| This is an old settlement made by people living close to baltic ocean and has propably been used since the latest ice age. In the town archeologists are finding ancient axes made from flintstone, old tools, buildings, jewelry and tombstones from early bronze age. The picture illustrates the old Nykopingshus(Newkopingshouse). The building or fortress where from the beginning a tower where the inhabitants wanted to protect themselves from the evil russians. This was also the task in medieval ages and later. The fort has been burned down a couple of times but the residents always tried to build this and town up again.<br/> Many of our historians here in Sweden believe that the old king Birger Jarl started nowadays kingdom of Sweden and this king negotiated with the nuns of Gudhem(a monastery near the lake Vaernen) and got the town Nykoping in exchange late 13:th century. It was also here he held his famous Nykopings Banquet where he prisoned both his brothers Erik and Valdemar. The legend tells us that he then throwed the keys in the river and that they both died here. This because he where tired of the brothers power struggle for the thrown. Birger had earlier got prisoned in Hagtunagame but got released by the danish king. In the old Erik Chronicle the dukes are defending Erik and Valdemar and tells that they think it was an ugly way of treating dukes in Sweden. Later Birger Magnusson had to pay for his invention and got captured again by the party of dukes. Read more about the Nykopings Banquet on wikipedia. |