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i. INTRODUCTION. DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT 93
and went on from Augustine s time till the breach with
Rome under Henry VIII., which occurred a little later
than it did in Sweden. No doubt the relations between
England and Rome became more binding after the Norman
Conquest, which coincided with the great development of
papal power under Hildebrand, but these relations were
only an extension of much that had long existed.
I shall divide the history of the Romanized Church into
three periods, according to the families which successively
ruled in Sweden.
First came the rival lines of the Sverkers and Erics for
about 120 years (1130 1250) a period during which the
foundations of the mediaeval Church were laid. Then
came the kings of the Folkunga dynasty, the descendants
of the all-powerful Birger Jarl, for about 140 years, in
which the chief names besides his own are those of his son,
Magnus Ladulas and St. Birgitta. The third period,
which I shall treat in a separate lecture, is that of the Union
of Kalmar, when Sweden was under foreign rulers, be
ginning with the able Queen Margaret and ending
with Christian the Tyrant (1389 1520) a period of
about 120 years (1130 1250) a period during which the
amongst ecclesiastics is that of Archbishop Nicolaus Rag-
valdi, who attended the Council of Basel as Bishop of
Vexio, amongst patriots that of Engelbrekt, and amongst
statesmen, of course, that of the Stures.
As a whole, this period of 390 years was a time of great
distraction, during which the central government was
often very weak, and the power of the nobles was hardly
held in check. The power of the Church, or at any rate
of the hierarchy, grew very much in these troubled days,
not so much from the greatness of any of its leaders in
Sweden, but because it was part of a centralized system,
having its direction outside Sweden. While other parties
were confused and vacillating in their aims, the Church
had a definite policy, and had the command of that kind
of religious influence which is
particularly powerful in
times of ignorance and violence.
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