Arrest Of The Bishops.
This resolution had hardly been adopted before two of the most influential prelates of the kingdom, Torbern Bilde, archbishop of Lund and primate of the realm, and Roennov, bishop of Zealand, arrived at Copenhagen for the purpose of offering their congratulations to the king. They were both at the episcopal palace of the city, and it appears that they received some hint of the measure that was in preparation. On the 20th August, Rantzau, entrusted with the mission by the king, appeared at the palace. He found the door closed, and his soldiers burst it open. The archbishop immediately surrendered without offering resistance. But Roennov took advantage of his familiarity with all the nooks and corners of his palace to rush within, and climbing up to the roof squatted in a foul and disgusting hole, or according to another account, behind one of the beams which supported the roof.[[359]] They searched for him for a long time without looking there; but the next morning they discovered him. He came down and tried to conceal his shame under an air of irritation and by violent words. All the bishops were taken prisoners; and every one of these arrests forms a history by itself. Many of them defended themselves in their strong castles and repulsed force by force. Rantzau was obliged to form regular sieges and to attack vigorously these formidable pastors who had armed men and brave officers under their orders.[[360]] The Danish bishops, contrary to the Bible command, had turned their crooks into swords, their crosses into halberds, and their flocks into troops of lancers. The bishops were confined in various fortresses, and their treatment with more or less mildness depended on whether they conducted themselves submissively or insulted the king’s officers. The question of course arises were these seizures legal? We reply that the bishops had been guilty of offences against the state and against the people, and that these offences justified their imprisonment. It is a legitimate course for a king and his counsellors to defend themselves against conspirators.
Charges Against The Bishops.
The Diet of the kingdom had now to pronounce a decision. Christian resolved on taking an important step in a constitutional direction by introducing into the Diet, in conjunction with the nobility, and in the place of the prelates, representatives chosen by the burgesses of the towns and by the peasantry of the country districts.[[361]] This was the first Diet in which the people were represented. It was opened on the 30th of October, 1536. A decree was passed for the holding of an assembly to regulate the new order of things. A spacious platform having been erected in the open air, the king and the States took their places on it, surrounded by a vast gathering of the people, who formed as it were, the general council of the nation. The prince expressed the sorrow that he felt at the thought of the calamities with which the country had just been visited, and dwelt on the fact that the bishops had shown themselves unworthy of their office. Then followed the reading of a report on the condition of the kingdom, which occupied three hours. It set forth the offences common to all the bishops, the usurpation of the supreme power and the attempt to ruin the evangelicals.
Next, the reporter dealt with each of them separately. ‘Bishop Roennov of Roeskilde,’ said he, ‘has ruled in Copenhagen during the interregnum as though he were the sovereign.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ exclaimed voices from the crowd. ‘He has sent his likeness,’ said some one, ‘to Queen Mary of Hungary, governess of the Netherlands, offering her at the same time his hand and the crown of Denmark!’ This was doubtless a mere piece of fun; but the notion of becoming king some day would be not at all unlikely to occur to a vain man like Roennov, who was turning over high matters in his weak brain. To each bishop was attributed some particular saying and deed. One of the strangest sayings was that of the Bishop of Ribe, who, according to the reporter, said—‘I should like to be changed into a devil, that I might have the pleasure of tormenting the soul of King Frederick, tainted with heresy.’[[362]]
The reporter continued—‘In consequence of these facts it is proposed that all the Roman Catholic bishops should be deposed from their offices; that the religion and the rites of the Romish Church should be abolished in the kingdom; that the doctrine should be reformed and the evangelical religion established; that none of those who are unwilling to renounce the Roman priesthood should on that account be subject to any ill-treatment, that no infringement of their liberty of conscience should be attempted, but that they should be instructed in conformity with the Word of God, and if they refused this they should be left to give account of their faith to God alone.’[[363]] Considering that the spiritual power had resorted to the use of halberds and cannon, the temporal power might very reasonably have done the same; but the sovereign, having made himself master of their fortresses, imposed on them no penalty but freedom.
