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

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

which today makes up the counties of Østfold, western parts of Akershus (excluding

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

), and eastern parts of

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

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

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

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

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

and Asker.

Etymology

The

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

form of the name was ''Vingulmǫrk''. The first part of the name, Vingul, is the accusative case of Vingull, " fescue", or " fool". 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. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

", i.e. ''the forest of fescues/fools''. The Lexicon Poeticon and Völsa Þattr tells that 'vingull' is the name for a stallions genitali

History

According to medieval

kings' sagas Kings' sagas (, , ) 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 composed during the twelfth through the fourteenth centuries, ...

, it was a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

petty kingdom. Vingulmark was one of the four counties under the Court of Law, which together constituted the ancient landscape of Viken. Archaeologists have made finds of richly endowed burials in the area around the estuary of the river Glomma, at Onsøy, Rolvsøy and Tune, where the remains of a ship, the Tune ship, 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 ( ; – 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 both died when Alfr ...

, Ottar says that when he sailed south from Skiringssal, he had Denmark on the port side for three days. This would include parts of Vingulmark. Snorri Sturluson writes in Heimskringla and Fagrskinna, that King Harald Fairhair inherited part of Vingulmark from his father Halfdan the Black. 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 Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" fr ...

, 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 th ...

relates in '' Heimskringla'' that the area was also claimed by the Swedish King Erik Emundsson. The Norwegians invaded Götaland to defend their claim.''Harald Harfager's Saga'' (Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway)
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Legendary rulers

The sagas name several more or less legendary kings as rulers of Vingulmark: * Gudrød the Hunter, half of Vingulmark * Alfgeir (Old Norse: ''Álfgeir'') * Gandalf Alfgeirsson * Halfdan the Black * Olaf Haraldsson * Tryggve Olafsson * Harald Gudrødsson Grenske, 976-987

References

Other sources

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External links