Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. Reigns of the Sons of Gustavus Vasa, 1560–1611 - B. Reign of John III, 1568–1592
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John HI 133
society was given a military organization. Unquestion-
ing obedience to orders of superiors was the chief duty
of all members. One of their leading doctrines was that
the end justifies the means. Any act was permissible
if it only had a good end in view. The murder of Prot-
estant princes, for instance, was a pious act as it was
supposed to further the cause of the Church. Thus were
men’s minds and consciences perverted. Jesuit monks
sought admission at the court of kings and princes as
councilors and as teachers and preachers.
With such weapons the Roman Church entered upon
a life-and-death struggle against the Protestants. The
results were soon seen. In France, during the time of
Eric’s reign, fierce religious wars broke out, which
culminated in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day,
1572. During the festivities of a royal marriage at the
court in Paris, the Catholic party planned and carried
out a massacre of the Protestants in the city. Similar
massacres occurred in various parts of the country. It
is estimated that at least 20,000 Protestants were vic-
tims of these massacres.*
The victims of the Inquisition are numbered by un-
told thousands, especially in Spain and her dependency,
the Netherlands. In Spain Protestantism was thus com-
pletely rooted out. In the Netherlands the Protestants
were driven to a desperate fight for freedom, which
finally resulted in the establishment of the Protestant
Netherlands (the Dutch Republic) .
John, like his father, was a lover of the beautiful
* It should be said, however, that the motives for the massacres were no
less political than religious.
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