Until now I have kept my mouth shut as the issue really didn't matter to
me.... prince or jarl or whatever.... to me he was a Sinclair and that's
enough for me. But as you all tend to quote a lot of sources written
over the years I think I better tell you about the one and probably only
source on the internet that would give you some kind of an answer. Niven
already knows about this site as I told him years ago but as for the
rest of you......
The the Diplomatarium Norvegicum containing the transcription of
approximately 20 000 diplomas connected to Norway in the period 1050 to
1590 is on the net.
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html
and yes there's an English version of it although the text will be in
Latin or old Norwegian.
Going through this source I find that sometimes the word Jarl is used
for the English word Duke and sometimes for other words/titles. It seams
like it varies from time to time what they actually meant with the word
Jarl. Maybe in some time they meant Prince..... and maybe a prince in
Norwegian was not the same as a Prince in English. Maybe everything is
nothing more than a conflict of languages and translations.
Iain Laird, please take a look, as I think you being the only one
besides me, that understand Norwegian, and tell me what you think of it.
Best
Lena
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