Eric was at first held imprisoned in his own apartments at the royal castle, but was transferred to two of the vaults, called the “apartments of Lord Eskil.” They had served as a treasury during the reign of Gustavus I., but now stood empty. Queen Carin and her children were his company. After an unsuccessful attempt at flight, one room was taken away from him and the windows in the remaining one reduced in size. The table of the royal prisoner was well provided for, but he was unmercifully treated by his warders. The cruel Olof Stenbock once deprived him of all his clothes. In a struggle which followed, he shot Eric in the arm and let him remain senseless in his blood for several hours. Some of the members of the former body-guard of Eric once attempted, but in vain, to set free the unhappy prisoner. In 1569 Eric was removed to Abo in Finland, where he was locked up in a secure prison. Two years later he was taken to Castellholm, in the archipelago of Aland, for fear that the Russian czar would liberate him by violence. Shortly afterward he was removed to the lovely castle of Gripsholm, where he had spent some of the happiest days of his youth, and where he once upon a time held his brother John imprisoned. At Gripsholm there is a gloomy dungeon which is said to have served as the prison of King Eric, but this is not authentic. Eric was treated comparatively well while at Gripsholm, enjoying the company of his family, a good table and plenty of servants. The recording books of the castle from this period speak of “the court of King Eric.” King John was, in the meantime, irritated by Russian hostilities and intrigues, the old supporters of Eric joining in the latter. The appeals of Duke Charles for the improvement of the condition of his poor imprisoned brother roused the suspicion of the king, who fostered dark plots against the prisoner. Eric was removed from Gripsholm and its pleasant associations, separated from his family and put in hard prison at Westeros. The warders received instructions to take his life if necessary. The state council and the archbishop sanctioned this order of the king. The last prison of the unhappy King Eric was Œrbyhus, where he suddenly died, exactly at a time when King John’s fears of a revolt had reached a climax. Rumors that Eric had been poisoned were current, and Duke Charles also gave utterance of his belief that such was the case. In spite of the wars, cruelty and evil deeds of King Eric XIV., the Swedish people of his time had a good deal of devotion for him and his faithful consort. The country enjoyed good years during his reign and profited by the wise measures of his father.
Gustavus, the son of Eric XIV. and Carin Monsdotter, was born, in 1568, at Nykœping. When Queen Carin was separated from her imprisoned consort, her children, Gustavus and Sigrid, followed her to Finland, where she resided at Abo. In 1575 the young prince was harshly taken away from his mother, at the command of the state council, and sent to Prussia. The jealous and uneasy King John made him the subject of cruel persecutions. In spite of these he received a fine education, and is known to have embraced the Catholic religion. He was kindly received by King Sigismund of Poland, his cousin, at whose coronation in Cracow he is said to have been present, in the disguise of a beggar. A relation of intimate friendship existed between the outlawed prince and Emperor Rudolph of Austria, both of whom were devoted to the study of alchemy. King John refused to listen to the appeals for grace and support which Gustavus repeatedly made to him. Gustavus was not allowed to see his mother until the year of 1596, when the two had a touching meeting at Reval. He later made his home in Thorn, but left for Russia, in 1600, upon an invitation from Czar Boris. He was received in Moscow as a reigning prince; but when he refused to appear as a pretender to the Swedish throne, he was imprisoned. At the fall of Boris, Gustavus was set free, but again put in prison by Dimitri. At the fall of the latter, in 1607, Gustavus once more regained his liberty, but died in Casijn, in the same year. This unhappy Gustavus Ericsson Vasa was a man of fine erudition and pure morals. He was a dreamer and of a sensitive disposition, being an ardent Catholic and fondly devoted to the country which had outlawed him.
Sigrid Vasa, the daughter of Eric XIV., was twice married to members of the Swedish nobility. Ake Henricsson Tott, her son of the first marriage, was a distinguished warrior in the times of Gustavus II. Adolphus. Queen Carin died, in 1612, beloved and highly respected, at the beautiful estate of Liuksiala in Finland, given her in fief by King John.
John III. succeeded Eric, without sharing his power with his younger brother Charles, as he had promised. John was as learned and highly talented as Eric, and as vain, restless and unreliable. But while Eric was a mystic and a sceptic by turns, John was a Catholic, or leaning toward Catholicism, and a hypocrite who, under the pretence of meekness and piety, tried to hide his vanity, bad temper and utter selfishness. Like Gustavus I. and all his other sons, John was devoted to the fine arts, particularly to architecture, with an ardor that reached the vehemence of a passion. He planned a vast number of churches and castles, which he completed, utterly regardless of cost. The Swedish Castle Renaissance which was established by John and his brothers is influenced by contemporary Flemish art, severe and majestic in outline, graceful and profuse in interior decoration. Good specimens of it were the earlier castles of Stockholm and Svartsjœ, the castle of Vadstena remains so and, to a great extent, the beautiful and memorable castle of Gripsholm.
