Lost archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church
The
Archdiocese of Nidaros
(or
Niðaross
) was the
metropolitan see
covering
Norway
in the later
Middle Ages
. The see was the
Nidaros Cathedral
, in the city of
Nidaros
(now
Trondheim
). The archdiocese existed from the middle of the twelfth century until the
Protestant Reformation
.
History
[
edit
]
In Norway, the kings who introduced Christianity which first became known to the people during their martial expeditions.
[2]
The work of Christianization begun by
Haakon the Good
(d. 961 in the
Battle of Fitjar
) was carried on by
Olaf Tryggvason
(d. 1000 in the
Battle of Svolder
) and
Olaf Haraldsson
(St. Olaf, d. 1030 in the
Battle of Stiklestad
). 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 Tryggvason founded at the mouth of the river
Nidelva
the city of Nidaros (now Trondheim) where he built a
Kongsgard estate
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 to 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 Nidaros, 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 Nidaros. The bishops of
Bergen
(bishop about 1068),
Faroe Diocese
(1047),
Garðar, Greenland
(1126),
Hamar
(1151),
Holar, Iceland
(1105),
Orkney
(1070; suffragan till 1472),
Oslo
(1073),
Skalholt, Iceland
(1056), and
Stavanger
(1130) 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 King Sverre renewed his attacks, and Archbishop Eric had to leave the country and take refuge with
Absalon
, Archbishop of Lund. At last, when King 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 King Sverre, hastened to make peace with the Church. Pope Innocent III gave Thorer, Archbishop of Drontheim, authority over all Scandinavian territory, including Greenland and Vinland, the Norse name for North America. 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]
In 1277, the Tønsberg Concord (
Sættargjerden in Tønsberg
) was signed between King
Magnus VI of Norway
and
Jon Raude
, the Archbishop of Nidaros confirming certain privileges of the clergy, the freedom of episcopal elections and similar matters. Nidaros (Trondheim), the metropolis of the ecclesiastical province, was also the capital of Norway. The residence of the kings until 1217, it remained until 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 cathedral had been enlarged by Archbishop Eystein in
Gothic style
. It was finished only in 1248 by Archbishop Sigurd Sim. Although several times destroyed by fire, the ancient cathedral was restored each time until the
Reformation in Norway
. 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.
Ecclesiastical province of Nidaros
[
edit
]
The Archdiocese of Nidaros headed an
ecclesiastical province
which included the following
suffragan dioceses
.
Episcopal ordinaries
[
edit
]
Archbishop's Palace, Trondheim.
(all
Latin Rite
)
- Suffragan Bishops of Nidaros
- 1015: Sigurd III
- Grimkjell
- Jon
- Rudolf
- 1028?1030: Sigurd IV
- Ragnar
- Kjetil
- Asgaut
- Sigurd V
- Tjodolf
- 1070: Sigurd VI,
O.S.B.
- 1080: Adalbrikt
- ?1139: Simon
- 1140: Ivar Kalfsson (Skrauthanske)
- 1140?1151: Reidar
- Metropolitan Archbishops of Nidaros (before the Reformation)
- 1152/1153?1157:
Jon Birgersson
- 1161?1188:
Eysteinn Erlendsson
- 1189?1205: Eirik Ivarsson
- 1206?1214: Tore (Thorer) Gudmundsson
- 1215?1224: Guttorm
- 1225?1226: Peter Brynjulfsson
- 1227?1230: Tore II "
den Trøndske
[the Trønder]"
- 1231?1252: Sigurd Eindridesson Tafse
- 1253?1254: Sørle
- 1255?1263: Einar Smjørbak Gunnarsson
- 1263?1265: Einar (rejected by
Pope Clement IV
in 1265)
- 1267: Hakon
- 1268?1282:
Jon Raude
- 1288?1309: Jørund
- 1311?1332: Eilif Arnesson Kortin
- 1333?1346: Paul Baardson (Pall Barðarson /
Pal Bardsson
[9]
)
- 1346?1349:
Arne Einarsson Vade
- 1350?1370: Olav
- 1371?1381: Trond Gardarsson
- 1382?1386: Nicolas Jacobsson Rusare
- 1387?1402: Vinald Henriksson
- 1404?1428: Eskill
- 1430?1450:
Aslak Bolt
- 1452?1458:
Henrik Kalteisen
,
O.P.
