The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa Part 2

[19] _Svenska medeltid. rim-kron._, vol. iii. p. 203; and _Hist.

handl._, vol. viii. pp. 68-70.

[20] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, p. 306; and Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 141.

[21] _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 51 and 74-75.

[22] _Svenska medeltid. rim-kron._, vol. iii. p. 204; Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 306-307; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p.

141; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 48-49 and 76.

[23] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, p. 307; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 141; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 39-40 and 76-77.

[24] _Svenska medeltid. rim-kron._, vol. iii. p. 205; Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 307-309; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, pp.

141-142; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 52-58, 62-71 and 77-81.

[25] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 309-310; Johannes Magni, _De omn.

Goth._, pp. 778-779; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 142; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 81-87.

[26] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, p. 310; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 142; and _Kongl. och furstl. forlijkn._, pp. 434-435.

[27] _Svenska medeltid. rim-kron._, vol. iii. pp. 205-206; Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 310-311; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, pp.

142-143; Svart, _ahrapred._, pp. 52-53; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 87-88.

[28] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 311-312; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 143; _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv. pp.

94-105; and _Kongl. och furstl. forlijkn._, pp. 435-437.

[29] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, p. 313; Johannes Magni, _De omn.

Goth._, p. 779; and Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 143.

[30] Svaning, _Christ. II._, pp. 106-107; and _Handl. ror. Skand.

hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 112-117, 127-128, and 130-145.

[31] _Svenska medeltid. rim-kron._, vol. iii. pp. 207-209 and 232; Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 313-314; Rensel, _Berattelse_, p. 15; _Mark.

handl._, p. 91; Johannes Magni, _De omn. Goth._, p. 780; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, pp. 143-144; Svart, _ahrapred._, p. 53, and _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 4-5; Ludvigsson, _Collect._, p. 86; _Acta hist.

Reg. Christ. II._, p. 1; _Danske Mag._, 3d ser., vol. ii. pp. 237-248; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. x.x.xii. pp. 58-63.

[32] Svaning, _Christ. II._, pp. 385-387, and Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 6-8.

[33] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, p. 313; Johannes Magni, _Hist.

pont._, pp. 71 and 73; Laurent. Petri, _Then Svenska chron._, p. 143; _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xxiv, pp. 110-112, 117-130; and _Skrift. och handl._, vol. i. pp. 363-364.

[34] Olaus Petri, _Svenska kron._, pp. 315-316; and _Handl. ror. Skand.

hist._, vol. xxiv. pp. 245-247.

[35] Eliesen, _Chron. Skib._, p. 567.

CHAPTER III.

FLIGHT OF GUSTAVUS; UPRISING OF THE DALESMEN. 1519-1521.

Escape of Gustavus from Denmark.--Lubeck.--Return of Gustavus to Sweden.--Excommunication of Sture.--Invasion of Sweden.--Death of Sture.--Dissolution of the Swedish Army.--Heroism of Christina.--Battle of Upsala.--Gustavus at Kalmar.--Fall of Stockholm.--Coronation of Christiern II.--Slaughter of the Swedes.--Flight of Gustavus to Dalarne.--Efforts to rouse the Dalesmen.--Gustavus chosen Leader.

One morning, in the early autumn of 1519, a young man, clad in the coa.r.s.e garments of a drover, made a hasty exit from the gate of Kalo Castle, and turning into the forest proceeded along the western sh.o.r.e of Kalo Bay. His step was firm and vigorous, and indicated by its rapidity that the wayfarer was endeavoring to elude pursuit. Though apparently not over twenty-four, there was something about the traveller's face and bearing that gave him the look of a person prematurely old. Of large frame, tall and broad-shouldered, with heavy ma.s.sive face, high cheek-bones, a careworn dark blue eye, large straight nose, and compressed lips,--the under lip projecting slightly,--he would have been pointed out anywhere as a man not easily to be led. The face would not, perhaps, be regarded as particularly intellectual; but determination and energy were stamped on every feature, and every movement of the body displayed strength and power of endurance. It was pre-eminently the face and body of one made to govern rather than to obey. Such, in his twenty-fourth year, was Gustavus Vasa. He had made his escape from Kalo Castle, and was fleeing with all speed to Lubeck, the busy, enterprising head of the Hanseatic League.

