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The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and
Caithness from AD 870 to 1470
Ian Peter Grohsea
a
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige univeritet Trondheim
Published online: 10 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Ian Peter Grohse (2013) The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and
Caithness from AD 870 to 1470, Scandinavian Journal of History, 38:5, 659-662, DOI:
10.1080/03468755.2013.864188
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2013.864188
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BOOK REVIEWS 659
were regarded as lucrative. The explanation for the interest seems to be great possibilities
for extra income, some more and some less official. The postilions could deliver letters
on their route outside the postbag and put the payment in their own pockets. It is rather
surprising to read that this was tolerated by the authorities; things were quite different in
Norway. In addition to their wage the postmasters had several perquisites, and they
could take advantage of being in the news sector by selling information, distributing
newspapers or even making their own newspapers. Furthermore, the job as a postmaster
could be combined with other tasks. The postmasters could actually dispose of the office
as their private property, delegate the work to relatives, give the office to sons or
daughters or sell it to a successor.
Finally, Marianne Larsson writes about the postal livery coat, the postal horn and
the coat of arms, and Kekke Stadin about news with the post, particularly on fashion.
Connecting the Baltic Area gives interesting analyses and glimpses into various
aspects of the Swedish postal system, clearly demonstrating the importance of the
post for the development of states in early modern times.
FINN ERHARD JOHANNESSEN
University of Oslo
Oslo
[e-mail]
� 2013, Finn Erhard Johannessen
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2013.835098
The Northern Earldoms: Orkney and Caithness from AD 870 to 1470
BARBARA E. CRAWFORD
Edinburgh, John Donald Publishing, 2013
440 pp., Ł25, ISBN 978-1-904-60791-5
The history of Norse settlement in the islands and coastal regions of Scotland has long
piqued the interests and imaginations of scholars on both sides of the North Sea. But
only in the past several decades have linguists, archaeologists and historians recognized
that this  Viking legacy represents a common weal of Norwegian and Scottish
historiographies that should be studied through transnational scholarly cooperation.
With this book, Crawford proves that the history of the region is not the intellectual
domain of one national scholarly tradition, but bridges the gap between different
cultural, social and political spheres and deserves the attention of Norwegian, Scottish
and other international scholars. It is the history of two medieval earldoms, Orkney
and Caithness, which, though separated by Norwegian and Scottish jurisdiction, were
linked through shared comital dynasties and social networks throughout the Middle
Ages. Joined  rather than detached  by a few nautical miles of sea, Orkney and
Caithness were cultivated by ambitious earls as equal parts of a single regional power
base between the 9th and 12th centuries. Yet they were subject to the lordship of
different crowns  Orkney to the King of Norway and Caithness to the King of Scots 
and were forced to develop strategies of appeasement and cunning to balance their
loyalties between these overlords. The history of the joint earldoms is, as Crawford
emphasizes, an exceptional case of survival which time and again highlights  the duality
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660 SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY
of medieval/feudal honour and title, the duality of loyalty to two national kingdoms
and territorial overlords, and the duality of relating to the histories of two very
different north European societies and cultures (Crawford, The Northern Earldoms, 10).
Those familiar with Crawford s research will recognize the theme, which she has
developed in presentations, articles and books over the past four decades. The present
work is a continuation and expansion of her unpublished dissertation from 1971. As
she explains in the introduction, it is far more than a rewrite of the older study, and
presents new archaeological, historical and place-name evidence drawn from recent
and ongoing investigation. Most notably, whereas her doctoral thesis began at the close
of the 12th century, a time when monarchs grew overt in their definition of lordship
over earls, this new study begins with the Earldom of Orkney s legendary founding in
the late 9th century. This extended timeframe immediately presents a major metho-
dological challenge: While late medieval developments are attested to by more-or-less
trustworthy diplomatic material, one must rely largely on stirring, but questionable,
accounts from saga narratives in order to draw a picture of the earldoms prior to the
13th century. Crawford confronts this issue head-on, devoting an entire chapter to
source criticism and, in particular, questions about the veracity of Orkneyinga saga  or
Jarls Saga as she terms it  as a historical account. Building on findings of philologists
and other historians, she proposes that, despite a number of chronological and naming
discrepancies, as well as numerous entertaining yet dubious digressions, much of the
narrative can be corroborated with evidence from Scottish and Norwegian sources.
Equally important as a register of historical events, Crawford demonstrates that
Orkneyinga saga should be valued as an expression of the proto- national character
associated with the joint earldoms in the central Middle Ages. Much of the first half of
the study is devoted to the independent enterprises of earls prior to their submission to
direct royal control from Norway and Scotland in the late 12th and 13th centuries.
