Аннотация:This article argues that just two aspects of the Renaissance became essential to seventeenth-century Sweden. The first was, of course, Latin Renaissance humanism, which became influential in Sweden from the sixteenth century onwards and was led by a group of scholars who saw themselves as the custodians of literary culture. The second was governed by the Royal Office in Stockholm, and although it was to prove less influential, its scope was ambitiously wide. It wanted to show the rest of Europe that Sweden was the country of the Ancient Goths but not, as one might expect from such origins, a barbarian country on the fringes of the continent, but rather a nation whose cultural history was as long as – and perhaps even more illustrious than – that of other countries. It also wanted to cultivate the native language and literature. This endeavour was closely tied to Sweden's status as a major power that the country had begun to attain in the 1610s and 1620s by virtue of its military exploits. This article sketches the history of these two Renaissances, the initial incompatability between them, and how they came to merge in the 1660s into a Renaissance that was both learned and nationalistic.
