Chronology
Sigrid Undset was born at the home of her meternal grandfather in Kalundborg, Denmark. Her parents were the archeologist Ingvald Undset (1853-1893) and his Danish wife Charlotte Undset, nee Gyth (1855-1939).
1882: Sigrid Undset is born May 20th in Kalundborg, Denmark. Mother: Charlotte Gyth (1855–1939) Father: Ingvald Undset (1853–1893)
1884: Moves to Kristiania (later Oslo). Sister Ragnhild is born April12th.
1887: Sister Signe born March 7th
1893: Father, Ingvald Undset, dies at the age of 40.
1897: Passes the intermediate school exam.
1898: Takes a one-year secretarial course. Starts writing to her penpal Dea hedberg in Sweden.
1899: Employed as secretary for an engineering company in Kristiania.
1900: Starts writing "Svend Trøst", a historical novel set in Denmark.
1902: Puts aside Svend Trøst and starts writing Aage Nielssøn til Ulvholm, also a historical novel set in Denmark
1904: Has a short essay published in Aftenposten.
1905: Aage Nielssøn til Ulvholm is rejected by the Gyldendal Publishing Company in Copenhagen.
1907: Mrs. Marta Oulie is published by Aschehoug in Kristiania. All subsequent books by Undset are also published by Aschehoug.
1908: Den lykkelige alder (The Happy Age), short stories.
1909: Gives notice to her emloyer and goes to Italy on a stipend. Lives at Via Frattina 138 in Rome, where she meets the painter Anders Castus Svarstad on Christmas Day. Fortellingen om Viga-Ljot og Vigdis (published in English as Gunnar's Daughter), a novel set in Norways early Medieval Ages is published.
1910: Meets Svarstad in Paris. Publishes Ungdom (Youth), a collection of poems.
1911: The novel Jenny, marks Undet's breakthrough as a writer.
1912: Married to A. C. Svarstad at the Norwegian consulate in Antwerp (June 30th).
1913: Anders Castus junior is born in Rome. Sigrid travels back to Norway with the infant. Settles in Kristiania.
1914: Visits her husband in Paris. Becomes member of the Council of the Writers Association. Vaaren (Spring).
1915: Maren Charlotte (nicknamed Mosse) is born. Fortællinger om Kong Artur og ridderne av det runde bord (Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) is published.
1917: Mosse is examined at the state hospital. Splinten av troldspeilet. (The Splinter from the Troll's Mirror) is published.
1918: De kloge jomfruer (The Wise Virgins).
1919: Hans Benedict is born in Lillehammer, where Undset has rented a house at Nordseterveien 1. Et kvindesynspunkt (A Woman's Point of View).
1920: "Kristin Lavransdatter. Kransen" (The Wreath).
1921: Buys th house in Lillehammer, calls it Bjerkebæk. "Kristin Lavransdatter. Husfrue" (The Wife). She dedicates the book to the memory of her father.
1922: "Kristin Lavransdatter. Korset." (The Cross). Is awarded an annual stipend by the Norwegian government.
1923: Transelates "Tre sagaer om islændinger" (Three Sagas about Islanders)
1924: Buys the Dalseg house and has it reconstructed at Bjerkebæk. Is separated from Svarstad and converts to the Roman Catholic Church.
1925: Goes to Italy with her son Anders and her mother. "The Master of Hestviken", volume I, The Axe.
1926: Transleates Robert Hugh Benson: Christ in the Church (Kristus i Kirken).
1927: Hans is sent to the St. Sunniva Catholic school in Oslo and board at St. Joseph's Institute. Writes "Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne" (East of
1928: Becomes a lay Dominican and takes the name Sister Olave. Vsits her stepdaughters in England, where Ebba converts to the Roman Catholic Church. Translates Robert Hugh Benson's "The Friendship of Christ (Kristi Venskap). Writes "de tre konsdøtrene i berget det blå (The Three Princesses in the Mountain Blue), a play for a miniature theatre. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1928, specifically for her historical novels.
1929: Etapper (Stages), essays, Gymnadenia (Gymnadenia).
1930: "Hellig Olav. Norges konge." (Saint Olav. King of Norway), written for the 900th anniversary at Stiklestad. "Den brøndende busk" (The Burning Bush), a sequel to Gymnadenia.
1931: Translates G.K.Chersterton's "The Everlasting Man" (Det evige menneske). Travels to Gotland and to Island. Hans comes home to go to school.
1932: Celebrates her 50th birthday alone in Sweden. "Christmas and Twelfth Night" (religious essays), "Ida Elisabeth", a novel
1933: "Etapper. Ny række". (Stages. New Series).
1934: "Saga of saints". Travels to northern Norway. "Elleve år" (Translated into English as "The Longest Years", an autobiographical novel.
1935: Hans i sent ot a reformatory school near Oslo. Anders goes to Birmingham to bevome a trainee at the Austin car factory. Supports Ossietzky's candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize. Elected head of the Norwegian Authors' Union.
1936: Hans returnes to bevome a student at Lillehammer Secondary School. "Den trofaste hustru" (The Faithful Wife".
1937: Travels to Enland, Scotland and the Orkney Islands. Turns down an offer of $50,000 from Metro_goldwyn-Mayer for the film rights to Kristin Lavransdatter. Anders engaged to Gunvor Hjerkinn. "Norske Helgener" (Norwegian Saints".
1938: "Selvportretter og landskapsbilleder" (Self-Portraits and Landscape Pictures).
1939: Mosse dies. Charlotte Undset dies, 84 years old. Second World War begins. "Madame Dorthea", a novel
1940: Three children from Finland are evacuated to live at Bjerkebæk. The German occupation of Norway begins. Undset flees to Sweden. Anders is shot in battle and buried at Mesnali near Lillehammer. Undset and Hans travel across the Soviet Union and Japan to San Fransisco. Undset settles in New York.
1941: Begins a series of lecture tours. Visits Montererey in Massachusettsk this summer and the following ones.
1942: "Return to the Future", a political essay. "Happy Times in Norway", memoires written for young readers.
1943: A. C. Svarstad dies at a hospital in Oslo. "Sigurd and his Brave Companions. A Tale of Medieval Norway".
1944: Møter Arne Skouen. Oppdrag fra The Am. Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Documents in War Areas. Utmerkelse fra Jewish Welfare Board, 23. januar.
1945: "Twelve Stories" by Steen Steensen Blicher (edited and with an introduction by Undset), "True and Untrue and other Norse Tales" (edited and with an introduction to folk tales by Asbjørnsen and Moe). Leaves Brooklyn on the feighter "Montevideo", returning to Norway on 30 July. "Return to the Future" is translated into Norwegian as "Tilbake til fremtiden", but publication is stopped by the Soviet Embassy.
1946: "Steen Steensen Blicher" is published in Denmark.
1947: "Lykkelige dager" (Norwegian translation of Happy Times in Norway). Undset is awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav.
1948: "Caterina av Siena" is rejected by Doubleday in the United States. Goes to Denmark with her friend Ingeborg Møller.
1949: 9 June, is taken ill and is admitted to Lillehammer Hospital. 10 June, dies unexpectedly from kidney infection. 15 June, is buried at the cemetary in Mesnali, between the graves of Mosse and Anders. "Tilbake til fremtiden" is published.
1951: "Catharina av Siena" is published in Norway.
1998: "Tolv år" an unfinished tekst (found at Bjerkebæk), is published, edited and with an introduction by research librarian Tone Modalsli.
2008: "Sigrid Undset. Essays og artikler", four volumes edited and with introductions by Professor Liv Bliksrud.