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5- THE RIKSDAG OF VESTERAS (1527). 197
difficult times, and if Clement VII. had been a more politic
man he might well have waived his claim now (p . 1
59 n . 1 1
)
.
Besides the four bishops, there were present four pre
bendaries, fifteen lords of the council, 129 nobles, thirty-
two burgesses, fourteen miners and 125 peasants from
nearly all parts of the kingdom. Only two or three came
from the southern part of Dalarne, which was generally in
a state of sullen revolt (S. H.2
, ii. 91). Deputies do not
appear to have been summoned from Finland. The king
gave a sort of warning to the bishops of the change which
was imminent by seating them, at the opening banquet,
below the councillors and the principal temporal nobles,
instead of next to himself, as had previously been the cus
tom, even when administrators ruled the kingdom (Anjou :
195). Before the public meeting of the Riksdag the
bishops held a private conclave in the Church of St. Giles,
at which, on Brask s proposal, they passed an anticipatory
protest against any invasion of the rights of the Church,
which they concealed under the floor, where it was found
fifteen years later.
No detailed contemporary account of the Riksdag exists ;
and, although the description of it by Peter Svart, the
king s historiographer, is peculiarly vivid and interesting,
it was not composed till some thirty years after the event.
The king s opening address was read by his chancellor,
Laurentius Andreas,
8
who was, of course, known to be a
strong ally of the reformers. It is an able and striking-
document, which you will do well to study in the pages of
Geijer or Anjou, if not in the original Swedish. I wish
that I had time in this lecture to summarize it for you. It
was particularly strong in denouncing the oppression of
the papacy in money matters, the insolence of the bishops,
and the excessive wealth of the priests and monks, convents
and churches. The king requested the advice of the
estates as to those who did not use their revenues for the
good of the commonalty, and laid stress upon the needs of
8
There is a fair account of this man s.v. Anderson, by
Michelsen, in P. 7?. E. 2
, which is not reprinted in P, R, E, s
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