Placenames in Shetland, from Hanseatic Documents.
Shetlopedia - The Shetland Encyclopaedia
The following is a list of Shetland placenames as they appeared in the Hanseatic Documents.
Discussing hanseatic place names used for Shetland locations we have to face three major problems:
- Almost all place names refer to Shetland waters rather than to locations on a specific island or in a specific coastal area.
- In some cases the place names are not "originally hanseatic". Instead the names used by Dutch and / or Danish fishermen were used within documents.
- A lot of the old records were destroyed in WWII, whereof some survived as 19th century transcripts or summaries only.
Nevertheless the surviving places names and the identifiable locations make it clear that hanseatic merchants were trading in the whole of Shetland and not only in just two or three well known places. At least on the east coast of Shetland we can find a trading post within half a day sailing time to the north or south.
| Hanseatic place name | Location | Modern name | Dutch / Danish alternatives | Notes |
| Arentsburg | North Bressay | Aith Ness | - | shown on an early 17th century map; probably a Danish fishing station |
| Baltasund | Unst | Baltasound | - | - |
| Borwage | Yell | Burravoe | - | - |
| Brow / Bru | Mainland | (Brow) | - | no booth; a farm in south mainland (Dunrossness) |
| Brusund / Brussusont / Braesunt et alt. | Mainland and Bressay | Bressay Sound | Brezondt | probably more than one hanseatic booth on both coasts |
| Drosteness | Mainland | Dunrossness = Sandwick or May Wick | - | - |
| Grotingswage | Mainland | Grutness Voe | - | - |
| Koldewage | Yell | Cullivoe | - | - |
| Lassevorde | Mainland | Laxo Voe | - | acc. to records in "easy rowing distance" to Symbister / Whalsay |
| Lassevorde | Mainland | Laxfirth or Laksfort / Tingwall | - | - |
| Oegesunt | Unst | Uyeasound | - | - |
| Papposunt | Papa Stour | Sound of Papa | - | probably a booth on Papa Stour |
| Quallsunt / Quhailsay Sound et alt. | Whalsay | Symbister, North Voe et alt. | - | definitely more than one hanseatic booth on Whalsay |
| Schalewage / Schaldewage | Mainland | Scalloway | Schallaway / Schawey | - |
| Sunte Mangens Eiland (St Magnus Haven / S Magni foort) | Mainland | Hillswick | - | - |
| unknown | Unst | Burra Firth | Doggershaven | - |
| unknown | Mainland (Lerwick) | Sound | Zandt Zondt | - |
| unknown | Mainland | Sandwick / Wick of Sandsayre | Zandt Wick / schotsche Haven | - |
| Vetteloe | Fetlar | unknown | - | - |
| Wallosunt | Mainland | Vaila Sound | - | - |
| Wats Ness | Northwest Mainland | unknown | - | known as anchorage only; probably |
| Wick | Unst | Wick / Westing | - | - |
| Yellosunt | Mainland and Yell | Yell Sound | - | probably indicating the water only |
Arentsburg probably marks the end of hanseatic activities at a time when some of the locations were already kept by Danish fisherman. The place is recorded on an early 17th century Dutch nautical map [1]
in the area of Aith Ness on the north coast of Bressay. The city of Ahrensburg (the town which lent its name for the place) is a town in the south of Slesvig-Holsatia a bit north of Hamburg. The Earls of Rantzau who hold Ahrensburg Castle as one of their family seats kept the office as Chancellor to the Danish Crown and other state offices at the time in question.
At Brow / Bru there obviously never had existed a hanseatic booth. The place itself is recorded as the home of foud Oliver Sinclair of Brow in the case dealing with the death of the Bremen merchant Hemelingk from Whalsay. The farm at Brow disappeared later in the 17th century.
Brusund / Brussusont / Braesunt is one of the examples where the name of a Shetland water refers to probably more than one booth. Unfortunately there are no clear descriptions of sites for one specific booth. Long after the traditional hanseatic trade had come to an end Bressay Sound was used as a safe anchorage and a meeting place of the flagships of the Hamburg Admiralty like the Wappen von Hamburg or the Leopoldus Rex and Hamburg whalers arriving from Greenland or Strait Davits to be convoyed through the North Sea to their home port.
Drosteness probably was used for the location of a booth rather than a name for the area, which might sometimes being referred to as Sandwick as well. Some scholars discuss a location around May Wick instead. Such a place would probably have met the interests of the Sinclairs (of Brow or of Havra) as landlords and "sellers" of trading licenses and would close a gap within the network of hanseatic booths along Shetland's east coast but it still remains very speculative.
Some scholars have Grotingswage for Gruting Voe / West mainland but there are no particular records of further activities. On the other hand we have exact reports about the activities of Bremen merchants at Grutness Voe / Southeast mainland, where one of the Hemelingk brother of Bremen operated a booth for several years.