When the reading of the report was concluded, the question was put in the king’s name to the nobles and to the people whether they assented to the proposals therein made, and particularly whether they wished to retain their former bishops. As with one voice they all replied—‘We do not wish for them; we will have the Gospel.’ A compact was accordingly drawn up. A complete amnesty for what was past, and entire and mutual confidence for the future were proclaimed. In the place of the prelates, the authors of all the troubles of the kingdom, an equal number of evangelical theologians were to be established under the designation of ‘superintendents’ (that of ‘bishops’ subsequently came into use). Permission was given to monks to quit their convents, or to remain in them on condition of leading there an edifying life and of listening to the Word of God. If any one thought that he had ground of complaint against the king, he was to institute proceedings against him before the Diet. The crown was declared to be henceforth hereditary. This compact was signed by four hundred nobles and by the deputies of the towns and the country districts. From this time the bishops ceased to be members of the Diet of which they had formed a part for six centuries; and the evangelical religion was publicly professed. The Reformation was thus established in this northern kingdom in the same year and in the same manner as it had just been established in a petty republic in the centre of Europe.[[364]]
Liberation Of The Bishops.
It was the king’s intention to set at liberty immediately such of the bishops as were still in confinement, and he caused the offer to be made to them, requiring only in return that they should not meddle with affairs of state, that they should not resist the Reformation, and that they should lead a peaceable life. The majority agreed to these terms; and the king not only restored to them their hereditary estates, but, in addition, made liberal presents to many of them. The best treated was Ove Bilde, who had defended his castle with cannon, and who, respected by every one, received as a fief the estate of Skovkloster, near Nestved. Towards the close of his life he embraced the evangelical doctrine. One bishop only, Roennov, absolutely refused submission. He had changed with every wind, but he remained steadfast now. Of a character at once feeble and fiery, he protested against the course adopted towards him, and his indignation vented itself in sharp sayings and violent gestures. This restless and versatile man was removed successively to four or five castles, and at last died, in 1544, in this same town of Copenhagen, where the people continued to believe that he had aimed at establishing himself as king. Christian III. reunited the castles of the bishops to the domains of the crown; but the rest of the properties of the bishops he assigned, by Luther’s advice, to the hospitals, the schools, the university and the churches. It had been his intention to give an important position to the ‘third estate’; but in this he did not succeed. This class, consisting of workmen without moral weight, and peasants without intelligence, had to wait till their time was come.[[365]]
The organization of the Evangelical Church was no light task. The king felt the want of some Protestant theologian who was competent to undertake it. At Flensborg, in 1529, he had made the acquaintance of Pomeranus, the friend of Luther, who had organized the churches of Pomerania, his native country, of Brunswick, Hamburg, and Lübeck. Pomeranus, whose original name was Bugenhagen, was superintendent at Wittenberg, and was a man of a conciliatory and disinterested nature. He could distinguish between things essential and things indifferent; he attached himself to the spirit still more than to the letter; and on these grounds seemed to be peculiarly fitted to give a constitution to the Danish Church. The elector of Saxony consented to give him up, first for a year, and afterwards for two years. In 1537, therefore, Luther’s friend arrived at Copenhagen with his family and several students from Wittenberg. He reorganized the university of Copenhagen, and delivered their courses of lectures, and diffused instruction and the knowledge of the Scriptures among the clergy. At the same time, in co-operation with the reformers of Denmark, Tausen, Wormorsen, Chrysostom, Sadolin, Peter Larssen and others, he gave a constitution to the renovated Church of Denmark. On the 12th of May, 1537, the birthday of Christian III., the king and queen were crowned by the reformer. ‘Pomeranus is in Denmark,’ wrote Luther to Bucer, ‘and all that God does by his hands prospers. He has crowned the king and the queen as if he were a real bishop.’[[366]] On September 2, he consecrated the new evangelical bishops. Wormorsen was made bishop of the former primatial see of Lund, but its metropolitan privileges were abolished. Palladius, a disciple of Luther and Melanchthon, who had spent at Wittenberg almost all the time during which the Reformation was in progress in Denmark, was appointed, doubtless on the recommendation of Pomeranus, bishop of Zealand, and he exercised also a kind of general supervision. Tausen was not at this time made a bishop. Are we to suppose that he declined the office? Or were some afraid to raise to a bishopric this bold pioneer who had made himself enemies by the freedom of his ministry? He was, however, invested with the office, four years later, as bishop of Ribe.[[367]]