THE REFORMERS SUPPORTED BY THE LIBERATOR OF SWEDEN.
(1519-1524.)
[Sidenote: Gustavus Vasa.]
In the house of an ancient Swedish family, settled at Lindholm, in
Upland, was born, in 1496, a child who was named Gustavus and who was
afterwards known under the name of Gustavus Vasa. For two centuries
members of this family had sat in the Council of the kingdom. It is said
that the boy, when only five years old, in his play with other children,
usually assumed the part of king. John II., the father of Christian II.,
who at this period visited his kingdom of Sweden, admired the high
spirit of the lad, and giving him a gentle tap with his hand, said, ‘If
thou live, thou wilt one day be a remarkable man.’ The prince would have
liked even to take him with him to Denmark; but Sten Sture, the
administrator of the kingdom, objected. His parents sent him to the
school of Upsala; and people have long pointed out, in the neighborhood
of the town, the places where Gustavus used to play with his
schoolfellows. The story is still told how bravely the boy bore himself
when he went to a wolf hunt. At the age of eighteen he laid aside his
studies to follow the career of arms, and became one of the ornaments of
the court of Sten Sture the younger. People used to say—‘What a
handsome, alert, intelligent and noble young man!’ Others would add—‘God
has raised him up to save his country.’ He served his first campaign
with credit in the struggle of the Swedes against the partisans of
Denmark; and in 1518 he bore the Swedish standard at the battle of
Brannkijrka, at which the Danes were defeated and compelled to retreat.
His valor, his eloquence, and his unfailing good humor were universally
admired. When Christian II. announced his intention of opening
negotiations with Sten Sture, but on condition that hostages should be
given him, six men who were held in high honor by their countrymen, and
among them Gustavus, entered a boat which was to convey them to the
prince. As soon as they had put to sea, a Danish vessel of war fell on
their bark, took them on board, and, the wind being favorable, carried
them off prisoners into Denmark.[391]
Gustavus, a victim of this sudden capture, was sent into the north of
Jutland, as Tausen had been, and was confined in the castle of Kalloe,
under the care of one of his kinsmen, Eric Baner. He used to dine at the
table of his host in company with some young Danish officers. ‘King
Christian,’ said the latter, fond of playing the braggart, ‘is making
preparations for a great expedition against Sweden; we shall soon have a
fine St. Peter’s day with the Swedes’—(a papal bull was the cause of the
war)—‘and we shall share among us the rich livings and the young girls
of Sweden.’ Gustavus, worried by such talk, could no longer eat nor
drink nor sleep, and employed himself night and day in devising some
means of making his escape from confinement. As he was liked by every
body, he had no difficulty in getting the clothes of a coarse drover;
and dressed in these, one day in September, 1519, early in the morning,
he escaped. He walked so fast that he accomplished that day a distance
of twelve German miles. On the 30th of the month he arrived safely at
Lübeck.[392]
Eric Baner started in pursuit of him, and reaching the same town a
little later reclaimed him. But Gustavus having declared that he was a
hostage and not a prisoner, the council refused to give him up. He then
sojourned for three months in this Hanse town; and although it was not
yet reformed he had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
doctrine of the Reformation. At the same time he was filled with
abhorrence at the conduct of the pope to his fellow-countrymen. Sweden,
now vanquished, lay groaning under the yoke of Christian; and his only
thought was how to go to the help of his country. The magistrates of
Lübeck, into whose hands he had delivered himself, gave their consent;
and he embarked on board a merchant ship which was bound for Stockholm.
[Sidenote: His Wanderings.]
There were now only two towns which continued to hold out against the
Danes, Stockholm and Calmar. The former was blockaded by sea and land,
and Gustavus could not enter it; but Calmar being blockaded only by sea,
he succeeded in making his way to a tongue of land near the walls, and
entered the town on the last day of May, 1520. He found the whole town
sunk into a state of despondency, and the only reply given to his
generous words was a threat of taking his life. The Danish admiral,
Norby, having summoned the place to surrender, Gustavus was desirous at
all hazards of preserving his independence for the service of his
country, and he therefore threw himself into the mountainous district of
Smaland. Here he found an asylum among his father’s peasants; but here
also the people were losing their courage and were ready to bow their
heads under the yoke. It was in vain that Gustavus appeared among them
at their gatherings. ‘Consider,’ he said to them, ‘what a _feast_
Christian is preparing for you!’ ‘Pooh!’ they replied, ‘the king will
not let us want either herrings or salt.’ This was enough for them.
