LOKDSHIP RENTALS OF SHETLAND. 213 V. NOTICE OF UNPUBLISHED RENTALS OF THE ANCIENT LORDSHIP OF E EARLDOSHETLANTH F BISHOPRIO D MD AN DAN ORKNEYF CO . BY GILBERT GOUDIE, TREASURER, S.A. SCOT. e crowTh n land f Orkneo s d Shetlandyan , known, sinc e islandth e s became connected with Scotland e Earldomth s a , estat f Orkneo e d yan Lordshipe th f Shetlando , together wit dutiee th h s exigibl addition ei n s donatoriese Crowbit yth d nan simple ar , e continuationyth , with ever varying increment, of the heritable domain and traditional exactions of Scandinaviad ol e th n Earl f Orkneso botn yi h group f islandsso . These lands and duties, originally held under the King of Denmark and Norway, gradually assumed the character of absolute and irredeemable property in the person of the Scottish sovereign, and successive dona- tories, though only holding under redeemable charters from the Crown, made free with them y salb ,e and excambion f i thed bees ha ya , n their own. bishoprie Th c estate revenued an s Orknen si Shetland yan d descended, e samth en Romae i wayth o t , n Catholi d Reformecan d Bishope th f o s Scottish Church from the Scandinavian prelates who preceded them, and were equally tampered with by the successive holders. Regarding the origination and growth of these two estates in the islands e absencth , f authentio e c information leave s veru s y muco t h e Earldomconjecture th e cas f th o e n I , .Kin g HarolFairhaire th f o d , according to the Saga of Olaf Trygvisson, simply "gave" the whole island Rognvaldo t s , upon who e titl mth f Ears o firse wa lt conferred, abou yeae th t r 872. This cannot, however supposee b , implo t de th y creatio landea f no dnegatioe Earpersoe e th estat th th r o lf f n i o eno n private property in others, for the odal landholders appear to have had their inalienable rights fro beginninge mth charterse Th . mucn i , h later times, to the Stewart Earls were not less comprehensive in their terms than the gift of King Harold. That in favour of Lord Robert Stewart, dated 26t1564y hMa , conveye ordinare th o dhimt n i , y legal phraseo- logy of the day, "all and whole the lands of Orkney and Zetland, with 214 PROCEEDINGS OF THIi SOCIETY, APRIL 13, 1885. all and sundry the isles belonging and pertaining thereto, with all and e castleseacth f ho , towers, fortalices, woods, mills, multures, fishings," &c. Subsequent Crown charters were still more d precisefulan l t bu , interference with private propert nons lese ywa e th s arbitrar illegald yan . The righ o collect t e skatth t froe wholmth e islandso acquirt d an ,a e private domain by conquest or confiscation, was doubtless the privilege of the Earls from the beginning. It was thus that at Orphir, Birsay, Kirkwall, Sumburgh, Scalloway elsewhered an , , earldom properties were formed, and residences erected. The fortunes of war, private feuds, povert f privatyo e owners, fines, escheat, (jrippings, swelle e estatdth f eo the Earls to the large dimensions it had attained at the time of the Impignoration to Scotland (1468) ; and its extent was still farther largely increased by the rapacity of the Stewart Earls and other grantees e course nex followind th th an f n ti eo g centuries. Whe e Earldonth m estate revenued an s s were acquire e Crowth y db n from Earl Willia t mClaiS s enacte1471n i r wa t i , d (20th Februarf yo that year) that these should "nocht be gevin away in time to cum to na persain or persainis excep alenarily to ane of the Kingis sonnis of lauch- ful bed." It is well known to every student of northern history how in practice this engagemen those ag falsifieds eo t wa tcrow fro w e mag ho ;n lands and revenues were gifted to illegitimate sons or court favourites, unti n 176i l whole 6th e land revenued e Earldosan th f o Lordd s man - ship were acquired from the Earl of Morton for £63,000 by Sir Eawrence Dundas, in the possession of whose representative, the Earl of Zetland, they still remain. The Earldom of Orkney and Lordship of Shetland combine s comdha e down throug l thoshal e agedistinca s a s t and determinate corpus. It is otherwise with the Scottish Maormordoms and Thanages, which can now be recognised only as traditional and inde- terminate n respeci , t bot f theiho r exten d theian t r revenuess i t I . this living permanence, so indissolubly and so largely mixed up with the history of the islands, that gives to the Earldom its abiding interest, and render e investigatioth s importano s s record it e f ag no so n t i t fro e mag the study of Orkney and Shetland history. , Though we can with some certainty approximate the date of the erectio e Bishoprith f o n f Orkneco s probablya y abou e yeath t r 1102, LORDSHIP RENTALS OF SHETLAND. 