167-452: Scandinavian Scotland was the period from the 8th to the 15th centuries during which Vikings and Norse settlers, mainly Norwegians and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians , and their descendants colonised parts of what is now the periphery of modern Scotland . Viking influence in the area commenced in the late 8th century, and hostility between the Scandinavian earls of Orkney and
334-634: A bronze - gilt harness mounting made in Ireland in the 8th or 9th centuries. Brough of Birsay in Orkney is another important archaeological site, which like Jarlshof has a continuity of settlement spanning the Pictish and Norse periods. There is a remarkable collection of 12th-century runic inscriptions inside Maeshowe . In early Irish literature Shetland is referred to as Inse Catt —"the Isles of Cats", which may have been
501-563: A whodunit by Dorothy L. Sayers , initially published in the US as Suspicious Characters , sees Lord Peter Wimsey , on holiday in Kirkcudbright , investigating the death of an artist living at Gatehouse of Fleet ; the book contains some remarkable descriptions of the countryside. S R Crockett , a bestselling writer of historical romances active before the First World War, set several novels in
668-678: A "lochside village". Promontory forts are highly topographically-defined sites, which in Galloway generally occupy coastal promontories overlooking the Solway Firth. Investigation of one such site at Carghidown revealed a "sporadically occupied refuge" according to Toolis, who also notes that "hardly any promontory forts occupy strongly defensive locations or have immediate access to the sea." While many surviving sites represent sporadically-occupied locations or individual households, there are also examples of multiple-household settlements. One of these
835-461: A Pictish king who died in 878, suggests Kintyre may have been lost to his kingdom at that time. The Isle of Man may also have been taken by the Norse in 877 and was certainly held by them by 900. The Northern Isles were "Pictish in culture and speech" prior to the Norse incursions, and although it is recorded that Orkney was "destroyed" by King Bridei in 682 it is not likely that the Pictish kings exerted
1002-530: A century more. The situation in the Suðreyar was more complex. Different kings may have ruled over very different areas and few of them can be seen as exerting any kind of close control over this "far-flung sea kingdom". The Uí Ímair were certainly a powerful force from the late 9th to the early 11th centuries with dynasts such as Amlaíb Cuarán and Gofraid mac Arailt claiming kingship of the Isles. Norse sources also list various rulers such as jarls Gilli , Sigurd
1169-519: A conflict with Harald Maddadson , an earl of Orkney in the early 13th century. This joint earldom ceased after 1375 and the Pentland Firth became the border between Scotland and Norway. No Norse place names have been found on the northern Scottish mainland south of Beauly and so far no archaeological evidence of Norse activity has been found in the north-west mainland. Like the Northern Isles,
1336-473: A copy of the Wycliffe Bible was circulating in Galloway around 1520, and secret groups (proto-conventicles) gathered to hear a man named Alexander Gordon preach from it. With the end of the monasteries, the large ecclesiastical landholdings created under the medieval Lordship of Galloway were broken up amongst hundreds of small landowners. In the case of Dundrennan Abbey , much of the abbey's lands came into
1503-606: A fierce and powerful people and were often in conflict with the Vikings. To counter the Saxon aggression and solidify their own presence, the Danes constructed the huge defence fortification of Danevirke in and around Hedeby . The Vikings witnessed the violent subduing of the Saxons by Charlemagne , in the thirty-year Saxon Wars of 772–804. The Saxon defeat resulted in their forced christening and
1670-473: A gradual incorporation of Galloway into Scotland. Scotland's legal system was administered as a system of three provinces, each with a justiciar (high official). The Justiciar of Galloway was one of these, along with justiciars for Lothian and "Scotia" (lands north of the Forth and Clyde). Additionally, Whithorn remained an important cultural centre; medieval kings of Scots made pilgrimages there. Folklore holds that
1837-575: A group of Rus Vikings went so far south that, after briefly being bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, they attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople . Vikings also voyaged to Iran and Arabia . They were the first Europeans to reach North America, briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines, and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, influencing
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#17328449118462004-460: A large number of small landholders began to consolidate into larger estates. The Irish cattle trade increased until up to 10,000 head of cattle per year were being exported through this route in the year 1667. It was in this year that the importation of Irish cattle to England was banned. However, the importation of Scottish cattle was not banned; this created a new opportunity for Galloway landowners to profit from illicit Irish cattle. By this time,
2171-410: A long period of dynastic strife. Whatever the historical details, it seems likely that Orkney and Shetland were being rapidly absorbed into Norse culture by this time. The evidence of toponymy and language is unequivocal. Placenames in Orkney with a Celtic derivation are few in number and it is clear that Norn , a local version of Old Norse, was widely spoken by the inhabitants into historic times. Norn
2338-505: A long tradition of mobility amongst the various populations of the North Atlantic seaboard and that the expansion of Christian missions resulted in ethnic tensions that led to or exacerbated Viking expansion . There is some evidence of such mobility, such as Irish missionary activities in Iceland and Faroe Islands in the 8th century, but little that is conclusive. The fourth suggestion is
2505-611: A lowly status and Norse may have survived as a spoken language until the 16th century in the Outer Hebrides. There is no evidence of any direct Norwegian rule in the area other than a few brief occupations although the written record is weak and no contemporary records of the Norse period from the Outer Hebrides exist. It is, however, known that Hebrides were taxed using the Ounceland system and evidence from Bornais suggests that settlers there may have been more prosperous than families of
2672-545: A medieval Swedish law, the Västgötalagen , from Västergötland declared no-one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration, especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians: Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið ). There is archaeological evidence that Vikings reached Baghdad ,
2839-548: A number of prominent individuals associated with the Stuart monarchy held lands in both Galloway and in Ulster, facilitating the illicit trade, which "may have been tolerated for political reasons". Many of these landowners were also Episcopalians . Galwegian Gaelic seems to have lasted longer than Gaelic in other parts of Lowland Scotland , and Margaret McMurray (d. 1760) of Carrick (outside modern Galloway) appears to have been
3006-638: A period of Scottish allegiance, a Galloway contingent followed David, King of Scots , in his invasion of England and led the attack in his defeat at the Battle of the Standard (1138). Alan died in 1234, leaving three daughters and an illegitimate son, Thomas ( Tomás mac Ailein ). Alexander II of Scotland , Galloway's suzerain, planned to divide Galloway between Alan's three daughters and their husbands (all Norman noblemen) and to exclude Thomas under Norman feudal law. However, Thomas considered himself Alan's heir under
3173-502: A pool of unmarried men who are willing to engage in risky status-elevating and sex-seeking behaviors. The Annals of Ulster states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity". One common theory posits that Charlemagne "used force and terror to Christianise all pagans", leading to baptism, conversion or execution, and as a result, Vikings and other pagans resisted and wanted revenge. Professor Rudolf Simek states that "it
3340-510: A powerful Norse–Gael culture that had wide influence in Argyll , Galloway and beyond. Scottish influence increased from the 13th century on. In 1231, an unbroken line of Norse earls of Orkney ended and the title was since held by Scottish nobles. An ill-fated expedition by Haakon Haakonarson later in that century led to the relinquishing of the islands of the west to the Scottish Crown and in
3507-435: A preponderance of crannog-type sites compared to certain other regions of Scotland. This is due largely to the region's geography favouring lochs (or now-former lochs), as well as a bias toward higher survival rates of undisturbed sites available for archaeological investigation due to loch-draining taking place later in Galloway than in other regions, with the discovery of such sites eliciting antiquarian interest. For example,
