1299

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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.

1298 - 1300