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]