early as the Norwegian Conquest, and partly upon the _Matricula Regis_,
King Sverrer’s Register of the Odals confiscated under penal terms of
redemption (1196)—and from its results was compiled the first LIBER
CENSUS, or SKATT BOOK of Orkney and Zetland, the authentic Statement of
the extent of each Odal Tun then in occupation, and of its STENT or
proportion of Butter Skatt. As population increased, each _Tun_ or
subdivision thereof paid for its enlarged area of cultivation a Malt
Skatt also, marking at once the advance from pasture and the increase of
culture; and the old _Liber Census_ was from time to time replaced as
out of date, by a new and more complete record of such changes. The only
specimen extant is a copy of the SKATT OF ZETLAND, compiled by one of
the Sinclair Earls, without a date, but so ancient that the scribe of
the fifteenth century apologises for the illegible writing and uncouth
terms, as unintelligible even to himself. This Skatt Book distinguishes
each Thing; describes the extent of each Tun in Marks of so many pennies
per mark; and under distinct heads charges against each possession its
Odal-Skatt and Leangr, or Tenant’s Land-male of wadmæl, oil, or fish—or
sometimes both Odal and Tenant burdens; probably because such lands,
though formerly Odal, had fallen by confiscation to the King or Earl,
and been set to a tacksman, subject to both the old and new exactions.
But though it thus records a few _land-males_ (showing the small extent
of land in Zetland under tacksmen), the Skatt Book seems to have been a
fair and distinct statement of National Taxation, unblemished by the
studied confusion of tax and rent, of Odal and Feudal terms, which
rendered its successor, the Rental, so oppressive to the Odaller. Like
the Doomsday Book of another Northman race, the Skatt Book was the
simple Record of the revenue and rule of taxation—its successor, the
Scottish Rental, claimed to be also the substitute for a written title,
the limit of every claim, the standard of every burden, the authority
for every exaction; but compiled in secret, and jealously closed against
public inspection, it rather favoured the claims of the ruler than
secured the rights of the subject. The first duty imposed by James III.
upon his new vassals, the Earl and Bishop of Orkney, was the compilation
of such a rental, including not only the land-males or rents of his own
newly acquired Earldom, and of the Church lands, but also the whole
Skatts and other Odal taxes of the Skatt Book, exigible from the lands
of free Odallers. The “AULD PARCHMENT RENTAL,” Earl William’s last
legacy of spite against the Bishop and the Odallers, has unfortunately
been lost, but it is evident from other authorities that he revenged
himself on the Churchman by pitiless exposure of his fraud and rapacity,
and on the Laymen, by suggesting the close similarity and easy identity
of Odal and Tenant rights and burdens. The same fate has overtaken the
Rental prepared by Bishop William Tulloch, partly for the Crown’s
instruction, partly in self-defence against the Earl’s accusations of
_Skatts abstracted_ and _lands gripped_, and other encroachments during
the Lieutenancy of Bishop Thomas and himself. Of these conflicting
Rentals, and their mutually truthful recriminations of embezzlement and
oppression, much may be learned from the succeeding Rentals of Henry
Lord Sinclair, of which the earliest was prepared in 1492, more than
twenty years after the Impignoration, and therefore affording ample time
for such Crown officers as Bishop Tulloch to alter every land right in
the Islands. Accordingly, this Rental shows an aggravation of the
number, nature, and amount of the Odaller’s burdens, and a studied
confusion of his rights with those of the Tacksman of the Crown or Kirk.
Thus, the Odal lands are charged with the ancient Skatt, but this is
sometimes doubled and paid both to King and Bishop. The FÖR-KAUP is no
longer the fee of the Lawman (whose salary of £12 is charged against the
Crown in the tacksman’s account), but under the feudal name of _Forcop_
is again exacted from the Odaller as a _triennial grassum_ for the use
of the once free and common pasture. The _Votn-tel_ is entered under the
corrupted name of _Wattel_; but in despair of its lost Norse meaning,
the fancy of the Feudalist has explained it as a tax for holy water, or
for the good offices of some saintly lady whose profitable virtues had
outlived her name; while its ancient purpose of the Underfoud’s fee, is
again supplied by the _Balliatus_, a new impost on the parish. Another
parish burden of _Hawkhens for the King’s falcons_ is first mentioned in
the _compota_ of Bishops William and Andrew (1478–9), and first charged
in this Rental, where the Escheits of Moveables and Heritage are entered
as an ordinary item of revenue, under the suggestive name of “Chetry.”
