Master Olof: A Drama in Five Acts | Page 4

importance. When, in the first and second acts,
he represents the Anabaptist leaders, Rink and Knipperdollink, as then
in Stockholm and actually introduces one of them on the stage, he has
merely availed himself of a legend which had been accepted as truth for
centuries, and which has been exploded only by recent historical
research. We know now that Rink and Knipperdollink could never have
been in Sweden, but we know also that a German lay preacher named
Melchior Hofman appeared at Stockholm about the time indicated in
the play, and that, in 1529, another such preacher, named Tilemann,
made Olof himself the object of his fierce invectives. These instances
serve, in fact, to prove how skilfully Strindberg handled his historical
material. He is never rigid as to fact, but as a rule he is accurate in spirit.
Another instance of this kind is found in the references in the first act to
the use of Swedish for purposes of worship. It is recorded--and by
himself, I think-- that Olof once asked his mother whether she really
understood the Latin prayers, since she was so very fond of them. She
answered: "No, I don't understand them, but when I hear them I pray
devoutly to God that they may please Him, which I don't doubt they
do."
On the other hand, what maybe regarded as rather an awkward slip is
found in the first scene of the fifth act, where Gert cries exultantly to
Olof: "You don't know that Thomas Münster has established a new
spiritual kingdom at Mühlhausen." The name of the great Anabaptist
"prophet" was Thomas Münzer, and the place where he established his
brief reign was Münster. Strindberg's habit was to fill his head with the
facts to be used, and then to rely on his memory. Marvellous as his
memory was, it sometimes deceived him, and checking off names or
dates seems to have been utterly beyond him. Thus it is quite probable
that the passage in question represents an unconscious error. At the
same time it is barely possible that the mistake may have been
purposely laid in the mouth of a fanatic, from whom exactness of
statement could hardly be expected. Thus, in the first act, Gert remarks
that "Luther is dead." We understand, of course, that this expression is

metaphorical, signifying that Luther has done all that can be expected
of him, but it is nevertheless characteristically ambiguous.
The second scene of the third act is apparently laid in Olof's house at
Stockholm, although the location of the building is not definitely
indicated. We find him waiting for a messenger who is to announce the
results of the Riksdag then in session. But the Riksdag was held at
Vesterås, and we know that Olof was one of two delegates sent by the
burghers and the peasants to the King, whom they implored "on their
knees and with tears" to withdraw his abdication. The Courtier's
reference to Olof's debate with Galle renders it still more uncertain
whether we are in Stockholm or in Vesterås. The Courtier also informs
Olof of his appointment as pastor of Greatchurch, the facts being that
Olof was not ordained until 1539 and received his appointment a year
after the events described in the last act of the play. In the metrical
version, Strindberg makes his most radical departure from the historical
course of events by letting Luther's marriage precede and influence that
of Olof, although in reality Olof's anticipated that of Luther by several
months.
The complaints of the Man from Småland in the first scene of the
second act could scarcely have been warranted in 1524, when that act
takes place. The hold of the young King was far too precarious at that
early date to permit any regulations of the kind referred to. The
establishment of a maximum price on oxen does not seem to have
occurred until 1532, and a prohibition against the shooting of deer by
the peasants was actually issued in 1538, both measures helping to
provoke the widespread uprising that broke out in Småland in 1541. It
was named the "Dacke feud" after its principal leader, the
peasant-chieftain Nils Dacke, to whom the Sexton refers in the second
scene of the last act--also a little prematurely.
Whether these be conscious or unconscious anachronisms, they matter
very little when the general accuracy of the play is considered. From
the moment the Danes had been driven out of the country, one of the
most serious problems confronting the King was the financial chaos
into which the country had fallen, and his efforts, first of all to raise

enough means for ordinary administrative purposes, and secondly to
reorganize trade and agriculture, brought him almost immediately into
conflict with the peasants, who, during the long struggle for national
independence,