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3- IMPORTANCE OF THE UPSALA AGREEMENT. 261
Then follow the attestations by signature and seal, the
date being also given 2oth March, 1593.
Copies of this resolution were sent to the different pro
vinces, and we have the names and signatures of some
1,934 persons of distinction attached to the various copies
which have been preserved. Whilst they were being
signed the document was in the press, but it was not com
pletely printed or published until July of the next year,
about the time of Sigismund s return to Poland.9
It con
tained a list of signatories not exactly agreeing with the
MS. material, but this can only be accounted for by
carelessness.
3. IMMENSE IMPORTANCE OF THE "AGREEMENT" OF
UPSALA. ITS UNIQUE CHARACTER. ITS EFFECTS.
RESTORATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UPSALA.
It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of
this council as a turning point in the history of Sweden.
The lay historians of the country have perhaps hardly
realized its full significance and its unique character. It
stands out as evidence of what a national Church may
do for the people when it is allowed to have a reasonable in
dependence. There are very few if
any parallels to be
found to it in the religious history of mankind. The free
dom and the unanimity of the action could only be possible
in a nation so much accustomed to the idea and practice of
self-government by a large popular assembly, and so
ready to be swayed by enthusiasm in making great deci
sions at critical moments of its history. No doubt this
liability to be carried away by feeling is always apt to
disguise to those present the probabilities of partial re
action, which may be ready to follow. But, on the whole,
the Swedes have shown a remarkable power, not only of
9
It was printed at Stockholm by Gutterwitz. It was edited
by Johannes Thomae Bureus. The preface is dated 3Oth June,
1593. The last page is dated July, 1594. Cp. Riksdagsakter,
p. 148.
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