Archbishop Jon Raude

Jon Raude (Jon the Red) was archbishop from 1267 to 1282. The red-haired archbishop, who also bore the nickname “the steadfast”, was a powerful and combative church leader. He fought for the independence and rights of the Church at a time when the balance of power between the king and the Church was unclear. When the Laws of the Land were written, the archdiocese of Nidaros encompassed most of the realm of the Norwegian king. When King Magnus tried to introduce a new provincial law for Frostathing in 1269, he was stopped, presumably by Jon Raude, who wanted his own ecclesiastical law.

The following dispute led to a compromise between the archbishop and the king, first in 1273 and then in 1277, with the Tønsberg Concord. The treaty drew up the boundaries between ecclesiastical and royal authority. It granted the church a number of rights and privileges, including tax exemption, the right to appoint priests, and to judge and impose fines in matters concerning the church. Jon Raude prepared his own Christian law, which probably was ready by 1273.

After King Magnus died in 1280, the kingdom was ruled by the barons and dowager queen Ingeborg on behalf of the minor King Eirik Magnusson. The Church’s rights were severely restricted, and the subsequent conflict ended with Archbishop Jon Raude being exiled in 1282. He went to Skara in Sweden where he died the same year. King Eirik’s guardian government also declared his Christian law invalid. Few have wielded the Church’s sword as much as Archbishop Jon Raude.