List of Bishops of Turku

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Turku is the seat of the oldest diocese in Finland. Medieval bishops of the catholic church were also de facto secular leaders of the country until the end of the 13th century.

Lutheran bishops were delegated to position of state officials. When Finland became a separate grand duchy, the then Bishop of Turku was elevated to archiepiscopal rank in 1817. Since 1868, the Archbishops of Turku and Finland have been considered primates of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Contents

[edit] Bishop Henry

Henry, Bishop of Uppsala, is often mentioned in contemporary sources as the first Bishop of Finland. According to legends, English born Henry arrived to Finland together with king Eric during the First Swedish Crusade, later dying there as a martyr in the 1150s. His position as the Bishop of Finland is however totally unhistorical, and not claimed even by the legends.

[edit] Catholic Bishops of Finland

See article Diocese of Finland.

An unnamed Bishop of Finland is mentioned dead in 1209. Papal letters to unnamed Bishops of Finland have survived from 1220 and 1229.

[edit] Catholic Bishops of Turku (Åbo, Aboa)

Bishop of Finland was renamed as the Bishop of Turku, first mentioned in 1259, to harmonize the name of the see with other Swedish sees. See article Diocese of Turku.

[edit] Lutheran Bishops of Turku

Title "Bishop of Turku" ceased to exist in 1817. In 1998, the Archbishop of Turku was supplemented in the diocese by a Bishop of Turku.

[edit] Archbishops of Turku and Finland

Bishop of Turku was elevated to archiepiscopal rank in 1817. The title of the see was changed to Archbishop of Turku and Finland.[1]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Turun piispat (n.1157 - 1817) sekä Turun ja Suomen arkkipiispat (1817-). Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Retrieved 10-11-2007. (Finnish).
Languages