still forms the southern
boundary of Sutherland. Sigurd himself is said to have
been interred at Ekkjalsbakke. He gained the victory in
a foray over the Scotch jarl Melbrigd, and cut off his
head, which, in the overweening pride of his triumph, he
hung to his saddle; but a sharp tooth that projected from
the head chafed his leg, and caused a wound which proved
his death. On different parts of the banks of the Oykill
numerous barrows are seen, indicating the many battles
that have been fought in ancient times on the frontiers of
Sutherland. But nobody is able to point out the barrow of
Sigurd Jarl; the tradition relating to it has vanished with
the Norwegian population.
For the rest, names of places prove that the Norwegians
had also settled themselves along the coast to the
south of the Oykill. On the narrow naze called Tarbet
Ness, between Dornoch and Cromarty Firths, are the villages
of Arboll and Wanby, as well as the town of Tain,
whose Gaelic name, “Bailed Dhuich” (or St. Duthus’
Town), shows at once that “Tain” must be of foreign
origin. Tain is, moreover, a corruption of “Þing,” a
Thing; and in like manner the somewhat considerable
town of Dingwall, at the extremity of Cromarty Firth,
was originally called “Þingavöllr,” or Thingwalla; whence
the remarkable fact is evident, that the Norwegians were
once sufficiently numerous in these districts to have both
an inferior Thing (Tain) and a superior one (Dingwall).
Dingwall, like Tain, besides its original Norwegian name,
has also the Gaelic one of Inverphaeron. As the Norwegians,
therefore, must have permanently possessed considerable
tracts in these districts, it is clear that their settlements on the
east coast of Scotland must have extended quite down to Inverness-shire
and Moray. The before-mentioned stronghold of Burghead in Moray, which
the
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Northmen maintained to the last extremity, lies pretty close
to the east of Cromarty Firth, the inlet to Dingwall.
As the Norwegian language and other Norwegian characteristics
have given way to the Gaelic tongue, manners,
and customs, in the former Norwegian districts on the
north coast of Scotland, from Clyth Ness in Caithness to
Dingwall on the Firth of Cromarty, we can scarcely be
surprised that the north coast of Sutherland, whose rocks
and heaths offered much fewer allurements to the Norwegians
than the fertile valleys and plains of the east
coast, and which were therefore far less colonized by them,
should have preserved distinct traces of these foreign conquerors
only in a few names of places. A remarkable
instance of the Gaelic language having expelled the Norwegian
is to be found immediately on the borders of
Caithness, in the valley of Halladale. In a river there
are two waterfalls, of which the uppermost is called Forsinard,
and the lower one Forsindin. In both these names
the Norwegian “Fors” is not to be mistaken; but Gaelic
terminations have in later times been added by the Gaels,
so that Forsinard now signifies the upper Fors, and
Forsindin the under, or lower, Fors. Halladale is likewise
frequently called by the additional Gaelic name of
Strath—“Strath Halladale.”
This much, however, is clear, that the whole of the north
and west coast of Sutherland was once colonized by Norwegians.
Besides various names of places west of Halladale,
which likewise end in dale, such as Armadale,
Swordale, and Torrisdale, it is surprising that we should
still meet with pure Norwegian names on four of the
largest firths of the north-west of Sutherland; viz., on the
north coast the “Kyle of Tongue” (from “túnga,” a
tongue of land, a naze), together with the adjoining village,
Kirkiboll (Kirkebolet); further, Loch Eriboll, with
the large farm of Eriboll (the bol on the Eir, or tongue of
land, from the Old N. “eyri”); the Kyle of Durness, or
Dyrnæs, with the bol, or dwelling, of Crossboll; and
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lastly, on the west coast, not far from Cape Wrath, Loch
Laxford (Laxfjorden, or the Salmon Firth; Old N.,
“Laxafjörðr”). “Loch” is the Gaelic name for a lake or
firth, and consequently, in Loch Laxford, expresses tautologically
the existence of a fiord or firth; just as the name
“valley” is twice expressed in Strath Helmsdale and
Strath Halladale. The last three of the above-mentioned
firths seem to have been of much importance to the Norwegians.
There is an excellent harbour in Loch Eriboll,
which is still frequented by numerous ships. The neighbourhood
round Loch Durnes afforded excellent opportunities
for hunting the deer, particularly on Durnæs
itself, which extends between Loch Durnes and the
Atlantic up to Cape Wrath (Old N., “Hvarf”), and which,
still later in the middle ages, was celebrated for its excellent
deer. Loch Laxford, which obtained its name
from the salmon (Lax) in the river and at its mouth, is
commonly known to the present day as one of the rivers
in Scotland most abounding with that fish. Several
isolated rocks in the sea by the coast of Sutherland are
called, as in the Shetland Isles, “stacks;” and in several
names of islands we meet with the Scandinavian sker or
skjær; such as Skerroar (Skjæröerne, the rock islands);
and in Loch Eriboll, Dhusker, Skerron, and others. A
little island near the middle of the west coast is called
Calva (Old N., “Kálfey,” or the Calf Island), a name frequently
given by the Northmen to small islands that lay
in the neighbourhood of a larger one (for instance, the
Calf of Man). For the rest, Calva is one of the last
decidedly recognisable Scandinavian names of places on
the west coast of Sutherland. The real Norwegian population
evidently ceased at Laxfjord. Norwegian names of
places are scarcely to be found on the coasts of the Highlands
to the south of Sutherland. The country there was
so wild, rocky, and remote, that foreign conquerors could
only with the greatest difficulty have maintained a position
against the Highlanders, who were always prepared to
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make sudden and dangerous attacks from the mountains in
the interior. Aware of this, the Norwegians seem to have
limited themselves, on the western shores of the Highlands,
chiefly to the levying of provisions along the coast, and to
the plundering of cattle and other property. Round about
the mouths of the Highland firths are still to be seen the
remains of old castles, which the Scotch kings, and particularly
Alexander the Second, are said to have built, in
order to prevent “the Danes” from making these devastating
descents.
The memory of the conquests and predatory incursions of
the Norwegians, or “Danes,” is still preserved in a remarkable
degree among the poorer classes in Sutherland, as well
as in the rest of the Scottish Highlands. Numberless traditions
are in circulation respecting the levying of provisions
by “the Danes;” and barrows, or cairns, are not unfrequently
pointed out, in which a Scandinavian prince, or
king’s son, killed by the natives whilst on some Viking
expedition, is said to be buried. Besides the usual cruelties
ascribed to the Danes in the traditions of the Lowlands,
and of England, they are here accused, into the bargain, of
having burnt the forests, and thus caused that want of wood
which acts so injuriously on the climate of the Highlands.
In proof of this it is adduced that roots and trunks of
trees, sometimes perceptibly scorched, are discovered in
the turf-bogs of the Highlands. It is not considered that
similar discoveries are very common in other countries, as,
for instance, in Denmark itself; where trunks of trees,
especially firs, have been dug up, precisely as in the Scotch
Highlands. They are the produce of vegetative processes
in the pre-historical times; and the apparent scorching
has been produced either by accidental fires, or more, probably,
by the simple mode of felling trees in use among
the aboriginal inhabitants of Europe; who, like certain
savage tribes at the present day, for want of metal tools,
were obliged to burn the trunks of trees which they wished
to fell.
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By way of amends, the Danes have now and then the
honour of being regarded in the Highlands as having been
the teachers of the natives. One of the first jarls of the
Orkneys was, according to the legends, called by the name
of Torf Einar, because he was the first who caused turf
to be dug on a point of land (Torfnæs) in Scotland. This
promontory, probably the present Tarbet Ness, was at all
events either in Caithness or Sutherland; and it is certainly
a remarkable coincidence, that the common people
of that district still relate that “the Danes” taught them
to burn turf. We likewise hear at times that “the Danes”
taught the use of hand querns, or hand-mills; nay, even
that the favourite national instrument of the Highlanders,
the bagpipes, was originally introduced by the Danes. In
short, if anything, whether good or bad, be of doubtful
origin, it is frequently attributed to “the Danes.”
But it is peculiar to the north-western and most remote
districts of the Highlands, that the common people still
harbour no small degree of dread lest “the Danes” should
return, and repeat their cruel devastations. About thirty
years ago (according to J. Loch, “An Account of the Improvements
on the Estate of the Marquis of Stafford,”
London, 1820, 8vo.), English engineers were employed in
measuring all the heights in Sutherland. This caused
much sensation among the natives, who thought that these
engineers were sent by the Danes to make maps and plans
of the country, previously to the arrival of the Danish
army. They imagined that the king of Denmark had an
old feud with the Mackays, and that he was now coming to
take a sanguinary revenge on the whole clan.
During my stay in Sutherland I had repeated occasion
to convince myself not only that the fear of the Danes
has not yet died away there, but also that tradition has
connected with them things with which they had nothing
whatever to do.
Close outside the town of Dornoch, on the east coast of
Sutherland, there stands a stone pillar in an open field,
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which is simply the remains of one of those crosses so frequently
erected, in Roman Catholic times, in market-places.
As a matter of course, the arms of the jarls of Sutherland
are carved on one side of the stone, and on the other
are the arms of the town—a horse-shoe. Tradition, however,
will have it that the pillar was erected in remembrance
of a battle fought on this spot, in which the Jarl of
Sutherland commanded against “the Danes.” In the
heat of the battle, while the Jarl was engaged in personal
combat with the Danish chief, his sword broke; but in this
desperate situation he was lucky enough to lay hold of a
horse-shoe that accidentally lay near him, with which he
succeeded in killing his adversary. The horse-shoe is said
to have been adopted in the arms of the town in remembrance
of this feat. In the cathedral church of Dornoch is
a carved stone monument of the middle ages, representing
one of the ancient bishops who once resided in Dornoch.
He also is said to have fallen in the same battle, but my
authority, the person who showed me over the church,
added:—“I am proud to tell that the Danes were
defeated.”
Having employed myself in examining, among other
things, the many so-called “Danish” or Pictish towers on
the west and north-west coast of Sutherland, the common
people were led to believe that the Danes wished to regain
possession of the country, and with that view intended
to rebuild the ruined castles on the coasts. The
report spread very rapidly, and was soon magnified into
the news that the Danish fleet was lying outside the sunken
rocks near the shore, and that I was merely sent beforehand
to survey the country round about; nay, that I was
actually the Danish King’s son himself, and had secretly
landed. This report, which preceded me very rapidly, had,
among other effects, that of making the poorer classes avoid,
with the greatest care, mentioning any traditions connected
with defeats of the Danes, and especially with the killing
of any Dane in the district, lest they should occasion a
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sanguinary vengeance when the Danish army landed.
Their fears were carried so far that my guide was often
stopped by the natives, who earnestly requested him in
Gaelic not to lend a helping hand to the enemies of the
country by showing them the way; nor would they let
him go till he distinctly assured them that I was in possession
of maps correctly indicating old castles in the
district which he himself had not previously known. This,
of course, did not contribute to allay their fears; and it is
literally true, that in several of the Gaelic villages, particularly
near the firths of Loch Inver and Kyle-Sku, we
saw on our departure old folks wring their hands in despair
at the thought of the terrible misfortunes which the
Danes would now bring on their hitherto peaceful
country.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s09
Section IX.
.ce 2
The Hebrides.—The Northern Isles: Lewis and Harris; (Næs);
Skye.—Ossian’s Songs.—Iona.
The rocky western coast of the Highlands south of Sutherland
was not, as I before mentioned, permanently inhabited
by the Norwegians. They had, indeed, regular settlements
on the west coast, but these were on the islands.
They were here secure from the sudden attacks of the
Gaels, or Highlanders, who, generally speaking, would
scarcely have ventured out on a sea which then swarmed
with Vikings. The farther, therefore, the islands were
from the mainland, so much the more secure would the
Norwegian settlers be, and so much the greater, in effect,
did their colonies become. By degrees they settled themselves
on all the islands along the west coast, from Lewis
to Man, which they called under one name, “Suðreyjar,”
or the southern islands, from their situation with regard
to the Orkneys and Shetland Isles. Sometimes, however,
they did not reckon Man among them, and then divided
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the rest of the islands into two groups, in such a manner,
that only the islands to the south of Mull were called
“Suðreyar,” whilst Mull itself, and the islands to the
north, obtained the name of “Norðreyar.” The Irish,
and the rest of the Gaels, on the contrary, after the conquest
of the islands by the Norwegians, called them
“Inis Gâl” (the foreigners’ isles).
The most northern and largest of the northern isles was
the extensive one which forms the present Lewis and
Harris (the “Ljóðhus” of the Sagas). It is separated
from Scotland by the broad, stormy, and troubled channel
called the Minch. The southern part of it only, or Harris,
where the mountains reach the height of between two and
three thousand feet, can be called mountainous, for the
rest of the island is rather flat, devoid of wood, and covered
with heaths and moors. Some good arable land is, however,
to be met with here and there along the coasts.
Even in very early times this island was very densely inhabited
by the Gaels, of which, among other things, some
immense rows of stones, near Callernish, bear witness. In
like manner, the Norwegians must, at a later date, have had
considerable colonies in it. On this head we must not, of
course, implicitly rely on the numerous traditions related by
the common people about the landing of “the Danes,” their
rising power, and subsequent overthrow. But, what is
more certain, the names of not fewer than about ten large
lakes in the island still retain the Norwegian termination
vat (“vatn,” Vand, water); and three of the largest are
called Loch Langavat (the long water). Several coves
(Vige) in Harris are called vagh (“vagr”); as Groesavagh,
Flodavagh; and in Lewis wick, as Sandwich (Sandvig; Eng.,
Sand-bay), and Norwich (Nordvig; Eng. North-bay). To
these may be added a great number of Norwegian names of
places ending in stra or sta (staðr, stead); as Little Scarristra,
Meickle Scarristra (Harris); Erista, Mangersta (Lewis);
in bost (bolstaðr), as, in Harris, Nisibost, Hagabost, Chillibost;
and in Lewis, Callbost, Habost, Luirbost, Crossbost,
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Melbost, Garrabost, and others (in all about thirteen).
Further, we find such names as Laxay (Laxá, Laxaa; Eng.,
Salmon river), Laxdale, Nether Holm and Upper Holm,
Tong (túnga), &c. These Norwegian names of places are
met with as well towards the south and west as on the
east coast, where they are most numerous about Loch Seaforth
(Sæfjörðr), and in the vicinity of the little town of
Stornoway. But they are chiefly concentrated at one point,
the most northern in the island, in a district which still
retains the pure Norwegian name of “Ness.”
On this Naze, or promontory, are the lakes Langavat
and Steapavat; the valleys Dibidale, Eorodale, North Dell,
and South Dell; the manors and towns Skegersta, Swainbost,
Habost, Cross, and at the farthest extremity Oreby
or Eoropie (“Eyribœr,” the town on the Eir or Naze?);
with the adjacent headland of Raven, which may possibly
have been called after Odin’s sacred bird. At all events,
there is good ground for assuming, from these names of
places, that the promontory had a pre-eminently Norwegian
population, which, indeed, is unmistakably apparent
even at the present day.
Throughout Harris and Lewis, for instance, the Gaelic
inhabitants are small, dark-haired, and in general very
ugly. But no sooner do we arrive at Ness, than we meet
with people of an entirely different appearance. Both the
men and women have in general lighter hair, taller figures,
and far handsomer features. I visited several of their
cabins, and found myself surrounded by physiognomies so
Norwegian, that I could have fancied myself in Scandinavia
itself, if the Gaelic language now spoken by the
people, and their wretched dwellings, had not reminded
me that I was in one of those poor districts in the north-west
of Europe where the Gaels or Celts are still allowed
a scanty existence. The houses, as in Shetland, and
partly in Orkney, are built of turf and unhewn stones,
with a wretched straw or heather roof, held together by
ropes laid across the ridge of the house, and fastened with
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stones at the ends. The houses are so low, that one may
often see the children lie playing on the side of the roof.
The family and the cattle dwell in the same apartment,
and the fire, burning freely on the floor, fills the house
with a thick smoke, which slowly finds its way out of the
hole in the roof. The sleeping-places are, as usual, holes
in the side walls.
