Research Catalog

Title

The northern earldoms : Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470 / Barbara E. Crawford.

Author

Crawford, B. E.

Publication

Edinburgh : John Donald Publishers, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxiii, 448 pages, 32 pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps; 24 cm

Subject

• Orkney (Scotland) > History > To 1500
• Caithness (Scotland) > History > To 1500

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 394-416) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

1 Between Norway and Scotland: Joint Earldoms and Divided Loyalties 10 -- 1.1 Political and Maritime Contexts 10 -- 1.1.1 Waterways, lordships and power centres 11 -- 1.2 Earls of Different Kingdoms 18 -- 1.2.1 Peripheral communities 21 -- 1.2.2 Borders and frontiers 23 -- 1.3 Historical Approaches 26 -- 1.3.1 Local historians 28 -- 1.3.2 Genealogies 32 -- 1.4 Lordship 35 -- 2 The Sources of Knowledge about the Joint Earldoms: Documentary Survival and Historical Reality 39 -- 2.1 Evaluation of Jarls'Saga (Orkneyinga Saga) 39 -- 2.2 Runic Inscriptions 50 -- 2.3 Latin Documents 53 -- 2.4 Norwegian Documents 59 -- 2.5 Scots Documents and the 'Genealogy of the Earls' 62 -- 2.6 Liturgical Fragments 65 -- 2.7 Material Evidence 67 -- 2.7.1 Ecclesiastical foundations 68 -- 2.7.2 Secular residences: Birsay and Kirkwall 70 -- 2.7.3 Seals 76 -- 3 Viking Earls: AD 870-1030 80 -- 3.1 Mythical Origin 80 -- 3.1.1 Nordic significance of the origin myth 81 -- 3.1.2 Title of jarl 83 -- 3.2 Creation of the Earldom of Orkney 85 -- 3.2.1 Economic interests 87 -- 3.2.2 King and jarl 90 -- 3.3 Earl Sigurd I 'the Mighty' (hinn ríki) 92 -- 3.3.1 Sigurd I's death and burial c.892 96 -- 3.3.2 Place-name and archaeological evidence for Norse settlement on the north mainland of Scotland 100 -- 3.4 The Tenth Century -- Survival and Accommodation 103 -- 3.4.1 Einar: the one-eyed slave-born earl (fl.900) 105 -- 3.4.2 Struggle for control of Caithness 108 -- 3.4.3 Earldom contacts beyond Caithness and Orkney 111 -- 3.5 Sigurd II Hlodversson 'the Stout' (digri) 113 -- 3.5.1 Expansion south and west 114 -- 3.5.2 Hoards, arm-rings and an earldom economy 120 -- 3.5.3 Earl Sigurd digri's conversion and death 125 -- 3.6 Earl Thorfinn 'the Mighty' (hinn ríki) 129 -- 3.6.1 Relationship with Olaf Haraldsson 131 -- 3.6.2 Caithness contested between Earl and Mormaer 134 -- 3.6.3 Campaigns to the Hebrides and internal rivalries 138 -- 3.6.4 Division of the earldoms 141 -- 4 Medieval Earls: 1050-1150 145 -- 4.1 Earl Thorfinn's Founding of the Orkney Bishopric 145 -- 4.2 Military Organisation and Earldom Authority in the West 150 -- 4.2.1 Ross -- the southern frontier 152 -- 4.2.2 Thorfinn's 'famous journey' and pilgrimage to Rome 156 -- 4.2.3 Ingibjorg 'Earls'-mother'(jarlamoðir) and problems of chronology 159 -- 4.2.4 Eulogy of Earl Thorfinn and developments after his death 162 -- 4.3 Hierarchy of Power: Magnus Olafsson 'Barelegs'(Berfættr) and the Earls 165 -- 4.3.1 Royal ambitions and the role of the Orkney earldom 167 -- 4.3.2 Rival earls 171 -- 4.4 Twelfth-century Earldom Society 172 -- 4.4.1 Events in Caithness 175 -- 4.4.2 Rognvald Kali Kolsson 177 -- 4.4.3 Frakokk and Clan Moddan, and the Celto-Norse society of Caithness and Sutherland 179 -- 4.5 Aspiring Earls and Scottish Influence 183 -- 4.6 Aspects of Political Geography in the Twelfth-century Earldoms 188 -- 4.6.1 Scapa Flow 189 -- 4.6.2 Castles 193 -- 5 Saint-Earls and Orkney's Twelfth-century Renaissance 198 -- 5.1 The Killing of Earl Magnus 198 -- 5.2 Growth of the Magnus Cult 199 -- 5.2.1 Preconditions for sanctification 200 -- 5.2.2 Bishop William's role 202 -- 5.2.3 'Elevation' of the relics and 'Translation' to Kirkwall 204 -- 5.2.4 Kol's speech and the building of St Magnus Cathedral 208 -- 5.3 Pilgrimages and an Age of Piety 212 -- 5.3.1 Earl Rognvald: pilgrim, poet and benefactor 214 -- 5.3.2 Earl Rognvald 'the Holy' 219 -- 5.4 The Two Orkney Saints 221 -- 5.5 Architectural Evidence 228 -- 5.5.1 Egilsay and the Brough of Birsay 228 -- 5.5.2 Parish churches 231 -- 5.6 