Early Vasa era
Encyclopedia
The Early Vasa era is a period that in Swedish history
lasted between 1523–1611. It began with the reconquest of Stockholm
by Gustav Vasa and his men from the Danes
in 1523, and Sweden's consequent abandonment of the Kalmar Union
, and continued with the reign of Gustav's sons Eric XIV
, John III
, John's son Sigismund
, and finally Gustav's youngest son Charles IX
.
Gustav's reign was marked by internal political and religious reforms, including the Protestant reformation
and a unification of the provinces
. At the death of Gustav of 1560, he was succeeded by his oldest son Eric. Eric was intelligent and skilled, but was in a constant strain with his brother and other noblemen. He engaged in warfare against both Denmark, Russia and Poland, but suffered periods of insanity in 1567. In 1568 he was dethroned and succeeded by his brother John.
John stabilized the international situation and made peace. He also wanted to partially restore Roman Catholicism
but the idea did not come through in the end.
At the death of John in 1592, his son Sigismund succeeded him. Sigismund was at that time already king of the Polish throne, through his mother, and he would rule Poland from 1587 to 1632. He set up a regency and continued to reside in Poland. On learning about the Uppsala Synod
, that finally declared Sweden's Lutheran doctrines, he returned home to protest. He found that the Riksdag of the Estates
had already dethroned him and replaced him by Gustav Vasa's youngest son, his uncle, Charles IX
. A brief civil war ensued that Sigismund lost in 1598, where after he fled the country never to return.
and became the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath
. By 1521, Gustav Eriksson, a nobleman and relative of Sten Sture the Elder
, managed to gather troops from Dalarna
in north-west Sweden and help from Lübeck
, with the purpose of defeating the Danes. In August 1521, his men elected him their monarch. The Swedish War of Liberation
started, and would last until the capture of Stockholm
, in June 1523. Gustav Vasa then consolidated his rule against claims from Denmark.
Tax reforms took place in 1538 and 1558, whereby multiple complex taxes on independent farmers were simplified and standardised throughout the district; tax assessments per farm were adjusted to reflect ability to pay. Crown tax revenues increased, but more importantly the new system was perceived as fairer and more acceptable. A war with Luebeck in 1535 resulted in the expulsion of the Hanseatic traders
, who previously had had a monopoly of foreign trade. With its own businessmen in charge Sweden's economic strength grew rapidly, and by 1544 Gustavus controlled 60% of the farmlands in all of Sweden. Sweden now built the first modern army in Europe, supported by a sophisticated tax system and government bureaucracy. Gustavus proclaimed the Swedish crown hereditary in his family, the house of Vasa. It ruled Sweden (1523–1654) and Poland (1587–1668).
After Gustav's death, his oldest son Eric XIV
ascended the throne. His regency was marked by Sweden's entrance i the Livonian War
and Northern Seven Years' War
, and the mutual relation between his developing mental disorder and the opposition with the aristocracy, leading to the Sture Murders
(1567) and the imprisonment of his brother John (III)
, who was married to Catherine Jagiellonica, the sister of Sigismund II of Poland. A magnates' uprising led by John led to Erik's deposition and the kingship of John, followed by the regency of John's son Sigismund
. Sigismund however was not able to defend the throne against Gustav's youngest son Charles (IX)
as new archbishop of Sweden, in the place of Gustav Trolle
who had been formally deposed by the Riksdag of the Estates
due to his involvement with the Danes. The pope initially refused, but gave his approval a year later. Magnus then was in a position between the reformation friendly king and the Catholic bishops
. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia in 1526 while the king continued the reformation. Magnus travelled down to Rome and was consecrated in 1533, but never returned home.
Meanwhile, Gustav suppressed all Catholic printing-presses in 1526 and took two-thirds of the Church's tithe
s for the payment of the national debt (owed to the German soldiers who helped him to the throne). In 1529, he summoned to a church meeting in Örebro
. Without formally breaking with Rome, all Catholic rituals were declared as merely symbolic, although still retained. The Catholic support was still strong around the country, and Gustav preferred to move slow by first spreading education of the Reformation.
