Pre-Modern Seminar No 42: Antti Räihä

On Monday April 20th Antti Räihä (Academy of Finland) will give a talk called:

“Lutheran Clergy in the Orthodox Empire: Appointment of Vicars in the 18th Century Karelia”

The seminar will take place in the library of Skandinavistika (Ülikooli 17, 3rd floor, room 305) at 18.15.
 

Antti has sent us a short presentation of his lecture:

“Parishioners’ right to take part and to influence the choice of local clergy has in Sweden (including Finland) a long history and can be found substantiated as far as the medieval law-rolls of the Swedish Provinces. In particular, procedures for electing the vicar are described in historiography as a specifically Swedish (and Finnish) feature and base of local self-government. However, this view can be nuanced. I will focus in my presentation on parishioners’ possibilities (and willingness) to influence in regard to the appointment of vicars. The resolution to the clergy’s inconveniences at the Swedish parliament (Riksdag) of 1731 involved a victory for the meritocratic line that the chapter (or consistory) had fought for in the previous decades. Detailed regulations of the clergy elections were effected through the clergy election ordinance of 1739.  Theme of my research will be approached through a detailed examination of polling and inter-change of vicars in the Russia’s Western border area in the 18th century. The Treaty of Åbo (1743), concluded between Sweden and Russia ensured that the existing Swedish law, including canon law of 1686, old Swedish privileges and statutes, as well as the freedom to practise the Lutheran religion, remained in force in the area annexed to Russia. While analysing practical process of vicar appointments it is at the same time both possible to discuss the development of the local political culture and the interaction between the central power and the local society in the early modern era.”

Everybody is welcome!