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318
The nobility, clergy,
and burgesses.
HISTORY OF THE SWEDES.
Reduction of Jutland.
Design on Zealand. [1 ess-
industrious and inured to labour. The other pro-
vinces are filled with official persons from hence,
both in the towns and the country. The people
here too, as elsewhere in the kingdom, are mal-
content with the nobility, especially as they are
exposed to incursions from all hands, and cannot
obtain leave from the king of Denmark to build here
any places of real sti’ength. In Holstein, which is
a fief of the German empire, the govei’nment, as in
Sleswick, Ditmarsch, and Stormarn, is held alter-
nately by the king of Denmark and the duke of
Gottorp, each for a year, and the king has founded
the fortress of Gluckstadt on the Elbe to curb
Hamburg, as an appendage to Holstein. The peo-
ple are very apt for war, but little attached to Den-
mark. There are likewise divers grudges between
the nobility of Denmark and that of Holstein, be-
cause the latter, though enjoying ample privileges,
cannot be employed in Denmark.
The affection of the Danish nobility for the king
lasts so long as he maintains their privileges unim-
paired. Their wealth is not very great, except
iu some few persons, as Christian Skeel, Francis
Lycke, Tage Tott, and Barnewitz, each of whom
may have yearly 18 to 20,000 rix-doUai’s from his
estates. The cause is the want of trade, and the
maintenance by the nobility of many useless de-
pendents on their estates ; they are not inclined to
war, and hold it degrading to follow commerce or
set up manufactures. There are no benefices ex-
cept the fiefs of the ci’own, which are distributed
among the chief men ;
otherwise there are few
officers with any stipend. The clergy are not so
discontented with the nobility as the other estates,
because this order sits in exceeding prosperity and
opulence. The clergy only complain that they can-
not invest their money with others than the nobles,
as the burgesses are so much depressed. The bur-
gesses are exceedingly discontented; for the nobi-
lity are every where in their way, so that neither
trade nor business can arise in the country. The
flourishing state of Copenhagen consists not so
greatly in commerce, which is here of small
amount, as in the Sound toll. As the toll has
been high or moderate, so also has been the in-
crement of the town. The peasants are little
taken into consideration in Denmark; they sit still
and thrive in a measure well, knowing nought of
either better or worse. They are in some sort
oppressed by the nobility, who according to the
law have great power over their peasants ;
but the
nobles again can defend them from extortions at
all hands. One means to the power of the nobi-
lity, and their greatest art in preserving them-
selves against the commons, consists in that they
fill
petty offices of all sorts in the country and the
towns with their own servants, who are wholly de-
voted to their old masters. To the king the three
estates entertain considerable affection, in the ex-
pectation that if the nobility should oppress them
too heavily, they may have shelter and protection
from the snvereisrn."
So far this representation, which we have in-
serted because it
explains the unsuccessful issue of
two of Denmark’s wars, that now begun )jy Oxensti-
ema, and that afterwards completed by Charles Gus-
tavus, as also the causes of that revolution (or
eversio status, predicted by our author), which was
’^
Landscrona was taken, but Malmoc, defended in part by
king Christian himself, resisted all the efforts of the Swedes.
subsequently to transform the constitution of Den-
mark from an oligarchy into an absolute monarchy.
The military occurrences we may now venture
to treat more succinctly.
" We have heard of your
successful prowess," the chancellor writes to Tor-
stenson, "that you have beaten the Danish cavalry
at Koldingen, taken the redoubt at Middelfurt, and
there compelled some thousand men to lay down
their arms; that you have occupied all Jutland to
Skagen ;
that you have made yourself master of
Holstein, Ditmarsch, and Stormarn, to Gluckstadt
and Krempen, and that you are now minded to try
your fortune with Fyen. On this side we have
caused field-marshal Gustave Horn and Laurence
Kagg to enter Scania with an army of horse and
foot, as considerable as we have been able to col-
lect during the winter from the adjacent provinces.
He occupied Helsingborg on the 17th February,
and thereafter moved on Landscrona and MalmoG *’,
with intent to acquire a place of strength, ttiat we
may at least possess a moiety of dominion in the
Sound, till we can put to sea in the summer, and
attack the Dane on his islands. We will in time
disclose to you our further plans for this war. Our
main design is, to exert all our force abroad, and
to straiten our neighbour at home, and to that end,
in order to preclude all relief, to press with all our
power on his islands by the first day of summer.
Seek meanwhile to occupy Fyen and to secure the
havens on the Belt. In May our whole fleet will
be at sea, and we will endeavour to fall upon Zea-
land from all sides. If this project succeed, it
may be expected that we will have but a short war
with Denmark. Our chief hindrance lies in the
Danish fleet, in which the greatest strength of that
crown consists ;
for they possess a considerable
number of ships, and plenty of seamen, especially
from Norway. The Icelandic company has also a
tolerably large number of ships of the Danish
towns, called ships of defence, which may be so
employed. We hope, however, that our fleet will
be equal to that of the enemy, as we have sought
here at home to augment our navy, and besides
have sent Louis de Geer at Christmas to Holland,
to bring us from thence twenty or thirty well-
equipped vessels. Seek likewise to get into your
hands war and merchant-ships ; correspond with
Louis de Geer, combine your squadron with his,
and form a junction with our main fleet. Take
heed that the Danish fleet come not between you
and the ships of Louis de Geer ;
let not these part
from one another, remembering that they are
trading vessels, which could not defend themselves
against the heavily-armed ships of the Danes.
Although there be manifold obstacles to our plan,
Ave yet hope to be able to avert them. The greatest
hindrance is our enemy the emperor. Here two things
are to be considered in this conjuncture,naniely,whe-
ther it be advisable to dii’ect our force against the
emperor, and to keep Holstein and Jutland in subjec-
tion with a small army only, or whether we should
set oiu" main design upon Denmark, and only defend
ourselves against the emperor as need may enforce.
There are reasons on both sides ;
but if we look
somewhat further, a slack war with Denmark will
give them courage, and time to our enemies to
assist them. Then this enemy lies so close at our
" The king of Denmark hath drawn his forces to Malmoe,
and is come thither himself." The chancellor to C. G.
Wrangel. Stockholm, September 16, 10-14. Correspondence.
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