1299
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
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- In 1299 the oldest surviving document in Shetland was written that used the Old Norse language.
- The manuscript is beautifully written, it is perfectly legible, and is quite short. It deals with a highly dramatic incident when an angry woman, Ragnhild Simons daughter, confronted the great Thorvald Thoresson, one of the so called Lords of Norroway and then Governor of Shetland.
- Mainly dealing with a dispute over land taxes the document was probably written just about the moment when the old system of pennylands was being replaced by the new measurement in merks.
- Another very interesting detail is that the document tells us about a stofa or best room of the big farm on Papa Stour which belonged to Duke Hakon Magnusson, soon to become King Hakon V of Norway. Up to now the stofa on Papa Stour which was discovered by Barbara Crawford is the only royal stofa known outside Norway.
The original document is in Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen, and a copy can be seen at the Shetland Museum and Archives.
