The fifth published Groam House lecture is the first to examine the important topic of the impact of the Vikings on Easter Ross. The title 'Norse-Pictish relationships' is a little disingenuous, since the Picts are hardly mentioned (neither, as it happens, is Rosemarkie itself); it was rather their (partial) descendants, the Picto-Scottish 'natives' of Northern Scotland, ruled by the Mormaers of Moray, who opposed the expansionist aims of the Norse Earls of Orkney.

Powerful Elite groups - 'warlords' - are focused on, and the author reminds us of the great impact the rulers of societies necessarily have on the rise and fall of cultures. Easter Ross or the Firthlands' - a term to keep in mind for future use - were part of a frontier zone between Celtic- and Norse-speaking peoples between the ninth and twelfth centuries, and their rulers, Celtic Mormaers or Norse Earls, competed constantly for control of the land and its resources.

The best ideas are often in retrospect the simplest and most obvious once thought of: Dr Crawford puts forward the convincing, but apparently never before mooted, idea that the Earls of Orkney fought so hard to extend their rule over the northern Scottish mainland because they wished to be able to exploit its resources of timber. Clearly, the maintenance of their northern 'sea kingdom' would have been impossible without a constant supply of good quality wood for building and repairing ships - a resource naturally unobtainable in the Northern Isles themselves. Examples of the large size of Early Medieval fleets and their great wastage through losses arising from battles or bad weather are quoted from Orkneyinga Saga. This is the Booklet's central topic.

Around this theme the author builds up a picture of the political and military struggles over Easter Ross between Norsemen and Celts. and the evidence for the Vikings in the area to be derived from archaeology and place-names. Political history is heavily dependant on the Saga, a lively but difficult source, and the archaeological evidence is, if anything, even less helpful. Place-names provide valuable evidence for Norse settlement and timber exploitation, though their exact original meanings are often uncertain. Norse settlement and the origins of the town of Dingwall - hub of Viking Ross and still the administrative centre today - are also covered. It would be interesting to know if their are remains of a Norse settlement under the modern town.

This booklet has fewer illustrations than most previous Groam House Lectures - five maps or plans and one photograph. The front cover has an appropriate line drawing of Norse shipwrights at work.

Dr Crawford's lecture exemplifies the multi-disciplinary approach she herself recommends, and she has put together a number of fascinating ideas about the history of Easter Ross that will help to illuminate a lively but obscure period. It is to be hoped that the Groam House Lecture series will continue to field such innovative work in the future.

Earl & Mormaer: Norse-Pictish relationships in Northern Scotland can be obtained from Groam House Museum, High Street, Rosemarkie, IVIO 8UF, price £4.50. including postage.

Available at the same price are the first four published Groam House Lectures:

The art and function of Rosemarkie 's Pictish monuments by Isabel Henderson.

Curadan, Boniface and the early church ofRosemarkie by Aidan MacDonald.

The neighbours of the Picts: Angles, Britons & Scots at war and at home by Leslie Alcock.

Perceptions of the Picts: From Eumenius to John Buchan by Anna Ritchie.

Niall M Robertson