Last known Shetland document in Norwegian

[Oddrun]

We will be very happy if you post them on Shetlopedia, ,,we are trying to get as much information as possible about old days on the pages there.

Cheers Oddrun

[Freyr]

I would leave it up to someone else to translate the original text to english, but I'll have a go at the accompaning article by Mattias Tveitane:

 

 

"In a treaty dated 28 May 1469 the Danish king Christian I pawned the Norwegian Western Sea area Shetland to his son in law king Jacob III of Scotland for 8000 rhenish guilders. The amount was the final payment on Christians dowary to his daughter Margrethe at her wedding. In a previous treaty of 8 September 1468 he had in a similar way pawned the Orkneys. The pawns were never redeemed and thus this part of the old Realm of Norway was transferred to Scottish and later English rule. The Islands had already at that point been under a strong english influense, but the connection with Norway was not imediately broken. Norwegian institutions partly continued to function and Norwegian was at least in Shetland both the spoken and written language for a long time.

 

The University (of Bergen) library has in it's collection of diplomas the supposedly last known letter in Norwegian from Shetland, written 24 November 1509 in a place with the wholly Norwegian name Medalbø a Sandnese (today Melby, Sandness). In the letter 4 "lawsayers" [i don't know this title in English] in Woghum i Hietlande (now Walls, Shetland) announce that they have been present at a questioning held by the "lawman" [don't know this one either] in Bergen Guttorm Nilsson. The questioning conserned the priest sira Gregorius Ivarsson and whether he had "betrayed his holdings" to the king or bishop. THis they all answer no to, at the contrary they assert that the priest is a good man. We don't have any more information about this priest and don't really know what he has been accused of. As a historical document the letter does not give much direct information, but indirectly it tells us a great deal. Firstly we se that the lawman in Bergen still has jursidiction over Shetland. Secondly the letter shows that the language there was as purely/correct Norwegian as in Norway at that time. Likewise we also see that the namecustom (both persons and places) is in large Norwegian. Of the four lawsayers the first has a typical English name: Thomas Rikardsson, but the three others are Norwegian Brynjolf Einarsson, Eirik Markusson and Jon Ivarsson.

 

The letter also has an exactly 100 years younger addition in Danish stating that it has been delivered and presented in court on Thousnes 23 October 1609. It is unclear where (on Shetland?) the place Thousnes was or is and we dont know the purpose behind presenting it at court, but the addition shows that Nordic (Danish) language had to have been usable in Shetland at that time.

 

We have several other documentations for regular connections between Shetland and Bergen; for example in Absalon Pederssøn Beyer's diary from the 1560's. It is tempting to mention Absalon's story of the latin school disciple Niels hielt (shetlander) with the nickname "Kylekop". This nickname he got after performing in a play performed in the bishopry. So the first known Bergensian actor we know by name was from Shetland."

[Freyr]

I'll just post the original text of the document here as well. Just to lure someone to translate it

 

Allum monnum them sem thetta breff see edher heyra heil-/ sum vy Thomass Rikardsson vppa Skatz ... dum Bryniolff Einarsson/ Eirikur Markusson ock Ion Iuarsson logretto menn i Voghim i Hiet-/ lande med guds kuedio ock vorom kunnigt giorande med thessu voro/ oppno breffe at ver vorum thar ihia a steffno i Medalbæ a Sandnese/ saum ock heyrdum vppa at heidarligin mann Gutthorm Nielsson log-/ mann i Berghen spurde at alla tha menn vnga ock gamla sem thar voro/ eff their hæffde nockurn tima heyrt eda vitad ath sira Gregorius Iuars-/ son haffde nockrar thær sakir giort i sina daga at fforneffnder sira Gre-/ gorius Iuarsson haffde fforbrotid sitt godzss laust ock ffast vid konung/ eda biscup. suarado tha allir bæde vnger og gam[ler at th]eir heyrdo/ din ffedur och fforelldre seiga at sira Gregorius Iuarsson var ein godur/ dande mann alla sina daga. ock han (fforbraut) ecki sina peninga huorke/ vid konung eda biscop ock alldre heyrdo their nockur klago maal eda/ akæro fforneffnd(h sira) Gregorius Iuarsson vara tiltalad suo lenge sem / hann liffde. ock till sanninda her vm heingiæ vy fforskriffade menn vor/ incigle ffyrir thetta breff sem giort var næsta dag ffyrir sancte Kate-/ rine virgins et martiris, dag anno domini mo. do. nono

[Brian]

I'll just post the original text of the document here as well. Just to lure someone to translate it

 

I put a translation on Shetlopedia last night. B

[Brian]

The 1509 document doesn't show that the lawman of Bergen had jusrisdiction here. (It was of course the lawman of Shetland who had jurisdiction in Shetland!) It shows that the lawman of Bergen was here conducting an enquiry about a cleric who had Shetland connexions of some kind. For useful background about the matter see Knut Robberstad's article in Shetland and te Outside World, edited by Donald Withrington in 1983.

[Brian]

PS The 1509 document isn't the last known document in Norwegian to have been written in Shetland. There are several of much later date. B

[Dagfinn]

I put a translation on Shetlopedia last night. B

Could you put the link here?

[Brian]

I put a translation on Shetlopedia last night. B

Could you put the link here?

 

http://shetlopedia.com/The_last_known_document_from_Shetland_written_in_Norse

[Freyr]

The 1509 document doesn't show that the lawman of Bergen had jusrisdiction here.

Well that is the way the findings have been interpreted according to the article. The article is written by Mattias Tveitane which seems to be a seasoned researcher on old documents, but then again it was first published in 1980 so it might be outdated.

 

PS The 1509 document isn't the last known document in Norwegian to have been written in Shetland. There are several of much later date. B

 

Those would be interesting to know more about then. Where are they? What are they about and how old are they?

[Brian]

The four most substantial surviving documents written in Norwegian in Shetland after 1509 are: 1. A doom of a court held in Yell on 1 July 1538 (recited in a document of 6 July that year, in the National Archives of Scotland); 2. Confirmation by Shetland officials at Aith on 26 April 1545 of 3. a partition of inheritance dated 1516, also at Aith (in Shetland Archives); 4. An agreement between people in Yell on 4 December 1586, signed at Gardie in Mid Yell (in National Archives of Scotland).

 

There are translations of these documents in Shetland Documents 1195-1579, Lerwick 1999, nos. 59 and 79; and in Shetland Documents 1580-1611, Lerwick 1994, no. 88.

[marlin13]

I believe that there was a least one person on Foula who was able to speak the "Norn" still alive in the first part of the 20th century. In conversation with Andy Gear who originally came from Foula he mentioned he had been doing some research into this and this person, a woman if I remember correctly taught limited amount of it to one of his brothers.

[deardron]

Marlin13, can you give more details on this woman, when she lived and what was her name? I think this is the first evidence that someone still knew Norn in the 20th century.