once to quarrel with him, so that the other became angry (just as
children do), and would eat nothing. Chresten carried the porridge
away again directly, and laughed heartily. I said to Chresten, in the
prison governor's presence, 'Though God has long delayed to punish
Walter, his punishment is all the heavier now, for he could scarcely
have fallen into more unmerciful hands than yours.' He laughed
heartily at this, and the prison governor did the same. And as there
is a hole passing from the Dark Church into the outer room, those who
are inside there can call upstairs, so that one can plainly hear what
is said. So Walter one day called to the prison governor, and begged
him to give him a piece of roast meat; the prison governor called to
him, 'Yes, we will roast a rat for you!' I sent him a piece of roast
meat through Chresten; when he took it, and heard that I had sent it
to him, he wept.
Thus the time passed, I had always work to do, and I wrote also a
good deal.[127] The priest was tired of administering the Lord's
Supper to me, and he let me wait thirteen and fourteen days; when he
did come, he performed his office _par maniere d'acquit_. I said
nothing about it, but the woman, who is a German, also received the
Lord's Supper from him; she made much of it, especially once (the
last time he confessed her); for then I waited four days for him
before it suited him to come, and at last he came. It was Wednesday,
about nine o'clock. He never greeted us, nor did he wish me joy to
the act I intended to perform. This time he said, as he shook hands,
'I have not much time to wait, I have a child to baptise.' I knew
well that this could not be true, but I answered 'In God's name!'
When he was to receive the woman's confession, he would not sit down,
but said 'Now go on, I have no time,' and scarcely gave her time to
confess, absolved her quickly, and read the consecrating service at
posthaste speed. When he was gone, the woman was very impatient, and
said that she had received the holy communion in the field from a
military chaplain, with the whole company (since they were ready to
attack the enemy on the following day), but that the priest had not
raced through God's word as this one had done; she had gained nothing
from it.
[127] In the margin is added: 'From books which had been secretly
lent me, and I did so with the pen and ink I have before mentioned,
on any pieces of paper which I happened to procure.'
I comforted her as well as I could, read and sang to her, told her
she should repent and be sorry for her sins, and labour to amend her
ways, and not be distracted by the want of devotion in the priest;
she could appropriate to herself Christ's sufferings and merits for
the forgiveness of her sins, for the priest had given her his body
and blood in the bread and wine. 'Yes,' she answered, 'I shall, with
God's will, be a better Christian.' I said 'Will you keep what you
have promised me?' Her vow was, not to drink herself tipsy, as she
had once done. I will not omit to mention this. She received, as I
have before said, half a pint of French wine at each meal, and I half
a measure of Rhine wine. She could drink both portions without being
quite intoxicated, for at her meal she drank the French wine and lay
down; and when she got up in the afternoon she drank my wine.[128] In
the evening she kept my wine for breakfast, but once she had in her
cup both my wine and her own, so that at noon she had two half-pints
of wine; she sat there and drank it so quietly, and I paid no
attention to her, being at the moment engaged in a speculation about
a pattern which I wanted to knit; at length I looked at her because
it was so long before she laid down; then she turned over all the
vessels, one after another, and there was nothing in them. I accosted
her and said, 'How is it? have you drank all the wine?' She could
scarcely answer. She tried to stand up, and could not. 'To bed, you
drunken sow,' said I. She tried to move, but could not; she was sick,
and crept along by the wall to fetch a broom. When she had the broom,
she could do nothing with it. I told her to crawl into bed and lie
down; she crawled along and fell with her face on the bed, while her
feet were on the ground. There she was sick again, and remained so
lying, and slept. It is easy to imagine how I felt.
[128] In the margin is noted: 'Chresten was not well satisfied with
the woman, for in her time he never received a draught of wine, so
that he once stole the wine from her can and substituted something
impure in its place; at this she made a great noise, begged me for
God's sake to give her leave to strike Chresten with the can. She
did not gain permission to do so; she told Chresten afterwards that
she had not dared to do it, for my sake. She had a great scar on
one cheek, which a soldier had once given her for a similar act.'
