In Sweden the Reformation was hailed as a useful ally in the struggle for shaking off the yoke of Den- mark and re-establishing the national independence. The bishops and higher clergy were the strongest supporters of Danish rule, and when Gustavus Vasa achieved the freedom of Sweden and was elected king (1523) by the Diet of Strengnas he was looked upon by the bishops as a dangerous enemy. The king, who needed part of the immense wealth of the clergy to re- lieve the people of their taxes, at first endeavored to gain pope Adrian VI's co-operation for a reformation of the Church. When this was found to be useless, he commissioned the brothers Olaf and Lawrence Petersen, who had studied at Wittenberg, to introduce the Lu- theran Reformation. The two brothers had returned to Sweden in 1519, gained a number of adherents, the most prominent of whom was the archdeacon Lawrence An- dersen, and Olaf 's sermons had made a great sensation at the Diet of Strengnas. The king appointed Olaf preacher in Stockholm, Lawrence Petersen professor of theology in Upsala, and Lawrence Andersen his chan- cellor. In 1526 a public discussion took place under the king's protection at Upsala, and a translation of the New Test, into Swedish was made by chancellor Andersen. The bishops, however, whose prominent champion was bishop Brask, of Linkoping, made a successful resistance to the progress of the Reformation; and the people, though irritated against the power and wealth of the clergy, manifested at the same time a superstitious at- ' tachment to the old Church. To bring matters to a crisis, the king offered (1527) at the Diet of Westerns to resign; but the Estates, placed before the alternative of either accepting the king's resignation or of surrender- ing the Church to his discretion, chose the latter. On account of the very outspoken aversion of the lower classes of the people to a change of religion, the king proceeded, however, with great caution. According to the so-called Westeras Ordinance the bishops were to give efficient preachers to the congregations, otherwise the king was to* see to it. The bishops were to hand in to the king a schedule of their revenues, that he might determine how much should remain to the church- es and what was to fall to the crown. The priests, in secular matters, were to be under the jurisdiction of the king; the Gospel was to be read in all the schools; ex- communication was to be pronounced only after an in- vestigation before a royal court. An assembly of clergy at Orebro in 1529 declared in favor of the Church Ref- ormation, but retained many usages of the old Church, as the Latin language at divine service, the elevation of the host at the eucharist, the prayer for the dead, and the episcopal constitution. In 1531 Lawrence Peter- sen became archbishop of Upsala, and in 1537 another assembly of the clergy at Orebro provided for a more thorough evangelical purification of divine worship. The continuing aversion of the people to the new order of things was ascribed by the king to a want of energy on the part, of the bishops, and he therefore appointed George Normann, a Pomeranian nobleman, superin-
REFORMATION
992
REFORMATION
tendenl of all the clergy of the kingdom, with a number of custodians and religious councillors as overseers of particular provinces. This arrangement was received with genera] disfavor, and led to a number of conspira- cies. At the death of the king (1560) the ecclesiastical condition of the kingdom was Quite undecided. The oldest -hi and successor of Gustavus, Eric XIV, re- moved some iii"rc Catholic elements from the new con- stitution of the Swedish Church, and gave a hospitable asylum to persecuted Protestants of every erred: the orthodox Lutherans suspected him of an inclination towards Calvinism, which, however, did not gain any ground in Sweden. Eric's brother and successor, John III. was prevailed upon by bis < iatholic wife, w bo was a Polish princess, and by the hope of succeeding to the Polish throne, t < > attempt the re-establishmenl oi a losi t connection with i lie Church of I .'nine, The king was willing to recognise the supremacy of the pope, but demanded a number id' concessions for the Swedish ( lnireli. The archbishop of Upsala was gained for the
plan, a stronglj R anizing liturgy was introduced, but
the boldness of the Jesuits incensed clergy and people against the counter-reformation, and the king finally took offence at the refusal "t" the pope to accept his proposition. The death of the Catholic queen and the ond marriage with a Lutheran princess put an end tn the negotiations with Rome, though the king stubbornly clung to the new liturgy. WhileJohnwas wavering between Catholicism and Protestantism, his younger brother (diaries, who was regent of South Er- ineland. was an unflinching protector of the Reforma- tion, and did not hesitate to incur the anger of his royal brother by affording a place of resort to the Lutheran clergy who had been expelled from the royal dominions for their unyielding character. King John was succeed- ed ( 1592 i by his sen Sigismund,who was already king of Poland and had been brought up a Catholic. Popular opinion by this lime had undergone a great change, and demanded, prior to the recognition ofSigismund, a guarantee of tin- Lutheran State Church. An ecclesi- astical council at Upsala (1593), which was convened by duke Charles a- regent, decreed, even before the arrival ofSigismund, the exclusion oft Catholicism from Sweden, and the official authority of the Confession of Augsburg. In L595 i he I >iei of Sonderkbping declared the Lutheran Church as the only tolerated Male Church. In 1599 duke Charles was appointed administrator, and in 1604 he was elected king. The new king was somewhat in- clined to Calvinism, but he confirmed the resolutions of the dieis in favor id' the exclusive rights of the Lu- theran State Church, which since then has retained full control of the kingdom.