The purely Scottish claims of Wrack and Waith (which in time ripened
into the full Droits of Admiralty and the Leges Forestarum) were new and
violent invasions of the Odal freedom of hunting, fishing, and
sea-beach; and every occasional or temporary payment once paid became a
tax for ever.
The several exactions may be classed in the order in which they are
named in the Rental. 1st. Odal; 2nd. Tenant; and 3rd. District or
Parochial Burdens.
The Odal payments consisted of—
1st. STENT, the Butter Skatt assessed by ancient valuation in
proportion to the pennylands.
2nd. BUTTER SKATT, _præter the Stent_, an obviously unwarranted and
often large increase of the tax—generally as much more.
3rd. MALT SKATT.
4th. SILVER SKATT.
5th. FORCOP, already explained, but of such arbitrary and unequal
exaction as fully to warrant the definition of Dufresne, “FORCOP,
_Forcapium, exactio, tributum haud debitum, per vim et contra jus
captum_.”
6th. WATTEL, the Fee of the Underfoud, paid or estimated in grain.
The Land-male or Rent of Tenants or Tacksmen consisted of—
1st. COST, or victual—generally paid in a commutation of two-thirds of
malt, one-third of meal.
2nd. FLESH—paid in cattle or live stock, at a conventional estimate of
2 or 3 head to each Last of nominal quantity.
3rd. PENNYWORTHS—an equivalent in grain, butter, oil, or other produce
of the lands, in case of deficiency of the other payments.
The parochial exactions (all of Scottish origin) are summed up with a
quaint acknowledgment of omnivorous rapacity; “And all this _supra_, is
_præter_ the Skattmarts, Wrack, Waith, Hawkhens, Chetry, Balliatus, and
uthir profittis and Revenues that may happen ony maner of way.”
The relative share of the Odaller and Tenant in these new parish burdens
is not expressed, but both must have looked back with regret to the
worst of their ancient rulers, and watched with dismay the rising tide
of Scottish oppression which was slowly but inevitably sapping their
rights and overwhelming their liberties.
Of the taxes, rents, and assessments of the Rental, only a very small
part was payable in money, and every coinage seems to have been current,
though at an exchange often and arbitrarily fluctuating.
The rest of the _Debts and Duties_, as they were called, were paid in
kind or produce, and measured by the PUNDAR and BYSMAR—the CAN and
BARRELL—the CUTTEL and PACK—the native Standards and Instruments
respectively of weight, capacity, and extent. The correctness and
uniformity of these instruments was guarded with jealous care by the
Thingmen, and the Wardthing of every Parish elected a LÖGRETTMAN or
LAWRIGHTMAN to watch the measuring of its debts or duties by the
Underfoud, and to take charge of its Standards, which were from time to
time compared and corrected in presence of the Thing, by reference to a
Common Standard of each kind of instrument of mensuration. Each of these
common Standards was more solemnly authenticated by the Common Seal, or
the signature or mark of the Lawman, by authority of the Lawthing, and
severally kept by one of the Lawrightmen of four different districts,
honoured by law or custom with their custody. This system of inspection,
counter-checks, and separate guardianship, effectually precluded
fraudulent or ignorant tampering with the Weights and Measures of the
country, till virtually cancelled by the violence of the Donatary and
his agents in superseding the Lawrightmen.
