Eiler Eilersen Hagerup

He was born and raised in Kvernes in Nordmøre, Norway on 11 December 1718. His parents were the trader Eiler Bertelsen Kongel and Laurentze Hansdatter Stub (1688-1751), who was the granddaughter of the priest Kjeld Stub. Eiler Hagerup was first married to Johanne Margrethe Smith from Stavanger in 1752. She died in 1773 and then in 1777, Hagerup married Edvardine Magdalene Margrethe Christie.[1][2]

He took the surname "Hagerup" due to his close ties to his relatives with whom he lived for nearly a decade. He is sometimes called Eiler Hagerup den yngre or Eiler Hagerup d.y. The "den yngre" or "d.y." translates as "the younger", to distinguish him from his uncle, the Bishop Eiler Hagerup d.e. (with "d.e." or "den eldre", meaning "the elder").[1][2]

In 1730 (at the age of 12), he became a servant in the household of his uncle, Eiler Hagerup d.e., the bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros. Here was also taught by his older cousin Hans Hagerup Gyldenpalm, who later became the Amtmann for Lister og Mandals amt. He spent time studying theology in Copenhagen and graduated with a Magister degree in 1740. In 1743, he became the parish priest to Høyland parish on Jæren. In 1753, he became the dean of the Jæren prosti. In 1756, he moved to the city of Arendal to serve as the parish priest and he stayed there for a long time. He received his doctor of theology degree in 1760. In 1773, the King of Denmark-Norway appointed him to be the Bishop of the Danish Diocese of Ribe. This, however, was short-lived about a year later, he moved to Bergen in Norway to become the Bishop of the Diocese of Bjørgvin. He served in Bergen from 1774 until 1778 when he was appointed to be the Bishop of the Diocese of Christianssand, a position he had until his death on 27 March 1789.[1][2]