CHRISTIAN III. PROCLAIMED KING. TRIUMPH OF THE REFORMATION IN DENMARK,
NORWAY, AND ICELAND.
(1533-1550.)
While these things were in progress, Christian, who had no intention of
imposing himself on the Danes by force of arms, but wished, on the
contrary, to be freely called to the throne, and by the people
themselves,[352] had marched against the enemies of Denmark, and was
besieging that powerful town of Lübeck which had brought confusion on
his country. The Grand Master, Magnus Gjoë, Ove Lunge, another member of
the Diet, and two bishops set out to announce to him his election.
Informed of their mission he went to meet them, and received them at the
cloister of Preetz, in Holstein, situated above Eutin and the charming
lake of Ploen. Christian accepted with gratitude, dignity, and modesty
the crown which was offered to him as the only man who had power to save
the kingdom. Soon afterwards he went to Horsens, in Jutland, situated at
the head of a gulf formed by the sea to the north of the Little Belt. At
this place the States of Jutland and Fionia met in a great assembly on a
plain near the town. Christian was here proclaimed king; and, on his
knees, with hands raised towards heaven, he took the oath in use at the
election of a monarch; saving, however, the necessary changes which
might be made, with the assent of the Diet, particularly with respect to
the property and the privileges of the bishops. From the very beginnings
of the Reformation, the prelates had incessantly resisted its progress.
They had imprisoned or banished the reformers, had deposed a king, and
as soon as the throne was vacant had endeavored to place on it a boy
whom they assumed to keep under their own guardianship. Everywhere and
at all times they had taken the position of masters of the country. And
now their star was paling, a dark veil hung over their destinies, and
the sun ‘that ariseth with healing in his wings’ was about to radiate
freely his light and heat.[353]
There was still, however, much to do. Oldenburg’s soldiers, under the
command of a pirate, had invaded the north of Jutland, and had spread
there, as they did everywhere, ruin and desolation.
Rantzau who was in command of the royal troops expelled them. Oldenburg
went to Copenhagen, and being determined to push on the war vigorously,
demanded of the gentry their silver plate and the jewels, necklaces, and
bracelets of their wives and daughters. But at the call of the new king,
Sweden, having no desire to see its butcher, the terrible Christian II.,
reascend the throne of Scandinavia, despatched an army into Scania which
pursued the Lübeckers as far as Malmoe. Christian III., for want of a
fleet, passed the Little Belt in ordinary boats. The German army was
defeated in two engagements. More than two hundred German lords perished
in these fights; and the famous Archbishop Troll, the friend of
Christian the Cruel, who, in conjunction with Hoya, was in command of
the army of the invaders, was severely wounded and died. At length the
spring of 1535 permitted the vessels of Sweden and Prussia to join those
of Denmark. This fleet touched at the island of Zealand, and the king
and the army encamped at a distance of four leagues from Copenhagen, and
soon invested the city. The siege lasted a year; and during this time
Christian III. overran the other provinces for the purpose of driving
away the enemy.
In the midst of these struggles and conflicts the Reformation was making
its way without the co-operation of the king. Its adherents were
gradually regaining possession of the churches and offices of which they
had been deprived by the bishops in the fatal year 1533. Christian
undertook a journey into Sweden; and the order, peace, and prosperity
which prevailed in that country, since the Reformation achieved the
victory over the Romish hierarchy, attracted his attention, and
convinced him more than ever that in this victory was to be found the
source of the welfare of the individual and the community.
[Sidenote: The Lubeckers Repulsed.]
At the same time the Lübeckers were beginning to be weary of an
unrighteous, burdensome, and unsuccessful war. The elector of Saxony,
with other princes and some of the free towns of Germany, looking on the
young Christian as one of their own body, offered to mediate between
Lübeck and him. A congress was accordingly opened at Hamburg. It was
arranged that all hostilities should cease between the king and the
state of Lübeck, and that Copenhagen and the other towns still in
rebellion should be pardoned if they made their submission. But these
towns refused to surrender, in the confidence that Queen Mary of
Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, the sister-in-law of Christian
II., would send them aid. Necessity at last brought about what
inclination refused. Copenhagen, in which the Count of Oldenburg had
shut himself up, could no longer hold out. There was no more bread in
the town. Those who had a little barley or oats ate them uncooked, lest
the smoke should reveal the fact, and the famishing should come and
carry off what remained. In a little while this emaciated population had
nothing to live on but horses, dogs, and cats; and for this kind of food
a very high price was charged.
