Olav Engelbrektsson

Olav Engelbrektsson (* after 1480; † February 7, 1538 in Lier ) was the last Catholic Archbishop in Norway . He was the central antagonist of the introduction of the Reformation in Norway .

origin

Olav Engelbrektsson came from a peasant or low-nobility family. Little is known about his youth. Attempts have been made to trace his family since the 17th century. Ludvig Daae put forward the most convincing theory : According to this, Olav was the son of the Engelbrekt Gunnarsson and Jorunn couple in Trondenes near Harstad . The two moved to Rome together with the dean of Nidaros Sakse Gunnarsson, who according to this hypothesis was an uncle of Olav. After that he had a brother Aslak, who was Setesvein in Trondenes in 1533, and a brother Gunnar, who was a canon in Oslo . His nephew Gaute Taraldsson became Olav's chancellor after 1533 and another close relative, Christoffer Trondsson , became his admiral. This came from the nobility of Sunnhordland , but Olav himself came from a family of large farmers in Romerike . He carried a noble coat of arms with three lilies grouped around a rose. In any case, this shows that he belonged to the Norwegian elite.

Education and career

education

In 1503 Olav was enrolled at the University of Rostock and ordained a priest there. He stayed in Rostock until 1514, was awarded a baccalaureus in 1505 and a master's degree in 1507 . For several years he was on the board of the Norwegian student association "Regentia S. Olavi", which was probably maintained by the archbishopric in Nidaros. At the same time, he seems to have been teaching at the university. At that time, Rostock was the center of North German humanism with a strong national focus and historical interests.

The first offices

On December 17th he became dean of Nidaros. This gave him the highest rank in the diocese after the archbishop and was responsible for worship in the cathedral church . In 1519 he edited the Missale Nidarosiense with the cantor Peter Sigurdsson . He got on well with Archbishop Erik Valkendorf and became his official . He also seems to have been responsible for the diocese's assets. When Valkendorf moved to Rome in conflict with King Christian II , the government passed over the diocese to the cathedral chapter , which was headed by Olav. His account books and the land register from his time as archbishop, his building work on the cathedral and in Steinvikholmen show his great administrative talent .

The election to the archbishop

Olav Engebrektsson's coat of arms with a rose surrounded by three double lilies .

When the news of Valkendorf's death arrived from Rome, Olav was elected archbishop by the cathedral chapter on May 30, 1523. He traveled to Rome immediately, but had to wait for the installation of the new Pope before receiving the pallium from Pope Clement VII in December . In Rome he met the German geographer and learned theologian Jakob Ziegler , who published a geographical work on Scandinavia, Schondia , in Strasbourg in 1532 , in which, in the introduction to the map series, he reproduced Olav Engelbrektsson's view of Norway: Norway was originally a flourishing empire until the nobility introduced elective monarchy at a time when the throne was vacant . This has led to civil wars, so that foreign powers have invaded the kingdom and taken over. The result was the submission to Denmark. The Danes then plundered Norway and exercised arbitrary rule. The freedom of assembly has been lifted. Denmark controlled shipping to and from Norway, so that any trade could be stopped immediately if Norway should prove insubordinate to the king. In essence, he characterized Christian II's reign. But it does not seem likely that Olav Engelbrektsson could have become Norwegian Archbishop if Christian II had had full control over Norway.

During the vacancy of the bishop's chair in 1523, the Danish nobility rose against Christian II, with military support from Lübeck , who had to flee Denmark. The new King Frederick I had not yet been elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Imperial Council. Olav had followed an old custom when, on his trip to Rome in 1523, during his stay in the Netherlands, he paid homage to King Christian II, who was still Norway's king. On his journey home to Norway it became clear to him that Frederick I would be the new Norwegian king after he had been recognized by all other members of the Imperial Council. He paid homage to the new king in Flensburg in April 1524, on condition that the king respect Norwegian law and the privileges of the church.

The conflict with Denmark

The Imperial Assembly in Bergen

At a meeting of the Norwegian Imperial Council in Bergen in August 1524 , the latter formulated the electoral surrender for the official election of Frederick as King of Norway: Norway should have an equivalent status to Denmark in the entire empire with its own self-government by the Norwegian Imperial Council. The collection of taxes and important foreign policy decisions should require the approval of the Reichsrat. Norwegian laws and the privileges of the Church should be respected and the Norwegian State Archives should be returned to Norway. The king should help Norway get back everything it had lost under the previous kings. There were also other conditions for strengthening noble and clerical status privileges.