Of measurement by weight the instruments were—1st, The PUNDAR or
PUNDLAR, identical with the Steelyard or _Statera_, and of two kinds—the
MALT PUNDAR for weighing Malt and other bulky articles, and the _Bere
Pundar_ for Bere only, using the same weights, but each a third less
than the same denomination on the Malt Pundar; and 2ndly, the BYSMAR, on
which were weighed the butter and other articles requiring more minute
mensuration. The following figures will explain the form of the Pundar
and Bysmar better than description, and show their liability to error
and fraud, and the consequent necessity for the jealous watch of the
Lawrightman upon the weigher’s crafty hand.
[Illustration]
The first is a facsimile of the woodcut which occurs in the original
edition of the _Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus_, of Olaus
Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, p. 468, Romæ, 1555, folio. The other is
copied from _The General Grievances and Oppression of the Isles of
Orkney and Shetland_ (by James Mackenzie), p. 19. Edinb. 1750, 8vo.:
Both cuts are figured in Dr. Hibbert’s Shetland.
The weights in use were—
8 Eyrar or Ounces = 1 Mark of half a pound
24 Marks = 1 Lispund, Span, Setteen, or Stone.
6 Lispunds = 1 Meil.
24 Meils = 1 Last.
[Illustration: Bysmer Pundar]
Of measurement by capacity, the instruments were the Can or KANNA of
Norway, and the Barrel or BARIEL of fifteen Lispunds.
48 Cans of Oil or 15 Lispunds of Butter = 1 Barrel.
12 Barrels, 180 Lispunds, or 576 Cans = 1 Last.
Of measurement by extent the only instrument was the CUTTEL or ALIN, a
wooden rod of the length of the Scottish Ell. The Cuttel of Wadmæl
became in Zetland the general measure of value, standard of barter, and
substitute for a current coinage; 6 Cuttels being equivalent to an EYRIR
or _ounce_ of land taxation, and 6 score or a _large hundred_ of Cuttels
being the standard price of an ox or six sheep.
6 Cuttels = 1 Gudling or Gullioun—10 Gulliouns = 1 Pack.
The standards of weight and measure were unchanged till Earl Robert, by
raising the weight of the fundamental Mark from 8 to 10 ounces, added in
the same proportion of one-fifth to every other denomination—and by
increasing the Gudling from 6 to 8 Cuttels, he added one-fourth to every
Pack of Zetland Wadmæl. Earl Patrick increased the Mark to 12 ounces,
thus adding one-third to every Lispund, Meil, and Last; and subsequent
Donataries improved the profitable example by aggravating the Mark to 20
ounces, and thus boldly achieving an increase of 250 per cent. upon
every denomination of weight or measure. The only apparent exception was
the Barrel, which, being a vehicle of foreign export, could not be
enlarged, and consequently could only contain 10 of these aggravated
Lispunds instead of 15 of the normal size; but the balance was charged
in _loose Lispunds_ of similar overweight.
There is no authentic statement of the revenues of James III. as
Sovereign and as Earl of Orkney, but assuming and deducting a rise
during the Episcopal Tacks proportioned to that which appears between
the first and second Rentals of Lord Sinclair, the Skatts and Land-males
of the Crown may be approximately stated at between £500 and £600.
Their progressive increase during the sixteenth century may be more
minutely estimated by a comparison of Lord Sinclair’s Rentals
(1492–1502) with that of Earl Patrick (1600–1), and an unerring tariff
of current prices is found in the Rentals themselves, or in the
contemporary Rolls of the Scottish Exchequer. The last Rental of Lord
Sinclair stands thus—
1502. _Scat Butter_—1312 Lispunds at 1s. per
Lispund £82 0 0
_Scat Malt_—60 Lasts at £3, 6s. 8d. 200 0 0
_Forcöp_ (the exact amount of the
Lawman’s fee, £12) 12 0 0
_Wattel_—12 Lasts 40 0 0
——— —— ——
Total Odal Payments £334 0 0
_Butter_, 24 Barrels (360 Lispunds) £22 10 0
_Cost_ (or Grain Rent), 88 Lasts 293 6 8
_Flesh_, 59 Lasts (118 oxen at 13s. 4d.
