Vingulmark (Old Norse ''Vingulmörk'') is the old name for the area in

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 ...

which today makes up the counties of

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

, western parts of

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main county ...

(excluding

Romerike Romerike is a traditional district located north-east of Oslo, in what is today south-eastern Norway. It consists of the Viken municipalities Lillestrøm, Lørenskog, Nittedal, Rælingen and Aurskog-Høland in the southern end (Nedre Romerike), ...

), and eastern parts of

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

(

Hurum Hurum was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. As of 1 January 2020 Hurum has merged with the municipalities of Røyken and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the ...

and

Røyken Røyken is a district and village (''bygd'') and a former municipality in Buskerud in Viken County, Norway. In 2020 Røyken was merged with the municipalities of Hurum and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality (informally called "Greater Asker ...

municipalities), and includes the site of Norway's capital,

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 ...

. During the Middle Ages, Vingulmark was an administrative unit limited to

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

and

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

Etymology

The

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

form of the name was ''Vingulmǫrk''. The first part of the name, Vingul, is the accusative case of Vingull, "

fescue ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every ...

", or "

fool Fool, The Fool, or Fools may refer to: *A jester, also called a ''fool'', a type of historical entertainer known for their witty jokes *An insult referring to someone of low intelligence or easy gullibility Arts, entertainment and media Fictio ...

". The last element of the name, ''mark'' or plural ''mǫrk'', "forest" or "

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

", i.e. ''the forest of fescues/fools''.

History

According to medieval

kings' sagas Kings' sagas ( is, konungasögur, nn, kongesoger, -sogor, nb, kongesagaer) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were compo ...

, it was a

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

petty kingdom A petty kingdom is a monarchy, kingdom described as minor or "petty" (from the French 'petit' meaning small) by contrast to an empire or unified kingdom that either preceded or succeeded it (e.g. the Heptarchy#List of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, numerou ...

. Vingulmark was one of the four counties under the Court of Law, which together constituted the ancient landscape of

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

. Archaeologists have made finds of richly endowed burials in the area around the estuary of the river

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 ...

, at

Onsøy Onsøy is a peninsula and a former municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre was Gressvik. History The parish of ''Onsø'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). A part of Onsøy w ...

Rolvsøy Rolvsøy is a village, an island, and a former municipality in Viken county, Norway. It was created by a split from Tune on 1 January 1911. At that time Rolvsøy had a population of 2,381. On 1 January 1994 Rolvsøy was incorporated into the mu ...

and Tune, where the remains of a ship, the

Tune ship The Tune ship (''Tuneskipet'') is a Viking ship exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum (''Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy'') in Bygdøy, Oslo. The Tune ship is of the karve, a small type of longship with broad hull. It was found at the Haugen far ...

, were found. This indicates that there was an important center of power in this area. There are indications that at least the southern part of this area was under Danish rule in the late 9th century. In the account of Ottar, which was written down at the court of the English king

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...

, Ottar says that when he sailed south from

Skiringssal Skiringssal (Old Norse ''Skíringssalr'') was the name of a Viking Age hall which stood at a site now known as Huseby, about 0.73 miles (1.2 km) south-west of Tjølling, a settlement a little over east of Larvik, in the south of the ...

, he had Denmark on the port side for three days. This would include parts of Vingulmark. Snorri Sturluson writes in

Heimskringla ''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...

and

Fagrskinna ''Fagrskinna'' ( ; is, Fagurskinna ; trans. "Fair Leather" from the type of parchment) is one of the kings' sagas, written around 1220. It is an intermediate source for the ''Heimskringla'' of Snorri Sturluson, containing histories of Norwegian k ...

, that King

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair no, Harald hårfagre Modern Icelandic: ( – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first King of Nor ...

inherited part of Vingulmark from his father

Halfdan the Black Halfdan the Black (Old Norse: ''Halfdanr Svarti''; fl. c. 9th century) was a king of Vestfold. He belonged to the House of Yngling and was the father of Harald Fairhair, the first king of a unified Norway. In sagas According to ''Heimskringla'' ...

. King Harald defeated King

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of t ...

, who had previously held half of Vingulmark.

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 the ...

relates in ''

'' that the area was also claimed by the Swedish King

Erik Emundsson Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson was a semi-legendary Swedish king who supposedly ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expansi ...

. The Norwegians invaded

Götaland Götaland (; also '' Geatland'', '' Gothia'', ''Gothland'', ''Gothenland'' or ''Gautland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, wit ...

to defend their claim.''Harald Harfager's Saga'' (Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway)
/ref>

Legendary rulers

The sagas name several more or less legendary kings as rulers of Vingulmark: *

Gudrød the Hunter Gudrød the Hunter (Old Norse: ''Guðrøðr veiðikonungr'', Norwegian: ''Gudrød Veidekonge'', literally ''Gudrod Hunter-king''; died 820 AD), also known as Gudrød the Magnificent (Old Norse: ''enn gǫfugláti'', Norwegian: ''den gjeve''), is a l ...

, half of Vingulmark * Alfgeir (Old Norse: ''Álfgeir'') *

Gandalf Alfgeirsson Gandalf Alfgeirsson (Old Norse: ''Gandálf Álfgeirsson'') was a legendary king of the petty kingdom Alfheim, in south-eastern Norway and south-western Sweden He is portrayed in Snorri Sturluson's saga ''Heimskringla''. Heimskringla relates that ...

* Olaf Haraldsson *

Tryggve Olafsson Tryggve Olafsson (Old Norse: ''Tryggvi Óláfsson'', Norwegian: ''Tryggve Olavsson'') (born 928 in Ringerike, died 963 in Sotnes, Bohuslän, Västra Götaland, Sweden) was king of Viken, Norway (Vingulmark and Rånrike). Biography Tryggve Olafs ...

Harald Gudrødsson Grenske Harald Grenske (10th century) was a petty king in Vestfold in Norway. Harald Grenske was the son of Gudrød Bjørnsson. Gudrød is claimed to have been grandson of Harald Fairhair and the king of Vestfold. Harald's cognomen ''Grenske'' is due to hi ...

, 976-987

References

Other sources

* *

External links