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#17328449118463674-607: A shortage of women available to the Viking male. Consequently, the average Viking man may have felt compelled to seek wealth and power to have the means to acquire suitable women. Several centuries after Dudo's observations, scholars revived this idea, and over time it became a cliché among scholars of the Viking Age. Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines; such polygynous marriages increase male-male competition in society because they create
3841-533: A significant degree of ongoing control over island affairs. According to the Orkneyinga Saga , about 872 Harald Fairhair became King of a united Norway and many of his opponents fled to the islands of Scotland . Harald pursued his enemies and incorporated the Northern Isles into his kingdom in 875 and then, perhaps a little over a decade later, the Hebrides as well. The following year the local Viking chieftains of
4008-623: A significant industry. More recently wind turbines have been installed at a number of locations on the watershed, and a large offshore wind-power plant is planned, increasing Galloway's 'green energy' production. It is thought that aspects of the Barsalloch Fort site in Galloway date to the Mesolithic period . A number of sites date to the Neolithic; these include the Drumtroddan standing stones ,
4175-464: A similar status in the Northern Isles, possibly due to a more relaxed political regime. Latterly, the Hebrides sent eight representatives from Lewis and Harris and Skye and another eight from the southern Hebrides to the Tynwald parliament on Man. Colonsay and Oronsay have produced important pagan Norse burial grounds. An 11th-century cross slab decorated with Irish and Ringerike Viking art on Islay
4342-431: Is "clear evidence" that it was used as a synonym, while Eric Christiansen avers that it is a mistranslation made at the insistence of the publisher. The word wicing does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The word Viking was introduced into Modern English during the 18th-century Viking revival, at which point it acquired romanticised heroic overtones of "barbarian warrior" or noble savage . During
4509-555: Is a composite work produced in the 15th century, which is based on a now-lost 9th century work, the Codex Hersfeldensis , which contained portions of the Agricola . The interpretation of "trackless wastes" is based on material thought to derive from the 9th century codex, with an original Latin in avia primum transgressus ("first crossing into the trackless wastes") having been corrupted into annonave prima transgressus , which
4676-560: Is a group of about 30 runestones in Sweden which refer to Viking Age voyages to England. They constitute one of the largest groups of runestones that mention voyages to other countries, and they are comparable in number only to the approximately 30 Greece Runestones and the 26 Ingvar Runestones , the latter referring to a Viking expedition to the Middle East. They were engraved in Old Norse with
4843-462: Is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire . It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway . A native or inhabitant of Galloway is called a Gallovidian. The region takes its name from the Gall-Gàidheil , or "stranger Gaels", a people of mixed Gaelic and Norse descent who seem to have settled here in
5010-638: Is better attested linguistically, and the term most likely predates the use of the sail by the Germanic peoples of northwestern Europe. In the Middle Ages, viking came to refer to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. The earliest reference to wicing in English sources is from the Épinal-Erfurt glossary ( c. 700 ), about 93 years before the first known attack by Viking raiders in England. The glossary lists
5177-562: Is described as the "son of the king of Lochlainn" in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland also suggesting an early date for an organised kingdom of Viking Scotland. In the same source Amlaíb is also recorded as having gone to the aid of his father Gofraidh who was under assault from Vikings in Lochlainn, c. 872 . Gofraidh died in 873 and may have been succeeded by his son Ímar who also died that year. A lament for Áed mac Cináeda ,
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5344-525: Is essentially as told by the Norse sagas and is supported by some archaeological evidence although it has been criticised for exaggerating Orcadian influence in the Suðreyar . The second of these theories is the genocide hypothesis, which asserts that the aboriginal populations of the Northern and Western Isles were eradicated and replaced wholesale with settlers of Scandinavian stock. The strength of this argument
5511-469: Is far from certain. As Ó Corráin himself admits "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles is unknown, perhaps unknowable". Norse contacts with Scotland certainly predate the first written records in the 8th century, although their nature and frequency are unknown. Excavations at Norwick on the island of Unst in Shetland indicate that Scandinavian settlers had reached there, perhaps as early as
5678-534: Is grammatically incorrect in Latin. The interpretation that this passage refers to Galloway is based on contextual information, as the work later refers to "the part of Britain that faces Ireland", which is seen as referring to southwestern Scotland. In the 2nd century, the Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy produced his Geographia , which was written c. AD 150 . This work included Britain. No surviving copies of
5845-443: Is highly likely that Gaelic and Pictish sailors were aware of Scandinavia before the commencement of the Viking Age. It has also been suggested that an assault by forces from Fortriu in 681 in which Orkney was "annihilated" may have led to a weakening of the local power base and helped the Norse come to prominence. Scholarly interpretations of the period "have led to widely divergent reconstructions of Viking Age Scotland" especially in
6012-570: Is known as the Galloway Hills . Historically Galloway has been known both for horses and for cattle rearing, and milk and beef production are both still major industries. There is also substantial timber production and some fisheries . The combination of hills and high rainfall make Galloway ideal for hydroelectric power production, and the Galloway Hydro Power scheme was begun in 1929. Since then, electricity generation has been
6179-636: Is likely to have been short-lived. Sigurd Eysteinsson and Thorstein the Red moved on northern Scotland, conquering large areas variously described in the sagas as constituting all of Caithness and Sutherland and possibly including territory in Ross and even Moray during the last decade of the 9th century. The Orkneyinga Saga relates how the former defeated the Pict Máel Brigte Tusk but died from an unusual post-battle injury. Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson married into
6346-519: Is not a coincidence if the early Viking activity occurred during the reign of Charlemagne". The ascendance of Christianity in Scandinavia led to serious conflict, dividing Norway for almost a century. However, this time period did not commence until the 10th century. Norway was never subject to aggression by Charlemagne and the period of strife was due to successive Norwegian kings embracing Christianity after encountering it overseas. Another explanation
6513-555: Is several miles inland. Following the start of the Roman conquest of Britain , the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola campaigned northward, reaching Scotland around AD 79. A possible comment about "trackless wastes" may have referred to Galloway, but this is unclear. The source of this comment is the version of Tacitus' Agricola which is contained in the Codex Aesinas . The Codex Aesinas
6680-567: Is taken to have been the period from the earliest recorded raids by Norsemen in 793 until the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descendants of those Vikings who had been given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France, namely the Duchy of Normandy , in the 10th century. In that respect, descendants of
6847-407: Is that the Vikings exploited a moment of weakness in the surrounding regions. Contrary to Simek's assertion, Viking raids occurred sporadically long before the reign of Charlemagne; but exploded in frequency and size after his death, when his empire fragmented into multiple much weaker entities. England suffered from internal divisions and was a relatively easy prey given the proximity of many towns to
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7014-578: Is the Rispain Camp site near Whithorn, which contained a form of bread wheat unique amongst Iron Age sites in Galloway. This is a possible indication that Rispain Camp had different agricultural practices than elsewhere in Galloway, especially given the relatively low occurrence of rotary querns at sites in the area. Roughly contemporary with the Rispain Camp site, a cluster of roundhouses at Dunragit (dating to
