100 Kroner 1957, Norway
| in Krause book | Number: 33b |
| Years of issue: | 1957 |
| Edition: | 81 710 000 (all years) |
| Signatures: | Direksjonens Formann: Erik Brofoss (in office 1954-1970), Hovedkasserer: Erik Thorp |
| Serie: | Fourth Series |
| Specimen of: | 1949 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 144 x 127 |
| Printer: | Norges Bank, Oslo (till 2008) |
* All pictures marked 
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.
Description
Watermark:
Henrik Arnold Wergeland.
Avers:
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". 
Under his portrait is 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 symbolised that the King was the rightful heir and descendant of the "Eternal King of Norway" (Latin: Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae).
Along the lower edge of the banknote are the six seagulls, flying above the waves.
Denomination in numerals and in words is centered.
Revers:
Erik Werenskiold's painting "Lensekara" or "Men Working on a Timber Boom".
Creation date: 1938.
Other titles: Lensekara (NOR).
Object type: Maleri (Painting).
Materials and techniques: Olje på lerret (Oil on canvas).
Dimensions: 150 x 114,5 cm.
Acquisition: Kjøpt 1938
Object no.: NG.M.01897
Owner and collection: Nasjonalmuseet Oslo, The Fine Art Collections.
Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest means of transporting felled timber. Both methods may be referred to as timber floating.
Erik Theodor Werenskiold (11 February 1855 – 23 November 1938) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. He is especially known for his drawings for the Asbjørnsen and Moe collection of Norske Folkeeventyr, and his illustrations for the Norwegian edition of the Snorri Sturlason Heimskringla.
Denomination in numeral and in words is at the lower left corner.
Comments:
Invalid from 13.07.1999.
Work on this banknote series began before the Second World War. In 1930, an artistic competition was held to design a new banknote series, but the war put a stop to its realisation. Since none of the winning designs were deemed suitable, the architect Arnstein Arneberg was engaged as an artistic collaborator.
The series was to feature portraits of prominent Norwegians from the recent past on the obverse, with illustrations of the most important industries on the reverse. The engravings for the 10-krone and 100-krone banknotes were done before the war by the firm Thomas de la Rue in London, while the other banknotes in the series were engraved by Henry Welde, a graphic designer at Norges Bank's Printing Works.
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