His way led him through some of the most picturesque spots in Denmark.

It was a lovely rolling country, with fertile fields and meadows, relieved in places by little clumps of forest, beneath which he could often discern the time-worn front of some grim old mansion. Sheep and cattle were grazing on the hillsides. Thatch-roofed huts, with plastered walls, were all about him. The fields, in those September days, were red with buckwheat. Occasionally a broad meadow spread out before him, and, to avoid the husbandmen gathering in their crops, he was often forced to make a long circuit through thick forests of beech and maple. Here and there he came on mighty barrows raised over the bodies of Danish warriors and kings. Well might it make his blood boil within him to witness these honors heaped upon the Danes for their deeds of blood and cruelty to his fathers. Through such scenes, weary and footsore, in constant dread of his pursuers, and with dark misgivings as to the fate before him, he pressed on, until at last, near the end of September, the gray walls of Lubeck, to which he had looked forward as a refuge, stood before him and he entered in.[36]

Lubeck, the capital of the Hanse Towns, and by virtue of this position monarch of the northern seas, had been for three centuries a bitter foe to Denmark. At intervals the Danish kings had sought to check the naval supremacy of Lubeck, and more than once the two powers had been at open war. Of late, by reason of dissensions among the Towns, Denmark had gradually been gaining the upper hand. But Lubeck was still very far from acknowledging the right of Denmark to carry on an independent trade, and the growing power of the Danish kings only added fuel to the flame. Lubeck was, therefore, at this time a peculiarly favorable asylum for one who was at enmity with Christiern. Gustavus doubtless had reckoned on this advantage, and had resolved to throw himself on the mercy of the town. He went directly to the senate, laid his case before them, and asked them boldly for a s.h.i.+p and escort to take him back to Sweden. This request apparently was more than they were prepared to grant. They hesitated, and in the mean time the commandant of Kalo Castle tracked his prisoner to Lubeck, and appeared before the senate to demand that he be surrendered. Many of the senators, unwilling to incur the wrath of Christiern, were minded to give him up. Others, however, were opposed to such a course. As a result, all action in the matter was for the time suspended. Eight weary months dragged on, Gustavus throughout that period remaining in Lubeck. Finally, in May, 1520, one of the burgomasters, whose friends.h.i.+p the youth had won, espoused his cause, and he was allowed to sail for Sweden. By good fortune he steered clear of the Danish fleet, and on the 31st of May set foot again on his native soil, near Kalmar.[37]

Meantime the Danish arms had not been idle. Soon after the overthrow of Trolle and the destruction of his castle, the king of Denmark had despatched a messenger to Rome, to enlist the Holy Father in his cause.

Pope Leo, reluctant to take upon himself to decide a matter of whose merits he could know so little, appointed the archbishop of Lund, aided by a Danish bishop, to investigate the question and report to him. A tribunal so composed could scarcely be expected to render other verdict than that which Christiern wished. They reported adversely to the regent. Sture and his adherents were therefore excommunicated by the pope, and all church ministrations interdicted throughout Sweden. To a pious people such a blow was terrible in the extreme. All church bells were for the moment hushed, the church doors barred, and the souls of an entire nation doomed to eternal death. But even in the face of this calamity the regent persevered. He refused to restore Trolle to his post, or even to make him amends for his losses. On this news being brought to Rome, the pontiff made no attempt to hide his wrath. He wrote at once to Christiern, with instructions to enter Sweden and inflict punishment on those who had thus set at naught the papal power.

Christiern was entranced. As champion of the pope he felt certain of success. Without delay he collected all the forces in the kingdom, horse and foot, and placed them under the command of a gallant young officer, Otto Krumpen, with orders to invade Sweden from the south. They landed in the early days of January, 1520, and proceeded northwards, ravaging the country as they went. Sture at once issued a broadside to the people, calling them to arms. He likewise sent his messengers to Trolle, to beg him to use his influence against the enemies of Sweden. The deposed archbishop, now cringing before his victor, yielded his a.s.sent.

Sture, thus emboldened, moved forward with his army to meet the Danes.

