Comment from a Widing with Nordland roots -- Norway's Widings. A county in the north, that borders Sweden's Norrbotten County to the east, and Sweden's Vasterbotten County to the southeast.
This version of the Widing tale of heroism: the Norwegian heroes save the Norwegian king from the Swedes, by hiding him in a wooden bench, not saving him from a bear in the woods. In reward, the name Widing or Hveding or Hviding, instead of the patronymic naming otherwise customary. Thank you, far Widing.
This version of the Widing tale of heroism: the Norwegian heroes save the Norwegian king from the Swedes, by hiding him in a wooden bench, not saving him from a bear in the woods. In reward, the name Widing or Hveding or Hviding, instead of the patronymic naming otherwise customary. Thank you, far Widing.
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"In my line of Widing's the last name was once spelt both Hveding and Hviding. They were from the Nordland region of Norway, before that roots of the family were all over Scandinavia and mixed with Royalty through out Europe. Anyway back to the Nordland region to chase down the idea of this history...In Nordland there was a group of families that seemed set from the rest. "There exists no fixed method for defining a Nordland family. Some basic factors are that they were socially established since the centuries before 1800, that they lived on the countryside, where they had typical burgher culture and professions, that they married each other, that they bore permanent family names, something that very few people had (ordinary people used patronyms), and that they often had roots outside Norway, mostly in Denmark and the Duchies." And also, "Nordland families are often associated with the region's several trade seats. One is Lauvøya, which has been possessed by, among others, the Jentoft family and the Hveding family." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordland_familiesNow it's interesting to note, these people are told to be traced back to the Benkestock noble family. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benkestok_(noble_family) Now the part that made my ears perk up is that the origin of the family is similar to your Widing tale. "The origin of the family's name, allegedly meaning ‘tree-trunk seat’, has not been established. According to a myth, the family's founding father saved the King of Norway from Swedish soldiers by hiding him in a wooden bench, wherefore he was rewarded with noble status, name, and arms."Now lets reach back a bit further and what do we find. The Hvide clan which presumably is where this all started. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvide I guess our people were "protectees of the non-black god Odin."
