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+Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15)
+       The Romance of Reality. Scandinavian.
+
+Author: Charles Morris
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2007 [EBook #20549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL TALES, VOL. 9 (OF 15) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:  Ten minor typographical errors have been
+                     corrected in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+                             Édition d'Élite
+
+                            Historical Tales
+                         The Romance of Reality
+
+
+                                   By
+                              CHARLES MORRIS
+
+_Author of "Half-Hours with the Best American Authors," "Tales from the
+                            Dramatists," etc._
+
+
+                            IN FIFTEEN  VOLUMES
+
+                                 Volume IX
+
+
+                                Scandinavian
+
+
+                         J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+                          PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
+
+
+
+
+               Copyright, 1908, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: From Stereograph Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.
+OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO.]
+
+
+
+
+                         _CONTENTS_
+                                                        PAGE
+
+HOW KING ROLF WON HIS BRIDE                               9
+
+RAGNAR LODBROK AND HIS WIVES AND SONS                    19
+
+HAROLD FAIR-HAIRED FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY          31
+
+GORM THE OLD, DENMARK'S FIRST KING                       42
+
+ERIK BLOOD-AXE AND EGIL THE ICELANDER                    49
+
+THE SEA-KINGS AND THEIR DARING FEATS                     60
+
+HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE SONS OF GUNHILD                  69
+
+EARL HAAKON AND THE JOMSVIKINGS                          78
+
+HOW OLAF, THE SLAVE-BOY, WON THE THRONE                  89
+
+OLAF DETHRONES ODIN AND DIES A HERO                      98
+
+OLAF THE SAINT AND HIS WORK FOR CHRIST                  108
+
+CANUTE THE GREAT, KING OF SIX NATIONS                   121
+
+MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HAROLD HARDRULER                    132
+
+SVERRE, THE COOK'S SON, AND THE BIRCHLEGS               145
+
+THE FRIENDS AND FOES OF A BOY PRINCE                    160
+
+KING VALDEMAR I. AND BISHOP ABSOLON                     169
+
+THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF VALDEMAR II             176
+
+BIRGER JARL AND THE CONQUEST OF FINLAND                 186
+
+THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA                 196
+
+THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF KING BIRGER                 202
+
+QUEEN MARGARET AND THE CALMAR UNION                     211
+
+HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR CHARLES OF SWEDEN               217
+
+STEN STURE'S GREAT VICTORY OVER THE DANES               226
+
+HOW THE DITMARSHERS KEPT THEIR FREEDOM                  236
+
+THE BLOOD-BATH OF STOCKHOLM                             241
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF GUSTAVUS VASA                         252
+
+THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II. THE TYRANT                    271
+
+THE WEST GOTHLAND INSURRECTION                          283
+
+THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF KING ERIK                           296
+
+GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ON THE FIELD OF LEIPSIC               310
+
+CHARLES X. AND THE INVASION OF DENMARK                  319
+
+CHARLES XII. THE FIREBRAND OF SWEDEN                    326
+
+THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND THE DANISH FLEET               343
+
+A FRENCH SOLDIER BECOMES KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY      349
+
+THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK                            358
+
+BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN NORWAY AND SWEDEN             362
+
+
+
+
+                     LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                         SCANDINAVIAN.
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+THE OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO, ONE OF THE MOST
+    ANCIENT TOWNS OF SWEDEN.                   _Frontispiece._
+
+HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY                                35
+
+HOME OF PEASANTS, NORWAY                                   50
+
+BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD ABOVE ARE, SWEDEN         80
+
+A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND
+    PARENTS. BRIGSDAL, NORWAY                              95
+
+NORWEGIAN PEASANTS                                        115
+
+NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS                                  135
+
+LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS                                  165
+
+VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN                          190
+
+MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN                    210
+
+GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI                                    220
+
+SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM                                      230
+
+SKANSEN RIVER                                             242
+
+THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN          256
+
+NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM                       285
+
+ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN       300
+
+STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS                               312
+
+THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN                      340
+
+KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK                     348
+
+THE BOURSE, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK                           360
+
+
+
+
+_HOW KING ROLF WON HIS BRIDE._
+
+
+At one time very many centuries ago, we cannot say just when, for this
+was in the days of the early legends, there reigned over Upsala in Sweden
+a king named Erik. He had no son and only one daughter, but this girl was
+worth a dozen sons and daughters of some kings. Torborg she was named,
+and there were few women so wise and beautiful and few men so strong and
+valiant. She cared nothing for women's work, but was the equal of any man
+of the court in riding, fighting with sword and shield, and other
+athletic sports. This troubled King Erik very much, for he thought that
+the princess should sit in her maiden chamber like other kings'
+daughters; but she told him that when she came to succeed him on the
+throne she would need to know how to defend her kingdom, and now was the
+time for her to learn.
+
+That she might become the better fitted to rule, she asked him to give
+her some province to govern, and this he did, making her queen of a third
+of his kingdom, and giving her an army of stout and bold warriors. Her
+court was held at Ulleraker in Upland, and here she would not let any one
+treat her as a woman, dressing always in men's clothing and bidding her
+men to call her King Torborg. To fail in this would be at risk of their
+heads. As her fame spread abroad, there were many who came to court her,
+for she was at once very beautiful and the heiress of a great kingdom.
+But she treated all such with laughter and contempt. It is even said that
+she put out the eyes of some, and cut off the hands and feet of others,
+but this we do not like to believe. At any rate, she drove away those who
+troubled her too much with lance and spear. So it was plain that only a
+strong and bold man could win this warlike maiden for his wife.
+
+At that time King Götrik who ruled in Gothland, a country in southern
+Sweden, had sent his younger son Rolf to be brought up at the court of
+his foster-brother King Ring of Denmark. His elder son Kettil he kept at
+home, but did not love him much on account of his pride and obstinacy. So
+it happened that when Götrik was very old and like to die, he decided
+that Rolf, who was very tall and strong, and very fit and able, should
+succeed him, though he was the younger son. All agreed to this, even
+Kettil, so Rolf was sent for and made king of Gothland, which he ruled
+with skill and valor.
+
+One day Rolf and Kettil, who loved each other as brothers should, were
+talking together, and Kettil said that one thing was wanting to the glory
+and honor of Rolf's rule, and that was a queen of noble birth and goodly
+presence.
+
+"And whom have you in mind?" asked Rolf.
+
+"There is Torborg, the king of Upsala's daughter. If you can win her for
+wife it will be the greatest marriage in the north."
+
+To this advice Rolf would not listen. He had heard of how the shrewish
+Torborg treated her suitors, and felt that wooing her would be like
+taking a wild wolf by the ears. So he stayed unmarried for several years
+more, though Kettil often spoke of the matter, and one day said to him
+contemptuously:
+
+"Many a man has a large body with little courage, and I fear you are such
+a one; for though you stand as a man, you do not dare to speak to a
+woman."
+
+"I will show you that I am a man," said Rolf, very angry at these words.
+
+He sent to Denmark for his foster-brother Ingiald, son of King Ring, and
+when he came the two set out with sixty armed men for the court of King
+Erik in Upsala.
+
+One morning, about this time, Queen Ingerd of Upsala awoke and told King
+Erik of a strange dream she had dreamed. She had seen in her sleep a
+troop of wolves running from Gothland towards Sweden, a great lion and a
+little bear leading them; but these, instead of being fierce and shaggy,
+were smooth-haired and gentle.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked the king.
+
+"I think that the lion is the ghost of a king, and that the white bear is
+some king's son, the wolves being their followers. I fancy it means that
+Rolf of Gothland and Ingiald of Denmark are coming hither, bent on a
+mission of peace, since they appear so tame. Do you think that King Rolf
+is coming to woo our daughter, Torborg?"
+
+"Nonsense, woman; the king of so small a realm would show great assurance
+to seek for wife so great a princess as our daughter."
+
+So when Rolf and his followers came to Upsala King Erik showed his
+displeasure, inviting him to his table but giving him no seat of honor at
+the feast. Rolf sat silent and angry at this treatment, but when Erik
+asked him why he had come, he told him courteously enough the reason of
+his visit.
+
+"I know how fond you Goths are of a joke," said Erik, with a laugh. "You
+have a way of saying one thing when you mean another. But I can guess
+what brings you. Gothland is little and its revenues are small and you
+have many people to keep and feed. Food is now scarce in Gothland, and
+you have come here that you may not suffer from hunger. It was a good
+thought for you to come to Upsala for help, and you are welcome to go
+about my kingdom with your men for a month; then you can return home
+plump and well fed."
+
+This jesting speech made Rolf very angry, though he said little in reply.
+But when the king told Queen Ingerd that evening what he had said she was
+much displeased.
+
+"King Rolf may have a small kingdom," she said, "but he has gained fame
+by his courage and ability, and is as powerful as many kings with a wider
+rule. You did not well to mock him."
+
+The next day Erik, thus admonished, begged Rolf's pardon, saying that the
+ale had made him speak foolishly, and thus he became reconciled with his
+guest. As for Rolf's desire to win his daughter, he would first have to
+gain Torborg's consent, which would be no easy matter. The king promised
+not to interfere but would do no more.
+
+Soon after this Rolf and his men arrived at Ulleraker, reaching there
+when the whole of Torborg's court were assembled in the great hall.
+Fearing a hostile reception, Rolf took wary precautions. He choose twelve
+of his stoutest men, with himself and Ingiald at their head, to enter the
+court with drawn swords in their hands. If they were attacked, they were
+to go out backward fighting, but they were bidden to conduct themselves
+like men and let nothing alarm them. The others remained outside, keeping
+the horses in readiness to mount.
+
+When the party entered the hall, Rolf at their head, all there were
+struck with his great size and noble aspect. No one assailed them and he
+walked up the hall, on whose high seat at the front he saw what seemed a
+tall and finely formed man, dressed in royal robes. Knowing that this
+must be the haughty princess whose hand he had come to seek, he took off
+his helmet, bowed low before her, and began to tell what brought him to
+her court.
+
+He had scarcely begun when she stopped him. She said that he must be
+joking; that she knew his real errand was to get food and that this she
+would give him; but he must apply for it to the chief of the kitchen,
+not to her.
+
+Rolf had not come so far to be laughed out of the court, and he sturdily
+went on with what he had to say, speaking to her as a woman, and
+demanding her hand in marriage. At this she changed her jesting manner,
+her cheeks grew red with anger, and springing up, she seized her weapons
+and called upon her men to lay hold upon and bind the fool that had dared
+affront their monarch. Shouting and confusion followed and a sharp attack
+was made on the intruders, but Rolf put on his helmet and bade his men to
+retire, which they did in good order. He walked backward through the
+whole hall, shield on arm and sword in hand, parrying and dealing blows,
+so that when he left the room, though no blade had touched him, a dozen
+of the courtiers lay bleeding. But being greatly overmatched, he ordered
+his men to mount, and they rode away unscathed.
+
+Back to West Gothland they went and told Kettil how poorly they had
+fared.
+
+"You have suffered a sore insult and affront at a woman's hand," said
+Kettil, "and my advice is that it be speedily avenged," but Rolf replied
+that he was not yet ready to act.
+
+Torborg had not taken the trouble to ask the name of her wooer, but when
+she learned who it was she knew very well that the matter had not reached
+its end and that her would-be lover would return stronger than before. As
+she did not want him or any man for husband she made great preparations
+for an attack, gathering a large body of warriors and having a wall of
+great strength and the finest workmanship built round the town. It was so
+high and thick that no battering ram could shake it, while water-cisterns
+were built into it to put out the fire if any one sought to burn it. From
+this we may judge that the wall was of wood. This done, Torborg made
+merry with her court, thinking that no lover in the wide world would now
+venture to annoy her.
+
+She did not know the kind of man she had to deal with in King Rolf. He
+had fought with men and fancied he was fit to conquer a woman. The next
+summer he had a battle with Asmund, son of the king of Scotland, and when
+it was over they became friends and foster-brothers and went on viking
+cruises together. Next spring Rolf armed and manned six ships and, taking
+Kettil and Ingiald and Asmund with him, set sail for Upsala. He proposed
+now to woo the warrior princess in another fashion.
+
+Queen Ingerd about this time dreamed again, her dream being the same as
+before, except that this time there were two white bears, and a hog which
+was small but spiteful, its bristles pointing forward and its mouth
+snarling as if ready to bite anything that came before it. And the bears
+did not look as gentle as before, but seemed irritated.
+
+She interpreted this dream to mean that Rolf was coming again to avenge
+the affront he had received, and that the fierce hog must stand for
+Kettil, of whose character she had been told.
+
+When Rolf now arrived King Erik received him with honor, and again agreed
+to remain his friend, no matter how stormy a courtship he might have.
+From Upsala he set out for Ulleraker and sent a herald to Princess
+Torborg, asking speech with her. She presented herself at the top of the
+wall, surrounded by armed men. King Rolf renewed his suit, and told her
+plainly that if she did not accept his proposal he had come to burn the
+town and slay every man within its walls.
+
+"You shall first serve as a goatherd in West Gothland before you get any
+power over me and mine," answered Torborg haughtily.
+
+Rolf lost no time in assailing the walls, but found them stoutly
+defended. The Swedes within poured boiling water and hot pitch on their
+assailants, threw down stones and beams, and hurled spears and arrows
+from the wall. For fourteen days the siege continued without effect,
+until the Goths, weary of their hard fighting and the mockery of the
+defenders, began to complain and wanted to return home. The townspeople
+derided them by showing costly goods from the ramparts and bidding them
+come and take them, and ridiculed them in many other ways.
+
+King Rolf now saw that he must take other measures. He had a cover
+constructed of boards and brushwood and supported by stout beams, making
+a strong roof which was set against the wall and defied all the boiling
+water and missiles of the Swedes. Under its shelter a hole was dug
+through the wall and soon the Goths were in the queen's citadel.
+
+To their surprise they found it empty. Not a soul was to be seen, but in
+every room they found well-cooked food and many articles of value.
+
+"This is a fine capture," said Kettil. "Let us enjoy ourselves and divide
+the spoil."
+
+"Not so," said Rolf. "It is a lure to draw us off. I will not rest till I
+have the princess in my power."
+
+They sought the palace through and through, but no one was there. Finally
+a secret passage was discovered, leading underground, and the king
+entered it, the others following. They emerged in a forest where they
+found Torborg and all her men and where a sharp battle began. No warrior
+could have fought more bravely than the man-like princess, and her men
+stood up for her boldly, but they gradually gave way before the onset of
+Rolf and his tried warriors.
+
+Rolf now bade Kettil to take Torborg prisoner, but not to wound her,
+saying that it would be shameful to use arms against a woman. Kettil
+sprang forward and gave the princess a sharp blow with the flat of his
+sword, reviling her at the same time with rude words. In return, Torborg
+gave him so hard a blow on the ear with her battle-axe that he fell
+prostrate, with his heels in the air.
+
+"That is the way we treat our dogs when they bark too loud," she said.
+
+Kettil sprang up, burning with anger, but at the same moment Rolf rushed
+forward and grasped the warlike princess in his powerful arms, so that
+she was forced to surrender.
+
+He told her that she was his prisoner, but that he did not wish to win a
+wife in the viking manner and that he would leave it to her father to
+judge what should be done. Taken captive in his arms, there was nothing
+else for her to do, and she went with him to Upsala, where King Erik was
+delighted at Rolf's success. As for the warlike princess, she laid down
+her arms at her father's feet, put on a woman's garments, and seemed glad
+enough to have been won as a bride in so warlike a manner and by so
+heroic a wooer.
+
+Soon after this the marriage took place, the festivities being the
+grandest the court could afford and lasting for fourteen days, after
+which Rolf and his followers returned home, his new queen with him. The
+sagas say, as we can well believe after so strenuous a wooing, that
+afterwards King Rolf and Queen Torborg lived a long and happy life.
+
+
+
+
+_RAGNAR LODBROK AND HIS WIVES AND SONS._
+
+
+The old sagas, or hero tales of the north, are full of stories of
+enchantment and strange marvels. We have told one of these tales in the
+record of King Rolf and Princess Torborg. We have now to tell that of
+Ragnar Lodbrok, a hero king of the early days, whose story is full of
+magical incidents. That this king reigned and was a famous man in his
+days there is no reason to doubt, but around his career gathered many
+fables, as was apt to be the case with the legends of great men in those
+days. To show what these tales were like we take from the sagas the
+marvellous record of Ragnar and his wives.
+
+In East Gothland in the ancient days there lived a mighty jarl, or earl,
+named Herröd, who was descended from the gods. He had a daughter named
+Tora, who was famed for her beauty and virtue, but proved as hard to win
+for a wife as Princess Torborg had been. She dwelt in a high room which
+had a wall built around it like a castle, and was called Castle Deer,
+because she surpassed all other women in beauty as much as the deer
+surpasses all other animals.
+
+Her father, who was very fond of her, gave her as a toy a small and
+wonderfully beautiful snake which he had received in a charmed egg in
+Bjarmaland. It proved to be an unwelcome gift. The snake was at first
+coiled in a little box, but soon grew until the box would not hold it,
+and in time was so big that the room would not hold it. So huge did it
+become in the end that it lay coiled in a ring around the outer walls,
+being so long that its head and tail touched.
+
+It got to be so vicious that no one dared come near it except the maiden
+and the man who fed it, and his task was no light one, for it devoured an
+ox at a single meal. The jarl was sorry enough now that he had given his
+daughter such a present. It was one not easy to get rid of, dread of the
+snake having spread far and wide, and though he offered his daughter with
+a great dower to the man who should kill it, no one for a long time
+ventured to strive for the reward. The venom which it spat out was enough
+to destroy any warrior.
+
+At length a suitor for the hand of the lovely princess was found in
+Ragnar, the young son of Sigurd Ring, then one of the greatest monarchs
+of the age, with all Sweden and Norway under his sway, as the sagas tell.
+Ragnar, though still a boy, had gained fame as a dauntless warrior, and
+was a fit man to dare the venture with the great snake, though for a long
+time he seemed to pay no heed to the princess.
+
+But meanwhile he had made for himself a strange coat. It was wrought out
+of a hairy hide, which he boiled in pitch, drew through sand, and then
+dried and hardened in the sun. The next summer he sailed to East
+Gothland, hid his ships in a small bay, and at dawn of the next day
+proceeded toward the maiden's bower, spear in hand and wearing his
+strange coat.
+
+There lay the dreaded serpent, coiled in a ring round the wall. Ragnar,
+nothing daunted, struck it boldly with his spear, and before it could
+move in defence struck it a second blow, pressing the spear until it
+pierced through the monster's body. So fiercely did the snake struggle
+that the spear broke in two, and it would have destroyed Ragnar with the
+venom it poured out if he had not worn his invulnerable coat.
+
+The noise of the struggle and the fierceness of the snake's convulsions,
+which shook the whole tower, roused Tora and her maids, and she looked
+from her window to see what it meant. She saw there a tall man, but could
+not distinguish his features in the grey dawn. The serpent was now in its
+death throes, though this she did not know, and she called out:
+
+"Who are you, and what do you want?"
+
+Ragnar answered in this verse:
+
+               "For the maid fair and wise
+               I would venture my life.
+               The scale-fish got its death wound
+               From a youth of fifteen!"
+
+Then he went away, taking the broken handle of the spear with him. Tora
+listened in surprise, for she learned from the verse that a boy of
+fifteen had slain the great monster, and she marvelled at his great size
+for his years, wondering if he were man or wizard. When day came she told
+her father of the strange event, and the jarl drew out the broken spear
+from the snake, finding it to be so heavy that few men could have lifted
+it.
+
+Who had killed the serpent and earned the reward? The jarl sent a mandate
+throughout his kingdom, calling all men together, and when they came he
+told them the story of the snake's death, and bade him who possessed the
+handle of the spear to present it, as he would keep his word with any
+one, high or low.
+
+Ragnar and his men stood on the edge of the throng as the broken head of
+the spear was passed round, no one being able to present the handle
+fitting it. At length it came to Ragnar, and he drew forth the handle
+from his cloak, showing that the broken ends fitted exactly. A great
+feast for the victor was now given by Jarl Herröd, and when Ragnar saw
+the loveliness of Tora, he was glad to ask her for his queen, while she
+was equally glad to have such a hero for her spouse. A splendid bridal
+followed and the victor took his beautiful bride home.
+
+This exploit gave Ragnar great fame and he received the surname of
+Lodbrok, on account of the strange coat he had worn. Ragnar and Tora
+lived happily together but not to old age, for after some years she took
+sick and died, leaving two sons, Erik and Agnar, who grew up to be strong
+and beautiful youths. Ragnar had loved her greatly and after her death
+said he would marry no other woman. Nor could he comfort himself at home
+but began to wander abroad on warlike voyages, that he might drive away
+his sorrow.
+
+Leaving Ragnar Lodbrok to his travels, let us take up the strange story
+of another fair maiden, who was to have much to do with his future life.
+She was named Aslög and was the daughter of King Sigurd Fafnisbane, of
+Germany. Soon after she was born enemies of her father killed him and her
+mother and all of his race they could find. Her life was saved by Heimer,
+foster-father to her mother, who to get her away from the murderers had a
+large harp made with a hollow frame, in which he hid the child and all
+the treasure he could find.
+
+Then he wandered far as a travelling harper, letting the child out when
+they came to solitary woods, and when she wept and moaned silencing her
+by striking the strings of the harp. After long journeying he came to a
+cottage in Norway called Spangerhed, where lived a beggar and his wife.
+Seeing a gold bracelet under Heimer's rags, and some rich embroidery
+sticking from the harp, the beggar and his wife killed him during the
+night and broke open the harp. They found in it the wealth they sought,
+but the discovery of the pretty little girl troubled them.
+
+"What shall we do with this child?" he asked.
+
+"We will bring her up as our own, and name her Kraka, after my mother,"
+said his wife.
+
+"But no one will believe that ugly old people like us can have so fair a
+daughter."
+
+"Let me manage it," said the wife. "I will put tar on her head so that
+her hair will not be too long, and keep her in ragged clothes and at the
+hardest work."
+
+This they did and little Aslög grew up as a beggar's child. And as she
+kept strangely silent, never speaking, all people thought her dumb.
+
+One day, when Aslög was well grown, Ragnar Lorbrok came that way,
+cruising along the Norway coast. The crew was out of bread and men were
+sent ashore to bake some at a house they saw in the distance. This house
+was Spangerhed, where Kraka dwelt.
+
+She had seen the ships come up and the men land, and was ashamed to be
+seen by strangers as she was, so she washed herself and combed her hair,
+though she had been bidden never to do so. So long and thick had her hair
+grown that it reached to the ground and covered her completely.
+
+When the cooks came to bake their bread they were so surprised at the
+beauty of the maiden that they let the loaves burn while looking at her,
+and on being blamed for this carelessness on their return to the ship
+said they could not help it, for they had been bewitched by the face of
+the loveliest maiden they had ever gazed upon.
+
+"She cannot be as lovely as Tora was," said Ragnar.
+
+"There was never a lovelier woman," they declared, and Ragnar was so
+struck by their story that he sent messengers ashore to learn if they
+were telling the truth. If it were so, he said, if Kraka were as
+beautiful as Tora, they were bidden to bring her to him neither dressed
+nor undressed, neither fasting nor satisfied, neither alone nor in
+company. The messengers found the maiden as fair as the cooks had said
+and repeated the king's demand.
+
+"Your king must be out of his mind, to send such a message," said the
+beggar's wife; but Kraka told them that she would come as their king
+wished, but not until the next morning.
+
+The next day she came to the shore where the ship lay. She was completely
+covered with her splendid hair, worn like a net around her. She had eaten
+an onion before coming, and had with her the old beggar's sheep dog; so
+that she had fulfilled Ragnar's three demands.
+
+Her wit highly pleased Ragnar and he asked her to come on board, but she
+would not do so until she had been promised peace and safety. When she
+was taken to the cabin Ragnar looked at her in delight. He thought that
+she surpassed Tora in beauty, and offered a prayer to Odin, asking for
+the love of the maiden. Then he took the gold-embroidered dress which
+Tora had worn and offered it to Kraka, saying in verse, in the fashion of
+those times:
+
+               "Will you have Tora's robe? It suits you well. Her
+               white hands have played upon it. Lovely and kind was
+               she to me until death."
+
+Kraka answered, also in verse:
+
+               "I dare not take the gold-embroidered robe which
+               adorned Tora the fair. It suits not me. Kraka am I
+               called in coal-black baize. I have ever herded goats on
+               the stones by the sea-shore."
+
+"And now I will go home," she added. "If the king's mind does not change
+he can send for me when he will."
+
+Then she went back to the beggar's cottage and Ragnar sailed in his ship
+away.
+
+Of course every one knows without telling what came from such an
+invitation. It was not long before Ragnar was back with his ship and he
+found Kraka quite ready to go with him. And when they reached his home a
+splendid entertainment was given, during which the marriage between
+Ragnar and Kraka took place, everything being rich and brilliant and all
+the great lords of the kingdom being present. It will be seen that,
+though the Princess Aslög pretended to be dumb during her years of
+youthful life in the beggar's cottage, she found her voice and her wits
+with full effect when the time came to use them.
+
+She was now the queen of a great kingdom, and lived for many years
+happily with her husband Ragnar. And among her children were two sons who
+were very different from other men. The oldest was called Iwar. He grew
+up to be tall and strong, though there were no bones in his body, but
+only gristle, so that he could not stand, but had to be carried
+everywhere on a litter. Yet he was very wise and prudent. The second
+gained the name of Ironside, and was so tough of skin that he wore no
+armor in war, but fought with his bare body without being wounded. To the
+people this seemed the work of magic. There were two others who were like
+other men.
+
+Since the older brothers, the sons of Tora, had long been notable as
+warriors, the younger brothers, when they grew up, became eager to win
+fame and fortune also, and they went abroad on warlike expeditions,
+fighting many battles, winning many victories, and gaining much riches.
+
+But Iwar, the boneless one, was not satisfied with this common fighting,
+but wanted to perform some great exploit, that would give them a
+reputation everywhere for courage. There was the town of Hvitaby (now
+Whitby, in Yorkshire, England), which many great warriors had attacked,
+their father among them, but all had been driven back by the power of
+magic or necromancy. If they could take this stronghold it would give
+them infinite honor, said Iwar, and to this his brothers agreed.
+
+To Hvitaby they sailed, and leaving their younger brother Ragnwald in
+charge of the ships, because they thought him too young to take part in
+so hard a battle, they marched against the town. The place was ably
+defended, not only by men but by two magical heifers, their charm being
+that no man could stand before them or even listen to their lowing. When
+these beasts were loosed and ran out towards the troops, the men were so
+scared by the terrible sound of their voices that Ironside had all he
+could do to keep them from a panic flight, and many of them fell
+prostrate. But Iwar, who could not stand, but was carried into battle
+upon shields, took his bow and sent his arrows with such skill and
+strength that both the magic heifers were slain.
+
+Then courage came back to the troops and the townsmen were filled with
+terror. And in the midst of the fighting Ragnwald came up with the men
+left to guard the ships. He was determined to win some of the glory of
+the exploit and attacked the townsmen with fury, rushing into their ranks
+until he was cut down. But in the end the townsmen were defeated and the
+valiant brothers returned with great honor and spoil, after destroying
+the castle. Thus it was that the sons of Kraka gained reputation as
+valiant warriors.
+
+But meanwhile Kraka herself was like to lose her queenly station, for
+Ragnar visited King Osten of Upsala who had a beautiful daughter named
+Ingeborg. On seeing her, his men began to say that it would be more
+fitting for their king to have this lovely princess for his wife, instead
+of a beggar's daughter like Kraka. Ragnar heard this evil counsel, and
+was so affected by it that he became betrothed to Ingeborg. When he went
+home he bade his men to say nothing about this betrothal, yet in some way
+Kraka came to know of it. That night she asked Ragnar for news and he
+said he had none to tell.
+
+"If you do not care to tell me news," said Kraka, "I will tell you some.
+It is not well done for a king to affiance himself to one woman when he
+already has another for his wife. And, since your men chose to speak of
+me as a beggar's daughter, let me tell you that I am no such thing, but a
+king's daughter and of much higher birth than your new love Ingeborg."
+
+"What fable is this you tell me?" said Ragnar. "Who, then, were your
+parents?"
+
+"My father was King Sigurd Fafnisbane and my mother was the Amazon
+Brynhilda, daughter of King Budle."
+
+"Do you ask me to believe that the daughter of these great people was
+named Kraka and brought up in a peasant's hut?"
+
+The queen now told him that her real name was Aslög and related all the
+events of her early life. And as a sign that she spoke the truth, she
+said that her next child, soon to be born, would be a son and would have
+a snake in his eye.
+
+It came out as she said, the boy, when born, having the strange sign of
+which she had spoken, so that he was given a name that meant Sigurd
+Snake-in-Eye. So rejoiced was Ragnar at this that he ceased to think of
+Ingeborg and all his old love for Kraka, or Aslög as she was now called,
+came back.
+
+The remainder of the lives of Ragnar and Aslög and of their warlike sons
+is full of valiant deeds and magic arts, far too long to be told here,
+but which gave them a high place in the legendary lore of the north, in
+which Ragnar Lodbrok is one of the chief heroes. At length Ragnar was
+taken prisoner by King Ethelred of England and thrown into a pit full of
+serpents, where he died. Afterwards Iwar and his brothers invaded
+England, conquered that country, and avenged their father by putting
+Ethelred to death by torture. Iwar took England for his kingdom and the
+realms of the north were divided among his brothers, and many more were
+the wars they had, until death ended the career of these heroes of
+northern legend.
+
+
+
+
+_HAROLD FAIR-HAIRED FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY._
+
+
+To the far-off island of Iceland we must go for the story of the early
+days of Norway. In that frosty isle, not torn by war or rent by tumult,
+the people, sitting before their winter fires, had much time to think and
+write, and it is to Iceland we owe the story of the gods of the north and
+of the Scandinavian kings of heathen times. One of these writers, Snorri
+Sturlasson by name, has left us a famous book, "The Sagas of the Kings of
+Norway," in which he tells of a long line of ancient kings, who were
+descended from the gods. Here are some of their names, Aun the Old,
+Ingjald Ill-Ruler, Olaf the Wood-Cutter, Halfdan Whiteleg, and Halfdan
+the Swarthy. There were others whom we need not name, and of these
+mentioned the names must suffice, for all we know of them is legend, not
+truth.
+
+In those times there was no kingdom of Norway, but a number of petty
+provinces, ruled over by warriors who are spoken of as kings, but whose
+rule was not very wide. Most powerful among them was Halfdan the Swarthy,
+who was only a year old in 810 when his father was killed in battle.
+
+He lived for many years, and he and his wife Ragnhild had strange dreams.
+The queen dreamed that a thorn which she took out of her clothes grew in
+her hands until one end of it took root in the ground and the other shot
+up into the air. It kept on growing until it was a great tree, so high
+that she could barely see its top. The lower part of it was blood-red,
+higher up it was bright green, and the spreading branches were white as
+snow. So widely they spread that they seemed to shade the whole country
+of Norway.
+
+King Halfdan did not like it that his wife had such strange dreams and he
+had none. He asked a sage why this was so, and was told that if he wanted
+to have dreams as strange he must sleep in a pig-sty. A queer recipe for
+dreams, one would think, but the king tried it, and dreamed that his hair
+grew long and beautiful and hung in bright locks over his shoulders, some
+of them down to his waist, and one, the brightest and most beautiful of
+all, still farther down.
+
+When he told the sage of this dream, the wise man said it meant that from
+him was to come a mighty race of kings, one of whom should be the
+greatest and most glorious of them all. This great hero, Snorri tells us,
+was supposed to be Olaf the Saint, who reigned two hundred years later,
+and under whom Christianity first flourished in Norway.
+
+Soon after these dreams a son was born to the queen, who was named
+Harold. A bright, handsome lad he grew to be, wise of mind and strong of
+body and winning the favor of all who knew him. Many tales which we
+cannot believe are told of his boyhood. Here is one of them. Once when
+the king was seated at the Yuletide feast all the meats and the ale
+disappeared from the table, leaving an empty board for the monarch and
+his guests. There was present a Finn who was said to be a sorceror, and
+him the king put to the torture, to find out who had done this thing.
+Young Harold, displeased with his father's act, rescued the Finn from his
+tormentors and went with him to the mountains.
+
+On they went, miles and leagues away, until they came to a place where a
+Finnish chief was holding a great feast. Harold stayed there until
+spring, when he told his host that he must return to his father's halls.
+Then the chief said:
+
+"King Halfdan was very angry when I took his meat and ale from him last
+winter, and now I will reward you with good tidings for what you did.
+Your father is dead and his kingdom waits for you to inherit. And some
+day you will rule over all Norway."
+
+Harold found it to be as the Finn had said, and thus in 860, when he was
+only ten years old, he came to the throne. He was young to be at the head
+of a turbulent people and some ambitious men there were who sought to
+take advantage of his youth, but his uncle guardian fought for him and
+put them all down. Harold was now the greatest among the petty kings of
+Norway and a wish to be ruler of the whole land grew up in his soul.
+
+Here comes in a story which may not be all true, but is pretty enough to
+tell. It is to the effect that love drove Harold to strive for the
+kingdom. Old Snorri tells the story, which runs this way.
+
+King Erik of Hördaland had a fair daughter named Gyda, the fame of whose
+beauty reached Harold's ears and he sent messengers to win her for
+himself. But the maid was proud and haughty and sent back word:
+
+"Tell your master that I will not yield myself to any man who has only a
+few districts for his kingdom. Is there no king in the land who can
+conquer all Norway, as King Erik has conquered Sweden and King Gorm
+Denmark?"
+
+This was all the answer she had for the heralds, though they pleaded for
+a better answer, saying that King Harold was surely great enough for any
+maid in the land.
+
+"This is my answer to King Harold," she said. "I will promise to become
+his wife if for my sake he shall conquer all Norway and rule it as freely
+as King Erik and King Gorm rule their kingdoms. Only when he has done
+this can he be called the king of a people."
+
+When the heralds returned they told the king of their ill success and
+advised him to take the girl by force.
+
+"Not so," Harold replied. "The girl has spoken well and deserves thanks
+instead of injury. She has put a new thought into my mind which had not
+come to me before. This I now solemnly vow and call God to witness, that
+I will not cut or comb my hair until the day when I shall have made
+myself king of all Norway. If I fail in this, I shall die in the
+attempt."
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY.]
+
+Such is the legend of Gyda and the vow. What history tells us is that the
+young king set out to bring all Norway under his rule and prospered in
+the great enterprise. One after another, the small kings yielded to his
+power, and were made earls or governors under him. They collected taxes
+and administered justice in his name. All the land of the peasants was
+declared to be the property of the king, and those who had been free
+proprietors were now made the king's tenants and were obliged to pay
+taxes if they wished to hold their lands. These changes angered many and
+there were frequent rebellions against the king, but he put them all
+down, and year after year came nearer the goal of his ambition. And his
+hair continued to grow uncut and uncombed, and got to be such a tangled
+mass that men called him Harold Lufa, or Frowsy-Head.
+
+There was one great and proud family, the Rafnistas, who were not easily
+to be won. To one of them, Kveld-Ulf, or Night-Wolf, Harold sent envoys,
+asking him to enter his service, but the chief sent back word that he was
+too old to change. Then he offered Bald Grim, old Night-Wolf's son, high
+honors if he would become his vassal. Bald Grim replied that he would
+take no honors that would give him rank over his father.
+
+Harold grew angry at this, and was ready to use force where good words
+would not prevail, but in the end the old chief agreed that his second
+son Thorolf might be the king's man if he saw fit. This he agreed to do,
+and as he was handsome, intelligent and courtly the king set much store
+by him.
+
+Not only with the Norway chiefs, but with the king of Sweden, Harold had
+trouble. While he was busy in the south King Erik invaded the north, and
+Harold had to march in haste to regain his dominions. But the greatest
+danger in his career came in 872, when a number of chiefs combined
+against him and gathered a great fleet, which attacked Harold's fleet in
+Halfrs-Fjord. Then came the greatest and hottest fight known to that day
+in Norway. Loudly the war-horns sounded and the ships were driven
+fiercely to the fray, Harold's ship being in the front wherever the fight
+waxed hottest. Thorolf, the son of Night-Wolf, stood in its prow,
+fighting with viking fury, and beside him stood two of his brothers,
+matching him blow with blow.
+
+Yet the opposing chiefs and their men were stout fighters and the contest
+long seemed doubtful, many brave and able men falling on both sides.
+Arrows hissed in swift flight through the air, spears hurtled after them,
+stones were hurled by strong hands, and those who came hand to hand
+fought like giants. At length Harold's berserkers--men who fought without
+armor, replacing it with fury of onslaught--rushed forward and boarded
+the hostile ships, cutting down all who opposed them. Blood ran like
+water and the chieftains and their men fell or fled before this wild
+assault. The day was won for Harold, and with it the kingdom, for after
+that fatal fray none dared to stand up before him.
+
+His vow accomplished, all Norway now his, Harold at last consented to the
+cutting of his hair, this being done by Ragnvald, the earl of Möre. The
+tangled strands being cut and the hair deftly combed, those who saw it
+marvelled at its beauty, and from that day the king was known as Harold
+the Fair-Haired. As for Gyda, the maid, the great task she set having
+been accomplished, she gave her hand to Harold, a splendid marriage
+completing the love romance of their lives.
+
+This romance, however, is somewhat spoiled by the fact that Harold
+already had a wife, Aasa, the daughter of Earl Haakon, and that he
+afterwards married other wives. He had his faults and weaknesses, one of
+these being that he was not faithful to women and he was jealous of men
+who were growing in greatness. One of the men whom he began to fear or
+hate was Thorolf, who had aided him so mightily in battle and long stood
+highest in his favor.
+
+Thorolf married a rich wife and grew very wealthy, living like a prince,
+and becoming profuse in his hospitality. He was gracious and liberal and
+won hosts of friends, while he aided the king greatly in collecting taxes
+from the Finns, who were not very willing to part with their money.
+Despite this service Harold grew to distrust Thorolf, or to hate him for
+other reasons, and the time came when this feeling led to a tragedy.
+
+Thorolf had been made bailiff of Haalogaland, and when Harold came to
+this province his bailiff entertained him with a splendid feast, to which
+eight hundred guests were invited, three hundred of them being the king's
+attendants.
+
+Yet, through all the hilarity of the feast, Harold sat dark and brooding,
+much to his host's surprise. He unbent a little at the end and seemed
+well pleased when Thorolf presented him with a large dragon ship, fully
+equipped. Yet not long afterwards he took from him his office of bailiff,
+and soon showed himself his deadly foe, slandering him as a pretext for
+attacking him on his estate.
+
+The assailants set fire to Thorolf's house and met him with a shower of
+spears when he broke out from the burning mansion. Seeing the king among
+them Thorolf rushed furiously towards him, cut down his banner-bearer
+with a sword blow, and was almost within touch of the king when he fell
+from his many wounds, crying: "By three steps only I failed."
+
+It is said that Harold himself gave the death blow, yet he looked sadly
+on the warrior as he lay dead at his feet, saying, as he saw a man
+bandaging a slight wound: "That wound Thorolf did not give. Differently
+did weapons bite in his hand. It is a pity that such men must die."
+
+This would indicate that King Harold had other reasons than appears from
+the narrative for the slaughter of his former friend. It must be borne
+in mind that he was engaged in founding a state, and had many disorderly
+and turbulent elements with which to deal, and that before he had ended
+his work he was forced to banish from the kingdom many of those who stood
+in his way. We do not know what secret peril to his plans led him to
+remove Thorolf from his path.
+
+However that be, the killing of the chief sent his father to his bed sick
+with grief, and he grew content only when he heard that the king's hand
+had slain him and that he had fallen on his face at his slayer's feet.
+For when a dying man fell thus it was a sign that he would be avenged.
+
+But the old man was far too weak to attack Harold openly, and was not
+willing to dwell in the same kingdom with him; so he, with his son Bald
+Grim and all his family and wealth, took ship and set sail for Iceland.
+But long he lingered on Norway's coast, hoping for revenge on some of
+Harold's blood, and chance threw in his way a ship containing two cousins
+of the king. This he attacked, killed the king's cousins, and captured
+the ship. Then Bald Grim, full of exultation, sang a song of triumph on
+the ship's prow, beginning with:
+
+               "Now is the Hersir's vengeance
+               On the king fulfilled;
+               Wolf and eagle tread on
+               Yngling's children."
+
+There were other chieftains who sought refuge abroad from Harold's rule,
+men who were bitterly opposed to the new government he founded, with its
+system of taxation and its strict laws. They could not see why the old
+system of robbing and plundering within Norway's confines should be
+interfered with or their other ancient privileges curtailed, and several
+thousand sailed away to found new homes in the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and
+Iceland.
+
+One of the chief of these, Rolf, or Rollo, son of the king's friend,
+Ragnvald of Möre, defied Harold's laws and was declared an outlaw. His
+high birth made the king more determined to punish him, as an example to
+others, and no influence could win forgiveness for Rolf the Walker, as
+men called him, saying that he was so tall and heavy that no horse could
+carry him.
+
+We must follow the outlaw in his journey, for it was one destined to lead
+to great events. Setting sail with a fleet and a large number of
+followers, he made his way to the coast of France, and fixed himself
+there, plundering the people for several years. Charles the Simple, king
+of France, finding that he could not drive the bold Norseman off, at
+length gave him a large province on condition that he would become a
+Christian, and hold his land as a vassal of the king. The province was
+given the name of Normandy, and from Rollo descended that sturdy race of
+kings one of whom conquered England in the following century. Thus the
+exile of Rollo led to events of world-wide importance.
+
+When the proud Norseman was asked to kiss King Charles's foot in token of
+fealty to him, he answered: "I will never bend my knee before any man,
+nor will I kiss any man's foot."
+
+He could hardly be persuaded to let one of his men kiss the king's foot
+as a proxy for him. The man chosen strode sturdily forward, seized the
+foot of the king, who was on horseback, and lifted it to his lips so
+roughly that the poor king turned a somersault from his horse. The
+Norsemen laughed in derision while the king's followers stood by grim and
+silent.
+
+But despite his unruliness at home, Rollo, when he got a kingdom of his
+own, ruled it with all the sternness of King Harold, hanging all robbers
+that fell into his hands, and making his kingdom so secure that the
+peasants could leave their tools in the fields at night without fear of
+loss. Five generations after him came to the throne William the
+Conqueror, who won himself the kingdom of England.
+
+To go back to Harold, the builder of the kingdom of Norway, we shall only
+say in conclusion that he built his rule on sure foundations and kept a
+court of high splendor, and died without a rebel in his realm in 933,
+seventy-three years after he succeeded his father as ruler of a
+province.
+
+
+
+
+_GORM THE OLD, DENMARK'S FIRST KING._
+
+
+In ancient times Denmark was not a kingdom, but a multitude of small
+provinces ruled over by warlike chiefs who called themselves kings. It
+was not until the ninth century that these little king-ships were
+combined into one kingdom, this being done by a famous chieftain, known
+by the Danes as Gorm den Gamle, or Gorm the Old. A great warrior he was,
+a viking of the vikings, and southern Europe felt his heavy hand. A
+famous story of barbarian life is that of Gorm, which well deserves to be
+told.
+
+He was the son of a fierce pagan of Norway, Hardegon, who was of royal
+blood, being a grandson of the half-fabulous Ragnar Lodbrok. A prince
+with only his sword for kingdom, Hardegon looked around for a piece of
+land to be won by fighting, and fixed upon Lejre, in the fruitful Danish
+island of Sjölland, which was just then in a very inviting state for the
+soldier of fortune. Some time before it had fallen into the hands of a
+Swedish fortune-seeker named Olaf, who left it to his two sons. These in
+turn had just been driven out by Siegric, the rightful king, when
+Hardegon descended upon it and seized it for himself. Dying, he left it
+to his son Gorm.
+
+It was a small kingdom that Gorm had fallen heir to. A lord's estate we
+would call it to-day. But while small in size, it stood high in rank, for
+it was here that the great sacrifices to Odin, the chief Scandinavian
+deity, were held, and it was looked upon as one of the most sacred of
+spots. Hither at Yuletide came the devotees of Odin from all quarters to
+worship at his shrine, and offer gifts of gold and silver, precious
+stones and costly robes, to the twelve high priests of whom the king of
+Lejre was the chief. And every worshipper, whether rich or poor, was
+expected to bring a horse, a dog, or a cock, these animals being sacred
+to Odin and sacrificed in large numbers annually at his shrine. In the
+special nine-year services, people came in great numbers, and it is
+probable that on these occasions human sacrifices were made, captives
+taken in war or piratical excursions being saved for this purpose.
+
+As one may see, the king of Lejre had excellent opportunity to acquire
+wealth, and young Gorm, being brave, clever, and ambitious, used his
+riches to increase his landed possessions. At least, the Danish
+historians tell us that he began by buying one bit of land, getting
+another by barter, seizing on one district, having another given him, and
+so on. But all this is guess-work, and all we actually know is that Gorm,
+the son of a poor though nobly-born sea-rover, before his death gained
+control of all Denmark, then much larger than the Denmark of to-day, and
+changed the small state with which he began into a powerful kingdom,
+bringing all the small kings under his sway.
+
+The ambitious chief did not content himself with this. Long before his
+kingdom was rounded and complete he had become known as one of the most
+daring and successful of the viking adventurers who in those days made
+all Europe their prey.
+
+Early in his reign he made a plundering cruise along the shores of the
+Baltic and joined in a piratical invasion of Russia, penetrating far
+inward and pillaging as he went. We hear of him again in 882 as one of
+the chiefs of a daring band which made a conquering raid into Germany,
+intrenched itself on the river Maas, sallied forth on plundering
+excursions whose track was marked by ruined fields and burnt homesteads,
+villages and towns, and even assailed and took Aix-la-Chapelle, one of
+the chief cities of the empire of Charlemagne and the seat of his tomb.
+The reckless freebooters stalled their horses in the beautiful chapel in
+which the great emperor lay buried and stripped from his tomb its gilded
+and silvered railings and everything of value which the monks had not
+hidden.
+
+The whole surrounding country was similarly ravaged and desolated by the
+ruthless heathens, monasteries were burned, monks were killed or
+captured, and the emperor, Charles the Fat, was boldly defied. When
+Charles brought against the plunderers an army large enough to devour
+them, he was afraid to strike a blow against them, and preferred to buy
+them off with a ransom of two thousand pounds of gold and silver, all he
+got in return being their promise to be baptized.
+
+Finding that they had a timid foe to deal with, the rapacious Norsemen
+asked for more, and when they finally took to their ships two hundred
+transports were needed to carry away their plunder. The cowardly Charles,
+indeed, was so wrought upon by fear of the pagan Danes that he even
+passed the incredible law that any one who killed a Norseman should have
+his eyes put out and in some cases should lose his life.
+
+All this was sure to invite new invasions. A wave of joy passed through
+the north when the news spread of the poltroonery of the emperor and the
+vast spoil awaiting the daring hand. Back they came, demanding and
+receiving new ransom, and in 885 there began a great siege of Paris by
+forty thousand Danes.
+
+King Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part in this, and when Henry of
+Neustria, whom the emperor had sent with an army against them, was routed
+and driven back, it was Gorm who pursued the fugitives into the town of
+Soissons, where many captives and a great booty were taken.
+
+The dastard emperor again bought them off with money and freedom to
+ravage Burgundy, Paris being finally rescued by Count Eudes. In 891 they
+were so thoroughly beaten by King Arnulf, of Germany, that their great
+leaders fell on the field and only a remnant of the Norsemen escaped
+alive, the waters of the river Dyle running red with the blood of slain
+thousands.
+
+Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part in this disastrous battle of
+Louvaine and was one of the fortunate few who lived to return to their
+native land. Apparently it was not the last of his expeditions, his wife,
+Queen Thyra, taking care of the kingdom in his many long absences.
+
+Thyra needed ability and resolution to fitly perform this duty, for those
+were restless and turbulent times, and the Germans made many incursions
+into Sleswick and Jutland and turned the borderlands on the Eyder into a
+desert. This grew so hard to bear that the wise queen devised a plan to
+prevent it. Gathering a great body of workmen from all parts of Denmark,
+she set them to building a wall of defense from forty-five to
+seventy-five feet high and eight miles long, crossing from water to water
+on the east and west. This great wall, since known as the Dannevirke,
+took three years to build. There were strong watch-towers at intervals
+and only one gate, and this was well protected by a wide and deep ditch,
+crossed by a bridge that could readily be removed.
+
+For ages afterwards the Danes were grateful to Queen Thyra for this
+splendid wall of defense and sang her praises in their national hymns,
+while they told wonderful tales of her cleverness in ruling the land
+while her husband was far away. Fragments of Thyra's rampart still remain
+and its remains formed the groundwork of all the later border bulwarks of
+Denmark.
+
+Queen Thyra, while a worshipper of the northern gods, showed much favor
+to the Christians and caused some of her children to be signed with the
+cross. But King Gorm was a fierce pagan and treated his Christian
+subjects so cruelly that he gained the name of the "Church's worm," being
+regarded as one who was constantly gnawing at the supports of the Church.
+Henry I. the Fowler, the great German emperor of that age, angry at this
+treatment of the Christians, sent word to Gorm that it must cease, and
+when he found that no heed was paid to his words he marched a large army
+to the Eyder, giving Gorm to understand that he must mend his ways or his
+kingdom would be overrun.
+
+Gorm evidently feared the loss of his dominion, for from that time on he
+allowed the Archbishop of Bremen to preach in his dominions and to
+rebuild the churches which had been destroyed, while he permitted his son
+Harald, who favored the Christians, to be signed with the cross. But he
+kept to the faith of his forefathers, as did his son Knud, known as
+"Dan-Ast," or the "Danes'-joy."
+
+The ancient sagas tell us that there was little love between Knud and
+Harald; and that Gorm, fearing ill results from this, swore an oath that
+he would put to death any one who attempted to kill his first-born son,
+or who should even tell him that Knud had died.
+
+While Harald remained at home and aided his mother, Knud was of his
+father's fierce spirit and for years attended him on his viking
+expeditions. On one of these he was drowned, or rather was killed while
+bathing, by an arrow shot from one of his own ships. Gorm was absent at
+the time, and Thyra scarcely knew how the news could be told him without
+incurring the sworn penalty of death.
+
+Finally she put herself and her attendants into deep mourning and hung
+the chief hall of the palace with the ashy-grey hangings used at the
+grave-feasts of Northmen of noble birth. Then, seating herself, she
+awaited Gorm's return. On entering the hall he was struck by these signs
+of mourning and by the silence and dejection of the queen, and broke out
+in an exclamation of dismay:
+
+"My son, Knud, is dead!"
+
+"Thou hast said it, and not I, King Gorm," was the queen's reply. The
+news of the death had thus been conveyed to him without any one incurring
+the sworn penalty. Soon after that--in 936--King Gorm died, and the
+throne of Denmark was left to his son Harald, a cruel and crafty man whom
+many of the people believed to have caused the murder of his brother.
+
+
+
+
+_ERIK BLOOD-AXE AND EGIL THE ICELANDER._
+
+
+In the year 900 Harold the Fair-Haired, the famous monarch who made a
+kingdom of Norway, passed a law which was to work mischief for centuries
+to come. Erik, his favorite son, was named overlord of the kingdom, but
+with the proviso that his other sons should bear the kingly title and
+rule over provinces, while the sons of his daughters were to be made
+earls. Had the wise Harold dreamed of the trouble this unwise law was to
+make he would have cut off his right hand before signing it. It was to
+give rise to endless rebellions and civil wars which filled the kingdom
+with ruin and slaughter for many reigns and at last led to its overthrow
+and long disappearance from among the separate nations of the earth.
+
+A bold and daring prince was Erik, with the old viking blood in his
+veins. When only twelve years of age his father gave him five ships, each
+with a sturdy crew of Norsemen, and sent him out to ravage the southern
+lands, in the manner of the sea-kings of those days. Many were the
+perilous exploits of the young viking admiral and when he came back to
+his father's halls and told him of his daring deeds, the old king
+listened with delight. So fierce and fatal were many of his fights that
+he won the name of Blood-Axe, but for this his father loved him all the
+more and chose him to be his successor on the throne.
+
+[Illustration: HOME OF PEASANTS. NORWAY.]
+
+Before his father died Erik had shown what was in him, by attacking and
+killing two of his brothers. But despite all that, when the old king was
+eighty years of age he led Erik to the throne and named him as his
+successor. Three years later Harold died and Norway fell under the young
+sea-king's hand--a brave, handsome, stately ruler; but haughty, cruel,
+and pitiless in his wrath, and with the old viking wildness in his blood.
+
+He had married a woman whom men called a witch--cruel, treacherous,
+loving money and power, and with such influence over him that she killed
+all the good in his soul and spurred him on to evil deeds.
+
+Strange stories are told of the wicked Queen Gunhild. It was said that
+she had been sent to Finland to learn the arts of sorcery, in which the
+Finns of those days were well versed. Here Erik met her in one of his
+wanderings, and was taken captive by her bold beauty. She dwelt with two
+sorcerers, both bent on marrying her, while she would have neither of
+them. Prince Erik was a suitor more to her liking and she hid him in her
+tent, begging him to rescue her from her troublesome lovers.
+
+This was no easy task, for sorcerers have arts of their own, but Erik
+proved equal to it, cut his way through all the difficulties in his path
+and carried Gunhild away to his ships, where he made her his wife. In
+her he had wed a dragon of mischief, as his people were to learn.
+
+She was of small size but of wonderful beauty, and with sly, insinuating
+ways that fitted her well to gain the mastery over strong men. But all
+her arts were used for evil, and she won the hatred of the people by
+speaking words of ill counsel in her husband's ears. The treachery and
+violence he showed were said to be the work of Gunhild the witch, and the
+nobles and people soon grew to hate Erik Blood-Axe and his cruel wife,
+and often broke out in rebellion against them.
+
+His brothers, who had been made kings of provinces, were not ready to
+submit to his harsh rule, and barely was old King Harold dead before
+Halfdan the Swarthy--who bore the name of his grandfather--claimed to be
+monarch in Tröndelag, and Olaf, another brother, in Viken. Death came
+suddenly to Halfdan--men whispered that he had been poisoned by the
+queen--but his brother Sigfrid took his place and soon the flame of
+rebellion rose north and south. Erik proved equal to the difficulty.
+Sigfrid and Olaf were in Tunsberg, where they had met to lay plans to
+join their forces, when Erik, whose spies told him of their movements,
+took the town by surprise and killed them both.
+
+Thus, so far, Erik Blood-Axe was triumphant. He had killed four of his
+brothers--men said five--and every one thought that Gunhild would not be
+content until all King Harold's brood except her own husband were in the
+grave.
+
+Trouble next came from a region far away, the frost-king's land of
+Iceland in the northern seas, which had been settled from Norway in the
+early reign of Harold the Fair-Haired, some sixty years before. Here
+lived a handsome and noble man named Thorolf, who had met Erik in his
+viking days. He was the son of the stern old Icelander Bald Grim, and
+nephew of the noble Thorolf who had been basely slain by King Harold.
+
+Bald Grim hated Harold and all his race, but Thorolf grew to admire Erik
+for his daring and made him a present of a large and beautiful ship. Thus
+Erik became his friend, and when Thorolf came to Norway the young prince
+begged his father to let him dwell there in peace. When he at length went
+home to Iceland he took with him an axe with a richly carved handle,
+which Erik had sent as a present to his father.
+
+Old Bald Grim was not the man to be bought over by a present. The hate he
+felt for Harold he transferred to his son, and when Thorolf set sail
+again for Norway his father bade him take back the axe to the king and
+sang an insulting song which he bade him repeat to Erik. Thorolf did not
+like his errand. He thought it best to let the blood-feud die, so he
+threw the axe into the sea and when he met the king gave him his father's
+thanks for the fine gift. If Thorolf had had his way the trouble would
+have been at an end, but with him came Egil, his younger brother, a man
+of different character.
+
+Stern old Bald Grim seemed born again in his son Egil. A man of great
+size, swarthy face, harsh of aspect, and of fierce temper, in him was the
+old, tameless spirit of the Norse sea-kings, turbulent, passionate,
+owning no man master, he bent his strong soul to no man's rule. Rash and
+adventurous, he had a long and stormy career, while nature had endowed
+him with a rich gift of song, which added to his fame. Such was the type
+of men who in those days made all Europe tremble before the Norsemen's
+wrath, and won dominion for the viking warriors in many lands.
+
+Thorold when in Norway before had gained powerful friends in the great
+nobles, Thore Herse and Björn the Yeoman. On this visit the brothers
+became Thore's guests, and Egil and Arinbjörn, Thore's son, became warm
+friends. The young Icelander's hot temper soon brewed trouble. Sickness
+kept him from going with Thorolf to the house of Björn the Yeoman, whose
+daughter, Aasgard, he was to marry; but he soon got well and went on a
+visit to Baard, a steward of the king. As fortune decreed he met there
+King Erik and Queen Gunhild.
+
+Egil was not the man to play the courtier and his hot blood was under
+little control. When Baard neglected him in favor of his royal visitor,
+he broke into such a rage that the queen, to quiet him, tried one of her
+underhand arts. She bade Baard to mix sleeping herbs with his beer.
+
+Suspecting treachery from the taste of the beer Egil flung his flagon to
+the floor, struck Baard dead in his fury, and, fleeing for his life, swam
+to an island in the neighboring stream. When men were sent to search the
+island and capture him he killed some of them, seized their boat, and
+made his escape.
+
+King Erik was furious, but Thore Herse got him to accept a money payment
+for Baard's death--as was then the custom of the land--and he agreed to
+let Egil dwell in Norway unharmed.
+
+This was not to the queen's liking. She was fond of Baard and was deeply
+incensed at Egil for his murderous act, and she stormed at the king for
+his mildness of temper till he broke out:
+
+"You are forever egging me on to acts of violence; but now you must hold
+your peace, for I have given my kingly word and cannot break it."
+
+Gunhild, thus repulsed, sought other means of revenge. A great feast of
+sacrifice to the old heathen gods was to be held at the temple of Gaule,
+and at her instigation her brother, Eyvind Skreyja, agreed to kill one of
+Bald Grim's sons. Finding no opportunity for this, he killed one of
+Thorolf's men, for which act Erik outlawed him.
+
+The remainder of the story of Egil's career is largely that of a viking,
+that is, a piratical rover, bent on spoil and plunder and the harrying of
+sea-coast lands. With Thorolf he took to the sea and cruised about in
+quest of wealth and glory, finally landing in England and fighting in a
+great battle under the banner of King Athelstan. He made his mark here,
+but Thorolf was slain, so Egil went back to Norway, married his brother's
+widow, and sailed for his old home in Iceland, which he had not seen for
+twelve years.
+
+Iceland was too quiet a land to hold the stirring sea-king long and news
+from Norway soon made him take ship again. Björn the Yeoman, his wife's
+father, had died, and Queen Gunhild had given his estate to Berg-Anund,
+one of her favorites. Storming with rage, he reached Norway and hotly
+pleaded his claim to the estate before the assembly or _thing_ at Gula,
+Erik and Gunhild being present. He failed in his purpose, the _thing_
+breaking up in disorder; and Egil, probably finding Norway too hot to
+hold him, went back to Iceland.
+
+If King Erik now fancied he was rid of the turbulent Icelander he was
+mistaken. Rankling with a sense of injury and borne onward by his
+impetuous temper, Egil was soon in Norway again, sought the Björn estate,
+surprised and killed Berg-Anund, and went so far in his daring as to kill
+Ragnvald, the king's son, who was visiting Berg. Carried to extremes by
+his unruly temper he raised what was called a shame-pole, or pole of
+dishonor, on a cliff top, to the king and queen. On it he thrust the head
+of a dead horse, crying out:
+
+"I turn this dishonor against all the land-spirits of this land, that
+they may all stray bewildered and none of them find his home until they
+have driven King Erik and Queen Gunhild out of this land."
+
+This message of defiance he cut in runes--the letters of the
+Northland--into the pole, that all might read it, and then sailed back to
+Iceland.
+
+Egil had not long to wait for his curse to take effect, for Erik's reign
+was soon threatened from a new source. He had not killed all his
+brothers. In the old days of King Harold, when near seventy years old, he
+had married a new wife, who bore him a son whom he named
+Haakon,--destined in later life to reign with the popular title of Haakon
+the Good. This boy, perhaps for his safety, had been sent to England and
+given over to King Athelstan, who brought him up almost as his own son.
+
+Erik had been four years on the throne when Haakon came back to Norway, a
+handsome, noble youth, kind of heart and gentle in disposition, and on
+all sides hailed with joy, for Erik and his evil-minded wife had not won
+the love of the people. Great nobles and many of the people gathered
+around Haakon, men saying that he was like King Harold come back again,
+gentler and nobler than of old and with all his old stately beauty and
+charm.
+
+The next year he was crowned king. Erik tried to raise an army, but none
+of the people were willing to fight for him, and he was forced to flee
+with his wife and children. Only a few of his old friends went with him,
+but among them was Arinbjörn, Egil's former friend.
+
+Sudden had been King Erik's fall. Lately lord of a kingdom, he had now
+not a foot of land he could call his own, and he sailed about as a
+sea-robber, landing and plundering in Scotland and England. At length,
+to rid himself of this stinging hornet of the seas, King Athelstan made
+him lord of a province in Northumberland, with the promise that he would
+fight for it against other vikings like himself. He was also required to
+be baptized and become a Christian.
+
+Meanwhile Egil dwelt in Iceland, but in bitter discontent. He roamed
+about the strand, looking for sails at sea and seeming to care little for
+his wife and children. Men said that Gunhild had bewitched him, but more
+likely it was his own unquiet spirit. At any rate the time came when he
+could bear a quiet life no longer and he took ship and sailed away to the
+south.
+
+Misfortune now went with him. A storm drove his ship ashore on the
+English coast at the mouth of the Humber, the ship being lost but he and
+his thirty men reaching shore. Inquiring in whose land he was, people
+told him that Erik Blood-Axe ruled that region.
+
+Egil's case was a desperate one. He was in the domain of his deadly foe,
+with little hope of escape. With his usual impetuous spirit, he made no
+attempt to flee, but rode boldly into York, where he found his old friend
+Arinbjörn. With him he went straight to Erik, like the reckless fellow he
+was.
+
+"What do you expect from me?" asked Erik. "You deserve nothing but death
+at my hands."
+
+"Death let it be, then," said the bold viking, in his reckless manner.
+
+Gunhild on seeing him was eager for his blood. She had hated him so long
+that she hotly demanded that he should be killed on the spot. Erik, less
+bloodthirsty, gave him his life for one night more, and Arinbjörn begged
+him to spend the night in composing a song in Erik's honor, hoping that
+in this way he might win his life.
+
+Egil promised to do so and his friend brought him food and drink, bidding
+him do his best. Anxious to know how he was progressing Arinbjörn visited
+him in the night.
+
+"How goes the song?" he asked.
+
+"Not a line of it is ready," answered Egil. "A swallow has been sitting
+in the window all the night, screaming and disturbing me, and do what I
+would I could not drive it away."
+
+At that Arinbjörn darted into the hall, where he saw in the dim light a
+woman running hastily away. Going back he found that the swallow had
+flown. He was sure now that Queen Gunhild had changed herself into a
+swallow by sorcery, and for the remainder of the night he kept watch
+outside that the bird should not return. When morning broke he found that
+Egil had finished his song.
+
+Determined to save his friend's life if he could, he armed himself and
+his men and went with Egil to the palace of the king, where he asked Erik
+for Egil's life as a reward for his devotion to him when others had
+deserted him.
+
+Erik made no reply, and then Arinbjörn cried out:
+
+"This I will say. Egil shall not die while I or one of my men remain
+alive."
+
+"Egil has well deserved death," replied Erik, "but I cannot buy his death
+at that price."
+
+As he stopped speaking Egil began to sing, chanting his ode in tones that
+rang loudly through the hall. Famed as a poet, his death song was one of
+the best he had ever composed, and it praised Erik's valor in all the
+full, wild strains of the northern verse.
+
+Erik heard the song through with unmoved face. When it was done he said:
+
+"Your song is a noble one, and your friend's demand for your life is
+nobler still. Nor can I be the dastard to kill a man who puts himself of
+his own will into my hands. You shall depart unharmed. But do not think
+that I or my sons forgive you, and from the moment you leave this hall
+never come again under my eyes or the eyes of my sons."
+
+Egil thus won his life by his song, which became known as the "Ransom of
+the Head." Another of his songs, called "The Loss of the Son," is held to
+be the most beautiful in all the literature of Iceland. He afterwards
+lived long and had many more adventures, and in the end died in his bed
+in Iceland when he was over ninety years of age. Erik died in battle many
+years earlier, and Gunhild then went to Denmark with her sons. She was to
+make more trouble for Norway before she died.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEA-KINGS AND THEIR DARING FEATS._
+
+
+From the word _vik_, or bay, comes the word viking, long used to
+designate the sea-rovers of the Northland, the bold Norse wanderers who
+for centuries made their way to the rich lands of the south on plundering
+raids. Beginning by darting out suddenly from hiding places in bays or
+river mouths to attack passing craft, they in the end became daring
+scourers of the seas and won for themselves kingdoms and dominions in the
+settled realms of the south.
+
+Nothing was known of them in the early days. The people of southern
+Europe in the first Christian centuries hardly knew of the existence of
+the race of fair-skinned and light-haired barbarians who dwelt in the
+great peninsula of the north. It was not until near the year 800 B.C.
+that these bold brigands learned that riches awaited those who dared
+seize it on the shores of France, England, and more southern lands. Then
+they came in fleets and spread terror wherever they appeared. For several
+centuries the realms of civilization trembled before their very name.
+
+"From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord deliver us!" prayed the
+priests, and the people joined fervently in the prayer.
+
+Long before this period the sea was the favorite hunting ground of the
+daring sons of the north, but the small chiefs of that period preyed upon
+each other, harrying their neighbors and letting distant lands alone. But
+as the power of the chiefs, and their ability to protect themselves
+increased, this mode of gaining wealth and fame lost its ease and
+attraction and the rovers began to rove farther afield.
+
+Sea-kings they called themselves. On land the ruler of a province might
+be called either earl or king, but the earl who went abroad with his
+followers on warlike excursions was content with no less name than king,
+and the chiefs who set out on plundering cruises became from the first
+known as sea-kings. Pirates and freebooters we would call them to-day,
+but they were held in high distinction in their native land, and some of
+the most cruel of them, on their return home, became men of influence,
+with all the morality and sense of honor known in those early days. Their
+lives of ravage and outrage won them esteem at home and the daring and
+successful sea-king ranked in fame with the noblest of the home-staying
+chiefs. We have seen how King Erik began his career as a viking and ended
+it in the same pursuit; how Rollo, a king's son, adopted the same
+profession; and from this it may be seen that the term was one of honor
+instead of disgrace.
+
+From all the lands of the north they came, these dreaded sons of the sea,
+from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark alike, fierce heathens they who cared
+nought for church or priest, but liked best to rob chapels and
+monasteries, for there the greatest stores of gold and silver could be
+found. When the churches were plundered they often left them in flames,
+as they also did the strong cities they captured and sacked. The small,
+light boats with which they dared the sea in its wrath were able to go
+far up the rivers, and wherever these fierce and bloodthirsty rovers
+appeared wild panic spread far around. So fond were they of sword-thrust
+and battle that one viking crew would often challenge another for the
+pure delight of fighting. A torment and scourge they were wherever they
+appeared.
+
+The first we hear in history of the sea-kings is in the year 787, when a
+small party of them landed on the English coast. In 794 came another
+flock of these vultures of the sea, who robbed a church and a monastery,
+plundering and killing, and being killed in their turn when a storm
+wrecked their ships and threw them on shore. As a good monk writes of
+them: "The heathen came from the northern countries to Britain like
+stinging wasps, roamed about like savage wolves, robbing, biting, killing
+not only horses, sheep, and cattle, but also priests, acolytes, monks,
+and nuns."
+
+The Norsemen had found a gold mine in the south and from this time on
+they worked it with fierce hands. Few dared face them, and even in the
+days of the great Charlemagne they ravaged the coast lands of France.
+Once, when the great emperor was in one of his cities on the
+Mediterranean coast, a fleet of the swift viking ships, known by their
+square sails, entered the harbor. Soon word was brought that they had
+landed and were plundering. Who they were the people knew not, some
+saying that they were Jews, others Africans, and others that they were
+British merchants.
+
+"No merchants they," said the emperor. "Those ships do not bring us
+goods, but fierce foes, bloody fighters from the north."
+
+The warriors around him at once seized their weapons and hurried to the
+shore, but the vikings had learned that the great emperor was in the city
+and, not daring to face him, had sought their ships and spread their
+sails again. Tears came to the eyes of Charlemagne as he watched them in
+their outward flight. He said to those around him:
+
+"It is not for fear that these brigands can do me any harm that I weep,
+but for their daring to show themselves on this coast while I am alive.
+Their coming makes me foresee and fear the harm they may do to my
+descendants."
+
+This story may be one of those legends which the monks were fond of
+telling, but it serves to show how the dread Norsemen were feared. France
+was one of their chief fields of ravage and slaughter. First coming in
+single ships, to rob and flee, they soon began to come in fleets and grew
+daring enough to attack and sack cities. Hastings, one of the most
+renowned of them all, did not hesitate to attack the greatest cities of
+the south.
+
+In 841 this bold freebooter sailed up the Loire with a large fleet, took
+and burned the city of Amboise, and laid siege to Tours. But here the
+inhabitants, aided, it is said, by the bones of their patron saint, drove
+him off. Four years later he made an attack on Paris, and as fortune
+followed his flag he grew so daring that he sought to capture the city of
+Rome and force the Pope to crown him emperor.
+
+For an account of this remarkable adventure of the bold Hastings see the
+article, "The Raids of the Sea-Rovers," in the German volume of
+"Historical Tales." In that account are also given the chief exploits of
+the vikings in France and Germany. We shall therefore confine ourselves
+in the remainder of this article to their operations in other lands, and
+especially in Ireland.
+
+This country was a common field for the depredations of the Norse rovers.
+For some reason not very clear to us the early vikings did not trouble
+England greatly, but for many years they spread terror through the sister
+isle, and in the year 838 Thorgisl, one of their boldest leaders, came
+with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, with which he attacked and
+captured the city of Dublin, and afterwards, as an old author tells us,
+he conquered all Ireland, securing his conquest with stone forts
+surrounded with deep moats.
+
+But the Irish at length got rid of their conqueror by a stratagem. It was
+through love that the sea-king was lost. Bewitched with the charms of
+the fair daughter of Maelsechnail, one of the petty kings of the land,
+he bade this chieftain to send her to him, with fifteen young maidens in
+her train. He agreed to meet her on an island in Loch Erne with as many
+Norsemen of high degree.
+
+Maelsechnail obeyed, but his maidens were beardless young men, dressed
+like women but armed with sharp daggers. Thorgisl and his men, taken by
+surprise, were attacked and slain. The Irish chief had once before asked
+Thorgisl how he should rid himself of some troublesome birds that had
+invaded the island. "Destroy their nests," said the Norseman. It was wise
+advice, and Maelsechnail put it in effect against the nests of the
+conquerors, destroying their stone strongholds, and killing or driving
+them away, with the aid of his fellow chieftains.
+
+Thus for a time Ireland was freed. It was conquered again by Olaf the
+White, who in 852 defeated some Danes who had taken Dublin, and then,
+like Thorgisl, began to build castles and tax the people. Two other
+viking leaders won kingdoms in Ireland, but Olaf was the most powerful of
+them all, and the kingdom founded by him lasted for three hundred and
+fifty years. From Dublin Olaf sailed to Scotland and England, the booty
+he won filling two hundred ships.
+
+The sea-rovers did not confine their voyages to settled lands. Bold ocean
+wanderers, fearless of man on shore and tempest on the waves, they
+visited all the islands of the north and dared the perils of the unknown
+sea. They rounded the North Cape and made their way into the White Sea as
+early as 750. The Faroe, the Orkney and the Shetland Islands were often
+visited by them after 825, and in 874 they discovered Iceland, which had
+been reached and settled by Irishmen or Scots about 800. The Norsemen
+found here only some Irish hermits and monks, and these, disturbed in
+their peaceful retreat by the turbulent newcomers, made their way back to
+Ireland and left the Norsemen lords of the land. From Iceland the rovers
+reached Greenland, which was settled in 986, and about the year 1000 they
+discovered North America, at a place they named Vinland.
+
+Such is, briefly told, the story of the early Norse wanderers. They had a
+later tale, of which we have told part in their conquest of Ireland.
+Though at first they came with a few ships, and were content to attack a
+town or a monastery, they soon grew more daring and their forces larger.
+A number of them would now fortify themselves on some coast elevation and
+make it a centre for plundering raids into the surrounding country. At a
+later date many of them ceased to pose as pirates and took the rôle of
+invaders and conquerors, storming and taking cities and founding
+governments in the invaded land.
+
+Such was the work of Thorgisl and Olaf in Ireland and of Rollo in
+Normandy. England was a frequent field of invasion after 833, which
+continued until 851, when King Ethelwulf defeated them with great
+slaughter. Fifteen years later they came again, these new invaders being
+almost all Danes. During all his reign Alfred the Great fought with them,
+but in spite of his efforts they gained a footing in the island, becoming
+its masters in the north and east. A century later, in 1016, Canute, the
+king of Denmark, completed the conquest and became king of all England.
+
+This is not the whole story of the sea-kings, whose daring voyages and
+raids made up much of the history of those centuries. One of the most
+important events in viking history took place in 862, when three brother
+chiefs, probably from Sweden, who had won fame in the Baltic Sea, were
+invited by the Russian tribes south of Lake Ladoga to come and rule over
+them. They did so, making Novgorod their capital. From this grew the
+empire of Russia, which was ruled over by the descendants of Rurik, the
+principal of these chiefs, until 1598.
+
+Other vikings made their way southward through Russia and, sailing down
+the Dnieper, put Constantinople in peril. Only a storm which scattered
+their fleet saved the great city from capture. Three times later they
+appeared before Constantinople, twice (in 904 and 945) being bought off
+by the emperors with large sums of money. Later on the emperors had a
+picked body-guard of Varangians, as they called the Northmen, and kept
+these till the fall of the city in 1453. It was deemed a great honor in
+the north to serve in this choice cohort at Myklegaard (Great City), and
+those who returned from there doubtless carried many of the elements of
+civilization to the Scandinavian shores.
+
+To some of these Varangians was due the conquest of Sicily by the
+Northmen. They were in the army sent from Constantinople to conquer that
+island, and seeing how goodly a land it was they aided in its final
+conquest, which was made by Robert Guiscard, a noble of Normandy, whose
+son Roger took the title of "King of Sicily and Italy." Thus it was that
+the viking voyages led within a few centuries to the founding of kingdoms
+under Norse rulers in England, Ireland, Sicily, Russia, and Normandy in
+France.
+
+
+
+
+_HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE SONS OF GUNHILD._
+
+
+We have told how King Haakon succeeded his brother, Erik Blood-Axe, on
+the throne, and how, from his kindly and gentle nature, people called him
+Haakon the Good. There were other sons and several grandsons of Harold
+the Fair-Haired in the kingdom, but the new king treated them with
+friendliness and let them rule as minor kings under him.
+
+He dealt with the peasants also in the same kindly spirit, giving them
+back their lands and relieving them of the tax which Harold had laid. But
+he taxed them all in another way, dividing the country into marine
+districts, each of which was required to supply the king, on his demand,
+with a fully equipped warship. Yet as this was for the defence of the
+country, the people did not look on it as oppressive. And as Norway had a
+long mountainous coast, and important events were often long in becoming
+known, he gave orders that the approach of an enemy should be made known
+by signal fires lighted all along the coast.
+
+Haakon made other wise laws, in which he took the advice of the ablest
+men of the kingdom. But now we have to speak of the most striking event
+in the new king's career. Norway at that time was a haunt of idolatry.
+Men worshipped Odin and a host of other gods, and there was not a
+Christian in the whole land except the king himself, who had been brought
+up in the new faith by his foster-father, King Athelstan of England.
+
+An earnest Christian, he looked with sorrow on the rude worship and
+heathen belief of his people, but not until he had been many years on the
+throne did he venture to interfere with it. Then, about 950, when he had
+won the love of them all, he took steps to carry out his long-cherished
+desire.
+
+Sending to England for a bishop and a number of priests, the king issued
+a decree in which the people were forbidden to make sacrifices to the old
+gods and ordered to accept the Christian faith.
+
+This came like a thunderbolt to the worshippers of the old gods. To bid a
+whole nation to give up at a word the religion which they had cherished
+from childhood and which their fathers had held for generations before
+them was too much to demand. The king brought together a concourse of the
+people and spoke to them of his wish and purpose, but they had no answer
+to make except that the matter must be settled by their legal assembly.
+
+When the _thing_, or assembly, was called into session, a great body of
+the people were present, for never had so important a question been laid
+before them. Earnest and imploring was the speech made by the king, in
+which he warmly asked them to accept the God of the Christians and give
+up their heathen idols of wood and stone.
+
+These words were followed by an angry murmur from the multitude, and
+many dark looks were bent upon the rash monarch. Then a peasant leader,
+Aasbjörn of Medalhus, stepped out from the throng and spoke:
+
+"When you, King Haakon, first called us here before you and we took you
+for our king, it was with deep gladness, as if heaven had opened to us.
+But was it liberty we gained, or do you wish to make thralls of us once
+more, that you ask us to give up the faith of our fathers and forefathers
+for the new and unknown one you offer? Sturdy men they were, and their
+faith did well for them and has done well for us. We have learned to love
+you well and have always kept and will always keep the laws made by you
+and accepted by us. But in this thing which you now demand we cannot
+follow. If you are so resolved upon it that your mind cannot be changed,
+then we shall be forced to part from you and choose a new chief who will
+support us in worshipping our fathers' gods. Choose, O king, what you
+will do, before this assembly has dispersed."
+
+So loud were the shouts of approval with which this speech was greeted
+that not a word could be heard. Then, when quiet reigned again, Earl
+Sigurd, who had spoken aside with Haakon, rose and said that the king had
+no wish to lose their friendship and would yield to their wishes. This
+was not enough to overcome the distrust of the peasants. They next
+demanded that he should take part in the sacrifices to be given and in
+the feast to follow. This he felt obliged to do, though he quieted his
+conscience by making the sign of the cross.
+
+When the next Yuletide sacrifice came Haakon was required to eat
+horse-flesh at the feast and this time was forbidden to make the sign of
+the cross when he drank the usual toasts to the ancient gods of Norway.
+This was a humiliation that cut the proud monarch deeply and it was with
+an angry soul he left, saying to his attendants that when he came back it
+would be with an army to punish those who had thus insulted his faith.
+Back he did not come, for new troubles were gathering around him.
+
+To learn the source of these troubles we must return to the story of Erik
+Blood-Axe and Gunhild, his wicked wife. After Erik's death that
+mischief-loving woman sought Denmark with her sons, who grew up to become
+brave warriors and daring viking rovers, infesting the coast of Norway
+and giving its king and earls all the trouble they could. At length,
+backed by Harold Bluetooth, the king of Denmark, their piratical raids
+changed to open war, and they invaded Norway, hoping to win their
+father's old kingdom for themselves.
+
+A crisis came in 955. In that year the sons of Erik appeared so suddenly
+with a large fleet that they took King Haakon by surprise. He had with
+him only a small force, the signal fires had not been lighted, and the
+enemy were close at hand before he could prepare to meet them.
+
+"What shall we do?" he asked his men. "Shall we stay and fight, or draw
+back and gather men?"
+
+The answer came from an old peasant, Egil Woolsack:
+
+"Often have I fought, King Haakon, with King Harold, your father. Whether
+the foe was stronger or weaker the victory was always his. Never did he
+ask his friends if he should run; nor need you, for we are ready to fight
+and think that we have a brave chieftain for our leader."
+
+"You speak well and wisely, Egil," said the king. "It is not my wish to
+run, and with your aid I am ready to face the foe."
+
+"Good words those!" cried Egil joyously. "It has been so long since I saw
+the flash of sword that I feared I would die in my bed of old age, though
+it has been my hope to fall in battle at my chieftain's back. Now will my
+wish be gained."
+
+To land came the sons of Erik, having six men to Haakon's one. Seeing how
+great were the odds, old Egil tried strategy, leading ten
+standard-bearers to a hidden spot in the rear of the hostile army and
+leaving them there in ambush. When the armies had met and the fighting
+was under way, he led these men up a sloping hill until the tops of their
+standards could be seen above its summit. He had placed them far apart,
+so that when the Danes saw the waving banners it looked like a long line
+of new troops coming upon them. With sudden alarm and a cry of terror
+they fled towards their ships.
+
+Gamle, their leader, was quick to discover the stratagem, and called on
+them to stop, that it was all a trick; but nothing could check their
+panic flight, and he was swept along with them to the beach. Here a stand
+was made, but Haakon rushed upon them in a furious attack in which old
+Egil had his wish, for he fell in the storm of sword blows, winning the
+death he craved. Victory rested on the king's banners and his foes fled
+to their ships, Gamle, their leader, being drowned in the flight.
+
+For six years after this the land lay at peace. King Haakon continued a
+Christian and many of his friends joined him in the new faith. But he was
+too wise and gentle to attempt again to force his belief upon his people
+and the worship of the heathen gods went on. All the people, nobles and
+peasants alike, loved their king dearly and he would have ended his reign
+in a peaceful old age but for his foes without the kingdom. This is the
+way in which the end came.
+
+In the summer of the year 961, when Haakon had been twenty-six years on
+the throne, he with many guests was at feast in the royal mansion of
+Fitje, in Hördaland. While at table a sentinel brought in the alarming
+news that a large fleet of ships was sailing up the fiord.
+
+By the king's side sat Eyvnid, his nephew, who was a famous scald, or
+bard. They rose and looked out on the fiord.
+
+"What ships are they, of friends or of foes?" asked the king.
+
+The scald replied in a verse, in which he sang that the sons of Erik were
+coming again.
+
+"Once more they take us unawares," said Haakon to his men. "They are many
+and we are few. Never yet have we faced such odds. The danger lies before
+you. Are you ready to meet it? I am loath to flee before any force, but I
+leave it to the wise among you to decide."
+
+Eyvnid sang another verse, to the effect that it would be ill counsel to
+advise a man like King Haakon to flee from the sons of Gunhild the
+sorceress.
+
+"That is a man's song," cried the king, "and what you say is what I
+wish."
+
+All around him the warriors shouted their war-cry, and while they ran for
+their weapons he put on his armor, seized his sword and shield, and
+placed on his head a golden helmet that shone brightly in the sun. Never
+had he looked more like a born king, with his noble and inspired
+countenance and the bright hair streaming down from under his helmet.
+
+The battle that followed was fierce and bloody. Harold, Gunhild's third
+son, commanded the invaders, who far outnumbered Haakon's small force.
+And now there was no Egil to defeat the foe by stratagem, but the battle
+was hand to hand and face to face, with stroke of sword and thrust of
+spear, the war-shout of the fighters and the death-wail of the fallen.
+
+King Haakon that day showed himself a true and heroic warrior. As the
+battle grew fiercer his spirit rose higher, and when Eyvnid the scald
+greeted him with a warlike verse, he answered with another. But the
+midsummer heat growing hard to bear, he flung off his armor and fought
+with only his strong right arm for shield. The arrows had now been all
+shot, the spears all hurled, and the ranks met hand to hand and sword to
+sword, in desperate affray.
+
+In the front rank stood the king, his golden helmet making him a shining
+mark for the warriors of the foe.
+
+"Your helmet makes you a target for the Danish spears," cried Eyvnid, and
+he drew a hood over it to hide its gleam. Skreyja, Harold's uncle, who
+was storming onward towards the king, now lost sight of him and cried
+out:
+
+"Where is the Norse king? Has he drawn back in fear? Is he of the golden
+helmet a craven?"
+
+"Keep on as you are coming, if you wish to meet the Norsemen's king,"
+shouted Haakon, throwing down his shield and grasping his sword with both
+hands, as he sprang out before them all. Skreyja bounded towards him and
+struck a furious blow, but it was turned aside by a Norse warrior and at
+the same instant Haakon's sword cleft the foeman's head down to the
+shoulders.
+
+This kingly stroke gave new spirit to the Norsemen and they rushed with
+double fury upon the foe, whom the fall of their best warrior filled with
+fear. Back to the beach they were pressed, many being slain, many
+drowned, a few only, Harold among them, reaching the ships by swimming.
+
+The Norsemen had won against fearful odds, but their king was in deadly
+peril. In the pursuit he had been struck in the right arm by an arrow
+with an oddly-shaped head, and do what they would, the flow of blood
+could not be stopped. It was afterwards said that Gunhild the sorceress
+had bewitched the arrow and sent it with orders to use it only against
+King Haakon.
+
+In those days it was easy to have men believe tales like that, but,
+witchcraft or not, the blood still ran and the king grew weaker. As night
+came death seemed at hand and one of his friends offered to take his body
+to England, after his death, that he might be laid in Christian soil.
+
+"Not so," said Haakon. "Heathen are my people and I have lived among them
+like a heathen. See then that I am laid in the grave like a heathen."
+
+Thus he died, and he was buried as he wished, while all men mourned his
+death, even his foes; for before breathing his last he bade his men to
+send a ship after the sons of Gunhild; asking them to come back and rule
+the kingdom. He had no sons, he said, and his daughter could not take the
+throne.
+
+Thus death claimed the noblest of the Norsemen, at once heathen and
+Christian, but in his life and deeds as in his death a great and good
+man.
+
+
+
+
+_EARL HAAKON AND THE JOMSVIKINGS._
+
+
+Chief among the nobles of Haakon the Good, of Norway, was Earl Sigurd of
+Hlade; and first among those who followed him was Earl Haakon, Sigurd's
+son. After the death of Haakon the Good, the sons of Gunhild became the
+masters of Norway, where they ruled like tyrants, murdering Sigurd, whom
+they most feared. This made the young Earl Haakon their bitter foe.
