, née
Mowat. , palace of the
Treschow family.|alt= The modern aristocracy is known as
adel (). The parts of the nobility that are regarded as new in
Norway consisted of immigrated persons and families of the old
nobility of Denmark, of recently ennobled persons and families in Norway as well as in
Denmark, and of persons and families whose (claimed) noble status was confirmed or—for foreigners—naturalised by the King. An absolute monarch since 1660, the King could ennoble and for that sake remove the noble status of anyone he wished and—unlike earlier—without approval from the
Council of the Kingdom. He could even elevate dead humans to the estate of nobles. For example, four days after his death in 1781, Hans Eilersen Hagerup was ennobled under the name
de Gyldenpalm. This made as well his legitimate children and other patrilineal descendants noble. In particular there were two ways of receiving noble status: via an
office (informally known as
office nobility) and via a
letters patent (informally known as
letter nobility). On 25 May 1671 King
Christian V created 31 counts and barons. As such two classes were created in addition to the class of nobles: the
class of barons (Norwegian:
friherrestand) and the
class of counts (Norwegian:
grevestand). A noble was per definition untitled, and barons and counts did not belong to the class of nobles, but to their respective classes. However, all three constituted the
estate of nobles. Barons and counts could be either titular or feudal. The latter constituted the
feudal nobility (). On 22 April 1709 King
Frederick IV introduced the title of marquis. The introduction of the titles of count and baron was controversial in the old nobility, who were old enemies of royal absolutism and whom the titles sought to outrank. One reaction was the anonymously published theatre play
Comedy of the Count and the Baron, written in 1675.
Office nobility . A minor but nevertheless considerable element of the modern aristocracy was the office nobility (Norwegian:
embetsadel or
embedsadel, also called
rangadel). It was introduced in 1679 and would, with extensive reductions during the 18th century, last until 1814. A person holding a high-ranking office within one of the highest classes of rank automatically received ennoblement for himself, for his wife, and for his legitimate children, and for decades this status was normally hereditable for his patrilineal and legitimate descendants. However, basically all such ennoblements were annulled when King
Christian VI, tired of his father's generosity, acceded to the throne in 1730, and only those who received a special recognition after making an application retained their noble status. The office nobility as such was not abolished. Subsequent royal decrees introduced a more restrictive policy, under which noble status dependent on offices was limited to the person concerned, to his wife, and to his legitimate children. The Decree on the Order of Precedence of 1671 was radical, for the first time deciding that the nobility did not automatically have the highest rank in the Kingdom. It stated explicitly that the nobility should enjoy their traditional rank above other estates and subjects
unless the latter were specified in the order of precedence. In other words, any person within the rank stood above noble persons outside this. The Noble Privileges of 1661 had stated the opposite, namely that the nobility should enjoy rank and honour above all others. Finally, the Letter of Privileges of 11 February 1679 introduced automatical noble status for the highest members of the order of precedence. As such the office nobility had been established. The letter stated explicitly that these persons of rank as well as wife and children should enjoy all privileges and benefits that others of the nobility had in the present and in the future, and it was also stressed that they should be honoured, respected, and regarded equally with nobles of birth. The office nobility has later been considered with lesser regard, and for example the
Yearbook of the Danish Nobility does not include such persons and families. Examples: •
Mathias de Tonsberg, who was automatically ennobled in 1704 when he became Councillor of the State (Norwegian:
etatsråd). •
Hans Eilersen Hagerup, who was automatically ennobled in 1761 when he became General Commissioner of War. (In 1781 he was even ennobled by letter.)
Letter nobility of the
Munthe af Morgenstierne family. Beginning already in the
High Medieval Age but especially associated with the late 17th century and the 18th century, it became customary to ennoble persons by
letters patent () for significant military or artistic achievements, and there were also persons who were ennobled in this way after making monetary donations. These are informally known as
letter nobility (). Other families are
Rosenvinge and
Tordenstjerne, both ennobled in 1505. However, the custom of ennobling by letters patent increased drastically in the late 17th century and the 18th century, when numerous persons and families received such noble status. They were a part of the King's plan of creating a new and loyal nobility replacing the old, who until 1660 had been political enemies of the King. However, letters patent given (unofficially: sold) among others to rich merchants were also a lucrative source of income for the Kings, whose many wars at times lead to a big need for money. Examples: • Kurt Sørensen was for bravery in battle ennobled under the name
Adeler. •
Ludvig Holberg, a famous writer, was ennobled as a baron for his merits and by bequeathing his fortune to the
Sorø Academy. • Joachim Geelmuyden, the son of a priest and the grandson of a tradesman, held many titles and offices in the Dano-Norwegian state and was subsequently ennobled under the name
Gyldenkrantz.
