Diocese of Uppsala

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Coat of arms of the Archdiocese of Uppsala since 1964

The diocese of Uppsala ( Swedish Uppsala stift ) is one of the 13 dioceses within the Church of Sweden . It consists of 164 parishes ( församlingar ), which in turn are organized in eleven church districts. Geographically, the diocese extends over the historical provinces of Hälsingland , Gästrikland and parts of Uppland . The bishopric is the city of Uppsala with Uppsala Cathedral as the episcopal church. As the only diocese of the Swedish Church, the Diocese of Uppsala has had two bishops, Ragnar Persenius and Archbishop Antje Jackelén, since 1990 .

Archdiocese of Uppsala

Pre-Reformation period

Adam von Bremen reports that Archbishop Adalbert von Bremen (1043-1072) ordained six bishops for the Swedish mission, one of which was sent to Uppsala. But no diocese was connected with it. This was only founded in the 40s of the 12th century when the Bishop of Sigtuna moved to Gamla Uppsala .

Originally it was the intention of the curia that Nikolaus Breakspear should set up an archbishopric in Nidaros and Uppsala on his trip to Scandinavia. In Nidaros this happened in 1153. In Sweden the measure did not take place, probably because of the internal civil war-like unrest. A certain internal stability of the local church was a prerequisite for the establishment of an archdiocese. It remained with a bishop in Sigtuna as a forerunner and contender for the archbishopric when the situation stabilized. This then happened in 1164 during the conflict between the reform popes and the German emperor. Pope Alexander III had to flee. Denmark sided with the imperial antipope. So Alexander III created. with the ordination of a Swedish archbishop in Sens, a counterweight in the form of an archbishopric in Gamla Uppsala. The ordination was made by Archbishop Eskil von Lund , who received the title "Primas Sueciae". This title included the right to ordain the Archbishop of Uppsala and to give him the pallium. In 1173 the archbishopric was moved to Östra Aros , today's Uppsala.

The diocese comprised the three old countries of Attundaland , Fjärdhundraland and Tiundaland , as well as Gästrikland (which is sometimes included in Tiundaland), Hälsingland, which consisted of the two countries Medelpad and Ångermanland (with all inhabited land to the north of it), and Jämtland . Härjedalen did not belong to it, but to the Archdiocese of Nidaros. Finland and the Åland Islands were also included. At the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century Finland left and received its own archbishopric to which the Åland Islands were also defeated at the beginning of the 14th century. A cathedral chapter was formed between 1234 and 1255. At the same time, the diocese was divided into provosts, initially one for each country. Some were assigned to the canons in Uppsala. Archbishop Nils Allesson finally ordered in 1298 that every district (härad) should have a provost , so that there were now 25 provosts in the diocese. However, there was no district division in Norrland.

The influence of Uppsala in Norrland is doubted. This results from the significant difference in the veneration of St. Erik, which was in the foreground in Uppland, but north of Uppland cannot be proven for the time. It is also likely that the Archbishop of Uppsala made a visitation trip to the northern areas very rarely. The tithe was also an unsafe intake from the northern areas. In 1232, Archbishop Olof Basatömer complained to Pope Gregory IX. about the fact that the Hälsinger did not pay their tithes, and the latter commissioned a corresponding investigation. Similar problems are passed down from Medelpad and Ångermanland in the 13th century. In the north, to the displeasure of the cathedral chapter in Uppsala, the Olav cult from Nidaros spread, and Nidaros regarded the northern areas as his sphere of influence and apparently even received tithes from there. Donations to St. Olav also went to the Cathedral of Nidaros. Therefore, three years after the miracle reports about St. Erik were written in Uppsala, an altar was dedicated to St. Olav. Finally in 1314 the inhabitants of Hälsingland, Medelpad and Ångermanland promised Archbishop Nils Kettilsson to send an annual donation to the cathedral church in Uppsala, not to St. Erik, but to St. Olav. The letter shows that it is the donation that had previously been made to Nidaros. A priest was entertained at the Olav Altar in Uppsala. The previously voluntary tax has now become a mandatory tax.

This process can be seen against the background of the civil war raging since 1304 between King Birger Magnusson and his brothers Erik and Waldemar. Archbishop Nils stood by the king and was captured along with the king in 1306. The church was also divided, with the bishops of Linköping and Skara on the other side. After the liberation in 1310, the archbishop found himself in a difficult position, as the brothers ruled the heartland of Uppland, including Uppsala, while the northern areas held on to King Birger. Archbishop Nils and the cathedral chapter stood by the king and supported him financially. This led to a series of harassment by Duke Waldemar until Pope John XXII. 1317 ordered all bishops to be protected by the archbishop. The poor tenth from Uppland, which was under the control of his opponents, was no longer a financial basis for the cathedral, so that the Olavs tax from the northern parts of the country was an obvious way out of the financial problems.

This development exacerbated the conflict between the archbishopric of Nidaros and Uppsala, because Nidaros regarded Norrland as his territory. The conflict finally reached the curia by Archbishop Pål Bårdsson von Nidaros in 1336 with Pope Benedict XII. complained about attacks by the Archdiocese of Uppsala. He submitted that up to now the inhabitants of Ångermanland, Hälsingland and other northern Swedish areas had paid the Olav tax on the basis of a vow to St. Olav in Nidaros and that the Archbishop of Uppsala had forcibly prevented the fulfillment of this vow. The Pope followed this line of argument and forbade obstruction of payment to Nidaros. But the papal decision had no special consequences. King Magnus Eriksson , King of Norway and Sweden, confirmed the payment of the Olav tax to Uppsala in 1339. The dispute did not end there, however, as the traditional correspondence between the cathedral chapters shows.

