>id£ik^ \./ h0k^ ^!5w-u»w' '^^4:r*€> %. < #'\ \^4--^ / 0f§^ ..# V THE NORTHMEN IN CUMBERLAND & WESTMORELAND BY ROBERT FERGUSON. XiOlsrJDOlT: liO aiT O aye -A- IT -A.25TX) CO CJ^TtXiXSTj^z It. & J. STEEL. 1866. •. }tia\ h^i^^^ prefacf;. The present little work owes its origin to an attempt to present, in the form of a popular lecture, such of the " leading facts contained in Mr. Worsaae's Danes and " Norwegians in England as might be supposed to be more particularly interesting to a Cumberland audience. The slight investigation consequent upon this under- taking convinced the author that the mine was worth working deeper, and an increasing interest in the sub- ject led him on till the extent of his researches appeared to him to be such as to warrant him in giving them to the public. He is fully aware that a work like the present, which is to a great extent etymological, must of necessity contain much that is more or less conjectural, and has endeavoured, as far as possible, to avoid dogmatism, and to qualify the expression of his opinion according to the circumstances of the case. At an early period of his enquiry he was led to form the theory of an immigi'ation more particularly Nor- wegian proceeding from the western side of the island, and a part of his object has been to lay before the PRONUNCIATION OF OLD NORSE. In order to enable the reader to understand the derivations in the following: pages, it is indispensable for him to pay a little attention to the pronunciation of Old Norse. I therefore pro- pose, without entering into the niceties of the subject, to ^^ive a few general rules for his guidance in this respect. In the first place it is to be observed that the r final after a v^ consonant in nouns is merely the sign of the nominative case, and is not to be taken into account. Thus the proper names Ulfr and Ormr are the same as the names Ulf and Orme. a, has the sound of oa in broad, or a in small. ce, is nearly the same as Eng. a. au, is pronounced as ou in house. Thus gaukr a cuckoo, is the same as our word gowk. e, is nearly the same as Eng. a. eiy same as above. Thus the proper name Geit is our name Gate, ey, Mr. Blackett observes, approaches the German eu, hav- ing a sound somewhat between ai and oi. i, as ee in peel. jy as y in yard. 6, seems to have had a sound between o long and ow, and in our derivatives has sometimes one sound and some- times the other, but more commonly that of long o. CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION. It was upon the suggestion of a Danish antiquary that Dr. Jamieson was induced to undertake that impor- tant analysis of the Scottish language which may be considered the first connected attempt to determine the amount of the Scandinavian element in any part of the British islands. It has been reserved for ano- ther Danish antiquary to trace out upon a more com- prehensive plan the extent and limits of the coloniza- tion of the Northmen—to examine the peculiarities which still point out the districts occupied by their descendants—and to attempt some general estimate of the extent to which England is indebted to the Scandinavian admixture. Mr. Worsaae's object is one not less honourable to him as a Dane than com- plimentary to us as Britons—^to claim for the North its fair share in the glory of England. His aim has been to show that while the Scandinavian immigra- tion has been under-rated as to its extent, it has been still more generally misrepresented as to its influence and effects. We have been too ready to accept not only the facts of the Saxon historians, but also the medium through which they viewed them—forgetful that ferocious pirates, unscrupulous plunderers as were the Northmen, the Saxons before them had been much the same, and bear even to this day the same name of A 2 hatred among the more ancient people whom they subdued. If, then, history presents them rather in the more dignified character of successful invaders, it is owing, at least in part, to the fact that the records are written by themselves, and date chiefly from the period of their permanent conquest. The Monkish historians dwell with a natural and a peculiar horror on the destruction of the monasteries, the slaughter of the priests, and the desecration of the holy symbols of religion by the pagan Danes. But we, reading history in a calmer light, ought to remem- ber that in times much nearer to our own the exter- mination of an opposing faith was held, not only as a justifiable act, but as a paramount