7181-450: Is the Scottish mainland. The two most northerly provinces of mainland Scotland, Caithness and Sutherland , fell under Norse control at an early date. South of there the entire western seaboard of mainland Scotland from Wester Ross to Kintyre was also subject to significant Scandinavian influence. The Suðreyjar , or "Southern Isles" include: The total distance from the southern tip of
7348-520: Is the almost total replacement of pre-existing place names by those of Norse origin throughout much of the region. Its weakness is that the place name evidence is from a relatively late date and the nature of this transition remains controversial. Genetic studies show that Shetlanders have almost identical proportions of Scandinavian matrilineal and patrilineal ancestry, suggesting that the islands were settled by both men and women in equal measure. The pagan reaction hypothesis proposed by Bjørn Myhre suggests
7515-536: Is weak, with the Irish annals and the later Norse sagas, of which the Orkneyinga saga is the principal source of information, sometimes contradictory although modern archaeology is beginning to provide a broader picture of life during this period. There are various competing theories that have addressed the early colonisation process, although it is clear that the Northern Isles were the first to be conquered by Vikings and
7682-485: The Landnámabók Kettil became ruler of a region already settled by Scandinavians. Some scholars believe that this entire story is apocryphal and based on the later voyages of Magnus Barelegs . For example, Woolf (2007) suggests that his appearance in the sagas "looks very much like a story created in later days to legitimise Norwegian claims to sovereignty in the region" and suggests an early-11th-century creation of
7849-544: The Chronicles of Mann and evidenced by the numerous Manx runestones and Norse place names. The modern-day Diocese of Sodor and Man retains the centuries-old name. South of Sutherland there is considerable place name evidence of Norse settlement along the entire western coast, although unlike on the islands the settlement in the south seems to have been less prolonged and undertaken in tandem with pre-existing settlement rather than replacing it entirely. The distinction between
8016-534: The Laithlind or Lochlann hypothesis. This word appears in various forms in the early Irish literature and is usually assumed to refer to Norway itself, although some have preferred to locate it in the Norse-dominated parts of Scotland. Donnchadh Ó Corráin is a proponent of this view and claims that a substantial part of Scotland—the Northern and Western Isles and large areas of the coastal mainland—were conquered by
8183-670: The Danelaw , including Scandinavian York, the administrative centre of the remains of the Kingdom of Northumbria , parts of Mercia , and East Anglia . Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland , Orkney , and Faroe Islands; Iceland; Greenland ; and L'Anse aux Meadows , a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland , circa 1000. The Greenland settlement
8350-480: The Geographia exist which are older than the 13th century, creating the possibility that details may have been lost or distorted. Ptolemy credited much of his work to a now-lost atlas by Marinus of Tyre , a previous geographer whose work is thought to have been created around AD 114. Though it would have been written within the century after Agricola's campaign, Ptolemy's work is a Roman perspective on Britain following
8517-606: The Innse Gall (islands of the foreigners) and the Airer Goidel (coastland of the Gael) is further suggestive of a distinction between island and mainland at an early date. In Wester Ross most of the Gaelic names that exist on the coastline today are of likely Medieval rather than pre-Norse origin and a now-lost charter refers to the mainland village of Glenelg opposite Skye as having been in
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#17328449118468684-478: The Kingdom of Strathclyde and this was clearly a major assault which may have brought the whole of mainland Scotland under temporary Ui Imair control. Three years earlier Vikings had seized Northumbria, forming the Kingdom of York and subsequently conquered much of England except for a reduced Kingdom of Wessex , leaving the new combined Pictish and Gaelic kingdom almost encircled. Amlaíb and his brother Auisle "ravaged
8851-625: The Mediterranean , North Africa , the Middle East , Greenland , and Vinland (present-day Newfoundland in Canada , North America ). In their countries of origin, and some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age , and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on
9018-597: The Mormaer of Moray . Thorfinn Sigurdsson expanded his father's realm south beyond Sutherland and by the 11th century the Norwegian crown had come to accept that Caithness was held by the earls of Orkney as a fiefdom from the Kings of Scotland although its Norse character was retained throughout the 13th century. Raghnall mac Gofraidh was granted Caithness after assisting the Scots king in
9185-417: The Reformation . A Brythonic speaking kingdom dominated Galloway until the late 7th century when it was absorbed by the English kingdom of Bernicia . English prevalence was supplanted by Britons and Norse-Gaelic ( Gall-Ghàidheal ) peoples between the 9th and the 11th century. This can be seen in the context of both the vacuum left by Northumbria being filled by the resurgent Cumbric Britons and
9352-400: The Slavic languages in the Viking settlements of Eastern Europe. It has been speculated that the reason for this was the great differences between the two languages, combined with the Rus Vikings' more peaceful businesses in these areas, and the fact that they were outnumbered. The Norse named some of the rapids on the Dnieper , but this can hardly be seen from modern names. The Norse of
9519-477: The Stuart dynasty in Britain and Ireland. James , the Stuart monarch of both Scotland and England, heavily policed the activities of the riding clans of the nearby Scottish Borders , leading to a large number of Borderers emigrating or being transported to Ireland or to the American colonies. The Plantation of Ulster began around this time. Attempts by the Stuarts to impose royal absolutism , as well as theological disputes over episcopacy, ultimately triggered
9686-457: The Torhousekie stone circle , and the Cairnholy chambered cairn. There is also evidence of one of the earliest pit-fall traps in Europe which was discovered near Glenluce , Wigtownshire . The Iron Age is where prehistoric archaeological remains and recorded history overlap for Galloway. Galloway's Iron Age sites are similar to the rest of Scotland. Its distinctive type sites consist of crannogs , promontory forts, and duns . Galloway has
9853-433: The Younger Futhark . The Jelling stones date from between 960 and 985. The older, smaller stone was raised by King Gorm the Old , the last pagan king of Denmark, as a memorial honouring Queen Thyre . The larger stone was raised by his son, Harald Bluetooth , to celebrate the conquest of Denmark and Norway and the conversion of the Danes to Christianity. It has three sides: one with an animal image; one with an image of
10020-423: The earldom of Orkney , prior to which local warlords competed for influence with one another and local populations of farmers. Nonetheless, the Norse tradition states that Rognvald Eysteinsson received Orkney and Shetland from Harald as an earldom as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother Sigurd the Mighty . Sigurd's line barely survived him and it
10187-612: The early medieval history of Scandinavia , the British Isles , France , Estonia , and Kievan Rus' . Expert sailors and navigators of their characteristic longships , Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles , the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , Normandy , and the Baltic coast , as well as along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across modern-day Russia, Belarus , and Ukraine , where they were also known as Varangians . The Normans , Norse-Gaels , Rus' people , Faroese , and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. At one point,
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#173284491184610354-453: The sub-Roman Brythonic kingdom of Rheged . Rerigonium 's exact position is uncertain except that it was 'on Loch Ryan ', close to modern day Stranraer ; it is possible that it is the modern settlement of Dunragit ( Dun Rheged ). According to tradition, before the end of Roman rule in Britain , St. Ninian established a church or monastery at Whithorn , Wigtownshire , which remained an important place of pilgrimage until
10521-529: The "Galloway flail", a variant of the agriculturally-derived melee weapon . Galloway's agricultural economy was indirectly affected by the 17th-century Plantation of Ulster. Peasants in Galloway had, dating back to the Middle Ages, traditionally practiced a mixture of dairy-focused pastoral transhumance and intensive agriculture, with pockets of arable land being intensively cultivated by some peasants, while others migrated between upland and lowland pastures with their herds. Landowners such as Sir John Murray,
