THE EARLIEST REFORMERS OF SWEDEN.
(1516-1523.)
We have just considered the Reformation in Denmark; we must now cross
the Sound, and enter upon the study of that of Sweden.
At the period of the Reformation, the three Scandinavian states,
Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were, as we have stated, united and subject
to the same monarch, Christian II. The peoples of these three countries
had and still have some features in common; but each of them has also
features peculiar to itself. Christian himself appeared under very
different aspects in Denmark and in Sweden. Many different elements
which we must not forget co-operate in fashioning the history of a
people. The nature of a country, its geographical situation, the effect
of climate, the various characteristics of its population, their
historical traditions, the genius and the aptitudes of races, the
intellectual and spiritual cravings of individuals—all these combined
with influences from above affect the destiny of nations and have their
share in determining a religious revolution. The diversity of these
causes is very conspicuous in Sweden. The Scandinavian Alps, peopled
with a race of men possessing great liveliness of spirit, who are
animated by a strong love of freedom and distinguished by remarkable
industrial skill, were the hearth of noble aspirations and the place
where those mighty arms were fabricated which gave to their country
independence and the Reformation. The personages of history can not be
considered apart from the medium in which they lived. The events of the
past, the conditions which environed them at the moment of their
activity, contributed to the formation of their conceptions and to the
origination of their actions. The modern theory which would make of
political and religious actors mere organs of social necessity, can not
be too energetically rejected. Conscience, will, and freedom are the
highest principles; but while we insist on and exalt these first causes,
we must not disregard secondary causes. Two of these lower elements,
nature and race, exerted an influence upon the Swedish Reformation.[376]
[Sidenote: Olaf And Lawrence Peterson.]
Towards the close of the fifteenth century, an ironmaster named Peter
Olafson was living at Orebro, a town situated in Nericia, on lake
Helmar. The chief industry of this district was the extraction,
smelting, and sale of iron. In this pursuit Olafson had acquired by his
labor a certain competence. In 1497 he had a son who was named Olaf, and
in 1499 another son who was called Lars or Lawrence. These boys grew up
among the iron-works as Luther had done. Olaf was intelligent, lively,
and active, but also somewhat violent. The character of Lawrence was of
a gentler kind. In the elder boy appeared the features and the character
of the inhabitants of Nericia—lofty stature, brown hair, a fine
forehead, a serious cast of countenance, a look which spoke of loyalty
and of pride, but also indicated obstinacy. Lawrence, on the other hand,
bore greater resemblance to the inhabitants of the borders of Gothland,
having light hair, blue eyes, a slender figure of the middle height, a
physiognomy full of sweetness, and a certain elevation of feeling. It is
possible that his mother, Karin, may have been a native of
Gothland.[377]
The two boys grew up amidst the lovely scenery in the neighborhood of
the Gothic castle of Orebro, which is flanked by four towers, and is
situated on the shores of the lake on which the cargoes of iron are
shipped for Stockholm. The coming of spring, which is sudden in these
regions, filled them with delight. When the snow disappeared, the fields
were at once clothed with verdure, the trees were all covered with
foliage, and the flowers opened to the sun. The snow-clad peaks which
rise up between these provinces and Norway, were colored in the morning
with a thousand reflections of purple and gold. The masses of
everlasting ice, dazzling in their whiteness, were like flashing crowns
which rose majestically above the lakes with which the country is
intersected, above the silvery foam of the torrents, the gloomy
pine-forests, the delicate foliage of the birch-trees, and the lovely
green of the meadows enamelled with the brightest colors. The children
in these rural districts used to sport among the bounding flocks, their
voices mingled with those of the wild birds; and when they heard the
bells ring out from the lofty old towers they seemed to become
meditative, and would accompany the peal with their own monotonous
chants.[378]
Some Carmelite monks, residing in a convent at Orebro, were esteemed the
greatest scholars in the country, and they kept a school to which the
iron-master sent his two sons. Olaf, who was endowed with a keen
intellect, took a liking to study, and expressed to his father a wish to
devote himself to theology. Lawrence did the same. Peter Olafson was
grieved that his sons should relinquish his iron-works, and he
considered in what way he could meet the necessary expenses.