- 1459?1474:
Olav Trondsson
- 1475?1510: Gaute Ivarsson
- 1510?1522: Eric Walkendorf (Erik Axelsson Valkendorf)
- 1523?1537:
Olav Engelbrektsson
(the last Catholic archbishop)
Rite of Nidaros
[
edit
]
The texts of the Mass as it was celebrated in Norway and the other lands of the Metropolitan Province of Nidaros before the Protestant Reformation survives in a copy of the printed Missal of 1519 and in three manuscript texts, B (c. 1300), C (13th century) and D (c. 1200). Helge Fæhn in his analysis of each of these texts sums up the character of these texts as follows:
The Missal of 1519:
Manuscript A seems to have been influenced mainly from Normandy and England and shows several parallels to late medieval
Sarum Use
. There is nothing which decisively indicates Dominican influence. Belonging to the 16th century A may be characterized as rather conservative. In the
canon
in Communicantes, Xystus is replaced by Silvester?possibly by a misinterpretation of Innocens III.
Manuscript B:
B is especially influenced from France?in parts particularly from the leading Seez group. Some tails in B?mostly in the rubrics?are obviously dependent on the explanation of the mass in
Micrologus
, but most remarkable in perhaps that B seems to imply that the congregation is taking an active part in the offertory. B taken as a whole belongs to the second part of the 12th century.
Manuscript C:
C is without doubt dependent on French and Italian tradition. The canon is evidently influenced by the specific Roman missal of the 11th?13th century, and on the whole C may be ascribed to the beginning of the 13th century.
Manuscript D:
In D everything before the canon is lacking, but in return this part exhibits close relationship to Irish and especially old Roman tradition: the last is undoubtedly because D evidently is influenced by the order of the mass in Micrologus. D is the oldest of the four
ordines misse
and must be assigned to the 12th century.
Of these four orders of the mass, A and B seem to have most in common. If this can be taken as a further indication that B gives the substance of the rite of Nidaros in the 13th century, then this provides basis from which to determine the most important alterations in the rite of this see in the last 250 years before the Reformation.
[10]
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Diocese of Nidaros
- ^
Joseph Hergenrother
, "Kirchengeschichte", 1879, II, 721.
- ^
Bang, "Den norske Kirkes Historie under Katholicismen", Christiania, 1887, 44, 50.
- ^
Maurer, op. cit., I, iii, 462.
- ^
Daae, "Norges Helgener", Christiania, 1879, 170-6.
- ^
Baluze
, "Epp. Innocentii III", Paris, 1682, I, i, 226, 227.
- ^
Bang, op. cit., 297.
- ^
"Adami gesta pontificum Hammaburgensium", Hanover, 1876, II, 82.
- ^
Audun Dybdahl. "
Pal Bardsson
".
Norsk Biografisk Leksikon
. Retrieved on March 23, 2024.
- ^
Fire Norske Messeordninger fra Middelalderen
Utgitt med innledning og Analyse av Helge Fæhn.
Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi I Oslo
H. Hist.-Filos. Klasse. 1952. No. 5
Sources and external links
[
edit
]
- Other Bibliography
- Munch, P.A.
Throndhjems Domkirke
(Christiania, 1859)
- Krefting, O.
Om Throndhjems Domkirke
(Trondhjem, 1885)
- Schirmer,
Kristkirken; Nidaros
(Christiania, 1885)
- Mathiesen, Henry
Det gamle Throndhjem
(Christiani, 1897)
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Current Catholic dioceses and
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Former Catholic dioceses
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