Historedia
EuropeEvent

Swedish Reformation

When
1527
Where
Västerås
Episodes
1

The Swedish Reformation began in 1527 when the Riksdag of Västerås placed the church under royal control. This process continued through the 1529 Örebro Synod and concluded in 1593 at the Uppsala Synod, which definitively adopted Lutheranism as the state religion.

Episodes

  1. 1527 · VästeråsRiksdag of Västerås

    The Estates agreed to royal control of the church and confiscation of clerical assets.

Background and detail

The Västerås Riksdag. In 1527, the Estates agreed to confiscate clerical assets and place all church offices under royal consent. The clergy were subjected to secular law, and sermons were restricted to biblical texts, effectively removing Catholic doctrines from public instruction.

Synods and Final Adoption. The 1529 Örebro Synod discouraged Catholic rituals and placed sermons under crown control. After a period of Counter-Reformation attempts under John III, the Uppsala Synod of 1593 finally adopted Protestantism according to the Augsburg Confession as the state religion.

People involved

  • Gustav I · King of Sweden who initiated the Reformation
  • Olaus Petri · Reformer and royal priest
  • John III · King who attempted a Counter-Reformation

Sources

  1. Reformation in Sweden Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-24

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.