Torbjørn Olavssøn Bratt (1548) was a Norwegian clergyman. He was the first bishop of Trondheim, after the introduction of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in Norway. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Trondhjem from 1546 until 1548. Bratt was born in the fishing village of Andenes on the island of

Andøya , , or is the northernmost island in the Vesterålen archipelago, situated about inside the Arctic Circle. Andøya is located in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The main population centres on the island include the villages of ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

, Norway. He was born into one of the families that constituted the remains of old Norwegian aristocracy and was elder brother of Jens Olavssøn Bratt. He and his brother were both enrolled at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

thanks to the sponsorship of

Olav Engelbrektsson Olav Engelbrektsson (, Trondenes, Norway – 7 February 1538, Lier, Belgium, Lier, Duchy of Brabant, Habsburg Netherlands) was the 28th Archdiocese of Nidaros, Archbishop of Norway from 1523 to 1537, the List of Norwegian monarchs, Regent of Norwa ...

, Archbishop of Trondheim. Engelbrektsson was the last

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

to be the archbishop before he fled to exile in 1537. After the archbishop had to flee, both brothers adapted to the situation and cooperated with the new Lutheran authorities. In 1530, he returned to Copenhagen where he completed his master's degree. For a short time, he held a teaching position at the

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

. In 1546, Bratt was appointed superintendent (''Decanus capituli''). He was assigned Elgeseter cloister as a residence. In his new position, he began with a transformation of the Trondheim Cathedral School to an evangelical seminary for Lutheran priests. He died of the plague at the age of about 45 years in 1548.

References

1502 births 1548 deaths People from Andøy Bishops of Nidaros 16th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy University of Cologne alumni {{Norway-Lutheran-bishop-stub