_The Mediæval State--The Folkung Dynasty_
With Eric Ericsson the royal line of Saint Eric became extinct. The
crown was, on account of his birthright, offered to _Valdemar_, the
oldest son of Birger Jarl. He was crowned in Linkœping in 1251.
From this period on, a new historic source is found in the rhymed
chronicles, of which Swedish literature possesses several elaborate
ones of more than 22,000 verses in all. Of these the Old, or Eric’s,
Chronicle, was written about 1320, and, like all the rest, anonymously.
The verses are fine, the language pure and powerful; the portraits of
historical personages are roughly drawn but interesting. Unfortunately
these rhymed chronicles in general, and the Eric’s Chronicle in
particular, dwell rather on the description of impressive events of
pomp and splendor than on historical facts; and the facts given are not
always reliable. The Eric’s Chronicle gives a brief review of events
during the reigns of Eric and Valdemar; then for the events up to 1319
more fully.
According to the Eric’s Chronicle, Birger Jarl wished to succeed Eric,
but had to step aside for his son, who was of royal descent through his
mother, King Eric’s sister. But Birger Jarl remained the all-powerful,
although uncrowned, ruler till his death.
Many of the nobles were not satisfied with the election of Valdemar.
They joined forces, gathering hired troops from Denmark and Germany.
Birger met them at Hervadsbro and defeated them, capturing the leaders,
who were beheaded. Among these were Philip, a son of Knut the Tall, and
Knut Magnusson, with others of the Folkung family, which often was at
war between themselves when great interests were at stake.
After this battle peace reigned under the powerful and sagacious rule
of Birger. An assault upon Denmark by King Hakon of Norway and Birger
jointly was planned, but a peace agreement took its place, in 1253. In
the further complications between Norway and Denmark, Birger took no
part. When later King Christopher of Denmark called upon his northern
neighbors for help against revolts in his own country, these were
ready to respond; but at the sudden death of King Christopher these
plans were frustrated. In 1260 Birger bettered the already friendly
relations with Denmark, by arranging the marriage between King Valdemar
and the Danish princess, Sophia, whereupon he, himself a widower,
married Mechtild, a queen-dowager of Denmark. In Finland, conditions
were the same as of yore, pagan tribes and Russian invasions rendering
everything unsafe and perilous. Birger renewed the trade agreement
with Lubeck, in 1251, with added privileges to Lubeck, but with the
stipulation that those of its citizens who settled in Sweden must
become Swedish subjects. In 1261 the same privileges were extended to
Hamburg. It was at this period that the Hanseatic League was formed
between the commercial centres of North Germany. The relations between
the league and the Scandinavian countries waxed quite intimate and, at
times, menacing to the political independence of the latter. But Sweden
derived many benefits through the contact with the reviving culture
of Southern Europe, which was brought about through the Hanseatic
League; the newly opened mining industry and the prosperity of Swedish
commercial centres particularly owing much to this influence. Stockholm
became the largest and most important of Swedish towns during the
days of Birger, although he was not its founder. Also with England,
Birger was carrying on peaceful proceedings; yet their purpose is
not known. In 1237, the king of England had granted the merchants of
the island of Gothland free trade privileges. Birger was a great and
sound legislator, although it is not known with certainty how many
of the judicial reforms accredited to him originated in these days.
He made the law that sister should have equal share of inheritance
with brother, and the laws of sanctity of home, Church, Thing and
woman, which formed the kernel of a set of laws, later called _Edsœre_
(Pledged oath), which every crowned king and his foremost men must
pledge themselves to uphold. He tried to make away with the ordeal
of walking on, or the handling of, iron as a legal testimony of
guiltlessness. Further, he prohibited the custom of self-imposed
thraldom.
The only act of Birger’s which has been condemned was his attempt to
introduce feudalism. His second son, Magnus, was created a duke, and
received, at Birger’s death, Sœdermanland, with the castle of Nykœping
as a duchy. This gave rise to much strife and many conflicts within
the new royal branch of the Folkungs, and endangered the unity of
the kingdom. Birger, the last jarl of the realm, was the first real
statesman of Sweden, whose stern intellect and integrity of character
won for his country an honored position among its neighbors, and for
himself the admiration of many generations to come. He died in 1266.