Others, angry with the young hero who wanted to disturb them in their
peaceful solitudes, even snatched up their arrows and darts and cast
them at him. His spiritless countrymen went further than this, and set a
price on his head. This people, for want of energy, seemed prepared to
submit to any disgrace, and carried despondency and the love of bondage
to the pitch of fanaticism. The alarm caused by the Danes was universal;
a panic terror had taken possession of all minds. Gustavus alone,
inspired with intrepid courage, and with a manly and invincible
patriotism, did not despair of raising the dead to life and of winning
the victory. He quitted in disguise the district in which his liberty
and even his life were continually in danger, and following the byways
in order to elude his pursuers, he withdrew to the upper mountain
solitudes, and in these he wandered about all the summer. He lived on
roots and wild fruit; the meanest food sufficed him. But even this soon
failed him; he hungered, and could not tell how to provide for his
wants. Driven to extremities, and in total destitution, he betook
himself without money, almost without clothes, to the estate of Tarna,
in Sudermania, to the house of his brother-in-law, Joachim Brahe. For
some months no one had known where he was; and his sister especially had
been in a state of cruel anxiety. One fine day she saw him coming; she
immediately welcomed and treated him affectionately and with all
attention, and thus restored his exhausted powers. His brother-in-law
was setting out to attend the coronation of Christian, to which he had
been invited; Gustavus entreated him not to go, and declared that for
his own part, instead of going to pay court to the Danes, his only
thought was to drive them out of Sweden. ‘If I do not go in response to
the king’s invitation,’ replied Joachim, ‘what fatal consequences will
not my refusal involve for my wife and children? Would not your father,
and even your mother too, have to pay perhaps with their lives for the
affront which I should offer to this revengeful prince? As for yourself,
you are free, do what you think right.’ The sister of Gustavus, who was
not so cool as her husband, trembled for her brother and implored him
with tears to abandon an enterprise which appeared to her to be a
rebellion, and which could have no issue but his death.[393] Gustavus
was inexorable to all her prayers. Determined to raise up Sweden again,
he took leave of his brother-in-law and his sister, and for some time
concealed himself on an estate of his father’s, at Raefsnaes. The
ex-archbishop Ulfsson was at this time in a neighboring convent.
Gustavus went there, made himself known to the prelate, and learnt from
him accurately the condition of the land. The archbishop saw no chance
of independence for their common country, and therefore advised him to
submit to the new order of things. ‘Even your father,’ said he, ‘has
acknowledged Christian, and you are included in the amnesty.’ He offered
him at the same time his mediation with the king. The aged prelate and
the young noble were one day together in a cell of the convent, talking
over the circumstances of the time, and the old archbishop put forth all
his eloquence to induce Gustavus to acknowledge the king. Suddenly a
noise was heard. A man rushed in in hot haste; he was agitated, looked
wild, and remained for some seconds in the presence of these two persons
without being able to utter a word: his voice was stifled by the deepest
emotion. He sobbed, he burst into tears; he made them understand by
signs that some terrible calamity had just fallen upon their country. He
was an old servant of Joachim Brahe. At last the unhappy man, coming to
himself, told them that all the most eminent men of Sweden had just been
massacred in the public place of Stockholm by command of Christian, who
was authorized by a papal bull; and that the father and brother-in-law
of Gustavus were among the victims. ‘Your father,’ said he, ‘might have
saved his life by making a full and unconditional submission to
Christian. The offer was made to him by the king; but he replied that he
would sooner die, in God’s name, with his brothers, than be the only one
spared.’[394] The messenger added that fresh arrests and fresh
executions were continually being made. At the tale of this frightful
butchery, the archbishop was dumb with horror; Gustavus trembled; but
the terrible tidings did not make him despair for his country. On the
contrary, they gave fresh strength to the resolution and the courage of
his noble heart. He rose, left the prelate immediately, and set out on
horseback to Raefsnaes, accompanied by a single attendant.
[Sidenote: Gustavus In The Mountains.]
The sorrowful feelings which at this cruel time weighed upon the heart
of the young hero may be imagined. One thought alone stood out clear in
his mind—Sweden must be delivered from the most barbarous tyranny. He
took the road to Dalecarlia, leaving Stockholm and Upsala on the right;
and, keeping clear of Hedemora and Falum, the principal towns of the
province, he plunged into this Scandinavin Switzerland, a region
bristling with mountains and forming in every age an asylum for
refugees. He was determined to conceal himself for some time behind its
torrents, its waterfalls, its lakes, its forests, and precipitous rocks.
