The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa

psala.-Skirmish with Trolle.-Skirmishes near Stockholm.-Siege of Stegeborg.-Norby.-Rensel.-Brask.-Progress of the War.-Coinage of Gust

s, whose ultimate issue might have been accurately predicted did we but thoroughly understand the forces themselves. So, too, it is with great political upheavals. The revolution which drenched the whole of France with blood in 1789 is no more difficult to explain than the thunderstorm which drenches the parched earth with rain on a hot midsummer night. It was simply the reaction after a century of oppression, extravagance and vice. In like manner the great revolution whose development we are about to trace was merely the natural result of long years of tyranny culminating in the fearful car

lted against his sickening cruelties were discreet enough to hold their tongues. Dalarne had become the only spot in Sweden where liberty still lived, and thither all liberty-loving Swedes whose hands were not yet tied repaired. Whenever these recruits appeared, Gustavus placed them in the midst of his little army, and called upon them to declare what they had seen of Christiern's deeds. It makes a striking picture, this little band of patriots, in a far-off mountain region in the dead of winter, with no arms but their picks and axes, strong only in their high resolve, and yet breathing defiance against the whole army of the Danish king. Gustavus knew the Swedish people well. He knew them slow to move, dull of intellect, and averse from reason. But he knew also that they were ardent in their emotions, permeated with a love of liberty, courageous in defence of their ancestral rights; and he foresaw that if he could once but ro

nd, to have asked how the province could support so many. The answer was that the people were not used to dainties, that their only drink was water, and in hard times their only food a bread made from the bark of trees. "Even the Devil," ejaculated the officer, "could not vanquish men who live on wood and water;" and with that he ordered a retreat. Before they got off, however, the Swedes fell upon them and drove them home in flight. About the same

in which was at once received as money. These preparations seem all to have been made with the prospect of a long-continued war. While they were in progress, a letter came from the burgomaster and Council of Stockholm, dated April 10, and addressed to the people of Dalarne, informing them that a number of vessels had just arrived from the Hanse Towns, laden by order of Christiern with clothing and food, which were to be distributed among the people. After administering this mealy morsel the letter of the burgomaster and Council went on to urge the Dalesmen to have nothing to do with the lies and treachery of Gustavus, but to consider

nity to win their spurs. It occurred in this wise. One of the recruiting-officers of Gustavus, in his eagerness to advance the patriot cause, had pushed south into the very heart of the enemy's country, and finally burst into the town of K?ping. Here, with all the rashness of a new-made officer, he let loose his soldiers on the town. The result was just what might have been expected. Ere nightfall the whole army, officers and men,

hey kept the cavalry at bay, and worried the horses till at length confusion began to spread along the line. No sooner did the patriots see this than they discharged a volley of arrows, hitherto reserved. Under this double discomfiture, from their own horses and their opponents' arrows, the cavalry yielded, then finally turned and fled, leaving four hundred dead upon the field. Nor was this all. As the cavalry, frenzied with terror, dashed through the town-gate, they found the narrow streets blocked with the infantry, on whom their ungovernable steeds rushed with all the fury lent by fear. A large number were thus trampled to death, while the rest were precipitated into flight. Eriksson followed them a short distance, and then retired; but meantime Olsson entered the city from another quarter, and got possession of the enemy's cannon, ball, and powder. This he carried to Gustavus, who had taken up his position on a ridge to the north of the town. When now the garrison saw that they were worsted, they set f

ut of bravado gave a sumptuous feast one evening on the esplanade. The festivities were protracted with song and dance till after midnight; and scarce had the sound of revelry died away, when the patriots, warned of the midnight orgies, burst upon the town, beat down the guard, and held possession of the streets before any of the carousers knew they were at hand. So soon as they did come to their senses they poured a volley from their arquebuses into the spot where they thought the enemy were collected. But they were aiming in the dark, and not a finger of the Swedes was hurt. The archbishop's steward then planned a strategic movement on the rear, and endeavored to move his troops through

horse, in glittering armor, and marched to Upsala, declaring that his answer to the message he would convey in person. Gustavus, expecting daily the return of his messenger, was taken wholly unawares. The great body of his soldiers had gone back to their farms, and he had but six hundred of them left. With these it would be madness to withstand the archbishop's force. He therefore evacuated the city, and hurried over the meadows to the west. As soon as he was out of danger, he despatched officers to call back t