It is but a little while ago that the inhabitants of the
Naze, who are said to have preserved faint traditions of
their origin from Lochlin (called also in Ireland, Lochlan),
or the North, regarded themselves as being of better descent
than their neighbours the Gaels. The descendants
of the Norwegians seldom or never contracted marriage
with natives of a more southern part of the island, but
formed among themselves a separate community, distinguished
even by a peculiar costume, entirely different from
the Highland Scotch dress. Although the inhabitants of
Ness are now, for the most part, clothed like the rest
of the people of Lewis, I was fortunate enough to see the
dress of an old man of that district, which had been preserved
as a curiosity. It was of thick coarse woollen stuff,
of a brown colour, and consisted of a close-fitting jacket,
sewn in one piece, with a pair of short trousers, reaching
only a little below the knees. It was formerly customary
with them not to cover the head at all. In a carefully
compiled Scotch and English guide book (Anderson’s
Guide, 1842) it is stated, that “The islanders of the
northern part of Lewis, with their long, matted, and uncombed
hair, which has never been restrained by hat or
bonnet from flowing as freely in the wind as their ponies’
manes, and their true Norwegian cast of countenance,
form living portraits of the ancient Norsemen. The other
inhabitants are chiefly of Celtic origin.” The difference
between the descendants of the Gaels and of the Norwegians
is consequently so apparent that it is as striking
to a Scotchman or an Englishman as to a Scandinavian.
It is said on the island that the inhabitants of Ness are
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more skilful fishermen and better sailors than the rest of
the men of Lewis. However that may be, as a pretty
numerous Norwegian population on it has long kept itself
unmixed and distinct from the Gaels, it is not improbable
that those men of Lewis who are related to have formerly
harried Shetland, until they were entirely defeated in a
great battle in Mainland, may have been inhabitants of
Ness, who, after the custom of the ancient Norwegians,
went on expeditions beyond sea, either to gain booty, or,
more probably, to decide some old dispute by the sword.
That men of Lewis, of Gaelic descent, who have never
liked the sea, but, on the contrary, always feared it, should
have ventured repeatedly, and in great numbers, so far as
Shetland, altogether exceeds belief.
On the coasts of Lewis and Harris are several small
islands, with still recognisable Norwegian names, such as
Calvay (“Kálfey”), Pabbay (“Papey”), Skarpa (Skarpey),
Scalpay (Skalpey), together with the places called
Meathallybost, Bernera (Bjarnarey), and others. In the
south-west there are three large islands in a row; North
Uist, Benbecula, and South Uist (in the Sagas “Ivist”),
where there are also evident traces of a Norwegian population.
A small island to the west of North Uist is called
Kirkibost (Kirkjubolstaðr); on Benbecula there are the
lakes Loch Ollevate and Langavat, as well as the Vaage, or
inlets, Uskevagh, Kenlerevagh, and Riavagh; and on South
Uist there are likewise lakes and inlets called vat and vagh;
to which may be added such names of places as Frobast,
Kirkidale, Hillisdale, and lastly, a mountain called Heckla,
probably from the well-known volcanic mountain in Iceland.
In a bay in the middle of South Uist are the
islands Calvay and Pabbay. There is still a great number
of small isles on the coasts of these islands, whose
names in a greater or less degree all betray their Norwegian
origin; for instance, Grimsa (“Grimsey”), Barra
(“Barey”), Lingay (“Lyngey”), Hellesay (“Hellisey”),
Eriskay (“Eiriksey”), and others. The Norwegians
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must even have visited the little island of St. Kilda, which
lies about eighty miles west of Lewis; at least, two of
the often-mentioned and peculiarly Scandinavian bowl-formed
brooches have been discovered on the island; one
of them I have seen in the Andersonian Museum, in
Glasgow. Similar brooches were also found, with a
skeleton, in the island of Sangay, between Harris and
North Uist.
To the east of North and South Uist is the large island of
Skye (“Skið”), separated from the Highland mainland by
a narrow sound (“Skiðsund”). Between its more northern
part and the mainland, where the sea is broader, are the
islands of Rona, Raasay (“Hrauneyjar”), Scalpa (“Skálpey”),
Pabba (“Papey”), and Longa (“Langey”). Skye,
towards the south, is remarkable for its numerous and
lofty mountains, whose beautiful forms are visible at a
great distance. Towards the north the island becomes
gradually flatter and broader. In the west and north-west
parts it is indented by deep firths, round which are
to be found the most fertile districts in the island. The
east coast, on the contrary, is not so capable of cultivation,
as it has large tracts of moorland heath and sand. The
Norwegians, therefore, advisedly chose to settle on the
western and north-western firths, which, besides being
more fertile, were not so exposed to the attacks of the
Gaels as the eastern and south-eastern coast, which very
nearly approach the mainland. Not a few Scandinavian
names of places may be still clearly recognised near Loch
Snizort, such as Scuddeburgh, Skabost, Braebost, and,
near a waterfall, Forscachregin (the Norwegian Fors with
a Gaelic termination). By Dungevan Loch are the inlets
Kilmaluag and Altivaig, and the villages Husabost,
Collbost, and Nisabost. By Loch Bracadale (the “Vestrifjorðr”
of the Sagas) are Fors, Orbost, Collbost, and
Eabost. By Loch Harporth, Carabost; and by Loch Eynort,
Husedalebeg and Husedalemore; which latter, in a mixture
of Norwegian and Gaelic, signify little and great
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Huusdal (Housedale); and, with a similar mixture, Ghionaforsenary.
A little more inland is the valley of Tungadelebeg,
where the Gaelic beg (little) is added to the
Norwegian Tungadal.
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
// 297.png
.bn 297.png
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
// 298.png
.bn 298.png
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,
// 299.png
.bn 299.png
“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.
.if h
.il fn=i_275.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Monument - Boat Decoration
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Monument - Boat Decoration]
.if-
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,
// 300.png
.bn 300.png
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.”
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norscot-s10
Section X.
.nf c
The Sudreyjar, or Southern Isles.—Cantire.—Islay.—Man.—Names of
Places.—Runic Stones.—Kings.—Battle of Largs.—“Lords of the
Isles.”—Tynwald in Man.
.nf-
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,
// 301.png
.bn 301.png
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
// 302.png
.bn 302.png
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,
// 303.png
.bn 303.png
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.
// 304.png
.bn 304.png
The chronicles, indeed, state that the Norwegian, Godred
Crovan, who conquered Man in the year 1077, retained the
// 305.png
.bn 305.png
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).
.if h
.il fn=i_280.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Stones - Runic Inscriptions
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Stones - Runic Inscriptions]
.if-
.in 0
.sp 1
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:
.pm quote-start
“Thurlabr Neaki risti krus thana aft Fiaks ... bruthur sun Jabrs.”
(“Thorlaf Neaki erected this cross to Fiak ... brother, a son of Jabr.”)
.pm quote-end
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:—
.pm quote-start
“Sandulf ein suarti raisti krus thana aftir Arin Biaurg kuinn
sina.”
(i. e., “Sandulf the Swarthy erected this cross to
his wife Arnbjörg.”)
.pm quote-end
// 306.png
.bn 306.png
.if h
.il fn=i_282.jpg w=167px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Monument: Andreas Churchyard
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Monument: Andreas Churchyard]
.if-
(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.)
.if h
.il fn=i_283.jpg w=475px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Monument: Kirk Michael
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Monument: Kirk Michael]
.if-
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:—
.pm quote-start
“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.”)
.pm quote-end
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,
// 307.png
.bn 307.png
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:—
.pm quote-start
“Mal Lumkun raisti krus
thana eftir Malmuru fustra sin...;”
(i. e., “Mal Lumkun erected
this cross to his foster father
Malmor.”)
.pm quote-end
.if h
.il fn=i_284.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Monument
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Monument]
.if-
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,
// 308.png
.bn 308.png
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:—
.pm quote-start
“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.”
.pm quote-end
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:—
.pm quote-start
“... thana af Ufaig fauthur sin in Gautr girthi sunr Biarnar ...”
“(N. N. erected) this (cross) to his father Ufeig, but Gaut
Björnsön made it.”
.pm quote-end
// 309.png
.bn 309.png
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.
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
// 310.png
.bn 310.png
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,
// 311.png
.bn 311.png
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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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:—
.pm quote-start
“Malbritha a dalk thana” ... or, “Melbrigd owns this brooch.”
.pm quote-end
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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=norire
THE | NORWEGIANS IN IRELAND.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s01
Section I.
.nf c
Nature and Population of Ireland.—The “Danish” \
Conquests.—Traditions about the “Danes.”—Political \
Movements.
.nf-
Ireland may still be justly called the chief land of the
ancient Celtic tribes. Long after the Britons and Caledonians
had been driven out by the Romans and Anglo-Saxons,
and obliged to fly to the remotest mountain districts
of the west, their Irish kinsmen retained firm possession
of the whole large and fertile country of Ireland.
Subsequently, it is true, the Irish also were compelled
to give way before the conquests of the Norwegians and
English; yet they continued to inhabit the greater part
of the country in vastly superior numbers; and even in
the districts conquered by foreigners, which were mostly
confined to the sea coasts, they dwelt intermingled with
the new immigrants. In spite of the attempts of the
English to subdue and annihilate the nationality of the
Irish, they continued to preserve throughout the middle
ages their ancient language and their characteristic manners
and customs. With all their power the English have
not even been able to root out the Roman Catholic religion,
which to the present day forms the predominant
church of the Irish. It is only in later times that they
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have succeeded in gaining a firmer footing in Ireland than
they previously possessed. The English language and
customs are continually making greater progress towards
the west; and the Irish, who can no longer withstand
England’s power, seek in great numbers, like their kinsmen
in Scotland, a new asylum in America. The struggle
is the more severe in proportion as the Irish are more numerous
than the Celtic population in Scotland and England.
The last violent throes of the once powerful and
mighty Irish nationality now fearfully agitate Ireland,
which has been so long and so severely tried by oppression,
pestilence, and famine.
One of the most active causes of the misfortunes of Ireland
and the Irish is, however, the same that occasioned
the ruin of the Celts in England and Scotland; namely,
that they could never sincerely unite together. They have
always abandoned themselves too much to eastern indolence
and quiet, regardless of the march of civilization, and neglecting
to avail themselves sufficiently of the rich resources
afforded by their native land. For, although it is true that
there are considerable tracts of boggy land in Ireland,
and that many districts are but little capable of cultivation,
yet in the main Ireland is exceedingly well adapted
for agriculture. The neighbourhood of the Atlantic produces
mild breezes, which permit neither frost nor snow
to be of long duration, and consequently promote a rare
and luxuriant vegetation. In few countries do we behold
so many creeping plants, and such beautiful and verdant
fields and pastures, as in Ireland, which, from its green
meadows, has obtained the appropriate name of “the
Emerald Isle.” The land is intersected by rivers partially
navigable, abounding in fish, and its coasts are washed
by a sea—which not only from its rich fisheries, but from
the facilities which it affords to navigation, particularly
towards America—might, if properly used, become an inexhaustible
source of wealth.
From time immemorial Ireland was celebrated in the
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Scandinavian North for its charming situation, its mild
climate, and its fertility and beauty. The “Kongespeil”
(or “Mirror of Kings”), which was compiled in Norway
about the year 1200, says that “Ireland is almost the
best of the lands we are acquainted with, although no
vines grow there.” The Scandinavian Vikings and emigrants,
who often contented themselves with such poor
countries as Greenland and the islands in the North Atlantic
Ocean, must therefore have especially turned their
attention to “the Emerald Isle,” particularly as it bordered
very closely upon their colonies in England and
Scotland.
But to make conquests in Ireland, and to acquire by
the sword alone permanent settlements there, were no
easy tasks. The remote situation of Ireland, so far towards
the west in the Atlantic Ocean, was of itself no
slight defence. With the exception of certain tracts, principally
on the east coast, the land is full of mountains,
which everywhere afford secure retreats from an invading
enemy. In our days Ireland, the second of the British
Isles in point of magnitude, has a population of between
six and seven millions, chiefly of ancient Irish, or Celtic
origin; and in ancient times, when the Celts were entirely
independent, and absolute masters of the country,
the population does not appear to have been much less
numerous. Ireland, moreover, distinguished itself by
adopting Christianity, together with its accompanying civilization,
at a very early period, which, however, was not
able to put an end to the cruel and sanguinary disputes
that raged between the different tribes composing its
population. Thus the proportionately few and scattered
Norwegians, who could reach Ireland only by sea, and
who could derive assistance only from their countrymen
settled upon the coasts of England and Scotland, had to
contend with a numerous, and by no means unwarlike
people, inhabiting an extensive and mountainous country.
To obtain assistance in the hour of need from their own
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Scandinavian home was, on account of the great distance,
a physical impossibility. When, therefore, we consider
that neither the Romans nor the Anglo-Saxons ever obtained
a footing in Ireland, although they had conquered
the adjacent country, England; and when we further reflect
upon the immense power exerted by the English in
later times in order to subdue the Celtic population of
Ireland, and the many centuries which elapsed before they
even partially succeeded, we cannot help being surprised
at the very considerable Scandinavian settlements which, as
early as the ninth century, were formed in Ireland, and at
the great influence which the Norwegians, according to the
concurring evidence of the Irish and Scandinavian chronicles,
must for more than three centuries have exercised
in all the most important places in the country.
On his first entrance into Ireland, a Scandinavian traveller
will be immediately reminded of the ancient dominion
of his countrymen. It cannot possibly escape his observation
what a striking part the Norwegians—or, as they
are there exclusively called, the “Danes”—play in the
popular legends and traditions of Ireland. That, like the
north-western districts of Scotland, it should have best preserved
the popular life of ancient times with its songs and
legends, must, it is true, be ascribed to its remote situation.
Everywhere, even far in the interior of the country, we are
shown Danish raths (mounds and entrenchments), and
among others the so-called “Danes-cast,” a long ditch and
rampart in Ulster. “Danish cooking-places” are also
pointed out, consisting of small circular spaces set round
with stones, and bearing traces of embers and burnings,
some of which are met with scattered about on heaths and
moors. In the ancient copper mines in the south of Ireland
roundish stones with a dent round the middle are now
and then dug up, which it is evident were used in former
times in working the mines. These stones are called by
the common people “Danes’ hammers.” In like manner
they generally call most of the antiquities that are dug up,
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whether weapons or ornaments, “Danish.” Tales calculated
to awaken horror of outrages of the Danes are connected
with all these pretended Danish memorials; and
the farther we travel into the remote western districts, the
more terrible are the tales we hear of the distress and
cruel oppressions which the inhabitants endured under their
Danish conquerors. Nevertheless the Irishman has preserved,
like the Englishman, the remembrance of the
Danes’ contempt of death, and irresistible bravery. “That
might even frighten a Dane,” says the Irishman at times,
when speaking of some desperate undertaking. A kind of
superstitious fear of the redoubted Danes seems in some
places to have seized the common people; at least it is an
acknowledged fact, that in several parts of the country they
continue to frighten children with “the Danes.”
Similar ideas about the Danes are to be met with even
among the more enlightened portion of the people. Not
long ago, it was a firm belief among many educated men
in Ireland, that there were still families in Denmark, who
could not forget the dominion they had formerly exercised
in Ireland, and who bore a title derived from the large
estates which their forefathers had once conquered and
possessed there. It was likewise commonly supposed
that the Danes had carried with them from Ireland a
great number of manuscripts, which were said to be preserved
in one of the large collections of books in Copenhagen;
as if, forsooth, it had been one of the chief aims of
the bold and dangerous expeditions of the ancient Norwegians
at that remote period, to carry off scientific treasures,
and above all, manuscripts written in Irish, and, consequently,
in a language that was for the most part entirely
incomprehensible to them. In the last century in particular,
and at the beginning of the present one, the Irish
literati attributed to the Danes, or rather to the Norwegians,
much to which, strictly speaking, they could have no valid
claim.
