The period since 1814 is part of the longer history of the Norwegian state. The re-establishing of Norwegian state institutions in 1814 linked up with Norway’s first period as a sovereign state, from the first signs of a state in the 9^th century until Norway became part of the Danish realm in the 16^th century.

When  the Norwegian Council of the Realm was dissolved in Copenhagen in October 1536, at Norway’s final submission to the Danish Crown and at the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation, the country was without central executive institutions for the first time in centuries.

271 years later, in the autumn of 1807, the war between Great Britain and Denmark-Norway made it necessary once more to have a minimum of executive institutions in Norway. A temporary government commission and a number of other public offices were established in Christiania (Oslo). The commission was in function until the autumn of 1810.

When the Danish-Norwegian realm was dissolved three years later, in the Treaty of Kiel on 14 January 1814 - where Norway was submitted to Sweden, separate Norwegian governing bodies again became necessary. Contributing to this was that the Danish Governor in Norway, Prince Christian Frederik, at this moment was already rallying support for declaring Norway an independent state. The Prince was thus opposing the Swedish-Norwegian union dictated in Kiel by the allied powers of the Napoleonic Wars  - Prussia, Russia, Great Britain and Austria.

The first, rather temporary, Norwegian executive body in 1814 was a meeting of leading men assembled by Prince Christian Frederik, at Eidsvoll (north of Christiania (Oslo)) on 16 February. The meeting advised the Prince to let the people elect a national assembly, which again would pass a constitution and elect a king.

Following the February meeting, Prince Christian Frederik declared himself Norway’s regent on 19 February. On 2 March 1814 he established the first permanent Norwegian political body since 1536, the Council of Government. Members of the Council were given the title “councillor of government”.

The National Assembly, which met at Eidsvoll on 11 April 1814, elected Christian Frederik as Norway’s king on 17 May 1814, while passing the Constitution with its regulations concerning national executive bodies. On 19 May Christian Frederik accepted the election as king, taking his oath on the Constitution. From the same date the Council of Government changed its name to the Council of State. Members of the Council had their title changed to “councillor of state”. This title is still in use, more or less interchangeable with “minister”.

Since - in the months as an independent state until 4 November 1814, in the 90 years in union with Sweden and in the century since 1905 – the Council of State has been the central institution of Norway’s executive power. With the exception of the periods 13 August - 4 November 1814 and 7 June - 18 November 1905, the Council of State has met under the King’s presidency.  Second to the King (and in short periods before 1857, to the viceroy) have ranked various representatives of the executive power: the first minister in the months before the union with Sweden; the governor, the prime minister and the first minister in the years 1814-1873, and the prime minister since then.

Prime Minister Johan Sverdrup’s 1884 Government marks the introduction of the parliamentary system in Norway. From then on the party-political affiliation of the Council of State is mentioned in the registry; in coalition governments also each minister’s party affiliation is mentioned.

The registry is edited to make it possible to approach the content from three different angles: by entering the chronological list of governments (chapter I), by opening the list of ministries and offices (chapter II), and by using the alphabetical list of persons (chapter III).

Chapter I follows the government periods, i.e. the rather prolonged government periods before 1884, and the parliamentary dependent governments since then.

In chapter I persons are listed according to date of appointment, then according to seniority as councillor of state/ minister and then according to the ranking of ministries established on 30 November 1814 – with later additions and adjustments of 7 June 1905. From this date the minister of foreign affairs normally ranks second to the prime minister, irrespective of seniority.

Persons are listed with name, title when appointed or re-appointed, date of appointment (if this does not coincide with that of the government), ministry at appointment or re-appointment, possible shift of ministry, and date of resignation (if this does not coincide with that of the government). "Resignation" is used independently of why resignations have taken place. The system that most councillors of state in the period 1814-1905 alternated in serving at the Norwegian Council of State Division in Stockholm, results in rather long paragraphs for some of the persons.