215 when William the Old, regarded as the first bishop, appears to have been consecrated e utmosth , t therye t s uncertaintei e e origith th f no o t s ya secular endowments, eithe s regarda r s heritable estate e vesteth n i d bishops power o , theo rt latetithmn o i t s era times. There were indeed Bishop f Orkneyso , consecrate Archbishopy db f Hamburso Yorkd gan , before Bishop William' e sArchbisho th time e er , f Drontheio p n mi Norway had been finally recognised as the metropolitan of the northern see; but we are equally in the dark as to the special provision for their maintenance, further tha assumee nb whay acquires ma tda directioy db n e Popeoth fmunificency b , donorsy la f cupidity o eb , f bishopo y d an s clergy finesy b , , confiscations sucd an ,h other resource e poweth s f a so r Churche th , under countenanc Crowe th f eo n anEarle th d , could make available for its own aggrandisement. Certainly the bishopric estate had grown to important dimensions by the time of the Reformation. Bishop Graham, reporting to the Magistrates of Edinburgh in 1642, states that he understoo Bishoprid ol d e " th f Orkna co greata s ywa ey thingla d an , sparsim thro'out the haill parochines of Orknay and Shetland. Besyde his lands, he hade the teynds of auchtene Kirks. His lands grew daily as irregularities increase countrey.e th n di " The mutations of the Bishopric estate have been scarcely less marked than those of the Earldom. By excambion and attempted consolidations, by appropriation seculao st r purposes, whe l powenal engrosse s rwa y b d e Stewarth t ecclesiasticao Earlst d an , l purpose f differenso t complexion, as Episcopac Presbyterianisr yo e ascendantth n i s s mcharactewa it , d an r extent have been materially altered. By excambion between the Crown and Bishop Law in 1614, the Shetland portion of the Bishopric estate was transferre e Crowth o dt exchangn ni r landefo s concentratee on n di distric Orkneyn i t . Wit abolitioe hth f Episcopacno Revolutioe th t ya n Settlement these Bishopric lands became finally vested in the Crown; and what now remains of them is administered by the Department of Wood Forestsd san , unde e charg th a locar f o el chamberlain. Much diminishe successivy db e change formen si r times latess ,it t curtailmens tha owr beeou n dayn ni , considerable portions having been sol 1854-56n di . While the origin both of the Earldom and Bishopric estates in Orkney Shetland an thus di s obscure e RENTALth , S which have been preserved 216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APEIL 13, 1885. give a vidimus of the state of these properties, and, at the same time, throw a remarkable light upon the condition and value of occupied lands e islandth n i t differensa t e coursdatesth f n threi eo , four eo r centuries past. The peculiar complexity of the land tenure and of the burdens on land, resulting froe intermixturmth f Norwegiaeo Scottisd an n h forms and usages, adds additional interest as well as difficulty to the attempt to prosecut n inquira e n referenci y o thost e e land d dutiese an sTh . foundation for all such inquiries was laid by Sheriff Peterkin of Orkney, whose " Rental Anciene th f so t Earldo Bishoprid man f Orkneco s y "wa publishe n 1820i d n thosI . e rental e havsw e detailed particularf o s different dates from the 15th century, of the lands in every district in Orkney—their extent, feu or scat duty, landniaills, teinds, and other burdens exigible from them, with incidental information otherwise of much valuee rentalTh . s publishe y Peterkie b followingdth e ar n , viz.:— . I Lord Sinclair's Rental Boo f Orkneyko . 1497-1503. Eentale IITh . Kinf eo Bischoppid gan s Land Orkneyf so . 1595. III. Bishop Laws'Rental of the Bishopric of Orkney. 1614. IV. Rentoll of the Laiidis and Dewties thairof quhilkis apperteinit to the lait Bishoprik of Orknay. 1642. V. The True and Just Rentall of all the Fermis, Debtis, Dewties and Gersum.es off the Bischoprick of Orknay. N.D. DonalVI d Groats' Bishoprick Compt.-Book. Cropt, 1739. But these detailed " Rentals " are not all that Peterkin brought to light in illustration of the successive stages of the Earldom and Bishopri firso t wh directee h cs estateswa d t attentioI .seriee th f o so nt charters and other documents belonging to the Bishopric, discovered in 1819, and which are preserved in the Charter House of the city of Edinburgh e citth ,y having hel e Bishopri dleasa th f eo c revenuea r fo s perio f yearo d s from 164 1662.o 1t mere e principaTh eth l lisf o t l paper f thio s s series suggest extensivw sho e treasureeth f informatioso n 1 Charte Mortificatiof o r favoun Towe ni th f Edinburgf no o r thf o he Bishopricf ko Orkney'for maintenance of their ministers, 1641.