Could possibly irritate and incense them. He introduced Germans into the senate, in direct violation of the laws of the realm, and filled the kingdom with foreign mercenaries, whose insolence and avarice became insupportable to the people. At length, the country was so drained of money that Albert assembled the states, and informed them that it was neccessary to annex to the crown the third part of the civil and eccle. siastical revenues of the whole kingdom. The nobility, unable to resist the demands of the king, who seized by force the property he desired, implored the assistance of Margaret; who, after the demise of her husband Hacquin, and her son Olaus, governed Norway, and, upon the death of her father, had ascended the throne of Denmark. She promised them the most effectual redress of grivances, provided they would secure to her the crown of Sweden, and make it permanent in her family: a condition which the Swedes chose to accept, rather than endure the tyranny of Albert.

A. D.

1387.

In this manner Margaret was elected queen of Sweden; and, having defeated Albert in an engagement, made him prisoner, and confined him in the fortress of Calmar. But the princes of Mecklenburgh, the count of Holstein, and the Hanse Towns uniting in support of this unfortunate monarch, occasioned one of the most bloody wars recorded in history. Margaret was, however, finally victorious; and united the three kingdoms of Norway, Denmark; and Sweden, by the treaty of Calmar. But, although she had engaged to show no preference in her attention to any one above the rest, she could not avoid betraying a predilection for the kingdom

:

3

kingdom of Denmark, which was her paterna inheritance, and which she made her principal residence. This partiality appears in the last advice which she gave on her death-bed to Eric, her distant relative, whom she caused to be elected king. "Sweden," said she," will furnish you with food; Norway with raiment; and with respect to Denmark, you must spare that kingdom, as the magazine of all your resources, in cases of necessity."

CHAP. II.

From the Accession of Eric XII. to that of Charles XI.

No

country has been rendered more unfortunate than Sweden, by the very measure devised for promoting its welfare. It was from the most remote period engaged in wars with Denmark: rivers of blood had flowed, and whenever hostilities had been suspended, that suspension was the effect, not of a substantial treaty of peace, but of a wretched truce made for the purpose of recovering strength, and of aiming at each other more deadly blows. Weary of these incessant vicissitudes, and desirous of putting an end to the calamities of war, the Swedes had acceded to the union of Calmar, which they considered as a measure dictated by wise policy, and calculated to insure to them and their posterity that peace and tranquillity, which their progenitors had never enjoyed. They moreover ex

X 2

pected

pected to find the blessings and advantages of a free government, under sovereigns who should act as their protectors, and on whom they had voluntarily bestowed the crown. But, even in the reign of Margaret, they experienced the_restraints of tyranny and oppression. Eric A. D. XII. the successor of Margaret, imposed 1415. upon Sweden heavy taxes, which were levied by Danish governors, without feeling or compassion for the miseries of the people. The nobles were ruined by being compelled to serve at their own expence in the continental wars undertaken by the Danes, and to pay from their own purses the price of their ransom, whenever they fell into the hands of the enemy. The Danish governors promoted natives of Denmark to the Swedish prelacies, and divided the spoil with those intruded foreigners, who plundered and oppressed the clergy. But, of all the acts of violence and oppression committed on the Swedes during this reign, the most cruel and extraordinary were those exercised by a Danish governor, called Ericson, of Westerahs, who declared himself a sworn enemy to that inoffensive and laborious class of men, the peasants. These he caused to be massacred and subjected to cruel tortures for his mere amusement: some he smothered with smoke; others he flayed, salted, and broiled alive. Nor did he shew more compassion to the women, whom he ordered to be yoked, like oxen, to the plough, and driven with goads.

These enormities of violent tyranny, though perhaps confined to a single district, excited a general insurrection throughout the kingdom. At the head of this revolt was Engelbert, who had boldly informed the king of the governor's conduct

conduct, and had therefore been forbidden the court. The senate being convened, he entered the assembly at the head of a thousand peasants, pathetically represented the deplorable condition of Sweden, and the barbarity and insolence of the Danish governors, and proposed, that whoever opposed the measures in agitation for preserving the rights and liberties of the people, should be instantly put to death. His intrepidity and resolution obtained from the senate an act, by which they renounced their allegiance to Eric. Charles Canutson, grand-mareschal of Sweden, and governor of Finland, conformed immediately to the decree of the senate, and was made general and commander in chief of the army. The three kingdoms, unanimous in nothing else, resolved to depose a tyrant, whose cruelties rendered him unworthy of a

crown.

But some differences arising between Canutson and his brother-in-law, Nicolas Stenon, Eric availed himself of these dissentions, and procured himself to be reinstated on the throne, under certain conditions which he subscribed as proposed by the senate. He now so firmly established his authority that he transmitted the Swedish diadem to Christopher, his successor in Denmark. Christopher obtained the triple crown upon the same terms as Margaret and Eric had subscribed, and consented to all the limitations specified in the treaty of Calmar. But he ruled Sweden with a scepter of iron, and seemed desirous of alienating the affections of the Swedes, by preferring foreigners, and infringing every article of the agreement made at his accession. Had he lived longer, it is probable that his conX 3

duct

duct would have affected another revolution; but death rid Sweden of a tyrant, and Christopher of the mortification of being degraded from that high station, to which the caprice of the people, and not his virtues, had raised him. The senate were no sooner informed of the king's decease, than they appointed two brothers, Bengt and Nils Janson, regents of the kingdom, till the diet should form a determination respecting the choice of a new sovereign. Accordingly, the assembly being convened, proceeded to the nomination of a king. Charles Canutson did not forget his own interests in that emergency,

but flattered the regents so successfully, A. D. that he was elected to the regal dignity 1448. by a great majority of votes. The Nor

wegians made overtures to him to accept their crown; and, having passed over into their country, he was chosen king of Norway without opposition. This two-fold instance of good fortune inspired him with a wish to obtain also the Danish diadem; but the war which he undertook against Denmark proved unsuccessful. He quarrelled soon after with his clergy.

Charles having departed for Calmar, the archbishop of Upsal arrested all the officers of the king's household; and in a manifesto, publicly eadand posted upon the gate of his cathedral, renounced his oath of allegiance, and accused the monarch of having oppressed the clergy and laity, of being a heritic, and of conferring all offices and employment on his infamous favourites. After this proclamation, the prelate entered the cathedral, and, exchanging his mitre and crosier for a sword and coat of mail, declared that he would not resume the ecclesi

astical