SWEDEN
348
SWEDEN
who was born 16 July, 1858, and is a member of the
Bernadotte family; in 1887 he married Princess Vic-
toria of Baden.
Generalstabens Karta ojver Sverige, for Northern Sweden (issued by the Topographical Corps) ; Nathorst, Sveriges geologi (Stockholm, 1894), gives the geology and physical geography of the country: Nystrom, Sveriges geografi (Stockholm, 1895): SUNDBERG, Sveriges land och folk (Stockholm, 1901): Hist, statist. Handbuch; Svenska Turistforeningens Resehandbocker (Stockholm, 1901), especially vol. IV, Sweden; Svenska Turist- foreningens Vdgvisare (Stockholm, 1895), especially vol. X, Stockholm^ containing many illustrations; Svenska Turistforen- ingens drsskrifter (1887 — ); Styffe, Skandinavien undeutiion- stiden (2nd ed., Stockholm, 1880), contribution to historical geography; Historiskt geografiskt och statistiskt lexikon ofver Sverige (7 vols, and index, Stockholm, 1859-69) ; Baumgartner, Nordische Fahrten: Durch Skandinavien nach St. Petersburg, I (Freiburg, 1890), 275-248 treats of Sweden; Wittmann, Fuhrer durch Schweden (1893) : Slockholms Kommunalkalendar (Stock- holm, 1911), with 5 smalt maps.
Ecclesiastical History. — Nothing positive is known as to the religious ideas of the prehistoric in- habitants of Sweden during the Stone and Bronze Ages. It is hardly jiossililc however, to doubt that they believed in ;i life :iflii- death, as they were accus- tomed to ofTer saciiliccs ;it the graves of their dead, and to place in these graves the weapons, tools, uten- sils, and ornaments of those there buried. Their re- ligion was an ancestral worship. Light or its chief repesentative, the sun, appears to have received as Ty-deus, equivalent perhaps to Zeus, the veneration of a divinity. This is shown by two symbols derived from the Stone Age, the wheel and the axe. .Subor- dinate to this may have been a form of worship paid to individual trees, springs, rivers, and lakes, as strik- ing natural phenomena, which is not entirely e.xtinct even yet. For example, sacrifices are offered in ' ' fairy-mills ' ' (dlfkvarHar} , and despite attempts to dis- pel superstitions by the schools the belief in house spirits and forest spirits is still to be found here and there. Great fires are still kindled about Easter time, just as was customary thousands of years ago. At a later date than that above-mentioned the sun-god was regarded from varying points of view and received various names. This led gradually to a number of gods: Thor, Odin, and Frey, or Freyr. However, Thor, not Odin, always remained the chief god; he was the god of lightning and of strength. It is indeed as- serted that the worship of Odin came from the South; this, however, is contradicted by the fact that his greatest temple stood in Upsala, and that the Scan- dinavians were the chief worshippers of this god. Among the Germans Wodan, as he was called by them, was treated with but little respect; this is espe- cially true of the tribes of Southern Germany. More- over, the Scandinavian mythology, as it has come down in the two Eddas, is totally lacking in unity and is in part influenced by Christian ideas. Bloody s;icrifices, generally animals, as hf)rses or dogs, were offered to the gods to c<)ncili:it<' them or to gain gifts from them. At times human beings were sacrificed, its bondsmen, freemen, and even kings, who in the Jiteral sense of the word were killed with the sword. Those dedicated to Odin were hung in his groves. Once in nine years the feast of the equinoxes was cele- brated with spcci;d and horrible pomp. On each of the nine d:iys of K:iciitice at least one human being was killed, besides l;Lrgc numbers of animals. Dozens of bodies often hung from the trees. A distinct sac- erdotal order seems to have been unknown, and the chiefs of the trilies offered the sacrifices themselves.
