line I would read Filius or Filii Voltiniæ. In the fifth line I have read Etensis, having nothing but the stone before me, though I do not pretend to guess of what word either of these fragments may have made a part. Many corps of the Roman army had names ending with the syllables etensis or tenses. In the Notitia Imperii, among the Legiones Comitatenses sub dispositione viri illustris magistri militum per Thracias,' there are mentioned Divitenses Gallicani, Augustenses, etc. The next word in the same line I have read Præf, for Præfectus. The sixth line which immediately follows, has in the beginning, a charm, ending with V.S., which is not easily referred to any word I know; but the Coh. T., following it, leads one to suppose that the preceding word might be Præfectus, denoting the chief officer of a Cohort. The remainder of the word which began with T., being lost, we may conjecture that it was Tungrorum, of which name several corps are mentioned in the Notitia, and the name frequently occurs in such inscriptions. The beginning of the next line, which is indistinct, may have been the end of this word. There are two provinces of Narbonne, in Gaul, and the word here probably describes the country of the person who erected this altar."-Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ii, part ii, edition 1831, pp. 499, 500. The old fort of Douglas, which stood in the "bight of Pollock Rock," according to Waldron, (Description of the Isle of Man, p. 152,) was as old as the time of the Romans, and was probably built by that heroic people. The round towers of the Camp, at Richborough, in Kent, and those of Bingh in Suffolk, the only existing remains of Roman garrisons in Great Britain, exactly resemble, in every particular, the old fort of Douglas, which is, I think, an additional proof of the Romans having visited the Isle of Man. This remarkable structure, which had survived the crowding generations of seventeen centuries, was, by a gothic order of the insular government, levelled to the ground in 1818. NOTE III.-PAGE 47. FORMS OF THE COURT. The Cambrian Kings were, by law, empowered to lead an army once a year, beyond the boundary of their kingdom, but they were not permitted to remain for a longer period than six weeks out of their continental territories.-Warrington's History of Wales, London, 1788, p. 149. This prevented the Welsh sovereigns of Man, prior to Mervyn Vrych, from remaining long with their Manks subjects; but that monarch having no inland dominions, had his residence at Rushen, where he held his courts till after his marriage with Essyllt, the only child of Cynan Tindaethwy, king of North Wales. His dominions being by that union united to Wales, he, in order to comply with the law, removed his court to Caer Segont, in Caernarvonshire, a favorite residence of the Princes of Powys.-Rowland's Monastic Antiquities. As Mervyn was a lineal descendant of that distinguished family, (Welsh Chronicles, p. 22,) he strove to imitate at Rushen the splendour of the Court of Mathraval the palace of the Princes of Powys, in Montgomeryshire.-Rowland's Monastic History, p. 175. The royal authority was in many instances similar, and the court regulations were nearly the same. The king of Man was the original landholder of the Island. A yearly tribute was made him of horned cattle, bacon, hogs, and sheep, with provender for the royal stud. Shipwrecks, and all other things thrown from the sea on the King's personal estates, became his property; but when thrown on the Bishop's or Abbey-lands, he had only a right to an equal share. Foreigners found upon the Island, without permission, became the property of the king. By the laws of Howel Dha, and of Bleddyn ap Cynvyn, three sorts of persons might be killed with impunity: Foreigners, madmen, and lepers."-Warrington, p. 166. A toll was also paid by every merchant ship that came into any of the creeks of the Island, and if such ship was wrecked before the toll was paid, her cargo became the property of the king. The royal guard was composed of the officers of the household, and twelve other gentlemen, mounted on horses provided by the king. The master of the horse had a lodging near the royal stables. From every person on whom the king bestowed, the master was entitled to receive a valuable present. To him belonged the riding caps, saddles, bridles, and spurs which the king had used, and laid aside. He had a deputy called the Groom of the Rein, whose duty it was, in his absence, to lead the king's horse to and from the stable, bring out his majesty's arms, hold the stirrup till he mounted, and run by his side as his page.-Warrington, page 153. The early kings of Man had likewise their musicians, who were held in high esteem. They had lands allotted to them in Glencrutchery, which, in the Gaelic language, signifies "The Harper's Glen." This is a fine fertile spot in the neighbourhood of Douglas. In the early history of all European nations, we may trace a family likeness, so to speak, as well in their religious tenets, their superstitious observances, and their forms of government, as in their domestic arrangements, that bespeak the whole to have been of one common origin. At a period when a foreigner might have been slain in Cambria or Man with impunity for appearing there without authority, and when one would suppose the manners of these countries to have been uncontaminated by foreign intercourse, we can distinguish many traits similar to those of the Scandinavian nations. Every northern court had its Candelarii, an office corresponding with the Canhwyllyd of the Welsh and Manks princes.-Laws of Howel Dha. "The Candelarii were young gentlemen of family, whose office it was to hold tapers in their hands while the Norwegian monarchs sat at table, and whose duty it was to see that the palace was properly lighted.”