Tag: ORKNEY

The Viking Age

CLAN CARRUTHERS – VIKING SETTLEMENT ORKNEY SCOTLAND

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VIKING SETTLEMENT ON THE BROUGH OF BISAY, ORKNEY SCOTLAND

Still catching up on my trip to Orkney, I’m taking us back in history again, this time to the Vikings.

I recently read a fantastic historical novel (3 books in 1, really): King Hereafter, by Dorothy Dunnett. Published in 1982, the language is far more dense than modern books, and more Tolkein-esque in style with a leisurely plot and many, many genealogies, but it is a wonderful story, filled with vivid characters, and action that sweeps through Scotland, and into Europe. The remarkable history covered in this novel takes in, amongst others, King Canute’s reign in England, the rise and fall of various popes and bishops, several Scandinavian monarchs, not to mention Scottish kings and war lords.

THE GENEALOGICAL MATCH BETWEEN KING CANUTE AND THE CARRUTHERS IS THROUGH HIS WIFE WHO WAS EMMALINE “FLOWER” BEAUCLERC OF NORMANDY WHOSE FATHER WAS RICHARD I.

It is a fictionalised history of King Macbeth (yes, the Macbeth of Shakespear fame), otherwise known as Earl Thorfinn of Orkney.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN KING MACBETH AND THE CARRUTHERS IS THROUGH BOTH DNA AND GENEALOGY. MAC BETH MOTHER WAS DONADA INGEN MAEL COLUIM MEIC CINAEDA, PRINCESS OF SCOTLAND. SOME MAY ALREADY RECOGNIZE SOME OF THAT NAME, HER FATHER WAS KING MALCOLM II “THE DESTROYER” WHICH WE HAVE A FORENCIS DNA MATCH CTS11603 WITH. SO MAC BETH CARRIES THE CARRUTHERS GENOME THROUGH HIS MOTHER DONADA. MAC BETH WAS KING OF SCOTLAND FROM 1040 – 1057 AT THE BATTLE OF LUMPHANA IN ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND.

I noticed right away, upon landing on Orkney, that Thorfinn (and others depicted in the book), is well remembered in many ways

This slight digression is by way of an introduction for our next visit, to the Brough of Birsay, a small island accessibly at low tide by a causeway, with a remarkable set of Norse ruins, thought to be the home of Earl Thorfinn.

The stones make for pretty rough walking, but it was worth the effort.https://www.youtube.com/embed/q072YSNOuwI?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparentStanding on Birsay, above the Norse ruins, looking back towards Orkney Mainland

The main settlement is straight ahead, but you can also clearly see some less exposed ruins on the right, and the outlines of even more in the foreground.

There is also the remains of a 12th century church, almost certainly built over an earlier place of worship

Wandering amongst these remains was yet another absorbing and breath-taking experience, with time to speculate about the people who lived there over 1000 years before, and yet left such an impression on history.

You do, of course, have to keep an eye on the clock, arriving (and leaving) at appropriate times, taking the tide into account, but it was also very comforting to see this notice on the door of the small hut on site:

Or, unlike King Canute, you could always patiently wait out the tide…

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The Viking Age

CLAN CARRUTHERS – ORCADIAN RUNE CARVERS

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ORCADIAN RUNE CARVERS

 

The highest density of Norse runic inscriptions in Scotland are from Orkney. But what can we tell from them about the people who carved them ?

Runic graffiti at the ring of Brodgar credit:MBell

 Viking Age in Orkney takes us from about 550AD through to the Golden Age of the 12th c.

 

In Orkney so far there are 56 examples of runic inscriptions – 33 in the Neolithic Maeshowe tomb alone- 7 in Shetland , 2 in Caithness and 13 in the rest of Scotland.

Maeshowe Neolithic Tomb Orkney where there are 33 distinct runic inscriptions

In England there are 19 examples of Norse runes and 0 in Wales.

Dr Freund suggested that the large number of runes found in Orkney indicates that it represents a very literate society. Orkney, Dr Freund said, was an important place in the power play at that time.

It then declined in importance during the 13th C, having backed the wrong side, and then eventually it came under Scottish rule in 1468/9. There had been much intermarriage between the Norse families of influence in Orkney and the Scottish nobility, in a lead up to the eventual take over by Scotland.

There is no complete runestone surviving in Orkney but there are many different examples carved into a variety of materials- stone, metal, 1 in steatite, bone and antler. The 33 in Maeshowe, of course, remain in situ, however, of the other artefacts they are spread across different sites and museums.

Last year Dr Freund was able to bring together some of these amazing objects in an exhibition at The Orkney Museum and it was wonderful to see them gathered together with the informative display panels. Revealing Runes – PhD Student Andrea Freund’s Exhibition

DrAndreaFreund at her exhibition in The Orkney Museum in 2019

The bear’s tooth carving was discovered at the Brough of Birsay, a tidal island, which had been a Pictish (and no doubt earlier settlement) and which was important in the Norse period.

Earls BU Drinking
Hall
Orphir credit: Bell

At The Earl’s Bu, Orphir, one of the main seats of Norse power in Orkney, a runic inscription was carved in Latin.

There is also an example of a lead amulet from Quoys in Deerness which is a mixture of a garbled form of Latin and Old Norse. This Dr Freund suggested indicates a literate people – and in at least two languages. The amulet is so tiny that it cannot be unfolded and we may never know what was written inside it.

