II.
The death of Christian II.'s mistress, Dyveke, in the summer of 1517 produced a change in the situation at Copenhagen. This unfortunate girl, a victim of her ambitious mother's designs, died very suddenly one afternoon after eating cherries in the royal gardens. The King's suspicions fell on his steward, Torben Axe, who was brutally put to death in spite of his protestations of innocence. But the Queen's position was distinctly improved. Christian now treated his wife with marked kindness, and appointed her Regent when, early in the following year, he went to Sweden to put down a rising of the nobles. Sigebritt Willems's influence, however, still remained paramount, and, in a letter to the Queen from Sweden, Christian begged her to consult the Dutchwoman in any difficulty, and ended by wishing her and "Mother Sigebritt" a thousand good-nights. Stranger still to relate, when, on the 21st of February, Isabella gave birth to a son, the infant Prince was entrusted to Sigebritt's care.
1513-23] BIRTH OF PRINCES
This happy event, combined with Isabella's unfailing affection for her wayward lord, led to improved relations between Christian and his wife's family. After the death of Maximilian, Charles became anxious to secure his brother-in-law's support in the imperial election, and in February, 1519, a treaty was concluded between the two monarchs at Brussels.[25] The Danish Envoys, Anton de Metz and Hermann Willems, Sigebritt's brother, received rich presents from Margaret, who was once more acting as Regent of the Netherlands, and she even sent a silver-gilt cup to the hated Dutchwoman herself.[26] A month later the King of Denmark was elected Knight of the Golden Fleece at a Chapter of the Order held at Barcelona, and in a letter which Charles addressed to him he expressed his pleasure at hearing good accounts of his sister and little nephew, and promised to pay the arrears of Isabella's dowry as soon as possible.[27]
On the 28th of June, 1519, Charles was elected King of the Romans, and the formal announcement of his election was brought to Barcelona by Eleanor's rejected suitor, the Palatine Frederic, whom he received with open arms. A few days after this auspicious event the Queen of Denmark, on the 4th of July, 1519, gave birth to twin sons, who received the names of Philip and Maximilian. Both, however, died within a week of their baptism, upon which Sigebritt is said to have remarked that this was a good thing, since Denmark was too small a realm to support so many Princes.
With the help of Dutch ships and gold, Christian succeeded in subduing the Swedish rebels, and was crowned with great solemnity in the Cathedral of Upsala on the 4th of November, 1520. But the rejoicings on this occasion were marred by the execution of ninety Swedish nobles and two Bishops, who were treacherously put to death by the King's orders. This act, which earned for Christian the title of the Nero of the North, is said to have been instigated by Sigebritt and her nephew Slagbök, a Westphalian barber, who had been raised from this low estate to be Archbishop of Lunden. The insolent conduct of these evil counsellors naturally increased the King's unpopularity in all parts of the kingdom. Yet at the same time Christian II. showed himself to be an excellent and enlightened ruler. He administered justice strictly, and introduced many salutary reforms.
1513-23] BIRTH OF DOROTHEA
The common practice of buying and selling serfs was prohibited, Burgomasters and Town Councils were appointed to carry out the laws, and a system of tolls and customs was established. Schools and hospitals were founded, inns were opened in every town and village for the convenience of travellers, piracy and brigandage were sternly repressed. An Act was passed ordering that all cargoes recovered from wrecks were to be placed in the nearest church, and, if not claimed by the end of the year, divided between the Crown and the Church. When the Bishops complained of the loss thus inflicted on them, the King told them to go home and learn the Eighth Commandment. Still greater was the opposition aroused when he attempted to reform clerical abuses. Early in life Christian showed strong leanings towards the doctrines of Luther, and on his return from Sweden he asked his uncle, the Elector of Saxony, to send him a Lutheran preacher from Wittenberg. Although these efforts at proselytizing met with little success, the King openly professed his sympathy with the new Gospel. He had the Bible translated into Danish, bade the Bishops dismiss their vast households, issued edicts allowing priests to marry, and ordered the begging friars to stay at home and earn their bread by honest labour.[28]
All these reforms could not be effected without vigorous opposition, and the discontent among the nobles and clergy became every day more active. In the spring of 1521 a young Swedish noble, Gustavus Wasa, raised the standard of revolt in Dalecarlia, and led his peasant bands against Stockholm. Upon this Christian decided to pay a visit to the Low Countries to meet the new Emperor, who was coming to be crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and seek his help against the citizens of Lübeck and the Swedish rebels. The government was once more placed in the hands of Isabella. A few months before this, on the 10th of November, 1520, while Christian was absent in Sweden, the Queen had given birth to a daughter, named Dorothea after the King's grandmother, the able and ambitious Princess of Brandenburg, who married two Kings of Denmark in succession. Now she followed her husband with wistful thoughts as he started on his journey, attended only by his Chamberlain, Anton de Metz, and three servants, and rode all the way to her old home in the Netherlands.
