Øvre Telemark in the context of "Numedal"

Vinje is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vest-Telemark which is part of Øvre Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Åmot. Other villages in the municipality include Arabygdi, Edland, Grunge, Haukeli, Krossen, Møsstrond, Nesland, Øyfjell, Raulandsgrend, and Vinje.

The 3,106-square-kilometre (1,199 sq mi) municipality is the 14th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Vinje is the 209th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,832. The municipality's population density is 1.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (3.6/sq mi) and its population has increased by 3% over the previous 10-year period.

Midt-Telemark is a traditional district of Norway situated in Telemark county. It is made up of two municipalities: Midt-Telemark and Nome. The largest population centres in the region are Bø, Ulefoss, Bjervamoen, and Gvarv, of which Bø is the largest with 3,609 inhabitants. The district is located between Øvre Telemark (upper Telemark) and Nedre Telemark (lower Telemark).

Historically, the areas of Midt-Telemark included the old parishes of Bø and Sauherad. Both parishes became municipalities on 1 January 1838 when the formannskapsdistrikt law came into effect. Lunde Municipality was split off from Bø in 1867. In 1964, Lunde was merged with the neighboring Holla Municipality to form the new Nome Municipality. Holla was never historically part of Midt-Telemark, instead it was often included in the Grenland district.

Sir Hans Povelsson Paus (1656, Hjartdal – 18 March 1715) was a Norwegian priest and poet. He was parish priest in Kviteseid from 1683 until his death. A popular man in his parish who learned the local dialect (at a time when most church officials and civil servants used Danish as a working language), he is noted for being the first to write poetry in dialect in Norway. His poem Stolt Anne (ca. 1700), written in the Kviteseid dialect, became a popular folk song in Telemark. 12 verses were included in Norske Folkeviser (1853) by Magnus Brostrup Landstad and Henrik Ibsen, a relative of Hans Paus, paraphrased the poem in the drama Lady Inger of Ostrat. The poem honored Anne Clausdatter, the owner of Borgestad Manor and a relative of Paus. She rewarded him with an agricultural property (Bukkøy) for it. He owned several agricultural properties in Kviteseid.

Hans Paus was the son of Povel Pedersson Paus (1625–1682), parish priest in Hjartdal, and Ingrid Corneliusdatter Trinnepol, who belonged to the Skien patriciate who had made a fortune in the sawmill industry (her family might originate in Trinitapoli, Italy). Hans Paus married Susanne Amundsdatter Morland, daughter of the provost of Øvre Telemark Amund Hanssøn Morland. He succeeded his father-in-law as parish priest in Kviteseid. Amund Morland, of Danish origin, had succeeded Hans Paus' grandfather Peder Paus (born 1590) as the Kviteseid parish priest and provost; hence, the Paus and Morland families have been referred to as a dynasty of priests in Øvre Telemark. Hans Paus' maternal grandparents were timber merchant, sawmill owner and councilman in Skien, Cornelius Jansen Trinnepol (1611–1678) and Anne Iversdatter (1605–1642), a daughter of councilman Iver Christensen and Margrethe von Ansbach. Susanne's maternal grandparents Christen Andersen and Anne Gundersdatter owned Borgestad Manor.