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•KlCi-fr-CT0! , Xit- S»cs fS) hcyi'* SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY FOURTH SERIES VOLUME 4 The Court Books of Orkney and Shetland The Earl's Palace, Kirkwall, Orkney Scalloway Castle, Shetland THE COURT BOOKS OF Orkney and Shedand 1614-1615 transcribed and edited by Robert S. Barclay B.SC., PH.D., F.R.S.E. EDINBURGH printed for the Scottish History Society by T. AND A. CONSTABLE LTD I967 Scottish History Society 1967 ^iG^Feg ^ :968^ Printed in Great Britain PREFACE My warmest thanks are due to Mr John Imrie, Curator of Historical Records, H.M. General Register House, and to Professor Gordon Donaldson of the Department of Scottish History, Edinburgh University, for their scholarly advice so freely given, and for their unfailing courtesy. R.S.B. Edinburgh June, 1967 : A generous contribution from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland towards the cost of producing this volume is gratefully acknowledged by the Council of the Society CONTENTS Preface page v INTRODUCTION page xi The Northern Court Books — The Court Books described Editing the transcript - The historical setting The scope of the Court Books THE COURT BOOK OF THE BISHOPRIC OF ORKNEY 1614- 1615 page 1 THE COURT BOOK OF ORKNEY 1615 page 11 THE COURT BOOK OF SHETLAND 1615 page 57 Glossary page 123 Index page 129 03 ILLUSTRATIONS The Earl’s Palace, Kirkwall, Orkney Scalloway Castle, Shetland Crown copyright photographs reproduced by permission of Ministry of PubUc Building and Works frontispiece Facsimile from Court Book of Orkney, folio 49V. page 121 m INTRODUCTION THE NORTHERN COURT BOOKS This is the third volume printed in recent years of proceedings in the sheriff courts of Orkney and Shetland in the early decades of the seventeenth century. The first was The Court Book of Shetland 1602-1604, edited by Professor Gordon Donaldson and issued by the Scottish Record Society in 1954; next came The Court Book of Orkney and Shetland 1612-1613, edited and published by the present writer through the medium of the Kirkwall Press in 1962; and the volume now produced, for the years 1614 and 1615, completes the trilogy. The sheriff court in Scotland dates back to the twelfth cen- tury; and the older sheriff court records are of considerable interest and importance, particularly in the field of local history. Of those which have survived, the earliest in a reasonably con- tinuous form are the court records of Aberdeen beginning in 1503. For Orkney and Shetland, the earliest extant sheriff court records of length appear 100 years later. They are in the custody of the Keeper of the Records of Scotland in H.M. General Register House at Edinburgh, and include the following manu- scripts : The Court Book of Shetland 1602-1604 The Court Book of Orkney and Shetland 1612-16131 The Court Book of Shetland 1615-1628 The Court Book of Orkney 1615-16301 1 These two manuscripts are bound together and labelled ‘Sheriff Court Book Orkney and Zetland 1612-1630’. xii COURT BOOKS OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND The Court Book of Orkney 1630-16431 The Court Book of the Bishopric of Orkney 1614-1638 Although the Court Book of Shetland for 1602 to 1604 is grouped for convenience with the sheriff court records - the chief magistrate styled himself sheriff principal - the book is, in the main, an account of proceedings as conducted by the ancient law officials of Shetland. It is the oldest volume of Shet- land record that has survived. The second manuscript, the Court Book of Orkney and Shetland for 1612 and 1613, is in some respects a sequel to the preceding record for Shetland. It is the earliest Orkney court book known to exist. The account of proceedings in the island courts is continued in the Court Book of Shetland 1615-1628 and in the three Orkney court books for the period 1614 to 1643. (The Court Book of the Bishopric relates to those parishes which, from 1614 onwards, constituted the bishopric territory.) The present work comprises the material for 1614 and 1615 contained in those manuscripts. The book is in three parts, and consists of: (1) a small section of the Court Book of the Bishopric of Orkney (folios i-4r), dating from 15 November 1614 to 21 December 1615; (2) a section of the Court Book of Orkney 1615-1630 (folios i-3r and 43-55), dated 5 May to 20 December 1615; and (3)2 section of the Court Book of Shetland 1615-1628 (folios 1-20), dated 22 June to 9 October 1615. The great bulk of the records, from 1616 to 1643, remain to be explored. Their publication (in calendar form, it is sug- gested) would be a valuable contribution to northern history. Extracts from the