l
as well as a protector in the temporary head of the diocese.

Immediately after his election, the new King called Lars Andersson from
Straengnaes to become his first chancellor. Later on, he pressed Olof,
too, into his service, making him Secretary to the City Corporation
of Stockholm--which meant that Olof practically became the chief
civil administrator of the capital, having to act as both clerk and
magistrate, while at the same time he was continuing his reformatory
propaganda as one of the preachers in the city's principal edifice,
officially named after St. Nicolaus, but commonly spoken of as
Greatchurch. As if this were not sufficient for one man, he plunged also
into a feverish literary activity, doing most of the work on the Swedish
translations of the New and Old Testaments, and paving the way for the
new faith by a series of vigorous polemical writings, the style of which
proclaims him the founder of modern Swedish prose. Centuries passed
before the effective simplicity and homely picturesqueness of his style
were surpassed. He became, furthermore, Sweden's first dramatist. The
Comedy of Tobit, from which Strindberg uses a few passages in slightly
modernized form at the beginning of his play, is now generally
recognized as an authentic product of Olof's pen, although it was not
written until a much later period.

Strindberg's drama starts at Straengnaes, at the very moment when Olof has
been goaded into open revolt against the abuses of the Church, and when
he is saved from the consequences of that revolt only by the unexpected
arrival of King Gustaf and his own appointment as City Secretary. From
the slightly strained, but not improbable, coincidence of that start
to the striking climax of the last act, the play follows, on the whole,
pretty closely the actual course of events recorded in history. To
understand this course, with its gradually intensified conflict between
the King and Olof, it is above all necessary to bear in mind that the
former regarded the Reformation principally as a means toward that
political reorganization and material upbuilding of the country which
formed his main task; while to Olof the religious reconstruction assumed
supreme importance. This fundamental divergence of purpose is clearly
indicated and effectively used by Strindberg, and we have reason to
believe that he has pictured not only Gustaf Vasa and Master Olof, but
also the other historical characters, in close accordan