Scandinavian-Britain

Attainrwiaancse6COCOF-nb ihe late

EARLY BRITAINSCANDINAVIANBRITAINBYW. G. COLLINGWOOD, M.A., F.S.A.PROFESSOR OF FINE ART, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, READINGEDITOR TO THE CUMBERLAND ANDWESTMORLAND ANTIQUARIAN AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETYWITH CHAPTERS INTRODUCTORY TO THESUBJECT BYTHE LATE F. YORK POWELL, M.A.SOMETIME REGIUS PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORDWITH MAPLONDONSOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGENORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, \V.C. ; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G.[BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREETNEW YORK: E. S. GORHAM1908

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERALLITERATURE COMMITTEE3 A

CONTENTSCHAPTERS INTRODUCTORY BY THE LATE PRO-FESSOR YORK POWELL-PAGEI. MATERIALS 7II. MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES . .* 12III. THE WICKING FLEETS .... 28SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINI. THE EARLIEST RAIDS .... 43II. THE DANELAW 821. THE AGE OF ALFRED .... 822. EAST ANGLIA IOI3. THE FIVE BOROUGHS . . . . IO84. THE KINGDOM OF YORK .. .1195. SVEIN AND KNUT 1446. THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW . 1 67III. THE NORSE SETTLEMENTS . . . .1821. WALES 1832. CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE . . .IQI3. CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND . 2O24. DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY . .2215.MAN AND THE ISLES .... 2266. THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY . ..244INDEX 265MAP OF SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN . To face Title

PREFATORY NOTEIN the part of this work for which I am responsible, that isto say from page 43 onward, kind assistance in proof-readinghas been given by the Rev. Edmund McClure, Secretary tothe S.P.C.K., and by Mr. Albany F. Major,Editor (o theViking Club. The chapters on Northumbria (pp. 119-181)have been read by Mr. William Brown, F.S. A., and the chapteron Orkney by Mr. Alfred W. Johnston, F.S. A. Scot., Editorof Orkney and Shetland Old Lore.W. G. C.

SCANDINAVIAN BRITAININTRODUCTORY CHAPTERSBy the late ProfessorYork PowellI. MATERIALSLibros ipsos relegi quorum quamvis verba non reciio sensustamen et res actas credo me integre retinere. JORD., DeGet., Pro!.THE last great wave of Teutonic Migration (beforethe discovery of America), is that by which greatparts of the British Islands and Gaul were conqueredand settled by new-comers from the Scandinavianpeninsulas. It is with the part of this movement whichconcerns Britain, that this little book will briefly deal.The results of this Migration are great enough tojustify our spending some little time and trouble uponits history, for our population, our laws, and ourlanguage still show clear proofs of its influence, andamong the several circumstances that have distinguishedthe history of our own country from thatof other parts of West Europe, the incoming of theNorthmen cannot be held the least.

8 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINIt will be well before speaking of this movement,its causes, progress, and effects, to give some accountof the chief sources upon which our knowledge of itmust be based. The sources are of twofold origin,springing from books or from things. The latter compriseall the facts and ideas that can be drawn fromphysical geography, from archaeologic discoveries,and from numismatics. The former, our writtenauthorities, may be grouped under the heads ofBritish, Scandinavian ,and Continental.Under the firstheading come the Old EnglishChronicle by various anonymous authors, in its variousMSS., vernacular and Latin, ranging over nearly threecenturies, of the highest importance, as the work oftruthful contemporaries the different references; byOld English authors, from King Alfred to BishopWulfstan, to historical events of their days, andseveral poems. To these we must add several lives ofsaints, in Latin or English, and that vast collectionof deeds and records that makes up our Old EnglishDiplomatarium, a mine of information on places andpersons during the ninth and tenth centuries.Next come the careful and accurate Irish chronicles,especially Tighernach's Annales, the compiled Annalsof Inisf alien Chronicon>Scotorum, and the compilationknown as the Annals of the Four Masters, whichgives us an orderly mass of facts not found elsewhere,and are of main use in fixing the difficult chronologyof the periods they cover.The list of British authorities is concluded by theWelsh chronicles, especially the Brut y Tywysogion

MATERIALS 9and Annales Cambria, and by stray facts and namesfrom other Welsh sources. To these must be addedthe Latin Chronicle of Man.First at the head of Scandinavian authorities standsAre the historian, whose works the Book of theSettlements in Iceland^ the Libellus Islandorum (asketch of early Icelandic history), and Book of theKings of Norway (which we have as edited by SnorreSturlason in the thirteenth century), with manymemoranda from other of his writings no longerextant give the best and fullest information on thecondition of heathen Norway, and on the fortunesand deeds of such of the emigrants therefrom, asfinally, after years of foray and conquest in the BritishIslands, passed on to the new-found and uninhabitedshores of the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland. Thehistory of King Half and some of the family Sagas ofIceland, give what is probably independent information.But on this side we should get an incompletenotion of those wickings, or sea-rovers, whose exploitshelped to make our history, without the help of theso-called Eddie poems, a series of epic and dramaticlays, chiefly of the ninth and tenth centuries, manyof which were, we may confidently hold, composedwithin the four seas, and no doubt reflect accuratelythe spirit of the very men that first made and heardthem, the conquering Scandinavian settlers in GreatBritain or Gaul. Among these there are found in theMS. that has luckily preserved much of them to us, apoem or two, the earliest, that we may1ascribe to theSee Origines Islandias, Vigfusson and Powell [1906].

10 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINgeneration before the exodus in old, sturdy, practical,heathen Norway and also one or; two, the latest,that are Christian, and mirror for us the feelingswith which a Northern convert of the Celtic Churchregarded the common but absorbing problems oflife, and death, and the hereafter. A few poemsrelating to actual historical events have also survived,more or less completely embedded in the Lives ofkings or heroes, such as the Lay of the Darts, translatedby our Gray ;the praise and the dirge of EiricBlood-axe, twice King of York ;and the Raven songon Harold Fairhair.These compositions are all in the old Northerntongue, but in Adam of Bremen, and his like, thereare Latin accounts of Scandinavian affairs based onvernacular and other sources ;and Saxo the Long,the Danish monk, has in a remarkable work, whichfor plan and treatment reminds one of our Geoffreyof Monmouth, preserved many interesting facts andtraditions, often drawn from works and poems nowlost, but furnished to him in great part by Arnoldthe poet, a travelled Icelander, his contemporary atWaldemar's Court.The chief Continental authorities are early Latinchronicles by Saxons, and Franks, and Aquitanians, andcontemporary notices of the Spanish-Arabic historians.Of the many scholars that in modern days have dealtwith the analysis and synthesis of these documentsreading, appreciating, and digesting them, and givingtheir results to the public the most useful are theNorwegian, Munch, whose keen geographic instinct

MATERIALSIIand vast industry served him well the; Dane,Steenstrup, whose scientific method and trained skilland patience have helped him to unravel many anenigma that puzzled his predecessors; Freeman, theEnglishman, who has taught a generation of hiscountrymen the way to learn what may be learntfrom the past ;and the Icelander, Gudbrand Vigfusson,who, possessing an unrivalled knowledge of IcelandicMSS., and giving unflinching devotion to his work,has been able in every branch of old Northernlearning, from chronology to metric, to do more toadvance our knowledge of this great Scandinavianexodus than any man of his time.Among other historical workers who have attackedvarious sides of the subject, and who should justlybe referred to here, are Dr. Jessen, Dr. Storm, Mr.[Sir H.] Howorth, the historian of the Mongols, andJ. R. Green, who gave the last few hours of his short lifeto an eager and undaunted study of the subject whichhe never lived to complete, but which remains as apiece of suggestive, if necessarily imperfect work.Such being the materials upon which this littlebook is based, it remains to fix its scope and aims.Beginning with a sketch of the conditions amidwhich the migrations took place, and an endeavourto grasp their character and origin, it will thenseek if possible to follow the several phases andphenomena of the various migrations and settlementsthat affected the British Islands, and finally try toweigh the results and effects of those settlements.

12 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINII.MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLESEx hac igitur Scandza insula quasi officina gentium aut certevelut vagina nationum . . .quondam memorantur egressi.JORDANIS, De Get., cap. 4.EVER since we have any historic record of itsexistence, we are told by successive historians andpoets how the Scandinavian peninsula sent forthswarm after swarm of itspure-blooded, tall, fairhaired,white-skinned children, southward over theBaltic, to seek warmer and more fertile homes.These migrations followed two main routes in earlytimes, the East way and the South way. Over theEast way went the Goths, by Wilna along the broadriver-plains to Uampa-stead (as they called Kiev),around which Giberic and Ermanaric built up thefirst great Teutonic Empire. On the South way,by the peninsula we now call Denmark, and up therivers that run into the North Sea, there had probablypassed tribe after tribe in migrations of which wehave no written record. In the fifth century a newroute seems to have been struck, the West way, andfrom the beech-clad islands and sandy links of theDanish peninsula, and the broad flat pastures aboutthe river mouths between Elbe and Rhine, theresailed westward many a ship-load of armed emigrantsfrom the great tribal leagues, Eotish, English, andSaxon. For they had heard the news that there

MOTHER- LAND AND PEOPLES 13were new homes to be won in the weakly defendedRoman diocese, and already bands of sea-rovers fromamong them had harried the coasts on their ownaccountWhat time the Orkneysor foughtreeked with Saxon deadCLAUDIAN.over the land in the service of the hardpressedrulers of Britain. So all along the " Saxonicshore," from the reedy broads south of the Wash to thesandy dunes about the Humber mouth, and furthernorth up to the " Frisic Sea," the Firth of Forth, andfurther west into the breaks of the Southdowns, upthe Belgic plain between the marshes and the wood,into the fat meadow-lands of the Bajocasses and onthe warm Islands of the Channel Vectis and Caesareaand the rest, they came and settled with their wives,and children, and cattle, and set up new states andflourished exceedingly.For three centuries after this there seems to havebeen no further emigration east, south, or west. Allwe hear from Northern tradition has to do with thestruggles and feuds of Swedes, Goths, and Danes,round and over the Scandian peninsula. The fifthcentury is accounted for by the epic cycle of Ingiald,whom Alcuinus spurns as a heathen hero, and ofBeowolf; the sixth is covered by the exploits ofHrodwolf Grace and his kinsmen and champions ;while the mighty deeds of Ingwar Widefathom remainfrom the end of the seventh century, ending with thenever forgotten fight of Bravalla, won by Sigfred Ring

14 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINover Harold War-tooth, in the eighth century,a successionof efforts, in fact, on the part of vigorouskings to raise an empire, such as Ermanaric had setup and ruled over for so many glorious years. Theseefforts to bring the three great peoples under onehead failed, but for three centuries they seemed tohave absorbed the energiesof the Scandinavianfolk.The end of the eighth century saw the renewalof the migrations from the north. Eastward wentRuric and Olga, to found the realm of Holm -garthor Garth-ric, with Newgarth (the Russian Nov-gorod)and Kiev for their capitals, pushing whence southwardthey brought their ships up to besiege the wallsof Mickle-garth itself, that New Rome, which was therichest, most populous, and mightiest city of thewhole world. But with their fortunes we have not todo here. Southward^ the great confederacies, Frisian,Saxon, and Frankish, were, though hard put to it nofresh settlersdoubt, yet strong enough to repulse anyfrom the North.The West way was stillopen, and over it theresailed fleet after fleet for 220 years. This westernmovement is made up of two distinguishable streamsof migration ; one, mainly Danish, starting from theWick and from the Gothic coast, and Danish islesand headlands, and creeping down the Frisian coastto the Rhine delta ;then roving to the East Englishland, or up the Thames mouth to the East Saxon orKentish shores, or passing on down Channel attackingthe fruitful and open country on either side, occupying

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 15the islands as depots and arsenals ;thence pushingon to Ireland or rounding the Cornish peninsula, tomake the British Channel or the South Welsh havens ;or weathering the rocky Breton headlands and trendingsouthwards along the Frankish, Gascon, Spanish,and Moorish shores.The fleets that took this route were mainly Danesand Gotas, and their leaders of Danish blood, andthey followed the path by which their predecessors,the Saxons, Angles, and Eotes, had come three centuriesearlier, only going further because they did notfind such an easy prey.The second stream of migration, that followed bythe Northmen^ was a new one. Its fountain head isthe deep firths of the west coast of Norway, whenceit crosses to the Isles of the Caledonians and Picts(Shetland, Orkney, and Pentland coasts), whence itturns south to Fife, and as far as the Northumbrianand Lincoln lands jor curving round through theHebrides into the Sea of Man, touches that islandand all the fair coasts, Pictish, Irish, and British, thatlie about it ;thence south, lapping the west and southof Ireland.From the Northmen's settlements in our own islandsthere later went forth on new ventures, to unpeopledand dimly known lands, many venturous souls, overthe Haaf (the Atlantic) by way of the Sheep Islands(Faroes) to Iceland, setting up prosperous colonieswhere the feet of no man, save the Irish hermit, hadever trod. Whence, again, bolder stillspirits bravedthe Arctic Sea, and established two settlements on the

J6SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwest coast of Greenland. The furthest bound of thismigration was reached when Icelanders and Greenlanderssailed down the polar current to Stonelandand Wineland, along the desert, rockspread shores ofLabrador, to the fishing-grounds and forest-cladhavens of that vast estuary we call after St.Lawrence.To gather some explanation of the causes thatmade possible such astonishing enterprise as this, wemust turn back to Norway. Aloof from the secularstruggles which created and welded the tribal confederaciesof the Baltic shores, Danes, Swedes,Wandals, Burgunds, Bards, and Goths, there weregrowing up along the coast and in the upland dalesof the North way, in primitive isolated tribes,Throwends, Reams, Aens, Neams, Haurds, Rugians,Granes, Heins, Thules, and the like, each under theirown rulers, a hardy and vigorous race, woodmen,shepherds, farmers, fishers, who had, by the end ofthe eighth century, colonised the long and narrowwinding strip of soil between sea and glacier whichwas called Haloga-land ; developed great and lucrativefisheries, and the hunting of whales, seal, and walruses ;opened out a fur trade with the Finns, and kept upa half merchant, half piratical intercourse with theBeormas of the White Sea round the cold NorthCape.How admirable a training-ground nature had grantedthese Northmen is clear when one looks at the map.The west coast, that over against the British Islandsfrom Cape Start to the Naze, the Sailor's Naze,

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 17Lidhandesnes, is a succession of buttresses or limbsof the central Doverfell backbone, stretching seawardsat right angles to it,and parted by sheer deep valleyshalf filled with water running far up into the land ;round these deep firths lie little scattered plots ofarable land, about the mouth of a stream or in acombe of the hills ;above lie black woods, and onthe upper hill here and there pasture-slopes wherethe cattle graze in the summer. Each of these firthshas a life of its own, its only outlet is the sea ;outside,clustered about the mouths of each firth andits headlands, is a fringe of islands, large and small,which farther north form a regular skerry or barrierreefsuch as our Hebrides, but here lie closer to land,like Skye, and Mull, and Isla. In this part of Norwaythere are three great inlets Sogn, belonging to theHaurds; Hardanger, the HAURDS' Firth, with thefamous stations, Bergwin (Bergen), and Alrecstead(Alrecsstad) on the coast and; Stafanger, the Firth ofthe RUGIANS, with Stafanger, Ogwaldsness, Out-stone(Ut-stan) on its isles and coastlands, and the Goat'sFirth (Hafrs-Firth) just outside it.The southern ness of Norway with its port, Qwin, andthe coast eastward halfway to the head of the GreatWick, belongs to the Egda-folk, a division of theHaurds. Next to them up to the top of the bay liesWestmere, then the Land of the GRENS (which justtouches the Wick), and then Westfold, probably aREAM settlement ; Sciringshall is its great port nearthe great Most and above it lay the later Tunsberg.Opposite Westfold comes Wingul-mark, with SarpborgB

1 8 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfor its chief place, and opposite the Egda-folk,Ranrice jat the extremity of which, upon the Goth'sriver, was an old border trysting-place of the Scandinaviankings. These are the lands that border theWick, east and west.North of the Sogn firth come the Feles (Fialar) andFirths, but past Cape Start, where the land turns andruns north-east, we come to the northern land of theREAMS, North and South Mere and Reamsdale, stretchingup over two degrees of latitude. Through NorthMere pierces the great inland sea of the Throwends,with its numerous creeks and headlands, such asAgda-ness, Nith's oyce or Nidaros, Frosta the mootsteadof the Throwends, each notable from someevent in Norwegian history. Down to this greatloch slope many deep and long dales, Orca-dale,Gaula-dale, and others, from the upland hill-countryeast and south.North of Throwend-ham or Thrond-heim liesNeam-dale with its coast station, Hrafnista, and, northof that, Haloga-land's barren five degrees of latitudestretch along by the sea, north-east, ending in Westfirthand the great islands that head the Skerry,islands .only visited by Finnish fowlers, fishers orhuntsmen in those far-off days.Such being the land, what manner of men dwelttherein at the end of the eighth and the ninth century ?All the evidence we have points one way, that alongthe west coast there were growing up vigorous fishingand coasting trades (those true nurseries for seamenhere as elsewhere, for example in Hellas and England).

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 19Our King Alfred's friend, Oht-here, a Haloga-lander,1tellsof the fur-trade^ which depended mainlyon theyearly tribute from the Finns, each chief of that peoplehaving to furnish 15 martin skins, i rein-deer pelt,i bear-skin, i bear or otter-skin coat, 40 ambers offeathers, 2 ship ropes of 60 ells (i of horse-whale skin,i of seal-skin). He also spoke of the whale fishing,especially the chase of the horse-whale or walrus.He says that as many as sixty were killed by six menin a day.2Their ivory and skins were chieflyvaluable. He notices the port of Sciringshall in theWick, which would have been the chief emporium forNorthern Danes and Goths, and of Heaths (the laterHeath-by), which was no doubt the main tradecentrefor Saxons, Danes, and Goths. He gives anaccount of his own voyage to Beorma-land, anexpedition of fifteen days' sail, being three days tothe furthest whale-fisheries' station used, and threemore days thence to North Cape; four days thenceto where the land lay east, and again five days upthe White Sea, running south, where he reached1This Oht-here bears a name found chiefly in connexion withthe famous family from Haurda-land, the patriarch of which isHaurda-Care. He is evidently one of the last settlers inHaloga-land, for he dwells northernmost, as he told Alfred.For an Oht-here, known as Oht-here the foolish, the curiousgenealogical poem " Hyndla's Lay" was composed. Thefamily of Haurda-Care is later connected with the Orkneys,wherein descendants, if anywhere, should exist.2 I take it, the clause about the big whales is simply transposedhere. Oht-here is talking of walruses, but the scribehas put into the middle of his talk another bit of informationabout big whales. It may have been taken, we might guess,from Alfred's rough notes in the Hand-book.

20 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe peopled and settled land of the Beormas orPerms.Oht-here makes it a month's sail, stopping everynight, from his home to Sciringshall, and six days thenceto Heath-by. His account of his own wealth is noteworthyhe;had 600 rein-deer he had bred or caught," unbought," as he says, 6 stale or dec9y deer, 20 headof neat and the same number of sheep and swine.He has horses, too, which he uses for ploughing, arare thing in those days, but how many, he or KingyElfred forgets to tell us.A border warfare, probably chiefly carried on bythe outlying Northern settlers, Neams, Throwends,and Haloga-landers, against the Cwsens, a tribe ofFinnish affinities, is also spoken of by Oht-here.He says the Cwaens used to bring their light boatsup on to the inland lakes of the Scandinavianpeninsula.And voyages like Oht-here's were not singular cases.The Story of Kings Heor and Half, found in Are'sLandnama-b6c as well as appended to the later HalPs-Saga and Sturlunga-Saga, tells how a king of theRugians and Haurds went warring on the land of theBeormas or Perms, and wedded the Beorm king'sdaughter, Lufina. We also hear of a Tryst ofKings, held apparently at regular intervals somewherein the south of the Scandinavian land, probablyby the Gota-river mouth, a very ancient meetingplace.Such trading journeys and forays, identical in objectgain, like our adventures in the days of Elizabeth

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 21needed trained men, seamen, and fighters, and wemight even without expressevidence be sure thatevery small folk-king and nobleman kept up aslarge and well-equipped a comitatus as he couldsupport.The character of the peopleof the west coast ofin some measure by certain poems inNorway about the end of the eighth centuryis illustratedthe Eddie collection,which we take to be of earlier date than therest, and which, unlike the rest, bear pretty plainmarks of Norwegian origin. From these it ispossible to get a picture of the population whence theWicking emigrant carne it is of a;type which we prideourselves upon as essentially British a sturdy, thrifty,hard-working, law-loving people, fond of good cheerand strong drink, of shrewd, blunt speech, and a stubbornreticence when speech would be useless or foolish ;a people clean-living, faithful to friend and kinsman,truthful, hospitable, liking to make a fair show, butnot vain or boastful ;a people with perhapslittleplay of fancy or great range of thought, but coolthinking,resolute, determined, able to realise theplainer facts of life clearly and even deeply. Of coursesome of these characteristics are those common toother nations in their rank of development, but takentogether they show a character such as no other raceof that day could probably claim, and enable us tounderstand how that quiet storage of force had goneon which, when released, was capable of such results,as the succeeding three centuries witnessed withamazement. The following proverbs in verse are

22 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcited from such poems as the "Guest's Wisdom," 1" Lodd-Fafne's, or Hoard-Fafne's, Lesson," 1 "TheSong of Saws," l and the " Old Wolsung Lay."Anything will pass at home.Anythingis better than to be false.He is no friend to another that will only say onething [that which is pleasing],A fool when he comes among men,It is best that he hold his peace.No one can tell that he knows nothing,Unless he speaks too much.An unwelcome guest always misses the feast.A man should be a friend to his friend,And requite gift with gift.He that woos will win.Fire is best among the sons of men,And the sight of the sun,His health if a man may have it,And live blameless :A man is not altogether wretched though he be of illhealth ;Some such be blessed with sons,Some with kinsfolk, some with wealth,Some with goodMan deeds.is man's delight.Many a man is befooled by riches.Middling wise should every man be,Never overwise,For a wise man's heart is seldom glad,If he be all-wise.No man but has his match.No man is so good but there is a flaw in him,Nor so ill that he isgood for nothing.A man should be a friend to his friend,To himself and his friend ;1These three poems are found in the Eddie collection ofthe Copenhagen MS. Codex Regius, all jumbled together,with bits of other poems, under the " title Hava-mal, theHigh One's Speech." See Corpus Poeticum Boreale [cited lateras C. P. B.], vol. i., pp. 1-23 and 459-463,

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 23But no man should be the friendOf the friend of his foe.Men should give back laughter for laughter,And leasing for lies.Bashful is the bare man.Better quick than dead :A live man may always get a cow ;The halt may ride a horse, the handless drive a herd,The deaf fight and do well :Better be blind than burnt \i.e., dead and gone],A corpse isgood for naught.Cattle die, kinsmen die,One dies oneself;I know one thing that never dies,The renown of a dead man.Folly he talks that is never silent.Gift always looks for return.Give and give-back make the longest friends.No better baggage can a man bear on his wayThan a weight of wisdom.One's own house is best though it be but a cottage,A man is a man in his own house.Only the mind knows what lies next the heart.Open-handed bold-hearted men live best,But the sluggard and the coward fear everything.The coward thinks he shall live for everIf he keep out of battle ;But Old Age will give him no quarterThough the spear may.The herds know when they must go homeAnd get them out of the grass,But the fool never knowsThe measure of his maw.To these morsels from "The Guest's Wisdom,""The Song of Saws," which especially inculcatesprudence, will give a supplementary course :At eventide praise the day, a woman when she is burnt[i.e., dead and gone],A sword when it is proven, a maid when she is married,Ice when it is crossed, ale when it is drunk.

24 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINLet no man trust an early sown acre,Nor too soon in his son.Weather makes the acre and wit the son ;Each of them is risky.A creaking bow, a burning blaze,A gaping wolf, a cawing crow,A grunting sow, a rootless tree,A waking wave, a boiling kettle,A flying shaft, a falling billow,Ice one night old, a coiled snake,A bear's play, or a king's son.A burnt house, a very fast horse,For the horse is useless if one leg be brokenBe no man so trusting as to trust one of these. 1. . . The tongueis the death of the head.There is often a stout hand under a shabby coat.The weather changes often in five days,But more often in a month.From " The Lesson of Lodd-Fafne," which isdidactic throughout, one may cite:Never bandy words with fools.Never laugh at a hoary counsellor.Know this, if thou hast a friend in whom thou trustestGo and see him often,Because with brambles and with high grass is chokedThe way that no man treadeth.Be thou never the firstTo break with thy friend.Shoe-maker be thou not, nor shaft-maker,Save for thyself only ;If the shoe be ill-shapen, or the shaft crooked,Thou gettest ill thanks.1Shakespeare knows by tradition a bit like this :" He that trusts in the tameness of a wolf," &c.King Lear. Act 3. Scene 8.

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 25There is much in Hesiod and Theognis and evenin Pindar and the Greek tragedians that runsto these saws.The old Play of theof the like type :Wohungs givesparallelseveral maximsManifold are the woes of men.No man knows where he may lodge at night ;111 it is to outrun one's luck.Not many a man is brave when he is oldIf he were cowardly as a child.The doomed man's death lies everywhere.A good heart is better than a strong swordWhen the wroth meet in fray,For I have often seen a brave manWin the day with a blunt blade.The cheerful man fares better than the whinerWhatever betide him.All evils are meted out [by fate].The home verdict is a parlous matter.Wine is a great wit-stealer.Most miserable is the man-sworn.These examples of popular lore form no bad indexto the feelings and ideas of the men and women inwhose mouths they took shape and life. What hasbeen said and cited above may give some index alsoto the material state of culture reached by thosewest-coast folk. The finds in Scandinavia and Denmarkshow that as early as the third and fourthcenturies many of the Roman implementsof metalhad reached the North, which had long been inthe possession of bronze weapons. .Iron weaponsand tools were known and used in the North asfreely almost as in Britain or Gaul, and in dress,

26 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfood, and handicraft the Scandinavian differed littlefrom his cousin the Englishman, who had precededhim in his western exodus. Only in cultivation ofland, and possibly of cattle, was the Scandinavianof the northern peninsula behind-hand. The Englishmanhad succeeded to the system of agriculture setup by the Romans in Britain, whereas the -Scandinavianstillpossessed the more primitive cultivationof the early Teutons, and dwelt in a land that wasstill but half reclaimed from the forest. In art theScandinavian had already developed a peculiar typeof ornament, of which the bronze collections atCopenhagen, Stockholm, and Christiania preserveample specimens, 1 a type which, while it runs parallelto the Celtic metal work, has markworthy characteristicsof its own.Though writing was not used for books or letters,yet the art of writing was known, and weapons, gravestones,and ornaments have inscriptions on them.The peculiar letters known as runes are of the oldergeneral North and West Teutonic type, derived fromsome classic alphabet (that of an Hellenic Black Seacolony possibly, as Canon Taylor thinks the North;Etruscan alphabet, as Professor Bugge believes; oras Dr. Wimmer with less probability affirms, from theLatin alphabet).The letters were arranged in an order, the reasonfor which is as yet unknown,as follows :1The illustrated catalogues of these museums are cheap andgood, and will give the English student fair means of studyingthe finds in Scandinavia in connexion with those of Britain.

MOTHER-LAND AND PEOPLES 27F, U, Th, A, R, C, G, W,H, N, I, J, E?, P, S, Z,T, B, E, M, L, Ng, O, D.The characters used for F, Th, A, R, T, H, B,M, S, E might come from several of the classicalalphabets ;those for U, C, G, W, J, L, Ng, O, arecertainly Hellenic rather than Latin, correspondingwith the Greek O, r, X, Y, early I, A, IT (as inGothic), O. The character for D DD is placed backto back, and other compounds were added later.The names of these letters, as in our own children'salphabets and other old alphabets, were taken fromsome object with like initial. T was the god Tew,N was nail, H hail, I ice, while (as in Irish) B wasbirch, Th thorn (earlier perhaps, Thurse orgiant),Yyew.The use of these runes in the North differed littlefrom that of the same alphabet in England duringthe sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. Bracteatesimitative of Roman or Greek medals or coins,memorial stones, implements and ornaments wouldbe engraved or scratched with these letters. Thepossession of the knowledge of writinghad littleeffect upon the people of either countrytill theirold alphabet was superseded by the general West-European Roman alphabet, which, as we shall see,came into the north with Christianity, and soonproved in Iceland and Denmark, as it had in Ireland,England, and Germany, a new factor in civilisation.

28 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINIII.THE WICKING FLEETSThou Sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitestnations,Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying theeIndomitable, untamed as thee.THE development of national life in Norway, consequenton the increase of trade and population, bythe end of the eighth centuryis shown by the growthof tribal leagues, and by the increased appreciationof common laws and common peace over large areasthat rendered possible the career of the lawyer king,Halfdan the Black, who succeeded in establishing akind of imperial sway over a broad territory, hithertoparcelled out under small tribal kings. But forour present purpose the points to dwell on are theimprovement of the ship and war organisation.The earlier Swedish graven stones, anS earlier boatshaped,stone-marked graves, show that, as Tacitustells from the report of some Teuton traveller orcaptive of his day, the Suiones [Swedes] had fleets ofboats, with prows at either end, but without sailsor regular row of oars. These were long canoesprobably shaped of wood and skin-covered wattle,and moved by paddles. But the Ueneti of Brittany,at least as early as 60 B.C., had already, helped nodoubt by seeing some foreign models (possiblyCarthaginian galleys), got to building vessels thatwould stand the rough weather of the Atlantic, and

THE WICKING FLEETS 29were principally moved by sails. Caesar describesthem as made wholly of timber and strongly built,with iron bolts and iron cables, and leather sails.He says they were more flat-bottomed than theRoman ships for the convenience of the light draughtof water, that they had tall prows, and a quarter deckconsequently rather high. He describes them as goodsea boats, able to withstand even the shock of beingrammed, hard to grapple with or board, because ofthe height of their fighting deck, but not so fast asthe Roman row-galley.The Scandinavians worked out the problem ofbuilding a boat, handy, fast, safe, and suited to theirown coasts and seas, in their own way, having seenfrom the Roman galleys that, under Drusus and otherRoman commanders, operated in the North Seas inthe first century, possibilities of better craft thanthose they had hitherto had. The sail-less, seamsewn,paddled canoe gives way to the ribbed andkeeled clinker-built boat with mast, yard, sail, siderudderand oars.The Roman galley may be described as a long, low,narrow hull, like that of a modern canal-barge, witha pair of light, long boxes fitted to the uppermosttimbers on each side. In the hull were the storesand ballast; in it was stepped a mast fitted with ayard and square sail fore and aft were half; decks,joined by a narrow platform running between. Therudder, a broad oar fixed to the starboard quarter,was steered from the quarter-deck. In the side boxesthe oarsmen sat and pulled the long narrow-bladed

30 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsweeps that were the chief motive power of thegalley, and could drive the bronze-beaked prow, thatwas fixed to the curving end of the keel close to thewater, at a deadly rate into the enemy's quarter, orthrough his extended oarage. From this model theScandinavian took the mast, sail, rudder, and possiblyoar, but he did not servilely copy the build, whichwas unsuited to the Northern Sea, though admirablyadapted to the Mediterranean, where it had beenperfected by the Greeks.The finds of the last fifty years enable us to seefor ourselves what manner of ships the Norwegiansailors who were the first sailors to make long runsout of sight of land, and to cross the North Sea andAtlantic regularly year by year built and sailed.From the Nydam boats of the latter part of thethird century, by which time the type was alreadyformed, to the Gokstad ship of the eighth century,which representsit in its perfection, the chain ofevidence iscomplete for Sweden and Norway andthe Baltic coasts. We can see before us in thesecraft, the very kind of ship such as the Byzantinehistorians tell us threatened new Rome, the greatcity, Mickle-garth, from the middle of the ninth tothe middle of the tenth centuries, built with plankson a keel of a single tree sixty feet or more in length :masted, ruddered, holding from twenty to forty men,with weapons, water, and food. The Nordland boatof the Norwegian fisherman to-day is almost identicalin all essentials to the wicking ship of a thousandyears ago.

THE WICKING FLEETS 31The main peculiarities of the Norwegian wicldngship of the " iron age " may be summed up somewhatas follows, from the Gokstad ship, the latest andmost perfect. She was 67 feet long at keel, and 79^feet from stem to stern \of 1 7 feet beam, and about4 feet depth amidships ;clinker-built of eight strakesof solid oak planks fastened with tree-nails and ironbolts, and caulked with cord of cow hair plaited ;herplanks are fastened to the ribs with bast ties, whichgives the frame-work great elasticity. She is undecked(possibly there were lockers fore and aft),with movable bottom boards whereunder could bestowed ballast, stores, weapons, sails, spare spars andoars, and the like ;her mast was stepped in a hugesolid block, which is so cunningly supported that,while the mast stands steady and firm, there is nostrain on the light elastic frame of the ship. Heroars, sixteen a side, pass through rowlocks cut in themain strake (the third) and neatly fitted with shuttersagainst bad weather; the oars are twenty feet long,and beautifully shaped. Her rudder, stepped to thestarboard quarter, is a large short oar of cricket-batshape, fitted with a movable tiller, and fastened to theship by a curious but simple contrivance, giving theblade play, and keepingit clear of the ship's side.The mast, which is a 40- feet stick, has a heavy longyard with square sail, the stays and rigging are ofbast, the mast and yard when shipped lay on twocrutches clear of the deck the ; awning was of tentlikeform, of white web with red stripes, fitted withhemp cords by which it was seized 'to the ship's sides

32 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand to its x shaped supports, and the pole thatstretched between them parallel to the keel. Twosmall boats, one masted, of similar type accompanythe Gokstad ship; they are of 22 J feet and 14 feetkeel respectively. A cauldron with chain for cooking,an iron plate for carrying lamp or fire safely, cups,buckets, a landing plank or bridge, bedstead, an ironanchor, kettle, platters, and a draughtland morrisboard with men were found aboard her.This description will serve fairly for the Nydamboats [two oak, one fir)of the third century, and theTune boat (oak) which is plainly of the fifth, savethat the Nydam boats are none of them masted, andone of them, the fir one, was probably fitted with aspur to one end of the keel. The biggest Nydamboat was of 60 feet keel, 77 feet between stem andstern, lof feet beam, and about 3^ feet depth; shehad a large piece of wickerwork for her bottom boards,she had five strakes, and was clinker-built. 2The Tune ship was of 45 1 feet keel, 14 \ feet beam,and about 3 feet depth clinker-built of;of six strakes,oak, caulked with cow hair and pitch, masted, and sideruddered.All these boats, save the Gokstad ship, had the1The draught game was not our sixty-four square game, butthe older one, probably the same as that played to-day in manyparts of the East.2The Nydam boats found in a moss, once an arm of the sea,were probably a votive offering (of the kind mentioned byAmmianus, Tacitus, and Adam of Bremen) after a victory. Thecoins of Macrinus, 217 A.D., give the highest upward date.There were beautiful damascened iron swords and some arrowshafts, rune-inscribed.

THE WICKING FLEETS 33characteristic rowlocks of the Nordland boat, a crutchof tough wood JL seized with bast to the upper strake,with a loop of bast to prevent the oar-loom fromslipping in getting forward.We have in these beautiful vessels, and in the lesswell-preserved relics which have been discovered byThames, or Lea, or Seine, or by Southampton Water,the clearest proofs of the skill, originality, and successof the Scandinavian shipwright, whose observationand patience had been able to produce a boat able torow or sail, ride out a gale or make way in a calm,which should have " give " enough in her hull to standa shock that would stave in and sink a stiff-built boat,but be stanch enough to carry a heavy mast and sailwithout strain ;which should be of such light draughtwithout being crank or unseaworthy, as to be able tocreep into any haven, but of burthen enough tocarry fiftymen with stores and gear for a month ormore.And this model, so carefully adapted to its -conditionsof use, held its own till the twelfth centurywhen the heavy, slow, carvel-built mediaeval cog tookits place as a vessel of burthen and war. The famousLong Serpent of Anlaf Tryggwason, built in 996 byhis shipwright, Thorberg Shafting at Lathe-hammer,with a 74 ell (148 feet) keel and 34 benches, was perhapsthe highest pitch of perfection to which anyvessel on these lines ever attained.To handle such craft as the Gokstad boat so as toget the most out of her and keep her out of dangerin a galein the North Sea, or a squall off thec

34 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcoast, 1 needed good sailors and trained men, whocould and would obey orders, and act together at amoment's notice. The whale-fishery and the coastingtrade, and the buccaneering voyages to the North andup the Baltic, had trained a school of such men.In Half s-Saga we have read of his crew of " Champions,or merry men," a comitatus of picked men asgood at the helm or the oar as they were with axe orsword : and there are to be gathered out of variousearly sources some tradition of the Articles of Warand Ship's Regulations, so to speak, of these Northernwar vessels. 2No man was taken except between the two ages1 (6and 60), or in special cases between 18 and 50, or 20and 60.No man was admitted without a trial of his strengthand activity.All taken in war was to be brought to the Pile orStake and there sold and divided according to rule,and this war-booty (wal-rauf) was personal (not partof the heritage that went to a man's kindred) and wasburied with him.The crew ate and drank in messes, two or threetogether, and the cook for the day was probably, as inmerchantmen, drawn by lot or on duty in turn.Several times we hear of the Northmen suffering great loss1from heavy gales in spite of all their seamanship, e.g., on thedeadly English east coast in 794, on the south coast in 877, andat the entry of the Mediterranean.2Compare the " Laws of the Feens," as quoted in O'Curry's" Lectures," vol. ii., for the Irish counterpart to those oldTeutonic ' ' Wicking Laws. "

THE WICKING FLEETS 35There must be no feud or old quarrel taken upwhile on board or on service.Women were not allowed on board ship or inside afort.News was to be reported to the captain alone.(See Origines Islandicce^ Book II, sec. 2.)The famous crew of King Anlaf's Long Serpent (themuster-roll of which reads like that of David's mightymen) and the 45 ships' companies (last relics of thebuccaneer city of lorn) that followed Thor-cytel theTall to fight for or against /Ethelraed, or his rival Cnut,and afterward formed the nucleus of that renownedguard, the house carles of the English kings, the peersof the Warangians themselves, these were but thehighest expression of a discipline, skill, and power,that were present in more or less perfect form onboard every ship in the fleets that were the terror ofevery European coast throughout the ninth century.The fact is that ship lifegave to every free Northman much of the training and skill that were inEngland and France peculiar to the immediate following of the prince, his gesiths, antrustiones, so/ones, asthey are variously called in various Teutonic tribes.Even the personal obligation of honour to the lordthat paid and fed him, so strongly felt by the comes,was felt in some degree towards the captain of eachship by the crew.For warlike purposes, or external action of anykind, the Scandinavian lands were organised likeother Teutonic lands, the country being divided intodistricts, from each of which so many picked free

36 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINmen, one from each household, were ready for thelevy the force thus raised was called in the North;here (host),and the district heradh (host-district).Of course, in great emergencies for defensive purposes,a full levy the whole male population betweensixteen and sixty, and all horses over two years oldmight be called out, but such occasions were rare.In general the ordinary levy sufficed for all offensiveor defensive purposes. The men composingit werearmed with sword and spear, and such as had metalhead-pieces or mail-coats wore them. The axe wascarried more for work thanfor war, the sword beingthe chief weapon in close fight ;the bow isspoken ofin the poems, but more as a weapon of the enemythan of the Northman. The spear-shaft was ash,the sword iron or bronze, the shield wood or wickerstrengthened with metal and leather, the bow of yewor elm. Stones were greatly used in warfare, and asa boat's ballast was largely made up of stones, theywere to hand in such sea fights as Hafrsfirth,c. 890.Any one who knows one of our larger fishingports will have a better idea of the organisation,composition, and character of a wicking fleet thanaught else could give him. The preparation of gear,clothes, stores; the overhauling of the craft, hull,sails, rigging the; making up of the crews, the finalwith a fair breeze, the whole place emptied ofsailingitsyoung and middle-aged men for the two or threemonths that the cruise lasts; the home-coming, therejoicing, the burst of trade, the influx of riches, won

THE WICKING FLEETS 37from the sea, the steady flourishing of the wholecountry-side as long as the cruises are gainful; thebuilding of new vessels, the eagerness of the youngfor the life of adventure, unchecked by the terribledisasters that ever and anon mar the good fortuneof the fleet, disasters that may sweep away nearly allthe men folk of the place and check its growth for adozen years, such phenomena are common to ourfishing life now-a-days, and to the old Northman'sbuccaneering life so long ago. And when crossingthe North Sea one steams through the Grimsby orLowestoft fleet, hundreds of big boats out for theherring, one can form even a visible imageof what awicking fleet must have looked like as the ships ingreat groups sped out with a fair north-easter, eagerfor the work before them, or hurried homewards witha sou'-wester behind them, deeply laden with Englishand Irish gold and silver, and raiment and jewels, andslaves and wine and weapons.The "Helge Lays," best of all the Eddie poems,express the spirit of the wicking.Messengers thence the king sentover land and sea to call out the levy:Gold in good storethey ivere to 1promise the warriors and their sons."Do ye bid them get aboard forthwith,and make ready to sail from Brandey \pr Sword Island]."There the prince waited until thither there camewarriors by hundreds from Hedinsey.1Of course, when a chief or king held a levy for a wickingcruise, not a war, men came or not as they chose, and theprospect of booty and certainty of pay would be the chiefattraction.

38 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINAnd forthwith out from Stane'snessthe host stood to sea, fair and adorned with gold.Then Helge asked Heor-laf" Hast"thou mustered the blameless host?And the one king said to the other" Long were it to tell over out from Crane- EyreThe tall-stemmed ships with their crews aboard,that sailed out from larrow Soundtwelve hundred trusty men !Yet at High-town there lie as many again,the war-levy of a king. We must look for battle."The men furled the bow-awningsat the king's bidding, when the host awoke,and men could see the brow of day,and the warriors hoisted upon the yardthe striped canvas sail web,and ran upto the mast headthe woven target of war in Warin's firth.Then there came the oars' plash and the irons clash,clattered shield on shield the wicking soundWith foaming wake under the crews there ranthe king's fleet far out from land.It was to the ear when they came together,Colga's sisters [the billows] and the long keels,as if the surf were breaking against the rocks.Helge bade them hoist the top-sails higher.The seas held tryst upon the hulls,as Eager's dreadful daughter [the ocean wave]strove to whelm the bows of the helm-horses ;but the heroes themselves Sigrun [the Walcyrie] from abovethat battle-bold lady kept safe and their craft also.It was wrested by main strength out of Ran's handsthe king's brine-beast off Cliff-holt,so that at even in Unesvoethe fair-found fleet was riding safely.But the sons of Gran-mere from Swarin's howeoffHarm mustered their host.Then made enquiry Godmund the god-born," Who is the prince that steers the shipwith a golden war-banner at his bows ?No shield of peace methinks do I see in the van,but war-targets in a row wrap the wickings about."Helge Lay, i. 80-127.

THE WICKING FLEETS 39And, again, another passage by the same poetruns :There are turning hither to our shore lithe keels,ring-stags [ships] with long sail-yards,many shields, shaven oars,a noble sea-levy, merry warriors.Fifteen companies are coming ashore,but out in Sogn there lie seven thousand more.There lie here in the dock off Cliff-holtsurf-deer [ships] swart-black and gold adorned.There isby far the most of their host.Helge Lay, i. 197-206.The following piece of dialogue between the hero,Helge, and the Walcyrie, Cara, is also characteristic :CARA. Who are ye that let your ship ride off the shore ?Where, warriors, is your home ?What do ye wait for in Bear-bay ?Whither are ye bound ?HELGE. It is Hamal that lets his ship ride off the shore.We have a home in Leesey.We wait for a fair wind in Bear-bay.Eastward are we bound.CARA. When hast thou wakened War, O king,and sated the birds of the sister of Battle?Why is thy mail-coat flecked with blood ?Why eat ye raw meat, helmed ?HELGE. That was the last deed of the Wolfing's sonswest of the main, if it like thee to know,1when I slew Beorn in Woden's grove,and fed the eagles' brood full with my spear-point.Now I will tell thee, maiden, why our meat is raw ;We get little roast steak at sea, maiden.Helge> iii.1Brage's grove is exactly equivalent to Woden's sacred wood,or Odinse island.

40 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINAnother piece of dialogue of the same typeisprobably by the same poet :NICKAR (Woden}. Who are they that are riding on Revil'ssteeds [ships]over the high billows, the sounding sea?The sail -coursers are splashed with foam,The wave-horses cannot stand against the wind.REGIN. Here are we Sigfred and I on our sea-trees [ships]We have a fair wind for ...The steep billows are breaking high over our bows.The surge-coursers are plunging. Who is it thatasketh ?Western Wolsung Lay, 23-34.In a laterpoem of the tenth century the wickingleader speaks :We were three brothers and sisters.We were deemed unyielding.We went abroad ;we followed Sigfred.We roved about, each steered his own ship.We sought adventures till we came east hither.We slew kings ... we divided their land.Nobles came to our hands [did homage to us] it betokenedtheir fear.We called from the wood [inlawed] him whom we wished tojustify.We made him wealthy that had nought of his own.Greenland Attila Lay, 354-6.Of the details of wicking warfare it is also possibleto collect some information from our authorities.The regular formation of troops in wedge or line(acies or cuneus, as Tacitus gives it)was known.The crew of a single ship seems to have been thetactical unit; these were massed in battalions orto whombrigades under the banner of the earl or kingthe fleet belonged. The captain of each ship led his

THE WICKING FLEETS 4 1own men, his second in command was the captain ofthe forecastle, or stem-man, who was apparently entrustedwith the night-watch when the ships were1lying off the shore.Horses were used to ride on forays or to battle,but all fighting was on foot the North and West;Teutons had not learnt the art of fighting on horseback,which their Eastern brethren, the Goths, were,the first to practise. The quickness of their movements,on board ship or on horseback, was one ofthe causes that led to the marvellous successes ofthe wickings even in lands like Gaul and Britain,where there were good roads of Roman make.By night the warriors went forth, studded with their mailcoats,their shields shone in the light of the waning moon.They alit from their saddles at the Hall-gable.WeylancTs Lay, 27-29.There were three kinds of warlike operations ;stratagems, such as night-attacks, ambushes, woodbarricades,surprises, assaults with fire, such as hadalways formed part of Teutonic warfare and feud :battles, regular pitched fights, for which a place andday were named and a fair trial of strength made ;and sieges. These were conducted both by blockadeand assault, the Northmen and Danes having ample1See, for instance, C. P. B.,i.151, Flyting of Attila andRimegerd, n, 12, and 45, 46:RIMEGERD. The prince must trust thee well to let thee standat his ship's fair stem.ATTILA. I must not go hence till the men waken,but keep ward over the king.

4 2 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINskill (being expert carpenters and shipwrights) inmaking palisades, shelter-works, wooden towers forassailing tall walls, and the like, and good knowledgein throwing up earthen lines and dykes, diggingtrenches, and making portages to haul their ships overdifficult ground, in those cases where the use of fire, orfair words, or a sudden and bold attack was impossible.The numbers of the hosts varied greatly, butreckoning the average crew as forty men and upwards,we hear 'of fleets of hundreds of ships. These largefleets were made up of lesser fleets, two or threesailing together on some enterprise too weighty forone sea-king's command to deal with. There wereseldom less than two leaders, each a king or king'sson, to a fleet, and usually two captains to each vessel,one to each watch, no doubt. This had its use inlessening the chance of a commander's death breakingup the expedition, or leading to disaster in battle.Itmay be noted that Earl is used for the first time,itseems, as a technical term for a leader of less rankthan king, in these wicking voyages, and in the ninthcentury. It is especially used by the North-men ;the Danes are led by sea-kings.lCf. B.M. Anglo-Saxon Coin Catalogue, C. F. Keary, No.11077, p. 230. Sitric Coins.

SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINI. THE EARLIEST RAIDS"WHILST the pious King Bertric was reigning overthe western parts of the English, and the innocentpeople, spread through their plains, were enjoyingthemselves in tranquillity and yoking their oxen tothe plough, suddenly there arrived on the coast afleet of Danes, not large, but of three ships only: thiswas their first arrival. When this became known, theking's officer, who was already dwelling in the town ofDorchester, leaped on his horse and rode with a fewmen to the port, thinking that they were merchantsand not enemies. Giving his commands as one thathad authority, he ordered them to be sent to theking's town ;but they slew him on the spot, and allwho were with him. The name of this officer wasBeaduheard. A.D. 787. And the number of yearswas above 344 from the time when Hengist andHorsa arrived in Britain."Such was the tradition, a century and a half later,of the beginning of Scandinavian Britain. ^Ethelwerd,ealdorman and historian, who wrote the notice, hadaccess to special sources of information, such as theroyal family to which he belonged must have preserved ;and his story tallies with the shorter entry of the43

44 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINChronicle that " 'three ships of Northmen [MS. A, ofDanes ']came from Hserethaland ;and then the reeverode to the place, and would have driven them to theking's town, because he knew not who they were andthere they slew him."If there isany discrepancy between the two tales,/Ethelwerd's has the advantage. For a century afterthis date the word " Northmen " is not used of theVikings in the English chronicles. The entry is aninterpolation, about which it is hardly worth inquiringtoo minutely. The date, usually given with definitenessif not with accuracy in the Chronicle, iswanting we;are only told that it was in the reign of King Beorhtric.The placeis not named, whereas the annals areotherwise careful to name the sites of battles, thoughwe cannot always identify them.The three ships aresuspiciously like the three keels of Hengist and Horsa,to whom ^thelwerd actually refers ;he also givingfor date only the marriage of Beorhtric, in whose daysthe event happened. There must have been somesong or story of a raid, which an editor of chronicleshas tried to turn into history. The word " H^erethaland "does not appear in the Chron. MS. A, and is a laterinsertion into an entry which itself is an interpolation.Consequently, it is useless to build a theory of thehome of these first Vikings to hold, with Munch,that they came from Hardeland in Jutland, or, withothers, that Hordaland, the country of the Hardangerfjord in Norway, is meant.This is not the only instance of doubtful or fallaciousstatement in the history of the Vikings in Britain, as

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 45we find it in old writings and in modern authors.Any account of the period must be tentative andprovisional, depending on annals and sagas whichcannot be trusted implicitly, and on inferences whicha wider knowledge may upset. But there is one classof misstatements which ought tobe cleared away atthe beginning the wide-spread belief in the prehistoricViking. There is no reason to assert thatScandinavian sea-robbers, as distinct from the Anglesand Saxons of the fifth and sixth centuries, appearedon the coasts of Britain before the end of the eighthcentury.In a well-known book, justly popular on account ofits wealth of illustration, the late Paul du Chaillu usedthe argument from this doubtful entry of " Northmenfrom Haerethaland " to enforce his idea that the " socalledSaxons," as he was careful to call them, wereprecisely the same people as the Scandinavian Vikings,whose sagas, he remarked, never called the English" Saxons," as the Celtic nations did. He contendedthat from Roman days to the twelfth century there wasa continuous stream of invasion setting in from theBaltic shores to Britain ;littus Saxonicum was aViking settlement the ; English came from Engelholmon the Cattegat, and from places named Engeln inSweden ;Tacitus mentioned the boats of the Suiones,"and surely their mighty fleets " must have beenemployed between the days of Agricola and those ofCharlemagne in more than local traffic; the wholemillennium was a Viking Age.Burton also (Hist. Scotland, i. 302) wrote that

46 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN"droves of them (Scando-Gothic sea-rovers) cameover centuries before the Hengest and Horsa of thestories, if they were not indeed the actual large- boned,red-haired men whom Agricola described to his sonin-law."He supported his theory with a reference toDr. Collingwood Bruce, the historian of the RomanWall, who, describingan altar found near Thirlwallabout 1757, said: "Hodgson (the historian ofNorthumberland)remarks thatOdin, as we find in the Death-songVithris was a name ofof Lodbroc . .If Veteres and the Scandinavian Odin are identical,we are thus furnished with evidence of the earlysettlement of the Teutonic tribes in England." Butthis altar, and another he mentions from Condercum(Ben well Hill, Northumberland.), compared with altarsnow at Chesters on the Wall, and inscribed " DibusVeteribus," are more likelyto have been dedicated" To the Ancient Gods " than to the Vidhrir of theEdda, many hundred years later. Huxley (in Laing'sPrehistoric Remains of Caithness] suggested that byanthropological evidence, long before the well-knownNorse and Danish invasions, a stream of Scandinavianshad come into Scotland ;Professor Rolleston connectedthe Round-headed men of the Bronze Age in Yorkshirewith Denmark, but this refers to the racial originof tribes three thousand years ago. Such facts do notsupport speculation, misled by the hope of findinggrains of truth in Ossianic poetry, Arthurian legendand late Scandinavian sagas, in all of which there isthe same tendency to antedate incidents and to losethe perspective of history.

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 47The Ossianic poems are full of references toLochlann and the Norse as the opponents of Fionnmac Cumhall, whom Macpherson curiously called"Fingal," which means " the Norseman," and a ^aspersonal name was introduced and used by thea pirate)Vikings. Irish and Hebridean folklore relates thatbefore the Christian era the islands were ruled by seakingscalled Fomorians (homfom/wr, agiant }and popularly identified with the Scandinavian pirates.The confusion existed in old Irish historians ;DualdMac Firbis, writing in the seventeenth century andfollowingauthors of the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies, in his tract on the Fomorians and theLochlannachs (edited by Prof. Alex. Bugge, Christiania,1905) classed them together, though he knew that" the Fomorians were the first who waged war againstthe country " of Ireland." The Wars of the Gaedhiland the Gaill" tells an impossible tale of themythological King Nuada of the Silver Hand andthe Fomorians who came from Lochlann or Norway :and when the Norse King Magnus Barefoot of theeleventh century became an important figure inCeltic folklore, as he was in the sixteenth century,the story-tellers found no difficulty in pitting himagainst Fionn mac Cumhall in a great battle foughton the island of Arran. Giraldus Cambrensistells the tale of Gurmundus, who, though aNorwegian, came from Africa inthe sixth century toIreland, and then invading Britain, took Cirencesterfrom its Welsh king, and ruled the realm. Now latechronicles, like the Book of Hyde and Gaimar, called

48 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINGuthorm-^Ethelstan " Gurmund " ;he held Cirencesterin 879-880. Here again we have no trace of a prehistoricViking, but only of history distorted andantedated. The grains of truth in all these Celticlegends must be looked for in the real events of theninth to the twelfth centuries.Not only in folklore, but in well-meant historicalstudy the same tendency is visible. In the Annals ofthe Four Masters under A.D. 743 occurs this entry :" Arasgach, abbot of Muicinsi Reguil, was drowned."A similar entry appears in the Ulster Annals for 747 ;meaning that the abbot of the " Hog-island of St.Regulus" (Muckinish in Lough Derg) so met hisdeath. But according to John O'Donovan's note (ed.1849) the former editor, Dr. O'Conor, had read for"Regutl," "re gallaibh," the abbot of Muckinishwas drowned "by strangers," the Gaill or Vikings,half a century before they were otherwise heard of.Following this error, Moore in his history describedan attack on " Rechrain," meaning Lambey, and thedrowning of the abbot's pigs by the Danes. "Thus,"says O'Donovan, "has Irish history been manufactured."to whom weThus, too, English history. Gaimar,are often indebted for a bright touch on our earlyannals, places the story of Havelock the Dane in thedays of Constantine, successor to King Arthur. NowHavelock is the Cumbrian legendary form of OlafCuaran, the tenth century king of York and Dublin(see pp. 138, 139), and though the story is wovenfrom early traditions, the setting is antedated.Many

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 49of the incidents worked into the Arthurian cyclemaydate from the times of /Elfred and EadmundIronside, whose series of battles with Halfdan andKniit offers analogies to Arthur's fights with theheathen. The Arthurian legend took form in theViking Age, and was put back into the "good oldtimes " according to the use and wont of storytellers,but contains some Scandinavian elements.For instance, the horse of Sir Gawain, according toProf. Gollancz, has been evolved out of the boat ofWade, the hero of the Volund myth ;Tristram andIsolt (a Pictish and a Teutonic name) seems to be alove-story from Strathclyde not earlier than the tenthor the eleventh century. That there are quite ancientCeltic myths in the Arthurian cycle is not disputed,but much of the material, as in the Ossianic legends,comes from that stirring and fruitful age ofstorm and stress when the contact of many variousraces and cultures, especially in the north of Britain,produced a really romantic era.Thus, again, has Scandinavian history been manufactured.The Ynglinga saga (chap, xlv.) tells howIvar Widefathom, who must have " flourished " inthe seventh century, subdued the fifth part of England.For Ivar Widefathom read Ivar "the Boneless" of two hundred years later, and we comenearer to historical truth, for "Northumbria is thefifth part of England," as Egil's saga says ;and thislater Ivar, though himself not entirely free from legendaryattributions, seems to have been the leading spiritof the conquest (p. 86). At the battle of Bravoll,

50 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsupposed to have been fought about 700 A.D., KingHarald Hilditonn is said (in Sogubrof) to have hadthe help of Brat the Irishman and Orm the English.There is no great absurdity in supposing that a strayWesterner may have wandered into his service, butwhen the Fornmanna-sogurtell us that he died at theage of one hundred and eighty winters after owning akingdom in England, and this in the lifetime of Bede,the mythical nature of the story is apparent. SigurdHring, his kinsman and opponent at "Bravoll, bethoughthim of the kingdom which Harald hadowned in England, and, before him, Ivar Widefathom,then ruled by Ingjald, brother of Petr, Saxon king,"or rather (not to make the story more absurd than itneed be) the " West Saxon king," for the or p, Anglo-Saxon w, has been misread. So Sigurd invadedNorthumbria, fought battles in which Ingjald and hisson Ubbi fell, won the realm and left it under atributary King Olaf, son of Kinrik, cousin of IvarWidefathom, who was ultimately driven out by Eava,son of Ubbi (Eoppa). Munch (Norske Folks Historic^I., i., p. 281) points out that there were real Saxonkings to tally with the story ; Ingild, brother of Ini ofWessex, died :718 but the whole account seems tobe a garbled version of affairs in the middle of thetenth century, when Eirik (sometimes called Hiring,or Hring) and Olaf Cuaran were disputing the kingdomof Northumbria.Coming down to the threshold of history we havethe romantic figure of Ragnar Lodbrok, dragon-slayer,and son-in-law of the great dragon-slayer Sigurd Faf-

THE -EARLIEST RAIDS 51nisbani. He, it is said, to outdo Hengist and Horsaand the Northmen from Hserethaland, set out toconquer England with two ships. Captured by yEllaof Northumberland, he was thrown into the pitof snakes. His sons, Ivar the Boneless and hisbrethren, avenged him by the greatinvasion andconquest but their ; saga embroiders the true storywith picturesque and mythical ornament. It tells howIvar the Crafty, hanging back from the first fruitlessattempt, bargained with ALlla. for as much land asan ox-hide would cover, the old Hengist and Horsaplot.Thus founding London (or York), he gained./Ella's confidence, brought his brothers' army back,and avenged his father with the torture of ./Ella andSt. E-admund. The episodeis not made more historicalby placing the scene in Ireland, as Haliday (ScandinavianDublin^ p. 28) tries to do. A historic Ragnarwas present at the siege of Paris in 845, and Ivarwith his brethren conquered East Anglia and Northumbria;but the legendary part of the saga is merely onevariant of the inevitable myth of explanation, inventedto show why the Vikings attacked Britain, othervariants being Roger of Wendover's tale of Bernethe huntsman and Lothbrok, and Gaimar's of BuernBuzecarle.It must be evident that such legends of prehistoricVikings Celtic, English and Scandinavian are thenatural growth of the story-telling genius at an agewhen the great movement was past. After every warwe have a crop of novels about it. At the sametime, the fact of piracy was no invention of the

52 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINScandinavians. Thucydides has described exactlythe same circumstances in the ^Egean at the dawn ofGreek history. Carausius in the third century of ourera was a sea-rover. St. Patrick was carried fromBritain by pirates of the fourth century, and escapedfrom Ireland to Gaul in a merchant-ship. The life ofSt. Columba is full of sea-faring; the "Celtic horrorof the sea" did not exist in the fifth century, whenthe monks travelled far intheir skin-boats and sailorsfrom Gaul visited lona, when Ere stole the seals inthe monastery's preserves, and Joan mac Conal playedthe pirate among the Hebrides, as Adamnan relates(Life of Columba, i. 28, 41ii.; 41). These earlynotices of piracy among Celts, with the fact that onemonastery fought another and that Irish kings attackedchurches and slew monks, regardless of religiousawe, surely explain the massacre of Eigg(A.D. 617), in which Prof. A. Bugge sees a proof ofScandinavian presence at a very early date ( Vikingernei-P- I 37)- The two stories of this event one, thatthe monks trespassed on the pastures of the queen ofthe country and suffered in consequence; and theother, that pirates of the sea came and slew themare ingeniously reconciled by Skene (Celtic Scotlandii.153), but neither account requires the appearanceof Norse or Danish vikings. There was continualsea-faring and piracy among the natives and moreimmediate neighbours of our sea-coasts. St. Columban,in the sixth century, was sent in a merchant shipfrom Nantes to Ireland, and Bishop Arculf in theseventh century went from France to lona on board a

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 53trading-ship. In 684 Ecgfrith of Northumbria senthis army, under Berhtred, to Ireland, and ravagedMagh-breg, and in 685 Adamnan sailed to Englandto buy back the captives. In 728 the FourMasters mention a" "marine fleet of Dalriadawhich attacked Inisowen in Ulster. The Englishand Irish were already showing the example of thevery deeds they lamented with such bitterness alittle later. Is it to be supposed that no word ofsuch events reached Scandinavia, when the chiefsea-traders of the age were the Frisians, near neighboursof Denmark ?Why, one may ask, did notthe Viking raids begin sooner?As a matter of fact, they did; but we have norecord stating that they reached Britain. About515 King Chochilaicus, as Gregory of Tours callshim, or Hugleik, led a fleet from the Baltic to themouth of the Meuse or the Rhine, and was overcomeand slain by Theodebert, son of the Frankish kingTheodoric. This isBeowulf s Hygelac, king ofGoths ;and the existence of Beowulf shows thatthere was early connection, other than hostile, betweenScandinavia and England. But the invasion ofHugleik, like the Anglo-Saxon settlement, was a partof the great " folk- wandering " movement, not aViking raid of a few pirates adventuring for slaves andgold. Professor Alexander Bugge, in his recent worksVikingerne, i., 1904, and Vesterlandenes Inflydelsepaa Nordboernes i Vikingetiden, 1905, points outthat the period of Hugleik was full of such enterprises.Fifty years later (565)the Danes made a

54 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsimilar expedition to the western seas from theirheadquarters in Sjseland at Leira, where was theroyal hall, named, from the antlers of deer at itsgables, Heorot) or Hart. Here King Hrodgar (Roar),son of Halfdan, and his nephew Hrolf Kraki, theSkjoldungs, fought the Hadobards from the Eastand drove them away; but in the end misfortunecame to the burg of the Skjoldungs, and Hrolf fellwith his men. Danes and Swedes in the folkwanderingepoch were already conscious of somecollective nationality ;race-union was begun while;the inhabitants of Norway were scattered into separatetribes and petty kingdoms until the beginning ofthe true Viking age. The first steps to extensionof power westward must naturally have been takenrom Denmark as a centre, the Swedes pushing eastto Russia. But Professor A. Bugge also thinks,agreeing with H. Zimmer, that the Norse of Norwayhad found their way across the sea to the Orkneys andShetland a hundred years before the Viking attacks arerecorded in England and Ireland. There seems tobe no reason to doubt that they did adventure on thehigh seas somewhat sooner than the usually assigneddate; for Dicuil, writing about 825, describes islandsdivided by narrow channels and swarming with sheep,which seem to be the Faeroes (sheep-isles), as inhabiteda century before by Irish monks, but thendeserted on account of heathen pirates ; and, in fact,the colony of Grim Kamban was made in 825. Butby then the Viking Age had begun and Prof. A.;Bugge would put their advent in Britain much earlier.

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 55His views (Vikingerne,i.p. 134) may be summarisedthus :Long before Ireland was attacked, viz. A.D. 700 orearlier, men from south-western NorwayHordaland,Ryfylke, Jaederen, and neighbouring settlements,may have sailed over the North Sea and landed inOrkney and Shetland. Several Shetland place-namesare formed in a way which had gone out of fashionwhen Iceland was colonised, 'as Dr. Jakob Jakobsennotes (in Aarbb'ger for nordisk Oldkyndighed, 1902).Further, the Viking Age settlers had owned their landso long that they could call it their odal or udal^ andthe tradition was that jarl Torf-Einar took the odallands away from the boendr, who got them back fromSigurd Hlodver's son ;whereas in Iceland, colonisedlate in the ninth century, no such word as odal isused : the Icelanders who left their native countryunder compulsion had their odals in Norway, notin Iceland. With the Norse mayhave come Gotlanders;stones inscribed with the earlier runes (ofthe kind used before the Viking Age) and found inNorway bear witness to a connexion with east Swedenand Gotland, and in Gotland there is a series ofpillar-stones dating from 700 or earlier, with spiralsand other ornaments of a Celtic type, which suggestsintercourse between Celtic countries and the Baltic,possibly by way of Orkney and Norway.With regard to these three lines of argument itmight be answered that a connexion between Britainand the Baltic in early ages need not be doubted, butthat it was more likely to have been by wayof Frisia ;

56 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand that there has been a tendency to antedate thedevelopment of Irish decorative art Prof. A. Buggeelsewhere gives a seventh-century date to the Book ofKells and consequently to antedate the monumentssupposed to have been influenced from Ireland. Thedate of Torf-Einar's seizure of the odals cannot bemuch before the end of the ninth century, whichwould allow for two or three generations of settlersin Orkney after the period at which Dicuil indicatestheir arrival. And as Iceland was not coloniseduntil 874, the earlier years of the ninth century arefarenough back to explain archaic place-names inShetland. Beyond that epochthere seems no needto go.The true Viking Age began during the last yearsof the eighth century; and itbegan with raids onthe coast nearest to Denmark. Lappenberg, in hisHistory of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings(Thorpe's tr., ii. p. 19), quotes an epistle of Bregowineto Lullus (who died in 786) mentioning "frequentattacks of wicked men on the provinces of the Englishor on the regions of Gaul/' It is not clear that hemeant Scandinavian pirates, but we are coming verynear to the time and place where the earliest recordedattacks did occur ;and when they once began theycame thick and fast. However untrustworthy anygiven entry may be, Irish, English, and Frankishannals unite in asserting that Viking raids, outside theBaltic, began soon after this date, and continued fromthat time forward. Within the Baltic the Scandinaviantribes had been preying upon each other for

THE EARLIEST RAIDS .57centuries: now at last theyconquer. It was not that theyGaul and Britain, but that theyfound new worlds tohad never heard ofhad not been inducedor emboldened to venture so far in small parties forthe sake of robbery under arms.What, then, was the reason, or occasion, of thissudden outburst ?Steenstrup thought that overpopulation,through polygamy, had made emigration necessary: but the earlier raids were not emigration ;andK. Maurer argued that Harald Fairhair's attempts tocheck emigration showed that Norway was not toocrowded. J. R. Green, in his Conquest of England,suggested that as the unification of the small Scandinaviankingdoms had already begun, the more independentspirits preferred adventure and exile to alienrule ; adding that it is needless to look further fora reason than the hope of plunder. But attempts atunification had begun long before this period in Denmarkand Sweden, and in Norway Harald Fairhair'sdomination came after the Viking Age had alreadyset in. The hope of plunder was no doubt the motive,but why should this date stand as the moment whensuch hopes were formed ? Others have supposed thatheathendom was making reprisals for Charlemagne'swar on the Saxons ;but this idea involves a solidarityamong the Scandinavians, and a sentiment of religion,wholly foreign to all we know of them. The Vikingraids may have been prompted partly by hate of theChristian invader, but they were not analogous tothe Crusades; they simply meant that the peopleof the Baltic awoke to the possibilityof successful

58. SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINplundering on French, British, and Irish coastsplaces which, at an earlier date, they had not venturedto assail.The Saxon war, begun in 772 (Eginhard), broughtthe people of Denmark directly into touch withWestern Europe. Sigfred, the Danish king, receivedWidukind, the Saxon chief, when he sought refugefrom Charlemagne's armies. In 777 an embassy wassent from Sigfred to Charlemagne, and though theDanes took no general part in the struggle, in 803Godfred, the successor of Sigfred, advanced with afleet to Sleswick to protect his land, and in 808, aftera raid across the Elbe, he built the first Daneworkin the hope of making invasion impossible. Thisearliest earthwork has been described by Mr. H.A. Kjaer in The Saga-book of the Viking Club (iv.pp. 313-325). The conduct of the war must haveopened the eyes of the Baltic folk to the opportunityof plundering in regions which, up to that time, theyhad regarded as beyond them in every sense. Theyfound that monasteries were wealthy and unprotected ;gold and silver, rich clothes, wine and dainties, cattleand captives to sell in the market, could be had for thetaking, in places which they had thought unassailableand impracticable. When once this new worldwas opened up, as in later ages America was opened,adventure was the obvious duty of every one whowished to better himself. But as we now-a-days findthat a war teaches us geography, so it needed theSaxon war to call attention to the wealth and weaknessof these western regions.

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 59About this time the overking of Denmark ruled jalso Vestfold, the west coast of the Vik, now thefjord of Christiania in Norway there was;hardly anythingin the nature of a political distinction betweenthe people on the opposite coasts of the Skagerrack ;the language was much the same, and the ethnological1differences noticed later as distinguishing Black-pirates,or Danes, from White-pirates, or Norse, in Ireland \cannot have been important in thecase of sea-farersunited rather than divided by the narrow seas. The ;mountains of Norway, cutting up the country intodeep valleys, were a more effectual bar to intercourse,and the true Norse were those of the Bergen andTrondhjem fjordsand Gudbrandsdal. From the beginningthe English regarded the invaders as Danes ;the word " Northmen " was the French name. Tothe Franks all the invaders came from the North,and the name did not mean people of Norway, whichindeed Prof. Noreen derivesas Munch (Nor ske FolksHistoric^ I. i. 67) hinted not from "north," but fromnor, a sea-loch. The Northmen of Normandy weremostly of Danish origin that is to say, from thecountry later known as Denmark. Irish annals calledthe invaders the Gaill (foreigners) or Gentiles, orheathen, until 836, when the Four Masters chroniclethe arrival of sixty ships of Northmen, and, in 841,three fleets Normannorum a Latin word in theGaelic text. In 846 the same annals mention Tomhrairerla tanaisi rlgh Lochlainne, jarl Th6rir, tan is t(heir) of the King of Lochlann. Then, in 847, "afleet of seven score ships of the people of the king

60 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINof the foreigners came to contend with theforeignersthat were in Ireland before them;" and, in 850,"the Dubhgoill arrived in Athcliath (Dublin) andslaughtered the Finghoill." The Ulster Annals namethe Lochlanns in 839, and the Black and WhiteGaill in 847. Now Duald Mac Firbis says, "Thewritings of the Irish call a Lochlannaigh by thename Goill :they also call some of them Dubhlochlannaigh,/. e. black Gentiles, which was applied tothe Danes of Dania,/. e. Denmark :Finn-Lochlannaigh,i. e. fair Gentiles, /. e. the people of /. e.loruaighe, thepeople of Norwegia:" and Keating explained Lochlonnaigh(sic) as " powerful on lakes or on the sea,"from lonn, strong ;and gave the name to the Danes(quoted in O'Donovan's Four Master s, p. 616). Stillthe name of Lochlann seems to have been used as ageographical expression ;but if it means " the countryof lochs," early Irish geography may have appliedit to Denmark, where the Limafjord and the Beltsare land-locked waters, as characteristic as the fjordsof Norway. If Duald Mac Firbis is right, the wordDubhlochlannaigh shows that there was no distinctionat first in the minds of the Irish between Norwayand Denmark. Fuarlochlann, the cold Lochlann, isused by him, perhaps for Norway. Prof. S. Bugge,however, finds in the name Onphile jarla ( Wars ofthe Gaedhil, 845 A.D.) "An Fila-jarl," earl of theFjala-folk (north of Sogne-fjord) in Norway ; which, ifestablished, is remarkable (see A. Bugge's VesterlandenesIndfl., p. 108).The name Viking (wicing) is used once in English

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 6 1chronicles (A.-Sax. Chron. under 982). It is found in theEpinal Glossary, and therefore was known long beforethe Scandinavian invasions (W. H. Stevenson, Eng.Hist. Rev. xix., p. 143). Dr. Lawrence has suggestedthat it comes from the Anglo-Saxon wlgan, wfgian, tofight, from which the usual substantive is wiggend orivigend, a warrior. Li*6vicingas occurs in " Widsith"corresponding to the Icelandic Lf&ungar^ the men fromLid in the Vik of Norway, though the reading of oneMS. in the chronicles (A.D. 885) of Lidwicingas forLidwiccas suggests that Bretons might be meant inthis case. English historians usually assume that"Vikings" meant "men from the Vik" of Norway;but the word does not seem to have been used inthis sense by saga-writers, who calledthe dwellers inVikin Vikverskar or Vikverjar, though in the mediaevalIcelandic Bishops' sagas Sif&vikingr means a man fromSii^avik, Vest/aiding a man from Vestfold, and so on.The word vikingr means in the Sagas any pirate, ofwhatever nationality. For instances, the rather earlyKormdks-saga, relating adventures of a party ofIcelanders and a German, calls them all " vikings,"%x\&Landndmabdk gives the name to any Scandinaviansea-rovers. Nor does it mean "haunting the creeksof England, the lochs of Scotland and the loughs of"Ireland ; for itthoughis true that there is no wordaustr-viking (piracy in the east) parallel to vestr-viking(piracy in the west), still EgiPs saga (chap. 36) tellshow "they went in viking on the eastern way," toRussia. The word viking (feminine) means thelife of a pirate, a free-booting voyage; "to go in

62 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINviking" is a common phrase and one used before thesagas were written down,, for a Swedish runic stonerecords a man who "died on the west voyage inviking." The use of the word viking relates tooccupation: the peaceful merchant, though he camefrom the same home and sailed into the samewaters as the pirate, was not called a viking ;thedistinction comes out in the description of one whowas both by turns (Egil's saga, chap. 32) ; Bjorn wasa great traveller, var stundum i viking enn stundum i"kaupfeffium he was sometimes in viking but sometimeson trading voyages." At first the name washonourable " : Naddodd was a great viking," saysLandndma ; but gradually as things became moresettled it was possible for the pirate to be no hero ;" Thorbjorn bitra was a viking and a rascal," saysLandndma (ii. 32) of one who disgraced his callingby plundering the wrong people. In the saga ofCormac the Skald the transition isapparent : theancestors of the family were vikings of the good oldsort in the ninth and early tenth centuries, but towardsthe close of the tenth century, when certain travellerson a trip from Trondhjem to Denmark were taken by"vikings," the word means simply pirates of noheroic sort. Raif&avikingr, a red pirate, is parallel torau^Sa-rdn, red robbery ;and when the literature ofthe north began to be composed, and not only writtendown, by churchmen, to whom the deeds of theirancestors were as abhorrent as their heathenism,viking came to mean any robber ;until at last, in thestory of David, the giant Goliath is called "this

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 63cursed viking." But in the tenth centurynoun had become already a proper name, as didthe commonDubhgall, Finngall, Lagman, Lochlann, and Sumarlidi;there is a place in the south of Iceland calledVikingslsekr, Viking's brook, named in Landndma(v. 5, 6) in connexion with the settlement and later;the personal name of Viking is found on runic stones.The inference is that the English word was adoptedquite early by the Scandinavians to denote thehonourable employment of the free buccaneer andnot as a geographical designation.The employment was not without honour. To us,looking back on the weary waste of life and the meansof life, estimating in imagination the wanton destructionof art and literature, the sufferings of innocentpeople massacred or driven into slavery among heathensand barbarians, or left to struggle and starve in theruins of their homes, it is easy to understand the bitternesswith which the Viking attacks were regarded, andthe despair of the litany:"A furore Normannorum,libera nos, Domine." But it iseasy also to forget thatthe bitterness was felt because the Vikings were heathenand barbarians, a despised race, regarded in the ninthcentury as, in the twelfth century, Saracens abroad andJews at home were regarded. When in Christian Irelandmonks fought with monks, and kings made waron priests and women, it was the normal course ofnature jbut that Gentiles should come in and poachupon the preserves of royal sportsmen was the unbearableshame. In England for many a year stoutresistance was made ;the Vikings were often beaten,

64 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand sometimes treated with greater cruelty than theyintended to inflict. There is no trace, in the earlierperiod, of needless cruelty on their part, except thefact, which seems needless to us but was by no meansso in that age, of their making any such attacks at all.It was only later, by contact with the South, that theylearnt to torture ;but we cannot say that they meteasy deaths when they were captured (see for examplepage 68). 1 Nor was their life easy; hard fare, heavylabour at the oar, exposure in open boats to all thestorms of the North, difficult navigation of unknownseas, comfortless and homeless wanderings in hostilelands, the fate of a galley-slave in everything butfreedom and the chances of glory and gold.It was not a heroic life, as we count heroism to-day.The thirst for gold, torn from fine reliquaries andshrines and the jewelled covers of psalm-books, to behammered into arm-rings or hoarded in holes, seemschildish to a modern reader ;and the traffic in slaves,which formed the largest and most lucrative part ofthe Viking's booty, shocks our sentiments. But inthe ninth century the Viking could plead ample precedentjhe was only doing what the most civilisedwere doing ;his fault was that he did it rather moreskilfully. For indeed he was, in his time, the mostcapable of mankind not; fully matured, but not withouthis own high civilisation, having more than therudiments of domestic comforts and graces, more than1 Also see a paper by Mr. H. St. G. Gray, on " Danes'Skins on Church Doors " ; Saga-book of the Viking Chib, V.

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 65the elements of the finer arts and crafts, by which, ifby anything, a race is judged. He was law-abiding,beyond most; intelligent and ready to learn, so that thestory of captive Greece capturing her conquerors wasoften repeated, when the sea-rover settled in Ireland,or England, or France. He was, in a word, the manwho deserved a hearing and who made himself heard.And if he knew nothing as yet of the faith in whichColumba and Bede had so beautifully spent theirlives, he was, in higher moments, by no means a soullesssavage. In one of the Edda songs, Hyndluljbd,there is a verse which we may fancy was sung to himselfby many a young adventurer, as the boat tossed inthe breakers in sight of white cliffs and the unknownfate in store :Victory He giveth, and wealth at His will ;Wisdom and words they may win them who can :As He gives the boat breeze so He gives the skald skill,But to each giveth Odin the heart of a man.Now it was some twenty years after the outbreak ofthe Saxon war (p. 58) and seven years or more after theattacks of " wicked men " on the Channel coasts, thatwe have the first serious incident of the Viking Age,the sack of Lindisfarne, in January, 793. It washeralded by storms, lightnings and " fiery dragons inthe air " (/. e. aurora borealis). Symeon of Durhampauses in his rapid History of the Kings to describe theisland with its curious sands and tides, and the noblemonastery once ruled by St. Cuthbert. and then paintsat length the landing of the Gentiles like wolves, slayingflocks and herds, priests and Levites, monks aridE

66 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINnuns :trampling the holy places, throwing down thethe treasuries. "Some of the monksaltars, pillagingthey killed a; large number they carried away captive ;the greater part they thrust out stripped and insulted ;a few were drowned." The witness of the chroniclersis confirmed by a letter of Alcuin's of 794, showing thatthe news reached the Continent and created no littlepanic. But the extraordinary circumstance is that thelanding was made on the 8th of January. It is truethat the North Sea is sometimes sunny and calm inthe depth of winter, but this had been a particularlystormy season. Later Vikings chose the summer fortheir excursions, and sumarlidi, "summer-sailor," wassynonymous with " pirate." Cattle and sheep, in thatage, were slaughtered in autumn, and only a few stockbeasts kept to be fed on hay through the winter so;that the flocks and herds on Lindisfarne (jumenta^oves et boves) could not have been more than sufficed forthe strandhogg, the slaughter by the shore, for thefeast which was the usual finish to a raid. The raidershad not come for cattle, but for gold and slaves ; theyknew where to get what they wanted at a rich monasteryon an island to which help from the surroundingcountry would be slow in coming ;and they knewwhat to do with the slaves when they had capturedthem. We are told that Scandinavia was over-populated,and even if that was not the case, it was hardlynecessary to import labour into Denmark, still lessinto Norway a monk or a nun from ; England wouldbe little use on a fell-side farm in Hardanger or Sogn.There must have been recognised markets in Flanders

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 67and France for such commodities ;later on, captiveswere sold in Ireland or carried east to Esthonia andRussia. But in January 793 a cargo of English monkscould not have been taken so far with profit, andthere is no hint here or elsewhere that the Vikingstook prisoners with the definite intention of holdingthem to ransom, except in a much later period whenall the circumstances had changed, as in the sack ofCanterbury, 1012.They carried off their captives tosell in some distant port ;but where ?Everything seems to indicate that this attack camefrom the south. We have hints of previous plunderingon French and English coasts, and Roger deHoveden, a north-country writer, says that before theattack on Lindisfarne there had been attempts onthe Northumbrian coast. The earlier Scandinavianboat, long and shallow and with great, top-heavy sailwas not built for crossing the North Sea in winter."Alcuin indeed wrote, Nothing like their mode ofnavigation has ever been heard of before," and theadventure was in any case a remarkable achievement.Still the coast route must have been the one followedon this occasion ;and the sudden, decisive attackupon the weakest point, the rich, undefended island,showed previous knowledge and a well-laid plan ofaction. We cannot help feeling that the " wolves "were led by a fox whose earth lay somewhere nearerthan Norway or even Denmark and that as;Christiannations had set the example of raiding,so now a"Christian" employer showed the way and profitedby the work some one at least who lived in a country

68 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINnominally under the rule of the Christian emperor.The first viking raids were not a war of heathenism inrevenge for the oppression of the Old Saxons ; theywere a new form of sport, at the back of which were" business " interests ;and Danes, not Norse, wereconcerned.Next year ''the aforesaid Pagans" tried to repeattheir success. They returned and ravaged Ecgfrid'sport and the monastery at Done-mouth Jarrow,where the little Don joins the Tyne." But St.Cuthbert did not let them depart unpunished.Indeed their chief was slain by the English on thespot with a cruel death, and after a short space oftime the violence of a tempest shook, ruined andbrake to pieces their ships ;and very many the seaoverwhelmed. Some were cast ashore, and soonkilled without pity.And this served them right fordoing grave harm to those who had never done themharm" (Symeon).Under 792 (correctly 794) the Ulster Annals notewith evident exaggeration, "all the coast of Britainravaged by the " "foreigners ; and, two years later, theforeigners ravage Fortrenn (central Scotland) anddistress the Picts." This may mean that, in spiteof the reverse at Jarrow, the raids were pushedfarther north, up the east coast of Britain. It is notproved that Vikings had reached the south-west ofScotland in 796.The year 795, in which the Vikings did not ventureback to the scene of the disaster of 794, was spent inan attempt in another direction. A party sailed round

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 69the south coast and made a descent on Glamorganshire(Gwcniian Chronicle), where the peninsula ofCower was often afterwards the scene of their landings,and then sailed across St. George's Channel tothe Irish coast, which they followed until they cameto another island monastery, Lambey, then known asRechru (genitive Rechrainn, the name used by Moorein the hog-drowning story quoted p. 48). Here they"burnt, spoiled and impoverished the shrines" of theabbey founded by St. Columba. Some identify thisplace with Rachaire or Rathlin island, co. Antrim.A letter of Alcuin, written in 797, speaks of theravages as continuing; and in 798 a second invasionof the Irish Sea was made. Following, no doubt, thesame route, they again made for a rich island monastery,the Celtic shrine of St. Dochonna on St. Patrick'sIsland (Holm Peel), on the west coast of Man. Skyeis named as attacked about this time, but the smallColumban monastery in the south of that island ishardly likely to have been attacked, either from thenorth or the south, without any attempt being madeto gather in the riches of lona so near at hand andso much more tempting. Skye and lona must havesuffered about the same time, namely in 802.Meanwhile, in799 and 800, France and Frisia hadoccupied the attention of the pirates. If at first, asand en-we suspect, the Vikings had received helpcouragement from France or Frisia, it did not preventtheir turning to those districts in the years when theyleft Ireland and England to lie fallow. The sequenceof their descents proves that all these attacks came

70 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfrom the same quarter: 793, Lindisfarne ; 794,Jarrow; 795, Rechru ; 796, East-coast of Scotland;797, Alcuin's notice of continued ravages ; 798, Peel,Isle of Man; 799, France; 800, Frisia; 802, lona.These were no chance landfalls of semi-savage rovers,but a definite scheme to exploit the most availablematerial. Where good resistance was offered, nofurther attempts were made : after the disaster atJarrow there is no record of a descent on Englishground for nearly 40 yearsit was not worth while.;The finding of English coins of the early "eighttwenties" in county Wicklow has been thought toindicate that in those years Vikings from Ireland madeunrecorded raids on south-eastern :England but it ispossible that these English coins were brought toIreland by way of trade, for at the time there was noIrish coinage, whereas trade always went on. And inspite of Viking attacks life went on the burnt thatch;was renewed, the desecrated altar reconsecrated, andin the case of so famous a centre as lona the offeringsof the faithful soon replaced the loss. How well thiswas known to the managers of the Viking enterprisewe can see from the fact that in four years the abbeywas worth robbing again, and in '806 a second attackwas made. This time the monks tried to defendtheir treasures, and sixty-eight were slain in thefight.Next year the pirates, doubtless the same partyand under the same auspices, sailed round the northcoast of Ireland into Donegal Bay, and plunderedInishmurry, yet another rich island monastery, whose

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 71curious remains of early architecture are still to beseen (Scotland in Early Christian Times, i. p. 87).After that, for several years there is a cessation ofraids ; Godfred, king of Denmark, was employingallhands in war with the Slavs, with Frisia and withCharlemagne. But after his death we find that theVikings at once returned to Ireland. In 811-813they began a new phase of their operations, as thoughthe experience of the late war had taught them themost teachable of people how to do more than fallupon a defenceless island and fly with the plunder.They now landed and went up the country, in Ulster,in Connemara, and to the lakes of Killarney. Theywere not always successful, for both the Irish annals andEginhard tell us that they were beaten off with greatloss, more than once. These disasters appear to havedisheartened them; for seven years there are no moreinvasions.At last we have come to the period when webegin to hear of Norwegians in North British seas.That they had some knowledge of the route, andperhaps occasionally used it in fishing or tradingvoyages, is very likely indeed it would be inconceivablethat this piece of water between Shetland and;Norway was untraversed when the route to the Faeroesand Iceland was well known to the Irish. It seemsreasonable to suppose that the example of the Danishenterprises was talked about, and soon followed, bythe men of Hordaland the ; contagion of enterprise,so to speak, spread northward. But there was adifference from the beginning between the Danish

72 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand the Norwegianincursions. The Danes camechiefly for plunder, and returned to their own sunnyand fertile country to enjoy the fruits of their industry ;while the Norse, living in a ruder climate, morestraitened for the means of life in their narrow fieldsalong the fjord-sides, and less spoiled by commercewith the rich south, came to find new homes inmilder and more spacious regions. To them theNorth of Britain, and still more the coasts of the IrishSea, were southern lands :they could never havefound in the bee-hive huts and rude oratories of theOrkneys and the northern Hebrides that wealth ofplunder which attracted the first Vikings to Lindisfarneand lona; but they found ready-made housesand cultivated fields, or the space they needed forexpansion. Even the Faeroes were colonised by theNorse fifty years before any settlement was effectedby the Danes in England and if the methods of the;two classes of Vikings were hardly distinguishable bythe natives who resented their presence, their aimswere not the same. It might be said, as a roughsumming-up of the earlier Viking period, that theDanes showed the way westward to the Norse,but the Norse set the example of conquest andcolonisation to the Danes. We shall see (p. 182onward) that the most permanent foreign settlementson British soil were chiefly Norse in origin andcharacter.It was perhaps owing to the rivalry created by theeajjier Norse invasions that the Danish attacks beganagain in 820 or 822. They had the same object, gold

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 73and slaves. From Edar, which they calledHowth, they carried off " a great prey of women,"and in 823 plundered Inis-dowill (Inch, co. Wexford)and Cork ; then, sailing along the coast, climbedthe almost inaccessible crags of Skellig Mhichel onthe Kerry coast (whereperiodwonderful structures of thisstill remain in the island cashel and beehivecells), and kidnapped the hermit Eitgall," et citomortuus est fame et siti," perhaps set ashore asa useless captive, for on board the ships he neednot have starved to death. Next year the famousmonastery of Bangor (co. Down) was sacked ;" theoratory was broken, and the relics of Comhgall wereshaken from the shrine, as Comhgall himself hadforetold."A year later they made the third attack on lona,where the monastery, which in SiS had been rebuiltin stone on a new site, was once more plundered.The occasion is marked by the death of Blathmacmac Flainn, and by the account of it written byWalafrid Strabo, abbot of Augiadives (Reichenau onthe Lake of Constance), who himself died only twentyoneyears afterwards. Blathmac seems to have expectedthe chance of his death sooner or later at the handsof Vikings ; though the rebuilding of the monasterysuggests that the Columban brotherhood thought thestorm was over, after five years had passed withoutsign of piracy from the south, and obviously withoutsign of Norse attacks from the north. When at lastthe sails of the approaching fleet were seen from thelook-out on Dunii, the jewelled golden shrine that

74 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINheld the sacred relics of Columba was hastily buried,and most of the monks fled to hiding-places on themoors of the island. Some few remained to resist,and were slain. Blathmac stood to his post at thealtar, saying mass, until he was seized and requiredto give up the treasure for the Vikings were wellaware of its existence; they had not come withoutinformation. He on his part knew enough aboutthe strangers to reply in their language. This maymean that he had studied Danish, or that a fewwords of English sufficed; for no doubt Blathmacspoke English as many an educated Irishman musthave spoken it, and as, vice versa, Englishmen likeKings Oswiu and Aldfrith spoke Gaelic. He protestedthat he did not know where the treasure washidden, but added that, if he did, he would not tell ;whereupon they cut him down, and he attained hisdesire of martyrdom.In the little building called St. Columba's tomb,close to the west end of the cathedral of lona, thereare two stone cists, which Skene thought, on theanalogy of a similar oratory at Temple Molaga inIreland, must have been made to contain the mostvalued of the relics. If so, that on the south musthave held the bones of St. Columba, and as Walafridespecially mentions a miracle-workingshrine of St.Blathmac, the cist on the north side of the cell mayhave been made as the coffin of the martyr.With 825, the year of Grim Kamban in the Faeroes,while Dicuil was finishing his book in France, beganthe serious and strenuous attempt on the inland

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 75shrines of Ireland. Downpatrick, Moville, Inisdowill,and Lusk suffered first (825-826), and then we findVikings fighting the tribal chiefs up-country, sometimesdefeated with slaughter, and yet persistent, until, in832, Armagh was thrice plundered in one month, withmany other churches, and the shrine of St. Adamnanwas carried off from Donaghmoyne (co. Monaghan).Next year Niall, the new-made overking of Ireland,beat the Vikings at Derry, but they sacked Clondalkin.And all the while Irish kinglets and chiefs amusedthemselves at the old royal sport of ravage andmassacre ; so that the assaults of the Gaill are mereincidents, a small percentage in the catalogue oftroubles. Even church-burning and monk-slaying werenot unknown among the Irish ;in this very year (833)the king of Cashel slaughtered the monks of Clonmacnoisand Durrow ;another chief had massacredthe clergy of Kildare in the year before.Ireland wasripe for conquest, but since the beginning of their raidsthe Vikings had sailed past the coasts of England, yearafter year, and never made a landing serious enoughfor the chronicles to record.Now, emboldened by success and experience, theyextended the sphere of their adventures. The firstgreat expedition against Flanders was made in 834,and then for three years they were plundering that coastand the coast of France to the mouth of the Loire.A few slight attacks were made upon England; adescent on Sheppey and a landing at Charmouth inDorset, where they defeated the local forces, wereepisodes in the plundering on the other side of the

76 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINChannel, The case is different with the invasion ofCornwall in 838.Ecgberht had conquered the West Welsh in 823,but they chafed under the yo.ke, Possibly by theirinvitation, or possibly as the first instance of a policywhich was repeated a few years later in Brittanyand in Ireland, the Vikings joined them. A greatfleet came to Cornwall, and the army together withthe Cornishmen marched eastward against Wessex.Ecgberht crossed the Tamar to meet them, andon Hengestesdune (perhaps Hengston Down, betweenPlymouth and Launceston) won a decisive victory.chief isThe first plainly recorded name of a Vikingthat of Saxulf, who is noticed in the Irish Annals asslain about 836. The next and greatest of this epochis Turgesius, or Turgeis, formerly identified with theThorgils, son of Harald Fairhair, mentioned bySnorri Sturluson, in spite of the hopeless anachronism.The name would stand for Thorgest, as Dr. WhitleyStokes suggested ;and Snorri's tale is no doubt alegend of his life, confused and misdated. The dateof his arrival and the place of his origin are uncertain,but he seems to have been the first of the " foreigners "in Ireland who showed an intention to conquer theland and settle in it, perhaps somewhat earlier than839, the date given for the advent of his " great royalfleet " in the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill. Hebuilt a fort on Lough Ree, took Armagh, the chiefcentre of religion in the north of Ireland, and, accordingto the legend, made himself " abbot " of themonastery at the same time;placing in Clonmacnois,

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 77the chief abbey of central Ireland, his wife Otta,where she sat on the altar of the church and " gaveanswers " in the character of a priestess or prophetess.At last he was captured by King Maelseachlann, anddrowned in Lough Owel (co. Westmeath), in or about843. A variant of the tale is given by Giraldus, andmay perhaps have been known to Snorri, to the effectthat he fell in love with a daughter of King Maelseachlann,and that she was sent to him with a companyof fifteen young men dressed as girls,who stabbedhim and his chiefs to death.Thorgest may have been a Norwegian, for weget definite notice in the Irish Annals of thedifference between Norse and Danes at the periodof his arrival (see pp. 59, 60). But by the time ofThorgest'sdeath Limerick had been founded as aViking settlement, and Dublin (840) on a site capturedin 836 while the ; colony in Wicklow (Wikinglaw)was established at least as early as 835. About thistime we have the first distinct notices of attempts tooccupy southern and central Scotland, the hold of theNorthmen on the Orkneys and Shetland being alreadysecured. When ^Ethelwulf, the son of Ecgberht, cameto the throne of Wessex, the aspect of affairs hadaltered from occasional predatory raids to determinedinvasion.About 840 these new invasions began on the southcoast of England the; first, repulsed from Southampton;the next at Portland, in which the Danes beat theSaxons by means of their trick of the feigned flight ;the third, a successful raid upon Lindsey, East Anglia

78 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand Kent ;and the fourth, an attack on London andRochester, after which the Danes drew off to Cwentawic(Staples), and soon after sacked Rouen andNantes, in 845 besieging Paris. They returned to theattack on England at Charmouth (Dorset) where./Ethelwulf himself, engaging the crews of thirty-fiveDanish ships, was beaten. But the Danes then didnot follow up their success. At the mouth of theParret they were repulsed by the levies of Somersetand Dorset, and again at " Wicganbeorh " in Dorsetin 851.But by this time more serious efforts at conquestwere in preparation. In 850 a party landed on Thanet(or on Sheppey) and wintered there, the first winteringon English ground, and early next year a great fleetof 350 ships sailed into the Thames; Canterbury andLondon were sacked ;Beorhtwulf of Mercia was putto flight and died, perhaps of his wounds. Mr. Keary(The Vikings in Western Christendom , p. 273) thinksthat this fleet was commanded by Rorik, one of thefamily then ruling in Denmark. Rorik, if he was theleader, hoped to found a kingdom of his own as otherleaders had done in Ireland : but there was moreresistance to be met with in the Saxons than in theCelts. King ^Ethelwulf ofWessex fought the invadersat Ockley in Surrey, and defeated them with great loss,while his son JEthelstan, king of Kent, put out tosea the first indication of naval efforts on the part ofthe Saxons and won a battle off Sandwich, takingnine ships and putting the rest to flight.For a time the Danes fell back on the easier con-

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 79quest of France, or tried England, as it were, by theback-door. They had formerly struck at Wessexthrough Cornwall now; they attempted the routethrough North Wales, perhaps trying to get the Welshto co-operate as before. ^Ethelwulf gave his daughterin marriage to Burhred, the new king of Mercia, andjoined him, at his request in 853, in an expeditionagainst the Welsh, whom he reduced to subjection.That is to say, King Roderick ap Merfyn, between twofires, must have promised to expel the Vikings ;andwe find in the Ulster Annals, in 855, "Horm, chiefof Black Gentiles, killedby Ruadhri mac Murminn,king of Wales" the Orm who possibly gave theirname to the Ormes Heads at Llandudno. The extentto which Orm's incursion had succeeded may begathered from a Mercian charter of the same year,which mentions the fact that pagans had reached thedistrict of the Wrekin (Birch, 487 ; Kemble, 277).But while ^thelwulf was engaged in the west, thepersistent Danes entered Thanet, and fought a battlewith the men of Kent and Surrey, in which ealdormanEalhere of Kent, who had won the sea-fight alongsideof King ^Ethelstan at Sandwich, was slain. Two yearslater, ^thelwulf was again absent, trusting that allwas quiet ;but the Danes promptly came to winterin Sheppey.He had gone on pilgrimage to Rome. On the wayback he stayed three months with Charles the Bald.His first wife, the mother of Alfred, appears to havedied, and before leaving France he married Judith,daughter of Charles, a child of twelve. It can only

80 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINhave been a nominal marriage of policy, for as he hadgiven his daughter to the Mercian king in order tostrengthen Wessex on the north against the Vikings, sonow he made an alliance with the Franks to secure asfar as possible the co-operation of the great southernpower in the same cause. On his arrival home hefound his son ^Ethelbald in possession of the throne,and thenceforward contented himself with the easternhalf of his old kingdom.no more Viking attacks ;During his lifetime we hear ofhis policy was successful, notonly for himself, but for ^Ethelbald, who succeededhim, and the peace lasted into the days of ^Ethelberht,the brother who followed. So secure did the West-Saxons feel, that when at last a body of Vikings, perhapsunder Volund who was adventuring at this timein France, suddenly landed and made a dash uponWinchester, the capital city of the realm,it was onlyafter the storm and sack of the town that the localfyrd was got together. Then the Hampshire andBerkshire men intercepted the raiders, and put themto flight with great slaughter. But the tide wasbeginning to turn.In" 865 the heathen army sat down in Thanet, andmade peace with the men of Kent, and the men ofKent promised them money for the peace and dur-;ing the peace and the promise of money, the armystole away by night and ravagedall Kent to the eastward."This is a noteworthy entry, for it marks thefirstpayment of the Danegeld which afterwards becamesuch a burden to England and it is ;the firstexample of the " Danish breach of faith " of which

THE EARLIEST RAIDS 8 1so much is heard in later years the usual cry ofthose who are worsted in a sharp bargain. Wehave no account of the Danish side of the story;but now the conquest of the Danelaw had begun inearnest.

