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s- THE STURES AND THE DANISH KINGS. 165
before Luther burnt the papal bulls of indulgence at
Wittenberg.
A second invasion by Christian in the next year was re
pelled at the Battle of Brannkyrka, in which the adminis
trator s banner was carried by the young Gustaf Ericsson
Vasa, the future liberator of Sweden. Christian, however,
still negotiated, and, on pretence of corning himself to
Stockholm, required six hostages for his safety. Among
them were sent Gustaf Ericsson, and the old Hemming
Gad. But, when the king had received these hostages, he
declared them his prisoners, and sailed away to Denmark.
This was the political condition of things before the final
and tragic end which took place in 1520.
We must now explain the ecclesiastical situation.
The case of Gustavus Trolle had, of course, been re
ported at Rome, and Leo X. at once prepared measures to
vindicate his ecclesiastical rights. A spiritual court was
appointed to sit in Denmark, and, in the spring of 1517,
Birgerus, Archbishop of Lund, threatened to excommuni
cate Sten and his adherents, and to place Sweden under an
interdict, unless Trolle was restored to his office.
These threats were lightly regarded, and the appearance
of a papal legate in person was dexterously turned by the
national party to its own advantage. This man was
Giovanni Angelo Arcimboldi, son of a Milanese senator,
who had been employed since 1514 by the cultivated but
unspiritual Pope Leo X. as his agent for the sale of in
dulgences in Germany and Northern Europe. This sale
had been begun by Pope Julius II. on the pretext of obtain
ing money for the building of St. Peter s Church, and was
continued by Leo on the same ground. It was permitted
by secular princes because of the large sums which they
received from the pope s agents for allowing it in their
dominions. Needless to say, it corrupted those agents as
well as their dupes, who purchased the worthless pieces of
paper, which assured them all that the Church could give
in the way of pardon for almost all imaginable sins. It is
not necessary to inquire what exact limits Roman theolo-
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