Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and traditional district in the Norwegian county of

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). ...

(formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munic ...

and the lake of

Mjøsa Mjøsa is Norway's largest lake, as well as one of the deepest lakes in Norway and in Europe. It is the fourth-deepest lake in Norway. It is located in the southern part of Norway, about north of the city of Oslo. Its main tributary is the rive ...

, extending toward the Romsdalen valley. The river Gudbrandsdalslågen (Lågen) flows through the valley, starting from the lake Lesjaskogsvatnet and ending at the lake Mjøsa. The Otta river which flows through Otta valley is a major tributary to the main river Lågen. The valleys of the tributary rivers such as Otta and Gausa ( Gausdal) are usually regarded as part of Gudbrandsdalen. The total area of the valley is calculated from the areas of the related

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

. Gudbrandsdalen is the main valley in a web of smaller valleys. On the western (right hand) side there are long adjacent valleys: Ottadalen stretches from Otta village, Gausdal some from Lillehammer and Heidal some from Sjoa. Gudbrandsdalen runs between the major mountain ranges of Norway including Jotunheimen and Dovrefjell– Rondane. Together with the

Glomma The Glomma, or Glåma, is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers fully 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the ...

river and the

Østerdalen Østerdalen () is a valley and traditional district in Innlandet county, in Eastern Norway. This area typically is described as the large Glåma river valley as well as all its tributary valleys. It includes the municipalities Rendalen, Alvdal ...

valley, the river Lågen and the Gudbrandsdalen valley form Norway's largest drainage system covering major parts of Eastern Norway. Gudbrandsdalen is home to Dovre Line railway and the

European route E6 European route E6 ( no, Europavei 6, sv, Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north-south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and thr ...

highway. The valley is the main land transport corridor through Eastern Norway, from Oslo and central eastern lowlands to Trondheim and

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

. The valley is divided into three parts: Norddalen (Northern valley; the

of Lesja, Dovre, Skjåk, Lom, Vågå and Sel), Midtdalen (middle valley; the municipalities of

Nord-Fron Nord-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Vinstra. Other population centers in Nord-Fron include the villages ...

Sør-Fron Sør-Fron is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hundorp. Other villages in the municipality include Gålå, H ...

and

Ringebu is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vålebru (the village is also known as ''Ringebu''). The municipality ...

), and Sørdalen (Southern valley; the municipalities of Øyer, Gausdal and

). The municipalities within the valley fall under the Vestre Innlandet District Court. Until 2016, the valley was also a police district. The Gudbrandsdalen district covers about 60% of the former Oppland county. The main character in

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

's play Peer Gynt was inspired by a real or legendary person living in the valley in the 18th or 17th century. Ibsen travelled through the valley in 1862 and collected local stories, legends and poems. Ibsen also made drawings from his trip, including "Elstad in Gudbrandsdalen".

Etymology

Olav den helliges saga - Olav tinget Hundorp - H

The name ''Gudbrandsdalen'' means 'the valley/dale of Gudbrand'. ''Gudbrand'' (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''Guðbrandr'') is an old male name compounded of ''guð'', 'god' and ''brandr'', 'sword'. The name may be derived from a chief ('' hersir'') called Gudbrand. According to

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

the district was also referred to as ''i Dalom'' ("in the valleys") because of the many valleys.''Gudbrandsdalen.'' Oslo: Gyldendal, 1974. .

Dale-Gudbrand Dale-Gudbrand is a historical Norwegian person that appears in the ''Separate Saga of St. Olaf'' in Snorri Sturluson's ''Heimskringla''. He is said to have lived at the farm in Hundorp in the Gudbrand Valley around the year 1000, and to have be ...

settled in Hundorp,

. At the time of Halfdan the Black there was a "chief Gudbrand north in Gubrandsdalen" (''Gudbrand herse nord i Dalom''). Later Eric Bloodaxe had an opponent called Dale-Gudbrand. According to the sage

Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title '' Rex Per ...

met one Dale-Gudbrand, supposedly the last Dale-Gudbrand, in 1021. Historians believe there was a regional centre at Hundorp during the Viking era and that the name Gudbrand was used for many generations by the ruling family. Burial mounds (

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones ...

) at Hundorp suggest that powerful men are buried there.

