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.
Norwegian heraldry has roots in early medieval times, soon after the use of coats of arms first appeared in continental Europe. Some of the medieval coats of arms are rather simple of design, while others have more naturalistic charges. The king-granted coats of arms of later times were usually detailed and complex. Especially in the late 17th century and the 18th century, many ennobled persons and families received coats of arms with shields containing both two and four fields, and some even with an inescutcheon above these.
Lauritz Galtung was a Norwegian nobleman and Admiral of the Dano-Norwegian joint fleet. He was ennobled in 1648 at which time his surname was changed from Galte to Galtung.
Stian Herlofsen "S. H." Finne-Grønn was a Norwegian lawyer, archivist, genealogist and museum director.
Kristoffer Throndsen, 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.
Hr. Svale Jonson Smør was a Norwegian knight and riksråd.
A house mark was originally a mark of property, later also used as a family or clan emblem, incised on the facade of a building, on animals, in signet and similar in the farmer and burgher culture of Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
Jon Trondson Benkestok was a Norwegian nobleman (Adelsmann) and a member of the Benkestok family, one of the original noble families of Norway.
The Huitfeldt family is a Norwegian noble family.
The Werenskiold family, also spelled Werenschiold, Wærenskiold, Werenskjold etcetera, is a Danish and Norwegian noble family living in Norway.
Foreign nobility in Norway refers to foreign persons and families of nobility who in past and present have lived in Norway as well as to non-noble Norwegians who have enjoyed foreign noble status. Although being noble in their native countries, their foreign noble status did not automatically lead to naturalisation when entering the Kingdom. While some immigrant families were naturalised and became a part of the Norwegian nobility and later the Dano-Norwegian nobility, like Wedel-Jarlsberg, others did not apply for or receive a particular recognition, like de Créqui dit la Roche.
Sir Hans Paus was a Norwegian priest and poet. He was parish priest in Kviteseid from 1683 until his death. A popular man in his parish who learned the local dialect, he is noted for being the first to write poetry in dialect in Norway. His poem Stolt Anne, written in the Kviteseid dialect, became a popular folk song in Telemark. 12 verses were included in Norske Folkeviser (1853) by Magnus Brostrup Landstad and Henrik Ibsen, a relative of Hans Paus, paraphrased the poem in the drama Lady Inger of Ostrat. The poem honored Anne Clausdatter, the owner of Borgestad Manor and a relative of Paus. She rewarded him with an agricultural property (Bukkøy) for it. He owned several agricultural properties in Kviteseid.
Events in the year 1661 in Norway.
The d'Aubert family or Aubert is a family of the French nobility, and a branch belongs also to the Nobility of Denmark and to the Nobility of Norway. The family originates in the town of Thionville in Lothringen, where their progenitor Jean Aubert was a merchant. Today members live in France, in Denmark, in Norway, in Sweden, and in Germany.
Orm Eriksson was a Norwegian nobleman living in Stavanger and the alleged leader of the tax revolt in Rogaland, which ended with his execution in 1521.
Nissen, von Nissen and von Nissen-Benzon is a Danish family of land owners from Southern Jutland, which was partially ennobled in 1710. It is descended from Henrik Lorentzen (Schack), who in 1484 was granted the estate of Oldemorstoft as a fief by John, King of Denmark. Members of the family were land owners and from the 17th century war commissioners, judges, councillors of state (etatsråd), Governors (stiftamtmann), Supreme Court Justice and General in Denmark. Family members served as Governor of Tranquebar, plantation owner and Vice Governor of the Danish West Indies in the 18th century. In Denmark, the family owned the estates of Oldemorstoft, Lerbæk, Rugballegaard, Brantbjerg, the Stamhus of Skærsø and others between the 15th century and the 18th century. In the 17th century, King Christian IV of Denmark was a guest at Oldemorstoft several times. The name von Nissen was used by the noble branch and military officers of the family.
Mathiesen is a Norwegian family of Danish origin, whose members have been noted as timber magnates, land-owners and businessmen.
Kaas is the name of two related Danish noble families from Jutland, which were and are, respectively, two of the preeminent families of the Danish Uradel or ancient high nobility, which were represented in the Council of the Realm. They are known as the elder Kaas family and the younger Kaas family or named for their respective coats of arms. Both families appeared in the middle ages, and they have been noble since time immemorial. Like all old noble families in Scandinavia, the families are untitled, although individual members in the past held the rank of knight, traditionally the highest rank of Scandinavian nobility and reserved for important statesmen, but always of a non-hereditary nature.
Birgitte Christine Kaas, married Huitfeldt was a Norwegian poet and translator of hymns.
Aspa is the collective name of both the farm and the group of interrelated Norwegian families of noble origins in Møre og Romsdal, a fylke (county) in southwestern Norway. Several members of this group played significant roles in the political and ecclesiastical history of Norway in the Middle Ages. The group's name comes from its origin, the two farms on the island of Aspøya in the present municipality of Tingvoll, also in Møre og Romsdal – Aspa and Boksaspa.
