After the Reformation in Scandinavia, Lutheran bishops became state officials. When Finland became a separate grand duchy, the then bishop of Turku was designated as an archbishop in 1817. Since 1868, the archbishops of Turku and Finland have been considered primates of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
Bishop Henry
Henry, Bishop of Uppsala is often mentioned in contemporary sources as the first bishop of Finland. According to legend, the English-born Henry arrived in Finland with King Eric IX of Sweden during the First Swedish Crusade, later suffering martyrdom in the 1150s. His position as Bishop of Finland is, however, totally unhistorical, and not claimed even by legendary accounts.
Catholic bishops of Finland
Rodulff 1156?–1178? (first mentioned in the 15th century, uncertain)
Fulco 1178?–1198? (first mentioned in the 15th century, uncertain)
An unnamed Bishop of Finland is mentioned dead in 1209. Papal letters to unnamed Bishops of Finland have survived from 1221, 1229 and 1232.
The position Bishop of Finland was renamed Bishop of Turku, first mentioned in 1259, in a move to harmonise the name of the dioceses with other Swedish sees.
The title Bishop of Turku ceased to exist in 1817. Since 1998, the Archbishop of Turku and Finland has been assisted in the diocese by a Bishop of Turku.
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