The surprising history of Vikings in Scotland: 10 facts you might not know
By Nick Mitchell
Published 2nd May 2019, 14:59 BST
Updated 2nd May 2019, 15:05 BST
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The facts about the Vikings in Scotland bear little resemblance to the stereotypes of helmeted warriors pillaging the land at will.
Here we delve a little deeper to examine ten lesser-known traits of our Nordic forebears.
Scientists studying Scots of Viking ancestry in Shetland and Orkney have discovered that there must have been far more Viking women in the Dark Ages settlements than originally thought.
More than a thousand years after the first Viking longships landed on British shores, a study has shown the blood of the Norse warriors still flows through the veins of swathes of the population.
Clan names are a visible relic; MacIvors were originally the sons of Ivar, MacSween, the sons of Swein, Macaulay, the sons of Olaf, MacAskill, the sons of Asgeir and so on.
The Scots ceded dominion of the Outer and Inner Hebrides to Hakon Hakonson, King of Norway in a treaty, but the Gaels still regarded the isles as their own.
