Pål Bårdsson

Pål Bårdsson (* approx. 1280 ; † February 1, 1346 in Nidaros ) was archbishop in Nidaros.

In 1309 he was handed down as a canon in Bergen. In 1313 he was called a Magister. In 1320 he began studying abroad. In 1321 Bishop Audfinn Sigurdsson von Bergen gave him the income from the chaplain of Undredal (part of Aurland ) so that he could finish his priestly education. But he never served at Undredal Church.

He received a doctorate from the University of Orléans . He held the title “professor utriusque juris”, which is extremely rare in the north.

In the following years he appears to have been the representative of the Archbishop in Nidaros and the Bishop of Bergen at the Curia in Avignon . During this time he received further benefices, so he was canon at the cathedrals in Nidaros , Oslo , Hamar and on the Faroe Islands . In 1326 he returned to Norway. In 1327 King Magnus Eriksson appointed him chancellor and provost of Mary's Church in Oslo. He had a good relationship with the young King Magnus Eriksson and his mother, and the sources also show a normal collaboration with the powerful imperial administrator (drottsete) Erling Vidkunnsson , the highest representative of secular power. From a letter from Bishop Audfinn von Bergen to Archbishop Eiliv Arnesson from 1328, a higher potential for conflict was concluded earlier, but this is no longer represented today.

In 1333 he was elected archbishop of Nidaros. Until then he was only a deacon and not a priest, so he had to be ordained a priest first. At Christmas he stayed at the Curia in Avignon, where he was ordained a bishop. He held this office until his death.

He strengthened the political power of the archbishopric, but avoided any open confrontation with royal power. So he agreed to a compromise in the dispute with the royal power over the demarcation between the jurisdiction of the law spokesman (lagmann) and the church official in Christian law matters that resulted in fines. In addition, he began to reform the tithe order by trying to expand the basis of the tithe in order to increase the income. However, he got into a dispute with Archbishop Heming Nilsson of Uppsala over a fee that the residents of Ångermanland and Hälsingland paid to the sanctuary of Saint Olav. He was of the opinion that the tax should go to the Nidaros, while Archbishop Heming was of the opinion that the tax should go to the St. Olavs Altar in Uppsala Cathedral. See dispute between Nidaros and Uppsala

The strengthening of the power of the archbishop's chair during his term of office is partly attributed to the rivalries between the king and the nobility (stormenn), and partly to the fact that the king and his court were mostly outside Norway.

Pål was the last Norwegian archbishop to appoint a bishop for the Isle of Man and the Hebrides . He also planned a visitation trip there for 1341. But it didn't come to that.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Norsk Biografisk leksikon. Lemma Pål Bårdsson
2. ↑ Norsk Rikskringkasting Sogn og Fjordane, Fylkesleksikonet Pål Bårdsson
3. ^ Store Norske Leksikon. Lemma: Pål Bårdsson .
4. ^ Page of the Catholic Church in Norway

predecessor	Office	successor
Eiliv Arnesson	Archbishop of Nidaros 1333–1346	Arne Vade Einarsson