The soldiers who had nothing at all entered houses to snatch, from those
who still had any thing left, any poor food, and carried it off,
harassing them at the same time with shameful treatment. These
unfortunates sought with eagerness after every thing that seemed capable
of sustaining life. Men and women who were mere shadows wandered about
hither and thither, scaring those who met them; and they were seen
dragging themselves upon the ramparts exposed to the fire of the enemy
and stooping to pluck from the soil any wild herbs. Some, when they felt
that death was approaching, left their beds and dragged themselves along
to the cemetery, as their relatives would certainly have no strength to
carry them thither, and they lay down to die on the earth which was to
cover them. Others, impatient for the end of the long agony, exposed
themselves to the shots of the besiegers. Pity was nowhere to be found;
and when some of these wretched victims abandoned themselves to cries
and lamentations—‘Off with you!’ said the chiefs, ‘you are not so badly
off as they were at the siege of Jerusalem, where parents ate their own
children.’[354] There was more charity in the prince who was besieging
them. Duke Albert of Mecklenburg, who had married a niece of the elder
Christian, and was hoping to inherit his crown, was one of the leaders
shut up in Copenhagen. His wife being confined, the young king sent her
victuals in great abundance for the sustenance of herself and of all her
connections.
[Sidenote: The King’s Entry Into Copenhagen.]
At last came the catastrophe of this tragedy. The townsmen and the
soldiers, subdued by hunger, offered to capitulate. Christian’s first
intention was that they should surrender at discretion; but his generous
disposition soon prevailed, and he promised pardon to all his enemies.
The Duke of Mecklenburg and the Count of Oldenburg proceeded on foot to
the royal camp, their heads uncovered and white bâtons in their
hands.[355] They made a public confession of their offences, and falling
on their knees they asked pardon of the king. Christian gave a stern
reception to the Count of Oldenburg, whose ambition had plunged Denmark
into a most cruel war. He reminded him of the pillage, the
conflagrations, and the murders which he had ordered in the states of a
prince of his own blood, and urged him to repent. Then he raised him up,
saying at the same time that he was willing still to acknowledge him as
his kinsman, although he had shown himself his most cruel enemy.[356] As
for the Duke of Mecklenburg, the king attributed his offence to
weakness, and treated him with forbearance. The deputies of the town
afterwards presented themselves and were received with a kindliness that
won their hearts. The king made his entry into the capital on the 8th of
August, accompanied by the queen, the members of the Diet, and the
principal officers of his army. The inhabitants, wasted, pale and
tottering, crawled out to see him pass, and had scarcely strength to
utter a shout of joy. Many houses had been destroyed by cannon shot; and
almost all the churches were thrown down. The emotion and pity which the
king felt at this spectacle were depicted on his countenance. His
presence was now to put an end to these calamities. He re-entered the
town as a king, but also as a father. A similar entry was to take place,
at the close of the century, into a capital of higher importance, and on
the part of a prince more illustrious. But there was a great difference
between Christian III. and Henry IV. The prince of the North did not
ascend the throne as the king of France did, ‘to have on his head the
feet of the pope.’[357]
And now, what had he to do? To bind up the wounds of the kingdom and to
give it a new life. Christian felt it necessary to consult the principal
members of the Diet. Six days after his entry into Copenhagen he called
together, under the seal of secrecy, the Grand Master Magnus Gjoë, the
Grand Marshal Krabbe, Rosenkranz, Brahe, Guldenstiern, Friis, Bilde, and
some other enlightened members of the senate, and laid his thoughts
before them. They came to a unanimous conclusion that the bishops were
the chief cause of the troubles in the realm, and that while they were
in power its prosperity was impossible. Were they not the authors of
this interregnum which had plunged Denmark into an abyss of misfortunes?
