Learned debate and religious writings played a special role in the Reformation era and contributed to societal change at large. Even Sweden, the realm that consisted of the present-day Sweden and Finland, faced profound changes from the 1520s on. The clergy wrote a great deal about the Reformation, the king gave his orders and letters, and well-to-do laypeople are known to have bought and owned pious books.1 However, despite many decades and volumes of speculation, it has proved difficult to trace the attitudes of sixteenth-century laypeople.2 For example, non-clerical correspondence often focuses on economic questions related to landed property transactions and other non-religious issues.3
However, while laypeopleâs correspondence does not engage in religious topics as such, it is nonetheless replete with religious expressions. Could a new approach shed light on how laypeople adapted the thoughts of the Reformation in particular, or religious attitudes in general? In the following analysis we report on the search undertaken to identify religious expressions in two research databases, based on archival collections of letters. We examine almost 2,000 letters written between 1570 and 1600, sent by literate, mostly noble, laypeople, as transcribed in two databases, the Tawast Collection and the Fleming Letters.4 How did laypeople, that is, people outside church offices and without higher education use religious expressions in their writings? Do these expressions reflect a consciousness of the Reformation and change of religious thinking or practice over time?
Our report is based on quantitative analysis combined with close reading. The letters or parts of them have been transcribed and compiled into text databases, which has made it possible to use digital text-analysis tools. We present the background to the research and discuss the quantitative results, and then analyse some examples with richer references to religion in greater depth. In order to ascertain the possible changes and continuity after the Reformation period, we have used concordance searches to the Diplomatarium Fennicum database and its documents from the period 1490â1530.5
1 The Background
As has been pointed out by Jason Lavery, the study of the Reformation in Finland has not been marked by triumphalism; rather, the researchers have emphasised continuity and slow change instead of celebrating the dawn of Protestantism as a dramatic turn. The important turning point in Sweden was the Diet of VästerÃ¥s in 1527 that emphasised âpurityâ of faith as opposed to the doctrines of the pope.6
The evolution from a Catholic to a Lutheran doctrine took many turns. King Johan III (1568â92) was inclined towards Catholicism, especially because of his Polish spouse Catherine Jagiellon (in Polish, Katarzyna Jagiellonka, Swedish Katarina Jagellonica), who was a Catholic princess. Their son Sigismund was raised in the Catholic faith, in the hope of making him the king of the PolishâLithuanian Commonwealth.7 The strategy worked in the Commonwealth but proved to be troublesome in the Lutheran realm of Sweden. King Johan III even tried reconciling some of the elements of the Reformation with a mainly Catholic liturgy: in his worship order, the so-called Red Book (Liturgia Svecanae ecclesiae, 1576/7), priests would still have been allowed to marry. In 1593, the synod of the Swedish church, meeting at Uppsala, chose the Lutheran faith, repudiating at the same time both Calvinism and Catholicism.8
Things did not change overnight; even some of the Brigittine convents continued to function until the 1580s and 1590s. The Catholic church historian Magnus Nyman has stressed continuity, pointing particularly to the connection of the Swedish nobility, such as the Fleming family, to the Catholic institutions; it has to be stressed, however, that several of Nymanâs interpretations stretch the credibility of the sources.9 Historians have taken some key figures of the time as devout Catholics or active Protestants, but it seems that many such claims are difficult to prove. Thus Queen Margareta, spouse (1536â1551) of King Gustav Vasa, has been said to have remained a devout Catholic despite the fact that his husband committed himself to the Reformation process; however, few if any contemporary sources survive to confirm these apparently later fabricated stories.10
In the 1590s, there was a lot of political turmoil related to the succession to the throne after Johan III, as his son Sigismund, who had been elected king of Poland as Zygmunt III Waza, followed him on the Swedish throne. The political situation developed into a crisis as Johan IIIâs brother Duke Karl (later King Karl IX) confronted the absent king and succeeded in taking over the realm in a civil war in 1597â9. In the eastern part of the kingdom, nowadays Finland, this proved disastrous. Encouraged by Duke Karl, the peasantry raised a rebellion in 1596â7, known as the Cudgel War (in Swedish klubbekriget, Finnish nuijasota) which was savagely defeated. The nobility, on the other hand, remained loyal to Sigismund and had to face the dukeâs violent political cleansing operation. The same applied to his opponents on the Swedish side.11
Church politics, then, took many turns over the decades. In principle, the events provide material for discussions of the topics of faith. The overall impression among historians, however, is that the laypeople were rather sparing in commenting on religious questions in writing. As Anu Lahtinen has observed, theoretical education â or any education, for that matter â was haphazard even in many noble families, and the interest in written in-depth analyses of oneâs world view was not very strong.12 It has to be borne in mind that in the sixteenth century, most correspondents were keenly aware of the fact that their letters might be confiscated or copied and sent to the authorities, and thus they were likely to formulate their messages carefully when discussing possibly sensitive topics.13
The Reformation period is marked on the one hand by religious discussions, correspondence, declarations and instructions, conducted by the clergy and the regent, and on the other by pragmatic power-struggles that dominate the documents produced by the nobility and other literate laypeople.14 Research has been somewhat divided. Church historians have focused on the theological debates and historians more on the societal developments and the immediate power struggles. This has left some topics such as personally expressed religion less studied.15
In some personal papers, such as the handwritten note book of Councillor (riksråd) Lars Sparre (d. 1554), known as Chronicon Genealogicum, there are short notices on Reformation history, recording, among others, the death of Martin Luther (in 1546):
God had given this man his grace to preach his Holy Gospel that had been hidden for many hundreds of years, so may God give us who live on his grace that we may keep the Holy Word of God and remain steadfast to the end.16
Laypeople were not uninformed or uninterested in religion, faith or holy texts. Many writings, such as the Oeconomia, a household guidebook written by Per Brahe the Elder (several versions from the 1570s on), include a lot of references to the Bible, and very often to the apocryphal book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus, appreciated by Catholics and Luther alike).17 Per Brahe is also known for having written a Tröstbok (a book of religious consolation, a religious guide).18 Further occasional traces of the influence of Sirach can be observed in the writings of the Swedish nobility.19 However, these are the expressions of only a few people. What kind of information may be elicited from the investigation of letters by a larger community of literate laypeople?
2 The Sources and Methods
As there are no readily available edited digital collections of sixteenth-century Swedish laypeopleâs correspondence, the authors of the chapter have used databases based on their own research and transcription work. As the transcription of sixteenth-century Swedish letters is a time-consuming process, given their varying handwriting, orthography and style, the analysis of so much material has never been undertaken before. The first database of the source material is the collection of Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs letters (hereafter: the Tawast Collection) from the years 1570â99. The text database consists of 214 letters.20 The Tawast Collection comprises correspondence from members of the nobility, burghers, servants of the state and personal servants. Priests and learned men are virtually absent. Most of the letter collection is administrative correspondence by laypeople to other laypeople, reflecting Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs career. He lived from 1540 to 1599 in the Finnish part of the realm and was both a civil and military administrator, something that was common for noblemen in those days. He belonged to a group of the most prominent noblemen in Finland in this late Reformation era.
In the Tawast Collection, there are about a hundred senders and sixty recipients. In this large network, there are identifiable persons who have sent or received more letters than the rest. They include Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs peers, that is, noblemen (Henrik Claesson (Horn), c.50 letters, Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm, c.35 letters, Lars Torstensson Ram, c.20 letters), merchants (Michel Jöransson, c.10 letters), and persons working in local administration (Henrik Jakobsson (Speitz), c.10 letters).
The other collection of correspondence, here called the Fleming Letters, includes transcriptions and extracts of letters written by noblemen or women in the period 1570â1600. The database consists of the following: c.150 letters from the 1570s, c.300 letters from the 1580s and c.1,000 letters from the 1590s, a total of 1450 letters, consisting of approximately 100,000 words. Not all letters have been transcribed from beginning to end, and some survive only as extracts or fragments, so the number of religious expressions covered represents a minimum. Also, as many letters survive only as early-modern copies or fragments, some greetings or religious expressions that existed in the originals may have been omitted already by those who copied or drafted the letters.