Feudal nobility , originally a feudal barony.Photographer: Nynorsk Wikipedia user
Ekko (1738–1811),
Count of Rosencrone; Prime Minister of the Dano-Norwegian Gehejme Government. With feudal barons and feudal counts one saw the introduction of a neo-feudal structure in Norway. These modern fiefs were ruled with conditioned independence by noble families, and they were hereditable. Feudal lords were equipped with extensive rights and duties. On the other hand, a fief was formally a
dominium directum of the King. It would as such return to the Crown when a title became extinct (see for example
Barony of Rosendal) or when a feudal lord was sentenced for disloyalty (see for example
Countship of Griffenfeld). The main architect behind the new system of barons and counts, introduced in 1671, was
Peder Schumacher, who himself was ennobled as Peder Schumacher Griffenfeld in 1671 and created
Count of Griffenfeld in 1673. In 1675 the citizens of
Tønsberg lost their independence, and the city was merged into the Countship. Griffenfeld had been granted the sole right to all
mining and
hunting within the Countship. He could appoint judges, arrest and charge inhabitants, and punish sentenced criminals. He could appoint priests to all churches, which he owned. Several duties were imposed on the Count's subjects. For example, cotters () under the Count had to work for him without payment. Whilst these new politics could bring fundamental changes to each area concerned, the effect and the consequences remained limited in Norway in general, as originally only two countships and one barony were created. These included only a small amount of the Norwegian population. Divided into counties (), the rest of Norway was under direct royal administration.
Huguenot immigration Lutheran Evangelical kingdoms,
Denmark and Norway welcomed
Huguenots who had escaped from
France following the 1685 revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. Huguenots were greeted with several privileges, and some even achieved noble status and/or titles. One was
Jean Henri Huguetan (1665–1749) from
Lyon, who was created
Count of Gyldensteen in 1717.
Increasing influence of Norwegians During the 18th century, Norwegian-born noblemen and burghers rose to prominence within the Dano-Norwegian state.
Introduction of the stavnsbånd In 1733 King
Christian VI introduced the system of
stavnsbånd—a
serfdom-like institution—in
Denmark. This was introduced following an agricultural crisis that lead people to leave the
countryside and move into towns. The system would last until after 1788. The stavnsbånd was not introduced in
Norway, where all men had been free since the
Old Norse heathen trelldom was fought and abolished by the
Roman Catholic Church.
Years of Struensee .Artist: unknown During the de facto reign of
Johann Friedrich Struensee between 1770 and 1772 the power of the nobility in
Denmark and Norway was challenged. Whilst he did not mind creating himself and his friend
Brandt feudal counts, Struensee was an enemy of the hereditary aristocracy, which he sought to replace with a merit-based system of government. A part of his reforms Struensee abolished noble privileges and decided that state employments should be based on a person's qualifications only. In a
counter-coup on 17 January 1772
Ove Høegh-Guldberg,
Hans Henrik von Eickstedt,
Georg Ludwig von Köller-Banner and others had Struensee arrested. In a following trial he was sentenced to death. On 28 April ex-counts Brandt and Struensee were executed; first their right hands were cut off, whereafter they were beheaded and had their bodies
drawn and quartered.
