mense Romam rediit triumphavit maximo apparatu This Juvenal takes notice of when he says in his second Satyr Littora Juvernae promovimus modo captas Orcadas minima contentos nocte Britannos A little after this the Romans had not such cause to triumph over Orkney for when Agricola was their General in Britain Anno Christi 87 as Henry Isaacson computes it in his Chronological Tables he sent a Navy to sail about Britain to discover the largeness of it and whether it was an Island or not and after they had coasted many days towards the North they came at last in sight of Orkney which Tacitus for want of better information imagines to be unknown before that time but fearing to pass thorough Pightland-Firth for fear of Shallows they seized some of the Country People that liv'd in the next Islands constraining them to go aboard and pilot them thorough the Firth but they suspecting that the Romans had a hostile design on their Country not caring for their own Lives they enter'd the Strait at such an inconvenient time that the Ships were born with the violence of the stream against Rocks and Shelves in such a manner that they were all almost torn broke and lost without recovery only some few of the Navy that were not so hasty to follow perceiving the sad loss of their fellows returned by the same way they came and reported these lamentable Tidings to Agricola And indeed there is a place in Shapinsha over against which are impetuous Tides and dangerous Shallows at this day call'd Agricola but whether it got that name from this accident I am not able to determine But yet it seems that Orkney was a considerable thing in the Eyes of the Romans For Polyd. Virgil. lib. 3. Ang. Historiae speaking of the division of the Empire among the Sons of Constantine the Great reckons Orkney amongst the famous Kingdoms that fell to the share of his Son Constantine says he Huic sorte evenit Britannia cum Gallia Hispania Orchadibus This Country it 's like continued thus under the Government of their own Princes till the fatal Ruine and Subversion of the Pictish Kingdom in Scotland in the Year 839 at which time Keneth the second that Martial King of Scots having in many Battles overthrown the Picts at last expell'd them out of all Scotland seizing on Fife and Lothian and the other large Territories that they had therein he pursued them to Orkney vanquishing these Isles and adding them to his other Dominions Orkney being thus annex'd to the Crown of Scotland it continued many years under the Government of the Scottish Kings and their Lieutenants till about the Year 1099 at which time Donald Bain Lord of the Isles having usurped the Crown and caused himself to be proclaimed King of Scotland and being thereupon hardly put to it by the injur'd Heir and discontented Nobility that he might not lose what he had unjustly usurped he invited Magnus King of Norway to come to his assistance with an offer of the Isles for his pains who coming with his Navy Invaded Orkney and the Western Isles putting Garrisons in all convenient places By this means the Norwegians got possession of this Country who held it for the space of 164 years when they came to lose all again upon this occasion Anno 1263 Alexander the Third being then King of Scotland Atho by some called Hagin King of Norway hoping from the divisions that were then in the Kingdom and the Famine that was then sore pressing the Land to make some further conquest in Scotland he comes with a great Navy and Army of Danes and Norwegians to the West Isles and conquers Arran and Bute which were the only Isles at that time under the dominion of the Scots and from this success hoping for greater matters he lands on the Continent and takes in the Town and Castle of Air. But King Alexander having assembled a great Army assaults him in Battle at Largis kills his Nephew a Man of great Renown and after a great Slaughter of his Soldiers to the number of twenty four thousand puts the remainder to flight Immediately upon this defeat King Acho hears of another sad loss namely That his Fleet by a Storm were all cast away and broken against the Rocks except four in which he presently embarked and fled away to Orkney being come thither he sent to Norway and Denmark for a new Army and Fleet with an intention again to Invade Scotland the next Summer but he died the beginning of the following Year January 22 Anno 1264 and was bury'd in that place where the Cathedral now stands under a Marble Stone which is seen to this day and goes under the name of his Monument After his death King Alexander Invaded the Isle of Man and the Western Isles which after some opposition he recover'd and intending to make the like attempt for the recovery of Orkney and Zetland there came Ambassadors to him from Magnus King of Norway and Denmark who succeeded Acho in these Kingdoms after several Treaties it was at last condescended upon that King Alexander should pay