In this indispensable work concerning an important period in Sweden’s history, Anjou delivers a detailed account of the Reformation in that country in three books. Beginning with the state of the Catholic Church in Sweden prior to 1520, Anjou moves through papal dispatches and Lutheran intrigues to assess the state of the church up until 1527 in book one. Book two covers developments from the Diet of Westeras in 1527 through the death of Archbishop Laurentius Petri in 1573. Assessing the state of the Swedish Church in 1573, book three moves through the essential developments in the church in Europe as Sweden continued in its own direction, including the development of its liturgy. The book ends with the Council of Upsala in 1593. Important historical documents are recounted in the substantial appendices.

Lars Anton Anjou (1803-1884) was a noted church historian at Uppsala University. His important contribution to both the history of Sweden and to church history was his monumental History of the Reformation in Sweden.