Stitchers: Ellen Rygh, Randi Arstal, Bente V Pederson (Oslo)
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was a considerable timber trade operating between Norway and the east ports coast of Scotland. So great was Scottish involvement in the timber trade that the Norwegians called it the Skottehandelen or “Scots Trade”. The traders brought ‘gret timmer’ to the timber yards of eastern Scotland, and many settled in Norway. Much of the trade went through the city of Bergen, conveniently sited for Scottish shipping. The mighty Rosenkrantz Tower of the Bergenhus fortress is a surviving testament to the Scottish architects and masons who worked on its redevelopment in the 1560s.
NO03 Skottehandelen
Anns an t-siathamh agus an t-seachdamh linn deug, bha malairt fiodha chudromach ag obrachadh eadar Nirribhigh agus na puirt air costa an ear na h-Alba. Bha pàirt na h-Alba ann am malairt an fhiodha cho mòr agus gum b’ e Skottehandelen no “Malairt Alba” a bh’ aig na Nirribhich air. Bha an luchd-malairt a’ toirt ‘gret timmer’ gu gàrraidhean fiodha Alba an Ear agus thuinich mòran ann an Nirribhigh. Bha a’ mhòr-chuid den mhalairt a’ dol tro bhaile-mòr Bergen, a bha suidhichte gu goireasach airson soithichean Albannach. Tha Tùr àibheiseach Rosenkrantz air daingneach Bergenhus mar theisteanas maireannach air ailtirean agus clachairean Albannach a dh’obraich air an ath-leasachadh aice anns na1560s.