Had they not rejected the only king who was capable of saving the
country? Had they not exercised in his stead tyrannical authority? Was
not their temporal power contrary to the Scriptures, a tissue of
usurpations and a fatal institution? The people declared for the
Reformation. It was, therefore, the duty of the king and of the Diet to
take the necessary steps for its complete establishment; and the first
thing to do was to deprive the bishops of a power condemned by God and
by man. But if they should find that this matter is to be brought before
the Diet would they not attempt to raise their partisans? To prevent
this their persons must be secured. Sharp remedies for sharp maladies.
‘He leadeth princes away spoiled and overcometh the mighty.’[358]
[Sidenote: Arrest Of The Bishops.]
This resolution had hardly been adopted before two of the most
influential prelates of the kingdom, Torbern Bilde, archbishop of Lund
and primate of the realm, and Roennov, bishop of Zealand, arrived at
Copenhagen for the purpose of offering their congratulations to the
king. They were both at the episcopal palace of the city, and it appears
that they received some hint of the measure that was in preparation. On
the 20th August, Rantzau, entrusted with the mission by the king,
appeared at the palace. He found the door closed, and his soldiers burst
it open. The archbishop immediately surrendered without offering
resistance. But Roennov took advantage of his familiarity with all the
nooks and corners of his palace to rush within, and climbing up to the
roof squatted in a foul and disgusting hole, or according to another
account, behind one of the beams which supported the roof.[359] They
searched for him for a long time without looking there; but the next
morning they discovered him. He came down and tried to conceal his shame
under an air of irritation and by violent words. All the bishops were
taken prisoners; and every one of these arrests forms a history by
itself. Many of them defended themselves in their strong castles and
repulsed force by force. Rantzau was obliged to form regular sieges and
to attack vigorously these formidable pastors who had armed men and
brave officers under their orders.[360] The Danish bishops, contrary to
the Bible command, had turned their crooks into swords, their crosses
into halberds, and their flocks into troops of lancers. The bishops were
confined in various fortresses, and their treatment with more or less
mildness depended on whether they conducted themselves submissively or
insulted the king’s officers. The question of course arises were these
seizures legal? We reply that the bishops had been guilty of offences
against the state and against the people, and that these offences
justified their imprisonment. It is a legitimate course for a king and
his counsellors to defend themselves against conspirators.
[Sidenote: Charges Against The Bishops.]
The Diet of the kingdom had now to pronounce a decision. Christian
resolved on taking an important step in a constitutional direction by
introducing into the Diet, in conjunction with the nobility, and in the
place of the prelates, representatives chosen by the burgesses of the
towns and by the peasantry of the country districts.[361] This was the
first Diet in which the people were represented. It was opened on the
30th of October, 1536. A decree was passed for the holding of an
assembly to regulate the new order of things. A spacious platform having
been erected in the open air, the king and the States took their places
on it, surrounded by a vast gathering of the people, who formed as it
were, the general council of the nation. The prince expressed the sorrow
that he felt at the thought of the calamities with which the country had
just been visited, and dwelt on the fact that the bishops had shown
themselves unworthy of their office. Then followed the reading of a
report on the condition of the kingdom, which occupied three hours. It
set forth the offences common to all the bishops, the usurpation of the
supreme power and the attempt to ruin the evangelicals.
Next, the reporter dealt with each of them separately. ‘Bishop Roennov
of Roeskilde,’ said he, ‘has ruled in Copenhagen during the interregnum
as though he were the sovereign.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ exclaimed voices from the
crowd. ‘He has sent his likeness,’ said some one, ‘to Queen Mary of
Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, offering her at the same time his
hand and the crown of Denmark!’ This was doubtless a mere piece of fun;
but the notion of becoming king some day would be not at all unlikely to
occur to a vain man like Roennov, who was turning over high matters in
his weak brain. To each bishop was attributed some particular saying and
deed. One of the strangest sayings was that of the Bishop of Ribe, who,
according to the reporter, said—‘I should like to be changed into a
devil, that I might have the pleasure of tormenting the soul of King
Frederick, tainted with heresy.’[362]
The reporter continued—‘In consequence of these facts it is proposed
that all the Roman Catholic bishops should be deposed from their
offices; that the religion and the rites of the Romish Church should be
abolished in the kingdom; that the doctrine should be reformed and the
evangelical religion established; that none of those who are unwilling
to renounce the Roman priesthood should on that account be subject to
any ill-treatment, that no infringement of their liberty of conscience
should be attempted, but that they should be instructed in conformity
with the Word of God, and if they refused this they should be left to
give account of their faith to God alone.’[363] Considering that the
spiritual power had resorted to the use of halberds and cannon, the
temporal power might very reasonably have done the same; but the
sovereign, having made himself master of their fortresses, imposed on
them no penalty but freedom.