The remarkable round towers, whose stone walls are built
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in so workmanlike a manner, and which are so evidently of
Christian origin—being erected both as belfries, and as
places of security for the clergy, and certainly against the
Scandinavian Vikings and conquerors—were nevertheless
proclaimed to be “Danish towers.” The large stone
rooms, or sepulchral chambers in cairns, that are found in
several places in Ireland, as at New Grange, and which
have so striking an agreement with the sepulchral chambers
in the Scandinavian North and other countries, dating
from the pre-historical, and so-called stone age, were also
called “Danish;” although we know from the Sagas, as well
as from the Irish chronicles, that the “Danes,” or rather
the Norwegian Vikings, sometimes opened these sepulchres,
in order to take out any treasure that might have
been buried in them by the natives. In several other
instances, the Irish were not disinclined at times to regard
the Norwegian conquests in a somewhat too favourable
light.
Recently, however, they have gone to the opposite
extreme. Everything possible that is bad, but nothing
whatever that is good, is ascribed to the Scandinavian conquerors.
In Ireland, as in Scotland and England, it is at present
the commonly received opinion that the Norwegian conquerors
did nothing but plunder and burn, and thus annihilated
a very considerable civilization, which had prevailed in
Ireland for centuries before the Norwegian expeditions.
The “Danes” are, besides, accused of subverting the independence
of Ireland, and of being the sole cause of her
subsequently coming under the dominion of England.
It is remarkable enough, however, that the Irish appear
entirely to forget that the fault must be ascribed to themselves.
They were so divided, and at such variance with
one another, that, in spite of their vast numbers and boasted
civilization, they could not unite to resist a mere handful
of Scandinavians, who came from a great distance across
the sea, and still less could they resist their powerful
English conquerors.
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This change in the opinions commonly received in Ireland
concerning the Danish conquests has been effected
more particularly by the late political movements. It is but
little known in the Scandinavian North that, since the Repeal
agitation in Ireland, the Danish conquests and the Danish
name have been used as a constant and effective means of
agitating against England; yet such is actually the case.
When O’Connell stepped forward as the mouth-piece of
Irish nationality, to revive the ancient independence of
Ireland, and if possible to restore its Parliament, by means
of a repeal of the Union, it was of course important for him
to awaken in his countrymen a feeling of freedom. With
this design, he looked to Ireland’s earlier history, and particularly
to the period when she formed an independent
kingdom. But that time was extremely remote. As
early as the close of the twelfth century the English
had firmly established themselves in Ireland; and the
Danes before them had, for several centuries, held
dominion over the most important places in that country.
Had O’Connell, therefore, wished to dwell on the time
of Ireland’s real independence, he must have reverted
to a period more than a thousand years ago. But he
shrewdly foresaw that the vast and uneducated mass of
the people, whom he chiefly wished to agitate, would not
be able to follow him. He therefore chose historical events
that lay nearer, and of which the remembrance still lived
among the people; and, as his chief aim was to irritate the
Irish against the “Saxons” (or English) he laid great stress
upon the glory which the Irish had acquired in former
combats against that people, as well as against the “Danes,”
who had preceded them in conquering Ireland.
Nothing could have been better adapted to O’Connell’s
object than the traditions and exaggerated notions about
the Danes, still so widely diffused among the poorer classes
in Ireland. O’Connell knew how to flatter with dexterity
the vanity and self-love of the Irish, by representing how
great a triumph they had achieved in former times, by
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driving out the Danes, and annihilating a dominion founded
with so much bravery and wisdom. If he drew no direct
conclusion from this, he let it, however, be sufficiently seen,
that as the Irish were formerly able to expel their Danish
conquerors, there was nothing to prevent them from chasing
the hated “Saxons” from their coasts. At one of his
great meetings, held on Tara Hill, where the ancient Irish
kings were crowned in the time of Ireland’s independence,
he reminded his countrymen that their forefathers had, in
the year 978, gained on that spot a considerable victory
over the “Danes.”
On the coast about three miles to the north-east of
Dublin, is the plain of Clontarf, where, in the year 1014, a
great battle was fought between the “Danes” and the Irish.
This battle, one of the most sanguinary in all the wars of
the Norwegians and Irish, was gained by the latter, whose
king Brian Boroimha (or Brian Boru) fell just as victory
declared for his army. A victory over the Danes like this
must naturally always occupy a prominent place in the
historical reminiscences of the Irish; and their historians
throughout the middle ages, and down to our own times,
have accordingly dwelt with extreme complacency on the
description of the bravery of the Irish and of their king.
But it did not suffice O’Connell and his followers to adhere
to historical realities. They followed the chroniclers of a
later period, by whom the victory of Clontarf has been delineated
in far too brilliant colours. In songs, pamphlets,
and speeches, the battle of Clontarf was now represented
as having completely annihilated the Danish power in Ireland,
and saved her independence and freedom. According
to these accounts, not a single Dane or Norwegian
would seem to have remained in Ireland after the battle.
Brian Boroimha (Boru) was extolled to the skies, as a
martyr for the deliverance of his country from the yoke
of the oppressors. And in the intoxication of enthusiasm
thus produced, his portrait, together with a picture of the
battle of Clontarf, was distributed among the people in
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immense quantities, and at the very lowest price. On the
tickets of members of the Repeal Association, which were
ornamented with the names of the most important national
triumphs of the Irish, as well as with portraits of the victors,
the battle of Clontarf, and Brian Boru’s portrait,
stood at the top.
When at length this representation of the battle of
Clontarf, as one of the most important fought by Ireland
for liberty, had been so impressed upon the common people
that it seemed an event which had only recently taken
place—and which, at least in the lively imaginations of the
Irish, might possibly enough be repeated—O’Connell gave
out that he would hold a great repeal meeting on the plain
of Clontarf. Everybody knew beforehand that the real
meaning of O’Connell’s speech was, that just as the Irish,
with Brian Boroimha at their head, had formerly defeated
the Danes on that very place, and thus saved Ireland’s
freedom, so should they now in like manner follow O’Connell
(who, besides, gave himself out for a descendant of
Brian Boru[?]), and make every sacrifice to wrest back their
lost independence from English, or “Saxon,” ascendancy.
The English government, however, forbade the meeting,
and indicted O’Connell. But the same extravagant notions
respecting the national importance of the battle of Clontarf
naturally continued to be generally received; and that not
only amongst the adherents of O’Connell, or “Old Irelanders,”
as they are called, but also among the members
of a political party, the “Young Irelanders,” which has
arisen since, and whose aim it is to sever the connection
with England by open force. In the seditious songs of
both these parties the Danes and the English generally
share the same fate, as the war-cry, “The Saxon and the
Dane,” constantly forms the burthen of the songs. It is
but very rarely that an Irish repealer (for instance, Mr.
Holmes) dares venture to express an opinion that it would
probably have been no detriment to Ireland if the “Danes”
had remained settled there. This, when explained, means
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that the Danes would never have been so dangerous to the
independence of Ireland as the English have since become;
and that the Irish, united with and assisted by the Danes,
would certainly have had a fleet capable of resisting any
attacks of their powerful English neighbours(?).
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s02
Section II.
.ce 2
Irish and Scandinavian Records.—Finn Lochlannoch.—Dubh-Lochlannoch.—The
Names of the Provinces.
One of the many complaints made by the Irish against the
Danes, and particularly of late, is, that by destroying Irish
civilization they likewise choked the vigorous germs of a
national literature, which, in consequence of the early
introduction of Christianity, had begun at a very early
period to take root among the Irish people. The existence
of a literature, particularly like the ancient Irish, in the
vernacular language of the country, must of course always
afford a strong proof of a certain degree of education
among the people. During the late political agitation in
Ireland, the old Irish literature, of which various remains
are still preserved, was therefore extravagantly extolled,
with the view of proving how glorious and enlightened
was the age of Ireland’s long-vanished independence.
Whatever opinion may be formed of the remaining
relics of this ancient literature, which are mostly limited
to chronicles in the form of annals, and a few old songs,
it is at all events agreed that they are of very peculiar
importance as regards a knowledge of the Norwegian and
Danish expeditions. It is true that the Scandinavian
Sagas and chronicles contain many accounts of the achievements
of the Norwegians in Ireland, both in war and
peace; but the Irish records of them are still more
copious. The oldest Irish chronicles relate almost as
much to the battles of the Norwegians and Danes with the
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Irish, as to the internal state of Ireland. A singular
chronicle in Irish, of the close of the eleventh century,
about “the Wars of the Irish and the Northmen,” was discovered
a few years ago. It contains not only a complete
account of every battle between the Irish and Northmen,
down to that of Clontarf, but also various information
respecting the settlements of the Norwegians in Ireland,
their mode of warfare, weapons, &c. That this chronicle
must have been composed not long after the battle of
Clontarf, is proved by the fact that it is referred to as an
old record in another Irish work, called “The Book of
Leinster,” written in the first half of the twelfth century.
The above-named ancient chronicle—the publication of
which, by that distinguished Irish scholar, Dr. Todd, cannot
be far distant—will, in conjunction with the rest of the
Irish accounts relative to the Norwegian expeditions into
Ireland, afford an excellent opportunity for comparison
with the narratives of our Scandinavian Sagas. Meanwhile
we have already sufficient information at hand to
compare the accounts of the conquerors and the conquered—a
method by which the historical truth will evidently come
forth more clearly than if we were obliged to adopt exclusively
the one-sided statements of either party.
The Irish accounts are, however, far from being always
perfectly trustworthy. They not only reflect the customary
hatred and prejudices of the Christians against the heathen
Northmen, but frequently bear the stamp of being derived
from early poetical legends. They relate how several
Irish saints, as St. Columkill, St. Berchan, St. Kieran, and
St. Comgall, had long before predicted the coming of the
Scandinavian heathens and their barbarous proceedings.
They likewise depict how terribly the heathens devastated
and plundered unhappy Ireland. People were everywhere
killed or maltreated; churches and convents were plundered,
burnt, and desecrated. Thus the heathen chief
Turges’ (Thorgils’) wife, Odo, sat on the altar of the conventual
church in Clonmacnois, and on it, as on a throne
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received the homage of the assembled people. At the
same time the Danes everywhere endeavoured to settle
themselves in the country. They launched ships even on
the lakes, with which they coerced the people dwelling
around their shores. In the tenth century (continues the
Irish scholar Duald Mac Firbis, in his unpublished treatise
respecting “The Fomorians and Lochlanns,” written
about A.D. 1650) “Erinn was filled with ships (or adventurers),
viz., the ships of Birn, the ships of Odvin, the
ships of Grifin (or Grisin), the ships of Suatgar, the
ships of Lagmann, the ships of Earbalbh, the ships of
Sitric (?), the ships of Buidin, the ships of Bernin, the
ships of the Crioslachs, the ships of Torberd Roe, the
ships of Snimin, the ships of Suainin, the ships of
Barun, the ships of Mileadh Lua, the ships of the Inghean
Roe (Red Maiden). All the evils which befel
Erinn until then were as nothing; for the Galls spread
themselves over all Erinn, and they built Cahirs (Caers)
and Cashels (or Castles), and they showed respect to no
one; and they used to kill her (Erinn’s) kings, and carry
her queens and noble ladies over the sea into bondage.
“A fleet the like of which was never seen, came with
Jomar More, grandson of Jomar, and his three sons, viz.,
Dubhgall, Cualladh, and Aralt; and they took Inis Sibtonn
in the harbour of Limerick, and forced submission from
the Galls who had come before.
“The Galls then ordered a king on every territory, a
chief on every chieftaincy, an abbot in every church, a
bailiff in every town, a soldier in every house, so that not
one of the men of Erinn had power over anything of his
own from even the hen’s clutch to the hundred milch cows.
And they dared not show their kindness nor generosity to
father, mother, bishop, ollave, spiritual director, those in
sickness nor disease, nor to the infant one night old. If
there was but one cow in the possession of any one of the
men of Erinn, her broth should be given to the soldier the
night that no milk could be procured from her. And an
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image of gold, or silver, of Fionndruine (a carved ornament
of white metal) for the king’s rent every year, and
the person who would not be able to pay that should go
himself into bondage, or have his nose cut off.”
As the Irish chronicles give in this manner embellished
and exaggerated pictures of the victories and power of the
Norwegians in Ireland, so also they frequently depict the
defeats of the “Danes” in colours that are too vivid. The
ancient chronicle before mentioned concerning “The Wars
of the Irish and the Northmen” states, for instance, that
some time before the battle of Clontarf a desperate conflict
took place at Glennmama, in the neighbourhood of Dublin,
between the Irish king, Brian Boroimha, and the Danes
in Dublin; with which latter were united the inhabitants
of Leinster, who had shortly before entered “the
Danish precinct of Dublin.” King Brian was victorious
in the battle; “and then there was not a threshing-spot
from Howth to Brandon in Kerry without an enslaved
Dane threshing on it, nor a quern without a Danish woman
grinding on it.”
Very different are the accounts given by the Scandinavian
Sagas relative to the Norwegians in Ireland. It was
to be expected that the Irishman, endowed with a southern
vivacity, and at the same time thrown into deep anxiety
by the Norwegian expeditions, should have regarded them
in quite a different light from the tranquil Norwegian
himself, who in the conquests in Ireland beheld only a
repetition of what was occurring at the same time in so
many other countries. The Scandinavian accounts are in
general shorter than the Irish, and confine themselves
merely to the relation of single events. Ireland is usually
treated of incidentally, nay almost accidentally. According
to the Sagas, we should almost be inclined to think
that the dominion of the Norwegians in Ireland was much
less in extent and duration than was actually the case, so
little have the writers of them thought of magnifying
their countrymen’s renown at the expense of historical
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truth. What, therefore, the Sagas, and the rest of the
Scandinavian chronicles relate about Ireland is, for the
most part, very trustworthy, and at all events agrees with
the representations at that time current amongst the Irish
themselves. It is quite evident that the writers of the
Sagas had either been in Ireland, or at all events derived
their knowledge from men who knew the country well,
either through Viking expeditions or trading voyages.
The accuracy with which different places in Ireland are
described affords a very remarkable proof of this. Thus
the ancient seat of royalty “Teamor,” or Tara, which is
also celebrated for its delightful situation, is mentioned in
the “Kongespeil” under the name of “Themar;” and it
is added that “the people knew no finer city on the earth.”
In the same place it is further stated that the town and
castle sunk suddenly into the earth, because a king pronounced
an unjust judgment—a tradition common in
Ireland to the present day.
Places in Ireland mentioned in the Sagas, but which
formerly could not be traced, have recently been pointed
out by the aid of the Irish records. The “Kongespeil”
states, for instance, that Saint Diermitius had a church on
a small island, “Misdredan” or “Inisdredan,” in the lake
“Logherne.” This island is evidently “Inisdreckan” in
Lough Erne, where formerly St. Diermitius actually had a
church. Subsequent transcribers of the book have clearly
enough transformed Inisdreckan into Inisdredan, Misdredan,
&c. The same has been the case with the celebrated
King Brian Boroimha’s castle, which, by a mistake in copying,
is called in the Sagas “Kanntaraborg” or “Kunjáttaborg,”
instead of “Kanncaraborg.” Brian Boroimha’s
castle, so celebrated in the Irish songs and legends, was
called in Irish “Ceann-Caraidh” (pronounced Cancara),
and was situated on the river Shannon, not far from
Limerick. To the Irish Cancara the Norwegians, therefore,
only added the Scandinavian termination “borg.”
Again, it is stated in the Sagas that one could sail from
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Reykjanæs in Iceland to “Jöllduhlaup” in Ireland, in
about eight days, or, according to some readings, even in a
much shorter time. Formerly this place was sought on
Lough Swilley, near Cape Malin, in the north of Ireland.