Humour is also present and ribaldry in many of the runic carvings. Maeshowe where a group of Norse ‘travellers’ or ‘pilgrims’ broke in to shelter from a storm – or in some tales – on the search for treasure – contains several examples of bawdy inscriptions and the use of nicknames. There are also 6 mentions of women in the Maeshowe carvings with one claiming to be carved by a woman.

The Maeshow runes at Dr Freund’s exhibition at The Orkney Museum in 2019

 

 

We will never know how many runic inscriptions we have lost in Orkney which may have been written on materials which have since rotted away. And there may be more to be found .

The number, variety and the use of humour in the carvings would all indicate a high level of literacy.

One of the most thought provoking ideas that Dr Freund spoke of towards the end of her talk was of ‘mental geographies’. What did the people who carved these runes think about their surroundings ? The meaning of place to them.

Interestingly Orkney is not used as a point of reference but the carvers link back to their Norse lands. In Dr Freund’s words it looks like they were trying to be ‘Norser than Norway’. She suggests this is due to the increasing influence creeping in from Scotland and that the carvers were consciously restating their Norse heritage.

By the Golden Age of the Norse in Orkney we are also talking about a Christian world where Jerusalem is depicted as the spiritual centre. There are indeed 2 mentions of Jerusalem in the Maeshowe inscriptions.

The runes give us a glimpse into their world. A world where Orkney was not isolated but part of a wider Medieval Christendom.

This excellent online talk by Dr Andrea Freund, an expert in Norse runes, took place on Wednesday 26th of August.

Brough of Birsay, once an important Norse settlement Credit Bell

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OUR ANCESTORS, Uncategorized

GUNNHILD KONUNGAMODIR- CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

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Gunnhild Konungamóðir

CARRUTHERS ANCESTOR

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Wife of Eric Bloodaxe, mother of kings, and king-maker – Gunnhild was one of the most politically active women in Norway, Orkney and Jorvik, featuring prominently in several sagas.

The 12th century Historia Norwegiæ tells us that Gunnhild was the daughter of Gorm the Old, King of Denmark, and so her marriage to Erik was a union between two great houses, the Norwegian Ynglings and the early Danish monarchy. This version of events is largely accepted by modern scholars, though Heimskringla and Egil’s Saga have Gunnhild as the daughter of Ozur Toti, a military commander from Halogaland. Whichever version is true, Gunnhild and Erik had a fruitful marriage with several children, as rulers over Norway.

During their time in Norway, Gunnhild and Erik were embroiled in an intense enmity with Egil Skallagrimsson, and as a result are portrayed particularly negatively in his saga and poetry. Egil killed one of the king’s retainers, prompting Gunnhild to order her two brothers to kill Egil in revenge. But Egil killed Gunnhild’s brothers too, and Erik declared him an outlaw in Norway; initiating further deaths as the king’s men hunted Egil, and Egil killed them in turn.

Eventually Egil fled Norway, cursing the royal couple with a horse’s head upon a pole:

“Here I set up a níð-pole, and declare this níð against King Erik and Queen Gunnhildr”, — he turned the horse-head to face the mainland — “I declare this níð at the land-spirits there, and the land itself, so that all will fare astray, not to hold nor find their places, not until they wreak King Erik and Gunnhild from the land.” He set up the pole of níð in the cliff-face and left it standing; he faced the horse’s eyes on the land, and he rist runes upon the pole, and said all the formal words of the curse.”

Gunnhild and Erik were themselves expelled from Norway after a rebellion by nobles in favour of Erik’s half-brother, Haakon the Good. The couple settled in Orkney, then in Jorvik, where Erik became king over northern England, and where Gunnhild and Erik may have been baptized. Jorvik was also the scene of a final encounter between Egil and Gunnhild, around AD 948.  Egil was shipwrecked and brought before Erik, who sentenced him to death – but Egil wrote and recited a poem singing the king’s praises, which won him his freedom, much against Gunnhild’s wishes.

After Erik’s loss of Jorvik and death at the Battle of Stainmore in AD 954, Gunnhild eventually returned to Denmark, finding a home at the court of Harald Bluetooth. Her son Harald was fostered by the king and her other sons much favoured, all fighting in the war against the Norwegian King Haakon. When he died in battle, Gunnhild’s sons were able to exploit the power vacuum and established rule over Norway.

Gunnhild became a key player at court, known from this time as konungamóðir, mother of kings. Heimskringla says that she ‘mixed herself much in the affairs of the country’. It was a turbulent time, with Gunnhild’s sons killing or deposing many provincial rulers, and famine stalking the country.

Unrest eventually led to more civil war, and Gunnhild’s son Harald was killed by his once-foster father Harald Bluetooth. Gunnhild and her remaining two sons once more fled to Orkney; but she seems to have sought a quiet life there after her years of political machinations. According to Jómsvíkingasaga (and with similar stories in other sources), Gunnhild returned to Denmark around 977 but was killed at the orders of King Harald by being drowned in a bog.

A fascinating coda to Gunnhild’s story came in 1835, when a murdered female body was found in a bog in Jutland and mistakenly identified as the queen. Contemporary King Frederick VI commanded a regal sarcophagus to house the body, but later radiocarbon dating proved that the woman lived much earlier, in the 6th century BCE.

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