obligation. The English Saxons could scarcely have suffered more from the pagan Northmen than their continental brethren from Charlemagne, who, in his wars undertaken for their conversion, slaughtered in cold blood 5,000 of them in one day. Whatever estimate we may form of the conduct of that mighty conqueror, we ought not to judge the followers of Thor and Odin by a severer scale. Nevertheless, making all due allowance for the high / of colouring a picture drawn by those who suffered, we are constrained to admit that as the Northmen were more energetic, they were more ferocious—more ruthless in their vengeance, more unsparing in their inflictions, than any other of the tribes which sought our shores. f But still, in the midst of their most cruel visitations, ^1 it was a that was all. The j high purpose overruling \ fiery enterprise, the stern independence of those wild a i sea-rovers, were necessary element in the greatness of England. Twice the languid Anglo-Saxon energy- stirred the cross of Northern blood if was by ; and, the later conquest was more imposing, it was not more important, than the slow and hard-fought footing gained by the more purely Scandinavian tribes. It may, perhaps, not be going too far to say that the " " dauntless seamanship of Britain—that salt blood which makes her youth turn, as it were, with an in- stinct to the sea, may be due, in no small measure, to the daring spirit of the old sea-rovers. Mr. Worsaae has remarked that our greatest admiral bears a Scan- dinavian name, and was sprung from one of the coun- ties peopled by the Danes. And the names, too, of Blake and Bodney are to be found in the Blaka and Hrodny of the Scandinavian vikings. It might be cuiious to speculate further on the northern origin of names. We might ask whether the well-known Dick Turpin^ was not a genuine descend- ant of one of the Yorkshire vikings—^whether Thur- tell,^ the treacherous murderer of his friend, did not preserve the worst form of Scandinavian ferocity. But though a characteristic trait seems sometimes to start up like a family likeness after many generations —Saxon and Dane have long been blended into one people, and in many and varied spheres the descend- ants of the Northmen have obtained renown. Arnold' and Tait* have successively developed the intelligence of the youth of England—Alderson* and Bolfe* main- tain the dignity of the British bench—Brodie^ has (1) Thorping. (2) TJtortiU. (3) Amalldr—" Old eagle ?" (4) Teitr. (5) Haldorsen. (6) Hrdlfr, mighty. (7) Broddi, perhaps from broddr, a spear, dart, goad, anj'thing sharp, a lancet. taken off his limbs with a difference to humanity —Urling^ is famed for lace—and Gunter^ presides peaceably over wedding breakfasts. The descendants of Northern Skalds seem to have found a congenial occupation in bookselling, for among our most emi- nent publishers five, viz., Cadell,' Colbom,* HaU,* Orme,* and Tait, bear names of Scandinavian origin. " At this moment," writes a noble lecturer on the sub- " ject,^ some sturdy Haavard (Howard), the proprie- tor of a sixty-acre farm, but sprung from that stock, the nobility of whose blood is become proverbial, may be successfully opposing some trifling tax at Drontheim, while an illustrious kinsman of his house is the repre- sentative of England's majesty at Dublin." Might we even go on to ask—but here we tread on tender ground—whether O'ConneU was more than half an Irishman? Konall seems to have been a common the Norsemen there are six of that name among ; name mentioned in the Lcmdndmahok or list of the original settlers in Iceland. One of these certainly was from Ireland, but he appears to have been most probably one of the Northmen who had settled th ere as both his wife and son have Scandinavian names. All the others seem, from the names of their parents, to have been pure Norsemen. Moreover, the name itself appears in form to be Scandinavian, and to have a clear etymon in Old Norse—konr, a noble or illus- (1) Erlingr, industrious. (2) Gunther, from gunn, battle. (3) Kadall. (4) Kolbiorn, kollr, helmeted, and barii, a child. " (5) Hallr—hallr, a flint ?—rather hair, vir liber et liberalis." (6) Ormr, a serpent—the Old Eng. worm. " (7) Lecture on The Northmen," by Lord Dufferin. trious person, a king; and aUr^ all—"all-king," an " appropriate title enough for the king of all Ireland." The name Connell is by no means an uncommon one in the north of England, where it might most naturally be supposed to be derived from the Danes or North- " " men.