to the King of Norway the Summ of 4000 Merks Sterling with the Summ of 100 Merks by year and that for this Magnus King of Norway should quit all Right that he might pretend to the Isles of Orkney and Zetland and the other Isles of Scotland which accordingly he did by Letters under his Great Seal renouncing and giving over all Right and Claim that he had or might have both for him and his Successors to these and all the other Isles of Scotland and for the better confirmation hereof a Marriage was agreed upon betwixt the Lady Margaret Daughter to Alexander and Hangonanus or Haningo or Aquin as others call him Son to King Magnus both Children to be completed when they came to a Marriagable Estate Orkney being in this manner recover'd from the hands of the Danes and Norwegians it continued ever after annexed to the Crown of Scotland King Alexander giving the property of it to a Nobleman sirnamed Speire Earl of Cathnes whose Son Magnus Speire Earl of Cathnes Orkney and Zetland was in great repute in the days of King Robert Bruce But he dying without Heirs Male his Daughter Elizabeth Speire succeeded him in the Estate and was Married to Sir William Sinclar who accompany'd Sir James Douglass when he went to accompany the Bruces Heart to Jerusalem He was great Grandchild to Willielmus de Sancto claro second Son to Valdosius Earl of Saint Claire in France This Sir William Sinclar by his Wife Elizabeth Speire had a Son call'd William also who was made Earl of Orkney and Zetland by King David Bruce He was first Marry'd to Florentina Daughter to the King of Denmark and after her death was Marry'd to Jane Halyburton Daughter to Walter Lord Dirleton To him succeeded Henry Sinclar usually call'd Prince of Orkney he was also made Duke of Oldenburgh by
his Sheep are distinguish'd from others And 't is strange to consider how so madifferent Marks could be invented as are found cut in so little room They use to Fleece their Sheep about the beginning of May and the way they take to apprehend them for they go wild is both strange and pleasant The Bailiff of the Parish with the Law-right-men which are the Bailiffs Assessors and the persons to whom the Sheep belong meet together on a day appointed having with them Sheep Dogs trained up for the Hunting of them and when they would have such a Sheep caught they point him out by the finger to the Dog upon which he runs and singles out that Sheep from all the rest and never leaves of running till he catch him which being fleec'd or shorn by the owner they then go on and hunt for others They have also a pleasant way of taking the Sea Fowls when they are young as Foists Lyers Kittiwaeks Gulls c. which build very thick on shelves of high Rocks under the Rock there is a Boat with men having a large Net which at the two uppermost corners is fastned with two long Ropes which are in the hands of men at the top of the Rock who hoise up the Net till it be over against the place where the young Fowl sit then they that are in the Boat under the Rock have a Rattle which makes so frighting a noise that all the young Fowls take wing and fly forward into the bosom of the Net where they are caught Then the Net is laid down in the Boat and the Prey seised upon and thus they go from Rock to Rock taking as many as they can Others have this way in taking these Fowls a Man that is accustomed to the exercise has a Rope well bound about his middle with which he is let slide down the steep Rock till he be over against the place where the young Fowls are of whom he apprehends as many as he is able to carry and then is hoisted up with his Prey They use that way also in taking the young Hawks There are some Fellows so hardy that go a catching of Sea Fowls without any help by tying a Rope about his own middle and tying the other end to a Stake which he drives well in the Ground and so lets himself go over the Rock perhaps some hundred of fathoms and catches what Fowls he can and then hoises himself up again Several remarkable accidents have fall'n out in this Country besides some already mentioned I shall instance in three or four only whereof the witnesses are still alive About the year 1634 when Bishop Grahame was Bishop of this Country a young Boy named William Garioch his Father being dead had some little Land and some small portion of Cattle left him by his Father in the Parish of Ham his Uncle took him in his Service and having a greedy desire after the Young mans Possessions it happen'd that he stole a Setten of Barley which will be about Twenty Eight pound weight from his Uncle For which he pursued him before the Sheriff of the Bishoprick and the Young man at that time about Eighteen years of Age the Theft being proved was Sentenced to be hanged When he was at the Gallows he prayed that God would inflict some visible Judgment on his Uncle who because of the greedy desire he had to his little Portion had for so small a matter