Unlike the Tawast Collection, the Fleming Letters were not originally a cohesive collection. Instead, they have been collected and transcribed by Anu Lahtinen from a large number of volumes recording the correspondence of members of the noble or aristocratic families of Fleming, Horn, Bielke, Stålarm and Stenbock.21 The Fleming family has been of interest to historians as its various influential members have been labelled as either actively supporting or undermining the Reformation. For example, Erik Fleming (d. 1548) has been praised for offering to support vernacular translations of holy texts, a promise he never actually fulfilled. Herman Fleming (d. 1583) and his wife Gertrud Hand allegedly made a Catholic-minded imprisoned cleric their chaplain. Finally, it has been suggested that one of the most prominent political and military actors of late sixteenth-century Sweden, Admiral Claes Eriksson Fleming (d. 1597), converted to the Catholic faith; this notwithstanding, the Papal nuncio reported to Rome that the admiral, regrettably, was not Catholic and refrained from praying for saints.22 It will be interesting to see whether the topic is touched upon in the letters related to the Fleming family or families connected to it.
When studying the correspondence, it is important to note that the nobility and other civil and military office-holders in late-sixteenth-century Finland were linked in inter-connected social networks based on mutual help and solidarity. Also their letter writing follows shared patterns, formulae and conventions. For instance, both the Arvids that feature prominently in our source material â Arvid Henriksson Tawast and Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm â were central figures in the military and administrative and in close contact with each other. They called each other âdear brother of my heartâ (min hjärtans käre bror in Swedish), which indicates a special friendship.23
We have used a simple text-analysis method to search through the text databases for a number of search terms in Swedish: for example, God, Jesus, church, mass, sacrament, devil.24 The search terms have been selected on the basis of previous studies of Reformation texts as well as our experience of the vocabulary that is used in the letters (see Appendix 9.1). For best results, the terms have been searched in various spelling forms (for example, ä/e, d/th/t, u/w/v) that are known to occur in Early Modern Swedish (äldre nysvenska). The search results and their context have then been checked case by case with the help of concordance search and a closer study of letters.
We analyse the religious expressions by focusing firstly on quantity: how common and prominent religious vocabulary is and which words or terms are used, and secondly, by context: in which circumstances religious vocabulary appears and what role it has in communication. We also present some more detailed examples of the religious rhetoric used in difficult or precarious situations.25
3 Quantitative Analysis: God and Christ
In general, both the Tawast Collection and the Fleming Letters reveal quite similar general traits. One clear result is that writers avoid discussing the Reformation and faith, though their letters still contain many expressions rooted in Christianity. Unlike the learned Rigan humanist and book publisher, David Hilchen, for example (see Chapter 5 by Kristi Viiding in this volume), the correspondents did not engage in learned discussions or religious questions.
In the Tawast Collection, the Reformation or religious ideology is never explicitly discussed, but there is religious vocabulary in every one of the letters present in their entirety. Probably the only vague hint about working for the Reformation is a short notice from Arvid Henriksson Tawast to his spouse Margareta MÃ¥rtensdotter from about 1590, typically hidden amidst practical information:
I send to you now here the books that Master Abraham sent to me with the hired man, and half a barrel of dried whitefish which I bought here in Helsinki town from the peasants of Björkö.26
âMaster Abrahamâ may refer to a person known by that name, the pastor Abraham Angermannus, a central and active figure in the late Swedish Reformation era. In the 1580s, he was in exile and published literature that directly attacked Catholicism, using his channels to disseminate it throughout the Swedish realm. On the basis of the letter above, it seems that Arvid Tawast and Margareta MÃ¥rtensdotter were parts of the distribution network, although there is no other evidence to support it. In the year of the Uppsala synod, 1593, Abraham became the archbishop of Uppsala and continued his reformatory work.27
In both databases, the vast majority of Christian expressions are monotonic, habitual references to God. In the religious vocabulary, God (gud in Swedish) is by far the most common term: there are 736 instances in the Tawast Collection and 529 in the Fleming Letters. In the Tawast Collection, God is mentioned in every letter, on average 3.4 times. Adjectives describing Godâs agency are also common in both databases, especially almighty (alsmäktig, Tawast 268 times, Fleming 144 times), but to a smaller extent also gracious (nÃ¥dig/nÃ¥d, Tawast 49 times in connection with gud, Fleming 45 times), merciful (mild, Tawast 30 times, Fleming 9 times), and eternal (evig, Tawast 20 times, Fleming 11 times). On the other hand, terms like father and fatherly are rare and used only a couple of times in connection with God.
Almighty appears as Godâs attribute in most of the letters, as it forms a part of the standard opening formulae. This word occurs solely in connection with God: he is described as the only universal force in the letter-writersâ world. As we shall see, almighty God is a central part of religious understanding: Godâs presence and unrestricted agency in the human world forms an overall background to the mental world of the letters. Correspondingly, Godâs merciful protection (guds milde beskydd in Swedish) is part of the conventional concluding formulae, which explains its popularity. It is interesting to note that the only beings whose agency is described by the term gracious are God and members of the royal family, so the usage of the term draws a parallel between heavenly and earthly power. It seems that these two are recognised as exerting more or less unlimited power over their subjects, so they are also in a position to be gracious towards them.
The adjective Christian is sporadically used to describe ways of living that are either suitable or not suitable for a Christian person. These kinds of evaluations appear in only seven letters which makes 3 per cent of the total, so they are rare. In the Fleming Letters, comments on Christ and Christianity (27 instances in total) are restricted to some special cases, such as the correspondence where Erik Stenbock tried to prove that the new faith did not prevent him from marrying his cousin Malin Sture whom he loved dearly. Stenbock did not go into lengthy religious details himself, but just noted that he had consulted the priests; his clerical correspondents were more wordy when arguing, in accordance with the Reformation authorities, that the old Catholic restrictions on marriages between cousins should be abandoned.28
Other Christian figures like Mary, prophets or even the devil are not mentioned at all, with the exception of the Holy Spirit, which occurs once. Most Christian practices, such as mass and sermons, are not mentioned, and Martin Luther is nowhere referenced. Only holy communion is mentioned once in a revealing plea by Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs brother-in-law Jöns (Johan) Skytte, bailiff of the castle of Häme. He uses communion at the upcoming Easter as a motivation to settle their mutual disputes:
Dear brother, because the holy celebration is coming and one shall receive the highly valued sacrament that is Godâs body and blood, I beg my brother lovingly that you would not hold an undeserved grudge against me [â¦] because of evil persons and the tolling of a false bell that have [been] between us (for which God shall reward them).29
On the other hand, some saints appear a few times in the dates, following the old Catholic tradition, although this is relatively rare. In comparison to Diplomatarium Fennicum, this is the biggest change from the period 1490â1530, when the letters included numerous references to the Catholic feasts of saints; otherwise even in the Catholic era the direct references to saints seem to have been relatively scarce.30 In the late sixteenth century, almost all the dates are expressed in the modern way by number of the day and name of the month. This is the clearest sign of the impact of the Reformation.31
There are more references to the temporal cycle of the liturgical calendar than to the feasts of saints. In the actual text part of the letters it is common to specify future or past events by means of well-known liturgical celebrations, such as the Holy Day of the Three Kings (Epiphany) in January, which receives four references, and days of Easter week, which are used five times; others, including Trinity, Peter and Paul and the first Sunday of Lent are each mentioned once.