Knowing that they were advancing through the province of Vestergotland, and that their line of march in the winter season would be across the lakes, Sture took up his position in a narrow cove at the northern end of Lake sunden. In the centre of this cove, through which the Danes must pa.s.s, he raised a huge bulwark of felled trees, and within the bulwark stationed his infantry, with provisions enough to last two months. He then chopped up the ice about the fort, and retired to the north with his cavalry to await the onset. It was not long he had to wait. On the 18th of January the Danish army drew near, and seeing the fortification began to storm it with their catapults. As they approached, the Swedish cavalry, with Sture at their head, dashed out along the sh.o.r.e to meet them. The regent was mounted on a fiery charger, and carried into the very thickest of the fight. But scarcely had the first shot been fired when a missile glancing along the ice struck Sture's horse from under him, and in a moment horse and rider were sprawling on the ice. So soon as Sture could be extricated, he was found to have received an ugly wound upon the thigh. His followers bore him bleeding from the field, and hastened with his lacerated body to the north. But the battle was not yet over. Long and hot it raged about the fortress on the ice. Twice the Danish troops made a mad a.s.sault, and after heavy losses were repulsed. At last, however, their heavy catapults began to tell. The sides of the bulwark weakened, and the Danish army by a vigorous onslaught burst open a pa.s.sage, and put the Swedish infantry to the sword. This victory was followed by a night of riot, the Swedes thus gaining time to collect the scattered remnants of their army. With a single impulse, though without a leader, they fled across the marshy meadows of Vestergotland to the north. Their goal was Tiveden, a dreary jungle of stunted pines and underbrush, through which it was expected the enemy would have to pa.s.s. Here after two days' march they gathered, and threw up a mighty barrier of felled trees and brushwood, thinking in that way to impede the pa.s.sage of the Danes. All about them the land, though not mountainous, was rough and rugged in the extreme, huge bowlders and fragments of rock lying about on every side.

In spots the undergrowth was wanting, but its place was generally filled by little lakes and bogs, quite as difficult to traverse as the forest.

In this region the patriots collected, and with undaunted spirit once more awaited the coming of the Danes. Again they were not disappointed.

The Danish army, recovering from its night of revelry, proceeded on the track of the fugitives, stormed their barrier, and on the 1st of February put them once more to flight. This done, the invaders pressed forward, burning, robbing, murdering, and affixing bans to every church door, till they arrived at Vesters.[38]

Let us turn for a moment to another scene. Sture, who had been carried bleeding from the field of battle, had been taken first to orebro. But the journey over the ice and snow at the dead of winter so aggravated his wound that it was clear to all he could take no further part in carrying on the war. He gave orders therefore to be removed to Stockholm, where he might be under the tender care and sympathy of his wife. It was G.o.d's will, however, that he should never see her more. On the 2d of February, when almost within sight of the castle walls, he died; and the loved one for whose sympathy he had longed was given nothing but her husband's lifeless corpse.[39] They buried of him all that earth could bury; but his undaunted spirit remained still among his people, cheering them in their misfortunes, and ever calling upon them to resist the hand of the oppressor. Sten Sture's character is one which draws forth a warmth of sentiment such as can be felt for no other character of his time. Living in an age when hypocrisy was looked upon with honor, and when falsehood was deemed a vice only when unsuccessful, he showed in all his dealings, whether with friends or foes, a steadfast integrity of purpose with an utter ignorance of the art of dissimulation. Not a stain can history fix upon his memory. Highly gifted as a statesman, courageous on the field of battle, ever courteous in diplomacy, and warm and sympathetic in the bosom of his family, his figure stands forth as one of the s.h.i.+ning examples of the height to which human character can attain. It is with a sigh we leave him, and turn again to trace the history of his people.