Years of birth and death are listed in chapter III. This alphabetical list also covers persons mentioned without having been members of the Council of State. These are listed with the title held at the actual point of time.

The members of the Administration Council in Oslo in 1940, the members of the illegal Nazi governments in Oslo 1940-1945, and the chief officers administering the ministries in Oslo 8-14 May 1945, are listed in chapter I under the paragraph on the period 1905-45.

The registry also covers the office of secretary to the Council of State, which in 1814 was termed secretary to the Government, 1814-1925 state secretary, 1926-2001 secretary to the Council of State and from 2001 also secretary to the Government. The parallel office at the Norwegian Council of State Division in Stockholm 1814-1905,  is also listed. State secretaries in the sense of party-political deputies to the ministers, were introduced gradually from 1947.

The registry also covers the part-time office as secretary to the president of the Norwegian Government between 1829 and 1905. Until 1873 this office served the governor or the first minister in Christiania, thereafter the prime minister there. The office was re-established in 1939, now as a full-time secretary to the prime minister.

From 1945 the prime minister had several - now party-politically appointed - secretaries. The term “Office of the Prime Minister” quickly came into use about this secretariat. In 1956 the office was strengthened with a more formalised political and administrative staff. In 1969 the Secretariat to the Council of State, under the Ministry of Justice, was dissolved. Its tasks were transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister, which since then handles all functions as the Norwegian Government’s central office.

The registry also covers a political post that is absent in earlier registries: the post as “private secretary” and its 1974-parallell ”private advisor”. From 1992 these posts were replaced by the post of ”political advisor”.

This registry is based on earlier publications in Norwegian, primarily Jan Debes' Det norske statsråd 1814-1949 (“The Norwegian Council of State 1814-1949”) from 1950. Mr. Debes' book follows the Council of State year by year, while this presentation follows the government periods. At our request, Mr. Debes in 1996 checked the part of this registry covering the period 1814-1945, offering valuable comments. The registry is also based on our latest version of Noregs regjeringar 1945- (“Norway’s Governments 1945-“).

Øivind Østang

The war between Great Britain and Denmark-Norway from 1807, where Sweden supported Britain, led to a situation where connections between Denmark and Norway were broken – at sea as well as on land. In the years 1807-1810 this caused certain adjustments in the centralised Danish governing of Norway.

On 24 August 1807 it was announced in Copenhagen that a temporary government commission would be established in Christiania (Oslo). A few days later it was decided to establish a separate cashier’s board for Norway. On 9 October a superior criminal court was established, to serve as supreme court in Norwegian criminal cases, and on 11 December a Norwegian admiralty court  was set up.

These were the first national governmental bodies to be established in Norway since the Council of the Realm had been dissolved and the country had been subdued to the Danish Crown in 1536. The Danish-Norwegian provincial town of Christiania (Oslo) now emerged as Norway’s capital, a status Oslo had held for a couple of centuries from the 14^th century.

The four first members of the Government Commission in Christiania, which met for the first time on 1 September 1807, were the Danish governor – Prince Christian August (president); County Governor Gebhard Moltke, County Chief Justice Enevold de Falsen, and County Governor Marcus Gjøe Rosenkrantz.

On 2 December 1808 the Commission was enlarged by the entry of Count Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg and County Governor Mathias Otto Leth Sommerhielm. Prince Christian August retired on 28 December 1809. Prince Frederik of Hessia, member of the Commission since 22 November, now took over as commission president. The Government Commission had its last meeting on 30 November 1810. Christiania’s period as Norwegian capital was over for this time.

Three of the Commission’s members came to play central roles in the years up to 1814 and thereafter: Count Wedel as member of the National Assembly, member of the Storting, councillor of state and governor, Mr. Rosenkrantz as councillor of government and councillor of state, and Mr. Sommerhielm as councillor of government, councillor of state and prime minister.

(Roman numerals in brackets indicate position in the Swedish line of succession, where this differs from the Norwegian line.)