Tynwald: Symbol of an Ancient Kingdom

Table of contents :
Tynwald: Symbol Of An Ancient Kingdom - Front Cover
Title Page / Line Drawing: The Manx Sword Of State
Sketch Map Of The Isle Of Man Showing Tynwald Hill, St. John's
The Tynwald Of 1770
The Norsemen
plate p.04a - Tynwald 1774
The Norse Open-Air Assembly
The Manx Constitution
The Tynwald
The Hill
Tanistry
The Temple Of Thor
plate p.08a - Aerial View From The North-East
The Oath
Procedure At Tynwald
The Tynwald Feast
plate p.10a - Procession From Chapel To Hill
plate p.10b - Swearing-In The Coroners
Thor
Midsummer Day
The Tynwald Of 1417
plate p.12a - Procession From Hill To Chapel
Later Tynwalds
The Tynwald Chapel
The Tynwald Of To-Day
plate p.16a - H.M. King George VI Presides At Tynwald, 1945
Conclusion
Printer's Imprint
Rear Cover

Citation preview

TYNWALO SYMBOL OF AN

ANCIENT KINGDOM

PRICE

-

ONE SHILLING

TYNWALD By

DAVID

CRAINE, M.A.,

C.P.

THE M4NX SWORD OF ST4TE

TYNWALD I+ILL

UGLAS

of

Mon

TYNWALD

THERE

are

Man

at

which

least two no

Manxman

without

contemplate Tynwald

Isle and the On the

some

island at Peel

coming

of historical interest in the Isle of

with

a

of

spark

stir of emotion.

imagination

They

are

can

St. Patrick’s

John’s.

at St.

there

is

a

continuous

history

in datable

tenth century. it is connected by tradition of Christianity and the greatest of the Irish saints,

architecture from the ninth

with the

places

or

and its ancient cathedral is dedicated to his

disciple.

In the Round

Tower it possesses the most considerable early Christian monument in Man. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it was a residence of the

native

Kings of Man; and its extensive circumvallation testifies defensive importance in the days when raiding fleets brought

to

its

death

and destruction from the North. But the

Tynwald

makes

a

somewhat different

appeal.

It links the

the stage on which is survivals in the world:

past with the present. It is not

annually set only to the Manx political it has always been a powerful and visible reminder that the Isle of Man is an ancient kingdom, enjoying its own government, making its own laws, levying its own taxes and controlling their expenditure; and the scene of a ceremony whose disappearance would mark their end as a one of the most remarkable

nation.

THE Such

a

fear

arose

of Atholl sold his

TYNWALD

in the

OF

1770

eighteenth century,

when in 1765 the Duke

of Man to the British Crown. For five years John’s, and it was only when the Governor

Lordship Tynwald was held at St. the people’s representatives suggested its renewal that the Keys absorbed in the problems created by the change of government, showed any signs of interest in the Annual Assembly. no

3

Meanwhile, the Manx country people

filled

were

by

the fear that

Tynwald and all it stood for had gone for ever. And when at length the traditional ceremony took place once more on July 5th., 1770, the the

Governor

describing the tremendous enthusiasm the resumption had evoked, and estimating that half the population of the Island had gathered on the Tynwald Green. Fifty-seven years later, a Jurby crofter, Thomas Kelly, reveals the attachment and reverence with which the country people viewed the Field at St. John’s. Driven by economic stress and the importunities of his friends, he emigrated with his family to America, where he wrote

to

Whitehall

eventually died. His diary betrays his life-long yearning for his native land. He left for Liverpool

day: to

see

last time the

one

secretly

to

take

from its lowest round,

which has seen, on

July 6th, 1827, and writes of the previous daylight, I stole away to St. John’s, for ancient ceremonies on Tynwald Hill, and

on

“This morning, before

and heard

maybe,

one

more

little handful of that earth

history

than any other spot

the Island.”

