When they reached Kjoege it was three hours past vespers, and after
burgher bedtime. In this town, as yet, neither the great Franciscan nor
Carmelite monasteries were erected, which afterwards became so
celebrated. Here the travellers were forced to be content with one of
the unpretending hostelries from the time of Eric Glipping, which were
often stigmatised as dungeons and farthing taverns.
During the last two years the town had been frequently visited by the
Hanseatic merchants, since the king had extended their trading
privileges; and when these active traders went to or from the great
fairs at Skanor or Falsterbo, or to the herring fishery, on the Swedish
coast, they often ran their vessels into Kjoege bay, to wait for a
favourable wind, and dispose of their wares to the burghers of Kjoege.
The bay was now full of Hanseatic merchant vessels, and the numerous
lights in the ships shone fair upon the shore. Drost Aage, with his
train, had much difficulty in getting a room in what was called the
ale-house, near the harbour. In the large public room of the tavern,
where the guests were wont to beguile the time until late at night,
with drinking and dice, there was on the entrance of the Drost and his
knights, much hubbub and loud-tongued talk among the guests, which,
however, was suddenly hushed on the appearance of the richly-attired
strangers, in whom the king's knights and halberdiers were instantly
recognised. At the upper end of the long oaken table, which was fixed
to the floor, sat a heavy-built, consequential-looking personage, with
a sable-bordered cap and tunic; it was Berner Kopmand, from Rostock (so
notorious for his wealth and pride) who had bid defiance to the king at
Sjoeberg. He lolled in his seat with an air of importance, and had laid
one leg upon the table, that he might be more completely at his ease.
His broad visage glowed from the effects of wine; he held a silver
goblet in his hand, and had a large wine-flask before him. By his side
sat his trusty friend and trading companion, Henrik Gullandsfar, from
Wisbye, with a large purse in his hand, from which he threw some coins
into the host's cap. Between them stood a backgammon board, on which
the dice were swimming in ale and wine, and which Berner Kopmand kicked
aside to make room for his ponderous foot. Here they sat, surrounded by
a number of Hanseatic merchants, skippers and boatmen. All were armed,
like themselves, with broad battle swords and sabres, and drank merrily
to their own success. When the Drost and his knights entered, the two
merchants remained sitting in their easy posture, without returning the
greeting of the strangers, and whispers and murmurs of dissatisfaction
were heard among the guests.
In the least lit-up part of the room sat two men with the cross of the
order of the Holy Ghost on their black travelling mantles. The one drew
his hood over his brow; he instantly arose, and with his ecclesiastical
colleague presently disappeared in the throng of guests, who were
flocking in and out. Sir Helmer had noticed the deportment of the monk;
he hastily approached Aage to whisper a word in his ear, but the Drost,
who had instantly recognised the two arrogant Hanseatic merchants, had
turned his whole attention upon their bearing, and was pondering within
himself, how far it would be wise or necessary to meddle with them, or
attach any significance to their former powerless menace.
"Short and sweet, my good friends!" now began the heavy Rostocker, with
lisping tongue, while he struck the heel of his boot on the table to
obtain a hearing, and seemed wrath at the pause in the talk. "The
Lauenberg knight was forced to dangle from our new gallows, despite the
cry of his high birth and lineage; and the high-born Duke Albert of
Saxony was ready to choke with rage. It is therefore, he now protects
and eggs on these high-born highwaymen. But we will no longer suffer
ourselves to be plundered and pulled by the nose, unavenged, by knights
and princes. We shall one day teach all these high and mighty lords,
where the gold lies buried, the blessed bright gold which rules the
world, and what the rich and combined Hanse-towns can do. We merchants
and small folk, have now also learned something of the art of war, and
the art of politics, and he who treads on our corns may beware of Lubek
law, and the Rostock gallows--Hurra! freedom in trade! freedom in word
and deed! To hell with all tyrants and aristocrats!" So saying, Berner
Kopmand kicked the empty wine flask off the table, while he moved his
foot to the floor, and rose reeling with the goblet at his lips.
The foreign merchants and skippers, shouted and drank. Henrik
Gullandsfar shook his head, and pulled his drunken colleague by the
sleeve, with a side glance at the Drost and the king's halberdiers.
