Torsnes, Hardanger, Hordaland, Norway
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View from Torsnes towards Strandebarm on the west side of the Hardangerfjord Photo: Elin Galtung Lihaug.
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The one used at Torsnes Photo: Elin Galtung Lihaug.
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Torsnes is a small place south of Jondal in Ullensvang municipality in Hardanger ( Vestland ). The place name suggests that in ancient times it was a shrine to the god Thor on this promontory.
Settlement on the farm Torsnes can be documented very far back in time. A letter written in 1409 and published in Diplomatarium Norvegicum states seven generations backwards - here is the text in Old Norse : «... at Þossnezss menn eigha oc attu hafua huar efter annat sæm her nemnizst Vikingher audghe oc ingha dottar hanzss, Gudhþormar Kalfzsson son hennar oc siughurdr Gudþormzsson Gudþormer siugurdarzsson, siughurdar gudþormzsson barder oc Gudþormer siughurda syner ... In the language of our day it sounds something like this:... those mentioned here have owned Torsnes, one after the other: Viking at Torsnes, his daughter Inga, her son Guttorm Kalvsson, his son Sigurd Guttormsson, his son Guttorm Sigurdsson, his son again Sigurd Guttormsson, and finally his sons Guttorm and Bård Sigurdssønner. Another document, written in 1497, shows that an inheritance change was then made at Torsnes after Herborg and Gyrid Bårdsdøtre, the two daughters of the latter person in the row above, Bård Sigurdsson. It is therefore probable that the Viking at Torsnes, which is first mentioned in the letter from 1409, lived in the 12th century. A letter from 1311–1312 has also been published, documenting that "Sigurd på Torsnes" lived at that time. This is probably the first Sigurd Guttormsson in the seven generations mentioned in the letter from 1409. Several other old letters concerning the family at Torsnes are discussed in an article by Lars Hamre.
The farm Torsnes has been kept within the same family from the 12th century until today. In the middle of the 17th century, the landowner at Torsnes, Lauritz Johansson Galte, was one of the largest landowners in Hardanger. The tax register for 1647 shows that in addition to Torsnes he had 31 farms or parcels in Hardanger, 13 in Sunnhordland and 6 in Voss . His son, Lauritz Galtung , was admiral in the Danish-Norwegian joint fleet and later lord of Lister county and lived little on Torsnes as an adult.
Lauritz Johansson Galte owned the whole of Torsnes in 1636 and had then built a new farmhouse after what burned down in 1626. The new one was built of rough timber and had two floors, each with its own aisle on the south side, the upper in the entire length of the house, the lower probably separated into two parts, one on each side of the «door space». On the second floor there was a larger "men's hall", but the rooms otherwise seem to have been relatively small.
More than 100 years later, Marcus Schnabel , who was a priest in Granvin around 1770, wrote that in Torsnes there are "beautiful large houses of two storeys, in which the windows are adorned with many noble arms, yet they are now rather dilapidated".
From the inside of the house, Bishop Jacob Neumann saw the last remnant when he visited Torsnes in 1825 on his visit in Hardanger. In his travelogues in Budstikken , he says: «I left Strandebarm on 12 July and sat just across the fjord to visit Torsnes. The old buildings were partly demolished and partly demolished. However, in a half-demolished castle, I still saw one of the glorious halls of the past. How humble and frugal the fathers were! Low doors, eerie and not large rooms, but these were adorned, like a church, with moral verses, painted on all the ceiling beams, and arabesques on the walls and names and arms on the small leaded windows.
Settlement on the farm Torsnes can be documented very far back in time. A letter written in 1409 and published in Diplomatarium Norvegicum states seven generations backwards - here is the text in Old Norse : «... at Þossnezss menn eigha oc attu hafua huar efter annat sæm her nemnizst Vikingher audghe oc ingha dottar hanzss, Gudhþormar Kalfzsson son hennar oc siughurdr Gudþormzsson Gudþormer siugurdarzsson, siughurdar gudþormzsson barder oc Gudþormer siughurda syner ... In the language of our day it sounds something like this:... those mentioned here have owned Torsnes, one after the other: Viking at Torsnes, his daughter Inga, her son Guttorm Kalvsson, his son Sigurd Guttormsson, his son Guttorm Sigurdsson, his son again Sigurd Guttormsson, and finally his sons Guttorm and Bård Sigurdssønner. Another document, written in 1497, shows that an inheritance change was then made at Torsnes after Herborg and Gyrid Bårdsdøtre, the two daughters of the latter person in the row above, Bård Sigurdsson. It is therefore probable that the Viking at Torsnes, which is first mentioned in the letter from 1409, lived in the 12th century. A letter from 1311–1312 has also been published, documenting that "Sigurd på Torsnes" lived at that time. This is probably the first Sigurd Guttormsson in the seven generations mentioned in the letter from 1409. Several other old letters concerning the family at Torsnes are discussed in an article by Lars Hamre.
The farm Torsnes has been kept within the same family from the 12th century until today. In the middle of the 17th century, the landowner at Torsnes, Lauritz Johansson Galte, was one of the largest landowners in Hardanger. The tax register for 1647 shows that in addition to Torsnes he had 31 farms or parcels in Hardanger, 13 in Sunnhordland and 6 in Voss . His son, Lauritz Galtung , was admiral in the Danish-Norwegian joint fleet and later lord of Lister county and lived little on Torsnes as an adult.
Lauritz Johansson Galte owned the whole of Torsnes in 1636 and had then built a new farmhouse after what burned down in 1626. The new one was built of rough timber and had two floors, each with its own aisle on the south side, the upper in the entire length of the house, the lower probably separated into two parts, one on each side of the «door space». On the second floor there was a larger "men's hall", but the rooms otherwise seem to have been relatively small.
More than 100 years later, Marcus Schnabel , who was a priest in Granvin around 1770, wrote that in Torsnes there are "beautiful large houses of two storeys, in which the windows are adorned with many noble arms, yet they are now rather dilapidated".
From the inside of the house, Bishop Jacob Neumann saw the last remnant when he visited Torsnes in 1825 on his visit in Hardanger. In his travelogues in Budstikken , he says: «I left Strandebarm on 12 July and sat just across the fjord to visit Torsnes. The old buildings were partly demolished and partly demolished. However, in a half-demolished castle, I still saw one of the glorious halls of the past. How humble and frugal the fathers were! Low doors, eerie and not large rooms, but these were adorned, like a church, with moral verses, painted on all the ceiling beams, and arabesques on the walls and names and arms on the small leaded windows.