THE The

tenacity their

and success,

own

dislike

institutions

political land,

at

ere

southwards in their

war

to

which the Manx have

introduced

by King

first

of the rule of

NORSEMEN

by

pressure of

clung

the Norsemen. Driven out of

over-population,

Harold Fairhair, the Norse

galleys

with such

in search of

plunder

and

and later

by

Vikings sped new

homes.

At the end of the eighth century they bad colonised the Orkneys and Shetlands, and thereafter fleets of raiders yearly set out from

They

Scandinavia.

made

their

followed by the Danes, led more

dangerous

ninth century

were

and

by the fury of slaying.

marauding fleets by landtakers,

followed

and married the The

Viking

daughters

which laid who

of the

adventurers

by two main routes. The first, English Channel. The longer and Orkneys, Hebrides and Irish Sea. The their attacks, as they moved southward

way the

way was the full

saw

plundering, burning But the

to

waste

brought Celts they

the

had

bloodthirsty

were

4

Hebrides

and

Man

with them Norse customs

dispossessed. and

cruel

taking

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pleasure

in

a

and drink, and

battleground filled greedy for gold.

The race, however,

attractive

qualities.

and self-control in

to

which

with the dead

they belonged

gluttonous

had other and

The Norsemen admired above all

adversity,

in food

more

things patience

and courage in the face of certain death.

intelligence and skill were displayed in wood and metal crafts, in shipbuilding and seamanship. They were extremely enterprising and ready to seize upon new ideas where there was hope of advantage. A an Irish episode of the ninth strange example of their adaptability is Norsemen not only prayed for victory to their century, when the pagan much to the own gods but also invoked St. Patrick to aid them Christian of their opponents. indignation

Their

THE NORSE OPEN-AIR ASSEMBLY

extraordinary aptitude for lawmaking and the organisation of government, and wherever they settled they brought the conception of an open-air assembly of freemen, where the old laws were recited, new laws submitted for approval, judgment given on lawbreakers and punishment immediately following. But above all the Norsemen had

an

knowledge of the legal system which the Vikings introduced into Man comes largely from Icelandic literature. Iceland was colonised in the ninth and tenth centuries partly by immigrants from Norway, but mainly by people of mixed Norse and Celtic blood from the Our

Scandinavian settlements in Man, Ulster and the Hebrides.

In 930

A.D.

established

they

called word

a national assembly, the Aithing. It met at a place Thing-your (i.e., “Parliament field “), the original form of the “Tynwald,”and had many features similar to those of the Manx

institution. In 1930,

on

the invitation of the

Aithing, Tynwald sent two delegates, Speaker of the Keys, to take part in the founding of the Icelandic parliament,

the Deemster Farrant and the the

millenary

celebrations of

and to represent what a famous Norse scholar has described as the most marked example of a Norse Viking realm which has preserved the characteristics of its old constitution

wholly

till modern times. “Asa folkthing

after the old Norse fashion,” he said, “the constitution in Man has its rank in age

by

the side of those of Iceland and the Faroes.” S

THE There Worse

written records in existence to tell of the date at which

are no

political attending

MANX CONSTITUTION

were

customs

introduced

into

the

Isle,

the circumstances

or

their appearance.

The excavations at Ballateare and the Cronk Mooar in

Jurby

a

few years ago reveal, however, the existence there of prosperous pagan Viking landowners in the last half of the ninth century. It is thought that at that time the six

dominated

by

Sheadings

or

districts had each its

the local landowners and

dealing

Assembly,

with local affairs; and

developed two separate central assemblies for each with its own Lawman. the Northside and Southside respectively that from these there

There

are

traces

of this dual administration in the former titles of the

Lawmen’s successors,

the

Deemsters,

one

of

whom

was

called

the

Northern, the other the Southern, Deemster until recent times. There

signs,

are

too, of a difference in the customary law, as in the

case of married women’s estates: a variation

the

outcome

1098

A.D.

time

in

of

And 1577,

traditionally

attributed to

a

battle

a

curious old “breast” law, written down for the first

forbids

fought the

between North and South at Santwat in

Southside

and Northside

sheltering

each

other’s felons.

