Eidskog is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vinger. The

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of Skotterud. Other villages in the municipality include

Magnor Magnor is a village in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located from the border with Sweden. The village lies along the Norwegian National Road 2 and the Kongsvingerbanen railway line. The municipal centre, Skot ...

Matrand Matrand is a village in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located approximately south of the town of Kongsvinger and about north of the village of Skotterud. Matrand is approximately northwest of the border with ...

, and Åbogen. The municipality is the 181st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Eidskog is the 155th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,032. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 4.1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality was established on 1 January 1864 when the old Vinger Municipality was divided in two: Vinger (population: 6,226) in the north and Eidskog (population: 6,920) in the south. On 1 January 1986, the northern part of the Åbogen area (population: 14) was transferred from Kongsvinger Municipality to Eidskog Municipality.

Name

The municipality was named ''Eidskog'' (historically spelled ''Eidskogen''). The Old Norse form of the name was . The first element is the plural

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of which means "path between two lakes". The last element is which means " woods". Thus the name means "the woods with the many ". (In historical times people traveled in small boats on the lakes and the rivers, but they had to drag the boats over the .)

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 12 September 1986. The arms show a gray background with a black grouse, a common inhabitant of the many forests in the municipality. Forestry is also one of the main sources of income in the area.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has two parishes () within the municipality of Eidskog. It is part of the

Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti The list of churches in Hamar is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Hamar which includes all of Innlandet county (plus two municipalities in Viken county) in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each d ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

Geography

The municipality is located in the southeastern part of Innlandet county. It is bordered to the north by the municipality of Kongsvinger (in Innlandet) and in the west by

Aurskog-Høland Aurskog-Høland is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjørkelangen. The municipality of Rømskog, in Østfold count ...

, Nes (both in Viken and Sør-Odal (in Innlandet). Eidskog also borders

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, both to the east and south. The lakes Digeren,

Mangen Mangen is a lake in the municipalities of Eidskog in Innlandet county and Aurskog-Høland in Viken county, Norway. The lake lies about northeast of the village of Aursmoen (in Aurskog-Høland) and about west of the village of Skotterud (in ...

, and

Skjervangen Skjervangen is a lake in the municipality of Eidskog in Innlandet county, Norway. The lake lies less than northwest of the border with Sweden and about southwest of the village of Skotterud Skotterud is the administrative centre of Eidskog M ...

are all located in Eidskog.

History

The name ''Eidskog'' is ancient and was used for the southern part of Vinger, the region between today's Kongsvinger in Norway and

Arvika Arvika is a locality and the seat of Arvika Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 14,244 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The town of Arvika is situated at Kyrkviken, a bay of Glafsfjorden, Sweden's only inland fjord, a remnant of the time ...

in Sweden. The

Vinger Royal Road Vinger Royal Road (''Eskoleia'') was the historical name of an ancient route in southern Norway. Historically Eskoleia was one of the most important traffic arteries between Norway and Sweden. It provided an established road leading both north and ...

( no, Eskoleia) historically traveled through Eidskog (and continues today as the Norwegian National Road 2). It was one of the most important traffic arteries between Norway and Sweden. The name Eidskog was already in use during the

saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

period and became, after the

canonization Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of ...

of Saint Olaf and important pilgrim's route from Europe to

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–102 ...

. During the 12th century, the

Eidskog Church Eidskog Church ( no, Eidskog kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Matrand. It is one of the churches for the Eidskog parish which is part of the S ...

was built. It was a stave church built in Midtskog (which means no, middle of the woods). The present

is built on the same site (now called

) and this building was constructed in 1665. The way through Eidskog was also militarily important and many times through history has been the point of Swedish strikes into Hedmark. To defend against these assaults, a number of fortifications were built in the vicinity, including ones at

and Matrand, but the chief fortification was

Kongsvinger Fortress Kongsvinger Fortress ( no, Kongsvinger festning) is located in the city and municipality of Kongsvinger in the county of Hedmark, Norway. It is situated on a hill west and north of the Glomma river, standing astride the ancient Vinger Royal Road, ...