When the reading of the report was concluded, the question was put in
the king’s name to the nobles and to the people whether they assented to
the proposals therein made, and particularly whether they wished to
retain their former bishops. As with one voice they all replied—‘We do
not wish for them; we will have the Gospel.’ A compact was accordingly
drawn up. A complete amnesty for what was past, and entire and mutual
confidence for the future were proclaimed. In the place of the prelates,
the authors of all the troubles of the kingdom, an equal number of
evangelical theologians were to be established under the designation of
‘superintendents’ (that of ‘bishops’ subsequently came into use).
Permission was given to monks to quit their convents, or to remain in
them on condition of leading there an edifying life and of listening to
the Word of God. If any one thought that he had ground of complaint
against the king, he was to institute proceedings against him before the
Diet. The crown was declared to be henceforth hereditary. This compact
was signed by four hundred nobles and by the deputies of the towns and
the country districts. From this time the bishops ceased to be members
of the Diet of which they had formed a part for six centuries; and the
evangelical religion was publicly professed. The Reformation was thus
established in this northern kingdom in the same year and in the same
manner as it had just been established in a petty republic in the centre
of Europe.[364]
[Sidenote: Liberation Of The Bishops.]
It was the king’s intention to set at liberty immediately such of the
bishops as were still in confinement, and he caused the offer to be made
to them, requiring only in return that they should not meddle with
affairs of state, that they should not resist the Reformation, and that
they should lead a peaceable life. The majority agreed to these terms;
and the king not only restored to them their hereditary estates, but, in
addition, made liberal presents to many of them. The best treated was
Ove Bilde, who had defended his castle with cannon, and who, respected
by every one, received as a fief the estate of Skovkloster, near
Nestved. Towards the close of his life he embraced the evangelical
doctrine. One bishop only, Roennov, absolutely refused submission. He
had changed with every wind, but he remained steadfast now. Of a
character at once feeble and fiery, he protested against the course
adopted towards him, and his indignation vented itself in sharp sayings
and violent gestures. This restless and versatile man was removed
successively to four or five castles, and at last died, in 1544, in this
same town of Copenhagen, where the people continued to believe that he
had aimed at establishing himself as king. Christian III. reunited the
castles of the bishops to the domains of the crown; but the rest of the
properties of the bishops he assigned, by Luther’s advice, to the
hospitals, the schools, the university and the churches. It had been his
intention to give an important position to the ‘third estate’; but in
this he did not succeed. This class, consisting of workmen without moral
weight, and peasants without intelligence, had to wait till their time
was come.[365]
The organization of the Evangelical Church was no light task. The king
felt the want of some Protestant theologian who was competent to
undertake it. At Flensborg, in 1529, he had made the acquaintance of
Pomeranus, the friend of Luther, who had organized the churches of
Pomerania, his native country, of Brunswick, Hamburg, and Lübeck.
Pomeranus, whose original name was Bugenhagen, was superintendent at
Wittenberg, and was a man of a conciliatory and disinterested nature. He
could distinguish between things essential and things indifferent; he
attached himself to the spirit still more than to the letter; and on
these grounds seemed to be peculiarly fitted to give a constitution to
the Danish Church. The elector of Saxony consented to give him up, first
for a year, and afterwards for two years. In 1537, therefore, Luther’s
friend arrived at Copenhagen with his family and several students from
Wittenberg. He reorganized the university of Copenhagen, and delivered
their courses of lectures, and diffused instruction and the knowledge of
the Scriptures among the clergy. At the same time, in co-operation with
the reformers of Denmark, Tausen, Wormorsen, Chrysostom, Sadolin, Peter
Larssen and others, he gave a constitution to the renovated Church of
Denmark. On the 12th of May, 1537, the birthday of Christian III., the
king and queen were crowned by the reformer. ‘Pomeranus is in Denmark,’
wrote Luther to Bucer, ‘and all that God does by his hands prospers. He
has crowned the king and the queen as if he were a real bishop.’[366] On
September 2, he consecrated the new evangelical bishops. Wormorsen was
made bishop of the former primatial see of Lund, but its metropolitan
privileges were abolished. Palladius, a disciple of Luther and
Melanchthon, who had spent at Wittenberg almost all the time during
which the Reformation was in progress in Denmark, was appointed,
doubtless on the recommendation of Pomeranus, bishop of Zealand, and he
exercised also a kind of general supervision. Tausen was not at this
time made a bishop. Are we to suppose that he declined the office? Or
were some afraid to raise to a bishopric this bold pioneer who had made
himself enemies by the freedom of his ministry? He was, however,
invested with the office, four years later, as bishop of Ribe.[367]
[Sidenote: Constitution Of The Church.]