She slept in this way for a couple of hours, but still did not quite
sleep off her intoxication; for when she wanted afterwards to clean
herself and the room, she remained for a long time sitting on a low
stool, the broom between her knees and her hair about her ears. She
took off her bodice to wash it, and so she sat with her bosom
uncovered, an ugly sight; she kept bemoaning herself, praying to God
to help her, as she was nigh unto death. I was angry, but I could
scarcely help laughing at this sad picture. When the moaning and
lamenting were over, I said angrily, 'Yes, may God help you, you
drunkard; to the guards' station you ought to go; I will not have
such a drunkard about me; go and sleep it out, and don't let me hear
you talk of God when you are not sober, for then God is far from you
and the d----l is near!' (I laughed afterwards at myself.) She laid
down again, and about four o'clock she was quite sober, made herself
perfectly clean, and sat quietly weeping. Then she threw herself with
great excitement at my feet, clung to them, howled and clamoured, and
begged for God's sake that I would forgive her this once, and that it
should never happen again; said how she had kept the wine &c.; that
if I would only keep her half a year, she would have enough to
purchase her admission into the hospital at Luebeck.
I thought I would take good care that she did not get so much again
at once, and also that perhaps if I had another in her place she
might be worse in other things. Karen could not have come at this
time, for her daughter was expecting her confinement, and I knew that
she would then not be quiet. So I promised her to keep her for the
time she mentioned. She kept her word moreover, and I so arranged it
six weeks later that she received no more wine, and from this time
the woman received no wine; my wine alone could not hurt her. She was
quite intimate with Walter. She had known him formerly, and Chresten
was of opinion that he had given her all his money before he was ill;
for he said that Walter had no money any longer. What there was in it
I know not. Honest she was not, for she stole from me first a brass
knitting-pin, which I used at that time; it was formed like a bodkin,
and the woman never imagined but that it was gold. As my room is not
large, it could soon be searched, but I looked for three days and
could not find the pin. I was well aware that she had it, for it is
not so small as not to be seen, so I said afterwards, 'This brass pin
is of no great importance; I can get another for two pence.' The next
day she showed me the pin, in a large crevice on the floor between
the stones. But when she afterwards, shortly before she left, found
one of my gold earrings which I had lost, and which undoubtedly had
been left on the pillow, for it was a snake ring, this was never
returned, say what I would about it. She made a show of looking for
it in the dirt outside; she knew I dared not say that I had missed
it.
The prison governor at this time came up but rarely; Peder Jensen
waited on me.[129] His Majesty was ill for a short time, and died
suddenly on February 9, 1670. And as on the same day at twelve
o'clock the palace bell tolled, I was well aware what this indicated,
though the woman was not. We conversed on the subject, who it might
be. She could perceive that I was sad, and she said: 'That might be
for the King, for the last time I saw him on the stairs, getting out
of the carriage, he could only move with difficulty, and I said to
myself that it would soon be over with him. If he is dead, you will
have your liberty, that is certain.' I was silent, and thought
otherwise, which was the case. About half-past four o'clock the fire
was generally lighted in the outside stove, and this was done by a
lad whom Chresten at that time employed. I called him to the door and
asked him why the bell had tolled for a whole hour at noon. He
answered, 'I may not say; I am forbidden.' I said that I would not
betray him. He then told me that the King had died in the morning. I
gave free vent to my tears, which I had restrained, at which the
woman was astonished, and talked for a long time.
[129] In the margin is added: 'At this time I had six prisoners for
my neighbours. Three were peasants from Femeren, who were accused
of having exported some sheep; the other three were Danish. They
were divided in two parties, and as the Danes were next the door, I
gave them some food; they had moreover been imprisoned some time
before the others. When the Danes, according to their custom, sang
the morning and evening psalms, the Germans growled forth with all
their might another song in order to drown their voices; they
generally sang the song of Dorothea.' [E48]
[E48] The song of St. Dorothea exists in many German and Danish
versions.
I received all that she said in silence, for I never trusted her. I
begged her to ask Chresten, when he unlocked the door, what the
tolling intimated. She did so, but Chresten answered that he did not
know. The prison governor came up the same evening, but he did not
speak with me. He came up also the next day at noon. I requested to
speak with him, and enquired why the bell had sounded. He answered
ironically, 'What is that to you? Does it not ring every day?' I
replied somewhat angrily: 'What it is to me God knows! This I know,
that the castle bell is not tolled for your equals!' He took off his
hat and made me a bow, and said, 'Your ladyship desires nothing
else?' I answered, 'St. Martin comes for you too.'[E49] 'St. Martin?'
he said, and laughed, and went away and went out to Walter, standing
for a long time whispering with him in front of the hole; I could see
him, as he well knew.[130] He was undoubtedly telling him of the
King's death, and giving him hope that he would be liberated from
prison. God designed it otherwise. Walter was ill, and lay for a long
time in great misery. He behaved very badly to Chresten; took the
dirt from the floor and threw it into the food; spat into the beer,
and allowed Chresten to see him do so when he carried the can away.