Grim ruin now stared the patriot army in the face. Bereft of the only person who seemed competent to guide them, beaten at every point, without arms or provisions, and with a horde of trained and well-armed soldiers at their heels, the fleeing patriots came straggling into Strengnas on the Malar. Hubbub and confusion reigned supreme. Many of the magnates counselled immediate surrender. Others, somewhat more loyal to their country, raised a timid voice in favor of continuing the war, but no one ventured to come forth and lead his fellow-countrymen against the foe. Thus they frittered away the precious moments while the Danes were getting ready for another onset. All this time there was one brave heart still beating for them in the capital. The regent's widow, nothing daunted by her own calamity or by the disasters that had come upon her husband's people, kept sending messengers one after another to implore them to unite in defence of their native land. At length it seemed as if her supplications were destined to prevail. A firmer purpose spread among them, and they girded up their loins for another conflict. Their spark of courage, however, proved abortive. No sooner did the enemy again appear than the patriots turned their backs and fled in wild dismay. On coming once more together after this bloodless battle, they resolved without further ado to lay down arms. A letter was despatched to Krumpen requesting parley. This was granted; and on the 22d of February it was agreed that the two parties should hold a conference in Upsala on the 3d of March, for the purpose of making terms. The Swedish party then urged Christina to attend the conference. She however turned a deaf ear to their entreaties, and sent off a despatch at once to Dantzic begging for aid against King Christiern; so the conference began without her. As a preliminary, Krumpen produced a doc.u.ment from the king of Denmark empowering him to offer terms of peace. This done, a proposition to declare allegiance to King Christiern was at once brought forward; and at the instance of Gustaf Trolle and the other Danish-minded magnates present, the proposal was finally accepted, though not until Krumpen had consented to certain terms on which the patriots insisted. These terms were that all past offences against the Danish crown should be forgiven, that all fiefs. .h.i.therto granted to their fellow-countrymen should be preserved, and that Sweden should continue to be governed in accordance with her ancient laws and customs.

The doc.u.ment reciting these terms was issued on the 6th of March, and on the 31st it was confirmed by Christiern.[40]

The main body of the Swedish nation being thus again in the hand of Denmark, it was expected that Christina would no longer dare to offer resistance. It was therefore resolved to approach her once more upon the subject. An armed body of some three thousand men was despatched forthwith to Stockholm, a couple of amba.s.sadors being sent ahead to invite Christina to a conference outside the town. The reception which they met was such as to convince them that the regent's widow possessed, at any rate, a portion of her husband's courage. No sooner did they near the capital than the portcullis was raised and a volley fired upon them from within the walls. Thus discomfited, the amba.s.sadors withdrew, and Krumpen, having insufficient forces to undertake a siege, returned to Upsala, and the Swedish forces that had joined him retired to their homes.[41]

Christina was thus afforded a short respite in which to gather strength.

The bravery and determination which she had displayed, even from the moment of her husband's death, already began to inspire confidence among the people. Most of the great men in the realm, intimidated by the threats or allured by the promises of Krumpen, had sworn allegiance to the king of Denmark. But the chief castles were still held by the patriots, and throughout the land there was a strong undercurrent of feeling against the Danes. In most parts the people were only waiting to see which way the wind was going to blow, and for the time being it seemed likely to blow in favor of the Swedes. The regent's widow used every effort to rouse the people from their lethargy, and with increased success. All winter long the king of Denmark was burning to send reinforcements, and d.i.c.kering with the Powers of Europe to obtain the necessary funds. But his credit was bad, and it was only with great difficulty that he at last despatched a body of some fifteen hundred men. Christina, on the other hand, was being reinforced by the Hanse Towns along the Baltic, and in the early spring the current of sentiment had set so strongly in her favor that a plot was formed to drive off the Danish troops beleaguering the Castle of Vesters, on the Malar. So soon as this plot reached the ears of the Danish leader, he resolved to break the siege and hurry off to join the forces of Krumpen at Upsala. He did so; but he did so none too soon. He found his path beset by the peasantry lying in ambush in the woods, and before he succeeded in pus.h.i.+ng through them, he was led into a b.l.o.o.d.y battle from which the patriots came off victorious, though their leader fell.[42]

