Much has been said against king Magnus because he concluded the treaty of Perth, and ceded the Islands to Scotland. To us, however, it appears, on the contrary, a sign of great political prudence in the young king, to perceive, as he evidently did, the impossibility of maintaining a dominion of this precarious character, and to prefer ceding it on honourable conditions while his power was still strong enough to obtain such, rather than to struggle on at the risk of losing it unconditionally. It must nevertheless be owned that the connection, however loose it may have been, and the anomaly of it ever so evident to all and everybody, yet the comparatively short period during which the connection existed, cannot but be to us Norwegians one of peculiar interest and gratification to dwell on, as bearing ample evidence of the conspicuous position among the European powers enjoyed by Norway in its days of past glory. And very remarkable is the fact, that although so early severed from Norway, and with a population more Gaelic than Norwegian, the Isle of Man has preserved until our days the outward form, at least, of the legislature peculiar to Norway in former times, and organised by the Norwegians wherever they formed settlements. Even the name of the place where the annual meeting is held, the Tynwald, is the old Norwegian denomination of Žingvollr (field of the Thing or Parliament), only slightly modified. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at, that a Norwegian historiographer should look upon the ancient records contained in this small volume as of the greatest interest, and by re-publishing it in a handy form try to make it more accessible, than it has hitherto been, as well as by accompanying it with notes make it more intelligible and useful to his countrymen.

The different ways of spelling and pronouncing the names, especially of places, occurring in the Chronicle, or elsewhere in our notes, or in narratives and records concerning Man and the Isles may be divided into two chief classes, those of Gaelic and those of not Gaelic origin, the most numerous among the latter being of course the Norwegian ones. As to the first class, the modern conventional way of spelling them, I suppose after the modern pronunciation, is very different from their spelling in Gaelic, and what must even have been their pronunciation in the mediaeval times, to judge from the way in which they are spelled in the Sagas, and which comes much nearer to the written Gaelic forms; Duncan, written in Gaelic Donnchadh, is written in the Sagas Dungašr (r being only the masculine suffix); Dugald, in Gaelic Dubhgall, is written in the Sagas Dufgall; Donald, in Gaelic Domhnall, in the Sagas Dofnaldr; Rory, in Gaelic Ruaidhri, in the Sagas Rušri; Kenneth, in Gaelic Cionadh, in the Sagas Kynašr, etc. In our Chronicle, as in most of the Latin records from those times, a middle course is followed between the original Gaelic spelling and the Anglo-Scottish pronunciation; as Duncanus (modern), Dufgaldus (more like the Gaelic), Dompnaldus; Muircertach (in the Sagas Myriartak, Muriartak, or Myrkjartan), in modern spelling Murcard, is written partly Murecardus, Murcardus, partly Murkartac; Angus is written Engus, as in the Sagas. As to the Norwegian names of men, Haraldus, Olavus, Haakon are the forms commonly used in Latin records for Haraldr, Olafr, Hakon; Gødredus and Reginaldus, sometimes Raignaldus and Reginandus, are the English forms for Gudrošr and Rognvaldr or Ragnvaldr; Sytric, as in the Irish coins, for Sigtryggr. Of Gaelic names of places only very few are found in the Chronicle, and generally more like the forms given to them in the Sagas, than the modern ones, as Galwedia, Galloway, Norw. Gaddgešlar; Etholica, Atholl, N. Atjoklar; Both, Bute, N. Bot; Yle, Isla, N. Il. As to the Norwegian names of places, they are generally not much altered, as Lodhus, Lodws, Leodus, Lewis, N. Ljošihus; Ramsa, Ramso, Ramsay in Man, N. Hrafnsa; Santwat, N. Sandvaš Sandy-ford; Mirescog or Mirescohe, N. Myriskogr; Ragnaldswath, Rognalwat, Ranaldwath, N. Rognvaldsvaš Reginald's ford; Warchfell (more correct Warthfell), N. Varšfell (the mountain of the beacon).

The Isle of Man is called, as commonly in Latin records, Mannia; the Norwegian form Mön (which is also expressed in the Runic Maun), has only suffered the modification of the vowel indispensable in the nominative singular of feminine words, the original vowel of which is a, which always returns in the genitive, as önd (soul), gen. andar; so also Mön, gen. Manar. The other Islands, comprised under one denomination, are called in the Chronicle Soderenses or Sodorenses. This is a Latinisation of the Norwegian name Sušreyjar, composed of sušr (i.e. south) and eyjar (i.e. islands), and meaning, therefore, properly Southern Islands, in opposition to the Northern Islands of Orkney, Shetland, and Faerey. In Latin, therefore, Insulae Australes had been a more adequate and reasonable translation, Soderenses being almost nonsense, and having no doubt originated from people who did not under stand the meaning of sušr (south), but believed it to be the name of a place, from which they could form a local adjective in the common way by adding the termination -ensis.

The word Sodorensis has given birth in England, as the Bishop of Man is always styled Bishop of Sodor and Man, the first name being no doubt thought by most people to design a place, while few, or none, dream of its meaning only South, and that the bishop is consequently styled Bishop of the South and Man. As the Islands, the Insulae Sodorenses, from which the name is derived, do not now any more belong to the diocese of Man, the bishop ought indeed entirely to drop this ridiculous addition, or at least change it into a more reasonable form. The form Sudreys (from Sušreyjar), in analogy with Orkneys from Orkneyjar, seems to be most eligible and suitable to the English tongue; we have therefore ventured to adopt it in our notes, avoiding carefully the very common, but erroneous name of Hebrides, in which the syllable bri is only a misreading of bu in the name Hebudæ, Hæbudæ, Æbudæ, used by the ancient Latin writers.