Strome Castle (8 of 8)
The boat so picturesquely moored out in Loch Carron, is a descendant of the boats that the Islesmen once used to rule the entire western seaboard of Scotland – not to mention the Irish Sea and much of Ireland.
They are usually referred to as galleys or long-ships these days, and they are indeed the lineal descendants of the Viking long-ships of long ago. There were in fact several different types of these boats in their day and while I am no expert, I believe this is a Birlinn or Birling, which was a small galley of 12 to 18 oars, the name deriving from the Norse byrðingr - a ship of burden. In Scottish heraldry they are called "Lymphads" (a corruption of the Gaelic “long fada”, meaning "long ship". Confusingly “long” actually derives from the word for "ship", and “fada” means "long"!)
In the feudal world, everyone other than the king had a feudal superior. So in theory, the Earls held their land as tenants-in-chief of the King. The barons and lesser lairds held their lands as tenants of the earls and so on down to the peasant and his vegetable patch! One of the obligations the tenants owed to their feudal superiors was military service. Landholdings were assessed and the richer the land, the more armoured knights, or bowmen or foot-sloggers the landholder was obliged to provide when required. Uniquely, here in the Western Isles, feudal military obligation was paid in armed galleys! As a feudal superior, the Lord of the Isles required the service of a specified number and size of galleys from each holding of land. For examples the Isle of Man had to provide six galleys of 26 oars, and Sleat in Skye had to provide one 18-oar galley. When the Lord of Isles mobilised for war against the Lowlands or Ireland, huge fleets of galleys would assemble and head south, often arriving on some distant coast without warning.
I guess the one we see here wouldn't start and got left behind!
Strome Castle (8 of 8)
The boat so picturesquely moored out in Loch Carron, is a descendant of the boats that the Islesmen once used to rule the entire western seaboard of Scotland – not to mention the Irish Sea and much of Ireland.
They are usually referred to as galleys or long-ships these days, and they are indeed the lineal descendants of the Viking long-ships of long ago. There were in fact several different types of these boats in their day and while I am no expert, I believe this is a Birlinn or Birling, which was a small galley of 12 to 18 oars, the name deriving from the Norse byrðingr - a ship of burden. In Scottish heraldry they are called "Lymphads" (a corruption of the Gaelic “long fada”, meaning "long ship". Confusingly “long” actually derives from the word for "ship", and “fada” means "long"!)
In the feudal world, everyone other than the king had a feudal superior. So in theory, the Earls held their land as tenants-in-chief of the King. The barons and lesser lairds held their lands as tenants of the earls and so on down to the peasant and his vegetable patch! One of the obligations the tenants owed to their feudal superiors was military service. Landholdings were assessed and the richer the land, the more armoured knights, or bowmen or foot-sloggers the landholder was obliged to provide when required. Uniquely, here in the Western Isles, feudal military obligation was paid in armed galleys! As a feudal superior, the Lord of the Isles required the service of a specified number and size of galleys from each holding of land. For examples the Isle of Man had to provide six galleys of 26 oars, and Sleat in Skye had to provide one 18-oar galley. When the Lord of Isles mobilised for war against the Lowlands or Ireland, huge fleets of galleys would assemble and head south, often arriving on some distant coast without warning.
I guess the one we see here wouldn't start and got left behind!