The first few years after Birger’s death were peaceful. The archbishop’s
seat was removed to the present Upsala, where work was commenced on the
magnificent cathedral. In 1271 the commercial privileges held by Lubeck
and Hamburg were also granted to Riga.
Valdemar was a weak and frivolous man, and his licentiousness gave
his brother Magnus the idea of pushing him aside, and later deprived
him of the loyalty and respect of his people. The difficulties with
his brothers ended in open conflict; Magnus and his younger brother
Eric turned to Denmark and Germany, where they hired an army, King
Eric Glipping of Denmark helping them with troops on promise of good
securities. The brothers invaded West Gothland and defeated a Swedish
army at Hofva, in 1275, while the king with his best troops remained
inactive at Tiveden. Valdemar fled to Norway, bringing his son Eric
with him. Venturing back into Vermland, he was captured and brought
before Duke Magnus. Valdemar went so far as to abdicate his throne, but
the meeting ended in an agreement according to which _Magnus_ was to
become king of Svealand and Valdemar to keep Gothaland. Eric was made a
duke, but died in the same year. Magnus was crowned at Upsala in 1276.
King Valdemar did not long remain content with the new state of things.
One month after Magnus’s coronation he arranged a meeting with him at
Lœdœse, over which King Magnus Lagabœte of Norway presided, but without
being able to effect an agreement between the brothers. Valdemar now
turned to King Eric of Denmark, and won an ally in him because Magnus
had neglected to fulfil his promises. Magnus gained a supporter in Duke
Gerhard I. of Holstein, whose daughter Helvig he married in November,
1276.
With the year 1277 war commences between Sweden and Denmark. Magnus
invades Halland and Scania, while Valdemar, with a Danish army, enters
Smaland, burning the town of Vexio. With King Eric, Valdemar enters
West Gothland, capturing Skara. At last the Danes are defeated at
Ettak. Early in 1278 peace is made at Laholm, Magnus promising to
pay his debt to Eric, leaving the castle of Lœdœse as security. Each
promises not to shelter the rebels against the other. Valdemar lost his
cause and had to give up Gothaland and his royal title, keeping only
his inherited estates. On account of his scandalous living, the nobles
insisted upon his imprisonment, and ten years after his abdication he
was placed in custody at the castle of Nykœping. He survived all his
brothers, dying in 1302. His son Eric was imprisoned at the castle of
Stockholm, receiving good treatment like his father. When his cousin
Birger was crowned, in 1302, he was set free, spending the rest of his
life in Sweden as a private citizen. During Magnus Ericsson’s minority
he was a member of the king’s council. When Magnus was sole occupant of
the throne he took the title of “King of the Swedes and Goths,” which,
occasionally used before, henceforward became the customary one.
A revolt against King Magnus took place shortly after the meeting
at Laholm. Some of the nobles were dissatisfied with the favoritism
shown foreigners, a complaint which was only too often justifiable,
and forever repeated, in the course of centuries, against the
Swedish monarchs. Count Gerhard of Holstein was imprisoned, and the
Danish knight, Ingemar, killed. The king invited the rebels to him
at Gællqvist, where he in an unexpected way made them prisoners, and
had them beheaded, in August, 1280, confiscating their property. This
incident is characteristic of the time, but there is no other authority
for it than the Chronicle. The reign of Magnus was comparatively short,
but a happy and glorious one. The relations with the island of Gothland
were made closer and more intimate, although the proud independence of
its inhabitants remained largely intact. They were to pay increased
scat, but continued their government without royal officials. The Guts
were of Swedish origin, and their island formed since the ninth century
a part of Sweden, but their isolated position and great commercial
activity made them almost independent. About the year 1000 they seek
for themselves protection from the Swedish king, and after their
baptism they turn to the bishop of Linkœping for spiritual guidance.
Thanks to its position, halfway between Germany, Russia and Sweden,
Gothland gives rise to the most important commercial centre of Northern
Europe after Lubeck. The inhabitants of Visby were Germans, to a great
extent, and their conflicts with the rural population were frequent.
King Magnus appears as an arbitrator in such cases with an authority
great enough to impose his conditions. In spite of the inimical
relations between Denmark and Norway, Magnus held peace with both.
