Full text of "History of the church and state in Norway from the tenth to the sixteenth century"
AND STATE IN NORWAY.
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AND STATE IN NORWAY
FROM THE TENTH TO THE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY
BY THOMAS B. WILLSON, M.A.
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO LTD
2 WHITEHALL GARDENS
& Kloof
BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS,
LONDON AND TONBHIDOE
PKEFACE.
ENGLISH readers are more or less familiar with the most
striking events in the history of Norway in the heroic
days, but so far as I have been able to discover, no English
writer has endeavoured to trace the history of the Church
in Norway, from its foundation in the time of Olaf Tryg-
vess0n, down to the period of the Eeformation. If I am
correct in this, the omission seems a strange one, as the
Church in Norway was the only daughter of that of
England to be found in Europe. Her missionaries, it is
true, laboured in many parts of the Continent, but I think
that in no country, except Norway, could it be said, that
they helped to found and nurture a national Church, where
none before existed.
Under these circumstances, I have for a long time wished
to supply English readers with a history of this Church;
and a close acquaintance with Norway, extending over
thirty years, makes it, I hope, not altogether presumptuous
to attempt the task. With this object in view, I obtained,
some ten years ago (through my friend, the late Pastor
Andreas Hansen), the kind permission of Dr. A. Chr. Bang,
now Bishop of Christiania, to translate his valuable Udsigt
over den Norske Kirkes Historie under Katholicismen.
Further consideration, however, showed me that this work
presupposed an acquaintance with the history of the
Norwegian Church, such as few English readers possessed,
and which was necessary in order fully to appreciate this
valuable survey. I felt, therefore, that a history of the
Church on broad lines, and avoiding mere technical details,
vi PREFACE.
might prove of interest, and so the present work was
undertaken.
Further study of the subject led me to call this book a
" History of the Church and State in Norway," as I think it
will be found that in Norway, Church and State were more
closely connected than in any other country in Europe.
As the work is indeed primarily a history of Norway from
its ecclesiastical side, I have therefore not followed more
closely than it seemed necessary, the various purely civil
events and the warlike expeditions to other lands in the
early days.
The main object I have had in view was to trace the
history of the growth, development, vigorous life, and
subsequent decline and fall of that Church, of which the
foundations were mainly laid by the English fellow-helpers
of Olaf Trygvess0n and Olaf the Saint, at the end of the
tenth and beginning of the eleventh centuries. I have
further wished to show the way in which that Church was
related to the State, and the struggle which it had for
supremacy, closely akin to that carried on about the same
time in other countries of Europe.
The story is a deeply interesting one, and in this I
hope the reader will agree with me. If not, then
the fault is that of the narrator, and not of the events
narrated.
Elsewhere will be found a fairly comprehensive list of
authorities employed ; but I wish to acknowledge fully
my obligations to my predecessors who have written on
this subject in modern times, especially to the writings of
such wonderful learning and research as those of the late
Professor Rudolf Keyser in Den Nor she Kirkes Historic
under Katholicismen, Dr. Konrad Maurer in Die Bekelirung
des Norwegischen Stammes zum Christ entliume, and to
the more recent works of Bishop Bang, Absalon Taranger,
A. D. J0rgensen, and the late Professor Dr. E. T. Nissen.
PREFACE. vii
Lastly, I must express my gratitude to those who have
assisted me in the preparation of this work, especially to
Professor Dr. Yngvar Nielsen, Rector of the University of
Christiania, for advice respecting original authorities and
also for much useful information ; to Pastor S. Hoist Jensen,
for reading the proofs of the entire work, and for many
valuable suggestions and corrections ; to the Very Rev.
G. W. Kitchen, D.D., Dean of Durham, for advice on many
points ; to Mr. Clement 0. Skilbeck, for his admirable
picture for the title page, of St. Olaf and his design for the
cover ; to Herr Konservator H. Schetelig and the autho-
rities of the Bergen Museum, for permission to photograph
some of their antiquarian treasures ; to my son, Mr. Olaf
Willson, B.A., for many references in English and foreign
authorities, for his appendix on the Norwegian stavkirker,
and for the index ; and above all, to my wife, without
whose unfailing aid and encouragement this work would
probably never have been completed.
T. B. WILLSON.
SHOOTER'S HILL, KENT,
March, 1903.
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
PREFACE .....
LIST OP PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES .
- X.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
HEATHEN NORWAY 1 9
THE POUNDING OP THE KINGDOM .... 10 16
THE FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY. . . 17 21
HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO
INTRODUCE CHRISTIANITY 22 30
HARALD GRAAFELL AND THE HEATHEN REACTION
UNDER HAAKON JARL 31 38
OLAF TRYGVESS0N AND THE TRIUMPH OF "THE
WHITE CHRIST" 39 57
ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR .... 58 90
MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HARALD HAARDRAADE . 91 104
OLAF KYRRE TO THE DEATH OF SIGURD JORSALFARER 105 116
CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN THE EARLIEST TIMES . 117 131
MISSION OF CARDINAL NICHOLAS BREAKSPEARE . 132 155
SVERRE AND THE GREAT STRUGGLE WITH THE CHURCH 156 184
HAAKON SVERRESS0N TO THE DEATH OF HAAKON
HAAKONSS0N 185 208
MAGNUS LAGAB0TER AND THE T0NSBERG CONCORDAT 209 224
HAAKON V 225234
MAGNUS ERIK8S0N AND THE BLACK DEATH . . 235 251
THE CHURCH UNDER MARGARET AND ERIK . . 252 264
ERIK, TO THE DEATH OF KRISTOFER OP BAVARIA . 265 274
NORWAY UNDER DANISH KINGS .... 275 294
KRISTIAN II. AND FREDERICK I. THE BEGINNING
OF THE END 295 327
x CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XXI. THE INTERREGNUM TO THE SIEGE OP COPENHAGEN 328 337
xxii. THE CHURCH'S DOWNFALL AND LOSS OP NATIONAL
INDEPENDENCE . 338353
v r 3 Le
APPENDIX i. "BIGEFRIDUS NORWEGENSIS EPISCOPUS" . 355 357
APPENDIX II. THE NORWEGIAN StdvTcirker AND THEIR ORIGIN 358 364
APPENDIX III. LIST OF BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS OP
NIDAROS . 365 367
GENEALOGICAL TABLES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
KING EYSTEIN
BORGUND StavkirJce
ALTAR PIECE PR
ST. OLAF, FROM
RELIQUARY AT I
RUINS ON SELJE
MARIA KIRKE IN
AKERSHUS AT OSLO
HEDRAL ....
Frontispiece.
o. SKILBECK)
Title page.
,OM AUSTEVOLD .
. To face p. 46
1 MOSTER ....
. . 112
Irke .....
OM LUR0 ....
FJELD ....
IEDAL
r BERGEN ....
R CATHEDRAL
MAP OP THE THREE SCANDINAVIAN KINGDOMS.
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.
Ix the following list will be found the principal authorities, both
mediaeval and modern, used in this history. The list is not, however,
by any means an exhaustive one.
The H&imslmngla of Snorre Sturlass0n (b. 1178, d. 1241). Prom the
earliest times down to the battle of Re, 1177.
The Sverre's Saga, Haakorts, Guthorm's and Inge's Saga, Haakon
Haakonss<jyn?s Saga, by Karl Jonsspn, Sburla Thordss0n and others.
From 1177 to 1263.
Fagrskiinna. A history from Half dan the Black to Sverre.
Agrip. A fragment of great value, probably from 1190. From Halfdan
to Sigurd Jorsalfarer.
Flateyarboh. A MS. from the island of Flatey (Iceland) : a collection of
various Sagas to 1395.
Saga of Olaf Trygvessijyn,, by Odd, a monk of Thing0re, in Iceland.
Olafden helliges Saga, edited by Munch and Unger (Ghristiania), 1853.
Bishop Arne's Saga, and Bishop Laurentius's Saga. 13th century.
Danorum Historic, by Saxo-Grammaticus.
Historia de Antiquitate regum Norwegiensium, by Theodoricus Monachus :
in Langebek's Scriptores rerum Danicarum, Vol. V.
Gesta Hammalurgensis Ecclesiw Pontificum, by Adam of Bremen.
The following Chronicles in places referring to Norway :
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle : Florence of Worcester, "William of Malmesbury,
Simeon of Durham, Roger de Hoveden, Matthew Paris, William of
Jumieges.
NorgesGamleLove (The Old Laws of Norway), Vols. I.* V. (Christiania),
1846 95. A collection of the ancient ecclesiastical and civil
legislation, and other documents, from the earliest times to 1387.
Diplomatarium Normgicum. A collection of documents relating to
Norway ; first volume issued in 1849, and the remainder at
intervals since that date.
xii LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.
Del Norske Folks Historic, by P. A. Munch, in eight vols. (Christiania),
the two last relating to the union period.
Norges Historie to 1387, by Rudolf Keyser, two vols. (Christiania).
Udsigtover ** Norske Folks j B j R ^ (Chrisfciania)>
Histone, four vols. )
Illustreret Norges Historie, by 0. A. 0verland (Christiania).
De ffirste Konger of den Olden-
By C. Paludan-Muller (Copenhagen).
By Rudolf Keyser (Christiania).
borgske Slagt
Orevens Feide
Det Norske Kirkes Historie under
Katholicismen, two vols.
Die Bekehrung des NorwegiscJien Stammes \ By Dr. Konrad Maurer
sum Christenihume, two vols. j (Miinchen).
Udsigt over den Norske Kirkes Historie } By Bishop Dr. A. Chr. Bang
under Katholicismen } (Christiania).
De Nordiske Kirkers Historie, by R. T. Nissen (Christiania).
Den Nordiske Kirkes Grundlmgdse } _
ogflnh UdvMmg \ B ? A " D ' J^gensen (Copenhagen).
Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Inflydelse } _
p J & Norske. \ ^ Absalon Taran S er (Ohnstiama).
De Norske Klostres Historie, by C. C. A. Lange (Christiania).
Dm Danske Kirkes Historie }
ftr teformationen \ ^ L ' Helve S (Copenhagen).
Norges Helrjener, by Prof. Ludvig Daae (Christiania).
Passio et miracula leati Olaui, edited by F. Metcalfe, M.A. (Oxford,
Clarendon Press).
Throndhjem i Fortid og Nutid (997 1897). Various authors.
Berqmfra de jfflldste Tider } , _ y
MB Nutidm. \ ^ Professor Dr ' Yn ^ var Nielsen '
Den Sorte D$d i del Ude Aarhundrede, by Dr. A. L. Faye (Chrisfciania).
The introduction to Laing's translation of the " Heimskringla," by
Rasmus B. Anderson, in four vols. (London), 1889.
CHAPTEE I.
HEATHEN NORWAY IN THE EARLIEST TIMES.
The Coming of the Northmen Their Religion Temples Festivals
Geographical Divisions Local Government.
THE Norwegians are a branch of the great stream of
Teutonic migration, which flowed from its original home in
Asia over the northern part of Europe. At what time
these invaders displaced the aboriginal inhabitants of the
Scandinavian peninsula, we have no certain means of
ascertaining, though some have affirmed that Odin was an
historical personage who, some three centuries before the
Christian era, led his victorious hosts across Europe. We
may take it, however, that about that time these Teutonic
tribes crossed the narrow seas between the Scandinavian
and North German lands, and established themselves on the
great peninsula. Gradually they drove back the primitive
peoples they found thinly scattered over the country, men
most probably of Mongolian origin, and whose descendants
still survive in the wandering Finns and Lapps of the far
north of Norway and Sweden,
The entire Scandinavian peninsula was at that time
largely covered with dense forests, and in these the invaders
established themselves, and gradually clearing open spaces,
in time proceeded to cultivate the land. Eventually they
worked their way down to the western and north-western
coasts, and quickly became expert in seamanship, and in
reaping the rich harvest which the well-stocked waters
of the North Sea afforded them. The acquaintance thus
gained with the ocean, and especially the tempestuous
C.S.N. B
2 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
North Sea, soon made them the most skilled sailors in
Europe, and the way in which this sea power was in later
centuries developed, can easily be traced in European
Like the other Teutonic nations of whom Tacitus tells
us, they were all free men, and had with them slaves or
thralls, who were generally captives taken in war. These
were mere chattels, and their lives were at their masters'
disposal, but they might, and sometimes did, obtain their
The settlers did not live in towns or villages, but each
man had his own farm or gaard, though, for protection's
sake in earlier times, they were usually not very far off
from one another. This absence of towns, and division of
the land into freeholds, was a characteristic of the Nor-
wegians, and exercised a very remarkable influence over
their subsequent history ; for it was always the country
parts, and not the towns, where the preponderating political
power lay, and the free landowners, unfettered by feudalism,
and practically without an aristocracy (the chiefs were only
the larger landowners), controlled and directed the policy
of the nation, meeting in the assemblies, or Things, where
all free men had an equal voice.
In religion they were practically the same as many of
the other Germanic tribes, but we have the advantage of
possessing a full account of their theories of the Universe
and the gods, in the very remarkable early literature of
Iceland which has been preserved for us. In the older
Edda, which is chiefly concerned with the mythology of
the North, we have the V01uspaa poem, one of the earliest
and most picturesque accounts of the faith of the
Northmen.
As the heathen beliefs and practices must naturally have
much to do with the beginnings of Christianity in Norway,
it is necessary we should have some knowledge of them.
HEATHEN NORWAY. 3
The universe, in the old Norse mythology, was divided
into Muspelheim and Niffelheim, the former the abode of
light and fire, and the latter a dark and gloomy land of ice
and snow. Between these lay Ginmmgagap, a swelling
deep " without form and void," and in which there was no
life. Deep down in Niffelheim there was a well from
which an ice-cold stream sprang, and flowed into Ginnun-
gagap, and the spray from this, meeting the warmth and
fire of Muspelheim, produced the Giant or Jotun, Ymer and
his cow Audhumbla. On the milk of this cow the Jotun
lived, and the evil race of the Jotuns sprang from him.
The cow licked the salt from the rocks, whence sprang
Bure, whose grandson was Odin. The Giant Ymer was
killed by Odin and his brothers, and from his dead body,
which was cast into Ginnungagap, the world was formed.
His flesh was the earth, his blood the sea, his hair the trees,
his bones the mountains, etc. All of the race of Jotuns were
drowned in Ymer's blood, except one who with his wife
escaped in a boat ; their descendants were allowed to live
beyond the utmost bounds of the sea in Jotunheim. The
interior of the earth was peopled by dwarfs or Trolds,
usually malign spirits.
The earth having been created there were yet no men
upon it, so Odin and his two companions, H0ner and L0der,
went down to it, and finding two trees, formed from them
the first man and woman, Ask and Embla.
The home of the Gods was Asgaard, with its beautiful
hall Valhalla, where they feasted and where the Valkyries
attended on them, and did their bidding. The gods were
known as the JEser, or Aser, a name said to be derived
from a word signifying a spiritual being, and the belief in
the gods was called the Asatro.
At the head of the gods was Odin, the all-father, whose
wife was Frigg, the all-nourishing. Their son was Thor,
the Thunderer, the benefactor of the world, and the friend
of mankind, to whom the Norwegians seem to have assigned
a higher rank than Odin, to whom the other Teutonic tribes
gave the highest place. Thor was the relentless foe of the
Trolds and Jotuns, against whom he waged war with his
far-famed hammer Mj01nir.
The other chief JEser were Ni0rd, the giver of riches
and the ruler of the winds and protector of sailors. His
daughter was Freya, the Venus of the North. Then there
was Baldur the Beautiful, the Sun God, who was killed by
the evil Loki, one of the race of the Jotuns, whom the gods
had taken as one of themselves. Braga, the son of Odin,
was the god of the spirits of the dead.
In addition to these and many others, there were local
gods and household gods, held in veneration in certain
places, and not universally reckoned amongst the inhabitants
of Asgaard, and only worshipped by certain families. These
survived in Norway for centuries after the introduction of
Christianity, though of course only worshipped in secret,
and the household divinities actually survived down to our
own day, and may possibly still exist.
We must not lose sight of the Trolds, the spirits of the
mountains and the forests, whose power was always dreaded,
and whom the people were always ready to propitiate with
offerings. Against them, as we have seen, Thor waged
war, and when the faith of the "white Christ" vanquished
the Asatro, we find St. Olaf takes the place of the Thunderer
as their opponent and conqueror. Troldom was always in
Christian times an offence of the greatest magnitude, and
we find constant ecclesiastical legislation on the subject.
The worship of the gods was probably in the earliest
days conducted in the open air, and in a grove of trees,
but later we know temples or Hovs were built, and these
we frequently meet with in the first days of Christianity
in Norway.
The temples were in shape very much the same as the
earlier Christian churches, and there seems little doubt
that some of them were adapted to Christian worship on
the overthrow of the heathen gods. The sites of the
temples, at any rate, were utilized for building churches
which survive down to our own day.
The Hov usually consisted of what we might call a
nave and chancel or apse. In the nave there was one, or
sometimes two doors which were placed in the long side of
the building, and not in what we would call the west wall.
In the centre of this nave there was a large flat fireplace,
where the flesh of the sacrifice was cooked and eaten, the
smoke of the fire escaping through holes in the roof.
Along the side of the walls ran benches, and in the middle
of these, or sometimes near the door, were what were called
the h0iscede (high seats) with their stolper or pillars, where
the chief sat who officiated at the sacrificial rites. In
the partially enclosed apse or chancel, stood the altar of
sacrifice which was placed on a slight elevation above the
floor of the building. On this altar the victim, usually an
animal, sometimes a human being, was slain and the blood
caught in copper bowls kept for the purpose. This blood
was then sprinkled on the altar, the walls, the images, and
the worshippers.
On the altar was a golden ring which the officiant
carried during the ceremonies, and on it all oaths were
sworn at the Thing. Behind the altar was the image of
the principal god, usually Thor, and ranged in a semi-circle
were other images.
When the sacrifice was over, the flesh of the victim
was cooked in great pots which hung over the fire, and
the feast began. The people brought their own supplies
of beer as well as the animals used in sacrifice. There
were no priests as a separate caste (a fact which had a
very important influence afterwards in the spread of
Christianity), but the chief man of the district acted in
that capacity.* When the feasting began the horns were
filled with beer, and were blessed in honour of the gods.
Then the skaals were drunk, to Odin or Thor for victory ;
to Ni0rd and Freya for good crops and peace ; and to
Braga for the souls of the dead.
There were three great festival blots, or sacrifices, held
every year : the winter blot, on October 14th, the mid-
winter, or Jul, at first on January 1 2th, afterwards transferred
to Christmas;| and lastly, the summer blot, on April 14th.
In addition to the regular temples built of wood, there
were also altars which were erected in the open air ; these
were called H0rg, and the word still survives in the names
of several places in Norway, f
The temples were of two classes, the public and the
private ones. The former were the Hovs, belonging to
esichfylke or division of the country, and these were again
divided into herreds, where there were also temples.
The other class consisted of what might be called private
chapels, where some wealthy chief kept one up at his own
expense. The public ones were supported by landed
property assigned to them, and partly by taxation.
The temples were sacred, and any one desecrating them
or breaking the peace in them was liable to outlawry.
This was not uncommon, as the feasting and frequent
skaals drunk, often led to very deadly quarrels in the
course of the celebration of the blots.
Pilgrimages were made to the more famous temples, and
were undertaken in later days even from so great a distance
as Iceland.
Such was the religion of the Norwegians in the ancient
times, and we have given these particulars with regard to
it, as it is necessary we should bear them in mind when
* These offerings might also be made by women.
t See p. 26.
J In Voss and Hordaland, also in names of mountains.
we come to deal with the struggle between the forces of
heathenism and Christianity. We shall see that the early
Christian missionaries were fully conscious of the advis-
ability of adapting as far as they could the heathen
customs to Christian usages, and making the transition
as easy as possible for their rude converts.
In order to follow the course of events in the history of
Norway, we should understand something of the geo-
graphical divisions of the country in mediaeval times, and
carefully study the map.
In the early days the whole country was divided into
what were called fylker, literally " folk land," the districts
inhabited by certain folk. These districts were mostly
greater than the largest of the English shires in modern
times, but they varied considerably in area. They corre-
sponded somewhat to the amis into which Norway is now
divided. These fylker had mostly a petty king or chief
over them, usually the largest and most powerful land-
owner, but to him the people paid no taxes he was only
their chief and leader in time of war. The fylker were
again subdivided into herreds or hundreds, and the chief
man there was the Herse.
The population consisted of the B0nder and their thralls.
It is difficult to find an English word which will accurately
render the meaning of the word Bonde, the singular of
B0nder. To translate it as some have done, by the word
peasant, conveys an entirely incorrect meaning. The
Norwegian Bonde was a free man dwelling on his own
land, having no lord over him to whom he was under any
of the obligations of feudalism. His obligations were to
defend the country when attacked, and to contribute to
the support of the Hov. This tenure of the land was
called Odel, and any attempts to interfere with it met with
the strongest opposition. The B0nder, however, sometimes
let out a portion of their land which they might not
require, to others, but these Leilcendinger, as they were
called, were also free men.
In all the subsequent history, it is important to bear in
mind that B0nder were really the depositaries of all political
power, and that they formed a class which was in many
respects unique in Europe. In later days their power was
curtailed and reduced, but the absence in Norway of the
feudalism which prevailed over the most of Europe gave
them an influence in the history of their land which was
very remarkable.
Local self-government prevailed in Norway from the
earliest times. The B0nder met in councils called Things,
where the affairs of the district were settled. There were
Things for each fylke and herred, to decide the more local
questions, and there were also the greater assemblies of the
people, in centres where many of the fylker were grouped
together, and where the laws were made. Thus we find
for the northern fylker there was the great Frosta Thing,
which met at Frosta on the Trondhjem Fjord, and which
legislated for Tr0ndelagen and Haalogaland ; the Gula
Thiug for the western and southern fylker; and the
Eidsiva Thing for the more central parts. These gatherings
were the parliaments of Norway ; at them the kings were
chosen, and we find that, in order to secure uniformity in
the laws proposed by the early Christian kings, they were
obliged to have the consent of each of these assemblies of
the free men of Norway.
In the early days the northern fylker, and especially the
fertile district of Tr0ndelagen, enjoyed the greatest political
power, and the candidate for the crown who secured the
adherence of the Frosta Thing was almost certain to be
successful with the other assemblies. Tr0ndelagen was also
the stronghold of heathenism, and the two Olafs met there
with more opposition in their efforts on behalf of
Christianity than in any other part of the land.
The far north of Norway, with its sparse population of
Lapps and Finns, had practically no part in the history of
the country ; it remained heathen for centuries after the
rest of the land had been converted, and afforded an outlet
for the crusading zeal of the kings, in the days when the
Saracens were left in undisturbed possession of the Holy
Land, and the fierce enthusiasm of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries had passed away.
CHAPTER II.
THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM.
Halfdan the Black Harald Haarfagre The Consolidation of the
Kingdom Internal Government Repressive Measures and their
Results Harald's Sons Erik Bloodaxe Haakon Harald's Death
and Creed.
IT is not until the middle of the ninth century that we
begin to emerge from the mythical period of Norwegian
history, and come to the reign of Halfdan Svarte, or
Halfdan the Black, who was a petty king over the region
lying to the west and north of what is now the Christiania
Fjord, but at that time known as Vestfold.
His father was Halfdan Hvitbein (the white leg), who
came of the mythical race of the Ynglinger, said to have
been descended from the goddess Freya. This race came
from Sweden and settled in that part of Norway before
mentioned. Halfdan Hvitbein was a prudent chief, and
encouraged commerce and agriculture in his dominions.
Halfdan the Black increased his father's possessions to a
considerable extent in a northern direction, and was the
originator of the famous Eidsiva law, which was, for many
generations, the law for that part of Norway, as the Frosta
law was for Tr0ndelagen. This collection of laws derived
its name from having been promulgated at the Thing held
at Eidsvold, a spot close to the southern end of the great
Mi0sen lake, and where the present constitution of Norway
was drawn up in 1814.
In 860, Halfdan was returning from a feast at Hadeland
in the spring of the year, and when crossing the Eands
Fjord at K0kenvik, the ice, which was then beginning to
THE FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM. 11
thaw, gave way under the royal sledge. His retainers, rushing
to his rescue, only made matters worse, and the king and
his immediate followers were drowned. His death was the
cause of much grief to his people, who had enjoyed under
his rule a time of great prosperity, and a succession of good
harvests, a manifest proof of the favour of the gods. In
order to secure a continuance of these benefits, they decided
to divide his body into four portions, and to bury them in
different parts of his dominions.
Halfdan left behind him an only son, named Harald,
then a child of only ten years of age. His mother was
Eagnhild, a wise and prudent woman, and granddaughter
of Harald Klak, King of Jutland. Before her son's birth
she dreamt that she was holding a thorn in her hand,
which grew to be a great tree which struck its roots deep
down into the earth, and the top of which reached to
heaven. It had wide-spreading branches, which covered
the whole of Norway and the countries around it. The
lower part of the tree was red as blood, and the branches
above were white as snow.
The child whose future greatness was thus foreshadowed
by the dream was the far-famed Harald Haarfagre, the
founder of the kingdom of Norway, and progenitor of a
race of kings which, with a few brief interruptions, ruled
over Norway for close upon four hundred years.
The early days of Harald were passed under the wise
guidance and direction of his uncle Guthorm, who skilfully
piloted the youthful monarch through the various dangers
to which he was exposed, and reduced to submission many
of the neighbouring petty kings.
When Harald grew to manhood he sought as his wife
the beautiful Gyda, daughter of King Erik of Hordaland.
She declined his advances, and declared she would marry
none of these petty kings. She told the king's messengers
to carry back to him her final decision : "I will not be his
12 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
wife until, for my sake, he has conquered the whole of
Norway." When Harald received this message he declared
that Gyda had spoken well. " I call God, who made me,
to witness," he said, "that never will I have my hair cut
or combed until I have conquered the whole of Norway,
with skat, duties, and lordships, or die in the attempt."
Harald kept his word. Aided by his uncle and the
famous Jarl, Ragnvald of M0re (the district now known as
Nordm0re, Romsdal, and S0ndm0re), and his own great
courage and strength, he rapidly conquered one petty
kingdom after another, and defeating the jarls or kings
who ruled over them, soon consolidated his kingdom. It
was not, however, until after the great naval battle of
Hafrsfjord, near Stavanger (872), that the opposition of
the local rulers was crushed and Harald everywhere
acknowledged as overlord of Norway. Immediately after
the battle his long and matted hair was cut by Ragnvald
Jarl, and his bright golden locks gained him the name of
the Fair-haired, or Haarfagre. Soon after this he claimed
the hand of the scornful beauty who had declined his suit
in his earlier days.
When he had established his kingdom he quickly made
his power everywhere felt; lawlessness of all kinds was
repressed with a stern hand, and the poor and the oppressed
looked up to the king with gratitude, and were ready to
defend him against all comers.
Harald, however, decided to introduce changes which
were distasteful to both the B0nder and the Jarls, and the
enforcement of which led to very important results for other
nations besides his own. The land of Norway, as we have
seen, was held by what was called Odel tenure ; in other
words, the owners were free from payment of skat, and
were only obliged, when called upon, to follow their leaders
in the defence of the land from the attacks of enemies.
The king wished them to hold their land as fiefs from
the crown, and this naturally provoked much hostility.
Over each fylke, or group of fylker, the king appointed a
jarl, and extorted from the unwilling people the payment
of skat, or tribute. He also further compelled the chief
men in the districts to take service under him, and become
a part of his immediate following.
Changes of this nature were not likely to be quietly
acquiesced in by a people so independent as the hardy
Norwegian B0nder, but the power of the king was too
great to admit of successful resistance, and the alternative
lay between submission to the royal authority or migration.
Many of the chiefs and principal men chose the latter.
They took ship and left their native land, and established
themselves in the Shetlands, Orkneys, and Hebrides.
Others went further and, after various raids, founded a
kingdom in Dublin, and settlements in various places on
the Irish coast as well as the Isle of Man. They also
established themselves on the Fseroe Islands, where pre-
viously Irish monks had made a home for themselves. The
most important settlement, however, was made in Iceland,
where an independent state was founded, which in later
years became famous for its learning and literature, and
from whence the colonization of Greenland and part of the
coast of North America was carried out.
Another of Harald Haarfagre's reforms led to results
which may be said to have permanently affected the
history of Europe. It was customary for those who fitted
out Viking expeditions to levy enforced contributions in
money and kind from the people along the coast ; these
extortions were known as strandhug. Harald, with the
intention of protecting his people, sternly forbade the prac-
tice, and decreed outlawry as the punishment for a breach
of his law. A notable offender was soon forthcoming.
Eagnvald Jarl, the king's greatest supporter, and the
champion of his early days, had a son named Eolf, who,
from his great size and weight, and because none of the
small Norwegian horses or ponies could carry him, received
the surname of the Ganger, or walker. This man was
one of the boldest spirits in the Viking days, and on one
occasion, when coming home from an expedition, he allowed
his followers to make a raid on the cattle and goods of
the farmers in Viken. A weaker king might have hesi-
tated to enforce the law against the son of his old friend.
But Harald did not hesitate. The law must be obeyed ;
and Kolf the Ganger was banished from Norway. He went
to what was then known as Neustria, and extorted the
concession of a " Danelag " from Charles III. A century
and a half later his descendant, William Duke of Normandy,
sat on the throne of England. Had strandhug not been
illegal, or had a weaker monarch than Harald Haarfagre
ruled over Norway, how different might have been the
history and destiny of England !
Harald had a numerous family by his different wives,
and towards the end of his long reign he adopted the very
unwise expedient of dividing his kingdom among them,
but leaving his eldest and favourite son Erik, who was sur-
named Blod0kse (Bloodaxe), from his prowess in war, as over-
lord of the various smaller kingdoms. Such an arrangement
led to its natural results. Erik determined to overthrow
the power of his brothers, and caused Bj0rn Farmand
(the Merchant), who ruled over the district about T0nsberg,
to be treacherously murdered. He proceeded to attack
Half dan, who was king in Tr0ndelagen, but the latter was
warned in time, and collecting men and ships, made so good
a defence that Erik was forced to go to his father for pro-
tection. After this a truce was arranged by friends on
both sides, and thus for a time things resumed a more
peaceful condition.
In 921, Harald in his old age, had a son by a mistress
named Thora of Moster, who, from her great height, was
known as Moster stang, or pole. This son was named
Haakon, and his appearance on the scene was naturally-
displeasing to the other sons of the king, who had grown
to man's estate, and were to divide the kingdom between
them. Harald saw the danger to which the boy's life
would be exposed if he allowed him to remain in Norway,
so he sent him to England, while still a very little child, to
the court of Athelstan, where he remained until his father's
death. In England the child was baptized and brought up
as a Christian, and afterwards was the means of first
bringing Christianity into Norway.
In 930, at the age of eighty, the old King decided to
surrender all his authority into the hands of Erik, and to
carry into force the arrangement which he had made before.
Three years afterwards he died at his residence at Hauge,
close to the present town of Haugesund, a little to the north
of Stavanger. Where he died, there he was buried. On a
mound overlooking the sea, and swept by the winds of the
Northern Ocean, the greatest man that Norway had yet seen
was laid to rest. On the top of the mound which was heaped
over the body of the great warrior and ruler, the usual
bautasten, or memorial stone, was erected ; and in after days,
when his descendants sailed along the coast in their war ships
to battle against foreign enemies or rebellious subjects, they
saw it from afar, and remembered the man who had welded
into one the divided kingdoms of Norway, and made it for
the first time one of the nations of Europe. In days of
anarchy and oppression, when Danish or other races sought
for supremacy over Norway, men turned to the descendants
of Harald the Fair-haired, thinking that of his line there
must ever be a ruler and a chief, who would bring back to
them again, the days when justice to all would be neither
" sold, delayed, or denied," and when Norway would be
united under its own king.
During the long reign of Harald, Norway remained
altogether pagan. The king himself seems to have had
but little faith in the old gods, though he conformed to
all the usages connected with the heathen sacrifices at the
three great feasts of the year in January, April, and
October. He had doubtless heard and known of the
Christian faith from his intercourse with England and
Denmark ; but he seems, if the Sagas are to be trusted,
to have had a comparatively simple and characteristic
creed : " He believed in the God who was the strongest
and had created all things and ruled all things."
THE FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY.
The Religious Results of Viking Cruises Northmen in the British
Isles Enforced Baptism Half Christianity The Missions from
Hamburg and Bremen Ansgar's Life and Work.
IN order to understand the way in which the heathen
Norwegians first learned of the Christian faith, it is necessary
to retrace our steps. It was in the last quarter of the
eighth century, or about eighty or ninety years before the
accession of Harald Haarfagre, that the Viking expeditions
began, which, for nearly three hundred years, made the
Northmen the terror of North-Western Europe, and of
certain districts in the Mediterranean as well. The adven-
turous chiefs from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark set forth
in their long ships, each rowed by from twenty to forty
men, and passing quickly over the waters of the North Sea,
began to harry the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and
Northern France.
Readers of English history are familiar with the entry in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 787, which tells
of the first appearance of these dreaded foes ; and we know
the way in which, from being at first mere marauding expedi-
tions, they were continued unti] settlements and kingdoms
were established in the north-east of England, the Ork-
neys and Shetlands, Dublin, and the Isle of Man. We are,
however, not concerned so much with the political as the
religious results of these expeditions, for they were the
means by which, as far as we can learn, the heathen
Norwegians were first brought in contact with Christianity.
In England and Ireland they came to countries where,
C.S.N. c
especially in the latter, the Christian faith had for some
centuries entirely possessed the land, and had to a con-
siderable extent tamed the wilder passions of the Saxon
and Keltic races. When the warriors came ashore from
their ships the churches and monasteries naturally offered
a tempting prey on account of their unprotected state, and
the Northmen quickly availed themselves of the treasure
which they found there. They also undoubtedly learned of
the Christian faith from the captives they had taken, and
from seeing something, as they often did, during more
peaceful visits, of the stately worship and ritual of the
Church, which was not without its influence on the fierce
The tenets of Christianity, however, did not naturally
commend themselves to those who placed fighting in the
very forefront of the duty of man, and to whom the clash
of arms and the carnage of the battle would appeal more
forcibly than the most stately service of the Church, with
all the accessories of music and banners.
In places where the invaders settled for the winter,
instead of returning back, or where, for one or another
cause, they were detained, there were not wanting faithful
priests, who, taking their lives in their hands, tried to win
the fierce Vikings to the faith of Christ, at least, so far as
to consent to be baptized, or if they would not do that, to
allow themselves to be what was called primsigne (prima
signatio), signed with the cross, a sort of half-way house to
Christianity.
In these efforts they were not infrequently successful,
but it must be borne in mind that compliance with the
entreaties of the priests and others, did not at all necessarily
imply the acceptance of a real faith in Christianity. On
the contrary, we know that when the Viking marauders
found themselves in a position from which they could not
well extricate themselves, and were surrounded by their
FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY. 10
enemies, it was not at all uncommon for the chief and his
followers to allow themselves to be baptized en masse, as it
usually offered a way of escape, and further enriched them
with presents of handsome baptismal robes. Indeed, it
appears an undoubted fact that it was not an unknown
thing for Viking chiefs and their followers to be baptized
several times over in different countries or places.
It is, of course, true that there were genuine conversions
to Christianity among the Norwegians, but many of the
earliest baptisms were of the nature described.
When, however, after some years the Norwegians and
Northmen settled themselves in districts they had con-
quered, then real progress was made in the propagation
of the faith, and they became, as in Dublin, in Cumbria, and
the Danelag, as faithful and earnest Christians as those
who had taught them the faith.
This, however, was outside the Norwegian kingdom.
In Norway it only helped to break down the ancient faith
in the gods. Many of the great men, like King Harald
Haarfagre, were indifferent to the old religion, and only
believed in the God who was the strongest and ruled all.
Some of the Vikings followed a middle course, like that
adopted by the colonists whom the kings of Assyria
placed in the cities of Samaria. They were baptized and
they took Christ into their worship. The Sagas tell us of
one of these, Helge the Thin, of Iceland, who had thus
been converted. When he was ashore on his farm he
worshipped Christ, but when he was at sea, or in any
position of danger, he offered his prayers and sacrifices to
Thor.
It may be wondered why it was that Christianity r\\fl_
not first come tojjorjya.y from the Soutlyinstead of from
Jhe British jsles.; but the explanation is not a difficult one.
The latter countries had already been christianized, while
between Norway and the Christianity of the revived Western
Empire there was still a solid mass of heathenism. The
Kaiser, Karl the Great, after reducing the Saxons to
submission, was anxious to bring the Northern nations to
Christianity, partly from religious and partly from political
motives, so that he might be made more secure from attack.
Nothing, however, seems to have been done in his day, but
under Ludvig the Pious an attempt was made to evange-
lize the Danes, and he appealed to Ebbo, the Archbishop
of Eheims, to send a missionary to them. The Pope
(Paschal I.) also wrote a letter commending the work.
Such, however, was the terror which spread over the
north-west of Europe at the ravages of the Vikings, that
at first no one was found to volunteer, until at last the
famous Ansgar, "the Apostle of the North," a monk of
Corvei, near Amiens, undertook the task.
He began his work in Holstein, accompanied by his
faithful friend Autbert. After two years' labours he was
obliged to flee to the court of the Emperor, and the work
appeared to have failed. Just at that time, however,
Bj0rn, the King of Sweden, sent a messenger to the Kaiser
asking for a Christian teacher, and Ansgar was sent in 830.
After various adventures and dangers, Ansgar reached Birk
(Sigtuna), and laboured with much success for a year and
a half, when he returned with a letter to the Kaiser.
Ludvig saw the importance of establishing an episcopal
see near to the mission field, and selected Hamburg as
the spot, and in 834 Ansgar was consecrated as Arch-
bishop by the Archbishop of Metz and several other
prelates. Shortly afterwards Gautbert was consecrated
Bishop of Sweden.
Thus the work progressed, but troubles were yet to come.
In 845 the heathen King Erik, of Jylland, in Denmark,
attacked Hamburg and burned the cathedral, library, and
monastery to the ground, and Ansgar escaped only with
his life. The Swedes at the same time attacked Gautbert
and destroyed his mission. Ludvig the Pious was now
dead, and his sons divided the Empire, Ludvig the German
having the portion which most concerned Ansgar.
At this time the bishopric of Bremen was vacant, and
Ludvig decided to transfer the archiepiscopal see to that
town in 849, and it was made the metropolitan see for the
Northern nations, and independent of Koln, in which it
was formerly situated.
The work again prospered. King Erik, the destroyer of
Hamburg, became favourable to Christianity, and granted
a place for a church in Slesvig, where, in 850, the first
church in Denmark was erected, and dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin. In 856 Ansgar's active life ended at the
comparatively early age of sixty-four.
Thus it happened that Christianity had gained a hold in
Sweden and Denmark a considerable time before it first
appeared in Norway ; but it is strange that there was
practically no attempt made to christianize Norway from
either Denmark or Sweden. To the British Isles, to
England especially, the honour of having brought the
faith of Christ to Norway is almost entirely due, and the
Church in Norway was a daughter of the Anglo-Saxon
A notice of the foundation of the metropolitan see of
Bremen is necessary here, as it was for a considerable
period, the province in which the Norwegian Church was
situated ; and to the famous Chronicle of Adam of Bremen
we are indebted for many interesting references to early
Christianity in Norway.
INTRODUCE CHRISTIANITY.
Erik and Gunhild's unpopularity Coming of Haakon Erik driven
out Haakon a Christian His tentative Efforts on behalf of the
Faith Formal Attempt at the Frosta Thing Its Failure Haakon's
Lapse, his Death, and Burial.
ON the death of Harald Haarfagre, in 933, his eldest son,
Erik Blod0kse, became overlord of Norway, in accordance
with the arrangement made by his father. He was a cruel
and overbearing man, but of undoubted courage in battle,
as his surname implies. He was never popular with the
people, and the murder of his brother Bj0rn made it
plain that he intended, when he had the opportunity, to
murder or drive away his other brothers from the small
kingdoms their father had allotted to them, and to become,
as his father had been before him, the sole king in the land.
The unpopularity of Erik was increased tenfold by reason
of his queen Gunhild, whom he had married several years
before. She was a native of Haalogaland and renowned
for her beauty, and Erik had met her in one of his northern
journeys. In addition to her beauty, she is said to have
possessed the very doubtful recommendation of a knowledge
of sorcery, which she had learned from the Finns of the
North, and this did not tend to increase her popularity.
There can be no doubt whatever, that she was a wicked
and ambitious woman, who, playing the part of a Northern
Jezebel in the royal court, proved the king's evil genius.
The tyrannical rule of Erik, and the universal hatred
with which his wife was regarded, provoked discontent on
HAAKON THE GOOD. 23
all sides, and in little more than a year he was driven
from the land.
When King Harald Haarfagre died, there was living at
the court of Atheist an his youngest son Haakon, who, as
we have seen, had been dispatched thither for safety by
the old king. During his residence in England he had
been baptized and brought up in the Christian faith.
When his father died, in 933, he was a lad of about
fourteen, but tall and handsome, and bearing a very striking
resemblance to his fair-haired father. When tidings of
Harald's death reached England, Athelstan at once deter-
mined to supply his foster-son with the equipment necessary
to enable him to proceed to Norway and claim his share
in his father's kingdom. Among the many gifts bestowed
by the king upon the young prince, we read of a magni-
ficent sword, with a hilt of gold and a blade of such
strength and temper, that it would cleave a millstone ;
from this fact it was given the name of Kvernbit (the
quern cutter), and it never failed Haakon in any battle
during the whole of his long and adventurous career.
With ships and men supplied by the English king, the
young chief set sail for his native land and proceeded at
once to Tr0ndelagen, to the great chief Sigurd Jarl of
Hlade, a spot close to the present city of Trondhjem,
which at that time was not yet in existence.
The powerful jarl at once espoused the cause of Haakon,
from whom he received the promise of greatly extended
power, when he obtained the kingdom. The first step to
be taken was to summon the Thing to meet, which Sigurd
lost no time in doing. When the b0nder were assembled,
Sigurd addressed them on Haakon 's behalf, and presented
the young prince to them. When he began to speak the
older men at once recognized him as a true son of Haar-
fagre, and cried out with joy that it was the old monarch
who had become young once more.
Haakon, doubtless under the wise guidance of Sigurd,
promised the people that if they helped him to gain the
kingdom, he would restore the much-prized Odel rights, of
which they had been deprived by his father, whose action
in this respect had been most unpopular among the b0nder,
and which only the strong hand of Harald had been able
to enforce.
The promise of this great concession settled the matter,
with one accord the people at the Thing took him as king.
With the help of Sigurd Jarl the conflict did not last long ;
the hatred of King Erik, and especially of Queen Gunhild,
was so intense that few were found to defend his cause, and
in little more than a year, in 935, Erik and Gunhild were
driven from Norway, and took refuge at first in Denmark.
From thence Erik passed into England, and received the
kingdom of Northumbria from Athelstan, and afterwards
(in the reign of Edmund) fell in the battle of Stainmoor,
the exact date of which is uncertain, but it was probably
fought between 950 and 954.*
When Haakon's authority as overlord of Norway was
everywhere accepted, and he had made the people happy
and contented by the removal of their grievances, he felt
the time had come to attempt the formal introduction of
Christianity into Norway, by securing its recognition at the
In many ways it was a favourable moment. The Viking
expeditions had made Christianity known to many, and if
they were not prepared to accept the new faith, at any rate
their belief in the old gods of their forefathers was shaken,
and the great personal popularity of the king was much in
his favour. It is true that his chief supporter, the great
Jarl of Hlade, was still a zealous heathen, but his loyalty
to his young monarch was undoubted, and in the subsequent
* " The Battle of Stainmoor," by W. G. Collingwood, in the Cumber-
land and Westmoreland Antiquarian Society's " Transactions," Vol. II.
struggles he saved him in many moments of great personal
danger.
It seems most reasonable to believe that amongst the
retinue with which his English foster-father had supplied
him, there would probably have been found at least one
priest, who would carry on the religious instruction of the
young prince, and also that a considerable number, if not all,
of his English supporters were Christians. When Haakon's
power was established, very likely many of these returned
to England, and the king was left with but a few Christians
in his immediate following. The personal influence of
Haakon seems to have induced a few of his heathen
subjects to be baptized, and to abandon the old sacrifices.
When this was done Haakon took a more decisive step.
He sent a message to England to ask that a bishop and
priests should be sent out to Norway to aid him in his work.
We have no certain means of knowing whether a bishop
responded to this invitation, but there is a list given by
William of Malmesbury in " De Antiquitate Glastoniensis
Ecclesise," of bishops who had been monks of that famous
foundation; amongst them we find the name of " Sigefridus
Norwegensis Episcopus." There are many conflicting
opinions as to the identity of this man with Haakon's
helper. Three other bishops have been claimed as William's
"Norwegensis Episcopus." *
It is plainly stated by Snorre that Haakon had churches
built, and placed priests to minister in them, and these
churches were erected in the M0re and Romsdal districts
where Haakon chiefly resided. They were probably only
wooden churches, and they quickly perished after the failure
of Haakon to procure the recognition of Christianity. The
bishop and priests were either murdered or fled back again to
At the commencement of his reign Haakon had not taken
* See Appendix I.
any official part in the usual sacrifices to the gods, but this
did not excite suspicion because it was understood that being
only a lad he wished those duties to be performed by
deputy, which was accordingly done. Haakon, however,
did nothing rashly, and wisely decided not to force
Christianity on his people all at once. Among various
tentative measures he secured (apparently without opposi-
tion) the transference of the great Julefest, held early in
January, to the time of the Christian festival of Christmas,
and made its duration the same.
Thus the years passed by, and Haakon waited for his
opportunity. In or about the year 950, after having
reigned for sixteen years, and having had for some time the
government in his own hands, he felt he was strong enough
to make the attempt. His first step was to bring the
question before the local Things in M0re and Komsdal
districts, in which he frequently resided, and where he
felt his personal influence would be considerable. These
assemblies, however, seeing the importance of the question,
excused themselves on the ground that it lay beyond their
powers, and should be considered by the great Frosta Thing
to whose laws they were subject. To this Haakon agreed,
and prepared to bring the matter before the great assembly
of the North. The Frosta Thing was usually held at mid-
summer, when the days were longest, and night in those
regions practically unknown. From all the eight fylker of
Tr0ndelagen the people flocked to the yearly meeting, and
the gathering on this occasion was unusually large. The
Thing having been opened with the usual formalities, King
Haakon rose and addressed the people. The critical moment
so long looked forward to by the king, had now come, and
the first formal attempt to procure the recognition of
Christianity in Norway was now to be made.
Haakon began with an earnest appeal to the people to
embrace the faith in which he had been brought up, to
permit themselves to be baptized, to believe in the one God
and His Son Jesus Christ. The people listened in silence.
Had the king stopped there, it is possible he might have
met with, at any rate, a partial success; but when he
proceeded to tell them they must not work on Sundays,
and that, further, they must be prepared to follow the
Christian usage and fast on Fridays, then the cries of
dissent broke out. The idea of abstinence from food was
not at all an acceptable one to the Northmen, and to
abstain from work on Sundays might often mean the
partial loss of the hay harvest, or failure in securing a
good haul of fish. Haakon, however, was very plain in
setting before them all that the acceptance of Christianity
would entail.
When the king had ended, there stood up in the council
one Asbj0rn of Medalhus, a wealthy bonde from a place
now called Melhus in Guldal, near Trondhjem. He told
the king that the people willingly acknowledged the
benefits which had come to them from his wise and kindly
rule, especially in the restoration to them of their Odel
rights and privileges. But he declared in no uncertain
tones that they would not give up the faith of their fathers,
and accept the thraldom which it seemed the king wished
to force upon them. If he insisted on this, then they
would choose another king, but they had no desire to
quarrel with him so long as they were left to worship the
gods of their forefathers. This speech was received with
shouts of applause by the people, and it was at once
apparent that the assembly was entirely hostile to Haakon's
proposed innovations.
Then Sigurd Jarl stood up in defence of the young
monarch. He hastened to explain to the people that they
were under a mistake in supposing that Haakon wished to
force his views on them, or to cause any break in the
friendship which existed between them. With this he
28 CHUECH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
quieted the people, and the proceedings terminated, the
victory remaining with the heathen party.
Having thus thwarted the king, the believers in the old
gods were determined to press home their advantage, and
an opportunity for this soon presented itself. At the usual
festival held in October, when the winter sacrifices were
offered, the Odin's mindebceger (the horn of beer to be
drunk to Odin) was handed to the king. Before drinking
it he made the sign of the cross over it. At this the
watchful heathen protested, but the wily Jarl Sigurd
explained that the king, believing in his own strength,
dedicated the horn to Thor instead of Odin, by making
over it the sign of Mj0lnir (Thor's hammer), and so the
incident passed.
The crisis, however, soon came. At the Julefest the
heathen party resolved there should be no more tem-
porizing. They made it clear to the king that either he
must join in the heathen ceremonies or forfeit his crown.
Sigurd Jarl saw the danger, and with difficulty persuaded
Haakon to give way. The feast was held, and the king
ate some of the horse-flesh and drank of all the necessary
horns of beer to the gods, this time without making the
sign of the cross, and thus openly sealed his adherence to
the Asa faith. But he left the feast heavy and displeased,
and intending to come back with a powerful force and
revenge himself on the b0nder, but for the time the triumph
of Odin and Thor over " the White Christ " was complete.
It is easy for us to condemn Haakon for his apostacy,
but we must remember the position in which he was
placed. Cut off from the support of those in England
among whom he had been brought up, surrounded by
heathen, many of whom he had good cause to love, and
with the certainty of losing his kingdom, if not his life, if
he refused to join in the idol feasts, his kind-heartedness
and good-nature, as well as the pressure of circumstances,
all combined to make him yield an outward compliance
with the demands of the heathen party. All through the
rest of his life he seems to have felt deeply his abandon-
ment of the faith, and his failure to spread it in his
kingdom. He was doubtless sincere in his intention to
make another effort on behalf of Christianity when a con-
venient opportunity presented itself, but the " convenient
season" never came.
After these events, fresh trouble was in store for Haakon
and his kingdom. His brother, Erik Bloodaxe of North-
umberland, was slain in battle, and his sons determined to
attempt to regain the kingdom from which their father had
been driven by Haakon. Queen Gunhild went with them
to Denmark, where the king, Harald Gormss0n, was ready
to give them assistance. They made several descents upon
Norway, and Haakon was obliged to summon to his aid all
his available forces, and he dared not weaken his strength
by any question of religion.
The attacks of Gunhild's sons were repulsed with great
loss to them, but they only retired to Denmark for fresh
help, and appeared again and again on the coast. This
state of things lasted till the close of Haakon's life.
In 960 the king was paying a visit at Fitjar, on the
large island of Stord, in S0ndhordland, off the entrance to
the great Hardanger Fjord. While there, with but a small
force, he was surprised by the fleet of Harald Graafell, the
eldest of Erik's sons. The enemy were in overwhelming
force, but Haakon and his men disdained to seek safety in
flight. A fierce battle ensued, in which, after a desperate
struggle, Harald Graafell's forces were defeated and forced
to fly. Just at the very end of the battle Haakon was
mortally wounded by an arrow. Before his death, having
no son, he named his nephew Harald as his successor.
Then, we are told, the sorrow for his abandonment of the
faith filled the king's mind. " If life is granted to me,"
he said to his followers, " i will betake myself to a land of
Christian men, and do penance and atone for my sin
against God, but if I die here in heathenism, then bury me
as you wish yourselves."
His men, with tears, told him they would carry his body
over to England, and give it Christian burial. But the
dying king shook his head. " I am not worthy of it/' he
said. " I have lived as a heathen, and, therefore, as a
heathen should I be buried."
As a heathen he was laid to rest. He was buried on his
estate at Sseheim, in Nordhordland. All men mourned for
him, friends and foes alike, and "men said such a good
king would never come to Norway again/' The love and
veneration of his people marked him out among the kings
as Haakon the Good.
HARALD GRAAFELL; AND THE HEATHEN REACTION
UNDER HAAKON JARL.
Norway under Gunhild's Sons Graafell murdered in Denmark
Haakon Jarl rules Norway under Harald Blaatand of Denmark
Haakon Jarl's enforced Baptism Danish Missionaries in Viken
Adam of Bremen's Testimony The Results of this Work
Norwegian Church a Daughter of the English Church Haakon
Jarl and the Jomsvikings The Battle at Livaag Haakon's Evil
Deeds and the Coming Deliverer.
THE death of Haakon the Good was followed by a period
of anarchy and struggles with foreign foes, which lasted
for some thirty -five years, and caused much suffering and
want in the land.
Haakon, on his deathbed, had expressed the wish that
his nephew Harald, surnamed Graafell, should succeed
him. He was the eldest of the five sons of Erik Blod0kse,
and with them he shared the portions of Norway ruled
over by Haakon, namely, the northern and north-western
divisions, for it must be remembered that the grandsons
of Harald Haarfagre held the petty kingdoms in Viken
(the country around the Christiania Fjord), which he had
bestowed on their fathers.
Harald Graafell, however, was the overlord of the
portions where his brothers ruled. As they were mainly
guided by the universally detested Gunhild, they soon
became very unpopular. Following the example of their
father, they endeavoured to extend their authority by the
treacherous murder of King Trygve,* the son of Olaf, and
* The father of the great Olaf Trygvess0n, who at the time of this
murder was not yet born, see p. 40.
Gudr0d, the son of their father's victim, Bj0rn, both kings
in Viken. Sigurd Jarl was another obstacle in their way,
and he, too, was slain. The people of Tr0ndelagen imme-
diately supported his son, Haakon Jarl, and Gunhild's sons
soon found to their cost what a mistake they had made in,
killing his father. At first, however, they were partially
successful, and Haakon Jarl was obliged to take refuge
with Harald Blaatand (blue tooth), king of Denmark.
Harald Graafell and his brothers were nominal Chris-
tians, as they had been baptized when in England, and in
Norway during their time the ancient heathen system was
still further weakened. The brothers do not seem to have
attempted to obtain any official recognition of Christianity
from the Things, as Haakon did indeed, their zeal for the
propagation of the faith was of a very negative character,
and manifested itself chiefly in the destruction and plunder
of the heathen temples wherever they went, and enriching
themselves and their followers with the spoils. No attempt
was made to force Christianity on the people, nor were, as
far as we can see, any churches erected or rebuilt in any
part of Norway. Men were free to worship as they thought
fit, and the example of the sons of Gunhild was not likely
to prepossess the heathen in favour of the faith which they
nominally professed. These were years of bad harvests,
and distress was everywhere prevalent; the fish forsook
the shores, and famine and sickness stalked through the
land. In these calamities the people saw the wrath of the
gods whose temples had been destroyed, and who were not
propitiated with sacrifices. Universal discontent prevailed.
About the year 970 (the exact date is doubtful) Harald
Graafell was treacherously induced to visit Denmark, and
when there was attacked and slain. This was the oppor-
tunity which Harald Blaatand was looking for to assert his
supremacy over Norway. He at once set sail with a
powerful fleet to Tr0ndelagen ; and, as there was no one to
HARALD GRAAFELL. 33
oppose Mm (two of Harald Graafell's brothers were already
dead, and Gunhild and the others fled to the Orkneys), he
had no difficulty in having himself acknowledged as king.
Haakon Jar] was left as governor over the north and
westemfylker, and the district of Viken was under Harald's
immediate care. Haakon was, as a vassal, bound to assist
his overlord Harald whenever called upon.
Now came, in the region ruled over by Haakon, a veritable
heathen reaction. The jarl was a devout adherent of the
ancient faith, and set to work immediately to rebuild the
temples and to celebrate once more the heathen festivals
at the appointed seasons. The first year of Haakon's rule
was signalized by the return of the herrings to the coast,
which they had forsaken, and a prosperous harvest ; so the
people recognized in this that the anger of the gods was
appeased and the evil averted from the land.
It was not long before Harald Blaatand had to summon
his vassal Haakon to his aid. The young Kaiser Otto II.,
who had succeeded his father in 973, invaded Denmark in
975, in order to bring that kingdom more completely into
subjection (as Harald had designs of rejecting the suzerainty
which Otto I. had imposed on him), and also for the purpose
of forcibly advancing Christianity in Denmark. Consider-
able progress had been made, as we have seen, under
Ansgar, the Archbishop of Bremen, and a church had been
erected at Slesvig ; but the king still remained a heathen.
In obedience to Harald's call, Haakon Jarl raised an
army and fleet, and came to the aid of his overlord.
After a short resistance, however, Harald was defeated, and
the Kaiser offered him terms of peace on condition that he
should be baptized. We are told that the holy Bishop
Poppo preached to the king and his army, and the result
was that both Harald and all his forces were baptized.
The Danish king, having thus accepted Christianity,
decided that his vassal must do the same, and sent for
C.S.N. D
Haakon,who had taken refuge in his ships, and obliged him
also to be baptized. Then, having supplied him "with priests
and other learned men," he dispatched him to Norway.
Whatever may have been the sincerity of Harald in
embracing Christianity, Haakon soon made it clear that he
still remained a heathen. He set sail, and at the first
possible opportunity put his ecclesiastics ashore and harried
the coast of Sweden until he came to Norway, and, setting
Harald at defiance, went overland to Tr0ndelagen. In
revenge for this, the Danish king invaded the west coast of
Norway and ravaged the country with fire and sword ; but
when Haakon had collected his fleet and came to resist
the attack, Harald sailed back again into Denmark.
It is necessary at this point to advert to the missionary
efforts which were made in the district of Viken, at this time
directly subject to the Danish Crown. Harald, after his
conversion to the faith under the persuasive eloquence and
miracles of Bishop Poppo, did all in his power to promote
the christianizing of his heathen subjects both in Denmark
and Norway. For some details of this we are indebted
to the "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesise Pontificum " of
Adam of Bremen, a chronicle of great value in connection
with the early history of Christianity in the North ; but,
being naturally a very zealous supporter of the see of
Bremen, it is probable that he may have been inclined to
estimate more highly than it deserved, the work of the
missionaries sent from Bremen to Norway; and possibly,
also, to look with a not altogether impartial eye on the
English Church's missionaries, to whose efforts mainly, as we
shall see, the spread of the faith in Norway is due.
Adam mentions that Liafdag, who in 948 was conse-
crated to the see of Eibe, in Denmark, was the most famous
among the early bishops and renowned for his miracles, and
that he had preached " beyond the sea, that is in Sweden
and Norway."
Snorre mentions that Harald, after his conversion, sent,
amongst other men, " two jarls to Norway, who were to
preach Christianity ; which was also done in Viken, where
King Harald's power prevailed." There they baptized
many men, but after Harald's death they relapsed. Snorre
does not give us the names of these "jarls," but in the
Saga of the Jomsvikings they are mentioned under the
very uncouth names of Urguthrj0tr and Brimiskjarr. Who
these "jarls " were we have no means of knowing. It
seems doubtful if they were jarls at all. Some suppose
that if jarls were sent, they had priests with them, who
were subsequently credited with having been jarls.
There seems no doubt whatever that there was, before
Olaf Trygvess0n's day a certain amount of missionary
work in Viken which was not altogether destitute of
results, but that this was not a little magnified by the
Bremen authorities later on, when the great work of the
English bishops and priests, under the two Olafs, was
made manifest.
The scholiast of Adam says, speaking of the labours of
Olaf Trygvess0n's bishop : " Though before him our
missionaries, Liafdag, Poppo, and Odinkar, had preached
to that nation. This can we say : our missionaries laboured,
and the English entered into their labours. "* It is only
fair to add that Adam himself takes a more liberal view
when he says, with reference to the work of the two
Churches : " The mother-Church of Hamburg bears no
grudge if even foreigners have done good to her children,
saying with the apostle :| ' Quidam prcedicant per invidiam
et contentionem, quidam autem propter bonam voluntatem
et caritatem. Quid enim f Dum omni modo sive per
occasionem sive per veritatem Christus annuncietur, et
in hoc gaudeo et gaudebo ' " (Phil. L, 16-18).
* Adam, Scholiast, 142.
t Adam II., c. 35.
It would be altogether unfair to fail to recognize the
work of the missionaries sent forth by the see of Bremen to
evangelize the North. But it seems pretty clear that the
result of their efforts in Viken (the only part of Norway
where they claim to have laboured) were not of a very
lasting character, and that no attempt was made to organize
the Church there, on any stable foundation, as St. Olaf
did in his work throughout Norway. The claim of
Bremen to have founded what might be called a rival
Church to that established by the English missionaries
cannot, indeed, be seriously considered. The Christianity
of Viken seems, openly at least, to have disappeared under
the heathen rule of Haakon Jarl; and, later on, the
severing of the connection with the Danish Crown, when
the district was incorporated in Olaf Trygvess0n's kingdom,
brought Yiken, like the rest of Norway, into the organiza-
tion founded by the English missionaries ; and the efforts
of those sent forth from the see of Bremen were confined,
for a considerable time at least, to the two other Scandi-
navian kingdoms.
The question seems to be fairly summed up by Keyser
in the following words : " The direct and indirect results
of the efforts of the German-Bremen Church in Norway
were confined to individual conversions, or attempts at
conversion, in Viken, whilst they never succeeded in form-
ing any special Church community. On the other hand,
Christianity over the whole of Norway, both with respect
to the permanent conversion of the people and ecclesias-
tical organization, proceeded exclusively from England ;
in other words, the Norwegian Church was wholly and
completely a daughter of the English Church"*
Harald Blaatand did not long survive his failure to
coerce his rebellious vassal Haakon Jarl. His death was
the result of a wound, received in a battle fought against
* Keyser, Den Norske Kirkes ffistorie, Vol. L, p. 32.
HAKALD GRAAFELL. 37
his son Svein Tjugeskjgeg (the forked beard), who had raised
an insurrection against him. On his father's death, Svein
was accepted as king of Denmark. The new king did not
forget the fact that his father had been the overlord of
Norway, and at once decided to take steps to bring
Haakon to submission to his authority. For this purpose
he called to his assistance the famous Jomsvikings.
This very remarkable guild of fighting men lived, when
ashore, in their stronghold at Jom, or Jumne, in Pomerania.
They were the heathen prototypes of the military orders
of later days, and lived under very strict rules and discip-
line. No one over fifty years, or under eighteen, was
admitted into their company, and women were strictly
excluded from their fortress. Around it there grew up a
town, with some considerable trade. The Jomsvikings
were very zealous heathen, and made it a distinct con-
dition that none should come to the town who intended
to preach Christianity. Adam of Bremen, however, bears
witness to the fact that with this exception "no more
honest or kindly race could be found." The fierce courage
and endurance of these Vikings made their assistance much
sought for in local warfare.
The chief of the Jomsvikings at this time was Sigvald
Jarl, and to him Svein addressed himself. After the
usual negotiations Sigvald undertook within three years
to kill or to drive away from Norway, the rebellious
Haakon Jarl.
At the close of 978 the Jomsvikings set sail with a
powerful fleet, and reached the neighbourhood of Eogaland
at the time of the Julefest. Meanwhile Haakon had
received tidings of the approach of these formidable foes,
but nothing daunted he assembled a powerful fleet and
determined to defend his land. The Jomsviking force
sailed north, and, doubling the peninsula of Stadt, finally
came to battle with Haakon in the bay of Livaag, on the
island of Hareidland, which lies a little to the south of the
present town of Aalesund. There ensued one of the most
sanguinary battles ever fought in Norway. Haakon Jarl
and his son Erik fought with dauntless courage, but were
able to make little impression on the fierce Jomsvikings.
As the fight went on it seemed as if victory must rest
with the invaders. Then Haakon, in his extremity,
adopted a desperate and horrible expedient, the truth of
which there seems no reason to doubt, as we know such
practices were found among the heathen Norsemen.
Following the example of the king of Moab, he sought
to propitiate the gods with a human sacrifice. Leaving
his men to fight, he went hurriedly ashore, and there
offered up his little seven-year-old son Erling as a sacrifice
to the gods. Then followed a terrible storm, and the hail
beat with violence in the faces of the Vikings, and at last
they began to give way. Finally fortune declared itself
for Haakon, and the redoubtable Sigvald Jarl was forced
to fly with only twenty -five ships.
Haakon was now free from attack from Denmark, and
his authority was supreme over the north and west, and
it seemed as if he would be able to establish his family as
overlords of Norway as Harald Haarfagre had done.
But after the great victory at Livaag, when his power was
at its height, he became careless and secure, and soon his
cruelties and lust displeased even his heathen subjects, and
the land was filled with discontent. The forcible seizure
of the beautiful wife of Orm Lyrgia, one of the most
powerful of the b0nder in Tr0ndelagen, brought matters to
a crisis. A deliverer of the race of the fair-haired Harald
was found in Olaf Trygvess0n, the most striking and
heroic character presented to us in the history of the
introduction of Christianity into Norway.
OLAP TRYGVESS0N, AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE
WHITE CHRIST.
Olaf the Founder of the Church His Birth and Early Years His
Baptism and Confirmation Haakon Jarl tries to lure him to
Norway Olaf Sails from Dublin Lands at Moster Finds Insurrec-
tion against Haakon Death of Haakon Olaf chosen King
His Character Begins the Spread of the Faith in Yiken He
Proceeds round the Coast St. Sunniva and Selje Olaf founds
Nidaros Fails at Frosta Thing to procure Acceptance of Chris-
tianity He works Craftily Destroys the Idols at Maeren Olaf in
the North Olaf's Enemies in Denmark His Expedition to Yend-
land The Battle of Svolder and Death of Olaf The Christianizing
of Iceland.
OLAF TRYGVESS0N may well be called the founder of
the Norwegian Church, though the work of organization
was carried out by the more widely-known Olaf the Saint.
He was not, it is true, the first Christian king in the land,
for Haakon the Good, and Harald Graafell, were both
nominal Christians, and the former, before his lapse, had
made a very sincere effort to induce his people to receive
the faith. But he lacked what Olaf possessed, the burning
zeal of a great missionary, albeit this zeal was at times
evinced in a manner more suggestive of the followers of
Mahomet than of Christ and also (what was of no small
importance) the strong argument of fighting men and ships,
without which, it must be confessed, Olaf s conversions to
Christianity would but seldom have taken place.
The early life of Olaf Trygvess0n, as recorded in the
Sagas, is full of the strangest adventures, and it is difficult to
determine how much of it is legendary. It is unnecessary
40 CHUKCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
for our purpose to follow all the incidents of his early
days as set forth there ; it is enough to confine ourselves
to the principal events about which there is not much
doubt.
Olaf Trygvess0n was, as his name indicates, the son of
Trygve (the grandson of Harald Haarfagre), and one of
the smaller kings who ruled in Viken. Trygve was, as
we know, murdered by Gunhild's sons about the year 963.
On her husband's death his wife, Astrid, fled for her life
and took refuge on an island in the Eandsfjord, a large
lake in Hadeland, accompanied by her faithful foster-father,
Torolv Luseskjaeg. Soon after she gave birth to a son,
who was named Olaf after his grandfather.* For some
years Astrid and her child were pursued from place to
place by the remorseless malignity of Queen Gunhild, and
were often in extreme peril of their lives. Finding it
unsafe to remain any longer in Norway, she eventually
took refuge with her brother Sigurd, who had been for
some time one of the principal men at the court of King
Valdemar of Gardarike, a large district of Western Eussia,
at that time in Scandinavian hands.
Here Olaf remained until about his eighteenth year, when,
in accordance with the practice of those times, he started
on a Viking cruise with other adventurous spirits. He
went to Yendland and Denmark, and soon collected a body
of followers who acknowledged him as their chief. England,
at this time under the feeble rule of Ethelred II., the
Redeless, offered a very tempting field for Viking raids, and
to that country and to the coasts of Scotland and Ireland
Olaf and his followers accordingly went. He, in common
with others, received from Ethelred considerable sums of
money to abstain from plundering. After several years
spent around the coasts of the British Isles, he came
* The heathen Norsemen had a ceremony resembling baptism, in
which water was poured upon the child when he was named.
OLAP TRYGVESS0N. 41
to the Scilly Isles, where, we are told, he was baptized by
a holy man, probably a hermit, who foretold his future
greatness, and instructed him in the Christian faith. He
then went back to England, having made peace with
Ethelred. This was in 994. Florence of Worcester tells
us that this agreement was after some severe fighting, and
adds a notice of another important event in Olaf's life.
"-ZElfheah (St. Alphege), Bishop of Winchester, and the noble
ealdorman Ethel ward, went to King Olaf by order of King
Ethelred, and having given hostages, conducted him with
honour to the royal vill of Andover, where the king was
residing. The king treated him with great distinction, and,
causing him to be confirmed by the bishop, adopted him as
his son and made him a royal present. He on his part
promised King Ethelred he would never again invade
England, and afterwards returning to his fleet, sailed for his
own kingdom at the beginning of summer and faithfully kept
his promise." He did not, however, return immediately to
Norway, for early the next year we find him in Dublin with
his brother-in-law, Olaf Kvaran, who ruled over the kingdom
the Northmen had founded there.
It was riot likely that tidings of such a mighty warrior
as Olaf had proved himself to be, would fail to come to the
ears of Haakon Jarl, now in the height of his power, and
remembering that he was the great-grandson of Harald
Haarfagre, and therefore heir to the crown of Norway, the
crafty jarl determined, if possible, to decoy him to his native
land, and make away with him. For this purpose he
accordingly dispatched an emissary, Thore Klakka, to
Dublin in order to see if he could induce him to go to
Norway. Thore was a very plausible man, and answered
all Olaf's questions in a manner which gained him his
confidence. He insinuated that as Haakon was disliked,
the people would willingly welcome a descendant of
Haarfagre as a deliverer. After a good many interviews
he induced Olaf to make the attempt, which the young
chief was nothing loth to do, and with five ships he set sail
from Dublin accompanied by the traitorous Thore Klakka.
Sailing north, Olaf paid a passing visit to the Orkneys,
where he had the good fortune to surprise the jarl, Sigurd
Lodvess0n, who, not expecting such a visitor, had only one
ship with him.
What followed was a typical example of the method
which Olaf adopted in spreading the faith. He sent
a courteous message to the jarl inviting him to come
on board his ship. After conversing for some time on
various topics and hospitably entertaining the jarl, Olaf
explained to his guest that the time had now come for him
to be baptized. It was only natural that the jarl should
demur at first to this unusual proposal, but Olaf explained
with equal clearness that the only alternative was his
immediate execution. Under such circumstances Sigurd
did not hesitate any longer, and was then and there bap-
tized with all his followers, and swearing allegiance to Olaf,
gave his son over as a hostage for his good faith.
After this promising beginning, Olaf continued his voyage
to Norway. Instead of sailing direct to Tr0ndelagen he
made for the west coast, and landed on the eastern side of
the small island of Moster, which lies south of the great
island of Stord, and inside the marvellous skjcergaard, or
island belt, which almost everywhere protects the coast of
Norway from the North Sea. There, close to the place where
the present village of Mosterhavn and the ancient stone
church stand, Olaf Trygvess0n again set foot upon his native
land. We are told that his first act upon landing was to
have mass sung in a tent which he erected on the shore, on
the spot where the church now stands, thus emphasizing by
this ceremony the missionary side of his expedition. He
had with him his friend and counsellor Bishop Sigurd, a
man of English race, and several priests who were selected
OLAF TRYGVESS0N. 43
for their acquaintance with the language of the Northmen,
but all trained up in the ways of Anglo-Saxon Christianity.
From Moster they sailed north to Tr0ndelagen, where,
instead of the power of the jarl Haakon being at its height,
as the traitor Klakka had imagined, they found that his
violations of the homes of the b0nder, had raised the whole
district in rebellion against him.
The great-grandson of Harald Haarfagre was welcomed
as a deliverer, and accepted as a leader of the insurrection.
The end of the jarl was not long in coming. He took
refuge with a single thrall in the house of his mistress
Thora, in Guldalen. When Olaf and his men arrived there
in search of the jarl, she concealed him under the pigsty,
where he was murdered by his servant, who brought the
jarl's head to Olaf, and was rewarded by having his own
head immediately cut off.
Thus perished miserably the last great heathen ruler of
Norway. We cannot fail to recognize the courage and
ability which Haakon manifested, especially in the earlier
part of his rule. Nor can we deny to him the credit of a
sincere attachment to the faith of the old gods of his fore-
fathers. His enforced baptism in Denmark, he at once
showed, had been merely a compliance withybrce majeure,
and in no way binding on him. Had he restrained his evil
passions in his later days and not excited against himself the
hostility of his fellow heathen, it is quite possible that the
attack of Olaf might not have been successful, and that for
a much longer period heathenism might have retained its
hold in the North. But his crimes and outrages everywhere
raised opposition, and at a great Thing for all ihefylker of
Tr0ndelagen, held immediately after Haakon's death, Olaf
was unanimously chosen as king, and began in 995 the
short but remarkable reign which had so much to do with
the future history of his native land.
Almost immediately after his being chosen king in
Tr0ndelagen, Olaf 's authority was accepted throughout the
land. One Thing after another welcomed him, and even
those provinces in the south-east, which had been subject
to the Danish Crown, renounced their allegiance to it, and
all the petty kings of Norway accepted Olaf as their over-
lord. Thus in one short year the extraordinary "magnetic
attractiveness " of Olaf Trygvess0n once more welded
Norway into a single nation. Olaf was indeed a born
leader of men, and a typical representative of a Norseman
in the heroic days. Tall and unmatched in all athletic
exercises, his skill in arms was also unequalled, and his
dauntless courage won everywhere for him, the devotion
of his followers and the respect and fear of his foes. His
failings were those of the times in which he lived. There
can be no denying that on many occasions he was guilty of
permitting very horrible cruelty to be practised on those
who had fallen into his hands, and this, when done in the
propagation of the faith, showed that, in common with most
of the Christian kings of Europe in his day, his missionary
spirit was more in consonance with the Old than the New
Testament. His dealings with the opposite sex were not
always free from blame indeed, there seems no reason to
doubt that he had more than one wife living at the same
time but in this also he only reflected the life of the age
in which he lived. He is to be judged by the standard
of the tenth century, and not of the twentieth, and, bearing
that in mind, we cannot fail to recognize him as a great and
noble man, and a most sincere and devoted believer in the
faith of Christ. In many ways he was superior to his more
famous namesake Olaf the Saint, but he lacked the great
gifts of organization which Olaf Haraldss0n possessed, and
which left its impress on all the subsequent history of the
Church in Norway.
When Olaf had established his authority, he was ready
to begin his work of spreading Christianity over the country.
He had very wisely kept that in the background at first,
and indeed we may wonder that the people of Tr0ndelagen,
who had been always the chief supporters of the old gods,
had not extracted conditions from Olaf before electing him
as king, for they must have known that he was a Christian,
and had Bishop Sigurd and his priests along with him.
Such, however, was the hatred which the crimes of
Haakon Jarl had aroused, that they were only too glad to
take Olaf as their king, especially when his great popularity
and immediate descent from Harald Haarfagre, had in it so
much to commend him to them.
Olaf further showed his wisdom in commencing his work
of christianizing the people in Viken instead of Tr0ndelagen.
This he did for two reasons. First, because Viken was the
district where the missionaries sent out from Bremen had
worked ; and although the results of their labours were not
very great, and what they had accomplished was mostly
swept away in the heathen reaction under Haakon Jarl,
still there was a certain amount of familiarity with the facts
of Christianity still surviving among the people. Secondly,
however, there was a stronger reason. In Viken the king
was among his own people, and in the district where his
father and grandfather had ruled. Olaf rightly estimated
that the ties of relationship and family connection, when
supported by the glamour of his name and his might in
battle, would help him most materially.