To secure his _incognito_, he put on the dress of a peasant of the
country. The handsome young noble wore a coat of coarse woollen cloth;
underneath it a long jacket and leather breeches; a sort of leather
petticoat which reached to the knee, stockings as large in the lower
part as in the upper, and shoes with very high heels and square toes.
About the end of November he went to the Kupferberg; offered himself for
a workman, and lived there wielding the axe and the spade, and
supporting himself on his pitiful wages. He did not shut his eyes to the
dangers which threatened him. He knew that in consequence of his escape
from the prison in which Christian had immured him, he was more
obnoxious to the king than the other nobles. True, an amnesty had been
granted to him; but the sole object of this was doubtless to entice him
to Stockholm, that he might be sacrificed there like his kinsmen and his
peers. The massacre begun in the capital was continued in the provinces.
One might have said that the proscriptions of Sylla were renewed. The
abbot and five monks of the convent of Nidala had been drowned, by
command of Christian, without any form of trial. At Jonköping Lindorm
Ribbing had been executed. He had two sons, one nine years old, the
other six. The elder boy was hung by his long and beautiful hair, and
his head was then severed from the body by a sabre-stroke, and his
clothes were covered with his blood. It was then the turn of the
younger. The little boy of six said to the executioner, in his childish
voice—‘Please do not soil my dress as you have done my brother’s, for
mamma would be very much vexed.’ At the sound of these innocent words,
the executioner flung his sword away, exclaiming—‘I will never cut off
his head.’ But another headsman was ordered to the spot, who decapitated
the poor child, and, by command of his superiors, laid his head at the
feet of the man who had refused to put him to death. These barbarities
which fell on innocent creatures show plainly the dangers which beset
the energetic and dreaded Gustavus.[395]
The man who was to give independence and the Gospel to his native land,
was at this time laboring at a humble occupation, like a peasant’s son,
in a barn at Rankytta.[396] But it was in vain he disguised himself; his
noble bearing and especially his pure speech betrayed him, and he was
obliged frequently to change his abode.
[Sidenote: Gustavus At Ornaes.]
He directed his steps towards Ornaes, a seat of mining operations, and
applied for work to a wealthy miner, who consented to employ him.
Gustavus associated with the servants of the house as one of their own
rank; but a female servant, who very much admired the handsome workman
and had a keen, observant eye, detected beneath his woollen garment a
shirt collar of silk embroidered with gold. In great astonishment she
hastened to inform her master. The latter, who had been at the
University of Upsala at the same time as Gustavus, now recognized him;
and fearing lest he should get into a scrape with the Danes, required
him to leave his house. At Ornaes, not far off, lived another old
fellow-student of Gustavus, Arendt Perssons. The young fugitive resolved
to go to him. He reached his dwelling, a house of singular construction,
which was situated near a lake, and with its surroundings formed a
charming place of residence.[397] The master of the house gave Gustavus
a most friendly reception, and assured him that he would be safe with
him. He introduced him to his wife, and then conducted him to a large
room on the second-floor forming an almost perfect square, which was to
be his own. But no sooner had Gustavus retired to it than the perfidious
Arendt betook himself to the bailiff Bengt Brunsson and denounced his
guest. The bailiff, with twenty men on foot, set out to seize the
fugitive. But if Arendt was a traitor, his wife had a generous heart.
After the departure of her husband she was in great distress, for she
had guessed, from the expression of his countenance, the purpose for
which he had left the house. Pained by the thought of the death which
was impending over her guest, she rose, gave orders to make ready a
horse and a sledge, and directed two of her men to take Gustavus away
without a moment’s delay. The fugitive heard a knocking at his door; he
opened it and saw before him two Dalecarlians armed from head to foot,
with sugar-loaf hats, according to the fashion of the day. ‘Let us start
instantly,’ they said. Tradition has placed on the table of that room,
beside the armor and the gloves of Gustavus, a Bible—the book which
liberates and makes free indeed.
The hero hastily mounted the sledge and departed. Shortly after, Arendt
arrived with the bailiff and his band. The traitor, it is said, never
forgave his wife for having saved an innocent man.
