Mathias Bonsach Krogh (4 October 1754 – 2 September 1828) was a Norwegian clergyman who served as the first Bishop of the

Diocese of Hålogaland The Diocese of Hålogaland (, historically: ) was a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covered the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within all of Northern Norway (including Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark county along with the t ...

. Krogh was also a member of the first ordinary

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

Biography

Krogh was born in

Vadsø Municipality Vadsø (; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, County, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Vadsø (town), town of Vadsø, which is also the administrative centre of Fi ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county, Norway. He was the son of Truls Krogh and Else Marie, née Bonsach. Krogh was educated at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

. He received his candidatus theologiæ degree in 1779. He began his career as the parish priest at Lenvik Church in

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

county, a post he held from 1782 until 1788. From 1788 until 1798, he was the parish priest at

Vågan Church Vågan Church (; nickname: ''Lofoten Cathedral'') is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kabelvåg on the island of Austvågøya. It is the church for the Vå ...

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

. Then, from 1798 until 1804, he was the parish priest at

Ørland Church Ørland Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ørland Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the town of Brekstad, along the Trondheimsfjorden. It is one of the churches for the Ørland parish which is part ...

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag (; ) was a Counties of Norway, county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag () county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. ...

. On 6 January 1804, Krogh became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Hålogaland (called ''Tromsø Stift''). Until then, this area had been under the jurisdiction of the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. Krogh moved to

Alsta Alsta is an island in Alstahaug Municipality and Leirfjord Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island is surrounded by the Vefsnfjorden to the east, the Leirfjorden to the north, and the Alstenfjorden to the south and west. The eastern p ...

island in

, where he made the Alstahaug Church (''Alstahaug kirke'') the seat of the diocese. From 1805 until 1812, he served concurrently as parish priest of Alstahaug. Krogh was elected as a representative to the first ordinary

in 1815, which followed the 1814 Constitution. He served from 1815 until 1817 representing

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

. His active efforts, also in parliament, contributed to the establishment of Bodø as the first market town in Nordland.''Mathias Bonsach Krogh-dager'' (stortinget.no)
/ref> Krogh received the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

in 1812 and, when the Danish-Norwegian union was dissolved and Norway entered a union with Sweden, received the Swedish

Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...

in 1815. Krogh remained bishop until his death in 1828. He was buried at the graveyard at Alstahaug Church.

References

1754 births 1828 deaths People from Vadsø Bishops of Hålogaland University of Copenhagen alumni 18th-century Norwegian Lutheran bishops Norwegian priest-politicians Members of the Storting 1815–1817 {{Norway-Lutheran-bishop-stub