The Paus family is a Norwegian family that first appeared as members of the elite of 16th-century Oslo. Two brothers from Oslo who both became priests, Hans (1587–1648) and Peder Povelsson Paus (1590–1653), have long been known as the family's earliest certain ancestors. In his book Slekten Paus, genealogist S.H. Finne-Grønn traced the family two further generations back, to Hans Olufsson, a member of the royal clergy in Norway before and after the Reformation, who served as a canon at the royal chapel in Oslo, St Mary's Church, the seat of government of Norway at the time, and who belonged to the high nobility by virtue of his high ecclesiastical and governmental office. The name Paus is known in Oslo since the 14th century, notably as the name of the Lawspeaker of Oslo Nikolas Paus and as the name of one of medieval Oslo's "city farms" that was probably named after the lawspeaker or his family; while a relation between the older and the younger family of the name in Oslo is plausible, it has not been established. Regardless, the modern Paus family is likely the only surviving family to hail from the medieval city of Oslo which burned down in 1624 without being rebuilt, making it the family with the longest documented history in the Norwegian capital.
Christian Cornelius Paus was a Norwegian lawyer, civil servant and politician. He was Governor of Bratsberg and a Member of the Norwegian Parliament.
Cappelen is a German-origined Norwegian family. Johan von Cappelen immigrated to Norway in 1653, and became bailiff in Lier. A number of his descendants were businessmen, land owners, civil servants and politicians. The family is especially known for the former publishing company J.W. Cappelens Forlag. Variants of the name Cappelen are also used throughout Germany by many other families.
The Norwegian Ibsen Award is awarded to promote Norwegian drama and is awarded only to playwrights. The prize is awarded by Skien municipality, the hometown of playwright Henrik Ibsen, and has been awarded every year since 1986.
Irene Ibsen Bille was a Norwegian novelist and playwright.
Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg was the mother of playwright Henrik Ibsen and belonged to the patriciate of Skien. She is considered the model for the character Åse in Peer Gynt and Inga of Varteig in The Pretenders, and indeed, she would "echo through her son's work in unremitting portrayals of suffering women." Henrik Ibsen himself confirmed that Åse in Peer Gynt was based on his mother.
The Norwegian patriciate was a social class in Norway from the 17th century until the modern age; it is typically considered to have ended sometime during the 19th or early 20th century as a distinct class. Jørgen Haave defines the Norwegian patriciate as a broad collective term for the civil servants (embetsmenn) and the burghers in the cities who were often merchants or ship's captains, i.e. the non-noble upper class. Thus it corresponds to term patriciate in its modern, broad generic sense in English. The patricians did not constitute a legally defined class as such, although its constituent groups, the civil servants and the burghers held various legal privileges, with the clergy de jure forming one of the two privileged estates of the realm until 1814.
Christopher Blom Paus was a Norwegian shipowner, merchant and banker. Born into the patriciate of the port town of Skien, he was the son of shipowner Ole Paus and Johanne Plesner. He was the uncle of playwright Henrik Ibsen, as he was both the half brother of Ibsen's father Knud Ibsen and the first cousin of Ibsen's mother Marichen Altenburg. He was the brother of judge, Bratsberg governor and Member of Parliament Christian Cornelius Paus and lawyer Henrik Johan Paus. Christopher Blom Paus owned the house at Snipetorp where the Ibsen family lived from Henrik's confirmation in 1843 to 1865.
Ole Paus was a Norwegian iron and steel industrialist and Chairman of the commercial bank Den norske Creditbank. He was a first cousin of Henrik Ibsen.
Kristine Cathrine Ploug (1760–1837), known as Aunt Ploug, was a relative of playwright Henrik Ibsen, cited as the influence of some of the characters in his plays, such as The Rat-Wife in Little Eyolf. She was a sister of Johan Andreas Altenburg, Ibsen's maternal grandfather, and as such the aunt of Marichen Altenburg and great-aunt of Henrik Ibsen. She lived with her brother from around 1799, following the death of her husband, and after Johan Andreas Altenburg's death, she lived with the Ibsen family. She died at Venstøp in 1837.
Johan Andreas Altenburg (1763–1824) was a Norwegian merchant and shipowner. He belonged to the patriciate of the port town of Skien and was the grandfather of Henrik Ibsen.
Hedvig Cathrine Ibsen was the sister of playwright Henrik Ibsen.
Blom is a Norwegian family descended from Jan Fredriksen, a citizen of Skien. His son, parish priest Fredrik Blom, Lårdal, adopted the family name Blom. According to playwright Henrik Ibsen, the family was one of the patrician families in Skien. The family is related through marriage to families such as Cappelen, Løvenskiold, Paus and Aall.
Niels Aall was a Norwegian estate owner, businessman and politician.
Jørgen von Ansbach was a Norwegian timber merchant and mayor of Skien.
