Eksjö Municipality

Eksjö Municipality is a municipality in Jönköping County, in southern Sweden where the town Eksjö (pop. 10,000) is seat.

Name

The name Ek Sjö would literally translate to Oak Lake. The city arms also show an oak.

History

The city of Eksjö most likely appeared sometime in the medieval ages when it was the centre for the thing, a regional council. Its first mentioned is from the 14th century. It was given its charter in the early 15th century by Erik av Pommern.

In the 16th century it was one of the six Swedish cities in the historical province of Småland, together with Jönköping, Kalmar, Vimmerby, Västervik, and the seat of the diocese: Växjö.

After the crowning of King Gustav Vasa in the 1520s, the Smalandian revolutionry Nils Dacke led riots and revolts in the area for a few years, supported by locals of the province, including in Eksjö. After having killed Dacke, Eksjö was one of the locations the King let put up body parts of Dacke, to quench any notions of new uprising. Perhaps this was the reason why Gustav Vasa eventuelly revoked the charter of Eksjö in 1544. There are several monuments and folk museums honouring these times around the province and in Eksjö municipality, and in the dense Smalandian forests where he lived.

During the Nordic Seven Years' War it was burnt to the ground in 1568 and subsequently rebuilt at a somewhat different location. The construction was led by the Dutch Arendt de Roy.

Eksjö cirka 1700, in Suecia antiqua et hodierna.

The city emerged as a centre for the oxen trades but never really prospered and remained a small town until a heath outside the town became the point of assembly for the Smalandia Regiment (Smålands Regemente). The city continued to be in the center of military establishments, with the coming of the engineering battalion and the Husars of Smalandia, in southern Sweden, hence the lack of large industrial establishments.

Sights

File:Eksjö gamla stan 2005, Mangan2002.jpg

The old town

Like many other Swedish cities it was struck by fire in the 19th century, with half of the city buring down in 1856. But a large part of the city, the northern parts, are largely intact, with some parts still remaining since the construction of the city in 1568.

Natives

Albert Engström (1869-1940) was an author, poet and drawer and subsequently member of the Swedish Academy, who grew up in a small village outside of the city Eksjö.

Sister cities

• Marstal, in Denmark
• Barlinek, in Poland

( See sister city. )

External links

• Eksjö - Official site