Vardøhus Fortress

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Vardøhus festning
Vardø, Norway
Officer's quarters at Vardøhus festning.
Built	1306, 1450-1500,1940-1944
In use	1306-?
Controlled by	Norway, Germany
Battles/wars	German invasion 1940

Vardøhus fortress is located in Vardø municipality in the county of Finnmark on the Barents Sea on the mouth of the Varangerfjord in northeastern Norway near the Russian border.

1 History
2 Commanding officers
3 References

[edit] History

In 1251 an embassy from Novgorod to king Haakon IV Haakonson of Norway complained of clashes between the Norwegians and the Karelians in northern Finnmark. A Norwegian embassy was dispatched to Novgorod where a treaty (unfortunately now lost) was signed to conclude a peace between the two countries, including the Novgorod tributary state of Karelia.

The Finnmark coast was originally important as a source of furs from the trade with the Karelians, but this trade dropped off as the Hanseatic League increased the fur trade through their Novgorod center. Finnmark remained important as a fishery; the fish was shipped as stockfish to Bergen and traded there with the Hansa merchants.

[edit] Varghoeya

The first fortification was erected by Haakon V Magnusson in 1306 and was called Varghoeya. It is not known how long this fort was manned, but in 1306 the Archbishop for Trondhjem went to Vardøhus to consecrate the church and in 1340 the Archbishop made efforts to improve conditions there.

[edit] Østervågen

The second was the fortification Østervågen (East Bay) which was erected between 1450 and 1500. This fortification was rectangular with two corner bastions (Reference: Kavli). It appears on the various maps from the 14th and 15th century.

The Captain of Vardøhus owned a share of the fishery. In 1511 Erik Valkendorf, while visiting, wrote: “the country would not be habitable for Christians were it not that the catch of fish is so plentiful as to attract people to settle down there. And this dried fish, which they call ‘stockfish,’ is so valuable and excellent that it is exported to nearly every Christian country.” (Reference: Stagg)

In 1597 Boris Godunov asserted that Vardøhus and "the Lapp country (as far as Tromsø) was from ancient times a perpetual patrimony of the Czar.” As a result Christian IV of Denmark-Norway asserted Norway’s historic ownership and visited Vardøhus in 1599 to instruct the governor of Vardøhus to collect taxes from Russians in his province including the Kola peninsula and to exclude the Swedes, who were also attempting to claim the territory (Reference: Frost & Stagg). At this time Vardøhus was so decrepit that he continued to live onboard his ship, Victor. His name has been preserved as it was carved on a beam from the 1599 fort to commemorate the visit. (Reference: Neimi)

[edit] Vardøhus

By the 1730s Vardøhus had become decrepit. The seat of government of Finnmark was transferred from Vardøhus to Altengaard. Major upgrades on the current fortress began in 1738. (Reference: Stagg)

Vardøhus never saw advancing enemies until the 20th century. The last time the fortifications were on active anti-invasion duty was during the First World War. In 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded Norway, Vardøhus was the last to strike the Norwegian flag. During the war the Germans improved the fortifications there. In 1944, as the Germans retreated from Finland through Finnmark before the advancing Russian armies, General Lothar Rendulic ordered a scorched earth policy. Vardø was burned, with only a few houses remaining. (Reference: Stagg)

The command of the fort is now the responsibility of the Royal Norwegian Navy and a small number of men are stationed there, today the fort has few practical military purposes.

[edit] Commanding officers

(incomplete listing)

John Cunningham (1619–1651)
Captain Trost (1802–1807)
Captain Ole Brock (–June 24th 1812)
Christian Hiorth (June 24th 1812–1815)
Captain Johan Frey (1815–)
Lieutenant Haldor Lykke (1831?)
First Lieutenant Ross Peter Heiberg (born 1789–died 1838) July 12 1833–November 2 1838)
First Lieutenant M. B. Hall (1854–)
Captain Carl Schultz (1867–)
Captain (V) Ronald Rye Rynning (June 18th 1940–November 7th 1940)
Commander Per Evensen (1988)
Commander Ivar Olaf Halse (–June 2003)
Commander Lasse Haughom (June 2003–June 2005)
Commander Lars Andreas Rognan (June 2005–)

[edit] References

The Northern Wars, 1558-1721 by Robert I. Frost; Longman, Harlow, England; 2000. ISBN 0-582-06429-5
Norges festninger by Guthorm Kavli; Universitetsforlaget; 1987; ISBN 82-00-18430-7
Chrisitan 4.s Finnmarkreise in 1599 by Einar Neimi, Foreningen til Norske Fortidsminnesmerkers Bevaring, Olso, 1988.
North Norway by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1952.