Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Page 21

Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Page 21
PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENT . . 25 context dealt with here. Adamnan and Brendan cannot be used as historical evi- dence in any real sense, while Dicuil’s so- ber information, without any religious mis- sion, belongs to quite a different category of historical sources. On the other hand, according to early Medieval historical sources, at least some Irish became seafarers, not persuing the golden things of this World, but peace and solitude for the adoration of their Lord, conceived as a physically existing pheno- menon, and, perhaps also as results of secular sentences, having to leave their native lands and to find some other places to live.7 So, was it piety or necessity - or was it banal inquisitiveness — that called the newly-christianised Irishmen to the sea? I shall give no answer. But at least some of them sailed. Heinrich Zimmer talks of »ein Hang zum Anachoretenthum. Was den egyptischen und syrischen Christen die Wtiste war, das wird den Iren die See um Irland«.8 Of course, the basic logical assumption for Zimmer’s theory of pre-Viking con- tacts between Norsemen and peoples of Irish origin before the explosion of the Viking expansion can be doubted. The turning-point of his theory is the attack on Eigg and Tory Island is recorded in the Annals of Ulster, and credited to the Christian Picts. To Zimmer the assailants are not likely to have been Picts, who in no way were in possession of a fleet of the size described, and were not unknown to the Irish. In Zimmer’s conception, such a »Meerflotte« can hardly have been a Pict- ish, but rather a Norwegian one, especially as linguistic indications can, or must, be interpreted that this fleet was »ubers Meer gekommen«. To him a Pictish attack could have been no surprise to the Irish, since they had known them since the middle of the 4th century, so that they had become »vollkommen vertraut« to them. There- fore, this shocking attack must have been made by some other, unknown, people, in this case obviously Scandinavians, or rath- er Norsemen, thus proving, or at least making likely a much earlier date of the beginning of the Norse expansion than was generally believed at his time. Heinrich Zimmer mentions several inci- dences from Irish sources which indicate that Irish seafarers, also according to Dicuilus, might have landed in the Faroe Islands.9 There can be little doubt that sources which Dicuilus did not know can contribute - even if everything cannot be proved - to a story ranging in time farther back than that of Dicuilus. Adamnan’s Vita Sancti Columbae from the beginning of the 7th century, mentioned in the great work of the Venerable Bede, may make this assumption likely,10 although nothing can be proved. And this specific Faroese question is not a unique one in early Medi- eval history. On the other hand, all these possibilities can be discussed as far as their historical importance is concerned. Anchorites are not supposed to produce new generations. So, Irishmen, forsaking the pleasures or the evils of this World of sin, cannot be suspected of being the forefathers of the people that eventually became the Faroese nation! Consequently, an eventual Irish settlement in the Faroe Islands can hardly have left any marks upon our history. A recognized Gaelic element in Medieval
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