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pope's desire was to free the north from Bremen and attach it to his interest. Gregory VII. was the first pope to interfere directly in Swedish affairs (two letters addressed to King Inge, 1080 and 1081, inviting him to send ambassadors and contributions to Rome). Stenkil, the last king capable of holding together the kingdom, died in 1066, and the national assembly was dissolved for a century. The antagonism between the provinces became more marked (according to some, between two races, the Svea, or Swedes, and the Goths); the more prominent provinces, West Gothland, East Gothland, and Uppland, had each its royal stock, although for a short time Stenkil's successors, who were of West Gothland, maintained a certain preeminence over the rest of the country. They were Christian, but had not the wise tolerance of their predecessors; and thus the opposition to the practically heathen Svealand and the Upsala temple became more intense. The people there demanded that the king should preside over the heathen sacrificial worship. This discord was turned to good account by the missionaries in spreading the Gospel. East and West Gothland were, in 1100, the chief stronghold of Christianity, and Svealand now joined them. According to legend, David was the apostle to Westmanland, and Eskil and Botvid were the apostles to Sodermanland; and they all came from England or had been educated there. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, who upheld the papacy, became interested in Sweden, and it was partly due to him that Lund was made the see of an archbishop of the northern countries in 1104, although Sweden's formal dependence on Bremen was not dissolved until 1150. English bishops were also sent to Skara. The downfall of the ancient gods was due to the work of the English missionaries; fina4y, in Uppland, where Sigtuna became the seat of a bishopric; and by 1130 Sweden may be considered a Christian country.

2. The Roman Catholic Period: A brief period (1130-64) of national dissolution closed these internal conflicts simultaneously with the weakening of English aggression by interior disturbances at home; this appears to have been especially favor 1. Founds- able to plans for Roman Catholic or-

Archbishop Eskil received the pallium intended for Sweden, and the Danish Lund obtained the primacy over Sweden. As a token of Swedish dependence on the Church of Rome, the synod decreed the annual contribution of Peter's pence. The first missionary crusade was a sign that the Church was awakening to self-consciousness. King Eric of Uppland, the rival of King Sverker of East Gothland for the national throne, undertook a crusade, in 1150, to heathen Finland, where, in the southwestern part, a mighty work of conversion was carried on. It is impossible to determine whether there was a political motive behind this, but Eric acquired fame above all other Swedes as a warrior of God; and when, shortly after, he was assassinated by a Danish pretender to the throne, he was crowned as a martyr, and thus became patron saint of Sweden. He was revered also in Denmark and Germany. Equal reverence was accorded in Sweden to the Norwegian Saint Olaf, in the earlier Middle Ages. The establishment of an archbishopric at Upsala in 1164 was the culmination of the work of establishing the Roman Catholic Church; and Sweden became a self-governing church province. This was the result of the Gregorian policy of Alexander III., who feared the growth of large archiepiscopal dioceses; and it, was a powerful obstacle to Frederick I. in attaching Sweden to German interests. But the founding of this archbishopric was important as a factor in the individual development of Sweden. The primate of Lund still retained the right to consecrate the archbishop of Upsala; but the one desire of the Swedish Church was to free itself from this vestige of foreign dependence.

The next period (1164-1305) was that of organization. Karl, the son of Sverker, soon gained recognition in Svealand, and Sweden once more became a united kingdom. The ecclesiastical system of law and organization served as prototype for the developing state system; on the other hand, it was the papal policy to support a unified

ization. indispensable to the inner organization of the newly established church with respect to the requirements of canonical law. The archbishop of Sweden became the king's main support, and Sweden's political unity was confirmed by the establishment of the archbishopric. The descendants of Sverker and Eric, reigning alternately for ninety years, both depended on the support of the Church, which, independent of their disputes, could, with their assistance, erect new edifices. The jurist pope, Alexander III., issued a number of decretals to the king and bishops of Sweden; and two letters (1171) may be considered the earliest basic laws of the Swedish Church. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in criminal cases was demanded for the clergy, and canonical testaments were to be admitted, in pios us«s. A conflict ensued between canonical and old Germanic legal views. By 1200 the priests were universally exempt from secular jurisdiction in criminal law. A special priestly status began. In 1219 John I., son of Sverker, placed the church property outside the royal penal levy, thus originating ecclesiastical freedom from taxation. At the instance of the popes, the establishment of