This was a time when earls enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in the region,
expanding from the power bases and exerting independent political control over inland
regions of Scotland and into the Irish Sea. Earls furthered their reputation as rulers in
their own right by promoting the unique character of Orkney s Church and its
standing within the newly-established Archdiocese of Nidaros in the 12th century.
Unfortunately, while the study makes clear how influential the Orkney Church was in
the earls campaigns for succession and in the mediation of their relations with
Norwegian overlords, comparatively little attention is paid to the role of the Church
in Caithness, leaving the reader wondering why earls invested so little energy in the
promotion of that Scottish see.
The later chapters focus on the earls roles in competition between Norwegian and
Scottish  national spheres in the late Middle Ages. The challenging circumstance of
divided loyalties was exemplified most outstandingly in 1263, when the two kingdoms
went to war and forced the incumbent earl, who nominally owed fealty and service to
both crowns, to show preference for one patrimonial arrangement over the other.
Although the Treaty of Perth from 1266 quelled open conflict between the two
kingdoms, Crawford suggests that earls continued to be pulled in different directions
and ultimately oriented themselves towards Scotland at the expense of their relations
with Norway. Particularly the earls of the Lothian-based Sinclair line are portrayed as
Scottish noblemen, whose economic and social interests lay in Caithness and their
Lowland homelands, and whose close association with the Stewart kings caused them
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BOOK REVIEWS 661
to neglect their duties as vassals of the Norwegian Crown. As Scottish kings con-
solidated their territorial sovereignty at the margins of the realm in the mid-15th
century, the joint earldoms became an unviable and unwelcomed option for regional
political control.
While her conclusions about the earls loyalties to those kings are tenable,
Crawford may overemphasize the pervasiveness of  national competition during the
later period. It can be argued that the two kingdoms acted as amicable diplomatic
partners for much of the period, frequently cooperating to manage isolated conflicts
between their subjects along their common frontier. Not until the late 1450s was the
question of royal authority in the region reopened, and the duality of the earls
loyalties put to the test. Moreover, one must question whether  national preferences
shaped the earls strategies as much as Crawford implies. Certainly the gradual
alienation of the Sinclair earls from the Norwegian Crown must have facilitated the
transfer of the isles (along with Shetland) to Scottish control in 1468 1469, but it is
difficult to accept that their enterprises prior to the mid-15th century were geared
towards the promotion of Scottish culture or political authority in Orkney. As is
demonstrated so skillfully in other parts of the work, earls were first and foremost
concerned with their own survival and tended to advance self-serving policies irre-
spective of  national affiliation. Yet Crawford s use of  national motifs and terminol-
ogy when discussing late developments might lead readers to assume that patriotism
motivated earls more than is evident from the sources.
While one might take issue with some of Crawford s conclusions, that is not to say
that the study is anything less than outstanding. This book leaves no stone unturned,
offering the most comprehensive appreciation of sources on Orkney and Caithness to
date. Crawford analyses the full body of source material in great depth, a remarkable
feat given the volume of evidence consulted. Additionally, one would be hard pressed
to find a book with greater aesthetic appeal. The cover, which features a bird s-eye
view of the northern and southern coasts of the Pentland Firth, beautifully illustrates
the concept of the Orkney Islands and Caithness mainland as one region, joined, rather
than divided, by the sea. Most of the maps and illustrations are new, and clearly
illuminate the physical environments, housings and furnishings seen by the earls in their
day. For an academic work of this depth, presented in a wonderfully-illustrated
hardcover book, the reader might even feel guilty for paying the list price of just Ł25.
It is fitting that Crawford, who has long championed the interdisciplinary and
transnational approach to the study of the Isles, would produce such a rich study. Not
only has she distinguished herself as the leading authority on the region in the Middle
Ages, she has also been active in promoting collaboration with British and Scandinavian
scholars and publishing the history of Norse-Scottish themes to different audiences.
Admittedly, Crawford s own studies crop up most frequently in the lists of citations,
though this is only natural given the depth and impact of her previous research, and
does not negate the importance of individual contributions from a number of other
archaeologists, linguists and historians. This book is bound to have a wide reception
among scholars on both sides of the North Sea and should also appeal as an exceptional
case to those working more generally with the complex  feudal arrangements of
medieval Europe. Regardless of whether earls ever thought in  national terms, they
were clearly successful in transcending jurisdictional borders and balancing their
pledges of fealty to two lords from very distinct cultural, social and political spheres
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662 SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY
throughout most of the Middle Ages. As this book demonstrates, such a remarkable
story of survival is hardly the exclusive property of a single national history.
IAN PETER GROHSE
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige univeritet
Trondheim
[e-mail]
� 2013, Ian Peter Grohse
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2013.864188
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