County Orkney

Orkney and Shetland Islands lie in the very north of Scotland. The Picts settled in Orkney during the Bronze Age , and the surviving archaeological data show that people lived there before the Vikings , probably in the last part of the VIII century , although this is not completely proven. It is believed that hermits lived on the islands. Vikings appeared in this region around the 9th century . It is not known what happened to the Picts after this: they were completely exterminated, assimilated, migrated or lived for some time with the Vikings, but traces of their culture on the Orkney Islands were not preserved ^[2] .

Formally, the Orkneys were considered part of the Kingdom of Norway, although the influence of the Norwegian kings was negligible. Only at the beginning of the XII century over Orkney for several years the direct control of the Norwegian king Magnus Golonogog was established . At the beginning of the XIII century in Iceland, an unknown author composed the Orkney Saga - one of the main written sources telling about the life of Norwegians in Scotland.

At the end of the 9th century, Harald the Fair-haired captured the Orkney and Shetland Islands, annexed them to his kingdom and transferred them to flax (or possession, since it is believed that feudal relations were not well developed in Norway at that time) to his supporter Regnwald of Mör . Regnwald, in turn, transferred this territory to his brother Sigurd. Tom was able to expand the new proto-kingdom, captured a small area in the north of continental Scotland. Now this is County Caithness . Subsequently, Caithness was then under the rule of Orkney Jarls, then proteges of the Scottish kings. After Sigurd and his son died, Orkney began to be ruled by the sons of Regnwald from Mör and their descendants.

In 1137, construction of a cathedral in honor of St. Magnus, which was killed as an eagle about 20 years earlier, began in Kirkwall . In 1195 , the Shetland Islands lost the Orkney labels, which became the direct rule of the Norwegian crown, and the labels have since become increasingly dependent on the metropolis. This happened after the Jarl Harald Maddadsson supported his opponents in the fight against the future king of Norway Sverrira . The last jarl from the Rögnwald dynasty of Mör - Jon Haraldsson drowned in 1231 during a sea voyage. In the same year, the title of Earl or Mormair Caithness was transferred to Magnus , the son of Gilbride , Mormair Angus , who founded the new dynasty. In 1379, Haakon VI Magnusson granted the county to Henry Sinclair .

In 1468, the ownership of the Orkney and Shetland Islands was transferred by the King of Denmark, Christian I, instead of the unpaid dowry of his daughter Margarita , who was engaged to the Scottish prince James as a guarantee of payment of the dowry. Christian I transferred to Scotland the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which until then belonged to the Norwegian crown. Since the dowry was never paid, the islands became the property of King James III and were thus annexed to Scotland.

The county, which was without political support from Norway, was transferred to the Scottish nobles. In 1471, James III transferred the lands in Scotland, which included Caithness , to William Sinclair in exchange for the islands he owned. Thus, the Orkney Islands became part of the Kingdom of Scotland .

In 1567, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Botwell , husband of Mary Stuart , Queen of Scotland , received the title of Duke of Orkney. When Mary lost power, her husband lost his title and possessions in the Orkney Islands.

Robert Stewart , the illegitimate son of Jacob V , received the title of Count Orkney, but his son, Patrick Stewart , was beheaded by Jacob VI and was stripped of his title.

George Douglas-Hamilton became Earl of Orkney in the third creation in 1696 . His descendants carry the title to this day.

Over time, especially after the second creation of the Earl of Orkney title, aspects of Scottish culture began to enter the culture of the Orkney Islands, nevertheless preserving the place of the norn , Scandinavian last names and various other aspects of Norwegian influence on the islands. Today, this influence is still located on the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which distinguishes them from other areas of Scotland.

• Count Orkney

• Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. - London: Penguin, 1978. - ISBN 0-14-044383-5 .
• Morris, Christopher. Viking Orkney: A Survey / Colin Renfrew. - Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1985 .-- (The Prehistory of Orkney).
• Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Pálsson. Orkneyinga Saga. - New York: Penguin, 1978.
• Oxford Companion to Scottish History. / Michael Lynch. - Oxford University Press. - S. 467-469. - ISBN 9780199234820 .

• ORKNEY Foundation for Medieval Genealogy . Date of treatment May 18, 2010. Archived on April 25, 2012.
• Viking Orkney Orkneyjar . Date of treatment May 18, 2010. Archived on April 25, 2012.