half a day, when the Swedes were driven from their stronghold with heavy loss, and forced to take up a new position about twelve miles farther north. There they remained three weeks, battling daily with the enemy with varying success. At last the commandant of Stockholm had recourse to strategy. Advancing with a powerful army till near the vicinity of the Swedish camp, he halted and placed his force in ambuscade. He then pushed forward wi

om one town to another, plundering the estates of all who would not join him, and before the end of June reached Stegeborg, a strongly fortified castle on the Baltic coast. This he proceeded to besiege. In July, Norby, the most famous naval officer of Christiern, came to the rescue of the

ck to the Continent for more men and ammunition; and when he returned in July of that year, he brought back sixty mercenaries with him. In August Gustavus made an inspection of the camp at Stegeborg. While there, he learned that the Bishop of Link?ping was more than half minded to join the patriot cause. This bishop, Hans Brask, was a man of rare shrewdness, excellent common-sense, and as time-serving as any man in Europe. He had strong convictions, but he always looked to see how the wind was blowing before he spoke them out. He had, among others, signed the decree for the demolition of St?ket, but had taken the precaution to place under his seal a slip of paper declaring that he affixed his signature perforce, and when his fellows were brought out to be beheaded, he removed the seal; by this little bit of Romanism he saved his head and the emoluments of his priestly office. To this man Gustavus wrote in August, asking for a conference. The aspect of the heavens was not such as to justify the wily bishop in refusing. The continued brutality of Didrik Slagheck had raised such a storm of indignation in the country, that his own followers had found it necessary, on June 16, to hurry him out of Sweden, and announce that they had thrown him into jail. Nearly all of Swede

f his error by firing upon him from the castle walls, and in the conflict which took place it is reported that six hundred of his men were lost. Most of Vestg?te's forces, after the fall of Stegeborg, were transferred to the vicinity of Stockholm, to which Gustavus early in the autumn had again laid siege. The summer's experience had made manifest that it would be useless to assault the capital. Gustavus therefore held his forces several miles away from the city, and with a view to cut off supplies divided them into three camps,-one on the north, another on the south, and the third on an island to the west. On Christmas eve the garrison, finding that no assault was likely to be made, embarked some fifteen hundred men on yawls and coasting-vessels, and proceeded against the island-camp. The Swedish leader watched the preparations from a hill; and when he saw that the enemy were coming against himself, divided his men into squads of fourteen and sixteen, and placed these squads at intervals through the woods with orders to sound their horns as soon as the neighboring squad had sounded theirs. He then waited till the enemy were all on shore, when he gave the signal, and in a moment it was re-echoed all along the line. The effect was marvellous. The enemy, horrified by the apparent num

been for centuries the custom, and each successive monarch had pared a little from the standard, so that in the eight hundred years preceding Gustavus Vasa the various monetary units all over Europe had declined to little more than an eighteenth part of their original value. In Denmark the debasement of the currency had been more rapid than in almost any other land, and the "klippings" of Christiern II. fell farther below their nominal value than any coin in Europe-till the "klippings" were issued by Gustavus, which were a trifle worse than those of Christiern. Of course, as the standard of currency is lowered, its buying-power gradually declines, so that ultimately, under whatever name a particular coin may go, it will buy no more than could be had for the actual bullion w

he staple market for his kingdom; France hated him because he was the brother-in-law of her enemy, Charles V.; Fredrik, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, opposed him because he had laid claim to those dominions; and his own clergy opposed him because of his rumored leaning towards Lutheranism and his efforts to check their power. All these things prevented his return to Sweden, and conspired again

to Stockholm, quartering them in his different camps, and then discharged all of the Swedish peasants except the young unmarried men. Shortly after this change the commandant of ?bo Castle crossed the Baltic with a powerful fleet, and sought to break the siege of Stockholm. But the Swedish fleet met him outside the harbor, captured or burnt his vessels, and took him prisoner. In October, seeing that the garrison was losing strength, Gustavus advanced his camps nearer to the town. His southern camp he moved to S?dermalm, from which he built a pontoon bridge to connect it with the west camp now on an island some three or four hundred yards fro

