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From Asset in War to Asset in Diplomacy: Orkney in the Medieval Realm of Norway

From Asset in War to Asset in Diplomacy: Orkney in the Medieval Realm of Norway

By Ian Peter Grohse

Island Studies Journal, Vol. 8:2 (2013)

Abstract: The island province of Orkney played a crucial role in Norway’s overseas expansion during the Early- and High-Middle Ages. Located just offshore from mainland Scotland, it provided a resort for westward-sailing fleets as well as a convenient springboard for military forays into Britain and down the Irish Sea. The establishment of a Norwegian-Scottish peace and the demarcation of fixed political boundaries in 1266 led to a revision of Orkney’s role in the Norwegian realm. From that point until the its pledging to the Scottish Crown in 1468, Norway depended on Orkney as a hub for diplomacy and foreign relations. This paper looks at how Orkney figured in Norwegian royal strategies in the west and presents key examples which show its transition from a tool of war to a forum for peace.

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Introduction: For roughly seven centuries, from the late-eighth until the late-fifteenth centuries, the North Sea archipelago of Orkney was under varying degrees of influence and overlordship of the Kingdom of Norway. It was one of a string of North Sea and North Atlantic islands including Greenland, Iceland, the Faeroes, Shetland, and until 1266 the Hebrides and Man, known in contemporary texts as skattlondum (tributary countries) of the King of Norway. As the term indicates, each of these islands owed ‘skatt’, a tribute or tax to Crown, although the exact nature and amount of those tributes continue to elude historians. While acts of submission by native chieftains, including the imbursement of a lump sum of wealth, appear to have been a staple means of tribute in the Early and High Middle Ages, the late medieval systems were based on regular renders provided by wider segments of the provincial communities.

Unfortunately, the scarcity of source material makes it difficult to fully appreciate the significance of economies in the Crown’s relations to these dependencies. For Orkney, this is particularly so. Most of what is known of Orkney’s medieval economy is derived from vague narrative references and optimistic reconstructions of land valuations based on earlier material. While it might be assumed that Orcadian capital figured prominently into the strategies of Norwegian kings, there is scant evidence of how and to what extent.

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