The very day on which the bishops were consecrated the constitution of
the Church was promulgated. It treated, in the first place, of pure
evangelical doctrine and of the sacraments; next of the education of the
young and of schools; of ecclesiastical customs and of their uniformity;
of the duties of the superintendents and of provosts; of the revenues of
the Church for the maintenance of ministers and the poor; and of the
books which might be used by the pastors to enlarge their knowledge. The
writings of Luther and Melanchthon were especially recommended.[368]
The Danish Church was thus transformed; and from a church of the pope
had become a church of the Word of God. Unfortunately it was unable to
stand fast in the liberty into which it was born. The state claimed too
much authority over its affairs.
The Reformation was likewise established in other countries bordering on
Denmark, and these demand at least a moment’s attention. We must take a
hasty survey of Norway and Iceland.
The Reformation in Denmark involved in it that of Norway. The commercial
relations of this country with England and its proximity to Sweden had
contributed to increase the number of Protestants within its borders.
But there was no region of the north in which Roman Catholicism had more
resolute adherents. We have seen that Christian II. had been favorably
received there when he appeared as champion of the papacy. Archbishop
Olaf Engelbrechtsen was one of his partisans, and kept up intercourse
with the protectors of the prince, with his brother-in-law, Charles the
Fifth, and his son-in-law the elector-palatine. As soon as this prelate
heard of the imprisonment of the Danish bishops he fancied himself
likewise a ruined man, and, struck with terror, had his vessels equipped
and all his property and the most costly treasures of the Church put on
board, and then fled to the Netherlands. Christian III. was acknowledged
in Norway; but the country lost its independence and was united with the
kingdom as one of its provinces. The Norwegian Church was for some time
in a lamentable condition.
‘Our brethren in Norway,’ said Palladius, bishop of Zealand, ‘are like
sheep that have no shepherd.’[369] Nevertheless, one or two influential
men of the country took part in the work of reform. Johan Reff, bishop
of Opzloe, went to Copenhagen, and there resigned his temporal power and
accepted the new constitution of the Church. Geble Petersen, bishop of
Bergen, also declared publicly for the Reformation. He refused to marry,
he said, in order that he might be able to devote himself entirely to
the public service. He gave up his whole fortune towards the foundation
of a school, the repair of his cathedral, and the erection of a
parsonage-house. He gave instruction daily in the school which he had
founded, and urgently requested Palladius, bishop of Zealand, who held
him in high esteem, to send him masters and ministers; but he did not
succeed in getting them. The fervent Catholicism of certain Norwegians
was alarming to the Danes. It was rumored at Copenhagen that in Norway
people were killing the pastors. The constitution of the Danish Church
was, however, introduced into the country. Christian III. commanded that
the Word of God should be purely and plainly taught there. But there was
an active party which offered a vigorous opposition to Protestantism. A
gale was blowing in the country districts which threw to the ground
whatever the Government attempted to set up. The monks were stirring up
the peasantry to revolt. The people when urged to build parsonage-houses
for their pastors refused to do so. Nevertheless the Reformation
gradually got the ascendency; but it appears to have been mainly the
work of the Government.[370]
We have already spoken of the Reformation in the duchies of Schleswig
and Holstein.[371] The townsmen of Flensborg, in 1526, discharged twelve
priests and set evangelical ministers in their places. In the same and
the following years the Reformation was established at Hadersleben,
Schleswig, Itzehoe, Rendsburg, Kiel, Oldenburg, and other towns. All the
measures of the Government were marked by mildness and patience; and the
kingdom of Christ made progress by its own inward power.