On the 20th of June nine Danish ships sailed into the port of Antwerp, and a few days afterwards Christian II. rode into the town. His fine presence and the courage which he had shown in riding through Germany with this small escort excited general admiration.
"I noted," wrote Albert Dürer in his Journal, "how much the people of Antwerp marvelled at the sight of this manly and handsome Prince, who had come hither through his enemies' country, with these few attendants."[29]
1513-23] KING CHRISTIAN AT BRUSSELS
The Nuremberg master had been spending the winter in the Low Countries, paying his respects to the Regent at Malines, and conversing with Erasmus of Rotterdam and Lucas van Leyden. He was starting on his journey home, when, on the Feast of the Visitation, he was sent for by the King of Denmark, who received him very graciously, and asked him to dine at his table and to take his portrait. So great was the interest which Christian showed in the painter's work, that Dürer gave him a fine set of his prints, which are still preserved in the museum at Copenhagen, and accepted an invitation to accompany him to Brussels the next day. Thus Albert Dürer was a witness of the meeting between Christian and his brother-in-law Charles V., who had just arrived from his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle, and had been received with great rejoicing by his subjects. At five that summer evening Charles rode out from Brussels at the head of a brilliant cavalcade, and met his royal brother-in-law in a meadow, where they embraced each other and conversed with the help of an interpreter, Christian speaking in German, and Charles in French. They entered Brussels after sunset, and found the streets hung with tapestries and lighted with innumerable torches and bonfires. The Emperor escorted Christian to the Count of Nassau's palace on the top of the hill, which Dürer describes as the finest house that he had ever seen. The next morning Charles brought his guest to the palace gates, where the Regent and Germaine de Foix, King Ferdinand's widow, were awaiting them, and for the first time Margaret came face to face with her niece's husband. Christian kissed the two ladies in French fashion, and after dinner the two Princes spent the evening dancing with the Court ladies.
"Now," wrote the Venetian Ambassador, Gaspare Contarini, "at two hours after dark, they are still dancing, for young monarchs such as these are not easily tired."[30]
The impression which the Danish King made on the learned Italian was very favourable. He describes him as a fine-looking Prince, with an earnest, animated expression, long locks, and a beard curled after the Italian fashion. In his black satin doublet, Spanish cloak, and jewelled cap, he looked every inch a King. On the Sunday after his arrival Christian entertained the Emperor, the Lady Margaret, and the Queen-Dowager of Spain, at dinner. Albert Dürer was present on this occasion, and was afterwards employed to paint a portrait of the King in oils, for which Christian gave him thirty florins, an act of liberality which contrasted favourably with Margaret's parsimony. "The Lady Margaret in particular," remarks the painter in his Journal, "gave me nothing for what I made and presented to her." Another personage in whose society the King took pleasure was Erasmus, who discussed the reform of the Church with him, and was much struck by the monarch's enlightened opinions. On the 12th of July Christian accompanied his brother-in-law to Antwerp, to lay the foundations of the new choir of Our Lady's Church, and went on to Ghent, where he paid formal homage for the duchy of Holstein, and was confirmed in his rights over the Hanse towns, but could not persuade Charles to join him in making war on the friendly citizens of Lübeck. At Ghent the King sent for the English Ambassador, Sir Robert Wingfield, with whom he had a long and friendly conversation, expressing great anxiety to meet King Henry VIII. In reply, Wingfield told him that he would soon have the opportunity of seeing the English monarch's powerful Minister, Cardinal Wolsey, to whom he could speak as frankly as to the King himself.