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CHAPTER XII.
john and charles.
john acknowledged king. his charter op privileges to the nobility. cessation of thf. war
with denmark. war with the russians in liefland and finland. the crown-prince sigismund
elected king of poland. design of john for the restoration of popery. his ecclesiastical
measures. embassy to rome. intrigues of the jesuits in sweden. disagreements of the king
and duke charles. statutes of calmar. contrast between the administration of the king and
the duke. conference of john and his son sigismund in reval. his death.
a. d. 15g9 —1592.
The two princes had laboured conjointly to
overthrow their brother ; and during the revolt they
required homage to be paid to themselves
conjointly 7. Hence it is credible that, as is expressly
related of them, they had concerted a common
government. Meanwhile John, upon his arrival in
Stockholm, was received by the council as king,
and wrote to his sisters s that " he had now come
into the government of the kingdom of Sweden."
The estates assembled in the beginning of the year
15(i9, and confirmed the choice of the council.
Charles did not conceal his dissatisfaction, and a
renouncement of his claims was considered on this
occasion necessary. On the 24th January the noble
and well-born lords of the council of state demanded
of’duke Charles whether he would consent to lodge
the hereditary right to the crown in the son of his
majesty, duke Sigismund, whereto his princely grace
completely agreed. That very day all the estates
acknowledged John, " to whom they had formerly
done homage, and whom they hail elected to be
now, according to the next succession, their rightful
king
Thus the name of king remained undivided ; not
so the power. As well by his position as his
qualities, Charles (in these his father’s sole heir)
henceforward in fact governed not only his duchy, but
also in great part the kingdom. Such is the
impression which* the public records leave upon every
man who has himself consulted their contents. His
counsels,requested or not, (he begs" that John will,
out of fraternal love, take them in good part,")
pervade them all. Even his disputes with the king
made him only more powerful; and he who follows
this influence, naturally during so many years
augmenting, wonders at last less to see Charles upon
the Swedish throne, than that a throne could have
been maintained near him,
John’s first care was to link to himself the
families whom he had to thank for his crown. The
judgment against the Swedish lords put to death in
Erie’s time was reversed. As among these Steno
Ericson Leyonhufvud, at the arrest of Eric, had
been the last victim, the king raised the widow and
children of his maternal uncle to the rank of
counts. The counties of the houses of Sture and
Brahe were confirmed and augmented. To the
families (Stenbock, Oxenstierna, Fleming, Horn,
and others) who had already received the dignity
of counts from king Eric, were now added those
of Gyllenstierna, Bielke, de la Gardie. The office
of high-steward was revived and confided to count
Peter Brahe. The councillors of state, who were
mostly related to one another and to the king, were
increased to four-and-twenty.
The council, in their assurance of fidelity, refer
to the king’s promise to grant to the nobility " such
privileges," they say, " as we have long wished for
and solicited." In consequence was issued, two
days before the coronation, on the 8th of July,
15Ci), king John’s charter of nobility, which, by the
confirmation of old and the bestowal of new rights,
makes an epoch in the history of the Swedish
nobility.
Among those anciently possessed stands foremost
the right of the nobility to levy the king’s fines
from the peasants on their estates. In the language
of the period of the union this is called, to be king
over one’s own tenantry. In the confirmation by
king Gustavus of the privileges of the councillors
and nobles of 1526", the council receive " all and
every the king’s rents and fines from their peasants
to the full amount, as had been anciently granted
to them by former kings." To the rest of the
nobility the same assurance is given ; yet in general
not without an addition of " after the king’s
pleasure," and excepting those fines which according
to the law fall to the king alone. This is all that
is embraced in the privileges granted to the nobles
by Gustavus I. The right thus appears to have
been regarded as one of the highest importance,
yet the enjoyment of it was hardly general, and we
have seen that the king reserved to himself the
right of taking it away upon trial. The high
amount of the old fines, according to the value of
money in those times, made them, especially in
cases which concerned life and limb, yield a
considerable income. In default of money, pieces of
ground were not seldom given as fines. We know
how greedy of acquisition Gustavus was ; it formed
part of his scheme of policy to become the largest
landed proprietor in Sweden, and we may assume
it as certain that he let slip none of the revenues of
the crown of any importance. John even once
declared that in his father’s time the nobility did
not receive the fines accruing within their fiefs,
which, as he says, amounted well-nigh to a higher
sum than the taxes themselves1. Eric, in the
outset of his reign, did much for the nobility. The
7 III John’s own letters to Charles at this time, it is said
of all the places which had come over, " they have done
homage to your affection, to us, and to the crown of Sweden."
8 Catharine and Cecilia, October S, 1568.
9 Register for 1569. In the February of this year John
still entitled himself king elect, in a letter to Elizabeth of
Enjland. He afterwards laid aside this style.
1 King John’s reply to the Council. Werwing, History
of king Sigismund and king Charles IX. Appendix ii. 53.
m 2
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