NORWAY

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The first men to appear in what is now Norway, emerged from dim pre-history when the great inland ice sheets were retreating over Scandinavia. 10,000 years ago the forefathers of today's Norwegians hunted reindeer and other prey on their long trek north. The land they came to had for centuries borne the weight of the icecap, so the coastline was about 200 metres higher than it is today. The oldest proofs of human activity were discovered on a hill in the southeast region of Østfold, not far from the southern frontier with Sweden. At that time the hill was probably an offshore island, just south of the glacier tip.The Viking era marks the termination of the prehistoric period in Norway. There were still no written sources of knowledge, and what is known about this period is largely based on archaeological remains. Nevertheless, the Sagas shed some light on this age. Although they were written down later, the Sagas were based on word of mouth tales passed down from one generation to the next. In synthesis they reveal that the Viking age must without comparison have been the richest of all the prehistoric periods in the north.Many scholars regard the looting of the monastery of Lindisfarne, off England's northeast coast, in the year 793 as the beginning of the Viking Age. Over extensive parts of west and southwest Europe they are still regarded as cruel brigands, who wraught havoc on their victims with fire and the sword. This is only partially true. The Vikings also came on peaceful errand, to trade and to colonize. Norwegian Vikings settled in the Orkney Isles, the Shetlands, the Hebrides, and on the Isle of Man. The mainland of northern Scotland and Ireland also became their home, and Dublin, founded by the Vikings in the 840s, was under Nordic rule right up to 1171.In Iceland and Greenland the Norwegian Vikings found uninhabited land. There they settled and built communities. Present-day Iceland is a direct consequence of the Viking colonization. On Greenland, however, the Norse communities, for reasons unknown, died out some few centuries later.The Norwegian Vikings came mostly from the south and west of the country, where the land had been utilized to the maximum it could tolerate. In southeast and north Norway, on the other hand, settlement based on agriculture and other activities spread to previously uninhabited areas, particularly in the mountains and valleys.For their many expeditions the Vikings needed fast and seaworthy ships, and men with the skill to navigate them over open seas. The fact that these hardy men repeatedly voyaged to America and back is evidence enough of their mastery of the longships. The Sagas relate that it was Leif Eriksson who discovered "Wineland the Good" in the year 1001, but present day scholars claim that other Vikings had reached America before him. The Viking Age finally culminated in 1066 when the Norwegian King Harald Hardruler and his men were defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in England.A United KingdomUp to the 800s the regions that later became Norway were not unified. But both groups and individuals attempted to bring them together. Two main types of community were formed:* assemblies or "tings" organized around a central "Allting"and* petty kingships.There must have been several reasons for this. Not least of them was the farmers' need for peace and continuity, particularly in the coastal areas, that were repeatedly troubled by robber bands and the harryings of the homecoming vikings. The costal areas possessed at this time substantial riches in the shape of stolen and traded goods. Safe on their "thrones" sat the petty kings, who thanks to the kinships created by intermarriage, were a tight-knit group with considerable power.The petty kings in the Viken -- the areas surrounding the Oslofjord, played a major role in this process. Their might increased steadily as district after district was brought under their rule. After a battle at Hafrsfjord near Stavanger, believably fought in the year 872, King Harald Fairhair strengthened his position as ruler of large areas of the country. This unifying process, however, continued for several more decades, bringing harsh struggles between warring Norwegian chieftains, and between Norwegian and other peoples of the north. By 1060 the unifying process appears to have been completed.The advent of ChristianityChristianity was introduced into Norway over a lengthy period of time, possibly two hundred years. It was a natural result of the Norwegians' contact with Christian Europe, through trading connections and Viking raids. Missions from the churches of England, Germany and Denmark had also contributed to a weakening of traditional belief in the Nordic gods. This development culminated with the three missionary kings, Håkon the Good, Olaf Trygvasson, and Olaf the Stout. The latter's martyr death, at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030 gave him saint's status. The Church had won the final victory.From the middle of the 11th century the legislation that was enacted, the songs that were sung, and the monuments that were erected demonstrated the firm establishment of Christianity in Norway. Shortly before the year 1100 the first bishoprics