People refuse to pay tithes to the new Church and 15 churches are closed.
At the same time that the Count's Feud was raging in Denmark, the Norwegians tried to take power back in their own country and bring the Faroe Islands back under Bergenhus. Mynd: Petr Šmerkl / Wikimedia
In recent times much has been said and written about the Reformation, and it has to be said that the debate has been one-sided. In this article I want to briefly demonstrate the strong resistance of the populace, which occurred in the Faroes against the Reformation.
In order to get a better perspective, I will briefly show the chain of events in Iceland and in Norway. I will also discuss which motives the king had to establish the Reformation and to look at some of the consequences that resulted from this.
Denmark in the 1500s
Denmark in the second half of the Middle Ages was strongly influenced by northern Germany. The Oldenburg family sat on the throne and steered the powerful Hansa merchants’ commerce in the region. At that time there was an expansive movement of nobles and merchants from northern Germany to Denmark, and many Danish students attended the northern German universities. This situation had a tremendous influence on the Danish language, culture, religion and politics.
In the 1520s and ´30s the princes in the German regions began to support the Lutheran doctrines. One of the main reasons for this was most likely that Luther preached obedience toward the worldly powers and that all church property be taken from the Catholic Church and handed over to the king or the prince. Therefore, the German princes and, not in the least, the Danish king were foremost in establishing the Reformation in their territories.
The Reformation established in Norway
Luther preached obedience to the secular authorities, and that all church property should be taken from the Catholics. Painting: Lucas Cranach the elder - GalleriX, wikimedia.
At the command of the Danish king, Christian III, the Reformation was introduced into Norway in 1537 without the Norwegians having anything to say about it. Some of the bishops tried to resist, but their small peasant armies were no match against the professional Danish army.
Because of the Reformation, the status of Norway in the Danish/Norwegian kingdom was likewise changed from being an independent country to a Danish province managed by Danish/German officials. This had a very negative influence on the Norwegian language and culture, and the old Norwegian written language among other things had to give way to the Danish. In the same way, the Danish king took all of the Norwegian church property, and at the same time robbed the Norwegians of their Catholic faith, for which they had a special preference, and which had shown them the way to Heaven through faith, the sacraments and good deeds. According to the Protestant theologians and historians, Gervin (1999) and Garstien (1993), it did not seem like the Church in Norway had the same problems as e.g. the Church in Germany. Quite the contrary.
In the beginning the powers that be were very cautious. The king knew that there was danger of revolt. Therefore, the Catholic priests were allowed to work in peace in the beginning. But when they passed away, they were replaced by new Danish Lutheran pastors, who now preached long sermons in Danish, a language most of the Norwegians at that time did not understand. They were used to hearing the sermons in Norwegian.
Soon these new pastors began with great arrogance to remove and destroy holy pictures, Catholic books and other sacred items and to whitewash the beautiful frescos in the church room. This made the Norwegians very angry, and they forced the new pastors in many places to celebrate the Mass according to the old way. In other places they paid the authorities huge sums of money to get rid of the Lutheran pastors, and in still other places the Norwegian peasants killed the Danish pastors. In many places they stopped going to church and to pay tithes, which resulted in many churches being closed. At the same time the king shut down and sold hundreds of churches in the realm to fill up the almost empty coffers.
Christian III was the king who carried out the Reformation. He owed a great deal of money to mercenary troops after the Count’s Feud, and therefore the church property in the Faroe Islands, among other things, was very useful to him. Wikipedia.
Now that the Catholic faith was forbidden, faithful Catholics hid bibles, missals and other sacred items in secret places. They met in secret in the forests and mountains for prayer and to hold devotions. They also made secret pilgrimages to the old pilgrim sites. Documents show that in the 1500s and 1600s many Norwegians, both men and women, rowed across the North Sea to present day Belgium in order to celebrate Easter according to the ancient ritual and to receive the sacraments. People travelled also long distances in Norway itself to participate in secret Catholic Masses.
A ban on practicing the Catholic faith was proclaimed, and in 1555 two Norwegian peasants were burned at the stake for having encouraged people to honour the Mother of Jesus, because the new faith taught that doing so was idolatry. (The Catholics referred to Lk.1,48 – Behold, from this day on all generations will call me blessed). Later, many others suffered the same fate.
The Lutheran pastor, Peter Clausen Fris, writes in the late 1600s that people in many parts of Norway asked God to restore the papacy to the country.
