III. THE .DANISH CLAIMS UPON ORKNEY AND SHETLAND. BY GILBERT GOUDIE, TREASURER, S.A. SOOT. I am aware that, in general estimation, to reopen the old question e claimoth f f Denmaro s k upo e Britisth n s e hNorti th islea f Se ho s o attempt t bu o revivift t a deay d subject. But, whatever practical value may attach to it as a question of international politics between Great Britain and Denmark, its interest for students of history has not terminated s noti t ,I however. intentioy m , o argut ne questionth e . t surno emateriay m thaa an t woulI f i t o le dadvantagb islande th o et s tha statuse tth existingw quo,no s a , shoul e disturbedb d , unless every British impost were swept away, and the fiscal arrangements readjusted e systeoth n m formerly prevailing under Scandinavian rule. This, after the lapse of centuries, would, I imagine, be an impossibility. I propose, therefore treao t questioe , th t n simpl a matte s ya f historicao r l investigation, by the aid of authentic documents, from Danish and Scottish sources, never previously brought togethere samth t e A time. , thers ei DANISE TH H CLAIMS UPON ORKNE D SHETLANDYAN 7 23 . in my own mind little dubiety as to the side of the dispute on which the equities of the case preponderate. I therefor ee lon th pas gy sb tal f oppressioo e islande th n i ns under Scottish rule e subversioth , e nativth f no e laws e impositioth , e th f o n feudal system upon the odalism of the north, the appropriation of e greateth e rlan adventurerth y par b df o t s from Scotland n shorti ; , native ruie th f th no e race. briefle m t y Le recapitulat e facteth se impignoratio oth f Scotlano nt d before introducin e originath g l materia availablw no l n evidenci e f o e the reality and persistency of the Danish claim, which Scottish historians affec regaro t t lapses da relinquished.r do 1 By the contract of marriage between King James III. of Scotland e Princesth d an s Margare f Denmarko t , date t a Copenhaged h 8t n September 1468, King Christian I. of Denmark and Norway (then united) undertoo o providkt a dowre f 60,00yo 0 e Ehinflorinth f o es for the bride. Of these 10,000 were to be paid in cash, and the islands of Orkney were pledged remaininfoe rth g 50,000 (quinquaginta millium florenorum Rhenensium). The words of the contract are—" damus, concedimus, impignoramus, ac sub firma hypotheea et pignore imponi- mus atque hypothecamus omnes et singulas terras nostras Insularum Orcadensium, e casTh h paymen . "&c f 10,00o t 0 florins having been forthcoming to the extent only of 2000, the Danish king, on the 20th May 1469, pledged Shetland, in the same way, for the remaining 8000 e contracflorins.th n e I righth 2t f redemptioo t s nexpressli y reserved by the stipulation that, on the payment being discharged, the isles should e kingreverth f Norway—o o st t " terrse insnlarum Orchaden. regi nostro Jacobo inpignorats d Norvegisa e e Eeges revertentur.o N " limitatio e tim th s fixe ni er fo withid n whic redemptioe hth n muse b t claimed. 3 simplthe Suc impignorationeare h the fact of s , pawnor , e cas1eTh between this countr Denmard an y s beeha kn clearl d forciblan y y stated by my countryman, Mr Arthur Laurenson, in an article in Macmillaris Magazine, . 184No , February 1875. value 58,00e th Th 2f eo 0 florin bees ha sn compute t abouda t £24,000 sterling. The deed "Exemplum Contractus matrimonialis inter Serenissimum Scotise Bege3 m Jacobum Tertium et Serenissimam Principem Margaretham Potentissimi Principis Christian! Primi Daniie Norvegi t Swecisse e Regis filiam, gives "i fuln i l . PROCEEDING 8 SOCIETYE 23 TH F O S , APRI , 188711 L . wadset, thed latean n a customarr y form of heritable securite th n i y law of Scotland as in that of Denmark.1 According to the continuator of Hector Boece, the right of redemp- s renouncetio wa nDanise th y s grandson b de hbirthi th kinf o hn go , James IV.2 Sir Thomas Craig repeats this story of the alleged renuncia- tion as having been settled by the treaty between James IV. and King Christia . confirmenII Pope.e Georgr th Si y db 3 e Mackenzie also refero st it,4 as does Chalmers;5 and Pinkerton asserts that the right of redemp- lost.w no tio6 s i nBuchanan , confounding Orkne d Shetlanyan d with Hebridesthe , says that their cessio Scotlanto n madwas d e complete and perpetual—" Danum omn s suueju perpetuumn i m cessisse.r Si " 7 James Balfour, in his Annales, affirms that " amongst the conditions of e Danisth e s marriagth hwa king'e on e s renunciatio l righal r f o to n claim that he or his successors could claim for ever to the Isles Orcades and Zetland." 