The district was known in Old Norse as Hringaríki which means the reich of the Rings. The initial H was dropped sometime in the 13th century. The etymology of the district has been, however, contested among philologists. Halvdan Koht suggested in 1921 that the first settlers of Ringerike settled around Tyrifjorden in a ring, though this theory is outdated to many. It is suggested that Ringerike was named in a similar fashion of Romerike, which was named after the old name for Glomma, Rauma. Eivind Vågslid suggested in 1959 that Ringa was the old name of the river Storelva, because it meanders in a ring-shaped form.
History
Traditionally, Ringerike referred to the area around the northern and northwestern part of Tyrifjord and the lowlands along the rivers Randselva, Ådalselva and Sokna, i.e. the municipalities Hole, Krødsherad, Modum, Ringerike and Sigdal in Buskerud county. Today, it may refer to the municipality Ringerike, or the municipalities Hole and Ringerike in Buskerud, which form the administrative district of Ringerike. Including Jevnaker in Oppland, it forms the Council for the Ringerike Region, and the district court of Ringerike. Ringerike style, a historic Scandinavian animal style, was first discovered on rune stones in Ringerike. One of these, was the Alstad stone, a rune stone found in 1913 on the farm Nedre Alstad in Østre Toten. Both Ulvøya and Ringerike are mentioned in the text. Old Norse: Jórunnr reisti stein þenna eptir 〈au-aun-〉er hana tti, ok fœrði af Hringaríki útan ór Ulfeyj. Ok myndasteinn ir þessi.
English translation: Jórunnr raised this stone in memory of who owned her, and brought out of Hringaríki, from Ulfey. And the picture-stone venerates them.
The Dynna stone, a rune stone from Hadeland, is of the same type of red sandstone typical for Ringerike.
Kings of Ringerike
Ringerike was founded by its eponymous ruler Hring, who was the son of Raum the Old. One of the more significant historic people who have lived in Ringerike, was the king Halfdan the Black, father of Harald Fairhair, who united Norway into a single kingdom. In the early Viking Era before Harald Fairhair became the first king of Norway, Ringerike was a petty kingdom. Dagling was a legendary clan of Ringerike. In the Ynglinga saga, Snorri Sturluson writes that the clan was descended from Dag the Great whose daughter Dageid married the Swedish kingAlaric and was the mother of Yngvi and Alf, both legendary Swedish kings of the House of Yngling. One of the sons of Dag the Great was Óli, who was the father of Dag, Óleif, Hring, Olaf, Helgi, and Sigurd Hjört, who was a petty king of Ringerike. Sigurd Hjört was the father of Ragnhild Sigurdsdotter, the mother of Harald Fairhair. Following Harald's consolidation of Norway in the late 9th century, the kingdom appears to have been ruled by a series of local jarls and client kings. A later sub-king of Ringerike, Sigurd Syr, was the father of Harald Hardråde and the step father of Olav King Haraldson, the saint, both kings of Norway. When King Olaf Tryggvason came to Ringerike to spread the novel Roman Catholic religion of the new feudal empire of Charlemagne, Sigurd Syr and his wife allowed themselves to be baptized. Forced conversion to Christendom was a novelty, put into legal code by Charlemagne.
Administrative history
Ringerike was in its beginnings, the southwesternmost district of the historical Uplands. In 1320, it was together with Hadeland, Land and Toten, a part of the county Haðafylki. Ringerike was in 1640 grouped with Hallingdal in the district Buskerud og Hallingdal Fogderi. In 1866, the district was divided into the Buskerud district, which included Krødsherad, Modum, and Sigdal, along with Lower Buskerud, excluding Kongsberg. The rest of Ringerike, remained the same as it commonly is today.