The Holy Trinity in a 16th century Book of Hours
University Library of Lund
4 A Quantitative Look at Jesus Christ, the Holy Trinity and Travelling
Somewhat surprisingly, Jesus (Jesu) is rare in both collections. There are only eight matches in the Tawast collection, meaning that 96 per cent of the letters do not mention him. However, this is not the whole truth, as the term Christ (in forms Christi/Christo), emphasising Jesus as the Redeemer, appears eighteen times, three of these together with Jesus. Even so, Jesus Christ receives attention in only slightly more than every tenth of the letters. One of the writers was engaged in a dispute over a farm and pleaded to Arvid Henriksson Tawast: âlet us now in the name of Jesus have what we rightfully should haveâ (âlather oss nu i Jesu nampn bekoma thett oss medh retta böör och till komaâ).32 In the Fleming Collection, there are some ten mentions of Christ, most often in friendly phrases, and only two references to Jesus.
The Holy Trinity (den helige trefaldighet) receives seven mentions in the Tawast Collection. Interestingly, they all are linked to either travel or weddings. The prominent noblemen Henrik Claesson Horn (1578) and Matts Larsson Cruus (1593) use the formula âin the name of the Holy Trinityâ (âvdi the helge trefaldighez nampnnâ) when revealing their plans to organise wedding festivities. Another interesting feature in these two letters, which are intended as invitations, is that the date of the wedding is announced first by the liturgical date, such as the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (âthen 15 Söndagh effter Trinitatisâ), or the first Sunday of the upcoming Lent (âthenn förste Söndag i fastan näst till stundendeâ), accompanied by specification by number of the day and name of the month. The practice may hint at the use of old models when formulating the invitations.33
The same goes with the Fleming collection, in which all the five mentions of the Holy Trinity were related to aristocratic marriages between 1573 and 1593. For example, when the Queen Dowager, Katarina Stenbock, informed her sister of a wedding that she was planning to organise, she wrote:
And we let our dear sister hereby know that we are planning in the name of the Holy Trinity to organise the wedding of our dear brother, the noble and well-born man Arvid, son of Gustaf, to the noble and well-born maiden Karin, daughter of Magnus, here in Stockholm, on Sunday before the next St Andrewâs Day, which is 25 of November, etc.34
The writers seem to resort to Jesus or Holy Trinity when they feel they are in need of special help, typically heading off on a dangerous sea journey. One of the few mentions is in a letter by Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm as he was planning to sail with his troops and was expecting a clash with the forces of Duke Karl. Wishing farewell to his friend and his family in a very moving tone, Arvid wrote: âI will now sail away in the name of Jesus as I have heard that there are ten enemy ships by the à land Islandsâ.35 Fifteen years earlier he had invoked the Holy Trinity before another sea journey with the military and interestingly combined this with a rare reference to the saintsâ calendar:
Therefore I beg you, dear brother, that you will write to the soldiers really strictly that they should be present at the aforementioned Pitkäpää before the feast of St Peter and St Paul, because then we shall set off in the name of the Holy Trinity.36
Arvid Henriksson Tawast uses the same expression a few times, for example twice in 1590 when informing his family that he was sailing off on a military campaign.37 In one of the letters, he performs a double check by referring also to Jesus: âTomorrow, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I am going to take myself to seaâ (âachtar i Morgon, herren Jesu nampn gifue migh till siösâ).38 Even the Holy Spirit is invoked once by Henrik Claesson Horn in connection with his sonâs forthcoming military campaign.39
5 Formulas Relating to God in Letter Writing
Altogether it can be said that the religious vocabulary is quite basic and even monotonic. Basically it centres around God and his attributes. It can be deduced that constantly referring to God was mandatory in the letters, but otherwise religious consideration does not play a part in laypeopleâs writing. The conventional religious expressions are not evenly dispersed in the letters. They concentrate around some traditional formulas that are used at the beginning or end of the letters.
Letters in both collections follow quite strictly the general outlines of medieval ars dictandi, or a Swedish version of it. They have almost always five parts: salutatio (greeting), captatio benevolentiae (capturing goodwill), narratio (narration), petitio (petition) and conclusio (finishing).
Religious vocabulary forms some of the basic expressions in the formulaic parts salutatio and conclusio, sometimes also in the captatio benevolentiae. In addition to God and his attributes, the opening and finishing phrases include words like soul (själ, salighet), eternal (ewig), grace (nåd) and peace (fred), that are also parts of Christian phraseology.
In the actual message, that is, narratio and petitio, religious vocabulary is not so prominent. It is mostly found in short conventional sayings like âGod be praisedâ (Gud ske lov), âGod amendâ (Gud förbättra), âGod forbidâ (Gud förbjuda), âGod grantâ (Gud giva), âGod knowsâ (Gud vet) or âif God willsâ (om Gud vill). It seems that these sayings were not only polite formulaic expressions but could be referred to as ritualised phrases that were perceived as necessary speech acts in their corresponding contexts. For instance, when planning travelling, it was customary to express the willingness to leave the ultimate power of decision to God by adding âif God willsâ in parenthesis.
Ritual is here understood, as discussed by Edward Muir, as âa formalised, collective, institutionalised kind of repetitive actionâ, or ârules on conductâ guiding behaviour in the presence of the sacred.40 While the correspondents were not focusing on performing rituals in their letters, they were referring to spheres that were seen as closely related to the sacred. Leslie K. Arnovick points out that by using these kinds of sayings, the writer actually takes part in what is originally a religious ritual. This raises the question to what extent the sixteenth-century writers perceived the sayings as actual acts of religion or just polite convention.41
To clarify this, it might be revealing to compare our source material to William Shakespeareâs texts as analysed by Geoffrey C. Williams. Given the different context, the main words related to God are strikingly similar: in Shakespeare, he is also described as almighty and invoked by sayings like âGod forbidâ, âGod blessâ, âGod saveâ and âGod knowsâ. Williams compares the collocates of God in the New Testament, Shakespeareâs texts and the British National Corpus and finds that the original semantic strength of the expressions is lessening and moving towards purely formulaic in the modern usage. According to Williams, Shakespeareâs language is in the intermediary stage of this process. In his plays God represents an external force who is invoked for assistance, protection or as a witness âwith a more or less strong feeling of religiosityâ, though his direct intervention is not expected as in the New Testament.42
Exactly the same can be said about sixteenth-century letter writers in Finland: they are repeatedly appealing to God in specific situations by predetermined expressions and phrases, seemingly with some expectations of real assistance. However, they are not using his name randomly as a meaningless formula as in modern sayings (for instance, the everyday âmy Godâ and âthank Godâ); the letters show a contextual reason for using the expressions.
An example of a rich use of religious expressions would be Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs letter to bailiff Henrik Eriksson, 2 August 1598. All the religious expressions are included in the extracts below. Tawast begins with a standard opening line referring to almighty God and goes on to reflect on the conflict between members of the royal family:
My friendly greetings to you with God Almighty as before. Dear Henrik Eriksson, next a wish that you are well ⦠God Almighty has helped with his gracious help our most gracious king and lord happily to Kalmar, for which we should thank God Almighty inwardly from our hearts, and beg that God Almighty will find it worthy to wake in his royal majestyâs heart a good, Christian spirit and concordance with his princely grace Duke Karl, without any discord, bloodshed and misunderstanding. ⦠to oppose their peasant troops (in the case that (God prevent) there is need) ⦠I hope to God Almighty that he will make everything for the best ⦠And I commend you amicably to God Almighty.43
âGodâ is repeated several times, both in the opening and concluding phrases, but also in the actual text, which is set in the context of the ongoing civil strife. The prominent wishes for a Christian reconciliation are worth noticing. Here, God is not expected to punish the enemy, but to make a peace between the parties. They are, after all, fellow Christians and also members of the same royal family.
