Galtung was a Norwegian noble family dating from the ennoblement of Lauritz Galtung

Lauritz Galtung

Lauritz Galtung was a Norwegian nobleman of the Galtung-family who was educated in the military, and became Admiral of the Dano-Norwegian joint fleet. He was employed Seignory over Lister len in 1658.- Biography :...

 in 1648. However, when he was ennobled, it was expressed that there existed an older noblement. A connection between these two families in male-line has however not been found, though it has been suggested reliable genealogic connections in female-line between them.

The old family, Galte

The first family called Galte, belongs to what is called the uradel

Uradel

The German and Scandinavian term Uradel refers to nobility who can trace back their noble ancestry at least to the year 1400 and probably originates from leadership positions during the Migration Period.-Divisions of German nobility:Uradel : Nobility that originates from leadership positions held...

 in the middle ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. The Galte family apparently died out in male-line about 1413. They had their main seat at Torsnes in Hardanger

Hardanger

Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord. It consists of the municipalities of Odda, Ullensvang, Eidfjord, Ulvik, Granvin, Kvam and Jondal, and is located inside the county of Hordaland....

. It is believed the families are related to present day reminisicient and that is the oldest surviving noble family in Norway.

The present family, Galtung

The other family can be traced in male-line back to Laurits Johanneson who was born around 1519. It was his great-grandson Lauritz Galtung who later renewed the nobility of the family in 1648, then to Galtung rather than Galte. The present family belonged to an influential family circuit in the Hardanger-area, amongst others on the farms Aga and Torsnes, and had many well-known naval officers and admirals.

Historian H. J. Huitfeldt-Kaas said, in 1885, that in the period 1670-1870 the family started marrying commoners, and thus, they lost their nobility (later to be rumoured that it was further influenced by the Danish and their succession of their own nobility. The whole family lived around 1800 on the old family farm of Torsnes, where members remain at present. By the end of the 18th century, many of the family's members did however end up in the cities' higher classes as lawyers, doctors

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and such.

Living descendants today include sociologist Johan Galtung

Johan Galtung

Johan Galtung is a Norwegian sociologist and the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 1959, serving as its Director until 1970, and established the Journal of Peace Research in 1964...

, recognised for his contributions to peace research and practice of conflict-solving, the so called transcend-method. According to Statistics Norway 100 persons have Galtung as their surname as of 2009.

Literature

• Galtung, Johan Ellertsen: Galtungslekten i fortid og nutid, Oslo 1997.
• Huitfeldt-Kaas, H.J.: De nulevende Adelsslægter i Norge, Christiania 1885.