#orkneys

[lefay-if]

Are all of their Orkneys (including Lot in this) pagan or is it just Gawain?

Just Gawain is pagan, but the other two are irreligious. Gaheris is the only one who observes the services, but more so because it's the polite thing to do, not because he believes.

[scotianostra]

February 4th 1593 saw the death of Robert Stewart, the despotic 1st Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland. He is succeeded by his son, the equally unpleasant Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney.

I really don’t know why some Scots still have a love affair with the Stewart Dynasty, to me they were a mixed up and sometimes evil lot, The Albany Stewart’s and Alexander, The Wolf of Badenoch, to name but two, then there was James VI and his persecution of supposed Witches, and the subject of this post, one of countless illegitimate offspring to the ruling Stewart’s…..

The illegitimate son of James V and his mistress Euphemia Elphinstone, Robert was the half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots. He made his name through his ruthless and despotic establishment of what became virtually a separate kingdom in the Northern Isles

As a child in 1539, Robert Stewart had been granted the income and lands of Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. He was a strong supporter of his half-sister Mary Queen of Scots during her reign, and he was amply rewarded when in 1564 Mary Queen of Scots granted him the Royal estates in Orkney and Shetland together with the post of Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland.

In 1568 Robert extended his landholdings in Orkney by exchanging his interests in Holyrood Abbey with the Orkney estates of Bishop Adam Bothwell, in an arrangement apparently forced on the Bishop. Robert’s new properties included a large estate around Birsay which had historically been the site of a cathedral and for some centuries had been used by the Bishops of Orkney as the location of a country retreat. Over the following five years Robert built what is now known as the Earl’s Palace in Birsay.

By 1570 Bishop Bothwell and many others from Orkney were complaining that Robert’s approach amounted to nothing less than tyranny: in effect his using islanders as slave labour on his construction projects. His chief instrument of oppression, especially in Shetland, was his half brother, Laurence Bruce, who he appointed Sheriff of Shetland. In 1575 Robert was imprisoned in Edinburgh. by the Regent for James VI, James Douglas, Earl of Morton: less because of his behaviour towards the islanders than because it came to light that he had offered Orkney to the King of Denmark, an act that amounted to treason. The following year he was also indicted in Edinburgh. for misuse of power in Orkney and Shetland, but never brought to trial.

Instead, Robert was released, and by 1581 engineered the execution of James Douglas, Earl of Morton by convincing his young half nephew, James VI, that Morton had had a hand in the murder of James’ father, Lord Darnley.

And in the same year James VI made Robert Stewart the 1st Earl of Orkney, Lord of Shetland, and Knight of Birsay. The Earldom of Orkney replaced the short-lived Dukedom of Orkney, which had been granted in 1567 by Mary Queen of Scots to her third husband James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. This was among the titles forfeited by Bothwell after Mary’s abdication. Confusingly, although Robert was the 1st Earl, there had been a previous “creation” of the Earldom of Orkney, bestowed on Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney, by King Håkon of Norway (then ruler of Orkney) on 2 August 1379.

When James III secured Orkney and Shetland for Scotland in 1470, William Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Orkney relinquished his Earldom to the King (he had other titles) in return for estates around Ravenscraig (now on the edge of Kirkcaldy) in Fife.

Further complaints followed about Robert’s treatment of islanders, but he survived to die peacefully in his bed on 4th February 1593. He was succeeded by his, if anything, even less likeable son, Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney. Robert Stewart left an indelible mark on the Northern Isles, both in terms of his impact as a tyrant, and in stone. The considerable ruins of the Earl’s Palace at Birsay still stand, and the ruins of the Palace he built near the southern tip of Shetland’s Mainland now form part of the incredible Jarlshof complex.

Pics are of the villainous man himself, and his Arms, the marks over the Lion Rampant are “Marks of bastardy” These are common marks of illegitimacy. The marks are not always black, so if you see even a single mark through a coat of arms it could indicate a branch of a family that is illegitimate, basically at least half the Stewart line through history, they were a randy lot!

Stay “tuned” for more on this side of the Stewarts in a couple of days time.

[scotianostra]

On December 29th 1807 Isobel Gunn gave birth to a son while posing as a man and working for The Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada.

Isobel enrolled as a man in the Hudson’s Bay Company and was the first European woman to reach western Canada. She joined the service of Hudson Bay Company (HBC) in 1806 using her father’s name, John Fubbister.

Gunn quickly distinguished herself for her bravery. Her canoe treks and expeditions through the most remote stretches of Canada saw her traveling some 1,800 miles between remote trading posts. Hugh Heney, who led one of the brigades Gunn traveled with to Pembina, wrote that she “worked at anything and well like the rest of the men.” She even earned herself a pay rise for performing her duties “willingly and well.”