Gustavus, still a wanderer, arrived at Swardsjoe, at the house of the
pastor Jon; and a notary named Sven Elfson, who lived near, received him
into his house. But the gentlemanly bearing of the young man always
betrayed him. Suspicious looks were fastened on him, and his pursuers
were approaching. The wife of Sven Elfson, alarmed at the imminent
danger in which the young noble was placed, and wishing to mystify her
household, seized the shovel used for placing bread in the oven and
struck Gustavus with it, crying out and calling him a wicked rascal and
a lazy boy, and so drove him away. Sven, no less loyal than his wife,
immediately undertook to conduct him to some friends with whom he
believed he would be safe. But they already heard the footsteps of the
bailiff’s horses, who was in pursuit with his twenty troopers. A wagon
loaded with straw was standing near, and Gustavus hid himself in it. The
horsemen came; as they passed they made thrusts with their halberts into
the straw and continued their journey. Gustavus was wounded, but he
uttered no cry. Sven Elfson came to him; the young fugitive crept out of
the wagon stained with blood, but with unfailing intrepidity he mounted
a horse and set out. The blood which trickled drop by drop on the snow
must inevitably betray him. In order to save him, Sven wounded his horse
in the foot, and when any one observed the spots on the road and
inquired the cause of them, the Swede boldly pointed to the foot of his
beast. At last they reached Marnaes. Two peasants, Ner and Mats Olafsen,
friends of Sven, concealed Gustavus under a large fir-tree recently
felled in the forest, which covered the ground with its broad, green
boughs. In this place he lay for three days and three nights; and in the
evenings, when all was quiet, one of the two brothers used to bring him
food by stealth.[398]
[Sidenote: Pursuit Of Gustavus.]
During these sorrowful days, in which he was pursued like a wild beast,
Gustavus did not forget the task which he had proposed to himself. His
eye was on fire when he thought of the tyranny of Christian; but alas!
his resolution and his courage were useless. The people were indisposed
to follow him. ‘The king,’ they said, ‘strikes only at the nobility and
the clergy.’ The dwellers in these wild valleys were accustomed to go in
crowds to church during the Christmas festival. Gustavus joined in the
devotions of the people in the churches of Raettwiks and Mora. Then,
gathering the peasants together as they came out of church,[399] he
endeavored to rekindle in them the love of their country. ‘My good
friends,’ said he, ‘you know what you have yourselves suffered under the
government of the foreigner. He has shed the blood of our noblest men;
my father has fallen under his blows; and the country is now crushed
under the feet of our enemies. Let us put an end to this slavery. With
God’s help, I will be your captain, and we will die to save the
kingdom.’ But the inhabitants of these remote valleys knew nothing of
the state of things nor of the man who spoke to them. Some of them
testified compassion for him, but the greater number begged him to go
away. Gustavus, disappointed in his hopes, traversed about the close of
1520 the desert places which separate Eastern from Western Dalecarlia,
frequently walking over the ice which cracked under his feet, and
exposing himself more than once to the risk of drowning in the course of
this mournful and solitary flight. He wandered about in these wild
regions dejected and distressed; and his bitterest grief was to see his
countrymen wanting to themselves and enduring without regret the most
intolerable yoke.[400]
Soon after he had left Mora, two Swedish gentlemen, Lars Olafsson and
Jon Michelsson, arrived there, and they gave to the inhabitants, then
assembled for the new year, a thrilling account of the massacre at
Stockholm, which set the poor people sobbing. ‘Christian,’ continued
Olafsson, ‘is going to impose on the people ruinous taxes, he marches
with a gibbet on his right hand and the wheel on his left, and all
Swedish peasants are obliged to deliver up their arms to him. He leaves
them nothing but a staff.’ At these words the people murmured aloud.
They now appreciated the worth of the young man whom they had so
ungraciously received, and men were sent out with instructions to search
for Gustavus in the villages, the woods, and the lofty rocks. They found
him at Saeln, in the parish of Lima, at the foot of the mountains which
separate Sweden and Norway, just preparing to cross them.
[Sidenote: Gustavus Captain Of The Communes.]
Without delay Gustavus returned to Mora. The most respectable peasants
of these valleys assembled there; and they proclaimed the young noble
captain of all the communes of the kingdom of Sweden. Sixteen
stout-hearted men offered their services to him as guides, and some
hundreds of young men placed themselves under his command. When the
Danes heard of it they shrugged their shoulders, and spoke of him and
his followers as a mere band of brigands prowling about in the woods.
But in this movement history discerns the beginning of a most glorious
reign. On a Sunday Gustavus arrived at the Kupferberg with several
hundred men; and when the people came out from divine service he spoke
to them with warm feeling, and gained over to the cause of independence
these simple and energetic men, who tried in their turn to gain others.
