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Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark - James Aitken Wylie

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from the yoke of the priesthood, <strong>in</strong>vited Luther to<br />

visit his dom<strong>in</strong>ions. The Reformer, however,<br />

decl<strong>in</strong>ed the <strong>in</strong>vitation. In the follow<strong>in</strong>g year<br />

(1521) Christian II. issued an edict forbidd<strong>in</strong>g<br />

appeals to Rome, <strong>and</strong> another encourag<strong>in</strong>g priests<br />

to marry.[5] These Reform<strong>in</strong>g measures, however,<br />

did not prosper. It was hardly to be expected that<br />

they should, see<strong>in</strong>g they were adopted because they<br />

accorded with a policy the ma<strong>in</strong> object of which<br />

was to wrest the power of oppression from the<br />

clergy, that the k<strong>in</strong>g might wield it himself. It was<br />

not till the next reign that the Reformation was<br />

established <strong>in</strong> <strong>Denmark</strong>.<br />

Meanwhile we pursue the history of Christian<br />

II., which takes us back to <strong>Sweden</strong>, <strong>and</strong> opens to us<br />

the rise <strong>and</strong> progress of the Reformation <strong>in</strong> that<br />

country. And here it becomes necessary to attend<br />

first of all to the peculiar political constitution of<br />

the three k<strong>in</strong>gdoms of <strong>Denmark</strong>, <strong>Sweden</strong>, <strong>and</strong><br />

Norway. By the settlement of Calmar (1397) the<br />

union of the three k<strong>in</strong>gdoms, under a common<br />

sovereign, became a fundamental <strong>and</strong> irrevocable<br />

law. To secure the liberties of the States, however,<br />

44

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