II.THE DANELAWI. THE AGE OF ALFREDTHAT part of Britain which theDanes conqueredin the days of King Alfred was called in Anglo-SaxonDena/agu, the district in which the Danes' law prevailed.The word lagu in the sense of " laws " comesfrom the Scandinavian log, which in itssecondary usemeant not only "laws," but the group of people whowere ruled by a given code. Gtdathings log, or Thr&ndatog, came to be almost geographical expressions forthe country which owned the rulings of the Gulathing,or the neighbourhood of Trondhjem. Hence theform " Danelaw," used by recent historians as aconvenient rendering of Denalagu,is not misleading,beside being more readable than the hybrid" Danelagh."King Alfred's life covers the period of this conquest,the second half of the ninth century. After thetentative attacks of the first sixteen years, came theinvasion of theGreat Army, which created the Danelaw,followed by the futile attempt of Hastein (Hasting)to settle in Alfred's realm. By the year 900 the eth-map of England had been drawn on linesnologicalwhich last, with alterations in details only, to this day.The story is one of stirring deeds on both sides.82

THE AGE OF ALFRED 83If we admire the heroic defence of the Saxon king, wecannot forget that most of us who form the Englishnation have in our veins more than a little of theViking blood. We owe our existence as much to oneside as to the other, and it is a false patriotism and amistaken view of history which asks us to give oursympathies exclusively to either party in this struggleof a thousand years ago. To tell the story fully inthe limits of this work is impossible ;we must, however,sketch the course of events in order to make theresults intelligible.When /Ethelred, the fourth son of Ecgberht, succeededto the throne, his accession was the signal forthe beginning of troubles to which all previous incursionshad been literally like ships that pass in thenight. In that year 866, says ^Ethelwerd, "thefleets of the tyrant Hingwar arrived in England fromthe north," de Danubio^ says Asser de; Danubia,Symeon copies him : from Denmark, of course"and wintered among the East Angles; and havingestablished their arms there, they got them horses,and made peace with all the inhabitants of their ownneighbourhood." In other words, they became a forceof wonderfully active and mobile mounted infantry,like the hobelars of the thirteenth century or theBoers of recent times ;and their new policy was toconciliate the immediate neighbourhood in which theysettled, in order to form a base of operations. Thiswas a repetition of the policy already seen in Cornwall,Brittany and Wales ;and now it seems to havebeen applied to East Anglia, where the natives still

84 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINforming a separate kingdom, but a dependency mightbe stirred up to take part in attacks on the power whichhad robbed them of the supremacy they boasted in thedays of Redwald. Their king, afterwards known asSt. Eadmund the Martyr,is not mentioned in thesetransactions ;when his turn came he fought his fightand suffered his fate with a courage no less than thatof the greatest hero of the Sagas. There was no lackof courage in England, but there was one thing needfulthe master-mind, which had not yet shown itselfhere. We cannot but suspect, however, that on theside of the Vikings there was one who, if we knew moreabout him, would deserve mention with the Hannibalsand Napoleons of history.When we consider the strategy of these invaders,the great war-game which was going on ;how fleetafter fleet sought the weakest points ; how, on thefailure of frontal attack, new attacks were made inflank ;how the diplomacy of alliance with discontenteddependencies was followed ;how the maxim of " divide"and conquer was understood ;how the net was drawnaround England from point to point on either hand,until the time came for the final effort that shouldstrangle the power of Wessex and make the BritishIslands wholly Scandinavian when we consider :this,it is impossible to escape the idea that some greatplan was in operation, some strong mind directing awarfare which, however originated, had become nocasual scramble of independent adventurers, nor evenan organisation merely to exploit their sporting instincts,but a resolute scheme of conquest played with

THE AGE OF ALFRED 85the skill of a chess-player on the field of empire. Itwas not for nothing that the Vikings on board theirships played draught-games one finds their;travellingchessboards and tenoned pieces, showing how theybeguiled the time in rough weather with somethingmore intellectual than drinking and horseplay. Thesame tendency marks their art and literature. Anglo-Saxon poetry has imagination the verse of the;Northmen, in its intricate metres and rhymes, itselaboration of synonyms and "kennings," has ingenuity to equal any art of the kind beforeor since.Anglo-Saxon sculpture has grace and charm learntfrom abroad, but soon degenerating; while Scandinavianornament develops from simple models intolabyrinths of intricacy compared with which even thecobweb lace of Celtic design, being regular and needingmore patience than thought, is easy to follow. Thesuccess of the Vikings was by no means a success ofrude and savage force ; it was a triumph of mentalpower as well as of moral endurance and physicalbravery.Their armour and weapons are noted in The Warsof the Gaedhil and the Gaill as superior to those ofthe Irish, who were no mean craftsmen. At the siegeof Paris they seem to have used machines and methodsof assault as good asthose employed for several centuriesto follow ;and in the campaign of Ivar theyfortified themselves in earthworks not mere boundarydykes like the Danework the use of which wasunusual in Scandinavia until the burg of the Jdmsvikingsgave an example of theskill theylearnt in their

86 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsouthern campaigns. The adoption of the mountedinfantry system, afterwards copied by the English, putthem at once into a position of great tactical advantage; just as their well-known but most difficult trickof the feigned flight enabled them to break the line ofthe bravest Saxon fyrd, fighting on the old hand-tohandprinciples. Odin, in far antiquity, as theirstories told, taught his children the " swine-fylking,"the charge in wedge-formation, such as the Highlandersused at Prestonpans ;but who was the newculture-hero who made use of many experiencesgathered from the South, and sent out the Vikingsof the ninth century to be the most efficient soldieryof their age Who ? planned the great campaign bywhich East Anglia, Deira and Mercia, were successivelyannexed ? and why did he fail to annex thekingdom of /Elfred ?The genius of Viking conquest, according to Prof. A.Bugge ( Vikingerne^ i. p. 139) was Thorgest, who fell inIreland in 843 after extending his empire over half thecountry. But a greater man may be suspected in thehalf-mythical Ivar "the Boneless," who in 857 to 862had been fighting in Ireland, and now led the greathost through all its wonderful successes, only to disappearfrom the scene at the moment before the tideturned, and the good fortune of the Saxons prevailed.It was he whom the Irish Annals called" chief kingof all Northmen in Britain and Ireland," and theEnglish chroniclers name with deepest hate, thetribute of the conquered. In the Sagas he is thewily one, " who had no bones in his body, but was

THE AGE OF /ELFRED 87very wise " who succeeded in each;enterprise by craft,when the courage of his brothers had failed. Eldestof the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok by the daughter ofSigurd the dragon-slayer, he is the one constantfactor in the varying groups of conquerors, as givenby different sources. His brothers in Ragnar's Sagaare Sigurd Snake-eye, Hvitserk and Bjorn Ironside;in the English chroniclers, Halfdan and Hubba (Ubbi\though Symeon distinguishes the last as Dux Frisiorum;in the Annals of Roskilde, Ubi, Bjorn andUlph ;and in the Irish Three Fragments, Olaf theWhite and Oisla (Haisl). He appears 866-870 asdirecting operations in England, Scotland and Ireland,always with success and; though the saga leaves himchildless, he must be the father of the great line ofDublin kings, and the " Old Ivar of the Judgments "who appears at the head of Hebridean clan-pedigrees.The rapidity of the conquest, when Ivar took it inhand, is remarkable. So far, the Vikings had madeno headway ; now, five years sufficed for the completedand permanent subjugation of East Anglia, Deiraland northern Mercia : and this was not because!no resistance, or a poor resistance, was offered. It Iis true that Northumbria was disturbed by faction ;king Osberht had been dethroned by a usurper ^Ella, \and this was Ivar's opportunity ; but, unlike the Irish,)the Anglian factions sunk their differences and unitedin fierce opposition to the common enemy. Merciawas a strong power, and had support from Wessex,but nothing stood against Ivar. Wessex was saved by/Elfred, but only after Ivar was gone.\

88 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINIn the spring of 867 the Great Army rode acrossthe Humber, and on November i had taken York.On March 21, 868, all Northumbria joined in anattack on their position, and utterly failed. If it hadbeen Ivar's object to ravage, he would have overrunBernicia ; if he had wished to destroy, he would nothave left the great churches at York and Riponstanding. Shrines were plundered, but the land wasleft under a native king, one Ecgberht, who either asa downright renegade or in the hope of restoring someorder from the wreck consented to hold it as theDanes' tributary. Thus he founded a lasting dynasty.Ivar's plan was to clear the board of Mercia, andto put Wessex in check. He seized Nottingham :Burhred slowly called out his forces, and called inhelp from ^Ethelred and Alfred but the;only resultwas a treaty under which Ivar returned leisurely toYork, and fortified the city anew in the winter of869, 870. Their almost Roman habit of entrenchinga position was a fresh feature in English warfare,learnt perhaps from the Carlovingian empire, andimitated by Alfred ; for, as Asser says, the old wallsof York were poor defences.In 870 Ivar's army, avoiding central Mercia, andso far respecting the treaty of Nottingham, inarchedthrough Lincolnshire to intrench itself at Thetford.King Eadmund of East Anglia attacked it in vain, andfell ;some accounts tell us that he was slain inbattle; the later legend of his martyrdomis wellknown. But if the tale of cruelty is true, the onlyexplanation, at this period, would be that he was

THE AGE OF ALFRED 89regarded by Ivar as a traitor to the charge which,like Ecgberht in Northumbria, he may have undertakenunder the Danes. We have no mention of hisfather, or pedigree connecting him with native kings.But at least he fell in defence of his country andfaith, and earned the crown of martyrdom. His feastday fixes the date as November 20, 870.From that moment forth, Ivar too disappears fromEngland. He is usually represented as the chiefactor in the death of St. Eadmund, but in all subsequentoperations he is not named. The Annals ofUlster, which often antedate by a year, mention tinder869 "The siege of Alclyde (Dumbarton) by the Northmen: Olaf and Ivar, two kings of the Northmen,besieged that stronghold, and at the end of four monthsthey stormed and sacked " it ;and then, next year,that Olaf (the White) and Ivar came again to Dublinfrom Scotland "and a very great spoil of captives,English, British and Pictish, was carried away toIreland;" and finally, under 872, "Ivar, King ofthe Northmen of all Ireland and Britain, ended hislife." There can be no doubt that this Ivar isthe man who led the army in :England he wouldnot otherwise have been described as king of theNorthmen of all Ireland and Britain ;nor would hehave been able to carry to Dublin "a very great spoilof English captives " as well as of British (or StrathclydeWelsh) who were taken at the sack of Dumbarton,the chief stronghold of Strathclyde. It is curious tofind him acting with Olaf the White, a Norseman ;but he had been with him before in 858 and 862, an4

90 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthen disappeared from Irish annals until now. Ivarthe Crafty probably made light of the differencesbetween Black and White Gaill, when the chanceoffered for pushing his fortunes ;and now, seeing theconquest of England going forward, and affairs of hiscause in the North hanging in the balance by thelong siege of the Strathclyde capital, hastened to lendhis aid, bringing his army and English spoil.The siege over, and after the winter on the Clyde,he sailed for Dublin, and died there in peace two yearslater. One MS. of the Annals makes the startlingstatement " he slept in Christ." Is it possible, oneistempted to ask, that the clearest-headed and thethoughtfullest of all the Viking leaders found, beforehis death, something unperceived before in the religionhe had persecuted? It is not so entirely inconceivable,for in Dublin the old king must have seen much ofQueen Aud, the wife of Olaf the White ;she was thena woman of early middle age, for she died in 900,advanced in years ;and she was known as one of theChristian settlers in Iceland, and as one of the mostforceful characters in Old Northern history. But wemust not build on a word which, after all, may be aclerical error.When Ivar left the army in Englandit had allthe old enterprise and fire ;the scheme of conquestwas pursued, but no further decisive and permanentsuccesses were gained. What was afterwards theDanelaw was now occupied ; nothing more was addedn spite of the strenuous warfare of the next sevenyears : the master-mind was gone.

THE AGE OF yELFRED 91Halfdan, said to be Ivar's brother, after the winterwas out, prepared to finish the work by invadingWessex. With him was King Bagsecg or Baegsceg,Sigtrygg the Old and Sigtrygg the Young, Osbjorn,Froena, and Harald, all named as jarls who fell in thiscampaign. They set out about Christmas-tide, 870.At this period the Chronicles begin the year withChristmas, and the dates of their earlier movementsare precise enough to give the days on which theactions were fought (see the Rev. C. Plummer's Lifeand Times of Alfred the Greaf, p. 93). As they camefrom Thetford after many months of land operations,it is not likely that they took boats up the Thames :probably they rode along the Icknield way, makingfor Winchester. Near the Thames they must havebeen aware of the Wessex army on the watch, for therapidity with which they were attacked shows thatthey were not unexpected.At Reading there was a royal vill and a littlemonastery to plunder. There was also a fine sitefor a fortress, in the tongue of land between Thamesand Kennet ;for at that time the land now coveredby the railway-stations was marsh, and the tip ofthe tongue, now occupied by Huntley & Palmer'sbiscuit factory, was close to navigable water fromwhich boats could go down the river and out to sea.Asser has puzzled historians by saying that the townwas south of the Thames, but that the Danes made adyke between the two rivers to the right (south) ofthe town (or vill).Now the Saxon monastery seemsto have been where St. Mary's stands, and no dyke

92 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfrom Thames to Kennet could be south of the town,unless the town were on the Forbury (perhaps Fornborg,"ancient fort"). The Danes' dyke is probablythe Vastern dyke of old maps, running round theAbbey precincts and northward to the Vastern, whichmay have been "a vatz-tjbrn^ water-tarn ") ;while theClappers (klappir," stepping stones ")was the ford ofthe Thames at Caversham Lock. It would be curiousif the short occupation fixed Norse names to thisWessex site, but there was a Danish occupation of theThames Valley in the eleventh century also.From December 28, 870, the Danes madeReading their headquarters for about twelve months.On Dec. 31, the Berkshire men cut up a party offoragers at Englefield ;on Jan. 4, 871, ^Ethelredand Alfred attacked the camp and fought a battleprobably on the spot where the Reading market-placenow stands but were driven off with loss ;on Jan.8, they intercepted a strong force of Danes out forreconnaissance along the Ridgeway, and won thevictory of Ashdown. At Basing, Jan. 22, theVikings beat them, and again on March 22, atMeretune (site disputed). ^Ethelred was perhapswounded in this battle; he died April 24, leavingthe kingdom to his young brother Alfred.Halfdan, however, contented himself with foraging,while he waited for reinforcements. He fought manyminor battles; ^Ethelwerd the chronicler reckonsthree fights during the summer of 871, in whicheleven more jarls of the Danes were slain ;Assercounts eight battles in the whole campaign, with the

THE AGE OF ALFRED 93loss of one king and nine jarls. But at last Halfdanabandoned the struggle, and retired to London. Asthe Vikings in 879 had a camp at Fulham, perhapsthe earthworks which enclose the Bishop's palace andthe mound within the ramparts (described by Mr. G.M. Atkinson in a paper read to the Viking Club,1907) may have been Halfdan's camp. Alfred kepthis men in the field, but Burhred paid an enormousDanegeld and induced the Vikings to spare London.They marched to Torksey on the Trent, and thenwintered at Repton. Burhred left his kingdom indespair, and died at Rome. In his place the Danesset up Ceolwulf, an Englishman, another instance oftheir not unenlightened policy. One would expectthat there were many adventurers who would havebeen pleased to sit on the throne of Mercia, but inthat case an army of occupation would have beenneeded, and the forces at Halfdan's disposal wouldhave been weakened. As it was, the Danes hadnow to occupy East Anglia and Deira with numbersdiminished by a long and unsuccessful campaign.Early in 875 the army divided. One part underHalfdan took up winter quarters on the Tyne, andraided the shrines of Bernicia, marched throughCumberland, and attacked the Picts (of Galloway) ;under that date the Ulster Annals also mention " agreat slaughter of Picts by Dubhgalls." It is assumedby J. R. Green (Conquest of England, p. 107) thatHalfdan went further north, to attack King Constantine,who, according to a chronology which is hardlytenable (see pp. 225, 248), is represented as fighting

.Frome94 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINThorstein, son of Olaf the White, and Jarl Sigurd ofOrkney but the former ;kingdom of Northumberlandhad included Galloway, and it is likely that Halfdan'sobject was to extend his power to the ancient bordersof his realm. Next year he "dealt out the landsof Northumbria, and they thenceforth continuedploughing and tilling them."The other part of the great army under Guthorm,Asketil and Hamund, went in 875 to winter at Cambridge.So far, they might be supposed to haveburnt their ships, for all three campaigns had beenon land, but their ships were soon called into action.^Elfred in person fought a naval battle off the southcoast, and won it; but in 876 Guthorm sailed roundto Poole -harbour to join the army of Ubbi fromWales. Asser tells how he seized " the castellum,""ancient square earthworks, called Wareham, wherethere is a convent of nuns, between the two riversand Trent." ^Elfred bought peace, and theDanes swore on the Holy Ring that they woulddepart; but early in 877 they sallied out by nightand rode to Exeter. Alfred could only blockadethem, and set his ships to watch the mouth of theExe. An interpolator of Asser (c. 50 ;ed. Stevenson,p. 39) says that he had ships built in all parts of hiskingdom, and" " placed pirates on board to fight theDanes : but the phrase is so vague and rhetorical thatwe must not assume that these man-of-war's menwere Norse, brought in to fight their rivals.The Danish fleet of 120 sailcoming from Warehamto force the blockade was wrecked off Swanage, and

THE AGE OF ALFRED 95the Saxons massacred the survivors.Offers of peacewere renewed, and the army withdrew to Gloucester,and then to Chippenham, where they spent the earlymonths of 878. The inhabitants of the district whocould do so fled into Wales, and the west country wasentirely in the hands of the Vikings.This is the time when Alfred is said to have burntthe cakes. As a matter of fact he was reduced totaking refuge among the fens of Athelney ;not thathe was wholly inactive, but he had with him onlyhis personal retinue and the Somerset fyrd underealdorman ^Ethelnoth. It is extraordinaryto usto think of the other shires of Wessex sitting athome and taking no steps for the rescue of thosewhom we should now consider their fellow-countrymen;but there was no united "England "in thosedays,- when each district had until recently beenindependent, and still retained its local jealousies.It is the great praise of ^Elfred that he overcame thisfeeling among the various groups of the people heruled, and created the possibility of efficient fightingpower in a country which, for all its civilisation andChristianity, was behind the pagans in political andmilitaryorganisation.At the junction of the Tone and the Parret thetriple-ramparted mound called Borough Mump maybe the fort in Athelney built by King Alfred; theArx Cynuit, held by the men of Devon against Ubbiand the Danes is a site about which there has beenmuch dispute. Here a signal victory was won overthe Vikings, and their Raven standard was captured.

96 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINIn May 878 Alfred sent word to the men of Somerset,Wilts, and Hampshire, met them on the east ofSelwood forest, and, after a day's march, fellsuddenlyon the Vikings at Ethandune. 1 His victory endedthe campaign ;Guthorm was baptised, taking thename of ^Ethelstan, and removed the army to EastAnglia, 879.In 884 a Danish host, which had left Fulham in879 for the Continent, returned, and besieged Rochester,but were driven off. There seems to have beenhelp given them by the Danes in East Anglia, andafter some sea-fighting a treaty was made, commonlybut inaccurately cited as the Frith of Wedmore, fixingthe boundary. It was to run up the Thames and thesea to a point near Hertford, thence to Bedford, andup the Ouse to Watling Street, near Stony Stratford.This gave London to Wessex, perhaps as a compensationfor the breach of the previous treaty.JElfred had learnt in his struggle with Guthormthe impossibility of meeting sudden invasion withslowly gathered and temporary local levies, and hearranged for relays of militia, "so that one-half wasconstantly at home, and the other in the field, besidethose whose dutyit was to defend the burgs." Hehad observed the mobility of the Danes, and we find1The circumstances of this campaign and the identificationof the sites present questions which cannot be dealt with here.Valuable contributions to the subject are given in Mr. W. H.Stevenson's notes to Asser's Life of ALlfred, pp. 262-278:another line is taken by the Rev. C. W. Whistler in the Saga-bookof the Viking Chtd, ii., pp. 153-197, and the controversy ishardly at an end as yet.

THE AGE OF ALFRED 97him putting his men on horseback; he began to fortifyand garrison important points, and he continued improvinghis fleet.Consequently, when Hastein came,circumstances were far less favourable to his enterprisethan they would have been twenty years earlier ;andnot even his army of veterans, highly organised, wellequipped, and thoroughly trained as they were, couldsucceed where Halfdan and Guthorm had failed. Hewas a daring adventurer; his exploits in Spain andthe Mediterranean read like a romance (see C. F.Keary, The Vikings in Western Christendom^ pp. 320-326), and in France he had been the terror of theLoire for twenty years. Of late he had moved toFlanders, with his head-quarters at Louvain. Hecame to England, not with the great designs of Ivar,but rather through necessity; being beaten with asignal defeat on the Dyle (Sept. i, 891), and starvedout by the famine of 892, he was forced to seek a newhome.In the autumn of 892 a fleet of 250 ships came overfrom Boulogne to the Roman Portus Lemanis and upthe river Limen (then in existence) to Appledore, inKent. There the Vikings found a fort in process ofbuilding, which they seized and completed. Soonafterwards Hastein himself with 80 ships entered theThames, and fortified a position at Milton, nearSittingbourne. Alfred tried to forestall interferenceby exacting pledges which proved in vainthat East Anglia and Northumbria would not helpthe invaders. He negotiated with Hastein, whoallowed his sons to be baptised, but refused or wasG

98 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINunable to leave the country. Early in April theDanes at Appledore tried to reach their friends inEast Anglia by a route west of the Weald, but theSaxons continuing to regard them as enemies, pursuedand drove them to take refuge in the island ofThorney, near West Drayton. Guthorm sent a fleetto attack Exeter ; and, from some port in Lancashireor Cumberland held by the Northumbrian Danes,another fleet came to the North Devon coast. Bothinvasions were repulsed, and the Danes in Thorneysucceeded in joining their friends in East Anglia,whither Hastein followed them. He built the burg atBenfleet, called by ^Ethelwerd Danasuda (Dana-su^,the " Danes' clinch " : su> being the clinched outerboarding of a house or planking of a ship).Whenthis was stormed in his absence, he built a new burgat Shoebury, and then marched up the Thames andacross country, in the hope of finding in Wales thehome denied in England. At Buttingdune (Buttington,near Welshpool see a; paper by Mr. C. W.Dymond, Powysland Club, 1900) he was besieged anddefeated. The survivors rode back to Essex, butbefore long their pressing needs drove them westagain. This time they were chased into the oldRoman walls of Chester, and, after a winter of starvation,were hunted outof North Wales, and returnedthrough Northumbria to Mersea Island, in Essex.But Mersea Island was insufficient to find food fortheir numbers, and food was their chief necessity. Inthe spring of 895 they sailed round the coast, andtowed their ships up the river Lea, to a place twenty

THE AGE OF ALFRED 99miles above London, where they made another burg,which has been identified with the earthworks ofWalbury Camp, near Little Hallingbury. In thesummer the Londoners tried to take the fort, butwere put to flight. During harvest King Alfred,being encamped near London to protect the harvesters,and one day riding up the river, noticed a place wherethe stream might be obstructed by building fortresseson either bank, and perhaps by stretching a chainboom across the stream. He succeeded in " bottling "the ships, but the Danes rode off, once more acrosscountry. Their rapid rides are not surprising, forthey commandeered the horses which were everywhereto be found (as in Iceland now-a-days, theusual means of transport), and rode them untilortheydropped. Reaching Quatford, below Bridgnorth,on the Severn, they built a fort of which themound remains and wintered. But Wales would notreceive them, and in the summer of 896their hostdispersed, some finding a refuge in Northumbria,others in East Anglia, and the greater part returningto France under Hastein, who soon afterwards settledon the land of Chartres, and became a great lord inthe Frankish king's service.So ended the great invasion. The Northumbriansand East Angliansstill sent out war-vessels to thesouth coast, light" esks" of thirty or forty oars : inIcelandic the word askar is sometimes used in thissense, giving askmenn, the ascmanni of Adam ofBremen and cescmen of the Anglo-Saxons, signifying"pirates." King Alfred designed larger ships to

IOOSCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcope with these, but without much success. A smallengagement was won a fleet of ; twenty esks perishedon the south coast, and the attacks were abandoned.The century closed with the great king'sdeath, at peace with his former enemies.And yet they were not all enemies who came toEngland from the Northlands. We must not forget" Ohthere, the old sea-captain, who dwelt in Halgoland,"Ottar of the fjords north of Trondhjem, thefarmer and explorer, forerunner of Nansen as others ofhis countrymen were of Nelson. Nor, again, must weto the easternforget the voyage of Wulfstan (Ulfstein)shores of the Baltic, showing that even in this turbulentage peaceable travel and traffic were not onlypossible, but the normal condition of things. Weread of battle and murder in the chronicles, as weread in newspapers of salient events abroad, mostlytragic ;but underlying all the tumult, land was tilled,trade was pushed, and human life was lived in thatage as in our own.Before Alfred's death there were three distinctstates founded by the Danes, together formingthe Danelaw. It will make the story simpler if,instead of carrying on the chronology of the wholesimultaneously, we take each in turn, beginning withthe district which was absorbed soonest into thekingdom of Alfred's family.

EAST ANGLIAIOI2. EAST ANGLIA.The realm of Guthorm-yEthelstan included at firstnot only Norfolk and Suffolk, with Essex, which hadrecently been ruled by Kent as part of the easternkingdom of the Saxons, but also the present countiesof Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford, Buckingham,Hertford, and Middlesex. In 880 his army settledin the country conquered ten years earlier, and dividedthe lands. Their occupation of the western part ofthis large region did not last long, and the traces theyleftupon in it, place-names, racial character andcustoms are slight. In fact, they never settled it,inthe sense of forming new estates to which theownersgave their names and national characteristics. Theymerely took possession, and that for a short tenureonly. About 885, as already told, the boundary wasrefixed, and the whole of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire,with half Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, weretransferred to King yElfred.Guthorm-^thelstan died in 890 or 891, and wassucceeded by King J6rik (Eohric that is to; say, notEirik tbut a name formed like J6stein). In 905 thepeace of England was troubled by a cousin of KingEadward named ^Ethelwald, who had put in a claimto the throne, and now sought the help of the EastAnglian Danes. They invaded Mercia, and Eadwardmade a counter raid into Cambridgeshire. The Danesreturned, and caught the Kentish division of his armyin their dilatory retreat. In the battle which followed

02SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe Danes held the field, but lost their king J6rik,^thelwald the pretender, and "Ysopa"and Asketilthe "holds"; holdr being a word which usually meantan owner of odal land, ancestral possessions, though inthis case none of their holdings can have dated furtherback than twenty-five years. No doubt it means herea large landowner ;the scale of precedence in Scandinaviansociety about this time was King, Jarl, Hersir(chief of a clan), Hold, Bondi (yeoman), Leysingi(freedman), Thrgell (slave).As there was na clansystemamong the immigrant Danes, who were adventurersunder a leader, not tribes under a patriarch, theHold in the East Anglian kingdom must have beennext in rank to the Jarl.Following this outburst, in 906 King Eadward madea treaty with the new king of East Anglia, Guthorm IT.,a son or nephew of Guthorm-y3Ethelstan. J6rik, contraryto the terms of Wedmore, had been a pagan atleast ^thelwerd the chronicler tells us he " descendedto Orcus," which implies as much, and the new treatyprovided that the Danes should abjure heathenismand respect church-sanctuary. Something in thenature of international law was agreed upon ;offenceswere to be atoned by the English wile or the Danishlah-slit (lag-sl?8) according as they were committedby one or the other nationality ;which indicates anintention on both sides to prevent border-raiding frombecoming a casus belli. In spite of this adoption ofChristianity the bishopric of Elmham remained forsome time in abeyance; but a little light is thrownon the conversion of the East Anglian Danes by the

EAST ANGLIA 103dedication of an early church at Norwich to St.Vedast, the Flemish saint whose name was probablyintroduced by Grimbald and his followers in King/Elfred's later years. There was also a church ofSt. Vedast in London, near St. Paul's, and anotherat Tathwell, in Lincolnshire, near Louth, which showsOnthe range of the Flemish missionaries' enterprise.the site of St. Vedast's at Norwich has been foundan interesting monument the shaft of a grave-crosscarved with dragons in the style of Scandinavian art,and dated by Bishop Browne about 920. At Whissonsett(see an article by W. G. Collingwood, in Trans.Norfolk Archaol. Sec., XV.), and at Cringleford, inNorfolk, are remains of other grave-crosses of asomewhat later type, showing influence from Mercia.Trouble arose between Wessex and Northumbria,and East Anglia was drawn into it. In 913 KingEadward built a fort at Hertford on the north of theLea. During May and June he marched upon Maldonin Essex, and built a burg at Witham "a; good partof the people, who were before under the dominion ofthe Danish men, submitted to him." The natives ofwere stillEssex had not been exterminated ; theySaxon, and easily became incorporated into the greatSaxon kingdom but now for;the first time we findScandinavians accepting though for a time only therule of the king of Wessex. Jarl' Thorketil and hisholds, "and almost all the chief men who owed obedienceto Bedford, and also many of those who owedobedience to Northampton," sought him to be theirlord. This was followed by the taking of Bedford

104 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand the fortification of Maldon in 917; after which,Thorketil and his men, troublesome subjects, were encouragedto emigrate, and went to France. Guthorm'skingdom was being carved away from him.Shortly, however, there was a general rising of theEast Anglian Danes. From Huntingdon they marchedto Tempsford not on the Thames, though the namepreserves the saga-form of Temps as the name of thestream here crossed by a ford. At the junction ofthe Ivel and the Ouse they built a fort, similarperhaps to one described by Mr. A. R. Goddard (Sagabookof the Viking Club, iii. pp. 326-336). From thiswe gather that it was not unlike the entrenched campcontaining a mound such as we have seen at Readingand Fulham, but more elaborate in its docks for boatslike the naust, which can be seen at saga-sites in Iceland(see Saga-steads of Iceland^ by Collingwood andStefansson). The only doubt in the identification isthe elaborate nature of the fortress for a temporarypurpose but the j Vikings were certainly skilful inmilitary engineering, and probably requisitioned thelabour from the surrounding farms and villages. Crossingthe water they marched upon Bedford, but weremet and overthrown by the townsfolk. It must beremembered that townsfolk in those days were notshopkeepers, but men on garrison-duty (see Maitland'sDomesday Book and Beyond, p. 189). In recent years,skeletons, lying east and west, with swords and spearheadsof the period, have been turned up in RussellPark, which must have been the battlefield. Thenthey attacked " Winganmere," from which they were

EAST ANGLIA 105repulsed. In the summer the whole army of Eadwardtook the fort at Tempsford, slaying King Guthorm IT.,"Toglea,"and"Mannan" Toli and Mani(Steenstrup,Norm. III., 51); and that autumn Colchester wasbesieged and stormed, with a general massacre of theinhabitants. In despair the last remnant of the Danisharmy, with the help of adventuring Vikings fromabroad, beset Maldon, but were beaten off, and theconquest of East Anglia was achieved. King Eadward,having received the submission of jarl Thorfrith atTowcester, refortified Colchester, and the people ofthe whole kingdom once ruled by Guthorm-^Ethelstanpassed under the rule of Wessex.For a while the government of the country waskept in the king's hands. King^Ethelstan beforehis death (940) created out of East Anglia the firstthe great ealdordoms, appointing to it /Ethelstanof Devonshire, afterwards known as the "half-king."He retired into a monastery in 956, and his provinceofwas at first divided among his four sons ; later, wefind ^Ethelwold ruling East Anglia, succeeded, in 96 2,by his brother ^Ethelwine in whose later ; years hesurvived until 992 an acting governor was needed.1The man was found in Ulfketil, evidently a Daneby birth but English in his sympathies (see pp. 152,In the ealdordom of East Anglia, Essex was notincluded. This county, with perhaps Middlesex,1 Ulfketil's name seems to be preserved in Ilketshall (llketelshalain Domesday}, etc., near the "moated minster" not far fromBungay. Note by the Rev. E. McClure.

IO6SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINBucks., and Oxford, was assigned to ./Elfgar, appointedlater than ^Ethelstan the half-king. His son-in-lawBrihtnoth succeeded him, and fell at Maldon in 991 ;followed by Leofsige, who was banished 1002. Andso the Danish kingdom gradually became a part ofEngland"; leaving, however, many traces of its formerindependence.One of the Suffolk hundreds took its name fromthe howe at which the Danish Thing was held,Thingoe or Tinghowe (Round's Feudal England,p. 98, quoting Gage's Suffolk, p. xii.).Abbot Sampson'ssurvey (about 1185) giyes tne names of thetwelve " leets " into which this hundred was divided,strictly according to the duodecimal system of theScandinavians. Mr. Round compares the word" leet," of which he gives examples from Domesday,with the Danish Icegd, or division of the county formilitary conscription, and we may add the nearerform of the Icelandic leffi, meaning at first a smalllocal assembly, though ultimately the word was usedfor the third and last annual meeting of the Icelandiccommonwealth. Near Buckingham is Tingewick, andin the south of Bedfordshire isTingrith (Tingrye in1250). But East Angliais not divided into trithingsand wapentakes, as were parts which the Danes notonly ruled but settled even :Northamptonshire was notassessed at Domesday by carucates but by hides, likeWessex ; only the hides, Mr. Round finds, were takenin groups of fours, just as the Mercian shilling containedfour pence while ; Cambridgeshireis assessedfor the most part in terms of five hides, on the non-Danish system.

EAST ANGLIA 107At the same time there are plentiful traces ofDanish occupation, even in Cambridgeshire. Theparish names of Toftes and Quoy (Coeia in Domesday= Kvi,= quey or quoy in Orkney and Shetland, afold, used in Kvia and Kvfabekkr in Iceland) ;BurwellNest or Ness, a point of land reaching out into thefens ; Denney, here perhaps representing Dana-ey^ theDanes' island in the fens ;Duxford or Dokesworth,from Toki, a Dane ;" Daneland towards Holgateweye," mentioned temp. Edward III. as in Haslingfield;the Danes' Bottom compare the commonuse of botn in Iceland, in Cumberland and inCleveland for the head of a valley (as opposed to itsordinary English use for the basin of a valley), thesenames are given by Mr. Hailstone in a paper read tothe Viking Club (Saga-book, iv., pp. 108-126). Hementions also that certain lands are noted in Domesdayas paying two ores as toll, showing that theScandinavian money-system still obtained there that;the priest Herolf, a Scandinavian name, was appointedby /Ethel stan head of the monastic house at BigginAbbey ;that under Eadward the Confessor one" Turcus"(Thorgest ?)held land in Reach and Burwellunder Ramsey Abbey ;and that in Ditton Camoys,Westley and Sixmile Bottom a six-hide reckoningprevailed. Later, though these Scandinavian ownersmay have come in with Kniit, we find mentioned inDomesday Anschetil, Thurstan, Tochi, Torchil andTurkell ;in the Inquisitio Eliensis Grim, Omund,Osketil, Oslac and Simund ;and in Feet of Fines', Aki,as holding lands in the county of Cambridge.The Danes of East Anglia, however, seem tohave

Thwaite,108 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcongregated into the towns, in Colchester, Bedford,Huntingdon and Cambridge ;and though the tenwards of Cambridge did not correspond with theScandinavian reckoning by six and twelve, the factthat each of the wards was under a lawman " ' 'pointsto a prevalence of Danish tradition in the eleventhcentury. The great colony of " byes " clusters roundYarmouth, though there are two Wilbys, Colby andRisby inland, and Kirby in Essex. near.Bungay, is a Scandinavian name of Norse type and;place-names ending in -hoe, -well, -wall and(-vellir)-stead may be Danish. The word "staithe," commonalong the east coast, represents the Icelandic sto*& inthe sense of "harbour": and "carr," representingIcel. kjarr, is used for land once covered with copse.On the coast the names in -wich, -haven, and -ness orNaze have a Northern origin but :though these tracesof Danish occupation can be found, especially on theseaboard of the districts, they are by no means sonoticeable as in the rest of the Danelaw, whereViking occupation was of longerendurance.3.THE FIVE BOROUGHS :Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln.When Halfdan's vikings, in 877, overran Merciafor the third time they left the south-western half ofit to Ceolwulf, who had been tributary king of thewhole since 874. Alfred gained this territory in 885

THE FIVE BOROUGHS IOQor 886, and set over it his son-in-law ^Ethelred, whoheld it until 912; after which his widow yEthelflsed,the Lady of the Mercians, ruled it. At her death, in919, King Eadward took the province into his ownhands.The north-eastern part of Mercia was divided in877 among such of Halfdan's veterans as had notreceived land in Northumbria the year before. Thisdistrict, though at first under Halfdan's influence, wasnot previously, and later on ceased to be, a part ofthe Northumbrian realm. After the treaty betweenAlfred and Guthorm-/Ethelstan, its southernmost partwas north of Stony Stratford, where the East Anglianand Saxon boundaries met on Watling Street. In itswidest extent it must have included the present countiesof Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Rutland andLincoln, with the greater part of Northamptonshireand parts of Stafford and Cheshire.But as Mr. Round has shown, not even all thisthe Danesdistrict was in the full sense settled by(Feudal England^ p. 69). Their land-measurement,by carucates, applies in Domesday to Nottingham,Leicester, Derby, Rutland and Lincoln, but not tothe rest of the territory: there is even a differencebetween Leicestershire and the more thoroughlyDanish districts, for its lands are not reckoned inhundreds of twelve carucates, although Leicester itselfwas a thoroughly Danish town. On the other hand,part of Warwickshire had some Danish colonies, suchas Rugby, which is south-west of Watling Street. In aword, the Danes did not care to spread themselves

110 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINtoo loosely over a hostile country : they groupedthemselves round the great strongholds which formedthe bases of their organisation.These great strongholds were the Five Burgs or:Boroughs Lincoln, once a Roman colony at thejunction of the Fosse Way with Ermine Street Stam-^;ford, where Ermine Street crossed the Welland ;Leicester,where the Fosse Way crossed the Soar ; Derby,where Ryknield Street crossed the Derwent ;andNottingham, where another old route going north andsouth crossed the Trent. Of these, Derby was practicallya Danish creation as ; Northweorthig,it had beenonly a small Anglian village now it; grew to importanceas Deoraby. Lindsey and Leicester had beenbishops' sees that of Leicester was removed to Dor-;chester, and that of Lindsey disappearedfor overeighty years.Each of the five boroughs seems to have beenS under a jarl of its own, with its own military organisation.Internal affairs, in the case of Stamford andLincoln, were managed by twelve "lawmen," andprobably the same arrangement was followed in theother towns. When Chester grew to some importancethrough trade with Ireland, it also had its " lawmen,"and the Lagmen of the Islands are mentioned in thetenth century as leaders of invasion in Ireland the;chief justice of Orkney was called " lagman." The.title seems to have meant much the same as the" Law-speaker" of the Icelandic Althing, that is tosay, chief of a court, who knew the law and stated it ;the existence of twelve such men seem to imply twelve

THE FIVE BOROUGHS IIIwards in each town of which the lagraen were thepresidents.Another characteristic of the Danish districts is theuse of the "long hundred," 120 for 100. The housesin the town and the acres in the county of Lincolnare so reckoned in and the survival of thisDomesday',notation to modern times is seen even in Whitaker'sAlmanac, which tells us that in the timber trade 120deals =100, and that on the East coast fish are stillcounted by the long hundred (in this case =132)." Six score to the hundred" is still familiar to LakeDistrict gardeners and wood-mongers. Twelve carucatesmade a territorial hundred, and twelve marks amonetary hundred, in the Danish part of England,just as the word kundrc?& in old Icelandic alwaysmeant 120 for ; example, when the saga says that thebodyguard of King Olaf numbered a "hundred" men.sixty hiiskarls and sixty " guests."In Leicestershire, which was less completely Danishthan Lincolnshire, the land was not reckoned inhundreds of twelve carucates, thoughit was acarucated district : the hide of Leicestershire was asum of eighteen carucates (Round, Feudal England,p. 82), This is borne out by the ancient place-namesas seen in the Leicestershire Survey (1124-1129), inwhich the proportion of obviously Scandinavian originis not very great; out of 174 entries there are 38"byes," and a few such as Thormodeston, Thurketleston,Grimeston, Ravenston and Normanton,betraying the name of a Danish settler, with Tungaand Houwes, making a little more than a quarter

112 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINof the whole. In Lincolnshire, on the other hand,though " even in this country, taken as a whole,it would be difficult to say whether the names ofNorse or English origin predominate," yet "let theeye run over a map from Theddlethorpe, on thecoast, through Withern, Ruckland, Scamblesby, Thimbleby,Coningsby, Revesby, Firsby, to Skegness, andit will be found that names, other than Danish, inthis large area may be almost counted on the fingers "(Lincolnshire and the Danes, bythe Rev. G. S.Streatfeild, pp. 10, 16). Mr. Streatfeild notes thatthe map shows three main streams of Danish immigrationone from Burton Stather ; up the valley ofthe Trent and towards Lincoln and Caistor ;anotherfrom Grimsby and a third from Skegness spreadinginland, but leaving some spaces between these groupsto the old Anglian inhabitants, and generally avoidingthe Fen district, though there was a colony betweenBoston and the coast, and west of the fens SouthKesteven is filled with " byes " suburban to Stamford." Nowhere near Boston is there a by or a thorpe(unless we except Fenthorpe). If we may ventureupon an inference from this peculiarity, it is that theNorthmen who settled at Brothertoft, Pinchbeck,Wigtoft (Wiketoft, once on the coast), and other partsof the fen, did so at a later period." The settlementat first was not a clearance of the English in many:cases it was merely a change of owners but; graduallythe Danes increased in numbers, either from thenatural growth of population, or from additional immigrations,or both, and new land was taken up.

