Barbara E. Crawford

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Barbara Elizabeth Crawford
OBE FRSE FSA FSA (Scot)
Born
Yorkshire
Other namesBarbara Elizabeth Hall
Occupation(s)Honorary Reader in Mediaeval History St Andrew's University and Honorary Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands
Known forMediaeval history of the Northern Isles and Scotland -Norway and North Sea relationships
AwardsMember of the Norwegian Academy

Barbara Elizabeth Crawford OBE FRSE FSA FSA(Scot) is a British historian. She is a leading authority on the mediaeval history of the Northern Isles of Scotland and Norwegian-Scottish 'frontier' and relations across the North Sea. [1] She is Honorary Reader in Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews, and Honorary Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands. She was awarded an OBE for services to History and Archaeology in 2011. [2] She became a Member of the Norwegian Academy in 1997 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001. [3]

Contents

Crawford is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London since 1964 and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland since 1974. [2] She has studied place names in the Norse and Celtic 'border' in Northern Scotland, the cult of St Clement in England, Scotland and Scandinavia, and excavations and reconstructions on Papa Stour, working with Scottish, Polish and Scandinavian collaborators, as well as a wide range of mediaeval northern history. [4]

Biography

Barbara Elizabeth Crawford or Hall[ citation needed ] was born in Yorkshire. [2] She began an undergraduate degree at the University of St Andrews in 1959, and went on to graduate with an Upper Second Class Honours degree in Mediaeval and Modern History. [5] During her studies she was a member of the St Andrews University Archeological Society that was then run by Terence Mitford. [5] In the 1960s, Crawford returned to St Andrews to pursue a postgraduate degree. In the late 1960s she started working as a tutor at the St Andrews Medieval History Department. [5] She completed her PhD at University of St Andrews in 1971 as a result of seven years of research work, with a thesis titled 'The Earls of Orkney-Caithness and their relations with Norway and Scotland:1158-1470'. [6] [4] Crawford became a lecturer at the St Andrews Department of Mediaeval History in 1971 and taught at St Andrews for thirty years, until her early retirement in 2001.

With the funding of the University of St Andrews, as well as funding from the Carnegie Trust and a Leverhulme Scholarship, Crawford excavated the site of a post-Viking wooden Norse house on the Papa Stour island in Shetland. [5] A report of this excavation The History and Excavation of a Royal Norwegian Farm at the Biggings, Papa Stour, Shetland was jointly published in 1999 by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. [4]

Since 2001 Crawford has continued pursuing her research and organising academic collaborations from her home, first in Fife and now in Orkney. [2]

Her monograph Scandinavian Scotland published in 1987 [7] has been described as 'the best monograph by far' on the topic. [8]

Crawford edited a volume of Conference papers Papa Stour and 1299 resulted from a conference commemorating the 700th Anniversary of Shetland’s first document and the completion of the Papa Stour excavations. The book got favourable reviews in 2003. [9] She also carried out a study of many churches dedicated to St Clement in Scandinavia and Britain, [10] two of which (Clementhorpe and Pontefract Castle) feature in an essay published in 2008. [11]

In 2013, Crawford won a Carnegie Trust grant for The Northern Earldoms. Orkney and Caithness from 870 to 1470 AD, a book based on her doctoral thesis. [12] [5]

She has produced informal commentary on the survival of mediaeval church architecture, [13] and about documents written in Scots from the period. [14] Her chapter on St Clement's churches in Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters, was an essay in honour of fellow mediaeval historian Nicholas Brooks. [11] In 2016 Crawford was a keynote speaker on 'Seals in Medieval Orkney, Communal and Personal Identity' at 'Visualising the North' 3rd International St Magnus Conference, [15] having analysed the symbolism and meanings in detail, as discussed in Grohse's book the following year. [1]

After retiring from a position as lecturer in 2001, Crawford participated in setting up the Strathmartine Trust, of which she now The Chairman. [16] The trust runs a Centre for retired historians without links to the University to aid them in pursuing their own historical interests. [5] Crawford is also currently a member of the St Andrews University Archeological Society's Committee. [17]

Selected publications

Selected by the University of St Andrews and citation available if not otherwise shown. [3]

A Festschrift in her honour was held in 2007:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orkney</span> Archipelago, county and council area in northern Scotland

Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney's largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.