The demands of the Reichsrat were in line with earlier election surrenders, and the national demands were in line with Olav Engelbrektsson's position. They were drawn up at a meeting between Olav and the Bishop of Hamar Mogens Lauritsson and other nobles from Østlandet on his return from Rome in May. He conducted negotiations with Friedrich in front of the Reichstag in Bergen in order to obtain his approval.

The political development under Friedrich I.

The carelessness with which the chosen policy was carried out in the period that followed was largely due to Vincen's lungs . In 1524/1525 he forced Bergen's Henrik Krummedike to renounce all Norwegian fiefs and drove Olav Galle from Akershus Castle , both against the express will of the king. In Denmark, the lungs were seen as the driving force behind this challenging policy. On the other hand, the archbishop was considered to be prudent.

The archbishop's administration suggests that he followed a rather cautious line. He focused on ecclesiastical tasks and strengthening his power base, particularly through the building of Steinvikholmen fortress in 1525. He hoped that Lunge's policies would not harm Lunge; but this caused him constant difficulties because he was not waiting for an agreement on a common policy, but acted on his own as governor of the king in Nordafjellske Norge and thus weakened Olav's position as chairman of the Imperial Council. Lunge drove a wedge into Norwegian society early on through its harsh land ownership policy against various noble families. A letter from 1526 shows that he had become enemies with the bishops of Bergen and Stavanger , among other things because Lunge sympathized with Lutheranism , which also led the archbishop to distrust him.

During this time the Norwegian Imperial Council did not meet, but contented itself with deliberations through correspondence. The reason was probably the frequent pirate attacks. In 1525/1526 the archbishop opposed the king's wish to be crowned in Konghelle ( Båhuslen ), as this was not the proper coronation church and because the coast was not safe from pirates. The unauthorized determination of the time and place of the coronation contradicted the election surrender. The city was under Danish control and was cut off from Norway by a Swedish occupation in Viken. Olav obtained the approval of the other members of the Reichsrat for his rejection. Information about Frederick I's Lutheran sentiments probably also played a role. The king wanted to hold a joint meeting of the Danish and Norwegian imperial councils in Kongshelle . In the autumn of 1526 the king summoned the archbishop, Vincens Lunge and Olav Galle to a meeting with the Danish Imperial Council in Odense , which did not take place. Lunge later claimed he didn't receive the charge until months after the meeting. In Odense, Frederick planned an expedition against Akershus Castle, which was carried out in May 1527. Olav Galle was forced to hand over the castle to the Dane Mogens Gyldenstierne . This was done in agreement with the sønnafjelsken members of the Imperial Council and the Bishop of Oslo , Hans Rev . Gyldenstiern's cousin received Bohuslän. Olav turned to the king to at least confirm his fiefdom to Olav Galle in Trøndelag, which he succeeded.In the fall of 1527, Vincens Lunge distanced itself from Olav Engelbrektsson on the basis of a Scottish complaint that Norwegian ships had hijacked Scottish ships, and he turned Olav's warships in Bergen under arrest.

Olav Engelbrektsson continued to refuse the coronation of Frederick, who had now proposed Oslo , which he ruled militarily. Olav probably feared that he would be put under pressure in Oslo and insisted on Nidaros as the traditional coronation site.

In 1528 Vincens Lunge supported a Swedish adventurer, the "Daljunker", who had fled the country and led a failed uprising against the Swedish King Gustav I. Vasa . The archbishop did not participate in this support. But King Gustav considered him an accomplice and asked King Friedrich to remove all of the von Lunge family and the archbishop, which the Danish king was very welcome. Lunge had to cede Bergenhus Castle to the Dane Eske Bille , who was the cousin of the feudal men in Akershus and Båhus, but at the same time received monastery property in Bergen and kept the fiefs in Vestlandet and in central and northern Norway. The archbishop was to cede his fiefdom in Trøndelag to two Holstein nobles in the service of the king. These king's orders were a blatant breach of election surrender. The king also stopped informing the archbishop of his decisions. This had to be content with information from third parties about the measures against the self-government of Norway and the independence of the church. Behind this development stood Vincens Lung, who used his new position in Denmark to discredit the Archbishop.

