The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa Part 6

The part that Brask played in this drama calls forth a feeling of respect. Artful and manuvring though he was, there were certain deep principles within his breast that only great adversity could touch. Of these the most exalted was his affection for the Church. Apart from all her splendor and the temporal advantages to which her service led, Brask loved her for herself. She was the mother at whose breast he had been reared, and the feelings that had warmed his soul in childhood could not easily be extinguished now that he was old. Every dart that struck her pierced deep into his own flesh, and a premonition of the coming ruin overwhelmed him with bitter grief. It was this very grief, however, that raised him to rebel. The old vacillating temper that he had shown in days gone by was his no longer. Drear and dismal though the prospect was, he did not hesitate, but threw himself into the encounter heart and soul. From this time forth, with all his cunning and sagacity, he was the steadfast leader of the papal cause.

FOOTNOTES:

[74] July 13, 1523, a payment of about 17,000 marks having been already made, Gustavus wrote to Brask that Lubeck still demanded 200,000 guilders, which was equivalent to about 300,000 Swedish marks. This probably was an exaggeration for the purpose of getting a generous contribution from Brask. Another source states it as more than 120,000 Swedish marks. Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 72. This clearly was too low an estimate; for we know that Gustavus paid at least 42,945 Lubeck marks (or 83,000 Swedish marks) in the course of 1523, and that in the following spring the amount claimed by Lubeck was about 240,000 Swedish marks. See _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 109-110, and the doc.u.ments in the Archives at Lubeck cited in Handelmann's _Die letzten Zeiten der hanseatischen Uebermacht im Norden_, pp. 165-170. The matter is ably discussed by Forssell in his _Sver. inre hist._, vol. i.

pp. 134-138. Much confusion is caused by the fact that the debtor and creditor reckoned the sum each according to his own monetary standard, and there can be no question, too, that between the parties there was some dispute as to the exact sum due.

[75] See a doc.u.ment in the Archives at Lubeck cited in Handelmann's _Die letzten Zeiten der hanseatischen Uebermacht im Norden_, p. 165.

[76] [Ill.u.s.tration]

Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 64-65. Svart, whose chronicle was written with a view to flatter Gustavus, informs us of the reduction in the value at which the coin was issued, and appears to attribute this reduction to the generosity of his master. It was "a good fat coin," he adds, which merchants carried out of the country as an excellent piece of merchandise. The zeal with which the chronicler defends the coin is enough to raise suspicion as to its true value. If it was really worth an ore and a half, it is incredible that Gustavus in the strait in which he then was should have ultimately given it for an ore. Forssell, in his _Anteckn. om mynt, vigt, mtt och varupris i Sverige_, pp. 44-51, suggests that probably the coin was first issued for an ore and a half, and then with the same size and weight but containing more alloy, was issued for an ore. I think the true explanation is more simple. Gustavus had been found out. The "klippings" which he had issued a year before were such a palpable fraud that the Danish commandant of Stockholm had actually forbidden their use, lest the Danish "klippings" (which were about as bad as anything could be) might through a.s.sociation with the others fall into ill repute. _Christ. II.'s arkiv_, vol. i. pp. 214 and 218. So that when he issued a new coin and called it an ore and a half, people were suspicious and refused to take it till he reduced it to something like its value. This view is strengthened by the fact that of the few extant coins of Gustavus, dated 1522, not one contains enough silver to have been worth an ore and a half, and most of them fall considerably below the value of an ore. It is noticeable also that those stamped 1523, which were presumably issued for an ore, contain a trifle more in value than those stamped 1522, and called an ore and a half. As none of them have any value stamped upon their face, it was a simple matter to start the figure high, and then reduce it to what the coin would bring.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[77] As to Church fees and incomes see a letter of Brask, dated Dec. 21, 1514, in _Hist. handl._, vol. viii. pp. 65-67.

[78] Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 58.

[79] _Von der grausamen tyrannischen myssehandelung_; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 56-58; and _Sver. trakt._, vol. iv. pp. 35-44.

[80] Johannes Magni, _Hist. pont._, pp. 74-75; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 70; and _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp.

88-89.

[81] Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 73; _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 97, 99-101, 108-111, 114-115, 119, and 298-300; and Linkoping, _Bibliotheks handl._, vol. ii. pp. 204-205.

[82] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 107-108 and 121-129; Forssell, _Sver. inre hist._, vol. ii. p. 72; and _Sver.

trakt._, vol. iv. pp. 44-55, 65-67, and 69-74.

[83] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 121-129.

[84] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 129-134 and 139-140; and Theiner, _Schwed. u. seine Stell. z. heil. Stuhl_, vol. ii.

pp. 6-11.

[85] Johannes Magni, _Hist. pont._, p. 75; _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 143-150; and _Nya Kallor till Finl.

Medeltids.h.i.+st._, pp. 737-740.

[86] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 172-174 and 178-181.

[87] Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 74-75.

[88] _Ibid._, pp. 73-74; and _Sver. trakt._, vol. iv. pp. 67-69.

[89] No one apparently wished to father the expedition. Svart, who presents the king's side of the case, says, in his _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 78-81, that Gustavus undertook the campaign at the urgent solicitation of Lubeck, who promised to defer payment of her loan for several years without interest, provided Gustavus would undertake the war. This proposition appears generous, but there is no trace of it in the contemporary letters of the king. Those letters a.s.sert that Brask was the prime mover of the scheme; but as Brask repudiated it at once, the responsibility for it cannot be fairly laid on him. See _Kon. Gust.

den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 190 and 301.

