Bratsberg Amtstidende was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Skien

Skien

' is a city and municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Skien. Skien is also the administrative centre of Telemark county....

 in Telemark

Telemark

is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:...

 county. It also held the names Ugeblad for Skien og Omegn (1830 to 1840), Bratsberg Amtstidende og Correspondent (1843 to 1844) and Skiensposten (1863 to 1884).

The first ten years

Ugeblad for Skien, Skiens-Fjord og Omegn was started as a weekly newspaper on 1 January 1830, and omitted the "Skiens-Fjord" from its name already in July 1830. It was the project of printing press owner Peter Feilberg

Peter Feilberg

Peter Fredrik Feilberg was a Norwegian newspaper editor and politician.He was born in Tønsberg. His family had immigrated from Flensburg, Southern Schleswig in 1787. Peter Feilberg was a dyer by education, and operated a printing press...

, who with "Ugebladet" had started the first newspaper in Skien. "Ugebladet" had no competing newspapers during its existence, the most nearby "rival" being Jarlsbergs og Laurvigs Amtstidende in Laurvig

Larvik

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Larvik kommune - has about 41 364 inhabitants and covers 530 km2....

.

Feilberg and "Ugebladet" was notably convicted of libel in 1837 and sentenced to pay 60 speciedaler

Norwegian speciedaler

The speciedaler was the currency of Norway between 1816 and 1875. It replaced the rigsdaler specie at par and was subdivided into 120 skilling . It was replaced by the Norwegian krone when Norway joined the Scandinavian Monetary Union...

; the complaint had been filed by County Governor Frederik Wilhelm Wedel Jarlsberg. For comparison, a yearly subscription to Skiens Ugeblad cost 2 speciedaler. The legal case contributed to the newspaper's demise, but after releasing its final issue on 28 December 1839, it resurfaced already on 3 January 1840 under the name Bratsberg Amtstidende.

Later history

Bratsberg Amtstidende soon got a competitor. Its journalist with somewhat radical political ambitions, Herman Bagger

Herman Bagger

-Personal life:Herman Bagger was born in Lemvig in Jutland, Denmark to physician Eggert Christian Bagger and his wife Claudine Margrethe , née Borgen. He had one older brother and three younger siblings....

, left the newspaper in 1842 and started a competitor Skiensposten

Skiensposten

Skiensposten was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Skien.Skiensposten was started in 1842 by Herman Bagger, a Danish immigrant who had worked as a jurist, teacher, farmer and politician. Before the end of the year, however, he grew tired and resigned as chief editor...

. Skiensposten survived for the time being, but went defunct in 1843. The same year, Bagger returned to Bratsberg Amtstidende as co-editor. The name was changed to Bratsberg Amtstidende og Correspondent. Bagger left already in 1844, to form Bratsberg Amts Correspondent (from 1846 Correspondenten

Correspondenten

Correspondenten was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Skien in Telemark county.Bratsberg Amts Correspondent was started on 1 January 1844, and changed its name in August 1846. It was the project of politician Herman Bagger. In 1842 he had started the newspaper Skiensposten, but he grew tired and...

) while Feilberg's newspaper reverted to the name Bratsberg Amtstidende.

It became the number-two-newspaper in Skien. After Feilberg's death in August 1863, it even went defunct. New publishers managed to revive it in the first half of 1864, but then with the name Skiensposten. Together with Correspondenten it eventually lost terrain to Varden (founded 1874). Despite a merger between the two old rivals to once again form Bratsberg Amtstidende in 1884, it soon lost terrain to another new newspaper Fremskridt

Fremskridt

Fremskridt was a Norwegian newspaper, published in Skien in Telemark county. It was founded in 1885, but from 1931 to 1954 it was named Fylkesavisen....

(founded 1885). Fremskridt absorbed Bratsberg Amtstidende after the latter's last issue on 23 February 1901. At that time, the edtor of Fremskridt was Mons Klingenberg Gjerløw

Mons Klingenberg Gjerløw

Mons Klingenberg Gjerløw was a Norwegian editor.He was born in Aurland as a son of Jens Larsen Gjerløw and Anne Marie Nitter Ohnstad. He was a brother of Ragnvald Gjerløw. He took secondary education as well as the entrance exam at the university, but then followed a career in the press. His first...

, who had edited Bratsberg Amtstidende from 1884 to 1885.