DOCSLIB.ORG

Houses and Domestic Life in the Viking Age and Medieval Period: Material Perspectives from Sagas and Archaeology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Houses and Domestic Life in the Viking Age and Medieval Period: Material Perspectives from Sagas and Archaeology HOUSES AND DOMESTIC LIFE IN THE VIKING AGE AND MEDIEVAL PERIOD: MATERIAL PERSPECTIVES FROM SAGAS AND ARCHAEOLOGY Teva Vidal, MA. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy DECEMBER 2013 iii Abstract This thesis examines the representations of houses as physical structures in the Íslendingasögur with specific emphasis on the material aspect of housing culture in the Viking Age and medieval period, as well as the interactions between material culture and text. The Íslendingasögur were written in Iceland as of the thirteenth century, but look back onto the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 AD). Comparison with the archaeology of domestic space reveals that the house in the Íslendingasögur generally corresponds with medieval housing models, contemporary with the period of saga writing. However, there are also examples of structures which correspond to the models of the Viking Age. Descriptions of antiquated buildings are sometimes framed in statements that make explicit reference to the chronological separation between the Viking Age and the writer’s present time, suggesting a familiarity with the evolution of housing culture. Detailed analysis of buildings in the sagas reveals domestic space in its context of use, and demonstrates how the physical nature of the house and farm framed the productive and social activities that went on within. The materiality of domestic life has particular importance for the dispensing of hospitality. Demonstrations of domestic space in use also allow for a better understanding of the relationship between objects and language, and elucidate some difficulties in translation and academic usage both in archaeology and literary studies. Material culture can itself influence the processes of composition in oral/written narratives such as the sagas, by inspiring the formation of narrative episodes. The built environment can also provide a contextual framing for narratives, acting as a mnemonic device facilitating the preservation and transmission of saga narratives. v Acknowledgements This thesis was made possible, first and foremost, thanks to the steadfast encouragement and loving support of my fiancée, Crystal Sissons. Throughout this tumultuous adventure we have overcome many challenges and built new dreams together, and I can only begin to express my gratitude to her. Her sharp eye and quick editorial pen have also made this a much better piece of work, and it is an honour and a privilege to dedicate this thesis to her. Special thanks also go to my supervisors at the University of Nottingham, Judith Jesch and Christina Lee, for the innumerable opportunities they provided me, their meticulous guidance and also occasional, strategic challenges. It is to Judith Jesch that I owe my true introduction to the world of Old Norse language and literature, as well as the impetus to undertake this research thanks to the example of her own work. Help and inspiration have come from many quarters. In particular, I am grateful to Else Roesdahl for her encouraging support and advice, and I consider myself privileged to count Dale Kedwards and Sarah Croix as friends, colleagues and allies. Marjolein Stern and Ruarigh Dale have been steadfast companions since the start of my doctoral studies at Nottingham. In the world of Old Norse and Viking studies my thanks also go to Carolyne Larrington, Lesley Abrams, Heather O’Donoghue, Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, Chris Callow and Torfi Tulinius. My forays into Viking Age archaeology were greatly enriched thanks to Karen Milek and the team at Fornleifastofnun Íslands and the 2011 Vatnsfjörður excavation. Access to unpublished archaeological studies was of considerable assistance, and I am grateful to Karen Milek, Sarah Croix, Rebecca Boyd, Lydia Carstens and Julie Bond for sharing aspects of their unpublished research with me. In the field of medieval housing culture, I was fortunate to benefit from insights and suggestions from Kate Giles, Mette Svart-Kristensen and Jill Campbell. Finally, Patricia Sutherland and Peter Rider both fostered early interests in Viking Age archaeology and material history, respectively. Help with translations (always augmented with precious insights) was offered by Judith