Events from the 16th century in Norway.

1501

• August – Alvsson's rebellion starts.
  • Knut Alvsson led Swedish forces in an attack on Båhus Fortress.
• The rebels led by Nils Ravaldsson succeed in occupying Marstrand and Sarpsborg.

1502

• Alvsson's rebellion:
  • March – Knut Alvsson succeeds in occupying Akershus Fortress and Tønsberg Fortress.
  • July–August – Henrich Krummedige recaptures Tønsberg Fortress and lays siege to Akershus Fortress.
  • 18 August – Knut Alvsson and men loyal to him are murdered during a parley with Henrich Krummedige.
• Olsborg Castle is constructed by Nils Ravaldsson.^[1]
• The Krummedige-Tre Rosor feud ends.

1503

• Alvsson's rebellion
  • The Tønsberg Fortress was destroyed by rebels.^[2]
  • Rebels under the leadership of Nils Ravaldsson succeed in occupying Konghelle.
  • Nils Ravaldssons forces lay siege to Bohus Fortress.

1504

• Alvsson's rebellion:
  • May – A one-year ceasefire was signed between the Norwegian rebels and King Hans, but was broken by the king in December.
  • 24 December – Alvsson's rebellion was crushed at Olsborg Castle in Båhuslen.^[3]

1505

• 20 July – Nils Sveinsson was ennobled, and given the noble family name Tordenstjerne.

1514

• 20 July – King Christian II is crowned King of Norway in Oslo. This coronation was the last in Norway for 304 years when King Charles III John was crowned king in 1818.

1523

• 20 January – Christian II is deposed as King of Norway.
• 31 January – Swedish forces occupy Ranrike.
• 1 July – Olav Torkelsson becomes Bishop of Bergen.
• November
  • 8–9 November – Hansa merchants expels all Scots from Bergen.^[4]
  • Swedish War of Liberation ends. This marks the end for the Kalmar Union.
  • Supporters of Christian II surrendered Akershus Fortress and Bergenhus Fortress to the Norwegian National Council.^[5]
• December – Olav Engelbrektsson becomes the Archbishop of Norway.
• Swedish forces besiges Akershus Fortress.

1535

• Spring – The southern branch of the Norwegian riksråd elects Christian III of Denmark as king of Norway. The northern branch refuse to accept the election. The privy councils leader Olav Engelbrektsson wants Frederick the Wise as king.^[6]
• 21 July – Nils Lykke is convicted for incest and is executed later the same year.^[7]

1536

• The Reformation in Norway starts.
• 3 January – Realm council Vincens Lunge is murdered in Nidaros, and other people lojal to Christian III of Denmark is arrested. This event marks the beginning of the Reformation in Norway and Olav Engelbrektssons rebellion.^[8]
• 7 January – Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson sent squads of supporters to villages in Eastern Norway; the squads proclaimed to the people that a new ruler (Frederick the Wise) could be on his way.
• January–April – Many farmers and bourgeoisie in Eastern Norway rises up in rebellion for the Archbishop, but it soon failed as no actual support from Frederick came.^[9]
• March – The Archbishops forces led by Kristoffer Throndsen, fails to capture Bergenhus Fortress, and Throndsen is arrested during a parley with the commanders of the fort.
• April – Olav Engelbrektsson releases supporters of Christian III from prison at Tautra.^[9]
• Fall – The Protestant forces led by Peder Hanssøn Litle, takes control over Akershus Fortress.
• Munkeliv Abbey was destroyed by fire and was never rebuild.
• The town of Tønsberg was destroyed by fire.^[10]
• Halsnøy Abbey was dissolved.
• Lyse Abbey was dissolved.

1537

• The Reformation in Norway:
  • January–February – The Commander of Bergenhus Fortress Eske Billes forces sacks farms of supporters of Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson in Møre og Romsdal.
  • April 1 – The Archbishop of Norway Olav Engelbrektsson flees from Trondheim to Lier, Belgium.
  • April – Christian III sends a fleet with soldiers to Norway.
  • April – Steinvikholm Castle is besieged by the Protestant forces.
  • May 17 – The Archbishops men surrenders Steinvikholm Castle to the Protestant forces.
  • May – The forces sent by Christian III arrives in Norway. The army splits in two. One part plunders setesveins of Olav Engelbrektsson, the other part heads to Hamar to arrest Bishop Mogens Lauritssøn.
  • June 20 – Siege of Hamar starts.
  • June 23 – Siege of Hamar ends with the arrest of Bishop Mogens Lauritssøn, and the Catholic rebellion is definitively ended in Norway.^[6]
  • September 2 – Gjeble Pederssøn becomes the first Lutheran bishop in Norway.^[11]
• Dissolution of all the monasteries in Norway, including:
  • Bakke Abbey
  • Munkeby Abbey
  • Tautra Abbey
  • Nidarholm Abbey
  • Gimsøy Abbey
  • Utstein Abbey
• St. Olav's shrine was destroyed.