[Sidenote: The Bishops Of Iceland.]
Iceland, that island of frozen mountains and subterranean fires which
heave up and shake the land, and then burst forth in eruptions, so that
the region is a wonderful combination of burning lava and eternal
ice—Iceland also was to become acquainted with the Reformation. Icebergs
floating down from the polar regions sometimes environ it and destroy
the crops; but knowledge, Divine words, and evangelical teachers were
one day to arrive there from the East; and this remote island of the
North was thus to be exposed to the beneficent shining of a sun which
brings life and prosperity into the most desolate regions.
For more than a century before this time the Icelanders had made bitter
complaint of the harshness of their bishops. Real despots they
were—whose punishments were so cruel that the unhappy persons on whom
they were inflicted declared that they should prefer death. At the epoch
of the Reformation the two prelates of the island were—Oegmund Paulsen,
bishop of Skalholt, and Johan Aresen, bishop of Holum, both priests
worthy of their predecessors. The latter, an ignorant, domineering,
obstinate, and vindictive man gave himself out for a descendant of the
kings of Denmark and Norway, and even of Priam, king of Troy, and he was
very proud of it. The character of Bishop Oegmund was less violent; but
both he and his colleague were far more like feudal barons of the Middle
Ages than shepherds of the Lord’s flock. At the time of the election of
the bishop of Holum, Oegmund had supported a different candidate;
consequently Aresen had sworn mortal hatred to him. This hostility of
the two prelates occasioned division among the inhabitants of the island
to such an extent that, in 1527, civil war was on the point of breaking
out. They were, however, at last induced to settle the quarrel by a
trial by single combat, a method not very agreeable to the spirit of the
Gospel. Each of the two prelates selected his champion; and the two
knights, representatives of the bishops, appeared armed _cap à pied_,
and struck terrible blows at each other. Oegmund’s champion was the
victor.[372] How would these strange characters, who were two or three
centuries behind the rest of the world, receive the Reformation, which,
all unknown to them, had begun to stir all Europe? The answer was not
doubtful.
[Sidenote: Oddur’s New Testament.]
A son of the former bishop of Holum, Oddur Gottschalksen, had been
educated in Norway, and had also studied under Luther at Wittenberg. On
his return to Iceland, Bishop Oegmund, who had for some time been his
father’s colleague, and had known the boy from his birth, took him for
his secretary. The prelate hated the Holy Scriptures; and finding one
day a copy of the Vulgate in the possession of one of his priests, he
snatched the book out of his hands, and flung it away in a rage. Another
day, when he was severely rebuking an ecclesiastic who had been so
audacious as to censure abuses, numerous enough in Iceland, and
particularly the worship of images, the poor priest appealed to St.
Paul. ‘Paul!’ gruffly exclaimed the bishop, ‘Paul was the teacher of the
heathen, and not ours.’ This is a specimen of the bishops of
Iceland.[373] Oddur had gained at Wittenberg the knowledge of the truth.
Naturally fond of study he had determined to devote his energies to this
rather than to the active ministry; and he had brought with him for this
purpose many German and Latin books. As he was aware how the tyrannical
bishops of Iceland demeaned themselves towards their inferiors, he was
timid and prudent, and did not venture to speak of the Gospel before
them or their creatures. Privately, however, he taught the way of
salvation to many of his fellow-countrymen; and secretly worked at an
Icelandic version of the New Testament. He had witnessed the marvellous
effect produced by the translation of his master Luther, and he was in
hopes that his own might be the instrument of like good to Iceland. In
order that he might be secure against surprise by any indiscreet and
fanatical visitor, he had taken up his quarters for this work in a cow
shed; and the bishop, supposing that his secretary was copying old
documents, supplied him liberally with paper, pens, and ink. Oddur, in
his solitary shed, did not confine himself to writing, but he fervently
prayed there for Iceland, beseeching that a fertile season, a long
summer, might be granted to this region of long winters. The good seed
which he scattered began to spring up in men’s hearts. The bishop became
aware that something was going on; and it appeared to him that a new
doctrine had overleaped the vast interval that separates Iceland from
the European continent. He was uneasy, but he expected that he should be
able to smother the first germs, by threatening with excommunication all
who should teach and profess any other articles of faith than those
which he himself accepted.