Jesch, Dale Kedwards, Bergdís Þrastardóttir, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir, Sophie Bønding, Sarah Croix, Marjolein Stern, and Christina Lee. vi Much institutional support was provided by the School of English Studies at Nottingham, and I thank in particular the team of wizards in the administrative and financial office, Rebecca Peck, Lydia Wallman and Tracy- Ann Stead. In the first stages of my transition to Nottingham, it was thanks to the formidable efforts of Martin Brown that every last administrative knot was untangled, and that I was able to begin my studies with confidence and ease. The conviviality of everyone at the School of English, the Institute for Medieval Research and the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age has been a constant source of support. In particular, the school’s medievalists made me welcome in their academic family: Paul Cavill, Nicola Royan, John Baker, Natalie Jones, Joanna Martin, Mike Jones and especially Jayne Carroll, for her patient and meticulous review of my work in various stages of completion. Thanks also to Kevin Harvey (for the puns) and to Clare Pickersgill of the University museum. I owe a debt of gratitude to my professors at my alma mater, the University of Ottawa, for fostering my early development as a medievalist. Kouky J. Fianu and Sylvie Perrier have been, and always remain, formidable formative forces. Pierre Kunstmann, Paul Birt and Dennis Brearley also ensured, early on in my studies, that I would never hesitate to travel where my enthusiasm and curiosity led me. Friends old and new have left their mark. Antonino La Rocca, Lamma Zghoul, James Addison and the team at Sherwood Hall have been my daily allies. Thanks to Yves Gilonne of Lincoln Hall for keeping me sane with regular infusions of francophonie. To Boris Popov, LeRoy Hill and the crew at Melton Hall I owe an excellent start to my time in Nottingham. It has been a privilege to share the company of my fellow denizens of the School of English: Clare Wright, Elizabeth Adams Holland, Jemima Trent Matthews, Chloe Harrison, Sam Haddow, Tony Fisher, Daniel Hunt, Ellie Rye, John Quanrud, Harry Buxton, Elizaveta Matveeva, and Annette Frances Jones. From my second academic home at Århus: Mathias Nordvig, Sophie Bønding, Sarah Croix and Bergdís Þrastardóttir. Elijah McStotts, Larisa Roberts and Sally Evans, archaeology would never have been as fun without you. From back home in Canada, special thanks go to Leo and Janis Zrudlo and Tuulikki and Endre Bence-Bruckler, who have been true mentors. vii Leo Zrudlo sadly left us before this thesis was completed, as did Richard Boily, and I raise a glass to them and remember their friendship fondly. Alexandre Robertson, Daniel Grummisch, Mary Dawood, Lee Blanding and Andrea Eidinger have given the truest friendship and affection, while Linda Gagnon-Dean and Thomas Dean have become family to Crystal and myself. Thank you also to the Sissons clan: Brian, Sandi, and of course Tia, and the Arden chapter: Darren, Kora, Eva and Ella. Support from my family stretches back much further than the years of this thesis. My dear sister Maeva has ever and always lifted my spirits with her indomitable good humour, and she and her partner Luke Graham have inspired me with their own demonstrations of what housing culture and domestic life can represent. And of course, I thank my parents, Antoinette and Jean-Louis Vidal, for their infinite patience and generosity, their unshakable faith in me, and for having always encouraged me to cultivate my curiosity and interests to the furthest degree. And of course, for never failing to hearing me out when I needed a really good rant! This thesis is, in part, their creation as well. Financial support was provided by a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The Viking Society for Northern Research provided several bursaries through their Research Support Fund, as did the University of Nottingham’s School of English Studies, Institute for Medieval Research, and Centre for the Study of the Viking Age through the Christine Fell Fund. Participation in the North Atlantic Biocultural Organisation’s Field School in North Atlantic Archaeology (2011), with its excavation at Vatnsfjörður, Iceland, was made possible thanks to the Graduate Travel Prize from the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Nottingham. ix CONTENTS List of Abbreviations xii Introduction 1 Aims of the Thesis 1 Research Context and General Literature Review 3 Interdisciplinary Studies 8 Sample and Methodology 