Development in Iceland
It was the Danish/German officials, Klaus van Merwitz and Ditrik von Minden, who were commissioned with the task of establishing the new Lutheran faith in Iceland. At the beginning, they proceeded very cautiously, but when the Icelanders refused the new German doctrine, they, among other things, reacted by attacking and plundering Viðey monastery, where the canons were thrown out of bed and maltreated, and where all valuables were stolen. In other monasteries and churches in Iceland, many books were burned by the Lutheran pastors, (among others the library in Helgafellis monastery was subjected to 2-3 book burnings).
After having attacked and plundered Viðey monastery, the king’s men marched up to the episcopal residence in Skálholt, (the Diocese in the southern part of Iceland), where they attacked the old, blind bishop, Øgmund. The Icelanders did not tolerate this and rushed to the bishop’s help and killed the attackers. Later, the old bishop was brought on board a Danish warship, where he was maltreated and died of dismemberment, according to Heinasson (1922). His successor, Gissur Einarsson, whom Bishop Øgmund had pointed to as his successor, but who in the greatest secrecy had gone over to the new faith, began immediately to remove sacred objects and other objects which the Lutherans considered superstitious.
After Gissur had removed a wooden cross, which was believed to have healing powers, from Kaldaðnesi, a place of pilgrimage, where many people gathered for prayer, he became ill and died shortly afterwards only 33 years old. After this event, Jón Arason, the Bishop of Hólum, (the Diocese in the northern part of Iceland), attempted to take back control of Skálholt and make it Catholic again, but failed. He along with his two sons were taken prisoners. The Lutheran bishop in Iceland together with the king’s provost, Kristian Skriver, resolved to have them executed without trial. They were beheaded the 7th of November 1550 in Skálholt.
The news that Jón Arason and his sons were executed aroused great sorrow and anger, and the Icelanders took revenge by attacking Kristian Skriver, killing him along with his sons. The year after, Jón Arason and his sons were buried i Hólum. The bishop’s death was looked upon as a martyrdom.
The Lutheran bishop, Jón Helgason (1922), wrote the following as to how the Icelanders received the new teaching:
The people as a whole were intensely devoted to the holy Catholic Church, her teachings and customs and remained so. This is why the voices of the Reformation, when they were heard on Icelandic soil, found no further echo in the hearts of the population” (Helgason 1922).
The news that Jón Árason and his sons had been executed caused great sorrow and outrage in Iceland. The following spring, they were buried at the bishop’s seat at Hólar. Photo: Unknown source. Please contact us if you know the photographer.
Concerning the motives of the Danish royalty to introduce the Lutheran doctrine in Iceland, Helgason writes as follows:
On the contrary, it had shown itself from the beginning that religious motives were the least of all behind the king’s eagerness to introduce the Reformation in Iceland. And if it not been clear before, it now became so with the abolition of monasteries and the confiscation of monastic properties along with the systematic plundering of the beforehand quite so impoverished Icelandic churches. The spoils flowed into the royal coffers, where there always was a lack of money, and only the smallest portion of the monies collected in this manner was used for church purposes. The entire ostentatious way in which the people were violently wrenched from their customary conceptions of the Faith without any serious attempt to give them something better in stead, had to simply make the Reformation look badly in the eyes of many, and especially the serious minded. The effects of the new doctrine’s introduction in the country in the first years were primarily just plain corruption of morals (Helgason 1922).
Thus, according to Jón Helgason, the Lutheran bishop of Iceland, who wrote the church history of Iceland, it was not for spiritual reasons that the Reformation was introduced into Iceland but greed for money. This greed by the royalty was also made evident by the plundering by the first Lutheran bishop of the silver reliquary in which the bones of the Icelandic saint, Bishop Thorlak, were laid and smelted into silver coins. The same thing happened in Norway with the holy reliquary containing the bones of St. Olaf. Thus, those who had accused the ancient Church of being greedy, were themselves far worse.
The Reformation in the Faroe Islands
On Ólavsøka in 1538, the assembly had gathered to approve a new bailiff, and there are indications that the new church ordinance was adopted at this session of the assembly. Photo: Unknown source. Please contact us if you know the photographer.
