Nils Henriksson

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Coat of arms of Nils Henriksson

Nils Henriksson (* 1455 , † between November 25 and December 29, 1523 in Bergen ) was a Norwegian knight and member of the Imperial Council. Later genealogists gave him the surname Gyldenløve, which alludes to Nils Henriksson's coat of arms, a golden lion over a slaughtered field. He never used the name himself.

family

His parents were the knight, councilor and chief Henrik Jensson (around 1415-1478) and his wife Elin Nikolasdatter († after 1478). On September 22, 1494 he married Ingerd Ottesdotter of the Rømer family (1475–1555). She was the daughter of the Imperial Councilor Otte Matsson from the Rømer family .

Nils probably became a knight on the occasion of the coronation of King John I in Trondheim in 1483. In the election of Christian II in Copenhagen in 1489 as King of Norway, he already participated as a member of the Norwegian Imperial Council. There he ensured the repeal of important provisions from King John's electoral surrender, the so-called Halmstad recess .

capital

Nils was one of Norway's richest landowners and was the most distinguished member of the Norwegian nobility in Christian II's time, but he never played a dominant role in Norwegian politics. The marriages of his daughters to Danish nobles became the nucleus of a new high nobility in Norway after the Reformation. His ancestral seat was Austrått (also Astråt, Østraat) on Fosen (today in the municipality of Ørland ), which he had acquired in 1506 from Archbishop Gaute by exchange. He was also related to the Archbishop Aslak Bolt.

Nils first appeared in a document in 1485 at the annual court session of the Nordafjelske Imperial Council in Bergen . He took part in these meetings until 1506. He must have had considerable income there from his own farm on the shore of "Sranden" opposite Bryggen . In 1494 at the latest he was castle captain of Vardøhus Fortress with Finnmark , most of Helgeland as a fief, but lost this fief between 1514 and 1517. From before 1513 he still had the fiefs of Sunnmøre , Romsdal , Edøy and Fosen with Härjedalen . In 1519 he received Stjørdal as a pawn and again with Vardøhus until his death.

politics

Nils distanced himself from the uprising of Knut Alvsson in 1501 and participated in the conviction of Swedish insurgents for crimes of majesty in the Kalmar judgment of 1505. On the other hand, after the Alvssons uprising, he opposed the centralization policy of the Union monarchy, as it arose under the Norwegian viceroyalty of Duke Christian. At that time, the ability of the Norwegian Imperial Council to pursue an independent policy was weakened as Christian more and more often overrode the Imperial Council in its decisions. As a member of the Reichsrat, he had to accept Christian II's joint election surrender for Denmark and Norway in 1513, which enshrined Norway's weak position in the Union. The Norwegian nobility did not have the sole right to grant fiefs in Norway, and so non-aristocrats could also receive Norwegian fiefs. His resistance to the viceroy's centralization efforts is also expressed in a legal opinion against the attempt by the king to curtail ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Nils Henriksson was nevertheless favored by the king. He was appointed Reichshofmeister, probably at the coronation of Christian II in 1514 or shortly afterwards. But that was just an honorary title that barely contained any other options or functions. Apparently, this was intended to enhance the king's entourage when he accompanied him to pick up Isabella of Austria from the Netherlands in the summer of 1515. In 1519 he sent troops together with Archbishop Erik Valkendorf to Jämtland as a defense against a Swedish attack.

death

After Christian II's flight, Nils was to take over Bergenhus in the name of the Imperial Council and rule northern Norway until a new king was elected. But fell ill during the negotiations. On November 25th, he is described as sick and bedridden and died on December 29th, 1523 at the latest. His son-in-law Vincens Lunge took over the castle in the name of the Imperial Council.

progeny

With Ingerd he had the daughters:

  • Margrete. She married Vincens Lunge , later Jens Splid.
  • Anna. She married Erik Ugerup zu uLa, feudal lord of Tønsberg
  • Eline. She married Jens Lykke.
  • Lucie. She married Jens Tillufsøn Bjelke.
  • Ingeborg. She married Peder Hansen Litle. He was first kitchen master with Bishop Hans Mule, later feudal lord over Akershus.

Out of wedlock he had

  • Henrik, who made a career as a clergyman
  • probably also Dorothea, who entered the Vadstena monastery in 1492.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 21 No. 697. The acquisition of Astråt is presented differently in the literature: The Norsk biografisk leksikon claims that his father acquired the property from the archbishop by exchange. The dansk biografisk lexicon says under the heading "Rømer, Inger Ottesdatter" that his wife Inger brought the estate into the marriage.
  2. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 1 No. 688.
  3. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 1 No. 1054.
  4. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 1 No. 1067. The date 1524 given there is incorrect.
  5. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 5 No. 1039.
  6. ↑ article "Litle" in Norsk biografisk leksikon
personal data
SURNAME Nils Henriksson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nils Henriksson Gyldenløve
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Knight and member of the Norwegian Imperial Council.
DATE OF BIRTH 1455
DATE OF DEATH between November 25, 1523 and December 29, 1523
Place of death Mountains