In this he was not disappointed. His kinsmen to whom
he explained his intention of christianizing Norway were
ready to fall in with his plans and were at once baptized.*
This example on the part of the chiefs was quickly
* Amongst these, according to one account, was Sigurd Syr, the
chief or king of Ringerike and stepfather of St. Olaf ; and on a
subsequent visit in 998 it is said that the future king and saint, then
two years old, was baptized, Olaf Trygvess0n standing as his godfather.
On this point, however, see p. 61.
followed by the general body of their adherents, and in a
short time all had been baptized, and nominally accepted
After this good beginning, Olaf decided to work north-
wards along the coast. The people of Agder and Hordaland
agreed after some persuasion. At Eogaland the people
came to the Thing fully armed, and intending to resist the
king ; but the Saga records with great joy, that one after
another, the three principal men who were chosen as
spokesmen for the heathen party, and deputed to reply to
the king, all broke down the moment they attempted to
speak, and, there being no one to defend heathenism, the
result was that all were baptized.
Then Olaf proceeded to meet the Gula Thing, the great
assembly of the West of Norway, as the Frosta Thing was
for Tr0ndelagen, and the Eidsiva for the central parts.
This was usually held at Evenvik, in a fertile valley on the
rocky coast, just south of the entrance of the great Sogne
Fjord. At that time the valleys and mountain sides were
clothed with great forests, where all is now bare and
devoid of trees, and only the roots of great pines which are
from time to time dug up, attest the different character
which the face of the country at that time presented.
When the Tiling was " set," as the expression was, the
king was listened to, while he made his customary appeal
to the people on behalf of the faith. 01mod the Old was
the spokesman of the chiefs, and declared that if the king
intended to use force they would resist to the uttermost,
but if he wished to be friendly they would on their part keep
on good terms with him, and he concluded by suggesting
that the king should give his sister Astrid in marriage to
Erling Skjalgss0n. To this Olaf agreed, and after some
difficulty persuaded Astrid to consent, and the result was
finally that the chiefs and people were all baptized.
The next Thing was that held at Dragseid, a spot situated
From a Photograph by] [T Olaf Willson.
PART OF AN ALTAR PIECE FROM AUSTEVOLD
CHURCH, NORDHORDLAND.
(15th Century.)
St. Sunniva in the csntre, with St. Peter and St. Mary Magdalene.
Now in Bergen Museum
[To face p. 46.
r>r
on the neck of the great peninsula of Stadt, a little north
of the Nordfjord. This Thing was attended by the people
of S0ndm0re and the Romsdal, as well as by those from the
Firda jylker, the country between Nordfjord and Sogne
Fjord. Here Olaf was apparently more peremptory. He
gave them the simple alternative of baptism or fighting, and
as he was the strongest the b0nder agreed to be baptized.
Close to Dragseid is the small island of Selje. According
to some accounts, it was at this time that the king discovered,
or was informed of, the existence of the body of St. Sunniva,
who had met her death on this island. As the saint was
subsequently recognized as one of the three patrons of
Norway, it is well to relate her story here.
According to the "Acta Sanctorum in Selio," it was in
the time of the Kaiser Otto I. (936973) that " Sweet
Sunniva the blessed " lived. She was the daughter of an
Irish king, and to escape marriage with a heathen prince,
she fled from her home and embarked in three ships with a
number of men, women, and children, who along with her
desired to escape " from the raging storms of an evil world."
Without oars or ship-gear they committed themselves to
the sea, and the storm and tempest carried them across the
North Sea^ and finally landed them on the little island of
Selje. The people on the mainland saw the strangers, and
proceeded to attack them. Sunniva and her companions
fled for refuge to a cave on the island, and prayed that
death might come to deliver them from their heathen foes.
The prayer was heard, and a stenskred (stone avalanche)
fell and closed the entrance to the cave and all perished.
Later on some merchants sailing past the island, saw a light,
and going ashore found a human head, which emitted a
* It is not a little remarkable that an exactly similar instance to this,
occurred in our own day, in the case of Elizabeth Mouath, who was
blown across the North Sea in a fishing-smack from the Shetlands to
the island of Leps0, a little north of Selje.
fragrant odour. They went to Olaf Trygvess0n and told
the tale. The king then with Bishop Sigurd went to the
island, and after searching they discovered the body of
St. Sunniva perfectly preserved. A church was erected on
the island and a cloister established, and from Selje later
on, many teachers went out to spread the faith. It seems
most probable, on the whole, that the visit of Olaf and
Bishop Sigurd to Selje, took place after he had gone to
Nidaros, and when his work of christianizing the north was
further advanced. Selje was subsequently the seat of a
bishopric, which was transferred to Bergen at the end of the
eleventh century ; but it remained an important monastic
centre down to the sixteenth century, and may well be
called the " holy isle " of Norway.
Olaf was now rapidly approaching Tr0ndelagen, where
the first real opposition to his efforts to spread the faith
was to be encountered. Sailing with his fleet into the
Trondhjem Fjord, the king made at once for Hlade, where
the famous heathen temple stood, on the estate of his
predecessor Haakon Jarl.
His movements seem to have taken the people by
surprise ; the district was the stronghold of heathenism, and
the inhabitants, though the most powerful in Norway, were
unprepared to defend their gods. Olaf acted with his usual
promptitude; landing his men, they plundered and destroyed
the temple, and the king carried off in triumph a gold ring
which Haakon Jarl had placed on the temple door. This
open attack on the religion of the people immediately
roused the district. The b0nder at once sent round the
hcerpil, or war arrow, and the people flocked to defend
their gods. Not finding himself strong enough, Olaf decided
to move north to Haalogaland (the district along the coast,
north of Namsos) and see what he could do with the
inhabitants there ; but they had been warned, and their
three chiefs, Haarek of Thjotta, Hjort of Vaage, and Eivind
Kinnriva, collected their forces to withstand the king,
and finding himself thus foiled Olaf sailed southwards.
When he reached the Trondhjem Fjord the b0nder had gone
back again to their farms.
Olaf at this time (996 7) founded the town of Nidaros,
the present city of Trondhjem. He selected as the site, the
spot where the Nid flows into the fjord. At this place
the river takes a great bend before entering the sea, and
the king with much wisdom placed the buildings in such a
position, that the river formed on almost two sides a natural
moat which would protect them from attack by a land force.
Here he built a rough kind of palace, and here also he
erected a church, most likely of timber, and dedicated it to
St. Clement, bishop of Kome. The king by his founding of
the town shewed that he felt the importance of attracting
traders to the country, and raising up a force which might
be useful against the power of the b0nder.
Olaf now considered he was strong enough to summon a
meeting of the Thing at Frosta in the autumn of 996.
The b0nder, however, were not to be caught napping.
They came to the gathering fully armed, and having as
their leader and speaker, the powerful chief who was known
as Jernskjaegge (the iron beard) of Upphaug. The Thing
being set, Olaf rose and addressed them, and urged the
acceptance of Christianity. At once cries of dissent were
heard, and they tried to stop the king, reminding him of
the way in which Haakon the Good's similar proposal was
met at the same place.
Olaf quickly saw that he was not strong enough to resist
the power of the b0nder on this occasion, and so he began to
speak kindly to them, and skilfully averted an outbreak,
promising that he would meet them at Mseren later on,
and join in the great blot, or sacrificial feast, held there
in the January following. After this the Thing broke up,
and Olaf and his men went back to Hlade, on the outskirts
C.S.N. E
of his newly-founded town of Nidaros, and the b0nder
returned to their farms.
The king, however, had no idea of abandoning his crusade
against heathenism, but he went to work craftily. When
the time approached for the blot at Mseren, he invited to a
feast all the principal men of the districts close to Nidaros,
and they responded to the invitation, apparently without
suspicion. Olaf had taken the precaution of having a
number of ships and picked men ready close at hand. The
chiefs were received with great cordiality by the king, and,
as was customary, all drank heavily at the feast. Next
morning the king was up early and had Mass said, and then
brought his men ashore. When the chiefs had awakened
after their night's carouse, Olaf called them to a meeting.
Then the humour of the king was seen. With a delightful
appearance of sincerity he gravely explained to them that
at the Frosta Thing they had insisted he should follow the
example of Haakon and sacrifice to the gods ; he was
therefore resolved that the forthcoming festival should be
one of no ordinary grandeur and solemnity. Hitherto they
had been accustomed to offer a miserable thrall as a sacrifice
to the gods, but he intended to do better than that.
Then to the horror of his guests he mentioned the names of
six of the principal men before him, and announced his
intention to offer them up as a sacrifice. We can well
imagine the terror of the chiefs when they found themselves
in the king's power. They at once begged for mercy, and
Olaf readily promised it on condition, that they were all
then and there baptized, and further that they would give
hostages for their future good behaviour. These terms they
willingly accepted, and they were sent away. The opposition
of the inner Trondhj em district was thus practically broken.
In January, 997, came the great gathering at Mseren,
where Olaf had promised to take part in the sacrifices.
Both sides came fully armed. The Thing assembled, and
OLAF TRYOVESS0N. 51
the people demanded that the king should keep his promise.
Olaf then proceeded with Jernskjsegge and others to the
hov or temple ; all who entered were unarmed, but the
king placed outside a body of men fully armed to be ready
for emergencies. In his hand Olaf bore a golden staff;
when they came to the image of Thor, the king with this
staff struck down the idol. At once his men, taking this
as a signal, overturned the other idols. In the confusion
which arose, Jernskjsegge sought to escape, but when he
came out of the temple he was killed by the king's men.
Then Olaf came out and addressed the excited multitude,
giving them the usual alternative baptism or immediate
battle. The heathen, seeing their leader slain and having
no hope of success, chose baptism, and they were, as usual,
at once baptized and sent to their homes. After this there
seems to have been no open resistance in Tr0ndelagen to
Olaf s efforts on behalf of Christianity.
In order to conciliate the b0nder it was arranged that
the king should marry Jernskjaegge's daughter Gudrun, but
as she attempted to assassinate him on the evening of the
marriage, she was put away. Then, it seems, Olaf sought
the hand of the proud and ambitious Sigrid, the widow of
Erik of Sweden. He did his wooing by deputy, and sent
her as a gift the gold ring he had taken from Haakon Jarl's
hov at Hlade. The queen accepted the offering ; but on dis-
covering that the ring was not pure gold, but only copper
gilt, she was very angry. A meeting with Olaf was, how-
ever, arranged 'to be held at Konghelle. The queen found
that the Norwegian monarch expected that she would, as a
preliminary step, be baptized, but to this she indignantly
declined to submit. Olaf was very angry, and exclaimed,
" Why should I marry a heathen hound like you ? " and so
far forgot himself as to strike her on the face with his glove.
" This will be your bane," said the furious queen as they
parted. Her words came true, as we shall see. Soon after
she married Svein Tjugeskjseg, the king of Denmark, who
was quite ready to dispute Olaf s possession of Norway,
from whence his jarl had been driven by the coming of
Olaf in 995.
Having upturned heathenism in Tr0ndelagen, Olaf in
998 and 999 turned his attention again to Haalogaland,
where the chiefs had resisted his first attempt. By a
stratagem he got Haarek of Thjotta into his power and had
him baptized, and on his promising to be faithful to him
sent him back to the north. Haarek repaid the king by
capturing Eivind Kinnriva and sending him to Nidaros.
The king's threats were of no avail against this brave
heathen, and the consequence was he was put to death with
horrible cruelty. Now there were but two heathen chiefs left,
Kaud of God0, and Hjort, and the king went north against
them ; they were soon defeated. Hjort was, after an
exciting chase, shot by the king himself when he had been
brought to bay by Olaf 's famous dog Vige, and Eaud, who
was taken prisoner, and followed the example of Eivind,
was barbarously put to death. So ended the open heathen
resistance in the north. Before this expedition Olaf had
spent the winter in Viken, and seems to have attempted
to christianize the Oplands, the country around and north
of the Mi0sen lake, but did not do much there, and the final
uprooting of heathenism in that part was the work of
St. Olaf.
In the space of about four years Norway, through the
vigorous measures of King Olaf, had thus practically become
Christian. The methods adopted were not such as would
commend themselves to us at the present day, and there
can be no doubt that as the work went on, and the power
of the king increased, he became much more cruel towards
those who resisted him. One could wish that for the sake
of Olafs name the accounts of the cruelties which were
perpetrated in Haalogaland were not true ; but there seems
no reason to doubt them for a moment, and the writers of
the Sagas gloried in them as marks of the king's power
and, from their point of view, as acceptable to God.
The short and brilliant reign of Olaf Trygvess0n was now
drawing to a close. We have seen how the rejected Queen
Sigrid had vowed vengeance on the king, and almost im-
mediately after the incident narrated above, had married
King Svein of Denmark. Just at that time Olaf had
married Thyra, the sister of King Svein, who had been
wife of King Burislaf of Vendland, but had separated from
him and taken refuge in Norway. This marriage much
incensed Svein, and his union with Sigrid made another
enemy for Olaf in the Danish court.
Queen Thyra's insistance on her husband making an ex-
pedition to Vendland to recover some of her estates, was
for a long time disregarded by the king ; but at last he gave
way, and in the summer of the year 1000 he set out with
a powerful fleet, and, without encountering opposition,
secured his wife's property.
This was the chance for which Svein and Sigrid were
watching, and which Erik Jarl (son of Haakon) and his
brother Svein hailed as an opportunity for avenging their
father's death. When Olaf was returning home by the
treacherous advice of Sigvald the Jomsviking, who was
bribed by King Svein he was induced to allow his fleet
to scatter, and was attacked, when he had only eleven ships,
by the fleet of the Danish king and Erik Jarl.
The ships of the enemy were lying in wait beside the
little island of S voider, near Riigen, and when the advance
part of Olaf s fleet had passed out of sight, emerged from
their shelter and attacked the king and the ten ships which
were with him. A. fierce fight ensued. Olaf fought with
that dauntless courage which had ever sustained him, but
the odds were overwhelming. Nearly all his men were
slain, the king himself was wounded, and, seeing that all
was lost and he was in danger of being taken prisoner, he with
his devoted friend Kolbj0rn Stallare, sprang overboard, one
from each side of the ship. Kolbj0rn held his shield under
him and was picked up at once by Erik's men, who mistook
him for the king, but Olaf, who held his shield over his
head, disappeared and was seen no more. There can be no
manner of doubt that the king was drowned ; but his body
was never recovered, and tradition had it that he escaped
and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and died in
extreme old age in a Syrian monastery.
Thus ended the life of this remarkable man, who in such a
short space had effected so great a change in the history of his
native land. Of his character and methods we have already
spoken, and of the results which followed from his missionary
efforts we shall speak further on, when we come to the reign of
his famous namesake. His death was a fitting close to his
strange and eventful life. He passed away as the Norsemen
of old thought it noblest to do, in the midst of the fight.
Like Frederick Barbarossa, like other great warriors and
kings, famous in history or legend, the mystery of his ending
threw a glamour of romance about his name ; and often in
after days it may have been that many a Norseman looked for
an hour when the hero of the race of the fair-haired Harald
would come back again, and lead them to victory against the
enemies of the " White Christ " and of the land which they
loved so well.
Before closing this chapter it is necessary to allude to
the work of spreading Christianity in Iceland, which was
mostly accomplished under the king's direction ; for
though Iceland was then an independent State, it was in
closest connection with Norway, from whence its earliest
Norse inhabitants had come in the reign of Harald
Haarfagre.
The first Christians in Iceland were the Irish monks
who had sought refuge there about the eighth century, at
OLAF TRYGYESS0N. 55
a time when Ireland was the great missionary church of
the West, and had sent its missionaries to spread the faith
all over the Continent, as well as in Scotland and the
north of England. St. Gall, labouring in Switzerland, and
St. Columbanus at Bobbio, in the north of Italy, had carried
the light of the Gospel among the barbarian races who had
established themselves in the land of the fallen Western
Empire.
The Irish hermits found in Iceland a quiet resting-place
in dark and troublous times, and when the freedom-loving
Northmen, who declined to submit to the rule of Harald
Haarfagre, came to Iceland they found before them some of
these pious men, who had braved the perils of the unknown
seas and settled there.
These Northmen were of course heathen, and carried with
them the worship of their forefathers, and soon erected
their temples to Odin and Thor, and drove the hermits to
seek some other retreat.
The first efforts to evangelize the new settlers were made,
some fifteen years before the accession of Olaf Trygvess0n,
by an Icelander named Thorvald Kodranss0n, who had been
a Viking, but who had come under the influence of Bishop
Frederick of Saxony, who baptized him. This man induced
the bishop to accompany him to Iceland in 981, and
together they did a good deal of work in the part of the
country lying in the east and north. At first there does
not seem to have been much opposition, but when they
tried to induce the Althing to accept the faith, the heathen
chiefs, as in the Things of Norway, were at once violent in
their opposition. The controversy at one gathering became
so acute that Thorvald in rage slew two of his opponents,
and was then driven from the country.
No further attempt seems to have been made until after
Olaf had been accepted as king in Norway, when he sent
one of his men, an Icelander, named Stefner Thorgilss0n,
to resume the work. He commenced his labours in the
south and west ; but his zeal aroused the heathen, and he
was banished from the land, and returned to Norway to
King Olaf. Meanwhile the king had, in the usual way,
baptized any Icelanders whom he met with in Norway, and
sent them back pledged to advance Christianity in their
own country.
Olaf now sent a missionary of another kind. When he
first came to Norway he had with him, among the priests
with Bishop Sigurd, a man named Teodbrand, who was a
Saxon priest, said to be the son of a nobleman. This man
was first acquainted with Olaf in his early Viking days, and
followed his adventurous life before 994. He was a clever
man and a very eloquent speaker, but of a most violent
temper, and acted in many ways in a manner very contrary
to his calling. After 995 he was placed in charge of the
church which had been erected on the island of Moster, in
Hordaland, and there enforced his doctrines with many
"apostolic blows and knocks," and seems to have lived
more as a Viking than a Christian priest.
Tidings of his misconduct came to Olaf, and he sent for
him to Nidaros and lectured him with great severity. Teod-
brand was much alarmed, and asked the king to allow him
to atone for his evil deeds by undertaking some difficult
and dangerous work. Thereupon Olaf ordered him at once to
Iceland. When he got there his eloquence and zeal had
considerable effect ; but Teodbrand, or Thangbrand, as he
was also called, soon broke out again and killed two
of his antagonists, and in 998 9 returned to Norway to
the king. In spite of this unworthy missionary, Christianity
continued to make progress in Iceland, and the influence
of two of the chiefs, Gissurthe White and Hjalte Skjseggess0n,
who had become Christians, was so great that in the year
1000 the Althing accepted Christianity as the religion of
the island.
OLAF TRYGVESS0K 57
The inhabitants of the Faeroe Islands,* under their chief
Sigmund Bretess0n, also embraced Christianity.
It was about the year 1000 that the Northmen from Ice-
land and Greenland, attempted to colonize the part of North
America known to them as Vinland, so called because the
vine grew wild there. This region, which is generally
thought to have been one of the New England States, was
first discovered bv Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red (the
>f
it-
EKKATUM.
Page 57, line 22, for "ratione," read "relatione." ,t
.t
__ __ ^
"non fabulosa opinione sed certa comperimus ratione
Danorum" (Gesta Hamm. Eccles. Pont., Bk. IY., c. 38).
* The name here given is the conventional English one, and
undoubtedly incorrect. It should be Far<j>erne Faer0 = island of sheep
or cattle. 0erne = the islands. " Faeroe Islands " is a pleonasm.
first c;
was fi
to hii
chur<
Horc
"ap
more _____
Tidings of his misconduct came to UJai, aim i^ M ^ ____
of two of the chiefs, Gissur the White and Hjalte Skjaeggess0n,
The inhabitants of the Fseroe Islands,* under their chief
first discovered by Leif Erikss0n, son of Erik the Ked (the
first explorer of Greenland), who, returning from Norway
to Greenland, was driven out of his course by a gale of
wind. After a precarious existence as a Norse colony, it-
was finally abandoned, but the knowledge of the continent
of North America always survived in Iceland, and Leif
Erikss0n, not Christopher Columbus, has the right to be
regarded as the undoubted Discoverer of America.
In this connection, it is most interesting to note that
Adam of Bremen, in the second half of the eleventh
century, mentions Vinland. He speaks of it as " an island
(or region) . . . which is called Yinland because vines
grow there wild, producing excellent wine, and fruit
abounds there which has not been planted " ; then he adds,
Danorum" (Gesta Hamm. Eccles. Pont., Bk. IV., c. 38).
undoubtedly incorrect. It should be Fczrfarne Faer0 = island of sheep
CHAPTER VIL
ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR.
The Interregnum after Svolder Olaf s Birth and Early Days His
Coming to England Goes to Normandy Baptized at Rouen
Olaf Sails for Norway to Claim the Throne Accepted in Ringerike
First Partial Success The Crowning Victory of Nesje Olaf as
King of Norway His Character and Personal Appearance The
State of the Country as to Christianity Olaf s two Great Aims
His Fellow -helpers Olaf as an Ecclesiastical Law-giver The
Scope of Olaf's Kristenret The Systematic "Work throughout
Norway Olaf's Appeal to Bremen Knut the Great claims Norway
Popular Discontent against Olaf Knut wins Norway without a
Sword-stroke Olaf's Flight to Sweden and Gardarike He Returns
to Sweden, and again Enters Norway The Journey to Vaerdalen
The King's Forces and the Rebels The Rebel Leaders The
Court Bishop Sigurd The Battle of Stiklestad and the Martyrdom
The Difficulty as to the Exact Date The King's Body brought
to Nidaros and Buried in the Sand.
THE events of the fifteen years which elapsed between
the battle of Svolder and the coming of Olaf Haraldss0n to
claim the inheritance of the race of Harald Haarfagre,
need not, from a purely ecclesiastical point of view, detain
us long.
After the death of Olaf Trygvess0n, Norway reverted to
a position similar to that of the days of Haakon Jarl. It
ceased to be a kingdom, and became a vassal State of
Denmark. The allies who compassed the death of Olaf
divided the spoil. Erik Jarl got the lion's share, and
practically held all the west of Norway from Haalogaland
to Lindesnses. Olaf of Sweden (the son of Queen Sigrid),
who had helped at Svolder, received the country east and
south of the present city of Christiania, called Kanrike,
ST. OLAF, KING AND MARTYR. 59
and also four fylker in the north. Svein of Denmark
obtained Viken and Agder. Svein, Erik Jarl's brother,
held the parts of the country allotted to the kings of Sweden
and Denmark, and so the two brothers between them ruled
the whole of Norway.
The two jarls were (unlike their father) Christians, and
they seemed to have ruled well in their several districts ;
but they made no efforts to spread Christianity, and in
their time every man did that which was right in his
own eyes in all matters of religion. They had only one
rival in the land, and that was Erling Skjalgss0n, who had
married Astrid, sister of King Olaf, and resided at Sole, in
Jaederen, a few miles from the present city of Stavanger.
His authority extended over a large part of the surrounding
country, and the brothers did not deem it prudent to
attack him.
Erik Jarl had as his great supporter in the north, Einar
Thamberskj elver, a noted archer, who had fought alongside
King Olaf at 8 voider, but had accepted the alliance offered
him by Erik, and the compact was cemented by his
marriage with Bergliot, the sister of the jarl.
After the death of Svein in 1013 Knut the Great called
on his vassal Erik for aid in his invasion of England, and
to this call he responded, leaving his son Haakon in his
place, with his uncle Einar as his guardian.
Such was briefly the state of affairs when Olaf
Haraldss0n made his appearance to claim his kingdom.
We must now, however, retrace our steps and consider
the early life of the future saint of Norway.
Harold Grenske, the father of Olaf, was one of the petty
kings who ruled in Vestfold, the country to the west of the
Christiania Fjord. He was grandson of Bj0rn Farmand,
and therefore great-grandson of the mighty Haarfagre. He
received the name of Grenske from having been brought
up in the district called Gr0nland (now part of the
Telemark), where, in his early days, he had as his foster-
sister the future far-famed Queen Sigrid. Harald married
Aasta Gudbrandsdatter, a wise and prudent woman; but
she does not seem to have had much influence over her
rather worthless husband. When Queen Sigrid was first left
a widow, Harald Grenske, although his wife was living, at
once became a suitor for her hand. After first receiving
his advances favourably, the haughty queen had the house
in which Harald was staying burned down one night, and
he perished in the flames, Sigrid remarking that she did not
want any of these small kings !
Very soon after her faithless husband's death, Aasta gave
birth to Olaf, who thus, like his namesake, the son of
Trygve, was born after his father's violent death. Some
little time after this Aasta married Sigurd Syr, petty
king of Eingerike, and another great-grandson of Harald
In his stepfather's home Olaf grew up a strong and active
lad. At the early age of twelve years he, as was then
customary, started on a Viking cruise (1007). In this, his
first voyage, which was to the Baltic, he had as his instructor
in the art of war his foster-father Eane. After a time the
scene of their exploits was changed to England, then a
promising field for the Northmen, who were eager for
plunder. In 1009 Olaf seems to have been in England
with Thorkel the Tall, and to have joined in the various
attacks which were made on that unfortunate country
during the reign of Ethelred II.
In 1012, however, we find him and his friend fighting on
the side of Ethelred in the defence of London against the
attack of Svein, and it was on that occasion that " London
bridge was broken down," in accordance with the stratagem
of Olaf, who, protecting his ships from the Danes who
manned the bridge, destroyed the piles which supported it
and finally broke it in two. Notwithstanding this, the
ST. OLAF, KING AND MAETYR. 61
cause of Svein at last triumphed ; Ethelred was obliged
to fly to Normandy, and Olaf, faithful to his ally, followed
him to that country, and was soon at home among the
Norwegian settlers there. Svein died in 1014, and
Ethelred was recalled to England.
It would seem most probable that it was during his stay
in Normandy that Olaf was baptized. It is true that
Snorre states that the future saint had received that sacra-
ment when a child of " three winters old," during the visit
paid by Olaf Trygvess0n to Kingerike about the year 997,
when a number of people in that part of the country were
baptized. Snorre's account seems reasonable enough at
first sight, but we have, however, evidence to the contrary,
which renders it more probable that his baptism was deferred
until his visit to Normandy. That he was a believer in
the Christian faith when he came to England is most
probable, but that he had not yet been baptized seems
equally clear.
William of Jumieges, in his Chronicle, says : " The Duke
[Richard] . . . called to his aid two kings, with an army
of Pagans Olaf, King of the Norwegians, and Lacman,
King of the Swedes.'* Then he mentions their going to
Rouen, tl where the Duke Richard welcomed them royally.
. . . Then King Olaf, being attracted by the Christian
religion, as were also some of his followers ; and on the
exhortation of Robert Archbishop [of Rouen], was converted
to the faith of Christ, was washed in baptism and anointed
with holy oil by the archbishop, and, full of joy at the
grace he had received, returned straightway to his own
kingdom/'
In the " Passio et Miracula Beati Olaui," * the work of
the great Archbishop Eystein, the same statement meets
us : " He, when he had learned the truth of the Gospel in
England, confessed the faith with all his heart, and with
* Cap. I.
zealous devotion of mind hastened to seek the grace of
baptism in the city of Kouen. Then, being purified by
the font of Salvation, he was immediately changed to
another man ; and, as the apostle says, he was buried with
Christ by baptism into Death. . . . He despised every
sort of vain pleasure, and the glory of an earthly kingdom
became as dross in comparison with the sweetness of the
heavenly one. Although he held a kingly position, he was
poor in spirit."
In " Breviarium Nidrosiense," these words just quoted
formed the first lection which was used in the service
appointed for July 28th, the vigil of St. Olaf. It seems
clear, therefore, that the Norwegian Church believed that
Olaf was baptized during this visit to Normandy.
His baptism, and confirmation which must have immedi-
ately followed it, undoubtedly served to deepen the religious
feelings of Olaf, and filled him with the desire to carry on
and complete the work which his great kinsman and name-
sake had begun in his native land ; but just at the moment
there seemed no immediate prospect of a successful
attempt to claim the throne of Norway, and so he waited.
According to one account, he meditated passing some
time on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but was warned in
a dream that he should desist and, instead of this, assert
his claim to the inheritance of his fathers.
Olaf was a man of very great discretion, and was not
ready to endanger his chances of success by any premature
move. He felt sure, from what he knew of the position of
affairs both in Denmark and England, that the time would
not be long before he would have a chance of asserting his
claims. And in this he was not wrong.
The opportunity for which Olaf was waiting soon came.
Knut the Great, who had succeeded his father Svein,
summoned Erik Jarl to aid him in his invasion of England,
and Olaf felt that this was the time to attempt to take
possession of the kingdom of his great ancestor Harald
Haarfagre. He returned to England, and sailed along the
coast to Northumbria, plundering as he went. Finally he
set sail with two large ships and two hundred and sixty
picked men. After a stormy passage they came safely to
the island of Selje without meeting any opposition. On
landing, Olaf stumbled and fell on one knee. " I have
fallen," he cried to his followers. "You have not fallen,
King," said his foster-father Kane; "you have only
taken a firm hold of the land." " So be it if God wills/'
said Olaf.
As a Heaven-sent leader, Olaf proved to be singularly
fortunate at the outset. He was proceeding south from
Selje, and when a little north of the Sogne Fjord he had
the good luck to capture the young jarl Haakon Erikss0n,
who was not expecting the invader in that part of the
country. Instead of putting the young man to death, as
some advised, Olaf set him free, having first obliged him
to swear that he would never oppose his claims on Norway.
This generous treatment was, for the time at least, rewarded,
and the young jarl went at once to his uncle, King Knut.
How far he kept the promise we shall see later on.
After this encouraging beginning, Olaf continued his
journey round the coast until he came to Viken, where he
was received with open arms by his amiable stepfather,
Sigurd Syr. This petty king at once called a Thing, and
at it Olaf was chosen as king without any opposition. He
was still, however, very far from the overlordship of
Norway.
Leaving Viken with a small but resolute body of men, he
went north in the winter, and crossing over the Dovre
Fjeld, appeared suddenly at Nidaros, to the astonishment of
the Jarl Svein, who, after a narrow escape of being taken
prisoner, fled to the south. The people of Tr0ndelagen,
however, were deeply attached to the family of the jarl of
Hlade, and, recovering from their first surprise, attacked
Olaf at Nidaros and forced him to return again to Viken.
He then saw that if he was to be ultimately successful, he
must set to work in a more systematic manner.
Seeing how essential it was to have the supremacy at
sea, he spent the winter of 1015 16 in getting together a
fleet and equipping it with a body of trained men. His
opponent Jarl Svein did the same thing in the north, and,
when the spring was come, sailed south to attack his
daring invader.
The two fleets encountered each other at Nesjar, or
Nesje, at the entrance of the Langesund, near the present
town of Frederiksvsern. There, on Palm Sunday, April 3rd,
1016, a decisive battle was fought and the jarl, being signally
defeated, fled to Sweden, intending to fit out a fresh fleet,
but died soon after his arrival in that country.
The victory at Nesje secured Norway to Olaf. Knut
was then too busy with the conquest of England to be able
to send men to support his vassal's cause in Norway, and
in a very short time Thing after Thing acknowledged
Olafs authority, and he became undisputed monarch of
the whole land ; and once more, as in the days of Olaf
Trygvess0n, Norway was ruled by the firm hand of one
It was not to be expected that Olaf, king of Sweden,
would at once acquiesce in this new state of affairs. He
sent his men to collect taxes in those provinces which
Jarl Svein had held under him. This Olaf Haraldss0n
promptly resented, and the unfortunate officials were either
killed or driven away. Matters appeared for a time to be
in a very critical state ; but the people of neither nation
wished for war, and at a great Thing held at Upsala
matters were for a time peaceably arranged.
To strengthen the defences of Norway on the side of
Sweden, Olaf founded the town of Borg (or Sarpsborg, as it is
now called), at the mouth of the Glommen, near the Swedish
frontier, and there he built a church. Thus, political diffi-
culties being for the time settled, Olaf was able to devote
himself to the internal affairs of his country, and to the com-
pletion of the work which Olaf Trygvess0n had begun, in the
establishment, on a firm basis, of Christianity in Norway.
Olaf Haraldss0n was now in his twenty-second year a
very youthful monarch, it is true, but one of very varied
experience. He had begun his active life and shared in
war at the very early age of twelve years, so that when he
became king he had a wider knowledge of the world and
its ways, than that which fell to the lot of most of his
contemporaries in the North.
In person, King Olaf was not of the commanding stature
of most of the Norsemen. He was of middle height, but
very strongly built, and inclined to stoutness, which led his
enemies to bestow on him the nickname of Olaf Digre.
Like most of the chiefs of his time, he was very skilful in
the use of weapons. His hair was auburn in colour, inclin-
ing to red, and indeed the description of David answers
very much to that of Olaf " he was ruddy and withal of
a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon." His
eyes (all the writers of the Sagas remark) were very
piercing, and when he was angry his men dared not look
him in the face.^ In his inflexible will and determination
to carry out whatever he had undertaken he resembled his
* Sigvat the Skald thus describes the effect of Olaf 's glance on hia
rebellious subjects, in his last fight at Stiklestad :
" I think I saw them shrink with fear :
Who would not shrink from foeman's spear,
When Olaf's lion-eye was cast
On them, and called up all the past ?
" Clear as the serpent's eye his look,
No Trondhjem man could stand but shook
Beneath its glance, and skulked away
Knowing his king, and cursed the day."
(Laing's Translation of the Heimskringla.)
C.S.N. F
great ancestor Haarfagre. Very generous to his friends,
and often to his enemies when they fell into his power,
he was nevertheless sometimes very cruel to those who
resisted his will, especially where Christianity was con-
cerned. Of the depth and sincerity of his belief in the
Christian faith, his life and death gave proof, and although
a vast amount of legend has gathered round the " Royal
Saint " of Norway, we can, notwithstanding, very easily
form an accurate estimate of the character of the man.
It is well here to consider what was the state of the
country with respect to Christianity when Olaf was ready
to commence his work.
We have seen the way in which Olaf Trygvess0n went
through the length and breadth of the land, giving the
people the alternative of baptism or the sword, and that
after a very few years the great majority of his subjects
had been baptized. It is perfectly clear that in cases of
enforced baptism, it would have exercised no influence
whatever on the lives of those who had received it, except
in the comparatively few districts where the king had had
churches built and priests (more spiritually-minded, let us
hope, than Thangbrand) placed to teach the people the faith.
At first sight, it seems to us almost incredible that in
such a short space of time a large body of heathen should
have submitted, even nominally, to receive Christianity,
although backed up by force of arms. There is, however,
one important consideration which must not be overlooked,
and to which we have before alluded.^ There was no
regular heathen priesthood to organize the opposition to
the efforts of the king. The priestly offices at the blots
were performed by the head of the family, or the chief of
the district. This absence of a priestly caste was an
immense help in the rapid spread of Christianity. When,
therefore, the chief, or some of the principal b0nder of the
* Chap, i., p. 6.
fylke had been baptized, most of their people followed like
a flock of sheep. If the chief allowed the hov to be
demolished there was no other place in which the worship
of the gods could take place.
We may wonder why it was that Olaf Trygvess0n and
Olaf the Saint, who had at any rate some fair instruction in
the Christian faith, and were accompanied in their journeys
and work by such good men as Bishops Sigurd and Grim-
kell, should have acted in a way which might naturally
seem to us now, to actually profane the sacrament of holy
baptism. We must, however, remember that in acting in
this way they were only following exactly, the precedent
set before them by the restorer of the Western Empire,
Karl the Great, in his dealings with the Saxons and other
heathen nations of northern Europe.
In those days, and in the minds of the two Olafs and
their teachers, holy baptism, even when thus administered,
was regarded as (to quote the words of St. Paul) " a trans-
lation from the kingdom of darkness." They felt that if it
could be accomplished, either by fair means or foul, the
power of Thor and Odin a power they did not attempt to
despise was at once broken ; and so they believed with
all sincerity, that no matter how it was brought about,
whether by persuasion or torture, if the people could be
baptized the battle was practically won.
In a sense this was true, because those who had been
baptized had at any rate their faith shaken in the power of
the gods their fathers worshipped. Might was the thing
which appealed most strongly to the heathen Norsemen,
and when they saw that their gods were not able to give
them the victory over their Christian antagonists, they
were ready to fall in with the creed of Harald Haarfagre,
and to believe in the God that was the strongest.
Then, again, with many of the heathen, who were of a
very superstitious mind, they felt that their baptism, whether
it was done willingly or by yielding to force, was an act which
cut them off entirely from the old gods, and made a return
to the former state of things an impossibility. It was a
Rubicon which when once crossed, retreat was out of the
question. There were, it is true, heathen of a sterner mould,
like Haakon Jarl, who almost immediately after his baptism,
put his priests ashore and at once proceeded to sacrifice
to the gods ; but with the majority it was not so, and
their baptism left the ground cleared, as it were, for the
reception of real Christianity.
The wholesale destruction of temples and idols by Olaf
Trygvess0n (and before his time, by Erik's sons, for the
purpose of plunder) was an object-lesson for the Northmen
of precisely the same kind as that afforded by Gideon to
the people of Orphra^ in connection with the worship of
Baal. If Thor and Odin were the powerful gods they had
believed them to be, how was it they did not resent the
destruction of the temples and of their images 1 It was
clear " the White Christ " was the strongest^ and therefore
they would be safe to follow Him. The early Christian
teachers did not attempt to deny altogether the existence
of the old gods, but they taught the people they were
devils and powers of evil, which Christ came to cast down
and destroy ; and our Lord's declaration, " All power is
given unto Me in heaven and in earth," was the one which
perhaps impressed the heathen Northman, and led him to
be baptized, much more than any promise to the weary and
heavy laden, which, with other nations and at other times,
has drawn men to the Son of Man.f
* Judges vi., 25-32.
t The work of Olaf Trygvess0n, as compared with that of Olaf
Haraldss0n (the saint), has been admirably summed up by the Icelandic
monk Odd when he says : " Olaf Trygvess0n prepared and laid the
foundation of Christianity, but St. Olaf built the walls ; Olaf Trygvess0n
planted the vineyard, but St. Olaf trained up the vine covered with fair
flowers and much fruit."
Such was, in brief, the religious condition of Norway
when Olaf was chosen king ; for the interval between
the death of Olaf Trygvess0n and the coming of Olaf
Haraldss0n was so short that no material change had
taken place, and there was not (as in the time of
Haakon Jarl) any heathen reaction under the Jarls Erik
and Svein.
King Olafs rule in Norway was guided by two leading
principles, which were manifested in all his actions First,
the completion and development of the work which Olaf
Trygvess0n had begun in christianizing the country ; and,
Secondly, the consolidation of his kingdom by the establish-
ment of the rule of a single monarch, making it, what
Harald Haarfagre had designed it to be, one kingdom,
under one king, and the subjection of the petty kingdoms
which that great man in his old age, to the manifest injury
of the land, had established. These two principles are to
be seen in all the actions which marked the eventful reign
of King Olaf. They were so closely connected that, as we
read the history of the time, it is hard to say whether the
king's journeys through Norway, more nearly resembled an
episcopal visitation or a royal progress.
Olafs chief advisers in all ecclesiastical matters were
Bishops Grimkell and Sigurd, and along with them there
were of course priests.* Of their names we have no very
certain knowledge, though two, Eudolff and Bernhard,
are mentioned, but it is probable that Iceland, and not
Norway, was the scene of their labours. There seems no
doubt whatever that both Grimkell and Sigurd belonged
* Adam of Bremen, Book II., Chap. lv., says : " He (Olaf) had with
him many bishops and priests from England, by whose admonition and
doctrine he himself prepared his heart for God, and intrusted his people
to be guided by them. Amongst these Sigafrid, Grimkell, Rudolf, and
Bernhard were renowned for their teaching and virtues."
f This Rudolf seems to have returned to England in 1050, and to
have become abbot of the Monastery of Abingdon.
to the English Church, and were either Englishmen by
birth or bringing-up. In any case their connection and
inclinations lay in the way of Anglo-Saxon, and not
German, Christianity. In England at that time there
were of course, in the eastern counties, a large number of
clergy of Norse extraction, and naturally Olaf would have
selected them to accompany him to Norway, on account
of their knowledge of the language and customs of the
Northmen. Political reasons also, at the time of Olaf s
adventurous journey to Norway, would have prevented
his applying to Bremen, the metropolitan see of the North
of Europe, for it was in close connection with Denmark,
where Knut the Great ruled, and whose authority over
Norway, Olaf went to dispute. Later on in Olaf s reign,
it is true, he had to apply to Bremen for help in his work,
but the reason for that was again political, and not eccle-
siastical. His enemy Knut was in power in England, and
supplies from that country were, to a certain extent at
any rate, practically stopped, as the English bishops would
not have wished to consecrate or ordain men, for service
under the rule of the antagonist of such a powerful king
as Knut the Great.
It is best perhaps at this point to speak of the work of
Olaf as a Church lawgiver. We have no certain informa-
tion as to the exact period in which he drew up his
Christian code, but it was doubtless within the first ten
years of his reign. He was too wise and far-seeing to
have postponed it longer than was absolutely necessary,
but he had first to establish his power in the land before
he began the great work of his life. Olaf saw clearly from
the commencement of his reign, that if heathenism was to
be entirely eradicated from among his people, it was
necessary that the laws of the land should be brought into
conformity with Christian usages and customs. He there-
fore set to work to draw up a Christian code. Snorre tells
ST OLAP, KINO AND MARTYR. 71
us that he had often read to him the laws which Haakon
the Good had given to Tr0ndelagen, but these had not
any direct reference to Christianity. Then he decided that
a new code should be drawn up, which would embody all
those points in which Christianity affected the life of the
people. It would seem likely that for this purpose Olaf
called together an assembly of his bishops, clergy, and
other learned men at Moster, a spot sacred as the place
where his great predecessor, Olaf Trygvess0n, had landed,
and where he had built a church. This gathering does not
appear to have been an ordinary Thing, but partook some-
what of the nature of a synod, at which the laity were
represented equally with the clergy. The code there
agreed upon was known as Olaf's Kristenret, and it is
always spoken of as the joint work of Olaf and Bishop
Grimkell. This Kristenret Olaf seems to have taken round
the country with him, and, having been read and explained,
it was adopted by the great Things, and thus became a
part of the law of the land. The original form of this
law has not survived. What we now possess dates from
the time of Magnus Erlingss0n (1155 1184), though
possibly it may belong to the reign of Eystein (1103
1123). There can be no doubt, however, that it embodies,
with but little deviation, the original law which Olaf pro-
mulgated, which had been preserved both orally and in
written form.
The scope of this law we give below, but it is interesting
to note that it always claims the name and authority of
the royal saint and his famous adviser, and the phrase is
reiterated throughout " as King Olaf and Bishop Grimkell
appointed at the Moster Thing."
Much of this law was in accordance with the principles
of the canon law, with which the king's English-bred
bishops and priests must have been familiar, and in dealing
with heathen practices the advice given by Gregory the
Great to the Abbot Mellitus * was followed and heathen
customs as far as possible christianized.
It is important to note carefully the lines upon which
this ecclesiastical legislation of Olaf proceeded, as in later
times much controversy arose between the kings and the
Church in connection with the Kristenret, and the former,
at the commencement of their reigns, swore to observe the
Kristenret " as given by Olaf the Saint."
The new law did not aim at making any change in the
methods of government or civil duties, except in so far as
they were heathen.
We may note them under different heads
I. Purely ecclesiastical matters.
(a) The building and maintenance of churches.
(b) Church officials : their rights and duties.
(c) The observance of the Holy days and Fast days.
* Quoted by Bede, " Eccles. Hisfc." : " I have upon mature delibera-
tion determined that the temples of the idols in that nation should not
be destroyed, but let the idols that are in them be destroyed. Let
holy water be prepared and sprinkled in the said temple, let altars be
erected and relics placed, for if these temples are well built it is requisite
that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the
true God. That the nation seeing that their temples are not destroyed,
may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true
God may the more familiarly resort to the places to which they have
been accustomed. And because they have been used to slaughter many
oxen in sacrifice to devils, some solemnity must be exchanged for them
on this account, as that on the day of dedication, on the nativities of
holy martyrs whose relics are there deposited, they may build themselves
huts of the boughs of trees about those churches which have been turned
to that use from temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious
feasting and no more ofler beasts to the devil, but kill cattle to the
praise of God in their eating, and return thanks to the Giver of all
things for their sustenance ; to the end that while some gratifications
are outwardly permitted them they may more easily consent to the
inward consolations of the grace of God." (Bk. 1, c. 30.)
It is not a little remarkable that nearly 500 years after the above we
UJ S
(d) Holy Baptism and the bringing up of Children.
Exposing infants forbidden, except in case of
monstrosities, who were to be brought to the
church and primsigned, and then either killed
or left outside the church to die.
(e) Burials. All except outlaws and suicides were to
be buried in the churchyard.
(/) Marriage, and the forbidden degrees.
II. Heathenism: the worship of the gods an d witchcraft 9
or Troldom.
All this forbidden under the severest penalties.
III. Heathen social customs.
The reforms in this respect dwelt largely with the
assemblies known as 0lgerdir, social gatherings at which
beer was solemnly drunk in honour of the gods. In former
days these took place in the heathen temples after the
great blots, when the presiding chief, or whoever conducted
the ceremonial, gave the skaal or toast in honour of Thor,
Freya, &c. In accordance with the guiding principle of
the English mission, it was decided not to suppress these
social events, but to give them the sanction and approval
of the Church. The law provided for their continuance,
and directed that where three families could meet together
and have a common feast, skaals were to be drunk (the
beer having been first blessed) " in honour of Christ and
the Blessed Virgin for good years and peace." Fines were
imposed for a breach [of these regulations. The 0lgerdir
were usually held at stated times, but it is not certain
whether they were held exactly at the same time as the
find the custom of building booths survived in the north of England.
In the " Boldon Book " it is mentioned that villeins near Auckland
were bound as part of their services to their Lord (the bishop) to erect
eighteen booths (bothas) at the fair of St. Cuthbert.
old heathen blots, or, according to some authorities, on All
Saints' day, Christmas, and St. John the Baptist's day.
IV. Abolition of slavery.
In the olden days it was the custom to offer up thralls
as sacrifices to the gods before the Thing began, and there
was doubtless a great deal of cruelty practised towards the
slaves. But the coming of Christianity to Norway, as
elsewhere, soon made a change in this respect. Instead of
sacrificing a thrall at the Thing, the law provided that one
should be set free. This was to take place on the first
Sunday during the meeting of the Thing. It was also
provided that one should be liberated every Christmas.
Such is an outline of the legislation which Olaf and his
advisers introduced in order to make the laws in harmony
with Christianity. We must not think that exactly the
same law was accepted over the whole land. Modifica-
tions were made in different districts, as, for example, in
the south-eastern part of Norway, in Viken, where we do
not find the laws respecting the 0lgerdir, or the liberation
of thralls. The reason for this very possibly is, that in that
part of the country the work of the earliest missionaries
had rendered such legislation unnecessary.' 55 '
We are now able to resume the history of Olaf 's work
after this long, but necessary, digression.
Having thus made preparations for bringing the law of
the land into conformity with Christianity, Olaf determined
to carry out his work in a thoroughly systematic manner,
* A remarkable collection of the ancient laws of Norway is now to
be found in the Norges Gamle Love, in five large volumes, published
by the Norwegian Government at intervals between 1846 and 1895.
They contain all that now remains of the laws of the early part of
the middle ages, including the law of older Gula, Frosta, Eidsiva, and
Borgar Things and various Kristenretter ; and also a vast variety of
documents relating to both Church and State.
and to leave no part of Norway, from Haalogaland to
Lindesnses, without the knowledge of the Christian faith,
without a church and without a teaching priest.
To give a detailed account of all these journeys, and the
way in which he often coerced his unwilling people, would
occupy too great a space, as it is a subject on which the
writers of the Sagas have given most abundant information.
It is impossible, however, to pass it over, as the history of
his reign is essentially the history of the foundation and
organization of the Church of Norway. But as there is so
much similarity between the incidents recorded in the
struggle against heathenism, it will be sufficient only to
describe the most striking scenes in the conflict.
After being formally accepted as king, he began his
systematic work in Viken, the same district where his
famous namesake wisely made his first attempt. Little or
no opposition was encountered in this part, as the inhabitants
had, for a very considerable period, been more or less under
Christian influences.
At the close of the year 1017 he passed from his newly-
founded town of Borg (Sarpsborg) to the district known as
the Oplands, that part of Norway lying around the Mi0sen,
the largest lake in the country. Here he found abundant
scope for his labours, for those parts of Norway which lay
away from the coast line, had been but little affected by the
efforts of Olaf Trygvess0n, and the Oplands, Gudbrandsdal
and Valders were the last to receive Christianity.
In the Oplands, Olaf acted with extreme severity, and
indeed barbarity, against those who refused to be baptized
death or horrible mutilations awaited those who resisted the
king. The same treatment was bestowed on all, high and
low alike.
While this was going on a dangerous conspiracy was
hatched against the king. In the Oplands there still
remained five petty kings or chiefs, and they quickly saw
that it was the intention of Olaf to get rid of all royal
power except his own. They had consented to Olaf s
accession to the overlordship, and hoped to have been left
in peace. The chief conspirator was R0rek, who had his
home at Eingsaker, on the Mi0sen. The plot was betrayed
to the king, who, by a rapid move, secured the five kings.
E0rek was blinded, another had his tongue cut out, and
the other three were banished. The only remaining petty
king in Norway was now the harmless Sigurd Syr, Olaf s
stepfather; but in the winter of 1018 he died, and from that
time onwards there were no more of these kings. Sigurd Syr
had by his marriage with Olaf s mother, a son who was after-
wards to play an important part in the history of Norway,
and we shall meet with him again as Harald Haardraade.
King Olaf remained in the south for a considerable time,
as the state of affairs with Sweden demanded his attention.
The Swedish king had become so unpopular with his
subjects that he was forced to accept his young son, Aanund
Jacob, as under-king. After prolonged negotiations a
permanent peace was arranged between Norway and
Sweden, and the former country received back again the
provinces which had fallen to Olaf of Sweden's share, after
the division of Norway between Svein Tjugeskjseg and the
two jarls, which was his reward for the help given at the
battle of Svolder. The peace with Sweden was further
cemented by the marriage of Olaf to Astrid, the daughter
of the Swedish king. These matters interrupted for a time
King Olaf s crusade against heathenism, and it was the
summer of 1019 before he was able to go north to Nidaros.
That year and the one following were devoted to the
districts north of Trondhjem, Namdalen, and Haalogaland,
where he made systematic investigations, built churches,
and appointed priests to minister to the people, and at the
various Things which he called, he had the Kristenret
The harvests in these years had been very bad, and the
king had reason to suspect that the b0nder, seeing in their
misfortunes the wrath of the old gods (as they had formerly
noticed in the days when Harald Graafell and his brothers
destroyed the temples for their spoils), had begun again to
offer sacrifices at the old appointed times. In this he was
not wrong, and the evil was not far off. At the northern
end of the Trondhjem Fjord was the place of the great
heathen gathering (Mseren), where Olaf Trygvess0n had
destroyed the image of Thor and where Jernskjsegge had
been slain. The chief man in that part was now 01ve of
Egg, and Olaf sent for him demanding an explanation of
the rumours which had reached him. 01ve was a very
astute man, and contrived to satisfy the king with a plau-
sible explanation as to the gatherings at Meeren. This was
in October of 1020, and again after the January feast he
seems to have been able to give reasons which at any rate
the king listened to, and took no further steps. It was,
however, quite true that the old heathen rites had been
revived and sacrifices offered. Olaf was by no means
satisfied that all was well, and kept a careful watch, and
when the time of the sommer blot (which was held in April)
came round, he made a sudden descent on Mseren and
caught the crafty 01ve and a large number of the b0nder
in the very act of sacrificing. 01 ve was promptly put to
death, along with others, and his property confiscated, and
the rest were severely punished and afterwards feared to
resist the king's will.
Olaf now resumed his work in the central parts of
Norway. He sailed from Nidaros, and leaving his ships at
the entrance to the Eomsdal, went over into the great
Gudbrandsdal, which at that time was ruled with almost
royal authority, by the famous chief, Dale Gudbrand, whose
family had given the name to the valley. At Hundthorp
the chief resided, and it was a centre of heathen worship.
A long and picturesque account is given in the Sagas of the
way in which Olaf and his men destroyed the image of
Thor and conquered the antagonism of the b0nder, but it
is unnecessary to give it in detail. The result was the
same as in other places they were all baptized and a
church was built, and a priest left to teach the people.
From Gudbrandsdal he went south and east, everywhere
spreading the faith and laying the foundation for future
It would seem likely that it is about this period that
we must place Olaf s application to Archbishop Unwan of
Bremen for help in his work, by sending to him clergy to
minister to his people. The reasons which led Olaf to take
this step we have already noted. All, or nearly all, of his
first clerical helpers came from England ; but at this time
the authority of Knut the Great was firmly established, and
as that monarch regarded Olaf as an intruder who declined
to recognize his overlordship, it was practically impossible
for the Norwegian monarch to receive any longer the help
which he had at the beginning. Under these circumstances
the king had to look elsewhere, and the nearest and most
convenient place was the great Metropolitan see of the North
at Bremen. It is curious that the Norwegian authorities at
this time are silent on this point, and it is to Adam of Bremen
alone that we are indebted for the information. There seems
no reason to doubt the fact, which is so plainly stated by
Adam, especially when we know that there was practically
no other course open to Olaf, but to apply to Bremen.
Just about the time of Olaf s expedition to Norway, Arch-
bishop Libentius died (1013), and his successor was Unwan,
who held the see from 1013 to 1029. He was a monk of
Paderborn, and was much liked, especially by his clergy.
It was to this man that Olaf turned for help. Adam,
without clearly indicating the date, says : " He (Olaf) sent
also ambassadors to our Archbishop (Unwan) with gifts,
praying that he should receive these bishops kindly, and
would send some of his own bishops to him, who should
strengthen and confirm the rude Norwegians in the faith."
How far the petition of King Olaf was answered by the
Bremen Archbishop we have no certain means of knowing,
and it would appear that not long after it was preferred,
Olaf himself was a fugitive from his native land, and only
returned to meet his death on the fatal field of Stiklestad.
In 1023 we find him in the south and west, from whence
he passed to the districts of Sogn and Valders. The last
named was a region more isolated than other parts of
Norway, as the vast mountain district, now known as
the Jotunheimy cut it off from the north, and wild moun-
tain ranges from the west and south. With his customary
rapidity Olaf reached the Lille Mi0sen lake, and called a
Thing where his proposals with regard to Christianity were
very unfavourably received, but the king with great
skill managed to avert an outbreak and set the b0nder
quarrelling among themselves. Then at night he seized
their boats and began to attack and burn the farms,
each man rushed off to save his own, and when their forces
were divided, the king was able to bring them to terms.
Then he followed the long chain of lakes which extends
through the district, not being strong enough in men, to
risk the land journey, but everywhere carrying out the
purpose he had in hand, and providing Christian teachers
to carry on the work.
The next year, 1024, may be said to have witnessed the
completion of Olaf s great work. Norway, from one end
to the other, was at any rate nominally Christian ; the laws
had been brought into conformity with the new faith, and
only in secret could sacrifices be offered to Odin and Thor.
"There was no remote valley or outlying island in his
kingdom," says the Saga, " where a heathen man could
be found."
We must now turn to the events which led up to the
fall of Olaf's power in Norway, his expulsion and subse-
quent return and martyrdom. It was not to be expected
that such a powerful and ambitious monarch as Knut the
Great, would be content to lose the supremacy which he
claimed over Norway without an effort to regain it. In
the earlier years of Olaf's reign, however, Knut was too
much occupied in consolidating his authority in England,
though he did not forget his claim on Norway. In the
year 1025 he sent a messenger to Olaf ordering him to
appear before him in England and receiving back Norway
as a fief from the Danish king, to render the tribute
which the jarls had paid to Svein. We can well imagine
how such a message would have filled Olaf with rage, for,
next to the spread of Christianity, the consolidation and
independence of his kingdom was the great object of his
life. He heard the ambassadors to the end, and then
dismissed them with his answer to the mighty Knut.
" Bring him my words," he said ; " I will defend Norway
hill and dale as long as life is granted to me, and I will pay
skat to no man for my kingdom."
After this Olaf saw that he must prepare to defend his
crown, and he knew well the mighty power which Knut
could wield. He accordingly formed a defensive alliance
with his brother-in-law, Aanund Jacob of Sweden, and got
his fleet together.
Knut the Great was in Eome, on his pilgrimage, in 1026,
so just then they felt safe from attack. The allies decided
to strike the first blow, and with their united fleets they
made a descent on Denmark. On the approach of Knut
they retired, and a fierce but indecisive battle was fought
at Helgeaaen, in Skaane. The Swedish fleet dispersed, and
Olaf, not finding himself strong enough to resist Knut
alone, left his ships in Skaane, and went overland to Viken.
Knut had been at work for some time in endeavouring to
seduce the great chiefs in Norway from their allegiance to
Olaf. In the north Haarek of Thjotta, Einar Thamber-
skj elver, Thore Hund, and Kalv Arness0n were all ready
to take part against their king ; the latter had received
from Olaf the land of the heathen 01ve of Egg, and was
a very powerful chief, who owed much to the king. In
the south, the great Erling Skjalgss0n of Sole was also
ready to join with the king's enemies. Thus we see all
the most prominent men in the country, who had felt the
severity with which Olaf ruled, and who knew that in his
justice he had the same law for rich and poor, were all
united against him, and ready to sacrifice their national
independence for the hope of personal gain and power.
There was also at this time in the land, among the
people generally, a feeling of hostility against the king.
The extreme severity of the way in which he had treated
those who resisted his efforts in spreading Christianity had
raised up enemies on all sides, and many of the b0nder
thought that a change might let them have their own
way a little more. Indeed, a very decided reaction had
set in. Olafs ea.rly popularity was on the wane, but
the feeling of hostility was not directed, as we might
have supposed, so much against Christianity, as against
the king personally.
When, then, Knut, with a great fleet, sailed for Nidaros
in 1028, there was no one to stand against him, and Olaf
did not dare to resist. Knut was recognized as overlord,
and Haakon Erikss0n (the last of the great jarls of Hlade),
in spite of his oath to Olaf in 1016, became governor
under Knut. Then the conqueror sailed to Borg, and
meeting with no resistance, thus " won Norway without
a sword stroke." While this was happening in the summer
of 1028 Olaf, with a few men and ships, lay at Drammen,
but Knut did not apparently think it politic to attack him.
When Knut had left the country, and the winter came on,
C.S.N. G
Olaf emerged from his retreat and sailed round the coast.
As he went along, he had the good fortune to capture in
Bukken Fjord, the old chief Erling Skjalgss0n, and intended
to hold him as a hostage, but one of the king's men, most
unfortunately for Olaf, slew the captured chief. This act
raised all that part in arms against the king, and he sailed
further north, and had reached S0ndm0re when he learned
of the approach of a superior force from Nidaros. Seeing he
could neither advance nor retreat, the king sailed up the
Slyngs Fjord as far as Sylte, and there left his ships, and
with a handful of devoted followers started in the depth of
winter over the mountains. After great hardships he came
at last to Einabu, in the Gudbrandsdal, and from thence to
Hedemarken. He had now no alternative but to leave
Norway, and taking his wife and two children with him,
and his faithful friend Bishop Grimkell, he went to
his brother-in-law in Sweden, where he spent the winter.
When the spring of 1029 came, he left his family in
Sweden, and proceeded to his other brother-in-law,
Jaroslav, who was king in Gardarike, and there remained
for some time.
Meanwhile the government of Norway seems to have
gone on quietly enough under Haakon Jarl, as Knut's
representative. In the summer of 1029 he went to
England, where he was married, and in the autumn set
sail on his return home ; but nothing more was ever heard
of him or the ship, and it is supposed that he perished in
a storm. Thus ended the male line of the great jarls of
Hlade, who, for close upon a hundred years, had played
such an important part in the history of their country.
The death of the jarl under such peculiar circumstances,
was regarded by many of the people as a judgment of
Heaven upon him, for the breach of the oath which he had
taken, never to oppose the right of King Olaf to the throne
of Norway.
After the death of Haakon, Einar Thamberskj elver was
now the greatest chief in the land, and he had been
allowed by Knut to cherish hopes of being ruler of the
country under the king. When the loss of Haakon and
his ship became known, Einar at once sailed for England,
and, to his intense chagrin, learned that he was not to be
jarl in Norway, for Knut intended to place his son Svein
there as governor.
While these events were happening, the fugitive, King
Olaf, remained at the court of Jaroslav in Gardarike. He
seems at first to have made up his mind to abandon all
thought of returning to Norway, and to have contemplated
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to be followed by retire-
ment to a religious life. There is no doubt that during
the time he spent in Kussia the natural religious bent of
his mind was much deepened, and the enforced period of
inactivity enabled him to learn something more of the true
spirit of the faith, for the outward establishment of which
he had been so zealous. He must have regretted the many
acts of cruelty of which he had been guilty towards the
heathen, and have seen that there was a better way than
the sword and mutilation, of advancing the cause which he
had so much at heart. That a real change in him took
place in this respect, is most evident by his actions in his
last campaign.
Notwithstanding his wish for a pilgrimage, he could not
forget Norway : ever and anon his thoughts went back to
his much-loved native land. In a dream he seemed to see
his great predecessor Olaf Trygvess0n, who urged him not
to abandon the work which he had undertaken, and a
longing seized him to return to it. At this time the
tidings came that Haakon Jarl was lost, and Norway was
again without a ruler. In the spring of 1030 he decided
to make an effort to regain his crown. Leaving Gardarike,
he returned to Sweden to Aanund Jacob, who allowed him
to collect men for the purpose of the invasion. He went
to Jeemtland, in the northern part of Sweden, and was
joined by a number of men (some of them were outlaws),
who were attracted by the hope of plunder; which, however,
was not realized. Crossing the mountains, he descended
towards the Vserdal, a wide and open valley which goes from
the neighbourhood of the present town of Levanger towards
the Swedish frontier. On his way he was joined by his
young half-brother Harald, the son of Sigurd Syr, who
brought a welcome reinforcement of some five hundred
men from Viken.
The last few weeks of Olaf s life are related with much
minuteness by the writers of the Sagas, and are full of
episodes which are probably inaccurate, and added in later
times to enhance the glories of the national saint ; but there
is undoubtedly in the romantic story, a very large element
of truth as well, and which coincides with what we know
of the king's character. We are told that good Bishop
Sigurd came to him and foretold his approaching death,
but Olafs purpose was not to be shaken. In a dream
on the day of the battle, he saw a ladder set up on earth
and the top reaching to heaven, and he himself just on the
point of gaining the highest rung, when he was awakened.
He seems clearly to have foreseen that the struggle in which
he was now engaged was to be the last of his life.
When the forces of the king had crossed the mountains
he set himself to number his army, and found he had with
him about 3,600 men. Further investigation revealed the
fact that of these, no less than 900 were heathen. Olaf at
once made it clear that all under his banner must be
Christians he offered them the alternative of being baptized
or leaving his host. " We will/' said he, " not rely on our
numbers, but place our trust in God, who by His power and
mercy can give us the victory, but I will not mix heathen folk
with my men." Of the nine hundred, four hundred were
at once baptized and confirmed, and the others left the
king's force.
Olaf s adherents at once urged on him the importance of
harrying the country around them in the customary way,
in order to strike terror into the land, but the king sternly
forbade them. He pointed out that where he had done this
before, it was because they had resisted the true faith.
" We had then," he said, " God's law to defend, but now
they have broken faith with me and acted treasonably
against me, and that deserves much slighter punishment.
. . . There is much greater reason to show leniency towards
those who wronged me, than to those who showed their
hatred of God."
Meanwhile the supporters of Knut had not been idle.
Tidings of the projected invasion had reached Norway, but
it was not at first known from what point the attack would
be made, and preparations were begun in the south, in case
hostilities should commence in that direction. When,
however, it was discovered that Olaf was approaching from
the north-east, at once all the chiefs who supported Knut,
went with their men to Tr0ndelagen. The principal leaders
of the rebels against Olaf, were Thore Hund, Kalv Arness0n
and Haarek of Thjotta,* and they got together a very con-
siderable body of men (largely out-numbering the king's
force), and estimated at no less than 14,400. It seems,
however, that this total must have been largely in excess of
the actual figure.
It must not be imagined that the coming battle was one
entirely between Christians and heathen, for as we have
already seen, Olaf had almost altogether expelled heathenism
from the land, at least the open profession of it.
But those who opposed the king were in the main the
survivors of the old heathen party ; the chiefs hostile to
Olaf had, however, on their side an ecclesiastic in the person
* Einar Thamberskjelver prudently held aloof at this critical time.
of Bishop Sigurd, who had officially been attached by Knut
to the retinue of his son, as court bishop. He was a man
of most violent temper, and with the most bitter invective
urged on the b0nder to attack the king, painting Olaf and
his men as monsters of iniquity, and wound up with telling
them that " the only thing to be done is to advance against
these inhuman monsters, and to slay them, casting them
forth for the eagles and the wolves, leaving them where
they have fallen, unless you drag away their bodies into
remote corners of the woods, and let no man dare to carry
them to the church, for they are all Vikings and men of
evil deeds."
This atrocious advice was happily not carried out after
the battle, though at the time it was given, it was greeted
with applause by the b0nder.
The rebels now held a conference of their chiefs to select
a leader to command their army, and it was first proposed
that Haarek of Thjotta should lead the host, but he declined,
and finally the choice fell on Kalv Arness0n.
The armies of the king and the rebellious b0nder drew near
to each other, at a spot called Stiklestad, in the Vserdal, not
very far from the place where the river, which flows through
the valley, enters the Trondhjem Fjord. Olaf s army seems
now to have numbered somewhat over 3,000 men, but the
forces of the rebels were much more numerous. The king
divided his men into three divisions he himself commanded
the centre, the Swedish contingent was on the right, and
the rest, under Dag Hringss0n, on the left. The forces of
the b0nder were similarly arranged Kalv Arness0n and
Thore Hund in the centre, the men from Eogaland, Horda-
land and Sogn on the left, and those of Komsdal, Namdal,
and Mseren on the right.
Olaf did not forget that he came as a champion of the
faith, and not merely a king striving to recover his temporal
power. He chose as the battle-cry of his army, " Christ's
men! Cross men! King's men!" ; while the rebels' cry was,
"Fram, fram (onward, onward), b0nder!" In the early
morning all Olaf s army made their confession and received
the Communion. It is said that the king at this time gave
a sum of money in order that, after the battle, prayers
should be offered for the souls of his enemies who might fall
in the fray.
Before the actual conflict began, and when the armies
stood facing one another, Olaf made a final but ineffectual
appeal to the leaders of the b0nder who had sworn allegiance
to him, to return to their duty. We are also told that he
made the offer to his own men, that if they had relations in
the rebel army against whom they desired not to fight,
they could, even then, leave the ranks. No one accepted
this generous offer, though one man on the king's side had
two sons in the opposite army.
Then the battle joined and raged fiercely. The royal
army was, as we have seen, greatly out-numbered, and to
add to their misfortunes, a large part of the men under Dag
Hringss0n's command did not come into action until the
issue was practically decided. The king fought with his
usual courage in the thickest of the fray, and his men fell
all around him. In the ranks of his foes was a man named
Thorstein, who had sworn to be avenged on the king for the
capture of a trading vessel which he had owned. Pressing
forward he struck Olaf a severe blow on the knee. Unable
to stand, the king leaned against a rock and prayed to God
for help. Then his foes closed around him. Kalv Arness0n
is supposed to have given the next blow, which fell upon
the king's neck, and then Thore Hund thrust his spear into
Olaf, inflicting a mortal wound from which he almost at
once expired.
When the king fell, the battle practically ended. The
remains of the king's army sought refuge in the woods, whence
they escaped. A remarkable change seems to have come
over the victors. Their previous intense animosity suddenly
died down, they refrained even from plundering the slain,
and gave them Christian burial.
Thus fell Olaf, king and martyr, on a day long to be
remembered in his native land. With his death his passing
unpopularity ended, and his memory was ever after held in
grateful remembrance in the country for which he had done
so much.
Strange as it may seem, the exact date of the battle is
rather difficult to determine. The Sagas appear to be
unanimous that it was fought on Wednesday, July 29th,
1030, and the 29th of July was kept as the festival of the
sainted king, from within a very short time of his death.
But there is, before accepting this implicitly, an important
point to be considered. The same authorities which fix
July 29th as the date of the battle, are equally clear in
stating that the sun (which when the battle began had
been shining in a cloudless sky) became darkened, and
a blackness as of night, for a time prevailed. This of
course betokened an eclipse of the sun, and we know for a
certainty, that a total eclipse of the sun took place on
Monday, August 31st, 1030, which was visible in Vcerdalen.
It is clear, therefore, that if the eclipse took place during
the battle, the date of it must be August 31st, and not
July 29th. But then how was it possible that an error of
a whole month took place, and the date fixed as July 29th
by the very men who had taken part in the struggle ?
There seems, however, a possibility of reconciling these two
statements. It may be taken that the traditional date of
July 29th is the correct one, not August 31st, and for this
reason. We shall see later that the saintship of Olaf very
rapidly seized hold of the popular imagination, and that, for
political purposes, it was encouraged to the utmost, by the
chiefs like Einar Thamberskj elver, and therefore the writers
of the life of the saint, and of the narrative of his death or
martyrdom, would not be likely to omit what (to a super-
stitious, and only half-Christian people) would be such a
manifest sign of Divine displeasure as an eclipse. They
therefore incorporated into the narrative of the battle, the
mysterious darkness of the total eclipse which fell over the
north of Norway, just a month after the king had been
slain. This may very possibly be the explanation, and it
seems the only way by which the traditional, and by the
Church universally accepted, date can be vindicated.
Meanwhile Thore Hund and the leaders of the rebel
army, had pursued after the scattered remnants of the king's
forces, which were retreating as rapidly as possible to the
forests. It was their intention on their return to secure
the body of Olaf, and either to burn it or cast it into the
fjord.
When evening fell, a bonde of Stiklestad named Thorgil
and his son Grim, found the body of the king and determined
to save it from indignity. They carried it away and hid it
under some fuel in a barn ; before concealing the corpse they
washed it, and were struck with its extraordinary life-like
appearance. Having hidden it, they returned to their house
hard by. Meanwhile a blind man, who was seeking shelter
for the night, crept into the barn and accidentally wet his
hands with the water on the floor, where the corpse had
been washed, and touched his eyes with his hands. Find-
ing the place too small and damp he came out, and
discovered that his sight was restored to him again. Going
to the house he told the story, which filled all with wonder
as to what could be in the barn. Thorgil and his son were
alarmed lest the body should be found, and hurriedly took
it away into another place.
Thore Hund on his return sought everywhere for the
king, but being unsuccessful left the place. The faithful
Thorgil and his son now resolved that the king's body
should be conveyed to Nidaros, but knowing the danger
which attended such a course, they went to work warily.
Two coffins were made ; in one he placed the king, and in
the other stones and sand of the weight of a man. Then
with the aid of friends on whom they could rely, they hid
the coffin containing the royal body under the boards of
the boat, but placed the other coffin where all men could
see it. Then they rowed down the fjord to Nidaros. *
On reaching the town Thorgil sent word at once to
Bishop Sigurd, that he had brought the body of Olaf. This
unlovable prelate was delighted to hear the news. He at
once dispatched his men in a boat to meet them, and when
they had got the coffin with the stones and sand in it, they
rowed out into the fjord and threw it overboard, and
returned to their master with the information that their
errand had been accomplished. Then Thorgil and his
friends rowed their boat a short way up the Nid, and in
the night-time secretly conveyed the coffin with the body
of the king to land, and hid it in a hut on the river bank.
Here it remained for a short time, but knowing well it
would not be safe, and finding no one who would dare to
take charge of it, they dug a hole in the sand on the river
bank, and in it they placed the body. Carefully marking
the spot, they started again before daybreak, and quickly
made their way back to Stiklestad.
CHAPTEE VIII.
MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HARALD HAARDRAADE THE
CONFLICT WITH THE SEE OF BREMEN.
Svein and JElfgifu as Knut's Representatives Discontent in Norway
King Olaf s Body Disinterred His Saintship Proclaimed Growth
of the Cult Magnus brought to Norway Independence secured
again Reign of Magnus His Death Harald Haardraade
Murder of Einar Foundation of Oslo St. Halvard Conflict with
the See of Bremen Letter of Pope Alexander II.
WITH the fall of Olaf at the battle of Stiklestad, it seemed
as if the forces of disintegration had triumphed, and the
cause for which the king had worked so laboriously during
the eventful years of his reign had come to nought. Once
more Norway was to become subservient to Denmark, and
both Church and State were deprived of the strong hand
which had built up the one, and guided the destinies of the
other. But it was not so. Of Olaf the Saint it might well
be said that " the dead which he slew at his death were
more than they which he slew in his life," and far from the
destruction of the cause for which his life was given, it
gained in a very short time a fresh power and impetus,
and the name and fame of the royal martyr was carried far
beyond the limits of the northern kingdom, even, it is said,
to the capital of the Eastern Empire.
Knut the Great had sent his young son Svein as Governor
to Norway, in the place of the last jarl of Hlade. As
Svein was but a lad, he was accompanied by his mother,
Alfiva or ^Elfgifu, an imperious and overbearing English-
woman, who but little understood the independent spirit
which actuated the Norwegian b0nder. They landed in
Viken about the time of the battle of Stiklestad, and shortly
after arrived at Nidaros, where Svein was accepted as
king. The rule which the young prince instituted, under
the direction of his mother and the Danish chiefs who ac-
companied him, was at once very distasteful to the people,
and the imposition of new taxes made them very unpopular,
If there was one thing more than another to which the
Norwegians clung, it was the laws which had been passed
by the great assemblies at Frosta and other places, and the
b0nder found that if Olaf had ruled with a strong arm, he
had, at any rate, ruled them under their own laws and
customs, and not according to Danish law and usages,
and they soon began bitterly to repent of their rebellion
against him. The great chiefs, like Einar Thamberskj elver,
Kalv Arness0n and others, found also that the change had
done them no good, and their privileges were no more than,
and indeed in some ways not so great as, they had been
under their native king. Discontent spread everywhere,
but none of the chiefs were ready to risk an open rebellion.
The man who seemed the natural leader was Einar, who,
as has been mentioned, took no part in the battle of Stik-
lestad, and who, in his early days, had been a devoted
adherent of the race of Haarfagre.
The discontented chiefs, however, thought it prudent to
attain their ends by religious and not political means. The
Danish court bishop Sigurd had done his best to bring the
Norwegian Church into close connection with Denmark,
and therefore with the see of Bremen, and it was probably
during the short time that he was at Nidaros, that the
Benedictine Monastery at Nidarholm (a small island in the
Trondhjem Fjord, close to the town, now called Munkholmen)
was first established. Sigurd, however, was so unpopular,
that by the influence of Einar Thamberskj elver, he was
obliged to leave Norway, and Bishop Grimkell, the com-
panion and fellow-worker with Olaf, was brought back
again. The National party, as we may term them, now
MAGNUS AND HARALD. 93
decided that the time had come to declare King Olaf to be
a saint and martyr, and for this purpose they obtained
formal permission from Knut to re-inter the body of the
king. We have seen how Thorgil of Stiklestad had managed
to convey it safely to Nidaros, and had secretly buried it
in the sand on the bank of the Nid, the exact place being
of course, carefully noted.
On August 3rd, 1031, the principal men, including
Bishop Grimkell and Einar, in the presence of the young
prince and his mother Alfiva, had the body disinterred. On
the coffin being opened the body of Olaf was found to be
perfectly preserved ; his hair and nails had grown, his
colour was lifelike, and a beautiful odour pervaded the air.
