Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. Gustavus II. Adolphus. His Internal Administration A.D. 1611—1632
<< 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.
1632.]
His munificent
grants foi the GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. INTERNAL RELATIONS. University and
schools. 235
teachers might be obtained, and one general me-
thod of instruction be introduced; how the so-called
parish-rounds (sockne-gangar), by which the stu-
dents begged their sustenance in the hamlets,
might be abolished, and in their stead a fixed con-
tribution, to be collected by the ministers, be es-
tablished. They were to declare how many profes-
sors were required in the university ;
and as there
was a want of learned men at home, from what
places these should be invited,—how the professors
should be paid, since the manner now in use, by
the church tithes, was ineffective, yelding more one
year, another less,
—how the community of the stu-
dents, the privileges of the university, and the ren-
dering of accounts by the professors, might be
arranged. Lastly, the king required their opinion
respecting the hospitals, especially as the grievous
infection of the disease called leprosy was beginning
to spread, chiefly in Finland; what the crown ex-
pended upon hospitals was embezzled, and the poor
were treated worse than dogs.
The reply of the bishops is fantastical and silly.
But the king put his own hand to the work, and to
his individual liberality the university of Upsala
owes its existence. By his donatory wan-ant of
August 31, 1625, Gustavus Adolphus granted to
the academy of Upsala, from the Gustavian here-
ditary estates, now united in his tenure, three hun-
dred and fifty manors, declaring at the same time,
that as these estates were his own heritage, he be-
stowed them on the university
" to remain in its
possession for ever." Besides his donation, the king
assigned to the university the crown tithes of
several parishes in Westmanland and Helsiugland,
with prebendal benefices to the theologers, and a
yeoman’s grange to each of the other professors in
augmentation of salary ; gave 3250 dollars yearly
for the community or common house of the stu-
dents, a fund in addition for the purchase of furni-
ture, with a salary for a manager and servitors; fur-
ther, 2500 dollars yearly for the maintenance of
exhibitioners^, with 100 dollars for prizes to them.
He likewise transferred to the university his own
prmting-house, founded its library by a grant of his
own collection of books, and the appointment of a
yearly revenue, and erected the edifice (afterwards
enlarged by Charles XI.) which is still called the
3 Or stipendiates. T.
" Gustavian Academy." Gustavus Adolphus is
also the originator of our gymnasia ;
for although,
with regard to cathedrals, an institute anciently
subsisted, by which certain readers were supported
out of the church tithes, he was the first who,
upon this base, established regular seminaries, with
several instructors, and larger revenues. The first
Gynmasium in Sweden was erected at Westeras in
1620, and enlarged in 1623 and 162? ; the second
at Strengness in 1626; the third at Linkoping in
1628. The same year Fmland, which had possessed
that of Viborg from 1618, obtained another at
Abo.
Thus was this great king in the midst of his wars
the founder of Sweden’s system of education, ma-
nifesting thereby that his arms were wielded in the
holy cause of man’s civilization. Therefore did he
sacrifice upon that altar what others would have
expended on the preparations of battle. And in
what a time was this ! No hopes are nobler or
more elevating than those which Gustavus Adol-
phus opened up by his institutes to a future gene-
ration. They were not less important for their
political than for their scientific results ;
for if
Sweden from this time continually saw men rising
by their knowledge and merits from the hut to the
highest dignities of tlie state, it was the work of
Gustavus Adolphus.
The sovereign’s example stimulated the gran-
dees. The councillor of state John Skytte’ founded
at Upsala, two years before the royal donation of
estates, a new chair of politics and eloquence,
which still bears his name. He was the first
regular chancellor of the university, whose privi-
leges were confirmed in 1626. Charles Carlson
Gyllenhielm established schools, with adequate
funds for their maintenance. To the house of
barons was at first attached a college for the in-
struction of young nobles, which was dissolved by
the plague in 1629. Notwithstanding the ravages
of the contagion there was a great paucity of phy-
sicians, a want which appears to have been little felt.
Mennickhof, a foreign officer in the Swedish ser-
vice, who fell at the siege of Augdow in 1614, used
to extol Sweden for three things:
" it had one king,
one religion, and one physician, which was some
sign of health *."
1 Jacob de la Gardie, in the council, 1645. Palmsk. MSS.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
