''Lady Inger'' (original title: ''Fru Inger til Østeraad'') is an 1854 play by

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

,''Lady Inger. Historical drama in five acts'' had its premiere at The Norwegian Theatre in Bergen 2 January 1855, and was first published as a serial in the weekly magazine ''Illustreret Nyhedsblad'' No. 22–34, 1857. The publisher Hans Jacob Jensen also subsequently published the drama as a special edition in approximately 250 copies the same year. inspired by the life of Inger, Lady of Austraat. The play, the fourth work of the Norwegian's career, reflects the birth of

Romantic Nationalism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

in the Norway of that period, and had a strongly anti- Danish sentiment. It centers on the Scandinavia of 1510–1540 as the

Kalmar Union The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then in ...

collapsed, the impacts of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

were becoming evident in Norway, and a last desperate struggle was being mounted to maintain Norwegian independence. Its initial sentiments were so strongly anti-Danish that Ibsen ultimately toned them down. Norwegian literature was virtually nonexistent during the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano-Norwegian union (1387—1814) — Ibsen characterized that period as "Four Hundred Years of Darkness." Ibsen was a major participant in a flood of nationalistic romanticism that followed the "Four Hundred Years of Darkness" and is recognized as one of the ''great four'' contributors of this period (the others being

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie). A unity of purpose pervades the whole period, recreation of a national culture based on the almost forgotten past. Subsequent research has shown the play ''Fru Inger til Østeraad'' deviates rather liberally from the actual historical events, and should be understood in its context as a statement of nationalism.

References

1854 plays Plays by Henrik Ibsen {{1850s-play-stub

See also

References