On the other hand, the following letter represents a slightly different type of religious formulae. It is written in Nyslott by the infantry captain Ambrosius Henriksson. His background is unclear, but it seems that he or his scribe had received a different education from most of the writers in the Tawast Collection. To begin with, Ambrosius is one of the few writers to use the saintsâ feasts to mark the date of his letter: âon the day of Philip [and] James etc. Anno 1583â (âÃ¥m Philippi Jacobi dagh etc. Anno 1583â). Another peculiarity is that he mentions Jesus in his opening phraseology:
Eternal well-being, health, happiness and blessing, grace and peace through Him who is God of grace and peace, from our Lord Jesus Christ, to Your Nobleness now and always. Next humble and subservient thanks for the great good Your Strictness has often and always done and shown towards us, poor subjects. God Almighty and we shall repay this with our little might quite subserviently. ⦠they have cried for peace, which God give us [â¦] Commending Your Strictness, your dear beloved wife and little Ivar to God Almighty for both life and soul.44
Despite the promising beginning, Ambrosius Henrikssonâs letter is typically sparse on religious rhetoric. He only mentions God once in the actual text, wishing that he will grant peace.
In addition to the conventional phrases, references to biblical context in the Tawast Collection are limited in number. A couple of examples stress Godâs overall presence in the human world, especially as a witness to injustice. One of the authors is discussing what actually happened on a war campaign and almost draws a parallel between God and the other witnesses of the case:
God as well as all honest, good men, noble and not noble, both the officers and private soldiers, both cavalrymen and foot soldiers, have a different awareness of the case.45
Another author refers to God in a case concerning his landed properties:
Act in this matter according to what you in your consciousness know to be our right in front of God and men.46
There is also an isolated example that makes use of a creative metaphor to explain why, after the death of the original customers, a merchant suddenly has some valuable cloth to sell:
He ordered the silk he now has specifically at the late MÃ¥rten Boijeâs and Lars Torstenssonâs request, whom God has now found good to dress in angelsâ clothes, which remain unblemished to eternity etc.47
6 Religious Expressions as a Framework for Suffering
As Valborg Lingärde and Jan Samuelson have observed, religious framing gave meaning and explanation to suffering for a sixteenth-century person.48 There is a striking example of this in the letter of Princess Sofia Vasa to her aunt Märta Leijonhufvud. Princess Sofiaâs unfortunate marriage to the violent Duke Magnus II of Sachsen-Lauenburg took a heavy toll on the life and spirits of the 22-year-old princess.49 In 1579, one year after her husband had left her, she was asking for her aunt to pray for her, as she knew that the prayers of pious persons had a powerful effect on God. She also seems to refer to imitatio Christi, using an expression of (bearing) oneâs Cross:50
We thank God for health as there is little other wordly joy with us. God give us his holy grace so that we may carry our cross with patience, and we will thank our dear aunt very dearly for her Christian sympathy in our sorrow.51
The use of religious expressions in difficult times can be seen in the letter by Carl Henriksson Horn, writing to King John III on 23 January 1591, because he had been put in prison for treason. Writing to the king, he lamented his unfortunate position, made worse by enemies and their lies against him, and the fact that even public defamation had been used against him:
And I cannot think (though I admit that I, in front of God, am a poor and great sinner, and this punishment and pain from God have been well deserved) that I alone have deserved from God this punishment, and turn of fortune, or am the only one guilty of it; rather I see this as a general punishment for sins, as Daniel says in his ninth chapter.52
In the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel, Daniel is fasting and praying the Lord for mercy, admitting the common sins of all Israel, until an archangel comes to him and announces a prophecy, and also says that he is highly esteemed.53 Explaining his misfortune in wartime, he points out that victory is in Godâs hands and that he cannot influence the situation as much as he might wish, âif God does not want to build and protect the houseâ (ânär Gud icke wil Ã¥pbygia och bevaka husetâ), a reference to Psalm 127:1.54 Thus, we may say that Carl Henriksson Horn presents himself as a person who, like Daniel, is praying for the whole of Israel and the people, and his penitence should be seen as suffering and praying for others, and his adversities as a sign of the lack of Godâs grace.
In some letters that express sorrow, sad events and a feeling of unfair treatment, the references to God are very prominent. One of those letters was sent by the newly widowed Baroness Ebba Stenbock to her sister, Queen Dowager Katarina, informing her of the death of her husband Claes Eriksson Fleming. The beginning of the text reads:
I cannot leave it untold that God Almighty has seen it right to call from this valley of sorrow my heartâs dear lord. May God Almighty wake his soul to eternal joy with his chosen ones, which I have no doubt will happen &c. And God the Almightiest, from whom nothing is hidden, knows my heartâs great sorrow because of the loss that I and my children have suffered. However, over all this sorrowful loss, I have to complain both in front of God and people, about the shameful untrue lies that His Princely Grace Duke Karl has been distributing both in print and by word of mouth about my dear late lord, accusations which will never be proved to be truthful, and it is a wrongdoing that God Almighty in heaven laments that he who so faithfully and with so much labour served his fatherland will be paid in this way for his troubles.55
To cry to heaven and invoke biblical suffering has often been traced back to imitating Job, but as Eva Haettner Aurelius has shown, the Book of Psalms was a very likely model for people of the time. The Book of Psalms was an appreciated and widely known book of the Bible, with the same suffering and prayers for mercy, but without the defiance of Job. Even Sigrid Sture, along with her autobiographical poem, wrote down biblical verses, which, according to Jan Samuelson, seem to hold the Psalms and the Book of Sirach in special regard.56 What was decreed by God had to be accepted, and to accept it was an act of a pious person.
It is understandable that suffering and difficult situations could inspire especially abundant religious expressions or references to heavenly powers. Such was the case of Ebba Stenbock, who went on to talk about her plans, God allowing, to fight the false accusations, when God gave her the opportunity. She also described the death of her husband and put emphasis on his brave, solemn and Christian departure, praying and listening to pious texts, to fight any claims that he might have died in a violent, even self-destructive, manner.57
In times of war, sixteenth-century officers faced a constant problem of disobedient and reluctant soldiers that were eager to run off if, for example, they did not get their payments in time. This explains the seasoned military commander Jöran Boijeâs humble wish, which is another example of richer religious rhetoric and draws a parallel between godly and worldly authority:
The Russians will quickly strengthen themselves. God be on our side and may we have willing people who want to keep God first before their eyes and do what their authorities tell them to, which can be useful to His Royal Majesty and our fatherland and damage our enemies.58
In times of crisis, the overall picture of a sympathetic and protecting God is occasionally balanced by a darker tone. Sometimes God sends ordeals, such as the 1590 plague in Estonia, which is called Godâs fatherly whip (âgud ⦠sitt faderlige rijsâ).59 The same expression was used by Baron Hogenskild Bielke, when he reported the death of his little baby girl.60 Although the idea of sin is seldom mentioned, the writers are convinced that God will reward good and punish evil. It is hoped that enemies will meet their well-earned punishment, but the writers are aware that the same threat lies upon themselves.61 In the economic and social crisis that resulted from constant warfare, many officials found themselves in situations just as frustrating as that of Lars Torstensson Ram, who complains about his difficult orders and the evil rumours that had been spread about him:
May God punish me for eternity if I have at any time left my lordâs and kingâs loss unrevenged: then my God may punish me. God help me with that office, with the hunger, the constant worry for food. And I hope the deceitful liars from an honourless place will have shame here on earth before they die.62
Another example of the fear of Godâs punishment is Arvid Henriksson Tawastâs letter just after the peasant uprising known as the Cudgel War (1596â7). He refers to the peasantsâ poverty and desolate situation and concludes in what is almost a poetic declaration of a fear of God: âIf the peasant is now not helped and aided, God will without doubt punish us.â63
7 Arvid Stålarm and His Correspondence
In the correspondence related to the power struggles of the 1590s, noblemen spend a lot of paper and ink in discussing the political problems and the tensions between King Sigismund and Duke Karl. In addressing such sensitive issues, correspondents were trying to avoid expressions that would be seen as provocative by either party. There were many political tensions at stake, as well as the religious tension that the synod of the Swedish church aimed to solve in 1593. However, the religious disputes were not the focus of the correspondence analysed.