The final step was taken in 1531, when Gustav Vasa announced Laurentius Petri
as the new archbishop of Uppsala
and Sweden. Laurentius and his brother Olaus
, and Mikael Agricola
in Österland
(today's Finland
), wrote and printed Lutheran
texts throughout the next decades. The opposition was still strong, and neither Gustav nor his successor Eric XIV
dared making radical reforms. A complete Lutheran church ordinance was not presented until the Swedish Church Ordinance 1571
, defined in the Riksdag
in 1591, with a statement of faith
finalized by the Uppsala Synod
in 1593.
was crushed. In all these rebellions the religious issue figured largely, though the increasing fiscal burdens were undoubtedly grievous, and the peasants had their particular grievances besides. The wholesale seizure and degradation of Church property outraged them, and they formally protested against the introduction of "Luthery." They insisted on the restoration of the ancient Catholic customs.
had formally declared the Bible
and tradition to be equally authoritative sources of all Christian
doctrine, the contrast between the old and the new teaching became more obvious; and in many countries a middle party arose which aimed at a compromise by going back to the Church of the Fathers. King John III of Sweden
, the most learned of the Vasas
, and somewhat of a theological expert, was largely influenced by these middle views. As soon as he had mounted the throne he took measures to bring the Church of Sweden
back to "the primitive Apostolic Church and the Swedish Catholic faith"; and, in 1574, persuaded a synod, assembled at Stockholm, to adopt certain articles framed by himself. In February 1575 a new Church ordinance, approximating still more closely to the patristic Church, was presented to another synod and accepted, but very unwillingly. In 1576 a new liturgy
was issued on the model of the Roman missal, but with considerable modifications.
Despite the opposition of Duke Charles and the ultra-Protestants, these measures were adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates
in 1577. They greatly encouraged the Catholic party in Europe, and John III was ultimately persuaded to send an embassy to Rome to open negotiations for the reunion of the Swedish Church with the Holy See
. But though the Jesuit
Antonio Possevino
was sent to Stockholm to complete John’s conversion, John would only consent to embrace Catholicism under certain conditions which were never fulfilled, and the only result of all these subterraneous negotiations was to incense the Protestants still more against the new liturgy, the use of which by every congregation in the realm without exception was, nevertheless, decreed by the Riksdag of 1582.
During this period Duke Charles and his Protestant friends were clearly outnumbered by the promoters of the media. Nevertheless, immediately after King John's death, the Uppsala Synod
, summoned by Duke Charles, rejected the new liturgy and drew up an anti-Catholic confession of faith, March 5, 1593. Holy Scripture and the three primitive creeds were declared to be the true foundations of Christian faith, and the Augsburg confession
was adopted.
1593, he considered it an infringement of his prerogative. On his arrival in Sweden he initially tried to gain time by confirming what had been done; but the aggressiveness of the Protestant faction and the persistence of Duke Charles made civil war inevitable. At the Battle of Stångebro
on September 25, 1598, the struggle was decided in favour of Charles and Protestantism. Sigismund fled from Sweden, never to return, and on March 19, 1600, the Riksdag of Linköping proclaimed the duke king under the title of Charles IX of Sweden
. Sigismund and his line of posterity were declared to have forfeited the Swedish crown, and was from then on to pass to the male heirs of Charles.
, and Gustav earliest reign aimed at little more than self-preservation. As he was in debt to merchant of Lübeck, he used aid of Denmark
to free himself from this deal by a truce of August 28, 1537. Thereby, Sweden for the first time in its history became the mistress of its own waters. But hegemony of Denmark was indisputable, and Gustav regarded them with suspicion. When Sweden broke away from the Kalmar Union, Denmark and Norway entered into their own union, (see Denmark–Norway
), and the Danish king Christian III
continued to carry the Swedish insignia of three crowns
in his coat of arms, indicating a supposed claim of sovereignty.
Also offensive was the attitude of Sweden's eastern neighbor Russia
, with whom the Swedish king was nervously anxious to stand on good terms. Gustav attributed to Ivan IV of Russia
, whose resources he unduly magnified, the design of establishing a universal monarchy round the Baltic sea
, and waged an inconclusive war against him in 1554–1557.
, had by the secularization of the latter order into the dukedom of Prussia
, 1525, had become isolated between hostile Slavonians. The situation became critical in 1558–1560, when floods of Muscovites poured over the land, threatening the whole province with destruction.
In his despair, the last master of the order Gotthard von Kettler, appealed to his civilized neighbours to save him. Eric became ruler by October 1560, and already later that year he engaged Sweden in the Livonian War
. By March 1561, the city council of Reval surrendered to Sweden, and became the outpost for further Swedish conquests in the area. From the moment, Sweden was forced to continue on a policy of combat and aggrandisement, because a retreat would have meant the ruin of its Baltic
trade.
