Vang, Hedmark

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vang farm (Old Norse: Vangr) since the first Vang Church was built there. The name is identical to the word vangr which means "meadow" or "field". Since the municipal consolidation in 1992, the name Øvre Vang (meaning "upper Vang") is used locally as the common name for the area outside the town of Hamar that was once part of the old municipality of Vang.[4][7]

The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Vang. It is part of the Hamar domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Archeological evidence provides ties between the Vendel era culture in Uppland and Vang in the period from 600 to 800 AD. Most notable is finding of a fine examples of a Vendel Culture style ring sword in Vang burial mounds; each sword's hilt is adorned with a heavy gold ring upon which oaths were sworn.[8] The use of the ring sword is also mentioned in Beowulf and the Eddas.

Åker gård (Aaker farm) in Vang was the site of an ancient Thing (ting) place; it was there that King Magnus I agreed to share power with his uncle Harald Hardråde and the two became co-rulers. In the 11th century the Thing was moved to Eidsvol.

Åker remained a king's farm during the Viking period, as well as a local headquarters for the military. At the end of the Hannibal War, General Georg von Reichwein was granted Åker gård as his residence. During the following years it continued to be the residence of senior military officers. Jørgen Otto Brockenhuus, founder of the Brockenhuss –Schack family, resided there in the early 18th century.[8]

Vang municipality was established in 1837, when the municipality law came into effect. The municipality borders were those which had been established by a border commission in 1730. It was named after Vang church; since the early Iron Age the region had been known as Ridabu.

In 1847, the executive council majority agreed that Hamar should be restored to kjøpstad status, but the decision was controversial and some believed the basis for the decision was illogical. When Hamar achieved this status in 1849, about 0.4 square kilometres (0.15 sq mi) of land was reassigned to it from Vang. Vang gave up additional land to Hamar in 1878, 1946, 1947 and 1965. In 1891 the district of Furnes was separated from Vang to create a municipality of its own.

The earliest village was Hjellum - a contraction of «Hjellum-by`n». It was there that the train station for the Rørosbanen line between Elverum and Hamar stopped. In the same place Sanderud asylum (now hospital) was located.

During the Second World War, especially after 1944, many resistance fighters hid in Vangsåsa. About 70 persons found refuge in the Norwegian resistance Milorg's district 77 rural huts. On 26 October, German troops assaulted one of the huts and two resistance fighters were killed. A third escaped miraculously.

After 1947 the Østland District Commandos had their headquarters at Åker gård.

After the Second World War more villages developed: Ridabu, Ingeberg, Vangli, and Wik.

The government had been debating merging Vang and Hamar (and sometimes Løten) for several decades. There was strong local opposition in Vang — a referendum held 22 and 23 April 1990 showed 95% of the Vang residents opposed incorporation into Hamar, with a 64.7% turnout rate.[9] Support in Hamar was stronger as Vang was a prosperous farming municipality, while Hamar suffered from urban decay. The Storting forced the merger which took place on 1 January 1992. The sponsor for the consolidation was Odd Aspeli (of the Arbeiderpartiet). He took over as Mayor in Hamar after consolidation and remained as Mayor until 1999. Another chief sponsor against consolidation, Einar Busterud, then assumed the position of Mayor.[3]

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vang was made up of 29 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

The mayors of Vang: