Chapter 8 The End of the Medieval Diocese

In May 1554, King Gustav Vasa met with the four remaining members of the Diocese of Turku’s Cathedral Chapter: Deacon Petrus Ragvaldi, Canon Canutus Johannis, Canon and Acting Bishop , as well as rector of the Cathedral School in Turku, Paulus Juusten. Paulus Juusten described the meeting as follows: “After all other matters were discussed, His Majesty invited them [the members of the chapter] to a yard outside of Gripsholm Castle. He said that the prelates of ’s cathedrals no longer needed to go to to receive an episcopal appointment, because this right was held by His Majesty at home in Sweden.”1 The king’s statement of what had been his policy for some thirty years likely did not surprise his guests. They might have wondered why the king was devoting such ceremony to the proclamation of a well-established procedure. Then he made an announcement that did earn a special stage. According to Juusten’s chronicle, “the renowned lord king saw it good to divide into two dioceses, namely Turku and Vyborg.”2 Gustav Vasa named Mikael Agricola the bishop, or to use the king’s title, ordinary, of the new rump Diocese of Turku. The king appointed Paulus Juusten leader of the new Diocese of Vyborg. The partition of the diocese was yet another attempt by the king to weaken the episcopacy. Moreover, the partition initiated and facilitated an intense period of royal reform of the church in a part of the kingdom that had pre- viously avoided many aspects of it. Gustav not only shrank the Diocese of Turku, but also he eliminated its cathedral chapter, thus ending any claim by the diocese to self-governance. He continued his confiscations of precious metals, taxes, and lands. At the same time, he extended his direct influence over the clergy. War with Russia gave the king further opportunities to ad- vance royal reform.

New Bishops, New Dioceses

According to Juusten’s account of events at Gripsholm Castle, the only extant primary source, both Juusten and Agricola gave the king an oath of office in

1 Paavali Juusten, Suomen piispainkronikka, trans. Simo Heininen (: SKS, 1988), 60. 2 Juusten, Piispainkronikka, 60.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004354708_010 the end of the medieval diocese 175 both oral and written form. Then “the king reminded us of the duties of our office, that we would not, like Archbishop among others, want to rise up in rebellion against public peace and order, but rather that we would demonstrate obedience, faithfulness, and respect toward legal authority, and that we would urge others to faithfully fulfill these duties as well as keep watch for the salvation of the many while looking for the glory of God in everything.”3 Juusten’s account encapsulates the king’s expectations of bishops to serve the needs of temporal power. The reference to Gustav Trolle reveals Gustav’s con- cern about a possible resurgence of episcopal political power, a possibility that in 1554 could have lived only in the king’s paranoid mind. Juusten stated that both he and Agricola received a “laying of the hands and confirmation” from Bishop Botvid of Strängnäs. Juusten addresses the question that he knew many would have about Botvid’s participation—why he and not Archbishop performed the ceremony. According to Juusten, Laurentius had fallen into the king’s bad graces and thus was not invited.4 The consecration of Agricola and Juusten is exceptional in that they were the only diocesan leaders appointed as ordinaries by Gustav Vasa who were formally consecrated by a bishop.5 Juusten stated that when Agricola returned to Turku he “conducted with a miter on his head the so-called Bishop’s Mass on the birthday of the Blessed Virgin. When the Royal Majesty received word of this, he could not tolerate it with a calm mind because of its [the Mass’s] popery.”6 Meanwhile, Agrico- la referred to himself as bishop rather than ordinary.7 One should be careful with interpreting too much into the significance of Agricola’s actions to Gus- tav Vasa. The king had no problem removing recalcitrant bishops. Apart from Juusten’s account, no other source illuminates Gustav Vasa’s view of Agricola’s adherence to medieval traditions. Although Agricola employed the ceremony and title of a medieval bishop, he made no effort to reclaim powers and wealth lost by bishops to the king over the previous quarter century. The creation of a second diocese in Finland rested on some antecedents. During the medieval crusades that spread Roman Christianity eastward across the Finnish peninsula missionary bishops might have worked along

3 Juusten, Piispainkronikka, 60. 4 Juusten, Piispainkronikka, 61. 5 Sven Kjöllerstrom, Kräkla och mitra: En undersökning om biskopsvigningar i Sverige under ref- ormationstidevarvet (Lund: Gleerup, 1965), 119. 6 Juusten, Piispainkronikka, 61. 7 Viljo Tarkiainen and Kari Tarkiainen, Mikael Agricola: Suomen uskonpuhdistaja (Helsinki: Otava, 1985), 110.