Nevertheless he, as well as his wife, felt proud to think that his sons
were to become scholars; and he consented to their wish.[379]
Most of the young Swedish students used to resort to a foreign
university, especially to Paris, where a seminary was established for
their benefit. But in these remote cities they often remembered with
regret the indefinable charms of their beautiful native land, the
cascades on the swift Goeta, the romantic valleys of Wermeland, and the
great Wener lake often covered with waves by a fresh north wind. To the
beauties of nature were added the pleasures of society. The nobles, the
priests, the owners of mines, and the townsmen used to keep open house,
and to meet together in friendly parties. In winter the inhabitants of
these regions muffled themselves up in furred hats, and overcoats
trimmed with otter, and this gave them some resemblance to the bears of
their forests. In summer, at the feast of St. John, Orebro resounded
with joyous shouts. A tall, greased pole was set up in an open space,
and the young people of both sexes, crowned with garlands of leaves and
flowers, gave themselves up to racing, dancing, and other exercises. In
the night it was customary to go out and gather the usual bouquets, and
to hang them on the houses to keep off misfortunes. The young girls in
the evening plaited garlands of flowers, which they placed at their
bed’s-head, that their fate, of course with regard to marriage, might be
revealed to them in dreams.
Olaf Peterson (or Petri), having reached his nineteenth year, was to go
abroad in pursuit of knowledge. His masters and his parents, proud of
his abilities, cherished high hopes of his future. It would have seemed
natural that he should go to the Swedish seminary at Paris, which was
founded by a prior of Upsala.[380] But his mother, the pious and godly
Karin, entertained a higher ambition for him. It was her wish to send
her beloved son to Rome, the city of the apostles, from which
Christendom received its oracles. St. Bridget, a princess of Nericia,
celebrated for her marvellous prophecies,[381] had gone to Rome, and
before her death had founded an institution to which Olaf might be
admitted. He therefore set out for Rome in 1515 or 1516. It is the
opinion of some writers that both the brothers left Sweden together; but
others suppose that the elder alone quitted his native land at this
time. This seems the more probable view, for Lawrence had not yet
finished his preliminary studies. But he undoubtedly joined Olaf at a
later time.
[Sidenote: Olaf At Wittenberg.]
As soon as Olaf set foot on German soil he heard of Luther. He was told
that at Wittenberg there was an Augustinian monk, a doctor of theology,
whose preaching was attracting crowds; and that when he expounded the
Scriptures it seemed as if new light was rising and shining on Christian
doctrine. Olaf listened, and felt drawn by some indefinable attraction
towards Wittenberg. But what would his father say? It seemed to him that
he could hardly refuse his sanction if he went where the light was
shining. He therefore halted on his way to Rome, and boldly took the
road to Wittenberg. As soon as he arrived there, he presented himself at
the university, passed an examination with credit, and was admitted
student. The reformer expounded the Scriptures, and thus led the hearts
of men to the Son of God. Olaf was deeply impressed by the power of
evangelical doctrine. The words of the reformer were meat and drink to
him. Luther soon distinguished him among his hearers, and responded to
the admiration of the young Swede with much kindliness. He even indulged
the hope that he should one day see him a mighty instrument in God’s
hand for the spread of evangelical truth in Scandinavia. Henceforth Olaf
lived in intimate relations with the Christian hero. He was an
eye-witness of the courage with which Luther affixed his ninety-five
theses to the door of All Saints’ Church; and he accompanied the
reformer when, at the invitation of the vicar-general of the Augustines,
he visited the convents of the order in Misnia and Thuringia.
