Kristoffer Throndsen
| Kristoffer Throndsen | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1500 Seim, Kvinnherad, Denmark–Norway, in present-day Norway |
| Died | c. 1565 (aged c. 65) |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Occupation | Privateer; Navigator for Denmark-Norway |
| Title | Admiral of the Kingdoms; Squire |
| Spouse(s) | Karen Knutsdatter |
| Children | Enno, Anna, Kristine, Magdalene, Dorthea, Else, Maren, Margrethe |
| Relatives | Olav Engelbrektsson (relative, possible uncle) |
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Kristoffer Throndsen (c. 1500–1565), posthumously also with the family name Rustung, was a squire, admiral, feudal overlord in Norway and Denmark, privateer captain and pirate. Kristoffer served Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson, the interregnum leader of Norway, in the last years of the Kalmar Union.
Kristoffer is famous for playing a role in the last years before the Reformation in Norway, first as the head of the national fleet, defending Norway from attacking Danish ships; and also as the murderer of Vincent Lunge, a Danish nobleman sent to Bergen in 1537 to enforce the Danish annexation of Norway by the King of Denmark Christian III. This dramatic moment in Norwegian history is memorialized today in an annual "midnight opera" sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture. Titled Olav Engelbrektsson, it takes place on the premises of the castle, outside Trondheim.
Kristoffer appealed for pardon from Christian III, probably for the murder but also for his piracy of the Norwegian coast under foreign flags, under which he attacked Danish ships and installations in Norway after 1536. He was granted a post under the Danish crown, which badly needed a naval leader. He served for several years as an admiral in the Danish Navy, and later in Copenhagen as a Royal Danish Consul to the King.
His most famous child was Anna Throndsen, known in Norway as "the Scottish Lady" (Skottefruen). Anna is famous in modern-day Norway, for her days in the court of Mary Queen of Scots, during her marriage to James Hepburn, Lord Bothwell.
Kristoffer was probably born sometime around the year 1500 in Seim, Kvinnherad, a village in Western Norway. His ancestry or even who his parents were has not been widely established, although many theories have been suggested. The closest to contemporary sources primarily consist of two 17th century ancestry charts which says his parents were Trond Sigurdsson Rustung of Seim and Karen Koll of Nessa. Another source suggests that his father was Trond Engelbrekston and Karen Koll of Nessa. Which makes sense as during his adolescence Kristoffer was the graduate of the arch-Catholic University of Cologne with his cousins Gaute Taraldsson. Around the year 1526 to 1527, he moved to Trondheim, where he took service with the Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson, who was his uncle. A diploma from this time diploma. Norw.7.789 and diplom.Norw.8.589-97, writes that Olav was the uncle of Christopher. Olav was the son of Engelbregt Gunnarsen and Jorunn Ivarsdatter Aspa. Engelbregt Gunnarsen was married twice, his second wife was Cecilie Mortensdatter Randa who was the mother of Trond Engelbrekston who was said to have been married to Karen Koll and the father of Kristoffer by some accounts. This connection does indicate that Olav was indeed Kristoffer's uncle.
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