As a legislator Magnus was even more important than his father, shaping
and reshaping laws which furthered the development of the country
and wielding an influence upon its jurisdiction reaching down to the
present day. At a meeting of nobles at Alnsnœ, in 1280, King Magnus
gave solemn pledge to the so-called Edsœre-laws of his father, and
made the nobility into a privileged class. All the men surrounding him
and his brother Bengt (made duke of Finland), and on their estates,
together with the trusted men in the service of a bishop, were freed
from paying taxes to the king. The same privilege was extended “to
all men who served with a horse, whosoever they serve.” The exemption
from taxes did not include those due the church or community, but only
those due the king. The horse service (_ross_ = later _rusttjenst_)
meant to provide for a cavalry force of iron-clad men for military
service, according to the demands of the time. The nobles saw to it
that this privilege was made permanent even after they had discontinued
the horse service, and that others were added to it. A law prohibiting
_voldgæstning_, the custom of travellers of taking by violence, or
without compensation, food and comfort from the rural population, was
also made at Alnsnœ, and won for King Magnus the rustic but beautiful
surname of _Ladulas_ (Barn-lock). “For he wished to place such locks on
the peasant’s barn, that no one should dare enter but at the will of
the owner,” wrote Olaus Petri, the historian and reformer. An official
was placed in every country town to see to the traveller’s comfort, and
to his payment for it. At a meeting in Skenninge, in 1285, a law about
_konungafrid_ (royal sanctity) was made in order to prevent strife
among the nobles and to make away with the ancient evil of revenge for
bloodshed. This period of royal sanctity, when between men of the most
strained relations peace should reign, commenced a fortnight after the
king’s arrival had been announced at the Thing and lasted until he had
by letter informed it of his departure out of the province. The one
who abused this sanctity, or only carried weapons, was exiled and his
property confiscated. Secret societies among the nobles were prohibited.
Magnus was not only a great legislator, but saw to it that his laws
were not broken. Personally he loved splendor and dignity, another
trait through which he won the favor of the Swedes, who in all times
have been fond of seeing their highest representatives surround
themselves with impressive luxury and wealth. Magnus was in this
respect the first mediæval monarch of Sweden, who kept a brilliant
court, but at the same time was the pious and obedient son of the
Church. He augmented the ecclesiastical privileges and founded several
convents. In one of these, St. Clara of Stockholm, he installed his
daughter Rikissa. Upon his death, which deplorable event took place
in the island of Visingsœ, December 18, 1290, he was buried in the
Franciscan convent church (the Riddarholm’s) in Stockholm, according
to his own wish. He was the first monarch to be entombed in this the
present Pantheon of Sweden. Three sons survived him, Birger, Eric and
Valdemar.
During the reign of Magnus, the development of mediæval institutions
took rapid strides. This is noticeable also in the offices of those
who surround the king. In the place of the jarl have been set two new
dignitaries the _drotsete_ and _marsk_, of the king, “the seater of
the retinue” and “marechal” or “servant of the horse,” respectively.
Circumstances heightened the importance of these offices and changed
them from court into state positions, the president of the state
council and the commander of the army. The _kansler_ (chancellor),
often a bishop, is another important royal office. The king’s council,
consisting of bishops, knights and men of social standing, surrounds
the monarch at his command and according to his selection, the
archbishop being the only ex-officio member. Important affairs of State
and Church are decided on at the meetings of nobles, _herredagar_,
no one taking part who is not asked, or not agreeable to the king.
These meetings later developed into _riksdagar_, at which all classes
of the people were represented. Taxes were collected for the king by
bailiffs, who in compensation received fiefs, sometimes consisting only
of certain estates, in other instances as much as a whole province
or district. The right of taxation belonged to the people. Only in
extraordinary cases the king was allowed to impose additional taxes,
although such were sometimes imposed wrongfully, in spite of a law
stipulated by King Magnus Barn-Lock.
