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138 A History of Sweden
rogant commons in Sweden. Thus were arrayed the
Duke and the Estates against the King and the Coun-
cil.
In the year 1598 Sigismund came back to Sweden,
now at the head of an army. But at Stangebro, near
Linkoping, the duke and his followers gained a signal
victory over the king, who was compelled by the duke
to deliver up to him the councilmen who had accompa-
nied him from Poland. Sigismund himself returned to
his Polish kingdom and never again saw his native
land.
Sigismund’s Deposition and the Linkoping Massacre.
The following year, at a Riksdag in Stockholm, Sigis-
mund was formally deposed as king of Sweden. In
Poland he kept up a weak reign to the end of his life
in 1632.
At another Riksdag in Linkoping, in 1600, a special
court of justice was appointed to judge the councilmen
whom Sigismund had delivered to Duke Charles. They
were accused of having advised the king to lead a for-
eign army against their country. Some confessed their
guilt and were pardoned. Others could not be induced
to admit that they had done wrong. They claimed to
have obeyed their lawful king. They seemed to have
overlooked the fact that Sigismund had broken his
coronation oath and, hence, had forfeited his claim of
obedience. The accused were condemned to death. Their
wives and children often waited outside the castle gate
when the duke drove out, and on their knees and with
tears begged for mercy for husbands and fathers. But
he drove by, feigning not to see them. The death sen-
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