213 



CHRISTIAN- CHRISTIANITY. 



wm> executed in the presence of the king. These 

 bloody scenes continued in the capital as well 

 as in the provinces. Christian justified himself by 

 the public declaration, that they were necessary for 

 the tranquillity of the kingdom. He then returned 

 to Denmark. His way was marked with blood ; he 

 garrisoned all the cities, and committed the same 

 cruelties in Denmark. He. soon after went to the 

 Netherlands, to request the assistance of Charles V. 

 against Frederic, ouke of Holstein, his uncle, and 

 against the inliabitants of Lubeck, who were always 

 ready to assist the Swedes. On his return to Copen- 

 hagen, he found all Sweden in arms. Slaghoek's 

 tyranny had excited a general revolt. Christian gave 

 him the archbishopric of Lund, but soon after caused 

 him to be burnt alive, in order to appease the Pope, 

 who had sent a legate to Denmark, to examine into 

 the murder of the Bishops at Stockholm. In order 

 to reconcile the Pope, he altered every thing in the 

 laws which favoured Lutheranism, for which lie had 

 previously shown much inclination. Meanwhile Gus- 

 tavus Yasa escaped from prison, and raised his stand- 

 ard against the Danes. The states-general, assem- 

 bled at Wadstena, declared that Christian had forfeited 

 the Swedish crown. The garrison of Stockholm re- 

 volted on account of the want of pay. Christian, ex- 

 asperated by these events, ordered the Danish go- 

 vernors to execute all the rebels. This measure 

 hastened lu's ruin. Norby still held Stockholm, Cal- 

 mar,and Abo, three places which were considered as 

 the keys of the kingdom ; but he was soon harassed 

 by tlie inhabitants of Lubeck, who even made an at- 

 tack upon the coasts of Denmark. Christian, to re- 

 venge himself, commenced negotiations with the 

 duke of Holstein, but they were soon interrupted by 

 his own violence. Meanwhile, he published two 

 codes restricting the privileges of the clergy, and ex- 

 tending the rights of the peasantry. They contained 

 many wise laws, which are still in force, but mixed 

 with others which caused general discontent. The 

 nation complained of the debasement of the currency, 

 and the insupportable burden of the taxes. The 

 bishops and senators of Jutland, perceiving the dis- 

 position of the people, formed the plan of revolting 

 against the king. About the end of 1522, they re- 

 nounced their allegiance, declared Christian to have 

 forfeited his rights, and offered the crown to Fre- 

 deric, duke of Holstein. The King, who suspected 

 their designs, summoned the nobifity of Jutland to 

 Callundborg, in Zealand ; and as none obeyed the 

 call, he summoned them anew in 1523, to Aarhuus, 

 in Jutland, wlu'ther he repaired himself. His arrival 

 compelled the conspirators to hasten the execution 

 of their plans. They assembled in Yiborg, and 

 adopted two acts ; by one of which they deposed the 

 king, and by the other invited Frederic to take pos- 

 session of the throne. A civil war was on the point 

 of breaking out, when Christian abandoned his king- 

 dom. In April, 1523, he left Denmark, and took 

 the queen, lu's children, his treasures, and the ar- 

 chives of the kingdom, on board the fleet. A storm dis- 

 persed his ships, threw him upon the coast of Nor- 

 way, and, after the greatest dangers, he reached 

 Yeere, in Zealand. Charles V. contented himself 

 with writing to forbid Frederic, the nobility of Jut- 

 land, and the city of Lubeck, to act against Christian. 

 The latter liad, meanwhile, raised an army and 

 equipped a fleet, and landed at Opslo, in Norway, in 

 1531. But his troops suffered new losses. Being 

 attacked in his camp by the Danish and Hanseatic 

 fleet, he shut himself up in the city, and his vessels 

 became a prey to the flames. Deprived of all re- 

 sources, he proposed a treaty to the Danish generals, 

 who finally granted him a safe conduct, permitting 

 him to repair in the Danish fleet, to Copenhagen, for 



the purpose of a personal interview with hrederic. 