Olaf was by nature an enthusiast. A hidden fire burnt within him. He
longed for truth and for righteousness, and throughout his life
displayed indomitable courage in promoting their triumph. His zeal even
carried him too far, and in a riper age he still showed the rashness of
youth. Although Luther also would sometimes push resolution to the
height of passion, he had too enlightened a mind not to keep his
disciple within just bounds; and when the gentle and prudent Melanchthon
arrived at Wittenberg, Olaf attended also on his teaching, and enjoyed
his intimate friendship. He learnt much in Germany. His masters admired
the clearness of his understanding and the eloquence of his speech; and
the university, desirous of testifying its esteem for him conferred on
him the degree of master of arts. In 1519, the state of affairs in
Sweden becoming more critical, Olaf resolved to return home. In taking
this step he was supported by Luther’s counsel; and he embarked at
Lübeck, on board a vessel sailing for Stockholm.[382]
No sooner had the ship left the Pomeranian shores and got fairly out
into the Baltic than it was assailed by a violent storm, and ran aground
on an islet near Gothland. The passengers, however, were saved. The
island of Gothland was at this time in a state of unusual commotion.
Arcimbold, the papal legate, had sent his brother Antonelli to sell
indulgences there, and the latter was exhibiting and retailing with much
parade his worthless wares. The disciple of Luther, as indignant as his
master had recently been, went to the governor of the island, the famous
Admiral Norby: and he, being naturally somewhat despotic, did even more
than Olaf requested. He expelled the trader from the island, after
confiscating the money which he had already received. The governor did
[Sidenote: Olaf’s Return To Sweden.] all that he could to retain Olaf,
but in vain. The young man, earnestly longing to go to Sweden, that he
might proclaim the Gospel there, re-embarked and returned to Stockholm.
The German merchants, who for business purposes resorted to the coast
towns of Sweden, had brought thither tidings of the Reformation.[383]
The young Goth, however, the Wittenberg student, was to be the principal
instrument in the transformation of Sweden.
After sojourning for a time, first at Stockholm, and then with his
family at Orebro, Olaf settled at Strengnaes, on Lake Maelar, about
half-way between those two places. His brother Lawrence, it seems, had
studied in this town and was now there. The bishop of Strengnaes,
Matthias Gregorius, a pious man who was not greatly opposed to the
precepts of the Reformation, soon discovered the worth of Olaf,
consecrated him deacon, and then appointed him his chancellor and
entrusted to his care the school connected with the cathedral. The
career for which he had so earnestly longed was now opening before Olaf;
and he entered upon it with all the ardor of his soul. The young
prebendaries were very ignorant, and therefore Olaf, following the
example of Luther, explained the Scriptures to them, taught them the
holy doctrines of the Gospel, and placed in their hands the reformer’s
books. This was the beginning of the Reformation in Sweden.
It encountered, however, a formal and powerful opposition. In vain had
Olaf brought the torch of the faith; the clergy cared only to put out
the light. Some egotistic and senseless old men would rather have
perpetuated in Sweden the reign of barbarism than be themselves deprived
of the flattering homage which had hitherto been lavished on them as the
sole teachers of doctrine.[384] The setting forth in the schools of the
words of Christ, of Peter, and of Paul, was enough to make the priests
immediately cry out ‘heresy!’ Thus spoke Eliæ, a Catholic ecclesiastic.
Happily, the people were more open to conviction than the doctors were.
In Olaf’s teaching there was something luminous, penetrating, living and
holy, which arrested the attention of his hearers. He taught them to
open and to search the Scriptures; and in them they found unknown truth,
and saw there the condemnation of errors which had hitherto misled them.