The archbishop now resorted to military means and took to the field against Vincens Lunge and his mother-in-law Ingerd Ottesdatter in the spring of 1529. North of Bergen, Olav was militarily superior both on land and sea. There he took over all fiefdoms from Lunge and his mother-in-law. He also refused to surrender his fiefs in Trøndelag. This earned him such respect that the king gave up trying to reclaim the fiefs in Trøndelag. In the summer of 1529 the government in Denmark attempted a new attempt. Duke Christian, the king's son, was sent to Oslo with a Danish noble delegation, 14 ships and 1,500 men to meet with members of the Norwegian Imperial Council. Olav did not attend this meeting. The other bishops did the same, except for Hans Ref von Oslo. They feared being forced into submission, since Duke Christian was a militant Lutheran. During their stay in Oslo, the duke's soldiers stole the treasures from the Maria Church in one night, which even met with disapproval from the Danish nobility.

In the autumn of 1529, Olav Engelbrektsson first made contact with Emperor Charles V and sounded out whether he was ready to support the deposed King Christian II in the reconquest of the Norwegian kingdom. It was two years before the Habsburgs and Christian II began planning a campaign north. Christian II had converted back to Catholicism and had assured him that he would rule in accordance with the old laws. Now Olav Engelbrektsson played a double game: externally he demonstrated loyalty to King Friedrich, internally he continued to arm. The former Archbishop of Sweden Gustav Trolle came to Norway to further the war preparations. Olav's balancing act became riskier. He did not appear in 1531 for a scheduled meeting with the King and the Danish Imperial Council in Denmark, although he apologized for the fire in Nidaros Cathedral on May 5, 1531. In the autumn and winter of 1531/1532 Christian II tried to regain Norway. But he did not succeed in conquering the fortresses of Akershus and Bohus. When Frederick I sent a large army into the Oslofjord, Christian had no choice but to return with the army. It was agreed that he should negotiate with Friedrich. Instead, he was arrested. Olav Engelbrektsson was isolated. He paid homage to Christian II and even wanted to accept Christian II's son Johann as the Norwegian Hereditary King. The military conflict continued. Eske Bille in Bergenhus, with Danish reinforcements, prevented Christian II's troops from advancing to the west and moved as far as Nidaros, where he burned the town and the bishopric in June 1532. However, Frederick II could not afford to permanently station his army in Norway. But he succeeded in forcing the members of the Norwegian Imperial Council, who had supported Christian II, to pay homage and to penalize them for their apostasy. The archbishop justified his apostasy to the ambassadors of Frederick with his frequent breaches of election surrender. In contrast to the bishops of Oslo and Hamar, he did not allow himself to be forced to promise that the king, whom the Danish Imperial Council would elect in the next royal election, would also be recognized. When the king again invited him to a Danish-Norwegian diet in the summer of 1533, he stayed away from the diet on the grounds that the invitation was too short-term.

The interregnum

The death of Frederick I in 1533 initially strengthened the position of the archbishop by reverting sovereignty to the Norwegian Imperial Council. The Catholics in the Danish Imperial Council refused to elect Friedrich's eldest son Christian as the new Danish king. The election of a king was suspended until 1534. Olav convened a large Norwegian diet in Bud for August 1533 , to which all members of the imperial council, the nobles, feudal men, lagmen and representatives of the cities and the rural population were invited. Although not all came, especially not from Ostlandet, the Diet at Bud was the largest diet for a long time. Eske and Claus Bille, who also sat in the Danish Reichsrat and were Catholic-minded, were newly accepted into the Reichsrat. In preparation, Olav had listed the Danish violations of the election surrender. Among the subjects of the Reichstag, Olav's plan to reintroduce Leidang's general conscription is of particular interest . Olav was given extensive powers to govern Norway during the interregnum, made preparations for the Danish-Norwegian electoral assembly and placed the Faroe Islands , which Frederick I had left two Hamburg merchants, under Bergenhus. Three weeks later there was another parliament in Oslo, which dealt with the government of Iceland.

Olav did not take part in the Danish-Norwegian diet, which was scheduled for the summer of 1534, probably because he had learned of the outbreak of the count's feud . Instead, he sent authorized members of the Reichsrat, to whom he instructed to insist on equality for Norway in the whole kingdom and respect for the Church. Due to the feud of the counts, there was no election meeting. The candidate for the throne of the Catholics Johann , a younger son of Frederick I, had to give up because he could not muster sufficient military power, so that the decision between two Lutheran candidates remained. Duke Christian was finally able to win the count's feud. On July 4, 1534 he was proclaimed king by the nobility in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark. He conquered all of Denmark, and in August 1536 Copenhagen also fell.

