Right, yes that was common, being named after the farm. Interesting family story 🙂
Though, being Danish, I have a national duty to say that Denmark didn’t conquer Norway, it was inherited by a king around 1400 and then developed into a full union in 15-something when the Swedes left the Kalmar Union. It was a dual monarchy, effectively one country, ruled from Copenhagen and standard Danish was no more forced on the Norwegians than it was forced on other Danes speaking a dialect of Danish.
The union was dissolved in 1814 when Napoleon (who was allied to Denmark), lost his wars and Norway was given to Sweden. After 100 years under Swedish rule, Norway was finally independent.
It’s been something of a national need in Norway to emphasize all the bad things under the dual monarchy, but in truth Norwegians and Danes were completely equal. Look up any major historical or cultural figure from the era and there’s a good chance he came from what is now Norway, most of the navy was Norwegian and so on. I understand the need to find someone to other so that the national identity grows stronger, but it’s a pity it’s become a narrative of Danish exploitation when that’s completely false.
I say equal, that goes for the political class and nobility, the peasants in both countries were of course almost completely powerless 😉
That’s very interesting. I learned the history of my name through living descendants of my ancestors in Norway. (Two brothers immigrated to America, while a third brother stayed behind in Norway) They were the ones who told me Norway was conquered and ruled by Denmark for a while.
Perhaps it was a mistranslation between us; I had wondered how Norway was able to preserve their country’s heritage and language while being ruled by their neighbor.
Right, yes that was common, being named after the farm. Interesting family story 🙂
Though, being Danish, I have a national duty to say that Denmark didn’t conquer Norway, it was inherited by a king around 1400 and then developed into a full union in 15-something when the Swedes left the Kalmar Union. It was a dual monarchy, effectively one country, ruled from Copenhagen and standard Danish was no more forced on the Norwegians than it was forced on other Danes speaking a dialect of Danish.
The union was dissolved in 1814 when Napoleon (who was allied to Denmark), lost his wars and Norway was given to Sweden. After 100 years under Swedish rule, Norway was finally independent.
It’s been something of a national need in Norway to emphasize all the bad things under the dual monarchy, but in truth Norwegians and Danes were completely equal. Look up any major historical or cultural figure from the era and there’s a good chance he came from what is now Norway, most of the navy was Norwegian and so on. I understand the need to find someone to other so that the national identity grows stronger, but it’s a pity it’s become a narrative of Danish exploitation when that’s completely false.
I say equal, that goes for the political class and nobility, the peasants in both countries were of course almost completely powerless 😉
That’s very interesting. I learned the history of my name through living descendants of my ancestors in Norway. (Two brothers immigrated to America, while a third brother stayed behind in Norway) They were the ones who told me Norway was conquered and ruled by Denmark for a while.
Perhaps it was a mistranslation between us; I had wondered how Norway was able to preserve their country’s heritage and language while being ruled by their neighbor.