Norðreyjar The Northern Isles were "Pictish in culture and speech" According to the
Orkneyinga Saga, about 872
Harald Fairhair became
King of a united Norway and many of his opponents fled to the
islands of Scotland. Harald pursued his enemies and incorporated the Northern Isles into his kingdom in 875 and then, perhaps a little over a decade later, the Hebrides as well. The following year the local Viking chieftains of the Hebrides rebelled. Harald then sent
Ketill Flatnose to subdue them. Ketill achieved this quickly but then declared himself an independent "King of the Isles", a title he retained for the rest of his life. Hunter (2000) states that Ketill was "in charge of an extensive island realm and, as a result, sufficiently prestigious to contemplate the making of agreements and alliances with other princelings". According to the Kettil became ruler of a region already settled by Scandinavians. Nonetheless, the Norse tradition states that
Rognvald Eysteinsson received Orkney and Shetland from Harald as an earldom as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother
Sigurd the Mighty. Sigurd's line barely survived him and it was
Torf-Einarr, Rognvald's son by a slave, who founded a dynasty that controlled the Northern Isles for centuries after his death. He was succeeded by his son
Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson and during this time the deposed Norwegian king
Eric Bloodaxe often used Orkney as a raiding base before being killed in 954. Thorfinn's death and presumed burial at the broch of Hoxa, on
South Ronaldsay, then led to a long period of dynastic strife. Whatever the historical details, it seems likely that Orkney and Shetland were being rapidly absorbed into Norse culture by this time. The evidence of toponymy and language is unequivocal. Placenames in Orkney with a Celtic derivation are few in number and it is clear that
Norn, a local version of Old Norse, was widely spoken by the inhabitants into historic times. Norn was also spoken in Shetland and evidence for Pictish elements in placenames is virtually non-existent, the three
island names of
Fetlar,
Unst and
Yell excepted.
Jarlshof in Shetland contains the most extensive remains of a Viking site visible anywhere in Britain and it is believed that the Norse inhabited the site continuously from the 9th to the 14th centuries. Amongst the many important finds are drawings scratched on slate of dragon-prowed ships
Brough of Birsay in Orkney is another important archaeological site, which like Jarlshof has a continuity of settlement spanning the Pictish and Norse periods. There is a remarkable collection of 12th-century runic inscriptions inside
Maeshowe.
Caithness and Sutherland , a prominent landmark on the sea journey from
Stromness on
Mainland Orkney to
Caithness In
early Irish literature Shetland is referred to as
Inse Catt—"the Isles of Cats", which may have been the pre-Norse inhabitants' name for these islands. The
Cat tribe certainly occupied parts of the northern Scottish mainland and their name can be found in
Caithness, and in the Gaelic name for
Sutherland (
Cataibh, meaning "among the Cats"). There is limited evidence that Caithness may have had an intermediate phase of Gaelic-speaking control between the Pictish era and the Norse takeover, but if it existed it is likely to have been short-lived. Sigurd Eysteinsson and
Thorstein the Red moved on northern Scotland, conquering large areas variously described in the sagas as constituting all of Caithness and Sutherland and possibly including territory in Ross and even
Moray during the last decade of the 9th century. The
Orkneyinga Saga relates how the former defeated the Pict
Máel Brigte Tusk but died from an unusual post-battle injury. Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson married into the native aristocracy and his son, Skuli Thorfinnsson, is recorded as having sought the support of the King of Scots in the 10th century in pursuing his claim as
mormaer of Caithness.
Njáls saga relates that
Sigurd the Stout was the ruler of "Ross and Moray, Sutherland and the Dales" of Caithness and it is possible that in the late 10th century the Scots kings were in alliance with the Earl of Orkney against the
Mormaer of Moray.
Thorfinn Sigurdsson expanded his father's realm south beyond Sutherland and by the 11th century the Norwegian crown had come to accept that Caithness was held by the earls of Orkney as a fiefdom from the Kings of Scotland although its Norse character was retained throughout the 13th century.
Raghnall mac Gofraidh was granted Caithness after assisting the Scots king in a conflict with
Harald Maddadson, an earl of Orkney in the early 13th century. This joint earldom ceased after 1375 and the
Pentland Firth became the border between Scotland and Norway. No Norse place names have been found on the northern Scottish mainland south of
Beauly and so far no archaeological evidence of Norse activity has been found in the north-west mainland.