THE FIVE BOROUGHS 113Hence we find, around such pre-Viking names asAlford, Horncastle, Partney, Tetford, Belchford andDonington in the south wolds, and Frodingham, Bottesford,Caistor, Glanford Brigg, Binbrook and Ludfordin the north, groups of Danish place-names, chiefly"byes," showing that individuals took up land on thewolds, till then uncultivated. "Thorpes," indicatingvillages as opposed to "byes" or isolated farmsteads,and either Scandinavian or Anglian in originare found more plentifully on the lower and richerpastures, where the earlier settlers had their estateswhich were worked by the natives. Though theDanes certainly owned thralls, it is not a littleremarkable that in later years the proportion of free-slaves was much greater in the Danelaw thanmen toin the rest of England, and greatest of all in the mostDanish districts and in the manors of Danish origin.Professor Maitland (Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 22)noted that at the time of Domesday the numberof servi was at its maximum in Cornwall andGloucestershire, very low in Norfolk, Suffolk, Derby,Leicester, Middlesex and Sussex, but nil in Yorkshireand Lincolnshire. The number of sokemen (orcomparatively free men, owing certain dues to theHundred courts or to a lord, but otherwise mastersof their own land, somewhat like the customarytenants of Cumberland) was greater in Norfolk andSuffolk than in Essex, while in Lincolnshire theyformed nearly half the rural population. In Williamthe Conqueror'stime there were in Lincolnshire11,503 sokemen, 7,723 villans, and 4,024 bordars ;inH

114 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINYorkshire only 447 sokemen against 5,079 villans and1,819 bordars, but this was after the ravaging ofYorkshire when the free population either perished orwas brought into an inferior position, while Lincolnshireescaped with less damage, and showed the oldstate of society as in King Eadward's days. AtDomesdaytime there were few sokemen left inCambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Herts, and Bucks.,but they were thick in Leicestershire, Notts, andNorthamptonshire. K. Rhamm, quoted by Prof.Vinogradoff (Eng. Hist. Rev., xxi., p. 357), seemsin a recent work to regard sokemen as a Danishalternative for villans, and developed out of leysingsor freedmen. As they existed also in Kent, theymust not be supposed a specially Scandinavianinstitution, but they were more plentiful, not only inDanish as compared with English districts, but inDanish as compared with English manors. InLincolnshire, counting the sokemen, villans andbordars of the Survey,it is found that in the manorswith distinctively English names the sokemennumbered two-fifths of the population, while inmanors with names suggesting Danish origin theyformed three-fifths (Boyle, Hull Literary Club, 1895).We may perhaps say that in the Danelaw theyrepresent the original freeholders of the settlement,who even as odal proprietors owed at least obedienceto the local Thing, from which the transition to theirplace in Anglo-Saxon England was easy. It was inthe districts not forcibly conquered by King Eadwardthe Elder that the free settlers remained and flourished,

THE FIVE BOROUGHS 11$and their tendency, whether from racial instinct orfrom the influence of Christianity newly adopted, wastoward personal liberty, the independence of peasantproprietors and of travelling traders.Of trade with Scandinavia in this earlier part of thetenth century we can only infer from the sagas that itwas possible.In Egil's saga we find Th6r61f Kveldillfsson(d. about 877) sending a ship from Norwaywith dried fish, tallow, hides and furs to England,where " they found a good market, loaded the shipwith wheat, honey, wine and cloth, and sailed back inthe autumn to Hordaland." But the trade of Bjornthe Chapman, Harald Fairhair's son, from Tunsbergin South Norway to Denmark and Germany, did notseem to reach England directly few; English coins ofthe earlier part of the tenth century have been foundin Norway and Sweden, fewer still in Denmark.Commerce from the Danelaw at this time must havebegun with Flanders and Frisia, and gradually extendedits range. Torksey seems to have taken thelead as a mercantile centre ; Nottingham followed,and in less than a century had a merchant-gild.The increasing wealth and comfort of life, as well asthe adoption of Christianity, is shown by the monuments.In Lincolnshire, at Crowle, Bassingham andEdenham, there are fragments of stone carving whichmay be assigned to the tenth century in ; Northamptonshire,at Hears Ashby in Staffordshire at ;Checkley,Leek (the cross-bearer), Alstonefield (the warriorshaft), and Rolleston in ; Derbyshire, at Norbury andHope, and at St. Alkmund's, Derby, where the dragon-

Il6SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINdesignis as Scandinavian as that of St. Vedast's atNorwich. These examples, to which more might beadded, shows how the settlers began to assimilatethemselves to the culture they found in :Englandand as art goes hand-in-hand with manufacture andtrade, we may assume that the life of the settlers wasnot all fighting and farming, when they came throughthe initial period of trouble which we have now toreview.the ruins of the Roman station hadChester, thoughbeen seized and held by Hastein, was a place of noTheimportance at the beginning of the tenth century.Irish trade had not arisen ;White and Black Gaillwere still disputing Dublin, and the Danes of Merciadid not see, as ealdorman yEthelred did, the value ofthe position. In 907 or 908 he repaired the fortificationsand created the town, perhaps at that timeintroducing the priory of St. Werburgh, a Merciandedication. This was the first step toward the greatwork he undertook of strengthening English MerciaAgainst further encroachment, and of capturing theland of the Five Boroughs.The forward policy of Mercia developed into war.There was fighting on both sides of Watling Street.The Saxons raided over the border for five weeks;the Danes fought them at Tettenhall near Wolverhampton,and were beaten. Eadward went south tofit out a fleet against the east coast, and the Danesraided the Severn Valley, returning by way of Quatfordnear Bridgnorth, where Hastein's men had wintered,and at Wednesfield another great victory was won by

THE FIVE BOROUGHS I I 7the Saxons ;in which two kings, two jarls and otherleading men were slain. When ealdorman ^thelreddied, his widow ^Ethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians,continued his policy of building forts to protect English\5 Mercia,and the war against East Anglia naturally]the Five Boroughs more and more into conflict \:drew with the growing Anglo-Saxon power.On St.John the Baptist's day of 918 (Florence ofWorcester), the Northampton and Leicester Danesattacked the fort at Towcester, and, failing to stormit, raided Buckinghamshire. But when Colchesterwas taken and the kingdom of East Anglia cameto an end, the resistance of the Five Boroughsweakened. Early in 919 Leicester made voluntarysubmission to the Lady of the Mercians, and evenYork offered adherence to her. In April King Eadwardmarched to Stamford, built a fort on the south bankof the Welland, and received the submission of theneighbourhood. Thence he went to Nottingham,which had been captured by his troops ;he repairedthe fortifications "and stationed both English andDanes therein."This is the beginning of a new policy. The king otWessex became actual and personal lord of a mixedpopulation of Angles and Danes. It was no longer aquestion of mutual slaughter, but of a modus vivendi ;the Danes were already there, and after thirty years'possession they had taken root in the soil. But asthe earlier part of this war had been a war of extermination,driving the Danes from the southern counties,the change in attitude is noteworthy. The southern

Il8SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcounties were Saxon, and must be cleared of theintruders ;in these Anglian districts all were aliens toWessex, and there was no question of driving out theDanes if they would live peaceably and own Eadward'srule.He was now master of four out of the FiveBoroughs. His sister, the Lady of the Mercians, wasdead, and he took her province into his own hands,carrying out her work. In 920 he built a fort at"Manchester in Northumbria," and in 921 anotherat Bakewell in Derbyshire, where (asthe WinchesterChronicle asserts) he received the adhesion of allthe rulers of the north, except those of the Orkneysand Hebrides. It is not stated that they appearedbefore him in person and gave their kingdoms into hishands; "they chose him for father and for lord."It was before the days of feudalism, though this wastwisted by mediaeval lawyers into the performance offeudal homagewith all it involved. The northernstates saw that he was the dominant power, graduallyadvancing toward them, and they hastened to forestall. his attack and to court his assistance. With Ragnvaldof York and "all those who dwelt in Northumbria,as well English as Danes and Northmen and others,"the jarl of Lincoln must have come in or sent hisenvoys, if he had not done so earlier. There is noword of fighting in Lincolnshire, but the independenceof the Five Boroughs was now,a thing of the past.

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 1194. THE KINGDOM OF YORK.Ivar and Halfdan captured York on November i,867, and next year set out for further conquests in thesouth, leaving the kingdom of Northumbria that isto say Deira, or the part of Northumbria south of Tyneunder an Englishman, Ecgberht. The Libelhts deRebus SaxonidS) an early authority, gives him a reignof five years, succeeded by Richsi for two years,and names Ecgberht as king for two years more.Symeon of Durham makes Ricsig king in 877(Letter on the Archbishops of York) Mr.; J.R. Greenidentifies him with Bagsecg; others regard him asa native tributary king of Bernicia. It was notuntil 875 that Halfdan returned from the campaignagainst yElfred, and next year dealt out the lands ofNorthumbria to his followers.The southern limit of Northumbria was much thesame as that of modern Yorkshire and Lancashire ;we have seen that it included Manchester. Thenorthern limit was still the Tyne, beyond which,though Halfdan penetrated in 876, he did not personallyrule, for the government was left in the hands ofEcgberht, probably the Englishman who had ruledNorthumbria as tributary king, and now founded thelong line of ealdormen or high-reeves of Bernicia withhead-quarters at Bamborough. The Danes did notsettle in Bernicia ;even in county Durham their placenamesare comparatively rare, although this is noabsolute test of their presence or absence. Where

120 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe land was already filled with population, and not socompletely ravaged as to need fresh colonisation, thenew owners simply carried on the " going concern "under the old name : in many parts, however, we findgroups of Scandinavian place-names so close and thickthat we must assume either depopulation by war orthe nearly complete absence of previous population.There is no reason to suppose that the earlier Vikingsdepopulated the country they ravaged ; they came forspoil,and the slaughter was an incident. CanonAtkinson has shown, by his analysis of the area inCleveland under cultivation atDomesday time, thatvery little of the countryside in that district was otherthan forest or moor even at the end of the eleventhcentury, and that most of the villages then existinghad Scandinavian names. His conclusion is thatCleveland was a wilderness, firstpenetrated (sincethe Danes andprehistoric and Roman days) byNorse, except for a few clearings such as Crathorne,Stokesley, Stainton and Easington, besides the oldmonastery at Whitby.This conclusion receives curious support from ananalysis of the sculptured stones now to be seen atold churchyard sites in Cleveland. It is only atYarm, Crathorne, Stainton, Easington, and Whitbythat we find monuments of the pre-Viking age, andthese are products of the latest Anglian period ;atOsmotherley, Ingleby Arncliffe, Welbury, Kirklevington,Thornaby, Ormesby, Skelton, Great Ayton,Kirkdale and Kirkby-in-Cleveland are tombstones ofthe tenth and eleventh centuries. It is obvious that

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 121the Angles were only beginning to penetrate Clevelandwhen the Vikings invaded and carried on the workof land-settlement much further. Subsequently, weshall see (p. 178) further extension was made by Norsefrom the west coast, as place-names show; but theplace-names alone are far from trustworthy as indicationsof settlement. An analysis of the monumentsshows that in many cases pre-Viking art-workexists at places with Scandinavian names (e.g. KirkbyMoorside, Kirkby Misperton, Kirkdale), while in othercases only Viking Age crosses are found at placeswith names presumably Anglian (e.g. Ellerburn,Levisham, Sinnington, Nunnington). The inferenceis that, in the east of Yorkshire especially, someAnglian sites were depopulated and refounded withDanish names, while others had no importance inAnglian times, but soon became flourishing sites underthe Danes. In the west of Yorkshire the great daleswere already tenanted by the Angles, but the moorsbetween them, and the sites high up the valleys, werenot sites of churches until the Danish period (seefurther in " Anglian and Anglo-Danish Sculpture inthe North Riding," by W. G. Collingwood, Yorks.Arch. Journ., 1907).Yorkshire at Domesday was carucated, and dividedinto Ridings (trithings) and Wapentakes. Thingwallnear Whitby (Canon Atkinson, site lost), Thinghow, nearGuisborough (now lost), and Thinghou, now FinneyHill, near Northallerton (Mr. William Brown, F.S.A.),Tingley near Wakefield, Thingwall near Liverpool,Thingwall in Wirral, may have been Thingsteads.It

122 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINhas been suggested by the Rev. E. Maule Cole thatWetwang in the East Riding was once a "place ofsummons " for some crime committed there, preservingthe Icelandic word vatt-vangr. Sites named " Lund "possibly indicate sacred :groves there are such inHolderness, near Beverley, near Selby, in Amounderness,in Furness, between Dent and Sedbergh, andnear Appleby in Westmorland here, perhaps, early:settlers, like Th6rir at Lund in Iceland, " worshippedthe grove" (Landndma, iii. 17). But the namesin -ergh and -ark, by writers of the past generationsupposed to mean horgr, "a shrine," are simply dairyfarmserg, i.e. setr, as Orkn. Saga explains, and asDr. Colley March has shown conclusively.North Lancashire was part of Craven, and carucated.South Lancashire in Domesday had six hundreds, andboth carucates and hides are mentioned. ProfessorMaitland thought (Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 470)that the hides were recent. But Lancashire in Halfdan'sday was merely an unimportant part of Deira ;its broad mosslands were not taken up until thecoming of the Norse in 900 (p. 191). Cumberland andWestmorland also were little colonised by the Danes ;a few relics show immigration at this early age by theStainmoor route, but the Danes at first do not seemto have ventured to settle far from their town centres,and the wilder scenery and rougher Celtic populationof the west had no attractions for them. Symeon ofDurham (sub anno 1092) notes that the city of Carlislehad remained uninhabited for 200 years after itsdestruction by the Danes, until William Rufus re-

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 123founded it. Halfdan's colony was mainly confined toYorkshire.One interesting episode of the period tends to confirmthis conclusion. On Halfdan's raid into Bernicia(875) Eardwulf, abbot of Lindisfarne, fled before thestorm, carrying with him the relics of St. Cuthbert,and wandered from refuge to refuge for nine years ;was muchso Symeon says, though probably the periodshorter. His journeyings throw some light on thestate of the country at the time, and they can bepartly traced from the traditions given by Symeon andReginald of Durham, and from early dedications ofchurches near which there is some presumption thatthe relics rested in their wandering. The guide ofthe party was abbot Eadred " Lulisc," of Caer-Luel orCarlisle, whose monastery must have been destroyedabout the same time. The earlier part of theroute has been traced by Monsignor Eyre, and thelater by the late Rev. T. Lees, from ancient dedicationsto St. Cuthbert, which, taken for what they areworth, suggest that the fugitives went at first inland toElsdon, then by the Reed and Tyne to HayclonBridge and up the South Tyne Valley, south by theMaiden Way, and so through the fells, by Lorton andEmbleton, to the Cumberland coast. At DerwentMouth (Workington) they determined to embark forIreland, but were driven back by a storm and thrownupon the coast of Galloway, where they found a refugeat Whithorn, which (see further on p. 225) may havealready been occupied by the Viking colony of Gallgael.In this storm the MS. Gospels of bishop Eadfrith

124 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN(now in the British Museum) was washed overboard,but recovered. At Whithorn the bishop heard newsof Halfdan's death, and turned homewards by way ofKirkcudbright. Now the fact that the relics of St.Cuthbert found refuge in Cumberland and Gallowayshows that the Danish invasion from which they weresaved took very little hold of these parts. The Vikingsof the Irish Sea were already, if not Christianised, atleast under the influence of Christians, and not hostileto the fugitive monks, while the natives welcomedthem.The date and circumstances of Halfdan's death arenot easily set down. The Libellus above quoted doesnot place him on the list of Northumbrian kings. TheAnnals of Ulster mention under 876, recte 877," Alband," king of the Dubhgaill, killed in a battle onStrangford Lough with the Finngaill. The tenthcenturyHistory of St. Cuthbert, which calls htm andhis brother Scaldingi, Skjoldungs, says that in the endhe became mad and unpopular with his army, whichexpelled him ; Symeon of Durham adds that he fledwith three ships from the Tyne, and shortly perished.These authors then tell the curious story of theelection of Guthred, his successor. Eadred,abbot ofCarlisle, who was with St. Cuthbert's relics at Craikin central Yorkshire on the way home, dreamt thatSt. Cuthbert told him to go to the Danish army onthe Tyne, and to ransom from slavery a boy namedGuthred, son of Hardecnut (John of Wallingford saysthat "the sons of Hardecnut had sold him intoslavery and "), present him to the army as their king.

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 125He was also to ask the army to give him the landbetween Tyne and Wear, as a gift to St. Cuthbert anda sanctuary for criminals. Confident in his mission,he carried out its directions, found the boy, ransomedhim, gained the army's consent and the gift of theland, and proclaimed Guthred king at" Oswigedune."Eardwulf then brought to the same place the relicsof St.Cuthbert, on which every one swore good faithand "lived happily ever after." The relics remaineduntil999 at Chester-le-Street, and there Eardwulf reestablishedthe bishopric.The date of Guthred's election is given by Symeonas 883, but if he reigned (as the Libellus says) forfourteen years, it must have occurred a little earlier ;in fact in 880, not long after the death of Halfdan, ifhe were the king slain at Strangford Lough. Thoughthere is so much legend attached to Guthred's name,his subsequent history shows that he was a peacefuland Christian king, curiously illustrating the rapiditywith which Viking colonists, if not treated as enemies,became "acclimatised." Until nearly the end of hisreign he never came into collision with Wessex : heswore peace with /Elfred at the coming of Hastein ;and ^Kthelnoth, ealdorman of Somerset, is said byy^Ethelwerd to have made York the base of his operationsagainst Hastein. This new attitude of theDanish colonyis shown by the statement that Sigeferth(Sigfrith jarl from Dublin ?)landed twice, andravaged the Northumbrian coast, after the taking ofBenfleet during Hastein's invasion :Vikings turnedbourgeoiswere fairgame.

126 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINGuthred's kingdom was indeed to some extentChristian. The bishopric of Lindisfarne, threatneedat first, was even brought nearer to the Danish colonyby the transference of the see to Chester-le-Street the:archbishopric of York survived the upheaval, andWulfhere, its archbishop, died, in 892, having escapedthe invasion in his retreat at Addingham in Wharfedale(Symeon). Guthred, dying on St. Bartholomew's day,Aug. 24, 894, was buried in the high church at York.During four years there was, ^Ethelwerd notes,great discord, "because of the foul bands of Daneswho still remained throughout Northumberland " :meaning that there was an unsettled state of affairs.The bishopric at Chester-le-Street continued, Eardwulfbeing succeeded, in 899 or 900, by Cutheard ;but itwas not until 900 or 901 that ^Ethelbald was consecratedarchbishop of York. In 901 ^Ethelwald thepretender, who was killed (p. 101) together withKing J6rik of East Anglia, went to Northumbria toseek help which should put him on the throne ofWessex. He was elected king of York, and soNorthumbria received another Christian ruler, oneof the West Saxon royalfamily, though hostile to thereigning king of Wessex. At his death, in 905, theNorthumbrians made peace with King Eadward : andwe have no further notices of their choice of a ruleruntil 911, when we find Ecwils (or Eowils, J6gisl?)and Halfdan as joint kings, or kings of a dividedrealm. Florence of Worcester, after naming them,injudiciously interpolates "brothers of king Hinguar " :but as Halfdan the brother of Ivar had been fighting

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 127at the head of the army which came to England in866 and had disappeared since 876, this must havebeen a second king Halfdan.These kings were drawn into the war betweenEadward and East Anglia ; they invaded Mercia, andfell at Wednesfield near Wolverhampton with the jarlsOttar and Scrufa (Skriif-harr, "curly haired"?), theholds Othulf, Benesing, Thurferth, Guthferth andAgmund, Osferth the "collector" (or the Little; Steenstrup,Norm. III., 35), Anlaf the Black and Guthferth.In 919 York submitted to the Lady of the Mercians,and for the moment it seemed that the independenceof the Danish kingdom was at an end. But in Mayshe died, and soon afterwards " Inguald " (accordingto Symeon) took York, meaning Ragnvald, Reignold,Ronald, Ranald, Reginald according to the variousadaptations of his name one of the most romanticfigures of Viking story. Ragnvald mac Bicloch of thefamily of Ivar had ravaged Dunblane in 912, slainBard Ottarsson off the Isle of Man in 914, and in 915joined the Vikings at Waterford with his brother orcousin Sigtrygg Gale O'lvar, who became king ofDublin in 916. Then joining jarl Ottar, who hadbeen concerned in the unfortunate attack on SouthWales and Herefordshire in 915, and had been nearlystarved to death on Flatholme or Steepholme in theBristol Channel, Ragnvald set out for adventure inNorth Britain. He probably landed in Cumberland,crossed country by theRoman Wall, and fought thebattle of which we have soon to hear. In 919Ragnvald became king ofYork, the first of the series

128 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINof Irish Viking rulers who were not finally expelleduntil 954.Bernicia, equivalent to the modern county of Northumberlandwith the Lothians, a purely English territoryfrom the Tyne to the Forth, was then under the ruleof Ealdred and his brother Uhtred, sons of Eadulf,lord of Bamborough and ealdorman of Bernicia, KingAlfred's friend, who died in 912. He was the son ofEcgberht, who had been the tributary king of Northumbriaunder Halfdan, and in 875 had apparentlybeen deputed to govern the northern part of the realmin which Halfdan's Danes never settled. The brothersEaldred and Uhtred, Eadulf's sons, kept up theirfriendly relations with Eadward of Wessex, and appearamong those who chose him for father and lord in 921,though in this sudden invasion of the Irish vikings thefriendship of Wessex was of no avail.There are two curious stories given side by side inthe tenth-century History of St. Cuthbert, which, takentogether with the Ulster Annals and the PictishChronicle, throw some little light on the times. Thefirst story is that Elfred, son of Birihtulfing (of thefamily of Brihtwulf), fleeing from pirates,came over thewestern hills (i.e. from Cumberland, now being settledby the Norse) and bishop Cutheard gave him certainvills, which can be recognised as the eastern part ofcounty Durham. At last Ragnvald came to the land ofAldred Eadulfs son, who got help from Constantine ofScotland, and fought Ragnvald at Corbridge, but wasdefeated. Elfred was slain, but Aldred and his brotherUhtred escaped. The other story is that Edred, son

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 129of Rixinc (Richsi-ing, descendant of Richsi or Ricsig),rode west over the hills (to Cumberland), and therekilled the prince Eardulf and carried off his wife.Hetook sanctuary with Cutheard, who gave him the easternpart of county Durham, bounded by Deor street (theRoman road), and also the land of Gainford-on-Tees,which he held three years, until Ragnvald slew himat the battle of Corbridge, and gave the land to Esbrid,son of Edred, and his brother Eltan the jarl, for theirservices in the battle. In these stories we have hintsof affairs and persons in Cumberland, not withoutvalue considering the darkness of the period; andwe are assured of the persistence of St. Cuthbert'sa sanctuary, in spitepatrimony in county Durham asof all the attacks of the Vikings. This is enforced bythe legend of Olaf Ball the (ballr, stubborn) to whomRagnvald had given the land from Castle Eden to theWear, a pagan who refused rent and service to St.Cuthbert. Coming in one day to the church atChester-le-Street, he shouted to bishop Cutheard andhiscongregation, " What can your dead man, Cuthbert,do to me ? What is the use of threatening mewith his anger? I swear, by my strong gods Thorand Othan, that I willbe the enemy of youall fromthis time forth." And when he tried to leave thechurch he could not lift his foot over the threshold,but fell down dead, "and St. Cuthbert, as was just, gothis lands."Now the Ulster Annals, under 918, describe abattle in which King Ragnvald with Gotfrith O'lvafand the jarls Ottar and " Gragabai " met the men of

130 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINAlban and the northern Saxons, and fought a battlein which the Scots were victorious at first but wererouted by Ragrivald's ambush ;the same tactics hehad used just before to decide a battle in Ireland.The Pictish Chronicle tells that Constantine in hiseighteenth year (918) fought Ragnvaldat Tinemore(Tynemoor, near Corbridge) and the Scots werevictorious. The fact remains that next year Ragnvaldtook York.Ragnvald OTvar, king of White and Black Gaillof his own Norse and the Danes of Northumbriadied in 921 (Annals of Ulster). If 921 is the yearof the submission of the North at Bakewell, thein itchronological difficulty about Ragnvald's partvanishes. In the same year Guthfrith O'lvar tookDublin, driving out Sigtrygg Gale OTvar, whothereupon took Ragnvald's place at York. In 925he went to Tamworth on a visit, was baptised, andmarried yEthelstan's sister.^Ethelstan was now pushing his influence stillfarther north than his father Eadward had reached.In 926 he met Constantine, king of Scots, Owain, kingof Cumbria (the land from Derwentwater to Dumbarton)and Ealdred of Bamborough at Dacor, probablyDacre in Cumberland on the borders of territory inthe Strathclyde and Scottish power. It may be thata young son of the Scottish king was baptised on theoccasion ;the tie of " compaternity " with ^Ethelstanwas worth obtaining. Itmay also be that the northernkings promised to renounce if not" idolatry" their alliance with heathens. Constantine's

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 131kingdom was a small one, the eastern part of Scot- /land from the Forth to the Moray Firth, and he 'was hard pressed on all sides by the Vikings ofOrkney, the Hebrides, Galloway, and Northumbria.It was an error on the part of thirteenth-centurylawyers to construe this into feudal homage and the;Saxon chroniclers no doubt overstated the significanceof the meeting. But it showed that yEthelstan wassoon to be master of England, though the Cumbrian andScottish kings could not keep their pledges of alliance.Sigtrygg O'lvar," king of Black and White Gaill,"died in 927 (Ulster Annals rectified). By a formerwife he left sons, Guthfrith, Harald and Olaf Cuaran ;"Sithfrey and Oisley " (Sigfrith and Haisl) are alsomentioned as Sigtrygg's sons, killed at Brunanburh.Guthfrith, trying to succeed his father at York, wasexpelled by ^Ethelstan, and took refuge with theScots ;so did Olaf, who became son-in-law to KingConstantine. The countenance given to the Vikingchiefs was regarded by ^Ethelstan as a casus belli. In934 he led his army into Strathclyde, put to flightOwain of Cumbria and marched through Constantine'scountry to " Wertermor and Dunfoeder "(identified by Skene with Kirriemuir and Dunnotar,near Stonehaven), while his fleet ravaged the coast asfar as the Norse settlement of Caithness.Brunanburh (937) was the "return match." Suchan invasion called for revenge, and Constantineorganised revenge on a grand scale. Three chiefpowers joined their arms the Scots, the Cumbrians,and the Vikings of the West. The Orkney and

132 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINNorthumberland states do not appear tohave sharedin the confederacy, though ^thelstan, ten yearsbefore, had expelled Ealdred from Bamborough, butapparently reinstated him. The if expedition, thisbattle were fought on the north-east coast of England,would have passed the Orkneys, and met with eitherhelp or hindrance; and the land forces of Scots andCumbrians for they surely would not embark anddisembark when the roads which /Ethelred had usedwould serve them as well must have marched south,'either by the east coast or. the west: if the former,they would have met with resistance or adherence inBernicia and at York, but of all this we hear nothing.If, however, they came by Cumbria and along theMaiden Way, they could penetrate far south withouttouching the more populous and settled districtsunder English rule. The fleet, numbering 615 ships,an enormous number to pilot on a long voyage, camefrom the Hebrides, Dublin, Limerick and Waterford,that is to say from all the Viking ports in the west.This we gather from the Annals of Clonmacnois, whichmention Geleachan, king of the Islands (Sudreyjar) ;Moylemurry, son of Cossewarra (or Cossa-uara), namedas a chief at Waterford in 916; Arick mac Brith,/. e,Harek Bard's son, connected 'with Limerick by hisbrother Colla, lord of that town in 924, and withIrish royalties by another brother who married thedaughter of Domhnall, son of King Aedh Finnliath.The object of this expedition was to strike at ^Ethelstans he had struck at Scotland. The natural meetingpointof all these various confederates was somewhere

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 133about the Mersey or the Dee. It is true that Florenceof Worcester names the Hurnber as the estuaryentered by the fleet, but it ishardly conceivable that615 ships should have been taken all round byPentland Firth or Land's End when any of theestuaries on the west coast would serve as a port,and a landing in any one of them would further theobjects of the expedition better than the desolation ofthe Danelaw. After Vinheidi (perhaps Brunanburh, asdescribed in Egil's Saga), one Alfgeir rode in flightnight and day to " Jarlsnes," the Earl's Ness, mentionedalso in Orkncyinga Saga (chap. 72) as in Bretland(Wales), for which Mr. A. G. Moffat suggests a sitenear Swansea. This, so far as it has any weight, addsto the probability of the western site for Brunanburh.The various names of the battle-fields are :Brunandune (/Ethelwerd) ;Brunanburh (Chronicle) ;Wendune or Weondune quod alio nomine at Brunnanwere(-were) vel Brunnanbyrig appellatur (Symeon) ;Bruneford, or Brunefeld (William of Malmesbury) ;JE>runengafeId\n the British Museum facsimile Charter;Brumanburgh (R. de Hoveden) ; Brunanburgh approachedfrom the Humber (Florence of Worcester) ;Bruneswerce (Gaimar) ; Brunford in Northumbria(pseudo-Ingulf)the ; plains of Othlyn (Ann. Clonmacnois);Brune (Ann. Camb.); Dunbrunde perhapsmeans this site (Pictish Chronicle) and Vinketf&i vr;Vinuskbga is the name in Egil's Saga of the battlewhich corresponds in Icelandic tradition to Brunanburhin the English story. Egil's Saga also describes thebattlefield as a heath between a river and a wood,

134 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwith a borg to the north and one on the south of theplain a; description which, ifany confidence could beplaced in it,would help in the identification. Lelandlocated the scene at Brunedown, between Colyton andAxminster, Devon; and the Rev. C. W. Whistler(Saga-book of the Viking Club, iii., p. 324) relates thetradition of St. Catherine's chapel on Milton Hill,Dorset, where, before the battle, ^Ethelstan is said tohave had his vision of victory. Old historians placedthe site atBrumby, near Doncaster : Skene found itat Aldborough, the Roman Isurium, in Yorkshire,equating Othlyn' with Getling. The Rev. AlfredHunt (British Association, 1904) contends for Burnhamin North Lincolnshire ;Sir J. Ramsay (Foundationsof England, p. 285) for Bourne (Brunne) in thesouth of Lincolnshire. Bromborough on the Mersey,opposite Liverpool, has been suggested by Dr. A. C.Gibson; but the ancient name (Mr. W. F. Irvine, Trans.Hist. Soc. Lane, and Chesh., 1893) was Brun-brae. Dr.T. Hodgkin (Hist. Eng., 1906) favours Burnswark.Bromfield, Cumberland, which in the twelfth centurywas Brunefeld, thus, as Rev. E. McClure points out,preserving the name given by W. of Malmesbury, andalso the Bruningafeld of the almost contemporaryCharter, offers a possible site : but until the matter issettled by archaeological discovery we can but leave it,with Freeman, Stubbs and Green, unsolved.As to the persons engaged, the Annals of Clonmacnoishave much to say. The leader of the Irishvikingswas certainly Olaf Guthfrithsson, at that timeking of Dublin, "the Red Olaf, king of Scots," of

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 135Egil's Saga, for Ireland was still the home of theScots. Olaf Cuaran Sigtryggssonis not mentionedunder that name, though " Awley Fivit" = (Fivil?Fifl= the Fool), numbered among the slain, may possiblystand for Olaf Cuaran, the prototype of Hamlet, andson of Sigtrygg Gale (the Crazy). It isnoteworthythat one of the six Christian landndmsmenn of Icelandwas " Ketil the Fool," so called, the Sagaof OlafTryggvason " says, because he was a good Christian " ;and the "folly" or "lunacy" of Sigtrygg and Olaf,who were sane enough to win kingdoms, may havebeen merely the heathen way of stating their conversion.Another leader was Ivar, the King of"Denmark'sown son," perhaps the same with Ivar, "tanistof the Gaill," heir to the kingdom of Dublin, killed in950. The son of Constantine, we learn, was namedCeallach. In a word, all the Vikings of Ireland andthe Hebrides, together with the kingdoms of Scotsand Cumbrians, attacked yfithelstan and were repulsed.It was not, however, a racial victory of Saxons orEnglish over Scandinavians and Celts the assistance;of Viking mercenaries is hinted in Egil's Saga and corroboratedby the story of Olaf Cuaran's adventure asa spy, told by William of Malmesbury, in which oneof ^Ethelstan's staff recognised in the strange minstrelhis former captain, but did not betray him. TheDanelaw, too, was on ^Ethelstan's side; there is atleast no indication that Northumbria and the FiveBoroughs revolted before Brunanburh, or were punishedafterwards ;and until his death there was peacethroughout the north.

136 SCANPINAVIAN BRITAINNot only peace, but, according to William of Malmesbury,friendly relations with Scandinavia : " Harald,king of Norway, sent him a ship with a golden beakand a purple sail, furnished within with a compactedfence of gilded shields. The names of the personssent with it were Helgrim and Offrid ; who, beingreceived with princely magnificence in the city ofYork, were amply compensated by rich presents forthe labour of their journey." The story of Harald'strick, by which his youngest son Hakon was forcedupon a King y^thelstan as foster-child, is referred bysome to Guthorm-^Ethelstan, who died 890 or 891,"or to his son and successor, who may have bornethe same double name " (Green, Conquest ofEngland,p. 126), and died 918. Hakon, ^Ethelstan's fosterson,came to the throne in Norway in 934, " and inthose days was Hakon fifteen winters old " (Heimskringla,Hdkonarsaga^ i.).He was born, therefore,after the death of Guthorm II., and he lived until960-961. On the accession of ^Ethelstan of EnglandHakon must have been five or six, according toSnorri's dating so that the; chronological difficultyis less than that which attends the invention of thename of ^Ethelstan for Guthorm II. of East Anglia.On the accession of Eadmund (940) Northumbriarevolted, and invited Olaf of Ireland to be king. Atthis time Olaf Guthfrith's son, king of Dublin, seemsto have left his realm to his brother Blakari, andanswered the call to York. Under him the Danestried to regain Danish Mercia ;Tamworth was stormed,but King Eadmund besieged Olaf and Wulfstan,

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 137archbishop of York, in Leicester, until they escapedby night from the town ; or, according to Symeon, heintercepted them on their way to Leicester. It israther curious to note the attitudes of the two archbishopswho arranged the peace which followed.Wulfstan, an Englishman, was the right-hand man ofOlaf the pagan; Odo (Oddi), a Dane by extractionand archbishop of Canterbury, represented the Saxons.The fusion of races had already begun, but the oldlocal independence survived. By the terms of thetreaty Olaf was baptised, and Ragnvald Guthfrith'sson, at a later date in the same year, was brought byWulfstan to Eadmund for baptism.Olafs baptism did not prevent him from playingthe Viking; he raided the church of St. Balther atTyningham in Bernicia, and there met his death (941),while his men ravaged and massacred at Lindisfarne.But he was immediately succeeded by Olaf Cuaran(Olaf with the Brogues), the son of Sigtrygg O'lvar,formerly of York and Dublin. He shared Northumberlandwith Ragnvald, who had lately been baptised,the son of Guthfrith, and brother of the late KingOlaf. The invasion of Bernicia seems to have meantthe expulsion of the native High-reeve, or ealdorman,Ealdred Eadulfs son, or his brother Uhtred, who hadkept up the tradition of friendship with the kings ofWessex. It is possible that Ragnvald held this partof Northumbria. Eadmund naturally feared the reconstructionof a great Viking power in the north,which would give him all the work of his father andbrother to do over again in ; 944 or 945 he invaded

138 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINYork, and expelled Olaf Cuaran and Ragnvald, followingthis action by a raid into Cumbria. There canbe little doubt that his object was to break the powerof the growing settlement of Vikings, of which wehave seen traces inthe story from the History of St.Cuthbert) relating to events of thirty years earlier.The story of the English chroniclers is that he foughtand ousted Domhnall, son of Owain, king of Cumberlandand Strathclyde, and granted the country toMalcolm, king of Scots, on condition of his alliance.In other words, he gave back to Scotland a territorywhich he had conquered from Scotland, but did notchoose to hold as part of England ;for Cumbria wasin no sense English, being inhabited by Welsh andVikings under the tanist of the Scottish crown. Tomaintain any kind of English government in Cumberlandand Westmorland would have been difficult anduseless, but to keep down the Viking powerin thatregion was important for the peace of England.Olaf Cuaran's restless personality and romanticmade him the hero of legends now worldfamous.Historically, so far as his biography can besummed up from Irish and English annals, he was(careerborn about 920, and after childhood at Dublin spenthis boyhood at York, and early youth at the court ofConstantine. In 937 he seems to have fought, butnot fallen, at Brunanburh ;in 941 he became king ofYork. Expelled in 944 or 945, he went back toIreland, and drove out his cousin Blakari, who hadbeen reigning in Dublin, but does not appear to haveheld the kingdom long during this first tenure. In

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 139946 we find him plundering Gill Cuilinn, and next yearattacking Dublin, where in 948 Guthfrith Sigtryggsonwas reigning, that is to say, Olaf Cuaran's brother.In 949 Olaf returned to York, where he reigned until952. Next year he was plundering near Donard, inco. Wicklow, and sacking Inisdowill. In 956 OlafGuthfrithsson the younger, lord of the Gaill at Dublin,won a great battle over the Irish ; perhaps this was anephew of Olaf Cuaran acting as his general. In 961Olaf, King of Dublin (Cuaran?) was attacked bySigtrygg Cam, a Viking from overseas, and beingwounded in the thigh with an arrow, escaped withloss.In 964 Olaf (Cuaran) Sigtryggsson was defeatedin Kilkenny, but in 970 he plundered Kells, and in977 slew the two heirs (tanists) of Ireland, Muircheartachand Conghalach. The great battle of Tara, 979,in which King Maelseachlann defeated him andkilled his son Ragnvald, broke his power; next yearhe retired to lona, where he died in 981. By hissecond wife, Gormflaith, he had a son, SigtryggSilkiskeggi(Silk-beard), who became king of Dublin ;other sons were Gluniarainn (Jarn-kne') and Harald.Duald mac Firbis says that in his time, the seventeenthcentury, most of the Dublin merchants traced theirpedigree to Olaf Cuaran. His name, Amhlaeibh inIrish, became Abloic in Welsh (the language ofStrathclyde), whence the legends of Havelock Cuheranthe Dane, and according to Professor I. Gollancz(Hamlet in Iceland, Introduction), the traditions abouthim and his family became the groundwork of thetale of Hamlet, prince of Denmark,

140 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINWhen Eadred came to the English throne in 946archbishop Wulfstan and two Northumbrian jarls," Imorcer and Andcoll," joined in his election ;but itdoes not seem to have satisfied the Northumbrianpeople, for a yearor two later he marched to Taddenesscylfe(Tanshelf, Pontefract ?),where Wulfstanand the Northumbrian Witan swore fidelity to him.In the same year, however, they elected one Eirik asking. The identity of this Eirik, and the sequenceof events, cannot be easily discussed in a paragraph ;but elsewhere (Saga-book of the Viking Club, ii., pp.3*3-327, and Trans. Cumb. and West. Antiq. Soc., N.S.,ii., pp. 231-241) reasons are given for accepting theaccount of Snorri Sturluson and the Norse historians,who make him the famous Eirik B16dox, son ofHarald Fairhair of Norway, as against that of Adamof Bremen, who makes this king of Northumbria tobe Hiring, son of Harald Blatonn, king of Denmark.Mr. J. R. Green (Conquest of England^ pp. 262 seq.,289 seq.) tried to combine both stories, makingHarald Blatonn attempt to place his son on thethrone of York in 947, (though there is no sign thathis fleet, even if it was off Normandy in 945, evertouched English shores,) and finding a place forEirik B16dox, son of Harald Fairhair, in the yearsafter Brunanburh (though there is no mention ofany such king in Northumbria at that time in anyBritish chronicle). The events as given in the Englishannals are :947, the Northumbrians belied theoath which they had just sworn to King Eadred, implyingthat they set up the king mentioned in 948

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 14!as Yric ;Eadred ravaged their countryand burnedSt. Wilfrith's minster at Ripon, then marched away,but his rearguard being cut up at Chesterford, hereturned, and was received as king, "Hyryc" beingexpelled in ; 949 Anlaf Cwiran (Olaf Cuaran) came toNorthumberland; in 952 Yric supplanted him asking, and was expelled in 954.Later authors do not improve matters by trying tosimplify the story, which ended with the death ofEirik in an attempt to regain his throne, and theappointment of Oswulf of Bamborough, a representativeof the old line of Bernician Angles, as jarl orealdorman of Northumbria. Olaf Cuaran went backto Dublin, where, on his expulsion from York in 945,he had seized the power after driving out Blakari.It was perhaps before this that St. Cathroe (see hislife in The Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, ed. Skene,p. 1 1 6) was escorted by King Domhnall of Cumbriato Leeds, and thence went to York to visit the king,whose name isgiven as Erichius, and his Irish wife, arelative of the saint. As Eirik had no Irish wife, butOlaf Cuaran and his predecessor Olaf were marriedto Irish ladies, King Olaf and not Eirik is no doubtintended. The story of Egil Skallagrimsson's visitto King Eirik Blodox at York is not impossible,though romantic in character, and though the poemattributed to the skald on this occasion, Hofudlausn^contains the end-rhymes which are thoughtto mark verse of a later date. These incidents givecolour to the meagre records of the Viking court, atwhich so many races and interests must have met.

142 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINIn the grave-monuments showing wheel-crosses andother motives derived from Irish and Scottish art,and in the curious carved bone from York, figuredin The Reliquary for Oct. 1904, we see evidenceof the connexion between Northumbria and theCeltic lands ; the Reycross at Stainmoor, as far as itsoriginal form can be determined from its damagedremains and from seventeenth-century descriptions,must have been of the type in vogue about the middleof the tenth century, and may be conjectured though'such conjectures are not legitimate archaeology to bea memorial of the great battle of Stainmoor (954 ?),which ended the life of Ein'k B16dox and the independenceof the Viking kingdom of Northumbria.A finer and more authentic memorial is the " Eiriksmal;"seeCorpus Poeticum Boreale (i., p. 260) andthe paraphrase in Dasent's Burnt Njdl (ii., p. 384)which describes Odin awaking in Valholl, and biddinghis heroes make" ready to welcome Ein'k and the fivekings who fell with him.The spirit of local independence was not dead,for on the accession of the boy-king Eadwig, in957, Mercia and Northumbria revolted, and invitedhis brother Eadgar, a still younger boy, but onewith more tact and spirit, to be their king. Therevolution was effected without war. For twoyears Eadgar was independent ruler of Danish England,while Bernicia still remained Anglian underOswulf. Under Eadgar's rule influences from thesouth of England doubtless improved the growingcivilisation and prosperity of Yorkshire. No great

THE KINGDOM OF YORK 143abbeys were yet founded in the north ;but the workof rebuilding churches, which had begun in thesouthern part of the Danelaw, must have made progress.It was not until 970 that Ely was restored asa monastery. The Danes were at first destroyers,though Wilfrith's Ripon survived their attacks untilEadred destroyedit ; they were no architects ormasons, and their earlier monuments in imitation ofthe beautiful Anglian crosses were mere slabs pickedfrom the surface of rocky land and chipped over witha pattern ;their churches were thatched or tiledfabrics of wood or wattle-and-daub, such as the hogbacktombs represent. But after the middle of thecentury their monuments seem to have become moreskilfully quarried and carved, thoughstill with theAnglo-Danish style of ornament, unlike the art ofsouthern England at the time and it is ; possible thatsome of the "Saxon" churches of the north wererestored, and others built, under the influence of therevival of arts in the reign of Eadgar.When he succeeded his brother on the throne of allEngland (959) the Danelaw, in a sense, gave a kingto the Saxons, and with him Anglo-Danes won placesin church and state. We have seen that Odo couldrise to an archbishopric ;now his nephew Oswaldbecame bishop of Worcester, and, after Oskytel(Asketil), archbishop of York. Thord Gunnarsson,who led the English expedition into Cumbrian andViking Westmorland in 966, and was afterwards jarlof Deira, was already, in 961, "prsepositus domus" ofthe king ;and many Scandinavian names appear in

144 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe lists of witnesses to royal charters. Eadgar's lawsleft the Northumbrian Danes in possession of theirold rights and usages, and his policy encouragedintercourse with foreigners ;so much mdeed thatboth the old poem quoted in the Chronicle and theaccount of his reign by William of Malmesbury makeagainst him the charge, so often repeated in Englishhistory, that " outlandish men he hither enticed,and harmful people allured to this land." It wassaid that when Eadred held his court at Abingdonthe Northumbrian visitors became so drunk bynightfall that they had to retire and; that, underEadgar, the Saxons "though they were free fromsuch propensities before that time " learned drunkennessfrom the Danes. On the other hand, Johnof Wallingford's story of the reason why the Danes"were hated is not without significance:they werewont, after the fashion of their country, to combtheir hair every day, to bathe every Saturday "Laugardag, " "bath-day," to change their garmentsoften, and set off their persons by many such frivolousdevices. In this manner they laid siege to the virtueof the women." Freeman always represents theNorthumbrian Danes as barbarians, but it does notappear that the charge is justified.5.SVEIN ANDThe story of Scandinavian England in the eleventhcentury divides itself naturally into two parts theinvasion of Svein and Knut \and the fruitless attempt

ofSVEIN AND KNtJT 145Harald Hardradi, followed by the tragic last scenein which William the Norman put an end to the powerof the old Viking colony.Southern England had been free from war andpiracy for eighty years. yEthelred the " Ill-advised "had recently been crowned, a boy of ten or eleven ;Dunstan had retired from the government, but theold times of viking raids appeared to be past, and thehorizon was as unclouded as ever it is on the daybefore a storm. In 980 a small party of Danesattacked Southampton, and then Thanet; Cheshirealso was raided. In 981 the same Danes ravagedDevon and Cornwall. In 982 they harried Portland.The leader in these new attacks must have beenSvein Tjiiguskeggi ("with the forked beard"), son ofHarald Blatonn, king of Denmark. He had beenforcibly baptised when Otto the Great invadedDenmark, but in earlier years made no pretence ofChristianity nor of filial devotion, and went vikingwith his friend Palnat6ki (of Wales, and later ofJomsborg) until the death of Harald in 986.In 985 the Mercian ealdorman ^Elfric, beingbanished, fled to Denmark. To Normandy Englishrefugees had already betaken themselves, and in 991Duke Richard I. and ^Ethelred made a treaty bywhich they agreed not to harbour fugitives acrossthe Channel ;but this proved of no more effect thanto show that the respective governments had someidea of common action in the matter of outlawsturned vikings. That an English nobleman shouldtake refuge in Denmark shows new relations betweenK

146 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINEngland and the Scandinavian lands, soon to bebrought into closer connexion.Another country came into view, so to speak, fromthe shores of southern England when vikings fromNorway began to be recognised among the invaders.On the west coast the Norse were well known ;Alfredhad written of his visitors from Halogaland and theBaltic ;traders from the fjords had taken cargoes toEnglish ports, and among the hosts of earlier yearsmany a Norseman had been numbered. But so farno distinctly Norwegian army had attacked southernEngland. In 991 Jostein (Justin) and Guthmundplundered Ipswich ;they are called Danes, and Justinis a Danish form of the name ;but a J6stein wasmaternal uncle of King Olaf Tryggvason, who joinedthis party, and Guthmund is called Justin's brother.At Maldon they overthrew the Essex levies underthe balladBrihtnoth, in a battle made famous bywhich tells how the bridge was defended by threechampions, one of whom from his name Maccusseems to have been of Viking origin himself. Oneresult of this battle was the firstpayment ofthat enormous Danegeld which soon became thechief feature of these new invasions. On thisoccasion archbishop Sigeric, ealdorman ^Ethelwerdthe chronicler, and /Klfric of Hampshire were thenegotiators on the English side ; they have borne theblame of initiating the weak and disastrous course ofmoney-payments which tempted Viking attacks. Butit was no new thing. From 865 onwards such blackmailwas levied. Freeman notes a bequest to Hyde

SVEIN AND KNtiT 147of money " to keep hunger, and heathen men if needbe, from the Abbey." Meredith of Wales (989) paida penny a head for his subjects to ransom them fromthe Black Army. The new Danegeld was the oldpayment on a larger scale and in a more business-likeThe sums exacted were increased to an extentstyle.which seems almost fabulous, considering the rateablevalue of land, and they could only have been raisedby recourse to the treasures of monasteries, churchesand the wealthy, in days when hoards of gold andsilver made up into valuable shrines, book-covers,furniture and personal ornaments were the chief andmost available form of riches. The work of theSaxon gold- and silver-smiths, to judge from itsremains, was highly artistic and intrinsically valuable.It must have been weighed out by the pound,perhaps melted down or broken up, for the Vikings ;for all the hoards of English coins found in Scandinavia,with all that may be imagined aslost and stillto seek, or spent and again circulated, would beonly as a drop in the bucket to the sums they aresaid to have received. After; 10,000 in 991,;i6,ooo was paid in 994, ^24,000 in 1002, ^30,000in 1007, and in 1009 East Kent paid ^"3,000. In1014 the sum of ^"21,000 was paid; in 1018 Knilt,when newly crowned, took ^72,000, beside ^n,ooopaid by the Londoners alone. In 1040 Hordakniittook 2 1, 099, beside ^11,048 paid for thirty-twoships. With a Dane upon the throne the Danegeldseems to have become an occasional war-tax, but itwas levied more than once by the Confessor, who is

148 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsaid to have abolished it about 1051, but William theConqueror levied a similar tax when he was crowned,and another in the following year, and again anotherin 1083-1084. Prof. Maitland (Domesday Book andBeyond^ p. 6) calls the sums exacted under ^Ethelredand Kniit "appalling." At two shillings the hide,which was worth about a pound, England in themiddle of the twelfth century could pay only ^5198 ;so that ,30,000 would be half the total value of thekingdom, unless it was richer in the tenth than inthe twelfth century, or unless recourse could be hadto the hoarded wealth of many ancestral treasuries.It must be remembered, however, that some of theViking hosts remained for a considerable time in thecountry buccaneers are often ;open-handed, and muchof their prize-money must have gone back to thepeople of the towns where they took up theirquarters.After the battle of Maldon, Olaf Tryggvason himselfjoined his kinsmen, and the host was enlisted bythe Saxon Witan to remain and defend Wessex fromthe Danes. A further sum of ^22,000 is said to havebeen paid as a retaining fee, beside salaries whilethey were on active service : but at the same timethey were allowed in certain cases to wage war ormake raids on other parts of the island, and anyprovince making a separate treaty with them was tobe outlawed. So next year we find a great fleet inthe English service on the Thames, commanded byThord of York, /Elfric, formerly a refugee in Denmark,and two bishops. It is not surprising that ^Elfric first