All these things were clear proofs of saintship, and the on-
lookers were filled 'with wonder and amazement. The only
sceptic was Alfiva, who maintained that a body buried in
sand would not decay. The bishop, however, offered to
test the matter by cutting off some of Olaf s hair and placing
it in the fire, where, if it remained unconsumed, there could
then be no doubt of the saintship. This was done with con-
secrated fire, and, surviving the test, all were forced to
admit that the late monarch must indeed be a saint. Then
the body was carried with great state into the church of
St. Clement, which Olaf Trygvess0n had built, and there
buried before the altar.
The cult of St. Olaf then proceeded with amazing rapidity,
helped on as far as possible by Einar and others for
political purposes, and the young king and his mother dared
not openly oppose it, as the disinterment and reburial after
the proved sanctity, had been done with their formal consent.
The usual miracles were soon everywhere reported ; the
blind saw, the lame walked, and the sick were healed.
Thore Hund, who had given the king his death blow
in the battle, was struck with contrition for his heinous
offence, and endeavoured to expiate his crime by going on a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from whence he never returned.
Olaf was declared to be a saint by Bishop Grimkell, and the
verdict of the Church was formally ratified by the law of
the land. Two days were set apart in St. Olaf s honour
July 29th as the day of the martyrdom, and August 3rd
as, what we may call, the Translation of St. Olaf, being the
day on which the body was disinterred from the sand and
brought for burial to the church of St. Clement. It may be
well to mention here the curious number of changes which
were made in a short period, before the final resting-place in
the Dom Kirke was reached. From St. Clement's it was
moved to a church dedicated to Olaf by his son Magnus,
which was built on the spot where the body of the saint lay
for one night on its arrival in Nidaros. In the next reign,
that of the saint's half-brother, Harald, it was moved to a
church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, built by that king on
the bank of the Nid, where Olaf had been buried for a year.
Then Olaf Kyrre built another church, known as Christ
Church (close to the Maria Kirke of Harald), and the body
was taken to it. Finally, when the present cathedral was
built, during the time of Archbishop Ey stein (1157 87),
both of the latter churches were incorporated in it, and the
body was placed in a magnificent shrine at the high altar,
a,nd there it remained until the time of the Keformation.
The actual spot of the year-long burial is supposed to be
where St. Olaf s well is now shown in the cathedral of
Trondhjem.
After the formal acknowledgment of Olaf s claim to be
regarded as a saint, things went on in about the same way
for a couple of years ; but the hatred of Danish rule deepened
in the minds of the people, and all their love for the race of
Harald Haarfagre returned in greater force, when they saw
how badly they had treated one, who was not merely a king
of his line, but also one of the saints of God. Still, however,
Einar and the other chiefs played a waiting game, and felt
that the time had not come to make a move. In 1033 a
passing disturbance was caused by an adventurer who
claimed to be a son of Olaf Trygvess0n, and who raised the
standard of rebellion in the south, but he was soon defeated
and slain in a battle fought in S0ndhordland. Shortly after
this, a violent altercation between the Danish party and
Einar, which broke out at a Thing held at Nidaros, led to
the departure of Svein and Alfiva to the south, as they
felt it was unsafe for them to remain in Tr0ndelagen.
Then Einar, who had rightly gauged the popular feeling,
called the people together to a Thing and proposed that
Magnus, the young son of St. Olaf, should be chosen as king.
This was unanimously agreed upon, and Einar and Kalv
Arness0n were deputed to go to Gardarike to the Court of
King Jaroslav and bring back the young prince to Norway.
Their mission was successful, and they returned through
Sweden, where Olaf s widowed queen was then residing
with her brother. Young Magnus was at this time only
eleven years old, but he was everywhere received with open
arms by the delighted people. Svein and his mother first
intended to resist the newcomer, but finding that the
country was entirely hostile to them, they took refuge in
Denmark, and thus in 1034 the Danish supremacy was
once more swept away.
Knut the Great died in England in 1035, and was
succeeded by his son Harald ; Svein died in Denmark in
1036, and for a time the rule of Magnus over Norway was
undisputed.
The early years of King Magnus's reign passed quietly
under the wise guidance of Einar and Kalv Arness0n, and
the abolition of the harsh laws and exactions of the
Danish king made the people contented. Meanwhile
Hardeknut had succeeded his father Knut as king of
Denmark, and made an effort to regain the lost power over
Norway. Before matters went very far, the leading men
on both the Danish and Norwegian side arranged, after a
conference held at the G0tha river, that whichever of the
two kings survived, should have the two kingdoms. This
dangerous compact might have made the subservience of
Norway to Denmark again an accomplished fact, but the
death of Hardeknut in 1042 changed the situation, and
Norway and not Denmark became the sovereign State.
The political result of this was unfortunate for Norway, as
it meant a great waste of blood and treasure, and though
for a time it exalted the position of the northern State
among the nations of Europe, it was but a drawback to the
prosperity of the country. When Magnus took the govern-
ment into his own hands he embarked on the very unwise
course, of attempting to be avenged on those who had
taken part in the rebellion against St. Olaf. The old chief,
Haarek of Thjotta was killed, and Kalv Arness0n, who by
his zeal for Magnus's succession might have been thought
to have atoned for his share in Stiklestad, was obliged to
fly to the Orkneys. But after a time Magnus had the
sense to see how unwise and unfair his action was, and
abandoned his thoughts of revenge. By his just and
kindly rule he became more beloved by his people than
any king since the days of Haakon, and the epithet " The
Good/' which the former had won, was everywhere accorded
to Magnus.
One very important work was accomplished in his time.
He reduced the laws of the Frosta Thing to writing.
Formerly it would seem, that these laws were more of the
nature of customs, and were preserved orally, but Magnus
had them written out, and his compilation or code, under
the curious name of " The Grey Goose/' remained in use in
Tr0ndelagen for close upon 200 years.
The Danish sovereignty, though it was in many ways a
danger to Norway, brought the king much renown, especially
after his great defeat of the Vends in 1044, which effectually
stemmed the tide of Sclavonic invasion in that part of
Europe, and spread the fame of the young king and his
sainted father, far and wide.
The year that followed the victory over the Vends
nearly witnessed another of the many dynastic struggles
which had before rent the kingdom. Harald, the son of
Sigurd Syr, and the king's half-uncle, had after the battle
of Stiklestad, gone to Constantinople and taken service
under the Eastern Emperor, where he won a great reputation
as a warrior. He returned to Norway, and demanded half
of the kingdom. This was refused, and Harald retired to
Sweden, and later joined Svein Ulfss0n, the new claimant
for the Danish Crown. The year after, however, Magnus
agreed to Harald's demand, but stipulated that the kingdom
was not to be divided ; there were to be no more under-
kings in Norway, but they were to reign jointly. How
this unwise plan would have worked, there was no
opportunity of judging, for Magnus the Good died suddenly
in 1047, and Harald reigned as sole king. Denmark was
now separated, and Svein Ulfss0n reigned there.
The short reign of Magnus was not remarkable for any
important ecclesiastical events, beyond of course the growth
of the cult of St. Olaf, and the building of churches in
different parts of the country. In his reign a magnificent
silver shrine for the body of St. Olaf was made ; the king
kept the keys of this, and every year is said to have cut the
hair and nails of his father. After Magnus's death Harald
Haardraade did the same thing, but on his departure for
the great expedition against his English namesake, he
threw the keys of the shrine into the sea, and two centuries
then elapsed before it was again opened.
The unexpected death of Magnus the Good removed the
probability of disputes between the kings in Norway, and
there was no one to contest the claims of Harald. The
new monarch possessed many of the characteristics of the
C.S.N. H
race of Haarfagre, and his near relationship to the royal
saint made him at first very popular with his people. But
along with great personal courage and skill in war, he had
a very strong will, and was often guilty of great cruelty
in the prosecution of his ends, and his subjects had soon to
learn that he was no light and easy ruler of either chief or
people. The name by which he was known, Haardraade,
the hard or stern ruler, was well deserved by the king, and
his power was felt in all parts of the land.
The political history of his reign need not long detain
us, though it was an exciting time, and the death of the king
at the hard-fought battle of Stamford bridge is well known
to all readers of English history. A great part of the king's
reign was taken up with his constant warfare against Svein
Ulfss0n, king of Denmark.* Harald could not forget that
his predecessor Magnus was king both of Norway and
Denmark, and although success often attended his arms, he
was finally obliged to make peace with Svein in 1064.
His hard rule in Norway naturally aroused the resent-
ment of the great chiefs, who had had an easy time under
the mild rule of Magnus. Foremost in the opposition to
the king was the old chief Einar Thamberskj elver, who,
along with his son Eindride, was treacherously murdered
by the king's command at Nidaros. " Hard bites the king's
dogs," said the old chief as he fell by the spears of Harald's
servants. The death of Einar removed the most prominent
figure in the history of Norway for nearly sixty years ; as
a youth and far-famed archer, he had fought beside Olaf
Trygvess0n in the battle of Svolder, and had witnessed all
the strange vicissitudes which had befallen his royal race
for more than half a century. One could have wished that
* The fierceness of his attacks on Denmark is well described by Adam
of Bremen, who was, however, in this matter, not an impartial witness :
" Nunquam quietus fuit a bellis, f ulnien septentrionis, fatale malum
omnibus Danorum insulis." Book III., Chap. xvi.
he had met with a more honourable death after his many
services to his country.
This murderous act aroused a deep feeling of hostility
against King Harald, and the people of Tr0ndelagen rose
in arms to avenge the death of their beloved chief; but the
king was too strong for them, and the insurrection was soon
suppressed.
In 1066 he joined with Earl Tostig (brother of Harold of
England) in his attempt to regain his power there, and with
a great fleet set sail for England, where he fell in battle
against Harold at Stamford bridge near York on September
25th, 1066.
Before we advert to the ecclesiastical politics of the reign
of Harald Haardraade, there is one event which must be
mentioned, and which, indeed, had both political and
ecclesiastical importance. This was the founding of the
town of Oslo, which is now the capital of Norway, and
bears the name of its second founder, Christian IV., who in
1624, after a fire at Oslo, built the new town close by.
Harald, as we know, was closely connected by birth and
friendship with that part of Norway, and he probably saw
that the Tr0ndelagen district had an undue share of
political importance in the land. To counteract this, and
to balance the growing power of Nidaros (which after the
saintship of Olaf had been established had received a con-
stantly increasing number of pilgrims) he determined to
found in the south, a town which might rival Nidaros.
Furthermore, he provided the town with a saint as well, who
was afterwards regarded as one of the three patrons of Norway,
Halvard of Huseby, who was his own and St. Olaf s first
cousin. It is a little difficult to see where Halvard's claim
to saintship comes in. He was the son of a wealthy bonde
named Vebj0rn who lived at Lier, a spot but a few miles from
the present town of Drammen. His father married Thorny,
the sister of Aasta, wife of Sigurd Syr, and mother, by her
100 CHURCH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
first husband, Harald Grenske, of St. Olaf, and by her
second, Sigurd, of Harald Haardraade. Halvard seems to
have been a very estimable man and to have carried on a
considerable business as a Baltic merchant. One day he
chivalrously rescued a woman from some men who were
attacking her, and brought her over the Drammen river.
He was, however, followed, and killed along with the woman
he had saved for the time. His murderers tied a stone to
his neck and threw his body into the fjord. It, however,
refused to sink, and this circumstance, with the other usual
signs, proclaimed Halvard to be a saint, and his claim was
soon acknowledged by the Church. When Harald founded
Oslo he had his kinsman's body brought thither, and buried
in a church which bore his name, and Halvard became, to
the people of the south of Norway, a saint second only in
rank, to his royal cousin at Nidaros.
Harald was not merely a hard ruler in the affairs of State,
but he showed himself none the less stark in ecclesiastical
matters. He decided in his mind that he was to be the head
of the Church, as well as of the State. Early in his reign
the assertion of this principle brought him into conflict
with Bishop Bernhard, and the consequence was, that the
bishop was obliged to leave Norway and go to Iceland,
where he remained during the whole of Harald's reign.
A vastly more important conflict, however, arose with the
see of Bremen, which was held, during the greater part of
Harald's reign, by a prelate of as strong and unbending a
will as that of the king himself.
We have already seen that the connection of Norway
with the archiepiscopal see of Bremen (notwithstanding
the fact that it had received papal authority over all the
Scandinavian lands) was not a very close one. It depended
largely on political considerations, and also it must be
borne in mind that the ecclesiastics whom the two Olafs
brought with them were nearly all Englishmen, either by
MAGNUS AND HARALD. 101
birth or education, and looked to Canterbury, and not
Bremen, as the see to which they owed allegiance. The
application of St. Olaf to Unwan of Bremen, for help in his
work, was made at a time when he could not expect any
substantial aid from England. The early bishops in Norway
were not diocesan officials, but were merely men in episcopal
orders, who went with the kings into a heathen land to
spread the faith, and the priests who accompanied them
were, until St. Olaf s day at any rate, not as a rule fixed in
one place, but accompanied the king and the bishops on their
journeys. These men were not likely to let the claims of a
metropolitan make any very great impression upon them,
even when backed by papal authority, and they always
retained the sturdy English dislike to foreign ecclesiastical
rule, which was so often manifested in the history of the
English Church.
In 1043 the see of Bremen was filled by the appointment
of Adalbert, who held it for a period of twenty-nine years.
He was a strong and worldly-minded man, not specially
renowned for his sanctity, and with an ambition equal to
that of a Hildebrand. He entertained very lofty projects
for enlarging the power and authority of the see of Bremen,
and, it is said, hoped to have made it a sort of patriarchate
of the North. He found, however, that he was not able to
carry out all that his personal ambition suggested, and it was
not long before he crossed swords with Haardraade.* The
king had been accustomed to have his bishops consecrated
in different places, but chiefly in England. These bishops
had no love for Adalbert, and it was their refusal to attend
* For the details of this controversy between Harald and the see of
Bremen, we have only the testimony of Adam of Bremen and his
scholiast. It must be borne in mind that there was a not unnatural
prejudice against the Norwegian Church, which manifests itself here and
there, in spite of the general reliability of this famous historian of the
North. See the "Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum." Book
III., Chap, xvi., and Scholiast, 69.
which caused the failure of an ambitious project of the
archbishop, for a great synod of the North to be held at
Slesvig. These bishops naturally declined to acknowledge
the authority of the see of Bremen, and Adalbert was
equally determined on his part to assert it. During the
constant war with Denmark in Harald's reign, his bishops
were consecrated in various places in England, in Aqui-
taine by the Pope, and even by the Eastern Church at
Constantinople, where Harald had many friends. Adalbert,
however, watched his opportunities, and as the bishops
who were returning to Norway, had, as a rule, to pass
through his diocese, he caught and imprisoned them until
they were ready to swear obedience to the see of Bremen.
It is said that Asgaut, nephew of Grimkell, when returning
from Eome, was one who suffered in this way. Adalbert
did not hesitate to accuse Harald of plundering the shrine
of St. Olaf, and taking the gifts which were offered there,
for the purpose of carrying on his wars a charge probably
true ; but Harald was not quite as black as Adam paints
him in his Chronicle.
Adalbert now decided to take another line. He found
that imprisoning bishops who had just come from being
consecrated at Eome, might possibly entail unpleasant con-
sequences later, and also that promises of allegiance extorted
by imprisonment, were not likely to be much regarded when
once the bishop was safe in the kingdom of Norway. He
therefore took the more regular course of sending messengers
to Harald with a formal claim to exercise the rights of a
metropolitan over the Norwegian bishops. In making this
claim it cannot be said that Adalbert was exceeding his
lawful powers ; for when the archiepiscopal see of Hamburg
was founded in 834 (?) for Ansgar, and transferred, as we
have seen, to Bremen in 849, it was expressly intended
by the Kaiser to be the head of a new province, to include
the three Scandinavian kingdoms, and this was confirmed
by Pope Nicholas I. in 8 5 8.* But, on the other hand, it must
be remembered that Norway never formed any part of the
Roman Empire, and therefore the Kaiser had no special
claim upon it, or authority to enforce his will there,and also
that the christianizing of Norway was the work of English,
and not German, missionaries, except to a limited and
uncertain extent in Viken. Adalbert, however, was, from
his point of view, quite in order in making a demand, for
which he could claim the authority both of Pope and Kaiser.
The archbishop's ambassadors were the bearers of a letter
to the king, which was worded in a manner little calculated to
conciliate such a man as Harald Haardraade. In it Adalbert
lectured the king on his iniquities in appropriating for his own
uses the treasury of the shrine of St. Olaf, and, further, with
not having his bishops consecrated in Bremen, and thereby
acknowledging the metropolitan authority of that see.
This letter filled Harald with fury, and he sent Adalbert's
messengers back to their master with the scornful words :
" I know of no archbishop or ruler in Norway save myself,
Harald, alone."
Having received this response to his demand, Adalbert
decided to invoke the papal aid, and laid his case before
Alexander II. The Pope supported his metropolitan, and
despatched a letter to King Harald. In this he reminded
the king and his people of his apostolic authority. He
pointed out to them, that they in Norway, were as yet but
comparatively unlearned in the faith and in all matters of
Church discipline, and ended up with an exhortation, or
rather command, that they should submit themselves to the
Archbishop of Bremen, and yield the same obedience to him
as they should show to the chair of St. Peter.|
* This again was confirmed by Pope Victor II. (1055) in a bull which
recognized the right of the Bremen archbishops to consecrate bishops in
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Greenland.
t Adam. Book III., Chap, xvi., and Scholiast, 70.
This letter is a notable document as being the first papal
brief sent to Norway. It, however, met with no more
consideration than Harald had shown to the messages of
Adalbert, and the Norwegian king was equally indifferent
to the threats and thunderings of Bremen or Rome. While
he lived, affairs remained in the same state ; but this was
not long, and his successor, Olaf Kyrre, was ready to admit
the authority of Bremen without any question. Shortly
after his death the claims of Bremen were no longer in
existence, as Lund, in Skaane, at that time a part of the
kingdom of Denmark (1104), was made the metropolitan
see of the North.
CHAPTEE IX.
OLAF KYRRE, TO THE DEATH OF SIGURD
JORSALFARER.
Olaf the Peaceable and his Character Development of the Country
Viking Expeditions come to an End Gilds Established Magnus
Baerf0tte Lund made a Metropolitan See Three Kings in Norway
The Crusade of Sigurd Harald Gille Last Years of Sigurd
Bishop Magnus Death of Sigurd.
WHEN Harald Haardraade fell at Stamford bridge, he
left behind him two sons, Magnus and Olaf, and they
divided between them the royal power. Happily for
Norway this state of things did not long continue, for
Magnus died in the year 1069, and Olaf became sole king.
Magnus left one son, but as he was only a little child, his
claim was not then brought forward.
The reign of Olaf, who is known as Olaf Kyrre, or the
Peaceable, was a period of much peace and quietness for
the land, which was sorely needed after the constant warfa,re
of Harald' s reign. Olaf was a man of a most gentle and love-
able disposition, and seems to have in every way deserved
the name he bore. He devoted the whole of his reign to
improving the condition of his people. We are told that
his motto was, " The freedom and happiness of my people
is my joy and pleasure."
The Church in Norway found in Olai Kyrre a true
" nursing father," and it advanced much in power and
authority during his reign. We find an interesting account
of the king in the Chronicles of Symeon or Simon of Dur-
ham, a Benedictine monk, who died in 1143. He tells
us of a monk named Turgot, who having been imprisoned
in Lincoln, effected his escape, and concealed himself on
a Norwegian vessel and reached the court of Olaf Kyrre.
" He attained " (says the Chronicle) " to the acquaintance
of King Olaf, who, as he was of a very religious turn, was
accustomed to the use of the sacred writings, and cultivated
learning amid the cares of his kingdom. He was wont also
to assist the priest at the altar, and when the latter was
putting on the sacred vestments he would pour water on
his hands and devoutly perform other offices of this kind.
Hearing, therefore, that a clerk had come from England
(which at that time was reckoned an important event), he
took him as his master in learning psalmody." *
The reign of Olaf Kyrre was a time during which
Norway was practically at peace with all other nations,
and therefore there is but little to chronicle in the political
history of his reign. It was not, however, a time which
passed by without leaving its impress on subsequent events.
To it we owe the beginnings of two very important cities.
Olaf Trygvess0n had founded Nidaros, afterwards known
as Trondhjem ; Harald Haardraade established Oslo, the
future Christiania; and now Olaf, his son, added two
more towns, which are well known at the present day
Bergen and Stavanger. The former was originally known as
Bj0rgvin, and the site was well chosen for purposes of trade,
the deep watera nd well-sheltered position making it easy of
access for shipping. The town soon grew to be a place of
importance, to which the comparative nearness of Evenvik
(where the great Gula Thing, which legislated for the south-
west of Norway, met), probably helped not a little. Stavanger,
lying a hundred miles further south, was a good centre for
* Symeon of Durham's " History of the Kings," translated by the Rev.
J. Stevenson. Turgot after his return to England, was subsequently prior
of Durham and bishop of St. Andrew's ; he died at Durham in 1115.
Selden and others believe that Turgot was the real author of the history,
which bears the name of Symeon of Durham.
OLAF KYERE. 107
trade, and was at that time the nearest port to England and
the possessions of the kings of Norway beyond the seas.
Olaf did all in his power to encourage trade and to induce
his people to adopt a more settled mode of life than had
formerly been their custom ; and his reign is usually fixed
as the time when we note the practical ending of the famous
Viking cruises, which for more than three hundred years
had made the Northmen the terror of the coasts of Europe.
The political results of these famous expeditions are " writ
large " upon the history of nearly every country of modern
Europe ; and it fills us with wonder that such a small
nation as Norway, even when aided by like adventurous
spirits from Denmark and Sweden, should have been the
means of effecting changes, the results of which are still
visible in Europe.
The increase of trade which the foundation of new towns
called forth, naturally led also to an increase of civilization,
and to a decided improvement in the mode of life of the
people, who gradually, especially in the retinues of the
king and the greater chiefs, adopted the customs and habits
of the more civilized peoples of Europe, and the semi-
barbarous life of the early days began to pass away.
In the king's own household changes are noted from the
old fashion of a fireplace in the middle of the room, with a
hole in the roof for the escape of the smoke, to a regular
chimney in the corner, and windows were placed to give
light in the room. Costly drinking-cups of silver began
also to replace the horns and bowls from which, in ruder
times, the king and his men drank their beer.
Olaf increased the royal retinue, which had formerly been
small, to one hundred and twenty men, sixty of whom were
huskarls ; and we can also note the beginning of a body of
what might be called, high court officials.
Olaf was a great builder of churches, and the most
important of these were Christ Church, in Nidaros, to which
the body of St. Olaf was removed, and which was afterwards
incorporated in the cathedral; and another Christ Church
in his new town of Bergen, which was later on, the cathedral,
but which was ruthlessly destroyed in the sixteenth century.
From an ecclesiastical point of view, two very important
things date from Olaf Kyrre's reign, namely, the division
of the country into dioceses of which we shall speak
presently and the establishment of Gilds among the
people, the members of which were bound by very
strict obligations to help one another; and the gild
brothers were expected to set a good example in the
matter of " temperance, soberness, and chastity."
The king saw that it would be a wise step in the
direction of softening the manners of the people and
promoting social union, to establish in the towns these
associations, which were known among the other branches
of the Teutonic nations.^ It would not appear that at first
these Gilds were especially connected with any one trade
or calling, as was afterwards the case, but were open to all.
They were held in buildings called gilder stuer, or gild
rooms, and, though not directly religious, were closely
connected with the Church. A short office was often said
at the commencement of the gatherings, and the members
were expected to live decent and sober lives. The associat-
ing together of people for purposes partly social and partly
religious was, as we have seen, of very ancient origin among
the Norsemen, and the filgirdir, originally heathen gatherings,
where skaals were drunk in honour of the gods, were main-
tained under Olaf's Kristenret, and the names of our Lord
and the Blessed Virgin substituted for Thor, Odin, &c.
The name Gild was not an unknown one in the form gild for
a feast, which, in heathen days, had always some religious
observances connected with it. Thus it was at a gild at
* See Lujo Brentano's article, on the " History and Development ot
Gilds," in English Gilds (Early English Text Society), London, 1870.
OLAP KYRRE. 109
Hlade that Olaf Trygvess0n announced to the astonished
b0nder his intention of offering six of their chief men, as a
sacrifice at the great winter blot.*
It was during the reign of Olaf Kyrre that the great
struggle between Pope Gregory VII. and the Kaiser
Henry IV. was carried on. Norway was not involved in
this, though the metropolitan, Archbishop Liemar of
Bremen, was the warm and faithful friend of the latter ;
but Olaf remained neutral. The Pope was naturally
anxious to have as many as possible of the sovereigns of
Europe on his side during the conflict. He wrote in 1078
to the king in very friendly terms, expressing the great
interest he felt in the Church there. But recognizing the
difficulties attendant on sending him teachers, who were
not conversant with the language of the country, he
suggested that the king should send a number of young
men to Koine, to be trained up in Canon law and Eoman
usages, who, on their return, might instruct the people. It
is difficult to say if this idea was ever carried out, though we
know that, after Breakspeare's mission, the intercourse with
Eome was, considering the great distance, very frequent.
Olaf died at Haukby, in Eanrike, in 1093. His body
was conveyed to Nidaros, where it was interred in the
church which he had built, and where his sainted predecessor
then reposed.
The short reign of Olaf s son and successor, Magnus, who
at the age of twenty years became king, need not detain
us long. At his father's death he had to share the kingdom
with his cousin Haakon the son of Magnus, his father's
brother. As usual, it seemed likely that a conflict would
arise between the two, especially as Haakon was much loved
by the people and Magnus was unpopular; but Haakon
only lived for two years, and died in 1095 without leaving
any son, and Magnus was therefore the sole king. Most of
* See p. 50.
his short reign was spent in warlike expeditions, and the
cost of these provoked much discontent among the b0nder,
who, during the peaceful time of Olaf Kyrre's reign, had
escaped contributions for such purposes. Magnus was known
among his people as the " fighting Magnus," but the surname
which has been given to him in history is that of Barfot, or
Baerf0tte, from the fact that he was so pleased with the
freedom which the Scottish kilt afforded to the Gaelic
warriors, that he and his men adopted it ; and so he was
nicknamed Barelegs, or Baerf0tte.
His battles in Scotland belong to the history of that
country, and the king finally met his death in conflict with
one of the Irish chiefs in Ulster in 1103.
The same year in which the King was slain, saw the
erection of the see of Lund, in Skaane, to metropolitan
dignity, and therefore the close of the long controversy
with Bremen ; and from that time for nearly fifty years
(until the first archbishop of Nidaros), the Primates of
Lund were the metropolitans of Norway.
The death of Magnus, and the operation of the unwise law
of succession, saw now not merely two, but three persons
entitled to the royal dignity. The late king left three sons,
Eystein, Sigurd, and Olaf, who were at his death of the ages
of fourteen, thirteen, and four years respectively. The two
elder, being of legal age to rule, became joint kings, and
acted as guardians of their young brother, who, however,
died at the age of eighteen, leaving no issue.
The first few years of the joint reign of the two lads
Eystein and Sigurd were peaceful and orderly times.
Eystein inherited the disposition of his grandfather Olaf,
while Sigurd desired to emulate the warlike deeds of his
father. When he reached the age of seventeen his oppor-
tunity came. It was the time which succeeded the first
Crusade, and the religious fervour of these extraordinary
enterprises quickly reached Norway. The old Viking
SIGURD JORSALFARER. Ill
expeditions had been abandoned, but now an opportunity
presented itself of warfare of the same kind, only it was
directed against the enemies of God and the Holy Church,
and for the purpose of delivering the holy places from the
grasp of the infidels. King Ey stein elected to remain
behind, and Sigurd joyfully equipped a great fleet and
army, with which to proceed to the Holy Land. Both kings
shared the cost, and the people, without any compulsion,
eagerly offered themselves for service. In sixty ships, and
with about 10,000 men, Sigurd left Norway in 1107.
As it was late in the season when they sailed, the winter
was, by permission of Henry I., spent in England. " After
expending vast sums upon the churches, as soon as the
western breeze opened the gates of spring to soothe the
ocean he regained his vessels," * and set sail in the early
part of 1108. Proceeding slowly along the coast of France,
the winter of 1109 was spent in Galicia. As they passed
through the Straits of Gibraltar they had an opportunity of
slaying the infidels, as they encountered and defeated a
large Moorish fleet. Thence they made for the Balearic
Isles and Sicily, where a considerable time was spent, and
in the summer of 1110 they came at last to Palestine,
where Sigurd was received at Jerusalem with great honour
by King Baldwin and the Patriarch.
Sigurd then visited many sacred spots, and the Holy
City, and received a portion of the true Cross, which
he duly carried back to Norway. After leaving Jeru-
salem, he assisted Baldwin in the attack on Sidon, which
was captured, a result largely due to the Norwegian
fleet. Snorre tells us that during his visit to Jerusalem
Sigurd vowed to introduce into Norway the payment of
tithes, which promise he did not forget on his return home.
From Sidon, Sigurd sailed for Myklegaard (Constanti-
nople), where he was welcomed by the Emperor Alexius L,
* William of Malmesbury. Book V.
112 CHUECH AND STATE IN NORWAY.
and received many splendid gifts, and in return presented
" a ship beaked with golden dragons " to the Church of St.
Sophia.^ Leaving the whole of his fleet at Constantinople,
he travelled overland to Denmark, via Hungary and
Bavaria, and reached home in 1111, crowned with glory
from his successful expedition. From his having under-
taken this crusade, he was henceforth known as Sigurd
" Jorsalfarer," the traveller to Jerusalem.
This participation in the Crusades produced results in
Norway similar to those in England, and other countries of
the north of Europe. It brought a large number of the
people into direct communication, with the civilization and
luxury of the south of Europe, and the products of " the
gorgeous East," and was therefore of educational value to a
people who had seldom, if at all, come in contact with the
more polished Latin races. We can well understand with
what wonder the men who had only been accustomed to
rough wooden churches, or very bare and simple stone
ones, such as we now find at Moster or on Kinn, must
have gazed on the stupendous pile of St. Sophia, or the
wealth of gilding and colour of many buildings which
they met with during the Crusades. It seems not at all
improbable that they brought back from their stay in the
East, many ideas which were afterwards put into practice
in their own land. Witness, for example, the klokketaarn,
which we find built alongside some of the stavkirker of
Norway, such as Ringebu, in Gudbrandsdal, and Borgund,
in Lserdal, and there we will find the way in which the
Norwegians reproduced the Campanile, f
* Snorre says it was to St. Peter's.
f It seems likely, also, that the curious laxetrapper (ladders or stages)
erected along the shore for the purpose of watching the salmon nets,
which are to be found in Norway, were brought from the shores of
Greece, where similar structures for watching the movements of the fish
have been in use since classical times. It would seem that these are
only found in Norway and the Mediterranean.
From a Photograph by] [T. Olaf Willson.
HEAD OF KING EYSTEIN (1103-1123).
The founder of the Monastery of Munkeliv, in Bergen.
This carving, inscribed " Eystein Rex," is contemporary with
the erection of the Cloister, 11071111, and is now in the
Bergen Museum.
[To face p. 112.
SIGURD JORSALFARER. 113
During the long absence of Sigurd, his brother Ey stein
had devoted himself to the development of his kingdom,
and had ruled wisely and well. He did much to improve
the greatest source of the wealth of Norway the fisheries
and also looked closely after the inland parts of the country
as well. The roads were improved, and in places where no
regular road existed, but only an accustomed track, he
caused varder or cairns to be erected to indicate the way.
On one of the land routes to Nidaros, frequented by
pilgrims to the shrine of St. 01 af, that over the bare and
inhospitable Dovre Fjeld, he erected fjeldstuer, or houses
of refuge; and travellers in our own day have often
had cause to thank good King Eystein for the shelter
which Hjaerkin, Fogstuen, or Drivstuen afforded them
as they cross the Dovre. * The stay-at-home king also
enlarged the borders of the kingdom by including
within them the district of Jaemtland, now incorporated
in Sweden.
The applause which Sigurd had everywhere won by
his famous crusade, made him inclined to be not a little
vain and boastful on his return home, and several times
it seemed as if a breach must ensue in the relations
between the two royal brothers ; but prudent counsels
prevailed, and the death of Eystein in 1123, without
any male issue, left Sigurd in undisturbed possession of
the kingdom.
In 1123, on the invitation of the Danish King
Nicholas, he went on a crusade against the inhabitants
of Smaaland, in Sweden, who were at that time still
heathen, but of the details of this expedition we know
little or nothing.
* Eystein was the founder of the great monastery of Munkeliv, in
Bergen, dedicated to St. Michael, the archangel, and for centuries in the
possession of the Benedictines, but in later days transferred to the
Birgitta order.
C.S.N. I
In 1126 a claimant to the throne appeared in a very
unexpected way. A man named Halkel Huk, of Blindheim,
in S0ndm0re, met, in the western isles of Scotland, an
Irishman calling himself Harald Gille-Krist,* who professed
to be a son of Magnus Barfot, the king's father. Though
admittedly an illegitimate son, he would, nevertheless, by
the Norwegian law, be entitled to a share of his father's
kingdom. He, accompanied by his mother, went to
Norway to King Sigurd and repeated his story, and
offered to prove his claim by trial by ordeal. To this
Sigurd agreed, on the understanding that, if successful,
Harald was to make no claim to the kingdom during his
life, or that of his son Magnus. On these conditions
Harald Gille submitted to the ordeal of walking barefoot
over hot irons, and having accomplished this successfully,
was recognized as the king's brother. This strange pro-
ceeding was strictly in accordance with the law. It was
the first instance in which trial by ordeal was employed to
determine such an important question, but, unhappily for
Norway, it was not the last.
The concluding years of the reign of Sigurd the Crusader
were sad and inglorious, and only redeemed by the brave
stand made in the cause of morality by the bishop of
Bergen. The king was much struck with the beauty of a
woman named Cecilia, the daughter of one of his chiefs,
and in order to marry her, he determined to put away his
wife, Malmfrid, a Eussian princess. This he intended to
do during a stay in Bergen, where he proposed to celebrate
this scandalous marriage. But he reckoned without his
host. To the honour of Magnus, bishop of Bergen, such
an act was not to pass unnoticed. When he learned the
king's purpose the bishop at once went boldly to him
and demanded an interview. The king came to him
* He is also known as Harald Gille. Gille-Krist is the gille, or
servant, of Christ.
with his sword in his hand, and invited the bishop to
join in the feast which was then in progress. But the
bishop, in the true spirit of St. John the Baptist, declined
to do so.
" I come on a different errand," said the fearless prelate.
" Is it true, King, that you intend to put away your
queen and marry another 1 "
Sigurd reluctantly admitted that it was so. Then, with
stern countenance, the bishop demanded how the king
dared to transgress the commandments of God and the
holy Church, and degrade his royal office.
" In the name of God, and the holy King Olaf, and the
Apostle Peter, and all the saints, I forbid this crime."
The dauntless bishop stood with bent head, expecting
every moment to be his last ; but the king merely glared
at him and said nothing, and the bishop went his way
rejoicing in having done his duty.
The protest of Magnus was for the time effectual, and
Sigurd left Bergen, without having accomplished his pur-
pose, and proceeded to Stavanger. There, alas ! he found
a bishop of less scrupulous conscience than Magnus of
Bergen.
The first bishop of Stavanger was Keinald, who was an
Englishman from Winchester ; he was a capable man, but
grasping and avaricious, and in him King Sigurd found a
tool to work his evil purpose. By means of large gifts the
king induced the bishop to agree to his wishes, and Sigurd
was married to Cecilia. It is sad to think that a bishop
could be found in Norway to consent to such a crime, but
he did not long enjoy his ill-gotten gains, and a shameful
death befell him under Sigurd's successor.
The closing days of the far-famed " Jorsalfarer " were
rendered still more sad by the attacks of insanity to which
he seems to have been subject, and in his lucid intervals
he was filled with gloomy anticipations as to the future of
his native land. In 1130 he died at Oslo, at the compara-
tively early age of forty years. He left behind him an
only son, Magnus. He was illegitimate; but this was no
bar to his succession to the throne, and Harald, the king's
" acceptecl-by-ordeal " brother, was in the same case.
CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN THE EARLIEST TIMES, AND
THE COMING OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS.
The Early Missionary Bishops No Diocesan Episcopacy at First Its
Establishment at the Four Centres The Cathedral Churches
Parochial Organization Patronage The Churches of the Fylker
and HerredHtgmdes Churches Ecclesiastical Incomes Duties
of the Clergy, &c. Adam of Bremen's Testimony as to the State of
Religion in Norway Tithe and its Apportionment The Coming
of the Monastic Orders.
THE death of Sigurd Jorsalfarer seems a suitable point
at which to review the condition of the Norwegian Church
during the century which had elapsed since the martyr
king fell at Stiklestad. For Olaf the Saint, by his ecclesias-
tical legislation, left his impress on the Church for a long
period, and at this time we are enabled to estimate it better
than fifty years later, when the result of the mission of
Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare, and the firm establishment of
the monastic orders, led to changes in several respects, and
Norway fell into line with the other Churches of Europe
which owned allegiance to the Roman see.
The earlier chapters have shown to us the thorough and
systematic manner in which St. Olaf carried out his work,
and the way in which he saw that, if heathenism was to be
eradicated, it was necessary that the people should receive
systematic instruction in the faith from resident priests,
and that they should be in their turn, superintended by the
bishops whom he, in the first instance, brought with him
from England.
Although the methods of St. Olaf would not always com-
mend themselves to us, there can be no manner of doubt
that the results which followed were very wonderful, and
showed the extraordinary power of Christianity in trans-
forming a rude, fierce nation of heathen into Christian
men and women, whose lives were, in many respects, a
pattern and example to those whose Christian ancestry
exceeded by centuries that of the Norwegians.
It will be well for us to consider the condition of the
Church in Norway at the end of the first century of its
existence under two heads (1) The external organization
of the Church ; and (2) the manner in which Christianity
affected the life of the people.*
It must be borne in mind that from the period of the
introduction of Christianity into Norway, down to the time
of King Olaf Kyrre, there was no diocesan organization in
the land. All the early bishops, the Sigurds and the
Grimkells, were merely what we would call missionary
bishops. They were consecrated in England and elsewhere
to carry out the work of christianizing the North, and they
followed the king in his journeys throughout the land,
consecrating churches as they were built or adapted from
the old temples, and along with their priests helping to
baptize the multitudes who were so often obliged by force
to receive the ordinance. Then, when heathenism was
expelled, they had to confirm the people, and to ordain the
natives, who had been prepared for holy orders by the priests
who were placed in charge of the various churches, and to
perform the duties which appertained to the episcopal
office. Gradually, however, when things had settled down,
it became necessary that the bishops should have assigned
* Most of the details of ecclesiastical legislation referring to this
early period will be found in the laws of the Gula, Frosta, Borgar,
and Eidsiva Things ; chiefly in Vol. I. of the Norges Gamle Love.
The reader is also referred to the very fall details given by Keyser in
Vol. I., Chap, xx., of his Kirkes Historie, and to Chap. iii. of Bishop
Bang's Udsigt over den Norske Kirkes Historie, &c.
CHURCH ORGANIZATION IN THE EARLIEST TIMES. 119
to them fixed parts of the country in other words, to
establish diocesan episcopacy. The political condition of
the country helped to facilitate this. We have noted that
for legislative purposes, there were three centres where
Things were held and the laws promulgated. These were
Frosta (for Tr0ndelagen), close to the city of Nidaros ; the
district under the Gula Thing, held at Evenvik, a little to
the south of the Sogne Fjord, and not far from the newly-
founded town of Bergen ; and Eidsiva, or Eidsvold, a little
to the north of Harald Haardraade's town of Oslo.
These local Things came gradually to consider themselves
as entitled to a bishop in their immediate neighbourhood,
and as it was a part of the episcopal duties to preach
before the Thing, the towns of Nidaros, Bergen, and Oslo
were naturally selected as the seat of the bishop, and the
part of the country which met at the Frosta, Gula, and
Eidsiva Things to form his diocese. But there was
another and a very strong reason for the selection of those
towns as the residence of the bishop. Norway, in the early
days of its Christianity, was not rich in native saints, but the
three towns were each closely identified with a national saint.
Nidaros ranked first of all as the guardian of the body
of the royal saint of Norway, whose cult was now spreading
rapidly over the North ; then Oslo, where the shrine of St.
Olaf s cousin, the sainted Halvard, had been placed by
Harald Haardraade ; and lastly, Bergen, to which the relics
of St. Sunniva were brought by Bishop Paul in 1170. For
about one hundred years before Bergen became a cathedral
city, it was the little island of Selje, which lay to the north
of the Nordfjord, which was the seat of the bishop, and
the ecclesiastical centre of the Gula Thing district. It
was felt, however, after the founding of Bergen that that
town was much better adapted for the residence of the
bishop, than the small island of Selje, lying as it did off a
part of the coast particularly exposed to the force of the
northern ocean, and close to the always dreaded passage
round the peninsula of Stadt.
The three original dioceses of Norway were therefore,
for political and religious reasons, formed from the districts
attached to the principal Tilings, and hallowed by associa-
tions connected with the three patron saints of Norway,
St. Olaf, St. Sunniva, and St. Halvard.* The dioceses of
Stavanger and Hamar were of later foundation ; the former
town owed its origin to Olaf Kyrre, but it was not made
the seat of a bishop until the reign of Sigurd Jorsalfarer.
The erection of the Hamar bishopric was the result of the
mission of Cardinal Nicholas in 1152. From the fourteenth
century onwards Hamar, instead of Eidsiva, was the place
where the meetings of the Thing were held.
The cathedral churches of the thr^e_original sees, and, later,
of Stavanger, seem all to have been dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, but in two instances called Christ Church, j^ Bang
says, as an explanation of this, " when these Trinity
churches are more often called Christ Church, it is because
Christ was, to the mind of the people at that time, the most
prominent of the three Persons of the Godhead." On the
other hand, it is said that this form of dedication is a trace
of the English influence, and the example is quoted of the
Cathedral of Canterbury, usually called Christ Church, but
called in Domesday Book Ecclesia Sanctce Trinitatis. \
* It is a curious coincidence that Norway and Ireland, which were
so closely connected in those days, had each three patron saints ; for
the latter, the insula sanctorum, had St. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St.
Columba as its patrons. Further, it may be noted that both countries
had as patrons, two men and one woman.
f Udsigt over den Nor she Kirkes Historie, p. 57.
J Taranger's Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Inflydelse, &c., p. 220. This
writer quotes also the instance of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin,
which is really dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It is interesting,
however, to note that it was founded by the Northmen, and was not
the cathedral of the Keltic Church.
The Christ Church in Nidaros was the original cathedral,
afterwards incorporated in Eystein's great Dom Kirke. This
church, we know, was built by Olaf Kyrre over the spot
where St. Olaf 's body had been buried for a year in the
sand beside the river Nid. The great Christ Church in
Bergen (there was the little Christ Church as well) was the
work of the same monarch. The Cathedral of Oslo was
known as Halvard's Kirke, from the fact that the relics of
the saint were there deposited, and, though probable, it is
not certain that its original dedication was to the Holy
Trinity. The same remark applies to Stavanger Cathedral,
commonly known as St. Swithin's Church. It was probably
so named by its first bishop, Reinald (who was a Benedictine
monk from Winchester) in honour of the famous saint.*
Such seems to have been the diocesan organization of
Norway, which only became fixed about the close of the
eleventh century. What we might call the parochial
organization was more ancient, and was practically an
adaptation of the system of heathen temples. We have
already seen that the temples were of two kinds, the fylke
hov and the herreds hov, and in the latter division
there were also private temples belonging to the wealthier
b0nder.
This arrangement remained practically unchanged on the
introduction of Christianity, and so from the earliest times
we meet with three classes of churches the church of the
jylke, of the lierred, and what were called h0gendes
kirker ; the last named might most correctly be rendered
chapels-of-ease. It would appear that at the very beginning
the most that the missionary kings could do, was to convert
the fylke hov into a Christian Church, and make it a
centre for the evangelization of the district. These fylker
were many of them of very great extent, but, roughly
* The observance of St. Swithin's Eve can still be traced in West
speaking, they were the original parishes of Norway. The
fylke churches were usually built on the site of the heathen
temples, or the actual buildings were purified and made to
serve for Christian worship. Gradually, however, when
Christianity spread more widely through the land, it was
found difficult, if not impossible, owing to the great distances,
for the people to attend at the fylke church, and so the
second kind of heathen temples were made into Christian
churches. The herreds into which the fylker were divided
offered a solution of the difficulty, and herreds Jcirker began
to spring up over the country. These smaller parishes
were practically independent of the fylke church, though
at first certain rights were reserved for the church of the
fylke with respect to baptisms and burials ; and its priest
occupied the position of the rector of a very large parish,
containing many churches, ministered to by priests having
practically sole charge of them. Then by degrees these
herreds churches became entirely independent of the fylke
church.^ The h0gendes kirker were, as the name implies,
chapels-of-ease, and were practically private chapels, erected
by chiefs and others for their own convenience ; there were
a considerable number of these scattered throughout the
country. These chapels had not, as a rule, any burying
ground attached to them.
We are thus enabled to see what was the organization of
the Church in the times which followed the introduction of
Christianity. We now come to the question of patronage,
around which in later times so much controversy raged. In
the early days the matter was much more simple. The kings
were the embodiment of power, not merely in the State, but
in the Church as well ; and Harald Haardraade's boast was
not far from the truth when in answer to Adalbert's envoys
* In some parts of the country slightly different arrangements pre-
vailed e.g., in Tr0ndelagen, where the fylker were not so large, there
were sometimes two fylke churches, and that sufficed for the district.
he exclaimed, " I know not who is archbishop or ruler in
Norway except I alone."
The earliest bishops were the friends, counsellors, and
court chaplains of the kings, who ordered the clergy from
place to place as seemed best to them. We therefore find
that the appointment to the bishoprics was the preroga-
tive of the kings, and jealously guarded by them. Sub-
sequent history will show us how tenaciously they held to
that right, and how unwillingly and grudgingly they finally
allowed the chapters to make the election.
With respect to the clergy generally, we find various
kinds of patronage. To the fylke church the king in the
early days presented, but gradually the bishops acquired
the right. Even at first this was not the universal rule, for
in the Gula Thing district the bishops seem always to have
presented to these churches.
The appointment to the herreds church partook of the
nature of an arrangement between the bishop and the
parishioners. The old law provided that the bishop was to
nominate a priest to these parishes for a period of twelve
months. If at the end of this time the priest had carried
out the duties of his office in a manner satisfactory to the
parishioners, then he obtained what we might call a freehold
benefice, and could not be removed from his parish by the
bishop except for some canonical reason. In later times it
would seem that the privileges of the parishioners became
disregarded, and they only had a right to make a protest
against the episcopal nominee.
The h0gendes churches, or private chapels, were naturally
in the patronage of those who built and maintained them,
and the bishop had no direct voice in the appointment.
The incomes of the bishops and clergy in the time of
which we are treating, were derived from various sources.
It must be remembered that tithes in Norway only dated
from the reign of Sigurd Jorsalfarer, who instituted them
on his return from his famous Crusade. Before their
establishment the episcopal income was mainly derived
from what was called the biskopsrede, or bishops' tax.
This was a poll tax on all males in his diocese. In addition
to it he had a share in the fines which were levied for
various ecclesiastical offences, and also the fees, sanctioned
by law, for the performance of episcopal functions, such as
the consecration of churches, &c. When tithes were
introduced the old biskopsrede gradually ceased.
The clergy of the fylke churches were in a somewhat
better position than the rest of their brethren. In the
heathen times there were frequently endowments given to
the maintenance of the fylke hov, and these passed over to
the Christian priests. The early Christian kings had also,
in many instances, given grants of land for the support of
the fylke churches.
The provision for the clergy of the her reds churches was
of a more uncertain nature, and it mainly consisted of
voluntary contributions, and also of the legally-enforced
fees for marriages, baptisms, burials, &c. The rest of the
income was usually a matter of arrangement between the
priest and his parishioners. The introduction of tithes,
however, put an end to this. The income of the private
chapels was of course provided by those for whose
convenience they existed.
The duties of the bishops and clergy were mainly the
same as in other places, but care was taken by the various
Kristenretter that they should be effectively carried out :
the bishop was obliged to visit every parish in his diocese
once a year, and to remain in it for three or four days.
During his visitation tours he was brought on his way free
of charge by the b0nder, and maintained during his stay
by the priest and people. If the bishop failed to visit a
parish he forfeited his claim on the biskopsrede from that
parish for a year.
The duties of the parish priests were prescribed with
much minuteness in the old laws, and a list of the holy
days upon which service was to be performed was drawn
up. The keeping of these days, as well as Sundays, was
strictly enforced, and fines appointed for any failure in this
respect. The priest was obliged to keep his people
informed as to the holy days, and a curious expedient was
adopted for the purpose. The Gula Things law ordained
that he should cut a cross before each holy day and send
it round to every house in his parish " where smoke
smoked/' The man to whose house it came, had to forward
it to his neighbour, and so the scattered inhabitants of the
large parishes were warned when the holy day would come,
and were obliged to observe it strictly. A rigid observance
of these days often caused much loss and inconvenience
to the people, and we shall find later on that they obtained
a special dispensation to continue the work of harvesting
and fishing on them when necessity so required. In con-
nection with funerals there were some curious customs.
The priest had, before the funeral, to go to the house of
the deceased and to sing a dirge over the body, as well as
saying the appointed service in the churchyard. A few
days after the burial a feast known as the Arve0l (lit. the
inheritance beer) was held, at which the heir of the deceased
entered upon his inheritance. At this ceremony the priest
had to be present, and to bless the beer, and he, with his
wife, sat in the high seat. This festivity was also known
as the sjcele0l 9 because the beer was drunk in memory of
the sjcel or soul of the departed.
The position of the parochial clergy in the early times
was not always an easy one. Later on when the power of
the Church, under the guidance of the archbishops, had
vastly increased, they formed a part of the well- drilled
army of the Church in Europe, which often defied the
power of kaisers and kings. But in Norway before the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries they were very much in
the hands of their parishioners, and episcopal control was
not very effective. The clergy were in the closest connec-
tion with the b0nder, whose sons they were, and, being a
married priesthood, they were more liable to local influences.
The people who were ready, if need be, to support them
against the bishop were also quite prepared to hold them
in bondage to themselves. The Kristenret of the Borgar
Thing laid down that the priest was not to be absent from
his parish, except he obtained permission from his congrega-
tion the Sunday before. The only exception to this being,
if he was going to attend a presto, motz, or clerical
The first priests in Norway were doubtless men who
came from England or Germany, to work under the bishops
who accompanied the two Olafs, and were almost altogether
foreigners, though of course speaking the language of the
people. But the next generation of priests were largely
natives whom the first priests had trained, and who had
been admitted to the inferior orders. They were unlearned
men with just sufficient instruction to enable them to per-
form the Divine service. When after the year 1100
monastic life was firmly established, there were greater
opportunities for learning, and there was a corresponding
improvement in the education of the Norwegian priests.
In spite of the difficulties which the Church in Norway
had to contend against in the first century of its existence,
it already ranked high among the Churches of Western
Europe for the zeal and piety of its members. We possess
a very remarkable piece of evidence with respect to this, in
the writings of Adam of Bremen with regard to several
points connected with the early history of Norwegian
Christianity. It is all the more valuable, as the Church of
Bremen was not particularly inclined to look with favour
on the work of the English bishops and priests in Norway,
who were not the emissaries of the great North German see,
and who had accomplished what the Bremen missionaries
had more or less failed to effect ; but though praising the
people, he cannot refrain from attacking the English priests.
In Adam's description of Norway^ he thus writes, con-
trasting the condition of the country, in the old heathen
and Viking days and the time which followed the
introduction of Christianity:
"After they received Christianity, being imbued with
fuller knowledge, they have now learned to love peace and
truth, and to be content in their poverty ; yea, to distribute
what they have stored up, and not, as aforetime, to gather
up what was scattered. And, although they had from
the beginning all been enslaved by the evil arts of wizards,
now with the apostle they in simplicity ' confess Christ and
Him crucified/
" Of all men they are the most temperate, both in food
and in their habits, loving above all things thrift and
modesty. In addition to this, so great is their veneration
for priests and churches, that there is scarcely a Christian
to be found who does not on every occasion that he hears
Mass make an offering. Baptism, however, and confirma-
tion, the dedication of altars, and the blessing of Holy
Orders, with them, as well as with the Danes, are all highly
paid for. This, I consider, springs from the avarice of the
priests, because up to now the barbarians are either ignorant
of, or unwilling to pay, tithes, and therefore they are com-
pelled to pay for what should be offered free for everything
there costs money, even the visitation of the sick and the
burial of the dead. Their morals are of such a high
character that I am convinced that it is only by the avarice
of their priests that they are corrupted. In many places in
* " Descriptio insularum Aquilonis," Chap. xxx. Adam lived in the
middle and end of the eleventh century, and was therefore a con-
temporary of Olaf Kyrre.
Norway and Sweden the tenders of the flocks are men
even of the most noble rank, who, after the manner of the
patriarchs, live by the work of their hands. But all who
dwell in Norway are most devout Christians (Christian-
issimi), with the exception of those who are far off beside
the seas of the Arctic regions/ 7
The period which ends with the reign of Sigurd
Jorsalfarer is remarkable also for the introduction of
tithes and for the estabHshment of monasticism in Norway
on a firm basis.
In the early days the incomes of the bishops and clergy
were mainly dependent on the voluntary offerings of the
people and the smaller, law-appointed bisJcopsrede and
payments to the fylke churches. But under Sigurd an
important change took place. It is said that when on his
memorable Crusade, he made a vow that if he returned
home in safety, he would introduce tithes into Norway.
This he did, and from his time we find that they gradually
superseded the older system of payments, to the great
advantage of the Church.
The apportionment of tithe in Norway was four-fold
(1) To the support of the parish church ; (2) to the bishop ;
(3) to the parish priest ; (4) to the poor of the parish.
This was by no means a popular move, as the people
regarded it in the light of a new tax on the necessities of
life, tithe being levied not merely on agriculture, but on
the harvest of the sea and on the cattle. Its introduction
was apparently gradual, but there were parts of Norway
(such as the Telemark) where it was resisted, and, with
more or less success, down to the time of the Reformation,
when all the property of the Church was seized by the
The establishment of tithe was naturally a very impor-
tant thing for the Church, as it rendered the clergy much
more independent of their people, and they were no longer
liable to be starved out, if they acted in a way dis-
pleasing to the majority of their parishioners, which was
quite possible under the old system.
The close of the eleventh century, and the beginning of
the twelfth, saw also, among other important developments
in the organization of the Church, the firm establishment
of monasticism in Norway.^ It was hardly to be expected
that at first this form of religious life would commend
itself to the national character. A people accustomed to a
life of adventure, and among whom warlike expeditions
and constant civil war, continued almost without inter-
mission for the first century after they had embraced
Christianity, would not willingly adopt the quiet and
regular life of a religious community.
The earliest monastic establishment, however, seems to
have been the one which Knut the Great, shortly before
the defeat and death of St. Olaf, founded on the little
island of Nidarholm (afterwards called Munkholm), which
lay in the fjord close to the town of Nidaros. Knut's
bishop, Sigurd, who did all in his power to incite the
people against St. Olaf, seems to have been mainly
instrumental in this, and the Benedictines were the first
of the monastic orders who thus obtained a footing in
The movement, however, did not spread, and the
country remained for some time longer without any other
monasteries. When, however, a long period of peaceful
progress ensued, during the reigns of Olaf Kyrre and
the sons of Magnus Barfot, we begin to find the religious
orders in different parts of the country. The Crusade
of Sigurd Jorsalfarer taught the Norsemen many things,
and the hardy band of the Northern Crusaders could
not have failed to be impressed by the great monasteries
* For the history of monasticism in Norway the great authority is
Lange's important work, " De NorsJce Klostres Historie"
C.S.N. K
which they must have seen in the southern countries of
The earliest monks, like the earliest of the secular priests,
were undoubtedly Englishmen, who, leaving their great
establishments in England, settled down among the Norse-
men and began to teach them the arts, which at that time,
were only to be learned in such communities.
The Benedictines were the first comers, as we have seen,
and in addition to Nidarholm they were duly established
on the little island of Selje, where the shrine of St. Sunniva
was kept until its transference to Bergen. The monastery
on that island was dedicated to St. Alban, probably the
English proto-martyr.
Next after the Benedictines came the Cistercians and
Augustinians ; the former were, in Norway, closely associated
with the Benedictines. The latter had, as their earliest
establishments, Elgesaeter, close to Nidaros, the Jons
Kloster at Bergen and the great monastery at Halsn0, in
S0ndhordland. The Cistercians had, as the earliest of their
monasteries, the one at Lyse,* about twenty miles from
Bergen, which was first served by English monks from
Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire. They came on the invitation
of Bishop Sigurd of Bergen (who had been on a visit to
Fountains) under Eanulf as their first abbot. Monks from
Lincoln, the year after the foundation of Lyse, established
another monastery of the same order on Hoved0, an island
close to Oslo.
These were the earliest of the monastic orders in Norway,
and later on came the Premonstratensians. The Dominicans
and Franciscans arrived in the following century. The only
' This place is remarkable as being " the only Norse monastery the
history of whose foundation is preserved, and that by means of a docu-
ment published in England." Metcalfe's Introduction to the " Passio
et Miracula Beati Olaui " of Archbishop Eystein. Clarendon Press,
Oxford, 1887.
northern order, that of St. Birgitta, we shall meet with at
the end of the fourteenth century.
It is only necessary for our purpose to indicate as above
what orders established themselves in Norway ; the history
of these various foundations is beyond the scope of our
present inquiry.
CHAPTER XL
THE MISSION OF CARDINAL NICHOLAS BREAKSPEARE.
MAGNUS ERLINGSS0N AND ARCHBISHOP EYSTEIN.
Civil War Sigurd, Eystein, and Inge, joint Kings Reidar, the First
Archbishop of Nidaros The Mission of Cardinal Nicholas, 1152
The New Province of Nidaros The Results which followed the
Mission of Cardinal Nicholas Civil War again Erling Skakke
Archbishop Eystein His Policy Erling's compact with Eystein
The Coronation of Magnus Erlingss0n The Triumph of the Church
over the State The Rise of the Birkebeiner Magnus victorious
at Re.
THE sad forebodings which filled the mind of Sigurd
Jorsalfarer in the closing days of his life, were but too fully
realized in the events which followed. His and his brother's
reign had been a time of peaceful progress for Norway ;
and, saved from foreign invasion and internal strife, the
country had made great strides in material prosperity and
social advancement. But all this was now to receive a
check, and for close upon a century civil war raged almost
without intermission, and the progress which had been so
marked, absolutely ceased for a time. The period was,
however, characterized by a very great increase in the power
and authority of the Church, which profited by the weak-
ness of the rival kings to advance her claims ; for none of
them dared to speak with the tones of Haardraade and
declare that he was the sole ruler in the Church as well as
the State.
Sigurd was no sooner dead than Harald Gille (disregard-
ing his oath which he had taken before proving his claim
by ordeal) had himself chosen as king, by a gathering at
T0nsberg. At the same time Magnus's adherents proclaimed
ST. ANDREAS KIRKE BORGUND, LXERDAL.
Erected about 1150. An excellent example of the Norwegian
Stcwfeirke. See Appendix II.
{To face p. 132,
HARALD GILLE. 133
him king in Oslo. Harald justified himself for this breach
of his oath by maintaining that he only took it under com-
pulsion. An immediate outbreak was averted by the chiefs
on both sides, and the two divided the kingdom. This,
however, only lasted for about four years, and in 1134
Magnus attacked Harald, who was obliged to fly the country.
Early in January, 1135, Harald, having got help, came
back and surprised Magnus in Bergen, and cruelly blinded
and mutilated him, and the miserable man sought refuge in
a monastery in Nidaros, and left the country to Harald.
The latter, however, did not profit by his cruel deed, and
much indignation was felt throughout the country. This
was increased by a further atrocity. Harald, who had tried
in vain to extract from Magnus the secret of the place
where his treasure was hidden, had reason to believe that
Eeinald, the bishop of Stavanger, was in the ex-king's
confidence. On his refusal to assist Harald he was ordered
to pay a heavy fine, and when he declined to do so, on
the ground of its impoverishing the revenues of the see,
Harald, in his rage and fury, condemned him to be hung.
This atrocious sentence was carried out on January 18th,
This savage king was not long left to rule alone. We
have seen what a dangerous precedent was established when
Harald was allowed to prove his claim by ordeal. He had
now to permit another to do the same thing. The new
claimant was a man named Sigurd, who alleged that he,
like Harald, was a son of Magnus Barfot. This claimant
had, it seems, been trained up for holy orders, and had
actually been ordained deacon, hence the name by which he
became known of Slembediakn, the bad deacon, or, as it is
usually shortened, Slembe. He arrived in Bergen in 1136,
and Harald was most reluctantly obliged to admit his
claim ; this Sigurd repaid by having Harald treacherously
murdered in his bed. Sigurd then thought that, having
removed his brother, he would have the kingdom to himself ;
but he was quickly told that, as his brother's murderer, they
would have none of him, and if Harald was not his brother
he would have no claim to the throne.
A wearisome strife followed. The chiefs took as kings
Harald's two sons, Sigurd and Inge, who were but little
children, and prepared to defend them against the fratricide,
Sigurd Slembe. Then Sigurd, to strengthen his cause, went
to Nidaros and took the poor blind Magnus out of his
monastery and forced him to follow his army. The civil
war raged with varying fortune until 1139, when the un-
fortunate Magnus was killed and Sigurd Slembe taken
prisoner in a battle at Holmengraa, near Str0mstad. The
war had aroused the worst passions of both parties, and the
wretched Slembe was put to death after horrible cruelties
had been inflicted on him, which he seems to have met
bravely, and we are told that he sang the psalms until death
ended his tortures.
Two kings having now been disposed of, there remained
but Sigurd and Inge. The former was known as Sigurd
Mund, Sigurd of the Mouth, as that was the most prominent
feature of his face ; and the latter as Inge Krokryg, or the
Humpback, the hardships of his early days, and his having
been carried about to all the battles of the civil war,
having caused the deformity. But they were not to be left
to rule alone, for in 1142 their brother Ey stein arrived in
Norway from Scotland, and claimed and received his share
of the kingdom. There were now no less than three kings
of Norway, and this situation contained all the elements of
future disturbance, but for the time, as all the kings were
so young, there was a short interval of peace, and the
country began to recover itself a little from the desolations
of the previous civil war.
It was at this time that the famous mission of Cardinal
Nicholas Breakspeare took place, which led to such important
THE MISSION OF NICHOLAS BREAKSPEARE. 135
results in the future development of the Church ; but here
we must retrace our steps.
It will be remembered that it was in the first year of the
joint reign of Ey stein and Sigurd Jorsalfarer (1104) that
the jurisdiction of the see of Bremen over the three
northern kingdoms ended by the elevation of the see of
Lund, in Sweden, but politically in Denmark, to metro-
politan dignity. This step finally terminated the disputes
which had been carried on between the bishops in Norway
from the earliest times of the introduction of Christianity
under Olaf Trygvess0n, and the archbishops of Bremen.
The change of the metropolitan see from Bremen to Lund
was chiefly due to the initiative of the Danish kings, who
found the archbishops of Bremen much too ready to inter-
fere in the internal affairs of Denmark. Svein Ulfss0n
seems to have opened negotiations with the Pope for this
purpose, but nothing definite was settled. Later, Erik the
Good, of Denmark, applied to Urban II., who was favourable
to the project of a Danish metropolitan, but it was not until
the time of Pope Paschal II. that the plan was carried out.
Liemar, the archbishop of Bremen who had been the friend
of the Kaiser Henry II., died in 1101, and was succeeded
by Archbishop Hubert.
In 1103 the Pope sent a cardinal legate to Denmark for
the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the king. He
chose Lund as the most suitable place, and invested the
bishop there with the pallium. Thus Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden ceased to be any longer under the metropolitan
jurisdiction of the archbishops of Bremen.
From this time, down to the middle of the century,
Norway was officially under the authority of the see of
Lund, and most of the bishops were consecrated there, but
notwithstanding this, the old connection with the English
Church was closely maintained. Most of the monasteries
which sprang up in Norway at that time were filled with
monks and priors from England. Stavanger diocese seems
to have been closely allied to Winchester, and the cathedral,
as we have already noted, bore, and still bears, the honoured
name of the great prelate of Winchester, St. S within.
The monastery of Lyse, which was situated only a few
miles from Bergen, was the foundation of monks from
Fountains Abbey, in Yorkshire.^
No difficulties, however, seem to have arisen between the
Norwegian Church and the see of Lund in the fifty odd
years during which its authority extended over Norway. It
was felt, however, that as Norway had now a fully
recognized place among the nations of Europe her claim
to a separate ecclesiastical province could not be denied,
especially after the famous exploits of the Norwegian King
Sigurd in his Crusade. That monarch during his stay in
Jerusalem is said to have announced his intention of estab-
lishing a metropolitan see in Norway, but no formal steps
in this direction appear to have been taken.
Thus matters remained until the period which we have
now reached in the history of the Church, when the country
found itself under the weak rule of the three joint kings,
Eystein, Sigurd, and Inge, the sons of Harald Gille.
That negotiations must have been carried on with Rome,
and the see of Nidaros selected as the one for metropolitan
dignity is clear, but there are no records of them. We
learn, however, that in 1151 Bishop Reidar of Nidaros was
invested with the pallium in Rome as archbishop. He,
however, died very soon after his appointment, and before
he had time to return to Norway.
The year after, the Pope (Eugenius III.) took the neces-
sary steps for selecting the metropolitan see for Norway, and,
following the precedent of his predecessor (Paschal II.) in
1103, he dispatched a cardinal legate to the North. For
this purpose the Pope selected the famous Englishman
* See p. 130.
THE MISSION OF NICHOLAS BREAKSPEAKE. 137
Nicholas Breakspeare, at that time cardinal archbishop of
Albano. There are few more striking stories than that of
the life of this famous prelate, who, from being a poor lad
begging for bread at St. Albans, rose at last to the chair of
St. Peter, and was the only Englishman who ever filled that
exalted post. It was to his own great talents and power
that he owed his elevation. After leaving England he went
to the monastery of St. Eufus, in Provence, where his great
learning and ability gained him, after some time, the post
of prior. Though he had been unanimously chosen by the
monks, his stern rule made him unpopular with them, and
they appealed to the Pope, who, at once seeing what a
strong man Nicholas was, determined to exalt him to higher
rank, and, appointing another prior to St. Kufus, made
Breakspeare a cardinal, and archbishop of Albano.
A wiser selection than this astute Churchman to bring the
Norwegian Church fully under Koman obedience could not
possibly have been made. With all his firmness of purpose
the legate was a man of the most winning disposition, and
secured for ever a firm place in the affections of the
Norwegian people.
When he arrived in Norway he found the three kings on
indifferent terms with one another, and he skilfully availed
himself of this, in order to advance and confirm the
authority of the Church. Of the three brothers, the best
was undoubtedly the delicate Inge Krokryg, for whom
the legate seems to have entertained a warm feeling of
regard.
In July, 1152, the cardinal came from England to
Norway, where he was received with great honour. Steps
were immediately taken to call together a representative
assembly of the whole kingdom. This seems undoubtedly
to have been held at Nidaros (though, curiously, we have
no actual record of the exact place), for no other town was
as likely to have been selected as that where the body of the
national saint reposed, and whose bishop was now to be
advanced to metropolitan dignity.
At this gathering the three kings were all present. The
bishops of Bergen, Stavanger, and Oslo, along with twelve
representative men from each diocese, gave the meeting
the character of a national assembly. The see of Nidaros
was vacant at the time, as Reidar was only a few months
dead, and the vacancy still remained, the kings having
probably purposely abstained from appointing his successor
until the visit of the cardinal.
It was decided that Nidaros should be chosen as the
metropolitan see, and the vacancy was filled up by the
translation from Bergen of the bishop Jon Byrgess0n, who
was forthwith invested with the pallium by Cardinal
Nicholas at a function marked with great solemnity. The
province for the new archbishop was a widespread one,
embracing not only Norway, but all those other lands
which had been either colonized, or conquered by the
Norwegians. It was decided that the diocese of Oslo must
be divided, and Hamar, on the Mi0sen Lake, was selected
as the most suitable centre of the new diocese, which
was to consist chiefly of the Oplands and surrounding
districts.
The new metropolitan of Nidaros had therefore under
his jurisdiction the following sees :
NORWAY Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, and Hamar.
ICELAND Skaalholt and Hole.
G REENL AND Garde . *
F^ER0ERNE (Faeroe Islands, p. 57) Kirkeb0 in Straum0.
ORKNEYS Kirkevaag.
SODOR (Suder0erne) and MAN.
* An interesting point connected with this see lies in the fact that
the Norwegian colony founded in North America about the year 1000,
and which lingered on for a considerable time (much longer than is
usually supposed), lay in the diocese of Garde.
It will thus be seen that, including Nidaros itself, eleven
sees made up the province, and when we remember the
immense distance which separated some of the suffragan
bishops from their archbishop, such as Garde and Man, it
was not likely that, except in Norway and Iceland, any
very effective control could easily be maintained over
these far-distant dioceses. The bishops who ruled over the
Norwegian Church in Ireland in former years had at this
time come practically under the control of the Irish
metropolitans.
The stay of Cardinal Nicholas was marked by several
very important changes in the constitution of the Church
in Norway, into which we must enter in detail ; but here
we may say that his mission was entirely successful, and
he left the country having won the honour and love of all
the people. From Norway he went to Sweden for a short
time, and then returned to Eome. Two years afterwards,
on the death of Anastasius IV. in 1154, he was chosen as
his successor, and assumed the tiara with the title of
Adrian IV. During his short reign as Pope (1154 1159)
he never forgot his friends in the North, and it is told of
him "that no matter what important business he might
have on hands, he would always give an audience first to
the Northmen when they sought it,' 7 and, though never
canonized, they reverenced him as a saint.
We must now sum up the results which followed from
this important mission.
From what we have learned of the state of the Church
in Norway from the days of St. Olaf to the coming of
Nicholas, it is quite clear that there was a great deal which
would not at all commend itself to the papal theories of
government, which were fully established in the middle of
the twelfth century. The bishops and clergy were very
far from being the well-drilled and disciplined ecclesiastical
force which the papacy had organized in other parts of
Europe. They were ready enough to conform in matters
of doctrine, but there was amongst them a very strong
feeling of dislike to any kind of foreign interference, which
was most characteristic of the national spirit, and which
was often manifested in England as well, from which
country, the clergy were largely recruited. The stronger
kings, we know, fiercely resented the claims of the arch-
bishops of Bremen, and it was the same spirit of aversion
to the rule of prelates outside Norway which led to the
establishment of the Nidaros archbishopric. But the time
was propitious for the assertion of the power of the Church,
and three weak kings made easy what would have formerly
been an impossible task.
It was not likely that cardinals who had recently seen the
triumph of the papacy over the very greatest of the kaisers,
would have been inclined to regard with patience the claims
of a few small kinglets in half-civilized Norway. Trained
up in such a school, the cardinal archbishop of Albano was
not likely to look with favour on a Church organization
in which the king alone chose the bishops, and the people,
if they did not directly appoint the parochial clergy,
had them, at any rate, very largely under their control.
Then again, although the Pope was willingly recognized as
the head of Western Christendom, the recognition did not
proceed as far as the popes (now at the summit of their
temporal power) desired, for it brought them no tribute.
The freedom-loving Norseman, who only grudgingly paid
skat to his king, had no desire to swell the papal treasury
by his share of Peter's pence.
The ecclesiastical revolution for it was nothing less than
a revolution may be summed up under the following
heads :
1. The transference of the choice of bishops from the
king to the cathedral chapters. Originally, as we have
noted, the bishops were but missionaries in episcopal orders,
and they had not for over one hundred and fifty years after
the days of Olaf Trygvess0n, any fixed dioceses or regular
cathedral churches; and when they gained these, the
" sacred circlet of the presbytery " assembled in chapter, was
wanting. These were supplied by the reforms of Cardinal
Nicholas, and to them was given the choice of the bishop.
This choice, however, was to be subject to the royal approval,
and naturally led to frequent conflicts in future years.
The argument of the astute Churchman who succeeded in
thus weakening the royal control over the Church in such
a striking way, was a very reasonable one, and based on
the very unwise law of succession to the throne which pre-
vailed in Norway. Given three kings with equal powers,
what was to happen if they could not agree on a suitable
man how much better it would be for the cathedral
chapters to choose a man subject to the royal approval.
2. The appointment to parishes. This was now given
to the bishops. This was also an infringement on the royal
power, for the kings exercised a good deal of patronage,
but by no means exclusively, for the bishops appointed
largely to many parishes, especially to the herreds kirker,
in which their patronage was to a certain extent shared by
3. A change in the law of the land with respect to
bequests. This power was formerly very limited, but
through the cardinal's influence it was permitted to every
one to give a tithe of inherited property, and one-fourth of
personal earnings to any one they desired. The presumption
of the old law was practically that all property belonged
more to the family than to the individual, including what
we would call personal as well as real property. Under
the old laws there was recognized the custom of giving what
was called a hovedtiende, or chief tithe. This custom pre-
vailed before the introduction of ordinary tithes under
Sigurd Jorsalfarer, and it was only given once in a man's
life, usually on his death-bed. If paid by the heir it was
known as a sjcelegave, or a gift for the soul of the
deceased. The object of the cardinal's change in the law,
was of course to enrich the Church, which it eventually did
to a very considerable extent after some years. It was
necessary that this change in the law of inheritance should
receive the sanction of the Things. This was granted at
once by the Frosta Thing for the north, and the Gula Thing
for the west, but it was not until about the year 1224 that
the Eidsiva and Borgar Things accepted the new proposal.
4. The payment of Peter's pence. If Norway was to
receive the benefits of papal supervision, it was only natural
that the country should pay its share of the contributions
of Western Christendom to the papal see. This new
ecclesiastical tax was known as the Roma skat, and was
fixed as a Norwegian " penny " to be paid by all who
owned not less than three marks, besides weapons and
All these important results appear to have followed from
the visit of Cardinal Nicholas, and though they did not all
at once come into operation, yet we may safely ascribe them
to the influence of this far-seeing prelate. There was one
point, however, in which he failed. The papal power at
this time tried everywhere to enforce the new doctrine of
the celibacy of the clergy, and it was only to be expected
that the cardinal would attempt to do the same in Norway.
We have no clear information as to what was done by him
in this direction, but later on, when the bishops sought to
enforce it on the parish priests, as part of the discipline of the
Church, it was resisted by the clergy, on the ground that
Nicholas had attempted it, and finding the opposition too
great, he had then given them permission to marry. It is
hardly likely that the cardinal had given any formal per-
mission, for what was so entirely contrary to the designs of
the papacy at the time ; but it is probable that, perceiving
THE MISSION OF NICHOLAS BRBAKSPEARE. 143
the clergy were very determined on the point, and being a
very far-seeing and prudent man, he did not wish to risk
the success of the other great results which he had achieved,
by insisting on the celibacy of the priests, and his acquies-
cence in this was taken by them as a formal permission.
The cardinal doubtless saw, and saw rightly, that the
celibacy of the clergy would follow, when the authority of
the bishops, who were directly under the papal power,
began to make itself felt.
To Nicholas has also been ascribed the drawing up of a
catechism for the instruction of the young, but for this we
have no positive authority. He doubtless impressed upon
the clergy the extreme importance of attending to cate-
chetical instruction, and indicated the lines upon which it
should proceed. It is very probably true, as has been
stated, that in addition to the Creed and Paternoster which
formed the foundation of the earliest Christian teaching in
Norway, he added the Ave Maria*
Thus was Norway brought fully under the dominion of
the Apostolic see and its metropolitans invested by Kome
with the pa] Hum, the outward sign of their authority. The
old semi-independent days were now over, and a new era
dawned upon the Church. Hitherto the struggles which
had raged so fiercely in other lands between the Church
and the State were unknown, but the time was not far distant
when Norway was to be the scene of many similar conflicts.