+
+A young man then, of twenty-five, handsome, able in mind and body, kindly
+in disposition, and a daring warrior, he was just the man to contend with
+the tyrant murderers. When he was born Haakon the Good had poured water
+on his head and named him after himself and he was destined to live to
+the level of the honor thus given him.
+
+It is not our purpose to tell how, with the aid of the king of Denmark,
+he drove the sons of Gunhild from the realm, and how, as the sagas tell,
+the wicked old queen was enticed to Denmark by the king, under promise of
+marriage, and by his orders was drowned in a swamp. Her powers of sorcery
+did not avail her then, if this story is true.
+
+Haakon ruled Norway as a vassal of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, to
+whom he agreed to pay tribute. He also consented to be baptized as a
+Christian and to introduce the Christian faith into Norway. But a
+heathen at heart and a Norseman in spirit, he did not intend to keep this
+promise. After a meeting with the Danish king in which his baptism took
+place, he sailed for his native land with his ship well laden with
+priests. But the heathen in him now broke out. With bold disdain of King
+Harald, he put the priests on shore, and sought to counteract the effect
+of his baptism by a great feast to the old gods, praying for their favor
+and their aid in the war that was sure to follow. He looked for an omen,
+and it came in the shape of two ravens, which followed his ships with
+loud clucking cries. These were the birds sacred to Odin and he hailed
+their coming with delight. The great deity of the Norsemen seemed to
+promise him favor and success.
+
+Turning against the king to whom he had promised to act as a vassal, he
+savagely ravaged the Danish coast lands. Then he landed on the shores of
+Sweden, burnt his ships, and left a track of fire and blood as he marched
+through that land. Even Viken, a province of Norway, was devastated by
+him, on the plea of its being under a Danish ruler. Then, having done his
+utmost to show defiance to Denmark and its king, he marched northward to
+Drontheim, where he ruled like a king, though still styling himself Earl
+Haakon.
+
+Harald Bluetooth was not the man to be defied with impunity, and though
+he was too old to take the field himself, he sought means to punish his
+defiant vassal. Men were to be had ready and able to fight, if the prize
+offered them was worth the risk, and men of this kind Harald knew where
+to seek.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD, ABOVE ARE. SWEDEN.]
+
+In the town of Jomsborg, on the island of Wollin, near the mouth of the
+Oder, dwelt a daring band of piratical warriors known as the Jomsvikings,
+who were famed for their indomitable courage. War was their trade, rapine
+their means of livelihood, and they were sworn to obey the orders of
+their chief, to aid each other to the utmost, to bear pain unflinchingly,
+dare the extremity of danger, and face death like heroes. They kept all
+women out of their community, lest their devotion to war might be
+weakened, and stood ready to sell their swords to the highest bidder.
+
+To this band of plunderers Harald appealed and found them ready for the
+task. Their chief, Earl Sigvalde, brought together a great host of
+warriors at a funeral feast to his father, and there, while ale and mead
+flowed abundantly, he vowed, flagon in hand, that he would drive Earl
+Haakon from the Norse realm or perish in the attempt. His viking
+followers joined him in the vow. The strong liquor was in their veins and
+there was no enterprise they were not ready to undertake. When their
+sober senses returned with the next morning, they measured better the
+weight of the enterprise; but they had sworn to it and were not the men
+to retreat from a vow they had taken.
+
+Erik, an unruly son of Earl Haakon, had fled from his father's court in
+disgrace and was now in Viken, and here the rumor of the vikings' oath
+reached his ears. At once, forgetting his quarrel with his father, he
+hastened north with all the men he could gather to Earl Haakon's aid,
+preceding the Jomsvikings, who were sailing slowly up the shores of
+Norway, plundering as they went in their usual fashion. They had a fleet
+of sixty ships and a force of over seven thousand well-trained warriors.
+Haakon, warned by his son, met them with three times their number of
+ships, though these were smaller and lighter craft. On board were about
+ten thousand men. Such were the forces that met in what the sagas call
+the greatest battle that had ever been fought in Norway.
+
+Soon the embattled ships met and the conflict grew fast and furious,
+hurtling weapons filling the air and men falling on all sides. Great was
+the carnage and blood flowed in streams on the fighting ships. Earl
+Haakon stood in the prow of his ship in the heat of the fight, arrows and
+spears whirling around him in such numbers that his shirt of mail became
+so torn and rent that he threw it off as useless. The high ships of the
+vikings gave them an advantage which told heavily against their
+antagonists, spears and arrows being poured down from their sides.
+
+In the height of the battle Earl Haakon disappeared. As the legends tell
+he went ashore with his youngest son Erling, whom he sacrificed to the
+heathen gods to win their aid in the battle. Hardly had he done this deed
+of blood when a dense black cloud arose and a violent hail-storm broke
+over the ships, the hail-stones weighing each two ounces and beating so
+fiercely in the faces of the Jomsvikings as nearly to blind them. Some
+say that the Valkyries, the daughters of Odin, were seen in the prow of
+the earl's ship, filling the air with their death-dealing arrows.
+
+Despite the storm and the supernatural terrors that they conjured up, the
+Jomsvikings continued to fight, though their decks were slippery with
+blood and melting hail. Only one coward appeared among them, their chief
+Earl Sigvalde, who suddenly turned his ship and fled. When Vagn Aakesson,
+the most daring of the Jomsvikings, saw this recreant act he was frantic
+with rage.
+
+"You ill-born hound," he cried, "why do you fly and leave your men in the
+lurch? Shame on you, and may shame cling to you to your death!"
+
+A spear hurtled from his hand and pierced the man at the helm, where
+Sigvalde had stood a moment before. But the ship of the dastard earl kept
+on and a general panic succeeded, all the ships in the fleeing earl's
+line following his standard. Only Vagn Aakesson and Bue the Big were left
+to keep up the fight.
+
+Yet they kept it up in a way to win them fame. When Earl Haakon's ship
+drew up beside that of Bue, two of the viking champions, Haavard the
+Hewer and Aslak Rock-skull, leaped on deck and made terrible havoc. In
+the end an Icelander picked up an anvil that was used to sharpen their
+spears and hurled it at Aslak, splitting his skull, while Haavard had
+both legs cut off. Yet the indomitable viking fought on, standing on his
+knees.
+
+The onset of the Jomsvikings was so terrific in this last fierce fight
+that the earl's men gave back, and might have been all slain had not his
+son Erik boarded Bue's ship at this crisis and made an irresistible
+charge. A terrible cut across the face severed Bue's nose.
+
+"Now," he cried, "the Danish maidens will kiss me no more."
+
+Seeing that all was at an end, he seized two chests of gold to prevent
+their capture by the victors, and sprang with them into the sea,
+shouting:
+
+"Overboard all Bue's men!"
+
+On Vagn's ship a similar fierce fight was taking place, ending only when
+all but thirty of the vikings were slain.
+
+Then a savage scene was enacted, one worthy only of those barbarous
+times. The captives were taken ashore and seated on a long log, their
+feet bound, their hands free. At the funeral feast in Sigvalde's hall
+Vagn had boasted that he would kill Thorkill Laiva, one of Erik's chief
+warriors, and this threatened man was now chosen as executioner.
+
+At the captives he rushed, with uplifted axe, and savagely struck off
+their heads, one after another. Vagn was to be left to the last, that he
+might suffer from fear, but instead of this he sat joking and laughing
+with his men. One of them sang and laughed so loudly that Erik asked him
+if he would like to live.
+
+"That depends on who it is that asks me."
+
+"He who offers has the power to grant. I am Earl Erik."
+
+"Then I gladly accept."
+
+Another made a pun which so pleased the earl that he, too, was set free.
+
+One of the captives had long, beautiful hair, and as Thorkill came near
+him on his bloody errand he twisted his hair into a coil and asked the
+executioner not to soil it with his blood. To humor him Thorkill asked
+one of the bystanders to hold the coil while he struck. The man did so,
+but as the axe came down the captive jerked his head aside so that the
+axe fell on the wrists of the coil-holder, both his hands being cut off.
+
+"Some of the Jomsvikings are still alive," laughed the captive.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Erik.
+
+"I am said to be a son of Bue."
+
+"Do you wish to live?"
+
+"What other choice have I?"
+
+At Erik's command he, too, was released.
+
+Angry at being thus robbed of his prey, Thorkill now sprang towards Vagn,
+determined that at least his special enemy should fall. As he came near,
+however, one of the men on the log threw himself forward in such a way
+that Thorkill stumbled over him and dropped his axe. In an instant Vagn
+was on his feet, seized the axe, and dealt Thorkill a deadly blow. His
+boast was kept; Thorkill had fallen by his hand.
+
+Erik saw the bold feat with such admiration that he ordered Vagn to be
+freed, and the prisoners who remained alive were also set free at his
+order.
+
+While this was going on Earl Haakon sat apart conversing with his
+chieftains. As they did so they heard a bow-string twang, and before a
+hand could be raised a keen-pointed arrow pierced the body of Gissur the
+White, one of the chiefs, and he fell over dead. The arrow had come from
+the ship of Bue the Big, and thither men ran in haste. What they saw was
+Haavard the Hewer, still standing on his knees, though his blood flowed
+freely.
+
+"Tell me," he cried, "did any one fall at the tree yonder?"
+
+"Yes; Gissur the White."
+
+"Then luck failed me, for that arrow was aimed for Earl Haakon."
+
+And he fell over on the deck, with death at his heart-strings. The viking
+had sent a herald on before, to announce his coming at Odin's court.
+
+It was Haakon who had ordered the murder of the captives, and Erik his
+son who gave life to so many of them. The time was near at hand when the
+earl was to meet the bloody fate which he had dealt out to others. Though
+Erik had done so much to help him in the battle, he was furious with his
+son for sparing the life of Vagn Aakesson. As a result they parted in
+anger, Erik going south again. Here Vagn joined him and from that day
+forward the two were warm friends and comrades.
+
+But Haakon fell into ways of vice as he grew older, and at length he did
+a deed that led him to a shameful death. He had his men bring by force
+to his palace the wife of a rich peasant, and sent them for another, who
+was famed for her beauty. Orm, her husband, refused to let her go and
+sent news of the outrage to all the peasants in the valley. From farm to
+farm flew the tidings, and the peasants, furious at the shameful deeds of
+the earl, seized their arms and gathered in a great band, which marched
+upon him at Medalhus.
+
+Earl Haakon was taken by surprise. He had not dreamed of a revolt and
+only a few men were with him. These he dismissed and fled for safety,
+only one man, his old servant Kark, going with him. Reaching the Gaul
+River in his flight, he rode his horse into a deep hole and left his
+cloak on the ice, so that his pursuers, finding the dead horse and the
+cloak, might think he was drowned.
+
+From there he sought the nearby home of Thora of Rimul, a faithful woman
+friend, told her of the hot pursuit and begged her to hide him from his
+furious enemies. The only hiding place she could provide was a deep ditch
+under her pig-sty, and in this filthy hole the great earl was hidden,
+with food, candles, and bedding. Then boards were laid over the ditch and
+covered with earth and upon this the pigs were driven.
+
+To Rimul the peasants soon came, filled with fury, and with them came a
+man of note who had just landed and was seeking to win the throne. This
+was Olaf, a great-grandson of Harold the Fair-Haired, whose claim to the
+crown of Norway was far better than that of Haakon. Thinking that Thora
+had hidden the fleeing earl the pursuers searched the whole place. The
+fugitive not being found, Olaf stood on a large stone near the pig-sty
+and called the peasants around him, loudly announcing that any man who
+should find and slay Earl Haakon would be given a large reward.
+
+His words were plainly heard in the damp and unpleasant underground den
+where Haakon sat shivering. He looked at Kark, the thrall, whose face
+showed that he, too, had heard the promise of reward.
+
+"What ails you?" asked the earl. "Your face changes from pale to dark and
+gloomy. Do you propose to betray me?"
+
+"No," said Kark.
+
+"We were born on the same night, and if one of us dies the other will
+soon follow," said the earl warningly.
+
+For a long time they sat, listening to the sounds above. At length all
+grew still and they felt that the night had come. Kark fell asleep, but
+the earl sat awake, watching him in deep distrust. The slumbering thrall
+tossed about as if in pain and the earl wakened him, asking of what he
+had dreamt.
+
+"I dreamed that you and I were on shipboard and that I was at the helm."
+
+"That means that you rule over both our lives. Therefore, Kark, you must
+be true and faithful to me, as duty bids you. Better days will soon come
+to us both and then you shall be richly rewarded."
+
+Again the thrall fell asleep and again he seemed to dream. The earl woke
+him again.
+
+"Of what did you dream?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed that I was at Hlade and that Olaf Tryggvesson put a golden
+ring around my neck."
+
+"That means," said the earl, "that if you seek Olaf he will put a red
+ring [a ring of blood] around your neck. Beware of him, Kark, and trust
+in me. Be faithful to me and you will find in me a faithful friend."
+
+The night dragged slowly on. The earl dared not let himself sleep, but
+sat staring at Kark, who stared back at him. When morning was near at
+hand weariness lay so heavily on the earl that he could no longer keep
+awake. But his sleep was sorely disturbed by the terrors of that dreadful
+night. He tossed about and screamed out in distress and at length rose on
+his knees with the horrors of nightmare in his face.
+
+Then Kark, who had all night been meditating treachery, killed him with a
+thrust of his knife. Cutting off his head, he broke out of the dark den
+and sought Olaf, with the grisly trophy in his hand.
+
+Olaf heard his story with lowering face. It was not to traitors like this
+that he had offered reward. In the end, burning with indignation at the
+base deed, he ordered the thrall's head to be struck off. Thus Kark's
+dream, as interpreted by Haakon, came true. The ring put by Olaf around
+his neck was not one of gold, but one of blood.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW OLAF, THE SLAVE-BOY, WON THE THRONE._
+
+
+Many sons had Harold the Fair-Haired, and of some of them the story has
+been told. One of them, Olaf by name, left a son named Tryggve, who in
+turn had a son to whom he gave his father's name of Olaf. Wonderful was
+the story of this Olaf in his youth and renowned was it in his age, for
+he it was who drove the heathen gods from Norway and put Christ in their
+place. But it is the strange and striking adventures of his earlier days
+with which this tale has to deal.
+
+Prince Tryggve had his enemies and by them was foully murdered. Then they
+sought his dwelling, proposing to destroy his whole race. But Aastrid,
+his wife, was warned in time, and fled from her home with Thorold, her
+foster-father. She hid on a little island in the Rand fiord, and here was
+born the son who was afterwards to become one of Norway's most famous
+kings.
+
+The perils of Aastrid were not yet at an end. Gunhild, the sorceress
+queen, was her chief enemy, and when her spies brought her word that
+Aastrid had borne a son, the wicked old woman sought to destroy the
+child.
+
+The summer through Aastrid remained on the little isle, hiding in the
+weedy bushes by day and venturing abroad only at night. Everywhere
+Gunhild's spies sought her, and when autumn came with its long nights,
+she left the isle and journeyed with her attendants through the land,
+still hiding by day and travelling only under the shades of night. In
+this way she reached the estate of her father, Erik Ofrestad.
+
+The poor mother was not left in peace here, the evil-minded sorceress
+still pursuing her. A body of murderers was sent to seek for her and her
+son on her father's estate, but Ofrestad heard of their mission in time
+to send the fugitives away. Dressed as beggars, Aastrid and her child and
+Thorolf, her foster-father, travelled on foot from the farm, stopping at
+evening to beg food and shelter from a peasant named Björn. The surly
+fellow drove them away, but they were given shelter farther on by a
+peasant named Thorstein.
+
+Meanwhile the murderers were hot on their track. Not finding Aastrid at
+her father's house, they traced her to Björn's farm, where they were told
+that a handsome but poorly dressed woman, carrying a young child, had
+asked for help that evening. It chanced that a servant of Thorstein
+overheard this and when he reached home he told it to his master.
+Suspecting the rank and peril of his guests, Thorstein roused them from
+sleep with a great show of anger and drove them out into the night. This
+was done to deceive the servants, but Thorstein followed the weary
+fugitives and told them the reason of his act. He had driven them out to
+save them, he said, and he gave them a trusty guide who could show them
+the best hiding places in the forest. They found shelter for that night
+amid the tall rushes by the side of a small lake.
+
+When the troop of murderers reached Thorstein's house he set them astray
+on the wrong scent and he fed the fugitives in the forest until the
+murderous gang had given up the search. In the end he aided them to make
+their way to Sweden, where they took refuge with a friend of Prince
+Tryggve named Haakon the Old.
+
+Still the wicked queen did not let them rest in peace. Learning where
+they were, she sent two embassies to King Erik of Sweden, demanding the
+surrender of the mother and child. Each time Erik gave them permission to
+capture the fugitives if they could, saying that he would not interfere.
+But Haakon the Old was not the man to surrender his guests. In vain
+Gunhild's ambassador came to him with promises and threats. The dispute
+at length grew so hot that a half-witted servant seized a dung-fork and
+rushed at the ambassador, who took to his heels, fearing to have his fine
+clothes soiled. The angry thrall pursued him till he was driven off the
+estate, Haakon looking on with grim mirth.
+
+Such were the early days of little Olaf, whose life began in a series of
+adventures which were the prologue to a most stirring and active life.
+Few men have had a more adventurous career than he, his whole life being
+one of romance, activity and peril. He became a leading hero of the saga
+writers, who have left us many striking stories of his young life and
+adventures.
+
+Aastrid and her son remained with Haakon the Old until Earl Haakon came
+into power in Norway. As he was not of royal blood, she feared that he
+might seek to destroy all the descendants of old King Harold, and, in
+doubt if her present protector was strong enough to defend her, she
+decided to seek refuge in Russia, where her brother Sigurd had risen to a
+place of power.
+
+With this voyage young Olaf's later series of adventures began. The
+merchant ship in which they set sail was taken by a viking pirate craft,
+some of the passengers being killed and others sold as slaves. Thorolf
+and his young son Thorgills, with the boy Olaf, were sold to a viking
+named Klerkon, who killed Thorolf because he was too old to bring any
+price as a slave, but kept the boys, whom he soon traded away in Esthonia
+for a big ram. As for Aastrid, she was offered for sale at the
+slave-market, and here, despite her ragged and miserable plight, she was
+recognized by a rich merchant named Lodin. He offered to pay her ransom
+if she would become his wife. The poor woman, not knowing what had become
+of her son, was glad to accept his offer and returned with him to his
+home in Norway.
+
+To return to the story of the boy slaves, the man who had bought them for
+a ram, soon sold them for a coat and cape to a man named Reas. The new
+master put Thorgills to hard labor, but took a fancy to Olaf and treated
+him much more kindly, the young prince remaining with him for six years
+and growing up to be a handsome and sturdy youth.
+
+Sigurd Eriksson, Aastrid's brother, and the uncle of Olaf, was a man of
+prominence in Esthonia, and one day rode on business of King Vladimir
+through the town in which Reas lived. Here he saw some boys playing, one
+of whom attracted him by his manly and handsome face. Calling him to his
+horse's side, he asked his name.
+
+"Olaf," said the boy.
+
+Olaf! The name was significant to Sigurd, and a few words more taught him
+that the lad was his lost nephew. Seeking Reas, he offered him a good
+price for his two young slaves and took them home with him, bidding Olaf
+not to tell any one else who he was.
+
+The boy was now well-grown, active, and strong for his years. Walking one
+day about the town he saw before him the viking Klerkon who had killed
+old Thorolf, his foster-father. He had at the moment an axe in his hand
+and, with no thought but that of revenge on the murderer, he struck him a
+blow that split his skull and stretched him dead on the ground.
+
+The boy was in peril of his life for this impulsive deed. Death was its
+legal penalty, and a crowd quickly gathered who demanded that the boy
+murderer should be killed. His uncle heard of the act and ran in haste to
+his rescue, taking him to Olga, the queen, and telling her who he was,
+what he had done, and why he had done it.
+
+The queen looked at the beautiful and bright-faced lad and took a great
+fancy to him at sight. She took him under her protection, and gave him a
+training in the use of arms and warlike sports, such as beseemed the
+scion of a royal race. When twelve years of age King Vladimir, who
+esteemed the boy highly, gave him some armed ships and sent him out to
+try his hand in real war, and for some years he roved abroad as a viking.
+He also served the king well by conquering for him a rebel province.
+
+Olaf might have won high rank in Russia but for the enemies who envied
+him and who made the king fear that he would yet find a rival for the
+throne in the ambitious boy. Fearing trouble for her protege, Queen Olga
+advised him to leave the kingdom and he sailed for the land of the Wends,
+on the Baltic shores, where King Burislav received him as a distinguished
+young warrior. He did not tell who he really was, but went under the name
+of Ole the Russian, and as such married the daughter of the king, who
+fell in love with him for his valor and beauty. Many were the valiant
+deeds he did for King Burislav, with whom he stayed until the death of
+his wife, he being then twenty-one years of age.
+
+The young warrior now grew eager for new adventures, and in response to a
+dream determined to go to Greece and become a Christian. His dream
+served the cause of Christianity better than this, if the story is true
+that he sent a missionary bishop to Russia who converted both King
+Vladimir and Queen Olga to the Christian faith.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND PARENTS. BRIGSDAL.
+NORWAY.]
+
+From Greece Olaf wandered to many countries, including France, Denmark,
+Scotland, and Northumberland, and his adventures were very numerous. He
+was twenty-five years of age when he reached England and here he met with
+an adventure of a new type. The Princess Gyda, sister of an Irish king,
+was a widow, but was still young and beautiful and had so many suitors
+that it was hard for her to choose between them. Among the most
+importunate was a warrior named Alfvine, a great slayer of men.
+
+So many were they and so much did they annoy the fair widow that at last
+she fixed a day when she would choose a husband from among them, and
+numbers of them came before her, all in their most splendid attire. It
+was a championship that attracted many lookers on and among them came
+Olaf with some of his companions. He was plainly dressed, and wore a fur
+hood and cape. Gyda stood forth and looked over her throng of lovers with
+listless eyes until at length she saw among the spectators the tall
+stranger with the hood of fur. She walked up to him, lifted the hood, and
+gazed long into his eyes. What she saw there riveted her fancy.
+
+"I do not know you," she said; "but if you will have me for a wife, then
+you are my choice."
+
+Olaf must have seen as much in her eyes as she had in his, for he warmly
+replied:
+
+"I know no woman who equals you, and gladly will I accept you."
+
+At once their betrothal was published, but Alfvine, burning with wrath,
+challenged the fortunate stranger to mortal combat. Fierce and long was
+the fight, but Norse blood and valor conquered and Gyda was enraptured
+with the courage and skill of her spouse. They were duly wedded and Olaf
+spent several years in England and Ireland, winning fame there as a
+doughty champion and growing ever more earnest in the Christian faith.
+
+In the chronicles of the time we are told much of the doings of the
+doughty Olaf, who won fame as the chieftain of a viking fleet, which in
+994 made many descents upon the English coast. In the end he landed in
+Southampton and fixed his winter quarters there, living upon the country.
+He was finally bought off by King Ethelred with Ł10,000, which he divided
+among his men. He received confirmation in the Christian faith the same
+year, King Ethelred being present, and took a solemn vow, which he never
+broke, that he would never again molest England and her people.
+
+Olaf's name was no longer concealed and the fame of his deeds reached
+Norway, where they gave no small trouble of mind to Earl Haakon, who
+dreaded this young adventurer of royal descent, knowing well how much the
+people loved King Harold and his race. Haakon went so far as to try to
+compass his death, sending his friend Thore Klakka to Dublin, where Olaf
+then was, to kill him if he could, otherwise to entice him to Norway when
+he would himself destroy him.
+
+The latter Thore did, finding Olaf ready for any new adventure, and under
+Thore's treacherous advice he sailed with five ships and landed in
+Hördaland, where Haakon's power was the greatest, and thence sailed
+northward to Tröndelag where the earl was and where he hoped to take him
+by surprise.
+
+Thore had represented that Olaf would find friends in plenty there, and
+much to his own surprise found that he had told more truth than he knew;
+for, as told in the last tale, the peasants were then in arms and in
+pursuit of the recreant earl. They gladly accepted Olaf as their leader,
+on learning who he was, and helped him in the quick and sudden downfall
+and death of Haakon, as already described.
+
+All the chiefs and peasants of the district were now summoned to meet in
+assembly and with one voice they chose Olaf Tryggvesson, great-grandson
+of the renowned Harold, as their king. All Norway confirmed their action
+and thus easily did the adventurer prince, who had once been a slave-boy,
+sold for half a fat ram, rise to the throne of Norway.
+
+
+
+
+_OLAF DETHRONES ODIN AND DIES A HERO._
+
+
+Earl Haakon was the last heathen king of Norway. Olaf, the new king, was
+a zealous Christian and was determined to introduce the new faith. And
+this was done not in the mild and gentle way in which Haakon the Good had
+attempted it, but with all the fierce fury of the viking spirit. Christ
+the White the Northmen called the new deity, but it was rather Christ the
+Red in Olaf's hands, for, while Christian in faith, he was a son of the
+old gods, Odin and Thor, in spirit.
+
+It is not the Christianizing of Norway that we have set out to tell, but
+as this is a matter of great importance some space must be given to it.
+Olaf, high spirited and impetuous, did by storm what he might not have
+been able to do by milder measures. He had little trouble in the south of
+Norway, where the Christian faith had been making its way for years, but
+in the north the old heathen spirit was strong, sacrifices to the gods
+were common, and the rude and cruel barbarism which the old doctrines
+favored everywhere prevailed. Here it was that Olaf had a strong fortress
+of heathenism to take by storm.
+
+In Tröndelag was the temple of Hlade, ancient and grand, the stronghold
+of the Norse gods. Fierce and impulsive in his zeal, Olaf broke into this
+old temple, destroyed the altar, burned the idols, and carried away the
+treasure. At once the people were in arms, but the resolute king began to
+build a Christian church where the temple had stood and also a
+fortress-like residence for himself.
+
+In the end the peasants grew so fierce and warlike and were so backed up
+by a lusty chieftain named Ironbeard, that Olaf found himself obliged to
+promise to take part with them in the feast and sacrifices of the coming
+Yuletide.
+
+But before this time arrived he appeared again at Hlade and he now
+brought with him a strong fleet and numerous armed warriors. Many guests
+had been invited to meet him, and these were entertained until they were
+all royally drunk. Then the king said to them:
+
+"I have promised to sacrifice with you, and am here to keep my word. I
+propose to make a royal sacrifice, not of thralls and criminals, but of
+lords and chieftains, for thus we can best do honor to Odin."
+
+He then selected six of his most powerful opponents and said that he
+intended to sacrifice them to Odin and Frey, that the people might have
+good crops. The dismayed chiefs were instantly seized and were offered
+the alternative of being sacrificed or baptized. Taken by surprise, they
+were not long in deciding upon the latter, the king making them give
+hostages for their good faith.
+
+Soon after came the Yuletide and Olaf was present with a strong force at
+Möre, where the sacrifices were to be made. The peasants also came in
+force, all armed, with the burly Ironbeard as their leader. They were
+rude and noisy and it was some time before the king could make himself
+heard. Then he called on them all to accept baptism and acknowledge
+Christ the White in place of their bloodthirsty gods. Ironbeard haughtily
+replied that they were supporters of the old laws and that the king must
+make the sacrifices as all the kings before him had done.
+
+Olaf heard him through and said that he was there to keep his promise.
+Then, with many men, he entered the temple, leaving his arms outside as
+the law required. All he carried was a stout, gold-headed stick. Stopping
+before the statue of the god Thor, around which were rings of gold and
+iron, he raised the stick and gave the idol a blow so fierce and strong
+that it tumbled in pieces from its pedestal. At the same moment his
+followers struck down the other idols. The peasants, thunderstruck at the
+sacrilege, looked for support to Ironbeard, but the doughty warrior lay
+dead. He had shared the fate of the idols he worshipped, being struck
+down at the same moment with them. What to do the peasants knew not, and
+when Olaf told them they must either be baptized or fight they chose the
+former as the safest. The province of Haalogaland, still farther north,
+was dealt with in the same arbitrary fashion, those of the chiefs who
+refused baptism being put to death with torture. And in this fierce and
+bloody way the dominion of Christ the White was established in the land
+of the vikings. It was but a substitute for the heathen gods that was
+given them in such a fashion, and years had to pass before they would
+become true Christians.
+
+Much more might be said about King Olaf, his kindliness and winning
+manners in peace, his love of show and splendor, his prowess in battle
+and his wonderful skill with weapons. He could use both hands with equal
+effect in fighting, could handle three spears at once, keeping one always
+in the air, and when his men were rowing could run from prow to stern of
+the ship on their oars. But what we have chiefly to tell is the last
+adventure of the viking king and how death came to him in the heat of the
+fray.
+
+What became of his wife Gyda, the Irish princess, we are not told, but he
+had now a new wife, Thyra, sister of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, and
+it was to this queen he owed his death. She had large estates in Wendland
+and Denmark, from which she now received no revenues, and she fretted
+Olaf so by appeals, prayers, and tears to win back for her this property
+that he had no peace in his palace. The annoyance went on until the
+hot-tempered king could bear it no longer and he began to prepare for war
+abroad that he might gain peace at home.
+
+Word was sent out to the chiefs of the land, bidding them to join the
+king with the ships required by the laws of the kingdom. Among his own
+ships was one called the Short Serpent, and he had just finished another
+of great size and beauty which he named the Long Serpent. Never had so
+noble a ship been seen in the north. It was 112 feet long and had 104
+oars, while it could carry six hundred warriors, none being over sixty or
+under twenty years of age except the great bowman Thambarkskelver, who
+was but eighteen, yet was so skilful with the bow that he could shoot a
+blunt arrow through a hanging raw ox-hide.
+
+With sixty ships and as many transports Olaf sailed south to Wendland,
+where he was well received by his old friend King Burislav, whose
+daughter Geira had been his first wife. The Wend king royally entertained
+him and made a just settlement of Queen Thyra's estates, and Olaf
+prepared to sail homeward again. But dark clouds of war were gathering on
+his path.
+
+Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark was hostile both to Burislav and Olaf and the
+king of Sweden was leagued with the Danish king. To detain Olaf while
+they gathered their fleets, these kings employed Sigvalde, the cowardly
+chief of the Jomsvikings, who had fled from the battle with Earl Haakon,
+to visit and lure him into blind confidence.
+
+The treacherous viking succeeded. His smooth, soft ways won Olaf's heart
+and the open-minded king put complete trust in him. Sigvalde finally,
+after bringing about much delay by his false arts, engaged to pilot Olaf
+with his own fleet through the dangerous waters of the coast, and even
+induced him to divide his ships by sending part of them in advance.
+
+The traitor meanwhile kept in communication with King Sweyn and promised
+to lure Olaf away from his main force and lead him into the snare they
+were laying for him. Chief among the enemies of the Norse king was Earl
+Erik, the son of Earl Haakon, whom he was eager to avenge, and King Olaf
+the Swede, who was present with a fleet.
+
+With sixty or seventy ships of war these foes of Norway's king lay hidden
+behind the little island of Svolder, in Olaf's track. For a number of
+days they awaited him with impatience. At last Olaf's transports appeared
+within view of the leaders of the hostile fleet, who were posted at an
+elevated point on the land.
+
+The day was fair, the wind gentle and favorable, and the foremost ships
+sailed onward, seeing nothing of the foes. When King Sweyn saw among them
+a large and handsome ship he was sure it must be the Long Serpent, and
+said:
+
+"Olaf of Norway is afraid to-day, for he carries no dragon-head on his
+ship."
+
+"That is not the king's ship," said Earl Erik, "but that of Erling of
+Sole. I know it by its striped sails. Let it pass, for it will be better
+for us to have Erling out of the fray."
+
+On, one by one, came the Norse ships, sweeping proudly by, and at length
+Sigvalde's eleven ships came in sight. These, signalled from the shore,
+suddenly turned inward round the island, to the surprise of Thorkill
+Dyrdill, captain of the Crane, which followed in their wake. Seeing this
+fine ship, Sweyn grew eager for the fight and ordered his men on board in
+spite of Erik's warning that the time had not yet arrived.
+
+"Are you afraid of them?" sneered the Dane. "Have you lost all desire to
+avenge your father?"
+
+"Wait and you will see," retorted Erik. "Before the sun sets you will
+find who is most eager for battle, I, or you and your men."
+
+When Thorkill saw the treacherous act of Sigvalde and caught sight of the
+ambushed fleet, he let fall the sails of the Crane and awaited the coming
+of the king. Soon the Short Serpent came up, its gilded dragon-head
+shining brightly in the sunlight. Not long after the Long Serpent
+appeared, its golden prow glittering brilliantly as the sunbeams fell
+upon it. Those who saw it marvelled at its size and beauty and many
+beheld with dread the glittering array of swords and shields as it came
+sweeping onward.
+
+But the great body of King Olaf's ships had gone on without thought of a
+foeman and were now out of sight. Only eleven of them remained, and some
+of his captains advised him not to fight against such odds.
+
+"Down with the sails," he cried cheerily. "Bind the ships together. Never
+yet have I fled from battle and I will not do so now. God is my shield
+and I will flee from no foe. He is no king who lets fear put him to
+flight before his enemies."
+
+Yet his peril was deadly, as was evident when the fleet of more than
+sixty ships rowed out from its ambush against Olaf's eleven.
+
+"Who is the leader here before us?" he asked.
+
+"That is King Sweyn with his Danes," said one of the men.
+
+"Let them come on. Danes have never yet beaten Norsemen, and they will
+not to-day. But whose standards are those on the right?"
+
+"They are those of Olaf of Sweden."
+
+"The heathen Swedes had better have stayed at home to lick their
+sacrificial bowls. We need not fear these horse-eaters. Yonder to the
+left; whose ships are those?"
+
+"They belong to Earl Erik, the son of Earl Haakon."
+
+"Then we may look for hard blows from them. Erik and his men are Norsemen
+like ourselves, and he has reason not to love me and mine."
+
+While he spoke Queen Thyra, who was with him, came on deck. When she saw
+the desperate odds she burst into tears.
+
+"Do not weep," said Olaf. "You have got what was due in Wendland; and
+to-day I will do my best to win your rights from your brother Sweyn."
+
+King Sweyn came first into the fray, but after a stubborn fight was
+driven off with great carnage. Then the Swedes swarmed to the rescue, and
+a second hard battle ensued, in which the Norsemen were outnumbered ten
+to one. Yet Olaf, with shining helmet and shield and a tunic of scarlet
+silk over his armor, directed the defence, and gave his men such courage
+by his fierce valor that the victory would have been his but for Earl
+Erik.
+
+When Erik's great galley, the Iron Ram, came into the fight and Norse met
+Norse, the onset was terrific. Greatly outnumbered, worn out with their
+exertions, and many of them bleeding from wounds, the men in ship after
+ship were overpowered and these cut adrift, their defenders being slain.
+At length only the Long Serpent remained, and against it was driven the
+Iron Ram.
+
+There was little wind and the damage was not great, and soon the storm of
+spears and arrows was resumed. Einer Thambarkskelver, the famous bowman,
+saw Earl Erik in the prow of his ship screened by the shields of his men,
+and soon Einer's arrows were hurtling around him.
+
+"Shoot that tall bowman," said Erik to one of his own archers.
+
+An arrow sped and hit Einer's bow in the middle, breaking it in twain.
+
+"What is broke?" asked Olaf, hearing the sound.
+
+"Norway broke then from your hands, my king," said Einer.
+
+"Not so bad as that; take my bow and try what it is worth."
+
+Einer caught the bow, bent it double, and threw it back.
+
+"It is too weak," he said.
+
+Desperate was now the strait and no escape was possible. Olaf sent his
+spears hurtling on Erik's crowded deck, but he saw that his men were
+scarce able to hold their own.
+
+"Your swords bite poorly," he said. "Have your arms lost their strength?"
+
+"No," was the reply, "but our blades are dull and notched."
+
+The king ran forward, opened a chest, and flung out armfulls of bright,
+sharp swords.
+
+"Here is what will bite deeply," he said.
+
+But victory was now hopeless; the earl's men swept back the tired
+warriors; blood flowed from under the king's armor; all hands were bent
+against him, for he loomed above his men. Kolbjörn, a man who resembled
+the king, sprang to his side and helped him shrewdly in the fray.
+
+Still the stern combat went on, still the weapons flew, still men fell
+groaning, and as the king looked along his deck he saw that only eight
+men kept their feet besides himself and his companion. All was lost.
+Raising the shield above his head, he leaped over the ship's side.
+Kolbjörn followed and was picked up by the earl's men, who took him to be
+the king. As for Olaf, the hungry sea swallowed his form.
+
+Legend tells us, indeed, that he was rescued by a ship sent to his aid by
+Aastrid, Earl Sigvalde's wife, and that he made a pilgrimage to Rome and
+long afterwards lived as a hermit in the Holy Land. But that is one of
+the stories based on good wishes rather than sound facts.
+
+It was in the year 1000, when King Olaf was thirty-six years old, that
+this famous sea-fight took place. Queen Thyra felt that she had caused
+his death and could not be consoled. Erik treated her kindly and promised
+her the honors due to her high estate, but her heart was broken by her
+loss, and nine days afterwards she died.
+
+
+
+
+_OLAF THE SAINT AND HIS WORK FOR CHRIST._
+
+
+The story of Olaf the Saint, the Norse king who comes next into our view,
+illustrates the barbarous character of the heathen people with whom we
+are dealing. Few warriors in those days died in their beds, death coming
+to them in some more violent form. Olaf's grandfather, a son of Harold
+the Fair-Haired, was killed by his brother, Erik Blood-Axe, and his
+father was burned alive by a royal widow whom he sought to marry. Many
+wooers came to seek her hand and she got rid of them by setting on fire
+the hall in which they slept.
+
+"I'll teach these little kings the risk of proposing to me," said this
+viking widow.
+
+A proud little fellow was Olaf, hot of temper and bearing no opposition.
+He knew that he was of kingly birth, and despised his step-father Sigurd
+Syr, also a descendant of King Harold, but caring more for his crops than
+for the dreams of ambition. Once, when Olaf was ten years old, Sigurd
+sent him to the stable to saddle and bring out his horse. When he came
+out he led a big goat, on which he had placed the saddle.
+
+"Why do you do that?" he was asked.
+
+"Oh, the goat is good enough for him, for he is as much like a king as a
+goat is like a war-horse."
+
+The boy was only twelve when he began to take part in the cruises of the
+vikings, and in these quickly showed himself brave and daring. When he
+grew to a ripe age and found that the rule of Norway was divided between
+two young men, successors of the Olaf whose story we have last told, he
+determined to strike for the throne.
+
+The story of how he won the throne is interesting, but must be dealt with
+here very briefly, as we have rather to do with the story of how he lost
+it. Olaf was fortunate at the start, for he captured a ship on which Earl
+Erik, one of these boy kings, was sailing along the coast.
+
+A beautiful youth he was, tall and shapely, with silky golden hair which
+fell in long curls over his shoulders. Proud he was too, and answered his
+captor's questions with manly resolution.
+
+"Your luck has left you and you are in my power," said Olaf; "what shall
+I do with you?"
+
+"That depends on you," answered the fearless young earl.
+
+"What will you do if I let you go unharmed?"
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"Only this, that you leave your country and renounce your claim of
+kingship, and that you swear never to make war on me."
+
+To this young Erik agreed and sailed away to England to join his uncle,
+Canute the Dane, who was then king of both Denmark and England.
+
+With the other young king, Earl Sweyn, Olaf did not find his task so
+easy, since Sweyn fought for his rights in a naval battle in which he had
+forty-five ships and three thousand men, while Olaf had less than half
+that number of men and ships. Olaf won the battle by a shrewd stratagem.
+He told his men to act at first only on the defensive, holding back their
+weapons until the enemy had thrown away theirs.
+
+On came Earl Sweyn's fleet, fiercely attacking that of Olaf, a cloud of
+spears and arrows filling the air. As none came back from Olaf's men,
+their opponents fancied they were afraid, and rushed on them eagerly. But
+by this time their spears and arrows had grown scarce, and when a storm
+of these came from the opposite side they were taken by surprise and many
+of them killed. Wild with fear, they now sought to escape, and in the end
+their whole fleet broke and fled, leaving victory to the new king.
+
+Sweyn fled to Sweden, whose king promised him help to regain his kingdom.
+But he died before his plans were ripe and Olaf was left without a rival
+except the king of Sweden, who had won a part of Norway in a former
+battle and now held it. This source of trouble was settled by the Swedes
+themselves, who had no fancy for fighting to help their king's ambition,
+and forced him to agree to yield his claim and give his daughter Ingegerd
+to Olaf for wife. So by a marriage Olaf won the remainder of his kingdom
+and became ruler over all Norway; but not by marrying Ingegerd, for he
+chose instead her sister Aastrid.
+
+There is a pretty story told just here in the sagas, or historical tales
+of the Icelanders. Thus it reads: Sigurd Syr, who had married Olaf's
+mother Aasta, died in 1018, and Olaf came to her house to help in
+settling her affairs. She had three boys, Guttorm, Halfdan, and Harold,
+whom she brought into the hall to introduce to their half-brother, the
+king. Olaf put the two older ones on his knees and made so fierce a face
+at them that they ran away sadly scared. Then he took up little Harold
+and stared at him in the same way. The brave youngster was not so easily
+frightened as his brothers and stared back at the king. Then Olaf pulled
+his hair, but the daring youngster pulled his beard in exchange.
+
+"He will do," said Olaf, setting him down with a laugh.
+
+The next day the king and his mother watched the boys at their play. The
+older two amused themselves by building barns, in which they put toy cows
+and sheep; but Harold launched mock boats on a pond and watched them
+drift away.
+
+"What do you call them?" asked Olaf.
+
+"Ships of war," said the boy.
+
+"Good lad," answered the king; "the day will come when you will command
+real ships."
+
+Calling the boys to him, he asked Guttorm, the oldest, what he most
+wished for.
+
+"Land," said the boy.
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Enough to sow as much grain every summer as would cover the headland
+yonder."
+
+Ten large farms covered the headland in question.
+
+"And what do you most desire?" the king asked Halfdan.
+
+"Enough cows to cover the shores of the headland when they went to the
+water to drink."
+
+"So; one wants land and the other cattle; and what do you want, Harold?"
+
+"Men," said the boy.
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Enough to eat up in a single dinner all brother Halfdan's cows."
+
+"Come, mother," said Olaf, laughing; "you have here a chap in training to
+make himself a king."
+
+So it proved, for in later days Harold rose to be king of Norway.
+
+But now we have to tell from what the king gained his title of Olaf the
+Saint. It came from his warm endeavors to make Norway a Christian land.
+The former King Olaf had forced his people to be baptized, but the most
+of them were heathens at heart still and after his death many began to
+worship the old gods again. It was the second Olaf that made the
+Christian secure in the land, and this still more by his death than by
+his life.
+
+When he was still an infant the former King Olaf had baptized him and
+given him his own name, and the time came when his little namesake took
+up and finished his work. What most troubled the kings of Norway in that
+age was the power held by the tribal chiefs, who were difficult to
+control and ready to rebel; and this power came from the fact that they
+were not only chiefs, but were the priests of the old religion. As
+priest-kings their people followed them blindly, and no king could be
+sure of his crown while this system prevailed.
+
+Olaf, who had been brought up in the new faith, set himself earnestly to
+spread the true principles of Christ's teachings through the land and for
+years he worked at it earnestly. But he had hard metal to deal with. It
+is said that one chief, when about to be baptized, turned to the priest
+and asked him where were his brave forefathers who had died without being
+baptized.
+
+"They are in hell," said the priest.
+
+"Then hell is the place for me," answered the chief. "I would rather be
+there with Odin and my hard fighting and noble fathers than in heaven
+with cowardly Christians and shaven monks."
+
+This was the spirit of the chiefs. A heaven in which there would be no
+fighting and mead-drinking had no charms for them, and to live forever
+with the souls of men who had never drawn sword and struck blow was too
+dreary a prospect for their turbulent tastes.
+
+But Olaf was ardent in the new faith and persistent in his endeavors,
+travelling from end to end of the land in his efforts to break up the old
+idolatry. Here is one of the stories told of this missionary work of the
+king.
+
+He was then in Nidaros, whose peasantry, called Trönders, were said to be
+celebrating in secret the old pagan festivals and offering sacrifices to
+Odin and Frey for bountiful crops. When King Olaf came among them they
+took arms against him, but afterwards agreed to hold a public assembly
+and deal in that way with the religious question that was troubling the
+kingdom.
+
+On the day they met it was raining hard. When the king asked them to
+believe in the God of the Christians and be baptized, Dale Guldbrand,
+their leader, replied:
+
+"We know nothing of the being you speak of; a god whom neither you nor
+any one else can see. Now we have a god whom you can see every day,
+except a rainy day like this. If your god is so powerful, then let him
+arrange that to-morrow we shall have clouds but no rain."
+
+When they met again the next day the weather was what they had asked for,
+clouds but no rain. Bishop Sigurd now celebrated mass and preached to the
+people about the miracles which Christ had wrought when on earth. On the
+third day it was still cloudy. The people had brought with them a great
+wooden image of the god Thor, and their chief spoke as follows:
+
+"Where is your god now, King Olaf? You do not look so bold as you did
+yesterday, for our god, who rules over all things, is here now and
+scaring you with his fierce eyes. You scarce dare look at him, but you
+would be wiser to believe in the god that holds in his hand your
+destiny."
+
+"Your god does not frighten me," answered the king. "He is blind and
+deaf and cannot move from the spot where you have set him without he is
+carried. He will soon meet his fate. Look yonder to the east. There in
+the flood of light comes our God."
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN PEASANTS.]
+
+To the east all eyes were turned, and at that moment the sunlight burst
+from the clouds and spread over the scene. As it did so a sturdy warrior,
+at a signal from the king, sprang forwards and struck the idol so fierce
+a blow with his club that it was shattered to pieces. Out from its hollow
+interior sprang great rats, snakes, and lizards, which had grown fat on
+the food with which the idol had been fed daily.
+
+On seeing these loathsome things squirm from the interior of their god
+the peasants fled from the spot in a panic of fear, rushing to the river
+where their boats lay. But King Olaf, forecasting this, had sent men to
+bore holes in the boats so that they would not float. Unable to escape,
+the frightened peasants came back, quite downcast in spirit.
+
+"You see what your god is worth," said the king. "Has he eaten the bread
+and meat you fed him, or has it gone to fatten rats and snakes? As for
+the gold and silver you gave him, there it lies scattered. Take up your
+golden ornaments and hang them no more on worthless logs. Now I give you
+your choice: you shall accept the faith I bring you, or you shall fight
+for your own. He will win to whom his god gives the victory."
+
+The peasants were not prepared to fight, and therefore were obliged to
+accept baptism. Priests were sent to teach them the tenets of the new
+faith they had accepted, and Dale Guldbrand signified his honesty by
+building a church to the Christian deity. Other provinces were also won
+over to Christ, but there was one great and bold chieftain, Erling by
+name, and a sturdy heathen in his faith, who remained hostile to the king
+and a war between them became inevitable.
+
+While the king and the earl were making busy preparations to fight for
+their faiths, a warrior king and conqueror stepped in to take advantage
+for himself of the quarrel. This was King Canute, monarch of Denmark and
+England, who was eager to add Norway and Sweden to his dominions and make
+himself one of the most powerful of kings. He secretly sent presents to
+the discontented Norse chiefs and took other means to win them to his
+cause. It was not long before Olaf learned of these underhand doings, and
+he at once made an alliance with King Anund of Sweden, whose sister he
+had married, and whom he told that Canute would attack him if he should
+win Norway. In his turn, Canute sent ambassadors to King Anund, with
+splendid presents, hoping to win him over.
+
+Two candlesticks of gold were placed before him by the ambassadors.
+
+"Pretty toys those," said Anund, "but not worth enough to break me from
+my good friend Olaf."
+
+Then they brought forth a golden platter, of artistic finish and adorned
+with jewels. King Anund gazed at it with covetous eyes.
+
+"A handsome bit of work," he said; "but I will not sell King Olaf for a
+dish."
+
+Finally two magnificent rings were offered. King Anund laughed when he
+saw them.
+
+"Keen and shrewd is King Canute," he remarked. "He knows I love golden
+toys, but he does not know that I love honor better. I have known King
+Olaf since he was a boy; he is my friend and my sister is his queen. I
+will not forsake him to please your king."
+
+On hearing this, King Canute laid aside his plots and made a pilgrimage
+to Rome. During his absence his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf, rebelled
+against him and allied himself with Kings Olaf and Anund, who sent fleets
+to his aid. As it proved, King Canute was not the man to be caught
+napping. Back from his pilgrimage he travelled in haste and came near to
+capturing both the kings. They fled with all speed, pursued by him with a
+more powerful fleet, and went up a little river in southern Sweden, which
+they closed by a dam against their strong foe. Canute came soon after and
+found the harbor deserted and the river closed against him.
+
+That night orders were given by the kings to break the dam and the
+heaped-up water ran down in an immense flood on the Danish ships, doing
+them great damage and drowning many of the people on board. But no attack
+was made on the disabled fleet, for Earl Ulf now turned traitor to his
+allies and joined Canute with his ships, making him too strong to
+attack.
+
+This ended the war for the time, Canute returning to England. But he had
+won over many of the Norse chiefs by his bribes and the next year came
+again, sailing north to Nidaros, where the assembled chiefs, whom he had
+gained to his side, proclaimed him king of Norway. He appointed Earl
+Haakon, grandson of the famous Earl Haakon of a former tale, regent in
+his stead, and sailed away again.
+
+In this manner Olaf lost his kingdom, for with all the powerful chiefs
+sold to the great King Canute and supported by him, little hope remained.
+He kept up the struggle for a short time, but was soon forced to flee to
+Sweden, whence he made his way to Russia and to the court of King
+Jaroslov, who was his brother-in-law, for he had married Princess
+Ingegerd of Sweden, once affianced to Olaf.
+
+Thus easily had Norway been conquered by Canute, but it was not long to
+remain under Danish rule at this time. Olaf, it is true, never won the
+throne again, though he made a strong effort to regain it. In Russia he
+grew more and more given to religious thoughts, until he became looked
+upon as a holy man. This made him open to believe in visions, and when in
+a dream he saw the former King Olaf, who bade him to go back to Norway
+and conquer it or die, he did not hesitate.
+
+Word had been brought him that Earl Haakon was dead and Norway with no
+immediate ruler, and against the advice of Jaroslov he set out for his
+late kingdom, leaving his son Magnus at the Russian court.
+
+In Sweden the king gave him permission to gather recruits, but now his
+religious fanaticism stood in the way of his success. He would have none
+but baptized men in his army, and thus rejected many brave warriors while
+taking some known to be outlaws and thieves. On reaching Norway he showed
+the same unwisdom. He had but four thousand men under his command, while
+the army he was soon to meet numbered ten thousand. Yet Olaf rejected
+five hundred of his men because they were heathens and, thus weakened,
+marched to the unequal fray.
+
+"Forward, Christ's men, king's men!" was the battle-cry of Olaf's army as
+it rushed upon the foe. "Forward, peasant men!" cried the opposite army,
+charging under its chiefs.
+
+The king's men had the best of it at the opening, but the peasants held
+their ground stubbornly, and as the battle went on Olaf's ranks thinned
+and wavered. Finding the day going against him, he dashed forward with a
+small band of devoted men. One by one they fell. The standard changed
+hands again and again as its bearer was struck down. Olaf, severely
+wounded, stood leaning against a rock, when he was cut down by spear and
+sword. And strangely, at that moment, the sun began to grow blood-red and
+a dusky hue fell over the field. Darker and darker it grew till the sun
+was blotted out and terror filled the souls of the peasants, who saw in
+this strange darkness a token of the wrath of Olaf's God. But the eclipse
+came too late to save the king, who lay dead where he had fallen.
+
+Olaf was gone but tradition built a halo around his name. It was reported
+that miracles were wrought by his blood and by the touch of his lifeless
+hand. Tales of marvel and magic grew up about him, and he became a
+wonder-worker for the superstitious people. In time he grew to be the
+national hero and the national saint, and lives in history as Olaf the
+Saint, while his tragic death and his enthusiasm for the cause of Christ
+gave him a strong hold on the people's hearts and aided greatly in making
+Norway truly a Christian land.
+
+
+
+
+_CANUTE THE GREAT, KING OF SIX NATIONS._
+
+
+A famous old king of Denmark, known as Harald Blaatand or Bluetooth, had
+many sons, of whom only one, Svend or Sweyn, outlived him. While Harald
+was a Christian, Sweyn was a pagan, having been brought up in the old
+faith by a noble warrior Palnatoke, to whom his father had sent the boy
+to teach him the use of arms.
+
+When the king found that the boy was being made a pagan he tried to
+withdraw him from Palnatoke, but Sweyn would not leave his friend,
+whereupon the crafty king sought to destroy the warrior. We speak of
+this, for there is a very interesting story connected with it. Every one
+has read of how the Austrian governor Gessler condemned the Swiss peasant
+William Tell to shoot with an arrow an apple from his son's head, but few
+know that a like story is told of a Danish king and warrior four hundred
+years earlier. This is the story, as told for us by an old historian.
+
+One day, while Palnatoke was boasting in the king's presence of his skill
+as an archer, Harald told him that, in spite of his boasts, there was one
+shot he would not dare to try. He replied that there was no shot he was
+afraid to attempt, and the king then challenged him to shoot an apple
+from the head of his son. Palnatoke obeyed, and the apple fell, pierced
+by the arrow. This cruel act made Palnatoke the bitter foe of King
+Harald, and gathering around him a band of fierce vikings he founded a
+brotherhood of sea-rovers at Jomsborg, and for long years afterwards the
+Jomsborgers, or Jomsborg vikings, were a frightful scourge to all
+Christian lands on the Baltic Sea. In former tales we have told some of
+their exploits.
+
+It is said that Sweyn himself, in a later war, killed his father on the
+battlefield, while Palnatoke stood by approving, though in after years
+the two were bitter foes. All we need say further of these personages is
+that Sweyn invaded England with a powerful force in the time of Ethelred
+the Unready and drove this weak king from the island, making himself
+master of great part of the kingdom. He died at Gainsborough, England, in
+1014, leaving his son Knud, then a boy of fourteen, to complete the
+conquest. It is this son, known in England as Canute the Great, and the
+mightiest of all the Danish kings, with whose career we have to deal.
+
+England did not fall lightly into Canute's hands; he had to win it by
+force of arms. Encouraged by the death of Sweyn and the youth of Canute,
+the English recalled Ethelred and for a time the Danes lost the kingdom
+which their king Sweyn had won. Canute did not find a throne awaiting him
+in Denmark. His younger brother Harald had been chosen king by the Danes
+and when Canute asked him for a share in the government, Harald told him
+that if he wished to be a king he could go back and win England for
+himself. He would give him a few ships and men, but the throne of Denmark
+he proposed to keep.
+
+Nothing loth, Canute accepted the offer and the next year returned to
+England with a large and well appointed force, whose work of conquest was
+rapidly performed. Ethelred died and great part of England was
+surrendered without resistance to the Danes. But Edmond, Ethelred's son,
+took the field with an army and in three months won three victories over
+the invaders.
+
+A fourth battle was attempted and lost and Edmond retreated to the
+Severn, swiftly followed by Canute. The two armies here faced each other,
+with the fate of England in the balance, when a proposal in close accord
+with the spirit of the times was made. This was to settle the matter by
+single combat between the kings. Both were willing. While Edmond had the
+advantage in strength, Canute was his superior in shrewdness. For when
+the champions met in deadly fray and Canute was disarmed by his opponent,
+the wily Dane proposed a parley, and succeeded in persuading Edmond to
+divide the kingdom between them. The agreement was accepted by the armies
+and the two kings parted as friends--but the death of Edmond soon after
+had in it a suspicious appearance of murder by poison.
+
+On the death of Edmond, Canute called a meeting of the popular assembly
+of the nation and was acknowledged king of all England. Not long
+afterwards Harald of Denmark died and the Danes chose him, under his
+home name of Knud, as their king also. But he stayed in Denmark only long
+enough to settle the affairs of the Church in that realm. He ordered that
+Christianity should be made the religion of the kingdom and the worship
+of Odin should cease; and put English bishops over the Danish clergy. He
+also brought in English workmen to teach the uncivilized Danes. Thus,
+Dane as Canute was, he preferred the religion and conditions of his
+conquered to those of his native kingdom, feeling that it was superior in
+all the arts and customs of civilization.
+
+A great king was Canute, well deserving the title long given him of
+Canute the Great. Having won England by valor and policy, he held it by
+justice and clemency. He patronized the poets and minstrels and wrote
+verses in Anglo-Saxon himself, which were sung by the people and added
+greatly to his popularity. Of the poems written by him one was long a
+favorite in England, though only one verse of it now remains. This was
+preserved by the monks of Ely, since they were its theme. Thus it runs,
+in literal translation:
+
+               "Merrily sung the monks within Ely
+               When Canute King rowed by;
+               Row, knights, near the land,
+               And hear we these monks' song."
+
+It is said that the verse was suggested to the king when rowing with his
+chiefs one day in the river Nene, near Ely Minster, by the sweet and
+solemn music of the monastery choir that floated out to them over the
+tranquil water. The monks of Ely, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of
+King Canute, tell us that he had a strong affection for the fen country
+and for their church, and gave the following story in that connection. It
+is at once picturesque and humorous.
+
+One year, at the festival of the Purification, when King Canute proposed
+to pay his usual visit to Ely, the weather was very severe and all the
+streams and other waters were frozen. The courtiers advised the king to
+keep the holy festival in some other godly house, which he might reach
+without danger of drowning under broken ice, but such was his love for
+the abbot and monks of Ely that he would not take this advice.
+
+Canute proposed to cross the ice by way of Soham Mere, then an immense
+body of water, saying that if any one would go before and show him the
+way he would be the first to follow. The soldiers and courtiers hesitated
+at this suggestion, and looked at one another with doubt and dread. But
+standing among the crowd was one Brithmar, a churl or serf, who was
+nicknamed Budde, or Pudding, from his stoutness. He was a native of the
+island of Ely and doubtless familiar with its waters, and when the
+courtiers held back he stepped forward and said he would go before and
+show the way.
+
+"Go on then, in the name of our Lady," said Canute, "and I will follow;
+for if the ice on Soham Mere can bear a man so large and fat as thou
+art, it will not break under the weight of a small thin man like me."
+
+So the churl went forward, and Canute the Great followed him, and after
+the king came the courtiers, one by one, with spaces between; and they
+all got safely over the frozen mere, with no mishaps other than a few
+slips and falls on the smooth ice; and Canute, as he had proposed, kept
+the festival of the Purification with the monks of Ely.
+
+As a reward to the fat churl Brithmar for his service, he was made a
+freeman and his little property was also made free. "And so," the
+chronicle concludes, "Brithmar's posterity continued in our days to be
+freemen and to enjoy their possessions as free by virtue of the grant
+made by the king to their forefather."
+
+There is another and more famous story told of King Canute, one showing
+that his great Danish majesty had an abundant share of sound sense. Often
+as this story has been told it will bear retelling. The incident occurred
+after his pilgrimage to Rome in the year 1030; made, it is said, to
+obtain pardon for the crimes and bloodshed which paved his way to the
+English throne.
+
+After his return and when his power was at its height, the courtiers
+wearied him by their fulsome flatteries. Disgusted with their extravagant
+adulations he determined to teach them a lesson. They had spoken of him
+as a ruler before whom all the powers of nature must bend in obedience,
+and one day he caused his golden throne to be set on the verge of the
+sea-shore sands as the tide was rolling in with its resistless might.
+Seating himself on the throne, with his jewelled crown on his head, he
+thus addressed the ocean:
+
+"O thou Ocean! Know that the land on which I sit is mine and that thou
+art a part of my dominion; therefore rise not, but obey my commands, and
+do not presume to wet the edge of my royal robe."
+
+He sat as if awaiting the sea to obey his commands, while the courtiers
+stood by in stupefaction. Onward rolled the advancing breakers, each
+moment coming nearer to his feet, until the spray flew into his face, and
+finally the waters bathed his knees and wet the skirts of his robe. Then,
+rising and turning to the dismayed flatterers, he sternly said:
+
+"Confess now how vain and frivolous is the might of an earthly king
+compared with that Great Power who rules the elements and says unto the
+ocean, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther!'"
+
+The monks who tell this story, conclude it by saying that Canute
+thereupon took off his crown and deposited it within the cathedral of
+Winchester, never wearing it again.
+
+After his visit to Rome, Canute ruled with greater mildness and justice
+than ever before, while his armies kept the turbulent Scotch and Welsh
+and the unquiet peoples of the north in order. In the latter part of his
+reign he could boast that the English, the Scotch, the Welsh, the Danes,
+the Swedes, and the Norwegians were his subjects, and he was called in
+consequence "The King of the Six Nations," and looked upon throughout
+Europe as the greatest of sovereigns; none of the kings and emperors of
+that continent being equal in power, wealth and width of dominion to King
+Canute, a descendant of the vikings of Denmark.
+
+Canute spent the most of his life in England, but now and then visited
+his northern realm, and there are some interesting anecdotes of his life
+there. Though a devout Christian and usually a self-controlled man, the
+wild passions of his viking ancestry would at times break out, and at
+such times he spared neither friend nor foe and would take counsel from
+no man, churchman or layman. But when his anger died out his remorse was
+apt to be great and he would submit to any penance laid upon him by the
+Church. Thus when he had killed one of his house servants for some slight
+offense, he made public confession of his crime and paid the same
+blood-fine as would have been claimed from a man of lower rank.
+
+The most notable instance of these outbursts of uncontrollable anger was
+that in which he murdered his old friend and brother-in-law Ulf, who,
+after rebelling against him, had saved him from complete defeat by the
+Swedes, by coming to his rescue just as the royal fleet was nearly
+swamped by the opening of the sluices which held back the waters of the
+Swedish river Helge-aae. Ulf took Canute on board his own ship and
+brought him in safety to a Danish island, while leaving his men to aid
+those of Canute in their escape from the Swedes. Yet the king bore a
+grudge against the earl, and this was its cause.
+
+At one time Ulf ruled over Denmark as Canute's regent and made himself
+greatly beloved by the people from his just rule. Queen Emma, Canute's
+wife, wished to have her little son Harthaknud--or Hardicanute, as he was
+afterwards called in England--made king of Denmark, but could not
+persuade her husband King Canute to accede to her wishes. She therefore
+sent letters privately to Ulf, saying that the king wished to see the
+young prince on the throne, but did not wish to do anything the people
+might not like. Ulf, deceived by her story, had the boy crowned king, and
+thereby won Canute's ill-will.
+
+The king, however, showed no signs of this, nor of resentment against Ulf
+for his rebellion, but, after his escape from the Swedes, asked the earl
+to go with him to his palace at Roeskilde, and on the evening of their
+arrival offered to play chess with him. During the game Canute made a
+false move so that Ulf was able to take one of his knights, and when the
+king refused to let this move count and wanted his man back again the
+earl jumped up and said he would not go on with the game. Canute, in a
+burst of anger, cried out:
+
+"The coward Norwegian Ulf Jarl is running away."
+
+"You and your coward Danes would have run away still faster at the
+Helge-aae if I and my Norwegians had not saved you from the Swedes, who
+were making ready to beat you all like a pack of craven hounds!"
+ejaculated the angry earl.
+
+Those hasty words cost Ulf his life. Canute, furious at the insult,
+brooded over it all night, and the next morning, still in a rage, called
+to one of the guards at the door of his bed-chamber:
+
+"Go and kill Ulf Jarl."
+
+"My Lord King, I dare not," answered the man. "Ulf Jarl is at prayer
+before the altar of the church of St. Lucius."
+
+The king, after a moment's pause, turned to a young man-at-arms who had
+been in his service since his boyhood and cried angrily:
+
+"I command you, Olaf, to go to the church and thrust your sword through
+the Jarl's body."
+
+Olaf obeyed, and Ulf was slain while kneeling before the altar rails of
+St. Lucius' church.
+
+Then, as usual with King Canute, his passion cooled and he deeply
+lamented his crime, showing signs of bitter remorse. In way of expiation
+he paid to his sister Estrid, Ulf's widow, a large sum as blood-fine, and
+gave her two villages which she left at her death to the church in which
+her husband had been slain. He also brought up Ulf's eldest son as one of
+his own children. The widowed Estrid afterwards married Robert, Duke of
+Normandy, father of William the Conqueror, who in 1066 became master of
+England.
+
+King Canute died in 1035, at thirty-six years of age, and his son Harald
+reigned after him in England for four years, and afterwards his son
+Harthaknud, or Hardicanute, for three years, when England again came
+under an Anglo-Saxon king--to fall under the power of William of
+Normandy, a conqueror of Norwegian descent, twenty-four years later.
+
+
+
+
+_MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HAROLD HARDRULER._
+
+
+After the death of King Olaf the Saint, and after the Danes had for some
+years ruled over Norway, Olaf's son Magnus, who had been left in Russia,
+was brought to Norway and proclaimed king. The Danes had oppressed the
+people, and had put over them a woman and her son, and it was this that
+made the chiefs drive out the tyrants and put young Magnus, then a boy of
+ten years of age, on the throne.
+
+A curious thing then took place, one of those strange political
+somersaults which at times come in the history of nations. For as the
+Danes had lately ruled over Norway, now a Norseman came to rule over
+Denmark. Thus it was that this odd change came about.
+
+The great King Canute was dead and his son Hardicanute had succeeded him
+on the throne. This new king claimed Norway as his and prepared to fight
+for it. But the chief men in the two countries succeeded in making peace,
+with the agreement that if either of the kings should die without heirs
+the other should take his throne. A few years later Hardicanute died and
+Magnus was proclaimed king of Denmark. Thus, in the year 1042, the two
+kingdoms became united under a Norse king, a descendant of Harold the
+Fair-Haired.
+
+Magnus, as he grew up, showed an ugly and revengeful temper. Very likely
+some of those around him told the boy that he should avenge his father
+upon those who had rebelled against and killed him. One of these men was
+slain by his orders, others fled from the country, and many were made
+poor by the loss of their cattle. This made the people very angry, and
+they were ready to fight for just treatment when peace was brought about
+in another way, the hot-tempered Magnus being subdued by the power of
+song.
+
+One of the poets of the land--scalds they were called--made a song called
+the Lay of Candor, which he sang before the king. In it he warned him of
+the evil results of a revengeful spirit and told him of the duties he
+owed the people who had brought him to Norway and made him king. Magnus,
+who had now nearly reached the years of manhood, listened quietly to this
+song and afterwards sat long in deep thought. It had a wonderful effect
+on him, for it opened his eyes to the injustice of his course, and from
+that day he was a new man. All his plans of vengeance fled, he became
+kind and gentle and so mild and sweet in manner that he grew to be one of
+the best loved of kings. This may be seen in the name the people gave
+him, which was that of Magnus the Good.
+
+Now we must tell the rest of his story very rapidly. As the heir of
+Hardicanute he claimed to be king of England as well as of Norway and
+Denmark, and he might have tried to win the crown of England, then worn
+by Edward the Confessor, had he not been kept busy at home. In fact, he
+had to fight hard to keep the crown of Denmark, for Sweyn, a nephew of
+the great Canute, claimed it and a fierce war followed. Magnus was
+victorious in this war, and in one great battle, in which ten thousand
+soldiers were slain, it was his skill and courage that won the field.
+This display of personal bravery gave him a great name in the north.
+
+Now we must leave the story of Magnus for a time to take up that of
+another hero of the north. Those who have read the tale of Olaf the Saint
+will remember his amusing talk with his three little half-brothers, and
+how while the two elder had an ambition only for land and cows, Harold,
+the youngest, wanted men and ships, and Olaf prophesied that the boy
+would one day be a king.
+
+When Harold grew up the spirit of the boy was shown in the man. When only
+fifteen years old he fought in the battle in which King Olaf was killed,
+and received a severe wound. Then he became a wanderer, going first to
+Russia and then to Constantinople, where he became the captain of the
+Varangians, the body-guard of Norsemen kept by the Greek emperors. A
+large, bold, strong, and reckless champion, Harold gained a great name in
+the south. He fought against the Saracens and won much treasure; he
+fought in Sicily and captured many cities; he had adventures in love and
+war and many wonderful stories are told of his exploits. Then he came
+back to Russia and married Elizabeth, the daughter of King Jaroslov,
+love for whom had sent him abroad to win fame and riches.
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS.]
+
+Not long after this King Magnus, as he was sailing one day along the
+coast of Denmark, saw gliding along the most magnificent ship he had ever
+beheld. He at once sent men aboard to learn to whom the beautiful galley
+belonged, and they were met by a tall and handsome man, who said that he
+had been sent by Harold Sigurdsson, the uncle of King Magnus, to learn
+how the king would receive him. Magnus, who was then nineteen years old,
+sent word that he would gladly welcome his uncle and hoped to find in him
+a good friend. When they met the tall man proved to be Harold himself and
+Magnus was highly pleased with him.
+
+He was not so well pleased when Harold asked to be made king also, laying
+claim to half the kingdom. And Harold himself was not well pleased when
+one of the Norse chiefs said that if Magnus was to share the kingdom with
+him, he should divide his great treasure with Magnus.
+
+Harold replied hastily and haughtily that he had not dared death and won
+wealth that he might make his nephew's men rich. The chief answered that
+he and his friends had not won Norway from the Danes for the purpose of
+giving half of it to a stranger, and all the other earls and warriors
+agreed with him, so that Harold found that the apple which he wished to
+divide was not so easily to be cut.
+
+After that there was war and plundering and the cruel deeds that take
+place when the sword is drawn, and a year or two later Harold called an
+assembly of the people of one district of Norway and had himself
+proclaimed king. Magnus, who did not want to fight his father's brother,
+finally yielded to Harold's claim and agreed that they should both be
+kings; not to divide the realm, but both to rule over the whole country
+together. Thus it was that Harold won the prize which he had craved as a
+young child.
+
+Every one would say that a compact of this kind could not work well. A
+gentle, kindly, generous-hearted man like King Magnus was ill matched
+with a haughty, wealth-loving, tyrannical man like Harold. No doubt many
+bitter words passed between them, and the peasants were so incensed by
+Harold's oppression and extortion of money from them that they would have
+broken into open rebellion only for the love they bore King Magnus. The
+latter was often so incensed that he was tempted to put an end to the
+double kingship even if he had to remove his troublesome partner by
+violence.
+
+But this was not to be. One day, while out riding, his horse took fright
+and threw him, his head striking a stump. He was at first stunned, but
+seemed to recover. Soon afterwards he was taken sick with a violent fever
+and gradually sank, so that it became apparent that he would die. On his
+death-bed he decided that Sweyn, who had fought so hard to win from him
+the crown of Denmark, had a better right to that kingdom than Harold, and
+men were sent to inform him of his succession to the Danish throne. But
+he had barely closed his eyes in death when Harold sent other men to
+intercept these messengers. He proposed to keep Denmark for himself.
+
+The death of King Magnus without an heir left Harold the undisputed
+successor to the throne, as the only living descendant in the male line
+of Harold the Fair-Haired. Yet the people were far from pleased, for he
+had already shown a disposition to treat them harshly and they feared
+that a tyrant had succeeded to the throne. By his stern rule he gained
+several uncomplimentary titles, the English calling him Harold the
+Haughty, the Germans Harold the Inflexible, and the Northmen Harold the
+Hardruler. Yet he was able to hold his own over his people, for he was
+strong and daring, skilled in the art of war, and a man of unusual
+intellect. He was also a poet and won fame by his verses. He would sit up
+half the night with the blind scald Stuf Katson, to hear him recite his
+stirring songs.
+
+But if absolute ruler over Norway, Harold found Denmark slipping away
+from him. Sweyn had in him the blood of the race of Canute, and was no
+weakling to be swept aside at a king's will. Magnus had left him the
+kingdom and he was bent on having it, if his good sword could win and
+hold it. In this he was supported by the Danes, and Harold found that the
+most he could do was to make descents on the Danish coast and plunder and
+murder the innocent people.
+
+After this idle kind of warfare had gone on for a number of years and
+Harold found that all he had gained by it was the hatred of the Danes, he
+made an agreement with Sweyn to fight it out between them. They were to
+meet at the mouth of the Götha Elv and whoever won in the battle was to
+be the king of Denmark. It was a kind of duel for a crown.
+
+But Sweyn tried to gain his end by stratagem. When Harold appeared with
+his fleet at the appointed place Sweyn and his ships were not to be seen.
+Harold waited a while, fuming and fretting, and then sailed south to
+Jutland, where he ravaged the coast, took and burned the city of Heidaby,
+carried away a number of women of high rank, and filled his ships with
+plunder. Then he turned homeward, with so little fear of the Danes that
+he let his ships widely scatter.
+
+The winds were adverse, the weather was foggy, and one morning while they
+lay at anchor by an island shore, the lookout saw a bright flash through
+the fog. The king was hastily called, and on seeing it cried:
+
+"What you see is the flash of the morning sun on the golden dragon-heads
+of warships. The Danish fleet is upon us!"
+
+The peril was imminent. It was hopeless to fight with the few ships at
+command. Only flight remained and that was almost as hopeless. The oars
+were got out in haste, but the ships, soaked and heavy from their long
+cruise, were hard to move, and as the fog lifted under the sun rays, the
+Danish fleet, several hundred strong, bore down swiftly upon them. The
+emergency was one that needed all the wit and skill of the king to meet.
+
+To distract the enemy Harold bade his men nail bright garments and other
+showy spoil to logs and cast them overboard. As these floated through the
+Danish ships many of them stopped to pick up the alluring prizes. He also
+was obliged to throw overboard casks of beer and pork to lighten his
+ships and these also were picked up. Yet in spite of all he could do the
+Danes gained on him, and his own ship, which brought up the rear, was in
+danger of capture.
+
+As a last resort the shrewd king had rafts made of boards and barrels and
+put on these the high-born women he held as captives. These rafts were
+set afloat one after another, and the pursuers, on seeing these hapless
+fair ones and hearing their wild appeals for rescue, were obliged to stop
+and take them up. This final stratagem succeeded and Harold escaped,
+leaving Sweyn, who had felt sure of capturing his enemy, furious at his
+failure.
+
+At another time, ten years and more later, Harold again fell into peril
+and again escaped through his fertility in resources. Having beaten his
+rival in a naval battle, he entered the long and narrow Lim fiord to
+plunder the land, fancying that Sweyn was in no condition to disturb him.
+He reckoned too hastily. Sweyn, learning where his foe was, gathered what
+ships he could and took post at Hals, the fiord being there so narrow
+that a few ships could fight with advantage against a much greater
+number.
+
+Though caught in a trap Harold was not dismayed, but gave orders to sail
+to the inner end of the fiord. He knew that it ended near the North Sea,
+only a narrow isthmus dividing them. Then, with great trouble and labor,
+he managed to have his ships dragged across the isthmus and launched on
+the sea waters, and away he sailed in triumph, leaving Sweyn awaiting him
+in vain.
+
+Finally, with the desire to bring this useless strife to an end, if
+possible, a new compact was made to meet with their fleets in the Götha
+Elv and fight once more for the kingdom of Denmark. It was now 1062,
+thirteen years after the former battle. As before, on reaching the place
+designated, no Danish ship was visible. But it is difficult to credit
+what we are told, that Harold, after a vain wait, made the same error as
+before, dividing his fleet and sending the greater part of it home. With
+the remainder, one hundred and eighty ships strong, he sailed along the
+coast, and suddenly found himself in the presence of the Danes, with two
+ships to his one.
+
+This time Harold did not flee, but joined battle bravely with his enemy,
+the contest lasting through a whole night and ending in a complete
+victory over the Danes. It was a great victory, yet it brought Harold no
+advantage, for Sweyn did not keep to his compact--if he had made one--to
+surrender his throne, and the Danes hated Harold so thoroughly for his
+cruel raids on their land that they had no idea of submitting to him. Two
+years more passed on, and then Harold, finding that the conquest of
+Denmark was hopeless, consented against his will to make peace. In this
+way Sweyn, after many years of battling for his throne, forced his
+powerful antagonist to give up the contest and promise never to disturb
+him again.
+
+Two years after this peace was made, in the year 1066, King Harold took
+part in another adventure which brought his tyranny and his life to an
+end. It is worth telling for another reason, for it was connected with a
+great historical event, the conquest of England by William the Conqueror.
+For these two reasons it is very fitting that it should be told.
+
+King Harold of England, who was soon to fall on the fatal field of
+Hastings, had a brother, Earl Tostig, who, fired by ambition, set out to
+conquer that kingdom for himself. He went first to Denmark and tried to
+get King Sweyn to join him in the enterprise, but the prudent Sweyn told
+him that he had no desire to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Canute,
+but was quite content to dwell at home and rule his own kingdom.
+
+Then Tostig sought Norway, where he found King Harold far more ready to
+listen to him. So in September of that year, Harold sailed from Norway
+with the most powerful fleet and army that had ever left its shores.
+Counting what was added in the Orkneys and the force under Earl Tostig,
+it numbered about three hundred and fifty ships and thirty thousand men.
+Landing in Northumberland, a victory was won and the city of York taken.
+Then, leaving about one-third of the army to guard the ships, Harold and
+Tostig encamped at Stamford Bridge, seven miles from York.
+
+It was a warm day, there was no reason to fear danger, and the men
+lounged about without their arms. In this unwary state they found
+themselves suddenly face to face with a large army, led by the English
+King Harold, who had marched north in furious haste. Tostig, finding that
+they had been taken by surprise, advised a retreat to the ships, but
+Harold was not the man to turn his back to his foe, and decided to stand
+and fight, ordering the men to arm and prepare for battle. While they
+were gathering in ranks for the fray, a party of English horsemen rode up
+and asked if Earl Tostig was there.
+
+"You see him before you," said Tostig.
+
+"Your brother Harold sends you greeting and offers you peace and the rule
+of Northumberland. If he cannot gain your friendship for less, he will
+grant you one-third his kingdom."
+
+"Last year he had only scorn and disdain to offer me," replied Tostig.
+"But if I should accept his proposal, what has he to offer my ally, the
+king of Norway?"
+
+"He will grant him seven feet of English soil; or more if his length of
+body needs it."
+
+"If that is your best offer," said Tostig, "ride back and bid Harold to
+begin the battle."
+
+Harold of Norway had heard this brief colloquy, and as the English
+horsemen rode away asked Tostig who was the speaker.
+
+"That was my brother, Harold himself," answered Tostig.
+
+"I learn that too late," said Harold grimly.
+
+The battle that followed was hotly contested. It began with a charge of
+the English cavalry, which was repulsed, and was followed up fiercely by
+the Norsemen, who fancied the flight of the English to mean a general
+rout. In this way they broke their ranks, which the king wished to
+preserve until reinforcements could reach him from the ships. Forward
+rushed the impatient Norsemen, King Harold throwing himself into their
+midst and fighting with savage fury. His men seconded him, the English
+ranks wavered and broke before the fierce onset, and victory seemed
+within the grasp of the invaders, when an arrow pierced King Harold's
+throat and he fell in a dying state from his horse.
+
+His fall checked the onset, and the English king, hearing of his death,
+offered his brother an armistice. Tostig refused this and led his men
+back to the fray, which was resumed with all its old fury. But Tostig,
+too, was slain, and the king's brother-in-law, who arrived with
+reinforcements from the ships, met with the same fate. By this time the
+battlefield was covered with the bodies of the dead, and the Norsemen,
+dispirited by the loss of their leaders, gave way and retreated towards
+the ships, hotly pursued by their victorious foes. Of their great host
+only a small remnant succeeded in reaching the ships.
+
+Thus ended the great fight at Stamford Bridge, and with it the reign and
+life of Harold Hardruler, who fell a victim to his ambition and love of
+strife. For years thereafter the bones of men lay scattered widely over
+that field, for none stayed to bury the dead, the Norsemen fleeing in
+their ships, while news of the landing of William of Normandy called
+Harold hastily to the south--where he fell in the midst of the fighting
+at Hastings as Harold of Norway had fallen on Stamford Field. Harold's
+invasion of England was the last great exploit of the vikings of the
+north, and though Ireland was invaded later by a Norseland fleet, no
+foreign foe after the fatal days at Stamford and Hastings ever landed on
+England's shores.
+
+
+
+
+_SVERRE, THE COOK'S SON, AND THE BIRCHLEGS._
+
+
+In the year 1177 those people in Norway who loved a joke must have
+laughed to their hearts' content, when the tidings reached them that the
+son of a cook, followed by seventy ragged and half armed men, had set out
+to win the throne of the kingdom. Surely a more extraordinary and
+laughable enterprise was never undertaken, and the most remarkable thing
+about it was that it succeeded. A few years of desperate adventures and
+hard fighting raised the cook's son to the throne, and those who had
+laughed at his temerity were now glad to hail him as their king. How
+Sverre the adventurer won the crown is a tale full of adventure and amply
+worth the telling.
+
+No common man was Sverre and no common woman was his mother Gunhild, a
+cook in the kitchen of King Sigurd Mouth. Not handsome was she, but quick
+of wit and bright of brain. If the king had had his way the boy would
+have had a very short life, for he bade the mother to kill her child as
+soon as it should be born. Instead of consenting to this cruel mandate,
+she fled from the palace to a ship, which took her to the Faroe Islands,
+and here her son was born. She was then serving as milkmaid to Bishop
+Mathias.
+
+The little Sverre began his life with an adventure. When he was a few
+months old a man named Unas came from Norway to the islands, a smith or
+comb-maker by profession. But Gunhild suspected him of being a spy sent
+by King Sigurd to kill her son, and she hid the boy in a cavern, which is
+still called Sverre's Cave. He acted like a spy, for he followed her to
+the cave, found where she had hidden the child, and threatened to kill it
+unless she would marry him. Gunhild had no love for this dangerous
+stranger, but she dearly loved her little son, and with much reluctance
+she consented to marry Unas to save the babe's life.
+
+Such was the first event in the life of the later King Sverre. The
+new-married pair went back to Norway, for King Sigurd had died, but when
+the boy was five years old they returned to the Faroes, for Bishop
+Mathias was now dead, and Roe, the brother of Unas, had been made bishop
+in his stead.
+
+The little fellow was made to believe that he was the son of Unas, and as
+he grew up Bishop Roe took a great fancy to him, for he showed himself to
+be very bright and intelligent. There was no boy in the island his equal,
+so the good bishop had him educated for the priesthood and when he was
+old enough had him ordained in the lowest priestly grade.
+
+This was much against the wish of Gunhild, his mother, who had higher
+hopes for his future, and when he proudly told her that he was now a
+priest, and hoped some day to become a bishop, or even a cardinal, she
+burst into tears.
+
+"Why do you weep, mother?" he asked in surprise. "I do not know why you
+should hear of my honor with sorrow."
+
+"Oh, my son," she cried, "this is but a small honor compared to that to
+which you were born. I have not told you of the great station that is
+yours by right, but must now say that you are not the son of my husband
+Unas, but of King Sigurd of Norway, and you have as good a claim as any
+man living to the throne."
+
+This surprising revelation destroyed Sverre's peace of mind. All his
+ambition to rise in the priesthood was gone, the crown of a kingdom
+seemed to float in the air before him, and his thoughts by day and his
+dreams by night were fixed on that shining goal. The great hopes in his
+mind kept sleep from his eyes and after days of mental unrest he felt
+that life was worthless to him if his high ambition were not fulfilled.
+
+"Since I am born heir to the crown," he said to his mother, "I have as
+much right to it as any man, and I will strive at any cost to win it. I
+stake my life on this cast, for without it life to me has lost all its
+joy."
+
+Magnus, the king then on the throne, was not of royal birth. He was the
+son of Erling Skakke, a great and ambitious nobleman, who had killed
+every descendant of the royal house he could find to make his own son
+king. Of the boy who was destined to dispute his claim, the cook's son on
+the Faroes, he knew nothing, and when the bright youth landed in Norway,
+whether he had gone in spite of the protests of Bishop Roe, not a soul in
+the kingdom dreamed that a new claimant for the throne was in the realm.
+
+No one was likely to learn from Sverre until his plans were ripe. He was
+too shrewd and cautious for that. He wanted to feel the sentiment of the
+people, and was disappointed to find them all well satisfied with their
+king. Full of humor and a good talker, everybody he met was pleased with
+him, and when he talked with the men-at-arms of Erling Skakke they told
+him all they knew about the state of affairs. They were quite won over by
+this lively priest from the Faroes. He even made the acquaintance of
+Erling Skakke himself and got a thorough idea of his character.
+
+The cunning adventurer was feeling his way and found things not at all to
+his liking. To attempt, alone and with an empty pocket, to drive a
+favorite monarch from the throne, seemed the act of madness. But the
+ambitious youth had dreamed his dream of royal state and had no fancy for
+returning to a humble priesthood on the bleak Faroes.
+
+In Sweden, across the border, dwelt Earl Birger, who had married a sister
+of King Sigurd Mouth. To him Sverre went, told who he was, and begged for
+aid. The earl looked on him as an imposter and would have nothing to do
+with him. Then he sought Folkvid the Lawman, with whom lived his
+half-sister Cecilia, and told him the same story. Folkvid received him
+more graciously, but he had no power to make him king. But the rumor
+that a son of the late King Sigurd was in the land got abroad, and soon
+made its way to the ears of a band of rebels who hated the king.
+
+Here we must go back a step. All the people of Norway were not content
+with the new king. From time to time pretenders to the throne arose,
+hornets whom Magnus and his father Erling had some trouble in destroying.
