The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland

Written by one of Britain’s foremost experts in medieval culture, this account counters popular historical belief by proposing that there was a Saxon settlement in both Orkney and Shetland, Scotland, during the fourth century AD. Arguing that the Saxons, a minority group, were subsumed into the Norwegian Viking population that migrated to the islands around AD 790, it demonstrates how these people had a 400-year presence on the islands. Based on extensive linguistic, historical, and archaeological research, this book casts a new light on the origins of the first island settlers.