Parallel to the conflict with Nidaros, the endeavor developed to shake off Lund's supremacy and to achieve the archbishopric directly from Rome. This was first achieved by Folke Johansson Ängel when he was ordained archbishop in 1274. In 1315, Olov Björnsson, an archbishop of Uppsala, was ordained in Lund for the last time . The Archbishop of Lund retained the title "Primate Sueciae" until the Reformation, but it no longer had any meaning. Archbishop Jöns Bengtsson (1448–1467) took over the title of "Primas Sueciae" as Archbishop of Uppsala.

The division of the dioceses was based on the borders of the individual people's countries from the start. Inside, the districts (Härad) were decisive for the division into church districts (contract). With the division into parishes (socken) and parishes (församlingen) below, the connection to the profane administrative division is questionable. Because here played the bigger role who built the churches. While in Europe the private church system predominated, in which the church belonged to the landlord, in Sweden the churches were built by the farmers' assembly. Their parish boundaries do not coincide with the medieval boundaries of state Kameral management (Åtting). It is also not known whether this administrative division in åttinger is pre-Christian. It is therefore not known how the parish division came about. The most likely thesis is that it was a regular informal meeting of the farmers who at some point decided to build a church and then erected it on its traditional meeting place. So the structure solidified into a community.

Reformation and the time after

In 1518 Olaus Petri came to Sweden from Wittenberg and brought the Lutheran teaching with him. This happened at a time when Gustav Vasa was taking action against the supremacy of Denmark. In 1531 the Reformation was implemented. The first Lutheran archbishop was Laurentius Petri in 1531 , the brother of Olaus Petri. This had studied in Wittenberg. His Catholic predecessor Johannes Magnus had to go into exile. His successor, Olaus Magnus, was ordained in exile, but he was no longer able to exercise his office. The Lutheran archbishop retained his title, but lost his special powers over the other bishops of Sweden. The position of suffragan bishop under canon law was gradually abolished. The last archbishop who still held this function was Abraham Angermannus during his general visit in 1596. The archbishop represented the clergy in the Swedish congress of estates. When this was abolished, the church assembly was established, which he chaired.

1686 was by Charles XI. Enact a new church law that determined the separation of church and state.

The archbishop is only primus inter pares and represents the episcopate towards the king. He represents the unity of the Swedish Church and represents it abroad.

The establishment of an archbishop had become very complicated. The king appointed the archbishop and was bound by the three proposed candidates who had emerged from an election that originally corresponded to that of all other bishoprics. A church law of 1686 then determined that all cathedral chapters in the country should have their vote. So all the cathedral chapters and the clergy of the diocese and, based on a regulation from 1759, also the professors of the University of Uppsala, because the archbishop was also the born procurator (a non-existent office next to the chancellor) of the university. The votes of the voters were not added up, but each constituency made its proposal and the respective committee went into the final election with one vote. Attempts were made several times to change the voting mode so that the clergy of the diocese would have a greater influence.

The area of ​​the archbishopric was first drastically reduced in 1570 by the separation of Jämtland in the Peace of Stettin , but then when it fell back to Sweden in 1645, when a separate superintendent was formed from the parts of Medelpad, Ångermanland, Väster- and Norrbotten and Jämtland . Around 1660, Härjedalen was added. In 1942, three church districts from Uppland were added to the newly founded diocese of Stockholm. The archbishopric was roughly the same size as when it was founded in the 12th century. But the division into church districts changed every now and then. In contrast, the division into parishes and parishes has remained roughly unchanged since its creation.

The diocese of Uppsala today

According to the census of January 1, 2005, the diocese had 704,970 inhabitants, of which 572,083, or 81.1%, belonged to the church. There are 85 pastors and 169 auxiliary pastors. The diocese is headed by Archbishop Antje Jackelén and Bishop Karin Johannesson .

See also

literature

  • Gustav Åsbrink, Knut B. Westman: Svea rikes ärkebiskopar från 1164 till nuvarande tid. Stockholm 1935, pp. 11-39.
  • Ingrid Lundegårdh: Kampen om den norrländska Olavskults. In: Helgonet i Nidaros. Olavskult och Kristnande in the north. o. O. (1997), pp. 115-137.
  • Gunnar Smedberg: Ärkestiftets uppkomst och indelning ( Memento from December 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) About the Catholic time.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Om Uppsala pen
  2. ↑ a b Uppsala ærkestift . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 30 : Tromsdalstind – Urakami . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1920, Sp. 1272 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  3. ↑ Lundegårdh p. 127.
  4. ↑ Diplomatarium Suecanum 268 and 1202.
  5. ↑ a b Diplomatarium Suecanum 3183.
  6. ↑ Diplomatarium Suecanum 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1962.
  7. ↑ Diplomatarium Suecanum 3772.
  8. ↑ Diplomatarium Suecanum 3442.
  9. ↑ This and the following from Smedberg's essay.
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Ärkebiscop . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 33 : Väderlek – Äänekoski . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1922, Sp. 1264 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
  11. ^ Regeringsform 1809 § 29.
  12. ↑ https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/uppsalastift/biskop-karin-johannesson www.svenskakyrkan.se Biskop Karin Johannesson