Gustavus had resolved in his own mind that this Diet should emancipate Sweden from the yoke of the priests, which had weighed on the people for centuries, and restore the laity to their own place. For effecting so salutary a revolution a resolute heart and a strong will were needed. Now, he possessed both. It was his intention to open the Diet with a grand banquet on the 23d of June, and to this the members of the States had been invited. They all vied with each other in praising the courtesy of the king, who at the outset thus received them at his table. Gustavus entered the banquet-hall, and went toward the place where his cover was laid. Then the bishops came forward according to custom; for they used to take the highest places after the king, and in his absence they even took precedence of his representative. But now Gustavus, turning to his ministers of state, his councillors, and the grandees of the kingdom, invited them to sit near him, and next to them the bishops, afterwards the nobles, then the canons and other ecclesiastics who usually preceded the nobility, and last the burgesses and the peasants. This precedence assigned to the laity caused a lively sensation in the whole assembly. The bishops thus held back, overpowered with surprise, turned pale, and revealed in the expression of their countenances the bitterness of their souls.[[443]] Nevertheless, they were speechless; and through fear of Gustavus they drank this cup. Many of them would fain have withdrawn, but the imposing presence of the king detained them, and they silently took their seats in those lower places which they looked upon as the greatest disgrace they had ever suffered. The king, observing the expression of their faces, addressed them. Hitherto their lips had remained closed, but by the king’s words they were opened; they showed that their usual place was on each side of him, and claimed to take it. Gustavus explained the reasons which had induced him to give the highest rank to his ministers. Up to this time the Church had lorded it over the State; now the State was freed. Henceforth Sweden rendered unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s and unto God the things which are God’s. Order had been deranged, but now every one was restored to his own place.
CHAPTER IX.
VICTORY.
(1527.)
Secret Meeting Of The Bishops.
The bishops and the rest of the ecclesiastics went out of the castle disquieted, fretful, indignant, and determined to resist the designs of the king with all their might. Consequently they arranged to meet secretly early in the morning of the following day, in the church of St. Egidius. They got there by stealth without being perceived, and concealed themselves in the remotest corner of the church, and there, beneath its vaults, began the conventicle of the priests. ‘What can be the motive,’ they asked each other, ‘of the scandalous affront to which the king subjected us in the presence of all the states of the kingdom?’ Bishop Brask, as suffragan of the primate, absent at the time, spoke: ‘The unworthy proceeding of which we have been the victims is assuredly the cover of detestable schemes. But the king cleverly dissembles his intentions. He is surrounded by men tainted with Lutheranism, and they flatter and mislead him. He means to take away from the clergy their privileges, their liberties, and their possessions, and to add strength to heresy. Under the specious title of defender of the country, he usurps absolute authority; and unless we oppose his projects, we shall find ourselves despoiled of our castles and fortresses, and of the share which we have in the government of the kingdom. How can I tell that we shall not be deprived likewise of our religion?‘[[444]] The bishop of Strengnaes in vain represented to his colleagues that they ought not to provoke so great a prince, who had won by his own merit the love of all Sweden: in vain did he declare that for his own part he was quite ready to surrender his strong castle. Brask, inflamed with wrath, exclaimed, ‘Do you assume to dispose of the possessions of the Church as if they were your own patrimony? Will you deliver them up to a heretical prince? You talk like a courtier rather than like a bishop.’ Then cursing the king, he declared that resistance must be offered, and even by force, if the law should be powerless. ‘We must bethink ourselves,’ he said, ‘of the oath which we took at our consecration. Let us act with a vigor truly episcopal. It is better that we should lose court favor by our courage than gain it by our feebleness!’ Those present then exclaimed, ‘We swear to defend the privileges of the clergy, and to extirpate heresy.’ This oath was not sufficient. The energetic bishop of Linkoping demanded that an engagement should be made in writing; and he drew up a declaration, which they all signed. They swore to keep the secret; and lest the document should fall into the hands of the king, they concealed it under a tombstone in the church, and there it was found fifteen years later. This proceeding ended, the conspirators went clandestinely out of the church as they had gone in, and made preparation for the Reichstag.
