Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Gustavus Vasa. The Reformation. A.D. 1524—1543
<< 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.
1543.] Plot of the
West-Gothic barons. GUSTAVUS VASA. THE REFORMATION.
point." In this settlement the mediators are
placed on a parallel with the authorities, for it is
stated that " the good men of Upland and
East-Gothland likewise, who have interceded for the
disturbers, shall have power to mulct of goods and
life every man who after this day by word or deed
shall stir up any disorders against the king." So
this sedition was quelled. Joran Thur^son, the
dean, who had attempted to raise the Helsingers, was
at last seized by them and delivered to the king,
who was satisfied with dismissing him from his
office3. His father, the old high steward, with
bishop Magnus, fled across the border to Denmark.
Seven barons, who all style themselves councillors
of state in West-Gothland 4, had plotted with the
rebel leaders at Larfs Heath, before the resolution
of the yeomanry was known, to change the
government of Sweden, and had renounced fealty and
obedience to king Gustavus. Their letter was not
sent, and assurances were afterwards given them
by the priest, master Nils of Hwalstad, that all the
documents by which their participation in the
revolt might be proved should be committed to the
flames. Deeming that the king did not know, or
would not see their guilt, (they had even during
the troubles received letters from him graciously
expressed,) the three chief of them,—Magnus
Brynteson (Liliehok), a youth of amiable
character, whom the conspirators, it was said, had
fixed upon to be king, Nils Olson (Winge), and
Thure Ericson (Bielke)—ventured to lay the whole
blame of this transaction on Thure Jenson and the
bishop, and to offer themselves to the judgment of
the council and the estates at the diet, now
convoked in Strengness. Here Gustavus vindicated
himself at length from the accusations brought
against him, and caused a defence of the Recess of
Westeras, composed by Lawrence Peterson, to be
made public. On the trial5 it was declared, that
the arraigned lords had forfeited all claim to be
included in the warrant of peace granted by the
king, or to obtain a pardon; the rather, that
although thrice called upon by him to acknowledge
their guilt and sue for grace, they had refused
to comply. They were therefore, in accordance
with the tenor of their own letters, now produced
against them, condemned to death ; and the
sentence was executed on the two first-named. The
pardon of the third was granted to the
supplications of his mother, but he was obliged to pay a
fine of 2000 guilders (£158), and the rest of those
who had borne a leading part in the revolt saw
themselves under the necessity of purchasing the
Debt of Lubeck.
Bell sedition.
king’s good will afterwards with money and costly
presents.
The debt to Lubeck was still unpaid. From an
account adjusted in 152!) by the king’s
brother-in-law, the count of Hoya, with the authorities of the
town, it is plain that the capital had not been
diminished6 since the year 1523, notwithstanding
the tax levied for its discharge, and this
circumstance was one cause of the general discontent
which prevailed. An agreement had now indeed
been concluded, by which the privileges granted in
1523 were to be confined to Lubeck, the town
consenting that the debt should be paid by
instalments within four years; but even this engagement
rendered necessary the employment of
extraordinary means. Imitating an example which had
already been set in Denmark7, a baronial diet held
at Upsala in the early part of the year 1530
resolved, that from all the town churches of the
kingdom one bell should be taken towards the cancelling
of this debt. The municipalities acceded to this
measure, and in the following year the same
requisition was extended to the rural churches, the bells
being redeemable with money, at the option of the
parishes. Agents specially commissioned by the
council settled the conditions of arrangement with
the commonalty of the various districts; engaging
on the king’s side, that what was thus collected
should be applied only to the object specified, and
that the expenditure of-the sum should be accounted
for by persons thereto appointed. The tithes for the
year were besides exacted, with all of the money
and plate still remaining in the church-coffers
that could be spared. In this way the debt of
Lubeck was entirely paid off; but its discharge cost
the king a new insurrection. The Dalecarlians once
more rose, took back their bells, which they had
already delivered up, and despatched letters
throughout the kingdom, in which they invoked the
remembrance of the ancient confederation, requesting that
twelve men of condition from every hundred might
assemble in a general diet at Arboga on St. Eric’s
day (the 18th of May), 1531, in order to deliberate
and come to a decision upon certain affairs of the
commons, which concerned the interests of all men,
more especially respecting the dissensions in the
Christian church. The peasants in Gestricland, in
a part of Westmanland and in Nerike, likewise
resumed possession of their bells. At a meeting held
by the barrows of old Upsala, the king with
difficulty appeased the discontent of the Uplanders ;
subsequently he employed their chiefs, with the
3 His brothers John and Lars, both councillors of state,
had remained true to the king.
4 These were Nils Olson, Thure Ericson, Magnus
Brynteson, Axel Posse, Thord Bonde, Nils Clauson, and Matts
Kafle. See the letter of the councillors of state in
West-Gothland to the Smalanders, April 17, 1529. Reg. of the
Archives. The two last were not councillors. It is hence
clear that Matts Kafle, whom Celsius and others represent
as active against the insurgents, was one of the conspirators.
5 The king himself appeared against these barons (as
formerly against Master Canute and Peder Sunnanvaeder) in the
character of prosecutor, and in the proceedings of this diet
generally he stood in the relation of a party. Hence Tegel
says, " King Gustavus rendered himself to trial before the
lords of the council and the nobles, the burgesses of the
trading towns, the miners and the yeomanry, who were
assembled in Strengness, for all matters, articles, and points
which had bsen dishonestly invented and charged upon his
royal majesty, as also for the answers which his majesty had
given thereon. Upon which the estates of the realm, after
due examination, declared that the king’s majesty, with his
well-grounded answers, had cleared himself beyond cavil of
all the matters of the imputations." As the Recess of
Westeras had been the occasion of the revolt, this was now also
expressly confirmed.
6 Compare Tegel, i. 220. The king was dissatisfied with
the count’s reckoning, and maintained that he was entitled
to various deductions from the sum.
1 A letter of Canute Nilson, secretary to Christian II.,
dated Schwerin, November 28, 1528, informs his master
that a burdensome tax had been imposed in Denmark and
Holstein : " they have taken the bells from the churches and
carried them to the castle; where there are three they take
two, where there are two, one." The firm of Fugger, it is
said, bought them. It is added that " the barons were stiffly
insisting on taking back their estates from the churches and
convents." Archives of Christian II.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