+They had their following, and the malcontents gathered at last around
+Eystein Meyla (Little Girl), who professed to be the grandson of a former
+king. But all this last of the pretenders was able to do was to roam
+about in the wilderness, keeping himself and his followers from starving
+by robbing the people. They were in so desperate a state that they had to
+use birch-bark for shoes, and the peasants in derision called them
+Birkebeiner, or Birchlegs. Though little better than highwaymen, they
+were sturdy and daring and had some success, but finally were badly
+beaten by the king and their leader slain. They might have never been
+heard of again had not the greatest of the pretenders just then came to
+Norway.
+
+The rumor that a son of King Sigurd Mouth was in the land reached the
+ears of the handful of Birchlegs remaining and, learning where Sverre
+was, they sought him and begged him to be their chief. He looked at them,
+and seeing what dirty and ragged vagabonds they were, he told them that
+he had no fancy for being their leader, that there was no link of
+connection between them and him but poverty, and advised them, if they
+wanted a chief, to seek one of Earl Birger's sons, who, like himself,
+were of royal descent.
+
+The beggarly troop took his advice, but the earl's son would have nothing
+to do with them. By way of a joke he told them to go back to Sverre and
+threaten to kill him if he would not be their leader. They did so, using
+persuasions and possibly threats, and Sverre, seeing no hope of success
+among the great, finally consented to become the leader of this ragged
+band of brigands. Such was his first definite step on the road to the
+throne.
+
+In this humble fashion, the ambitious young prince, then about
+twenty-four years old, with empty hands and pockets and seventy ragged
+followers, began his desperate strife for the throne of Norway.
+
+From Vermeland, where his enterprise began, he led his forlorn seventy
+southward toward Viken, his party rolling on like a snowball and growing
+in size on its way, until it swelled to four hundred and twenty men. In
+spite of his protest, these vagabonds proclaimed him king and touched his
+sword to indicate their allegiance. But their devotion to his cause was
+not great, for when he forbade them to rob and plunder the peasants most
+of them left him. To test the remainder, he ordered them back to
+Vermeland and before they reached that region only the original seventy
+remained.
+
+Desperate was now the position of the youthful adventurer. He had
+declared himself a claimant for the throne and any one had the right to
+kill him. The peasants hated his robber band and he could get none to
+join him. They would rather have killed them all and thus earned the
+king's favor.
+
+Had young Sverre been a man of common mind his enterprise must now have
+reached its end. But he was a man of wonderful mental resources, daring,
+indefatigable, capable of bearing the most extreme reverses and rescuing
+himself from the most perilous situations. Followed by his faithful
+seventy, he wandered through the pathless mountain wilderness, hopeful
+and resourceful. His courage was unfailing. Often they had to live on
+bark and frozen berries, which were dug up from under the snow. At times
+some of his men, worn out with hunger and exposure, would drop lifeless
+on their barren paths; at times he had to sleep under his shield, as his
+only protection from the falling snow; but his heart kept stout through
+it all, and he chided those who talked of ending their misfortunes by
+suicide.
+
+As an example of his courage and endurance and his care of his men, we
+may tell the following anecdote. Once in his wanderings he came to a
+large mountain lake which had to be crossed. It could only be done on
+rafts, and the men were so exhausted that it proved desperate work to
+fell trees and build the necessary rafts. In time they were all
+despatched, Sverre boarding the last, which was so heavily laden that the
+water rose above his ankles.
+
+One man was still on the shore, so utterly worn out that he had to crawl
+to the water's edge and beg to be taken on, lest he should perish. The
+others grumbled, but Sverre would not listen to their complaints but
+bade them to take the man on. With his extra weight the raft sank till
+the water reached their knees. Though the raft threatened to go to the
+bottom Sverre kept a resolute face. A great fallen pine on the other side
+made a bridge up which the men clambered to safety, Sverre being the last
+to leave the raft. Scarcely had he done so when the watersoaked logs
+sank. The men looked on this as a miracle and believed more fully than
+ever that he would win.
+
+Now came the first success in his marvellous career. He had one hundred
+and twenty men on reaching the goal of his terrible journey, but here
+eighty men more joined him and with these two hundred followers he
+successfully faced a force of fourteen hundred which had been sent
+against him. With a native genius for warfare he baffled his enemies at
+every point, avoiding their onset, falling upon them at unexpected
+points, forcing them to scatter into separate detachments in the pursuit,
+then falling on and beating these detachments in succession. While he
+kept aware of their plans and movements, they never knew where to look
+for him, and in a short time the peasant army was beaten and dispersed.
+
+This striking success gave new courage and hope to the Birchlegs and they
+came in numbers to the place to which Sverre had summoned a body of
+twelve representatives from the province of Tröndelag. These met and
+proclaimed him king of Norway. It was now the summer of 1177.
+
+The Birchlegs were hasty in supposing the beating of fourteen hundred
+peasants would bring success to their cause. Erling Skakke was still
+alive and active, and on hearing of the exploits of this new leader of
+rebels in the north, he got together a large fleet and sailed northward
+to deal with him.
+
+The new-proclaimed king was too wary to meet this powerful force and he
+sought refuge in the mountains again, leaving to Erling the dominion of
+the coast. And now, for two years, Sverre and his men led a precarious
+life, wandering hither and thither through the mountain wilderness and
+suffering the severest privations. He was like a Robin Hood of the
+Norwegian mountains, loving to play practical jokes on the peasants, such
+as appearing with his hungry horde at their Yuletide feasts and making
+way with the good cheer they had provided for themselves. He was obliged
+to forage in the valleys, but he took pity on the poor and more than once
+made the great suffer for acts of oppression.
+
+Everywhere he was hated as a desperate brigand; some believed him to be
+the devil himself. Naughty children were scared with the threat that the
+terrible Sverre would take them, and laundresses, beating their clothes
+at the river's brink, devoutly wished that Sverre's head was under the
+stone. Yet his undaunted resolution, his fights with the king's soldiers,
+his skirmishes with the peasants, and his boldness and daring in all
+situations, won him a degree of admiration even among those who feared
+and hated him.
+
+Thus for two years his adventurous career went on. Then came an event
+that turned the tide in his favor. Erling was still pursuing him and in
+June, 1179, was in the coast town of Nidaros, his son, Magnus, with him.
+In the harbor lay the fleet. The earl and the king were feasting with
+their followers when word was brought them that the Birchlegs were
+approaching.
+
+"I wish it was true," said the earl. "I should like nothing better than
+to meet that hound Sverre. But there will be no such good luck to-night,
+for I am told that the rascals have gone back to the mountains. You can
+go to bed in safety, for Sverre will not dare to trouble us when we are
+on the watch for him."
+
+To bed they went, sleeping heavily from their potations, and down on them
+came Sverre, who, as usual, was well informed about their situation.
+
+"Now is your time to fight bravely, and repay yourselves for your
+sufferings," he said to his men. "A fine victory lies before us. I shall
+promise you this. Any one of you who can prove that he has slain a
+liegeman shall be made a liegeman himself, and each of you shall be given
+the title and dignity of the man you have slain."
+
+Thus encouraged, the poorly-armed adventurers rushed down the hills into
+the town. One sturdy fellow who carried only a club was asked where his
+weapons were.
+
+"They are down in the town," he said. "The earl's men have them now. We
+are going there to get them."
+
+This they did. As they came on the warriors, hastily alarmed and heavy
+with their drunken sleep, flocked staggering into the streets, to be met
+with sword and lance. The confusion was great and the king had much
+trouble in rallying his men. Many chieftains advised flight to the ships,
+but the stout-hearted Erling was not ready for that.
+
+"It might be best," he said, "but I can't bear the thought of that
+brigand priest putting himself in my son's place."
+
+Leading his men outside the city, he awaited the attack. It came in
+haste, the Birchlegs falling furiously upon the much greater force before
+them. In the onset the earl was killed and his men were put to flight.
+The king, as he fled by, saw the bloody face of his father lying under
+the stars. He stooped and kissed him, saying:
+
+"We shall meet again, father, in the day of joy." Then he was borne away
+in the stream of flight.
+
+This decisive victory turned the tide of the war. The death of Erling
+removed Sverre's greatest opponent. King Magnus was no match for the
+priest-king, and the rebel force grew until the contest assumed the shape
+of civil war. Sverre no longer led a band of wanderers, but was the
+leader of an army.
+
+This was not the ordinary army recruited from the settled classes of
+society, but an army made up of the lower stratum of the people, now
+first demanding their share of the good things of life. Fierce and unruly
+as they were, Sverre knew how to control and discipline them. He kept his
+promise, as far as was possible, to reward his men with the honors of
+those they had slain, but charged them with the maintenance of law and
+order, punishing all who disobeyed his commands. This he could safely do,
+for they worshipped him. They had shared peril and suffering together,
+had lived as comrades, but through it all he had kept his authority
+intact and demanded obedience. Birchlegs they still called themselves,
+for they had grown proud of the title, and they named their opponents
+Heklungs, from the story that some of them had robbed a beggar woman
+whose money was wrapped in a cloak (_hekl_).
+
+For six years afterwards the war for dominion in Norway continued, the
+star of King Sverre steadily rising. In 1180 Magnus attacked his opponent
+with an army much larger than that of Sverre, but was utterly routed; and
+an army of peasants that came on afterwards, to kill the "devil's
+priest," met with the same ill success.
+
+Magnus now took refuge in Denmark, abandoning Norway to his rival, and
+from there he came year after year to continue the contest. In a naval
+battle in 1181, in which Sverre had less than half the number of ships of
+his opponent, his star seemed likely to set. The Birchlegs were not good
+at sea fighting and the Heklungs were pressing them steadily back, when
+Sverre sprang into the hottest of the fight, without a shield and with
+darts and javelins hurtling around him, and in stirring tones sang the
+Latin hymn, "Alma chorus domini."
+
+This hymn seemed to turn the tide of victory. Magnus, storming furiously
+forward at that moment, was wounded in the wrist as he was boarding a
+hostile ship. The pain caused him to pause and, his feet slipping on the
+blood-stained deck, he fell headlong backward, a glad shout of victory
+coming from the Birchlegs who saw him fall.
+
+Orm, one of King Magnus's captains, demanded what had happened.
+
+"The king is killed," he was told.
+
+"Then the fate of the realm is decided," he cried.
+
+Cutting the ropes that held the ships together, he took to flight,
+followed by others and breaking the line of battle. Leaping to his feet,
+Magnus called out that he was not hurt and implored them not to flee from
+certain victory. But the terror and confusion were too great, and Sverre
+took quick advantage of the opportunity, capturing a number of ships and
+putting the others to flight.
+
+The final battle in this contest for a throne came in 1184. It was one in
+which Sverre was in imminent danger of a fatal end to his career. Usually
+not easily surprised, he was now taken unawares. He had sailed up the
+Nore fiord with a few ships and a small force of men, to punish some
+parties who had killed his prefect. Magnus, afloat with twenty-six ships
+and over three thousand men, learned of this and pursued his enemy into
+the fiord.
+
+Sverre was caught in a trap. Not until he saw the hostile ships bearing
+down upon him had he a suspicion of danger. Escape was impossible. Great
+cliffs bounded the watery cańon. He had but fourteen ships and not half
+his opponent's force of men. The Heklungs were sure that victory was in
+their hands. But when Sverre and his Birchlegs dashed forward and
+attacked them with berseker fury their confidence turned to doubt. Soon
+it began to appear that victory was to be on the other side. Before the
+furious onset the Heklungs fell in numbers. Many in panic leaped into the
+sea and were drowned, King Magnus among them. Till mid-night the hot
+contest continued, by which hour half the king's force were slain and all
+the ships captured. The drowned corpse of King Magnus was not found until
+two days after the battle, when it was taken to Bergen and buried with
+royal ceremony. His death ended the contest and Sverre was unquestioned
+king of the whole land.
+
+Shall we briefly conclude the story of King Sverre's reign? For twenty
+years it continued, the most of these years of war, for rebellion broke
+out in a dozen quarters and only the incessant vigilance and activity of
+a great king and great soldier enabled him to keep his throne and his
+life.
+
+After all his wars and perils, he died in his bed, March 9, 1202, worn
+out by his long life of toil and strain. Never before had Norway so noble
+and able a king; never since has it seen his equal. A man was he of small
+frame but indomitable soul, of marvellous presence of mind and fertility
+in resources; a man firm but kindly and humane; a king with a
+clear-sighted policy and an admirable power of controlling men and
+winning their attachment. Never through all its history has Norway known
+another monarch so admirable in many ways as Sverre, the cook's son.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FRIENDS AND FOES OF A BOY PRINCE._
+
+
+After the death of the great King Sverre tumult and trouble reigned in
+Norway. Several kings came to the throne, but none of them lived long,
+and there was constant fighting between the Birchlegs and the opposing
+party who called themselves Baglers. Year after year they kept their
+swords out and their spears in hand, killing one another, but neither
+party growing strong enough to put an end to the other. All this time the
+people were suffering and the country growing poorer, and a strong hand
+was needed at the helm of the ship-of-state.
+
+It was when King Inge, who was not of royal blood, and whose hand was not
+the strong hand needed, was on the throne, that new hope came to the
+people, for it was made known that they had among them a boy of kingly
+descent, a grandson of the noble Sverre. Men thought that King Sverre's
+line had died out, and there was great joy in their hearts when they
+learned that his son Haakon had left a son.
+
+This boy was born in 1203, son of the beautiful Inga of Varteig, whom
+King Haakon had warmly loved though she was not his wife. The little
+prince was named Haakon, after his father, but he was born in the midst
+of the Baglers, his father's foes, and the priest who baptized him bade
+Inga to keep his birth a strict secret, letting none outside her own
+family know that a new prince had come to the land.
+
+The secret was well kept for a time, but whispers got abroad, and Thrond,
+the priest, at length told the story to Erland of Huseby, whom he knew to
+be on the right side. Erland heard the news with joy, but feared peril
+for the little prince, thus born in the land of his enemies. Rumors were
+growing, danger might at any moment come, and though it was mid-winter, a
+season of deep snows and biting winds, he advised the priest to send the
+boy and his mother to the court of King Inge, offering himself to take
+them across the pathless mountains.
+
+The difficult journey was made in safety and the boy and his mother were
+kindly welcomed by the king, and joyfully greeted by the Birchlegs, who
+were strong in that district. Little Haakon was then less than two years
+old, and it is said that the old loyalists, who were eager to have a king
+of the royal blood, used in playfulness to pull him between them by the
+arms and legs, to make him grow faster.
+
+The Birchlegs were in fear of Haakon Galen, the king's brother, who was
+ambitious to succeed to the throne. Yet Earl Haakon took a great fancy to
+the helpless little child and seemed to love him as much as any of them.
+Thus the child prince, though in the midst of plotters for the throne,
+who would naturally be likely to act as his enemies, seemed protected by
+the good angels and brought safely through all his perils.
+
+Even when he was captured by the Baglers, when four years of age, they
+did not harm him, being possibly so taken by his infantile beauty and
+winning ways that they could not bring themselves to injure their little
+captive. In the end, after many fights and flights, in which neither
+party made any gains, the Birchlegs and Baglers grew tired of the useless
+strife and a treaty of peace was made between them, the king of the
+Baglers swearing allegiance to King Inge and becoming one of his earls.
+But new trouble was brewing for the youthful prince, for in 1212, when he
+was eight years old, a compact was made that none but those of legitimate
+birth should succeed to the throne. As his mother had not been a legal
+wife, this threatened to rob little Haakon of his royal rights.
+
+In doing this the plotters were like some politicians of the present day,
+who lay plans without consulting the people. They did not know how strong
+the sentiment was in favor of the old royal line. One of the old
+Birchlegs, on hearing of this compact, was bitterly angry. He had made
+frequent visits to the young prince, whom he loved and admired, but on
+his next visit he pushed away the playful lad, roughly bidding him
+begone.
+
+Haakon reproachfully asked, "What have I done to make you so angry?"
+
+"Go away from me," cried Helge, the veteran; "to-day you have been robbed
+of your right to the crown and I have ceased to love you."
+
+"Who did that and where was it done?"
+
+"It was done at the _Oere-thing_ [the Assembly at Oere], and those who
+did it were King Inge and his brother Earl Haakon."
+
+"Then you should not be angry with me, my kind Helge, nor be troubled
+about this. What they did cannot be lawful, for my guardian was not there
+to speak on my side."
+
+"Your guardian! Who is he?" asked Helge.
+
+"I have three guardians, God, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Olaf," said the
+boy solemnly. "To their keeping I give my cause, and they will guard me
+against all wrong."
+
+The old man, at this declaration, caught the boy in his arms and kissed
+him.
+
+"Thanks for your wise words, my prince," he said. "Words like those are
+better spoken than unspoken."
+
+These words show that the little fellow was coming to think for himself
+and had an active and earnest mind. In fact, he was so precocious and
+said such droll things as greatly to amuse the king and those around him.
+Here is one of his sayings, spoken in a spell of cold weather when the
+butter could not be spread on the bread. The prince bent a piece of bread
+around the butter, saying:
+
+"Let us tie the butter to the bread, Birchlegs." This was thought so
+smart that it became a proverb among the Birchlegs.
+
+Soon after this Earl Haakon died and the little fellow, who had hitherto
+lived in his house, was taken to the king's court, where he was treated
+like a prince. The king was growing feeble from sickness and he loved to
+have the boy with him, finding his talk very amusing and entertaining.
+Soon after this he also died, Prince Haakon then being fourteen years
+old.
+
+Though Earl Haakon, the king's brother, who had hoped to be king, died,
+as we have said, before him, there was another brother named Skule who
+was quite as ambitious and of whom the Birchlegs were much afraid. A
+body-guard of these faithful warriors took charge of the boy as soon as
+King Inge was dead, with orders to follow him day and night.
+
+Earl Skule at once began to plan and plot to seize the throne, and in
+this he was supported by the archbishop, but in spite of them the
+Birchlegs proclaimed Haakon king and Skule had to yield to the strong
+sentiment in his favor. As for the noble then called king by the Baglers,
+he too died just at this time and left no children, so that the way was
+clear for the boy king, and Haakon soon sailed to the south with a large
+fleet and took possession of Viken and the Uplands, the chief dominions
+of the Baglers.
+
+By the wise policy of the young king and his advisers the Baglers were
+made his friends and the next year they were fighting with the Birchlegs
+against the Slittungs or Ragamuffins, who were made up of robbers,
+tramps, and wandering vagabonds of all kinds, thousands of whom had been
+set adrift by the civil war.
+
+But Haakon's worst foe was Earl Skule, who continued his plots and
+intrigues, and who was supported by the clergy, these saying they had
+doubts if the boy was really the son of the elder Haakon and grandson of
+King Sverre. Such things were not in those days usually settled in courts
+of law, but by what was called the ordeal, one form of which was to walk
+barefoot over red-hot irons. If not burned the accused was thought to
+have proved the justice of his cause.
+
+[Illustration: LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS.]
+
+For a king already in possession of the throne to submit to such a demand
+and humble himself by thus trying to prove who he was, was a thing never
+done before and an old peasant gave vent to the general sentiment in
+these words:
+
+"Who can show in history a case of the sons of peasants prescribing terms
+like these to an absolute king? It would be wiser and more manly to bear
+another kind of iron--cold steel--against the king's foes, and let God
+judge between them in that way."
+
+But Inga, the king's mother, declared that she was ready to endure the
+ordeal and Haakon consented to it. Earl Skule now felt sure of
+succeeding, not dreaming that the ordeal could be gone through without
+burning, but to make more sure, he bribed a man to approach Inga and
+offer her an herb which he said would heal burns.
+
+The plot was discovered by the faithful Birchlegs and Inga warned of it;
+for to use such herbs would make the test invalid and subject Inga and
+her son to opprobrium. But all that Skule and his fellow-plotters could
+do proved of no avail, for Inga passed through the ordeal unhurt and
+triumphantly proved, in the legal system of that day, the justice of her
+cause. How red-hot iron was prevented from burning is a matter which we
+cannot discuss, and can only say that this ordeal was common and many are
+said to have gone through it unscathed.
+
+We set out in this story to tell how the child Haakon passed through all
+the perils that surrounded him and grew up to become Norway's king. Here
+then we should end, but for years new perils surrounded him and of these
+it is well to speak. They were due to the ambitious Earl Skule, who made
+plot after plot against the king's life, and was forgiven again and again
+by the noble-minded monarch.
+
+King Haakon's friends sought to put an end to this secret plotting by
+arranging a marriage between the young monarch and Earl Skule's still
+younger daughter Margaret. But this did not check him in his plots, and
+he finally set sail for Denmark to try and get aid from King Valdemar. He
+was ready to agree if the kingdom were won to reign as a vassal of the
+Danish king; but when he got there no such king was to be found. He had
+been captured in battle five days before, and was now with his son in a
+prison at Mecklenburg. The disappointed plotter had to sail home and
+pretend to be the king's friend as before.
+
+For years Skule's plots went on. He took the field against a new horde of
+rebels called the Ribbungs, but he took care never to press them too
+closely, and they long gave the king trouble. For more than twenty years
+Skule thus continued to plot and plan, the king discovering his schemes
+and pardoning him more than once, but nothing could cure him of his
+ambitious dream.
+
+In the end, when he was nearly fifty years old, he succeeded in having
+himself proclaimed king and in sending out bands of warriors who killed
+many faithful friends of King Haakon. He tried to conceal his purpose
+until he had gathered a large force, but one man escaped the vigilance of
+his guards and brought word of the treachery to Haakon. The latter,
+seeing that he must check this rebellion if he wished to sit safely on
+his throne, at once took to his fleet, sailed southward with the utmost
+speed, and rowed, under cover of a fog, up the Folden fiord to Oslo,
+where the rebel was. He had been carousing with his followers the night
+before and the wassailers were roused from their drunken sleep by the
+war-horns and ran out to see the king's ships driving in towards the
+piers.
+
+The rebels were quickly scattered, but Skule escaped, and at length was
+traced to the woods, where he was wandering with a few friends. The
+friars of a monastery took pity on them and hid them in a tower,
+disguised with monkish cowls. Despite their disguise they were traced to
+their hiding place, and when the friars refused to give them up the
+pursuers set fire to the tower. Driven out by the smoke and heat, Skule
+stepped from the gate, holding his shield above his head and saying:
+
+"Strike me not in the face; for it is not right to treat warriors thus."
+
+In a minute more he lay dead, slain by Birchleg swords.
+
+The next act in King Haakon's reign was to have himself crowned king, and
+thus to rid himself of the blot on his claim to the throne. After some
+negotiations with the Pope, a cardinal was sent from Rome, the ceremony
+being performed with much pomp and ceremony, and followed with the most
+magnificent feasts and festivities Norway had ever seen.
+
+From this time on King Haakon ruled as a wise, noble and powerful
+monarch, making his strength felt by his great fleet and setting Norway
+high among the nations of the north. He died at length in 1263, loved by
+his people and respected by all outside his realm.
+
+
+
+
+_KING VALDEMAR I. AND BISHOP ABSOLON._
+
+
+The most brilliant period in the history of Denmark was that of the
+reigns of the Valdemars, and especially of Valdemar I. and his sons,
+whose names and memories are still cherished in that kingdom, the Danes
+regarding them as the greatest and best monarchs they ever had.
+
+There were wretched times in Denmark before 1157, when Valdemar came to
+the throne, and his early years were passed in the midst of civil wars
+and all kinds of sorrows and troubles. When the new king was crowned and
+began the business of governing, he found little to govern with. There
+were no money, no soldiers, no trade, no order in the kingdom, everything
+being at so low an ebb that he found it necessary, as some writers state,
+to secure support from Germany by recognizing the Emperor Frederick
+Barbarossa as his suzerain and doing homage to him as a vassal in 1162.
+But this ceremony did not entail upon him any of the usual duties of a
+vassal, and was more of an ordinary alliance than a formal act of
+submission.
+
+Yet poor as was the state of Denmark when Valdemar came to it as king,
+when he died he left it a flourishing, busy and peaceful country, to
+which he had added great tracts of land on the pagan shores of the
+Baltic, whose people he forced to give up their heathen practices.
+
+During his reign Valdemar made as many as twenty expeditions against
+these piratical peoples, gradually subduing them. At first, indeed, he
+showed very little courage, and found so many reasons for turning back
+before meeting the foe, that the sailors looked upon him as a coward, and
+once he overheard one of them say with a laugh, that the king was "a
+knight who wore his spurs upon his toes, only to help him to run away the
+faster."
+
+This made him very angry, but on speaking of it to his foster-brother,
+Axel Hvide,--afterwards Bishop Absolon,--he found that the feeling that
+he lacked the courage of a warrior was general. This contempt made him so
+ashamed that from that time on he faced danger bravely and was never
+again known to turn back from any risk.
+
+Though Axel became a bishop, he had begun life as a soldier and was
+throughout life bold and daring, a man who loved nothing better than to
+command a ship or to lead his men in an assault against some fierce band
+of sea robbers. From his castle Axelborg, on the site of the later city
+of Copenhagen, he kept a keen lookout for these pirates and sought
+manfully to put an end to their plundering raids.
+
+The war against the Baltic heathens continued until 1168, when it ended
+in the capture of the town of Arcona, on the island of Rygen, and the
+destruction of the great temple of the Slavic god Svanteveit, whose
+monstrous four-headed image was torn down from its pedestal and burned in
+the presence of its dismayed worshippers.
+
+The taking of this temple is an event of much interest, for it was due to
+the shrewdness of a young Danish soldier, who circumvented the heathens
+by a clever stratagem.
+
+While the army lay encamped on the island beach, below the town of
+Arcona, this man noticed that the high cliffs on which the temple was
+built were honeycombed by many deep holes, which could not be seen from
+the ramparts above, but were quite visible from the beach below. One day
+it occurred to him that by making use of these holes he could roast the
+pagan worshippers out of their nests, and he arranged with some of his
+fellows to carry out his plan.
+
+Gathering such dry straw and small sticks as they could collect, the
+soldiers pretended to be playing at a game of pitch and toss, which if
+seen by the sentinels on the ramparts above would not seem suspicious to
+them. In this way they caused much of the straw and sticks to lodge in
+the holes in the steep cliff. Then, by using spears and stones for a
+ladder, one of them climbed for a distance up the steep rock wall and set
+fire to some of the inflammable rubbish in the holes.
+
+The effect was stupendous. The flames spread from hole to hole, creeping
+up the face of the rock until the wooden spikes and palings at its
+summit were in a blaze. This took place unseen by the pagans, who first
+took the alarm when they saw flames circling round the great mast from
+which floated the banner of their god.
+
+Before they could take any steps to extinguish the flames, and while they
+stood in a panic of apprehension, the Danes, headed by Bishop Absolon,
+rushed to the assault and succeeded in taking the town.
+
+There was nothing left for them but to accept baptism, on which their
+lives depended, and the worthy bishop and his monks were kept busy at
+this work for the next two days and nights, the bishop desisting only
+when, half blind from want of sleep, he dropped down before the altar
+that had been set up beside the fonts, where the converts were received
+and signed with the cross.
+
+The work of baptism done, King Valdemar caused the huge wooden idol of
+the god to be dragged amid martial music to the open plain beyond the
+town, where the army servants chopped it up into firewood. In this work
+the new converts could not be induced to take part, for, Christians as
+yet only in name, they feared some dread revenge from the great
+Svanteveit, such as lightning from heaven to destroy the Danes.
+
+The Christians of that age were quite as superstitious, for they declared
+that when the image was being carried out of the temple gates, a horrible
+monster, spitting fire and brimstone, burst from the roof and leaped with
+howls of wrath into the sea below, which opened to receive it, and
+closed over its head with billows of smoke and flame.
+
+Valdemar died in 1182, after making such friends of his people and doing
+so much for them, that when the funeral procession, headed by Bishop
+Absolon, drew near the church of Ringsted, where the burial was to take
+place, it was met by a throng of peasants, weeping and lamenting, who
+begged the privilege of carrying the body of their beloved king to his
+last resting place.
+
+When the bishop began to read the service for the dead his voice failed
+him and he wept and trembled so much that he had to be held up by some of
+the assistant monks. After all was over the people went away in deep
+grief, saying that Denmark's shield and the pagans' scourge had been
+taken from them and that the country would soon be overrun again by the
+heathen Wends.
+
+But Absolon kept a firm hand upon the reins of state, and when the young
+Prince Knud, Valdemar's son, was proclaimed king at the age of twenty
+everything was in order. Knud proved as good and gallant as his father,
+holding Denmark bravely against all foes, and when the Emperor Barbarossa
+sent to him to appear before the imperial court at Ratisbon and do homage
+for his crown, he returned a defiant answer.
+
+The position of Denmark had greatly changed since Valdemar had obeyed
+such a summons, and when the envoy of the emperor brought him the
+imperial command, he sent back the following proud reply:
+
+"Tell your master that I am as much monarch in my own realm as the kaiser
+is in his, and if he has a fancy for giving away my throne, he had better
+first find the prince bold enough to come and take it from me."
+
+This ended all question of the vassalage of Denmark, but the emperor
+never forgot nor forgave the insult and took every opportunity in after
+years to stir up strife against Denmark. In 1184 he incited the pagan
+princes of Pomerania to invade the Danish islands with a fleet of five
+hundred ships. But they had old Bishop Absolon to deal with, and they
+were so utterly routed that when the fog, which had enabled the Danes to
+approach them unseen, cleared away, only thirty-five of their ships were
+able to keep the sea.
+
+This victory made Knud ruler over all Pomerania and part of the kingdom
+later known as Prussia, and he added to his title that of "King of the
+Wends and other Slavs." He went on adding to his home kingdom until the
+dominion of Denmark grew very wide.
+
+That is all we need say about King Knud, but it must be said of Bishop
+Absolon that he was a wise patron of knightly arts and historical
+learning and encouraged the great scholar Saxo Grammaticus to write his
+famous "History of Denmark," in which were gathered all the old Danish
+tales that could be learned from the skalds and poets and found in the
+monasteries of the age. Absolon, who had loved and cared for the princes
+Knud and Valdemar since their childhood, died in the year 1201 and King
+Knud followed him a few years later, leaving the throne to his brother
+Valdemar.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF VALDEMAR II._
+
+
+Prosperous and glorious was the kingdom of Denmark under Valdemar II. in
+the early part of his reign, though misery was his lot during many years
+of his life. By his victories he won the title of "Sejr," or "the
+conqueror," and his skill and goodness as a ruler won him the love of his
+people, while the Danes of to-day look upon him as one of the best and
+noblest of their kings. He was long regarded by them as the perfect model
+of a noble knight and royal hero, and his first queen, Margrete of
+Bohemia, was called by the people "Dagmar," or "Day's Maiden," from their
+admiration of her gentleness and beauty. In many of their national songs
+she is represented as a fair, fragile, golden-haired princess, mild and
+pure as a saint, the only sin she could think of to confess on her
+death-bed being that she had put on her best dress and plaited her hair
+with bright ribbons before going to mass. While the Danes thus regard the
+memory of Queen Dagmar, they have no words too bad to use in speaking of
+Valdemar's second queen, the black-haired Berangaria, whose name became
+with them a by-word for a vile woman.
+
+But Valdemar's tale is largely one of sorrow and suffering and rarely has
+monarch had to bear so cruel a fate as was his during many unhappy years
+of his life.
+
+Valdemar was the son of Valdemar I., and brother of King Knud, for whom
+as a prince he fought bravely, putting down the Sleswick rebels, who had
+been stirred to rebellion by the German emperor, and conquering his
+enemy, Count Adolf of Holstein. Succeeding his brother Knud in 1202, his
+first exploit was the conquest of Pomerania, which Knud had won before
+him. This was now added to the Danish dominions, and in 1217 the German
+emperor of that date granted to him and the future kings of Denmark all
+the territories north of the Elbe and the Elde. Thus Valdemar was made
+master of a great part of northern Germany and ruled over a wider
+dominion to the south than any Danish king before or after.
+
+His success in the south led him to attempt the conquest of the north,
+and armies were sent to Norway and Sweden with the hope of winning these
+kingdoms for the Danish crown. In this effort he failed, but in 1219 his
+zeal for the Church and love of adventure led him to undertake a great
+expedition, a crusade against the heathens of Esthonia.
+
+Gathering an army of sixty thousand men and a fleet of fourteen hundred
+ships, a mighty force even for the small craft of that day, he quickly
+made himself master of that stronghold of paganism, great numbers of the
+people consenting to be baptized. But here he found a new and unexpected
+enemy and had to fight fiercely for the privilege of carrying the cross
+of Christ to the heathen Esthonians.
+
+His new enemies were the Knights of the Sword, of Livonia, who declared
+that the duty of converting the pagans in that region belonged to them,
+and that no other Christians had the right to interfere. And from this
+ensued a war in which fierce battles were fought and much blood was shed,
+for the purpose of deciding who should have the privilege of converting
+the heathen. It is doubtful if ever before or since a war has been fought
+for such a purpose, and the heathens themselves must have looked on with
+grim satisfaction to see their enemies cutting each other's throats to
+settle the question as to who had the best right to baptize them.
+
+In one of the battles with the heathens, while Bishop Andreas, the
+successor to Bishop Absolon, was praying on a high hill with uplifted
+hands for victory, there suddenly fell down from heaven the Danneborg,
+the national standard of Denmark. At least, that is what legend tells us
+of its appearance.
+
+It is held to be much more probable that this banner, bearing a white
+cross on a blood-red field, was sent by the Pope to Valdemar as a token
+of his favor and support, and that its sudden appearance, when the Danes
+were beginning to waver before the pagan assaults, gave them the spirit
+that led to victory. The result, in those days of superstition, naturally
+gave rise to the legend.
+
+When Valdemar returned a victor from Esthonia, having beaten alike the
+pagans and the Livonian knights, and bearing with him the victorious
+Danneborg, he was at the height of his glory, and none dreamed of the
+terrible disaster that awaited him. He had made enemies among the German
+princes, and they conspired against him, but they were forced to submit
+to his rule. Some of those whose lands he had seized did not hesitate to
+express openly their hatred for him; but others, while secretly plotting
+against him, pretended to be his friends, shared in his wars and his
+courtly ceremonies, and were glad to accept favors from his hands.
+
+One of those who hated him most bitterly, yet who seemed most attached to
+him, was the Count-Duke of Schwerin, a man who, alike from his dark
+complexion and his evil disposition, was known in his own country as
+"Black Henry." The king had often been warned to beware of this man, but,
+frank and open by nature and slow to suspect guile, he disregarded these
+warnings and went on treating him as a trusty friend.
+
+This enabled Count Henry to make himself familiar with Valdemar's habits
+and mode of life. He secretly aided certain traitors who cherished evil
+designs against the king; but when he found that all these plots failed
+he devised one of his own which the king's trust in him aided him in
+carrying out.
+
+In the spring of the year 1233 Valdemar invited his seeming friend to a
+two days' hunt which he proposed to enjoy in the woods of Lyö, but the
+count sent word that he regretted his inability to join him, as he had
+been hurt by a fall and could not leave his bed.
+
+His bed just then was his horse's saddle. The opportunity which he
+awaited had come, and he spent the night scouring the country in search
+of aid for the plot he had in view, which was no less than to seize and
+hold prisoner his trusting royal friend. He knew the island well, and
+when his spies told him that the king and his son Valdemar had landed at
+Lyö with a small following of huntsmen and servants, Black Henry prepared
+to carry out his plot.
+
+The king's first day's hunt was a hard one and he and his son slept
+soundly that night in the rude hut that had been put up for their use. No
+one thought of any need of guarding it and the few attendants of the king
+were scattered about, sleeping under the shelter of rocks and trees.
+
+Late that night Count Henry and his men landed and made their way
+silently and cautiously through the tired sleepers to the royal hut,
+which he well knew where to find. Quietly entering, they deftly gagged
+the king and prince before they could awake, and before either of them
+could raise a hand in resistance sacks of wool and straw were drawn over
+their heads, so closely as nearly to choke them, and strong bonds were
+tied round their legs and arms.
+
+Thus thoroughly disabled, the strong king and his youthful son were
+carried through the midst of their own people to the strand and laid
+helplessly in the bottom of the waiting boat, which was rowed away with
+muffled oars, gliding across the narrow sound to the shore of Fyen. Here
+waited a fast-sailing yacht to which the captives were transferred, sail
+being set before a favoring wind for the German coast.
+
+The next morning, when the king's attendants were searching for the
+missing king, he and his son, still bound and gagged, were landed on a
+lonely part of the sea-shore, placed on awaiting horses, and tightly
+secured to the saddles, after which they were hurried on at full gallop,
+stopping only at intervals to change the armed escort, until the castle
+of Danneberg, in Hanover, was reached.
+
+This castle had been loaned by its owner to Count Henry, he having no
+stronghold of his own deemed secure enough to hold such important
+captives. So roughly had they been treated that when the bonds were
+removed from Prince Valdemar, who resembled his mother Dagmar alike in
+his beauty and her feebleness, the blood flowed from every part of his
+body. Yet, without regard to his youth and sufferings, the cruel captor
+shut up him and his royal father in a cold and dark dungeon, where they
+were left without a change of clothing and fed on the poorest and
+coarsest food.
+
+This, many might say, was a just retribution on King Valdemar, for years
+before, when as a prince he had put down the rebellion in Sleswick, he
+had seized its chief leader, his namesake Bishop Valdemar, and kept him
+for many years in chains and close confinement in the dungeon of Söborg
+Castle, and had later subjected Count Adolf of Holstein to the same fate.
+Bishop Valdemar had been released after fourteen years' imprisonment at
+the entreaty of Queen Dagmar, and was ever after one of the most bitter
+enemies of the Danish king.
+
+But though a bishop and count might be thus held captive, it is difficult
+to conceive of a powerful monarch being kept prisoner by a minor noble
+for three long years, despite all that could be done for his release.
+Nothing could give a clearer idea of the lawless state of those times.
+King Valdemar and his son lay wearing the bonds of felons and suffering
+from cold and hunger while the emperor and the Pope sought in vain for
+their release, threatening Black Henry with all the penalties decreed by
+empire and church for those who raised their hands against a prince.
+
+The shrewd captor readily promised all that was asked of him. He would
+release his captives without delay. Yet he had no intention to keep his
+word, for he knew that Rome and Ratisbon were too far from Danneberg to
+give him serious cause for alarm, especially as the other nobles of
+northern Germany were prepared to help him in keeping their common enemy
+in prison.
+
+As for Denmark itself, the people were infuriated and eagerly demanded to
+be led to the rescue of their beloved king; yet Valdemar's sons were
+still young, all the kinsmen of the royal family had been banished or
+were dead, and there was no one with the power and right to take control
+of public affairs.
+
+For some time, indeed, the fate of the king remained unknown to the
+people. Valdemar's nephew Albert, Count of Orlamunde, was on his way to
+Rome when the news of the king's capture reached him. He immediately
+turned back, collected an army, and gave battle to the German princes who
+were helping Count Henry to defend Danneberg. But his hasty levies were
+defeated and he taken prisoner, to be thrown into the same dungeon as the
+royal captive.
+
+Finally King Valdemar, seeing no other hope of release, agreed to the
+terms offered by Black Henry, which were that he should pay a ransom of
+45,000 silver marks, give him all the jewels of the late Queen Berangaria
+not already bestowed on churches and monasteries, and send him a hundred
+men-at-arms, with horses and arms for their use. For assurance of this he
+was to send his three younger sons to Danneberg to be kept in prison with
+Count Albert until the money was paid.
+
+These terms agreed to, the king and prince were set free. Valdemar at
+once hastened to Denmark, which he found in a fearful state from its
+having been three years without a head. Humbled and crushed in spirit,
+finding all his dominions in Germany set free from their allegiance and
+all the kingdoms won by his valor lost to Denmark, he scarcely knew what
+steps to take. The ransom demanded he was unable to pay and he grieved at
+the thought of subjecting his young sons to the fate from which he had
+escaped. In his misery he wrote to the Pope, asking to be released from
+the oath which had been exacted from him to let his children go into
+captivity.
+
+The Pope, full of pity for him, sent a bishop to Count Henry, telling him
+that if he tried to enforce the demand exacted under durance from the
+king of Denmark, he should be deprived of the services of religion and be
+heavily fined by the papal power for his cruel and unrighteous act. Thus
+called to account for his treachery and wickedness, Black Henry was
+forced to forego the final cruel exaction of his traitor soul.
+
+Misfortune, however, pursued Valdemar. When in 1227 the peasants of
+Ditmarsh refused to pay the tribute they had long paid the Danish crown,
+the insult to his weakness was more than the king could endure. He
+marched an army into their lands, but only to find himself defeated and
+four thousand of his men killed by the rebels, who were strongly aided by
+the German princes of Holstein, and especially by Count Adolf, his former
+captive. He himself was wounded in the eye by an arrow which struck him
+to the ground, and would have been captured a second time but for the aid
+of a friendly German knight.
+
+This foeman had been formerly in Valdemar's service, and when he saw his
+old royal master helpless and bleeding, he lifted him to his saddle and
+carried him to Kiel, where his wounds were healed, means being then found
+to send him back to his kingdom.
+
+Valdemar remained on the throne for fourteen years afterwards, but these
+were years of peace. War no longer had charms for him and he devoted
+himself to the duties of government and to preparing codes of law for the
+provinces of his kingdom. In that age there were no general laws for the
+whole country.
+
+The laws of Valdemar continued in force for four hundred and fifty years,
+and in 1687, when Christian V. framed a new code of laws, some of the old
+ones of Valdemar were retained. In them the old custom of the ordeal was
+set aside, being replaced by the system of the jury, one form of which
+consisted of "eight good men and true" chosen by the king, and another of
+twelve men chosen by the people. The laws were lenient, for most crimes
+could be atoned for by money or other fines. Three days after the last of
+these codes was approved Valdemar died, at the age of seventy-one,
+leaving three sons all of whom in turn ruled after him. His son Valdemar,
+who shared his imprisonment, had died long before.
+
+
+
+
+_BIRGER JARL AND THE CONQUEST OF FINLAND._
+
+
+Birger Jarl, who became one of the great men of Sweden about 1250, rose
+to such importance in the early history of that kingdom that one cannot
+pass him by without saying something about his career. Sweden was then a
+Christian kingdom and had been for many years, for the religion of Christ
+had been preached there, as the sagas tell, four centuries earlier. But
+heathenism prevailed until long afterwards, and it was not until the days
+of King Stenkil, who came to the throne in 1061, that an earnest effort
+was made to introduce the Christian worship. Finally paganism completely
+died out, and when Birger came to the throne Sweden had long been a
+Christian realm.
+
+But paganism still had a stronghold in Finland, and when Bishop Thomas, a
+zealous churchman, of English birth, proclaimed that the Christians
+should have no intercourse with the pagans in Finland or even sell them
+food, the Finlanders became so incensed that they invaded the Christian
+country and put the people to death with frightful tortures. Their
+cruelties created terror everywhere and Bishop Thomas fled to Gothland
+where, crazed with horror at the result of his proclamation, he soon
+died.
+
+King Erik was then on the throne of Sweden, but Birger, the son of a
+great earl of Gothland, became a famous warrior, and as the king had no
+sons he made Birger a jarl, or earl, and chose him as his heir. One of
+the exploits by which Birger had won fame was the following. The town of
+Lübeck, in North Germany, was closely besieged by the king of Denmark,
+who had cut it off from the sea by stretching strong iron chains across
+the river Trave, on which the town is situated. He thus hoped to starve
+the people into surrender, and would have done so had not Birger come to
+their rescue. He had the keels of some large ships plated with iron,
+loaded them with provisions, and sailed up the river towards the
+beleaguered city. Hoisting all sail before a strong wind, he steered
+squarely on to the great chains, and struck them with so mighty a force
+that they snapped asunder and the ships reached the town with their
+supplies, whereupon the Danish king abandoned the siege. This story is of
+interest, as these are the first iron-plated ships spoken of in history.
+
+By this and other exploits Birger grew in esteem, and when the Finns
+began their terrible work in the north he and the king summoned the
+people to arms, and the old warlike spirit, which had long been at rest,
+was reawakened in the hearts of the Swedes. The Pope at Rome had
+proclaimed a crusade against the Finns, promising the same privileges to
+all who took part in it as were enjoyed by those then taking part in the
+crusades to the Holy Land, and on all sides the people grew eager to
+engage in this sacred war.
+
+Then there was brushing and furbishing on all sides; ancestral swords,
+which had long hung rusting on the walls, were taken down and sharpened
+anew; helmets and cuirasses were burnished until they shone like silver
+or gold; tight-closed purses were opened by those who wished to aid the
+cause of Christ; and old ships were made ready for the waves and new ones
+launched. Rosy lips were kissed by lovers who would never kiss them
+again, and loud was the weeping of the maidens and mothers who saw those
+they loved setting out for the war, but they consoled themselves as best
+they could by the thought that it was all for the glory of God. Men of
+Sweden had gone to the crusades in Palestine, but here was a crusade of
+their own at home, and all were eager to take part in it.
+
+A great fleet was got together and set sail under the command of Birger
+Jarl. Its course lay up the Gulf of Bothnia, and where it came to land
+Birger erected a great wooden cross as a sign that he had come for the
+spread of the Christian faith. From this the place was called Korsholm.
+
+The heathen Finns knew of his coming and had gathered in great numbers to
+defend their country against its invaders, but nothing could stay the
+fury of the crusaders, who were incensed with the cruelties these
+barbarians had committed, and drove them back in dismay wherever they met
+them, Birger Jarl showing the greatest skill as a leader. He made public
+a law that all who became Christians should be protected in life and
+property, and within two years he succeeded in introducing Christianity
+into that country--perhaps more in appearance than reality. At any rate
+he built forts, and settled a colony of Swedes in East Bothnia, and thus
+did much towards making Finland a province of Sweden.
+
+While this was going on King Erik the Lame died (in 1250). As he left no
+heir there were many pretenders to the crown. The fact that Birger had
+been named by the king two years before was lost sight of, and it looked
+as if there would be civil war between the many claimants. To prevent any
+such result a powerful noble named Iwar hastily summoned an assembly and
+through his influence Valdemar, Birger Jarl's son, was chosen as king.
+This was all done so quickly that it was completed in fourteen days after
+Erik's death.
+
+When the news of this hasty action reached Birger in Finland he was very
+angry, and hastened home with all speed, bringing with him the greater
+part of his army. He was highly displeased that he had not himself been
+named king, as had been promised, instead of a boy, even if the boy was
+his son. Calling together those who had made the choice of Valdemar, he
+hotly asked them:
+
+"Who among you was so bold as to order an election during my absence,
+though you knew that King Erik named me Jarl and chose me for his heir?
+And why did you choose a child for your king?"
+
+Iwar answered that it was he that ordered the election and said:
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN.]
+
+"Though you are indeed most worthy to wear the crown, you are advanced in
+years and cannot live to rule us as long as your son."
+
+This answer brought another angry outbreak from Birger and Iwar again
+said:
+
+"If you do not like this, do with your son what you please. There is no
+fear but we shall be able to find another king."
+
+For a time Birger sat in moody silence, and then asked:
+
+"Who then would you take for your king?"
+
+"I also can shake out a king from under my cloak," was Iwar's haughty
+answer.
+
+This threw the Jarl into a dilemma. The faces of the people present
+showed their approval of what Iwar had said, and at length, fearing that
+if he resisted their action the crown might be lost both to himself and
+his son, he gave in to their decision.
+
+To give dignity to the occasion, he took steps to have his son crowned
+with much magnificence, and shortly after sent his daughter Rikissa with
+great pomp and a rich dower to the frontier of Norway, where she was met
+by the king of that country and was married with stately ceremony to his
+son. The next year Birger's mother died, and as there was a prophecy that
+her family would remain in power as long as her head was up, he had her
+buried upright, being walled up in a pillar in Bjelbo Church so that her
+head should never droop.
+
+Birger Jarl belonged to a great family called the Folkungers, who long
+held all the power in Sweden, and many of whom had been aspirants for the
+throne. These were so angry at being deprived of what they had hoped for
+that they determined to take the throne by force, and their leaders went
+to Denmark and Germany, where they collected a large army. When they
+landed in Sweden many of the people of that country joined them, and
+though Birger had also a large force he began to fear the result.
+
+He therefore sent his chancellor, Bishop Kol, to ask for a personal
+interview with the leaders of the opposite force, with solemn promises of
+safety. Yielding to the bishop's persuasions, the chiefs accompanied him
+across the river that separated the two armies. Then Birger did a
+dastardly act. No sooner had the chiefs come within his power than he had
+them seized and beheaded on the spot as rebels.
+
+Thus fell a number of the leading men of Sweden, and, the leaders fallen,
+Birger attacked and easily dispersed their army, sparing the Swedes, but
+cutting to pieces all the Germans that could be overtaken. Thus he added
+greatly to the power of his family, but by an act of treachery and
+perjury for which Archbishop Lars laid upon him a heavy penance. As for
+Bishop Kol, who had been made the innocent agent in this shameful deed,
+he never read mass again, and finally resigned his office and left his
+country, journeying as a pilgrim to the Holy Land in expiation for his
+involuntary crime. He never found peace and rest until he found them in
+the grave.
+
+Birger Jarl by these means rose to be the mightiest man in the north. His
+son was king of Norway, his daughter was queen of Sweden, and his
+daughter-in-law was a princess of Denmark, for when Valdemar became
+twenty years of age he sought and won for his bride the beautiful Danish
+Princess Sophia. The marriage was one of great pomp, a great hall being
+built for the occasion, where the courtiers appeared in new-fashioned
+dresses of rich stuffs, and there were plenty of banquets, games, dances,
+and even tilts and tournaments, all conducted according to the noblest
+custom of the times.
+
+Birger himself had a queen for his wife, having married the dowager Queen
+Mechthild of Denmark, and to increase his importance he assumed the title
+of duke, never before borne in Sweden. But many of the peasants called
+him king, since he governed the kingdom and was married to a queen. But
+meanwhile poor Bishop Kol was dying of grief for the deed of shame into
+which this proud lord had led him.
+
+Shall we here tell an interesting and romantic story about one of
+Birger's brothers? He was a judge in East Gothland, his name being Bengt,
+and had fallen deeply in love with a damsel named Sigrid, whose family
+was not rich nor great, though she herself was so beautiful that she was
+widely known as Sigrid the Fair.
+
+Duke Birger was not pleased with the idea of such a match, thinking the
+girl, though of noble birth, of far too lowly rank to mate with a member
+of his family. But in such things Judge Bengt had a will of his own and
+he married Sigrid without Birger's consent. This so displeased the proud
+jarl that he sent Bengt a cloak, half of which was made of gold brocade
+and the other of coarse and common baize. This was in token of the
+difference in rank of the families of Bengt and Sigrid and a significant
+hint that he should separate from his new wife.
+
+But Bengt was equal to the situation. He covered the coarse half of the
+cloak with gold, pearls and precious stones so as to make it more
+valuable than the other, and this he sent to his brother with no other
+answer. This only irritated Birger the more, and he sent back the
+message, "that he would speak with his brother face to face about this
+affair," adding some harsh words which were also repeated to Bengt.
+
+Then, soon after this, the angry jarl saddled his horse and rode with a
+large company to Ulfasa, where Bengt lived. When the judge saw the jarl's
+train near at hand he fled from his house to the woods, leaving his wife,
+whom he had carefully instructed how to act, to meet his irritated
+brother.
+
+When the angry jarl rode into the court, fully prepared to call his
+erring brother severely to account, he was surprised to see the fairest
+woman he had ever beheld come forward to meet him. She was adorned with
+the most costly robes and precious ornaments she could command and
+everything had been done to enhance the charm of her beauty. Stepping
+forth before the jarl, who gazed at her with astonishment, she bowed low
+and welcomed him with all honor and courtesy.
+
+So astonished was Birger with the charming vision that he sprang from his
+horse and seized Sigrid in his arms, saying, "Had my brother not done
+this I should have done it myself."
+
+Leading him to the house, she entertained him with the best cheer, and
+Bengt being sent for to the wood, the two brothers were fully reconciled.
+Such an effect have the charms of a fair woman over the pride and passion
+of men.
+
+A few words must serve to finish the story of Birger Jarl. The greatest
+and most valuable service of his reign lay in the new laws he gave the
+country and his doing away with many of the old barbarian customs to
+replace them with the customs of civilization.
+
+Before this time it was the common practice for the relatives of a
+murdered man to avenge him on the family of the murderer, thus giving
+rise to long and bloody feuds. This custom Birger forbade, ordering every
+one to seek redress for injury at the courts of justice. He also passed
+four Laws of Peace, viz.: for the Peace of the Church, of Women, of
+House, and of Assize.
+
+Every one was forbidden to assault another in the church or the
+churchyard or on the way to or from church. Whoever did so was declared
+outlawed, and if the assailed man killed his assailant he was held free
+from blame or revenge. This was the Peace of the Church.
+
+Another ancient custom was to carry away a desired bride by force,
+without her consent or that of her parents, a fight often arising in
+which the bride's father and brothers were killed. Or on the way of an
+affianced pair to church the same outrage might take place, the
+bridegroom being often killed. This, too, was forbidden under penalty of
+outlawry, the new law being that of Peace for Women.
+
+To promote general security he forbade, under the same penalty, the
+attacking of any man, his wife, children, or servants, within his house
+or on his property. This was the Law of Home-peace or House-peace. All
+violence was in like manner forbidden to any one going to or attending an
+assembly of the people, this being the Peace of Assize.
+
+Birger Jarl improved the laws in many other ways and made Sweden a far
+more civilized country than it had been before his time. Another of his
+useful acts was the founding of the city of Stockholm, which before his
+day was a mere village on an island, but which he made a stronghold and
+city, inviting that commerce to which its situation so excellently
+adapted it. This was one of the most important acts of Birger Jarl, who
+died soon afterwards, not living to see the rapid growth in importance of
+his new city.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA._
+
+
+In the last tale it was told how Birger Jarl subdued the Finns and
+brought then to give up their heathen practices and accept Christianity.
+But this refers only to the section of Finland bordering on the Baltic
+Sea. Farther east the Finns were pagans still, worshipping idols and
+living a savage life in their vast forests, and bitterly hating the
+Christians. At times they would come in hordes out of their wild
+woodlands and attack the settled people, killing them in the most cruel
+way their distorted fancies could contrive.
+
+They had two chief deities, Jumal, the great good one, and Perkel, the
+great evil one, and these were supposed to meet in fierce encounters in
+which they would throw each other over high mountains. The people kept
+wooden images of these deities in their huts, and had also open places in
+the forest, with a stone on the centre of each, on which they made
+sacrifices to their divinities. When a Karelian, as these people were
+called, came to within a fixed distance of the sacrificial stone, he took
+off his cap and crawled up to it silently, making sacrifices there of the
+bones and horns of elk and reindeer. In case of danger they would
+sacrifice goats, cats and cocks, sprinkling their idols with the blood of
+these animals.
+
+At that time, shortly before the year 1300, Birger, heir to the throne of
+Sweden, was very young, and the country was under the rule of Torkel
+Knutson, regent of the kingdom and a wise and energetic man. Exasperated
+by the cruelties committed by the Karelians on the Christians, he
+determined to put a stop to them and sailed to Finland with a strong
+army. Against this force the pagan foresters could not make head and they
+were soon obliged to submit. A fort with a strong garrison was built at
+Wiborg to keep them in order, and the churchmen who went with the
+expedition strove to convert them.
+
+It is not with these savage woodsmen, however, that we are concerned, but
+with the Russians, with which people the Swedes now first came into
+warlike contact. The forest Russians of that day were as savage as the
+Finns and as hard to deal with. They came to the help of the Karelians in
+this war, and to punish them the regent took Castle Kexholm, their chief
+stronghold, and left in it a garrison under Sigge Lake. It was this that
+brought on the first war between the Swedes and the Russians, some of the
+events of which are so interesting that it is worth telling about.
+
+After the Swedes had held Kexholm for some time their food supply ran
+very low, and as no aid came from home many of them wished to abandon the
+fort. This Sigge Lake would not listen to. He had been left there to hold
+the place and did not intend to give it up. But only the bravest of his
+men remained with him, the others leaving under pretext of sending food
+and reinforcements from home.
+
+Neither men nor supplies arrived and the Russians, learning of the state
+of affairs, gathered in multitudes around the fort, laying close siege to
+it. In the end, after a brave resistance lasting many days, food became
+so scarce that the Swedes dared not stay any longer and they determined
+to try and cut their way through the besiegers.
+
+The gates were thrown open and Sigge rushed out at the head of his
+company, with such force and fury that for a time it seemed as if they
+would succeed. But they were weakened by semi-starvation and in the end
+the swarming Russians killed them all but two, who alone made their
+escape and carried the news of the disaster back to Sweden.
+
+The regent was greatly distressed at the loss of the brave men whom he
+had left so long without support. It was too late to save their lives but
+he felt it his duty to avenge them. To do so he set sail with another
+army, making his way up the river Neva, the stream on which the city of
+St. Petersburg was afterwards built. No enemy was seen and the regent
+landed on an island in the river, where he built a strong fort which he
+named Landscrona, furnishing it plentifully with provisions.
+
+The Russians, when they found what was being done, were infuriated. A
+great multitude of them, thirty thousand in number, gathered on the Neva
+and made a vigorous effort to burn the Swedish fleet, sending rafts down
+the stream on which were great heaps of blazing wood. But the regent
+caught these by iron chains which he stretched across the stream, holding
+the fire-floats until they burned out.
+
+This effort failing, the Russians made a fierce attack on the fortress,
+with such savage violence that though many of them fell the others would
+not give up the assault. But so strong and so well defended was the place
+that they failed in this also, and in the end were obliged to retreat,
+leaving great numbers of dead behind them. Then a young and brave knight
+in the garrison, named Matts Kettilmundson, made a sortie against the
+Russians and drove them back in panic flight, many more of them being
+killed.
+
+Shortly after this a party of Russian cavalry, one thousand strong,
+appeared in the edge of a wood, not far from the fort, their armor
+gleaming brightly in the sunlight. While the garrison were looking at
+them from the walls, the brave knight Matts Kettilmundson asked
+permission of the regent to ride out against them, saying that "he would
+venture a brush with the bravest among them."
+
+The regent having consented, the daring fellow put on his armor and had
+his horse led through the gate. Leaping on it he rode out, and when he
+had passed the moat, turned back to his friends who lined the wall.
+
+"Strive to live happily," he said, "and do not be troubled about me, for
+it depends on God in heaven whether I shall return with a captive foe or
+fail to return at all."
+
+He then rode boldly on and sent an interpreter to the Russian lines,
+challenging the bravest of the Russians to fight with him for life, goods
+and freedom. It must be borne in mind that those were the days of
+chivalry and knight-errantry, when such adventures and challenges were
+common things and good faith was kept with those who made them. So no
+force or treachery was attempted against the daring knight, although we
+should hardly have looked for knightly deeds and chivalrous ways in the
+Russia of that day.
+
+However, as the story goes on to say, the Russian king appealed in vain
+for a knight to try conclusions with the Swedish champion. Not a man in
+the troop was ready to make the venture, and Sir Matts sat his horse
+there all day long waiting in vain for an antagonist. As evening
+approached he rode back to the fortress, where every one congratulated
+and praised him for his courage. The next morning the Russians had
+disappeared.
+
+Soon after this, the army growing weary and longing for home, the regent
+set sail down stream, leaving three hundred men and abundant supplies in
+the fort, under a knight named Swen. But as contrary winds detained the
+fleet Sir Matts landed with a strong party of horsemen and made long
+raids into the country, gathering much booty, with which he returned to
+the ships. Then the army continued its way home, where it was received
+with much joy.
+
+But the garrison in Landscrona did not find their lot much better than
+had the former garrison in Kexholm. The new walls were damp and the
+advancing summer brought hot weather, so that their provisions began to
+spoil. As a consequence scurvy and other diseases broke out and many of
+the men died. Some of those who remained wished to send home for help,
+but others objected to this, saying that "they preferred waiting for help
+from heaven and did not wish to trouble the regent, who had enough to
+attend to at home."
+
+When the Russians gathered around the fort to attack it, as they soon
+did, only twenty men in the garrison were fit to bear arms in defence.
+These could not properly guard the walls and the Russians steadily
+advanced, all losses being made up from their great numbers, until in no
+great time the walls were taken. The Swedes retired to their houses,
+continuing to fight, but as the Russians set fire to these, the governor
+and some others threw down their arms, offering to surrender. They were
+at once cut down by the assailants.
+
+The few who remained alive now took refuge in a stone cellar, where they
+defended themselves manfully; and refused to submit until the enemy had
+offered them their lives. Then they yielded and were carried as captives
+into the country, the fortress being razed to the ground. Thus, in the
+year 1300, ended the first war between Russia and Sweden. The Swedes
+fought well and died nobly, but they lost their lives through the neglect
+of their countrymen and rulers.
+
+
+
+
+_THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF KING BIRGER._
+
+
+When the events narrated in the last tale took place, there were three
+young princes in the kingdom, Birger, Erik and Valdemar, Torkel, the
+regent, ruling in their name. But when the princes grew up Birger, the
+oldest, was crowned king, the other two becoming dukes. But very early in
+Birger's reign there arose many complaints about the conduct of his
+brothers, who showed themselves haughty and insubordinate. The ill-blood
+in time grew to such an extent that the king dismissed his brothers from
+his presence, giving them until sunset to leave.
+
+"After that," he said, "if you shall fall into my hands, it will go ill
+with you."
+
+This gave rise to bitter enmity and the two dukes gave King Birger no end
+of trouble, there being war between them three times in succession,
+bringing the country into a miserable state. During the second war King
+Birger was taken prisoner by his brothers, but he was afterwards set free
+under the promise that he would no more disturb Sweden, a third part of
+which was left under his rule.
+
+He did not intend to keep his word, but was no sooner set free than he
+sought aid from his brother-in-law, the king of Denmark, and invaded the
+kingdom with a Danish army. This was the third war above spoken of. It
+ended without the king gaining anything but the third of the kingdom,
+which had already been promised to him. After each of these wars the
+brothers became reconciled, and lived for a time peacefully in their
+dominions, but they laid such heavy taxes on the people to support their
+extravagant courts that great misery prevailed.
+
+After the last outbreak all remained quiet for nearly ten years, and the
+dukes thought that their brother was friendly towards them, not dreaming
+that his heart was full of hate and treachery.
+
+In 1317, when Duke Valdemar made a journey to Stockholm, which was in his
+section of the kingdom, he stopped at Nyköping to visit his brother
+Birger, whom he had not seen for a long time. Birger met him with a great
+show of friendliness, making him welcome in every way. Queen Martha was
+equally kind, and Valdemar was highly pleased with these tokens of
+regard. Before he left the queen complained to him that it gave her great
+pain that Duke Erik avoided his brother, saying that God knew she loved
+him as much as if he were her own brother.
+
+After spending the night with them Valdemar rode away very well pleased.
+His men were equally pleased, for they had been well entertained. On
+leaving Stockholm he went to Erik's home in Westmoreland, who told him
+that he had just been invited to visit Birger's court, and asked if he
+thought it safe to make such a visit.
+
+Valdemar said he had no doubt of it, telling of what a pleasant visit he
+had made. Erik, however, had doubts, being distrustful of the queen and
+Chancellor Brunke, whom he looked upon as his enemies. But in the end the
+brothers decided to accept the invitation and rode away towards Nyköping.
+When six miles distant they met a knight who advised them to go no
+farther, saying:
+
+"You will cause yourselves and your friends much sorrow if both of you
+trust yourselves in the king's hands at the same time."
+
+Valdemar indignantly replied to this that "there are too many who seek to
+breed disunion between the king and his brothers."
+
+The knight then rode off, saying no more, and the dukes rode into Swärta,
+where they proposed to spend the night. To their surprise no preparations
+had been made for them, but a knight met them and saluted them in the
+king's name, adding that he earnestly requested them not to repose until
+they reached Nyköping, as his longing to meet them was so great that he
+could not rest until they arrived.
+
+On receiving this warm request they rode on, reaching Nyköping in the
+evening. The king advanced from the castle gate to meet them, greeting
+them in an affectionate manner, and taking each of them by the hands as
+he led them into the castle. They found a rich feast prepared for them,
+at which neither mead, wine, nor fair words were wanting. At length Duke
+Valdemar grew suspicious and said to his brother that they were drinking
+too much wine. But this was soon forgotten and the feast went on, Queen
+Martha showing herself very gay and lively and every one being full of
+the spirit of enjoyment.
+
+It was late at night before the merrymaking ended and the dukes went to
+their rooms. The queen then said to their men, who had also been well
+taken care of:
+
+"Lodging has been prepared for you in the town, as there is not room
+enough for you in the castle."
+
+As they went out Chancellor Brunke stood at the gate, making sure that
+they had all gone, when he shut the castle gates behind them. Then he
+armed the servants and led them to the king. Birger, who seemed in some
+doubt, bade them to retire and turned to Sir Knut Johanson, asking if he
+would assist in making prisoners of the dukes.
+
+"I will not, my lord," said Sir Knut. "Whoever has counselled you to do
+this is leading you into a great treachery. What, would you deceive and
+murder your brothers who came here trusting in your good faith? The devil
+himself must be your tempter. Let who will be angry on this account, I
+will never help you in it."
+
+"Small care you have for my honor," said the king angrily.
+
+"Little honor can accrue to you from such an act," answered Sir Knut
+sturdily. "If you should carry out this design your honor will be less
+here-after."
+
+Two other knights warned the king against so treacherous a deed, but he
+was so displeased with their words that he ordered them to prison.
+
+Then he led his armed servants to the sleeping apartment of the dukes and
+broke open the door, the noise awakening the sleepers. Valdemar sprang
+up, and seeing armed men entering the room, he seized one of them and
+threw him down, calling on his brother for help.
+
+"There is no use in resisting, brother," said Erik, seeing the room
+filling with armed men.
+
+The king now rushed in and called out savagely:
+
+"Do you remember Hatuna? It will not be better for you here than it was
+for me there, for you shall have the same fate, though it has tarried so
+long."
+
+Hatuna was the place where the king had previously been taken prisoner by
+his brothers, in somewhat the same treacherous manner. But they had not
+treated him with the same shameful cruelty with which he now treated
+them.
+
+They were taken barefooted deep into the tower and fastened in a dungeon,
+with a great chain on their legs, while their servants in the town were
+taken prisoners and locked up in one ward to the number of twenty, all
+their possessions being divided among their captors. This being done, the
+king clapped his hands, saying:
+
+"The Holy Ghost bless my queen! Now I have all Sweden in my hand!"
+
+When he set out soon afterwards on an errand of conquest, he left his
+brothers in the charge of a Livonian knight, who had evidently been
+bidden to treat them harshly, for he removed them to the lowest dungeon
+and placed a beam upon their legs. They were fastened to the wall by
+thick iron round the throat and chains weighing one hundred and forty
+pounds were riveted on their wrists, the other end being fastened to the
+beam. When the chain was fastened upon Erik it was done with such
+violence that a piece of iron broke out, cutting him on the eye so that
+blood ran down his cheek.
+
+Their dungeon was at the bottom of the tower, where they lay on the bare
+rock, a pool of water lying between them. Their food was wretched, their
+clothing was wretched, and there was every indication that their wicked
+brother did not wish to have them leave that prison alive.
+
+But the cruel and treacherous king did not find it so easy to bring all
+Sweden under his rule. The news of his wicked act got abroad and spread
+through the land, exciting general horror and detestation. When he rode
+up to Stockholm to take possession he found it closed against him and the
+burghers made a sally against him, putting his forces to flight. It was
+the same way everywhere, the whole country rising against him. The wicked
+king now began to learn that the way of the transgressor is hard, and in
+his fury of disappointment he locked the door of the dungeon in which his
+brothers lay and threw the key into the stream, leaving them to die of
+starvation.
+
+But the poor victims were to be thoroughly avenged, for the people were
+implacable in their wrath, and in a short time had so environed the king
+that the fortresses of Nyköping and Stegeborg were alone left to him, and
+both of these were besieged.
+
+Nyköping was soon so severely pressed that the garrison brought up the
+dead bodies of the dukes and laid them under a dais outside the castle,
+saying to the besiegers:
+
+"Your siege will now answer no purpose, for the dukes are dead and King
+Birger is heir to all the kingdom."
+
+"No one can hope to win an inheritance by murder," they replied. "We now
+serve as our ruler, Lord Magnus, Duke Erik's son."
+
+The bodies of the murdered dukes were carried to Stockholm, where they
+were buried with much ceremony. But the siege of the castle was continued
+until the garrison was forced to surrender. On obtaining possession of it
+the enraged people razed it to the ground.
+
+Stegeborg, where Prince Magnus, King Birger's son, was in command, held
+out much longer. The king and queen, with Brunke, their confederate, were
+in Gothland, which province alone they held, and from which they sent a
+number of ships to Stegeborg with provisions and troops. These had no
+sooner appeared in the river Skares, however, than they were attacked and
+taken, leaving Prince Magnus as bad off as ever. When this news was
+brought to the king and queen they exclaimed in despair:
+
+"Where shall we turn now, since God has sent us such a misfortune?"
+
+Brunke, the cruel chancellor, volunteered to lead an expedition himself,
+saying that he would no more spare the dukes' people than they had spared
+the king's. Gathering some vessels, he had them strongly planked all
+around, and loading these with provisions and the remainder of the king's
+forces, he set out for Stegeborg.
+
+On entering the Skares the people attacked him with stones and other
+missiles, but he and his men protected themselves behind the planks.
+Seeing this, fire-rafts were sent off from the shore against the ships,
+and despite all that could be done to keep them off they drifted upon the
+vessels, setting three of them on fire, from which the flames spread to
+the others.
+
+Brunke and his men leaped overboard, hoping to escape by swimming, but
+they were all taken and Brunke and three of his chiefs sent to Stockholm,
+where they were soon afterwards beheaded. Stegeborg was now in a
+desperate state and was soon forced to surrender, on the condition that
+the life of Prince Magnus should be spared. This condition was not kept,
+notwithstanding the fact that he was innocent of his father's crime. The
+indignant people were not willing to leave any scion of their wicked king
+alive and the poor boy's head was cut off.
+
+Thus the unholy treachery of King Birger met with retribution. Sir Matts
+Kettilmundson, the brave knight who had shown such courage in Russia, was
+made Administrator of the kingdom and soon defeated a Danish army which
+had been sent to King Birger's aid. Then Birger and his wicked queen were
+obliged to flee to Sweden, where grief soon brought him to his death-bed.
+Queen Martha lived long, but it was a life made bitter by memory of her
+crimes and Heaven's retribution.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN.]
+
+
+
+
+_QUEEN MARGARET AND THE CALMAR UNION._
+
+
+We have next to tell how the three kingdoms of Scandinavia, between which
+rivalry and hostility had often prevailed, became united into one great
+Scandinavian realm, under the rule of a woman, the great Queen Margaret.
+This was a very important event, as its results continued until our own
+day, the subjection of Norway, which was then achieved, not being broken
+until the early days of the present century. It is important to describe
+the various steps by which this union was brought about.
+
+From 930, when Harold Fair-Haired, the maker of Norway, died, until 1319,
+when a king known by the odd title of Haakon Longlegs followed him to the
+grave, the throne of Norway had been nearly always filled by some one of
+Harold's many descendants. But with the death of Haakon the male line of
+King Harold's descendants was finally broken, and only a woman remained
+to represent that great royal stock, Princess Ingeborg, the daughter of
+King Haakon. This fair maiden was promised in marriage while still a
+child to Duke Erik, son of the late king of Sweden. They were married in
+1312, and on the same day Duke Valdemar, Erik's brother, married another
+princess of Norway, also named Ingeborg. About four years later a son was
+born to each of these happy couples, and King Haakon was full of joy,
+for he now felt that the old royal line was restored.
+
+One person was not pleased by the birth of these princes. This was King
+Birger of Sweden, who had long been at sword's point with his ambitious
+brothers and wanted the throne of Norway as well as that of Sweden to
+descend to his own son Magnus. He pretended to be pleased, however, for
+he had in mind a treacherous plot to destroy his brothers and their
+children and thus leave the way clear for his ambitious schemes. The
+steps he took to bring this about and their fatal end to his brothers and
+his son we have told in the previous tale. After the indignant people had
+driven King Birger from the throne the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway were
+left in a strange plight. Magnus, the son of Duke Erik and Ingeborg, was
+only three years old when his grandfather, the king of Norway, died. This
+left him the successor to the Norse realm. But the deposition of King
+Birger and the execution of his son left this royal infant the king of
+Sweden also, so that these two kingdoms became for the first time united,
+and this under the rule of a three-year-old child, with regents to govern
+in his name. But the two countries remained separate in everything except
+that they had now but one king.
+
+When King Magnus became old enough to act as monarch in reality, he took
+the government of both countries into his hands. But he proved unfit to
+govern either of them, being a weak and good-natured man, so anxious to
+please everybody that he pleased nobody. Born and brought up in Sweden,
+he knew little and cared less about affairs in Norway and the people of
+that country grew much incensed at his neglect of their interests. They
+made him promise, at a public meeting, to divide the two kingdoms between
+his two sons; Erik, the elder, to succeed him in Sweden, and Haakon, the
+younger, to be given the crown of Norway when he came of age. Events
+happened, as will be seen, to prevent this taking place and to combine
+all Scandinavia under one great queen.
+
+This is how it came about. King Magnus made a visit to Denmark, where it
+was arranged to marry Prince Haakon to Margaret, daughter and heir of the
+Danish king, Valdemar. This marriage took place in due time, and not very
+long afterwards both King Magnus and Prince Haakon died and Prince Erik
+was poisoned by his mother, who was a wicked woman and was angry because
+he opposed her in one of her base schemes.
+
+Thus as the death of King Birger had left the crowns of Sweden and Norway
+to a boy of three, the deaths here named left these crowns and that of
+Denmark also to another child, the son of Haakon and Margaret. This
+little fellow, Olaf by name, too young to appreciate how great he had
+become, did not live to enjoy his greatness. He died at the age of
+seventeen, leaving his royal rights to his mother Margaret.
+
+It is interesting to learn that the turbulent kingdoms named, the land of
+the sea-kings and the warlike barbarians of the north, each of which had
+needed the hand of a strong man to control them, all now fell under the
+sceptre of a woman, who at first reigned over Denmark and Norway and soon
+added Sweden to her dominion.
+
+But Queen Margaret was no weakling. She was a woman born to command,
+strong in mind and body, and more like a man than a woman. In Sweden, to
+which she quickly turned her attention, she had a bitter enemy in Duke
+Albrecht of Mecklenburg, who had been declared king of that country after
+the death of King Magnus, and who also claimed the crown of Norway, being
+remotely related to its royal house.
+
+He bitterly hated Margaret, whom he called "Queen Breechless," and by
+other satirical and insulting names. Finally he took the bold step to
+call himself king of Denmark and Norway, a baseless claim which he
+proposed to enforce. He made a vow never to use a hat until he had driven
+out Margaret, and sent her a whetstone several yards long, advising her
+to use it to sharpen her scissors and needles instead of using a sceptre.
+He was much too hasty, as he had only a weak hold upon Sweden even, whose
+nobles did not like his habit of bringing in Germans to fill the posts of
+honor and were anxious to get rid of him.
+
+Therefore it came about that he found himself confronted by an army of
+Danes, Norsemen, and Swedes, and a battle followed in which Albrecht
+riding with his heavy cavalry upon a frozen marsh, broke through the ice
+and was taken prisoner. He was now in the power of Queen Margaret, who
+had at length the opportunity to repay him for his insults. To replace
+the crowns of Norway and Denmark, which he had sought to wear, she put
+upon his head a fool's cap, with a tail twenty-eight feet long, and
+repaid him for his insults and jests in other ways. After she had done
+her best to make him an object of laughter and ridicule she locked him up
+in a strong prison cell, where he was given six years to reflect on his
+folly.
+
+It took these six years for Margaret's army to subdue the city of
+Stockholm, which held out stoutly for Albrecht. She won it at last by
+setting him free with the proviso that he should pay a ransom of sixty
+thousand marks. In ease he could not provide it within three years he was
+to return to prison or surrender Stockholm. He did the latter and
+Margaret became mistress of Sweden.
+
+This able woman had now won a proud position, reached by none of the
+kings before her. She was ruler of the whole of Scandinavia, with its
+three ancient kingdoms. The triple crown was hers for the lifting, but
+she was not ambitious to wear it, and preferred to put it on the head of
+her grand-nephew, Erik of Pomerania, though she retained the power in her
+hands until her death in 1412. Representatives of the three kingdoms were
+summoned by her to a meeting at Calmar, where, in July, 1397, a compact
+uniting the three kingdoms under one ruler was drawn up and signed.
+
+This was the famous Calmar Union, which held Norway captive for more than
+four hundred years. From that time until the present century Norway had
+no separate history, though her people vigorously resisted any measures
+of oppression. In 1536 this ancient kingdom was declared to be a province
+of Denmark, being treated like a conquered land; yet there was not a man
+to protest against the humiliation. The loss of national standing had
+come on so gradually that the people, widely scattered over their
+mountain land and absorbed in their occupations, scarcely noticed it,
+though they were quick enough to resent any encroachment upon their
+personal liberty and rights. There were outbreaks, indeed, from time to
+time, but these were soon put down and the Danish rule held good.
+
+This was not the case with Sweden, a more thickly settled and civilized
+land. The struggle of the Swedes for freedom continued for some
+seventy-five years and was finally accomplished in 1523. How this was
+done will be told in other tales. As for Norway, it was ceded by Denmark
+to Sweden in 1814, and the people of that mountain land regained their
+national rights, with a free constitution, though ruled by the Swedish
+king. This union held good until 1905, when it was peacefully broken and
+Norway gained a king of its own again, after being kingless for more than
+five hundred years.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR CHARLES OF SWEDEN._
+
+
+In the year 1450 and the succeeding period there was great disorder in
+the Scandinavian kingdoms. The Calmar Union was no longer satisfactory to
+the people of Sweden, who were bitterly opposed to being ruled by a
+Danish king. There were wars and intrigues and plots and plans, with
+plenty of murder and outrage, as there is sure to be in such troublous
+times. There was king after king, none of them pleasing to the people.
+King Erik behaved so badly that neither Sweden nor Denmark would have
+anything to do with him, and he became a pirate, living by plunder. Then
+Duke Christopher of Bavaria was elected king of Scandinavia, but he also
+acted in a way that made every one glad when he died. In those days there
+was a great nobleman in Sweden, named Karl Knutsson, who had a hand in
+everything that was going on. One thing especially made him very popular
+at that time, when a new king was to be elected. The spring had been very
+dry and there was danger of a complete failure of the crops, but on the
+day when Karl landed in Stockholm, May 23, 1450, there came plentiful
+rains and the people rejoiced, fancying that in some way he had brought
+about the change of weather. So, when the lords assembled to elect a new
+king, Karl received sixty-two out of seventy votes, while the people
+shouted that they would have no other king. He was then crowned king as
+Charles VIII. There had been only one Charles before him, but somehow the
+mistake was made of calling him Charles VIII., and in later years came
+Charles IX., X., etc., the mistake never being rectified.
+
+All this is in introduction to a tale we have to tell, that of a bold
+champion of King Charles. For the new king had many troubles to contend
+with. The king of Denmark in especial gave him much trouble, and the
+southern province of West Gothland was in danger of seceding from his
+rule. In this dilemma he chose his cousin, Sir Tord Bonde, a young but
+daring and experienced warrior, as the captain of his forces in that
+province. He could not have made a better choice, and the stirring career
+of Sir Tord was so full of strange and exciting events that we must
+devote this tale to his exploits.
+
+Lödöse, a stronghold of Gothland, was still held by the Danes, and Sir
+Tord's first adventure had to do with this place. On a dark, rainy, and
+stormy night he led a party of shivering horsemen towards the town,
+galloping onward at headlong speed over the muddy road and reaching the
+place before day-dawn. Utterly unexpectant of such a coming, the Danes
+were taken by surprise and all made prisoners, Sir Tord's men feeding
+luxuriously on the enemy's meat and wine as some recompense for their wet
+night's journey.
+
+Master of the place without a blow, Sir Tord found there a bag of
+letters, containing some that had to do with plots against the king.
+These letters he sent to King Charles, but they put him upon a new
+adventure of his own. One of the traitors was Ture Bjelke, master of
+Axewalla Castle, and Sir Tord, fancying that the traitor would be as
+welcome a present to the king as his letters, set out for the castle with
+thirty men.
+
+On arriving there Ture, not dreaming that his treason had been
+discovered, admitted his visitor without hesitation. The troopers were
+also permitted to enter, Sir Tord having told them to come in groups of
+five or six only, so as not to excite suspicion by their numbers.
+
+That night, while they sat at table, and just as the cabbage was being
+carried in, Sir Tord sprang up and seized Ture firmly by the collar,
+calling out that he arrested him as a traitor to the king. The knight's
+men sprang up to defend him, but Sir Tord's men attacked them with sword
+and fist, the matter ending in the men as well as their master being
+taken prisoners, and the castle falling into Sir Tord's hands.
+
+On receiving the letters, Charles laid them before the senate at
+Stockholm, but the traitors were men of such power and note, and there
+was so much envy and jealousy of Charles among the lords, that he dared
+not attempt to punish the plotters as they deserved, but was obliged to
+pardon them. As for Ture and his men, they managed to escape from the
+place where they had been left for safe keeping, and made their way to
+Denmark.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI.]
+
+Meanwhile Sir Tord Bonde was kept busy, for King Christian of Denmark
+several times invaded the land. On each occasion he was met by the
+valiant defender of West Gothland and driven out with loss. On his final
+retreat he built a fortress in Smaland, which he called Danaborg, or
+Danes' castle, leaving in it a Danish garrison; but it was quickly
+attacked by Sir Tord with his men-at-arms and a force of armed peasantry
+and the castle taken by storm, the Danes suffering so severe a defeat
+that the place was afterwards known as Danasorg, or Danes' sorrow.
+
+Sir Tord, to complete his chain of defences, had built several fortresses
+in Norway, then claimed by King Christian as part of his dominions. He
+had with him in this work about four hundred men, so small a force that
+Kolbjörn Gast, one of Christian's generals, proceeded against him with an
+army three thousand strong, proposing to drive the daring invader out of
+the kingdom.
+
+Weak as he felt himself, Sir Tord determined to try conclusions with the
+Danes and Norsemen, proposing to use strategy to atone for his weakness.
+One hundred of his men were placed in ambush in a clump of woodland, and
+with the remaining three hundred the Swedish leader marched boldly on the
+enemy, who were entrenched behind a line of wagons. Finding that he could
+not break through their defences, Sir Tord and his men turned in a
+pretended flight and were hotly pursued by the enemy, who abandoned their
+lines to follow the flying Swedes. Suddenly Sir Tord turned and led his
+men in a fierce attack upon the disordered pursuers, falling upon them
+with such bold fury that he had two horses killed under him. At the same
+time the hundred men broke from their ambush, sounding their war-horns
+loudly, and fell on the flank of the foe, though they were so badly armed
+that they had no iron points on their lances.
+
+Confused and frightened by the double attack and the blare of the
+trumpets, the Norsemen broke and fled, crying out that "all the might of
+Sweden was in arms against them"; but they were pursued so closely that
+the leader and all his men were taken by the brave four hundred.
+
+Thus the bold and skilful Sir Tord defended the king's cause in those
+quarters, winning victories by stratagem where force was lacking and
+keeping off the attacks of the Danes by his watchfulness, bravery, and
+sound judgment; until men came to say, that his brave cousin was the
+king's chief support and that his secret enemies dared not undertake
+anything against him while he had so skilful and courageous a defender.
+
+There are two ways of disposing of a troublesome foe, one by fair and
+open warfare, one by treachery. As Sir Tord could not be got rid of in
+the former manner, his enemies tried the latter. Jösse Bosson, one of his
+officers, though born a Dane, had proved so faithful and won his
+confidence to such an extent that the valiant Swede trusted him
+completely, and made him governor of the fortress of Karlborg. He did
+not dream that he was nourishing a traitor and one capable of the basest
+deeds.
+
+During the warfare in Norway Sir Tord reached Karlborg one afternoon,
+proposing to spend the night there. He was received with much show of joy
+by Jösse, who begged him to take the repose he needed, promising to keep
+strict watch in the fortress during his stay there. Without a thought of
+danger Sir Tord went to the chamber provided for him. Jösse said the same
+to the followers of his guest, and as they were weary they were glad to
+go to their beds.
+
+Having thus disposed of his visitors, Jösse got his boats ready, loaded
+them with his most-prized effects, and then turned the key on the
+followers of his trusting guest, hid their swords, and even cut their
+bowstrings, so much was he afraid of the heroic soldier who had been his
+best friend.
+
+Then, axe in hand, he entered the room of Sir Tord. The sleeper, awakened
+by his entrance, raised himself a little in the bed and asked what he
+wanted. For answer the murderous wretch brought down his axe with so
+heavy a blow that the head of Sir Tord was cleft in twain to the
+shoulders. Then, taking to his boats, the assassin made his escape to the
+Danes, by whom his bloody act was probably instigated.
+
+With the death by treason and murder of the brave Sir Tord, the chief
+bulkwark of the realm of King Charles, this tale should end, but the
+later career of Charles VIII. is so curious a one that it will be of
+interest to make some brief mention of it.
+
+Never has king had a more diversified career. With the death of his brave
+defender, enemies on all sides rose against him, his great wealth and
+proud ostentation having displeased nobles and people alike. Chief among
+his enemies was the archbishop of Upsala, who nailed a letter to the door
+of the cathedral in which he renounced all loyalty and obedience to King
+Charles, took off his episcopal robes before the shrine of St. Erik, and
+vowed that he would not wear that dress again until law and right were
+brought back to the land. It was a semi-civilized age and land in which
+churchmen did not hesitate to appeal to the sword, and the archbishop
+clad himself in armor, and with helmet on head and sword by side, set out
+on a crusade of his own against the man he deemed an unworthy and
+oppressive king.
+
+He found many to sustain him, and Charles, taken utterly by surprise,
+barely escaped to Stockholm, wounded, on a miserable old horse, and with
+a single servant. Besieged there and unable to defend the town, he hid
+part of his treasures, put the rest on board a vessel, and while going on
+board himself was accosted by one of the archbishop's friends, who asked
+him:
+
+"Have you forgotten anything?"