Erik XIV also obstructed Danish plans to conquer Estonia, and added the insignia of Norway and Denmark to his own coat of arms. Lübeck, upset over obstacles of trade that Erik had introduced to hinder the Russian trade and withdrawn trade privileges, joined Denmark in a war alliance. Poland soon joined, wanting control of the Baltic trade.
no Swedes appeared. On August 13, 1563, war was declared in Stockholm by emissaries from Denmark and Lubeck. The so called Northern Seven Years' War
commenced, with exhausting assault on land and water. Eric undaunted continued the war until his insanity in 1567 halted the Swedish warfare. He was dethroned in 1568 and replaced by John, who made peace attempts, which were eventually successful by the Treaty of Stettin
in 1570.
John then entered an anti-Russian league with Stephen Bathory of Poland in 1578. The war between Russia and Sweden for the possession of Estonia and Livonia
(1571–1577) had been uninterruptedly disastrous to Sweden, and, in the beginning of 1577, a countless Russian host sat down before Reval.
With the help of Bathory, however, the scales soon turned in the opposite direction. Six months after his humiliating peace with the Polish monarch, Ivan IV was glad to conclude a truce with Sweden also on a uti possidetis basis at Plussa, on August 5, 1582. The war was resumed by Russians as soon as the truce expired, leading to the Treaty of Tyavzino
, far less advantageous for Sweden.
, the son of John III, was brought up by his mother in the Catholic
religion. On August 19, 1587, he was elected king of Poland
. Sixteen days later the Articles of Kalmar, signed by John and Sigismund, regulated the future relations between the two countries when, in process of time, Sigismund should succeed his father as king of Sweden. The Articles of two kingdoms were to be in perpetual alliance, but each of them was to retain its own laws and customs. Sweden was also to enjoy its religion, subject to such changes as the Privy Council
might make; but neither pope nor council was to claim or exercise the right of releasing Sigismund from his obligations to his Swedish subjects. During Sigismund’s absence from Sweden that realm was to be ruled by seven Swedes, six elected by the king and one by his uncle Duke Charles
of Södermanland
, the leader of the Swedish Protestants. No new tax was to be levied in Sweden during the king’s absence, but Sweden was never to be administered from Poland. Any necessary alterations in these articles were only to be made with the common consent of the king, Duke Charles, the Estates and the gentry of Sweden.
History of Sweden
Modern Sweden started out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. In the 17th century Sweden expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of these conquered territories had to be given up during the 18th century...
lasted between 1523–1611. It began with the reconquest of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
by Gustav Vasa and his men from the Danes
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 1523, and Sweden's consequent abandonment of the Kalmar Union
Kalmar Union
The Kalmar Union is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway , and Sweden under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population...
, and continued with the reign of Gustav's sons Eric XIV
Eric XIV of Sweden
-Family and descendants:Eric XIV had several relationships before his marriage. With Agda Persdotter he had four daughters:#Margareta Eriksdotter , married 1592 to Olov Simonsson, vicar of Horn....
, John III
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
, John's son Sigismund
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
, and finally Gustav's youngest son Charles IX
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
.
Gustav's reign was marked by internal political and religious reforms, including the Protestant reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and a unification of the provinces
Provinces of Sweden
The provinces of Sweden, landskap, are historical, geographical and cultural regions. Sweden has 25 provinces and they have no administrative function, but remain historical legacies and the means of cultural identification....
. At the death of Gustav of 1560, he was succeeded by his oldest son Eric. Eric was intelligent and skilled, but was in a constant strain with his brother and other noblemen. He engaged in warfare against both Denmark, Russia and Poland, but suffered periods of insanity in 1567. In 1568 he was dethroned and succeeded by his brother John.
John stabilized the international situation and made peace. He also wanted to partially restore Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
but the idea did not come through in the end.
At the death of John in 1592, his son Sigismund succeeded him. Sigismund was at that time already king of the Polish throne, through his mother, and he would rule Poland from 1587 to 1632. He set up a regency and continued to reside in Poland. On learning about the Uppsala Synod
Uppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
, that finally declared Sweden's Lutheran doctrines, he returned home to protest. He found that the Riksdag of the Estates
Riksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
had already dethroned him and replaced him by Gustav Vasa's youngest son, his uncle, Charles IX
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
. A brief civil war ensued that Sigismund lost in 1598, where after he fled the country never to return.