per head) 78 13 4
—— 32 salted Marts at the same price 21 6 8
_Hawkhens_, 440 at 6d 7
6 8
——— —— ——
Total Land males of Earldom 423 3 4
——— —— ——
Total Crown’s Scats and Males £757 3 4
==== == ==
These revenues, with the unrentalled profits of Wrack, Waith, Chetry,
Balliatus, &c., were farmed by Tulloch and other tacksmen, at a rent or
Tack duty varying from £366 to £466, till James V. (1540) ascertained by
personal investigation, that under the most liberal tack, a duty of
£2000 was not too high for the increased value of official perquisites,
and the higher prices of conversion, which had raised the Crown’s Rental
as follows—
1540. _Butter_ at £3 per Barrel £262 10 0
_Malt_ at £5 per Last 300 0 0
_Wattel_ at £5 per Last 60 0 0
_Forcop_ as before 12 0 0
——— —— ——
Total Odal payments £634 10 0
_Butter_ £72 0 0
_Cost_ 440 0 0
_Flesh_ (150 cattle at £1, 10s. per head) 225 0 0
_Hawkhens_ at 6d. 11 0 0
——— —— ——
Total Land males 748 0 0
———— —— ——
Total Crown Rental £1382 10 0
===== == ==
The same Tack duty of £2000 was paid by Lord Robert Stewart as a
Feu-duty; and in 1568, the first year of his actual exercise of power,
the higher prices of conversion had raised the Crown Rental to the
following value, without increase of quantity:—
1568. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels (at £9 per barrel) £787 10 0
_Malt_, 60 Lasts (at £30 per last) 1800 0 0
_Wattel_, 12 Lasts (£360), _Forcop_ (£12) 372 0 0
——— —— ——
Total Odal payments £2959 10 0
_Butter_, 24 barrels £216 0 0
_Cost_, 88 Lasts 2640 0 0
_Flesh_, 59 Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 424 16 0
—— _Marts_, 32 (at £3, 12s.) 115 4 0
_Hawkhens_, 440 (at 6d.) 11 0 0
——— —— ——
Total Land males of Earldom 3407 0 0
————— —— ——
Total first Rental of Earl Robert £6366 10 0
===== == ==
On his disgrace (1587) and the new grant to Chancellor Maitland and
Bellenden on an increased duty of £4000, the Rental, as stated in their
Charter, was found to have been raised to the following quantity and
value, without distinction of Skatt or Land male.
1587. _Butter_, 1458 Lispunds (at 12s.) £874 16 0
_Grain_, 189 Lasts (at £30) 5670 0 0
_Flesh_, 91 Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 605 6 0
_Money_, in lieu of Forcop and Skatt Silver 109 0 0
————— —— ——
Total (acknowledged) Rental of the Crown £7259 2 0
===== == ==
But this numerical statement of quantities no longer expressed the
actual burdens of Orkney. Earl Robert’s increase of the weights and
measures had added a fifth to every nominal Mark, Lispund, Meil, or Last
in the Rental, and when he was reinstated (1589) (compounding at a
reduced Feu-duty of £2075), the quantities and value actually paid under
the nominal Rental amounted to—
1589. _Butter_, 1822½ Lispunds (at 12s.) £1093 10 0
_Grain_, 236½ Lasts (at £30) 7095 0 0
_Flesh_, 113¾ Lasts (at £7, 4s.) 818 8 0
_Money_ in lieu of Forcop and Skatt Silver 109 0 0
————— —— ——
Total Crown Rental in Orkney £9015 18 0
===== == ==
Accordingly Earl Robert’s final Rental, although the articles of payment
differ in arrangement and commutation, amounts, at the former
conversions, to nearly the same sum and value:
1592. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels at £9 per Barrel £787 10 0
_Do._ loose, 791½ Lispunds at 12s. per Lispund 474 18 0
_Grain_, 227 Lasts at £30 per Last 6810 0 0