+
+"Nothing except to hang you and your comrades," was the bitter reply of
+the fugitive king.
+
+King Christian of Denmark was called in by the archbishop to take the
+vacant throne, Charles was pronounced a traitor by his enemies, and for
+some years Christian ruled over Sweden. Then his avarice and the heavy
+taxes he laid on the people aroused such dissatisfaction that an
+insurrection broke out, Christian's army was thoroughly defeated, and he
+was forced to take ship for Denmark, while Charles was recalled to the
+throne and landed in Stockholm in 1464, a second time king of Sweden.
+
+This reign was not a long one. Christian, who had imprisoned the
+archbishop because he opposed the heavy taxation of the peasants, now
+sought his aid again and sent him with an army to Sweden. As a result
+Charles found himself once more shut up in Stockholm and was again forced
+by his enemies to resign the crown, being given instead of his kingdom
+the government of Raseborg Castle in Finland. And instead of having
+treasures to take with him, as before, he was now so poor that he could
+not pay a debt of fifty marks he owed in Stockholm. He expressed his
+state of poverty in the following verse:
+
+               "While I was Lord of Fogelwich,
+               I was a mighty man and rich;
+               But since I'm King of Swedish ground
+               A poorer man was never found."
+
+But his career was not yet ended. He was again to sit on the throne.
+Friends arose in his favor, the people again grew dissatisfied with
+Danish rule, and the archbishop, his greatest enemy, died. Charles was
+recalled and returned from Finland, a third time standing on Swedish
+ground as king.
+
+He had still a hard fight before him. A Swedish nobleman, Erik Wase,
+sought to win the throne for himself, and Christian of Denmark sent a new
+army to Sweden; but by the aid of a brave young knight, Sten Sture, Nils
+Sture, his cousin, and some other valiant friends, all his enemies were
+overcome and thus, after years of struggle and a remarkably diversified
+career, he was at length firmly seated on the throne.
+
+But the unfortunate monarch was not long to enjoy the quiet which he had
+so hardly won. He fell seriously ill in May, 1470, and feeling that death
+was near, he sent for Sten Sture and made him administrator of the
+kingdom, with control of the castle of Stockholm. But he earnestly warned
+him never to seek for the royal power, saying:
+
+"That ambition has ruined my happiness and cost me my life."
+
+
+
+
+_STEN STURE'S GREAT VICTORY OVER THE DANES._
+
+
+Historical tales have much to do with war and bloodshed, with rides and
+raids, with schemes and stratagems, with plunder and piracy, and with
+outrage and oppression. These are the things to which historians give the
+most space in their pages and which many readers find fullest of interest
+and excitement. In the present tale we have to do wholly with scenes of
+war, for we propose to tell the story of one of the most remarkable
+battles ever fought on Swedish soil.
+
+This is what led to it. After the death of Charles VIII. and the
+appointment of Sten Sture as administrator of the kingdom, Christian I.
+of Denmark, whom the brave Sture had driven away with his army, fancied
+that the way was open to him again, and that Sweden, without a king, was
+a ripe plum ready to drop into his mouth. He was to find it a sour plum,
+for in Sten Sture he had to deal with a man of notable ability, just and
+upright in his dealings, wise and prudent in government, and brave and
+skilful in war. He was a man who did not swear to keep his word, but who
+never broke it. "I promise by my three water-lilies" (the arms of the
+Stures) was his form of affirmation, but this simple promise was more to
+be trusted than the solemn oaths of many kings and potentates. The
+people loved and trusted him, and on the 1st of May, 1471, the late
+king's appointment was confirmed at a general diet of the people, which
+accepted him by acclamation as the administrator and captain-general of
+the realm.
+
+He soon had work cut out for him. Christian of Denmark equipped a great
+fleet and sailed to Stockholm, where he anchored in the harbor and opened
+negotiations with the Swedish senate, then the great source of power in
+the land. He promised to govern the kingdom in the way they might decide
+upon and be to them a mild and merciful father. While some of them were
+seduced by his specious promises, the majority had no fancy to make him
+their "father." But they made a truce with him until the matter could be
+decided, the Danes being allowed to buy provisions in the town, and on
+their side selling salt to the citizens, this being at that time very
+scarce in Stockholm.
+
+Thus matters went on for seven weeks, at the end of which time Christian
+concluded that the Swedes were playing with him, seeking to spin out the
+time until all his provisions would be consumed and winter with its
+storms would be at hand to destroy his fleet. As it began to appear that
+nothing was to be gained by peace, he resolved to try the effect of war,
+and on the 1st of September landed his army and laid his plans to besiege
+the city.
+
+His camp was pitched on the hill of Brunkenberg, near the city,
+connection being made with the fleet by a strong bridge built from the
+shore to an island in the harbor. Bulwarks and ramparts of earth were
+thrown up on the side next the town, and were mounted with cannon, with
+which he soon opened a bombardment. He enticed some of the Swedish
+peasants into his camp by promise of an abundance of salt, but his main
+army consisted of the Danish nobles and their troops and of German and
+Scottish soldiers of fortune, brave, stout, able warriors who exercised
+themselves daily in military sports and led a merry and careless life in
+camp, heedless of everything except pay and plunder.
+
+When the proud Danish king was told that Sture was collecting an army of
+peasants with which to fight him, he sneeringly said:
+
+"Herr Sten sneaks along ditches and dikes, but I shall punish my little
+gentleman with the rod like a child, and teach him to keep himself
+quiet."
+
+Threats were also made by the foreign mercenaries against the citizens,
+but these only served to rouse their anger and make them more resolute in
+the defence of the city.
+
+As for Herr Sten, he went on raising troops and driving out the Danes
+whom he found infesting the seaboard lands, not marching towards the city
+until he had got rid of all hostility in his rear. On his march he was
+met by his brave cousin, Nils Sture, with an army of the bold Dalmen of
+the north, and the united armies marched on to Jerfva, in the vicinity of
+the beleaguered city.
+
+From this point Sture wrote to King Christian, offering him safe passage
+home, if he would leave Sweden without the need of blows; but he only
+roused the wrath of the king, who loudly swore:
+
+"By God's five wounds, I have not gone to so much trouble and expense to
+go home without finishing what I came for."
+
+All that could be done in the cause of peace had been done without avail,
+and events had reached a point in which the affair could be settled only
+at sword's point and cannon's mouth.
+
+It was the 10th of October, 1470. Long before the sun rose on that
+memorable day the Swedes of Sture's army were awake and busy preparing
+their arms for the coming fray, in which the mastery of their kingdom was
+to be decided. At an early hour the whole army was called to the solemn
+service of the mass, after which holy and impressive ceremony they
+refreshed themselves with a hasty meal and returned to their ranks ready
+for battle.
+
+Nils Sture was already on the march with a third of the army, secretly
+leading them around a clump of woodland with the purpose of attacking the
+Danish camp at Brunkenberg from the east. As the ranks of the main army
+formed for the attack, their brave leader was gratified to see a body of
+gallant horsemen, in shining armor, riding to join him. They were
+thirteen hundred in number, and had been sent from the town of Kungsholm.
+
+Advancing before his people, Sture spoke to them with few but telling
+words:
+
+"If you ever desire to enjoy peace and security in Sweden stand by me
+this day and cling one to another. I shall do my part. I fear not the
+king nor his Danes and mercenaries, but gladly venture life and blood and
+all that I possess on the event of this battle. If you will do the same,
+lift up your hands."
+
+[Illustration: SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM.]
+
+"That will we do with God's help," came the roar of response, followed by
+a great shout and wild clanging of arms. Immediately the advance began,
+the men singing the verse of a psalm written for the occasion. It was now
+the hour of eleven.
+
+King Christian and his army boldly awaited the assault, looking down from
+their commanding position on the Swedes, who came on heedless of the roar
+of guns and flight of arrows. Reaching the foot of the hill, they began
+its ascent, met as they did so by the Danes, who rushed down upon them
+with lance and sword. In a moment more the hostile lines met and the
+bloody work of war began.
+
+On the summit of the hill proudly waved the Danneborg, the sacred
+standard of Denmark. In the midst of the Swedes fluttered their country's
+flag, borne resolutely up the hill. Around these banners gathered the
+bravest of the champions, fighting with heroic fury--the Danes, under
+their ambitious king, fighting for glory and riches; the Swedes, under
+their patriot leader, striking for peace and freedom from foreign rule.
+
+While the battle was thus raging outside the town, Knut Posse, its
+governor, a skilful soldier, was not idle. He was not content to rest
+within the walls while his countrymen were fighting so vigorously for
+his relief. The heat of the fight had left the bridge leading from the
+shore to the ships without a guard, and he sent some men in boats to row
+towards it and with saws and axes to sever the supports beneath it. This
+was successfully done and the men returned unseen.
+
+While this was being accomplished the warlike governor, seeing that the
+Swedes had been checked in their ascent of the hill, made a sally from
+the town with two thousand of the garrison, taking possession of the
+Danish fortifications in that quarter and setting them on fire. His
+position, however, could not long be held, for Sten Sture's troops had
+been driven down the hill and Christian was free to lead a heavy column
+against him, forcing him back with his handful of men. In the struggle,
+however, the bold governor advanced so vigorously upon the king, that he
+received a wound from Christian's own hand.
+
+While Knut Posse was thus being driven back into the town Sten Sture was
+seeking to infuse new spirit into his defeated people, telling them that
+"it would be to their eternal shame if they suffered themselves thus to
+be repulsed."
+
+Marshalling them into orderly ranks as quickly as possible he led them
+again towards the hill, and the battle recommenced with its old fire and
+vigor. Sture rode valiantly at their head, encouraging them with a
+display of heroic valor. While he fought on horseback, by his side ran a
+peasant named Björn the Strong, who kept pace with the horse and at
+times ran before it, swinging his broad battle-axe with such strength
+that he opened a road for his leader to ride through. Though surrounded
+by enemies, the two held their own with the fiery energy of the
+berserkers of an earlier day, dispensing death while not receiving a
+wound.
+
+King Christian, on the other hand, showed himself not wanting in valor,
+keeping well in the front rank of his men. In the midst of the fight a
+ball struck him in the mouth, knocking out three of his teeth and so
+disabling him that he was carried fainting from the field. In the end the
+Swedes, who had borne their banner to the summit of the hill, where they
+looked in vain for the expected aid from Nils Sture and his men, were
+driven back again and a second time forced down the hill, the victorious
+Danes driving them well into the plain at its foot.
+
+Three hours of hard fighting had now passed and both armies were wearied.
+Trotte Karlsson, a Swedish renegade who had been fighting against his
+country in the ranks of its foes, seated himself on a stone to rest,
+taking off his helmet that he might breathe the fresh air. As he did so a
+ball from the Swedish ranks struck him between the eyes and he fell
+dead--a traitor fighting with strangers against his native land.
+
+Though twice beaten Sten Sture had no thought of giving up the fight. For
+some reason Nils Sture, who with the large force under his command had
+been depended upon to make a diversion in their favor, had not appeared.
+Bad roads had detained him and he was still struggling onward towards
+his assigned position.
+
+Looking around him, and satisfied that it was hopeless to dislodge the
+enemy from their post of vantage, Sten now attempted a diversion by
+sending a force to attack the troops stationed at the convent of St.
+Claire. The Danes on the hill, seeing the danger of this detachment, and
+thinking that they had thoroughly beaten off the Swedes, rushed down to
+the aid of those at the convent, and Sten, with the skill of an able
+commander, took advantage of this movement and at once marshalled his men
+for a third attack.
+
+They did not need much encouragement. Though twice beaten they were not
+dispirited, but rushed forward shouting: "Now the Danes come to us on
+equal ground! Let us at them and swing our swords freely!"
+
+Some bright streaks appearing on the sky, the cry ran through the ranks:
+
+"St. Erik is waving his sword over his people to aid them and point the
+way to victory."
+
+On the enemy they rushed, with a valor not weakened by their previous
+repulses, and Knut Posse, who had been watching the fight with keen eyes,
+made a fresh sally from the town. Soon the battle was on again with all
+its former fury, the Danes fighting at first for victory, then, as they
+were forced to give way, striking resolutely to defend their standard,
+the Danneborg. Knut Posse made a fierce onset upon the proud banner, but
+was not able to reach it until five hundred noble Danes, who gathered
+around it as a guard of honor, had fallen under the swords of the Swedes.
+
+When the Danes saw their great standard fall they gave way, but only with
+the intention to regain the height and defend themselves on its summit.
+It was at this critical juncture that Nils Sture appeared with his
+long-delayed troops and attacked the enemy from a fresh side. Before this
+unlooked-for and powerful force the Danes gave way in a panic, their
+ranks being broken and the fugitives rushing in wild flight down the hill
+to take refuge in their ships.
+
+Now the stratagem of Knut Posse became effective, the weakened bridge
+swaying and sinking under the multitude of fugitives who crowded it,
+plunging them by hundreds into the water. Others leaped into boats to row
+to the vessels, but these were so crowded that many of them sank, their
+occupants being drowned. In all, nine hundred men were drowned in the
+flight, while as many more who were not able to escape threw down their
+arms and surrendered. Christian succeeded in escaping with that portion
+of his army which had reached the ships, while Sten Sture marched in
+triumph into Stockholm with his victorious troops, there to be received
+with shouts of gladness, and with tears of joy by his wife Fra Ingeborg,
+who had been in the city and with the noble ladies of the place had
+prayed earnestly for victory while their friends and husbands fought.
+
+For four hours the battle had lasted. It was one of vast importance for
+Sweden, since it brought to that country many years of peace and repose.
+King Christian dared not attack the Swedes again and the country got on
+prosperously without a king under the able government of Sten Sture.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW THE DITMARSHERS KEPT THEIR FREEDOM._
+
+
+The name of Ditmarshers was given to the inhabitants of a broad, marshy
+region adjoining the district of Holstein on the Baltic shores of
+Germany. They were not pure Germans, however, but descendants of the
+ancient Frisian tribes who had long occupied the northwest parts of
+Germany and Holland and were known as far back as the times of the Romans
+for their courage and love of liberty.
+
+For age after age this people had shown the same bold spirit and made
+many a gallant stand against the princes who sought to subdue them. Geert
+the Great and other princes of Sleswick and Holstein had suffered defeat
+at their hands, and the warlike Valdemar III. of Denmark had been sadly
+beaten by them. At a much later date the Emperor Frederick had formally
+given the lands of the Ditmarshers to Christian I. of Denmark, to be
+joined to Holstein, but the marshmen declared that they were not subjects
+of Denmark and would not be given and taken at its king's will.
+
+It was in the year 1500 that the most striking event in the history of
+the Ditmarshers took place. King Hans, the son of Christian I., then
+ruled over Denmark and Norway and five years before had been crowned king
+of Sweden. It was due to his dealings with the bold sons of the marshes
+that he lost the latter throne. This is the story of this interesting
+event.
+
+When Hans was made king of Denmark his ambitious brother Frederick, who
+had sought to obtain the throne, was made duke of Sleswick-Holstein, and
+called upon the Ditmarshers to pay him taxes and render homage to him for
+their lands. This they declined to do, not recognizing the right of the
+Emperor Frederick to hand them over to Denmark and to decide that the
+country which had belonged to their fathers for so many centuries was
+part of Holstein.
+
+Finding that he had tough metal to deal with in the brave marshmen,
+Frederick induced his brother Hans to invade their country and seek to
+bring them to terms. King Valdemar had done the same thing three
+centuries before, with the result of losing four thousand men and getting
+an arrow wound in his eye, but undeterred by this, if they knew anything
+about it, the nobles and knights, who were very numerous in the army led
+by Frederick and Hans, went to the war as lightly as if it were an
+excursion of pleasure.
+
+Disdaining to wear their ordinary armor in dealing with peasant foes,
+they sought to show their contempt for such an enemy by going in their
+ordinary hunting costume and carrying only light arms. It was a piece of
+folly, as they were to learn. The marshmen fought like their fathers of
+old for their much-valued liberty, and the knights found they had no
+cravens to deal with.
+
+It is true that the royal troops took and sacked Meldorf, the chief town
+of the Ditmarshers, cruelly killing its inhabitants, but it was their
+only victory. It proved a lighter thing to get to Meldorf than to get
+away from it, and of the Danes and Germans who had taken part in the
+assault few escaped with their lives.
+
+It was the depth of winter, cold, bitter weather, and as the army was on
+its march from Meldorf to Hejde the advance guard suddenly found itself
+in face of a line of earthworks which the marshmen had thrown up in front
+of a dike. This was defended by five hundred Ditmarshers under their
+leader, Wolf Isebrand.
+
+The German guards rushed to the attack, shouting:
+
+"Back, churls, the guards are coming!"
+
+Three times they forced the marshmen to retreat, but as often these bold
+fellows rallied and came back to their works. In the midst of the
+struggle the wind changed, bringing a thaw with it, and as the troops
+struggled on, blinded with the sleet and snow that now fell heavily, and
+benumbed with the cold, the men of the marshes opened the sluices in the
+dike. Through the openings poured the waters of the rising tide, quickly
+flooding the marshes and sweeping everything before them.
+
+The soldiers soon found themselves wading in mud and water, and at this
+critical juncture the Ditmarshers, accustomed to make their way through
+their watery habitat by the aid of poles and stilts, fell upon the
+dismayed invaders, cutting them down in their helpless dilemma or
+piercing them through with their long lances.
+
+The victory of the peasants was utter and complete. Six thousand of the
+invaders, nobles and men-at-arms alike, perished on that fatal day, and
+the victors fell heir to an immense booty, including seven banners. Among
+these was the great Danish standard, the famous Danneborg, which was
+carried in triumph to Oldenwörden and hung up in the church as the
+proudest trophy of the victory.
+
+As for King Hans and his brother Duke Frederick, they barely escaped
+falling into the hands of the marshmen, while the estimate of the losses
+in money, stores, and ammunition in that dread afternoon's work was
+200,000 florins.
+
+King Hans lost more than money by it, for he lost the kingship of Sweden.
+The nobles of that country, when the news of the disastrous defeat
+reached them, rose in revolt, under the leadership of Sten Sture, drove
+the Danes out of Stockholm, and kept his queen, Christina of Saxony,
+prisoner for three years. Hans had no more armies to send to Sweden and
+he was obliged to renounce its crown.
+
+Norway also rose against him under a brave leader, and his power over
+that country was threatened also. It was finally saved for him by his son
+Prince Christian, who used his power so cruelly after order was restored
+that he nearly routed out all the old Norwegian nobles.
+
+Thus, from his attempt to make the Ditmarshers pay taxes against their
+will, King Hans lost one kingdom and came near losing another. The only
+successful war of his reign was one against the traders of Lübeck, who
+had treated him with great insolence. In a war which followed, the fleet
+of the Lübeckers was so thoroughly beaten that the proud merchant princes
+were glad to pay 30,000 gulden to obtain peace. Then, having this one
+success to offset his defeat by the Ditmarshers, King Hans died.
+
+
+
+
+_THE BLOOD-BATH OF STOCKHOLM._
+
+
+The most cruel tyrant the northern lands ever knew was Christian II. of
+Denmark, grandson of Christian I., whose utter defeat at Stockholm has
+been told. For twenty-seven years Sweden remained without a king, under
+the wise rule of Sten Sture. Then Hans of Denmark, son of Christian I.,
+was chosen as king, in the belief that he would keep his promises of good
+government. As he failed to keep them he was driven out after a four
+years' rule, as we have told in the last tale, and Sten Sture became
+practically king again.
+
+How Christian, who succeeded Hans as king of Denmark, and had shown
+himself a master of ferocity and bloodthirsty cruelty in Norway and
+Denmark, overcame the Swedes and made himself king of Sweden, is a story
+of the type of others which we have told of that unhappy land. It must
+suffice to say here that by force, fraud, and treachery he succeeded in
+this ambitious effort and was crowned king of Sweden on the 4th of
+November, 1520.
+
+He had reached the throne by dint of promises, confirmed by the most
+sacred oaths, not one of which he had any intention of keeping, and the
+Swedes might as well have set a wolf on their throne as given it to this
+human tiger. One thing he knew, which was that the mischief and disquiet
+in Sweden were due to the ambition of the great lords, and he mentally
+proposed to ensure for himself a quiet reign by murdering all those whom
+he feared.
+
+[Illustration: SKANSEN RIVER.]
+
+Under what pretence of legality it could be done, and leave to him the
+appearance of innocence in the matter, was a difficult question. To
+attempt the bloody work with no ostensible motive might lose for him the
+crown which he had striven so hard to win, and in the dilemma he
+consulted with his confidential advisers as to what should be done.
+
+Some of them proposed that a quarrel and uproar between the Danes and
+Swedes in the town should be fomented, which the lords might be accused
+of bringing about. But there was danger that such a pretended quarrel
+might become a real one, and endanger his throne. Others advised that
+gun-powder should be laid under the castle and the lords be accused of
+seeking to blow up the king. But this was dismissed as too clumsy a
+device.
+
+Finally it was proposed to proceed against the lords as heretics, they
+having some years previously been excommunicated by the Pope for
+heretical practices. The king, indeed, had solemnly sworn to forget and
+forgive the past, but his cunning advisers told him that while he might
+speak for himself, he had no warrant to speak for the Church, the laws
+and rights of which had been violated. This pretext was seized upon by
+Christian with joy and he proceeded to make use of it in a way that every
+churchman in the land would have condemned with horror.
+
+On the 7th of November, the day after the coronation festivities ended,
+the king proceeded to put his treacherous plot into effect. A number of
+noble Swedes who had attended the festivities were brought to the castle
+under various pretences, and were there ushered into a large and spacious
+hall. With alarm they saw that the doors were closed behind them so that
+none could leave, though others might enter.
+
+When all were gathered Christian entered and took his seat on the throne,
+with his council and chief lords about him. Archbishop Trolle was also
+present as representative of the Church, but without knowledge or
+suspicion of the secret purpose of the king, who had brought him there to
+sanction by his presence the intended massacre.
+
+The charge which it was proposed to bring against the senators and lords
+was that of trespass against the archiepiscopal dignity and to demand
+retribution for the same, and this charge was accordingly brought in the
+name of the Church. The king then turned to the archbishop and asked:
+
+"My Lord Archbishop, do you intend to have this matter brought to peace
+and friendship according to the counsel of good men or will you have it
+judged by the law?"
+
+Archbishop Trolle answered, "The offence being one against the Church,
+the cause of the accused should be judged by the Pope."
+
+This was a mode of settling the matter which by no means conformed with
+the king's intention, and he answered:
+
+"This is a matter not to be referred to the Pope, but to be terminated at
+home in the kingdom, without troubling his Holiness."
+
+In this decision he was not to be shaken, knowing well that if the
+archbishop's proposal to refer the matter to the Pope were carried out
+his secret sanguinary purpose would be defeated. What he proposed was the
+murder of the lords, and he had no intention of letting the matter escape
+from his control.
+
+Lord Sten Sture, against whom the accusation had been chiefly directed,
+was dead, but his widow, the Lady Christina, was present, and was asked
+what defence she had to offer for herself and her husband. She replied
+that the offences against the archbishop were not due to Lord Sten alone,
+but were done with the approbation of the senate and the kingdom and she
+produced a parchment in proof of her words, signed by many of the persons
+present. Christian eagerly seized upon the incriminating document, as
+giving him a warrant for his proceedings and evidence against those whom
+he most hated and feared.
+
+All whose names were attached to it were brought up, one after another,
+there being among them several bishops, who had taken part in the matter
+on patriotic and political grounds, and a number of senators. Every one
+tried to excuse himself, but of the whole number Bishop Otto was the only
+one whose excuse was accepted. At the end of the examination all those
+accused were seized and taken from the hall, the whole number, senators,
+prelates, noblemen, priests and burghers, being locked up together in a
+tower, the two bishops among them being alone given a better prison. The
+true reason for proceeding against the churchmen was that they had been
+the friends of Sten Sture and might prefer their country to the king. The
+wicked tyrant, who in this illegal manner had sought to make the Church
+responsible for his bloodthirsty schemes, hesitated not to condemn clergy
+and laity alike, and ended the session by the arbitrary decision that all
+the accused were heretics and as such should die.
+
+Irreligious, illegal, and ruthless as had been this whole proceeding,
+into which the artful king had dragged the archbishop and sought to make
+him a consenting party to his plot, Christian had gained his purpose of
+providing a pretext for ridding himself of his political enemies, actual
+or possible, and proceeded to put it into execution in the arbitrary
+manner in which it had been so far conducted, regardless of protests from
+any quarter.
+
+The next day the city gates were closed, so that no one could enter or
+leave. Trumpeters rode round the streets in the early morning,
+proclaiming that no citizen, on peril of life, must leave his house,
+unless granted permission to do so. On the chief squares Danish soldiers
+were marshalled in large numbers, and on the Great Square a battery of
+loaded cannon was placed, commanding the principal streets. A dread sense
+of terrible events to come pervaded the whole city.
+
+At noon the castle gates were thrown open and a great body of armed
+soldiers marched out, placing themselves in two long lines which reached
+from the castle to the town hall. Between these lines the accused lords
+were led, until the Great Square was reached, where they were halted and
+surrounded by a strong force of Danish soldiers. Around these gathered a
+great body of the people, now permitted to leave their houses. Alarm and
+anguish filled their faces as they saw the preparations for a frightful
+event.
+
+On the balcony of the town hall now appeared Sir Nils Lycke, a knight
+newly created by the king, who thus addressed the agitated multitude:
+
+"You good people are not to wonder at what you now behold, for all these
+men have proved themselves to be base heretics, who have sought to
+destroy the holy Church; and moreover traitors to his Majesty the King,
+since they had laid powder under the castle to kill him."
+
+At this point he was interrupted by Bishop Vincent from the square below,
+who called out indignantly to the people:
+
+"Do not believe this man, for all he tells you is falsehood and nonsense.
+It is as Swedish patriots that we are brought here, and God will yet
+punish Christian's cruelty and treachery."
+
+Two of the condemned lords also called out to the people, beseeching them
+"never in future to let themselves be deceived by false promises, but one
+day to avenge this day's terrible treachery and tyranny."
+
+Fearing an outbreak by the indignant people, if this appeal should
+continue, the soldiers now made a great noise, under order of their
+officers, and the king, who is said to have gloatingly witnessed the
+whole proceedings from a window in the town hall, ordered the execution
+to proceed, Klas Bille, an official, placing himself to receive the
+golden chain and ring of each knight before he was beheaded.
+
+The prisoners implored that they might confess and receive the Holy
+Sacrament before they were slain, but even this was refused, and Bishop
+Matthew was led forth first. While he was kneeling, with clasped and
+uplifted hands, two horrified men, one of them his secretary, rushed
+impulsively towards him, but before they could reach the spot the fatal
+sword had descended and the good bishop's head rolled to their feet on
+the ground.
+
+They cried out in horror that this was a frightful and inhuman act, and
+were at once seized and dragged within the circle, where they would have
+suffered the fate of the victimized bishop had they not been rescued by
+some German soldiers, who believed them to be Germans.
+
+Bishop Vincent next fell beneath the encrimsoned sword, and after him the
+senators, seven in number, and thirteen nobles and knights of the senate.
+These were followed by the three burgomasters of Stockholm and thirteen
+members of the town council, with fifteen of the leading citizens, some
+of them having been dragged from their houses, without the least warning,
+and led to execution. One citizen, Lars Hausson by name, burst into
+tears as he beheld this terrible scene, and at once was seized by the
+soldiers, dragged within the fearful circle, and made to pay by death for
+his compassion.
+
+With this final murder the executions for that day ended, the heads being
+set on poles and the dead bodies left lying where they had fallen. A
+violent rain that came on bore a bloody witness of the sanguinary scene
+into the streets, in the stream of red-dyed water which ran down on every
+side from the Great Square.
+
+On the next day Christian said that many had hid themselves who deserved
+death, but that they might now freely show themselves for he did not
+intend to punish any more. Deceived by this trick some of the hidden
+leaders made their appearance and were immediately seized and haled to
+the square, where the work of execution was resumed. Six or eight of
+these were beheaded, many were hung, and the servants of the slaughtered
+lords, who happened to come to the town in ignorance of the frightful
+work, were dragged from their horses and, booted and spurred as they had
+come, were haled to the gallows.
+
+The king's soldiers and followers, excited by the slaughter and given
+full license, now broke into many houses of the suspected, murdering the
+men, maltreating the women, and carrying away all the treasure they could
+find, and for some hours Stockholm seemed to be in the hands of an army
+that had taken the city by storm.
+
+For a day and night the corpses lay festering in the street, their bodies
+torn by vagrant dogs, and not until a pestilent exhalation began to rise
+from them were they gathered up and hauled by cartloads to a place in the
+southern suburbs, where a great funeral pyre was erected and the bodies
+were burned to ashes.
+
+As for the tyrant himself, his bloody work seemed to excite him to a sort
+of madness of fury. He ordered the body of Sten Sture the Younger to be
+dug from its grave in Riddarholm Church, and it is said that in his fury
+he bit at the half-consumed remains. The body of Sten's young son was
+also disinterred, and the two were carried to the great funeral pile to
+be burnt with the others. The quarter of the town where this took place
+is still named Sture, in memory of the dead, and on the spot where the
+great pyre was kindled stands St. Christopher's Church.
+
+Such was the famous, or rather the infamous, "blood-bath of Stockholm,"
+which still remains as a frightful memory to the land. It did not end
+here. The dreadful work he had done seemed to fill the monster with an
+insatiable lust for blood. His next act was to call Christina, the widow
+of Sten Sture, to his presence. When, overwhelmed with grief and despair,
+she appeared, he sneeringly asked her whether she would choose to be
+burned, drowned, or buried alive. The noble lady fell fainting at his
+feet. Her beauty and suffering and the entreaties of those present at
+length softened the tyrant, but her mother was enclosed in a bag and
+thrown into the stream, though she was permitted to be drawn out by the
+people on their promise to the tyrant that he should have her great
+wealth. But she, with her daughter Christina and many other women of
+noble descent, were carried as hostages to Copenhagen and shut up in a
+dreadful prison called the Blue Tower, where numbers of them died of
+hunger, thirst and cold.
+
+The massacre was not confined to Stockholm; from there the executions
+spread throughout the country, and the old law of 1153 was revived that
+no peasant should bear arms, Danish soldiers being sent through the
+country to rob the people of their weapons. The story is told that some
+of them, enraged by this act of tyranny, said:
+
+"Swords shall not be wanting to punish the tyrant so long as we retain
+our feet to pursue and our hands to revenge."
+
+To this the reply was that "a hand and a foot might well be cut from the
+Swedish peasant; for one hand and a wooden leg would be enough for him to
+guide his plough."
+
+This report, improbable as it was, spread widely and caused a general
+panic, for so terrified were the people by the reports of Christian's
+cruelty that nothing seemed too monstrous for him to undertake.
+
+In December the tyrant prepared to return to Denmark, leaving Sweden
+under chosen governors, with an army of Danes. But his outgoing from the
+country was marked by the same sanguinary scenes. He caused even his own
+favorite, Klas Hoist, to be hung, and two friends of Sten Sture being
+betrayed to him, he had them quartered and exposed upon the wheel. Sir
+Lindorm Ribbing was seized and beheaded, together with his servants. And,
+most pitiable of all, Sir Lindorm's two little boys, six and eight years
+of age, were ordered by the tyrant to be slain, lest they should grow up
+to avenge their murdered father.
+
+The scene, as related, is pathetic to the highest degree. The older boy
+was beheaded, and when the younger saw the streaming blood and the red
+stains on his brother's clothes, he said with childish innocence to the
+executioner: "Dear man, don't stain my shirt like my brother's, for then
+mamma will whip me."
+
+At these words the executioner, his heart softened, threw down the sword,
+crying:
+
+"I would rather blood my own shirt than yours."
+
+But the pathos of the scene had no effect on the heart of the tyrant, who
+witnessed it unsoftened, and called for a more savage follower to
+complete the work, ending it by striking off the head of the
+compassionate executioner. With this and other deeds of blood Christian
+left the land where he had sown deeply the seeds of hate, and the
+terrible "blood-bath" ended.
+
+
+
+
+_THE ADVENTURES OF GUSTAVUS VASA._
+
+
+In the parish of Orkesta, in Upland, Sweden, there may be seen the
+remains of an old tower, now a mere heap of stones, but once the centre
+of the proud manor-seat of Lindholm. It was a noble and lordly castle,
+built of red bricks and grey granite, seated on a high hill between two
+lakes, and commanding a wide prospect over mountain, wood, and water.
+Here, in the year 1490, was born Gustavus Vasa, the son of Sir Erik and
+Lady Cecilia Vasa, and destined to win future fame as one of the greatest
+heroes of Sweden and the liberator of his native land.
+
+At the age of six the boy was sent to be educated at the court of Sten
+Sture, then the administrator and virtual king of Sweden. Here he was not
+spoiled by indulgence, his mode of life and his food were alike simple
+and homely, and he grew up with a cheerful spirit and a strong body, his
+chief pleasure being that of hunting among the rocks and forests with his
+companions, all of whom grew to love and admire him.
+
+King Hans, when monarch of Sweden in 1499, on a visit to Sten Sture
+noticed the boy playing about the hall and was much pleased by his fine
+and glowing countenance. Patting him on the head, he said:
+
+"You will certainly be a man in your day, if you live to see it."
+
+He afterwards, thinking of the high descent of the boy and that he might
+grow to be a future foe of Denmark, asked Sten Sture to let him take the
+lad to Copenhagen and bring him up in his court. The wise Lord Sten
+quickly fathomed the king's thoughts and answered that the boy was too
+young to be taken from his parents. He soon after sent him to his father,
+then in command at Aland.
+
+"The young wolf has slipped out of my net," said King Hans in later
+years, when he was told of the splendid development of the boy as he grew
+to manhood.
+
+At the age of twenty-four he left the academy at Upsala, where he had
+been educated in the arts and sciences, and repaired to the court of Sten
+Sture the Younger, where he was soon a general favorite, loved for his
+amiable character and admired for his wit and vivacity. At that time the
+war by which Christian II. made himself master of Denmark was going on
+and young Vasa aided by his courage in winning victory on more than one
+hard-fought field.
+
+In 1518, during a negotiation between Sten Sture and Christian, then in
+sore straits in his fleet, the latter agreed to go ashore to confer with
+the Swedish leader if six gentlemen were sent on board his fleet as
+hostages. This was done, but before the conference took place a favorable
+change of wind changed the treacherous king's intention and he sailed off
+for Denmark with his hostages, all of whom were imprisoned and held to
+secure the neutrality of their relatives in Sweden.
+
+Among these captives was young Gustavus Vasa, who, thus perfidiously
+taken, was cruelly confined. Finally, at the request of Herr Erik Baner,
+a distant relative of the Vasas, the young man was set free, Baner
+binding himself to pay a heavy penalty in money if he permitted him to
+escape. Thus it was that Vasa found a new home at Kallö Castle, in
+Jutland, where his deliverer lived, and where he was well treated and
+given much freedom.
+
+"I shall not cause you to be strictly guarded nor put you in
+confinement," said good old Baner. "You shall eat at my table and go
+where you please, if you faithfully promise not to make your escape or
+journey anywhere without letting me know."
+
+To this the young man bound himself verbally and by writing, and was
+given liberty by his generous warder to go where he pleased within six
+miles of Kallö. At first he was always accompanied by an attendant, but
+as he won the old man's love and confidence he was suffered to go alone.
+
+But he could not forget the perfidy by which he had been made prisoner,
+and in 1519, when King Christian was preparing a great expedition against
+Sweden, the boasts of the young Danish nobles of what they proposed to do
+chafed his proud soul. Day and night his bitterness of spirit grew, and
+finally, as the time came for the expedition to set sail, he could bear
+it no longer but resolved to break his parole and escape to his native
+land.
+
+It was in the summer of 1579 that he set out, having dressed himself in
+peasant clothing. Starting in the early morning and avoiding the open
+roads, he made his way by by-paths, and at noon of the following day
+reached the town of Flensburg, where he fortunately met some Saxon
+traders driving a herd of cattle from Jutland to Germany. He joined
+these, and on September 30 reached the free town of Lübeck. Here the
+authorities gave him permission to remain, with a warrant for his
+personal safety while in the town.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Erik Baner had been wrathfully seeking him, and appeared in
+Lübeck shortly after he reached there, complaining of his ingratitude for
+the good treatment given him, and threatening the senate of Lübeck with
+Christian's enmity if they should protect one of his foes.
+
+Gustavus boldly answered that he was no lawful prisoner, but a man seized
+by breaking a solemn compact, and therefore that he had the right to set
+himself free. As for the six thousand riks-thalers, which Sir Erik had
+bound himself to pay, he would return them with interest and gratitude
+when he got home.
+
+"I trust to this," he concluded, "that I am in a free town, on whose
+word, when once given, I should be able to depend."
+
+This appeal won his case with the senate, and Sir Erik was obliged to
+return without his ward.
+
+But to make his way to Sweden, then torn and distracted by war, and the
+seas held by hostile craft, was no easy matter and he was forced to
+remain eight months in Lübeck while his country was being rapidly subdued
+by its invaders. They were not idle months, for Gustavus learned much
+while there of political and industrial economy and the commerce and
+institutions of the Hanseatic League and its free towns, knowledge which
+became of much service to him in later years. In the end he succeeded in
+making his way to Sweden in a small trading vessel, and on the 31st of
+May, 1520, landed secretly on its shores, with nothing but his sword and
+his courage to sustain him against an enemy who had, step by step,
+subjugated nearly the whole land.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN.]
+
+Of the cities, only Stockholm and Calmar remained in the hands of the
+Swedes, and the latter, in which he had landed, seemed full of cowards
+and traitors. The place was not safe for a declared patriot, and he left
+it, making his way up the country. Here he learned with indignation how
+envy, avarice, and private feuds had induced many Swedes to betray one
+another to the enemy, and his efforts to exhort the people to unity and
+resistance proved vain. Most of them were weary of the war, and Christian
+had won over many of the peasants.
+
+"He is a gracious master to us," they said, "and as long as we obey the
+king neither salt nor herring will fail us."
+
+When Gustavus sought to win them over to more patriotic views they became
+angry and threatening, and in the end they assailed him with arrows and
+lances, so that he was obliged to make his escape. His position, indeed,
+became so critical that he was forced to disguise himself and proceed
+through forests and unsettled lands. Finally he reached the manor-house
+in which resided his sister Margaret and her husband, Sir Joachim Brahe.
+
+They received him with the highest demonstrations of joy, as they had
+feared that they would never set eyes on him again; but their delight in
+his presence was turned into consternation when they learned that he was
+there with the purpose of seeking to foment an insurrection against
+Christian, who had then made himself complete master of Sweden and was on
+the point of being crowned king.
+
+Joachim Brahe and his wife were at that time preparing to attend
+Christian's coronation at Stockholm, and were deeply disturbed by what
+seemed to them the mad purpose of the young patriot. Joachim offered to
+do his utmost to reconcile Gustavus to the king, and Margaret threw
+herself in tears and distress on his neck, beseeching him to desist from
+an undertaking which she felt sure would bring death to him and ruin to
+his whole family.
+
+But Gustavus was not to be persuaded, and on the other hand he warned
+Joachim against trusting himself in Christian's hands, speaking of him as
+a base wretch whom no one could trust. Joachim proved equally hard to
+move, and the three soon parted, Joachim and his wife for
+Stockholm--where death awaited him at the hands of the traitor king--and
+Gustavus for a place of concealment where he could foment his plans.
+During this interval he met the old archbishop, Jacob Ulfsson, who
+earnestly advised him to go to Stockholm and warmly promised to plead his
+cause with the king. But the fugitive knew Christian far better than the
+aged churchman and had no idea of putting his head within the wolfs jaws.
+Little did the good archbishop dream of the terrible tragedy that was
+even then taking place in Stockholm.
+
+The news of it came to Gustavus in this way. One day while out hunting in
+the vicinity of his hiding-place, he unexpectedly met the faithful old
+steward of his brother-in-law Joachim, who was so choked with grief on
+seeing him that he found it impossible to speak and could answer the
+young lord's question only with tears and gestures. Finally he succeeded
+in telling the fearful tale of that bloody day at Stockholm, the death
+under the executioner's sword of the father and brother-in-law of the
+horror-stricken listener, the imprisonment of his mother and sisters, and
+the fact that he would soon become a hunted fugitive, a high price having
+been set upon his head.
+
+Who can describe the bitter grief of the son and brother at these
+terrible tidings, the hot wrath of the patriot, the indignation of a true
+and honest heart! On that fatal day the young fugitive had lost all he
+loved and cherished and was made a hunted, homeless, and almost penniless
+outlaw. But his courage did not fail him, he could foresee the
+indignation of the people at the dastardly act, and he determined to
+venture liberty and life against the ruthless tyrant.
+
+A series of striking adventures awaited him, which it needed his utmost
+resolution to endure. He was then concealed at Räfsnäs, one of his
+paternal estates, but felt it necessary at once to seek a safer refuge,
+and collecting what gold and silver he could, he set out with a single
+servant for Dalarna. They had not gone far before they reached the ferry
+at Kolsund, which he crossed, leaving his man to follow. But the fellow,
+who had no faith in his master's project, took the opportunity to mount
+his horse and flee, taking with him the gold and jewels which had been
+entrusted to his care.
+
+Seeing the act of treachery, Gustavus in all haste recrossed the ferry,
+and pursued the runaway so hotly that he leaped from his horse in alarm
+and hid himself in the woods. Recovering the horse and its valuable
+burden, the fugitive pursued his course, paying no further heed to the
+treacherous servant.
+
+It was late in November when Gustavus reached Dalarna. He was now
+completely disguised, having exchanged his ordinary dress for that of a
+peasant, cutting his hair round, wearing the round hat and short baize
+jacket of the countrymen, and carrying an axe on his shoulder in the
+fashion of peasant-lads seeking work. No one would have dreamed of his
+being the sole heir of the great house of the Vasas.
+
+His first service was with a rich miner named Anders Persson, in whose
+barn he threshed grain for several days. But his fellow threshers soon
+saw that he was not accustomed to the work and his general manner did not
+seem that of a common farm-hand, while one of the women caught the
+glimpse of a silk collar under his coarse jacket. These suspicious
+circumstances were told to the miner, who sent for Gustavus and quickly
+recognized him, for he had often seen him in former days at Upsala.
+
+Anders received him hospitably, but when he heard from him of the
+Stockholm massacre and his aid was requested in the liberation of the
+country, he grew alarmed. Fearing to entertain so dangerous a guest, he
+advised him to go farther north and to change his place of abode
+frequently.
+
+Accepting this advice, Gustavus set out for Ornäs, but on his way, while
+crossing a newly frozen stream, the thin ice broke under him and he was
+plunged into the chilling water. Light and active, he soon got out again,
+drying his clothes and passing the night at the house of the ferryman.
+
+Reaching Ornäs the next day, he went to the house of a former friend, but
+who now, unknown to him, had become connected by marriage with the Danes
+and was devoted to the interests of the new king. It was a critical
+situation for the friendless fugitive. His treacherous host craftily
+welcomed him and pretended to approve his purpose, in which he offered to
+assist him and to seek adherents to his cause among his neighbors.
+
+The guest was conducted to a garret at the top of the house and here,
+weary from his wanderings and gratified at having found a sympathizing
+friend, he lay confidingly down and was soon lost in slumber. Meanwhile
+Arendt, the treacherous host, sought a neighbor, Mans Nilsson, whom he
+told of the rich prize he had found and asked his aid in capturing him
+and gaining the high reward offered for him by the king. He was mistaken
+in his man. Mans hated treachery. But Arendt found others who were less
+scrupulous and in the early morning returned to his home heading twenty
+men, collected to aid him in the capture of his unsuspecting guest. To
+his utter surprise and dismay, on entering the garret to which Gustavus
+had been led he was nowhere to be found. He had unaccountably
+disappeared, and search as they could no trace of the fugitive was
+forthcoming.
+
+There was a woman concerned in this strange escape, which had happened
+thus. Barbara, Arendt's wife, though Danish in her sympathies, had a
+warm, romantic interest in Gustavus Vasa, and when she saw her husband,
+on his return from his visit to Mans Nilsson, drive past the house and in
+the direction of the house of the Danish steward, she suspected him of
+treachery and determined to save their too-confiding guest.
+
+Ordering Jacob, one of her men, to harness a sledge with all haste and
+secrecy and keep it in waiting behind the building, she sought the
+garret, woke Gustavus, and told him of his peril and of her desire to
+save him. Not venturing to bring him down into the house, she opened the
+window, and though it was eighteen feet from the ground, she aided him in
+his descent with a long towel, such as were then in common use. Gustavus
+then sprang into the sledge and was driven briskly off.
+
+Arendt, when he learned of how his expected victim had fled, was
+furiously angry with his wife, and, as we are told, never forgave her and
+refused ever to set eyes on her again.
+
+This was the most extreme danger that the fugitive patriot ever passed
+through, and at that interval his hope of freeing his country from the
+yoke of the foreigner seemed the sheerest madness. But other perils lay
+before him and only vigilance and good fortune saved him more than once
+from death or capture. Surrounded by foes and with scarce a friend who
+dared aid him in the whole district, his final escape seemed impossible.
+
+The friendly Barbara had advised him to seek Herr Jon, the priest of
+Svärdsjö, and his driver took the road over the frozen Lake Runn, they
+ascending its banks in the smoke coming down from the Fahun copper mines,
+and about sunrise reaching a village on the northeast end of the lake.
+Jacob was unacquainted with the country beyond this point and Gustavus
+went to a house to inquire the way. As he was on the point of entering
+he saw within a miner, Nils Haussen, whom he knew to be a Danish partisan
+and who would have recognized him at sight. Quickly and without being
+seen, he turned behind the door and went towards another village beyond.
+Here he met a friendly smelter who agreed to guide him on the way. When
+they parted Gustavus gave him a silver dagger, saying gratefully:
+
+"If God helps me, seek me, and I will richly repay you for your aid."
+
+As night came on he sought quarters in a road-side cottage, and as he sat
+before the fire in the evening the good-wife said to him:
+
+"Young man, make me some pudding skewers, since you have nothing else to
+do."
+
+Gustavus laughingly replied that he would be glad to do so if he only
+knew how. This adventure has an interesting resemblance to that of King
+Alfred, when, hidden from the Danes in the swine-herd's hut, he let the
+good woman's cakes burn on the fire.
+
+Reaching the parsonage of Herr Jon on the following day, he first went to
+the barn and helped the laborers to thresh, at the same time asking them
+what side their master took. Learning that he was no friend of the Danes,
+he made himself known to him and was graciously received, staying with
+him for three days.
+
+But this place soon became unsafe. One day Herr Jon's housekeeper entered
+a room where Gustavus was washing, the priest standing by, towel in
+hand.
+
+"Why are you holding the towel for this common fellow?" she asked.
+
+"That is none of your affairs," said the priest.
+
+But fearing that the woman would talk, he thought it best for his guest
+to seek a safer retreat, and sent him to Swen Elfsson, gamekeeper for the
+crown, who lived not far away.
+
+Meanwhile the Danish steward, who had been told by the treacherous Arendt
+of the character of his guest, had his agents out in search of the
+fugitive and some of them entered the cottage of the gamekeeper. At that
+moment the good-wife was about putting her bread in the fire, and
+Gustavus was standing by the hearth in his peasant's dress, warming
+himself. The men who entered inquired for the fugitive, but before
+answering the woman raised her bread shovel and struck Gustavus hastily
+on the back, exclaiming:
+
+"What are you doing here gaping at strangers? Have you never seen a man
+before? Pack yourself off to the barn and go on with your threshing."
+
+Never dreaming that the man who had been so angrily treated by a
+peasant's wife could be the young lord they sought, the steward's
+messengers left the house to continue their search elsewhere.
+
+But the incident warned the gamekeeper that his guest was not safe
+anywhere in that vicinity, and to get him away unobserved he hid him in a
+large load of hay and drove off towards the forest. On the way some of
+the Danish scouts were met, and these, having some suspicion of Swen,
+began poking their lances through the hay. One of these wounded Gustavus
+in the leg, but he lay silent and motionless and the scouts soon went
+their way.
+
+But the cut on the concealed man's leg bled so freely that blood soon
+began to run from the cart and tinge the snow. Seeing this, Swen, fearing
+that the trail of blood might betray him, opened his knife and thrust it
+into the leg of his horse, so that if any one should perceive the blood
+stains he could assign this as their cause.
+
+He finally delivered his charge to the care of some loyal gamekeepers on
+the edge of the forest; but these, not considering their houses safe as
+hiding-places, took him into the forest, where he lay hidden for three
+days under a great fallen fir tree, they bringing him food and drink.
+Finding even this place insecure, he went deeper into the woods and
+sought shelter under a lofty fir tree which stood on a hill in the midst
+of a marsh. The place has ever since been called "The King's Height."
+
+Finally the effort of the Danish agents to find him relaxed and his
+faithful friends conducted him through the vast forests to Rättwik's
+Church, at the eastern end of the great Lake Silja.
+
+His perils were yet by no means at an end. He spoke of his purpose at
+this place to an assembly of the peasants and was pleased to find that
+they listened to him with willing ears. Having thus sown his first seed
+in favorable soil, he proceeded to Mora on the northern end of the lake,
+where the priest received him in a friendly manner. But he was being
+sought by the Danes in that district and the priest did not dare to hide
+him in his own house, but committed him to the care of a peasant named
+Tomte Mattes. As the search was becoming active he was concealed in a
+vaulted cellar, reached by a trap-door in the floor.
+
+He had not been long there when the Danish scouts, who were searching the
+whole district, reached the peasant's house, where they found his wife in
+the midst of her brewing of Christmas ale. As they entered, the shrewd
+woman turned a great tub over the trap-door, so that they did not
+perceive it, and thus for the third time the future king of Sweden owed
+his liberty and life to a woman's wit.
+
+Shortly after that, at one of the Christmas festivals, as the men of Mora
+were leaving the church, Gustavus called them to him where he stood on a
+low mound beside the churchyard and addressed them in earnest tones,
+while they gazed with deep sympathy on the manly form of the young noble
+of whose sufferings and those of his family they were well aware.
+
+He spoke of the risk to his life that he ran in venturing to speak to
+them at all, but said that his unhappy country was dearer to him than
+life. He pointed out the persecution which Sweden had formerly endured
+from Danish kings, and of how they had robbed the country of its wealth.
+
+"The same times and the same misfortunes have now returned," he said.
+"Our land swims, so to say, in our own blood. Many hundred Swedish men
+have been made to suffer a disgraceful and unmerited death. Our bishops
+and senators have been cruelly murdered. I myself have lost father and
+brother-in-law," he continued, his eyes streaming with tears, "and the
+blood of all these martyrs cries for redress and retribution on the
+tyrant."
+
+The men of Dalarna, he said, had long been noted for their courage when
+their land was in danger. They were renowned for this in history, and all
+Sweden looked upon them as the firmest defenders of its liberties.
+
+"I will willingly join with you for our land's deliverance," he
+concluded, "and spare neither my blood nor my sword, for these are all
+the tyrant has left me to use in your cause."
+
+Many of the Dalmen heard him with cries of vengeance, but the most of
+them stood in doubt. They did not know Gustavus personally and had heard
+that Christian was cruel only to the great, but was kind and generous to
+the peasantry. They could not yet make up their minds what to do, and
+begged him to seek safer quarters for himself, since he was being
+everywhere diligently sought by his pursuers.
+
+In fact, his peril continued extreme and for some days he was forced to
+lie hidden under Morkarlely Bridge, near Mora Church, though it was in
+the dead of a Swedish winter. He was able at length to resume his
+journey, but it was with an almost despairing heart, for he could see no
+hope either for himself or for his country. His led way over mountains
+and through desolate valleys, his nights being spent in wayside sheds
+which had been built for the shelter of travellers. On he went, through
+forests filled with snow and along the side of mountain torrents, and
+finally came within view of the lofty mountains beyond which lay the
+sister kingdom of Norway.
+
+Never had patriot more reason to be disheartened than the unhappy and
+hunted fugitive, never had the hope of liberating an oppressed country
+seemed darker, and the fugitive would have been justified in abandoning
+his native land and seeking a refuge in the bleak hills of Norway. Yet
+the adage has often held good that it is the darkest hour before the dawn
+of day, and so it was to prove in his case. While he waited in that
+desolate quarter to which he had been driven, events were shaping
+themselves in his favor and the first rising took place against the
+Danes.
+
+The stirring speech of the young noble at Mora Church had not been made
+in vain. Many of those who heard it had been strongly taken by his
+manliness and his powerful language, and, strangely, the most deeply
+impressed of all was Rasmas Jute, a Dane who had served the Stures and
+was now settled in Dalarna.
+
+Hearing that a Danish steward had come to that quarter to seek the
+fugitive and was now at the house of the sergeant of Mora parish, he
+armed himself and his servants and fell on the steward unawares, the
+first to take arms for Gustavus being thus a man of Danish birth. Soon
+afterwards a troop of Danish horsemen, a full hundred in number, was
+seen marching over the frozen surface of Lake Silja. So numerous a body
+of soldiers was unusual in those parts, and suspecting that they were in
+search of Gustavus, and might do something to their own injury, the
+peasants began ringing the church bells, the usual summons to arms.
+
+The wind carried the sound far to the northward, and on hearing the
+warning peal the peasantry seized their arms and bodies of them were soon
+visible hasting down the hills towards Mora. The Danish troopers, on
+seeing this multitude of armed men, shut themselves in the priest's
+house. Here they were attacked by the furious Dalmen, who broke open the
+doors and rushed in. The terrified Danes now fled to the church and took
+refuge in its steeple, whither they were quickly followed. Only by
+dejected appeals and a promise not to injure Gustavus Vasa did they
+succeed in escaping from the tower, and the Dalmen, thinking that some of
+them might remain concealed in the narrow spire, shot their arrows at it
+from every side. For more than a hundred years after some of these arrows
+remained sticking in the old wooden spire.
+
+Dalarna being looked upon as a centre of Swedish patriotism, a number of
+the persecuted noblemen took refuge there, and those confirmed all that
+Gustavus had told the people. And when Lars Olssen, an old warrior well
+known to them, arrived and told them of the gallows which Christian had
+erected, of the new taxes he had laid on the peasantry, and of the report
+that he had threatened to cut a hand and a foot off each peasant, with
+other tales true and false, they were deeply stirred. When Lars learned
+that Gustavus had been there and what had passed, he reproached them for
+their folly in not supporting him.
+
+"Good men," he said, "I know that gentleman well, and tell you that if
+yourselves and all the people of the country are not to be oppressed and
+even exterminated Gustavus Vasa is the only one who has sense and
+knowledge enough to lead us and lay hand to so great a work."
+
+While they were talking another fugitive came from the forest, who
+confirmed all that Lars had said and gave them a full account of the
+blood-bath at Stockholm and of how the body of Sten Sture, their beloved
+leader, had been torn from the grave and dishonored.
+
+These stories filled their hearers with horror, terror, and fury; war and
+bloody retribution was their only cry; their hearts were filled with
+remorse that they had let Gustavus, their country's chief hope, depart
+unaided. Two of them, the fleetest snow-skaters of the region, were
+chosen to follow him and bring him back, and off they went through the
+forests, following his track, and at length finding him at Sälen, the
+last village in that section, and immediately at the foot of the lofty
+Norwegian mountains. A few words sufficed to tell him of the great change
+of feeling that had taken place, and with heart-felt joy Gustavus
+accompanied them back, to begin at length the great work of freeing his
+native land.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II. THE TYRANT._
+
+
+It was in November, 1520, that Christian II. of Denmark was crowned king
+of Sweden. Norway was his as well and he was monarch of the whole
+Scandinavian world. He had reached the highest point in his career, but
+so great had been his cruelty and treachery that all men feared and no
+man trusted him and he was on the brink of a sudden and complete
+overthrow. The man who had worn the crowns of three kingdoms was to spend
+years within the narrow walls of a dungeon, with none to pity him in his
+misery, but all to think that he deserved it all and more. Barely has
+tyranny met with such retribution on earth, and the "Fall of the Tyrant"
+will serve as a fitting title to an impressive tale.
+
+So sudden and successful was the rebellion of the Swedes under Gustavus
+Vasa, that in the summer of the year after the massacre in the Great
+Square of Stockholm the Danes held only that city and a few other
+strongholds in Sweden. One after another these fell, Calmar and Stockholm
+in 1523, and in June of that year Gustavus was chosen king of the land
+which his hand had freed. A young man still, he was at the beginning of a
+great and glorious reign.
+
+Before he became king, Christian, his great enemy, had ceased to reign.
+He had shown the same inhuman spirit in Denmark and Norway as in Sweden
+and had sown his whole dominion thick with enemies.
+
+This is the way his fall was brought about. In 1522 he issued a code of
+laws for Denmark of a wise and progressive character, especially in
+freeing the peasantry from the slavish condition in which they had been
+held, they before being open to purchase and sale like so many brute
+animals. Christian declared that every man should be his own master and
+took steps to limit the power and wealth of the clergy and to improve the
+commerce of the kingdom.
+
+These changes, while wise and important, were difficult to introduce
+against the opposition of the lords and the clergy and needed the hand of
+a prudent and judicious administrator. Such Christian was not. He
+undertook them rashly and endeavored to enforce them by violence. Even
+the people, whom the new laws so favored, were incensed by a great
+increase in their taxes. No one trusted him; every one hated and feared
+him. Even the monarchs of other countries detested him and would not aid
+him in his extremity.
+
+The details of the blood-bath in Stockholm had reached the ears of the
+Pope and he sent a legate to inquire into the atrocities committed under
+the implied sanction of the Church. As they were not to be concealed,
+Christian attempted to excuse them, and, driven to extremity, accused one
+of his chief favorites, Didrik Slaghök, as the originator of the
+massacre.
+
+Slaghök had just been named archbishop of Lund, but was brought to
+Copenhagen, examined under torture, condemned to death, and carried to
+the gallows and thence to a funeral pile on which he was burned alive,
+Christian leaving the town that he might not witness the cruel death of
+his late favorite.
+
+This cowardly sacrifice of his devoted friend and servant, instead of
+winning the favor of the people, redoubled their abhorrence of the
+bloodthirsty tyrant. Shortly afterwards the Lübeckers invaded the
+kingdom, and Christian, not trusting his people, called in foreign
+soldiers to repel them. Needing money for their pay, he called a diet to
+meet on December 10, 1522. Few attended it, and in anger he called a new
+meeting for the following January.
+
+Before the date arrived rumors were set afloat that he intended to
+butcher the Danish nobles as he had done those of Sweden, that chains
+were being provided to secure them, and that he would have disguised
+executioners among his guards; also that new and heavier taxes were to be
+laid on the peasants.
+
+These rumors, widely circulated, incensed and frightened the nobility and
+a meeting was held by the nobles of Jutland in which they determined to
+renounce their allegiance to Christian and offer the crown to his uncle,
+Frederick, duke of Holstein.
+
+Magnus Munk, one of these lords, was chosen to deliver their decision to
+Christian and sought him for this purpose. But it was far from safe to
+offer King Christian such a document openly, and Munk pretended to be
+making a friendly visit, conversing and drinking with the king until a
+late hour of the night. On rising to retire, he thrust into Christian's
+glove, which had been left on the table, the letter of renouncement of
+the Jutland nobles.
+
+Instead of going to bed, Munk hastened to the vessel in which he had come
+and sailed to Holstein, where he made to Frederick the offer of the
+crown. As may be imagined, there was little hesitation in accepting it.
+
+The next morning a page of the palace found the king's glove on the table
+and took it to him. On reading the letter which he found in it the tyrant
+was filled with fear and fury. He sent guards to seize Munk, but when
+told that he was not to be found, his terror grew intense. He knew not
+where to turn nor what to do. He might have gathered an army of the
+peasants, to whom he had just given freedom, to fight the nobles, but
+instead he wrote to the lords, abjectly acknowledging his faults and
+promising to act differently in the future.
+
+They were not to be won, no one trusting him. Then the terrified tyrant
+hurried to Copenhagen and rode round the streets, imploring the citizens
+with tears to aid him, confessing his errors and vowing to change his
+ways. Many of the people, unused to see a king in tears, were moved by
+his petitions, but no wise man trusted him, few came to his assistance,
+and the sedition rapidly gained strength.
+
+At length he took a desperate step. In the harbor lay twenty large
+warships, which he might have used for defence, but in his terror he
+thought only of flight. All the treasure he could lay hands on was
+carried to these vessels, even the gilt balls on top of the church spires
+being taken. Sigbrit, a detestable favorite, who had given him much evil
+counsel and dared not show herself to the enraged people, was carried on
+board in a chest and placed among his valuables. He, his wife and
+children, and a few faithful servants, followed, and on the 20th of
+April, 1523, he set sail from his native land in a passion of grief and
+despair. A violent storm scattered his ships, but the one that bore him
+reached Antwerp in safety. Sigbrit, who had crept from her trunk, sought
+to console him by saying that if he could no longer be king of Denmark he
+might at least become burgomaster of Amsterdam.
+
+Thus did this cruel and contemptible coward, who less than three years
+before had been unquestioned monarch of all Scandinavia, lose the crown
+he was so unfit to wear, and land, a despised fugitive, in a Dutch city,
+with but a handful of followers. His fall was thoroughly well deserved,
+for it was an immediate consequence of the detestation he had aroused by
+his deed of blood in Stockholm, and there was scarce a man in Europe to
+pity him in his degradation.
+
+It was a sad thing that the salutary laws he had promulgated in the last
+year of his reign came from so evil a source. Frederick was forced by the
+nobles to whom he owed his throne to abrogate them, and the code was even
+burned as "a dangerous book contrary to good morals." The peasants fell
+back into their former state of semi-slavery and for centuries afterwards
+failed to enjoy the freedom accorded to the people of their sister states
+of Norway and Sweden.
+
+In the years that followed the deposed king went from court to court of
+the German princes, seeking help to regain his throne, but meeting with
+scorn and contempt from some of them and refusal from all. He still
+retained much of the wealth of which he had robbed Copenhagen, and now,
+in despair of obtaining assistance, he took into his service a number of
+soldiers of fortune whom a treaty of peace had lately thrown out of
+employment.
+
+With these sons of adventure, twelve thousand in all, he ravaged Holland,
+which had recently afforded him refuge, doing so much mischief that he
+was at length bought off. The emperor, Charles V., then ruler over
+Holland and brother-in-law to the adventurer, paid him the fifty thousand
+gulden still due on his wife's dower and gave him twelve battle-ships in
+addition. The Dutch whom he was plundering helped in this as the easiest
+way to be quit of him, and, with a body of experienced troops, with
+funds and a fleet, the hope of winning back his old dominions arose in
+his soul.
+
+There were many malcontents then in Sweden, ready to aid him in an
+invasion, and the clergy and nobility of Norway, dissatisfied with
+Frederick's rule, subscribed large sums in money and plate for his aid.
+Finally, thus strengthened and encouraged, Christian set sail for the
+Northland with twenty-five ships and an army of eight thousand men.
+
+Unfortunately for him the elements proved adverse, a violent storm
+scattering the fleet and sending nearly half of it to the bottom. He had
+only fifteen ships and a reduced number of men when, in November, 1531,
+he landed at Obslo, Norway.
+
+The nobles and people, however, discontented with Frederick's government
+and eager for a king of their own choice, declared for him and at a diet
+held at Obslo proclaimed him king, only a few nobles dissenting. These,
+however, held the strongest fortresses in the kingdom. One of these was
+Magnus Gyllenstierna, governor of Aggerhus. Against this stronghold
+Christian led all his force and might easily have taken it, for it was
+lacking in provisions, but for a stratagem by which Magnus saved himself
+and his fortress.
+
+He sent word to Christian that the place was too weak for him to attempt
+to hold and that he had seen the king's success with pleasure; but, to
+save himself from the imputation of cowardice, he begged leave for time
+to ask King Frederick for assistance. If none came before the 1st of May
+he would willingly surrender the place.
+
+Adept in deceit as Christian was, he this time suffered himself to be
+tricked. At the suggestion of Magnus a thousand men were sent from
+Denmark, and led by secret paths over mountains and through forests in
+all haste, throwing themselves into Aggerhus while Christian was watching
+the seas to intercept them. In a rage he hurried back to renew the siege,
+but the shrewd commandant was now strong enough to defy him.
+
+Ture Jönsson, one of the Swedish nobles who had joined Christian, led a
+portion of his forces against the fortress of Bohus, writing to its
+commandant, Klass Bille, a letter in which he set forth the great change
+for good which had come upon King Christian and begging him to side with
+his Grace. He closed in the manner customary in those days: "Commending
+you, with your dear wife, children, and friends, hereby to God's
+protection."
+
+On the next day he received the following answer:
+
+    "Greeting suited to the season.
+
+    Learn, Ture Jönsson, that I yesterday received your writing with
+    some of your loose words with which you sought to seduce me from my
+    honor, soil my integrity and oath, and make me like yourself, which
+    God, who preserves the consciences of all honest men, forbid. To the
+    long and false talk which your letter contains, I confess myself,
+    by God's providence to be too good to give you any other answer than
+    this which my letter conveys. You have so often turned and worn your
+    coat, and it is now so miserably thread-bare on both sides, that it
+    is no longer fit to appear among the apparel of any honest man. No
+    more this time, I commend you to him to whom God the Father
+    commended that man who betrayed His only Son,
+
+    _Ex Bohus._
+
+    Sunday next before Lady-day, 1531."
+
+Klass Bille proved as good with an answer by balls and blows as by pen,
+and the Castle of Bohus defied all attempts to take it.
+
+Meanwhile the Swedish exiles were writing to their friends at home, and,
+elated by the capture of a Swedish fort, Christian marched his army
+towards the frontier, and made ready to invade the kingdom from which he
+had been driven two years before.
+
+But Gustavus and Frederick were not idle. They recognized the danger of
+this invasion and prepared to meet it, renewing their treaties that they
+might work loyally together. Gustavus wrote to his officers not to fight
+with Christian unless they were from four to six times as strong, as he
+wished to give him a reception that would cure him of all future desire
+to return to Sweden.
+
+The forces of Christian and Gustavus first met at Kungelf, where
+Christian looked with disturbed eyes on his antagonists as he saw them
+marching across a frozen river, among them three thousand men in armor of
+polished steel. Turning to Ture Jönsson, who stood beside him, he said
+wrathfully:
+
+"You said that there was not a man-at-arms in Sweden. What see you
+yonder? Do you think those old women?"
+
+The next morning Ture Jönsson's body was found lying headless in the
+street, whether thus punished by Christian for his lies or by some Swede
+for his treason, is not known.
+
+The war began with equal fortune at first to each side, but later fortune
+turned in favor of the Swedes, while food grew scarce in Christian's
+army, his foragers being beaten back wherever they appeared. Soon, with
+an army dwindled to two thousand men, he was forced to march back to
+Obslo.
+
+So far Gustavus's army had been fighting alone, and it was not until
+March, 1532, that some Danish ships of war arrived. But their coming soon
+ended the war. They burned Christian's vessels and reinforced Aggerhus,
+and in May sailed towards Obslo.
+
+Christian's hopes of success were now at an end. He had made his final
+effort and had failed. His men were forsaking him in troops and
+resistance to his foes became impossible. As a last resort he tried a
+crafty expedient, contriving to get some forged letters distributed in
+the Danish camp to the effect that twenty Dutch men-of-war, with five
+thousand troops, were coming to his aid.
+
+The Danish commander, alarmed at this report, hastened to conclude peace
+with him, on condition that all who had taken part in the rebellion
+should be pardoned. Christian was to cross to Denmark, and if he could
+not agree with Frederick was to be free to go to Germany, on giving a
+solemn oath never again to make any attempt on the three Scandinavian
+kingdoms.
+
+Before this treaty was confirmed messengers arrived from Frederick who
+discovered the condition of Christian to be hopeless and insisted on an
+unconditional surrender. But Knut, the Danish admiral, who had been given
+full power to act, took Christian on his ships and sailed with him to
+Denmark, where he insisted that the conditions he had made should be
+observed.
+
+Frederick and his council were in a strait. To let this tiger loose again
+was too dangerous, and finally some pretext for breaking the treaty was
+made and Christian was sentenced to a life imprisonment in the Castle of
+Sanderberg on the island of Femern. Frederick and his son were obliged to
+confirm this sentence by a written promise to the Danish nobles that they
+would never release the detested prisoner.
+
+When Christian learned that the convention had been broken he wept
+bitterly, lamenting that "he had fallen into the hands of men who cared
+neither for oaths, promises, nor seals."
+
+These complaints no one heeded. He was taken deep into the dungeons of
+Sanderberg Castle, and locked up in a dark and narrow prison vault
+destitute of every convenience, his only companion being a half-witted
+dwarf who had long been in his service. With the harshness common in
+those days, and which in his case was well deserved, the door of the
+cell was walled up, only one small opening being left through which he
+could receive the scanty allowance of food brought him, and a little
+barred window through which some sparse light could make its way.
+
+In this dreadful prison the captive remained twelve years without the
+slightest amelioration of its conditions. Then the door was opened and
+fresh air and other conveniences were allowed him, but a strict watch was
+kept up. Finally in 1549, five years later, it being believed that no
+harm could possibly come from an old man sixty-eight years of age, he was
+taken to Kallendborg Castle, where he was permitted to entertain himself
+by hunting or in any other manner he pleased. He lived ten years later,
+ending in 1559 a life whose misfortunes were a just reward for his
+faithlessness and cruelty in his day of power.
+
+
+
+
+_THE WEST GOTHLAND INSURRECTION._
+
+
+Sweden never had a wiser or more judicious ruler than King Gustavus Vasa,
+but in that land of turbulent lords and ambitious mischief-makers the
+noblest and most generous of kings could not reign without secret
+plotting and rebellious sentiments. So it fell out in Sweden in 1529,
+after Gustavus had been six years on the throne.
+
+The leader in this movement was one Ture Jönsson, a hoary old conspirator
+of great influence in West Gothland, where he and his ancestors had long
+been judges and where he was looked upon by the people as their lord and
+chief. By a decision of the court he was obliged to restore to the king
+certain property which he unjustly held, and he vented his feelings
+bitterly against the heretic and tyrant, as he called him. In fact, he
+hatched a conspiracy, which spread widely, through his influence, among
+the nobles of West Gothland.
+
+In Smaland there was much discontent with the teaching of the Lutheran
+doctrines and an outbreak took place, the king's sister and her husband
+being taken prisoners by the insurgents. These sent letters to Ture
+Jönsson in West Gothland, asking him to be their captain, and also wrote
+to East Gothland, inciting the people to rise and expel their monarch.
+
+Ture Jönsson had three sons, one of them a distinguished soldier in the
+king's service, while the second was a man high in the king's favor. The
+old rebel had high hopes of aid from these two, and wrote them letters
+inciting them to rebellion. But they were not to be drawn from their
+allegiance, and took the letters with unbroken seals to the king,
+promising to devote their lives to his cause.
+
+The third son, Herr Göran, dean in Upsala, was of different mold and
+sentiment. Opposed to the king on religious grounds, he gathered a body
+of peasant runaways, a hundred in number, and, afraid to stay in his
+house, he took them to a wood in the neighborhood, felled trees for
+barricades, and laid up a supply of provisions in his impromptu fort.
+
+From there he proceeded to Bollnäs, gathering more men and growing
+bolder, and fancying in his small soul that he was the destined leader of
+a great rebellion. But his valor vanished when a priest of the vicinity,
+named Erik, a man faithful to the king, called together a body of his
+parishioners and marched against the would-be insurgent.
+
+Dean Göran was standing at a garret window when he saw these men
+approaching. At once, with a most unsoldierlike panic, he rushed in
+terror down stairs and fled through a back door into the forest, without
+a word to his men of the coming danger. The house was surrounded and the
+men made prisoners, the king's steward, whom they held captive, being
+released. Erik spoke to them so severely of their disloyalty that they
+fell on their knees in prayer and petition, and when he told them that
+the best way to gain pardon for their act was to seek and deliver their
+fugitive leader, they gladly undertook the task.
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM.]
+
+The scared leader of rebels meanwhile was wandering in anguish and alarm
+through the wide wood, not knowing what to do. Coming at length to a
+large forest lake, he entered a little boat that he found and pushed off
+from land, thinking thus to be in greater safety.
+
+As he thus sat, lost in his unquiet thoughts, some of his late followers
+reached the lake and saw him. So absorbed was he in his bitter
+reflections that he failed to see other boats gliding out towards him,
+and they were close upon him before he perceived them. Then, leaping up
+in wild fright, he sought in his despair to jump into the water, but
+before he could do so some of the peasants had rowed up and seized him.
+In his bitterness of spirit he tore the gold chain from his neck and the
+rings from his fingers and flung them into the lake, resolved that they
+should not become the spoil of the king he hated.
+
+But Gustavus was not the man to trouble himself about such small fry of
+conspirators as this. The dean was taken to Upsala and thence to
+Stockholm, where he was kept in confinement, though with every comfort,
+until the rebellion incited by his father was quelled. Then the king,
+taking into account his brothers' loyalty and his own insignificance,
+freed him and restored him his property. He could well afford to be
+lenient to a rebel of his calibre.
+
+If this was all we had to tell, it would not be worth the telling, but
+the conspiracy in West Gothland went on and led to events of far greater
+interest. A born plotter, old Jönsson kept at his work, and to prevent
+any news of what was taking place from reaching the king, a guard of a
+thousand men was placed to watch the highway and stop all messengers. At
+the head of this guard was a priest called Nils of Hvalstad, a thorough
+hater of the king. To him the insurgents sent their letters, to be
+forwarded to those for whom they were intended. Such was the state of
+affairs, the designs of the plotters ripening while the king was in this
+way kept in ignorance of matters of such importance to him.
+
+Now we come to the dramatic means by which the king was advised of the
+plot. A scout was needed to pass the guards set by the rebels and bring
+word to Gustavus of what was going on in West Gothland, and for this
+purpose was chosen a young town-sergeant of Stockholm, so famed for
+boldness that the people called him Hans Hardy. He had been born in West
+Gothland and was familiar with the people and the roads of that province
+and was therefore well adapted for the work. He accomplished it in a
+manner much better than was expected.
+
+Making his way through forest paths and along little-frequented by-ways,
+he succeeded in crossing the river that bordered the province and passing
+the rebel outposts, making his way to his old home, where he spent
+several weeks with his relations, meanwhile secretly gathering the
+information needed.
+
+On his return he pursued a different course. Buying a quantity of West
+Gothland cheese, he went directly towards the ford of the Tiweden and so
+managed as to let himself fall into the hands of the guard, who brought
+him to their leader, Nils of Hvalstad.
+
+The rebel priest charged the seeming peasant roundly with being a spy,
+but the cunning fellow pretended to be very simple and bucolic, saying
+that it had been four years since he had been in Upland and he now wanted
+to go there and sell his cheese.
+
+Nils was not so easily to be hoodwinked, but bade his men take the
+supposed spy to the sergeant's house at Hofwa, where four men were set
+over him as guards. The pretended simpleton seemed well-enough pleased,
+eating and drinking freely, talking cheerfully of country affairs with
+his guards, and spending his money freely, so that the sergeant grew to
+like the jovial country lad.
+
+After a few days, however, Hans pretended to be sick, sighing and
+groaning as if in severe pain. Finally he took to his bed and seemed in
+such a sad state that they all pitied the poor cheesemonger and his
+guards often left him for hours alone, thinking his sickness was all the
+security that was needed.
+
+Hans Hardy had a purpose in this. He had discovered that Nils kept a box
+in a dark corner of the room and imagined that it might contain something
+of importance to him in his mission. In fact he had thrown himself in his
+hands for the purpose of fathoming his plots. One day, while left alone,
+he got up and examined the box, and to his joy found in it a number of
+letters from the chief conspirators, containing full evidence of their
+complication. Having read enough of them to gain an idea of their
+character, he put them back, shut the box, and pushed it again into its
+dark corner.
+
+Then he took to his bed once more and when his guards returned they found
+him moaning more sorely than before and seeming in such sad case that
+they thought him at the point of death. Pitying the poor fellow, they
+deemed it idle to watch him and went contentedly to their beds. The next
+morning, when they rose, the sick man had vanished and with him the box
+and its contents. Hans had got off with the precious burden into the
+forest, with whose paths he was thoroughly familiar, leaving his late
+guards his cheese for consolation.
+
+He reached Stockholm in safety with his budget of letters and took them
+to the king, who rewarded him liberally for his valuable service and bade
+him to keep it secret. This he did, and it was long before any one knew
+where Hans Hardy had been or what had become of the lost letters. King
+Gustavus kept his counsel and bided his time.
+
+Meanwhile the work of the conspirators went on, they going so far as to
+nominate a new king, their choice falling upon Mans Bryntesson, Ture
+Jönsson's brother-in-law, a handsome and eloquent young man, far more
+suitable in person than in mind for a king. He was soft, irresolute, and
+somewhat foolish, and when treated with royal honors by the conspirators,
+he began holding court with princely pomp, borrowing money from his
+friends for this purpose when his own was exhausted.
+
+Having gone so far with his plans, Ture called a convention of the people
+of the province to meet on Larfva Heath, saying that he had matters of
+the highest importance to lay before them. Here was a great plain, where
+the Gothlanders for ages had held their public meetings, and where Ture's
+summons brought together a goodly number.
+
+With the insurgent lords around him, and proud of his power and
+authority, Sir Ture now addressed the peasants, in full confidence of
+their support. His principal charge against the king was that he had
+accepted the Lutheran doctrines and wished to introduce a new faith into
+the country to the ruin of the common people.
+
+"Now," he continued, "I have always understood that the good West
+Gothlanders have no mind to become Lutherans, but prefer to retain the
+old faith which their fathers and forefathers have had before them. If
+you will from this day renounce King Gustavus I will give you a mild and
+gracious sovereign, who will preserve for you your good old customs."
+
+Bishop Magnus followed with a brief address, after which Sir Ture,
+convinced from the intent silence of the peasants that they were with
+him, said:
+
+"Let him who gives his consent to take a new king stretch up his hands."
+
+To his consternation not a hand was lifted, while a threatening murmur
+was heard among the peasants. Neither the lords nor the bishop knew what
+to make of this. They had gone on with their plots without a dream that
+the people would not be with them. As for the newly chosen king, who had
+been eagerly waiting to receive their homage, he fell back white and
+trembling. At length two young peasants stood forth to speak for the
+people, one of them loudly declaring:
+
+"We have nothing to charge against King Gustavus, but owe him deep
+gratitude for having freed us from the cruel and tyrannical rule of King
+Christian, and kept the land in law and right as well as in peace and
+quiet. What you, good sirs, say of the new faith, we peasants can neither
+judge nor understand; perhaps it may not be so bad as fame reports.
+Change of rulers generally costs the peasants and the land dear, and we
+might by these means draw upon ourselves and our children long disquiet
+and disorder. It seems, therefore, best for us to remain in the faith
+and allegiance which we have sworn and promised to our lawful lord and
+master Gustaf Eriksson."
+
+These words had evidently the full approval of the people, to judge from
+their upstretched hands and their loud acclamations, and at once the
+courage of the conspirators fell to the ground. What to say or to do they
+knew not. They had foolishly gone forward with their plots without
+consulting the people and now found themselves in a sore dilemma. Instead
+of coming to their aid, as they had expected, there was reason to fear
+that the peasants would seize them and hand them over to the king. In his
+utter dismay Ture Jönsson faltered out:
+
+"My very good friends, I only wished by this trial to test your fidelity.
+None of the lords have a thought of deserting the king. A fortnight hence
+we hope to meet you here again, to consult further on our mutual
+interests."
+
+This ended the meeting on Larfva Heath. The peasants returned to their
+homes and the lords in dismay sought their castles. The bottom had
+suddenly dropped out from the rebellion and the conspirators were in a
+perilous position. War against the king was impossible, and in haste they
+sent a message to Nils of Hvalstad ordering him to break up the camp on
+the Tiweden and bidding him to come to them without delay.
+
+When he came they asked him what he had done with the letters which had
+been put in his care. Not daring to tell that they had been stolen, he
+said that he had burnt them on hearing of the result of the Larfva
+meeting. Another custodian of letters was also sent for and asked the
+same question. He had really sent his letters to the king, but he
+produced a budget of papers which he now threw into the fire, telling
+them that they might be at rest about these perilous papers, which could
+now never appear against them.
+
+Somewhat relieved in their minds by this act, Mans Bryntesson, Ture
+Bjelke, and Nils Winge, three of the leading conspirators, decided to
+remain at home. To become wandering outlaws was too bitter a fate; they
+had not spoken at Larfva Heath, their letters were burnt, there was no
+evidence against them. But as for Ture Jönsson and Bishop Magnus, they
+had put themselves openly on record. The pretence that the meeting had
+been called to test the loyalty of the people would have no weight with a
+man like King Gustavus. To remain would be to risk their lives, and
+collecting their money and valuables they made all haste to set foot on
+Danish territory, Ture Jönsson finally to meet a tragical death in the
+invasion of Norway by the deposed King Christian, as described in the
+preceding tale.
+
+The embers of the rebellion were easily extinguished and the nation
+returned to its peaceful and satisfied condition, the officers of the
+king holding meetings with the malcontents and promising full pardon to
+those who would confess and renounce their disloyal acts. This offer of
+pardon was accepted by nearly the whole of the conspirators, the only
+ones who held out being Mans Bryntesson, the mock king, Nils Winge, and
+Ture Bjelke. Trusting to their letters having been destroyed they wrote
+to the king, saying that, as they felt entirely guiltless, they could not
+plead guilt and implore pardon, and thus put themselves under suspicion.
+They begged him to appoint a meeting at which their conduct could be
+investigated. This he agreed to, the 17th of June being fixed as the
+date.
+
+When the time came the three lords appeared before the appointed tribunal
+and were exhorted to confess their share in Ture Jönsson's rebellion.
+Mans Bryntesson answered for the three, boldly declaring:
+
+"We did not venture to set ourselves against Ture Jönsson on account of
+his great influence in the province; we often heard him speak
+disrespectfully of the king, but we bore with him in this for the sake of
+amusement, attributing it to his old age and childishness. But it can
+never be shown that we bore any share in his treason."
+
+"What will you venture that this cannot be proved against you?" asked the
+king.
+
+"Our neck to the sword and our bodies to the wheel, as the law exacts,"
+they confidently replied.
+
+"Take care," said one of the counsellors. "Do not venture so much.
+Perhaps you may yet be found guilty."
+
+They replied by a haughty "No," and insisted on their innocence. Gustavus
+then spoke again, his gaze now stern and threatening:
+
+"Choose one of these two. Either to confess yourselves guilty and accept
+pardon, or to be tried and condemned according to law."
+
+"We choose to be judged according to the law," they replied; "and if we
+be found partakers in this rebellion we will willingly suffer and pay for
+it, as may be adjudged against us."
+
+These words, and the stern dignity of the king, impressed all in the
+hall. Complete silence reigned and all eyes were fixed on his face. He
+gave a signal to his servants and two boxes were carried in. These were
+opened and a number of letters were produced. The king asked the culprits
+if they recognized these letters. This they stoutly denied. Then a number
+of them were read aloud and complete proof of their complicity in the
+rebellion was shown, the judges recognizing the hand and seal of the
+defendants.
+
+Pale and thunderstruck, they listened tremblingly to the reading of the
+fatal letters; then fell upon their knees, weeping and imploring mercy.
+Their repentance came too late. The king bade the council to examine into
+the matter at once and pronounce sentence. This was that the three
+criminals should suffer the fate which they had declared themselves ready
+to bear; they were condemned as traitors and sentenced to loss of life
+and estate.
+
+The trembling culprits were taken to a room above the school-house,
+locked in and a strong guard set before the door. Here they were left to
+the contemplation of their coming fate. Despairingly they looked around
+for some means of escape, and a shade of hope returned when they fancied
+they had discovered one. There were no bars to their window, but it was
+far above the ground. But beneath it stood a pear tree, so near the
+building that they thought they might leap into its branches and climb
+down its trunk to the ground.
+
+Waiting until night had fallen, they prepared to make the effort, Mans
+Bryntesson being the first to try. He missed the tree and fell to the
+ground, breaking his leg in the fall. The others, seeing his ill fortune,
+did not venture to follow. In great pain he crept from the garden into an
+adjoining field. Here his strength gave out and he lay hidden in the
+half-grown rye.
+
+Missed the next morning, his trail through the grass was easily followed
+and he was found and carried back to prison. Soon after the prisoners
+were taken to Stockholm, where Mans Bryntesson and Nils Winge were
+beheaded and their bodies exposed on the wheel. Their estates, however,
+were restored to their widows and children. The third, Ture Bjelke, being
+less guilty, was pardoned, but was obliged to pay heavy penalties for his
+treasonable acts. And thus, with the death of these two criminals and the
+exile of two others, ended the West Gothland insurrection.
+
+
+
+
+_THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF KING ERIK._
+
+
+We have written much of war and bloodshed; a chapter devoted to the
+lighter themes of courtship and marriage may here be of interest,
+especially as it has to do with the love affairs of princes and
+princesses, kings and queens, personages whose every movement are deemed
+by many worthy the world's attention.
+
+Prince Erik, the eldest son of King Gustavus, grew in due course of time
+to marriageable age and, as young men will, began to look about for a
+wife. His thoughts first turned towards the Princess Elizabeth, of
+England, then in the height of her youthful charms, of which exaggerated
+accounts were brought to the ardent young Swede.
+
+When Erik sought his father's consent to the suit, saying that it might
+bring him not only a lovely bride but the throne of two kingdoms, the
+prudent old monarch threw cold water on the project, saying:
+
+"Even if Erik should gain Elizabeth, which I do not think likely, in view
+of her many suitors, it would be more to the harm than the profit of both
+kingdoms."