Every day Chresten received the titles of thief and rogue, so that it
may easily be imagined how Chresten tormented him. When I sent him
some meat, either stewed or roasted, Chresten came back with it and
said he would not have it. I begged Chresten to leave it with him,
and he would probably eat it later. This he did once, and then
Chresten showed me how full it was of dirt and filth.[131]
[E49] The feast of St. Martin is supposed the proper time for
killing pigs in Denmark. It is reported that when Corfitz Uldfeldt,
in 1652, had published a defence of his conduct previously to his
leaving Denmark the year before, he sent a copy to Peder Vibe, one
of his principal adversaries, with this inscription:--
Chaque pourceau a son St. Martin;
Tu n'echapperas pas, mais auras le tien.
[130] In the margin is added: 'As I was to receive clothes, I asked
for mourning clothes. Then the prison governor asked me for whom I
wished to mourn, and this in a most ironical manner. I answered:
"It is not for your aunt; it is not for me to mourn for her,
although your aunt has been dead long. I think you have as good
reason for wearing mourning as I." He said he would report it. I
did not receive them at once.'
[131] In the margin is added: 'Chresten showed me once some bread,
from which Walter had taken the crumb, and had filled it full of
straw and dirt, in fact, of the very worst kind.'
When Chresten had to turn Walter in bed, the latter screamed so
pitifully that I felt sympathy with him, and begged Chresten not to
be so unmerciful to him. He laughed and said, 'He is a rogue.' I
said, 'Then he is in his master's hands.' This pleased Chresten well.
Walter suffered much pain; at length God released him. His body was
left in the prison until his brother came, who ordered it to be
buried in the German Church. When I heard that Karen could come to me
again, and the time was over which I had promised the other to keep
her, Cathrina went down and Karen returned to me. This was easily
effected, for the prison governor was not well pleased with Cathrina;
she gave him none of her money, as she had promised, but only empty
words in its place, such as that he was not in earnest, and that he
surely did not wish to have anything from her, &c.[132] The prison
governor began immediately to pay me less respect, when he perceived
that my liberation was not expected.
[132] In the margin is added; 'The prison governor also severely
reprimanded the woman because she had told me that the King was
dead; that it would not go as well with me as I thought. She gave
him word for word.'
When the time came at which I was accustomed to receive the holy
communion, I begged the prison governor that he should manage that I
should have the court preacher, D. Hans Laet, as the former court
preacher, D. Mathias Foss, had come to me on the first occasion in my
prison. The prison governor stated my desire, and his Majesty
assented. D. Hans Laet was already in the tower, down below, but he
was called back because the Queen Dowager (who was still in the
palace) would not allow it; and the prison governor sent me word,
through Peder Jensen, that the King had said I was to be content with
the clergyman to whom I was accustomed, so that the necessary
preparation for the Lord's Supper was postponed till the following
day, when Mag. Buck came to me and greeted me in an unusual manner,
congratulating me in a long oration on my intention, saluting me
'your Grace.' When he was seated, he said, 'I should have been glad
if D. Hans Laet had come in my place.' I replied, 'I had wished it
also.' 'Yes,' he said, 'I know well why you wished it so. You wish to
know things, and that is forbidden me. You have already caused one
man to lose his employ.' I asked him whether I had ever desired to
know anything from him? 'No,' he replied, 'you know well that you
would learn nothing from me; for that reason you have asked me
nothing.' 'Does the Herr Mag, then,' I said, 'mean that I desired D.