In Norway, Olav pursued a policy of neutrality during the count's feud, but was increasingly put under pressure. He seems to Christian III. to have accepted on condition that he respects Norwegian law and the Norwegian Church. He tried desperately to win his colleagues in the Reichsrat to a common position, but Vincens Lunge and the other Danish rulers torpedoed all efforts. The Danish feudal men on the fortresses in southern Norway ruled Østlandet and Vestlandet militarily. They took for Christian III. Party and demanded the same from the other Norwegians. Christian also received support from his cousin Gustav Vasa. As Lord of Akershus, Vincens Lung increased the pressure on the Archbishop in the spring of 1535. He eventually forced the council members of Sønnafjels to elect Christian as well and to ask the Imperial Council to do the same. Olav called an imperial assembly in Trondheim for May 1535, but this did not have a quorum because too many did not appear. Vinzens Lunge justified his absence with the fact that the Archbishop had not taken action against the incest of Niels Lykke, Lunges' brother-in-law, with his sister-in-law. Sønnafjelske Norge's members of the Reichsrat demanded that he sentence Lykke to death, which Olav did in 1535. In the autumn of 1535, Olav sent a letter to five important members of the Danish Imperial Council that he would be quick to elect Christian III. ready, and at the same time informed Vincens Lunge and the Bishop of Oslo about it. Lunge intercepted the letter to Denmark in Oslo and intensified his campaign against Olav among the Danes. Christian III had become deeply indebted in the count feud. In 1535 he sent Claus Bille to Trondheim with the demand for a joint Reichsrat homage and a tax permit. The councilors of Østlandet also had to appear there.

The political development under Christian III.

In this situation, Olav Engelbrektson saw a new possibility for a Catholic alternative and corresponded again with Emperor Charles V and with Elector Friedrich II , who was married to Christian II's daughter Dorothea , with the aim of making the Elector King of Norway . Emperor Karl assured Olav in writing of his support and presented him with concrete plans for implementation. When the councilors came to Trondheim, Olav was forced to join his council colleague Christian III. to be elected King of Norway and to approve the tax collection. But on January 3, 1536, at a meeting of officials and clergy, he brought serious charges against the Danish Imperial Councilors, especially against Lunge, for having committed treason. A group of participants then moved to the council members' quarters, killed Vincen's lungs, and captured Claus Bille and Bishops Hans Rev and Mogens. When Eske Bille came to Trondheim shortly afterwards, he was also arrested and all were imprisoned in Tautra . In a letter from Frostathing four days later, the citizens of all of Norway were asked to punish those who tried to eradicate Norway's freedom. At the same time, the archbishop sent troops to Oslo and Bergen to interrupt the enemy supply lines. The entire population of Østlandet revolted against Danish rule. But Olav did not succeed in taking the fortresses Akershus and Bergenhus, on the contrary: the well-trained troops in the fortresses marched out and caused him a heavy defeat.

Archbishop Olav had to release the prisoners from Tautra in April. He also promised King Christian III. against full amnesty to be recognized as Norwegian king. Eske Bille urged the king to reconcile with the archbishop. But he had already arrested the Danish bishops after the conquest of Copenhagen. The Danish Imperial Council, weakened in this way, accepted the Reformation and a state church led by the king. On October 30, 1536, the king and the imperial council decided that Norway should no longer be an independent kingdom, but part of the Danish kingdom such as Jutland, Funen, Zealand or Skåne. This decision was called " Norgesparagraf " part of Christian III's surrender . This decision was justified by the fact that Norway was too weak to maintain its own king and that the majority of the Norwegian Imperial Council, headed by Archbishop Olaf, had fallen away from the Danish Empire twice. This sealed the fate of Norway and the archbishop.

In the autumn of 1536 the king sent troops to the forts of Akershus and Bergenhus. The Archbishop was now permanently in Steinvikholmen. Under pressure from Dutch trade and shipping interests, Emperor Charles V abandoned plans for a military intervention. On February 1, 1537 he concluded with Christian III. a ceasefire agreement. The only help he gave the archbishop were two large and one small ships from the imperial fleet. In January and February Eske Bille had Sunnmøre, Romsdal and Nordmøre attacked and the estates of Olav's followers devastated. In April 1537, the king again sent a fleet of troops to Norway to break Olav Engelbrektsson's resistance. His attitude is expressed in a letter that he would rather have a deserted than an insubordinate country. At the end of March, Eske Bille advanced against Trondheim.

