#vikings?

On September 2nd 1263 the Battle of Largs took place.

This was quite a defining day in Scottish history on two counts, although the battle itself was indecisive, it is generally forgotten that for more than 600 year large parts of Scotland was part of the Kingdom of Norway, but by 1263 they a seemed to have little interest.

King Alexander III proposed to buy back the Western Isles and Kintyre, but Norwegian king Haakon the Old dismissed this and set sail with  a large armada said to be of up to 200 longboats containing some 20,000 men during late summer of 1263 for Scotland.

While Haakon was set to wage war on Scotland, he was also bound by the medieval protocol and Alexander proposed a negotiation with the Norsemen, the Scottish King was a wee bit crafty though, as an armada of Viking  long ships waited off the North West coast Alexander put off the proposed meeting, and the wait had the desired affect, storms scattered the armada meaning his army was not the large conquering mass it should have been.

Accounts of how the battle went vary. Some authors suggest the Scots slaughtered the Vikings in great numbers. Others that the Norsemen fought a fierce battle at the beachhead, retained their foothold overnight and, on the morning of 3rd October  re-floated some of their ships and departed. Either way, it was the Norwegians who left and the Scots who retained the field.

On paper the Battle of Largs the historians say the battle resulted in a stalemate with neither of the two armies achieving its primary aim. However, within a few months of the battle, it became clear that a significant Scottish victory had been achieved, if not on the day, but due to the fact the Norsemen withdrew.

After the battle King Haakon IV took his fleet from the Clyde and returned towards Norway but, given the weather at that time of year, his progress was slow and on 16th December 1263 he died at Kirkwall, Orkney. 

Haakon’s successor, Magnus IV, was in no place to launch expeditions against Scotland and abandoned his claim on most of the Scottish islands in exchange for a substantial payment which was ratified in the Treaty of Perth three years later

Legend says at some point during the Largs campaign the Norsemen tried to surprise the Scots with a night attack. They are said to have removed their footwear for a silent approach but found themselves on ground covered with thistles, one of their leader trod on a thistle and cried out. His shout warned the Scots who then saw off theattack, thus saving Scotland. The role of the thistle was understood, and was chosen as Scotland’s symbol henceforth, with the motto “Nemo me impune lacessit”, “No-one provokes me with impunity” but more commonly translated as “Wha daurs meddle wi’ me”.

Week four of my year at university has just finished, and boy has that all gone so quickly! My life seems to be revolving around two things at the moment: Irish dancing and Icelandic.

Of the three hundred or so clubs and societies offered here at Leeds, I've joined Irish Dancing. Three weeks of two classes a week later, my heels are blustering and my toes are threatening to snap off, while my poor arches are in revolt. Does this mean I'm slowly being broken in? In any case, in an attempt to stretch my hard shoes into danceable shape, I have the pleasure of wearing them round the flat with thick socks. Maybe this week I'll be able to dance in them without feeling like I'm going to fall on my face? Oh well, back to watching Riverdance enviously and imagining myself as Jean Butler.

This semester I'm taking three modules - a Politics one called Freedom, Power and Resistance; Medieval Icelandic; and Medieval Literature. As I'm sure you can imagine, this means a lot of reading! We've been working through several Icelandic sagas, a German poem called the Nibelungenlied (highly recommend if you like drama), selections from Carmina Burana, and writings by Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft. It takes a bit of concentration to understand what's going on, but it's worth it!

So long for now, until next week.

Old Logie Kirk Hogback Graves.

In the churchyard of Old Logie Kirk can be found one complete hogback and one fragment, both early medieval. One  source dates them at the year 1080, the other 12th century, the year the Kirk was first mentioned in official church documents.

Canmore, part of Scottish Environment has the following on the markers; 

A hog-backed tombstone lies in the graveyard, SE of the Old Logie church. It is 5'8" long and tapers, at ground level, from a breadth of 14 1/2" at the head to 8" at the foot. The N side shows traces of ornamentation representing tiles. Another hog-back was turned out of the graveyard about 1907, and a fragment of it, found and replaced in 1927, is probably the rounded lump now set as a headstone at the N end of the sixth row of tombstones. There are also nearly a hundred stones dated before 1707, mostly falling in the last quarter of the 17th century in the graveyard." These fascinating tombstones carved with symbols of trades and mortality.

While the first one is complete, I wonder why the other has been, literally, smashed to pieces.  Hogback stones originated in a version of the Scandinavian house tomb and can be recognised by their distinctive shape, I wonder what secrets lie beneath, Vikings? Or just Scandinavian connections?