A Chieftain Finds Love

Author’s NoteOn my sons’ estate in the North of Scotland, a Viking ship is buried at the side of the River Helmsdale. Now covered with trees, one can only distinguish the outline of what was once a marauding vessel that terrorised the local inhabitants of the Strath. The term ‘Viking’ is applied today to Scandinavians who left their homes intent on raiding or conquest during a period extending roughly from 800 AD to 1050. In England, Viking raids began in about 780 AD and ended in 802, beginning again in 980 and the country ultimately became part of the Empire of King Canute. The Viking threat ended with the ineffective King Canute II in the reign of William I. From around AD 900 there were Viking settlements in the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides, Caithness in Scotland, Iceland and in the Faroes. The Orkneys were not formally annexed to Scotland until 1772. The power of the Earls of Orkney waxed and waned, sometimes encroaching on the mainland of Scotland, the Shetlands and the Hebrides and sometimes losing what had been gained. Scandinavians abounded in the Hebrides and the Isle Man, and from time to time the Vikings claimed Kingship in those areas. Yet, the establishment of a strong Royal line in the Isle of Man, although due to a Scandinavian, Godred Crovan, belongs to the second Viking period from 1079.