<i>Orkneyinga saga</i> Scandinavian-Scottish literary work

The Orkneyinga saga is a narrative of the history of the Orkney and Shetland islands and their relationship with other local polities, particularly Norway and Scotland. The saga has "no parallel in the social and literary record of Scotland" and is "the only medieval chronicle to have Orkney as the central place of action". The main focus of the work is the line of jarls who ruled the Earldom of Orkney, which constituted the Norðreyjar or Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and there are frequent references to both archipelagoes throughout.

William Sinclair (1410–1480), 1st Earl of Caithness (1455–1476), last Earl (Jarl) of Orkney, 2nd Lord Sinclair and 11th Baron of Roslin was a Norwegian and Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, in Midlothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Orkney</span> Norwegian, then Scottish, noble title over the Northern Isles and northern Scotland

Earl of Orkney, historically Jarl of Orkney, is a title of nobility encompassing the archipelagoes of Orkney and Shetland, which comprise the Northern Isles of Scotland. Originally founded by Norse invaders, the status of the rulers of the Northern Isles as Norwegian vassals was formalised in 1195. Although the Old Norse term jarl is etymologically related to "earl", and the jarls were succeeded by earls in the late 15th century, a Norwegian jarl is not the same thing. In the Norse context the distinction between jarls and kings did not become significant until the late 11th century and the early jarls would therefore have had considerable independence of action until that time. The position of Jarl of Orkney was eventually the most senior rank in medieval Norway except for the king himself.

Papa Stour is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland, with a population of under fifteen people, some of whom immigrated after an appeal for residents in the 1970s. Located to the west of mainland Shetland and with an area of 828 hectares, Papa Stour is the eighth largest island in Shetland. Erosion of the soft volcanic rocks by the sea has created an extraordinary variety of caves, stacks, arches, blowholes, and cliffs. The island and its surrounding seas harbour diverse populations of wildlife. The west side of the island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the seas around the island are a Special Area of Conservation.

Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson also known as Thorfinn Skull-splitter was a 10th-century Earl of Orkney. He appears in the Orkneyinga saga and briefly in St Olaf's Saga, as incorporated into the Heimskringla. These stories were first written down in Iceland in the early 13th century and much of the information they contain is "hard to corroborate".

The Papar were, according to early Icelandic sagas, Irish monks who took eremitic residence in parts of what is now Iceland before that island's habitation by the Norsemen of Scandinavia, as evidenced by the sagas and recent archaeological findings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earldom of Orkney</span> Medieval Norse earldom

The Earldom of Orkney was a Norse territory ruled by the earls of Orkney from the ninth century until 1472. It was founded during the Viking Age by Viking raiders and settlers from Scandinavia. In the ninth and tenth centuries it covered the Northern Isles (Norðreyjar) of Orkney and Shetland, as well as Caithness and Sutherland on the mainland. It was a dependent territory of the Kingdom of Norway until 1472, when it was absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland. Originally, the title of Jarl or Earl of Orkney was heritable.

Christianity in medieval Scotland includes all aspects of Christianity in the modern borders of Scotland in the Middle Ages. Christianity was probably introduced to what is now Lowland Scotland by Roman soldiers stationed in the north of the province of Britannia. After the collapse of Roman authority in the fifth century, Christianity is presumed to have survived among the British enclaves in the south of what is now Scotland, but retreated as the pagan Anglo-Saxons advanced. Scotland was largely converted by Irish missions associated with figures such as St Columba, from the fifth to the seventh centuries. These missions founded monastic institutions and collegiate churches that served large areas. Scholars have identified a distinctive form of Celtic Christianity, in which abbots were more significant than bishops, attitudes to clerical celibacy were more relaxed and there were significant differences in practice with Roman Christianity, particularly the form of tonsure and the method of calculating Easter, although most of these issues had been resolved by the mid-seventh century. After the reconversion of Scandinavian Scotland in the tenth century, Christianity under papal authority was the dominant religion of the kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop of Orkney</span> Head of the Scottish diocese, c. 1035–1688

The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotland in the High Middle Ages</span> Scotland between about 900 and 1286 CE

The High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of King Alexander III in 1286, which was an indirect cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rögnvald Kali Kolsson</span> Earl of Orkney

Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, also known as Saint Ronald of Orkney, was a Norwegian earl of Orkney who came to be regarded as a Christian saint. Two of the Orkney Islands are named after Rögnvald, namely North Ronaldsay and South Ronaldsay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mormaer of Caithness</span>

The Mormaer of Caithness was a vassal title mostly held by members of the Norwegian nobility based in Orkney from the Viking Age until 1350. The mormaerdom was held as fief of Scotland and the title was frequently held by the Norse Earls of Orkney, who were thus a vassal of both the King of Norway and the King of Scots. There is no other example in the history of either Norway or of Scotland in which a dynasty of earls owed their allegiance to two different kings.

