THE SONS OF GUSTAVUS VASA.
(1560-1593.)
The transformation effected by the Gospel in Sweden during the reign of
Gustavus Vasa was incomplete. The whole lump was not leavened. Many of
those who received the Reformation did not understand it; and a very
large number of Swedes had no wish for it. This state of things, and the
vexations which the king’s sons caused him, saddened his old age. At the
beginning of the year 1560, the king, feeling ill, convoked the Diet. It
met on the 16th of June, and he appeared and took his seat in it on the
25th, having beside him his sons Erick, John, and Magnus, and on his
knee his youngest son Charles. He spoke, calling to mind the deliverance
which had been granted to Sweden forty years before; and this he
attributed to the help of God. ‘What was I that I should rise up against
a powerful ruler, king of three realms, and the ally of the mighty
emperor Charles the Fifth, and of the greatest princes of Germany?
Assuredly it was God’s doing. And now, when the toils and pains of a
troubled reign of forty years are bringing down my gray hairs to the
grave, I can say, with King David, that God took me from the sheepcote
and from following the sheep to be ruler over his people.’ Tears stifled
his voice. After a pause he resumed—‘I had certainly no anticipation of
so high an honor when I was wandering about in the woods and on the
mountains to escape from the sword of my enemies who thirsted for my
blood. But blessing and mercy have been richly bestowed on me by the
manifestation of the true Word of God. May we never abandon it! I do not
shrink, however, from confessing my faults. I entreat my faithful
subjects to pardon the weakness and the failures which have been
observed in my reign. I know that many persons think that I have been a
harsh ruler; but the days are coming in which the sons of Sweden would
gladly raise me out of the dust if they could.[489]
[Sidenote: Retirement Of Gustavus.]
‘I feel that I have now but a short time to live; and for this reason I
am about to have my will read to you; for I have good reasons for
desiring that you should approve it.’ The will was then read, the Diet
approved it, and swore that it should be carried out. Then Gustavus rose
and thanked the States for making him the founder of the royal house. He
resigned the government to his son Erick, exhorted his sons to concord,
and stretching out his hand towards the assembly, gave it his blessing,
and thus took leave of his people.
On the 14th of August Gustavus took to his bed, which he was no more to
leave till his death. He said—‘I have been too much occupied with the
cares of this world. With all my wealth I could not now buy a remedy
which would save my life.’ One of those about him, anxious to know what
pain he felt, said to him; using a German mode of speech—‘What do you
want?’ He replied—‘The kingdom of heaven, which thou canst not give me.’
His chaplain, in whom he had no great confidence, suggested to him that
he should confess his sins. Gustavus, who had confessed them to God as
well as to his people, but who had a horror of confession to a priest,
replied unceremoniously and indignantly—‘Thinkest thou that I shall
confess my sins to thee?’ A little while after, he said to those about
him—‘I forgive my enemies, and if I have wronged any man, I pray him to
forgive me. I ask this of all.’ He then added—‘Live all of you in
concord and in peace.’ During the first three weeks he spoke in a
remarkable manner about things temporal and things spiritual. During the
last three he kept silence, and was frequently seen raising his hands as
if in prayer. After making a profession of his faith, he received the
communion of the body and the blood of the Saviour. His son John, who
was present, and was the cause of his anxious forebodings, which were
too soon realized, having heard the confession of his father,
exclaimed—‘I swear to abide by it faithfully.’ The king made a sign for
paper to be given him, and he wrote—‘Once professed never to be
retracted, or a hundred times repeated to....’ His trembling hand could
not finish the sentence. After this he remained motionless. The chaplain
having begun again his exhortations, one of those in attendance
said—‘You speak in vain; His Majesty hears no longer.’ Then the chaplain
leaned towards the dying man, and asked him whether his trust was in
Jesus Christ, and entreated him, if he heard, to make some sign. To the
astonishment of all, the king with a clear voice answered, ‘Yes.’ He
then breathed his last. It was eight o’clock in the morning of September
29, 1560.[490]
[Sidenote: The Two Sons Of Gustavus.]
