and the Hanse Towns, who were in their different measures interested in, and anxious for, his detention. All the ingenuity therefore which could be mustered to get rid of the inconvenient treaty was brought into play. Some thought indeed that faith ought to be kept, but the more palatable suggestions-that, since the treaty had not been sealed with the King's seal, and had been signed after the full powers conferred upon Gyldenstjern had been revoked, it was not binding-preponderated. If any doubt still remained, Gyldenstjern dispersed it by stating that Christian could not expect the conditions of the treaty to be observed in his favour, since he had violated it himself, by sending to the Emperor the act wherein the Norwegian bishops and magnates acknowledged him as King, and his son as his rightful heir and suc cessor. With such pretexts were the pleas of justice stifled, and it was determined to send the prisoner to the castle of Sönderborg in Holstein. After he had been five days at Copenhagen, four of the State-Council came on board his ship and informed him that the King was at Flensborg, and that they had orders to accompany him thither. The fleet got under weigh, but when, instead of sailing up Flensborg Firth, he perceived that his vessel was steered for Sönderborg, the last gleam of hope vanished, and the miserable man bewailed with bitter tears the snare into which he had fallen. At first he was imprisoned in the blue tower of that fortress, with a little dwarf, СНАР. Х. FREDERIC VIOLATES THE TREATY. 197 whom he had captured in Norway, and four young noblemen for his attendants; but, upon some attempt to communicate with his relations in Germany, he was removed to a dungeon on the eastern tower, where one small window served rather to show the gloom than to give light, where provisions and fuel were conveyed to him through a hole in the wall, and where the dwarf was now his only companion. To the darkness of this gloomy prison the eyes of the wretched prince became at length so accustomed, that he would sometimes while away the time by drawing on the walls; and, by marks on a marble table which stood in the middle of the apartment, he kept a register of the circuits round it, which made up his daily exercise.' Dreadful as such a captivity must have been even to one who could support it with a good man's hope and a martyr's constancy, what must it have been to such a man as Christian, with a conscience so stained with perjury, treachery, and blood? Yet for twelve years it continued with unmitigated rigour: the only change was in the companion of his captivity. After some time the poor dwarf feigned sickness, and was liberated. His place was supplied by an old soldier, to whom Christian became much attached, and whose loss added one more bitter ingredient to the full cup of his misery. In 1544 his imprisonment was, by a treaty with the Emperor, so far relaxed that he was A drawing of Copenhagen castle was found upon the walls of his dungeon. permitted to go into the town, and now and then to shoot, and in 1549 he was removed to Callundborg castle, where eight noblemen and eighty other attendants composed at once his household and his guard. An attempt to elude these deprived him of the privilege of shooting, which he had before enjoyed; in other respects the indulgences granted him remained unaltered. Christian the Third treated him kindly, sent him money to dispense among the poor, and condescended to excuse himself for not providing him with foreign ale, which was then a favourite beverage. When Christian learnt the death of his benefactor, who died on New Year's Day, 1559, he was deeply affected. The new King sent from Kolding on the 15th January an order that he should not leave the castle; but the order had scarcely reached its destination before the prisoner was released by death from his long, unjust, and yet richly-merited captivity. He died on the 24th of January, in the 78th year of his age; his body was conveyed to Odensee and buried in the church of the Franciscans by the side of his father. The abilities of this prince have been extolled, perhaps with reason, but in the storm of his tumultuous passions they had little opportunity for steady exercise, and, with such a temperament as his, were powerful chiefly for mischief. He has been described as one whose vast conceptions were in advance of his age. It would have been more reasonable to repre1 Behrman, preface. 1 CHAP. X. CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN. 199 sent him as one whose plans were ever bounded by shifting and short-sighted views of his own interest. It is not easy to believe that the zeal for the commons, pretended by the author of the Bloodbath, proceeded from an enlightened humanity and hatred of oppression, nor that his patriotism was more genuine than his religion, which was Catholic or Protestant just as it served his turn. To exalt such a monster into a sort of humanito-political martyr is a treason to the great names who, to benefit their fellow-creatures, have become the victims of bigotry and ignorance. Let it be conceded that he was not altogether detestable; let it be admitted that, as there is, they say, heat in the coldest bodies, so there were in him some sparks of remorse and tenderness to vindicate his claim to our common nature; yet the most compassionate must acknowledge the righteousness of the fate which provokes their pity, and see in that fate the hand of an Almighty God turning even the injustice of man into the instrument of his just retribution." 1 One Cypræus pictured Christian as a saint in his 'History of the Church of Slesvick.'-Holberg, vol. ii. p. 162. 2 He was subject, during his captivity, to hereditary fits of depression, and these towards the end of his life, from the intemperate use of Italian wine, amounted to melancholy madness.-Ibid., vol. ii. p. 378. Marriage of Gustavus -- CHAPTER XI. His determination to humble the Dalesmen nate Gustavus Condemnation of Olaus Petri and Lars Anderson for not revealing the plot. THE marriage of Gustavus with the Princess Catherine of Saxony having been determined on, that the ceremony might be performed by the highest dignitary of the Swedish Church, the prelates and most distinguished of the clergy assembled in Stockholm at Midsummer, 1531, to elect an Archbishop. There were four candidates, of whom the most celebrated were Laurentius Petri and Lars Anderson. The former, who was elected by a great plurality of votes, officiated at the marriage, which took place the Sunday before Michaelmas. The bride received for her dower the castle, town, and adjacent territory of Calmar, the castle of Bornholm, and Öland.1 It was a natural and graceful act on the part of the young Queen to plead for those who had incurred the King's displeasure, and she interposed her good Tegel, 1531. |