The Consolation of Soldiers: religious life in the Swedish army during the Great Northern War

Abstract

It is commonly acknowledged that an elaborated military pastoral care provided a significant contribution to the efficiency of the Swedish army during the Great Northern War (1700–1721). Usually battle preparations and the chaplains’ efforts to instil morale and discipline among the soldiers are emphasized. In this article my aim is to provide a somewhat different idea on the nature of the religious life in the army of Charles XII. By focusing in turn on the chaplains’ duties, the military sermons, the hymns sung in the army and the soldiers’ reading of prayer books, I point at the similarities between military and civilian religious life in early 18th-century Sweden.

Keywords:

• Great Northern War
• military pastoral care
• chaplains
• sermons
• hymns
• prayer books

Notes

1 On the Prussian chaplaincy, see Marschke, Absolutely Pietist. For the English Civil War, see Laurence, Parliamentary Army Chaplains; Griffin, Regulating Religion and Morality. Important anthologies are Bergen, The Sword of the Lord; Kaiser and Kroll, Militär und Religiosität in der Frühen Neuzeit; Brendle and Schindling, Geistliche im Krieg; Teulié and Lux-sterritt, War Sermons.

2 For a survey of the principal arguments, see Rogers, The Military Revolution Debate.

3 Krijgs Articlar som fordom then Stormechtigste Furste och Herre. A detailed study on the origin of these articles is found in Gierow, Bidrag till det svenska militärkyrkoväsendets historia, 69–124. For the English case, Margaret Griffin has demonstrated that the orders of Gustavus Adolphus had an important influence on military orders issued for the king’s armies even before the formation of the parliamentarian New Model Army. Griffin, Regulating Religion and Morality, 20–1, 25–6, 141–5, 150–1, 177. On the Prussian case, see Marschke, Absolutely Pietist, 20–2. Sample editions of European military regulations reveal Swedish influences on the Swiss (Zürich) Articles of War. Corpus Iuris Militaris, 287–318, 341–84.

4 Krigs-Articlar Som af then Stormägtigste Konung.

5 Englund, Poltava, 16–18; Konovaltjuk and Lyth, Vägen till Poltava, 83, 128–32; Sjöström, Fraustadt 1706, 151–3.

6 Riksarkivet (RA). Konsistoriernas skrifvelser till Kongl. Maj:t, 18. Fältkonsistorium 1648–1814: ‘Specification uppå feltpredikanternes löhn och underhåll så wijda man nu för tijden kunnat derom någon nyare underrättelse inhämta’, P. Lampa, Thorn 14 July 1703; ‘Underdånigt Memorial’, J. Thingwallius, 20 October 1702.

7 As described in, for example, Agrell, ‘Sven Agrells dagbok’, 3–23.

8 Eneman, ‘Bref från Michael Eneman’, 61. A list of the captive chaplains written in Moscow in 1710 is preserved in the National Archives, RA. Acta Ecclesiastica, Fältkonsistoriets akter 1705–20, vol. 162. For detailed studies of the battle of Poltava, see, for example, Englund, Poltava; Moltusov, Poltava 1709.

9 Westerman, ‘Självbiografiska anteckningar’, 166.

10 As prescribed in the Articles of War and the infantry regulations of 1701. Förordning och reglemente för infanteriet, ‘X. Capitlet. Om Gudztiensten’.

11 Contrary to Prussia, where so-called ‘Handbücher für Feldprediger’ became important for the creation of a specific chaplains’ identity in the 18th century. Strauss, ‘Kollektive Kriegserfahrung preussicher Feldprediger’, 163–80.

12 Sjöberg, Kvinnor i fält, 121–31, 135–7.

13 Agrell, ‘Sven Agrells dagbok’, 23; Westerman, ‘Självbiografiska anteckningar’, 158, 165. The subjects in which the candidates should be examined were specified in the church law. 1686 års kyrkolag, 60–2.

14 RA. Acta Ecclesiastica, Fältkonsistoriets akter 1705–20, vol. 159: A. Westerman to field consistory, 15 July 1706.

15 1686 års kyrkolag, 25–6, 35.

16 RA. Acta Ecclesiastica, Fältkonsistoriets akter 1705–20, vol. 159: J. Bodin to field consistory, 26 April 1705.

17 RA. A. Westerman to field consistory, 15 July 1706.

18 A closer relationship could, for example, evolve from when chaplains wrote letters on behalf of soldiers not able to write themselves. But more often these soldiers send their greetings to their families in their comrades’ letters. Ullgren, Uppsnappade brev, 56–60.

19 Brief surveys of the life and work of the 17th- and 18th-century Swedish clergyman are found in Bergström, ‘Lantprästen’, 71–101; Norrman, ‘Den svenske prästen’, 238–47.

20 Lindberg, Johannes Rudbeckius som predikant, 75; Lizell, ‘Svenska prediko-teorier’, 160; Quensel, Homiletik, 353–4.

21 Skarstedt, Predikoverksamhetens och den andliga vältalighetens historia, 86; Brilioth, Predikans historia, 190.

22 Conclusions based on studies of many sermons delivered by Aurivillius. Uppsala universitetsbibliotek (UUB). T213, T213a-e, Magnus Aurivillius, predikningar. The structure of his sermons has many similarities to the structure of the general funeral sermon, which is the most studied type of sermon from 18th-century Sweden. On funeral sermons, see Stenberg, Döden dikterar, 108. On homiletical methods, see Brilioth, Predikans historia, 111–15, 187–95.