_Birger_ succeeded his father Magnus. He was only ten years of age,
but his father had placed by his side a man who was to reign during
his minority. Marsk _Tyrgils Knutsson_ was the second of the great
uncrowned rulers of whom Sweden was destined to receive a number
almost as large as that of illustrious monarchs. Tyrgils Knutsson
followed out the policy of peace and progress which Birger Jarl had
commenced and King Magnus continued, making in all the happiest era of
the Middle Ages. To Birger Jarl’s conquest of Tavastland in Finland,
Tyrgils added that of Carelia. Two expeditions were sent to Carelia,
in 1293 and 1299, whose savage inhabitants were converted and made
Swedish subjects. Viborg was built and formed a stronghold for further
operations, while Landskrona, another fortified place, erected by
Tyrgils, not far from the site of the present St. Petersburg, was soon
lost to the Russians. Through the conquest of Carelia, better times
commenced for the Church of Finland, whose bishopric, in 1300, was
moved to Abo.
The legislative work of his great predecessors was continued by
Tyrgils, who made possible the union of the various “lands” of Upland
into one judicial district. The first justice was Birger Persson, who
was at the head of the work of preparing a common law for the whole
province (in 1296). Neutrality was preserved during the conflicts
between Norway and Denmark. King Eric Menved of Denmark was, in 1296,
married to King Birger’s sister, the pious Princess Ingeborg. In 1298
Birger was married to Eric’s sister Margaret in Stockholm, over the
lavish splendor of which event the poet of the Chronicle goes into
ecstasies of delight and felicitous description. Both these unions were
prearranged by King Magnus, and the princess Margaret had been educated
in Sweden for the purpose of becoming its queen.
The king was now of age, but Marsk Tyrgils continued for several
years at the helm. His relations to the Church show what a wise and
vigorous statesman he was. When in the name of the king the privileges
to the Church were once more granted, as by his predecessor, Tyrgils
made the important exceptions that the Church should fulfil for its
possessions the same military duty as all others in the country,
and that certain large fines should be reserved for the king. The
ecclesiastics took quietly to these restrictions at first, but soon an
open conflict ensued. Another and greater one arose between the king
and his brothers, Eric, duke of Sweden, and Valdemar, duke of Finland.
It resembles very much the conflict between their uncle Valdemar and
his brothers. In both cases there was a weak and deceitful king who
was inferior, if not in wretchedness, at least in courage, to one of
the brothers. After the first conflict was ended, the dukes selected
Marsk Tyrgils for their prey. In March, 1305, Tyrgils saw the king
grant to the Church the important privileges held back until then. In
December of the same year the king and his brothers came upon Tyrgils
unprepared. He was imprisoned, and in a shameful manner dragged to
Stockholm, travelling night and day through the cold of winter,
probably by some fraudulent legal process found guilty of treason, and
beheaded, February 10, 1236. As a climax to this foul political murder,
Tyrgils Knutsson was buried on the place of execution. Later, his body
was removed to the church of Riddarholm and placed at the side of King
Magnus, whose son he had served so faithfully.
The conflict between the royal brothers burst into flame again,
revealing some of the darkest and most shocking scenes of deceit,
treachery and villany found in Swedish history. The strife commenced
in April, 1304, for the first time, and continued, with few and short
intermissions, until the autumn of 1318, with broken oaths and pledges,
which were renewed and broken again, alliances and royal betrothals
formed, ended and renewed, kingdoms and duchies divided and redivided,
endless intrigues, rebellion and mutual invasions. The kings of Norway
and Denmark, with their armies, and several German princes and hired
troops, became actors in this bloody tragedy, which ended in the
annihilation of the principals. The most dramatic incidents are known
as “the Play at Hotuna” and “the Feast of Nykœping,” both taking place
during the short intervals of peace. The former was enacted September
29, 1306, when the king invited his brothers to him at Hotuna in
Upland. They accepted the invitation, only to carry the king and
queen away as captives, forcing the former to give over to them his
kingdom and his power, only leaving him the royal title. “The Feast at
Nykœping” was held the night between December 10 and 11, 1317. The king
and queen invited the dukes to the castle, seized them in the night and
threw them into a dungeon, where they both perished after six months of
hunger and neglect. Birger did not derive any benefit from his fearful
crime. The whole country rose against him and he died, after several
years of exile, in 1321. Birger has generally been held forth as the
responsible party in the crimes and evils of the conflict, but his
brothers seem to have been guilty in about the same degree. Duke Eric
was one of the most brilliantly gifted princes of his age, and jealousy
on the part of the king was the spark that kindled the fire. But the
bad example set by their father of depriving an older brother of his
throne, and the great possessions and independence of the dukes, were
the underlying causes. The destruction of both the contending parties
was an unexpected solution and a great gain for Sweden, whose fate
appeared sinister, with the prospect of dismemberment or dissolution,
the dukes holding their vast possessions as heirlooms.