‘God keep Gustavus, as one drop of the chivalrous blood of our ancient
heroes,’ said the men of these valleys to those of Helsingenland. ‘Let
us all muster around him.’[401]
The movement was now becoming important. The bishop of Skara, Dietrich
Slaghoelk, whom Christian had named governor of Stockholm, and who had
instigated the king to the massacre of November 8, 1520, took the alarm
and had a consultation with the magistrates. The town was immediately
fortified and a body of six thousand horse and foot soldiers was sent
against Gustavus, in the direction of Dalecarlia. His lieutenant, Peter
Svensson, a wealthy miner, crossed the Dale with a troop of men whose
only weapons were hatchets, pikes, bows and slings, but whose dash was
like a thunderbolt. These high-spirited sons of Sweden fell upon the
Danish camp and broke it up.[402]
Gustavus, who was at this time in Helsingenland, immediately set out on
his march into Westmannia. Everywhere as he advanced, the peasants
joined him; and by the 15th of April he had under him twenty thousand
men. He marched on Westeraas, the chief town of the province, and took
possession of it on St. John’s Day, 1521. He next formed the siege of
Stockholm. As the town was open to the Danes by sea, the siege lasted
for two years. On April 20, 1523, Christian took flight, leaving the
place open to his enemies. A Diet of the kingdom of Sweden was
immediately convoked at Strengnaes, for the 7th of June of the same
year.
Gustavus, who during his sojourn in Germany had admired Luther, and had
appreciated the principles which he proclaimed, was friendly to the
Reformation, not, as the Jesuit Maimbourg has said, in the hope of
acquiring the Church property, but because some rays of the truth had
entered his own soul.[403] He was soon to have an opportunity of
enlarging his acquaintance with it.
Two men who were equally necessary to Sweden, Gustavus the liberator of
the nation and Olaf the reformer of the Church, were now present
together at Strengnaes. During the sittings of the Diet, Olaf with much
energy proclaimed evangelical truth. The members of the Assembly came to
hear him, and his discourses produced a deep impression on his hearers.
He saw clearly that the bishops and the priests were the chief obstacle
to the Reformation. While therefore he lovingly announced the Son of
God, he directed his most vigorous attacks against the domineering
spirit of the clergy, their love of money, and their idleness and
uselessness. He reminded his hearers that the Apostles and the first
Christians were simple, sober, and filled with brotherly love, and that
by their goodness they won all hearts, while now the priests exasperated
the laity by devising a thousand indirect methods of getting their money
from them. He inveighed especially against the Roman Church and its
unjust decrees.[404] The bishops, consequently, exclaimed in alarm—‘He
wants to bring us back to mendicity and the state of the primitive
Church.’[405]
[Sidenote: Gustavus Proclaimed King.]
The Swedish throne was now vacant, and the assembly offered it to
Gustavus. At first he hesitated to accept it, and this not without
reason. Most of the fortresses were still in the hands of the Danes, the
army and the fleet were in a lamentable condition, and the treasury was
almost empty. But as the Swedes were determined to break completely with
Denmark, Gustavus came to a decision, and on the 7th of June, 1523, he
was solemnly proclaimed king at Strengnaes. Thus was dissolved the union
of the three kingdoms, which had lasted one hundred and twenty-six
years.
The legate of the pope, Magnus, a native of Linkoping, at this time only
thirty-five years of age, had been the representative of the Government
of Sweden at the court of Rome. Pope Adrian had sent him back to Sweden
as his minister, to oppose the progress of Lutheranism.
Magnus, seeing that Gustavus was evidently the man chosen of God to be
set at the head of affairs in Sweden, thought that the best way to
accomplish his mission was to flatter him and induce him to accept the
crown. But it was no easy matter to check the progress of reform.
‘Verily,’ said Olaf’s hearers, ‘there is more truth in the discourses of
the evangelical preacher than in all the fables of the monks.’ A goodly
number of souls were won. Young people ardently embraced the Christian
truth; professors and students became its apostles. It made its way into
families, and women sat at the Saviour’s feet. While some still defended
Catholicism as the religion of their forefathers, others assailed it on
account of the abuses of the clergy. ‘Heresy,’ said Bishop Brask, ‘is
beginning to multiply.’[406] The bishops, ever more and more alarmed,
betook themselves to the king and launched forth in complaints against
Olaf and his friends.
