Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 20

18
A DANE AND THE DAWNING OF FAROESE ARCHAEOLOGY
place-names (Fig. 9). Matras was about to
finish his Dr. of Philosophy dissertation on
this topic. The dissertation, Stednavne paa
de færøske Norðoyar, was published the
same year in the annual Aarbøger for
Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, pub-
lished by the Copenhagen based ‘Royal So-
ciety of Northern Antiquaries’ (Matras,
1932). Later on the day Hatt visited
Niclasen. In the evening the Hatt couple
were invited for dinner at the private home
of Knudsen, the director of the Research
Station in Hoyvfk.
On Friday October 21 st Hatt stated in his
notebook: ‘I left with librarian Jacobsen
and three men to investigate a ruin north of
Havnardal, which was supposed to be a
“Fransatoft”. It turned out, however, that
only a corner of this ruin was preserved. We
now walked on for another mile (= app. 7.5
kilometres) and arrived at a place south of
the Kaldbaksfjørður called “Fransatoftir”,
which had been mentioned by Daniel Bru-
un’ (author’s translation from Danish).
‘Fransatoftir’ (in English literally: ruins
of the French period) is a term used for a
number of house ruins scattered around on
the islands. The phenomenon is particular-
ly connected with the period 1675-1679,
when Denmark and the Netherlands were at
war with France. Due to this state of war
French pirate vessels now and again arrived
at the Faroe Islands. The population was
completely exposed to such attacks and
therefore, as a counter-measure, built small
well-hidden houses for refuge in the moun-
tains (Bruun, 1929: 89). In his book on the
Faroe Islands during the period 1600-1709
Niels Andreas Christian Andersen (1849-
Fig. 8. Poul Niclasen (1889-1953) was born in
Tórshavn. Already in 1903 he was apprenticed at the
newspaper Dimmalætting. Early on he contríbuted
himself to the newspaper, especially with articles on
political topics. He became a member of the Faroese
Parliament during the period 1916-1923. ln 1918 he
took over tlre position of chief editor of Dimmalætting,
a position he kept until 1936. He held numerous hono-
rary offices in various organisations. During the peri-
od 1930-1938 he, jointly witlt M. A. Jacobsen, edited
and published the Christmas Magazine "Jól í Føroy-
um". In 1936 lie was again elected to tlie Parliament,
and subsequently by tlte Sambandsflokkurin (Unionist
Party) and the Javnaðatflokkurin (Socialdemocratic
Party), elected to represent them in tlte Danish Parlia-
ment (re-elected in 1939). He continued his political
career after World War 11 (Davidsen, 1982).
Photo: Føroya Fornminnissavn.
1919) described the phenomenon as fol-
Iows (Andersen, 1895: 223):