Vikings
Viking Legacy Some parts of Scotland conquered by the Vikings, in the 9th century, belonged to Norway for hundreds of years. The Western Isles were Norwegian until 1266. Orkney and Shetland only returned to Scotland in 1469, and retain a strong connection to their Viking past. We can read the epic story of the Earls of Orkney, the Orkneyinga Saga, written down in Iceland around 1200. Many of the Viking settlers in Iceland were from Scotland, and took the stories with them. The carving below is based on an Icelandic epic called the Saga of the Volsungs. It tells the story of Sigurd, Dragon Slayer, and shows the making of a sword. Many Scottish islands like Colonsay, Oronsay, Ulva and Uist have Norse names. The island of Cumbrae in the Clyde is half Norse, half Welsh. From cumbr, Welsh for Britons, and ae, Norse for island. So Cumbrae means island of the Britons. All the Scottish firths, like the Firth of Forth or Clyde, are Scots derivations of the Norse fjord. S...