Foreign nobility in Norway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arms of the family de Créqui dit la Roche; they were noble in France and non-noble in Denmark and Norway. However, they had a prominent position in the country and its military.
Thor von Ditten.
Christopher Tostrup Paus, a Norwegian of the Eastern Norwegian patriciate, was ennobled in 1923 by the Pope and conferred a hereditary comital title, recognised by the Holy See and Italy. The family has previously claimed, but never received official recognition of, status as ancient nobility.

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.

According to genealogist and nobility expert Henrik Jørgen Huitfeldt-Kaas's list from 1886, Foreign Noble Families without Recognition as Dano-Norwegian Nobility, many of these foreign noble families had lived in Norway since the 16th and 17th century, and a few of their descendants still live in Norway today. Some of these families are also found in the surve Stifts-Relationer, made by Danish genealogist Terkel Klevenfeldt. The survey concerns Norwegian and Danish noble families, reported between 1747 and 1749, based on collected documents from the District Governors (Norwegian: stiftsamtmann) and bishops in various parts of Norway.

List of families claiming foreign nobility without naturalization

Literature

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI