Riksforsamlingen is a Norwegian term approximately meaning "The National Assembly".
Riksforsamlingen is the name given to the 1814 Constitutional Assembly of
Eidsvollis a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.-Name:...
in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. The prefix "
Riks-" in Norwegian has a Germanic root (
Reichs- in German,
Rijks- in Dutch,
Rigs- in Danish,
Riks- in Swedish), meaning "realm", and "
forsamlingen" is "the assembly".
The Assembly was convened to forge the Norwegian Constitution ("
Norges Grunnlov").
Riksforsamlingen is a Norwegian term approximately meaning "The National Assembly".
The Assembly
Riksforsamlingen is the name given to the 1814 Constitutional Assembly of
Eidsvollis a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet.-Name:...
in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. The prefix "
Riks-" in Norwegian has a Germanic root (
Reichs- in German,
Rijks- in Dutch,
Rigs- in Danish,
Riks- in Swedish), meaning "realm", and "
forsamlingen" is "the assembly".
The Assembly was convened to forge the Norwegian Constitution ("
Norges Grunnlov"). The delegates were popularly dubbed
Eidsvollsmennene ("The Men of Eidsvoll"). The Assembly met in The Eidsvoll manor (
Eidsvollsbygningen). They met April 10 outside Eidsvoll church and the assembly was formally opened the next day. The assembly was composed of delegates from around the country. However, the northernmost parts of the country were not represented because of the the long distances and lack of time.
Who were the president and vice president in the assembly changed continously. The presidents were chosen for one week. Among the ones who served as presidents were
Peder AnkerPeder Anker was a Norwegian businessman and politician.Anker was a brother of Bernt Anker and son of the wealthy merchant Christian Anker, who had acquired extensive forests in the district around Christiania for timber export...
, (the first one), Frederik Heidmann,
Jens Schou FabriciusJens Schou Fabricius was the Norwegian appointed Minister of the Navy 1817–1818....
,
Christian Magnus FalsenChristian Magnus Falsen was a Norwegian constitutional father, statesman, jurist, and historian. He was an important member of the constitutional assembly and was one of the writers of the constitutional laws....
and
Georg SverdrupGeorg Sverdrup , born Jørgen Sverdrup, was a Norwegian philologist, who is well known for being a member of Norwegian Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814 and later the parliament. He was also responsible for building the first Norwegian university library...
(the last one).
Wilhelm Frimann Koren ChristieWilhelm Frimann Koren Christie was a Norwegian constitutional father, known for being the constitutional assembly's writer. Later he became an important figure in the Norwegian parliament....
was the assembly's permanent secretary.
The assembly agreed to the Constitution on 16 May 1814. Sverdrup was chosen as president the same day. The Constitution was signed and dated 17 May 1814, which has been made the Norwegian
National DayThe National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called ”National Day”...
. The members said farewell May 20, when they held each other's hands saying "United and loyal until the mountains of Dovre crumble!"
Background
Forced in early 1814 to sign the
Treaty of KielThe Treaty of Kiel was a settlement between Sweden and Denmark-Norway on 14 January 1814, whereby the Danish king, a loser in the Napoleonic Wars, ceded Norway to the king of Sweden, in return for the Swedish holdings in Pomerania. However, the treaty signed in Kiel would never come into force...
as an ally of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in the later phase of the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
, the king of Denmark-Norway had to cede Norway to the king of
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
. The people of Norway, never consulted, objected to the royal sell-out. The vice-roy and
heir presumptiveAn heir presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honor, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the throne...
of Denmark-Norway,
Christian FrederikChristian VIII , king of Denmark 1839–48 and, as Christian Frederick, of Norway 1814, the eldest son of the Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was born in 1786 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen...
, took the lead in an insurrection and called a Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll. The Norwegian Constitution of May 17 formalised Norway’s independence after nearly 400 years of union with Denmark. On the same day, Christian Frederik was elected King of Norway. As a result of this, Sweden invaded Norway. After a campaign of two weeks, a peace treaty (The
Convention of MossThe Convention of Moss was a cease fire agreement, signed August 14, 1814, between the Swedish King and the Norwegian Storting. It followed a brief Swedish campaign against Norway due to Norway's claim to sovereignty...
) was concluded. King Christian Frederik was forced to abdicate, but Norway remained nominally independent and kept its Constitution with only such amendments as were required to allow it to enter into a loose personal
unionThe Union between Sweden and Norway , was the union of the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway between 1814 and 1905, when they were united under one monarch in a personal union, following the Treaty of Kiel, the declaration of Norwegian independence from Denmark, a brief war with Sweden, the Convention...
with Sweden. On November 4, the
StortingThe Parliament of Norway is located in the capital city Oslo. It sits in the Parliament of Norway Building which was completed in 1866 and was designed by the Swedish architect Emil Victor Langlet.- History :...
amended the Constitution accordingly, and elected the Swedish king
King Charles XIIICharles XIII & II , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
as king of Norway. Although the two states retained their separate governments and institutions, except for the king and the foreign service, Norwegians grew increasingly discontented with the union, which had been forced upon them. In 1905 the union was peacefully dissolved, giving Norway its full independence.
See also
- Constitution of Norway
The Constitution of Norway was first adopted on May 16, 1814 by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll , then signed and dated May 17...
- Norway in 1814
1814 was a pivotal year in Norwegian history. It started with Norway as a part of the Danish kingdom subject to a naval blockade being ceded to the king of Sweden. In May a constitutional convention declared Norway an independent kingdom. By the end of the year the Norwegian parliament had agreed...
- Norwegian Constitution Day
The Norwegian Constitution Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to simply as syttande/syttende mai , Nasjonaldagen or Grunnlovsdagen , although the latter is less frequent.- Historical background :The Constitution of...
- History of Norway
History of human settlement in what is present day Norway goes back at least 11,000 years, to the late Paleolithic. Archaeological finds in the county of Møre og Romsdal have been dated to 9,200 BCE and are probably the remains of settlers from Doggerland, an area now submerged in the North Sea,...
- List of members of the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly
External links