This was very annoying to Gustavus, who, although he leaned to the side
of reform, felt it his duty for the sake of his country to steer his
course for a time between wind and water. He called before him the three
evangelical preachers, Anderson and the two Petri. It was not without
emotion that they appeared in the presence of the prince. ‘You are
accused,’ he said to them, ‘of preaching doctrines which have never been
heard of before.’ They answered frankly, and set before him with warm
feeling the substance of the Gospel. Anderson did more; he boldly
declared to the king—‘The ruin of the clergy is their wealth. For them
to be rich is contrary to the nature of the ministry, for Christ said
that his kingdom is not of this world.’
Gustavus was struck with the loyalty of the reformers and with the force
of their speeches, and he conceived for them still higher esteem. But he
was a prince. ‘I promise you my support,’ he said, ‘so far as
circumstances shall allow. I cannot at present avow myself your friend.
I must beg of you not even to let it be known that I am on your side,
for I might thereby lose the confidence of the nation, confidence which
is essential to me in my endeavor to secure its welfare. Nevertheless
you may rest assured that I shall express myself distinctly on this
important subject as soon as the fit time is come.’ We have evidence of
the sincerity of these words. ‘From the beginning of our reign,’ wrote
Gustavus to Luther, ‘we have been steadily attached to the true and pure
Word of God, so far as God has given us grace.’[407]
The effect of his conversations with Anderson and likewise with Olaf and
Lawrence was to make the prince more and more a friend to the
Reformation; but for some time yet he was a secret friend.[408]
[Sidenote: Anderson Made Chancellor.]
It was not long, however, before Gustavus gave a mark of his respect for
one of the three evangelists, by appointing Anderson chancellor of the
kingdom, attaching him to his court and making him his most confidential
friend. By this choice Gustavus gave evidence of great discernment.
Beneath the Christian he discerned the statesman, and the voice of
history has confirmed his judgment. ‘Anderson,’ this voice has said,
‘was one of the greatest men of his age. His was a genius which nature
had made profound, and reflection had expanded. Although he was
ambitious of great place, he was still more ambitious of great things.
The independence of his character was accompanied by a sagacity which
grasped every thing from first principles to remotest consequences, and
by an intelligence which was fertile at once in lofty projects and in
expedients adapted to their successful execution. His eloquence
encountered the less opposition from the fact of its starting-point
being solid reason. His contemporaries did not perceive all the
loftiness of his character nor the influence which he exerted on the
Swedish revolution.’ Such is the view of one of the most celebrated
French writers of the last century, who cannot be suspected of any
religious partiality.[409] Day by day the king conversed with his
chancellor on the concerns of the kingdom. They talked together of the
bishops and of other members of the clerical order, and of what must
needs be done to bring the ministry into greater conformity with Holy
Scripture and to make it more useful to the people. Gustavus saw well
what great reforms it was necessary to introduce; but he felt conscious
that he was too young and not at present sufficiently established on the
throne to venture to undertake them. Anderson showed him the necessity
of strengthening in Sweden the evangelical element, and pointed out the
two brothers Petri as men well qualified for the work. Gustavus then
wrote to Luther to ask what he thought of them. Luther bore noble
testimony to their moral character, their devotedness, and their
doctrine. ‘I entreat you, Sire,’ he added, ‘put your trust in God, and
accomplish the Reformation. For this purpose I wish you the blessing of
the Lord. You will not be able to find for this good work men more
competent or more worthy than the two brothers of whom you speak.’ The
king no longer hesitated. He sent Lawrence to Upsala as professor of
theology; and, wishing to have Olaf near him, he named him preacher in
the Church of St. Nicholas, at Stockholm. Then, in pursuance of his
inclination to avail himself, in affairs of state, of the abilities of
Christian men, he also nominated Olaf secretary of the town, a secular
office which in those times was frequently given to intelligent and
well-informed churchmen. In Olaf’s view, however, his first calling was
that of minister of the Word, and from the pulpit of the great church
the eloquent preacher had the opportunity of daily proclaiming the
Gospel.[410]
The two reformers had thus risen to important but difficult positions in
Sweden. A career of conflict, of alternate successes and reverses, was
now opening before Olaf. His faith was sincere and living. In personal
appearance he was dignified and grave, full of graciousness and of
frankness. His glance was penetrating, his speech firm and energetic.
His keen and clear understanding enabled him readily to unravel the most
intricate affairs. He was incessantly at work, and labor was very easy
to him. But his temper was quick, and he could not always subdue the
passion which impelled him. He had a rather too high opinion of himself,
and did not easily forget offences. Suspicious and sensitive, he lent a
too willing ear to false reports, especially when they touched the king.
