[3] But the later historians—Absalon Taranger in 1917, Sverre Steen in 1935 and Lars Hamre in 1998—have rehabilitated most of his reputation with detailed studies and labeled most of the accusations as unfair.

Olav Engelbrektsson is believed to have been born at Trondenes near Harstad in Troms around 1480 as the son of Engelbrekt Gunnarsson and Jorunn.

[4] Young Olav was raised in a home that was always opposing the Danish overseers, and that might have been one of the several influences of his attitude towards the Danes in his years as the archbishop.

[8] He did help with the education and careers of Torbjørn and his brother, Jens Olavssøn Bratt, but their biographies at Norsk Biografisk Leksikon do not name him as their uncle.

At the university, theology was being taught by conservatives from the Catholic Church but the city of Rostock was once the center of North German humanism.

[11] There were several reformists who came to the university as guest speakers over the years but, when Olav was a student there, the regular teaching was left to the conservatives because the department of theology was led by a deputy commissioner of the business of papal indulgences of the city.

Engelbrektsson were especially good friends with another Swede, Laurentius Andreae, the archdeacon of Uppsala who quickly became one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation of Sweden under Gustavus Vasa.

Seven months later, on 17 December 1515, he was promoted to the dean of Nidaros, with a papal dispensation from Pope Leo X to succeed the late Peter Jonsson Stut.

Although he was only thirty years old at that time, Olav became the second most important member in the Cathedral Chapter, next to the archbishop of Nidaros, the Dane Erik Walkendorf.

Walkendorf had been appointed to his post in 1510 by King Christian II of Denmark and Norway without any consultation or recommendations from the cathedral chapter.

When Walkendorf fled from the tyranny of King Christian II in 1521, the authority of the Archdiocese went to the Cathedral Chapter, whose chairman was Olav Engelbrektsson.

Just over a month before the election, King Christian II had fled to the Habsburg Netherlands after the nobles revolted with the help from the Duchy of Schleswig - Holstein.

[13] When Giulio de' Medici was elected as Pope Clement VII on 19 November 1523, Olav could finally have his pallium and go home.

So he was present at the national meeting in Bergen in August 1524, when the councilors built an agreement, which Frederick would have to accept and sign if he wished to be the King of Norway.

[14] The politics of the Riksråd were influenced by the conditions inspired by the previous changes in the Throne of Denmark and the national wishes and needs matched the attitudes and beliefs of Olav Engelbrektsson.

The results were outlined in a meeting between the Archbishop, the Bishop of Hamar (Mogens Lauritssøn) and the notables from Østlandet (Eastern Norway) in May 1524.

For the next twelve years until 1536, Olav Engelbrektsson was virtually the leader of Norway, serving as the defender of the Catholic faith against the hordes of the Reformation, while his cousin, Admiral Kristoffer Trondson handled the military defenses for him.

His failures paved the way for the submission of Norway to the Danish crown, marking the end of both Norwegian independence and Catholicism.

[2] Øystein Rian believes that Olaf Engelbrektsson's official actions in the years between 1524 and 1528 indicate that he was a supporter of a careful line (forsktig linje).

According to Rian, King Frederick and the Royal Council of Denmark knew the difference between the boldness of Lunge and the forbearance of others.

[18] In March 1532, Engelbrektsson was recorded as paying 46.3 lbs (21 kg) of silver, in minter form, to mercenaries hired by Christian II during his unsuccessful struggle against Frederick I for the throne of Denmark and Norway.

When Christian lost the war in July, Archbishop Engelbrektsson was fined heavily for his support with the amount of 15,000 Danish marks, the equivalent of about 295.4 lbs (134 kg) of silver, to be paid in three installments.

The actual murder of Lunge was said to have taken place at the hands of Engelbrektsson's cousin, Admiral Kristoffer Trondson,[19] Norway's military commander who had been fighting against Danish ships with the funds mostly from the Netherlands.

In 1536, Olav fled Steinvikholm Castle to Nidarholm Abbey on Munkholmen (Norwegian, "Monk's Isle"), a small island just outside Trondheim, and spent the winter there.

In the following spring, on 3 May 1537, Mary of Austria, the governor of the Netherlands at that time, agreed to a truce of three years with Christian III.

One of the paragraphs of the agreement specifically referred to Olav Engelbrektsson, allowing him the possibility of emigration to any country of his choice with his personal belongings.

His grave is marked by a plaque, unveiled on 21 May 2003 by Queen Sonja of Norway on her official visit to Belgium and made by a resident of Trondheim, Marit Wiklund.

[23] The drama of the Olav Engelbrektsson saga, including the violent murder of Niels Lykke, is reenacted in a modern opera in Trondheim.

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