Establishment of the Vasa dynasty
In 1520, Stockholm was taken by Christian II of DenmarkChristian II of Denmark
Christian II was King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden , during the Kalmar Union.-Background:...
and became the scene of the Stockholm Bloodbath
Stockholm Bloodbath
The Stockholm Bloodbath, or the Stockholm Massacre , took place as the result of a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under the command of King Christian II...
. By 1521, Gustav Eriksson, a nobleman and relative of Sten Sture the Elder
Sten Sture the Elder
Sten Sture the Elder was a Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden from .-Background:...
, managed to gather troops from Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
in north-west Sweden and help from Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, with the purpose of defeating the Danes. In August 1521, his men elected him their monarch. The Swedish War of Liberation
Swedish War of Liberation
The Swedish War of Liberation , , was a civil war in which the Swedish nobleman Gustav Vasa successfully deposed the Danish king Christian II as regent of the Kalmar Union in Sweden. The war started in January 1521 when Gustav Vasa was appointed "hövitsman" over Dalarna. After Gustav Vasa sacked...
started, and would last until the capture of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, in June 1523. Gustav Vasa then consolidated his rule against claims from Denmark.
Tax reforms took place in 1538 and 1558, whereby multiple complex taxes on independent farmers were simplified and standardised throughout the district; tax assessments per farm were adjusted to reflect ability to pay. Crown tax revenues increased, but more importantly the new system was perceived as fairer and more acceptable. A war with Luebeck in 1535 resulted in the expulsion of the Hanseatic traders
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, who previously had had a monopoly of foreign trade. With its own businessmen in charge Sweden's economic strength grew rapidly, and by 1544 Gustavus controlled 60% of the farmlands in all of Sweden. Sweden now built the first modern army in Europe, supported by a sophisticated tax system and government bureaucracy. Gustavus proclaimed the Swedish crown hereditary in his family, the house of Vasa. It ruled Sweden (1523–1654) and Poland (1587–1668).
After Gustav's death, his oldest son Eric XIV
Eric XIV of Sweden
-Family and descendants:Eric XIV had several relationships before his marriage. With Agda Persdotter he had four daughters:#Margareta Eriksdotter , married 1592 to Olov Simonsson, vicar of Horn....
ascended the throne. His regency was marked by Sweden's entrance i the Livonian War
Livonian War
The Livonian War was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.During the period 1558–1578,...
and Northern Seven Years' War
Northern Seven Years' War
The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...
, and the mutual relation between his developing mental disorder and the opposition with the aristocracy, leading to the Sture Murders
Sture Murders
The Sture Murders in Uppsala, Sweden of 24 May 1567 were the murders of five incarcerated Swedish nobles by Erik XIV of Sweden, who at that time was in a state of serious mental disorder, and his guards. The nobles, among them three members of the influential Sture family, had been charged with...
(1567) and the imprisonment of his brother John (III)
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
, who was married to Catherine Jagiellonica, the sister of Sigismund II of Poland. A magnates' uprising led by John led to Erik's deposition and the kingship of John, followed by the regency of John's son Sigismund
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
. Sigismund however was not able to defend the throne against Gustav's youngest son Charles (IX)
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
Reformation
Shortly after seizing power in 1523, Gustav Vasa addressed the Pope in Rome with a request for the confirmation of Johannes MagnusJohannes Magnus
Johannes Magnus was the last functioning Catholic Archbishop in Sweden, and also a theologian, genealogist, and historian.-Life:Johannes Magnus was born in Linköping, son of the burgess Måns Pedersson and his wife Kristina...
as new archbishop of Sweden, in the place of Gustav Trolle
Gustav Trolle
Gustav Eriksson Trolle was Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden, in two sessions, during the turbulent Reformation events.After returning from studies abroad, in Cologne and Rome, he was in 1513 elected vicar in Linköping. One year later he became Archbishop of Uppsala...
who had been formally deposed by the Riksdag of the Estates
Riksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
due to his involvement with the Danes. The pope initially refused, but gave his approval a year later. Magnus then was in a position between the reformation friendly king and the Catholic bishops
Bishop (Catholic Church)
In the Catholic Church, a bishop is an ordained minister who holds the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders and is responsible for teaching the Catholic faith and ruling the Church....
. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia in 1526 while the king continued the reformation. Magnus travelled down to Rome and was consecrated in 1533, but never returned home.