Geography

The Gudbrandsdalen valley includes the most arid area in Norway. At Skjåk the average annual precipitation is only . The valley sits in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is ca ...

of the mountains west (including Jotunheimen), north, and east of the valley. The valley is less incised than the valleys of western Norway. Farming is mostly confined to the relatively narrow areas along the rivers. Gudbrandsdalen and adjacent valleys are surrounded by wide uplands and mountain plateaus traditional used as '' seter'' or summer farms. Otta

In July 1789 the

Storofsen Storofsen - also referred to as ''Ofsen'' Changes in Flood Risk in Europe, p. 150. Ed. Zbigniew Kundzewicz. United Kingdom, CRC Press, 2019. - was a flood disaster that struck eastern Norway in July 1789 during which 63 people vanished, thousan ...

flood disaster occurred and Gudbrandsdalslågen overflooded. This is the largest flood recorded in Norway and the valley was particularly affected. 61 people perished. About 3000 houses were totally damaged and some thousand livestock drowned. All bridges disappeared. Lågen rose up to above its normal level and covered most of the valley floor. A number of farmers abandoned their damaged farms and settled in Målselv, Troms county. The second largest flood occurred in the summer of 1995 and again the valley floor was largely covered by water. After Storofsen the valley floor upstream from Sel Church changed into bogs and shallow lakes because stone and gravel changed the flow of Lågen. From around 1910 drainage efforts left some of dry farmland on what is still known as the Sel bogs. The toxic cicuta virosa thrived on those bogs before they were drained and are known in Norwegian as ''selsnepe'' (literally Sel turnip). The valley floor in Lesja (between Dombås and Lora) were originally covered by a shallow lake. Drainage efforts from 1860 abolished the lake and left some of farmland. The central part of the valley is covered by the Losna lake, some deep.

Geology

The valley of Gudbrandsdalen is of considerable antiquity considering the overall development of the relief of Norway. The valley runs across the height axis of the southern

Scandinavian Mountains The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to th ...

—a characteristic that could be indicating that the valley formed before the tectonic uplift of Norway. The valley is one of several valleys of southern Norway that existed already as part of the ancient Paleic relief but had at the time gentler slopes. Gudbrandsdalen formed and developed originally as a valley of fluvial origin. Only millions of year later was the valley re-shaped by glaciers during the Quaternary period. As the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet melted and retreated during the end of the last ice age a large but ephemeral ice-dammed lake formed in the valley.

History

The valley was shaped by the recent ice age and rivers from the present glacial areas in Jotunheimen and Dovre. Bones and teeth from

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...

s and musk oxen, living in the area at that time, are found in the valley. Several traces of hunters from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

are found in the valley (and in the mountain areas around). There is a rock carving of

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

in the northern part of

. Gudbrandsdalen has always hosted the main road between Trondheim and the central eastern lowlands. In

known as ''þjóðvegr'' (''tjodvei''), "people's road" or "everybody's road".

Legendary history

Raum the Old was the father of Dale-Gudbrand, and he settled in Hundorp. The Gudbrand Valley is mentioned extensively in the '' Heimskringla'' (Chronicle of the Kings of Norway) by

. The account of King Olaf's (A.D. 1015–1021) conversion of Dale-Gudbrand to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

is popularly recognized. According to the saga Gudbrand built a church there "in the valleys", possibly at Haave farm near Hundorp where archaeological evidence indicates what may have been the first church in the valley. In 1206, the heir to the Norwegian throne,

Håkon Håkonsson Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 ...

, was saved by birkebeiners with a ski-run from

to Rena. Until the Black Plague settlement expanded and new farms were established at outskirts. Farms with names ''-gard'', ''-rud'', ''-hus'', and ''-li'' are mostly from this expansion period. During the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

about 40 churches existed, most built in wood except for instances masonry churches in Easter Gausdal and Follebu. Hamar episcopal see was established in 1152 and its jurisdiction included Gudbrandsdalen. Garmo Stave Church and

Ringebu Stave Church Ringebu Stave Church ( no, Ringebu stavkyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ringebu Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Ringebu in the Gudbrandsdalen valley. It is the church for the Ringebu p ...

are examples of ancient wooden churches. Fåvang Stave Church and Vågå Church include parts from older churches. The Black Plague reduced the population in Gudbrandsdal by 50 to 70% during 1349 to 1350. Saksum, Brekkom, Skåbo, Venabygd and other districts were left largely deserted for centuries. Inhabitants from marginal areas presumably relocated to the main valley and other areas with vacant land. A large number of clergy also perished during the plague and churches fell into disrepair. During the 1600s the population again reached the same level as in 1300. During the 1500s the area had about 6000 inhabitants. No census was taken before 1665 and population figures are based on estimates. This resulted in a temporary improvement for the lower classes as

crofters A croft is a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a tenant farmer, especially in rural a ...

became scarce and the poor were able to rent the better farms.