"I give them to death and the devil! I can buy them up body and soul,
and their forefathers into the bargain," growled the proud burgher
magnate of Rostock--allowing himself, however, to be led out of the
apartment, by the sober and more wary Gullandsfar. The other merchants
and skippers now departed one after another, singing and whistling as
they went. Aage had instantly perceived that the conduct of the proud
Hanseatics was meant as defiance and insult; but he had himself, as
Drost, two years before, jointly with the state-council, confirmed the
great privileges which were granted to these traders, and the law
strictly forbade all violent and arbitrary proceedings towards them so
long as they themselves refrained from committing any act of violence.
Aage remained silent, with a contemptuous smile, and warned to the
incensed knights to keep quiet. But Sir Helmer's blood boiled,--he had
sat upon thorns since his eye had caught the monk. As the Hanseatic
sea-men left the inn, he thought he once more caught a glance, through
the open door, of the same figure, among the tumultuous throng which
was hastening to the vessels. He whispered a few hurried words in the
Drost's ear, and rushed out of the apartment. Aage looked gravely and
thoughtfully after him. He gave a secret signal to two of the most
discreet knights to follow him, and requested the others to remain.
They now seated themselves at the almost deserted table. The humble and
officious host hastened to serve them, and to remove the empty flasks
and cans of ale. Their wrath which they had repressed with difficulty,
had rendered the knights silent, and their humour was manifested only
in taunting exclamations and jeers at the grocer-heroes, as they were
designated. It was indeed allowed that the proud Berner Kopmand's
inveteracy against the nobles of the land was not altogether unfounded.
The knights' castles in Denmark, were not in fact robber-holds, as in
Germany; foreign traders here enjoyed the greatest security, and had
even greater privileges than the burghers of the country; but the
knights delighted in scoffing at the uncouth and awkward bearing of the
armed grocers; even Drost Aage with all his moderation, and in spite of
all that he had himself effected for the security of trade and the
extension of commerce, could not altogether suppress the feeling of
aristocratic contempt, entertained by those in his own rank for this
class of persons, whose growing prosperity and wealth were often united
with a degree of insolence and envious pride, which excited and
fostered this mutual bad-feeling.
The attention of Aage and the knights was soon directed towards two
singular strangers who still remained with them at table; the one was a
young man of a good figure and remarkably animated countenance; he wore
a dark red, and rather thread-bare lay mantle, but the black cap which
covered his tonsure, and a canon's hat which lay by his side on the
table, appeared to denote him an ecclesiastic. At one time he talked
Latin, at another Icelandic and Danish, with his next neighbour, whom
he addressed as master, and to whom he shewed marked respect. When the
young clerk spoke Danish, he frequently pronounced the words wrong. At
times he became enthusiastic, and recited as well from the ancient
classics as from old northern poems. His neighbour was a little,
deformed man, with a hump upon his back, a thin sharp visage, and an
intelligent piercing eye; his head was sunk deep between his shoulders,
and hardly reached above the table, but his arms were uncommonly long
and thin; he occasionally put on and took off a pair of large
spectacles set in lead, and had a number of singular instruments and
boxes before him on the table. He wore a bright-red mantle, bordered
with fur, over a lay-brother's blue dress, and his head was adorned
with a scarlet cap, trimmed with gold lace and tassels. In this showy
garb, which rendered the deformity of his person still more striking,
he resembled one of those foreign mountebanks and quacks, who at the
great fairs were wont to exhibit feats before the mob, and vend relics,
amulets, and universal remedies against all ailments; this personage
however, had an air of much greater distinction and pretension. It was
the same little red-cloaked man, who, with Sir Niels Brock and Sir
Johan Papae, had paid the nightly visit to Junker Christopher, at Holbek
castle. In his dying hour Sir Palle had described him to the Drost,
when in his alarm, he had made him the depositary of his secrets. Aage
however had never before beheld this figure and did not remember Sir
Palle's confused description.
