Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/340



HE introduction of the Reformation proceeded far more slowly in Sweden than in Denmark. The first impulse was given by, who for three years had been a pupil of Luther and Melanchthon, and who after his return in 1519, supported by his brother and by , began the work of reformation. The latter, who held a prominent office in the church, made the king, Gustav Vasa, acquainted with the new doctrine, and he at once was deeply affected by it, but he also appreciated what great advantages it afforded for the firm establishment of the royal power. The people did not, however, yet feel the need of any reformation of the church, and when the new order of things was adopted at the riksdag at Vesterås in 1527, it met with considerable opposition not only from the Catholic clergy, but also from the lower strata of the population, while the upper classes of society assumed a somewhat indifferent attitude to it. When, in the reign of king Johan (1568-92), great efforts were made to restore the old faith, many deserted the Lutheran doctrine. The latter, nevertheless, gradually increased in strength, and when after the death of Johan it was expected that his son and successor, the Polish king Sigismund, was going to crush out Protestantism, the Swedish people made haste to assemble in Upsala in 1593 and solemnly adopt the Augsburg confession before the new king had landed in Sweden. Sigismund, whether he liked it or not, was compelled to accept the decision of the