162 TRIAL OF THE NOBLES. 



place on the judgment- seat, having about him his chief 

 nobles. Trolle now stepped forward, and made his accu- 

 sation against Sten Sture the younger although then in 

 his grave as also against the Swedish Rad and others, in 

 the manner previously agreed upon. The King then hypo- 

 critically said : " Mr. Archbishop, would you rather that this 

 question were settled by arbitration, or would you prefer its 

 being decided according to law?" The prelate, in reply, 

 demanded, " that such of the accused as were present, might 

 be at once imprisoned, and their case dealt with thereafter, 

 by the Holy Father himself." But the Tyrant, well knowing 

 that if left to the Pope, they might escape with life, said, in 

 rejoinder : " That the matter ought not to be referred to 

 Rome, but judged in this realm;" with which decision the 

 Archbishop professed himself satisfied. 



Some will have it that Trolle was compelled by Christian 

 to adopt this infamous proceeding; that seeing him rather 

 backward in the cause, the Tyrant directed some one to 

 whisper in his ear : " Remember ! your head is not safer 

 than that of other people !" 



As Sten Sture was the chief offender, and his name the 

 first on the list, his widow, Kristina, who was present, was 

 ordered to step forward, and on the part of herself and of her 

 late husband to answer to the present charge. The noble lady 

 defended herself courageously. She told Christian that what 

 had taken place in regard to the Archbishop, had not been 

 done by the Regent alone, for that the Rad, or Privy Council, 

 and the whole of the nation, had been a party to the act ; 

 and in corroboration of her statement, she produced a large 

 sheet of parchment, on which was engrossed the decree of 

 the Diet in 1517. 