The last Catholic bishop in the Faroe Islands was Ámund Ólavsson. According to J. Dahl he had most likely been a priest and canon in Norway before becoming bishop of the Faroe Islands. He was installed by King Frederik I and was seated “According to their conditions and desires, who in the country lived”. That is, the Faroese themselves had pointed to him. He promised Frederik I and his men fidelity and obtained the bishopric for 1000 Faroese guiders. The fact that it was the king and not the archbishop who installed the bishop indicates that the Church in Norway already at that time was weakened. (Hamburg, which belonged to the Danish Kingdom, had already in 1528 become Lutheran, and this new doctrine spread to Bjørgvin (Bergen) through the Hansa merchants).
The Faroe Islands oppressed by the German overlords in the 1500s
It seems that the Faroe Islands were quite oppressed by the German overlords in the 1500s. These were the so-called Hansa merchants, (German merchants particularly from Lübeck and Hamburg), who obtained the Faroe Islands as a fiefdom from the Danish kings and thereby also the commercial rights and the right to collect taxes on the islands for the king. When Frederik I died the 10th of April, the “Grevens Fejde” i.e. the conflict between Christian II and Christian III on who was to be the next king of Denmark, began.
At the same time, the Norwegians attempted to once again retake control over their own country, and on “Herredagene” (meeting of government officials) in Norway, the 15th of August 1533, it was recommended that the Faroe Islands again come under the House of Bergen, to which it had originally belonged.
The Norwegians pointed out that they never had given Joachim Wullenweber from Hamburg, (who represented Christian II) and Thomas Koppen, (who represented Christian III), authority to take the Faroe Islands as a fiefdom, and that these men had the intent to subject the Faroe Islands under themselves and tear them away from Norway. The Lutheran faith did not have many adherents in Norway, and therefore, a large part of the Norwegian Royal Council was Catholic with Archbishop Ólav and Eske Bille, head of the House of Bergen, at the head.
The chairman (lagmand) of the Faroese Parliament wrote back to Eske Bille the 23rd of May, 1534, expressing his joy to once again come under Bergen, and that he would with everything in his power support it. However, he knew also that the overlords from Hamburg with the king’s authority refused the Faroese pay taxes and rent out to no one else but themselves.
Bishop Ámund wrote the same in his answer to Eske Bille the 30th of May, 1534, and that he secretly knew that Thomas Koppen had obtained the Faroe Islands as a fiefdom for life from Frederik I, and that Koppen would not let neither the Norwegians nor Joachim Wullenweber collect taxes in the Faroe Islands. Ámund thought himself bound by his promise of fidelity to King Frederik I and his successors. Therefore, he found it difficult to support the Norwegians, even though that is what he wanted to do. Thus, the Faroese were thrown backwards and forwards by the conflicting parties, and often did not know to whom they should pay taxes.
The beginning of the Reformation in the Faroe Islands
On the 10th of April, 1535 King Christian III wrote a letter to the Faroese declaring that he had appointed Thomas Koppen as the bailiff and “chairman” in the Faroe Islands and that the Faroese should obey him, and that he had to comply with the law of St. Olav. Even though the letter was sent with a Catholic greeting and that he was to comply with the law of St. Olav, the fact that he was to be “chairman” was a sign that his task was to establish the Reformation in the Faroe Islands, and that this new doctrine was the instrument he was to use to get a hold of the Church’s property on the islands.
The Parliament did not have any other choice but to meet and deal with the matter. In its letter to King Christian III the 15th of August, 1535, it stated that the chairman along with the majority of the Parliament had agreed with King Christian III, that Thomas Koppen should be the bailiff and chairman. Bishop Ámund had not signed the letter.
Bishop Ámund deceived by the king and a victim of false charges
On the 17th of February, 1536, the king wrote that he now had made peace with Lübeck and that the strife over royal power was over. In this letter, there was no St. Olav greeting and the bishop was not named. Now the tone was more Lutheran. The king encouraged the Faroese to pay taxes only to Thomas Koppen. In 1538 Bishop Ámund received a communication from Thomas Koppen, that the king would now confiscate the Church’s property in the Faroes. Concerning this matter, it appears that Koppen proceeded cautiously. He very likely knew that not everyone would be pleased with the decision. Bishop Ámund answered his letter from 26th of May, 1538, in a respectful way and said that he was deceived by the king, and that his adversaries had brought lies and gossip about him and the Church, and he asked Koppen not to believe these lies.