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s for the payment of the national debt (owed to the German soldiers who helped him to the throne). In 1529, he summoned to a church meeting in Örebro
Örebro
-Sites of interest:Örebro's old town Wadköping is located on the banks of Svartån . It contains many 18th and 19th century wooden houses, along with museums and exhibitions....
. Without formally breaking with Rome, all Catholic rituals were declared as merely symbolic, although still retained. The Catholic support was still strong around the country, and Gustav preferred to move slow by first spreading education of the Reformation.
The final step was taken in 1531, when Gustav Vasa announced Laurentius Petri
Laurentius Petri
Laurentius Petri Nericius was a Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and his brother Olaus Petri are, together with the King Gustav Vasa, regarded as the main Protestant reformers of Sweden...
as the new archbishop of Uppsala
Archbishop of Uppsala
The Archbishop of Uppsala has been the primate in Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church.- Historical overview :...
and Sweden. Laurentius and his brother Olaus
Olaus Petri
Olof Persson , better known under the Latin form of his name, Olaus Petri , was a clergyman, writer, and a major contributor to the Protestant Reformation in Sweden...
, and Mikael Agricola
Mikael Agricola
Mikael Agricola was a clergyman who became the de facto founder of written Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden . He is often called the "father of the Finnish written language". Agricola was consecrated as the bishop of Turku in 1554, without papal approval...
in Österland
Österland
Österland or Österlanden , one of the four traditional lands of Sweden, was a medieval term used for the southern part of Finland. It gradually fell out of use by the 15th century...
(today's Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
), wrote and printed Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
texts throughout the next decades. The opposition was still strong, and neither Gustav nor his successor Eric XIV
Eric XIV of Sweden
-Family and descendants:Eric XIV had several relationships before his marriage. With Agda Persdotter he had four daughters:#Margareta Eriksdotter , married 1592 to Olov Simonsson, vicar of Horn....
dared making radical reforms. A complete Lutheran church ordinance was not presented until the Swedish Church Ordinance 1571
Swedish Church Ordinance 1571
The Swedish Church Ordinance of 1571 was the first complete Swedish church order following the Swedish Reformation in the 1520s.The main originator of the ordinance was archbishop Laurentius Petri. Petri had been archbishop since 1531, and had published many doctrinal texts. He had in vain tried to...
, defined in the Riksdag
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
in 1591, with a statement of faith
Statement of faith
A statement of faith is a statement of the core beliefs of a religious group.A typical statement of faith is said to be a non-comprehensive summary of the core beliefs of a particular faith within a tradition . Even religious organizations without affiliation will use a statement of faith for...
finalized by the Uppsala Synod
Uppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
in 1593.
Peasant risings
Gustav had to face half-dozen peasant risings between 1525 to 1543, ending when the Dacke WarDacke War
Dackefejden was a peasant uprising led by Nils Dacke in Småland, Sweden, in 1542 against the rule of Gustav Vasa. Dacke and his followers were dissatisfied with the heavy burden of the taxes, the introduction of lutheranism and the confiscations of the churches property...
was crushed. In all these rebellions the religious issue figured largely, though the increasing fiscal burdens were undoubtedly grievous, and the peasants had their particular grievances besides. The wholesale seizure and degradation of Church property outraged them, and they formally protested against the introduction of "Luthery." They insisted on the restoration of the ancient Catholic customs.
Attempts of Catholic reunification
Under Eric XIV the Reformation in Sweden proceeded on the same lines as during the reign of his father, retaining all the old Catholic customs not considered contrary to Scripture. After 1544, when the Council of TrentCouncil of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
had formally declared the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and tradition to be equally authoritative sources of all Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
doctrine, the contrast between the old and the new teaching became more obvious; and in many countries a middle party arose which aimed at a compromise by going back to the Church of the Fathers. King John III of Sweden
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
, the most learned of the Vasas
House of Vasa
The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....
, and somewhat of a theological expert, was largely influenced by these middle views. As soon as he had mounted the throne he took measures to bring the Church of Sweden
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...
back to "the primitive Apostolic Church and the Swedish Catholic faith"; and, in 1574, persuaded a synod, assembled at Stockholm, to adopt certain articles framed by himself. In February 1575 a new Church ordinance, approximating still more closely to the patristic Church, was presented to another synod and accepted, but very unwillingly. In 1576 a new liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
was issued on the model of the Roman missal, but with considerable modifications.
