Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. The Swedish Reformation under Gustaf Vasa and his sons Eric and John (1520—1592 A.D.)
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
!88 V. THE REFORMATION (A.D. 15201592).
Here the new king came into close contact with two of the
three men whose spiritual force was to turn the mind of
Sweden into a new direction, Olaus Petri, who was a little
older than the king, and his friend, the Archdeacon
Laurentius Andreas, who was some ten years older than
Olaus. It needs but little imagination to picture with what
eagerness the young preacher and the older thinker and
organizer, who were already bound together, met and wel
comed the representative of practical energy and trium
phant hopefulness. Here (they must have felt) is one who
will give us the political leadership which we need. Gus-
taf, for his part, must have recognized at once in them a
moral power which he himself did not possess, and one
which would give dignity to his cause. What dreams were
dreamed in those early days, what ideals of new life for the
Church and the community took shape from the contact of
these remarkable men who met at Strengnas in 1523!
2. INTRODUCTION OF PROTESTANT TEACHING. THE
BROTHERS OLAUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI AND
ARCHDEACON LAURENTIUS ANDRE/E.
The introduction of Protestant teaching of the school of
Luther into Sweden was the work, as I have implied,
mainly of three men, the two whom I have mentioned, and
Laurentius, the younger brother of Olaus Petri.
The two brothers were, like Melanchthon, sons of a
smith. Their birthplace was Crebro, chief town of Nerike,
whence Laurentius is often called Nericius, to distinguish
him from his namesake and successor, Laurentius Petri
Gothus. Their first teaching was probably at the Car
melite monastery in that place. Olaus seems to have been
born in 1493, and Laurentius in 1499. Olaus took his
degree as Master of Arts at the newly-founded University
of Wittenberg in 1518, where he came into close relation
as a student with both Luther and Melanchthon. It
appears that Laurentius was also a student there, but his
early life is but little known to us. He did not return from
Wittenberg until 1527, and, when he did so, he seems to
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