s to feed. Each day, too, their numbers were diminished through the desertion of able-bodied men who escaped through the gates or over the walls and made their way by one means or another to the Swedish camp. There being no longer possibility of driving off the enemy by force, they felt that their only hope was fraud. They therefore one day sent a Swedish magnate to the enemy, w

ived word from the Danish Cabinet that Christiern had been deposed in Denmark, and Fredrik, duke of Schleswig-Holstein, summoned to the throne. At this news he set sail with all his force for Denmark, leaving only sixty men to hold the castle and town of Kalmar. Their orders were to form two garrisons of thirty each, one to guard the castle and the other to guard the town; and if through assault or failure of provisions they could not maintain the stronghold, they were to slaughter all the Swedes in Kalmar, set fire to the town, and sail to Gotland. As soon as the burghers of Kalmar learned of these instructions, they sent a messenger to the Swedish camp to tell the Swedes to enter the town by the north gate on th

et, was to fill these vacant seats. This was accomplished on the 2d of June, but whether the members were chosen by Gustavus or by vote of the general diet we are not told. Noteworthy it is, that the persons selected, nine in number, were all of them laymen and warriors in the service of Gustavus. Four days later, on the 6th of June, the question of electing a king of Sweden was brought before the house. The proposal was received with shouts of acclamation, and with one accord the delegates raised their voices in favor of Gustavus. But the regent, so the reporter tells us, rose to his feet, and, mid the deafening shouts of those about him, declared that he had no wish for further honor, that he was weary of leadership, that he had found more gall than honey in the post, and that there were others more worthy than himself on whom to lay the crown. So importunate, however, were the delegates, that at last he yielded, accepted their allegiance, and took the royal oath. This done, the diet voted to levy a tax to defray the expenses of the war. Among the very first Acts to which the newly chosen monarch attached his seal was one which granted the cities of Lubeck and Dantzic, with their allies, the perpe

iers now thought only of the terms on which they should capitulate. During a month or more they had parleyed with their besiegers, but the terms which they had offered had thus far been refused. As soon as Gustavus reached the spot, negotiations were once more opened. The new monarch, fresh from the honors of Strengn?s, seems to have sho

ch to storm the forts. Both parties, therefore, waited; and the last year was little more than a test to determine the endurance of the contending armies. While, however, this period wants many of the features that make war grand, it is yet instructive if not interesting in its results. The struggle at the beginning was against overwhelming odds. The patriots had neither ammunition nor resources, and their leader was without prestige. On the other hand the Danes were well supplied with men and arms, and were led by one of the powerful monarchs of Europe backed by all the authority and influence of Rome. In spite of all this, the patriots grew in numbers day by day, while the Danish forces steadily declined. The patriots succeeded in obtaining rich

TNO

. I.'s kr?n., pp. 17-18 and 20-21; Ludvigsson, Coll

21-23; Christ. II.'s arkiv, vol. iv. pp. 134

n., p. 26; Christ. II.'s arkiv, vol. iv. pp. 1338-133

25-26; and Christ. II.'s arkiv, vo

t. I.'s kr?n.,

ust. I.'s kr?

?n., pp. 35-37; and Sver.

ust. I.'s kr?

t. I.'s kr?n.,

; Christ. II.'s arkiv, vol. iv. pp. 1356-1369 and 1374-1375; Dipl. Dal., vol. i. pp. 240-241, and Suppl.

and 46-55; Christ. II.'s arkiv, vol. i. pp. 197-211 and 214

this subject a most valuable discussion by Hans Forssell in his Anteckningar om mynt, vigt,

32-437; Christ. II.'s arkiv, vol. i. pp. 159-196 and vol. iv. pp. 1369-1379; Dipl. Dal., vol. i. pp. 2

, Gust. I.'s kr?n., pp. 51, 55-56 and 61-

ust. I.'s kr?

Gust. I.'s kr?n., pp. 67-69; and Kon. Gus

ist. II.'s arkiv, vol. iv. pp. 1457-1458 and 1677-1682; Kon. Gust. den F?rstes registrat., vo

. II.'s arkiv, vol. iv. pp. 1452-1454, 1463 and 1474-1482; Kon. Gust. den