_Flesh_, 97½ Lasts at £7, 4s. per Last 702 0 0
_Hawkhens and other Poultry_, 3242 at 6d. 81 1 0
_Swine_, 3 at £1, 16s. 5 8 0
_Peats, Rabbit-Skins_, and other minor articles 10 10 0
_Money_, in lieu of _Forcop_ and _Skatt Silver_ 144 13 0
————— —— ——
Total last Rental of Earl Robert £9016 0 0
===== == ==
Thus showing an increase of quantities and value since his first audit
of 1569 amounting to—
_Butter_, 431½ Lispunds at 12s. £258 18 0
_Grain_, 67 Lasts at £30 2010 0 0
_Flesh_, 22½ Lasts at £7, 4s. 161 10 0
_Poultry, swine_, and minor articles 85 19 0
_Money_ 132 13 0
————— —— ——
Total augmentation of Rental by Earl Robert £2649 0 0
===== == ==
If to this aggravation of the Rental we add his revenue from Tolls,
Customs, Droits, Escheat and triennial Grassums, and consider the forced
labour, the diminished area of cultivation, and the doubled penal
conversions for every deficiency of these impossible quantities, we may
estimate the income of Earl Robert and the misery of the Islanders;
though the _Rentale pro Rege et Episcopo_ (1592–1600), which exhibits
the numerical increase of exaction, is silent as to his aggravation of
the Weights and Measures.
This addition of a fifth to every actual payment was augmented to a
third by Earl Patrick’s similar aggravation of the Mark to 12 ounces;
and increased penal conversions were exacted for all arrears, rests, or
unpaid balance of duties beyond what the Islands could produce, till
their actual burdens thus aggravated, and valued at the current averages
of conversion, amounted to—
1600. _Butter_, 87½ Barrels at £20 £1,750 0 0
_Do._ loose, 1055 Lispunds at £2 2,110 0 0
_Grain_, 306 Lasts at £60 18,360 0 0
_Flesh_, 130½ Lasts at £16 2,088 0 8
_Swine_, 3 at £4 12 0 0
_Hawkhens_, &c., 3242 at 1s. 162 2 0
_Peats_, &c., about 23 5 0
_Money_ 144 13 0
————— —— ——
Total Crown Rental of Earl Patrick £25,650 0 0
===== == ==
But besides this large revenue, and that derived from the Grassums,
Droits, Tolls, Customs, Fines, and other unrentalled, unacknowledged,
and unestimated perquisites, to the amount of about £6000 more, the
Stewart Earls were also Commendators of the Estates of the Church, to
which they proved no less dutiful as nursing fathers during their
possession of about half a century. The Rental of the Bishopric at the
Impignoration or beginning of the sixteenth century cannot be
ascertained, but at the time of James V.’s visit, the articles composing
the Church Rental (as shortly afterwards attested, and valued at the
prices of the period), amounted to the following sums and quantities:—
1540. _Butter_, 180½ Barrels at £3 £541 10 0
_Grain_, 79 Lasts at £5 395 0 0
_Flesh_, 12½ Lasts at £3 37 10 0
_Marts_, 4 at £1, 10s. 6 0 0
_Hawkhens_, 217 at 6d. 5 8 6
_Swine_, 2 at 15s. 1 10 0
_Wax, Peats_, &c., about 13 1 6
_Silver_ 251 2 6
————— —— ——
Total Rents and Teinds of Bishopric in 1540 £1251 2 6
===== == ==
These quantities were officially attested by Bishop Adam in 1561, and in
1568 (the date of his first contract with Lord Robert), amounted at the
current prices to the value and quantity following, viz.—
1568. _Butter_ at £9 per Barrel £1624 10 0
_Grain_ at £30 per Last 2370 0 0
_Flesh_ at £7, 4s. 90 0 0
_Marts_ at £3, 12s. 14 8 0
_Hawkhens_ 5 8 6
_Swine_ at £1, 16s. 3 12 0
_Wax_, &c. 22 1 6
_Silver_ 251 2 6
————— —— ——