THE TYNWALD The Icelandic

open-air assembly

was

abandoned

years ago, and of all the similar institutions one has survived in function as well as St.

set

up

name

a

by

hundred and the the

fifty Vikings only Tynwald at

John’s.

early human settlers in Man established gravel and sand deposited in the glacial age drained well and by nature, it provided an excellent site for habitation; and its central position and accessibility from north, south, east and west made it a convenient rallying place for political and religious purposes. On it, or near by, several prehistoric funeral mounds survived Here

on

this

plateau

the

themselves. A moraine of

until the first half of the nineteenth century; and the remains of a Bronze Age tumulus 3,000 years old are to be seen on the edge of the

Bollagh Vanannan,

the “Roadof Manannan,” where it skirts the Hill. 6

Tynwald has the essential features of the old Worse Thingvollr: joined by pathway on the east to a Court-house, all enclosed and surrounded by a green; and a place of worship. In the course of time the name “Tynwald”has come to mean the Assembly itself as well as its meeting place. The

a

Law Hill

John’s first saw a Thing representing the “Tynwald”first occurs in the scanty Manx records in 1228 A.D., when a battle was fought at Tynwald, resulting in the death of the Manx King Reginald. No

knows when St.

one

whole Island, but the

name

THE The Manx name of the

HILL

Tynwald

Hill is Cronk Keeill Eoin, “Hill

record to confirm the story that it John’s contains earth from all the seventeen ancient parishes; but it is not

of

Church.” There is

unlikely

that token

portions

mound, in accordance with

no

of soil from each

parish

were

added to the

of the Norse settlers in Man.

known

practice high, by four stages or circular platforms, each about three feet higher than the next lower. The diameter of the base is seventy-six feet. For more than two centuries a protecting canopy has been raised over the topmost platform during the annual assembly. The Processional Way is three hundred and sixty feet long. a

It is twelve feet

On Midsummer

Chapel

aisle

also)

the pagan Celtic altar of the

Day

are

the

custom of

sea-god

pathway

and

covered with rushes

offering

platforms (and formerly a

the

survival, it is believed, of

bundles of green

bent-grass

at

the

Manannan.

TANISTRY The Hill has of

never

been excavated, but it is

chieftain of the Bronze

place following Celtic proclamation of be inaugurated a

custom, became new

at

a

Age (1700

centre

for tribal

rulers and their heirs. It

such

a

place standing

on

the burial

probably

B.C.); and later, gatherings and the

B.C----400

was or

stone; and his heir apparent, known as the Tanist, people for their acknowledgment at the same time.

usual for

a

chief to

sanctified

touching was presented

One such stone, called the Liath Fail, still stands

a

on

the Hill of

Tara and is said to have been used in the installation of the Irish 7

to the

High

King. A stone found some years ago at the ancient site of Castle Ward, near Douglas, may have been used for a similar purpose. It has a footshaped hollow and thus resembles the stone in which the Lord of Islay (who claimed descent from the Manx Kings) placed his foot and swore to deal justly with his people. Tanistry persisted in Man. In 1392, Sir William Lordship of Man, appeared on the Hill Scrope, for acceptance by the Assembly, and his heir, Sir Stephen Scrope, stood with him as his Tanist. Sixteen years later, when the Scropes had been superseded, Sir John Stanley was proclaimed King in his absence, and his son was presented as heir apparent. The usage was, of course, due to the need in turbulent times of securing the succession in case of the sudden death of the reigning lord. The custom of

who had obtained the

The

practice

of

holding

assembles and

the

courts in

open air was existed which

very common in ancient times. As a rule no building would hold all those having the right to be present. Again there

always

of sudden

the

was

and the stab in the back, which

treachery danger place more easily within walls and out of sight of the multitude. And lastly, and this applied particularly to Norsemen, there was fear of witchcraft, which, they believed, was much more potent

could take

the

when operating under

a

roof.

