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Scandinavian Scotland refers to the period from the 8th to the 15th centuries during which Vikings and Norse settlers, mainly Norwegians and to a smaller extent other Scandinavians, and their descendents colonised parts of what is now modern Scotland. Viking influence in the area commenced in the late 8th century, and hostility between the Scandinavian Earls of Orkney and the emerging thalassocracy of the Kingdom of the Isles, the rulers of Ireland, Dál Riata and Alba, and intervention by the crown of Norway were recurring themes. Scandinavian-held territories included the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides, the islands of the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Man and associated mainland territories including Caithness and Sutherland. The historical record is weak and the Irish annals and the later Norse sagas, of which the ''Orkneyinga Saga'' is the principal source of information, are sometimes contradictory although modern archaeology is beginning to provide a broader picture of life during this period. There are various competing theories that have addressed the early colonisation process although it is clear that the Northern Isles were the first to be conquered by Vikings and the last to be relinquished by the Norwegian crown. Thorfinn Sigurdsson's rule in the 11th century included expansion well into north mainland Scotland and this may have been the zenith of Scandinavian influence. The obliteration of pre-Norse names in the Hebrides and their replacement with Norse ones was almost total although the emergence of alliances with the native Gaelic speakers produced a powerful Norse-Gael culture that had wide influence in Argyll, Galloway and beyond. Scottish influence increased from the 13th century on. In 1231 an unbroken line of Norse earls of Orkney ended and the title was henceforward held by Scots nobles. An ill-fated expedition by Haakon Haakonarson later in that century led to the relinquishing of the islands of the west to the Scottish Crown and in the mid-15th century Orkney and Shetland were also transferred to Scottish rule. The negative view of Viking activities held in popular imagination notwithstanding,〔Crawford (1987) p. 200〕 Norse expansion may have been a factor in the emergence of the Gaelic kingdom of Alba, the forerunner of modern Scotland, and the trading, political, cultural and religious achievements of the later periods of Norse rule were significant. ==Sources== Contemporary documentation of this period of Scottish history is very weak. The presence of the monastery on Iona led to this part of Scotland being relatively well recorded from the mid-6th to the mid-9th century. But from 849 on, when Columba's relics were removed in the face of Viking incursions, written evidence from local sources all but vanishes for three hundred years.〔Woolf (2006) p. 94〕 The sources for information about the Hebrides and much of northern Scotland from the 8th to the 11th century are thus almost exclusively Irish, English or Norse. The main Norse text is the ''Orkneyinga Saga'', which was written in the early 13th century by an unknown Icelandic. The English and Irish sources are more contemporary, but may have "led to a southern bias in the story", especially as much of the Hebridean archipelago became Norse-speaking during this period.〔Woolf (2007) p. 275〕 Dates should therefore be regarded as approximate throughout. The archaeological record for this period is relatively scant,〔Barrett (2008) p. 420〕 although improving. Toponymy provides significant information about the Scandinavian presence and examples of Norse runes provide further useful evidence. There is a significant corpus of material from the Gaelic oral tradition that relates to this period, but its value is questionable.〔Graham-Campbell and Batey (1998) pp. 37–46〕 Language and personal names provide some difficulties. The former is an important indicator of culture but there is very little direct evidence for its use in specific circumstances during the period under consideration. Pictish, Middle Irish and Old Norse would certainly have been spoken and Woolf (2007) suggests that a significant degree of linguistic balkanisation took place.〔Woolf (2007) p. 295〕 As a result, single individuals often appear in sources under a variety of different names.〔Sellar (2000) p. 187〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Scandinavian Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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