_Revolution and Reformation--Gustavus Vasa_
Gustavus Ericsson Vasa, the man whom Providence had selected to save
his country from anarchy and ruin, belonged to a noble family of
Unionist sympathies, his great-grandfather being Drotsete Krister
Nilsson Vasa. But the Vasa family had joined the cause of the
patriots during the reigns of the Stures, simultaneously losing some
of its earlier importance. The Vasas prided themselves on being the
descendants of St. Eric and his line, and of St. Birgitta and the
Folkungs. Its coat-of-arms consisted of a simple vase, or bundle of
sticks. Gustavus Vasa was born May 12, 1496, at Lindholmen in Upland,
at the mansion of his parents, Eric Johansson Vasa, state councillor,
and Cecilia of Eka, a sister of Christine Gyllenstierna. His earliest
years were spent with his mother at Rydboholm, another estate of his
father’s, beautifully situated on an arm of the Baltic, only ten miles
north of Stockholm. When a mere boy he was sent to the court of his
granduncle, Sten Sture the Elder, who was childless. King John of
Denmark noticed the bright little boy during a visit paid to Lord Sten.
Young Gustavus took the command of all the other children at play and
appeared to be a born leader. The king called the boy to him and asked
him what his name was. Gustavus answered frankly. King John smilingly
placed his hand on the boy’s head, saying: “Certainly thou shalt become
a man in thy day if preserved in life.” The king intimated that he
wanted to take him along to Copenhagen to supervise his education. But
Lord Sten, who did not like this idea, hurriedly had Gustavus sent
away, so that he could tell the king upon a second inquiry that the
boy had returned to his parents. The young Gustavus was described as
“attractive and welcome with everybody.” Gustavus was sent to Upsala
to study at the age of thirteen. The University of Upsala was at that
period in a state of stagnation. The first teacher who came in contact
with Gustavus was a Dane named Master Ivar. According to the Prose
Chronicle, he was a man who “was mean to everybody and who gave Gustavo
drubbings.” It seems that the patriotic spirit early woke in the
breast of this youth, who already in these days foreshadowed his own
mission in the following words: “I will betake myself to Dalecarlia,
rouse the Dalecarlians and batter the nose of the Jute.” When eighteen
years of age, he was accepted as a squire at the court of Sten Sture
the Younger, and Christine Gyllenstierna, his own aunt. He followed
the younger Lord Sten in all his expeditions of war, taking part in
the siege of Stæket and a battle of Dufnæs, and carrying the banner of
state at Brennkyrka.
A second time in his life it came to pass that Gustavus Vasa was
considered a person whom the Danish king was desirious of carrying
away. This time the king was Christian II., who gained his object by
treachery and violence. Gustavus was one of the Swedish hostages who
were offered to King Christian and by him carried away to Denmark.
Gustavus was handed over to Eric Banér, a relative of his, who held
in fief the castle of Kallœ in Jutland. The latter was placed under a
heavy fine in case he allowed his prisoner to escape. Gustavus received
a kind and generous treatment. He ate at the table of the lord and was
allowed to wander at liberty in the close neighborhood of the castle.
But the danger that menaced his country never left him in peace. He
heard repeatedly of the great preparations made by Christian II. to
crush the resistance of Sweden, and of the acts of violence to be
perpetrated. Gustavus remained at Kallœ for a year, when he resolved
to flee from a captivity which had become insupportable. One morning
at sunrise, Gustavus Vasa put on the garb of a peasant and disappeared
from the castle. He made good speed, reaching a seaport and escaping
to Lubeck with a merchant vessel. In this friendly Hanseatic centre
Gustavus expected armed support. Such was not granted, but he was
shielded against Danish pursuit. Eric Banér arrived, having followed
up his tracks, but his demands to have Gustavus surrendered were
refused. After eight months of delay in Lubeck, Gustavus obtained leave
and arrived in Sweden on board a German ship. He landed at Stensœ,
a promontory outside of the town of Kalmar, while Christian II. was
laying siege to Stockholm. Gustavus was resolved to do his utmost to
rouse the people to active resistance against the invaders. The castle
of Kalmar, next to that of Stockholm the firmest stronghold of Sweden,
was in charge of Anna Bielke, the widow of the last commander. Gustavus
strengthened the courage of the inhabitants of town and castle, but
finding it impossible to accomplish anything for the defence himself,
and unsuccessful in his attempts to bring the hired German troops up
to a point of enthusiasm for the Swedish cause, he left Kalmar and
continued his way through Smaland. But the population of this province
had no patience to listen to his appeals for a revolt. The peasants
answered him that if they remained faithful to the Danish king they
were never to be in want of herring and salt. Some of them in their
indignation sent arrows flying after the young patriot. In September
he reached the Terna estate in Sœdermanland, where his sister and
her husband, Joachim Brahe, resided. Lord Joachim had just received
an invitation to be present at the coronation of King Christian in
Stockholm. The attempts made by Gustavus to persuade the couple to
abandon their intended journey to Stockholm were futile. Reaching
his paternal estate of Ræfsnæs in Sœdermanland, he remained there in
concealment for some time. He visited the old archbishop Jacob Ulfsson,
who, after his retirement, lived in the neighboring monastery of
Mariefred. The old prelate tried his best to persuade him to seek mercy
and grace of King Christian, but the resolution of the young squire to
free his country was only strengthened into an iron-cast determination.
One of the servants who had followed Lord Joachim to the capital
managed to make a safe return to tell Gustavus the terrible news of
the Carnage of Stockholm. He was also told that a high price had been
placed on his own head.
