History of Nericia

The name is derived from the people who inhabited this province the Njarar or Nerikjar (the root nari, neri is cognate to English narrow and refers to the narrow inlets that caracterized the province), a tribe that is mentioned in the lay of Volund (Weyland the Smith):

"When the Lord of the Njars, Nidud, heard That Völund sat in Wolfdale alone, He sent warriors forth: white their shield-bosses In the waning moon, and their mail glittered." (Translated by W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor)

The next source for Nerike appears in Heimskringla by Snorri Sturlusson, where the King Ingjald Ill-ruler kills King Sporsnjall of Nerike, proclaiming himself the ruler of all of Sweden. Sporsnjall is succeeded by Olaf the far-sighted, but little is known about him.

A powerful man in Nerike called Sigtryg received the Norwegian King Olaf the Holy 1028-1029 before Olaf's departure for Russia and its rulerYaroslav_I_the_Wise:

"It is to be related of King Olaf's journey, that he went first from Norway eastward through Eid forest to Vermaland, then to Vatnsby, and through the forests in which there are roads, until he came out in Nerike district. There dwelt a rich and powerful man in that part called Sigtryg, who had a son, Ivar, who afterwards became a distinguished person. Olaf stayed with Sigtryg all spring (A.D. 1029); and when summer came he made ready for a journey, procured a ship for himself, and without stopping went on to Russia to King Jarisleif and his queen Ingegerd;" (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/haraldson7.html)

According to local traditions Olaf baptized many locals and the well he used can be seen near Hallsberg in the parish of Hardemo.

In Närke there are also a number of ancient castles. The most important and best preserved one is located in Tarsta in Sköllersta.

In the year 1170, Närke was incorporated into the diocese of Strängnäs.

Ca 1200, the castle of Örebro was built to protect the bridge crossing the ford (öre means "sand bank" and bro means "bridge"), as well as the borough on the south side of the bridge. It was to withstand many seiges, and acquired a reputation for being impregnable.

In 1316 the future Saint_Birgitta of Sweden was married to Ulf Gudmarson, lord of Nerike, to whom she bore eight children, one of whom was afterwards honoured as St. Catherine of Sweden.

In 1435, Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, the leader of a popular uprising against the German sheriffs, was given the castle of Örebro as a fief. One year later he was murdered on an island in Nerike.

Nerike stayed renowned for its warlike peasants and when Gustav Vasa chose the coat-of-arms for the province it was two crossbow darts - the crossbow being the favourite weapon of the peasants.

During the period from 1525 to 1554, it was a fiefdom belonging to Lars Siggesson Spare. Later in time it belonged to Duke Karl from 1560 to 1598 and to Duke Karl Filip during the period from 1611 to 1622.

During the 16th and 17th centuries the area was under a number of fiefs where iron bars were manufactured. As the farming activities gave very little, the iron manufacturing became even more attractive to the farmers, as well as trade with oxen. The oxen were sold in Bergslagen as well as Dalarna, where the skin of the oxen were important items in the mines.

The surplus of oxen was also one of the reasons why the shoe-making business took shape and became a most important industry in Närke up until the middle of the 20th century.