Romsdal
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Romsdal is the name of a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal. It is located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre districts.
Romsdal's central city is Molde, which hosts the central administration of the county. The district of Romsdal comprises Aukra, Eide, Fræna, Gjemnes, Midsund, Molde, Nesset, Rauma, Sandøy, and Vestnes.
Åndalsnes is a town located near the mouth of the river Rauma in the municipality of Rauma. The railroad Raumabanen comes from Dombås and terminates at Åndalsnes.
Geography
The Romsdal Valley, through which the Rauma river passes to the Romsdalfjord, has been described as a worthy rival for Yosemite. The 1550 meter tall Romsdalhorn has been compared to the Matterhorn, while the Trolltindane peaks, according to legend a bridal procession of trolls turned to stone by the morning light, stands opposite across the Rauma. The North Face of Trollryggen peak (1740 m), Trollveggen (Troll Wall), is the tallest vertical cliff in Europe. Norway's most famous switch-backed road (in a country with many switch-backs) is the Trollstigen, or troll's path, which leads to the south out of Åndalsnes to the beautiful Geirangerfjord.
The Rauma river begins in lake Lesjaskogsvatnet in the adjacent mountain municipality of Lesja, which has outlets at both ends. A dam that was constructed by the Lesja Iron Works in the 1660s to improve transportation obstructed the Rauma and caused the water to flow both west to the Rauma and eastward into the river Lågen.
History
In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Romsdal was a petty kingdom, perhaps being named after an early king, Raum the Old. 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.
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.
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.
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.A Scottish mercenary force landed here at Isfjorden on their way to Sweden. The incursion was stopped at the Battle of Kringen.
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.
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.
References
- Adventure Roads in Norway by Erling Welle-Strand, Nortrabooks, 1996. ISBN 8290103719
- West Norway and its Fjords by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1954.
- The Heart of Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1953.
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