Emboldened by this success, Christina now sent a messenger among the peasantry to collect a force with which to attack the Danish army in Upsala. In a short s.p.a.ce of time he had gathered a strong band of peasantry and miners, with whom, reinforced by a detachment from Stockholm, he marched forward to Upsala. As the patriots approached the town, a squad stationed by Krumpen outside the walls descried them and sounded the alarm. This was on Good Friday, April 6, 1520, and Krumpen was in the cathedral when the news arrived. Without delay he hurried forth and gave orders that every man, both horse and foot, should gird on his armor and a.s.semble in the square. As soon as they had come together, he led them outside the town and drew up his line of battle close beneath the walls. In front of this line he formed a solid phalanx, with a wing on either side composed of horse and foot. Still farther ahead he placed his catapults, with the largest of which he opened fire first, the sharpshooters at the same time picking off the enemy. The sky was heavily overcast, and at the very beginning of the battle a driving storm with rain and sleet came beating down in the faces of the Danes, thus blinding them. Their cavalry, too, was almost useless; for the ground was covered with melting snow, which formed in great cakes under the horses' hoofs, and soon sent horses and riders sprawling on the ground. The patriots, however, being without cavalry or muskets, suffered little from the rain. They were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them, and pressed forward madly on the left wing until finally it began to yield. The standard-bearer, half frozen, was about to drop the standard, when a Danish veteran rushed forward, seized it from his hands, and fixed it in the nearest fence, at the same time shouting: "Forward, my men! Remember your own and your fathers' valor! Shall this standard of your country fall unstained into the hands of the enemy?" At these words the company rallied and, hacking at the hands of the patriots who strove to pluck the standard from the fence, compelled them to withdraw. This company then joined the others, and a long and bitter conflict followed, the two armies fighting face to face. At length, as soon as the snow began to be well packed, the Danish cavalry came to the front once more, and after a series of violent charges, broke in two places through the enemy's ranks. The patriots, now cut into three distinct bodies, fled in wild despair. One body of them was surrounded and ma.s.sacred on the spot.

Another fled to a brick-kiln near at hand, hoping thus to be sheltered from the fury of the Danes. But they were pursued, the whole place was set on fire, and all who issued from it were put to the sword. The third portion of the Swedes fled in terror to the river, but many of them weighted down by their arms were drowned. Thus ended a fearful battle.

The snow was literally drenched with blood. Of the Swedes, who numbered 30,000, it is said two thirds were killed; while the Danes, 8,000 strong, lost half.[43]

After this fearful slaughter both parties were for the nonce more cautious. Messengers were sent by each throughout the land to gain recruits, but they were careful to avoid a general conflict. Skirmishes and trickery were the order of the day. The patriots were frittering away their chances for lack of a leader, and Krumpen was waiting for the arrival of King Christiern. This was delayed only till the breaking of the ice. Towards the close of April, 1520, Christiern set sail with a large fleet for Sweden, having on board the Archbishop of Lund and some other influential prelates, to lend to his expedition the aspect of a religious crusade. Proceeding first to Kalmar, he called upon the castle to surrender, but in vain. Seeing that his only mode of reducing the castle was by siege, he resolved for the present to give it up, and after issuing a broadside to the people of Vestergotland, summoning them to a conference to be held a month later, on the 3d of June, he advanced to Stockholm and dropped anchor just outside the town. This was on the 27th of May, four days before the landing of Gustavus Vasa on the Swedish coast.[44]

The arrival of Gustavus Vasa marks an epoch in the history of Sweden. It is the starting-point of one of the most brilliant and successful revolutions that the world has ever known. Other political upheavals have worked quite as great results, and in less time. But rarely if ever has a radical change in a nation's development been so unmistakably the work of a single hand,--and that, too, the hand of a mere youth of four-and-twenty. The events immediately preceding the return of Gustavus prove conclusively, if they prove anything, how impotent are mere numbers without a leader. For years the whole country had been almost continuously immersed in blood. One moment the peasantry were all in arms, burning to avenge their wrongs, and the next moment, just on the eve of victory, they scattered, each satisfied with promises that his wrongs would be redressed and willing to let other persons redress their own. What was needed above all else was a feeling of national unity and strength; and it was this feeling that from the very outset the young Gustavus sought to instil in the minds of the Swedish people. As we now follow him in his romantic wanderings through dreary forest and over ice and snow and even down into the bowels of the earth, we shall observe that the one idea which more than any other filled his mind was the idea of a united Swedish nation. At first we shall find this idea laughed at as visionary, and its promoter driven to the far corners of the land.

