Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Scandinavian Britain - III. The Norse Settlements - 6. The Earldom of Orkney
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
were made at repression for at least a couple of
hundred years later." In Orkney and Shetland Old
Lore, for October 1907, is printed a series of documents,
conveyances, agreements, charters, etc., ranging
from 1422 to 1575, many of them in Norse, and all
showing the close connexion of the islanders with
Norway. For example, in 1538 the Norse king at
Bergen confirms a doom of the Shetland Lawting, and
describes the trial in which Gervald Williamsson won
his heritage from Magnus Olsson as according to
Gulathing’s law. Many of the deeds relate to settlements
between islanders and their relatives living in
Norway. The law-terms are chiefly Norse, as :–
"athmen " = eidmenn (oathmen), "arvis skopft" =
arfskipti (division of inheritance), "oumbotht " =
umbod (commission), "schonit" = sjaund (seventh
day after the death, when the division of goods was made),
"mensvering" = meinsværi (perjury, whence
"manswearing"), "samengna man " = sameignar madr (joint possessor),
"granttis with hand and handband " = handaband (joining hands),
"ofhintit" from afhenda (to hand over),
"teind penny and ferde penny" = tiundargjöf ok fjördungsgjöf (for
in Norse law one could dispose of only one-tenth
of one’s patrimony and one-fourth of personally
acquired 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 Sinclair
the rents and rights of the Crown over the servants
of the Church in Orkney. The people’s names
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
