222 VIKINGUR SEIZE THE ORKNEYS, &c. 864.

is said to have been sacrificed to the manes of the Danish leaders.-Stat. Accô. vol. iv. p. 546. vol. v. 116. vol. ix. p. 454.

p.

The reign of Constantin, or from 864 to 882, seems to have been the most disastrous period of our history, and Scotland was all but conquered by the Northmen. It is clear, from the most ancient and authentic of the Scandinavian records, that, during these events, or soon after the middle of the 9th century, the Vikingur seized on the Orkneys and Hebudes, with Caithness and Sutherland, and part of Ross, besides the Shetland Isles. They also took possession of several peninsulæ, or tongues of land, in the West Highlands. It appears, that the Hebudes were subject to the Danish kings of Dublin, till about 910, when they were conquered by Harold Harfagre, the first sovereign of all Norway. He created Sigurd Jarl, or Earl, of Orkney: in 912, he appointed Ketil, lord of the Hebudes.- Torf. Orc. i. 5. In 989, Godfrey, son of Harold, king of the Hebudes, was slain by the Dalriads. Tigh. Ann. The lords of the Hebudes fixed the seat of their government in the Isle of Man, and seem again to have become subject to the kings of Dublin; for, in 1075, we find the people of Man sending to the king of Dublin, to desire him to appoint their king.— Chron. Mann. apud Camden.* It is probable, that the kings of Man and the Hebudes asserted their independence when the Danish power in Ireland was overthrown in the battle of Clontarf, 1014. Godfred was king of Man and the Hebudes, 1066. The

*The records of Man are said to be still preserved among the episcopal archives of Drontheim, in Norway. - Pink. Inq. Sup. vol. ii. p. 296.

Landnama book of Iceland, contains the names of many Norwegian families who left the Hebudes to settle in Iceland, in the 10th century. It is, therefore, a mere dream, the account given by Fordun, and repeated by our historians, that these isles belonged to Scotland, till ceded to the Norwegians by Donald Bane, 1099. It is also a most improbable story, that our monarchs were buried in Hyona, from Kenneth M'Alpin, down to Malcolm Caenmore; kings that were almost constantly engaged in savage warfare with the pagan Northmen, who, as we have seen, repeatedly rifled, burned, and sacked Colum-cille, miserably slaughtering the ecclesiastics, and other inhabitants, In the Chron. Pict. we read, that, in 849, Kenneth M'Alpin transported the relics of Columba, hitherto preserved in Hyona, to a new church which he built in Pictland. This church is believed to have been Dunkeld, whose abbot, after Hyona was seized by the Norwegians, was for some time primate of Scotland. Kenneth, and some of his successors, would probably be interred in that church, which contained the relics of the saint. These relics not being secure in Hyona, from the unhallowed hands of the Vikingur, it is not likely that the sacrilegious Northmen would respect the ashes of our kings; and, as formerly observed, if the body of Malcolm II. had been sent to that place for interment, it is reasonable to suppose, that the Pagans would have thrown his

carcass into the sea. In Chron. Pict. written about 1020, no mention is made of the burial of our kings in Hyona. The fable appears to have been invented by the monks of St Andrews, in the twelfth century: the story is repeated in the Chron. Elegiacum, composed

224 NOTICE OF HYONA, OR I-COLM-CILLE, &c.

about the middle of the thirteenth, and adopted by Fordun, in the fourteenth; who has been followed by succeeding writers to this day. *

Magnus Bærfetta, (Barefoot,) king of Norway, again conquered the Orkneys and Hebudes, with the Isle of Man, an. 1098. But the Earls of Orkney were generally independent princes, daring Vikingur, and, in power, little inferior to the kings of Scotland. They were lords of the Shetland Isles and the Hebudes, and Caithness was often subject to their sway. Haco, king of Norway, invaded Scotland with a mighty fleet, 1263, but was defeated at Largs; and Magnus IV, after a long negotiation, yielded the Hebudes and Man to Alexander III, 1266. Thus, we see, the Hebudes were in the possession of the Northmen 400 years; a fact unknown to Fordun and our old historians, who constantly speak of the Western Isles, as forming part of the dominions of the Scottish kings. While these islands belonged to the Scandinavians, they were

