Swedish Reformation and Renaissance literature

First and foremost, it had a great religious impact, but apart from that it also introduced the common man to a language beyond the common-day.

[6] The main idea of this movement is that the Goths, a renowned East Germanic tribe in the 1st–6th century, originated from Scandinavia, and Sweden in particular.

In Historia de omnibus gothorum suenumque regibus (1554), Johannes Magnus traced the Swedish line of kings back to the Old Testament.

Another significant aspect of Hercules is the freedom of religious motives, drawing more upon ancient philosophy than on the Bible.

[9][10] In the ensuing decades, Stiernhielm and his followers made further attempts at writing tragedies, pastoral poetry and other poetic styles in Swedish.

[13] An ecclesiastical body of literature affected by Gothicism was the Swedish hymn production of the late 17th century.