During the conflict Norway had sided with the dukes, Denmark with the
king. Duke Eric was married to Ingeborg, only child of King Hakon of
Norway, and Duke Valdemar to his niece of the same name. _Mattias
Kettilmundsson_ was, in June, 1318, elected drotsete and regent. He led
an army against Denmark in the interests of the duchesses, invading
Scania and defeating the Danes near Hessleholm. November 11th of the
same year peace was made in Rœskilde between the kings, Eric and
Birger, on one side, and King Hakon and the heirs of the dukes, on the
other. May 8, 1319, King Hakon died, and _Magnus Ericsson_, the young
son of Duke Eric, inherited the crown of Norway, and July 8th of the
same year he was elected king of Sweden at Mora in Upland.
For the attainment of this end Magnus’s mother, Duchess Ingeborg, and
seven Swedish councillors had worked with great activity. They had
taken part in shaping the first Act of Union of the North in June,
1319, and from Oslo, in Norway, hastened to have Magnus elected at
the Stone of Mora, where the Swedish kings since time immemorial were
nominated. The Act of Union stipulated that the two kingdoms were to
remain perfectly independent, the king to sojourn an equally long part
of the year in each, with no official of either country to accompany
him further than to the frontier. In their foreign relations the
countries were to be independent, but to support each other in case of
war. The king was the only tie to bind them together.
There was another Magnus whose candidacy was spoiled by this union.
He was the son of King Birger, already, as a child, chosen king of
Sweden in succession to his father. Magnus Birgersson, a prisoner
at Stockholm, was beheaded in 1320, to make safe the reign of his
more fortunate cousin. King Magnus was only three years old, and
Drotsete Mattias Kettilmundsson presided over the government during
his minority, the nobles of the state council having great power and
influence. Both in Sweden and Norway the nobility had by this time
attained a supremacy which was oppressive both to the king and the
people, not so much through their privileges as through the liberties
they took. Their continual feuds between themselves disturbed the peace
of the country.
In 1332, King Magnus took charge of the government. He was a ruler
of a benign and good disposition toward the common people, whose
interests he always furthered. But he lacked strength of character and
was not able to control the obnoxious nobles. The provinces of Scania
and Bleking suffered greatly under Danish rule, which was changed
into German oppression when handed over to the counts of Holstein as
security for a loan. The people of Scania rose in revolt and asked for
protection from King Magnus. At a meeting in Kalmar (in 1332) both
provinces were united to Sweden. But the king had to pay heavy amounts
in settlement, which were increased when Halland was procured in a
similar way.
King Magnus was, at his height of power, one of the mightiest monarchs
of Europe, having under his rule the entire Scandinavian peninsula and
Finland, a realm stretching from the Sound at Elsinore to the Polar
Sea, from the river Neva to Iceland and Greenland. In 1335 King Magnus
rode his “Eriksgata,” when he announced that no Christian within his
realm should remain a thrall, thus practically abolishing the remnants
of slavery. In the following year he was crowned with his queen,
Blanche of Namur.
Magnus took great interest in legislation. During his minority the
provincial laws were revised. The king himself accomplished the great
and noble task of having these united into a state law (_landslag_),
appointing a committee of three justices to do the work. The clergy was
consulted, but refused to have ecclesiastical laws made for the whole
kingdom. The state law was first considered in 1347, and was put in
practice in 1352, being both a digest and an elaboration of the ancient
provincial laws. In many an instance of foreign or domestic conflicts,
the people, through its enforcement, found help and shelter from the
national spirit of this law.