Nevertheless, Olaf was an eminent character and a man adapted, in spite
of his faults, to make a powerful impression on his countrymen. Crowds
attended his sermons. The boldness of his preaching and of his character
captivated many souls, and conversions were numerous. He was not long
left to work alone. Michael Langerben, a Swede, having returned from
Wittenberg, was appointed by the king to be Olaf’s colleague.
[Sidenote: Schemes Of The Romanists.]
The powerful preaching of these men, the favor shown to them by the
king, and the eagerness with which the people flocked to hear them,
stirred up the Roman clergy. Violent speeches were everywhere spreading
agitation. The priests, the monks, and their creatures invaded the
church while Olaf was preaching, threw stones at him, and held up their
staves threateningly, and even made attempts on his life. One day, bent
on putting an end to the evangelical preaching, these furious men made a
dash at the pulpit and smashed it to pieces.
The legate, Magnus, an able and prudent man, who was by no means a
fanatic, knew very well that the reform could not be checked by throwing
stones. He drew up a plan for a campaign less noisy, but in his opinion
more effective, and undertook to persuade the king by specious
reasonings to continue faithful to the papacy. The prince was obliged to
go to Malmoe for the purpose of arranging, in conjunction with
Frederick, king of Denmark, the great business of the separation of the
two kingdoms. The primate and his friends thought that if they obtained
some concessions before the departure of Gustavus, they would be able to
act during his absence with greater freedom and to strengthen in Sweden
the authority of Rome. ‘Sire,’ said Magnus to the king, ‘the preaching
of Olaf is diffusing in the kingdom a heresy full of peril. Withdraw
your protection from this disciple of the Wittenberg heresiarch;
prohibit Luther’s books, and thus win for yourself the glory of a
Christian prince.’ But Gustavus was too resolute a man to turn back. ‘I
have never heard,’ he replied, ‘that any one has convicted Luther of
heresy. Since the books which are against him are admitted into the
kingdom, those which he has written are entitled to the same privilege;
and with respect to his disciples, I shall take good care not to
withdraw from them my protection. It is my duty to protect every one of
my subjects against violence, from any quarter whatsoever.’[411]
Gustavus did more than this. Aware of the ambition of the legate, he
considered whether he could not make use of him as a bridle to hold in
check the rage of the clergy. The archiepiscopal see of Upsala was
vacant. The Roman Church had sometimes converted its most bitter enemies
into its most determined champions by awarding them the tiara. Profiting
by this example, Gustavus named the legate of the pope primate of the
kingdom; and from this time Magnus displayed great deference to the king
and to his wishes.
[Sidenote: Bishop Brask.]
But the post of defender of Rome was not to remain vacant. In action a
resolute spirit is of more importance than official position. Bishop
Brask became the powerful champion of the papacy in Sweden. An
inflexible, violent, and intolerant man, more of a papist than the
legate himself, he was beside himself with rage at seeing the success
of the Reformation, and he hurled excommunication against any one who
read or sold evangelical books. ‘The reformers,’ he said, ‘by
trampling under foot ecclesiastical order, commit the greatest of
crimes.’ Making use without scruple of the coarse expressions so
common in that age, Brask said that the Lutherans pretended to
re-establish the liberty of Christ, but that they ought rather to say
the liberty of _Lucifer_. Another dignitary of the Romish Church
frequently wrote _Luterosi_ (the filthy) instead of _Lutherani_. One
day some deacons of Upland, of whom Brask inquired on what they based
their belief, having replied—‘On the doctrine of _Paul_,’ the bishop
started from his seat, exclaiming—‘Better that Paul had been burnt
than that he should thus be known and quoted by every body!’
The bishop of Linkoping, when he discovered that Magnus in becoming
primate of the kingdom had also become tolerant, seriously expostulated
with him. ‘If you do not vigorously oppose the ravages of heresy,’ he
said, ‘you are unworthy to be the successor of so many illustrious
prelates, and as legate of the pope you are dishonoring your chief.’
Magnus was in a most embarrassing position. He had two masters who were
opposed to each other, and he found it impossible to serve at once both
the pope and the king. Bound by the requests of Gustavus, and closely
watched by the able chancellor, he thought that the easiest plan would
be for him to disappear and leave Brask to carry on the conflict in his
stead. To the bishop he therefore said—‘I am going to leave the kingdom
for a year; I shall beg of the pope to entrust you with the suppression
of these disputes; but let both parties abstain from insults.’
