On This Day – 20th February

The 20th of February 1472

The situation as regards the Viking or perhaps more properly Norse presence in Scotland differed greatly from that in England, where in 1066 the Battle of Stamford Bridge saw an effective end to Scandinavian intervention, and long before that time the Scandinavian settlers had been assimilated, exterminated or driven out.

By contrast parts of what we now think of as Scotland remained under Norwegian control until the 15th century. Orkney and Shetland had provided bases for raids on British targets, and Scandinavian ones, for the landless Vikings who established settlements there from as early as the 8th century.

Those islands, along with the Isle of Man , were eventually ruled by Kings of Norway and various Earls in their stead until 1468, when a marriage was arranged between Margaret, daughter of Christian I of Norway, and James III of Scotland. Orkney and Shetland were pledged against non-payment of the agreed dowry; the dowry indeed never materialised, and so by act of the Scottish Parliament the islands duly became part of the Kingdom of Scotland on February 20 1472.

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