Total £4381 2 6
===== == ==
These articles, the amount of the Bishopric Rental at Earl Robert’s
entry, he increased to the following quantities at the same conversion:—
1587. _Butter_, 73½ Barrels at £9 £661 13 0
_Do._, 136 Lispunds 21 Marks at 12s. 82 2 6
_Grain_, 189 Lasts, 20 Meils, 5 Set^{ns}, at £30 5696 0 10
_Flesh_, 84 Lasts, 18 Meils, 2 Set^{ns}, at £7,
4s. 610 10 0
_Poultry_, 1046 26 3 0
_Wax_, &c. 24 6 6
_Silver_ 299 7 2
————— —— ——
Total £7400 0 0
===== == ==
which by his aggravation of one-fifth of every weight and measure,
actually represented the following quantities and value at his death,
1592:—
1592. _Butter_ in Barrels (unchanged) £661 10 0
_Do._, Loose, 171 Lispunds at 12s 102 12 0
_Grain_, 237⅓ Lasts at £30 7120 0 0
_Flesh_, 105 Lasts 22 Meils at £7, 4s. 762 12 0
_Poultry_ 26 3 0
_Wax_, &c. 27 15 10
_Silver_ 299 7 2
————— —— ——
Total £9000 0 0
===== == ==
Earl Patrick’s aggravation of one-third in like manner raised the actual
quantities paid from the Bishopric in the same proportion, and at the
current prices of conversion, to the following value:—
_Butter_, 73½ Barrels at £20 per Barrel £1,470 0 0
_Do._, 182 Lispunds at £2 per Lispund 364 0 0
_Grain_, 253 at £60 per Last 15,180 0 0
_Flesh_, 113 Lasts at £16 per Last 1,808 0 0
_Poultry_, 1046 at 1s. each 52 6 0
_Swine_, 2 at £4 8 0 0
_Wax_, &c., about 33 6 10
_Money_ 299 7 2
————— —— ——
Total Bishopric. £19,215 0 0
===== == ==
The following Abstract of the results of these Tables will exhibit
briefly the progressive increase of the burdens of Orkney during the
sixteenth century—
1502. Crown Rental £757 3 4
1540. By a rise of prices—
Crown £1382 10 0
Bishopric 1251 2 6
Rental at the visit of James V. ——————— —— —— 2633 12 6
1568. By a farther rise of prices—
Crown £6366 10 0
Bishopric 4381 2 6
Lord Robert Stewart’s first Rental ——————— —— —— £10,747 12 6
1592. By a rise of quantity, weight, and
price—
Crown £9016 0 0
Bishopric 9000 0 0
Earl Robert’s final Rental ——————— —— —— 18,016 0 0
1600. By farther rise of quantity, weight,
and price—
Crown £25,650 0 0
Bishopric 19,215 0 0
Earl Patrick’s Rental of Orkney ——————— —— —— 44,865 0 0
I am not aware of any authentic Rental of the burdens of Zetland during
the sixteenth century, except the statement in the Charter to Maitland
and Bellenden (1587), and the Comptroller’s Accounts (1588), after
twenty years of Earl Robert’s aggravations of weight, measure, and
value, when a third had been added to the contents of every Pack of
Wadmæl and Lispund of Fat-gude at arbitrary conversions in a coinage as
arbitrary. The nominal quantities (for which the Donatary compounded
with the Royal Comptroller at £400) are there stated as follows:—
_Wadmæl_, 167 Packs (of 60 Cuttels) at 6d. per
Cuttel £250 10 0
_Butter_ and _Oil_, 1530 Lispunds at 12s. per
Lispund 918 0 0
_Wattel_, commuted at 105 Dollars at 30s. each 157 10 0
_Tolls_, &c., 120 Angel-Nobles (at £4) and 20
Dollars 510 0 0
————— —— ——
Total Rental accounted for by the Donataries £1836 0 0
===== == ==
But by the augmented Weight, Measure, and Price, the burdens actually
extorted from the Lordship of Zetland were raised (exclusive of Ox-money
and other unacknowledged exactions) to the amount and value of—
_Wadmæl_, 167 Packs (of 80 Cuttels) at 2s. per
Cuttel £1336 0 0
_Butter_, 2040 Lispunds at 18s. 8d. 1904 0 0