Despite the opposition of Duke Charles and the ultra-Protestants, these measures were adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates
Riksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
in 1577. They greatly encouraged the Catholic party in Europe, and John III was ultimately persuaded to send an embassy to Rome to open negotiations for the reunion of the Swedish Church with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. But though the Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
Antonio Possevino
Antonio Possevino
Antonio Possevino was a Jesuit protagonist of Counter Reformation as a papal diplomat and a Jesuit controversialist, encyclopedist and bibliographer...
was sent to Stockholm to complete John’s conversion, John would only consent to embrace Catholicism under certain conditions which were never fulfilled, and the only result of all these subterraneous negotiations was to incense the Protestants still more against the new liturgy, the use of which by every congregation in the realm without exception was, nevertheless, decreed by the Riksdag of 1582.
During this period Duke Charles and his Protestant friends were clearly outnumbered by the promoters of the media. Nevertheless, immediately after King John's death, the Uppsala Synod
Uppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
, summoned by Duke Charles, rejected the new liturgy and drew up an anti-Catholic confession of faith, March 5, 1593. Holy Scripture and the three primitive creeds were declared to be the true foundations of Christian faith, and the Augsburg confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
was adopted.
Sigismund's reaction
When Sigismund found out about the Uppsala SynodUppsala Synod
The Uppsala Synod in 1593 was the most important synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation and broken with Roman Catholicism in the 1520s, but an official confession of faith had never been declared....
1593, he considered it an infringement of his prerogative. On his arrival in Sweden he initially tried to gain time by confirming what had been done; but the aggressiveness of the Protestant faction and the persistence of Duke Charles made civil war inevitable. At the Battle of Stångebro
Battle of Stångebro
The Battle of Stångebro or Battle of Linköping took place at Linköping, Sweden on September 25, 1598, and effectively ended the personal union between Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, that had only existed since 1592...
on September 25, 1598, the struggle was decided in favour of Charles and Protestantism. Sigismund fled from Sweden, never to return, and on March 19, 1600, the Riksdag of Linköping proclaimed the duke king under the title of Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
. Sigismund and his line of posterity were declared to have forfeited the Swedish crown, and was from then on to pass to the male heirs of Charles.
Foreign affairs
Sweden had little independent foreign interaction while it was committed to the Kalmar UnionKalmar Union
The Kalmar Union is a historiographical term meaning a series of personal unions that united the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway , and Sweden under a single monarch, though intermittently and with a population...
, and Gustav earliest reign aimed at little more than self-preservation. As he was in debt to merchant of Lübeck, he used aid of Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
to free himself from this deal by a truce of August 28, 1537. Thereby, Sweden for the first time in its history became the mistress of its own waters. But hegemony of Denmark was indisputable, and Gustav regarded them with suspicion. When Sweden broke away from the Kalmar Union, Denmark and Norway entered into their own union, (see Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway is the historiographical name for a former political entity consisting of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, including the originally Norwegian dependencies of Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands...
), and the Danish king Christian III
Christian III of Denmark
Christian III reigned as king of Denmark and Norway. He was the eldest son of King Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg.-Childhood:...
continued to carry the Swedish insignia of three crowns
Three Crowns
Three Crowns is a national emblem of Sweden, present in the Coat of Arms of the Realm of Sweden, and composed by three yellow or gilded coronets ordered two above and one below, placed on a blue background....
in his coat of arms, indicating a supposed claim of sovereignty.
Also offensive was the attitude of Sweden's eastern neighbor Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, with whom the Swedish king was nervously anxious to stand on good terms. Gustav attributed to Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV Vasilyevich , known in English as Ivan the Terrible , was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres,...
, whose resources he unduly magnified, the design of establishing a universal monarchy round the Baltic sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, and waged an inconclusive war against him in 1554–1557.
First involvements
Ultimately, Sweden departed from its neutrality and laid the foundations of its later overseas empire. In the last year of Gustav’s life, 1560, the ancient Livonian OrderLivonian Order
The Livonian Order was an autonomous Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order and a member of the Livonian Confederation from 1435–1561. After being defeated by Samogitians in the 1236 Battle of Schaulen , the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were incorporated into the Teutonic Knights...
, had by the secularization of the latter order into the dukedom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, 1525, had become isolated between hostile Slavonians. The situation became critical in 1558–1560, when floods of Muscovites poured over the land, threatening the whole province with destruction.
