Aristocracy of officials

"Aristocracy of officials" and "civil service aristocracy" (Danish and Norwegian: embedsaristokratiet or embetsaristokratiet) are terms used by historians to denote the elite social class (aristocracy) of university-educated higher state officials in Denmark and Norway from the early modern period until the 19th century. Norway’s traditional nobility all but collapsed after the Reformation (1537) and was formally abolished in 1821. The aristocracy of officials filled the vacant position at the top of society at the local, regional and national levels. Vidar L. Haanes notes that "in Norway the aristocracy of officials occupied the position in society held by the nobility elsewhere in Europe". Whereas most European nations at the time were typically dominated by a noble class, in Norway, clergy and lawyers were, between the 17th and 19th centuries, broadly the apex of the social pyramid, especially outside the cities. By the 19th century Norway is widely considered to have been a "Civil Servant State," reflecting the role of the civil servants as "the most enduring, consistent and visible elite." This social group has with reference to the 19th century also been called "the thousand academic families" by the historian Jens Arup Seip, and they comprised less than one per thousand in the overall population. In the 17th and 18th centuries, they likely comprised a few hundred families at most. It was a far smaller elite than the nobility of many other countries.