Swedish Church Law around 1300

Abstract

Our article deals with one bishop Brynolf Algotsson, one provost Andreas And, and one dean Laurentius Olavi. At the end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth, they were the most important contributors to the implementation of international canon law in Sweden through their written works as well as their participation in legal activities. All their work had an impact on the different levels in the ecclesiastical organization, i.e., the parishes, the dioceses, and the church province as a whole. The bishops as well as the parish priests, the secular leaders as well as the farmers, were all influenced by their contributions in the sphere of church law. Their efforts at spreading and inventing ecclesiastical decrees and prescriptions had long-lasting consequences for the church in Sweden and were sometimes relevant for the rest of the Middle Ages until the Reformation changed the foundations for church law—in fact, in some cases even after that.