We do not know what tomfoolery had been at play here, but Bishop Ámund had obtained the bishopric for life from King Frederik I. And it was not so easy to depose him. However, from this it can be surmised that he was a victim of false charges that were so serious, that the authorities could have demanded him deposed.
On Olav’s Day 1538, the bishop met with the Parliament together with Heina Joensen Officialis (the famous Heini Havreki), who was closest to the bishop. At the same time all the Faroese priests, the chairman of the Parliament and the lay judges (lagrettemænd) were gathered together to approve a new bailiff.
(Even though it is not evident from the documents, there are things which indicate that the new Church ordinance was passed at this Parliament session. Thus, the Reformation was thereby established, seeing that, as the king’s governor, Thomas Koppen, at the beginning of the year had announced to Bishop Ámund that the king now would lay hold of all the property of the Church in the Faroe Islands. Also, in the same year, the new ordinance was introduced to the Alting (parliament) in Iceland.)
Bishop Ámund had undoubtedly protested against this and in the same way against the new German doctrine, which in comparison to the ancient teaching of the Church, was pure heresy. From this and possibly because of the false accusations, which were charged against him, he was, by all appearances, deposed and led to Denmark. According to Dahl, Bishop Ámund died in the monastery in Antvorskov on Zealand in 1551.
All the Catholic priests were deposed except two – Br. Morten from southern Streymoy (the main island of the Faroes) and Br. Andras from Suduroy (the southernmost island), who joined in to spread the new doctrine. The others were sent to Sandoy, where there were under house arrest in Traðargard until their deaths. (It seems, however, that Heini Joensen had later gone over to the new faith in that he became the provost in the Faroe Islands.)
Resistance against the Lutheran faith and the disappearance of 15 churches after the Reformation in the Faroe Islands
The prayer house site in Leirvík. When so many churches and prayer houses were closed down, Faroese people in many places had to make dangerous journeys across mountains, fjords, and sounds to reach the church villages, including to bury their dead. Photo: Unknown source. Please contact us if you know the photographer.
Even though the Parliament of the Faroe Islands had had no other choice but to approve the new Lutheran doctrine, and that the prohibition of Catholic practice in the Danish kingdom was exacted, there are signs that this new doctrine, just like in Norway and in Iceland, was not welcomed by all in the Faroes, and that not all the Faroese had listened to what the king’s men had said. According to sources, at least 15 churches disappeared in the Faroes after the Reformation, and we know about two churches, that were moved from one village to another.
According to the Norwegian priest, Peder Clausen Friis (1592), 52 churches existed in the Faroes. He mentioned that the list which he followed, was from the time of the black death, but that many more churches were built after that time. Some were since “destroyed”. Hardly 80 years later, (1673-74) Lucas Debes mentioned that there existed 39 churches in the Faroes, but why did all these churches disappear after the Reformation?
The church of Hov
The legend relates that Leivur Øssurson built the first church in the village of Hov in Suðuroy shortly after Christianity was introduced into the Faroes. He was married to Tóru Sigmundardóttir. She made the condition concerning church building, that it had to be built near the farmhouse. There were 5 churches until the last one was torn down and moved to Porkeri. There was no church in Hov from the time of the Reformation until 1943.
According to the legends the reason for the church in Hov being torn down and moved to the neighbouring village was this: The people from Hov were so rooted in their ancient faith, plus the fact that they would not accept the new Lutheran doctrine, that no church was therefore built in Hov again. That is to say, tearing down a church, was a punishment inflicted by the Danish king.
The order from the Danish royal authorities seemed to have been: If you do not accept the new Lutheran doctrine, we will take the church from you and move it to the neighbouring village. These were indeed very severe terms. To remove a sacred place from the people as revenge for them not changing faiths, was a brutal punishment. It must be remembered that the Catholic faith from around the year 1000 was deeply ingrained in the people. This gives us the possibility of pointing out why 15 churches and prayer houses were torn down after the Reformation in the Faroes.
The fact that the church in Hov was torn down was a punishment from the Danish royal authorities because the people of Hov did not want to accept the new Lutheran doctrine. The people of Hov did not get a church again until 1943. Photo: Unknown source. Please contact us if you know the photographer.