Gustavus at once prepared for flight. Accompanied by a single servant
he secretly left Ræfsnæs one day toward the end of November, travelling
on horseback northward to Dalecarlia. He arrived at Kopparberg in
Dalecarlia, where he had his hair close cropped and put on peasant’s
clothes. Putting an axe over his shoulder, he went about looking for
employment. The first man whom he tried was Andrew Persson, a wealthy
mine owner at Rankhytta. Gustavus found employment with him, taking
part in the threshing. But the other servants soon detected that the
new man had a carriage and habits different from their own, and they
commenced to watch him closely. They noticed that he was not accustomed
to the work, and one of the servant girls saw a collar of silk above
the coarse blouse. Andrew Persson called before him the suspect, and
was highly surprised when recognizing in him a comrade from the time
of his student days at Upsala. He was favorably disposed, but was
afraid of sheltering Gustavus, advising him to flee to the less thickly
settled parts of the province, and to change often from one place to
another. Gustavus continued his way in a westerly direction, following
the shore of a lake named Runn, and arrived at Ornæs the following day.
He knew he had an old comrade and friend in the owner of the place.
This man, Arendt Persson, received him in the most hospitable manner,
but was in his heart desirous of obtaining the price placed upon the
head of the young squire. Gustavus went to bed in the attic, not
suspecting treachery. The host himself accompanied him to his resting
place, according to the mediæval custom. This done, Arendt travelled
in great haste to one of his neighbors, the much-respected Mons
Nilsson of Aspeboda. Arendt asked him to assist in capturing Gustavus
Vasa; but Mons Nilsson flatly refused, taking no pains to hide his
indignation. Arendt left and went past his own home to Sætra, which was
the residence of the Danish bailiff. He started for Ornæs the following
morning, accompanied by the bailiff and twenty men ready to capture
the fugitive. But Arendt’s wife, Lady Barbro Stigsdotter (Swinhufwud),
had not been inactive. Her suspicion was aroused when she noticed
her husband travelling back and forth to disappear in the direction
where the bailiff resided. She divined that the safety of her guest
was threatened and decided to take action. Lady Barbro went to the
attic, roused her sleeping guest and told him of the impending danger.
Gustavus let himself down to the ground by means of towels fastened to
the window-sill, assisted by Lady Barbro, who had a horse and sleigh
in readiness for him, in charge of a faithful servant. He reached the
residence of John, the priest of Sværdsjœ. Arendt was enraged when he
found that Gustavus had made his escape. It is said that he from that
day refused to ever see Lady Barbro again.
The priest of Sværdsjœ held Gustavus in concealment for three days,
but advised him to seek a more secure hiding place. He sent Gustavus
to Swan Elfsson, a hunter to the king, who dwelt in Isala, a short
distance from the church of Sværdsjœ. Gustavus had hardly reached this
place before the men sent after him by the bailiff arrived. Gustavus
stood by the oven warming himself after the ride. The wife of Swan
Elfsson was busy baking bread. The men entered, asking if any stranger
had been noticed in the neighborhood. The woman of the house saved
the situation by resolutely dealing a blow with the bread spade to
Gustavus, who was turning his back to her. In an irritated voice she
said: “Why dost thou stand here gaping at the strangers? Hast thou
never seen people before? Get thee at once out to the barn and do some
threshing.” The men did not suspect in the snubbed servant the noble
fugitive for whom they were looking. But Swan Elfsson was not sure
of the safety of his guest if he remained in Isala. So he concealed
Gustavus in a load of hay and left his house with the great unsettled
districts as his destination. He met some Danish spies on the way.
These suspected the peasant and pierced the load of hay with their
lances repeatedly. Gustavus was wounded in the leg, but kept his breath
and lay perfectly still. The spies were satisfied that everything was
right and told Swan Elfsson to move on. But the peasant noticed that
blood was dripping from his load, leaving scarlet tracks on the snow.
He quickly drew his knife and cut his horse a deep wound in one foot.
After a while the spies noticed the bloody tracks. They returned and
commanded Swan Elfsson to halt, inquiring about the blood. Swan Elfsson
pointed to the injured foot of his horse and succeeded in making them
believe that the horse had met with an accident.
Swan Elfsson left Gustavus at the village of Marnæs, situated in the
Finn woods, where he was received by other hunters. These escorted the
noble outlaw to a place further away in the woods, where he for three
days remained in concealment under a big fallen fir tree. The peasants
in the neighborhood brought food to him. The still hunt seemed to be
at an end, and so Gustavus risked a visit to the church of Rettvik,
situated on the eastern shore of Lake Siljan. He spoke to the yeomanry
collected around the church after divine service, reminding them of
the stanch patriotism and manliness of their ancestors, and imploring
them to save their country from destruction. The yeomen of Rettvik gave
a satisfactory answer, telling him that they were ready to resist the
Danes. But as they had not heard the opinion of the people of the other
parishes, there was nothing to be done for the moment.
Gustavus continued his way to Mora, one of the most densely populated
parishes of Dalecarlia and situated on the northern shore of Lake
Siljan. The priest of the parish was afraid to hide the outlaw, but
confided him to a peasant, Tomte Mats, in the village of Utmeland.
Gustavus remained for several days concealed in a vaulted cellar, which
was reached only through a hole in the floor of the cottage above. One
day the bailiff’s men entered to search for Gustavus. The woman of the
house was busy brewing the Christmas ale. She saved Gustavus by quickly
placing a big barrel over the hinged door, which covered the opening
to the cellar. One of the holidays during Christmas Gustavus addressed
the peasants of Mora when coming from church. He stood on a small hill
near the churchyard. The noonday sun was shining brightly over the
snowy landscape and a fresh northerly wind was blowing. Gustavus spoke
in a loud voice and with great eloquence. He asked the men to reflect
on what kind of government foreigners always had given Sweden, and to
remember what they had themselves suffered and risked for the liberty
of their country. He thought that the memory had not died either of
the deeds of violence perpetrated by Jœsse Ericsson or of the deeds of
heroism done by Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson. He then told them of the
treacherous villany of King Christian and of the Carnage of Stockholm.