THE TEMPLE

OF

THOR

Less than twenty years ago, ancient graves

were

uncovered

of the

southern flank of the

on

the

Tynwald plateau. Weapons Viking Age suggesting a heathen burial; and supporting the the early days of the Norse domination, a temple god Thor stood on or near the Chapel site; for the

were

associated with them, tradition that in

dedicated

to

the

pagan assemblies the gods.

were

invariably precedede by religious

observances to

Excavations in Iceland have thrown

heathen

places

of

worship

such

as

light upon characteristics of have existed in Man before the may

conversion of the Norse conquerors.

temple consisted of a pillared hall for the worshippers, with long fires burning in the centre, and benches ranged along the walls. At the end was a partition low enough to give a view of the circular The

8

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cci

ci)

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F Cl) 4::

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On it twenty

the

lay

in

ounces

were

oath-ring weight, on

bracelet of

or

which oaths

the blood of the sacrifice. It

was worn on

of offences:

the

ready for priestly chief or king.

arm

political

system

OATH

for its maintenance

depended

a

sin for which there

was

civiisation in which every within reach of his hand, weapons with

no

one

the

One of the most

involved in to

important

some

was

armed and

vindictiveness value of

the truce-oath,

murderous feud

swore

to

an

the

slept by

with his

eye for every self-

an

oath which could

by which quarrelling keep the peace.

witness that I take the oath and the

on

the blackest

in which the rule of

eye practised greatest respecting member of the community, the be depended upon was enormous. was

was

forgiveness.

man went

a

“I call

sometimes

after it had been

sworn

of the oath. To break one’s solemn oath

inviolability

parties

jointless silver,

were

the Assembly, by the officiating priest-lord; the always performed by the political leader

The Norse

an

which fire burned, lit

for the

THE

In

on

of steel, and consecrated.

use

dipped into use, during duties

with its iron-bound altar

beyond,

sanctuary

without the

on the ring: swore God,” Almighty

a

lawful oath,

the oath-taker,

Frey, Njörd help repeated a long and detailed formula calculated to cover every contingency. Even when the Isle of Man had reverted to Christianity, the truce-oath was still necessary. In Kirk Braddan a fragment of a cross of the late tenth century bears part of a runic inscription which reads “...ButHrosketil betrayed in a truce his own oath-fellow...,”which hints at some dark deed of treachery and a broken oath which called for a sentence of outlawry. me

so

and

The centuries not

old

custom

after the

till 1429 that

of private vengeance persisted for nearly two disappearance of the native kings of Man, and it was a special Tynwald held at Keeill Abban in Baldwin

as it was called, should end, and the avenger of blood and the settlement of disputes by combat make way for trial by the Deemsters.

declared that Prowess,

PROCEDURE AT TYNWALD In the temple sanctuary the images of the gods named in the oath Frey, god of fertility, and Njörd, god of navigation and

invocation

9

stood around in a semi-circle, with Thor, the thunder-god, in the midst. The blood of the sacrifice was placed in a great copper bowl; and the priest-king, with a consecrated twig, sprinkled the blood

prosperity,

upon the

and

bystanders

images

and the sanctuary walls.

rites had been

the

King and his chief men held Court in the hail where the fires burned, the high-seat of the King prominent with its carved posts and placed against the auspicious south wall. Having discussed the business before them and come to After the

religious

decisions, they moved in procession

pronounced judgment

on

completed

to

the offenders

the

There the Lawman

Hill.

waiting

on

the north

or

side of the Mount, recited the ancient laws and announced new ones

for the

Punishment followed in Iceland there

and

a

circle of

which —in

There is the

slopes

on

assembly

the

of free

judgments.