But Jöllduhlaup, which signifies “the course or breaking
of the waves,” is merely a translation into Icelandic of the
Gaelic name “Corrybracan” (Coire Breacain), whereby the
Gaels denote a whirlpool between the little island of Rathlin
(or Raghrin) and the north-easternmost part of Ireland (the
county of Antrim). That the ancient Icelanders designated
this precise spot in Ireland is owing in all probability to
the circumstance that the island of Rathlin was in the olden
times the chief station in the passage from Ireland to
Scotland, and as such the rendezvous for a number of
merchants and other travellers. Lastly, Snorre Sturlesön
relates that in the beginning of the eleventh century a
desperate naval battle was fought between the Orkney jarl
Einar and the Irish king “Konofögr,” in Ulfrek’s, or Ulfkel’s,
Fiord, on the coast of Ireland. The situation of this
fiord, or firth, was entirely unknown until it was lately
discovered that in a document issued by the English-Irish
king John in the year 1210, the Firth Lough Larne, on
the east coast of Ireland, about fourteen miles north of
Belfast, was at that time still called “Wulvricheforð,”
which agrees most accurately with the Icelandic name
“Ulfreksfjörðr.” By a remarkable coincidence, a skeleton
was dug up a little while previously just on the shores of
Lough Larne, together with a pretty large iron sword,
having a short guard and a large triangular pommel at
the end of the hilt; the form of which sword (as I shall
prove) was not Irish, but pure Scandinavian, like that of
the swords used towards the close of heathenism in the
North. There is every probability that the skeleton and
sword belong to one of the Scandinavian warriors who fell
in the above-mentioned battle, and who was afterwards
buried on the shore. Thus both the exhumed antiquities,
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and the lost but re-discovered name of the place, contribute
to corroborate the credibility of Snorre Sturlesön’s account.
Both the Irish and the Scandinavian records agree that
Norwegians and Danes were settled in Ireland at a
very early period. The Vikings are said to have ravaged
its coasts for the first time in the year 795; and in the
ninth century many of them were already settled in the
country. Amongst the men who, at the close of the ninth
and beginning of the tenth century, first colonized Iceland,
several Irishmen, or rather descendants of Norwegians
settled in Ireland, are mentioned; as, for instance, Thormod
and Ketil Bufa, Haskel Hnokkan, who was descended
from the Irish king Kjarval, besides others. Intermarriages
between the Norwegians in Ireland and the native
Irish seem to have taken place from the very first; which
explains the circumstance that many men in Iceland bore
at an early period Irish names, such as Kjaran and Niel
or Njäll.
The Norwegians in Ireland, like their Danish kinsmen
in England, were obliged to begin by settling on the
coasts; whence, both by warlike and peaceful means, they
gradually extended their dominion over the country.
Besides this continually-increasing and more peaceful
colonization, roving Scandinavian Vikings continued their
attacks in different parts of Ireland, whereby the power of
the Irish was considerably weakened. A pause took place,
however, in the tenth century, both in the expeditions of
the Vikings, and in the progress of the Scandinavian settlements
in Ireland. It is even stated that for about forty
years “the strangers” (the Galls) were entirely driven out
of the country; but this is probably an exaggeration. This
diminution of the power of the Norwegians in Ireland
occurred about the same time with the decrease of the
Danish power in England, and appears to have been produced
by the same causes; namely, internal commotions in
the mother-country of Scandinavia, which prevented the
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sending of such ample assistance as previously to the
colonists in the British Islands.
Subsequently, however, the Norwegian dominion in Ireland
became doubly powerful; and the Irish were so far
from being able to expel the strangers, that, notwithstanding
the numerical inferiority of the latter, they were often
masters in the country. It was evidently Norwegians
rather than Danes who settled in Ireland, although not a
few of the latter were mixed with them. In later times
all the Northmen in Ireland are included under the
common name of “Danes.” But the best and oldest Irish
chronicles distinguish, as it has been previously remarked,
between the light-haired “Finn-Lochlannoch,” or “Fionn-Lochlannaigh”
(the Norwegians), and the dark-haired
“Dubh-Lochlannoch,” or “Dubh-Lochlannaigh” (the
Danes); or, what is the same, between Dubgall (“Dubh-Ghoill”)
and Finngall (“Fionn-Ghoill”). The above-mentioned
chronicle of “the Wars of the Irish and the
Northmen,” which draws a clear distinction between the
Norwegians and Danes, expressly says that the Danes
were only one of those tribes that made expeditions of
conquest to Ireland. We even learn from the Irish chronicles
that the Norwegians and Danes often fought between
themselves for the dominion in Ireland. For instance, it
is stated in the Irish annals in the year 845: “the Dubhgalls
(the Danes) came this year to Dublin, sabred the
Finngalls (the Norwegians), destroyed their fortresses, and
carried away many prisoners and much booty with them.”
Similar intestine disputes are mentioned in other places of
the annals; yet, as might be expected, the Danes appear
still more frequently as fighting in alliance with the Norwegians.
On the flat shores in the middle of the eastern
coast of Ireland, between Dublin and Drogheda, which
are called Finngall, or “the strangers’ land” (from “finne,”
a land, and “gall,” a stranger), and which in ancient times
were colonized chiefly by Norwegians, is a small town
called Baldoyle. In old documents this town is named
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“Balidubgail,” the Dubhgalls’ or Danes’ town (“bal,” a
town). We have thus an existing proof that the Danes
also were once actually settled in Ireland. The Dubhgalls
are likewise said to have settled in the districts nearest to
the south and west of Dublin.
For the rest, among the names of places in Ireland
which remind us of the Norwegian dominion, we must in
particular specify the names of three of Ireland’s four
provinces, viz., Ulster (in Irish “Uladh”), Leinster (Irish,
“Laighin”), and Munster (Irish, “Mumha,” or “Mumhain”);
in all of which is added to the original Irish
forms the Scandinavian or Norwegian ending staðr, ster.
It might even be a question whether the name “Ireland”
did not originally derive this form from the Northmen.
On this head we have, at all events, a choice only between
the Northmen and the Anglo-Saxons, for to the present
day the Irish themselves still call the country Eirinn or
Eiri. The termination land is entirely unknown in their
language.
That the Northmen, and especially the Norwegians,
should have been able to give to the three most important
provinces of Ireland the names which they still bear, sufficiently
indicates that they must have been settled there
in no inconsiderable numbers, or that they must at all
events long have ruled these districts, which is also confirmed
by the statements of the Irish chronicles. But in
general we shall seek in vain among the names of places in
Ireland for traces of such an extensive Scandinavian colonization
as existed in the North of England. All circumstances
clearly show that the Northmen in Ireland were proportionately
less settled in the rural districts than in the
towns. In consequence of the remote situation of Ireland,
its extent, and the magnitude of its population, they were
exposed in the rural districts, when at some distance from
the coast, to much more danger than in the towns, where
they could better assemble their forces behind ramparts
and ditches. It is a very striking circumstance that the
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chief strength of the Norwegians lay precisely in those
towns which have since continued to be the greatest and
most important in Ireland. The Norwegian dominion in
Ireland had quite a peculiar character, having been divided
into several small and scattered kingdoms, each comprised
in a town, or even only part of a town, with at most an
inconsiderable adjacent tract of land. That such kingdoms
should subsist for several centuries, and even long after
the Danish dominion had ceased in England, is certainly
one of the most remarkable, and, with regard to the civilization
of the Northmen, most pregnant facts in the history
of the Scandinavian emigrants.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s03
Section III.
.ce 2
Norwegian Kings.—Limerick.—Cork.—Waterford.—Reginald’s Tower.—Dublin.—Thengmotha.—Oxmantown.
According to trustworthy historical evidence, the Norwegians
and the Danes, or the Ostmen, as they were
called in Ireland (from having come originally from the
east), principally fixed their abodes in Dublin, Waterford,
and Limerick, where, as early as the ninth century,
they had founded peculiar Scandinavian kingdoms. They
were also settled in considerable numbers in Wexford,
Cork, and several Irish cities, so that they had possessed
themselves, by degrees, of the best-situated places in the
east, south, and west of Ireland, both for navigation and
for intercourse with the rich countries of the interior.
The central point, however, of the real Norwegian
power was the present capital, Dublin. This considerable
city, which is said to contain at present more than three
hundred thousand inhabitants, lies on both sides of the
river Liffey, near the spot where it discharges itself into the
Irish Channel. It is surrounded by a charming and fertile
country. Anciently, however, and especially before the
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arrival of the Norwegians in Ireland, it seems to have
been comparatively insignificant, both as regards extent
and population. Yet even at that time it was, probably
by means of its fortunate situation, and its connections
with the neighbouring countries, the most important place
in Ireland, which, at that early period, did not possess
any very large towns. But as Dublin and its vicinity was
at all events one of the most attractive points on the east
coast of Ireland, some of the first Scandinavian kingdoms
were founded there. About the middle of the ninth century
a celebrated Norwegian Viking, Olaf the White, is
said to have taken Dublin, and made himself king of the
city and district. After the death of Olaf in a battle, two
sons of King Harald Haarfager (Fair-hair), of Norway,
arrived there, namely, Thorgils, called by the Irish Turges,
and Frode; who, by means of the sword, likewise won for
themselves thrones in Dublin. Subsequently to them,
again, as the Irish chronicles relate, there landed three
brothers, Olaf, Sigtryg, and Ivar, who became kings in
Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. From that time Norwegian
kings reigned in those places, with but few interruptions,
for full three centuries.
There would certainly be some cause to doubt of so extensive
a Norwegian dominion in a country so remote as
Ireland, as well as of the actual existence of so striking a
number of Scandinavian, and especially Norwegian, kings
of cities, if the names of a great number of them were
not preserved; and that, too, not so much in the chronicles
of the Norwegians themselves, as in those of the conquered
Irish, who had no reason to exaggerate in this
respect. Several of the Norwegian kings mentioned in
the Irish chronicles are, besides, mentioned in contemporary
Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian records; whence it
becomes doubly probable that the remainder of the Norwegian
kings mentioned by the Irish actually reigned in
the places indicated.
As the Irish chronicles thus not only give the most
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detailed accounts respecting the Norwegian kings in Ireland,
but also the least partial ones in favour of the Norwegians,
I have annexed a list of kings compiled by an
Irish author from Irish records. We may see from this,
although it is scarcely complete, that the Scandinavian
names of the kings (such as Olaf, Ivar, Eistein, Sigtryg,
Godfred or Gudröd (?), Ragnvald, Torfin, Ottar, Broder,
Eskil, Rörik, Harald, and Magnus) appear in general
clear and distinct through the somewhat altered Irish
forms, whilst a few names, such as Gluniarand (which in
Irish signifies Iron-Knee), Eachmargach, Maelnambo, and
Gilalve, seem to be mere Irish translations, or at all events
purely Irish transformations, of Scandinavian forms.
Norwegian, or Scandinavian, Kings in Ireland.
(From Lindsay, “The Coinage of Ireland,” Cork, 1839.)
A.—Kings of Dublin.
.in 2
.nf
Anlaf (Olaf), 853.
Ifar (Ivar), 870.
Ostinus (Eistein), 872.
Godfred (Gudröd), 875.
Sihtric (Sigtryg), 893.
Sihtric, 896.
Regnald (Ragnyald), 919.
Godfred, 920.
Anlaf, 934.
Blacar (Blake), 941.
Godfred, 948.
Anlaf, 954.
Godfred, 960.
Anlaf, 962.
Regnald.
Gluniarand, 981.
Sihtric (deposed), 989.
Ifar, 993.
Sihtric (again), 994.
Anlaf, 1029.
Sihtric, 1034.
Anlaf, 1031.
Ifar, 1050.
Eachmargach, 1054.
Maelnambo, 1064.
Godred Crovan, 1066(?).
Godfred Merenach, 1076.
Gilalve, 1094.
Torfin, 1109.
Regnald, 1125.
Godfred, 1147.
Oicterus (Ottar), 1147.
Broder, 1149.
Askel, 1159.
Roderick, 1171 till about 1200.
.nf-
.in 0
B.—Kings of Waterford.
.in 2
.nf
Sihtric, 853.
Ifar, 983.
Regnald, 1000.
Sihtric, 1020.
Regnald, 1023.
Commuanus, 1036.
.nf-
.in 0
C.—Kings of Limerick.
.in 2
.nf
Ifar, 853, King of Dublin in the year 870.
Ifar, 940.
Olfin, 942.
Harold O’Ifar.
Magnus, 968.
.nf-
.in 0
// 342.png
.bn 342.png
More detailed accounts are wanting relative to the
kings of Limerick and Waterford during the eleventh and
twelfth centuries; though it is certain enough that they
continued to reign there just as long as in Dublin. Nor
can we at present discover many apparent or recognisable
traces of the dominion of the Ostmen and their kings in
the two places just mentioned. Still Waterford appears
to have derived its present name from the Norwegians.
The Irish called the town “Port Lairge;” to which
name, however, modern Irish scholars would ascribe a
“Danish” origin, as it is supposed to be derived from a
Danish chief called Lairge, mentioned in the Irish annals
in the year 951. The Norwegians, on the other hand
called it “Veðrafjörðr,” the resemblance of which to
Waterford is not to be mistaken. Near the coast of this
“fiord,” which may have given name to the town, is still
to be seen a monument, very rare in Ireland, of the ancient
Norwegians’ art of fortification, namely, a round tower,
said to have been erected in the year 1003 by the reigning
Norwegian king in Waterford, Regnald, or Reginald
(Ragnvald), and which to the present day is commonly
called “Reginald’s Tower.”
This tower, which in Irish was also called “Dundory,”
or the king’s fortress, was afterwards used both as a
fortress and a mint. After the English conquest of
Waterford, Earl Strongbow used it in the year 1171 as a
secure dwelling-place; and, among other prisoners, for a
long time kept Reginald, the last king of the “Danes” in
Waterford, imprisoned in it. The tower afterwards underwent
several changes, till, in the year 1819, it (or at least
the exterior) was restored to its original form, just as the
following delineation of it (after Petrie) shows.
// 343.png
.bn 343.png
.if h
.il fn=i_319.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Reginald’s Tower
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Reginald’s Tower]
.if-
With regard to Dublin, however, the case is quite different.
The series of kings there from the year 853 until
about 1200, and consequently for almost three centuries
and a half, is pretty complete. It was a natural consequence
of the considerable power and influence possessed
by the kings of Dublin, that their names were often mentioned
// 344.png
.bn 344.png
in the chronicles in connection with important
events both in Ireland and in the neighbouring countries.
The Norwegian kings in Dublin knew how gradually to
strengthen and extend their power, not only by arms, but
also by a shrewd and able policy. They soon learnt how
to avail themselves of the intestine disputes by which the
Irish tribes and chiefs were divided. They joined one of
the ruling parties, contracted marriage with the daughters
of Irish kings and chieftains, and on their side gave Scandinavian
women in wedlock to leading Irishmen. According
to the old Irish book called “the Book of Lecan,” the
Irish king Congolaich (934-954) had a son, Mortogh, by
Radnalt, daughter of the Dublin king Anlaf, or Olaf. At
a somewhat later period a Norwegian king in Dublin,
named Anlaf, was married to an Irish woman, Dunlath,
who was mother of the Dublin king “Gluin-Jarainn”
(Iron-Knee). Similar marriages between Norwegian and
Irish royal families are often mentioned; even King Brian
Boru, so adored by the Irish, was nearly related to the
Norwegian kings. He was father of Teige and Donogh,
by Gormlaith, or Kormlöd, a daughter of Morogh Mac
Finn, king of Leinster. But Gormlaith was also married
for a long time to the Dublin king, Anlaf, by whom she
had a son, afterwards the celebrated king of Dublin,
Sigtryg Silkeskjæg (Silk-beard); and thus Brian Boru’s
two sons Teige and Donogh—of whom Teige afterwards
married Mor, a daughter of the “Danish” king Eachmargach
of Dublin—were half-brothers of their father’s
enemy, King Sigtryg. “The Book of Leinster” says
that Gormlaith was likewise mother of the Norwegian-Irish
king Amlaff Cuaran (Olaf Kvaran); whilst the Irish
chronicler, Duald Mac Firbis, mentions this same Olaf
Kvaran as married to Sadhbh (Save), a daughter of Brian
Boru, and that even “at the time when the battle of
Clontarf took place.” After this we are better able to understand
how it happened that whole Irish tribes, with their
kings at their head, so often fought in union with the Norwegians
// 345.png
.bn 345.png
and Danes; since we learn that their mutual
political interests were hound closer together by the
ties of relationship.
