Orkney: Origins of the name
Prehistory and Iron Age
A charred hazelnut shell, recovered during the excavations at Longhowe in Tankerness in 2007, has been dated to 6820-6660 BC. Apart from this, the earliest known settlement is at Knap of Howar, a Neolithic farmstead on the island of Papa Westray. It dates from 3500 BC. The village of Skara Brae, Europe's best-preserved Neolithic settlement, is believed to have been inhabited from around 3100 BC. Other remains from that era include the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Maeshowe passage grave, the Ring of Brodgar and other standing stones. Many of the Neolithic settlements were abandoned around 2500 BC due to changes in the climate.
The Iron Age inhabitants were Picts, evidence of whose occupation still exists in "weems" or underground houses, and "brochs" or round towers, such as the Broch of Gurness. During the Roman invasion of Britain the "King of Orkney" was one of 11 British leaders who submitted to the Emperor Claudius in AD 43 at Colchester. If, as seems likely, the Dalriadic Gaels established a footing in the islands towards the beginning of the 6th century, their success was short-lived, and the Picts regained power and kept it until dispossessed by the Norsemen in the 9th century. In the wake of the Scots, incursionists followed the Celtic missionaries about 565. They were companions of Saint Columba and their efforts to convert the folk to Christianity seem to have impressed the popular imagination, for several islands bear the epithet "Papa" in commemoration of the preachers.
Norwegian rule
Harald Hårfagre took control over Orkney in 875Orkney and Shetland saw a significant influx of Norwegian settlers towards the end of the 8th century and first half of the 9th century. This was due to the overpopulation of Norway in comparison to the resources and arable land available there at the time. History once held that the Norwegians largely replaced the original population on the islands, the Picts, though contemporary DNA studies refute this, suggesting instead a slight majority of aboriginal Pictish genes. The nature of the shift in population is the subject of differing theories as little hard evidence remains. These theories range from complete genocide to intermarriage and cultural domination through a gradual majority dominance. According to Dr. Jim Wilson, an Edinburgh scientist with a company named EthnoAncestry, archaeogenetic evidence suggests that "Vikings, who colonised Orkney, did so by eradicating nearly every male member of its Pictish population" (Observer, Dec. 31, 2006).
Vikings having made the islands the headquarters of their buccaneering expeditions (carried out indifferently against their own Norway and the coasts and isles of Scotland), Harald Hårfagre ("Harald Fair Hair") subdued the rovers in 875 and annexed both Orkney and Shetland to Norway.
Ragnvald, Earl of Møre received Orkney and Shetland as an earldom from the king as reparation for his son being killed in battle in Scotland. Ragnvald gave the earldom on to his brother Sigurd the Mighty. Eirik Bloodaxe followed his father on the throne, but when his half-brother Håkon the Good returned to Norway from England Eirik's support disappeared and he fled the country. He was given Nordimbraland (Northumberland) as a fief by King Athelstan of England and settled in Jorvik (York), but was expelled by Athelstan's brother Edmund in 941 because of his raids in Ireland and Brittany. Eirik fled to Orkney and lived there until he was killed in the Battle of Stainmore in England in 954. His sons continued to live on Orkney and challenged Håkon the Good's rule of Norway several times under the leadership of Harald Greyhide. The sons of Eirik eventually gained control of Norway.
Olav Tryggvason Christianized Orkney. Painting by Peter Nicolai ArboThe islands were Christianized by Olav Tryggvasson in 995 when he stopped in the islands on his way from Ireland to Norway. The King summoned Sigurd jarl (Earl Sigurd) and ordered him to let himself be baptised in the Christian faith. Sigurd was unwilling, but gave in when the King threatened to kill his son Hvelp. The islands received their own bishop in the early 1000's. From 1153 to 1472 the Kirkjuvåg bishopric was subordinate to the bishop of Nidaros (today's Trondheim).
The martyrdom of Earl Magnus resulted in the building of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. The islands remained under the rule of Norse earls until 1231, when the line of the jarls became extinct. In that year, the Earldom of Caithness was granted to Magnus, second son of the Earl of Angus, whom the king of Norway apparently confirmed in the title. Recent studies from the field of population genetics reveal a significant percentage of Norse ethnic heritage — up to one third of the Y chromosomes on the islands are derived from western Norwegian sources, whereas in Shetland over half the male lineage is Norse.
The Norðr-eyjar
Likewise a Norse kingdom, the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles existed in the British Isles from 1079 till 1266. In 1164 it was split into the Kingdom of the Hebrides (Sodor) and the Kingdom of Mann.
Sodor (Suðr-eyjar), or the South Isles, was given in contradistinction to Nordr (Norðr-eyjar), or the North Isles, i. e. the Orkneys and Shetlands, and it included the Hebrides, all the smaller Western Isles of Scotland, and Mann. (ð is pronounced th as in father). (Ref. to Manxnotebook) Even today, the Bishop of the Isle of Man is the Bishop of Sodor and Mann
Scottish rule
James III and Margaret, their betrothal led to Orkney passing from Norway to ScotlandIn 1468, Orkney and Shetland were pledged by Christian I, in his capacity as king of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland.[3] The cash dowry was never paid, so the islands were forfeited to the Crown of Scotland. In 1471, James bestowed the castle and lands of Ravenscraig, in Fife, on William, Earl of Orkney, in exchange for all his rights to the Earldom of Orkney, which, by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland, passed on February 20, 1472, was annexed to the Scottish Crown.
Modern Orkney
Orkney was the site of a major Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, which played a major role in both World War I and II. After the Armistice in 1918, the German High Seas Fleet was transferred in its entirety to Scapa Flow while a decision was to be made on its future; however, the German sailors opened their sea-cocks and scuttled all the ships. Most ships were salvaged, but the remaining wrecks are now a favoured haunt of recreational divers. One month into World War II, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German U-boat in Scapa Flow. As a result barriers were built to close most of the access channels; these had the additional advantage of creating causeways whereby travellers can go from island to island by road instead of being obliged to rely on boats. The causeways were constructed by Italian prisoners of war, who also constructed the ornate Italian Chapel.