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177 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Sweden
were placed on the Church's freedom from taxation,
the ecclesiastical taxation of the peasantry was
remitted, and church property was
8- The even confiscated; but this aroused the
Height of opposition of the prelates. The in
Power. famous King Birger, when he had
attained his majority, capitulated to the lay and
spiritual rulers. At the great conference at Streng
nas (1305) the prelates allied themselves with the
nobles against the crown, the control of the feudal
lords began, and the hierachy returned to power.
The struggle between Birger and his brothers is
sued in a complete revolution resulting in the ac
cession of Magnus, the three-year-old son of Duke
Eric, to the throne. The government conducted
by lay and spiritual lords was not advantageous to
the kingdom. Finally, the demands of Magnus
becoming too exacting, and a parliament being
threatened, he was deposed and Albrecht of Mecklen
burg was enthroned. His economic demands con
flicting with the Church he lost its support and sub
sequently his throne. The rule of the nobles was
still further confirmed by the so-called Kalmar
Union of 1389. The consummation of outward
power was accompanied with intense internal ac
tivity. The only bishop-saints are of this period.
Matthias of Link6ping, the confessor of Bridget
(q.v.), was the foremost scholastic theologian in
Sweden of the Middle Ages and the first to attempt
a translation of the Bible, the earliest attempt at
a German rendering. This period was the most
active in culture in Swedish history. Religion was
to a great extent robbed of its grossness, and be
came an ennobling power. The monks and priests
now began to preach in Swedish. The rich culture
of the Middle Ages became so securely planted in
Sweden that it weathered all subsequent storms;
philanthropy on a large scale fostered by the Church
spread over country and city, and the treasures of
learning were rendered available. The zenith of
development in the fourteenth century is in striking
contrast with the decay of the Church elsewhere in
the West. St. Bridget (q.v.) was a contemporary
of Wyclif, Petrarch, and Boccaccio; and she and
her order, in which all church activities were con
centrated, stand as evidence of this florescent
period of the Swedish church. At the beginning of
the fifteenth century the decline of the papacy
produced more pronounced results in Sweden.
Margaret and after her, Eric of Pomerania, the
regents, lived in Denmark; they were in accord
with the pope whenever it came to plundering the
Church. Both pope and king repeatedly attempted
to name the archbishop at Upsala. Their most
degraded choice was the Dane, Jons Jerkerson in
1408, who was forced to leave Sweden in 1419.
These disputes resulted in the Church becoming
interested in the endeavors for reform and in the
growing national desire for an independent Sweden.
Although, during the papal schism, Sweden had
united itself to the papacy, its church took part in
the reform councils, and recognized their authority
over that of the pope, and preaching in Swedish
came more and more into vogue. Many churches
were built. Almost forty years Bishop Tavast
served as the apostle of the Finns, and his work was
continued by the order of St. Bridget. When the great struggle for freedom began (1434) with the uprising of the peasants under the popular hero, Engelbrecht, it found an advocate at the Council of Basel in its prominent Swedish representative, Nils Ragnaldsson, who became archbishop in 14381448, and steered the Swedish Church with extraordinary wisdom and piety through the political tempests. A provincial synod at Soderkdping, 1441, passed several measures for the extension of a true Christianity among the lower classes, and for the foundation of an independent Swedish educational institution; but the University of Upsala was not founded until 1477.
The next period (1448-1520) is marked by the struggle of the modern ideas of state with the hierarchy following the victory of the papacy over the councils. In 1448 the Union was dissolved by the election of Charles Knutason as 4- straggle king,- a domestic kingdom serving the
of the national interest now arose. Nils Rising dying in this year, Jdns Bengtsson with the Nationality Oxenstierna became archbishop. He Hierarchy. was a typical upholder of ecclesiastical dominance, which saw the danger to the Church of a powerful royal authority. King Charles's investigations into the illegality of the church holdings incensed all the prelates (1454). J6ns led the hierarchy over to the side of the Danish union; or rather, it united with the feudal nobility in their struggles with the State. The disgrace and death of Jons, upon his flight in 1467, put an end to his endeavors to combine all ecclesiastical and political power in his own hands. His successors with the suffragans followed in his steps. The regents Sture had to accustom themselves to the prelates as the opponents of national liberation and reorganization. An exception was Heming Gad, bishop of Link6ping from 1501 and one of the few advocates of humanism in Sweden, a warrior and poet inspired by deep love of country. The pope never confirmed his election, and he was excom municated in 1512, and gave place to Hans Brask, the last noted prince of the Swedish Church. Brask, after some vacillation, adopted the interests of the hierarchy. The lower clergy, on the other hand, were frequently loyal to their fatherland, and await ed a brighter future; as, for instance, Ericus Olai (d.1486), the most learned man in the new university. In this long struggle the Swedish hierarchy had neglected the peasantry. This caused the downfall of the inner power of the Roman Church in Sweden. None of the pre-Reformation influences elsewhere, as humanism and hostility to indulgences, were present in Sweden. The change came with a political crisis, followed by political reestablishment. Of this the Reformation was an attendant circumstance.8. The Later Period: The great Reformer of Sweden, Claus Petri (b. at Oerebro, 100 m. w. of Stockholm, Jan. 6, 1493; d. at Stockholm Apr. 19, 1552), studied at Upsala, Leipsic, and Wittenberg with Luther and Melanchthon,q1516-18; and became a deacon at the cathedral of Strengnas in 1520. Eloquent, genial, and faithful, he here won to his side the old archdeacon Lorenz Andrea (q.v.), the greatest political ecclesiastic of the Swedish