On the other hand, the Norwegian or Scandinavian kings
of Dublin and other parts of Ireland also constantly maintained
connections, both of friendship and relationship, with
their countrymen in England and Scotland, as well as in
the mother countries of Scandinavia. It might, indeed,
sometimes happen that Scandinavian kings or Vikings,
from Man or the Orkneys, attacked, nay even conquered
for a time, the Norwegian kingdom of Dublin, particularly
when the Norwegians in Ireland were at variance with one
another. But in general the Scandinavian colonists in
the British Isles appear to have stood or fallen with one
another. Numerous Scandinavian warriors from England,
Scotland, and the surrounding islands, fought now and
then in conjunction with the Norwegians settled in
Ireland, against the native Irish. But the Norwegian
kings in Ireland frequently supported their friends in
England and Scotland against the Anglo-Saxons and the
Highland Scots, and at times won kingdoms there by force
of arms. Mutual marriages, also, were frequently made,
whilst Scandinavian merchants and Vikings, for instance,
dwelt in Dublin at the court of the Norwegian kings.
Thus the Norwegian prince Olaf Tryggvesön, after having
been christened at Dublin, stayed there for some time
with the Norwegian king Olaf Kvaran, and married his
sister Gyda.
Many accounts testify that the Norwegians in Ireland,
at least in the cities, and especially Dublin, were powerful
enough to maintain their language, and the rest of their
Scandinavian characteristics, in spite of the Irish. The Icelandic
bards, Thorgils Orraskjald and Gunnlaug Ormstunga,
are expressly stated to have visited the court of the
Norwegian kings in Dublin in the tenth and eleventh
centuries, where they diverted the Scandinavian warriors
with their national songs. Ancient Irish manuscripts
// 346.png
.bn 346.png
contain proofs not only of the peculiar language, but also
of the peculiar writing, of the Norwegians, or runes, which
in Irish were called “Ogham na Loochlannach” or “Gallogham”
(the Northmen’s, or strangers’, Ogham). Ogham
was the name of a mode of writing then used by the Irish.
There are also some traces of characteristic Scandinavian
institutions among the Norwegians and Danes in Ireland.
In an Irish poem of the early middle ages, about the Norwegian
chief “Magnus the Great,” the Norwegians are
called “the people with the twelve counsellors.” This
leads us to think that the Norwegians, like the Danes in
England, must have employed in their judicial proceedings
a sort of jury, consisting of twelve men of repute, an
institution so foreign and striking to the Irish, that they
were led to characterize the Norwegians by it. It is at
least quite certain that the Norwegians in Ireland, as the
Irish chronicles admit, kept themselves entirely separate
from the Irish with regard to their ecclesiastical institutions,
and that they likewise had their own assize place in
Dublin, which bore the Scandinavian name Thing. A
document of the year 1258 conveys a gift of some ground
in the suburbs of Dublin, in “Thengmotha” (from
“mote,” a meeting), which the Irish publisher of it (the
Rev. R. Butler) correctly explains by “the place of legal
assembly in the Danish times of Dublin.” The Thing
place, which seems to have been not far from the present
site of Dublin Castle, where the Norwegians had erected
a strong fortress, gave to the surrounding parish of St.
Andrew the surname of “de Thengmote.”
One of the chief causes that the Norwegians in the
Irish cities maintained uninterruptedly their Scandinavian
characteristics, and consequently their independent power
likewise, was that they not only lived in the midst of the
Irish, but that, as Giraldus Cambrensis expressly intimates,
they erected in every city a town of their own, surrounded
with deep ditches and strong walls, which secured them
against the attacks of the natives. They built a rather
// 347.png
.bn 347.png
extensive town for themselves on the river Liffey, near the
old city of Dublin, which was strongly fortified with ditches
and walls, and which, after the Norwegians and Danes (or
Ostmen) settled there, obtained the name of Ostmantown
(in Latin, “vicus,” or “villa Ostmannorum”), i. e. the
Eastmen’s town. Even the Irish chronicles, which attest
that, as early as the beginning of the tenth century, the
Norwegians in Dublin had well intrenched themselves
with walls and ramparts, also state that in the art of fortifying
towns they were far superior to the Irish. Ostmantown
continued through the whole of the middle ages to
form an entirely separate part of Dublin, and the gates of
the strong fortifications with which it was surrounded were
carefully closed every evening. The walls were at length
razed, and Ostmantown, or, as it was now corruptly pronounced,
“Oxmantown” (whence an Irish peer has
obtained in modern times the title of Lord Oxmantown),
was completely incorporated with Dublin. But to the
present day the name of Oxmantown remains an incontrovertible
monument of an independent Norwegian town
formerly existing within the greatest and most considerable
city of Ireland.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s04
Section IV.
.ce 2
Norwegian Names of Places, near Dublin.—Norwegian Burial—Places.—Norwegian Weapons and Ornaments.
The few Scandinavian names of places in Ireland are,
with the exception of the previously-mentioned provinces,
confined to the coasts, and there particularly to the names
of islands and fiords. On the west coast there are only
two rather doubtful ones; namely, Enniskerry, an island
(the first part of which is the Irish Inis, an island, whilst
the latter part seems to include the Scandinavian name
“Sker,” or Skjær, a reef); and the harbour, Smerwick.
// 348.png
.bn 348.png
Several places on rivers are still called Laxweir, as for
example on the Shannon near Limerick and Killaloe,
where salmon are caught in a net stretched across the
river. The word “Lax” (salmon) is unknown in the
Irish language, but appears, as we have seen, in several
Scandinavian names of places in Scotland. On the south
coast, besides Waterford, we can mention at most only the
Isle of Dursey (Þorsey?) with the small adjoining island of
Calf. The greatest number of Scandinavian names appears
on the east coast. In some names of places situated on
the finest fiords we may trace the Scandinavian ending
“fjörðr;” as, for instance, to the south of Dublin in
Wexford (in Irish, Loch Garman), and to the north of
Dublin, in Strangford and Carlingford (in Irish, Cuan
Cairlinne). But in general, all the names of places of
Scandinavian origin, or with Scandinavian terminations,
are collected round Dublin as the central point.
At the southern entrance of the bay of Dublin is the
Island of “Dalkey” (in Irish, “Delg Inis”), and at the
northern entrance the high and rounded cape Howth (in
Irish, “Ceann Fuaid,” or “Beann Edair”), which in
ancient letters is also called Hofda, Houete, and Houeth.
This is clearly the Scandinavian “höfud,” or “Hoved”
(head), a name particularly suited to the place. In the
immediate neighbourhood is also the old Danish town
Baldoyle, and the district of Finngall, colonized by the
Norwegians. Directly north of Howth rises “Ireland’s-eye”
(in Irish, “Inis Eirinn” and “Inis Meic Ness-áin”);
and still farther to the north the islands of “Lambay” (in
Irish, “Rachrainn”) and “Skerries,” or the Skjære (reefs).
Close to the west side of Dublin is the little town of
Leixlip, where there is a famed salmon-leap in the river
Liffey. In old Latin epistles the name of Laxleip is
translated by “saltus salmonis,” which is plainly neither
more nor less than the old Norsk “lax-hlaup” (Dan., Laxlöb;
Eng., salmon-leap): which name reminds us again of
the salmon fishery, so highly cherished by the ancient
// 349.png
.bn 349.png
Norwegians. It is doubtful whether the county of Wicklow,
which adjoins that of Dublin, derived its name from
the Norwegians; though it is not improbable that it did,
as in Irish it is called Inbhear Dea, but in old documents
Wykynglo, Wygyngelo, and Wykinlo, which remind us of
the Scandinavian Vig (Eng., bay) or Viking.
At all events the decidedly Scandinavian names of places
around Dublin sufficiently indicate the predominance of
the ancient Norwegians and Danes in that city. Discoveries
made by excavations in and around Dublin have also, in
recent times, very remarkably contributed towards placing
this matter in a still clearer light.
In constructing a railway close by Kilmainham, now the
most western part of Dublin, the workmen some years
ago laid bare a number of ancient tombs. In these lay
whole rows of skeletons, each in its own grave, and by the
side of them many kinds of iron weapons and ornaments.
Fortunately several of the specimens thus discovered were
preserved, principally for the museum of the Royal Irish
Academy in Dublin; by which means Irish archæologists
had an opportunity of convincing themselves that these
antiquities must be a good deal older than the English
conquest of Ireland; yet that they are by no means of the
kind usually found in Ireland, and belonging to the period
of the Irish iron age. It is thus placed beyond all doubt,
that they are not Irish remains, but derived from the
Norwegians and Danes at that time settled in Ireland.
The few illustrations here annexed will present to every
Scandinavian archæologist mere well-known objects, corresponding
so exactly with the antiquities of the iron age
preserved in our Scandinavian museums, that we might
even believe them to have been made by the same hands.
.if h
.il fn=i_326.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Swords: Fig. 1 to Fig. 3.
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Swords: Fig. 1 to Fig. 3.]
.if-
The swords (Figs. 1-3), which very much resemble the
Scandinavian swords found in England (described at p. 45,)
are from twenty-four to thirty-two inches long. Some have
two edges, others only one. The pommel and guard of the
hilt are in several of them ornamented with very neatly
// 350.png
.bn 350.png
inlaid pieces of gold, silver, and other metals. On one
of them some engraved Latin letters have been found,
// 351.png
.bn 351.png
// 352.png
.bn 352.png
which may also be seen on a sword of the iron age in the
Museum at Copenhagen. Even the old Irish chronicles
relate that the Norwegians placed inscriptions on their
swords. Thus an ancient Irish poem says: “Hither was
brought, in the sword sheath of Lochlan’s king, the
Ogham across the sea. It was his own hand that cut it.”
It is most probable that by the Ogham writing is here
meant “the Norwegian’s Ogham,” or
runes, with which, as our Sagas state,
the old Northmen’s swords were frequently
ornamented.
.if h
.il fn=i_327.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Scandinavian Antiquities, Fig. 1. to Fig. 12.
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Scandinavian Antiquities, Fig. 1. to Fig. 12.]
.if-
.if h
.il fn=i_328.jpg w=40px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Sword: Irish Iron
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Sword: Irish Iron]
.if-
Several genuine Irish iron swords of
that ancient period have been discovered
in Ireland at various times, both in the
river Shannon and in old Irish castle-yards,
or on the sites of castles. They
are much smaller than the Norwegian
swords, and in general want both the
guard and the large pommel at the end
of the hilt, as the annexed figure of
those most frequently found shows. On
the whole the Irish iron swords are of
an older and more imperfect kind, and
very strikingly resemble the bronze
sword used in Ireland in the age of
bronze. On placing the short and ill-formed
Irish sword by the side of the
much larger, better, and handsomer
Norwegian one, we may almost say that
we obtain, as it were, a living image of
the degenerate and miserably-equipped
Irish people in comparison with the
strong and well-armed Norwegians.
The Norwegian warriors who found
their last resting-place at Kilmainham,
were evidently buried with all their arms,
from the renowned “Danish battle-axe”
// 353.png
.bn 353.png
(Fig. 4), and the lance (Figs. 5, 6)—which must have been
deposited with the entire shaft, since the ferrule (Fig. 7)
has been found—down to the shield. But as the last was
mostly of wood, nothing more remains of the whole shield
than the large iron boss (Figs. 8, 9), which was placed in the
middle, and which served to protect the hand which bore
the shield.
Among all the things discovered at Kilmainham, scarcely
any more decidedly indicate their Norwegian, or Scandinavian,
origin, than the bowl-formed brooches (Figs. 10, 11),
already mentioned when speaking of the coasts of Scotland,
and which are not found in any other part of Ireland.
There are also some very peculiar small bone buttons
(Fig. 12), having a small hole in the flat side, penetrating
the button for some way without entirely piercing through
it. Buttons of this form have not been before found in
Ireland, though they are very well known in the Scandinavian
North. They are discovered in Sweden and
Norway, in graves of the period of the iron age, or times
of the Vikings. It is highly probable that in those times
they served as men, or counters in some game, as they
are generally found, especially in Norway, collected together
in great numbers, and in conjunction with dice. To judge
from the holes in the bottom, they have certainly been used
in a sort of game of draughts; for, till late in the middle
ages, nay, almost down to our own times, the Icelanders
were accustomed to furnish their boards with small pivots,
on which they placed the men, that they might not by any
accidental shaking of the table be mixed with one another,
and the whole game thus suddenly disturbed. The Irish
also seem to have had a somewhat similar mode of proceeding
at that time, as among a great number of things
undoubtedly Irish, discovered at Dunshauglin, there was
found a bone button or knob, certainly a draughtsman,
which, instead of a hole, is furnished with a metal point
at the bottom, by which it was evidently intended to be
fixed in the board. But for the Scandinavian Vikings,
// 354.png
.bn 354.png
who were so much at sea, and who, it seems, liked to while
away the time by playing draughts, such a precaution was
doubly necessary, as the rolling of the vessel would otherwise
have thrown the draughtsmen together every moment.
It is remarkable that at Kilmainham, as well as in Scandinavia
itself, the draughtsmen are found deposited in the
graves, by the side of the arms and ornaments of the
warriors. This affords an instructive proof that the old
Northmen must have been very fond of gaming; and consequently
that the picture drawn by Tacitus of the passion
of the ancient Germans for play, which at times even led
them to gamble away their personal freedom, might apply
to their neighbours, the Scandinavians.
We can scarcely err in referring the antiquities found
at Kilmainham to the ninth, or at latest to the tenth
century. The mode of burial is heathenish rather than
Christian; and, as is known, the Norwegians settled in
Ireland were converted to Christianity in the tenth century
at latest, and probably still earlier. It is not at all probable
that the graves are to be attributed to an isolated
band of heathen Vikings, who came over at a later period,
and who, after a battle, buried their dead on the field.
The great number of graves, and the careful manner in
which each is said to have been set or enclosed with stones,
rather show that they were made in all tranquillity by the
Norwegians and Danes, who at that time dwelt in Dublin,
or its immediate neighbourhood, and who probably had a
common burial ground there. Scandinavians appear also
to have been buried in an adjoining churchyard, which at
that time belonged to a convent dedicated to St. Magnen,
but which afterwards became the burial-place for a hospital
of the knights of the order of St. John, founded at Kilmainham.
It has at length become one of the largest
churchyards in Dublin. In corroboration of the conjecture
that Scandinavians were buried in it, it may be mentioned
that a tall upright stone with carved spiral ornaments stands
there—a sort of monumental, or bauta-stone, under which,
// 355.png
.bn 355.png
several years ago, various coins were discovered, minted by
Norwegian kings in Ireland; and near them a handsome
two-edged iron sword, with a guard and a longish flat
pommel. Some have, indeed, thought that this sword
must have belonged to Murrough, a son of Brian Boru,
or to Murrough’s son Turlough, as both these warriors,
having fallen in the battle of Clontarf, are said to have
been buried in this churchyard. This, however, is only a
vague conjecture; whilst it is quite certain that the above-mentioned
sword agrees most accurately in form with the
many swords of the Vikings’ times found in the North.
There is, therefore, reason to suppose, that the sword was
formerly deposited there with the body of a Norwegian warrior;
and this supposition is strengthened by the discovery
of the Norwegian-Irish coins.
Other old Norwegian, or Scandinavian burial-places,
have been discovered in the Phœnix Park, near Dublin,
where a pair of bowl-formed brooches were found near a
skeleton. In making, a few years ago, some excavations in
Dublin itself, in “College Green,” which formerly lay
outside the city, the workmen met with several iron swords,
axes, lances, arrows, and shields, of the well-known Scandinavian
forms. It is probable that this also was a burial-place
similar to that at Kilmainham. With the exception
of the burial-place on the coast of Lough Larne, the
ancient Ulfreksfjord, no other decidedly Norwegian graves
are hitherto known to have been discovered in Ireland.
Just as the proportionally numerous Norwegian graves
near Dublin prove that a considerable number of
Norwegians must have been settled there, so also do the
peculiar form and workmanship of the antiquities that
have been discovered in them afford a fresh evidence of
the superior civilization which the Norwegians in and near
Dublin must, for a good while at least, have possessed in
comparison with the Irish. The antiquities hitherto spoken
of only prove, indeed, that the Norwegians and other
Northmen were superior to the Irish with regard to arms
// 356.png
.bn 356.png
and martial prowess. But there are other Norwegian
antiquities, originating in Ireland, and found both in and
out of that country, which also prove that the Danes and
Norwegians formerly settled there contributed, like their
kinsmen in England, by peaceful pursuits, to influence
very considerably the progress of civilization in Ireland.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s05
Section V.