8 Better informed, Abercromby, writing at the beginning of last century, states that the islands were made over " with express provision that they should return to Norway after complete payment of the whole sum for which they were pledged;"9 but Scottish writers, as a rule, adopt the earlier misrepresentation of the facts, for which no evidence has been offered. trus i t eI thaScottise th t h crown speedil objecd an y showetm ai s it d e permanenth e b o t t possessio e islandsth o f greatS o n .jewella f o by Torffseus.—Orcades seu Serum Orcadensium Historia (Havnise, 1715), liber ii., and is transcribed in Barry's History of the Orkney Islands. 1 The Scottish wadset needs no illustration. In a paper contributed to the Society in 1879 (Proceedings, vol. xiv. p. 13), the writer gave some examples of Danish deeds of pawn of lands in Shetland. continuatioe Th 2 Bcethiuf no s byFerrerius, printe Parin di 1574n si . 388pp , , 389. The original work was brought down to the accession of James III. only. 3 Craig Feudale,s Ju , lib . diegi . 14. 4 Mackenzie, Observations Statutes,e (editioth 4 n 23 o . f p 1716)n o . George Chalmers, Caledonia, vol. i. p. 345, note. 5 Pinkerton, History of Scotland, . 266 volpp ,. i .267 . 6 7 Serum Scoticarum Historia, auctore Georgio Buchanano, Scoto, apud Alexan- drum Arbuthnetum, Edinburgh, 1582, liber xii. sec. xxvii. 8 Annales of Scotland, by Sir James Balfour, vol. i. p. 194. e MartialTh 9 Achievements f theo Scots Nation, e Yearth o t 1514 y Patricb , k Abercromby, Edinburgh, 1715. THE DANISH CLAIMS UPON ORKNE SHETLANDD YAN 9 23 . their Croun thes (a y were termed man f Parliayo t yearAc - se lateth n ri readile b ment o t yt , 1669,parte no Charle 19 s . c )wa de . th withsII d an , acquisition of the ancient earldom of Orkney and Shetland from Earl Willia t mGlairS y deeb , f excambioo d n 1471i n , gav e crownth e n a important heritable interes islande th n i ts oved abov an rtemporare eth y sovereignty conveyed by the contract of marriage. But the natives did not regard the impignoration in the same light. They still looked Norwao t e motheth s ya r country. They continue r somfo d e timo t e advocate causes, not to the courts of law in Scotland, but to courts with which they were more familiar in Norway ;1 and the native system of justiced an f w udao ,la l successio udad nan l tenur f landeo , surviven di some measure, through determined efforts at repression, for at .least a couple of hundred years later. Apart, however, frospeculationy man e merite questioth th n f so o n from the Scottish point of view, there can- be no doubt as to the attitud e f Denmarpersistenco eth e pastd th an n , i k y with whicr hhe redemptioe claith m o t e island th s f beeno ha s n asserted pointes A . d out in detail by the historian Torffaeus, formal representations by letters to the Scottish Court and to the sovereigns of England and France, n moro d e an thaoccasioe non speciay b n l embassies, have been made n 1549i , 1550, 1558, 1560, 1585, 1589, 1640 d 1660 an othed , an , r intermediate years. "We shall looe historian th vain i k o t n f Scotlanso d -for accountf so these representations. It is true that no appreciable result in history followed, and there may therefore be a shade of justification for the circumstances being ignored, whether from ignoranc designby or e. There is fortunately, however, no lack of details, from Danish sources, regarding these international representations I shal d e ablb o lan t ;e show that ther alse ear o ample account e traceb o n t contemporarsi d y writings preserved in this country. The Danish historian Thorrnodus Torffseus, whose great work the Orcades has already been referred to, devotes an entire chapter or book 1 See " Decree by the Lawman of Bergen, in Norway, and also by the Lawman of Shetlan theid dan r Council, reversin gSala Lanf eo thesn i d e Islands, 1485," printed e appendith n i Mackenzie'o xt s Grievances of Orkney Shetland.d an 240 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 11, 1887.