stone on which

At the

criminals

Thing-your

were

executed,

Doom Ring twenty-five feet in diameter—the jurymen or doomsmen.

of such

trace

of Slieau Whallian,

ring or overlooking a

doom-stone at St.

the

Tynwald

have

John’s.

always

associated in tradition with executions in which the criminal

down its steep face in seat of

proposed

men.

rocks

the twelve

no

swiftly

sacrificial

was a

rough

sat

of the whole

approval

sinister

spiked

a

was

barrel. At Duntuim Castle, in

rolled

Skye,

government of the Lords of the Isles whose territory had

been part of the Kingdom of Man, there is a Hill of of Rolling, down which the condemned were cast,

Justice as

in

But

been

a

once

Hill

and

a

the

Slieau

Whallian story.

legend of suspected witches being tried by ordeal Curragh Glass near Tynwald. If the suspect floated she was if she sank, innocent: an unsatisfactory conclusion for the guilty; harmless victim. But it pleased the onlookers in pagan times, for the disappearance of the sacrificial victim in the water meant that the gods were appeased, and that the water spirits had taken charge of the offering. There is, too, the

of water in the

THE After the end of the

returned

to the

temple.

boiled in cauldrons

over

TYNWALD

FEAST

public business the King, Lawmen and chiefs they feasted on the meat of the sacrifice

where

the hail fires, and drank consecrated ale from

communal horn. 10

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On the green outside the sacred enclosure the rest of the freemen feasted and drank. The animals they had brought to the fair had been

sprinkled with blood from the temple bowl and they themselves were Odin, King of the gods with his eating baked images of the gods the Cock of Valhalla, and most important of all, horse, his wife Frigga, the god Thor. THOR Thor,

of Odin,

son

dedicated their

temples

was to

the favourite

deity

of the

Vikings. They

him and often held their Assemblies

on

his

agriculture, protector against sickness, pictured him in the prime of life, strong and merry; with a red beard, in which the lightnings played when he was angry. He rode about the south-western sky in a day, Thursday.

He was

god

of

sorcery, and all other dangers. His devotees

goat-wagon which thundered through the clouds. Good fortune on

Thursday,

was, it was

from ancestors who name more

Thorljotr,

believed, likely

and most, if not all,

than

a

were

people

dedicated

to wait on

marriages

of Manx blood

to the

thousand years ago. For

are

made

descended

god and given his protecting example, Corlett comes from

“Warlike Thor “;Corkil from

Thorketill, “Thor of the

Cormode from Thormodr, “Thor’s wrath.” Cauldron “; The memory of the beneficent god still lives in Manx folklore. His mighty hammer, with which he fought against the forces of evil and struck thunder out of the

sky, is recalled in the hammer-shaped bone sheep’s tongue, used up to recent times as a talisman and for a straying travellers. And the crosh-cuirn, a cross made from guide or mountain ash, Thor’s sacred tree, was a specific against cuirn the witchcraft and all malign influences. taken from

a

MIDSUMMER DAY The annual

open-air Tynwald at St. John’s was held on Midsummer when the summer solstice was celebrated in association 24th, June Day, with the Assembly and a fair on the Green with popular diversions. This great heathen festival, which was common to Celt and Norsemen, centred round the Sun-god, Balder, god of fIre and light, and his Celtic counter— part,

Lugh. Symbolical

fires

were

lit

11

on

Midsummer Eve, and

on

that

night

until the

of the

practice

beginning of the nineteenth century, when the significance had been long forgotten, the Manx hills were ablaze with

the Balder fires. When the calendar

and

the

date

apparently ignored St.

John’s

on

was

advanced the

corrected

Act of Parliament in

eleven

the

by adjustment,

Old Midsummer

THE

by days,

Tynwald

with the result that it

Day, July

of the now

1752

time

meets at

5th.

