Vikings Started Late in the 8 Integration Took Place
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VIKING ORKNEY - S ETTLEMENT TO 1100 HISTORY & A RCHAEOLOGY m u The westward expansion of the and virtually total, and that no e s th u Vikings started late in the 8 integration took place. The M y e century and, apart from popula - attractiveness of Orkney as a n k r tion and other pressures, was Viking base, due to position and O made possible by technology. natural resources, must have The development of large been overwhelming, and the ocean-going sailing ships, com - Pictish people, leaders, church - bined with a knowledge of sea - men and ordinary people either manship and navigation, which fled or were slaughtered. could reliably transport people, livestock and goods for long dis - There was a short but violent tances, allowed them an ascen - period of Viking migration at dancy over other coastal the end of the 8 th century. Brough of Birsay - Norse church Europeans for several centuries. Orkney and Shetland were seized from the Picts, followed them. If they were few and fled, Orkney made an obvious base much of the far north of they took their land without fight - It also seems that the Vikings for these seafaring people, in a Scotland and Hebrides. Once ing. They did, in fact, exactly had mastered several other time when there was no quick power was established there fol - what we ourselves have done in important things such as (slight - land transport. While contact lowed a further influx of settlers later centuries, in India, America, ly) improved domestic hygiene may already have been going on such that Norse culture and lan - Africa, Australia. That is the only and midwifery, as well as being for some time before the main guage totally replaced Pictish. way in which we can settle a new good blacksmiths, joiners, farm - influx, it now seems that the land-chance your luck, but always ers, shipbuilders and seamen. Norse takeover was abrupt and Historia Norwegiae This is well bring your gun.” Clearly many were also good complete. The Picts simply dis - stated in Historia Norwegiae , men-at-arms, but this was prob - appear. Existing settlements written in the 11 th or 12 th centu - Most of our knowledge of the ably only one aspect of their Whalebone plaque from boat burial, Scar, Sanday were taken over by the Vikings , ry about the Picts that they “did Vikings comes from the sagas, power. Above all they were VIKINGS For six hundred west coast of Scotland, the Isle who may even have reused some marvels in the morning and in the which describe the feuds of great years Orkney was dominated by of Man, Caithness and Pictish pots and other house - evening, in building towns, but at families and the deeds of great the Norse, initially invaders and Sutherland. Orcadians today hold items. Soon the invaders mid-day they entirely lost all their men, but do not give much then settlers from Western remain proud of their Norse imposed their own farming style strength, and lurked, through fear, detail of more mundane events Norway, who rapidly colonised heritage and, though British, and land-holding patterns, in underground houses'” It goes or conditions. There was a cli - the islands and then went on to maintain their historic links which are preserved as farm on to say “But in due course…cer - matic improvement during the build the Earldom which at its with Norway. names and parishes to this day. tain pirates…set out with a great Viking era which greatly aided peak controlled much of the fleet…and stripped these races of westward expansion, the devel - Recent excavations have sug - their ancient settlements, destroyed opment of more advanced agri - Lower guard and tang of sword Scar boat burial , Sanday gested that there may have been them wholly, and subdued the culture and population growth. Linen smoother m u a considerable Pictish popula - islands to themselves.” Man’s comb found at Scar boat burial , Sanday - dates to AD850-925 e s u m tion in Orkney at the time of the u M e s y th th u e Viking migrations in the 8 cen - The early 20 century Orcadian n M k r y tury and there have been sugges - historian, Storer Clouston, had e O n k tions that the Norse colonisa - no illusions about what hap - r tion may have been peaceful. pened, “Surely the common-sense O However, there is scant evidence of the matter …is evident. The supporting this idea. first Norsemen....proposed to settle in these islands, whether the exist - Very few pre-Norse placenames ing inhabitants liked it or not. and other words have survived They brought