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.