At the beginning of the sixteenth century the kingdoms of Scandinavia continued to function within their medieval framework. Social and financial arrangements, and political and religious institutions were essentially what they had been for more than a century. The Union of Kalmar united the three kingdoms in a decentralized administration; the Catholic Church was the most effective instrument of communication and control; and Lübeck and the Hanse vied with the Netherlands for commercial dominance. Dissatisfaction and unrest were rife in the three kingdoms, but there were few warnings of the storm about to break. Then, suddenly, the Union of Kalmar came to an abrupt end. Sweden won her independence and Norway lost hers. Scandinavians toppled the old church and shattered Lübeck's commercial imperium. The crowns of Denmark and Sweden laid the foundations for centralized states on the ruins of old institutions and organizations. All of this in the space of twenty-five years. The quarter-century between 1520 and 1545 is the most revolutionary period Scandinavians have ever experienced.

The mention of church reform as just one element in a very complicated situation will seem questionable to those for whom the Reformation is preeminently the era of religious conflict. I do not underestimate the importance of church reform, but I have become convinced that concentration on the religious transformation underplays and distorts other parts of the story. The Protestant Reformation did not take place in a vacuum.