Erick, his eldest son, who was heir to the crown, had hitherto appeared
little worthy to wear it. In his character were united the eccentric
disposition of his mother,[491] the princess of Saxe-Lauenberg, and his
father’s passion. He was rash and presumptuous; and when Gustavus spoke
to him by way of exhortation or rebuke he was angry. Gustavus, deeply
mourning over him, wrote one day to him—‘For the sake of the sufferings
of the Son of God, put an end to this martyrdom which thy aged father
endures on thy account.’[492] In his sports he was singular and even
cruel. Erick and John, the latter the eldest son of the second wife,
were constantly at variance, at first about their games, then about
their fiefs, and at last about the crown. Every body knew that the
younger of the two brothers was ambitious of the birthright of the
elder, and thought that he was entitled to the realm. The father was
weighed down with grief on account of these two sons.
Erick had not been left without good counsel. A French Protestant, named
Denis Burrey (Beurreus), a zealous Calvinist, had succeeded Normann as
his governor. In addition to Burrey, another Frenchman, Charles de
Mornay, baron of Varennes, was well received at his court. The two
Calvinists persuaded Erick to ask for the hand of the Princess
Elizabeth, even before she became Queen of England.[493] Duke John
exerted all his influence to promote this plan, which, in case it
succeeded, might leave to him the crown of Sweden. Magnificent embassies
were sent; John and Erick himself went to England, but the princess
never gave him any hope.
At the time of the prince’s accession to the throne, the people had some
hope of him. The germ at least of great qualities was in him; and his
understanding, which was above the average, had been developed by the
care of his teachers. He was well acquainted with literature, with
mathematics, philosophy, and foreign languages.[494] His figure was well
formed; he was a good rider, a good swimmer, a good dancer, and a good
soldier. He spoke pleasantly and was agreeable in his intercourse with
others. But in the depth of his nature was a temper strange,
distrustful, suspicious, and fierce, which might on a sudden display
itself in outward acts calculated to excite at once both pity and
horror.
Burrey, who had been appointed to instruct the prince in letters and in
science, was not entrusted with the department of religion. This
belonged to the archbishop, Lawrence Petersen, and to the Lutheran
ministers named by him. Erick was to be a good Lutheran; but the French
Protestant, convinced of the truth of Calvin’s principles, made them
known to his pupil. Calvin himself, doubtless through the medium of
Burrey, was in correspondence with Gustavus in 1560, towards the close
of the king’s life.
[Sidenote: Disputes About The Supper.]
In Sweden the Calvinists gave especial prominence to the doctrine of the
Lord’s Supper. Burrey, who appears to have apprehended the doctrine in
the way of logic rather than of spiritual insight, maintained it by
syllogisms. He said—‘All who eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood
have eternal life. Now the ungodly have not eternal life. Therefore the
ungodly do not eat the flesh of Christ.’[495] The Apostle John says
nothing about the corporeal mastication, it but speaks only of the
spiritual. Therefore, he recognizes no other mastication but that which
is by faith. Christ gives his body and his blood only to _those who show
forth his death_. But the ungodly do not show forth. Therefore he does
not give it to them. The Frenchman maintained these doctrines in a Latin
work. He had of course a right to do so; but he had no right to attack
as he did the archbishop, brother of Olaf, a zealous defender of the
Lutherans, or to allege either in conversation or in his writings that
the prelate was a papist. The true Protestants, and foremost among them
Zwinglius and Calvin, generally expressed great respect for Luther and
for all his disciples, acknowledging them as brethren in the faith. But
the sectarian spirit, unfortunately, was beginning now to take the place
of the Christian spirit.