.ce 2
Ancient Irish Christianity and Civilization.—Trade.—No Irish, but
Norwegian Coins.—Sigtryg Silkeskjæg.—Norwegian Coiners.
Centuries before the introduction of Christianity into the
Scandinavian North (in the tenth and eleventh centuries)—nay,
centuries before the actual commencement of the
Viking expeditions—the Irish people had been Christianized.
At a very early period numbers of churches and
convents were erected in Ireland, which was also celebrated
for its many holy men. It was a common saying that the
Irish soil was so holy that neither vipers, nor any other
poisonous reptiles, could exist upon it. Numerous priests
set out from Ireland as missionaries to the islands lying to
the west of Scotland; nay, they even went as far as the
Faroe Islands and Iceland, long before those islands had
been colonized. Thus, when the Northmen first discovered
Iceland (about the year 860), they found no population
there; but on “Papey,” in “Papyli,” and several
places in the east and south of the country, they found
traces of “Papar,” or Christian priests, who had left
behind them croziers, bells, and Irish books; whence
they perceived that these priests were “Westmen,” or
Irishmen; for just as the Irish called the Scandinavians
“Ostmen,” because their home lay to the east of Ireland,
so also did the Scandinavians call the Irish “Westmen.”
The most southern group of islands near Iceland is called
to the present day “Vestmannaeyjar” (the Westman Isles),
// 357.png
.bn 357.png
because, at the time of their colonization, a number of Irish
serfs, or Westmen, were put to death there for deceiving
their masters.
Not even the Norwegian expeditions into Ireland, and
the destruction of churches and convents by which they
were accompanied, were able to annihilate the influence of
the Irish clergy on the diffusion of Christianity in the north-western
part of Europe. Not only were the Norwegians
and Danes settled in Ireland and the rest of the Western
Isles soon converted from heathenism by Irish monks and
priests, but Christianity was communicated through these
converts to many of their Scandinavian countrymen, who
visited Ireland partly as Vikings and partly as merchants.
Thus the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvesön was baptized
by an abbot on the Sylling Isles near Ireland, or, as other
Sagas state, “to the west over in Ireland;” whence we may
probably conclude that the Sylling Isles are not, as was
before supposed, the Scilly Isles near England, but the
Skellig Isles on the south-west coast of Ireland, on one of
which there was at that time a celebrated abbey. At all
events, it is certain that Olaf Tryggvesön, during his long
abode with his brother-in-law, King Olaf Kvaran, in Dublin,
must, by his constant intercourse with the Irish
Christians, have been strengthened in his determination to
christianize Norway. Another proof of the influence of
Christianity in Ireland on the North is, that an Irish
princess, Sunneva, was at a later period worshipped as a
saint in Norway. Her body is alleged to have been
deposited in a large and handsome shrine over the high
altar in Christ Church, in Bergen, and on the 8th of July
the Norwegians celebrated an annual mass in her honour.
Even in Iceland there is a fiord, or firth, on the north-west
coast, called “Patreksfjorðr,” after St. Patrick, the
patron saint of Ireland.
As we have before stated, the commencements of a
national Irish literature were also developed among the
clergy at a very early period; which, together with the
// 358.png
.bn 358.png
numerous ecclesiastical buildings in Ireland, prove that
the Irish clergy of those times must have attained no mean
degree of civilization, and that with regard to education
they must, in certain respects, have been a great deal in
advance of the heathen Scandinavians. But not to speak
of the Icelandic literature—which developed itself in the
remotest North immediately after the heathen times, and
contemporaneously with the Norwegian dominion in Ireland,
and which both in form and substance was undoubtedly
far superior to the Irish—there is reason enough
to doubt whether the Irish people of that time, although
christianized, were really more educated or more advanced
in true civilization than the certainly too much decried
heathen Norwegians and their Scandinavian kinsmen.
It is true, indeed, that the Norwegian Vikings made their
way with fire and sword, that they destroyed a number of
churches and convents in Ireland, and that in this manner
they often occasioned the most violent intestine commotions,
which for a time, at least, could not but tend to hinder
the progressive development of Christian civilization. But
the Irish chronicles themselves teach us that the Christian
Irish acted precisely in the same manner at the same
period. In their mutual contentions they often burnt
ecclesiastical buildings, plundered the shrines of saints,
and maltreated the clergy, besides, as is well known, constantly
perpetrating amongst themselves the most horrible
butchery. Lastly, in Ireland, as in England, we must
certainly distinguish between the Vikings, who came to
the country for the sake of war and plunder, and the
colonists, whose aim it was to obtain a new home in Ireland.
The latter brought with them not only great skill
in the forging and management of arms, as well as in
building and navigating ships for expeditions, both of war
and trade, but likewise had their own runic writing; and
by the readiness with which they imbibed the newer
Christian civilization, soon acquired the ascendancy in the
most important Irish cities, so as to become perceptibly
// 359.png
.bn 359.png
enough, not only the equals, but the superiors of the
Irish.
What particularly warrants us in doubting the alleged
early and extensive civilization of the Irish, is the very
striking circumstance that, previously to the arrival of the
Norwegians, they do not appear to have carried on any very
great trade, or on the whole to have had any very extensive
intercourse with the rest of Europe. This appears
particularly from the fact that the Irish at that time (about
the year 800) had not yet minted any coins of their own;
although their Celtic neighbours in Britain and Gaul had
for centuries—that is, from about the birth of Christ—minted
a great number, mostly in imitation of Greek and
Roman coins. And though the Romans, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons,
after their conquests of France and England, had
made very considerable coinages in those countries, we do
not even find in Ireland any trace of the coins of these
neighbouring people being brought over the sea in any considerable
quantity before the period mentioned. Yet in
other countries, where the minting of coins also came late
into use—as, for instance, in the Scandinavian North—so
great a quantity of older foreign coins, together with all
sorts of foreign valuables, is continually dug up as to show
that even at a very early period active connections of trade
must have existed between the Northmen and more
southern nations. Neither Phenician nor Celtic coins
are known to have been found in Ireland, and discoveries
even of Roman and the more ancient Anglo-Saxon coins
are very rare.
That Ireland should have remained for so long a period
and to so great an extent unconnected with the neighbouring
nations, was undoubtedly caused partly by its
remote situation, partly by the indolence of the Irish and
the disinclination so general among the Celts to traverse
the sea, to which an old author (Giraldus Cambrensis) expressly
alludes. It must partly also be ascribed to the
peculiar hostile position which the Irish were obliged to
// 360.png
.bn 360.png
assume towards the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Franks;
since these people having gradually conquered the Celtic
countries, France and England, naturally only awaited a
favourable opportunity to make themselves masters of
Celtic Ireland also. According to this we might even,
perhaps, regard the isolation of Ireland as a necessary
system of self-defence adopted by the Irish.
But no sooner were the Norwegians and Danes settled in
the chief cities of Ireland, than Irish trade and navigation
obtained an extent and importance before unknown. An
active commerce was opened with England and Normandy
through the numerous and influential Scandinavian merchants
settled in those countries, as well as, of course,
with the mother countries of Scandinavia. In Ireland,
therefore, as well as in England, Arabian coins, minted in
countries near the Caspian Sea, are here and there found
buried, which have evidently been imported by Scandinavian
merchants. The Sagas mention regular trading
voyages to Ireland from Norway, and even from Iceland;
where there was, for instance, a man named Rafn, who
was commonly called Rafn Hlimreksfarer (Eng., Limerick
trader), on account of his regular voyages to Limerick
(Limerick being called by the old Northmen, Hlimrek).
The Sagas further mention, under the head of Ireland,
“Kaupmannaeyjar” (Eng., the merchant islands), probably
what are now called “Copeland Islands,” on the north-eastern
coast, where there may have been a sort of rendezvous
for the ships of Scandinavian merchants. The
Icelandic and Norwegian ships brought fish, hides, and
valuable furs to the English and Irish coasts; whence,
again, they carried home costly stuffs and clothes, corn,
honey, wine, and other products of the south.
These accounts of the old Northmen, respecting their
commerce in Ireland, are far from being unsupported. The
Welsh author, Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited Ireland
during the English conquest, whilst the Ostmen were
still living there in considerable numbers, says in plain
// 361.png
.bn 361.png
words that they had settled near the best harbours in
Ireland, where they built themselves towns, and that they
had by no means come to the country as enemies, but with
the design of carrying on a peaceful trade. He adds that
for this reason the Irish chiefs, who clearly saw the importance
and advantages of commercial connections with
other countries, had not at first in any way opposed the
establishment of these foreign towns in their country; but
that, after the Ostmen had very much increased, and after
their towns had become well fortified, the old dissensions
between them and the Irish revived.
In perfect accordance with this are the statements of
the Irish themselves respecting the many Scandinavian
merchants in the towns of the Ostmen. An old Irish
manuscript relating to the battle of Clontarf (“Cath
Chluana Tarbh”) states that, after the battle, “no Danes
were left in the kingdom, except such a number of artisans
and merchants in Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork, and
Limerick, as could be easily mastered at any time, should
they dare to rebel; and these King Brian very wisely permitted
to remain in these seaport towns, for the purpose of
encouraging trade and traffic, as they possessed many
ships, and were experienced sailors.” Duald Mac Firbis
also says in his chronicles that in his time (1650) “most
of the merchants in Dublin were the descendants of the
Norwegian-Irish king, Olaf Kvaran.”
That the Norwegians and Danes must really have possessed
themselves of the Irish trade, and given it a new
impulse, clearly appears from the circumstance that the
Norwegian kings in Ireland were the first who caused
coins to be minted there. One of these coins, which formerly
belonged to the Timm’s collection in Copenhagen,
but which is now in the collection of M. von Römer, in
Dresden, seems (according to the opinion of that distinguished
numismatologist C. J. Thomsen, of Copenhagen)
to have been minted by a Scandinavian king of Dublin, as
early as the eighth or ninth century. It is an imitation of
// 362.png
.bn 362.png
the ancient Merovingian coins, and has a remarkable
inscription on the obverse, half in runes and half in Latin
letters, but which can scarcely be read otherwise than
“Cunut u Dieflio,” or, Canute in Dublin.
.if h
.il fn=i_338.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Canute in Dublin
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Canute in Dublin]
.if-
The Old Northmen call Dublin “Dýflin,” whence the
surrounding district also obtained the name of “Dýflinarskiri,”
as appears in the Sagas. This legible inscription
encircles the bust of a royal warrior, clad in scale armour.
On the reverse are seen the letters ENAE, and under
them two figures, both turning their faces upwards in the
same direction, and each extending a very large hand,
whilst in their other hands, joined together, they hold a
ring, as if they were taking an oath on the holy ring.
They are, besides, represented as standing before, or sitting
on, an elevated platform (perhaps an altar?), under which
is a mark (∾) like the letter S placed on its side.
These figures probably contain an allusion to some treaty
concluded between an Irish king and the Scandinavian
king Canute.
By the kindness of Mr. C. F. Herbst, of Copenhagen,
I have been enabled to give a woodcut of this silver coin,
the only one of its kind, and never before copied. The
drawing was made from a cast taken in Dresden. If the
preceding explanation, which is certainly by no means far-fetched,
be the right one, we shall consequently have a
proof that other Scandinavian kings, besides Olaf the
White, the first-mentioned in the Sagas, reigned at a very
early period in Dublin, if only for a short time. But all
the rest of the Norwegian coins minted in Ireland are
of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries. They are of
silver, and undoubtedly coined in various towns of Ireland
besides Dublin, as in Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and
several other towns where the Ostmen had settled.
// 363.png
.bn 363.png
The most remarkable of all are the Dublin coins, especially
those with the legend “Sihtric rex Dyfl,” or, Sigtryg
king of Dublin. It is true that there were several kings
of Dublin of this name in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh
centuries; but the coins alluded to, to judge from the impressions,
all of which are imitations of contemporary
Anglo-Saxon dies, and especially of those of King
Ethelred the Second, must for the most part have belonged
to Sigtryg, surnamed “Silkbeard,” who reigned in
Dublin at the close of the tenth and beginning of the
eleventh century, and who was one of those who fought
the battle of Clontarf against Brian Boru. It is very
remarkable that on Sigtryg’s coins, as well as on several of
the Danish coins minted in the north of England, we find
not only the Latin title “Rex,” but also the Scandinavian
“Cununc” (king), as, for instance, on the annexed coin
(in Mr. C. F. Herbst’s collection), which has never before
been copied:—
.if h
.il fn=i_339.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Sigtryg King of Dublin
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Sigtryg King of Dublin]
.if-
On the obverse is the legend “Sihtric cunuic dyn,” or
Sigtryg king of Dublin; and on the reverse, “Byrhtmer
mo on Vin;” whence we see that the coiner had an Anglo-Saxon
name, and was certainly an Anglo-Saxon, particularly
since he is said to have been “on Vin,” that is, of Winchester.
Among the coiners’ names on the Norwegian-Irish
coins, we meet, indeed, with several Scandinavian
names, such as Stirbirn (Styrbjörn), Azcetel (Asketil),
Ivore (Ivar), Colbrand, Tole (Tule), and Oadin (Odin?);
whence we may reasonably conclude that the Norwegians in
Ireland soon learned to coin, and were not, therefore, always
compelled to avail themselves of foreign coiners. But
most of Sigtryg’s coiners were Anglo-Saxons; and not a
// 364.png
.bn 364.png
few of his coins are, like that above delineated, even struck
by coiners in England; as, for instance, in “Efrweec,” or
“Eofer (wick)” (York), “Veced” (Watchet, in Somersetshire),
“Vilt” (Wilton), “Vint” (Winchester), and “Luni”
(London). This admits of two explanations; either that
these comers at Sigtryg’s request minted coins for him, or
that Sigtryg, who at one time was driven from his kingdom,
resided in some at least of the above-named places, and
caused coins to be minted there(?). The origin of several
coins minted in Dublin about Sigtryg’s time by the Anglo-Saxon
king Ethelred the Second—as well as by the
Danish-English king Canute the Great, and which for the
most part are struck by the same Dublin coiner, Færemin,
who minted most of Sigtryg’s own coins—is involved in no
less obscurity. Although history is silent, we might be
almost tempted to believe that Ethelred and Canute were
acknowledged by Sigtryg as his liege lords, or that possibly
they ruled in Dublin for a short time; but in weighing
these probabilities it must be remembered that neither
Ethelred nor Canute calls himself on these coins king of
Dublin, but simply “Rex Anglorum,” or king of the
English.
The great number and variety in which Sigtryg’s coins
appear, and the comparatively good stamp that distinguishes
them from the rest of the Norwegian-Irish coins,
seem to show that the years of Sigtryg’s reign must have
been a period very favourable to Scandinavian trade and
power in Ireland. In later times the Norwegian-Irish
coins became worse, as the coiners did not confine themselves
to imitating coins of the older Norwegian-Irish
kings, and of the later English kings, Canute the Great,
Hardicanute, Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror,
and others, but even copied copies to such a
degree that the stamp and inscriptions of the original
coins were very frequently not to be recognised. Of the
coins current in Ireland in the last half of the eleventh,
and in the whole of the twelfth, century, pretty large
// 365.png
.bn 365.png
quantities have been dug up, both in and out of Ireland,
and particularly in the neighbouring Isle of Man.
It must, however, be regarded as very doubtful how far
this deterioration of the coins affords any reasonable confirmation
of the justness of the usual conviction among
the Irish, that after Sigtryg’s time, or rather after his
defeat in the battle of Clontarf, the power of the Norwegians
in Ireland was completely broken. For, in that
case, we might expect, among other things, that the victorious
Irish kings, during the long period of more than a
hundred and fifty years, which elapsed from the time of
the battle of Clontarf until the English conquest of Ireland,
would have minted their own coins. But during the
whole of this period there are very few coins that can
possibly be regarded as having been minted for native
Irish kings. For the rest, the whole of the coins minted
in Ireland, from the commencement of minting there (at
latest in 950) till the English conquest (1171), seem to
owe their existence exclusively to the kings and bishops of
the Ostmen, who ruled in the most important trading
towns of Ireland[#].