Orkney's Twelfth-century Renaissance 234 -- 5 Earls Constrained by the Power of Kings in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries 238 -- 6.1 Circumstances of Divided Loyalty 238 -- 6.2 Earl Harald Maddadson (1158-1206) 240 -- 6.2.1 The meeting of royal authority in the earldoms 240 -- 6.2.2 Harald's disloyalty and King Sverrir's anger 242 -- 6.3 Harald, Earl of Caithness and King William 246 -- 6.3.1 Harald 'The Young' (ungi) and the Battle of Wick 248 -- 6.4 Violence in Caithness 250 -- 6.4.1 Earl Harald's attack on the stewards and on Bishop John 251 -- 6.4.2 Punishment: papal penance and royal retribution 254 -- 6.5 Earl Harald's Ultimate Survival 257 -- 6.6 The Last Joint Earls: David and John Haraldsson 261 -- 6.6.1 Repairing relations with the kings of Norway and Scotland 262 -- 6.6.2 Loss of Sutherland 264 -- 6.7 Conspiracy in Norway and More Violence in Caithness 267 -- 6.7.1 The burning of Bishop Adam in 1222 268 -- 6.7.2 Royal vengeance 271 -- 6.7.3 Contextualising the evidence about the nature of Caithness society 273 -- 6.8 Murder of Earl John (1230) 274 -- 6.8.1 The end of the old line and the end of an era 276 -- 7 Shadow Earls: 1230s-1370s 278 -- 7.1 The Angus Earls 278 -- 7.1.1 Royal reorganisation in the north 279 -- 7.1.2 Johanna and Matilda, heiresses to the earldom lands 283 -- 7.1.3 The new dynasty's adjustment to the north 286 -- 7.2 Installation as Earls of Orkney û Hirðskrá 288 -- 7.2.1 The earls' position 291 -- 7.3 1263 and the Problem of Divided Loyalty 294 -- 7.3.1 King Hakon Hakonsson's motivation and preparation 295 -- 7.3.2 1263 naval expedition west 297 -- 7.3.3 Earl Magnus Gilbertsson's circumstances 299 -- 7.4 The Treaty of Perth 1266 301 -- 7.4.1 Earl Magnus Gilbertsson's reconciliation 1267 303 -- 7.5 A Northern Commonwealth' and the role of the earls 306 -- 7.5.1 The death of the Maid of Norway in Orkney 1290 308 -- 7.5.2 International and national matters: 1295 and after 310 -- 7.5.3 Weland de Stiklaw 312 -- 7.6 Earldom Minorities and Abeyance 314 -- 7.6.1 Trouble between Scots and Norwegians in the islands 314 -- 7.6.2 Malise, earl of Caithness and Orkney c.1330-c.1350 317 -- 7.6.3 Filling the vacuum after Earl Malise's death 320 -- 7.7 Developments Regarding Caithness and the Breaking of the Link with Orkney 325 -- 7.7.1 Alexander of Ard, eldest grandson of Earl Malise and the loser of both earldoms 325 -- 7.7.2 Changes in Caithness: evidence of feudalising influences 329 -- 8 Sinclair Earls: 1379-1470 332 -- 8.1 Earl Henry I (1379-c.1400) 334 -- 8.1.1 Earl Henry's terms of appointment 336 -- 8.2 Earl Henry I's Establishment of his Authority 339 -- 8.2.1 The killing of Bishop William 340 -- 8.2.2 Malise Sperra, the dangerous cousin with a rival claim 342 -- 8.2.3 Shetland and the Sinclairs 343 -- 8.2.4 Earl Henry I's priorities 345 -- 8.3 Earl Henry II (1400-1420) and his Grandmother Isabella Sinclair 347 -- 8.4 Earl William Sinclair (1420-1470) 349 -- 8.4.1 The rule of David Menzies and the abeyance of the earldom 350 -- 8.4.2 Compiling the 'Genealogy of the Earls' and William's position 352 -- 8.4.3 Earl William's Installation 1434 355 -- 8.4.4 Chancellor of Scotland 1454-1456 and earl of Caithness 356 -- 8.5 The Gathering Storm Clouds 360 -- 8.5.1 Earl William's position in the minority of James 111 (1460-1468) 361 -- 8.5.2 The marriage treaty and the pledging of Orkney and Shetland (1468-1469) 365 -- 8.5.3 Earl William's renunciation of his right to the earldom of Orkney -- the excambion of 1470 368 -- 9 The Aftermath of the Old Earldoms 371 -- 9.1 The Revival of Sinclair Power and Influence in the North 371 -- 9.1.1 Lord Henry Sinclair, 'farmer' and 'leaseholder' 372 -- 9.1.2 Kirkwall's Burgh charter 375 -- 9.1.3 Earl William's family settlement 377 -- 9.2 Sir David Sinclair of Sumburgh 378 -- 9.2.1 Sir David's will of 10 July 1506 381 -- 9.3 Changing Worlds 385 -- 9.3.1 Turbulence in Caithness 386 -- 9.3.2 The Pentland Firth -- a barrier at last? 387.

ISBN

• 9781904607915 (cloth)
• 1904607918 (cloth)

OCLC

856964105

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library