The labors of Olaf, which formed a striking contrast to the idleness of
other ecclesiastics, won for him the esteem of all sensible men. In a
short time his name became so renowned that students were attracted to
Strengnaes from remote towns and country districts, from the picturesque
scenes of Wermeland, from the iron and silver mines of Westmannia, from
the elevated plateau of Upland, from the wooded hills and smiling
meadows of Dalecarlia, from Orebro, Stockholm, and Westeraas. Matthias,
rejoicing to see around him a revival of religious life, conferred on
the two brothers Petri a mark of his favor by taking them with him when
he went to Stockholm.[385] The good bishop was invited to the capital to
be present at the coronation of Christian II., and at the magnificent
feasts which were to accompany it. Of these we have already spoken. Our
readers will remember that this violent and vindictive monarch had
invited thither the nobles, prelates, and councillors of the kingdom
whom he suspected of having been adverse to him during the [Sidenote:
The Massacre Of Stockholm.] troubles of the country; that after
entertaining them for three days with all kinds of merrymakings, he had
suddenly ordered them to be seized (November 8, 1520) and conducted from
the castle in which they were assembled to the great square of the town,
and there had them slain. The father of Gustavus Vasa was one of the
number. The report of this frightful massacre rapidly spread through the
whole town. Fathers, wives, sons, daughters, and friends were inquiring
in distress whether those whom they loved had survived the terrible
butchery. Olaf and his brother trembled to think that their benefactor
Matthias might be in the number of the victims. They hastened to the
spot; but what was their horror when they saw the place covered with
corpses! They approached, and searching about discovered the body of the
pious bishop, bathed in his blood, and with his venerated head lying at
his feet. Overpowered with grief at the sight, Olaf burst into tears;
and then with the boldness natural to him exclaimed—‘What a tyrannical
and monstrous deed! To have treated thus so worthy a bishop!’ He had
scarcely uttered these words when his brother and himself were seized by
the hair of their heads and dragged by the Danish soldiers to the place
where the executioner was at his work. The sword was already drawn, and
their heads were just on the point of being struck off, when from the
midst of the royal retinue a voice cried—‘Spare those two young men!
They are Germans, not Swedes.’ The headsman paused, and the lives of
Olaf and Lawrence were saved. Their deliverer was a young man who, while
studying at Wittenberg, had lived in close intimacy with them. The two
brothers quitted the capital without delay, and returned to Strengnaes,
terrified at the frightful slaughter of which they had been
eye-witnesses. Their protector had just been assassinated; what was to
become of them? Would the work be interrupted? God took care for
that.[386]
Towards the close of the fifteenth century, a child born of poor parents
in this very town had at an early age displayed great intelligence; and
his father had applied his small savings to the cost of having the lad
educated by the monks. He frequently embarrassed his masters by the
unexpected questions which he put to them. Lawrence Anderson (this was
his name) devoted himself to the Church; spent, it seems, some time at
Rome in his youth, visited other European countries, and, after his
return to his native land, became one of the priests of the cathedral of
Strengnaes. Olaf, on his arrival at this town, made the acquaintance of
Lawrence, talked with him of the faith which inspired him, and had no
difficulty in inducing him to receive the evangelical doctrine.
Anderson, who had some time before been appointed archdeacon, felt the
inadequacy of the Roman system. To have won him over to the side of the
Reformation in Sweden was a fact of great importance, for he was
distinguished not only for his intelligence, his attainments, and his
eloquence, but his prudence and enterprising spirit.
After the bishop’s death, the administration of the diocese devolved on
Lawrence as archdeacon until the election of a new prelate. Under his
protection Olaf preached in several churches of the town. He proclaimed
energetically that ‘no one ought to trust in mortal beings, such as the
Virgin and the saints, but in God alone; that the preaching of God’s
Word was of far greater importance than the celebration of mass; that
evangelical truth had not been preached in Sweden for centuries; and
that confession of our sins ought to be made from the heart to God
alone, and not at all to the priest.’ These doctrines, which were
joyfully welcomed by many, were by others stoutly rejected. Among those
who heard them, no one felt more indignation than Doctor Nils, one of
the leading members of the chapter, and an enthusiastic partisan of
Rome. He resolutely asserted that Olaf was preaching heresies, and he
endeavored to confute the Christian doctrines which the reformer
proclaimed, but without success. ‘What,’ said he, ‘reject dogmas and
abolish practices which have been for so many ages universally adopted
in Christendom!’ But Olaf, under Anderson’s protection, continued to
proclaim the truth from the pulpit, and maintained it likewise in
disputations which were frequently very stormy.[387]
The bonds which united the two Petri and Anderson were day by day drawn
closer. The three friends studied the Scriptures together; they
conversed about all the reforms which were needed in the Church; and
Olaf, in order to encourage Anderson, communicated to him the letters
which he received from Wittenberg, whether from Luther or from other
champions of the Reformation. In this manner they were spending happy
and useful days, when a domestic event occurred to disturb their pious
intercourse.