At his coronation, John issued hereditary privileges to the nobility. Russtjenst became no longer essential. Legal offices were preserved for the nobles, the king’s supreme court being abandoned. John’s policy was to win the support of the aristocracy against Charles, who, indignant and sulky, kept within his duchy, consisting of the provinces of Sœdermanland and Vermland, with the town of Œrebro in addition.
In 1570, an unsatisfactory peace was made with Denmark, Sweden ceding all the Norwegian and Danish territory in her possession, together with the island of Gothland, and agreeing to pay something like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the return of Elfsborg, held by the Danes. A friendly relation to hostile Poland commenced with John’s reign, but a long and bloody war with Russia began in 1570. The Russians tried repeatedly, but in vain, to capture Reval, plundering and killing the population of Esthonia, who remained faithful to Swedish rule. Henric Horn and Clas Tott won laurels for their heroic deeds, while the war was changed into more modern methods and to a successful issue by the Swedish general Pontus de la Gardie, who captured the provinces Keksholm and Ingermanland and the town of Narva.
John III. had set two goals for his ambition: to return the Swedish church to Catholicism and to make his son Sigismund king of Poland. The latter he reached at the death of King Stephan in 1589, Sigismund succeeding him upon the throne. The former ambition John never attained, after years of stubborn and unreasonable perseverance giving up this pet idea. John made some attempts to bring order in the confused conditions of the church, but left it in a worse state of confusion than he found it. The crown and the aristocracy had deprived the church of nearly all its property and withheld its income from it. Archbishop Laurentius Petri complained of the miserable state of things, the ministers often being useless wretches and the service in some churches impossible to uphold for sheer lack of money. In 1572 the ecclesiastical matters were arranged at a meeting in Upsala, when a new church law was introduced, demanding higher qualifications for the ministers, who were to be elected by their congregations, and enforcing a school law. Laurentius Petri died in 1573 and was succeeded by Laurentius Petri Gothus. The new archbishop willingly subscribed to a set of rules, laid before him by the king, which reintroduced monasteries, worship of saints and the ceremonies of the Roman church. Jesuits were invited to the country, but met with little encouragement from the people. The very climax of John’s reactionary movements was formed by the introduction of his ritual, Liturgia, which was nothing else than an adaptation of the Catholic ritual. It was accepted by the Riksdag of 1577, but Charles refused to accept it for his duchy. The king had many conflicts with his brother, the latter always giving in to his wishes, except on this point. Ministers and university professors who refused to conform to the new ritual, or attacked it, were sheltered by the duke and, in many instances, given high offices. The king grew angry, but the duke remained firm and unyielding. When Queen Catherine died, in 1583, John’s Catholic fervor suffered a relapse, and ceased altogether after his marriage to young Protestant Gunilla Bielke, in the following year. He stubbornly stuck to his Liturgia for some time yet, but exiled the Jesuits, and dismissed with contumely ministers who had joined the Roman Church. During the last years of his reign, he said it was best to leave everybody a free choice in religious matters, regretting his Liturgia—which he once considered the gem of his own theological system—because it had caused so much trouble and confusion.
Sweden suffered a great deal through the slack and unsteady government of King John. He spent unreasonable sums on his court and his craze for architectural marvels, while always short of funds for the necessities of war and internal improvements. Commerce and industries suffered and were brought to a standstill by dearth, hunger and pest. The population decreased; the towns were made bankrupt and many farms abandoned. Bad and greedy officials and the recommencing war with Russia increased the evils. After unsuccessful attempts to have his son leave Poland, where he had met with many difficulties, John entered into more intimate relations with his brother, who came to wield a beneficial influence on the government. John III. died 1592, malcontent and tired of life, his death being little regretted by the people.
One of the most famous love episodes of Sweden dates from the reign of John III. It has no bearing upon the affairs of state, but is not devoid of value as an illustration of the history of civilization, giving us a glimpse of the private life of the nobles of that period and the standard of morals of their lives. The episode is told by Countess Anne Banér in a manuscript by her hand with the title: “In the following manner my blessed mother’s sister, Lady Sigrid Sture, lady of Salestad and Geddeholm, related what took place when Lord Eric Gustafson Stenbock carried away our blessed mother’s sister, Magdalen Sture, from Hœrningsholm.”