The correspondents in the collections include Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm, who served as the governor (stÃ¥thÃ¥llare) of Finland and the commander-in-chief (amiral) of the armed forces (1597â9), and his brothers-in-law Claes Hermansson Fleming and Lars Fleming, who took turns in commanding the castle of Turku from autumn 1597 to autumn 1599. The correspondence takes place in the midst of a crisis that had already escalated into an open armed conflict where loyalties were fluid. In those years, StÃ¥larm was King Sigismundâs main support in Finland and was leading the defence against Duke Karl. StÃ¥larm, who found himself between the two opposing parties when trying to mediate between the supporters of the King and the Duke, wrote many letters about the political situation, both to his enemies and his friends. StÃ¥larm was a little too open and changeable in his expressions of political opinions, but his religious ruminations remain brief. He would later change sides and was caught in duplicitous moves that ultimately led to a lifetime of imprisonment.64
Again, when using religious expressions, the correspondents are mostly referring to ritualised wishes for the best outcome, as in Claes Hermansson Flemingâs letter of 2 January 1598:
I hope to God that everything will be reconciled between His Royal Majesty and His Princely Grace.65
The conciliatory wish is similar to the one above by Arvid Henriksson Tawast. In the politically very precarious situation, this was the wisest way to write â not taking sides too clearly on the dispute, nor accusing anyone of too much, but instead expressing hopes that God would resolve matters for the best.
The situation was difficult in any case, as Arvid StÃ¥larmâs wife Elin Fleming had been imprisoned by Duke Karl. At this point, the leading nobility were hoping to get a confirmed declaration that Sigismund would offer them military support and allow them to keep their Protestant faith, as Arvid StÃ¥larm commented:
if His Royal Majesty will not secure us in writing and have his royal orders issued about our religion and privileges, then we will set ourselves free from our service, and not otherwise act or fight against our own consciences. God Almighty knows how one should act; one does not want to let go so lightly of oneâs oath and promises given to his royal majesty, not for threats or blows; I would rather be dead than live with shame [of that sort].66
Epitaph of Arvid Stålarm and Elin Fleming, commissioned to the Tenhola Church to honour the deceased Elin Fleming, is the first known epitaph in Finland, manifesting the devotion of the couple
Drawing: Agathon Reinholm, 1885. Finnish Heritage Agency
This letter, the end of which resonates with 2 Maccabees 6:19, refers to an actual discussion and expectation of the firm commitment of King Sigismund so that the nobility could feel secure when supporting the king.67 Here there is a reference to religion, most likely a reference to the Uppsala synod of 1593 and the diet that the Swedish nobility wanted to maintain.
8 Interpreting Ritualised Religious Expressions
It is important to keep in mind that the sources and the methods impose some restrictions on interpretation. The analysis is based on a selection of correspondence, and while the combined method of concordance searches and in-depth analysis help to identify certain patterns, there are certainly other religious aspects that are left in the shadows. Nevertheless, the material used and the analysis derived from it are, to our knowledge, more comprehensive than in previous studies.
We have seen that religious expressions, that is, mainly God, dominate the formulaic parts of the letters of the sixteenth-century nobility and other literate laypeople in Finland. These parts follow the traditions of ars dictandi and represent the learned, Christian tradition of writing. Writers and their scribes learned this practice as an essential part of written culture. The expressions (such as wishing good health in the name of God Almighty) are similar in most of the letters, showing that the religious expressions follow a common practice. There are some exceptions to the main formulas in some of the letters, which probably shows that the writing traditions varied slightly according to location or education.
On the other hand, the narratio or the free text is less dependent on the learned tradition. It probably represents more directly the laypeopleâs own use of vocabulary. In these parts, Christian expressions are not so prominent or sophisticated. They are mainly short sayings about Godâs will which are used as comments on future or past events. The writer may express his wish that something may happen, his unawareness of something or his opinion of past events by referring to God in short sayings consisting of two to four words. The point is always that God knows and decides everything, humans do not. Other religious concepts apart from God are rare in the free text. On the whole, religion is present in our source material mostly as ritualised expressions: proverbs and conventional letter phrases. They were an essential and necessary part of writing.
Religious contemplation or theorisation is much less apparent. Correspondingly, the letters hardly discuss the Reformation at all. The ongoing, partly religious conflict between members of the royal family inspires humble wishes for reconciliation, clearly avoiding over-provocative contentions. Religion is present as something very concrete in these laypeopleâs letters: it centres around God as the principal ruler of the world. Religious expressions are practical and serve the simple purpose of crediting supernatural forces for everything significant that happens in the world. The general discourse centres around reverence for God, who is almighty and all-knowing and actively present in everyday events. He helps and protects, but also punishes wrong-doers. A few more elaborate cases testify that more elaborate religious expressions are presented in precarious situations: for instance, in the context of suffering or dangerous journeys.
It is striking that the fearsome, strict, judging and punishing God of the Old Testament is mostly absent in the laypeopleâs written mentality. The devil and sin are not discussed either. Instead, God is described in positive terms such as gracious and merciful and the standard phraseology includes wishes for Godâs protection. He is a gentle, almighty force over the uncertain and sinister human world. The writers express their trust that God will help them and promote righteousness. To do this includes punishing those that have done wrong. His agency is beyond human reach, but writers express humble wishes that God will use his almighty grasp to steer things according to their best. As Arvid Tawast put it in 1598: âI hope that God Almighty will put everything rightâ.68
The tone of the religious expressions resonates with the observations of Raisa Maria Toivo, that one had to put faith in God in order to gain grace, to show submission. Shared submission was an important way for the laypeople to present themselves as pious. In some cases, the expressions may have come closer to a ritual, while in others they may have meant a great deal to the sender of the letter. It may be good to bear in mind that, as has been suggested by Stina Hansson, the letters and prayers shared similar structures and features, and may have been inspired too by prayer books.69
Ritualised expressions such as if God wills, thank God or God amend (om gud vill, gud ske lov, god förbättra in Swedish,) reflect the idea of subordination. By using them the writer manifests his willingness to yield before supernatural forces and acknowledge them as the cause of everything that happens around him. These speech acts were based on the power of words and can even be interpreted as further examples of the religious intertwining with the magical, which has been observed in various religious acts both before and after the Reformation.70 Subjectivity to Godâs will is like a mantra that is immediately uttered after referring to future or past events, as to prevent any harm resulting from hubris and an arrogant belief in oneâs own possibilities. This is in harmony with what has been observed by Raisa Maria Toivo concerning seventeenth-century Swedish expressions:
The Protestant idea of salvation by faith alone was based on the human incapability of not sinning, thus the utter sinfulness of flawed humans, who could only be saved if they admitted to and believed in their sinfulness and submitted to the divine grace.71
Even when the letters deal with war and other human activities, God is ultimately credited for everything that has happened. This may reflect the influence of the Reformation. The traditional active negotiation with saints as mediators has been replaced by the omnipotence of God, whose unquestionable will steers the world, leaving humans in a position where their only option is total acquiescence.
In terms of rhetoric, the letter writers can be interpreted as using God as a God- term (Kenneth Burke) or as an absolute presupposition (R. G. Collingwood).72 This means that God is the final argument that needs no more motivations. If God has decided that events will go in a particular way, then nobody can argue against it. In this way, the concept of God was used as a rhetorical tool to belittle oneâs own agency and minimise the risks of responsibility. This was often wise in the precarious world of uncertainty in which sixteenth-century noblemen lived.
Put together, the letters we have analysed do not take part in in-depth religious discussions. Despite this, they are full of religious expressions, mainly related to God. They are used to present an individualâs agency and possibilities as strongly subjected to almighty God, who makes everything happen and decides how things turn out. Individuals relate that they live in uncertainty, but at the same time express their trust in God and that he will make everything happen according to his plans, in just and righteous ways.
Appendix 9.1. Search Terms for Religious Expressions
Stina Hansson, Ett sprÃ¥k för själen. Litterära former i den svenska andaktslitteraturen 1650â1720 (Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 1991), pp. 25â6.
