Romsdal

Romsdal is the name of a valley and landscape in mid-Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal. The other two landscapes in the county are Nordmøre, "North-Møre", and Sunnmøre, "South-Møre".

History

In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Romsdal was a petty kingdom, prehaps being named after an early king, Raum the Old.

Related Topics:
Viking Age - Harald Fairhair - Petty kingdom - Raum the Old

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The Laxdæla Saga shows that Raumsdal was the home of Ketill Flatnose. Under extreme pressure from Harald Fairhair (either become a vassal to Harald, or leave), he and his family left Norway and fled West-over-the-sea, to Scotland, then Ireland, where he married off his daughter, Aud, the Deep-Minded, to Olaf, the White, king of Dublin. Aud went eventually to Iceland where she began that country's shift to Christianity. The crosses she had erected to mark her places of prayer are still to be seen in their original locations.

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The 12th Century

In 1122, while a guest at Hustad in Romsdal, king Eystein I was taken ill and died. His body was taken in impressive funeral procession to burial at Nidaros.

Related Topics:
Eystein I - Nidaros

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At Veøy, an island in the middle of the Romsdalfjord which had been in time immemorial a religious place, a church dedicated to St. Peter was constructed directly over an ancient site of heathen sacrifice at the close of the 12th century.

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The 17th Century

In 1600 two new trading centers were opened in Romsdal: Romsdal market and Devold near Åndalsnes, and Molde ladestad. The former was an important outlet for the ironworks at Lesja, providing an outlet for their products as well as a source of supplies. Molde inherited the ancient role formerly held by Veøy as the principal market town for the region.

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George Sinclair led his Scottish troops through the Romsdalen and up into the Gudbrandsdal to their deaths at Kringen.

Related Topics:
Gudbrandsdal - Kringen

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In the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde the Trondheim region of Norway was ceded to Sweden, down to the north bank of the Romsdalfjord. The Romsdal farmers defied the Swedish taxes and military conscription, and the Swedish governor was forced to send a full company of soldiers, and 50 cavalry besides, to collect taxes. Following the attack on Copenhagen and the city's successful defence, and the reconquest by Norwegian forces of Trondheim, the Treaty of Copenhagen in 1660 restored that province to Norway. The few months of experience with Swedish taxation and conscription left such a bitter taste that it strengthened Norwegian unity and patriotism, making resistance to Swedish invasions of Norway stronger over the next 80 years.

Related Topics:
1658 - Treaty of Roskilde - Trondheim - Copenhagen - Treaty of Copenhagen - 1660

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The 20th Century

After the German World War II invasion of Norway in April, 1940, British troops landed in Åndalsnes as a part of a pincer movement to take mid-Norwegian city Trondheim.

Related Topics:
World War II - Invasion of Norway - Trondheim

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