The little man sat with a flask of wine before him, which he appeared
to be examining with close attention. "Bad!--adulterated!" he now said
in Danish to the Icelander, also in a foreign and Icelandic accent,
while he puckered up his sharp nose. "See you this sediment. Master
Laurentius? In the light of art and science, truth will one day become
manifest in small things as well as in great--Eureka!" he continued,
with a self-satisfied smile, "What would my great master Roger have
said, if such a flask of wine had been set before him? Even without
these skilful, searching eyes--for which I am in some measure indebted
to his great optical discovery--although I may justly claim the honour
of the practical application--even without my wondrous spectacles, he
would perhaps have discovered that which I need all this apparatus to
detect. The nature of poisons is altogether unknown and occult, Master
Laurentius!" he added, mysteriously, but so loud as to be heard by all.
"Not only for the preservation of life and health, but much more for
the sake of science and art, an intimate knowledge of the essence of
things is of the highest importance to us. Here in the north, however,
people care but little for such matters; they gulp down everything,
like the dumb beasts, without possessing the wise instincts of animals,
and without seeking by wisdom and art to find a remedy for the narrow
limits of our physical nature. All learning here is expended in
theological subtleties, and what are called godly things--which,
however, they know nought of--poor fools! Our common-place scholars
still chew the cud of mysticism, the useless learning of the schools,
and the dry, worn-out Aristoteles. Ignorance of all that is true and
useful, renders forgers and cheats quite safe here, and these
overbearing merchants can enrich themselves at the expence of this
ignorant people, as much as they choose. There you see one of their new
coins! I have detected its composition! It contains more tin and lead
than silver; the Danish king's image and superscription are here, it is
true--the size is precisely that of the royal coinage; but four of
those go to a silver mark, and this is of six times less value. What an
enormous profit might not a single ship-load of such coins bring those
fellows!"
Drost Aage had become attentive, and found in the stranger's last
assertion an important confirmation of a charge generally made against
the Rostock merchants. The attention of the Drost and the knights did
not appear to displease the intelligent little man--he seemed, indeed,
not to heed them--but he now continued to converse in Danish with the
young clerk, and though he appeared to speak in a whisper, he
nevertheless enunciated every word in a singularly distinct, and
perfectly audible tone. "Nothing is small in science and in nature," he
continued, "the least may here lead to the greatest; in every blade of
grass their lies a world. How long will men shut their eyes on the
great and only true revelation of the Deity, through the miracles and
holy writ of nature! Mark my young friend! the time will come when
the colossus of ignorance, barbarism, and madness, which hath been
erected on nature's grave, and worshipped for centuries--must fall.
As is the course of temporal things, so is that of the spiritual
world--Stagnation is death and rottenness. We have stood stationary
with antiquity and tradition. The powerful ferment of life hath
subsided--life hath lost its savour. What is it but senseless oriental
adventures, and the childish dreams of our race, which have turned
men's brains, and kept us at a distance from nature and the source of
true wisdom for nearly thirteen centuries? The heathens were far above
us. What are we in science and art compared with the Greeks and
Egyptians?--and yet even they were erring. They also had their idols,
their fancies and dreams of a Tartarus and Elysium, and withal, that
madness now worshipped under the name of poetry."
"Stop, my learned master!" interrupted the young Icelander with
eagerness. "Now you attack _my_ sanctuary--let the world change its
fashion as it may--let Time devour his own children, as in ancient
fable! But what hath been beautiful in every age, none can destroy--it
must re-appear, though under new forms. True, eternal poetry shall
rescue and embalm all wherein was life or beauty, as well in our times
as in those gone by. Its image and memorial no cold enlightening wisdom
shall ever efface.
"Cattle die,
Wise men die,
Time itself dies too--
One thing I know
That never dies--
Judgment on the dead."
"Be it so!" answered the little sage with a scornful smile, "Judgment
shall not die; the art of judging is the only one that is immortal; the
poetry of all ages shall vanish as soon as the world understands itself
and its own thoughts. When the kernel is found we may cast away the
shell, or give it to children to play with. It was a true saying,
though, of that old heathen bard--the judgment on the dead _is_
eternal--but when this generation hath passed away a succeeding one
will jeer at the achievements of their fathers, and what is now
worshipped shall be the scorn of posterity. But one likes not to hear
such things, Master Laurentius! The kernel of truth is unpalatable; it
suits not the taste of the vulgar and uninitiated; and he who proffers
it runs the risk of being stoned by the enemies of truth and the slaves
of prejudice. What my great Master Roger was forced to confess is known
to all the world; if he found not himself the philosopher's stone, he
hath, however, shewn us where to seek for it, and what was hidden from
his sharp gaze is not necessarily hid from that of his disciples." So
saying, the little man rose with a look of proud importance; he
departed with a slight salutation to Drost Aage and the knights, in
whose looks he was well satisfied to perceive the astonishment which
his last mysterious remark, about the philosopher's stone especially,
seemed to have excited.
