Riksforsamlingen

[
Oscar Wergeland] Riksforsamlingen is a Norwegian term approximately meaning "The National Assembly".

The Assembly

Riksforsamlingen is the name given to the 1814 Constitutional Assembly of Eidsvoll in Norway. The Assembly, which was composed of delegates from the whole country, 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") and agreed to the Constitution on 16 May, 1814. It was signed and dated May 17, 1814, which has been made the Norwegian National Day.

(N.B. Etymology: 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 "assembly".)

Background

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 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 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 November 4, 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.

ee also

* Constitution of Norway
* Norway in 1814
* Norwegian Constitution Day
* History of Norway
* List of members of the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly

References

* "This article is based on a translation of an article from the Norwegian Wikipedia".

External links

* [http://www.stortinget.no/om_stortinget/lover_regler/grunnlov_1814.html Original text of the Norwegian Constitution (1814)]
* [http://www.eidsvoll1814.no/?aid=9043784 The ‘Eidsvollsmennene’ (names and regions of the delegates)]
* [http://www.eidsvoll1814.no/?aid=9043759 The ‘Eidsvollsbygningen’]