The nobilityknown as hird and then as knights and squireswas institutionalised during the formation of the Norwegian state in the 13th century (see List of nobles and magnates within Scandinavia in the 13th century). Originally granted an advisory function as servants of the king, the nobility grew into becoming a great political factor. Their land and their armed forces, and also their legal power as members of the Council of the Realm, made the nobility remarkably independent from the king. At its height, the council had the power to recognise or choose inheritors of or pretenders to the Throne. In 1440, they dethroned King Eric III. The council even chose its own leaders as regents, among others Sigurd Jonsson of Sudreim. This aristocratic power, which also involved the church, lasted until the Reformation, when the king illegally abolished the council in 1536. This would nearly remove all of the nobility's political foundation, leaving them with mainly administrative and ceremonial functions. Subsequent immigration of Danish nobles (who thus became Norwegian nobles) would further marginalise the position of natives. In the 17th century, the old nobility consisted almost entirely of nobles with some Danish descendants.
