[4]. Ireland was then called Scotia.
[5]. St. Ninian was commemorated at Dunrossness in Shetland (Sibbald’s Description, 1711, p. 15); at Stove in South Ronaldsay, Orkney (Peterkin’s Rentals, No. III.); at the north head of the bay of Wick in Caithness; and at Navidale in Sutherland. St. Columba’s three chapels in South Ronaldsay were at Grymness, Hopay, and Loch of Burwick (Peterkin’s Rentals, No. III. p. 86). There were also dedications to St. Columba in the islands of Sanday and Hoy in Orkney, at Olrig and Dirlet in Caithness, on Island Comb, at Tongue, and at Kilcalmkill in Sutherlandshire (Bishop Forbes’s Calendar of Scottish Saints). St. Triduana, whose name has been corrupted into St. Tredwell and St. Trudlin (the Tröllhæna of the Saga), had dedications in Papa Westray in Orkney (Martin’s and Brand’s Descriptions), and at Kintradwell in Sutherlandshire. It seems also, from the narrative of Bishop John’s mutilation in the Saga, that there was a dedication to her near Thurso. St. Brigid had chapels in Stronsay and Papa Stronsay in Orkney. But it is impossible to tell how many of these early religious sites had similar dedications, as scarcely a tithe of those that are known have preserved their names. Brand and Sibbald both mention the fact that in their time there were still recognisable the sites of 24 chapels in the island of Unst, 21 in the island of Yell, 10 or 11 in the island of Fetlar: 55 religious foundations in the three most northerly islands of the Shetland group. The Christian period of the Norse occupation is marked by dedications showing the influence of the Crusades or of the national religious feeling. The dedications to the Holy Cross, St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Lawrence, St. Olaf, and St. Magnus, are probably all of this period.
[6]. Unfortunately, the readings of these inscriptions which have been attempted are far from satisfactory. The Shetland and Orkney specimens are in different styles of the Ogham writing, and the whole subject of the reading and interpretation of the inscriptions in this character is beset with difficulties of no ordinary kind. One rendering of the Bressay inscription makes it “the cross of Natdod’s daughter here,” and on the other edge of the stone, “Benres of the sons of the Druids here;” while the language is supposed to be a mixture of Celtic and Icelandic. (Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. p. 30.)
[7]. Sculptured Stones of Scotland (Spalding Club), by John Stuart, LL.D., passim.
[8]. Sir James Simpson’s reading of the inscription, given in the Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 71.
[9]. In Orkney we have the islands of Papa Westray and Papa Stronsay (the Papey meiri and Papey minni, or greater and lesser Papa of the Saga), Paplay in South Ronaldsay, Paplay in the parish of Holm, and Papdale, near Kirkwall, in the Mainland. In Shetland we have the isles of Papa—Papa Stour (Papey stora) and Papa Little (Papey litla), and Papill in the islands of Unst and Yell. Papa Stronsay, Papa Westray, and Paplay, in the Mainland of Orkney, are mentioned in the Saga. Papa Stour occurs in a deed of A.D. 1229 (Diplom. Norveg. i. 89), Papill in Unst in a deed of A.D. 1360 (Ibid. iii. 310), and a “Sigurdr of Pappley” is mentioned in the agreement between Bishop William of Orkney and Hakon Jonson, May 25, 1369 (Ibid. i. 404).
[10]. There is a cairn in Sanday called Ivar’s Knowe, which may be his burial mound.
[11]. Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, Flateyjarbók, chap. [180], in the Appendix; and Ynglinga Saga, Heimskringla, chap. 22. Earl Sigurd’s grave-mound, on the estuary of the Oykel (Ekkialsbakki), was known in the 12th century as Siwardhoch, or Sigurd’s How, and is still identifiable in the modern Cyderhall. (See the note on Ekkialsbakki, p. [107] of the Saga.)
[12]. Landnamabók, chap. ii.
[13]. Laxdæla Saga, chap. iv.