“My own father,” he said, with tears in his eyes, “rather wished to
die with his brethren, the honest lords, in the name of God, than to
be spared and live in dishonor after them.” If the Dalecarlians wanted
to save Sweden from thraldom, he was ready to offer himself as their
leader in the name of the Almighty. The speech of Gustavus made a deep
impression upon the men of Mora, and some of them were anxious to rise
at once. The majority ruled, deciding that no action should be taken
before the other parishes of Dalecarlia had been heard from. They
advised Gustavus to seek a safer hiding-place further up in the woods.
Gustavus left Mora utterly discouraged, seeking the paths that led
along the Dal River into desert wilds.
At New Year of 1521 Lars Olsson, a soldier who had done good service
in the times of the Stures, arrived at Mora, bringing particulars of
the doings of King Christian. He told the peasants that the king had
ordered gallows to be erected at every sheriff’s residence to mark
the way of his Eriksgata. The peasants were touched to the quick and
regretted having sent away the young nobleman. Lars Olsson advised
them to call him back. Two expert ski runners were sent after Gustavus
Ericsson, and after a ride of a night and a day through the woods, they
overtook him close by the Norwegian frontier, which he was ready to
cross in despair.
Gustavus returned to Mora and was made the leader of the peasants in
that locality. With these men he started his work of liberation, which
was the commencement of one of the most remarkable of revolutions
that the world ever saw. In the beginning of February, 1521, Gustavus
marched southward with a few hundred men. At Falun he captured the
bailiff of the mines, confiscating the royal taxes. Returning to the
starting point, he left it again, with an army of 1,500 men. Entering
Norrland, where he was joined by the peasants of Gestrikland, and the
burghers of Gefle, while the people of Helsingland asked for time
to consider the matter, he learned upon his return how one of his
commanders, Peder Swensson, had won a glorious victory over a Danish
army 6,000 strong at the ferry of Brunnbæck, by the Dal River. Gustavus
began training his troops, enforcing severe discipline and providing
them with better arrows and longer lances. He declared war upon
Christian in a formal way and marched on Westeros, where the Danish
troops had centred. The town and castle were captured in spite of a
force of superior Danish cavalry.
Gustavus shifted his army into divisions which marched in various
directions to capture the castles of surrounding provinces. The people
of Upland reinforced the Dalecarlians, who were sent home to tend
to their sowing. The Upland forces captured the archbishop’s seat
during his absence, and were joined by Gustavus at Upsala, who made
an exceedingly severe speech to the ecclesiastics, asking them to
decide their nationality, whether they were Swedes or not. They asked
permission to consult Archbishop Trolle, which was granted. “I will
bring the reply myself,” said Trolle, starting from Stockholm with
a splendid body of German troops. Gustavus was near being taken by
surprise, but gathering troops he fought the archbishop, whose force
met with a crushing defeat, and he escaped with difficulty to Stockholm.
At midsummer, 1521, Gustavus arrived at Brunkeberg, laying siege to
Stockholm. The capital was strongly fortified, and Norrby with a
Danish fleet supported and relieved it. Twice the Danes routed the
Swedish troops with the intermission of one year, but Gustavus provided
reinforcements. He travelled through the country, visiting the forces
who laid siege to the various Danish strongholds, these surrendering
one by one. It was not a chain of glorious exploits, this work which
Gustavus carried to a successful end, but one of infinite patience and
sagacity, saddened by the news that the revengeful Christian had ended
the lives of his captive mother and sister in the miserable Danish
dungeon. Bishop Brask was scared into submission, turning his castle
Stegeborg and part of his troops over to Gustavus, who at a Riksdag at
Vadstena was elected regent in August, 1521.
Gustavus entered into an alliance with Lubeck, and it sent a fleet
to Stockholm, thus encircling it also from the sea. Norrby left with
his ships and was nearly caught in the ice in the following spring.
In Denmark, Christian’s reign came to an end. With his usual violence
he attacked the nobles and the ecclesiastics in order to better the
conditions of the peasants, for whom he had a tender sympathy. In so
doing, he brought the nobles to open revolt against his rule. He left
his throne in April, 1523. Now Gustavus found the opportune moment to
accept the Swedish crown offered him. He called a Riksdag at Strengnæs,
in June, 1523, where Gustavus was chosen king of Sweden “by the
councillors of state with the consent of the common people.” At this
occasion a tax was agreed on to pay the German troops engaged in the
siege of Stockholm, and to Lubeck for its timely support. In that very
month Stockholm surrendered, and Gustavus held his proud entry into the
capital on the eve of Midsummer day.
The position of the king was a most difficult one. The crown was ruined
through the previous state of anarchy and the expense of war. The
Church was in undisturbed possession of its wealth, but not willing
to yield any of its power or income. Christian was preparing a plan
by which to recapture his lost crowns. Norrby, who had aspirations of
becoming Christian’s regent in Sweden, tried to persuade Christine
Gyllenstierna, lately set free from her prison, to marry him in order
to obtain the prestige of the Stures. The common people, whom Gustavus
so recently used to free the country, grew restive and rebellious when
he could not at once grant them guarantees of comfort and prosperity
in return. In a marvellous manner Gustavus understood how to face the
situation and how to use to the utmost the resources within reach.
When the outlawed youth of twenty-four spoke of revolt to the peasants
at Mora, Martin Luther was burning the ban placed on him by the pope.