.fs 85%
.fn #
See #Appendix, No. II.:App-II#
.fn-
.fs 100%
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s06
Section VI.
.ce 3
The Battle of Clontarf.—Power of the Ostmen after the Battle.—Their
Churches and Bishops.—Their Land and Sea Forces.—The English
Conquest.—Remains of the Ostmen.—Their Importance for Ireland.
The cause of the battle of Clontarf, so celebrated in
song and legend, or, as it is called in the Sagas, “Briánsbardagi”
(Brian’s battle, after King Brian, who fell in it
in 1014), is not precisely known. All that we are acquainted
with is, that Brian, who was connected by very
close ties of relationship with the Norwegian royal family
in Dublin, had long availed himself of the assistance of
the Norwegians to subdue other Irish princes, until, at
// 366.png
.bn 366.png
length, after gaining victories in that manner, he came to
a rupture with King Sigtryg of Dublin. The prospects of
Sigtryg, and of the Norwegian power in Ireland, seem
really to have been threatening enough; at least it is said
that Scandinavian warriors hastened in numbers to Sigtryg’s
assistance from the Scandinavian kingdoms in England,
the Isle of Man, the Syder Isles, and Orkneys. From the
last, in particular, came Jarl Sigurd the Stout, with a
chosen force, in the midst of which waved a flag with the
image of Odin’s holy raven. Sigurd’s own mother had
woven this raven, which, with fluttering wings, had often
before led the warriors to victory and glory.
This time, however, the raven was checked in its flight.
After many of the standard bearers had been killed,
Sigurd Jarl himself took the flag from the staff, and
wrapt it about his body. He seemed to foresee, what
really happened shortly afterwards, that the raven-flag
would be his winding-sheet. The Norwegians were at
length forced to give way, even if the battle was not so
entirely lost as the exaggerated Irish accounts represent.
The Scandinavian auxiliaries withdrew to their ships, and
King Sigtryg retired with the remnant of his army to
Dublin.
But, as the Irish chronicles contain nothing about
Sigtryg and his men having been afterwards expelled
from Dublin, or about the Norwegian dominion there
having been entirely destroyed, we cannot conclude from
them that the power of the Ostmen in the rest of the
Irish cities was annihilated in consequence of Sigtryg’s
defeat in the battle of Clontarf. It would, besides, have
been singular enough if the power of the Norwegians in
Ireland had been perfectly destroyed so early as the year
1014, since it was just after that time that the Northmen
in the neighbouring countries acquired their greatest power
by means of their victories. Instead of the Norwegian
influence in Ireland having ceased, we not only find, long
after this battle, King Sigtryg of Dublin fighting bravely
// 367.png
.bn 367.png
with his Ostmen, though at times with varying fortune,
against several Irish kings and chiefs, but we further
behold the Ostmen displaying a very remarkable degree of
strength and independence in various places in Ireland.
About five-and-twenty years after the battle of Clontarf
(say the Irish chroniclers themselves), Sigtryg, king of the
Ostmen in Dublin, and Donat (Dunan), their bishop, built,
in the middle of that city, the church of the Holy Trinity,
also called Christ Church. That the Ostmen should then
have founded one of the principal churches of Dublin,
which even lay without their own town (Ostmantown), in
the very heart of ancient Dublin, is highly significant.
After the church was built, Bishop Donat presented several
relics to it, amongst which are mentioned “pieces of the
clothes of King Olaf the Saint.” The great respect in
which the name of the Norwegian Saint Olaf was held in
Dublin is also manifest from the circumstance that a
church consecrated to St. Olave, or, as the Irish common
people gradually corrupted the name, to “Tulloch” (compare
the name of Tooley Street in London, corrupted
from St. Olave Street), was to be found there till at least
far into the sixteenth century. This church adjoined the
northern end of Fishshamble Street, near Wood-Quay; but
originally, perhaps, it was just outside the city.
In the same year (1038) that Christ Church was, partly
through the exertions of Bishop Donat, erected in Dublin,
he likewise built the chapel of St. Michael. Half a
century later (1095) another “Ostman” built Saint Michan’s
Church in the “Ostmen’s” town in Dublin; and about the
same time the cathedral in Waterford, dedicated to the
Holy Trinity, was founded and erected by the Ostmen
there.
The “Ostmen” in Ireland thus possessed not only their
own churches, but likewise, as the Irish records also mention,
their own bishops, who were consecrated in England
by the archbishop of Canterbury; whilst the Irish bishops
were consecrated in Ireland itself by the Irish archbishop
// 368.png
.bn 368.png
of Armagh. The Dublin “Ostmen’s” first bishop Donat,
or Dunan, died in the year 1074, and was buried in
Christ Church, to the erection of which he had himself so
considerably contributed. After him, by desire of the
Dublin king Godred, or Godfred, another “Ostman,”
Patrick, was chosen bishop of the Ostmen in Dublin, but
perished by shipwreck on his voyage home from Canterbury
(1084). He was succeeded by the “Ostman” Donat O’Haingly
(+1095); whose cousin, Samuel O’Haingly,
previously a monk in the convent of St. Alban’s in England,
afterwards filled the see of the “Ostmen” in Dublin
until the year 1121. His successor, Gregorius, was the
first of these Ostmen’s bishops in Dublin who was made
archbishop. This probably arose from the circumstance of
the “Ostmen” in the other Irish towns having in the
meantime obtained bishops, who were now to have a
common superior in the Archbishop of Dublin. In the
year 1096 the “Ostmen” in Waterford are said to have
obtained a bishop, Malchus, who is stated to have been a
native of Ireland. In the year 1136 Waterford had an
“Ostman” named Toste (Tuistius, or Tostius) for its
bishop. A few years later (1140) Gille, or Gilbert, the
“Ostmen’s” bishop of Limerick, died; after whom the
“Ostmen” chose a certain Patrick. In the year 1151 the
“Ostman” Harald, bishop of Limerick, died, and was
succeeded by his countryman Thorgils (“Thorgesius”).
Twenty years previously (1131) the death of the “Ostman”
Everard, or Eberhard, abbot of the convent of St. Mary,
near Dublin, is mentioned; which confirms, what is indeed
almost a matter of course, that the Ostmen, who had their
own churches and bishops, must also have had their own
convents partly filled with Scandinavian monks and abbots.
At length, in the year 1161, Gregorius, archbishop of
Dublin, died; and from his time until the present Dublin
has constantly been the seat of one of Ireland’s principal
archbishops. But precisely because this archbishopric
was originally founded by Ostmen, or foreigners, the archbishop
// 369.png
.bn 369.png
of Dublin did not afterwards become the primate
of all Ireland, as, from the importance of Dublin,
we might otherwise have expected. That dignity, on the
contrary, has constantly been reserved for the genuine old
Irish archbishopric of Armagh, in the north-east of Ireland.
Even Gregorius’ successor in the archiepiscopal see
is said to have been consecrated in Dublin by the archbishop
of Armagh. It has lately been discovered (compare
P. Chalmers in the Journal of the Brit. Archæol. Assoc.,
Oct., 1850, p. 323, &c.) that these archbishops of Dublin
not only administered their own diocese, but, at least at
times, acted as superintendents of the Norwegian bishoprics
in the Isle of Man and the Sudreyjar. There is a
letter of Pope Honorius of the beginning of the thirteenth
century, from which it appears that the archbishop of
Dublin at that time consecrated a bishop of Man and the
Sudreyjar, a privilege which in more ancient times belonged
to the archbishops of York, and afterwards (from
1181 to 1334) to the archbishops of Trondhjem. It is
quite certain that this was a result of the lively intercourse
which undoubtedly took place between the successors of
the Ostmen in Ireland and their near kinsmen in the
Norwegian kingdoms in Man and the Sudreyjar.
It was, above all, a very fortunate circumstance for the
independence of the Irish Ostmen that such powerful
Norwegian kingdoms continued to exist on the west coast
of Scotland. From these they could usually obtain assistance
in their battles with the Irish; and by means of
them they also kept up a constant connection with their
Norwegian fatherland. That they were able to maintain
their peculiar independent position in Ireland for more
than a century after the Danish dominion in England had
ceased to exist, was clearly not so much owing to their
military skill and compact force, in comparison with the
internal dissensions and perfect want of union among the
Irish, as to the considerable wealth and power which they
constantly derived from their extensive trade and navigation,
// 370.png
.bn 370.png
and the influence which by such means they must
necessarily have exercised in Ireland. The Irish chronicles
and pedigrees teach us that friendly connections and
reciprocal marriages increased more and more between the
Irish and the Ostmen, both in Ireland and Norway, so that
the Irish aristocracy became mixed in a considerable
degree with Norwegian blood. We also learn from the
same documents that the Ostmen and their kings constantly
continued to ally themselves with Irish princes, whose
power they often essentially contributed to support. The
Irish king Konofögr gained a naval battle in Ulfreksfjord
against Einar, jarl of Orkney, because, as it is stated, the
Norwegian Viking, Eyvind Urarhorn, had joined the former
with his ships. When King Magnus Barfod of Norway
undertook his expedition to Ireland, he concluded an
alliance with Myrjartak, King of Connaught (O. N.,
“Kunnáktir”), whose daughter, Biadmynja, was married
to Magnus Barfod’s son Sigurd. But when Magnus fell
in Ulster (in 1103), Sigurd abandoned Biadmynja. Yet
the connections formed in Ireland by Magnus through this
expedition produced important results for Norway. An
Irishman named Harald Gille came forward and passed
himself off for a son of that monarch by an Irishwoman;
and after proving his descent by walking over red-hot iron,
actually became king of Norway, and left its throne as an
inheritance to his family.
The Ostmen settled in Dublin and other places in Ireland
were more and more induced to form connections
with native Irish princes, nay, even sometimes to submit
to them, as the support which they derived from their own
country continually decreased during the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. Shortly after the battle of Clontarf,
Christianity was introduced into the Scandinavian North,
and thus an end was put to the Vikings’ expeditions,
which had hitherto incessantly brought colonists and
auxiliary forces into Ireland. Even the reinforcements
which the Ostmen were able to obtain from their countrymen
// 371.png
.bn 371.png
in Man, the Sudreyjar, and the Orkneys, were naturally
not so important as before; since on these islands
also Christianity gradually annihilated the bold Viking
spirit of the people.
Under such circumstances it is surprising that Godfred
(or Godred) Merenagh, king of the Ostmen in Dublin, had
in the year 1095 a naval force of not fewer than ninety
ships in the harbour of Dublin; and that the land forces
of the Ostmen in that city were proportionately powerful.
The Irish chronicles mention many battles in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries in which the Dublin Ostmen brought
numerous warriors into the field, and in which they often
suffered very considerable loss, without, however, being
entirely annihilated or driven out of the town. Even in
the year 1167, and consequently a hundred and fifty years
after the battle of Clontarf, a great meeting of the Irish
people was held by Athboy of Tlactga, at which, the Irish
themselves say, thousands of the first Ostmen in Dublin
were present.
That this account is not exaggerated, and that the
number of Ostmen in Dublin, as well as in the other Irish
cities, was really very considerable at the close of the
twelfth century, is clearly shown by the notorious fact, that
when the English, under Earl Strongbow and Miles de
Cogan, obtained, in the years 1170 and 1171, a firm footing
in Ireland, the Ostmen in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork,
were able to offer a very powerful resistance. Respecting
the conquest of Dublin by the English we find the following
statement in the “Dublin Annals” (by O’Donovan):—
“The year 1170. The Danes of Dublin were treacherously
slaughtered in their own garrison by Mac
Morough and the English; and they carried away their
cattle and their riches. Asgal, the son of Reginald, king
of the Danes in Dublin, fled from them.
“1171. A battle was fought at Dublin, between Miles
de Cogan and Asgal, son of Reginald, king of the Danes
// 372.png
.bn 372.png
of Dublin. Many fell on both sides, both of the English
archers and of the Danes; among whom was Asgal himself,
and Hoan, a Dane from the Orkney Isles.”
On this occasion Asgal, or “Hasculph,” is said to have
returned to the city with sixty ships. His warriors, say
the chronicles, were accoutred, according to the usual custom
of the Danes, in armour and coats of mail, and had
red circular shields bound with iron. But though these
men were “just as steeled in soul as in arms” (homines
tam animis ferrei quam armis), and though, as well as their
brethern in Limerick and Cork, they fought the fight of
desperation in defence of their property and liberties, yet
they were not able to withstand the English. Thus these
new conquerors succeeded in annihilating the dominion of
the Ostmen in Ireland, or rather in the most important
cities of that country, after it had lasted above three
hundred years.
Nevertheless we must not believe that the Ostmen were
even now wholly expelled from Ireland, or that their influence
there was entirely at an end. After the taking of
Dublin by the English, so many Ostmen still remained in
the city that “the Galls of Dublin” continued to have
their own separate army, which even seems to have acted
pretty independently of the English conquerors. An
Irish chronicle (Annals of the Four Masters) states that
Mulrony O’Keary, Lord of Carbury, was treacherously
slain by the “Dublin Ostmen” in the year 1174, and
consequently some years after the taking of Dublin. In
the same year the English themselves were forced to
obtain the assistance of the “Dublin Ostmen” against
the Irish; and it is expressly stated that in a subsequent
attack of the Irish on this united Anglo-Norwegian
army not far from Dublin, there fell no fewer than “four
hundred Ostmen.” The contemporary author, Giraldus
Cambrensis, to whom we owe this account, also speaks of
the Ostmen, after the conquest of Ireland, as a peculiar and
// 373.png
.bn 373.png
decidedly separate people, who carried on trade and
navigation (“gens igitur hæc, quæ nunc Ostmannica
gens vocatur,” &c).
Even more than a century afterwards we can still trace
many Ostmen in the chief cities of Ireland, where, it
seems, they continued to preserve those Scandinavian
characteristics which distinguished them from the Irish
and English. In the year 1201 a verdict was pronounced
by twelve Irishmen, twelve Englishmen, and twelve
Ostmen in Limerick, concerning the lands, churches, and
other property belonging to the church of Limerick; which
shows that the Ostmen were sufficiently numerous there
to be placed on an equal footing with the English and
Irish. There is in the Tower of London a document of
the year 1283, issued by the English king Edward I.,
ordering that the Ostmen in Waterford (“Custumanni,”
Oustumanni, Austumanni?) should, pursuant to King
Henry the Second’s ordinance, have, and be judged by,
the same laws as the English settled in Ireland, which
clearly indicates that the Ostmen at that time still formed
a distinct and separate people. We might almost believe
that the Ostmen in Waterford had even refused to observe
the English laws, or that at least there was a doubt
how far these laws could be applied to them; since King
Edward found it necessary to enforce Henry the Second’s
ordinance, and to enjoin his chief justice and magistrates
in Ireland that the three men named in the document
should, “like other Ostmen in Waterford,” be judged, and
as far as possible (“quantum in vobis est”), punished,
according to the laws in force for Englishmen in Ireland.
(See the Latin document in the Appendix.) The striking
historical account that in the year 1263 the Irish applied
to the Norwegian king Hakon Hakonsön, then lying with
his fleet on the south-west coast of Scotland, for assistance
against the English, will now no longer be inexplicable
or improbable; for it is placed beyond all doubt that
amongst the Irish who thus in vain implored King Hakon
// 374.png
.bn 374.png
for help, there must have been a number of the Ostmen
still living in Ireland, who naturally continued to maintain
a connection with their countrymen in the Norwegian
kingdoms on the south-west coast of Scotland, until these
kingdoms also were destroyed in the middle ages.
But from this time forward the “Ostmen” do not play
any prominent part in the history of Ireland. Their political
independence was annihilated; and their national characteristics
were not sufficiently supported by fresh arrivals
from the mother-country, to enable them in the long run
to maintain a distinct position in face of the rapidly advancing
English nationality. Their descendants continued,
nevertheless, to dwell in Ireland; where they gradually became
amalgamated partly with the English conquerors and
partly with the native Irish. The Irish chronicles point
out various clans in Ireland which were either of Norwegian
descent, or at all events had been much mixed
with Norwegian blood. In the annals and pedigrees of
the middle ages we also meet with both laymen and clergy
in Ireland bearing Scandinavian names. For instance, in
Christ Church in Dublin, built by the Norwegians, canons
and monks are spoken of in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries called “Harrold,” “Olof,” “Siwird” (Sivard),
“Regenald,” (Ragnvald) “Iwyr,” &c., names entirely
unknown in Ireland previously to the arrival of the Norwegians.
