Storm’s Edge:
Orkney has remained a distinct world “in and of itself”
Life, Death and Magic in the Islands of Orkney Peter Marshall
L(William Collins, £25)
AST July, Orkney councillors voted decisively to investigate winning greater independence from the UK and Scottish governments, including possible deals with the Nordic nations. Grievances have long festered, as both Orkney and Shetland have demanded greater autonomy and self-determination in the face of inadequate funding and centralised decision making. These sentiments, met with hypocritical froideur by the secessionist-minded Holyrood government, are not surprising in a historical context. As this history of Orkney makes clear, the 70 islands that constitute the archipelago, 20 of them inhabited, may be in Scotland, but are not necessarily of Scotland.
The Scottish crown acquired Orkney in 1468 when James III married Margaret, daughter of the Scandinavian king Christian I, who could not afford to pay her dowry. From the 10th century, when Orkney was annexed by Norway, until James’s wedding, there had been time enough to build a robust Norse-kiltered cultural and constitutional fabric. The names of places and people, the language of Norn specific to the islands, the Orcadian legal system and land tenure all harked from the Norse. Although much Scots blood has mingled with Orcadian and the tides of religious, dynastic and foreign wars of the mainland, only 10 miles distant at its nearest point, have washed over and rearranged the social and topographical fabric of the islands, Orkney has remained a distinct world ‘in and of itself’.
Born an Orcadian, Peter Marshall places his native islands, so often treated by historians and governments too literally as the tiny superscript they form of mainland Britain, at the centre of three centuries of history. For anyone wanting to understand Orcadian history and culture from a ‘we’ rather than a ‘they’ perspective, this book is a fascinating read.
Prof Marshall wears his erudition lightly and delves into the islands’ religious, social and general history. Discovery that an ancestor had been murdered by a witch in the early 17th century inspired him to write the book and Orkney does seem to have been witchcraft central. Relative to the population, about twice as many witchcraft accusations were levelled in the islands as in Scotland overall.
A fine map, index, glossary and notes section complement this volume. It feels invidious to cavil at all at such an accomplished production, but a chronology of significant events would have been useful.