The end of Olav Engelbrektsson

Olav Engelbrektsson waited a long time to leave the country. His last ecclesiastical act was the ordination of Sigmundur Eyjólfsson as the new bishop for Skálholt in Iceland on Palm Sunday 1537 in the ruins of the Nidaros cathedral. On the first day of Easter in 1537 he left Trondheim with 60 followers. He took his archives, money, church jewels and coronation implements with him. On May 1, 1537, he arrived in the Netherlands. He was well received there and was assigned to Lier with his entourage. There he died on February 6, 1538 and was buried under the high altar of the cathedral church. His archive came to the Count Palatine Ludwig in Heidelberg, later to the Bavarian Reich Archives in Munich and in 1830 back to Norway.

The historians of the victors described Olav Engelbrektsson as an unreliable and scheming church prince for several centuries. Even after the separation from Denmark in 1814, it was described negatively by Lutheran and nationally minded historians for a long time. He was accused of sacrificing Norway on the church altar. Only the historians Absalon Taranger (1917), Sverre Steen (1935) and Lars Hamre (1998) rejected this criticism as untenable on the basis of extensive source studies.

The name Olav gained popularity in Trøndelag after 1537. The mood among the people supported the goals for which Olav had fought. That did not go unnoticed in Copenhagen. Possibly is due to the fact that the Norgesparagraf in Christian III's election surrender. was not implemented as it was intended. However, all of his supporters in the Norwegian elite have been ousted from all positions of power.

Remarks

1. ↑ “Setesvein” was an episcopal follower in the late Middle Ages who performed administrative and economic tasks in his diocese. He belonged to the lower nobility.
2. ↑ See the entry of Olav Engelbrektsson's matriculation in the Rostock matriculation portal
3. ↑ See the entry of Olav Engelbrektsson's bachelor's degree in the Rostock matriculation portal
4. ↑ See the entry of Olav Engelbrektsson's master's degree in the Rostock matriculation portal
5. ^ Before the Reformation, Norwegian students mainly went to Rostock, where they had their own connection. This was dissolved in the course of the Reformation. After that, the focus of university education gradually shifted to Copenhagen. (Source: Den norske forening )
6. ↑ The Missale Nidarosiense was a missal that was to be introduced throughout Norway. It is one of the first books to be printed for a Norwegian commission.
7. ↑ ^{a b} The administrative division of Norway into "Sønnafjelske Norge" and "Nordafjelske Norge" has been known since the Middle Ages and lasted until the end of the 18th century. "Nordafjellske Norge" is now essentially the area of ​​Agder (today divided into Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder ). The area south of Dovre and east of Langfjell is known as "Sønnafjelske Norge" . The southern border to Nordafjelske Norge is uncertain. Around 1500 Lindesnes is most frequently mentioned as a border area.
8. ↑ The "Daljunker" had himself as Nils Sture, the eldest son of Sten Sture the Elder. J. and Kristina Gyllenstierna spent and a group from Dalarne gathered around them. The Sture family belonged to the high nobility of Sweden. Gustav Vasa put down the uprising, and the Daljunker fled first to Norway, then to Rostock, where he was captured and executed.
9. ↑ Bud, today a small fishing village in the Romsdal, was an important trading town between Bergen and Trondheim at the time.
10. ↑ Christian III. was in debt with the Holstein magnates at the Kieler Umschlag, with Gustav Vasa, the Dukes of Prussia and Geldern and the King of Poland with around 500,000 thalers. He himself stated his expenses as “fifteen times 100,000 guilders”. Source: Vilborg Auður Ísleifsdóttir-Bickel: The introduction of the Reformation in Iceland 1537-1565 . Peter Lang Verlag 1995. p. 216. At that time, the Kieler Umschlag was the central market for financial transactions for the North German nobility.
11. ↑ The still incumbent Bishop Ögmundur Pálsson gradually went blind and had designated Sigmundur as his successor and sent him to Nidaros for consecration. Sigmundur died shortly after his consecration in Norway. Source: Vilborg Auður Ísleifsdóttir-Bickel: The introduction of the Reformation in Iceland 1537-1565 . Peter Lang Verlag 1995. p. 90.

literature

• Øystein Rian: Article “Olav Engelbrektsson” in Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on October 27, 2010.
• Øystein Rian: Den nye begynnelsen 1520-1660. Aschehougs Norges history. Vol. 6. Oslo 1995.

predecessor	Office	successor
Erik Valkendorf	last archbishop of Nidaros 1523–1537