Orkney and Shetland court books were published in the nineteenth century-in The Diary of the Reverend John Mill (printed by the Scottish History Society, 1 This volume is labelled‘Sheriff Court Book Orkney and Zetland 1630-1643, 1648’; but it relates almost solely to Orkney. INTRODUCTION Xlll 1889), in George Barry’s History of the Orkney Islands (1805, 1808, 1867), in Alexander Peterkin’s Notes on Orkney and Zetland (1822), and in the Miscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. ii (1840). The last-named work includes (with various flaws in transcription) the trial for witchcraft and the ‘country acts’ of Orkney and Shetland printed in the present volume.1 Barry’s History, 1805 and 1808, contains the country acts of Orkney rendered, from an imperfect copy, into English - as distinct from the vernacular of the text.2 The edition of 1867 reproduces the Maitland Club transcripts relating to Orkney. Sheriff court records are now kept either in the Scottish Record Office, in Register House, or with the local sheriff clerks; and it is not known when or under what circumstances the Orkney and Shetland court books were removed from the islands and came to be lodged in Edinburgh. With the possible exception of the Court Book of the Bishopric, they were cer- tainly in the General Register House in 1840 when extracts from them were printed by the Maitland Club; and the first volume in the series, the Court Book of Shetland 1602-1604, is men- tioned by Peterkin as being kept at the Register House in 1822. THE COURT BOOKS DESCRIBED The six court books now in the Scottish Record Office, extend- ing among them through eighteen hundred pages, have been arranged and bound into five volumes. This has been effected by assembling the Court Book of 1612-1613 and the Court Book of Orkney for 1615 to 1630 within the same cover. In the combined volume, the first five folios pertain to 1615 and 1 See below, pp. 18-20, 25-34, 62-72. 2 As examples: kirk becomes church, And fra qm they coft the samen is rendered from whom he bought the same. xiv COURT BOOKS OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND later years; next in order are the 37 folios of the Court Book of Orkney and Shetland 1612-1613; and these are followed by about 200 folios for the period 1615 to 1630. The composite volume bears the title ‘Sheriff Court Book Orkney and Zetland 1612-1630’. The folios of the Court Book for 1612 and 1613 are numbered 1 to 37, at the top-right corners - and also 6 to 41, at the top-left corners. The second sequence (in which one folio has been overlooked) is relevant to the book as part of the combined volume. The five volumes measure about twelve inches in height by eight in width, and vary in thickness. Each is contained in stiff covers, with a half-binding in brown morocco and with brown cloth on the sides. There are five raised bands and gold lettering on the spine, and double head-bands. The spine panels are plain. The style of the bindings indicates that all have been executed in the Register House at various times within the last 100 years. The manuscripts are on paper and are reasonably well pre- served, though the folios exhibit a wide range in their general condition and appearance. They are for the most part intact, but not a few are frayed at the edges and corners; and while some are near-white after three and a half centuries, many are discoloured or stained. There are signs of exposure in the past to damp. There is a margin at the left-hand side and at the bottom of each page; at the right-hand side there is usually none, with the result that the end of a word is at times obscured in the binding or lost through fraying and trimming. The titles to the numerous acts and proceedings are all written in the margins. Several distinctive watermarks can be discerned. One of these, in the form of a thistle surmounted with a crown, having the characters R zndAR beneath, is said to have been a device of the INTRODUCTION XV first paper-mill in Scotland, that of Peter Heare.1 The letters refer to the sovereign and his queen, James vi and Anne of Denmark. The script of 1614-15 is in the legal style typical of the period in Scotland, and similar to that found in central court records such as the Acts and Decreets of the Court of Session. It is akin to the Elizabethan secretary hand in contemporary English records. The quality of the writing varies noticeably. Portions of the script now printed are extremely legible, but here and there the hand deteriorates. In places, too, the ink has faded, and in some folios (in the Court Book of Orkney) it has soaked through, so that the words on both sides are visible at once in a confused pattern.