Hans Laet in order to hear news of him?' He hesitated a little, and
then said, 'You wanted to have D. Hans Laet in order that he might
speak for you with the King.' I said, 'There may perhaps be something
in that.' Upon this he began to swear all kinds of oaths (such as I
have never heard before),[133] that he had spoken for me. (I thought:
'I have no doubt you have spoken of me, but not in my favour.') He
had given me a book which I still have; it is 'St. Augustini
Manuali;' the Statholder Gabel had bought it, as he said more than
once, protesting by God that it had cost the Herr Statholder a
rix-dollar. (I thought of the 5,000 rix-dollars which Gabel received,
that we might be liberated from our confinement at Borringholm, but I
said nothing; perhaps for this reason he repeated the statement so
often.) I asked him whom I had caused to lose his employ. He
answered, 'Hans Balcke.[134] He told you that Treasurer Gabel was
Statholder, and he ought not to have done so.' I said, 'I do not
believe that Balcke knew that he ought not to say it, for he did not
tell it to me as a secret. One might say just as well that H.
Magister had caused Balcke to lose his place.' He was very angry at
this, and various disputes arose on the subject. He began again just
as before, that I wanted to have D. Laet, he knew why. I said, 'I did
not insist specially on having D. Laet; but if not him, the chaplain
of the castle, or another.' He asked, 'Why another?' I replied,
'Because it is not always convenient to the Herr Magister. I have
been obliged to wait for him ten, twelve, and even fourteen days, and
the last time he administered his office in great haste, so that it
is not convenient for him to come when I require him.' He sat turning
over my words, not knowing what to answer, and at last he said; 'You
think it will go better with you now because King Frederick is dead.
No, you deceive yourself! It will go worse with you, it will go worse
with you!' And as he was growing angry, I became more composed and I
asked gently why so, and from what could he infer it? He answered, 'I
infer it from the fact that you have not been able to get your will
in desiring another clergyman and confessor; so I assure you things
will not be better with you. If King Frederick is dead, King
Christian is alive.' I said: 'That is a bad foundation; your words of
threatening have no basis. If I have not this time been able to
obtain another confessor, it does not follow that I shall not have
another at another time. And what have I done, that things should go
worse with me?' He was more and more angry, and exclaimed aloud
several times, 'Worse, yes, it will be worse!' Then I also answered
angrily, 'Well, then let it come.'
[133] In the margin is added: 'Among his terrible curses was one
that his tongue might be paralysed if he had not spoken for me. The
following year God struck him with paralysis of the tongue; he had
a stroke from anger, and lived eight days afterwards; he was in his
senses, but he was not able to speak, and he died; but he lived to
see the day when another clergyman administered the holy communion
to me.'
[134] In the margin is added: 'I saw now that this was the cause of
Balcke's dismissal.'
Upon this he was quite silent, and I said: 'You have given me a good
preparation; now, in God's name!' Then I made my confession, and he
administered his office and went away without any other farewell than
giving me his hand. I learned afterwards that before M. Buck came to
me he went to the prison governor, who was in bed, and begged him to
tell Knud, who was at that time page of the chamber,[E50] what a
sacramental woman I was; how I had dug a hole in the floor in order
to speak with the doctor (which was an impossibility), and how I had
practised climbing up and looking out on the square. He begged him
several times to tell this to the page of the chamber: 'That is a
sacramental woman!'[135]
[E50] This Knud was the favourite of King Christian V., Adam Levin
Knuth, one of the many Germans who then exercised a most
unfavourable influence on the affairs of Denmark.
[135] In the margin is added: 'Chresten, who was ill satisfied both
with Karen and with me, gave us a different title one day, when he
was saying something to one of the house-servants, upon which the
latter asked him who had said it? Chresten answered, 'She who is
kept up there for her.' When I was told of this, I laughed and
said, 'That is quite right, we are two "shes."'
In the end of April in the same year my door was opened one
afternoon, and the prison governor came in with some ladies, who kept
somewhat aside until he had said, 'Here are some of the maids of
honour, who are permitted to speak to you.' There came in first a
young lady whom I did not know. Next appeared the Lady Augusta of
Gluecksburg, whom I recognised at once, as she was but little altered.