Older history

During the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1537, 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 ...

was subordinated to the ''lendmenn'' or sheriffs. Church property was appropriated by the Crown and the King became the biggest landowner in the valley. The

Battle of Kringen Battle of Kringen ( no, Slaget ved Kringen) involved an ambush by Norwegian peasant militia of Scottish mercenary soldiers who were on their way to enlist in the Swedish army for the Kalmar War. The battle has since become a part of folklore ...

took place in 1612, near Otta, Norway, and the local "Gudbrandsdøls" defeated a Scottish mercenary army. The legends of this battle live on to this day, including the story of how the peasant girl ''

Prillar-Guri Prillar-Guri or Prillarguri is a semi legendary figure who according to oral tradition was a woman from Sel, Norway who played a key role in the Battle of Kringen (''Slaget ved Kringen'') in August 1612. Background Sweden and Denmark-Norwa ...

'' lured the Scots into an ambush by playing the traditional ram's horn. The 1665 census indicates a population of 13,000. Dombås 1940 4

In 1670 to 1725, most of the royal property was sold off to pay for war debts, first to established property holders, but increasingly to peasant proprietors. A freeholders' era began and a new "upper class" of landholders was formed. ''Storofsa'' happened in 1789, and is the greatest flood recorded in the Gudbrand Valley; several farms were devastated, and many people died.

Modern history

In 1827, the town of

is established. The paddle steamer Skibladner on

and Hovedbanen (the first railroad in Norway) connected the valley to the capital city, Christiania, in 1856. The Hamar-Selbanen railway was completed to

Tretten Tretten is a village in Øyer Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located on the Losna lake, which is part of the Gudbrandsdalslågen river. Tretten is located in the Gudbrandsdal valley, along the Gudbrandsdalslågen river ...

in 1894. Hamar-Selbanen changed its name to the Dovre Line in 1921, and the new main railway between

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

, was completed through the valley. The outdoor museum of Maihaugen, exhibiting historical architecture from all parts of the valley, opened at Lillehammer in 1904. From around 1865 the population declined substantially because of emigration to North America. Until 1946 the majority of inhabitants worked in farming. There was severe fighting in the valley at

and Kvam, as well as in Dombås, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The

Battle of Dombås The Battle of Dombås was fought between Norwegian Army infantry forces and German ''Fallschirmjäger'' paratroops in mid-April 1940. As part of their conquest of Norway south of Trondheim, and as a countermeasure against reported Allied landin ...

was an attempt to stop the German advance. British troops engaged German troops in land battles for the first time in World War 2 after many months of Phoney War.Dirk Levsen: Mikrogeschichte als Besatzungsgeschichte. Der deutsche Feldzug durch das Guldbrandsdal und das Romsdal im Frühjahr 1940. Historiographie und museale Präsentation. In Robert Bohn, (Hrsg.): ''Die deutsche Herrschaft in den "germanischen" Ländern 1940–1945'' (= Historische Mitteilungen der Ranke-Gesellschaft, Beiheft 26). Steiner, Stuttgart 1997 . S. 113f. Lillehammer was the site of the Lillehammer affair in 1973, wherein operatives of the Israeli Mossad shot and killed a Moroccan waiter they mistakenly thought was Ali Hassan Salameh, who was involved in the Munich Massacre. The

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fr ...

were celebrated at

. The 2016 Youth Olympics were celebrated at Lillehammer.

Urban areas

* Valebru * Otta

Mountain areas close to the valley

* Jotunheimen * Rondane * Dovrefjell * Reinheimen/ Tafjordfjella * Langsua

References

External links

Information about the Gudbrand Valley
{{Oppland Districts of Oppland Districts of Innlandet Petty kingdoms of Norway Valleys of Innlandet