1538

• Christian III starts a mining project in Telemark.^[12]

1539

• May – Hans Glaser became bergmeister in Telemark.^[13]
• Summer – Norway's first Lutheran Church Ordinance is introduced.^[14]
• Kristoffer Throndsen raids Utstein Abbey and the Bishop's Palace in Stavanger.

1545

• The cathedral chapter at St Mary's Church was dissolved.^[15]

1548

• Summer – Prince Frederick II of Norway was proclaimed as heir apparent to Christian III of Norway, in Oslo.^[16]
• The Plague of 1547–1548 ends. It was a bubonic plague, that spread to large parts of South Norway.^[17]

1555

• Inger Ottesdotter Rømer and her daughter Lucie Nilsdatter dies in a shipwrecking off the coast of Sunnmøre.^[18]
• Anti-Catholicism in Norway: Two farmers were burned to death at the stake in Hamar. The two men had practiced Catholic Marian devotion.^[19]

1557

• 22 January – Jon Guttormssøn resign as Bishop of Stavanger.

1558

• 22 January – The Livonian War starts.

1563

• 13 August – The Northern Seven Years' War starts.

1564

• Northern Seven Years War

• February – Swedish troops occupy Jemtland, Herjedalen and Trøndelag. Trøndelag is retaken the same year, but Jemtland and Herjedalen is given back in 1570.
• Helgeseter Priory is burned down by Swedish forces.^[20]
• 22 May – Norwegian forces under the command of Erik Rosenkrantz retakes Steinvikholm Castle from Swedish troops.

1567

• The Northern Seven Years' War: May – Swedish invasion of Norway.
  • Swedish forces torched Konghelle and Sarpsborg.
  • Swedish forces torches Hamar, destroying Hamar Cathedral and the bishop's fortified palace Hamarhus.
• 12 September – The city of Fredrikstad was established through a King's decree.^[21]
• Johan Venstermand becomes Chancellor of Norway.

1570

• Værne Kloster is burned down in connection with the Northern Seven Years' War.
• 13 December – The Treaty of Stettin ends the Northern Seven Years' War.^[22]

1572

• Povel Huitfeldt was appointed Governor-General of Norway.^[23]

1575

• Anti-Catholicism in Norway: Ingeborg Kjeldsdatter from Skiptvet was flogged. Her crime was that she had practiced Catholic Marian devotion.^[24]
• 12 December – The Danzig rebellion began. The city of Danzig rebels against Poland–Lithuania, Denmark–Norway joins the side of the rebels.

1576

• The first mention of Porsgrunn by the writer Peder Claussøn Friis in his work Concerning the Kingdom of Norway

1577

• 9 July – Ludvig Munk was appointed Governor-General of Norway.^[25]
• December – End of the Danzig rebellion.

1579

• Christen Mule erects a Renaissance building on the ruins of the previous bishop's palace in Oslo.

1580

• The 1580 influenza pandemic.
• The first mention of the trading port of Flekkefjord.

1588

• 4 April – Christian IV of Denmark-Norway becomes king after the death of his father, Frederick II
• August – Axel Gyldenstierne was appointed Governor-General of Norway.^[26]
• 21 September – Santiago, a Spanish Armada supply ship, got wrecked near Mosterhamn in Hardanger Fjord.^[27]

1589

• 28 October – James VI of Scotland arrive in Flekkefjord by ship.^[28]
• 23 November – James VI married Anne of Denmark at the Bishop's Palace in Oslo.^[29]
• 22 December – James VI and Anne of Denmark leaves Oslo by sled to Copenhagen.^[29]

1590

• 7 April – Anne Pedersdotter was burned alive at the stake in the city of Bergen. Her case is regarded as the starting point of the witch trials in Norway.

1591

• 31 July – The Sorenskriver office is introduced in Norway.
• The district court system is established.
• The oldest document with the seal of Stavanger city coat of arms is made.

1592

• 23 June – Hans Pederssøn Litle becomes Chancellor of Norway.

1595

• The first pharmacy in Norway opened (Svaneapoteket in Bergen).^[30]

1600

• Cort Aslakssøn becomes the first Norwegian professor at the University of Copenhagen.