11 Structure 19 A Note on Chronology 22 A Note on Spelling 23 Section 1: The Physical House 27 Chapter 1: The House in the Íslendingasögur 29 1.1 The Farmstead and Its Grounds 30 1.2 Outbuildings 36 1.3 The Farmhouse 41 1.3.1 From the Outside: the Roof, the Door and the Antechamber 42 1.3.2 The Main Room 48 1.4 Discussion and Overview 60 1.4.1 Grettis saga 60 1.4.2 Gísla saga 65 1.4.3 Eyrbyggja saga 70 Conclusion: The Materiality of Domestic Space 73 Chapter 2: Comparisons with Archaeology 75 2.1 Overview of Housing Culture in Iceland and Scandinavia from the Viking Age to the Early Modern Period 76 2.1.1 The Viking Age 76 x 2.1.2 Developments from the Medieval to the Early Modern Period: Iceland and Greenland 84 2.1.3 Developments from the Medieval to the Early Modern
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pictish Symbol Stones and Early Cross-Slabs from Orkney
    Proc Soc Antiq Scot 144 (2014), PICTISH169–204 SYMBOL STONES AND EARLY CROSS-SLABS FROM ORKNEY | 169 Pictish symbol stones and early cross-slabs from Orkney Ian G Scott* and Anna Ritchie† ABSTRACT Orkney shared in the flowering of interest in stone carving that took place throughout Scotland from the 7th century AD onwards. The corpus illustrated here includes seven accomplished Pictish symbol- bearing stones, four small stones incised with rough versions of symbols, at least one relief-ornamented Pictish cross-slab, thirteen cross-slabs (including recumbent slabs), two portable cross-slabs and two pieces of church furniture in the form of an altar frontal and a portable altar slab. The art-historical context for this stone carving shows close links both with Shetland to the north and Caithness to the south, as well as more distant links with Iona and with the Pictish mainland south of the Moray Firth. The context and function of the stones are discussed and a case is made for the existence of an early monastery on the island of Flotta. While much has been written about the Picts only superb building stone but also ideal stone for and early Christianity in Orkney, illustration of carving, and is easily accessible on the foreshore the carved stones has mostly taken the form of and by quarrying. It fractures naturally into flat photographs and there is a clear need for a corpus rectilinear slabs, which are relatively soft and can of drawings of the stones in related scales in easily be incised, pecked or carved in relief.
    [Show full text]
  • THE VIKINGS in ORKNEY James Graham-Campbell
    THE VIKINGS IN ORKNEY James Graham-Campbell Introduction In recent years, it has been suggested that the first permanent Scandinavian presence in Orkney was not the result of forcible land-taking by Vikings, but came about instead through gradual penetration - a period which has been described as one of'informal' settlement (Morris 1985: 213; 1998: 83). Such would have involved a phase of co-existence, or even integration, between the native Picts and the earliest Norse settlers. This initial period, it is supposed, was then followed by 'a second, formal, settlement associated with the estab­ lishment of an earldom' (Morris 1998: 83 ), in the late 9'h century. The archaeological evidence advanced in support of the first 'period of overlap' is, however, open to alternative interpretation and, indeed, Alfred Smyth has com­ mented ( 1984: 145), in relation to the annalistic records of the earliest Viking attacks on Ireland, that these 'strongly suggest that the Norwegians did not gradually infiltrate the Northern Isles as farmers and fisherman and then sud­ denly tum nasty against their neighbours'. Others have supposed that the first phase of Norse settlement in Orkney would have involved, in the words of Buteux (1997: 263): 'ness-taking' (the fortifying of a headland by means of a cross-dyke) and the occupation of small off-shore islands. Crawford ( 1987: 46) argues that headland dykes on Orkney can be interpreted as indicating ness-taking. However many are equally likely to be prehistoric land boundaries, and no bases on either headlands or small islands have yet been positively identified. Buteux continues his discussion by observing, most pertinently, that: While this can not be taken as suggesting that such sites do not remain to be uncovered, the striking fact is that almost all identified Viking-period settlements in the Northern Isles are found overlying or immediately adjacent to sites which were occupied in the preceding Pictish period and which, furthermore, had frequently been settlements of some size and importance.