TYNWALD OF

1417

The first description in any detail of a Manx Tynwald was given in 1417, at the request of the second Stanley King of Man, when the Deemsters and Keys recalled the customary procedure in the time of

Orry (or Godred) who won the battle of Scacafell, near Ramsey, in 1079, making himself King of Man and the Isles, and founding a native dynasty which lasted for two centuries. before

Long

Orry’s

time the

temple

of Thor had

given place

to

a

church, but the main features of the ancient ceremonial of been retained, and are to the present day. The King came had Tynwald in royal array and sat on the topmost level of the Hill facing the east. Christian

power, was held before him point upward, his barons and chief officers. On the next level were

His sword of state, emblem of

and around him

the

Keys

or

Kiare-as-feed, the “Twenty-four,”who

the worthiest yeomen of

were

men

of the

standing.

Below them

Kingdom.

The six Coroners, who in

the

and sword, and

were

early

freeholders and the

times

clergy and were probably

armed with battleSheadings, for the responsible keeping of the peace in

in command of the militia of their axe

were

were

came

Assembly.

Sheading of Glenfaba the Tynwald stands, “fenced”the Court, threatening with hanging and drawing any violent disturbers of the proceedings. Of the ecclesiastical Barons whose duty it was to appear at the The senior Coroner, in whose

Mount in medieval times Sodor and Man.

only

one

now

had extensive

remains: the Lord

holdings. They including the greater part Onchan and Lezayre. The Prioress

Bishop

of

The Abbot of Rushen

controlled 9,000 acres,

of Malew and

of German,

of

Douglas

portions

had lands

in Braddan, the Prior of Whithorn drew rents from German and Marown, 12

0

Cl) (

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0 0

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and the Abbot of

and

Bangor

Point. The

Dalby

and Sabal had 700

Bishop

acres

alone retained his

between Glen

Barony,

of

Maye

over

3,000

acres, after the Reformation. The Keys corresponded

to

the

landowners

and advisers in the Icelandic

was

written down, but

in

sat

as

a

bench of

Assembly. In early times the Law by the Deemsters and kept their breasts, and was known as Breast Law. When a legal point was doubt the Deemsters consulted with the Twenty-four and after

jurymen

in

who

not

was

memorised

agreement declared the law.

“Keys,”is of debatable origin, among the unlocked the secrets of the law; that “Key”

Their alternative name,

that

explanations being they is a corruption of Kvid, a highly placed Norse jury; that it comes Kjosa, “chosen“;or from “Quest,”that being for long one of most important functions.

from their

In the presence of the King on Tynwald stood three chaplains bearing the Three Reliques of Man, objects believed to have remarkable derived

from

religious associations. They were the oath-ring. Oaths were sworn on them, and their appearance before the ruler added to his prestige. What they were is not known, but it is possible that one of them was the Staff of St. Maughold, which the monks of Rushen credited with miraculous powers. They disappeared in the sixteenth century. qualities

their

Christian substitutes for the pagan

LATER There

are

TYNWALDS

vivid accounts of Midsummer

Day

at

St.

John’s

in the

eighteenth centuries. Each Parish Captain, with four parish, rode armed to Castletown, the old capital, to escort the Lord or his Deputy to the Hill. The picturesque cavalcade, swollen by members of the Lord’s Council and officers, and moving to lively music, rode up the highway to Foxdale and St. John’s, where seventeenth and

horsemen of his

Bishop, Deemsters, Keys It had become the

and

people

practice

to

awaited it. deal

with

controversial

business

beforehand, and after service in the Chapel, the members of the Court made their way to the Hill. On the rare occasions when the Lord of the Isle was

present he

was

preceded by 13

the Governor,

bearing

his staff

of office,

fencing

white rod six feet in

a

The Manx Gaelic

length.

of the Court and in other announcements, the

understood

by

most of the

people

on

was

used in

only language

the Green.

