Våle is a village in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

municipality, and former municipality, in

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. T ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Våle is a rural, agricultural area, with Kirkevoll/

Brekkeåsen Brekkeåsen is a residential area in Re municipality in Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Tele ...

, Rånerudåsen, Svinevoll, Sørby and Gretteåsen as more dense housing areas. The administrative centre was Sørby. The parish of ''Vaale'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 2,408. On 16 July 1873, an uninhabited part of Vaale was moved to

Ramnes Ramnes is a village in Tønsberg municipality, and former municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The village of Ramnes was the administrative centre of the municipality. Summary The parish of ''Ramnæs'' was established as a muni ...

municipality following a royal resolution. In 1947 a part of

Botne Botne is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The parish of Botne was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 1,600. In 1942 a part o ...

with 8 inhabitants was moved to Våle. On January 1, 2002 Våle was merged with Ramnes to form the new municipality Re, which on Januari 1, 2020 was merged into

. In 1996 Våle had a population of 3,868. Våle Church (''Våle kirke'') is located in Nord-Jarlsberg rural deanery. The Medieval church building was built in 1190 of stone and brick. Våle is known for being the village where the

Jarlsberg cheese Jarlsberg ( , ) is a mild cheese made from cow's milk, with large, regular eyes, originating from Jarlsberg, Norway. It is produced in Norway, as well as in Ireland and the US state of Ohio, licensed from Norwegian dairy producers. It is classi ...

first was produced. Famous residents of Våle include the author

Kåre Holt Kåre Holt (10 October 1916 – 15 March 1997) was a Norwegian author. He wrote plays, poetry and about forty books. Biography Holt was born in the village of Våle in Vestfold, Norway. His parents were Peder Anton Kristiansen (1870-1958) and M ...

(1916–1997).

The name and coat of arms

Until 1921 the name was written "Vaale". The municipality (originally the parish) was named after the old farm Våle ( Norse ''Válir''), since the first church was built there. The name is the plural form of ''váll'' m (see Våler). The municipality coat of arms was a

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. ...

, since mistletoe grows in several places in the village. In Norse mythology

Höðr Höðr ( non, Hǫðr ; often anglicized as Hod, Hoder, or Hodur) is a god in Norse mythology. The blind son of Odin and Frigg, he is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr. ...

killed

Baldr Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...

with a mistletoe sprig, and

Váli In Norse mythology, Váli (Old Norse: ) is a God and the son of the god Odin and the giantess Rindr. Váli has numerous brothers including Thor, Baldr, and Víðarr. He was born for the sole purpose of avenging Baldr, and does this by killing H ...

(Våle in Norwegian) has to avenge his death.

References

Other sources

* * * 1838 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2002 Villages in Vestfold og Telemark Former municipalities of Norway Tønsberg {{Vestfold-geo-stub