The influence of the French Protestants, however, made itself felt in
other respects and in a wholesome way. Erick, shortly after his
accession to the throne, abolished the festival days which were
connected with a superstitious system, and the Catholic rites which had
been retained in the divine service. He went farther, and made it
everywhere known that his kingdom was a free state, open to all
persecuted Protestants. Many Protestants, therefore, especially French,
came to Stockholm and were kindly received by the king, becoming even
particular objects of his favor. This gave rise to jealousies and
suspicions. The question was raised whether the king was not a Calvinist
in disguise. Wine having become scarce in Sweden, in consequence of the
obstacles thrown in the way of the trade by Denmark, it was asked
whether it would not be permissible to make use of some other fluid at
the Lord’s supper. The Frenchman, Burrey, held the opinion that it
would, and this increased the grief of good Lutherans. The archbishop
especially declared himself strongly and with good reason against this
fantastic proposal, and published a Latin work on the subject.[496]
These controversies gave rise to much agitation in Sweden; but they were
superseded by troubles of a graver kind. Duke John, Erick’s younger
brother, having put forward claims which Erick would not satisfy, and
having even caused the king’s envoys to be arrested, and invited the
inhabitants of Finland to take an oath of fealty to him and to defend
him, was made prisoner on the 12th of August, 1563.[497] A rumor was
afterwards current of a conspiracy of the Sture family, who had
exercised, before the reign of Gustavus, the royal power as
administrators of the kingdom. Their intention, it was said, was to
overthrow the house of Vasa and restore the hereditary kingdom to their
own family. Erick having met in the street a servant of Svante Sture
carrying a gun, this unfortunate man was sentenced to death at the
beginning of January, 1567, and several of the Stures and of their
friends were thrown into prison. With this incident began the great
misfortunes of the prince. _Infelicissimus annus Erici regis_, he said,
speaking of this year in his journal.
[Sidenote: Madness Of Erick.]
On May 24 Svante Sture and another of the prisoners had asked pardon of
the king and had received a promise of early liberation. In the evening,
as the king was walking with Caroli, ordinary (or bishop) of Calmar,
some one ran up and told him that his brother, Duke John, had made his
escape and had raised the standard of rebellion. In a state of great
excitement, he returned to his castle. His mind wandered; he fancied
that every one was a conspirator; he saw himself already hurled from the
throne; and, beside himself, he went, dagger in hand, into the room in
which Nils Sture was confined.[498] He rushed upon the unhappy man and
pierced him in the arm; one of his guards gave the fatal stroke. At this
moment the prison of the father of Nils Sture opened, and the king,
overpowered at the sight, fell at his feet and cried—‘For God’s sake
pardon me the wrong that I have done you!’ The old man, who did not know
what he meant, answered—‘If any thing should happen to my son, you are
responsible to me before God.’ ‘Ah,’ said the king, whose thoughts were
wandering more and more, ‘you will never pardon me, and for this reason
you must share the same fate.’ He then fled precipitately, as if the
castle were full of assassins and every prisoner loaded with chains were
pointing a dagger at him. He took the road to Floetsund, attended by
some guards; and in a little while one of these returned with an order
to put to death all the prisoners in the castle ‘except Sten.’ Two of
them bore this name, and considering the uncertainty, both of them
escaped, but the rest perished. Ere long the unhappy Erick was seized
with horror at the thought of his crime. He believed himself pursued by
the ghost of Nils Sture, whom he had slain. Filled with distress and
remorse he plunged into the forest. Burrey, who had left the castle at
the moment when the order to execute the prisoners arrived, immediately
set out in the track of the prince, whom he desired to recall to his
senses, and from whom he intended to obtain, if possible, the revocation
of the cruel order. He at length came up with him in the middle of the
wood; but the raving man fancied that his old teacher had shared in the
conspiracy of those whose lives he wished to save. A prey to the most
violent madness, he gave an order to one of his guards, and the
Frenchman whom he had loved so well, to whom he owed so much, fell at
his feet, pierced through and through.[499] The unhappy man then got
away from his guards, who were still accompanying him, and fled alone.
He threw away his kingly apparel, and wandered about in the woods, in
the fields, and in the loneliest places, with a gloomy air, wild eyes,
and fierce aspect. No one knew where he was. Like the king of Babylon,
he went up and down in the land afar from the haunts of men; his
dwelling was with the beasts of the field, and his body was wet with the
dew of heaven. At length, on the third day after the murder, he made his
appearance in the garb of a peasant in a village of the parish of
Odensala; and presently several of his men who were in search of him ran
up to him. ‘No, no,’ said he on receiving the acknowledgments of those
who respectfully saluted him, ‘I am not king.’[500] ‘It is Nils Sture,’
he added, ‘who is administrator of the kingdom.’ This was the man that
he had assassinated. They endeavored in vain to pacify him. ‘Like Nero,’
he exclaimed, ‘I have slain my preceptor.’ He would neither eat nor
sleep; all entreaties were fruitless. At last Catherine Maenstochter, to
whom he had been strongly attached and who soon became his consort,
succeeded in persuading him. He now became more calm and allowed them to
take him to Upsala. On June 3 he was taken back to Stockholm. He was in
a state of great agitation when he entered the town; his heart rent with
remorse, his eyes and his hands raised to heaven. It was a long time
before he entirely recovered his reason.
