Jason Lavery examines the Reformation in the Diocese of Turku during the reign of King Gustav Vasa (r. 1523-1560). This diocese, covering a territory better known then and now as Finland, encompassed the Swedish kingdom east of the Gulf of Bothnia.
The Reformation in Finland was driven by King Gustav Vasa’s state-building program, sometimes referred to as 'royal reform' in respect to the church, as well as the spread of Lutheran theology and practice. Both royal and Lutheran reform were mutually reinforcing and dependent upon one another.
Author(s): Jason Lavery
Series: Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 210
Publisher: Brill
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 246
City: Leiden
List of Maps and Tables x
Preface xi
Notes on Spelling, Terminology, and Electronic Sources xiii
Abbreviations xvi
Introduction: Scholars, Reformers, and the Diocese of Turku 1
The Reformation as Statebuilding 6
Finland’s Lutheran Reformation 10
Finland as a Location of Reform 14
Place in Finland’s History 16
A Word on Sources 19
1. The Church and Medieval Finland 22
Land and People 22
The Church and the Swedish Crown’s Eastward Expansion 27
Finland’s Church and the Swedish Kingdom’s Domestic Politics 30
The Church as an Agent of Regionality 34
Finland’s Medieval Church and European Culture 39
Reform in the Late Medieval Era 40
The End of the Kalmar Union and the Rise of Gustav Vasa 42
2. Finland and Gustav Vasa’s Reformation by Crisis 46
Finland and Gustav’s Rebellion 47
The Church and Gustav’s Consolidation of Power 49
Gustav’s Confiscations in Finland 53
Gustav and the Swedish Kingdom’s Bishops 55
Gustav Vasa and the Episcopal See of Turku 57
The Rise of Lutheran Reform 59
The Arrival of Lutheran Reform in Finland 61
The Riksdag of Västerås 64
3. Reformation by Coexistence 70
Bishops and Reformation 70
The Background and Reputation of Martinus Skytte 73
The Royal Takeover of Ecclesiatical Wealth 76
Gustav Vasa, Reform, and Europe 81
Religious Reform 83
The First Steps Toward a Vernacular Church 86
The Wittenberg Flock 88
Gustav Vasa, the Germans, and the Bishops 91
A New Wave of Exactions 94
4. The Creation of a Royal Church 97
Mikael Agricola and His Account Book 98
A New Round of Confiscations 101
The Decline of the Cathedral Chapter 103
The King’s Cultivation of Parishes 106
The Russian Threat 113
Ecclesiastical Courts 115
5. A Reformation in Reverse? 119
The Nobility 120
The Case of Naantali Abbey 122
The Reformation’s Impact on the Cities 124
Socio-Economic Change in the Clergy 126
The Diocese of Turku—The Kingdom’s Peaceful Quarter? 131
6. The Vernacular Reformation 136
Mikael Olofsson Agricola 137
'Learn Now, Old and Young': Mikael Agricola and the Word of God in Finnish 141
God Hears Finnish Prayers 143
The New Testament and the Old Testament Books 144
'In This Way the Mass is Held in Finnish' 147
The Handbook 149
Resources for Agricola’s Work 151
7. Schools, Art, and Belief 154
The Decline of the School System 154
Paulus Juusten 158
Philipp Melanchthon and the Diocese of Turku 159
Art 161
Remains of Catholic Belief and Practice 164
The Persistence of Paganism 165
Witchcraft 168
Maintenance of Respect and Discipline 170
Calvinists and Sabbatarians 171
8. The End of the Medieval Diocese 174
New Bishops, New Dioceses 174
War with Russia 179
Gustav, the Church, and the War 180
The Final Royal Confiscations 183
John’s Duchy of Finland 186
Petrus Follingius 188
Conclusion 192
Bibliography 201
Unpublished Sources 201
Published Primary Sources 201
Secondary Sources 203
Index 222