[90] Rensel, _Berattelse_, pp. 34-35; _Acta hist. Reg. Christ. II._, pp.

4-9; _Alla riksdag. och mot. bes.l.u.th_, vol. i. pp. 29-30; _Handl. ror.

Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. p. 172; and _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 182, 184-185, 187-189, and 301-302.

[91] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 185-186, 189-191, and 300-302; and Linkoping, _Bibliotheks handl._, vol. i. pp. 153-155.

[92] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 191-192 and 193-197.

[93] The doc.u.ments relating to the repudiation of the "klippings" vary somewhat in phraseology. In the Royal Archives at Stockholm is an official contemporary statement of the business transacted by the general diet in January, 1524, which declares: "The 'klippings' were in so far repudiated as to be valued at only four 'hvitar,' though any person may accept them for what he will." _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. p. 182; and _Svenska riksdagsakt._, vol. i. pp.

17-20. Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 76, a.s.serts that the diet "repudiated the 'klippings.'" Tegel, _Then stoormecht._, p. 81, says, "the 'klippings' were utterly repudiated." In a letter issued by Gustavus to the people of Dalarne immediately after the pa.s.sage of the Act he says the diet advised "that the 'klippings' fall so that they pa.s.s for only five 'hvitar,' to which we and our Cabinet consented."

_Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 182-183. In a letter issued at about the same time to the people of Vadstena, Gustavus made the same statement, except that he used the word "four" instead of "five." _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. p. 184. The later letters of Gustavus, in which he declares that he has not repudiated his coinage, are printed in _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp.

196-197 and 202-207.

[94] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 198-201, 211-212 and 303-306.

[95] _Diar. Minor. Visbyens._, p. 39; Rensel, _Berattelse_, pp. 36-38; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 81-82; and _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 218-219.

[96] Eliesen, _Chron. Skib._, p. 577; Rensel, _Berattelse_, pp. 38-40; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, pp. 82-83 and 93-96; _Christ. II.'s arkiv_, vol. ii. pp. 688-765; _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp.

223-224, 229-230, 236-241, 245-250 and 309-327; and _Sver. trakt._, vol.

iv. pp. 94-103.

[97] _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 223-225, 227-236 and 306-309.

[98] _Alla riksdag. och mot. bes.l.u.th_, vol. i. pp. 31-35; _Kon. Gust.

den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 251-265; and _Svenska riksdagsakt._, vol. i. pp. 22-29.

[99] _Dipl. Dal._, vol. ii. pp. 31-39; and _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 271-281 and 327-328.

[100] Johannes Magni, _Hist. pont._, p. 75; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kron._, p. 92; and _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 117-119 and 135-148.

[101] _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 151-155 and 157-159.

There is preserved among Brask's doc.u.ments of this period a proclamation, purporting to be issued by Gustavus, forbidding the sale of Lutheran tracts within the realm. _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol.

xvii. pp. 159-160. No reference, however, is made to it in other writings; and as it is clearly contrary to all the monarch's later views, it is certain that it did not emanate from him. Probably it was a mere concept drawn by Brask in the hope that it would meet with royal favor.

[102] _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 162-164.

[103] _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 205-216 and 220-223.

[104] _Handl. ror. Skand. hist._, vol. xiii. pp. 48-50 and 52-54, and vol. xviii. pp. 234-236 and 237-239; and _Kon. Gust. den Forstes registrat._, vol. i. pp. 231-233 and 306-309.

CHAPTER VI.

RELIGIOUS DISCORD AND CIVIL WAR. 1524-1525.

Riot of the Anabaptists.--Contest between Olaus Petri and Peder Galle.--Marriage of Petri.--Conspiracy of Norby; of Christina Gyllenstjerna; of Mehlen; of Sunnanvader.--Att.i.tude of Fredrik to Gustavus.--Proposition of Gustavus to resign the Crown.--Norby's Incursion into Bleking.--Surrender of Visby.--Flight of Mehlen.--Fall of Kalmar.

By the autumn of 1524 the whole of Sweden was in a ferment of theological dispute. When Gustavus returned from the congress of Malmo to the capital, he found the people in a wild frenzy of religious zeal.

The turmoil was occasioned mainly by the efforts of two Dutchmen, Melchior and Knipperdolling, who had renounced their respective callings as furrier and huckster to spread abroad the teachings of a new religious sect. The history of this strange movement has been so often told that it is hardly necessary to waste much time upon it here. It originated doubtless in the stimulus that Luther's preaching had given to religious thought. As so frequently occurs, the very enthusiasm which the Reformers felt for things divine led them to disregard their reason and give their pa.s.sions undivided sway. One of the chronicles puts it: "Wherever the Almighty builds a church, the Devil comes and builds a chapel by its side." The thing that most distinguished these weird Dutchmen was their communistic views. They taught that, since we all were equal in the eyes of G.o.d, we should all be equal likewise in the eyes of men, that temporal government along with cla.s.s distinctions of every kind should be abolished, and that Christians should indulge in absolute community of goods. In religious matters, too, they had peculiar views, believing that only adults should receive baptism, and that all adults who had been baptized in infancy should be baptized again. By reason of this tenet they were known as Anabaptists. Their first appearance in the Swedish capital occurred at a moment when the monarch was away. In that, at any rate, they manifested sense. The capital was all agog with Luther's doctrines, and everything that bore the stamp of novelty was listened to with joy. Melchior and Knipperdolling were received with open arms, the pulpits were placed at their disposal, and men and women flocked in swarms to hear them. The town authorities raised no opposition, believing the influence of these teachers would be good. In a short time, however, they were undeceived.