Ambiguous Memories of the Reformation: The Case of Norway

The Reformation came to Norway along with Danish annexation of political and ecclesiastical power. For this reason, Norwegian history writing seldom appreciated the history of the Norwegian Reformation, and preferred to look further back to the history of the Middle Ages in search of national, as we...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of early modern christianity Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 287 - 303
Main Author Rasmussen, Tarald
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin De Gruyter 26.11.2020
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Subjects
Christianity
History
Medieval period
Memory
Norway
Politics
proto-Reformation
Reformation historiography
Norway
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The Reformation came to Norway along with Danish annexation of political and ecclesiastical power. For this reason, Norwegian history writing seldom appreciated the history of the Norwegian Reformation, and preferred to look further back to the history of the Middle Ages in search of national, as well as religious, roots of Norwegian Christianity. This was already the case in late sixteenth and early seventeenth century Norwegian historical writing. In nineteenth century historical research, the strategy was underpinned by focussing on the medieval period of Christianization: Norwegian Christianity was imported from the West, from England. Here, the Pope was not at all important. Instead, some key Reformation values were addressed in a kind of “proto-Reformation” in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The King was the ruler of the church; native, Old Norse language was used and promoted; and the people (strongly) identified themselves with their religion.
ISSN:2196-6648
2196-6656
DOI:10.1515/jemc-2020-2024