It had for a long time been the evident tendency of the government of Norway to assume the form of a sacerdotal and feudal aristocracy. This tendency, how- .ever, was arrested to some extent by the first princes of tlie house of Sverre, who asserted the rights of the monarch against the encroachments of the clergy and the nobles. But it was more difficult to contend with the Romish see, which has often been able to accom- I)lish more by secret machinations than in open warfare. While affecting to renounce the right with which the archbishop of Trondhjem had been invested of control- ling the choice of the monarch on every vacancy, the papal Church induced the crown to confirm the spiritual jurisdiction of the prelates with all the ecclesiastical en- dowments, even to the exclusion of lay founders from their rights of patronage. The prelates were allowed to coin money, and maintain a regular body-guard of one hundred armed men for the archbishop, and forty for each bishop. One concession was followed by another; and the archbishop of Trondhjem, taking advantage of the youth and inexperience of Erik, son of Magnus Hakonson, who ascended the throne in 1280, at the age of twelve, extorted from him at his coronation an oath that he would render the Church independent of the secular authority. Having gained this point, the artful primate proceeded to act upon it by publishing an edict that imposed new fines for offences against the canons of the Church. The king's advisers refused to sanction the bold step taken by the primate ; and to vindicate his spiritual authority, he excommunicated the royal councillors. The king in turn banished the primate, who forthwith set out for Rome to lay his case before the pope. When on his way home again he died in Sweden, and his successor having acknowledged him- self the vassal of Erik, the contest was terminated, and
the pretensions of the clergy reduced within more rea- sonable limits. In the latter part of the 14th century, the three kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden were united under one sovereign; and this union of Calmar, as it was called, existed nominally at least from 1397 to 1521, during which long period there was an in- cessant struggle for superiority between the crown and the clergy.
Reformation in Church and State. — So harassing were the repeated encroachments of the Romish hier- archy to the Norwegian government and people, that the Reformation was gladly welcomed as likelj' to weaken the power and abridge the prerogatives of the papists. iNIany of the Norwegian youth had studied at Witten- berg and other German universities, where they had imbibed the doctrines and principles of the Reformers, and on their return home they found both rulers and people ready to embrace the Reformed faith. But what tended chiefly to facilitate the progress of the Reforma- tion in Norway was the election of Christian III to the throne by the lay aristocracy of the kingdom. As he had himself been educated in the Protestant faith, his accession was violently opposed by the archbishop of Trondhjem and the other Romish prelates. The zeal of the monarch, however, was only quickened by the opposition of the clergy, and he resolved to introduce the reformed worship as the religion of the state. A recess was accordingly passed and signed by more than four hundred nobles with the deputies of the commons, providing : " 1. That the temporal and spiritual power of the bishops should be forever taken away, and the administration of their dioceses confided to learned men of the Reformed faith, under the title of superintendents. 2. That the castles, manors, and other lands belonging to the prelates and monasteries should be annexed to the crown. 3. That their religious houses should be re- formed ; the regular clergy who might not choose to be secularized to be allowed to remain in their respective cloisters, upon condition that they should hear the Word of God, lead edifying lives, and that their surplus rev- enues should be devoted to the support of hospitals and other eleemosynary establishments. 4. That the rights of lay patronage should be preserved ; the clergy to ex- act from the peasants only their regular tithe, one third of which should be appropriated to the support of the curate, one third to the proprietor of the church, and the remainder to the king, for the use of the university and schools of learning." The king consulted Luther upon the manner of carrying this recess into effect, and by his advice, instead of secularizing the Church prop- erty, he reserved a certain portion for the maintenance of the Protestant worship, and the purposes of education and charity ; but a large part of the ecclesiastical lands ultimately came into the possession of the nobility by successive grants from the crown. Thus fell the Romish hierarchy in Denmark and Norway ; and its destruction marked the epoch of the complete triumph of the lay aristocracy over the other orders of the state, which they continued to enjoy until the revolution of 1G60.
The cause of the Reformation met with little opposi- tion in Norway. From its first introduction it contin- ued to hold its ground, and to diffuse itself among all classes of the people with the most gratifying rapidity. The Church became strictly Lutheran, and, though nom- inally episcopal, the bishops were vested only with the power of superintendents. Matters went on smoothly without any peculiar occurrence to disturb the ordi- nary course of events. But towards the end of the last centur}^ the Church was much quickened, spiritually, through the efforts of Hans Nielsen Hauge (q. v.), a remarkable person, who has earned for himself the honorable appellation of the Norwegian Reformer. Hauge was not a dissenter from the established Luther- an Church of Norway. Neither in his preaching nor his writings did he teach any difference of doctrine. He enforced purer views of Christian morality, while he taught at the same time the doctrines of the Church.