It cannot be denied that the closer connection between
Norway and Eome was of very great benefit to the cause
* It may also be noticed that a change was made in the form in
which the laws began. The oldest form which we have of the Gula
Things law, began thus : " It is the foundation of our law that we
should bow to the East and pray to the Holy Christ for a good season and
peace," &c. In 1274 we find the same laws (under Magnus Lagab0ter)
opening with these words : " The peace and blessing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and of our Lady the Holy Mary, and the prayers of the holy
King Olaf and all the saints be with us, and all the Gula Things men."
of religion and learning, whilst the old Norse love of in-
dependence and freedom, prevented the growth of that
spirit of servility manifested in other lands under the
Eoman supremacy. The learned and pious men who
from time to time filled the highest offices in the Church,
used their influence in spreading civilization, and the
true spirit of Christianity amongst the rough, and in
many cases still even half-barbarous, inhabitants of the
wild mountain valleys of Norway. When we remember
how, even in our own day, many districts are still remote
and inaccessible, we can see how difficult it must have
been in the middle ages to minister to the higher needs
of the people, and to teach them the doctrines of the
Christian faith.
After the mission of Cardinal Nicholas was over, the
smouldering antagonism between the three kings of
Norway broke into a flame, and once more civil war began.
The two brothers, Eystein and Sigurd, had no love for each
other, but probably from feelings of jealousy towards their
brother, whose kindly nature had won the love of the great
cardinal they decided to join in an attempt to exclude
him from his share in the kingdom, on the ground that his
feeble health rendered him unfit to rule. Inge had, how-
ever, a strong following in the land, led by Gregorius
Dagss0n, of Bratsberg, and the famous Erling Skakke, of
St0dle, in S0ndhordland. Civil war raged again, and in
1155 Sigurd was killed in battle at Bergen, and Eystein,
in 1157, met the same fate at Viken. Inge was thus left
the sole king, though the opposite faction took Sigurd's son,
Haakon Herdebred, and made him king in Nidaros (1159),
though little progress was made in his cause as long as
Dagss0n lived to champion the side of Inge. In 1161,
however, Gregorius Dagss0n was slain, and a few weeks
later Inge was also killed in a battle fought on the ice at
Oslo, on the 3rd of February in the same year.
MAGNUS EELINaSS0N. 145
There was no king now left to contest the throne
with Haakon Herdebred, and it might have been thought
that peace would have been restored to the distracted land.
This, however, was not to be. The great chief Erling
Skakke was determined to try and secure the royal
authority to one of his own family. He had married a
daughter of Sigurd Jorsalfarer, and by her he had a son
named Magnus, who at this time was but a child of five
years old. It was quite an unheard-of thing that any one
should lay claim to the throne by right of his mother ; and
all the previous kings even those whose paternity was,
to say the least, doubtful, like Harald Gille and Sigurd
Slembe never ventured on such a step. There were many
who might have traced a direct descent, through females,
from the great Haarfagre, but none had ever claimed the
throne on such grounds.
Erlingj however, decided on making an effort on behalf
of the youthful Magnus, relying on his own great popu-
larity and power, and also on the fact that Magnus was the
grandson of the great Crusader, and, it might be hoped, that
one so nearly related to him, would bring back again the
long-lost prosperity which the land had enjoyed in the
reign of Sigurd. A few months after the death of Inge,
Erling had Magnus chosen as king, at a Thing held in
Bergen. Thus again there were two kings Haakon
now accepted in Tr0ndelagen as sovereign of the whole
country, formerly only of his father's share, and Magnus
also claiming the entire land.
Erling sought help from Denmark, on his son's behalf,
and promised to hand over once more to the Danish king's
authority, the old district of Viken. Then he returned to
Norway, and shortly after, in 1162, defeated and slew
Haakon Herdebred in a sea-fight in the Romsdals Fjord ; and
now there seemed to be no rival to his son's throne. After
the battle Erling sailed on to Nidaros, and at a Thing
O.S.N. L
held there extracted a rather unwilling acceptance of
Magnus as king of Norway.
We now come to a period in the history of Norway,
when the Church (the foundation of whose power had
been so carefully laid by the famous cardinal) was about
to enter upon a long conflict with the State, which con-
tinued with varying fortunes for over one hundred years.
It was but an incident in the great struggle which was
experienced in almost every country of Europe, and in
which the greatest of the Hohenstaufen Kaisers had to
bend before the imperious pontiff, and the great Plan-
tagenet to humble himself at the tomb of his martyred
prelate.
The preliminary victory of the ecclesiastical over the
civil power in Norway was, however, a much easier one
than that which fell to the lot of the Church in other lands,
and was the result of a bargain between an ambitious
chief, on behalf of a child king, and an ecclesiastic of the
highest rank in power and wisdom.
Jon Byrgess0n, who had been invested with the dignity
of a metropolitan by Cardinal Nicholas, only lived for a few
years after his translation to Nidaros, and died in the year
1157. Not much about him is known, but he seems to
have been a kindly and tolerant archbishop. Inge was, at
the time of his death, the sole king, and, in spite of the
newly-made agreement that the chapters were to have the
choice of the bishops, he nominated as archbishop his
chaplain and chancellor, Ey stein Erlendss0n, a man who
belonged to one of the most ancient and influential families
in Tr0ndelagen, and who was related to the royal line of
Ey stein was, perhaps, the most remarkable man in the
long list of the archbishops of Nidaros. He was a man of
great power and ability; learned, pious, eloquent, and
possessed of an iron will which would brook no resistance ;
ARCHBISHOP EYSTEIN. 147
he was filled with the loftiest ideas as to the power and
authority of the Church. In some points he resembled his
great contemporary Thomas a Becket, though he had not
to climb from low estate to the highest office in the Church
of his native land. Eystein was the equal or superior in
birth, to most of those with whom he came in contact, nor
had he to serve a master so strong and powerful as the
English Henry II. He escaped the martyrdom which fell
to the lot of the great prelate of Canterbury, but he had to
endure, at any rate, three years of exile from the Church
over which he had been called to rule. Though he was
nominated as archbishop by the king in 1157, he was not
consecrated in that year, and he seems to have spent some
time in wisely endeavouring to conciliate his cathedral
chapter, and to make them acquiesce in the manner of his
selection. He does not appear to have reached Italy
until 1159 the same year, and about the same time, as
Adrian IV. (Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare) died.
The death of Adrian IV. was followed, as is known, by
the choice of two popes, Alexander III. and Victor IV.
The struggle between the two, does not concern us here,
but Eystein threw in his lot with the one who eventually
triumphed, Alexander III., and was by him consecrated
and received the pallium (probably in France) in the year
1161. He returned to Norway at once, to find his friend
and patron Inge, slain in the battle at Oslo, and Erling
Skakke, on behalf of his son Magnus, contesting the
kingdom with Haakon Herdebred.
On his arrival at Nidaros he probably saw that the
time was ripe for asserting the claims of the Church, and
for putting into practice the lessons which had doubtless
been impressed upon him by the haughty Pope Alexander
III. In order to strengthen himself for the fray, he
decided that the first step to be taken was to increase the
revenues of his see. These were, as we know, very largely
augmented by the fines (sag0re or b0der), which were
levied and sanctioned by the State, for breaches of
ecclesiastical discipline under the Kristenret. The arch-
bishop set to work with great astuteness to accomplish
this. At a meeting of the Frosta Thing he put it to the
people, that they had now received the great honour of
having a metropolitan and archbishop in Nidaros, and
that if they were to enjoy so great an honour and dignity
above all the other dioceses of Norway, they must be
ready on their part, to provide a suitable income for the
see. The b0nder, much as they might appreciate the
honour of belonging to the archiepiscopal diocese, were not
enthusiastic over the suggestion, which would entail the
payment of a larger sum in fines than had hitherto
been levied on them ; but the great local influence of
Eystein and his persuasive eloquence, induced them to
assent to the archbishop's proposal. What Eystein carried
through was a very simple and effective reform. The fines
had been customarily paid according to an old standard
of coinage called the Iag0re, which was worth only one
half of the current silver, coinage or s0lv0re. The Thing
agreed that in future the fines should be paid in s0lv0re,
and thus the archbishop by a single stroke, exactly doubled
his income derived from this important source.
The opportunity which Eystein looked for, of asserting
the power of the Church soon came. In 1162 Erling
Skakke, after having vanquished and slain Haakon
Herdebred in the battle fought off the island of Sekken,
in the Romsdals Fjord, arrived at Nidaros, where he
procured the recognition of Magnus as king of the whole
Erling was far too wise a man not to recognize at once
what a powerful prelate now reigned at Nidaros, and how
important it was for him to secure to his side the growing
power of the Church. He saw plainly enough that his
ERLING AND EYSTEIN. 149
son's title to the crown was a defective one, and rested
entirely on descent in the female line from the royal race
of Haarfagre, which was contrary to the law and custom
of the whole land, which so strongly insisted on descent
in the male line, that even illegitimacy was no bar to the
succession.
Erling therefore felt that if the legal title of Magnus
was defective, he must support it by the power and
authority of the Church, to gain which, of course, he
must be prepared to make concessions to the Archbishop
and bishops. In Eystein, Erling saw the very man for
his purpose, and he felt sure that if he could win him over,
his son's claim would be firmly established.
With this end in view, he seems to have held several
secret conferences with the archbishop during the time he
was in Nidaros. He began with the crafty suggestion
that if the archbishop had got his income practically
doubled, it was only fair that the king should have the
same advantage, many of the fines being divided between
the king and the bishop, and further that the action of
the archbishop was at variance with the Kristenret of
St. Olaf. The archbishop, however, had a ready answer
to this, as he at once pointed out that what he had done,
was done in a perfectly legal manner by the Thing, and
that, on the other hand, Magnus had himself no legal right
whatsoever to the crown of Norway.
Erling saw at once the force of this argument, and
suggested that instead of disputing, it would be much the
wisest thing for him and the archbishop to come to terms.
Finally it was agreed that, in return for the support of
Erling and his son in the furtherance of the claims of the
Church, the archbishop and bishops should give the
sanction of " God's law "* to supply the defect in title of
* The Kristenret was usually known as " God's law," in distinction
from the civil law, or the " land law."
the king according to the " land law," and that this was
to be done by the archbishop crowning and anointing the
young king.
How long exactly the negotiations lasted is not clear,
but it was not until the summer of 1164 that the corona-
tion took place. The archbishop was probably waiting to
make sure of his terms, and also to see whether anything
was likely to arise which might upset the plans of Erling.
In 1163 a papal legate, Stephen, came to Norway (for
what purpose it does not appear), and the presence of the
legate, seemed to Eystein to be the best opportunity for a
great display of the power of the Church. Accordingly, in
1164 a great rigsmfide, or parliament, was called to meet
in Bergen in the summer, and at the same time the arch-
bishop gathered around him all his suffragans in Norway,
and one (the bishop of Hole) from Iceland, and the heads
of the religious houses. With great ceremony, and in the
presence of the legate, and all the chiefs and bishops, young
Magnus was solemnly anointed and crowned king in
Christ Church, the cathedral of Bergen, and invested by
the archbishop with all the insignia of royalty.
This was the first king who had been crowned in
Norway, and the ceremony was an entirely new departure
in the land. The older monarchs needed only the choice
by the b0nder and chiefs, in the ancient assembly of the
Thing, but now it became apparent to all men that a new
order had come into being, and that the head of the
Norwegian nation was no longer to be only the chosen of
the people, but also " the Lord's anointed/' and invested
with a semi- ecclesiastical power from the hands of the
archbishop. The very placing of the crown on the king's
head by the prelate, was in itself a proof that the monarch
derived his authority, not only from the people, but from
the Church as well.
Thus publicly the Church proclaimed her power, and
MAGNUS ERLINGSS0N AND EYSTEIN. 151
showed what a change had come from the time when the
bishops, like Sigurd and Grimkell of the days of the two
Olafs, were content to be members of the royal household
and to accompany the kings in their journeys through
It was not all at once that the terms of the compact
between the Church, as represented by Eystein, and
Erling, as the guardian of the young king, became known.
It is most probable that, had the people generally become
aware of them at the time, a flood of national anger
would have swept away the young king and his crafty
father. It was only little by little that they became
known and were tolerated. We are told that the con-
ditions respecting the Church's prerogatives, were embodied
in a letter written later on by Magnus, when he came of
age, to Archbishop Eystein 1 *; but this has been regarded by
many as unauthentic, though in one very important
particular the truth of the conditions is confirmed in the
laws of the Gula Thing, which are undoubtedly authentic,
and in which are set forth clearly the changes that had
been made with regard to the succession to the crown.
The compact between Magnus (or more properly
speaking his father, Erling) and the archbishop was of a
kind which, if fully carried out, would effect a complete
revolution in the constitution of Norway. The principal
points were as follows :
The king undertook to surrender his kingdom to God
and St. Olaf, and to hold the kingdom as the vicar and
vassal of the saint. As a sign and token of this, at every
king's death his crown was to be offered on the altar in
Nidaros, and the new monarch to receive it there. Norway
was to be a fief held from St. Olaf, who was to be the real
but invisible king.
* This letter will be found in Latin, in Norges Gamle Love, I.,
The election of bishops and the appointment to parishes
was to be entirely free from royal control.
The special privileges of the metropolitan see were fully
confirmed.
There were other clauses which provided for the protec-
tion of all pilgrims to the shrine of St. Olaf, and severe
laws were to be enforced against sacrilege.
It will at once be seen, that the first of these condi-
tions meant nothing else but the complete ascendency of
the Church over the crown, and making the archbishop
the real ruler of the land. Nothing could more clearly
have set forth the claims which the papacy at this very
time laid down for the kings of Europe, and which were
so vigorously resisted by the kaiser and others. But
perhaps more important still, were the changes which
were introduced into the law respecting the succession to
the crown.
On the death of a king, his successor was to be his eldest
legitimate son, unless he was considered ineligible from
insanity or wickedness. In that case another brother was
to be selected by the archbishop, the bishops, and twelve
men from each diocese nominated by the bishop. If it
should happen that the deceased monarch left no legitimate
son, then the next-of-kin was to be selected by the same
authority. In case of the choice failing to be unanimous,
the candidate of the majority was to be king, provided the
bishops were a part of that majority.
On the death of a king, the bishops, and the twelve episcopal
nominees from each diocese, were to assemble at the shrine
of St. Olaf within one mouth, to confer with the archbishop
respecting the succession, and the late king's crown was to
be offered upon the altar. These terms, of course, meant
that the ancient right of the people of Norway to choose
their king, was to be entirely swept away and transferred to
five episcopal electors.
There was certainly one point in the new proposals which
commends itself namely, the restriction of the succession
to the crown, to the legitimate issue of the king ; the old
law which made illegitimacy no bar to the succession left
the door open to impostors, and was the cause of many of
the troubles which arose after the death of Sigurd Jor-
salfarer. The assertion of the right of primogeniture was
also a novel one, for although it usually happened that the
eldest son was chosen, it was by no means the invariable
or legal rule, as we have already seen in several instances.
Such were the terms of the compact between the arch-
bishop and Magnus, and which the latter is said to have
put in writing in a letter to Eystein when on Easter day,
1174, he offered his crown upon the altar in Nidaros.
It was hardly to be expected, that such a revolution
would be quietly accepted in Norway, and we shall see it
was the commencement of a fierce struggle which lasted
many years, and in the course of which the nation was
divided into two hostile camps the Church and her nominee
striving for the fulfilment of the compact between Magnus
and Eystein, and the chosen of the people, in the person of
perhaps in one way the greatest king that Norway ever
saw, Sverre Sigurdss0n, resisting to the uttermost her claim
to set aside the ancient constitution of the land.
We must now turn again to the history of the reign of
Magnus. The years which succeeded the famous coronation
were more or less disturbed by various attempts, made by
the enemies of Magnus and Erling, to raise the standard of
rebellion, but these were suppressed. The young king was
of a kindly and generous disposition, and seems to have in-
herited many of the good qualities of his famous grandfather,
and possibly he might have brought about a time of peaceful
progress in Norway. But very shortly after he came of
age and took the government into his own hands, a storm
arose which finally swept him away and brought back the
crown to the male line of Harald Haarfagre. This was the
rise of the famous party of the Birkebeiner, to which we
must now turn.
The severities with which Erling had crushed out all
resistance to his son's rule, had produced much discontent,
and a number of men, mostly young, who had been driven
from their homes, gradually gathered themselves together
into a band. They were found mostly in Viken, where they
lived in the woods and on the mountains, where they had
to take refuge after their occasional forays on the b0nder.
They were a very ragged and unkempt body of men, and
when their clothing failed them they bound round their
legs and on their feet the birch bark, from whence they got
the name of Birkebeiner, or birch ]egs, and long afterwards
the name was retained and held in honour by the defenders
of the ancient rights of Norway, against the encroachments
of the hierarchy.*
About the year 1174 they took as their chief a young
man named Eystein, said to be a son of King Ey stein,
Inge's brother. He was generally known as Eystein M0ila,
the surname being probably given in derision, as it means
the " little girl." With him they ranged over the land,
not daring openly to attack Magnus; but in 1177 they
managed to procure some ships, and determined on an
audacious stroke. They came quite unexpectedly on
Nidaros and captured the town. Then, as they found there
was much discontent among the people, they gathered a
Thing and proclaimed Eystein as king. They had, however,
soon to retreat to Viken, whither the young king Magnus
followed them and defeated them in a battle fought at Ke,
near T0nsberg, where Eystein M0ila was slain and his party
scattered, f
* Compare the name Tory in English politics,
t This is the last historical event mentioned by Snorre, and concludes
the Heimskringla.
MAGNUS ERLINGSS0N. 155
It seemed now as if the rule of Magnus Erlingss0n was
firmly established in the land, and that an end had come,
at least for a time, to internal strife, as there was no one to
dispute his title to the throne. The remains of the Birke-
beiner force sought refuge in Vermland with Cecilia, the
daughter of Sigurd Mund (whom Erling had forced, against
her will, into a marriage with Folkvid, a Swede), and ap-
peared impotent for harm.
But Magnus was not to reign unchallenged. The Birke-
beiner found a new leader in the great man to whose
extraordinary history we must now turn the priest from
the Fseroe Islands, Sverre Sigurdss0n.
CHAPTER XII.
SVERRE, AND THE GREAT STRUGGLE WITH
THE CHURCH.
Sverre's Early Days Comes to Norway Forced to Lead the
Birkebeiner His Extraordinary Adventures Defeats and Slays
Magnus Erlingss0n, 1184 Sverre undisputed King The Conflict
with Archbishop Eystein His Flight to England Return and
Death Eystein 's two Great Works Sverre and Archbishop Erik
Sverre's Kristenret The Points in Dispute between Erik and
Sverre Erik Flies from Norway Sverre Excommunicated
Bishop Nicholas of Oslo Sverre's Coronation Bishop Nicholas
Flies to Denmark The Formation of the Bagler Party Civil
War Innocent III. places Norway under an Interdict Its Effect
not great in Norway Sverre's Apologia Sverre takes T0nsberg,
1202 His Illness and Death in Bergen His Character.
THE personality of Sverre Sigurdss0n is, perhaps, the
most striking which we meet in the history of Norway.
He was the illegitimate son of Sigurd Mund, in whose
household his mother, Gunhild, had been a servant. The
date of his birth is placed at 1151, the year before the visit
of Cardinal Nicholas. Whether the future king first saw
the light in Norway or the Faeroe Islands is doubtful, but
it is certain that his early days were spent in the latter
His mother, Gunhild, married a man named Unas, who
was brother to Bishop Roe, the prelate of these islands.
Here Sverre grew up, passing as the son of Unas, and his
quickness and intelligence attracted the attention of his
supposed uncle, the bishop, who, as he was in need of native
clergy, had him educated for the Church's service, and
having passed through the minor orders, he was finally
ordained priest about the year 1174 or 1175.
SVERRE, AND THE STRUGGLE WITH THE CHURCH. 157
Very soon after this, his mother revealed to him the
secret of his paternity, and thus changed the whole current
of his life. " If I am born to a crown " (said the young
priest), " then shall I strive to win it, cost what it may, for
without it life has no value for me." Sverre knew full
well that illegitimacy was no bar to his claim, and that he
alone, according to the old law of Norway, was the
rightful king. He quickly made up his mind to claim
what he knew to be his lawful inheritance, but he was not
the man to do anything rashly or to endanger his chances
of success by any premature move. Armed with a letter of
introduction from Bishop Eoe, to the great Archbishop
Eystein, he went to Norway in order to see for himself the
position of affairs, but determining for the present to
conceal his identity. Arrived in the country, he saw at
once that the power of Magnus and Erling was too great to
be easily shaken, and that it would be quite useless to make
known his claim or to present his letter to the archbishop.
Instead, therefore, of going to Nidaros, he made his way to
Vermland, to the house of his sister Cecilia, who received
him as her brother and made him welcome.
This was in the year 1177, shortly after the battle at Ke,
near T0nsberg, where Magnus had crushed the Birkebeiner
and slain their chief Eystein M0ila. The remnants of this
faction had taken refuge with Cecilia, and they at once
recognized in Sverre the very chief they wanted namely, a
descendant of Harald Haarfagre in the male line. The
prudent Sverre, however, was very unwilling to have the
leadership of this handful of defeated men thrust upon him,
but the Birkebeiners would brook no refusal, and insisted
on his becoming their chief. Seeing there was no help for
it, he reluctantly agreed to their proposal, and taking his
courage a deux mains, embarked on what appeared to be
a forlorn hope. At Easter he started northwards with his
small band, having obtained what help he could from his
sister. He did not dare to go through the frequented parts
of the country, but made his way through the forests,
enduring terrible hardships from the fierce cold of the
winter. Having established himself in Jaemtland, where
he gathered around him a considerable body of men, he
determined on a bold stroke. Moving into Tr0ndelagen he
encamped for a time on an island in the Selbusj0, not far
from Nidaros. Shortly after, with that wonderful good
luck which seldom deserted him, he suddenly attacked and
captured the town, and, calling a Thing, was proclaimed
king by the b0nder. The Tr0nder were always well
disposed towards him, and it was only the armed power of
Erling which had forced them into submission to Magnus's
claim.
Notwithstanding his unexpected stroke of good fortune
in the capture of the town, Sverre at once saw that he was
not yet able to meet Magnus and Erling in the field, and
on their approach with an army to recapture Nidaros, he at
once evacuated the town and betook himself to the south.
The next two years Sverre went through a series of
extraordinary adventures whilst he carried on a guerilla
war against Magnus. Often reduced to the greatest
extremities, and over and over again almost captured, he
always managed to extricate himself and to astonish his
foes, by appearing unexpectedly in places where they least
looked for him. Through the wildest mountain districts of
the west of Norway, Sverre and his men roamed, and to
the present day the memory of his journeys is preserved in
such names as Sverre's Skar and Sverre's Stigen, passes
and paths over which a goat could scarcely travel, but by
which Sverre and his men escaped from the hands of their
At the end of two years spent in this way, Sverre felt
himself strong enough to take the field against Magnus and
Erling, and moving north again descended on Nidaros and
defeated and slew Erling Skakke in a battle at Kalvskindet,
near the town. The death of the great chief was a severe
blow to the power of Magnus, but Archbishop System did
his best to encourage him and to rally the forces against
Sverre, The next year, however, 1180, a decisive battle
was fought, again near Nidaros, at Ilevolden, in which
Magnus was totally defeated and obliged to fly to
Denmark. The archbishop also took refuge in flight and
went to England, whence he issued a sentence of ex-
communication against the now victorious and openly
acknowledged king, Sverre the first time this great weapon
of the Church had been directed against a king of
The struggle against Magnus was not yet, however, at an
end. He found support in Denmark and returned again to
Norway, and the war was resumed and lasted for some
time. Again, however, Magnus was obliged to fly to
Denmark in 1183. The year following he made one more
effort to wrest the kingdom from Sverre, and this time he
very nearly succeeded. Sverre was in the Sogne Fjord
with a small fleet and engaged in punishing the Sogninger
for their share in the resistance to his power. He had
sailed up the narrow Sogndals Fjord, when Magnus, with a
fleet which much outnumbered his opponents', came from
Bergen, and caught the redoubtable Sverre in a trap from
which there was no escape. A fierce battle ensued at Nore,
the narrowest part of the fjord, and in spite of his vastly
superior force, Magnus was utterly defeated and slain, and
now Sverre was undisputed lord of Norway.
We must now turn back to Sverre 's other great
antagonist, the archbishop. The excommunication which
he had issued from England against the king on his
arrival in that country, does not seem to have had the effect
of injuring Sverre. Indeed, it seems probable it was but
little known in Norway, and was certainly unheeded. The
archbishop and the clergy generally had from the commence-
ment of the struggle, done their very utmost to inflame the
minds of the people against Sverre. He was described as
a " recreant priest/' a deceiver, a godless sorcerer, who
owed his good fortune to the devil ; and they promised to
those who fell in combat against him an entrance into
paradise " before their blood should be cold upon the earth."
The archbishop spent three years of exile in England, where
he represented his antagonist in a very unfavourable light,
to judge by the remarks of some of his English con-
temporaries.^
Ey stein, with all his hostility to King Sverre, was a
very prudent man, and when he saw that there was no
doubt that the latter would finally win in the struggle,
he made peace with the king in Bergen, and removed the
ban, and in 1183 (the year before the defeat and death of
Magnus) he returned again to his see.
From that time on until his death, five years later, he
seems to have had enough of the strife, and to have
devoted himself with great assiduity to the care of his
* During Archbishop Eystein's three years' stay in England he
spent a part of his time at Bury St. Edmunds, and seems to have been
there during the famous election of Abbot Samson, of which Jocelin de
Brakelond tells us in his chronicle. See Metcalfe's Introduction to
"Passio et Miracula Beati Olaui," p. 52.
William, of Newbury, Book III., Chap, vi., says : " In 1180, Eystein,
archbishop of Trondhjem, refusing to crown Sverre, a successful rebel,
who had defeated Magnus, king of Norway, was driven into exile and
came to England." William further describes Sverre as " famosissimus
ille presbyter," who " tempore non modico sub tyranni nomine de-
bacchatus." He also calls him " execrandus" and " nefandus presbyter,"
" ilia virga furoris Domini."
The same writer, however, in spite of the above very choice con-
troversial epithets, adds later on, that the inscription on his seal was
"Sverus Rex Magnus, ferus ut leo, mitis ut agnus," inasmuch as he
showed clemency to those whom he had subdued and showed reverence
to churches and monasteries.
ARCHBISHOP EYSTEIN'S LEGISLATION. 161
diocese, and did much to atone for his share in the
desolating strife of the previous years, in which, however,
his actions seem to have been based on worthy motives,
and not on the lower ones of self-interest and aggrandise-
ment. In addition to the important part which he played
in connection with the advancement of the power of the
Church under Magnus, the great archbishop must ever be
remembered for his work as a legislator, and as a cathedral
builder.
The closing years of his life were devoted to a careful
revision of the Frosta Thing's law, both on its civil and
ecclesiastical side. In the disorders of the preceding
generation, many of the older provisions of the law had
been neglected. These were again enforced, and every
effort was made to secure the reign of law and order.
The peace of the Thing, which was such a prominent
feature of ancient days, was again affirmed, and provision
was made for the better order of the country generally.
The Kristenret, which probably dated from St. Olaf 's time,
was revised on the lines of the famous agreement with
Magnus Erlingss0n, so as to secure the privileges of the
clergy and the archbishop, but in a fair and statesmanlike
manner. These laws were now carefully written out, and the
collection was henceforth known as " The Golden Feather,"
to distinguish it from the older compilation of Magnus
the Good, which was called "The Grey Goose. "* The
archbishop's collection probably received its name from the
fact of its being beautifully i]luminated.
Eystein, who loved the people well, endeared himself
further to them by procuring from Pope Alexander III. a
relaxation of the law with respect to work on holy days.
He well knew how essential to the prosperity of the people
the harvest of the sea always was, and, further, that it was
necessary to secure the herrings whenever they approached
C.S.N. M
the coast. Formerly fishing was forbidden on holy days,
but the archbishop had the rule so far relaxed, as to permit
the fishing whenever the herring appeared, save only on
holy days of the highest rank.
To Eystein we owe also the beginning of the great
cathedral of Trondhjem. He felt, not unnaturally, that,
now that Nidaros had become the seat of a metropolitan,
it was only right that a cathedral of more imposing pro-
portions should be erected, than that which sheltered
the body of Norway's patron saint. We have seen how
two churches at that time stood where the cathedral now
stands. One was the Maria Kirke, built by Harald Haard-
raade on the place where the saint's body had lain for a
year in the sand. The other was the Church of the Holy
Trinity, commonly called Christ Church, the foundation of
Olaf Kyrre, which was then the cathedral. In order to
carry out his plan for the new cathedral, Eystein had the
Maria Kirke taken down, and the materials carried across
the river to the newly-founded monastery at Elgesaeter for
the Augustinians. He then began the splendid pile which
was completed some fifty years later, and which was the
most magnificent ecclesiastical building in the North, and a
noble monument of the great archbishop.*
One of the last official acts of his life was to pro-
nounce the dissolution of the marriage of the king's sister
Cecilia, who had been forced by Erling into a union with
Folkvid, the Swedish chief. The Church was the natural
guardian of the sanctity of this sacrament, and was not
inclined, at that time especially, to relax the law of Chris-
tian marriage. But the archbishop, on the facts coming
into review before him, declared Cecilia's marriage to be
null and void, on the ground that she had acted under
* About the same time the cathedral of Christ Church in Bergen
was completed, and the relics of Sfc. Sunniva transferred to it from the
island of Selje.
DEATH OF EYSTEIN. 163
compulsion, and was not a consenting party, which the
law of the Church naturally required in all cases.
After her marriage had been declared void, Cecilia married
Baard Guttormss0n, of Rein, a very powerful chief among
the b0nder of Tr0ndelagen, and her son by this union, as
we shall see later on, was for a time king in Norway.
In the close of 1187 the archbishop lay dying in
Nidaros. King Sverre was at that time in the city, and
Eystein sent for him. What then occurred we only know
from Sverre's account, but there seems no reason to doubt
that a full reconciliation took place between the two great
men. The old archbishop would hardly have wished to
die, with feelings of enmity in his heart, towards the man
whom he had so strongly, though conscientiously opposed,
but with whom he had lived in outward agreement in the
closing years of his life. On both sides there was much
to forgive ; the archbishop had denounced Sverre in very
harsh language, and preferred charges against him in the
heat of the conflict, which in calmer moments he must have
regretted and felt to be groundless ; Sverre also had not
been free from blame for his share in the strife, and we
must hope that this private conference ended, as it ought
to have done, in the old archbishop giving his blessing to
the man whose bitter opponent he had once been.
Eystein died on January 26th, 1188, and was buried in
the sacristy of the new cathedral which he had begun. At
his funeral Sverre made a speech in which he declared that
the archbishop had admitted, in their last interview, that
he was wrong in the course he had taken in so violently
opposing him. This statement, of course, only rested on
the authority of the king himself.
Thus passed away the famous Archbishop Eystein, a
truly great Churchman and great man in every respect,
and in the steps which he took to advance the claims of
the Church, he only acted in accordance with the spirit of
his day, not from unworthy motives of personal ambition
and glory. He was long loved and reverenced by the
people and clergy, and in 1229 he was declared to be a
saint by a provincial synod held at Nidaros, but no formal
papal canonization seems ever to have taken place.
It will be seen that Sverre, during the years in which he
fought for the throne, never specially attacked the Church,
though its whole power was directed against him, as the
opponent of her nominee, Magnus Erlingss0n, and that he
had lived in peace from 1183 to 1187 (the period we have
now reached) with the head and champion of the Church
in Norway. This, however, was not to last ; the great and
fierce struggle was now to begin.
Sverre, when he had at last, after 1184, firmly established
his authority over the whole country, set himself to remedy
the disordered state of the land, and brought in many wise
measures of reform. To improve the administration of
the law he appointed eleven lagmcend in different parts
of the country, who were authorized to judge in all matters
of dispute. The people had the choice of having their
cases settled by these officers, or by the older court of the
Thing. He also appointed officials called sysselmcend, who
held the authority of revenue officers and district judges.
The result of these reforms was to check the power of the
greater chiefs among the b0nder, and to enlist the mass of
the people on the king's side.
After the death of Archbishop Eystein the ordinary
course (if the new ecclesiastical law had been carried out)
would have been for the chapter of Nidaros to proceed to
the election of a new metropolitan. Sverre, however, was
not prepared to permit this, nor, on the other hand, did he
follow his uncle Inge's example and nominate a new
archbishop. He adopted a middle course, which showed a
desire to conciliate his clerical opponents. A few months
after Eystein's death he called a meeting in Bergen of the
SVERRE'S KRISTENRET. 165
bishops and principal men, and there brought forward the
question of the appointment. The general feeling of the
gathering was in favour of Bishop Erik Ivarss0n, of
Stavanger, a man of learning who had studied in Paris,
and whom the late prelate was supposed to have desired as
his successor. Sverre at first raised some objections, but
finally gave way, and Erik was chosen and went to Kome,
where Pope Clement III. invested him with the pallium,
and he returned to Norway in 1189 and took possession of
his see.
At first all went smoothly between the king and the
archbishop. The latter immediately set to work to correct
many of the abuses which had, in spite of the strong rule
of Ey stein, sprung up in his diocese, and his reforms were
all in a good direction. He enforced the canon law, which
forbade the clergy to take any part in warfare, a restriction
which was much needed, as a number of them had in the
civil wars so far forgotten their office, as to join in many of
the battles. This prohibition he extended to Iceland, a
part of his province, where it seemed to be even more
needed than in Norway. With the laity he took steps to
stop the spread of immorality and to enforce the Church's
law respecting affinity, which had, it seemed, been much
relaxed and many marriages contracted within the
forbidden degrees.
In these reforms he was fully supported by King Sverre,
and it seemed as if the heads of the Church and State were
now working well together.
The archbishop held a council in Bergen, in 1190, of
the bishops, at which Sverre was present, and at this a
number of regulations were made with respect to breaches
of the Church's law which were punishable by excom-
munication. This was actually known as Sverre's Kris-
tenret, which clearly indicates that at that time both the
king and the bishops were working harmoniously together.
This concord, however, was not likely to last long, when
we remember that the king and the archbishop held
diametrically opposite views as to the relations between
the Church and the State ; and the storm, which had only
been lulled for a time, soon broke out with redoubled
fury.
Archbishop Erik had no sooner returned to Nidaros, than
in a sermon preached in his cathedral he made a furious
attack on the Birkebeiner, which immediately raised the
anger of the king, and the old controversy was at once
revived. Most of the points in dispute were not new, but
they embodied the rival claims of the king and the Church.
We arrive at them most fully in the Bull which the pope
subsequently issued, confirming the archbishop's privileges,
and we may briefly summarize them as follows :
1. The Coronation. The king claimed to be crowned
by the archbishop as a matter of right, and not of favour.
2. TJie question of the Archiepiscopal Income. We
have seen that Ey stein adroitly managed to double that
part, which was derived from fines by the substitution of
payments in the S0lv0re, and not the old Iag0re. Sverre
demanded a return to the old method, or, failing this,
that the king's share of the fines should be paid in the
same way.
3. The Rights of Patronage. The king demanded that
the ancient right of the sovereigns to nominate to vacant
sees should stand, instead of the election by the chapters.
Another and a newer point was with regard to the right of
appointment to the h0gendes kirker, or private chapels.
This had customarily been exercised by the founders, royal
and other, but the archbishop desired that it should rest
with the diocesan.
4. TJie Clergy and the Civil Courts. This was practically
the same dispute as between Becket and Henry II. at the
Constitutions of Clarendon Archbishop Erik desiring that
the ecclesiastical courts alone should judge the clergy for
all offences.
5. The Archbishops' Retinue. After gaining the dignity
of metropolitans, the archbishops of Nidaros had striven
to increase their following, and to surround themselves
with a court and state which would rival that of the king.
Eystein and Erik added to the archbishops' retinue, and
Sverre decided to restrict it to what the law allowed viz.,
thirty men, of whom only twelve were to be armed, and no
ships of war, such as Eystein had possessed.
These were the chief points in dispute, and they were
quite sufficient for a struggle to the death, between the
king and the archbishop. The former in all his demands
took his stand on the old law of St. Olaf, which his son
Magnus the Good had embodied in " The Grey Goose,"
while the archbishop relied on " The Golden Feather " and
the canon law.
Erik, seeing that the king was quite determined, and
that his power was too strong for him, sought safety in
flight, and in the summer of 1191 he made his way to
Denmark, where the Archbishop Absalon of Lund received
him with open arms.
From Denmark, Erik probably early in 1192, laid his
case before the Pope Celestine III., in which the points of
dispute we have just enumerated were fully set forth. In
the letter the archbishop seems to have made a very fair
statement of his case, without exaggeration or any of the
bitter personal attacks on the king which afterwards
marked the controversy. It will be seen, however, that
the demands on both sides embodied the rival claims of
the king and the Church, which were practically as irre-
concilable in Norway as in other countries, and as neither
party was disposed to give way, there was but little
prospect of peace.
It was a question whether the old law of the kingdom
of Norway and the ecclesiastical arrangements of St. Olaf
should stand, or whether the recent compact between the
feebler kings in the days of Cardinal Nicholas and Arch-
bishop Eystein should supplant them. Sverre was the
champion of the ancient rights of the Crown and the early
Church, Erik of the new claims of the Church at the time
j of the greatest papal arrogance. Throughout the whole
long controversy Sverre, on his side, dwelt most on those
points which affected the relations of the Church and the
people such as the fines, the rights of patronage, &c.
and the archbishop on matters which were more purely
ecclesiastical. Soon after Erik arrived in Denmark he
unfortunately lost his eyesight, but this did not impair his
power of carrying on the dispute.
It is a little difficult here, to explain the delay which
followed the appeal to the pope, before any decisive action
was taken by the pontiff; but it would seem as if
Celestine III. made inquiries of the archbishop, which were
sufficiently satisfactory to the former, so that he authorised
the archbishop to excommunicate Sverre, which he
accordingly did in 1193.
When the information about this duly reached Sverre
he treated it with supreme contempt, and in his speeches
at the Things even went so far as to jest about the arch-
bishop's blindness, and to declare that there was nothing
whatever to prevent him returning to his see at Nidaros.
If the flight of Erik had delivered Sverre from one active
antagonist in Norway, it left him with a foe much more
malignant and treacherous, in Nicholas the bishop of Oslo.
This man was of an ancient family in the Nordfjord district,
and closely connected with the royal house. His mother
having been left a widow by Harald Gille, subsequently
married Arne, Nicholas's father. In his early days he
fought on the side of Magnus Erlingss0n, and was later
ordained priest. When the vacancy in the see of Stavanger
NICHOLAS OF OSLO.
occurred, by the translation of Erik to Nidaros, he was
chosen for his successor. King Sverre, however, refused
to accept him, and being a keen judge of men, he described
Nicholas as a man with " a smooth tongue, a hare's heart,
and the fidelity of a fox." That he deserved this estimate
was abundantly shown by his subsequent history, When
Sverre objected to his nomination to the see of Stav anger,
Nicholas applied himself to the queen, Margreta, who, after
many entreaties, at last induced Sverre to consent, though
he foresaw that both he and she would have cause to regret
it. Almost immediately afterwards, however, Nicholas was
translated to Oslo. This took place probably in the year in
which Erik fled to Denmark.
In 1192 a rebellion against Sverre was raised by two of
Magnus Erlingss0n's party, Hallkel Jonss0n and Sigurd
Erlingss0D. They took as their chief a son of King Magnus,
named Sigurd, and gave Sverre much trouble before he was
able to crush them, which he did finally at Florevaag, near
Bergen, in the early part of 1194, when Jonss0n and the
young chief Sigurd were killed. There is no doubt that
this rebellion was prompted by Bishop Nicholas, and Sverre
was not long before he called him to account.
The king now decided to take a step which he hoped
would strengthen his position very much and finally disarm
the opposition of the Church, but which unfortunately
seems, on the whole, to have had the opposite effect. We
have seen how one of his demands to the archbishop was that
he should be ready to crown him as a matter of royal right,
and that the archbishop had refused. Though the coronation
of a king was an entirely new ceremony in Norway, yet
Sverre thought that as Magnus was crowned and had received
the blessing of the Church, it would be well for him to
have the same sanction, which he believed would make a
favourable impression on the minds of the people.
After crushing the rebellion of Hallkel Jonss0n, Sverre
felt the time was come for this. There is a story in the
Sverre Saga, that there was, at this time, a papal legate in
Norway, whom Sverre met at Konghelle whom he almost
succeeded in inducing to crown him, but that the clergy
poisoned his mind against the king, and on his refusal,
Sverre ordered him out of the kingdom. This account
seems to be open to considerable doubt, as at this time the
excommunication against Sverre, pronounced by Archbishop
Erik, was a year old, and it was quite impossible for the
legate (if there was one at all in Norway at the time) not
to have known of it.
Sverre, however, decided on being crowned. When in
Oslo he met Bishop Nicholas, and charged him, at an inter-
view, with treason, for his share in the late rising and
sternly threatened him. The "hare-hearted" bishop was
terrified by the king's anger, and begged for mercy and
swore to be faithful in the future. Sverre, keeping Nicholas
with him, and calling upon Nial of Stavanger and Thore of
Hamar to join him, at once set out for Bergen. The see of
that city was just then vacant by the death of Bishop Paul.
Sverre had his chaplain, Martin (an Englishman by birth),
chosen as his successor, and immediately consecrated by the
three bishops. Sverre had now all the bishops of Norway
with him in Bergen, except, of course, the archbishop, and
he was by them crowned with great solemnity in the
cathedral, on the festival of St. Peter and St. Paul, 1194.
Nicholas, we know, and some of the others, afterwards
declared that they had acted under force, a statement which
was, in his case at any rate, perfectly true.^
* We may, however, very reasonably refuse to accept Roger de
Hoveden's account of the matter when he says : " Amongst these [the
bishops who crowned Sverre] was the bishop of Wie [Viken, that is
Oslo], whose name was Nicholas. He declared that he was unwilling
to be present at the Coronation because of the absence of the archbishop.
On hearing which Sverre caused the bishop to be seized and to be bound
SVERRE, AND THE BULL OF CELESTINE III. 171
Meanwhile an important missive was on its way from
Borne. The pope had taken a long time to act officially on
the letter of Archbishop Erik, but a few days before the
coronation of Sverre, namely on June 15th, 1194, Celestine
III. issued a Bull in which he took the see of Nidaros under
the protection of himself and St. Peter, and confirmed in
every detail the claims of the archbishop as set forth in his
letter to the pope in 1192. The bull wound up in the
customary manner with threatening excommunication upon
any one who resisted the claims of the Church. The tidings
of this came to Denmark, and soon after to Norway, but
not, of course, until after the coronation of Sverre. When
the pope learned that the four bishops had actually crowned
the excommunicated king, he was naturally furious, and on
November 18th in the same year he solemnly excommuni-
cated the bishops who had taken part in the ceremony for
their unheard-of conduct in "anointing an excommunicated
priest as king." The archbishop followed this up by order-
ing his four suffragans at once to appear before him in
Denmark, and explain their action. Notwithstanding the
thunders of Rome the four bishops stood firm, Nicholas of
Oslo, undoubtedly most unwillingly, from fear of Sverre.
Early the following year, 1195, Sverre called a meeting
of the bishops and some leading men in Bergen to consider
the best course to take. The four excommunicated pre-
lates were present, and also the bishop of Skaalholt, in
Iceland, and the bishop of the Orkneys. At this meeting
it was decided to send two representatives to Rome to
lay the case of the bishops and the king before the pope.
The men selected for this delicate mission were Thore,
on the seashore on a small eminence, so that the waves of the sea flowing
on, nearly entered his mouth, upon which the bishop, being terrified,
consented to the wishes of Sverre Birkebein and consecrated him king
in Bergen." Such a proceeding would be very unlike Sverre's usual
treatment of his opponents.
bishop of Hamar, and a monk named Kichard. Before the
conference separated, all the bishops again renewed their
assurances of being faithful to the king and then went
home. The value of the promises of Bishop Nicholas was
shown soon after, for on his return to Oslo he promptly
fled from the country, and betook himself to Archbishop
Erik, with whom he made his peace.
It was not likely that Sverre's enemies (now that they
had got Nicholas over to them) would remain long without
attacking him ; and we come now to the formation of the
Bagler party, which for a long time carried on a desolating
strife in Norway.
The way it came about was a strange one. The Eastern
emperor, Alexius III., who had just deposed his brother
Isaac, was in need of recruits, and sent a man named
Reidar (a Norwegian probably by birth) to Sverre, asking
permission to enlist men for the service of the emperor.
Just at that time, 1195, Sverre did not see his way to do
so, but later on, in 1196, thinking possibly that some of his
opponents might join Reidar, gave him leave. The
emperor's representative quickly collected a large number
of men, chiefly in Viken, and with them crossed over to
Denmark. Sverre had, however, made a mistake, which
very nearly proved fatal to his cause. As soon as Reidar
and his men got to Denmark they found Bishop Nicholas
waiting for them, and very soon the emperor was forgotten,
and they were ready to fall in with the treacherous bishop's
plans.
Nicholas had one of the usual pretenders to the throne of
Norway ready. This was a young man named Inge, who
was said to be the son of Magnus Erlingss0n, but who was
most probably a Dane. The episcopal party which
Nicholas had thus got together, were known in Norway as
the Baglers, from the word bag all, a bishop's crozier. This
party, when the strife began in earnest, showed that there
SVERRE'S EMBASSY TO THE POPE. 173
was very little of religious spirit among them, though
nominally contending for the Church's cause, for they
pillaged and destroyed impartially on all sides, and neither
churches nor ecclesiastical property escaped their hands.
Before we allude to the struggle between Sverre and the
Baglers, we must advert to the strange termination of the
bishops' and Sverre's Embassy to the pope. It is not
known what actually took place in Home ; but there is no
doubt the envoys reached Denmark, on their way home, in
the winter of 1196 7, and that there was with them there
a Cardinal Fidentius, who had gone to Denmark for the
purpose of collecting the papal revenue. After a consider-
able time some Danes came to Sverre, with the information
that both the bishop and Richard had died suddenly, and
produced a papal letter, duly sealed, which they said had been
left with them as security for a loan. Sverre paid over the
money, said to be advanced, and the men departed. Soon
after Sverre had the letter, purporting to be from the pope,
read out in Nidaros, in which Celestine declared that he
was satisfied with the explanations of the embassy, and
that he released Sverre from the excommunication.
This seems to have been without much doubt a forgery ;
but the charge which was subsequently made in some
quarters against Sverre, that he first had his men murdered
and then forged the letter, is in the highest degree improb-
able ; and although Sverre's enemies, and the pope himself,
did not hesitate to denounce him, and to declare the letter
to be forged, no responsible authority ever charged him
with murder.
There is every reason, however, to believe that Thore
of Harnar and Richard were poisoned, for the cardinal
undoubtedly was; he had made himself most intensely
hated, even by the strongest papal adherents, by the way
in which he had extorted money in Denmark, and it is
thought that the poisoning of Sverre's men (who were with
him at the same time) was unintentional. It is quite
possible that Sverre, now in great straits, assented to the
letter passing as genuine ; or it may have been that his
ambassadors, when they failed in Kome, procured there (as
was easily done at the time) a forged seal, which they
attached to the letter which eventually came to Sverre's
It would not be fair to blame Sverre too severely for the
use of a forged document, in his contest with the papacy,
when we remember in how great a degree the papal claims
in Europe, themselves rested on those " metropolitanis
muscipula," the False Decretals.
The party of the Baglers, with Inge and Nicholas, began
their attack on Sverre's power in Norway about the same
time as the ambassadors on their journey from Kome died
in Denmark. The details of this desperate struggle belong
chiefly to the secular history of Norway, and need not
occupy us long here. It was a fierce conflict, in which the
king had to put forth all his strength, and during which he
seemed over and over again on the verge of ruin. The
Baglers began in the south, but soon went north and
captured Nidaros ; from it they were driven by Sverre, and
again they seized it. Though defeated several times by the
king, they managed to collect fresh forces, and at one time
Sverre was left without any fleet, while the Baglers ravaged
the coast. During Sverre's absence they attacked Bergen,
and when they failed to capture the Borg, Nicholas, who
was with them, suggested burning the town. Even the
Baglers raised an objection to this, as it would involve the
destruction of churches, but the bishop assured them that
as Sverre's supporters were all excommunicated, the
churches where his clergy ministered, were no more sacred
than common houses. In the conflagration which followed,
six churches are said to have been destroyed !
Thus matters stood in 1198, when things seemed to go
THE INTERDICT. 175
from bad to worse for Sverre, and a heavy blow fell upon
him. After Bishop Thore's death and Nicholas' flight and
treachery, there were only two bishops left who were faith-
ful to him, for Thore's successor does not seem to have then
come to his see, after his consecration in Denmark. Of
these two, Nial of Stavanger fled to Denmark, and Sverre
was left with only Martin of Bergen, his former chaplain.
The great weapon of the Church's armoury was now
about to be employed against Sverre. The aged Pope
Celestine III. died in January, 1198, and immediately after,
the conclave unanimously chose as his successor, the famous
Cardinal Lothair, of the noble Conti family, who ascended
the papal throne with the title of Innocent III. The new
occupant of the apostolic see was filled with ideas as to
the authority of the papacy over the princes or Europe,
loftier perhaps than any of his predecessors, even in the
midst of the struggle with the Kaisers. Innocent was not
long before he determined to try and crush the " apostate
priest," as he termed Sverre, and to force the kings of
Norway to hold their royal office as a gift from the Church.
As one of the most prominent members of the Curia, it was
certain that he knew well the facts of the quarrel between
the king and the archbishop, which had been in progress
for the previous eight years.
His action towards Sverre was the same which he adopted,
a few years later, to a very different kind of monarch, John
of England. No sooner had he begun his pontificate than
he turned his attention to Norway, and in 1198 despatched
no fewer than five papal letters in connection with the case
of Sverre and the archbishop. In his letter to Erik he
announced his intention to use the most terrible punishment
of the Church of the middle ages, the Interdict.
He pointed out to the archbishop that the existence of
such a king as Sverre was intended by God as a visitation
on the Church in Norway for the sins of the bishops and
people ; that Sverre was by his own admission a bastard,
who had dared to be admitted to the priesthood, in defiance
of the Church's law ; that he was a forger of the bull of
Celestine, an oppressor of the Church, and persecutor of the
clergy. Then he ordered the archbishop to declare all
Sverre's followers excommunicated, to close the churches, and
forbid all services and sacraments (save only holy baptism
and extreme unction), and to deny to all of Sverre's men
Christian burial.
Dealing with Martin, bishop of Bergen, he commanded
the archbishop at once to suspend him, and bid him repair
immediately to Eome.
Not content with this, the pope sought to secure the aid
of the temporal power to drive away Sverre from his king-
dom, and wrote urgent letters to the kings of Denmark
and Sweden calling upon them, as faithful sons of the
Church, to at once invade Norway, and drive out this
" monster " and " limb of the devil," so that he would no
longer be a persecutor of the Church of God. We may say
at once, with reference to this, that both Knut of Denmark
and Sverker Karlss0n of Sweden manifested no wish what-
ever to carry out the amiable designs of Innocent. The
Danish king contented himself with giving shelter to Erik,
and some of the Bagler from time to time, but on the
whole, both monarchs seemed to have had a good deal of
sympathy with the Norwegian king.
The Interdict in Norway does not seem to have carried
with it any of the terrors which the* same weapon, later on,
produced in England. It must be remembered that all the
bishops, except one, were absent from the country, and
there was really no one to enforce its provisions. Also it
must have been a very long time before its existence could
be known all over the land, and in the parts where Sverre's
authority was recognized it was most likely that it made
no difference, and the king himself had always priests to
SVEKRE'S TALE MOD BISKOPERNE. 177
say Mass and to perform all ecclesiastical duties. On the
whole we may take it that, formidable, nay terrible, as
an Interdict was in other lands, its effect in Norway was,
comparatively speaking, slight, and in Sverre's Saga, at
any rate, there is no notice of any general closing of the
churches.
Then another blow, which Sverre must have personally
felt very much, fell on him. Martin, bishop of Bergen,
who up to now had to his king, been "faithful found
among the faithless " unable any longer to resist the
pressure which must have been put upon him, fled from
Norway to Denmark to seek reconciliation with the
archbishop. This took place in 1199.
Sverre was not a man to submit quietly to the charges
which the pope and the archbishop laid against him ; and
he issued, probably at the end of 1197 or in the spring of
1198, a very remarkable document, in which he defended
himself, and which embodied very fully his views of the
relations between the Church and State. This notable
defence sets forth the lines upon which, the kings and
kaisers fought and struggled, against the popes of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, .and Sverre's reply was
in its way, worthy to rank with the defence of the Kaiser
Frederick II. in his contest with Gregory IX. not very
long after.
This document was known as the Tale mod JBisJcoperne
(speech against the bishops), which we may best render
Sverre's Apology. Though not actually written by the
king (he is said to have employed a learned priest who had
studied at Bologna),^ it was clearly inspired by him,
and his early studies in the canon law, before his
ordination as priest, must have stood him in good
stead. This document was widely circulated in Norway
* It does not appear what was the name of this Peter de Vinea of
the North ; but it may have been Einar, Sverre's son-in-law.
C.S.N. N
and read at all the Things, and seems to have produced a
very great impression upon the people and to have helped
the king's cause not a little.
We may briefly summarize Sverre's Apology as follows :
It begins with the statement that it was necessary that
the people should know the true facts of the case respecting
the quarrel between the king and the bishops. Then he
uses the illustration of the body and the members, and
how all should work together. The eyes of the body were
the bishops, the tongue the priests, the ears the deacons,
the shoulders and back the chiefs and principal men,
the legs and feet the b0nder, and the heart the king.
Then he enters upon a scathing criticism of the actions
of the bishops and clergy. The eyes, which should see
aright and guide the body, squinted, and did not rightly
perform their functions. The bishops forced men to
build churches and then drove them from them. The
priests were silent and set a bad example to men, and
when they were guilty of acts of injustice they sought to
evade being tried by the ordinary courts of law. The
bishops and clergy together deceived the pope, and pre-
vented him from learning the truth respecting the king
and his party.
Then comes a great deal about the royal authority.
The king's authority comes from God, and is not given by
the Church ; he is the protector of the Church, and should
receive the support and obedience of its officers. Our Lord,
by His example and by the teaching of the apostles,
enjoined submission even to a heathen emperor.
The king, as God's appointed protector of the Church,
has a right to appoint men to office in it, and for the
exercise of this, he is responsible to God. No king has the
right to alienate this power from the Crown. The arrange-
ment with Cardinal Nicholas was only in the case (which
then existed) of there being more than one king, and was
SVERRE'S VICTORY OVER THE BAGLERS. 179
only a temporary measure, as was shown by the fact
that when Inge was sole king, he had nominated Eystein
to the archbishopric. Sverre's object was not to bring
shame on the bishops and clergy, but rather to set the
truth before the people. If they accuse and excommunicate
the king for exercising that power which God has given to
him, they encroach on his prerogative and sin against God,
and their excommunication does not hurt the king, but
recoils on those who issue it.^
Such is an outline of this remarkable document, by
which it will be seen that Sverre regarded the royal power
and authority as every bit as sacred a thing as that of the
Church, and repudiated entirely the way in which the
kings, in the past few years, had alienated the rights of
the Crown. He went back to the times of St. Olaf and his
immediate successors, and pointed out that he was only
following in the steps of those famous men.
It will be seen by this that Sverre was not yet conquered,
and had no idea of giving up the position he had taken.
Yet now he had practically lost the whole of Norway, except
Tr0ndelagen, where the people, as a body, remained still
faithful to him. But at what seemed the very darkest
moment of his life with the greater part of his kingdom in
the hands of his enemies, deserted by the bishops and many
of the clergy, himself excommunicated, and the land under
an Interdict a change for the better began. Early in
1199 he managed to build a sufficient number of ships to
encounter the Baglers at sea, and in June of that year he
gained a decisive victory over their forces in Strinds0en, near
Nidaros. His arch-enemy Nicholas was present with the
Baglers and fled with them ; he seems to have had enough
of fighting, as he does not afterwards appear to have taken
any active part in the subsequent battles. The next year,
* Sverre's defence exists in a modern edition by Professor Storm,
Christiania, 1885.
1200, a determined attempt was made to crush Sverre by
a great rising in Viken, but he managed by his own
extraordinarily rapid movements to attack the forces of
his enemies before they could form a single army, and
inflicted on them a crushing defeat. In spite of this
the Baglers managed to prolong the struggle. It ended,
however, as far as Sverre was concerned, in the capture
of T0nsberg, where the Baglers, under Eeidar (the man
whom Sverre had permitted to enlist followers in 1196),
held out for a long time, and only surrendered in January,
The end of the heroic king was now fast approaching.
"Worn out by the terrible hardships which he had endured,
first in his struggle for the crown with Magnus, and after-
wards in the contest against the Baglers, he was in very bad
health when the town of T0nsberg fell. He went thence to
Bergen, and with a brave heart set himself to prepare for
death. Calling his men together he told them that he left
no son behind him save Haakon, his other son, Sigurd,
having died in the year 1200.
When the end drew near, and he felt his strength fast
failing, he sent for the priests who remained faithful to him
in Bergen (in spite of interdict and excommunication) to
administer the last sacraments of the Church.
Then he had himself placed in his high seat and awaited
their coming. " If I die here," he said, " in my high seat,
surrounded by my friends, it will be different from what
Bishop Nicholas expected, when he said that I should be
hewn down for the dogs and the ravens. Praised be God, He
has saved me in many dangers from the weapons of my
enemies." Then, " houseled and aneled," he awaited the
coming of the great conqueror. As his men stood around
him, he bade them, when he was dead, to let his face
be uncovered, so that his people might see that the excom-
munication had done him no harm, as his enemies had
DEATH OF SVERRE. 181
maintained. Then, before his departing, he summed up the
experience of his troubled reign :
" I have had more trouble and sorrow in my reign than
peace and pleasure. I believe I have had many envious
men who have let me feel their hatred. May God forgive
them for all of it. Now may the Lord judge between me
and them, and vindicate my cause."
Thus, on Saturday, the 9th of March, 1202, "passed the
strong heroic soul away," in the fifty-second year of his life.
His dying wishes were respected, and the people looked, for
the last time, on the face of their dead leader, and saw that
no change, but the last and great one had come to him. No
difficulty seems to have been found as to his burial. He
was laid to rest in a niche in the wall between the choir and
the south door of Christ Church Cathedral in Bergen, and
on a copper plate hung upon the wall was inscribed in letters
of gold these words: "Here rests the man who was the glory
of kings, the defender of his native land, and the joy and
pride of his men."
Friends and foes alike lamented him, and said, truly,
" such a man Norway had never before seen."
Sverre Sigurdss0n is perhaps the most striking figure in
the history of Norway. In estimating his character we
must not forget that all the evil which could be said of him,
was remorselessly dragged to light by his inveterate enemies,
who represented him as almost a monster in human form,
while many of the other great men, especially in the early
days of the Church in Norway, had the record of their lives
set forth by writers who were to their failings not a little
kind, and who softened down their worst actions. But we
fortunately possess as well a record of his life in the Sverre's
Saga (written by Karl Jonss0n, and probably Styrme, a
priest, of Iceland), which sets him forth in another and
more favourable light, and we have reason to believe with
truth. Had he lived at another time, and been given the
opportunities, which he undoubtedly wished for, of healing
the wounds which the long period of civil war had inflicted
upon Norway, he would have received a unanimous tribute
as to his great genius as an organizer and ruler, as well as
a warrior. To him, however, fell the task of being the
champion of the cause of liberty, against the overwhelming
and unlawful claims of the Roman see, and of upholding
the authority and independence of Norway against foreign
ecclesiastical tyranny. His struggle against the right of
the pontiff to depose a national king was one of the same
kind as was waged later on in other countries of Europe,
and the feeling of indignation which filled his followers, at
the attempt of Innocent III. to deprive their king of his
power, was akin to that which stirred the barons of England
to resist the claims of the same pontiff not many years
Sverre was no enemy of the Church in Norway. His
antagonism was against those who sought to overturn the
settlement of both Church and State, as it had been arranged
in the days of his great predecessor Olaf, the king and
saint. He represented the spirit of antagonism among the
Teutonic races to the encroachments and aggressions of the
papal authority, which manifested itself in England in a long
series of legislative enactments, calculated to check the
usurpations of the Roman see. Had he been allowed, he
would have lived and worked harmoniously with the
bishops. Even his first antagonist, the great Archbishop
Eystein, found that after all Sverre was not such a tyrant
as he had imagined, and he was able to spend his last days
in peace with the king, and Eystein was, in all respects, a
greater man than his successor Erik.
Far from being tyrannical and overbearing, Sverre seems
to have erred on the side of moderation, and a desire to
yield to the wishes of the bishops. He was a shrewd judge
of men, and had he chosen to insist on what he believed to
SVERRE'S CHARACTER. 183
be the right of the Crown (a right universally exercised by
all his predecessors, except Magnus Erlingss0n) and refused
to assent to the appointments, first of Erik to Nidaros and
afterwards Nicholas to Stavanger, all the troubles that
followed might have been averted. In those two instances
Sverre gave way against his own better judgment, for
which he suffered severely afterwards.
With all his skill in war and the desperate battles in
which he so often engaged, Sverre was a man of great
kindness of heart, and never (except perhaps on one
occasion, and under very great provocation) exercised
vengeance on his enemies, which was everywhere looked
upon as the most natural thing to do in his day. His
private life was no more free from blame than that of the
sainted Olaf, but he was certainly no worse than many who
died in the odour of sanctity, and in the full enjoyment of
papal favour and love. His men, the far-famed Birkebeiner,
followed him with the most intense devotion, and he was
truly, as his epitaph said, "their joy and pride." His
genius transformed a band of wild outlaws into a highly-
trained and strictly-disciplined body of men, and made their
name, once a term of contempt and derision, one coveted
and esteemed by brave men.
We are often tempted to speculate what would have been
Sverre's life, had he not given up the service of the Altar for
the Throne. Would he have risen from the obscurity of the
storm-beaten islands of the northern seas to a position of
great power and authority in the Church \ A man of his
genius would most likely have come to the front in those
days, when many of the greatest prelates, like Nicholas
Breakspeare, often rose step by step until they gained the
very highest places in the service of the Church. His life
might have been a happier one, and he might not have
aroused so much hostility as fell to the lot of the king of
Norway. But it is Sverre the king, not Sverre the cardinal
or pope, with whom we have had to deal, and that kingship
brought to him, in his own sad words, " more trouble and
sorrow than peace and pleasure " ; and he passed away at
any rate comforted with the feeling that he had won the
love of his followers, and was to his last day "the defender
of his native land."
CHAPTER XIII.
HAAKONSS0N.
The Truce with the Church Erik Returns Haakon Dies Suddenly
Internal Struggles Inge Baardss0n Haakon Haakonss0n cared
for by the Birkebeiner Proclaimed King End of the Struggle
between the Birkebeiner and Baglers Death of Bishop Nicholas of
Oslo Duke Skule Killed Cardinal William of Sabina Crowns
Haakon The Cardinal's Mission Haakon's Legislation Union
with Iceland New Law of Succession Death of Haakon
Papal Letters during his Reign.
AT the time of Sverre's death, his only surviving, but
illegitimate son Haakon was at Nidaros. Tidings of the
event were conveyed in great haste to him, and he was at
once proclaimed king, and soon after formally accepted by
the Thing. Sverre's other son, Sigurd, who died in 1200,
had left a son, who, however, was only an infant, and no
claim on his behalf was then advanced. Haakon was at
this time a young man of great promise, and well beloved
by all the Birkebeiner party ; he was an excellent speaker,
and of most kindly and generous disposition. In person he
was of commanding height, and his skill in war had been
abundantly proved in the many conflicts in which he had
taken part. Like his father, he was a man of education far
beyond the average of the kings of his time, and a transla-
tion from the Latin ascribed to him still survives.^
Sverre before his death had written to Haakon with
* This was the " Barlaam's and Josafat's Saga," a religious romance,
originally written in Greek about the eighth century (traditionally by
John of Damascus) and afterwards translated into Latin. The Norse
version is ascribed also to Haakon the Younger, a son of Haakon
Haakonss0n, who died in 1257.
reference to the quarrel with the bishops, and urged his son
to make peace with them. Accordingly the first step of
Haakon, after his succession, was to recall the fugitive
bishops, who gladly availed themselves of the offer of
peace, and by the summer of 1202, Erik and the others
returned to their sees.
It now seemed as if an era of peace and tranquillity was
about to dawn once more on the land, for both parties were
exhausted by the prolonged conflict and anxious for a
settlement. When the prelates had come back, the king
issued a letter " to the archbishop, bishops, clergy, and
b0nder," in which he expressed his willingness to grant to
the Church all its rights and privileges ; but with this
important reservation added : " My kingdom and my
full royal rights unimpaired, in agreement with the arrange-
ment made by Cardinal Nicholas, and agreed to by the
three kings, Ey stein, Sigurd, and Inge, and which King
Eystein's letter witnesses, and King Magnus confirmed, as
also my father by his letter . . . whilst the Church and all
the clergy agree to pay to me that homage and honour they
are bound to offer to their lawful king." It will be seen by
this that the peace between the king and the Church, was
after all merely an armistice, and that all the critical points
in the dispute were practically passed over by a kind of
tacit agreement. In other words, both parties were content
to let matters stand "as in 1152," and we know that
Sverre regarded the burning question of the right of the
appointment of the bishops by the Crown, as unimpaired
by Cardinal Nicholas's arrangement, when there was only
one king in the land. The archbishop now took off the
excommunication on Sverre's adherents, and removed any
of the restrictions which had followed the Interdict, and all
parties in Norway were for the time satisfied.
Not so Innocent III. When information reached him of
the death of Sverre, and of the events which we have just
DEATH OF HAAKON SVERRESS0N. 187
mentioned, he was extremely angry, though he does not
seem to have taken any official notice until January, 1204,
when he wrote a very sharp and scathing letter to Archbishop
Erik. He began, indeed, by rejoicing that peace had come
once more to the land after the death of Sverre. Then he
reminded the archbishop that he had dared to take too much
upon him, by releasing from the ban those whom he had
excommunicated, and compares the archbishop to an ape
that imitates the actions of men, and finally ordered him
to send some one to Kome to explain his conduct.
By the time this letter reached Norway, however, the
condition of affairs was changed, for on January 1st, 1204,
Haakon died suddenly in Bergen (said to have been poisoned
by Sverre's widow, Margreta), and the hopes which were
cherished for peace and prosperity under the wise and
prudent rule of Haakon, were dashed to the ground.
The events of the immediately following years need not
closely concern us, but it is necessary to state them as
briefly as possible.
During the short reign of Haakon the remains of the
Bagler party had tried to carry on the strife, chiefly in the
Oplands, but they were defeated and their chief, Inge,
killed in the close of 1202.
Haakon left no legitimate heir, and his illegitimate son
(afterwards the famous King Haakon Haakonss0n) was not
then born. There was therefore no direct heir in the male
line, except the little four-year-old son of Haakon's brother,
Sigurd Guttorm Sigurdss0n, and he was proclaimed king in
Bergen immediately after his uncle's death, and Haakon
Galin, the son of Cecilia (King Sverre's sister) by her first
marriage was named as regent.
There was, however, another person who, through his
mother, might have a claim to the throne, and this was Inge
Baardss0n, son of Cecilia by her second marriage. The
little Guttorm lived only a few months, and died in Nidaros
(by poison it was supposed) in the summer of 1204, and
then Inge Baardss0n was, with the archbishop's approval,
accepted as king. At this time he was only sixteen years
of age.
Now the Baglers started again in the south, and secured
a new chief, Erling Steinvseg, whom they announced to be
a son of Magnus Erlingss0n. They very nearly succeeded
in capturing King Inge at Nidaros, while he was engaged
in celebrating his sister's wedding, but he managed to
escape.
The struggle with the Baglers went on with varying
fortune for some years longer. Their chief died in 1207,
and then Bishop Nicholas got them to accept his nephew
Filippus as their leader, and entered into negotiations with
the young king and Haakon Galin, which resulted in his
nephew being granted the kingship over Viken and part of
the Oplands, and in 1209 he married Kristine, the daughter
of King Sverre, and there was peace for a time.
Archbishop Erik, whose blindness unfitted him for the
duties of his office, resigned his see in 1205, and Thore, a
member of the Oslo chapter, was chosen as his successor
and went to Eome, where he was consecrated and received
the pallium. In 1207 he returned again to Norway.
Archbishop Erik had held the see of Nidaros for six-
teen years, ten of which he lived in exile in Denmark.
Thore, his successor, was, in spite of his connection with
the see of Oslo, a man well disposed for peace, and did
much to help to bring about a better state of feeling
between the parties.
King Inge had always a dangerous rival in Haakon
Galin, who claimed a share of the kingdom by right of his
mother and being Inge's half-brother. To avoid war the
king made (through the mediation of Archbishop Thore
and Erik, who still lived) an agreement in 1213 to share
the royal dignity with his half-brother, providing that
THE CHILDHOOD OF HAAKON HAAKONSS0N. 189
whichever of them survived should have the other's share,
and then, after their death, the legitimate son of either of
them. This was intended to secure the succession to
Haakon's family, as Inge had no legitimate heir, and also
to exclude the one who, according to the old law, had a
better right to the crown than either Inge or Haakon
namely, Haakon Haakonss0n, the illegitimate son of Haakon,
the son of Sverre.
Haakon Haakonss0n was the son of Haakon Sverress0n
and a woman named Inga, who lived near Sarpsborg ; he
was not born until after his father's death, and the fact of
his birth was for some time kept a secret. Some of the
Birkebeiner, however, learned it, and decided that it would
be safer for Sverre's grandson to be out of the reach of
Bishop Nicholas and his nephew Filippus. Taking the
little child with them, two faithful Birkebeiner carried him
in their arms in the winter of 1205 to Nidaros, where he
was kindly received by Inge and allowed to remain in
peace. The old Birkebeiner warriors loved the little boy,
and watched over him with the greatest care.
Haakon Galin only lived a year after the compact with
Inge, who was himself in bad health and depended much
upon his half-brother, Skule Baardss0n,^ whom he made a
jarl, and who now cherished plans for making himself king
after Inge. The old Birkebeiner were determined, if the
king should die, that young Haakon should succeed him,
and, being suspicious of danger, kept a careful watch over
the lad.
Archbishop Thore died in 1214, after having held the
see for seven years. He was largely instrumental in carry-
ing out the negotiations between the contending parties in
Norway, and always carefully looked after the interests
and claims of the Church. During his episcopate the
* Skule was the son of Baard, Inge's father, by his second marriage
after Cecilia's death.
Cistercian monastery at Tautra, on the Trondhjem Fjord,
was founded, probably in 1207. Thore was succeeded by
a priest named Guttorm, who was consecrated by the pope
in 1215. The year after Bishop Martin, of Bergen,
Sverre's old chaplain, died, and Haavard was unanimously
chosen as his successor. On his election the new archbishop
raised a question about his consecration. Haavard was the
son of a priest, and the archbishop declined to consecrate
him (on the ground of his being therefore illegitimate) with-
out a dispensation from the pope. Application was made
to Innocent for this, but he died in July, 1216, before the
matter was considered ; his successor, however, Honorius
III., granted the dispensation, and Haavard was consecrated
by Guttorm. This was the first case of the kind in
On April 22nd, 1217, King Inge, who had been ill for
some time, died at Nidaros. The Birkebeiner at once pro-
claimed young Haakon as king, and this was approved at
the Thing. Skule Baardss0n did not dare to oppose this, and
had to be content with his jarldom and the regency of the
kingdom. Soon after the king and Skule went to Bergen,
and in spite of some efforts to stir up opposition to Haakon
in that part of the country, he was well received by both
clergy and people, and at a Gula Thing was accepted as
king. The Bagler king in Viken, Filippus, died in the
same year as Inge, and the rule of Haakon was extended
to that part of the country as well.
When Haakon returned to Nidaros in 1218, after having
been to Viken, Archbishop Guttorm received him with great
coldness, not to say rudeness, while he treated Skule with
marked respect. When called to account for this, he
stated that there was yet lacking some sufficient proof of
Haakon's parentage. In order that this matter might be
set at rest, a Rigsm0de, or meeting of all the chief men of
the kingdom, was called to meet at Bergen in the summer
THE LAST TRIAL BY ORDEAL. 191
of the same year. At this, all the bishops, chiefs, and
representatives of the b0nder were present. It was first
proposed that King Haakon should follow the example of
Harald Grille and others, and submit to the trial by ordeal ;
but this was strongly objected to by Haakon's faithful
Birkebeiner, and one of them, named Dagfinn, said that if it
was to be a trial by iron it would be by cold iron (swords),
which they would use against the king's enemies. Finally
it was agreed that Inga, the king's mother, should undergo
the trial by ordea], to prove that Haakon was really the
son of King Haakon Sverress0n, and this she did successfully
at St. Peter's Church, in Nidaros, and all doubt was thus set
at rest. This was the last occasion in which this method
of trial was used in the matter of royal claims, and soon
afterwards trial by ordeal was for all cases stopped by
Then, as Haakon's royal birth was undoubted, a sentence
of excommunication was pronounced against all who in
future questioned it.
The Baglers, however, still gave trouble under a new
leader named Bene ; but the people in Viken had had enough
of them, and called in the king and the Birkebeiner to help
them, and defeated the Baglers. After this the old chiefs
of the Baglers in Viken finally made peace and swore
allegiance to King Haakon, and thus formally ended the
great struggle between Baglers and Birkebeiner, which for
twenty years had devastated Norway and done an almost
irreparable amount of injury to the land.
Jarl Skule did not cease to cherish his ambitious designs
of supplanting Haakon, and various different risings took
place from time to time, in which both he and the wily
Bishop Nicholas, who hated all of Sverre's family,
undoubtedly had a share.
Efforts were made to avert the growing hostility between
the jarl and the king by an arrangement by which the
latter should be betrothed to the jarl's daughter Margreta,
then only a child, but even the prospect of having
the king for a son-in-law, did not stop the intrigues of
Skule.
There were a number of persons who claimed to have a
right to, at any rate a share in, the kingdom at that time,
and it was decided to hold another Rigsm0de in Bergen in
the summer of 1223. When this met, Archbishop Guttorm
who presided, went in detail through the claims of the
different candidates the jarl Skule, who claimed as
Inge's half brother; Guttorm, Inge's illegitimate son;
Sigurd Kibbung, who professed to be a son of Magnus
Erlingss0n ; and Knut, who was son of Haakon Galin. The
meeting, however, decided with practical unanimity in favour
of Haakon, who was acknowledged as the rightful king,
and Skule Jarl was allowed to govern the third part of the
kingdom.
This was about the last public act of Archbishop Gut-
torm, who died the next year, 1224. The chapter chose
as his successor Sigurd of Tautra, who was absent from the
country at the time ; but the king was in favour of another
candidate named Peter, and sent him to the pope, who
accepted him, and after consecrating him and investing
him with the pallium, sent him back to Norway in 1225.
The same year another rebellion (again incited by the
indefatigable plotter Bishop Nicholas) broke out under
Sigurd, one of the claimants mentioned above, but this
was soon put down.
