Editing Shetland (section)

=== Scandinavian colonisation ===
[[File:Shetland (boxed) with surrounding lands.png|thumb|250px|right|Shetland (boxed) in relation to surrounding territories including [[Norway]] (to the east), the [[Faroe Islands]] (to the north west), and [[Orkney]] and the rest of the [[British Isles]] (to the south west).]]
[[File:Flateyjarbok Haraldr Halfdan.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=A page from an illuminated manuscript shows two male figures. On the left a seated man wears a red crown and on the right a standing man has long fair hair. Their right hands are clasped together.|14th-century ''[[Flateyjarbók]]'' image of [[Harald Fairhair]] (right, with fair hair), who took control of {{lang|nrn|Hjaltland}} c. 875.]]

The expanding population of [[Scandinavia]] led to a shortage of available resources and arable land there and led to a period of [[Viking expansion]], so the [[North Germanic peoples|Norse]] gradually shifted their attention from plundering to invasion.<ref>Graham-Campbell (1999) p. 38</ref> Shetland was colonised during the late 8th and 9th centuries,<ref>Schei (2006) pp. 11–12</ref> the fate of the existing indigenous Pictish population being uncertain. Modern Shetlanders still retain the Norse DNA with many family trees showing the Norse patronymic system (-sson/son, -dottir/daughter). Modern DNA studies such as the Viking Health Study are severely flawed as they account for only a tiny fraction of the population.<ref name="Gilbert">Gilbert, E ''et al'' (2019) [https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19064 "The genetic landscape of Scotland and the Isles"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103132314/https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19064 |date=3 November 2020 }}, Retrieved 11 September 2020</ref>

[[Viking]]s then used the islands as a base for [[pirate]] expeditions to Norway and the coasts of mainland Scotland. In response, Norwegian king [[Harald I of Norway|Harald Hårfagre]] ("Harald Fair Hair") annexed the [[Northern Isles]] (comprising Orkney and Shetland) in 875.{{#tag:ref|Some scholars believe that this story, which appears in the ''[[Orkneyinga Saga]]'' is apocryphal and based on the later voyages of [[Magnus III of Norway|Magnus Barelegs]].<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 24-27</ref>|group="Note"}} [[Rognvald Eysteinsson]] received the [[Earldom of Orkney]], which then included Shetland, from Harald as reparation for the death of his son in battle in Scotland, and then passed the earldom on to his brother [[Sigurd Eysteinsson|Sigurd the Mighty]].<ref>Thomson (2008) p. 24</ref> Sigurd went on to conquer further territory; by the time of his death in 892, the earldom of Orkney stretched from Shetland down to [[Caithness]] and [[Sutherland]] on mainland Britain.<ref name=Grant>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Alexander |editor1-last=Cowan |editor1-first=Edward J. |editor2-last=McDonald |editor2-first=R. Andrew |title=Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Middle Ages |date=2000 |publisher=Tuckwell Press |location=East Linton |isbn=1-86232-151-5 |pages=98–110 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/albacelticscotla0000unse/page/98/mode/2up |access-date=28 August 2024 |chapter=The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba}}</ref>

The islands converted to [[Christianity]] in the late 10th century. King [[Olaf I of Norway|Olaf I Tryggvasson]] summoned the ''[[earl|jarl]]'' [[Sigurd the Stout]] during a visit to Orkney and said, "I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel". Unsurprisingly, Sigurd agreed, and the islands became Christian at a stroke.<ref name="T69">Thomson (2008) p. 69 quoting the ''[[Orkneyinga Saga]]'' chapter 12.</ref>

The [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish crown]] claimed the overlordship of the Caithness and Sutherland area from Norway in 1098.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Barbara E. |editor1-last=Stringer |editor1-first=Keith J. |title=Essays on the Nobility of Medieval Scotland |date=2004 |publisher=John Donald |location=9781788853408 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0tWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |access-date=6 October 2024 |chapter=The Earldom of Caithness and the Kingdom of Scotland, 1150–1266|isbn=978-1-78885-340-8 }}</ref> The jarls thereafter owed allegiance to the Scottish crown for their territory on mainland Britain, which they held as the [[Mormaer of Caithness]], but owed allegiance to the Norwegian crown for Orkney and Shetland.<ref name=Grant/><ref>Crawford, Barbara E. "Orkney in the Middle Ages" in Omand (2003) p. 64.</ref>

In 1194, when [[Harald Maddadsson]] was Earl of Orkney, a rebellion broke out against King [[Sverre Sigurdsson]] of Norway. The [[Eyjarskeggjar]] ("Island Beardies") sailed for Norway but were beaten in the [[Battle of Florvåg]] near [[Bergen]]. After his victory, King Sverre placed Shetland under direct Norwegian rule in 1195 as the 'Lordship of Shetland', removing it from the earldom of Orkney.<ref name="Sch13">Schei (2006) p. 13</ref><ref>Nicolson (1972) p. 43</ref><ref name=Crawford>{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Barbara E. |title=The Earldom of Orkney and Lordship of Shetland: A reinterpretation of their pledging to Scotland in 1468–70 |journal=Saga Book |date=1966 |volume=17 |page=157 |jstor=48613121 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48613121 |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref>