SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Land Tenure in a Faroese Village 35
a description of N6lsoy now available in prints- explains
that some time before the Reformation the Church
confiscated half of N6lsoy for some breach of ecclesiastical
law. At the Reformation half of this land was taken as
a crown estate, and half was sold to the families of
Benkestok and Rosenkrands, the only families of the
nobility ever to own estates in the Faroe Islands. One
mark of the Ognarhagi, however, also belonged to the
Church, so that at the present day, it happens that 13
marks of N6lsoy are crown land. Unfortunately Schreter
in reporting folk-lore was apt to swell out genuine evidence
with his vivid imagination, and it is impossible to confirm
the story. It is in one small detail at variance with
deductions that can be made from the earliest crown rent
books.
It might be expected that the different outfield parts
would have their infield in localised sections of the
ancient beur, but this is not so. Subdivision of the
ognarjera, and the exchange of plots, legal or simply
informal, have completely blurred any picture of what the
ownership pattern might have been at the period of the
Reformation. Only the name KirkjumfJrk for a mark of
infield just north of the village bears out one detail of
Schreter's story.
Until 1836 the portions of outfield that were enclosed
and cultivated were rather small. However, early in the
nineteenth century the potato was introduced and,
according to N6lsoy tradition, rapidly became a popular
crop. Occupiers of land were unwilling to use corn- or
hay-land for potatoes. Hence arose the practice of
staking out viobyrgir. These are small portions of
outfield, usually adjacent to the boundary wall that in
every Faroese village lies between the infield and the
outfield, and fenced in to prevent the sheep from eating
what is being grown. In theory, every occupier of land
should enclose oiobyrgi» at the same time, and in
21 Var"in XI (I93I), 168-75.