The royal clergy played its most central role during the Late Middle Ages, when they effectively formed the Norwegian state administration.
[1][2][3] In 1314, King Haakon decreed that the provost of St Mary's Church should "for eternity" also hold the office of Chancellor of Norway and Keeper of the Great Seal.
The royal clergy had a large degree of meritocracy for its time, as the positions were not hereditary, which ensured competent and well educated recruitment.
Peter Andreas Munch describes the royal as a counterweight to the regular secular aristocracy with a stronger loyalty to the king and a stronger service element than both the secular and the ordinary ecclesiastical aristocracy.
[6][7] As the bishops with seats in the Council of the Realm grew in influence in the late Middle Ages, the royal clergy formed an important counterweight.