Lordship of Man was vested in the British Crown there exceptional cases in which judgment was delivered and punishment

Until the were

given at the Hill. On Midsummer Day in 1680, a Lonan landowner who had spoken disrespectfully of the Governor was put into stocks set up in the midst of the fair on the Tynwald Green, with a paper on his breast naming his offence.

outlawing from the Hill took place in 1755, when a Ballaugh suspected of sheep-stealing and fled before he could be arrested. each of the six Sheading courts in turn the Coroner read out the name the fugitive, and called upon him “tocome forward and stand trial.” The last

man was

In of

There

was no

Finally, once

response.

Tynwald

at the

he failed to answer,

goods

forfeited

Hall

in the

summoned him to

more

following July, come

the Coroner of Glenfaba

and abide his trial; and when

the Southern Deemster declared his

body

and

to the Lord of the Isle.

Caine, in

one

of the Hill in

an

—that is,

one

who

judgment

at

the

of his earlier novels, “TheDeemster,” makes

episode was

where the

Governor

Tynwald.

The

as

wayward well

Bishop

as

son

of the

Bishop

use

Sword-Bishop brought for

is

pronounces excommunication

on

the offender and banishment to the extreme south of the Island.

Although the incident could never have happened in the way or the place he describes, the author conjures up a moving and dramatic picture of the scene, the great gathering of people motionless under the threatening sky, the broken.hearted Bishop, torn between love and duty, and the repentant prodigal making his way through the silent crowd to banishment.

THE TYNWALD CHAPEL There is

given to

the

*

no

reference

to the

of St. John in recent times earlier than 1577. The dedication

Chapel

the status of Parish Church Saint

was

in

agreement with the practice of

early

Christian

Now of Manx bog-oak, and used only at the installation of a new Lieutenant Governor. 14

missionaries when faced with of their

hearts

saint’s festival.

In this

Midsummer feast of the

The

god

or

festival dear

to

the

linked the pagan feast with

a evangelisers were weaned from the worshippers away Sun-god to the Christian celebrations of St. John.

stands

on

or

near

the site of

one

erected at

thousand years ago. This is suggested by the discovery of part cross which now stands in the Chapel porch. The broken

a

of

Runic

cross

heathen

case

Chapel probably

least a

a

converts. The

shaft is in the

in the tenth century. inscription in runes:

style of the great sculptor Gaut of Kuli, who lived Running up one edge of the stone is an incomplete

“Inosruthr:

raist: runar: thsar”

“ButOsruth carved these runes.” The

primary function of the Chapel was that of Court-house, and its upkeep was regarded as a charge on the public funds; but at the end of the eighteenth century it began to be used regularly to minister to the growing population of the district. Often patched up, the ancient building was, however, falling into irreparable decay, and in 1845 a committee of public-spirited inhabitants of Kirk German was formed with the aim of erecting as they said: “Anew chapel, decent and convenient, for the worship of God and for the meeting of the Tynwald Court.”

They were backed by Tynwald, and Whitehall, which at that period kept a tight grip on the Island finances, was persuaded to release threefifths of the total cost of £2,535. The Barrule

new

edifice

was

built of South

in 1849. It has

and

opened granite special seating arrangements for the accommodation of the Tynwald Court, and has been enriched in recent times by the beneficence of the late W. H. Collister, a native of St.

John’s.

The erection of the

new

church

was

accompanied by

the construction

wall, four feet high, supporting the ancient bank fiat-topped which marked the enclosure of the Hill, Processional Way and ChapelCourt. The noble National War Memorial standing to the north of the of

stone

a

designed by the famous arch2eologist, P. M. C. Kermode, and contribution—unsurpassedin proportion to the population —which the Island made to the British fighting services in the Napoleonic and First and Second World Wars; for “this little quiet nation,” as Bishop Rutter affectionately called it three centuries ago,

Way

was

recalls the

15

has

been

always

of its obligations

unwavering

THE Time has no

but

longer

in its

loyalty

Crown, and mindful

the

to

member of the British

as a

community

of nations.

