MAGNUS, JOHANNES AND OLAUS

Johannes, Swedish archbishop and historian; b. Linköping, Sweden, March 19, 1488; d. Rome, March 22, 1544. Olaus, historian and geographer; b. Linköping, Oct. 1490; d. Rome, Aug. 1, 1557. Sweden became Lutheran during their lifetime.

They were sons of a burgher of Linköping and were educated at the cathedral school of Västerås and at European universities. In 1523 Adrian VI sent Johannes, his former student at Louvain, to Sweden as papal legate to investigate the accusations of Gustavus Vasa, the newly elected king, that Abp. Trolle of Uppsala was treasonably supporting the Danish king's claims to the Swedish throne. In 1524 Clement VII refused the request of the canons of Uppsala to depose Trolle and to make Johannes archbishop, but Johannes was made administrator of the archdiocese. By 1526 Vasa began to support Lutheranism openly, partly because the pope supported Trolle. Johannes resisted the religious changes. He was arrested for treason, but he was released eventually and allowed to leave Sweden. He and Olaus, who had been away from Sweden since 1534 on missions for the king, lived in Danzig until they moved to Rome (1541). Johannes was consecrated archbishop of Uppsala in 1533 but never resided in his see. When he died (1544), Olaus was named archbishop of Uppsala. Olaus distinguished himself at the Council of Trent.

Both men were renowned scholars. Johannes wrote a history of Scandinavian kings, edited and published by Olaus (Rome 1554), and a history of the metropolitan See of Uppsala (Rome 1557) with a biography of him by Olaus. Olaus published a Carta marina (Venice 1539), a work remarkable for its description of the physical features of Northern Europe. It furnishes much information on the type of geographic data available in the 16th century. Olaus published a companion volume (Rome 1555) on the topography, natural history, ethnography, and the economic and political conditions of the Scandinavian world, of which there is an abridged English translation (Antwerp 1658) and an Italian translation (Turin 1958).

Bibliography: e. lynam, The Carta Marina of Olaus Magnus (Jenkintown, Pa. 1949). h. jÄgerstadt, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1287.

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