Lassevorde is for sure a location of a booth on the west coast of Shetland and is normally seen as Laxfirth / Tingwall. Some problems rise from a detailed report that Hemelingk of Whalsay had built and supplied a second booth at Lassevorde on Shetland mainland within easy rowing distance from his major place Symbister on Whalsay. So, some scholars have this Lassevorde as Laxo Voe.
As for Papposunt it is not quite clear, whether it refers to the sound only, which had to be passed on the way to Hills wick, or if there was a booth on Papa Stour as well. The probable booth is supported by the existing Dutch Loch on Papa Stour, which could refer to Dutch merchants as the hanseatic merchants were called as well (with Dutch as a corruption of Duitsch meaning German merchants) rather than to Hollanders as the Dutch were called in other Shetland places.
The names Quallsunt / Quhailsay Sound et alt. were used for the isle of Whalsay, the sound between the island and Shetland mainland and a group of booths. The booths were grouped around Symbister Harbour and managed by both Bremen and Hamburg merchants. The so called Hanseatic Booth at Symbister and the still in its original shape existing harbour basin represent a unique monument of late hanseatic / early modern trading activities.
Schalewage / Schaldewage probably was the most important trading post on the west coast of Shetland. It was known as a safe anchorage especially to those Hamburg merchants who traded with the Faeroe Islands as well (like Wullenwever of Hamburg who hold the trading and taxing rights for Faeroe during most time of the 16th century). Scalloway Bay was still in use as meeting point of Hamburg whalers long after the hanseatic trade had come to an end.
St Magnus Haven (Sunte Mangens Eiland / S Magni foort) was at least one location on the east coast of Shetland. The exact identification causes a lot of problems most of them resulting from the fact that all these place names disappeared on Bleau's maps of Scotland and Shetland which have the modern St Magnus Bay only. In general the hanseatic booth that existed in Hillswick is seen behind the destination of St Magnus Haven. But one older document which exists as a 19th century transcript only seems to have another place given as "Sunte Mangens Island" with a booth on that island. Taking Egilsay in St Magnus Bay as Sunte Mangens Eiland (as is Egilsay in Orkney the St Magnus isle par excellance) and Mangaster Voe as S Magni foort we probably have a second location for a hanseatic booth on the shores of St Magnus Bay.
Vetteloe refers to the island of Fetlar but there is no evidence of a booth on the isle.
Wallosunt definitely was Vaila Sound if not Walls, but we don't have a clear information about a booth in that place.
Wats Ness is given for a safe anchorage (Voe of Dale(?)) on the northwest coast of mainland, but this might be a misinterpretation due to the fact that we don't know the original spelling of that place name. For the place we have a report about a Bremen merchant outgoing for the Baltics and from that it seems quite possible that Wats Ness actually was Vatsetter (Wick of Vatsetter ?) right in the centre of activity of Bremen merchants on the east coast of mainland.
At Wick on Unst we find the graves of Seggelcken and Detken, two merchants from Bremen who settled in Uyeasound. Both of them lived on the island of Unst for many years and it is quite possible that they had something like a retreat in that area.
Yellosunt refers to the water only with no indication of a specific booth on either coast.
For three places we don't have a special "hanseatic" name but later Dutch names only. Zandt Zondt most scholars have as Sound (Lerwick) and might be one of the booths in Bressay Sound as in earlier documents. Zandt Wick is quite obviously Sandwick in South mainland; the variaty of names referring to the hanseatic towns of Hamburg and Bremen (Hamburger Haven / Hamburgher reede / Bremerhaven) as they were used by Dutch fishermen, too, indicate a strong hanseatic tradition within this area. For Doggershaven as it was called by Dutch fishermen, we don't have any reports linked with the hanseatic times, but some local tradion has it, that there once was a booth at Burrafirth.
Notes
- ↑ now in the DSM – Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum, Bremerhaven
Literature
… some basic stuff only.
Entholt, H. und L. Beutin: [1937]: Bremen und Nordeuropa, Quellen und Forschungen zur Bremischen Handelsgeschichte, Heft 1
Friedland, K. [1973]: Der hansische Shetlandhandel, in: Friedland, K. [1973]: Stadt und Land in der Geschichte des Ostseeraumes ..., Lübeck
Friedland, K. [1983]: Hanseatic Merchants and their Trade with Shetland, in: Withrington, D. (ed.) [1983]: Shetland and the Outside World 1469-1969, Oxford
Flinn, D. [1989]: Travellers in a bygone Shetland - An Anthology, Edinburgh
Goodlad, C.A. [1971]: Shetland Fishing Saga, Lerwick
