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Invasion of
Norway.
announces, that this retreat had concluded with a
victory gained through the valour of a regiment
" which he had himself taught and disciplined;"
herein true to the maxim which we find in his
instructions, that, when the king’s army has sustained
any defeat, the rumour thereof should be hushed
up and extinguished, but that victories over the
enemy should be forthwith made known, as also
that which men would gladly see befall, " yet so, as
it might seem somewhat like."
At the same time Jemteland and Herjedale were
occupied and preparations made for an incursion
into Norway, where Canute Ilaraldson Soop
was presently named lieutenant, with orders 3, when
the Norwegians should have sworn fidelity to the
king, to seize some of the principal men as
hostages and send them to Sweden, to fortify some
places in the country, to take order regarding
religion, to administer justice according to the law of
Sweden, and to drive " the Jute-party" out of the
territory. The lieutenant chosen fell into disgrace,
and the attack on Upper Norway was entrusted to
a young Frenchman, Claude Collart, a favourite of
the king, who actually made himself master of
Trondhem. " Thereupon almost the whole diocese
of Trondhem joined him in the behoof of king
Eric," says a contemporary account ; " but
when he had gained this victory, he began to be
puffed up, and to addict himself to a dissolute life,
taking a comely married dame who dwelt in the
town of Trondhem from her lawful husband,
bringing her into the castle and keeping her as his
concubine. He had often feasts and revels, and gave the
Swedish folk leave to travel to Sweden, hardening
himself thus in his arrogance until the king of
Denmark sent a body of troops which took him
captive *." To avenge this loss, king Eric sent
Matthew Tijrne to Norway in the autumn of 1564,
who there ravaged and wasted with fire forty
parishes. In the ensuing year Maurice Stake
adopted a like course in the diocese of Aggerhus.
When in 1567 a Norwegian deserter assured the
king, that Norway might easily be reduced to
obedience, the invasion was renewed. Eric drew
up proclamations, of which one that remains is
addressed to the inhabitants of Iceland. A great
portion of Norway was devastated, the towns of
Hammer and Opslo were burned ; whoever paid
homage to the crown of Sweden, might purchase a
letter of protection from the military commander
John Siggeson, and there were many who took
advantage of this step, but their fidelity was
accordingly 5. By the sieges of Bohus and Elfsborg nothing
was effected ; and the king so often changed the
leaders who managed them, that at last no one
dared to undertake the commission, especially as
it was his custom to address to the soldiery
complaints of their officers.
But for him who would learn the whole character
of Eric in war, there is yet one leaf of his history
to be turned over. We borrow its purport from
his own words in a letter to the collective people
of Sweden upon the success and victory of his
majesty6, dated Calmar, September 15th, 1564.
He begins by mentioning the. exaggerated reports
which had been in circulation respecting the attack
Eric’s account of the
military occurrences.
of the Danes ; how they were said to have opened
for themselves a way over the frontiers of Sweden,
broad enough for fifteen men abreast. Therefore
the king had himself gone down thither, but had
found sickness and dissension in the fleet, and
Oeland harried by the Danes. After the change
of commander (Clas Christerson Horn was made
admiral), a fortunate sea-action had been fought, in
which three ships of the enemy were taken, and
six sunk. Thereupon the king had sent forward
Aco Bennetson Farla, and himself followed with
his whole force towards Bleking, where the peasants
had shown themselves so incensed, that they had
hanged upon the trees, in their harness and arms,
the Swedish soldiers and horsemen who straggled
behind ; wherefore the king had given orders
that all between Lyckeby and Rottneby should be
wasted with fire and sword ; therewith God had
caused him to have such good fortune, that about
a thousand men were cut down in the roads and
forests. Then had the peasants prayed for pardon,
promised fidelity and assistance, and given hostages.
After the castle of Lyckeby was surrendered, Charles
Holgerson Gere was appointed captain there ; but
the king with the rest of his generals had come
before the town of Rottneby, where the garrison
and burghers being summoned, had replied by
insults and mockery, and bidden him march to
Halm-stad, where he had shown his bravery before ; on
which account he had afterwards not been willing
to accept their conditions, but had summoned
them to surrender at his mercy. The soldiery had
offered to storm the town, and the companies which
were to lead were fixed by lot. In the outset
matters had gone unprosperously, how much soever the
king had exhorted and called ; until at length
Gud-mund Olson with his band climbed the wall, and
the others followed after. Then fell out " a
terrible massacre, so that the water in the stream was
red like blood." The foes were so dispirited, that
they were cut down like a drove of wild swine.
Not one had been spared ; and in the town more
than two thousand men had perished, without
counting the heaps of women and children whom
the Finns, entering last, had slaughtered. Thus
had the crew of Rottneby received their
reward for all the treason which they had practised
against the realm of Sweden since the Dacke feud.
Larger booty had never been captured in the king’s
days, and much too had been burned with the town.
Thereupon the king had marched as far as
Solfwitsborg, which the enemy themselves had set in
flames, while lord Charles Mornay had burned
down all between the frontier and Solfwitsborg, so
that all the land betwixt was now wasted with fire,
harried, and desolate, and we ourselves on our
retreat— thus the king closes his
narration—despatched divers troops of soldiers on both sides,
where we marched through, to burn and plunder.
For the commanders whom he left behind the king
drew up the following instructions : " Concerning
the common people who are still left alive in
Bleking, it is his majesty’s will that all, as well of the
islands as of the mainland, from the Swedish border
to Solfwitsborg, shall be convened, under the
pretext that they are to swear the oath of fidelity, and
history of the swedes.
3 Instruction of May 4. Reg. for 1564.
* Actions of king Eric, by his chaplain D. Magnus Stig-
tonitensis. Palmskold MSS.
5 "The Swedish general in this incursion was the first in
the north who gave letters of safety." Sulnn.
6 Registry of the Aichives of State for this year.
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