[Sidenote: Funeral Of Olaf’s Father.]
Olaf had not made any long stay at Orebro since his return from
Wittenberg. His parents, and particularly his mother, were strongly
attached to the Roman Church; and when in her company, while he would
talk to her of the Saviour, he had not courage to attack the
superstitions of the Church. On a sudden, a message from their mother
informed the two brothers of the death of their father, and summoned
them to attend the funeral. They set out immediately without hesitation;
but at the same time they foresaw the embarrassment which would arise to
increase their filial sorrow. Their mother had requested the Carmelite
monks to celebrate the funeral ceremony in conformity with the
ordinances of the Roman ritual; and the deceased himself had set apart
for this purpose a portion of his landed estate. Olaf and Lawrence
journeyed to Orebro, and as they went on their way by the shore of Lake
Heilmar they were in perplexity and distress of mind. They rejected the
doctrine of purgatory and masses offered for the dead; and Olaf, who was
no waverer between truth and error, had determined that his father
should be buried in a manner accordant with the spirit of evangelical
Christianity.[388]
When they reached their father’s house, the brothers endeavored to
console their mother; but at the same time they explained to her in a
tenderly affectionate manner that the only purgatory which cleanses from
all sin is the blood of Jesus Christ; and that the man who believes in
the efficacy of the expiatory death of the Saviour enters immediately
into the fellowship of the blessed. The pious woman shed bitter tears.
Vague rumors had, indeed, reached her respecting the doctrines adopted
by her sons; but now she was convinced of the fact by indubitable
proofs, as if she had seen and touched them. The eternal repose of her
husband was at stake; and Olaf alleged that the ceremonies enjoined by
the Church were superfluous; that no mass ought to be said for the
salvation of his soul. She wept more and more. ‘Ah, my sons,’ she said,
‘when God gave you to me, and when I made great sacrifices for the sake
of having you instructed in the sciences, I did not think that you would
become propagators of dangerous innovations in your native land.’ ‘Dear
mother,’ replied the sons, deeply affected, ‘when you hear one of the
Latin masses, of what use is it to you? Can you even understand it?’
‘True,’ answered the devout Karin, ‘I do not understand it; but while
listening to it, I beseech God with so much earnestness to accept it,
that I can not doubt that He answers my prayer.’ Olaf thought that the
best thing he could do was to set forth the living faith which inspired
him; and he proclaimed Jesus Christ to his mother, as the only way that
leads to heaven. He spoke with so much love that at length she yielded
and bade them do as they intended. Olaf and Lawrence at once dismissed
the monks, and they themselves paid the last honors to their father,
with the noble simplicity and the living faith which are inspired by the
Gospel. The monks were angry, and declared that the soul of the deceased
was doomed to eternal condemnation. ‘Have no fear of that,’ said the
sons to their mother, ‘these are mere arrogant and impious words. God is
the only judge of the living and the dead.’[389]
[Sidenote: Bishop Brask.]