procur'd his Death It came to pass that his Uncle walking thorough the Church-Yard of Kirkwal upon the Young mans Grave the Bishops Dog seised on him and tore out his Throat whereby he became a sad monument of God's wrath against such impious greedy wretches Some years ago one James Lenay and some others Fishing in a Boat beside Auskerie in a fair day it came to pass that their leaning all on one side of the Boat that it overturned and all were drowned except the said Lenay who by providence got up and sat on the Keil of the Boat in which condition he continued for the space of four days driven by the Tides sometime this way and sometime that sometimes to Westra and back again to Stronsa till at last he was seen floating by Spurness in Sanda where by the careful endeavour of the Gentleman who was owner of the Ground he was delivered There was one John Smith who lived in Stronsa who with three others used to fish not far from Land their way was to rise early and stay many Hours a Fishing This Man having by several days Fishing gotten a great plenty of Fish his Wife was desirous that he would omit that exercise for a time and stay at home to take his rest He was very unwilling to do so wherefore next Morning she rises before him and being desirous he might take a longer Sleep after so many days toil she stopped the holes and windows of the Room where he lay that he might sleep the more soundly and then she went to the Fields to her work where working with her Servants she was surpris'd with this sad accident The three men that used to fish with her Husband because he came not had taken the Boat themselves and gone a Fishing and suddenly the Boat overturned no man knows how and the men were all drowned This the Woman and her Servants seeing startled them greatly but tho' she was grieved for their death yet she was glad that her Husband by her Policy went not to Sea with them and thereupon runs hastily to the house to acquaint her Husband with that sad accident and to congratulate with him for his preservation when opening the door she was surpris'd with a more sad and astonishing sight even the Death of her own husband For he having risen out of his bed had fallen with his head in a large vessel wherein they used to make Urine where he was choked and found dead Strange are the effects that are here sometimes produc'd by Thunder and Lightning for by it Anno 1670 the Steeple of the Cathedral Church at Kirkwal was burned and sometimes it will seize on low Cottages In the year 1680 the Lightning enter'd a Gentlemans Cow-stall where were twelve Cows standing side for side as they used to be and killed every other one that is it killed the first and missed the second it killed the third and missed the fourth and so of the rest so that six were killed and six remained alive and untouched CHAP. V. Of the Town of Kirkwall THE only remarkable Town in all this Country is Kirkwall an ancient Burrough long possessed by the Norwegians by whom it was called Cracoviaca built upon a pleasant Oyse or Inlet of the Sea near the middle of the Mainland narrow streeted and about a mile in length having a very safe Harbour and road for Ships Here is the Seat of Justice the Steward Sheriff Commissary all of them keeping their several Courts in this place Almost all the Houses in this Town are
Christiern the first King of Denmark He Marry'd Geils or Egidia Dowglass Daughter to William Dowglass Lord of Niddisdale and of Geils Stewart Daughter to King Robert the Second So much was he favour'd by King Robert the Third that when he was to send his Son Prince James afterward King James the First to France he appointed this Henry Prince of Orkney to be his Governor who taking Ship with him at the Bass came as far as Flamburgh-head but by reason of the Sickness and Indisposition of the young Prince they were necessitated to land and so were both detained Prisoners by the English He had a Daughter call'd Beatrix Sinclar who was Marry'd to James the gross Earl of Douglass And in the Inscription that is on her Tomb at Douglass her Father the Earl of Orkney is stil'd Lord of the Isles and Lord Sinclar To him succeeded his Son William Sinclar Earl of Orkney and Zetland he Marry'd Elizabeth Douglass Daughter to Archibald Earl of Douglass sirnamed Fineman by whom he had a Daughter that afterwards was Marry'd to Alexander Duke of Albany second Son to King James the Second In the Douglass History we find a Note of this Earl's Titles viz. Prince of Orkney Duke of Oldenburgh Earl of Cathnes Lord Sinclar Lord of Niddisdale with the Valleys of Neth Sheris of Dumfreis great Admiral of Scotland Warden of the Marches great Justice General Baron of Erkefoord Caverton Cousland Rosline Pentland Harbartshire Dysart and Newburgh in Buchan He was questionless a Man of great power and eminence and very intimate with King James the Second whom he follow'd and assisted in all his difficulties