TRONDHJEM
64
TRONDHJEM
umberland. The prior and monks endeavoured to
sever connexion with St. Albans and to obtain inde-
pendence by presenting the advowson to the king; but
Abbot John of Berkhamsted resisted this arrange-
ment, visited Tynemouth, and sent Trokelow with
other monks as prisoners back to St. Alban's. There
Trokelowe wrote his "Annates" including the period
1259 to 1296 and a useful account of the reign of
Edward II, from 1307 to 1323, after which date his
chronicle was continued by Henry de Blaneford. A
reference made by Trokelowe to the execution of
Mortimer show.s that he was writing after 1330.
Riley, Juhannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde chronica et annates in Rolls Series (London, 1866). See also Riley, Intro- duction to RiSHANGER. Chronicle in the Chronica monastica S. Albani of the same series. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (Lon- don, 1871); Hunt in Diet. Nat. Biog.
Edwin Burton.
Trondhjem (Nidaros), Ancient See of. — In Nor- way it was the kings who introduced Christianity, which first became known to the people during their martial expeditions (Hergenriither, "Kirchenge- Bchichte", 1S79, II, 721). The work of ChrLstianiza- tion begun by Haakon the Good (d. 9S1) (Maurer, "Die Bekehrung ties norwegischen Stammes", Mu- nich, 185.5, I, ii, 168) was carried on by Olaf Trvg- vesson (d. 1002) and Olaf Haralds- son (St. Olaf, d. 10.30). Both were converted vikings, the former having been baptized at .\ndover, England, l>y Bishop Aelfeah of Winchester, and the latter at Rouen by Archbishop H o b e r t (Bang, "Den norske Kirkes Historic under Katholicis- men", Christiania, 1887, 44, 50). In
Cathedral. Trondhjem
997 Olaf Trygvesson founded at the mouth of
the River Nid the city of Nidaros, afterwards
called Trondhjem, whore he built a royal palace
and a church; he laboured to spread the truths
of Christianity in Norway, the Orkney and Shetland
Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland
(Maurer, op. cit., I, iii, 462). King Olaf Haraldsson
created an episcopal see at Nidaros, instaUing the
monk Grimkill as bishop. Moreover, many English
and German bishops and priests laboured in Norway,
and by degrees Christianity softened the rough in-
stincts of the people. The Norwegian bishops were
at first dependent on the Archbishop of Hamburg-
Bremen, and afterwards on the Archbishop of Lund,
Primate of Scandinavia. As the Norwegians never-
theless wanted an archbishop of their own, Eugene
III, resolving to create a metropolitan see at Trond-
hjem, sent thither as legate (1151) Cardinal Nicholas
of Albano (Nicholas Breakspeare), afterwards
Adrian IV. The legate installed Jon Birgerson,
previously Bishop of Stavanger, as Archbishop of
Trondhjem. The bishops of Oslo (bishop 1073\
Bergen (about 1060), Stavanger (1130), Hamar
(1151), the Orkneys (1070), Iceland (Skalholt, 10.56;
Holar, 1105), and Greenland became suffragans.
Archbishop Birgerson was succeeded by Eystein (Beatus Augustinus, 1158-,S8), previously royal secre-
tary and treasurer, a man of brilliant intellect, strong
will, and deep piety (Daae, "Norges Helgener",
Christiania, 1879, UO-6). Such a man was then
needed to defend the liberty of the Church against the
encroachments of King Sverre, who wished to make
the Church a mere tool of the temporal power. The
archbishop was compelled to flee from Norway to Eng-
land. It is true that he was able to return 'and that
a sort of reconciliation took place later between him
and the king, but on Eystein's death Sverre renewed
his attacks, and Archbishop Eric had to leave the
country and take refuge with Archbishop Absalon of
Lund. At last, when Sverre attacked the papal legate,
Innocent III laid the king and his partisans under in-
terdict (Baluze, "Epp. Innocentii III", Paris, 1682, 1,
i, 226, 227). King Haakon (1202), son and successor
of Sverre, hastened to make peace with the Church,
who.se liberty had been preserved by the unflinching
attitude of the pope and his archbishops. What
would have happened, asks the Protestant ecclesiasti-
cal historian of Norway, Dr. A. Chr. Bang, "if the
Church, deprived of all liberty, had become the sub-
missive slave of absolute royalty? What influence
would it have exercised at a time when its chief mis-
sion was to act as the educator of the jieople and as
the necessar>' counterpoise to defend the liberty of the
people against the brutal whims of the secular lords?
And what would have happened when a century later
royalty left the country? After that time the Church
was in reality the sole centre about which was grouped
the whole national Ufe of our country" (op. cit., 109).
To regulate ecclesiastical affairs, which had suffered
during the struggles with Sverre, Innocent IV in 1247
sent Cardinal William of Sabina as legate to Norway.
He intervened against certain encroachments on the
part of the bishops, reformed various abuses, and
abolished the ordeal by hot iron. Owing in great
measure to the papal legates, Norway became more
closely linked with the supreme head of Christendom
at Rome. Secular priests, Benedictines, Cistercians,
Augustinians, Dominicans, and Franciscans worked
together for the prosperitv of the Church. Arch-
bishops Eilif Kortin (d. 1332), Paul Baardson (d.
1346), and Arne Vade (d. 1349) showed specially re-
markable zeal. Provincial councils were held, at
which serious efforts were made to ehminate abuses
and to encourage Christian education and morality
(Bang, op. cit., 297).
Nidaros (Trondhjem), the metropolis of the ec- clesiastical province, was also the capital of Nor- way. The residence of the kings until 1217, it remained until the troubles of the Reformation the heart and centre of the spiritual life of the country. There was situated the tomb of St. Olaf, and around the patron of Norway, "Rex perpetuus Norvegiae", the national and ecclesiastical life of the countrj' was centred. Pilgrims flocked from all quarters to the tomb. The feast of St. Olaf on 29 Jul> was a day of reunion for "all the nations of the Northern seas, Norwegians, Swedes, Goths, Cim- brians, Danes, and Slavs", to quote an old chronicler ("Adami gesta pontificum Hammaburgensium", Hanover, 1876, II, 82), in the cathedral of Nidaros, where the reliquary of St. Olaf rested near the altar. Built in Roman style by King Olaf Kyrre (d. 1093), the dome had been enlarged by Archbishop Eystein in Ogival style. It was finished only in 1248 by Arch- bishop Sigurd Sim. Although several times destroyed by fire, the ancient dome was restored each time until the storms of the Reformation. Then Archbishop Eric Walkendorf was exiled (1521), and his successor, Olaf Engelbertsen, who had been the instrument of the royal will in the introiluction of Lutheranism, had also, as a partisan of Christian II, to flv from Chris- tian III (1537). The valuable reliquaries of St. Olaf and St. .\ugustine (Eystein) were taken away, sent to Copenhagen, and melted. The bones of St. Olaf were
