Prillar-Guri
Encyclopedia
Sel
Sel is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
who played a key role in the Battle of Kringen
Battle of Kringen
The Battle of Kringen was a battle perpetrated by a Norwegian peasant militia against Scottish mercenary soldiers who were on their way to enlist in the Swedish army for the Kalmar War....
in August 1612.
Background
SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Denmark-Norway were actively engaged in the Kalmar War
Kalmar War
The Kalmar War was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark soon gained the upper hand, she was unable to defeat Sweden entirely...
. Nearly three hundred conscripts from Gudbrandsdalen had been massacred at Nya Lödöse
Lödöse
Lödöse is a locality situated in Lilla Edet Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,265 inhabitants in 2005...
by the Swedes. In July the Mönnichhoven’s march (Mönnichhoven-marsjen) across Norway through Stjørdalen
Stjørdalen
Stjørdalen is a valley and a traditional district in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It makes up the southern part of the Inntrøndelag region....
had ravaged the area. 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.
The Scottish force was soundly beaten in a manner that took the character of a massacre. The fact that about half the Scots were executed 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. A reason for this reaction may have been rumours of the looting and harrowing done by the Scottish mercenaries during their trip from Romsdalen
Romsdalen
Romsdalen is a valley running through the municipalities of Rauma in Møre og Romsdal County and Lesja in Oppland county Norway.-Location:The river Rauma follows the Romsdalen valley from lake Lesjaskogsvatnet to the town of Åndalsnes, where it empties into the Romsdalsfjord. The Rauma Line and...
. Another reason is that the municipalities in the area did not have any capacity to harbour prisoners of war, and the fear of more looting from escaped mercenaries can have given the farmers just reason to kill the soldiers on the spot. 14 Scotsmen were sent to trial in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, among them Alexander Ramsay
Alexander Ramsay
Alexander Ramsay may refer to:* Sir Alexander Ramsay, 5th Baronet, MP for Kincardineshire, 1713–1715* Sir Alexander Ramsay, 2nd Baronet, MP for Kincardineshire, 1820–1826* Sir Alexander Ramsay, 3rd Baronet, Liberal MP for Rochdale, 1857–1859...
. Some of those were eventually sent home to Scotland.
The Norwegian victory over the Scots is celebrated in Otta
Otta, Norway
is a town in the municipality of Sel in the county of Oppland in Norway. It has about 2,750 inhabitants. The Otta river joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen river at Otta. Next to Otta lies the massive Rondane, which became the first national park in Norway in 1962, and which has several mountains over...
and Dovre
Dovre
Dovre is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Dovre. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre....
to this day.
Pillarguri
- Guri is a common Norwegian woman's name which has origins in the Old NorseOld NorseOld Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
word for good. Prillar refers 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. Prille is a norwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
term for musical articulationArticulation (music)In music, articulation refers to the musical direction performance technique which affects the transition or continuity on a single note or between multiple notes or sounds.- Types of articulations :...
or fingeringFingeringIn music, fingering is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. Fingering typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good fingering for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand...
, especially on the hardanger fiddle.
- According to the oral tradition, Pillarguri placed herself on a promontory on the other side of the river to the advancing Scottish troops. Today the height is called Pillarguritoppen (852 m). 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.
- The official reports and documents describing the Battle of Kringen do not mention Pillarguri. She appears in the oral tradition and in heroic lyrics written as much as 200 years after the event. However females seldom found their way into official documents in the early 17th century.
- In modern illustrations Pillarguri has taken on the form of a young lady with long fair hair, and she is shown playing a lurLurA lur is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played by embouchure. Lurs can be straight or curved in various shapes. The purpose of the curves was to make long instruments easier to carry A lur is a long natural blowing horn without finger holes that is played by embouchure....
, a long natural blowing horn historically common in ScandinaviaScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. There are no descriptions whatsoever to support this image, and it can only serve as an example of romanticised national imagination.
Legacy
The story of Pillarguri has been popularized in poems and songs, including a traditional song from the area. Pillarguri first appears in written form in Sagn, samlede i Gudbrandsdalen om Slaget ved Kringen, 26de August 1612 written during 1838 by Hans Peter Schnitler Krag, the minister in VågåVågå
Vågå is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vågåmo....
. Prillarguri became more commonly known in the 1880s from a novel by the popular Norwegian author Rudolf Muus
Rudolf Muus
Rudolf Muus was a Norwegian author, among the best selling and most read authors of popular literature of his time.-Biography:...
. Pillarguri appeared as well in poetry by Edvard Storm
Edvard Storm
Edvard Storm , was a poet from Vågå, Oppland, Norway. He was the son of Johan Storm, the priest in Vågå, and his second wife, Ingeborg Birgitta Røring. The first 12 years of his life were spent in the Vågå rectory, until he began school in 1756 in Christiania...
, Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Wergeland
Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist...
, and Gerhard Schöning.
Her name was also remembered in a number of Hardanger fiddle dance tunes, mostly in old tunings. The fact that the fiddle tunes in question seem to be fairly old, most of them not younger than 1750, should strengthen the theory of existence prior to the romantic nationalist era in Norway.
A statue depicting Pillarguri is located in the community of Otta, Norway
Otta, Norway
is a town in the municipality of Sel in the county of Oppland in Norway. It has about 2,750 inhabitants. The Otta river joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen river at Otta. Next to Otta lies the massive Rondane, which became the first national park in Norway in 1962, and which has several mountains over...
. The Pillarguri prize is awarded in conjunction with the annual Pillarguri Festival at Otta. She was also reproduced on a memorial erected in 1912 in connection with the 300-year anniversary of the battle. Pillarguri is also depicted on the municipal coat of arms of Sel
Sel
Sel is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Otta....
in Oppland
Oppland
is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The county administration is in Lillehammer. Oppland is, together with Hedmark, one of the only two landlocked counties of Norway....
county, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Other sources
- Michell, Thomas History of the Scottish Expedition to Norway in 1612 (T. Nelson and Sons, London. 1886) ISBN 978-1-176-69071-4
- Gjerset, KnutKnut GjersetKnut Gjerset as a Norwegian-American author and historian. He was a professor at Luther College and served as curator of the Norwegian-American Historical Museum.-Selected works:*English Grammar...
History of the Norwegian People (The MacMillan Company, 1915, Volume I, pages 197 – 204) ISBN 978-1-144-62811-4 - Haugen, Einar Norwegian-English Dictionary (University of Wisconsin Press. 1967) ISBN 978-0-299-03874-8