+
+But Erik, a high-tempered and passionate youth, with a tendency to
+something like madness, became so violent and determined that his father
+at length gave way and a lover's embassy was sent to England to ask for
+the fair lady's hand. But Princess Elizabeth was too much beset with
+lovers to accept any of them easily, and the embassy returned with the
+answer that the royal English maiden was in no haste to marry and
+considered an unmarried life the happier.
+
+In 1558 Queen Mary died and Elizabeth mounted to the throne which she was
+long to adorn. This added to Erik's passionate desire to win her. One of
+his agents, Dionysius Beurreus, remained in London, where he lived in
+great display, keeping open table at Erik's expense, and sending in all
+haste to the ardent prince every kind word which the crafty Elizabeth let
+fall. Credulous in his ardent passion, Erik now felt sure of winning the
+queenly maiden's hand, and sent a second embassy to England, his brother
+John going with it.
+
+Prince John was sumptuously equipped for the journey, the expenses of the
+courtship eating deeply into the king's revenues, and being added to by
+Erik's lavishness, for he was now so sure of the success of his suit that
+he ordered a hundred dresses of the most expensive and splendid kind to
+be made for him at Antwerp.
+
+When John reached London he was courteously received by the queen, but he
+found it impossible to bring her to a definite answer. If she ever
+married, of course she would be happy to win so charming a spouse as
+Prince Erik, but it was hard to marry a man she had never seen, and the
+idea of marriage was not to her taste. In the end Elizabeth wrote to
+Gustavus begging him to seek another bride for his son, as she had
+decided to live unmarried.
+
+This should have ended the matter, but it did not. One of the lover's
+agents had said that the queen of England would never consent unless Erik
+in person were able to win her heart, and Prince John reported her as
+saying that, "though she had no desire for marriage, she could not answer
+what she might do if she saw Erik himself."
+
+Fired by the baits held out to his eager heart, Erik determined to go
+himself to England, but incognito, disguised as the servant of some
+foreign lord. Thus he would see and conquer the coy maiden queen. The
+warnings and expostulations of his friends failed to move him from this
+romantic project, but at length it reached the king's ears, and he
+strictly forbade the wild-goose project as hazardous and undignified.
+Erik, however, finally got his father's permission to visit England and
+make his suit to the queen in his own person. But there were many
+postponements of the journey, and when finally he left Stockholm to begin
+the voyage to England the shock of his departure threw the old king into
+a serious illness. That afternoon Gustavus went to bed, never to rise
+again, and before Erik had left the kingdom word was brought him that his
+father was dead. This definitely changed the situation and thus it came
+about that Erik never saw Elizabeth.
+
+The fact of his being king, indeed, did not put an end to his desire to
+possess the English queen. In 1561 he determined to visit her as a king,
+and on the 1st of September set sail. But the elements were not
+propitious to this love errand, a violent storm arising which forced the
+captains to run back to harbor. Then he decided to go overland, through
+Denmark, Holland, and France, but while he was laying his plans for this
+journey, an effort was made by certain love emissaries to turn his
+thoughts towards Mary Stuart, the widow of a French king and heiress of
+the throne of Scotland. He listened to these representatives and was so
+pleased with their description of Mary's charms that his single-minded
+devotion to Elizabeth was shaken.
+
+The loveliness of Mary Stuart was a strong inducement to the young king,
+but the high estate of Elizabeth was a greater one, and he did not cease
+his efforts to win her hand. Being told that the chief obstacle in his
+way was the handsome Earl of Leicester, he grew violently jealous of this
+favored courtier. He at first challenged him to mortal combat, but as
+this could not conveniently be carried out, he secretly bade his agent in
+London to hire an assassin to deal with the earl, promising protection
+and a rich reward to the murderer. This villainy the agent refused to
+perform, and Erik now, hoping to frighten Elizabeth to give him a
+favorable answer, spread a report in England that he was courting the
+Scottish queen. The effect was different from what he anticipated, for
+Elizabeth at once positively rejected his suit and all seemed at an end.
+
+[Illustration: ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN.]
+
+About this time a third lady fair came into the game. Erik was told of
+the charms and rare character of the Princess Renata of Lotringen,
+granddaughter of the late Christian of Denmark, and at once opened
+negotiations for the hand of this princess. At the same time the crafty
+Elizabeth pretended to relent and Erik was again on fire for her hand.
+Thus he had now three love projects under way, from two of which, those
+for Mary Stuart and Princess Renata, favorable answers were returned.
+
+But the volatile lover, before receiving these answers, had added a
+fourth string to his bow of courtships, having decided to propose for the
+Princess Christina of Hesse. By this time he had spent on his threefold
+courtship vast sums of money and had gone far towards making himself the
+laughing-stock of Europe.
+
+Erik's new course of love did not run smooth. The fates seemed against
+him in his marriage projects. His first proposal for Christina, indeed,
+received a favorable reply and it was decided that the selected bride
+should arrive at Stockholm in the following May, some eight months later.
+But other emissaries whom he sent in February were detained in Denmark,
+and on some weak pretence were seized and imprisoned, the whole being a
+ruse of King Frederick to prevent a marriage between Erik and the
+Princess of Hesse, of which for political reasons he did not approve.
+There was peace at that time with Denmark, but these events presaged war.
+
+May at length arrived and Erik equipped a fleet to meet the promised
+bride. There were twelve men-of-war, which were got ready for fighting if
+necessary, James Bagge, a famous seaman of those days, being admiral of
+the Elephant, with command of the fleet. The assigned purpose of the
+expedition was to bring the bride over from Lübeck, but it is said that
+Admiral Bagge had secret orders to seek and attack the Danish fleet, and
+thus punish King Frederick for his treachery.
+
+The two fleets met on May 30 off Bornholm, and the Danish ship Hercules
+immediately opened fire. This fire was at once returned and a fierce
+fight ensued that lasted five hours, and resulted in the capture of the
+Hercules and two other ships and the flight of the rest. The Swedes now
+sailed on to Lübeck, whence ambassadors were sent to Hesse to bring back
+the bride. They returned in two weeks without her, the excuse being that
+her trousseau was not ready. The truth was that the landgrave of Hesse
+was afraid to trust his daughter in the turbulent north, from which
+tidings of the naval battle had just come.
+
+This delay was fatal to Erik's hopes, mainly through his own fault. The
+first succeeding step was a request from the landgrave for a safe conduct
+for his daughter through Denmark. Frederick, who dreaded ill results
+from the marriage, refused this, and also refused to let ambassadors to
+Hesse pass through his kingdom.
+
+And now Erik spoiled all by his faithless versatility. On the 11th of
+October he sent an order to some agents of his in Germany to proceed to
+Hesse with a betrothal ring, worth six thousand thalers, for the
+princess. Four days later he wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth, saying
+that his addresses at the court of Hesse had never been serious, and that
+he still loved and hoped to win her.
+
+Before this was sent actual war with Denmark had broken out, and to
+prevent the discovery of the letter, he concealed it in a stick and sent
+it by a secret messenger. This messenger was captured by a privateer and
+carried to Copenhagen; in some way his mission was suspected and the
+letter found; and the Danish king, in ecstasies at his discovery,
+despatched the incriminating love-missive immediately to the landgrave of
+Hesse.
+
+All was going well there when the letter arrived. The landgrave had
+favorably received Erik's emissaries and the prospects of their returning
+with the bride seemed fair, when the unlucky letter was put into his
+hands. It fell like a thunderbolt. In a rage at seeing himself and his
+daughter thus made sport of, the landgrave ordered the Swedes to leave
+the town before sunset, under peril of his high displeasure. This ended
+the suit for the fair maiden's hand, later ambassadors sent by Erik were
+dismissed with contempt, and through having too many irons in the fire
+at once the love-sick lord of Sweden found himself without a bride.
+
+His brother, Duke John, was more fortunate, though his courtship also led
+to war and his marriage brought him into dismal misfortune. Before
+completing the story of Erik's love affairs, the episode of John's
+matrimonial venture, with its dire results, may fitly be told.
+
+A marriage had long been arranged between Duke John and Princess
+Catharine, sister of King Sigismund of Poland. But obstacles arose and
+once more the course of true love did not run smooth. Sigismund had an
+older sister Anna, whom he wished married first; but this impediment was
+removed by an agreement that John's brother Magnus should marry Anna.
+
+Next the czar of Russia proposed for Catharine, but some dispute about
+the marriage contract brought about a refusal. The result was typical of
+the rudeness of the times. The Poles had always hated the Russians, and
+to show their contempt for them Sigismund had a white figure dressed in
+splendid garments and sent to the Russian court, in lieu of the
+looked-for bride. Mad with rage at this bitter insult, the czar invaded
+and cruelly ravaged Poland, the people, as is so often the case, being
+made to suffer for the quarrels and the folly of the kings. From that
+time forward the czar hated Sigismund and John, his fortunate rival.
+
+John also had difficulty in getting his brother's consent to go to
+Sigismund's court, and after he had set out an envoy was sent after him
+ordering him to return. But in disregard of this he went on, and was
+favorably received at the Polish court, being a handsome, courteous and
+cultivated prince. Catharine was highly pleased with him, but King
+Sigismund now repeated his demand that he should marry the elder sister.
+
+Finally, after many efforts to change the king's mind, he asked Catharine
+if she really desired to marry John. The princess blushed and was silent;
+but her sister spoke for her and implored their brother not to prevent
+her marriage with the man she loved.
+
+At this appeal he gave way and the marriage was quickly solemnized, for
+there was imminent peril of war between Sweden and Poland unless the
+affair was consummated. A body of Polish troops escorted the newly wedded
+couple into Livonia, lest the angry czar should seek to carry them off,
+and John reached Sweden with his bride.
+
+He was very ill received, by Erik's orders, and hastened to his own
+duchy, whence he sent an invitation to the king to attend his wedding
+banquet. The king came in another fashion.
+
+Angry at John for disobeying his orders, and fearing him as a possible
+aspirant for the throne, Erik cherished evil intentions against his
+brother. Suspicious and superstitious by nature, he had read in the stars
+the prediction that a light-haired man would deprive him of the throne,
+and this man he believed to be his newly married brother. He also
+fancied that John had secretly allied himself with Denmark and Poland,
+and there was soon open enmity between the brothers.
+
+The whole story of what followed is too long to be told here, but seeming
+evidence against John was obtained by the torture of some of his friends
+and he was attacked in his castle and taken prisoner after a two months'
+defence. Erik ordered his incarceration in a dungeon, but his wife was
+offered a residence with her ladies in one of the king's castles. If she
+wished to accompany him to prison she could take only two of her maids
+with her.
+
+When Catharine heard this she fervently exclaimed:
+
+"I would rather die than be separated from my husband," and fainted away.
+
+When she recovered she was asked what she intended to do. Taking her
+betrothal ring from her finger and holding it up, she said:
+
+"Read what stands there."
+
+They saw engraved on it, "_Nemo nisi mors"_ (none but death).
+
+"I will stand by it," said Catharine. And she did.
+
+The imprisoned dependents of John, all of whom had shared in his
+resistance to the king, were nearly all condemned to death and executed,
+more than a hundred bodies being exposed at once at the place of
+execution. That John would suffer the same fate was highly probable. His
+brothers, sisters, and other relatives implored Erik to let him live;
+his enemies advised his execution; the king hesitated, and postponed his
+decision, finally deciding that John might live, but in perpetual
+imprisonment. He was mildly and kindly treated, however, and four years
+later, during a spasm of fraternal feeling in Erik, was released.
+
+We shall not tell the remaining story of King Erik, of his wars, his
+temporary madness, his violence and cruelty to some of the noblest of the
+sons of Denmark, his ruthless persecution and final murder of the Stures,
+descendants of one of the most famous families of Sweden and men who had
+played a great part in its history. It was the story of his love episodes
+with which we set out and these were not yet ended. Erik finally got a
+wife and a queen, though not a queen or a princess for a wife. Love
+instead of policy lay at the basis of his final courtship.
+
+This is the story of the final and real love affair of this suitor of
+princesses and queens. A soldier named Magnus, of peasant birth, who rose
+to the rank of corporal in Erik's life-guard, had a daughter named
+Katrina or Catherine, shortened to Karin, who as a child sat selling nuts
+in the market-place at Stockholm. Here Erik one day saw her, then about
+thirteen, and was so struck by her great beauty that he had her placed
+among the maids-of-honor of his sister Elizabeth.
+
+The pretty little Karin was quick to learn her duties, and in deportment
+was modest and very loveable. Her beauty also grew with her age, until
+she became looked upon as the fairest of the fair. Erik thought her such
+and grew greatly attached to her, showing her much attention and winning
+her regard by his handsome face and kindly manner. In fact she grew to
+love him dearly and gave herself up entirely to him, a warm affection
+existing between them.
+
+Karin in time became everything to the king. He no longer sought for a
+bride in foreign courts, no other women had attraction for him, and at
+length, when the charming peasant girl had borne him a son, he determined
+to find a way to make her his queen. Those were days when it was not safe
+to meddle with the love affairs of a king. One unfortunate young man
+named Maximilian, who had loved Karin and sought her hand in marriage,
+one day intruded into the women's apartment of the palace, where he was
+seized. Erik, burning with jealousy, had him condemned on a false
+pretence, sewed up in a bag, and cast into the lake.
+
+After that no one dared interfere with the love episode of Erik and
+Karin. Men said she had bewitched him by a love-philter. Some of the
+courtiers who feared her influence upon the king sought to disgrace her,
+with the result that her intercession alone saved their lives from the
+incensed monarch.
+
+Erik's love for Karin never seemed to change. On beautiful summer
+afternoons, when he would sail with a merry party on Lake Malar, Karin
+was always of the party and the object of his tender attention. As they
+rowed home at night he would sit beside her, contemplating the beauty of
+the starry northern skies and listening to the songs from the shore or
+from distant boats. These were executed by his orders, the words and
+music often being his. One of these songs, in which he praises his
+"Shepherdess," promises to love her forever, and bids her a "thousand
+good-nights," is still extant.
+
+The time at length came--this was after the period of his foreign wars
+and his insanity--that he asked permission of the legislative body to
+marry whom he pleased, at home or abroad. After this was given he
+privately married Karin, and subsequently determined upon a public
+celebration of his marriage and her coronation as queen. The chief
+families of the country were invited to the ceremony, but they neither
+came nor sent excuses. The coronation went on, notwithstanding, and the
+peasant's daughter Karin became queen of Sweden as Queen Catherine.
+
+Not alone by this marriage, but in a dozen other ways King Erik had made
+enemies and he was now near the end of his career. A rebellion soon broke
+out against him, headed by Duke John, who had some time before been
+liberated, and by his younger brother Duke Charles. Though Erik fought
+with skill and courage, the insurrection was successful, he being taken
+prisoner and losing the throne. John was chosen to succeed him as king.
+
+Erik spent the remainder of his life in prison, where he was far more
+harshly treated than John had been by him, his greatest consolation being
+when his wife and children were permitted to visit him. After eight years
+of this close confinement John, fearful of an attempt at the release of
+the captive, had him poisoned in his cell. Thus ended the career of the
+elder son of Gustavus Vasa. It was a fate which he had brought upon
+himself by the cruelties of his career.
+
+A few well-deserved words may well be given to Queen Catherine. She had
+never interfered in Erik's government, except to restrain him from
+cruelty. Her mildness of disposition won her favor on all sides, which
+was increased by her loving devotion to him while in prison. After his
+death she was granted an estate in Finland, and there she lived, loved
+and esteemed by all who knew her and winning the warm devotion of her
+children and grandchildren. She survived to a good old age, withdrawn but
+happy, and the memory of her virtues and benevolence still lives among
+the peasantry of the neighborhood of her abode.
+
+
+
+
+_GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ON THE FIELD OF LEIPSIC._
+
+
+With the accession to the throne of Sweden in 1611 of Gustavus Adolphus,
+grandson of Gustavus Vasa, that country gained its ablest king, and the
+most famous with the exception of the firebrand of war, Charles XII., of
+later date. For courage, judgment, administrative ability, generous
+devotion to the good of his country, and military genius this great
+monarch was unequalled in his time and won a renown which has placed his
+name in the roll of the great rulers of mankind.
+
+The son of Charles IX., the third and ablest son of Gustavus Vasa to fill
+the throne, he was carefully educated in all the lore of his time and
+when a boy of sixteen won a brilliant victory over a Danish invading
+army. During the same year he ascended the throne, his father dying on
+November 30, 1611.
+
+During the preceding reigns Sweden had taken a prominent part in the
+affairs of northern Europe, having frequent wars with Russia, Poland, and
+Denmark, and the young king fell heir to these wars, all of which he
+prosecuted with striking ability. But a conflict soon broke out that
+threatened all Europe and brought Sweden into the field as the arbiter of
+continental destinies. This was the famous "Thirty Years' War," the
+greatest and most ferocious religious war known in history. Into it
+Sweden was drawn and the hand of Gustavus was potent in saving the
+Protestant cause from destruction. The final event in his career, in
+which he fell covered with glory on the fatal field of Lutzen, is dealt
+with in the German "Historical Tales." We shall here describe another
+equally famous battle of the war, that of Leipsic.
+
+It was in 1629, when Denmark was in peril from the great armies of
+Ferdinand II. of Austria, and Sweden also was threatened, that Gustavus
+consented to become the champion of the Protestants of northern Europe,
+and in June, 1630, he landed in Pomerania at the head of eight thousand
+men. Here six Scottish regiments joined him, under the Duke of Hamilton,
+and he marched onward, taking towns and fortresses in rapid succession
+and gaining large reinforcements from the German states.
+
+Three great leaders headed the Austrian armies, the famous Wallenstein,
+the able but ferocious Tilly, and the celebrated cavalry leader
+Pappenheim. All these skilled soldiers Gustavus had to face alone, but he
+did so with the support of the best-drilled army then in Europe, a body
+of soldiery which his able hands had formed into an almost irresistible
+engine of war.
+
+What spurred Gustavus to the great battle to be described was the capture
+by Tilly on May 20, 1631, of the city of Magdeburg, and the massacre of
+its thirty thousand citizens, men, women, and children. From this scene
+of frightful outrage and destruction Tilly failed to call off his men
+until the city lay in ruins and its people in death. A tall, haggard,
+grim warrior, hollow-cheeked, and wild-looking, with large bright eyes
+under his shaggy brows, Tilly looked capable of the deeds of ferocity
+with which the world credited him.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.]
+
+While all Christendom shuddered with horror at the savage slaughter at
+Magdeburg, the triumphant Tilly marched upon and captured the city of
+Leipsic. Here he fixed his headquarters in the house of a grave-digger,
+where he grew pale at seeing the death's-head and cross-bones with which
+the owner had decorated his walls. These significant emblems may have had
+something to do with the unusual mildness with which he treated the
+citizens of that town.
+
+The cause of Protestantism in Germany was now in serious jeopardy and
+Gustavus felt that the time had come to strike a hard blow in its behalf.
+The elector of Saxony, who had hitherto stood aloof, now came to his aid
+with an army of eighteen thousand men, and it was resolved to attack
+Tilly at once, before the reinforcements on the way to join him could
+arrive. These statements are needful, to show the momentous import of the
+great battle of September 7, 1631.
+
+In the early morning of that day the two armies came face to face, Tilly
+having taken a strong and advantageous position not far from Leipsic,
+where he hoped to avoid a battle. But he was obliged, when the enemy
+began to move upon him, to alter his plans and move towards the hills on
+his left. At the foot of these his army was drawn up in a long line,
+with the artillery on the heights beyond, where it would sweep the
+extensive plain of Breitenfeld in his front. Over this plain the Swedes
+and Saxons advanced in two columns, towards a small stream named the
+Lober, which ran in Tilly's front.
+
+To prevent this crossing Pappenheim had early moved at the head of two
+thousand cuirassiers, a movement which Tilly reluctantly permitted,
+though strictly ordering him not to fight. Disregarding this order
+Pappenheim charged the vanguard of the Swedes, only to find that he had
+met an impregnable line and to be driven back in disorder. To check
+pursuit he set fire to a village at the crossing-point, but this had no
+effect upon the movement of the advancing troops nor his own disorderly
+retreat.
+
+The army of Gustavus was organized for the coming battle in the following
+manner. On the right the Swedes were drawn up in a double line; the
+infantry being in the centre, divided into small battalions that could be
+rapidly manoeuvred without breaking their order; the cavalry on the
+wings, similarly drawn up in small squadrons, with bodies of musketeers
+between; this being done to make a greater show of force and annoy the
+enemy's horse. On the left, at a considerable distance, were the Saxons.
+
+It was the defeat of Pappenheim which obliged Tilly to abandon his first
+strong position and draw up his army under the western heights, where it
+formed a single extended line, long enough to outflank the Swedish army;
+the infantry in large battalions, the cavalry in equally large and
+unwieldy squadrons; the artillery, as stated, on the slopes above. The
+position was one for defence rather than attack, for Tilly's army could
+not advance far without being exposed to the fire of its own artillery.
+Each army numbered about thirty-five thousand men.
+
+These forces were small in view of the momentous nature of the struggle
+before them and the fact that two great generals, both hitherto
+invincible, were now to be matched in a contest on which the fate of the
+whole war largely depended and to which the two parties battling for the
+mastery looked forward with fear and trembling. But of the two, while
+Gustavus was cool and collected, Tilly seemed to have lost his usual
+intrepidity. He was anxious to avoid battle, and had formed no regular
+plan to fight the enemy when forced into it by Pappenheim's impetuous
+charge. "Doubts which he had never before felt struggled in his bosom;
+gloomy forebodings clouded his ever-open brow; the shade of Magdeburg
+seemed to hover over him."
+
+The lines being ready for action, King Gustavus rode to the centre of his
+front, reined in his horse, took off his hat, and with the sword in his
+right hand lowered to the ground, offered in a loud voice the following
+prayer:
+
+"Almighty God, Thou who holdest victory and defeat in the hollow of Thine
+hand, turn Thine eye unto us Thy servants, who have come from our
+distant homes to fight for freedom and truth and for Thy gospel. Give us
+victory for the honor of Thy holy name. Amen!"
+
+Then, raising his sword and waving it over his head, he commanded:
+
+"Forward in the name of the Lord!"
+
+"God with us!" was the battle-cry as the Swedes, inspired by his words,
+prepared for the fatal fray.
+
+The battle, which had lulled after the defeat of Pappenheim, was now
+resumed with the thunder of the cannon, which continued for two hours,
+the west wind meanwhile blowing clouds of smoke and dust from ploughed
+and parched fields into the faces of the Swedes. To avoid this they were
+wheeled to face northwards, the movement being executed so rapidly and
+skilfully that the enemy had no time to prevent it.
+
+The cannonading ending, Tilly left the shelter of the heights and
+advanced upon the Swedes. But so hot was their fire that he filed off
+towards the right and fell impetuously upon the Saxons, whose ranks
+quickly broke and fled before the fierce charge. Of the whole force of
+the elector only a few regiments held their ground, but these did so in a
+noble manner that saved the honor of Saxony. So confident now was Tilly
+of victory that he sent off messengers in all haste to Munich and Vienna
+with word that the day was his.
+
+He was too hasty. The unbroken army of Sweden, the most thoroughly
+drilled body of soldiers then in Europe, was still to be dealt with.
+Pappenheim, who commanded the imperial left, charged with his whole
+force of cavalry upon the Swedish right, but it stood against him firm as
+a rock. Here the king commanded in person, and repulsed seven successive
+charges of the impetuous Pappenheim, driving him at last from the field
+with broken and decimated ranks.
+
+In the meantime Tilly, having routed the small remnant of the Saxons,
+turned upon the left wing of the Swedes with the prestige of victory to
+animate his troops. This wing Gustavus, on seeing the repulse of his
+allies, had reinforced with three regiments, covering the flank left
+exposed by the flight of the Saxons.
+
+Gustav Horn commanded here, and met the attack with a spirited
+resistance, materially aided by the musketeers who were interspersed
+among the squadrons of horse. While the contest went on and the vigor of
+the attack was showing signs of weakening, King Gustavus, having put
+Pappenheim to rout, wheeled to the left and by a sharp attack captured
+the heights on which the enemy's artillery was planted. A short struggle
+gave him possession of the guns and soon Tilly's army was being rent with
+the fire of its own cannon.
+
+This flank attack by artillery, coming in aid of the furious onset of the
+Swedes, quickly threw the imperial ranks into confusion. Hitherto deemed
+invincible, Tilly's whole army broke into wild disorder, a quick retreat
+being its only hope. The only portion of it yet standing firm was a
+battalion of four veteran regiments, which had never yet fled the field
+and were determined never to do so.
+
+Closing their ranks, they forced their way by a fierce charge through the
+opposing army and gained a small thicket, where they held their own
+against the Swedes until night, when only six hundred of them remained.
+With the retreat of this brave remnant the battle was at an end, the
+remainder of Tilly's army being then in full flight, actively pursued by
+the Swedish cavalry, which kept close upon their tracks until the
+darkness of night spread over the field.
+
+On all sides the bells of the villages pealed out the tidings of the
+victory, and the people poured forth in pursuit of the fleeing foe,
+giving short shrift to the unhappy fugitives who fell into their hands.
+Eleven thousand of Tilly's men had fallen and more than five thousand,
+including the wounded, were held as prisoners. On the other side the
+Saxons had lost about two thousand, but of the Swedes only about seven
+hundred had fallen. The camp and artillery of the enemy had fallen into
+the hands of Gustavus, and more than a hundred standards had been taken.
+The rout was so complete that Tilly had left with him only about six
+hundred men and Pappenheim less than fifteen hundred. Thus was destroyed
+that formidable army which had long been the terror of Germany.
+
+As for Tilly himself, chance alone left him his life. Exhausted by his
+wounds and summoned to surrender by a Swedish captain of horse, he
+refused. In an instant more he would have been cut down, when a pistol
+shot laid low the Swede. But though saved in body, he was lost in spirit,
+utterly depressed and shaken by the defeat which had wiped out, as he
+thought, the memory of all his past exploits.
+
+Though he recovered from his wounds, he never regained his former
+cheerfulness and good fortune seemed to desert him, and in a second
+battle with Gustavus on the Lech he was mortally wounded, dying a few
+days later.
+
+As for Gustavus, he had won imperishable renown as a military leader. All
+Germany seemed to lie open before him and it appeared as if nothing could
+prevent a triumphant march upon Vienna. He had proved himself the ablest
+captain and tactician of the age, his device of small, rapidly moving
+brigades and flexible squadrons being the death-blow of the solid and
+unwieldy columns of previous wars. And his victory formed an epoch in
+history as saving the cause of Protestantism in Germany.
+
+The emperor, in despair, called again into his service the disgraced and
+disgruntled Wallenstein, granting him extraordinary powers. But this
+great captain also was beaten by Gustavus on the field of Lutzen, where
+the career of the Swedish hero came to an untimely end. His renown as a
+great soldier will live long in history.
+
+
+
+
+_CHARLES X. AND THE INVASION OF DENMARK._
+
+
+When Charles X., nephew of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded Christina, the
+daughter of Gustavus, on the throne, the "Thirty Years' War" was at an
+end, but new wars awaited the new king. Sweden had won large possessions
+on the southern shores of the Baltic and had become one of the leading
+powers of Europe. But Charles found these southern provinces hard to
+hold, having to battle for them with Russia and Poland.
+
+A worthy successor of his great uncle, Charles showed his warlike ability
+by a rapid march into Poland and the overthrow of its army by a three
+days' battle at Warsaw. But his progress was checked by a new and dark
+cloud which appeared upon the sky. Suddenly and unexpectedly, on the 2d
+of May, 1657, Denmark declared war against Sweden, and at the same time
+an Austrian army invaded Poland with the purpose of aiding that kingdom
+and destroying the Swedish army.
+
+This double attack left Charles in a quandary. An able and experienced
+soldier, who had learned the trade of war in Germany during Queen
+Christina's reign, he was well fitted to deal with one foe, but could not
+readily cope with two widely separated ones. He therefore determined to
+abandon Poland, though leaving garrisons in its more important cities,
+and devote his attention to Denmark. This Danish war had much in it of
+interest, and showed that the new Swedish king had been taught in the
+best school of the military art.
+
+Frederick III. of Denmark had declared war without making preparations
+for it, fancying that Charles would be forced to remain with his army in
+Poland and that he would have abundant time to act. He quickly learned
+his mistake. With an army of eight thousand well-trained veterans Charles
+marched at all speed from Poland, and a few months after war was declared
+stood with his compact little army on Denmark's shores.
+
+Taken by surprise, the Danish general, Bilbe, retreated hastily northward
+and the whole peninsula of Jutland was quickly overrun by the Swedes.
+Bilbe had much the larger army, but they were mainly raw recruits, and he
+dared not face the veterans of the Thirty Years' War. The Danes had
+projected an invasion of Sweden, for which they had been deliberately
+preparing, and were overwhelmed to find their army in retreat and a force
+of six thousand men closely besieged in the Fredericia fortress. A night
+attack by General Vrangel won this stronghold for the Swedes, with its
+garrison and a large amount of arms and provisions.
+
+So far the movement of Charles had been brilliantly successful, but his
+position was very dangerous. Enemies were advancing on him from various
+sides, a Polish army having invaded Pomerania, an Austrian army having
+advanced into Prussia, while the elector of Brandenburg had joined his
+enemies. His ally, England, had promised to aid him with a fleet, but it
+failed to appear, and the situation was growing daily more critical. From
+his awkward position he was rescued by a combination of daring and the
+favoring influences of nature.
+
+The winter of 1658 proved extraordinarily cold. Never within the memory
+of man had such bitter weather been known. The sea that flowed between
+the Danish islands was tightly frozen, a natural bridge of ice connecting
+them with one another and the mainland. With bold resolution King Charles
+determined to cross to the island of Fyen.
+
+The enterprise was full of risk. The ice swayed perilously beneath the
+marching hosts. At places it broke. But the island shore was safely
+reached, the troops guarding it were beaten, and soon the whole island
+was in Charles's possession.
+
+But a more daring and perilous enterprise confronted the king. There was
+a broader arm of the sea to cross, the Great Belt, about twelve miles
+wide. The ice was examined and tested by the quartermaster-general, who
+said that he would answer with his life for its being strong enough to
+bear the army.
+
+King Charles heard this tidings with delight, clapping his hands
+energetically and exclaiming:
+
+"Now, Brother Frederick, we will converse with each other in good
+Swedish."
+
+Dahlberg, the quartermaster-general, testified to his confidence by
+riding at the head of the column over the wide field of ice, the army
+following in safety to the coast of Zealand. Meeting with no opposition,
+Charles and his army were soon near Copenhagen, whose fortifications were
+in bad condition, and the danger of losing his capital was so imminent
+that Frederick was glad to accept the severe terms of peace which Charles
+offered him. These included the surrender of half a dozen Danish
+provinces to Sweden and the independence of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
+from Danish control. Denmark had paid sorely for making a declaration of
+war with no preparation to carry it out.
+
+But Charles X. was so eager for war that in the end he lost most of what
+he had gained. He was full of schemes of conquest in Germany, but feared
+that Denmark might take advantage of his absence with his army to take
+revenge for her losses. The fleets of Holland were threatening the coasts
+of the Baltic Sea, and Charles sought to make a treaty with Denmark which
+would close this sea to foreign ships. Denmark refused to enter such an
+alliance and Charles thereupon determined to make a complete conquest of
+that kingdom.
+
+Breaking without warning the treaty of peace he had recently made, he
+suddenly landed with an army on the coast of Zealand. By this unwarranted
+and stealthy assault he filled the souls of the Danes with the courage of
+despair, changed Holland from a secret to an open enemy, and lost the
+most of his former gains.
+
+The Danish people, threatened with the loss of their independence, flew
+to arms, determined to defend their country to the last extremity.
+Charles, his army being small, delayed his attack upon Copenhagen, which
+might easily have been taken by an immediate assault. When he appeared
+before it he found all its people converted into armed soldiers, while
+King Frederick declared that he was ready to die in his capital like a
+bird in its nest. Every soul in the city burned with patriotism, and
+nobles, burghers, and laborers alike manned the walls, while even women
+could be seen wielding spade and axe in the repair of the neglected
+defences. When the siege began the citizens made several successful
+sallies against their foes and hope arose in their breasts.
+
+But their position soon grew critical, the Swedes seizing the castle of
+Cronberg and other points commanding the Sound and pushing forward their
+lines until they had possession of the outer works of the city. The great
+weakness of the citizens lay in the absence of provisions, which grew so
+scarce that they would have had to surrender from sheer stress of hunger
+but for the activity of their allies.
+
+The Dutch had enlisted in their cause, and a fleet sent from Holland
+under Admirals Opdam and DeWitte passed Cronberg and other fortifications
+held by the Swedes, met the Swedish fleet under Admiral Vrangel in the
+Sound and fought a bloody battle for the mastery. For six hours the
+thunder of cannon echoed from the neighboring shores, then the Swedes
+were put to flight and a favoring wind bore the Dutch ships triumphantly
+to the beleagured city, bringing food and help to the half-starved
+defenders.
+
+Their coming saved Copenhagen. Charles, baffled in his efforts, drew
+back, and threw up works of defence ten miles from the city. Suddenly the
+tide of fortune had turned and began to run strongly against him. Into
+Holstein pressed an invading army of Austrians, Poles, and
+Brandenburgers. The Swedes were forced to evacuate Jutland. The newly won
+provinces were ready to revolt. Part of those held in Norway were taken
+by the Danes, and the Swedish garrison in the island of Bornholm was
+annihilated by a sudden revolt of the inhabitants.
+
+When winter came and the waters were closed by ice against invading
+fleets, the Swedish king determined to make a vigorous effort to take the
+city by assault. The attack was made on the night of February 10, 1659,
+Generals Stenbock and Spane leading a storming party against the
+fortifications. Fortunately for the people, they had information of the
+coming assault and were fully prepared for defence, and a desperate
+struggle took place at the walls and in the frozen ditches. The fire of a
+multitude of cannon served to light up the scene, and the attacking
+Swedes found themselves met with the frantic courage of men and women
+fighting for their homes. A shower of bullets and stones burst upon them,
+many women taking part, throwing burning brands, and pouring boiling tar
+upon their heads. In the end the Swedes were forced to draw back, leaving
+two thousand dead and wounded in the hands of their foes.
+
+Relinquishing his attack upon the city, Charles now turned furiously upon
+the small islands of Laaland, Falster, Moen, and Langeland, which had
+offended him by supplying provisions for the city, and subjected them to
+all the horrors of invasion by troops to whom every excess of outrage was
+allowed. Yet new misfortunes gathered round him, the peninsula of Fyen
+being taken by the allies of Denmark, while the Swedish troops near
+Nyberg were attacked and taken prisoners, their commander alone escaping
+in a small boat.
+
+The intervention offered by the neighboring powers was refused by the
+proud Swedish king, who, surrounded by dangers on all sides, now issued a
+call for a meeting of the estates of the realm at Gothenburg, while at
+the same time preparing to invade Norway as a part of the Danish
+dominions. At this interval he was suddenly taken sick and died soon
+after reaching Gothenburg. A treaty followed with the widowed queen,
+regent of Sweden, and Frederick preserved his realm, though not without
+loss of territory.
+
+
+
+
+_CHARLES XII. THE FIREBRAND OF SWEDEN._
+
+
+On the 27th of June, 1682, was born one of the most extraordinary of men,
+the Alexander of modern times, one of those meteors of conquest which
+have appeared at rare intervals in the history of the world. Grandson
+alike of Charles X. of Sweden and Frederick III. of Denmark, Charles XII.
+of Sweden united in himself all the soldierly qualities of his ancestors,
+his chief fault being that he possessed them in too intense a degree,
+being possessed by a sort of military madness, an overweaning passion for
+great exploits and wide-spread conquests. In his career Sweden reached
+its greatest height of power, and with his death it fell back into its
+original peninsular status.
+
+His daring activity began almost with his birth. At seven years of age he
+could manage a horse, and the violent exercises in which he delighted to
+indulge gave him the vigorous constitution necessary for the great
+fatigues of his later life, while he developed an obstinacy which made
+him a terror to his advisers in later years.
+
+Charles was extraordinary in the fact that he performed the most
+remarkable of his exploits before he reached the age of manhood, and in a
+just sense may be given the name of the boy conqueror. His mother died
+when he was eleven years of age and his father when he was fifteen, his
+grandmother being appointed regent of the kingdom, with a council of five
+nobles for her advisers.
+
+Sweden, when he came to the throne, had risen to a high rank among the
+powers of Europe. In addition to its original dominion, it possessed the
+whole of Finland, the finest part of Pomerania, on the southern shores of
+the Baltic, and also Livonia, Carelia, Ingria, Wismar, Viborg, the
+Duchies of Bremen and Verden, and other realms, all of long possession
+and secured by conquest and treaty. But it had dangerous enemies with
+whom to deal, especially Peter the Great of Russia, then bent on bringing
+his barbarian dominions into line with the great powers of the continent.
+
+Such was the inheritance of the fifteen-year-old king, who quickly showed
+the material of which he was composed. One day in the first year of his
+reign, after reviewing a number of regiments, he was seen by his special
+favorite, Charles Piper, in a spell of abstraction.
+
+"May I ask your Majesty," said Piper, "of what you are thinking so
+deeply?"
+
+"I am thinking," replied the boy monarch, "that I am capable of
+commanding those brave fellows; and I don't choose that either they or I
+shall receive orders from a woman."
+
+He referred in this irreverent and boastful speech to his grandmother,
+the regent.
+
+He was crowned on the 24th of December following his father's death, the
+ceremony being performed by the archbishop of Upsala. But when the
+prelate, having anointed the prince in the customary manner, held the
+crown in his hand ready to put it upon the new king's head, Charles took
+it from his hand and crowned himself, his eyes fixed sternly upon the
+dismayed churchman. This act of self-willed insubordination was applauded
+by the people, who also received him with loud acclamations when he rode
+into Stockholm on a horse shod with silver and with a sceptre in his hand
+and a crown on his head. The oath of fidelity to his people, usual on
+such occasions, was not taken, and in fact Charles had no thought of
+being faithful to anything but his own ambitious designs and his
+obstinate self-will.
+
+He soon showed his unfitness for the duties of quiet government. The
+money collected by his father was quickly squandered by him, and with the
+eagerness of an untutored boy he plunged into every kind of daring
+amusement that presented itself, risking his life in break-neck rides,
+mock fights, bear hunts, and other dangerous sports and exercises. He
+also gave much attention to military manoeuvres, his time being spent
+in all sorts of violent activities, with little thought to the duties of
+government, these being confided to his chief friend and confidant,
+Charles Piper.
+
+The tidings of the manner in which the new king of Sweden occupied
+himself spread to the neighboring monarchs, who, fancying that they had
+nothing to fear from a frivolous and pleasure-loving boy, deemed this a
+good opportunity to recover some of the lands conquered from them by the
+preceding Swedish kings. A secret understanding to this effect was
+entered into by Frederick IV. of Denmark, King Augustus of Poland, and
+Peter the Great, czar of Russia, and the ball was opened early in 1700 by
+an invasion of Livonia on the part of the Polish king, while the Danes
+attacked Holstein-Gottorp, ruled by Charles's brother-in-law, taking
+Gottorp and laying siege to Tonnigen. Peter of Russia was the most
+dangerous of the three confederates, he being then full of the idea of
+introducing western civilization among his rude subjects and making
+Russia a sea power. To accomplish this he was eager to gain a foothold on
+the Baltic by the conquest of Finland.
+
+The kingly conspirators, who had begun war against Sweden without a
+declaration, little dreamed of the hornet's nest they were arousing.
+Filled with consternation, some of the Swedish councillors of state
+proposed to avert the danger by negotiation. Charles, then a youth of
+eighteen and of whose real metal no one dreamed, listened to these words
+with a grave face, and then rose and spoke:
+
+"Gentlemen, I am resolved never to begin an unjust war, nor ever to end a
+just one but by the destruction of my enemies. My resolution is fixed. I
+will attack the first that shall declare war against me, and having
+conquered him, I hope I shall be able to strike terror into the rest."
+
+The old councillors were surprised by the resolute demeanor of the young
+king, who seemed suddenly transformed into a man before them. They little
+knew the boy. Familiar with the careers of Alexander and Cćsar, he was
+inspired with the ambition to attempt the rôle of a great conqueror and
+prove himself one of the world's ablest soldiers.
+
+Forsaking his favorite sports, he set himself with intense energy to
+prepare for the war which had been precipitated upon him, and sent word
+to the Duke of Holstein that he would speedily come to his assistance,
+eight thousand men being at once despatched to Pomerania for this
+purpose. Instantly the natives were stirred up, Central Germany sending
+troops to reinforce the Danes, while England and Holland sent fleets to
+aid Sweden and seek to preserve the balance of power in the north.
+
+Such were the preliminary steps to Charles's first great campaign, one of
+the most remarkable in the whole history of war. On the 8th of May, 1700,
+he left Stockholm, in which city he was never to set foot again. With a
+large fleet of Swedish, Dutch, and English vessels he proposed to attack
+Copenhagen, thus striking at the very citadel of Danish power. The
+assault began with a bombardment of the city, but, seeing that this was
+having little effect, Charles determined to attack it by land and sea,
+taking command of the land forces himself.
+
+A landing was made at the village of Humlebek, Charles, in his impatience
+to land, leaping into the water, which came nearly to his waist, and
+wading ashore. Others followed his example, the march through the waves
+being made amid a shower of bullets from the enemy. Springing to land,
+the young king waved his sword joyously above his head and asked Major
+Stuart, who reached the shore beside him, what was the whistling sound he
+heard.
+
+"It is the noise of the musket balls which they are firing at your
+Majesty," said the major.
+
+"That is the very best music I ever heard," he replied, "and I shall
+never care for any other as long as I live."
+
+As he spoke, a bullet struck the major in the shoulder and on his other
+side a lieutenant fell dead, but Charles escaped unscathed.
+
+The Danes were soon put to flight and Charles made the arrangements for
+the encamping of his troops with the skill and celerity of one trained in
+the art of warfare, instead of a boy on his first campaign and to whom
+the whistle of a musket ball was a sound unknown. He showed his ability
+and judgment also by the strict discipline he maintained, winning the
+good will of the peasantry by paying for all supplies, instead of taking
+them by force in the ordinary fashion of the times.
+
+While the camp was being made and redoubts thrown up towards the town,
+the fleet was sent back to Sweden and soon returned with a reinforcement
+of nine thousand men, who had marched in haste to the shore and were
+drawn up ready to embark. The Danish fleet looked on at this movement,
+but was not strong enough to interfere.
+
+The rapidity with which this invasion had been made struck the people of
+Copenhagen with terror and they sent an embassy to Charles, begging him
+not to bombard the city. He received them at the head of his guards,
+while they fell upon their knees before him. His ultimatum to the
+petitioners was that he would spare the city on the payment of four
+hundred thousand rix-dollars. They were also commanded to supply his camp
+with provisions, for which he promised they would be honestly paid. They
+did not dare refuse, and were very agreeably surprised when Charles kept
+his word and paid good prices for all he got.
+
+Charles now sent word to King Frederick that he had made war only to
+require him to make peace, and he must agree to act justly towards the
+Duke of Holstein or the city of Copenhagen would be destroyed and his
+dominions laid waste with fire and sword.
+
+Frederick, utterly taken aback by the warlike vigor of King Charles, was
+very glad to accept this proposal and thus to escape from the dangerous
+position in which he had placed himself, and the negotiations were driven
+through by Charles with the same abrupt energy he had shown in his
+military movements. In less than six weeks from the beginning of the war
+it was ended and the treaty made, a surprising achievement for the first
+campaign of an eighteen-year-old warrior. The treaty was favorable to
+Frederick, Charles exacting nothing for himself, but demanding that the
+Duke of Holstein should be repaid the expenses of the war.
+
+The boy king had reason for haste, for the town of Riga, in his
+dominions, was being invested by a combined army of Russians, Poles, and
+Saxons. The treaty was no sooner signed than he sailed in all haste to
+its relief. It had made a gallant and nearly desperate defence under
+General Dahlberg, but the besiegers did not wait for the impact of
+Charles's army, hastily retreating and leaving the field open to him for
+a great feat of arms, the most famous one in his career.
+
+The town of Narva, in Ingermanland, was then invested by a great Russian
+army, sixty thousand--some say eighty thousand--strong, the Czar Peter
+being in supreme command, the Duc de Croy commanding under him. But the
+unskilled Russians had not proved very successful in the art of
+besieging, having failed for six weeks to take a city that was very
+poorly fortified and whose governor, Baron Herre, had but a thousand
+regular troops in his garrison.
+
+It was in mid-November, 1700, that the czar heard that the Swedish king
+had landed an army of about thirty-two thousand men, and was coming to
+the relief of Narva. Not content with his great force, Peter hurried
+forward a second army of thirty thousand men, proposing to enclose King
+Charles between these two hordes and hoping thus to annihilate him. He
+reckoned without his host. Charles landed at Pernow and made a forced
+march to Reval, followed by his cavalry, fourteen thousand strong, but
+with only four thousand foot soldiers.
+
+Marching, in his usual ardent manner, in the van of his army, he did not
+wait for the rear, making his way onward by nearly impassable roads and
+coming before the outposts of the supplementary Russian army with only
+eight thousand men. With apparently utter indifference to the vast
+disproportion in numbers, the Swedish firebrand rushed forward, the
+Russians, not dreaming of such mad temerity, being sure that he had his
+whole army behind him.
+
+The advance guard of the Russians, five thousand strong, was posted in a
+rocky pass where a body of a hundred resolute men might have checked the
+progress of an army, yet it fled in dismay before the onset of the
+Swedes. The twenty thousand men behind them shared their panic and joined
+in their flight, terror and confusion pervading the whole army. In two
+days' time Charles carried all their posts, winning what might have been
+claimed as three distinct victories, yet not delaying an hour in his
+advance. Having thus disposed of the army sent to intercept him, Charles
+marched with all speed to Narva, leaving his main army still far in the
+rear. With his eight thousand men, exhausted with their long march and
+their hard fight, he suddenly appeared before the czar's great force of
+sixty or eighty thousand men and one hundred and fifty cannon.
+
+Giving his weary men scarcely any time for rest, Charles advanced against
+the Russians with the impetuosity which had so far marked his career. A
+general warned him that the danger was very great.
+
+"What!" he replied. "Do you not think that with my eight thousand brave
+Swedes I may easily beat eighty thousand Russians?"
+
+Whether the general believed so or not, he did not venture any further
+remonstrances, and, at the signal of two musket shots and the war-cry of
+"With the aid of God!" the king and his handful of men marched forwards.
+It was now about mid-day on the 20th of November, 1700.
+
+A breach being made with their cannon in the Russian works, Charles led
+his men on with fixed bayonets, a furious snow-fall behind them driving
+full in the face of the enemy and making their position a very difficult
+one. After an engagement of three hours the entrenchments were stormed on
+all sides, the right wing of the Russians fleeing to the Narva and
+crowding the bridge with its retreating hosts. So dense was the mass that
+the bridge gave way beneath them, precipitating them into the stream, in
+which eighteen thousand of the panic-stricken wretches were drowned. The
+left wing then broke and fled in utter confusion, so many prisoners being
+taken that the best the captor could do was to disarm them and let them
+disperse where they would.
+
+Thus ended this extraordinary battle, almost without a parallel in
+history and spreading the fame of the victor widely over Europe. For a
+boy little over eighteen years of age to achieve such a feat, defeating
+with eight thousand men an army of nearly a hundred thousand, raised him
+in men's minds to the level of the most famous conquerors. Unfortunately
+for himself, it redoubled his self-will and vanity, the adulation given
+him leading him into a course of wild and aimless invasion that brought
+upon him eventually misfortune and defeat and nearly ruined his kingdom.
+
+Having disposed of two of the enemies who had plotted his destruction, in
+the following year Charles advanced against the third, King Augustus of
+Poland, led his victorious army into that kingdom, took Warsaw, its
+capital city, by storm, and in the battles of Klissov and Pultusk so
+thoroughly overthrew the forces of Augustus that he was forced to give up
+the throne of Poland and retire into his native dominion of Saxony, a
+Polish noble being proclaimed king in his place. The Swedish conqueror
+even pursued Augustus into Saxony, defeated his armies wherever met, and
+forced him at last to beg humbly for peace.
+
+Such was the first era of the brilliant career of the young Swedish
+firebrand of war, who in four years had utterly overthrown his enemies
+and won a reputation for splendid military genius which placed him on a
+level, in the opinion of the military critics of the age, with Alexander
+the Great, whom he had taken as the model of his career.
+
+But Charles had two great enemies with whom to contend, and as a result
+his later history was one of decline and fall, in which he lost all that
+he had won and remained for years practically a prisoner in a foreign
+land.
+
+One of these enemies was himself. His faults of character--inordinate
+ambition, inflexible obstinacy, reckless daring--were such as in the end
+to negative his military genius and lead to the destruction of the great
+power he had so rapidly built up. The other was Czar Peter of Russia. It
+was unfortunate for the youthful warrior that fate had pitted him against
+a greater man than himself, Peter the Great, who, while lacking his
+military ability, had the other elements of a great character which were
+wanting in him, prudence, cool judgment, persistence in a fixed course of
+action. While the career of Charles was one of glitter and coruscation,
+dazzling to men's imaginations, that of Peter was one of cool political
+judgment, backed by the resources of a great country and the staying
+qualities of a great mind. What would have been the outcome of Charles's
+career if pitted against almost any other monarch of Russia that one
+could name it is difficult to imagine. But pitted against Peter the Great
+he was like a foaming billow hurling itself against an impregnable rock.
+
+While it is not our purpose to tell the whole story of the exploits of
+Charles XII., yet his life is so interesting from the point of view of
+military history that a brief epitome of its remainder may be given.
+
+After his great victories Charles remained in Saxony, entertaining the
+throng of princes that sought his friendship and alliance and the crowd
+of flatterers who came to shine in his reflected glory. For six years in
+all he remained in Poland and Saxony, fighting and entertaining, while
+Peter the Great was actively engaged in carrying out the important
+purpose he had in mind, that of extending the dominion of Russia to the
+shores of the Baltic and gaining an outlet on the northern seas. As an
+essential part of his purpose he began to build a new city on the banks
+of the Neva, to serve as a great port and centre of commerce.
+
+It was long before Charles awakened to the fact that Peter was coming
+threateningly near to the Swedish territories, and when he finally
+realized the purpose of his great enemy and set out to circumvent it, he
+did so without any definite plan. He decided, as Napoleon did a century
+later, to plunge into the heart of the country and attack its capital
+city, Moscow, trusting by doing so to bring his enemy to terms. In this
+he failed as signally as Napoleon did in his later invasion.
+
+In June, 1708, with an army of forty-three thousand men, Charles crossed
+the Beresina and soon after met and defeated the Russian army near
+Smolensko. He considered this his most brilliant victory, and, as we are
+told by Voltaire, Peter now made overtures for peace, to which Charles,
+with the arrogance of a victor, replied, "I will treat with the Czar at
+Moscow."
+
+He never reached Moscow, but was constrained to turn southward to the
+Ukraine, where he hoped to gain the aid of the Cossacks, under their
+chief, Mazeppa, a bitter enemy of the czar. In this march his men
+suffered terribly, more than half of them dying from hunger and cold. He
+had met that same enemy which Napoleon afterwards met in Russia, a winter
+of bitter severity. In the spring he had only about eighteen thousand
+Swedes and about as many Cossacks under his command, but he persisted in
+his designs. During the wintry cold he had shared in the privations of
+his men, eating the same coarse food, while his only means of warming his
+tent was to have heated cannon balls rolled along the floor.
+
+The crisis came in the summer of 1709. Peter, who was keenly on the
+alert, had succeeded in winning to his side the Cossack chiefs, leaving
+Mazeppa without any followers. Then he intercepted the Swedish general
+Levenhaupt, who was marching with a new army to the aid of his king, and
+overwhelmed him with an immense force of Russians. Losing all his baggage
+and stores and more than half his men, Levenhaupt succeeded in reaching
+the king's camp with only six thousand battered and worn soldiers.
+
+Charles had now only eighteen thousand men, and was in such sore need of
+food and clothing that he laid siege to the city of Pultowa, hoping to
+obtain supplies by its capture. Here he was met by Peter with an army
+three times his strength, and in the decisive battle that followed
+Charles was wounded and his army utterly defeated, only three thousand
+escaping death or capture. Charles himself narrowly escaped the latter,
+and only by a hazardous and adventurous flight over the steppes reached
+the town of Bender, in the Turkish realm.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN.]
+
+Here the sultan, the bitter enemy of Russia, gave him refuge and treated
+him with much kindness, though he found the young Swede a very
+troublesome guest. In fact, at Charles's suggestion, the sultan went to
+war with Russia and got the czar into such a tight place that he only
+escaped by bribing the Turkish vizier.
+
+Infuriated at his enemy's escape, Charles became so violent and unruly
+that the sultan tried to get rid of him, giving him large sums of money
+to pay his debts and make preparations to leave. When Charles spent all
+this and asked for more the sultan grew so angry that he ordered the
+arrest of his troublesome guest. It needed an army of men to take him,
+for he locked himself in his house and fought furiously with the few
+hundred of men under his command. Many Turkish soldiers were killed and
+he was only captured by setting fire to his house and seizing him as he
+fled from the flames.
+
+The "Iron Head," as the Turks called him from his obstinacy, was guarded
+in a Turkish village for ten months by a force of Janizaries. Most of
+this time was spent in bed on pretence that he was dangerously ill. At
+the end of that time, finding that he could get no more help from the
+Turks, he resolved to escape. Accompanied by two persons only, he rode
+in the incredibly short period of fourteen days from Adrianople through
+Austria, Hungary, and Germany, reaching the Swedish post of Stralsund on
+November 7, 1713. Doubtless the sultan was glad to hear of his escape,
+since he had borne with his restless and unwelcome guest for more than
+four years.
+
+When he came to the gates of Stralsund he presented himself to the guard
+under the name of Captain Peter Frisch. The guard was long in recognizing
+him, for he was haggard and worn in face and ragged and dirty in person,
+having never changed his clothes and rarely left the saddle, except to
+change horses, during his long and weary ride.
+
+His long and needless absence in Turkey had left Sweden exposed to its
+enemies and it had severely suffered, the greater part of its territory
+south of the Baltic being seized, while Sweden itself had been attacked
+by the Danes and Saxons and only saved by an army of peasants, so poorly
+equipped and clothed that they were nicknamed the "Wooden Shoes."
+
+As for Charles, his era of brilliant invasion was over and he was obliged
+to fight in self-defence. When he reached Stralsund it was under siege by
+an army of Russians, Saxons, and Danes. Taking command here, he defended
+it obstinately until the walls were blown up and the outworks reduced to
+ashes, when he went on board a small yacht and crossed the Baltic safely
+to Sweden, though a Russian admiral was scouring that sea to prevent his
+passage.
+
+A few words must suffice to complete the story of this remarkable man. He
+found Sweden largely depleted of men and money and in the new army which
+he sought to raise he was obliged to take boys of fifteen into the ranks.
+With these he proposed, in the cold winter of 1716, to invade Denmark by
+leading an army over the Sound to the Danish islands, but a thaw set in
+and put an end to this adventurous project.
+
+Then he invaded Norway, as a part of the Danish realm, and after some
+unsuccessful efforts, laid siege to the fortress of Frederikshald. Here
+the end of his strange career was reached. On the morning of December 11,
+1718, while leaning over the side of a breastwork and giving directions
+to the men in the trenches, he was seen to stagger, his head sinking on
+his breast. The officers who ran to his aid found him breathing his last
+breath. A bullet had struck him, passing through his head and ending his
+remarkable career at the early age of thirty-six.
+
+With the death of this famous soldier ended the military glory and
+greatness of Sweden. As a result of his mad ambition and his obstinate
+persistence in Turkey, Sweden lost all the possessions won in previous
+reigns, losing them never to be regained. And with him also vanished the
+absolute rule of the Swedish kings. For with his death the nobles
+regained their lost influence and drew up a compact in which the crown
+was deprived of all its overruling control and the diet of the nobles
+became the dominant power in the state.
+
+
+
+
+_THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND THE DANISH FLEET._
+
+
+The Napoleonic wars filled all Europe with tumult and disorder, the
+far-northern realms of Norway and Sweden and the far-eastern one of
+Turkey alone escaping from being drawn into the maelstrom of conflict.
+Denmark, the Scandinavian kingdom nearest the region of conflict, did not
+escape, but was made the victim of wars with which it had no concern to a
+disastrous extent.
+
+Christian VII. was then the Danish king, but he was so feeble, both in
+mind and body, that the Crown Prince Frederick was made regent or
+joint-ruler in 1784, and was practically king until his father's death in
+1808, when he came to the throne as Frederick VI. Count Bernstorf was
+minister of foreign affairs and kept Denmark at peace until his death in
+1799, when troubles at once broke out between Denmark and England.
+
+It was a different state of affairs now from that far-off time of Canute
+and the vikings, when the Danes overran England and a Dane filled its
+throne. The tide had long turned and Denmark was an almost helpless
+victim in the hands of the great maritime island, which sought to control
+the politics of the whole continent during the terrible struggle with
+Napoleon.
+
+For some years the English made complaints against Denmark, saying that
+it was carrying food and forage into French and German ports in defiance
+of the laws of neutrality. As these laws were of English origin the Danes
+did not feel inclined to submit to them, and after the death of Bernstorf
+Danish men-of-war were sent to sea to protect their merchant vessels.
+
+Quarrels and hostile feeling arose from this, but the crisis did not come
+until the summer of 1800, when Russia, Sweden, and Prussia formed a
+treaty for an "armed neutrality" and invited Denmark to join it. England
+at once took alarm. While the other nations were powerful enough to defy
+her, Denmark was poor and quite unprepared for warlike operations, and
+when, in the spring of 1801, a fleet under Admirals Parker and Nelson
+appeared on her waters she was by no means in readiness for such a
+demonstration.
+
+Taken by surprise as they were, however, the Danes had no thought of
+weakly submitting to this hostile movement, and did their best to prevent
+the English from passing the Sound. Their chief defence was the fortress
+of Cronberg, near Elsinore, where heavy cannon were mounted to command
+the narrow strait here separating Sweden and Denmark. But by closely
+hugging the Swedish coast Parker kept beyond the range of these guns, and
+in April, 1801, cast anchor in the harbor of Copenhagen. His fleet
+consisted of fifty-one vessels, twenty of them being line-of-battle
+ships.
+
+Alarmed by the coming of the fleet and taking advantage of the delays in
+its movement, the Danes had made every possible preparation for a
+vigorous resistance. Strong batteries defended the city and an imposing
+array of heavily armed ships, drawn up behind a shoal, presented a
+formidable line of defence.
+
+Some delay took place, against the wish of the fiery Nelson, who was
+second in command of the fleet. Nelson was eager for an immediate attack,
+and finally Parker gave way and left the matter in his hands.
+
+Nelson was in command of the Elephant, but finding that ship too large
+for the waters before him he removed his flag to the St. George and led
+the way to the attack with the smaller vessels of the fleet, Parker
+remaining at anchor some miles distant with the larger vessels.
+
+A fierce and bloody conflict ensued, lasting from four to five hours.
+Nelson closed on his foe by getting within the shoal, but he met with a
+stout and vigorous resistance, the Danish seamen, under their able
+commander Olfert Fischer, fighting with the daring for which their people
+had been noted in the far past. Three times the aged Fischer left one
+burning ship to hoist his flag on another, and several of the younger
+captains fought their ships against Nelson's larger vessels as long as
+the shattered hulks kept above water.
+
+So protracted and obstinate was the defence that Parker grew alarmed and
+signalled Nelson to retreat. This was the last signal to be thought of
+by a man like Nelson and, clapping the glass to his blind eye, he said,
+"I really do not see the signal," and kept on fighting.
+
+Nelson was between two fires, that from the shore batteries and that from
+the ships, and though he destroyed the first line of the Danish defence
+and threatened the capital with serious injury, the batteries were not
+silenced and the English ships were suffering severely.
+
+He therefore sent an English officer on shore with a flag of truce,
+declaring that unless the Danes on shore ceased firing he would burn the
+ships in his hands without being able to save the crews, and pointing out
+that these crews were the worst sufferers, as they received a great part
+of the fire of both parties.
+
+A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon to permit of the prisoners
+being removed, and in the end the crown prince, against the wishes of his
+commanders, stopped all firing and agreed to discuss terms of peace. Thus
+ended a battle which Nelson said was the fiercest and best contested of
+the many in which he had taken part.
+
+The peace that followed lasted for several years, and Denmark, freed from
+connection with the hostilities existing in southern Europe, rapidly
+increased in trading activity. During these years, indeed, the Danes
+served as the commerce carriers for the other countries of Europe, and
+this prosperous state of affairs lasted till 1807, when new troubles
+arose and England repeated her violent act of 1801.
+
+The English government either had, or fancied it had, good grounds for
+suspecting that Denmark had joined Alexander of Russia in a treaty with
+France, and on the plea that the fleet of Denmark might be used in the
+cause of the French emperor, an array of fifty-four ships of war was sent
+to demand its immediate delivery to England.
+
+Denmark was taken more fully by surprise than before. Its army was absent
+in Holstein to guard against an attack which was feared from Germany, and
+Copenhagen was thus left without protection. General Peymann refused to
+comply with the preposterous demand of the English admiral, whereupon an
+army of thirty-three thousand men was landed and the city attacked by
+land and sea.
+
+For three days a fierce bombardment continued, and not until a large
+portion of the almost unprotected city was laid in ashes and the
+remainder threatened with like destruction did the general consent to
+admit the English troops into the citadel of Frederikshavn.
+
+The outcome of this brigand-like attack, which had nothing more definite
+than a suspicion to warrant it, and is ranked in history as of the same
+type with the burning of Washington some years later, was the seizure of
+the entire Danish fleet by the assailants. The ships carried off included
+eighteen ships-of-the-line, twenty-one frigates, six brigs and
+twenty-five gunboats, with a large amount of naval stores of all kinds.
+
+The act was no more warrantable than were the viking descents upon
+England centuries before. The latter were the acts of barbarian
+freebooters, and England, in an age of boasted civilization, put herself
+in the same position. The Danes were nearly crushed by the blow and many
+years passed away before their bitter resentment at the outrage
+decreased.
+
+[Illustration: KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK.]
+
+The political result of it was that Denmark allied herself with Napoleon,
+a measure which gave that unhappy land no small amount of trouble and
+distress and led in 1814 to the loss of Norway, which for four hundred
+years had been united with the Danish realm. Norway was handed over to
+Swedish rule, while England took for her share of the spoils the island
+of Heligoland, which she wanted to secure for the command of the Elbe.
+Thus the birds of prey gathered round and despoiled the weak realm of
+Denmark, which was to be further robbed in later years.
+
+
+
+
+_A FRENCH SOLDIER BECOMES KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY._
+
+
+The career of Napoleon, which passed over Europe like a tornado, made
+itself felt in the Scandinavian peninsula, where it gave rise to radical
+changes. In the preceding tale its effect upon Denmark was shown. While
+the wars which desolated Europe did not reach the soil of Sweden and
+Norway, yet these countries were deeply affected and their relations
+decidedly changed.
+
+The work began in 1808 in the obstinate folly of Gustavus IV., who
+defiantly kept up an active trade with England when Russia and Prussia
+had closed their ports against British ships. As a result Russia declared
+war against Sweden, sent an immense army into Finland, and after a
+desperate struggle compelled the Swedes to evacuate that region. In this
+way Sweden lost a great province which it had held for six hundred years.
+
+This was one result of a weak king's setting himself against the great
+powers of Europe. By his lack of political good sense and his obstinacy
+Sweden lost nearly half its territory and Gustavus lost his throne, for
+the bitter indignation of the Swedes against him was such that he was
+taken prisoner by conspirators and forced to sign a deed in which he
+renounced the throne of Sweden for himself and his descendants. Not a
+hand was raised to help him and he spent the remainder of his life as a
+wandering exile.
+
+It was this series of events that in time brought a soldier of the French
+army to the Swedish throne. How this came about is well worth the
+telling. After the abdication of Gustavus, Duke Charles of Sodermanland
+was elected king as Charles XIII., and as he had no children, a Danish
+prince was chosen to succeed him.
+
+But this heir to the throne, Charles Augustus by name, died suddenly the
+next year. The people believed he had been poisoned, and on the day of
+the funeral, suspecting the haughty old Count Fersen of his death, they
+seized him and in their fury literally tore him to pieces.
+
+It was now proposed to take the brother of the deceased prince as heir to
+the throne, but little could be done in those days without the Corsican
+emperor being consulted about it, and the young Baron Mörner was sent to
+Paris to inform Napoleon of what was proposed. The youthful envoy was an
+admirer of the conqueror, and thinking to please him he suggested that
+one of the French generals should be chosen to rule over Sweden.
+
+Napoleon was highly gratified with the suggestion, but when the baron
+named Marshal Jean Bernadotte as his choice the emperor was much less
+pleased. He would much rather have chosen some one else, Bernadotte being
+too independent in character to please him. Difficulties were thrown in
+the way, but Mörner obtained Bernadotte's consent, and by his argument
+that Sweden needed an able and experienced soldier to regain its old
+power the Swedish Ricksdag was brought over to his side.
+
+In the end Napoleon gave his consent, and the marshal was elected Crown
+Prince of Sweden. But the French emperor evidently doubted him still, for
+on parting with him he used these significant farewell words: "Go, then,
+and let us fulfil our several destinies." He had reason for his distrust,
+as the events of later years showed.
+
+This selection ranks with the remarkable instances of the mutations of
+fortune. The new crown prince had begun life as the son of a poor French
+lawyer and in 1780, at the age of sixteen, entered the army as a common
+soldier. When the wars of the Revolution began he had risen to the rank
+of a sergeant, which was as high as a man of common birth could rise in
+the old army of France.
+
+But he made rapid progress in the army of the Revolution, being a man of
+great courage and unusual military genius. Under Napoleon, whose
+discerning eye no soldier of ability escaped, Bernadotte became one of
+the most successful of the French generals, was made governor of a
+province, ambassador, and minister of war, and had much to do with
+winning the great victories of Austerlitz, Jena, and Wagram. Finally he
+was made a marshal of France and prince of Ponte Corvo in Italy.
+
+But Napoleon had doubts of him. He was too independent. He opposed the
+emperor's ambitious plans and defended the liberties of the people, and
+was distrusted by the conqueror for other causes. The astute Corsican
+feared that he would not be the man to reduce Sweden to a province of
+France, and the event proved that Napoleon was right.
+
+It was in 1810 that Crown Prince Bernadotte, who adopted the name of
+Charles John as the title of his new rank, arrived in Sweden with his son
+Oscar. The people were delighted with his appearance. A handsome and
+imposing man, with black wavy hair, an eagle nose, keen, penetrating eyes
+and the manner of one accustomed to command, also a clear and eloquent
+speaker, polished in address and courteous in his dealings with all, they
+felt that in him they had a true king; while his reputation as one of the
+leading soldiers in Napoleon's great army gave them assurance that, if
+war should arise, their armies would be ably led.
+
+Sweden, when Bernadotte set foot on its soil, was in a helpless state of
+decadence, having become little better than a dependency of France. If
+ever it needed a strong ruler then was the time, but Charles XIII. was
+incapable as a monarch, and from the time of his landing the new crown
+prince ruled the country as though there were no king on the throne.
+
+He at once renounced Catholicism and was admitted into the Lutheran
+church, the state religion of Sweden. Proposing to consult the best
+interests of his new country and not to rule as a vassal of Napoleon, he
+was indignant when the emperor ordered that Sweden should declare war
+against England. In the existing condition of the country he felt
+compelled to submit, but he secretly advised the British government that
+the declaration of war was a mere formality and not a gun was fired on
+either side.
+
+He also made a secret alliance with Alexander of Russia. None of these
+movements could be made public, for the Swedes were then fervent admirers
+of Napoleon and hoped by his aid to gain the lost province of Finland and
+win revenge upon Russia, their old enemy. Bernadotte saw farther than
+they, feeling that the inordinate ambition of Napoleon must lead to his
+downfall and that it was best for Sweden to have an anchor out to
+leeward. But all these political deals had to be kept from the knowledge
+of the Swedes.
+
+A change in public opinion came when Napoleon, suspecting the loyalty to
+him of his former marshal, heaped insults upon Sweden, and finally, in
+the beginning of 1812, invaded Swedish Pomerania, intending by this act
+to frighten the Swedes into submission. Instead, he exasperated them and
+lost their friendship, thus giving Bernadotte the opportunity he had
+awaited.
+
+"Napoleon has himself thrown down the gauntlet, and I will take it up,"
+he said, and at once began to prepare for the struggle which he foresaw.
+
+With the incitement of the invasion of Pomerania the Crown Prince Charles
+John--Prince Karl Johan, as the Swedes called him--began active
+preparations for war. The army was largely increased, new levies being
+raised and arms and equipment purchased, while alliances were made with
+foreign powers. It came as a surprise to the Swedes when the fact leaked
+out that it was not against Russia, but against France, that these
+warlike movements were being made.
+
+Napoleon now, seeing the state of affairs his injudicious act had brought
+about, sought to gain the friendship of Sweden, making alluring offers to
+his late marshal. His change of front came too late. Bernadotte had no
+confidence in him and came into closer relations with his enemies,
+encouraging the perplexed Alexander to a firm resistance against the
+French emperor in the great invasion threatened.
+
+Everyone knows the disastrous end of this invasion. When Napoleon was
+marching on Moscow Alexander and Charles John met at Abo and a treaty was
+formed in which Sweden was promised recompense for the loss of Finland in
+the acquisition of Norway, while a friendship sprang up between the two
+which lasted till the end of their lives.
+
+Events now moved rapidly. The Corsican conqueror entered Moscow. It was
+burned and he was forced to retreat. A terrible winter and hostile forces
+destroyed the Grand Army, only a handful of which escaped. Then came the
+death struggle in Germany of the greatest soldier in modern history. On
+every side his enemies rose against him and in the spring of 1813
+Bernadotte joined them with an army of thirty thousand Swedes.
+
+This army took part in the several battles that followed, and made its
+mark especially at Dennewitz, where Marshal Ney commanded the French.
+Bernadotte thought that the Prussians should bear the brunt of this
+battle, since Berlin was threatened, and for this reason he held the
+Swedes in reserve. But when the right wing of the Prussians was broken,
+Ney cheering his soldiers by shouting, "My children, the victory is
+ours!" he deemed it time to take a hand, and ordered General Cardell, his
+artillery chief, to support the Prussians.
+
+Cardell won the day by a brilliant stratagem. He ordered the caissons
+into line with the guns and deployed his regiments so that they bore the
+appearance of a division of cavalry, the mounted artillerists bearing
+down upon the French at a gallop, with drawn swords.
+
+Failing to see the guns, and thinking that they had only cavalry to deal
+with, the French closed their lines and with fixed bayonets awaited the
+Swedes. Suddenly the line halted, the guns were rushed forward and
+reversed, the men sprang to their pieces, and from a long line of
+frowning cannon poured a fiery hail of grape and canister that tore
+remorselessly through the solid ranks of the French. The results were
+awful: dead and dying strewed the ground; the survivors fled in
+confusion; that deadly volley turned the day in favor of the French, and
+Ney and his braves were forced to make a hasty retreat.
+
+In the great battle of Leipsic no section of the Swedish army but the
+artillery took part. When the English agent, Sir C. Stewart, sought by
+threats to drive Bernadotte into action, he haughtily replied:
+
+"Do you forget that I am Prince of Sweden and one of the greatest
+generals of the age?"
+
+Bernadotte was considering the uplifting of his new kingdom rather than
+the overthrow of his old master. He was saving his army for the campaign
+he proposed against Denmark. Of this campaign we need only say that it
+ended in the acquisition of Norway. The Danes were beaten and their king
+disheartened, and in the peace of 1814 he ceded Norway to Sweden,
+receiving Swedish Pomerania in exchange.
+
+For centuries Sweden had sought to absorb Norway, and now, by the action
+of this crown prince from a foreign land, the result seemed achieved. But
+the brave Norwegians themselves remained to be dealt with. They did not
+propose, if they could avoid it, to be forced into vassalage to the
+Swedes. A party arose in favor of the independence of Norway, a
+government was formed, and their Danish governor, Prince Christian
+Frederick, was elected king of Norway.
+
+It was a hasty act, which could not be sustained against the trained army
+of Sweden. Norway was poor, her population small, her defences out of
+order, her army made up of raw recruits under untried officers, yet the
+old viking blood flowed in the veins of the people and they were bent on
+striking for their freedom.
+
+Bernadotte returned to Sweden in the summer of 1814 and at once led his
+army into Norway. Little fighting took place, the Swedish crown prince
+showing himself favorably disposed, and peace and union finally came,
+Charles XIII. of Sweden being elected king of Norway. Yet it was not as a
+subject nation, but as an independent and equal kingdom that Norway
+entered this union. All her old rights and privileges were retained and
+the government remained free from any interference on the part of Sweden.
+
+It was to the wisdom of Bernadotte that this result was due. An enforced
+union, he knew, would yield only hatred and bitterness, and to drive a
+brave people to the verge of despair was not the way to bring them into
+the position of satisfied subjects. Norway remained as free as ever in
+her history, dwelling side by side with Sweden, with one king over both
+countries.
+
+In 1818 the weak Charles XIII. died and the strong Bernadotte, or Charles
+John, ascended the throne as Charles XIV. The remainder of his reign was
+one of peace and growing prosperity, and when he died in 1844, leaving
+the throne to his son Oscar, the grateful people of Sweden felt that they
+owed much to their soldier king.
+
+
+
+
+_THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK._
+
+
+The time once was when, as we have seen, all Scandinavia, and England
+also, were governed by Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great
+powers of Europe. Since that proud time the power of the Danish throne
+has steadily declined, until now it is but the shadow of its former self.
+
+A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced to yield Norway to Sweden.
+All its possessions on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was
+compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring islands, with
+the exception of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the
+peninsula. The time was near at hand when it was to lose these and more
+and be reduced to a mere fragment of its once great realm.
+
+The new trouble began in 1848, when the French revolution of that date
+stirred up all the peoples of Europe to fresh demands. North of Holstein
+lay the duchy of Sleswick, occupying the southern half of the peninsula,
+its inhabitants, like those of Holstein, being nearly all Germans. These
+duchies had long chafed under Danish rule, though for centuries they had
+formed part of Denmark, and now they made an eager demand for union with
+what they termed their true "Fatherland."
+
+A new king, Frederick VII., ascended the Danish throne in January, 1848.
+In February the French revolution broke out. Almost instantly the duchies
+were in a blaze of revolt, and on the 23d of April a Danish army of
+eleven thousand men met one of nearly three times its strength, composed
+of the insurgents and German allies, and was defeated after a hard fight
+and forced to take refuge on the little island Als, where it was
+protected by Danish ships of war.
+
+This was the beginning of a struggle that continued at intervals for
+nearly three years, the great powers occasionally intervening and
+bringing about a truce. In 1849, the Danes gained some important
+successes, followed by a second truce. The most severe battle was that of
+July 24, 1850, when a Danish army nearly forty thousand strong attacked
+the insurgents and battle went on amid mist and rain for two days, ending
+in the triumph of the Danes.
+
+New successes were gained in September, Sleswick being fully occupied and
+Holstein invaded, when a strong Austrian army marched into the latter
+province and again the war was brought to an end. Sleswick was left under
+the Danish king, but a joint commission of Danes, Austrians, and
+Prussians was formed to govern Holstein until its relations to Denmark
+could be determined.
+
+For the thirteen years following all remained at rest. But in that year
+King Frederick VII. of Denmark died and immediately the eldest son of the
+Duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the duchies, hastened into them and
+proclaimed himself as ruler, under the title of Duke Frederick VIII., of
+the united and independent province of Sleswick-Holstein.
+
+[Illustration: Reproduced by permission of the Philadelphia Museum. THE
+BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK.]
+
+This impulsive act led to most important
+results. All the German powers to the south, large and small alike,
+supported the pretensions of the self-styled Frederick VIII., and before
+the end of the year Austrian and Prussian armies entered the province,
+which they proposed to hold until the claims of the house of Augustenburg
+should be definitely settled.
+
+This threw Denmark into a difficult position. If she wished to avoid
+dismemberment she must fight, and to fight against these two great powers
+seemed madness. Yet Prussia and Austria pressed one condition after
+another upon her, each more galling than the last. England, however,
+offered herself as umpire between the parties, strongly favoring Denmark.
+In consequence, fully expecting aid from England, a Danish army of forty
+thousand men crossed the border and attacked the Prussians.
+
+But England sent no aid and the Danes were forced to retreat and once
+more take refuge upon Als Island. As England showed no intention of
+helping them with armed assistance, despair followed the patriotic effort
+of the Danes, who were left single-handed to oppose their powerful foes.
+Yet in spite of their greatly inferior power they made a gallant defence,
+their courage and endurance winning the sympathy of those who looked on.
+
+Yet to struggle against such fearful odds was hopeless. The Prussians
+occupied one strong point after another until they had penetrated to the
+most northerly point of the peninsula. Then, to save his kingdom from
+utter destruction, Christian IX. gave way and accepted the terms offered
+him, agreeing to renounce all claims on the duchies of Sleswick-Holstein
+and Lauenburg and to abide by the decision of Prussia and Austria as to
+the future fate of these provinces.
+
+Thus were the weak dealt with by the strong, in the rude old fashion, and
+of its once proud dominion Denmark was left only the northern half of the
+peninsula, consisting of Jutland and its neighboring islands, a pocket
+kingdom of some 15,000 square miles extent in lieu of its once great and
+proud dominion.
+
+Yet it was not without satisfaction that the despoiled Danes looked on
+when their two powerful enemies, quarreling over the division of the
+spoils, sprang at one another's throats like two dogs snarling over a
+bone, a great war arising between Austria and Prussia over this question,
+at a cost far greater than the value of the provinces fought for.
+
+Prussia being the victor, the rights of Denmark and the claims of the
+Duke of Augustenburg alike were quietly laid aside and the matter settled
+by the absorption of the provinces into the German empire, Denmark being
+left to thank God that Bismarck did not decide to take the rest.
+
+
+
+
+_BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN NORWAY AND SWEDEN._
+
+
+In the year 1388 the people of Norway chose the great Queen Margaret of
+Denmark for their ruler, and from that date until 1905, more than five
+hundred years later, the realm of the Norsemen continued out of existence
+as a separate kingdom, it remaining attached to Denmark until 1814, when
+it came under the rule of the king of Sweden. In 1905 Norway broke these
+bonds and for the first time for centuries stood out alone as a fully
+separate realm. With a description of this peaceful revolution we may
+fitly close our sketches of the Scandinavian countries.
+
+During these centuries of union ill feeling frequently arose between the
+nations involved. Though the union with Denmark had been on terms of
+equality, the Danes in later years often acted towards Norway as though
+it were a subject country, at times creating great irritation in the
+proud sons of the sea-kings. It was the same with the Swedish union, the
+Swedes at times acting towards Norway as though it were a conquered
+country, won by the sword of Prince Bernadotte and subject to their will.
+
+This was a false view of the relations of the two countries. The act of
+1815 states that "The union is not a result of warfare but of free
+convention, and shall be maintained by a clear acknowledgment of the
+legal rights of the nations in protection of their mutual thrones." It
+further states that "Norway is a free, independent, indivisible, and
+inalienable kingdom, united with Sweden under one king."
+
+This must be kept in mind in considering the recent events. Norway was in
+no sense subject to Sweden, but had simply accepted the king of Sweden as
+its monarch. They were not one nation, but two nations under one king,
+being otherwise independent in every respect, each with its own
+constitution, its own parliament, and its own laws.
+
+In fact, Norway has had a constitution since 1818, granted by Bernadotte
+when he came to the throne, while Sweden was not granted one until over
+forty years later. And while the constitution of Norway makes it the most
+democratic monarchy in Europe, that of Sweden gives much greater power to
+the throne. Thus the people of Norway for many years had reason to be
+well content with the situation, though they jealously kept watch over
+the preservation of their rights, and at times radical parties promoted
+an irritation that might have led to blows had it been sustained by the
+people at large.
+
+The difficulty that led to their final separation was a commercial one.
+Norway has always been a country with the sea for its province, rugged
+and unproductive as compared with Sweden, but with a long sea-coast
+inviting maritime pursuits. As a result, during the century its commerce
+grew much more rapidly than that of Sweden and it ended the century with
+a shipping three times as great. Its commercial interests thus made
+free-trade the economic doctrine of Norway, while protection became that
+of Sweden, and this was the wedge that in time forced the two countries
+asunder.
+
+In 1885 began the disagreement which led to separation twenty years
+later. In that year the king made the minister of foreign affairs
+responsible to the Swedish parliament, thus depriving Norway, as she
+claimed, of any important influence in foreign politics. Negotiations
+followed, but Sweden resisted, and irritation arose. Finally the question
+of a Norwegian minister of foreign affairs was dropped and only that of
+the right to a separate system of foreign consuls remained.
+
+Let us now very briefly epitomize the course of events. In 1891 Norway
+established a consular commission and made a strong demand for separate
+consuls to represent her interests in foreign ports. Violent quarrels
+with Sweden followed, but no agreement was reached. In 1898 the question
+became serious again, but still there was no agreement, and the same was
+the case when it came up once more in 1901.
+
+A new consular commission was appointed in 1902, its report favoring the
+demands of Norway, and finally, in 1903, King Oscar gave his sanction to
+an agreement for separate consuls. But the king's voice did not settle
+the question; it came before parliament, and after long consideration a
+decision was reached which avoided the point in dispute and announced
+principles which were declared in Norway to be in violation of its
+constitution and at variance with the king's sanction of 1903.
+
+This ended the negotiations. The incensed Norwegian legislators appointed
+a new cabinet to carry out the wishes of the people and a consular
+service law was passed. Events now proceeded rapidly. In February, 1905,
+King Oscar retired from active government on account of age and ill
+health, Crown Prince Gustavus being appointed temporary regent. On
+considering the subject he dissented from his father's opinion and
+offered the following proposition for a settlement of the question at
+issue: first, a common minister of foreign affairs; second, a separate
+consular service for each country, the consuls to be under the direction
+of the one foreign minister. This proposition was voted on favorably by
+the Swedish parliament and the main point in dispute seemed settled.
+
+But on May 27 King Oscar returned to the throne and immediately
+repudiated this action of his son and the parliament, vetoed the law for
+separate consuls passed in Norway, and when the cabinet of that country
+resigned in a body refused to accept their resignation.
+
+The crisis was now reached. A general wave of indignation swept through
+the realm of Norway. The feeling of the people was shared by their
+legislators. Norway's only connection with Sweden was that they had the
+same king--but the Norwegians had no use for a king that would place the
+interests of one country in precedence of those of another. The decisive
+move was made on June 7, when the Storthing--the parliament of
+Norway--announced itself as no longer in union with Sweden or under the
+rule of King Oscar, declaring that he had admitted that he was unable to
+govern Norway according to its constitution and therefore had ceased to
+rule as its king. The union flag was lowered from the government fortress
+in Christiania, where it had floated since 1814.
+
+In its address to the king the Storthing said that "the course of events
+has proved more powerful than the desire or will of individuals," but to
+show that good feeling existed towards Sweden, the king was requested to
+name a prince of his own house for the throne of Norway, who was to
+relinquish his right of succession to the Swedish throne.
+
+The die was cast. Would war result? Would Oscar seek to force Norway back
+into the Union as Bernadotte had done in 1814, when it rebelled and chose
+a king of its own? The occasion seemed critical. Oscar refused to
+abdicate, there was much talk of war, the Swedish Ricksdag--or
+parliament--disapproved of letting Norway depart in peace. If war had
+been declared the hope of Norway sustaining her independence was very
+doubtful, as her population was only half that of Sweden and her army
+and navy much weaker. Yet there was sufficient doubt of the outcome to
+make all men hesitate.
+
+Many of the leading men of Sweden disapproved of the idea of war,
+thinking that hostilities were not called for and that Sweden's stake in
+the question was not sufficient to justify the attempt to hold Norway by
+force. A significant event at this juncture was the declaration of the
+powerful Socialist party in Sweden that they would not bear arms against
+their brethren in Norway. In this the Socialists made the first
+international declaration of their opposition to war.
+
+As the weeks passed on the war feeling cooled. Oscar withdrew his refusal
+to abdicate, and said: "Of little use would the Union be if Norway had to
+be forced into it." As regards the feeling of the people of Norway
+regarding separation, it was decisively shown on August 13, when a vote
+was taken upon the question. It resulted in 368,200 votes in favor of to
+184 against dissolution of the union.
+
+The chief question to be settled was that of the abolition of the
+frontier fortresses, of which Norway had a number on the border while
+Sweden had none. Norway held on to hers mainly from patriotic reasons, as
+several of them were of very ancient date and had great historic
+interest. The difficulty was finally settled by an agreement to dismantle
+the new portions and let the ancient ones remain.
+
+The final treaty of separation, as approved on September 23, 1905,
+covered the following points: 1st. There was to be arbitration of all
+questions arising between the two countries. 2d. A neutral zone was to be
+established and all forts within this zone to be destroyed or made
+useless for war purposes. 3d. The grazing rights of Swedish Laplanders in
+Norway were to be maintained. 4th. The laws of each country were to apply
+to the portion of waterways crossing each. 5th. No obstacle was to be
+placed on the commerce between the two countries.
+
+The question of the form of government of the new nation had before this
+arisen. The request to King Oscar for a descendant of his house had been
+at first refused. He subsequently reconsidered it and was willing to let
+his son Charles fill the vacant throne, but meanwhile it had been offered
+to Prince Charles of Denmark and accepted by him. The offer of the throne
+by the Storthing needed in democratic Norway to be confirmed by a vote of
+the people, and one was taken in October. The sentiment for a republic in
+Norway was supposed to be very strong, but the election resulted in a
+vote of four to one for a kingdom against a republic, and Charles of
+Denmark, grandson of King Christian, was formally chosen for the reigning
+monarch of the new kingdom. In compliment to the nation he chose for
+himself the national title of Haakon VII. and conferred on his son and
+heir the Norwegian name of Olaf.
