Reformation in Sweden

Trolle was pro-union (the Kalmar Union) and was allied with Christian II who made a unionist conquest of Sweden in the autumn of 1520.

[1][2][3] Trolle was soon forced to flee to Denmark in 1521 during the Swedish War of Liberation, where Gustav Vasa came to power in Sweden with the excommunicated parliament.

The pressure from Rome was a contributing factor to Gustav Vasa never re-establishing a relationship with the Vatican, initiating the Reformation and introducing Protestantism in Sweden.

From the perspective of the parliament and Gustav Vasa (as well as Fredrik I/Christian III), there was a concrete need to solve the problem of a striking church against the state.

[7] The same year, a handbook in the Swedish language was published describing the correct way of performing baptism, weddings, funerals and other religious rituals.

The Estates agreed to a number of reformation principles and altered some aspects of ritual practice, including the elimination of holy water, incense, and the adoration of saints.

The king's additions to the church ordinance were not followed in all Sweden, in particular not in the duchy belonging to his Calvinist brother Charles, as well as elsewhere where there was opposition among the clergy.

These conflicting doctrines resulted in a lengthy Liturgical Struggle between Catholic and Protestant sympathizers, and a split between the king and the church.

John III and his queen also performed several other controversial Catholic-leaning acts which demonstrated their intention: in 1575, the king returned the unrestricted right to receive novices to Vadstena Abbey, which was reformed in accordance of the Council of Trent by the Jesuit Papal Legate Antonio Possevino, during which its abbess Katarina Gylta swore the Tridentine Oath, and the first Catholic Solemn Mass since the Reformation was held in the abbey.

Rome was not willing to accept Reformed Catholicism in exchange for Counter-Reformation, and the movement in Sweden declined after death of Catherine, which was followed by the King's remarriage to the Protestant Gunilla Bielke.

Sweden's personal union with Poland under the Catholic Sigismund III Wasa in 1592–1598 resulted in a final clash between Catholicism and Protestantism in the kingdom.

Tensions finally resulted in the Uppsala Synod of 1593, where Protestantism in accordance with the Augsburg Confession was adopted as the state religion.