About this time appeared a man who became in Sweden the most formidable
champion of the Romish faith. Bishop Brask of Linkoping was a priest
endowed with immense energy. The outcries of the monks at Orebro were
heard as far as Upsala; and in July, 1523, Brask received from the
chapter of this metropolitan town a letter in which he was informed that
the Lutheran heresy was boldly preached in the cathedral of Strengnaes
by one Olaf Petri. It appears that this information was absolutely new
to the vehement bishop. Completely devoted to the Roman Church, not even
imagining that there could be any other, he was greatly agitated. He
heard shortly after that emissaries of the Lutheran propaganda had made
their appearance in his own diocese. He looked on this as the beginning
of a great conflagration which would consume the whole Church. Of
haughty temper and of indefatigable activity, he put himself at the head
of the champions of the papacy and swore that he would extinguish the
horrible fire. When he learnt that Lawrence Anderson, himself an
archdeacon, had embraced these opinions, he could refrain no longer. He
wrote to the pope and implored him to name, as speedily as possible,
bishops to take the places of those who had perished at Stockholm; ‘but
especially,’ said he, ‘in the dioceses bordering on Russia, for the new
doctrine which they want to introduce is that of _the Russians_.’ He
then wrote a dissertation on the Russian Church, supposing that he could
thus contend against the Reformation and destroy it. But he was greatly
mistaken in fancying a likeness in the Evangelical to the Greek Church.
The Reformation went further than the Eastern Church. It was not content
with going back to the teaching of the councils of the first six
centuries, but it returned to Jesus Christ, and to His apostles, and
laid its foundations in the Word of God alone. Meanwhile, the Carmelites
of Orebro denounced Olaf and his brother before the dean of the
cathedral of Strengnaes, charging them with having spoken contemptuously
of the pope and respectfully of Luther. The reformer made so forcible a
reply that the dean was silenced, and thought it more prudent to leave
the matter to Bishop Brask. This man, indeed, did not stop short at any
half measures, but sent to Rome an entreaty that Olaf should be
sentenced to death.[390] Thus were dangers thickening day by day around
the two brothers, and it appeared as if the evangelical seed in Sweden
must soon be smothered. Political events of great importance were on the
point of changing the face of things and of giving an entirely
unforeseen direction to the destinies of the people.
Footnote 376:
This psychology of nations is expounded in M. de Rougemont’s _Précis
d’ethnographie de statistique et de géographie historique_.
Footnote 377:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen der dreien Schwedischen
Reformatoren_, p. 26.
Footnote 378:
Maltebrun.
Footnote 379:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen der dreien Schwedischen
Reformatoren_, pp. 26, 32. Reuterdahl, _History of the Church of
Sweden_ (in Swedish), 1866. Anjou, _Histoire de la Réformation de
Suède_, 1850. We regret that we could only partially avail ourselves,
in the progress of our labors, of the information contained in the
last two works, both of them of considerable importance.
Footnote 380:
Scheffer, _De Memorabilibus Suecicæ gentis_, p. 159.
Footnote 381:
_Prophéties merveilleuses de sainte Brigitte_, Lyon, 1536.
Footnote 382:
Reuterdahl, Schinmeier, Anjou, Schroeckh, _Theol. Encyclopädie_.
Footnote 383:
‘Evangelicæ doctrinæ semina per varios mercatores Germanos jam
instillata.’—Gerdesius, _Annal. Reform._ iii. p. 285.
Footnote 384:
‘Stultos quosdam senes . . ut malint barbariem perpetuam regnare.’
...—_Eliæ epistola ad Petrum canonicum._
Footnote 385:
Reuterdahl, _History of the Church of Sweden_, iv. p. 172.
Footnote 386:
Ziegler’s _Erzählung_ in Freh. _Scr._ iii. p. 149. Schinmeier,
_Lebensbeschreibung_, p. 30.
Footnote 387:
Contentionem scholasticam, magno sæpe cum impetu agitatam.’—Gerdesius,
_Ann._ iii p. 286.
Footnote 388:
Schinmeier, _Die drei Reformatoren_, pp. 31, 32.
Footnote 389:
Schinmeier, pp. 32, 33.
Footnote 390:
Celsius, _Geschichte Gustavs des Ersten_, i. p. 208. Schinmeier, pp.
33, 34.