In his despair, the last master of the order Gotthard von Kettler, appealed to his civilized neighbours to save him. Eric became ruler by October 1560, and already later that year he engaged Sweden in the Livonian War
Livonian War
The Livonian War was fought for control of Old Livonia in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia when the Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of Denmark–Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland.During the period 1558–1578,...
. By March 1561, the city council of Reval surrendered to Sweden, and became the outpost for further Swedish conquests in the area. From the moment, Sweden was forced to continue on a policy of combat and aggrandisement, because a retreat would have meant the ruin of its Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
trade.
Erik XIV also obstructed Danish plans to conquer Estonia, and added the insignia of Norway and Denmark to his own coat of arms. Lübeck, upset over obstacles of trade that Erik had introduced to hinder the Russian trade and withdrawn trade privileges, joined Denmark in a war alliance. Poland soon joined, wanting control of the Baltic trade.
Deepening involvements
At Bornholm, on May 30, 1563, the Danish fleet fired on the Swedish navy. A battle arose that ended with Danish defeat. German royal emissaries were sent to negotiate a peace, but at the meeting place of RostockRostock
Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...
no Swedes appeared. On August 13, 1563, war was declared in Stockholm by emissaries from Denmark and Lubeck. The so called Northern Seven Years' War
Northern Seven Years' War
The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...
commenced, with exhausting assault on land and water. Eric undaunted continued the war until his insanity in 1567 halted the Swedish warfare. He was dethroned in 1568 and replaced by John, who made peace attempts, which were eventually successful by the Treaty of Stettin
Treaty of Stettin
The Treaty of Stettin of December 13, 1570, ended the Northern Seven Years' War fought between Sweden and Denmark with her internally fragmented alliance of Lübeck and Poland. It also settled Swedish, Danish and Holy Roman Imperial claims regarding the Livonian War. Unfavourable for Sweden, it...
in 1570.
John then entered an anti-Russian league with Stephen Bathory of Poland in 1578. The war between Russia and Sweden for the possession of Estonia and Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
(1571–1577) had been uninterruptedly disastrous to Sweden, and, in the beginning of 1577, a countless Russian host sat down before Reval.
With the help of Bathory, however, the scales soon turned in the opposite direction. Six months after his humiliating peace with the Polish monarch, Ivan IV was glad to conclude a truce with Sweden also on a uti possidetis basis at Plussa, on August 5, 1582. The war was resumed by Russians as soon as the truce expired, leading to the Treaty of Tyavzino
Treaty of Tyavzino
The Treaty of Teusina, Tyavzin or Tyavzino , also known as the Eternal Peace with Sweden in Russia, was concluded by Russian diplomats under boyar Afanasiy Pushkin and ambassadors of the Swedish king at the village of Tyavzino in Ingria on May 18, 1595 to end the Russo-Swedish War between the...
, far less advantageous for Sweden.
Sigismund and Polish relations
Duke Sigismund of SwedenSigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
, the son of John III, was brought up by his mother in the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religion. On August 19, 1587, he was elected king of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Sixteen days later the Articles of Kalmar, signed by John and Sigismund, regulated the future relations between the two countries when, in process of time, Sigismund should succeed his father as king of Sweden. The Articles of two kingdoms were to be in perpetual alliance, but each of them was to retain its own laws and customs. Sweden was also to enjoy its religion, subject to such changes as the Privy Council
Privy Council of Sweden
The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...
might make; but neither pope nor council was to claim or exercise the right of releasing Sigismund from his obligations to his Swedish subjects. During Sigismund’s absence from Sweden that realm was to be ruled by seven Swedes, six elected by the king and one by his uncle Duke Charles
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...
of Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
, the leader of the Swedish Protestants. No new tax was to be levied in Sweden during the king’s absence, but Sweden was never to be administered from Poland. Any necessary alterations in these articles were only to be made with the common consent of the king, Duke Charles, the Estates and the gentry of Sweden.
See also
- Sweden–Finland
- Swedish EstoniaSwedish EstoniaThe Duchy of Estonia , also known as Swedish Estonia, was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721, when it was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation in the Great Northern War. The dominion arose when the northern parts of present-day Estonia were united...
- Polish-Swedish unionPolish-Swedish unionPolish–Swedish union was a short-lived personal union between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Kingdom of Sweden, when Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland, was crowned King of Sweden in 1592. In 1599, after a civil war, he lost this crown and returned to Warsaw.-Prelude:After the death of...
- House of VasaHouse of VasaThe House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....