The Scottish–Norwegian War lasted from 1262 to 1266. The conflict arose because of disagreement over the ownership of the Hebrides. The war consisted of mainly skirmishes and feuds between the kings, and the only major battle was the indecisive Battle of Largs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilli (Hebridean earl)</span> Hebridean earl

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scandinavian Scotland</span> 8th- to 15th-century historical period

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Scotland in the Middle Ages</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianisation of Scotland</span> Historical process bringing Christianity to Scotland

The Christianisation of Scotland was the process by which Christianity spread in what is now Scotland, which took place principally between the fifth and tenth centuries.

References

  1. 1 2 Grohse, Ian Peter (2017). Frontiers for peace in the medieval North : the Norwegian-Scottish frontier c. 1260-1470. Leiden: Brill. pp. 18, 197. ISBN   978-90-04-34365-8. OCLC   973222776.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Barbara Crawford | Birlinn Ltd - Independent Scottish Publisher - buy books online". Birlinn Ltd. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Barbara Elizabeth Crawford - Research publications - University of St Andrews". risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 "Staff - Prof Barbara Crawford MA, PhD, FRSE, FSA, FSA Scot". www.uhi.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Barbara Crawford". Women Historians of St Andrews. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. ↑ Crawford, Barbara (1971). The earls of Orkney-Caithness and their relations with Norway and Scotland, 1158-1470 (Thesis thesis). University of St Andrews. hdl:10023/2723.
  7. ↑ Crawford, B.E. (1987). Scandinavian Scotland. Leicester: Leicester University Press.
  8. ↑ A history of everyday life in medieval Scotland, 1000 to 1600. Edward J. Cowan, Lizanne Henderson. Edinburgh. 2011. p. 292. ISBN   978-0-7486-2950-3. OCLC   755008610.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ↑ Thomson, William P.L. (1 May 2003). "Barbara E. Crawford (ed.), The Papar in the North Atlantic: Environment and History and Barbara E. Crawford (ed.), Papa Stour and 1299". Northern Scotland. 23 (First Series) (1): 117–120. doi:10.3366/nor.2003.0007. ISSN   0306-5278.
  10. ↑ Hall, Mark A. (June 2010). "Barbara E. Crawford. The churches dedicated to St Clement in medieval England: a hagio-geography of the seafarer's saint in 11th century North Europe. (Scripta Ecclesiastica 1, supplementary series of Scrinium, Revue de Patrologie, d'Hagiographie et d'Histoire ecclésiastique). xvi+237pages, 44 b&w illustrations. 2008. St Petersburg: Axiõma; 978-5-901410-67-7 hardback £45". Antiquity. 84 (324): 587–588. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00066953. ISSN   0003-598X.
  11. 1 2 Myth, rulership, church and charters : essays in honour of Nicholas Brooks. Julia Barrow, Andrew Wareham, Nicholas Brooks. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. 2008. p. 189. ISBN   978-0-7546-5120-8. OCLC   85485172.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ↑ "The Northern Earldoms. Orkney and Caithness from 870-1470 AD - University of St Andrews". risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  13. ↑ "Blogs & Exhibitions - Mimir's Well - The Remarkable Survival of Medieval Churches in Orkney". www.uhi.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Blogs & Exhibitions - Mimir's Well - HIRDMEN AND HANDSEL". www.uhi.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  15. ↑ 3rd International St. Magnus Conference: Visualising the North - 14-16 April 2016 - Conference Programme (PDF). Orkney: UHI. 2016. pp. 8, 17.
  16. ↑ "People – The Strathmartine Trust" . Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  17. ↑ "Current Committee – St Andrews University Archaeological Society". archsoc.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  18. ↑ Bates, C. Richard; Bates, Martin R.; Crawford, Barbara; Sanmark, Alexandra; Whittaker, John (2 July 2020). "The Norse Waterways of West Mainland Orkney, Scotland". Journal of Wetland Archaeology. 20 (1–2): 25–42. doi: 10.1080/14732971.2020.1800281 . hdl: 10023/24807 . ISSN   1473-2971.
  19. ↑ Conversion and christianity in the North Sea World : the proceedings of a day conference held on 21st February 1998. B. E. Crawford. St. Andrews, Scotland: Committee for Dark Age Studies, University of St. Andrews. 1998. ISBN   978-0-9512573-3-3. OCLC   41714375.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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