Negotiations were set on foot between Duke John and the unhappy king.
The former requested an interview with his brother, and this took place
on October 9 at Wantholm, or, according to some authorities, at
Knappforssen, in Wermeland.[501] The brothers met under an oak tree,
which is still called the King’s Oak. They had a second interview
shortly after at Swarhjo. Erick, who was perpetually haunted by the
thought that the murders which he had ordered had deprived him of the
crown, fell at his brother’s feet and hailed him king. From this time he
considered himself a dependent on his brother and spoke sometimes as if
he were king and sometimes as if he were a captive. He appeared, at the
beginning of 1569, before the States assembled as a high court of
justice, and there energetically defended himself, sparing no one, and
least of all, the nobility. When John interrupted him by telling him
that he was out of his mind, he replied, ‘I have only once been out of
my mind, and that was when I released thee from prison.’ He was deprived
of the crown on the ground that he had lost his reason, and was
sentenced to perpetual confinement, but with royal treatment.
[Sidenote: His Treatment In Prison.]
Duke John had now reached the summit of his ambition. He set himself to
win over adherents, so that no one might be tempted to call to mind the
fact that his throne was usurped. He was amiable and obliging alike to
the nobles, the ecclesiastics, and the people; and the popularity which
he enjoyed seemed daily to increase. ‘Certainly,’ people said, ‘he means
loyally to carry out the will of his father.’[502] But the joy and the
popularity did not last long. It was soon perceived that he was giving
full play to his hatred of Erick, whom he called his most deadly enemy.
He spared his life, indeed, at the entreaty of the queen, widow of the
late king, but he made him suffer all the horrors of the most rigorous
imprisonment. The unhappy prince had to endure in his own body shameful
treatment at the hands of his keepers and of those whom he had
displeased in the course of his reign. One day a man more mad and more
cruel than himself, Olaf Gustavsson, had a violent altercation with him
in the prison, and left him lying in his blood. ‘God knows,’ wrote Erick
to his brother John (March 1, 1569), ‘what inhuman tortures I am forced
to endure—hunger and cold, infection and darkness, blows and wounds.
Deliver me from this misery by banishment. The world is surely large
enough to allow of the hatred between brothers being mitigated by the
distance of places and of countries.’[503] But nothing could appease his
enemy, his brother. At first he had allowed him to see his wife and his
children, which was a great pleasure to the unhappy man; but this
consolation was afterwards refused him. They gave him neither paper nor
ink, and in the long hours of his captivity he used to write with water
blackened with charcoal on the margins of the books which he was
permitted to read. On these he left, in particular, an eloquent defence
of his cause.
Other motives also came into action to destroy the premature popularity
of John III. With the life of Burrey and the prison of Erick the
Calvinistic period in Sweden was over; with the accession of the new
king the popish period began. Sweden presented at this time an example
of the manner in which Rome proceeds to bring back to her feet a people
that had departed from her. John took delight in the pomp of the Romish
worship, and his wife, a Polish princess, was a decided and zealous
Roman Catholic. Although she did not belong to that fanatical, barren,
and superstitious ultramontanism which is not even a religion, she
firmly believed that outside the pale of her own Church there was no
salvation. But her faith was sincere. She had no wish that conversions
should be effected by force; nevertheless she was convinced that the
best of all good works was to extend as widely as possible the domain of
the pope. She had for her confessor a Jesuit, named John Herbest; and
the work of darkness, of which this man was one of the principal agents,
was carried on in a Jesuitical manner. The king began by listening
without objection to the assertions of his courtiers that a moderate
Catholicism, a middle stand-point between Popery and Lutheranism, would
be the best religion. John thought so. He consequently published in 1571
an ordinance purporting that as Anschar had in the ninth century
introduced true Christianity, they must abide by it, and must preach
good works, as giving salvation equally with faith. At the same time
exorcism at baptism, tapers on the altar, the sign of the cross, the
elevation of the host, and the multiplicity of altars were
re-established. The archbishop, Lawrence Petersen, offered no opposition
to this ordinance, either from weakness of age or of character, from
dread of Calvinism, or from fear of the king. His brother Olaf would
have been more vigilant and more steadfast. Further steps were soon
taken. The queen, at the suggestion of Cardinal Hosius, implored the
king to re-establish the dignity of the priest and the sacrifice of the
mass.[504] On the death of the archbishop, in 1573, John III. named as
his successor Lawrence Gothus, a man who being always willing to yield
could not fail to be an excellent instrument for the accomplishment of