Although she disguised the fact that she was female at least one man knew of her true gender for she fell pregnant. On December 29, 1807, she excused herself from work at the Pembina trading post, citing stomach pains to Alexander Henry, who was the head of the post. She begged him to let her rest in his home by the fire. Henry’s journal takes up the story…..I returned to my room, where I had not been long before he sent one of my own people, requesting the favour of speaking with me. Accordingly, I stepped down to him, and was much surprised to find him extended out upon the hearth, uttering most dreadful lamentations; he stretched out his hand towards me and in a pitiful tone of voice begg’d my assistance, and requested I would take pity upon a poor helpless abandoned wretch, who was not of the sex I had every reason to suppose. But was an unfortunate Orkney girl pregnant and actually in childbirth, in saying this she opened her jacket and display’d to my view a pair of beautiful round white breasts.”

Henry’s journal continued: “In about an hour she was safely delivered of a fine boy and that same day she was conveyed home in my cariole, where she soon recovered.”

The name Gunn registered on the birth certificate? Hudson’s Bay labourer John Scarth, who she said had forced himself upon her.

This story is plausible. There are records to show that Scarth had been with Gunn at numerous HBC postings. Some historians say Gunn was trying to cover up an affair gone wrong; others believe she likely was taken advantage of by Scarth, who could have discovered her ruse as a man, and threatened to tell their employer.

Gunn and her child were returned to Scotland on the Prince of Wales on 20 September 1809. There, she lived in poverty, working as a stocking and mitten maker until her death.

[scotianostra]

On 8th September 1468 the Northern Isles were mortgaged to Scotland for 8,000 florins as part of the marriage agreement between the future James III and Princess Margrethe of Denmark.

Following the Battle of Largs, in 1263, and the loss of the Western Isles as a result of the Treaty of Perth, in 1266, Orkney and Shetland were the only part of what is now Scotland to remain in Norwegian hands.

But although the islands were still officially under Norse rule, the control Scottish Earls had over Orkney was on the increase.

This culminated in the appointment of Henry Sinclair, Earl of Roslin to the Earldom in 1379, and heralded changes in the ownership of land and the gradual break-up of the Norse systems of tenure.

The Earldom of Orkney was held for the Norwegian (and later Danish) Crown until 1468, at which time the impoverished Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, gave Orkney to the Scottish Crown as part of a marriage agreement with King James III.

The Scottish king was to marry Christian's daughter, Margaret, and by this agreement Orkney was held as a pledge, redeemable by the payment of 50,000 Rhenish Florins.

At the end of the first year the payment had not been forthcoming so Shetland was pledged for a further 8,000 Florins.

Two years later, Christian had still not made the payment so the Earldom of Orkney and Lordship of Shetland were annexed to the Scottish Crown.

As the years passed, the Scottish influence over the islands grew and gradually the Norse way of life and language slipped away. By the late 17th century the variant of the Norse language of Orkney - Norn - was spoken only by the inhabitants of one or two remote parishes.

In 1564, Mary Queen of Scots gifted the Royal Estates in Orkney and Shetland to one Robert Stewart - her half-brother and natural son of James V. Thus began the tyranny of the Stewart line - traditionally hailed as Orkney's darkest years.

Robert Stewart's acquisition, and subsequent "handling" of the islands, was documented as followed:

"This miscreant, having secured in addition the whole temporal estates of the bishopric by an excambion effected in 1568, and having become Earl of Orkney in 1581, spent the rest of his life - with the exception of a short period during which he was imprisoned, partly as a penalty for improper negotiations with Denmark - in oppressing the islanders for his own personal advantage."

[scotianostra]

The Scottish explorer, William Balfour Baikie was born on August 21st 1825 in Kirkwall, Orkney.

Baikie studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and after graduating he was an assistant surgeon on a number of Royal Navy ships. He was then moved to a naval hospital in Gosport, where he learnt of an exploration being funded by the merchant Macgregor Laird. The aim was to explore the River Niger and one of its’ tributaries, the Benue, for as far as possible.

He joined an expedition in Sierra Leone in 1854 but upon arrival, it was discovered that the man in charge of the expedition, had died. As the second most senior member of there he took charge, feeling that it would be wasteful to discontinue the trip.

The expedition journeyed 250 miles further along the Benue than any other Europeans had done before. Baikie managed to navigate and record data for over 700 miles of river. Following the success for the first trip, Baikie led a second expedition in 1857, aiming to make further contact with the native people, and to establish trading posts. Unfortunately, the boat on which Baikie travelled, the “Dayspring”, hit hidden rocks. Baikie and his crew were stranded for a year before being rescued.