10688-642: The 10th and 11th centuries, the exposed family trees, the self-images, and the ethical values that are contained in these literary writings. Indirectly, the Vikings have also left a window open onto their language, culture and activities, through many Old Norse place names and words found in their former sphere of influence. Some of these place names and words are still in direct use today, almost unchanged, and shed light on where they settled and what specific places meant to them. Examples include place names like Egilsay (from Eigils ey meaning Eigil's Island), Ormskirk (from Ormr kirkja meaning Orms Church or Church of
10855-404: The 10th century. Galloway is bounded by sea to the west and south, the Galloway Hills to the north, and the River Nith to the east; the border between Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire is marked by the River Cree . The definition has, however, fluctuated greatly in size over history. A hardy breed of black, hornless cattle named Galloway cattle is native to the region, in addition to
11022-446: The 12th century. Only three rune stones are known from the west coast of Scotland, on Christian memorials found on Barra , Inchmarnock and Iona. In the Firth of Clyde , Norse burials have been found on Arran, although not Bute and place name evidence suggests a settlement pattern that was much less well-developed than in the Hebrides. On the mainland coast there is cluster of Norse place names around Largs and an ornate silver brooch
11189-399: The 12th through 14th centuries, and many traditions connected with the Viking Age were written down for the first time in the Icelandic sagas . A literal interpretation of these medieval prose narratives about the Vikings and the Scandinavian past is doubtful, but many specific elements remain worthy of consideration, such as the great quantity of skaldic poetry attributed to court poets of
11356-467: The 17th-century Bishops' Wars in Scotland, which saw the appearance of the Covenanters as a social, political, and military force. The Covenanters began as participants in conventicles , which were unsanctioned secret religious gatherings that often took place outdoors, or in barns or granaries. The Covenanter movement was particularly popular in the southwest of Scotland. Covenanters had skirmishes with government troops in Galloway, some of which featured
11523-653: The 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to seaborne raiders from Scandinavia and other places settled by them (like Iceland and the Faroe Islands ), but also any member of the culture that produced the raiders during the period from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries, or more loosely from about 700 to as late as about 1100. As an adjective, the word is used to refer to ideas, phenomena, or artefacts connected with those people and their cultural life, producing expressions like Viking age , Viking culture , Viking art , Viking religion , Viking ship and so on. The Viking Age in Scandinavian history
11690-455: The 7th century had also affected trade with Western Europe. Raids in Europe, including raids and settlements from Scandinavia, were not unprecedented and had occurred long before the Vikings arrived. The Jutes invaded the British Isles three centuries earlier, from Jutland during the Age of Migrations , before the Danes settled there. The Saxons and the Angles did the same, embarking from mainland Europe. The Viking raids were, however,
11857-407: The 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings . Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was somewhere on the islands of the Oder estuary. While the Vikings were active beyond their Scandinavian homelands, Scandinavia was itself experiencing new influences and undergoing a variety of cultural changes. By
12024-505: The Black Loch of Myrton site (which likely dates to around the 5th century BC) was discovered due to loch-draining activities in the area of the Maxwell family estate during the 19th century. The site received the attention of a local antiquarian, Sir Herbert Maxwell , who conducted a basic excavation. Initially thought to be a crannog, the Black Loch of Myrton site was later recharacterized as
12191-573: The Carghidown site (dated to c. 360 BC–AD 60 ) indicated a closer affinity to the Southern Uplands than to a sample from the Isle of Man . The area around Whithorn, containing both the Carghidown and Rispain Camp sites, appears to have become a local power centre. The Carghidown site is located only a short distance to the east along the coast from St Ninian's Cave , while the Rispain Camp site
12358-419: The Gaelic system of tanistry . In the ensuing Galloway revolt of 1234–1235 , an army of Galwegian rebels ambushed Alexander's royal army and nearly inflicted a defeat before relief forces arrived to support the king. The rebels retreated to Ireland, and Alexander left Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch to subdue Galloway; Comyn sacked its abbeys before fleeing when faced with the return of the rebels. The rebellion
12525-755: The Grim , Earl of Douglas . In 1369, he received the part of Galloway east of the River Cree , where he appointed a steward to administer the area, which became known as the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright . The following year, he acquired the part of Galloway west of the Cree, which continued to be administered by the king's sheriff, and so became known as the Shire of Wigtown . The two parts of Galloway thereafter were administered separately, becoming separate counties . The High Medieval period saw
12692-422: The Hebrides rebelled. Harald then sent Ketill Flatnose to subdue them. Ketill achieved this quickly but then declared himself an independent "King of the Isles", a title he retained for the rest of his life. Hunter (2000) states that Ketill was "in charge of an extensive island realm and, as a result, sufficiently prestigious to contemplate the making of agreements and alliances with other princelings". According to
12859-698: The Isle of Man to the Butt of Lewis , the northern extremity of the Outer Hebrides, is approximately 515 kilometres (320 mi). This entire region became dominated by Norse culture for much of the period under consideration. For example, it is likely that the Norse language became as dominant throughout the Inner Hebrides as it did on Lewis during the 10th and 11th centuries. There was also significant direct Norse influence exerted in Galloway in south-west Scotland and for much of
13026-515: The King of Scots. The monks suspected their tale, and thinking they were pirates, sent to the mainland for men. When Swein and his comrades became aware of this, they went hastily aboard their ship, after having plundered much treasure from the monastery. Place name evidence of Scandinavian settlement is very limited on the east coast and in the south-east Anglian was the predominant influence during this period of history. The first phase of Norse expansion
13193-479: The Latin alphabet. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden has as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on the definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391. The majority of runic inscriptions from
13360-653: The Latin translation for wicing as piraticum 'pirate'. In Old English , the word wicing appears in the Anglo-Saxon poem Widsith , probably from the 9th century. The word was not regarded as a reference to nationality, with other terms such as Northmen and Dene 'Danes' being used for that. In Asser 's Latin work The Life of King Alfred , the Danes are referred to as pagani 'pagans'; historian Janet Nelson states that pagani became "the Vikings" in standard translations of this work, even though there
13527-505: The Manx rulers held on to the "north isles" for another century. The origins of both Godred Crovan and Somerled are obscure—the former may have been an Uí Ímair dynast from Islay, the latter married a Crovan heiress. Thus it is clear that although there were competing factions in play, the Hebrides and islands of the Clyde were essentially under the control of rulers of Scandinavian origin from "at least
13694-513: The Norse as the Norðreyjar , are the closest parts of Scotland to Norway and these islands experienced the first and most long-lasting Norse influence of any part of Scotland. Shetland is some 300 kilometres (190 mi) due west of Norway and in favourable conditions could be reached in 24 hours from Hordaland in a Viking longship . Orkney is 80 kilometres (50 mi) further to the south-west. Some 16 kilometres (10 mi) due south of Orkney
13861-512: The Norsemen settled in the present-day Faroe Islands , Iceland , Norse Greenland , Newfoundland , the Netherlands , Germany, Normandy , Italy, Scotland , England, Wales , Ireland, the Isle of Man , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Ukraine , Russia and Turkey, as well as initiating the consolidation that resulted in the formation of the present-day Scandinavian countries. In the Viking Age,
