The Gœðingar: Earl’s men.
The suggestion of Vigfússon in the Oxford Dictionary that the gœðingar of the earls of Orkney were synonymous with the lendir-menn of the kings of Norway can be amply proved by the Saga. One explicit instance gives a clue to the whole mystery, viz., that of Kúgi, a gœðingr (of earl Páll), whom we find living in Hreppisnes, now Rapnes, in Westrey. The bú of Rapnes, Swartmeill, and Wasbuster, were, in 1503, described as boardlands or borlands of the old earldom, paying no skattr. Bordland or borland is a Scottish loanword, meaning, “land kept for the board of the laird’s house.”[7] The Oxford New English Dictionary states that the form bordland is first found in Bracton, c. 1250, by whom it is wrongly derived from bord, a table, whereas it is from M. Lat. borda, a hut, cot, and was applied to land held in bordage tenure by a bordar, a villein of the lowest rank, a cottier. The Gaelic bòrlum, royal castle lands, borlanachd, compulsory labour for a landlord, must also come from the same source.
Boardland in Orkney is, therefore, a translation of Old Norse veizlu-jörð, land granted in fief for military service and for the entertainment of the superior when on circuit. In accordance with the Hirðskrá of king Magnús Hákonsson, the earl, while prohibited from disposing of the earldom lands, was permitted to grant earldom lands at veita or at veizlu, i.e., in return for military service and entertainment. It seems certain that the same privilege was allowed by the older Hirðskrá, which is now lost.
To return to Kúgi, he had the upp-kvöð or útboð, the calling out of the levy, of ships and men, leiðangr, in Westrey. As he was the instigator, upphafsmaðr, of a secret þing, laun-þing, in Westrey, he probably acted as the representative of the earl in the district assembly, héraðs þing. The localities of the other gœðingar support the above conclusion.
Þorkell flatr was also in Westrey; Þorsteinn Hávarðarson Gunnason had the calling out of the levy in Rinansey, and his brother Magnús that of the adjoining island, Sandey, where there were the boardlands of Brugh, Halkisnes, Tofts, Lopnes and Tresnes; Valþjófr Ólafsson was in Stronsey, where there were skatt-fré lands; Sigurðr á Vestnesi in Rousey, where part of Westnes was old earldom land; and this leads to the conclusion that the gœðingar also held skatt-land as well as skatt-fré land of the earldom at veita; Jón vængr abode in Háey, where there is boardland. The earls also gave gifts, veita gjafir, to their friends, the gœðingar.
Gœði means, among other things, profits, emoluments, etc. It seems certain that the gœði in Caithness, which the king of Scotland restored to Sveinn Ásleifarson, in 1152, were the gœði of the earldom, which he had formerly held as gœðingr.
The gœðingar of Orkney (and Shetland?) were thus the feoffees of the earl of Orkney, from whom they received grants of earldom land, veizlu-jörð, at veita or at veizlu, in consideration of military service and the entertainment of the earl, when on circuit. As the feoffees of the earl’s gœði, or emoluments, they received the name of gœðingar, corresponding to the lendir-menn, landed men, of Norway, who were so-called because they held land or emoluments from the king for similar duties. A distinction in nomenclature had to be drawn between the king’s and the earl’s feoffees.
As was to be expected, some of the gœðingar were related to the earls—remunerative government offices were then, as now, conferred on the relatives and favourites of the rulers. Their military service included the upp-kvöð or útboð, calling out of the leiðangr, levy, the superintendence of the vitar, beacons, etc.
Their civil functions probably included attendance at the local assembly, héraðs Þing, the nomination of delegates, lögréttumenn, to the jury, lögrétta, of the law-thing, and generally the representation of the executive in their respective districts.
As the callers out of the levy of ships and men, the gœðingar were necessarily located at strategical points, with easy access to the sea and in close touch with the beacons.
Mr. J. Storer Clouston has suggested with regard to the Orkney place-name, Clouston, older forms, Cloustath and Clouchstath, which probably represent an original *kló-staðr, claw-stead, that kló is “the original proprietor’s name—possibly Hákon kló of the Saga.”[8]
Now Hákon kló, who flourished circa 1150, was a gœðingr, and was presumably connected with the islands of Sandey and Rinansey, over which his brothers were gœðingar, and there is no historical or traditional evidence associating him or his family with Clouston, in any way.
Dr. Jakob Jakobsen has pointed out that kló, f., a claw, denotes, in Norse place-names, something projecting, curved or pointed. It occurs in a large number of place-names in Shetland, including an identical name to that in Orkney, viz., Klusta, *Kló-staðr, -staðir, a district situated on a headland between two bights. Now the bú, or principal farm, of Clouston, from which the whole township takes its name, is also situated on a ness; and directly opposite to the house is a claw-formed or curved tongue of land which projects into the Loch of Stennes, which leaves no possibility of a doubt as to the true origin of the name.
With regard to nicknames, those which are person forenames in themselves, such as brúsi, buck, and personifications such as hlaupandi, landlouper, etc., are used in place-name formation; while nicknames which merely point to an eccentricity in personal detail and are attached to forenames, such as kló, finger-nail, flat-nefr, flat nose, rang-beinn, -eygr, -muðr, wry-legged, squint-eyed, wry-mouth, etc., do not lend themselves for place-names, quasi, “flat-nose’s farm.” But even if such nicknames were detached from their forenames and applied to places, they would be in the genitive case, e.g., if Hákon kló had been known as kló (of which there is no evidence) then his farm would have been called *Klóar-staðr, Claw’s farm, not *kló-staðr, claw-farm, which could only point to a claw-formation in the place, such as we actually find in Clouston itself, and hence the name.
Circumstantial evidence is against Hákon kló, a gœðingr, with the uppkvöð of the leiðangr, levy of ships and men, being landlocked in one of the very few inland townships in Orkney, situated from two to three miles from the nearest easy landing place. Earl Haraldr Maddaðarson in going from Grímsey to Fjörðr (Firth) by way of (Clouston and) Orkahaugr (Maes-howe), chose Hafnarvágr (Stromness harbour) as his landing place, and the same choice would be made now.
The nearest coast to Clouston is that of Ireland, which is quite unsuited for shipping, owing to its exposed position, shallow water, extensive beach at low water—a place to be avoided by sea-going craft. Moreover, it has been shown that the gœðingar were in the occupation of earldom lands, of which there were absolutely not a penn’orth in Stennes, and next to none in the adjoining inland parish of Hara. This lack of earldom land in these inland districts, corroborates the supposition (p. xx), viz., that the earldom estate was formed of the confiscated estates of the leading víkingar of 872, which would naturally be situated on the seaboard with easy landing places, which is a characteristic of the earldom estate; while the two inland and inaccessible districts of Stennes and Hara are remarkable for their wealth of Pictish remains and dearth of earldom lands.
The last notice we have of the gœðingar is in 1232, when a shipload of them, gœðinga-skip, were drowned. Possibly the eighteen men of Haraldr Jónsson, son of earl Jón Haraldsson, who were drowned, along with him, on June 15th, 1226, were also gœðingar.[9]