23 Gudmundsson, ‘Vad predikades i Poltava?’, 97–9.

24 Idman, Folcketz Roop på Norska Fiällerne. On the retreat of General Armfeldt’s army, see Hansson, Armfeldts karoliner.

25 One sermon was delivered again in 1716, 1717 and 1726. UUB. T213c: Magnus Aurivillius on 26th Sunday p. Trinity 1708, Romny in Ukraine.

26 Conclusions based on studies of many sermons delivered by Aurivillius. UUB. T213, T213a-e, Magnus Aurivillius, predikningar. This will be further developed in my doctoral thesis.

27 The Lutheran doctrine of vocation held a key position in early modern Sweden. For example, in funeral sermons a married woman’s death during child birth was compared to a soldier’s death in battle or a preacher’s death in his pulpit: they all died in their vocation. Bergner, ‘Dygden som levnadskonst’, 117–18, 120–1.

28 Although disobedience and insubordination of course existed in the army of Charles XII too. See Perlestam, Lydnad i karolinernas tid; Perlestam, ‘The Face of Disobedience’.

29 Gudmundsson, ‘Vad predikades i Poltava?’, 100–1.

30 Marschke, Absolutely Pietist, 90.

31 Griffin, Regulating Religion and Morality, 160–4, 208.

32 Eijnatten, ‘Reaching Audiences’, 130.

33 Hildebrand, Stormaktstidens fältpräster, 5–6; Eriksson, Lützen 1632, 233, 288–91. Fabricius’s own account (in German) is printed in Wittrock, ‘Fyra relationer om slaget vid Lützen’, 305–7.

34 Two contemporary accounts are found in Petre, ‘Fänrik Robert Petres dagbok 1702–1709’, 13, 48–9; Norsbergh, ‘Skrifvaren Magnus Norsberghs dagbok 1707–1710’, 195.

35 Psalms 6, 30, 32, 38, 42, 51, 90, 91, 102, 130, 143 and 144. Botvidi, Agenda Ecclesiastica, ‘De precibus matutinis & vespertinis’.

36 Montgomery, Sveriges kyrkohistoria, 171–2.

37 Psalms 2, 20, 44, 46, 56, 60, 61, 74, 76, 77, 79, 80, 83 and 85. RA. Konsistoriernas skrifvelser till Kongl. Maj:t, 18. Fältkonsistorium 1648–1814: ‘Böön-formulair, som med Kongl Arméen i Rooslagen, kommer wid morgon- och afton-böönstunderna att brukas’, M. Sahlstedt, Roslagen July 1715.

38 UUB. T213a: Magnus Aurivillius on Easter Monday 1709, Budissini in Ukraine; T213b: Magnus Aurivillius on Whitsunday 1709, Poltava in Ukraine; T213: Magnus Aurivillius on First Sunday after New Year’s Day 1709, Krasnokutsk in Ukraine. On hymns in church services, see Liedgren‚ Svensk psalm och andlig visa, 240–4.

39 Fisher, ‘Music and Religious Change’, 387–93; Liedgren‚ Svensk psalm och andlig visa, 61–4; Selander, ‘Luthers psalmer i Sverige’, 365.

40 See also Hildebrand, Stormaktstidens fältpräster, 13–14; Konovaltjuk and Lyth, Vägen till Poltava, 129–30.

41 Gudmundsson, ‘Kring krigsbönböcker och korum’, 41–5. Prayer books published by field superintendents include: Botvidi, Några Böner Allom Christnom högnödige (1629); Fabricius, Etliche Gebett (1632); Decenius, Ernewerte Gebets- und Kirchen-Ordnung (1637).

42 Griffin, Regulating Religion and Morality, 160–4, 208.

43 Gudmundsson, ‘Kring krigsbönböcker och korum’, 47. This seems to be a reasonable figure since it coincides with estimations of reading ability in general in early 18th-century Sweden. Johansson, The History of Literacy in Sweden, 41.

44 Piper, Landshöfdingen Gustaf Abraham Pipers minnen, 20.

45 RA. Acta Ecclesiastica, Fältkonsistoriets akter 1705–20, vol. 159: C. Moraeus to field consistory, Frawstad 11 February 1705; vol. 161: S. Bruhn to field consistory, Elbing 5 May 1704; vol. 161: A. Swebilius to field consistory, Banckou 3 June 1704.

46 Gudmundsson, ‘Poltavaboken’, 202–3.

47 Åberg, Fångars elände, 114–15.

48 Landsarkivet i Härnösand (HLA). Gästriklands domsagas arkiv, Bouppteckningar och arvskiften 1710–1780, FII:1, ‘Petre, Robert’. On prayer books in 17th-century Sweden, see Lindquist, Studier i den svenska andaktslitteraturen under stormaktstidevarvet.

49 A great deal is written on the connections made between Swedish captives in Russia and the Halle Pietists. See Lenhammar, Sveriges kyrkohistoria, 15–25; Åberg, Fångars elände, 109–25, with lists of references.

50 On Swedish battle tactics during the Great Northern War, see Artéus, Krigsteori och historisk förklaring, vol. 2, 28–42.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Gudmundsson

David Gudmundsson is a doctoral student in Church History at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University. His thesis project is entitled Konfessionell krigsmakt. Predikan och bön i den svenska armén 1611–1721 (Confessional Forces. Preaching and Prayer in the Swedish Army 1611–1721). He has written several articles on chaplains, military sermons and prayers in early modern Sweden.