[31] Accordingly, on the 5th of August Christian accompanied Charles and Margaret to the Prinzenhof at Bruges, where Wolsey joined them a week later. The regal state of the English Cardinal formed a striking contrast to the King's simplicity. He arrived with a train of over a thousand followers, clad in red satin, and twenty English nobles, wearing gold chains, walked at his horse's side. On Sunday he rode to Mass with the Emperor, and dined with Charles and Margaret, "praising the delicate and sumptuous manner" in which he was entertained. When the King of Denmark sent to ask him to come to his lodgings, the Cardinal demurred, saying that, as he represented His Majesty of England, the King must be the first to visit him, but that if Christian preferred he would meet him in the palace garden. Christian, however, waived ceremony, and called on Wolsey the next morning. The interview was a very friendly one. Christian expressed his anxiety to enter into a close alliance with England, and begged King Henry to be a good uncle to his young kinsman, James V. of Scotland. Wolsey on his part was much impressed by the King's good sense and peaceable intentions.
1513-23] REVOLT IN DENMARK
"Surely, Sir," he wrote to his royal master, "the King of Denmark, though in appearance he should be judged to be a rash man, yet he is right wise, sober, and discreet, minding the establishing of good peace betwixt Christian Princes, wherein he right substantially declared his mind to me at good length."[32]
CHRISTIAN II., KING OF DENMARK
To face p. [30]
But the next day the King sent the Cardinal word that he had received such bad news from his own country that he must return without delay. He actually left Bruges that day, and was escorted to the city gates by the Papal Nuncio Caracciolo and Contarini, who took leave of the King, and returned to dine with Erasmus and his English friend, Messer Toma Moro.[33] Unfortunately, Christian's visit to the Low Countries produced no good result, and there was some justification for the Imperial Chancellor's cynical remark: "It would have been better to keep the King here, where he can do no harm, than to let him go home to make fresh mischief."[34] He left Bruges dissatisfied with the Emperor, and on reaching Copenhagen his first act was to dismiss the Queen's confessor, Mansueri. When the Emperor begged him to leave his sister free in matters of conscience, he broke into a passionate fit of rage, tore the Golden Fleece from his neck, and trampled it underfoot, cursing his meddlesome brother-in-law. What was worse, he seized several Dutch ships in the Sound, and drew upon himself the serious displeasure of the Regent and her Council.
Meanwhile Gustavus Wasa had laid siege to Stockholm, and there was a rising in Jutland. A Papal Legate arrived at Copenhagen to inquire into the judicial murder of the Swedish Bishops and demand the punishment of Slagbök. The unfortunate Archbishop was made a scapegoat, and put to death in January, 1522. Stones were thrown at Sigebritt when she drove out in the royal carriage, and one day she was thrown into a pond by some peasants, and only rescued with difficulty. Even Christian began to realize the danger of the situation, and wrote to Isabella from Jutland, begging her to "bid Mother Sigebritt hold her tongue, and not set foot outside the castle, if she wished him to return home alive." In another letter, written on the 4th of February, 1522, from the Convent of Dalin, the King congratulates his wife on her safe deliverance, and the birth of "a marvellously handsome child."[35] This is the only intimation we have of the birth of Isabella's second daughter, Christina. The exact date is not to be found in the Danish archives, and has hitherto eluded all research. The child who saw the light in these troubled times received the name of Christina from her grandmother, the Queen-Dowager of Denmark, a Princess of Saxon birth, who still resided at King Hans's favourite palace of Odensee. All we know of Queen Christina is that, on the 2nd of April, 1515, two years after her husband's death, she addressed an urgent prayer to King Henry VIII., begging him to send her a relic of St. Thomas of Canterbury.[36] We are not told if a phial containing a drop of the saint's blood was sent to Denmark in response to this entreaty, but the request is of interest as a proof of the English martyr's widespread renown.
