Olav Torkelsson

Olav Torkelsson, also known as Olaf Thorkelsön (died 30 May 1535, Voss, Bergenhus len (now Hordaland), Norway), was the 31st and last Roman Catholic Bishop of Bergen, from 1523 to 1535, and a member of the Riksråd (National Council of Norway).

Olav Torkelsson belonged to a noble family that owned properties on the islands of Finnøy in Rogaland. He was mentioned for the first time in 1511, when he was a priest in Voss in Hordaland and a canon in Bergen, both in Bergenhus len. By 1519, he had gone to Bergen to be an archdeacon. He was still there three years later, in 1522, when the Bishop of Bergen, Andor Kentilsson, died.

The Cathedral Chapter of Bergen asked the King of Denmark and Norway, Christian II, about his preferences for the successor. He replied that he would like to see the Dean of the Chapter, Hans Knudsson, chosen but he allowed the Cathedral Chapter to have the election itself. On 15 April 1523, the canons chose Olav Torkelsson as their next Bishop and he was appointed nine weeks later, on 1 July, by Pope Adrian VI. Archbishop of Nidaros, Olav Engelbrektsson, then consecrated Torkelsson as the Bishop of Bergen and the new Bishop automatically became a member of the Riksråd.

In the meantime, Christian II had fled from the two kingdoms. In the autumn of 1523, Olaf Torkelsson and the rikshovmester (Lord High Steward) of Norway, Nils Henriksson of Austrått (who died soon afterwards), answered the summons of the Bishop of Stavanger, Hoskuld Hoskuldsson, to attend the meeting in Bergen to deliver the support at the Bergenhus Fortress to Christian's uncle, Frederick, the new King of Denmark. For their efforts, he appointed Torkelsson, Hoskuldsson and Vincens Lunge (the son-in-law of Nils Henriksson) to be advisers to the stattholders, as well as the Archbishop of Nidaros Olav Engelbrektsson, for Norway north of Lindesnes. On 5 August 1524, at the meeting of the Riksråd of Norway in Bergen, all the councilors, including Torkelsson, swore their allegiance to King Frederick, two days before his coronation in Copenhagen.

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