economic unit. The Braaid, while not strictly an upland site, is situated on the edge of
what must have been marginal land, close to the point where arable infield downslope
gave way to grazing outfield nearer the hill lands.
Another farm complex, at Doarlish Cashen, Patrick, was certainly on marginal
land. Its buildings, while smaller than those at the Braaid, are more substantial than
those found at Manx shieling sites of later (twelfth-century) date. Its main building, a
rectangular house ( 7 m × 3 m internally), has a typical Norse layout; opposing doors at
one end define a screen which cuts off the end of the building. The main room had
lateral benches and a central hearth.
The many Scandinavian place names do not generally help in the study of the Viking
Age settlement pattern. Although a substratum of Celtic language remained through-
out the Viking period, Norse was dominant and much used in constructing place names,
as is demonstrated by the fact that only three certain pre-Norse place names survive.
Interpretation of landholding is difficult. The suggestion that the quarterland
system of tenure (a medieval term) existed in the Viking period is fragile. There is no
documentary evidence of settlement structure in the Viking Age, and no evidence to
suggest (by parallel with Scotland and Ireland) that it is earlier.
Twenty-two Viking Age coin hoards and three hoards without coins have been found
in Man. The earliest coin hoards date between c. 955 and c. 995. Although not a
sophisticated statistical sample, it suggests that hoarding in Man started soon after
the beginning of the expansion of the Dublin trade. After 990 no hoard is dated earlier
than 1030 , but eleven hoards may be dated between 1030 and the 1070 s. Some contain
coins, based on the Dublin style and standard, minted in the Island. Clearly Dublin was
deeply influential in Man at this period. Hoarding ceases after a new king, who may
have looked more to Scandinavia, arrived in 1079.
From time to time a ruler of Man was sufficiently independent to play politics in the
region, but his tenure was probably periodic and often nominal. The presence of a
possible king of Man contemporary with Edgar in 974 supports this, although there
is no evidence of an English political presence in the Island at this period. When Man
developed a coinage (a royal prerogative), it was based on Dublin and not on an English
mint, which probably indicates the direction of the Island’s economic and political
interests. The emergence of Man in the late eleventh century as a kingdom would
suggest that the kingdom of Man and the Isles had been established in the late tenth
century, and that the 974 reference may be the first indication of a later political entity.
A national assembly, Tynwald, presumably has its roots in the Scandinavian period.
Nothing is known of the organisation of the Church in the Viking Age. The
first bishop, Roolwer (ON Hrólfr), was appointed in the late eleventh century and
presumably his diocese was some sort of predecessor to the present diocese of Sodor
and Man.
BIBLIOGRAPHYWilson, D.M. ( 2008 ) The Viking Age in the Isle of Man, Aarhus, Aarhus University Press.
–– David M. Wilson––