Raisa Maria Toivo, âReformaatiohistorian ajankohtaisia haasteitaâ, Historiallinen aikakauskirja 115/1 (2017), 101â6, pp. 102; Jason Lavery, Reforming Finland. The Diocese of Turku in the Age of Gustav Vasa 1523â1560 (Leiden: Brill, 2018), pp. 164â5.
About the correspondence of the nobility, see Anu Lahtinen, âPragmaattiset protestantit? Kuningas ja aateli reformaation rakentajinaâ, in Meri Heinonen and Marika Räsänen (eds.), Pohjoinen reformaatio (Turku: Turun historiallinen yhdistys, 2016), pp. 25â41, 67, n. 49.
The databases were originally collected for the doctoral dissertation projects of the authors: Anu Lahtinen, Sopeutuvat, neuvottelevat, kapinalliset. Naiset toimijoina Flemingin sukupiirissä 1470â1620 (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2007), tr. Anpassning, förhandling, motstÃ¥nd. Kvinnliga aktörer i släkten Fleming 1470â1620 (Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 2009), and Ulla Koskinen, Hyvien miesten valtakunta: Arvid Henrikinpoika Tawast ja aatelin toimintakulttuuri 1500-luvun lopun Suomessa (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2011).
Diplomatarium Fennicum, https://df.narc.fi/concordance, accessed 8 October 2022.
Lavery, Reforming Finland, pp. 1â4, 13â4, 64â8.
Susanna Niiranen, âCatherine Jagiellon, Queen Consort of Sweden: Counselling between the Catholic Jagiellons and the Lutheran Vasasâ, in Helen Matheson-Pollock, Joanne Paul, and Catherine Fletcher (eds.), Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
Raisa Maria Toivo, Faith and Magic in Early Modern Finland. Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 6â8; Lavery, Reforming Finland, pp. 194â200.
Magnus Nyman, Förlorarnas historia. Katolskt liv i Sverige frÃ¥n Gustav Vasa till drottning Kristina (Uppsala: Katolska bokförlaget, 1997). For criticism, see Lahtinen, âPragmaattiset protestantit?â, p. 220; Lavery, Reforming Finland, pp. 3â4.
See, for example, Göran Dahlbäck, âMargareta (Leijonhufvud)â, in Göran Nilzén (ed.), Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon, 25 (Stockholm: Norstedts, 1987), p. 139; about Per Brahe the Elder and speculation on his religious attitudes, see Bo Eriksson, I skuggan av tronen. En biografi över Per Brahe d. ä. (Stockholm: Prisma 2008), pp. 349â51.
Petri Karonen, Pohjoinen suurvalta. Ruotsi ja Suomi 1521â1809 (3rd edn; Helsinki: WSOY, 2008), pp. 103â21.
Lahtinen, âPragmaattiset protestantit?â, pp. 27â30.
Anu Lahtinen, ââThereâs No Friend Like a Sisterâ: Sisterly Relations and the Rhetoric of Sisterhood in the Correspondence of the Aristocratic Stenbock Sistersâ, Collegium: Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2 (Helsinki: Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, 2007), pp. 185â6; Anu Lahtinen, âThe Marriage Process in the Light of Family Correspondence: A Comparative Perspective on the Swedish Evidenceâ, in Mia Korpiola (ed.) Regional Variations in Matrimonial Law and Custom in Europe, 1150â1600 (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 252â4.
Lahtinen, âPragmaattiset protestantit?â, pp. 39â41.
Mikko Hiljanen, Suomalaiset kirkkoherrat Ruotsin valtion rakentajina 1550-luvulta 1610- luvulle. JYU Dissertations 67 (Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2019), pp. 21â3.
âhade Gud giffuid thenne samme man sin naade at predige hans hällige Euangelium, som i mang C. aar hade wärid länge fordult / huilkit Gud giffue oss sin naade som äffter liffue / at wi maage blifue fast vid Guds Hällige ord oc faste staa i änden.â Chronicon Genealogicum, eller: underwisning pÃ¥ nÃ¥gon gammal slächt, med Ã¥thskilliga tidahändelser; fordom sammanskrefne af Anna Fickes dotter Bylou, abbedissa i Wadstena; och vidare af herr Lars Siggesson pÃ¥ Sundby, riddare och Sweriges marsk, samt af des son riks cancelleren, herr Erik Sparre, med theras egnas händer uptecknade, ed. Johannes Peringskiöld (Stockholm: Horrn, 1718), p. 42. About personal expressions of faith, see even Anu Lahtinen and Terhi Katajamäki, âAnna Vasa (1568â1625): Lutheran Sister of the Catholic Kingâ, in Kirsi Stjerna (ed.), Women Reformers of Early Modern Europe. Profiles, Texts, and Contexts. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press), pp. 366â7.
Per Brahe, Oeconomia eller HushÃ¥llsbok för ungt adelsfolk, ed. John Granlund and Gösta Holm (Stockholm: Nordiska museet, 1971), pp. 7, 10, 12, 28â9, 31, 33.
Bo Eriksson, I skuggan av tronen, pp. 351, 423.
Jan Samuelson, âAtt vinna ärans krona. En 1500-talskvinna skriver om sitt livâ, in Irene Andersson, Kenneth Johansson, and Marie Linstedt Cronberg (eds.), Tid och tillit. En vänbok till Eva Ãsterberg (Stockholm: Atlantis, 2002), pp. 139â63.
The original collections contain a minor number of other documents as well as very short sketches and fragments, which are excluded from the transcribed database. There are also c.20 letters in German, which are also excluded as we concentrate on analysing religious expressions in Swedish.
Most notably the letters have been transcribed from the collections Strödda historiska handlingar, Skoklostersamlingen 2, Kungliga arkiv and Biografica in Riksarkivet, Stockholm, and Acta Historica, Biografica, and Laguksen kokoelma (Lagus Collection) in Kansallisarkisto, Helsinki (hereafter: KA). However, even some source editions as well as sources archived at other institutions, such as the University Libraries of Uppsala and Lund, have been studied. In the following, a more detailed reference is given in connection with cited sources.
Lahtinen, âPragmaattiset protestantit?â, pp. 37.
Koskinen, Hyvien miesten valtakunta, p. 140.
We have used the software AntConc 3.5.8 for Windows (AntLab Solutions, Tokyo, Japan 2019), which is designed for text analysis and concordance searches.
For the advantages of combining quantitative and qualitative analysis in studying phraseology, see for example Sylviane Granger and Fanny Meunier, âIntroduction: The many faces of phraseologyâ, in Sylviane Granger and Fanny Meunier (eds.), Phraseology: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008), p. xxvii.
âsend â â â Jagh till digh här medh nw dij böker sosom M abraham till migh sendhe # med drengen # och vdi En half t:no TÃ¥r Sijch sosom Jagh köpt här uthi Staden helsingefÃ¥rs af bierchöö bönd â â ââ (Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper (also known as Arvid Henriksson Tawasts samling), vol. 1 (SE/RA/720846, E 5707), Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Margareta MÃ¥rtensdotter, undated (c.1590).
Ragnar Ohlsson, Abraham Angermannus. En biografisk studie (Stockholm: Svenska kyrkans diakonistyrelse, 1946), pp. 176â85 and passim.
University Library, Uppsala, Palmskiöldska samlingen, vol. 242, pp. 303â6; âEtt Swar gifwit pÃ¥ Her Erich Göstafssons SpörsmÃ¥l om sitt företagne Echtenskap. Anno Chri 1571. mense Septemb.â; National Archives of Sweden, Skrivelser till konungen, Skrivelser till Johan III, 4, Erik Stenbock to King Johan III, c.1570. About the case of Erik Stenbock and Malin Sture, see Mia Korpiola, âMarrying off Sons and Daughters: Attitudes Towards the Consent of Parents and Guardians in Early Modern Swedenâ, in Grethe Jacobsen, Helle Vogt, Inger Dübeck, and Heide Wunder etc. (eds.), Less Favored â More Favored: Proceedings from a Conference on Gender in European Legal History, 12â19th centuries (Copenhagen: The Royal Library, 2005), pp. 1â30.