SVEIN AND KNUT 149warned and then joined the Danes, and that theirattack though fruitless was not wholly disastrous tothem. We hear no more of this ^Elfric, whose shipwas captured ;and we hear no more of jarl Thord ofYork, whose place was shortly afterwards filled byWaltheof I. as ruler of Bernicia, and by ^Elfhelm inDeira.In 993 the coast from Bamborough to Lindsey wasravaged the " English " leaders, two of whom bore:Danish names, deserted their levies, and the Vikingshad a free course. Next year Olaf Tryggvason,no longer the mercenary of Wessex, joined forceswith Svein, king of Denmark, to conquer England.On September 8, 994, they attacked London, butwere repulsed ; they ravaged the shores of theThames, and Canterbury was saved only by the paymentof 90 pounds of silver and 400 ounces of gold.Then they plundered Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire,and were bought off at Southampton by a paymentof ;i 6,000 levied on all England, and a regularstipend to be paid by Wessex alone. After the conclusionof the treaty Olaf Tryggvason was brought bybishop ^Elfheah and our chronicler v^Ethelwerd toAndover, where he was confirmed in the presence ofKing ^Ethelred. According to his saga he had beenbaptised by a hermit on the " Syllingar," perhaps theScilly Islands, or possibly (as a famous abbot anda great cloister are mentioned) one of the islandmonasteries of Ireland; the geography of the sagas,when it relates to Britain, is often defective, while theincidents may contain a true tradition. At Andover,

150 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINas the Chronicle records to his honour, " he made acovenant with King ^Ethelred, even as he also fulfilled,that he never again would come as an enemy to theEnglish nation."Svein went to the Isle of Man, but the bulk of thearmy, who had remained at Southampton and weresupposed to be in the English service, ravaged Cornwalland Devon, burnt Tavistock Abbey, and thenharried Dorset and the Isle of Wight. Next yearthey sailed up the Medway, besieged Rochester andplundered in Kent. In this they were probably withinthe meaning of the act, as they understood it : thewest, and Kent, were not the country they had undertakento guard and it is to be borne in mind that;we have the story from one side only. There wasevasion of payment on several occasions in the accountof Saxon dealings with the Vikings; and the localjealousies of England suggest that one district wassometimes not entirely displeased to see anothervictimised.It has been suggested (Sir J. Ramsay, Foundationsof England, p. 340) that the Scandinavian settlementsin the Lake district date from this time : Thietmar ofMerseburg speaks of territory assigned to invadingbands for permanent occupation, and Jostein andGuthmund henceforward disappear from history "asif they had found comfortable quarters somewhere."But the Lake district was not in ^Ethelred's realm ;the quarters assigned seem to have been in andnear Southampton. ^Ethelred ravaged Cumberlanda few years later, as he would hardly have done if

SVEIN AND KNUT 151settlers in his pay and on lands granted by him hadoccupied The it. wild dales would not have affordedcomfortable quarters to men who had come for plunder,and no place-names record Jostein and Guthmund, asmight be expected, iftwo chiefs so noted had settledthere ;a " Godmond Hall " near Kendal is of muchlater origin. We shall see reasons for dating theCumbrian settlement much earlier, and OlaPs uncleJostein, according to the saga, accompanied him homeand stood by him to the end.In the year 1000 the troublesome host sailed toNormandy. ^Ethelred took advantage of their absencefor his expedition to Cumberland, where already theremust have been a colony which threatened the peaceof the north. Some Vikings, however, were still inthe English service, chief of whom was Pallig, thehusband of King Svein's sister Gunnhild. ^Kthelredappears to have entertained some idea of forming apermanent army, more efficient than the temporarylevies ;but the error lay in over-estimating the trustworthinessof mercenaries who were tempted byopportunities for plunder in the wealthy, easy-goingdistricts around them, and, as the sequel shows, weretreated with a want of confidence ending in theatrocious massacre of St. Brice. Pallig's men wereillkept in hand ;there was plundering and fighting ;the Saxons believed that they intended to kill theking and the Witan and to seize the kingdom. TheWitan met and commissioned Leofsige, ealdorman ofEssex, to treat with the turbulent strangers. Theyasked a subsidy of ,24,000 but; Leofsige himself, in

152 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe act of negotiation, committed a murder for whichhe was outlawed. Then it was resolved to meet plotwith plot, and kill off allthe Danes in England, or atleast all those of Pallig's command. The massacre ofSt. Brice's day (November 12, 1002) has been reducedto its lowest terms by Freeman, but that it struck theEnglish themselves with horror and shame is evident.Henry of Huntingdon records that in his boyhood,eighty years later, the event was still remembered incommon talk. At Oxford the sanctuary of the churchwas as little respected by the English as ever it hadbeen by the Vikings: St. Frideswide's was burnt withall the Danes who had taken refuge in it.It was thecommon reproach that the Vikings spared neither agenor sex :but now the English beheaded Gunnhild, aroyal princess, a Christian, and a hostage, after bothher husband, jarl Pallig, and her son had been killedbefore her eyes. If the circumstances of this, whichallEngland might have regarded as a natural andlaudable act of vengeance, -have been exaggerated,what are we to think of the chroniclers' stories ofViking crime but that they must be taken with greatabatement ?The massacre was " not only a crime but a blunder,"as Freeman remarks, and itbrought a speedy revenge.Next year Svein, now king of Denmark and Norway,invaded and took Exeter, Wilton, and Old Sarum ;in 1004 he sacked Norwich, and overcame the EastAnglian fyrd under Ulfketil, the old ealdorman's righthandman, the Ulfkell Snillingr of the sagas, a trueEnglish patriot though his name betrays a Viking

SVEIN AND KNUT 153origin. In 1005 a famine sent the Danes away, onlyto return in 1006 when they ravaged Kent and Sussex,wintered in the Isle of Wight, and next year marchedto Reading and Marlborough; but on payment of^"36,000 they desisted from further attacks for thetime. In 1008 a great fleet was got together by theEnglish, but Wulfnoth of Sussex, being impeachedbefore the king, turned viking, and defied the wholepower of the country.Two fleets arrived at Sandwich in 1009, oneunder Hemming and Eylaf and the other underThorkel the Tall, son of Strut- Harald, jarl of Sjseland,and brother of Hemming. Taking a ransom of^3,000 for Canterbury, they plundered the southcoast, and wintered in their burg at Greenwich. Nextyear they made four raids into the interior, in the firstof which Ulfketil offered an unsuccessful resistanceat Ringmere (near Thetford ?) but as the year proceededthe defence became weaker, until at last the:Witan negotiated for peace at the price of ^48,000.The payment was delayed: meantime Canterburywas attacked it is evident that Canterbury was notin the area affected by the negotiations and thewhole population was held to ransom. It was notuntil the Easter of next year that the first debt waspaid, and the payment celebrated at a feast in whichthe Viking soldiers Thorkel himself, it is said, beingabsentdrank themselves drunk on wine, and draggedarchbishop ^Ifheah to their " husting " clamouringfor the ransom of Canterbury. On his refusal theypelted him with bones from their feast, and one of them

154 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINnamed Thrym (" stupid "), who had been lately confirmedby ^Elfheah himself, put him out of his miserywith the stroke of an axe. Thorkel did what he couldto make amends for the "regrettable incident," inwhich the Danes too completely justified the chargeslaid against them. He gave up the body of the archbishopfor honourable burial, and shortly took serviceunder the English king, whom he supported withfidelity until the flight to Normandy, which put anend to ^Ethelred's actual reign.During 1013 King Svein arrived once more with agreat fleet. With him, or about this time, arrivedOlaf Haraldsson, afterwards king and saint, butcertainly during all this period engaged in vikingexploits. Some years later, when Olaf was king ofNorway, the skald Ottar the Black made a love-songto the queen, for which he was condemned todeath ;he won his lifeby composing a poem on theking's deeds in England, mentioning especially thebreaking of London Bridge, the battle of Ringmere,and the capture of Canterbury. According to SnorriSturluson he fought for the English against theDanes, but the circumstances are not easy to makeout.Uhtred, the Anglo-Danish governor of Northumbria,set the example of adherence to Svein, and all thenorth of England followed. Marching through Mer,cia,the Danes met no resistance until they were repulsedfrom London by the townsfolk under Thorkel, buteven London openedits gates to them when theWitan had met in the west, and byits submission

SVEIN AND KNfrr155Svein had become de facto king of England.Thorkel'sfleet of Danish mercenaries was the only refuge for^Ethelred, who followed his queen and family toNormandy in January 1014. On February 3 KingSvein died.Knut, son of Svein, succeeded him in the kingdomof England, not without severe opposition on the partof the English, which forced him at first to take shipfor Denmark. Finding Harald, his brother, alreadyon the Danish throne, he returned in 1015 to Englandto recover his father's realm. Olaf Haraldsson forsome little time remained in England whatever;side he may have taken previously, it was he whobrought back ^Ethelred from Normandy on the deathof Svein. But ^thelred was already dying. His son,Eadmund Ironside, estranged from him, and findingassistance from none but his brother-in-law, Uhtred ofNorthumbria, kept up some show of resistance untilKmit marched to York and Uhtred gave up the contest.On April 23, 1016, yEthelred died, and allEngland, except London, adhered to the Dane. Kmitbrought his fleet to Greenwich, and besieged Eadmundin the city, cutting a canal through the marshes ofSouthwark in order to tow his ships above LondonBridge, and then making a dyke round the north sideof the walls to complete the blockade. Eadmundescaped, and gathered troops in the west, fought anotable series of battles at Penselwood, Sherstone,London, and Brentwood, driving the Danes down to thecoast of Kent, and defeating them in a battle at Otford.They withdrew into Sheppey and thence into Essex,

156 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwhere Eadmund met them once more at Assandun,and lost the last decisive action. The site of Assandanis usually placed at Ashingdon, because Canewdonquasi Canute-don is near it; but the names inDomesday are Ascenduna, which does not tally withAssandun, and Carendun. Ashdon, near SaffronWalden, has been suggested, but the circumstancesof the battle appear to fit Sandon, near Danbury," the Danes' burg," on the road between Maldon andChelmsford, along which Kntit's men were probablyreturning from their raid into "Mercia," which maymean Mersea in Essex.After this great overthrow it was useless for EadmundIronside to resist. Knut proposed a meeting at" Olanege," near " Deorhyrst," on the Severn, wherethe two kings " became fellowsand pledge-brothers."They agreed to divide England, Eadmund takingWessex and paying a Danegeld. But on November30, 1016, he died murdered, his partisans held, atthe instigation of Kmit and the Vikings at last ruledthe country they had sought for two centuries toconquer.In the " Lithsmen's Song," made by the men of thehost, Skjoldunga saga says, though the saga of St.Olaf attributes it to the king and saint himself, wehave a curious and valuable echo of the time. Wesee how the Vikings looked upon their adventure we;get the touch of nature which brings the " fury of theNorthman " before us in a new light, and reveals nohero, no demon, but just the TommyAtkins of abarrack-room ballad, with his two themes of song

SVEIN AND KNUT 157the glory of the service and the girl he left behindhim. For the text, see Corpus Poeticum Boreale^ ii.,pp.106-108; but the bald abstract there given hardlyrenders the spirit of the original:Marching up the country, on ! before they knowDeeds are doing, shields are shining, roofs are lying low ;Up, heart wave and waft the weapon of Odin's Maid,!And the English throng will hurry along in flight before theblade.There's many a man in the realm where we were bred andbornHas donned his easy old coat and flytes his fellow thismorn ;veryWhile here's a lad in a shirt of steel the smith with his hammerhas sewedGoes singing abroad to feed the crows their fill of Englishblood.There's one in the glad of the gloaming what cares he forthto roam ?He's shy to redden the scathe of shields he kisses a girl athome ;He'll carry no shield to England for glory and gold this year,But bides with Steinvor, North of Stad. inNorway with mydear.'Thought me, when I spied them, Thorkel's folk were fainThe song of the sword they never shirk to tread the battleplain;And awhile aga at Ringmere Heath we pushed into the fray,We stood the storm of iron, with our host in war-array.So the song goes on, with reminiscences of Ulfketil,who gave them a good fight, but " "changed his mindand fled; of Kniit, the trusty leader, sharing thesoldiers'dangerKnut gave the word, he bade us make a stand ;He held a shield among us when we fought by Londonstrand ;the battle at the dyke, the scene of the ships passing

158 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe canal, and the assaults on the city walls. Then itreverts to the girl at home poor thing! mated tothe laggard and pining away like the leaves of thelinden in autumn; and concludesDay by day the buckler was reddened with reeking gore,When we were out on the foray with our champion in thewar :But now that the war is over and the last hard fight is won.Merry we sit as the days go by in fair London-town.So also the treachery and cruelty laid to Kntit'scharge, especially in his earlier years, disappear almostto vanishing point on examination. Nor, on the otherhand, was he a great beneficent power, always listeningto the merry song of monks and rebuking hiscourtiers for their flattery. He was very shrewd ; all thechess-playing cleverness of the Viking intellect wasshown in his strategy and administration. It matterednot whether his chessmen were Danish or English"Northman" of the Hwiccas, even jarl Eirik, jar!Hakon Eiriksson and Thorkel were sacrificed, EadulfCudel the Angle and Godwine the Saxon were advanced,when the game required. Not to press apowerful family to revolt, he would favour one memberof it when he had removed another : in 1020 ^Ethelwerdthe ealdorman was banished, and his brother-inlaw^Ethelnoth was promoted to the archbishopric.For the sake of policy Kmit in his youth appears tohave married ^Elfgifu of Northampton, daughter of^Elfhelm, ealdorman of Deira ;but in 1017 he marriedEmma of Normandy, ^Ethelred's widow. In mattersof religion he showed himself almost ostentatiously

SVEIN AND KNtJT 159zealous; especially honouring St. Cuthbert, St. Eadmund,the martyr of the early Vikings, St. ^Elfheah,the victim of his own comrades; and in 1026 goingon pilgrimage to Rome, not without an eye to diplomaticbusiness, for the journey enabled him to attendthe coronation of the Emperor Conrad, with whom hearranged flic marriage of his daughter Gunnhild tothe heir of Germany and he was able also to; getvarious concessions from the pope and the king ofBurgundy, advantageous to English and Danes onpilgrimage or on business abroad. As a legislator andmilitary organiser he found the happy mean betweenDanish and English interests. He did not rule in anyaltruistic spirit, for he exacted enormous sums ofmoney from the conquered nation nor did he throw;himself on the country which he adopted as his ownwithout the new safeguard of an efficient standingarmy but he; gave justice, peace and well-being -suchas England had not known for a generation.Kniit's Laws, which Freeman thought to date fromthe end of his reign (after 1028), because they mentionPeter's Pence and Kniit's title of King of Norway,begin with admonitions to religious duty to fear God,hold one Christian belief, and love King Kmlt withtrue faith to ; keep the feasts of Eadward, king andmartyr, and of Dunstan the bishop; to observeSunday to forsake idols and the ;worship of sun andmoon, fire and water, wells, stones and trees. Thesecond part, dealing with secular matters, re-enactswith some additions the laws of former kings of:England Eadgar's recognition of the local rights of

l6oSCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe Danelaw, Mercia and Wessex was repeated.Thegeneral lines of government and society already laiddown are followed without much change, though therenot a new thing,is a tendency to closer organisationbut leading in the direction of feudalism. It used tobe thought, for example, that private jurisdiction camein with Kniit, but Professor Maitland {Domesday Bookand Beyond, p. 282) has shown that express grants ofsac and soc were known in the tenth century. UnderKniit, however, the mutual responsibility on whichorder and justice were based seems to have becomerather more territorial than merely personal ; everyfreeman over twelve years of age was to be enrolled in1a Hundred and Tithing. The hundred court hadto see justice done, failing which the king's justicecould be appealed to; he alone could decide casesinvolving outlawry, and had the dues in certain causes,such as highway robbery (whence "the king's highway"),and other breaches of the peace not coveredby the popular courts. In the county court the bishopand the ealdorman still presided, no distinction beingmade between the administration of ecclesiastical andthat of secular law. Nor was any distinction made to1Bishop Stubbs (Const. Hist., i. p. 94) says that in the socalledLaws of Edward the Confessor, a twelfth-century compilationbased on the Laws of Kniit, men were bound to associatein groups of ten, called frithborh in the south, but tenmannetalein the north ; adding that tenmentale in Richmondshire was,temp. Henry II., an extent of fourteen carucates, paying 4$. >jd.annual tax. Maitland (Domesday Book, p. 387) remarks thatthe unit of land in Sweden is the mantal. We may add thatmanntal in the old Icelandic law means a "muster, census,"which may explain tenmantal= frithborh, temp. Knut.

SVEIN AND KNUTl6lgive Kniit's victorious army a preference over the conqueredcountry; they had not even ""sporting rights,in spite of a severe hunting-code which is attributedin error to this period ; every man could hunt on hisown ground, except where the king had made a royalforest. The slave-trade was forbidden, and if thethe loss of nose andpunishment of adulteresses byears seems severe, on the other hand Kniit did notclaim the right of selling the hand of a woman inmarriage, as was the custom later, and it was providedthat no wife should be held an accomplice of herhusband in a case of theft unless the goods werefound inher store-room, locked cupboard, or privatebag. It is not"wonderful if,as Freeman says, afterKnut's power was once fully established, we hear nocomplaint against his government from any trustworthyEnglish source."Kniit's standing army was an improvement uponthe tentative measures in that direction framed byyElfred, and a great advance upon the merely mercenarytroops of aliens from time to time engaged by^Ethelred and his predecessors. It was a developmentof the Vikings' permanent crews of enlistedmen, picked and trained and paid for their work.They were known as the king's huskarls^ a wordwhich, like Northman, Lochlann, Sumarlidi, Viking,etc., became a personal name. The nucleus of thisforce was formed in 1018 by the crews of forty ships,but it is not easy to reckon the number of men towhich these crews would amount. Kniit's marinearmy was reckoned by " rowlocks"; the pay wasL

1 62 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINeight marks Anglo-Saxon ( = ^4) " set aelcere hamelan,"a word which has puzzled English historians, butrepresents the Icelandic hamla^ the oar-loop which holdsthe oar to the thole (Jidr)in the Viking ship. InNorway, a levy was counted, not by men, but by homlur,and the number of men was of course greater, for theremust have been relays of rowers on a long voyage, orat least a considerable percentage of substitutes. Infact the reckoning represented the size of the vessel,its tonnage, so to say and as Florence of Worcester:mentions a ship given by Godwine to Hordaknut with80 rowers, the ships of Thorkel and Kniit may havebeen much larger than the Gokstad boat of the quiteearly Viking time. This would raise the number ofKnut's hir& to over 3000 " rowlocks."From a Danish code of the twelfth century, as well asfrom such descriptions as that of the Jomsviking settlement,we gather that these professional soldiers hada stringent set of customs of their own. The relationsof lord and man were strictly defined ;the dealings ofmembers of the crew with one another, and theirdetachment from the world of civilians, were set forth.That sucn laws, which in the VF&rlags-rett (code ofpenalties) are ascribed somewhat doubtfully to thisKing Kniit, did actually hold good in his days appearsto be proved from the story which tells how he once,in a fit of anger, killed one of his men, and condemnedhimself in the huskarls' court to pay the accustomedpenalty nine times over. That such a standing forceshould not be popular, and that there were tales oftheir arrogance and oppression, is natural ;but when

SVEIN AND Offrr 163Kniit sent away the greater part of his army, andretained only these hiiskarls, the Witan promised thatthey should " have firm peace " that ; any Englishmanwho killed one of them should be punished, and if hewas not found his Hundred or township should paythe blood-money.Kni.it died Nov. 12, 1035, master, as his fatherwas, but far more effectively master of England,Denmark and Norway. He cannot have intendedto form a permanent empire ;in those days personalallegiance of the local rulers was everything;imperial organisation was hardly within practicalthe loss ofpolitics. Bernicia, much diminished bythe Lothians, was still in the hands of the oldAnglian family which had survived all the Vikinginvasions, and was now represented by Ealdred,Uhtred's son, and at his death by his brother Eadwulf.Deira was ruledin 1033 by Siward the Stout (SigurdDigri) an Anglo-Dane who had married ./Ethelflsed,daughter of jarl Ealdred. Mercia was still underLeofric, and Wessex under Godwine ;Hereford andEastern Mercia were under Ranig and Thurig orThorir. The kingdom of England had been promisedby Knitt to Emma's son Hordakmit, but he was nowruling Denmark ; Svein, the eldest son of Kniit'sfirst marriage, was in Norway; and his brotherHarald Harefoot, being on the spot, and half aNorthumbrian, was elected by the vote of theNorthumbrians and Londoners (or the standingarmy in London, the Itftsmenn, not necessarily the"nautic multitude" as Freeman took it).Godwine

164 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand Wessex stood for Hordaknut, and it was notuntil the attempt of the setheling Alfred and theatrocity which put an end to it an atrocity, thechroniclers say, worse than any charged to the Vikingsthat Harald was accepted as king over all England.In this respect the story of Eadgar was repeated the;Danish north again gave a king to the south.Harald Harefoot spent his timeSundays includedin hunting: he reduced the huskarl army, pickedno quarrels, and the land had rest, but for a littleborder fighting, until he died in 1040. Hordaknut,Emma's son and king of Denmark was then elected,King Stork after King Log. He began by disinterringthe body of his brother Harald and throwing itinto the town ditch ;the Londoners rescued the bodyand buried it in St. Clement Danes, then a suburbanchurch, built, as its name implies, for the Scandinavianpopulation. That there were Danes buried within thecity also is shown by the monument now in the GuildhallMuseum and found in St. Paul's churchyard, asculpturedstone of the eleventh century, not withoutsome traces of Irish influence in its style, with runes" [To the memory of some man unknown]his wife letthis stone be raised ;also Tuki." The subject of theis the well-known emblem of the Hart andpanelHound, symbolising, it is thought, the Christian inpersecution ;a strange epitaph, one would think, forone of the "proud invaders," and yet very frequentlyused. It isperhaps possible that the ancient emblemof the Danish capital at Leira, the hart, lingered intradition, and fixed this particular form as a popular

SVEIN AND KNT 165one in monumental masonry: it is possible also thatepitaphs then expressed in pictorial form and notuntil rather later in the set phrase of eulogy seen onManx and Scandinavian stones were as little relatedto biographical fact as those of any country churchyard.And yet the sentiment conveyed by the Viking Agetombstones, like that of the Christian Skaldic songs, isstrikingly akin to the piety of all ages. The strugglewith the Serpent, hardly vanquished; the Crosstriumphant over powers of sin and death ; symbolsof resignation and resurrection, on these mainlythe design depends in all its various forms ; rarelyshowing something that may be intended for a portraiteffigy, still less commonly anything like the heraldicostentation of a later age or the hint of a warrior'sfame. It is interesting to infer the character of thepeople who put up these monuments the more tenderand sincere side of the deep Scandinavian nature.The great preponderance of Scandinavian blood inthe north of England is shown by the list of"festermen," or those who gave pledges (borJi) forArchbishop./Rlfric at his election to the see of Yorkin 1023. The list iscontemporary, written on the flyleafof a tenth-century MS. Gospels in the library ofYork Minster. It has been published by Prof.G. Stephens, and more recently with analysis ofthe names by Dr. J6n Stefansson (Saga-book of theViking Club) 1906), who remarks that the place-namesseem to be from South Yorkshire, and that many of thepersonal names are more Norse than Danish. Thetermination -ketil, used in the earlier part of the

1 66 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINeleventh century by Norwegians and Icelanders, hadbeen shortened by that time to -kil or -kel in Danishand Swedish, and the full form is found here inAlfcetel, Arcetel, Ascetel, Audcetel, Cetel, Grimcetel,Roscetel, Ulfcetel, Thorcetel. Judged by their occurrenceelsewhere some of the names represent Norwegiansrather than Danes :Asbeorn, Beorn, Barad,Blih (Bligr), Colbrand, Berhdor (Bergthor), Halwaerd(Hallvard), Raganald, Tholf (Th6r61f) others are;rather Danish than Norse : Fardain (equivalent toFarman, " trader"), Folcer, Merlesuuan, Siuerd, Snel ;while the rest of those which are not Anglo-Saxonmay be either Danish or Norse :Ailaf, Ana, Arner(Arnthor), Asmund, Forna, Gamal, Grim, Gunner,Hawer (Havard), Justan, Lefer (Leifr), Osulf, Ulf,Ulfer, Thor (Th6rir). Many more Old Norse namesare given in the Durham Liber Vita, the earliest partof which is of the tenth century. Dr. Stefanssonthinks that the Norse element here represented hadbeen long in Yorkshire, and not recently come in withjarl Eirik Hakonarson. In that case, however, onewould expect their language and names to have beenassimilated to the general use in Northumbria at thetime, and not to show dialectic differences latelyevolved in the homes they had left many generationsearlier. Travel and trade must have already broughtNorwegians into England, but we must be careful notto over-estimate the Norse in Yorkshire at this date,remembering that forty years later Norwegians werereceived as enemies but Danes as friends.Hordakniit was as unfavourable an example of a

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 167Viking ruler as his father had been the reverse.Soured by ill-health and the spoilt child of an ambitiousand often disappointed mother, king of Denmark inhis " teens " and king of England also at twenty ortwenty-one, he spent his short reign in exactions,quarrels and violent revenges, and died suddenly, asevery schoolboy reads, after drinking at a wedding-feastin Lambeth, 1042. His half-brother Eadward theConfessor reigned in his stead.6. THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW.Eadward's reign was disturbed throughout by astruggle between the Anglo-Scandinavians and theFranco-Scandinavians. The king, half Norman bybirth and wholly Norman by training, failed only bywant of energy to make England as Norman ashimself. On the other side were not merely theDanish and Norse populations of the Danelaw, butthe family of God wine, by Kniit's favour ruler ofSouthern England and the husband of the Danishlady Gyda, sister to jarl Ulf. Ulf had married Kniit'ssister 'Astrid ;their son Svein, nephew by marriage toGodwine, was heir to the throne of Svein Forkbeard.It was only by the promise of succession at Eadward'sdeath that he was induced to forego his claim uponEngland and content himself with the endeavour towin Denmark, an endeavour in which he succeeded.His brother Bjorn became earl of Wessex ;Godwine's

1 68 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINhalf Danish daughter became queen of England;and these examples are only typical of the dividedinterests of a realm consisting of half-a-dozen differentterritories having no common traditions, and inhabitedof themby groups of peoples varying in origin, manynew-comers, and all of them more concerned withpetty aspirations and animosities than with patrioticideals. We do them wrongif we blame theirblindness. "England," in the sense we attach tothe word, as the expression of a national unit, didnot exist.For example, there was nothing to prevent an" Englishman," now that the trade was learnt, fromturning Viking himself, and playing the pirate on hisnative shores. Osgod Clapa, king's " minister," beingexiled, in 1049 returned with a fleet, part of whichattacked Walton-on-the-Naze. Svein, the eldest sonof God wine, at the same time kidnapped andmurdered his cousin Bjorn of Wessex. Harold, thehero of the English, when his family was " under acloud," took refuge in Dublin, and in 1052 came backto ravage Devon, and then, joining his father Godwine,who had brought a fleet from Flanders, attacked Kentuntil the king yielded and reinstated them. ^ElfgarLeofric's son, Harold's rival, imitated him twice over(1055 and 1058), regaining his earldom with the helpfirst of Irish Danes, and finally with a great fleet ofNorse from the Isles. But the most characteristicand unscrupulous of these English Vikings wasTosti, son of Godwine, whose fatal adventure shooknot only the Danelaw but the whole fabric of Anglo-

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 169Saxon England to its downfall. A few words will beenough to fix the sequence of events.Si ward the Stout of Northumbria died in 1055 ;Henry of Huntingdontells how he would not die"the death of a sick cow," but bade his folk bringhelmet and sword and battle-axe, "and when armedaccording to his desire he gave up the ghost." Hisearldom did not descend to his son Waltheof, nor toEadulfs son Oswulf, but to King Eadward's andQueen Eadgyth's favourite Tosti. But Tosti left hisearldom to the care of an underling, and amusedhimself at court. When he did interfere with Northumbrianaffairs it was for mischief. Gamel Ormssonand Ulf Dolfinsson were murdered at his house atYork ; Gospatric was murdered at the Queen's Courtat least folk called it murder, and laid it to Tosti.The Northumbrians rose against him ;on October 3,1065, three of their chief men attacked his house atYork, and slaughtered his hiiskarls. The names ofthese Yorkshiremen are not without significance:Gamelbearn, a Norseman, Dunstan son of y^Ethelnoth,an Englishman, and Glonieorn (Glunier in Yorks.Domesd^} son of Heardulf, connected with the royalDanish family of Dublin, for the Gaelic Gluniarainn,translating the Norse Jarn-kne, was famous amongthe O'lvar; one of the name was half-king in 851,another was father of Ottar jarl, the comrade ofRagnvald who became king of York, and a thirdwas son of Olaf Cuaran. With these leaders thepeople of Northumbria deposed Tosti and invitedM6rkari, son of /Elfgar, to be their earl. He led

170 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthem south ;at Northampton they were joined byEadwine, son of ^Ifgar and earl of north-west Mercia,and they plundered the country, carrying awaycaptives, until they reached Oxford. In spite ofHarold's mediation and King Eadward's support,Tosti was forced to leave the country (November i,On January 5, 1066, Eadward the Confessor died,and next day Harold was crowned king. He wasacknowledged by the Northumbrians only afterhis personal appearance among them and on theappeal of bishop Wulfstan of Worcester, Eadwine andMorkari remaining in their earldoms. Tosti meanwhilewas planning armed re-entry. In May he camefrom Normandy (so Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii.,pp. 720-725) to plunder the Isle of Wight, the southcoast and Lindsey. Driven away from the Danelawby Eadwine and M6rkari, he took refuge with KingMalcolm in Scotland. Then he applied to Svein ofDenmark for help to invade England ; Svein, hiscousin, could do no more than offer him an earldomin Denmark. He went to the Vik, where, accordingtothe saga, he found Harald Hardradi, and thoughthe Norwegians are said to have feared the Englishhiiskarls, Tosti persuaded the king of Norway tojoin him in attempting the conquest of England.The haste with which the Norwegian fleet was fittedout suggests that the preparations made by Williamof Normandy were no secret;it was a race for theEnglish crown. Half the fighting force of Norwaywas called together ;and the fleet, Heimskringla says,

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 171numbered about two hundred war ships besidetransports and boats. Harald Hardradi came as ifcertain of conquest, bringing his queen, his daughters,and his son Olaf, beside his treasure, including a massof gold which twelve strong youths could hardly carry.But one thing he forgot to bring with him the invitationwhich had assured to others of his race awelcome from their kindred in England.In the Orkneys he found this welcome from hisisland subjects, with whom he left his queen anddaughters, while he took south among his host thetwo young jarls Paul and Erlend. On the TyneTosti met him with a contingent raised in Flandersand in Scotland; the king of Man also sent help,with others of the Viking states in Ireland and theIsles. The great fleet ravaged Cleveland, destroyedScarborough, harried Holderness, and sailed up theHumber and the Ouse to Riccall, where the shipswere left under Olaf, the king's son, Paul and Erlend,and the bishop of Orkney (probably Th6r61f, a Norwegian; Orkney not being at that time under the seeof York). Their advance had been rapid, but by thistime Eadwine and M6rkari had called out the fyrd,and were marching out of York. The armies met atFulford, Wednesday, September 20, and the Englishwere routed with great slaughter. On the Sunday,York surrendered, promising to receive HaraldHardradi as king, and he on his side is said to havegiven hostages equal in number to those he received.York was not sacked, and the army passed by itto Stamford Bridge, where hostages for the rest of

172 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINNorthumbria were to be brought, and perhaps (asFreeman suggests) a royal manor afforded the chanceof provisions. Next morning, Monday, September 25,Harold Godwine's son arrived in York with hisdreaded hiiskarls, rode through the city to StamfordBridge, and found the Norse army wholly unprepared.Part of it was on the nearer side of the river, andwas driven across the stream, while one Northmanheld the bridge until he was pierced from beneaththrough the chinks of the gangway.ran out at the alarm, singingForth we go in battle array,Armourless under the blue blade ;Helmets shine, but I wear not mine,For all our gear in the ships we've laid.Harald HardradiThe battle was a surprise, but the Northmen kept upthe fight throughout the day, not without hope ofvictory, as Thjodulf Arnorsson's verses, extemporisedin the thick of the battle and still preserved, makeevident. When Harald Hardradi fell, the skald,standing near him, swore in verse to fight on for thesake of the gallant lads who were left ;but when allwas over, and the English hiiskarls were masters ofthe field, his lament was not without a touch ofbitterness :Our folk have paid a fearsome price, so trapped and ta'en theybe ;'Twas ill the rede when Harald bade his hosting sail the sea ;There's ne'er a man among us but is like to rue the day,For the good king is gone from us, the king 's passed away."The same day and the same hour when King

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 173Harald fell, his daughter Mary died " in the Orkneys :"it is said they had but one life," adds the saga.Two miles from Riccall, where the ships and alltheir gear were laid, a curious relic exists, which mustsurely in some way be a monument of the battle. Onthe ancient door of the church at Stillingfleet arefigures wrought in iron after the fashion of early Norsework ;interlaced plaits in thick wire, dragons, and aswastika of .barbed spear-points (a design to be seenalso at Versaas in Vestrgfttland) with two quaint menand a dragon-headed Viking boat with its ruddershipped, but mastless and oarless, and its forepartbroken away. It almost seems intended as a symbolof the wreck of this enterprise, the last great adventureof the Vikings in England.Compared with Harald Hardradi's invasion thelanding of troops from Denmark two years later wasof littleimportance, except as part of a disastrousmovement, the history of which must be sketchedbecause it leads to the ravaging of Northumbria andthe ultimate rearrangement of population in the northof England. In 1068, William had not as yet conqueredmore than the south, though in so doing hedestroyed the centralising machinery which was theonly connexion between the Scandinavian north andthe old realm of Alfred's family. He had appointedGospatric as earl of Bernicia, and Merlesvein as sheriffof Yorkshire, but even this concession to local feelingand even the fact that Normans had once beenNorthmen, which has sometimes been erroneouslyimagined to have had weight with both parties could

174 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINnot conciliate Northumbria. In spite of the Norseelement which Dr. J6n Stefansson's analysis of the"Festermen" (p. 165) appears to suggest, the peopleof Yorkshire and surrounding districts (Cumberlandmust be left out of England until after the reign ofWilliam I.)were pro-Danish and not pro-Norse, as thebattle of Fulford proved. Gospatric, Merlesvein, andArchill (Arnkill) the chief landholder hold, as hewould have been called a century earlier invitedKing Svein of Denmark to intervene. Whether theyintended Eadgar ^Etheling to be placed on the throne,or whether they would have preferredwith Denmark, is doubtful.At first,direct relationsthe movement seemed to die away with thesubmission of Eadwine, M6rkari, Archill, and thebishop of Durham, and the flight of Eadgar ^Etheling,Gospatric and Merlesvein to Scotland. York andLincoln received William and gave hostages, amongwhom was perhaps Thurgod, known later as bishopof St. Andrews and biographer of St. Margaret ofScotland, who escaped from Lincoln Castle, and tookship at Grimsby, to the surprise of certain ambassadorsfrom William to King Olaf when they chanced to findhim on board (see the story in Symeon's Hist. Regum,s.a. 1074). Meanwhile the sons of King Harold ofEngland, who had taken refuge at Dublin, returnedwith a fleet to attack Bristol and the southwest, asthey did again next year, to little purpose. But inthe Normans in1069, after a fresh rising againstDurham and York, King Svein at last despatched hispromised contingent. The fleet under his brother

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 175Asbjorn, once an earl in England, attacked Kent andEast Anglia without success;it was not until theyentered the Humber that they met with a welcome.They were joined by the people, and by Waltheof, sonof the famous Siward and now earl of Northampton.At York the native townsfolk received them gladly,and the two Norman castles, together with a greatpart of the city, were destroyed after severe fighting.But when this was done, the English dispersed andthe Danes went back to their ships. There seems tohave been no attempt to establish the independenceof Northumbria ;one is led to suppose that jealousiesleft them without a leader or a programme. The oneman who had a programme was William. Headvanced slowly northward ;wasted Staffordshire,part of the old Danelaw ;attacked the Danes inLindsey, forcing them into Holderness ;marched byPontefract to York, and then effected the great devastationof the north. William next devastated thecounty of Durham, the sacred land of St. Cuthbert,which even the Vikings in their fiercest days hadspared. Then marching against Chester he ravagedCheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire.In the winter he bribed Asbjorn and his Danes toleave, partly by allowing them to plunder Lindseyas they pleased. Ten years later the terrible reprisalsof bishop Odo for the murder of bishop Walcher inDurham added to the desolation ; though, after sucha tale, one may ask what more could be added?And when in Domesday we still find Scandinaviannames among the landholders, and later we still find

176 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINScandinavian characteristics in the north of England,we cannot but inquire Is not the account of thedestruction of life overdrawn ? or, if not, whence didthe fresh population come? In 1378, for example,nearly forty of the surnames on the roll of freemen ofYork may be derived (according to Dr. J6n Stefanssonin the article quoted above) from Norse nicknames.At this present time the dialect, folkloreand physical characteristics of Yorkshire and Lincolnshireare strongly Scandinavian, almost, if not quite,as much so as those of Cumberland, in which noever set foot.soldier of William the ConquerorThe depopulation was possibly as severe as Freemanmakes it, following Symeon of Durham, who hadfull local knowledge, but perhaps a tradition of animositywhich has somewhat exaggerated the area ofdevastation. Large tracts were entirely ravaged ;other parts escaped. The mere fact that peoplecould sell themselves as slaves isenough to show thatthere^were buyers, kind ladies like Geatflaed, whotook the homeless flock of Gospatric, Danish andEnglish, under her care, and set them free whenthe storm was past. Many, of course, were not sofortunate ;but many must have found a refuge inWestmorland and North Lancashire among a kindredand stillindependent population; others certainlyfled north into Scotland.In a paper for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society(K A. J., vol. xix., 1906) on the ethnology of WestYorkshire, by Dr. Beddoe and Mr. J. H. Rowe, thestrong Scandinavian character of the people of south-

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 177eastern Scotland is attributed to immigration (orrather the captivity of great numbers see Symeon,Hist. Regum, s.a. 1070) from the East and NorthRidings in the eleventh century. The " wastes " mentionedin Domesday, when plotted on the map, showthat the area of devastation extended from Armley toGargrave and from Holmnrth to Adel, including allUpper Airedale and Upper Calderdale ; Upper Teesdaleand the districts of Northallerton and Driffieldalso suffered. But there were areas of safety aroundConisborough, Elmsall, Sherburn, Beverley and Bedale.These areas of devastation are not due only to Williamthe Conqueror; mischief was also caused by thebut Dr. Beddoe infersravages of Malcolm Canmore ;from the map that William moved at first north andnorth-east, destroying the eastern parts of the Westand North Ridings, and nearly all the East Ridingexcept Beverley. Then crossing the Tees, and findingthe natives prepared for his attack, he moved southand south-west, crossing the Upper Aire, and so intoAmounderness. Malcolm following him crossedStainmoor, ravaged Teesdale, Cleveland and SouthDurham ;and Odo subsequently ravaged Durham, aswe have noticed. But there was evidently a discriminationin William's ravaging, whether he had areason for sparing certain places, like Beverley, orwhether he merely swept the country in his line ofmarch, without " going into the corners." Of about twohundred or more landowners in the West Riding mentionedin Domesday, most of them with Scandinaviannames, about a quarter survived the devastation;M

178 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINmost of the greater landholders outlasted the calamitiesof nearly twenty years, perhaps taking refuge inScotland and returning to make their peace. Thecommon people, though agriculture was destroyed,still were not entirely without resources ;there musthave been sheep, bees, hens, fish, swine and woodleft means of life not then taxable, and thereforenot mentioned in Domesday. At the same time, thedistress and depopulation, however we minimise it,and widespread.Whence, then, was Yorkshire repeopled? To awas terriblegreat extent it must have 'been by immigration fromCumbria and Westmorland. All over the west ofYorkshire are place-names containing " thwaite," andin situations suggesting more recent settlement thansurrounding hamlets or villages these seem to;representthe additional land taken up by the new-comers,who betray their presence by these " thwaites " andother Norse "test-words," among which may bereckoned ergh and airy, -bergh (commonin Westmorland,but only occasional in Yorkshire), and possiblyforce and gill. The close resemblance of Clevelandcharacteristics, as described by Canon Atkinson in hisForty Years in a Moorland Parish, to those of theLake District suggests a common origin, reaching backrather to the eleventh and the twelfth centuries thanto the days of Halfdan. The East Riding (as Beverleywas a sanctuary) perhaps retained much of itspopulation though the farms were destroyed ;but thecoast, and especially Holderness, had only too frequentexperiences of the kind, and with Lindsey must havesuffered enormously.

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAW 179Some suggestion of new Norse settlements in Lincolnshirehas been already made (p. 112).Still we findeastern Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to be, 800 yearslater, as they were 300 years earlier, Scandinaviandistricts. Lancashire, in which the dialect is moreakin to that of the Midlands, filled up from thesouth, except Lonsdale, which is closely related toWestmorland.Thus the population of Yorkshire, and byitsanalogy we may conclude the same of the wholeDanelaw, underwent great changes during the twelfthcentury and the ; preponderance of Scandinavianblood was further reduced by immigration as thevarious industries sprang up and invited skilledworkmen from distant parts. Not only the Normansbut Flemings in the twelfth century, and Germans inthe fourteenth, came into the country: the mines atAlston were worked about 1350 by a party fromCologne under Tillmann, and the great Germancolony under Hechstetter in the time of Elizabethmade a notable addition to the Lake District population.Even in the fourteenth century, as can beseen from the poll-tax returns of Yorkshire, namessuggest immigration from various parts of England,from Scotland and Ireland and from France. Consequentlythe ethnology of Northumbria is no easyproblem to unravel, and anything like pure Scandinaviandescent is not to be expected. Dr. Beddoeand Mr. Rowe (see the paper above quoted) tookmeasurements in 1902 of twenty men of pure localdescent in Oakworth and Haworth, finding types ofvery different origin in this closely associated group

l8oSCANDINAVIAN BRITAINof samples : twowere of the Bronze Age type, sixAnglian, two of von Holder's Sarmatic, two Scandinavian,probably of Norse origin, and one perhapsDanish. Of these thirteen less than half could bedistinctly traced to Viking immigration, and this ina district where the survival of the race must havebeen most marked. And yet, in the more remote dales,where the mixture of blood caused by the influenceof manufacturing centres is smallest, one cannot butbe struck with the general resemblance of the peopleto Danes and Norse. In Cumberland, among the" old stocks " on fell farms, one meets with men lessfrequently with women whose faces and figures takeone suddenly back to the fell farms of Iceland ;thereis no doubt that the same mixture of Celtic and Norseblood, and similar occupations and habits of life havepreserved the likeness.During the twelfth century Scandinavian names oflandowners and others were still common throughoutthe old Danelaw, though it became fashionable to giveNorman names to great folk's children, and duringthe next century the old Norse names were only keptup by the lower classes. But even in 1285 andfollowing years we find, as deerstealers in Inglewood,the great royal forest of Cumberland (see Mr. F. H.M. Parker's article in Trans. Cumb. and West. Antiq.Soc., N.S., vii.), Stephen son of Gamel, Henry son ofHamund) William Turpyn (Thorfmnsson), RichardSiward (thename of Suart is stillcommon) and HughGowk (gaukr, a cuckoo, A.-S.geac shows that "gowk "is from the Norse; see Bjorkman, Scandinavian Loan-

THE DOWNFALL OF THE DANELAWl8lwords in Middle English ;" Borrowdale gowks " is anold jest, and see p. 253 for the name of one of the runecarversin the Orkney Maeshowe). These Norse nameswere then going out of fashion. A Cumberland deedof 1397 (Mr. W. N. Thompson, Trans. Cumb. andWest. Ant. Soc., N.S., vi.) mentions RichardThomson, son of Thomas Johanson, showing the truepatronymic as still used in Iceland : of which thefeminine occurs in Elena Robyndoghter, MagotaJakdoghter, Matilda and Anabilla Daudoghters who,with Magota Daudwyfe and Johannes Daudson (Davidson),occur in Yorkshire poll-tax returns. Many moreexamples might be given from Yorkshire and Cumberland.It has been thought that the termination -sonis a mark of Scandinavian origin:and, withoutpressing this too far, it may be said that such surnamesare more common in the old Danelaw than elsewhere.Many, however, of the derivations attempted forsurnames in popular works are too fanciful to stand.Fawcett, for example, is a place-name, not fromForseti the god in the Edda ; Huggin can hardlyrepresent Odin's raven Hugin, nor Frear the godFreyr, as gravely stated in a work by a well-knownauthor of the past generation. Such wild conjectureshave too often brought the study of Norse originsinto contempt ;and yet we owe much to the earlierstudents of the subject, from de Quincey downward,for venturing into the tangled region, and perhaps wehave not even yet escaped all the illusions of theforest of error.