the purposes of Rome. The king caused to be drawn up seventeen articles,
which sanctioned the intercession of the saints, prayers for the dead,
the re-establishment of convents and of all the ancient ceremonies. The
archbishop signed them; and as soon as this pledge was obtained, the
ceremony of the consecration was performed with much pomp. On this
occasion reappeared the mitre, the episcopal staff, the great cope
called _pluvial_, and the holy oil for the [Sidenote: Romanism In The
Ascendent.] anointing of the prelate. Henceforth, Catholicism was in the
ascendent. John had his son Sigismund brought up in the strictest
Romanism, in the hope of thus opening the way for him to the throne of
Poland, which Cardinal Hosius had promised him. Two Jesuits, Florentius
Feyt and Lawrence Nicolaï, sent by the famous society with which the
king was in correspondence, arrived at Stockholm in 1576, and gave
themselves out for Lutheran ministers. They ingratiated themselves
amiably and adroitly, says one of them, with the Germans, and this at
first more easily than with the Swedes.[505] They paid visits to the
pastors and conversed with them on all manner of subjects for the
purpose of gaining them over. They spoke Latin with ease and elegance,
so that the good Swedish pastors, who were unlettered men, were filled
with admiration, and promised them their co-operation.[506] Feyt, in a
college at Stockholm, newly founded by the king, and Nicolaï, at the
university of Upsala, spread out their nets, and by lectures, sermons,
disputations, and conversation, they succeeded in bringing back to the
abandoned faith now one and now another, thus drawing after them a
goodly number of souls.[507]
The cardinal lavished his instructions upon them. ‘Let them avoid
creating any scandal,’ he wrote to the Jesuit confessor of the queen;
‘let them extol faith to the skies; let them declare that works without
faith are profitless; let them preach Christ as the only mediator and
His sacrifice on the cross as the only sacrifice that saves.’[508] The
main point was to get the Swedes to re-enter the Roman pale by giving
them to understand that nothing was preached there but the doctrines of
the Gospel. This once accomplished, some means would certainly be found
of again setting meritorious works by the side of faith, the Virgin Mary
by the side of Christ as intercessor, and the sacrifice of the mass by
the side of the sacrifice of [Sidenote: Proceedings Of The Jesuits.]
Calvary. The king commanded all the pastors to attend the lectures of
these Jesuits, passing themselves off as Lutherans. These men quoted the
writings of the reformers, but at the same time confuted them, and
endeavored to show that they contradicted one another. The king was
sometimes present at these disputations, and even took part in them. He
spoke against the pope, and thus gave the foreign theologians a pretext
for making a clever apology for the Roman court. The reverend fathers,
moreover, were not particular. They gained over a secretary of the king,
named Johan Henrikson, who was living with a woman whose husband he had
killed. Father Lawrence, in the first instance, gave absolution to these
two wretched people; and afterwards a dispensation to marry. This
_convert_, after having again been an accomplice in crimes, died from
drunkenness. In a short time, other Romish priests arrived in Sweden,
and were placed in various churches. At the instigation of these
missionaries of the pope, many young Swedes were sent abroad, to Rome,
to Fulda, and to Olmutz, to be educated there in Jesuit colleges at the
expense of the state. Many Roman Catholic books were translated,
especially the catechism of the Jesuit Canisius; and these were
distributed in large numbers among the people.[509] Cardinal Hosius did
not fail to write to the queen that she should by no means be
disheartened nor slacken in her efforts to bring about the conversion of
the king.[510] At the same time he wrote to the king entreating him to
become a true Catholic. ‘If there be any scruple in your majesty’s
mind,’ said he, ‘there is nothing upon earth I desire more than with
God’s help to remove it.’[511]
The queen and her connections at length prevailed upon the king to take
one step towards the pope. Count Pontus de la Gardie set out for Rome,
with instructions to request the pontiff, on the part of John III., to
appoint prayers to be made throughout the world for the re-establishment
of the Catholic religion in the North; to propose his own return and
that of his people into the Roman Church, upon condition nevertheless
that the ecclesiastical estates which were in the hands of the king and
of the nobles should remain there, that the king should be acknowledged
head of the Swedish Church, that mass should be allowed to be said
partly in Swedish, that the cup should be received by the laity, and
that marriage should be permitted to the priests, although they ought to
be exhorted to celibacy. The court of Rome, without accepting these
conditions, left the negotiations open, in hope of getting more another
time.[512] The king, desirous of giving the pontiff a mark of his zeal,
caused to be composed and printed, in 1576, under the direction of the
Jesuits, a new liturgy almost entirely Roman in character; and in the
following year he began to persecute those who refused to accept it.
