Prillar-Guri
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Pillar-Guri, Prillarguri or Pillarguri was a woman who according to oral tradition played a key role in the Battle of Kringen, in which Scottish forces were defeated on their way to Sweden to enlist in Swedish service in the Kalmar War against Denmark and Norway.
Three hundred conscripts from Gudbrandsdalen had been massacred at Nya Lødsøe by the Swedes. Hence a peasant militia force of around 500 decided to ambush the Scots at Kringen (the narrowest part of the valley). The terrain chosen by the Norwegians made ambush very effective.
There are several outstanding questions about the name, historicity, and actions of Pillar Guri:
- The first part of her name "Prillar" relates to the horn Guri was supposed to have used. There is an old instrument in Norway named "Prillarhorn" which was a cow-horn which could be played.
It has also been mentioned in local tradition that the term "pillar" is related to a term for sex, and that Guri was more renowned for her sexual proclivities than for her role in the battle of Kringen.
- The official reports and documents describing the battle in Kringen do not mention Prillar-Guri. She appears in the oral tradition and in heroic lyrics written as much as 200 years after the event. It is therefore questionable if she existed at all. One cannot completely disregard the possibility as females seldom found their way into official documents in the early 1600s. Most likely this figure was created much later with the aim of glorifying the events and to support the nationalist movements in Norway in the early to mid 1800s.
- According to the oral tradition, she placed herself on a promontory on the other side of the river to the advancing Scottish troops. She either played her horn to distract them and then moved a piece of clothing to signal the ambush; or else she commenced playing as the signal.
- In modern illustrations Prillar-Guri has taken on the form of a young lady with long fair hair, and she is shown playing a "lur" (a long horn made of birch). There are no descriptions whatsoever to support this image, and it can only serve as an example of romanticised national imagination.
The Scottish force was soundly beaten in a manner that took the character of a massacre. The fact that about half the Scots were butchered by the Norwegian peasants the day after the battle took place can be a reason why the tradition tries to "smooth over" the grim events.
The victory over the Scots is celebrated in Otta and Dovre to this day.
The story of Pillarguri has been eternalized in several poems and songs, including a traditional song from the area, as well as poetry by Edvard Storm, Henrik Wergeland, and Gerhard Schöning.