âSÃ¥ efther thet Käre bror ath then helige höghtijden tilstundar ath man skall annam â e thet höghwerdige Sachramenthet som ähr gudz lekame â och blodh til sigh Beder Jagh min bror Kärligen J wille icke migh oförtienth Köle blodh emoth migh För onde Menniskior skuldh och för falske Klaffarens tungo skuldh som oss emillan â â â geth hafue (thet gudh löne them).â Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Jöns Skytte to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 14 April 1587, Hämeenlinna.
Diplomatarium Fennicum (hereafter DF), searches sancta, sancte, sanctus. For example, there is a reference in DF 5799: âhuilkit mik Gudh oc Sanctus Thomas ma hielpa etc.â, or in DF 5484: âGud giffue och alle rigesins helige patronerâ, but these kinds of references are scarce in comparison to simple references to God Almighty (accessed 8 October 2022).
See Tapio Salminen, Vantaan ja Helsingin pitäjän keskiaika (Vantaa: Vantaan kaupunki, 2013), pp. 165â8.
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 2 (SE/RA/720846, E 5708), Lasse Michelsson to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 19 March 1596, Helsinki.
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Henrik Claesson Horn to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 7 August 1578, Kankainen; and Matts Larsson Cruus to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 21 February 1593, Harviala.
âoch giffue wÃ¥r Kiere Syster här medh Kierlige tilkenne, att wiij achte J dhe hel:ge Trefalligheez nampn att hÃ¥lle wÃ¥r Elschelig Käre brodh[er] dhen Edle och welborne her Arffued göstaffsons brollop med dhen edle och welborne Jungfru Karin MÃ¥ns DÃ¥tter här wtij Stocholm, Söndagen för Sancte Andre dagh nu nästkommend: som är dhen 25 novembris, etc.â (Riksarkivet, Skoklostersamlingen 2:5, Katarina Stenbock to Cecilia Stenbock, 23 October 1582.)
âiagh rett nu i Jesu Nampn gåår till Sägels effter iagh förnimmer 10 hertigens skip ligger vdi à landhâ, KA, Laguska samlingen, vol. LXI (154), Handlingar rörande Clas Fleming och Arvid StÃ¥larm, Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm to Michael PÃ¥valsson, 17 July 1598.
âBeder för then skuld käre bror att thu uille schrifue knechterne till rätt häftigt att the ähre tillstädes uidh förâ â âne PitkäpÃ¥ss innan Petri pauli Ty thÃ¥ wele wij i the helge trefaldighets nampn slÃ¥ löösâ (Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 14 June 1583, Lindö).
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Germund Henriksson and Peder Dän, undated (1590) and to Margareta Mårtensdotter, undated (1590).
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Margareta MÃ¥rtensdotter, undated (1590).
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Henrik Claesson Horn to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 1 August 1578, Turku.
Edward Muir, Ritual in Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn 2009), pp. 3â4.
According to Arnovick, the primary illocutionary significance of sayings could change in the process of being rendered into discourse. Arnovick calls this discursization. Leslie K. Arnovick, Diachronic Pragmatics: Seven Case Studies in English Illocutionary Development (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1999), pp. 1â5, 116â18, 131â2, 139â43; Andreas H. Jucker, âHistorical pragmaticsâ, in Mirjam Fried, Jan-Ola Ãstman, and Jef Verschueren (eds.), Variation and Change: Pragmatic Perspectives (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2010), p. 116.
Geoffrey C. Williams, âThe Good Lord and his works: A corpus-driven study of collocational resonanceâ, in Sylviane Granger and Fanny Meunier (eds.), Phraseology: An interdisciplinary perspective (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008), pp. 159â73.
âMijn Wenligh Helssen eder medh Gudh Alzmechtig tilförenne Käre Hinrich Erichsson Nästh eders wälfärdz Lyckönskan ⦠gudh Alzmechtig igeno â sijn NÃ¥dige tilhielp haffuer hulpit WÃ¥r Aller NÃ¥digste Konung och Herre Lyckligen till Calmar Huarföre Hör oss Gudh Alzmechtig innerligen af hiertadh betacke. Och bedie, thet Gudh Alzâ â âtig wille wärdigas beuecke Hans Kon. Mttz hiertte till een godh Christeligh sinnie och eenigheet medh H. F. N. Hertigh Carll, wthan all oenigheet blodzspillaâ och mis ForstÃ¥ndh ⦠göre theris bonde hop mottstÃ¥ndh /: SÃ¥ frempt / gudh Förbiudhe nogot omtrenger :/mig förhÃ¥ppes till Gudh Alzmechtig, Att han warder alle saker till thz beste lage och stelle ⦠Och befaler eder Wennligen Gudh Alz mechtighâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Henrik Eriksson, 2 August 1598, Vesunta).
âEr nu Ewigh welffärdtth Sundheetth lycka och Saligheett, NÃ¥dh och Fredh igenom hÃ¥nom som ähr NÃ¥denns och Fridzens Gudh aff wÃ¥rom herra Chro- Jesu Edhers welbördigheett nw och altijth önskiath. Thernest enn ödmiuke och vnderdÃ¥neligh tackseielsse för mykitt gotth Edhers Strengheett, emotth Ã¥ss fatighe vndsÃ¥ther, Ã¥fftha och altijdh bruk giordtth och beteedtt haff â r, hwelka Gudhi then alzmectig â te samptt wij Effther wÃ¥re ringe machtt, ganska vnderdÃ¥nelig:n tiene wille, etc. ⦠vthropningh the hafftth haff â r Ã¥m fredh, hwilke gudh Ã¥ss vnne ⦠Edhers Strengheett Edher elskeligh kere Frw och lille Iffwar gudhi then alzmectig â te bÃ¥dhe till lijff och siell beffallandhâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Ambrosius Henriksson to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 1 May 1583, Savonlinna).
âGudh sampt alle erlige godhe Men Ãdle och oedle sÃ¥ och aff Befelet och gemeene krigzfolcket ssÃ¥ wäll Ryttere szom Knechter Ahnnorlundhe vm samme handell wetterligitt ährâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Henrik Claesson (Horn) to Henrik Abel von Minden and Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 29 February 1580, Kankainen).
ârette Edher sielff vdij thette ärendett, effther som i wethe medh Edher Samweth oss för Gudh och Meniskior haffue rett tillâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 2, Lasse Michelsson to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 19 March 1596, Helsinki).
âthetta Sijdentyg han nu haff â r, bestelte han enkanerlig efter Salige MÃ¥rthen Boijes och Lars Torstensons begären, huilche Gud nu haffuer täckts att bekläde med Engladrägt som obefläcked bliff â e i all Ewigheett etc.â (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Henrik Johansson to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 8 December 1595, Viborg).
Valborg Lindgärde, âNu skal och Herren upptaga mig. TvÃ¥ självbiografiska texter frÃ¥n 1600- taletâ, in Elisabeth Møller Jensen, Eva Hættner Aurelius, and Anne-Marie Mai (eds.), Nordisk kvinnolitteraturhistoria, 1: I Guds namn, 1000â1800, (Höganäs: Wiken, 1993), pp. 277â85; Samuelson, âAtt vinna ärans kronaâ, p. 153.
Mia Korpiola, âKyrkotukt för hela folket: hertig Gustafs av Saxen âhorerijâ och luthersk kyrkodisciplin i Sverige pÃ¥ 1500- och 1600-talenâ, in Jukka Kekkonen, Pia Letto-Vanamo, Päivi Paasto, and Heikki Pihlajamäki (eds.), Norden, Rätten, Historia. Festskrift Till Lars Björne (Helsinki: Suomalainen Lakimiesyhdistys, 2004), pp. 65â7.