The first contact with Christianity arose from the expeditions of the Vikings. In this way the Scandi- navians became acquainted with, and learned to appre- ciate, the liigher civilization of the southern races; some of the north<'rn warriors were baptized. Thus gradually the ground was prepared for the seed of the Gospel. The first elTort to convert the country to Christianity was made by the Frank, Ansgar. At the request of Swedish nobles he was commissioned
by the Emperor Louis the Pious to go to Sweden and
reached the commercial town of Birka in Maelarsee
in G30, after a hard and dangerous journey. Here
with the consent of King Bjorn he preached zealously
for more than a year. Twenty-three years later Ans-
gar, who had in the meantime become Archbishop of
Hamburg-Bremen, returned to Sweden, and by his
shrewdness and gentleness overcame the hostile ef-
forts of the worshippers of the heathen gods. His
successor as archbishop, Rimbert , also sought to carry
on the work of converting the Scandinavians. How-
ever, internal turmoils and wars soon destroyed what
the two iiious men had built up. It was not until the
beginning of the ekn-enth century that the Church re-
sumed the work. German and Enghsh missionaries
competed with one another in preaching the Word,
and not without results. In 1008 Olaf Skotkonung
was baptized by Siegfried at Husaby in Western Got-
land. But the Church made very slow progress. In
the reign of King Stenkil a diocese was founded at
Skara. In the reign of Ynge the Old, the new faith
gained the mastery. The English missionaries David
and Eskil, the German missionaiy Stephen, and the
Swede Botvid preached chiefly in Soderraanland,
Vestmanland, and Norrland. The first-mentioned
died a natural death, the others gained the crown of
martyrdom. Still heathenism maintained itself for a
long time in isolated spots in the valleys among the
mountains.
Naturally the leaven of the Gospel penetrated the hearts of the battle-loving warriors very slowly, and the majority of the baptized were only half Chris- tians. Their knowledge of religion must have re- mained very limited on account of the lack of print- ing and of schools. The secular clergy, and later the monks especially, sought with praiseworthy zeal to raise the neophytes to a higher spiritual and moral level. They opposed with growing success drunken- ness, violence, polygamy, and the exposure of chil- dren. A second diocese was established at Linkoping in the reign of Sverker the Old. Both here and in the monasteries (Alvastra, Nydala, Varnhem, etc.) prom- ising youths were instructed in religion as well as in secular knowledge The lack of the written word was supplied by zealous preaching of the doctrine of salvation. The poor and sick were tenderly cared for. Christian festivals took the place of the heathen ones, and the organization of the Churcli made rapid progress. The first national synod was held at Lin- koping in 1152 under the presidt'iicy of the papal legate, Bishop Nicholas of Albano. Soon after this Upsala was made the see of a diocese; its first bishop Wiis an Englishman named Henrik. Before long he joined :i crusade to Finland, remained in that country, and was killed f.ir the Faith. In 1164 Pope Alex- ander HI rai.scd Upsala to an archdiocese and placed the Swedish Church province under it. As early as the national synod just mentioned the collection of Peterspence was sanctioned; the power of the Church was still further increased when in 1200 Sv<Tker the Younger frcc'd the clergy from tlie secuhu' jurisdiction and in;idc the payment of tithes oblig:itori-. By the decisions of the national synod held at Skenninge in 1248 the influence of the bishops beciune greater still. At, this synod the election of the hishojis was trans- ferred to the c:ithednd chapters, the st\idy of canon law and the rigid ob.s<Tvance of the law of celibacy were made oblig:itorv, while the .synod al.so rele:ised the entire clericid body from taking the oath of loy- alty to the secular authorities. In 1281, during the reign of M;igf.UH Ladul&s, the clergy were released from tlu' paynu'ut of taxes, and thus was laid the found:ition of their too abundant possessions which were oidy in part applied t<i good puriwses, such as the building and adornment of churches ;md the founding of schools and homes for the needy. Birgitlaor Brigit. the founder of the Brigittine Order, laboured during
