510 TheHanse Towtii. [MAY, 



History has no nobler office than that of shewing the triumph of man- 

 liness and justice, of however humble an origin, over bloated insolence, 

 let its rank be what it may. The proud king of Denmark and Norway, 

 the despot of the north, and conqueror of Sweden, the brother-in- 

 law of the first monarch of the continent, Charles the Fifth, found him- 

 self at war with the clerks of Hamburgh and Lubeck, and baffled by 

 them. Wherever his fleets or armies appeared, they felt this daring 

 enemy on their track, and were forced to fly. Christiern, reduced to 

 extremity, fled to Charles, and attempted to rouse the imperial wrath 

 against the traders. But Charles had been taught, by his experience 

 with the free German cities, that it was perilous to disturb men armed 

 for their rights and properties. An unfortunate request, which Chris- 

 tiern made, hastened his catastrophe. He asked Charles to give him the 

 city of Lubeck. The emperor justly treated the request as that of a 

 madman. Christiern, in a fit of rage, tore off the Order of the Golden 

 Fleece, which had been given to him by the emperor, and dashed it on 

 the ground. But Lubeck had heard the request, and determined to 

 punish its insolence. 



Gustavus had already driven the Danish troops from the open coun- 

 try of Sweden, but they still possessed the three strongholds of Stock- 

 holm, Abo, and Calmar. Against these walls the insurrectionary army, 

 ill provided with money or military means, must have wasted its rude 

 valour. But the spirit of Lubeck and its allies was roused, and it 

 poured in troops, provisions, and money, until Gustavus was monarch of 

 Sweden. After having placed a king upon the throne, its next office 

 was to extinguish a tyrant. The general rendezvous of the Hanseatic 

 fleets was fixed for Copenhagen,* and on the first attack Bornholm and 

 Elsineur were taken, sword in hand. The outworks of the capital thus 

 seized, the capital must next have fallen. But the Danes, weary of 

 expending their blood, and seeing their fleets and cities burnt for a 

 prince " who should long since have fatted the region kites with his 

 offal," revolted against Christiern, and conferred their crown upon his 

 uncle, Frederic, Duke of Holstein. Thus Gustavus and Frederic equally 

 owed their diadems to the sons of trade. But Christiern had not yet 

 felt the last vengeance of the republic. Its fleets pursued him through 

 every corner of his dominions, and conveyed the Swedish and Danish 

 troops with a rapidity which he could not elude, until Norway too, dis- 

 gusted with the spectacle of a fugitive king, abjured him, and gave her 

 crown to Frederic. The League was now paramount, its services were 

 acknowledged by both sovereigns : at the decision of their claims it was 

 chosen umpire, and at the famous conference of Malmcet its ambassadors 

 acted as the general mediators. 



Christiern was now broken down and an exile. But he was not 

 destroyed, and for six years he spent a life of perhaps the greatest 

 misery that the spirit of a proud man can suffer, a life of solicitation at 

 foreign courts for assistance to recover his dominions. The jealousy of 

 Holland against the Hanse Towns at length enabled him to obtain a 

 fleet from the States, with which he sailed for Norway. But his inde- 

 fatigable enemy was still upon his steps. The Dutch fleet was suddenly 

 assailed by the Lubeckers, and after a desperate resistance destroyed. 

 This was the final effort of the tyrant. In attempting to make Lis 



* 1522. f 1524. 



