Norwegian Nobility - Modern Aristocracy

Modern Aristocracy

The modern aristocracy is known as adel (English: nobility). The part of the nobility that in Norway is classified as new, consisted of persons and families of the old nobility of Denmark, recently ennobled persons and families, and persons and families whose (claimed) noble status was confirmed or, for foreigners, naturalised by the King. Danish noblemen came to Norway in order to administer the country and to fill civilian and military offices. The strategy of sending Danish noblemen to Norway was a part of the King’s tactics for consolidating his power and control in the Kingdom, but also the lack of Norwegian noblemen with qualified education—Norway did not have a university—was a reason for that the King had to send foreigners.

Being 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, Hans Eilersen Hagerup was in 1781, four days after his death, ennobled under the name de Gyldenpalm. This made as well his legitimate children and other patrilineal descendants noble.

There were in particular two ways of receiving noble status: via an office (informally known as office nobility) and via a letter patent (informally known as letter nobility).

On 25 May 1671 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 (Norwegian: lensadel).