He also undertook many journeys over land, to see and learn of the land beyond the river banks. Once, he travelled over 600 miles on horseback to the Kano, one of the main towns of northern Nigeria. He was greatly respected, not only as a doctor, but as a priest, teacher and magistrate.

After deciding to return home in 1864, the HMS Investigator took Baikie back to Sierra Leone. He decided to stay there for a short while before continuing his homeward journey, so that he could properly sort out his manuscripts and specimen collections.

Sadly, he was struck by a deadly fever and died on the 12th of December, 1864. He was not only greatly respected among the British, for whom he did much, but also among the tribes he encountered. One local dialect of Nigeria uses the word “beke”, a corruption of Baikie, as the word for “white man”.

the second pic is his memorial in St Magnus's, Kirkwall.

[handwark]

[scotianostra]

On November 7th 1974 Eric Linklater, the novelist and playwright, died in Aberdeen.

Although born in Wales, Linklater always considered himself as an Orcadian. Indeed like many on the island Eric can claim viking heritage and his family has documental proof that goes back to the 15th century an 18 generations.

There is a great wee story about his Great- Grandfather that I am sure you will appreciate, he worked on the whaling fleet from Stromness. When given leave he’d walk 10 miles home to Harray. It’s said there were many ale-houses by the road, and he never did the journey in less than 3 days!

Educated at Aberdeen University, Linklater spent many years on Orkney, the birthplace of his father, and even commanded the Orkney garrison during the Second World War.

Linklater was initially rejected by the army because of his poor eyesight, but joined up in 1917, his poor eyesight however meant he was not meant to see any action, he was sent to a Yeomanry regiment stationed in the north of England.

I read he lied about his age to join up, he would have been around 17 at the time, it’s partly true,and if you look at the pic of him in his uniform he does look very young.I did manage to dig up the truth about the lie though . While in England he heard that they were sending a small draft to the Black Watch in France, he made a few adjustments to his own medical record (improving his eyesight and adding a year to his age) and, using his own authority as Orderly Corporal, added his own name to the list of those sent abroad.

From 1919 to 1925 he studied at Aberdeen University, first in medicine and then in English. Between 1925 and 1927 he was an assistant editor of the Times of India, living in Bombay. After a year working at Aberdeen University in 1927-8, he spent two years as a Commonwealth Fellow in the USA, at Cornell and Berkeley.

Eric Linklater began publishing prolifically in 1929: altogether he wrote 23 novels, 3 volumes of short stories, 3 autobiographies, 10 plays, and 23 books of essays and non-fiction, as well as the books mentioned above in the first paragraph. Juan in America and Private Angelo are perhaps his best-known novels. He loved the Icelandic sagas, and wrote his own: The Men of Ness: the Saga of Thorlief Coalbiter’s Sons ; later, in 1955, he published a book about the sagas, called The Ultimate Viking.

On 1st June 1933 he Eric married Marjorie MacIntyre, and after a period in Italy they settled at Dounby in Orkney; they had four children.

Between 1939 and 1941 Linklater commanded the company of Royal Engineers on Orkney. In 1941 he was posted to the directorate of public relations in the War Office, and from 1944 to 1945 served in Italy, where he acquired the experiences necessary for writing Private Angelo, which was dedicated to the Eighth Army. It was a book about courage, but it did not celebrate war. Angelo’s remark “I hope you will not liberate us out of existence” might well have inspired William Tenn’s celebrated science fiction story “The Liberation of Earth” . In 1951 he published a history of that part of WW2, The Campaign in Italy, and, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel he visited Korea.

In 1945 Eric Linklater was elected rector of Aberdeen University, and in 1947 the family moved to to Ross, and later to Aberdeenshire. From 1968 to 1973 he was deputy lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty.

Diana Gabaldon author of the Outlander books, told National Geographic: she researched for her series of books by reading a Linklater book. "I was reading a research book called The Prince in the Heather. She said. The account of Jamie Fraser surviving Culloden is partly based on a true story in the book where a Fraser of the Master of Lovat's regiment” took refuge in a farmhouse with 18 others and survived the slaughter.

Eric Linklater died in Aberdeen on this day 1974 and was buried in the Harray churchyard in Orkney. His widow, already an active political campaigner, moved back to Orkney, to serve as chairman of the Orkney Heritage Society. She helped to establish the St Magnus festival, and campaigned for the Scottish National Party.

Orkney makar George Mackay Brown wrote in the Orcadian, 14th November 1974,

“Orkney is a poorer place without him; even though for most of the year, he lived outside the islands. It is fitting that his dust should be brought back to lie in Orkney earth.”

[bisclavret]

the drama between these two families is so unserious. in retaliation to both of you killing my father for killing your father i'm gonna [remembers that the king frowns upon his knights murdering each other] fuck your mom