Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1987, Page 55

WHEN, HOW, AND WHENCE?
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fodder and water - was imported at the
time).
A second stage in the inner colonization
of the islands seems to have started in
about AD 1200 when the remote parts of
the islands were colonized. When the pres-
sure on the land became too great this
practice was curtailed in 1298 by the
Seyðabrævið (Sheep Letter).
In 1271 a royal decree promised that two
ships should ply between Norway and the
Faioes (perhaps indicating that communi-
cations had been too irregular in the past).
In 1294, and again in 1302, the Hanseatic
merchants were prohibited by Norway
from trading with the Faroes; this was ap-
parently an attempt to set up a trading
monopoly between Norway and the
Faroes; communications were thus kept re-
stricted between these two areas.
The Sheep Letter of 1298 partly dealt
with the setting up of new farms. Persons
were prohibited from establishing new
farms unless they owned three cows.
This prohibition remained in force until
1637.
That connections with Shetland existed
at that time is shown by the fact that the
Sheep Letter was drawn up on the advice
of, i.a., the Lawman of Shetland, who had
been sent to the Faroes to consider the de-
ficiencies in the agricultural law.
The Black Death reached the islands
probably around AD 1350. It is thought
that perhaps one third of the population
may have perished. At least Húsavík on
Sandoy and Saksun on Streymoy seem to
have been laid desolate. Probably connec-
tions with other countries, as well as com-
munications within and between the is-
lands, diminished. Trade with Norway de-
creased, which is shown by the fact that the
Hanseatic League in 1361 obtained the
same right to trade with the Faroes as the
Norwegian merchants in Bergen had.
Apparently the trade was not very profit-
able, which implies that contacts between
Norway and the Faroes were scarce.
In 1468/69 trading with the Orkneys and
Shetland might have increased, since those
areas then left the Union of Denmark and
Norway to become parts of Scotland; in
1490 the Dutch were granted the same
trading rights with the Faroes as the Hanse-
atics had.
In 1536 a trade monopoly came into
being and the first monopoly grant was
given to a Hamburg merchant. This re-
stricted other trade channels with the
Faroes (or closed them altogether, except
for a possibly increasing smuggling trade).
The monopoly lasted until 1856, when the
islands were opened to international com-
merce.
Between (and within) the islands a cer-
tain communication pattern prevailed.
During this whole period the Faroese Løg-
ting was situated in Tórshavn which
became the meeting-place for the inhabit-
ants of the islands. Communications be-
tween the islands were undoubtedly more
common than with outside countries.
Tórshavn was the only place where trade
could legally be conducted. This, of course,
increased communications between Tórs-
havn and the peripheral islands, and prob-
ably (secondarily) decreased contacts be-
tween the peripheral islands. Out-stations
of the monopoly were opened in 1836 in
Tvøroyri (Suðuroy), in 1838 in Klaksvík
(Borðoy), and in 1839 in Vestmanna
(Streymoy). In 1867 the Sheep Letter was