Embedsmannsstaten

The "aristocracy of officials" (Danish and Norwegian: embedsaristokratiet or embetsaristokratiet) is a term used by historians to denote the elite of university-educated higher state officials in Denmark and Norway from the early modern period until the 19th century. Particularly in Norway, which unlike Denmark had no significant nobility from the 17th century and which formally abolished nobility in 1821, the aristocracy of officials filled the vacant position at the top of society at the local, regional and national levels. This social group, principally constituted by priests, lawyers and doctors, has with reference to the 19th century also been called "the thousand academic families" by the historian Jens Arup Seip, and they comprised less than one per thousand in the overall population. By the 19th century Norway is widely considered to have been a "Civil Servant State," reflecting the role of the civil servants as "the most enduring, consistent and visible elite."

A higher official (embedsmand) in Denmark and Norway was by definition an official who had been appointed by the King. They included not only higher central government officials, but also all priests of the state church, all judges, lawyers (until the mid 19th century), county governors, university professors, and other groups. This class is also frequently referred to as the estate of the officials (embedsstanden or embedsmandsstanden with different spellings), although the officials did never formally constitute an estate of the realm in the legal sense (with the exception of the clergy, who until the 19th century de jure formed one of the two privileged estates, although the estates had de facto lost much of their importance with the introduction of absolute monarchy in 1660). The term "aristocracy of officials" appears to have entered usage in the early 19th century.

The "aristocracy of officials" was distinct from the nobility (adel). Some members of the class of officials were noble, while the vast majority were not. In Norway, "what little was left of the Norwegian nobility, which had constituted the elite in the country during the Middle Ages, quickly withered away after 1537." By 1600 Norway only had about a hundred men considered as nobles, and their number declined to only 30 by 1660. While most European countries were dominated by a noble class, in Norway "other social groups came to fill the vacant position at the top of society, burghers and officials."

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Wikipedia