Bjelke (noble family)

The family's progenitor was Josef Andersen of Gyllarp in Scania, living in the middle of the 15th century.

His son Tilluf Josefsen to Gyllarp was the father of Jens Tillufsen Bjelke, who by his marriage to Lucie Nielsdatter Gyldenløve came to possess Austrått Fortress and Estate in the present-day Ørland Municipality, Norway.

The last man of the family was Carl Frederik Bjelke (1837–1868).

The family's arms are a silver shield depicting two blue beams (Norwegian: bjelke).

The coat of arms appears, among other places, in family members' wax seals, in heraldic artworks at Austrått Fortress, and in a portrait of Ove Bjelke.