    [Show full text]
  • Kingdom of Strathclyde from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Kingdom of Strathclyde From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Strathclyde (lit. "Strath of the Clyde"), originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the Kingdom of Strathclyde Celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Teyrnas Ystrad Clut Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the ← 5th century–11th → post-Roman period. It is also known as Alt Clut, the Brythonic century name for Dumbarton Rock, the medieval capital of the region. It may have had its origins with the Damnonii people of Ptolemy's Geographia. The language of Strathclyde, and that of the Britons in surrounding areas under non-native rulership, is known as Cumbric, a dialect or language closely related to Old Welsh. Place-name and archaeological evidence points to some settlement by Norse or Norse–Gaels in the Viking Age, although to a lesser degree than in neighbouring Galloway. A small number of Anglian place-names show some limited settlement by incomers from Northumbria prior to the Norse settlement. Due to the series of language changes in the area, it is not possible to say whether any Goidelic settlement took place before Gaelic was introduced in the High Middle Ages. After the sack of Dumbarton Rock by a Viking army from Dublin in 870, the name Strathclyde comes into use, perhaps reflecting a move of the centre of the kingdom to Govan. In the same period, it was also referred to as Cumbria, and its inhabitants as Cumbrians. During the High Middle Ages, the area was conquered by the Kingdom of Alba, becoming part of The core of Strathclyde is the strath of the River Clyde.
    [Show full text]
  • The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-Shrine | 201
    Proc Soc Antiq Scot 142 (2012), 201–244 THE KILMICHAEL GLASSARY BELL-SHRINE | 201 The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine David H Caldwell*, Susy Kirk†, Gilbert Márkus‡, Jim Tate§ and Sharon Webb ǁ ABSTRACT The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine is one of the treasures of National Museums Scotland. This paper reassesses the circumstances of its discovery, its context and importance, and its role as a relic of a saint, not Moluag, as previously suggested, but possibly Columba. The wider use of handbells in the early medieval church is also considered. The bell-shrine was found in 1814, on the farm of Torbhlaren, in the parish of Kilmichael Glassary, in mainland Argyll, probably near to where it was venerated. The bell inside it dates to the 7th–9th century, the shrine to the first half of the 12th century. The latter bears evidence in its design of a mixed artistic heritage, including local, Irish and Scandinavian influence. Alternative hypotheses, that it represents the artistic output of the Kingdom of the Isles or Dunkeld, in the kingdom of the Scots, are presented. Details are provided of a technological examination of bell and shrine and a list of other early Scottish handbells is included. INTRODUCTION DISCOVERY AND PROVENANCE The Kilmichael Glassary Bell-shrine [KGBS] is S Webb a medieval reliquary in the form of a small copper alloy box which contains an iron handbell (illus The circumstances surrounding the place 1). Associated with them is a copper alloy chain where bell, shrine, cross and chain were and cross. This group of artefacts was found in found in the early 1800s are confusing and 1814, on the land of John MacNeill of Oakfield, there are conflicting opinions as to who made in the parish of Kilmichael Glassary in Argyll, this extraordinary discovery.
    [Show full text]
  • Hogback Monuments in Scotland
    Hogback monument Scotlann si d by J T Lang ORIGINS AND DISTRIBUTION hogbace Th house-shapea s ki d recumbent monumen Vikine th wite f o tgh definitivAg a e rooe curvth f o et ridge rooe usualls Th i f. y tegulate gablee th sometimee d sar dan s embracey db three-dimensional animals. Whils hogbace innovation th t a s kwa tenth-centurf no y Norse-Irish settler Northern i s n e ScottisEnglandth s hwa t examplei , s that attracted Russell Walked an r Romilly Alie consideo nt r hogback clasa s f monumensa so theirighn n i t row t (Russell Walker 1885, 406-24; Romilly Alien 1902,403) and to attempt the identification of their origin. The type originated in North Yorkshire about the second quarter of the tenth century and appears to have remained popular in the North Riding and Cumbria for only a short period, perhaps until the end of the century. Its evolution tends to be a series of regional modifications as much as a chronological stylistic progression; for example, the Cumbrian hogbacks are often slim in section with steeply pitched roofs ,Yorkshire thosth n eo e coas more ar t e rectangula desigt n ri a d nan York itself they quickly give way to a fashionable grave-slab with hogback overtones. It is in Scotland, however, thamose th t t developed form encounteree sar finae th l d evolutionardan y stage mostly clearly observed. The earliest forms of hogback are found in the Allertonshire area of North Yorkshire, those from Brompton being well executed copie f lono s g houses with bombe side largd san e muzzled bears as end-beasts, each occupying a third of the monument.
