628 



DENMAR K. 



History. 



TheSwedcs 

 under G lis- 

 ts vus at- 

 tempt to 

 recover 

 the;r inde- 

 pendence, 

 A.D. '.::.•>. 



Revolt in 

 Denmark. 



Christian 

 abdirates 

 the throne, 



And retires 

 'o the Lo»v 

 C u nts. 



Character 

 oi Chrij. 

 ttan. 



celebrated Gustavus Vasa. At the place of execution, 

 70 senators, lords, and bishops were executed ; even 

 then the cruelty of Christian was not glutted with 

 blood. Being informed that several of those whom he 

 had marked out could not be found, he ordered the 

 soldiers to massacre all the people of rank whom they 

 met in the streets, and to search the houses for them. 

 A similar massacre took place in the provinces on all 

 who were obnoxious to Christian, or had espoused the 

 p;trty of the administrator. 



But the day of retribution was at hand. Gustavus, 

 son of Eric Vasa, roused the peasantry of the Swedish 

 provinces, especially those of Dalecarlia, to attempt the 

 restoration of their country's liberty and independence. 

 In vain did Theodore the king's viceroy oppose Gus- 

 tavus ; he was compelled to return to Stockholm, which 

 city, in the year 1 522, was invested by the Swedish 

 hero. To raise the siege, Christian sent a powerful 

 fleet and army under Norby, who at first gained some 

 advantages over the Dalecarlians, but was soon after- 

 wards compelled to reimbark, having thrown supplies 

 of men, stores, and provisions into the city. Gustavus, 

 however, made little real progress in reducing it for 

 want of a fleet. He therefore entered into a treaty 

 with the inhabitants of Lubeck, who supplied him with 

 a squadron. Stockholm was now reduced to such ex- 

 tremity, that Norby resolved to make another attempt 

 to relieve it ; he accordingly appeared before it with a 

 large fleet, and attacked the auxiliary squadron of Gus- 

 tavus. A storm pat an end to the contest, and Norby 

 taking shelter in a creek, his fleet was there fixed by a 

 sudden frost, and thus exposed to the attacks of the 

 enemy. In this situation, Gustavus resolved to attempt 

 its destruction, but meeting with a formidable resist- 

 ance, the Lubeckers retreated in the very middle of the 

 battle. The ice was soon after dissolved, and Norby 

 took advantage of this favourable circumstance to effect 

 his escape. ' ' 



Denmark, in the mean time, was a scene of the ut- 

 most confusion, and the province of Jutland was in a 

 state of open revolt. A general diet was held at Wy- 

 burg, by which Christian was formally deposed, and 

 a particular decree passed, stating the reasons for this 

 proceeding. As scon as the king was informed of his 

 deposition, he set out for Kolding, a town situated on 

 the frontiers of Holstein and Jutland. Copenhagen, 

 the islands of the Baltic, and Norway, were still in his 

 power ; but as he was conscious that he held them by 

 a frail and uncertain tenure, and that from them he 

 could not expect to draw the means of quashing the 

 rebellion in the other parts of his dominions, he formed 

 the resolution of abdicating the throne. Before he put 

 this resolution into practice, however, he went to Ring- 

 stadt, where there happened to be a great fair ; here 

 he harangued the populace with such effect, that they 

 took a fresh oath of allegiance, and offered to assist 

 liim against all his enemies ; but he was now grown 

 distrustful, and t/eing apprehensive that if he delayed 

 an)' longer, he should not be able to escape from Den- 

 mark, he resolved on immediate flight, and retired with 

 his family into the Low Countries. 



The character of this prince has been already sketch- 

 ed, and indeed it is sufficiently apparent from the whole 

 tenor o? his political life ; yet cruel and tyrannical as 

 it undoubtedly was, many of his measures displayed 

 considerable wisdom and a sense of justice. In the 

 year i:>21 he published a code of law:,, which greatly 

 ! the power of the nobility over their vassals, and 

 ched several branches of their revenues. By this 



code they were expressly forbidden to sell their vassals Hittory. 

 as slaves. The article which relates to this traffic ex- s ~ ■"V"""' ' 

 hibits a dreadful picture of the state of the peasantry at 

 that time : " The wicked and impious practice, which Wisdom o£ 

 is followed in Zealand, Falster, Laaland, and other his enact- 

 parts of Denmark, of selling the poor farmers, and of meilts - 

 making a traffic of Christians, shall be abolished for 

 ever ; and when the proprietors of lands shall use their 

 vassals with injustice, the latter shall be permitted to 

 leave the lands of the former, and to settle themselves 

 in other lands, as is the custom among the farmers in 

 Scania, Jutland, and Funen." In the same year he . 

 published a code of ecclesiastical laws, in which it is 

 declared that a bishop shall not have more than 14 per- 

 sons in his train when he is on a journey, and an arch- 

 bishop not more than 20. Before the passing of this 

 law, these prelates were generally accompanied with 

 1 00 knights and other attendants, who treated the com- 

 mon people with great indignity, cruelty, aud oppres- 

 sion. Another law whicfc he passed shall be noticed, 

 because it not only tlu'ows great light on the customs 

 and the state of society of Denmark at this aera, but al- 

 so exhibits the character of Christian to great advan- 

 tage By this law, the practice of robbing and plun- 

 dering ships which had been wrecked, was forbidden. 

 It- was expressly ordered, that all the king's officers 

 should assist the seamen to the utmost of their power, 

 in saving the ships and cargo ; if they refused, they were 

 liable to be hanged, and to have their goods confiscated ; 

 if all the seamen were drowned, the countrymen were 

 obliged to keep the effects saved from the wreck, for a 

 year and a day ; and if within that period the owner 

 claimed them, they were to be given up to him upon 

 his paying salvage ; if they were not claimed within a 

 year and a day, they were to be divided, and two thirds 

 were to be the property of the king, and the other third 

 the property of the cm-ate of the parish. Even the wa- 

 ges of those who might be employed in saving the ef- 

 fects was fixed by law ; and if the owner of the ship 

 was forced to sell any part of the cargo in order to pay 

 these men, the king's officer was obliged to render to 

 him faithfully all the money that might arise from such 

 sales; if he did him injustice, he was liable to suffer 

 death. 



This law was particularly disagreeable to the Danes, 

 especially the nobility and clergy. Before it was pass- 

 ed, many of them made a considerable revenue by 

 plundering ship- wrecked vessels. The bishops of Bor- 

 ghum in Jutland frequently employed 300 men on the 

 sea coasts, when there was any appearance of a tem- 

 pest which might drive ships ashore, in order to com- 

 pel the seamen to suffer their goods to be plundered 

 without making any resistance, or if they made resist- 

 ance, to massacre them. " Herman Grice, one of the 

 senators, having represented to the king the wrong 

 which he did himself by this lav/, as he would lose 

 thereby a considerable revenue from Jutland alone, be- 

 sides what he would lose in the other provin- 

 ces, Christian returned him the following answer: " I 

 would rather lose all the revenues of which you speak, 

 than suffer those unhappy people to be so unjustly treat- 

 ed." One of the bishops likewise complained to the 

 king of the wrong which he had done him in particu- 

 lar by this law, and demanded permission to follow 

 the ancient customs of the country with regard to this 

 matter ; to which Christian answered, that his intention 

 was not to make any change in those customs, except 

 in such as he found to be contrary to the divine laws ; 

 whereupon this conscientious prelate replied, by ask- 



