The connection between Scotland and Norway is low-key one of my favourite topics. This is because one of my favourite people in this world, my friend and ally, Dr. Karianne Hansen. In case it’s not immediately obvious, she’s Norwegian. She’s amongst the small group of people I’d spend over £500 to see, and she’s always pushed me onto greater heights. It got me to thinking more deeply about the connection between all countries, and that’s part of why I’ve got this series in the first place.
So what links are there between Scotland and Norway? Let’s explore together.
Geographical connections
To look at the pair of them on the map, there is a clear similarity in the west coast of Scotland has a very rugged coastline similar to the Norwegian coast. Similar geological pressures worked on both countries, glaciers tearing the landscape. If you check out a map showing the physical landscape, it becomes even more apparent as the Highlands of Scotland once connected to the Scandinavian Mountains, back when the planet was the single landmass we call Pangaea.
These days we share a sea in common, a sea full of fish that we both catch and oil that we both drill. Norway has found a better use for its oil money, however, as they are currently independent.
I grew up in a village near the banks of the Firth of Forth, a large estuary going from the River Forth to the North Sea. It turns out, Firth is said to come from the word Fjord due to Norse influences in the Scots language. It was interesting to me that Bergen in Norway felt so similar to the land where I grew up. But let’s return to the Nordic influences on the Scots language.
Linguistic links and Cultural connections
There’s a ton of these in the Scots. For example, the Scots word for “to write” is “to scrieve” and the Norwegian word is “skrive”. The Scots for “church” is “Kirk” and the Norwegian is “kirke”. The Scots for Autumn is “hairst” while the Norwegian is “høst” (which is pronounced almost idenitically). Scots words such as “bairn” for child (“barn” in Norwegian) and “ken” for “to know” (though I haven’t identified the Norwegian here. How did all this come about?
Well, we’re very close geographically and there would be people travelling between them a lot, logically. There’s also that whole situation with the vikings, who left large numbers of males in certain parts of Scotland have traceable Norse lineage. Language can be a sign of domination and movement, but it’s also a sign of cultural connection and it turns out there was a ton of this in the past, too.
Edvard Grieg?!
Feel free to listen to this for the rest of the article.
Anyway, Edvard Grieg, one of the greatest composers in my opinion for his ability to stir emotions, was part-Scottish and mostly-Norwegian! It should have been obvious from the name, to be honest, as there are lots of people with similar surnames in Scotland. McGregor being the most common, as it’s a clan, but then I’ve also known others with similar.
Anyway, Edvard Grieg’s dad, Alexander Grieg’s great-grandfather (of the same name, but last name spelt Greig) travelled to Norway and got himself set up way back in the 1770s.
It’s fascinating to see that this fairly famous figure from Norway has a Scottish link. This is why I write these things by myself.
Royalty
Both nations had independent royal families in the Middle Ages. These families saw each other as potential allies as well as adversaries, since the Norwegians claimed land the King of Scots thought seemed more Scottish. The Isle of Man, Western Isles, Orkney, and Shetland were all under the Norwegian crown and it was many years till they could become Scottish. As a testament to how much we fought, the play Macbeth opens on a soldier recounting the eponymous hero’s success against a Norwegian band of soldiers.
Margaret, the Maid of Norway
One of the stories most everyone hears in Scottish history at school, then we glaze over most of it and remember one detail, is the Maid of Norway. Here is what happened.
Scotland was very unlucky with monarchs. In a 1000-year history of kings and queens, we never had two of them in a row die of natural causes in their own bed. Unless you count the sea as a natural cause.
Margaret, Maid of Norway, was born in 1283 and due to other heirs to the throne dying, she was the last hope of the Scottish monarchy. At the age of 7 she was packed into a ship from Bergen and sent off across the North Sea. It was a perilous journey at that time, and it was highly risky. As it stands though, she was not killed by the sea exactly but by food poisoning. A tragic end to a reign not yet begun, which surely would’ve been happy and without anybody plotting against her.
We love our queens.
Geopolitical ramifications of the royal links
Norway gradually gave up islands to Scotland. Most of the isles went to Scotland due to the Treaty of Perth 1266. Orkney and Shetland however were given as part of the dowry to James VI and I when he married Anne of Denmark.
One significant connection between Scotland and Norway is that we both lost our independence to countries with surprisingly similar flags.
Which put a damper on things throughout much of the later parts of history. I’ll get to Denmark on a different day, because I’ve got a couple more great things about Norway left in me.
Military connections between Scotland and Norway
These days, we act together in a lot of military affairs because the UK and Norway are both founding members of NATO. One of the reasons Norway is a founding member of NATO is because of the Second World War, and we have a whole bunch of important historic links there.
Norway and Scotland united in the fight against Fascism
Norway was in a precarious position in the Second World War. Perched on the Atlantic-facing edge of the Scandinavian Peninsula, with great fjords for hiding u-boats, and considered of utmost necessity by the Nazis for minerals, Norway fell victim to invasion. British, French, Polish and Norwegian forces tried to defend the country, the government went into exile in London.
Norwegians kept fighting, starting a successful resistance movement, assisted by weapons and agents from the UK. Many of these were transported by the Shetlands Bus, which there’s a memorial for in Bergen. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands near Aviemore there were special forces training in how to deal with the Norwegian climate on account of similarities between the two environments. This was part of Fortitude North, the Allied invasion of Norway!
Fortitude North
Not many know about the successful Allied invasion of Norway, primarily because it didn’t happen. But the idea was logical enough. Norway had been lost early in the war, we wanted it back, and it would make deliveries of weapons and fuel to the Soviet Union easier. A lot of work was put into the plan, with Edinburgh Castle as its headquarters.
The thing is, this plan was part of Operation Bodyguard, which is named from a quotation of Churchill: “in war, truth is so precious she must always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” The invasion plan of Norway was not fully serious as it would empower the Soviets more than it would hurt the Nazis. But it did seem serious enough that there was almost half a million soldiers defending Norway who weren’t causing problems elsewhere. Norway’s active resistance movement helped Allied operations across other theatres.
But by far the best connection between Scotland and Norway
The penguins.
Much as I adore the historical connections and cultural-linguistic links, the best bit is the penguins. The king penguin, Major General Nils Olav III lives at Edinburgh Zoo.
Why do we have a highly decorated Norwegian military penguin in our zoo? It’s because once a year we have a display of military bands from round the world, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The Norwegians adopted a penguin from the zoo in the 1970s and anytime they visit he gets a promotion.
They’re onto their third penguin, as 50 years would be an ambitious lifespan for a penguin. I’m glad they’ve kept it going even this many generations deep. It’s a testament to our enduring bond.
Is the penguin why we’re supporting Norway against England?
Nah, it’s just classic Anyone But England behaviour from us in Scotland, but without a doubt it’s much easier to love a country like Norway who we already have these great ties to.
The writer of this piece is currently in Canada so is obviously thinking about Norway.
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