But before three years are over, we shall see a Swedish nation already rising from the dust, until at last it takes a high place in the firmament of European powers.

The memorable soil on which Gustavus disembarked lay two miles south of Kalmar; and he hurried to the town without delay. Kalmar was at this time, next to Stockholm, the strongest town in Sweden. Lying on two or three small islands, it was guarded from the mainland by several narrow streams, while on the east it was made secure through a stupendous castle from attack by sea. This castle was at the time in charge of the widow of the last commandant, and was strongly garrisoned, as was also the town below, with mercenaries from abroad. On entering the town Gustavus was received with kindness by the burghers, and sought in every way to rouse their drooping spirits. He even approached the German soldiers with a view to inspire comfort in their souls. But his words of courage fell on stony ground. It is the nature of mercenaries to fight like madmen when the prospect of reward is bright, but no sooner does a cloud gather on the horizon, than they throw down their arms and begin to clamor for their pay. Such at that moment was the state of things in Kalmar. Christiern, backed by the leading powers of Europe, and upheld in his expedition by the authority of Rome, had just arrived in Sweden with a powerful army, and was now lying at anchor in the harbor of the capital. The Swedish forces, broken in many places and without a leader, were gradually scattering to their homes. The cloud that had long been gathering over the head of Sweden seemed about to burst. The future was already black, and a listening ear could easily catch the mutterings of the approaching storm. The Kalmar mercenaries therefore were only irritated by the importunities of the youthful refugee, and it was only through the intercession of the burghers that he was saved from violence and allowed to leave the town.[45]

To revisit the scenes of his boyhood and his father's house was no longer possible. The brave Sten Sture, from whose palace he had been stolen two years since, was lying beneath the sod; and Stockholm, held by the young man's aunt Christina, was in a state of siege. All access to her or to the capital would have been at the peril of his life. He therefore; renounced for the time being his desire to see his family, and proceeded stealthily to approach the capital by land. His way lay first across the dreary moors and swamps of Smland. Here he went from house to house, inciting the peasantry to rebel. Among others he sought out some of his father's tenants, in the hope that they at least would hear him. But he found them all sunk in lethargy, cowering under the sword of Christiern. His voice was truly the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The golden hope of lifting his country out of her misery seemed shattered at a blow. Instead of being received with open arms as a deliverer, he was jeered at in every town, and finally so bitter grew the public sentiment against him that he was forced to flee. Hardly daring to show his face lest he should be shot down by the soldiers of the king, he betook himself to a farm owned by his father on the south sh.o.r.e of the Malar. Here he remained in secrecy through the summer, hoping for better times,--an unwilling witness of the subjugation of his land,--till finally he was driven from his refuge by an act of Christiern so revolting in its villany that it made the whole of Europe shudder.[46]

Christiern, on the 27th of May, was riding at anchor in the harbor of the capital. Among his men was Hemming Gad, over the spirit of whose dream had come a vast change since his capture some eighteen months before. Just when this change began, or how it was effected, is unknown.

But already, in March of 1520, the report had spread through Sweden that Gad had turned traitor to his native land, and we find him writing to the people of Stockholm to tell them that he and they had done Christiern wrong, and begging them to reconcile themselves to Christiern as he had done. Gad was a statesman,--a word synonymous in those days with charlatan,--and he did not hesitate to leave his falling comrades in order to join the opposite party on the road to power. Doubtless Christiern took care that he lost nothing by his change of colors, and doubtless it was with a view to aid himself that he brought Gad back to Sweden.[47]

No sooner did Christiern arrive off Stockholm than Krumpen came with Archbishop Trolle from Upsala, to receive him. They held a council of war on board the fleet, and resolved to lay siege once more to Stockholm. The capital was by this time well supplied with food; but the summer had only just begun, and Christiern thought by using strict precautions to starve the town ere winter. Pitching his camp along the sh.o.r.e both north and south, and blockading the harbor on the east, he sent messengers through the land to enlist the peasantry in his cause.

Many of them he propitiated by a generous distribution of salt which he had brought with him from Denmark. Things, however, were not entirely to his taste. Christina too had amba.s.sadors inciting the people to revolt.