Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIII. Charles against Sigismund. A.D. 1592—1598
<< 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.
1598.]
The Calvinists
declared heretics. CHARLES AGAINST SIGISMUND.
Guarantees dtmaiided
from the kiiiR.
185
complaints
’
by the burgesses, was obliged to inter-
dict hiin from the exercise of his functions. The
duke had refrained from taking part in the deli-
berations. He subscribed the statute 2, although
not disguising his disgust with the coimcil for not
having before taken his opinion. He maintained
likewise the abrogation of the raising of the sacra-
ment in the Lord’s Supper, of the use of salt and
lights in baptism, with other papistical ceremonies
still retained, whereof reason demanded the change.
Sponsors in baptism were continued against his
will. Some difference marked the close of the
assembly. The same bishops who had just dis-
claimed the hturgy, sought now zealously to show
the purity of their doctrine. Not content that the
errors of the so-called sacramentarians were re-
jected, they also demanded, although by this word
the Reformed communion was plainly enougli desig-
nated, that Zuinglians and Calvinists should be ex-
pressly declared heretics, because the duke and his
clergy were suspected of adhering to their doc-
trines. The act of assembly had been previously
read and adopted. The speaker refused to propose
any further addition, and abdicated his office. The
prelates persisted in their demand. The bishop of
Strengness at length appeared as mediator, and
Charles gave his assent in phrases of no very
choice order. " Set in," he said,
" all that ye know
to be of this tribe,
—ay, the very fiend of hell, for lie
too is
my foe." In a confidential letter to the
archbishop and professors of Upsala he afterwards
(May 15, 1594) declared: " We are now defamed
by the clergy as if we countenanced the doctrines
of Calvin and Zuingle. But we will profess our-
selves bound to no man’s person, Christ excepted,
neither to Luther, nor Calvin, nor Zuingle, but to
God’s word alone."
The Synod of Upsala, whose memory the Swedish
Church celebrates every centui’y ^, was a great and
decisive step. It consolidated the Reformation in
Sweden, and by its consequences in Europe. Re-
lations, which in the impending sti’ife carried great
weight, had already begun to appear. Henry of
Navarre had written to Charles concerning a
general Protestant league *.
Sigismund had lately
married a princess of the house of Austria ’.
The Polish diet, before which came the question
as to Sigismund’s occupation of the Swedish throne,
was, according to custom, full of disorders. Event-
ually their consent was obtained, with a supply of
’
See the Vindicatory Memoir of the Corporate Body to
John, agaiijst the inculpations of Peter Paulson; printed in
Nytt, Treasure of Documents in Northern History (Forrad
af handliiigarna i Nordiska Historien), Stockholm, 1759.
2 It is drawn up in the name of the duke, the council, the
hishops, nobles, the inferior clergy and burgesses, March 20,
1593. Next year Charles caused it to be sworn to in his
duchy, at a provincial synod in Strengness, and ratified by
the peasants with the seals of their several hundreds.
3 At first a sermon, from the text of 2 Chronicles xv. 2,
was preached yearly, in remembrance of the Sunday after
the 19th February, on which day Sigismund was at length
compelled to acknowledge the acts of the Synod of Upsala.
See duke Charles’ letter thereupon to the clergy, Feb. 29,
1595. Register.
< " Ad procurandam in ecclesia Dei concordiam et retun-
dendos Romani Anti-Christi conatus." To this end Henry
had in 1583 sent Segur as his ambassador to the Protestants
of Germany, and even written to John as well as Charles.
The letters are to be found printed in Henrici Navarrorum
Regis Epistolae de pace ecclesiastica constituenda. Utrecht,
money for the journey, as it was alleged in Sweden,
in consideration of Sigismund’s promise, to arrange
the dispute regarding Estland to the satisfaction of
the Poles. Olave Swerkerson returned from Poland
with thanks to the duke for the pains he had
taken ;
about Estlaud Charles need not give him-
self apprehensions ;
the king would uphold the
laws and liberties of the realm, and show affection
or hate to no man on account of religion, although
he neither would nor could confirm the statutes
passed by the synod of Upsala during his absence ^.
Such general promises were brought by several
envoys from the king. In Sweden men demanded
more definite securities, especially for religion. To
obtain these before Sigismund quitted Poland, a
man personally agreeable to him was sent, the
councillor of state Thure Bielkc, who was provided
with a warrant, which along with the acts of the
synod of Upsala Charles caused to be read before
the people in all parts of the country. Upon ob-
taining security, the commissioner was to request
that Sigismund would fix the time of his arrival, as
the duke wished to equip a fleet to bring him away.
The councillors of state Eric Sparreand Clas Bielke
were thereafter despatched for the same object to
Poland, and met the king on his way to Dantzic.
Most of the councillors appeared now to be on the
duke’s side. All of them were not so circumspect
as the old chancellor Nicholas Gyllenstierna, who,
being questioned as to Thure Bielke"s instructions,
protested with much length of phrase,
" that the
Polish business far exceeded his comprehension."
Accounts th<at a papal legate had arrived in War-
saw, with a summons to the king, calling upon him
to restore the ancient church in his hereditary
dominions, and with a subsidy in money towards
the undertaking
’
;
that an imperial envoy held the
same language ;
that the pope’s legate was follow-
ing the king in order to crown him in Sweden ;
that Sigismund had in the course of his journey
placed an interdict on the evangelical churches of
Thorn ar;d Eibing, and that the fear of a like jiro-
ceeding in Dantzic during his sojourn there had
led to popular tumults ;
all this increased the soli-
citudes felt in Sweden. In Finland Clas Fleming
continued to defy the Swedish government. A
strange correspondence was carried on between
the duke and this man, who was not unlike him in
disposition, and noted for his roughness and prompt
decision*. Eventually he proceeded, not having
1679. His attempts at mediation were also extended to the
Catholic powers. Henry then purposed visiting in person
the chief Protestant countries.
5 At Cracow, May 21, 1592. His first wife was Anne,
daughter of the archduke Charles, son of the emperor Fer-
dinand I. by Mary of Bavaria ;
his second, married in 1605,
was Constantia, her sister.
6
Upsaliae decreta—supremo magistratu inconsulto—nee
possint nee debeant rata censeri. Messenius, viii. IL’.
7
Thirty thousand guilders, according to Typotius. Poland
had granted two hundred thousand guilders for the king’s
journey, not including what Lithuania afforded, according to
Sigismnnd’s own statement to Charles, March 13, 1594.
8
April 7, 1593, the duke writes to Clas Fleming, that
" without commands from the king’s majesty in Poland,
from us, and from the council of state, he should admit no
man into the castle of Abo, were he even Clas Fleming or
any other;" also to relieve Narva with ships, whatever Clas
Fleming might allege against it. —In a letter to Poland the
latter subscribes himself " Clas Fleming, free-baron of Wik,
marshal, high admiral, and general, who has now too many
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