Suðreyjar possessions in the 12th century. Like the Northern Isles, the Outer Hebrides and the northern Inner Hebrides were predominantly Pictish in the early 9th century. By contrast, the southern Inner Hebrides formed part of the
Gaelic kingdom of
Dál Riata. The obliteration of pre-Norse names in the Outer Hebrides and in Coll, Tiree and Islay in the Inner Hebrides is almost total and there is little continuity of style between Pictish pottery in the north and that of the Viking period. The similarities that do exist suggests the later pots may have been made by Norse who had settled in Ireland, or Irish slaves. There are frequent references in early Icelandic history to slaves from Ireland and the Hebrides, but none from Orkney. Gaelic certainly continued to exist as a spoken language in the southern Hebrides throughout the settlement period, but place name evidence suggests it had a lowly status and Norse may have survived as a spoken language until the 16th century in the Outer Hebrides. There is no evidence of any direct Norwegian rule in the area other than a few brief occupations although the written record is weak and no contemporary records of the Norse period from the Outer Hebrides exist. It is, however, known that Hebrides were taxed using the
Ounceland system and evidence from
Bornais suggests that settlers there may have been more prosperous than families of a similar status in the Northern Isles, possibly due to a more relaxed political regime. Latterly, the Hebrides sent eight representatives from
Lewis and Harris and Skye and another eight from the southern Hebrides to the
Tynwald parliament on Man.
Colonsay and
Oronsay have produced important pagan Norse burial grounds. An 11th-century cross slab decorated with Irish and
Ringerike Viking art on Islay was found in 1838.
Rubha an Dùnain, today an uninhabited peninsula to the south of the
Cuillin hills on Skye, contains the small Loch na h-Airde, which is connected to the sea by a short artificial canal. This
loch was an important site for maritime activity for many centuries, spanning the Viking and later periods of Scottish clan rule. There is a stone-built quay and a system to maintain constant water levels. Boat timbers discovered there have been dated to the 12th century. Only three rune stones are known from the west coast of Scotland, on Christian memorials found on
Barra,
Inchmarnock and Iona. In the
Firth of Clyde, Norse burials have been found on Arran, although not Bute and place name evidence suggests a settlement pattern that was much less well-developed than in the Hebrides. On the mainland coast there is cluster of Norse place names around
Largs and an ornate silver brooch was found on a hillside near
Hunterston that is of likely 7th-century Irish origin but with a 10th-century runic inscription. Five
Hogback monuments found in
Govan hint at Scandinavian enclaves inland. The Isle of Man (which was absorbed into Scotland from 1266 until the 14th century) was dominated by the Norse–Gaels from an early date and from 1079 onwards by the
Crovan dynasty as attested by the
Chronicles of Mann and evidenced by the numerous
Manx runestones and Norse place names. The modern-day
Diocese of Sodor and Man retains the centuries-old name.
Western coast site in
Ardnamurchan, with the
Small Isles and
Skye in the distance South of Sutherland there is considerable place name evidence of Norse settlement along the entire western coast, although unlike on the islands the settlement in the south seems to have been less prolonged and undertaken in tandem with pre-existing settlement rather than replacing it entirely. The distinction between the
Innse Gall (islands of the foreigners) and the
Airer Goidel (coastland of the Gael) is further suggestive of a distinction between island and mainland at an early date. In
Wester Ross most of the Gaelic names that exist on the coastline today are of likely Medieval rather than pre-Norse origin and a now-lost charter refers to the mainland village of
Glenelg opposite Skye as having been in the possession of the king of Man. As in Orkney and Shetland, Pictish seems to have been entirely replaced wherever the Norse encountered it. In the 9th century the first references to the
Gallgáedil (i.e. "foreign Gaels") appear. This term was variously used in succeeding centuries to refer to individuals of mixed Scandinavian-Celtic descent and/or culture who became dominant in west and south-west Scotland, parts of northern England and the isles. This alliance between the two cultures, which also took place in Ireland, may have been instrumental in saving the Gaels of Dál Riata from the fate of the Picts in the north and west. Evidence for Norse settlement in mainland Argyll is limited although the
Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial in
Ardnamurchan is the first boat-burial site to be discovered on the mainland of
Britain.
South-West Scotland By the mid-10th century
Amlaíb Cuarán controlled
the Rhinns and the region gets the modern name of Galloway from the mixture of Viking and Gaelic Irish settlement that produced the Gall-Gaidel. Magnus Barelegs is said to have "subdued the people of Galloway" However, the place name, written and archaeological evidence of extensive Norse (as opposed to Norse–Gael) settlement in the area is not convincing. The ounceland system seems to have become widespread down the west coast including much of Argyll and this is just as true of most of the south-west apart from land adjacent to the inner
Solway Firth. In
Dumfries and Galloway the place name evidence is complex and of mixed Gaelic, Norse and
Danish influence, the last most likely stemming from contact with the extensive Danish holdings in northern England. One feature of the area is the number of names with a "
kirk" prefix followed by a saint's name such as
Kirkoswald. Interpretation of this is not certain but it is also indicative of a mixed Gaelic/Norse population.
Eastern Scotland There is no evidence of permanent Viking settlement on the east coast south of the Moray Firth, or of Norse burials, although raids and even invasions certainly occurred.
Dunnottar was taken during the reign of
Domnall mac Causantín and the
Orkneyinga saga records an attack on the
Isle of May, by
Sweyn Asleifsson and Margad Grimsson: Place name evidence of Scandinavian settlement is very limited on the east coast and in the south-east
Anglian was the predominant influence during this period of history. == Politics and governance ==