TYNWALD OF TO-DAY

brought changes.

The Lieutenant-Governor,

rides from Castletown with

a

for

example.

hundred horsemen in his train,

police escort from Douglas, which has supplanted capital. proceedings, which are admirably follow the order the guard of on founded ancient tradition organised, honour for the Queen’s representative, the religious service, the procession comes

by

motor

with

car

But the

the old

Hill, with the thirteenth century Sword of State carried point There is, too, the revival of the old custom of wearing sprigs upward. to the

of the Bollan-Vane

valued

as a

or

BoIIan-feailleoin, “herb of John’s feast,”

protection against

the forces of evil which

were

active

once

during

the festival. The Lieutenant-Governor sits the Council around him. It has

Bishop, Deemsters, two members and four elected by the Keys. That

on

the Hill summit,

changed

in

nominated

popularly-elected body,

headed

facing east, with composition and consists of by the Lieutenant-Governor

by

their

Speaker,

sit

on

the

of the people,” as a writer second tier. “Thefathers and protectors described them in 1643, they have always been leaders in the Manxman’s .

.

.

long struggle for greater political freedom. They last of their judicial duties a century ago, and their The next

occupied by

the Vicar-General,

magistrate),

Clergy

platform

is

the

High

were

divested of the

function is Bailiff

legislative.

(a stipendiary

the Heads of Local Authorities,

the

and Free Church Ministers.

On the fourth tier

The Coroners, who

the

Captains companies.

are

commanders of the militia

are

of the Parishes, who

officials of Court, stand

as

were once

of old at the foot

of the Hill, and the Court is

the Coroner of Glenfaba, who

“fences” it. He and his five

staves of office,

and take their oath in

opened by colleagues surrender their ancient form on reappointment.

The laws which have been enacted

proclaimed.

Until the First World War, *

The title

during no

law

the past year are then of force until it had

was

Governor”was not used after 1830. 16

C C

14:

(ID

H

IDk

wS a)

H

C,)

Cl)

I

0

z

I

promulgated. At one time new laws were read out in full in English, but since 1865 only a summary is given. The Senior Deemster reads the English and the official Lbaihder, “Reader,”the Manx; and the Royal Assent to the Act is announced. been thus

Manx and

The Deemster then calls upon the Freemen of Man to

cheers for the Queen, and the return is made to the Lieutenant-Governor and

Legislative

the

Council

Keys between the transepts, hold for purely formal business.

a

sitting meeting of

Chapel.

give

three

Here the

in the Chancel and the

Tynwald

Court

Since 1765, the double role of

presided

over

King of England has been Lord of Man, and in his Sovereign Lord and Lord of the Isle, H.M. King George VI the Tynwald Court in 1945. CONCLUSION

present-day Tynwald, an aspect almost as surprising as the survival of the open-air Assembly, is the enduring racial of those who take consistency part in it. Of the Legislative Council, Parish and Coroners, Keys, Captains nearly eighty per cent. have native names found in Man at least four or five centuries ago, and illustrating that fusion of Celt and Viking which made the Manx nation. One aspect of the

As

walk

they

on

with them in their has

a

the

the

where their ancestors trod,

beyond

animal

an

they

carry

The First Deemster

the Christian

era

to

a

time when the Celtic tribes had

totems.

The Manx may well be and of the

persistence. adaptability

its

of

history. royal name, Olaf, his colleague the name affray at Tynwald in 1238. The Rev. Reader’s romance

Gaelicised form of the

of two chiefs slain in goes

pathway

names

to

the

proud of these evidences of their racial continuing vitality of their political system and changing demands of the times.

9th August, 1957.

17

Published

by

THE GOVERNMENT PROPERTY TRUSTEES FOR THE ISLE OF MAN

Printed by Isle of Man Examiner Limited, Douglas