Faroe islands: interpretations of history

280 Pages·2014·54.874 MB·English

by  Wylie, Jonathan

The Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Interpretations of History
JONATHAN WYLIE
Title-page illustration:T6rshavninthe 1880s (Labonne 1887).
Courtesy Harvard University Libraries.
Endpapermaps in this volume arereprinted withpermission
from TheRingofDancers:Images ofFaroese Culture by
Jonathan Wylie and DavidMargolin (University of
PennsylvaniaPress, 1981).
Copyright © 1987byThe University PressofKentucky
Scholarlypublisherfor the Commonwealth,
serving BellarmineCollege, BereaCollege, Centre
CollegeofKentucky, EasternKentucky University,
TheFilsonClub, GeorgetownCollege, Kentucky
Historical Society, Kentucky StateUniversity,
MoreheadState University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, TransylvaniaUniversity,
UniversityofKentucky, UniversityofLouisville,
andWestern Kentucky University.
EditorialandSales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0024
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Wylie, Jonathan.
TheFaroeIslands.
Bibliography:p.
Includesindex.
I. FaroeIslands-History. I. Title.
DL271.F2W95 1987 949.1'5 86-13205
ISBN 978-0-8131-6012-2
for myfather
Laurence Wylie,
also a student oflocal history,
under whose roofthis book
was written
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The anthropologist who studies one ofthese
small societiesfinds itfarfrom autonomous and
comes to report and analyze it in its relations,
societal and cultural, to state and civilization.
-Redfield (1960:59)
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Contents
ListofFigures and Tables / xi
Acknowledgments / xiii
Introduction: Terra Incognita / 1
PARTONE: Norse Settlementto Danish Monopoly
1. Another SetofSmall Islands: The Faroes in the Norse World, circa
800-1540 / 7
2. Church, King, Company, and Country: The Reformation and Its
Aftermath, 1540-1709 / 20
3. Outside the Wall: Seventeenth-Century Society in Legend / 41
PARTTWO: Toward a National Culture in an Odd Danish Province
4. A Great Deal ofFuss for an Omelet: A Precarious Stability, 1709
1816 / 65
5. What BetterThing? The Copenhagen Connection, 1814-1855 / 89
6. The Transition from Monopoly: Social Change in the Faroes, 1856
1920 / 113
7. Now the Houris Come to Hand: Culture and Politics, 1890-1920 /
139
CONCLUSION: Specters and Illusions / 173
Appendix: Governance and Governors / 199
Notes / 205
References / 231
Index / 249
IX