Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/342

324 (1497-1552). The "Liten Postilla" written by the latter became widely circulated, and by many of his literary productions he laid the foundation of the form of worship still in use in the Swedish church.

By the side of the theological literature history occupied a prominent position during this period. Though the historians were wanting in scientific skill, still it was already at that time evident that the Swedes in an eminent degree deserved to be called a historical nation, which keenly appreciates the great deeds of the fathers, and which is upon the whole thoroughly in sympathy with the recollections of the past. This fact has contributed much toward giving a peculiar stamp to Swedish literature. The unpleasant relations between Sweden and Denmark during the whole period of the union, and the rupture which afterward took place, aided materially in arousing a national sentiment among the Swedes, which, especially during the reign of the great kings of the seventeenth century, when Sweden occupied a high position among the European nations, was greatly developed and asserted itself in a most striking manner in the national literature.

The first attempt at historical criticism was made by, the reformer mentioned above, who, like his brother Laurentius, wrote a Swedish chronicle. This criticism was mainly directed against the tendency which had already manifested itself in the way of exaggerating the antiquity of Sweden and its ancient importance, and which is rather to be ascribed to an unbridled fancy and want of critical methods than to any wilful perversion of historical truth. In a later period we shall find prominent representatives of this tendency, which owed its origin to an intense patriotism, a leading trait in the Swedish character, and which on this very account was well nigh incorrigible. The most remarkable instance of this phantastic historiography in this period