View source for Nicolaus Olai Campanius

{{Short description|Swedish priest (1593–1624)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Nicolaus Olai Campanius
| image             =
| image_size        =
| birth_date        = 1593
| birth_place       = [[Gävle]], [[Sweden]]
| death_date        = 31 July 1624
| death_place       = [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]]
| nationality       = [[Swedish people|Swedish]]
| field             =
| work_institutions =
| alma_mater        = [[University of Uppsala]]<br>[[University of Olomouc]]
| doctoral_advisor  =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for         =
| prizes            = <!--Please insert-->
| religion          =
}}
'''Nicolaus Olai Campanius''' (1593–1624), also known as '''Nolandus''', was a Swedish Catholic convert and Rector of a school in [[Enköping]].
He was born in 1593 in Gävle to a family of a [[Sexton (office)|sexton]], hence his Latin name. After several years of study at the [[University of Uppsala]] he set out on the Grand Tour of Europe, which was financed by three [[bourgeoisie]] of Gävle by 200 Swedish riks-[[Thaler|tollar]]s per annum for period of three years. First he entered [[University of Helmstedt]]. Later Campanius entered a special [[papal]] seminary ({{langx|la|Seminarium Pontificium}}) called in {{langx|la|Collegium Nordicum}} at [[University of Olomouc]] in 1605.<ref>{{Citation
| last = Garstein
| first = Oskar
| title = Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia, until the establishment of the S. Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1622, based on source material in the Kolsrud collection
| publisher = Universitetsforlaget
| year = 1980
| isbn = 9788200061656
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qWppAAAAIAAJ&q=Nicolaus+Campanius
}}</ref> Companius complained that his [[Jesuit order|Jesuit]] instructors in Olomouc were as eager to procure converts to their religion "as the Devil to pursue the soul". But despite this he really did enjoy his philosophy lectures because of the high standard and of proficiency with which the subject was taught.<ref name="Garstein"/>
After completing study in Olomouc, Campanius entered Jesuit College in [[Braunsberg]], however during one of disputes his friend struck a blow on the mouth of one of the Jesuits and they were forced to flee the town.<ref name="Garstein"/> Campanius came back to study in Olomouc, however he became ill there and spent all his money on medical bills. After leaving Olomouc, he spent some time among exiled Swedes in [[Crown of Poland|Poland]], where he gained support of King [[Sigismund III Vasa]] in years 1616–17. Later he returned to Sweden, managed to hide his Catholic background and secretly reconverted to Protestantism. He even became a rector of a school in [[Enköping]]; according to different sources it was either a [[grammar school]],<ref name="Garstein">{{Citation
| last = Garstein
| first = Oskar
| title = Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: The age of Gustavus Adolphus and Queen Christina of Sweden, 1622-1656
| publisher = BRILL
| year = 1992
| isbn = 9004093958
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SJxEw4nVDXQC&q=Nicolaus+Campanius&pg=PA257
}}</ref> [[Gymnasium (school)]]<ref>{{Citation
| last = Fonseca
| first = Anton Edmund Wollheim da
| title = Neue Indiscretionen:Erinnerungen aus geheimen Diplomatie der letzten dreissig Jahre
| publisher = G. Hempel
| year = 1884
| volume = 1
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G7oyAQAAIAAJ&q=Nicolaus+Campanius
}}</ref> or a [[college]].<ref>{{Citation
| last = Ahnlund
| first = Nils
| title = Gustave Adolf, the great
| publisher = Princeton Univ. Press
| year = 1940
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aVUeAAAAMAAJ&q=Nicolaus+Campanius
}}</ref> In 1622 he took his Master of Arts degree in Uppsala and also presided a disputation in Philosophy of Olaus Unonis Gavelius at Uppsala University.
He was charged of being a Catholic during [[inquisition]] in 1624. He never admitted that he had been a [[Roman Catholic]] during his interrogation, however he admitted that he had had his period of doubts. The first clerical court decided to temporary deprive him of his office until his case had been scrutinized by the judges of the [[Svea Court of Appeal]].<ref name="Garstein"/>
The trial before Svea Court of Appeal took place during the third and last week of July 1624. Campanius was again accused of being a Roman Catholic, seducing his students to become Catholics or even Jesuits by inducing them to complete their education abroad at Jesuit institutions and of collaboration with the arch-enemies of Sweden (i.e. emigrants in Poland under leadership of the former king of Sweden Sigismund III.) Campanius spoke very highly of Jesuit tuition methods. On 31 July 1624 he was sentenced to death and executed. Presumably his head was struck of shoulders and placed on a stake as a warning to the general population, as was the custom in Sweden at the time.<ref name="Garstein"/>
==References==
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[[Category:1593 births]]
[[Category:1624 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Swedish educators]]
[[Category:17th-century executions by Sweden]]
[[Category:Swedish Roman Catholics]]