A few weeks after the birth of her little daughter Isabella wrote a touching appeal to her aunt, imploring the Regent's help against the Danish rebels:
1513-23] CHRISTIAN II. DEPOSED
"We have sad news from my lord in Jutland. The nobles there have rebelled against him, and seek to deprive him and our children of their crown and their lives. So we entreat you to come to our help, that we may chastise these rebels."[37]
Anton de Metz was sent to Brussels on the same errand, but could obtain small hopes of assistance. The Regent's Council complained that King Christian had damaged the trade of the Low Countries and ill-treated their sailors, and the temper of the Court was reflected in Sir Robert Wingfield's despatches to England.
"The Easterlings," remarked the Ambassador, "handle the King of Denmark roughly, and his own people are said to have killed the Woman of Holland, who was mother to his Dove, as the King's mistress was called, whereby it appeareth that ill life and like governance often cometh to a bad end."[38]
King Christian's affairs, as Wingfield truly said, were in an evil plight. In June Stockholm surrendered to Gustavus Wasa, and the citizens of Lübeck sent a fleet to burn Helsingfors and threaten Copenhagen. To add to the unfortunate King's difficulties, his uncle Frederic, Duke of Holstein, who had always nursed a grievance against his elder brother, the late King Hans, now took up a hostile attitude, and made common cause with the rebels. On the 20th of January, 1523, the nobles of Jutland met at Viborg, deposed Christian II. formally, and elected his uncle Frederic to be King in his stead. In vain Christian endeavoured to raise fresh forces, and sent desperate appeals to his kinsfolk in the Low Countries and Germany, and to his allies in England and Scotland.
Margaret replied curtly that the Emperor himself needed all the men and ammunition that could be obtained in those parts. The young King of Scotland's Chancellor, the Archbishop of Glasgow, sent a sympathetic message, regretting that the enmity of England prevented him from helping King Christian against his rebel subjects. When the Dean of Roskild appeared in London with a letter from the Danish monarch, begging King Henry to induce Margaret to help him against the Easterlings, Wolsey sent a splendid barge to conduct the Ambassador to Greenwich, but gave him little encouragement beyond fair words. "So I hope," wrote Sir Robert Wingfield, who, in spite of Christian's civilities at Ghent, had little pity for him, "that this wicked King will fail."[39]
1513-23] FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY
The unhappy monarch was at his wits' end. Yet many of his subjects were still loyal. The bulk of the middle and lower classes, the burghers, artisans, and country-folk, looked on him as their best friend; and when he appeared at the fair of Ringsted, a thousand strong arms were raised, and a thousand lusty voices swore fealty to Christian, the peasants' King. Copenhagen was strongly fortified, and as long as he stayed there he was safe from his foes. But an unaccountable panic seized him. Whether, as in the case of Lodovico Sforza, whom he resembled in so many ways, remorse for past crimes enfeebled his will, or whether his nerves gave way, he could not summon up courage to meet his foes, and decided to fly. A fleet of twenty ships was equipped, fully supplied with arms and ammunition, and laden with the crown jewels, archives, and treasures. The Queen and her young children—the five-year-old Prince John, the two little Princesses, Dorothea and Christina (a babe of fifteen months)—went on board the finest vessel of the fleet, the Great Mary, and Mother Sigebritt was hidden in a chest to save her from the fury of the people, who regarded her as the chief cause of the King's unpopularity. But the greatest compassion was felt for Isabella and her innocent babes; and even the usurper Frederic wrote to beg the Queen to remain in Denmark, assuring her that she and her children would be perfectly safe. On the 14th of April the fleet set sail. An immense crowd assembled on the ramparts to see the last of the royal family. The King made a farewell speech, exhorting the garrison to remain loyal to his cause, and promising to return in three months with reinforcements. Then the ships weighed anchor, and neither Isabella nor her children ever saw the shores of Denmark again.