_Wattel_, 105 Dollars at 36s. each, with other
augmentations 210 0 0
_Tolls_, &c. 2000 0 0
————— —— ——
Total actual burdens of Zetland £5450 0 0
===== == ==
From these Abstracts of the Revenues of the Crown Estate and Bishopric
of Orkney and of the Lordship of Zetland, the income drawn from the
Islands by Earl Patrick, exclusive of a multitude of unacknowledged
exactions, may be approximately stated thus—
Orkney— Crown Skatts, Duties, and
Males £25,650 0 0
Bishopric Rents and Teinds 19,215 0 0
Tolls, Customs, Admiralty,
Justiciary, &c. (about) 6,000 0 0
Total Revenue of Orkney. ——————— —— —— £50,865 0 0
Zetland— Skatts, Males, Tolls, &c. 5,450 0 0
——————— —— ——
Total Revenues of Earl
Patrick [3]£56,315 0 0
Footnote 3:
About £5000 Sterling—a princely revenue in those days, when the
general scarcity of coin, and poverty of kings and kingdoms had been
met by a debasement of the coinage gradual and universal; but in
Scotland so rapid, that the £ Scots, equivalent to the £ English in
1366, was worth only 8s. in 1468—6s. 8d. in 1540—3s. 4d. in 1568—and
1s. 8d. in 1600.
The peculation of subsequent Donataries, by the fraudulent increase,
fluctuation, and complexity of the Standards of Weight and Measure, and
consequent augmentation of the burdens of Orkney to the amount of 3000
Cattle, 5000 Bolls of Grain, 6218 Lispunds or Stones of Butter, and 700
Gallons of Oil, became (1750) the subject of the memorable PUNDLAR
PROCESS. To the various Memorials and Pleadings in that suit I must
refer for more minute details, as the whole difficult subject is there
discussed and exhausted, but in a form too long for insertion, and too
intricate for condensation. The evidence was complete, that the Crown
Donataries had for two centuries persistently, fraudulently, and
enormously increased the legal weights and measures of the Islands. But
after the Pursuers had been driven to incur the expense of this
elaborate proof, a decision was given against them on the merely
preliminary plea of prescription, to the disgrace of a corrupt or
partial Court. With such Judges even the specific evidence of date,
place, and person, now added by the complaints, might have had little
weight; perhaps they might have obsequiously convicted the Zetland
witnesses against Lawrence Bruce, of Conspiracy against “that worthy
man.”
GLOSSARY OF UNUSUAL WORDS.
AL-THING, see THING.
ANGEL, An English gold coin = 10s. sterling.
ARFF, AYRFFE, N. ERFFD, _hereditas_, _heredium_, Heritage, succession.
AYNING, N. EIGN, _possessio_, The Ownership of an Odaller.
BABIE, BAWBEE, A coin = 1/2d. sterling, but varying from 3d. to 6d.
Scots.
BAILLIE, An official appointed by the Donatary to perform the
functions of the ancient Under-fowd, especially in guarding the
interests of the Crown.
BALLIATUS, A parochial assessment for the Baillie’s salary, in
addition to the ancient WATTEL, appropriated by the Donatary.
BARREL, N. BARIEL, A measure of quantity = 15 Lispunds.
BERE, _hordeum hexastichon_, A species of Barley, of six rows of
grains.
BERE PUNDLAR, see PUNDAR.
BOLMAN, N. BU-MADR, _rusticus_, _inquilinus_, A husbandman, a yearly
tenant or tenant at will.
BONDER, N. BONDI, BONDE, _paterfamilias_, _colonus_, An Odaller.
BORD-LAND, N. BORD, _mensa_, _cibus_, The guest quarters of the King
or Jarl, and therefore exempt from skatt.