The often-mentioned Irish chronicler makes use
of a highly remarkable expression. In stating that most
of the merchants’ families in Dublin in his time (about
the year 1650) were descendants of the Norwegian-Irish
king Olaf Kvaran, by Brian Boroihma’s (Boru’s) daughter
Save, he adds: “and the descendants of that Amlave
Cuaran are still in Dublin opposing the Gadelians of
Erinn:” whence we clearly see that national distinctions
and national disputes between the descendants of the
Irish and of the Norwegians, were still very prominent only
two hundred years ago, or full six hundred years after the
battle of Clontarf (1014).
// 375.png
.bn 375.png
Even to the present day we can follow, particularly in
Leinster, the last traces of the Ostmen through a similar
series of peculiar family names, which are by no means
Irish, but clearly original Norwegian names; for instance,
Mac Hitteric or Shiteric (son of Sigtryg), O’Bruadair
(son of Broder), Mac Ragnall (son of Ragnvald), Roailb
(Rolf), Auleev (Olaf), Mánus (Magnus), and others. It is
even asserted that among the families of the Dublin merchants
are still to be found descendants of the old Norwegian
merchants formerly so numerous in that city.
The names of families adduced in confirmation of this, as
Harrold (Harald), Iver (Ivar), Cotter or Mac Otter (Ottar),
and others, which are genuine Norwegian names, corroborate
the assertion that Norwegian families appear to
have propagated themselves uninterruptedly in Dublin
down to our times, as living evidences of the dominion
which their forefathers once exercised there.
It is thus satisfactorily proved, by notorious facts of the
most various kinds, that for more than three hundred years
the Norwegians lived according to their own manners and
customs, and under their own bishops and kings, in the
most important towns of Ireland, which they in part ruled,
down to the time of the English conquest (1170); that
they were the first who minted coins, and carried on any
considerable trade and navigation in Ireland; and lastly,
that great numbers of their descendants continued to reside
in that country even after it had long been conquered by
the English. No impartial person, therefore, will be able any
longer to deny that the settlements of the Ostmen, although
commenced by the frequent demolition of churches
and convents, were ultimately in the most essential matters
particularly fortunate for Ireland; since, by introducing
trade and navigation to an extent before unknown, they
opened for that sequestered country channels of animated
communication and intercourse with the rest of Europe
and its continually advancing civilization. The Irish towns
occupied by the Ostmen, which have continued to be the
// 376.png
.bn 376.png
principal depots for foreign merchandise, and consequently
also the central points of intercourse with foreign countries,
may with justice be said to be indebted chiefly to that
people for their present greatness, wealth, and power.
Nor, on a larger historical survey, will it appear less
evident that, as the Norwegians first opened the way for
peaceful connections between Ireland and the rest of
Europe, so they also facilitated the English conquest.
In consequence both of their frequent wars, and of their
frequent alliances with Irish kings, party feeling had rather
increased than diminished among the Irish chiefs; whilst
numerous Irish families, even the greatest in the land,
had by degrees become so much mixed with Norwegian
blood, that the strength of the Irish as a nation was not a
little weakened and divided. This was particularly the
case in those districts of the east coast of Ireland where
the English or Norman power afterwards obtained its chief
seat. Add to this that the Irish, through the long dominion
of the Norwegians in their chief towns, and the
advantages which they reaped from it, had become more
and more accustomed to behold with indifference the sway
of strangers in their country; a circumstance which contributed
to the powerful support given to the English on
their first invasion of Ireland by several of the native
chiefs.
It may possibly be said that the Norwegians in Ireland,
by thus preparing the way for the Norman or English
conquest, rendered a far greater service to England than
to subjugated Ireland. But all the chronicles, it must be
recollected, bear witness that the Irish were neither strong
enough to govern their own country independently, nor
capable of keeping pace with the advance of European
civilization by means of an active commerce. We have
seen that even in later times the same baleful and sanguinary
spirit of dissension which weakened Ireland in ancient
days is yet scarcely extinct among the original Irish race.
It is manifest, therefore, that Ireland, which would otherwise
// 377.png
.bn 377.png
have been divided from the rest of Europe, and devastated
by terrible intestine contentions, has been much
benefited by being united to so great and powerful a
country as England, which has both the ability and the
will to promote the true welfare of the Irish people. England
will, by degrees, employ the great advantages afforded
by the excellent soil and situation of Ireland, and thus
conduct that country, torn as it is by all possible distresses
and misfortunes, to a happier existence.
.hr 15%
.h3 id=norire-s07
Section VII.
.ce 2
Conclusion.—Warlike and Peaceful Colonizations.—Resemblances and
Differences.—Before and Now.
Denmark and Norway, as is known, are not distinguished
by any remarkable extent of fertile and densely-populated
country. The whole population in both those kingdoms
does not at present amount to three millions; and in
ancient times it scarcely seems to have been greater, even
when the southern portion of the present kingdom of
Sweden still belonged to Denmark.
Nevertheless, Denmark and Norway were able, in ancient
times, to send forth great multitudes of people to
other countries. Not only were Greenland, Iceland, the
Shetland Isles, the Orkneys, and Faroe Isles, colonized
from Norway, but also considerable districts in Scotland
and Ireland. Many Norwegians, moreover, settled in
England and Normandy. At the same time Danes emigrated
in great numbers to Normandy, North Holland,
and especially England, where they colonized, we may say,
the whole of the extensive district to the north of Watlinga-Stræt,
or almost half England.
We are not informed that Denmark and Norway were
emptied of their population in consequence of these great
emigrations, or even that there was any sensible want of
// 378.png
.bn 378.png
inhabitants to supply agricultural labourers and soldiers.
In the immediately following centuries Denmark was
powerful enough to make the Baltic a Danish lake. We
can hardly, therefore, assume, like the monkish chronicles
of antiquity, which naturally breathe both fear and hatred
of the Scandinavian heathens, that the Norwegians and
Danes were merely barbarous Vikings, who procured
themselves a footing in the western countries only through
brute force. On such grounds we should be perfectly
unable to explain satisfactorily how Denmark and Norway,
with a proportionately small population, should have been
able (without becoming too depopulated) to send out at
once such a host of people as were evidently required to
take possession, by force of arms, of those rich western
lands, and also, it must be observed, to maintain their
conquests for centuries. If, instead of blindly following
these partial and prejudiced chroniclers, we adhere to what
the traces of the nature and importance of the Scandinavian
emigrations clearly prove, namely, that from the
eighth to the twelfth century, and contemporary with the
destructive Viking expeditions, peaceful emigrations from
the North constantly took place—which, in reality, were
just as effective, perhaps even more so, than the purely
warlike expeditions of conquest—this matter will be placed
in a far more probable and intelligible point of view. As
we have seen, sagacity and the arts of peace, together with
navigation and trade, in no slight degree assisted the
Danes and Norwegians to procure a footing in the British
Islands, and especially in England and Ireland. By
perseverance and ability in the occupations of peace as
well as war, they were soon enabled to gain the ascendancy
in the most important seaport towns; whence, by means
of various connections of trade, friendship, and family
alliances, they extended their influence and dominion
over the adjacent towns and districts. They gradually
multiplied themselves, and were joined by fresh immigrants;
and thus the foundations were almost imperceptibly
// 379.png
.bn 379.png
laid of Scandinavian colonies, which awaited only the
coming of some bold military adventurer to appear as independent,
nay, even as dominant states. The great warriors
to whom history assigns the honour of the conquests in
England and Ireland—and, we may also add, Normandy—would
scarcely have been able to obtain them with the
generally inferior numbers under their command, had not
the Scandinavian merchants, and other peaceful colonists,
both opened the way for them, and afterwards supported
the conquests they had achieved. It is, on the whole,
obvious that the ancient Northmen possessed a very great
talent for colonization, which their kinsmen, the English
of modern times, seem to have inherited from them.
But as the Scandinavian colonies in the British Islands
varied greatly in importance, so also must the effects
which they produced have been somewhat different. In
Ireland, as well as in Scotland, where the Norwegians
met with tribes who, in spite of their apparent Christianity,
stood rather below them in civilization, they kept
themselves more apart from the natives. In Ireland, especially,
they dwelt in their own strongly-fortified towns;
where, until late in the middle ages, they maintained
their own characteristic language, manners, customs, and
laws. But in consequence of this, their Norwegian institutions
had no real influence on the development of the
national life or institutions of Ireland. At most they
merely contributed to facilitate the introduction and establishment
of the analogous Anglo-Norman institutions
into the Irish cities. In England, on the contrary, where
the Scandinavian colonies were far more numerous and
powerful than in Scotland and Ireland, the Danish colonists
certainly sought, after the Scandinavian fashion, to
maintain in the midst of a foreign country their pure
Danish laws, manners, and customs. Yet here the Danes,
owing to the superior civilization which prevailed among
the earlier Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of England, were soon
influenced by their language and culture, and became more
// 380.png
.bn 380.png
and more amalgamated with them. Nevertheless the
Danes in England were sufficiently numerous and independent
to maintain the most important of their free Scandinavian
characteristics, which coalesced with, and by
degrees visibly impressed themselves upon, the more
modern English manners and institutions.
The Danish colonies in England, and the Norwegian
colonies in Scotland and Ireland, had so far the same historical
importance that they essentially conduced to found
a new life, both externally and internally, in the British
Islands, partly by extending trade and navigation, partly
by subduing, or at least weakening, the power of the Anglo-Saxons,
the Scotch, and the Irish, and thus in general
preparing for a kindred race (the Normans) the dominion
over all these people. It is well known that the
Norman sway and the Norman spirit established themselves
in Scotland and Ireland far later than in England—a
circumstance chiefly owing to the conquests and settlements
of the Norwegians in those countries having been
far less extensive and important than the Danish conquests
in England. Yet that the Danish-Norman spirit
predominating in England has been able to maintain to
our times its dominion in Scotland and Ireland also, is no
slight evidence of the excellent and solid manner in which
the Norwegians must originally have prepared the way.
I have shown that the memorials of the great exploits
performed by the Danes and Norwegians in the British
Islands still appear as fresh and vivid as if they were of
modern date. In this respect, the national pride of those
nations will find complete gratification. Still, however, it
is possible that a general view of the mighty achievements
of the ancient Northmen in the western lands may awaken
mingled feelings in many a Scandinavian of the present
day. The thought may involuntarily arise in him of what
the North was, when its victorious fleets appeared in the
north, south, east, and west, and when Scandinavians exercised
dominion far and wide, and what it is now—confined
// 381.png
.bn 381.png
within narrow boundaries, menaced from many quarters,
and without any preponderating influence on the state of
Europe. Beyond the precincts of the North, he will no
longer hear his native language, which in former times frequently
resounded on foreign shores. The North was forced
to shed some of its best and noblest blood; and yet the
Northman must now be content, if he can succeed in
tracing out, by means of a few words in the popular language,
by the names of towns and districts, or by half-erased
runic inscriptions on bauta stones, where it was
that the “Danish tongue” once prevailed, and where the
barrows still rise which cover the race that spoke it.
But such morbid complaints will necessarily vanish
when the Scandinavian considers how vividly the ancient
power of his race has again displayed itself to the world,
and how mighty have been the results of the Norman
expeditions; but especially when he ponders on the notorious
fact, that the North sent out the flower of its youth
and strength, not merely to destroy and plunder, but
rather to lay the foundations of a fresher life in the
western lands, and thus to impart a new and powerful impulse
to human civilization. In our times, besides, it is
not chiefly in conquests and the lustre of external greatness
that the true happiness and glory of a nation should
be sought.
A people, which, like the Scandinavian, have preserved—together
with the memorials of former great
achievements, and of conquests bringing blessings in their
train—enough of the character and courage of their forefathers,
not only to maintain the freedom and independence
of their country, but also, in comparison with other
nations, an honourable place in science and art, cannot
justly be said to want either glory or happiness.
// 382.png
.bn 382.png
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=App-I
APPENDIX I.
.hr 15%
.ce
DOCUMENT OF EDWARD I., OF THE YEAR 1283,
.ce
CONCERNING THE OSTMEN IN WATERFORD AND IRELAND.
.ce 2
(From a Register in the Tower of London; Patent Roll II. Edward I.
Memb. 9. Communicated by Mr. Duffus Hardy.)
“Pro Custumannis[#] Waterfordi in Hibernia. Rex Justiciario
suo Hibernie et omnibus aliis Ballivis et fidelibus suis Hibernie
ad quos, &c., salutem. Quia per inspeccionem carte Domini
Henrici Regis, filii Imperatricis, quondam Domini Hibernie
preavi nostri, nobis constat quod Custumanni nostri Waterford
legem Anglicorum in Hibernia habere et secundum ipsam
legem judicari et deduci debent. Vobis mandamus quod Gillecrist
Makgillemory, William Makgillemory, et Johannem
Makgillemory, et alios Custumannos de Civitate et Communitate
Waterford, qui de predictis Custumannis predicti domini
regis preavi nostri originem duxerunt legem Anglicorum in
partibus illis juxta tenorem carte predicte habere et eos
secundum ipsam legem quantum in vobis est deduci faciatis,
donec aluid de consilio nostro inde duximus ordinandum. In
cujus, &c. ... v. die Octobr.”
.fs 85%
.fn #
This is undoubtedly an old fault in the way of writing or reading
for “Oustumannis,” “Austumannis.” That the word is at all events
meant to signify the Ostmen is also assumed in Sir John Davies’
“Reports” (fol. 236).
.fn-
.fs 100%
.hr 15%
.sp 4
.h2 id=App-II
APPENDIX II.
.hr 15%
.ce
COINAGE OF THE NORWEGIANS IN DUBLIN.
.ce
(See page 338.)
While this work was going through the press, a silver coin,
forming an entirely new and highly remarkable contribution
// 383.png
.bn 383.png
to our knowledge of the early Norwegian coinage in the capital
of Ireland, was discovered among the collection bequeathed
by the late Mr. Devegge to the Royal Cabinet of Coins in
Copenhagen. It is represented in the annexed woodcut.
.if h
.il fn=i_359.jpg w=500px
.ca [#++:TN2#] Coin: Olaf in Dublin.
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: [#++:TN2#] Coin: Olaf in Dublin.]
.if-
The legend on the obverse is “Oolaf i divielin,” or “Olaf
in Dublin.” That on the reverse almost seems to be “Oolafn
me feci(t),” or “Olaf made me;” in which case the coiner must
have had the same Scandinavian name as the king. However
this may be, it is clear enough that the coin owes its origin to
a Norwegian or Scandinavian king Olaf in Dublin; and, as
the stamp shows, it must have been struck in the tenth century.
It thus forms a link between the runic coin of Canute
in Dublin, and the somewhat later coins of Sigtryg, before
described. (See p. 338, et seq.)
A great number of coins have been mentioned as minted in
Ireland by Scandinavian kings named Olaf; but that above
delineated is in reality the first, and, as far as is known, the
only one on which we can with certainty read “Olaf in
Dublin.”
Kings of that name are mentioned in the Irish chronicles in
the years 853, 934, 954, 962, &c. (See the list of Norwegian
Kings in Ireland, p. 317.)
.sp 4
.hr 60%
.ce
G. Woodfall & Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street.
// 384.png
.bn 384.png
// 385.png
.bn 385.png
.pb
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.nf r
50, Albemarle Street, London.
April, 1852.
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MR. MURRAY’S
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WATT (James); an Historical Eloge. By M. Arago.
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.it Transcriber’s Notes:
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.it [++] indicates a caption added by the transcriber. \
(e.g. [Illustration: [++] COIN: CNUT.])
.it Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
.it Unbalanced quotation marks were left as the author intended.
.it Typographical errors were silently corrected.
.it A few words, which are hyphenated in the body of the book, \
are not hyphenated in chapter headings to avoid confusion.
.it Spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a \
predominant form was found in this book.
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