The long life of the remarkable Bishop Nicholas of Oslo
was now drawing to a close ; and he seems to have suffered
some qualms of conscience for the way in which he had
acted towards Sverre and his descendants, to almost all of
whom he had at one time or another sworn allegiance, and
whom notwithstanding, he had opposed in every way, both
openly and in secret. Haakon had now undoubted proofs
DEATH OF NICHOLAS ARNESS0N. 193
of Nicholas's complicity in the late rising, and intended to
bring it home to him. But the bishop was now a dying
man, and desired before he left the world, to make tardy
amends for his life-long disloyalty. He sent a messenger to
Haakon desiring to see him. When the king came, he first
reproached the bishop for what he had done, but then the
dying man confessed his share in the various rebellions and
asked the forgiveness of Haakon. This the king fully and
freely granted, and, remaining with the bishop until his
death, afterwards gave him a splendid burial. Thus in
1225, in the seventieth year of his age, and the thirty-fifth
of his episcopate, Nicholas Arness0n passed away. There
is no doubt that Sverre's estimate of his character was a
correct one; smooth-tongued, cowardly and treacherous, he
always was to Sverre and his descendants, and though
doubtless he had, what he believed to be, the interests of
the Church at heart, yet he was the chief cause of all the
troubles which had come upon the country, during the
thirty-five years of his tenure of the see of Oslo. Very
shrewd he was in all his actions, and Haakon was right
when he declared that " he never had his equal in worldly
wisdom." We might well wish that, as a bishop of the
Church, he had merited a better epitaph.
With the death of Bishop Nicholas the spirit of rebellion
did not, however, cease. Sigurd Ribbung died, but
Knut took his place, until he was vanquished by Haakon
and swore allegiance to him, an oath which, in spite of
subsequent temptations to the contrary, he faithfully
kept.
Archbishop Peter only lived after his consecration for
two years, dying in 1226, and was succeeded by Thore,
who after a brief episcopate died in 1230. The next
archbishop was Sigurd Eindridess0n, who was the son of
one of Sverre's Birkebeiner, and was, it might be suppobed,
naturally inclined to the king's party ; but we shall, later
C.S.N. o
on, find him in a somewhat different position during his
long episcopate.
It was now becoming clear that, sooner or later, an open
rupture between the king and the great Jarl Skule must
come about. The archbishop and others averted it several
times, and the king strove to keep peace with his father-
in-law, for his marriage with Margreta had been duly
solemnized, and Skule was created a duke, the first who
bore that title in Norway.
In 1239 the long-expected outbreak took place. Skule
was in Nidaros and the king in Bergen. The former called
a Thing and carried to it by force the sacred relics of the
cathedral, including the body of St. Olaf, and was there by
his adherents proclaimed king. But he failed to surprise
Haakon in Bergen as he had intended. The struggle
took place in the south. Skule first defeated the king's
party in a battle, but was afterwards himself defeated at
Oslo. Then he fled to Nidaros, pursued by the Birkebeiner.
He first hid near the town, and then sought refuge in
Elgesseter monastery. This the Birkebeiner set on fire, and
Skule and his followers rushed out, but were to a man cut
down by the king's men. Thus fell, on May 23rd, 1240,
in his fifty- first year, the great chief Skule Baardss0n, and
now Haakon was left in undisputed possession of his
kingdom. He had just before the final rupture with Skule
taken the precaution to have his son, by his marriage with
Margreta, accepted as a king by the Thing in Nidaros and
afterwards in Bergen, though he had also an older, but
illegitimate son named Sigurd. Haakon's idea was to
secure the succession of his legitimate son, who alone,
according to the bishop's theory, should have a right to
the throne.
Haakon Haakonss0n, having now delivered himself and
his kingdom from all rivals and claimants to the throne,
desired to carry out his wish of being formally crowned by
HAAKON AND HIS CORONATION. 195
the archbishop, as his immediate predecessor had been. He
therefore approached the primate, and he referred the
matter to the pope (Gregory IX.), who appointed a com-
mission to investigate the king's claim. Nothing, however,
was done at the time, or in the short reign of Gregory's
successor, Celestine IV., and in 1243 the famous Innocent IV.
became pope.
Haakon, who was in favour with Innocent, felt that this
was the best time to give effect to his wishes. In 1245 he
summoned a meeting of the archbishop and bishops to meet
in Bergen, and there brought before them the subject of his
coronation. The archbishop and the others expressed them-
selves quite willing to anoint and crown the king, but they
demanded in return for this that Haakon should be ready
to grant the same terms as Magnus Erlingss0n in 1164.
They found, however, that they had to deal with a very
different stamp of man from Erling Skakke's son. To the
demands of the bishops the king replied : " The kings have
already granted you such great rights that it would be
difficult to add to them, and, besides, you have exceeded all
lawful bounds. If I swore such an oath as King Magnus
swore, it seems to me that my glory would be diminished
and not increased, for Magnus did not mind what he did
to gain that to which he had no right. By God's help I
hope never to be obliged to accept or to buy from you, that
to which God has chosen me after my father and my fore-
fathers, and be sure that by God's grace I shall win my
crown so freely and unconditionally that I can wear it as
securely as other famous kings, or it shall never come upon
my head."
These words, in which we have an echo of his grand-
father's famous Apology, showed the prelates that they must
not endeavour to push their claims too far with Haakon.
After this the king broke off the negotiations with the
bishops, but did not abandon his design. He took the
bolder and, as it proved, the wiser plan of addressing him-
self directly to Innocent IV. Accordingly he dispatched
Laurentius, abbot of Hoved0, and Bjarne, one of the chapter
of Nidaros, with a letter to Innocent begging him to send
a cardinal legate to Norway to crown him/*
Haakon could not possiby have selected a more pro-
pitious time for approaching the pope. The pontiff was, as
we know, at that very time in the midst of his great quarrel
with Kaiser Frederick II., and had been obliged to flee from
Kome and take refuge in Lyons. Innocent saw the import-
ance of enlisting on his side as many as possible of the
kings of Europe, and as Haakon had now become powerful
and was likely to be useful in the struggle, he listened
most willingly to his request.
In October, 1246, he wrote to Haakon from Lyons
saying that he would grant his request and send to him
William, cardinal bishop of Sabina, as legate in order to crown
the king, and in the next month he dispatched another letter
in which he dispensed his want of legitimacy, so that it
should be no bar to his royal title.
Innocent IV. had in view, not merely the securing of an
adherent in Haakon, but intended that the legate should
make an investigation into the state of the Church both in
* Matthew Paris supplies us with some interesting details as to this
embassy. He is an authority of great importance in matters relating
to Haakon, as he was a personal friend of the king, and had been in
Norway himself. From Matthew's chronicle it would appear that
Haakon, in order to secure his coronation, had to give in advance a
very large sum of money to Innocent to induce him to send Cardinal
William of Sabina to Norway. Considering the pope's position at that
time this statement seems extremely probable. One of the king's
ambassadors, Laurentius, the abbot of Hoved0, was, as Matthew tells
us, an Englishman by birth and a professed Cistercian. He (Haakon)
received consecration and legitimation from Innocent IV., "having
given to the same pope 30,000 marks of silver by the hand of Master
Laurence, afterwards abbot of Kirkstead in Lindesey." Matt. Paris,
Vol. V., page 222 (Rolls series).
THE MISSION OP CARDINAL WILLIAM OF SABINA. 197
Norway and Sweden. He chose a very suitable man for
his purpose, just as Eugenius III. had in 1152, for Cardinal
William of Sabina had been a legate in Prussia and had
visited Gotland, and thus had come in contact with many
Scandinavians, though he had never been in Norway itself.
Haakon had now gained his point, and had indirectly
won a victory over the bishops of Norway. He called
together a great meeting of all the bishops, chiefs, and
people in Bergen, in the summer of 1247 to receive the
cardinal.
We learn from Matthew Paris that William of Sabina
passed through England on his journey as legate to the
North. He landed at Dover, and obtaining permission
from Henry III. to visit the country, greeted that monarch
and received substantial presents from him. The cardinal
remained at King's Lynn for three months, and during his
stay there "he could not restrain his innate Koman
cupidity," and succeeded in extracting about 4,000 marks
from the clergy in that neighbourhood, and "often preached
to the people under pretence of piety." Lynn was a usual
port of departure for Norway, and here he had a ship well
filled with corn and wine, " where, as we read in the case
of Noah's ark, there were passages and decks one above
another, chambers and dining-rooms. In this manner,
therefore, having become rich, he committed himself to the
North Sea with a fair wind blowing, after bestowing his
blessing on England and the prodigal English."
The cardinal arrived in Bergen on June 17th, and was
received with great honour by the king. The bishops,
however, were determined to make one more effort. They
did their best in several interviews to inflame the legate
against Haakon, and seemed to have got him over to
their side. The cardinal then suggested to the king that it
might be well to agree to Magnus Erlingss0n's oath.
Haakon, however, boldly told him that he knew very well
where that suggestion came from, and added, " I will have
no crown if it costs me my freedom." The prudent legate
saw he had gone too far, and at once withdrew his
suggestion. Great preparations were now made for the
coronation, which was fixed for St. Olaf s day. Archbishop
Sigurd and five of his suffragans, the bishops of Bergen,
Stavanger, Oslo, Hamar, and Hole (Iceland), the principal
abbots, and all the great chiefs of Norway were then in the
city. The coronation procession to Christ Church Cathedral
was one of great magnificence. Following the high officials
came four lendermcend, bearing aloft the coronation robes,
after them were borne two silver sceptres, one with a golden
cross on it and another with an eagle. Next came the
king's son, Haakon, carrying the crown, and Jarl Knut
with the coronation sword, and last of all Archbishop
Sigurd and King Haakon, with two bishops as his supporters.
At the palace door the procession was joined by clergy
intoning, "Ecce mitto angelum meum," and thus they went
to the cathedral, where they were met at the door by the
cardinal and two bishops, who conducted the king to the
altar. During the Mass the king was crowned with the
usual solemnities.
The coronation banquet was held in the king's boat-
house, there being no other building large enough to receive
the great company. After the feast the cardinal made a
speech, in which he said : " Now is your king crowned and
honoured as no king before him in Norway ; God be praised
that I did not turn back, as I was urged to do, as I was
told that I would not see many people, and if I did,
they would be more like wild beasts than men in
their conduct, but now I see a great company of people all
well conducted and many foreigners, and such a multitude
of ships as I have never before seen in one harbour. "
After the coronation was over the cardinal did not forget
the other part of his mission an inquiry into the state of
THE CARDINAL'S VISITATION. 199
the Church in Norway. Lengthy conferences were held in
Bergen with the king and the bishops, and various abuses
were dealt with, and complaints on the part of the people
listened to.
It was found that the bishops had been accustomed to
appropriate the income of parishes during a vacancy, and
this practice was sternly forbidden, as it naturally gave an
opening for abuses and might delay the appointment to the
parish. It was ordered that when a parish was vacant
some one was at once to be appointed to hold the revenue
during the vacancy, and to hand it over, with a proper
account, to the newly-appointed priest, and specially to
guard the one-fourth part of the tithe which belonged to
the parish church.
The parish priests complained about the enforced hospi-
tality which they had to offer to the bishop's officials when
he did not come himself on a visitation. This was forbidden,
except when illness or the king's business prevented the
bishop coming. The b0nder complained about the fines
which were levied on them for fishing and haymaking upon
holy days, and asked for some relief. The cardinal recog-
nized the justice of the claim to make hay while the sun
shone, and also to secure the herrings, " sent by God," when
they approached the shores, and granted this request.^
Another important matter which was decided at this
time was the entire abolition of the trial by ordeal, which
had been, not long before, used to decide the question of
the king's parentage.
So ended this most memorable mission of William of
Sabina, one as important in its way as that of Nicholas
Breakspeare in 1152.
The cardinal during his stay in Norway contrived to
enrich himself considerably at the expense of Church
* Archbishop Eystein had obtained from the pope a similar con-
cession for Tr0ndelagen in his time, see page 161.
and king, as he had previously done in England. For the
pope he is said to have received a sum of 15,000 marks of
silver a welcome contribution to the papal war chest at the
time of the great conflict with the kaiser. For himself he
got from Haakon 1,500 marks, and 500 marks from the
Norwegian Church, in addition to innumerable smaller
gifts.
On his way from Norway the cardinal called at Stavanger,
T0nsberg, Oslo, and Konghelle, from whence he passed into
Sweden. The legate's view of the state of the Church in
Norway is contained in a letter of August, 1247, at the
close of his mission. In this he mentions that he found it
in full peaceable and quiet possession of the right of
judging in all ecclesiastical matters between all persons
whomsoever, and over all the clergy, in questions both
spiritual and temporal, or with regard to any breach of
contract. He also found the Norwegian Church exercised
free and unfettered rights of patronage over all churches.
The election of the bishops was also free from the inter-
ference of the laity. *
How far the legate was strictly correct in his statement
seems open to doubt. The Kristenret certainly did not
then recognize the immunity of the clergy from secular
tribunals, nor had the king abandoned his right to have a
voice in the choice of the bishops. It seems likely that
the cardinal's letter embodied what the Church wished for,
and claimed, more than what it actually possessed at the
William of Sabina was for a considerable time engaged
in the affairs of the Church in Sweden, and did not return
to the papal court at Lyons until 1251, where he died
suddenly in the same year. Haakon was now in a position
of great power and influence, and was an especial favourite
* The cardinal's letter will be found in the Norges Oamle Love,
Yol. I., page 450.
HAAKON AND THE NORTH. 201
of the pope. Some time before his coronation he had been
urged to join in a crusade, and though he had promised to
do so, and afterwards (1248) Louis IX. of France had
urged him to join in the unfortunate venture in which he
was taken prisoner, yet Haakon never fulfilled his promise.
As a substitute for a crusade against the Saracens, the
pope permitted and approved of one against Haakon's
heathen neighbours in the north of Norway the Finns.
Haakon, however, did better than carrying fire and sword
amongst them. He made efforts to spread Christianity in
those regions in a more legitimate way, and to his zeal was
due the foundation of churches in Troms0 and in Ofoten ;
the former was for a long time the most northern Christian
church in the world. He also received a tribe of Finns
from Eussia, whom the Tartars had driven out, and allowed
them to settle in Malangen, where he had them baptized.
The remaining years of the long reign of Haakon were not
marked by any very important ecclesiastical events, though
there are several points of interest in the dealings between
the king and the Church, some of which were in progress
before the time of the mission of Cardinal William of
Sabina.
Later writers and legislative enactments frequently refer
to the Kristenret " of King Haakon Haakonss0n, and
Archbishop Sigurd." It would seem that this was not a
new enactment, but rather a rearrangement and adaptation
of the older laws, to bring them into conformity with the
alterations agreed upon in the relations of the Church and
the State. There were, as we have seen, a number of laws
relating to matters ecclesiastical dating from the time of
St. Olaf downwards, and the last was the collection known
as the " Golden Feather " of Archbishop Eystein. Haakon
and the archbishop revised and enlarged these, and they
were accepted as a part of the Frosta Thing's law. The
exact date of this work is uncertain, but its approximate
date can be ascertained by the fact that trial by ordeal was
still recognized, and we therefore may conclude with
certainty that it was prior to 1247, when that method was
abolished at the time of William of Sabina's mission.
Another important event, both ecclesiastical and civil,
which marked the reign of Haakon was the practical union
of Norway and Iceland. That remarkable island had, from
the time of its first colonization, from Norway, in the days
of Harald Haarfagre, maintained a sturdy independence of
the rule of the Norwegian kings, though there was a very
close connection between it and the mother country, and the
Church there, with the two dioceses of Skaalholt and Hole,
formed a part of the province of Nidaros, together with the
more distant Greenland.
One of the most famous bishops was Thorlak Thorhallss0n.
This man was born in 1133 and ordained priest in 1152,
and spent several years in studying abroad first at Paris
and afterwards, from 1158 to 1160, at Lincoln, then famous
as a school of learning in theology and canon law. In 1178
he was consecrated at Nidaros as bishop of Skaalholt. He
was the great ecclesiastical legislator of Iceland, and com-
piled a Kristenret for that country. After his death in 1 1 93
he was reverenced as a saint by the Icelanders, but was
never canonized at Rome. The unhappy state of affairs in
Norway during the civil wars reacted upon Iceland, and the
island was in a disturbed state. During the reign of
Haakon lived the famous Snorre Sturlass0n, the writer of
the great " Heimskringla " (a history of the Norwegian race
from the earliest times down to the battle of Re, at T0nsberg
in 1177), which derived its name from the first word in
the book, which means the world's circle. He became by
degrees a very wealthy man, and had large possessions in
the island. During a visit to Norway, early in Haakon's
reign, he promised to use his influence to bring the
Icelanders to accept the overlordship of Haakon, but
ICELANDIC BISHOPRICS. 203
on his return there in 1220 he did nothing to fulfil his
promise.
In the conflict between Haakon and Skule, Snorre seems
to have sided with the latter, and Haakon, after the death
of Skule, determined to punish him. He sent orders to
Snorre's enemy, Gissur Thorvaldss0n, to arrest or kill the
historian, and Gissur attacked and killed Snorre in his
home at Reykjaholt in 1241.
The king and Sigurd felt that it would conduce to the
securing of the supremacy of the island, if they were able to
bring the Icelandic bishops into more direct obedience to
the see of Nidaros, and not leave them in the position
which the bishops of Norway occupied during the Bremen
metropolitanship.
An opportunity occurred in 1237, when it happened that
both of the Icelandic bishoprics were vacant that of
Skaalholt by the death of Magnus Gissurss0n, who was the
last married bishop in Iceland.
To the vacancies were nominated two priests named
Magnus and Bj0rn, and they came to Nidaros to be con-
secrated by Sigurd. The archbishop, however, on the
ground of their election being invalid, refused to do so, and
applied to Pope Gregory IX., who in August, 1237,
ordered him to suspend both of the bishops-elect. Bj0rn
went to Rome to plead his cause, but died on the way back ;
and Magnus went back to Iceland, where he was afterwards
drowned. Then the archbishop decided to fill up the
vacancies himself, and consecrated two Norwegians, Sigurd
of Selje to Skaalholt, and Botolf of Elgesseter to Hole, and
sent them to Iceland, where they were accepted. Still
Iceland remained independent, but a gradual movement
towards acknowledging the authority of the Norwegian
king went on. William of Sabina is said to have strongly
urged the Icelanders to submit to Haakon. Finally, in
1256, a part of Iceland agreed to pay skat to Haakon, and
in 1262 the remainder of the island acknowledged Haakon's
sovereignty. The country, however, still retained its own
self-government and laws. In 1262 Greenland came also
under the supremacy of Norway.
Archbishop Sigurd, who had occupied such a prominent
place in the history of his time, died in 1252, and was suc-
ceeded by S0rle of Hamar, who only lived a year after his
consecration and died in 1254, and was followed by
Einar Gunnarss0n, a member of a well-known family in
Tr0ndelagen.
The new archbishop urged upon the king the great
importance of making provision for the succession of his
two sons during his lifetime, so as to avoid disputes, but the
king would not take any definite step. In 1257 the king's
eldest son, Haakon, died, and one difficulty respecting the
succession was removed. The question, however, was not
allowed to drop, for experience showed how dangerous
to the peace of the country was a doubtful law of succes-
sion, as the older one of the days of St. Olaf, and the more
recent one which the bishops and Archbishop Eystein in the
time of Magnus Erlingss0n and his father, Erling Skakke,
were not in agreement. The latter, which we have at
the commencement of the older Gula Thing's law, decreed
that he should be king of Norway who was the legitimate
son of the king of Norway, except in cases of imbecility or
vicious living, when the archbishop, bishops, &c., were
to choose another son of the same father,* or the next-
of-kin.
This law, as we have seen, was strenuously and success-
fully contested by Sverre and others, and illegitimacy was
not an obstacle to succession.
In 1260 the king and the archbishop again discussed the
matter, and finally an agreement was arrived at and a new
* Provision was also made for the temporary filling of the throne
if the king was absent from the land.
NEW LAW OF SUCCESSION. 205
law promulgated at the Frosta Tiling. There we read that
the king, " with the counsel and consent of his son, King
Magnus, Archbishop Einar, his suffragans, lendermcend,
clergy, decreed that he should be king in Norway who was
the king of Norway's eldest legitimate son, but if there is
no legitimate son, then shall the king's son be king although
he be not legitimate ; and if there be none of these, he shall
be king of Norway who is Odel born and next-of-kin and of
the royal race."
This law was finally accepted by the various Things of
Norway, and became henceforth recognized as the law of
succession. It will be seen that the arrangement arrived
at, after long years of struggle, was a compromise. The
Church had hitherto insisted that only the legitimate son
should succeed, whereas the old law of succession from
St. Olaf s days did not insist on this as a necessary qualifi-
cation. Henceforth the legitimate son must be king, if
there be one surviving, but failing a legitimate heir, the old
custom was allowed to stand. The absolute claim of the
hierarchy to arrange the succession was thus, to a considerable
extent, restricted ; whilst at the same time their contention
that the legitimate son should be king was recognized.
Haakon was able to induce the b0nder of the south
to make a new offering to the maintenance of the Church
in Trondhjem and Oslo. It was agreed that a penny for
each head of cattle on a farm should be contributed, and
thus divided two-thirds to the support of the Dom kirke
at Nidaros this was known as the Olaf s skat, and one-
third to Oslo, called the Halvard's skat.
In 1261, at the marriage of Haakon's son Magnus, to
Ingeborg, daughter of the Danish king, a very unusual
course was taken. It was suggested that Magnus and his
wife should be crowned ; he had already, as we have seen,
been named as king by the Thing, but a coronation was an
entirely new departure. After some consideration, Haakon
consented, and the ceremony was performed by Archbishop
Einar.
In the summer of 1263 King Haakon sailed with a large
fleet and army to Scotland, to enforce his supremacy over
the Hebrides. A fierce but indecisive battle was fought
at Largs, in the Clyde, and afterwards Haakon and his fleet
retired to the Orkneys for the winter. Here Haakon died
on December 23rd, 1263, at the age of sixty, having held
the throne of Norway for the long period of forty-six years ;
his body was in the spring brought to Bergen and buried
in Christ Church Cathedral, where his famous grandfather
was interred. Archbishop Einar died in Norway a few
months before the king.
During the reign of Haakon the monastic orders in
Norway were reinforced by the introduction of the two
recently-founded orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans.
The first Dominican in Norway was a monk named
Salomon, who was driven there by stress of weather on
a voyage to Denmark, and who, in Jarl Skule's time,
visited Nidaros, where he was favourably received. The
order quickly gained ground in Norway, and in 1240 had
monasteries in Nidaros, Bergen, and Oslo.
The Franciscans seem to have come first in 1230, and they
soon had monasteries in Konghelle, T0nsberg, and Bergen.
Some very interesting papal letters were sent to Norway
during the reign of Haakon and his immediate prede-
cessor, and they throw a curious light on the life of the
people, especially in the remoter dioceses in the widespread
province of Nidaros. The archbishop in 1205 applied to
the pope (Innocent III.) to know whether it was per-
missible to substitute beer for water as the " matter " in
holy baptism. We might naturally imagine that what-
ever else were wanting in Norway water was always pro-
curable. The pope, however, was quite clear in his reply
that nothing but water could be used in the administration
PAPAL LETTERS TO NORWAY. 207
of this sacrament. It is curious that this question was
more than once submitted to the papal decision, for we
find again, in 1241, Gregory IX. writes an almost similar
letter to Archbishop Sigurd, and lays down the same
rule as his predecessor.
Another question was submitted to Gregory IX. with
respect to the elements in the Holy Communion. The
archbishop inquired whether, when the Eucharist was
wanting (deficiente eucharistia) , owing to the lack of corn
and wine, they might communicate the people with any
other sort of bread, along with beer or any other drink.
The pope replied that neither one nor the other was to be
done under any circumstances (quod neutrum est penitus
faciendum), but that the form should be " visibilis panis
de frumento et vini de uvis." He concludes by saying
that, as had become the custom in other places, "panis
simpliciter benedictus " could be given to the people.^
The meaning of this suggestion seems to be that the poor
faithful in the remote dioceses would have to be contented
with the "oblata," or the pain Uni of France.
With reference to the long-standing question of the
celibacy of the clergy, and the supposed permission of
Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare for the priests to contract
matrimony, Gregory IX. wrote (in May, 1237) to Arch-
bishop Sigurd to sternly forbid the practice. In his letter
he says that they could show no documentary evidence
whatever for this, and that his predecessor of blessed
memory could not have granted permission for such an
enormity. The plea of ancient custom urged by the clergy,
instead of improving, made matters worse " peccatum non
minuat sed augmentet."
The reign of Haakon was on the whole a very prosperous
time for Norway, and after the death of Duke Skule, in
* The pope's letter will be found in Norges Gamle Love, Vol. IV.,
page 108, and in " Diplomatarium Norvegicum," Vol. I., No. 16.
1240, when his power was fully established, he became a
person of great importance in the North. He was in very
great favour with the Popes Gregory IX. and Innocent IV.,
and the latter tried to induce him to join in an attack on
Frederick II., and also to be a candidate for the Imperial
crown ; but Haakon had no intention of entertaining such a
project, and shrewdly declared that "he was ready to fight
against the enemies of the Church, but not all of the Pope's." *
His alliance was esteemed by many of the princes of
Europe, and his daughter Christina was married to Prince
Philip of Castile, the brother of Alfonso the Wise. It was
this marriage which led to the building of a church
dedicated to St. Olaf in Spain, as the princess begged her
husband to erect a church to the honour of the patron
saint of her native land, which it seems he did.
* " This, the said king declared to me, Matthew, who wrote this, and
attested it with a great oath." Matthew Paris (Bohn's edition, Yol. II.,
page 415).
From a Photograph by]
[T. OlafWillson.
From a Wooden Figure (15th Century) originally in Fjeld
Church, Spiidhordland, now in Bergen Museum.
[To face 2J. 208.
f UNIVERSITY 1
CHAPTER XIV.
MAGNUS LAGAB0TER AND THE T0NSBERG CONCORDAT
ERIK PRESTEHADER.
Jon Raude, Archbishop Magnus's Codification of the Law The
T0nsberg Concordat Its Terms Death of Magnus Erik PresU-
hader Succeeds Conflict between the Regents and the Archbishop
Jon Flies to Sweden and Dies there The Pope Appoints, per
provisionem, Bishop J0rund as Primate The Provincial Council
of Nidaros Disputes in the Church Death of Erik.
No more striking proof of the wisdom of Haakon
Haakonss0n's legislation respecting the succession to the
crown could have been shown, than the peaceable way in
which his son Magnus succeeded his father on the throne.
The new monarch had been accepted as his father's
successor during Haakon's lifetime, and, unlike any former
king of Norway, had already received his crown. Magnus
was at home when his father died, having been left in
charge of the country when the expedition to Scotland
started. The new king inherited much of the ability of
his race, but was of a more yielding disposition than his
father, and above all things wished to live in peace with
those around him. His early education, which had pro-
ceeded almost on the same lines as if he were intended for
holy orders, had made him a man of very considerable
learning, and also inclined to listen most favourably to the
demands of the Church. Above all things, the desire to
promote the welfare of his people and fulfil the responsi-
bilities of his royal office was the ambition of his life. He
is known in history as Magnus Lagab0ter (the improver of
the laws), a title of which any king might well be proud.
O.S.N. P
The death of Einar left the see of Nidaros vacant at the
time of Magnus's accession, and the chapter then elected
Birger, a monk of the monastery of Tautra, near Nidaros.
This man was the son of a priest (a circumstance which
was not likely to make him favourably received at Rome),
and required, as in the case of Haavard of Bergen,*
a papal dispensation before he could be consecrated.
Birger went to Rome in 1264, but just at the time he got
there Urban IV. died, and the new pope, Clement IV., did
not succeed until February, 1265. Strange to say, nothing
more is heard of Birger, who probably died at Rome ; and
we find Urban IV. (possibly to punish the Nidaros chapter
for electing Birger) handing over the choice of a new
archbishop to the heads of four of the chief monastic
orders in Norway. These men selected Haakon, bishop
of Oslo, for the metropolitan see. As he was already a
bishop it was not necessary for him to go to Rome for
consecration, and the pallium did not arrive for him in
Norway until 1267, when it was brought there by a
member of the Nidaros chapter, Jon Raude (Red John),
who came with it in January, 1267. The new archbishop,
however, only lived until the August following, and Jon
Raude was elected as his successor, and went to Rome for
consecration in 1268, and then returned to his see.
The war with Scotland, which the king had inherited
from his father, was brought to a conclusion in 1266 by
the Treaty of Perth, in which Magnus, in exchange for his
nominal rule over the Hebrides and Man, was to receive
an annual tribute from the Scottish kings, as well as a
sum of money to be paid down. It is remarkable that in
this treaty, while the Norwegian rule over the Hebrides
ceased, the authority of the see of Nidaros over the
diocese of Sodor (Norwegian, Suder0erne) and Man still
remained.
* See page 190.
ONE LAW FOR NORWAY. 211
After having obtained peace, King Magnus set himself
to carry out his great design of having but one law for
the whole of Norway. Hitherto, as we have seen, there
were practically four parliaments or Things which legis-
lated for the land the Frosta Thing for the north, the
Gula Thing for the west, and the Eidsiva and Borgar
Things for the central and south-eastern parts, the Oplands
and Viken, &c.
The king, in his journeys, explained his project to the
different Things, and they expressed their willingness to
comply with his wishes. But now a difficulty arose. In all
the old laws of the four legislative assemblies there were
from the time of St. Olaf two divisions, the general civil
law and the Kristenret, and any attempt on the part of
the Things to deal with the latter at once aroused the
hostility of the Church. The new archbishop, Jon Raude,
had not spent his time in Rome, without being well
indoctrinated with the papal theories of the relations of
the Church to the State, and in him, Magnus found an
opponent. The king had secured the adhesion of the
southern Things to his scheme in the years 1267 8, and
the new archbishop arrived back in Norway in time for
the meeting of the Frosta Thing in 1269. The theory of
the archbishop was that while the king could promulgate
laws for the State, it was the sole province of the Church
to legislate in all ecclesiastical matters. The consequence
of the primate's opposition was, that the new code of laws
was issued without practically any ecclesiastical section,
and only contained a confession of faith, and a recognition
of the royal authority to legislate for the State, and of the
Church to deal with all things relating to its government.
Magnus's new code was finally published and accepted
for the whole country about the year 1274. It will be
seen that the Church had now gained a very important
victory over the State, in the recognition of its power to
legislate for all ecclesiastical affairs, and the time was now
opportune for insisting on a full recognition of its rights
from the king and nation.
The interregnum which followed the death of Pope
Clement IV. was terminated by the election of Gregory X.
in 1271, and in the following year the new pope issued
the summonses for the general council, to be held at
Lyons in 1274. To this, of course, the Norwegian primate
and his suffragans were called, and the archbishop, like
the other metropolitans, was required to report on the
state of the Church in his province.
It seemed well to both parties in Norway that some
formal agreement, with regard to the relations of the
Church to the State, should be arrived at before the
council met, and be there submitted to the pope for his
approval. With this end in view the archbishop called a
provincial council to meet in Bergen in 1273, and the king
summoned all the principal men of the kingdom at the
same time. After a long discussion a number of articles
were agreed upon between the representatives of the Church
and State, which were, on the whole, very favourable to
the claims of the former.
With this agreement the archbishop and bishops went
to the council at Lyons, and at the conclusion of the
general business of the assembly, the Bergen agreement
was submitted to Gregory X. for his sanction. The pope
approved all that had been done, but added some new
clauses, which included the offering of the king's crown on
the altar at Nidaros and the giving over to the Church (in
the case of a minority of the Crown) the government of
the country. Magnus, who was most willing to grant
great privileges to the Church, was, however, quite firm in
rejecting these additions of the pope, and things were
now as they had been before the meeting of the general
THE T0NSBERG CONCORDAT. 213
Both parties, however, desired peace, and the archbishop
was fully cognizant of the greatness of the concessions he
had received, and did not wish to drive matters too far ;
and the king was willing to give all he could, without
encroaching too much on the royal prerogative.
A new meeting was therefore called at T0nsberg in 1277,
at which all the representatives of the Church and State
were present, and what is known in history as the " T0nsberg
Concordat " was agreed upon. The principal points of this
new settlement, which was practically the same as that
arrived at in Bergen in 1273, with a few modifications,
were as follows : *
1. The archbishop, on behalf of the Church, abandoned
all claim to choose the king, and to insist on the offering of
the crown at Nidaros, so long as there was a lawful heir to
the throne. But failing such heir, the archbishop and the
bishops were to have a preponderating voice in the choice
of the king; but they were, in such case, to make a
declaration that they acted solely for the good of the
2. The clergy were to be entirely exempt from lay juris-
diction of all kinds, even when there were cases in which
a layman was involved. Also all cases of which the Church
had any cognizance by canon law e.g., marriage, wills,
patronage, tithes, oaths, Church property, perjury, simony,
public morals, &c. were to come before the ecclesiastical
courts.
3. The right of patronage to churches of all kinds was
handed over to the bishops.
4. The election of bishops and abbots to be free from all
interference. The nominee, however, before his election
was confirmed, had to inform the king, who had a right to
protest against the candidate.
* The Latin original will be found in the Norges GamU Love,
Vol. II., page 462.
5. All ecclesiastical persons were exempted from military
service, except in cases of great emergency, approved by
the bishop.
Other articles allowed the archbishop a retinue of one
hundred men, and the bishops forty. The archbishop's
rights to export corn to, and to trade in falcons from,
Iceland were confirmed, also his privilege of coining money.
Pilgrims were to be protected.
Finally it was agreed that in all disputes arising from
this concordat the archbishop and the king should each
appoint a man to decide all questions, and if they could
not agree a third person was to be called in.
It will at once be seen, when we contrast these terms
with the points in dispute since the time of Sverre, what
a striking victory the Church had won, and how much the
ecclesiastical power had gained from the State. It is true
the archbishop was not able to extort from the king the
submission which had been demanded from Magnus
Erlingss0n. In spite of his gentle and peace-loving nature,
he had enough of the spirit of Sverre, and of his father, to
refuse to hold his kingdom as a grant from the Church.
Nevertheless the Church had received an enormous increase
of her power, and gained privileges and control over the
laity above that which was enjoyed in almost any other
country in Europe. It is not a little remarkable that this
concordat was completed and sworn to by both parties,
without any consultation with, or sanction of, the pope,
and at the same time his additions to the Bergen agree-
ment of 1273, were abandoned by the Church.
The chiefs of Norway agreed very unwillingly to the
terms of the concordat, but they did so in the interests of
peace, and the hope of finally putting an end to the dis-
putes, which had lasted so long and done so much harm.
It was at this time that King Magnus, probably with a
desire to strengthen the power and authority of the chiefs,
DEATH OP MAGNUS LAGAB0TER. 215
gave them new titles. The lendermcend, or feudatories, were
henceforth called barons, and the hirdmcend, or king's
special followers, attached to the court, were named
knights. From this time a special caste of nobility began
to arise in Norway, different from the ancient days when
all b0nder were equal, and the chiefs were generally the
b0nder who owned the greatest possessions.
Magnus, in a well-meant endeavour to conciliate the
Church, took the very unpopular step of extending tithe
to all kinds of produce, both of land and sea, and he also
conferred many extra privileges upon the archbishop and
bishops.
These various concessions and privileges, which the
Church had obtained through the mediumship of Arch-
bishop Jon, were not likely to remain unused. The
archbishop at once set to work to have his new ecclesiastical
law, based on the Concordat, formally promulgated. With
this in view he summoned a provincial council to meet in
Bergen in the summer of 1280, and the king called all
the chiefs at the same time, with the intention of having
his young son Erik crowned there.
King Magnus, in spite of the great concessions he had
made, does not seem to have been very hopeful that they
would finally settle all disputes. " Wait until I am three
years dead and you will see," were his foreboding words
to his followers when they spoke of the matter.
Magnus did not live to see the council. He had ]ong
been ailing, and died in Bergen on the 9th of May, 1280,
at the early age of 42 years. He was hardly a strong
enough man for the difficult part he had to play, and his
love of peace often led him to give way, when perhaps the
interests of his kingdom demanded firmness. The great
work of his reign was his securing one Jaw for the whole
kingdom, for which he well deserved to be held in honour
by all his people.
It was during this reign that the Hanseatic League
gained a footing in Norway, and though it led to an
increase of trade, it ended by the foreigners getting it all
into their own hands, to the manifest injury of the country,
until at last the power of the great league was broken.
The trade of Norway with England had considerably
increased in the thirteenth century, and from the year 1200
there was free trade between the two countries.
The death of Magnus Lagab0ter left the Norwegian
Church at the summit of its power. By the Concordat of
T0nsberg it had gained a great victory over the State,
which the subsequent grants of the king confirmed and
strengthened. But the very completeness of the victory
contained the elements which led to the subsequent loss of
power ; and the grants of the king, especially in the matter
of tithes, aroused a very deep feeling of resentment in the
minds of the people, which before long made itself felt.
At first, however, the power of the Church appeared to
be supreme. The council, and the meeting of the chiefs,
assembled in Bergen, where the archbishop arrived on
June 16th, 1280. The first business which came before the
meeting was, in consequence of Magnus's death, the corona-
tion of his son Erik,* who was then a boy of only twelve
years of age. The late king had intended to have had his
son crowned (following the precedent in his own case) on
June 24th, but difficulties arose between the chiefs (or
barons as they were now called) and the archbishop
respecting the coronation oath. The form in which the
archbishop wished it, was very unpalatable to the chiefs ;
but they did not feel themselves at the time, strong enough
to do more than object to its terms, and the archbishop had
* The name Prestehader (the priest hater), by which Erik is known,
seems to be quite undeserved. The conflicts with the Church were
fiercest during his minority, and when he came of age his influence was
always on the side of peace and moderation.
CORONATION OF ERIK. 217
his way. Erik was crowned in the cathedral on July 2nd,
and took the following oath : " To the bishops and clergy
I shall yield all fitting honour, and I shall hold intact what
has been given by the kings to the Church in accordance
with the compact between the Church and the kingdom.
Wrong laws and bad customs namely, those which are
against the freedom of the holy Church I shall abolish
and ordain better ones." This oath, by an oversight on
the part of the archbishop, was not, as usual in the case
of a minority, sworn by the chiefs, to whom, along with
the queen mother, Ingeborg, the regency during the king's
minority was committed.
The archbishop now proceeded with his council, which
was attended by all the bishops of Norway, and also those
of Skaalholt and Hole, in Iceland, and the bishops of the
Fseroe Islands and Sodor and Man. The council drew up
a number of regulations with reference to the ban of the
Church, which was to be pronounced against any one who
dared to infringe on the terms of the T0nsberg Concordat,
or who brought the clergy into any civil court of law, &c.
He was also anxious to have his new version of the
Kristenret fully confirmed and adopted.
But already the reaction had begun, and the archbishop
found he had not to deal with a young lad, but with a
number of barons who would pay but little heed to the
threats which he might utter. The two principal men in the
new council of regency, which managed the affairs of the
kingdom, were Bjarne Erlingss0n and Bjarne Lodinss0n.
The regents now issued an ordinance, in which were
many things directly in conflict with the terms of the
T0nsberg Concordat, and which was plainly intended as a
challenge to the archbishop and the Church. Jon at first
tried to get the regents to withdraw from the position they
had taken up, and threatened excommunication, but found
that they were quite indifferent to this. Then, as a
compromise, both parties agreed to lay the case before the
pope, and the archbishop left Bergen and returned to Nidaros.
Matters remained for some time longer without any very
serious move on either side, and the popular feeling against
the claims of the Church, especially in the matter of tithes,
increased.
In 1281 the regents negotiated the marriage of the young
king, with Margaret the daughter of Alexander III. of
Scotland, without consulting the primate. The princess
arrived in Bergen in the August of that year, where the
wedding was solemnized by the archbishop. In the midst
of the festivities, however, the quarrel broke out afresh, the
archbishop objecting to the presence of one of the chiefs
whom he had excommunicated ; and very soon after left for
Nidaros, having excommunicated Bjarne Erlingss0n and
Andres Plytt, for the crime of procuring from the young
king a revocation of his privilege of coining money.
Very soon after Jon left Bergen, Andres Plytt died, and
then followed a curious incident. The clergy refused to
permit the bells of the churches to be rung at the funeral,
as Andres was under the ban, but the regents' men broke
open the doors of the church towers and had them rung
in spite of them. They then turned on the Bergen clergy,
and gave them the choice of ignoring the excommunications
or of leaving the country, and the priests in Bergen
preferred the former.
The regents now took stronger measures. They ordered
the new system of tithes to be given up and the old system
again to be universal, and further, in defiance of the
council of Bergen and the T0nsberg agreement, decreed
that the lay judges should have the power to try, as
in former days, all cases which came under the ancient
Kristenret. The appeal to the pope, on which both
parties were agreed, did not lead to anything. Martin IV.
was at that time on the papal throne. When the case
FLIGHT AND DEATH OP ARCHBISHOP JON. 219
came on the representatives of the regents demanded
that the pope should send a legate to Norway to abrogate
the T0nsberg Concordat, and on this being, very natu-
rally, refused, they left Home, and the matter practically
The king's council now proceeded further against the
clergy, and arrested several who stood by the archbishop
and confiscated their property. The strife grew so great
that at last Archbishop Jon and Bishops Andreas of Oslo
and Thorfinn of Hamar, were obliged to leave the country,
the archbishop taking refuge in Sweden.
The regents then sent Jon Brynjulfss0n to Nidaros. He
seized the property of the archbishop and the chapter, and
took up his abode in the archbishop's palace, where, to the
great scandal of the faithful, he actually dared to sleep in
the archbishop's own bed.
Jon did not long survive his exile. He died at Skara, in
Sweden, on December 21st, 1282, and was buried there, as
the regents would not permit his body to be brought
to Nidaros ; but a year afterwards the permission was
given, and it was disinterred and conveyed to his own
cathedral.
Jon Kaude was much beloved by his friends, who gave
him the name of "The Steadfast." That he was steadfast
in the maintenance of the claims of the Church there can
be no doubt, but he does not seem to have been at all as
great a man as his famous predecessors, Eystein and Erik,
or to have known how best to use the great victory he had
won. With a little more tact and discretion he might have
kept the peace and avoided the fresh outbreak between the
Church and State. The two other bishops went to Rome
first, and then Thorfinn of Hamar went to Doest, in
Flanders, where he died,* and Andreas of Oslo made peace
and returned to his see. At this time it would seem that a
* Daae "Norges ffelgener," page 177.
very general attack was made on Church property in
different places, especially in those dioceses which were left
without bishops, and many of the chiefs or barons were
guilty in this respect.
The king, who had now, of course, attained his legal
majority (though guided largely by the counsel of Bjarne
Erlingss0n and others), found it necessary to intervene for
the protection of the Church's property. In 1283 he,
along with his brother, Duke Haakon, issued a proclamation
taking the see of Nidaros under his protection, and ordering
that all the tithes and fines should be paid which were due,
but they were to be computed according to the old
Kristenret, and not after the recent arrangement with King
Magnus. It was felt by many that the regents had gone
too far in the strife against the archbishop, and this feeling
was intensified by the troubles which came upon the
country at this time. There was much sickness among
men and animals ; the harvests had been very bad, almost
producing famine in places. The young Queen Margaret
died in 1283, and several of the chief men ; and the king
had a very narrow escape from death through an accident
when out riding. In all these calamities, the mass of the
people saw an evidence of the anger of Heaven at the
way the Church had been treated. The see of Nidaros
had been some time vacant, and no one seemed to very
much desire such a dangerous post. In 1284 the chapter
at last chose Bishop Narve of Bergen, but the pope
raised objections against him. Then another attempt
was made, and a member of the chapter, Eindride,
was chosen, and an embassy was sent to Eome to procure
the papal sanction.
The ambassadors on arriving at Eome had interviews
with Honorius IV., and the result was that he set aside the
nominee of the chapter, and appointed, per provisionem,
J0rund, bishop of Hamar, in February, 1287, to the
ARCHBISHOP J0RUND. 221
archbishopric, but owing to the death of Honorius IV., and
the delay in appointing his successor, it was not until
October, 1288, that J0rund was invested with the pallium
at Nidaros.
The new archbishop had a very difficult part to play, and
it can hardly be said he was equal to it, though the Saga
says " he was firm in friendship, generous to his followers,
and a dignified man." He began his episcopate in Nidaros
by a liberal distribution of excommunications among the
chiefs who had attacked the Church, including Jon
Brynjulfss0n, whom we have before mentioned. The new
archbishop and the bishops, were averse to continuing the
strife with the State, in which Jon had suffered such a
severe defeat, and seem to have desired, if possible, to come
to terms with the king and his counsellors, as soon as they
could. The T0nsberg Concordat was the high- water mark
of the Church's power in Norway, and the attempt of Jon
to carry it out in all its fulness, had provoked the reaction
which led to his and the other bishops' banishment. Now
the prelates were actuated with a desire to save as much as
they could from the storm which had burst upon them.
Soon after J0rund's enthronement in Nidaros, a suitable
opportunity occurred of coming to an understanding with
the State. The king and his brother Haakon came on a
pilgrimage to Nidaros (1289), and while there he and the
archbishop seem to have come to terms. The following
May, 1290, the king and Duke Haakon issued a letter in
which they stated that they had come to an agreement
with the archbishop and bishops, in which they had decided
to revert to the old Kristenret which prevailed in the country
before the T0nsberg Concordat, and that this should include
tithes and fines, &c., about which so many complaints had
been made by the people. Thus again the contending
parties in Church and State went back to the ground they
had before occupied. In the truce with Haakon Sverress0n
in 1202 it was, "as in 1152" ; so now it was, "as before
the T0nsberg Concordat." The Church had, however, gained
immensely in power from the time of the respite which
followed the great struggle under Erik, and could afford to
abandon its claims of supremacy over the State when it had
obtained practical independence of royal control. The
T0nsberg Concordat was not formally abrogated, but became
a dead letter, and the peace now brought about lasted for a
very long period. It was not until 1458 that the T0nsberg
Concordat became again recognized, under Kristian I. of
Denmark.
Peace having been thus secured, the archbishop turned
his attention to the state of the Church in Norway, and
called a provincial council in Nidaros in August, 1290.
The bishops found that there were many matters in the life
of the clergy and people which needed reform, and they
issued a number of very useful canons. Among other
things they ordered all parish priests to preach every
Sunday and instruct the people about baptism and confirma-
tion, and also to be diligent in teaching both young and old
the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ave Maria, and to see that
those who did not learn were punished. They were also to
see that due reverence was paid to the Blessed Sacrament
both in church and when it was borne to the sick and
dying. The priests were not permitted to duplicate Mass
on Sundays, except on the great festivals or where they had
to serve two churches, &c.
In the monastic establishments it was ordained that
sacred writings should be read at meal times, " so that the
ears should not be open to slander and offence."
The remaining years of the reign of King Erik the Church
and State never came into conflict. The archbishop, indeed,
did his best to keep on good terms with the king, and agreed
to be considered as one of the king's jarls, and did homage
for his temporal possessions, which act was regarded with
BISHOPS AND CHAPTERS. 223
much disfavour by the Church generally.* The archbishop
and the bishops were too much occupied in settling internal
disputes to have time, even if they had the inclination, to
enter upon any fresh conflict with the State.
In Norway, as in every other country of Europe, many
disputes had broken out between the secular clergy and the
mendicant orders, and as they went on almost exactly the
same lines as elsewhere, we need not enter upon them at
any length. In addition to these disputes, fierce quarrels
broke out between the cathedral chapters and their bishops.
In Nidaros a prolonged dispute was maintained between
Archbishop J0rund and the chapter with regard to their
respective rights, in which, after an appeal to the pope, the
victory rested in the main with the chapter. A similar
struggle went on at Stavanger with Bishop Arne, which
lasted until the death of the latter in 1303.
The other disputes were between the cathedral chapters
and the mendicant orders. The first was in Bergen,
where the clergy and chapter were very hostile to the
Dominicans. The latter decreed that none of the clergy
should give them either "shelter, food, or alms." The
bishop, Narve, who had himself been a Dominican, tried in
vain to have this order recalled, but the hostility of the
chapter and secular clergy was too strong for him.
In Oslo the dispute was between the chapter and the
Franciscans. Duke Haakon had given the monks material
for building a church, and they had set to work, when the
chapter promptly gave orders to have it pulled down.
The pope was appealed to, and ordered the bishop and
representatives of the chapter to Eome, and they found it
prudent under these circumstances to give way.
Kiog Erik died in Bergen in July, 1299, in his thirty-
first year. By his marriage with Margaret, the daughter
* This arrangement lasted until King Haakon's time, when it was
done away with at Oslo in 1310.
of Alexander III. of Scotland, he had one daughter named
Margaret. On her grandfather's death without leaving any
son, she was accepted as the queen of Scotland, and it was
arranged that she should marry Edward, the son of
Edward I. of England. The " Maid of Norway," as
young Margaret was called, sailed to take possession of
her crown in 1290. She was then only eight years old.
To the subsequent great misfortune of both Scotland and
England, the young princess expired on her arrival at the
Orkneys. King Erik married a second time, Isabella, the
sister of Robert Bruce of Scotland, and by her he had one
daughter, Ingeborg. On Erik's death his brother, Duke
Haakon, succeeded him on the throne, and was crowned in
Nidaros by Archbishop J0rund, in either the August or
November following.
CHAPTER XV.
HAAKON Y.
The last Male of Harald Haarfagre's line New Law of Succession-
Archbishop J0rund's Council at Oslo The King and Duke Erik
The King procures the Appointment of a " Magister Capellarum
Regis " His Policy in this Death of Archbishop J0rund Bishop
Arne of Bergen and his Quarrels Murder of Duke Erik Death of
Haakon.
HAAKON, who during his brother's lifetime had borne
the title of duke, succeeded Erik without any dispute. He
had for several years before his accession taken a promi-
nent part in the government of the country, and practically
shared the royal power with the king. Haakon was a man
of much stronger character and force of will than Erik,
and he soon let it be felt, that he intended to rule with a
firm hand over both the barons and the Church.
He had seen, during his brother's reign, that the growing
power of the barons constituted a very serious danger to
the royal authority, and very soon after his accession he
detected some of them in treasonable correspondence, and
had Audun Hugleikss0n executed, and forced Bjarne
Lodinss0n to fly from the land.
The king was the last of the long race of Harald
Haarfagre in the male line, and not having any son. he
was anxious to make a new arrangement with regard to
the law of succession. In 1302 he called an assembly
to meet in Oslo to arrange for this, and for the govern-
ment of the country in the case of a minority. The
king had two daughters one, Ingeborg, daughter of his
queen, Euphemia of Ktigen, and another, Agnes, who was
O.S.N. Q
illegitimate. Ingeborg was at this time only just a year old.
The proposal respecting the inheritance was to permit the
succession of the legitimate son of a legitimate daughter,
next after the legitimate son's son, and before the legitimate
brother. The king's object was in case his daughter
Ingeborg lived, and became the mother of a son, that he
should succeed. He also extended the legal period of a
regency to the king's twentieth year instead of the twelfth.
The regents were to be twelve in number, (and to include
the chancellor) ; four of these were always to be
attached to the king's person. The object of the reform
was to include in the regency a certain number of officials,
who would act as a check on the power of the barons.
These changes, for some reason or other, the king omitted
to have brought before the Thing for its formal acceptance.
Haakon now decided to find a suitable person to whom to
betroth his infant daughter, and selected Duke Erik of
Sweden, brother of the Swedish king Birger Magnuss0n, a
young man of great talents, and of a very ambitious turn
of mind. He was the same year, 1302, betrothed to the
baby princess Ingeborg. Duke Erik did his best to
ingratiate himself with all the people in Norway, the barons
and the clergy, and especially with the queen Euphemia,
and set himself to form a party which he hoped might
possibly be strong enough to place him on the throne. The
king was mindful of all this, but for some years there was
no open breach between him and the duke.
Archbishop J0rund and his chapter, had been on bad
terms for a long time, and though an arrangement had been
arrived at in 1299, the strife broke out again and raged
more furiously than before. In 1302 the king went to
Nidaros and held a Thing, and positively commanded the
chapter to come to terms with the archbishop, which they
did, but they were practically those of the last settlement,
in which the archbishop got decidedly the worst of it.
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL AT OSLO. 227
The royal rebuke to the chapter was intended to save
appearances, but the victory in reality rested with it.
Archbishop J0rund, however, did not spend all his
energies in fighting with his chapter, but devoted himself
as well to the care of his province. In 1306 he called a
provincial council at Oslo, which was attended by all the
Norwegian bishops, and also Erlend, of the Fseroe Islands.
Several very useful matters were arranged at this meeting.
The rapid growth of the monastic establishments in Norway
necessitated some attention to their condition. It was found
that there was much ignorance amongst the brothers, and it
was ordered that certain promising young men from the
cloisters, were to be sent abroad to study, and maintained
at the expense of these establishments.
A more serious abuse was dealt with in cases where it
was found that nuns had received men as brothers into
nunneries, and monks, women as sisters into monasteries.
This was, in future, absolutely prohibited, and not to be
tolerated "under any circumstances whatever." The
bishops were directed to appoint suitable confessors.
The king now set himself to further curtail the power of
the barons, or chiefs. From Oslo, in June, 1308, he issued
an order by which the sysselmcend were brought directly
under the king's control. The titles of jarl and lendermand
were in future restricted to the king's sons and the jarl of
the Orkneys. The present holders of these titles were to
keep them for their lives. The king also created several
new court officials, such as the standard-bearer, vice-chan-
cellor, constable, &c. That Haakon was able to carry out
such reforms was a manifest proof of his strength, and
from this time onward, the growth of an aristocratic power
in Norway, which might rival that of the king, seems to
have been effectually stopped.
The relations between Haakon and Duke Erik had
become more and more strained at this time, and the
former saw plainly what were the duke's aims, and so
he determined to break with him. The war which had
dragged on for some years with Denmark was brought to
an end in the September after the king's decree about the
lendermcend, which we have just mentioned ; and an agree-
ment was made by which the young princess Ingeborg
was to be betrothed to Magnus, the son of the Swedish
king, and nephew of Erik, king of Denmark. When Duke
Erik of Sweden learned of this new arrangement, and saw
that the king had decided to break with him, he, in the
winter made a sudden attack on Oslo, and ravaged the
country around. He failed, however, in an attempt on the
fortress of Akershus, beside Oslo, and was obliged to
retire to Sweden.
Just at this time King Haakon carried through a design
which he had been meditating for some years, and which
was intended to establish a powerful defence on his side
against the authority of the bishops. We have seen how
he had checked the growth of the power of the barons, and he
wished also to enlist on his side an ecclesiastical force, which
would defend him in any possible attacks from the arch-
bishop and bishops.
The kings had before now felt, the want of a body of men
who were learned and courtly enough to carry on negotia-
tions, either with foreign powers or with their own people.
At this time the clergy were practically the only men with
any pretensions to learning in the kingdom. It had been
usual from the earliest times for the kings to have attached
to their persons, one or more priests (or bishops, as in the
days of the two Olafs), who acted as what we would now
call court chaplains. Some of these chaplains e.g., Martin,
Sverre's chaplain had become bishops, but the kings felt
that if they were advanced to the position of diocesans
and came under the direct influence of the Koman curia,
they would soon very likely come into collision. Haakoii's
THE "MAGISTER CAPELLARUM REGIS." 229
idea, therefore, was to raise up in Norway a body of clergy
who were to be independent of episcopal control, and who
would be entirely devoted to the interests of the Crown.
There were at this time in his kingdom fourteen royal
chapels, to which the king, in spite of the various agree-
ments with the Church, seems to have retained the
patronage. The principal of these were, the royal chapel
in Bergen, known as the Apostles' Church, the Maria Kirke
in Oslo, St. Michael's Church in T0nsberg, and St. Olaf at
Agvaldsnses,^ not far from Haugesund. Some of the royal
churches were collegiate, and had a regular body of canons.
The king's idea was to unite these churches under one man,
with gwasi-episcopal powers, and to form what, in modern
days, would correspond to an " exempt jurisdiction," or
" royal peculiar."
Haakon went to work very prudently. Instead of
negotiating with the archbishop, who was certain to oppose
such a scheme, he approached the pope directly. In
Clement V., the nominee of the French king, who brought
the papal seat to Avignon, he found the man for his pur-
pose. After some delay he got the pope to issue a letter in
February, 1308, in which the pope stated that " on account
of the king's merits, which made him worthy of the favour
of the Apostolic see," he gave him leave to carry out his
plan. The provost of the Apostles' Church in Bergen was
to be the head of all the royal chapels, with the title of
ie Magister Capellarum Kegis," and to this officer was given
permission to wear a mitre and to carry a crozier, and to
" visit" the royal chapels under his care. The first man to
hold this office was Finn Halldorss0n, the provost of the
royal chapel in Bergen.
Thus Haakon triumphed over both the temporal aristo-
cracy, and inflicted also a severe blow to the power of the
: This church can still be seen, with an ancient lautastm, or mono-
lith, beside it, known as Jomfru Maria's Synaal (the B. V. M.'s needle).
bishops. Indeed, at this time he was to all intents and
purposes an absolute monarch.
Archbishop J0rund did not long survive this triumph
of royal diplomacy. He died at Nidaros in April, 1309,
and to the end of his days, in spite of the various " settle-
ments" which had been made, kept up the fight with
his chapter. He was not a man of the same lofty
stamp as some of his predecessors, and his bad temper
and quarrelsome disposition kept him always in conflict
with others. He did much, however, to improve the
internal condition of the Norwegian Church by the legis-
lation carried through in the two important councils, over
which he presided at Nidaros and Oslo. His successor
was found in Eiliv Arness0n, who is described as being
" a great chief, of good manners."
During the concluding years of J0rund's episcopate
Bishop Arne, of Bergen, was ruling his diocese with a
strong hand. At a diocesan synod held in Bergen in 1307
he issued stringent orders to enforce celibacy among his
clergy. Many of them, like the clergy in other parts of
Europe, were living with what were called in Norway
f riller (focarise), a state of things which was quite approved
of by their people. It was only gradually, and after a long
time, that celibacy was even partially enforced among the
parochial clergy. They long resisted the demands of the
bishops and the pope, on the ground that Cardinal Nicholas
in 1152 had expressly granted them permission to live in
matrimony. In his cathedral town he had a long contro-
versy with the Hanseatic merchants, who wished to escape
the payment of tithe, on the ground that they were only
there for a time ; but the bishop held, that those who spent
the winter in Bergen were undoubtedly liable, and after
a prolonged dispute, the point was finally settled in the
bishop's favour.
It was hardly to be expected that the Norwegian bishops
ECCLESIASTICAL DISPUTES. 231
would view with equanimity the " Magister Capellarum
Eegis," whose office they would naturally consider to be an
encroachment on their own authority. Bishop Arne
especially was of a temper which would not look with
favour on this new official, whose residence was in his
diocese. We find that he very soon quarrelled with Finn
Halldorss0n, and in 1310 a great dispute broke out between
them with reference to fees and tithes, which the latter
claimed. The bishop quickly threatened excommunication,
and Finn referred the matter to the pope, who, not wishing to
offend the king, temporized, and, while not altogether backing
up Finn, he ordered that the bishop should perform all epis-
copal offices for the Magister, but he confirmed the right of
the king's official to wear the episcopal garments, &c. There
were other disputes with this Dean of the Chapels Koyal,
as we might call him, but the office ceased to be of
importance as soon as the union with Denmark began.
The pugnacious bishop of Bergen had also a quarrel
with his metropolitan. The new archbishop, Eiliv, who
was elected in 1309, did not go at once to the pope for
consecration. He received a summons with the other
bishops to the council of Vienne in January, 1310. He
was consecrated in 1 3 1 1 , probably at Avignon. It was after
his return that the archbishop demanded what was known in
Norway as the pallie-lijwlp, or subsidy, which consisted of
a portion of the tithes of the hoved kirker, to defray the
expenses of the journey to Kome or Avignon. It seems
doubtful if this tax was first levied in Eiliv's days, or
whether it had existed before. There does not seem to
have been any refusal to pay this, but Arne was very
angry when the archbishop appointed Finn Halldorss0n to
collect it, and at once threatened to excommunicate any
one who paid it to Finn. Then both sides appealed to
the pope, and the matter seems at last to have ended in
the archbishop's favour. We must now turn back to the
events of King Haakon's reign, and it is necessary to be
clear about them, as they have much to do with the
subsequent history.
We have seen that King Haakon had quarrelled with
Duke Erik, and had made peace with Denmark and
Sweden, at Copenhagen, in 1309. The king of Denmark
made an expedition into the south of Sweden on behalf
of his brother-in-law Birger, who was at war with Erik
and Valdemar, but had to retreat. Then Erik and Haakon
again came to terms, and a new peace was made at Hel-
singborg in 1310, by which it was arranged that Erik was
now to marry a niece of the Danish king. The wily Erik,
however, had other ideas, but agreed outwardly, and went
to the pope to procure a dispensation, as the Danish
princess was within the forbidden degrees. He seems to
have arranged not to get this, and returned to Sweden,
and then, in September, 1312, he and his brother went to
Oslo, and Erik married Ingeborg, and Valdemar, the other
Ingeborg, daughter of the late King Erik of Norway and
niece of King Haakon. The Danish king was naturally
very angry, but a peace was again made in 1313 at
Helsingborg. Matters thus remained for a couple of
years, but the dukes were on very bad terms with their
brother, King Birger.
In 131 6 Erik's wife Ingeborg bore a son, to the great joy
of King Haakon, who now had a grandson to whom the
crown should go on his death, and Duke Erik was con-
fident that, as the father of the future king, he could
accomplish his designs with regard to the royal power.
But a terrible tragedy was at hand. In December, 1317,
King Birger invited his two brothers to visit him at the
Castle of Nykj0ping, and professed a desire to be fully
reconciled to them. The two dukes accepted the offer and
went to the castle. The next night they were seized and
thrown into a dungeon, and in a month after, both were
THE END OP THE MALE LINE OF HAARFAGRE. 233
dead probably starved to death, or in some other way
murdered.
This terrible crime roused a storm of indignation against
Birger, and he was forced to fly from Sweden. Haakon
came to the country to support the claims of his grandson,
and the party of the murdered dukes defeated Birger, who
had collected some forces at Skaane, in 1318. Birger 's son
Magnus, who had been held as a captive, was executed in
Stockholm in 1320 by the dukes' party, for fear he should
escape and raise forces against them. King Birger, who
had taken refuge in Denmark, died there in 1321.
The murder of the two dukes was a terrible blow to
King Haakon, who seems to have been in poor health at
the time, and he never recovered from it. Feeling that
his life would not last much longer, he called a meeting of
the chiefs in T0nsberg in April, 1319, and there he caused
them to swear allegiance to his little grandson. The eight
principal officials and chiefs of his kingdom undertook in
the most solemn manner to carry out Haakon 's arrange-
ments made in 1302 with respect to the regency, and they
further undertook to guard against foreigners being placed
in positions of authority in the country. The king's fore-
boding as to his approaching death was verified. He died
the next month, on May 8th, 1319, in the forty -ninth year
of his age, and with him the race of Harald Haarfagre, in
the male line, became extinct, after having furnished
Norway with rulers for three hundred and eighty-six years.
Haakon V. was a man much loved by his people generally,
and was in almost all respects a very noble king. He was,
like some of his immediate predecessors, a man of consider-
able learning for his time. He understood and could
converse in Latin, and caused to be translated, under his
own supervision, portions of the Old Testament from the
Vulgate into Norwegian, as well as a selection from the
lives of the saints. These works were read to the king
and his courtiers on Sundays during dinner. In his reign
the Church in Norway had reached perhaps its most pros-
perous period during the whole of the middle ages. The
constant strife between the royal and ecclesiastical power,
which had been very injurious to the cause of religion, had
practically ceased ; and, under the wise and judicious rule
of Archbishop Eiliv, abuses were checked and attention
closely paid to the instruction of the people in the tenets
of the faith. The various councils which were held, kept
the bishops and clergy in touch one with another, and the
abuses which were so prevalent in the south of Europe,
from the worldliness of the higher clergy, were but little
known in Norway. After Haakon's death the prosperity
of the Church continued, but only for a short time, when
a calamity befell the nation and the Church, which is
perhaps the best explanation of the extraordinary paralysis
of national and ecclesiastical life which manifested itself in
later years. This was the visitation of the terrible Sorte
D0d, the Black Death, the result of which produced effects
more far-reaching perhaps in Norway, than in any other
country of Europe.
CHAPTER XVI.
MAGNUS ERIKSS0N AND THE GREAT CALAMITY,
THE SORTS D0D.
The Union of Norway and Sweden Provincial Council at Bergen
Duchess Ingeborg deprived of Power A Drotsete (Lord Protector)
appointed Fire at Nidaros Archbishop Paul's Council at Oslo
Discontent in Norway Sodor and Man finally separated from the
Norwegian Church The Black Death comes from England to
Bergen, 1349 Its Ravages The Desolation of the Church
Archbishop Olaf 's Council at Nidaros Death of Magnus.
THE death of Haakon V. left the little three-years-old
Magnus Erikss0n the sole heir of the throne of Norway, in
accordance with the law of succession established by his
grandfather eighteen years before. The council of regency
appointed by Haakon at once took charge of the affairs of
the kingdom. As the throne of Sweden was practically
vacant King Birger having been driven out of the country,
and his son Magnus, though still alive, being held as a
close prisoner in Stockholm young Magnus Erikss0n was
therefore, failing these, the heir to the Swedish as well as
the Norwegian crown, a state of things which Haakon V.,
with all his foresight, does not seem to have contemplated.
The party of the murdered dukes, Erik and Valdemar,
held a meeting in Upsala to consider the question of the
succession to the crown ; and the upshot of this was that a
deputation, headed by the bishop of Linkj0ping, went to
Oslo to confer with the Norwegian chiefs, including Arch-
bishop Eiliv and the bishop of Stavanger. It was then
agreed that on the return of the Swedish delegates they
should advise that Magnus Erikss0n be chosen as king of
Sweden. Accordingly another meeting was held at Upsala,
and on July 8th, 1319, he was formally accepted as king
of Sweden.
Thus for the first time Sweden and Norway were united
under one king. The two kingdoms were, however, only
bound together by " the golden link of the crown." In all
other respects they were to remain, as before, quite distinct
and separate, with their own laws and customs and their
own revenues. The king was to reside for a portion of the
year in each kingdom, and his Swedish advisers were to
have no authority in Norway, and vice versa. In many
respects the arrangement made at this time, was very much
the same, as that which prevails between Norway and
Sweden in our own day.
Although young Magnus may be said to have succeeded
to the throne on his grandfather's death, his formal accept-
ance as king of Norway did not take place until a gathering
at T0nsberg in August, 1319. The young king's mother,
Ingeborg (the widow of Duke Erik), had a good deal to do
with the management of affairs. She was little more than
a child when Magnus was born, and was left a widow when
only seventeen. She unfortunately came very much under
the influence of a Danish nobleman, Knut Porse, who had
designs on the crown of Denmark, and her conduct caused
very great dissatisfaction in Norway.
We must now revert to ecclesiastical affairs. In 1320
Archbishop Eiliv summoned a provincial council in
Bergen, which was held at a time when the young king
and his mother were in the city. All the Norwegian
bishops attended, and the bishops of the Orkneys and the
Fseroe Isles. Many of the decrees of this council are
interesting from the light which they throw on the state of
life which prevailed in the Church in Norway at this time.
Several of them were similar to those we find in other
countries, but some, of course,, were intended to deal with
THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL AT BERGEN. 237
the peculiar circumstances connected with Church life in
Norway. The regulation of the monastic establishments
proceeded on the same lines as that of Archbishop J0rund's
council in Oslo in 1306, but the rules with respect to the
parochial clergy, and the exercise of discipline among the
laity, are interesting.
We find further legislation directed against the state of
concubinage, in which many of the parochial clergy lived,
now thab matrimony had been absolutely forbidden. It
was ordered that if any priest had a frille within a month
from receiving notice of the decree, he should be fined
four marks for a priest of a hoved Jcirke, and two marks for
a kapellan, or a deacon ; continuance in this, doubled the
fine in a few days, and ultimately led to a forfeiture of the
benefice.
The priests were ordered to keep the baptismal font
clean, and to procure oil for extreme unction from the
bishop every year. Stringent rules were made respecting
the duty of the parish priests to baptize infants and to
shrive the dying. If a priest was guilty of negligence in
these matters he was to be suspended, but it was ordered
that those who required the services of the priest must send
a horse for him to ride, or a boat if the journey had to be
performed by water, arid the priest was not to be required
to row in the boat.
Great care was to be exercised in the carrying of the
viaticum to the dying, and the priest was permitted to
bring it in a little bag,* which was hung round the neck,
when he had to traverse difficult mountain paths, or, as was
often the case, places where no path existed. If the priest's
vestments were worn out, they were to be burned in the
church and the ashes placed under the altar.
In the mixed chalice it was ordered that there should be
* This was also permitted by Archbishop J0nmd. Council at
Nidaros in 1290.
more water than wine. This was to be done by the priest
himself, and not the server. The rule was possibly intended
to economize the wine, which, as we have already seen, was
difficult to procure in some places.
Rules were made to enforce morality among the laity,
and marriage within the prohibited degrees was strictly
forbidden. It would seem to have been customary for
many of the people to live together after betrothal, before
the regular marriage took place, but if children were born
after the banns had been called, and before the marriage
had been celebrated, they were to be taken as legitimate.
The viaticum was not to be given to a frille, unless the
man she lives with agrees to marry her, or she separates
from him. No unmarried women were to be churched.
Fresh regulations were made respecting the attendance of
the clergy at diocesan synods. In a country so large, and
so difficult to travel through in those days, it was hard for
the priests to leave their parishes to attend the synods in
the bishop's cathedral. It was arranged that the priests
of the hoved kirker should nominate those who were to
attend, and all parish priests were to be chosen in turn.
Before the priest left his parish to attend the synod, he was to
see that he left no infants unbaptized, or no one unconfessed
or unhouseled. The priests who remained at home had to
take charge of the parishes of those who went, and before
the representative went to the synod, he was to announce
who was to be left in charge. When on his way to the
cathedral city, the priest in passing through a parish was
liable to be called on to do duty, but could not demand any
fee for the same. When he got home from the synod, he
was to tell those who remained behind, what new decrees
had been made.^
The dissatisfaction with the conduct of the king's mother,
* For fuller details of the decrees of this council, see Norges Gamle
Love, Vol. III., page 246 ; and Keyser, Vol. II., page 198.
THE DROTSETE. 239
the Duchess Ingeborg, which had been felt from the first,
grew stronger as the years passed, and the chiefs now saw that
some steps must be taken to deprive her of all power in the
affairs of the kingdom. In February, J323, a meeting was
called at Oslo, at which the archbishop and the bishops of
Hamar, Oslo, and Skaalholt were present. It was decided
to ask the archbishop to select a man in whose care the
kingdom should be placed. He chose Erling Vidkunss0n,
a great chief of Bjark0, in Haalogaland. This choice was
approved by a Thing at Oslo, and all the chief men pro-
mised to support him. Erling was known as the Drotsete
of which title, perhaps, the best translation would be lord
protector, or lord high constable and for nine years he
ruled the country in the king's name with great wisdom
and moderation. The object of his appointment was to get
rid of the Duchess Ingeborg, and in this it was successful.
She remained in Norway for a short time, but deprived of
the power she formerly possessed, and in 1327 marrying
Ejnut Porse, who had been made Duke of Sondre Halland,
she went to live in Denmark. She was left a widow a
second time in 1330, and after that remained principally
in Denmark.
The Drotsete was not to rule Norway without some
troubles, for about the time of his appointment, the Eussians
attacked Haalogaland and devastated a part of the country,
including the Drotsete's own estate. The assailants were
partly heathen and partly Greek Catholics, who were
regarded as heretics by the popes. To repel this attack
was therefore something of the nature of a crusade. The
treasury of Norway was rather low at the time, after the
extravagances of the Duchess Ingeborg, and the Drotsete
felt anxious to obtain the necessary funds for the purpose.
He therefore approached the Church in order to procure
help. The wise and patriotic Archbishop Eiliv was willing
to assist, but some of the other bishops were decidedly
hostile to the proposal, especially Bishop Audfin of Bergen,
with whom many controversies were carried on during his
episcopate. There was much disputing about the matter,
but nothing finally was decided at the time, as a peace with
the Eussians was made, and the money was not therefore
required. The point in dispute was, however, too important
to be allowed to drop, and at a provincial council which
was held in Bergen in 1327 it again came under discussion.
Here Bishop Audfin came forward as the champion of those
who wished the Church to be exempted from all payment
of skat, and claimed that Archbishop Jon Raude's Kristenret,
which would have exempted them from payment, should
be approved. This, however, was firmly resisted by the
Drotsete, and aided by the kindly moderation of the arch-
bishop, wiser councils prevailed. The "Kristenret of Haakon
the Old and Archbishop Sigurd " was held to be the law
under which the Church was to be ruled. This was formu-
lated in a proclamation or letter signed by the king, the
Drotsete, and the chancellor, and the matter was finally
settled.
The office of chancellor, which seems to have been in
abeyance for some years, was now revived, and it was
intended to be a compensation to the Church, by having
such a high official (who was one of the clergy) in a post
which had so much to do directly with the government of
the kingdom. The new chancellor was Paul Baardss0n, a
man of great learning, who had studied at Paris and Orleans
and was learned in canon ]aw. He was first a member of
the Bergen chapter, but was at this time in that of Nidaros,
and afterwards, as we shall see, reached the highest post in
On Easter Monday, April 4th, 1328, a great disaster
befell Nidaros. The beautiful cathedral of Christ Church,
the monument of the work of Archbishop Eystein and his
immediate successors, was almost destroyed by fire. All
MARRIAGE OF MAGNUS. 241
the internal woodwork was burned, and the walls suffered,
but not irreparably. The bells also were much injured.
The archbishop sent out an appeal to all his suffragans, and
to the principal men in Norway, for help in rebuilding the
cathedral, which was liberally responded to.
In 1332 the young king, having now reached his
sixteenth year, assumed the nominal control of the govern-
ment, and Erling Vidkunss0n, the Drotsete, resigned his
post. He had discharged the rather difficult duties of his
office with great skill, and his firm but prudent rule had
secured peace to the land. After his retirement the
chancellor, Paul Baardss0n, was the king's chief adviser.
Paul was, however, not long to remain chancellor, for in
November, 1332, Archbishop Eiliv died, having practically
held the see for twenty -three years, though he was not
consecrated until two years after his election. Eiliv was a
man who was universally respected in Norway, and under
his wise government the Church attained very great pros-
perity in every respect. Though a strong Churchman
he was not an intemperate advocate of her claims, and
by his skilful pilotage he avoided many of the dangers
which had so frequently caused strife between the Church
and the State. He was too good a patriot not to recognize the
injury which the fierce controversies of previous generations
had done to Norway, as well, indeed, as to the Church over
which he was called to rule. Paul Baardss0n was chosen
as Eiliv's successor, and resigned his office as chancellor.
In the year 1335 the young king married Blanche, or
Blanca, as she was called in Norway, the daughter of the
duke of Namur, a woman of great cleverness, who soon
acquired a complete ascendency over her weak husband.
The year following Magnus was crowned in Stockholm
as king of Sweden. It is not easy to arrive at an exact
estimate of the character of Magnus, for the Swedish writers
paint him in very dark colours, and ascribe all kinds of
C.S.N. R
vice and immorality to him, and the name which was
given to him of Smek, or the trifler, indicated that he had
but small regard for the responsibilities of his office. But
on the other hand, the Norwegian writers speak of him in
a very different way, and some called him " The Good," and,
we are told, after his death regarded him as almost a saint.*
The truth probably lies between the two accounts, and it
was the hostility between the two countries which, when
one denounced the king as an evil-living trifler, caused the
other to paint him as a good and saintly man. He was
certainly not a strong king, and utterly unfitted to hold
two kingdoms under his sceptre.