III.THE NORSE SETTLEMENTSSo far,we have considered only the Scandinavianimmigration from the east settlers, chiefly Danish,who colonised the shores of the North Sea and penetratedBritain halfway across, or in one part more andin another less than halfway. We have now to dealwith the counter current of invasion from thewestof settlers, chiefly Norse, who made homes on thecoasts of the Irish Sea. In Northumbria they metthe streams from the east, interpenetrated the Danishsettlements, and, though late in the history of Scandinaviancolonisation, made their way, as we have justseen, across Yorkshire. In Scotland they formed thebulk of Scandinavian element in the population. Butall the shores of the Irish Sea, and its continuationsnorth and south, were visited by them and retain tracesof their presence. The difficulty in treating the subjectas matter of history is great, for there are no sufficientlyfull and consecutive annals of these regions which liebetween England and Ireland ;we get little morethan occasional hints, and the evidences of placenamesand archaeology; but still it is possible tosketch the general course and extent of the movement.The Viking kingdoms in Ireland cannot be rightlyincluded in a review of Scandinavian Britain, and thisomission narrows therange of a subject, already too182

WALES 183extensive, and complicated into (i) the settlementsin Wales, (2) those in Lancashire and Cheshire,(3) Cumberland and Westmorland, (4) Dumfriesshireand Galloway, (5) Man and the Isles, and (6) theEarldom of Orkney, including the neighbouring mainlandand the Shetland Isles. It is not our object towrite the histories of these six or more provinces orkingdoms,but without some brief reference to thesequence of events it would be hardly possible toexplain the circumstances of the settlements.i. WALES.At the beginning of the Viking Age, Cornwall was"West Wales," and we have s^en how Danes fromIreland tried to get a footing among the natives, butwere overthrown at the battle of Hengston Down.From the many occasions on which Vikings attackedCornwall, Devon, and the neighbouring shires, it couldbe inferred that they left signs of settlement, and it isno surprise to find a church dedicated to St. Olaf inExeter, and another, St. Olave's, at Poughill in Cornwall.But among the many grave-crosses there arefew which can be said with certainty to be of Scandinavianworkmanship. In Mr. A. G. Langdon's volumeon Old Cornish Crosses, Cardynham No. 3, with itschain-ring pattern, seems to be a tenth-century monumentof the Norse type found in Northumbria, andthe Lanivet hogback with the bears presents someresemblances to the bear-hogbacks of Danish type in

184 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINYorkshire. It is curious to find these evidences ofsettlement so far inland, with a noteworthy absence ofsimilar monuments at churchyards near the coast.On the coast there are a few names distinctivelyScandinavian; the river Helford (HellufjorSr?) is themost conspicuous, and it is here that Charles Kingsleyin Hereward places his eleventh-century Norse kingletAlef.In Devonshire place-names in -beer {Domesday-bera) do not represent the Scandinavian beer whichbecomes by, but the " "Anglo-Saxon bearo, grove(Rev. E. McClure, Dawn of Day, March 1908).Scandinavian traces exist in folklore and ethnology.The tall fair Devonshire man issupposed to representa Norse ancestry, and in Cornwall " a red-hairedDane " is still a term of reproach but no recorded;colony of importance was formed in West Wales.Some Vikings who settled there emigrated after a time.The Macgillimores of Waterford, though adopting anIrish name, are said to have come from Devonshirewith others of their kindred ;and at least they claimedEnglish rights at law.Out to sea the Scandinavian name of Lund-ey, andas we enter the Bristol Channel Flat-holme andSteepholme, recall the fact that war ships and tradingships of the Northmen found their way to the Severn,and remind us of Bristol's ancient commerce withthe Ostmen of Ireland. But as soon as we cometo Wales proper we can distinguish many Norsenames on the map. Two groups, one centring in thepeninsula of Gower and the other in Pembrokeshire,

WALES 185show more than passing visits of the Northmen to thecountry they knew as Bretland, the land of the Britons.From the Welsh annals and various sources we cangather the frequency of their incursions, and perhapsdeduce the nature of their settlements.Their firstappearance in Glamorgan, 795, does notseem to have been followed by any attack until about838, the time of Hengston Down; and then againthere was peace until 860, when they entered Gowerand were again repulsed. Then Ubbi spent sometime in Pembroke before meeting his fate at the ArxCynuit (878). About this time, as Asser the Welshmantells us, King Hemeid of Demetia (S.W. Wales)"often plundered the monastery and parish of St.Degui" (St. Davids); we may infer that Welshkings, like Irish kings, attacked churchmen. Northmenmay have been already settled in that district,but in this case they are not named as the plunderers.The next attack was the disastrous raid of Ottarand Hroald (915), in which St. Davids again suffered,as well as the diocese of Llandaff and both shoresof the Bristol Channel. Then in 955 we finda king Siferth among the Welsh princes attesting acharter of King Eadred, and in 962 " King Sigferthkilled himself, and his body lies at Wimborne."Florence of Worcester is no doubt wrong in resuscitatinghim to row Eadgar on the Dee in 973, but he isan historical king, with a Scandinavian name, Sigfrith,and the fact points to a substantial Viking colonysomewhere in Wales.By this time we have saga-notices of the fact, which,

1 86 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthough mixed with legendary matter, may have someweight. EgiPs Saga in describing the battle of Vinheidi(see p. 133) says that two brothers, Hring and Adils,ruled in Bretland as tributaries of ^Ethelstan, and onthe coming of Olaf of Dublin joined him againsttheEnglish (937). We cannot identify these with anyknown persons in British annals, but the settlementsin Wales must have originated by their time. In whatpart of Wales is another question ;we have still tonotice the progress of Viking affairs in Anglesey andthe north. Again we have the story of Palnat6ki,who some time after the middle of the tenth centurywent viking from Denmark to Bretland, and therefound an old jarl, Stefnir, ruling a district with thehelp of his foster son, Bjorn the British. Palnat6kimarried Olof, the jarl's daughter, and then associatedhimself with Svein, son of Harald Blatonn, afterwardsconqueror of England, who seems to have spent partof his youth in Wales. Mr. A. G. Moffat (in theSaga-book of the Viking Club, iii., p. 163 seq.) attemptsto localise the story in Pembroke and Cardigan.The Scandinavian place-names in the neighbourhoodof Gower, though not so thick on the map asthose of Pembroke, show a marked contrast to theWelsh names farther inland, and can hardly be tracedto the Norman conquest ; e.g. Swansea, spelt in 1188" "Sweynsei Worm's; Head, the promontory of thepeninsula (cf. Orm'shead) ; Esperlone or Esperlond," the aspen grove " ; Burry Holme ;and further eastalong the coast the Nash (nes .?), Barry (Barr-ey ?).To these may be added some names in which the

WALES 187Scandinavian element is doubtful or less obvious.TheLlanrhidian stone appears to be a kind of hogbackand therefore Norse, as the hogbacks are not Celtic.From 966 for some twenty-five yearsit seems that theVikings had a troublous time in Glamorganshire, andthough they were invited into the country again in1031 and 1043 to aid in the internecine quarrels ofthe Welsh, they established no state important enoughto figure in history. But of their settlement there canbe little doubt.Farther westthe Viking colony seems present atCaldy, Ramsey, Swanslake, Barnlake (lcekr?\ Gateholm,Milford (fjord), Lindsway (vdgr\ Hosguard,Fishguard, Dale, Stack, Solva, Goodwic, Barry,etc. Here again, however, there is little in the wayof archaeological evidence except the Runes on theCarew Cross (Pembroke Dock) to favour the idea of acultured and Christianised settlement. If the storyof Palnat6ki and Svein be localised in Pembroke, weunderstand the reason ;for these were of the type ofVikings who stuck to the old habits. From Caradocof Llancarvan we gather that there was no quiet timein Pembroke. In 981 Godfrid son of Harald(p. 228)spoiled St. Davids ;in 987 the Danes destroyedSt. Davids and other churches, and forced princeMeredith to pay the tribute of the Black Army(Dubhgaill) ; in 989 they ravaged St. Davids, Cardiganand Kidwely, and were bought off; in 995they not only plundered St. Davids but killed andthe Welsh said ate the bishop. About 1000-1015jarl Einar went on frequent voyages to Bretland

1 88 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINfrom the Orkneys ; and, after the battle of Clontarf,Flosi the Icelander (Njdls saga, clvi., seq.) took refugein Wales, where he was followed by Kari Solmundarson,who twenty years earlier had played theviking in these parts, and now sought vengeance onFlosi for the burning of Njal. In some town notnamed Kol Thorsteinsson, one of the men who hadmurdered Njal in Iceland, was making a home forhimself, marketing and courting a lady, with theintent to marry her and settle down. Kari came intothe town and caught him in the act of counting outhis money, and struck off his head" and the headcounted ' ten ' as it flew from his body." Whetherthis incident so vividly told happened in Conway orChester, Milford or Swansea, we cannot guess, butwe can see that the Northmen were at home in Wales,in spite of their turbulent dealings with neighboursnot far away and whatever;legend may be involved,the story adds to the evidence of a definitesettlement.That the Vikings in Ireland were in constantcommunication with the coast of Wales isabundantlyproved. In 1041 King Gruffydd was captured byNorse from Dublin (Caradoc), and Guttorm with KingMurchadh ravaged Wales; but in 1049 the sameIrish-Norse or their near kindred joined Gruffydd in anattack on the Severn (Florence). After this the Vikingsseem to have been used as convenient tools for anydiscontented party English ealdormen in exile, orWelsh princes in defeat but their existence in Walesremained a settled fact. And yet the colony in

WALES 189Pembroke was never, like the Cumbrian colony,extended far inland. Its operations appear to coverthe country surrounding the great fjord which givea haven to Viking ships. Many of the placenameswhich have tempted etymologists to doubtfulconclusions must have resulted from the Englishsettlement under the Norman rule. The Northmenseem to have occupied only the central and southernpart of the country, and to have used the place as afactory or emporium a stronghold for piracy and acentre of slave traffic where the worse traditions ofthe Viking Age survived not ; making it,as in otherparts of Britain, an area of peaceful colonisation andsteady domestic progress.Much the same story must be told of North Wales.We have noticed the invasion of Orm in 855, and thehistory of the coast from Anglesey to Chester is onetale of repeated attacks rather than permanentsettlement. In 873, according to Caradoc ofLlancarvan, Danes landed in Anglesey, and weredriven off in two battles by Roderic; in 878Roderic's death was revenged by the battle ofCymrhyd, near Conway. Then followed more Danishattacks on the north Welsh coast, until, in 900, Igmundor Ingimund from Dublin with his Norse landed atHolyhead and fought their way to Chester, after whichthey found homes in Wirral. Then, in 909, the Danesfrom Dublin, who had driven out these Norse, followedthem, and besieged Chester, lately fortified by the English.About 920, as Caradoc and William of Malmesburysay, Leofred from Dublin joined Gruffydd ap

IQOSCANDINAVIAN BRITAINMadoc to attack Chester again (if this is not the samestory twice told).In 961 the sons of Olaf Cuaran of Dublin (or Olaf'sson and the Lagmen of the Islands) are said to havelanded in Anglesey and burnt Holyhead. In 966another attack is recorded, and in 969 Mactus (Magnus)Haraldsson, of the Isle of Man, entered Angleseyand spoiled Penmon, but was driven out in 970. In979 a Welsh faction hired Danes under Godfrid,son ofHarald, king of Man, to invade Anglesey, and in 986Godfrid came again, took Llywarch ap Owain prisonerwith 2,000 men, and put Meredith ap Owain to flight.In 991 the Danes once more overran the island. In993 Svein Forkbeard landed in North Wales from theIsle of Man. Then we come, as before, to the periodwhen race counted for little, and the Vikings wereused as tools of faction. Conan, son of lago apIdwal, in 1041 taking refuge in Ireland and marryingthe daughter of the king of Dublin, returned to NorthWales and captured prince Gruffydd. In 1056Roderic, son of Harald, " king of Denmark," came toWales, joined Gruffydd and invaded England in ; 1073Gruffydd, son of Conan, got help in Ireland from theking of Ulster and "Ranallt "and other kings toinvade Anglesey, as he did again in 1079. At lastcame Magnus of Norway in 1096 and noo, to whomAnglesey was the southernmost goal in his career ofbelated and fruitless viking. (See Caradoc, 961-1 100.)The story of these repeated incursions leads one toexpect some permanent colonisation in North Wales.The Viking character is expressed, in spite of the

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE 19 1natural animosity which is shown, in Gruffydd's confirmationof lands to bishop Herwald of Llandaff(1032-1061), when he promises to defend the Churchagainst the " barbaros Anglos," and the Irish of thewest, "semper fugaces," the Danes of the sea and theinhabitants of the Orkneys, "semper versis dorsisin fugam et firmato fcedere ad libitum suum pacificatos" (Clark's Cartce et Munimenta^ iii., 30, quotedby Mr. A. G. Moffat).Scandinavian relics in North Wales are few. Ofplace-names beside Anglesey and Orm's Head, thereare Priestholme (Puffin Island), the Stacks (Holyhead),the Skerries (N.W. of Anglesey), Bardsea,perhaps the island home of a Viking named Bard, andthe Point of Air (eyrr) at the mouth of the Dee. Butsuch a name as Wig, between Bangor and Aber, maybe from the Welsh gwig, "nemus," not from wtc tnorfrom vik, and it must be owned that most derivationsof North Welsh names from the Norse aresatisfactory.Swedish type ;not veryIn Penmon Prioryis said to be a cross ofand the Maen-y-chwynfan in Flintshirehas a strong likeness to tenth-century crosses in Cumberland,and must be a relic of Christianised Vikingsettlement. But here we are on the border of acountry where such settlement has left more plentifultraces than in North Wales.2. CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE.In the year 900 ^Ethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians,granted to Ingimund expelledfrom Dublin certain

IQ2SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwasted lands near Chester, where Hasteinhad beenravaging (Caradoc and Three Fragments], This datesthe Norse settlement near the mouth of the Dee, bothon the Flintshire side and in Wirral, the peninsulabetween the Dee and the Mersey. The colony has apeculiar interest from the fact that its Thingwall (inDomesday Tingvelle, Thingvellir), is preserved to us,at least in name. The so-called Thor's Stone nearThurstaston (Domesday Turstanetone, Th6rsteins tiln),a terraced rock-mound with a flat summit, looks like aThingmount, but there is no reason to believe that itis other than a rather curious natural development ofthe local red sandstone. On the other hand, thereare several monuments which must be referred tothis tenth-century Norse colony. The hogback inthe museum at West Kirby, thoughit cannot havecome from Ireland as tradition says, is like the workof Vikings of that century who did come from Irelandto Cumbria. A wheel-head grave-slab in the samemuseum, and the similar stone at Hifbre Island, looklike early works of the period. At Neston are fragmentsof cross-shafts of the Anglo-Norse type, andthe Bromborough cross appears to be, like similarmonuments in the Grosvenor Museum and in St.John's Church, Chester, of late tenth-century date.Many of the place-names of Wirral are Norse inform. This would naturally be the case where wastelands were taken by new settlers ; though as estateswere held under Mercia, and not as a free and independentcolony, it is hardly surprising to find that theDanish system of land-assessment was not used here

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE 193at the period of Domesday. Beside the names alreadymentioned we may note Raby, Irby, Pensby, HelsbyFrankby, and Whitby ; Greasbyis Gravesberia inDomesday but, Signebyis named there ;Noctorumin Domesday Chenoterie, but in the thirteenth centuryKnocttyrum, perhaps from the Celtic cnoc, " hill," orfrom Hnotar-holm, nut-field, as -holm often becomes-um in terminations ; Tranmere, Tranmull, crane'sness ; Hoylake (lakr) ;Meols (melar) ; Landican, inDomesday Landechene, possibly Lann-Aedhagain, thechapel of Athacan, a Gaelic name used by the writersof Norse runes in the Isle of Man. A similar Celticimportation may be Poole (Domesday, Pol), for theIrish Norse must have brought Celtic words to Wirral,as they did to Cumberland (see Saga-book of VikingClub, ii., pp. 141-147).But the chief interest of the names in Wirral is theevidence they give of the system of Norse settlementon uninhabited country, precisely the same as inIceland. We can see that each head of a householdreceived a slice of land with a frontage to the fjord ofMersey or of Dee in which the most southern creekis Shotwick, Domesday Sotowiche (Stf&rvik?). Theestate reached inland up to the less cultivable highground. In each landtake the bbndi fixed his homestead,neither on the exposed hilltop nor on themarshy He flat. made his bar, a group of buildings,in the tun, or homefield, which he manured andmowed for hay, and surrounded with a garth. Thurstaston,Thorstein's tun, must have been a Norsefarm, though Bebbington was a surviving name fromN

194 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe Anglian Bebbingas who mayhave held it beforeHastein's time. A place called Brimstage, ancientlyBrunstath (but not a " staithe ") or Brynston, showsthat stcf&r and tun were convertible terms, "Wellstead,"or "Well-ton." Storeton may be Stor-tiin," big field," or the first element may be from stor&,"coppice," as in Storth, Storthes and Storrs in theLake District. Oxton lying on the saddle of a longridge (pk\ must be " Oks-ttin, the farm on the yoke,"grammatically named. As time went on, secondarysettlements must have been formed, as we saw inLincolnshire. The younger sons of a bbndi, or hisfreedmen, would receive bits of less valuable groundinland. A name like Irby, though in Yorkshire perhapsderived from a settler Ivar, might be Ira-beer, thefarm of the Irishmen, perhaps dependents of the ownerof Thorstein's tun, above which it lies.Raby (similarnames occur in Cumberland, Isle of Man, Lancashireand Denmark,) means a farm on the boundary of, orwedged in between, two greater estates.Around these farmsteads were the acres where theysowed "big and barr," and the pastures recognised by-well and -wall, as Crabwall, Krapp-vollr, "narrowfield"; Thingwall, as already noted, Thing-vellir," parliament fields." Each estate had its woods, suchas Birket (birk-with\ for fuel, and the termination-grave may mean charcoal-pits or turbaries for peat (cf.Kolgrafafjord, Iceland, as well as A.-S. grdf, "grove ").A field that slopes from a hill to a swampis called inIceland thveit / the word " thwaite " in the Lake Districtdenotes more than a mere clearing or cut-off place, and

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIREIQ5usually is associated with ancient sloping pasture-land.In Wallasey there are fields called thwaites, testifying tothe Norse origin of the agricultural system at the timewhen these names were given. The hblmr, kjarr(carr) and myrr served, before the days of drainedland, as they do in Iceland now, forpasturing largercattle; lambs and calves were herded on the higherground. The name Calday (Domesday Calders) nearThurstaston, perhaps meant "calf-dales," as Calgarthat Windermere was anciently Calv-garth, and Calderin Caithness was Kalfadalsa. Sheep were sent up themoor by the Rake (from reka, to drive), and we findthe name at Eastham, as well as in Scotland andnorth England. In summer the cattle were pasturedon the moor, and the dairymaids had their sseters orshielings, which when the land became more cut upinto smaller holdings became independent farms;hence the names containing satter and seat in theLake District, sometimes dropping the last consonantand producing Seathwaite, Seascale. In Wirral, Seacombeappears to represent the hvammr or " combeof the seat," or saeter. Other words to express thesame practice are of the type of Summerhill and Sellafield,found in the north of England, and also theborrowed Gaelic airidh or ergh tfound in the Orkneysand Hebrides, as well as throughout Northumbria andGalloway in various forms. Here in Wirral we find itas Arrow, parallel with the same name at Coniston, andperhaps giving us the sater of the Gallgael Norsemanwho had his bar at Thurstaston.In the middle of the peninsula where the moorland

196 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINpastures of the first settlers met, is Thingwall and near;it is Landican, which, if we are right in explaining thename as the chapel of an Irish saint or priest, standsin relation to the Thingsteadas the central church inthe Isle of Man does to the Tynwald. And further,we see that Ingimund's Norse were already Christianisedin Dublin and brought their religion with them ;or, if they were not all as yet Christians, we may be surethat the Lady of the Mercians insisted that settlersunder her rule should be baptised, though she didnot make them take an English priest. But just upthe hillside, above the muddy dell in which thechapel stood, is Prenton (in Domesday, Prestune), thepriest's farm. As in Iceland, the priest farmed hisown glebe. Later, when a new church was built,perhaps (from its monuments) a generation or twoafter the first settlement, the farm attached to it wasknown as West Kirk-by. The churches at Nestonand Bromborough, as the crosses suggest, are of theend of the tenth century, or early in the eleventh.Overchurch, of course, was pre-Viking, and no doubtdestroyed by Hastein, or even earlier.In Wirral we seem to have the first of those agriculturalsettlements which characterise the Norse of thewest coast, as distinguished from the predatory andtrading centres of the Vikings in Wales, and the conqueredlands of the great Danish invasion in the eastof England. To their presence in Cheshire musthave been due the rise of the town refounded byealdorman ^Ethelred, for its wealth in the eleventhcentury was won by trade with Dublin (see Mr.

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE 197Round's Feudal England, p. 465), and the Scandinaviancharacter of Chester is shown by the fact thatitwas ruled by "lawmen," as were the Five Boroughs.A second Norse colony, of which we have no historicalrecord, must have existed north of the Mersey.Thingwall, east of Liverpool, would be a convenientcentre for a number of places with names such as Roby,(West) Derby, Kirkby, Crosby, Formby, Kirkdale,Toxteth (Stockestede in Domesday] and Croxteth (notstaithes, being inland), Childwall (Cildeuuelle, Kelduvellir),Diglake, Harbreck, Ravensmeols, Ormskirk,Altcar (Acrer), Carrside, Cunscough (Skogr), Skelmersdale(Schelmeresdele, Skdlmyrrsdalr). Of forty-fiveplace-names in West Derby Hundred mentioned inDomesday, five are Anglo-Saxon and ten are Scandinavian;the rest might be interpreted in either dialect.In the remainder of South Lancashire all the names inDomesday are Anglo-Saxon, but there are only twelvealtogether, for the land was partly waste at the timeand partly free from assessment. Hence, when welook at the map, we can recognise a great number ofNorse names which do not appear in Domesday : some,no doubt, were later settlements and owe their Scandinavianform to the persistence of the dialect, butmany must be original. Of the persons named in thesurvey, three of the landowners in West Derby haveScandinavian names ;three more are probably Scandinavian,whilst seven are Anglo-Saxon. In Warringtonsix " drengs " have Norman names, and one Scandinavian;but the word "dreng" itself is Scandinavian,and the tenure indicates the survival of old relations

198 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINother than those of Saxon England. South Lancashireformed a part of Cheshire after the break-up ofthe Danish kingdom of York; in 1002 the will ofWulfric Spot, founder of the abbey of Burton-upon-Trent, mentions his great possessions in Wirral andthe land between Mersey and Kibble; so that thebosndr here held by Mercian rules, although, asnoticed on p. 122, it is possible that the hides andhundreds of this district really replaced a previoussystem of division analogous to that of the Danelaw.The Winwick crosshead is remarkable evidence ofimported Celtic art of the late tenth century, probablyindicating the presence of a sculptor from the Hebrides,if not a family of Hebridean origin. As the chroniclerstell us that in 980 Northern or Hebridean piratesinvaded Cheshire, it is possible that this gives theoccasion for the introduction of the person whocarved this work ; but by the analogy of Vikingsettlements elsewhere it is evident that there wascontinual movement. It was part of every youngman's education, so to speak, to travel either as apirate or a merchant, or both ;and intercourse withdistant Scandinavian lands was the normal order oflife. The Barton fragment seems to be a tenthcentury work with Viking ring-plaits ;and thesemonuments of South Lancashire and West Cheshirecontrast strongly with the group of Mercian roundshaftedcrosses in the east of Cheshire, and no lessstrongly with the Northumbrian pre-Viking crosses ofBolton, Whalley and in North Lancashire. Thedistribution of monuments adds to the force of the

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE 199remark that many Norse-sounding place-names ofEast Lancashire may have been given to placessettled at a much later date than the colonies ofWirral and the Liverpool district.In Amounderness, the Agemundrenesseof Domesday^the land between Kibble and Morecambe Bay,we find a third Scandinavian colony, which hasgiven the name to the district Ogmundar-nes. It isunlikely that Ogmund was the Ingimund of 900, forthis territory was hardly within the gift of ^Ethelflaedof Mercia. The fact that at Heysham on MorecambeBay there is a " bear hogback " of the Yorkshire typedoes not prove, as might seem at first sight, that thecolony came from Danish Yorkshire by way ofCraven ;for this hogback must be of the very end ofthe tenth century, and if the gift of the district by^Ethelstan to St. Peter at York in 930 be genuine,the name must have been already in use. Indeed,when we remember that the rest of the seaboard ofLancashire was colonised early in that century,it isdifficult to believe that this one part remainedunoccupied. Here, again, Domesday gives us somedata. Of fifty-eight place-names only twenty appearto be distinctly Anglo-Saxon or otherwise earlier thanthe Viking invasion ; eight are distinctly Scandinavian,including two in -argli, meaning a Norse saeter and;the rest are possibly Scandinavian, though they mightbe interpreted as Anglian. In the neighbouringdistrict of Lonsdale about twelve Domesday placenamesseem to be Anglo-Saxon, eight Scandinavianand twenty-eight doubtful In Furness and South

200 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINCumberland twenty-eight names are given, of whichhalf-a-dozen are Anglo-Saxon, three or four distinctlyNorse or Danish, and the rest indeterminate. But ofthe landowners in North Lancashire mentioned inall have Scandinavian names Domesday', except twowhich are Celtic ; probably their families were ofIrish-Viking or Gallgael origin.The monuments tell the same tale. There are atLancaster and round about many fine Anglian sculptures,showing refinement and wealth in the eighth and ninthcenturies ;but with these are as many of the VikingAge, proving that the tenth century new-comers wereChristian, or soon became so, and carved tombstonesin a style which indicates their own native tasteinfluenced by their association with Ireland. Thearea of these remains reaches from Melling up theLune Valley to Heysham on the coast, but does notso far as our knowledge goes at present extend to thesouthern parts of Amounderness, where it is to besupposedthere was less wealth and culture. It ischiefly at the seaports and centres of travel, on thegreat highways of commerce, that such works of artare found. The Melling stone is interesting as bearingthe same pattern with similar monuments in Norseparts of Cumbria and Scotland, though not Celtic likethe Winwick cross. The cross at Halton, furtherdown the Lune, has panels representing the story ofSigurd the V6lsung, a work of the eleventh century.The Lancaster Hart and Hound cross is a remarkableexample of Norse art with Celtic influences but the;most noteworthy of the series is the " hogback " at

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE2OIHeysham, upon which figures are sculptured which seemto represent a kind of illustration of the " Voluspa,"that poem of the Edda which the editors of the CorpusPoeticum Boreale date about A.D. 1000 or a littleearlier the heathen forecast of the Dayof Doomwhich the Christian world expected in that year.The artist of this work, if he can be called an artist,must have come from Yorkshire, but the poem nodoubt came from the Hebrides ;and the later yearsof the tenth centuryfit the time when such workcould be imagined and executed. So we get a hintof the life and belief on the shores of MorecambeBay when the colony was already well established,rich enough to afford such monuments, Christianisedenough to recognise their meaning, and yet clingingto the old associations and in touch by traffic andpeaceful intercourse with heathen kindred over-seas.One more monument of the North Lancashiregroup must be noticed as showing how long thisNorse colony lasted, using its old language and, inspite of the Norman Conquest and all that the organisationof the twelfth century meant, clinging to itsindividuality. At Pennington in Furness is a Normantympanum of a church built about the middle of thetwelfth century, carved by " Hubert the mason " butbuilt under the patronage of Gamel de Pennington,a descendant of the old Viking landholders of theplace. The inscription is in Scandinavian runes,and the language is a clipped Norse, not yet passedinto English : "(Ga)mial seti thesa kirk ;Hubertmasun van . . ." So we have documents in stone,

202 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINin the absence of written records, giving the area andduration of these three Norse colonies betweenCambria and Cumbria.3.CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND.It ishardly possible to draw any boundary linebetween the Viking areas round Morecambe Bay andthose of Cumbria.In ancient times the sands joinedopposite coasts of these great bays and estuaries;where the ordinary map, coloured blue to high-watermark, suggests deep sea the mountains were the real:"scientific frontier," and thus ithappened that thesouth of the Lake District was naturally associatedwith Lancaster and dissociated from Cumberland in amanner which seems strange to one who knowsEngland only from the map. But the mountaincountry seems to have been gradually filledup withNorse farming-settlements, and though perhaps theearliest Viking immigrants of Cumbria clustered togetheron the west coast, forming a group like thoseof Wirral, South Lancashire and Amounderness, andpossibly also Furness, yet it cannot have been longbefore all the available lands were occupied. Howcompletely this was the case is seen in the placenames.There are certain survivals of the Angliansettlement which followed the Roman roads, comingnorth and west from Manchester and Leeds toLancaster, and thence up the Lune and Kent andacross the sands to Furness ;also coming over Stain-

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 203moor and down the Eden to Carlisle, thence roundthe coast to Ellenborough and Ravenglass ;andthirdly, by way of the Roman Wall to Bewcastle andIrthington. But these Anglian sites are all in thelowlands ;in the mountain country the ancient namesare Norse, overlying a few Celtic survivals.It does not follow that these names of Norse formdate from the beginning of the settlement in everycase. Some of them are certainly of the twelfthcentury. Allonby, Aglionby, Gamblesby, Glassonby,Upperby, and still more obviously Isaacby andParsonby show that the termination -by was appliedat a comparatively late date, simply because it wasthe local word. Allerby is named from Aylward inthe eleventh century ;Gilsland from Gilles son ofBueth ; Sunnygill, written Sunnivegile about 1239,may be referred to a Sunnif whose son Robert ismentioned about 1175. Waberthwaite, Langwathby(twelfth century Langwaldeofby), and Thursby maybe named from Wyberth, Waltheof and Thore (Th6rir),father of the " Thorfynn mac Thore," to whomGospatric's charter gave lands acquired by Th6rir in thedays of jarl Sigurd (earl Siward), who died 1055. Thisdeed (printed Scot. Hist. Rev., i.)shows us also that bythen the place-names were Norse :Alnerdall, the daleof the Ellen or Alne with a Norse genitive in -er ;bekTroyte (" Troutbeck," now the Wisa) and Caldebekshow long-established Norse topography, though inthe midst of " lands that were Welsh " on eallun \>amlandann \eo weoron CoWibres" Cymric, Cumbrian,in which the very villages granted to Thorfinn were

204 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN"Cardeu and Combedeyfoch " (Cumdivock). Theuse of the word " beck " for a stream in Scandinaviandistricts and incombination with words of distinctlyScandinavian origin is itself a proof of early settlement,before the age of the colonisation of Iceland,where the word is not unknown (as Kviabekkr inLandndma] but is usually replaced byIcelandic poetry the word bekkr was preserved, asLcekr. Inmany archaic words survive in verse ; showing that itwas not merely the Danish " test-word " which it hasbeen supposed to be : and this suggests that thelanguage of those who gave Cumbrian as well asNorthumbrian place-names must be earlier thantenth-century Icelandic a fact which has been already:(p. 56) noted of Shetland.The monuments also favour this view of an earlysettlement. In Cumberland there are many pre-Norman grave-stones which belong to the series ofAnglian works carved throughout Northumbria, towhich Cumberland belonged under the great kings ofthe seventh and eighth centuries. Of these the crossheadsat Carlisle can be traced to a school of artcentering in Northallerton ; obviously this style camein along the Roman road over Stainmoor : and allalong that road as far as the coast near the greatancient ports of Ellenborough, Workington andRavenglass these Anglian monuments can be seen.But these are quite as obviously imitated in a seriesof crosses which glide into works with distinctlyNorse motives and occasional Irish characteristics, inthe boss-and-spine cross -heads with scroll-work be-

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 2O$coming worm-twist, and animal forms becoming Scandinaviandragons, and bearing the swastika and othersymbols not used by the Anglians. This series isfollowed, late in the tenth century, by another of moreadvanced skill in carving, such as we have seen musthave been developed in Northumbria under Mercianinfluence after the fall of the independent Vikingmonarchy the round-shafted crosses of Northamptonshireand Cheshire, imitated in Yorkshire and thentravelling north by the same great route to Penrithand Gosforth, and turning into distinctly Norse formswith illustrations from the Edda poems, such as wehave noticed (p. 201) on the Heysham "hogback."This continuous development from the modelsfound at Carlisle is not likely to have been the workof Halfdan's Danes, who in 875 came there only toplunder and destroy. Their successors, however, whoshared in the distribution of lands and settled in theAnglicised parts of Cumberland may have becomeconverted under Guthred and so led to imitate themonuments of the burnt priory, and no doubt thenatives, who would be employed as carvers, knewthem well. But as we go west from Carlisle we findmore and more Scandinavian and Irish elements inthe art of the period, so that a somewhat sharp distinctioncan be drawn between the 'Anglo-Danishstones of the Yorkshire type and those of West Cumberland;and we are led to conclude that the bulk ofthe Cumbrian Vikings were of a different race fromthe Danes of Northumbria, akin rather to the Norseof Man, Galloway, Ireland and the Hebrides. And

206 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthe monuments suggest these Norse were already astrong colony in the earlier part of the tenth century.Of pre-Christian relics of the Vikings in these partsa few examples remain. The Ormside cup, now inthe York Museum, seems to be a Viking's loot, carriedover Stainmoor from some church in Yorkshire to thespot in the Eden Valley where the early invader madehis home at Ormside (Orms-setr\ perhaps keepinghis very name. In the churchyard has been found agrave-hoard of weapons, evidently an early intermentof the days when half-converted heathen were buriedwith the grave-goods of the pagan rite, as at Birka, nearStockholm, tenth-century Christians were interredwith their personal belongings. Earlier still is the"find" at the tumulus of Hesket-in-the-Forest, nearCarlisle, where a sword, bent and broken, as inheathen burials, was found with various weapons andthe spur and snaffle of the warrior's horse. OtherViking swords have been found at Workington andWitherslack, the former likewise bent up and brokenin its sheath. But down the Eden from Ormside,at Kirkoswald, a trefoil fibula (British Museum), bearingornament resembling that of a bead of Danishmake in the Copenhagen Museum, was found alongwith coins dating 769-854, or twenty years beforeHalfdan attacked Carlisle.This seems to mean thatDanish Vikings were in the Eden Valley before thedate at which chroniclers record their presence. Asexamples of metal-work coming into Cumbria fromthe opposite direction, brought in by Norse from thebe mentioned the Braytonwest, mayfibula, perhaps

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 207Irish-Viking in origin, the Orton Scar penannularfibula, now possessed by the Society of Antiquaries;" "the two great thistle fibulae from the neighbourhoodof Penrith, now in the British Museum, and athird, of great size but without the thistle ornament,found near Kirkby Lonsdale and owned by theBishop of Barrow. All these seem to be relics ofthe Norse occupation of the tenth century, to whichdate they may be referred.We have noticed the conquest of Strathclyde byOlaf the White and Ivar " the Boneless " in 870, andseen that in 875-880the bearers of St. Cuthbert'srelics could travel in Cumberland and Galloway withouthindrance, though driven from Northumberlandby heathen Danes. By that time, however, Norsefrom Ireland must have already begun to settle inGalloway, and possibly in Cumberland, though perhapsin small numbers, and already under the influenceof Irish Christianity. It was about or soonafter the close of the pilgrimage of Eardwulf andEadred Lulisc that, according to the sagas, HaraldFairhair invaded the Hebrides and Man. "He camefirst by Shetland, and slew there all the Vikings whofled not from under him. Thence sailed Harald theking south to the Orkneys and cleared them all ofVikings. After that he went throughout the Hebridesand harried there; he slew there many Vikings whoruled over hosts erewhile. He fought many battlesand always won them. Then he harried in Scotlandand fought battles there. But when he came west toMan, there they had already heard what harrying he

208 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINhad done, and all folk fled into Scotland and theisland was left unpeopled all goods that might be:were shifted and flitted away. So when Harald's menlanded there they took no booty." (Hetmskringla,Harald Fairhair^ xxii.) Now after Halfdan's invasionCumberland ceased to be Northumbrian.Early in the tenth century we find it, under nativeWelsh kings, as part of Strathclyde, a kingdomclosely connected with Scotland and ultimately, if notat held first, by the tanist to the Scottish crown. Onthis occasion the fugitives from Man could not havefled in the direction from which their enemy wascoming, and the conclusion is that they emigratedin mass to the fjords of Solway and Duddon,and to the hills visible to them from their home inMan.The notice in the chronicles that Hastein, afterleaving Chester (895), ravaged the North Welsh, orNorth British, applies to what we still call NorthWales. There was no need for him to go to Cumbria,in his starving condition, to find food^ and thesuggestion that his Danes colonised Cumbria at thattime need not be considered. But less than twentyyears later, if there is any truth in the stories toldby the Historia de S. Cuthberto (see p. 128), Vikingswere pressing the Angles of Cumberland, and makingthem take refuge eastward, over the fells. In 918 Ottarand Ragnvald marched through to Corbridge ; indeed,Ragnvald was known as " Dux Galwalensium," thoughthis was hardly a territorial title ;he was not the jarl ofGalloway, but the leader of the Gallgael.In 924, not

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 209only the Danes of Northumbria, but the Northmen (ofthis coast) submitted to Eadward, and in 926 thekings of Scotland and Strathclyde met ^Ethelstan atDacre, which must have been the Cumberland Dacre,outside Northumbria, but not far within the boundaryof the Cumbrian kingdom.It is usual in historicalto draw a hard and fast line along the Derwentmapsas the southern limit of this mysterious realm, assumingthat the later bishopric represented the old kingdom ;but the whole of the mountainous Lake District musthave been at this period practically a wilderness. Aline of road went throughit from Penrith by way ofKeswick, near which St. Herbert had his hermitagein the wilds ;but the old Roman route throughAmbleside and Hardknott shows no traces of Anglianhabitation, and the central moors of Westmorland(Westmoringaland, compare Vestrmaeri in Norway," land of folk of the western meer," or boundary, notof western " meres," nor the Guasmoric of Nennius,42, nor the realm of Geoffrey's Marius) must have beenequally uncivilised until the overflow of Norse settlementfilled them with population. The interests ofthe Strathclyde king were in the north ;his capitalwas on the Clyde, and Cumberland, thoughstillCymric, was a no-man's-land.Through this region, again, Owain of Strathclydeand Constantine's army must have marched toBrunanburh, possibly joined by the Vikings settledhere ;for while there were no reprisals made uponthe. Danelaw for participation in that attack, in 945king Eadmund " ravaged all Cumberland and grantedo

210 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINitto Malcolm, king of the Scots, on condition that heshould be his fellow-worker, as well by sea as by land."This can only mean that Domhnall, son of Owain,king of Strathclyde, was permitting the Vikings whowere settled there more freedom than the old agreementsallowed, and that Eadmund wished, in modernlanguage, to preserve the integrity of a buffer State,through which the enemies of southern England werecontinually travelling between York and Ireland. Anexample of this occurs at the time of the battle ofStainmoor (954 ?),when Eirik, late of York, but sincethen in the Hebrides and at Waterford, returned torecover his Northumbrian kingdom.Magnus Olafsson(Maccus films Onlafi) had probably been dispossessedof Man and the Islands. (Professor A. Bugge remarks,in Caithreim Ceallachain Caisil^ p. 148, that Eirik iscalled "king of the Hebrides," as confederate ofSigtrygg of Dublin, about the year 953.) Magnus was,perhaps, warned by Oswulf of Bamborough, andinvited to join in the attack on Eirik and the fivekings from Orkney and Ireland; this may be themeaning of the

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 211Westmorland, and the fact that armies from timeto time marched through the country, there issingularly little to show in the way of fortificationswhich can be attributed to the period. The Norsesettlers did not come as conquerors, entrenchingthemselves against the natives, but as immigrantsseeking a livelihood. The negative evidence fromthe absence of forts issupported by positive evidenceof place-names and dialect survivals. There are a fewplaces in which the already existing fortress is noticedin the name, as the Borrowdales in Cumberland andWestmorland (Borcheredale, in mediaeval spelling,i.e.Borgar-dalr), the Broughtons (that in Furnessapparently the Borch of Domesday], Brough-under-Stainmoor (twelfth century Burc) and Burgh-by-Sands,and there is one place near Windermere called Orrest(Orrosta\ i.e. the battle. But the Norse place-namesrelate almost entirely to farminglife or the naturalfeatures of the country, except where they preserve asettler's name. Of this latter class are Osmotherley(Asmundar-lja) ;Arnside (Arna-ssetr) ;Ambleside(Hamel-side or Amel-sate in the thirteenth century) ;Arkleby (Arnkell's bcier) ; Bardsey (Berretseige, Domssday; Barrod'segg, edge); Burneside (Bronolves-befdor -helvd; Brynjolfs "claim"? or "share"?); CrosbyRavensworth (Raven's-waite or thwaite, twelfth century); Eaglesfield (Eglesfield in Distributio Cutnb.,Egil's) ;Fins-thwaite ;Godderthwaite (Godrod's) ;Gunnerkeld (Gunnar's) ;Hawkshead (Hawkenside,Haukensehead, Hakon's sastr or " claim ") ; Hornsbyin Cumwhitton (Ormes-by in 1230); Kirkby Stephen

212 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINand Kirkby Thore (Th6rir) ; Langley (Langlifs-ergh) ;Lazenby (farm of the leysingi or freedman) ; Mansergh(the slave's shieling); Melkinthorpe and Melmerby(from the Irish Maelchon and Maelmor) ;Ninesergh(Ninian's, in the estates of the ancestors of Gospatric f.Orme) ;Oddendale (Audun's, not Odin's) ;Ormside(Orm's sseter); Ousby (about 1240 Ulvesby, Ulf s) ;Ravenstonedale (the dale of Hrafn's titn) ; Ramsey (asin Wales and the Isle of Man, etc., Hrafn's island) ;Renwick (about 1177 written Ravenswic) ;Rusland (inthe thirteenth century Rolesland, Hr61f s) ; Sizergh(anciently Sigarith-erge) ; Soulby (perhaps Solva-baer) ;Stephney and Stavenerge (West Cumberland, Stephen'sor Stefnir's; perhaps not Palnatdki's father-in-law,p. 1 86, and yet Cumbria too was Bretland) ;Swinside(near Flimby, Suanesete, temp. Henry II., the saeterof Svein) ;Thirlmere (perhaps Thorolfs) ;Thurstonwater,i.e. Coniston Lake (Turstini-watra in thetwelfth century, and douotless the property of aThorstein at some earlier date) ; Thorpinsty, Cartmeland Torpenhow, Cumb. (Thorfinn's tetgr and haugr) ;Uckmanby, perhaps from Ogmund); Ullswater(Ulfs) ;Ulverston (Domesday', Ulvrestune, and notUlfs, but Ulfar's); Windermere (Hodgson Hinde'sguess that this was Symeon's Wonwaldremere, A.D.791, is quite unsupported; twelfth century Wynandermare,the lake of Wynand, perhaps Ve-anund). Allthese places seem to give the names of settlers, amongwhich one or two might be claimed as rather Danishthan Norse ; but, on the other hand, the Irish namesimply immigration from the west, or, at least, connexion

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 213with the Gallgael, while the bulk are such as mightbe found inIceland.In a book which hasbeen used somewhat incautiouslyby historians (The Northmen in Cumberlandand Westmorland, 1856), the late Robert Fergusonderived many Cumbrian place-names from names andnicknames taken at random from all sources :e.g.Butterlip-howe, at Grasmere, he made the howe ofButhar Lipr, Buthar the handyman whereas " ;butter,"which elsewhere in England means a bittern (butterbump),seems to be often used in Cumbria for "aroad," Irish bothar, a loanword brought in by theGallgael, and perhaps this odd name merely meansthe hill where there was a gate or a rise on the ancienttrack which passes the place.Every Guide to the Lakes gives as "Norse testnames" beck and bowse, fell and force, guard and gill(the form "ghyll" is a modern monstrosity), hauseand holm " (though holm " is not confined to Norsenames), lathe and lund, ness, raise (a cairn) and rake,scale and scree, tarn and thwaite. A few notableplaces are : Arklid (hillside of the ergh or shieling) ;Armathwaite (Ennitethait, about 1230, the hermit'sfield); Askham (twelfth century Askhome,i.e. Ashholm);Axle (like 6x1, in Iceland, the shoulder) ;Barrow (the island of Barrow-in-Furness, Barray insixteenth century, Barr-ey, where barley grew) ; Biglandsand Biggar (Biggarth, where": " bigg " grew);Blakeholme (bleikr, pale yellow); Blawith (bld-vftr,like Blask6gr, in Iceland, black-wood); Blowick onUllswater (bld-vik} ; Brathay (brei^-d, broad river) ;

214 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINBrisco (Byrcscaye, birk-skbgr] ;Butterilket, in Eskdale(Brotherulkil, twelfth century, perhaps brautar-hbllskelda>the spring at the hill on the Roman road ;or-olkelda, the "ale-spring," bubbling well); Catchedecamis a corruption of the dialectic " cat-stee-camb,"the ridge of the cat's path, from stigi, like Stye-head ;Claif (kleif); Cleator (Cletergh, the shieling nearrocks); Corby (Chorkeby in 1120, from korki^ Gaelicfor oats, a word used in the Edda] ;Dillicar (dilkar^small sheep-folds) ;Feet for a low-lying meadow, theIcelandic^/, iscommon; Gascow (thirteenth century,Garthscoh, garfts-skogr) ;Gatescarth (geits-skarft] ;Grain, a tributary brook, is used like grein in Iceland :Greta (grjbtd^ stony-river) ;Grisedale (gris-dalr, whereswine were fed) ;Hammer often represents the Icelandichamarr, a rock ; Haverthwaite, Haverbreck(Jiafra-brekka, goats'-bank, it is doubtful if hafrarwas used for "oats" at the period of settlement);Hellbeck and Hellgill (lieUa^ slate, or helUr, cave) ;Ireby and Ireleth (the Irishmen's farm and hillside) ;Kellet (Keldelith, fourteenth century, hillside of thespring) ; Keswick, near Cardew, is in the HolmeCultram Register Keldesik, the water-course (A.-S.sic, Icelandic sik) of the well, which may explainthe name of the town on Derwentwater, though in1292 it is written Keswyk, and may refer to the inletof the lake on which it stands. Near it, however, isLyzzick, the hlffi-sik, which seems analogous. Thisname, like others, may have been brought from theeast of England by Danish settlers after the period ofthe first immigration. The old inhabited site which

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 215Keswick superseded was Crosthwaite. Leath Ward isthe district on the HIPS or slope of the hills of Edenside;so Lyth, in the Gilpin Valley, and Liddale, in1292, was spelt Lythdale. Musgrave probably meansthe moss where peat was dug ; Natland, Nateby andNaddale refer to naut^ " neat," cattle ; Orgrave (Ouregrauein Domesday) is a place where iron-ore wasdug at early times; perhaps pre-Norse, but possiblyaur-grof. Raisbeck and Raisthwaite may be socalled from the cairns (hreysar) near them, like DunmailRaise.Rossett and Rosthwaite may refer, likeRusland, to the name of Hrolf, or to hross, a horse,'like Hrossaholt in Iceland. Sawrey and Sowerby are"sour" lands, from saurr. Scafell is the mountainof precipices with chasms in them, perhaps Skora-fell ;Scarthgap is the pass through a notch (skarft)in thehills. Southerfell is the Icelandic Satf&afell> likeFairfield (Farfjall\ the hill where sheep pasture ;Sunbrick (Swenebrec in the fourteenth century) issvina-brekka^ the bank where swine feed. Swarthmoor(svartr) and Sweden (svffitnri)How are places wherethe copse or heather was burnt. Thrimby, in Domesday,is Tiernebi, tjarnabair, the farm of the tarns ? ;Tilberthwaite, in the twelfth century, Tildesburgthwait,the field of the tent-shaped hill (tjaldberg) and ; Torver,the ergh on the peat moss. Ulpha and Ullscarthrecall the fact that wolves roamed the hills ; Warcopand Warwick, Warthole (fibII,a hill)and Warton arenamed from their beacons (varSa). Watendlathwas Wattendland, temp. Richard I. Whale is perhapssimply hvdll, the hill, used as a place-name in Iceland.