Cardinal Hosius now gave thanks to God for the conversion of this prince
(October, 1577.)
[Sidenote: Fratricide.]
This same prince, who now bowed down his head under the yoke of the
pope, signalized this year (1577) by the perpetration of one of those
crimes which reveal an unnatural heart, a man devoid of feeling. His
unhappy brother, although now rendered completely powerless and reduced
to a state of the deepest wretchedness, gave him some uneasiness. Among
the people there had been movements in his favor. Mornay had been
accused of aiming at the restoration of Erick, and on this charge had
been put to death on August 21, 1574. It had been openly said that it
would be better for one man alone to suffer than for so many to perish
in his cause. In January, 1577, the king wrote to Andersen of Bjurum,
commander at Oerbyhus, to which place the ex-king had been recently
removed. Here is the order given by a brother for the death of a
brother; a document such as is not to be found elsewhere in history. It
appears that John recollected his brother’s cleverness and energy, which
qualities, however, must surely have been diminished by his
imprisonment. ‘In case there should be any danger whatsoever, you are to
give King Erick a draught of opium or of mercury strong enough to ensure
his death within a few hours. If he should positively refuse to take it,
you are to have him bound to his seat and open veins in his hands and
feet till he die. If he should resist and render it impossible to bind
him, you are to place him by force upon his bed, and then smother him
with the mattress or with large cushions.’[513] John III., however, did
an act of _mercy_ at the same time. He ordered that, before putting his
brother to death, a priest should be sent to the Calvinist Erick, at
whose hands he should receive the sacrament. What tender concern for his
salvation!
The secretary Henrikson, the man who had killed the husband of the woman
with whom he lived, consequently arrived at the castle of Oerbyhus
accompanied by a chamberlain and the surgeon-major Philip Kern. The
latter had prepared the poison, and the three men brought it with them.
On Sunday, February 22, the priest presented himself to do his duty.
After an interval of two days, the poison was served up to the
unfortunate prince in a soup. He took it quite unsuspiciously and died
in the night (two o’clock A.M.), February 26, at the age of
forty-four.[514] The deposed king had certainly committed a crime when
he wounded with a dagger Nils Sture, whose intention he believed was to
snatch from him his crown. But at the spectacle of this cold-blooded
poisoning, directed in an ordinance with such minute details, and
effected in so cowardly a manner, we feel the shudder of horror aroused
by great crimes. John then wrote to Duke Charles that their brother had
died after _a short illness_, of which he, the king, had been informed
too late. Charles understood what this meant, and he expressed his grief
at the unworthy manner in which King Erick had been buried. ‘He was
nevertheless,’ wrote Charles, ‘king of Sweden, crowned and anointed; and
whatever the evil into which he may have fallen, which may God forgive
him! in the course of his reign he did many good deeds worthy of a brave
man.’[515] Swedish refugees in various places lamented his tragic end,
and even called upon France to avenge it by placing his heir upon the
throne.[516]
After Erick’s death, the fratricide king continued his progress towards
popery. The clever Jesuit, Antoine Possevin, who made his appearance as
envoy from the emperor, but who was in fact a legate of the pope,
arrived in Sweden, for the purpose of getting the king and the kingdom
to decide on making a frank submission to Rome.[517] The king had an
interview with him in the convent of Wadstena, and was formally but
secretly received by this reverend father into the communion of the
Roman Church. While pardoning his sins, the Jesuit imposed on him the
penance of fasting every Wednesday, because it was on this day that he
had caused his brother to be poisoned.[518] The influence of this Jesuit
was at the same time felt throughout the Church. Orders were given to
withdraw from the psalms all the passages against the pope, to exclude
Luther’s catechism from the schools, and to submit to the canonical laws
of Rome, an extract from which was published. Martin Olaï, bishop of
Linkoping, having called the pope Antichrist, appeared publicly in the
cathedral, and before the altar was stripped of his pontifical