their swords, and if suggesting that the Norse politi - the inhabitants were numerous cal takeover must have been fast and offered resistance, they fought 108 109 VIKING ORKNEY - S ETTLEMENT TO 1100 HISTORY & A RCHAEOLOGY Harald Harfargi (Fairhair), who by burning him alive in his set out West over Sea to deal house in Norway. He then with the Orkney Vikings who carved the blood eagle on kept making raids on Norway. Halfdan’s back, “Einar had his During his time it was united as ribs cut from the spine with a one kingdom (in 892AD), and sword and the lungs pulled out the lands West over Sea of through the slits in his back. He Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides dedicated the victim to Odin as a and Man came under his rule. victory offering” Earl Rognvald of More was Thorfinn Skull-Splitter , said to Norse boat-burial excavation at Westness, Rousay made Earl of Orkney, but he be buried in the Howe of Hoxa Howe of Hoxa, said to be burial place of Thorfinn “Skullsplitter” passed the title to his brother, on South Ronaldsay . He craftsmen and took great pride only a few possible Pictish rem - Thorfinn the Mighty Sigurd's the same person. He was Sigurd, The Mighty, the first became sole Earl when his in their work as is evident by the nants. The Orkneyinga Saga and son and successor, Thorfinn, brought up in the Scottish Earl of Orkney to be recorded brothers were killed at he Battle many high quality weapons, other Norse Sagas, mostly writ - presided over the period of max - Court by his grandfather, by history. Sigurd is best known of Stainmore in 954. He was items of jewellery and, perhaps ten in the 12 th century in Iceland, imum power and extension of Malcolm II, who granted him for his death rather than his life. said to be “a mighty chief and war - most important, the advanced give a vivid account of Viking the Orkney Earldom. Thorfinn the Earldom of Caithness and During one of his forays into like” , but it is not recorded how technology of their ships and times, with many colourful char - was a close relative of Macbeth Sutherland. Scotland, about AD893, he he came by his nickname. navigation skills. acters. and the Scottish author, incurred the wrath of a man Dorothy Dunnet, has even sug - His foster father, Thorkel Fostri, called Maelbrigte Tusk . A meet - Sigurd the Stout was a power - Today nearly all our placenames According to the Saga the gested that they may have been played an important part in the ing was arranged where each ful Earl, known for his prowess derive from Old Norse, with Earldom was founded by King was to bring 40 men and 40 in battle, his sorcery and his m u e s horses. However Sigurd put ability to invoke the old gods. u M two men on each horse, with the His mother was a sorceress and y e n result that all the Scots were made him the enchanted Raven k r O killed and beheaded. Banner, warning “my belief is this: that it will bring victory to the man The Vikings tied the heads to it's carried before, but death to the their saddles in triumph, but one who carries it” . Maelbrigte had the last laugh as one of his protruding buck teeth Sigurd was forcibly converted to scratched Sigurd’s leg, causing a Christianity by King Olav fatal infection. He is buried near Tryggvesson at Osmondwall Oykelbridge. (Kirk Hope) in Hoy in 995, on Equal-armed brooch from the Scar boat-burial pain of the death of his son. The Osmondwall, Longhope Lead weights from the Scar boat burial, Sanday Torf Einar Sigurd was succeed - whole of Orkney was said to Norse buildings on the Brough of Birsay m ed by another colourful charac - have embraced the faith. The u e s u ter, his half-brother Torf Einar, son, Hvelp, died soon after. M y who “took the earldom, and was Sigurd renounced Christianity e n k r long earl, and was a man of great and repudiated King Olaf. O power” . He was renowned for his eyesight despite being one- He was killed in 1014 at the eyed, and is said to have shown Battle of Clontarf when he him - the people how to use peat as a self took up the Raven Banner, fuel. The Saga recounts how he after many had fallen carrying it, found and slew Halfdan “there was no man who would Fairhair on North Ronaldsay bear the raven-standard and the for killing his father, Rognvald, earl bore it himself, and fell there.” 110 111 VIKING ORKNEY - S ETTLEMENT TO 1100 HISTORY & A RCHAEOLOGY Bishop’s Palace at Birsay . The Norse Earls were always in as close touch with Scottish rulers as they were with their Norse superiors, frequently marrying the daughters of other noblemen, or of the Scottish or Norwegian King.