* Columba, with his twelve companions, settled in Hyona, an. 565. This famous isle is situated off the south-west point of Mull, from which it is separated by a strait now two miles broad; but anciently much narrower, for we are informed, that people could converse across the channel. The islet is, at present, about two miles long, by one broad; and is rather fertile. It contains interesting ruins, and tumuli. The primitive name was I, which in Gaelic signifies an isle. By Bede, I was aspirated Hy. From its being exposed to the swell of the Atlantic, it is often dangerous to approach its shores, and on that account, it was also called by the Gael, I-thon," the isle of waves;" this being pronounced I-on, was Latinized by the monks Iona, and aspirated Hyona, as we find it written by Adomnan, in his life of Columba; Adomnan was abbot, 679. In later times, it was denominated I-colm-cille (pronounced Icolmkil, )" the isle of Columba's retreat, or cell.”

denominated by the Celtic inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland, Inch Gall," the isles of the strangers." The etymology of the classical name is uncertain: Torfæus deduces it from ey, an island, and bud a habitation, implying the inhabited isles;" to us, however, this Gothic derivation of Hebudes appears more than doubtful. The Orkney Isles were impignorated to James III, 1468. for the marriage portion of Queen Margaret, daughter of Christian I, king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; and not being redeemed, were annexed to the Scottish crown, 1471-2; and the Shetland Isles were soon afterward purchased from Christian, for a sum amounting to about L.20,000 of our money.-Barry. Thus, we see, the Orkneys and Shetland were held by the Northmen 600 years. According to Torfæus, the etymology of Orkney is from ork, a desert, and ey, an isle, implying "the

* So little are our writers acquainted with the history of the Hebudes, that, as Pinkerton justly observes, they have perverted the name, "since the publication of the notorious history of Hector Boethius, 1526." Ptolemy has Eboudai, in Latin, Ebuda; Pliny and Solinus, Ebudes. The edition of the latter, by Aldus, 1518, 8vo. Habudes; as have all the editions of Pliny and Solinus since. In a very inaccurate edition of Solinus, published at Paris, An. 1503, it is Ebrides, by a mistake of the printer. Boece, having studied at Paris, had no doubt taken his Hebrides from this most inaccurate edition of Solinus, and, merely from a typographical error, Hebrides has passed among all our writers, for three centuries, with the exception of Buchanan, who puts Ebuda; but upon no ancient authority. All foreign writers, however, put Hebudes; and, though it is not of much consequence by what name the western isles of Scotland are distinguished, for those who prefer the classical name, to persist in Hebrides, is certainly like the old priest, who retained his Mumpsimus for Sumpsimus.—Pink. Inq. vol. ii. Sup. p. 302.

226 NOTICE OF THE ORKNEYS AND SHETLAND.

uninhabited isles;" but we are doubtful of this Gothic derivation of the classic Orcades. Solinus, indeed, who wrote about 240, says, they were desert in his time; but Solinus is an author of slender information, and an authority not to be depended upon, as is evident from his account of the Hebudes. It is clear from Tacitus, that the Orkneys were inhabited in the first century, when they were discovered and subdued by the fleet of Agricola, an. 84, " invenit domuitque." The ancient Celtic name was Inistore, "the Islands of Whales ;" and we incline to refer Orcades to this source. Shetland, Zetland, Yetland, are corruptions of Hialtland, pronounced Yaltland. Hialt is supposed to have been a Norwegian Vikingr, who settled in Shetland about the middle of the ninth century. The more ancient Celtic name was Iniscon, "the Island of Swelling Waves," probably the Iscant, of Nicolo Zeno, who is supposed to have visited Shetland in the 13th century. One of the isles still retains the name of Unst. It is plain that Shetland was the Thule of Tacitus. When the fleet of Agricola circumnavigated the Orcades, Tacitus says, dispecta est et Thule, "and Thule was beheld." The lofty peaks of Foula, in Shetland, are distinctly seen, in a clear day, from North Ronaldsha, in Orkney. It is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that the classic Thule, the Celtic Iniscon, and the Gothic Hialtland, are all in the singular number; while Orcades and Hebudes are plural. It appears not improbable that Shetland was formerly one island: a disruption may have been produced by the shock of an earthquake, and the rents would afterward be widened by the force of the waves.