    [Show full text]
  • N Camériage County Geograpbz'es F/Orkney
    C A M B R I D G E U N IVE RS ITY P RE SS F ETTE R L AN E . a nb : E . C gl o n , 4 F C AY A N C . A R . L , M GE m b a l cutta a n h MA CMI LLAN A ND CO L s a a $, G fila h ra s : . r o . m M DENT SONS u p mo m a ; . J . , ‘ bIo kpo : MA RUZEN - KA B USHI KI - KA ISHA N ’ ' Ca mér iag e County Geog r ap b zes O R K N E Y ” f / SH E TL A N D H b y M D D . F O IE HED LE G . O a n d T M N . E A LA N D E LS. I , ea d m a st e r Bre ssa P u b lic Sc h o o l H , y With M a s D ia r a m s a nd st a t s p , g , Illu r ion 4 “ $4 C AM BRID GE AT TH E U NIVE RSITY P RE SS CONTENTS OR K N E Y Co unty and Sh ire Ge n e ra l Characteristics and Natural Co nditio ns B o i z e S . S . ituation undaries Stream s and Lakes Geo lo gy and Soil Natural Histo ry Th e Co ast Weather and Clim ate Th e o — o o Pe ple Race , Language , P pulati n 1 r ‘ h e C 3 .
    [Show full text]
  • Scalloway Castle Statement of Significance
    Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC262 Designations: Scheduled Monument (SM90273) Taken into State care: 1908 (Guardianship) Last reviewed: 2021 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE SCALLOWAY CASTLE We continually revise our Statements of Significance, so they may vary in length, format and level of detail. While every effort is made to keep them up to date, they should not be considered a definitive or final assessment of our properties. Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH © Historic Environment Scotland 2021 You may re-use this information (excluding logos and images) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this document should be sent to us at: Historic Environment Scotland Longmore House Salisbury Place Edinburgh EH9 1SH +44 (0) 131 668 8600 www.historicenvironment.scot You can download this publication from our website at www.historicenvironment.scot Cover image: © Crown Copyright HES. Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh
    [Show full text]
  • Viking Heritage Trail
    Graphic design: Indigo Design, Glasgow Design, Graphic Indigo design: The Viking Heritage Dumbarton Rock © Hidden Heritage Project Trail The story of Viking activity around the Firth of Clyde begins with the siege of Dumbarton Rock in AD 870 and ends with the Battle of Largs in AD 1263. Evidence for this activity can be seen in the landscape, and in the form of small finds and grave goods. They tell us that Norse families settled here, while historic accounts of battles and invasion routes describe the Norse struggle for control of this beautiful and resource-filled landscape. The Hidden Heritage Project is hosted by Arrochar and Tarbet Community Development Trust. It aimed to involve the community in investigating and interpreting the area’s heritage. This leaflet was part-financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and also by the Scottish Government and the European Community Argyll and the Islands LEADER 2007-2013 Programme. A guide to Viking sites Olaus Magnus, 1555 around the Clyde After the death of Hakon, shortly after the Battle of Largs in 1263, Norse control in Scotland became confined to the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. However, the lives of kings form only a small part of the story of the Vikings in Scotland, and no doubt many of the erstwhile invaders settled and mingled with other cultural groups around the Clyde, where their stories have become interwoven in the hidden history of Disclaimer Arrochar and Tarbet Community Development Trust has produced this leaflet in Scotland. good faith and done its best to ensure that the information contained is accurate and up to date at the time of printing.