14028-463: The North and Irish Seas diminished markedly. The kings of Norway continued to assert power in parts of northern Britain and Ireland, and raids continued into the 12th century, but the military ambitions of Scandinavian rulers were now directed toward new paths. In 1107, Sigurd I of Norway sailed for the eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian crusaders to fight for the newly established Kingdom of Jerusalem ;
14195-523: The Novantae people. The Rispain Camp site is also associated with the Novantae. In the west, the city of Rerigonium (literally 'very royal place'), shown on Ptolemy 's map of the world, is a strong contender for the site of Pen Rhionydd , referred to in the Welsh Triads as one of the 'three thrones of Britain' associated with the legendary King Arthur , and may also have been the caput of
14362-567: The Obotrite city of Reric on the southern Baltic coast in 808 AD and transferred the merchants and traders to Hedeby. This secured Viking supremacy in the Baltic Sea, which continued throughout the Viking Age. Because of the expansion of the Vikings across Europe, a comparison of DNA and archeology undertaken by scientists at the University of Cambridge and University of Copenhagen suggested that
14529-686: The Old Norse of the Vikings and give an opportunity to understand their interactions with the people and cultures of the British Isles. In the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney, Old Norse completely replaced the local languages and over time evolved into the now extinct Norn language . Some modern words and names only emerge and contribute to our understanding after a more intense research of linguistic sources from medieval or later records, such as York (Horse Bay), Swansea ( Sveinn 's Isle) or some of
14696-507: The Outer Hebrides and the northern Inner Hebrides were predominantly Pictish in the early 9th century. By contrast, the southern Inner Hebrides formed part of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata . The obliteration of pre-Norse names in the Outer Hebrides and in Coll, Tiree and Islay in the Inner Hebrides is almost total and there is little continuity of style between Pictish pottery in the north and that of
14863-523: The Red , reached North America and set up short-lived settlements in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows , Newfoundland, Canada. This expansion occurred during the Medieval Warm Period . Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Their realm was bordered by powerful tribes to the south. Early on, it was the Saxons who occupied Old Saxony , located in what is now Northern Germany. The Saxons were
15030-414: The Scandinavian presence and examples of Norse runes provide further useful evidence. There is a significant corpus of material from the Gaelic oral tradition that relates to this period, but its value is questionable. Language and personal names provide some difficulties. The former is an important indicator of culture but there is very little direct evidence for its use in specific circumstances during
15197-641: The Scottish crown through their holdings as earls of Caithness . In 1231 the line of Norse earls, unbroken since Rognvald Eysteinsson, ended with Jon Haraldsson 's murder in Thurso . The Earldom of Caithness was granted to Magnus , second son of the Earl of Angus , whom Haakon IV of Norway confirmed as Earl of Orkney in 1236. In 1379 the earldom passed to the Sinclair family, who were also barons of Roslin near Edinburgh although Orkney and Shetland remained part of Norway for
15364-624: The Stout, Håkon Eiriksson and Thorfinn the Mighty as rulers over the Hebrides who were vassals of the Kings of Norway or Denmark. The dates from the Irish and Norse sources do not significantly overlap, but it is not clear if these are records of competing empires, or reflect Uí Ímar influence in the south and direct Norse rule in the north, or both. Furthermore, two records in the Annals of Innisfallen may suggest that
15531-603: The Swedes, Eric , was married to Gunhild , of the Polish House of Piast . Likewise, his son, Olof , fell in love with Edla , a Slavic woman, and took her as his frilla (concubine). They had a son and a daughter: Emund the Old , King of Sweden, and Astrid , Queen of Norway. Cnut the Great , King of Denmark, England and Norway, was the son of a daughter of Mieszko I of Poland , possibly
15698-596: The University of Bonn, posits that the presence of Slavs in Scandinavia is "more significant than previously thought", while Mats Roslund states that "the Slavs and their interaction with Scandinavia have not been adequately investigated". A 10th-century grave of a warrior-woman in Denmark was long thought to belong to a Viking. However, new analyses suggest that the woman may have been a Slav from present-day Poland. The first king of
15865-424: The Viking Age could read and write and used a non-standardised alphabet, called runor , built upon sound values. While there are few remains of runic writing on paper from the Viking era, thousands of stones with runic inscriptions have been found where Vikings lived. They are usually in memory of the dead, though not necessarily placed at graves. The use of runor survived into the 15th century, used in parallel with
16032-689: The Viking period are found in Sweden. Many runestones in Scandinavia record the names of participants in Viking expeditions, such as the Kjula runestone that tells of extensive warfare in Western Europe and the Turinge Runestone , which tells of a war band in Eastern Europe. Other runestones mention men who died on Viking expeditions. Among them are the England runestones (Swedish: Englandsstenarna ), which
16199-422: The Viking period. The similarities that do exist suggests the later pots may have been made by Norse who had settled in Ireland, or Irish slaves. There are frequent references in early Icelandic history to slaves from Ireland and the Hebrides, but none from Orkney. Gaelic certainly continued to exist as a spoken language in the southern Hebrides throughout the settlement period, but place name evidence suggests it had
16366-452: The Vikings and the Viking Age can also be important for understanding them and their culture, although they need to be treated cautiously. After the consolidation of the church and the assimilation of Scandinavia and its colonies into mainstream medieval Christian culture in the 11th and 12th centuries, native written sources began to appear in Latin and Old Norse. In the Viking colony of Iceland, extraordinary vernacular literature blossomed in
16533-692: The Vikings are contemporary texts from Scandinavia and regions where the Vikings were active. Writing in Latin letters was introduced to Scandinavia with Christianity, so there are few native documentary sources from Scandinavia before the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The Scandinavians did write inscriptions in runes , but these were usually very short and formulaic. Most contemporary documentary sources consist of texts written in Christian and Islamic communities outside Scandinavia, often by authors who had been negatively affected by Viking activity. Later writings on
16700-499: The Vikings come from other cultures that were in contact with them. Since the mid-20th century, archaeological findings have built a more complete and balanced picture of the lives of the Vikings. The archaeological record is particularly rich and varied, providing knowledge of their rural and urban settlement, crafts and production, ships and military equipment, trading networks, as well as their pagan and Christian religious artefacts and practices. The most important primary sources on
16867-523: The Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson , the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, had Danish ancestors. Two Vikings even ascended to the throne of England, with Sweyn Forkbeard claiming the English throne in 1013 until 1014 and his son Cnut the Great being king of England between 1016 and 1035. Geographically, the Viking Age covered Scandinavian lands (modern Denmark , Norway and Sweden), as well as territories under North Germanic dominance, mainly
17034-463: The Vikings in 839. Another early reference to the Norse presence in the Irish records is that there was a king of "Viking Scotland" whose heir, Thórir, brought an army to Ireland in 848. Caittil Find was a reported leader of the Gallgáedil fighting in Ireland in 857. The Frankish Annales Bertiniani may record the conquest of the Inner Hebrides by Vikings in 847. Amlaíb Conung , who died in 874,
17201-468: The Vikings in the first quarter of the 9th century and that a Viking kingdom was set up there earlier than the middle of the century. Essentially a variant of the earldom hypothesis, there is little archaeological evidence in its favour, although it is clear that extensive Viking incursions on the Irish coasts were supported by a presence of some kind in the Hebrides , even if the date the latter became prominent
