Fredriksten fortress

Our youngest son, Øyvind, has moved to Halden - a charming town close to the Swedish border - to start studying at the Regional college of Østfold. Today we moved all his stuff and helped him settle in.

This is Fredriksten fortress of Halden. It has seen a lot of action, but not in the last 200 years - than goodness. Being so close to the border, defending us against the Swedes has been its main objective.

In the Autumn of 1718 king Charles of Sweden attacked Norway yet another time, intending to first capture Halden to be able to sustain a siege of Akershus (Oslo). By first taking the border areas, Charles wished to avoid a repeat of the fiasco he had suffered two years before. The 1,400 strong garrison of Frederiksten fought ferociously to hold back the invasion, but suffered a severe setback when, on 8 December the forward fortification Fort Gyldenløve fell. Encouraged by their very hard-fought success the Swedish army intensified their efforts against the main fort.

The Swedish trenches had almost reached the main fortification walls when on the evening of 11 December (Swedish calendar: 30 November) 1718, a bullet struck and killed Charles XII while he inspected the work. The death of the king effectively ended the attack on Fredriksten and the invasion was called off, leading to the conclusion of the war. A memorial is located in the park named in his memory where the Swedish king fell, just in front of the fortress.

In 1814 the fortress was bombarded but not captured. The advancing Swedish forces of king Charles John passed it on their advance, leaving a force that tried to force its surrender, but the fortress and its commander kept the ground. It was turned over to Sweden (Denmark/Norway was on the wrong side in the Napoleonic war) after the Convention of Moss. The old fortress flag from 1814, taken by the Swedish troops and not returned to Norway until 1964, is preserved in the present day museum located inside the inner fortress