The Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs () was a ministry in Sweden established in 1840. The ministry dealt with matters concerning the church, education, science, culture, medical and general health care as well as poorhouses. The ministry was headed by the minister of education and ecclesiastical affairs. The ministry changed its name on 31 December 1967 to the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (today's Ministry of Education and Research).
History
In earlier times, there was no particularly central body for ecclesiastical affairs within the Swedish state administration. A large part of these cases were decided by the bishops and consistories and in the parliament. Attempts the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, Christina's guardian, and the Age of Liberty to establish a special central board of administration for the church and the educational institutions, the so-called Consistorium ecclesiasticum generale, failed as a result of opposition from the clergy. The chancellery order (kansliordningen) of 22 September 1661 placed ecclesiastical affairs under the ; but many questions, especially matters of promotion, were still decided by the cathedral chapters, while the clergy gathered at the Riksdag's, under the name of the Riksconsitorium (Consistorium regni), without statutory right exercised the highest authority in several matters concerning the church, above all in matters of a judicial nature.
This self-assumed power of the clergy was abolished by Charles XI. By Charles XII's chancellery order of 26 October 1713, ecclesiastical matters were placed under the ("Trade Office") and were reported to the king by the head of this agency or . But after Charles XII's death, they came again, according to the chancellery orders of 29 May 1719 and 14 June 1720, to be treated by the Kanslikollegium and were presented by the state secretary at the Inrikesexpeditionen ("Home Office"). During this time, purely ecclesiastical administrative issues were also (strangely enough) sometimes dealt with within the . In 1786, Gustav III separated the clerical promotion issues from the ("Civil Office") and handed over their report to a so-called Ecclesiastical Committee (Ecklesiastikberedning). In 1789 he introduced a special office for ecclesiastical matters in general, the ("Ecclesiastical Office"), but this was abolished in 1793, after which such matters were reported by the state secretary of the Civilexpeditionen until 1809, when — according to the chancellery order of 23 October of the same year — a special Ecclesiastical Office was again established. At the introduction of the ministerial board (departementalstyrelsen), in 1840, this office was named the Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs.
According to the royal charter of 31 March 1900 regarding the distribution of matters between the state ministries, with amendments of 30 January 1903 and 30 September 1904, matters relating to church affairs, the exercise of the priesthood, the clergy's and church service's salary rights and calculation of years of service, construction and maintenance of the church and parsonage were added to the ecclesiastical ministry; foundations and institutions for the sciences, general education and teaching with the exception partly of those belonging to the military, partly also of the special schools for the trades, which according to the said statute belong to another ministry; establishing, revoking, changing or explaining such municipal constitutions, which refer to the church or educational system; foundations and institutions for learnedness and fine arts; The National Archives and regional archives (landsarkiv); public libraries, academies and museums with the exception of those relating to land defence, naval defence or industries; foundations which does not accrue under another ministry, authority or institution.