The young clerk remained behind, and now addressed himself to Drost
Aage, whose rank and name were known to him. He introduced himself to
the Drost as an Iceland theologian, jurist, and poet, who in his ardent
zeal for knowledge and enlightenment, had quitted his easy office of
priest of St. Olaf's church and p[oe]nitentarius of the Archbishop of
Nidaros,[10] to visit foreign universities with his learned countryman
and fellow-traveller Magister Thrand Fistlier, a disciple, as he
asserted, of the renowned Roger Bacon, whose wonderful knowledge, and
free and bold opinions, had drawn on him so shameful a persecution from
his ecclesiastical brethren, and who, after many years' imprisonment,
had died two years since in England.
The young Iceland clerk now purposed, under the protection of his
learned friend, to visit the Danish court, where he hoped to find that
the king would lend a favourable ear to his own and the ancient
Icelandic poems; while his travelling companion intended to display his
wondrous arts before the king, and to make known some very important
discoveries in natural philosophy, which might prove of incalculable
use and effect both in war and peace. The report of the young King
Eric's especial regard for science, and the intrepidity with which he
dared to oppose the usurpations of the court of Rome and the hierarchy,
had induced the learned Master Thrand to seek freedom and protection in
Denmark.
"You will doubtless both be welcome to the king," answered Aage,
looking narrowly at him, "he favours and protects all fair and useful
sciences. Your travelling companion belongs not to the herd of common
mountebanks, as far as I can judge: if he can prove what he affirmed,
of the false coin brought hither into this country, his learning may be
most important to us. But since you are a theologian and scholar,
Master Laurentius, I would but ask you one question," continued Aage,
"Doth not your companion entertain some confused opinions on sacred
subjects? His expressions struck me as being somewhat singular,
although I, as a layman, understand not such matters. I well know,
however, those who are called Leccar Brethren,--who will only believe
in the Creator, but neither in God's Son, nor in the Holy Spirit, nor
in an universal christian church,--are as little tolerated in this
country as by any right-thinking monarch in Christendom; you must in
nowise believe our king's unfortunate position in regard to the
Archbishop of Lund and the papal court hath made any alteration in his
opinions in what concerns the matter of his own and his people's
salvation."
"From the errors of the Leccari I believe myself free." answered the
young Icelander, with some embarrassment; "about my learned companion's
theology, I must confess I have not greatly troubled myself; seeing
that he is a worldly philosopher and not a theologian. Of the noble art
of bardship he hath not either any conception; I admire him solely for
his rare knowledge of the secrets of nature."
"If he errs in the one thing needful, and if the highest and most
sacred truths, as well as all that is beautiful and noble, are in his
estimation nothing but folly," observed Aage, "I have but little
confidence in his knowledge of less important matters; and I would not
give much for all the rest of his learning."
"I thus judged once myself, of the sciences and arts that teach us but
earthly things," answered the Icelander, "but while I was at the
foreign universities a new light dawned upon me. I am indeed far from
calling (like my learned travelling companion) the revelation of deity
in nature the only true one, by which, as you have rightly observed, he
hath in his inconsiderate zeal, betrayed a highly erroneous opinion;
but even the wisdom of the heathen in worldly concerns is in nowise to
be despised, and I have never seen anything that hath more strengthened
my faith in the Almighty power and wisdom of the Triune God, than the
marvellous effects of the powers of nature, with which this singular
man hath made me acquainted."
"What hath he shown you, then, of such great importance? Master
Laurentius!" asked Aage.
"I have seen effects of his art, which I should in common with the
ignorant multitude, and my prejudiced colleagues, have taken to be
witchcraft and the work of the devil," answered the Icelander eagerly,
"had he not explained them to me by the powers of nature, and from the
great misjudged Roger Bacon's 'Opus Majus,' of which he carries a rare
and invaluable manuscript with him. Not to speak of his great knowledge
of plants and animals, and the properties and composition of metals;
what most hath captivated me is all that points to the soul's dominion
over time and decay, over life and death, over the universe, and all
passive powers in nature. He affirms that by his art alone, without
supernatural aid, he is able to preserve youth, and prevent the
infirmities of age; he knows the course of the heavens, and the
influence of the stars on human life; he hath a number of artful
glasses, by which he is almost able to see the invisible; but his
greatest and most wondrous art is the preparation of an
inextinguishable fire, with which he imitates the thunder and lightning
of the heavens. He hath shewn me a specimen of it, which hath
astonished me. With a single handful of that subtle combustible matter,
he can produce such an amazing thunder-clap, that the strongest wall
would be rent by it, and such a burst of consuming flame, that he who
rightly understands its powers, would be able to destroy a whole army
with it, and devastate castles and towns."
The knights stared in amazement at the Icelander, and some crossed
themselves. "It is impossible! That no man can do! it cannot be done by
natural means!--it must be done by witchcraft and devilry!" said the
one to the other.
Drost Aage was silent, and looked sharply and gravely at the Icelander.
"I hold you neither for an unwise man, nor for one who would deal in
falsehood and deceit, good Master Laurentius!" he at length began,
"although what you tell us of your learned companion borders on the
incredible--but are you not yourself deceived? You say you have but
known this man of miracles a short time. In your admiration of his arts
and his rare knowledge of the secrets of nature, you have concerned
yourself but little about his principles and way of thinking, which,
however, I consider to be the most important points in every man's
character, whether he be scholar or layman. If he is not a juggler or
braggart, I fear he is something worse. He would fain have us laymen
believe he had found the philosopher's stone. Those who talk openly of
such things are generally enthusiasts or impostors."
"That which is above our understanding, Sir Drost," answered the
Icelander, "we are but too apt to misjudge as folly, or the invention
of the evil-minded--but here our own self-conceit and vanity are to
blame. That which the wisest men in the world have so long mused upon,
cannot assuredly be an absurd imagination, and I doubt not the
philosopher's stone will and must one day be found--if it be not found
already. Perhaps we may meet at Skanor fair, Sir Drost!" he added,
rising to depart, "My learned friend and travelling companion doth not
visit princes and nobles only--the enlightenment of the ignorant vulgar
is a more important object to him. I accompany him as amanuensis,
partly from a present necessity, which I blush not to acknowledge, and
in this lay mantle, that I may not give offence to my prejudiced
colleagues; but I learn much in this way, and, as I said--I trust to
return more rich in knowledge from these worldly bye-paths to the
service of St. Olaf, and to my most venerable friend and protector at
Nidaros, who probably may soon need support in the cause against his
unruly canons."
The conversation was now broken off with the Iceland clerk, as Sir
Helmer rushed almost breathless into the apartment. "It _was_ Kagge!
Drost! there is no doubt of it," exclaimed Helmer, "but, by Satan!--he
is already on board the Rostock vessel."
"Who? the dead Kagge? dream ye, Helmer? Was it he ye meant before?"
"He, and none other--the base regicide! as surely as I have eyes and
ears. He hath both his beard and eye-brows shaved; but I know his fox's
face and screeching voice; the dull Rostocker mentioned his name
himself in his drunkenness, out of defiance and pride. They insulted me
in the ancient coarse fashion I will not name, and pushed off from
shore with the outlaw before mine eyes."
"We must arrest them at Skanor tomorrow," answered Aage, "if the
criminal is on board the Rostock vessel, he hath now peace and respite
of life under the Hanse flag and the Lubeck law; but whenever he sets
foot on Danish ground he dies! Such pestilent ware no Hanseatic hath
the privilege of unloading." They then retired to rest. The Iceland
clerk had gone, and no more was seen of either him or the learned
Thrand Fistlier. The account they had heard of this worker of wonders
continued, however, till a late hour in the night, the theme of the
knights' conversation at the drinking table.