To the financial difficulties which beset the reign of King Magnus and
made his life a burden the great plague was added. “The Black Death,”
in 1350, came from England to Norway and spread with great rapidity and
the most disastrous consequences throughout the North. In certain parts
of Sweden one-third of the population perished, in other parts even a
greater percentage, the plague raging with equal violence throughout
all classes of society. King Magnus had for a long time contemplated
revenge against the invasions made by the Russians into Carelia. He
undertook an expedition, under the pretext of a crusade, which ended
badly, the Swedish fleet being shut in by the Russians and saved only
by means of digging a canal. The king was severely criticised for
this crusade, which was construed as a punishment for his sins, and,
besides, largely increased his debts. The pope was among his creditors,
who, upon non-payment, placed Magnus under his ban.
The union with Norway was not a happy one. As a minor, Magnus dwelt
most of the time in Norway, but later principally in Sweden. This
was contrary to the Act of Union, the state of things in Norway,
furthermore, necessitating the almost continual presence of the king.
For this reason his son, _Hakon_, was chosen king of Norway, in 1343,
Magnus remaining in power until Hakon became of age, and his older son,
_Eric_, chosen king, or heir-apparent, of Sweden, in 1344. It appears
that King Magnus was in favor of this separation and had preconceived
it in giving to his older son the Swedish name of Eric and to the
younger the Norwegian name of Hakon, both equally characteristic of
the royal lines of the respective countries. The two young kings caused
their father considerable annoyance; but, upon the early death of Eric,
Hakon entered more into harmony with King Magnus. Valdemar Atterdag,
the crafty and enterprising king of Denmark, took an active part in the
conflicts, pretending to support Magnus, while simultaneously depriving
him of Scania, Halland and Bleking, which he captured almost without
resistance. He landed in the island of Gothland, plundering Visby in a
treacherous way. Upon his departure, his ships perished in a storm, the
plundered treasures going down with these, the king himself escaping
with difficulty. Valdemar arranged a marriage between his little
daughter Margaret and King Hakon of Norway. Several Swedish nobles of
great influence considered the treachery and impudence of Valdemar
and the weakness of Magnus as going too far. They offered the Swedish
crown to Albrecht, the son of King Magnus’s sister Euphemia. The offer
was accepted by Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg, the father of the young
Albrecht, in behalf of his son. He made a sudden assault upon Stockholm
in 1363, capturing it. At the Stone of Mora, Albrecht the Younger was
chosen king of Sweden. Magnus was defeated and made a prisoner at
Enkœping.
King Magnus was taken to Stockholm and there imprisoned for some time,
heavily laden with chains. King Valdemar deserted his cause, but the
common people of Svealand, with whom Magnus had always been exceedingly
popular, rose in order to free him. Soon King Hakon reached the
very gates of Stockholm with a Norwegian army, whereupon Magnus was
released. But he had to abdicate his throne, leaving for Norway, where
he died, through an accident, in 1374.
_Albrecht_ was the rightful king of Sweden. At the death of Eric he
became heir-apparent to the Swedish throne, but for having sped on
the course of events in his own interest, neither he nor his father
acquired any popularity. They surrounded themselves by a great number
of Germans, who, through their licentiousness and overbearing manner,
enraged the people. The country was practically in the hands of a few
Swedish nobles, among whom the drotsete, Bo Jonsson Grip, through his
high office and his immense wealth, bore the supremacy. Bo Jonsson
is said to have been the wealthiest man who ever lived in the North,
his possessions, fiefs and castles being of an astounding number, the
most famous among the latter being Gripsholm in the Lake Mælar. He
loaned money to the king against new castles and fiefs in security,
and held Albrecht in the most humiliating relation of dependence.
His enemies he persecuted without mercy, killing one before the high
altar in the Franciscan church of Stockholm. When Bo Jonsson died, in
1386, the king tried to better conditions by confiscating to the crown
some of his possessions. But he met with opposition from the nobles,
who claimed that he did so only to enrich his German favorites. The
king was helpless against his councillors, to whom he had handed over
all his power. They were in possession of all the fortified castles,
and if one of them died, the king had no right to select a successor
without their permission. The executors of Bo Jonsson’s will ended by
offering the crown to Margaret, Valdemar’s daughter, and queen-dowager
of Norway. She accepted, promising the nobles that they should remain
in undisturbed enjoyment of their great privileges. Margaret sent
an army into West Gothland, consisting of men from all three of
the Scandinavian countries, under the command of the Swede, Eric
Kettilsson. King Albrecht met with an army to a great extent composed
of German troops, and was defeated and made a prisoner at Falkœping,
February 24, 1389. Albrecht was imprisoned at Lindholm, in Scania, for
seven years, later returning to Mecklenburg.