BOTA-MALI, (N.) Offences expiable by compensation or damages to the
injured party, or by Mulcts shared between him and the Crown,
which derived no small part of its revenue from this source and
from the OBOTA-MALI (_quod vide_).
BULL, N. BOL, BU, _prædium nobile_, The principal farm of the
ODALSJORD; sometimes called HEAD BULL, N. HOFD-BU, or CHEMISPLACE,
Dan. HJEMS, _domus_.
CAN, N. KANNA, A measure = 1/45 of a Barrel.
CHETTRY, Revenue arising from the Scottish Casualty of Escheit.
COMMONTY. Each TUN possessed its own SŒTTUR or Infield Common; each
Skat-hald or Hrepp, its HAGI or Hill Pasture, shared exclusively
by the HREPPISMEN of its TUNS; and each HERAD its MOAR, common to
every HREPP and TUN of that VARD THING, but to none else.
COST, Grain Rent, generally commuted at ⅓ of Meal and ⅔ of Malt or of
raw grain.
CUTTEL, ELL, N. ALIN, _ulna_, A measuring rod of the length of a
Scottish Ell, used in Zetland as the fundamental unit of Length
and of Valuation. A Cuttel of Wadmæl long bore a Standard value of
6d. Scots—6 cuttels being equal to an EYRIE or “Ure” of Valuation;
20 Cuttels = to a sheep, and six score or a “Large Hundred” to an
ox. The value of the cuttel was raised to 2 shillings by Earl
Robert.
DOLLAR, A silver coin = 50d. sterling, but varying from 30s. to 40s.
Scots.
DOMERA, DOMERAL, N. DOM-ROF, _mulcta eorum qui judicia contemnunt_, A
fine for contempt of court.
DONATARY, A grantee of the Crown’s Skatts, Males, and Duties.
EYSTERCOP, AUSTERCUP, N. EY-SETTR-KAUP, _merces insulæ conducendæ_, A
fine paid every third year at each renewal of the Tack or Setting
of the smaller islets—afterwards assumed to be equivalent to the
Scottish _Grassum_; and still later both burdens were sometimes
exacted in Zetland.
FATGUDE, a term used in Zetland for the Butter or Oil paid to the
Donatary.
FLESH, Rent paid in Cattle, generally estimated by Weight, 15 MEILS =
an ox, 10 MEILS = a cow, 4 MEILS = a sheep. But this valuation
rose and fell according to the caprice of the Donatary.
FLORIN OF THE RHINE, A German gold coin = 2 dollars, also a Money of
account = 100d. sterling.
FORCOP, N. THING-FÖR-KAUP, _itineris forensis merces_, The Lawman’s
salary for the Thing circuits; afterwards charged by the Donatary,
first against the Crown, and again against the parishes on various
pretexts, sometimes of Odal usage, sometimes of feudal claim; but
according to Dufresne, “FORCAPIUM, _Exactio, Tributum haud
debitum, per vim et contra jus captum._”
FOUD, N. FOGETI, Dan. FOGUD, _quæstor Regius_, Collector of the King’s
Skatt, Skyllds, Mulcts, etc., afterwards Chief Judge, and
ultimately Sheriff of the Foudries of Zetland.
GARTH, N. GARDR, _prædium nobile_, A portion of Odalsjord.
GŒDINGR (N.) _Locuples_—GOFUGR, _nobilis, venerandus_—HOFDINGR,
_procer, magnas_, terms applied in the Sagas to the Odaller,
expressive of his superior wealth, dignity, and powers.
GRANDRIE, GRANDORIE, N. GRAND-ROF, _noxarum castigatio_, A septennial
Court to abate nuisances and punish local abuses.
GUDLING, GULLION, A measure of quantity = 6 cuttels, or ⅒ of a pack of
Wadmæl, but afterwards raised to 8 cuttels.
GUEST-QUARTERS, The occasional residence of the King or Jarl as guest
of the HUSBONDI, whose BORDLAND was exempt from Skatt on that
account.