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.
Jason Lavery, Ph.D. (1997), is Professor of History at Oklahoma State University and Docent in the Church History of Finland and Scandinavia at the University of Helsinki. He has published widely on the history of Finland, Scandinavia, and the Baltic Sea region, including
The History of Finland (Greenwood, 2006).
List of Maps and Tables Preface Notes on Spelling, Terminology, and Electronic Sources
Abbreviations Introduction: Scholars, Reformers, and the Diocese of Turku The Reformation as Statebuilding
Finland's Lutheran Reformation
Finland as a Location of Reform
Place in Finland's History
A Word on Sources
1 The Church and Medieval Finland Land and People
The Church and the Swedish Crown's Eastward Expansion
Finland's Church and the Swedish Kingdom's Domestic Politics
The Church as an Agent of Regionality
Finland's Medieval Church and European Culture
Reform in the Late Medieval Era
The End of the Kalmar Union and the Rise of Gustav Vasa
2 Finland and Gustav Vasa's Reformation by Crisis Finland and Gustav's Rebellion
The Church and Gustav's Consolidation of Power
Gustav's Confiscations in Finland
Gustav and the Swedish Kingdom's Bishops
Gustav Vasa and the Episcopal See of Turku
The Rise of Lutheran Reform
The Arrival of Lutheran Reform in Finland
The Riksdag of Västerås
3 Reformation by Coexistence Bishops and Reformation
The Background and Reputation of Martinus Skytte
The Royal Takeover of Ecclesiatical Wealth
Gustav Vasa, Reform, and Europe
Religious Reform
The First Steps Toward a Vernacular Church
The Wittenberg Flock
Gustav Vasa, the Germans, and the Bishops
A New Wave of Exactions
4 The Creation of a Royal Church Mikael Agricola and His Account Book
A New Round of Confiscations
The Decline of the Cathedral Chapter
The King's Cultivation of Parishes
The Russian Threat
Ecclesiastical Courts
5 A Reformation in Reverse? The Nobility
The Case of Naantali Abbey
The Reformation's Impact on the Cities
Socio-Economic Change in the Clergy
The Diocese of Turku—The Kingdom's Peaceful Quarter?
6 The Vernacular Reformation Mikael Olofsson Agricola
"Learn Now, Old and Young:" Mikael Agricola and the Word of God in Finnish
God Hears Finnish Prayers
The New Testament and the Old Testament Books
"In This Way the Mass is Held in Finnish"
The Handbook
Resources for Agricola's Work
7 Schools, Art, and Belief The Decline of the School System
Paulus Juusten
Philipp Melanchthon and the Diocese of Turku
Art
Remains of Catholic Belief and Practice
The Persistence of Paganism
Witchcraft
Maintenance of Respect and Discipline
Calvinists and Sabbatarians
8 The End of the Medieval Diocese New Bishops, New Dioceses
War with Russia
Gustav, the Church, and the War
The Final Royal Confiscations
John's Duchy of Finland
Petrus Follingius
Conclusion Bibliography Unpublished Sources
Published Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Index
All interested in the history of the Reformation era in Scandinavia and Europe. The book will be used by specialists, students, and educated laymen. This is the first study of its kind in English and the first comprehensive study on the entire era in any language in over sixty years.