May 2021

When I was a schoolgirl studying the history of Britain, about 50% of what I had to learn by heart was the names and dates of battles. After about 1750 it was the names and dates of Acts of Parliament. Very dry stuff. Some of the battles had a long-term effect on the development of the British political system, language and culture in general, such as the battle in 43CE which led to the lasting legacy of the Romans in Britain, or the Battle of Hastings in 1066CE which introduced a significant modification of the language and political organisation in much of Britain. But most of them were just attempts at empire-building or rearranging medieval political boundaries in ways that really didn’t matter in the long run.

And of course, when I was at school, all of them were looked at from the perspective of England, even before the date at which England became the dominant partner in the United Kingdom. Since moving to Orkney, I have found it very interesting to change perspective and look at the battles of British history from north to south rather than from south to north.

Until the late 15^th century, England, Scotland and Orkney were three different countries. Until 1468 Orkney was part of the kingdom of Norway (or Norway+Denmark+Sweden). Scotland and England were two separate kingdoms until 1707 and the Act of Union, even though after 1603 the same man was king of both of them. Unless they were fighting each other, which they often were, any battles between one of those countries and anyone else were usually of no concern to the other two, unless there was a way in which they could gain a political advantage while the enemy was distracted..

For most of the medieval period, Scotland was concerned with fighting the English and the Norwegians. England wanted to take over Scotland as it had taken over Wales, and Scotland wanted to take over the bits of modern-day Scotland which were then ruled by Norway. Orkney was part of Norway until 1468 (made official in 1471 by an Act of Annexation), and was therefore concerned with fighting the Scots. Scotland and Orkney, unlike England, were never at war with Wales or France.

The Battles of Agincourt and Crecy, for example, were nothing to do with either Scotland or Orkney. They are no more to do with the history of ‘Britain' than the Battle of Largs, which I had never heard of until I moved north.

The Wars of Independence took place between 1296 and 1328 when Edward I of England made a determined attempt to add Scotland to his kingdom. Peace and Scottish independence were restored only after a very nasty set of wars, with all the usual horrible medieval accompaniments of assassination, treachery, torture, excommunication etc. on both sides. They included plenty of battles, including the famous battle of Bannockburn. You probably have heard of that one. Most people have heard of the Scottish leader and eventual king, Robert the Bruce (something to do with spiders, wasn’t he?) and William Wallace (sanitised version in the 1995 film “Braveheart” played by Mel Gibson). The Declaration of Arbroath, an appeal to the pope for his support, does have some very good bits in it, especially the bit where they stated that they would get rid of any king who submitted to English rule, thus claiming the right to choose their king themselves rather than having to put up with the nearest male relative of the previous one. Just as good as Magna Carta, which introduced the revolutionary idea that the king should not be above the law.

Orkney had no more to do with the Scottish Wars of Independence than they had with the English Wars of the Roses. They were still part of a different kingdom. The only battles of any importance to Orkney between 1000AD and 1700 were the battles of Clontarf, Florvaug, Largs and Summerdale.

The battle of Clontarf took place in 1014 in Ireland just outside Dublin. Brian Boru, high king of Ireland, was fighting for Irish independence against the Dublin Vikings and their allies, who included the Irish king of Leinster, and Sigurd the Stout, the Norwegian earl of Orkney. Legend has it that Sigurd died after picking up a specially cursed banner prepared by his mother, a witch, which was supposed to guarantee his victory, so long as somebody else carried it. Whoever carried the banner was fated to be killed. When his men began to notice that whoever carried the banner didn't last very long they refused to pick it up and he lost his temper and picked it up himself. He got killed. The Vikings lost.

The battle of Florvaug was in 1194, when the Orkneymen and Shetlanders, rudely nicknamed the “island-beardies” from their unfashionable habit of wearing beards, joined in a rebellion against the king of Norway during a dynastic struggle for the Norwegian throne. They lost.

The battle of Largs in Ayrshire in 1263, was part of an on-going struggle between Scotland and Norway over control of the Western Isles. The Norwegian king sailed round to Largs on the Firth of Clyde and there was a battle. The Norwegians lost. The king struggled back to Kirkwall with the remains of his fleet, intending to winter there and have another try next year, but was taken ill and died in Orkney. Three years later his successor signed the Western Isles over to Scotland.

The battle of Summerdale in 1529 was part of a feud between the Caithness Sinclairs and the Orkney Sinclairs. The Orkney forces won. Comprehensively – the Caithness side had only one survivor.

As a pacifist, I am not much into the glorification of war or the celebration of battles. But as a person with an interest in history, if we must go on about battles, let’s get some proper perspective on them.