+
+Formal offer of the throne was made to the new king at Copenhagen on
+November 20 by a deputation from the Norwegian parliament, King Christian
+accepting it for his grandson, and saying:
+
+"The young king does not come as a stranger to Norway, for he claims
+relationship to former Norwegian kings. Nor will the kingdom of Norway be
+strange to him, for everywhere in the land common recollections of the
+history of the kingdom and the history of his race will meet him."
+
+On the 25th of November the new monarch, with his wife, daughter of King
+Edward of England, made his formal entrance to Christiania, the capital
+of his new realm, where he was received with the highest demonstrations
+of joy. On their voyage from Copenhagen the royal pair were escorted by
+Norwegian, Danish, British, and German warships, while in their new realm
+elaborate preparations had been made for their fitting reception.
+
+At noon on November 27 Prince Charles was formally inaugurated king, as
+Haakon VII., before a distinguished assembly consisting of the highest
+state dignitaries, the diplomatic corps in full costume, and a brilliant
+concourse of men in uniform and women in court toilets. Entering the
+richly decorated Parliament house, surrounded by their suites, the king
+ascended the throne, the queen taking a seat by his side.
+
+The ceremonies were brief, consisting of the king's taking the oath to
+support the constitution of Norway, and pledging himself in a brief
+speech "to exert all his will and strength to serve the Fatherland and
+promote its peace and happiness." An interesting feature of the ceremony
+was a despatch of congratulation from Oscar, late king of Norway, in
+which he said: "I beg that you be persuaded that every effort looking
+towards good relations between our two countries will be given a
+sympathetic reception on my part."
+
+Thus, after for five hundred and seventeen years standing empty, the
+throne of Norway was filled with a king of its own, and that old land,
+once more single and separate, swung back into the tide of the nations.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Historical Tales, Volume 9, by Charles Morris
+    </title>
+  <style type="text/css">
+	body {margin-left:8%; margin-right:7%;}
+	p { margin-top: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; }
+	body > p { text-align: justify;	text-indent: 1em; }
+	h1, h2 , h3, h4 { text-align: center; clear: both; font-weight:normal; }
+	h2 {letter-spacing:2px;font-style:italic;}/*antique look on chapter heads */
+	h2+p { text-indent: 0; } /* No indent after chapter head */
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+		margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
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+		}
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+		display: block; /* each stanza a new line in CSS browsers */
+		margin-top: 0.25em;
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+	.poem .i0 {margin-left: 2em;} /* indents */
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15)
+       The Romance of Reality. Scandinavian.
+
+Author: Charles Morris
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2007 [EBook #20549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL TALES, VOL. 9 (OF 15) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div style="margin:0 10% 1em 10%;padding:1em 1em 1em 1em; border:thin solid; border-color:#888;">
+<span class="smcap">Transcriber's Note</span>: In this HTML edition,
+ten apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The corrected
+words are marked with the HTML tag &lt;ins>,
+and this tag is styled so that the corrected words have a light underline,
+thus: <ins class="correction" title="'comected' in original">corrected</ins>,
+and when the cursor hovers over such a word, an explanation pops up.
+</div>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>
+<table style="width:100%;border:none;border-collapse:collapse;" summary="title page">
+<tr>
+<td style="border:3px solid black;">
+<h3 style="font-size:120%;letter-spacing:2px;">
+&Eacute;dition d'&Eacute;lite</h3></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td style="border:3px solid black;">
+<h1 style="font-size:200%;letter-spacing:4px;">
+Historical Tales</h1>
+
+<h3>The Romance of Reality</h3>
+
+<h3 style="margin-top:2em;">By</h3>
+
+<h2 style="letter-spacing:3px;">CHARLES MORRIS</h2>
+
+<p style="text-align:center;font-style:italic;">
+Author of "Half-Hours with the Best American Authors,"
+"Tales from the Dramatists," etc.</p>
+
+<h3 style="margin-top:2em;font-size:90%;letter-spacing:3px;">
+IN FIFTEEN VOLUMES</h3>
+
+<h3 style="font-size:200%;letter-spacing:2px;">Volume IX</h3>
+<h2 style="font-style:normal;">Scandinavian</h2>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td style="border:3px solid black;">
+<h2 style="font-style:normal;font-size:90%;letter-spacing:3px;">J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY</h2>
+
+<h3 style="font-size:90%;letter-spacing:3px;">PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON</h3>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td style="border:3px solid black;">
+<p style="text-align:center;font-size:75%;">
+Copyright, 1908, by J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.</p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+</div>
+<p><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image_front" id="image_front"></a>
+<a href="images/front.jpg">
+  <img src="images/front_th.jpg"
+  alt="  OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO."
+  title="OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO." /></a>
+<p><span class="caption">From Stereograph Copyright by Underwood &amp; Underwood, N.Y.<br />
+OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2 style="font-style:normal;">
+<a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>
+CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li><span class="smcap">How King Rolf Won His Bride</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Ragnar Lodbrok and His Wives and Sons</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Harold Fair-Haired Founds the Kingdom of Norway</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Gorm the Old, Denmark's First King</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Erik Blood-Axe and Egil the Icelander</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Sea-Kings and Their Daring Feats</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Haakon the Good and the Sons of Gunhild</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Earl Haakon and the Jomsvikings</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">How Olaf, the Slave-Boy, Won the Throne</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Olaf Dethrones Odin and Dies a Hero</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Olaf the Saint and His Work for Christ</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Canute the Great, King of Six Nations</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Magnus the Good and Harold Hardruler</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Sverre, the Cook's Son, and the Birchlegs</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Friends and Foes of a Boy Prince</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">King Valdemar I. and Bishop Absolon</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Valdemar II</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Birger Jarl and the Conquest of Finland</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The First War Between Sweden and Russia</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Crime and Punishment of King Birger</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Queen Margaret and the Calmar Union</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">How Sir Tord Fought for Charles of Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Sten Sture's Great Victory Over the Danes</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">How the Ditmarshers Kept Their Freedom</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Blood-Bath of Stockholm</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Gustavus Vasa</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Fall of Christian II. the Tyrant</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The West Gothland Insurrection</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Love Affairs of King Erik</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Gustavus Adolphus on the Field of Leipsic</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Charles X. and the Invasion of Denmark</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_319">319</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Charles XII. the Firebrand of Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The English Invaders and the Danish Fleet</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_343">343</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">A French Soldier Becomes King of Sweden and Norway</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_349">349</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Dismemberment of Denmark</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_358">358</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Breaking the Bond Between Norway and Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_362">362</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<h2 style="font-style:normal;">
+<a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+<h2><span class="font-size:90%;">SCANDINAVIAN.</span></h2>
+
+<p><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a></p>
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li><span class="smcap">&nbsp;</span><span class="ralign">PAGE</span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Old Bridge at Oerebro, one of the Most<br />
+Ancient Towns of Sweden.</span><span class="ralign"><a href="#image_front"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">House of Parliament, Norway</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image035">35</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Home of Peasants, Norway</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image050">50</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Busy Farmers in a Hillside Field above Are, Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image080">80</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">A Nordfjord Bride and Groom with Guests and<br />
+Parents. Brigsdal, Norway</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image095">95</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Norwegian Peasants</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image115">115</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Norwegian Farm Buildings</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image135">135</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Linkoping from Tannefors</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image165">165</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Village Life and Homes in Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image190">190</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Morning Greetings of Neighbors, Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image210">210</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Gripsholm Castle, Mari</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image220">220</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Skurusund, Stockholm</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image230">230</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Skansen River</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image242">242</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Famous XVI. Century Castle at Upsala, Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image256">256</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Norwegian Carriage Called Stolkjaem</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image285">285</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Armory and Costume Hall of the Royal Museum, Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image300">300</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Statue of Gustavus Adolphus</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image312">312</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Return of Charles XII. of Sweden</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image340">340</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">Kronberg Castle on the Sound, Denmark</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image348">348</a></span></li>
+<li><span class="smcap">The Bourse, Copenhagen, Denmark</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#image360">360</a></span></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>
+<a name="HOW_KING_ROLF_WON_HIS" id="HOW_KING_ROLF_WON_HIS">
+</a><i>HOW KING ROLF WON HIS<br />
+BRIDE</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>At one time very many centuries ago, we cannot
+say just when, for this was in the days of the early
+legends, there reigned over Upsala in Sweden a
+king named Erik. He had no son and only one
+daughter, but this girl was worth a dozen sons and
+daughters of some kings. Torborg she was named,
+and there were few women so wise and beautiful and
+few men so strong and valiant. She cared nothing
+for women's work, but was the equal of any man of
+the court in riding, fighting with sword and shield,
+and other athletic sports. This troubled King
+Erik very much, for he thought that the princess
+should sit in her maiden chamber like other kings'
+daughters; but she told him that when she came to
+succeed him on the throne she would need to know
+how to defend her kingdom, and now was the time
+for her to learn.</p>
+
+<p>That she might become the better fitted to rule,
+she asked him to give her some province to govern,
+and this he did, making her queen of a third of
+his kingdom, and giving her an army of stout and
+bold warriors. Her court was held at Ulleraker in
+Upland, and here she would not let any one treat
+her as a woman, dressing always in men's clothing
+and bidding her men to call her King Torborg.<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>
+To fail in this would be at risk of their heads. As
+her fame spread abroad, there were many who came
+to court her, for she was at once very beautiful
+and the heiress of a great kingdom. But she treated
+all such with laughter and contempt. It is even
+said that she put out the eyes of some, and cut off
+the hands and feet of others, but this we do not
+like to believe. At any rate, she drove away those
+who troubled her too much with lance and spear.
+So it was plain that only a strong and bold man
+could win this warlike maiden for his wife.</p>
+
+<p>At that time King G&ouml;trik who ruled in Gothland,
+a country in southern Sweden, had sent his
+younger son Rolf to be brought up at the court of
+his foster-brother King Ring of Denmark. His
+elder son Kettil he kept at home, but did not love
+him much on account of his pride and obstinacy.
+So it happened that when G&ouml;trik was very old and
+like to die, he decided that Rolf, who was very
+tall and strong, and very fit and able, should succeed
+him, though he was the younger son. All
+agreed to this, even Kettil, so Rolf was sent for and
+made king of Gothland, which he ruled with skill
+and valor.</p>
+
+<p>One day Rolf and Kettil, who loved each other
+as brothers should, were talking together, and
+Kettil said that one thing was wanting to the glory
+and honor of Rolf's rule, and that was a queen of
+noble birth and goodly presence.</p>
+
+<p>"And whom have you in mind?" asked Rolf.</p>
+
+<p>"There is Torborg, the king of Upsala's daughter.<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>
+If you can win her for wife it will be the greatest
+marriage in the north."</p>
+
+<p>To this advice Rolf would not listen. He had
+heard of how the shrewish Torborg treated her
+suitors, and felt that wooing her would be like
+taking a wild wolf by the ears. So he stayed
+unmarried for several years more, though Kettil
+often spoke of the matter, and one day said to
+him contemptuously:</p>
+
+<p>"Many a man has a large body with little
+courage, and I fear you are such a one; for though
+you stand as a man, you do not dare to speak to
+a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I will show you that I am a man," said Rolf,
+very angry at these words.</p>
+
+<p>He sent to Denmark for his foster-brother
+Ingiald, son of King Ring, and when he came the
+two set out with sixty armed men for the court of
+King Erik in Upsala.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, about this time, Queen Ingerd of
+Upsala awoke and told King Erik of a strange
+dream she had dreamed. She had seen in her
+sleep a troop of wolves running from Gothland
+towards Sweden, a great lion and a little bear leading
+them; but these, instead of being fierce and
+shaggy, were smooth-haired and gentle.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think it means?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that the lion is the ghost of a king, and
+that the white bear is some king's son, the wolves
+being their followers. I fancy it means that Rolf
+of Gothland and Ingiald of Denmark are coming<a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>
+hither, bent on a mission of peace, since they appear
+so tame. Do you think that King Rolf is coming
+to woo our daughter, Torborg?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, woman; the king of so small a realm
+would show great assurance to seek for wife so
+great a princess as our daughter."</p>
+
+<p>So when Rolf and his followers came to Upsala
+King Erik showed his displeasure, inviting him to
+his table but giving him no seat of honor at the
+feast. Rolf sat silent and angry at this treatment,
+but when Erik asked him why he had come, he
+told him courteously enough the reason of his visit.</p>
+
+<p>"I know how fond you Goths are of a joke,"
+said Erik, with a laugh. "You have a way of saying
+one thing when you mean another. But I can
+guess what brings you. Gothland is little and its
+revenues are small and you have many people to
+keep and feed. Food is now scarce in Gothland,
+and you have come here that you may not suffer
+from hunger. It was a good thought for you to
+come to Upsala for help, and you are welcome to
+go about my kingdom with your men for a month;
+then you can return home plump and well fed."</p>
+
+<p>This jesting speech made Rolf very angry, though
+he said little in reply. But when the king told
+Queen Ingerd that evening what he had said she
+was much displeased.</p>
+
+<p>"King Rolf may have a small kingdom," she said,
+"but he has gained fame by his courage and ability,
+and is as powerful as many kings with a wider
+rule. You did not well to mock him."<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a></p>
+
+<p>The next day Erik, thus admonished, begged Rolf's
+pardon, saying that the ale had made him speak
+foolishly, and thus he became reconciled with his
+guest. As for Rolf's desire to win his daughter,
+he would first have to gain Torborg's consent, which
+would be no easy matter. The king promised not
+to interfere but would do no more.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Rolf and his men arrived at
+Ulleraker, reaching there when the whole of Torborg's
+court were assembled in the great hall.
+Fearing a hostile reception, Rolf took wary precautions.
+He choose twelve of his stoutest men,
+with himself and Ingiald at their head, to enter the
+court with drawn swords in their hands. If they
+were attacked, they were to go out backward fighting,
+but they were bidden to conduct themselves
+like men and let nothing alarm them. The others
+remained outside, keeping the horses in readiness
+to mount.</p>
+
+<p>When the party entered the hall, Rolf at their
+head, all there were struck with his great size and
+noble aspect. No one assailed them and he walked
+up the hall, on whose high seat at the front he saw
+what seemed a tall and finely formed man, dressed
+in royal robes. Knowing that this must be the
+haughty princess whose hand he had come to seek,
+he took off his helmet, bowed low before her, and
+began to tell what brought him to her court.</p>
+
+<p>He had scarcely begun when she stopped him.
+She said that he must be joking; that she knew his
+real errand was to get food and that this she would<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>
+give him; but he must apply for it to the chief of
+the kitchen, not to her.</p>
+
+<p>Rolf had not come so far to be laughed out of
+the court, and he sturdily went on with what he
+had to say, speaking to her as a woman, and
+demanding her hand in marriage. At this she
+changed her jesting manner, her cheeks grew red
+with anger, and springing up, she seized her
+weapons and called upon her men to lay hold upon
+and bind the fool that had dared affront their
+monarch. Shouting and confusion followed and a
+sharp attack was made on the intruders, but Rolf
+put on his helmet and bade his men to retire, which
+they did in good order. He walked backward
+through the whole hall, shield on arm and sword in
+hand, parrying and dealing blows, so that when he
+left the room, though no blade had touched him,
+a dozen of the courtiers lay bleeding. But being
+greatly overmatched, he ordered his men to mount,
+and they rode away unscathed.</p>
+
+<p>Back to West Gothland they went and told Kettil
+how poorly they had fared.</p>
+
+<p>"You have suffered a sore insult and affront at
+a woman's hand," said Kettil, "and my advice is
+that it be speedily avenged," but Rolf replied that
+he was not yet ready to act.</p>
+
+<p>Torborg had not taken the trouble to ask the
+name of her wooer, but when she learned who it
+was she knew very well that the matter had not
+reached its end and that her would-be lover would
+return stronger than before. As she did not want<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>
+him or any man for husband she made great preparations
+for an attack, gathering a large body of
+warriors and having a wall of great strength and
+the finest workmanship built round the town. It
+was so high and thick that no battering ram could
+shake it, while water-cisterns were built into it to
+put out the fire if any one sought to burn it. From
+this we may judge that the wall was of wood. This
+done, Torborg made merry with her court, thinking
+that no lover in the wide world would now venture
+to annoy her.</p>
+
+<p>She did not know the kind of man she had to
+deal with in King Rolf. He had fought with men
+and fancied he was fit to conquer a woman. The
+next summer he had a battle with Asmund, son of
+the king of Scotland, and when it was over they
+became friends and foster-brothers and went on
+viking cruises together. Next spring Rolf armed
+and manned six ships and, taking Kettil and Ingiald
+and Asmund with him, set sail for Upsala. He
+proposed now to woo the warrior princess in another
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Ingerd about this time dreamed again, her
+dream being the same as before, except that this
+time there were two white bears, and a hog which
+was small but spiteful, its bristles pointing forward
+and its mouth snarling as if ready to bite anything
+that came before it. And the bears did not look as
+gentle as before, but seemed irritated.</p>
+
+<p>She interpreted this dream to mean that Rolf
+was coming again to avenge the affront he had<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>
+received, and that the fierce hog must stand for
+Kettil, of whose character she had been told.</p>
+
+<p>When Rolf now arrived King Erik received him
+with honor, and again agreed to remain his friend,
+no matter how stormy a courtship he might have.
+From Upsala he set out for Ulleraker and sent a
+herald to Princess Torborg, asking speech with her.
+She presented herself at the top of the wall, surrounded
+by armed men. King Rolf renewed his
+suit, and told her plainly that if she did not accept
+his proposal he had come to burn the town and
+slay every man within its walls.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall first serve as a goatherd in West
+Gothland before you get any power over me and
+mine," answered Torborg haughtily.</p>
+
+<p>Rolf lost no time in assailing the walls, but found
+them stoutly defended. The Swedes within poured
+boiling water and hot pitch on their assailants,
+threw down stones and beams, and hurled spears
+and arrows from the wall. For fourteen days the
+siege continued without effect, until the Goths,
+weary of their hard fighting and the mockery of
+the defenders, began to complain and wanted to
+return home. The townspeople derided them by
+showing costly goods from the ramparts and bidding
+them come and take them, and ridiculed them in
+many other ways.</p>
+
+<p>King Rolf now saw that he must take other
+measures. He had a cover constructed of boards
+and brushwood and supported by stout beams, making
+a strong roof which was set against the wall<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>
+and defied all the boiling water and missiles of the
+Swedes. Under its shelter a hole was dug through
+the wall and soon the Goths were in the queen's
+citadel.</p>
+
+<p>To their surprise they found it empty. Not a
+soul was to be seen, but in every room they found
+well-cooked food and many articles of value.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a fine capture," said Kettil. "Let us
+enjoy ourselves and divide the spoil."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said Rolf. "It is a lure to draw us
+off. I will not rest till I have the princess in my
+power."</p>
+
+<p>They sought the palace through and through, but
+no one was there. Finally a secret passage was
+discovered, leading underground, and the king
+entered it, the others following. They emerged in a
+forest where they found Torborg and all her men
+and where a sharp battle began. No warrior could
+have fought more bravely than the man-like princess,
+and her men stood up for her boldly, but they
+gradually gave way before the onset of Rolf and
+his tried warriors.</p>
+
+<p>Rolf now bade Kettil to take Torborg prisoner,
+but not to wound her, saying that it would be
+shameful to use arms against a woman. Kettil
+sprang forward and gave the princess a sharp blow
+with the flat of his sword, reviling her at the same
+time with rude words. In return, Torborg gave
+him so hard a blow on the ear with her battle-axe
+that he fell prostrate, with his heels in the air.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way we treat our dogs when they
+bark too loud," she said.<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a></p>
+
+<p>Kettil sprang up, burning with anger, but at
+the same moment Rolf rushed forward and grasped
+the warlike princess in his powerful arms, so that
+she was forced to surrender.</p>
+
+<p>He told her that she was his prisoner, but that
+he did not wish to win a wife in the viking manner
+and that he would leave it to her father to judge
+what should be done. Taken captive in his arms,
+there was nothing else for her to do, and she went
+with him to Upsala, where King Erik was delighted
+at Rolf's success. As for the warlike princess, she
+laid down her arms at her father's feet, put on a
+woman's garments, and seemed glad enough to have
+been won as a bride in so warlike a manner and by
+so heroic a wooer.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this the marriage took place, the festivities
+being the grandest the court could afford
+and lasting for fourteen days, after which Rolf
+and his followers returned home, his new queen
+with him. The sagas say, as we can well believe
+after so strenuous a wooing, that afterwards King
+Rolf and Queen Torborg lived a long and happy
+life.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+
+<h2>
+	<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>
+	<a name="RAGNAR_LODBROK_AND_HIS" id="RAGNAR_LODBROK_AND_HIS"></a><i>RAGNAR LODBROK AND HIS
+WIVES AND SONS</i>.</h2>
+
+<p>The old sagas, or hero tales of the north, are full
+of stories of enchantment and strange marvels.
+We have told one of these tales in the record of
+King Rolf and Princess Torborg. We have now
+to tell that of Ragnar Lodbrok, a hero king of the
+early days, whose story is full of magical incidents.
+That this king reigned and was a famous man in
+his days there is no reason to doubt, but around his
+career gathered many fables, as was apt to be the
+case with the legends of great men in those days.
+To show what these tales were like we take from
+the sagas the marvellous record of Ragnar and his
+wives.</p>
+
+<p>In East Gothland in the ancient days there lived
+a mighty jarl, or earl, named Herr&ouml;d, who was
+descended from the gods. He had a daughter named
+Tora, who was famed for her beauty and virtue,
+but proved as hard to win for a wife as Princess
+Torborg had been. She dwelt in a high room which
+had a wall built around it like a castle, and was
+called Castle Deer, because she surpassed all other
+women in beauty as much as the deer surpasses all
+other animals.</p>
+
+<p>Her father, who was very fond of her, gave her
+as a toy a small and wonderfully beautiful snake
+which he had received in a charmed egg in Bjarmaland.<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>
+It proved to be an unwelcome gift. The
+snake was at first coiled in a little box, but soon
+grew until the box would not hold it, and in time
+was so big that the room would not hold it. So
+huge did it become in the end that it lay coiled in
+a ring around the outer walls, being so long that
+its head and tail touched.</p>
+
+<p>It got to be so vicious that no one dared come
+near it except the maiden and the man who fed it,
+and his task was no light one, for it devoured an
+ox at a single meal. The jarl was sorry enough
+now that he had given his daughter such a present.
+It was one not easy to get rid of, dread of the snake
+having spread far and wide, and though he offered
+his daughter with a great dower to the man who
+should kill it, no one for a long time ventured to
+strive for the reward. The venom which it spat out
+was enough to destroy any warrior.</p>
+
+<p>At length a suitor for the hand of the lovely
+princess was found in Ragnar, the young son of
+Sigurd Ring, then one of the greatest monarchs of
+the age, with all Sweden and Norway under his
+sway, as the sagas tell. Ragnar, though still a boy,
+had gained fame as a dauntless warrior, and was
+a fit man to dare the venture with the great snake,
+though for a long time he seemed to pay no heed
+to the princess.</p>
+
+<p>But meanwhile he had made for himself a strange
+coat. It was wrought out of a hairy hide, which
+he boiled in pitch, drew through sand, and then
+dried and hardened in the sun. The next summer<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>
+he sailed to East Gothland, hid his ships in a small
+bay, and at dawn of the next day proceeded toward
+the maiden's bower, spear in hand and wearing
+his strange coat.</p>
+
+<p>There lay the dreaded serpent, coiled in a ring
+round the wall. Ragnar, nothing daunted, struck
+it boldly with his spear, and before it could move
+in defence struck it a second blow, pressing the
+spear until it pierced through the monster's body.
+So fiercely did the snake struggle that the spear
+broke in two, and it would have destroyed Ragnar
+with the venom it poured out if he had not worn
+his invulnerable coat.</p>
+
+<p>The noise of the struggle and the fierceness of
+the snake's convulsions, which shook the whole
+tower, roused Tora and her maids, and she looked
+from her window to see what it meant. She saw
+there a tall man, but could not distinguish his
+features in the grey dawn. The serpent was now in
+its death throes, though this she did not know, and
+she called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you, and what do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>Ragnar answered in this verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"For the maid fair and wise<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I would venture my life.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The scale-fish got its death wound<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">From a youth of fifteen!"<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then he went away, taking the broken handle
+of the spear with him. Tora listened in surprise,
+for she learned from the verse that a boy of fifteen<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>
+had slain the great monster, and she marvelled at
+his great size for his years, wondering if he were
+man or wizard. When day came she told her father
+of the strange event, and the jarl drew out the
+broken spear from the snake, finding it to be so
+heavy that few men could have lifted it.</p>
+
+<p>Who had killed the serpent and earned the
+reward? The jarl sent a mandate throughout his
+kingdom, calling all men together, and when they
+came he told them the story of the snake's death,
+and bade him who possessed the handle of the
+spear to present it, as he would keep his word with
+any one, high or low.</p>
+
+<p>Ragnar and his men stood on the edge of the
+throng as the broken head of the spear was passed
+round, no one being able to present the handle
+fitting it. At length it came to Ragnar, and he
+drew forth the handle from his cloak, showing that
+the broken ends fitted exactly. A great feast for
+the victor was now given by Jarl Herr&ouml;d, and when
+Ragnar saw the loveliness of Tora, he was glad to
+ask her for his queen, while she was equally glad
+to have such a hero for her spouse. A splendid
+bridal followed and the victor took his beautiful
+bride home.</p>
+
+<p>This exploit gave Ragnar great fame and he
+received the surname of Lodbrok, on account of the
+strange coat he had worn. Ragnar and Tora lived
+happily together but not to old age, for after some
+years she took sick and died, leaving two sons, Erik
+and Agnar, who grew up to be strong and beautiful<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>
+youths. Ragnar had loved her greatly and after
+her death said he would marry no other woman.
+Nor could he comfort himself at home but began to
+wander abroad on warlike voyages, that he might
+drive away his sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving Ragnar Lodbrok to his travels, let us
+take up the strange story of another fair maiden,
+who was to have much to do with his future life.
+She was named Asl&ouml;g and was the daughter of
+King Sigurd Fafnisbane, of Germany. Soon after
+she was born enemies of her father killed him and
+her mother and all of his race they could find. Her
+life was saved by Heimer, foster-father to her
+mother, who to get her away from the murderers
+had a large harp made with a hollow frame, in
+which he hid the child and all the treasure he could
+find.</p>
+
+<p>Then he wandered far as a travelling harper,
+letting the child out when they came to solitary
+woods, and when she wept and moaned silencing
+her by striking the strings of the harp. After long
+journeying he came to a cottage in Norway called
+Spangerhed, where lived a beggar and his wife.
+Seeing a gold bracelet under Heimer's rags, and
+some rich embroidery sticking from the harp, the
+beggar and his wife killed him during the night and
+broke open the harp. They found in it the wealth
+they sought, but the discovery of the pretty little
+girl troubled them.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do with this child?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We will bring her up as our own, and name her
+Kraka, after my mother," said his wife.<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a></p>
+
+<p>"But no one will believe that ugly old people
+like us can have so fair a daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me manage it," said the wife. "I will
+put tar on her head so that her hair will not be too
+long, and keep her in ragged clothes and at the
+hardest work."</p>
+
+<p>This they did and little Asl&ouml;g grew up as a
+beggar's child. And as she kept strangely silent,
+never speaking, all people thought her dumb.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when Asl&ouml;g was well grown, Ragnar
+Lorbrok came that way, cruising along the Norway
+coast. The crew was out of bread and men were
+sent ashore to bake some at a house they saw in
+the distance. This house was Spangerhed, where
+Kraka dwelt.</p>
+
+<p>She had seen the ships come up and the men
+land, and was ashamed to be seen by strangers as
+she was, so she washed herself and combed her
+hair, though she had been bidden never to do so.
+So long and thick had her hair grown that it
+reached to the ground and covered her completely.</p>
+
+<p>When the cooks came to bake their bread they
+were so surprised at the beauty of the maiden that
+they let the loaves burn while looking at her, and
+on being blamed for this carelessness on their
+return to the ship said they could not help it, for
+they had been bewitched by the face of the loveliest
+maiden they had ever gazed upon.</p>
+
+<p>"She cannot be as lovely as Tora was," said
+Ragnar.</p>
+
+<p>"There was never a lovelier woman," they declared,<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>
+and Ragnar was so struck by their story that
+he sent messengers ashore to learn if they were
+telling the truth. If it were so, he said, if Kraka
+were as beautiful as Tora, they were bidden to
+bring her to him neither dressed nor undressed,
+neither fasting nor satisfied, neither alone nor in
+company. The messengers found the maiden as
+fair as the cooks had said and repeated the king's
+demand.</p>
+
+<p>"Your king must be out of his mind, to send such
+a message," said the beggar's wife; but Kraka told
+them that she would come as their king wished, but
+not until the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>The next day she came to the shore where the
+ship lay. She was completely covered with her
+splendid hair, worn like a net around her. She had
+eaten an onion before coming, and had with her
+the old beggar's sheep dog; so that she had fulfilled
+Ragnar's three demands.</p>
+
+<p>Her wit highly pleased Ragnar and he asked
+her to come on board, but she would not do so until
+she had been promised peace and safety. When she
+was taken to the cabin Ragnar looked at her in
+delight. He thought that she surpassed Tora in
+beauty, and offered a prayer to Odin, asking for
+the love of the maiden. Then he took the gold-embroidered
+dress which Tora had worn and offered
+it to Kraka, saying in verse, in the fashion of those
+times:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Will you have Tora's robe? It suits you well. Her<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">white hands have played upon it. Lovely and kind was<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">she to me until death."<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a></p>
+
+<p>Kraka answered, also in verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I dare not take the gold-embroidered robe which<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">adorned Tora the fair. It suits not me. Kraka am I<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">called in coal-black baize. I have ever herded goats on<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">the stones by the sea-shore."<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>"And now I will go home," she added. "If the
+king's mind does not change he can send for me
+when he will."</p>
+
+<p>Then she went back to the beggar's cottage and
+Ragnar sailed in his ship away.</p>
+
+<p>Of course every one knows without telling what
+came from such an invitation. It was not long
+before Ragnar was back with his ship and he found
+Kraka quite ready to go with him. And when they
+reached his home a splendid entertainment was
+given, during which the marriage between Ragnar
+and Kraka took place, everything being rich and
+brilliant and all the great lords of the kingdom
+being present. It will be seen that, though the
+Princess Asl&ouml;g pretended to be dumb during her
+years of youthful life in the beggar's cottage, she
+found her voice and her wits with full effect when
+the time came to use them.</p>
+
+<p>She was now the queen of a great kingdom, and
+lived for many years happily with her husband
+Ragnar. And among her children were two sons
+who were very different from other men. The
+oldest was called Iwar. He grew up to be tall and
+strong, though there were no bones in his body, but
+only gristle, so that he could not stand, but had to
+be carried everywhere on a litter. Yet he was very<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>
+wise and prudent. The second gained the name
+of Ironside, and was so tough of skin that he wore
+no armor in war, but fought with his bare body
+without being wounded. To the people this seemed
+the work of magic. There were two others who were
+like other men.</p>
+
+<p>Since the older brothers, the sons of Tora, had
+long been notable as warriors, the younger brothers,
+when they grew up, became eager to win fame and
+fortune also, and they went abroad on warlike
+expeditions, fighting many battles, winning many
+victories, and gaining much riches.</p>
+
+<p>But Iwar, the boneless one, was not satisfied with
+this common fighting, but wanted to perform some
+great exploit, that would give them a reputation
+everywhere for courage. There was the town of
+Hvitaby (now Whitby, in Yorkshire, England),
+which many great warriors had attacked, their
+father among them, but all had been driven back
+by the power of magic or necromancy. If they
+could take this stronghold it would give them
+infinite honor, said Iwar, and to this his brothers
+agreed.</p>
+
+<p>To Hvitaby they sailed, and leaving their younger
+brother Ragnwald in charge of the ships, because
+they thought him too young to take part in so hard
+a battle, they marched against the town. The place
+was ably defended, not only by men but by two
+magical heifers, their charm being that no man
+could stand before them or even listen to their
+lowing. When these beasts were loosed and ran<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>
+out towards the troops, the men were so scared
+by the terrible sound of their voices that Ironside
+had all he could do to keep them from a panic
+flight, and many of them fell prostrate. But Iwar,
+who could not stand, but was carried into battle
+upon shields, took his bow and sent his arrows
+with such skill and strength that both the magic
+heifers were slain.</p>
+
+<p>Then courage came back to the troops and the
+townsmen were filled with terror. And in the
+midst of the fighting Ragnwald came up with the
+men left to guard the ships. He was determined
+to win some of the glory of the exploit and attacked
+the townsmen with fury, rushing into their ranks
+until he was cut down. But in the end the townsmen
+were defeated and the valiant brothers returned
+with great honor and spoil, after destroying the
+castle. Thus it was that the sons of Kraka gained
+reputation as valiant warriors.</p>
+
+<p>But meanwhile Kraka herself was like to lose
+her queenly station, for Ragnar visited King Osten
+of Upsala who had a beautiful daughter named
+Ingeborg. On seeing her, his men began to say that
+it would be more fitting for their king to have this
+lovely princess for his wife, instead of a beggar's
+daughter like Kraka. Ragnar heard this evil counsel,
+and was so affected by it that he became betrothed
+to Ingeborg. When he went home he bade
+his men to say nothing about this betrothal, yet
+in some way Kraka came to know of it. That night
+she asked Ragnar for news and he said he had none
+to tell.<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a></p>
+
+<p>"If you do not care to tell me news," said Kraka,
+"I will tell you some. It is not well done for a
+king to affiance himself to one woman when he
+already has another for his wife. And, since your
+men chose to speak of me as a beggar's daughter,
+let me tell you that I am no such thing, but a king's
+daughter and of much higher birth than your new
+love Ingeborg."</p>
+
+<p>"What fable is this you tell me?" said Ragnar.
+"Who, then, were your parents?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father was King Sigurd Fafnisbane and
+my mother was the Amazon Brynhilda, daughter of
+King Budle."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you ask me to believe that the daughter of
+these great people was named Kraka and brought up
+in a peasant's hut?"</p>
+
+<p>The queen now told him that her real name was
+Asl&ouml;g and related all the events of her early life.
+And as a sign that she spoke the truth, she said that
+her next child, soon to be born, would be a son and
+would have a snake in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>It came out as she said, the boy, when born, having
+the strange sign of which she had spoken, so
+that he was given a name that meant Sigurd Snake-in-Eye.
+So rejoiced was Ragnar at this that he
+ceased to think of Ingeborg and all his old love
+for Kraka, or Asl&ouml;g as she was now called, came
+back.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the lives of Ragnar and Asl&ouml;g
+and of their warlike sons is full of valiant deeds
+and magic arts, far too long to be told here, but<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>
+which gave them a high place in the legendary
+lore of the north, in which Ragnar Lodbrok is one
+of the chief heroes. At length Ragnar was taken
+prisoner by King Ethelred of England and thrown
+into a pit full of serpents, where he died. Afterwards
+Iwar and his brothers invaded England,
+conquered that country, and avenged their father
+by putting Ethelred to death by torture. Iwar took
+England for his kingdom and the realms of the
+north were divided among his brothers, and many
+more were the wars they had, until death ended the
+career of these heroes of northern legend.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>
+<a name="HAROLD_FAIR-HAIRED" id="HAROLD_FAIR-HAIRED">
+</a><i>HAROLD FAIR-HAIRED<br />
+FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF<br />
+NORWAY</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>To the far-off island of Iceland we must go for
+the story of the early days of Norway. In that
+frosty isle, not torn by war or rent by tumult, the
+people, sitting before their winter fires, had much
+time to think and write, and it is to Iceland we
+owe the story of the gods of the north and of the
+Scandinavian kings of heathen times. One of these
+writers, Snorri Sturlasson by name, has left us
+a famous book, "The Sagas of the Kings of Norway,"
+in which he tells of a long line of ancient
+kings, who were descended from the gods. Here are
+some of their names, Aun the Old, Ingjald Ill-Ruler,
+Olaf the Wood-Cutter, Halfdan Whiteleg, and
+Halfdan the Swarthy. There were others whom
+we need not name, and of these mentioned the
+names must suffice, for all we know of them is
+legend, not truth.</p>
+
+<p>In those times there was no kingdom of Norway,
+but a number of petty provinces, ruled over by warriors
+who are spoken of as kings, but whose rule
+was not very wide. Most powerful among them
+was Halfdan the Swarthy, who was only a year
+old in 810 when his father was killed in battle.</p>
+
+<p>He lived for many years, and he and his wife
+Ragnhild had strange dreams. The queen dreamed<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>
+that a thorn which she took out of her clothes grew
+in her hands until one end of it took root in the
+ground and the other shot up into the air. It kept
+on growing until it was a great tree, so high that she
+could barely see its top. The lower part of it was
+blood-red, higher up it was bright green, and the
+spreading branches were white as snow. So widely
+they spread that they seemed to shade the whole
+country of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>King Halfdan did not like it that his wife had
+such strange dreams and he had none. He asked
+a sage why this was so, and was told that if he
+wanted to have dreams as strange he must sleep in
+a pig-sty. A queer recipe for dreams, one would
+think, but the king tried it, and dreamed that his
+hair grew long and beautiful and hung in bright
+locks over his shoulders, some of them down to
+his waist, and one, the brightest and most beautiful
+of all, still farther down.</p>
+
+<p>When he told the sage of this dream, the wise man
+said it meant that from him was to come a mighty
+race of kings, one of whom should be the greatest
+and most glorious of them all. This great hero,
+Snorri tells us, was supposed to be Olaf the Saint,
+who reigned two hundred years later, and under
+whom Christianity first flourished in Norway.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after these dreams a son was born to the
+queen, who was named Harold. A bright, handsome
+lad he grew to be, wise of mind and strong of body
+and winning the favor of all who knew him. Many
+tales which we cannot believe are told of his boyhood.<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>
+Here is one of them. Once when the king
+was seated at the Yuletide feast all the meats and
+the ale disappeared from the table, leaving an empty
+board for the monarch and his guests. There was
+present a Finn who was said to be a sorceror, and
+him the king put to the torture, to find out who had
+done this thing. Young Harold, displeased with
+his father's act, rescued the Finn from his tormentors
+and went with him to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>On they went, miles and leagues away, until they
+came to a place where a Finnish chief was holding
+a great feast. Harold stayed there until spring, when
+he told his host that he must return to his father's
+halls. Then the chief said:</p>
+
+<p>"King Halfdan was very angry when I took his
+meat and ale from him last winter, and now I will
+reward you with good tidings for what you did.
+Your father is dead and his kingdom waits for you
+to inherit. And some day you will rule over all
+Norway."</p>
+
+<p>Harold found it to be as the Finn had said, and
+thus in 860, when he was only ten years old, he
+came to the throne. He was young to be at the
+head of a turbulent people and some ambitious
+men there were who sought to take advantage of
+his youth, but his uncle guardian fought for him
+and put them all down. Harold was now the
+greatest among the petty kings of Norway and a
+wish to be ruler of the whole land grew up in his
+soul.</p>
+
+<p>Here comes in a story which may not be all<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>
+true, but is pretty enough to tell. It is to the effect
+that love drove Harold to strive for the kingdom.
+Old Snorri tells the story, which runs this way.</p>
+
+<p>King Erik of H&ouml;rdaland had a fair daughter
+named Gyda, the fame of whose beauty reached
+Harold's ears and he sent messengers to win her
+for himself. But the maid was proud and haughty
+and sent back word:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell your master that I will not yield myself to
+any man who has only a few districts for his kingdom.
+Is there no king in the land who can conquer
+all Norway, as King Erik has conquered Sweden and
+King Gorm Denmark?"</p>
+
+<p>This was all the answer she had for the heralds,
+though they pleaded for a better answer, saying that
+King Harold was surely great enough for any maid
+in the land.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my answer to King Harold," she said.
+"I will promise to become his wife if for my sake
+he shall conquer all Norway and rule it as freely
+as King Erik and King Gorm rule their kingdoms.
+Only when he has done this can he be called the king
+of a people."</p>
+
+<p>When the heralds returned they told the king of
+their ill success and advised him to take the girl
+by force.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," Harold replied. "The girl has spoken
+well and deserves thanks instead of injury. She
+has put a new thought into my mind which had not
+come to me before. This I now solemnly vow
+and call God to witness, that I will not cut or comb<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>
+my hair until the day when I shall have made
+myself king of all Norway. If I fail in this, I
+shall die in the attempt."</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image035" id="image035"></a>
+<a href="images/p35.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p35_th.jpg"
+		alt="HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY."
+		title="HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Such is the legend of Gyda and the vow. What
+history tells us is that the young king set out to
+bring all Norway under his rule and prospered in
+the great enterprise. One after another, the small
+kings yielded to his power, and were made earls
+or governors under him. They collected taxes and
+administered justice in his name. All the land of
+the peasants was declared to be the property of the
+king, and those who had been free proprietors were
+now made the king's tenants and were obliged to
+pay taxes if they wished to hold their lands. These
+changes angered many and there were frequent
+rebellions against the king, but he put them all
+down, and year after year came nearer the goal of
+his ambition. And his hair continued to grow uncut
+and uncombed, and got to be such a tangled mass
+that men called him Harold Lufa, or Frowsy-Head.</p>
+
+<p>There was one great and proud family, the Rafnistas,
+who were not easily to be won. To one of them,
+Kveld-Ulf, or Night-Wolf, Harold sent envoys, asking
+him to enter his service, but the chief sent
+back word that he was too old to change. Then he
+offered Bald Grim, old Night-Wolf's son, high
+honors if he would become his vassal. Bald Grim
+replied that he would take no honors that would
+give him rank over his father.</p>
+
+<p>Harold grew angry at this, and was ready to
+use force where good words would not prevail, but in<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>
+the end the old chief agreed that his second son
+Thorolf might be the king's man if he saw fit.
+This he agreed to do, and as he was handsome,
+intelligent and courtly the king set much store by
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Not only with the Norway chiefs, but with the
+king of Sweden, Harold had trouble. While he was
+busy in the south King Erik invaded the north, and
+Harold had to march in haste to regain his dominions.
+But the greatest danger in his career came
+in 872, when a number of chiefs combined against
+him and gathered a great fleet, which attacked
+Harold's fleet in Halfrs-Fjord. Then came the
+greatest and hottest fight known to that day in
+Norway. Loudly the war-horns sounded and the
+ships were driven fiercely to the fray, Harold's
+ship being in the front wherever the fight waxed
+hottest. Thorolf, the son of Night-Wolf, stood in
+its prow, fighting with viking fury, and beside him
+stood two of his brothers, matching him blow with
+blow.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the opposing chiefs and their men were stout
+fighters and the contest long seemed doubtful, many
+brave and able men falling on both sides. Arrows
+hissed in swift flight through the air, spears
+hurtled after them, stones were hurled by strong
+hands, and those who came hand to hand fought
+like giants. At length Harold's
+<ins class="correction" title="'bersekers' in original">berserkers</ins>&mdash;men
+who fought without armor, replacing it with fury of
+onslaught&mdash;rushed forward and boarded the hostile
+ships, cutting down all who opposed them. Blood<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>
+ran like water and the chieftains and their men
+fell or fled before this wild assault. The day was
+won for Harold, and with it the kingdom, for after
+that fatal fray none dared to stand up before him.</p>
+
+<p>His vow accomplished, all Norway now his,
+Harold at last consented to the cutting of his hair,
+this being done by Ragnvald, the earl of M&ouml;re.
+The tangled strands being cut and the hair deftly
+combed, those who saw it marvelled at its beauty,
+and from that day the king was known as Harold
+the Fair-Haired. As for Gyda, the maid, the great
+task she set having been accomplished, she gave
+her hand to Harold, a splendid marriage completing
+the love romance of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>This romance, however, is somewhat spoiled by
+the fact that Harold already had a wife, Aasa, the
+daughter of Earl Haakon, and that he afterwards
+married other wives. He had his faults and weaknesses,
+one of these being that he was not faithful
+to women and he was jealous of men who were
+growing in greatness. One of the men whom he
+began to fear or hate was Thorolf, who had aided
+him so mightily in battle and long stood highest
+in his favor.</p>
+
+<p>Thorolf married a rich wife and grew very
+wealthy, living like a prince, and becoming profuse
+in his hospitality. He was gracious and liberal and
+won hosts of friends, while he aided the king greatly
+in collecting taxes from the Finns, who were not
+very willing to part with their money. Despite this
+service Harold grew to distrust Thorolf, or to<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>
+hate him for other reasons, and the time came when
+this feeling led to a tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>Thorolf had been made bailiff of Haalogaland,
+and when Harold came to this province his bailiff
+entertained him with a splendid feast, to which
+eight hundred guests were invited, three hundred of
+them being the king's attendants.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, through all the hilarity of the feast, Harold
+sat dark and brooding, much to his host's surprise.
+He unbent a little at the end and seemed well
+pleased when Thorolf presented him with a large
+dragon ship, fully equipped. Yet not long afterwards
+he took from him his office of bailiff, and
+soon showed himself his deadly foe, slandering him
+as a pretext for attacking him on his estate.</p>
+
+<p>The assailants set fire to Thorolf's house and met
+him with a shower of spears when he broke out
+from the burning mansion. Seeing the king among
+them Thorolf rushed furiously towards him, cut
+down his banner-bearer with a sword blow, and was
+almost within touch of the king when he fell from
+his many wounds, crying: "By three steps only
+I failed."</p>
+
+<p>It is said that Harold himself gave the death
+blow, yet he looked sadly on the warrior as he lay
+dead at his feet, saying, as he saw a man bandaging
+a slight wound: "That wound Thorolf did not
+give. Differently did weapons bite in his hand.
+It is a pity that such men must die."</p>
+
+<p>This would indicate that King Harold had other
+reasons than appears from the narrative for the<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>
+slaughter of his former friend. It must be borne
+in mind that he was engaged in founding a state,
+and had many disorderly and turbulent elements
+with which to deal, and that before he had ended
+his work he was forced to banish from the kingdom
+many of those who stood in his way. We do not
+know what secret peril to his plans led him to
+remove Thorolf from his path.</p>
+
+<p>However that be, the killing of the chief sent
+his father to his bed sick with grief, and he grew
+content only when he heard that the king's hand
+had slain him and that he had fallen on his face at
+his slayer's feet. For when a dying man fell thus
+it was a sign that he would be avenged.</p>
+
+<p>But the old man was far too weak to attack
+Harold openly, and was not willing to dwell in the
+same kingdom with him; so he, with his son
+Bald Grim and all his family and wealth, took ship
+and set sail for Iceland. But long he lingered on
+Norway's coast, hoping for revenge on some of
+Harold's blood, and chance threw in his way a
+ship containing two cousins of the king. This he
+attacked, killed the king's cousins, and captured the
+ship. Then Bald Grim, full of exultation, sang
+a song of triumph on the ship's prow, beginning
+with:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Now is the Hersir's vengeance<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On the king fulfilled;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wolf and eagle tread on<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Yngling's children."<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>There were other chieftains who sought refuge<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>
+abroad from Harold's rule, men who were bitterly
+opposed to the new government he founded, with
+its system of taxation and its strict laws. They
+could not see why the old system of robbing and
+plundering within Norway's confines should be
+interfered with or their other ancient privileges
+curtailed, and several thousand sailed away to found
+new homes in the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and Iceland.</p>
+
+<p>One of the chief of these, Rolf, or Rollo,
+son of the king's friend, Ragnvald of M&ouml;re, defied
+Harold's laws and was declared an outlaw. His
+high birth made the king more determined to
+punish him, as an example to others, and no influence
+could win forgiveness for Rolf the Walker,
+as men called him, saying that he was so tall and
+heavy that no horse could carry him.</p>
+
+<p>We must follow the outlaw in his journey, for
+it was one destined to lead to great events. Setting
+sail with a fleet and a large number of followers,
+he made his way to the coast of France, and fixed
+himself there, plundering the people for several
+years. Charles the Simple, king of France, finding
+that he could not drive the bold Norseman off, at
+length gave him a large province on condition that
+he would become a Christian, and hold his land
+as a vassal of the king. The province was given
+the name of Normandy, and from Rollo descended
+that sturdy race of kings one of whom conquered
+England in the following century. Thus the exile
+of Rollo led to events of world-wide importance.<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a></p>
+
+<p>When the proud Norseman was asked to kiss
+King Charles's foot in token of fealty to him, he
+answered: "I will never bend my knee before any
+man, nor will I kiss any man's foot."</p>
+
+<p>He could hardly be persuaded to let one of his
+men kiss the king's foot as a proxy for him. The
+man chosen strode sturdily forward, seized the foot
+of the king, who was on horseback, and lifted it
+to his lips so roughly that the poor king turned a
+somersault from his horse. The Norsemen laughed
+in derision while the king's followers stood by grim
+and silent.</p>
+
+<p>But despite his unruliness at home, Rollo, when
+he got a kingdom of his own, ruled it with all the
+sternness of King Harold, hanging all robbers that
+fell into his hands, and making his kingdom so
+secure that the peasants could leave their tools in
+the fields at night without fear of loss. Five
+generations after him came to the throne William
+the Conqueror, who won himself the kingdom of
+England.</p>
+
+<p>To go back to Harold, the builder of the kingdom
+of Norway, we shall only say in conclusion
+that he built his rule on sure foundations and kept
+a court of high splendor, and died without a rebel
+in his realm in 933, seventy-three years after he
+succeeded his father as ruler of a province.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>
+<a name="GORM_THE_OLD" id="GORM_THE_OLD">
+</a><i>GORM THE OLD,<br />
+DENMARK'S FIRST KING</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In ancient times Denmark was not a kingdom,
+but a multitude of small provinces ruled over by
+warlike chiefs who called themselves kings. It was
+not until the ninth century that these little king-ships
+were combined into one kingdom, this being
+done by a famous chieftain, known by the Danes as
+Gorm den Gamle, or Gorm the Old. A great warrior
+he was, a viking of the vikings, and southern
+Europe felt his heavy hand. A famous story of
+barbarian life is that of Gorm, which well deserves
+to be told.</p>
+
+<p>He was the son of a fierce pagan of Norway, Hardegon,
+who was of royal blood, being a grandson of
+the half-fabulous Ragnar Lodbrok. A prince with
+only his sword for kingdom, Hardegon looked
+around for a piece of land to be won by fighting,
+and fixed upon Lejre, in the fruitful Danish island
+of Sj&ouml;lland, which was just then in a very inviting
+state for the soldier of fortune. Some time before
+it had fallen into the hands of a Swedish fortune-seeker
+named Olaf, who left it to his two sons.
+These in turn had just been driven out by Siegric,
+the rightful king, when Hardegon descended upon
+it and seized it for himself. Dying, he left it to his
+son Gorm.</p>
+
+<p>It was a small kingdom that Gorm had fallen<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>
+heir to. A lord's estate we would call it to-day.
+But while small in size, it stood high in rank, for
+it was here that the great sacrifices to Odin, the
+chief Scandinavian deity, were held, and it was
+looked upon as one of the most sacred of spots.
+Hither at Yuletide came the devotees of Odin from
+all quarters to worship at his shrine, and offer gifts
+of gold and silver, precious stones and costly robes,
+to the twelve high priests of whom the king of
+Lejre was the chief. And every worshipper, whether
+rich or poor, was expected to bring a horse, a dog,
+or a cock, these animals being sacred to Odin and
+sacrificed in large numbers annually at his shrine.
+In the special nine-year services, people came in
+great numbers, and it is probable that on these
+occasions human sacrifices were made, captives taken
+in war or piratical excursions being saved for this
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>As one may see, the king of Lejre had excellent
+opportunity to acquire wealth, and young Gorm,
+being brave, clever, and ambitious, used his riches
+to increase his landed possessions. At least, the
+Danish historians tell us that he began by buying
+one bit of land, getting another by barter, seizing
+on one district, having another given him, and so
+on. But all this is guess-work, and all we actually
+know is that Gorm, the son of a poor though nobly-born
+sea-rover, before his death gained control of
+all Denmark, then much larger than the Denmark
+of to-day, and changed the small state with which
+he began into a powerful kingdom, bringing all the
+small kings under his sway.<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a></p>
+
+<p>The ambitious chief did not content himself with
+this. Long before his kingdom was rounded and
+complete he had become known as one of the most
+daring and successful of the viking adventurers
+who in those days made all Europe their prey.</p>
+
+<p>Early in his reign he made a plundering cruise
+along the shores of the Baltic and joined in a piratical
+invasion of Russia, penetrating far inward
+and pillaging as he went. We hear of him again in
+882 as one of the chiefs of a daring band which
+made a conquering raid into Germany, intrenched
+itself on the river Maas, sallied forth on plundering
+excursions whose track was marked by ruined fields
+and burnt homesteads, villages and towns, and even
+assailed and took Aix-la-Chapelle, one of the chief
+cities of the empire of Charlemagne and the seat of
+his tomb. The reckless freebooters stalled their
+horses in the beautiful chapel in which the great
+emperor lay buried and stripped from his tomb its
+gilded and silvered railings and everything of value
+which the monks had not hidden.</p>
+
+<p>The whole surrounding country was similarly
+ravaged and desolated by the ruthless heathens,
+monasteries were burned, monks were killed or captured,
+and the emperor, Charles the Fat, was boldly
+defied. When Charles brought against the plunderers
+an army large enough to devour them, he
+was afraid to strike a blow against them, and preferred
+to buy them off with a ransom of two thousand
+pounds of gold and silver, all he got in return
+being their promise to be baptized.<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a></p>
+
+<p>Finding that they had a timid foe to deal with,
+the rapacious Norsemen asked for more, and when
+they finally took to their ships two hundred transports
+were needed to carry away their plunder.
+The cowardly Charles, indeed, was so wrought upon
+by fear of the pagan Danes that he even passed the
+incredible law that any one who killed a Norseman
+should have his eyes put out and in some cases
+should lose his life.</p>
+
+<p>All this was sure to invite new invasions. A
+wave of joy passed through the north when the
+news spread of the poltroonery of the emperor and
+the vast spoil awaiting the daring hand. Back
+they came, demanding and receiving new ransom,
+and in 885 there began a great siege of Paris by
+forty thousand Danes.</p>
+
+<p>King Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part
+in this, and when Henry of Neustria, whom the
+emperor had sent with an army against them, was
+routed and driven back, it was Gorm who pursued
+the fugitives into the town of Soissons, where many
+captives and a great booty were taken.</p>
+
+<p>The dastard emperor again bought them off with
+money and freedom to ravage Burgundy, Paris
+being finally rescued by Count Eudes. In 891
+they were so thoroughly beaten by King Arnulf, of
+Germany, that their great leaders fell on the field
+and only a remnant of the Norsemen escaped alive,
+the waters of the river Dyle running red with the
+blood of slain thousands.</p>
+
+<p>Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part in<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>
+this disastrous battle of Louvaine and was one of
+the fortunate few who lived to return to their
+native land. Apparently it was not the last of his
+expeditions, his wife, Queen Thyra, taking care of
+the kingdom in his many long absences.</p>
+
+<p>Thyra needed ability and resolution to fitly perform
+this duty, for those were restless and turbulent
+times, and the Germans made many incursions into
+Sleswick and Jutland and turned the borderlands
+on the Eyder into a desert. This grew so hard
+to bear that the wise queen devised a plan to prevent
+it. Gathering a great body of workmen from
+all parts of Denmark, she set them to building a
+wall of defense from forty-five to seventy-five feet
+high and eight miles long, crossing from water to
+water on the east and west. This great wall, since
+known as the Dannevirke, took three years to build.
+There were strong watch-towers at intervals and
+only one gate, and this was well protected by a
+wide and deep ditch, crossed by a bridge that could
+readily be removed.</p>
+
+<p>For ages afterwards the Danes were grateful to
+Queen Thyra for this splendid wall of defense and
+sang her praises in their national hymns, while
+they told wonderful tales of her cleverness in ruling
+the land while her husband was far away. Fragments
+of Thyra's rampart still remain and its
+remains formed the groundwork of all the later
+border bulwarks of Denmark.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Thyra, while a worshipper of the northern
+gods, showed much favor to the Christians and<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>
+caused some of her children to be signed with the
+cross. But King Gorm was a fierce pagan and
+treated his Christian subjects so cruelly that he
+gained the name of the "Church's worm," being
+regarded as one who was constantly gnawing at the
+supports of the Church. Henry I. the Fowler, the
+great German emperor of that age, angry at this
+treatment of the Christians, sent word to Gorm that
+it must cease, and when he found that no heed was
+paid to his words he marched a large army to the
+Eyder, giving Gorm to understand that he must
+mend his ways or his kingdom would be overrun.</p>
+
+<p>Gorm evidently feared the loss of his dominion,
+for from that time on he allowed the Archbishop of
+Bremen to preach in his dominions and to rebuild
+the churches which had been destroyed, while he
+permitted his son Harald, who favored the Christians,
+to be signed with the cross. But he kept to
+the faith of his forefathers, as did his son Knud,
+known as "Dan-Ast," or the "Danes'-joy."</p>
+
+<p>The ancient sagas tell us that there was little love
+between Knud and Harald; and that Gorm, fearing
+ill results from this, swore an oath that he would
+put to death any one who attempted to kill his
+first-born son, or who should even tell him that
+Knud had died.</p>
+
+<p>While Harald remained at home and aided his
+mother, Knud was of his father's fierce spirit and
+for years attended him on his viking expeditions.
+On one of these he was drowned, or rather was
+killed while bathing, by an arrow shot from one<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>
+of his own ships. Gorm was absent at the time,
+and Thyra scarcely knew how the news could be
+told him without incurring the sworn penalty of
+death.</p>
+
+<p>Finally she put herself and her attendants into
+deep mourning and hung the chief hall of the
+palace with the ashy-grey hangings used at the
+grave-feasts of Northmen of noble birth. Then,
+seating herself, she awaited Gorm's return. On
+entering the hall he was struck by these signs of
+mourning and by the silence and dejection of the
+queen, and broke out in an exclamation of dismay:</p>
+
+<p>"My son, Knud, is dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast said it, and not I, King Gorm," was
+the queen's reply. The news of the death had thus
+been conveyed to him without any one incurring the
+sworn penalty. Soon after that&mdash;in 936&mdash;King
+Gorm died, and the throne of Denmark was left to
+his son Harald, a cruel and crafty man whom many
+of the people believed to have caused the murder
+of his brother.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>
+<a name="ERIK_BLOOD-AXE" id="ERIK_BLOOD-AXE">
+</a><i>ERIK BLOOD-AXE<br />
+AND EGIL THE ICELANDER</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the year 900 Harold the Fair-Haired, the
+famous monarch who made a kingdom of Norway,
+passed a law which was to work mischief for centuries
+to come. Erik, his favorite son, was named
+overlord of the kingdom, but with the proviso that
+his other sons should bear the kingly title and
+rule over provinces, while the sons of his daughters
+were to be made earls. Had the wise Harold
+dreamed of the trouble this unwise law was to make
+he would have cut off his right hand before signing
+it. It was to give rise to endless rebellions and
+civil wars which filled the kingdom with ruin and
+slaughter for many reigns and at last led to its
+overthrow and long disappearance from among
+the separate nations of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>A bold and daring prince was Erik, with the
+old viking blood in his veins. When only twelve
+years of age his father gave him five ships, each
+with a sturdy crew of Norsemen, and sent him out
+to ravage the southern lands, in the manner of the
+sea-kings of those days. Many were the perilous
+exploits of the young viking admiral and when
+he came back to his father's halls and told him of
+his daring deeds, the old king listened with delight.
+So fierce and fatal were many of his fights that he
+won the name of Blood-Axe, but for this his father<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>
+loved him all the more and chose him to be his
+successor on the throne.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image050" id="image050"></a>
+<a href="images/p50.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p50_th.jpg"
+		alt="HOME OF PEASANTS. NORWAY."
+		title="HOME OF PEASANTS. NORWAY."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">HOME OF PEASANTS. NORWAY.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Before his father died Erik had shown what was
+in him, by attacking and killing two of his brothers.
+But despite all that, when the old king was eighty
+years of age he led Erik to the throne and named
+him as his successor. Three years later Harold died
+and Norway fell under the young sea-king's hand&mdash;a
+brave, handsome, stately ruler; but haughty, cruel,
+and pitiless in his wrath, and with the old viking
+wildness in his blood.</p>
+
+<p>He had married a woman whom men called a
+witch&mdash;cruel, treacherous, loving money and power,
+and with such influence over him that she killed all
+the good in his soul and spurred him on to evil
+deeds.</p>
+
+<p>Strange stories are told of the wicked Queen
+Gunhild. It was said that she had been sent to
+Finland to learn the arts of sorcery, in which the
+Finns of those days were well versed. Here Erik
+met her in one of his wanderings, and was taken
+captive by her bold beauty. She dwelt with two
+sorcerers, both bent on marrying her, while she
+would have neither of them. Prince Erik was a
+suitor more to her liking and she hid him in her
+tent, begging him to rescue her from her troublesome
+lovers.</p>
+
+<p>This was no easy task, for sorcerers have arts of
+their own, but Erik proved equal to it, cut his way
+through all the difficulties in his path and carried
+Gunhild away to his ships, where he made her his<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>
+wife. In her he had wed a dragon of mischief, as
+his people were to learn.</p>
+
+<p>She was of small size but of wonderful beauty,
+and with sly, insinuating ways that fitted her well
+to gain the mastery over strong men. But all her
+arts were used for evil, and she won the hatred of
+the people by speaking words of ill counsel in her
+husband's ears. The treachery and violence he
+showed were said to be the work of Gunhild the
+witch, and the nobles and people soon grew to hate
+Erik Blood-Axe and his cruel wife, and often broke
+out in rebellion against them.</p>
+
+<p>His brothers, who had been made kings of provinces,
+were not ready to submit to his harsh rule,
+and barely was old King Harold dead before Halfdan
+the Swarthy&mdash;who bore the name of his grandfather&mdash;claimed
+to be monarch in Tr&ouml;ndelag, and
+Olaf, another brother, in Viken. Death came suddenly
+to Halfdan&mdash;men whispered that he had been
+poisoned by the queen&mdash;but his brother Sigfrid took
+his place and soon the flame of rebellion rose north
+and south. Erik proved equal to the difficulty.
+Sigfrid and Olaf were in Tunsberg, where they had
+met to lay plans to join their forces, when Erik,
+whose spies told him of their movements, took
+the town by surprise and killed them both.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, so far, Erik Blood-Axe was triumphant.
+He had killed four of his brothers&mdash;men said five&mdash;and
+every one thought that Gunhild would not be
+content until all King Harold's brood except her
+own husband were in the grave.<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a></p>
+
+<p>Trouble next came from a region far away, the
+frost-king's land of Iceland in the northern seas,
+which had been settled from Norway in the early
+reign of Harold the Fair-Haired, some sixty years
+before. Here lived a handsome and noble man
+named Thorolf, who had met Erik in his viking
+days. He was the son of the stern old Icelander
+Bald Grim, and nephew of the noble Thorolf who
+had been basely slain by King Harold.</p>
+
+<p>Bald Grim hated Harold and all his race, but
+Thorolf grew to admire Erik for his daring and
+made him a present of a large and beautiful ship.
+Thus Erik became his friend, and when Thorolf
+came to Norway the young prince begged his father
+to let him dwell there in peace. When he at length
+went home to Iceland he took with him an axe with
+a richly carved handle, which Erik had sent as a
+present to his father.</p>
+
+<p>Old Bald Grim was not the man to be bought
+over by a present. The hate he felt for Harold
+he transferred to his son, and when Thorolf set
+sail again for Norway his father bade him take
+back the axe to the king and sang an insulting song
+which he bade him repeat to Erik. Thorolf did not
+like his errand. He thought it best to let the blood-feud
+die, so he threw the axe into the sea and when
+he met the king gave him his father's thanks for
+the fine gift. If Thorolf had had his way the
+trouble would have been at an end, but with him
+came Egil, his younger brother, a man of different
+character.<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a></p>
+
+<p>Stern old Bald Grim seemed born again in his son
+Egil. A man of great size, swarthy face, harsh of
+aspect, and of fierce temper, in him was the old,
+tameless spirit of the Norse sea-kings, turbulent,
+passionate, owning no man master, he bent his
+strong soul to no man's rule. Rash and adventurous,
+he had a long and stormy career, while
+nature had endowed him with a rich gift of song,
+which added to his fame. Such was the type of
+men who in those days made all Europe tremble
+before the Norsemen's wrath, and won dominion
+for the viking warriors in many lands.</p>
+
+<p>Thorold when in Norway before had gained powerful
+friends in the great nobles, Thore Herse and
+Bj&ouml;rn the Yeoman. On this visit the brothers
+became Thore's guests, and Egil and Arinbj&ouml;rn,
+Thore's son, became warm friends. The young
+Icelander's hot temper soon brewed trouble. Sickness
+kept him from going with Thorolf to the
+house of Bj&ouml;rn the Yeoman, whose daughter, Aasgard,
+he was to marry; but he soon got well and
+went on a visit to Baard, a steward of the king.
+As fortune decreed he met there King Erik and
+Queen Gunhild.</p>
+
+<p>Egil was not the man to play the courtier and
+his hot blood was under little control. When Baard
+neglected him in favor of his royal visitor, he broke
+into such a rage that the queen, to quiet him, tried
+one of her underhand arts. She bade Baard to mix
+sleeping herbs with his beer.</p>
+
+<p>Suspecting treachery from the taste of the beer<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>
+Egil flung his flagon to the floor, struck Baard dead
+in his fury, and, fleeing for his life, swam to an
+island in the neighboring stream. When men were
+sent to search the island and capture him he killed
+some of them, seized their boat, and made his
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>King Erik was furious, but Thore Herse got him
+to accept a money payment for Baard's death&mdash;as
+was then the custom of the land&mdash;and he agreed
+to let Egil dwell in Norway unharmed.</p>
+
+<p>This was not to the queen's liking. She was fond
+of Baard and was deeply incensed at Egil for his
+murderous act, and she stormed at the king for
+his mildness of temper till he broke out:</p>
+
+<p>"You are forever egging me on to acts of violence;
+but now you must hold your peace, for I
+have given my kingly word and cannot break it."</p>
+
+<p>Gunhild, thus repulsed, sought other means of
+revenge. A great feast of sacrifice to the old
+heathen gods was to be held at the temple of Gaule,
+and at her instigation her brother, Eyvind Skreyja,
+agreed to kill one of Bald Grim's sons. Finding no
+opportunity for this, he killed one of Thorolf's men,
+for which act Erik outlawed him.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the story of Egil's career is
+largely that of a viking, that is, a piratical rover,
+bent on spoil and plunder and the harrying of sea-coast
+lands. With Thorolf he took to the sea and
+cruised about in quest of wealth and glory, finally
+landing in England and fighting in a great battle
+under the banner of King Athelstan. He made his<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>
+mark here, but Thorolf was slain, so Egil went back
+to Norway, married his brother's widow, and sailed
+for his old home in Iceland, which he had not seen
+for twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>Iceland was too quiet a land to hold the stirring
+sea-king long and news from Norway soon made
+him take ship again. Bj&ouml;rn the Yeoman, his wife's
+father, had died, and Queen Gunhild had given his
+estate to Berg-Anund, one of her favorites. Storming
+with rage, he reached Norway and hotly pleaded
+his claim to the estate before the assembly or <i>thing</i>
+at Gula, Erik and Gunhild being present. He failed
+in his purpose, the <i>thing</i> breaking up in disorder;
+and Egil, probably finding Norway too hot to hold
+him, went back to Iceland.</p>
+
+<p>If King Erik now fancied he was rid of the turbulent
+Icelander he was mistaken. Rankling with
+a sense of injury and borne onward by his impetuous
+temper, Egil was soon in Norway again, sought
+the Bj&ouml;rn estate, surprised and killed Berg-Anund,
+and went so far in his daring as to kill Ragnvald,
+the king's son, who was visiting Berg. Carried to
+extremes by his unruly temper he raised what was
+called a shame-pole, or pole of dishonor, on a cliff
+top, to the king and queen. On it he thrust the
+head of a dead horse, crying out:</p>
+
+<p>"I turn this dishonor against all the land-spirits
+of this land, that they may all stray bewildered and
+none of them find his home until they have driven
+King Erik and Queen Gunhild out of this land."</p>
+
+<p>This message of defiance he cut in runes&mdash;the<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>
+letters of the Northland&mdash;into the pole, that all
+might read it, and then sailed back to Iceland.</p>
+
+<p>Egil had not long to wait for his curse to take
+effect, for Erik's reign was soon threatened from
+a new source. He had not killed all his brothers.
+In the old days of King Harold, when near seventy
+years old, he had married a new wife, who bore him
+a son whom he named Haakon,&mdash;destined in later
+life to reign with the popular title of Haakon the
+Good. This boy, perhaps for his safety, had been
+sent to England and given over to King Athelstan,
+who brought him up almost as his own son.</p>
+
+<p>Erik had been four years on the throne when
+Haakon came back to Norway, a handsome, noble
+youth, kind of heart and gentle in disposition, and
+on all sides hailed with joy, for Erik and his evil-minded
+wife had not won the love of the people.
+Great nobles and many of the people gathered
+around Haakon, men saying that he was like King
+Harold come back again, gentler and nobler than of
+old and with all his old stately beauty and charm.</p>
+
+<p>The next year he was crowned king. Erik tried
+to raise an army, but none of the people were willing
+to fight for him, and he was forced to flee with
+his wife and children. Only a few of his old friends
+went with him, but among them was Arinbj&ouml;rn,
+Egil's former friend.</p>
+
+<p>Sudden had been King Erik's fall. Lately lord
+of a kingdom, he had now not a foot of land he
+could call his own, and he sailed about as a sea-robber,
+landing and plundering in Scotland and<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>
+England. At length, to rid himself of this stinging
+hornet of the seas, King Athelstan made him lord
+of a province in Northumberland, with the promise
+that he would fight for it against other vikings
+like himself. He was also required to be baptized
+and become a Christian.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Egil dwelt in Iceland, but in bitter
+discontent. He roamed about the strand, looking
+for sails at sea and seeming to care little for his
+wife and children. Men said that Gunhild had
+bewitched him, but more likely it was his own
+unquiet spirit. At any rate the time came when
+he could bear a quiet life no longer and he took
+ship and sailed away to the south.</p>
+
+<p>Misfortune now went with him. A storm drove
+his ship ashore on the English coast at the mouth
+of the Humber, the ship being lost but he and his
+thirty men reaching shore. Inquiring in whose
+land he was, people told him that Erik Blood-Axe
+ruled that region.</p>
+
+<p>Egil's case was a desperate one. He was in the
+domain of his deadly foe, with little hope of escape.
+With his usual impetuous spirit, he made no
+attempt to flee, but rode boldly into York, where he
+found his old friend Arinbj&ouml;rn. With him he went
+straight to Erik, like the reckless fellow he was.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you expect from me?" asked Erik.
+"You deserve nothing but death at my hands."</p>
+
+<p>"Death let it be, then," said the bold viking, in
+his reckless manner.</p>
+
+<p>Gunhild on seeing him was eager for his blood.<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>
+She had hated him so long that she hotly demanded
+that he should be killed on the spot. Erik, less
+bloodthirsty, gave him his life for one night more,
+and Arinbj&ouml;rn begged him to spend the night in
+composing a song in Erik's honor, hoping that in
+this way he might win his life.</p>
+
+<p>Egil promised to do so and his friend brought him
+food and drink, bidding him do his best. Anxious
+to know how he was progressing Arinbj&ouml;rn visited
+him in the night.</p>
+
+<p>"How goes the song?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a line of it is ready," answered Egil. "A
+swallow has been sitting in the window all the
+night, screaming and disturbing me, and do what
+I would I could not drive it away."</p>
+
+<p>At that Arinbj&ouml;rn darted into the hall, where
+he saw in the dim light a woman running hastily
+away. Going back he found that the swallow had
+flown. He was sure now that Queen Gunhild had
+changed herself into a swallow by sorcery, and for
+the remainder of the night he kept watch outside
+that the bird should not return. When morning
+broke he found that Egil had finished his song.</p>
+
+<p>Determined to save his friend's life if he could,
+he armed himself and his men and went with Egil
+to the palace of the king, where he asked Erik for
+Egil's life as a reward for his devotion to him when
+others had deserted him.</p>
+
+<p>Erik made no reply, and then Arinbj&ouml;rn cried
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"This I will say. Egil shall not die while I or
+one of my men remain alive."<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Egil has well deserved death," replied Erik,
+"but I cannot buy his death at that price."</p>
+
+<p>As he stopped speaking Egil began to sing, chanting
+his ode in tones that rang loudly through the
+hall. Famed as a poet, his death song was one of
+the best he had ever composed, and it praised Erik's
+valor in all the full, wild strains of the northern
+verse.</p>
+
+<p>Erik heard the song through with unmoved face.
+When it was done he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Your song is a noble one, and your friend's
+demand for your life is nobler still. Nor can I be
+the dastard to kill a man who puts himself of his
+own will into my hands. You shall depart unharmed.
+But do not think that I or my sons forgive
+you, and from the moment you leave this hall
+never come again under my eyes or the eyes of
+my sons."</p>
+
+<p>Egil thus won his life by his song, which became
+known as the "Ransom of the Head." Another of
+his songs, called "The Loss of the Son," is held
+to be the most beautiful in all the literature of Iceland.
+He afterwards lived long and had many
+more adventures, and in the end died in his bed
+in Iceland when he was over ninety years of age.
+Erik died in battle many years earlier, and Gunhild
+then went to Denmark with her sons. She
+was to make more trouble for Norway before she
+died.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>
+<a name="THE_SEA-KINGS" id="THE_SEA-KINGS">
+</a><i>THE SEA-KINGS<br />
+AND THEIR DARING FEATS</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>From the word <i>vik</i>, or bay, comes the word
+viking, long used to designate the sea-rovers of
+the Northland, the bold Norse wanderers who for
+centuries made their way to the rich lands of the
+south on plundering raids. Beginning by darting
+out suddenly from hiding places in bays or river
+mouths to attack passing craft, they in the end
+became daring scourers of the seas and won for
+themselves kingdoms and dominions in the settled
+realms of the south.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was known of them in the early days.
+The people of southern Europe in the first Christian
+centuries hardly knew of the existence of the
+race of fair-skinned and light-haired barbarians
+who dwelt in the great peninsula of the north. It
+was not until near the year 800 B.C. that these
+bold brigands learned that riches awaited those who
+dared seize it on the shores of France, England,
+and more southern lands. Then they came in fleets
+and spread terror wherever they appeared. For
+several centuries the realms of civilization trembled
+before their very name.</p>
+
+<p>"From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord
+deliver us!" prayed the priests, and the people
+joined fervently in the prayer.<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a></p>
+
+<p>Long before this period the sea was the favorite
+hunting ground of the daring sons of the north, but
+the small chiefs of that period preyed upon each
+other, harrying their neighbors and letting distant
+lands alone. But as the power of the chiefs, and
+their ability to protect themselves increased, this
+mode of gaining wealth and fame lost its ease and
+attraction and the rovers began to rove farther
+afield.</p>
+
+<p>Sea-kings they called themselves. On land the
+ruler of a province might be called either earl or
+king, but the earl who went abroad with his followers
+on warlike excursions was content with no
+less name than king, and the chiefs who set out on
+plundering cruises became from the first known
+as sea-kings. Pirates and freebooters we would
+call them to-day, but they were held in high distinction
+in their native land, and some of the most
+cruel of them, on their return home, became men
+of influence, with all the morality and sense of
+honor known in those early days. Their lives of
+ravage and outrage won them esteem at home and
+the daring and successful sea-king ranked in fame
+with the noblest of the home-staying chiefs. We
+have seen how King Erik began his career as a
+viking and ended it in the same pursuit; how
+Rollo, a king's son, adopted the same profession;
+and from this it may be seen that the term was one
+of honor instead of disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>From all the lands of the north they came, these
+dreaded sons of the sea, from Norway, Sweden, and<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>
+Denmark alike, fierce heathens they who cared
+nought for church or priest, but liked best to rob
+chapels and monasteries, for there the greatest
+stores of gold and silver could be found. When the
+churches were plundered they often left them in
+flames, as they also did the strong cities they captured
+and sacked. The small, light boats with which
+they dared the sea in its wrath were able to go far
+up the rivers, and wherever these fierce and bloodthirsty
+rovers appeared wild panic spread far
+around. So fond were they of sword-thrust and
+battle that one viking crew would often challenge
+another for the pure delight of fighting. A torment
+and scourge they were wherever they appeared.</p>
+
+<p>The first we hear in history of the sea-kings is
+in the year 787, when a small party of them landed
+on the English coast. In 794 came another flock of
+these vultures of the sea, who robbed a church and
+a monastery, plundering and killing, and being
+killed in their turn when a storm wrecked their
+ships and threw them on shore. As a good monk
+writes of them: "The heathen came from the
+northern countries to Britain like stinging wasps,
+roamed about like savage wolves, robbing, biting,
+killing not only horses, sheep, and cattle, but also
+priests, acolytes, monks, and nuns."</p>
+
+<p>The Norsemen had found a gold mine in the
+south and from this time on they worked it with
+fierce hands. Few dared face them, and even in
+the days of the great Charlemagne they ravaged
+the coast lands of France. Once, when the great<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>
+emperor was in one of his cities on the Mediterranean
+coast, a fleet of the swift viking ships, known
+by their square sails, entered the harbor. Soon word
+was brought that they had landed and were plundering.
+Who they were the people knew not,
+some saying that they were Jews, others Africans,
+and others that they were British merchants.</p>
+
+<p>"No merchants they," said the emperor. "Those
+ships do not bring us goods, but fierce foes, bloody
+fighters from the north."</p>
+
+<p>The warriors around him at once seized their
+weapons and hurried to the shore, but the vikings
+had learned that the great emperor was in the city
+and, not daring to face him, had sought their ships
+and spread their sails again. Tears came to the
+eyes of Charlemagne as he watched them in their outward
+flight. He said to those around him:</p>
+
+<p>"It is not for fear that these brigands can do me
+any harm that I weep, but for their daring to show
+themselves on this coast while I am alive. Their
+coming makes me foresee and fear the harm they
+may do to my descendants."</p>
+
+<p>This story may be one of those legends which
+the monks were fond of telling, but it serves to
+show how the dread Norsemen were feared. France
+was one of their chief fields of ravage and slaughter.
+First coming in single ships, to rob and flee, they
+soon began to come in fleets and grew daring enough
+to attack and sack cities. Hastings, one of the most
+renowned of them all, did not hesitate to attack
+the greatest cities of the south.<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a></p>
+
+<p>In 841 this bold freebooter sailed up the Loire
+with a large fleet, took and burned the city of
+Amboise, and laid <ins class="correction"
+title="'seige' in original">siege</ins> to Tours. But here the
+inhabitants, aided, it is said, by the bones of their
+patron saint, drove him off. Four years later he
+made an attack on Paris, and as fortune followed
+his flag he grew so daring that he sought to capture
+the city of Rome and force the Pope to crown him
+emperor.</p>
+
+<p>For an account of this remarkable adventure of
+the bold Hastings see the article, "The Raids of the
+Sea-Rovers," in the German volume of "Historical
+Tales." In that account are also given the chief
+exploits of the vikings in France and Germany.
+We shall therefore confine ourselves in the remainder
+of this article to their operations in other lands,
+and especially in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>This country was a common field for the depredations
+of the Norse rovers. For some reason not
+very clear to us the early vikings did not trouble
+England greatly, but for many years they spread
+terror through the sister isle, and in the year 838
+Thorgisl, one of their boldest leaders, came with a
+fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, with which
+he attacked and captured the city of Dublin, and
+afterwards, as an old author tells us, he conquered
+all Ireland, securing his conquest with stone forts
+surrounded with deep moats.</p>
+
+<p>But the Irish at length got rid of their conqueror
+by a stratagem. It was through love that the sea-king
+was lost. Bewitched with the charms of the<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>
+fair daughter of Maelsechnail, one of the petty
+kings of the land, he bade this chieftain to send her
+to him, with fifteen young maidens in her train.
+He agreed to meet her on an island in Loch Erne
+with as many Norsemen of high degree.</p>
+
+<p>Maelsechnail obeyed, but his maidens were
+beardless young men, dressed like women but armed
+with sharp daggers. Thorgisl and his men, taken
+by surprise, were attacked and slain. The Irish
+chief had once before asked Thorgisl how he should
+rid himself of some troublesome birds that had
+invaded the island. "Destroy their nests," said the
+Norseman. It was wise advice, and Maelsechnail
+put it in effect against the nests of the conquerors,
+destroying their stone strongholds, and killing or
+driving them away, with the aid of his fellow
+chieftains.</p>
+
+<p>Thus for a time Ireland was freed. It was conquered
+again by Olaf the White, who in 852 defeated
+some Danes who had taken Dublin, and then, like
+Thorgisl, began to build castles and tax the people.
+Two other viking leaders won kingdoms in Ireland,
+but Olaf was the most powerful of them all, and the
+kingdom founded by him lasted for three hundred
+and fifty years. From Dublin Olaf sailed to Scotland
+and England, the booty he won filling two
+hundred ships.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-rovers did not confine their voyages to
+settled lands. Bold ocean wanderers, fearless of
+man on shore and tempest on the waves, they visited
+all the islands of the north and dared the perils of<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>
+the unknown sea. They rounded the North Cape
+and made their way into the White Sea as early
+as 750. The Faroe, the Orkney and the Shetland
+Islands were often visited by them after 825, and
+in 874 they discovered Iceland, which had been
+reached and settled by Irishmen or Scots about 800.
+The Norsemen found here only some Irish hermits
+and monks, and these, disturbed in their peaceful
+retreat by the turbulent newcomers, made their way
+back to Ireland and left the Norsemen lords of the
+land. From Iceland the rovers reached Greenland,
+which was settled in 986, and about the year 1000
+they discovered North America, at a place they
+named Vinland.</p>
+
+<p>Such is, briefly told, the story of the early Norse
+wanderers. They had a later tale, of which we have
+told part in their conquest of Ireland. Though at
+first they came with a few ships, and were content
+to attack a town or a monastery, they soon grew
+more daring and their forces larger. A number of
+them would now fortify themselves on some coast
+elevation and make it a centre for plundering raids
+into the surrounding country. At a later date many
+of them ceased to pose as pirates and took the r&ocirc;le
+of invaders and conquerors, storming and taking
+cities and founding governments in the invaded
+land.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the work of Thorgisl and Olaf in Ireland
+and of Rollo in Normandy. England was a
+frequent field of invasion after 833, which continued
+until 851, when King Ethelwulf defeated<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>
+them with great slaughter. Fifteen years later they
+came again, these new invaders being almost all
+Danes. During all his reign Alfred the Great
+fought with them, but in spite of his efforts they
+gained a footing in the island, becoming its masters
+in the north and east. A century later, in 1016,
+Canute, the king of Denmark, completed the conquest
+and became king of all England.</p>
+
+<p>This is not the whole story of the sea-kings,
+whose daring voyages and raids made up much of
+the history of those centuries. One of the most
+important events in viking history took place in
+862, when three brother chiefs, probably from
+Sweden, who had won fame in the Baltic Sea,
+were invited by the Russian tribes south of Lake
+Ladoga to come and rule over them. They did so,
+making Novgorod their capital. From this grew
+the empire of Russia, which was ruled over by the
+descendants of Rurik, the principal of these chiefs,
+until 1598.</p>
+
+<p>Other vikings made their way southward through
+Russia and, sailing down the Dnieper, put Constantinople
+in peril. Only a storm which scattered their
+fleet saved the great city from capture. Three
+times later they appeared before Constantinople,
+twice (in 904 and 945) being bought off by the
+emperors with large sums of money. Later on the
+emperors had a picked body-guard of Varangians, as
+they called the Northmen, and kept these till the
+fall of the city in 1453. It was deemed a great
+honor in the north to serve in this choice cohort<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>
+at Myklegaard (Great City), and those who returned
+from there doubtless carried many of the elements
+of civilization to the Scandinavian shores.</p>
+
+<p>To some of these Varangians was due the conquest
+of Sicily by the Northmen. They were in
+the army sent from Constantinople to conquer that
+island, and seeing how goodly a land it was they
+aided in its final conquest, which was made by
+Robert Guiscard, a noble of Normandy, whose son
+Roger took the title of "King of Sicily and Italy."
+Thus it was that the viking voyages led within a
+few centuries to the founding of kingdoms under
+Norse rulers in England, Ireland, Sicily, Russia,
+and Normandy in France.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>
+<a name="HAAKON_THE_GOOD" id="HAAKON_THE_GOOD">
+</a><i>HAAKON THE GOOD<br />
+AND THE SONS OF GUNHILD</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>We have told how King Haakon succeeded his
+brother, Erik Blood-Axe, on the throne, and how,
+from his kindly and gentle nature, people called
+him Haakon the Good. There were other sons and
+several grandsons of Harold the Fair-Haired in the
+kingdom, but the new king treated them with
+friendliness and let them rule as minor kings under
+him.</p>
+
+<p>He dealt with the peasants also in the same
+kindly spirit, giving them back their lands and
+relieving them of the tax which Harold had laid.