Magnus's weak rule, and his continued absence in
Sweden, led, as was only to be expected, to much discon-
tent in Norway, which had been so long accustomed to its
own king. To try and arrange matters the king called a
meeting at Baahus in August, 1339, but nothing definite
was arrived at. It was, however, settled that during the
absence of Magnus in Sweden the archbishop and Bishop
Haakon, of Bergen, were to look after the government of
Norway, and with this, things were quiet for a time.
The year 1343 was remarkable for the consecration of
no less than six bishops in the province of Nidaros to fill up
sees vacant by death or resignation. These were, Bergen
and Stavanger, the two Icelandic bishoprics of Skaalholt and
Hole, and Garde in Greenland.
Notwithstanding the arrangements mentioned above, the
discontent with Magnus burst forth again, and a strong
party desired the separation of the kingdoms of Norway
and Sweden. At a meeting at Vardberg, in Sweden, in
1343, it was arranged that the king's two sons should
succeed him at his death, the elder Erik, taking Sweden,
and the younger Haakon, Norway. Both of them were at
this time only children, but the arrangement seemed to
* See Daae's Norges Helgener, page 188.
SODOR AND MAN. 243
promise (when it came into being) an end of the very
unsatisfactory state of things which then prevailed.
In 1346 Archbishop Paul died, having held the see for a
little more than twelve years. There was no very impor-
tant event to mark his episcopate. During the latter part
of it, he issued a long pastoral letter to the clergy and
people, in which he gave many directions respecting the
observance of the Church's rules in connection with holy
baptism, confirmation, confession, &c., which showed how
carefully all these sacraments were at this time administered
in the Norwegian Church.
Paul's successor was Arne Einarss0n, who was one of the
Nidaros chapter, and a nephew of Archbishop Eiliv.
We have already noticed that though the political con-
nection between Norway and the Western Isles of Scotland
and the Isle of Man had practically ceased, yet for ecclesias-
tical purposes the bishopric of Sodor and Man still remained
a part of the province of Nidaros. About this time, how-
ever, the ecclesiastical connection was also to 'come to an end,
though nominally it continued for a considerably longer
The last bishop of Sodor and Man who seems to have gone
to Norway was Marcus, who was present at the coronation
of King Erik in 1280. The bishops seem to have had
a not unnatural objection to facing the dangers and dis-
comforts, of the long voyage across the North Sea to Nidaros
to receive consecration, and to have preferred the shorter
journey to England, or the more interesting one to Avignon.
In 1348, on the death of Bishop Thomas, William Russell,
abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Rusheen, was chosen
as his successor. Instead of going to Norway, he proceeded
to Avignon, where he was consecrated by the cardinal
bishop of Ostia. The reason for this was explained to the
archbishop of Nidaros, by Pope Clement VI. , in a letter
which he wrote the following year (April, 1349). In this
he mentions that his action in having William Eussell
consecrated was " by no means to be ascribed to any
intention of the pope to detach the Sudreyan see from
the Provincia Nidrosiensis, or to give any prejudice to
his metropolitan rights, but only to the circumstance that
this episcopate, as all others, or in general all ecclesias-
tical benefices, had been reserved by the pope for his own
provision."'* Thus, although nominally respecting the rights
of the metropolitan of Nidaros over Sodor and Man, the
pope's action practically put an end to them, and from this
time onwards, no bishop of that see was consecrated at
Nidaros. Still, for nearly a hundred years longer, Sodor
and Man was officially regarded as a part of the Nidaros
province.
Magnus in 1348 attacked the Eussians as a sort of
crusade, and gained some successes ; but on his retirement
they overran Finland, and again attacked Haalogaland
and Sweden, and this still more increased the hostility of
the Swedes to the king.
Archbishop Arne, following the example of his prede-
cessor Paul, sent out another pastoral letter very much
on the same lines as that of the latter, and with the same
careful attention to details in the religious life of the people.
There is no doubt that at this time the Church in Norway
was in many ways an example to the other national
Churches of Europe. Its remoteness had preserved it from
many of the abuses and corruptions which at this time were
manifesting themselves in other lands, and the constant
succession of provincial councils which we have noted,
were an evidence that the primates desired to maintain a
high standard of life, both in the monastic establishments
and among the secular clergy, even if the rules laid down
were not strictly adhered to. But a great disaster was
* See " Chronica Regum Manniae et Insular urn," edited by P. A.
Munch, page 147; and Appendices 17 and 18.
THE SORTE D0D. 245
now to fall upon the land and to inflict a blow from which
the Church never fully recovered, and which crippled its
usefulness down to the day, when the avarice of the Danish
kings and their courtiers, swept away most of its fabrics,
confiscated its revenues, and broke the long line of the
historic episcopate.
In 1349 an English merchant ship sailed into the harbour
of Bergen and brought to Norway the awful plague which
had devastated so many European lands, and in an
incredibly short time the Black Death (the dreaded Sorte
D0d of Norway) swept the land from one end to the other. *
Terrible as were the results of this visitation in England
and other countries, they seem to have been even worse in
Norway, and down even to the present day signs of its
desolating progress may be traced. Many districts which
are now but sparsely inhabited, were once (for Norway)
thickly populated. Yalleys which in the olden days con-
tained comfortable farms and patches of cultivated land,
are now merely used for sceters, or dairy farms, to which for
a few months the cattle and sheep are driven in the summer
to feed on the rich pasture.
The Norwegian annals are full of stories of this great
disaster, and the imagination of the people depicted the
plague as a terrible old witch, who went through the land
bearing with her a rake and a broom ; where she raked
some survived, where she swept with the broom none were
left behind. It is estimated that more than a third of the
population of the land died, and when the pestilence
ceased there was no heart left in the people. In one
valley, the great Jostedal (according to the legend which
seems not to be improbable), every soul perished except
one little girl, who, almost wild with terror, managed to
support her life through the winter, and was discovered
* Dr. A. L. Faye's Den Sorte D$d, contains much interesting infor-
mation respecting the Black Death.
the next summer by the people of Lorn, who crossed the
mountains to see what had become of their neighbours.
Her descendants again peopled the valley.*
Even the very existence of churches was in some places
forgotten, as all the inhabitants of the parish had been
swept away."(" No district of Norway seems to have
* A family tracing its descent directly from this girl, who was known
as Jostedals Rypa (rypa, the ptarmigan), on account of her having been
found like a wild bird, still live near Amble in Sogn.
t A very remarkable instance of this is the case of the parish church
of Hedal, not far from the northern end of the Spirillen lake, in Valders.
The story of the recovery of this church in later years is a strange and
interesting one : " Some centuries ago a man in pursuit of Ryper
traversed one of these formerly inhabited, but now deserted, places.
As he shot an arrow at a bird on one of the trees he heard a peculiar
sound, as if the arrow had struck against something. Full of curiosity,
he approached the place, where, to his astonishment, he came upon an
old church. Mindful of the ancient idea that if it was a work of witch-
craft it would immediately disappear if brought into proximity to steel,
he seized his tinder-box and threw it over the church. On the spot
where it fell, a farmhouse was afterwards built, which to the present
day bears the name of Ildjernstad (the tinder-box place). After taking
this precautionary measure he proceeded to investigate the church.
The key stood in the church door, which was half open. In the middle
of the floor stood a large bell, and at the foot of the altar a great bear
had taken up its winter quarters. It was slain by the brave hunter,
and its skin was hung up in the church as a memorial of this strange
occurrence, where the remains of a large bear-skin are still to be seen.
In the church he is said to have found, among other things, some
pictures, a little brass shrine, four large bells and one small one. It
was against one of these that the hunter's arrow had struck and pro-
duced the sound which attracted his attention." (" A. Faye, Norske
Folkesagn," quoted by Dietrichson, " Norske Stavkirker," page 354.)
The little brass shrine, once used as a reliquary, is still preserved in
the church, and is remarkable for its representation of the martyrdom
of St. Thomas a Becket, of Canterbury. This interesting relic of the
middle ages (see picture next page) is believed, on the best authority,
to have been made about fifty years after the martyrdom, and is there-
fore one of the very earliest, if not the earliest, representations of the
murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury. It is worthy of note how the
cult of " the holy blissful martyr " of Canterbury prevailed in Norway
3 Is
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THE RAVAGES OF THE SORTE D0D. 247
escaped the pestilence ; it stalked north, south, east, and
west, and the memory of its desolating presence has never
been effaced from the minds of the people. Other nations
of Europe suffered from the same terrible plague, but they
have forgotten it. The memory of it still survives among
the b0nder of Norway.
There was, however, one bright spot in the universal
gloom which the plague spread over the land, and that was
the heroic devotion of the bishops and clergy. None of
them seem to have flinched from the post of duty and
danger. Through it all, they stood firm and ministered to
the sick and dying, but the price paid was a terrible one.
The archbishop and every bishop in Norway died of the
plague, with the sole exception of Salomon of Oslo. In
Bergen in one day eighty persons were buried at a single
church, and among these were fourteen priests and six
deacons. The chapter of Nidaros was almost entirely
swept away, and the same thing happened in Bergen and
other cathedrals. In Agder seven parishes were swept of
their inhabitants. The bishop of Stavanger sent many
priests and deacons to minister to the sick and suffering,
and in a very short time all of these brave men fell victims
to the plague. These terrible disasters filled the minds of
the people with horror and remorse for their sins, and it
was thought they were but a prelude to the Day of Judg-
ment, which was everywhere expected in Norway in 1357.
The plague began, in the natural course, to abate, and a
special prayer which the pope is said to have written for
the suffering people, as well as a special mass which was
said, helped to comfort and reassure them.*
during the middle ages. The famous church of St. Thomas of Canterbury,
near Nystuen, on the Fille Fjeld, was only finally swept away in 1808.
* In 1359, and again in 1371, terrible epidemics raged in Norway,
which carried off many people, including, in 1371, Archbishop Olaf,
who died at Oslo.
It is easy to understand what a terrible blow this
desolating pestilence proved to the Church in Norway.
All its best and wisest men were carried away, and the
ranks of the clergy were most terribly thinned, and no
suitable men left to take the vacant posts. The Nidaros
chapter had only one member left, and the pope nominated
Olaf, abbot of Nidarholm, to the vacant see. In this instance
the pope made use, for the second time at Nidaros, of the
power which the papacy claimed of appointing to vacant
sees per provisionem, and overriding the rights of the
chapters. There were, of course, cases in which this might
manifestly be for the benefit of the Church, as, for example,
where, from disputes or other causes, there was an unreason-
able delay in filling up vacancies. In the case of Archbishop
Olaf it was a very wise step, but the papacy did not confine
the exercise of its power to such instances, but proceeded
in many cases to deliberately overrule the decisions of the
chapters and appoint its own nominees to vacant sees.
Another instance of this happened on the death of Bishop
Salomon of Oslo (the only survivor of the Black Death
among the bishops), who died in 1351. After his death
the chapter chose Gyrd, one of their number, and he was
consecrated by Archbishop Olaf ; but the pope declined to
recognize him, and appointed Sigfrid, or Sigurd, bishop of
Sfavanger, who was in Rome at the time. The canonically-
chosen bishop gave up his post, but, Clement VI. dying soon
after, his successor, Innocent VI., appointed Gyrd to the
see of Stavanger.
The new archbishop at once set to work to try and
reorganize the shattered Church. To fill up the many
vacancies, it was absolutely necessary to lower the canonical
age for ordination, and many lads of eighteen years of age
were put in charge of parishes. These young men had, of
course, neither the learning nor experience needed for the
posts which they held, and many abuses soon manifested
COUNCIL AT NIDAROS. 249
themselves. Their lives and conversation were very much
below the standard of upright living which had charac-
terized their predecessors, and for a time at any rate there
was a great declension in the state of the spiritual
life of the Church. The archbishop called together a
council at Nidaros in August, 1351. At this many of
the older regulations were renewed and new ones added to
cope with the state of things then existing. It was
especially enjoined on the clergy the necessity of leading
clean and pure lives and of avoiding being mixed up in
quarrels among their people. The old regulations respecting
the fritter were again re-enacted, and great abhorrence was
expressed that some of the clergy had regularly and openly
taken fritter, and had had public betrothals to them.
Although, on paper, the laws always existed, yet we know
that down to the Reformation, from the time of the Sorte
D0d, these regulations were never enforced, but that the
clergy continued to contract these irregular unions, and
that it was practically acquiesced in by their superiors, who
in many cases, if we are to believe Theodore of Niem, them-
selves had their f filler as well as the parochial clergy !
A wise provision of the council was that the older clergy,
who had survived the plague, should instruct the new and
untried ones in all matters pertaining to the right and
proper performance of the Church's offices.
The new prelates strove, as far as they could, to remedy
the state of things which they found around them as the
result of the Black Death, but it was a long time indeed
before matters were finally reduced to order, and the revival
of religious life was again checked, by the desolations which
accompanied the break with Rome, under the Danish kings,
in the early part of the sixteenth century.
If ecclesiastical affairs in Norway at this time were in an
unsatisfactory state, things were no better as regards
temporal matters. The feeble King Magnus's unpopularity,
caused largely by his continued absences from the country,
increased year by year. It will be remembered that he had
arranged that his second son, Haakon, was to have the
kingdom of Norway, but Haakon was still a child. In
1350 Magnus was in Bergen, and seems to have agreed to
nominate as " drotsete " Orm Eysteinss0n, who practically
ruled the country for five years, until 1355, when young
Haakon was declared of age and took over, nominally, the
government of the kingdom. Magnus now remained king
only of Sweden. His other son, Erik, who had been
brought up in that country, was not on good terms with his
father, chiefly on account of Magnus's favourite, Benedict
Algotss0n, whom he imagined, his father wished to make
his heir. An arrangement was made, however, in 1357 by
which Erik and Magnus divided Sweden, but the peace did
not last long. Erik suspected, with apparently good reason,
that his father was intriguing with the Danish king
Valdemar against him. In 1359 young Haakon of
Norway was betrothed to Margaret, Valdemar's daughter
(afterwards the famous queen), and the marriage took place
In 1359 Erik of Sweden died suddenly at the age of
twenty-two years, supposed to have been poisoned,* and
his wife and two children died soon afterwards. Magnus
thereupon resumed the government of Sweden, and
Valdemar attacked and conquered the district of Skaane.
The Swedish chiefs were very furious with Magnus on
account of what they believed to be his secret compact with
the Danish king, and in 1363 they offered the crown to
Albrekt of Mecklenburg, son of Euphemia, Magnus's sister.
Albrekt accepted the offer and went to Stockholm. But
Haakon came to his father's assistance, and there was much
* According to another account, he was carried off with his young
wife and infant twin children, by the visitation of barnekopper (small-
pox), which visited the north in 1359 60.
DEATH OF MAGNUS. 251
hard fighting. At Enkjdbing a battle (March, 1365) was
fought, in which Magnus was taken prisoner and Haakou
wounded. The war continued with varying successes, until
at last, in 1371, an agreement was made by which Magnus
was set at liberty. Magnus was to have the revenues of
some Swedish provinces and to bear the title of king during
his life ; Haakon renounced on his part, his claim to Sweden,
and left the government to Albrekt. Magnus did not long
survive this peace ; he was drowned while crossing the open
Bommel Fjord, to the north of Stavanger, in December,
1374, and thus ended his long and inglorious reign of fifty-
CHAPTER XVII.
THE CHURCH UNDER MARGARET AND ERIK.
Queen Margaret gains Denmark for her son Olaf The Pope appoints
Nicholas Ruser Archbishop Erik of Pomerania chosen King The
Union of Kalmar Bishop Eystein Aslakss0n of Oslo His Mission
to London History of St. Birgitta The Order of the Saviour
The State of the Norwegian Church as recorded by Theodore of
Niem.
DURING the concluding years of the fourteenth century
the history of the Church in Norway does not present any
special features of interest. It had not recovered from the
shock of the disasters of 1349 50, and in 1371 another
outbreak of plague still further paralyzed its powers. The
energetic Archbishop Olaf, who had done his best to revive
life in his diocese and province, fell a victim to the plague
in 1371. He was succeeded by a man named Thrond,
about whom practically nothing is known. It will give
some idea to what a low ebb the Church had been reduced
by the Black Death when we are told that in the diocese of
Nidaros, Archbishop Thrond found only forty priests (old
and feeble), where formerly there were three hundred ! In
the Bergen diocese there was only one priest to every three
or four churches, and when the enormous extent of most
parishes in Norway is borne in mind, the wonder only is that
there was any religion left in the country. There is no
doubt that a very great falling-off in the religious life of
the people, was the result of the lack of a properly instructed
priesthood. Even in the towns this was noticeable, and
the energetic Bishop Jakob of Bergen, in a pastoral which
he issued in 1390 to that city, paints in very dark colours
OLAF CHOSEN KING OF DENMARK. 253
the state of morals then prevailing, and set himself
vigorously to remedy these evils.
King Haakon, who after his father Magnus's death, was
the sole king in Norway, had a son, Olaf, born to him in
1371, and in 1375 Yaldemar Atterdag of Denmark died
without leaving any male issue. Queen Margaret at once
claimed the Danish crown for her infant son, although she
was not the eldest daughter of Yaldemar. The question of
the election of a new Danish king came before the diet at
Odense, but the adherents of Ingeborg, duchess of Meck-
lenburg, Margaret's elder sister, attended in force, and the
decision was postponed. Meanwhile Margaret did much to
ingratiate herself with the most influential men in Denmark,
especially among the clergy, and the result was that at
another gathering, held at Slagelsee in 1376, her son Olaf
was chosen as king, and his mother was entrusted with the
government on his behalf. King Haakon did not live long
after this triumph of his energetic queen, but died at Oslo
in 1380. The year following Margaret and Olaf came to
Norway, where the latter was accepted as king at Nidaros,
and a " drotsete " appointed to govern the country during
the absence of the young monarch and his mother. Queen
Margaret was now making her power felt in both Denmark
and Norway, and her ambitious design of uniting the three
Scandinavian kingdoms under one sovereign, became more
apparent. But it was not only in the State, but in the
Church as well, that she desired to place in office, those who
would carry out her will. A very curious incident occurred
at this time in the Norwegian Church which showed that the
queen's influence was no less powerful with the Koman
curia than in Denmark or Norway.
In 1381 Archbishop Thrond died, and the Nidaros
chapter elected Haakon Ivarss0n as his successor. He
started for Home in order to be consecrated in 1382, but
had only got as far as Germany, when he learned to his
astonishment that the pope had already selected and con-
secrated an archbishop for Nidaros in defiance of the
chapter's election of himself. This was one Nicholas Ruser,
or Rusare, a man of a noble Danish or German family, who
had been in favour with Valdemar, the late king, and also
with Queen Margaret. It seems very probable that this
man was not originally in holy orders at all. It was true
he had been a canon of Roskilde, but this did not necessarily
imply that he was in orders, as such posts were sometimes
given to laymen as a reward for services rendered to the
Crown. * It is clear, however, that Archbishop Nicholas
arrived in Denmark fully invested with papal authority in
1382, and was welcomed by the queen. In confirmation of
the opinion, which many in his day held, that he was merely
a layman, it may be noted that he never exercised any
episcopal powers. He never consecrated any bishops, or
performed any other duties of his office, except to preside
at a council which was held at T0nsberg in 1383, but this
was not an exclusively ecclesiastical gathering. One thing,
however, he did do. He went to Nidaros and helped him-
self to many of the treasures of the see, and with these he
retired to Denmark, where, fortunately for the Church, he
died in 1386.
King Olaf died in 1387, at the early age of seventeen,
and there was now no direct heir to the kingdom of
Norway. Queen Margaret, however, was determined not
to lose her grasp of the royal authority. She was accepted
as regent of Denmark the same year, and in 1388 of
Norway as well, but the Norwegians would not accept a
woman as their Sovereign. Margaret had, however, a
candidate for the vacant throne in the person of Erik of
Pomerania, then a child only six years old. Erik was
* Bp. Bang, in his Udsigt over den Nor sice Kirkes Historic, makes
this point clear, as against Keyser's assumption that the possession of
a canon 17 implied being in holy orders.
MARGARET GAINS SWEDEN. 255
Margaret's grandnephew, his mother being Marie, the
daughter of Margaret's sister Ingeborg, who married Henry
of Mecklenburg. This prince was nephew of Magnus
Erikss0n, and great-grandson of Haakon V. * Though Erik
was so remotely connected with the royal house of Norway,
he was accepted as king through the influence of Queen
Margaret, who was thus enabled to maintain her rule over
the kingdom and to carry on the government in young
Erik's name.
Margaret had now the complete control of two of the
Scandinavian kingdoms, and she determined to add Sweden
to the number, and to unite them all under one sceptre.
She soon found an opportunity, as King Albrekt had
grown very unpopular with his people, chiefly on account
of his partiality for his German friends. With her usual
diplomacy, Margaret skilfully availed herself of this, to stir
up the Swedish magnates against their king, and she so
far succeeded that in May 1388, a number of the chiefs
formally declared themselves on her side. This at once
led to an open rupture, and both parties took up arms,
and the result was that the next year, 1389, King Albrekt
was utterly defeated, and taken prisoner, at Falk0ping and
carried to Denmark.
There was still some resistance on behalf of Albrekt by
the Germans, who held Stockholm, and were supported by
the Hanseatic towns of Rostock and Wismar, and they
encouraged privateers, known as the Vitalie-br0dre y '\ to
harry the Norwegian coast, in the course of which they
burnt the city of Bergen. The struggle continued for
* See genealogical table.
f The Vitalie-br+dn (brethren) were a kind of joint-stock company
formed for bringing provisions to the Germans in Sweden ; from their
supplying them with victuals they received their name ; and from being
harmless provision merchants, they ended by becoming dangerous
pirates.
some years longer, and at last the imprisoned king Albrekt,
having failed to pay the ransom demanded of him, was
obliged to surrender Stockholm, and, being set free, retired
with his son to Germany.
Queen Margaret had now gained all the three kingdoms.
In 1396 she had secured the kingdom of Denmark for
Erik, and later in the same year he was chosen king of
Sweden. Thus for the first time Norway, Sweden, and
Denmark were united under one king. On Trinity Sunday,
June 17th, 1397, young Erik was solemnly invested with
the crown of the three kingdoms at Kalmar.
At this time the famous union of Kalmar was formed, and
a constitution was promulgated under which it was to be
maintained. The principal points of this important agree-
ment were as follows :
(1) The three kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Den-
mark were in future always to remain united under one
king.
(2) The king should be chosen by all three kingdoms.
If the deceased king left sons, one of them was to be
selected, but if there was no issue, the representatives of
the kingdoms were to select the best man they could find.
(3) The three kingdoms were to be united in all foreign
matters, but under their own laws, &c., with respect to
domestic affairs.
(4) If any one country was attacked, the others were
to help it, but at the charges of the former.
This triple alliance of the kingdoms of Scandinavia
seemed to promise well for the future peace of the North ;
and had there been a strong man upon the throne, or a
succession of wise and prudent kings, it would doubtless
have led to very important consequences. Erik was, how-
ever, a mere cypher, and when the strong-minded Margaret
passed away, the jealousies and quarrels between different
nations, and the ambition of the Danish kings, soon broke
BISHOP EYSTEIN OF OSLO. 257
up the union, leaving only Denmark and Norway united, the
latter country soon to become a mere province of Denmark,
and practically bereft of national life, until the beginning of
the nineteenth century saw its revival once more.
From this necessary digression, into the political history
of the countries under Margaret's rule, we must return to
ecclesiastical affairs in Norway at the end of the fourteenth
Nicholas Ruser's successor in the primacy was Vinalde
Henrikss0n. He was probably a Swede by birth, but had
lived all his life in Norway, and had been " Magister
capellarum regis " and keeper of the royal seal. He was
consecrated in 1887, and got back to Norway the same
year. He was a good man, but his activity was manifested
chiefly in political matters, in which he took a very leading
part as a supporter of Queen Margaret. He died in 1402.
A more prominent ecclesiastic of this period was Bishop
Eystein Aslakss0n of Oslo (1386 1407), who has left a
remarkable inventory of the property of the Church in his
diocese, which was known as "The Red Book/' so called
from the colour of its binding. He issued also a pastoral
letter with respect to the state of the Church in the
Telemark, which was at that time, and for centuries after,
a remote and very turbulent district, where the authority
of both Church and State was but lightly regarded, and
where tithes were but seldom or ever paid. It throws a
remarkable light on the life of the people at that period,
and shows the difficulties with which the clergy had
to contend, amongst their very fierce and quarrelsome
parishioners.
One interesting fact concerning this bishop is worthy
of notice. When the Norwegian bishops left their sees it
was, as a rule, to visit one of the Scandinavian kingdoms,
or to go to Rome, on matters directly connected with the
affairs of the Church in Norway. Bishop Eystein Aslakss0n
C.S.N. S
was, however, an exception to this rule, and paid a visit
to England in 1405. After the death of her son Olaf, Queen
Margaret, on her grand-nephew Erik having been accepted
as king, decided to procure an English consort for him, and
negotiations were opened with the English court in order to
obtain the hand of the Princess Philippa, the daughter of
Henry IV., for Erik. Six envoys were selected for the
purpose, and Bishop Eystein was placed at the head of the
mission. They met at J0nk0ping in November, 1404, but
were prevented by bad weather from setting out until the
spring of the following year, when they safely reached
London, where the bishop was lodged "with one John
Scrivener, of Fleet Street."* The efforts of the mission
were crowned with success, and the marriage of Erik and
the English princess was celebrated by proxy on November
26th, 1405. The Norwegian bishop proved himself very
acceptable to the English court, and had the honour of
being invited to preach in Latin before Henry IV., which
he did, and his eloquence was much admired.
During his stay in England he visited St. Albans, where
he charmed the monks with his knowledge of their patron
saint, to whom the famous cloister at Selje was dedicated.
The latter part of the fourteenth century saw the founda-
tion of a new religious order, the only one to which the
North gave birth the famous order of the Holy Saviour,
which was due to that most remarkable woman St. Birgitta.f
Britta, or Birgitta, was born in the year 1303 or 1304.
Her father was Birger Pederson, the "lagman" of Finstad, in
Sweden, and her mother Ingeborg Bengtsdatter, of Ulfaasa.
Both parents belonged to well-known families, and her
mother was connected with the Swedish royal line.
From her earliest childhood she seems to have manifested a
* See Wylie's "History of England under Henry IV.," passim.
t One of the most recent accounts of the life of St. Birgitta is
"Den Hellige Birgitta," by A. Brinkmann, Copenhagen, 1893.
ST. BIRGITTA. 259
very devout and mystical frame of mind, and even at eight
years of age is said to have had visions.
At thirteen she was married to Ulf Gudmarson, who was
himself only five years older than his very youthful bride.
The marriage turned out to be in every way a happy one,
as Ulf was of a very similar disposition to his wife. Their
family consisted of four sons and four daughters, one of
whom was afterwards the famous St. Katharine of Sweden.
About the year 1340 Birgitta and her husband went on a
pilgrimage to the far-famed shrine of St. James of Compos-
tella. On the way back he fell very ill in Flanders, and on
his recovery vowed (with Birgitta's approval) to renounce
the world, and enter upon a religious life. This he did and
joined the monastery of Alvastra, but he did not long
survive, and died in 1344.
It would seem that it was at this time, that the natural
mysticism of Birgitta's mind became much more marked,
and she began to have those wonderful visions and revela-
tions which afterwards led to the establishment of the
order which bears her name.
On account of her high rank she was attached for a time
to the suite of Blanche of Namur, the wife of King Magnus
Erikss0n, who seems to have treated his saintly relative with
but very scant courtesy. During this time she was disturbed
by the continued wars between France and England, and
is reported to have said : " If the king of England will not
observe the Divine plan he will prosper in none of his
transactions, and will end his life in pain and leave his
kingdom and his children in tribulation and anguish. His
family will set themselves against each other and cause a
confusion all will wonder at.""* Was the miserable death
of Richard II. and the struggles between the houses of
York and Lancaster, the fulfilment of this prophecy ?
After her widowhood, and finding the residence in the
* Butler, " Acta Sanctorum."
court very distasteful, she retired to her own home, and in
1346 she finally left Sweden for the south. Her natural
instinct led her to Eome, where, like many another before
and after her, she hoped to find " the streets paved with
imperishable gold the blood of the holy martyrs and
where through the merits of the saints and the absolution
of the pope, the speediest way to heaven was to be found."
Visits to various shrines filled up some time, and then, like
her sainted contemporary, Catharine of Siena, she did her
best to make the Avignon pope, Urban V., return to Rome,
which he did at length in April, 1367, in spite of the opposi-
tion of the French cardinals. But a short time sufficed for
Urban, and he decided to return to his native land in 1370.
Birgitta, however, declared that the Blessed Virgin had
revealed it to her, that if he went back he should die, and
strangely enough her words proved true. Urban V. died
within two months of his return to Avignon, and the fame
of Birgitta grew more and more. 5 * In 1372, accompanied
by two of her sons and her daughter Katharine, she went
on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the holy places of
Palestine, and returned to Eome the next year, where she
died on July 23rd, 1373.
Birgitta was much reverenced for her sanctity throughout
Europe. The remarkable " Revelationes St. Birgittse " have
been collected, and contain an extraordinary series of " for
the most part mystic rhapsodies, visions of the Saviour and
the Virgin, full of strange pious allegory."! St. Birgitta in
many ways, closely resembled her more widely known con-
temporary Catharine of Siena, especially in the way in which
* The election of Urban's successor, Gregory XL, at first filled
Birgitta with much joy, as she hoped that he would finally end the
papal residence at Avignon. Gregory, however, temporized, and said
that there were difficulties in so doing while the war between France
and England continued. He received her admonitions with pious
inactivity and professed great gratitude for them.
t Milman, " History of Latin Christianity," Vol. VIII. page 27.
THE ORDER OF THE HOLY SAVIOUR. 261
she believed the revelations were directly given to her by
our Lord Himself, and that it was by His direct command
that she founded the order, and from Him received the
details as to its constitution.
In 1391, at the request of King Erik, the pope, Boniface
IX., canonized her on October 7th, which was afterwards
observed as her day in the calendar. The order of the
Holy Saviour quickly spread over the North. The plans
for it she had drawn up before she left Sweden for Italy,
and submitted them to Pope Urban V. who approved of
her idea and sanctioned the establishment of the order in
August, 1370.
Birgitta selected Vadstena, on lake Vettern, as the home
of the order, and began the building of the cloister, and
from this spot it spread, the Abbess of Vadstena being
the head of the whole community.
A remarkable feature of this new order was the fact that
both monks and nuns lived in the one establishment, but,
of course, in their own separate parts of it.
Each cloister of the order consisted of sixty nuns (sorores),
thirteen priest-monks (fratres presbyteri), four deacons
(fratres diaconi), and eight lay brothers (fratres laid).
The thirteen priests were to represent the thirteen
Apostles i.e., in eluding St. Paul the four deacons, the four
fathers of the Church. The sixty nuns, four deacons, and
eight lay brothers were intended to represent our Lord and
his first disciples. The abbess was to rule all, and to
represent the Blessed Virgin. The nuns were the real
core and centre of the cloister, and the monks were merely
added to perform the Church services and to manage its
secular affairs. Every church contained thirteen altars.
One priest was chosen as confessor generalis, who acted as
secretary and adviser of the abbess.^
The body of Birgitta was brought from Eome to
* Lange's Norske Klostres Historic, pages 53 et seq.
Vadstena, where it now rests, along with that of her
daughter, St. Katharine of Sweden.
In spite of the revival of Church life in the North, of
which the new Order of the Saviour was an evidence, there
is unfortunately but little doubt that the ordinary religious
life of the people was at a very low ebb at the end of the
fourteenth century. The terrible visitations of the Black
Death and the other plagues which followed, brought about
the usual results which such disasters have produced in
different lands. There were those who, like many in days
when pestilence raged, plunged only deeper into dissipation,
and sought to drown the thoughts of death and judgment,
in carousing and debauchery. On the other hand, there
were others who turned to the opposite extreme, and whose
religion became a sort of fanatical mysticism, and lost that
practical form which manifests itself in a " godly, righteous,
and sober life."
Norway, bereft by the plague, of priests whose "lips should
keep knowledge," and having only young and ignorant men,
who ministered in the priest's office, soon fell away from the
high standard which had been maintained in former gene-
rations.
We have preserved to us an account of the condition of
the Church in Norway at the close of the fourteenth century
from the pen of the well-known Theodore of Niem, who was
bishop of Verden, afterwards archbishop of Cambray, and
who died there in 1417.*
In his account of the state of the Church in the North of
Europe he says, speaking of Norway : t
" The clergy here are, as a rule, poor in dress and
* Theodore, or Dietrich, was probably born early in the 14th century.
He was employed in the papal curia, where he was "abbreviator and
scriptor " under Urban VI. His " Nemus Unionis " is a large work
dealing with schism, printed at Basle, 1566. The most recent Life of
Theodore is that by Georg Erler, " Dietrich von Nieheim."
t " Nemus Unionis," Chapter xxxv.
THEODORE OF NIEM ON NORWAY, 263
adornments, and perform the Divine service with few cere-
monies and no solemnity. Neither are they to any great
degree imbued with liberal arts or other sciences. But from
habit or custom in Norway, both clergy and laymen drink
equally hard, and if any one cannot drink himself drunk
in beer beyond all measure, he considers himself to be very
unhappy. They challenge one another to drinking bouts,
and no one who had not seen it, can imagine how much
both sexes can drink at a time, and they continue at this
until they fall to the ground in a state of intoxication.
Whoever is best able to empty his cups is considered to
have beaten the others in bodily strength and vigour.
"In these places (Ireland and Norway) it is permitted
to bishops and clergy publicly to keep concubines, and
when the bishop twice a year visits his diocese he brings
his beloved one with him to the houses of the priests. The
concubine herself would not allow her episcopal lover to
go on these visitations without her, partly because he fares
sumptuously with the priests, and into th'e bargain receives
gifts from those who are visited, and partly also because she
wishes to look after her lover, lest he should fall in love with
another who should be better looking, and so do an injury
to her.
" If by chance any of the priests who are being visited have
no concubines, they are looked upon as traitors to the in-
herited custom, and have to give the visiting bishop double
hospitality. And so it is the custom that in these countries
the priest's concubine, or wife, should have precedence and
rank in Church and at table, in walking and in sitting,
and standing before other women, even the wives of
knights."
It is not easy to say exactly, how much truth there is in
this very unfavourable account of the bishops and priests
of Norway ; but it is more than probable that it was very
grossly exaggerated, and that Theodore wrote about matters
of which he appears to have had no personal knowledge, as
he never seems to have visited Norway. It is very
doubtful if the bishops, surrounded as they were by many
of the regular clergy, who would only have been too ready to
report their faults to Borne, would have thus dared so openly
to set canon law at defiance. We have plenty of evidence
as to the way in which they attempted to prevent the priests
contracting these unions, which, though forbidden by the
Church's law, were yet quite in accordance with the law of
the land, and as such recognized by the priests. Theodore
was scarcely in a position to criticize too severely the morality
of the Norwegian bishops, and his virtuous indignation
merely expended itself in words, which were not exactly
in accordance with his actions. In an inventory of the
various possessions bestowed on him by the Koman curia,
Cecchus casually mentions (without wishing to cast any
reproach on Theodore's morality) a house as that which his
concubine inhabited ! * But the description of the drunken-
ness of both priest and people is a sad and probably true
one, and rendered all the more sad when contrasted with
the picture drawn some centuries before by a much greater
writer, Adam of Bremen.
* " Dietrich von Nieheim," p. 406.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ERIKTO THE DEATH OF KRISTOFER OF BAVARIA.
Condition of the Church Erik's Ecclesiastical Policy Action of the
Scandinavian Prelates in the Great Schism Aslak Bolt, Arch-
bishop His Work for the Church Council at Oslo Denmark
and Sweden reject Erik Norway follows and Elects Kristofer
Short Reign and Death of Kristofer (1448).
THOUGH the state of the Norwegian Church at the close
of the fourteenth century was far from being a satisfactory
one, still it certainly did not altogether deserve the severe
strictures of the future archbishop of Cambray. It is
possible, indeed, that, in some respects, it might even have
contrasted favourably with the condition of some of the
other national Churches at that particular period, but it
had undoubtedly fallen away from the very high standard
of life and morals, for which it had been remarkable in the
earlier days. There were, however, evidences of a revival
of Church life, such as the newly-established Order of the
Holy Saviour, which soon found a home for itself in
Norway as well as in Sweden, and the rules of this new
order made the preaching of the Gospel, in the language
" understanded of the people," one of its most prominent
features. Had the times been more favourable, the revival
might have progressed and the Church of Norway regained
the ground it had lost by reason of the Black Death. The
political conditions, however, reacted unfavourably on it,
because the Government of Margaret and Erik made use
of all the important ecclesiastical posts to serve its own
purposes, and so checked and stunted the growth and
development of the Church's life. The highest offices were
bestowed as rewards for political services.
We find, therefore, that a very considerable number of
Danes and Swedes were preferred to the vacant sees and
canonries in Norway, to the exclusion of the native Norwe-
gian clergy. This was not necessarily in itself a bad thing,
as the infusion of new blood might have helped in a great
measure to revive the life of the Church, at a time when it
was at such a low ebb. But the men who were appointed
were not, as a rule, of a type likely to advance the
prosperity of the Church.
Nicholas Euser, for example, was hardly the kind of
archbishop to whom we might look for any develop-
ment of religious life in his province, and his sole aim
during his brief tenure of the seat of E}^stein, seems
to have been his own personal aggrandisement, and,
having accomplished that, he spent the rest of his life in
Denmark. These foreign prelates never seem even to have
attempted to win the regard of their clergy and people.
Many of them were cordially hated in their dioceses, and
their oppressions and exactions helped to fan the fire of
discontent which was smouldering in Norway.*
Archbishop Yinalde Henrikss0n died in 1402, and his
successor was Askell, or Eskill, who was a native Norwegian.
His episcopate, which lasted until 1428, was entirely
uneventful. He was not consecrated until 1404.
The Norwegian bishops were, of course, summoned to
the Council of Pisa (1409), but none of them went to
it. At the beginning of the great schism in the papacy
(1378) the Norwegian Church supported Urban VI. and
his side. When at the Council of Pisa the confusion in
the Church was made still worse by the appointment of a
* The policy of Margaret and Erik was very like that of the English
Government towards the Irish Church in the eighteenth and early years
of the nineteenth century.
DEATH OF QUEEN MARGARET. 267
third pope, the allegiance of the North seems to have
been divided. At first Queen Margaret and Erik, with the
clergy generally, in Sweden and Denmark, and presumably
Norway (though we have no certain information), main-
tained the cause of Gregory XII. Some of the Swedish
bishops and chapters gave their support to Alexander V.,
and eventually the queen and King Erik, and the bishops
and clergy of the three kingdoms, took the same course.
In 1412 the great Queen Margaret passed away, having
for almost forty years practically guided the destinies of
Norway and Denmark, and for a somewhat shorter period
of Sweden as well. She had been to Flensborg, in Jylland,
and had gone on board her ship to return home, when she
was suddenly seized with illness, and expired on October
28th at the age of sixty.
Margaret is undoubtedly the most remarkable woman
we meet with in the history of Norway. The daughter of
Valdemar " Atterdag," * with whose accession a new era of
life and prosperity began to dawn upon Denmark, after a
long period of national disaster and internal strife, she
inherited many of the characteristics of her father ; her
ambition was boundless, and she never hesitated as to the
means which she used to compass her ends. She knew
more of statecraft than any of the monarchs with whom
she came in contact, and there can be no doubt that
at Kalmar she laid the foundation of a scheme, which
only wanted capable men to direct it, and might have
materially altered the history of the North of Europe.
Whilst we cannot fail to admire her great genius, it is
impossible to shut our eyes to her overweening ambition
and love of power both in Church and State. It was her
* He probably received the name of " Atterdag " (the new day) from
this fact. Other explanations of the name are given, such as his usual
adage, " To-morrow we shall have a day again" ; or his frequent use of
the German expression of surprise, " der Tage ! "
father's opinion that Nature had made a mistake in her
case she should have been a man, and not a woman ; and,
indeed, she it was who played the man, whilst her feeble
husband and most of the other chiefs in her day, were but
as puppets in her hands. The greatness of her personal
power can be seen by the way in which, as soon as she
died, the fabric she had built up with such skill began to
crumble to the ground.
The queen's body was not taken from her native land.
She was buried in the great cathedral of Koskilde, the
Westminster of Denmark. There, just behind the high
altar, a white marble effigy marks the spot where, " after
life's fitful fever," the great queen who had welded the
three Scandinavian nations into one kingdom, sleeps her
last sleep.*
But now there came a temporary revival of the Church
life in Norway under the rule of a new and energetic
archbishop. In 1428 Archbishop Askell died, and the
chapter chose as his successor Bishop Aslak Harniktss0n
Bolt, of Bergen, to which see he had been consecrated in
1408. It was not, however, until January 1430, that the
pope agreed to permit his translation from Bergen to
Nidaros. The new metropolitan was a man of a different
stamp from his immediate predecessors. He was a strong
man in every way, and though possessed of a rather violent
temper, was admirably suited to the needs of the Church in
his time. He was learned in the Scriptures and the canon
law, and during his episcopate did much to raise the
standard of religion in Norway. He was the first arch-
bishop who acted as papal legate.
As soon as his translation to Nidaros was accomplished,
he set himself vigorously to work to improve the condition
* Though we cannot fail to recognize the political genius of the queen,
we may perhaps demur to the inscription on her tomb, " To the memory
of that Princess whom posterity cannot honour beyond her merits."
ARCHBISHOP ASLAK BOLT. 269
of the finances of the Church, and especially of his cathedral.
A diligent visitation of his diocese, which was undertaken
immediately after he went to Nidaros, revealed the fact
that the old-established contributions authorized by the
Kristenret had not been paid regularly. These had been
granted for the support of the cathedral, and had cus-
tomarily been paid either in money or in kind. They
were known as the " Olaf's corn " and the " Michel's corn " ;
the latter received its name from being paid at Michaelmas.
The devastating fire at the cathedral, caused by lightning, in
July, 1431, made the demand for these contributions
specially opportune. Another instance of the archbishop's
zeal is shown by the compilation about the year 1440 of an
inventory of all the property of the Church in his diocese,
which he caused to be made in the same way as the bishop
of Oslo (Eystein Aslakss0n) had done fifty years before.
The archbishop's inventory was known as Aslak Bolt's
" Jordebog " (book of temporalities), and still survives.*
It was in the first half of this century, that the Birgitta
order began to spread in Norway, and the archbishop, when
Bishop of Bergen, had introduced it into the country in con-
junction with Stein, the abbot of the Benedictine cloister of
Munkeliv, in Bergen. This monastery had purposely, it
seemed, been allowed to become almost empty, and afforded
an opportunity for converting it into a habitation for the
new order (1426). This was approved by the head cloister
of the order at Vadstena, in Sweden, in 1434, and it thus
* The "Jordebog" was published in Christiania in 1852. It was
edited by the late Professor P. A, Munch. In the introduction to the
volume Professor Munch mentions the way in which this inventory
survived. It was taken from Trondhjem, along with other archives, by
the last archbishop, Olaf Engelbrektss0n, when he fled to Holland in
1537. From thence it was carried to Heidelberg, and finally to
Munich, where it remained until 1830, when a vast variety of
documents relating to the three Scandinavian kingdoms, were restored
to their respective countries.
became the first establishment belonging to the new com-
munity in Norway.
Archbishop Aslak determined to revive the practice of
holding provincial councils, which had been abandoned
since the time of Archbishop Olaf ; but his first attempt in
this direction was not very successful. In 1435 he sum-
moned a council to meet in Bergen, but to his great
chagrin none of his suffragans put in an appearance. The
bishop of Bergen alone among the Norwegian prelates, had
any legitimate excuse for being absent, as he was in Sweden
on business for the king. The bishops of Hamar and Oslo,
who were Danes and very unpopular, seem to have been
the most obnoxious in this passive resistance to the arch-
bishop's authority. Aslak, however, refrained from any
open quarrel with them, but suspended the abbot of
Halsn0 for his disobedience, and, in spite of the absence of
the other bishops, proceeded with some legislative measures.
Among others, laws were passed for the purpose of prevent-
ing the begging monks collecting contributions without a
licence from the bishop of the diocese. Though he had been
to a very considerable extent thwarted in his plans for
reform, the archbishop did not give up the intention of
holding councils, and summoned another to meet at Oslo in
December, 1436.
Before this met, however, the discontent which had long
existed in Norway, ended at last in open rebellion. King
Erik had for many years ceased to visit that part of his
dominions, and had not, it would seem, been there since
1405. The administration of the law and collection of
taxes, was entrusted by the king chiefly to Danes, who
ground down the people, and whose exactions produced
very bitter feelings. The increased taxation on account of
the Slesvig war was also extremely unpopular. The
centre of the discontent was in the diocese of Oslo, whose
bishop, Jens, or Jon as he is called by some, was very much
COUNCIL AT OSLO. 271
hated. Appeals were made to King Erik for justice, but
they met with no response, and in the summer of 1436 the
people rose in rebellion under Amund Sigurdss0n at
T0nsberg. The king's men met the rebel leader, and a
truce was arranged for a short time, but on the expiration
of it Amund proceeded to Oslo, where he seized the bishop's
palace, but was in his turn besieged there by the royal
adherents. Finally a peace was made in December of 1436,
and Amund was promised an amnesty for himself and his
followers.
Immediately after this the provincial council called by
the archbishop met on December 20th, and this time
several of the bishops were present, but not the bishop of
Oslo. The legislation of this council proceeded on the
usual lines, and enforced various regulations which had
been made at other like assemblies, regarding morals and
discipline. The most important work, however, was an
effort made by the archbishop to improve the learning of
the native clergy, and so to take away the excuse of
appointing foreigners to posts in Norway on the ground of
their better education. To do this he appropriated a part
of the tithe which the Kristenret gave to the poor an
illegal proceeding doubtless, but one which the exigencies
of the time seemed to demand. We may here mention
that some sixteen years before this, the University of
Eostock had been established, and from that time onwards
the clergy of the three northern kingdoms who were
educated abroad, chiefly studied there instead of in England
or France, as had been the custom in the earlier days. This
was not without its effect on the subsequent history. It
largely helped to sever the close connection between the
Churches of England and Norway, which had existed from
the time of the first introduction of Christianity into the
latter country. Henceforward Norway came under the
influence of German thought and theology. If the old historic
connection with England had been maintained, the results
which followed the breach with Kome in the next century
might have been different, and the Church in Norway
have followed in the same course as that of England,
and not have lost, with the historic episcopate, its place in
the Catholic Church.
The council at Oslo, before separating, called together a
number of representatives from the discontented part of
the country, and addressed once more, a strong appeal to
the king to assert his authority, and to put away the abuses
which were everywhere complained of. They seem to have
been actuated by a spirit of great loyalty to their unworthy
monarch, when the two other sister nations had rejected
him, and were only anxious he should come and rule over
them, with some of the old spirit which had marked his
ancestors. But this appeal was practically useless. King
Erik had had enough of his three troublesome kingdoms,
and Denmark and Sweden had no wish to have him any
longer. In 1437 he left Denmark and went to Gotland,
thus practically abdicating, but taking no formal step. The
Danes now offered the crown to Kristofer of Bavaria,
Erik's nephew, the son of his sister Katharina, who had
married John of Bavaria, and declared Erik deposed. The
Swedes also deposed the king, and nominated Karl
Knutss0n as governor of their country.
Norway, however, still held to her lawful but worthless
monarch, and actually attacked the Swedes on his behalf,
but without any important result.
Then the chiefs made one more appeal to Erik, and
sent men to ask that he would appoint a " drotsete," which
he did, and nominated Sigurd Jonss0n (1439).
After this, when both Sweden and Denmark had accepted
Kristofer as king (he was crowned at Upsala in September,
1441), they wished Norway to join with them. Mean-
while the Norwegians had held a meeting at Oslo, under
KRISTOFER OP BAVARIA. 273
the presidency of Archbishop Aslak, and decided to send
once more to Erik, representing the state of the country,
and intimating that if he could not do something they must
abandon his cause. The ambassadors appointed never
reached the king, as they were stopped in Denmark. One
more appeal seems to have been made to Erik, but, like
the others, it led to nothing. After this a meeting with the
Swedes was held at Kalmar, but the question of the king
was not decided.
In 1442 the Norwegians finally abandoned Erik, and
at a meeting held at L0d0se the archbishop and the
Norwegian representatives agreed to accept Kristofer as
their king, and he came to Norway in July of the same
year, and was crowned at Oslo.
Erik had reigned nominally for fifty- two years over
Norway, though, as we have seen, he practically spent but
little if any time in the country ; and in the early part of
his life all the real power lay in the hands of Queen
Margaret. After his deposition he continued to live for
some years in his strong castle at Gotland, where he ex-
hibited perhaps the only trace of his historic ancestry, by
following the lucrative occupation of a sea rover. In 1449
he retired to his domains in Pomerania, where, after another
ten years, he died in 1459 at the age of 76.
Kristofer's reign over Norway was of short duration, but
under it the country settled down, after its disturbed state
in the closing years of Erik's reign. The " drotsete " sur-
rendered his office when the new king was crowned, and no
events of importance, ecclesiastical or civil, have to be
recorded. Kristofer died suddenly at Helsingborg in 1448,
having been king of Norway for a little over five years.
Though personally very popular from his genial nature, he
was not the man to overcome the difficulties with which he
was confronted. In Denmark he was entirely helpless to
withstand the arrogance of the nobility, and in other parts of
C.S.N. T
his dominions, the Hanseatic league was too strong for
him. Had he lived longer and proved a capable governor,
many of the subsequent troubles of Norway might have
been averted, and instead of a period of practical extinction
of national life, which lasted for over three hundred and
fifty years, Norway might have held a position of importance
among the nations of Northern Europe.
But this was not to be. "We have now to enter upon
the dark period of the history of Norway in both Church
and State, one marked by but few episodes to relieve the
gloom which everywhere prevailed. When we think of it,
we are filled with surprise that there was no one upon whom
the spirit of the kings in the heroic days descended, who
would go forth as a leader of men to free the Fatherland,
and restore to it once more, that national life which in the
earlier days had been so strong and vigorous.
CHAPTEE XIX.
NORWAY UNDER DANISH KINGS.
Circumstances which led to the Election of Kristian I. Bishop Jens of
Oslo Karl of Sweden Crowned at Nidaros His Claim surrendered
Council of Bergen The Church under Danish Rule Disputed
Election at Nidaros on the Death of Aslak Bolt King Kristian
and Marcellus The Papal Nominee Henrik Kalteisen, appointed
Murder of Bishop Thorleif of Bergen Conflict over his Successor
Olaf Throndss0n Archbishop Kristian agrees to the T0nsberg
Concordat The Orkneys and Shetlands surrendered Foundation
of Copenhagen University Hans succeeds Kristian The Halmstad
Recess Hans defeated by the Ditmarskers Rebellion in Norway,
1501 Duke Kristian Governor of Norway His Treatment of the
Bishop of Hamar Erik Valkendorf, a Dane, Archbishop.
THE death of Kristofer of Bavaria, and the events which
followed, showed how feeble were the links which held
the three nations together in the Kalmar union. The
regular course on the death of the sovereign of the united
kingdoms, would have been for the duly accredited repre-
sentatives of each nationality to have met and chosen a
successor, as the last monarch had left no heir. Instead of
this, Sweden and Denmark set to work on their own
account. It must be remembered that they were elective
monarchies, while the crown in Norway, according to law,
was hereditary. Kristofer died in January, 1448, and in
the following June the Swedish Assembly, or Rigsdag,
met in Stockholm, and forthwith chose Karl Knutss0n as
king, and he was at once crowned at Upsala.
The Danes, on their part, made overtures to Adolf of
Slesvig to occupy the vacant throne ; but he induced
them to accept in his place, his nephew Kristian, or
Christiern, Count of Oldenborg, and he was chosen as king
in the month of September.
Norway was now without anyone as a claimant for the
throne, and in default of heirs, the law provided that the
bishops and chief men should meet at Nidaros and select
a suitable person as king. This, however, was not done,
and the archbishop was in Nidaros while the chief men of
the kingdom were at Oslo, and so matters were left for the
time, with Sigurd Jonss0n in authority. Meanwhile both
Sweden and Denmark had provided themselves with kings,
and each country was anxious for Norway to join in the
arrangement which they had made. There were now two
parties in the Norwegian Council, one, under Archbishop
Aslak, in favour of the Swedish king, Karl, and the other,
led by Jens, bishop of Oslo, supporting the claims of
Kristian of Denmark. There was, however, one man who
claimed descent from the old royal family of Norway
namely, Sigurd Jonss0n, the "drotsete," who was a descen-
dant of Agnes, the illegitimate daughter of Haakon V.,
and who might have been chosen as king of Norway, only
he declined the honour. The majority of the council were
in favour of the maintenance of the Kalmar union, and no
step was taken at the end of 1448.
In February, 1449, the Norwegian Council again met,
and after some discussion, it was decided to send Bishop
Jens and Hartvig Krummedike as their representatives to
Denmark. According to some accounts they went with
express instructions not to tender the crown to Kristian,
but according to others they were under no restrictions.
The two ambassadors were Danes, and there seems no
doubt that they offered the crown of Norway to the
Danish king. The next month they returned to Oslo,
bringing some Danish chief men with them and a writing
from Kristian. Finally a majority of the council agreed
to accept Kristian as king of Norway, and a meeting was
KARL CROWNED AT NIDAROS. 277
arranged to be held at Marstrand in July, where Kristian
was present. The meeting was duly held, and the newly-
chosen monarch issued a manifesto to Norway. It was
also settled that Kristian should proceed to Nidaros the
next year to receive his crown. Meanwhile the govern-
ment of the country was left in the hands of the archbishop
and Sigurd Jonss0n.
So far all seemed to be regular, and the choice of King
Kristian a free election on behalf of the Norwegian Council ;
but the Norwegian chiefs asserted later, that all that they
had done, both at Oslo and Marstrand, was under com-
pulsion, and that Bishop Jens and his brother ambassador,
came back supported by a body of 2,000 Danes, and the
archbishop and the Norwegian-Swedish party were obliged
to agree to the proposals of Bishop Jens.
Meanwhile the supporters of Karl of Sweden had not
been idle. In May of the same year, he had been chosen
as king at a Thing held at Nidaros, and in October he
came from Sweden to the Oplands, and was also accepted
by a Thing at Hamar, at which the bishop was present.
Then he went north to Nidaros, and Archbishop Aslak,
who had by this time returned home (on the ground that
he had acted under compulsion at both Oslo and Marstrand),
received him, and crowned him in the cathedral on
November 20th. A few days after Karl retired again to
Sweden. There were now two kings formally accepted by
the people in different parts of Norway, and the prepon-
derance of the popular vote was undoubtedly given to
Karl. The bishops were divided, the archbishop, and
Bishop Jens of Oslo, heading the rival parties, and it
seemed as if a civil war was inevitable. In the winter
Karl made an attack on Oslo, the headquarters of the
Danish party, but afterwards retreated to Sweden.
When the spring came, negotiations were opened between
Kristian and Karl, and a conference held between their
representatives at Halmstad. Here, it would seem, Karl's
cause was betrayed ; the greater prelates were hostile to him,
and anxious for union with Denmark, and the result was
that his claim to the crown of Norway was surrendered.
In July, 1450, Kristian sailed for Nidaros with a strong
fleet, and met with no opposition ; the archbishop had
died at the end of 1449, and there was no one to lead the
national party. On St. Olaf s day he was crowned in the
cathedral, possibly by Marcellus, bishop of Skaalholt, of
whom we shall hear more presently, but it is not quite
certain. Before he left Nidaros, Kristian issued a procla-
mation to the people, defending his title to the crown in
opposition to Karl of Sweden.
From Nidaros the new king went south to Bergen,
where he held a meeting of the council. At this it was
decided that Norway and Denmark were hereafter to be
for ever united under one king, but that each kingdom
was to be entirely independent. This completed the union
of Norway and Denmark, which led to such disastrous
consequences to the former kingdom, and which survived
for the long period of 364 years. We have seen the active
part which the prelates of Norway took in this matter. It
is difficult, perhaps, to say that the archbishop's conduct
was very straightforward throughout, though if it be true,
as was asserted by the Norwegian party, that on the return
of Bishop Jens he had with him a Danish army, then it is
likely that Archbishop Aslak was compelled, against his
will, to assent to Kristian' s nomination. He justified his
subsequent action on that ground, and there is no doubt
that he honestly believed that the Swedish king's rule
would be likely to be more advantageous to his country
than that of Kristian. Bishop Jens of Oslo seems, like
Nicholas, his notorious predecessor in that see, to have
been a crafty and treacherous man, and to have betrayed
the interests of Norway to the Danes. He was himself a
KRISTIAN I. AND MARCELLUS. 279
Dane, and was very much hated by the people in his
extensive diocese, so much so, that an effort was made at
one time to have him translated to Viborg, and the bishop
of that see (who was a Norwegian) placed in Oslo ; but the
arrangement fell through, and Jens remained in possession
of his see until his death.
We shall now see the result to the Church in Norway of
the rule of the Danish kings, and the manner in which
they deliberately set themselves, with the papal sanction,
to destroy the right of free election, for which the Church
had so long and zealously striven. The efforts of the
king and the popes, were directed to placing in all the
highest offices of the Church, men who had no interest in
the country, and were, as a rule, ignorant of its language
and customs, and who were appointed as a reward for
services rendered to the papacy or the Danish court.
The accession of Kristian I. was marked by the commence-
ment of a long conflict, which left the Church in Norway
without a primate for a period of nearly ten years, and in
which the struggle between the popes and the king, against
the canonically- elected archbishop, did infinite harm to the
cause of religion in Norway.
Archbishop Aslak Bolt died, as we have seen, at the end
of 1449, and before the arrival of Kristian I. in Norway.
On his death the chapter of Nidaros elected, as his
successor, one of their own body, Olaf Throndss0n. This
took place, it would seem, before July, 1450, in which
month Kristian arrived at Nidaros. There was nothing to
be alleged against the newly-chosen archbishop, but King
Kristian had a fixed policy in his mind, which was to fill
the sees of Norway, especially the primacy, with those
upon whom he could depend to carry out his wishes.
Kristian at once protested against the election of Olaf
Throndss0n, on the ground that his approval had not been
first obtained.
The king's object in this, was to secure the post for a
man on whom he reckoned to support his policy. This
was Marcellus, a Franciscan monk, whom he had succeeded
in inducing the pope in 1448 or 1449 to appoint as bishop
of Skaalholt, in Iceland. Marcellus, however, merely drew
the income of his distant diocese, but never went there.
The previous life of the bishop of Skaalholt seems to have
been open to grave suspicion, and it was supposed that he
had been in prison for frauds of one kind or another. It
would, however, appear that these charges, if not ground-
less, were "not proven," for the pope appointed commis-
sioners later on to investigate them, and they practically
acquitted him.
In Marcellus King Kristian thought he had the man he
wanted as archbishop. At first, however, the chapter of
Nidaros were unwilling to give way, but a compromise
was arranged by which it was agreed to refer the dispute
between the king and the chapter to arbitration. The
arbitrators (among whom, curiously, was Marcellus him-
self) decided in the king's favour, and upheld his
contention that his consent was necessary for the election,
and recommended to the chapter Marcellus, " the king's
chancellor and bishop of Skaalholt and papal legate."
Now followed, perhaps, the most scandalous episode in the
history of the Church in Norway. Kristian and Marcellus
entered into a formal contract before a notary, the terms
of which still exist, * by which, as a reward for carrying
out the king's plans, he was to become archbishop of
Nidaros. Marcellus was to go to Kome, and there persuade
the pope to recognize the right of the king to present
to the bishoprics in Norway and Denmark, and also
to the appointment of clergy, and further that the
pope should sanction the union of the three kingdoms
under Kristian. If Marcellus did not accomplish this
* " Diplomatarium Norvegicum," Vol. II., 789.
HENRIK KALTEISEN. 281
before the Christmas twelvemonth following, the bargain
was to be at an end, and the king might appoint someone
else to Nidaros. When this shameful compact had been
made, Marcellus was, by some of the chapter, chosen as
archbishop in place of Olaf, whose election had been
declared invalid, and Marcellus went off with his monarch
to Denmark.
The king and Marcellus, however, reckoned without
their host. The pope (Nicholas V.) had himself another
candidate.* It is not quite clear if Marcellus went at
once to Eome in accordance with the compact, but in any
case he was not able to fulfil his part in time, though the
king did not abandon him as his candidate on this account.
The pope declined to recognize him, and in February,
1452, he nominated to the see of Nidaros, Henrik Kalteisen,
a German by birth, and one who had proved himself most
useful to the Holy See at the Council of Basel. Kalteisen
was a learned man of upright life, and had been Inquisitor-
general in Germany. He was then well advanced in years,
and quite ignorant of the language and everything else
connected with Norway.
The position of affairs was now a curious one. Three
men had been nominated to the vacant see. There was,
first, what we might call the national candidate, Olaf
Throndss0n, who represented the Norwegian Church, and
had been duly chosen by the Nidaros chapter after the
old and lawful manner ; secondly, there was the royal
nominee, Marcellus, who represented the claim of Kristian
to control the election; and, thirdly, Henrik Kalteisen,
* The reader will note how this case presents an exact parallel to the
state of affairs in England, in the famous dispute which ended in
Stephen Langton's elevation to the throne of Augustine. There was
King John's nominee, John de Gray ; the elect of the chapter of
Canterbury, Reginald ; and the papal nominee, Stephen. Unfortunately
for Norway, however, Henrik Kalteisen did not turn out a Stephen
Langton.
whom the pope wished to force on both the national
Church and the king.
Armed with papal authority, Kalteisen betook himself
at once to Kristian in Denmark. The king for the
moment found it wisest to give way, and, abandoning his
candidate, sent Kalteisen to Norway. Early the next
year, 1453, the new archbishop was in Bergen, and in
May he reached Nidaros. On his arrival, Henrik found
that his new post was very far from being a pleasant one.
The chapter, with more courage than we might have ex-
pected under the circumstances, protested against having
as archbishop an old and feeble man, who would be unable
to withstand the fatigues which the administration and
visitation of his vast diocese must entail, and who, more-
over, could not speak the language of his people. It was
only natural that a man who had been accustomed to the
comforts and mode of living of the south of Europe would,
in his old days, shrink from the duties which lay before
him. Henrik, who was a conscientious man, believed it
to be his wisest course to resign the archbishopric.
At a meeting of the council, which was held in Bergen
in October, at which the king was present, he expressed
his willingness to resign. This course met with the unani-
mous approval of the council, and a letter to the pope
was drawn up, begging him to accept Henrik' s resignation
and to appoint either Olaf or Marcellus, as his successor.
This, however, the pope refused to do, and matters were
again at a deadlock.
The next year Marcellus appears to have gone to Eome
to urge his claims, but apparently without success, and on
his way home he was attacked, plundered, and imprisoned
at Koln, apparently by the townsfolk, but, as has been
supposed, at the instigation of the Eoman authorities.
Marcellus appears soon to have obtained his release, as the
next year we hear of him with the king in Denmark,
THE MARIA KIRKE, BERGEN.
Founded before 1183, later on the Church of the Hanseatic Merchants, hence called Tyske
(German) Kirken. The German language was used in the Services as late as 1868.
BISHOP THORLEIP OF BERGEN. 283
whilst Henrik had left Norway and returned to the papal
While matters were in this state with respect to the
primacy, a terrible tragedy occurred in Bergen in Sep-
tember, 1455 one happily unique in the history of the
Norwegian Church.
The bishop of Bergen was now Thorleif Olafss0n. Before
his preferment to that see he had been chaplain to King
Erik, and afterwards bishop of Viborg. The governor of
the city of Bergen was Olaf Nilss0n, who was extremely
unpopular with the German merchants of the Hanseatic
league, on account of the way in which he defended the
rights of his countrymen against these traders, who sought
to control all the business of the town. His unpopularity
became so great that the king removed him from his post,
whereupon Olaf, getting together a body of men, captured
the Swedish stronghold of Elfsborg, and offered it to the
king on condition of receiving back again his post at
Bergen. This was agreed to, and Olaf Nilss0n returned
to that city. Bishop Thorleif was friendly to the governor,
and endeavoured to adjust the differences between him and
the German residents.
The return of their old enemy with his power confirmed
by the king, roused the German traders to madness. In
yain the bishop did his best to make peace, but the
merchants refused to listen to any conditions. Matters
became so threatening that Olaf Nilss0n was obliged to
seek refuge in the great cloister of Munkeliv, which
crowned the ridge which divides the harbour (the opposite
side of which was occupied by the German merchants)
from what is now called the Pudde Fjord. To this place
of refuge the bishop himself went, along with two priests.
On the 1 st of September the outbreak took place. Swarm-
ing out from their quarter, the Germans and their followers,
to the number of 2,000, marched round the end of the
harbour and attacked the great cloister. It would appear
that Olaf Nilss0n and the bishop were not prepared to
resist the assault. When the attack was made the bishop
was in the chapel. The doors were burst open, and a mob
invaded the sacred precincts. The bishop went to the
altar, and, taking the Host with him, calmly walked
forward to meet his foes ; but, notwithstanding the fact
that he was their bishop, and that he carried in his right
hand the sacred Host, he was at once cut to pieces, as
well as his few brave adherents. Olaf Mlss0n had taken
refuge in the tower of the monastery, but this was promptly
set on fire. The smoke soon obliged him to surrender,
and on doing so he was at once put to death. The flames
spread to the rest of the building, and soon the great
Munkeliv cloister was but a heap of smouldering ruins.
This terrible outrage Kristian at first hesitated to
punish; but the pope acted with greater decision. All
concerned in the rising were at once excommunicated and
heavily fined, and the duty of rebuilding the cloister was
laid upon the German residents in Bergen.
Kristian, however, turned this matter to his own advan-
tage. In his defence to the pope, he pointed out that this
disturbance and murder of one of the highest officers of
the Church, was an evidence of how much the country
suffered from the want of its proper ecclesiastical head,
and he again pressed forward the claims of Marcellus;
but neither side would give way. Soon another point in
dispute seemed about to arise between the king and the
pope. To fill the vacancy in the see of Bergen caused
by the murder of Bishop Thorleif, the king nominated
Joachim Grubbe, a Danish noble, but as he was under
canonical age it was necessary that he should obtain a
papal dispensation. This the pope promptly refused, and
nominated an Italian, Paolo Justiniani. Fortunately, how-
ever, in the interests of peace, Grubbe died at this time,
THE MEETING AT SKARA. 285
and the king, seeing that the papal nominee might be very
useful to him, passed over the pope's arbitrary action in
appointing Paolo to the vacant see.
It was in 1457 that, Karl Knutss0n having been expelled
from Sweden, Kristian was elected king, and again united
the three kingdoms under one monarch. He now decided
to send Paolo Justiniani to Eome to try once more to gain
the papal approval of Marcellus' appointment to Nidaros.
This mission, however, was a failure, and in 1458 the
pope (Calixtus III.) died and Pius II. succeeded him.
But now at last Kristian abandoned the cause of
Marcellus, and consented to recognize Olaf Throndss0n.
Henrik Kalteisen having persisted in his resignation,
the pope agreed to accept Olaf, and he was consecrated
in 1459, more than nine years from the date of his
election by the Nidaros chapter. Marcellus had to be
content with his Skaalholt bishopric, which he never
visited, and in 1462 he was drowned off the Swedish coast.
We must now revert to the year 1458, when an impor-
tant meeting was held at Skara, in the month of January.
King Kristian called together the principal ecclesiastics
and chief men of Norway, in order to induce them to
accept his son Hans, then a child of only two years old,
as his successor to the crown of Norway. This, it seems,
he had no difficulty in doing, the monarchy in Norway
not being elective, as in the two other countries, and when
Kristian was recognized, it followed by the Norwegian law
that his eldest son should succeed him.
At this gathering Olaf Throndss0n was present, and
though the king had practically withdrawn his opposition
to him, he was yet only archbishop-elect. Along with him
were the bishops of Oslo, Hamar and Stavanger, and some
other prominent clergy. In the month of February they
induced Kristian to accept the T0nsberg Concordat, which
had been abandoned since the time of Erik, one hundred and
sixty-eight years before. This was, at first sight, a great
triumph on the part of the Church over the royal power, and
we may wonder how it was that Kristian, who was determined
to make the Church as much as possible subservient to him,
would for a moment have consented to such a proposal
A little consideration, however, will make us see how this
came about. In the first place, the king was very anxious
to obtain the support of the Church in Norway for his
young son Hans, and to obtain this, was prepared to make
very great apparent concessions.
In spite of the state into which the Church had
fallen, it was still the greatest power in the land, and, as
most of the old Norwegian great men and chiefs, had been
replaced by Danes, the ecclesiastics represented the popular
feeling in Norway more than any other class. Again,
it must be borne in mind that the very great concessions
of the T0nsberg Concordat were at this time of compara-
tively little importance: the whole state of things had
changed. The power of the papacy was widely different
from what it had been, and although a power was given to
the Church beyond anything which it had before, except for
the few years in which the concordat lasted, yet, as has
well been pointed out, it was only an authority on paper,
and the very worst instances of oppression and disregard
of the rights of the Norwegian Church took place, we shall
find, under his successor. The semblance of power was
given, but none of the reality. It is only fair to Kristian
to say that he seems, on the whole, for the rest of his reign
to have refrained from interference in the internal affairs
of the Church in Norway.
We must here mention a political event which affected
the Church, as it tended to further reduce the limits of
the province of Nidaros. "We have already seen how the
diocese of Sodor and Man had become detached from it,
and now another portion of the British Isles was about
ORKNEYS AND SHETLANDS LOST TO NORWAY. 287
to follow in the same way. Kristian, unable to find the
dowry (60,000 gylden) of his daughter Margaret, who
married James III. of Scotland, promised in lieu of it
(1469) to abandon the tribute which the Scottish kings
had paid for the Hebrides since the time of Magnus Laga-
b0ter. This, however, was not enough, so he was obliged
to pledge first the Orkneys, and then the Shetlands, and
thus the ancient authority of the kings of Norway over
these portions of the British Isles finally disappeared, as
the money to redeem them was never afterwards forth-
coming. The transference of authority was of course
nominally only civil, and the Orkneys with their bishop
still remained in the Nidaros province; but practically
from this time onwards they were detached from their
ancient ecclesiastical allegiance. ^
Archbishop Olaf died in 1474, and his successor was
Gaute Ivarss0n. Olaf had been for fifteen years recog-
nized as archbishop, but was, twenty- four years before his
death, elected by the chapter.
In 1474 Kristian went on a pilgrimage to Eome, and
while there obtained the consent of the pope to the
founding of a university at Copenhagen, but it was not
finally established until 1479. The new university
diverted the attendance of the Norwegian and Danish
clergy from Eostock to Copenhagen, and was a great
benefit to the cause of higher education in Norway and
Denmark. Kristian I. died at Copenhagen in May, 1481,
and was buried in Eoskilde.
The death of Kristian I. was followed by a short inter-
regnum. His son Hans had been, as we have seen,
accepted by the Norwegian bishops and chief men as his
* A few years later, however, we find the Orkneys forming a part
of the province of St. Andrews, and that bishopric is mentioned in the
bull of Pope Sixtus IV. (raising the see of St. Andrews to metropolitan
rank) as one of the suffragan sees in the new province.
father's successor at the meeting in Skara in 1458, but in
spite of this, after Kristian's death the Norwegian govern-
ment was carried on by the council, with the archbishop
at its head, and it was not until January, 1483, at a
meeting in Halmstad, that Hans was formally taken as
king in Norway and Denmark. On February 1st the new
king issued an important manifesto, which was known as
the " Halmstad Kecess," and which was intended to reassure
his Norwegian subjects and to remove the grievances which
were complained of. In this document Hans promised,
among other things, to support the Church and uphold all
its privileges. He would not interfere with the rights of
election, or force foreigners into office in Norway, and the
clergy were to be exempted from the civil courts in alt
ecclesiastical matters. The murderers of Bishop Thorleif
were to be punished.
These promises were made by the king apparently for
the purpose of securing the support of the Norwegians,
but he afterwards violated them in almost every particular,
and the Church in Norway, during his reign, was subjected
to many indignities. At first, however, things seemed to
go well. Hans came to Norway, and in July, 1483, he was
crowned at Trondhjem'* by Archbishop Gaute. After an
absence of about three years, during which there was a
considerable amount of discontent, the king returned to
Norway, and after a meeting with the bishops and chief
men at Bergen better relations were again established. In
1489 Hans secured the recognition of his son Kristian,
then eight years of age, as his successor to the Norwegian
throne.
There were at this time in Norway two distinct parties.
Many of the people and clergy were hostile to the Danish
rule, and wished for an opportunity of freeing their country
* The old name of Nidaros was abandoned for the modern Trondhjem
a little before this time.
HANS AND THE DITMARSKERS. 289
from it ; but, on the other hand, there was a less numerous,
but more powerful, body of the Danish noblemen who had
received property in Norway from the king, and a certain
number of officials. Many of the Danes had intermarried
with Norwegians, and as time went on their numbers
increased considerably, and eventually this led to the
complete subserviency of Norway to the Danish kings,
and brought the country into the position of merely a
province in the kingdom of Denmark. These two rival
parties had, as their leaders, Alf Knutss0n and Hartvig
Krummedike. The former was, on his mother's side, a
scion of a very old Norwegian family, closely connected
with the ancient royal line ; whilst the latter was a well-
known Dane, whom we have met with before, in connection
with the negotiations which ended in the election of
Kristian I. to the throne of Norway.
Although Norway had accepted Hans in 1483, it was
not until 1497 that Sweden came under his rule. Both
countries were quite ready, when the opportunity offered,
to try and get rid of their Danish monarch. This was
presented to them in the year 1500. Kristian I. had
received from the Kaiser Frederick III. the country of the
Ditmarsk, in Holstein a region lying between the Elbe
and the Eider. The inhabitants of this district were a
hardy race, who carried on a ceaseless warfare against the
encroachments of the North Sea, and whose coast was
defended by dykes, as in Holland. The land was in parts
rich and fertile, but there was much fen country, and the
narrow roads had usually a deep dyke on each side. The
Ditmarskers were a brave and independent folk, and they
did not approve of being handed over to a neighbour who,
as such, was likely to exercise much greater authority over
them than the kaiser. Kristian I., however, did prac-
tically nothing with regard to the country, and it fell to
the lot of Hans to try to make his power felt.
C.S.N. U
At the beginning of 1500 the king and his brother,
Duke Frederick, assembled an army with the intention of
crushing out the independence of these hardy peasants.
The forces of the king consisted largely of mercenaries,
and his total strength is estimated at from twelve to fifteen
thousand men. Without meeting any opposition he took
possession of the town of Meldorf, and then in an evil
hour decided to complete his conquest of the country, by
going north to Heide. The distance was very short
(between eight and ten miles), but the difficulties of the
way were very great. The road lay between dykes, and
was a narrow one, and rendered heavy by a thaw which
had just set in. On February 17th the army started on
the ill-fated march. The peasants were determined to
make a stand for their liberty, and assembled under Wolf
Isebrand. With difficulty the king's army made its way
along the heavy road until they reached Hemmingsted,
where, to their utter surprise, they found the enemy
awaiting them, who at once opened fire upon the Danish
forces. The cavalry were in the van, and were thrown
into confusion, and the horses sank in the mire. The
water in the dykes rose, as the people had opened the
sluices, and the Ditmarskers at once attacked their foes.
Twice they were repulsed, but the royal forces could not
leave the narrow road and follow their agile assailants.
To retreat or advance was impossible, and a third attack
broke all attempt at resistance ; the helpless soldiers were
hewn down like sheep, and those in the rear alone were
able to escape. King Hans and his brother managed to
make their way out of the scene of slaughter with a mere
fragment of their powerful force, and the victors (fortu-
nately for them) did not attempt to follow up their success.
