Footnote 370: Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 515, seq. Footnote 371: Vol. III. (First Series), book x. chap. vi., and this volume. Footnote 372: Finni Johannæi, _H. E. Islandiæ_, ii. p. 491, seq. Footnote 373: Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 533. Footnote 374: _Danske Magazin_, iii. p. 242. Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 534. Footnote 375: Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. pp. 542, seq. CHAPTER VI. THE EARLIEST REFORMERS OF SWEDEN. (1516-1523.) We have just considered the Reformation in Denmark; we must now cross the Sound, and enter upon the study of that of Sweden. At the period of the Reformation, the three Scandinavian states, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were, as we have stated, united and subject to the same monarch, Christian II. The peoples of these three countries had and still have some features in common; but each of them has also features peculiar to itself. Christian himself appeared under very different aspects in Denmark and in Sweden. Many different elements which we must not forget co-operate in fashioning the history of a people. The nature of a country, its geographical situation, the effect of climate, the various characteristics of its population, their historical traditions, the genius and the aptitudes of races, the intellectual and spiritual cravings of individuals—all these combined with influences from above affect the destiny of nations and have their share in determining a religious revolution. The diversity of these causes is very conspicuous in Sweden. The Scandinavian Alps, peopled with a race of men possessing great liveliness of spirit, who are animated by a strong love of freedom and distinguished by remarkable industrial skill, were the hearth of noble aspirations and the place where those mighty arms were fabricated which gave to their country independence and the Reformation. The personages of history can not be considered apart from the medium in which they lived. The events of the past, the conditions which environed them at the moment of their activity, contributed to the formation of their conceptions and to the origination of their actions. The modern theory which would make of political and religious actors mere organs of social necessity, can not be too energetically rejected. Conscience, will, and freedom are the highest principles; but while we insist on and exalt these first causes, we must not disregard secondary causes. Two of these lower elements, nature and race, exerted an influence upon the Swedish Reformation.[376] [Sidenote: Olaf And Lawrence Peterson.]