VII. The Lutheran Reformation in the Scandinavian Kingdoms. At the time when Luther began hi- ref- ormation, Christian II ruled over all the Scandinavian countries — Denmark. Norway. Iceland, and Swedi n. lie was an unprincipled tyrant, who favored the Reforma- tion in Denmark in order to sirip the bishops of their political power, while in Sweden he executed the noblest men under the plea thai they were under the papal ban. As early as 1519 he called Martin l.'eiuhard from Wit-
tenberg to Copenhagen into the theological faculty, and in 1521 he issued a decree encouraging the marriage of the priests. When, in [522, a papal delegate appeared
in Denmark. < hri-lian took hack hi- decree "U the nnr-
ria i the priests. He wa-. nevertheless, deposed in
1523, and among the grounds of the deposiiion which
the estates brought forward was, that he had infected
his wife' with the Lutheran heresy, and introduced pro- ' moters of this same heresy into the Catholic kingdom
REFORMATION 9
of Denmark. Christian was succeeded l>y his uncle, Frederick I, duke of Holstein, who strongly inclined to- wards the Reformation, but who had, nevertheless, to promise to the estates of Denmark to put down, with persecution, the heresy that was pressing in. In the hereditary duchies of Schleswig and Holstein all violent interference with the great religious struggle was in 1524 forbidden, and the king's well-known sympathy with the Reformation greatly promoted the more rapid diffusion of Luther's doctrines and writings. The pro- vincial of the Carmelite order, Paulus Elia?, translated part of the Psalms; the New Test., translated by John Michelsen, a companion of the expelled king, Christian
II, and printed in Leipsic in 1524, found a large circula- tion, and in 1525 the reading of the Bible was declared free. The nobility at an assembly at Viborg showed itself favorable; the king declared himself openly for it in 1526 ; the Diet of Odense, in 1527, deprived the bish- ops of their ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and granted re- ligious liberty to all, and the right of marriage to the clergy until the meeting of a general council. Viborg, in Jutland, Malmo, in Scania, and Copenhagen became important centres of the movement, which now spread with great rapidity over the whole kingdom. At the Diet of Copenhagen in 1530, which was to attempt a reunion of the parties, the Lutheran preachers, with John Jansen (preacher at Copenhagen) at their head, pre- sented a confession of faith in forty- three articles. Though the object for which the diet had been con- voked was not attained, the predominance of the Lu- therans was now fully decided, and the king openly ranged himself on their side. On the death of Frederick I the bishops used the political power which had been left to them for a last attempt to put down the Reforma- tion, but it was of no avail. The new king, Christian
III, by energetic and violent measures, soon destroyed the last remnant of the old Church and completed the victory of the Reformation. Immediately after his ac- cession to the throne, he confirmed the freedom of re- ligion. On Aug. 20, 1536, all the bishops were impris- oned. A diet held at Copenhagen decreed that the bishops should thereafter be deprived of all secular power, and that the Church property should be con- fiscated, and divided among the king, the nobility, and ecclesiastical and charitable institutions. When the im- prisoned bishops declared their willingness to renounce their dignities, they were restored to liberty; only Ron- nov, bishop of Roeskilde, refused, and died in prison. At the invitation of the king, John Bugenhagen came to Denmark, crowned (1537) the king and the queen, con- secrated two evangelical bishops or superintendents, and took a leading part in the framing of a new Church constitution, which was published on Sept. 2, 1537, and sanctioned by the Diet of Odense in 1539. From that time all Denmark has firmly adhered to the Lutheran Church. For many years no other worship was allowed ; and, even after the establishment of complete religious liberty in 1848, more than ninety-nine per cent, of the entire population continue to be classed as Lutherans.
On the progress of the Reformation in Norway we are but imperfectly informed. A monk Anthony is men- tioned who preached the Gospel in Bergen. The ma- jority of the bishops and the clergy appear to have been opposed to the Reformation, which was almost unknown until the reign of Christian III; then the Danish gov- ernment began to introduce the Reformation. Olaf Engelbreehtsen, archbishop of Drontheim, soon aban- doned his opposition to the Danish king and tied (1537) with his treasures to the Netherlands, and resistance to the new Church constitution soon ceased. Many of the bishops and clergy, however, left their positions; there was a scarcity of preachers, and the people for a long time showed a marked preference for Catholicism. But when the people had become settled in their new belief they became strongly attached to the Lutheran Church, with which now full}' ninety-nine per cent, of the population are connected.
REFORMATION
Iceland had become a part of the Danish kingdom by the Calmar Union of 1397, and the decree of the Danish Diet of 1536, which declared the Evangelical Church as the State religion of Denmark, became also valid for Ice- land. For several years the two bishops of the country successfully neutralized the efforts of the Danish gov- ernment. In 1540 Gifur Einarsson, who had studied in Wittenberg, became bishop of Skalholt, and began the introduction of the Reformation. His successor, Martin Einarsson, worked in the same direction, but was vio- lently opposed by the other bishop, John Aresen, of Holar, who even took him prisoner, and had Gifur's bones dug up and interred in an unconsecrated place. But finally bishop Aresen was overpowered, and in 1550 executed as a rebel. This ended all opposition to the Reformation in Iceland. The entire population, as in Denmark and Norway, has ever since belonged to the Lutheran Church.