After this terrible defeat of King Hans the spirit of
rebellion, which had long been smouldering in Norway
and Sweden, soon broke into a flame. The chiefs of both
DUKE KRISTIAN AND BISHOP KARL. 291
parties were dead, but their sons, Knut Alf ss0n and Henrik
Krummedike, took their fathers' places. In 1501 Knut
Alfss0n gathered men in Sweden, and attacked and captured
Akershus at Oslo, and T0nsberg, and there seemed to be a
prospect of breaking the Danish yoke. Henrik Krumme-
dike, however, came to defend the cause of the king, and
gained some advantage over Knut. The latter was now
anxious to make terms, and was induced, in August, 1502,
to go on board Henrik' s ship under the promise of a safe
conduct. When he got there he was at once treacherously
murdered and his body thrown overboard. All his
property was confiscated to the Crown. Thus, deprived of
their leader, the Norwegian national party had no alterna-
tive but to submit. The Swedes, however, still continued
the struggle.
The spirit of rebellion was not quite extinguished in
central Norway, and only awaited an opportunity to
manifest itself.
In 1507 King Hans sent his son, Duke Kristian, to
Norway as governor. He was a young man of ability,
but cruel and treacherous, and he soon had an opportunity
of displaying these qualities. In 1508 the people of
Hedemark rose in rebellion under Herluf Hufvudfat, but
Duke Kristian quickly crushed it, and took the leaders
prisoners and had them put to death at Akershus.
According to some authorities it is said that before their
death, they accused Karl, bishop of Hamar, who had
only been three years bishop at the time of the rising, of
having instigated the rebellion. Whether the bishop was
guilty of the charge or not, Kristian determined to punish
him. By deceit he induced Karl to come to him,^ and at
* How little the bishop expected such treatment is shown by the
fact that before he left his palace, he told his people he would return in
eight days bringing back the duke as his guest. It was this which
probably induced the bishop's servants to open the palace gates at once.
once threw him into prison, and started with an armed
force for Hamar. Pretending that he and the bishop were
pursued by the Swedes, the doors of the bispegaard, or
palace, were thrown open to him. The place was then
sacked by the duke and his followers, and the adjoining
cathedral plundered. That this unparalleled outrage,
which, by its attack on the bishop, entailed immediate
excommunication on the duke, did not at once raise a
storm throughout the land was a proof of the weakness of
the Church and the power of the king. The duke left the
bishop in prison without bringing him to trial. Arch-
bishop Gaute does not seem to have done much on his
suffragan's behalf. He wrote, indeed, to the king, and
Kristian was called upon to defend himself to the pope,
which he did with many false statements. The pope
appointed two bishops, a German and a Dane, to investi-
gate the case, passing over the archbishop. Nothing
definite seems to have come of this, and the unfortunate
bishop still remained a prisoner. His despair of ever
obtaining justice, led him to attempt to escape, and in
doing so he broke his leg, which seems to have hastened
his death, for when, after four years' imprisonment, he was
released in 1512, he died almost immediately after at Oslo.
Two years before this Archbishop Gaute Ivarss0n died,
having filled the see of Mdaros for thirty-four years,
a longer period than any of his predecessors. He
seems to have been in ill-health and extreme old age at
the time of Bishop Karl's imprisonment, or he would
probably have taken some more energetic steps to obtain
justice for him. The events which followed the death of
Gaute showed the way in which King Hans observed the
conditions of the Halmstad Eecess. The chapter imme-
diately elected John Krabbe as Gaute' s successor, and he
at once started for Eome to receive, as he expected,
consecration.
ERIK VALKENDORF, ARCHBISHOP. 293
King Hans and Duke Kristian between them had anti-
cipated the death of the old archbishop, and were determined,
in spite of the solemn promise to the contrary, to place a
Dane at the head of the Norwegian Church. They selected
as their candidate Erik Yalkendorf, a canon of Eoskilde
and chancellor and secretary to Duke Kristian, and they
seem to have arranged matters with the pope (Julius II.),
who was willing to have the royal nominee. Krabbe,
therefore, found he was not to be Graute's successor, and
the pope, in August, 1510, overruling the choice of the
Mdaros chapter, nominated, per provisionem, Erik Valken-
dorf as archbishop, and he was forthwith consecrated.
We have seen that these events occurred during
the time the unfortunate bishop of Hamar was still in
prison. We have no certain knowledge if the new arch-
bishop interfered on his behalf, but it was decided that
on his release, Karl was to be sent to Erik in Trondhjem,
but death, at Oslo, ended his troubles before this could be
carried out.
The arrest, and imprisonment of a bishop without trial
was, however, not a matter which could altogether be
passed over without notice, even by a pope friendly to
the duke and his father. By Kristian's act he was in law
ipso facto excommunicated, and it was necessary that he
should receive absolution. The papal nuncio Grave was
ordered to remove the Church's ban at the end of 1512,
and on Pope Leo X.'s accession (1513) he issued a bull to
the archbishop and the bishop of Eoskilde directing them
to convey the papal absolution, if the duke would clear
himself by oath of having caused the bishop's death.
This Kristian did to their satisfaction.
King Hans, who had practically given over Norway to
his son, died, after a fall from his horse on his way to
Aalborg, in February, 1513, after a reign of thirty years.
We have seen the way in which he treated the Church in
Norway, notwithstanding the promises which he made at
the commencement of his reign. It would perhaps be
unfair to judge him too hardly in the matter of the
barbarous treatment of Bishop Karl, but there can be no
excuse for the deliberate policy which he sanctioned of
filling all the highest offices in the Church with Danes
instead of Norwegians, when he had distinctly pledged his
royal word not to do so. More and more feeble grew the
Church under its foreign rulers, darker and darker its
prospects, and the end was not far off.
CHAPTER XX.
OF THE END.
Kristian's promises to the Church Archbishop Erik's zeal Dy veke and
her Mother Kristian's marriage Erik leaves Norway His death
in Rome Lutheranism in Denmark War with Sweden The
"Bloodbath of Stockholm " Kristian deposed, 1523 Olaf Engel-
brektss0n, the last Archbishop, elected His Character Position
of Affairs in Norway Henrikss0n of 0steraat Vincent Lunge
Norwegian Council accepts Frederick I. His Manifesto from
Ribe Attacks on Church Property Norway uninfluenced by the
Reformation The Bishops of Norway Affairs of Denmark
Herredags at Odense, 1526-1527 First Lutheran preacher in
Bergen Destruction of Churches in Bergen Lunge and Eske
Bilde Bishop Olaf Thorkildss0n Consents to the Destruction of
his Cathedral Archbishop Olaf powerless The Norwegian
Church turns to Kristian II. He Abjures Lutheranism Comes
to Norway Frederick Relieves Oslo Surrender of Kristian under
promise of Safe Conduct His long Imprisonment and Death
The Rebellion Crushed Death of Frederick.
As we are now rapidly approaching trie time when the
great blow fell upon Norway, which severed its connection
with the Catholic Church of Western Europe, it is very
necessary that we should note carefully the historical
events which led up to this. We have seen the way in
which the Danish kings Kristian I. and Hans had treated
Norway, both ecclesiastically and civilly, and how their
policy was to bring it into entire subserviency to Denmark.
The few feeble attempts which the Norwegian people
made to regain something of their old independence, show
us how almost entirely, the spirit of the country had died
out or perhaps it would be fairer to say, how destitute the
land was then of a single capable leader, who would unite
the people, and lead them to victory and independence
The story of the disestablishment of the ancient Nor-
wegian Church, and the erection in its place of the
Lutheran community, is one which presents few, if any,
redeeming features. Everywhere we note the rapacity of
the king and his courtiers, who destroyed in a wholesale
manner churches and monasteries, and almost for the time
swept all religion from the land ; and on the other side we
find, with few exceptions, that the bishops and clergy
made but little resistance, and seem to have lost every
chance which offered to them, of taking decisive action at
a critical moment, when the whole situation might have
been changed.
Kristian II. (like his father before him) had been
accepted as king when he was only eight years old, during
Hans' s lifetime, and at that monarch's death there was no
opposition to his claim in either Denmark or Norway.
Hans died in February, and in the July following
Kristian issued the customary manifesto, which contained
almost exactly the same promises to the Church and State
as that of the Halmstad Eecess. It did not, apparently,
seem at all incongruous, that the man who had imprisoned,
and kept without trial for four years, a bishop of the
Norwegian Church, should promise to respect all its rights
and privileges, and that none of the high offices should be
filled with others than native Norwegians, when he had
been the means a short time before, of displacing the
canonically elected archbishop, in order to install a Danish
ecclesiastic in the primacy.
The year following he was crowned king of Norway at
Oslo, in the month of July.
The new archbishop, Erik Valkendorf, was a man who
had a very high sense of the duties of his office, and set
GARDE IN GREENLAND. 297
himself to look after the Church and province committed to
his care. He had been chancellor and secretary to the
king, during the time he had ruled Norway in his father's
name, and Kristian, in forcing him on the Nidaros chapter
by the exercise of the papal power, expected to find in
him a willing agent for all his schemes with respect to the
Norwegian Church. But Kristian found, as other kings
before him had found, that a subservient chancellor and
secretary, could become a very different kind of man
when placed at the head of a national Church, whose
interests might often come into collision with the head of
At first, however, all went smoothly. Archbishop Erik
devoted himself to the care of his diocese and province.
Among other plans, he was very anxious to revive the
connection with the distant diocese of Garde, in Greenland,
which had almost ceased to exist. The Norse colony there
had suffered a great deal from the attacks of the Eskimo,
and the trade, which had at one time been fairly brisk
between Iceland and Greenland, and through the former
country with Norway, had practically come to an end.
Bishops for the see of Garde had been consecrated, it is
true, and were recognized as suffragans of the archbishop
of Nidaros, but few, if any of them, ever went to their
distant diocese. They acted as vicars for bishops, like
Marcellus, who was bishop of Skaalholt, but never went
to Iceland, and religion in Greenland had come to a very
low ebb indeed.
We gain a very extraordinary picture of the state of the
diocese of Garde from a bull issued by Pope Alexander
VI. in 1492, in which he says :
" We understand the church of Garde is situated at the
end of the world, in the country of Greenland, in which
the people there living, for lack of bread, wine, and oil,
are accustomed to make use of dried fish and milk, and on
account of the very rare voyages to the said land, caused
by the intense freezing of the waters, so that no ship is
believed to have made the voyage thither for eighty years ;
and if any such voyage were to be made it is believed it
could only be done in the month of August, when the ice
is thawed. And for these same reasons the church there,
is said to have had for these eighty years, no bishop or
priest over it personally residing there. On account of
which absence of Catholic clergy it has resulted that
maftywho were once Catholics, and had received baptism,
have left the faith shame be it said ! Also that the
inhabitants of that land have nothing left in memory
of the Christian religion, but a corporal which is ex-
hibited once a year, upon which, a hundred years ago,
the Body of Christ was consecrated by the last priest
remaining there." *
Archbishop Erik laid down plans for re-opening the
communication with this distant part of his province, and
made careful enquiries from all available sources as to the
voyage thither, &e., and there seemed a reasonable prospect
of something being done for Greenland. King Kristian,
however, declined to fall in with the archbishop's plans,
and the attempt failed. In 1519 or 1520 the last bishop
of Garde, Yincentius Kampe, was consecrated for a diocese
which, from his predecessor's neglect, might well be de-
scribed as in partibus inftdelium.
Kristian II. was unmarried when he ascended the
throne, and in 1515 he formed an alliance which tended
to considerably enhance his position among the princes
of Europe; but before we come to it it is necessary
to advert to an incident in his earlier life which had,
* " The Norse Colonization in America, by the light of the Vatican
Finds," by Marie A. Shipley. Lucerne, H. Kneller, 1899. Many
interesting details about Greenland will be found in Dr. Luka Jelic's
L' Evangelisation de TAmerique avant Christophe Colomb.
DYVEKE. 299
indirectly, a most important influence on his subsequent
During Kristian's stay in Norway (in 1507), before he
became king, he was present at a gathering at Bergen,
where he met a very beautiful Dutch girl named Dyveke.
The duke, as he then was, became enamoured of the fair
foreigner, and took her with him to Oslo, along with her
mother, Sigbrit, a very bad but clever and ambitious old
woman, who speedily acquired a great influence over
Kristian, which she used to the uttermost, and which
eventually turned out to be most disastrous to him.
In 1515 Kristian arranged for his marriage with
Isabella, daughter of Philip of Burgundy and sister of Charles
of Burgundy, afterwards the Emperor Charles V. The
following year the king sent an embassy, of which Arch-
bisliop Erik was the head, to fetch his bride from the
Netherlands. Isabella arrived in Copenhagen in August,
and was married and crowned there. It appears that
Charles, the new queen's brother, had heard rumours of
the king's connection with Dyveke, and wrote to Kristian
on the subject. He also spoke plainly to the archbishop,
before his sister's wedding, as to the importance of ending
the affair, but, being then only a very young man, his
remonstrances were unheeded. The archbishop both wrote
and spoke to the king on the subject, and by this, not
merely incurred the displeasure of Kristian, but drew
down upon himself the anger of Sigbrit, Dyveke's mother,
who vowed vengeance on him, and who, as we shall see,
did not forget her vow. Kristian appears to have treated
his young wife with great indifference, which she seems to
have felt very keenly. The Emperor Maximilian, hearing
of this, sent a special ambassador, Sigismund Herberstein,
to remonstrate with Kristian, and try and induce him to
break off all communication with Dyveke and her mother;
but even this did not make any change in the state of
affairs. Indeed, it seems as if it only confirmed him in his
infatuation for them both.
Matters continued in the same way for some time longer,
and Dyveke and her mother lived close to the royal palace
in Copenhagen. In 1517, probably in June, Dyveke died
suddenly, not without suspicion of having been poisoned
in revenge for her interference in some court intrigues.
The death of his mistress, however, did not free Kristian
from the malign influence of her mother, the clever and
unscrupulous Sigbrit ; indeed, it only seems to have riveted
the chains which bound him to this remarkable woman.
She was his chief adviser in matters both of Church and
State, and contrived to fill all the offices which fell vacant
in Norway, with those upon whom she could rely on being
faithful to her, and who would harass and thwart the
archbishop as much as possible. One of these was Hans
Mule, who, though a priest, was nominated as the adminis-
trator of Akershus, a purely civil .office. In this post
Hans deliberately set himself to oust Bishop Andreas Mus,
of Oslo, from his see, and the unfortunate man was perse-
cuted in every possible way by Mule and his adherents.
The archbishop did his best to protect him, and wrote to
the king in 1519 to complain of Mule's actions. In 1520
there seems to have been an open rupture between Erik
and Mule, but Kristian was at this time engaged on his
expedition to Sweden.
The archbishop now determined himself to go to Denmark
and put his case before the king. In May, 1521, he made
arrangements in Trondhjem for a prolonged absence, and set
sail ; but by stress of weather he was driven out of his course,
and found himself at the end of June, in Amsterdam, instead
of Copenhagen. Curiously enough King Kristian came to
the same place at that very time, as he was engaged in
some negotiations with his brother-in-law, Charles V. He
tried to have the archbishop arrested, but the authorities
DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP ERIK. 301
refused, and, after an interview with the king, Erik went to
Utrecht, where he remained until November, when he
started for Eome, which, however, he did not reach until
February, 1522. Meanwhile he had written a long defence
of himself to the council in Denmark, in which he charged
Sigbrit with influencing the king against him in every
way. He came to Eome just at the time of the death of
Leo X. His successor was Adrian VI., with whom the
archbishop was personally acquainted, and from whom he
might well have expected to obtain justice. Unfortunately,
however, Adrian was delayed in Spain for some months
after his election, and did not arrive at Eome until the end
of August, whilst the unfortunate archbishop, worn out with
anxiety and the fatigues of his journey, died in November,
1522. Erik Valkendorf, although a Dane, had proved
himself a true friend to the Norwegian Church.* He had
set himself firmly on the side of morality and justice, and,
like many another before him, found the reward to be exile
from his country. The king's treatment of one who had served
him faithfully, only helps to show us what a treacherous
and worthless man he was. When the old archbishop, sick
at heart, found himself on his death -bed in Eome, without
having had his cause vindicated, he might well have used
(but with far greater truth) the bitter words of Pope
Gregory VIL, " I have loved righteousness and hated
iniquity, therefore I die in exile. "
During the time the archbishop was seeking to have his
case considered, the continued persecution against Andreas
Mus, the bishop of Oslo, had produced the desired result of
forcing him, in 1521, to resign his see, nominally of his
own free will. He, however, made a good bargain, and
* In Archbishop Erik's time, printing was first used for the Church
service books in Norway. He had the missal printed in Copen-
hagen and the " Breviarium Nidrosiense " printed in Paris, both in
was allowed to retain a considerable amount of the income.
The chapter now proceeded to elect Hans Mule, but he was
not then consecrated, and continued to hold his office under
"We must now retrace our steps a little and follow the
course of events in Denmark.
The Swedes had been more successful than the Norwe-
gians (after the defeat of Hans in 1500) in throwing off the
Danish yoke, and maintained their independence under
Sten Sture, and his son of the same name. Kristian, how-
ever, was watching his opportunity to recover what had
been lost.
In 1517 the preaching of Luther had, as we know,
aroused the attention of Europe, and Denmark, from its
situation, was naturally soon affected by it. The sale of
papal indulgences went on in Denmark and Norway, as
well as in other countries, and in 1517 the papal legate,
John Arcemboldus, came to Denmark^ to sell them, and
also to act as a mediator between Kristian and Sten Sture.
On his arrival he made an arrangement with the king, by
paying him the sum of 1,100 gulden, for the privilege of
selling indulgences in his dominions, which he did largely
in Denmark and Norway through his various agents. After
spending a profitable and pleasant time in the former
country he, in 1518, proceeded to Sweden, having gained
Kristian 7 s confidence and led him to suppose that he was
entirely on his side. When, however, he came there, Sten
Sture found it easy to bring him over completely to his
views. Information of Arcemboldus' s betrayal of his cause
reached Kristian in 1519, and the king was furious and
tried to seize him, but he managed to escape to Liibeck
with a great deal of the money he had taken. Kristian,
* Full particulars as to the mission of Arcemboldus in Denmark and
Sweden will be found in Paludan-Miiller's " De f0rste Konger af den
Oldenborgske Slaegt."
THE BLOODBATH OF STOCKHOLM. 308
however, was able to secure some of it in Norway * and
other places.
Enraged at the duplicity of the papal envoy, Kristian
now decided to be revenged, by patronizing Luther. In
1520 he applied to the Elector of Saxony, who sent him a
priest named Martin Eeinhard, who arrived that year in
Copenhagen. A Carmelite monk, Paul Elia3ss0n, seems to
have been the person who suggested this course to the
king, and when Eeinhard came, he translated his discourses,
as the former could not speak Danish. The efforts of
Eeinhard seem to have had no effect, and Elisess0n, finding
Luther went too far for him, gave up his emissary. It was
about this time, and from no religious motives, that Kristian
suppressed the nunnery of Gims0, at Skien, in Norway.
In 1520 Kristian resolved to attack Sten Sture and,
if possible, bring back Sweden to the Danish crown. In
this he was successful. The king's army crossed into
Sweden, and Sten Sture, defeated and mortally wounded
at the battle fought on the ice at Bogesund, died very soon
after. Now Sweden lay at the mercy of Kristian, though
it was some months before he completed the conquest of
the country.
On November 4th, 1520, Kristian was crowned at Stock-
holm, and there he assembled many of the principal nobility
of Sweden, who, unsuspicious of any treachery, responded
to the king's invitation. The coronation feast, however,
was marked by a most horrible atrocity. The enemies of
Sten Sture, headed by the Archbishop Gustav Trolle,
determined to be revenged on their former antagonists.
On the night of November 7th a number of the guests
were suddenly arrested, and the next day taken to the
* The amount of money which Arcemboldus managed to get together
by his sale of indulgences must have been considerable, as we learn
that in Bergen alone, the king's man, J0rgen Hanss0n, contrived to seize
a sum of no less than between 3,000 and 4,000 marks.
market place and there put to death one after another.
No less than eighty persons are said to have been thus
murdered, including the Bishops Matthias of Strengnaes
and Vincent of Skara and many of the chief men in
Sweden. This barbarous slaughter is known in history as
the " Bloodbath of Stockholm," and the storm of indigna-
tion which it aroused was ultimately the cause of the
downfall of Kristian.
The strength of the king's forces, for the present, held
the Swedes in check; but the next year they rose in
rebellion under the leadership of the famous Gustav
Yasa, they drove out the Danes, and finally chose him as
their king.
Kristian, during the progress of the struggle, demanded
fresh supplies from Denmark. But now the end of his
rule over that country was at hand. The nobles of Den-
mark were leagued against him, and offered the crown to
his uncle, Duke Frederick of Slesvig. It is only fair to
Kristian, to say that in spite of his many crimes, he was
very popular with the b0nder and the burgers of Den-
mark, whom he had always protected from the rapacity of
the nobles. But in this crisis of his fate no one seems
to have made any movement in his favour, and Kristian
himself appears to have made no effort, though he had a
certain number of troops at his disposal, to retrieve his
fortunes. He decided to seek safety in flight, and in
April, 1523, he left Copenhagen for the Netherlands,
taking with him his wife and family, and, unfortunately,
his evil genius Sigbrit, whose ascendency over him had
not in the least diminished, and was popularly ascribed to
witchcraft.
The tidings of the death of Archbishop Erik Valkendorf
in Eome, do not seem to have reached the chapter at
Trondhjem until the 30th of May, nearly six months
after his decease ; but as soon as it became known to them
OLAF ENGELBREKTSS0N, ARCHBISHOP. 305
they decided to lose no time in exercising their rights,
and a couple of days after, chose their dean, Olaf Engel-
brektss0n, as Erik's successor. The last archbishop of
Nidaros was a Norwegian of an old noble family from the
neighbourhood of Stavanger. He had studied at Eostock,
and was a man of some learning, and of a very considerable
amount of worldly wisdom, which was manifested by his
desire to keep himself right with whatever party was
uppermost in the State at the time. He was called upon
to rule the Church at the most critical period of all its
history, and unfortunately he was not the man for such a
post at such a time. Had he been a strong archbishop, and
one who knew how to act promptly in an emergency, the
history of the Church in Norway might have been different,
as will be seen later on. Immediately on his election he
started for Eome, but instead of going via Copenhagen,
where Frederick was now in power, he went to the
Netherlands, and at Mechlines met the exiled Kristian II. ,
who was still (legally) sovereign of Norway, and swore
allegiance to him. After this he proceeded on his way to
Eome, where he was consecrated at the end of 1523. On
his way back to Norway he travelled by Germany and
Denmark, and visited King Frederick I. at Flensborg in
response to his invitation. There seems no doubt that, to
make himself quite safe with whichever king might reign,
the new archbishop did homage there to Frederick, a trait
in his character which does not exhibit him in a very
pleasing light. He reached Trondhjem in May.
Norway was placed in a rather peculiar position by the
flight of Kristian II., who, though he had abandoned his
throne, was still de jure king of Norway, until repudiated
by the council, the Norwegians being under no binding
obligation to accept Frederick (whom the Danes had
proclaimed) as his successor. Another difficulty was
that the head of the council, and the chief director of
C.S.N. X
affairs, in the case of a vacancy of the throne, was the
archbishop, and at the time when Kristian fled the see
was vacant. The two chief men in Norway were now
Nils Henri kss0n of 0steraat (a spot at the entrance of
the Trondhjem Fjord), who was a man of great wealth
and power, especially in the north, and Olaf Galde, who
possessed an equal influence in the Oplands and the south.
Henrikss0n's wife was Fru Ingerd Ottesdatter, a woman
who played an important part in subsequent events. By
her Henrikss0n had no sons, but five daughters, all of
whom were married to Danish noblemen, who occupied, as
we shall see, most important positions in Norway. When
Kristian fled, the council met and decided, during the
vacancy in the see of Nidaros, to divide the government of
the country between Henrikss0n and Galde, the former
taking the north and west, and the latter, the south and
east. There was, however, another powerful man in the
country who represented the Danish interests, and whom
we have met with before namely, Henrik Krummedike,
the treacherous murderer of Knut Alfss0n, the head of
the Norwegian party, in 1502. He had been a strong
supporter of Kristian II., but seeing his cause was hopeless,
he at once made overtures to Frederick, and became the
champion of his cause in Norway.
We now come to another man who exercised no small
or unimportant influence on the history of this critical
period namely, Vincent Lunge. He was a Dane of noble
family, and a man of great learning; he had been pro-
fessor of law in the University of Copenhagen, and in
1521 was its rector. The studious atmosphere of a univer-
sity life, however, did not meet with his wishes, and he
abandoned it for the more exciting and dangerous paths
of political life. In 1523 he came to Bergen to support
the interests of Frederick, having first been to the north,
where he married Margaret, one of the daughters of Nils
VINCENT LUNGE. 307
Henrikss0n. In November of this year Henrikss0n (to
whom it was intended to give over the command of the
Bergenhus, the fortress and royal castle at Bergen), was
dying, and on his death the bishops of Bergen and
Stavanger decided that Vincent Lunge was the best man
to whom to commit the care of the fortress, as after his
marriage, he seemed to have identified himself with the
Norwegian interests. Thus Lunge became one of the
principal men in Norway, and a member of the council.
Such was the state of affairs when the new archbishop,
Olaf Engelbrektss0n, returned from Eome in May, 1524. No
time was now lost in making arrangements for a successor
to Kristian II. upon the throne. The council was called,
and met in Bergen in August, with the archbishop at its
head. Their first act was to renounce their allegiance
to Kristian, and, the throne becoming vacant, they had
to choose another king. Frederick was apparently the
only candidate, but the council was not by any meaos
prepared to elect him unconditionally. Yincent Lunge,
who was naturally a supporter of his, was, however, quite
as decided as the others in his determination to preserve,
as far as possible, the entire independence of Norway as to
internal affairs, while accepting the Danish monarch as
king. In pursuance of this policy the council decided
to draw up a manifesto, which was to be submitted to
Frederick, and if he agreed to its terms, they were willing
to tender him their allegiance. At the same time a letter
was written denouncing Henrik Krummedike as an enemy
The manifesto of the council was at once dispatched to
Frederick, in charge of Yincent Lunge, who met the king
at Kibe, in Denmark. At that place, in November, 1524,
Frederick I. accepted the proposed terms and affixed his
seal to them.
This manifesto followed mainly the lines of similar
documents which had been issued by the previous Danish
kings to Norway, and bound the king to the observance
of terms which his predecessors had accepted but never
kept. But in this new manifesto fresh conditions were
inserted, in view of the advance of Lutheranism, which it
is very necessary for us to note.
After the usual promise to protect the Norwegian Church
and to give freedom of election, &c., Frederick solemnly
vowed that he would never permit heretics, Lutherans
or others, to preach contrary to the faith of the holy
Church ; and wherever such heretics were found in Norway,
he would punish them with loss of life and goods. In
addition to this he promised that appeals should not be
permitted to Kome, before the Norwegian prelates had con-
sidered the matter. It will be seen by the above that
the bishops in Norway were alive to the danger which
threatened them, and they desired to bind the king down
very strictly, by a promise to check the spread of the
doctrines of Luther, especially when they knew that the
Danish kings, chiefly from political motives, had been
inclined to favour the German reformation movement.
The purely civil points in the manifesto were promises
to rule according to the law of St. Olaf and the national
customs, &c. He was not to claim the throne by here-
ditary right, as it was now made an elective monarchy.
The Orkneys and Shetlands were to be redeemed and
restored to Norway, from which country they had been
alienated without the consent of the Council.
Frederick accepted these conditions to obtain the crown
of Norway, but accepted them without (as his subsequent
actions showed) the least intention of being faithful to his
The king at this time was of the mature age of 53, and
there was, therefore, less excuse for his deliberate breach
of faith with the Norwegian Church. The only excuse
ESKE BILDE AT BERGEN. 309
for him was, that he was more or less in the hands of the
Danish nobles and others, who hoped to profit, as they did
largely, by the spoliation of the Church. The Danish
party were determined, as soon as possible, to crush out
the independence of Norway and to reduce it to the
condition of a province of Denmark. On this account
Yincent Lunge, who was now on the side of Norwegian
independence under the Danish Crown, became very
unpopular, and the court decided to get rid of him, if
possible, and to place Danish nobles in command in all the
Norwegian strongholds. The first step in this direction
was to remove Olaf Galde (in 1527) from the charge of
Akershus and to set a Dane in his place. Needless to say,
this was entirely contrary to the terms of the manifesto
issued from Eibe.
The next year (1528) the king determined that the
command of the fortress at Bergen, should be transferred
from Vincent Lunge to Eske Bilde, another Danish noble,
who had married a daughter of the notorious Henrik
Krummedike. This change of command was carried out
early the next year.
Vincent Lunge was, however, allowed to hold many
possessions in the north, and was further given the
Nonnesaeter cloister at Bergen, which was seized by the
king from the Antonius order. This cloister lay on the
neck of land between the two small lakes to the south of
Bergen, and Lunge quickly transferred it into a well-
defended house for himself, and called it Lunge's Gaard*
These two lakes now preserve his name, and are known as
Lungegaardsvandene.
"We now come to the time when the Norwegian Church
had to enter upon the conflict in which she was crushed,
and when all the ancient possessions wherewith the piety
* Some remains of the cloister may still be seen, including the door-
way of the chapel.
of her sons and daughters had endowed her from the
earliest days, were to be swept away into the pockets of
the king of Denmark and his needy courtiers. Never was
there a more wanton spoliation than that which befell the
Church of Norway, and never had religion less to do with
it. The attack on, and the plunder of, the Norwegian
Church was practically something entirely apart and
distinct from religion. In other countries of Europe in
Germany, Holland, Denmark, &c. the teaching of Luther
had profoundly impressed the minds of the people, and
they accepted the principles of the Eeformation, on
thoroughly conscientious grounds. The abuses and cor-
ruptions of the time had called aloud for reform, and when
the various councils which had been held were found
powerless to effect this, and the occupants of the Eoman
See were men less and less likely to combat them, it was
only natural that in the Teutonic races, the old spirit of
independence should assert itself, and make an effort to
cast off a yoke which had proved too galling.
But it cannot be said with truth that there was in Norway
any real desire for change. We have noticed before, that
the Church in Norway had escaped many of the corruptions
which prevailed in other lands, on account of its remote
geographical position. It is quite true, of course, that
it did not escape altogether, and that, especially after the
desolations caused by the Black Death, there was much
to lament over ; but to assert that the disestablishment and
disendowment of the Church in Norway had any real
popular support, would be entirely and altogether contrary
to fact. The popular movements which we meet with in
England during the middle ages, against the abuses of the
Church, and the evil lives of many of the monks, had
no counterparts in Norway, possibly from the very reason
just stated. But the fact remains that in Norway there
was no reformation movement whatever. No Wyclif was
THE BISHOPS OF NORWAY IN 1528. 311
found among her parish priests ; no Lollards ever caused
disquietude to the bishops; no Piers Plowman ever dreamed
dreams or saw visions on the Norwegian hills. Priests
and people alike lived contentedly within the fold of the
holy Church. Its spoliation therefore was completely
a political movement, and the work of a king who had
solemnly pledged his royal word, a few years before, to
do everything in his power to support the Church and to
prevent the spread of the teaching of Luther.
It was a very unfortunate thing for the Norwegian
Church in this critical time, that the five sees were filled
with men of very different calibre from many of their
predecessors. Had they been men of power, it would
hardly have been possible, that the wholesale destruction
which went on from 1528, could have taken place. It
would be unfair to assert that it was because they were
more or less nominees of the Danish Government, for
Erik Yalkendorf was a Dane, and he proved himself a
strong and capable archbishop and a defender of the
Norwegian Church's privileges ; and now the occupant of
the see of Nidaros was a member of an old Norwegian
It may be well here to call to mind the names of those
who were the bishops at this time. Of the primate we
have already spoken.
The bishop of Bergen was Olaf Thorkildss0n, who was
consecrated in 1523. He seems to have been the most
feeble of all the prelates, and was unfortunately in the
place where a very strong man was specially needed. He
was, it is believed, personally a good man, but when the
storm came, his only idea was to get away from it, and
leave his unfortunate diocese and cathedral city to shift
for themselves.
Stavanger was filled by Hoskold Hoskoldss0n, who was
consecrated in 1513. He was a graduate of Eostock. Like
his brother of Bergen, he was timid and feeble, and was
entirely at the mercy of the Danish nobles, who dominated
the land. The occupant of the see of Oslo was a man of
very different type from the bishops of either Bergen or
Stavanger the unscrupulous and time-serving Hans Beff,
who was consecrated in 1525. He had succeeded Hans
Mule, who, as we have seen, forced Andreas Mus to resign
his see in 1521, but Mule was not consecrated until 1524
by Archbishop Olaf in Bergen. He, however, was drowned
very soon after his consecration. Hans Eeff was a Dane,
and had studied in Paris, and before his election he had been
a canon of Nidaros. He was a very shrewd man of busi-
ness, and was not willing to allow his opinions to interfere
with his worldly prospects.
The remaining diocese, that of Hamar, had as its bishop
Magnus Lauritss0n, who was a man diligent and conscientious
in the discharge of his duties, but otherwise not of any
great power.
Such were the rulers of the Norwegian Church when
the struggle commenced in 1528, and in a few years after,
with one ignoble exception, we find them all scattered, and
the historic episcopate of Norway a thing of the past.
We must turn again for a moment to the history of
Denmark, in order to see the progress which the reforma-
tion movement was making in that land. Frederick I.,
though posing as a defender of the faith in Norway, had
always been inclined to the opinions of Luther, while his
son, Duke Kristian, was openly a Lutheran. The prospect
of the progress of the reformation movement, began to
alarm the bishops and clergy in Denmark, and the question
came before the national assemblies. In 1526 the king
held a Diet, or, as it was called in Denmark, a Herredag^ at
Odense, and at it he proposed that, instead of going to
Borne for confirmation, the bishops should only apply to
the archbishop of Lund, and the money thus saved should
HERREDAG AT ODENSE. 313
go to national defence. There was no special objection to
this, on the part of the Herredag^ especially as it was but
a return to ancient and lawful custom in the Danish Church;
but then it was to be remembered that the see of Lund was
vacant, and it meant that the king was to be the person to
confirm the election of the bishops.
The bishops, in return for this concession, asked the
king not to grant letters of protection to any persons
enabling them to preach, as it was their right to give such
licence. Frederick was, however, very skilful in evading
any direct answer to these demands; indeed, he denied that
he had ever given such letters, and when again pressed on
the subject, he managed to avoid a reply, and kept the
bishops at bay until he left Odense.
The next year another Herredag was held at the same
place in August, and now the king's designs became more
and more manifest. Still, he had to be cautious, because it
was necessary that he should have the nobles on his side,
and do nothing by which he should lose their support while
the exiled King Kristian II. lived, whose popularity with
the b0nder and towns-folk was a standing danger to
Frederick. But notwithstanding this, it was clear that he
intended to grant, at any rate toleration, to the Lutherans
throughout his dominions, and this, in spite of the prelates,
he was able to do, and to carry the Herredag with him in
his reforms. What was decided practically established
religious liberty and toleration for Lutherans, and gave
permission to the priests and monks to marry, if they
thought fit.
It was only natural that these very revolutionary changes
should excite the greatest hostility on the side of those who
still held by the Eoman allegiance, for they at once
opened the door for the spread in every direction of the
tenets of the Lutherans, and the king's son, Duke
Kristian, was a strong supporter of Lutheranism. In
Denmark, at any rate, the reformed doctrines were wide-
spread among the people, and the continual controversies
between the nobles and bishops, prevented any effective
opposition to them, on the part of the adherents of the
old faith.
As was only to be expected, it was not long before these
changes in Denmark began to make themselves felt in
Norway as well. Hitherto no teacher or preacher of
Lutheranism had come to the country, but when the king
began to grant letters of protection, they soon put in an
appearance.
In 1528, the year after the Herredag at Odense, the
first preacher arrived in Bergen. His name was Antonius ;
but beyond this we know little, and he seems to have
devoted himself chiefly to the German residents in the city,
and afterwards he was the priest of St. Halvard's Church.
It would appear that the preaching of Antonius was attended
with success, for we find that he required help, and in
the next year, 1529, two more Lutheran teachers arrived
in Bergen, with a letter from the king to Eske Bilde,
announcing that he had granted his permission to them.
The names of the new preachers were Herman Fresze and
Jens Yiborg. It would seem that in the same year teachers
appeared also in Stavanger.
King Frederick in 1529 sent his son Duke Kristian to
Norway, on a mission which had more of a political than
ecclesiastical character. He was anxious that Kristian
should be accepted as the heir to the throne of Norway,
but at the time of his own election, in 15 24, the Norwegian
Council had made it clear that they did not recognize any
hereditary right to the throne. The duke held a meeting
in Oslo, at which the archbishop and all the Norwegian
bishops (except Hans Ben ) were conspicuous by their
absence. The mission of Duke Kristian was a failure as
far as the recognition of his rights was concerned, and
DESTRUCTION OF CHURCHES IN BERGEN. 315
instead of spending some considerable time in the country,
and visiting Bergen, he left Oslo in September for Denmark.
We must now turn our attention to the extraordinary
attack which was made upon the Church in the city of
Bergen and see the amazing and shameful way in which
the bishop seems to have betrayed his trust. We have
already seen that the Nonnesseter cloister had been secu-
larized in 1528, and handed over to Vincent Lunge as his
private residence. About the same time it would appear
that the Dominican cloister, which stood near to the royal
residence and the castle (Bergenhus), had been burned
down. It is not quite clear how this came about, but it is
believed that Vincent Lunge and the prior Jens Mortenss0n
divided the spoils of the monastery between them and then
set the place on fire.* The prior received compensation
for the loss by a grant of some farms. Another act of
spoliation at this time was the stripping of the Apostles'
Church (the chapel royal) of all its valuables, and these
Vincent Lunge handed over to the king on his visit to
Denmark in 1530.
It would seem that Lunge took this journey in order to
try and regain the royal favour, but in this he does not
appear to have been very successful. On his return to
Bergen he tried, by a daring stroke, to regain possession
of the Bergenhus or fortress. Eske Bilde was, as we have
seen, placed in command there in 1529 by the king in place
of Lunge, and was naturally his most formidable rival.
Lunge, when he came back to Bergen, at once applied to
Bilde to surrender the fortress to him, on the ground that
he had received the command of it from the king during
his stay in Copenhagen. Eske Bilde promptly declined to
do any such thing without written authority, and applied
* Lange, in his De Norske Klostres Historic, seems to make no doubt
about this ; he also adds that the prior Jens Mortenss0n appears to have
taken service in Vincent Lunge's household afterwards.
to the king, who repudiated Lunge's statement and con-
firmed Eske Bilde in his post.
Now began the wholesale destruction of ecclesiastical
buildings in the city of Bergen, which marked the rule of
the Danish governors, and swept away many noble edifices
which had adorned the town. This was especially the
work of Eske Bilde, and it gained for him the unenviable
title of Kirkebryder the puller-down of churches.
Clustering around the Bergenhus, with the noble hall
built by Sverre's grandson, Haakon Haakonss0n, there stood
at that time a number of churches."* The first in importance
was the cathedral, the greater Christ Church, so closely
associated with the national history (second only in this
respect to the Domkirke in Trondhjem), and the burial-
place of kings and bishops. Then there was the little
Christ Church, a short way from the cathedral, and of
earlier date, having been built about the time the town
was founded by Olaf Kyrre; in it rested the remains of
St. Sunniva, which had been brought from Selje in the
twelfth century. In the precincts of the royal palace
stood the Apostles' Church, which was the most beautiful
building in Norway. It was the third church which had
borne the name. The first was of wood, and was destroyed
by fire ; the second, of stone, was consecrated by Cardinal
William of Sabina in 1247. Then in 1302 Archbishop
Jon returned from Paris, bringing with him a "Holy
Thorn," which he had received from Philip III. of
France, and for this relic a third church, somewhat in the
style of Sainte Chapelle in Paris was erected, and adorned
with statues of the twelve Apostles. This church, like its
predecessors, was the royal chapel in Bergen. The arch-
bishop's palace and the residences of the canons completed
* For a description of Bergen in the Middle Ages, see Dr. Yngvar
Nielsen's valuable work, entitled, Bergen, fra de caldste Tider indtil
Nutiden. Christiania, 1877.
THE CATHEDRAL OF BERGEN DESTROYED. 317
the ecclesiastical buildings, the Dominican cloister having
been just burned down. Such were the buildings which
now lay at the mercy of Eske Bilde.
Here was a chance which a Cromwell might have envied
for earning the title of Kirkebryder. But even Eske Bilde
could hardly embark on this without some excuse, and a
convenient one was found. It was discovered that these
various churches interfered with the defensive works of the
fortress, and that the exigencies of the public service
demanded their removal. King Frederick, therefore, in 1 5 30
ordered Eske Bilde to begin, and promptly the Apostles'
Church became a thing of the past, and its treasures
were carried to Denmark. The next to be attacked was
the cathedral, but here even Eske hesitated. As a skilful
soldier he saw that the great monastery of Munkeliv, on
the opposite side of the harbour, would be a much better
position for a fortress, than the one which he occupied,
which was commanded on all sides by hills ; he was willing
to leave the cathedral alone and build a new fort on the
site of Munkeliv. His scheme, however, was not carried out,
and the doom of the cathedral was pronounced. We might
well wonder what the bishop of Bergen was doing at this
time, and why he had not taken some very decided steps
to have the Church's property protected, and to stop the
destruction of churches and other ecclesiastical buildings,
in which he would have had ample support in the ancient
law of the land. But he did absolutely nothing, and was
actually a consenting party to their destruction. In
February, 1531, the bishop and the archdeacon made a
bargain with Eske Bilde and others to permit the
cathedral to be pulled down,^ along with the bishop's
residence, on the ground that it was needed for the
defence of the town, and in lieu of the cathedral, &c.,
* They abandoned it " of their free will, well-considered counsel and
consent ... to be broken down and carried away."
the bishop was to have Munkeliv for his cathedral and
residence. This scandalous bargain having been made,
the bishop actually issued an invitation to the people of
the town and its neighbourhood, to come and help in the
pulling down of his ancient cathedral church, and in May
of this year, the place was levelled to the ground. These
attacks on the Church in Bergen naturally emboldened the
adherents of the Lutheran party, and, far from becoming
popular with them for his acquiescence in the designs of
the Danish nobles, the bishop was openly insulted in the
streets. The Lutherans now seized upon the Kors Kirke
(Church of the Holy Cross) and established the reformed
service there. Not long after this, the German merchants
put an end to the service in the Maria Kirke, and placed
there a German pastor instead of the Norwegian priest, and
in St. Halvard's Church the same course was adopted.
These measures provoked reprisals, and an attempt was
made to burn down the house of one of the German
preachers.
The feeble Bishop, Olaf Thorkildss0n had now taken
up his residence in the Munkeliv cloister, from whence
the Birgitta order had been expelled, and here he
remained for a while without any attempt to save the
Church in his diocese. It might naturally have been
expected that when the attack was first made in the
beginning of 1530, on the churches around the fortress,
he would have appealed at once to the primate for aid,
not merely as his metropolitan, but as the head of the
council in Norway. But incredible as it may seem, it was
not until the devastation was completed, that he informed
Archbishop Olaf of what had taken place. What he might
have done to assist his suffragan in the defence of the
Church's property under other circumstances, it is hard to
say ; but just at this time the archbishop had his hands full
in his own diocese, for there, as well as in Bergen, attacks
THE BISHOPS TURN TO KRISTIAN II. 319
were being made on the property and privileges of the
Church. The archbishop's principal antagonists were
Nils Lykke and his mother-in-law, the well-known Fru
Ingerd (widow of Nils Henrikss0n), whose eldest daughter
had, as we know, married Vincent Lunge. Lykke had
secured possession of the monastery of Tautra, and Fru
Ingerd had got herself elected abbess of Eeins cloister,
both entirely illegal acts, which afterwards received the
royal sanction. Fru Ingerd and her party were nominally
inclined to the Lutherans, but it seems probable that they
adopted that course, merely out of hostility to the arch-
bishop, and not from any conscientious motives.
With this threatening state of affairs, and the evident
intention of the king to consent to the secularization of the
Church's property and to give free scope to the spread of
Lutheranisin, the archbishop and others began to turn their
thoughts to the exiled king, Kristian II., in the hope that
he might prove a deliverer. The previous record of that
monarch was not indeed an encouraging one. During his
reign the attack on the monastic establishments had begun ;
his manifesto on his accession he had disregarded in quite
as flagrant a manner as Frederick had done ; and his con-
duct during his government of Norway in his father's life-
time, was not such as to inspire any confidence in him.
Still there seemed no one else to whom the archbishop and
his party could turn for help in this emergency; and besides,
it was to him, that the archbishop had first sworn allegiance
after his election to the primacy, and on his journey to
Eome to be consecrated in 1523.
Kristian II., after his flight from Copenhagen in 1523,
had, as we have seen, taken up his residence in the Nether-
lands with his wife and family, and also the notorious
Sigbrit. There he was received with scant courtesy, on
account of his having encouraged Lutheranism, and also for
his having, after his marriage with Isabella, refused to
abandon Dyveke, and his still being under the influence of
her mother. Queen Isabella died in 1526, and left one son,
Hans. While Kristian' s mother-in-law, the Duchess of
Savoy, lived, her influence prevented Charles Y. from
doing anything to help him, but after her death in 1530
his prospects improved. A few months before, Kristian
had had an interview with his imperial brother-in-law at
Augsburg, and found him ready to give him some help,
but not unconditionally. Before Charles Y. would do any-
thing, it was absolutely necessary that Kristian should purge
himself from any suspicion of being tainted with Lutheran
heresy. Where his own interests were concerned, Kristian
was quite ready to abjure any form of faith which the
emperor might desire. Charles then entrusted to Cardinal
Campeggio, the task of reconciling his unworthy brother-
in-law to the Church, and before the cardinal, Kristian
solemnly declared his abhorrence of all the doctrines of
Martin Luther, and submitted with good grace to the
severe penance which Campeggio imposed upon him, for his
previous backsliding from the Catholic faith.
Having thus made his peace with the Church and regained
a measure of the favour of his powerful relative, Kristian
awaited a favourable opportunity of making an effort to
recover his lost dominions. King Frederick had always
feared lest he should be attacked by Kristian, knowing
how popular he had been with the people in Denmark, but
without imperial support Kristian had not the means of
equipping any force powerful enough to attack Denmark
or Norway. He had, however, his agents, who were
watching the course of events, and when he learned of the
attacks which had been made on the Church in Norway
and elsewhere, he began to think that the prelates would
in spite of his previous record be ready to welcome him
as a deliverer.
It is difficult to say if the archbishop had been in any
KRISTIAN II. INVADES NORWAY. 321
treasonable correspondence with the exiled king; on the
whole it is probable he had not, but his conduct in 1531,
before the arrival of Kristian, was, to a certain extent at
any rate, open to suspicion. In May, 1531, King Frederick
issued summonses for a Herredag to be held at Copenhagen
in the June following, and to this the archbishop and
bishops of Norway were duly cited. Eske Bilde, who, in
spite of his love for destroying churches, seems to have
been a more honest man than his rivals Vincent Lunge and
Nils Lykke, was very anxious that the archbishop should
be present at this meeting, and that he should come to
better terms with the king. The archbishop, however,
did not seem inclined to go, and in May he found a suitable
excuse in a great fire which broke out in Trondhjem, and
which destroyed some of the churches and almost again
ruined the cathedral. This calamity sufficed to keep
Archbishop Olaf at home; but the bishops of Bergen,
Stavanger, and Oslo started for Copenhagen, and thither
also went Vincent Lunge, Eske Bilde, Nils Lykke, and all
the chief Danish nobles from Norway.
This was the opportunity for which Kristian was waiting.
His trusty men went through the country preparing the
people for the revolt, and received much encouragement
from the Church. They passed through the Oplands and
on to Trondhjem and collected supplies, which were sent to
Kristian in the Netherlands. By means of this money,
and the help of the emperor, Kristian got together an army
of 7,000 men, and a fleet of twenty-five ships, and at the end
of October, 1531, he set sail for Norway. The voyage from
Holland proved a most tempestuous one ; some of his ships
were lost, and much of his treasure and artillery. He did
not reach the Norwegian coast until November 5th, and
the next day he issued an appeal to the people of Norway,
in which he said he came to them as a deliverer and asked
that representatives of the country should meet him at
C.S.N. y
Oslo, to which place he made his way, having written to
the archbishop to meet him there. On his arrival at Oslo
he found the fortress of Akershus in the hands of Gylden-
stjerne, the Danish commander, who declined to give up
the place until he had communicated with Frederick, but
promised if he did not hear within a reasonable time, he
would surrender. Kristian was foolish enough to agree to
this, but it is also probable that, having lost all his guns,
he found an attack would not be successful.
The crafty bishop of Oslo, Hans Eeff, now found himself
obliged to accept Kristian' s authority, and he authorized
the clergy in his diocese to give up all the silver belonging
to their churches, except what it was absolutely necessary to
retain. This was largely done, and the churches were much
impoverished.
The archbishop did not respond to Kristian's invitation
to join him at Oslo, but contented himself with proclaim-
ing him and sending his manifesto round his diocese.
In January, Kristian wrote from Oslo to the archbishop,
directing him if possible to seize Yincent Lunge and
Fru Ingerd, but in this he was not successful, as they
escaped to Bergen.
Early in the month of January, 1532, Kristian, finding
he could do nothing against the fortress of Akershus, went
on an expedition against the Swedes, who had invaded the
country near Baahus. This expedition was successful, and
the Swedes were driven back. In the meantime, however,
the brave defender of Akershus had not been idle.
Finding that Kristian was absent, he, on January 21st,
made a sortie from the fortress, and, crossing the ice,
attacked the monastery on Hoved0en, and seizing the abbot,
who was asleep in his bed, little dreaming of danger,
burned the cloister, and carried off all the treasure to
Akershus. When Kristian heard of this, he quickly
returned to Oslo, and made another attack on the fortress,
KRISTIAN SURRENDERS AT OSLO. 323
which was repulsed, and Gyldenstjerne now considered
he was strong enough to hold out until help came in the
spring.
It seems strange that Kristian should have wasted his
time in the investment of Akershus, instead of consolidating
his power in Norway, which was now nominally under his
authority, but he seems to have always failed to act with
energy, even when he had a sufficient force behind him.
Meanwhile Frederick was busy preparing to crush his
nephew. As soon as he heard of the invasion of Norway
he saw it must be a struggle to the death with Kristian,
and he set to work at once to gather his forces. The
Liibeckers, at the end of November, 1531, sent him some
ships and a promise of more help later on. Kristian had
been wise in choosing the winter for the time of his attack
on Oslo, as the ice in the fjord rendered it impossible for a
Danish fleet to reach the town, and it was not until the
spring that the expedition to relieve it could start. The
months went by and Kristian remained inactive before
Akershus. At last, on May 7th, Frederick's fleet, of
twenty-five ships and 6000 to 7000 men, reached Oslo
and relieved Akershus. Kristian then entrenched himself
at Oslo, but the Danish forces set fire to his ships, and on
the 12th he began negotiations for surrender.
While this was going on, Eske Bilde sent Otto Stigsen,
Thord Eoed, and others from Eergen to attack the arch-
bishop in Trondhjem. He retired to his castle at Stenviks-
holm, but the Danes set fire to the archbishop's palace and
some of his farmhouses.
Frederick had not come in command of the army and
fleet sent to relieve Oslo, but gave the expedition into the
hands of four men, to whom also he entrusted full authority
to treat with the enemy. These were Knut Gyldenstjerne
(the Bishop of Fyen), Nils Lykke, Yon Heiderstorp, and
the brave defender of Akershus, Mogen Gyldenstjerne,
brother of the bishop. Along with these men he sent his
secretary, with his royal seal, and gave them full authority
to act in his name.
The negotiations were prolonged between Kristian and
the Danes, but finally it was agreed that Kristian was to
be given a safe conduct to Copenhagen, in order that
he might have an interview with his uncle Frederick.
There can be no doubt that the four commissioners
distinctly pledged themselves to this, and that if no
definite agreement was made between the kings, Kristian
should be brought in safety to Germany. But between
the opening of negotiations for the surrender at Oslo
and the month of July, it is said that Frederick sent
two of his men with strict orders to Gyldenstjerne and the
others, to make no terms with Kristian except absolute
and unconditional surrender, and that when they reached
Oslo the conditions, though agreed upon, had not been
signed. Gyldenstjerne and the others declined to obey, as
they had unlimited authority given to them, but on the
other hand, they did not tell their victim of the king's
fresh orders.
On July 8th the betrayed man embarked for Copen-
hagen, which he reached on the 24th. When he got there
he soon saw the deceit which had been practised upon him.
Frederick refused to see him, and he was not allowed to
land. Still ignorant of his fate, he was taken nominally
to Flensborg, where he expected to find the king ; but
when the ship proceeded to the castle of S0nderborg. he
saw he was betrayed, and burst into tears.
At the beginning of his imprisonment another heavy
blow fell upon him ; his only son, Hans, died at Augsburg
in August, 1532, and now all hope of deliverance was
gone. At S0nderborg he remained for seventeen years, at
first treated fairly, but afterwards with great severity. At
the end of that period he was removed to Kallundborg,
THE VIOLATED SAFE CONDUCT. 325
where he was left until in 1559 death at last set him free
at the age of seventy- eight years.
The violation of the promised safe conduct was un-
doubtedly an act of the greatest treachery, and for which
we cannot acquit King Frederick. He had first given the
four commissioners full authority and his royal seal, to
sanction all that they did in Norway, and his messages
sent when the negotiations were concluded (though not
signed) could hardly be well set against this. The blame
must, of course, be shared by those who refused to tell
Kristian in time, of the message they had received, so as to
give him an opportunity of leaving Norway for the Nether-
lands, or some other safe place. It remains, however, a
lasting stain on the character of Frederick, and that he felt
his conduct needed explanation is shown by his letter
addressed to the princes of Germany, in which he tried to
defend himself.*
In spite of the treachery shown towards him, and his
long and weary incarceration, it is hard to feel much
sympathy for Kristian II. During those twenty-seven
years of imprisonment, he had ample time to reflect upon
the terrible crimes which had darkened his life. In the
silent watches of the night, the memory of his own harsh
imprisonment of the hapless bishop of Hamar, must often
have come before his mind, together with the recollection
of the way in which he had broken the promises made at
the time of his accession to the throne. Visions of the
awful " Blood-bath of Stockholm " may well have filled him
with horror. Those terrible words to a guilty conscience,
" With, what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you
again," may well have rung in his ears. The long years
of his weary imprisonment may (let us hope) have led the
discrowned king in his old age to reflect upon the irreparable
* C. Paludan-Miiller, " De f0rste Konger af den Oldenborgske Slasgt."
harm that he had done to the countries over which he
had been called to rule, and have taught him that the
highest glory of a king was to do justice and right, and
that to keep faith with his people, was a more noble orna-
ment than the triple crown which had once been his.
With the surrender at Oslo all resistance to the authority
of Frederick in Norway came to an end. Nils Lykke was
sent from the king, with full power to deal with those who
had been concerned in the rising. Frederick does not
seem to have had any desire to deal severely with the
rebels, or to drive the bishops and clergy to extremities-
Nils Lykke came first to Bergen, and then with Yincent
Lunge went to Trondhjem, where they negotiated with the
archbishop, who still remained in his castle at Stenviksholm.
Matters were at last finally arranged, and the arch-
bishop, on again taking an oath of fidelity to Frederick,
escaped with a fine of 15,000 Danish marks.
Meanwhile Hans Keff, the Bishop of Oslo, had gone to
Copenhagen, where he made his peace with Frederick, and
after being, like the primate, mulcted in a fine, was taken
back into the king's favour. The bishop of Hamar also
escaped with a fine, and the bishops of Bergen and
Stavanger, who had taken no part in the rising, were not
punished in any way.
The monastery of Hoved0en (which, as we saw, had been
burned by Mogen Gyldenstjerne in January, 1532) was
secularized, while a similar fate overtook the priory of
Yeerne as a punishment for the help which these estab-
lishments had given to Kristian II.
Finally, at a meeting of the council held at Trondhjem
in November, 1532, all renewed their allegiance to
Frederick, and peace was re-established in the land.
Frederick did not long survive his triumph over Kristian.
He died at Gottorp on Maundy Thursday, April 10th,
1533, after a short reign of a little more than eight years
DEATH OF FEEDERICK I. 327
over Norway, during which time he had never been
crowned. His reign over Denmark was only two years
longer.
The manner in which he endeavoured to promote the
spread of Lutheranism in his dominions, very highly
incensed the bishops and clergy against him, and not
without cause, when we remember that he had given a
distinct pledge to both Norway and Denmark, at the time
of his accession, in the Eibe Manifesto, to discountenance
in every way the spread of Lutheran teaching. Of his
very harsh treatment of the unworthy but betrayed
Kristian II., we have already spoken.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE INTERREGNUM, TO THE SIEGE OF COPENHAGEN.
Interregnum The Strife in Denmark The Count's "War Duke
Kristian successful Affairs in Norway Frederick, Count Palatine,
a candidate Archbishop Olaf temporizes Vincent Lunge, Esko
Bilde, and others go to Trondhjem Nils Lykke a prisoner there
The Meeting at Trondhjem Vincent Lunge killed by the B0nder
The Archbishop imprisons Eske Bilde, Hans Reff, and others
The Archbishop sends out Forces on behalf of the Count Palatine
They are defeated The Archbishop seeks to make terms with
Kristian III.
THE death of Frederick I. in 1533 was followed by a
period of four years during which civil war raged in
Denmark, and the crown of Norway was vacant. The
government of the country was carried on by the council,
under the presidency of the archbishop. Had he been a
man of real power, he might at this time have succeeded
in shaking off the Danish yoke, and regaining for his
country the independence which had practically been lost ;
but at the most critical moments he failed to act decisively,
and it ended in the complete subjugation of Norway, ani
the sweeping away of the ancient Church establishment.
It will be necessary to sketch the course of events in
Denmark and Norway during the interregnum. Frederick
I. had been twice married, and by his first wife he left a
son, Duke Kristian, who at the time of his father's death
was thirty years of age. He was an open and avowed
Lutheran. By his second marriage Frederick left several
children, the eldest of whom, Duke Hans, was at this time
thirteen years old.
When Frederick died, parties in Denmark were divided
AFFAIRS IK DENMARK. 329
between these two sons. Many of the nobles were in
favour of Duke Kristian, but the bishops and the country
people, as a rule, were supporters of Hans, who had been
brought up in the Catholic faith.
A special meeting of the Danish Council was at once
called by the chancellor, and it was decided to postpone
the election of a king until a joint meeting with the
Norwegian Council could be arranged, and this, after a
very considerable delay, was fixed for June 24th, 1534,
at Copenhagen.
When the news of Frederick's death first reached
Norway, the archbishop summoned the council to meet the
following August, in spite of the suggestion of Eske Bilde
that it should be deferred, until a short time before the
joint meeting, intended to be held the next year. Nothing
was decided at the council, which met under the presidency
of the archbishop, and matters remained unchanged.
As the time for going to Copenhagen drew near, the
archbishop began to hesitate, and finally only got as far
as Bergen, when he should have been at Copenhagen.
Meanwhile Eske Bilde and Yincent Lunge had started on
their journey, the former by sea and the latter by land.
As matters turned out, it was as well for the archbishop
that he had remained at home.
The Herredag at Copenhagen never met, for matters had
taken quite a new turn in Denmark. In place of two
parties, those of Duke Kristian and Duke Hans, there arose
a third, and for a time it seemed as if it was to be the
victorious one, both in Denmark and Norway.
Kristian II. , the prisoner in S0nderborg, had, in spite of
his many crimes, still a following in Denmark, and his
party secured the powerful help of the city of Liibeck,
which for commercial reasons was ready to render the
needful aid to place Kristian once more upon the throne.
They assembled an army under the command of Count
Kristofer of Oldenborg, and with the aid of the Liibeckers'
fleet, soon produced an entirely new state of affairs in
Denmark. The count landed in Sjeelland on June 22nd,
1534, Copenhagen declared for Kristian II., and the
castle soon afterwards surrendered. Eske Bilde, all
unconscious of this revolution, arrived at this moment in
Copenhagen from Bergen, and was at once arrested, and
remained a prisoner for nearly eighteen months. In
a very short time Count Kristofer had all the principal
islands and the province of Skaane in his power, and Duke
Kristian's supporters were only to be found in Jylland.
They were now forced to agree among themselves, and,
abandoning Duke Hans, united in choosing Kristian as
king. Vincent Lunge (who, having travelled by land,
escaped the fate of Eske Bilde) joined Duke Kristian's party.
The contending parties in Denmark now looked to Norway,
and felt that the side which it supported would gain the
upper hand. Now that Eske Bilde and Vincent Lunge
were absent, Norway practically meant Archbishop Olaf,
and the balance of power now lay in his hands. But he
failed to rise to the occasion, and when he might have
acted it was too late. Count Kristofer had now achieved
his greatest success. Gustavus Vasa joined with Duke
Kristian and the tide began to turn against Kristofer.
In January, 1535, a defeat at Helsingborg lost him the
Danish province in Sweden, and, Kristian having made a
successful attack on Liibeck a short time before, the
Liibeckers superseded Count Kristofer and appointed
Albert of Mecklenburg in his place. Soon, however, the
cause of Duke Kristian was everywhere successful in
Denmark, and the struggle known as the Grevens Feide (the
Count's war) came to an end.
"We have now to consider the position of affairs in
Norway. During the quarrel the country had remained
neutral, and Kristian having won, his supporters were
FREDERICK COUNT PALATINE. 331
anxious that he should be at once acknowledged by the
Norwegian Council. In February, 1535, Duke Kristian
wrote to the council, but no decisive step was taken. The
archbishop called a Rigsmfide for May, 1535, but this was
first postponed, and finally never met. The supporters of
Kristian in the south of Norway now wished to force the
archbishop's hand, and in the month of May they issued a
letter or manifesto, signed by Vincent Lunge, the bishops
of Oslo and Hamar, and the chancellor, Morten Krabbe,
accepting Kristian as king, provided he would respect all
the old laws and customs of Norway. This they dispatched
to the archbishop, hoping to secure his approval and that of
the northern members of the council. But the archbishop
was not yet ready to give way, and a new candidate
appeared upon the scene.
This was Frederick the Count Palatine, who was just
about to marry the daughter of the imprisoned Kristian II.
As Kristian' s son had died (in August, 1532) the Emperor
Charles Y. adopted Frederick as a candidate to represent
his unfortunate brother-in-law. The emperor wrote to the
archbishop from Spain in April, 1535, and the Count
Palatine also from Heidelberg a few months later; but
Frederick lost much time in making a move, and then his
marriage, which took place in September, delayed him still
longer. To these communications Archbishop Olaf adopted
a temporizing attitude. He knew that the count and the
emperor would be favourable to the cause of the Church,
but they were a long way off, and Kristian of Denmark
was very near at hand. Meanwhile Frederick went on
with his preparations.
Now the party of Kristian felt that they must take more
decisive steps before the emperor and his protege should
make a move. Vincent Lunge and his friends at Oslo had,
as we have seen, formally accepted him as king, and were
waiting for the northern chiefs and the archbishop to agree.
Kristian now sent to Norway Klaus Bilde and Eske Bilde
(who had been just released from prison) with instructions
to do their best to advance his cause. Early in December
they reached Oslo, and decided at once, in spite of the
opposition of Vincent Lunge, who wished to ignore the
archbishop, to proceed to Trondhjem. Along with them
went Lunge and Hans Beff, the bishop, and, after being
joined en route by the bishop of Hamar, the party came to
Trondhjem at Christmas, 1535.
Before we advert to the remarkable events connected
with this meeting, it i well to mention that another
leading man in Norway was already in Trondhjem, but
not of his own free will. This was Nils Lykke,
Vincent Lunge's brother-in-law. His wife Elina having
died in 1532, he was very anxious to marry his deceased
wife's sister, Lucie, which was, of course, contrary to
the law both of Church and State. He appealed to the
archbishop in order to get the necessary dispensation; but
Olaf temporized, and although inclined to look leniently on
the offence, yet he could not openly approve what was so
entirely contrary to the Church's law. The conduct of
Nils Lykke very much enraged his brother-in-law, Vincent
Lunge, and he was very angry with the archbishop for his
failing to take action against Lykke. Meanwhile the latter
wrote to his friends and to Duke Kristian for their support,
but received no encouragement. He had been living with
Lucie as his wife, and she bore him a son early in 1535,
who, however, only lived a couple of months.
Now the archbishop began to discover if he had not
known it before that Lykke was more or less tainted with
Lutheranism, and would favour the Danish as opposed to
the Norwegian national party ; and so, to bring Vincent
into a more friendly state of mind towards him, he caused
Nils Lykke to be arrested in July, 1535, and imprisoned
him in his castle at Stenviksholm. Next month he was
COUNCIL AT TRONDHJEM. 333
accused before the council of heresy and other misdemea-
nours, and sentence was given against him. The penalty
of death to which he was liable was, however, not then
exacted, and he remained a prisoner in the archbishop's
castle. Under these circumstances naturally Nils Lykke
was to take no part in the coming council. Another
vacancy was caused by the death in May, 1535, of Olaf
Thorkildss0n, the weak bishop of Bergen, who, after
witnessing the destruction of his cathedral and the practical
establishment of Lutheran teaching in Bergen in 1531, took
refuge in Voss, and remained there until death ended his
troubles. No new election was made immediately, but
afterwards Geble Pederss0n, the archdeacon, was elected,
but was never consecrated, and conformed to the wishes of
the king, as we shall see later on.
Such was the state of affairs when the Danish king's
representatives and the other leading men, met at Trondhjem
in the last days of December, 1535. At this time there
seems to have been gathered together in the city a very
large number of the principal b0nder of Tr0ndelagen, and
although the famous 0re Thing of the ancient days was
now never called to approve of the choice of a king, it would
seem that some of the old spirit lingered among the b0nder.
But it was the council, with all its officials and Danish
noblemen, who now chose the king of Norway instead of
the freemen at the Thing. When the council met, Yincent
Lunge, and the others who had already in Oslo decided for
Kristian of Denmark, urged his election by the assembly,
and further demanded the payment of skat to him. This
claim was resisted on two very legitimate grounds first,
that the king had not formally been chosen ; and, secondly,
that no payment of skat could be claimed until the king
had by the usual manifesto sworn to govern according to
the laws of Norway and to preserve inviolate the rights
of both Church and State.
It would now appear that the b0nder in Trondhjem
appealed to the archbishop for his guidance, and he seems
to have called a meeting of them at the palace, and there
he explained matters to them with regard to the proposed
election and the payment of skat. It is hard to know the
exact truth of what followed, but it would seem that the
people clamoured for the arrest of the bishops of Oslo and
Hamar and Klaus Bilde, and the death of Vincent Lunge
and the chief Danish supporters of Kristian. Bushing
from the meeting they went to the house of Vincent Lunge,
who was at once killed,* and Klaus Bilde and Bishop Hans
Befl: of Oslo narrowly escaped with their lives. They were,
however, arrested by the archbishop, and, along with Eske
Bilde, placed in safe keeping at Tautra. It is very hard to
know how far the archbishop was responsible for the
murder of Vincent Lunge. The later Danish writers do
not hesitate for a moment to accuse him of it, and to assert
that he was drunk when he gave an order for his death,
but had endeavoured to recall it when too late. The most
reasonable supposition seems to be, that there was a genuine
outbreak of the people, and that it is very likely they were
inflamed by the speech of the archbishop, and, although he
did not intend them to do so, they at once attacked and
killed the chief man of the unpopular Danish nobles, who
was especially hated in the north. Very probably the
archbishop intended to imprison and hold as hostages, all
the chief Danish men then in Trondhjem, for he had, but
a very short time previously, received the letters from the
emperor and the Count Palatine, announcing the pro-
posed expedition to Norway, and the new candidate's
prospects would be vastly improved by the captivity of
all the leading Danish nobles in the country. It was a
* It is probable that Kristofer Throndss0n Rustung, the archbishop's
principal follower, was the leader in the attack on Vincent Lunge which
ended in his murder.
ATTACK ON OSLO AND BERGEN. 335
great chance for the Count Palatine, but he was not able
to avail himself of it.
Archbishop Olaf was not a great or very scrupulous man,
but we cannot believe that he would have permitted the
murder of his chief opponent if he could have prevented it.
Another crime still more mysterious was laid to his charge
by later Danish writers, and with even less ground, and that
was the death of Nils Lykke, who was said to have been
smothered soon after Vincent Lunge's death in the castle of
Stenviksholm. The circumstances connected with his death
are very obscure, and there seems no evidence that the
archbishop was responsible for it. As Lykke had practically
been condemned to death, there does not appear to have
been much sympathy for him, either amongst Danes or
Norwegians.
The archbishop had now to all intents and purposes
burned his boats, and there was nothing left for him but to
do his best on behalf of the Count Palatine, and hope for his
speedy arrival in Norway. In pursuance of this policy the
archbishop sent out two expeditions, one to the south over
the Dovre and through the Oplands to Oslo, and the other
to Bergen.
The object of the first, which was accompanied by the
bishop of Hamar, was to attack and, if possible, seize the
fortress of Akershus, and on the way to spread the news
that the Count Palatine was coming with a powerful force
supplied by the emperor. The governor of Akershus
(Gyldenstjerne) sent off in haste for help to Kristian in
Denmark. Meanwhile he was able to hold out, and the
archbishop's forces had to retreat in March, 1536.
The expedition to Bergen, which was under the command
of Kristof er Throndss0n, fared still worse. Thord Eoed, who
still held the Bergenhus (which Eske Bilde had placed in
his hands), was warned of the attack and induced the
people of the town to accept Kristian III. In order to
strengthen his position he destroyed the great monastery
of Munkeliv,^ on Nordnses, the peninsula which formed
one side of the harbour, lest it should be used (as it
might probably have been) as a fortress, and when
Throndss0n came he found he could do nothing. He then
opened negotiations with Eoed, but he was seized, whilst
under promise of safe conduct, in the house of Geble
Pederss0n, the bishop-elect, and sent off to the fortress at
Baahus.
Thus both of the archbishop's attempts ended in failure,
and there was no appearance of Frederick the Count Palatine.
Kristian had strengthened his position very much by making
peace with the Ltibeckers, and protecting himself on the
south, while he pressed forward the siege of Copenhagen,
which alone held out against him. The archbishop now
saw that his best course was to try and make terms with
Kristian. He accordingly released his prisoners, and pro-
ceeded to negotiate with them in order to obtain favourable
terms. To this they were willing to accede, and Klaus
Bilde promised to let bygones be bygones, if the arch-
bishop would agree to the choice of Kristian III.
Klaus Bilde now went to King Kristian and con-
veyed the news about the archbishop's willingness to
surrender. Kristian was still vainly endeavouring to
subdue Copenhagen, and he felt that time was pressing,
for the Count Palatine's expedition would soon be ready
to start, and with Copenhagen unsubdued, he could not
safely go north. He therefore was apparently very
glad to find that the archbishop would accept him, and
* After the Birgitta order had been driven out, the cloister was
granted to Geble Pederss0n, who resided there. Thord Roed asked leave
to station some men in the church tower, and managed to convey into
it some barrels of tar, which were set on fire, and the great buildings
were destroyed. See Lange's Norske Klostres Historie, pp. 313 315.
No traces now remain of this famous foundation, which stood on what
is now an open space called Klostret.
KRJSTIAN III. GENERALLY ACCEPTED. 337
agreed to a meeting being held in Bergen on July 29th,
at which the archbishop promised to be present, and
Kristian ordered that a safe conduct should be issued to
him. This gathering, however, never took place, and
when the time came that it should have been held,
Kristian III. was in a position in which he could afford
to despise the archbishop, and proceed with his plans for
making an end of the ancient constitution both of Denmark
and Norway, as regards the Church.
On June 1st the bishop of Stavanger (Hoskold Eos-
koldss0n), Eske Bilde, Geble Pederss0n (the bishop-elect
of Bergen), and others issued a letter in which they
asserted their readiness to accept Kristian III. as king
of Norway, and thus almost all the country, except the
north and part of the Oplands, proclaimed its willingness
to receive the Danish monarch as its king.
C.S.N.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CHURCH'S DOWNFALL LOSS OF NATIONAL
INDEPENDENCE.
The Emperor unable to help Frederick Count PalatineCopenhagen
taken by Kristian III. Episcopacy suppressed in Denmark, and the
Property of the Bishops seized The Recess Norway made a
Province of Denmark Archbishop Olaf sends in despair to Holland
for help His ignoble flight from Trondhjem, April 1st, 1537
The Bishop of Hamar taken a Prisoner to Denmark The Bishop
of Stavanger imprisoned The Bishop of Oslo secures the King's
favour and is made a Superintendent Conclusion.
WE now come to the day which saw the destruction of
the ancient Church of Norway and the national inde-
pendence of the land. Church and State, which had been
so closely connected there, more so perhaps than in most
countries of Europe, were now to lie helpless at the foot of
the conqueror. The Church founded by the two Olafs,
and which had flourished so vigorously for so long a time,
was to be swept away, and the country in its civil aspect
made but a mere province of Denmark.
Events moved with great rapidity after June, 1536, and
it is little less than amazing the way in which, by the will
of one man, such an ecclesiastical and political revolution
could have taken place.
As the events of these months are so important, it is
necessary we should consider them in detail.
We have seen how in the early months of the year 1536
Archbishop Olaf, after the failure of his attacks on both
Akershus and Bergen, was convinced that no aid was to
be expected from the Count Palatine and the Emperor
Charles Y., and so decided to make the best terms he could
COPENHAGEN SURRENDERS. 339
with Kristian III. But matters were not at the moment
in such a desperate condition with respect to the count.
Indeed, but for an unforeseen event, he might have arrived
in Norway with a very formidable force, and have com-
pletely changed the whole aspect of affairs. Unfortunately
for the count, however, the outbreak of a war between
Francis I. of France and the emperor, and a sudden attack
of the Duke of Guelderland, disconcerted the emperor's
plans for assisting his nephew, and the forces which had
been collected for the invasion of Norway were required
elsewhere. A fleet of twenty - five ships had been
assembled in the Netherlands, but was useless, as there
were no men ready to embark.
Kristian III. now saw that if, in this emergency, he
could recover Copenhagen his position would be secure.
He accordingly redoubled his efforts to capture the
town. The inhabitants, left without help from the
emperor, were at last forced to yield. On July 29th
(the feast of the patron saint of Norway) the town
capitulated, and Kristian had thus the whole of Denmark
under his rule.
In Norway the archbishop was in despair; his only
chance of succour seemed to have failed him, and as a
last hope he dispatched his trusty Kristofer Throndss0n*
to the Netherlands, to see if there was any prospect of
* Throndss0n or Rustling, after the archbishop's death, was taken into
the king's favour. His daughter Anna was married or betrothed to
Earl Bothwell, who met her in Copenhagen in 1560, but he deserted her
in the Netherlands. Later, in 1563, she followed him to Scotland,
remaining at the Court until 1565, when she went to Norway. On
Bothwell's flight from Scotland he was driven by storm to Norway,
and taken a prisoner to Bergen. Here Anna called him to account
for his conduct towards her, and he had to give her a ship, and under-
took to pay her a sum of money. Bothwell was then taken to
Denmark, where he died in prison. Anna lived for a long time after-
wards at Seim, in Kvindherred, where she was known as Skottefrwn, from
her connection with Earl Bothwell.
help from that quarter. The position of the primate was
indeed a difficult one. There was only one of his
suffragans who could be said to be on his side. The
bishop of Oslo had agreed to recognize Kristian, so had
the bishop of Stavanger. The see of Bergen was vacant,
but the man who had been chosen by the chapter, was an
open ally of the Danish monarch. Only the bishop of Hamar
was ready to aid the archbishop, but he possessed little
influence outside his own immediate district. Had Arch-
bishop Olaf been a man of greater power and force of
character, and one who had made himself loved and
respected, he might still have rallied the bulk of the clergy
and people to his side ; but he was not the man to head a
great national movement, even had one been possible at
this time. His vacillation in moments when he should
have stood firm, his alternate oaths of allegiance to different
kings, and his inability to rule in the high office which he
held both in Church and State, left Norway defenceless and
without a champion of her rights.