decorations. His diocese was given to Caroli, ordinary of Calmar, a
former courtling of Erick’s, a treacherous man, who had driven the king
to the murder of Sture. At the same time Jesuits were entering the
kingdom under various names and various dress; and believing that the
time for cautious proceedings was past, they preached vigorously against
evangelical doctrine, which they called heretical, so that it began to
be said among the common people that these men could do nothing but
curse and bark. The district entrusted to the government of Duke Charles
was the only one that was protected from this Romish invasion.[519]
Suddenly the tide ceased flowing and seemed to turn back towards the
fountain-head. John III. had cast his eyes upon the duchies of Bari and
Rossano, in the kingdom of Naples, believing that his wife, as the
daughter of Bona Sforzei, had some title to them. But the pope had taken
a course opposed to his interests; and he had likewise sacrificed Sweden
in a treaty, which had been concluded through his mediation, between
Russia and Poland. At the same time the principles of freedom which
Protestantism had made current, especially in opposition to the lordship
of the priestly class, had so deeply entered into men’s minds that the
practices, the artifices, and the impudence of the Jesuits appeared
revolting to the townsmen, and were stirring up in the whole nation a
spirit of resistance to the encroachments of the papacy. At [Sidenote:
Death Of Queen Catherine.] length, in 1583, Queen Catherine, who had
been the soul of the popish reaction, died; and the king having married
again, his second wife, Gunila, declared herself heartily against Rome.
At this time the tide, which ever rising had borne along with it into
Sweden the rites and the doctrines of Rome, was succeeded by the ebb,
which as it retired swept away successively every thing which the rising
waters had deposited on these northern shores. The pastor of Stockholm,
who had become a Catholic, was deprived; the Jesuits were driven out of
the kingdom, and the posts which they held in the college of Stockholm
were given to their adversaries. Public opinion energetically declared
itself against the adherents of the pope; and the king, turning from one
wrong course to another, began to persecute them, although he still
retained his liturgy. He died in 1592, and his son Sigismund, a zealous
papist, who, since 1587, had been king of Poland, now returning to
Sweden, began to oppress Protestantism. His uncle, Duke Charles of
Sudermania, an intelligent and enterprising prince, who was not only
opposed to popery, but had a leaning towards the Protestant side, put
himself at the head of this party. Sigismund was obliged to leave
Sweden, and Charles became first administrator of the kingdom and
ultimately king.[520]
[Sidenote: Assembly Of Upsala.]
Charles convoked at Upsala a general assembly for the purpose of
regulating the state of the Church. On the 25th of February, 1593, he
was there present himself with his council, four bishops, more than
three hundred pastors, deputies from all parts of the kingdom, many
nobles, townsmen, and peasants. There was a young professor of theology
from Upsala, Nicolaus Bothniensis, who had distinguished himself by his
resistance to Romish institutions, and had even been thrown into prison.
The assembly, desirous of doing honor to his fidelity, now named him its
president. With one accord the assembly declared that Holy Scripture
interpreted by itself was the only basis and the only source of
evangelical doctrine. After this all the articles of the Confession of
Augsburg were read; and Peter Jona, who had just been named bishop of
Strengnaes, rose and said, ‘Let us all hold fast this doctrine; and will
you remain faithful to it even if it should please God that you must
suffer for so doing?’ All answered, ‘We are prepared to sacrifice for
its sake all that we possess in the world, our property and our lives.’
Peter Jona then resuming his speech said, ‘Sweden is now become one man,
and we all have one and the same God.’[521]
All the changes in doctrine and in ritual which had been introduced in
the reign of John III. were abolished. The teaching of evangelical
doctrine was universally established. The assembly of Upsala was an
event the results of which were felt far and wide, beyond the limits of
Sweden. This was manifest when, at a later period, by the services of
Gustavus Adolphus, the Reformation was consolidated in Europe.
