[The early modern state and the responsibility for public health]. / Den tidligmoderne staten og ansvaret for undersåttenes helse.

The year 2003 will mark the 4th centenary of the Norwegian public health system. The formal occasion is the appointment of Dr. Vilhadius Adamius (c. 1564-1616) as ordinario medico in 1603. He was granted income from the crown's landed property to carry on his work as a doctor in Bergen, at the time a provincial town in the kingdom of Denmark-Norway. Denmark already had 10-12 doctors in similar offices. Dr. Vilhadius was not the first physician in Norway, nor was he the first with public funding. But as the first doctor in a clearly defined office, he stands out as a strong symbol of the rudimentary health care system introduced in Denmark-Norway in the 17th century. In many ways, he represents the formation of the early modern state, and a modernization process in which the appointments of doctors mirrored the state's growing willingness and ability to assume responsibility for the health of its subjects.