    [Show full text]
  • St Blane's Church
    Property in Care (PIC) ID: PIC125 Designations: Scheduled Monument (SM90264) Taken into State care: 1971 (Guardianship) Last reviewed: 2014 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ST BLANE’S CHURCH We continually revise our Statements of Significance, so they may vary in length, format and level of detail. While every effort is made to keep them up to date, they should not be considered a definitive or final assessment of our properties. Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH © Historic Environment Scotland 2019 You may re-use this information (excluding logos and images) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/version/3/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this document should be sent to us at: Historic Environment Scotland Longmore House Salisbury Place Edinburgh EH9 1SH +44 (0) 131 668 8600 www.historicenvironment.scot You can download this publication from our website at www.historicenvironment.scot Historic Environment Scotland – Scottish Charity No. SC045925 Principal Office: Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH ST BLANE'S CHURCH, BUTE SYNOPSIS St Blane’s, Kingarth,lies in a wooded valley at the southern tip of the Isle of Bute, 2 miles south of the village of Kingarth and 7 miles south of Rothesay.
    [Show full text]
  • The North West Wing of the Earl's Palace, ,With the Spire of St Magnus Cathedral in the Distance
    NEWSLETTER OFSIBTHE ORKNEY FAMIFOLKLY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWSISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 2006 The north west wing of the Earl’s Palace, ,with the spire of St Magnus Cathedral in the distance. 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Issue No 39 September 06 ORKNEY FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLETTER Issue No 39 September 2006 CONTENTS From the chair FRONT PAGE ,Another summer nearly gone and what a fine The Earls Palace, spell of weather we have had. It has been great Kirkwall for the visitors and more and more of them PAGE 2 found their way to our offices in Junction Road. From the Chair. A big vote of thanks is due to all the volunteers PAGES 3 & 4 who give so freely of their time to help them Our outing to discover more about their Orkney roots. Sanday cemeteries in Deerness, Firth, Stenness, PAGE 4 I am glad to see that more and more Our colleague members are discovering the benefits Holm, Sandwick, St Mary’s and Irene Miller of giving us advance warning of their Flaws. These are fairly comprehensive PAGES 5,6,7,8 visits. This, coupled with as much publications with graveyard plan, Vedder. family information as they have surname index and transcript of Conclusion available, enables us to try to fit in some inscriptions. More on our website at PAGE 9 preliminary research in time for their <www.orkneyfhs.co.uk> which is packed James Nicholson of Shapinsay visit. with useful information and links. Overseas members who have booked Once again I have to thank the Vintage PAGE 10 & 11 I dream of Jeannie for the 2007 Homecoming event should Club for letting us have a table at the with the light brown bear this in mind and give us as much annual Vintage Rally.
    [Show full text]
  • 127639442.23.Pdf
    •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.
    [Show full text]
  • Status Symbols: Royal and Lordly Residence
    Royal and Lordly Residence in Scotland c.1050 to c.1250: an Historiographical Review and Critical Revision1 Richard D Oram Abstract Academic study of eleventh to thirteenth century high status residence in Scotland has been largely bypassed by the English debates over origin, function and symbolism. Archaeologists have also been slow to engage with three decades of historical revision of traditional socio- economic, cultural and political models upon which their interpretations of royal and lordly residence have drawn. Scottish castle-studies of the pre-1250 era continue to be framed by a ‘military architecture’ historiographical tradition and a view of the castle as an alien artefact imposed on the land by foreign adventurers and a ‘modernising’ monarchy and native Gaelic nobility. Knowledge and understanding of pre-twelfth century native high status sites is rudimentary and derived primarily from often inappropriate analogy with English examples. Discussion of native responses to the imported castle-building culture is founded upon retrospective projection of inappropriate later medieval social and economic models and anachronistic perceptions of military colonialism. Cultural and socio-economic difference is rarely recognised in archaeological modelling and cultural determinism has distorted perceptions of structural form, social status and material values. A programme of interdisciplinary studies focused on specific sites is necessary to provide a corrective to this current situation. One of the central themes in the traditional historiography of medieval Scotland is that in parallel with the emergence from the late 1000s of an identifiable noble stratum comparable to the aristocratic hierarchies of Norman England and Frankish Europe there was an attendant development of new forms in the physical expression of lordship.
    [Show full text]