Johannes Magnus (a modified form of Ioannes Magnus, a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

translation of his birth name Johan Månsson; 19 March 1488 – 22 March 1544) was the last functioning

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

in Sweden, and also a theologian, genealogist, and historian.

Life

Johannes Magnus was born in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

, son of the

burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

Måns Pedersson and his wife Kristina Kruse. (His own later claims to be descended from a noble family named Store are unverified.) Magnus was selected by

Gustav I Vasa Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...

to become Archbishop, in 1523. As he was about to travel to Rome to be ordained, a papal bull from

Pope Clement VII Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...

was received, stating that the previous Archbishop

Gustav Trolle Gustav Eriksson Trolle (September 1488 – 1535) was Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden, in two sessions, during the turbulent Reformation events. He was the son of Eric Arvidsson Trolle, a former regent of Sweden during the era of the Kalmar Union. ...

, who was at the time in exile abroad, should be reinstated. The papal bull declared the deposition of Trolle unlawful. However, Gustav Vasa refused to reinstate Trolle. Instead he ignored the papal bull and took it upon himself to install Magnus without papal acceptance. Before long, however, Johannes Magnus rebelled by declaring his discontent with the Lutheran teachings spread by the brothers Olaus and

Laurentius Petri Laurentius Petri Nericius (1499 – 27 October 1573) was a Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and his brother Olaus Petri are, together with the King Gustav Vasa, regarded as the main Lutheran reformers ...

, under the supervision of King Gustav Vasa. The King then sent him off to Russia as a diplomat in 1526. Johannes Magnus was careful not to return home during that time, realizing that he was unwanted. Gustav Vasa appointed a new archbishop,

, in 1531, and Johannes realized that his time as archbishop was over. His brother,

Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder ...

, had meanwhile travelled to Rome to explain the matter of Gustav Trolle to the Pope. In 1533 the Pope finished investigating the Trolle matter and decided that Magnus was the most appropriate successor, and Magnus travelled to Rome to be ordained. However, as Sweden now no longer took direction from the Vatican, both brothers remained in Italy for the remainder of their lives. Magnus spent his time in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he wrote two historical works about Sweden: ''Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus'' and ''Historia metropolitanæ ecclesiæ Upsaliensis'', which are important for their historical information, but are also filled with tales that have no reliable foundation. After the death of Johannes in 1544, the line of Swedish archbishops consecrated by the Pope ended. He died in Rome.

Works

The ''

Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus The ''Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sueonumque regibus'' (''The history of all Geatish and Swedish kings'') is a posthumously published, partly pseudo-historical work by Johannes Magnus, Sweden's last Catholic archbishop. In 1554 (ten years after ...

'' ("History of all Kings of Goths and Swedes") is a work on Swedish history, which was printed posthumously in

in 1554 by Johannes' brother

. Olaus sent it to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with a dedication to the dukes

Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, Gustav's sons. It was subsequently republished several times. It appeared in a Swedish translation by Er. Schroderus for the first time in 1620. It is a very unreliable source for early Swedish history. Johannes Magnus made creative use of Jordanes' ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of th ...

'' and of

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

to depict a history of the Swedish people, of their kings, and of the "Goths abroad". He states that Magog, son of Japheth, was Sweden's first king. The first 16 volumes are taken up by the period before AD 1000 in a strange mixture of tales from earlier writers and his own fiction, allegedly derived from runic records at Uppsala in the

Younger Futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The r ...

, which he claimed had served the Goths as an alphabet for some two millennia before Christ. Johannes Magnus invented a list of kings of Sweden with six Erics before

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive reg ...

, where he started counting from Jordanes'

Berig Berig is a legendary king of the Goths appearing in the ''Getica'' by Jordanes. According to Jordanes, Berig led his people on three ships from Scandza (Scandinavia) to Gothiscandza (the Vistula Basin). They settled and then attacked the Rugians wh ...

as Eric I. He also invented six kings of the name Charles before Charles Sverkersson. This is how Gustav I Vasa's sons could style themselves as Eric (XIV) and Charles (IX). While the work describes these fictional Erics and Charles in generally positive terms, it also includes a few invented tyrants with names similar to Gustav. The work is exceedingly patriotic and suggests that Denmark was populated by convicts exiled from Sweden, a charge drawing a sharp rebuttal from the Danish court. A milestone in Swedish and European

Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( sv, Göticism ; la, Gothicismus) was a cultural movement in Sweden, centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats, who were identified with the Goths. The founders of the movement were Nicolaus Ragvaldi and th ...

, Johannes’ work proved fundamental in the birth of various declensions of Nordicism, arguing that humankind stemmed from the North and imbuing this cardinal point with powerful political and prophetical meanings.

Footnotes

Sources

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus, Johannes 1488 births 1544 deaths Roman Catholic archbishops of Uppsala 16th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Sweden 16th-century Swedish historians Swedish genealogists

Life

Works

See also

Footnotes

Sources

External links