Solskjel Battle Traditional Geocache
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A cache by tormodel and gjerjs
"The Solskjel battle" took place in the year 862. Harald Hårfagre
was king of central Norway (Trondheim) and south-eastern parts of
what today is Norway, but still hadn't conquered Møre & Romsdal
and Sogn & Fjordane (today two counties). A victory here would
give him control of all of Norway.
From the cache location, you can see the Solskjel island.
Drawing of the Solskjel Battle, by Halfdan Egedius
NORWEGIAN:
De to slagene utkjempet her på Solskjel mellom daværende konge i
Norge (som utgjorde en liten del av dagens Norge), og samlingen av
småkonger fra Møre & Romsdal og Sogn & Fjordane førte til
store tap på begge sider. Det er mange gravhauger på Solskjel og
andre omkringliggende øyer og holmer, men de fleste av disse er så
langt antatt å stamme fra bronsealderen. Det kan derfor være at
Hårfagre og småkongene tok med seg sine døde hjem. Hårfagre holdt
krigstale til sine menn på kongssteinen på Solskjel, og kanskje var
det også her han lot seg klippe etter at han hadde vunnet slagene
og dermed samlet Norge til ett rike.
ENGLISH:
Hårfagre had his royal seat in Trondheim, and had heard that the
several local chieftains in Møre & Romsdal was planning to
attack him, hence he was ready for a battle and brought many of his
men to the border between "Trøndelag" and the Møre area and fought
two battles here at Solskjel.
By winning the battles at Solskjel, Hårfagre had achieved his goal
of uniting Norway (today central, western and southern Norway and
parts of Sweden) into one kingdom. He had said for many years that
he wasn't to cut his hair until he had conquered all of
Norway.
Maybe he had his hair cut here at Solskjel when he realized that he
had achieved his goal. The Møre & Romsdal and Sogn &
Fjordane military leader, Solve Klove, did not fall in the battle,
but fled when he realized that he was loosing [the second
battle].
Both battles were won by Harald Hårfagre, but the Møre chieftains
re-organized and strengthened their forces from 862 to 863 and had
also angered Hårfagre by killing many of his local outpost in
Nordmøre (this region). Regional chieftains from Sogn, Fjordane,
Møre and Romsdal participated in these battles, and there are
written tales about several of them. Norway's probably largest
burial site is found in Sogn & Fjordane and probably was made
for one of the chieftains (King Audbjørn) that participated in one
of the Solskjel battles.
The Solskjel battle is to be found in written sources from the
Viking era; "Soga om Harald Hårfagre" and "Heimskringla".
Solskjel island has to main settlements that, according to the
homepage of one of the farms here, stem from the 13th or 14th
century. These two settlements (farms) are Solskjel and
Solskjær-Ødegaard. There are many burial sites from the bronze age
in this area, and several old spearheads, carved stones and other
remains from the Viking era, and before, is found here.
The Solskjel cable ferry (from solskjel.no)
Today you can get here by boat or by cable operated ferry. The
island boasts a camping site, tours and organized fishing trips.
You can also see some of the objects that are found here, and some
of them (especially the larger stones) are still outside and
haven't been moved. There is also a small stone signal pyramid on
top of the island. These were in older times used as a form of
communication along the coast line. If one saw a battle ship
approaching, one would light a big fire on these small signal
pyramids. The next inhabited island along would see this, and light
a fire as well, and by this method neighbours alerted each others
all along the coast line.
The family name "Solskjær" stems from this island, best known as
from the Manchester United football player Ole Gunnar
Solskjær.
More on the local north-west Norwegian viking chieftains: NRK.no
First to find: Bottolf66
Please follow short instructions on the cache.
Happy caching!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fyvqr, gura erry gur ivxvat serr