+But he taxed them all in another way, dividing the
+country into marine districts, each of which was
+required to supply the king, on his demand, with
+a fully equipped warship. Yet as this was for the
+defence of the country, the people did not look on
+it as oppressive. And as Norway had a long
+mountainous coast, and important events were often
+long in becoming known, he gave orders that the
+approach of an enemy should be made known by
+signal fires lighted all along the coast.</p>
+
+<p>Haakon made other wise laws, in which he took
+the advice of the ablest men of the kingdom. But
+now we have to speak of the most striking event
+in the new king's career. Norway at that time was
+a haunt of idolatry. Men worshipped Odin and a<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>
+host of other gods, and there was not a Christian
+in the whole land except the king himself, who had
+been brought up in the new faith by his foster-father,
+King Athelstan of England.</p>
+
+<p>An earnest Christian, he looked with sorrow on
+the rude worship and heathen belief of his people,
+but not until he had been many years on the throne
+did he venture to interfere with it. Then, about
+950, when he had won the love of them all, he took
+steps to carry out his long-cherished desire.</p>
+
+<p>Sending to England for a bishop and a number
+of priests, the king issued a decree in which the
+people were forbidden to make sacrifices to the old
+gods and ordered to accept the Christian faith.</p>
+
+<p>This came like a thunderbolt to the worshippers
+of the old gods. To bid a whole nation to give up
+at a word the religion which they had cherished from
+childhood and which their fathers had held for
+generations before them was too much to demand.
+The king brought together a concourse of the people
+and spoke to them of his wish and purpose, but
+they had no answer to make except that the matter
+must be settled by their legal assembly.</p>
+
+<p>When the <i>thing</i>, or assembly, was called into session,
+a great body of the people were present, for
+never had so important a question been laid before
+them. Earnest and imploring was the speech made
+by the king, in which he warmly asked them to
+accept the God of the Christians and give up their
+heathen idols of wood and stone.</p>
+
+<p>These words were followed by an angry murmur<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>
+from the multitude, and many dark looks were bent
+upon the rash monarch. Then a peasant leader,
+Aasbj&ouml;rn of Medalhus, stepped out from the throng
+and spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"When you, King Haakon, first called us here
+before you and we took you for our king, it was
+with deep gladness, as if heaven had opened to us.
+But was it liberty we gained, or do you wish to
+make thralls of us once more, that you ask us to
+give up the faith of our fathers and forefathers
+for the new and unknown one you offer? Sturdy
+men they were, and their faith did well for them and
+has done well for us. We have learned to love you
+well and have always kept and will always keep the
+laws made by you and accepted by us. But in this
+thing which you now demand we cannot follow. If
+you are so resolved upon it that your mind cannot
+be changed, then we shall be forced to part from
+you and choose a new chief who will support us in
+worshipping our fathers' gods. Choose, O king,
+what you will do, before this assembly has dispersed."</p>
+
+<p>So loud were the shouts of approval with which
+this speech was greeted that not a word could be
+heard. Then, when quiet reigned again, Earl
+Sigurd, who had spoken aside with Haakon, rose
+and said that the king had no wish to lose their
+friendship and would yield to their wishes. This
+was not enough to overcome the distrust of the
+peasants. They next demanded that he should take
+part in the sacrifices to be given and in the feast to<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>
+follow. This he felt obliged to do, though he quieted
+his conscience by making the sign of the cross.</p>
+
+<p>When the next Yuletide sacrifice came Haakon
+was required to eat horse-flesh at the feast and
+this time was forbidden to make the sign of the
+cross when he drank the usual toasts to the ancient
+gods of Norway. This was a humiliation that cut
+the proud monarch deeply and it was with an angry
+soul he left, saying to his attendants that when he
+came back it would be with an army to punish
+those who had thus insulted his faith. Back he
+did not come, for new troubles were gathering
+around him.</p>
+
+<p>To learn the source of these troubles we must
+return to the story of Erik Blood-Axe and Gunhild,
+his wicked wife. After Erik's death that
+mischief-loving woman sought Denmark with her
+sons, who grew up to become brave warriors and
+daring viking rovers, infesting the coast of Norway
+and giving its king and earls all the trouble they
+could. At length, backed by Harold Bluetooth, the
+king of Denmark, their piratical raids changed to
+open war, and they invaded Norway, hoping to win
+their father's old kingdom for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>A crisis came in 955. In that year the sons of
+Erik appeared so suddenly with a large fleet that
+they took King Haakon by surprise. He had with
+him only a small force, the signal fires had not been
+lighted, and the enemy were close at hand before he
+could prepare to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" he asked his men. "Shall<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>
+we stay and fight, or draw back and gather men?"</p>
+
+<p>The answer came from an old peasant, Egil
+Woolsack:</p>
+
+<p>"Often have I fought, King Haakon, with King
+Harold, your father. Whether the foe was stronger
+or weaker the victory was always his. Never did he
+ask his friends if he should run; nor need you,
+for we are ready to fight and think that we have a
+brave chieftain for our leader."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak well and wisely, Egil," said the king.
+"It is not my wish to run, and with your aid I
+am ready to face the foe."</p>
+
+<p>"Good words those!" cried Egil joyously. "It
+has been so long since I saw the flash of sword that
+I feared I would die in my bed of old age, though
+it has been my hope to fall in battle at my chieftain's
+back. Now will my wish be gained."</p>
+
+<p>To land came the sons of Erik, having six men to
+Haakon's one. Seeing how great were the odds,
+old Egil tried strategy, leading ten standard-bearers
+to a hidden spot in the rear of the hostile army and
+leaving them there in ambush. When the armies
+had met and the fighting was under way, he led
+these men up a sloping hill until the tops of their
+standards could be seen above its summit. He had
+placed them far apart, so that when the Danes saw
+the waving banners it looked like a long line of new
+troops coming upon them. With sudden alarm and
+a cry of terror they fled towards their ships.</p>
+
+<p>Gamle, their leader, was quick to discover the
+stratagem, and called on them to stop, that it was<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>
+all a trick; but nothing could check their panic
+flight, and he was swept along with them to the
+beach. Here a stand was made, but Haakon rushed
+upon them in a furious attack in which old Egil
+had his wish, for he fell in the storm of sword blows,
+winning the death he craved. Victory rested on
+the king's banners and his foes fled to their ships,
+Gamle, their leader, being drowned in the flight.</p>
+
+<p>For six years after this the land lay at peace.
+King Haakon continued a Christian and many of
+his friends joined him in the new faith. But he
+was too wise and gentle to attempt again to force
+his belief upon his people and the worship of the
+heathen gods went on. All the people, nobles and
+peasants alike, loved their king dearly and he would
+have ended his reign in a peaceful old age but for
+his foes without the kingdom. This is the way in
+which the end came.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer of the year 961, when Haakon had
+been twenty-six years on the throne, he with many
+guests was at feast in the royal mansion of Fitje,
+in H&ouml;rdaland. While at table a sentinel brought in
+the alarming news that a large fleet of ships was
+sailing up the fiord.</p>
+
+<p>By the king's side sat Eyvnid, his nephew, who
+was a famous scald, or bard. They rose and looked
+out on the fiord.</p>
+
+<p>"What ships are they, of friends or of foes?"
+asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>The scald replied in a verse, in which he sang that
+the sons of Erik were coming again.<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Once more they take us unawares," said
+Haakon to his men. "They are many and we are
+few. Never yet have we faced such odds. The
+danger lies before you. Are you ready to meet it?
+I am loath to flee before any force, but I leave it
+to the wise among you to decide."</p>
+
+<p>Eyvnid sang another verse, to the effect that it
+would be ill counsel to advise a man like King
+Haakon to flee from the sons of Gunhild the
+sorceress.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a man's song," cried the king, "and
+what you say is what I wish."</p>
+
+<p>All around him the warriors shouted their war-cry,
+and while they ran for their weapons he put
+on his armor, seized his sword and shield, and
+placed on his head a golden helmet that shone
+brightly in the sun. Never had he looked more
+like a born king, with his noble and inspired countenance
+and the bright hair streaming down from
+under his helmet.</p>
+
+<p>The battle that followed was fierce and bloody.
+Harold, Gunhild's third son, commanded the invaders,
+who far outnumbered Haakon's small force.
+And now there was no Egil to defeat the foe by
+stratagem, but the battle was hand to hand and face
+to face, with stroke of sword and thrust of spear,
+the war-shout of the fighters and the death-wail of
+the fallen.</p>
+
+<p>King Haakon that day showed himself a true and
+heroic warrior. As the battle grew fiercer his
+spirit rose higher, and when Eyvnid the scald<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>
+greeted him with a warlike verse, he answered with
+another. But the midsummer heat growing hard
+to bear, he flung off his armor and fought with
+only his strong right arm for shield. The arrows
+had now been all shot, the spears all hurled, and
+the ranks met hand to hand and sword to sword, in
+desperate affray.</p>
+
+<p>In the front rank stood the king, his golden
+helmet making him a shining mark for the warriors
+of the foe.</p>
+
+<p>"Your helmet makes you a target for the Danish
+spears," cried Eyvnid, and he drew a hood over it
+to hide its gleam. Skreyja, Harold's uncle, who
+was storming onward towards the king, now lost
+sight of him and cried out:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the Norse king? Has he drawn back
+in fear? Is he of the golden helmet a craven?"</p>
+
+<p>"Keep on as you are coming, if you wish to meet
+the Norsemen's king," shouted Haakon, throwing
+down his shield and grasping his sword with both
+hands, as he sprang out before them all. Skreyja
+bounded towards him and struck a furious blow,
+but it was turned aside by a Norse warrior and at
+the same instant Haakon's sword cleft the foeman's
+head down to the shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>This kingly stroke gave new spirit to the Norsemen
+and they rushed with double fury upon the
+foe, whom the fall of their best warrior filled with
+fear. Back to the beach they were pressed, many
+being slain, many drowned, a few only, Harold
+among them, reaching the ships by swimming.<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Norsemen had won against fearful odds, but
+their king was in deadly peril. In the pursuit he
+had been struck in the right arm by an arrow with
+an oddly-shaped head, and do what they would, the
+flow of blood could not be stopped. It was afterwards
+said that Gunhild the sorceress had bewitched
+the arrow and sent it with orders to use it only
+against King Haakon.</p>
+
+<p>In those days it was easy to have men believe tales
+like that, but, witchcraft or not, the blood still ran
+and the king grew weaker. As night came death
+seemed at hand and one of his friends offered to
+take his body to England, after his death, that he
+might be laid in Christian soil.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so," said Haakon. "Heathen are my
+people and I have lived among them like a heathen.
+See then that I am laid in the grave like a heathen."</p>
+
+<p>Thus he died, and he was buried as he wished,
+while all men mourned his death, even his foes;
+for before breathing his last he bade his men to
+send a ship after the sons of Gunhild; asking them
+to come back and rule the kingdom. He had no
+sons, he said, and his daughter could not take the
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>Thus death claimed the noblest of the Norsemen,
+at once heathen and Christian, but in his life
+and deeds as in his death a great and good man.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>
+<a name="EARL_HAAKON" id="EARL_HAAKON">
+</a><i>EARL HAAKON<br />
+AND THE JOMSVIKINGS</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Chief among the nobles of Haakon the Good, of
+Norway, was Earl Sigurd of Hlade; and first among
+those who followed him was Earl Haakon, Sigurd's
+son. After the death of Haakon the Good, the sons
+of Gunhild became the masters of Norway, where
+they ruled like tyrants, murdering Sigurd, whom
+they most feared. This made the young Earl
+Haakon their bitter foe.</p>
+
+<p>A young man then, of twenty-five, handsome,
+able in mind and body, kindly in disposition, and
+a daring warrior, he was just the man to contend
+with the tyrant murderers. When he was born
+Haakon the Good had poured water on his head
+and named him after himself and he was destined
+to live to the level of the honor thus given him.</p>
+
+<p>It is not our purpose to tell how, with the aid
+of the king of Denmark, he drove the sons of Gunhild
+from the realm, and how, as the sagas tell, the
+wicked old queen was enticed to Denmark by the
+king, under promise of marriage, and by his orders
+was drowned in a swamp. Her powers of sorcery
+did not avail her then, if this story is true.</p>
+
+<p>Haakon ruled Norway as a vassal of Harald
+Bluetooth, king of Denmark, to whom he agreed
+to pay tribute. He also consented to be baptized
+as a Christian and to introduce the Christian faith<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>
+into Norway. But a heathen at heart and a Norseman
+in spirit, he did not intend to keep this
+promise. After a meeting with the Danish king in
+which his baptism took place, he sailed for his
+native land with his ship well laden with priests.
+But the heathen in him now broke out. With bold
+disdain of King Harald, he put the priests on shore,
+and sought to counteract the effect of his baptism by
+a great feast to the old gods, praying for their favor
+and their aid in the war that was sure to follow.
+He looked for an omen, and it came in the shape of
+two ravens, which followed his ships with loud
+clucking cries. These were the birds sacred to Odin
+and he hailed their coming with delight. The great
+deity of the Norsemen seemed to promise him favor
+and success.</p>
+
+<p>Turning against the king to whom he had promised
+to act as a vassal, he savagely ravaged the
+Danish coast lands. Then he landed on the shores
+of Sweden, burnt his ships, and left a track of
+fire and blood as he marched through that land.
+Even Viken, a province of Norway, was devastated
+by him, on the plea of its being under a
+Danish ruler. Then, having done his utmost to
+show defiance to Denmark and its king, he marched
+northward to Drontheim, where he ruled like a
+king, though still styling himself Earl Haakon.</p>
+
+<p>Harald Bluetooth was not the man to be defied
+with impunity, and though he was too old to take
+the field himself, he sought means to punish his
+defiant vassal. Men were to be had ready and able<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>
+to fight, if the prize offered them was worth the
+risk, and men of this kind Harald knew where to
+seek.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image080" id="image080"></a>
+<a href="images/p80.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p80_th.jpg"
+		alt="BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD, ABOVE ARE. SWEDEN."
+		title="BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD, ABOVE ARE. SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.<br />
+BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD, ABOVE ARE. SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the town of Jomsborg, on the island of Wollin,
+near the mouth of the Oder, dwelt a daring band
+of piratical warriors known as the Jomsvikings,
+who were famed for their indomitable courage. War
+was their trade, rapine their means of livelihood,
+and they were sworn to obey the orders of their
+chief, to aid each other to the utmost, to bear pain
+unflinchingly, dare the extremity of danger, and face
+death like heroes. They kept all women out of
+their community, lest their devotion to war might
+be weakened, and stood ready to sell their swords to
+the highest bidder.</p>
+
+<p>To this band of plunderers Harald appealed and
+found them ready for the task. Their chief, Earl
+Sigvalde, brought together a great host of warriors
+at a funeral feast to his father, and there, while ale
+and mead flowed abundantly, he vowed, flagon in
+hand, that he would drive Earl Haakon from the
+Norse realm or perish in the attempt. His viking
+followers joined him in the vow. The strong
+liquor was in their veins and there was no enterprise
+they were not ready to undertake. When their
+sober senses returned with the next morning, they
+measured better the weight of the enterprise; but
+they had sworn to it and were not the men to
+retreat from a vow they had taken.</p>
+
+<p>Erik, an unruly son of Earl Haakon, had fled
+from his father's court in disgrace and was now<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>
+in Viken, and here the rumor of the vikings' oath
+reached his ears. At once, forgetting his quarrel
+with his father, he hastened north with all the
+men he could gather to Earl Haakon's aid, preceding
+the Jomsvikings, who were sailing slowly up the
+shores of Norway, plundering as they went in their
+usual fashion. They had a fleet of sixty ships and a
+force of over seven thousand well-trained warriors.
+Haakon, warned by his son, met them with three
+times their number of ships, though these were
+smaller and lighter craft. On board were about
+ten thousand men. Such were the forces that met
+in what the sagas call the greatest battle that had
+ever been fought in Norway.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the embattled ships met and the conflict
+grew fast and furious, hurtling weapons filling the
+air and men falling on all sides. Great was the
+carnage and blood flowed in streams on the fighting
+ships. Earl Haakon stood in the prow of his
+ship in the heat of the fight, arrows and spears
+whirling around him in such numbers that his
+shirt of mail became so torn and rent that he threw
+it off as useless. The high ships of the vikings gave
+them an advantage which told heavily against their
+antagonists, spears and arrows being poured down
+from their sides.</p>
+
+<p>In the height of the battle Earl Haakon disappeared.
+As the legends tell he went ashore with his
+youngest son Erling, whom he sacrificed to the
+heathen gods to win their aid in the battle. Hardly
+had he done this deed of blood when a dense black<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>
+cloud arose and a violent hail-storm broke over the
+ships, the hail-stones weighing each two ounces
+and beating so fiercely in the faces of the Jomsvikings
+as nearly to blind them. Some say that the
+Valkyries, the daughters of Odin, were seen in the
+prow of the earl's ship, filling the air with their
+death-dealing arrows.</p>
+
+<p>Despite the storm and the supernatural terrors
+that they conjured up, the Jomsvikings continued to
+fight, though their decks were slippery with blood
+and melting hail. Only one coward appeared among
+them, their chief Earl Sigvalde, who suddenly
+turned his ship and fled. When Vagn Aakesson, the
+most daring of the Jomsvikings, saw this recreant
+act he was frantic with rage.</p>
+
+<p>"You ill-born hound," he cried, "why do you
+fly and leave your men in the lurch? Shame on
+you, and may shame cling to you to your death!"</p>
+
+<p>A spear hurtled from his hand and pierced the
+man at the helm, where Sigvalde had stood a
+moment before. But the ship of the dastard earl
+kept on and a general panic succeeded, all the
+ships in the fleeing earl's line following his standard.
+Only Vagn Aakesson and Bue the Big were
+left to keep up the fight.</p>
+
+<p>Yet they kept it up in a way to win them fame.
+When Earl Haakon's ship drew up beside that of
+Bue, two of the viking champions, Haavard the
+Hewer and Aslak Rock-skull, leaped on deck and
+made terrible havoc. In the end an Icelander
+picked up an anvil that was used to sharpen their<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>
+spears and hurled it at Aslak, splitting his skull,
+while Haavard had both legs cut off. Yet the indomitable
+viking fought on, standing on his knees.</p>
+
+<p>The onset of the Jomsvikings was so terrific
+in this last fierce fight that the earl's men gave
+back, and might have been all slain had not his
+son Erik boarded Bue's ship at this crisis and
+made an irresistible charge. A terrible cut across
+the face severed Bue's nose.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he cried, "the Danish maidens will
+kiss me no more."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that all was at an end, he seized two chests
+of gold to prevent their capture by the victors, and
+sprang with them into the sea, shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"Overboard all Bue's men!"</p>
+
+<p>On Vagn's ship a similar fierce fight was taking
+place, ending only when all but thirty of the vikings
+were slain.</p>
+
+<p>Then a savage scene was enacted, one worthy only
+of those barbarous times. The captives were taken
+ashore and seated on a long log, their feet bound,
+their hands free. At the funeral feast in Sigvalde's
+hall Vagn had boasted that he would kill Thorkill
+Laiva, one of Erik's chief warriors, and this threatened
+man was now chosen as executioner.</p>
+
+<p>At the captives he rushed, with uplifted axe,
+and savagely struck off their heads, one after
+another. Vagn was to be left to the last, that he
+might suffer from fear, but instead of this he sat
+joking and laughing with his men. One of them
+sang and laughed so loudly that Erik asked him
+if he would like to live.<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a></p>
+
+<p>"That depends on who it is that asks me."</p>
+
+<p>"He who offers has the power to grant. I am
+Earl Erik."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I gladly accept."</p>
+
+<p>Another made a pun which so pleased the earl
+that he, too, was set free.</p>
+
+<p>One of the captives had long, beautiful hair, and
+as Thorkill came near him on his bloody errand
+he twisted his hair into a coil and asked the executioner
+not to soil it with his blood. To humor him
+Thorkill asked one of the bystanders to hold the
+coil while he struck. The man did so, but as the
+axe came down the captive jerked his head aside so
+that the axe fell on the wrists of the coil-holder,
+both his hands being cut off.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the Jomsvikings are still alive,"
+laughed the captive.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?" asked Erik.</p>
+
+<p>"I am said to be a son of Bue."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish to live?"</p>
+
+<p>"What other choice have I?"</p>
+
+<p>At Erik's command he, too, was released.</p>
+
+<p>Angry at being thus robbed of his prey, Thorkill
+now sprang towards Vagn, determined that at least
+his special enemy should fall. As he came near,
+however, one of the men on the log threw himself
+forward in such a way that Thorkill stumbled over
+him and dropped his axe. In an instant Vagn
+was on his feet, seized the axe, and dealt Thorkill a
+deadly blow. His boast was kept; Thorkill had
+fallen by his hand.<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a></p>
+
+<p>Erik saw the bold feat with such admiration that
+he ordered Vagn to be freed, and the prisoners who
+remained alive were also set free at his order.</p>
+
+<p>While this was going on Earl Haakon sat apart
+conversing with his chieftains. As they did so they
+heard a bow-string twang, and before a hand could
+be raised a keen-pointed arrow pierced the body of
+Gissur the White, one of the chiefs, and he fell
+over dead. The arrow had come from the ship of
+Bue the Big, and thither men ran in haste. What
+they saw was Haavard the Hewer, still standing on
+his knees, though his blood flowed freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," he cried, "did any one fall at the
+tree yonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; Gissur the White."</p>
+
+<p>"Then luck failed me, for that arrow was aimed
+for Earl Haakon."</p>
+
+<p>And he fell over on the deck, with death at his
+heart-strings. The viking had sent a herald on
+before, to announce his coming at Odin's court.</p>
+
+<p>It was Haakon who had ordered the murder of
+the captives, and Erik his son who gave life to so
+many of them. The time was near at hand when
+the earl was to meet the bloody fate which he had
+dealt out to others. Though Erik had done so much
+to help him in the battle, he was furious with his
+son for sparing the life of Vagn Aakesson. As a
+result they parted in anger, Erik going south again.
+Here Vagn joined him and from that day forward
+the two were warm friends and comrades.</p>
+
+<p>But Haakon fell into ways of vice as he grew
+older, and at length he did a deed that led him to<a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>
+a shameful death. He had his men bring by force
+to his palace the wife of a rich peasant, and sent
+them for another, who was famed for her beauty.
+Orm, her husband, refused to let her go and sent
+news of the outrage to all the peasants in the valley.
+From farm to farm flew the tidings, and the peasants,
+furious at the shameful deeds of the earl,
+seized their arms and gathered in a great band,
+which marched upon him at Medalhus.</p>
+
+<p>Earl Haakon was taken by surprise. He had not
+dreamed of a revolt and only a few men were with
+him. These he dismissed and fled for safety, only
+one man, his old servant Kark, going with him.
+Reaching the Gaul River in his flight, he rode
+his horse into a deep hole and left his cloak on the
+ice, so that his pursuers, finding the dead horse
+and the cloak, might think he was drowned.</p>
+
+<p>From there he sought the nearby home of Thora
+of Rimul, a faithful woman friend, told her of
+the hot pursuit and begged her to hide him from his
+furious enemies. The only hiding place she could
+provide was a deep ditch under her pig-sty, and in
+this filthy hole the great earl was hidden, with
+food, candles, and bedding. Then boards were laid
+over the ditch and covered with earth and upon this
+the pigs were driven.</p>
+
+<p>To Rimul the peasants soon came, filled with
+fury, and with them came a man of note who had
+just landed and was seeking to win the throne.
+This was Olaf, a great-grandson of Harold the
+Fair-Haired, whose claim to the crown of Norway
+was far better than that of Haakon. Thinking<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>
+that Thora had hidden the fleeing earl the pursuers
+searched the whole place. The fugitive not being
+found, Olaf stood on a large stone near the pig-sty
+and called the peasants around him, loudly announcing
+that any man who should find and slay Earl
+Haakon would be given a large reward.</p>
+
+<p>His words were plainly heard in the damp and
+unpleasant underground den where Haakon sat
+shivering. He looked at Kark, the thrall, whose
+face showed that he, too, had heard the promise of
+reward.</p>
+
+<p>"What ails you?" asked the earl. "Your face
+changes from pale to dark and gloomy. Do you
+propose to betray me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Kark.</p>
+
+<p>"We were born on the same night, and if one
+of us dies the other will soon follow," said the earl
+warningly.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time they sat, listening to the sounds
+above. At length all grew still and they felt that
+the night had come. Kark fell asleep, but the earl
+sat awake, watching him in deep distrust. The
+slumbering thrall tossed about as if in pain and
+the earl wakened him, asking of what he had
+dreamt.</p>
+
+<p>"I dreamed that you and I were on shipboard and
+that I was at the helm."</p>
+
+<p>"That means that you rule over both our lives.
+Therefore, Kark, you must be true and faithful to
+me, as duty bids you. Better days will soon come
+to us both and then you shall be richly rewarded."<a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></p>
+
+<p>Again the thrall fell asleep and again he seemed
+to dream. The earl woke him again.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what did you dream?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I dreamed that I was at Hlade and that Olaf
+Tryggvesson put a golden ring around my neck."</p>
+
+<p>"That means," said the earl, "that if you seek
+Olaf he will put a red ring [a ring of blood] around
+your neck. Beware of him, Kark, and trust in
+me. Be faithful to me and you will find in me a
+faithful friend."</p>
+
+<p>The night dragged slowly on. The earl dared
+not let himself sleep, but sat staring at Kark,
+who stared back at him. When morning was near
+at hand weariness lay so heavily on the earl that
+he could no longer keep awake. But his sleep was
+sorely disturbed by the terrors of that dreadful
+night. He tossed about and screamed out in distress
+and at length rose on his knees with the
+horrors of nightmare in his face.</p>
+
+<p>Then Kark, who had all night been meditating
+treachery, killed him with a thrust of his knife.
+Cutting off his head, he broke out of the dark den
+and sought Olaf, with the grisly trophy in his
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf heard his story with lowering face. It
+was not to traitors like this that he had offered
+reward. In the end, burning with indignation at
+the base deed, he ordered the thrall's head to be
+struck off. Thus Kark's dream, as interpreted
+by Haakon, came true. The ring put by Olaf
+around his neck was not one of gold, but one of
+blood.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>
+<a name="HOW_OLAF_THE_SLAVE-BOY" id="HOW_OLAF_THE_SLAVE-BOY">
+</a><i>HOW OLAF, THE SLAVE-BOY,<br />
+WON THE THRONE</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Many sons had Harold the Fair-Haired, and of
+some of them the story has been told. One of them,
+Olaf by name, left a son named Tryggve, who in
+turn had a son to whom he gave his father's name
+of Olaf. Wonderful was the story of this Olaf in
+his youth and renowned was it in his age, for he
+it was who drove the heathen gods from Norway
+and put Christ in their place. But it is the strange
+and striking adventures of his earlier days with
+which this tale has to deal.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Tryggve had his enemies and by them
+was foully murdered. Then they sought his dwelling,
+proposing to destroy his whole race. But
+Aastrid, his wife, was warned in time, and fled
+from her home with Thorold, her foster-father.
+She hid on a little island in the Rand fiord, and
+here was born the son who was afterwards to
+become one of Norway's most famous kings.</p>
+
+<p>The perils of Aastrid were not yet at an end.
+Gunhild, the sorceress queen, was her chief enemy,
+and when her spies brought her word that Aastrid
+had borne a son, the wicked old woman sought to
+destroy the child.</p>
+
+<p>The summer through Aastrid remained on the
+little isle, hiding in the weedy bushes by day and
+venturing abroad only at night. Everywhere Gunhild's<a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>
+spies sought her, and when autumn came
+with its long nights, she left the isle and journeyed
+with her attendants through the land, still hiding
+by day and travelling only under the shades of
+night. In this way she reached the estate of her
+father, Erik Ofrestad.</p>
+
+<p>The poor mother was not left in peace here, the
+evil-minded sorceress still pursuing her. A body
+of murderers was sent to seek for her and her son
+on her father's estate, but Ofrestad heard of their
+mission in time to send the fugitives away. Dressed
+as beggars, Aastrid and her child and Thorolf, her
+foster-father, travelled on foot from the farm, stopping
+at evening to beg food and shelter from a
+peasant named Bj&ouml;rn. The surly fellow drove
+them away, but they were given shelter farther on
+by a peasant named Thorstein.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the murderers were hot on their track.
+Not finding Aastrid at her father's house, they
+traced her to Bj&ouml;rn's farm, where they were told
+that a handsome but poorly dressed woman, carrying
+a young child, had asked for help that evening.
+It chanced that a servant of Thorstein overheard
+this and when he reached home he told it to his
+master. Suspecting the rank and peril of his
+guests, Thorstein roused them from sleep with a
+great show of anger and drove them out into the
+night. This was done to deceive the servants, but
+Thorstein followed the weary fugitives and told
+them the reason of his act. He had driven them
+out to save them, he said, and he gave them a trusty<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>
+guide who could show them the best hiding places
+in the forest. They found shelter for that night
+amid the tall rushes by the side of a small lake.</p>
+
+<p>When the troop of murderers reached Thorstein's
+house he set them astray on the wrong scent and he
+fed the fugitives in the forest until the murderous
+gang had given up the search. In the end he aided
+them to make their way to Sweden, where they took
+refuge with a friend of Prince Tryggve named
+Haakon the Old.</p>
+
+<p>Still the wicked queen did not let them rest in
+peace. Learning where they were, she sent two
+embassies to King Erik of Sweden, demanding
+the surrender of the mother and child. Each time
+Erik gave them permission to capture the fugitives
+if they could, saying that he would not interfere.
+But Haakon the Old was not the man to surrender
+his guests. In vain Gunhild's ambassador came
+to him with promises and threats. The dispute at
+length grew so hot that a half-witted servant seized
+a dung-fork and rushed at the ambassador, who
+took to his heels, fearing to have his fine clothes
+soiled. The angry thrall pursued him till he was
+driven off the estate, Haakon looking on with grim
+mirth.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the early days of little Olaf, whose
+life began in a series of adventures which were the
+prologue to a most stirring and active life. Few
+men have had a more adventurous career than he,
+his whole life being one of romance, activity and
+peril. He became a leading hero of the saga writers,<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>
+who have left us many striking stories of his young
+life and adventures.</p>
+
+<p>Aastrid and her son remained with Haakon the
+Old until Earl Haakon came into power in Norway.
+As he was not of royal blood, she feared that he
+might seek to destroy all the descendants of old
+King Harold, and, in doubt if her present protector
+was strong enough to defend her, she decided to
+seek refuge in Russia, where her brother Sigurd
+had risen to a place of power.</p>
+
+<p>With this voyage young Olaf's later series of
+adventures began. The merchant ship in which
+they set sail was taken by a viking pirate craft,
+some of the passengers being killed and others sold
+as slaves. Thorolf and his young son Thorgills,
+with the boy Olaf, were sold to a viking named
+Klerkon, who killed Thorolf because he was too
+old to bring any price as a slave, but kept the
+boys, whom he soon traded away in Esthonia for
+a big ram. As for Aastrid, she was offered for
+sale at the slave-market, and here, despite her
+ragged and miserable plight, she was recognized
+by a rich merchant named Lodin. He offered to
+pay her <ins class="correction" title="'ranson' in original">ransom</ins>
+if she would become his wife. The
+poor woman, not knowing what had become of her
+son, was glad to accept his offer and returned with
+him to his home in Norway.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the story of the boy slaves, the man
+who had bought them for a ram, soon sold them
+for a coat and cape to a man named Reas. The
+new master put Thorgills to hard labor, but took<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>
+a fancy to Olaf and treated him much more kindly,
+the young prince remaining with him for six years
+and growing up to be a handsome and sturdy
+youth.</p>
+
+<p>Sigurd Eriksson, Aastrid's brother, and the
+uncle of Olaf, was a man of prominence in Esthonia,
+and one day rode on business of King Vladimir
+through the town in which Reas lived. Here
+he saw some boys playing, one of whom attracted
+him by his manly and handsome face. Calling him
+to his horse's side, he asked his name.</p>
+
+<p>"Olaf," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf! The name was significant to Sigurd, and
+a few words more taught him that the lad was his
+lost nephew. Seeking Reas, he offered him a good
+price for his two young slaves and took them home
+with him, bidding Olaf not to tell any one else
+who he was.</p>
+
+<p>The boy was now well-grown, active, and strong
+for his years. Walking one day about the town he
+saw before him the viking Klerkon who had killed
+old Thorolf, his foster-father. He had at the
+moment an axe in his hand and, with no thought
+but that of revenge on the murderer, he struck
+him a blow that split his skull and stretched him
+dead on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The boy was in peril of his life for this impulsive
+deed. Death was its legal penalty, and a crowd
+quickly gathered who demanded that the boy murderer
+should be killed. His uncle heard of the act
+and ran in haste to his rescue, taking him to Olga,<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>
+the queen, and telling her who he was, what he
+had done, and why he had done it.</p>
+
+<p>The queen looked at the beautiful and bright-faced
+lad and took a great fancy to him at sight.
+She took him under her protection, and gave him
+a training in the use of arms and warlike sports,
+such as beseemed the scion of a royal race. When
+twelve years of age King Vladimir, who esteemed
+the boy highly, gave him some armed ships and
+sent him out to try his hand in real war, and for
+some years he roved abroad as a viking. He also
+served the king well by conquering for him a rebel
+province.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf might have won high rank in Russia but
+for the enemies who envied him and who made the
+king fear that he would yet find a rival for the
+throne in the ambitious boy. Fearing trouble for
+her protege, Queen Olga advised him to leave the
+kingdom and he sailed for the land of the Wends,
+on the Baltic shores, where King Burislav received
+him as a distinguished young warrior. He did not
+tell who he really was, but went under the name of
+Ole the Russian, and as such married the daughter
+of the king, who fell in love with him for his valor
+and beauty. Many were the valiant deeds he did
+for King Burislav, with whom he stayed until the
+death of his wife, he being then twenty-one years
+of age.</p>
+
+<p>The young warrior now grew eager for new adventures,
+and in response to a dream determined to go
+to Greece and become a Christian. His dream<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>
+served the cause of Christianity better than this, if
+the story is true that he sent a missionary bishop
+to Russia who converted both King Vladimir and
+Queen Olga to the Christian faith.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image095" id="image095"></a>
+<a href="images/p95.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p95_th.jpg"
+		alt="A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND PARENTS.
+BRIGSDAL. NORWAY."
+		title="A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND PARENTS.
+BRIGSDAL. NORWAY."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.<br />
+A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND PARENTS.
+BRIGSDAL. NORWAY.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>From Greece Olaf wandered to many countries,
+including France, Denmark, Scotland, and Northumberland,
+and his adventures were very numerous.
+He was twenty-five years of age when he
+reached England and here he met with an adventure
+of a new type. The Princess Gyda, sister of an
+Irish king, was a widow, but was still young and
+beautiful and had so many suitors that it was hard
+for her to choose between them. Among the most
+importunate was a warrior named Alfvine, a great
+slayer of men.</p>
+
+<p>So many were they and so much did they annoy
+the fair widow that at last she fixed a day when
+she would choose a husband from among them, and
+numbers of them came before her, all in their most
+splendid attire. It was a championship that
+attracted many lookers on and among them came
+Olaf with some of his companions. He was plainly
+dressed, and wore a fur hood and cape. Gyda
+stood forth and looked over her throng of lovers
+with listless eyes until at length she saw among the
+spectators the tall stranger with the hood of fur.
+She walked up to him, lifted the hood, and gazed
+long into his eyes. What she saw there riveted her
+fancy.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know you," she said; "but if you will
+have me for a wife, then you are my choice."<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a></p>
+
+<p>Olaf must have seen as much in her eyes as she
+had in his, for he warmly replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I know no woman who equals you, and gladly
+will I accept you."</p>
+
+<p>At once their betrothal was published, but
+Alfvine, burning with wrath, challenged the fortunate
+stranger to mortal combat. Fierce and long
+was the fight, but Norse blood and valor conquered
+and Gyda was enraptured with the courage and
+skill of her spouse. They were duly wedded and
+Olaf spent several years in England and Ireland,
+winning fame there as a doughty champion and
+growing ever more earnest in the Christian faith.</p>
+
+<p>In the chronicles of the time we are told much
+of the doings of the doughty Olaf, who won fame as
+the chieftain of a viking fleet, which in 994 made
+many descents upon the English coast. In the end
+he landed in Southampton and fixed his winter
+quarters there, living upon the country. He was
+finally bought off by King Ethelred with &pound;10,000,
+which he divided among his men. He received
+confirmation in the Christian faith the same year,
+King Ethelred being present, and took a solemn
+vow, which he never broke, that he would never
+again molest England and her people.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf's name was no longer concealed and the
+fame of his deeds reached Norway, where they gave
+no small trouble of mind to Earl Haakon, who
+dreaded this young adventurer of royal descent,
+knowing well how much the people loved King
+Harold and his race. Haakon went so far as to try<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>
+to compass his death, sending his friend Thore
+Klakka to Dublin, where Olaf then was, to kill
+him if he could, otherwise to entice him to Norway
+when he would himself destroy him.</p>
+
+<p>The latter Thore did, finding Olaf ready for any
+new adventure, and under Thore's treacherous
+advice he sailed with five ships and landed in
+H&ouml;rdaland, where Haakon's power was the greatest,
+and thence sailed northward to Tr&ouml;ndelag where
+the earl was and where he hoped to take him by
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Thore had represented that Olaf would find
+friends in plenty there, and much to his own surprise
+found that he had told more truth than he
+knew; for, as told in the last tale, the peasants
+were then in arms and in pursuit of the recreant
+earl. They gladly accepted Olaf as their leader,
+on learning who he was, and helped him in the
+quick and sudden downfall and death of Haakon,
+as already described.</p>
+
+<p>All the chiefs and peasants of the district were
+now summoned to meet in assembly and with one
+voice they chose Olaf Tryggvesson, great-grandson
+of the renowned Harold, as their king. All Norway
+confirmed their action and thus easily did the
+adventurer prince, who had once been a slave-boy,
+sold for half a fat ram, rise to the throne of
+Norway.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>
+<a name="OLAF_DETHRONES_ODIN" id="OLAF_DETHRONES_ODIN">
+</a><i>OLAF DETHRONES ODIN<br />
+AND DIES A HERO</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Earl Haakon was the last heathen king of Norway.
+Olaf, the new king, was a zealous Christian
+and was determined to introduce the new faith.
+And this was done not in the mild and gentle way
+in which Haakon the Good had attempted it, but
+with all the fierce fury of the viking spirit. Christ
+the White the Northmen called the new deity, but it
+was rather Christ the Red in Olaf's hands, for, while
+Christian in faith, he was a son of the old gods,
+Odin and Thor, in spirit.</p>
+
+<p>It is not the Christianizing of Norway that we
+have set out to tell, but as this is a matter of great
+importance some space must be given to it. Olaf,
+high spirited and impetuous, did by storm what he
+might not have been able to do by milder measures.
+He had little trouble in the south of Norway, where
+the Christian faith had been making its way for
+years, but in the north the old heathen spirit was
+strong, sacrifices to the gods were common, and the
+rude and cruel barbarism which the old doctrines
+favored everywhere prevailed. Here it was that
+Olaf had a strong fortress of heathenism to take by
+storm.</p>
+
+<p>In Tr&ouml;ndelag was the temple of Hlade, ancient
+and grand, the stronghold of the Norse gods. Fierce
+and impulsive in his zeal, Olaf broke into this old
+temple, destroyed the altar, burned the idols, and<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>
+carried away the treasure. At once the people were
+in arms, but the resolute king began to build a
+Christian church where the temple had stood and
+also a fortress-like residence for himself.</p>
+
+<p>In the end the peasants grew so fierce and warlike
+and were so backed up by a lusty chieftain named
+Ironbeard, that Olaf found himself obliged to
+promise to take part with them in the feast and
+sacrifices of the coming Yuletide.</p>
+
+<p>But before this time arrived he appeared again at
+Hlade and he now brought with him a strong fleet
+and numerous armed warriors. Many guests had
+been invited to meet him, and these were entertained
+until they were all royally drunk. Then the king
+said to them:</p>
+
+<p>"I have promised to sacrifice with you, and am
+here to keep my word. I propose to make a royal
+sacrifice, not of thralls and criminals, but of lords
+and chieftains, for thus we can best do honor to
+Odin."</p>
+
+<p>He then selected six of his most powerful opponents
+and said that he intended to sacrifice them to
+Odin and Frey, that the people might have good
+crops. The dismayed chiefs were instantly seized
+and were offered the alternative of being sacrificed
+or baptized. Taken by surprise, they were not long
+in deciding upon the latter, the king making them
+give hostages for their good faith.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after came the Yuletide and Olaf was present
+with a strong force at M&ouml;re, where the sacrifices
+were to be made. The peasants also came in force,
+all armed, with the burly Ironbeard as their leader.<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>
+They were rude and noisy and it was some time
+before the king could make himself heard. Then
+he called on them all to accept baptism and acknowledge
+Christ the White in place of their bloodthirsty
+gods. Ironbeard haughtily replied that they were
+supporters of the old laws and that the king must
+make the sacrifices as all the kings before him had
+done.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf heard him through and said that he was
+there to keep his promise. Then, with many men,
+he entered the temple, leaving his arms outside as
+the law required. All he carried was a stout, gold-headed
+stick. Stopping before the statue of the god
+Thor, around which were rings of gold and iron,
+he raised the stick and gave the idol a blow so fierce
+and strong that it tumbled in pieces from its pedestal.
+At the same moment his followers struck
+down the other idols. The peasants, thunderstruck
+at the sacrilege, looked for support to Ironbeard, but
+the doughty warrior lay dead. He had shared the
+fate of the idols he worshipped, being struck down
+at the same moment with them. What to do the
+peasants knew not, and when Olaf told them they
+must either be baptized or fight they chose the
+former as the safest. The province of Haalogaland,
+still farther north, was dealt with in the same arbitrary
+fashion, those of the chiefs who refused baptism
+being put to death with torture. And in this
+fierce and bloody way the dominion of Christ the
+White was established in the land of the vikings.
+It was but a substitute for the heathen gods that<a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>
+was given them in such a fashion, and years had to
+pass before they would become true Christians.</p>
+
+<p>Much more might be said about King Olaf, his
+kindliness and winning manners in peace, his love
+of show and splendor, his prowess in battle and his
+wonderful skill with weapons. He could use both
+hands with equal effect in fighting, could handle
+three spears at once, keeping one always in the air,
+and when his men were rowing could run from
+prow to stern of the ship on their oars. But what
+we have chiefly to tell is the last adventure of the
+viking king and how death came to him in the
+heat of the fray.</p>
+
+<p>What became of his wife Gyda, the Irish princess,
+we are not told, but he had now a new wife, Thyra,
+sister of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, and
+it was to this queen he owed his death. She had
+large estates in Wendland and Denmark, from which
+she now received no revenues, and she fretted Olaf
+so by appeals, prayers, and tears to win back for
+her this property that he had no peace in his
+palace. The annoyance went on until the hot-tempered
+king could bear it no longer and he began
+to prepare for war abroad that he might gain peace
+at home.</p>
+
+<p>Word was sent out to the chiefs of the land, bidding
+them to join the king with the ships required
+by the laws of the kingdom. Among his own
+ships was one called the Short Serpent, and he
+had just finished another of great size and beauty
+which he named the Long Serpent. Never had so<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>
+noble a ship been seen in the north. It was 112
+feet long and had 104 oars, while it could carry six
+hundred warriors, none being over sixty or under
+twenty years of age except the great bowman
+Thambarkskelver, who was but eighteen, yet was so
+skilful with the bow that he could shoot a blunt
+arrow through a hanging raw ox-hide.</p>
+
+<p>With sixty ships and as many transports Olaf
+sailed south to Wendland, where he was well received
+by his old friend King Burislav, whose daughter
+Geira had been his first wife. The Wend king royally
+entertained him and made a just settlement of Queen
+Thyra's estates, and Olaf prepared to sail homeward
+again. But dark clouds of war were gathering
+on his path.</p>
+
+<p>Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark was hostile both
+to Burislav and Olaf and the king of Sweden was
+leagued with the Danish king. To detain Olaf
+while they gathered their fleets, these kings employed
+Sigvalde, the cowardly chief of the Jomsvikings,
+who had fled from the battle with Earl
+Haakon, to visit and lure him into blind confidence.</p>
+
+<p>The treacherous viking succeeded. His smooth,
+soft ways won Olaf's heart and the open-minded
+king put complete trust in him. Sigvalde finally,
+after bringing about much delay by his false arts,
+engaged to pilot Olaf with his own fleet through the
+dangerous waters of the coast, and even induced
+him to divide his ships by sending part of them in
+advance.</p>
+
+<p>The traitor meanwhile kept in communication
+with King Sweyn and promised to lure Olaf away<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>
+from his main force and lead him into the snare
+they were laying for him. Chief among the enemies
+of the Norse king was Earl Erik, the son of Earl
+Haakon, whom he was eager to avenge, and King
+Olaf the Swede, who was present with a fleet.</p>
+
+<p>With sixty or seventy ships of war these foes of
+Norway's king lay hidden behind the little island
+of Svolder, in Olaf's track. For a number of days
+they awaited him with impatience. At last Olaf's
+transports appeared within view of the leaders of
+the hostile fleet, who were posted at an elevated
+point on the land.</p>
+
+<p>The day was fair, the wind gentle and favorable,
+and the foremost ships sailed onward, seeing nothing
+of the foes. When King Sweyn saw among
+them a large and handsome ship he was sure it must
+be the Long Serpent, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Olaf of Norway is afraid to-day, for he carries
+no dragon-head on his ship."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not the king's ship," said Earl Erik,
+"but that of Erling of Sole. I know it by its
+striped sails. Let it pass, for it will be better for
+us to have Erling out of the fray."</p>
+
+<p>On, one by one, came the Norse ships, sweeping
+proudly by, and at length Sigvalde's eleven ships
+came in sight. These, signalled from the shore,
+suddenly turned inward round the island, to the
+surprise of Thorkill Dyrdill, captain of the
+Crane, which followed in their wake. Seeing this
+fine ship, Sweyn grew eager for the fight and
+ordered his men on board in spite of Erik's warning
+that the time had not yet arrived.<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Are you afraid of them?" sneered the Dane.
+"Have you lost all desire to avenge your father?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait and you will see," retorted Erik. "Before
+the sun sets you will find who is most eager for
+battle, I, or you and your men."</p>
+
+<p>When Thorkill saw the treacherous act of Sigvalde
+and caught sight of the ambushed fleet, he
+let fall the sails of the Crane and awaited the
+coming of the king. Soon the Short Serpent came
+up, its gilded dragon-head shining brightly in
+the sunlight. Not long after the Long Serpent
+appeared, its golden prow glittering brilliantly as
+the sunbeams fell upon it. Those who saw it marvelled
+at its size and beauty and many beheld with
+dread the glittering array of swords and shields as
+it came sweeping onward.</p>
+
+<p>But the great body of King Olaf's ships had
+gone on without thought of a foeman and were
+now out of sight. Only eleven of them remained,
+and some of his captains advised him not to fight
+against such odds.</p>
+
+<p>"Down with the sails," he cried cheerily. "Bind
+the ships together. Never yet have I fled from
+battle and I will not do so now. God is my shield
+and I will flee from no foe. He is no king who
+lets fear put him to flight before his enemies."</p>
+
+<p>Yet his peril was deadly, as was evident when the
+fleet of more than sixty ships rowed out from its
+ambush against Olaf's eleven.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the leader here before us?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That is King Sweyn with his Danes," said one
+of the men.<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Let them come on. Danes have never yet beaten
+Norsemen, and they will not to-day. But whose
+standards are those on the right?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are those of Olaf of Sweden."</p>
+
+<p>"The heathen Swedes had better have stayed at
+home to lick their sacrificial bowls. We need not
+fear these horse-eaters. Yonder to the left; whose
+ships are those?"</p>
+
+<p>"They belong to Earl Erik, the son of Earl
+Haakon."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we may look for hard blows from them.
+Erik and his men are Norsemen like ourselves, and
+he has reason not to love me and mine."</p>
+
+<p>While he spoke Queen Thyra, who was with him,
+came on deck. When she saw the desperate odds
+she burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not weep," said Olaf. "You have got what
+was due in Wendland; and to-day I will do my best
+to win your rights from your brother Sweyn."</p>
+
+<p>King Sweyn came first into the fray, but after
+a stubborn fight was driven off with great carnage.
+Then the Swedes swarmed to the rescue, and a
+second hard battle ensued, in which the Norsemen
+were outnumbered ten to one. Yet Olaf, with shining
+helmet and shield and a tunic of scarlet silk
+over his armor, directed the defence, and gave his
+men such courage by his fierce valor that the victory
+would have been his but for Earl Erik.</p>
+
+<p>When Erik's great galley, the Iron Ram, came
+into the fight and Norse met Norse, the onset was
+terrific. Greatly outnumbered, worn out with their<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>
+exertions, and many of them bleeding from wounds,
+the men in ship after ship were overpowered and
+these cut adrift, their defenders being slain. At
+length only the Long Serpent remained, and against
+it was driven the Iron Ram.</p>
+
+<p>There was little wind and the damage was not
+great, and soon the storm of spears and arrows was
+resumed. Einer Thambarkskelver, the famous bowman,
+saw Earl Erik in the prow of his ship screened
+by the shields of his men, and soon Einer's arrows
+were hurtling around him.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot that tall bowman," said Erik to one of
+his own archers.</p>
+
+<p>An arrow sped and hit Einer's bow in the middle,
+breaking it in twain.</p>
+
+<p>"What is broke?" asked Olaf, hearing the sound.</p>
+
+<p>"Norway broke then from your hands, my king,"
+said Einer.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so bad as that; take my bow and try what
+it is worth."</p>
+
+<p>Einer caught the bow, bent it double, and threw
+it back.</p>
+
+<p>"It is too weak," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Desperate was now the strait and no escape was
+possible. Olaf sent his spears hurtling on Erik's
+crowded deck, but he saw that his men were scarce
+able to hold their own.</p>
+
+<p>"Your swords bite poorly," he said. "Have your
+arms lost their strength?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," was the reply, "but our blades are dull
+and notched."<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a></p>
+
+<p>The king ran forward, opened a chest, and flung
+out armfulls of bright, sharp swords.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is what will bite deeply," he said.</p>
+
+<p>But victory was now hopeless; the earl's men
+swept back the tired warriors; blood flowed from
+under the king's armor; all hands were bent against
+him, for he loomed above his men. Kolbj&ouml;rn, a
+man who resembled the king, sprang to his side and
+helped him shrewdly in the fray.</p>
+
+<p>Still the stern combat went on, still the weapons
+flew, still men fell groaning, and as the king looked
+along his deck he saw that only eight men kept their
+feet besides himself and his companion. All was
+lost. Raising the shield above his head, he leaped
+over the ship's side. Kolbj&ouml;rn followed and was
+picked up by the earl's men, who took him to be
+the king. As for Olaf, the hungry sea swallowed his
+form.</p>
+
+<p>Legend tells us, indeed, that he was rescued by
+a ship sent to his aid by Aastrid, Earl Sigvalde's
+wife, and that he made a pilgrimage to Rome and
+long afterwards lived as a hermit in the Holy
+Land. But that is one of the stories based on good
+wishes rather than sound facts.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the year 1000, when King Olaf was
+thirty-six years old, that this famous sea-fight took
+place. Queen Thyra felt that she had caused his
+death and could not be consoled. Erik treated her
+kindly and promised her the honors due to her
+high estate, but her heart was broken by her loss,
+and nine days afterwards she died.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>
+<a name="OLAF_THE_SAINT" id="OLAF_THE_SAINT">
+</a><i>OLAF THE SAINT<br />
+AND HIS WORK FOR CHRIST</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The story of Olaf the Saint, the Norse king who
+comes next into our view, illustrates the barbarous
+character of the heathen people with whom we are
+dealing. Few warriors in those days died in their
+beds, death coming to them in some more violent
+form. Olaf's grandfather, a son of Harold the Fair-Haired,
+was killed by his brother, Erik Blood-Axe,
+and his father was burned alive by a royal widow
+whom he sought to marry. Many wooers came to
+seek her hand and she got rid of them by setting
+on fire the hall in which they slept.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll teach these little kings the risk of proposing
+to me," said this viking widow.</p>
+
+<p>A proud little fellow was Olaf, hot of temper and
+bearing no opposition. He knew that he was of
+kingly birth, and despised his step-father Sigurd
+Syr, also a descendant of King Harold, but caring
+more for his crops than for the dreams of ambition.
+Once, when Olaf was ten years old, Sigurd sent him
+to the stable to saddle and bring out his horse.
+When he came out he led a big goat, on which he
+had placed the saddle.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you do that?" he was asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the goat is good enough for him, for he is
+as much like a king as a goat is like a war-horse."</p>
+
+<p>The boy was only twelve when he began to take<a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>
+part in the cruises of the vikings, and in these
+quickly showed himself brave and daring. When
+he grew to a ripe age and found that the rule of
+Norway was divided between two young men, successors
+of the Olaf whose story we have last told,
+he determined to strike for the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The story of how he won the throne is interesting,
+but must be dealt with here very briefly, as we have
+rather to do with the story of how he lost it. Olaf
+was fortunate at the start, for he captured a ship
+on which Earl Erik, one of these boy kings, was
+sailing along the coast.</p>
+
+<p>A beautiful youth he was, tall and shapely, with
+silky golden hair which fell in long curls over his
+shoulders. Proud he was too, and answered his
+captor's questions with manly resolution.</p>
+
+<p>"Your luck has left you and you are in my
+power," said Olaf; "what shall I do with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on you," answered the fearless
+young earl.</p>
+
+<p>"What will you do if I let you go unharmed?"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you wish me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only this, that you leave your country and
+renounce your claim of kingship, and that you
+swear never to make war on me."</p>
+
+<p>To this young Erik agreed and sailed away to
+England to join his uncle, Canute the Dane, who
+was then king of both Denmark and England.</p>
+
+<p>With the other young king, Earl Sweyn, Olaf did
+not find his task so easy, since Sweyn fought for his
+rights in a naval battle in which he had forty-five<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>
+ships and three thousand men, while Olaf had less
+than half that number of men and ships. Olaf won
+the battle by a shrewd stratagem. He told his
+men to act at first only on the defensive, holding
+back their weapons until the enemy had thrown
+away theirs.</p>
+
+<p>On came Earl Sweyn's fleet, fiercely attacking
+that of Olaf, a cloud of spears and arrows filling the
+air. As none came back from Olaf's men, their
+opponents fancied they were afraid, and rushed on
+them eagerly. But by this time their spears and
+arrows had grown scarce, and when a storm of
+these came from the opposite side they were taken
+by surprise and many of them killed. Wild with
+fear, they now sought to escape, and in the end
+their whole fleet broke and fled, leaving victory to
+the new king.</p>
+
+<p>Sweyn fled to Sweden, whose king promised him
+help to regain his kingdom. But he died before
+his plans were ripe and Olaf was left without a
+rival <ins class="correction" title="'accept' in original">except</ins>
+the king of Sweden, who had won a
+part of Norway in a former battle and now held
+it. This source of trouble was settled by the Swedes
+themselves, who had no fancy for fighting to help
+their king's ambition, and forced him to agree to
+yield his claim and give his daughter Ingegerd to
+Olaf for wife. So by a marriage Olaf won the
+remainder of his kingdom and became ruler over
+all Norway; but not by marrying Ingegerd, for he
+chose instead her sister Aastrid.</p>
+
+<p>There is a pretty story told just here in the sagas,<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>
+or historical tales of the Icelanders. Thus it reads:
+Sigurd Syr, who had married Olaf's mother Aasta,
+died in 1018, and Olaf came to her house to help
+in settling her affairs. She had three boys, Guttorm,
+Halfdan, and Harold, whom she brought into
+the hall to introduce to their half-brother, the
+king. Olaf put the two older ones on his knees and
+made so fierce a face at them that they ran away
+sadly scared. Then he took up little Harold and
+stared at him in the same way. The brave youngster
+was not so easily frightened as his brothers and
+stared back at the king. Then Olaf pulled his hair,
+but the daring youngster pulled his beard in
+exchange.</p>
+
+<p>"He will do," said Olaf, setting him down with
+a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the king and his mother watched
+the boys at their play. The older two amused themselves
+by building barns, in which they put toy cows
+and sheep; but Harold launched mock boats on a
+pond and watched them drift away.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you call them?" asked Olaf.</p>
+
+<p>"Ships of war," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Good lad," answered the king; "the day will
+come when you will command real ships."</p>
+
+<p>Calling the boys to him, he asked Guttorm, the
+oldest, what he most wished for.</p>
+
+<p>"Land," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"How much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough to sow as much grain every summer
+as would cover the headland yonder."<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a></p>
+
+<p>Ten large farms covered the headland in question.</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you most desire?" the king asked
+Halfdan.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough cows to cover the shores of the headland
+when they went to the water to drink."</p>
+
+<p>"So; one wants land and the other cattle; and
+what do you want, Harold?"</p>
+
+<p>"Men," said the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"How many?"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough to eat up in a single dinner all brother
+Halfdan's cows."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, mother," said Olaf, laughing; "you
+have here a chap in training to make himself a
+king."</p>
+
+<p>So it proved, for in later days Harold rose to
+be king of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>But now we have to tell from what the king
+gained his title of Olaf the Saint. It came from his
+warm endeavors to make Norway a Christian land.
+The former King Olaf had forced his people to be
+baptized, but the most of them were heathens at
+heart still and after his death many began to worship
+the old gods again. It was the second Olaf
+that made the Christian secure in the land, and
+this still more by his death than by his life.</p>
+
+<p>When he was still an infant the former King
+Olaf had baptized him and given him his own name,
+and the time came when his little namesake took up
+and finished his work. What most troubled the
+kings of Norway in that age was the power held
+by the tribal chiefs, who were difficult to control<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>
+and ready to rebel; and this power came from the
+fact that they were not only chiefs, but were the
+priests of the old religion. As priest-kings their
+people followed them blindly, and no king could
+be sure of his crown while this system prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>Olaf, who had been brought up in the new faith,
+set himself earnestly to spread the true principles
+of Christ's teachings through the land and for
+years he worked at it earnestly. But he had hard
+metal to deal with. It is said that one chief, when
+about to be baptized, turned to the priest and asked
+him where were his brave forefathers who had died
+without being baptized.</p>
+
+<p>"They are in hell," said the priest.</p>
+
+<p>"Then hell is the place for me," answered the
+chief. "I would rather be there with Odin and my
+hard fighting and noble fathers than in heaven
+with cowardly Christians and shaven monks."</p>
+
+<p>This was the spirit of the chiefs. A heaven in
+which there would be no fighting and mead-drinking
+had no charms for them, and to live forever
+with the souls of men who had never drawn sword
+and struck blow was too dreary a prospect for their
+turbulent tastes.</p>
+
+<p>But Olaf was ardent in the new faith and persistent
+in his endeavors, travelling from end to
+end of the land in his efforts to break up the old
+idolatry. Here is one of the stories told of this
+missionary work of the king.</p>
+
+<p>He was then in Nidaros, whose peasantry, called
+Tr&ouml;nders, were said to be celebrating in secret the<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>
+old pagan festivals and offering sacrifices to Odin
+and Frey for bountiful crops. When King Olaf
+came among them they took arms against him, but
+afterwards agreed to hold a public assembly and
+deal in that way with the religious question that
+was troubling the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>On the day they met it was raining hard. When
+the king asked them to believe in the God of the
+Christians and be baptized, Dale Guldbrand, their
+leader, replied:</p>
+
+<p>"We know nothing of the being you speak of;
+a god whom neither you nor any one else can see.
+Now we have a god whom you can see every day,
+except a rainy day like this. If your god is so
+powerful, then let him arrange that to-morrow we
+shall have clouds but no rain."</p>
+
+<p>When they met again the next day the weather
+was what they had asked for, clouds but no rain.
+Bishop Sigurd now celebrated mass and preached to
+the people about the miracles which Christ had
+wrought when on earth. On the third day it was
+still cloudy. The people had brought with them a
+great wooden image of the god Thor, and their
+chief spoke as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is your god now, King Olaf? You do
+not look so bold as you did yesterday, for our god,
+who rules over all things, is here now and scaring
+you with his fierce eyes. You scarce dare look at
+him, but you would be wiser to believe in the god
+that holds in his hand your destiny."</p>
+
+<p>"Your god does not frighten me," answered the<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>
+king. "He is blind and deaf and cannot move
+from the spot where you have set him without he is
+carried. He will soon meet his fate. Look yonder
+to the east. There in the flood of light comes our
+God."</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image115" id="image115"></a>
+<a href="images/p115.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p115_th.jpg"
+		alt="NORWEGIAN PEASANTS."
+		title="NORWEGIAN PEASANTS."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">NORWEGIAN PEASANTS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>To the east all eyes were turned, and at that
+moment the sunlight burst from the clouds and
+spread over the scene. As it did so a sturdy warrior,
+at a signal from the king, sprang forwards and
+struck the idol so fierce a blow with his club that
+it was shattered to pieces. Out from its hollow
+interior sprang great rats, snakes, and lizards, which
+had grown fat on the food with which the idol had
+been fed daily.</p>
+
+<p>On seeing these loathsome things squirm from the
+interior of their god the peasants fled from the
+spot in a panic of fear, rushing to the river where
+their boats lay. But King Olaf, forecasting this, had
+sent men to bore holes in the boats so that they
+would not float. Unable to escape, the frightened
+peasants came back, quite downcast in spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what your god is worth," said the king.
+"Has he eaten the bread and meat you fed him,
+or has it gone to fatten rats and snakes? As for the
+gold and silver you gave him, there it lies scattered.
+Take up your golden ornaments and hang them no
+more on worthless logs. Now I give you your
+choice: you shall accept the faith I bring you, or
+you shall fight for your own. He will win to whom
+his god gives the victory."</p>
+
+<p>The peasants were not prepared to fight, and<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>
+therefore were obliged to accept baptism. Priests
+were sent to teach them the tenets of the new faith
+they had accepted, and Dale Guldbrand signified his
+honesty by building a church to the Christian
+deity. Other provinces were also won over to Christ,
+but there was one great and bold chieftain, Erling
+by name, and a sturdy heathen in his faith, who
+remained hostile to the king and a war between them
+became inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>While the king and the earl were making busy
+preparations to fight for their faiths, a warrior
+king and conqueror stepped in to take advantage
+for himself of the quarrel. This was King Canute,
+monarch of Denmark and England, who was eager
+to add Norway and Sweden to his dominions and
+make himself one of the most powerful of kings.
+He secretly sent presents to the discontented Norse
+chiefs and took other means to win them to his
+cause. It was not long before Olaf learned of
+these underhand doings, and he at once made an
+alliance with King Anund of Sweden, whose sister
+he had married, and whom he told that Canute
+would attack him if he should win Norway. In
+his turn, Canute sent ambassadors to King Anund,
+with splendid presents, hoping to win him over.</p>
+
+<p>Two candlesticks of gold were placed before him
+by the ambassadors.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty toys those," said Anund, "but not worth
+enough to break me from my good friend Olaf."</p>
+
+<p>Then they brought forth a golden platter, of
+artistic finish and adorned with jewels. King
+Anund gazed at it with covetous eyes.<a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a></p>
+
+<p>"A handsome bit of work," he said; "but I will
+not sell King Olaf for a dish."</p>
+
+<p>Finally two magnificent rings were offered. King
+Anund laughed when he saw them.</p>
+
+<p>"Keen and shrewd is King Canute," he remarked.
+"He knows I love golden toys, but he does not
+know that I love honor better. I have known King
+Olaf since he was a boy; he is my friend and my
+sister is his queen. I will not forsake him to please
+your king."</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this, King Canute laid aside his plots
+and made a pilgrimage to Rome. During his absence
+his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf, rebelled against
+him and allied himself with Kings Olaf and Anund,
+who sent fleets to his aid. As it proved, King
+Canute was not the man to be caught napping.
+Back from his pilgrimage he travelled in haste and
+came near to capturing both the kings. They fled
+with all speed, pursued by him with a more powerful
+fleet, and went up a little river in southern
+Sweden, which they closed by a dam against their
+strong foe. Canute came soon after and found the
+harbor deserted and the river closed against him.</p>
+
+<p>That night orders were given by the kings to break
+the dam and the heaped-up water ran down in an
+immense flood on the Danish ships, doing them
+great damage and drowning many of the people on
+board. But no attack was made on the disabled
+fleet, for Earl Ulf now turned traitor to his allies
+and joined Canute with his ships, making him too
+strong to attack.<a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a></p>
+
+<p>This ended the war for the time, Canute returning
+to England. But he had won over many of the
+Norse chiefs by his bribes and the next year came
+again, sailing north to Nidaros, where the assembled
+chiefs, whom he had gained to his side, proclaimed
+him king of Norway. He appointed Earl Haakon,
+grandson of the famous Earl Haakon of a former
+tale, regent in his stead, and sailed away again.</p>
+
+<p>In this manner Olaf lost his kingdom, for with
+all the powerful chiefs sold to the great King
+Canute and supported by him, little hope remained.
+He kept up the struggle for a short time, but was
+soon forced to flee to Sweden, whence he made his
+way to Russia and to the court of King Jaroslov,
+who was his brother-in-law, for he had married
+Princess Ingegerd of Sweden, once affianced to Olaf.</p>
+
+<p>Thus easily had Norway been conquered by
+Canute, but it was not long to remain under Danish
+rule at this time. Olaf, it is true, never won the
+throne again, though he made a strong effort to
+regain it. In Russia he grew more and more given
+to religious thoughts, until he became looked upon
+as a holy man. This made him open to believe in
+visions, and when in a dream he saw the former
+King Olaf, who bade him to go back to Norway
+and conquer it or die, he did not hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>Word had been brought him that Earl Haakon
+was dead and Norway with no immediate ruler, and
+against the advice of Jaroslov he set out for his
+late kingdom, leaving his son Magnus at the Russian
+court.<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a></p>
+
+<p>In Sweden the king gave him permission to
+gather recruits, but now his religious fanaticism
+stood in the way of his success. He would have
+none but baptized men in his army, and thus
+rejected many brave warriors while taking some
+known to be outlaws and thieves. On reaching
+Norway he showed the same unwisdom. He had
+but four thousand men under his command, while
+the army he was soon to meet numbered ten thousand.
+Yet Olaf rejected five hundred of his men
+because they were heathens and, thus weakened,
+marched to the unequal fray.</p>
+
+<p>"Forward, Christ's men, king's men!" was the
+battle-cry of Olaf's army as it rushed upon the foe.
+"Forward, peasant men!" cried the opposite army,
+charging under its chiefs.</p>
+
+<p>The king's men had the best of it at the opening,
+but the peasants held their ground stubbornly, and
+as the battle went on Olaf's ranks thinned and
+wavered. Finding the day going against him, he
+dashed forward with a small band of devoted men.
+One by one they fell. The standard changed hands
+again and again as its bearer was struck down.
+Olaf, severely wounded, stood leaning against a
+rock, when he was cut down by spear and sword.
+And strangely, at that moment, the sun began to
+grow blood-red and a dusky hue fell over the field.
+Darker and darker it grew till the sun was blotted
+out and terror filled the souls of the peasants, who
+saw in this strange darkness a token of the wrath
+of Olaf's God. But the eclipse came too late to save
+the king, who lay dead where he had fallen.<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a></p>
+
+<p>Olaf was gone but tradition built a halo around
+his name. It was reported that miracles were
+wrought by his blood and by the touch of his lifeless
+hand. Tales of marvel and magic grew up
+about him, and he became a wonder-worker for the
+superstitious people. In time he grew to be the
+national hero and the national saint, and lives in
+history as Olaf the Saint, while his tragic death and
+his enthusiasm for the cause of Christ gave him a
+strong hold on the people's hearts and aided greatly
+in making Norway truly a Christian land.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>
+<a name="CANUTE_THE_GREAT" id="CANUTE_THE_GREAT">
+</a><i>CANUTE THE GREAT,<br />
+KING OF SIX NATIONS</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>A famous old king of Denmark, known as Harald
+Blaatand or Bluetooth, had many sons, of whom
+only one, Svend or Sweyn, outlived him. While
+Harald was a Christian, Sweyn was a pagan, having
+been brought up in the old faith by a noble warrior
+Palnatoke, to whom his father had sent the boy to
+teach him the use of arms.</p>
+
+<p>When the king found that the boy was being
+made a pagan he tried to withdraw him from Palnatoke,
+but Sweyn would not leave his friend,
+whereupon the crafty king sought to destroy the
+warrior. We speak of this, for there is a very interesting
+story connected with it. Every one has read
+of how the Austrian governor Gessler condemned
+the Swiss peasant William Tell to shoot with an
+arrow an apple from his son's head, but few know
+that a like story is told of a Danish king and warrior
+four hundred years earlier. This is the story, as
+told for us by an old historian.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while Palnatoke was boasting in the
+king's presence of his skill as an archer, Harald
+told him that, in spite of his boasts, there was one
+shot he would not dare to try. He replied that there
+was no shot he was afraid to attempt, and the king
+then challenged him to shoot an apple from the
+head of his son. Palnatoke obeyed, and the apple<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>
+fell, pierced by the arrow. This cruel act made
+Palnatoke the bitter foe of King Harald, and
+gathering around him a band of fierce vikings he
+founded a brotherhood of sea-rovers at Jomsborg,
+and for long years afterwards the Jomsborgers, or
+Jomsborg vikings, were a frightful scourge to all
+Christian lands on the Baltic Sea. In former
+tales we have told some of their exploits.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that Sweyn himself, in a later war,
+killed his father on the battlefield, while Palnatoke
+stood by approving, though in after years the two
+were bitter foes. All we need say further of these
+personages is that Sweyn invaded England with a
+powerful force in the time of Ethelred the Unready
+and drove this weak king from the island, making
+himself master of great part of the kingdom. He
+died at Gainsborough, England, in 1014, leaving his
+son Knud, then a boy of fourteen, to complete the
+conquest. It is this son, known in England as
+Canute the Great, and the mightiest of all the
+Danish kings, with whose career we have to deal.</p>
+
+<p>England did not fall lightly into Canute's hands;
+he had to win it by force of arms. Encouraged by
+the death of Sweyn and the youth of Canute, the
+English recalled Ethelred and for a time the Danes
+lost the kingdom which their king Sweyn had won.
+Canute did not find a throne awaiting him in Denmark.
+His younger brother Harald had been chosen
+king by the Danes and when Canute asked him for
+a share in the government, Harald told him that if
+he wished to be a king he could go back and win<a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>
+England for himself. He would give him a few
+ships and men, but the throne of Denmark he proposed
+to keep.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing loth, Canute accepted the offer and the
+next year returned to England with a large and well
+appointed force, whose work of conquest was rapidly
+performed. Ethelred died and great part of
+England was surrendered without resistance to the
+Danes. But Edmond, Ethelred's son, took the field
+with an army and in three months won three victories
+over the invaders.</p>
+
+<p>A fourth battle was attempted and lost and
+Edmond retreated to the Severn, swiftly followed
+by Canute. The two armies here faced each other,
+with the fate of England in the balance, when a
+proposal in close accord with the spirit of the times
+was made. This was to settle the matter by single
+combat between the kings. Both were willing.
+While Edmond had the advantage in strength,
+Canute was his superior in shrewdness. For when
+the champions met in deadly fray and Canute was
+disarmed by his opponent, the wily Dane proposed
+a parley, and succeeded in persuading Edmond to
+divide the kingdom between them. The agreement
+was accepted by the armies and the two kings parted
+as friends&mdash;but the death of Edmond soon after
+had in it a suspicious appearance of murder by
+poison.</p>
+
+<p>On the death of Edmond, Canute called a meeting
+of the popular assembly of the nation and was
+acknowledged king of all England. Not long afterwards<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>
+Harald of Denmark died and the Danes chose
+him, under his home name of Knud, as their king
+also. But he stayed in Denmark only long enough
+to settle the affairs of the Church in that realm.
+He ordered that Christianity should be made the
+religion of the kingdom and the worship of Odin
+should cease; and put English bishops over the
+Danish clergy. He also brought in English workmen
+to teach the uncivilized Danes. Thus, Dane
+as Canute was, he preferred the religion and conditions
+of his conquered to those of his native
+kingdom, feeling that it was superior in all the
+arts and customs of civilization.</p>
+
+<p>A great king was Canute, well deserving the title
+long given him of Canute the Great. Having won
+England by valor and policy, he held it by
+justice and clemency. He patronized the poets and
+minstrels and wrote verses in Anglo-Saxon himself,
+which were sung by the people and added greatly
+to his popularity. Of the poems written by him one
+was long a favorite in England, though only one
+verse of it now remains. This was preserved by the
+monks of Ely, since they were its theme. Thus it
+runs, in literal translation:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Merrily sung the monks within Ely<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When Canute King rowed by;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Row, knights, near the land,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hear we these monks' song."<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is said that the verse was suggested to the king
+when rowing with his chiefs one day in the river<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>
+Nene, near Ely Minster, by the sweet and solemn
+music of the monastery choir that floated out to
+them over the tranquil water. The monks of Ely,
+to whom we owe much of our knowledge of King
+Canute, tell us that he had a strong affection for
+the fen country and for their church, and gave the
+following story in that connection. It is at once
+picturesque and humorous.</p>
+
+<p>One year, at the festival of the Purification, when
+King Canute proposed to pay his usual visit to Ely,
+the weather was very severe and all the streams
+and other waters were frozen. The courtiers advised
+the king to keep the holy festival in some other
+godly house, which he might reach without danger
+of drowning under broken ice, but such was his love
+for the abbot and monks of Ely that he would not
+take this advice.</p>
+
+<p>Canute proposed to cross the ice by way of Soham
+Mere, then an immense body of water, saying that if
+any one would go before and show him the way he
+would be the first to follow. The soldiers and
+courtiers hesitated at this suggestion, and looked at
+one another with doubt and dread. But standing
+among the crowd was one Brithmar, a churl or serf,
+who was nicknamed Budde, or Pudding, from his
+stoutness. He was a native of the island of Ely
+and doubtless familiar with its waters, and when the
+courtiers held back he stepped forward and said he
+would go before and show the way.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on then, in the name of our Lady," said
+Canute, "and I will follow; for if the ice on Soham<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>
+Mere can bear a man so large and fat as thou art,
+it will not break under the weight of a small thin
+man like me."</p>
+
+<p>So the churl went forward, and Canute the Great
+followed him, and after the king came the courtiers,
+one by one, with spaces between; and they all got
+safely over the frozen mere, with no mishaps other
+than a few slips and falls on the smooth ice; and
+Canute, as he had proposed, kept the festival of
+the Purification with the monks of Ely.</p>
+
+<p>As a reward to the fat churl Brithmar for his
+service, he was made a freeman and his little property
+was also made free. "And so," the chronicle
+concludes, "Brithmar's posterity continued in our
+days to be freemen and to enjoy their possessions
+as free by virtue of the grant made by the king to
+their forefather."</p>
+
+<p>There is another and more famous story told of
+King Canute, one showing that his great Danish
+majesty had an abundant share of sound sense.
+Often as this story has been told it will bear retelling.
+The incident occurred after his pilgrimage to
+Rome in the year 1030; made, it is said, to obtain
+pardon for the crimes and bloodshed which paved
+his way to the English throne.</p>
+
+<p>After his return and when his power was at its
+height, the courtiers wearied him by their fulsome
+flatteries. Disgusted with their extravagant adulations
+he determined to teach them a lesson. They
+had spoken of him as a ruler before whom all the
+powers of nature must bend in obedience, and one<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>
+day he caused his golden throne to be set on the
+verge of the sea-shore sands as the tide was rolling
+in with its resistless might. Seating himself on the
+throne, with his jewelled crown on his head, he
+thus addressed the ocean:</p>
+
+<p>"O thou Ocean! Know that the land on which
+I sit is mine and that thou art a part of my dominion;
+therefore rise not, but obey my commands,
+and do not presume to wet the edge of my royal
+robe."</p>
+
+<p>He sat as if awaiting the sea to obey his commands,
+while the courtiers stood by in stupefaction.
+Onward rolled the advancing breakers, each moment
+coming nearer to his feet, until the spray flew into
+his face, and finally the waters bathed his knees and
+wet the skirts of his robe. Then, rising and turning
+to the dismayed flatterers, he sternly said:</p>
+
+<p>"Confess now how vain and frivolous is the
+might of an earthly king compared with that Great
+Power who rules the elements and says unto the
+ocean, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther!'"</p>
+
+<p>The monks who tell this story, conclude it by saying
+that Canute thereupon took off his crown and
+deposited it within the cathedral of Winchester,
+never wearing it again.</p>
+
+<p>After his visit to Rome, Canute ruled with greater
+mildness and justice than ever before, while his
+armies kept the turbulent Scotch and Welsh and
+the unquiet peoples of the north in order. In the
+latter part of his reign he could boast that the
+English, the Scotch, the Welsh, the Danes, the<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>
+Swedes, and the Norwegians were his subjects, and
+he was called in consequence "The King of the
+Six Nations," and looked upon throughout Europe
+as the greatest of sovereigns; none of the kings and
+emperors of that continent being equal in power,
+wealth and width of dominion to King Canute,
+a descendant of the vikings of Denmark.</p>
+
+<p>Canute spent the most of his life in England,
+but now and then visited his northern realm, and
+there are some interesting anecdotes of his life there.
+Though a devout Christian and usually a self-controlled
+man, the wild passions of his viking ancestry
+would at times break out, and at such times he
+spared neither friend nor foe and would take counsel
+from no man, churchman or layman. But when
+his anger died out his remorse was apt to be great
+and he would submit to any penance laid upon him
+by the Church. Thus when he had killed one of his
+house servants for some slight offense, he made
+public confession of his crime and paid the same
+blood-fine as would have been claimed from a man
+of lower rank.</p>
+
+<p>The most notable instance of these outbursts of
+uncontrollable anger was that in which he murdered
+his old friend and brother-in-law Ulf, who, after
+rebelling against him, had saved him from complete
+defeat by the Swedes, by coming to his rescue just
+as the royal fleet was nearly swamped by the opening
+of the sluices which held back the waters of the
+Swedish river Helge-aae. Ulf took Canute on board
+his own ship and brought him in safety to a Danish<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>
+island, while leaving his men to aid those of Canute
+in their escape from the Swedes. Yet the king
+bore a grudge against the earl, and this was its cause.</p>
+
+<p>At one time Ulf ruled over Denmark as Canute's
+regent and made himself greatly beloved by the
+people from his just rule. Queen Emma, Canute's
+wife, wished to have her little son Harthaknud&mdash;or
+Hardicanute, as he was afterwards called in
+England&mdash;made king of Denmark, but could not
+persuade her husband King Canute to accede to her
+wishes. She therefore sent letters privately to Ulf,
+saying that the king wished to see the young prince
+on the throne, but did not wish to do anything the
+people might not like. Ulf, deceived by her story,
+had the boy crowned king, and thereby won Canute's
+ill-will.</p>
+
+<p>The king, however, showed no signs of this, nor
+of resentment against Ulf for his rebellion, but,
+after his escape from the Swedes, asked the earl to
+go with him to his palace at Roeskilde, and on the
+evening of their arrival offered to play chess with
+him. During the game Canute made a false move so
+that Ulf was able to take one of his knights, and
+when the king refused to let this move count and
+wanted his man back again the earl jumped up and
+said he would not go on with the game. Canute, in
+a burst of anger, cried out:</p>
+
+<p>"The coward Norwegian Ulf Jarl is running
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"You and your coward Danes would have run
+away still faster at the Helge-aae if I and my Norwegians<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>
+had not saved you from the Swedes, who
+were making ready to beat you all like a pack of
+craven hounds!" ejaculated the angry earl.</p>
+
+<p>Those hasty words cost Ulf his life. Canute,
+furious at the insult, brooded over it all night, and
+the next morning, still in a rage, called to one of
+the guards at the door of his bed-chamber:</p>
+
+<p>"Go and kill Ulf Jarl."</p>
+
+<p>"My Lord King, I dare not," answered the man.
+"Ulf Jarl is at prayer before the altar of the
+church of St. Lucius."</p>
+
+<p>The king, after a moment's pause, turned to a
+young man-at-arms who had been in his service
+since his boyhood and cried angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"I command you, Olaf, to go to the church and
+thrust your sword through the Jarl's body."</p>
+
+<p>Olaf obeyed, and Ulf was slain while kneeling
+before the altar rails of St. Lucius' church.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as usual with King Canute, his passion
+cooled and he deeply lamented his crime, showing
+signs of bitter remorse. In way of expiation he
+paid to his sister Estrid, Ulf's widow, a large sum
+as blood-fine, and gave her two villages which she
+left at her death to the church in which her husband
+had been slain. He also brought up Ulf's eldest son
+as one of his own children. The widowed Estrid
+afterwards married Robert, Duke of Normandy,
+father of William the Conqueror, who in 1066
+became master of England.</p>
+
+<p>King Canute died in 1035, at thirty-six years of
+age, and his son Harald reigned after him in England<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>
+for four years, and afterwards his son Harthaknud,
+or Hardicanute, for three years, when England
+again came under an Anglo-Saxon king&mdash;to
+fall under the power of William of Normandy, a
+conqueror of Norwegian descent, twenty-four years
+later.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>
+<a name="MAGNUS_THE_GOOD" id="MAGNUS_THE_GOOD">
+</a><i>MAGNUS THE GOOD<br />
+AND HAROLD HARDRULER</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>After the death of King Olaf the Saint, and after
+the Danes had for some years ruled over Norway,
+Olaf's son Magnus, who had been left in Russia,
+was brought to Norway and proclaimed king. The
+Danes had oppressed the people, and had put over
+them a woman and her son, and it was this that
+made the chiefs drive out the tyrants and put young
+Magnus, then a boy of ten years of age, on the
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>A curious thing then took place, one of those
+strange political somersaults which at times come
+in the history of nations. For as the Danes had
+lately ruled over Norway, now a Norseman came
+to rule over Denmark. Thus it was that this odd
+change came about.</p>
+
+<p>The great King Canute was dead and his son
+Hardicanute had succeeded him on the throne.
+This new king claimed Norway as his and prepared
+to fight for it. But the chief men in the two countries
+succeeded in making peace, with the agreement that
+if either of the kings should die without heirs the
+other should take his throne. A few years later
+Hardicanute died and Magnus was proclaimed king
+of Denmark. Thus, in the year 1042, the two
+kingdoms became united under a Norse king, a
+descendant of Harold the Fair-Haired.<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a></p>
+
+<p>Magnus, as he grew up, showed an ugly and
+revengeful temper. Very likely some of those
+around him told the boy that he should avenge his
+father upon those who had rebelled against and killed
+him. One of these men was slain by his orders,
+others fled from the country, and many were made
+poor by the loss of their cattle. This made the
+people very angry, and they were ready to fight for
+just treatment when peace was brought about in
+another way, the hot-tempered Magnus being subdued
+by the power of song.</p>
+
+<p>One of the poets of the land&mdash;scalds they were
+called&mdash;made a song called the Lay of Candor,
+which he sang before the king. In it he warned him
+of the evil results of a revengeful spirit and told
+him of the duties he owed the people who had
+brought him to Norway and made him king. Magnus,
+who had now nearly reached the years of manhood,
+listened quietly to this song and afterwards
+sat long in deep thought. It had a wonderful effect
+on him, for it opened his eyes to the injustice of his
+course, and from that day he was a new man. All
+his plans of vengeance fled, he became kind and
+gentle and so mild and sweet in manner that he
+grew to be one of the best loved of kings. This may
+be seen in the name the people gave him, which was
+that of Magnus the Good.</p>
+
+<p>Now we must tell the rest of his story very rapidly.
+As the heir of Hardicanute he claimed to be
+king of England as well as of Norway and Denmark,
+and he might have tried to win the crown<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>
+of England, then worn by Edward the Confessor,
+had he not been kept busy at home. In fact, he had
+to fight hard to keep the crown of Denmark, for
+Sweyn, a nephew of the great Canute, claimed it and
+a fierce war followed. Magnus was victorious in
+this war, and in one great battle, in which ten
+thousand soldiers were slain, it was his skill and
+courage that won the field. This display of personal
+bravery gave him a great name in the north.</p>
+
+<p>Now we must leave the story of Magnus for a
+time to take up that of another hero of the north.
+Those who have read the tale of Olaf the Saint
+will remember his amusing talk with his three little
+half-brothers, and how while the two elder had an
+ambition only for land and cows, Harold, the
+youngest, wanted men and ships, and Olaf prophesied
+that the boy would one day be a king.</p>
+
+<p>When Harold grew up the spirit of the boy was
+shown in the man. When only fifteen years old
+he fought in the battle in which King Olaf was
+killed, and received a severe wound. Then he
+became a wanderer, going first to Russia and then
+to Constantinople, where he became the captain of
+the Varangians, the body-guard of Norsemen kept
+by the Greek emperors. A large, bold, strong, and
+reckless champion, Harold gained a great name in
+the south. He fought against the Saracens and won
+much treasure; he fought in Sicily and captured
+many cities; he had adventures in love and war and
+many wonderful stories are told of his exploits.
+Then he came back to Russia and married Elizabeth,<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>
+the daughter of King Jaroslov, love for whom
+had sent him abroad to win fame and riches.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image135" id="image135"></a>
+<a href="images/p135.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p135_th.jpg"
+		alt="NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS"
+		title="NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS"
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Not long after this King Magnus, as he was sailing
+one day along the coast of Denmark, saw gliding
+along the most magnificent ship he had ever beheld.