There were several warm friends of Luther in Sweden, principally Olaus
Petri, himself a pupil and friend of the German reformer, his brother,
Laurentius Petri, and Laurentius Andreæ. Olaus was a soul of fire and
enthusiasm. He was lacking in self-control, but possessed a power which
if not restrained would have led him and his work of reform further
than the goal set by Luther. The two Laurentii were, like him, men of
learning and, in addition, of greater sagacity. The king took interest
in these men. He was contemplating a reduction of the ecclesiastical
power, and they were to prepare the soil by freeing the people from
undue respect for the Roman Church and its worldly power. Laurentius
Andreæ was made the king’s chancellor, and Olaus Petri secretary to
the town council of Stockholm, later pastor of the Cathedral Church.
Olaus preached in the Stockholm Cathedral fiery sermons against Rome
and the pope, responded to sometimes by irate monks, sometimes by
various projectiles from the audience. Gustavus took pains to fill the
vacancies of the Church, which were many, by appointing able men. But
he made two serious mistakes in making Master Knut, dean of Westeros,
archbishop, and Peder Sunnanvæder, formerly secretary to Svante Sture,
bishop of Westeros. He came in possession of a correspondence, which
proved that Bishop Peder tried to bring the Dalecarlians to revolt, and
when accusing him and finding Master Knut on the side of the defence,
Gustavus deprived them of their new dignities. The king commanded that
a new bishop should be appointed and himself selected Johannes Magni as
archbishop. This prelate, a very learned man, was the representative
of Sten Sture in Rome, returning to his native land as a papal legate.
Gustavus had a rupture with him when, according to his instructions,
he demanded that Trolle should be reinstated as archbishop. Archbishop
Johannes was lacking in moral courage; brushed aside by the tide of
Reformation, he retired to Rome, where he died after writing the
history of Sweden in Latin, _Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus_.
Master Knut and Peder Sunnanvæder turned their steps to Dalecarlia,
fanning the brewing malcontent and opening connections with Norrby,
who styled himself the betrothed of Christine Gyllenstierna and made
ready to attack Gustavus from the sea. Berndt von Melen, a German
commander, in whom Gustavus placed much confidence, was to chase
Norrby away from his stronghold, the island of Gothland, but turned a
traitor, joining Norrby instead, in 1524. Gustavus called a Riksdag
at Westeros, in 1525, resolved to use his diplomacy to the utmost.
Upon receiving a letter from the Dalecarlians, in which they stoutly
swore off their allegiance to him on account of heavy taxes, foreign
influence and disregard for the Church, the king offered to abdicate.
The representatives at the Riksdag persuaded him to remain, whereupon
the king sent the Dalecarlians a sagacious letter, promising to improve
the state of things as much as possible, but pointing out the two
prelates as traitors in conspiracy with the Danes. The Dalecarlians
were pacified, Knut and Peder finding it safest to leave for Norway.
In the following year the king met the revolting peasants of Upland
at Old Upsala, where he in a fiery speech unfolded his policy toward
the Church. The peasants resented; they wanted to keep their monks
and their masses. The king commanded one of his followers to make a
speech in Latin, the peasants shouting that they did not understand.
“Why do you, then, love so dearly your Latin mass?” the king asked
them smiling. A few days later Gustavus made a crushing speech against
lazy and worthless ecclesiastics before the chapter of Upsala. The
archbishop was sent away on diplomatic errands to Poland and Russia
never to return. After his departure Bishop Brask became the chief
representative of papal interests. He was patriotic, but never yielded
an inch of the worldly power of the Church except to force, opposing
the Reformation with his whole strength.
The king followed up his policy by demanding for the crown two-thirds
of the ecclesiastic tithe and by placing the ecclesiastics under the
duties of _russtienst_, in 1526. The ex-prelates, Knut and Peder, were,
upon the king’s request of an extradition, given up and sentenced to
death for high treason. The king arranged for their triumphal entry of
mockery into Stockholm in a most humiliating fashion, for which he has
been criticised; also for the consummate manner in which the judges
were appointed and judgment passed. But he set an example of warning
to obnoxious and intriguing prelates that was appreciated by his
contemporaries.
Gustavus gained the triumph of his policy by the famous Riksdag of
Westeros in 1527. It was nothing else than a coup d’état, a revolution,
which, with the establishment of the Reformation, gave his throne
solidity and resources. The Diet was called under the pretext of taking
measures against a new revolt in Dalecarlia and for the regulation of
dogmatic questions. There were present sixteen state councillors, four
bishops, one hundred and twenty-nine knights and nobles, one hundred
and five peasants, besides various priests, burghers and miners, but no
representatives from Finland or Dalecarlia. In the great hall of the
monastery the meeting was held, opening with a written address by the
king, read by his chancellor, in which the situation of the country
was set forth. The king refused to continue at the government, asking
to be remunerated for personal losses and expense, and given a fief
like any ordinary bailiff responsible to the crown. Only if fundamental
reforms were made would he remain, not being able otherwise to cover
the inevitable deficit of the treasury. Bishop Brask responded with the
statement that he for his part was in duty bound to the king, but that
Rome and its demands must, in the first place, be obeyed; showing by
his remarks that he understood that the question was one of reducing
the ecclesiastical power. The king rose and said in a burst of passion:
“We have no further desire, then, to be your king. Verily, we had
counted on quite another treatment at your hands. We now no longer
wonder at the perversity of the people, since they have such advisers.
Have they no rain, they blame us for it. Have they no sun, likewise.
For dearth, hunger and plague we are responsible, as if we were not a
man, but God. Yea, though we labor for you with our utmost power, both
in spiritual and in temporal affairs, you would gladly see the axe
upon our neck, but no one dares to grasp the handle. Monks and priests
and all the creatures of the pope are to be placed above us, though we
have little need of them. In a word, you all would lord it over us.
