Archdiocese of Nidaros

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The Catholic archdiocese of Nidaros was the metropolitan see covering Norway in the later Middle ages. The see was Nidaros Cathedral, Nidaros being another name for Trondhjem (modern Trondheim). The archdiocese existed from the middle of the twelfth century to the Protestant Reformation.

[edit] History

In Norway it was the kings who introduced Christianity, which first became known to the people during their martial expeditions.^[1] The work of Christianization begun by Haakon the Good (d. 981)^[2] was carried on by Olaf Trygvesson (d. 1002) and Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf, d. 1030). Both were converted vikings, the former having been baptized at Andover, England, by Aelfeah, Bishop of Winchester, and the latter at Rouen by Archbishop Robert.^[3]

In 997 Olaf Trygvesson founded at the mouth of the River Nid the city of Nidaros, afterwards called Trondhjem, where he built a royal palace and a church; he laboured to spread Christianity in Norway, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland.^[4] King Olaf Haraldsson created an episcopal see at Nidaros, installing the monk Grimkill as bishop. Moreover, many English and German bishops and priests came Norway. The Norwegian bishops were at first dependent on the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, and afterwards on the Archbishop of Lund, Primate of Scandinavia. As the Norwegians wanted an archbishop of their own, Pope Eugene III, resolving to create a metropolitan see at Trondhjem, sent thither as legate (1151) Cardinal Nicholas of Albano (Nicholas Breakspeare), afterwards Adrian IV. The legate installed Jon Birgerson, previously Bishop of Stavanger, as Archbishop of Trondhjem. The bishops of Oslo (bishop 1073), Bergen (about 1060), Stavanger (1130), Hamar (1151), the Orkneys (1070), Iceland (Skalholt, 1056; Holar, 1105), and Greenland became suffragans.

Archbishop Birgerson was succeeded by Eysteinn Erlendsson (Beatus Augustinus, 1158-88), previously royal secretary and treasurer, a man of intellect, strong will, and piety.^[5] King Sverre wished to make the Church a tool of the temporal power, and the archbishop was compelled to flee from Norway to England. He was able to return, and a reconciliation took place later between him and the king, but on Eystein's death Sverre renewed his attacks, and Archbishop Eric had to leave the country and take refuge with Absalon, Archbishop of Lund. At last, when Sverre attacked the papal legate, Pope Innocent III laid the king and his partisans under interdict.^[6]

King Haakon III (1202), son and successor of Sverre, hastened to make peace with the Church. To regulate ecclesiastical affairs, which had suffered during the struggles with Sverre, Pope Innocent IV in 1247 sent Cardinal William of Sabina as legate to Norway. He intervened against encroachments on the part of the bishops, reformed various abuses, and abolished the ordeal by hot iron. Owing in great measure to the papal legates, Norway became more closely linked with the supreme head of Christendom at Rome. Secular priests, Benedictines, Cistercians, Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans worked together for the prosperity of the Church. Archbishops Eilif Kortin (d. 1332), Paul Baardson (d. 1346), and Arne Vade (d. 1349) were zealous churchmen. Provincial councils were held, at which serious efforts were made to eliminate abuses and to encourage Christian education and morality.^[7]

Nidaros (Trondhjem), the metropolis of the ecclesiastical province, was also the capital of Norway. The residence of the kings until 1217, it remained until the troubles of the Reformation the heart and centre of the spiritual life of the country. There was situated the tomb of St. Olaf, and around the patron of Norway, "Rex perpetuus Norvegiae", the national and ecclesiastical life of the country was centred. The feast of St. Olaf on 29 July was a day or reunion for "all the nations of the Northern seas, Norwegians, Swedes, Goths, Cimbrians, Danes, and Slavs", to quote an old chronicler^[8], in the cathedral of Nidaros, where the reliquary of St. Olaf rested near the altar. Built in Roman style by King Olaf Kyrre (d. 1093), the dome had been enlarged by Archbishop Eystein in Ogival style. It was finished only in 1248 by Archbishop Sigurd Sim. Although several times destroyed by fire, the ancient dome was restored each time until the Reformation. Then Archbishop Eric Walkendorf was exiled (1521), and his successor, Olaf Engelbertsen, who had been the instrument of the royal will in the introduction of Lutheranism, had also, as a partisan of Christian II, to fly from Christian III (1537). The reliquaries of St. Olaf and St. Augustine (Eystein) were taken away, sent to Copenhagen, and melted. The bones of St. Olaf were buried in the cathedral, and the place forgotten.

[edit] References

• MUNCH, Throndhjems Domkirke (Christiania, 1859);
• KREFTING, Om Throndhjems Domkirke (Trondhjem, 1885);
• SCHIRMER, Kristkirken; Nidaros (Christiania, 1885);
• MATHIESEN, Det gamle Throndhjem (Christiani, 1897).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Hergenröther, "Kirchengeschichte", 1879, II, 721.
2. ^ Maurer, "Die Bekehrung des norwegischen Stammes", Munich, 1855, I, ii, 168.
3. ^ Bang, "Den norske Kirkes Historie under Katholicismen", Christiania, 1887, 44, 50.
4. ^ Maurer, op. cit., I, iii, 462.
5. ^ Daae, "Norges Helgener", Christiania, 1879, 170-6.
6. ^ Baluze, "Epp. Innocentii III", Paris, 1682, I, i, 226, 227.
7. ^ Bang, op. cit., 297.
8. ^ "Adami gesta pontificum Hammaburgensium", Hanover, 1876, II, 82.

This article incorporates text from the entry Ancient See of Trondhjem in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.