Church Church of Sweden Children 2 Appointed 1574 Spouse Margareta Larsdotter Consecration July 14, 1575 | Nationality Swede Predecessor Laurentius Petri In office 1574-1579 Name Laurentius Gothus | |
Rank Metropolitan Archbishop Died February 12, 1579, Uppsala, Sweden Successor Andreas Laurentii Bjornram | ||
Archdiocese Archdiocese of Uppsala | ||
Laurentius Petri Gothus (died 12 February 1579) was the second Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden. He served from 1575 - 1579 AD. He was born in either 1529 or 1530 in the province of Östergötland, from where his name Gothus was derived as a means of distinguishing him from his predecessor, Laurentius Petri Nericius.
Nericius recommended Gothus' appointment as court chaplain to King Erik XIV in 1560. When Erik's successor, John III, was crowned, John preferred Gothus to Nericius, since Gothus was more in agreement with the king's own view on Lutheranism. They advocated a middle way between Catholicism and Lutheranism in Sweden, unlike Nericius, who was more inclined to Luther's teachings.
He was ordained by the king in 1575 in a ceremony with Catholic elements, including a cope and typical Catholic rituals.
In the 1570s, Jesuits were allowed to spread their messages. As a reaction, Gothus wrote several texts against papism and liturgy. Some of Gothus's texts show him as a supporter of liturgy, however, while also at the same time favoring Luther's works.