and by him was made Lord Chancellor of the Kingdom and Lieutenant after that Office was taken from the Earl of Douglass And from that same King he got a confirmation of the Earldom of Cathnes united into a Baronry with his Lands of Orkney in compensation of his claim to the Lordship of Niddisdale and of other Offices and Pensions that he pretended to as being Son to Geils Douglass Daughter to William Douglass Lord of Niddisdale and of Geils Stewart Daughter to King Robert the Second by his Wife Elizabeth Muir This confirmation is dated April 29 Anno 1436. The following Paper I transcrib'd from an ancient Manuscript now in the hands of the Reverend Mr. Robert Norry Minister of Dundee By the Characters and way of Writing it seem'd to be of the Age it relates to viz. 1403 tho' in some things it differs from the Account you have had before yet because this may be more likely and that it gives a better Account of the Earls of this Country I thought it might not be unacceptable to the curious Quoniam inter ceteras hujus fluctuantis seculi curas solicitudines pensata temporum morum ac hominum in hac lacrimarum valle labilitate brevitate testante venerabili illo Cronographo Martino Domini nostri pape Penetentiario Capellano necesse videtur de congruo extrahere progenitorum regum principum aliorum preclarorum genelogias per quas mundus iste transitorius regitur Reges regnant principes gubernant signantque in deduccionem agniccionem veritatis quo ad eorundem successionem veresimiliter evenire speratur Illustri ergo excellentissimo Domino nostro principi supremo Norwegie regi suisque successoribus satrapis patriciis consulibus proceribus dicti regni Thomas Dei Apostolice sedis gracia Episcopus Orcadie Zetlandie Canonici Ecclesie Cathedralis sancti magni Martyris gloriosissimi legifer ceterique proceres nobiles populus ac communitas ejusdem gracia pax caritas gaudium lonagnimitas misericordia a Deo Patre omnipotente a Jesu Christo in spiritu sancto In omnibus vobis per quem reges regnant in cujus manu corda sunt regum cum omni subjectione humilitate obediencia prompti parati vestram in Jesu Christi visceribus zelantes ficientes salutem in caritate non ficta Requirentes ut in dicendis in nostra simplicitate vestra suppleat regia sublimitas quia scimus firmiter longi temporis spacio efficax rerum magistra nos experientia docuit quod in dubium non revocamus qualiter erga Comites Orcadie regalis ipsa sublimitas zelum semper exuberantem exercuit Quamobrem firmam spem gerimus plenamque fiduciam obtinemus quod illa regia majestas verba nostra benegne recipiat diligenter intelligat effective prosequatur ut infra pectoris claustrum solicite considerare convenit ipsa regia sinceritas diligenter attendere quod adulatorium vestre serenitati aliquid non scribimus quod secundum Petrum Blessensem in suo prologo canentem Olei venditores esse non intendimus sed patefacciones veritatis Ergo arbitramur pium esse meritorium testimonium perhibere veritati ne veritas occultetur presertim illa per quam innocenti possit prejudicium generari cum uterque reus est qui veritatem occultat mendacium dicit quia ille prodesse non iste nocere desiderat quod a nobis Deus avertat potissime cum in dicendis per quondam recolende memorie Erici vestri predecessoris regis nostri admoniti patentes literas fuissemus testimonium perhibere veritati prout lacius in sequentibus patebit Hinc est quod nos Thomas Episcopus Capitulum Cononici Legifer ceterique proceres nobiles populus communitas sive plebei antedicti coram Deo in fide ac fidelitate quibus vestre regie Majestati tenemur astricti fideliter attestamur ad perpetuam rei memoriam deducimus fidemque facimus vobis omnibus presentibus futuris Jesu Christi fidelibus sancte matris ecclesie filiis in forma effectu subsequentibus Coram nobis congregatus comparens magnificus praepotens Dominus Dominus Willielmus de Sancto Claro Comes Orcadie Dominus le Sinclar in ecclesia sancti magni martyris in Orcadia proposuit in hunc modum supposuit enim quod nobis bene ad plenum cognita res fuisset quo modo magnis retroactis temporibus antecessores sui progenitores ac ipsi Orcadie comites juste ac juridice inconcusse linialiter gradatim jure hereditario comitatui Orcadie superdicto successerant ac illam per tempora magna longeva nulla aliena generatione interveniente quietissime possederant Et qualiter diverse carte evidencie instrumenta libri censuales alia diversa probacionum genera fuerant igne consumpta deperdita alienata hostilitatis tempore guerrarum emulorum inimicorumque nonnullorum defectu carencia firmissime domus seu municionis inexpugnabilis ubi hujusmodi collocarentur subjunxit idem Dominus Comes quod habuit literas quondam supremi Domini nostri Regis Erici illustris Patentes quas nobis ostendit perlegi fecit precepta continentes subsequencia scilicet quod si quis nostrum habuerit vel qui habuerint aliquas cartas evidencias cirographa