17368-501: The Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival . Perceived views of the Vikings as violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers owe much to conflicting varieties of
17535-533: The Western Isles were not "organised into a kingdom or earldom" at this time but rather that they were "ruled by assemblies of freeholders who regularly elected lawmen to preside over their public affairs". The Annals of the Four Masters entries for 962 and 974 hint at a similar arrangement. Crawford (1987) suggests that influence from the south rather than the north was "usually predominant" whilst admitting that
17702-521: The Worm), Meols (from merl meaning Sand Dunes), Snaefell (Snow Fell), Ravenscar (Ravens Rock), Vinland (Land of Wine or Land of Winberry ), Kaupanger (Market Harbour), Tórshavn (Thor's Harbour), and the religious centre of Odense , meaning a place where Odin was worshipped. Viking influence is also evident in concepts like the present-day parliamentary body of the Tynwald on the Isle of Man. Many common words in everyday English language stem from
17869-689: The absorption of Old Saxony into the Carolingian Empire . Fear of the Franks led the Vikings to further expand Danevirke, and the defence constructions remained in use throughout the Viking Age and even up until 1864. The southern coast of the Baltic Sea was ruled by the Obotrites , a federation of Slavic tribes loyal to the Carolingians and later the Frankish empire . The Vikings—led by King Gudfred —destroyed
18036-450: The candidates for the Scottish Crown. Consequently, Scotland's Wars of Independence were disproportionately fought in Galloway. There were a large number of new Gaelic placenames being coined post 1320 (e.g. Balmaclellan ), because Galloway retained a substantial Gaelic speaking population for several centuries more. Following the Wars of Independence, Galloway became the fief of Archibald
18203-570: The centre of the Islamic Empire . The Norse regularly plied the Volga with their trade goods: furs, tusks, seal fat for boat sealant, and slaves . Important trading ports during the period include Birka , Hedeby , Kaupang , Jorvik , Staraya Ladoga , Novgorod , and Kiev. Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonisation, and conquest. In this period, voyaging from their homelands in Denmark, Norway and Sweden
18370-570: The conquest, and not necessarily a reflection of pre-Roman social or ethnic groups. Ptolemy listed two peoples as inhabitants of the area around Galloway: the Novantae in the west (associated with Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and southern Ayrshire) and the Selgovae in the east (primarily associated with modern-day Dumfriesshire). It is thought that the Iron Age inhabitants of the Barsalloch Fort site were
18537-482: The crucified Jesus Christ; and a third bearing the following inscription: King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian. Galloway Galloway ( Scottish Gaelic : Gall-Ghàidhealaibh [ˈkal̪ˠaɣəl̪ˠu] ; Scots : Gallowa ; Latin : Gallovidia )
18704-477: The earl of Annandale , received large land grants in Ulster which were only suitable for pasture. In order for their tenants in Ireland to pay rent, an export market had to be created, which was soon sanctioned by the Scottish Privy Council, for Irish cattle to be exported to England via Galloway. Some landowners used the cattle trade in the 17th century as a way to grow their landholdings, as the system of
18871-480: The early 21st century derives Viking from the same root as Old Norse vika 'sea mile', originally referring to the distance between two shifts of rowers, ultimately from the Proto-Germanic * wîkan 'to recede'. This is found in the early Nordic verb *wikan 'to turn', similar to Old Icelandic víkja 'to move, to turn', with "well-attested nautical usages", according to Bernard Mees. This theory
19038-600: The early centuries AD) was revealed to contain examples of native (i.e. non-Roman) pottery. Certain households in Galloway seem to have taken social prominence later in the Iron Age. Lead items appear; isotope analysis of goods at a number of Iron Age and Roman period sites indicate the Scottish Southern Uplands as a possible ore source for the lead material, though it is unclear how early extraction of lead could have taken place in Galloway specifically. Metallurgical testing done on three lead beads recovered from
19205-483: The early period and Barrett (2008) has identified four competing theories, none of which he regards as proven. The traditional explanation is the earldom hypothesis. This assumes a period of Norse expansion into the Northern Isles and the creation of an aristocratic dynasty that lasted well into the Medieval period, which exerted considerable influence in western Scotland and Mann into the 11th century. This version of events
19372-483: The emerging thalassocracy of the Kingdom of the Isles , the rulers of Ireland , Dál Riata and Alba , and intervention by the crown of Norway were recurring themes. Scandinavian-held territories included the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland , the Hebrides , the islands of the Firth of Clyde and associated mainland territories including Caithness and Sutherland . The historical record from Scottish sources
19539-558: The end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages. Slavic and Viking tribes were "closely linked, fighting one another, intermixing and trading". In the Middle Ages, goods were transferred from Slavic areas to Scandinavia, and Denmark could be considered "a melting pot of Slavic and Scandinavian elements". Leszek Gardeła, of the Department of Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at
19706-493: The first to be documented by eyewitnesses, and they were much larger in scale and frequency than in previous times. Vikings themselves were expanding; although their motives are unclear, historians believe that scarce resources or a lack of mating opportunities were a factor. The slave trade was an important part of the Viking economy, with most slaves destined to Scandinavia although many others were shipped east where they could be sold for large profits. The "Highway of Slaves"
19873-449: The former Polish queen of Sweden, wife of Eric. Colonisation of Iceland by Norwegian Vikings began in the 9th century. The first source mentioning Iceland and Greenland is a papal letter from 1053. Twenty years later, they appear in the Gesta of Adam of Bremen . It was not until after 1130, when the islands had become Christianised, that accounts of the history of the islands were written from
20040-508: The genetic and historical development of both. During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes . For most of the period, they followed the Old Norse religion , but later became Christians . The Vikings had their own laws , art , and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, and traders. Popular conceptions of
20207-520: The good arable land , although there is also some arable land on the coast. Generally however the landscape is rugged and much of the soil is shallow. The generally south slope and southern coast make for mild and wet climate, and there is a great deal of good pasture. The northern part of Galloway is exceedingly rugged and forms the largest remaining wilderness in Britain south of the Highlands . This area
20374-500: The hands of the family of its last abbot, Edward Maxwell. Following the death of the pre-Reformation Bishop of Galloway in 1575, there were disputes over who would be bishop, and the seat was vacant for a considerable period of time in the late 16th century due to opposition to episcopacy in Scotland. The Anglo-Scottish Union of the Crowns took place in 1603, leading to the supremacy of
20541-557: The influx of the Norse into the Irish Sea , including settlement in the Isle of Man and in the now English region of western Cumbria immediately south of Galloway. If it had not been for Fergus of Galloway who established himself in Galloway in the mid-twelfth century, the region would rapidly have been absorbed by Scotland. This did not happen because Fergus, his sons, grandsons and great-grandson Alan, Lord of Galloway , shifted their allegiance between Scottish and English kings. During
20708-474: The influx of Islamic silver from the East had been absent for more than a century, and the flow of English silver had come to an end in the mid-11th century. Christianity had taken root in Denmark and Norway with the establishment of dioceses in the 11th century, and the new religion was beginning to organise and assert itself more effectively in Sweden. Foreign churchmen and native elites were energetic in furthering
20875-400: The institution experienced continuity thereafter. Until the mid- to late 11th century the earls of Orkney and kings of the Western Isles were probably independent rulers. The imposition of direct Norwegian rule at the end of this century brought this to a close in the north and unusually, from c. 1100 onwards the Norse jarls of the Northern Isles owed allegiance both to Norway for Orkney and to