To the Folkung period belongs one of the most remarkable and renowned
of Swedish women, herself, on her mother’s side, a Folkung, _St.
Birgitta_, the daughter of the legislator and first justice of Upland,
Birger Persson. Her parents were both pious and devoted to ascetic
practices. As a child she had visions, the holy Mary appearing to her.
When thirteen years of age she was married to Ulf Gumundsson, later
justice of Nerike, also a pious man, with whom she made a pilgrimage
to Spain. Birgitta lost her husband shortly afterward. At the Swedish
court, where she was the highest functionary of Queen Blanche, she
had seen political life at close range, gathering a deep and strong
indignation against the mighty and powerful in the world. Her husband’s
death moved her deeply, and the religious mysticism of her youth now
burst forth with increased strength, her visions becoming numerous and
important. That she believed in them herself there is no doubt, and
she made the world believe her. At first she hurled admonitions and
curses against King Magnus and his court; but the wretchedness of the
whole world attracted her to its spiritual centre, Rome, where she
lived for twenty-three years in continual and open protest against
the vices of the popes and priests. She died in Rome, in 1373, at
the age of seventy, after a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, seeing the two
great ambitions of her life fulfilled: the pope returning to Rome from
Avignon, and her creation, the order of St. Salvator, sanctioned by
the pope. Birgitta was canonized by the pope in 1391, through the
influence of Queen Margaret.
Birgitta was the greatest political-poetic genius of the mediæval
North. Her revelations fill eight volumes. She wrote them in Swedish,
and had a priest translate them into Latin. Some of her original
Swedish work is preserved. Birgitta appears to have thought in artistic
images, and these images are of plastic form, often of consummate
beauty, sometimes witty, sometimes avowedly comic, always effective.
The melancholy charm of Sweden’s nature suffuses all her writings and
renders to her peculiar mediæval mysticism a national temperament. From
Swedish sceneries and animal life she borrows her most beautiful images.
St. Birgitta has by some been considered as a reformer before Luther,
but not quite correctly. Luther reformed the institutions; Birgitta
aimed at reforming their upholders, and used against the pope and the
priests a language almost as strong as Luther’s. Some of her ideas
were not strictly in harmony with the Catholic dogmas; she insisted on
a close personal union with God, without the mediation of priests or
saints, fought for a universal knowledge of the Bible and the preaching
of the Gospel in the popular vernaculars, and considered the sale of
indulgences a mortal sin. Four hundred and seventy convents of her
order, in which men and women were to collaborate for the instruction
and spiritual guidance of the people, were after her death founded in
the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Esthonia, Poland, Italy and the
Netherlands, one existing in England up to the time of Elizabeth. The
mother institution at Vadstena, in East Gothland, was of the greatest
importance to the cultural development of Sweden and the North. One
of the greatest libraries of the Middle Ages was reared, and the first
book-printing establishment of Sweden founded there in 1490. Within
its walls a considerable literary activity prevailed, the religious
literature of the time being copied, or translated into Swedish,
and many original works written. The Swedish language, used by the
Birgittine school of writers, tried, by approaching Danish forms, to
establish a common literary language in the North, the Norwegian having
approached the Swedish during the time of the close relations between
the courts of the two countries. These efforts, for a time furthered by
political relations, were unfortunately soon to be abandoned forever.
Birgitta was a great genius in fetters. Her rare gifts were kept back
in their development through the idiosyncrasies of her period. She was
of an indomitable, aristocratic spirit, always remaining the noblewoman
to whom it was natural to speak the truth to the princes of State and
Church, because she considered herself their equal through the best
blood of the North, of which she had her share. This religious mystic
was a true child of her aristocratic age, which gave to Sweden two
parallel lines, sometimes identical, of great legislators and weak and
indulgent princes.