Who under such circumstances would desire to govern you? Not the worst
wretch in hell would wish the post, far less any man. Therefore we,
too, refuse to be your king. We cast the honor from us, and leave you
free to choose him whom you will. But be so kind as to let us leave the
land. Pay us for our property in the kingdom, and return to us what
we have expended in your service. Then we declare to you that we will
withdraw never to return.” With tears of anger and emotion the king
left the hall, leaving the assembly in consternation.
After four days of pandemonium and deadlock, the representatives
decided to give in and ask forgiveness of the king, who long
disregarded the appeals made for his return. When re-entering he was
greeted by commotion and the humblest demonstrations of respect and
repentance. The next day, Midsummer day, votes were taken upon his
propositions, each Estate of representatives sending up their vote
with a written construction of the propositions. These were then
revised by the state councillors in their final form, called “Westeros
Recess,” with amendments called “Westeros Ordinantia.” The startling
revolutionary stipulations of the “Recess” were chiefly these:
Authority for the king (1) to take in possession the castles and forts
of the bishops, whose retinues he was to fix as to numbers; (2) to
dispose of the superfluous income of the clergy and to superintend the
administration of the monasteries; authority for the nobility to resume
title to all their property which had come in the possession of the
Church since 1454; authority to have the Gospel preached all over the
country in undefiled purity. Among the “Ordinantia” the most important
were: (1) Vacancies in the parish churches were to be filled by the
bishop under the supervision and right of suspension of the king; (2)
the king was to fix the amount of revenue due the bishops, chapters
and clerks, and be entitled to use the surplus for the crown; (3) the
priests were in secular suits to be responsible to secular courts; (4)
the Gospel should be read in the schools. The king asked the bishops in
person to surrender their castles, to which demand they all agreed.
We may feel inclined to smile upon the drastic manner in which Gustavus
enacted this important drama of Revolution, but must bear in mind his
solitary position. He had no statesmen of ability at his side, nor men
of great intellect and power to sustain him. He stood alone, and few
knew as yet his superior qualities as a statesman and an organizer.
The tame opposition, soon yielding to the appeals of the burghers and
peasants, can only be explained through lack of leaders. Ture Jœnsson
(Tre Rosor), the aristocratic chief of the opposition, was a vain and
cowardly man. Bishop Brask, the head of the clergy, was old and more
of a diplomatist than a man of action. The latest stanch Romanist, he
gave up his cause, finding a pretext to leave the country and dying in
his self-imposed exile. The ecclesiastical reforms were definitively
arranged at a church meeting at Œrebro in the following year.
It was one of the evils which beset the reign of Gustavus that revolts
constantly occurred in various provinces and for various reasons.
Dalecarlia took the lead. The inhabitants were not able to bear the
distinction won by their great patriotic services in the times of
Engelbrekt, the Stures, and Gustavus. Their complaints were mostly
unreasonable, sometimes ridiculous, as when they tried to prescribe the
kind of cloth and colors to be used at court, and so forth. There was
no fable, however stupid, which was not readily believed by them and
the responsibility placed on the king. Particularly was everything
eagerly swallowed which spoke of injustice committed against the
descendants of the Stures. A daring pretender took advantage of this
fact. He was born of the lowest peasant class, serving on an estate
in Westmanland, where he had stolen a sum of money from his master.
Appearing in Dalecarlia, where he claimed that he was a son of Lord
Sten and Christine Gyllenstierna, he gained a great deal of support
among the yeomen, who cried with him like children when he spoke
of his noble father and asked them to pray for his soul. The false
pretender had his instructions from Peder Sunnanvæder; he married in
Norway a woman of noble birth, and, upon his return to Dalecarlia,
surrounded himself with a regular court. An end was put to his career
by a letter from Christine Gyllenstierna, written at the request of
the king, in which she told the Dalecarlians that her son Nils, whom
the pretender impersonated, had recently died, and that an impostor
was misleading them. The false Nils Sture answered by claiming that he
was born before marriage, the would-be-reason why his mother did not
acknowledge him. This even the Dalecarlians found was a stretching of
truth. The pretender, who had been stamping coins with his image and
held the demeanor of a ruling prince, fled to Norway and thence to
Rostock, where he was captured and beheaded. No blood was shed during
this period of revolt; but the king, who was crowned at Upsala in 1528,
proceeded from his coronation to Dalecarlia with an army of 14,000 men.
He commanded the Dalecarlians to meet him, and forgave them after a
severe sermon of reproach, making them surrender the chief supporters
of the “Daljunker,” who were executed on the spot.
No better was the outcome of a revolt prepared by some nobles of
West Gothland in the following year. They tried in vain to make the
population join with them. The king managed to obtain their secret
correspondence, and had the guilty ones arraigned before a meeting at
which he scrutinized and repudiated the false charges made against him.
The nobles asked forgiveness and were pardoned, with the exception
of two, who were beheaded. But the originators of the revolt had
fled. They were Ture Jœnsson and Bishop Magnus of Skara. The former
joined the deposed King Christian, who, in 1532, prepared an attack on
Sweden in his attempts to recapture his crowns. With him were other
such distinguished traitors as Gustavus Trolle and Berndt von Melen.
Gustavus I. sent a splendid army to meet Christian near Kongelf.
Christian withdrew in disappointment, leaving Ture Jœnsson behind in
the streets of Kongelf, minus a head. Christian was imprisoned by his
uncle, Frederic of Denmark, and died in captivity.
