Top
header Notes Collection

100 Kroner 1964, Norway

in Krause book Number: 38a
Years of issue: 1964
Edition: 341 040 000 (all years)
Signatures: Direksjonens Formann: Erik Brofoss (in office 1954-1970), Hovedkasserer: Jacob Aall Ottesen
Serie: Fifth Series
Specimen of: 1962
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 145 х 78
Printer: Norges Bank, Oslo (till 2008)

* All pictures marked magnify are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.

100 Kroner 1964

Description

Watermark:

watermark

Henrik Wergeland.

Avers:

100 Kroner 1964

Henrik Arnold Wergeland

The engraving on banknote made after this daguerreotype of Henrik Arnold Wergeland, made in 1842 by O. F. Knudsen. According to sister Camilla, the only portrait of him with a good likeness..

Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the development of a distinctly Norwegian literary heritage and of modern Norwegian culture.

Though Wergeland only lived to be 37, his range of pursuits covered literature, theology, history, contemporary politics, social issues, and science. His views were controversial in his time, and his literary style was variously denounced as subversive.

He was the oldest son of Nicolai Wergeland (1780-1848), who had been a member of the constituent assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. The father was himself pastor of Eidsvold and the poet was thus brought up in the very holy of holies of Norwegian patriotism. Wergeland's younger sister was Camilla Collett and younger brother major general Joseph Frantz Oscar Wergeland.

Henrik Wergeland entered The Royal Frederick University in 1825 to study for the church and graduated in 1829. That year, he became a symbol of the fight for celebration of the constitution at 17 May, which was later to become the Norwegian National Day. He became a public hero after the infamous "battle of the Square" in Christiania, which came to pass because any celebration of the national day was forbidden by royal decree. Wergeland was, of course, present and became renowned for standing up against the local governors. Later, he became the first to give a public address on behalf of the day and thus he was given credit as the one who "initiated the day". His grave and statues are decorated by students and school children every year. Notably, the Jewish community of Oslo pays their respects at his grave on 17 May, in appreciation of his successful efforts to allow Jews into Norway.

Critics, especially Johan Sebastian Welhaven, claimed his earliest efforts in literature were wild and formless. He was full of imagination, but without taste or knowledge. Therefore, from 1830 to 1835 Wergeland was subjected to severe attacks from Welhaven and others. Welhaven, being a classicist, could not tolerate Wergeland's explosive way of writing, and published an essay about Wergeland's style. As an answer to these attacks, Wergeland published several poetical farces under the pseudonym of "Siful Sifadda". Welhaven showed no understanding of Wergeland's poetical style, or even of his personality. On one hand, the quarrel was personal, on the other, cultural and political. What had started as a mock-quarrel in the Norwegian Students' Community soon blew out of proportion and became a long lasting newspaper dispute for nearly two years. Welhaven's criticism, and the slander produced by his friends, created a lasting prejudice against Wergeland and his early productions.

Recently, his early poetry has been reassessed and more favorably recognized. Wergeland's poetry can in fact be regarded as strangely modernistic. From early on, he wrote poems in free style, without rhymes or metre. His use of metaphors are vivid, and complex, and many of his poems quite long. He challenges the reader to contemplate his poems over and over, but so do his contemporaries Byron and Shelley, or even Shakespeare. The free form and multiple interpretations especially offended Welhaven, who held an aesthetical view of poetry as appropriately concentrated on one topic at a time.

Wergeland, who until this point had written in Danish, supported the thought of a separate and independent language for Norway. Thus, he preceded Ivar Aasen by 15 years. Later, the Norwegian historian Halvdan Koht would say that "there is not one political cause in Norway which has not been seen and anticipated by Henrik Wergeland".

coat Norway

Centered is the coat of arms of Norway.

The coat of arms of Norway.

A golden lion on a red shield was adopted in or before the early part of the XIII century. In the late part of the same century, a silver axe was added. In continuous use since then, the coat of arms is one of the oldest state coats of arms in the world.

The official blazon is: Gules, a lion rampant or, crowned or and bearing an axe with blade argent.