21042-513: The interests of Christianity, which was now no longer operating only on a missionary footing, and old ideologies and lifestyles were transforming. By 1103, the first archbishopric was founded in Scandinavia, at Lund , Scania, then part of Denmark. The assimilation of the nascent Scandinavian kingdoms into the cultural mainstream of European Christendom altered the aspirations of Scandinavian rulers and of Scandinavians able to travel overseas, and changed their relations with their neighbours. One of
21209-457: The islands probably formed "groups of more or less independent communities". Godred Crovan became the ruler of Dublin and Mann from 1079 and from the early years of the 12th century the Crovan dynasty asserted themselves and ruled as "Kings of Mann and the Isles" for the next half century. The kingdom was than sundered due to the actions of Somerled whose sons inherited the southern Hebrides whilst
21376-598: The isles. This alliance between the two cultures, which also took place in Ireland, may have been instrumental in saving the Gaels of Dál Riata from the fate of the Picts in the north and west. Evidence for Norse settlement in mainland Argyll is limited although the Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial in Ardnamurchan is the first boat-burial site to be discovered on the mainland of Britain . By
21543-470: The kings of Denmark and Sweden participated actively in the Baltic Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. A variety of sources illuminate the culture, activities, and beliefs of the Vikings. Although they were generally a non-literate culture that produced no literary legacy, they had an alphabet and described themselves and their world on runestones . Most contemporary literary and written sources on
21710-555: The last most likely stemming from contact with the extensive Danish holdings in northern England. One feature of the area is the number of names with a " kirk " prefix followed by a saint's name such as Kirkoswald . Interpretation of this is not certain but it is also indicative of a mixed Gaelic/Norse population. There is no evidence of permanent Viking settlement on the east coast south of the Moray Firth, or of Norse burials, although raids and even invasions certainly occurred. Dunnottar
21877-650: The last recorded speaker. In modern times, Stranraer was a major ferry port, but the company have now moved to Cairnryan . Galloway has been the setting of a number of novels, including Walter Scott 's Guy Mannering . Other novels include the historical fiction trilogy by Liz Curtis Higgs, Thorn in My Heart , Fair is the Rose , and Whence Came a Prince . Richard Hannay flees London to lie low in Galloway in John Buchan 's novel The Thirty-nine Steps . Five Red Herrings ,
22044-420: The last to be relinquished by the Norwegian crown. Thorfinn Sigurdsson 's rule in the 11th century included expansion well into north mainland Scotland and this may have been the zenith of Scandinavian influence. The obliteration of pre-Norse names in the Hebrides and Northern Isles, and their replacement with Norse ones was almost total although the emergence of alliances with the native Gaelic speakers produced
22211-536: The late 11th century, royal dynasties were legitimised by the Catholic Church (which had had little influence in Scandinavia 300 years earlier) which were asserting their power with increasing authority and ambition, with the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden taking shape. Towns appeared that functioned as secular and ecclesiastical administrative centres and market sites, and monetary economies began to emerge based on English and German models. By this time
22378-408: The late tenth century" until the emergence of the kingdom of Scotland and its 13th-century expansion into the west. The early Viking threats may have speeded a long term process of gaelicisation of the Pictish kingdoms, which adopted Gaelic language and customs. There was a merger of the Gaelic and Pictish crowns, although historians continue to debate whether it was a Pictish takeover of Dál Riata, or
22545-427: The mid-10th century Amlaíb Cuarán controlled the Rhinns and the region gets the modern name of Galloway from the mixture of Viking and Gaelic Irish settlement that produced the Gall-Gaidel. Magnus Barelegs is said to have "subdued the people of Galloway" in the 11th century and Whithorn seems to have been a centre of Hiberno-Norse artisans who traded around the Irish Sea by the end of the first millennium. However,
22712-436: The mid-15th century Orkney and Shetland were also transferred to Scottish rule. The negative view of Viking activities held in popular imagination notwithstanding, Norse expansion may have been a factor in the emergence of the Gaelic kingdom of Alba, the forerunner of modern Scotland, and the trading, political, cultural and religious achievements of the later periods of Norse rule were significant. The Northern Isles , known to
22879-422: The mid-6th to the mid-9th century. But from 849 on, when Columba 's relics were removed in the face of Viking incursions, written evidence from local sources all but vanishes for three hundred years. The sources for information about the Hebrides and much of northern Scotland from the 8th to the 11th century are thus almost exclusively Irish, English or Norse. The main Norse text is the Orkneyinga Saga , which
23046-408: The mid-7th century, consistent with dates produced for Viking levels at Old Scatness . From 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded. "All the islands of Britain" were devastated in 794 with Iona being sacked in 802 and 806. (These attacks on Christian settlements in the islands of the west were not new. In the 6th century Tiree was raided by Pictish forces, Tory Island
23213-416: The modern Viking myth that had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. These representations are rarely accurate—for example, there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets , a costume element that first appeared in the 19th century. The etymology of
23380-412: The more distinctive Belted Galloway or "Beltie". Galloway comprises the part of Scotland lying southwards from the Southern Upland watershed and westward from the River Nith . Traditionally it has been described as stretching from "the braes of Glenapp to the Nith". The valleys of three rivers, the Urr Water , the Water of Ken and River Dee , and the Cree, all running north–south, provide much of
23547-418: The native aristocracy and his son, Skuli Thorfinnsson, is recorded as having sought the support of the King of Scots in the 10th century in pursuing his claim as mormaer of Caithness . Njáls saga relates that Sigurd the Stout was the ruler of "Ross and Moray, Sutherland and the Dales" of Caithness and it is possible that in the late 10th century the Scots kings were in alliance with the Earl of Orkney against
23714-411: The other way around. This culminated in the rise of Cínaed mac Ailpín in the 840s, who brought to power the House of Alpin who were leaders of a combined Gaelic–Pictish kingdom for almost two centuries. In 870 Dumbarton was besieged by Amlaíb Conung and Ímar, "the two kings of the Northmen", who "returned to Dublin from Britain" the following year with numerous captives. Dumbarton was the capital of
23881-404: The period under consideration. Pictish , Middle Irish and Old Norse would certainly have been spoken and Woolf (2007) suggests that a significant degree of linguistic balkanisation took place. As a result, single individuals often appear in sources under a variety of different names. Given what is known about the frequency of sea transport around the Hebrides and Orkney in the 7th century it
24048-462: The period, up until the 1266 Treaty of Perth , Norwegian and Danish foreign policy and the activities of independent or semi-independent Norse rulers of the above parts of Scandinavian-dominated Scotland had a powerful influence on the affairs of Scotland as a whole. Contemporary documentation of the Viking period of Scottish history is very weak. The presence of the monastery on Iona led to this part of Scotland being relatively well recorded from
24215-457: The place name, written and archaeological evidence of extensive Norse (as opposed to Norse–Gael) settlement in the area is not convincing. The ounceland system seems to have become widespread down the west coast including much of Argyll and this is just as true of most of the south-west apart from land adjacent to the inner Solway Firth . In Dumfries and Galloway the place name evidence is complex and of mixed Gaelic, Norse and Danish influence,
24382-512: The place names in Normandy like Tocqueville (Toki's farm). Linguistic and etymological studies continue to provide a vital source of information on the Viking culture, their social structure and history and how they interacted with the people and cultures they met, traded, attacked or lived with in overseas settlements. A lot of Old Norse connections are evident in the modern-day languages of Swedish , Norwegian , Danish , Faroese and Icelandic . Old Norse did not exert any great influence on
