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78 A History of Sweden
or boils, appeared on the body, accompanied with fever
and cold sweats, and in a very short time death fol-
lowed.
The Oriental plague, usually known as the Black
Death, had entered southern Europe about two years
before, from there it spread into every European land.
It has been estimated that from one-third to one-half of
the population of Europe perished from it. It reached
Sweden in 1350. There was scarcely a home in the
country into which death had not entered. All human
power was helpless. With fervent prayers and earnest
practice of penance, people everyhere tried to ward off
the wrath of heaven. Priests hastened from deathbed
to deathbed to administer consolation until they, too,
fell victims to the plague. All minds were seized with
terror, and many were clouded with the madness of
despair.
It is believed that the great plague carried off one-
third of the people of Sweden. In some sections the
entire population perished. Houses and churches stood
empty, and the fields became forests. It is said that in
the whole mining district of Vermland only three per-
sons survived the ravages of the plague. Many years
afterwards a strange incident occurred in that prov-
ince. A hunter in a dense forest, having missed his
mark, went to recover his arrow, which had stuck in
the moss of a tall cliff, as he thought. But the cliff was
an old, forgotten, moss-covered church from the time
of the Black Death. The village or countryside in
which it had been the center was now a dense forest.
Seizure and Ransom of Visby. In Denmark Walde-
mar Atterdag had ruled since 1340. His surname,
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