But Brask had something else to do beforehand. He wished to come to an understanding with his friend Thure Joensson, marshal of the kingdom, the highest dignitary in the land after the king, and a devoted partisan of Rome. This person had little to boast of except his honors. Full of vanity, proud of his birth and of his rank, he was weak and without resources. The bishop of Linkoping related to him what had just occurred. The marshal, full of vainglory, felt highly flattered at finding himself head of a party opposed to the king, and agreed to all the proposals which Brask made to him for saving the Roman priesthood. The head of the clergy and the head of the nobility, finding themselves thus in agreement, thought it possible to carry the States with them and to destroy Reform. While the marshal, delighted with his own importance, assumed an air of haughtiness, the bishop put forth all his energy in endeavoring to gain over to his cause the nobles and the peasants.
The Diet Of 1527.
The Diet met in the great hall of the Dominican monastery. Every one was in suspense as to what was about to take place; the Assembly appeared uneasy; a heavy weight pressed on all hearts; the air was dull and thick. The chancellor, Lawrence Anderson, addressed the meeting for the purpose of making a report on the state of the kingdom. ‘Our fortresses,’ said he, ‘are dismantled, our ports vacant, our arsenals destitute of stores. The government of Christian II. has been fatal to Sweden. The members of the Diet have been massacred, our towns have been pillaged, and the land is reduced to a state of the most frightful misery. For seven years the king, and he alone, has been endeavoring to restore to our country its prosperity and its glory. But instead of recognition and co-operation he finds nothing but discontent and ingratitude; the people have even broken out in open revolt. How is it possible to govern a people who, as soon as the king speaks of suppressing any abuses, arm themselves with axes? a nation in which the bishops are instigators of revolt, and openly say that they have received from their pope a sharp sword, and that they will know how to handle in battle other arms than their wax candles?[[445]] People complain of the taxes; but are not these entirely applied to the service of the nation? They complain of the dearness of provisions; but has the king control over the weather and the seasons? They say that the prince is a heretic; but is not this what priests assert of all kings who do not blindly submit to their desire? If a government is to exist at all, the means of maintaining it must be provided. The revenue of the State is now 24,000 marks per annum, and its expenditure is 60,000 marks. The crown and the nobility possess hardly a third of the wealth of the clergy. You are aware that the wealth of the church has been taken from the royal treasury, and that almost all the nobles have been reduced to poverty by the greed of the ecclesiastics. You are aware that the townsmen are incessantly plagued by excessive demands on behalf of pretended religious foundations, which have nothing religious about them and tend only to ruin the State. Some remedy must be applied to the evils brought upon us by greedy men who take possession of the fruits of our toil that they may give themselves up to their own pleasures.[[446]] The fortresses of the prelates, which form places of refuge for seditious men must be restored to the State; and the wealth with which ecclesiastics are glutted, instead of being devoted to their pleasures, must be applied to the promotion of the general weal.’
Suppression Of Abuses.
The reform of religion thus led to the reform of morals, and in the suppression of error was involved the suppression of abuses. If the work had at this time been accomplished throughout Europe, Christendom would have gained three centuries, and its transformation, instead of being wrought in an age of laxity and decay, would have been accomplished under the inspiring breath of faith and morality. The chancellor, conscious of the importance of the crisis, and perceiving the dangers to which Sweden would be exposed if the Diet should reject his claims, had spoken with some agitation of mind.[[447]] He was silent; and the king then turned to the marshal of the kingdom, as if to ask his opinion. The feeble Thure Joensson was very reluctant to speak, and would much rather leave the energetic Brask to break the ice. He therefore turned to this prelate and made a sign to him to address the meeting. The latter did not take much pressing to speak. ‘We will defend the Catholic religion,’ he said, ‘to our last breath; we will maintain the rights, the privileges, and the possessions of the Church, and we will make no concessions without a peremptory decree of the pope of Rome, whose authority alone we recognize in matters of this kind.’
Abdication Of Gustavus.