Oegmund was advanced in years, and was thinking of retirement. He had a
young Icelander, Gisser Einarsen by name, brought up to succeed him. In
opposition to the bishop’s wish, the young man had left Hamburg, where
the bishop had placed him, and gone to Wittenburg. It does not appear,
however, that the prelate was much vexed with his intended successor;
the latter, on the contrary, appears to have exerted a good influence on
his patron. Oegmund was somewhat softened by the knowledge of the course
of events in Denmark. He sent Einarsen to Copenhagen, with instructions
to announce to King Christian III. that he was not an enemy of the
Reformation, and that the clergy intended to appoint him—Einarsen—to the
office of superintendent of the church of Skalholt. Oddur accompanied
the episcopal delegate, anxious to avail himself of the opportunity of
getting his Icelandic New Testament printed. Christian III. ordered an
examination to be made of this translation, and then commanded that it
should be printed, probably at his own expense. Einarsen himself was
examined by the professors of Copenhagen, and was then ordained bishop
by Palladius, although he was only twenty-five years of age. On his
return to Iceland, Oegmund resigned to him the episcopal office.[374]
[Sidenote: Bishop Aresen.]
But the king did not confine himself to sending a new bishop to the
Church of Iceland; he required at the same time that it should receive
the new ecclesiastical constitution which he had given to Denmark. This
was not an easy matter. The more remote communities lie from the great
currents of civilization, whether in mountain regions or in islands, the
more tenaciously they cling to the opinions of their forefathers. These
rugged islanders therefore declared that, while they were ready to
abolish abuses, they would not receive a new faith. In the heart of the
aged Oegmund himself was rekindled zeal for the doctrines of his youth,
and he seemed desirous of resuming his episcopal duties. But being
accused of having taken part in a murder, committed in his dwelling, of
a person in the service of the king, he was compelled to go to
Copenhagen to answer the charge, and there he died. From this time the
pious Einarsen entered upon the full exercise of his episcopal
functions. He founded schools, compelled many convents to instruct the
young, and spared himself no pains in training good ministers. Death
arrested him in the midst of his work.
And now Johan Aresen, bishop of Holum, took courage. This violent,
ambitious, restless, and yet undoubtedly sincere man had been indignant
to see the beginning of the Reformation in Iceland. He wrote to
Copenhagen—‘I have never learnt that a king has authority to make
changes in matters of religion unless they are enjoined by the court of
Rome.’ No sooner had he been informed of the death of his young
colleague than he raised a body of troops, about two hundred men, and
entered by force of arms into the diocese which had become vacant,
firmly resolved to clear it of all traces of reform, and to settle in it
his son Bjoern Jonsen as his vicar. Aresen intended to become himself
sole bishop of the whole of Iceland. He gave orders to two of his other
sons to seize and carry off the new bishop, Morten Einarsen, who had
been in due form elected to succeed the late bishop, and who was
peaceably making a visitation of his new diocese. Aresen, not satisfied
with subjecting him to harsh treatment, composed ballads in which he
mercilessly ridiculed and quizzed him. Next, thrusting himself into the
place of the lawful bishop, he undertook a visitation of the diocese of
Skalholt, taking along with him the captive Bishop Morten. He exhibited
him by way of triumph, and compelled him to enjoin on all priests and
laymen submission to the bishop of Holum. He re-established everywhere
the Roman services, consecrated priests, and did not spare even the last
resting-places of the dead. He caused the body of Bishop Einarsen to be
disinterred, and had it cast into a pit outside the cemetery. This
usurping priest went to greater lengths still; he openly threw scorn on
the royal power, seized the property of the Church, prosecuted those who
offered resistance, and laid the whole country waste. As it was
impossible for the royal governor to allow these proceedings he arrested
Aresen; and this haughty, passionate priest, who cared for neither faith
nor law, heard his adversaries loudly demanding that the land should be
rid of this scourge of the Divine anger. He was sentenced to death, and
was executed with his sons. Thus perished this fiery champion of the
Middle Ages and of the papacy; a death undoubtedly unjust, if he had
been struck as a Roman Catholic bishop. But, according to the most
authentic documents, the Reformation appears to have had no share in
this tragical end of Aresen. He fell a victim to his crimes and to the
indignation of his countrymen, who were determined to take vengeance for
all the calamities which he had brought down on their country. His
partisans, likewise, took their revenge. They put to death several of
his judges, indulging in the practices of the most barbarous ages. They
seized the executioner of the decree of justice who had given the bishop
the fatal stroke, bound him, and, forcing open his mouth, poured melted
lead down his throat. After these horrible proceedings the wild energy
of the people appeared to be broken, and Christian civilization began to
make progress. Schools were multiplied by the Protestant bishops; and
the whole of the Bible was translated, printed, and circulated in the
vernacular tongue. The Roman services gradually became extinct.[375] To
avoid the necessity of a return to the affairs of this remote island, we
have been compelled to anticipate events. It was not till 1550 that the
terrible Bishop Aresen was put to death.