In order to pay the debt to Lubeck it was decided at a meeting at
Upsala, in 1530, that the bells of the churches should be taken to be
melted down. Concessions to do so were asked and obtained from the
various communities. But upon the surrender of the bells discontent
grew up. In Dalecarlia it came to revolt and open violence. The people
refused to give up their bells or took the surrendered ones back
with force. Threatening letters were sent to the king, who at first
pretended to ignore the whole matter. Christian was preparing his last
attack, and prudence deemed advisable. The inducements made by the
Swedish traitors to support Christian’s claims were scornfully repulsed
by the Dalecarlians, who still continued with their insulting letters
to the king. Gustavus answered them in a peaceful way. In 1533, at
New Year, he suddenly appeared with an army in Dalecarlia, where the
revolters also this time received a severe reproach and were forced to
give up their leaders. These were executed, and that ended the last
revolt of Dalecarlia.
In the following year Sweden was forced into a war which lasted up to
1536, the so-called “Feud of the Counts,” the chief participants being
the counts of Holstein, Oldenburg and Hoya. Sweden sided with Christian
of Holstein, who fought for his rights to the throne of Denmark after
his father Frederic, being opposed by the other counts and by Lubeck.
Hard and repeated pressure was brought to bear on Svante Sture, a son
of Lord Sten and Christine Gyllenstierna, to appear as a pretender
against Gustavus; but the noble youth, who was sojourning in Germany,
firmly withstood these temptations. His mother had married John
Turesson, a son of the traitor Ture Jœnsson, who was as able a man as
his father was a bad one, being the successful commander of a Swedish
army which invaded the Danish provinces held by the count of Oldenburg.
A Swedish fleet, created through sacrifices of nobles and peasants,
distinguished itself repeatedly. The war ended in the defeat of Lubeck.
Gustavus had, since the end of the work of liberation, crushed the
power of the Church, punished the revolting peasants, kept the
aristocracy within bounds, and put an end to the supremacy of Lubeck.
But he went still further, trying to deprive the Church of its last
vestige of authority, to introduce a minute administration of the
provinces and to enforce the absolute power of the crown. To these
plans he was led by two foreign advisers, Georg Norman and Konrad
Pentinger. But it must be said to the credit of the king that their
influence vanished when he saw that their “reforms” were not acceptable
to the people. From this period of his reign, one noteworthy and
wholesome measure remains, the reintroduction of the former hereditary
order of succession to the throne. It was formulated and accepted
at the Riksdag of Œrebro (Jan. 4, 1540), memorable also through
death sentences pronounced upon two of the apostles of the Swedish
Reformation. The king had long regarded his chancellor and the two
brothers, Olaus and Laurentius Petri, the latter archbishop of Upsala,
with suspicion. The climax was reached when a conspiracy by German
burghers of Stockholm against the king’s life was discovered, and it
was proved that Olaus Petri and Laurentius Andreæ were conscious of
its purport, without making it known to the king. They were condemned
to death, Archbishop Laurentius being forced to take a seat as one of
the judges, but pardoned at the request of the burghers of Stockholm,
on the grounds that the ministers had received their knowledge on
the pledge of secrecy through confession. Laurentius Andreæ lost his
position as the king’s chancellor. In the following year each church in
the country was presented with a copy of the complete translation of
the Bible, the work of the two reformers.
The greatest, most serious and most expensive of peasants’ revolts
was that called the Dacke Feud (1542 and 1543), after its leader Nils
Dacke, a peasant born in Bleking, emigrated to Smaland, which became
the scene of his revolt. The peasants were resolved to make war on the
royal bailiffs, the nobles and the new religion, and found in Dacke
an excellent leader, ferocious, daring and of some military ability.
The forces sent by the king to meet him were repeatedly routed. The
king was seriously alarmed, particularly since the revolt attracted
attention abroad and was encouraged by Emperor Charles V., in the
interests of the deposed Christian, his brother-in-law, and by several
German princes. The emperor wrote to Nils Dacke a letter, preserved to
this day, although it never reached its destination, in which Charles,
with pride, recalls his Gothic (that is, according to the views of his
time, Swedish) origin: “Sumus et nos de gente Gothorum.” Nils Dacke’s
plan was to place Svante Sture on the throne. He wrote him a letter to
this effect, which the noble Sture handed over to the king, together
with the messenger who brought it. After much effort the king gathered
an army of considerable strength, which was ordered against Dacke, who
was defeated at Lake Asund. He fled and was pursued by the troops into
Bleking, where he was captured and shot. This revolt cost Gustavus
dearly, but was a good lesson in regard to the more immature of his
reforms, against which it, to a great extent, was directed.
Now the storms and trials of his reign were at an end, and Gustavus
allowed to gather the fruit of his wise management, which itself
grew wiser with his old age. In 1544 the Union of Succession of 1540
was confirmed at Westeros. In matters of finance Gustavus laid the
foundations of the modern state. The bailiffs were multiplied and
made to give close accounts of the revenues. Fiefs granted to nobles
before were now kept by the crown. The great nobles who held fiefs
were placed under stricter control. The bloody Christian did useful
work for the crown by ridding it of many unruly heads. The privileges
granted by Westeros Recess were enforced, but the king saw to it that
the nobility received back only what was properly due. But when the
crown was concerned, property was taken from the Church to the greatest
tension of these privileges, and likewise for the king’s private
rights, by means of which less scrupulous tactics both the state
and the king were enriched. The former came in possession of 12,000
farms, the latter of 4,000, in his case called “inherited estates.” As
Gustavus was a great economizer, he left a treasury replete with money
and uncoined silver, in spite of elaborate pomp on state occasions,
expensive royal marriages and wooings, and a feud with Russia. From
which of the two treasuries in his care expenses were paid, Gustavus
was not overparticular. He set a good example as a practical farmer
and agriculturist, the dairy at Gripsholm standing under the personal
supervision of the queen, with twenty-two less ladylike assistants.
