The Benkestok family (Benkestokk, Benchestoch et cetera) is one of the original noble families of Norway and one of the few to survive the Middle Ages. At the height of its power, the family ruled large estates in Båhuslen (today a part of Sweden), in Western Norway, in Northern Norway, in the Faroe Islands, and in Shetland.
The family's progenitor is Tord Benkestok, who lived in Strand in Forshälla, Bohuslän, then a part of Norway. He was in the end of the 14th century mentioned in the Church Property Register by Øystein Aslaksson, Bishop of Oslo.
The family was married with members of other old families, among others Smør, Galte and Kane. The legendary ancestral father was Gaut at Ænes in Hardanger, born circa 1100. He was a lendmann (baron), and his son Jon Gautsson was a lendmann in the service of Magnus Erlingsson. The Benkestok family was allegedly the eighth generation descending patrilineally from Gaut.
Jon Tordsson Benkestok was the first known family member to move to Norway's largest and most important city at the time, Bergen. In a document of 1435, he was called Jon Þordasson Benkiastok when serving as a Judge of Peace. [1]
Trond Tordsson Benkestok of Talgøy was in 1444 mentioned as he attended the Council of the Kingdom. On 4 December, he took part in a council meeting in Copenhagen, where a ruling by King Christopher on the right of Hanseatic merchants in Norway was confirmed. At the meeting, only twelve council members were present; five Lords of the Church and seven Lords of the Realm, of which Trond Benkestok was number six and with the title of knight. Trond, then in his late 20s, probably represented the Lord of Bohuslän, who was not present at the meeting. In 1472, he was still a knight and mentioned as a Judge of Peace at a court session in Trondheim concerning an inheritance.
Later members of the family lived in Ryfylke, where Talgøy in Sjørnarøyane and Haraldseid at Skjold were their seat farms, as well as at Jordanger in Sogn. A family member moved north to Meløya Farm in Meløya, Nordland, which marked the beginning of the expansion of the family in Northern Norway.
In July 1532, King Christian II was arrested and imprisoned in Copenhagen. Trond Torleivsson Benkestok actively supported Johan Kruckow, who wanted Frederik I on the Danish and the Norwegian throne. Trond was later a knight. Claus Bille describes him as the ‘most respected and wise nobleman north of the mountains’. Trond was probably a supporter of the Roman Catholicism until the last Catholic archbishop, Olav Engelbrektsson, in 1537 fled the country.
Trond's oldest son, Jon Trondson Benkestok of Meløy (1530–ca. 1593), was a signatory when the Norwegian nobility in 1591 paid homage to King Christian IV at Akershus Castle. He signed the document using a signet ring with the family's arms.
Due to Jon Benkestok's marriage to a so-called unfree woman, Birgitte Nilsdotter, their children lost their noble status. Known children were Torolf († 1622; without children), Anders († after 1630; married, no known children), Trond († 1626; had a daughter), Johan (had a daughter), Tord, Christopher († after 1618; had two sons), Niels († after 1599), Anna († after 1599), and Margrethe Benkestok (several descendants). Trond Benkestok had the daughter Ermegaard Benkestok († 1696), who had descendants. Johan Benkestok had the daughter Anna Benkestok, who was married. Christopher Benkestok had presumptively two sons: Jens Christophersen Benkestok († after 1665) and Anders Benkestok († 1672). The two brothers were the last known male members of the family. [2]
The younger Benkestok family was formed by Gunder Amundsen Benkestok and his children. He was a son of Ermegaard Benkestok's daughter Magdalena Jonsdatter. [3] Gunder Benkestok arranged in 1753 on a voyage to Copenhagen, where he attempted to receive noble status for his family based on his cognatic descent from the old Benkestoks. [4] However, he did not succeed. Additionally, another cognatic descendant, Jon Gundersen Benkestok, a first cousin of Gunder Benkestok, used this name. [5]
The origin of the family's name, allegedly meaning ‘tree-trunk seat’, has not been established. According to a myth, the family's founding father saved the King of Norway from Swedish soldiers by hiding him in a wooden bench, wherefore he was rewarded with noble status, name, and arms.
The family's coat of arms is divided per pale. The dexter field has on a background Azure a half lily Argent. The sinister field is divided party per bend, where the lower part is Argent and the upper part is Azure. Being reminiscent of a tree trunk, the latter is probably an allusion to the family name.
Meløy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ørnes. Other villages include Eidbukt, Neverdal, Glomfjord, Halsa, Reipå, Støtt, and Ågskardet.
Inge Haraldsson was king of Norway from 1136 to 1161. Inge’s reign fell within the start of the period known in Norwegian history as the civil war era, and he was never the sole ruler of the country. He is often known as Inge the Hunchback, because of his physical disability. However, this epithet does not appear in medieval sources.
The aristocracy of Norway is the modern and medieval aristocracy in Norway. Additionally, there have been economical, political, and military elites that—relating to the main lines of Norway's history—are generally accepted as nominal predecessors of the aforementioned. Since the 16th century, modern aristocracy is known as nobility.
Trond Torleivsson Benkestok was a Norwegian land owner, knight, and feudal lord (lensherre) of Bergenhus Fortress.
Eilert Christian Brodtkorb Christie was a Norwegian architect.
Frederik Gottschalck Haxthausen Due was a Norwegian military officer and statesman. Born in Trondheim, he entered the military at an early age, and took part in the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814. After the two countries entered into union, Due was recruited to the Swedish court, where he was appointed Norwegian state secretary in Stockholm in 1823. In 1841 he became the Norwegian prime minister, and acted as interpreter for Charles XIV John. After resigning in 1858, he spent the years until 1871 as an ambassador to Vienna and Munich.
Ørnes is the administrative centre of Meløy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located along Norwegian County Road 17, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of the village of Reipå and about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north of the village of Eidbukta. The island of Mesøya lies just west of the village. Ørnes is a port of call along the Hurtigruten ferry route between Nesna and Bodø.
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Wilhelm Sissener was an Austrian Netherlands-born military leader. He is the originator of the Sissener family of Norway.
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Jon Trondson Benkestok was a Norwegian nobleman (Adelsmann) and a member of the Benkestok family, one of the original noble families of Norway.
Arnoldus von Westen Sylow Koren was a civil servant and district judge. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly.
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Trond Øyen was a Norwegian violinist from Vardø. He was recognized as one of Norway's leading violinists of his time.
Gaut of Mel was a powerful Norwegian nobleman, Chief, and Liegeman who was lord of Mel and Ænes. He was the son of Jon Gautson på Ornes and the older brother of Arnbjorn Johnson and Askel Johnson Bishop of Stavanger. He was part of the larger Ænes-Mel Noble family, one of the most prestigious in Norway. He was also the father of Baron Finn Gautsson.
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