24549-514: The point of view of the inhabitants in sagas and chronicles. The Vikings explored the northern islands and coasts of the North Atlantic, ventured south to North Africa, east to Kievan Rus (now – Ukraine, Belarus), Constantinople , and the Middle East. They raided and pillaged, traded, acted as mercenaries and settled colonies over a wide area. Early Vikings probably returned home after their raids. Later in their history, they began to settle in other lands. Vikings under Leif Erikson , heir to Erik
24716-448: The possession of the king of Man. As in Orkney and Shetland, Pictish seems to have been entirely replaced wherever the Norse encountered it. In the 9th century the first references to the Gallgáedil (i.e. "foreign Gaels") appear. This term was variously used in succeeding centuries to refer to individuals of mixed Scandinavian-Celtic descent and/or culture who became dominant in west and south-west Scotland, parts of northern England and
24883-420: The pre-Norse inhabitants' name for these islands. The Cat tribe certainly occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland and their name can be found in Caithness , and in the Gaelic name for Sutherland ( Cataibh , meaning "among the Cats"). There is limited evidence that Caithness may have had an intermediate phase of Gaelic-speaking control between the Pictish era and the Norse takeover, but if it existed it
25050-491: The present day nations of Norway, Sweden and Denmark did not exist, but the peoples who lived in what is now those countries were largely homogeneous and similar in culture and language, although somewhat distinct geographically. The names of Scandinavian kings are reliably known for only the later part of the Viking Age. After the end of the Viking Age, the separate kingdoms gradually acquired distinct identities as nations, which went hand-in-hand with their Christianisation . Thus,
25217-427: The primary sources of profit for the Vikings had been slave-taking from other European peoples. The medieval Church held that Christians should not own fellow Christians as slaves, so chattel slavery diminished as a practice throughout northern Europe. This took much of the economic incentive out of raiding, though sporadic slaving activity continued into the 11th century. Scandinavian predation in Christian lands around
25384-422: The sea or to navigable rivers. Lack of organised naval opposition throughout Western Europe allowed Viking ships to travel freely, raiding or trading as opportunity permitted. The decline in the profitability of old trade routes could also have played a role. Trade between Western Europe and the rest of Eurasia suffered a severe blow when the Western Roman Empire fell in the 5th century. The expansion of Islam in
25551-434: The service of the Byzantine Empire . In the late 10th century, a new unit of the imperial bodyguard formed. Traditionally containing large numbers of Scandinavians, it was known as the Varangian Guard. The word Varangian may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks. In these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that
25718-597: The term "Viking" may have evolved to become "a job description, not a matter of heredity", at least in some Viking bands. The motives driving the Viking expansion are a topic of much debate. The concept that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands was expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his semi-imaginary History of The Normans . As observed by Adam of Bremen, rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines; and these polygynous relationships may have led to
25885-488: The whole of Pictland and took their hostages" and later occupied this territory for a protracted period. The 875 Battle of Dollar was another major setback for the Picts/Scots. Vikings Chronological history Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark , Norway , and Sweden ), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as
26052-413: The word Viking has been much debated by academics, with many origin theories being proposed. One theory suggests that the word's origin is from the Old English wicing 'settlement' and the Old Frisian wizing , attested almost 300 years prior. Another less popular theory is that víking came from the feminine vík 'creek', 'inlet', 'small bay'. Another etymology that gained support in
26219-408: Was Torf-Einarr , Rognvald's son by a slave, who founded a dynasty that controlled the Northern Isles for centuries after his death. He was succeeded by his son Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson and during this time the deposed Norwegian king Eric Bloodaxe often used Orkney as a raiding base before being killed in 954. Thorfinn's death and presumed burial at the broch of Hoxa, on South Ronaldsay , then led to
26386-451: Was a term for a route that the Vikings found to have a direct pathway from Scandinavia to Constantinople and Baghdad while traveling on the Baltic Sea. With the advancements of their ships during the 9th century, the Vikings were able to sail to Kievan Rus and some northern parts of Europe. Jomsborg was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea (medieval Wendland , modern Pomerania ), that existed between
26553-468: Was also spoken in Shetland and evidence for Pictish elements in placenames is virtually non-existent, the three island names of Fetlar , Unst and Yell excepted. Jarlshof in Shetland contains the most extensive remains of a Viking site visible anywhere in Britain and it is believed that the Norse inhabited the site continuously from the 9th to the 14th centuries. Amongst the many important finds are drawings scratched on slate of dragon-prowed ships and
26720-409: Was attacked in the early 7th century by a "marine fleet" and Donnán of Eigg and 52 companions were murdered by Picts on Eigg in 617.) Various named Viking leaders, who were probably based in Scotland, appear in the Irish annals: Soxulfr in 837 , Turges in 845 and Hákon in 847. The king of Fortriu Eógan mac Óengusa and the king of Dál Riata Áed mac Boanta were among the dead in a major defeat to
26887-464: Was established around 980, during the Medieval Warm Period , and its demise by the mid-15th century may have been partly due to climate change . The Viking Rurik dynasty took control of territories in Slavic and Finnic -dominated areas of Eastern Europe; they annexed Kiev in 882 to serve as the capital of the Kievan Rus' . As early as 839, when Swedish emissaries are first known to have visited Byzantium , Scandinavians served as mercenaries in
27054-440: Was eventually ended with the return of royal forces. The result was a partition of Galloway, serving to fragment it administratively, though some ecclesiastical (the bishopric) and judicial (the office of Justiciar of Galloway ) offices survived further into the High Medieval period and beyond. Alan's eldest daughter, Derbhorgail (Latinized as Dervorguilla), married John de Balliol , and their son (also John ) became one of
27221-470: Was found in 1838. Rubha an Dùnain , today an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the Cuillin hills on Skye, contains the small Loch na h-Airde, which is connected to the sea by a short artificial canal. This loch was an important site for maritime activity for many centuries, spanning the Viking and later periods of Scottish clan rule. There is a stone-built quay and a system to maintain constant water levels. Boat timbers discovered there have been dated to
27388-406: Was found on a hillside near Hunterston that is of likely 7th-century Irish origin but with a 10th-century runic inscription. Five Hogback monuments found in Govan hint at Scandinavian enclaves inland. The Isle of Man (which was absorbed into Scotland from 1266 until the 14th century) was dominated by the Norse–Gaels from an early date and from 1079 onwards by the Crovan dynasty as attested by
27555-421: Was taken during the reign of Domnall mac Causantín and the Orkneyinga saga records an attack on the Isle of May , by Sweyn Asleifsson and Margad Grimsson: They sailed south off Scotland until they came to Máeyar. There was a monastery, the head of which was an abbot, by name, Baldwin. Swein and his men were detained there seven nights by stress of bad weather. They said they had been sent by Earl Rögnvald to
27722-409: Was that of war bands seeking plunder and the creation of new settlements. The second phase involved the integration of these settlers into organised political structures of which the most prominent in the early part were the earls of Orkney in the north and the Uí Ímair in the south. Even if the commencement of a formal earldom of Orkney is a matter of discussion (see above) there is little doubt that
27889-454: Was written in the early 13th century by an unknown Icelander. The English and Irish sources are more contemporary, but may have "led to a southern bias in the story", especially as much of the Hebridean archipelago became Norse-speaking during this period. Dates should therefore be regarded as approximate throughout. The archaeological record for this period is relatively scant, although improving. Toponymy provides significant information about
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