(to the north). The last Swedish attack through Eidskog was in 1814 when Major General

Carl Pontus Gahn Carl Pontus Gahn (1 March 1759 – 9 May 1825) was a Swedish military officer who participated in the Russo-Swedish War in Finland in 1788–1789, the Finnish War campaign in Norway in 1808 and the unsuccessful invasion of Norway at Eidskog in 18 ...

on July 31 crossed the border and marched against Kongsvinger. His forces were stopped at Lier outside Kongsvinger on 2 August 1814 by troops led by

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Andreas Samuel Krebs Andreas Samuel Krebs (10 March 1766 – 28 March 1818) was a Danish-Norwegian army officer. Early years Born on 10 March 1766 at Tønder in Sønderjylland, Krebs was the son of vicar Peter Ditlev Krebs and Birgitte Marie Lutz. Originally, he was ...

(1769-1818) and retreated to Eidskog. On 4 August 1814, Krebs followed after to drive Swedish troops off Norwegian territory. The two forces met in the

Battle of Matrand The Battle of Matrand ( no, Slaget ved Matrand) was a military battle on 5 August 1814 between Norwegian and Swedish forces as part of the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814. The battle took place near the village of Matrand in Eidskog and at Skot ...

which was the bloodiest battle of the war and ended with a Norwegian victory. Later in 1814, Norway was joined in union with Sweden and the confrontations at the Eidskog border ended. The

Soot Canal The Soot Canal ( no, Sootkanalen) was a canal system located in Eidskog Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Constructed in 1849, it has Norway's oldest sluice gates. It was the work of Engebret Soot (1786-1859). It was built to allow timber ...

, constructed in 1849, has Norway's oldest

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

gates. It was the work of

Engebret Soot Engebret Olsen Soot (26 May 1786 – 3 March 1859) was a Norwegian engineer. He was one of Norway's first canal builders and joined the timber channels at Otteid and Mangen-Grasmo. He is known as the father of the Fredrikshald Canal (now known a ...

(1786–1859). It was built to allow timber to be transported (floated) to the

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a town and a municipality in Viken county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, Rakkestad to the north and Aremark to the east, as well as the Swedish muni ...

sawmills. The canal was long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake

at above sea level up to Lake Mortsjølungen at above sea level. The route through Eidskog became an important connection between the two countries; this was strengthened with the opening of the ''Grenseban'' railway in 1862, which connected Christiania to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Eidskog, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

, senior citizen services, unemployment and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor. The municipality falls under the

Romerike og Glåmdal District Court Romerike og Glåmdal District Court ( no, Romerike og Glåmdal tingrett) is a district court located in Innlandet and Viken counties in Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Eidsvoll, Kongsvinger, and Lil ...

and the

Eidsivating Court of Appeal The Eidsivating Court of Appeal ( no, Eidsivating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Hamar. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Innlandet and eastern Viken. These ...

Municipal council

The municipal council of Eidskog is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayors

The mayors of Eidskog: *1864-1872: Henry T. Fearnley *1872-1879: Haagen Pedersen Malmer *1879-1895: Meldal Johnsen *1895-1897: O. Løken *1897-1905: Hans Taugbøl *1905-1907: O. Løken *1908-1913: Otto Pramm *1913-1915: Ole Syversen Fagernæs ( V) *1915: M. T. Huse *1915-1916: Olof Nilsson *1917-1919: Otto Pramm *1920-1922: H. A. Rambøl *1923-1928: Thorvald Taugbøl *1929-1934: Kaspar Billerud *1935-1945: Selmer Alm ( Ap) *1945-1947: Hallgrim Sørli ( Ap) *1948-1963: Sigurd Skjørberg *1964-1981: Ivar Delviken *1982-1983: Kaare Fjeld *1984-1999: Kåre Delviken *1999-2005:

Ivar Skulstad Ivar Arne Skulstad (born 16 May 1953) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was born in Eidskog as a son of an industrial laborer and a shop worker. He spent his career in the Norwegian Army from 1972 to 1973, Magnor Glassverk from 1 ...