Footnote 489:
‘Doch ständen Zeiten bevor, wo Schwedens Kinder gern ihn aus der Erde
scharren würden, wenn sie könnten.’—Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_,
ii. p. 144.
Footnote 490:
Geijer, ii. p. 146.
Footnote 491:
Catherine, daughter of Magnus, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, died in 1535.
Erick was born December 13, 1533.—_Ibid._ ii. p. 94.
Footnote 492:
Geijer, ii. p. 136.
Footnote 493:
Geijer, ii. p. 138.
Footnote 494:
‘Præter insignem artium liberalium et præsertim matheseos ac linguarum
exoticarum cognitionem.’—Messenius, _Scondia_, vi. Geijer, ii. p. 149.
Footnote 495:
‘Omnes ii qui manducant Christi carnem et bibunt ejus sanguinem vivent
in æternum.’—Baazius, _Inventarium ecclesiæ Sueo-Gothorum_, lib. iii.
cap. 3, p. 295.
Footnote 496:
Baazius, _Inventarium_, lib. iii. cap. iv. p. 302. O. Celsius,
_History of Erick_, ii. p. 29.
Footnote 497:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 163.
Footnote 498:
‘Er stürzte mit gezücktem Dolch in der Hand in das Gefängnisszimmer
Nils Stures.’—Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 182.
Footnote 499:
‘Dionysius Beurreus würde auf Befehl des Wahnsinnigen
niedergestochen.’—Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 184.
Footnote 500:
‘Er rief dass er nicht König wäre.’—Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_,
ii. p. 184.
Footnote 501:
Geijer, ii. p. 193.
Footnote 502:
Schinmeier, _Die drei Reformatoren in Schweden_, p. 157.
Footnote 503:
‘Nam mundus est satis amplus ut odia inter fratres distantia locorum
et regionum bene possint sedari.’—_Ericus ad Johannem._ Geijer, ii. p.
194.
Footnote 504:
‘Sacerdotium et sacrificium.’—S. Hosii _Opera_, ii p. 338.
Footnote 505:
‘Insinuat se Pater in amicitiam Germanorum; hi enim faciles
sunt.’—(Feyt, _De statu religionis in regno_.) Geijer, ii. p. 221.
Footnote 506:
‘Promptitudinem latini sermonis et elegantiam mirantur, operam omnem
promittunt.’—Geijer, ii. p. 221.
Footnote 507:
‘Insinuat se in familiaritatem aliquorum, nunc hunc, nunc illum, dante
Deo, ad fidem _occulte_ reducit.’—_Ibid._
Footnote 508:
Geijer, ii. p. 217.
Footnote 509:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, pp. 220, 225, 273. Messenius,
_Scondia_. Baazius, &c.
Footnote 510:
See these letters in the work of Baazius, lib. iii. cap. x. pp.
334-358, 346-351-365.
Footnote 511:
‘Ego nihil magis in votis habuerim quam ut si quis adhuc in V.M. animo
scrupulus resideret, eum, D. j., eximere possem.’
Footnote 512:
Geijer, ii. p. 224.
Footnote 513:
‘Mit Gewalt auf sein Bett legen, und ihn mit Polstern oder grossen
Kissen ersticken.’—(Letter of January 19, 1577). Geijer, ii. pp. 196,
199.
Footnote 514:
‘Toxicum ignarus in pisonum, ut fertur, jusculo præbitum absorbsit,
indeque miseram efflavit animam.’—Messenius, _Scondia_, vii. p. 48.
Footnote 515:
Geijer, ii. p. 204.
Footnote 516:
Representations made by exiles from the kingdom of Sweden to Henry
III. to obtain justice for the assassination committed in the person
of Erick, king of Sweden.—Bibl. Roy. M.S.
Footnote 517:
His life, written by Dorigni, was published at Paris in 1712.—_Vie du
père A. Possevin_, &c.
Footnote 518:
Messenius, _Scondia_, vii. p. 41; xv. p. 157; iii. p. 60.
Footnote 519:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 241.
Footnote 520:
Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. pp. 226, 272, 338.
Footnote 521:
Nicolai Bothniensis relation om Upsala concilio.—Geijer, ii. p. 272.