Severin Løvenskiold (7 February 1777 – 15 September 1856) was a Norwegian nobleman, politician and the

prime minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

Family

Severin Løvenskiold, the younger, was born in

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn w ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

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 the ...

to Severin Løvenskiold, the elder, and Benedicte Henriette née Aall. In 1802, he married ''Countess'' Hedevig Sophie Knuth.

Education and offices

When Løvenskiold was nine years old, he was sent to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he received his formal education. After studies in

Wandsbek Wandsbek () is the second-largest of seven boroughs that make up the city and state of Hamburg, Germany. The name of the district is derived from the river Wandse which passes through here. Wandsbek, which was formerly an independent city, is ur ...

near

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, in

Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2020, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic origin. Its meaning i ...

, in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

and in

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, where he studied mining, he returned in 1794 at the age of 17 years. He earned a degree in law at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

in 1796. After a few years of public service in Christiania, he assumed responsibility for some of the family’s holdings in 1802. From 1803-1813, he was appointed to be the county governor for

Bratsberg amt Bratsberg is a name of Norwegian origin and may refer to: People * Harry Bratsberg (also Harry Bratsburg), an American actor and director also known as Harry Morgan Places * Bratsberg, Trøndelag, a village in Trondheim municipality in Trøndelag ...

, a position which made him the Kings representative for the whole county.

Political life

After nine years as the

Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from thi ...

king’s representative, Severin Løvenskiold resigned this position in 1813, and in the following year, he was elected to the

constitutional assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...

. Løvenskiold was during the convention an enthusiastic member of the so-called ‘Union Party’, which advocated a union with Sweden, and he made notable efforts to retain the nobility in Norway. When noble titles and privileges in fact were abolished in a process starting with the Nobility Law of 1821, Løvenskiold went on record against the decision, finding it unjust and in violation with promises of eternal noble status in 1739 given from King Christian VI to his father, Severin Løvenskiold, the eldest. His position against the dissolution of nobility is a good example of Løvenskiold’s position in many contemporary political issues. His conservatism, which sometimes could appear as reactionary, was reflected in his refusal of measures leading to a popular democracy, particularly so in 1836 when the laws on municipal democracy were sanctioned by the king—against Løvenskiold’s advice. He maintained that the

peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

lacked the necessary level of education and political understanding to govern national affairs, a view the king in reality shared with him. However, King

Charles III John sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius , spouse = , issue = Oscar I of Sweden , house = Bernadotte , father = Henri Bernadotte , mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean , birth_date = , birth_place = Pau, ...

accepted the municipal laws. Løvenskiold was very loyal to the King, and he was granted the position of

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in Stockholm for several years until he was appointed

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Norway in 1841.

Political legacy

Despite his strongly conservative political views, Severin Løvenskiold was not without interest in progress in a more technical way. During the last years of his position, Norway established its first railroad, its first telegraphic lines, and a system of common postage and stamps. Several laws were established, helping the development of different types of industries in Norway. The honour for this goes mostly to

Frederik Stang Frederik Stang (4 March 1808 – 8 June 1884) was a Norwegian lawyer, public servant, and politician who served as Norway's 1st prime minister in Christiana. Stang was born on the Nordre Rostad farm at Stokke in Vestfold, Norway. He was the so ...

, but Løvenskiold must definitely have accepted and probably, at least to some extent, approved of this change. When Løvenskiold died in 1856, it was politically impossible to appoint a new governor. His anti-democratic attitude had left both him and the position isolated from most of the political establishment in Norway.Tore Pryser: ''Severin Løvenskiold'' (Norsk biografisk leksikon)
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Gallery

Image:Severin Løvenskiold.jpg, Løvenskiold as a young man Image:Lovenskiold2.jpg, Severin Løvenskiold in mid-life File:Portrett av Severin Løvenskiold (1777-1856).jpg, Severin Løvenskiold in later years

References

Other sources

*Holme, Jørn (2014) ''De kom fra alle kanter – eidsvollsmennene og deres hus'' (Oslo: Cappelen Damm) *Gisle, Jon (2010) ''Jusleksikon'' (Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget) *Andenæs, Johs (2006) ''Statsforfatningen i Norge'' (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget)

External links

Biography of Løvenskiold family

Biography of Severin Løvenskiold from the Eidsvoll 1814 Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovenskiold, Severin 1777 births 1856 deaths Politicians from Porsgrunn Severin University of Copenhagen alumni 18th-century Norwegian nobility Fathers of the Constitution of Norway Prime Ministers of Norway Government ministers of Norway Members of the Storting Governors-general of Norway