Olav Engelbrektsson

Olav Engelbrektsson (c. 1480, Trondenes, Norway – 7 February 1538, Lier, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands) was the 28th Archbishop of Norway from 1523 to 1537, the Regent of Norway from 1533 to 1537, a member and later president of the Riksråd (Council of the Realm), and a member of the Norwegian nobility. He was the last Roman Catholic to be the Archbishop of Norway before he fled to exile in 1537.

After his death, Olav Engelbrektsson was given a "bad reputation as an untrustworthy and scheming prelate" [ dårlig ettermæle som en upålitelig og intrigant prelat ] by the Protestant historians. His reputation did not improve after 1814, when Norway made its declaration of independence from Sweden, because he was still blamed for promoting the Catholic Church at the expense of Norwegian independence. But the later historians – in 1917, Sverre Steen in 1935 and in 1998 – have rehabilitated most of his reputation with detailed studies and labeled most of the accusations as unfair.

Olav Engelbrektsson is believed to have been born at Trondenes near Harstad in Troms around 1480 as the son of Engelbrekt Gunnarsson and Jorunn. Engelbrekt Gunnarson was a bondefører ( a leader of farmers ) and storbonde ( a large landowner ) in Romerike in Eastern Norway around 1447. He kept getting in arguments and fights with the Danish bailiff Lasse Skjold and eventually killed him. Researchers believe that that is why Engelbrekt and Jorunn moved to Trondenes, where his son Aslak was already living because, at that time, Aslak was the wealthiest man between Bergen and Senja. Young Olav was raised in a home that was always opposing the Danish overseers, and that might have been one of the several influences of his attitude towards the Danes in his years as the Archbishop.

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