Now that Copenhagen had fallen, and the attention of
the emperor had been diverted by the war with France,
Kristian felt himself secure. He knew but too well that
Norway was at his mercy; all the strongholds of the
country Baahus, Akershus, and Bergenhus were in his
power ; all the chief men were on his side, and he could
afford to delay crushing the only antagonist he had left
Archbishop Olaf.
How far Kristian III. was sincere in his zeal for
Lutheranism it is hard to determine. He had been, for
some years before his father's death, a supporter of the
Lutheran preachers in the country, and possibly may have
had a genuine belief in their tenets; and at any rate
it cannot be said of him that he had ever given a solemn
assurance, as his father had done, to suppress the teaching
of the German reformer ; but his action now left him open
THE COUP D'ETAT AT COPENHAGEN. 341
to the charge of professing such opinions, in order to enrich
himself and his followers.
He now determined on a bold stroke, which would destroy
for ever the power of the Church in Denmark, and over-
turn the ancient ecclesiastical order of that kingdom.
When Copenhagen fell into his hands, he found that
his troops were clamouring for their pay, and that his
treasury was an empty one. Money must be found to
satisfy these demands, and the nobility were not likely to
be able to afford him the necessary assistance. In this
emergency he decided to seize the episcopal revenues for
the bishops also declined to help and to transfer them to
the royal coffers. On August llth he called together
a meeting of his principal officers, and there unfolded to
them his plans, which at any rate had the merit of
simplicity. It was simply this to arrest all the bishops
he could lay his hands on, and to annex the property
of their sees. The officers readily fell in with this
suggestion, and by breakfast time the next morning the
bishops of Skaane, Sjeelland, and Eibe, were taken prisoners
and placed in the castle. Kristian then called together
the lay members of the council, and they were forced
to agree to the king's plans.* They signed a declaration
in which it was announced that for the future the
government of the kingdom of Denmark should not depend
upon " either archbishop or other bishops, but the govern-
ment of the kingdom of Denmark shall be and remain,
with his royal Majesty and his successors, kings in
Denmark, and with the temporal council of the kingdom,
and with their successors.' 7 The council further pledged
themselves, that no bishop hereafter should have any part
* An interesting account of these proceedings has survived in a letter
written by Johan Pein, a Prussian admiral in the service of Kristian,
to Duke Albert of Prussia. See C. Paludan-Miiller's Deflrste Konger
af den Oldenborgske tilcegt, p. 620.
in the government of the country, unless it was with the
consent of the general council of the Church in Germany
and elsewhere.
In order to give the appearance of a religious movement
to this scandalous military coup d'etat, it was further
added that they would not oppose "the right preaching
of the Holy Gospel and the pure "Word of God."
The desire of the king for the furtherance of the Gospel
was seen, by his at once arresting the archbishop of Lund,
Torben Bilde, and the Bishop of Koskilde, and in a month's
time every bishop in Denmark had been cast into prison.
Having thus accomplished a revolution, the king pro-
ceeded to make the Rigsdag, or diet of the country, assent
to his action. It met in Copenhagen on the 15th of
October, 1536, and lasted for fifteen days. The result was
the issue of two documents of the very first importance
the Eoyal Manifesto and the " General Becess," or statute
and they set forth plainly what was to be the new policy
both with respect to the State and the Church.
The manifesto was shorter than those usually issued by
the Danish kings, but the omissions were very significant.
All the usual promises to defend the rights of the Church
and the privileges of the bishops and clergy were left out,
and in place of them we find these words : " We will and
shall, above all things, love and worship Almighty God
and His holy Word and doctrine, strengthen, increase,
advance, maintain, protect and defend it, to the honour
of God and to the increase of the holy Christian faith."
It was clear from this that Kristian intended to proceed in
the ecclesiastical revolution which he had initiated in the
month of August, and that the measure which was meted
to the bishops in Denmark would very soon be extended
to Norway.
But what followed in the manifesto showed also that
the king intended not merely to overturn the Church in
THE COPENHAGEN MANIFESTO. 343
Norway, but that he made up his mind to crush out all
semblance of national independence as well. The third
article of the manifesto states, that " because the kingdom
of Norway is now so bereft of power and wealth, and
the people of the kingdom of Norway are not able alone to
support a lord and king for themselves, and this same
kingdom is yet bound to remain for ever with the crown of
Denmark, and most of the council of the kingdom of Norway,
especially Archbishop Olaf , who is now the greatest man in
the kingdom, within a short time has twice, with the most
part of the council of Norway, fallen from the kingdom of
Denmark, contrary to their plighted faith. We have
therefore promised and vowed to the council and nobles of
the kingdom of Denmark that, if God Almighty so ordain
it, that this same kingdom of Norway, or any of its
dependencies, castles, or districts, should fall under our
authority, or be conquered by us, so shall they hereafter be
and remain, under the crown of Denmark, as are one of
these other countries, Jylland, Fyen, Sjaelland, or Skaane,
and not hereafter be or be called a separate kingdom, but a
dependency of the kingdom of Denmark, and under its
crown always. But if any strife should arise from this, the
council and people of the kingdom of Denmark shall be
bound faithfully to help to support us in it.' '*
Thus by one stroke was the ancient independence of
Norway swept away, and its liberties ruthlessly disre-
garded.
The other document, the " General Becess," is, from an
ecclesiastical point of view, of course, the most important,
for it meant the utter subversion of the ancient Church in
Denmark and the substitution of the king's " evangelical
superintendents " in the place of the bishops.
This document begins by stating that the late dissensions
were caused by the bishops not agreeing with the nobles,
* C. Paludan-Miiller, as before, p. 628.
and because they had refused to join with them in the
election of Kristian III.
The bishops were to be replaced by evangelical super-
intendents, who were to teach the Gospel to the people.
Any person opposing this order was to be punished by loss
of life and property. The revenue of the various sees was
to be confiscated to the crown, and all rights of patronage
(except that possessed by the nobles) were to pass to the
king. The cloisters were to remain untouched for the
present, until the king and the nobles decided their fate,
and the occupants to be unmolested, but free to leave.
Tithes were still to exist, and were to be thus allocated
one-third for the parish priest, one-third for the Church,
and one-third for the king, (who out of them was to pay
the new evangelical superintendents), and for the keeping
up of the schools.
Such was the import of this document, which was a
wholesale measure of confiscation of the Church's property,
and which necessarily involved the complete separation of
the Church in Denmark from the rest of the Catholic
Church. It will be noted that it was the king who was
the principal gainer by this act, and also that it seems to
have been aimed mostly at the bishops, whose existence as
an order in the Church was terminated, and whose incomes
were swept into the royal treasury, for doubtless the new
superintendents were provided with very different incomes
from that of the bishops in the olden days.
In this "Becess" no mention was made of Norway, but as
soon as its terms were known, it was plain to the Norwegian
prelates, the treatment which was in store for them ; and
it was clear that unless help came from the Count Palatine
and the emperor, the days of the Church of St. Olaf were
numbered. In October Kristofer Throndss0n came back
from his errand to Holland, and with him four ships ; but
these were filled with neither men nor money, and were
ARCHBISHOP OLAF FLIES FROM NORWAY. 345
only sent in order to provide the archbishop with a means
of escape when all hope was lost. When he learned that
Frederick's expedition was not ready to start, the arch-
bishop made one last appeal for aid, but in this case, his
trusting for the help of the count or the emperor, was like
trusting "upon the staff of a bruised reed," for the help
never came.
Kristian III. contented himself with directing Eske
Bilde to seize the revenues of the vacant see of Bergen
and use them in the same way as in Denmark. Thus
matters remained for the winter of 1536 7; the Church
lay powerless before the king and his nobles, who only
waited for the advent of spring to come and spoil their
prey. During the winter months Eske Bilde's men had
driven the archbishop's adherents out of S0ndm0re and
Eomsdal, but want of both men and money prevented their
following them up to Trondhjem.
Kristian, to make all secure, before sending his forces
north, managed to arrange a truce with the emperor for
three years, from May, 1537, and in this agreement a special
clause was inserted, to provide for the safety of the
Norwegian primate ; but this was not needed.
The last archbishop of Nidaros now saw that nothing
could save the situation. There was no help to be had from
any quarter. His two expeditions had been failures, and all
the strongholds of Norway were in the enemy's hands. It-
would be perhaps unfair to judge Archbishop Olaf harshly
at this moment, but he was not the man, unfortunately, for
the time in which he was called to rule. He had no one
to support him, and there seemed no alternative but flight.
The ships which had been sent from the Netherlands were
lying at Trondhjem; into these the archbishop collected
all the treasures he could find of the cathedral and other
churches, as well as the archives of the kingdom, and, going
on board, set sail on April 1st, 1537.
He was not the only archbishop who had fled from
Trondhjem, or Nidaros of the olden days, but Olaf
Engelbrektss0n was a very different type of man from Arch-
bishop Ey stein, or even Erik or Jon Eaude. The faith
and order of the Church was not in question in their days,
as it was in 1537, and from the point of view of either
Catholic or Lutheran, it would have been a nobler thing if
the head of the Norwegian Church had stood bravely at his
post, and awaited in his cathedral city, the day when he
would have been called upon to endure imprisonment, and
the loss of all his earthly possessions, in obedience to the
mandate of the Danish king. It was not until May 1st
that, after a long and weary voyage, Archbishop Olaf
arrived safely in the Netherlands. He had left a garrison
in his castle at Stenviksholm ; but within a few weeks of
the archbishop's flight Thord Eoed from Bergen reached
Trondhjem, and the castle soon after surrendered, and
with it the last shadow of opposition to the Danish king
vanished from Norway.
Kristian III. had a force ready to leave Denmark for
Norway as soon as the winter was over, and it started
from Copenhagen in April, and reached Bergen on May
1st, the very day the archbishop arrived in the Netherlands.
Here it was joined by Eske Bilde, who then with it pro-
ceeded to Trondhjem, and received over the archbishop's
castle at Stenviksholm.
No time was now lost in coercing any who remained
faithful to the old state of things. Trondhjem having
been subdued, and the archbishop having fled, the next
attack was on the bishop of Hamar. He had been, as we
have seen, one of the most zealous supporters of Kristian II.
in his unlucky campaign, and had been heavily fined
in consequence ; he was also a supporter of the Count
Frederick. After Stenviksholm had surrendered, Truid
Ulfstand, who commanded the force sent from Denmark,
ARREST OF THE BISHOP OF HAMAR. 347
left Trondhjem and went at once to Hamar. The bishop
had determined to make a strong resistance, and had
prepared his palace for a siege ; but at the last his courage
failed him, when he saw the force which Ulfstand had
brought with him, and after an interview with the Danish
commander he agreed to surrender. On June 23rd he
was led away a prisoner. "We have a truly pathetic account
of the departure of the last bishop of Hamar from his home
by one who witnessed it :
"As Herr Truid and the bishop went together to
Strandbakken, he fell on his knees and thanked God in
heaven for every day he had lived. Then he bid good-
night to the canons and the priests, then to his cathedral
and cloister, then to his chief men, to the common people,
both townsmen and b0nder, entreating them all to pray
heartily for him, and said he hoped he would soon come
to them again. But added, c God our Heavenly Father,
if not before, grant that we may meet one another in
heaven.' This prayer he uttered with many tears and
added, < Yale ! Vale ! Vale ! ' " *
The old bishop never saw Hamar again. He was taken
to Denmark and kept as a semi-prisoner at Antvorskov
cloister, where he died in 1543.
There were two more bishops still left. Bishop
Hoskoldss0n of Stavanger had the year before, along with
Eske Bilde and others, approved of the election of Kristian
III. He was a timid man, and hoped by this to avert the
hostility of the king against all members of the episcopate.
Through Eske Bilde he sent Kristian a present of a silver
bowl, and as long as he (Bilde) remained in power the
bishop was left alone. But the year after he seems to have
been imprisoned by Thord Eoed in Bergen, where he soon
afterwards died.
* From a description of Hamar in " Thaarup's Magazin," quoted by
Bang, p. 359.
The remaining bishop was Hans Beff of Oslo. "We have
seen what sort of a man he was, time-serving and crafty,
and always ready to make the best terms he conld with the
winning side. He had already accepted Kristian, but in spite
of this he was carried to Denmark by Ulfstand, after he
had seized the bishop of Hamar. When in Denmark Hans
Keff used his time well. Being not overburdened by any
special religious convictions, he was able to assure King
Kristian, of his zeal for Lutheran doctrines, and, what was
even of more importance to the king, he was ready to make
a complete surrender of all the temporalities of his see into
the king's hands, and then offered to Kristian and his heirs,
" as he valued ' his souPs salvation,' true and faithful
allegiance for all time to come."
Under these circumstances the king saw fit to reinstate
him as bishop or evangelical superintendent, of the diocese
of Oslo, and further, to show his zeal for " God's pure
Word," the king added to Oslo (already a full burden for
one man) the diocese of Hamar, which had been left without
a chief pastor. Hans Eeff did not remain long in his new
capacity as Lutheran superintendent; he died in the
summer of 1545, and next year we find a new man,
Anders Matson, in his office.
There is only one more diocese of which we must
speak, namely, Bergen. We have seen that after Olaf
Thorkildss0n's death in 1535 the archdeacon Geble
Pederss0n was chosen as his successor. This man was of
a good family in Norway, and had studied in Alkmar and
Lou vain, where he met Vincent Lunge. In 1523 he was
in Eome, where he remained for some time, and was very
indignant at the abuses which he saw every where in that city.
He seems to have always been favourable to the principles
of the Eeformation, and when the king decided to have his
own kind of bishops he was quite willing to accept the
nominee of the Bergen chapter to act as bishop of that
I i"
< "c
(-1
DEATH OF ARCHBISHOP OLAF. 349
important diocese. In 1537 Pederss0n went to Denmark,
where Bugenhagen had come in order to " consecrate" the
new Danish superintendents who were to take the place of
the imprisoned bishops. By him Geble Pederss0n was set
apart for the management of the Bergen diocese, and, for a
time, for that of Stavanger as well. We are told he was
the only one of those thus set apart by Bugenhagen, who
made him a gift afterwards. Pederss0n's offering was a
substantial present of wine, and the famous Lutheran
on accepting it, exclaimed, " Nonne decem mundati sunt, et
nemo reversus est, nisi hie alienigena."^ Geble Pederss0n
lived until 1557, when he died in Bergen.
Thus the ancient Church of Norway lay helpless and
wounded at the feet of her conqueror, who for the sake u of
the Holy Gospel and the pure Word of God" (as he expressed
it at the time of the coup tfetat) had imprisoned or driven
away her bishops and seized on her revenues. Her natural
leaders failed her in the hour of her trial, and among the
general body of the clergy and laity, there was no one
ready or able to strike a blow on behalf of the Church of
St. Olaf and Eystein.
Archbishop Olaf did not long survive his exile. In May,
1537, he came to Brussels. By the truce concluded between
the emperor and Kristfan III. the personal safety of the
archbishop was secured, and he retired to Lierre, in Brabant.
Kristian made claims upon him for the treasures both of the
State and the Church, which he had carried away with him
in his flight from Trondhjem, and the family of Nils Lykke
demanded an account of certain valuables of which they
alleged the archbishop had charge. The latter he admitted,
but before restitution was made, Olaf Engelbrektss0n, the
twenty-seventh and last archbishop of Nidaros, had passed
away. On March 7th, 1538, he died at Lierre.
* "Norske Samlinger," Vol. I., quoted by Nissen, p. 222, and
L. Daae's G&istliges Kaldelse.
We have seen the fate which befell the other members of
the episcopate in the Norwegian Church ; exile, or imprison-
ment and death, had been their portion, with the one ignoble
exception of the time-serving Hans Beff. The historic
episcopate which had come to Norway, first from England,
was lost for ever, and a Lutheran establishment took the
place of the ancient Catholic Church of Norway.
Having gained their purpose and seized on the property
of the Church, the Danish kings showed little anxiety to
promote the spread of the doctrines of Luther, and for a
generation or more, so far as they were concerned, Norway
might have relapsed into heathenism. The new evangelical
superintendents were named to carry on the oversight of
the ancient bishoprics, but even with the best intentions
on their part, they were practically helpless. The old
priests of the Catholic Church were left, as a rule, undis-
turbed in their parishes during their lifetime, and when
they passed away, untrained and untaught Lutheran pastors,
often men of very indifferent character, were placed in
charge of their parishes. The new superintendents in
many instances did their best to remedy this state of things
by establishing Latin schools, where the future clergy
might be trained, and gradually they succeeded in sending
faithful men among the people. But in the evil days
which followed upon the events of 1537, many of those who
were sent to minister to the people were unworthy of
their calling, and the records of the times tell of frequent
conflicts between them and the b0nder, which in more
than one instance ended in bloodshed.
It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century,
in the days of Kristian IV., who seems to have had a
genuine regard for the welfare of his Norwegian subjects,
that something of the old religious instincts revived among
the people of Norway, and efforts were made to again
beautify the churches, and to supply them with suitable
CONCLUSION. 351
ornaments and plate, in the place of what had been either
devoted to the cost of Kristian II.'s expedition, or pillaged
by the orders of Kristian III.
We have now traced the history of the Holy Catholic
Church in Norway, its foundation, vigorous growth, decline,
and fall. To English people its history cannot fail to be
of interest, as from England mainly came its first teachers
and bishops, and its two great kingly " nursing fathers "
were so intimately associated with the Christianity of the
British Isles. Had that connection with England, which
was so close in the end of the tenth and the whole of the
eleventh centuries, been maintained, and Oxford or
Cambridge, instead of Eostock and Copenhagen, been later
on, the universities of the Norwegian bishops and priests,
then it might have been that the Eeformation would have
followed on the lines of the English Church, and not that
of Northern Germany. Eut events determined otherwise,
and the loss of the historic episcopate snapped asunder the
link which bound Norway to the Church in which Olaf
Trygvess0n had been baptized and confirmed, and from
which the great missionary bishops of his day, and of
St. Olaf s, derived their orders. From henceforth they
drifted asunder, after centuries of close intercourse and
communion.
As it was with the Church, so was it with the State. Its
consolidation coincided very closely with the introduction
of Christianity, and at first both grew together, in the
closest and most intimate union. It is true that later on,
as we have seen, the same fierce battle between them, which
was fought out in other nations, was also waged in Norway.
The days of Haakon Haakonss0n, in which Norway
reached the zenith of its power as a sovereign State, was
also the commencement of the Church's greatest prosperity,
and in the disastrous year of 1537, both Church and State
were involved in a common ruin.
In Norway, Church and State were perhaps more closely
associated than in any country in Europe. In the period
before the hereditary succession to the crown was finally
established, the bishops had the preponderating voice in
the choice of the king ; and the primate not merely ranked
next to the king as in other lands, but when the throne
was vacant, the archbishop was ex-officio ruler of the country
until a new monarch was chosen.
From 1537 onwards a dull lethargy crept over the land,
and lasted for well-nigh three hundred years, until the old
spirit of freedom was breathed once more upon the dry
bones of Norway's nationality, and it again stood upon its
feet, and claimed its place as a sovereign and independent
State, among the nations of Europe.
We cannot better close our history than by quoting
the words of one who was an eye-witness of the almost
irreparable injury inflicted on his native land, by the
revolutionary changes brought about by Kristian III.
and his followers.
Absalon Pederss0n* wrote (some thirty years after the
events we have last narrated) in his "Norges Beskrivelse "
these sad but true words :
" The churches and cloisters which our forefathers built
we have pulled down and destroyed ; there where our fore-
fathers led out to battle twenty thousand men we can only
bring two thousand. Our forefathers continually made
warlike or mercantile expeditions to other lands, whilst
to-day no one will venture from the town or district in
which he was born. From the day when Norway fell
under Denmark, it lost the strength and power of its man-
hood, and became old and grey-headed and a burden to
itself. Yet a day may come when Norway may once more
awake from sleep, if a ruler is vouchsafed to it, for in the
* He was a native of Sogn, and chaplain of the Castle in Bergen,
and a lecturer in Theology.
nation there is still surviving some of the old manhood and
strength."
The patriotic Norwegian did not live to see the awaken-
ing he longed for. It was not for two hundred and sixty-
seven years after he wrote these words, that the long, long
sleep was ended and the new life began.
C.S.N. A A
APPENDIX I.
"SIGEFRIDUS NORWEGENSIS EPISCOPUS."
THE identity of this man has heen the subject of considerable
dispute among historians. William of Malmesbury, in his work
" De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae," has a list of bishops
who had been monks of that famous foundation in the time of
Edgar " Qui sequuntur fuerunt episcopi tempore Edgari regis in
diversis locis." The fourth name, in William's list, is Sigefridus
" Nonas Aprilis obiit Sigefridus Norwegensis Episcopus monachus
Glastoniae" and he mentions a bequest left by him of four
copes.
If we are to take William literally, we must conclude that this
bishop lived somewhere between 959 and 975 ; but, on the other
hand, William only gives the day of his death (April 5th), and not
the year, and some of those whom he names outlived the period
during which Edgar reigned.
It may be well to examine briefly the theories which have been
put forth as to who this Sigefridus was.
Absolon Taranger, in his most interesting and valuable work,
Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Inflydelse paa den Norske, believes that
he must be the bishop that Haakon the Good invited from England,
to help him in his attempt to introduce Christianity. But it must
be remembered, that it is not quite certain that any bishop came at
that time, for although Snorre in the " Heimskringla " undoubtedly
mentions a bishop, the older records in the Agrip and Fagrskinna
only speak of priests. Again, Haakon's attempt was made in
the year 950, which is nine years before the time of King Edgar.
Dr. Konrad Maurer, in Die Bekehrung des Norwegischen Stammes
zum Christenthume, believes (and his opinion is shared by Munch
and Keyser) that William's Sigefridus is the same as Sigurd
Monachus, who lived in the second half of the eleventh century.
356 APPENDIX I.
Lappenberg identifies him with Sigefrid, the apostle of Sweden.
This Sigefrid is believed by some to be identical with Olaf
Trygvess0n's court bishop of the same name, who, after the battle
of Svolder, is said to have gone to Sweden, where he worked with
much success.
A. D. J^rgensen, in Den Nordiske KirJces Grundlceggelse og
fprste udvikling, a work of much learning and research, has another
person still, whom he thinks to be identical with William's
Sigefridus namely, Sigurd, Knut the Great's court bishop at
Nidaros. This man, it will be remembered, was the one who incited
the people to oppose St. Olaf on his return to Norway, before
Stiklestad ; and after the saintship of Olaf had been established,
he left the country.
With such a conflict of opinion it is very difficult, if not indeed
impossible, to come to any conclusion. The objection which has
been raised against Taranger's view, that he is too early, as
Haakon's attempt was made in 950, seems not altogether con-
clusive, as it is at any rate within ten years of Edgar's time ;
while Sigurd the monk is considered by his supporters to have
worked in the second half of the eleventh century, which would be
at least seventy-five years after Edgar's reign. Taranger's bishop
(if, however, any " bishop " went from England to Haakon, which
is not clear) is at any rate the nearest in point of time to the reign
of Edgar.
Next to him would come Olaf Trygvess^n's Bishop Sigurd, who
is most probably the same as Siegfrid the apostle of Sweden,
whom Lappenberg claims as William's " Sigefridus." Olaf's
bishop doubtless came from England, and quite possibly from
Glastonbury, though we are not told so. J^rgensen is very con-
fident in claiming Knut's court bishop as the Glastonbury monk,
and if we do not take William's chronology strictly, it is quite
possible that Knut's bishop was the one mentioned by him.
We know that Knut was frequently at Glastonbury, and also
that Bishop Sigurd, according to all accounts, was the founder
of the Benedictine monastery on Nidarholm, afterwards called
Munkholm.
If the chronology can be still further stretched, we have the
claims of Sigurd Monachus to be the Glastonbury monk, and,
when supported by the authority of such great names as that of
Keyser, Munch, and Maurer, they must not be lightly disregarded,
APPENDIX I. 857
but the period in which he lived is at least twenty years after
the latest name in William's list.*
We have thus three Sigurds or Sigefrids working in Norway
with the early Christian kings : all appear without doubt to have
come from England. If Haakon's bishop was the Glastonbury
monk it would add another to the list. If J0rgensen's theory
that Sigurd the monk and Knut's Bishop Sigurd are the same man,
we reduce the number a little, and make it, at any rate, possible,
if not probable, that he was William's "Norwegensis Episcopus."
The different date of the death of the apostle of Sweden (Feb-
ruary 15th) appears fatal to his claim. Taranger's weakest point
seems the doubt that clearly exists whether Haakon ever asked
for a bishop as well as priests.
Though the question is an interesting one, we fear it must be
left undecided one way or another, and it seems impossible to say
with certainty that we can identify exactly, any of the Sigefrids
with the monk of Glastonbury, who died on April 5th, and gave a
benefaction of vestments to the great foundation of the West.
* Dr. Konrad Maurer's views will be found in his Die Belcehrung des
Norwegischen Stammes, Vol. II., 565.
APPENDIX II.
THE NORWEGIAN STAVKIRKER (MEDIAEVAL WOODEN
CHURCHES) AND THEIR ORIGIN.
OF the old wooden churches of Norway those which were built
in what is known as the " stav " style at once attract the atten-
tion of foreigners on account of their curious and often very
beautiful construction. There are no churches exactly like them
in other parts of Europe, and there has been a good deal of con-
troversy as to their origin, in which every possible detail of
construction and ornamentation has been considered. It would be
impossible here, to give more than a brief summary of the various
points of importance without entering too far into detail. As
there does not appear to be any work on the subject in English, it
may be well to give a short note mainly on Professor L. Dietrich-
son's most valuable and interesting work, De Norske Stavkirker.*
It has been roughly estimated that Norway in the Middle Ages
possessed about 1,200 churches, and of these some 600 can either
be seen or traced. Of these about 300 were wooden churches,
and Dietrichson considers that nearly all of them were " stav "
churches, and points out that in most mediaeval documents where
wooden churches are mentioned the wording makes this clear.
These stavkirker were spread all over Norway, and are especially
found in the Oplands and on the fjords, while stone churches are
more frequent on the weather-beaten coast and islands. Of the
form of these remarkable buildings much has been written, and it
will be sufficient for the present purpose to indicate quite generally
their main features.
The church generally consisted of a nave, a chancel, and a semi-
circular apse, and was surrounded by a sort of cloister (svalgang, or
* Kristiania, 1892.
APPENDIX II. 359
omgang), which was generally open except at the east end, though
occasionally, as at Hedal, it was completely closed in.
The entrances to this cloister were opposite the doors of the church
itself, and were often in the west end or under one of the many
gables of the roof. From the cloister roof there sprang the wall
of the side aisle, then came another roof, and then the nave wall
supporting the largest roof, which was crowned hy a pointed tower
often placed on a sort of cross-roof. The chancel was similarly
constructed, though the dimensions were smaller, and there was
often no tower, while the apse did not generally exceed two
stories, and was semi-circular in shape, often finished off in a
small round tower.
The churches varied very much in size and in construction, a
few of them having one transept, but the majority were oblong in
shape. Out of a list of seventy-nine churches given by Dietrichson
only four had a transept, and the areas covered ranged from
3,696 to about 400 square feet. The ornamentation externally
consisted chiefly in the " dragon heads " on the gable extremities
and the carving on the door pillars, which was often of wonderful
intricacy and richness. The origin of the dragon head ornamenta-
tion has been much disputed ; some writers (e.g., Dahl) trace
them to the dragon heads common in the Viking ships, while
Nicolaysen and others are inclined to believe that both the ships'
beaks and the dragon heads are the representation of the fabulous
creatures of northern mythology. It seems, however, to be very
likely that the ships' beaks were the actual source of the orna-
mentation, as dragon heads were used on them long before any
stavkirker were built ; also, in a country where the best woodworkers
were shipbuilders, these would be in request for the erection of
wooden churches. Professor Dietrichson, with a view to collecting
materials for his book, in 1884 made a careful personal survey of
the wooden churches which then existed in the North European
countries between the Volga and the Thames, in the course of
which he collected much valuable information.
Before giving his conclusions as to the origin of the stavkirke, it
may be well to enumerate the main distinguishing features of the
buildings in question. The curious roof and gable system is
perhaps the most noticeable externally, while closer examination of
the walls will show them to be curiously constructed of upright
planks set into a sort of framework of beams. In buildings made
360 APPENDIX II.
of horizontal logs, the walls support as well as close in the sides of
the building, while in the stavkirker the walls only serve the
latter purpose, most of the weight being borne by the pillars at the
corners. The construction of these walls is simple and effective,
the corner posts are fixed to the bottom beam, and the planks,
which are tongued and grooved, fit into each other and into the
corner posts. These planks are put in at the two ends first, and
when there is only room for two more (in the middle) a change is
made in their treatment, the last but one being slightly wider at
the bottom than the top, and the last plank having a tongue on
both sides to fit the two grooves and being wider at the top than
the bottom so as to form a wedge. This last plank is then driven
in and tightens the whole frame, so that when the top beam is
fitted into its place the wall is very strong and compact, and needs
no nails or pegs to hold the planks in their places, though cross
beams are sometimes added on the inside to give it additional
rigidity.
This system gives the churches the name of stavkirker, stav
meaning a rounded post or pillar. Amongst other peculiarities
may be mentioned the svalgang, or omgang, as the cloister was
called, and the use of " L " pieces of solid wood (knar) to join pillars
or beams inside the church. These pieces of wood were sometimes
placed one inside the other and cut so as to form arches, and are
often found between the pillars of the nave and the wall of the aisle,
placed so as to make a sort of " unfloored triforium." Several
writers are of opinion that the stavkirker are of Slavonic origin, as
there was a considerable connection with Norway and Gardarike
and Vendland about the date when many of these churches
were built. J. C. C. Dahl considers that the shape of these
churches is Byzantine in its origin, and has permeated through
Kussia and the Slav lands to the North ; he does not consider that
the English churches had any influence on the North, and entirely
omits the Irish group of wooden churches.
Nicolaysen is opposed to this view, and holds that the stavkirker
of Norway are, and have always been, unique, and have no connec-
tion with others except perhaps in Great Britain and Ireland.
Professor Dietrichson, after examining the various wooden
churches of Northern Europe, divides them roughly into three
1. The Western Group : Originating in the Roman Churches
and spreading over Western Europe, receiving additions and modi-
fications in various countries. All these churches were frame
2. The Eastern Group ; Originating at Byzantium and spreading
over Eastern Europe. All these churches were built of logs laid
horizontally.
3. The Central Group, combining the two former groups. Found
in Bohemia, &c. These churches are partly built of horizontal
and partly of vertical timbers, the latter (reisvaerk) being used for
higher parts of the building, in the towers, &c.
An examination of the existing Kussian wooden churches shows
that they are all built in the blockhouse or horizontal style, which
was used in domestic architecture of both Norway and Russia. In
addition to this there are the following differences :
a. The Norwegian churches are langkirker, i.e., long and
rectangular, while the Russian are many sided and sometimes
nearly round.
b. The windows in the Russian are square or rectangular, while
in the stavkirker the windows, if any, are generally round ; and
the Russian churches had no side aisles.
Both Norwegian and Russian had the cloister or svalgang, but
those of the latter were seldom open or arcaded.
The conclusion arrived at is that the Russian as well as the
Hungarian and West Slavonic churches had no influence on the
Norwegian, though there are several points in which there is a
seeming similarity. The reisvcerk German churches are the
nearest of the eastern group to the stavkirker, but they differ in
the fact that their sides are made of planks nailed to the cross-
beams, and not mortised into them. No old wooden churches now
exist in Denmark, and as that country was Christianized from
Germany, it is probable that the churches were of the German
pattern. Dietrichson treats of the wooden churches of Western
Europe at considerable length, and lays great stress on the
influence of the Irish missionaries on the style of the churches
in England and the West of Europe.
The Irish method of building (which was called Opus Scoticum
or Mos Scotorum) seems to have been as follows : A framework
was made of beams, supported at the ends by posts, and in it
were set split trunks of oak with the flat side in and the round out,
the interstices being filled with clay or mortar.
No old wooden churches still survive in Ireland, but from various
documents some information can be obtained. Dietrichson (p. 88)
quotes Concubran's Vita St. Monenae, whose church was built
" juxta morem Scotticarum gentium " of flat hewn planks. Also St.
Bernardi Vita St. Malachiae, where Bangor Cloister Church (built
1149) is said to have been " of beautiful Irish work of smoothened
planks firmly joined." Bede, in Eccles. Hist. III. 25, describes
the church built by Finan in Lindesfarne as being made " after the
manner of the Scots . . . not of stone but of hewn oak and
covered with reeds." Maclear (" The Celts ") says that the
monastic churches in early times were often made of wood and
called duirthech, or house of oak, and it is probable that the
original buildings at lona were of this kind.
On the Continent there were many examples of similar buildings,
such as St. Martin's at Rouen (" Gregory of Tours," Op. Vol.IV. 41,
V. 2), St. Boniface's Chapel at Geismar, and the old wood minster at
Strassburg, which (see Kreuser, Der Christliche Kirchenbau, I. 332)
" was built of half tree trunks, the rough sides of which were
turned outwards and the spaces between them filled with earth,
chalk, or other filling."
Dietrichson identifies this " Opus Scoticum " with the primitive
stav construction, of which the only extant example is to be found
at Greensted, near Ongar, in Essex. In this church, which is
most interesting as being the only survival of Anglo-Saxon wooden
churches, only the side walls and parts of the west end are left of
the original building, and these are constructed "more Scotorum"
of half trees let into beams at the top and bottom, and joined to
each other with strips of wood, while the interstices are filled with
a sort of cement.
There are several points of difference between this church and
the earliest Norsk stavkirke, but the method of constructing
the walls is the same ; the frame system seems to have existed
though the top and bottom beams were renewed when the
church was restored, but it is impossible to see how they were
joined to the corner posts, of whose present existence Dietrichson
did not seem to be aware, though he was convinced that they did
once exist. Dietrichson considers that Greensted is a specimen
of that style of church building from which the Norsk stavkirker
take their origin. As Greensted Church probably dates from 1012,
it is therefore a good deal older than the oldest Norsk stavkirke
APPENDIX IT. 363
(Urnes, c. 1100), and there is a considerable difference between the
two. Urnes is more elaborate, and has side aisles, while Greensted
has a plain nave, and the roof of Urnes shows the curious Norsk
construction, which was probably not found in the original roof at
Greensted. It is true that stav work was known in Norway before
Christianity, but " the impulse came from the place whence in the
Viking times the North took the important elements of its orna-
mentation, namely, from Ireland and the Anglo-Saxon countries." *
So much for the wall construction. The roof and gable system
seems to have been the outcome of the climatic conditions of
Norway, where the old Anglo-Saxon thatch roof would be of little
use on account of the heavy snowfall and frequent storms. Hence
the Norwegians developed a system of steep roofs and short walls,
which give the stavkirke its peculiar interest and beauty. The
steep roof would prevent snow from lying on it, and the short
perpendicular walls would minimise the resistance to the wind,
while the frequent gables would serve the same purpose by offering
a triangular instead of a rectangular surface. There are several
points of resemblance between the construction of these roofs and
that of the ships of the period, many of which are mentioned by
Bruunf in his Norges Stavkyrkor. The method of joining cross-
beams with "L" pieces of solid wood, sometimes rounded to form
part of an arch, is peculiar to Norway, and is found in boats and
stavkirker ; this is corroborated by Viollet le Due, who says J that
the use " de bois courbes " belongs to Northern people and their
shipbuilding.
The svalgang, or cloister, is not peculiarly Norwegian, being
found under various forms in Hungary, Silesia, Russia, and
Bohemia, and being in use in domestic architecture before it was
transferred to the stavkirker.
The stavkirker would thus seem to be a product of a rather
composite nature, the original method of building the walls
coming apparently from the " Opus Scoticum " of Great Britain
* Dietrichson, De Norske Stavkirker, p. 165.
t He also compares the peculiar floor work of the stavkirker to the deck
of a ship.
J Dictionnaire raisonne de V architecture franfaise du XI.* au XVI. e siecle,
Vol. VII., p. 38. The similarity between boat and roof construction is also
noticed by Gottfried Semper in Der Stil, and Valtyr Gudmundss0n considers
that this roof construction is of Norwegian origin.
and Ireland, the later form taken by the stavkirker being the
result of modifications introduced to suit the climate of Norway,
the tools, the methods, and the experience of the builders. These
modifications have made the stavkirke almost unique, and Norway
may claim to have reached in them " the crowning point of the
mediaeval art of wooden church building."
There are many interesting points which are beyond the scope
of this note, such as the origin of the ornamentation of door pillars
and the capitals, which has been much disputed, while the con-
nection, if any, between the stavkirke and the old hov, or heathen
temple, has also given rise to some controversy.
Unfortunately for Norway, reckless destruction, or often want
of care, has left her only about twenty-four fairly well-preserved
specimens of these curious churches, whose peculiar beauty seems
in a remarkable degree to suit their natural surroundings.
The following list of authorities taken from Professor Dietrichson's
book may be of interest to those who wish to pursue the subject
NICOLAYSEN, N. Norske Bygnmger fra Fortiden, Kristiania,
1860 1880 ; Mindesmcerker of Middelalderens Kunst i Norge,
and his articles on tk Hov and Stavkirker " in the Hist.
Tidsskrift., II., Vol. VI.
BRUUN, JOHAN. Norges Stafkyrkor, Stockholm, 1891.
DIETBICHSON, L. Eiendommelighederne ved Stavkirkernes Con-
struction, in the Nordisk Tidskrift for Vetenskap Konst og
Industri t Stockholm, 1887 ; also Constructions en bois de
I 'architecture Norvegienne au moyen age, in Vol. XXXIX. of
" L'Art," Paris, 1885.
I have to thank Professor Dietrichson for his kindness in reading
these notes, and making some valuable corrections. 0. W.
Since writing the above, I have received some particulars of
the old wooden belfry at Brookland (Kent), which in many points
resembles a stavkirke. Its roof is in three parts, one above the
other ; its framework has the long corner posts, and rests on
stiller (cross beams), while its perpendicular walls are of reisv&rk,
which is nailed to the beams as in the German churches.
I UNIV
APPENDIX III.
THE BISHOPS AND AECHBISHOPS OF NIDAROS
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE
REFORMATION.
SIGURD (OR SIGEFRID) . . Olaf Trygvess0n's Mis-
sionary Bishop left
Norway for Sweden,
GRIMKELL . . . .St. Olafs companion
last mentioned in 1046.
SIGEFRID II. .
KETEL
ADALBERT
THOLF .
SIMON .
REIDAR .
JON BYRGESS0N
Knut the Great's Bishop
left in 1031.
. 1066 (?) apparently the
first Diocesan Bishop.
. 10671072.
. Died probably 1139.
ARCHBISHOPS.
. Died 1151 on his way
from Rome.
. (Translated from Bergen)
11521157.
LIST OF BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS.
ARCHBISHOPS continued.
EYSTEIN ERLENDSS0N
ERIK IVARSS0N
THORE GuDMUNDss0N
GUTTORM .
THORE (DEN TR^NDSKE) .
SIGURD EiNDRiDESs0N
S0RLE
ElNAR GUNNARSS0N
JON EAUDE ....
J0RUND
ElLIV ARNESS0N
PAUL BAARDSS0N .
ARNE EINARSS0N .
THROND
NICHOLAS RUSER (OR RUSARE)
VlNALDE HENRIKSS0N
ASKELL
ASLAK BOLT ....
OLAF THRONDSS0N .
GAUTE IvARSS0N . . .
ERIK VALKENDORF.
OLAF ENGELBREKTSS0N
1157(consecratedll61
1189 resigned 1205.
1450 (elected), confirm
1459_1474.
15231537 (died 1538)
The bishops up to Adalbert (1066) cannot, of course,
strictly speaking, be said to be bishops of Nidaros, as there
LIST OF BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS. 367
was no diocesan episcopacy in the early times ; but as
their work was mainly carried on in that part of the
country, their names are usually included in the Nidaros
list. The exact order, and the names as well, are not
certain. The list given above follows J0rgenss0n in Den
Nordiske Kirkes Grundlceggelse og f0rste udvikling.
i s
I e
H o 5
<j fc
^ 5
HH ^ 35
g 3-5
w ^
pq W
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; d.
KON SVERR
d. 1204.
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e"S M
5 S O W
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<J
fcd
I MAONUSS0N V.,
Supheinia of Riig
ngeborg, d. 1318
. Erik of Sweden'
Euphem
m. Duke of Me<
m. Ingeborg of
m. Duke of Po
KINGS OF
li " A
-og
P^
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3 jfj
*"* 3 "*J ~ea
2S S _ CO S >P
P w^- |23 3
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_2g |1^ tfg
AALBOBG, 293
Aanund, Jacob, 76, 80, 83
Aasta Gudbrandsdatter, 60
Abingdon, 69
Absalon, Abp. of Lund, 167
Adalbert of Bremen, 101, 103
Adam of Bremen, 21, 34, 69, 78,
98, 126, 127
Adolf of Slesvig, 275
Adrian IV., Pope, 139, 147
Adrian VI., Pope, 301
Agder, 46, 59, 247
Agnes, 225, 276
Akershus, 228, 291, 300, 322, 323,
Albans, St., 130, 258
Albert of Mecklenburg, 330
Albert of Prussia, Duke, 341
Albrekt of Mecklenburg, 250, 251,
Alexander II., Pope, 103
Alexander III., Pope, 147161
Alexander V., Pope, 267
Alexander VI., Pope, 297
Alexander III. of Scotland, 218
Alexius I., Emp., Ill
Alexius III., Emp., 172
Alfiva (^Ifgifu), 9193
Alfss0n, Knut, 306
Alkmar, 348
Althing, 55
Anastasius IV., Pope, 139
Anders Matson, 348
Andover, 41
Andreas, Bp. of Oslo, 219
Andres Plytt, 218
Ansgar, 20, 21, 33
Antonius, 314
Antvorskov Cloister, 347
Amund Sigurdss0n, 271
Amsterdam, 300
Aquitaine, 102
Arcemboldus, John, 302
Arne, Bp. of Stavanger, 223
Arne, Bp. of Bergen, 230, 231
Arne, Einarss0n, Abp., 243, 244
Arvefil, 125
Asatro, 3
Asbj0rn of Medalhus, 27
Aser, 3
Asgaard, 3, 4
Asgaut, 102
Askell, Abp., 266
Astrid, 40, 76
Athelstan, 15, 23
Audfin, Bp. of Bergen, 240
Augsburg, 324
Augustinians in Norway, 130
Autbert, 20
Ave Maria introduced, 143
Avignon, 231, 260
^Elfheah (St. Alphege), 41
Baahus, 242, 322, 340
Baard Guttormss0n, 163
Baglers, The, 172
Barlaam's and Josafat's Saga,
Basel, Council of, 281
a Becket, Thomas, 147, 246
Bede, 72
Bene, 191
Benedictines in Norway, 130
Bergen (Bj0rgvin) founded, 106 ;
Bishopric of, 119; 133, 138,
145 ; Magnus Erlingss0n
crowned at, 150 ; 159, 162 ;
Council at, 165 ; 169 ; Sverre
B B 2
crowned at, 170 ; Burned
by Baglers, 174 ; 180, 187 ;
Council at, 190 ; 194 ; Haakon
Haakonss0n crowned at, 197 ;
206, Council of, 212, 215;
218, 223 ; Provincial Council
at, 237238; 242; Black
Death begins at, 245 ; Murder
of Bishop of, 283, 284; 288;
Kristian and Dyveke at, 299 ;
Vincent Lunge comes to,
306; State Council at, 307;
Eske Bilde in command at,
309 ; Lutheran preachers at,
314; Destruction of churches
in, 316318 ; Munkeliv de-
stroyed, 336, 347; Geble
Pederss0n, Lutheran superin-
tendent of, 349
Bergenhus, 307, 316, 335, 340
Bergliot, 59
Bernhard, 69, 100
Bilde, Eske, 309, 31etseq., 329,
332, 334, 337, 345347
Bilde, Klaus, 332, 334, 336
Bilde, Torben, Abp. of Lund, 342
Birger Magnuss0n, 226, 232, 233
Birger Pederson, 258
Birger of Tautra, 210
Birgitta, St., 131, 258261
Birk (Sigtuna), 20
Birkebeiner, The, 154, 183, 191,
Biskopsrede, 124, 128
Bjarne Erlingss0n, 217
Bjarne Lodinss0n, 217, 225
Bj0rn Farmand, 14, 59
Bj0rn, King of Sweden, 20
Black Death(SorteD^),245ese2.
Blanche of Namur, 241, 259
"Bloodbath of Stockholm," 304.
Blot, 6
Bogesund, 303
Bolt, Aslak (Harniktss0n), Abp.,
268270, 279
Bolt, Aslak, Jordebog of, 269
Bonde, 1
Boniface IX., Pope, 261
Borg (Sarpsborg), 64, 75, 81, 189
Borgar Thing, 74, 126, 142, 211
Bothwell, 339
B0mmel Fjord, 251
Braga, 4
Breakspeare Nicholas, his Mis-
sion to Norway, 137 et seq. ;
Death of, 147 ; 186, 207
Bremen, 21, 34, 45, 70
Brimiskjarr, 35
Brynjulfss0n, Jon, 219 221
Bugenhagen, 349
Bukken Fjord, 82
Burislaf of Vendland, 53
Bury St. Edmunds, 160
Byrgess0n, Jon, Bp. and Abp.,
Calixtus III., Pope, 285
Campeggio, Cardinal, 320
Catharine of Siena, St., 260
Cecilia, 114, 115
Cecilia, Sister of Sverre, 155, 157,
Celestine III., Pope, 171
Celestine IV., Pope, 195
Charles V., Emp., 299, 300, 320,
Christina, 208
Cistercians in Norway, 130
Clement III., Pope, 165
Clement IV., Pope, 210
Clement V., Pope, 229
Clement VI., Pope, 243, 248
Concordat, T0nsberg, 213 et seq.,
Constantinople, 97, 111
Copenhagen, 232 ; University
founded, 287 ; 299, 303, 304,
321, 324, 329; Taken by
Count Kristofer, 330 ; Siege
of 336 ; Surrenders to Kris-
tian III., 339 ; Coup d'Etat
at, 341 ; Eigsdag at, 342; 346
Corvei, 20
Crusade, Sigurd's, 111.
Cumbria, 19
Dagfirm, 191
Dag Hringss0n, 86
Dale Gudbrand, 77
Ditmarsk, 289
Dominicans in Norway, 130, 206,
Dovre Fjeld, 113
Dragseid, 46, 47
Drammen, 81, 100
Drotsete first appointed, 239
Dublin, 13, 17, 19, 41
Dyveke, 299, 300
Ebbo of Eheims, 20
Eidsiva Thing, 8, 46, 142, 211
Eidsvold, 10
Eiliv Arness0n, 230, 231, 235,
Einabu, 82
Einar Gunnarss0n, 204, 210
Einar, Thamberskj elver, 59, 81,
Eindride, 98, 220
Eivind Kinnriva, 48, 52
Elgesseter, 130, 162, 194
Elfsborg, 283
Elina, 332
Eliaess0n, Paul, 303
Enkj0bing, 251
Erik Blodfikse (Bloodaxe), 14,
Erik the Good (of Denmark),
Erik of Hordaland, 11
Erik Ivarss0n, Abp., 165; Con-
troversy with Sverre, 166 ;
Mies to Denmark, 167 ;
Excommunicates Sverre,
168; Returns to Norway,
186 ; Eesigns, 188
Erik Jarl, 53, 58
Erik of Jylland, 20
Erik of Pomerania, 254 ; Marries
Philippa, d. of Hen. IV. of
England, 258 ; Norway
Rebels against, 271 ; Ap-
points Drotsete, 272; Re-
jected by Norway and
Dies, 273
Erik (Prestehader), 216 ; Corona-
tion of, 217 ; Regents and
Abp. Jon., 217; Defends
the Church, 220; Makes
new Agreement with Church,
221; Death of, 223; His
Daughter, "The Maid of
Norway," 224
Erik of Sweden, 51
Erlend, Bp. of Fseroe, 227
Erling, 38
Erling Skakke, 144, 147
Erling Skjalgss0n, 46, 59, 82
Erling Steinvaeg, 188
Erling Vidkunss0n, 239, 241
Ethelred II., 40, 60
Ethelward, 41
Eugenius III., Pope, 136
Euphemia of Riigen, 225
Euphemia (sister of Magnus), 250
Evenvik, 46, 106
Eystein Aslakss0n, Bp. of Oslo,
Eystein Erlendss0n, Abp., 61,
94, 146 ; His Compact with
Magnus, 151 ; Flies to Eng-
land, 159 ; Returns to Nor-
way, 160 ; Compiles " Gol-
den Feather," 161; Com-
mences Cathedral, 162 ;
Death of, 163
Eystein, King, 110, 113
Eystein, King (son of Harald
Gille), 134, 135, 136 ; Killed,
Eystein M0ila, 154
Falk0ping, 255
Fseroe Islands, 13, 57, 138, 217,
Fidentius, Cardinal, 173
Filippus, 188, 189
Finland, 244
Finn Halldorss0n, 229, 231
Fitjar, 29
Fjeldstuer, 113
Flensborg, 267, 305, 324
Florence of Worcester, 41
Florevaag, 169
Folkvid, 155, 162
Fountains Abbey, 130
Franciscans in Norway, 130, 206,
Frederick I., King of Denmark,
304; Accepted Conditionally
in Norway, 307; His Mani-
festo from Eibe, 308 ; Grants
Toleration to Lutherans,
313; Sends Duke Kristian
to Norway, 314; Orders
Destruction of Bergen
Churches, 317 ; Helped by
Liibeckers against Kristian
II., 323; His Eesponsibility
for Breach of Safe Conduct
to Kristian IT., 325; Death
of, 326
Frederick II., Emp., 196
Frederick III., Emp., 289
Frederick, Count Palatine, 338,
Frederick, Duke of Slesvig, 290
Frederiksvasrn, 64
Fresze, Herman, 314
Freya, 4, 6, 10, 73
Frigg, 3
Frosta Thing, 8, 46, 142, 205, 211
Fyen, 343
Fylke, 6, 7, 13
Fylke Kirke, 121, 122
Gaard, 2
Galle, Olaf, 306, 309
Gardarike, 82, 83
Garde, 138, 242, 297
Gautbert, 20
Gaute Ivarss0n, 287, 288, 292
Geble Pederss0n, 336, 337, 348,
" General Eecess " of Copen-
hagen, The, 342
Gilds, 108
Gims0, 303
Ginnungagap, 3
Gissur Thorvaldss0n, 203
Gissur the White, 56
Glommen, 65
"Golden Feather," The, 161,
Gotland, 197, 272, 273
Gottorp, 326
Greenland, 13, 57, 103, 138, 202,
Gregorius Dagss0n, 144
Gregory VII., Pope, 109
Gregory IX., Pope, 195, 203, 207,
Gregory X., Pope, 212
Gregory XII., Pope, 267
Grevens Feide, The, 330
" Grey Goose," The, 96, 161, 167
Grim, 89
Grimkell, 67, 69, 82, 92, 93
Grubbe, Joachim, 284
Gudbrandsdal, 75, 77
Gudrun(Jernskjsegge's daughter)
Gula Thing, 8, 46, 142, 151, 211
Gunhild, 22, 29, 33, 40
Gunhild (Sverre's mother), 156
Gustav Vasa, 304
Guthorm, 11
Guttorm, Abp., 190
Gyda, 11, 12
Gyldenstjerne, Knut, Bp. of
Gyldenstjerne, Mogen, 322, 324,
Gyrd, Bp. of Stavanger, 248
Haakon Erikss0n, 63, 81
Haakon Galin, 187, 188
Haakon the Good, Birth, 15 ;
Gains Norway, 23 ; Tries to
Introduce Christianity, 25,
27 ; Death, 29
Haakon Haakonss0n, 187, 189;
Chosen King, 190 ; and Bp.
Nicholas, 193 ; Contest with
Skule, 194 ; Coronation, 196
199 ; Kristenret of, 201 ;
Annexes Iceland, 202 ; New
Law of Succession, 205 ;
Haakon Herdebred, 144, 147
Haakon Ivarss0n, Abp., 253
Haak Jarl, 33, 36, 43
Haakon Magnuss0n (d. 1095)
Haakon V., Magnuss0n, 225 ;
His New Law of Succession,
226; Curtails Power of the
Barons, 227 ; Appoints a
"Magister Capellarum
Eegis,"228,229; His Daugh-
ter Ingeborg Marries Duke
Erik, 232 ; Death of, 233
Haakon VI., Magnuss0n, Marries
Margaret of Denmark, 250 ;
Sole King in Norway, 253 ;
Haakon Sverress0n, 185 ; Death
Haakon, Bp. of Bergen, 242
Haakon, Abp., 210
Haalogaland, 8, 48, 52, 76, 239,
Haarek of Thjotta, 48, 52, 81, 85
Hadeland, 10, 40
Hafrsfjord, 12
Halfdan Hvitbein, 10
Halfdan Svarte, 10
Halkel Huk, 114
Hallkel Jonss0n, 169
11 Halmstad Recess," 288, 292, 296
Halsn0 Cloister, 130, 270
Halvard, St., 99, 119
Halyard's Skat, 205
Hamar, 120, 138, 347
Hamburg, 20, 35
Hans, King, Accepted as King of
Norway, 285 ; Issues Halm-
stad Eecess and is Crowned at
Trondhjem, 288; Defeated
by Ditmarskers, 289, 290;
Sweden and Norway Eebel,
291; Sends Duke Kristian to
Norway, 291; Procures Ap-
pointment of Abp. Valdendorf
and his Death, 293
Hans (son of Kristian II.), 324
Hans, Duke (son of Frederick I.),
Hanseatic League, 216
Harald Blaatand, 32, 33, 36
Harald Gille, 114; Proclaimed
King, 132; Hangs Bp.
Eeinald, 133 ; Dies, 133
Harald Gormss0n, 29
Harald Graafell, 29, 31, 33
Harald Grenske, 59, 100
Harald Haardraade, 76, 84 ; De-
mands Kingdom, 97 ; Founds
Oslo, 99; Contest with
Bremen, 100103; Death
Harald Haarfagre, 11, 12, 17
Harald Klak, 11
Hardeknut, 95
Haugesund, 15
Haukby, 109
Hebrides, 13, 206, 210, 287
Hedal Church, 246
Hedemarken, 82, 291
Heidelberg, 331
" Heimskringla," The, 202
Helge the Thin, 19
Helgeaaen, 80
Helsingborg, 232, 273, 330
Hemmingsted, 290
Henrikss0n, Nils, 306, 319
Herluf Hufvudfat, 291
Herreds, 6, 7
Herreds kirker, 121 et seq.
Herse, 1
Hirdmcend, 215
Hjalte Skjaeggess0n, 56
Hjort of Vaage, 48
Hlade, 23, 48, 64
Hole, 138, 150, 202, 203, 217,
Holmengraa, 134
Holstein, 20
Holy Saviour, Order of the, 261,
Honorius III., Pope, 190
Honorius IV., Pope, 220
Hordaland, 46
Hoskold Hoskoldss0n, Bp. of
Stavanger, 311, 337, 347
Hov, 5, 6
Hoved0en, 130, 322
Hfigendes kirker, 121 et seq.,
Hflrg, 6
Hubert, Abp. of Bremen, 135
Hundthorp, 77
Iceland, 13, 54, 55, 138, 203
Ilevolden, 159
Inga, 189
Inge Baardss0n, 187
Ingeborg (Queen of Magnus
Lagab0ter), 205, 217
Ingeborg (d. of Haakon V.), 225,
Ingeborg of Mecklenburg, 253
Inge Krokryg, 134, 137 ; Killed,
Innocent III., Pope, 175, 182, 206
Innocent IV., Pope, 195, 208
Innocent VI., Pope, 248
Interdict, Norway under the, 176
Isabella (of Burgundy), 299, 320
Isabella, 224
Isebrand, Wolf, 290
Jakob, Bp. of Bergen, 252
James III. (of Scotland), 287
Jaroslav, 82, 83
Jaemtland, 84, 113, 158
Jens, or Jon, Bp. of Oslo, 270,
Jernskjaegge of Upphaug, 49
Jocelin de Brakelond, 160
Jom, or Jumne, 37
Jomsvikings, 35, 37
Jons Kloster, 130
Jon (Eaude), Abp., 210, 211, 217,
J0rund, Bp. of Hamar, and Abp.,
Jotuns, 3
Julefest, 26
Julius II., Pope, 293
Jylland, 330, 343
Kallundborg, 324
Kalmar, 256, 273
Kalmar Union, The, 256 et seq.
Kalteisen, Henrik (Abp.), 281,282
Kalv Arness0n, 81, 85, 95
Kalvskindet, 159
Karl the Great, 20
Karl, Bp. of Hamar, 291
Karl of Sweden, 277
Katharina, 272
King's Lynn, 197
Kirkevaag (Orkney), 138
Kirkeb0 (Fasroe Islands), 138
Knut the Great, 59, 78, 80
Knut Porse, 236, 239
Knutss0n, Alf, 289
Knutss0n Karl, 272, 275, 285
Kolbj0rn Stallare, 54
Koln, 282
Konghelle, 51, 170, 200
Kors Kirke (Bergen), 318
Krabbe, John, 292
Krabbe, Morten, 331
Kristenret, St. Olaf's, 71 et seq.,
149; Abp. System's, 161;
Sverre's, 165 ; of Haakon
Haakonss0n and Abp. Si-
gurd, 201, 240; Bp. Thorlak's
(Iceland), 202
Kristian I. (Christiern), offered
Norwegian Crown, 276, 277 ;
Crowned at Nidaros, 278 ;
His Policy to Norwegian
Church, 279; His Compact
with Marcellus, 280; His
Conflict with the Pope, 284 ;
Calls Meeting at Skara, 285 ;
Accepts T0nsberg Concordat,
286; Pledges Orkneys and
Shetlands, 287 ; Founds Co-
penhagen University, and
His Death, 287
Kristian II. (Christiern), King,
Crowned at Oslo, 296;
Meets Dyveke and Marries
Isabella of Burgundy, 299;
Sigbrit's Influence over, 300;
Controversy with Abp.
Valkendorf, 300; Eeceives
Arcemboldus in Denmark,
302 ; Patronizes Lutheranism
and Conquers Sweden, 303 ;
"Bloodbath of Stockholm,"
304 ; Deposed and Flies to
Netherlands, 304 ; Abp.
Olaf Engelbrektss0n Swears
Allegiance to, 305; Abjures
Lutheranism, 319, 320 ; In-
vades Norway, 321 ; Fails
to take Akershus, 322 ; Sur-
renders at Oslo, 323 ; Goes
to Copenhagen under Pro-
mise of Safe Conduct, 324 ;
Imprisonment and Death of,
Kristian'lII.,'328 331, 333,337 ;
Captures Copenhagen, 339 ;
His Coup d'Etat, 341 ; His
Manifesto, 342 ; Abolishes
Norwegian Independence,
Kristian IV., 350
Kristine, 188
Kristofer of Bavaria, 272
Kristofer of Oldenborg, Count,
Krummedike, Hartvig, 276, 289
Krummedike, Henrik, 291, 306,
Lacman, 61
Lag<t>re, 148, 166
Langesund, 64
Largs, Battle at, 206
Laurentius, Abbot of Hoved0en,
Lauritss0n, Mogen, Bp. of Hamar,
Leif Erikss0n, 57
Leilandinger, 8
Lendermznd, 205, 215, 227
Leo X., Pope, 293, 301
Liafdag, 34, 35
Libentius of Bremen, 78
Liemar, Abp., 109
Lierre, 349
Lille Mi0sen, 79
Lindesnaes, 58
Linkj0ping, 235
Livaag, 37
Lorn, 246
Lothair, Cardinal, 175
Louvain, 348
Liibeck, 302, 329, 330
Lucie (Nilsdatter), 332
Ludvig the German, 21
Ludvig the Pious, 20, 21
Lund, 104, 135, 342
Lunge, Vincent, Comes to Nor-
way, 306 ; Meets Frederick
I. at Eibe, 307; Eeceives
Nonnesaeter, 309; Tries to
Secure Bergenhus, 315 ; 321,
329; Joins Duke Kristian,
330; 331; at Council in
Trondhjem, 333 ; Murdered,
Luther, 303
Lykke, Nils, 319, 321, 323, 326,
332 ; Death of, 335
Lyse, 130
Maeren, 49, 50, 77
" Magister Capellarum Regis,"
Magnus (Barfot), 110
Magnus, Bp. of Bergen, 114
Magnus Erlingss0n, Chosen
King, 145; Crowned, 150;
His Compact with Abp.
Eystein, 151 ; Defeats Birke-
beiner, 154 ; Contest with
Sverre, 158 ; Killed at Nore,
Magnus Erikss0n, 235 ; King of
Sweden and Norway, 236;
His Mother Ingeborg, 239 ;
Marries Blanche of Namur,
241 ; Nicknamed Smek, 242 ;
Discontent in Sweden, 242 ;
Attacks Eussians, 244 ;
Forced to Nominate a Drot-
sete, 250 ; Drowned in B0m-
mel Fjord, 251
Magnus the Good, 95, 97
Magnus Gissurss0n, 203
Magnus Lag abater, 209 ; Codifies
the Law, 211 ; Agrees to
T0nsberg Concordat, 213 ;
Gives New Titles to Chiefs,
Malmfrid, 114
Man, Isle of, 13, 17, 138, 210,
243 et seq.
Marcellus, Bp. of Skaalholt, 278,
Marcus, Bp. of Sodor and Man,
Margaret, " The Maid of Nor-
way," 224
Margaret (of Scotland), 218, 220,
Margaret, Queen (d. of Valde-
mar), Marriage of, 250;
Eules Denmark, 253 ; Eccle-
siastical Policy of, 254;
Eegent in Norway, 254 ;
Gains Sweden, 255 ; Effects
Kalmar Union, 256 ; Death
and Character of, 267, 268
Margaret (d. of Kristian I.), 287
Margreta, 187, 194
Marstrand, 277
Martin, Bp., Sverre's Chaplain,
Matthias, Bp. of Strengnaes, 304
Matthew Paris, 196 et seq., 208
Maximilian I., Emp., 299
Mechlines, 305
Meldorf, 290
Mellitus, 72
" Michel's Corn," 269
Mindebager, 28
Mi0sen Lake, 10, 75
Mj01nir, 4, 28
Mortensen, Jens, 315
Moster, 42, 43, 56, 71
Mule, Hans, 300, 302, 312
Munkeliv Cloister, 113, 283, 317,
Munkholmen, 92, 129
Mus, Andreas, Bp., 300, 301, 312
Muspelheim, 3
Myklegaard, 111
Namdalen, 76
Narve, Bp. of Bergen, 220
" Nemus Unionis," The, 262, 263
Netherlands, The, 345, 346
Nesje, 64
Nial, Bp. of Stavanger, 170, 175
Nicholas I., Pope, 103
Nicholas V., Pope, 281
Nicholas Arness0n, Bp. of Oslo,
Nicholas Euser, orEusare,254,266
Nidarholm, Foundation of, 129
Nidaros, Foundation of, 49 ; 56,
63, 77, 81, 89, 92, 99, 107,
119, 121 ; Primacy Founded,
136; 146, 151,158, 162, 166,
173, 179, 183, 188, 190, 194,
206; Council at, 222; 226,
240, 243; Council at, 249;
Niffelheim, 3
Ni0rd, 4, 6
Nonnesaeter Cloister, 315
Nore, 159
Norges Gamle Love, 74
Normandy, 61
Northumbria, 24, 63
Nykj0ping, Castle of, 232
Odd, 68
Odel Tenure, 7, 12, 24
Odense, 253, 312, 313
Odin, 1, 3, 4, 6
Odinkar, 35
Ofoten, 201
Olaf, Abp., 248, 249
"Olaf's Corn," 269
Olaf Engelbrektss0n, Abp., 305,
307, 320; Proclaims Kristian
II., 322 ; and the Count Pala-
tine, 331 ; Eesponsibility for
Murder of Vincent Lunge,
334 ; Attempts on Behalf of
Count Palatine, 335 ; Flight
from Trondhjem, 345 ; Death
Olaf Haakonss0n, King of Den-
mark, 253 ; Death of, 254
Olaf Haraldss0n (St. Olaf), Birth,
60; in England and Nor-
mandy, 60; Baptism, 61 ; In-
vades Norway, 63 ; Chosen
King in Viken, 63 ; Victorious
at Nesje and Founds Borg,
64 ; Character and Appear-
ance, 65, 66 ; His Policy, 69;
As Law-giver, 70 74 ; Chris-
tianizes the Oplands, 75 ;
Gudbrandsdal, 78 ; Appeals to
Abp. Unwan for Help, 78 ;
Knut's Claims, 80; Flight
from Norway, 82 ; Eeturns,
83 ; In Vaerdalen, 84 ; Battle
of Stiklestad and Death,
86, 87 ; Disputed Date, 88 ;
Temporary Burial, 90 ; Body
Disinterred and Saintship
Proclaimed, 93 ; Places of
Burial, 94
Olaf Kvaran, 41
Olaf Kyrre, 105, 106 ; Death of, 109
Olaf Magnuss0n, 110
Olaf Nilss0n, Governor of Bergen,
Olaf's Skat, 205
Olaf of Sweden, 58
Olaf Thorkildss0n, 333, 348
Olaf Trygvess0n, Birth and Early
Life, 40, 41 ; Invades Nor-
way, 42 ; Chosen King, 43 ;
Spreads Christianity, 45 et
seq. ; Founds Nidaros, 49 ;
Destroys Temple at Mseren,
51 ; Woos Sigrid, 51 ; Con-
verts Haalogaland, 52; Battle
of Svolder and Death, 53
Oplands, 52, 75, 337
Orkneys, 13, 17, 33, 42, 96, 138,
Orm Eysteinss0n, 250
Orm Lyrgia, 38
Oslo, Founded, 99 ; 116, 119, 138 ;
King Inge Killed at, 144 ; 170,
Skule Defeated at, 194 ; 205,
223 ; Council at, 225 ; Pro-
vincial Council at, 227 ; Abp.
Olaf Dies at, 247; Council
at, 271; 276; Attacked by
Swedes, 277 ; 291 ; Bp. Karl
of Hamar Dies at, 292 ; 300,
315 ; Kristian II. Arrives at,
322; Surrenders at, 323;
332 ; Hans Eeff Evangelical
Superintendent of, 348
Ottesdatter, Fru Ingerd, 306, 319,
Otto II., 33
Pallie-hjc&lp, 231
Paolo Justiniani, 284
Parish Priest, Duties of, 125
Paschal I., Pope, 20
Paschal II., Pope, 135
Paul Baardss0n, Abp., 240, 241 ;
Pederss0n, Absalon, 352
Pederss0n, Geble, 336, 348, 349
Pein, Johan, 341
Perth, Treaty of, 210
Peter, Abp., 193
Peter's Pence, 142
Philip of Castile, 208
Philippa, (d. of Henry IV. of
England), 258
Pius II., Pope, 285
Pomerania, 273
Poppo, 33, 35
Premonstratensians, 130
Primsigne, 18
Prussia, 197
Pudde Fjord, 283
Eandsfjord, 40
Eane, 60
Eaud of God0, 52
Eagnhild, 11
Eagnvald of M0re, 12
Eanrike, 58
Ee, Battle of, 154, 202
Eeff, Hans, Bp. of Oslo, 312, 322,
Eeidar, Abp. of Nidaros, 136
Eeidar (Sendemand), 172, 180
Eeinald, 115, 133
Eeinhard, Martin, 303
Eeykjaholt, 203
Eibe, 34, 307 ; Manifesto of, 327 ;
Eingerike, 45, 60, 61
Eingsaker, 76
Eobert of Eouen, 61
Eoe, Bp., 156
Eoed, Thord, 323, 335, 346
Eogaland, 37, 46
Eoger de Hoveden, 170
Eolf the Ganger, 14
Roma Skat, 142
Eoskilde, 254, 268, 287, 293, 342
Eostock, 255, 271, 287
Kouen, 62
E0kenvik, 10
E0rek, 76
Eudolf, 69
Eufus, St., Monastery of, 137
Eusheen, Monastery of, 243
Eussell, Bp. William, 243, 244
Eussia, 83
Eussians, 239, 244
Eustung, Kristofer Throndss0n,
334336, 339, 344
Sag<j>re or b<j>der, 148, 166
Salomon, Bp. of Oslo, 247, 248
Saracens, 201
Saeheim, 30
Saters, 245
Scilly Isles, 41
Scotland, 206
Sekken, 148
Selje, 47, 63, 119, 130, 258
Shetlands, 13, 17, 287, 308
Sidon, 111
Sigbrit, 299, 300, 301, 304
Sigefridus, 25, 355
Sigfrid, or Sigurd, Bp. of Stavan-
ger, 248
Sigismund Herberstein, 299
Sigmund Bretess0n, 57
Sigrid, 51, 53
Sigurd (Olaf T.'s Bp.), 42, 45, 48,
Sigurd (St. Olaf's Bp.), 69, 355
Sigurd (Knut's Bp.), 86, 90, 92,
Sigurd, Bp. of Bergen, 130
Sigurd Eindridess0n, 194, 198,
Sigurd Erlingss0n, 169
Sigurd Guttorm Sigurdss0n, 187
Sigurd Jarl, 23 et seq.
Sigurd Jonss0n, 272, 276, 277
Sigurd Jorsalfarer, 110; His
Crusade, 111 ; Eeproved by
Bp. Magnus, 114; Death,
Sigurd Lodvess0n, 42
Sigurd Mund, 134; Eeceives
Nicholas Breakspeare, 137 ;
Killed, 144
Sigurd Eibbung, 192, 193
Sigurd Slembediakn (Slembe),
Sigurd Syr, 45, 60, 63, 84
Sigurd of Tautra, 192
Sigvald Jarl, 37, 53
Sigvat the Skald, 65
Simon of Durham, 106
Sodor and Man (Suder0erne and
Man), 138, 210, 217, 243, 244,
Sogndals Fjord, 159
Sogne Fjord, 159
Sole, 59
S0nderborg, 324, 329
S0ndhordland, 29
S0ndm0re, 345
S<t>lv</>re, 148
S0rle, Abp., 204
Sjale<j>l, 125
Sjselland, 330, 341, 343
Skaalholt, 138, 202, 203, 217, 242,
Skaals, 6, 73
Skaane, 80, 233, 250, 341, 343
Skara, 219, 285
Skule Baardss0n, 189, 190, 191,
Slagelsee, 253
Slesvig, 21, 33
Smaaland, 113
Snorre Sturlass0n, 202, 203
Stadt, 37, 47
Stainmoor, 24
Stamford Bridge, 99
Stavanger, Founded, 106; First
Bishop of, 115 ; Cathedral,
121 ; 138, 200, 223
Sten Sture, 302, 303
Stefner Thorgilss0n, 55
Stein, Abbot of Munkeliv, 269
Stenviksholm, 323, 326, 332, 346
Stephen (Papal Legate), 150
Stigsen, Otto, 323
Stiklestad, 86
Stockholm, 235, 250, 256, 303
Stord, 29
Strandhug, 13
Strinds0, Battle at, 179
St0dle, 144
Svein Tjugeskjaeg, 37, 52, 53,
Svein Jarl, 64
Svein Knutss0n, 91
Svein Ulfss0n, 97, 135
Sverker Karlss0n (of Sweden),
Sverre Sigurdss0n, King, Birth,
156 ; Early Life, 157 ; Leads
Birkebeiner, 158 ; Defeats
Magnus, 159 ; Eeconciled to
Bystein, 163; His Kristen-
ret, 165 ; Contest with Abp.
Erik, Excommunicated, 168 ;
Crowned, 170 ; Struggle with
Baglers, 172 ; His Embassy
to Pope, 173 ; Struggle with
Innocent III., His Tale mod
Biskoperne, 177, 179; De-
feats Baglers, 180; Death
and Character, 182184
Svolder, 53, 58
Sysselmand, 164, 227
Sylte, 82
Sunniva, St., 47, 119
Tale mod Biskoperne, The, 177,
Tautra, 190, 210, 319, 334
Teodbrand, or Thangbrand,
Theodore of Niem, 249, 262
Things, 2
Thor, 4, 73
Thora of Guldalen, 43
Thora of Moster, 14
Thore, Bp. of Hamar, 170, 173
Thore, Abp., 193
Thore Hund, 81, 85, 93
Thore Klakka, 41, 42
Thorfinn, Bp. of Hamar, 219
Thorgil, 89
Thorkel the Tall, 60
Thorkildss0n, Olaf , Bp. of Bergen,
Thorlak Thorhallss0n, 202
Thorleif Olafss0n, Bp. of Bergen,
Thorny, 99
Thorvald Kodranss0n, 55
Thyra, 53
Tithes, 111, 128, 218, 221, 257,
Thrond, Abp., 252, 253
Throndss0n, Abp. Olaf, 279, 281,
Torolv Luseskjaeg, 40
Tostig, 99
T0nsberg, 14, 132, 154, 180, 200,
Translation of St. Olaf, 94
Trolds, 4
Trolle, Gustav, Abp., 303
Troms0, 201
Tr0ndelagen, 8, 34, 42, 145
Trondhjem, 288, 293 ; Abp. Erik
Leaves, 300; 304; Fire at,
321 ; 323, 326, 345, 347
Trygve, 31, 40
Turgot, 106
Ulf Gudmarson, 259
Ulfstand, Truid, 346, 347
Ulster, 110
Unas, 156
Unwan of Bremen, 78, 101
Upsala, 235, 272, 275
Urban II., Pope, 135
Urban IV., Pope, 210
Urban V., Pope, 260, 261
Urban VI., Pope, 266
Urguthrj0tr, 35
Utrecht, 301
Vadstena, 261, 269
V^rdal, 84
Vserne Priory, 326
Valdemar Atterdag, 253, 267
Valdemar of Gardarike, 40
Valders, 75
Valdendorf, Erik, Abp., 293, 296,
Vardberg, 242
Vasa, Gustavus, 330
382 INDEX.
Vebj0rn, 99
Vendland, 40, 53
Vends, 96
Vermland, 155
Vestfold, 10
Viborg, 279
Viborg, Jens, 314
Victor IV., Pope, 147
Viken, 31, 34, 36, 45, 59, 145,
Viking Expeditions, 17, 107
Vinalde Henrikss0n, Abp., 257,
Vincent, Bp. of Skara, 304
Vinland, 57
Vitalie-brtdre, The, 255
Von Heiderstorp, 323
Voss, 333
William of Jumieges, 61
William of Malmesbury, 25
William of Newbury, 160
William, Cardinal Bp. of Sabina,
Winchester, 115
Wismar, 255
0lgerdir, 73, 108
01mod the Old, 46
01ve of Egg, 77
0re Thing, 333
0steraat, 306
NOTE. aa, as in Haakon, etc., is pronounced like a long o ; the
final e is always sounded, but as a short e ; sk, before i or j t is
pronounced as sh ; is like the French eu or German 0.
BRADBURY, AGNEAV, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGK.
Historical Map
NORWAY, SWEDEN and DENMARK
Gusiav Storm
Including fhe Country around Mdaros
(Trondhjem) and Oslo (Krisiiania.)
flenjorrv fyim. JiihAnsi. Ans
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