Mathias Bonsach Krogh

Mathias Bonsach Krogh (1754—1828) was the first bishop of Hålogaland in Norway. Krogh was also a member of the first ordinary Parliament of Norway.

Biography

Krogh was born on 4 October 1754 of Truls Krogh and Else Marie, née Bonsach, in Vadsø in today's County of Finnmark, Norway.

Krogh was educated in Copenhagen, and he received his candidatus theologiæ degree in 1779. He began his career as the parish priest in Lenvik, a post he held from 1782 until 1788. From 1788 until 1798 he was the parish priest in Vågan. Then, from 1798 until 1804, he was the parish priest in Ørland.

On 6 January 1804, Krogh became the first bishop of Hålogaland (also called bishop of Nordlandene and Finnmark). Until then, this area had been under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Nidaros. Krogh moved to Alstahaug, where he made the Alstahaug Church 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 Parliament of Norway in 1815, which followed the 1814 Constitution. He served from 1815 until 1817 representing Northern Norway. His active efforts, also in parliament, contributed to the establishment of Bodø as the first market town in Nordland.^[1]

Krogh remained bishop until his death on 2 September 1828. He was buried at the graveyard at Alstahaug Church.^[1]

Krogh received the Order of the Dannebrog in 1812 and, when the Dano-Norwegian union was dissolved and Norway entered a union with Sweden, received the Swedish Order of the Polar Star in 1815.^[1]

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