appeared, among them the see of Nidaros, later Trondheim, where the archbishop held office from 1152. The Norwegian archbishop also played a political role. In 1537 the Reformation was enforced in Norway by royal decree. At this time the country was under Danish rule, and the Reformation was enforced simply by making the so-called Danish/Norwegian church ordinance applicable in Norway too. From the early 1600s the Lutheran creed was the sole creed of Norway .The Middle AgesThe year 1130 was a water-shed in Norwegian history. A period of peace was disprupted by conflicts; the civil wars which lasted right up to 1227.But 1130 was a special year in other ways too. It is regarded as the start of the so-called High Middle Ages, a period of population growth, consolidation within the Church, and the rise and development of the towns. As Crown and Church brought district after district under their rule the degree of public administration and authority increased. Historians say that only then could Norway be termed one realm.The power of the monarchy increased in the 1100s and 1200s, ending in victory both over the Church and the nobles. The traditional secular aristocracy was replaced by a serving aristocracy. The status of the farmers changed in this period, from that of freeholder to that of tenant. However, the farmer, who usually rented his lands on a lifetime basis, enjoyed a free status that was rare indeed in most of contemporary Europe. The slaves of the Viking age also disappeared in the High Middle Ages.During this period the political centre of gravity in Norway moved from the southwest to the districts surrounding the Oslofjord. During the reign of King Håkon V, in the 1200s, Oslo became Norway's capital. Prior to this it had been an insignificant clutch of houses in the innermost reaches of the Oslofjord. When the Black Death reached Norway, in 1350, the town allegedly housed no more than 2,000 people. At that time Bergen had a population of 7,000 and Trondheim 3,000.The state revenues in the High Middle Ages were extremely modest by European standards. Towards the end of the period they were scarcely adequate to finance any expansion of the administrative apparatus of Crown and state. The Black Death had raged with terrible effect, reducing the population to one half or possibly only one third of its pre-1350 level. This development prompted the King and the nobility to seek revenues from lands and feudal estates, regardless of national boundaries. This contributed towards the growth of the political unions in the Nordic lands.Right from the 1319 to 1343 period Norway and Sweden had a joint monarchy, an institution later expanded through the arrangement of inter-Scandinavian royal marriages. Håkon VI (1340-80) -- son of the Swedish king Magnus Eriksson, and Håkon V's daughter Ingebjørg -- was lawful heir to the throne of Norway. He married Margrete, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag. Their son, Olav, was chosen to be Danish king on the death of Valdemar in 1375. He inherited the throne of Norway after his father in 1380, thus bringing Norway into a union with Denmark which lasted right up to 1814.Union with DenmarkThe late Middle Ages were a period of marked economic deterioration in Norway. The population had been drastically reduced by the ravages of the Black Death and other plagues during the fourteenth century. Many farms in the marginal areas were deserted, and incomes sank. Some claim that a worsening of the climate and the grip of the Hanseatic League on Norwegian economy were the cause of the decline. Others believe that a steady impoverishment of the soil contributed to the deterioration.The economic depression brought political consequences in its wake. Denmark assumed increasing importance as the major Nordic land. Danish and German nobles were appointed to the highest official offices. Lands and episcopal residences passed into foreign hands. The Norwegian nobility dwindled. Thus was the will and the ability for national self-assertion gradually sapped.From 1450 the union with Denmark was established by treaty -- a treaty supposedly meant to ensure the power of the Norwegian Council of the Realm when a monarch was being selected, though this stipulation was never respected. The treaty was also to serve as a guarantee of the equality of the two realms. This was the theory; practice proved otherwise.In 1536 Norway ceased to be an independent kingdom. This came about at a national assembly in Copenhagen, where King Christian III had pledge to the Danish noblemen that Norway was henceforth to be subservient to the Danish Crown, like any other Danish possession. Norway's Council of the Realm was disbanded, and the Norwegian church lost its autonomy. The Danish noblemen could from then on freely take over positions as officers of the law in Norway, and could earn their incomes from Norway too.This close political link with Denmark drew Norway unavoidably into the wars that Denmark waged with Sweden and the Baltic Sea powers. It led the Danish king to surrender Norwegian land to Sweden; Jemtland and Herjedalen in 1645, Båhuslen and the fief of Trondheim in 1658, the latter, however, was returned to Norway two years later.An assembly of the States General at Copenhagen in 1660 acclaimed Fredrik III