Early Life
In 1774 he was made docent of Gothic antiquities at Uppsala University in consequence of his remarkable treatise, “Monumenta svia-gothica vetustioris aevi falso meritoque suspecta”.
When he was summoned to Stockholm in 1782 by Gustav III of Sweden to edit a Swedish Corpus diplomaticum, half an hour's private conversation with the young priest convinced Gustav that Nordin's proper place was in the political arena. But he employed Nordin quite differently from his episcopal colleague Olof Wallqvist. While the bishop publicly defended the royal measures, Nordin became the king's private adviser. In politics Nordin was a royalist. To him, a parliament seemed little better than a mob. He was one of the king's secret managers during the troublesome and dangerous Riksdag of 1789, but advised caution and compared the estate of clergy, which at one time held the balance between the jarring orders, to ice which might be walked upon but could not be driven over.
Nordin was appointed a member of an ecclesiastical commission for reforming the church in 1787, in which capacity he was virtually minister of public worship. In 1791–1792 he became a leading member of the financial and general committees of the Riksdag.
Read more about this topic: Carl Gustaf Nordin
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