—Anecdotes of Olave the Black Prince, p. 17. They likewise attended the funerals of princes. When Haco, king of Norway died in the bishop's palace at Kirkwall, The masters of the lights stood with tapers in their hands, and the whole hall was illuminated."-Account of Haco's Expedition, translated from the Icelandic, by J. Johnson, 1782. Even at a much later period some of the Highland chiefs had their torch bearers. Sir Walter Scott, alluding to an ancient custom of his country, describes the masters of the lights with great vivacity.—See Waverly Novels, vol. xv., page 52; and Froissart, the French historian, in his account of the domestic habits of Gaston, Earl of Foix, says, "When the Earl came out of his chamber at midnight into the hall to supper, he had before hym twelve torches borne by twelve varlettes standying before the table all supper. They gave a gret light over the hall." -Sir Walter Scott's Essay on Chivalry, page 58, Prose Works, vol. vi. "The Domestic Chaplain" was likewise a person of some distinction, and the provisions made for him were somewhat singular:-"He shall have free lands, and the king shall provide him a horse, with woollen vestments; and the queen shall provide him with woollen garments. His place in the hall is beyond the fire, over against the king, and next to the column; to ask a blessing on the meat, and sing the Lord's H CHAP. III. prayer. He shall lodge in the house of the churchwarden, (chaplain or parochus) with his clergymen. If any person shall offer injury to the court priest, or kill him, or go to law with him, he shall be judged by the synod, unless when slander is brought against him; and in that case, for that injury, the fine or punishment shall be xii cows, of which he himself shall have one-third, and the king two-thirds. For a private supper there shall be given to him a dish of meat, and a horn with drink. He shall have the tithes of the family, and their dead clothes. At the passover, he shall have the penitential garments of the king, with which he shall be clothed in Lent. He is one of the Triumvirate, who shall sustain the dignity of the household in the absence of the king. The Court Priest, the chief Fowler, the chief Huntsman, the Court Judge, and the Master of the Horse shall have horses from the king whenever there shall be need. The Domestic Chaplain's horse (as well as all the horses of all the principal ministers) shall have a double portion of fodder."—Laws of Howel Dha, ap. Wotton's History of Wales, London, 1730, pp. 18, 19. Roderic Moelwynoc, son of Edwal, the son of Cadwalader 720 755 CHAPTER III. NORTHERN VIKINGR, GORREE, AND KINGS OF HIS LINE, Aurn Konungr slain in the Island of Isla, by Regnar Lodbrog-Caittil Fin succeeds to the sovereignty of the Isles-Harold Harfagr succeeds his father, expels the Fylkis Konga or petty princes, and becomes the king of all Norway-His Expedition to the IslesDynasty of Ketill-Gorree conquers Man-Castle of Rushen built by Guthred-Rapid succession of Manks Kings-Naval power of Hacon-Danish Sea Rovers-The Manks join the Confederacy against Brian Borom-Glance at British History. WHILE the princes of North Wales ruled quietly in Man, the rest of the Hebrides were either governed by their native chiefs or by piratical adventurers, in rapid succession; each of whom assumed the sovereign right of plundering the people with relentless ferocity.' Regnar Lodbrog, one of the most noted of the Vikingr who infested the Western Isles, landed in the island of Isla in the year 851, and slew Aurn Konungr, or Aurn king of the Gallgael, a term given by the Irish annalists to the Scottish islanders. Mr. Skene is of opinion that Aurn is the person hitherto called Orree, the first of that name alluded to in Manks history, but of whom nothing whatever is known. It has been shown in the preceding chapter, from historians of acknowledged veracity, that the Isle of Man formed no part of the kingdom of the Isles at the time Aurn reigned in Isla; and according to all accounts I have seen, Gorree or Orree, the reputed 1 Gunnlangi Saga, by the Sculd Rafni Hafniæ, edition 1775, p. 263. * Skene's Highlanders of Scotland, part ii, chap. ii. founder of the House of Keys, did not appear in Man till nearly a century after Aurn Konungr was slain by Regnar Lodbrog. Caittil Fin, the next chief of the Gallgael, of whom any thing is now known, waged war against the pirate kings of Dublin, but was defeated by Amlaf, in Munster, in A.D. 857.1 After the death of Caittil Fin, in 880, the Hebrides became subject to the Norwegian Fylkis Konga, or petty princes, who had been driven from their country by Harold Harfagr.2 On the death of his father, Halfdan Ivart the Black, Harold Harfagr succeeded to the government of one of the little princedoms, into which Norway was then divided; but, ambitious of enlarging his territory and adding to his power, he soon formed the bold design of uniting them all under one sceptre, and making himself as independent a sovereign of Norway as Eric was of Sweden, Gorom of Denmark, or Athelstane of England. What later ages have extolled as a laudable political enterprize, could only be viewed by the Fylkis Konga or district kings of Norway, in the light of tyranny and oppression. With their united forces they repeatedly met Harold in battle, but he was always victorious. The league formed against him was at length broken, and he became the king of all Norway, A.D. 878.3 The Norwegian nobles, although they had been defeated, were not disposed to submit to the sway of Harold; they did not forget that they had been his equals in power, dignity, and descent; and many, therefore, rather than yield submission to his yoke, fled into the Orkneys and the Western 1 Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, Dublin, 1705, p. 60. 2 Torfei. Hist. Norv. part ii, p. 49; ap. Campbell's Political Survey of Great Britain, vol. ii, p. 643. 3 Anderson's Royal Genealogies, London, 1736, table 590; Schoening Norges Rikes's History, vol. ii, p. 91. |