The church in Syðrugøta
According to the legends, Tróndur of Gøti (the Viking chief in the Faroes) built a church in Syðrugøta, when he became a Christian, and this was in the Catholic period. There should also have been a cemetery in the northern part of the village, at a place called “í Svørtumýru”, but both the church and the cemetery were later moved to Norðagøta. (Gregoriussen 1995, p.44)
The reason for the removal of the church was said to have been: That the church fell into ignominy by a murder commited there on Christmas day – and it was said that there were two brothers, who
got into a quarrel, resulting in the one killing the other. (E.Isholm 2015) This indeed can be said to have been a most unusual event, that a murder happened in the church on Christmas Day, and that it involved two brothers who came up and quarrelled, and the one killed the other. What could have been the background? Could it have been a quarrel between Catholics and Protestants?
We know from sources, that the majority of priests in this period were called “brother”, that is that they were priest-monks. According to Jákup Dahl, two of them were Br. Morten from Streymoy and Br. Andreas from Suderoy, two of the most eager to spread the new German doctrine throughout the Faroes. It could also have been a quarrel between two brothers, which one had become a Protestant and the other still Catholic.
But why was there a quarrel on Christmas Day? Indeed, because Christmas Day was considered one of the most sacred days in the year, and the quarrel could have been over how the Mass (religious service) should be celebrated that day. Those who held to the ancient faith would naturally insist celebrating the day according to the ancient custom, (where the sermon was preached in Old Norse/Faroese). The Lutherans on the other hand wanted to establish the new “German Mass”, (where the sermon was preached in Danish). We have many examples of Norwegian peasants being extremely angry at the new Danish Lutheran pastors, who with great arrogance destroyed and threw out the pictures of saints, Catholic books and other sacred objects, that they forced them to celebrate Mass according to the ancient custom. It even happened that they killed the Danish pastors. However, we do not know with certainty, what exactly happened that Christmas day in Syðrugøta, only that after this event the church was moved out of the village, most likely to punish the people, just like in the village of Hov. (Syðrugøta has been without a church all the way up to the present time).
After the murder in the church in Syðrugøta, the church was moved away from the village, and it is quite possible that this was done to punish the people. Syðrugøta has remained without a church right up to our time. Photo: Unknown source. Please contact us if you know the photographer.
An interesting legend is also connected to the cemetery in Syðrugøta: But there was an unmarried woman, who held on to the ancient [faith], that she would rather be buried in Syðrugøta than being carried to Norðragøta. They carried her, however toward Norðragøta, but when they reached the ruins of the boat house, Yvir í Bo í Norðragøtu, the coffin became so heavy, that the men had to set it down and they could not lift it up again. And she was buried there. (Húsgarð 1955, p.104)
Here we hear of an old woman who was so rooted in the old and refused to be buried in Norðragøta. The fact that she was so rooted in the old has to, by all appearances, be understood that she held on to the Catholic faith, and that she wished to be buried together with her Catholic ancestors, who lay buried in Svørtumýu. She had absolutely not considered the new cemetery as genuinely blessed ground, since it, by all appearances, was blessed by Protestant pastors.
This legend gives us an insight also into the resistance of the people against the new German doctrine, which was forced upon the Faroese people. Also, that the people held firmly to the ancient Catholic doctrine, even though the law had forbidden it.
The letter of 1551 from the King to Superintendent Jens Gregersen (Lutheran bishop)
In a letter that King Christian III wrote in Copenhagen in 1551 to Superintendent (bishop) Jens Gregersen, he gave instructions to all parish pastors and parish clerks concerning religious services etc:
“To Superintendant Jens Gregersen in Faroe Islands:
The king greets all the parish pastors and parish clerks, who build and live over all the Faroe Islands, and announces that he has come to that experience, how a large part of the parish pastors and parish clerks serve 4 or 6 churches, and that there are found many churches where services are held only 3 or 4 times a year, and for the parishioners, God’s holy Word and Gospel is preached and taught, because they have to do with so many remote churches.
It is hereby strictly ordered that a service be held every Sunday throughout the year in one of the churches, accordingly as Superintendent Jens Gregersen commands, and letting the parishioners know the seriousness of visiting the parish churches.
None of them may have a chaplain unless he himself is living in the Faroes, otherwise he will have forfeited his parish and for that must be punished as one who does not respect the king’s letter and dictate. The superintendent will have authority to install another pastor in his place. Furthermore, the ordinary clergy throughout the entire Faroes in every way must subject themselves to the ordinance and conform themselves to whatever the superintendent instructs them about it. The king has issued open letters to the common people of the Faroes, that they should in justice give tithes to the Church, the pastor and parish clerk, who are entitled to it.”