2l6SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINWythop was formerly Withorppe and Wyth-thorp,the village in the wood ; Harbyrn, the high borran,and Wythburn, the wide borran, or pile of stones, aword borrowed by the Vikings from Ireland andfrequently used in the Lake District for natural rockyplaces and for ancient ruins, like Borrans Ring, theremains of the Roman camp at Ambleside. Wythburn,however, appears in a sixteenth century will asWythbotten, and this word botn t usually Englished"bottom," is often found in Cumbria and Yorkshirefor the head not basin of a valley, as in Iceland.In the northern fringe of the Lake District thereare also many names with Blen, Caer, Pen, etc., whichshow Cymric survivals, proving that the Welsh ofCumberland, as well as the Angles already settledthere, lived side by side .with the Norse immigrants.All the Norse place-names indicate the domestic lifeof a race occupied in farming there is nothing heroic:about them in the way of sites consecrated to thememory of battles though battles were fought, or ofheathen rites though heathen gods were still remembered,if not worshipped. One place in Westmorland,Hoff Lunn (lundr) may signify such practices, but itis the exception. The supposed references to Thor,Odin, and Baldr as gods commemorated in placenamesare illusory ;and yet the Gosforth Cross showsthat about the year 1000 these myths were current,side by side, with Christianity. The survivals of Norsein the dialect point the same way. To berry (berja,thresh) ;the boose (bass, cow-shed) ;the brandrith(brandreffi, tripod for baking) \ elding (as in Icelandic,

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 2 17fuel) the; festingpenny (festa, to stipulate, compare" festermen ") given to a servant on hiring ; gait (galti,a pig) ; garn (garn, yarn) ; gowpen (gaupn, the twohands-full) ; hagworm (hoggormrt viper) ; handsel (Jiandsoly bargain) ; keslop, rennet from a calf (kcesir^ rennet,hlaup, curd) ; laik, to play (leika) ; lathe, a barn(hlcfSa) ley, a scythe (le) ; leister, a salmon-spear(Ijbstr) } look, to weed (lok, weeds) \ meer, a boundary(mceri) ;rake and outrake, path up which sheep aredriven (reka, to drive) ; reckling, the weakest of thelitter(reklingr, an outcast) rean or; raine, the unploughedstrips between the riggs in the ancient systemof cultivation (rein) ; rise, brushwood (hris) ; sieves,rushes from which rush-lights were made (sef);sime,straw-rope (sima, rope) ; sile, a sieve for milk (silt)skemmel, a bench (skemtlt) ; skill, to shell peas(skilja) ) skut, the hind-end board of a cart (skutr^ thestern) ; stang, the cart-shaft (stotig) ; stee, a ladder(stigi) ', stower, a stake (staurr) twinter and trinter,sheep of two and three winters old (tvcevetr and\revetr) ; quey, a young cow (kvigd) ;these are afew of the distinctive dialect words, not all confinedto Cumberland, but all apparently surviving from theNorse farmers (taken from the glossary compiled bythe Rev. T. Ellwood, English Dialect Society, 1895).Dr. Prevost, in his Cumberland Glossary, enumeratesover a hundred different words "applied to beating"and striking but;these are chiefly common Englishand some are modern slang. The old dialect wordsfrom the Norse, as Mr. Ellwood points out, arechiefly and almostly entirely such as were used in

2l8SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINdomestic life and in farming. Two ancient Norsecustoms are preserved in the word " arvals,"the foodof a funeral feast, and " dordum " expressing the uproarof the door-doom (dura-dbmr) or court of law held atthe door of the offender's house ;for a description ofwhich, in curious circumstances, see Eyrbyggja Saga(chap. 55).There is no central place named Thingwall inCumberland, as there is inWirral, in Lancashire, andin Dumfriesshire (Tinwald). Thiefstead, near Shap,in Westmorland, was formerly Thengheved, and may bethe site of a Thingstead. On the Roman road throughthe heart of the Lake District, at a point where crosswaysare thought to have run north and south, isthe curious terraced mound of Fell Foot, in Littlethe Isle ofLangdale, resembling the Tynwald Hill inMan and the similar Thingmote formerly existing inDublin. The custom of holding an assembly at a hillwas perhaps copied by the Vikings from Ireland : seeProf. A. Bugge's Caithrcim Ceallachain Caisil, p. 123,where an instance isgiven of the Irish practice.There are, however, no towns in this area, like theFive Boroughs Carlisle being ruinous from Halfdanto William Rufus in which we might have foundtraces of Scandinavian life, and documentary evidencefails us, except in the Gospatric charter, for DomesdayBook touches only the southern border of the district.Roger of Wendover's mention of a king Jukil orInkilof Westmorland (9 74) is in too corrupt a passageto trust ;or a Norse king Jokull or perhaps Ingjalldmight be imagined, for the .identification of this king

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND 2 19(whom Symeon calls Nichil) with Idwal of Wales isnot convincing, and the fact that eight years previouslyWestmorland was harried by Thord of York suggeststhat the Viking colony had been growing too important.The tradition of a king at the port of Ravenglass,Aveling perhaps a corruption of Abloic, the Welshequivalent of Olaf (whence Haveloc)is too shadowyto build upon. We can only say that the monumentsand place-names of Cumberland point toan early and powerful colony of Norse in touch withIreland and the Isles, and that towards the end of thetenth century, as the Gosforth and other crosses show,no other part of the Viking world could surpass thisdistrict in literary and artistic culture. Situated onthe shore of the Irish Sea, which was a Viking lake,and on the main road from the English east to theCeltic west, the neighbourhood of Gosforth wasindeed geographically the focus of all the influenceswhich fostered the birth of the Edda poems. Whereverthey were composed, it was here that they were illustratedalmost at the moment of their production. Inthe Isle of Man within view of the West Cumberlandshore we find also Edda subjects in sculpture, but ofsomewhat later date and in less fulness. Heysham,Halton, and Penrith show some examples of the sameart, but the centre of this Edda-illustrating region andthe richest in remains is Gosforth with its crosses andhogbacks, and the contemporary relics at the neighbouringsites of Waberthwaite, Muncaster, BeckermetHaile, St. Bees, Workington, Brigham, Great Clifton,Bridekirk, Dearham, Gilcrux, Isel, Cross-Canonby,

220 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINAspatria, Plumbland, and Bromfield. (See EarlySculptured Crosses of the Diocese of Carlisle^ byCalverley and Collingwood.)It was amongst the Norse settlers of the tenth andeleventh centuries in northern England that, accordingto Prof. Sophus Bugge, the " HelgakvrSa " wascomposed. The group of poems resembling this,"the finest heroic poems in the whole range ofNorthern Song," are attributed by Vigfiisson andYork Powell (Corpus Poet. Bor., Introd.) to somenameless but inspired singer on some shore of theIrish Sea or in the Hebrides. It was certainly inthe land of the Cumbri, whether north or south ofSolway, that a literary movement almost as importantas that which created the Edda took place ;thecreation of not only the folk-tales of Havelock andHorn, but also of those Arthurian tales which containso many motives of the Viking Age, and confuse theancient Celtic mythology with waifs and strays fromninth and tenth century history and from the folkloreof the Norse, placing Arthur's court at "merryCarlisle," then the ruined city of the Romans andAngles,Caledon after the famous battlethe adventures of Merlin in the Wood ofof Arthuret in Cumberland,Gawain at Tarn Wadling in Inglewood, Blaisein Northumberland, Lancelot at Bamborough, andUrien of Reged in the regionof the Roman Wall.All this seems to be a secondary result of the impulseto thought and action given by this great but forgottensettlement of the Norse in Cumberland and thedistrictsround about it.

DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY 2214. DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY.A sister colony can be traced on the north shore ofthe Solway, occupying the district between the Eskand the Dee, with centre at Tinwald (Thingvellir)near Dumfries, but extending into Kirkcudbrightshireon the one hand, into Peeblesshire on the other, andreaching inland as far as the main watershed betweeneast and west ; Liddesdale, Liddel's-dale, was theHlift-dalr of the settlers, but the outlying parts of thisarea no doubt owe their names in -beck, -gill, -rig, -fell,-by and -thwaite to secondary settlement later thanthe tenth century. It has been thought that theoriginal colony was planted in 876 by Halfdan, whichis possible ;but as the whole was afterwards withinthe kingdom of the Strathclyde Cymru, and open tothe same influences as Cumberland, no sharp distinctioncan be drawn between the two districts; Danishorigins must have been overlaid by subsequent Norseimmigration. We find Cumberland names repeatedin Brydekirk, Lowther-hill and -ton, Newbigging,Croglin, Dalton, Rockcliffe, Eskdale, Eaglesfield,Whinfell, Aiket, Canonbie, etc. and similar forms in;'CrifTell, Arkland (compare Arklid), Kelton, Stanhope,Rutnwell (Rau>-vellir), Lockerbie, Smallholm (smalt,small cattle, sheep and goats, compare Smallthwaite),Tundergarth, Middlebie, Middleton, Burnswark(borrans-virki, from the Gaelic loan-word boireand],Closeburn (Kil-Osbjorn\ Langholm, Broomholm, etc.

222 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINGaelic and Welsh names, not infrequent in Cumberland,are more frequent north of Solway, and showthat the settlement did not drive out the earlierpopulation there is no area so exclusively Scandinavianas to suggest that a clearance was made by:forcible invasion ;but the Norse names are, as usual,thicker on the coast, and fade away thence inland.The name of the Solway itself can hardly be fromthat of the Selgovae who inhabited Galloway inRoman times ;the termination is surely the Norsevdgr, a creek, and the characteristic of this estuary isits tidal bore ;whence one istemptedto connect itwith soil, "swill," and solmr, "the swell of the sea."The stone carvings of Dumfriesshire, so far as theycan be judged from Mr. Romilly Allen's great volumeon the Early Christian Monuments of Scotland,seem to be wholly of pre-Viking period. There aresplendid works of the Anglian church at Ruth well,Hoddam, Thornhill, Closeburn and elsewhere. Theabsence of relics of the Viking Age may perhaps beexplained by their presence in the neighbourhoodof Whithorn. We find, for example, an interestingseries at Whithorn itselfshowing an evident transitionfrom Anglian work to debased floral scrolls, hammerheadcrosses, broken ring-plaits and ruder cutting,characteristic of the Viking period in Cumberlandand Yorkshire. At Aspatria in Cumberland is a curiousincised slab with the Norse Swastika ; this is paralleledby a slab from Craignarget on Luce Bay, and thehammerhead slab with rude crucifix and barbarousscroll-work from Kirkcolmon Loch Ryan resembles the

DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY 223Addingham (Cumberland) cross and others, made forViking patrons in imitation of earlier models. Now,as lona was the burial-place of Hebridean chieftains,soWhithorn must have been the mausoleum of thenotables of this coast; and perhapsall who couldafford a monument, buried their dead at the famoussanctuary of St. Ninian. This may explain the absenceof distinctively Viking-age work in Dumfriesshire,stones ofthough in Kirkcudbright there are manythe tenth century which may have been carved forthe settlers without introducing any very characteristicViking ornament.In Wigtownshire itself was another Norse colony,no doubt connected with that in Dumfriesshire, andyet divided by the hilly district west of the Dee,in which there is a smaller proportion of Norse placenamesexcept on the coast-line. Here again Cumbriannames are reduplicated, as Wigtown, Sorbie (Sowerby),Broughton, Carleton, Glasserton, Ramsey, Tongue,Gretna ;while Physgill (Fishcegil, fiski-gil\ Eggerness(ness of the Solway tidal-bore) and Fleet (Fljbf) areof similar form. In Njal's saga Beruvik, somewherenear Whithorn, is named it has been found;atBurrow Head or Yarrock Bay, but there is also aBerwick near Kirkcudbright. The farmers' loan-worderg/i isfound again in another Arkland, and is commonas -aroch) while the Gaelic form appears in Airyland.The origin of the settlement in Galloway, connectedas it must be with the Gallgael (Galweithiabeing the Latin from Galwyddel the Cymric equivalentof the Gaelic Gallgaidhel) isperhaps earlier,

224 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthough not much earlier, than that of the Cumberlandcolony. The Gallgael are first found in 854 or 855in co. Tyrone, and next year as settled in northernIreland (Leathchuinn). The Four Masters mentionGofraith mac Feargus as invited by Kenneth macAlpin to strengthen Dalriada (south-west Scotland)in 835, and he died as king of Insigall (the Hebrides)in 852, the year in which Olaf the White came toIreland. The name of Gofraith suggests that he washimself an early example of the mixed race, and by835 the Norse were certainly attacking the Islands,while in 839 the Ulster Annals and the Chronicle ofHuntingdon record invasion of Pictish territory. Thenwe find Olaf the White fighting Caittil Finn, or KetilFlatnef, with his Gallgael in Munster, 857, and subsequentlyin alliance with him, having married Ketil'sdaughter Aud, after already marrying the daughter ofKenneth. It may have been a case of polygamy,to which ninth-century Vikings were accustomed ;but from what we know of Aud this is doubtful.Now Heimskringla represents Ketil as Harald Fairhair'sviceroy; Laxdcela makes him his enemy.Possibly Ketil at first left Norway to escape Harald,and later was used as a stick to beat Olaf the White :failing which, at a subsequent date, Harald Fairhaircame in person. In any case Ketil and his partywere by no means subdued, and though the Irishannals represent the Gallgael as renegades worse thanheathen, Aud, Helgi Magri and other connexions ofKetil appear as Christians, or semi-Christianised. Itis of Helgi,the Christian son-in-law of Ketil, that it is .;

DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY 225said he worshipped Thor when he was at sea, or indanger, though praying to Christ when on shore.From Ireland the Gallgael seem to have migratedabout 860-870 to the islands and coasts of southwestScotland, during the time when Olaf the Whitewas extending his power in that direction. Hewasted Pictland (Galloway ?) in 866, and took Alclyde(Dumbarton) the capital of the Cymric realm in 870.In 875 Oistin, his son, is said to have been treacherouslyslain by the people of Alban and the identificationof this Oistin (Eystein) with Thorstein the Red,;another son of Olaf, whose conquests in northernScotland must have been of a later date, has led tomuch confusion in the history of the period. In 877a body of Danes, driven from Ireland by the Norse,crossed Scotland to Fife and fought Constantine atDollar ;but no settlement is recorded as made.Meanwhile in 875 Halfdan had invaded Galloway,and the coast probably was open to other parties ofVikings. That the Northmen in these parts were nothostile to English Christians, is shown by the sojournof St. Cuthbert's relics at Whithorn about this time.But that they soon became populous in the islands asfar south as Man is shown by Harald's invasion,which cannot be later than about 880, and if it hadoccurred earlier it would have left some traces in thestory of Eardwulfs pilgrimage. He and his companions,it will be remembered, are said to have leftWhithorn on hearing of Halfdan's death, slowlyreturning along the coast. They could not havebeen in Galloway in such a time of tumult and

226 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINdistress. The first definite settlement of Galloway,therefore, may be put at this date, simultaneously withthat^of Cumberland and Dumfriesshire. ThenceforwardGallowayis to the Island kingdom as Caithnessisto the Orkney earldom, a mainland colonyof alliesrather than dependents; and itssubsequent historyis bound up with that of Majn and the Isles.5.MAN AND THE ISLES.We have seen that about 880 Man was already aScandinavian colony. In the year 900 Vikings fromIreland, under the OTvars, ruling in Dublin andLimerick, invaded Scotland and killed King Domhnallat Dunottar ;and three years later Ivar O'lvar plunderedDunkeld, but was slain in Stratherne. Thisseems to suggest the extension of Irish Viking enterprise,after the invasion of Harald Fairhair, into andbeyond the districts he had depopulated. In 914 BardOttarson, whose son Colla was lord of Limerick in 924,was killed in a sea fight off the Isle of Man by Ragnvald,afterwards king of York. At Brunanburh Bard's sonHarek was present, and Geleachan (one of the Irishnames in giolla, adopted by the Gallgael), king ofthe Islands, was killed. In 940 the Insigall wereplundered by King Muirceartach mac Neill, whohimself had been taken prisoner by the Vikings threeyears earlier, but ransomed. In the middle of thecentury Morann, son of Connra the "fleet-king ofLewis," son of the king of Norway (or the Norse), isnamed in connexion with Limerick (Prof,A Bugge,

MAN AND THE ISLES 227i. $ p. 178) together with Aedh, son of Echu,^another Hebridean king, and Eirik, king of theIslands, whom Prof. Bugge identifies with EirikBlodox, lately expelled from York and shortly to bekilled at Stainmoor ;which fixes the date at about953' We seem to see the Islands under Gallgaelrulers, some of whom ha.d relations with Limerick ;butno settled dynasty was in occupation.To this period may perhaps be assigned the storytold in Landndma and the older version of Droplaugarsonasaga, of a jarl Asbjorn Skerjablesi (Skerryblaze)"who ruled in the Hebrides after Tryggvi (aform of Sigtrygg) and before Guthorm." He wasattacked by the H61mfast Vethorm's son andvikingshis kinsman Grim, descended from Ketil Raum (ofRomsdal), who slew him and carried his wife anddaughter into captivity. If the dating of the storymay be attempted, the event must have happenedabout 940, though the absence of detail makes itimpossible to guess whereabouts was the jarldom ofthese three rulers.In 961 the fleet of Olaf Cuaran's son and the Lagmennof the Islands (Isle of Man ?) plundered Corkand carried their prey to Britain and to Mon-Conain(Anglesey) and these; Lagmenn reappear with Magnus(Maccus), son of Harald, in 974, as [attacking thesouth of Ireland. The English chronicles relatethat Magnus Haraldsson was one of the kings whoyielded submission to Eadgar, and he was probablyson of Harald Sigtryggsson O'lvar, lord of Limerick,who was killed in Connaught in 940; suggesting a

225 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINcontinued connexion of the Isle of Man with Limerick.The name Magnus originates in Charlemagne ;wefind also a Carlus, son of Olaf the White, killed inbattle 867, and his sword was one of the treasures ofDublin carried off by King Maelseachlann in 995 :a Carlus mac Con was slain by Northmen in 960 his;name curiously recalls the mysterious Karl Hundasonof the next century, certainly not intended (asSkenethought) for a term of reproach (see Rhys' CelticBritain, p. 267).A Magnus Bjarnarson of Limerickdied in 968, and the name must have come into usein hero-worship of the great enemy of the Vikings.With Magnus Haraldsson we find the first fairlyascertained dynasty of Man and the Isles : he diedabout 977, and was succeeded by his brother Godred(Godfrid), who fought a battle in Man (987) with Danesfrom Dublin, who had been plundering in Dalriada,and at Christmas had slain the abbot of lona andfifteen of his monks. This is about the time, thoughthe circumstances are not those, of the story told inNjal's saga of Kari Solmundarson and Njal's sonsGrim and Helgi, who landed in Man and forcedGodred to pay the tribute claimed by the king ofNorway. At a later date they attacked him again,and slew Dungall his son, and then betook them toColonsay, where they stayed with jarl Gilli, who accompaniedthem to Orkney and married a daughterof jarl Sigurd. Godred's kingdom evidently did notextend over the whole of the Islands; he died in989, succeeded by his sons Ragnvald and Kenneth,and his grandson Svein (Suibhne), son of Kenneth.

MAN AND THE ISLES22QAbout this time Olaf Tryggvason before his conversionbuccaneered on the coasts of Wales, Man and theHebrides : and Svein, afterwards king of Denmarkand England, also attacked the island from his headquartersin Wales.At the battle of Clontarf (1014), beside the men ofOrkney and Caithness are mentioned, in The Wars ofthe Gaedhil and the Gaill, the hosts of Man, Skye,Lewis, Kintyre, Argyll, "Cillemuine" (St. Davids)and the people dwelling in the British land of " Cornbliteoc"or "Cor na liagog," which Skene thoughtmight mean Galloway: can " Cornbliteoc " be amistranscription of some such word as " Combraeog " ?After this battle, which broke up the Norse power ofOrkney, jarl Gilli who did not go to Clontarf continuedto rule Colonsay and the surrounding islands,but the Scottish chief Finlaec held Moray and Rossindependently of either Scotland or Orkney, andperhaps annexed the northern Hebrides. Argyll, theDalir of the Norse, was held by a jarl Melkolf(Malcolm), who also held Galloway,for we findKiiri Solmundarson staying with him, apparently atWhithorn, soon after the battle. Man continuedunder the same family ;Svein (Suibhne), the last kingof the old Gallgael line, died in 1034, after whichThorfinn, the great jarl of Orkney, extended hisdominion over all Scotland except Strathclyde, Fifeand Lothian, often making Galloway his head-quarters.His dominion over the Isles probably meant littlemore than that he took tribute and was recognisedas over-lord. In 1031 King Kmit received the

230 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsubmission of Malcolm of Scotland, together with twokings, named Maelbaethe and Jehmarc, in whomSkene (Celtic Scotland, i., p. 397) saw Macbeth, son ofFinlaec, independent ruler of Moray, and Imergi theking of Argyll or Dalir, whose great-great-grandsonwas Sumarlidi (d. 1166). We have therefore reasonto think that the kingdom of Man and the Isles didnot then include the northern Hebrides ;the centralpart of the group, at least,must have been under theGallgael (not purely Celtic) rulers of Argyll.The surnames and place-names of Man have beenstudied by Mr. A. W. Moore, and the early monu^ments by Mr. P. M. C. Kermode, in books whichillustrate the Scandinavian settlement, its great importanceand its limits, with a copiousness whichmakes it needless to give any detail in a general sketchof a wide subject such as this is. Prof. Alex. Buggehas also written an interesting chapter, chiefly on theScandinavian crosses, in his Vikingerne. There aresome peculiarities in the place-names, noted by Mr.Moore, which distinguish Man from Cumberland :-by is common, and he rightly adds that it is bothDanish and Norwegian; thoppe is found once, tofttwice ; thwaite, beck, with, tarn and force are absent,but hqugh, dale, fell, garth and gill are frequent ;andhe concludes that the settlers in Man were less Danishthan those of East Anglia and Eastern Ireland, andmore so than those of Cumbria and the Hebrides.This was no doubt the case ;but the reasons for theabsence of some " test-words " may be simply theabsence of need for them.Gaelic names of streams

MAN AND THE ISLES 231and waterfalls being ready made, beck and force werenot needed ; lakes being unknown, there are no tarns ;was littlevillages unfamiliar, as in Cumbria, thorpeused ;the thivaite in itsproper sense being infrequent,and vt%r, the timber-wood, devastated, leaving onlyskogar of copse, these words were not applied, thoughexistent in the language of the settlers. For therest there are many similarities between Manx nomenclatureand Cumbrian :compare Peel with PeelCastle in Furness, etc., Surby with Sowerby, Kirbywith Kirkby, Scarsdale with Scarthgap, Cammall withCamfell; and Fleswick, Colby, Ramsey, Raby, Sulby(Soulby), Kneebe (Knipe), Kirkbride, etc., are identical.Several Manx words are seen in the names bothof Man and Cumbria : korki (oats), cnoc (knock,knoll), parak (parrock, "park," also transplanted toIceland), dob (dub, pool), spooyt (waterfall, as in GillSpout), bayr (Gaelic bothar, Cumbrian "butter" and"bare"), glas (stream, as in Ravenglass), borrane(Gaelic boireand, Cumbrian " borran, burn ") theseare loan-words which suggest the borrowing of languagefrom Man by the settlers in Cumbria as well as bythose on the north of Solway ;and the language wasthe mixed speech of the Gallgael.Turning to the monuments we have resemblanceseven more striking. We have seen that in Cumbriaand in itsneighbourhood there is a series of crossesdating from the end of the tenth to some time in theeleventh century, with carvings illustrating the Edda.At Halton we have Sigurd the Volsung and the same;subject is found at Andreas, Jurby and Malew in Man.

232 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINAt Heysham we have the gods at Ragnarok Mr.;Kermode finds at Andreas Odin fighting the Fenriswolf.At Gosforth we have Heimdal with his horn,repeated at Jurby. Even if all the identifications ofProf. A. Bugge and Mr. Kermode are not accepted,there are stillenough to show that Edda subjects wereillustrated in both districts on crosses put up as monumentsof Christian burial. Of Runic inscriptionsthere is a wealth in these Manx stones, and from thelanguage and lettering it is concluded that the inscribedcrosses date from 1040 onwards; and further,that there was some relation to East Gothia (Sweden)and Jsederen (Norway) in the carvers of these runes.One stone (Michael, No. 104) isthought by Prof.Sophus Bugge to be Swedish in character, though onthe whole the language is Norse, and of the eleventhand twelfth centuries. But while the inscribed stones,which are not paralleled by Cumbrian crosses, are comparativelylate, there are also some uninscribed whichmay be of the tenth century. One of these is thecross which bears the figure of a bishop, and isconnected by Mr. Kermode with bishop Roolwer(Hrolfr), mentioned in 1060 across;which, however,has a close resemblance to Cumbrian stones showingthe debased spiral forms imitated from Anglian floralscrolls, though at the same time it shows Celticmotives absent in Cumbria, with no special Scandinaviancharacter. Its Madonna can be matched byYorkshire stones earlier than the eleventh century.The conclusion seems to be that perhaps a hundredyearsearlier than Roolwer there was a Christian

MAN AND THE ISLES 233church on the island under Godred or his predecessorMagnus as indeed is not :impossible for a realmin touch with England on the one hand, and Irelandon the other, inhabited by a settled population asMan then was, must have assimilated itself to its surroundings.The modern name of the bishopricstillrecalls the old kingdom which was coextensive with it,Sodoriensis et Mannice, of the Sudreyjar (South-isles,Hebrides) and Man; abbreviated into "Sodor. andMan." It need hardly be said that such a form as" Sodor" or " the Sodors " is a barbarism when usedfor Sudreyjar.Thorium, the great jarl of Orkney, whose power andpresence in Galloway overshadowed Manx independence,died in 1064, about which time we find GodredSigtryggsson on the throne. He sent aid to the Norseinvasion of England in 1066, and some of the fewwho escaped from Stamford Bridge took refuge withhim. Among these was Godred Crovan, son ofHarold the Black of Islay (as Munch showed, not" of Iceland "),who eventually wrested Man fromFingall, Godred Sigtryggsson's heir, about 1075. ^ eset over the northern islands his son Lagman, whosucceeded him on the Manx throne as a monarch ofan independent power. To reassert the ancient rightsof Norway over the Islands, Magnus Barefoot invadedat the end of the eleventh century, and placed Ingimundover the northern Hebrides, and Ottar over Man.Both fell in revolts, and Magnus Barefoot invadedagain, leaving the islands desolated, though not withoutsome attempt to restore the prosperity of the Manx.

234 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINThen followed a period of anarchy until 1113, whenOlaf Bitling, son of Godred Crovan, was elected kingof Man. His youth had been spent at the court ofHenry I. of England; he married the daughter ofFergus, lord of Galloway, a granddaughter of Henry I.,and reigned in peace for forty years, strengthening hiskingdom by alliances.His daughter married Sumarlidi(Somerled), the Gallgael lord of Dalir (Argyll),ancestor of the Macdonalds of the Isles, and partisanof the romantic adventurer Malcolm mac Eth, whohad been a monk of Furness Abbey under the nameof Wymund (Vemund) and threw Scotland into confusionby his claims and attempts. After Olaf Bitling'sdeath his son and successor, Godred, came into collisionwith Sumarlidi, and by the naval battle of 1156was forced to surrender part of his kingdom of theIsles. Two years later Sumarlidi invaded Man ;Godred fled to Norway, but returned after a six years'absence to hold his throne until 1187, when he wassucceeded by his son Ragnvald.The division of the Isles left Man in possession ofthe northern Hebrides, whereas those from ArdnamurchanPoint southward remained in the hands ofthe Argyll family, first under Dubhgall and then underRagnvald, Sumarlidi's sons. Consequently in 1187,King Ragnvald of Man held Man and the northernisles, while King Ragnvald of Argyll held the centralpart of the whole group. Galloway in 1160 ceased tobe independent ;Malcolm of Scotland reduced it tothe condition of a province, as he also reduced Moray,where he expelled the Viking or Gallgael inhabitants

MAN AND THE ISLES 235and replaced them by" his own people." This extensionof the Scottish power at the expense of theNorse went on during the reigns of William the Lion(1166-1214) an d Alexander II. (1214-1249), whocrushed repeated revolts in Galloway, Moray and Ross,and added all the mainland, including Caithness, tothe Scottish kingdom. The last act of Alexander II.was an unsuccessful attempt to add the Hebrides tohis power.OneRagnvald of Man reigned for thirty-eight years.of the incidents of his troubled reign was an attack onthe island by King John of England (1210), invadingacountry until then no part of the English realm, butpolitically under Norway. On Ragnvald's depositionby his brother Olaf the Black, Hakon Hakonarson,king of Norway, tried to reassert his power over theHebrides, which had ceased to pay the accustomedtribute ;but the expedition he sent under HakonOspak was defeated by Olaf the Black, who remainedin Man until 1237, with Godred Don, his nephew, asviceroy over the northern Isles the central;Hebridesbeing still under the family of Sumarlidi, whose greatgrandsonJohn, lord of the Isles, was in possession atthe time when Olaf the Black's sons, Harald andRagnvald (Ronald), having died, there was a failure inthe direct descent of the Manx crown (1249), whichgave Alexander II. his opportunity to annex theIslands an opportunity which failed on this occasion,but recurred before long to his successor.Alexander II. had tried at first to win the Hebridesby negotiations with Hakon of Norway, on the ground

236 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINthat the Islands had been wrested from the Scottishkingdom by Magnus Barefoot, but the Norwegiancrown maintained a claim which had held good forsome four centuries. At last, however, it was not somuch a question of ancient rights as of practical politics.The kingdom of Scotland, once a small realm on theeast coast (p. 131), had grown into a great power,which could hardly tolerate uponits border an alienstate, turbulent and dangerous in the semi-independenceof petty rulers. Consequently Alexander III ,on coming of age (1262), prepared to carry out histhe Islands. Hakon offather's policy of annexingNorway next year bought a great fleet to resist thethreatened encroachment. He was joined by Magnus,king of Man, the last son of Olaf the Black, andDugall, lord of the Isles. After their triumphantprogress to the Clyde, Alexander was ready to maketerms, claiming only Arran, Bute and the Cumbraes.A storm wrecked the Norse fleet, and an accidentalencounter brought on the battle of Largs. Both sidesclaimed the victory, but the effect of the battle was tosend Hakon north to Orkney, where he died soonafterwards, and Magnus of Man did homage totheScottish Crown. In 1266 a treaty between Norwayand Scotland ceded Man and the Hebrides to Alexander;the ecclesiastical rights of the archbishop ofTrondhjem being retained. King Eirik of Norwaymarried the Princess Margaret of Scotland, and it wasonly by the death of their daughter Margaret inOrkney (1290) that the last link was broken.But still the Islands kept many of their Norse

MAN AND THE ISLES 237characteristics. We have seen that they were thehome of the Gallgael, never purely Scandinavian.From the first some of the Norse who settled theretook Gaelic surnames, adopted Celtic Christianity,imitated Irish poetry and art, intermarried with natives.The name a person bore was no complete test of hisrace, and the ultimate prevalence of Gaelic as thespoken language, brought about by the political unionwith Scotland, has little relation to the ethnographyof the Hebrides and Highlands. Prof. A. Bugge hasdiscussed (in his notes to Duald MacFirbis on theFomorians and the Norsemen) the pedigree of theMacleods, of which a variant is given in Skene's CelticScotland ; and supposes that the two divisions ofthe clan, Siol Tarquil and Siol Tormodj or familyof Thorkell and Thormod two chieftains of Skyeabout 1230 were descended from Lj6t (Leod) ofthe twelfth century, mentioned in Orkneyinga-saga,although the usual tradition deduces them from Ljot,son of Olaf the Black (died 1237). In any case thepedigree comes from the Norse. The macLeans andthe Morrisons, hereditary sheriffs of Lewis, deducefrom Gillemuire, whose Gaelic name disguises thefact that he was son of Helga the Fair, daughter ofHarald, son of " Old Ivar, king of Lochlann." ThemacCorquhadales of Argyll derive from Thorketill.The macDonalds of the Isles are from Sumarlidi andhis Norse wife ;Clan Alastair is from the same source.The Nicolsons of Skye come from Olaf, son of"Turcinn" of Dublin. The names of macDougal:(Dubhgall, " Dane "),Lament (Lagman), macLachlan

SCANDINAVIAN BRltAIN(Lochlan), show their Scandinavian origin.MacAskill(Asketil), Maclver, MacRimmon (Hromund), Macthe MacAulays of ArgyllAulay of Lewis (from Olafare from Amalgaidh), Clan Ranald (Ragnvald) areall Scandinavian in name, though from the beginning,no doubt, not of unmixed Scandinavian blood. Theclans of the mainland, by their pedigrees,are ofCeltic origin.In Gaelic, most of the shipping terms are Norse,according to Dr. Macbain; and most of the placenamesof the coast are obviously Scandinavian, thoughoften Gaelicised and not easy to recognise on amodern map. In a paper read to the Viking Club(Saga-book, ii., pp. 50 seq.) t Miss A. Goodrich Freergives a list of Gaelic words of non-Celtic origin, ascollectedby the late Father Allan Macdonald in theOuter Hebrides, from which the following are exampleswith the Icelandic equivalents : aoinidh(enni), brow of hill; cr6 (kr6), pen-fold ;cuisle (kvisl),branch of stream faothail (vadill in Shetland, vaft),ford ;haf (haf), ocean ;hawn (hafn), haven ;luithean(Ij6ri), louvre, smoke-vent ;mealbhach (mel-bakki),links ;mol (mol), gravel ;nabuidh (na~-bui), neighbour ;6b (h6p), tidal bay ;oda (oddi), tongue of land ;rustal(ristill), plough ;saoithean (seiftr, with diminutive),saithe ; sckireag (skari with diminutive), young gull ;sgeir (sker), skerry ; sparran (sperra), rafter ; trosg(thorsk), cod. In Outer Hebridean place-namesvery many terminations are Norse, more or lesscorrupted : -val (fell), -breck, -berg, -haug, for ahill ; -ay, for island ; -lam, -um (holmr), for an islet ;

MAN AND THE iSLtiS 239-Ortj. -ford, -art (fjord) ; -vag, -way, -vik, for bay; -ey(etiS), for isthmus ; -geo (gja"), for a cleft ;-oss (6ss),for a river's mouth ;-brok (borg), for a fort ; -vallar,-wall (vellir),field ;-bost (bustaSr), -bol, -poql^ (b61),-stul (perhaps st611 }a seat), -ary (ergh, as usedalso in Cumberland, Lancashire and Yorkshire, adairy-farm), for various kinds of farmsteads ;-vat(vatn), for lake ; -a, -ai (a), for a river ;strom (straumr),for a sea-current ;-skeir (sker), reef of rocks ; -nish,-ness and -mul (mtili),for a point of land j -gil,becomingin Uist -gir, for a dell. Adjectives used in placenamesare breidha and smuk (smugais in Icelandic anarrow hole, in Cumberland "smoot"is the sheep'sdoor in a fence-wall), for broad and narrow ;ha andlai (har and lagr), for high and low. Names of animalsin compounds are gaas (gas), so (sau^r, sheep), lam,calv, arne (6'rn, eagle), hest and ros. Sigurd, Bjorn,Grim and Eirik appear in the names of places inthese outer islands.In a paper for the Viking Club by Mr. R. L.Bremner (Saga-book, iii., p. 373) many details ofNorse place-names in the Southern Hebrides andArgyll are given, with the help of Professor Mackinnon." In the Lewis it has been calculated the place-namesare about four Norse to one Gaelic in ; Skye as threeto two ;in Barvas (N.W, of Lewis) as twenty-seven toone in ; Uig as thirty-five to four. In Islay there isone Norse to two Gaelic, in Kintyre one to four in;Arran and the Isle of Man one to eight. Jura has avery few." Professor Mackinnon derives Jura fromDyr-ey, " deer island," and dyr reappears in Ben

240 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINDiurinis (dyranes) on Loch Etive, Duirinish in Skye,and Durness in Sutherland. Lussa (Laxa), Asdale (askdalr),Sannaig (Sandvik), Bladda, like Pladda on theare other namesClyde and Fladda near Mull (Flatey),originally Norse in Jura. In Islay Loch Gruinart isthe " green fjord " ; compare Snizort in Skye, Enard,Knoydart, Moydart; in Melfort and Broadford afuller form is preserved, still more in Seaforth. Theword biistcfor (homestead) which in the outer islesbecomes -host or -bust, is shortened in Islay into -bus,as Cragabus, Kinnabus, Lyrabus, Coulabus; or fromthe form bblstd&r is Nereabols (in 1588 written Nerrabollsadh),Robolls and Grobolls. Trudernish, likeTrotternish in Skye, and Trodday may be from tr'cfo(gen. trc?&ar\ a pasture or cattle-pen, the -nish for nes,having its sibilant softened after the "slender" vowelaccording to Gaelic usage. In Mull, Ar-os means" river's mouth " ; Glenforsay and Assapol have Norseelements.In Argyll, among the islands are Canna (possiblythe canons' isle, as this was Church property see anarticle by W. G. Collingwood in the Antiqutiry,1906), Gometra, Ulva, Staffa (from the basalt pillars),Oronsay (not St. Oran's, but Orfiris-ey, the " island atebb-tide"), Gigha (in Hakon's saga Gud-ey), Shuna,Eriska (Eric's), Kerrera (Kjarbarey), Lunga, Torsayand Scarba. Ashore are Knapdale, Ormsary, Skipness(in 1262 Schyph-inche, but .not an island). InKintyre are Sunadale, Torrisdale, Saddell, Rhonadale,Ifferdale, Ugadale most from personal names ;Lussa(Laxa), Smerby, Askomill, Stafnish, Sanda, etc.

MAN AND THE ISLES 24!In Bute, the oldest form of Rothesayis Rothersay,perhaps Hrothgar's ey or a. Ascogis likeAyscough, in Lancashire, the ash-wood ask-skbgr.Arran has a few Norse names ;Brodick (ancientlyBrathwik, broad-bay), Goat-fell, Scordale, Glaister(-stadr), Ormidale, Glen Sherraig (in 1590 Sherwik).And in the Clyde, Kumreyjar (Cumbraes) was theNorse name for the isles of the Cumbri or StrathclydeWelsh.One of the most interesting names isPabay,variously spelt, for there are many examples in theHebrides as well as in the Orkneys and Shetland.We know from the Saga form, Papey, that it meansthe island of the priests, Papar ; and we know fromDicuil that the Irish hermits were driven from their"deserts" by the Norse early in the ninth century,also from La/idndma that the same thing happenedlater in Iceland. The Rev. E. McClure (Saga-book ofthe Viking Club, i., p. 269) has suggested that theword, like Kirkja, was learnt by the early Vikingsfrom the Goths of the Roman Empire, Christianisedfrom Greek influences, whence also the Germanpfaffe. There is no doubt that the externals, andsome of the teaching, of Christianity were known tothe pagan Scandinavians long before they becameconverts ;the earliest descriptions of their temples inIceland tell us that the apse was a feature of thebuilding, and much of their mythology was a distortedglimpse of Christian beliefs. The name must havebeen given to these islands of the Papar at the timewhen the priests were first driven away, not in9

242 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINsubsequent generations when the Irish or Englishword for "priest" was learnt.When they became Christianised they set up gravemonumentshere or elsewhere. At Kilbar in Barrais a cross with Scandinavian runes ;another from St.Mannock's in Bute has, in runes, "Krus thine (let?)Guthle(if)," raised to the memory of one unknown.But as Galloway settlers were perhaps taken to Whithornfor burial, so the chiefs of the Isles were buriedat lona. Most of the monuments preserved there areeither much earlier or much later than the periodwhen distinctively Scandinavian ornament was givento these carvings, but there is one stone (figured byW. G. Collingwood in the Saga-book of the VikingClub, iii., p. 305) formerly in the chapel of St. Oranbut now kept in the Cathedral, which is differentfrom all the rest. On one side it bears the usualScandinavian dragon with irregular interlacing; onthe other a ship with its crew and a smith with hishammer, anvil and pincers. The resemblance of thisto Manx crosses suggests that it may have been thetombstone of a king of Man.Minor antiquities of the Viking Age are not infrequentin the Hebrides and neighbouring parts ofScotland. The Hunterston brooch found near Largswith runic inscriptions perhaps of the tenth century,and other penannular brooches, are described in Dr.Anderson's Scotland in Early Christian Times (ii.Pairs of "tortoise" brooches have been found inI slay and Tiree, and examples in Barra and Sanday ;weapons in interments at Islay, Mull, Barra, Sandayi).

MAN AND THE ISLES 243and St. Kilda. A howe known as the Carnan-a-Bhairraich, in Oronsay, was explored in 1891, andfound to contain brooches, beads, a ring, a knife anda net-sinker, beside boat-rivets ;it seems as though the"man from Barra" was buried in his boat with hiswife possibly a case of "suttee," which was notunknown. At Kiloran Bay in Colonsay, Mr. MacNeill,in 1882, found a ship-burial with sword, axe, shieldboss,cauldron, etc., and a pair of scales and stycas ofthe archbishop of York, 831-854; also a horse'sskeleton of which the hind leg had been cut beforeinterment (Saga-book of Viking Club, v., p. 172).It was not more than a generation later that Orlyg,who had been brought up in the Hebrides by bishopPatrick, set forth to Iceland "with wood for buildinga church, and a plenarium and an iron bell, a goldenpenny and consecrated earth to be put under thecorner pillars. The bishop told him to land wheretwo mountains rose out of the sea,. . . and therebuild a church and consecrate it to St. Columba "(Landndma, i. 12). From this it is evident that evenin the ninth century the Vikings in the Hebrideswere already beginning to be Christianised, thoughimperfectly : for at Esjuberg, in Iceland, Orlyg andhis family, when the church was built, seem to haveworshipped, not Christ, but Columba.

244 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN6. THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY.That the earliest Norse settlers in Orkney andShetland found Irish priests in the islands, is knownfrom the names of Papa Stour, Papa Little and Papain Scalloway, Papal in Unst and Yell, and Papil inBurra (Shetland),also Papa in Westray and Stronsay,Paplay in South Ronaldsay and in Holm, and Papdalenear Kirkwall (Orkney). It has been remarked (p. 241)that the word Papar for "priests" must have beenbrought by the Norse ;it shows that, contrary toDasent's opinion, the Shetlands were not uninhabited,and that the heathen invaders recognised the priestsfrom the first. The persistence of the names Rinansey(St. Ninian's Isle), Enhallow (Holy Isle),and Damsey(St. Adamnan's Isle) in Orkney, and St. Ninian's Isle inShetland, together with the preservation of chapels ofearly Celtic type, suggests that the priests were notexterminated, in spite of a local tradition in Unst(quoted by the Rev. A Sandison, Saga-book of theViking Club, i. 244) that the Picts fought until onlya priest and his son were left, and they perishedrefusing to tell the secret of the heather-ale, as in theNiel MunroHighland story picturesquely retold byin The Lost Pibroch. Early dedications to Ninian,Columba, Brigit and Triduana may have survived theinvasion ;and it is possible that some of the sculpturedstones with ogams may be pre-Norse. On the otherhand, in the ogams of the Bressay stone (Shetland)

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 245some scholars read the name Naddodd, which isNorse ;the ornament, with ring-plaits and a peculiarform of interrupted double-strand interlacing, cannotbe earlier than the tenth century ;and the " son of theDruid " named on it, if that is a true reading, has aparallel at Rushen, Isle of Man, as the priest, horsemenand beasts reappear at Maughold (No. 67,Kermode's Manx Crosses). Again, the head betweenmonsters on the Papil stone (Shetland)is seen alsoat Braddan (No. 69, Manx Crosses).The twelfthcenturyMaeshowe runes and " Thurbiarn " runes atCunningsburgh have points of resemblance to Manxrunes. There is an evident link between Man andthe northern islands which is not without importancein dating the Orkney and Shetland Christianmonuments.There is also a link with the Pictish kingdomin thesymbol on the carved bone from the Broch of Burrian(Orkney), found with an ogam-inscribed cross-shaft.The fact of finding these relics in a broch of pre-Norsedays is not conclusive as to their date, for the Norsesometimes occupied brochs ;that of Mousa was inhabitedby a runaway couple from Norway about theyear 900, and in 1155 Erlend and Maddadh's widowheld it against her son, jarl Harald of Orkney. Butitshows that in Christianising the northern isles otherinfluences were atwork than those of the ColumbanHebrides, as one might conclude from the protractedoccupation of a great part of north-eastern Scotlandby the Norse. We find a few relics of their presencein the hogbacks at Inchcolm (Fife) and Brechin, and

246 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINless certainly in the ship in the Factor's Cave atWemyss (see Mr. J. Patrick's article in The Reliquary,Jan. 1906), and in monuments commonly calledDanish, such as "Sueno's Pillar," at Forres. In this.Mr. Romilly Allen found an arrangementof knotscharacteristically Scandinavian, as at Aspatria (Cumberland),Braddan (I. o.M.) and Clonmacnois otherwisethis elaborate shaft is unlike Norse, but;likePictish work ;it is one of those monuments in whichtwo influences meet, and itmay help towards the truedating of the mysterious Pictish ifstyle this stoneproves to be of the Viking Age. At Forres we are onthe border of country long held by the Norse ; Burgheadwas a Viking stronghold, and there we find a" hart and hound" stone in their style (No. 7, in Mr.Romilly Allen's Early Christian Monuments of Scotland; No. TI also might be Viking work). Goingnorth we reach the Scandinavian relics of Caithness ;the"rune-inscribed Ingulf" cross at Thurso iscomparatively late.Leaving out, therefore, o.;am stones without ornamentand difficult to date, we have a series ofOrkney and Shetland monuments, some bearingogams, which fall into line with Manx and Scottishwork of the late tenth to the twelfth centuries.The conclusion seems to be that the age ofsculpture in Orkney and Shetland was rather afterthan before the year 1000; that most of the relicsare those of re-introduced Christianity. It may bethat the faith lingered, but it was not dominantbefore Olaf Tryggvason forcibly converted jarl Sigurd

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 247(p. 250) or about 1000. Not until half a century laterwas there a bishop, Henry (see Orkney and ShetlandOld Lore, Jan. 1907, Diploinatarium, p. i),appointed by the see of York, followed by Thorolf,appointed 1056 by the archbishop of Bremen.Christ's Kirk, in Birsay, the first church known tohave been built by the Norse, dates from a littleafter 1050, though Dietrichson and Meyer (MonumentaOrcadica, Christiania, 1906) think that theremayhave been a somewhat earlier St. Olafs churchin Kirkwall, and three tiny Norse chapels on Sandaydating from the heathen time, but later than thePictish period because they are built with mortar.St.Magnus' church at Egilsey, dated by Dr. Andersonabout 1000, isthought by Dietrichson and Meyer tobe not earlier than 1135, though an earlier churchexisted on the spot.The same authors find remains to illustrate everyperiod of Orkney history. At Toftsness on Sanday,the nearest point to Norway, seems to have been thefirst Norse settlement, a populous place on the site ofa previous Celtic village, and defended by a stonerampart resembling pre-historic fortifications inNorway. This is still called Coligarth, in 1693written Cuningsgar, and obviously meaning "theking's garth." At Tranaby are interments of theheathen age known as "the Bloody Tuacks," andIvar's Knowe on Sanday may be the grave of Ivar,son of jarl Ragnvald of Mceri, killed in the expeditionwhich brought the islands under the powerof Harald Fairhair. As weregild for his son, Harald

248 SCANDINAVIAN BtUTAlNgave Orkney to Ragnvald, who made over the jarldomto his brother Sigurd. He joined Thorstein the Redin the conquest of all northern Scotland, and diedafter his fight with Maelbrigd of the Tusk. Theidentification of Thorstein with the Oistin of Irishannals has led to the placing of these events fifteenor twenty years too early; if we date the death ofSigurd 872 (as usually fixed) we are forced to allowthe next important jarl, Torf-Einar, a reign of sixtyyears, and to place the invasion of Harald Fairhairjust before, rather than just after, the visit of bishopEardwulf to Whithorn, which seems improbable: wealso get too little time for the development of Olafthe White's kingdom, and the conquests of Thorsteinthe Red. But if we understand " Oistin" as Eystein,(see p. 225), and place the invasion of Haraldabout 880, and the death of Sigurd about 888, thechronology of the whole period becomes possible.Dr. J. Anderson identified "Cyder Hall" on theOykel with the Siwardhoch of 1224, and the Ekkjalof the Saga as the scene of Jarl Sigurd's death andburial.Einar, son of jarl Ragnvald, may have come to theOrkneys about 890, and he died 936. He is said tohave taught the Orkneymen the use of peat as fuel,whence his name Torf-Einar ;there are traditions thatthe islands were covered with coppice before thecoming of the Norse, and, as in Iceland, the earliergenerations were doubtless improvident in their use ofwood. But the knowledge of peat seems to havebeen derived from Ireland rather than from Norway.

