Sigurd Eindridesson Tafse

Sigurd Eindridesson Tafse (* at the latest 1198/1199; † March 6, 1252 in Nidaros ), was Archbishop of Norway from 1232 to 1252. His father was the standard bearer Eindride Hallkjellsson Peine († 1198), his mother is unknown.

Life

His father was a Birkebeiner chief from Oppdal. Sigurd is first mentioned in 1225 as a canon in Nidaros. When Archbishop Tore Den Trøndske died in 1230, the cathedral chapter chose Sigurd as his successor la Archbishop of Nidaros . In the same year Sigurd moved to Rome, where he received the pallium . The following year he was appointed by Pope Gregory IX. consecrated. In the autumn of 1232 he returned to Nidaros . For the expenses of the trip he received 30 marks of pure silver from the bishop's tithes.

In 1237 the bishops Gottfried von Orkney and Guðmundur von Hólar were unable to serve; Gottfried because he was bedridden because of gout, Guðmundur because he was blind. He had to appoint a coadjutor for Gottfried, Gudmundur was suspended and the ordinations, during which the ordinances were read out by a deacon, were declared invalid. In 1237 he informed the Pope that in some churches fruit juices or beer were used instead of wine for the Lord's Supper, as there was no wine here. The Pope replied that the Lord's Supper could only be celebrated with wafers made from wheat flour and wine. In the same year he reported to the Pope that priestly marriage was widespread in his area of ​​responsibility. The priests invoked ancient traditions. The Pope then instructed him to stop this abuse at all costs. Monastery life was also by no means satisfactory. The archbishop temporarily took over the management of the Holm monastery because the monks there did not know the rules at all or even thieves and some ran away. In 1241 he reported to the Pope that in some areas the children had been baptized with beer because there was no water and asks whether the baptisms were valid, which the Pope denied.

In the 1230s the conflict between King Håkon Håkonsson and his father-in-law Skule Bårdsson grew . Although Skule was married and supported by the Pope, Sigurd sided with Håkon. He succeeded in mediating between the two in Bergen in 1236. His active support for Håkon in the middle of the Skules sphere of influence made a decisive contribution to Håkon's success. The conflict between Håkon and Skule broke out again in 1239 and ended with Skule's death in 1240.

One focus of Sigurd's policy was the expansion of royal and ecclesiastical power in Iceland. In particular, he wanted to free the church in Iceland from the power structures of the chiefs there. In 1238 he consecrated two Norwegians as bishops in Iceland, namely Sigvarður Þéttmarsson for Skálholt and Bótólfur for Hólar . Since then the bishops of Iceland have been elected by the cathedral chapter in Nidaros and consecrated by the local archbishop. He and King Håkon also issued a new Christian law for Norway, which became the basis for many other Christian rights in later times. The bishopric maintained trade relations with England during his tenure. The Archbishop of Nidaros has had the right since the days of Richard the Lionheart to carry a shipload of grain and other foodstuffs to Nidaros every year.

In 1241 Sigurd traveled with his suffragans to a council in Rome. He tried in vain to achieve the canonization of the former Archbishop Øystein Erlendssons and asked for King Håkon to be coronated by a papal envoy. The Pope then initiated proceedings and commissioned the Dominican prior Holm von Nidaros and the Abbot of Tautra to investigate Øystein's way of life. In 1246, the archbishop made another attempt at Pope Innocent IV with the same result of an investigation.

In 1245 Sigurd held a provincial council in Bergen. At that time there seem to have been certain differences between the Church and the King. They were likely based on an attempt by the church to obtain certain privileges in return for an ecclesiastical coronation. But after the fall of Duke Skule, the king was so politically strengthened that he could afford to reject such efforts by the church. In 1247 Cardinal Wilhelm von Modena came to Norway for the coronation of Håkon. Sigurd called all bishops, abbots and many priests to the coronation ceremony in Bergen. This celebration surpassed anything that had previously been seen as a celebration in Norway. On the advice of the bishops, the cardinal tried to persuade Håkon to repeat the coronation oath of King Magnus Erlingsson . But Håkon flatly refused. It remained with the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the ecclesiastical right to fill the pastoral posts and the right to vote and appoint the higher clergy.

literature

• Audun Dybdahl: Article “Sigurd Eindridesson Tafse” in: Norsk biografisk leksikon , accessed on April 26, 2011 (Norwegian).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Expert opinion of Bishop Åskjell of Stavanger in Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 621 and of Bishop Magnús Gissurarson of Skálholt Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 613. Instead of silver, the letter names 2,400 ells Vadmal and is only written in 1232, so it could only be of importance for the successors of Sigurd.
2. ^ Sigurd's request to the Pope what should be done. Regesta Norvegica Vol. 1 No. 662.
3. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 662.
4. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 1 No. 17.
5. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 664.
6. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 669.
7. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 660.
8. ↑ Diplomatarium Norvegicum Vol. 1 No. 19.
9. ↑ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 741. It is evidently alluded to the abbot Bjørn, who had withdrawn with his sacristan while taking the monastery seal with him.
10. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no.717.
11. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no. 722.
12. ↑ Letter from King Henry III. Regesta Norvegica Vol. 1 No. 648.
13. ^ Letter of confirmation from Heinrich III. Regesta Norvegica Vol. 1 No. 724.
14. ↑ There was also a letter from 1241 Regesta Norvegica Vol. 1 No. 712.
15. ↑ Dominik Waßenhoven: Scandinavians traveling in Europe (1000-1250) . Berlin 2006. A 421 p. 264.
16. ^ Regesta Norvegica vol. 1 no.713.
17. ^ Regesta Norvegica Vol. 1 No. 759 and 760 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Tore Den Trøndske	Archbishop of Nidaros 1232–1252	Sørle