kingdom · Scandinavia and the Baltic

Grenland

750 CE – 880 CE (approx.)

Petty kingdom at the mouth of the Skien river in southern Norway, one of the coastal realms brought under Harald Fairhair.

Origins

Grenland, around the lower Skienselva and the coast of modern Telemark, appears in the sagas as one of the small kingdoms of south-eastern Norway. Its early history is obscure and known only from scattered references in later Icelandic writings.

Rule and society

The district looked to the sea and the Skagerrak, and its people farmed, fished and traded. Inland Telemark supplied iron and whetstones that were exported widely in the Viking Age. No reliable record of its kings or institutions survives.

Decline and legacy

Grenland passed into the realm of the Vestfold kings and of Harald Fairhair in the late 9th century and became part of the Kingdom of Norway. The town of Skien grew there in the Middle Ages.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

GrenlandKingdom of Norway 872 CE – present

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Grenland. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/grenland
MLA
“Grenland.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/grenland. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Grenland.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/grenland.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Grenland’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/grenland (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