Next followed the Electoral Princess of Saxony, whom I at once
recognised from her likeness to her royal father, and last of all our
gracious Queen, whom I chiefly looked at, and found the lineaments of
her countenance just as Peder Jensen had described them. I saw also a
large diamond on her bracelet, and one on her finger, where her glove
was cut. Her Majesty supported herself against the folding table as
soon as she had greeted me. Lady Augusta ran up and down into every
corner, and the Electoral Princess remained at the door. Lady Augusta
said: 'Fye, what a disgusting room this is! I could not live a day in
it. I wonder that you have been able to endure it so long.' I
answered, 'The room is such as pleases God and his Majesty, and so
long as God will I shall be able to endure it.' She began a
conversation with the prison governor, who was half tipsy, and spoke
with him about Balcke's marriage, whose wedding with his third wife
was taking place on that very day; she spoke against marrying so
often, and the prison governor replied with various silly speeches.
She asked me if I was plagued with fleas. I replied that I could
furnish her with a regiment of fleas, if she would have them. She
replied hastily with an oath, and swore that she did not want them.
Her question made me somewhat ironical, and I was annoyed at the
delight she exhibited at my miserable condition; so when she asked me
whether I had body or wall lice, I answered her with a question, and
enquired whether my brother-in-law Hanibal Sehested was still alive?
This question made her somewhat draw in, for she perceived that I
knew her. She made no answer. The Electoral Princess, who probably
had heard of my brother-in-law's intrigues with Lady Augusta,[E51]
went quickly up to the table (the book lay on it, in which Karen used
to read, and which she had brought in with her), took the book,
opened it and asked whether it was mine. I replied that it belonged
to the woman whom I had taught to read, and as I gave the Electoral
Princess her fitting title of Serene Highness, Lady Augusta said:
'You err! You are mistaken; she is not the person whom you think.' I
answered, 'I am not mistaken.' After this she said no more, but gave
me her hand without a word. The gracious Queen looked sadly on, but
said nothing. When her Majesty gave me her hand, I kissed it and held
it fast, and begged her Majesty to intercede for me, at any rate for
some alleviation of my captivity. Her Majesty replied not with words,
but with a flood of tears. The virtuous Electoral Princess cried
also; she wept very sorrowfully. And when they had reached the
anteroom and my door was closed, both the Queen and the Electoral
Princess said, 'It is a sin to treat her thus!' They shuddered; and
each said, 'Would to God that it rested with me! she should not stay
there.' Lady Augusta urged them to go away, and mentioned it
afterwards to the Queen Dowager, who said that I had myself to thank
for it; I had deserved to be worse treated than this.
[E51] Hannibal Sehested was dead already in 1666, as Leonora was no
doubt well aware. The whole passage seems to indicate that he is
supposed to have had some love-intrigue with the duchess. Nothing
has transpired on this subject from other sources, but it is
certain that her husband, Duke Ernst Gynther, for some time at
least, was very unfriendly disposed to Hannibal Sehested.
When the King's funeral was over, and the Queen Dowager had left the
castle, I requested the prison governor that he should execute my
message and solicit another clergyman for me, either the chaplain of
the castle or the arsenal chaplain, or the one who usually attended
to the prisoners; for if I could get no other than M. Buck, they must
take the sin on their own heads, for that I would not again confess
to him. A short time elapsed, but at length the chaplain of the
castle, at that time M. Rodolff Moth, was assigned me. God, who has
ever stood by me in all my adversity, and who in my sorrow and
distress has sent me unexpected consolation, gave me peculiar comfort
in this man. He consoled me with the Word of God; he was a learned
and conversable man, and he interceded for me with his Majesty. The
first favour which he obtained for me was, that I was granted another
apartment on July 16, 1671, and Bishop D. Jesper's postil.
He afterwards by degrees obtained still greater favours for me. I
received 200 rix-dollars as a gift, to purchase such clothes for
myself as I desired, and anything I might wish for to beguile the
time.[136]
[136] In the margin is noted: 'Some of my money I expended on
books, and it is remarkable that I obtained from M. Buck's books
(which were sold by auction) among others the great Martilegium, in
folio, which he would not lend me. I excerpted and translated
various matters from Spanish, Italian, French, and German authors.
I especially wrote out and translated into Danish the female
personages of different rank and origin, who were mentioned with
praise by the authors as valiant, true, chaste and sensible,
patient, steadfast and scholarly.' [E52]
[E52] The Martilegium was probably a German history of Martyrs,
entitled 'Martilogium (for martyrologium) der Heiligen' (Strasburg
1484, fol.). The extracts to which she refers were no doubt her
earliest collections for her work on Heroines.