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246 V. THE REFORMATION (A.D. 152015-92).
ward his plans, and tried to force the adoption of his
Liturgy by persecution, imprisonment and banishment.
In 1583 he found a suitable instrument in Andreas
Laurentii Botniensis, Bishop of Vexio, who held the see
for six and a half years, and who did his best by mingling
cajolery with threatening to influence the minds of the
teachers, who were imprisoned for their opposition,
amongst whom were his two successors, Abraham Anger-
mannus and Nicolaus Olai Botniensis. The death of
King John s queen, Catharine, in 1583, and his subsequent
marriage to a young Swedish girl, Gunilla, of the family
of Bielke, weakened his inclination towards Rome. But
King John had allowed his son, the Crown Prince Sigis-
mund, to be educated by his mother in her own faith, in
view of his probable succession to the Crown of Poland,
and he had become a convinced supporter of the old order.
He became King of Poland in 1587, and thus had to de
clare himself a faithful adherent of the Roman Church, and
was obviously preparing to restore its domination in his
native country whenever he should succeed to the crown of
Sweden.
In the meantime the Swedish sees had been filled by new
men who were in favour of the king s plans. But his
brother Charles strenuously supported the clergy of his
dukedom in their opposition, especially those in the diocese
of Strengnas, and there was almost danger of a civil war.
The brothers were reconciled in 1590, and a sort of modus
vivendi was arranged. But when King John died the iyth
November, 1592, it was fairly evident that the work for
which he had laboured so hard and hazarded so much was
doomed to fall to the ground. His death was, in fact, the
prelude to a definitive triumph of Lutheranism by the
adoption of the Augsburg Confession, which seemed to the
great majority of the people the necessary way of proclaim
ing their final revolt from Rome and their resolution not
to permit Calvinism to be taught in the country.
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