Drontheim

Drontheim (Norweg. Trondhjem), a city in Norway, with a population in 1865 of 19,287 inhabitants. About 1020 the first episcopal see of Norway was established at Drontheim, which was thenceforward the center of the missionary efforts for the Christianization of the country. At first the bishopric belonged to the episcopal province of Hamburg-Bremen; on the elevation of Lund to be an archiepiscopal see, Drontheim, with all the Scandinavian dioceses, became subordinate to the archbishop of Lund. In 1152 Drontheim was made the metropolitan see for all Norway, and as such it embraced seven suffragan bishops, namely, Bergen, Stavanger, Hammer, and Anslo (Opslo) in Norway, Sodren in the Orkney Islands, Holum in Iceland, and Garde in Greenland. The cathedral of Drontheim contained the relics of king Olav the Saint, who was venerated by the whole kingdom as its patron, and whose grave was consequently visited by numerous pilgrims. It was also the capital of Norway, and had before the Reformation ten churches and five convents. Since the Reformation it has remained the seat of a Lutheran bishop. SEE NORWAY. A list of the bishops of Drontheim is given in Torfaeus, Historia Norvegiae, — Wetzer u.Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, 3:305.