Kristoffer (Trondsson) Tronds (abt. 1500 - 1565)

Born about 1500 in Seim, Kvinnherad, Hordaland, Norway

Ancestors

Husband of Karen Knutsdatter Schanke — married 1536 in Seim, Hordaland, Norway

Descendants

Died 1565 at about age 65 in Denmark

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Biography

Kristoffer Tronds/Trunds was born about 1500 and was from Seim in Kvinnherad. His parents are believed to be Trond på Seim and Karen Koll from Nedstrand.^[1]

Kristoffer was first recorded in 1527, when he and Olav Lang were guarding the coast with the archbishop's ship. No enemies arrived, so they instead plundered merchant ships that were headed to Bergen.^[1]

In 1557, he was given the management of the Danish orlog fleet and the royal shipyards at Bremerholm, becoming the first Danish riksadmiral - on the condition that he was obliged to live in Denmark and nowhere else.^[1]

He died about 1565.^[1] His probate was in 1578; Seim passed to his widow, Karen.^[1]

"Er besønderligen den unge Kekker Christoffer et ondt Ophav tilal Urædelighet" - Vincens Lunge, said about Kristoffer Tronds^[1]

He was admiral, feudal lord in Norway and Denmark, privateer captains and pirates. Apparently he did not even use the name "Rustung" ^[2]. There is also some uncertainty as to whom his parents are.

He came to Trondheim about 1527 and ministered for the last Catholic Archbishop in Norway, Olav Engelbrektsen, who was head of the State Council and thus a significant power person in Norway, but who now saw their power threatened. Archbishop worked for Norwegian autonomy and fought against Protestantism receiving increasing acceptance in Norway, including through the many Danish officials. Reformation of 1537 made ​​Kristoffer Trondsen flee the country together with the archbishop. The year before, he had sent his wife, who was pregnant, home to his father's farm Seim in Kvinnherad.

Through their daughters Kristoffer Trondsen has many descendants. One daughter Anna (known as "Anna Trond" and "Scottish Lady"), was engaged to the Scottish James Hepburn Earl of Bothwell, who abandoned her during a trip in Flanders. The earl was later married to Queen Mary Stuart, he sought emergency harbor with ships in Norway, where he was arrested, then sent to Denmark and died in Danish prison. Anna got the ship and its values ​​as an injury replacement for that he had failed her, and she lived then with great wealth in Bergen. Kristoffer Trondsen also had his son Enno (called "Brandrøk") and made ​​a living as a highway robber in northern Germany. Enno also planned a revolt against danskeveldet with Swedish help and ended up being executed. Kristoffer Trondsen was the right hand and fleet commander of Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson. He would protect the coast against pirates, but was even accused of piracy after he hijacked Dutch and Scottish merchant ships. Lens Lord in Bergenhus, Vincens Lunge, lay in increasingly irreconcilable conflict with Olav Engelbrektson, which ended with Kristoffer killing Vincens in a challenge in Trondheim on 3 January 1536 and robbed Vincens 'estate of Austrått, where Vincens' wife, Mrs. Inger, lived. Kristoffer was caught in Bergen, but was exchanged with Eske Bille, and he was present when the Archbishop had to flee the country in 1537, after the Reformation.

The first year in exile lived Kristoffer with family in the Netherlands. Later they settled in Emden in Ostfriesland, where they lived until 1542 the following years Kristoffer operated as privateer captain, endowed with kaperbrev from Count Friedrich of Palatinate. From Dutch and Frisian harbors raided his Norwegian coast several times, including Utstein Monastery and bispgården (today Kongsgård) in Stavanger in 1539. He was protected by the Emperor Charles V and Queen Mary of Burgundy.

In 1542-1543 was Kristoffer taken in favor of the Danish king Christian III, who had a desperate need for naval officers. He advanced to admiral in just three months. He was the only Norwegian at the time with a management position in the Navy, next Danish høyadelige commanders. He was stationed in Denmark, but received several Norwegian farms of the king. (Source: Wikipedia) He is called "the Æbelholt monastery" in two different Danish documents from 1544. When Christopher died in Denmark in 1565, moved his wife back to Seim in Kvinnherad. She brought Christopher "relics" and had him buried under the church floor in Rosendal in Kvinnherad. She was most likely buried next to her husband after she died in 1578. Some genealogists believe that it was Trond Engelbrektson who was Christopher's father and not Trond Sigurdsen. (VFS :) There is reason to doubt Karen Koll really was Kristoffer TRONDSEN daughter.

Research Notes

The modern Norwegian spelling of the name is used (Kristoffer Trondsen). The name Rustung he did not even use, but are attributed to him in hindsight, and therefore it is not used here.

His father is often claimed to be Trond Sigurdsson, but a diploma states that Kristoffer was a relative of archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson, and some people believe Kristoffer was a son of a Trond Engelbrektsson.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Kvinnherad 3, pp. 322-324.
2. ↑ Stian Eisenträger From pirate to Admiral Kristoffer Trondsen article on Kristoffer Trondsen.

• Kristoffer Throndsen - Jesse Russel, Ronald Cohn

Published by Book on Demand, Miami, 2015 ISBN 10: 5510707623 / ISBN 13: 9785510707625

• Abel, den store matematikers - Stian Herlofsen Finding Green, Christiana 1899 pg.9
• From pirate to Admiral Kristoffer Trondsen (ca. 1500-1565)
• Anders Havnelid, Kvinnherad 3: Gards- og ættesoga. Kvinnherad kommune, 1988.