Olav Engelbrektsson

Olav Engelbrektsson
Archbishop of Nidaros
Olav Engelbrektsson's seal from 1527.
Church	Roman Catholic
Archdiocese	Nidaros
Elected	30 May 1523
Installed	December 1523
Quashed	1 April 1537
Predecessor	Erik Valkendorf
Successor	Archdiocese abolished Torbjørn Bratt (Lutheran superintendent)
Orders
Consecration	9 December 1523 by Pope Clement VII
Personal details
Born	c. 1480 Trondenes, Norway, Kalmar Union
Died	7 February 1538(1538-02-07) (aged 57–58) Lier, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands
Buried	Church of Saint Gummarus
Nationality	Norwegian
Residence	Archbishop's Palace, Nidaros
Alma mater	University of Rostock
Coat of arms

Olav Engelbrektsson^[1] (c. 1480, Trondenes, Norway – 7 February 1538, Lier, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands) was the 28th Archbishop of Norway from 1523 to 1537, the Regent of Norway from 1533 to 1537, a member and later president of the Riksråd (Council of the Realm), and a member of the Norwegian nobility. He was the last Roman Catholic to be the Archbishop of Norway before he fled to exile in 1537.

After his death, Olav Engelbrektsson was given a "bad reputation as an untrustworthy and scheming prelate" (dårlig ettermæle som en upålitelig og intrigant prelat) by the Protestant historians.^[2] His reputation did not improve after 1814, when Norway made its declaration of independence from Denmark, because he was still blamed for promoting the Catholic Church at the expense of Norwegian independence.^[3] But the later historians—Absalon Taranger in 1917, Sverre Steen in 1935 and Lars Hamre in 1998—have rehabilitated most of his reputation with detailed studies and labeled most of the accusations as unfair.