• 1501 – July 18 – Isabella of Burgundy, queen of Christian II of Denmark (d. 1526)

• 1502

• 1 May – Jakob Bagge, Norwegian-born Swedish admiral (died 1577).^[31]
• Torbjørn Bratt, clergyman (died 1548).^[32]

• 1503 – August 12 – Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
• 1505 – Jens Olavssøn Bratt, clergyman (d. 1548)^[33]
• 1514 – Heine Havreki, priest (d.1576)
• 1537 – Ludvig Munk, Stadtholder of Norway (d. 1602)
• 1538

• Jens Nilssøn, bishop (died 1600).^[34]
• Enno Brandrøk, nobleman, mercenary and adventurer (died 1571).
• Laurentius Nicolai, Jesuit, active in service of the Counter-Reformation (died 1622).^[35]

• 1545 – 1 April – Peder Claussøn Friis, author (died 1614)
• 1561 – Christoffer Hjort, priest, expelled from the country for Catholicism in 1613 (died 1616).^[36]
• 1564 – 28 June – Cort Aslakssøn astronomer, theologist and philosopher (died 1624).^[37]
• 1579 – 3 June – Jens Munk, polar explorer (died 1628).^[38]
• 1580

• 8 January – Jens Hermansson Juel, nobleman, Governor-general of Norway (died 1634).^[39]
• 2 February – Jens Bjelke, nobleman, Chancellor of Norway (died 1659).^[40]

• 1590

• Peter Paulson Paus, provost (died 1653)
• Probable – Magdalena Andersdotter, shipowner (died c.a 1650)

• 1592 – Axel Mowat, admiral and land owner (died 1661).^[41]

• 1502 – 18 August – Knut Alvsson, nobleman and landowner (born c. 1455).^[42]
• 1505 – Nils Ravaldsson, leader of Alvsson's rebellion^[43]
• 1523 – Nils Henriksson, knight, landowner, National Counselor, Lord High Steward of Norway (born c. 1455)^[44]
• 1535

• 30 May – Olav Torkelsson, Roman Catholic bishop.^[45]
• 24 December – Nils Lykke, nobleman.^[7]

• Anders Mus, bishop.^[46]
• 1536 – 3 January – Vincens Lunge, Realm counselor.^[8]
• Probable 1537 – Hoskuld Hoskuldsson, Bishop of Stavanger (b. c. 1465/1470)
• 1538 – 7 February – Olav Engelbrektsson, Archbishop of Norway (born c. 1480).^[9]
• 1539 – 7 April – Strange Jørgenssøn, bailiff and businessman (died 1610).^[47]
• 1545

• Hans Glaser, bergmeister (b. c. 1480)
• Hans Rev, bishop (b. c. 1489)

• 1548

• 12 June – Jens Olavssøn Bratt, clergyman (born c. 1505).^[48]
• Torbjørn Bratt, clergyman and bishop (born c. 1502).^[49]

• 1555 – Inger Ottesdotter Rømer, wealthy landowner, Lady of Austraat (born c. 1475).^[50]
• 1557 – 9 March – Gjeble Pederssøn, bishop (born c. 1490).^[51]
• 1558 – 14 February – Trond Torleivsson Benkestok, nobleman, estate owner and overlord (born c. 1495).^[52]
• 1570 – 18 September – Hans Olufsson, high-ranking cleric and nobleman (b.c 1495–1500)
• 1575

• 9 April – Absalon Pederssøn Beyer, clergyman, writer, historian (born c. 1528).^[53]
• 29 July – Jon Simonssøn, city manager, lawspeaker, humanist (born 1512).^[54]

• 1576 – Heine Havreki, priest (born 1514)
• 1577 – 20 September – Jon Guttormssøn, Lutheran superintendent.^[55]
• 1578 – 17 September – Hans Gaas, clergyman (born c. 1500).^[56]
• 1581 – Mogens Svale, military commander and landowner (born c.1530).^[57]
• 1588

• 4 April – Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway (born 1534)
• Axel Gyntersberg, nobleman and overlord (born c. 1525).^[58]

• 1589 – Christen Mule, merchant and Mayor of Oslo (born c.1525).
• 1590

• 7 April – Anne Pedersdotter, alleged witch (born c. 1530)^[59]
• Gude Axelsen Giedde, military officer and priest (born 1510)

• 1591 – 2 November – Frants Berg, bishop (born 1504 ?).^[60]
• 1592 – Oluf Kalips, nobleman, landowner and Chancellor of Norway.^[61]
• 1595 – 30 November – Hans Mogenssøn, bishop (born c.1525)
• 1600 – Jens Nilssøn, Bishop of the Diocese of Oslo (born 1538).^[62]