Eidskog

Eidskog is a municipality in the county of Hedmark, Norway. It is bordered to the north by Kongsvinger and in the west by Aurskog-Høland, Nes og Sør-Odal. Eidskog borders on Sweden, both to the east and south.

1 The name
2 History
3 Coat-of-arms
4 Noteworthy sights
5 Famous People from Eidskog
6 External links

[edit] The name

The Norse form of the name was Eiðaskógr. The first element is the plural genitive case of eið n 'path between two lakes'. The last element is skógr m 'wood'. Thus 'the wood with the many eiðs'. (In old times people was traveling in small boats on the lakes and the rivers, but they had to drag the boats over the eids - see under.)

[edit] History

The name Eidskog is ancient and was used for the region between today’s Kongsvinger in Norway and Arvika in Sweden. Eskoleia, the route through Eidskog, was (and continues to be in the form of riksvei 2) one of the most important traffic arteries between Norway and Sweden. The name was already in use during the saga period and became, after the canonization of Saint Olaf and important pilgrim’s route from Europe to Nidaros. At Midtskog (Norwegian for middle of the woods), today called Matrand, a stave church was raised in the 1100s. Today Eidskog church is built on the same site and was constructed in 1665.

The way through Eidskog was also militarily important and many times through history has been the point of Swedish strikes into Hedmark. To defend against these assaults, a number of fortifications were built in the vicinity, including ones at Magnor and Matrand, but the chief fortification was Kongsvinger Fortress.

The last Swedish attack through Eidskog was in 1814 when Major General Carl Pontus Gahn on July 31 crossed the border and marched against Kongsvinger. His forces were stopped at Lier skanse outside Kongsvinger on August 2 by troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Andreas Samuel Krebs and retreated to Eidskog. On August 4, Krebs followed after to drive Swedish troops off Norwegian territory. The two forces met in the battle of Matrand which was the bloodiest battle of the war and ended with a Norwegian victory.

Later in 1814 Norway was joined in union with Sweden and the confrontations at the Eidskog border ended.

The Soot Canal, constructed in 1849, has Norway's oldest sluice gates. It was the work of Engebret Soot (1786-1859). It was built to allow timber to be transported (floated) to the Halden sawmills. The canal was 1.5 km long and had 16 locks which extended from Lake Skjervangen at 185 m above sea level up to Lake Mortsjølungen at 201 m above sea level.

The route through Eidskog became an important connection between the two countries; this was strengthened with the opening of the Grenseban railway in 1862, which connected Christiania to Stockholm.

Eidskog became an independent municipality in 1864 when it was separated from Vinger municipality. The new municipality then had 6,920 inhabitants.

[edit] Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1986). It shows a wild blackcock.

[edit] Noteworthy sights

Soot-kanalen - the first lock constructed in Norway, used for log floating
Grenselosmuseet - museum on the route for escape to Sweden during the Second World War
Oppistun Børli - poet Hans Børli’s home
Morokulien - memorial to the long lasting peace with Sweden

[edit] Famous People from Eidskog

Hans Børli, poet
Ivar Skulstad, Politician, Member of the Storting for Hedmark County

[edit] External links

Culture in Eidskog on the map (in Norwegian)

Municipalities of Hedmark
Alvdal \| Eidskog \| Elverum \| Engerdal \| Folldal \| Grue \| Hamar \| Kongsvinger \| Løten \| Nord-Odal \| Os \| Rendalen \| Ringsaker \| Stange \| Stor-Elvdal \| Sør-Odal \| Tolga \| Trysil \| Tynset \| Våler \| Åmot \| Åsnes