Feb. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



183 



THE OBKNEY ISLANDS IN PATVN. 

 (Volvii., p. 105.) 



It gives me much pleasure to be enabled to 

 inform your correspondent Kirkwallensis that 

 there is no fear of our losing these islands in the 

 manner suggested by him, they having been re- 

 nounced by Denmark nearly four hundred years 

 ago, as will be seen from the following sketch. 



The Orkneys were taken from the Picts about 

 A.D. 838, by Kenneth II., king of Scotland, to 

 which kingdom they were attached until 1099, 

 when Donald VIII., surnamed Bane, brother to 

 Malcolm Canmore, usurped the crown, to the pre- 

 judice of his nephews Edgar, Alexander, and 

 David; and requiring assistance to maintain his 

 position, he applied to Magnus, king of Norway, 

 to whom, says Skene, " for help and supply he 

 gave all the isles of Scotland (Camden says the 

 Orkneys only), where, through and for other 

 causes, many bloody battles were fought, until 

 the battle of Larges, 3rd August, 1260, In the time 

 ■ef Alexander III. of Scotland, and Acho, king of 

 Norway." The Scots proving victorious, Magnus 

 of Norway, son and successor of Acho, made peace 

 with Alexander, and renounced and discharged 

 all right and title which he or his successors 

 had, or might have or pretend, to the isles of Scot- 

 land, the king of Scotland paying therefor yearly 

 to the said Magnus and his successors one hundred 

 marks of sterling money. This contract was con- 

 firmed in 1312 by Haquin V. of Norway and 

 Robert I. of Scotland. In 1426 Eric X. of Den- 

 mark renewed with James I. of Scotland these 

 ancient treaties, particularly with regard to the 

 Western Isles '. the pension or annuity having 

 been long omitted to be paid, Eric now freely gave 

 it up to James ; and thus, in appearance, the 

 Orkneys were finally confirmed to Scotland ; but 

 virtually it was not so until 1468, when, says 

 Skene, " at last the said annual, with all the ar- 

 rearages and by-runs thereof, was discharged and 

 renounced simpliciter, in the contract of marriage 

 between King James III. and Margaret, daughter 

 ■of Christian I., king of Norway, Denmark, and 

 Sweden, on the 8th of September, 1468 ; which 

 discharge is not only ratified, but renewed there- 

 after by the said king, on the 12th May, 1469. It 

 appears that James III., on the 24th February, 

 1483, commanded his ambassador sent to the Pope 

 to desire a confirmation of the said perpetual re- 

 nunciation and discharge of the contribution of the 

 Isles." 



According to Dr. Wallace's account (1700), 

 King Christian agreed that the isles of Orkney and 

 Zetland should remain In the possession of King 

 James and his successors, as the Princess Mar- 

 garet's dower, until either King Christian or his 



successors should pay to King James or his suc- 

 cessors the sum of fifty thousand florins of the 

 Rhine ; but in the year following, hearing of his 

 daughter's delivery of a prince at Edinburgh, he 

 " for joy thereof renounced for ever to the crown 

 of Scotland all right or claim to the said isles." 



Bbocttjna. 

 Bury, Lancashire. 



Kirkwallensis seems to have been led into an 

 error respecting the Orkneys. It is true that 

 Orkney and Shetland belonged to the crown of 

 Norway, to which the Scottish familyVpf St. Clair, 

 or Sinclair, rendered military service for the earl- 

 dom. It was not, however, to an English king, 

 but to James III. of Scotland that Christian gave 

 the hand of " the Maid of Norway." In the 

 marriage preliminaries the latter thus stipulates 

 respecting the dower : — " Rex cedit sexaglnta 

 aureorum Rhenenslum [florenorum] mlllia, ejus 

 summae priusquam e Danse regno sponsa digredia- 

 tur numeraturus aureorum decern mUlIa, quod vero 

 rellquum esset supplerent insulte regnl Norvegici, 

 jam memoratse, Orcades, una cum jurisdictione ac 

 cajteris eodem pertlnentlbus, hac tamen lege, ut 

 insulas eas, eousque teneat Scotlse Rex sub firma 

 hypotheca donee vel Ipse, vel ejus heredes, Danlae 

 ac Norvegise Reges, asqua vicissim portione easdem 

 redimant." This article was afterwards embodied 

 in the marriage contract : — " Et terras Insularum 

 Orchaden Regl nostro Jacobo impignoratcB, ad 

 Norvegia reges revertentur" &c. Both documents 

 are preserved In Torfaeus (Orcades, pp.188 — 191.). 

 Mr. Auker's discovery of the original Is, however, 

 an interesting circumstance, as It would seem that 

 the marriage In question was but the result of au 

 attempt to settle amicably an ancient dispute re- 

 specting the sovereignty of the Hebrides — " vetus 

 controversia de Haebudls et Mannia magnis utri- 

 usque populi cladlbus agitata" — which the king 

 of France, as umpire, had been unable to pro- 

 nounce upon, In consequence of the loss or con- 

 cealment of the original instruments. W. G. A. 



THE PASSAGE IN KING HENRY VIII., ACT HI. SC. 2. 



(VoLvii., pp.5. 111.) 



Having no desire to enter into unnecessary 

 controversy, I do not often reply to objections 

 made to my conjectural emendations of passages 

 In Shakspeare ; but on the present occasion I think 

 It incumbent on me to appeal to the common 

 sense of those who take interest In such matters, 

 by merely placing In juxta-position the reading I 

 have proposed, and that of your Leeds corre- 

 spondent, and thus leave it to their Impartial de- 

 cision without fear of the result. It may be ne- 

 cessary, as your correspondent has adverted to 



