Ketil Motzfeldt

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Ketil Motzfeld

Ketil Johnsen Melsted Motzfeldt (born August 10, 1814 in Bergen , † November 17, 1889 in Christiania ) was a Norwegian naval officer and politician.

family

Motzfeldt's parents were State Councilor Peter Motzfeldt (1777-1854) and his wife Ernesta Birgitte Margrethe Stenersen (1789-1848).

On August 14, 1860, he married Hedvig Susanne Amalie Rosenvinge (* June 24, 1840 - March 21, 1903), the daughter of the landowner Eiler Schøller Rosenvinge (1813–1849) and his wife Thale Abel Kjerstine Motzfeldt (1814–1847), his cousin. He was the brother of Ulrik Anton Motzfeldt (1807–1865) and the cousin of his brother-in-law Christian Birch-Reichenwald (1814–91).

Professional background

Motzfeldt became a midshipman in Frederikshavn in 1826 and a naval officer in 1832. Until 1841 he was a sub-lieutenant in the navy, then first lieutenant until he left the navy in 1852. As an officer he was responsible for equipping the warships at the main shipyard of the Navy. In 1852 he became "expedition secretary" in the interior department. A year later he left the office to be elected as a member of the Storting. In 1854, on the recommendation of Anton Martin Schweigaard , he was chosen for Christiania in the Storting . He represented Christiania in 1854, 1857, in the extraordinary Storting from 1858 and 1859-1860. 1857-1860 he was also general post director, the only one who held this office. Johan Sverdrup tried in vain to have the election to the Storting declared invalid because the post of General Post Director was not independent of the government.

His most important achievement was the regulation of fishing interests in Northern Norway in the 1850s. There the fishermen were dependent on the owners of the fishing grounds, so that they were almost serfs. Motzfeldt stood up for the freedom of the sea and fishing. He brought a corresponding application to Storting and was appointed director of the fisheries control for 1858 and 1859, when the law was promulgated.

Motzfeldt moved to Rødøy at the age of 46 and married a relative who was 26 years his junior. In 1860 he moved to Stockholm , where he was appointed to the Norwegian State Council. Motzfeld came into government with his cousin and brother-in-law Birch-Reichenwald. These two played a decisive role in the governor's dispute. This dispute was about abolishing the office of governor in Norway in order to establish equality between Norway and Sweden in the Norwegian-Swedish Union. The Storting had unanimously passed the abolition decision in trust of a corresponding promise from King Charles when he ascended the throne. But the king could not keep his promise because of the protests in the Swedish parliament. The government then passed a protest note essentially formulated by Christian Birch-Reichenwald, which President Georg Sibbern did not want to present to the king in this sharp form. There was a government crisis and reshuffle. The new head of the government, Frederik Stang , had implemented a weakening. The king was indignant nonetheless. Christian Birch-Reichenwald, Ketil Motzfeldt and the First Councilor of State Hans Christian Petersen had to resign. The king set up a transitional government under Sibbern. The result was an irreconcilable opposition within the conservatives between Birch-Reichenwald and Ketil Motzfeldt on the one hand and Frederik Stang and Sibbern on the other. The general opinion was that court intrigues, the king's fickleness and the arrogance of the Swedes made it impossible for Motzfeld, with his strong national sentiment, to be the king's advisor in government. The opposition led to a split among the conservatives.

Motzfeld temporarily withdrew from politics to his farm Vestmanrød in Borre, now part of Horten . From 1870 to 1885 he was elected delegate for Jarlsberg (now part of Tønsberg ) and Laurvig . He held this position from 1870 to 1885. He joined the MPs who later founded the right-wing party Høyre , but rejected the party system in a democracy.

When the second time at Storting was posted, it was largely thanks to outside support, for example from Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson . In the last year of his membership in 1858 Motzfeldt held back and was relatively loyal to the Conservatives. In the last years of his life he dealt with the publication of the memoirs of his father Peter Motzfeldt Breve og optegnelser (1888). The somewhat abridged Dagbøger 1854-89 , which were published in 1908 by his nephew Ernst Motzfeldt, are an important historical source.

Appreciation

Ketil Motzfeldt was an individualist and caused the division of the conservatives. He was unable to equalize and bring the wings together. His greatest achievement was the reorganization of fishing rights in Northern Norway. He was a knowledgeable and successful representative for Jarlsberg and Laurvik. But in Christiania he was without support in the midst of the lawyers. For a long time unmarried and in a small rented apartment, he was politically isolated. He also hated party formation and despised parliamentarism. Although he was by no means hostile to Sweden, he constantly feared that Norway would be incorporated by its stronger neighbor. His family background was more Danish-Norwegian.

Honors

In 1857 Motzfeldt received the Order of St. Olavs and in 1860 its Commander's Cross. He was also the commander of the Swedish Order of Nordstjärne and a knight of the Order of Dannebrog .

literature

The article is based on information from the Norsk biografisk leksikon . Other sources are shown separately.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Unterleutnant was the lowest officer grade.
  2. ↑ In Norway the government is not divided into ministries but into departments. There are therefore no ministers, but department heads or councilors of state.
  3. ↑ The highest position in a department after its head is the State Secretary.
  4. ↑ Government members could not normally be elected for storting, but there were exceptions if they worked outside the departmental structures.
  5. ↑ Originally, all land and fishing rights belonged to the king. When the king needed money, he began to sell the land, provided it was on the bank, along with the fishing rights. The buyers were wealthy merchants. They leased the fishing rights to the fishermen and had the trade monopoly for resale.
personal data
SURNAME Motzfeldt, Ketil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Motzfeldt, Ketil Johnsen Melsted (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian naval officer and politician, member of the Storting
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH Mountains
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 1889
Place of death Christiania