Klostergata Helgeseter kloster Trondheim 01

Helgeseter Priory or Elgeseter Priory (''Elgeseter kloster'') was a medieval era house of

Augustinian Canons Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

in what is now the neighborhood of

Elgeseter Elgeseter is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the western part of the borough of Lerkendal. It is south and east of the river Nidelva, south of the neighborhoods of Midtbyen and Øya, west o ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

History

The monastery was founded by Archbishop Eystein no later than 1183, and rapidly assumed political importance. It was situated across the river Nidelven from

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral ( no, Nidarosdomen / Nidaros Domkirke) is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II (c. 995–1030, reigned 1015–102 ...

. The priory was connected to the cathedral by

Elgeseter Bridge Elgeseter Bridge ( no, Elgeseter bru) is a bridge in the city and municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the European route E6 highway which passes over the ''Nidelva'' river and connects Prinsens street in the Mi ...

, making it possible for the canons to perform their duty in the cathedral

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

. In May 1240, Duke

Skule Bårdsson Skule Bårdsson or Duke Skule (Norwegian: Hertug Skule) (Old Norse: Skúli Bárðarson) ( – 24 May 1240) was a Norwegian nobleman and claimant to the royal throne against his son-in-law, King Haakon Haakonsson. Henrik Ibsen's play '' Kongs- ...

was killed outside this monastery. He had been attacked by the

Birkebeiner The Birkebein Party or Birkebeinar (; no, Birkebeinarane (nynorsk) or (bokmål)) was the name for a rebellious party in Norway, formed in 1174 around the pretender to the Norwegian throne, Eystein Meyla. The name has its origins in propagand ...

s in

Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...

, and after wandering for a couple of days took refuge in Helgeseter. The Birkebeiners set fire to the monastery and forced Skule out again, whereupon they killed him together with his son Peter. The priory was suppressed during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1537. The old

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

continued to live at the monastery until 1546, when the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Bishop the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

moved in. In 1564 the buildings were burned down. After 1606. the site was used as a quarry for construction on

Vår Frue Church Vår Frue Church ( no, Vår Frue kirke / en, Our Lady's Church) is a medieval parish church of the Church of Norway in Trondheim municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the downtown Midtbyen area of the city of Trondheim, ...

and the Archbishop's Palace in Trondheim. There are now no visible ruins, but underground remains lie beneath the present streets Klostergata 47 and 60-62 and the roadway between them, a little south of the Nidelven.

Burials

Harald Hardrada Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' (; modern no, Hardråde, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 t ...

References

Other sources

* Lunde, Øivind (1977) ''Trondheims fortid i bygrunnen'' in ''Riksantikvarens skrifter'', nr. 2, pp. 145–148 and 215. (Trondheim : Addresseavisens forl.) History of Trondheim Christianity in medieval Norway Augustinian monasteries in Norway Buildings and structures in Trondheim Monasteries dissolved under the Norwegian Reformation {{Christian-monastery-stub