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FORTIA’S TRAVELS IN SWEDEN. 433
to a propofal of which nature the States had the bafenefs to give their approbation *.
John contented himfelf with ceding to his brother Charles three provinces, as prefcribed
by his father’s will, but exaéted from the inhabitants an acknowledgement of him as
the only fovereign of Sweden.
‘Lhis prince was almoft continually at war ‘with the Danes and Mufcovites, with vari-
ous fuccefs. ‘The following incident is highly worthy of relation. In/1573, fix hun-
dred horfe and a hundred. foot belonging to the Swedes under the command of General
Ackefon, being abandoned by the Livonians their allies near Revel, defended themfelves
fo vigoroufly againft fixteen thoufand Mutcovites by whom they were furrounded, that
they killed feven thoufand of them and put the others to flight, making booty of their
baggage. John, up to 1583, the period of the death of Catherine Jagellon, daughter
of SigifmundI., afiiiwouly attempted at different times to re-eftablifh the Roman Catho-
lic religion, but never with fuccefs ; he even reforted to violent meafures, fuch as rarely
indeed avail in matters of faith. His fon Sigifmund, Prince Royal of Sweden, obtained
by the credit of Anne, Queen dowager of Poland, the fifter of his mother, the crown of
that kingdom in-1587. Religious difputes ftill continued : Duke Charles being fteadily
attached to the creed of Augfbourg, the eftablifhed faith of the nation, a great coolnefs
between the two brothers arofe in confequence ; but in 1589 they were reconciled, and
the fucceeding year Duke Charles was nominated Governor of all Sweden.
John died in 1592: he was an ordinary character, deititute of great vices as well as
of any fplendid virtues. ‘The death of his brother Eric will be an immortal ftain on his
memory ; the welfare of the ftate muft in vain be pleaded in excufe for fratricide, the
more fo from the ufage in fimilar cafes of confounding the welfare of the individual
with that of the ftate. His fecret cabals to promote the Roman faith, did injury to the
worfhip he fought to eftablifh, and the afcendancy over him which he fuffered his firtt
wife to aflume, does no credit’ either to his firmnefs or his character: the {way of woman
. is mild, but unlefs it infpire to glory and virtue, Kings fhould refift it in common with
all men.
-
SIGISMUND.
Sigifmund, King of Poland, by the death of his father inherited the throne of Sweden:
he delayed repairing to his new kingdom for fome time: Duke Charles his uncle, who
acted in the interim as adminiftrator of the kingdom, applied himfelf feduloufly to root-
ing up all traces of the Catholic religion. Sigifmund, on his arrival in Sweden, endea-
voured to re-eftablifh it, but met with {trong oppofition: he remained but a fhort time
in this kingdom, his uncle Charles being named by the Senate adminiftrator in his ab-
fence. The Duke, defirous of rendering himfelf popular, difmiffed all fuch from their
. employments as profeffed the Roman faith ; among the reft Eric Brahé, Governor of
the caltle of Stockholm. In 1595, notwithftanding the King’s prohibition, the Duke
convoked the States. At their feffions it was again decreed that the creed of Augf-
bourg fhouldbe the only religion tolerated in the country; that the Romih priefts fhould
quit the kingdom within fix weeks, that Catholics fhould not be allowed to make open
profeffion of their religion, and be deemed incapable of holding any appointment. More-
over the Duke, in conjunction with the Senate, was appointed Governor of Sweden.
In 1597, Sigifmund, jealous of a meafure which tended to deprive him of all authority,
found means to difturb the harmony fubfifting between his uncle and the Senate, parties
* Among the iaatrate of His Majefty at Drottningholm, the original approval of the States is to be
feen.
392 were
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