Footnote 352:
‘Qui non regem se populo obtrudere volebat, quin potius ab ipso populo
ad regnum advocari cupiebat.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 401.
Footnote 353:
Gerdesius, _Ann._ Mallet, _Hist._ &c.
Footnote 354:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schweden_, ii. p. 87.
Footnote 355:
The white bâton distinguished those who were pardoned from those who
surrendered at discretion. In the _Histoire Universelle_ of Théodore
Agrippa d’Aubigné, iii. p. 35, we read, on occasion of a victory of
Lesdiguières:—‘Les soldats de Gascogne _rendus au baston blanc_, ceux
de pays _à discretion_.’
Footnote 356:
This war is called in Denmark ‘_die Grafenfehde_,’ war of the Count;
and this name has become a proverbial expression to designate a great
calamity.
Footnote 357:
_Rerum Danicarum Scriptores_, pp. 65-75. Hamelman, _Oldenburgische
Chronik_, pp. 327-340. Mallet, iv. pp. 242, 323. _Histoire
Universelle_ of Théodore Agrippa d’Aubigné.
Footnote 358:
Job xii. 19.
Footnote 359:
‘Super laquearia in fœdum latibulum conscenderat.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._
iii. p. 405. ‘Auf einem Balken unter seinem Dache.’—Munter,
_Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 449.
Footnote 360:
‘Antistes Arusiensis (Ove Bilde, the bishop of Aarhuus)
castellum Silkeburgicum dedi non patiebatur, quantum vis acriter
Rantzovius id oppugnaret, sed per Johannem Stugium contra vim
defendebat.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. pp. 404-406, where these
several arrests are narrated.
Footnote 361:
‘Cum nobilitate cives ex plebe urbana æque atque ru tica delecti
convocabantur.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 406.
Footnote 362:
‘Ipse exoptasset se in diabolum transformari,’ &c.—Gerdesius, _Ann._
iii. p. 407. Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 456.
Footnote 363:
‘Dissentientes nedum ut vi contra conscientiam adigantur . . .
reddituros ipsos Deo fidei rationem.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 407.
Footnote 364:
See vol. v. p. 413. The assembly of May 21, at Geneva.
Footnote 365:
Nye, _Danske Magazin_, i. 240; in Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p.
458.
Footnote 366:
‘Regem coronavit et reginam quasi verus episcopus.’—Luther, _Epp._ v.
p. 87. De Wette.
Footnote 367:
‘Taussanus constitutus est episcopus Ripensis, præsente Rege et sex
reliquis episcopis.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 412.
Footnote 368:
‘Ordinatio ecclesiastica,’ &c.—Hafniæ, 1537. Chytræi, _Saxonia_, xv.
p. 379. Grammius, _Additam. ad historiam Cragii_, ii. p. 29.
Footnote 369:
_Descriptio Norvegiæ_, p. 34.
Footnote 370:
Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 515, seq.
Footnote 371:
Vol. III. (First Series), book x. chap. vi., and this volume.
Footnote 372:
Finni Johannæi, _H. E. Islandiæ_, ii. p. 491, seq.
Footnote 373:
Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p. 533.
Footnote 374:
_Danske Magazin_, iii. p. 242. Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. p.
534.
Footnote 375:
Munter, _Kirchengeschichte_, iii. pp. 542, seq.