Gustavus created the nucleus to a standing army of hired troops,
of natives and foreigners, about 15,000 in numbers, and provided
Sweden with a considerable and well-equipped fleet. He encouraged the
mining industry by supporting the silver mines of Sala and the copper
mines of Falun. He introduced the working of iron, according to new
methods, calling in German experts whose work he superintended in
person. Putting an end to the supremacy of the Hanseatic commerce,
he made treaties of commerce with the Netherlands and France, making
Helsingfors in Finland the centre of the trade with Russia. On the
western coast he founded the new town of Elfsborg, and ordered the
inhabitants of New Lœdœse to move thither. To the common people
Gustavus held an attitude which shows evidence of love and confidence.
Many of his letters and messages to them abound in hints at practical
methods in farming. The schools were improved and partly reorganized
through the spirit of Reformation, while the University of Upsala lost
in importance and prestige, the students again going abroad.
The war with Russia, commencing in 1554, and marked by mutual
invasions, offered no aspect of importance, and was ended by a treaty
of peace in 1557.
The founder of the famous royal line of Vasa was, personally, a man
of prepossessing appearance, tall, and of commanding presence, having
blond hair and beard, sharp blue eyes, full lips, rosy cheeks and a
fine frame. He was fond of costly garments, and the styles of his
day were becoming to him. Gustavus was of an amiable and cheerful
disposition, although of a quick temper. He had a rare gift of winning
the goodwill and confidence of all classes by addressing everybody
according to their compass of intellect and conversation. He was fond
of music, and played and sang. The lute was his favorite instrument,
which he liked to play in his evenings of solitude. Gustavus possessed
a rare intellect and a remarkable memory. Well aware of his own
weakness to give way to his quick temper, he generally postponed
all decisive action in matters of importance until sure of his full
power of discernment. He was not a brilliant genius, but a typical
prince of the Renaissance epoch, never afraid of taking action in
instances without a precedence, or of the consequences of his actions.
His letters and addresses evince an unusual degree of common sense,
clothed in a language of manly vigor, terseness and humor, and are
fine specimens of the modern Swedish, such as it meets us in this its
period of rejuvenation, brought about by the spirit of the Reformation.
There is something in the oral and literary eloquence of Gustavus Vasa
which makes it easy to believe that he was a descendant of Birgitta.
Gustavus did not possess the fine erudition of his sons, who were
considered to be men of learning in their time, for he early left
his university studies for the court and the war; but he was able
to pass such good opinions upon subjects of art and science that he
astonished many who had made these a special study. He had the power of
recognizing people whose faces he once had noticed after ten to twenty
years of absence, and was also skilled in divining what character dwelt
behind every face. What he once heard he never forgot. Where he had
travelled once he could never mistake the road, and knew not only the
names of the villages but also the names of the peasants whom he had
met. His life was led by the unswaying principles of an earnest piety
and high morals. His nephew, Peter Brahe the Elder, who in a chronicle
has given the above picture of Gustavus Vasa, adds: “_In summa_, God
had bequeathed him, above others, with great ability, high intellect
and many princely virtues, so that he was well worthy of carrying
sceptre and crown. For he was not only sagacious and kind above others,
but also manly and able. He was sharp and just in passing sentences, in
many cases being charitable and merciful.”
The royal court was characterized by a joyous and elevated spirit.
Every day after dinner all the courtiers collected in the dancing hall.
The lady of ceremonies then entered with the ladies of the court, and
the royal musicians dispensed music for dancing. Every other or third
day the king went out hunting or horseback riding with the gentlemen
and ladies of his court. The youths of the nobility once a week held
exhibitions of fencing and other knightly sport, the king taking an
interested and active part. Those who excelled received prizes in the
form of rings of gold or chaplets of pearls and led the dance of the
evening.
Gustavus I. was three times married. His first consort was young
neurotic Catherine, princess of Saxony-Lauenburg, whom he married while
the “Revolt of the Bells” was going on in Dalecarlia, and who died four
years later, leaving him a son, Eric, of her own hysteric temperament.
Shortly after the death of Catherine, the king married a young lady
of the highest Swedish nobility, Margaret Leijonhufvud, with whom
he lived in a long and happy union, ended by her death in 1551, and
blessed by ten children, among whom the sons John, Magnus and Charles.
Lady Margaret had been in love with the oldest son of Christine
Gyllenstierna, Svante Sture, whom she renounced, and who married her
younger sister Martha. Queen Margaret was a tender and high-minded
woman, who won the love and absolute confidence of her royal consort,
on whose quick temper she exerted a quieting influence, comforting him
in hours of trouble and distress. She preserved as queen the plain and
severe habits of her youth, having a personal superintendence over
the dairies of the royal castles, especially those of Gripsholm and
Svartsjœ. She was interested in brewing, baking and other household
affairs, often making with her own hands the clothes of her children.
When the king referred to Queen Margaret, he always called her “our
dear mistress of the house.” The king remained a nobleman of his day
in the purple. Royal splendor was displayed on great occasions only.
Simplicity was the principle of every-day life. When entertaining his
friends, the king took great pains to please and arranged many details
himself. Upon one occasion of this kind at Gripsholm, Queen Margaret
carried in the sweetmeats and cookies, while the king served the wine
and asked his guests to be glad and make merry.