Anu Lahtinen, âA Noblemanâs Death. Power Struggle and Resistance in Accounts of a Political Execution in Early Modern Swedenâ, in Henrik Jensen (ed.), Rebellion and Resistance (Pisa: Pisa University Press, 2009), pp. 40â3.
âTacke wi Gwd för hellsen en dÃ¥ nogen annen werdzlig Glede er inted hos os Gud werdiges gewe os Sinne helge NÃ¥der ded wi mÃ¥te drage wÃ¥rt kors med Tollemodh wi welle och min kerre MorSyster SÃ¥ kerlige Betacked hawe som har et kristelliged medlidende öwer wÃ¥r bedröwelseâ (Princess Sofia Vasa to Märta Leijonhufvud, 8 May 1579, in Per Wieselgren (ed.): Dela-Gardiska archivet, eller, Handlingar ur grefl. Dela-Gardiska bibliotheket pÃ¥ Löberöd (Stockholm: Wieselgren, 1821), pp. 94â5).
âOch kan jag icke troo (endoch jag mig för Gud bekenner för en fatig och stoor Syndare, och thetta straf och wedermödo of Gud wäl och högre wärdig) att jag allena of Gud thenne lyckas förwandling, och straf förtiänt haffuer, eller är ther til wÃ¥llandes, utan achtar thett wara ett alment Syndastraf sosom Daniel thet i sit 9 Capitel bekennes.â (Carl Henriksson to King John III, 23 January 1591, in Handlingar rörande Skandinaviens historia XV (Stockholm: Johan Hörberg, 1830), pp. 75â8).
Daniel 9.
Psalm 127:1 (King James Version): âExcept the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vainâ.
âKan E: M:t af ett bedröfwet hierte icke oförmält lÃ¥dta, att Gud den Alz:tig haff:r täckts att kalla af thenne bedröfwede jemmerfulle Werlden min hiertans Käre Herre, Hwilkens Siel Gud den Alz:tig Upwäckie till den ewige glädien att besittia medh alle sine Vthkorede, thz iagh icke twifler etc. Och skall Gud den Alz:tigst, som ingen ting är fördoldt, wete min hiertans store bedröfwelse öfwer mitt och mine barns store frÃ¥:fell. Doch öfwer alt thette sorglige frÃ¥felle, är mig till att beklage Vtöfwer bÃ¥de för Gud och menniskior, den tillwytelse H: F: N:de Hertig Carl effter osanfärdigh berättelse min Käre Sal. Herre bÃ¥de mundtligen sÃ¥ och medh Prent och skrifwelser till ⦠idt haff:r. Hwilcket Doch, aldrigh Vthi sanning bewises kan, hwilcket Gud den alz:tigste i himmelen wthi Klagar, att den sitt Fädernesland sÃ¥ troligen och medh sÃ¥ mödesam tienst tient haff:r, skall för sin lÃ¥nglige hafde möde sÃ¥ belönt blifwe.â KA, Kopiokirja 1592â1601, pp. 131â132, Ebba Stenbock to Katarina Stenbock, 5 June 1597.
Eva Haettner Aurelius, Inför lagen. Kvinnliga svenska självbiografier frÃ¥n Agneta Horn till Fredrika Bremer (Lund: Lund University Press, 1996), pp. 109â10; Samuelson, âAtt vinna ärans kronaâ, pp. 152â3.
Lahtinen, âSisterly Relationsâ, pp. 194â5.
âRyssen skall flux förstärkie sigh, gudh ware pÃ¥ wÃ¥r sidhe, och wij mÃ¥the haffue willigh fÃ¥lk de som wille först haffue gudh för ögenn, och giöre huadh deriss öffuer heth dem befaller, som kan landhe K:M: och wÃ¥rth fäderness landh till nytto, och wÃ¥re fiendhe till aff bräckâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Jöran Boije to Arvid Henriksson Tawast et al., 16 November 1590, Ivoldh).
Riksarkivet, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Henriksson Tawast and other commandants of Narva castle to John III, 30 August 1590, Narva.
Kaarlo Blomstedt, âAatelin maanhankinnasta 1500-luvulla. Suuntaviivoja ja menettelytapojaâ, in Historiallinen Arkisto 39/II (1932), p. 62.
Ulla Koskinen, âSodankäynnin perustelut suomalaisupseerien kirjeenvaihdossa 25- vuotisessa sodassa (1570â1595)â, in Jaakkojuhani Peltonen and Ollimatti Peltonen (eds.), Lupa tappaa: sodankäynnin ja sotien oikeuttamisen pitkä historia (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2019), pp. 163â4.
âso straffe mig gudh ttill euig ttidh # ell- hau- jag nogonttidh min herress og konugz- skade ell- seettedh ohembdtt so mo min gudh straffe mig gudh hielpe mig ffron dz embette ffron den hungren Jemlige mattsorgen og jag fförhoppess att di ärlässe ortts skelmiske löngerer skole ffo skam H- po jorden fför änn Di döö:â (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Lars Torstensson (Ram) to Arvid Henriksson Tawast, 1 October 1584, Haaga).
âBliffuer iche nu bonden ⦠lijsat och skÃ¥nther ⦠derföre warder oss gud vthan tuiffuel straffandesâ (RA, Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar, miscellanea, Strödda historiska handlingar 18, Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Bengt Severinsson Juusten (Gyllenlood), undated, associated with a letter from 13 June 1597).
See Veli-Matti Syrjö, âStÃ¥larm, Arvidâ (6 September 2001), in Matti Klinge etc. (eds.), Kansallisbiografia-verkkojulkaisu (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1997â), accessed 8 October 2022.
âönskar aff gud att all ting mÃ¥tte bliffua well förlickt emellom H: K: M: och H: F: N) (RA, Strödda historiska handlingar, 18, Claes Hermansson Fleming to Hans Krank, 2 January 1598).
âÃ¥m H. K. M. iche will göre den försäkring bode skrifftlig so och lathe vpgÃ¥ sin Konungs Mandater, Ã¥m wÃ¥r religion och friheter, sÃ¥ wehle wij vpfriija wÃ¥r tienst och eliest för ingen deell streffue eller Krige emodh wÃ¥rtt egett Samwett, Gudh den allrehögste weedh huru man skall sig ut bere, indhz will man sÃ¥ lättelig afftrede? sin Eedh och Lijffte Detth man H. K. M. giortt haffue, huarken för hooth eller slag, iag wilde heller wara dödh en mz Skamme Leffue.â (RA, Strödda historiska handlingar, 18, Arvid Eriksson StÃ¥larm to Claes Hermansson Fleming 16 October 1597, copy).
âMen han wilde heller ärligha dö än sÃ¥ medh skam leffuaâ (Biblia / Thet är / All then Helgha Scrifft / pÃ¥ Swensko [Gustav Vasaâs Bible] (Uppsala: Georgen Richolff, 1541), 2 Maccabeorum 6:19.
âmig förhÃ¥ppes till Gudh Alzmechtig att han warder alle saker till thz beste lage och stelleâ (RA, Tawastska papper, vol. 1, Arvid Henriksson Tawast to Henrik Eriksson, 2 August 1598).
Hansson, Stina. Ett sprÃ¥k för själen. Litterära former i den svenska andaktslitteraturen 1650â1720 (Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 1991), pp. 25, 27, 108â9.
Arnovick, Diachronic Pragmatics, 130.
Raisa Maria Toivo, âGender Performances in Early Modern Religious Lifeâ, in Elise M. Dermineur, à sa Karlsson Sjögren and Virginia Langum (eds.) Revisiting Gender in European History, 1400â1800, 169â86. (New York: Routledge, 2018), p. 172.
Kenneth Burke, A Grammar of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1945), pp. 54, 73, 351â6; R. G. Collingwood, An essay on metaphysics, ed. Rex Martin (rev. edn; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 31.