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1598.]
Pardon of the accused
lords. CHARLES AGAINST SIGISMUND. Ihe duke’s covenant
with the council. 183
while Charles, in struggling with the perils wliicli
menaced his country, was to win supx-eme power.
Gustavus Vasa had founded his structure on the
Reformation. If John had already undermined
this foundation, what was there that might not be
feared from a king who was so devoted to the
Jesuits, that his father at last conjured him, though
vainly, to beware of those fathers,
" who were ac-
customed to keep one foot in the pulpit and the
other in the council-room *." In Rome too not a
little was expected from his zeal. So early as
1587, at the election to the Polish throne, pope
SixtusV. expressed his hope, that Sigismund would
subdue not only the Polish but the Swedish heretics^.
Charles had in fact conducted the government of
Sweden for the last two years. It was natural that
it should remain with him for the pi-esent, since
John had expired without having made any dis-
positions in this respect. By letters of the 24tli
November 1592, which the duke forwarded by his
own servants, Sigismund was informed of the
death of his father, and also that Charles and the
council had assumed the government until the
king’s arrival. The duke solicits his mediation in
the negotiations opened with Russia, and adds,
" As the Poles without doubt will now seek to gain
possession of the Swedish portion of Livonia, we
have written to tlie commanders there to embrace
no Polish offers, ere they have advised us and the
council thereof." He begs Sigismund to take this
in good part. For the conduct of the war no
means were to be found, since neither gold nor
money appeared in the effects left by the deceased
king, of which an inventory should be sent as far
as the duke’s knowledge reached. Thereupon
followed, on the 28th November, summonses to the
deprived councillors to repair to the duke, who,
after some dealing with them, ratified the forgive-
ness which he had a year and a half before
promised to them. They then re-entered upon the
exercise of their offices, and received back their
fiefs. In general Charles set at liberty all who
were confined on account of the liturgy or political
causes’. Meanwhile a letter arrived from Sigis-
mimd, transferring the government of the kingdom
to the duke, until he was himself able to visit his
paternal dominions, and a copy of this letter was
annexed to the proclamation which Charles caused
to be spread throughout the couuti’y. So fivr all
appeared good ;
for even the reconciliation with
the accused lords of the council pleased the king
well. He issued afterwards a public declaration of
their entire innocence *, wherewith the duke, how-
ever, was little content.
Divers signs ere long pointed to what was to
come. Timely information had been secretly for-
warded to the king from Sweden ;
his majesty was
’ Letter to Sigismund, July 3, 1591.
6 So the cardinal Joyeuse writes from Rome to Henry III.
of France. Raumer, Letters for the History of the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries.
^ Messenius.
8
Sigismund’s patent for Hogenskild Bielke, Gustave
Baner, Eric Sparre, Axel Leyonhufvud, Steno Baner, Tliure
Bielke, and the already deceased counts, Peter Brahe and
Clas Akeson Tott, was made out after his arrival in Sweden,
Nov. 2, 1593.
9 From an anonymous German letter in the Latin Regis-
tralure, 1593—98, in the State Archives. It is directed "to
a princely personage, related to the crown of Poland, (pro-
told that he would not so easily arrive at the
succession there. One of the council (the name is
not stated) communicated to him an opinion upon
the means of securing his rights, even in case of
the employment of force being found necessary. It
would be advi.sable to send a number of soldiers,
Cossacks and others, to Livonia, as well as to equip
a fleet at Dantzic, whither the king himself should
repair. In order to win the Poles, he must give
them satisfaction in reference to the frontiers, that
is, by the cession of Estland. At home the council
would not cease to watch over the weal of the
king’s affairs. The duke must be dissuaded from
all oppo.sition by the representations of foreign
powers 9. The party did not stop at words only ;
count Axel Leyonhufvud tried, immediately after
John’s death, to make himself master of the for-
tresses of Elfsborg and GuUberg in the name of
Sigismund. The attempt indeed failed, and its
author was obliged to flee the kingdom ;
but he
carried his accusations against the duke to Poland,
received a letter of warranty from Sigismund,
and afterwards recovered his county in Finland,
which king John had sequestered. Of that pro-
vince Clas Fleming was governor, as well as general
in Livonia. He despatched letters to Sweden con-
veying warnings to the duke, and declared that he
intended to be i-uled only by the king’s commands.
In this he was fortified by the special legation in
Livonia and Finland, which Sigisnumd in the be-
ginning of 1593 committed to John Sparre, brother
of Eric. Fi’om this moment there was a separate
government for these coimtries ’.
The duke on his side entered into a covenant
with the council to conduct the administration
without prejudice to their fealty to Sigismund,
under conjoint responsibility, one for all, and all for
one 2. This mode of sjieaking, w hich henceforth
was used in all the conjoint declarations of the
duke and the estates, Sigismund used to style duke
Charles’ bird-net. That this confederacy might
lead the council further than they wished was soon
shown. The clergy assembled at Stockholm pressed
for the fulfilment by the duke of the promise given
by John in 1590, of a Swedish kirk-raote, for the
adjustment of religious disputes. The Council was
of opinion that only certain of its members should
convene with the clergy to effect this end. The
duke, however, demanded likewise a genei-al diet,
and carried his view. Religion and freedom, he
said to the council, were his father’s good deeds to
the counti-y. Out of thankfulness for these the
estates had made the crown hereditary in the
house of Gustavus; only lie would be a true here-
ditary king of the realm of Sweden who should pre-
serve them to the kingdom. They had now a king
who was subject in his conscience to the authority
bably the princess Anne,) touching the condition of the king-
dom of Sweden."
1
Haec prima inter regem et ducem fuit discordijE seraentia.
Messenius.
2 The council ventured to suggest that an e.xtract should
be made from the Latin Brief {sowere then called all written
documents) of Calmar, whereby were meant the statutes of
Calmar before mentioned. The duke replies, on the 20th
June, that although this brief had been cancelled, because
drawn up secretly without the cognizance of the estates, it
might yet be looked into, and what therein might be beneficial
to the kingdom, should be laid before Sigismund. Reg. for
1593.
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