Jacob Axelsson Lindblom (27 July 1746 – 15 February 1819) was a Swedish scholar and professor who became

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

, a position he held between 1805 and 1819.

Biography

Axelsson Lindblom was born at Skeda in

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

, the son of a clergyman. He received his secondary education at

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

gymnasium and matriculated at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1763. He became student of the philologist

Johan Ihre Johan Ihre (3 March 1707 – 1 December 1780) was a Sweden, Swedish philologist and historical linguist. Life Ihre was born in Lund, son of the theologian Thomas Ihre and his spouse Brita Steuchia. After his father's death in 1720, Johan Ihr ...

and the Latinist Petrus Ekerman (1696–1783) who was also inspector of the student society Östgöta nation (Uppsala). He worked as a tutor for a noble family in

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

from 1764 to 1766, came back to Uppsala where he completed his magister degree in 1770. After having worked as a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

and a librarian at the

university library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...

, he became an extraordinary professor in 1779 and was appointed to the Skyttean professorship of Eloquence and Political Science in 1781, after the death of his teacher Johan Ihre. Axelsson Lindblom published a History of Roman Literature (''Illustriores linguæ Romanæ critici'') and collaborated with Ihre on a ''Lexicon Latino-Svecanum'', which he was eventually to complete in 1790. He published prolifically historical, literary and other topics, but is not regarded as particularly original in his scholarly production. Axelsson Lindblom was a favorite of King

Gustavus III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he s ...

, who made him

Bishop of Linköping Bishops of the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden. Before the Reformation * Herbert? * Rikard? * 1139–1160s * 1170–1171 * 1187–1195/96 Kol * John * 1216–1220 Karl Magnusson * 1220–1236 * 1236–1258 * 1258–1283 Henrik * 1258–1286 ...

in December 1786, nor withstanding the fact he had never been ordained, a situation remedied a few days after the appointment. As bishop he succeeded

Uno von Troil Uno von Troil (24 February 1746 in Stockholm – 1803) was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala 1786–1803. Biography He was the son of Samuel Troilius, who had also been archbishop. He was known for great wit at a young age. After stu ...

, who had been made

, and in 1805 he succeeded von Troil as archbishop of Uppsala as well, an appointment which also made him pro-chancellor of the university. He was elected a member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

in 1809, and was awarded a knighthood in the Order of Seraphim in 1818. His children were raised to the nobility with a change of surname to ''Lindersköld''.

References

Other sources

Nordisk familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

, vol. 16 (1912), col
588f
(in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindblom, Jacob Axelsson 1746 births 1819 deaths 19th-century Lutheran archbishops 19th-century Swedish Lutheran bishops 18th-century Swedish Lutheran priests Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala Lutheran bishops of Linköping Members of the Swedish Academy Age of Liberty people