Reformation in Sweden

The Protestant reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and not definitely ended until the Uppsala Synod of 1593 and the following War against Sigismund, with an attempt of counter-reformation during the reign of John III (1568–1592).

The Swedish reformation meant the break with the Roman Catholic Church, and the foundation of the Swedish Church. It is considered to be the ending point of the Swedish Middle Ages. The reformation made Sweden a Protestant country. The Swedish reformation also included Finland, which was a Swedish province at the time.

The reformation was instigated for a number of reasons. Among these were an impractical organisation, a perceived stagnation within the Catholic Church, a will toward independence from Rome, the financial need of money for the state, as well as new ideas.

In 1523, King Gustav I of Sweden met the reformer Laurentius Andreae and was influenced by Protestantism, and the following year, the king broke official contacts with Rome. Laurentius Andreae introduced the king to the reformer priest Olaus Petri, who was made preacher in Storkyrkan in Stockholm. In 1525, the royal priest Olaus Petri married, effectively demonstrating the king's consent to the abolition of the celibacy of the priesthood, and providing a breach with the Catholic church's ban of marriage of priests. In 1526, the New Testament was published in the Swedish language. In the winter of 1526, the king offered to arranged a Colloquy (religious) between Olaus Petri and Catholic professor Peder Galle, but Galle refused with the statement that church matters where not open to discussion.

At the Riksdag of Västerås in 1527, referred to as the "Reformation Riksdag", the Estates agreed to a number of demands introducing the process toward reformation: 1) to give the king mandate to confiscate clerical assets: 2) that all church offices where henceforth to be legal without royal consent, in effect placing the church under royal control: 3) that the clergy where to be subjected to secular law, and finally: 4) that only the words of the Bible where to be taught in sermons in churches and in the schools (in effect removing all Catholic church doctrines).

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