Queen Margaret was suddenly taken ill while partaking in a pleasure
trip on Lake Mælar, and died in 1551, after a touching farewell to her
consort. In the following year the king married the young Catherine
Stenbock, a daughter of Gustavus Stenbock, an intimate friend to the
king, and Lady Brita Leijonhufvud, a sister of Queen Margaret. In the
lives and fate of Catherine and Margaret there are several remarkable
coincidences. Like Queen Margaret, Catherine was secretly in love with
some one else when the royal proposal was made. Strange enough the
object of Catherine’s secret affection was, like Margaret’s, a son of
Christine Gyllenstierna, Gustavus Johnsson Tre Rosor. This young man
was the grandson of conceited Ture Jœnsson and the son of able John
Turesson, the second consort of Christine Gyllenstierna. The family
name was Tre Rosor, after the coat-of-arms, which consisted of three
roses. As her aunt Margaret must renounce the hero of her dreams, so
also Catherine. Like his half-brother, Svante Sture, Gustavus Tre Rosor
married the sister of his first love, and this marriage, like that of
Svante, turned out a happy one. There was a last coincidence in the
life of the two queens. When Margaret heard that the royal sponsor
was coming, she knew his errand and concealed herself in an oak chest
in a distant part of the castle of Ekeberg. Catherine, upon a similar
occasion, ran down in the gardens of Torpa and hid herself behind a
bush. The third marriage of the king was a happy one, in spite of the
great difference in years between the consorts. The clergy tried to
raise objections, holding that Gustavus and Catherine were too nearly
related to make the marriage a legal one. After some severe pressure
these objections were finally dropped.
Queen Catherine thus expressed the state of her feelings after her
marriage: “Gustavus is dear to me, but I shall never forget the Rose.”
The king gave scrupulous attention to the education of his children.
They were brought up in simplicity and sternness, but received a
manifold training and a great amount of instruction. While they were
studying at Upsala, hams and butter were sent them from the royal
estates to make part of their breakfasts and suppers. In spite of these
patriarchal endeavors, Eric and John grew up to be typical Renaissance
princes, fond of extravagance and luxury. The king wrote once to Duke
Magnus: “Our dear Lady Catherine sends thee five shirts which thou
must bear in mind to take good care of; _item_, to keep thy head clean
and not ride or run too much.” When his sons grew older, King Gustavus
used to admonish them orally before the hearth or at the table, or by
letters. His wise counsel recalls the terse and sharp advice of Havamal
in the Edda: “Ye shall weigh all matters carefully, perform them
quickly and stand by it, putting nothing off to the morrow; counsel
not followed up in due time is like clouds without rain in times of
dearth.” “To speak once and stand by it, is better than to talk one
hundred times.” “Surround ye ever with able men of pure living; one
shall believe of ye what one knows about them.” Duke Eric early caused
him trouble by stubbornness, defiance and vanity. Duke John, the
oldest child of Queen Margaret, long remained his favorite, but ended
by causing him grief through disobedience and secret conspiracy with
Eric. In his old age, King Gustavus suffered through failing health
and melancholy. He complained because the fate of his country seemed
uncertain on account of the unstability of his sons, and because his
old friends, like John Turesson and Christine Gyllenstierna, passed
away before him, leaving him alone in the world.
When King Gustavus felt that the end was drawing near, he sent word to
the four Estates or representative classes of the country, the nobles,
clergymen, burghers and yeomen, to meet him at Stockholm around the
Midsummer of 1560. He made known to the Estates his will, which his
sons pledged themselves by oath to fulfil. Eric should inherit the
crown, according to the will, but the three other sons were to receive
duchies which they should govern with a good deal of authority. It
became evident that the king had taken pains to provide liberally for
his sons. But it appears as if he intended to make them all responsible
in the maintenance of the work of their father, by distributing the
power between them.
When the Estates had collected in the hall of state the old monarch
entered with his sons. After greeting those present he delivered his
farewell address:
“I respect the power of God, which with me has reinstalled the ancient
royal line on the throne of Sweden. Ye have without doubt learned,
and those of you who are somewhat advanced in years have seen for
yourselves, how our dear fatherland, already for ages in distress and
misery through foreign lordship, at last suffered the same through
the grim despot King Christian, and how it pleased God to liberate us
from this tyranny through me. For this it behooves us, high and low,
master and servant, old and young, never to forget that same divine
help. For what of a man was I to set myself against a mighty king,
who not only ruled three kingdoms, but who also was related to the
powerful emperor Charles V. and the noble princes of Germany. But God
has performed the work, made me the worker of his miracle, and been my
help and comfort during a reign of forty years, the cares of which have
hastened me on with gray hairs to the grave. Forsooth, I could liken
myself to King David,” and the tears came to his eyes, “whom God from
a shepherd made to a reigning king over his people. I could not divine
that glory, when I in woods and desert fells must needs conceal myself
from the bloodthirsty swords of my enemies. Grace and blessing have
in a wide measure been granted both me and you through the knowledge
of God’s true Gospel, also in the shape of material abundance, which
is evident all through the land, thank the Lord. If during my reign
anything good has been accomplished, give ye God the glory of it. But
for what there has been of failure and fault, I beg you, as faithful
subjects, to forbear and forgive. God is my witness that it has not
been by meanness, but by human weakness, that I have not been able to
do better. My ambition has always been the improvement and welfare of
the people of my country. I know full well that I have been a severe
king in the eyes of many. Yet that day shall come when the children of
Sweden willingly would dig me up from under the sod if that they could.
My time soon is at an end. I need not in the stars or other signs
search for my last moment; my body is to me the trustworthy messenger
that I soon shall stand before the severe King of kings, to give
account for the glorious but earthly crown of Sweden which I have worn.”
The Estates listened with great emotion to the words of the old
monarch. After the king had ceased speaking and his will had been
sanctioned, Gustavus left the assembly supported by his sons and
nodding his farewell to those standing near. Three months later he was
taken ill, and September 29, 1560, the great liberator, revolutionist
and organizer of his country expired.