 In July, 1532, he arrived before Copenhagen. But 

 Frederic rejected the treaty, and the senate ordered 

 tlie imprisonment of Christian. He was accordingly 

 conveyed to the castle of Sonderburgh, in tlie island 

 of Alsen. He there passed twelve years in tin- so- 

 ciety, at first, of a dwarf, and afterwards of an old in- 

 valid, in a tower, the door of which was \\alicd up. 

 A stone table is still shown, around the edge of which 

 is a line worn by the hand of Christian, whose sole 

 exercise consisted in walking round it, with his hand 

 resting on the surface. He was totally abandoned. 

 When Christian III. ascended the throne, in 1543, 

 his condition was unproved, by virtue of a trcnty 

 with Charles V. He lived, from 1546, at Callund- 

 borg, with a fixed income, and died at this place, 

 Jan. 24, 1559. His wife, Christina, a professor of 

 Lutheranism, faithfully shared his misfortunes until 

 her death, in 1526. He had three children John, 

 who died at Ratisbon in 1532, at the age of thirteen 

 years ; Dorothea, who married Frederic, the elector 

 palatine ; and Christina, who married Francis Sforza, 

 duke of Milan, and after his death, Francis, duke 

 of Lorraine. It ought not to be forgotten, that 

 Christian's cruelty was, in some degree, owing to die 

 insolence of the nobility, whose arrogance he was 

 determined to repress. 



CHRISTI ANIA ; capital of the kingdom of Nor- 

 way, seat of government, and tlie place where the 

 storthing (Norwegian parliament) meet ; Ion. 10 49 

 E.; lat. 59 53' 46" N. It contains 1500 houses, and 

 11,040 inliabitants, is situated in the diocese of C'hris- 

 tiania, or Aggerhuus, on the northern end of the bay 

 of Christiajisnord, in a district where gardening is 

 much pursued. Besides the suburbs, it contains 

 Christiania Proper, built by King Christian IV., in 

 1624, on a regular plan, the old city, or Opslo, and 

 tlie citadel, Aggerhuus, which was demolished in 

 1815. Among the principal buildings are the royal 

 palace, the new council-house, and the exchange. 

 Since 1811, a University (Fredericia) has been estab- 

 lished here, with a philological seminary, a botanical 

 garden, an observatory, a library, collections of vari- 

 ous kinds, eighteen professors, and 200 students. 

 Christiania also contains a military school, a bank, a 

 commercial institute, an alum factory, &c. It has 

 much trade, chiefly in lumber and iron. Its harbour 

 is excellent. The value of the lumber annually ex- 

 ported is estimated at 810,000 gilders. In the vi- 

 cinity are 136 sawing-mills, which furnish annually 

 twenty millions of planks. 



CHRISTIANITY; the religion instituted by 

 Jesus Christ. Christianity, as it now exists in our 

 minds, has received, from the influence of the priest- 

 hood, of national character, of the spirit of the time, 

 and the thousand ways in which it has been brough 

 into contact with politics and science, a quantity of 

 impure additions, which we should first separate, in 

 order to understand what it is in reality. There couh 

 be no better means of attaining a correct understand- 

 ing of it, than to investigate, historically, the reli- 

 gious principles which Jesus himself professed, exhi- 

 bited in his life, and laboured to introduce into the 

 world, if the investigator could avoid giving the co- 

 louring of his own views to his explanation of the re- 

 cords of the origin of Christianity. But the most 

 honest inquirers nave not entirely succeeded in so 

 doing. Even the Christian theologians of the pre- 

 sent age less divided, in some countries, for instance 

 in Germany, by the spirit of creeds and sects, than 

 by tlie difference of scientific methods and philoso- 

 phical speculations dispute respecting the principle 

 that constitutes the basis of the religion of Christ, 

 which, in other respects, has been unanimously adopt- 

 ed. (See the articles Religion, llcvelatiou. nation- 