Brask had no mind to let the prelate escape and throw upon his shoulders
the burden which he could not bear himself. He did not actually refuse
to act, but he wished that each should do his own duty. ‘The more
indulgence that is shown to heretics,’ said he, ‘the greater will the
mischief become. Summon Olaf and his brother before your chapter of
Upsala, that they may either clear themselves of the imputation of
heresy or, as heretics, be condemned.’ This fanatical prelate thought
that, in the absence of the king, it would be easy to get the two
brothers burnt.[412]
Here was fresh trouble for the archbishop. If he refused to comply with
the demand of Brask, the latter would accuse him to the pope of keeping
up a secret understanding with the heretics. He resolved therefore to
assemble the members of his chapter at Upsala, at the beginning of
October, 1524, and cited Olaf and Lawrence to appear before them. When
the two reformers entered, the threatening looks of these proud priests
were fastened on them, and they vied with each other in making the most
hateful imputations, and in assailing them with the grossest insults.
Olaf and Lawrence answered quietly, and showed by clear proofs the truth
of the evangelical doctrine. Their opponents, unable to reply, contented
themselves with calling upon them, in the name of the Roman pontiff, to
renounce the doctrines of Luther. ‘Otherwise,’ they added, ‘we shall
fulminate the anathema against you. Bethink you, therefore, of the
terrible consequences of excommunication, even in the case of the most
powerful sovereigns. Reflect on the dangers into which you are hurrying
your country; for the pope will urge all the princes of Europe to unite
together for the re-establishment of the order which you are endeavoring
to break up.’ ‘There is no power in the world,’ replied the two
brothers, ‘not even anathemas nor martyrdom, which can compel us to hide
the truth. The highest gain which we covet is the loss of all, even of
our lives, for the establishment of the Gospel and for the glory of
God.’
The chapter, then, had recourse to other weapons, cunningly insinuating
that if Olaf and Lawrence re-entered the Church they would fill its
highest offices. ‘No honors are high enough,’ replied Olaf, ‘to induce
us to conceal the Gospel.’ This was too much for the members of the
tribunal; and they demanded the severest measures. The primate declared
the two reformers to be cast out of the Catholic Church, as Luther was,
and anathematized by Rome. Brask now thought that the time was come for
extirpating the Reformation; and he sought from the German prelates all
the information they could give, of a kind adapted to render it odious.
They forwarded to him a mass of shameful calumnies.
This prelate, in a passion of hatred, now established a printing-press
near his own house, and put into general circulation books tending to
the prejudice of the reformers, prohibiting at the same time the reading
of any of the writings of Luther or of his disciples. It seemed that the
evangelical cause must sink under the blows of a powerful hierarchy
which conspired together for its destruction.[413]
Footnote 391:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. pp. 4, 5.
Footnote 392:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. pp. 4, 5. Schlegel, p. 105.
Footnote 393:
Clem. Rensel’s _Bericht._ Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 9.
Footnote 394:
Clem. Rensel’s _Bericht._ Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 13.
Raumer, ii. p. 120.
Footnote 395:
_Skibyense Chron._ p. 570. _Olai Chronica_, p. 348.
Footnote 396:
This building, by ordinance of April 26, 1668, was consecrated as a
royal monument.
Footnote 397:
This house has been preserved, with some figures representing Gustavus
and other persons, and is shown to strangers.
Footnote 398:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 13.
Footnote 399:
Near the church of Mora is shown the spot where Gustavus addressed the
people.
Footnote 400:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. pp. 15-17.
Footnote 401:
Von Troil, _Verhandlung zur Reformations-Geschichte Schwedens_, iv. p.
356.
Footnote 402:
Celsius, _Leben Gustavs_, i. p. 139.
Footnote 403:
‘Veritatis luce ac radiis tactus.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 287.
Footnote 404:
‘Præsertim contra decreta S. Romani ecclesiæ.’—Brask to the Bishop of
Skara, 12th July, 1523.
Footnote 405:
‘Ut status modernæ ecclesiæ reducatur ad mendicitatem et statum
ecclesiæ primitivæ.’—_Ibid._
Footnote 406:
‘Pullulare incipit hæresis illa Lutherana.’—Brask to the Bishop of
Skara, 12th July, 1523.
Footnote 407:
Spegel, _Schriftliche Beweise_, 16 August, 1540.
Footnote 408:
‘Palam id prodere velle, res periculo plenissima.’—Gerdesius, _Ann._
iii. p. 287.
Footnote 409:
Raynal, _Anecdotes de l’Europe_.
Footnote 410:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibung_, p. 40.
Footnote 411:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 43.
Footnote 412:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, pp. 42, 43.
Footnote 413:
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, pp. 43, 44, 45.