Analysis
Here the king, who has taken over the authority of the pope, writes to the superintendent (bishop) in the Faroes, Jens Gregersen, and adds that he is knowledgeable of the fact that many of them have 4-6 churches to take care of, and points out that since many of the churches lie in remote areas, the people hear the Word of God only 3-4 times a year. The king demands therefore in the strictest sense, that religious services be held in the churches every Sunday, (Here is also meant services conducted by the parish clerks), and refers to the superintendent, Mr. Jens Gregersen’s severely strict demand, that people go to church.
That the superintendent demanded that people go to church, shows that the same happened in Norway, where people in many places after the Reformation, stopped going to church, after the reformation, and we have to remember, that many of the local churches and prayer houses were torn down after the Reformation in the Faroes, as in Norway.
He said further that the people are not to have chaplains (personal pastors, auxilary pastors) unless these pastors are living in the Faroes, and if they do not obey, they will be punished severely, and that the superintendent has the authority to replace these non-resident pastors with another pastor.
Thus we have here an indication, that there were people in the Faroes, who simply had not accepted the new Lutheran doctrine, and that non-resident (that is Catholic) chaplains were ministering in the country, and that the superintendent did not have full control over all the churches and pastors in the country. This we see also in Norway, that Norwegian Catholic priests, who were secretly ordained in Catholic countries, were ministering in Norway after the Reformation.
Likewise, the king says that all pastor’s/parish clerks in the Faroes must subordinate themselves to the Lutheran ordinance and conform themselves to it as the superintendent (bishop) instructs them.
This dictum from the king points also to the fact that not all parish pastors and parish clerks had subjected themselves to the new ordinance, and that they did not obey the superintendent, even though 13 years have passed since the establishment of the Reformation. Once again a mark of comparison with Norway, where the people on many occasions forced the new pastors to celebrate the service according to the ancient manner, and that other Norwegian pastors never subjected themselves to the new ordinance. The king says further that he had sent letters out to be read for all the Faroese people, where it was demanded that they must pay tithes to the church, the pastor and the parish clerk. (A while later the king sent yet another letter, where he asked the Faroese to pay tithes.)
From this it appears that the Faroese would not pay tithes to the new Church. We see this also in Norway. The people after the Reformation boycotted the Lutheran Church and refused to pay tithes. This was one of the reasons why the churches were closed.
Another reason was that the king got a lot of money from the sale of churches, and that it was not easy to keep an eye on how the people practiced their faith in the remote areas. Therefore, the king could have chosen to close down churches in such places as we see in the village of Hov.
Jens Riber, the superintendent (bishop), moved from the Faroes already around the year 1556-1557. Lucas Debes says that it was because of pirates, but Absalon Peterssøn Beyer, who was employed at the Cathedral of Bergen, and who seems to have known Jens Riber writes, that the reason for him moving away from the Faroes was resistance in the Faroes, and that his authority was not respected. Debes (1995) writes that there was without a doubt a conflict between those who held on to the ancient Catholic faith and those who would introduce the new Lutheran doctrine, which was forced upon the Faroese from the outside. It can be concluded from these above mentioned legends and historical sources that such was the case.
The Reformation was imposed on the Faroese people by the Danish authorities. In several communities across the Faroe Islands, farmers fiercely resisted the Lutheran clergy and the king’s officials, who arrogantly removed and burned Catholic books and other sacred objects. Illustration: J. D. Guttesen
Conclusion
From both the Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese material we can ascertain that there was great resistance amongst the people to the new German doctrine. Likewise, we can also conclude that the king’s authorities took a hard line. The king was also eager to depose the Catholic bishops, so that he could get a hold of the Church’s properties, which for the most part was used for the benefit of people in need (which, according to Zachariasen (1961), greatly multiplied the king’s tax income after the Reformation).
It has to be said, that money and power were the main reasons for the king’s eagerness to establish the Reformation. (King Christian III himself had plundered the Church of St. Mary’s in Christiania and took all its valuables already in 1529 while he was the viceregent there.) It appears that the authorities never had control over all the churches in the Faroes, and that the people resisted the new doctrine, while the ancient faith was practiced especially in the outskirts long after the Reformation. In order to prevent this, the authorities had among other things closed churches and in certain cases, moved them to other locations as a way of punishing the Faroese people.
Jon Sigurd Hansen
Master in history 2017.