1814 Constitution and 1821 Nobility Law . plate of
Prime Minister Mathias Sommerhielm. ) and 'Uedel Skarnsberg' i.e. 'Ignoble Dirtberg' (Baron
Ferdinand Carl Maria Wedel-Jarlsberg) in the 1829
Battle of the Square. representing Norway when US President Truman signed the
North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. The
Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway of 1814, which had been established in the spirit of the principles of the
French Revolution and greatly influenced by the
Constitution of the United States of America, forbade the creation of new nobility, including
countships,
baronies, family estates (), and
fee tails (). Beside being in accordance with the contemporary political ideology, the prohibition effectively removed the possibility for Norway's king, who after 1814 also was Sweden's king, to create a nobility of Swedes and loyal Norwegians. The
Nobility Law of 1821 (Norwegian:
Adelsloven) initiated a long-range abolition of all noble titles and privileges, while the current nobility were allowed to keep their noble status, possible titles and in some cases also privileges for the rest of their lifetime. Under the Nobility Law, nobles who for themselves and their children wished to present a claim to nobility before the
Norwegian parliament were required to provide documentation confirming their noble status. Representatives of eighteen noble families submitted their claims to the Parliament. In 1815 and in 1818, the Parliament had passed the same law, and it was both times vetoed by the King. The King did not possess a third veto, so he had to approve the law in 1821. Shortly afterwards, the King suggested the creation of a new nobility, but the attempt was rejected by the Parliament. Many of the Norwegians who had noble status in Norway had noble status also in Denmark and thus remained noble. This and the fact that many Norwegian nobles did not live in the country may have contributed to reduced resistance to the Nobility Law. However, there was resistance, which found its most significant expression in
Severin Løvenskiold, who had fought against democracy and who had worked to stop the Nobility Law. Being an important politician and a major political ally of the King, Løvenskiold was not without power. Løvenskiold argued against the law that Norway's king, and thus the Kingdom's government, had granted his family eternal noble status, and the letters patent of 1739 uses the expression ‘eternally’. At the same time, the Constitution's § 97 in fact stated: ‘No law must be given retroactive force.’ The last Norwegian count with official recognition was
Peder Anker, Count of Wedel-Jarlsberg, who died in 1893. His younger brothers were Herman, Baron of Wedel-Jarlsberg, who died in 1888, and Harald, Baron of Wedel-Jarlsberg, who died in 1897. The cousins Ulriche Antoinette de Schouboe (1813–1901) and Julie Elise de Schouboe (1813–1911), as well as Anne Sophie Dorothea Knagenhjelm (1821–1907), died early in the 20th century as some of Norway's last persons who had had official recognition as noble. Although the institution of nobility gradually was dissolved, members of noble families continued to play a significant rôle in the political and social life of the country. For example,
Stewards and Prime Ministers such as Count
Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg (Steward, 1836–1840),
Severin Løvenskiold (Steward, 1841–1856, Prime Minister, 1828–1841),
Peder Anker (Prime Minister, 1814–1822),
Frederik Due (Prime Minister, 1841–1858),
Georg Sibbern (Prime Minister, 1858–1871) and
Carl Otto Løvenskiold (Prime Minister, 1884) had aristocratic backgrounds.
1905 Independence Aristocrats were active also in the
dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. Most prominent were diplomat
Fritz Wedel Jarlsberg and world-famous polar explorer
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen. Nansen, who otherwise became Norway's first ambassador to
London (1906–08), was pro dissolving the union and, among other acts, travelled to the
United Kingdom, where he successfully lobbied for support for the independence movement. Also in the ensuing referendum concerning monarchy versus republic in Norway, the popular hero Nansen's support of monarchy and his active participation in the pro-monarchy campaign is said to have had an important effect on popular opinion. After the dissolution of the union, the leading person in the creation of the new state's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
Thor von Ditten, a
Norwegian of foreign nobility.
Present state and as such included in the
Yearbook of the Danish Nobility. Today, the nobility is a relatively marginal factor in the society, culturally and socially as well as in politics. Members of noble families are only individually prominent, like
Anniken Huitfeldt. However, a handful of families, especially
Løvenskiold,
Treschow, and
Wedel-Jarlsberg, still possess considerable wealth. This includes fame and regular appearance in newspapers and also coloured magazines. Landowner and businessman
Carl Otto Løvenskiold owns
Maxbo among other companies. The brothers Nicolai and Peder Løvenskiold own a large number of higher private schools in Norway, among others the
Westerdals School of Communication, the
Bjørknes College, and the
Norwegian School of Information Technology. Prominent was also the now late landowner and businesswoman
Mille-Marie Treschow, who was one of the wealthiest women in Norway. Until and during the 20th century, noble persons have served at the Royal Court in Oslo. Prominent are (since 1985) Mistress of the Robes
Ingegjerd Løvenskiold Stuart and (between 1931 and 1945) Lord Chamberlain
Peder Anker Wedel-Jarlsberg. Although privileges were abolished and official recognition of titles was removed, some families still consider themselves noble by tradition and—lawfully—still bear their inherited name and coat of arms. Claims to nobility have no effect or support in law. There are still Norwegians who enjoy official recognition from the Danish government;—the
nobility in Denmark still exists. They are likewise included in the
Yearbook of the Danish Nobility, published by the Association of the Danish Nobility. The family
Roos af Hjelmsäter of the
Swedish nobility is among the disappearingly few of Norway's medieval noble families still living today. ==Noble influence and legacy==