as heir to the throne and assigned to him the task of giving the kingdoms a new constitution. In this way the two kingdoms were subject to an absolute monarchy, a factor which affected Norway's position throughout the remaining period of the union of the two lands. Although Norway was governed from Copenhagen, the monarch was often in no position to rule. The real power lay in the hands of the state officials. By and large Norway profited from this, as among the state officials dawned some comprehension of the Norwegian standpoint. On issues relating to Norway in particular, the views of the high-ranking Norwegian officials were often respected.In this period of absolute rule a policy was formulated whereby Denmark and Norway were to be treated as a single economic unit. Thus, Denmark was accorded sole rights to the sales of grain in southeast Norway (1737), while a corresponding monopoly on sales of iron from Norway was introduced in Denmark. Through the so-called town privileges in 1662 all trade in timber was concentrated in the towns, where the inhabitants were granted exclusive rights to purchase timber from the farmers and the sawmill owners. The intention was to create a wealthy middle class in the town -- and this goal was achieved.The middle class which emerged in the wake of economic developments bore the seeds of a certain national awareness. This was especially marked in the 1700s. It could have resulted from the strong economic growth of this social class, but probably the decisive factor was the growing resistance to the rulers' efforts to make Copenhagen the economic nub of the two lands. The Norwegian traders could not compete with the mighty trading houses of the Danish capital.In the late 1700s most imports were shipped through Copenhagen. The timber retailers of southeast Norway made a concerted demand for a national Norwegian bank, and at the same time supported the demands of the senior officials for a Norwegian University. These demands were denied, as the government feared any move which might give Norway a more autonomous position, and impair the strength of the union. The concept of a Norwegian University and national bank gradually came to symbolize the growing national consciousness.The trend accelerated during the Napoleonic Wars of 1807 -1814. Denmark/Norway were allied with France, and the resulting blockade isolated Norway both from Denmark and from the market. Shipping and timber exports came to a halt, and famine and hunger spread through the land. As Norway could no longer be administered from Copenhagen, a government commission of senior officials was appointed to carry out this task. The King, Frederik VI, submitted to demands for a national university, which was consequently established in 1811. All these events formed the backdrop for what was to take place in 1814.Secession from DenmarkAt the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 Napoleon suffered heavy defeat. One of his opponents on the battlefield, the kingdom of Sweden, had previously lost Finland to the czardom to the east, and now wished to have Norway as a safeguard on its western border. Sweden's allies had therefore pledged Norway to it as one of the spoils of war.The allied victory at Leipzig was followed by diplomatic pressure in Copenhagen and a military attack on the double monarchy, by way of Holstein. In January 1814 Fredrik VI surrendered, cut the links with Napoleon, and handed Norway over to his Swedish opponents. In this way ended 434 years of union between Norway and Denmark.However, the agreement between Denmark and its opponents contained political elements that were of major importance to Norway. The terms firmly established that Norway was again to take its place among the independent states, in union with Sweden. In a subsequent proclamation from the Swedish king Carl XIII, it was stated that Norway was to have the status of an independent state, with its own free constitution, national representation, its own government and the right to levy taxes.The Norwegians were not immediately agreeable to accepting this state of affairs. Governing Norway at that time was the nephew of the Danish King, Prince Christian Frederik. In understanding with his uncle, the governor paved the way for a Norwegian revolt, to prevent a Swedish takeover and presumably also to secure a reunion of Denmark and Norway.The governor's action led to the convening of an assembly whose purpose was to forge a constitution. They met at Eidsvoll, some 70 km north of Oslo and on May 17 1814 formally adopted the constitution, choosing Christian Frederik as Norwegian king. To this day, May 17 is celebrated as the Norwegian national day.The victors of the Napoleonic Wars however, were unwilling to accept any deviation from the terms of the agreement. The Swedes exerted diplomatic pressure, and when this proved to be of no avail, they launched a military campaign of trained troops who rapidly subdued the Norwegians. In August an agreement was signed at Moss, south of Oslo, whereby the Swedes accepted the Norwegian Constitution signed at Eidsvoll, with the amendments made necessary by the Union of the two kingdoms. King Christian Frederik relinquished his power on 10 October 1814, and left the country. Norway had entered into another Union.