In the early
Viking Age, before
Harald Fairhair, Grenland was a
petty kingdom. Originally
Grenland was probably the name of the region surrounding the lake
Norsjø in
Nedre Telemark. Grenland was located within the old
Grænafylket (or Grenafylket) county which contained all of Grenland plus the coastal region known as
Vestmar.
Vestmar is assumed to signify the land to the west of the sea (
mar), however
sea in this case should be interpreted as
fjord, i.e.
Langesundsfjorden. Vestmar was described as a county already in the 8th century AD. However, the idea was opposed by Solum as well as Porsgrunn, Eidanger and Brevik and soon fell out of grace. Eidanger proposed a merger with Brevik and Porsgrunn, and the enlarged Porsgrunn municipality was finally created on 1 January 1964. Brevik lost its city status in the process. In light of this merger, the central authorities saw only one possible solution; a similar merger between Solum, Gjerpen and Skien. Unlike the first proposal, this was met by protests from Gjerpen - to no avail, as the case went to the
Norwegian Parliament. The result was a significantly enlarged Skien municipality. On 1 January 1968 an area from the old Gjerpen and Solum municipalities with 3,554 inhabitants was moved to Porsgrunn. In addition, the urban municipalities of
Langesund and
Stathelle were incorporated into the rural municipality of
Bamble. Like Brevik, both Langesund and Stathelle lost their city status. Siljan municipality remained unaffected by the mergers, contrary to the initial expectations. ==References==