Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
of the reigning king’s favour, who, it must be granted,
showed a imost deplorable want of insight into human
nature, and of firmness and courage during all this plotting,
he had his secret spies and fellow-conspirators at almost
every court of Europe. Already, during 1571-72, he
worked, together with Dancay, the French ambassador at
Copenhagen, at his deep-laid scheme of putting Henri of
Anjou on the throne of Sweden,—a scheme which only
failed because Henri was elected King of Poland.
Having then been baulked, he now, in 1573, tried to
inveigle the newly levied Scottish officers, and to talk them
over into a plot that was to end with his own downfall.
Archibald Ruthven, the other of the chief actors in
the drama, was the son of Patrick Ruthven—so well
known to every reader of Scottish history in connection
with the murder of Rizzio—and Jeanet Douglas. Of his
early life not much is known, except that he was inured to
scenes of terror and plotting. When his brother William
became High Treasurer he was already in Sweden, and is
spoken of as the “ young Colonel ” or as u Archibaldus.”
Gilbert Balfour (or u Baphur ”), another Scottish officer
whose name fills the Swedish minute-books of the famous
trial of conspiracy, was brother to Sir James Balfour
(t 1583) of infamous memory. With him and his other
brother David he had partaken in the plot against
Cardinal Beaton.
Around these three men there are grouped a weak,
vacillating, timid king; the energetic, prudent, diplomatic
Duke Charles, his brother; Scottish officers ; Jean Allard,
King Eric’s gardener and trusted friend, who first gave out
the story of the king’s hidden treasure-trove of five tuns
of gold, which played so important and mysterious a part
in the trial; Pontus de la Gardie, another French
adventurer, incapable General of the Swedish forces, and a
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