( Ap) *2005-2007:

Greta Storm Ofteland Greta may refer to: *Greta (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name Places * Greta Bridge, village in County Durham, England * Greta, New South Wales, town in Australia ** Greta railway station ** Greta Army Camp, form ...

( Ap) *2007-2015: Knut Gustav Woie ( Sp) *2015–present:

Kamilla Thue Kamilla and Kamila are feminine given names. Notable people with these names include: Kamila * Kamila Aliyeva (born 1967), Azerbaijani politician * Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz (born 1983), Polish politician * Kamila Valieva (born 2006), Russian f ...

( Ap)

Attractions

- the first lock constructed in Norway, used for

log floating Log driving is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America. Histo ...

* Grenselosmuseet - museum on the route for escape to Sweden during the World War II * Oppistun Børli - poet Hans Børli's home * Morokulien - memorial to the long lasting peace with Sweden * Rønning Treski - last wood ski producer in Norway

Notable residents

Portrett av Erik Werenskiold, 1880(cropped)

* Erik Werenskiold (1855 in Eidskog – 1938) a Norwegian painter and illustrator *

Konrad Hirsch Konrad Emanuel Nikolaus Hirsch (19 May 1900 – 17 November 1924) was a Norwegian-born Swedish football (soccer) player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the Swedish team, which won the bronze medal in the football tour ...

(1900 in Eidskog – 1924) Swedish footballer, played in

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Julla Sæthern Julie Therese "Julla" Sæthern (4 December 1901 – 1981) was a Norwegian barrister, feminist and politician. She was born in Eidskog to Lauritz Sæthern and Martha Nilsson, and graduated as cand.jur. in 1938. From 1953 to 1959 she chaired ...

(1901 in Eidskog – 1981) a Norwegian barrister, feminist and politician *

Hans Børli Hans Børli (8 December 1918 – 26 August 1989) was a Norwegian poet and writer, who besides his writings worked as a lumberjack all his life. Biography Hans Georg Nilsen Børli was born at Eidskog in Hedmark, Norway. He was the fifth o ...

(1918 at Eidskog – 1989) a Norwegian poet, writer and

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

Torgrim Sollid Torgrim Sollid (born 17 June 1942) is a Norwegian self-taught traditional folk musician, composer and jazz musician (trumpet, flugelhorn, and drums), known for combining folk music with jazz, and for playing in the Jan Garbarek Quartet and War ...

(born 1942 in Eidskog) a composer and folk and jazz musician *

(born 1953) politician, Mayor of Eidskog 1999 to 2005 *

Kristin Solli Schøien Kristin Solli Schøien (born July 14, 1954 in Oslo) is a Norwegians, Norwegian author and composer. Schøien studied at NLA University College, the University of Oslo, and the Norwegian Academy of Music. She is especially known for her hymnwritin ...

(born 1954) an author and composer, lives in Eidskog * Max Ivan Lindkjølen (born 1956) chef and entrepreneur *

Remi Eriksen Remi Eriksen (born 1967) is the current Group President and Chief Executive Officer of DNV, an international classification society and certification body. He assumed the position on August 1, 2015, succeeding former CEO Henrik O. Madsen. Eriksen ...

(born 1967) Group President and CEO of DNV GL, a classification society *

Wilhelm Brenna Wilhelm Brenna (born 8 October 1979) is a retired Norwegian ski jumper. In the World Cup he finished once among the top 15, with a thirteenth place from Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Sa ...

(born 1979) a retired Norwegian ski jumper, junior world champion *

Andreas Ulvo Andreas Ulvo (born 22 July 1983 in Kongsvinger, Norway) is a Norwegian jazz pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer, known from cooperations with Shining, Ingrid Olava, Mathias Eick Quartet, Solveig Slettahjell & Slow Motion Orchestra, K ...

(born 1983) a jazz pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

Culture in Eidskog on the map
{{use dmy dates, date=March 2022 Municipalities of Innlandet 1864 establishments in Norway