Nordland families (Norwegian : nordlandsslekt) are the older families of burgher or clerical estate in today's counties of Nordland and Troms, plus Finnmark, in Norway. These families belonged to the leading social classes of Northern Norway. [1]
Some basic characteristics of a Nordland family are that they were socially established since the centuries before 1800, that they lived on the countryside, where they had typical burgher culture and professions, that they married each other, that they bore permanent family names, something that very few people had (ordinary people used patronyms), and that they often had roots outside Norway, mostly in Denmark and the Duchies.
Many Nordland families are, in some cases extensively, described in written pieces especially of the 18th and the 19th century. [1] Among these are travel journals by Gustav Peter Blom, the Swedes Johan Erik Forsström, Sven Nilsson, and J.W. Zetterstedt, the German Leopold von Buch, and the Englishmen Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke and Frederick Metcalfe. [1] These families' culture, among other their way of being, society life, and dances, was different from that of ordinary people.
It is said that all Nordland families may be traced back to the noble family Benkestok. Not all, but however several Nordland families descend cognatically from this family. [2] Among the most prominent is the family Ellingsen, whose progenitor Elling Christophersen (1676–1730) was a great-grandson of Margrethe Benkestok, daughter of Jon Trondson Benkestok. [3]
To Nordland families belong many nationally prominent persons, among others trader Erasmus B.K. Zahl (Knut Hamsun's Mack) of the Zahl family, cabinet minister Sofus A.B. Arctander of the Arctander family, and cabinet minister Jakob M. Schøning of the Schøning family.
The concept is of old days. It is frequently used in historical and genealogical literature of the 20th century. Some years after the publication of genealogist Wilhelmine Brandt's Slægten Benkestok (1904), genealogist Stian Herlofsen Finne-Grønn described it as a genealogical magazine for Nordland families.[ citation needed ] Otherwise the concept occurs among other places in Jakob Schøning's Nordlands-slegten Schøning i 360 aar (1928), [4] Johan Hveding's Nordlandsslekten Hveding (1944), [4] Nils Parelius's Nordlandsslekten Mentzonis opprinnelse (1956) [4] and Gerd Fjellstad's Fra adel til bumenn : Nordlandsslekter (1996). [4]
Nesna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Nesna. Other villages in Nesna include Handnesneset, Husby, Saura, and Vikholmen.
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.
Mosjøen or Mussere (Southern Sami) is a town in Vefsn Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Mosjøen is the oldest town in the Helgeland region, with only the town of Bodø being older within Nordland county. The town is also the administrative centre of Vefsn Municipality. The old village of Mosjøen was declared a ladested in 1875. It was also a town-municipality from 1875 until 1961 when it was merged into Vefsn Municipality, losing its status as a town (ladested). It is also a former garrison town and customs place. After a change in law during the 1990s, the urban area of Mosjøen was declared to be a town once again in 1998. People from Mosjøen are referred to using the demonym "mosjøværing". The 6.55-square-kilometre (1,620-acre) town has a population (2024) of 10,059 and a population density of 1,536 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,980/sq mi).
The Paus family is a prominent Norwegian family with a long history of involvement in the clergy, nobility, industry, and the arts. The family first emerged as members of the elite of 16th-century Oslo and, for centuries, belonged to Norway's "aristocracy of officials," especially in the clergy and legal professions in Upper Telemark. Later generations became involved in shipping, steel, and banking. The family is particularly known for its close association with Henrik Ibsen, and for modern members like the singer Ole Paus.
Meänmaa, or sometimes Torne Valley or Torne River Valley lies at the border of Sweden and Finland. It is named after the Torne River flowing through the valley and into the Gulf of Bothnia. Geographically the townships and municipalities that make up the area are Haparanda, Övertorneå, Pajala and Kiruna in Sweden, and Tornio, Ylitornio, Pello, Kolari, Muonio and Enontekiö in Finland. Culturally the highland Swedish municipality Gällivare is sometimes also considered part of Meänmaa due to the large share of Meänkieli-speaking population in it. Torne Valley should not be confused with Torne Valley Sub-region.
The Benkestok family 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, in Western Norway, in Northern Norway, in the Faroe Islands, and in Shetland.
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.
Skancke is a Norwegian family name with some slightly different spellings as Skanke, Schanke, Schanche and others. It is not proved whether all persons with those names descend from the same family line in the Middle Ages. One famous Skancke family is from the 17th Century situated in the old mining town of Røros in Mid-Norway.
Johan Henrik Rye Holmboe was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. He was a city council member in Tromsø for 42 years, a three-term member of Parliament, Minister of Provisioning from 1920 to 1921, and Minister of Trade from 1923 to 1924.
Jakob Liv Rosted Sverdrup was a Norwegian bishop and politician. Born into a prominent local family and well-educated, Jakob followed in the footsteps of his father Harald Ulrik Sverdrup and his uncle Johan Sverdrup by pursuing both a theological and political life. He served five terms in the Norwegian Parliament between 1877 and 1898, and was a cabinet member on several occasions. Originally a member of the Liberal Party, he later joined the Moderate Liberal Party, having partially been the cause of the split that formed the Moderate Liberal Party. He has been referred to as "one of the most controversial figures in modern Norwegian history".
Nils L. Landmark was a Norwegian jurist, farmer and politician.
Edvard Bull was a Norwegian historian and politician for the Labour Party. He took the doctorate in 1912 and became a professor at the University of Kristiania in 1917, and is known for writings on a broad range of subjects. In addition to his academic work, he is known for his work on Norsk biografisk leksikon. His Marxist leanings inspired him to take up a parallel political career, in the Labour Party. Situated on the radical wing in the 1910s, he was among the architects as the Labour Party denounced the Twenty-one Conditions in 1923 and reunited with the social democrats in 1927. He was the deputy party leader from 1923 to 1932, and served as Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Hornsrud's short-lived cabinet in 1928.
Francis Bull was a Norwegian literary historian, professor at the University of Oslo for more than thirty years, essayist and speaker, and magazine editor.
Georg Andreas Bull was a Norwegian architect and chief building inspector in Christiania for forty years. He was among the major architects in the country, and performed surveying studies and archeological research.
Jon Trondson Benkestok was a Norwegian nobleman (Adelsmann) and a member of the Benkestok family, one of the original noble families of Norway.
Zahl or Sahl is a Nordland family belonging to and mainly living in the County of Nordland in Norway. The family arrived there in the 17th century. Traditionally, members of the family have been traders, shippers, and sheriffs.
Arctander is the name of two Norwegian families: one from Trondheim and a Nordland family.
Erasmus Benedicter (Benedigt) Kjerschow (Kjerskov) Zahl was a privileged trader and an island owner at Kjerringøy in Nordland, Norway. Zahl is known as Nobel Literature Prize laureate Knut Hamsun's monetary supporter, and a representative of the old, traditional Nordland—Hamsun's ideal society. He is also internationally known through the character Mack, who appears in several works of Hamsun, among them Pan (1894), Dreamers (1904), and Benoni and Rosa (1908).
Leikanger Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Sogndal Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Leikanger, along the northern coast of the Sognefjorden. It is the church for the Leikanger parish which is part of the Sogn prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, stone church has a large wooden steeple. The building was constructed in a long church design around the year 1250 using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 220 people.