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 249Einar's name is also connected with an importantsocial revolution. He revenged his father by slayingHarald Fairhair's son, Halfdan Halegg; Uietrichsonthinks that the scene of the revenge was at Tresnesson Sanday, where a cairn may be Halfdan's grave.The " blood-eagle " by which he was executed wasrather a form of ignominious sacrifice to Odin thanan ingenious variety of torture jand it called forvengeance on Harald's part. He fined the Orkneyssixty marks of gold, which Einar paid on condition thatthe landowners gave up their odal rights to him.Of his three sons, Arnkel and Erlend fell with EirikBloodaxe at Stainmoor (954 ?),and the survivor,Thorfinn Hausakljuf (Skull- cleaver), by his marriagewith Grelaug, daughter of Dungal, Donnchadh orDuncan of Djincans-bae, added Caithness to Orkney.He was buried at Haugseid (Hoxa, South Ronaldsay),and Dietrichson, quoting a traditiongiven by Low inbe seen in a mound1 7 74, thinks that his grave mayformed out of the ruins of a broch.About this time, if there is any germ of truth ina legend to be found in the later and partly fictitiousFljbtsdcela-saga^ Shetland was ruled by a jarl namedBjorgiilf, connected by marriage with Denmark but;this statement is not confirmed.Eirik Bloodaxe left an evil legacy to the islands in hisdaughter Ragnhild, who married and murdered threeof Thorfinn's sons one after another. At Howardsty(Havardsteigr), near the famous stones of Stennis, thelargest of a group of Norse barrows was found to containan urn with ashes, conjectured to be the remains

250 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINof Havard, the second -of the brothers. The last,Hlodver, married Edna (Eithne), daughter of KingCearbhall of Ireland, and their son was Jarl Sigurd,who, in order to gain the help of the Orkneymenagainst the Scots of the mainland, restored the odalrights which Torf-Einar had taken from them. Therestoration was probably incomplete ;we find later afurther restitution, and atthis time perhaps the rightswere given only to each owner personally, and forhislifetime. But Sigurd was successful in his conquestson the mainland. He married the daughter of KingMalcolm of Scotland, and fell at the battle of Clontarfin 1014. In this battle he fought on the side ofthe heathen against the Christians, though, accordingto a saga-story, King Olaf Tryggvason in 997 hadvisited Orkney, and forcibly converted the jarl andhis men. But about this time Christianity, thoughnot unknown earlier, and not fully adopted until later,was becoming recognised among the Northmen of allcountries.Sigurd's son Thorfinn, succeeding at the age offive to Caithness, ultimately made himself master ofOrkney and Shetland, as well as of all the Norsecolonies in Scotland, including Galloway. His brotherBrusi, with whom he had divided Orkney at thecommand of King Olaf the Saint, died in 1031,leaving a son Ragnvald. Survivingthe battle ofStiklestad, where he had fought by the side of Olaf,and campaigns in Russia, where he followed HaraldHardradi, Ragnvald returned to Orkney with a com-Olafsson to hold two-thirdsmission from King Magnus

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 251of the jarldom. For eight years there was peacebetween the two jarls ;after the sea-fight off Raudabjorg(1045) Ragnvald fled to Norway, and returningburnt Thorfmn's house at Orphir. Ragnvald himselflived at Kirkwall (Kirkju-vagr), where he perhapsfounded the town which, Dietrichson remarks, is laidout on the plan of old Norse towns. At Birsay Thornnn'swooden hall was no doubt on the site of thelater stone structure, which again was replaced byRobert Stuart's palace, built in the sixteenth century.Thorfinn's escape from the burning hall at Orphir,with his wife Ingibjorg in his arms, and his voyage toCaithness, is one of the most picturesque episodes ofthe Orkneyinga-saga, full as it is of picturesque detail.After the death of Ragnvald he was recognised byHarald Hardradi ;made a pilgrimage to Rome,founded the bishopric of Orkney, and died in 1064.His sons Paul and Erlend accompanied HaraldHardradi on the invasion which ended at StamfordBridge. In their time, according to Dietrichson, St.Peter's at Birsay and a church at Deerness, nowdestroyed, were built in stone, imitating the plan anddetail of old Norse wooden churches. Hakon, theson of Paul, induced King Magnus Barefoot to invadeOrkney for the furtherance of his personal interests ;but Magnus deposed Paul and Erlend, who shortlydied in Norway, and he placed his own son Sigurdover Orkney (1098). When Sigurd became king ofNorway (1103), Hakon and his cousin MagnusErlendsson held the jarldom jointly. Dissensionbroke out :they met for battle at Thingwold in

252 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINKendall, the Thingstead of the islands, but wereparted ; they met again at Egilsey, where Dietrich sonthinks an old Celtic church was the one mentionedin the saga, and Magnus was put to death (Easter,April 1 6, 1115). Hakon in penitence made pilgrimageto Rome and Palestine, and returning ruled inpeace. Magnus became regarded as a martyr and asaint.The two sons of Hakon reigned after his death(1122 or 1123) Harald "the smooth-spoken," andPaul "the silent." Harald lived at Orfjara (Orphir),where still can be seen the ruins of the round church,built, like others of the twelfth century, in imitation ofthe church of the Holy Sepulchre. It may have beenerected by his"; father after returning from Jerusalem,1118, but Orphiris not mentioned as Hakon's residence,though it was the home of his sons, and thefirst mention of the church is in 1136, in connexionwith the hall The foundations of this hall, "theEarl's Bu at Orphir," have been discovered recently,and described by Mr. A. W. Johnston (Proc. S. A.Scot., xxxvii., and Saga-book of the Viking Club). JarlHarald is said to have been killed by a poisonedshirt intended forhis brother, and then Paul reigneduntil Kali Kolsson, who took the name of Ragnvald,the nephew of St. Magnus, came from Norway andseized half the Orkneys.Paul was captured by SveinAsleifarson, a Viking chief who lived in a castle (nowdestroyed) on Damsey ;Swendro chapel at Westnessissupposed to commemorate the capture ;and Paulwas done to death in Athol, the ruler of which,

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 253Maddadh, had married his sister. Harald, the sonof Maddadh, became jarl of Orkney, sharing the powerwith Ragnvald.In the winter of 1152-53 Ragnvald and a party ofNorse under Erling Skakki came to the Orkney mainlandon their way to the East. Some of these crusadersbroke open the Maeshowe, as one of the runicinscriptions declares (see Dietrichson' and Meyer'sMonumenta Orcadica, pp. 30 and 110-115). Most ofthese scribbles merely give the name of the visitor ;some add that of his lady-love ;a few have specialinterest. Nos. 19 and 20 tell us what the vikingsthought of this prehistoric chambered mound :"This mound was raised before Lodbrok's his sons,they were clever ;there were scarcely any other suchmen as they were. The Jorsalfarers (crusaders) brokeopen the Orkahaug (i.e. Maeshowe, which appears tobe a later name). ... It was long ago that muchtreasure was hidden here. . . .Happyis he who canfind the great treasure." Nos. 16 and 18 are writtenin "twig-runes" which have been explained by MagnusOlsen as forming a verse :No. 22 in similarThese runes the man wroteWho is most rune-skilled west over sea,With that axe which Gauk owned,Trandil's son from the south country.carver as Tryg (Trandil's son).cryptic runes gives the name of theWhile jarl Ragnvald was on his journey to Jerusalema new claimant appeared in Erlend, son ofHarald of the poisonedshirt. He carried off

'254 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINMargaret, widow of Maddadh and Harald's mother, tothe broch of Mousa, and not only defended itagainstthe young jarl, but, with the support of King Eysteinof Norway and Svein Asleifarson the viking, madegood his claim to the greater part of Orkney andCaithness. When Ragnvald returned there werethree jarls, who met in battle at Knarrarstad (Knarstoun)in 1 156: Erlend, however, did not long survive,and Ragnvaldfell at Kalfadal (Calder, in Caithness)shortly afterwards. His father Kol and he had founded(about 1137) and partlybuilt the cathedral of St.Magnus at Kirkwall, completing the choir, accordingto -Dietrichson and Meyer, before 1153. To providemoney for the building Ragnvald restored full odalrights to the Orkneymen, and as jarl Sigurd hadalready made a similar restitution, it isthought that onthe first occasion the rights were restored only for theowner's lifetime, while Ragnvald granted them inperpetuity. By his "pilgrimage" and church-buildingthis poet-jarl, no saintly person, died in odour ofsanctity, and was canonised in 1192.At his death, about 1158, the Cistercian abbey onEyin helga (Enhallow) may have been already founded,and during this period Kolbein Hruga built his smallstone keep on the island of Weir, where "CobbieRow," according to tradition, used until moderntimes to haunt the ruins. His son was Bjarni, bishopof Orkney 1188-1223, wno continued the building ofthe cathedral, and according to Dr. J6n Stefansson(Orkney and Shetland Old Lore, April 1907) wrote theJarla-sogur, which we know as Orkneyinga-saga.

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 255Jarl Harald Maddadh's son, having got rid of rivals,spent the rest of his long reign in making enemies.By his second marriage with Gormflaith, daughter ofMalcolm MacEth (the adventurer Ve'mund, once amonk of Furness), he became enemy of King Williamthe Lion, and lost a great part of Caithness ; by hispartisanship in Norse affairs he became enemy ofKing Sverrir and lost Shetland and; by the outrageupon bishop John, who was blinded at Scarabolstad(Scrabster in Caithness), he made the Church hisenemy. He died in 1206, aged 73. Shetland remainedthe immediate property of the Norse crownuntil it was granted to St. Clair in 1379. The outrageupon one bishop led to the extortions and the murderof the next, bishop Adam ;and jarl Harald's survivingson, John, was killed in 1231, ending the Norseline which had ruled Orkney for 350 years.In 1232 king Alexander II. of Scotland grantedNorthern Caithness to Magnus, son of Gilbride, earlof Angus, and perhaps of a daughter of Harald, son ofMaddadh. The king of Norway granted Magnus thejarldom of Orkney also and thus;a portion of theold realm was placed under a ruler of Norse nameand probably Norse descent, but governing the twoparts of his country under two different kingdoms.His grandson Magnus accompanied King HakonHakonarson to the battle of Largs in 1263. John,the grandson of this Magnus, was one of those whosigned the petition that the son of Edward I. shouldmarry Margaret the Maid of Norway, who died (1290)on her way to England, at Margaret's Hope

256 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINJohn's son Magnus ended the Angus line, though itis possible that his sister had married Malise, theearl of Stratherne, who founded the next dynasty.the St. ClairsThe Stratherne family was followed by(1379-1469), of whom William, the last who ruledOrkney under the Norse crown, was invested by KingErik the Pomeranian, in 1434.On the marriage between JamesIII. of Scotlandand Margaret of Denmark, her father, Christian I. ofDenmark and Norway, undertook to give a dowry of60,000 Rhine florins, 10,000 of which were to be paidin cash, and Orkney was pledged for the remainder.Only 2,000 florins, however, were paid, and KingChristian made up the balance by pledging Shetland.Thus the old possessions of Norway came to thecrown of Scotland, but only, in the first instance, as apledge to be redeemed and it is a; question whichhas been much discussed whether the mortgage wasforeclosed, and, if so, when ? Mr. Gilbert Goudie, inhis Antiquities of Shetland, states the case at somelength ;we can give but the barest outline of hisargumentThe continuator of Boece (Ferrerius, Paris, 1574)says that the right of redemption was renounced onthe birth of a grandson (James IV.) to the Danishking, and subsequent Scottish historians repeat thestory. Torfaeus, however (book iii., chapter on thesubject), and other Danish historians state that repeatedefforts were made to regain the islands byoffering payments of the sum due, and that a series ofembassies (1549-1660) were sent to Scotland with

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 257that object. Though the Register of the Privy Councilof Scotland does not record, for instance, an embassyfor this purpose in 1585, the Calendar of English StatePapers and various Scottish memoirs refer to it. In1 589 Jarnes VI. married the princess Anne of Denmark,and the matter was deferred during the minorityof Christian IV. When he came of age James prevailedon him to allow it to stand over during theirreigns. In 1640 payment was again tendered, but thetroubles of the time hindered settlement. In 1660Charles II. was approached, but managed to evade asettlement, and at the treaty of Breda (1667) thequestion was still left open. In the middle of theeighteenth century Frederick V. once more demandedthe restitution of the islands, but in vain. Mr. Goudie,writing before the foundation of the modern Norwegiankingdom, thought that Denmark rather thanNorway would have the right still to redeem, becausewhen the two countries were disjoined in 1814 Denmarkretained all the islands of the North Sea, whichwould include the reversion of Orkney and Shetland.The question as it now stands ispurely academical,but it was not so in the first centuries after the impignoration.The people of Orkney and Shetlandwere still Norse, and looked to Norway as their mothercountry.In Mr. Goudie's words :" They continuedto advocate causes, not to the courts of law in Scotland,but to the courts with which they were morefamiliar in Norway and the native ;system of law andjustice, of tidal succession and udal tenure in land,survived in some measure, though determined effortsR

258 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwere made at repression for at least a couple ofhundred years later." In Orkney and Shetland OldLore, for October 1907, is printed a series of documents,conveyances, agreements, charters, etc., rangingfrom 1422 to 1575, many of them in Norse, and allshowingthe close connexion of the islanders withNorway. For example, in 1538 the Norse king atBergen confirms a doom of the Shetland Lawting, anddescribes the trial in which Gervald Williamsson wonhis heritage from Magnus Olsson as according toGulathing's law. Many of the deeds relate to settlementsbetween islanders and their relatives living inNorway. The law-terms are chiefly Norse, as :" athmen " = effimenn (oathmen), "arvis skopft"=" oumbotht"=arfskipti (division of inheritance),umbo^ (commission), "schonit" = sjaimd (seventhday after the death, when the division of goods wasmade), " mensvering " = meinsvari (perjury, whence" manswearing ")," samengna man " = sameignaruicf&r (joint possessor),"granttis with hand andhandband " = handaband (joining hands)," ofhintit"from afhenda (to hand over)," teind penny andferde penny " = tiundargjof ok fjdr^nngsgjof (forin Norse law one could dispose of only one-tenthof one's patrimony and one-fourth of personallyacquired goods without the consent of one's heirs).Ecclesiastically also the islands remained Norse ;in 1491 king John of Denmark and Norway granted,in one of these documents, to Sir David Sinclairthe rents and rights of the Crown over the servantsof the Church in Orkney. The people's names

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 259were Norse with few exceptions ;the parishionersof Cunningsburgh in 1576 were named Olaw (4),Magnus (7), Ereik, Swaine, Symone (Saemund),Brownie (Brunn), with Nichole, Erasmus and John,more recent names than the heathen age but stillNorse, and the Celtic Hector ;all their holdings were,as they still remain, named in Norse. Indeed it ishardly profitable to attempt here any survey of Orkneyand Shetland place-names ; they are, of course, socompletely Scandinavian as to need a special volumefor their elucidation (see Dr. Jakob Jakobsen, Dialedand Place-names ofShetland, 1897; and ShetlandsoernesStednavne, 1901).George Buchanan in 1582 said that the Shetlandmeasures, numbers and weights were "Germanic" or"almost old Gothic." Brand in 1701 remarked thatShetlanders spoke Norse, though Dutch was understoodowing to the trade with Holland. In 1 7 1 1 Sir RobertSibbald called their language " Norn " (Norrcena), andso late as 1770 the Rev. George Low collected theremains of the language as then remembered on Foula,the westernmost of the Shetlands. The ballad of"Hildina" (trans. W. G. Collingwood, Ork. and S/iet.Old Lore, Ap. 1908) has been edited in a masterlytreatise, Hildinakocedetjyj^idi. Marius Haegstad (1900),in which the difficulties of a text dictated to one whowas entirely ignorant of the language have been clearedup, and the " Norn " is shown to be fairly pure Norse,with a very slight sprinkling of Danish, Faeroese, Frisianand English words. Itmay be remarked thatinitial H is sometimes dropped or added consonants;

260 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINare occasionally lost ; phonetic changes like thosein Icelandic and Faeroese are dn for rn, dl anddn for //and nn ("kidn"for kinn, cheek; "godle"for gull, gold ;" ednin" for drnin, the eagle) ;butthe language differs from the Hebridean, not onlyin the absence of Gaelic, but also in the use ofScandinavian words other than those found in theWestern Islands, as "gronge" (grunningr) and not"torsk" for a cod. Low collected also the wellknownShetland rhyme, which Haegstad readsMyrk in e liora, Luce (= ljoss) in e liunga,Timin e guestin e geungna.When it's mirk in the chimney it's light on the ling,It's the time for the guest to be journeying.He gave also the Foula " Paternoster," which maybe compared with the old Orkney form given byWallace (English loan-words italicised):ShetlandOrkneyFy vor o er i chimeri, Fa vor I ir ichimeri,Halaght vara nam dit, Helleufr] ir nam i thite,La konungdum din cumma, Gilla (Gud lat) cosdumLa vill din vera guerde(? congdum) thite cumma,Veya thine mota varg gorti vrildin sen ( som) da er o yurn sinna gorti chimeri (= Himmerike), ichimeri,Gav vus dagh u dagloght brau, Ga vus da on da dalightbrow vora,Forgive sindor wara sin viFit-give vus sinna vora sin veeforgiva gem ao sinda gainst Jirgive sindara mutha vus,wus,Lia wus eke o vera tempa, Lyv vus ye i tumtation,but delivra wus fro adlu idlu, min delivra yus fro olt ilt,For doi irkonungdum,\\puri, \\glori, Amen.Amen.More than a hundred years later than Low's time

THE EARLDOM OP ORKNEY 261considerable relics of Norse language and folklorehave been recognised in the islands. 1 One curioussurvival is the sea-language (noticed bythe lateKarl Blind, in Saga-book of the Viking Club, i., p. 163)by which, for example, at sea a church is called a" bell-house," the sea is named as " holy toyt," anda cat isspoken of as " footie," " snistal," or "vanega;"Perhaps we need not accept Dr. Blind's suggestionthat the last word means Vanadis and relates toFreyja \nor is itquite certain that the rhyme hecollected" Nine days he hang fra de riitless tree,"etc. is a survival, through nearly 1000 years, of thefamous lines of Hdvamdl about Odin's self-sacrifice.But of all Britain, Orkney and Shetland are themost completely Scandinavian parts, and the story ofthe suppression of Norse life under Scottish rule isstill remembered as an ancient " grievance: The subversionof the native laws, the imposition of thefeudal system upon the odalism of the north, theappropriation of the greater part of the land by adventurersfrom Scotland in short, the ruin of thenative race " (Gilbert Goudie, Antiquities of Shetland,p. 214). The old system in Shetland was that ofgovernment under Fouds, Lawrightmen and Ranselmen.The Great Fond (Fogeti) was the chief civilofficial, appointed by the Crown, with a Lawman electedby the Thing at Tingwali as legal adviser and judgeof assize. Parish Fouds were appointed by the1See Dr. Jakob Jakobseu's elaborate dictionaryof theNorse language of Shetland (Copenhagen, V. Prior; part I.,1908).

262 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINGreat Foud, to receive rents and duties in butter, oiland wadmell, and to hold Shuynd Courts for thedivision of estates among heirs of the deceased (seethe word sjaund, p. 258). They were assisted byCouncillors (Raadmen), but all householders wererequired to attend the Thing. Lawrightmen (Logrettamenn)were chosen by the Vardthing, and chargedwith the custody and application of the standardsof weight and measure (cuttell, bismar and can) bywhich dues were paid, and with the general interestsof the parish, especially at the Lawthing, when theLawrightman was the assessor of the Foud, actingin the interests of the people. The conversion ofwith his duties.payments from kind to coin did away" "Skathald Mr. Goudie considers as commonpasture-land for which skat was paid Mr. A. W.;Johnston says that it formerly meant the township,including hagi or pasture. Ranselmen (from ransel, tosearch a house for stolen goods, apparently equivalentto the Icelandic rannsaka, whence our " ransack ")were appointed to inquire into cases of theft, scandal,dispute, misbehaviour, absence from church, trespass,dilapidation, vagrancy, witchcraft and contraventionof laws about sheep and sheep-dogs.They came tobe practically analogous to the old parish constable,and appointments were made down to 1836, and inFair Isle even so late as 1869.A few survivals of old Norse lifemay be noticed.The horizontal waterrmll was not a turbine, but anordinary wheel, placed with axis vertical, and driven bya jet running through a trough and acting on one side

THE EARLDOM OF ORKNEY 263of the wheel only the :upper millstone revolved onthe spindle of the waterwheel. Some terms relatingto its structure are Norse; the sile (sigle), or ironcrossbar of the axle which turned the wheel ;thegriitte (grotte), or nave of the lower millstone, throughwhich the spindle passed ;and the ludr, or loft of thelittle house in which the mill worked; (for a fulldescription see Mr. Goudie, op. tit., pp. 246-281).Mills of this kind were used in Sweden and Norway(but not found in Denmark), the Fceroes, Orkneyand Shetland, Caithness and Sutherland, the Hebrides,the Isle of Man, and in parts of Ireland, where theywere called " Danish mills." They are known inother parts of the world, but their frequency in theseNorse countries suggests a common origin datingfrom the Viking Age. The kollie (kola, in Scottish"crusie"), an oil lamp with a double shell; thebismar (bismari\ a steelyard weighing machine ;thetuskar (torfskeri\ a peat spade, allkeep their oldnames ;but the old customs survived in the shortscythe with its long handle, the one-stilted woodenplough, and the rivling, or shoes of raw hide formerlycommon to all northern lands.A not uninteresting sidelight is thrown upon therelations of Northumbria after the Conquest withScandinavian Caithness and Galloway in the storyof King William the Wanderer. It is told in NormanFrench of the twelfth century by two different poets,one of whom seems to have been Chrestien de Troyes(printed by Francisque Michel in Chroniques Anglo-NormandS) 1840, and Englished by W. G. Collingwood,

264 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAIN1904). It relates the adventures of an imaginary kingof England whose wife was carried off by Vikings toa Scottish seaport, his children to the Norse colonyof Caithness, where they were fosteredby kindly furtraders,and he himself, after long wanderings, is broughtto the service of a merchant in Galinde (Galuide) orGavaide (Galvaide), that is to say, Galloway. Thestory, like others of the period, is of British origin,and can have been composed only in Cumbria orNorthumbria towards the end of the eleventh century,and among people who, though they had a horror ofthe piracy of an age by then passing away, were inclose connexion with Norse trading colonies inScotland. The great jarlis sketched with admiration,perhaps from the famous Thorfinn the kind Caithness;traders are drawn to the life,not without hints of theirhomeliness as compared with the refinement of theSouth, and the benevolent and wealthy shipowner ofGalloway is the true ancestor of the merchant princeswho have made British commerce and philanthropyfamous. The unconscious testimony of this contemporarypicture of manners and men tells us, likethe monuments, a tale untold by the curt annals ofbloodshed 'and rapine, now no longer to be regardedas the whole history of Scandinavian Britain.

INDEXADAM, bp. of Orkney, 255Aedh, son of Echu, 227./Elfheah, Elphege, St., 149, 153, 154,159^Elfhelm of Deira, 149, 158^Elfred setheling, 164King, 19, 79, 82, 88, 92-101, 108,125^Elfric the " Traitor," 145-149of Hampshire, 146/Ella of Northumbria, 51, 87j'Ethelbald, k. of Wessex, 80yEthelberht, k. of VVessex, 80/Ethelflsed of Mercia, 117, 118, 191TEthelnoth of Somerset, 125./Ethelred, the " Unready," 145, 149-151,J 54) JSS; 2Ik. of, Wessex, 83, 88, 92of Mercia, 109, 116, 117, 196./Ethelstan, see GuthormKing, 105, 130-136, 199, 209k. of, Kent, 78the half-king, 105, 106/Ethelwald the pretender, 101, 102,126./Ethelwerd the chronicler, 43, 146, 149yJCthelwine of East Anglia, 105/Eihelwold of East Anglia, 105/Ethelwulf, k. of Wessex, 77-79Agmuncl hold, 127Alclyde, 89 and see Dumbarton;Alexander II., 235, 255III. ,236Amounderness, 177, 199, 200Anclcoll jarl, 140Andoyer, 149An Fila-jarl, 60Anglesey, Vikings in, 189-191, 227Anlaf the Black, 127Appledore, 97, 98Archeology of Vikings in Cumbd., 206,207 ; Hebrides, 242, 243 ; Orkney,245-252 ; Shetland, 262, 263 ; Yorkshire,173 and Sire. Sculptured stones;Archill, Arnkell, 174Argyll, Vikings in, 229, 230, 234, 238Armagh, 75, 76Arnkel and Eilend, 249Arthurian legends, 49, 220Art of Norse, 55 and see ;ArchaeologyArx Cynuit, 95AsbjOrn jarl, 175Skerjablesi, 227Ashdown, battle, 92Asketil, 94, 102265, Oskytel, abp., 143Askmenn, 90Assandun, battle, 156Athelney, 95And, Queen, 90, 224Aveling, King, 219Awley Fivit, 135B^ER, 193 and see -beer and -by;Bagsecg, Ba'gsceg, 91, 119Bakewell, Commendation, 118, 130Ijamborough, 119, 149Bangor, co. Down, 73Bard Ottarsson. 127, 226Basing, battle, 02Bathday, Saturday, 144Beck, in place-names, 203, 204, 231Bedford, 103, 108-beer, place-names in, 184Benesing hold, 127Benfleet, 98Beorhtwulf of Mercia, 78Beowulf, 13, 53Berne the huntsman, 51Bernicia, Vikings in, 93, 119, 128, 137,163Beverley, 177, 178Bjarni, bp. , 254Bjorgulf, jarl, 249Bjorn Ironside, 87the British, 186Ulfsson, 167, 168Black and White Gaill, 59, 60, 77, 90,

266 INDEXBlakari of Dublin, 136, 138, 141Blathmac's martyrdom, 73, 74Blood-eagle, 249Bondi, 102Borough Mump, 95Borran, burn, in place-names, 216, 221,231Botn, English and Norse use, 107, 216Brat the Irishman, 50Bravalla, Bravoll, battle, 13, 49, 50Brentwood, battle, 155Bretland, 185-187Brice, St., massacre, 151, 152Brihtnoth of Essex, 106, 146Brunanburh, battle, 131-135Brusi of Orkney, 250Buern Buzecarle, 51Burghead, 246Burhred of Mercia, 79, 88, 93Buttington, 98-by, place-names in, 108, in, 113, 193 ;and see Place-namesCAITHNESS, Norse in, 131, 235, 250, 255,264Caittil Finn, 224Cambridge, 94, 108Cambridgeshire names, 107Canterbury, 78, 149, 153, 154Carlisle, 122, 123Carlus mac Con, 228Carlus of Dublin, 228Carucated districts, 106-109, 121, 122,Cathroe, St., 141Ceolwulf of Mercia, 93, 108Character of Vikings, 21-25, 64, 65, 80,81, 144, 158, 165, 191, 264Charlemagne, 57, 58, 71Charles the Bald, 79Charmouth, 75, 78Cheshire, Vikings in, 98, 145, 189, 192-196, 198Chester, 98, 116, 175, 189, 192, 197Chester-le-Street, 125-129Chippenham, 95Chochilaicus, 53Christianisation of Vikings, 103, 125-130,J 35, 145. 149) *&5> !96, 201, 223-225,232, 233, 241-246, 250Clan-names, 237, 238Clappers, 92Cleveland, 120, 121, 171Clondalkin, 75Clonmacnois, 75, 76Clontarf, battle, 229, 250Cobbie Row, 254Colchester, 105, 108, 117Colla of Limerick, 132, 226Columba, St., 52, 69, 74, 243, 244Columban, St., 52Commendation of Scotland, etc., 118,130, 209Conan, son of lago, 190Constantine I., 93, 225II., of Scots, 128-135Corbridge, battle, 128-130Cork, 73, 227Cornbliteoc, Cor-na-liagog, 229Cornwall, Vikings in, 76, 145, 150, 183,184Crosses ; see Sculptured stonesCulture of early Scandinavians, 25-27,64, 65Cumberland, Vikings in, 93, 122, 127-130, 137, 138, 150, 176, 202-220Cuthbert, St., 68, 123-125, 129, 159, 175,207Cutheard, bp., 126-129Cwentawic, 78Cymrhyd, 189DACRE CONFERENCE, '130, 209Dalir, Argyll, 229, 230, 234Danasuda, 98Danegeld, 80, 93, 146-148, 153, 156Danelaw, meaning, 82Danework, 58, 85Davids, St., 185, 187, 229Deira, Vikings in, 86, 87, 93, 119-143Derby, no, 115Derry, 75Devon, Vikings in, 76, 94, 98, 145, 152,1 68, 184Dialect of Cumberland, 216-218 ; Orkneyand Shetland, 258-261 ;and see Gaelicloan-words, Place-namesDiscipline of Northmen's crews, 34, 35,162Domhnall of Strathclyde and Cumbd.,138, 210Domhnall of Scotland, 226Donaghmoyne, 75Donemouth, Jarrow, 68Dorset, Vikings in, 75, 78, 94Downpatrick 75Drengs, 197Dubhgall, Dugall, 63, 237Sumarlidi's, son, 234Dubhgaill, Black Gaill, 60, 93, 124, 187Dubhlochlannaigh, 60Dublin, 77, 135-139, 168, 188-190, 196,218Dugall, lord of Isles, 236Dumbarton, 89, 225

INDEX 2 6 7Dumfriesshire, Vikings in, 221-223Dunbrunde, 133Dunfoeder, Dunnotar, 131, 226Dungal, Duncan of Caithness, 249Dungall, Gbdred's son, 228Dunstan, St., 145, 159Duodecimal notation, 107, inDurham, 174, 175Durrow, 75EADGAR JETHELING, 174-, King, 142-144Eadmund Ironside, 155, 156-, King, 136, 137, 209-, St., 84, 88, 89, 159Eadred, King, 140, 141--Lulisc, 123, 124, 207Eadulf Cudel,_i58of Bernicia, 128Eadward the Confessor. 167-170- the Elder, 101-105, 116-118, 126Eadwig, King, 142, 144Eadwine of Mercia, 170, 171, 174Ealdred and Eadwulf, Uhtred's-sons, 163of Bernicia, 128, 130, 137Ealhere, ealdorman, 79Kardwulf, bp., 123, 125, 126, 207Earls, 42East Anglia, Vikings in, 77, 83, 88, 93,96-108, 152Ecgberht of Wessex, 76-- of Northumbria, 88, 119, 128Ecgfrid's port, 68Edar, Howth, 73Edda, 19, 22-25, 37~4> 65, 201, 219, 231,261Edna, Cearbhall's daughter, 250Egil Skallagrimsson, 141Eigg, massacre, 52Einar jarl, 187, 248, 249 ;and see Torf-EinarEirik Blodox, 50, 140-142, 210, 227, 249--jarl, 158Eiriksmal, 142Eitgall the Hermit, 73Emma, Queen, 158, 163Engleneldj battle, 92Eohric, King, 101Eowils, Ecwils, King, 126Erg, ark, arrow, for saner, 122, 178, 195,199, 212, 213, 221, 223, 239Erlend Haraldsson, 245, 253, 254Esks, askar, 99Elssex, Vikings in, 98, 101, 103, 146, 149,155, 156Etaples, 78Ethandune, battle, 96Exeter, 94, 98, 152, 183FJEKOKS, 54, 72Farming of Norse settlers, 193-196, 211,216Fergus of Galloway, 234Festermen of abp. yElfric, 165, 166, 174Fibula;, 206, 207, 242Fingaill, Finghoill, 60, 124Fingal, Finngall, 47, 63, 233Finlaec of Moray, 229Finn-lochlannaigh, 60Five Boroughs, 108-118Flosi the Icelander, 188Folklore of Cumberland, 220 ; Orkney,261Fomorians, 47For bury, 92Fortifications of Anglo-Saxons, 97, 116-118 ;of Vikings, 42, 85, 88, 91, 93, 94,97. I0 4. 211, 2 47Fortrenn, 68Fouds of Shetland, 261Foula ballad, 259Frasna, 91Fuarlochlann, 60Fulford, battle, 171Fulham camp, 93, 96GAEI.IC loan-words, 133, 178, 193, 195,221, 226, 231words from Norse, 238, 239Gaill, use of term, 59, 60Gallgael, 123, 200, 208,^23-231, 234, 237Galloway, Vikings in, 93, 123, 207, 221-226, 229, 235, 250, 264Gamelbearn, 169Gamel Ormsson, 169Geleachan, King, 132, 226Germans in North England, 46, 179Gilli jarl, 228, 229Glamorgan, Vikings in, 69, 185-187Glonieorn Glunier, 169Gloucester, 95Gluniarainn, 139, 169Godfred, king of Denmark, 58, 71or Godred Haraldsson of Man, 187,190, 228, 233Godred Crovan, 233, 234Don, 235Olafsson of Man, 234Sigtryggsson of Man, 233Godv\ine, 158, 162, 163, 167, 168Gofraith mac Feargus, 224

268Hasting, 82, 97-99, 125, 192,Gormflaith, Queen, 139Vdmund's daughter, 255Hastein,208Sveinsson, k. of Denmark, 155Inisdowill, 73, 75, 139Hardecnut and Guthred, 124Inishmurry, 70Harek Bard's son, 132, 226Insigall, see HebridesHarold, king of England, 168, 170, 171 lona, 69-74, 139, 223, 228, 242Hart, Heorot (hall at Leira) 54, 164 lorvaighe, Norway, 60Gosforth, Cumbd., 219Gospatric, 169Havamul, 22-24Havardsteigr, 249of Bernicia, 173, 174; his charter, Havelock, 48, 139, 219, 220203Heather-ale, 244Gotfrith, Guthfraith O'lvar, 129, 130 Hebrides, Insigall, Sudreyjar, 72, 132,Gower, 69, 184-187Gragabai (Krakabein), 129226-230, 233-243Helford, 184Greenwich, 153, 155Helgakvida, 37-39, 220Grelatig, Duncan's daughter, 249Helgri Magri, 224Grim Kamban, 54, 74Hemeid, King, 185Grimsby, 112, 174Hemming and Eylaf, 153Gruffydd ap Madoc, 189Hengestesdune, battle, 76, 185, King,Gunnhild, Knut's daughter, 159wife of Pallig, 151, 152Gurmundus, 47, 48Guthferth, 127hold, 127Guthfrith Sigtryggsson, 131, 139Guthorm-^thelstan, 48, 94-96, 101, 136Guthorm II., 102, 105, 136Henry, bp., 247Heradh, 36Hersir, 102Hertford, 103Hidated districts, 106, 122, 198Hildina ballad, 259Hingwar, 83 ;and see IvarHiring, Hring, 140Hlodver jarl, 250Guthorm, jarl .of Hebrides, 227Hogbacks,Guthred of 183, 187, 192, 199-201, 245York, 124-126Holderness, 171, 175Gyda, wife of Godwine, 167Hold, 102, 174Hdlmfast and Grim, 227Hordakniit, 147, 162-167H/ERETHALAND, 44Hakon, ^Ethelstan's foster-son, 136Einksson jarl, 158Hakonarson, King, 235, 236, 255Ospak, 235Paulsson, 251, 252Horm, Orm, 79Howth, 73Hring and Adils, 186Hrdald, 185Hrodwolf Grace, Hrolf Kraki, 13, 54Hubba, 87 ;and see UbbiHalfdan, 87, 91-94, 119, 124, 205, 206, Hugleik, 53225Hundred courts, 160Halegg, 249Huntingdon, 104, 108II., 126, 127Huskarls, in, 161-163, 169, 170, 172Hamla and Har, 162Hvitserk, 87Hamlet, 139Hygelac, 53Hamund, 94Hyndluljod, 19, 65Harald Blatonn, 140, 145Fairhair, 136, 140, 207, 224, 247-249IMERGI of Argyll, 230Hardradi, 170-173, 250, 251Harefoot, 163, 164Hilditonn, war-tooth, 14, 50I morcer j arl , 1 40Impignoration of Orkney and Shetland,2 56, 257jarl, 91Ingimund, Igmund, 189, 191Maddadh's son, 245, 2^3-255of the the Hebrides, 233Smooth-spoken, 252Ingjald, 13, 50Sigtryggsson, 131, 227Inglewood deerstealers, 180son,of Olaf Cuaran, 139Ingwar Widefathom, 13 ;and sec Ivar

INDEX 269Ireland, Vikings in, 48, 59, 60, 69-77,90, 130-139, 224-228Isles, see HebridesIvar O'lvar, 226the Boneless, 49, 51, 86-90, 119tanist of Dublin, 135Widefathom, 49, 50 ;and seeIngwarIvar's Knowe, 247JARL, Earl, 42, 102Jarlsnes, 133Jarnkn6, 139, 169Jarrovv. 63Jehmarc, 230John, bp., 255Jorik, King, 101-103Jorsajfarers at Maeshowe, 253Jostein and Guthmund, 146, 150, 151Jukil, Inchil, King, 218KALI (Ragnvald) Kolsson, 252Kari Solmundarson, 188, 228, 229Karl Hundason, 228Kells, 139Kenneth mac Alpin, 224Kent, Vikings in, 78-80, 96-98, 149, 150,153- JSS, 168, 175Ketil Flatr.ef, 224Ketil the Fool, 135Kniit, King, 147, 155-163, 229Kolbein Hruga, 254Kol Thorsteinsson, 188LAG MAN (personal name), 63, 233, 237Lagmenn, Lawmen, no, 190, 197, 227Lagslig, lah-slit, 102Lake district, Vikings in, 150, 202-220Lambey, 48, 69Lancashire, Vikings in, 122, 179, 197-201Landican, 193, 196Largs, battle, 236, 255Lawmen of Danish towns, 108, noLawrightmen of Shetland, 262Laws of Kniit, 159-161Law terms of Orkney and Shetland, 258Leet, 106Leicester, 109, no, 117, 137Leicestershire place-names, inLeira, 54Leofric of Mercia, 163Leofred of Dublin, 189Leofsige of Essex, 106, 151Leysingi, 102, 114Limerick, 77, 132, 226, 227Lincoln, no, in, 118, 174Lincolnshire place-names, 112, 113Lindisfarne, 65-67, 137Lindsey, 77, no, 149, 175Lithsmen of London, 163 ; their song,156-158Llanrhidian stone. 187Llywarch and Meredith ap Owain, 190Lochlannaigh, 47, 60, 77Lochlann (country), 59, 60 ; (personalname), 63, 238London, 78, 149, 154, 155, 158, 163, 164Long hundred, 111Lough Owel, 77Lough Ree, 76Lund, 122, 216Lusk, 75MACCUS of Maldon, 146]\!;itlbaethe, 230Maelbrigd of the Tusk, 248Maelseachlann, 77Maeshowe, 253Magnus Barefoot, 47, 233, 236, 251Bjarnarson, 228Gilbride's son, 255Maccus Olafsson, 210Mactus Haraldsson of Man, 190,227, 228, 233St., 251, 252 ; cathedral, 254son of Olaf the Black, 236the name, 228Malcolm Canmore, 170, 177, 229,k. of Scots, 138, 210, 250mac Eth, 234, 255Maldon, 103-105, 146Manchester, 118Man, Isle of, 69, 150, 190, 207, 208, 226-236, 242, 245Mannanjarl, 105Manntal, 160Margaret of Norway, 236, 255Marlborough, 153Melkplf, Malcolm of Argyll, 229Mercia, Vikings in, 78, 79, 88, 93. IOT,108-118, 127, 136, 154Meredith, Prince, 147, 187Meretune, battle, 92Merlesvein, 173, 174Mersea Island, 98, 156Mills of Shetland, etc., 263Milton, 97Morann of Lewis, 226Moray, Vikings expelled, 234Morkari of Northumbria, 169-171, 174Mousa, broch, 245, 25475

270 INDEXMoylemurry, 132Muirceartach mac Neill, 226Oswigedune, 125Oswulf of Bamborough, 141, 142, 210Ossian and Viking legends, 47,Sumarlidi's son, 234Otford, battle, 155NAVIES of the Northmen, 28-33Navy of the Anglo-Saxons, 78, 94, 99, 148Niall, king of Ireland, 75Njal's sons, 228Norn, Norraena, 259Norse, the earliest invasions, 54-56, 59,Othlyn, 133Othulf hold, 127Ottar jarl, 127, 185, 208jarl of Northumbria, 127of Man, 233the Black, 15471, 72, 146; settlements, 166, 174, 178, Otta, wife of Turgesius, 77182Northampton, 103Owain of Cumbria, 130, 131, 209Oxford, 152, 170Northman (personal name), 158Northmen, use of the term, 44, 59Northumbria, Vikings in, 67, 87, 88, 93-PALLIG jarl, 151, 152Palnatoki, 145, 186, 18799, 119-143, 171-175 devastation; of, Papar, priests, 241, 244175-178Norway, derivation of, 59 ; ethnologyParis, siege, 51, 78, 85Paternoster of Orkney and Shetland, 260of, 1 6-2 1Patronymics of Yorkshire and Cuinbcl.,Norwich, 103, 152Nottingham, 88, 109, no, 115, 117181Paul and Erlend, 171, 251the Silent, 252OCKLEY, battle, 78Odnl, udal, 55, 114, 249, 250, 254Peat as fuel, 248Peel, Isle of Man, 69Odo, Oddi, abp., 137, 143Pembroke, Vikings in, 184-189Ogam inscriptions, 244, 245Penmon, 190, 191Ohthere, Ottar of Halogaland, 19, 100Oisla, 87Oisley, 131Oistin, son of Olaf the White, 225. 248Olaf Ball, 129Penselwood, battle, 155Picts of Galloway, 93Pilgrimage of St. Cuthbert's relics, 123-125, 207, 225Piracy among Celts, 52Billing, 234Place-names of Cornwall and Devon,Cuaran, 48, 50, 131, 135-141, 190, 184 ;Cumberland and Westmorland,227Guthferthsson the Red,203, 204, 211-216; Dumfriesshire, 221,134, 136, 222 ;East Anglia, 105-108 ; Galloway,137223 ; Hebrides, 238-241 ; Ireland, 73 ;the uyounger, 139Lancashire, 197, 199 ; Leicestershire,, St., 154, 155, 250; dedications to, in ; Lines., 112, 113 ; Man, 230, 231 ;183, 247Orkney and Shetland, 55, 56, 244, 247 ;the BI 5Iack, 235Reading, 92; Wales, 79, 186, 187,the White, 87,24890, 94, 224, 225, 191 ; Wirral, 192-196 ; Yorks., 120-122Portland, 77, 145Tryggvason, 146, 148-151, 229, 246,250QUATFORD, 99, 116Olanege island, 156Quoy, 107Old Sarum, 152Onphile jarla, 60RACHAIKE, Rathlin, 69Orkney, 19, 54-56, 77, no, 132, 171, Ragnar Lodbrok, 50, 51, 87, 253.. 173, 228, 244-264 _Ragnhild Eirik's daughter, 249Orlyg and bp. Patrick, 243Ragnvald Brusason, 250, 251Ormes Heads, 79Godred's son of Man, 234, 235Orm the English, 50Guthfrithsson, 137Orphir, 252king of York, nS, 127-130, 208,Osbjorn, 91Osferth the collector, 127226St., (Kali Kolsson), 252-254son of Olaf Cuaran, 139

INDEX 271Ranig of Hereford, 163Kanselmen of Shetland, 262Raudabjorg, battle, 251Ravaging of the North, 175, 181Raven standard, 96Reading, 91, 92, 153Rechru, 48, 69Repton, 93Reycross, 142Riccall, 171, 173Richsi, Ricsig, 119, 129Ringmere, battle, 153, 154Rochester, 78, 96, 150Roderick ap Merfyn, 79, 189Roderic, son of Harald, 190Roolwer, Hrolfr, bp., 232Rorik, 78Routes of early migration, 12-15Rugby, 109Runes, 26, 27, 55, 187, 201, 242, 245, 253ST. CLAIR, earls of Orkney, 256Sandwich, 78, 153Saxon shore, 13, 45Saxon war, 57, 58Saxulf, 76Scaklingi, 124Scotland, Vikings in, 68-70, 73, 77, 89,207, 225, 236, 245, 246 ;and sec Argyll,Caithness, Dumfriesshire, Galloway,Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland, StrathclydeScrufajarl, 127Sculptured stones of Cornwall, 183 ;Cumberland, 204, 205, 219, 222, 223;Dumfriesshire, 222, 223 ;East Anglia,103 ; Hebrides, 242 ; Gotland, 55 ;Lancashire, 198-202 ; London, 164 ;Man, 231, 232; Mercia, 115; Orkneyand Shetland, 244-246 ; Scotland, 246 ;Wales, 187, 191 ; Wirral, 192, 196 ;Yorkshire, 120, 122, 142, 143Sea-faring in the pre-Viking age, 52 of;the Scandinavians, 28-42, 67Sea-kings, 42, 47Sea- language, 261Setr, saeter, in place-names, 195, 199,211, 212Sheppey, 75, 78, 79, 155Sherstone, battle, 155Shetland, 54-56, 77. 244-24.6, 249, 250,255-263Ships of the Scandinavians, 28-33, 99Shocbury, 98Sigeferth, Sigfrith, 125, 131Sigeric, abp., 146Sigferth, Siferth of Wales, 185Sigfred, king of Denmark, 58Ring, 13 and see ;Sigurd HringSigtrygg Cam, 139Gale, 127, 130, 131, 135Silkiskeggi, 139the old, and Sigtrygg the young, 91Sigurd Hlodversson, 55, 228, 246, 250Hring, 50Magnusson, 251(Siward), earl of Deira, 163, 169Snake-eye, 87I. of Orkney, 94, 248the VolsimjL 50, 300, 231Skathald, 262^--'Skellig Mhichel, 73Skjoldungs, 54, 124Skye, 69, 237, 239, 240Slave-trade, 64, 66, 67, 73Sodor. and Man, 233Sokemen, 113, 114Somerset, Vikings in, 78, 95, 96Sources of Viking Age history, S-nSouthampton, 77, 145, 150Star, in place-names, 194Stainmoor, battle, 142, 249Staithe, in place-names, 108, 194, 197Stamford, no, 117-Bridge, 171, 172, 233Stefnirjarl, 186Stillingfleet church-door, 173Strand hogg, 66Strangford Lough, battle, 124Strathclyde, 89, 90, 208, 209Stratherne earls of Orkney, 256Stidreyjar, sec HebridesSueno's pillar, 246Sumarlidi (personal name), 63, 66Somerled, 234, 235Svein Asleifarson, 252, 254Forkbeard, 145, 149-155, 186, 190,229,God wine's son, 168Kmit's, son, 163Suibhne, of Man, 228, 229Ulfsson, k. of Denmark, 167, 170J 74Sverrir, King, 255Swine-fylking, 86Syllingar islands, 149TADDENESSCYLFE, 140Tarn worth, 130, 136Tara, battle, 139Tempsford, 104, 105Tenmantale, 160Tettenhall, battle, 116Thetford, 88

272 INDEXThingsteads, sites of, 106, 121, 192, 196,218, 221, 252, 261Thjodulf Arnorsson, 172Tliord Gunnarsson, 143, 148, 149, 210Thorfinn-Hausakljiif, 249jarl of Orkney, 229, 233, 250, 251,264 _Thorfrith jarl, 105Thorgest, Turgesius, 76, 86Thorgils, son of Harald Fairhair, 76Thorir, tanist of Lochlann, 59Thorkel the Tall, 153-155, 157, 158Thorketil jarl, 103, 104Thorney island, 98Thorolf, bp., 171, 247Thorstein the Red, 94, 225, 248Thracll, 102, 113Three keels of Hengist, 43, 44, 51Thurferth hold, 127Thurgod, bp., 174Thurig of East Mercia, 163Thurstaston, 192-195Thwaite, in place-names, 108, 178, 194,i95, 23. 2 .3iToglea, Toll, 105Tomhrair erla, 59Torf-Einar, 55, 56, 248-250Torksey, 93, 115Tosti Godwinsson, 168-171Trade in the Viking Age, 16-19, 100, 115Trithings, 106, 121Tryggviof the Hebrides, 227Tryg Trandilsson, 253Tuki, 164Tun, in place-names, 193, 194Turgesius, 76, 77Tympanum at Pennington, 201Tynemoor, battle, 130UBBI, 94-96, 185 ;and see HubbaUdal ;see OdalUhtred- Eadulfsson, 128, 137of Northumbria, 154, 155Ulf Dolfinsson, 169Ulfketil,' Ulfkell Snillingr, 105, 152, 153,WF.TTVANGR, 122Vastern dyke, 92Vedast, St., 103Vemund, Wymund of Furness, 234, 235Vigrlags-rett, 162 _Vik, place-names in, 191, 193Viken, the Vik, 18Viking, use of the word, 61-63Vinheifti, battle, 133, 186Vithrir and Di Veteres, 46Volund, 80WALBURY camp, 99Wales, Vikings in, 69, 79, 98, 99, 127,147, 184-191, 229Waltheof I. of Bernicia, 149Waltheof, Siward's son, 169, 175Wapentakes, 106, 121War-customs of the Northmen, 34-42,83-86, 99, 130Warehatn, 94Waterford, 132Watling Street, 96, 109Wedmore, Frith of, 96, 102Wednesfield, battle, n6, 127Wendune, battle, 133Wertermor (Kirriemuir ?), 131Wessex, Vikings in, 75-80, 91-99, 145,149Westmorland, Vikings in, 122, 202-220West Wales, 76, 183White and Black Gaill ;see BlackWhithorn, 123, 124, 222, 223, 225, 229Wicganbeorh, 78Wicklow, 70, 77, 139Wigtownshire ;see GallowayWilliam the Conqueror, 148, 170, 173-175the Lion, 235, 255Wilton, 152Winchester, 80Winganmere, 104Wirral, Vikings in, 189, 192-196Witham, 103Wulfnoth turns Viking, 153Wulfric Spot, 198Wulfstan, abp. , 136, 137, 140the voyager, 100YORK, 88, 117, 119, 125-127, 136-139,141, 171, 174, 176Yorkshire, depopulation and repopulation,175-181 ;monuments and placenames,120-122, 173 ; personal names,165, 166, 169, 174, 181Ysopa, 102Richard Clay & Sous, Limited, London and Bnngay,

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