Among the state coats of arms that are still in use today, the Coat of Arms of Norway is among the oldest in Europe and even world-wide. It is known since the early XIII century, when it served as the coat of arms of the kings of the Sverre dynasty. It is told that Sverre, who was King between 1184 and 1202, had a lion in his coat of arms. This coat of arms appears in 1225, when it was used by Earl Skule Bårdsson, who had relations to the royal family. A coat of arms with a lion was also used by Haakon the Young Haakonson, who was King between 1240 and 1257. This was in 1250. Haakon the Young's father, King Haakon the Old Haakonson, had a lion in his seal. This lion, however, does not appear in a coat of arms, but in the shape of a small lion which lies between the King's feet. This might be the same lion that Earl Skule and Haakon the Young used in their seals. On the other hand, lions were a frequently used symbol of kings and royal power.

Snorre Sturlason claims that a golden lion on a red background was used already in 1103 by King Magnus III, the son of King Olav III. In 1894, historian Gustav Storm concluded that this is ahistorical. Storm explained that the claimed lion in King Magnus's coat of arms is unknown both in the older Saga literature and in other contemporary sources. It is possible that Snorre, who wrote under the instruction of the King, attributed King Sverre's coat of arms to earlier Kings of Norway.

Approximately in 1280, either King Magnus VI (dead in 1280) or the guardianship of his son Eric Magnuson let the lion be equipped with a crown of gold and in the foremost paws an axe of silver. The axe was a symbol of Saint Olaf, i.e. King Olaf II, and by inserting it into the coat of arms it was symbolized that the King was the rightful heir and descendant of the "Eternal King of Norway" (Latin: Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae).

Revers:

100 Kroner 1964

Riksforsamlingen på Eidsvoll

The famous painting "Eidsvold 1814" was painted by Oscar Wergeland 70 years after the Constitutional Assembly and given as a gift to the Storting in 1885. Christian Magnus Falsen stands upright and reads from the Constitution, while attorney Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie sits next to it. In the painting, around 70 people of the 112 members of the National Assembly can be identified. The picture hangs in the Stortingssalen.

The Norwegian Constituent Assembly (in Norwegian Grunnlovsforsamlingen, also known as Riksforsamlingen) is the name given to the 1814 Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll in Norway, that voted the Norwegian Constitution and formalised the dissolution of the union with Denmark. In Norway, it is often just referred to as Eidsvollsforsamlingen, which means The Assembly of Eidsvoll.

Riksforsamlingen is a Norwegian term approximately meaning "The National Assembly". The prefix "Riks" in Norwegian has a Germanic root (compare Reichs - in German, Rijks - in Dutch, Rigs - in Danish, Riks - in Swedish), meaning "realm", and "forsamlingen" translates to "the assembly". The Assembly was elected starting in Christiania in February, and 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 on 10 April 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 long distances and lack of time.

The presidents and vice presidents of the assembly were chosen for one week, thus continuously changing. The presidents were: Peder Anker (10-17 April), Diderik Hegermann (18-24 April), Jens Schou Fabricius (25 April-1 May), Christian Adolph Diriks (2-8 May), Christian Magnus Falsen (9-16 May) and Georg Sverdrup (17-20 May). Wilhelm Frimann Koren Christie was the assembly's permanent secretary. The Assembly agreed upon the text of the Constitution on 17 May 1814. Sverdrup, who was the last president, gave the final speech. The Constitution was signed and dated 18 May 1814, but the 17th of May is today celebrated as the Norwegian National Day. The members said farewell on 20 May, when they held each other's hands saying "United and loyal until the mountains of Dovre crumble!"

Forced in early 1814 to sign the Treaty of Kiel as an ally of France in the later phase of the Napoleonic Wars, the King of Denmark-Norway had to cede Norway to the King of Sweden. The people of Norway, never consulted, objected to the royal sell-out. The vice-roy and heir presumptive of Denmark-Norway, Christian Frederik, took the lead in an insurrection and called a Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll. The Norwegian Constitution of 17 May formalised Norway’s independence after more than 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 Moss) 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 union with Sweden. On 4 November, the Storting amended the Constitution accordingly, and elected the Swedish king King Charles XIII 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.

Comments:

Invalid from 13.07.1999.

Designers: Knut Løkke-Sørensen (obverse side) and Henry Welde (reverse side).