Karl Seip was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 priest and educator, who also served as the Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1908 to 1909.

Personal life

Karl Seip was born in Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 as the son of priest Hans Christian Caspar Seip (1812-1872) and grandson of military officer and politician Andreas Martin Seip

Andreas Martin Seip

Andreas Martin Seip was a Norwegian military officer and politician.He was the son of dr.med. Christian Caspar "Jesper" Seip , who had migrated to Norway from Copenhagen. Both Andreas Martin Seip and his brother Jesper Gotlieb Seip had a military career, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel...

 (1790–1850).

Through his brother, priest Jens Laurits Arup Seip, Karl was the uncle of Hans Kristian Seip

Hans Kristian Seip

Hans Kristian Seip was a Norwegian road engineer and politician for the Liberal Party. He spent most of his professional career in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. As a politician he was Mayor of Bergen and County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane, and served two terms in the Norwegian...

 and Didrik Arup Seip

Didrik Arup Seip

Didrik Arup Seip was Professor of North Germanic languages at the University of Oslo.He earned his doctorate in 1916 and was appointed professor the same year, retiring in 1954. Together with Herman Jæger, he edited and published the collected works of Henrik Wergeland in 23 volumes...

, and a granduncle of Hans Kristian

Hans Kristian Seip (forester)

Hans Kristian Seip is a Norwegian forester.He was born in Molde. He was a professor at the Norwegian College of Agriculture from 1955 to 1966, State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture from 1966 to 1967 and director in the same ministry from 1967 to 1983. He is a member of the Royal...

 and Jens Arup Seip

Jens Arup Seip

Jens Lauritz Arup Seip was a Norwegian historian. A professor at the University of Oslo from 1952 to 1975, he specialized in political history and the history of ideas. He was married to fellow historian Anne-Lise Seip....

. Through another brother, priest Martin Fredrik Seip, Karl was a granduncle of Helge

Helge Seip

Helge Seip was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party and later the Liberal People's Party.He was born in Surnadal. At a young age he became involved in the Young Liberals, the youth wing of the Liberal Party. In the local chapter of Oslo he was a member of the board from 1937 to 1939, and...

 and Martin Fredrik Seip

Martin Fredrik Seip

Martin Fredrik Seip was a Norwegian physician.He was the brother of politician Helge Seip. He took the dr.med. degree in 1953. He was appointed chief pediatrician at Rikshospitalet in 1968, and became a professor of medicine the same year. He chaired the Norwegian Medical Association from 1966 to...

.

Career

Karl Seip graduated with the cand.theol.

Cand.theol.

Candidatus theologiæ , Candidata theologiæ , abbreviated cand. theol. is an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after a six year higher education in theology in Denmark and Norway. In Norway, the title has remained after the "Quality Reform", though it is equivalent to a Master of...

 degree in 1873, and was hired as a teacher at the Botsfengselet prison the next year. He was then appointed vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 in Åfjord

Åfjord

Åfjord is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnes. Other villages in the municipality include Revsnes, Harsvika, and By...

 in 1883 and in Fosen

Fosen

Fosen is a traditional district in Trøndelag, consisting of the municipalities Osen, Roan, Åfjord, Bjugn, Ørland, Rissa, Agdenes, Snillfjord, Hemne, Hitra and Frøya. The district is dominated by forested valleys, lakes, coastal cliffs but also shallow areas, and in the interior mountains reaching...

 in 1890. From 1898 to 1908 he worked as school director in the Diocese of Trondhjem

Diocese of Nidaros

Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag counties and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. The diocese is divided into 12 deaneries . Finn Wagle was the bishop from 1991 to 2008...

.

In 1908, when the Liberal first cabinet Knudsen

First cabinet Knudsen

The Knudsen's First Cabinet governed Norway between 19 March 1908 and 2 February 1910. It had the following composition:-Cabinet members:-State Secretary:Not to be confused with the modern title State Secretary...

 assumed office, Seip was appointed as Minister of Education and Church Affairs. He was granted a leave of absence on 8 July 1909, his place taken by acting Minister Knut Johannes Hougen

Knut Johannes Hougen

Knut Johannes Hougen was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was Appointed Minister of Education and Church Affairs in 1909, and Minister of Education and Church Affairs 1909-1910. Hougen was also a representative for the city of Kristiansand in the Norwegian Parliament in the period...

. Seip died only two months later.