+He at once sent men aboard to learn to whom the
+beautiful galley belonged, and they were met by a tall
+and handsome man, who said that he had been sent
+by Harold Sigurdsson, the uncle of King Magnus,
+to learn how the king would receive him. Magnus,
+who was then nineteen years old, sent word that he
+would gladly welcome his uncle and hoped to find
+in him a good friend. When they met the tall man
+proved to be Harold himself and Magnus was highly
+pleased with him.</p>
+
+<p>He was not so well pleased when Harold asked
+to be made king also, laying claim to half the
+kingdom. And Harold himself was not well pleased
+when one of the Norse chiefs said that if Magnus
+was to share the kingdom with him, he should divide
+his great treasure with Magnus.</p>
+
+<p>Harold replied hastily and haughtily that he
+had not dared death and won wealth that he might
+make his nephew's men rich. The chief answered
+that he and his friends had not won Norway from
+the Danes for the purpose of giving half of it to a
+stranger, and all the other earls and warriors agreed
+with him, so that Harold found that the apple which
+he wished to divide was not so easily to be cut.</p>
+
+<p>After that there was war and plundering and the
+cruel deeds that take place when the sword is drawn,<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>
+and a year or two later Harold called an assembly
+of the people of one district of Norway and had
+himself proclaimed king. Magnus, who did not
+want to fight his father's brother, finally yielded
+to Harold's claim and agreed that they should both
+be kings; not to divide the realm, but both to rule
+over the whole country together. Thus it was that
+Harold won the prize which he had craved as a
+young child.</p>
+
+<p>Every one would say that a compact of this kind
+could not work well. A gentle, kindly, generous-hearted
+man like King Magnus was ill matched
+with a haughty, wealth-loving, tyrannical man like
+Harold. No doubt many bitter words passed
+between them, and the peasants were so incensed
+by Harold's oppression and extortion of money from
+them that they would have broken into open rebellion
+only for the love they bore King Magnus. The latter
+was often so incensed that he was tempted to put
+an end to the double kingship even if he had to
+remove his troublesome partner by violence.</p>
+
+<p>But this was not to be. One day, while out riding,
+his horse took fright and threw him, his head
+striking a stump. He was at first stunned, but
+seemed to recover. Soon afterwards he was taken
+sick with a violent fever and gradually sank, so that
+it became apparent that he would die. On his
+death-bed he decided that Sweyn, who had fought
+so hard to win from him the crown of Denmark,
+had a better right to that kingdom than Harold,
+and men were sent to inform him of his succession<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>
+to the Danish throne. But he had barely closed
+his eyes in death when Harold sent other men to
+intercept these messengers. He proposed to keep
+Denmark for himself.</p>
+
+<p>The death of King Magnus without an heir left
+Harold the undisputed successor to the throne, as
+the only living descendant in the male line of Harold
+the Fair-Haired. Yet the people were far from
+pleased, for he had already shown a disposition
+to treat them harshly and they feared that a tyrant
+had succeeded to the throne. By his stern rule
+he gained several uncomplimentary titles, the English
+calling him Harold the Haughty, the Germans
+Harold the Inflexible, and the Northmen Harold
+the Hardruler. Yet he was able to hold his own
+over his people, for he was strong and daring,
+skilled in the art of war, and a man of unusual
+intellect. He was also a poet and won fame by his
+verses. He would sit up half the night with the
+blind scald Stuf Katson, to hear him recite his
+stirring songs.</p>
+
+<p>But if absolute ruler over Norway, Harold found
+Denmark slipping away from him. Sweyn had in
+him the blood of the race of Canute, and was no
+weakling to be swept aside at a king's will. Magnus
+had left him the kingdom and he was bent on having
+it, if his good sword could win and hold it.
+In this he was supported by the Danes, and Harold
+found that the most he could do was to make
+descents on the Danish coast and plunder and
+murder the innocent people.<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a></p>
+
+<p>After this idle kind of warfare had gone on for
+a number of years and Harold found that all he
+had gained by it was the hatred of the Danes, he
+made an agreement with Sweyn to fight it out
+between them. They were to meet at the mouth of
+the G&ouml;tha Elv and whoever won in the battle was
+to be the king of Denmark. It was a kind of duel
+for a crown.</p>
+
+<p>But Sweyn tried to gain his end by stratagem.
+When Harold appeared with his fleet at the appointed
+place Sweyn and his ships were not to be
+seen. Harold waited a while, fuming and fretting,
+and then sailed south to Jutland, where he ravaged
+the coast, took and burned the city of Heidaby,
+carried away a number of women of high rank, and
+filled his ships with plunder. Then he turned
+homeward, with so little fear of the Danes that he
+let his ships widely scatter.</p>
+
+<p>The winds were adverse, the weather was foggy,
+and one morning while they lay at anchor by an
+island shore, the lookout saw a bright flash through
+the fog. The king was hastily called, and on seeing
+it cried:</p>
+
+<p>"What you see is the flash of the morning sun
+on the golden dragon-heads of warships. The
+Danish fleet is upon us!"</p>
+
+<p>The peril was imminent. It was hopeless to
+fight with the few ships at command. Only flight
+remained and that was almost as hopeless. The
+oars were got out in haste, but the ships, soaked
+and heavy from their long cruise, were hard to<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>
+move, and as the fog lifted under the sun rays, the
+Danish fleet, several hundred strong, bore down
+swiftly upon them. The emergency was one that
+needed all the wit and skill of the king to meet.</p>
+
+<p>To distract the enemy Harold bade his men nail
+bright garments and other showy spoil to logs and
+cast them overboard. As these floated through the
+Danish ships many of them stopped to pick up the
+alluring prizes. He also was obliged to throw
+overboard <ins class="correction" title="'casts' in original">casks</ins>
+of beer and pork to lighten his ships
+and these also were picked up. Yet in spite of all
+he could do the Danes gained on him, and his own
+ship, which brought up the rear, was in danger of
+capture.</p>
+
+<p>As a last resort the shrewd king had rafts made
+of boards and barrels and put on these the high-born
+women he held as captives. These rafts were
+set afloat one after another, and the pursuers, on
+seeing these hapless fair ones and hearing their
+wild appeals for rescue, were obliged to stop and take
+them up. This final stratagem succeeded and
+Harold escaped, leaving Sweyn, who had felt sure
+of capturing his enemy, furious at his failure.</p>
+
+<p>At another time, ten years and more later, Harold
+again fell into peril and again escaped through his
+fertility in resources. Having beaten his rival in
+a naval battle, he entered the long and narrow
+Lim fiord to plunder the land, fancying that Sweyn
+was in no condition to disturb him. He reckoned
+too hastily. Sweyn, learning where his foe was,
+gathered what ships he could and took post at Hals,<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>
+the fiord being there so narrow that a few ships
+could fight with advantage against a much greater
+number.</p>
+
+<p>Though caught in a trap Harold was not dismayed,
+but gave orders to sail to the inner end of
+the fiord. He knew that it ended near the North
+Sea, only a narrow isthmus dividing them. Then,
+with great trouble and labor, he managed to have
+his ships dragged across the isthmus and launched
+on the sea waters, and away he sailed in triumph,
+leaving Sweyn awaiting him in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, with the desire to bring this useless
+strife to an end, if possible, a new compact was
+made to meet with their fleets in the G&ouml;tha Elv and
+fight once more for the kingdom of Denmark. It
+was now 1062, thirteen years after the former battle.
+As before, on reaching the place designated, no
+Danish ship was visible. But it is difficult to credit
+what we are told, that Harold, after a vain wait,
+made the same error as before, dividing his fleet and
+sending the greater part of it home. With the
+remainder, one hundred and eighty ships strong,
+he sailed along the coast, and suddenly found himself
+in the presence of the Danes, with two ships
+to his one.</p>
+
+<p>This time Harold did not flee, but joined battle
+bravely with his enemy, the contest lasting through
+a whole night and ending in a complete victory
+over the Danes. It was a great victory, yet it
+brought Harold no advantage, for Sweyn did not
+keep to his compact&mdash;if he had made one&mdash;to surrender<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>
+his throne, and the Danes hated Harold so
+thoroughly for his cruel raids on their land that
+they had no idea of submitting to him. Two years
+more passed on, and then Harold, finding that the
+conquest of Denmark was hopeless, consented against
+his will to make peace. In this way Sweyn, after
+many years of battling for his throne, forced his
+powerful antagonist to give up the contest and
+promise never to disturb him again.</p>
+
+<p>Two years after this peace was made, in the year
+1066, King Harold took part in another adventure
+which brought his tyranny and his life to an end.
+It is worth telling for another reason, for it was
+connected with a great historical event, the conquest
+of England by William the Conqueror. For these
+two reasons it is very fitting that it should be told.</p>
+
+<p>King Harold of England, who was soon to fall
+on the fatal field of Hastings, had a brother, Earl
+Tostig, who, fired by ambition, set out to conquer
+that kingdom for himself. He went first to Denmark
+and tried to get King Sweyn to join him in
+the enterprise, but the prudent Sweyn told him
+that he had no desire to follow in the footsteps of
+his uncle Canute, but was quite content to dwell
+at home and rule his own kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tostig sought Norway, where he found
+King Harold far more ready to listen to him. So
+in September of that year, Harold sailed from
+Norway with the most powerful fleet and army
+that had ever left its shores. Counting what was
+added in the Orkneys and the force under Earl<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>
+Tostig, it numbered about three hundred and fifty
+ships and thirty thousand men. Landing in Northumberland,
+a victory was won and the city of
+York taken. Then, leaving about one-third of the
+army to guard the ships, Harold and Tostig encamped
+at Stamford Bridge, seven miles from
+York.</p>
+
+<p>It was a warm day, there was no reason to fear
+danger, and the men lounged about without their
+arms. In this unwary state they found themselves
+suddenly face to face with a large army, led by
+the English King Harold, who had marched north
+in furious haste. Tostig, finding that they had
+been taken by surprise, advised a retreat to the
+ships, but Harold was not the man to turn his
+back to his foe, and decided to stand and fight,
+ordering the men to arm and prepare for battle.
+While they were gathering in ranks for the fray,
+a party of English horsemen rode up and asked if
+Earl Tostig was there.</p>
+
+<p>"You see him before you," said Tostig.</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother Harold sends you greeting and
+offers you peace and the rule of Northumberland.
+If he cannot gain your friendship for less, he will
+grant you one-third his kingdom."</p>
+
+<p>"Last year he had only scorn and disdain to offer
+me," replied Tostig. "But if I should accept his
+proposal, what has he to offer my ally, the king
+of Norway?"</p>
+
+<p>"He will grant him seven feet of English soil;
+or more if his length of body needs it."<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a></p>
+
+<p>"If that is your best offer," said Tostig, "ride
+back and bid Harold to begin the battle."</p>
+
+<p>Harold of Norway had heard this brief colloquy,
+and as the English horsemen rode away asked Tostig
+who was the speaker.</p>
+
+<p>"That was my brother, Harold himself,"
+answered Tostig.</p>
+
+<p>"I learn that too late," said Harold grimly.</p>
+
+<p>The battle that followed was hotly contested.
+It began with a charge of the English cavalry, which
+was repulsed, and was followed up fiercely by the
+Norsemen, who fancied the flight of the English to
+mean a general rout. In this way they broke their
+ranks, which the king wished to preserve until reinforcements
+could reach him from the ships. Forward
+rushed the impatient Norsemen, King Harold
+throwing himself into their midst and fighting with
+savage fury. His men seconded him, the English
+ranks wavered and broke before the fierce onset, and
+victory seemed within the grasp of the invaders,
+when an arrow pierced King Harold's throat and
+he fell in a dying state from his horse.</p>
+
+<p>His fall checked the onset, and the English king,
+hearing of his death, offered his brother an armistice.
+Tostig refused this and led his men back to
+the fray, which was resumed with all its old fury.
+But Tostig, too, was slain, and the king's brother-in-law,
+who arrived with reinforcements from the
+ships, met with the same fate. By this time the
+battlefield was covered with the bodies of the dead,
+and the Norsemen, dispirited by the loss of their<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>
+leaders, gave way and retreated towards the ships,
+hotly pursued by their victorious foes. Of their
+great host only a small remnant succeeded in reaching
+the ships.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ended the great fight at Stamford Bridge,
+and with it the reign and life of Harold Hardruler,
+who fell a victim to his ambition and love of strife.
+For years thereafter the bones of men lay scattered
+widely over that field, for none stayed to bury the
+dead, the Norsemen fleeing in their ships, while
+news of the landing of William of Normandy called
+Harold hastily to the south&mdash;where he fell in the
+midst of the fighting at Hastings as Harold of
+Norway had fallen on Stamford Field. Harold's
+invasion of England was the last great exploit of the
+vikings of the north, and though Ireland was
+invaded later by a Norseland fleet, no foreign foe
+after the fatal days at Stamford and Hastings
+ever landed on England's shores.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>
+<a name="SVERRE_THE_COOKS_SON" id="SVERRE_THE_COOKS_SON">
+</a><i>SVERRE, THE COOK'S SON,<br />
+AND THE BIRCHLEGS</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the year 1177 those people in Norway who
+loved a joke must have laughed to their hearts'
+content, when the tidings reached them that the son
+of a cook, followed by seventy ragged and half
+armed men, had set out to win the throne of the
+kingdom. Surely a more extraordinary and laughable
+enterprise was never undertaken, and the most
+remarkable thing about it was that it succeeded.
+A few years of desperate adventures and hard fighting
+raised the cook's son to the throne, and those
+who had laughed at his temerity were now glad to
+hail him as their king. How Sverre the adventurer
+won the crown is a tale full of adventure and amply
+worth the telling.</p>
+
+<p>No common man was Sverre and no common
+woman was his mother Gunhild, a cook in the
+kitchen of King Sigurd Mouth. Not handsome was
+she, but quick of wit and bright of brain. If the
+king had had his way the boy would have had a
+very short life, for he bade the mother to kill her
+child as soon as it should be born. Instead of consenting
+to this cruel mandate, she fled from the
+palace to a ship, which took her to the Faroe Islands,
+and here her son was born. She was then serving
+as milkmaid to Bishop Mathias.</p>
+
+<p>The little Sverre began his life with an adventure.<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>
+When he was a few months old a man named Unas
+came from Norway to the islands, a smith or comb-maker
+by profession. But Gunhild suspected him
+of being a spy sent by King Sigurd to kill her son,
+and she hid the boy in a cavern, which is still called
+Sverre's Cave. He acted like a spy, for he followed
+her to the cave, found where she had hidden the
+child, and threatened to kill it unless she would
+marry him. Gunhild had no love for this dangerous
+stranger, but she dearly loved her little son, and
+with much reluctance she consented to marry Unas
+to save the babe's life.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the first event in the life of the later
+King Sverre. The new-married pair went back to
+Norway, for King Sigurd had died, but when the
+boy was five years old they returned to the Faroes,
+for Bishop Mathias was now dead, and Roe, the
+brother of Unas, had been made bishop in his stead.</p>
+
+<p>The little fellow was made to believe that he was
+the son of Unas, and as he grew up Bishop Roe took
+a great fancy to him, for he showed himself to be
+very bright and intelligent. There was no boy in
+the island his equal, so the good bishop had him
+educated for the priesthood and when he was old
+enough had him ordained in the lowest priestly
+grade.</p>
+
+<p>This was much against the wish of Gunhild,
+his mother, who had higher hopes for his future,
+and when he proudly told her that he was now a
+priest, and hoped some day to become a bishop, or
+even a cardinal, she burst into tears.<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Why do you weep, mother?" he asked in surprise.
+"I do not know why you should hear of my
+honor with sorrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my son," she cried, "this is but a small
+honor compared to that to which you were born.
+I have not told you of the great station that is
+yours by right, but must now say that you are not
+the son of my husband Unas, but of King Sigurd
+of Norway, and you have as good a claim as any
+man living to the throne."</p>
+
+<p>This surprising revelation destroyed Sverre's
+peace of mind. All his ambition to rise in the
+priesthood was gone, the crown of a kingdom seemed
+to float in the air before him, and his thoughts by
+day and his dreams by night were fixed on that
+shining goal. The great hopes in his mind kept
+sleep from his eyes and after days of mental unrest
+he felt that life was worthless to him if his high
+ambition were not fulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>"Since I am born heir to the crown," he said
+to his mother, "I have as much right to it as any
+man, and I will strive at any cost to win it. I
+stake my life on this cast, for without it life to me
+has lost all its joy."</p>
+
+<p>Magnus, the king then on the throne, was not of
+royal birth. He was the son of Erling Skakke, a
+great and ambitious nobleman, who had killed every
+descendant of the royal house he could find to make
+his own son king. Of the boy who was destined to
+dispute his claim, the cook's son on the Faroes, he
+knew nothing, and when the bright youth landed<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>
+in Norway, whether he had gone in spite of the
+protests of Bishop Roe, not a soul in the kingdom
+dreamed that a new claimant for the throne was in
+the realm.</p>
+
+<p>No one was likely to learn from Sverre until his
+plans were ripe. He was too shrewd and cautious
+for that. He wanted to feel the sentiment of the
+people, and was disappointed to find them all well
+satisfied with their king. Full of humor and a
+good talker, everybody he met was pleased with him,
+and when he talked with the men-at-arms of Erling
+Skakke they told him all they knew about the state
+of affairs. They were quite won over by this lively
+priest from the Faroes. He even made the acquaintance
+of Erling Skakke himself and got a thorough
+idea of his character.</p>
+
+<p>The cunning adventurer was feeling his way and
+found things not at all to his liking. To attempt,
+alone and with an empty pocket, to drive a favorite
+monarch from the throne, seemed the act of madness.
+But the ambitious youth had dreamed his
+dream of royal state and had no fancy for returning
+to a humble priesthood on the bleak Faroes.</p>
+
+<p>In Sweden, across the border, dwelt Earl Birger,
+who had married a sister of King Sigurd Mouth.
+To him Sverre went, told who he was, and begged
+for aid. The earl looked on him as an imposter and
+would have nothing to do with him. Then he
+sought Folkvid the Lawman, with whom lived his
+half-sister Cecilia, and told him the same story.
+Folkvid received him more graciously, but he had<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>
+no power to make him king. But the rumor that a
+son of the late King Sigurd was in the land got
+abroad, and soon made its way to the ears of a band
+of rebels who hated the king.</p>
+
+<p>Here we must go back a step. All the people of
+Norway were not content with the new king. From
+time to time pretenders to the throne arose, hornets
+whom Magnus and his father Erling had some
+trouble in destroying. They had their following,
+and the malcontents gathered at last around Eystein
+Meyla (Little Girl), who professed to be the grandson
+of a former king. But all this last of the pretenders
+was able to do was to roam about in the
+wilderness, keeping himself and his followers from
+starving by robbing the people. They were in so
+desperate a state that they had to use birch-bark
+for shoes, and the peasants in derision called them
+Birkebeiner, or Birchlegs. Though little better than
+highwaymen, they were sturdy and daring and had
+some success, but finally were badly beaten by the
+king and their leader slain. They might have never
+been heard of again had not the greatest of the
+pretenders just then came to Norway.</p>
+
+<p>The rumor that a son of King Sigurd Mouth was
+in the land reached the ears of the handful of Birchlegs
+remaining and, learning where Sverre was, they
+sought him and begged him to be their chief. He
+looked at them, and seeing what dirty and ragged
+vagabonds they were, he told them that he had no
+fancy for being their leader, that there was no link
+of connection between them and him but poverty,<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>
+and advised them, if they wanted a chief, to seek
+one of Earl Birger's sons, who, like himself, were
+of royal descent.</p>
+
+<p>The beggarly troop took his advice, but the earl's
+son would have nothing to do with them. By way
+of a joke he told them to go back to Sverre and
+threaten to kill him if he would not be their leader.
+They did so, using persuasions and possibly threats,
+and Sverre, seeing no hope of success among the
+great, finally consented to become the leader of this
+ragged band of brigands. Such was his first definite
+step on the road to the throne.</p>
+
+<p>In this humble fashion, the ambitious young
+prince, then about twenty-four years old, with empty
+hands and pockets and seventy ragged followers,
+began his desperate strife for the throne of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>From Vermeland, where his enterprise began, he
+led his forlorn seventy southward toward Viken,
+his party rolling on like a snowball and growing in
+size on its way, until it swelled to four hundred and
+twenty men. In spite of his protest, these vagabonds
+proclaimed him king and touched his sword to indicate
+their allegiance. But their devotion to his
+cause was not great, for when he forbade them to
+rob and plunder the peasants most of them left him.
+To test the remainder, he ordered them back to
+Vermeland and before they reached that region only
+the original seventy remained.</p>
+
+<p>Desperate was now the position of the youthful
+adventurer. He had declared himself a claimant for
+the throne and any one had the right to kill him.<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>
+The peasants hated his robber band and he could
+get none to join him. They would rather have
+killed them all and thus earned the king's favor.</p>
+
+<p>Had young Sverre been a man of common mind
+his enterprise must now have reached its end. But
+he was a man of wonderful mental resources, daring,
+indefatigable, capable of bearing the most extreme
+reverses and rescuing himself from the most perilous
+situations. Followed by his faithful seventy, he
+wandered through the pathless mountain wilderness,
+hopeful and resourceful. His courage was unfailing.
+Often they had to live on bark and frozen
+berries, which were dug up from under the snow.
+At times some of his men, worn out with hunger
+and exposure, would drop lifeless on their barren
+paths; at times he had to sleep under his shield, as
+his only protection from the falling snow; but his
+heart kept stout through it all, and he chided those
+who talked of ending their misfortunes by suicide.</p>
+
+<p>As an example of his courage and endurance and
+his care of his men, we may tell the following anecdote.
+Once in his wanderings he came to a large
+mountain lake which had to be crossed. It could
+only be done on rafts, and the men were so exhausted
+that it proved desperate work to fell trees and build
+the necessary rafts. In time they were all despatched,
+Sverre boarding the last, which was so
+heavily laden that the water rose above his ankles.</p>
+
+<p>One man was still on the shore, so utterly worn
+out that he had to crawl to the water's edge and beg
+to be taken on, lest he should perish. The others<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>
+grumbled, but Sverre would not listen to their complaints
+but bade them to take the man on. With
+his extra weight the raft sank till the water reached
+their knees. Though the raft threatened to go to
+the bottom Sverre kept a resolute face. A great
+fallen pine on the other side made a bridge up which
+the men clambered to safety, Sverre being the last
+to leave the raft. Scarcely had he done so when
+the watersoaked logs sank. The men looked on this
+as a miracle and believed more fully than ever that
+he would win.</p>
+
+<p>Now came the first success in his marvellous
+career. He had one hundred and twenty men on
+reaching the goal of his terrible journey, but here
+eighty men more joined him and with these two
+hundred followers he successfully faced a force of
+fourteen hundred which had been sent against
+him. With a native genius for warfare he baffled
+his enemies at every point, avoiding their onset,
+falling upon them at unexpected points, forcing
+them to scatter into separate detachments in the
+pursuit, then falling on and beating these detachments
+in succession. While he kept aware of their
+plans and movements, they never knew where to
+look for him, and in a short time the peasant army
+was beaten and dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>This striking success gave new courage and hope to
+the Birchlegs and they came in numbers to the place
+to which Sverre had summoned a body of twelve
+representatives from the province of Tr&ouml;ndelag.
+These met and proclaimed him king of Norway.
+It was now the summer of 1177.<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Birchlegs were hasty in supposing the beating
+of fourteen hundred peasants would bring success
+to their cause. Erling Skakke was still alive
+and active, and on hearing of the exploits of this
+new leader of rebels in the north, he got together a
+large fleet and sailed northward to deal with him.</p>
+
+<p>The new-proclaimed king was too wary to meet
+this powerful force and he sought refuge in the
+mountains again, leaving to Erling the dominion
+of the coast. And now, for two years, Sverre and his
+men led a precarious life, wandering hither and
+thither through the mountain wilderness and suffering
+the severest privations. He was like a Robin
+Hood of the Norwegian mountains, loving to play
+practical jokes on the peasants, such as appearing
+with his hungry horde at their Yuletide feasts and
+making way with the good cheer they had provided
+for themselves. He was obliged to forage in the
+valleys, but he took pity on the poor and more than
+once made the great suffer for acts of oppression.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere he was hated as a desperate brigand;
+some believed him to be the devil himself. Naughty
+children were scared with the threat that the terrible
+Sverre would take them, and laundresses, beating
+their clothes at the river's brink, devoutly wished
+that Sverre's head was under the stone. Yet his
+undaunted resolution, his fights with the king's soldiers,
+his skirmishes with the peasants, and his
+boldness and daring in all situations, won him a
+degree of admiration even among those who feared
+and hated him.<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a></p>
+
+<p>Thus for two years his adventurous career went
+on. Then came an event that turned the tide in
+his favor. Erling was still pursuing him and in
+June, 1179, was in the coast town of Nidaros, his
+son, Magnus, with him. In the harbor lay the fleet.
+The earl and the king were feasting with their
+followers when word was brought them that the
+Birchlegs were approaching.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish it was true," said the earl. "I should
+like nothing better than to meet that hound Sverre.
+But there will be no such good luck to-night, for
+I am told that the rascals have gone back to the
+mountains. You can go to bed in safety, for Sverre
+will not dare to trouble us when we are on the
+watch for him."</p>
+
+<p>To bed they went, sleeping heavily from their
+potations, and down on them came Sverre, who, as
+usual, was well informed about their situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Now is your time to fight bravely, and repay
+yourselves for your sufferings," he said to his men.
+"A fine victory lies before us. I shall promise you
+this. Any one of you who can prove that he has
+slain a liegeman shall be made a liegeman himself,
+and each of you shall be given the title and dignity
+of the man you have slain."</p>
+
+<p>Thus encouraged, the poorly-armed adventurers
+rushed down the hills into the town. One sturdy
+fellow who carried only a club was asked where his
+weapons were.</p>
+
+<p>"They are down in the town," he said. "The<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>
+earl's men have them now. We are going there to
+get them."</p>
+
+<p>This they did. As they came on the warriors,
+hastily alarmed and heavy with their drunken sleep,
+flocked staggering into the streets, to be met with
+sword and lance. The confusion was great and the
+king had much trouble in rallying his men. Many
+chieftains advised flight to the ships, but the stout-hearted
+Erling was not ready for that.</p>
+
+<p>"It might be best," he said, "but I can't bear
+the thought of that brigand priest putting himself
+in my son's place."</p>
+
+<p>Leading his men outside the city, he awaited the
+attack. It came in haste, the Birchlegs falling
+furiously upon the much greater force before them.
+In the onset the earl was killed and his men were
+put to flight. The king, as he fled by, saw the
+bloody face of his father lying under the stars. He
+stooped and kissed him, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall meet again, father, in the day of joy."
+Then he was borne away in the stream of flight.</p>
+
+<p>This decisive victory turned the tide of the war.
+The death of Erling removed Sverre's greatest opponent.
+King Magnus was no match for the priest-king,
+and the rebel force grew until the contest
+assumed the shape of civil war. Sverre no longer
+led a band of wanderers, but was the leader of an
+army.</p>
+
+<p>This was not the ordinary army recruited from
+the settled classes of society, but an army made up<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>
+of the lower stratum of the people, now first demanding
+their share of the good things of life. Fierce
+and unruly as they were, Sverre knew how to control
+and discipline them. He kept his promise, as far
+as was possible, to reward his men with the honors
+of those they had slain, but charged them with the
+maintenance of law and order, punishing all who
+disobeyed his commands. This he could safely do,
+for they worshipped him. They had shared peril
+and suffering together, had lived as comrades, but
+through it all he had kept his authority intact and
+demanded obedience. Birchlegs they still called
+themselves, for they had grown proud of the title,
+and they named their opponents Heklungs, from the
+story that some of them had robbed a beggar woman
+whose money was wrapped in a cloak (<i>hekl</i>).</p>
+
+<p>For six years afterwards the war for dominion in
+Norway continued, the star of King Sverre steadily
+rising. In 1180 Magnus attacked his opponent
+with an army much larger than that of Sverre, but
+was utterly routed; and an army of peasants that
+came on afterwards, to kill the "devil's priest," met
+with the same ill success.</p>
+
+<p>Magnus now took refuge in Denmark, abandoning
+Norway to his rival, and from there he came year
+after year to continue the contest. In a naval battle
+in 1181, in which Sverre had less than half the
+number of ships of his opponent, his star seemed
+likely to set. The Birchlegs were not good at sea
+fighting and the Heklungs were pressing them<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>
+steadily back, when Sverre sprang into the hottest
+of the fight, without a shield and with darts and
+javelins hurtling around him, and in stirring tones
+sang the Latin hymn, "Alma chorus domini."</p>
+
+<p>This hymn seemed to turn the tide of victory.
+Magnus, storming furiously forward at that moment,
+was wounded in the wrist as he was boarding a
+hostile ship. The pain caused him to pause and,
+his feet slipping on the blood-stained deck, he fell
+headlong backward, a glad shout of victory coming
+from the Birchlegs who saw him fall.</p>
+
+<p>Orm, one of King Magnus's captains, demanded
+what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"The king is killed," he was told.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the fate of the realm is decided," he
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>Cutting the ropes that held the ships together,
+he took to flight, followed by others and breaking
+the line of battle. Leaping to his feet, Magnus
+called out that he was not hurt and implored them
+not to flee from certain victory. But the terror
+and confusion were too great, and Sverre took quick
+advantage of the opportunity, capturing a number
+of ships and putting the others to flight.</p>
+
+<p>The final battle in this contest for a throne came
+in 1184. It was one in which Sverre was in imminent
+danger of a fatal end to his career. Usually
+not easily surprised, he was now taken unawares.
+He had sailed up the Nore fiord with a few ships
+and a small force of men, to punish some parties<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>
+who had killed his prefect. Magnus, afloat with
+twenty-six ships and over three thousand men,
+learned of this and pursued his enemy into the
+fiord.</p>
+
+<p>Sverre was caught in a trap. Not until he saw
+the hostile ships bearing down upon him had he a
+suspicion of danger. Escape was impossible. Great
+cliffs bounded the watery ca&ntilde;on. He had but fourteen
+ships and not half his opponent's force of men.
+The Heklungs were sure that victory was in their
+hands. But when Sverre and his Birchlegs dashed
+forward and attacked them with berseker fury
+their confidence turned to doubt. Soon it began to
+appear that victory was to be on the other side.
+Before the furious onset the Heklungs fell in numbers.
+Many in panic leaped into the sea and were
+drowned, King Magnus among them. Till mid-night
+the hot contest continued, by which hour half
+the king's force were slain and all the ships captured.
+The drowned corpse of King Magnus was
+not found until two days after the battle, when it
+was taken to Bergen and buried with royal ceremony.
+His death ended the contest and Sverre was
+unquestioned king of the whole land.</p>
+
+<p>Shall we briefly conclude the story of King
+Sverre's reign? For twenty years it continued, the
+most of these years of war, for rebellion broke out
+in a dozen quarters and only the incessant vigilance
+and activity of a great king and great soldier enabled
+him to keep his throne and his life.</p>
+
+<p>After all his wars and perils, he died in his bed,<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>
+March 9, 1202, worn out by his long life of toil and
+strain. Never before had Norway so noble and able
+a king; never since has it seen his equal. A man
+was he of small frame but indomitable soul, of
+marvellous presence of mind and fertility in resources;
+a man firm but kindly and humane; a king
+with a clear-sighted policy and an admirable power
+of controlling men and winning their attachment.
+Never through all its history has Norway known
+another monarch so admirable in many ways as
+Sverre, the cook's son.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>
+<a name="THE_FRIENDS_AND_FOES" id="THE_FRIENDS_AND_FOES">
+</a><i>THE FRIENDS AND FOES<br />
+OF A BOY PRINCE</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>After the death of the great King Sverre tumult
+and trouble reigned in Norway. Several kings
+came to the throne, but none of them lived long,
+and there was constant fighting between the Birchlegs
+and the opposing party who called themselves
+Baglers. Year after year they kept their swords
+out and their spears in hand, killing one another,
+but neither party growing strong enough to put
+an end to the other. All this time the people were
+suffering and the country growing poorer, and a
+strong hand was needed at the helm of the ship-of-state.</p>
+
+<p>It was when King Inge, who was not of royal
+blood, and whose hand was not the strong hand
+needed, was on the throne, that new hope came to
+the people, for it was made known that they had
+among them a boy of kingly descent, a grandson
+of the noble Sverre. Men thought that King
+Sverre's line had died out, and there was great joy
+in their hearts when they learned that his son
+Haakon had left a son.</p>
+
+<p>This boy was born in 1203, son of the beautiful
+Inga of Varteig, whom King Haakon had warmly
+loved though she was not his wife. The little prince
+was named Haakon, after his father, but he was
+born in the midst of the Baglers, his father's foes,<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>
+and the priest who baptized him bade Inga to keep
+his birth a strict secret, letting none outside her own
+family know that a new prince had come to the
+land.</p>
+
+<p>The secret was well kept for a time, but whispers
+got abroad, and Thrond, the priest, at length told
+the story to Erland of Huseby, whom he knew to
+be on the right side. Erland heard the news with
+joy, but feared peril for the little prince, thus
+born in the land of his enemies. Rumors were growing,
+danger might at any moment come, and though
+it was mid-winter, a season of deep snows and biting
+winds, he advised the priest to send the boy and his
+mother to the court of King Inge, offering himself
+to take them across the pathless mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The difficult journey was made in safety and the
+boy and his mother were kindly welcomed by the
+king, and joyfully greeted by the Birchlegs, who
+were strong in that district. Little Haakon was
+then less than two years old, and it is said that the
+old loyalists, who were eager to have a king of the
+royal blood, used in playfulness to pull him between
+them by the arms and legs, to make him grow faster.</p>
+
+<p>The Birchlegs were in fear of Haakon Galen, the
+king's brother, who was ambitious to succeed to the
+throne. Yet Earl Haakon took a great fancy to the
+helpless little child and seemed to love him as much
+as any of them. Thus the child prince, though in
+the midst of plotters for the throne, who would
+naturally be likely to act as his enemies, seemed
+protected by the good angels and brought safely
+through all his perils.<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a></p>
+
+<p>Even when he was captured by the Baglers, when
+four years of age, they did not harm him, being
+possibly so taken by his infantile beauty and winning
+ways that they could not bring themselves to
+injure their little captive. In the end, after many
+fights and flights, in which neither party made any
+gains, the Birchlegs and Baglers grew tired of the
+useless strife and a treaty of peace was made between
+them, the king of the Baglers swearing allegiance
+to King Inge and becoming one of his earls. But
+new trouble was brewing for the youthful prince,
+for in 1212, when he was eight years old, a compact
+was made that none but those of legitimate
+birth should succeed to the throne. As his mother
+had not been a legal wife, this threatened to rob
+little Haakon of his royal rights.</p>
+
+<p>In doing this the plotters were like some politicians
+of the present day, who lay plans without
+consulting the people. They did not know how
+strong the sentiment was in favor of the old royal
+line. One of the old Birchlegs, on hearing of this
+compact, was bitterly angry. He had made frequent
+visits to the young prince, whom he loved and
+admired, but on his next visit he pushed away the
+playful lad, roughly bidding him begone.</p>
+
+<p>Haakon reproachfully asked, "What have I done
+to make you so angry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go away from me," cried Helge, the veteran;
+"to-day you have been robbed of your right to the
+crown and I have ceased to love you."</p>
+
+<p>"Who did that and where was it done?"<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a></p>
+
+<p>"It was done at the <i>Oere-thing</i> [the Assembly
+at Oere], and those who did it were King Inge
+and his brother Earl Haakon."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you should not be angry with me, my
+kind Helge, nor be troubled about this. What they
+did cannot be lawful, for my guardian was not there
+to speak on my side."</p>
+
+<p>"Your guardian! Who is he?" asked Helge.</p>
+
+<p>"I have three guardians, God, the Blessed Virgin,
+and St. Olaf," said the boy solemnly. "To their
+keeping I give my cause, and they will guard me
+against all wrong."</p>
+
+<p>The old man, at this declaration, caught the boy
+in his arms and kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for your wise words, my prince," he
+said. "Words like those are better spoken than
+unspoken."</p>
+
+<p>These words show that the little fellow was coming
+to think for himself and had an active and
+earnest mind. In fact, he was so precocious and
+said such droll things as greatly to amuse the king
+and those around him. Here is one of his sayings,
+spoken in a spell of cold weather when the butter
+could not be spread on the bread. The prince bent
+a piece of bread around the butter, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us tie the butter to the bread, Birchlegs."
+This was thought so smart that it became a proverb
+among the Birchlegs.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Earl Haakon died and the little
+fellow, who had hitherto lived in his house, was
+taken to the king's court, where he was treated like<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>
+a prince. The king was growing feeble from sickness
+and he loved to have the boy with him, finding
+his talk very amusing and entertaining. Soon after
+this he also died, Prince Haakon then being fourteen
+years old.</p>
+
+<p>Though Earl Haakon, the king's brother, who
+had hoped to be king, died, as we have said, before
+him, there was another brother named Skule who
+was quite as ambitious and of whom the Birchlegs
+were much afraid. A body-guard of these faithful
+warriors took charge of the boy as soon as King Inge
+was dead, with orders to follow him day and night.</p>
+
+<p>Earl Skule at once began to plan and plot to
+seize the throne, and in this he was supported by
+the archbishop, but in spite of them the Birchlegs
+proclaimed Haakon king and Skule had to yield
+to the strong sentiment in his favor. As for the
+noble then called king by the Baglers, he too died
+just at this time and left no children, so that the
+way was clear for the boy king, and Haakon soon
+sailed to the south with a large fleet and took possession
+of Viken and the Uplands, the chief dominions
+of the Baglers.</p>
+
+<p>By the wise policy of the young king and his
+advisers the Baglers were made his friends and the
+next year they were fighting with the Birchlegs
+against the Slittungs or Ragamuffins, who were
+made up of robbers, tramps, and wandering vagabonds
+of all kinds, thousands of whom had been
+set adrift by the civil war.</p>
+
+<p>But Haakon's worst foe was Earl Skule, who continued<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>
+his plots and intrigues, and who was supported
+by the clergy, these saying they had doubts
+if the boy was really the son of the elder Haakon
+and grandson of King Sverre. Such things were
+not in those days usually settled in courts of law, but
+by what was called the ordeal, one form of which
+was to walk barefoot over red-hot irons. If not
+burned the accused was thought to have proved the
+justice of his cause.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image165" id="image165"></a>
+<a href="images/p165.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p165_th.jpg"
+		alt="LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS."
+		title="LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>For a king already in possession of the throne to
+submit to such a demand and humble himself by
+thus trying to prove who he was, was a thing never
+done before and an old peasant gave vent to the
+general sentiment in these words:</p>
+
+<p>"Who can show in history a case of the sons of
+peasants prescribing terms like these to an absolute
+king? It would be wiser and more manly to bear
+another kind of iron&mdash;cold steel&mdash;against the king's
+foes, and let God judge between them in that way."</p>
+
+<p>But Inga, the king's mother, declared that she
+was ready to endure the ordeal and Haakon consented
+to it. Earl Skule now felt sure of succeeding,
+not dreaming that the ordeal could be gone through
+without burning, but to make more sure, he bribed
+a man to approach Inga and offer her an herb which
+he said would heal burns.</p>
+
+<p>The plot was discovered by the faithful Birchlegs
+and Inga warned of it; for to use such herbs would
+make the test invalid and subject Inga and her son
+to opprobrium. But all that Skule and his fellow-plotters
+could do proved of no avail, for Inga passed<a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>
+through the ordeal unhurt and triumphantly proved,
+in the legal system of that day, the justice of her
+cause. How red-hot iron was prevented from burning
+is a matter which we cannot discuss, and can
+only say that this ordeal was common and many are
+said to have gone through it unscathed.</p>
+
+<p>We set out in this story to tell how the child
+Haakon passed through all the perils that surrounded
+him and grew up to become Norway's king.
+Here then we should end, but for years new perils
+surrounded him and of these it is well to speak.
+They were due to the ambitious Earl Skule, who
+made plot after plot against the king's life, and was
+forgiven again and again by the noble-minded
+monarch.</p>
+
+<p>King Haakon's friends sought to put an end to
+this secret plotting by arranging a marriage between
+the young monarch and Earl Skule's still younger
+daughter Margaret. But this did not check him in
+his plots, and he finally set sail for Denmark to try
+and get aid from King Valdemar. He was ready
+to agree if the kingdom were won to reign as a
+vassal of the Danish king; but when he got there
+no such king was to be found. He had been captured
+in battle five days before, and was now with
+his son in a prison at Mecklenburg. The disappointed
+plotter had to sail home and pretend to be
+the king's friend as before.</p>
+
+<p>For years Skule's plots went on. He took the
+field against a new horde of rebels called the Ribbungs,
+but he took care never to press them too<a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>
+closely, and they long gave the king trouble. For
+more than twenty years Skule thus continued to
+plot and plan, the king discovering his schemes and
+pardoning him more than once, but nothing could
+cure him of his ambitious dream.</p>
+
+<p>In the end, when he was nearly fifty years old,
+he succeeded in having himself proclaimed king and
+in sending out bands of warriors who killed many
+faithful friends of King Haakon. He tried to conceal
+his purpose until he had gathered a large force,
+but one man escaped the vigilance of his guards
+and brought word of the treachery to Haakon. The
+latter, seeing that he must check this rebellion if he
+wished to sit safely on his throne, at once took
+to his fleet, sailed southward with the utmost speed,
+and rowed, under cover of a fog, up the Folden fiord
+to Oslo, where the rebel was. He had been carousing
+with his followers the night before and the wassailers
+were roused from their drunken sleep by the
+war-horns and ran out to see the king's ships driving
+in towards the piers.</p>
+
+<p>The rebels were quickly scattered, but Skule
+escaped, and at length was traced to the woods,
+where he was wandering with a few friends. The
+friars of a monastery took pity on them and hid
+them in a tower, disguised with monkish cowls.
+Despite their disguise they were traced to their hiding
+place, and when the friars refused to give them
+up the pursuers set fire to the tower. Driven out
+by the smoke and heat, Skule stepped from the gate,
+holding his shield above his head and saying:<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a></p>
+
+<p>"Strike me not in the face; for it is not right to
+treat warriors thus."</p>
+
+<p>In a minute more he lay dead, slain by Birchleg
+swords.</p>
+
+<p>The next act in King Haakon's reign was to have
+himself crowned king, and thus to rid himself of
+the blot on his claim to the throne. After some
+negotiations with the Pope, a cardinal was sent from
+Rome, the ceremony being performed with much
+pomp and ceremony, and followed with the most
+magnificent feasts and festivities Norway had ever
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>From this time on King Haakon ruled as a wise,
+noble and powerful monarch, making his strength
+felt by his great fleet and setting Norway high
+among the nations of the north. He died at length
+in 1263, loved by his people and respected by all
+outside his realm.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>
+<a name="KING_VALDEMAR_I_AND" id="KING_VALDEMAR_I_AND">
+</a><i>KING VALDEMAR I. AND<br />
+BISHOP ABSOLON</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The most brilliant period in the history of Denmark
+was that of the reigns of the Valdemars, and
+especially of Valdemar I. and his sons, whose names
+and memories are still cherished in that kingdom,
+the Danes regarding them as the greatest and best
+monarchs they ever had.</p>
+
+<p>There were wretched times in Denmark before
+1157, when Valdemar came to the throne, and his
+early years were passed in the midst of civil wars
+and all kinds of sorrows and troubles. When the
+new king was crowned and began the business of
+governing, he found little to govern with. There
+were no money, no soldiers, no trade, no order in the
+kingdom, everything being at so low an ebb that he
+found it necessary, as some writers state, to secure
+support from Germany by recognizing the Emperor
+Frederick Barbarossa as his suzerain and doing
+homage to him as a vassal in 1162. But this ceremony
+did not entail upon him any of the usual
+duties of a vassal, and was more of an ordinary
+alliance than a formal act of submission.</p>
+
+<p>Yet poor as was the state of Denmark when Valdemar
+came to it as king, when he died he left it a
+flourishing, busy and peaceful country, to which he
+had added great tracts of land on the pagan shores<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>
+of the Baltic, whose people he forced to give up
+their heathen practices.</p>
+
+<p>During his reign Valdemar made as many as
+twenty expeditions against these piratical peoples,
+gradually subduing them. At first, indeed, he
+showed very little courage, and found so many
+reasons for turning back before meeting the foe,
+that the sailors looked upon him as a coward, and
+once he overheard one of them say with a laugh,
+that the king was "a knight who wore his spurs
+upon his toes, only to help him to run away the
+faster."</p>
+
+<p>This made him very angry, but on speaking of
+it to his foster-brother, Axel Hvide,&mdash;afterwards
+Bishop Absolon,&mdash;he found that the feeling that he
+lacked the courage of a warrior was general. This
+contempt made him so ashamed that from that time
+on he faced danger bravely and was never again
+known to turn back from any risk.</p>
+
+<p>Though Axel became a bishop, he had begun life
+as a soldier and was throughout life bold and daring,
+a man who loved nothing better than to command
+a ship or to lead his men in an assault against
+some fierce band of sea robbers. From his castle
+Axelborg, on the site of the later city of Copenhagen,
+he kept a keen lookout for these pirates
+and sought manfully to put an end to their plundering
+raids.</p>
+
+<p>The war against the Baltic heathens continued
+until 1168, when it ended in the capture of the
+town of Arcona, on the island of Rygen, and the<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>
+destruction of the great temple of the Slavic god
+Svanteveit, whose monstrous four-headed image
+was torn down from its pedestal and burned in
+the presence of its dismayed worshippers.</p>
+
+<p>The taking of this temple is an event of much
+interest, for it was due to the shrewdness of a young
+Danish soldier, who circumvented the heathens by
+a clever stratagem.</p>
+
+<p>While the army lay encamped on the island
+beach, below the town of Arcona, this man noticed
+that the high cliffs on which the temple was built
+were honeycombed by many deep holes, which could
+not be seen from the ramparts above, but were quite
+visible from the beach below. One day it occurred
+to him that by making use of these holes he could
+roast the pagan worshippers out of their nests, and
+he arranged with some of his fellows to carry out
+his plan.</p>
+
+<p>Gathering such dry straw and small sticks as
+they could collect, the soldiers pretended to be playing
+at a game of pitch and toss, which if seen by
+the sentinels on the ramparts above would not seem
+suspicious to them. In this way they caused much
+of the straw and sticks to lodge in the holes in the
+steep cliff. Then, by using spears and stones for a
+ladder, one of them climbed for a distance up the
+steep rock wall and set fire to some of the inflammable
+rubbish in the holes.</p>
+
+<p>The effect was stupendous. The flames spread
+from hole to hole, creeping up the face of the rock
+until the wooden spikes and palings at its summit<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>
+were in a blaze. This took place unseen by the
+pagans, who first took the alarm when they saw
+flames circling round the great mast from which
+floated the banner of their god.</p>
+
+<p>Before they could take any steps to extinguish
+the flames, and while they stood in a panic of
+apprehension, the Danes, headed by Bishop Absolon,
+rushed to the assault and succeeded in taking the
+town.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing left for them but to accept
+baptism, on which their lives depended, and the
+worthy bishop and his monks were kept busy at
+this work for the next two days and nights, the
+bishop desisting only when, half blind from want
+of sleep, he dropped down before the altar that
+had been set up beside the fonts, where the converts
+were received and signed with the cross.</p>
+
+<p>The work of baptism done, King Valdemar caused
+the huge wooden idol of the god to be dragged amid
+martial music to the open plain beyond the town,
+where the army servants chopped it up into firewood.
+In this work the new converts could not be induced
+to take part, for, Christians as yet only in name,
+they feared some dread revenge from the great
+Svanteveit, such as lightning from heaven to
+destroy the Danes.</p>
+
+<p>The Christians of that age were quite as superstitious,
+for they declared that when the image
+was being carried out of the temple gates, a horrible
+monster, spitting fire and brimstone, burst
+from the roof and leaped with howls of wrath into<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>
+the sea below, which opened to receive it, and
+closed over its head with billows of smoke and
+flame.</p>
+
+<p>Valdemar died in 1182, after making such friends
+of his people and doing so much for them, that
+when the funeral procession, headed by Bishop
+Absolon, drew near the church of Ringsted, where
+the burial was to take place, it was met by a throng
+of peasants, weeping and lamenting, who begged the
+privilege of carrying the body of their beloved king
+to his last resting place.</p>
+
+<p>When the bishop began to read the service for
+the dead his voice failed him and he wept and
+trembled so much that he had to be held up by
+some of the assistant monks. After all was over
+the people went away in deep grief, saying that
+Denmark's shield and the pagans' scourge had been
+taken from them and that the country would soon
+be overrun again by the heathen Wends.</p>
+
+<p>But Absolon kept a firm hand upon the reins of
+state, and when the young Prince Knud, Valdemar's
+son, was proclaimed king at the age of twenty
+everything was in order. Knud proved as good and
+gallant as his father, holding Denmark bravely
+against all foes, and when the Emperor Barbarossa
+sent to him to appear before the imperial court at
+Ratisbon and do homage for his crown, he returned
+a defiant answer.</p>
+
+<p>The position of Denmark had greatly changed
+since Valdemar had obeyed such a summons, and
+when the envoy of the emperor brought him the<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>
+imperial command, he sent back the following proud
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell your master that I am as much monarch
+in my own realm as the kaiser is in his, and if he
+has a fancy for giving away my throne, he had
+better first find the prince bold enough to come and
+take it from me."</p>
+
+<p>This ended all question of the vassalage of Denmark,
+but the emperor never forgot nor forgave
+the insult and took every opportunity in after years
+to stir up strife against Denmark. In 1184 he
+incited the pagan princes of Pomerania to invade
+the Danish islands with a fleet of five hundred ships.
+But they had old Bishop Absolon to deal with, and
+they were so utterly routed that when the fog, which
+had enabled the Danes to approach them unseen,
+cleared away, only thirty-five of their ships were
+able to keep the sea.</p>
+
+<p>This victory made Knud ruler over all Pomerania
+and part of the kingdom later known as Prussia,
+and he added to his title that of "King of the
+Wends and other Slavs." He went on adding to
+his home kingdom until the dominion of Denmark
+grew very wide.</p>
+
+<p>That is all we need say about King Knud, but it
+must be said of Bishop Absolon that he was a wise
+patron of knightly arts and historical learning and
+encouraged the great scholar Saxo Grammaticus to
+write his famous "History of Denmark," in which
+were gathered all the old Danish tales that could be
+learned from the skalds and poets and found in<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>
+the monasteries of the age. Absolon, who had loved
+and cared for the princes Knud and Valdemar since
+their childhood, died in the year 1201 and King
+Knud followed him a few years later, leaving the
+throne to his brother Valdemar.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>
+<a name="THE" id="THE">
+</a><i>THE<br />
+FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES<br />
+OF VALDEMAR II</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Prosperous and glorious was the kingdom of
+Denmark under Valdemar II. in the early part of
+his reign, though misery was his lot during many
+years of his life. By his victories he won the title
+of "Sejr," or "the conqueror," and his skill and
+goodness as a ruler won him the love of his people,
+while the Danes of to-day look upon him as one
+of the best and noblest of their kings. He was long
+regarded by them as the perfect model of a noble
+knight and royal hero, and his first queen, Margrete
+of Bohemia, was called by the people "Dagmar,"
+or "Day's Maiden," from their admiration
+of her gentleness and beauty. In many of their
+national songs she is represented as a fair, fragile,
+golden-haired princess, mild and pure as a saint,
+the only sin she could think of to confess on her
+death-bed being that she had put on her best dress
+and plaited her hair with bright ribbons before
+going to mass. While the Danes thus regard the
+memory of Queen Dagmar, they have no words too
+bad to use in speaking of Valdemar's second queen,
+the black-haired Berangaria, whose name became
+with them a by-word for a vile woman.</p>
+
+<p>But Valdemar's tale is largely one of sorrow and
+suffering and rarely has monarch had to bear so<a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>
+cruel a fate as was his during many unhappy years
+of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Valdemar was the son of Valdemar I., and
+brother of King Knud, for whom as a prince he
+fought bravely, putting down the Sleswick rebels,
+who had been stirred to rebellion by the German
+emperor, and conquering his enemy, Count Adolf
+of Holstein. Succeeding his brother Knud in 1202,
+his first exploit was the conquest of Pomerania,
+which Knud had won before him. This was now
+added to the Danish dominions, and in 1217 the
+German emperor of that date granted to him and
+the future kings of Denmark all the territories
+north of the Elbe and the Elde. Thus Valdemar
+was made master of a great part of northern Germany
+and ruled over a wider dominion to the south
+than any Danish king before or after.</p>
+
+<p>His success in the south led him to attempt the
+conquest of the north, and armies were sent to
+Norway and Sweden with the hope of winning these
+kingdoms for the Danish crown. In this effort he
+failed, but in 1219 his zeal for the Church and
+love of adventure led him to undertake a great
+expedition, a crusade against the heathens of
+Esthonia.</p>
+
+<p>Gathering an army of sixty thousand men and
+a fleet of fourteen hundred ships, a mighty force
+even for the small craft of that day, he quickly
+made himself master of that stronghold of paganism,
+great numbers of the people consenting to be
+baptized. But here he found a new and unexpected<a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>
+enemy and had to fight fiercely for the privilege
+of carrying the cross of Christ to the heathen
+Esthonians.</p>
+
+<p>His new enemies were the Knights of the Sword,
+of Livonia, who declared that the duty of converting
+the pagans in that region belonged to them, and
+that no other Christians had the right to interfere.
+And from this ensued a war in which fierce battles
+were fought and much blood was shed, for the purpose
+of deciding who should have the privilege of
+converting the heathen. It is doubtful if ever
+before or since a war has been fought for such a
+purpose, and the heathens themselves must have
+looked on with grim satisfaction to see their enemies
+cutting each other's throats to settle the question
+as to who had the best right to baptize them.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the battles with the heathens, while
+Bishop Andreas, the successor to Bishop Absolon,
+was praying on a high hill with uplifted hands for
+victory, there suddenly fell down from heaven
+the Danneborg, the national standard of Denmark.
+At least, that is what legend tells us of its appearance.</p>
+
+<p>It is held to be much more probable that this
+banner, bearing a white cross on a blood-red field,
+was sent by the Pope to Valdemar as a token of
+his favor and support, and that its sudden appearance,
+when the Danes were beginning to waver
+before the pagan assaults, gave them the spirit that
+led to victory. The result, in those days of superstition,
+naturally gave rise to the legend.<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a></p>
+
+<p>When Valdemar returned a victor from Esthonia,
+having beaten alike the pagans and the Livonian
+knights, and bearing with him the victorious Danneborg,
+he was at the height of his glory, and none
+dreamed of the terrible disaster that awaited him.
+He had made enemies among the German princes,
+and they conspired against him, but they were
+forced to submit to his rule. Some of those whose
+lands he had seized did not hesitate to express
+openly their hatred for him; but others, while
+secretly plotting against him, pretended to be his
+friends, shared in his wars and his courtly ceremonies,
+and were glad to accept favors from his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>One of those who hated him most bitterly, yet
+who seemed most attached to him, was the Count-Duke
+of Schwerin, a man who, alike from his dark
+complexion and his evil disposition, was known in
+his own country as "Black Henry." The king
+had often been warned to beware of this man, but,
+frank and open by nature and slow to suspect
+guile, he disregarded these warnings and went on
+treating him as a trusty friend.</p>
+
+<p>This enabled Count Henry to make himself
+familiar with Valdemar's habits and mode of life.
+He secretly aided certain traitors who cherished
+evil designs against the king; but when he found
+that all these plots failed he devised one of his own
+which the king's trust in him aided him in carrying
+out.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of the year 1233 Valdemar invited<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>
+his seeming friend to a two days' hunt which he
+proposed to enjoy in the woods of Ly&ouml;, but the
+count sent word that he regretted his inability to
+join him, as he had been hurt by a fall and could
+not leave his bed.</p>
+
+<p>His bed just then was his horse's saddle. The
+opportunity which he awaited had come, and he
+spent the night scouring the country in search of
+aid for the plot he had in view, which was no less
+than to seize and hold prisoner his trusting royal
+friend. He knew the island well, and when his spies
+told him that the king and his son Valdemar had
+landed at Ly&ouml; with a small following of huntsmen
+and servants, Black Henry prepared to carry out
+his plot.</p>
+
+<p>The king's first day's hunt was a hard one and he
+and his son slept soundly that night in the rude hut
+that had been put up for their use. No one thought
+of any need of guarding it and the few attendants
+of the king were scattered about, sleeping under
+the shelter of rocks and trees.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night Count Henry and his men landed
+and made their way silently and cautiously through
+the tired sleepers to the royal hut, which he well
+knew where to find. Quietly entering, they deftly
+gagged the king and prince before they could awake,
+and before either of them could raise a hand in
+resistance sacks of wool and straw were drawn over
+their heads, so closely as nearly to choke them, and
+strong bonds were tied round their legs and arms.</p>
+
+<p>Thus thoroughly disabled, the strong king and<a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>
+his youthful son were carried through the midst of
+their own people to the strand and laid helplessly
+in the bottom of the waiting boat, which was rowed
+away with muffled oars, gliding across the narrow
+sound to the shore of Fyen. Here waited a fast-sailing
+yacht to which the captives were transferred,
+sail being set before a favoring wind for the German
+coast.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, when the king's attendants
+were searching for the missing king, he and his son,
+still bound and gagged, were landed on a lonely part
+of the sea-shore, placed on awaiting horses, and
+tightly secured to the saddles, after which they
+were hurried on at full gallop, stopping only at
+intervals to change the armed escort, until the castle
+of Danneberg, in Hanover, was reached.</p>
+
+<p>This castle had been loaned by its owner to Count
+Henry, he having no stronghold of his own deemed
+secure enough to hold such important captives. So
+roughly had they been treated that when the bonds
+were removed from Prince Valdemar, who resembled
+his mother Dagmar alike in his beauty and her
+feebleness, the blood flowed from every part of his
+body. Yet, without regard to his youth and sufferings,
+the cruel captor shut up him and his royal
+father in a cold and dark dungeon, where they were
+left without a change of clothing and fed on the
+poorest and coarsest food.</p>
+
+<p>This, many might say, was a just retribution on
+King Valdemar, for years before, when as a prince
+he had put down the rebellion in Sleswick, he had<a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>
+seized its chief leader, his namesake Bishop Valdemar,
+and kept him for many years in chains and
+close confinement in the dungeon of S&ouml;borg Castle,
+and had later subjected Count Adolf of Holstein
+to the same fate. Bishop Valdemar had been
+released after fourteen years' imprisonment at the
+entreaty of Queen Dagmar, and was ever after one
+of the most bitter enemies of the Danish king.</p>
+
+<p>But though a bishop and count might be thus
+held captive, it is difficult to conceive of a powerful
+monarch being kept prisoner by a minor noble for
+three long years, despite all that could be done for
+his release. Nothing could give a clearer idea of
+the lawless state of those times. King Valdemar
+and his son lay wearing the bonds of felons and
+suffering from cold and hunger while the emperor
+and the Pope sought in vain for their release,
+threatening Black Henry with all the penalties
+decreed by empire and church for those who raised
+their hands against a prince.</p>
+
+<p>The shrewd captor readily promised all that was
+asked of him. He would release his captives without
+delay. Yet he had no intention to keep his
+word, for he knew that Rome and Ratisbon were
+too far from Danneberg to give him serious cause
+for alarm, especially as the other nobles of northern
+Germany were prepared to help him in keeping
+their common enemy in prison.</p>
+
+<p>As for Denmark itself, the people were infuriated
+and eagerly demanded to be led to the rescue
+of their beloved king; yet Valdemar's sons were<a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>
+still young, all the kinsmen of the royal family had
+been banished or were dead, and there was no one
+with the power and right to take control of public
+affairs.</p>
+
+<p>For some time, indeed, the fate of the king
+remained unknown to the people. Valdemar's
+nephew Albert, Count of Orlamunde, was on his
+way to Rome when the news of the king's capture
+reached him. He immediately turned back, collected
+an army, and gave battle to the German
+princes who were helping Count Henry to defend
+Danneberg. But his hasty levies were defeated and
+he taken prisoner, to be thrown into the same dungeon
+as the royal captive.</p>
+
+<p>Finally King Valdemar, seeing no other hope
+of release, agreed to the terms offered by Black
+Henry, which were that he should pay a ransom
+of 45,000 silver marks, give him all the jewels of
+the late Queen Berangaria not already bestowed on
+churches and monasteries, and send him a hundred
+men-at-arms, with horses and arms for their use.
+For assurance of this he was to send his three
+younger sons to Danneberg to be kept in prison
+with Count Albert until the money was paid.</p>
+
+<p>These terms agreed to, the king and prince were
+set free. Valdemar at once hastened to Denmark,
+which he found in a fearful state from its having
+been three years without a head. Humbled and
+crushed in spirit, finding all his dominions in Germany
+set free from their allegiance and all the kingdoms
+won by his valor lost to Denmark, he scarcely<a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>
+knew what steps to take. The ransom demanded
+he was unable to pay and he grieved at the thought
+of subjecting his young sons to the fate from which
+he had escaped. In his misery he wrote to the
+Pope, asking to be released from the oath which
+had been exacted from him to let his children
+go into captivity.</p>
+
+<p>The Pope, full of pity for him, sent a bishop to
+Count Henry, telling him that if he tried to enforce
+the demand exacted under durance from the king
+of Denmark, he should be deprived of the services
+of religion and be heavily fined by the papal power
+for his cruel and unrighteous act. Thus called
+to account for his treachery and wickedness, Black
+Henry was forced to forego the final cruel exaction
+of his traitor soul.</p>
+
+<p>Misfortune, however, pursued Valdemar. When
+in 1227 the peasants of Ditmarsh refused to pay
+the tribute they had long paid the Danish crown,
+the insult to his weakness was more than the king
+could endure. He marched an army into their
+lands, but only to find himself defeated and four
+thousand of his men killed by the rebels, who were
+strongly aided by the German princes of Holstein,
+and especially by Count Adolf, his former captive.
+He himself was wounded in the eye by an arrow
+which struck him to the ground, and would have
+been captured a second time but for the aid of a
+friendly German knight.</p>
+
+<p>This foeman had been formerly in Valdemar's
+service, and when he saw his old royal master helpless<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>
+and bleeding, he lifted him to his saddle and
+carried him to Kiel, where his wounds were healed,
+means being then found to send him back to his
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Valdemar remained on the throne for fourteen
+years afterwards, but these were years of peace.
+War no longer had charms for him and he devoted
+himself to the duties of government and to preparing
+codes of law for the provinces of his kingdom.
+In that age there were no general laws for
+the whole country.</p>
+
+<p>The laws of Valdemar continued in force for four
+hundred and fifty years, and in 1687, when Christian
+V. framed a new code of laws, some of the old ones
+of Valdemar were retained. In them the old custom
+of the ordeal was set aside, being replaced by the
+system of the jury, one form of which consisted of
+"eight good men and true" chosen by the king,
+and another of twelve men chosen by the people.
+The laws were lenient, for most crimes could be
+atoned for by money or other fines. Three days
+after the last of these codes was approved Valdemar
+died, at the age of seventy-one, leaving three sons
+all of whom in turn ruled after him. His son
+Valdemar, who shared his imprisonment, had died
+long before.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>
+<a name="BIRGER_JARL_AND" id="BIRGER_JARL_AND">
+</a><i>BIRGER JARL AND<br />
+THE CONQUEST OF FINLAND</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Birger Jarl, who became one of the great men of
+Sweden about 1250, rose to such importance in the
+early history of that kingdom that one cannot pass
+him by without saying something about his career.
+Sweden was then a Christian kingdom and had been
+for many years, for the religion of Christ had been
+preached there, as the sagas tell, four centuries
+earlier. But heathenism prevailed until long afterwards,
+and it was not until the days of King Stenkil,
+who came to the throne in 1061, that an earnest
+effort was made to introduce the Christian worship.
+Finally paganism completely died out, and when
+Birger came to the throne Sweden had long been
+a Christian realm.</p>
+
+<p>But paganism still had a stronghold in Finland,
+and when Bishop Thomas, a zealous churchman, of
+English birth, proclaimed that the Christians should
+have no intercourse with the pagans in Finland or
+even sell them food, the Finlanders became so
+incensed that they invaded the Christian country
+and put the people to death with frightful tortures.
+Their cruelties created terror everywhere and
+Bishop Thomas fled to Gothland where, crazed
+with horror at the result of his proclamation, he
+soon died.</p>
+
+<p>King Erik was then on the throne of Sweden,<a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>
+but Birger, the son of a great earl of Gothland,
+became a famous warrior, and as the king had no
+sons he made Birger a jarl, or earl, and chose him
+as his heir. One of the exploits by which Birger
+had won fame was the following. The town of
+L&uuml;beck, in North Germany, was closely besieged by
+the king of Denmark, who had cut it off from the
+sea by stretching strong iron chains across the
+river Trave, on which the town is situated. He
+thus hoped to starve the people into surrender,
+and would have done so had not Birger come to
+their rescue. He had the keels of some large ships
+plated with iron, loaded them with provisions, and
+sailed up the river towards the beleaguered city.
+Hoisting all sail before a strong wind, he steered
+squarely on to the great chains, and struck them
+with so mighty a force that they snapped asunder
+and the ships reached the town with their supplies,
+whereupon the Danish king abandoned the siege.
+This story is of interest, as these are the first iron-plated
+ships spoken of in history.</p>
+
+<p>By this and other exploits Birger grew in esteem,
+and when the Finns began their terrible work in
+the north he and the king summoned the people to
+arms, and the old warlike spirit, which had long
+been at rest, was reawakened in the hearts of the
+Swedes. The Pope at Rome had proclaimed a
+crusade against the Finns, promising the same
+privileges to all who took part in it as were enjoyed
+by those then taking part in the crusades to the
+Holy Land, and on all sides the people grew eager
+to engage in this sacred war.<a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a></p>
+
+<p>Then there was brushing and furbishing on all
+sides; ancestral swords, which had long hung rusting
+on the walls, were taken down and sharpened
+anew; helmets and cuirasses were burnished until
+they shone like silver or gold; tight-closed purses
+were opened by those who wished to aid the cause
+of Christ; and old ships were made ready for the
+waves and new ones launched. Rosy lips were
+kissed by lovers who would never kiss them again,
+and loud was the weeping of the maidens and
+mothers who saw those they loved setting out for
+the war, but they consoled themselves as best they
+could by the thought that it was all for the glory
+of God. Men of Sweden had gone to the crusades
+in Palestine, but here was a crusade of their own
+at home, and all were eager to take part in it.</p>
+
+<p>A great fleet was got together and set sail under
+the command of Birger Jarl. Its course lay up
+the Gulf of Bothnia, and where it came to land
+Birger erected a great wooden cross as a sign that
+he had come for the spread of the Christian faith.
+From this the place was called Korsholm.</p>
+
+<p>The heathen Finns knew of his coming and had
+gathered in great numbers to defend their country
+against its invaders, but nothing could stay the
+fury of the crusaders, who were incensed with the
+cruelties these barbarians had committed, and drove
+them back in dismay wherever they met them,
+Birger Jarl showing the greatest skill as a leader.
+He made public a law that all who became Christians
+should be protected in life and property, and<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>
+within two years he succeeded in introducing Christianity
+into that country&mdash;perhaps more in appearance
+than reality. At any rate he built forts,
+and settled a colony of Swedes in East Bothnia,
+and thus did much towards making Finland a province
+of Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>While this was going on King Erik the Lame
+died (in 1250). As he left no heir there were many
+pretenders to the crown. The fact that Birger had
+been named by the king two years before was lost
+sight of, and it looked as if there would be civil
+war between the many claimants. To prevent any
+such result a powerful noble named Iwar hastily
+summoned an assembly and through his influence
+Valdemar, Birger Jarl's son, was chosen as king.
+This was all done so quickly that it was completed
+in fourteen days after Erik's death.</p>
+
+<p>When the news of this hasty action reached
+Birger in Finland he was very angry, and hastened
+home with all speed, bringing with him the greater
+part of his army. He was highly displeased that
+he had not himself been named king, as had been
+promised, instead of a boy, even if the boy was his
+son. Calling together those who had made the
+choice of Valdemar, he hotly asked them:</p>
+
+<p>"Who among you was so bold as to order an
+election during my absence, though you knew that
+King Erik named me Jarl and chose me for his
+heir? And why did you choose a child for your
+king?"</p>
+
+<p>Iwar answered that it was he that ordered the
+election and said:<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a></p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image190" id="image190"></a>
+<a href="images/p190.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p190_th.jpg"
+		alt="VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN."
+		title="VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.<br />
+VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"Though you are indeed most worthy to wear the
+crown, you are advanced in years and cannot live
+to rule us as long as your son."</p>
+
+<p>This answer brought another angry outbreak from
+Birger and Iwar again said:</p>
+
+<p>"If you do not like this, do with your son what
+you please. There is no fear but we shall be able
+to find another king."</p>
+
+<p>For a time Birger sat in moody silence, and then
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Who then would you take for your king?"</p>
+
+<p>"I also can shake out a king from under my
+cloak," was Iwar's haughty answer.</p>
+
+<p>This threw the Jarl into a dilemma. The faces
+of the people present showed their approval of what
+Iwar had said, and at length, fearing that if he
+resisted their action the crown might be lost both
+to himself and his son, he gave in to their decision.</p>
+
+<p>To give dignity to the occasion, he took steps
+to have his son crowned with much <ins class="correction" title="'magnificance' in original">magnificence</ins>
+and shortly after sent his daughter Rikissa with
+great pomp and a rich dower to the frontier of
+Norway, where she was met by the king of that
+country and was married with stately ceremony to
+his son. The next year Birger's mother died, and
+as there was a prophecy that her family would
+remain in power as long as her head was up, he
+had her buried upright, being walled up in a pillar
+in Bjelbo Church so that her head should never
+droop.</p>
+
+<p>Birger Jarl belonged to a great family called the<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>
+Folkungers, who long held all the power in Sweden,
+and many of whom had been aspirants for the
+throne. These were so angry at being deprived of
+what they had hoped for that they determined to
+take the throne by force, and their leaders went to
+Denmark and Germany, where they collected a large
+army. When they landed in Sweden many of the
+people of that country joined them, and though
+Birger had also a large force he began to fear the
+result.</p>
+
+<p>He therefore sent his chancellor, Bishop Kol,
+to ask for a personal interview with the leaders of
+the opposite force, with solemn promises of safety.
+Yielding to the bishop's persuasions, the chiefs
+accompanied him across the river that separated the
+two armies. Then Birger did a dastardly act. No
+sooner had the chiefs come within his power than
+he had them seized and beheaded on the spot as
+rebels.</p>
+
+<p>Thus fell a number of the leading men of Sweden,
+and, the leaders fallen, Birger attacked and easily
+dispersed their army, sparing the Swedes, but cutting
+to pieces all the Germans that could be overtaken.
+Thus he added greatly to the power of his
+family, but by an act of treachery and perjury for
+which Archbishop Lars laid upon him a heavy
+penance. As for Bishop Kol, who had been made
+the innocent agent in this shameful deed, he never
+read mass again, and finally resigned his office and
+left his country, journeying as a pilgrim to the
+Holy Land in expiation for his involuntary crime.<a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>
+He never found peace and rest until he found them
+in the grave.</p>
+
+<p>Birger Jarl by these means rose to be the mightiest
+man in the north. His son was king of Norway,
+his daughter was queen of Sweden, and his daughter-in-law
+was a princess of Denmark, for when
+Valdemar became twenty years of age he sought and
+won for his bride the beautiful Danish Princess
+Sophia. The marriage was one of great pomp, a
+great hall being built for the occasion, where the
+courtiers appeared in new-fashioned dresses of rich
+stuffs, and there were plenty of banquets, games,
+dances, and even tilts and tournaments, all conducted
+according to the noblest custom of the times.</p>
+
+<p>Birger himself had a queen for his wife, having
+married the dowager Queen Mechthild of Denmark,
+and to increase his importance he assumed the title
+of duke, never before borne in Sweden. But many
+of the peasants called him king, since he governed
+the kingdom and was married to a queen. But
+meanwhile poor Bishop Kol was dying of grief for
+the deed of shame into which this proud lord had
+led him.</p>
+
+<p>Shall we here tell an interesting and romantic
+story about one of Birger's brothers? He was a
+judge in East Gothland, his name being Bengt,
+and had fallen deeply in love with a damsel named
+Sigrid, whose family was not rich nor great, though
+she herself was so beautiful that she was widely
+known as Sigrid the Fair.</p>
+
+<p>Duke Birger was not pleased with the idea of such<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>
+a match, thinking the girl, though of noble birth,
+of far too lowly rank to mate with a member of his
+family. But in such things Judge Bengt had a
+will of his own and he married Sigrid without
+Birger's consent. This so displeased the proud jarl
+that he sent Bengt a cloak, half of which was made
+of gold brocade and the other of coarse and common
+baize. This was in token of the difference in rank
+of the families of Bengt and Sigrid and a significant
+hint that he should separate from his new
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>But Bengt was equal to the situation. He covered
+the coarse half of the cloak with gold, pearls
+and precious stones so as to make it more valuable
+than the other, and this he sent to his brother with
+no other answer. This only irritated Birger the
+more, and he sent back the message, "that he would
+speak with his brother face to face about this affair,"
+adding some harsh words which were also repeated
+to Bengt.</p>
+
+<p>Then, soon after this, the angry jarl saddled his
+horse and rode with a large company to Ulfasa,
+where Bengt lived. When the judge saw the jarl's
+train near at hand he fled from his house to the
+woods, leaving his wife, whom he had carefully
+instructed how to act, to meet his irritated brother.</p>
+
+<p>When the angry jarl rode into the court, fully
+prepared to call his erring brother severely to account,
+he was surprised to see the fairest woman
+he had ever beheld come forward to meet him. She
+was adorned with the most costly robes and precious<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>
+ornaments she could command and everything had
+been done to enhance the charm of her beauty.
+Stepping forth before the jarl, who gazed at her
+with astonishment, she bowed low and welcomed
+him with all honor and courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>So astonished was Birger with the charming
+vision that he sprang from his horse and seized
+Sigrid in his arms, saying, "Had my brother not
+done this I should have done it myself."</p>
+
+<p>Leading him to the house, she entertained him
+with the best cheer, and Bengt being sent for to
+the wood, the two brothers were fully reconciled.
+Such an effect have the charms of a fair woman
+over the pride and passion of men.</p>
+
+<p>A few words must serve to finish the story of
+Birger Jarl. The greatest and most valuable service
+of his reign lay in the new laws he gave the
+country and his doing away with many of the old
+barbarian customs to replace them with the customs
+of civilization.</p>
+
+<p>Before this time it was the common practice for
+the relatives of a murdered man to avenge him on
+the family of the murderer, thus giving rise to long
+and bloody feuds. This custom Birger forbade,
+ordering every one to seek redress for injury at the
+courts of justice. He also passed four Laws of
+Peace, viz.: for the Peace of the Church, of Women,
+of House, and of Assize.</p>
+
+<p>Every one was forbidden to assault another in
+the church or the churchyard or on the way to or
+from church. Whoever did so was declared outlawed,<a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>
+and if the assailed man killed his assailant he
+was held free from blame or revenge. This was the
+Peace of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Another ancient custom was to carry away a
+desired bride by force, without her consent or that
+of her parents, a fight often arising in which the
+bride's father and brothers were killed. Or on the
+way of an affianced pair to church the same outrage
+might take place, the bridegroom being often killed.
+This, too, was forbidden under penalty of outlawry,
+the new law being that of Peace for Women.</p>
+
+<p>To promote general security he forbade, under
+the same penalty, the attacking of any man, his
+wife, children, or servants, within his house or on
+his property. This was the Law of Home-peace or
+House-peace. All violence was in like manner forbidden
+to any one going to or attending an assembly
+of the people, this being the Peace of Assize.</p>
+
+<p>Birger Jarl improved the laws in many other
+ways and made Sweden a far more civilized country
+than it had been before his time. Another of his
+useful acts was the founding of the city of Stockholm,
+which before his day was a mere village on
+an island, but which he made a stronghold and city,
+inviting that commerce to which its situation so
+excellently adapted it. This was one of the most
+important acts of Birger Jarl, who died soon afterwards,
+not living to see the rapid growth in importance
+of his new city.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>
+<a name="THE_FIRST_WAR_BETWEEN" id="THE_FIRST_WAR_BETWEEN">
+</a><i>THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN<br />
+SWEDEN AND RUSSIA</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the last tale it was told how Birger Jarl subdued
+the Finns and brought then to give up their
+heathen practices and accept Christianity. But
+this refers only to the section of Finland bordering
+on the Baltic Sea. Farther east the Finns were
+pagans still, worshipping idols and living a savage
+life in their vast forests, and bitterly hating the
+Christians. At times they would come in hordes
+out of their wild woodlands and attack the settled
+people, killing them in the most cruel way their
+distorted fancies could contrive.</p>
+
+<p>They had two chief deities, Jumal, the great
+good one, and Perkel, the great evil one, and these
+were supposed to meet in fierce encounters in which
+they would throw each other over high mountains.
+The people kept wooden images of these deities in
+their huts, and had also open places in the forest,
+with a stone on the centre of each, on which they
+made sacrifices to their divinities. When a Karelian,
+as these people were called, came to within a fixed
+distance of the sacrificial stone, he took off his cap
+and crawled up to it silently, making sacrifices
+there of the bones and horns of elk and reindeer.
+In case of danger they would sacrifice goats, cats
+and cocks, sprinkling their idols with the blood of
+these animals.<a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a></p>
+
+<p>At that time, shortly before the year 1300, Birger,
+heir to the throne of Sweden, was very young, and
+the country was under the rule of Torkel Knutson,
+regent of the kingdom and a wise and energetic
+man. Exasperated by the cruelties committed by
+the Karelians on the Christians, he determined to
+put a stop to them and sailed to Finland with a
+strong army. Against this force the pagan foresters
+could not make head and they were soon obliged to
+submit. A fort with a strong garrison was built
+at Wiborg to keep them in order, and the churchmen
+who went with the expedition strove to convert
+them.</p>
+
+<p>It is not with these savage woodsmen, however,
+that we are concerned, but with the Russians, with
+which people the Swedes now first came into warlike
+contact. The forest Russians of that day were as
+savage as the Finns and as hard to deal with. They
+came to the help of the Karelians in this war, and
+to punish them the regent took Castle Kexholm,
+their chief stronghold, and left in it a garrison under
+Sigge Lake. It was this that brought on the first
+war between the Swedes and the Russians, some of
+the events of which are so interesting that it is worth
+telling about.</p>
+
+<p>After the Swedes had held Kexholm for some
+time their food supply ran very low, and as no aid
+came from home many of them wished to abandon
+the fort. This Sigge Lake would not listen to.
+He had been left there to hold the place and did not
+intend to give it up. But only the bravest of his<a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>
+men remained with him, the others leaving under
+pretext of sending food and reinforcements from
+home.</p>
+
+<p>Neither men nor supplies arrived and the Russians,
+learning of the state of affairs, gathered in
+multitudes around the fort, laying close siege to
+it. In the end, after a brave resistance lasting many
+days, food became so scarce that the Swedes dared
+not stay any longer and they determined to try
+and cut their way through the besiegers.</p>
+
+<p>The gates were thrown open and Sigge rushed out
+at the head of his company, with such force and
+fury that for a time it seemed as if they would succeed.
+But they were weakened by semi-starvation
+and in the end the swarming Russians killed them
+all but two, who alone made their escape and carried
+the news of the disaster back to Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>The regent was greatly distressed at the loss of
+the brave men whom he had left so long without
+support. It was too late to save their lives but he
+felt it his duty to avenge them. To do so he set
+sail with another army, making his way up the
+river Neva, the stream on which the city of St.
+Petersburg was afterwards built. No enemy was
+seen and the regent landed on an island in the
+river, where he built a strong fort which he named
+Landscrona, furnishing it plentifully with provisions.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians, when they found what was being
+done, were infuriated. A great multitude of them,
+thirty thousand in number, gathered on the Neva<a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>
+and made a vigorous effort to burn the Swedish
+fleet, sending rafts down the stream on which were
+great heaps of blazing wood. But the regent caught
+these by iron chains which he stretched across the
+stream, holding the fire-floats until they burned
+out.</p>
+
+<p>This effort failing, the Russians made a fierce
+attack on the fortress, with such savage violence
+that though many of them fell the others would not
+give up the assault. But so strong and so well
+defended was the place that they failed in this
+also, and in the end were obliged to retreat, leaving
+great numbers of dead behind them. Then a young
+and brave knight in the garrison, named Matts
+Kettilmundson, made a sortie against the Russians
+and drove them back in panic flight, many more of
+them being killed.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after this a party of Russian cavalry,
+one thousand strong, appeared in the edge of a
+wood, not far from the fort, their armor gleaming
+brightly in the sunlight. While the garrison were
+looking at them from the walls, the brave knight
+Matts Kettilmundson asked permission of the regent
+to ride out against them, saying that "he would
+venture a brush with the bravest among them."</p>
+
+<p>The regent having consented, the daring fellow
+put on his armor and had his horse led through the
+gate. Leaping on it he rode out, and when he had
+passed the moat, turned back to his friends who
+lined the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Strive to live happily," he said, "and do not be
+troubled about me, for it depends on God in heaven<a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>
+whether I shall return with a captive foe or fail
+to return at all."</p>
+
+<p>He then rode boldly on and sent an interpreter
+to the Russian lines, challenging the bravest of the
+Russians to fight with him for life, goods and freedom.
+It must be borne in mind that those were
+the days of chivalry and knight-errantry, when
+such adventures and challenges were common things
+and good faith was kept with those who made them.
+So no force or treachery was attempted against the
+daring knight, although we should hardly have
+looked for knightly deeds and chivalrous ways in
+the Russia of that day.</p>
+
+<p>However, as the story goes on to say, the Russian
+king appealed in vain for a knight to try conclusions
+with the Swedish champion. Not a man in
+the troop was ready to make the venture, and Sir
+Matts sat his horse there all day long waiting in
+vain for an antagonist. As evening approached he
+rode back to the fortress, where every one congratulated
+and praised him for his courage. The next
+morning the Russians had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this, the army growing weary and
+longing for home, the regent set sail down stream,
+leaving three hundred men and abundant supplies
+in the fort, under a knight named Swen. But as
+contrary winds detained the fleet Sir Matts landed
+with a strong party of horsemen and made long
+raids into the country, gathering much booty, with
+which he returned to the ships. Then the army
+continued its way home, where it was received with
+much joy.<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a></p>
+
+<p>But the garrison in Landscrona did not find their
+lot much better than had the former garrison in
+Kexholm. The new walls were damp and the
+advancing summer brought hot weather, so that
+their provisions began to spoil. As a consequence
+scurvy and other diseases broke out and many of
+the men died. Some of those who remained wished
+to send home for help, but others objected to this,
+saying that "they preferred waiting for help from
+heaven and did not wish to trouble the regent, who
+had enough to attend to at home."</p>
+
+<p>When the Russians gathered around the fort to
+attack it, as they soon did, only twenty men in the
+garrison were fit to bear arms in defence. These
+could not properly guard the walls and the Russians
+steadily advanced, all losses being made up from
+their great numbers, until in no great time the walls
+were taken. The Swedes retired to their houses,
+continuing to fight, but as the Russians set fire to
+these, the governor and some others threw down
+their arms, offering to surrender. They were at
+once cut down by the assailants.</p>
+
+<p>The few who remained alive now took refuge
+in a stone cellar, where they defended themselves
+manfully; and refused to submit until the enemy
+had offered them their lives. Then they yielded and
+were carried as captives into the country, the fortress
+being razed to the ground. Thus, in the year
+1300, ended the first war between Russia and
+Sweden. The Swedes fought well and died nobly,
+but they lost their lives through the neglect of their
+countrymen and rulers.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>
+<a name="THE_CRIME_AND_PUNISHMENT" id="THE_CRIME_AND_PUNISHMENT">
+</a><i>THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT<br />
+OF KING BIRGER</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>When the events narrated in the last tale took
+place, there were three young princes in the kingdom,
+Birger, Erik and Valdemar, Torkel, the regent,
+ruling in their name. But when the princes grew
+up Birger, the oldest, was crowned king, the other
+two becoming dukes. But very early in Birger's
+reign there arose many complaints about the conduct
+of his brothers, who showed themselves haughty
+and insubordinate. The ill-blood in time grew to
+such an extent that the king dismissed his brothers
+from his presence, giving them until sunset to leave.</p>
+
+<p>"After that," he said, "if you shall fall into my
+hands, it will go ill with you."</p>
+
+<p>This gave rise to bitter enmity and the two dukes
+gave King Birger no end of trouble, there being
+war between them three times in succession, bringing
+the country into a miserable state. During
+the second war King Birger was taken prisoner by
+his brothers, but he was afterwards set free under
+the promise that he would no more disturb Sweden,
+a third part of which was left under his rule.</p>
+
+<p>He did not intend to keep his word, but was no
+sooner set free than he sought aid from his brother-in-law,
+the king of Denmark, and invaded the kingdom
+with a Danish army. This was the third war
+above spoken of. It ended without the king gaining<a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>
+anything but the third of the kingdom, which had
+already been promised to him. After each of these
+wars the brothers became reconciled, and lived for
+a time peacefully in their dominions, but they laid
+such heavy taxes on the people to support their
+extravagant courts that great misery prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>After the last outbreak all remained quiet for
+nearly ten years, and the dukes thought that their
+brother was friendly towards them, not dreaming
+that his heart was full of hate and treachery.</p>
+
+<p>In 1317, when Duke Valdemar made a journey
+to Stockholm, which was in his section of the kingdom,
+he stopped at Nyk&ouml;ping to visit his brother
+Birger, whom he had not seen for a long time.
+Birger met him with a great show of friendliness,
+making him welcome in every way. Queen Martha
+was equally kind, and Valdemar was highly pleased
+with these tokens of regard. Before he left the
+queen complained to him that it gave her great
+pain that Duke Erik avoided his brother, saying that
+God knew she loved him as much as if he were her
+own brother.</p>
+
+<p>After spending the night with them Valdemar
+rode away very well pleased. His men were equally
+pleased, for they had been well entertained. On
+leaving Stockholm he went to Erik's home in Westmoreland,
+who told him that he had just been
+invited to visit Birger's court, and asked if he
+thought it safe to make such a visit.</p>
+
+<p>Valdemar said he had no doubt of it, telling of
+what a pleasant visit he had made. Erik, however,<a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>
+had doubts, being distrustful of the queen and
+Chancellor Brunke, whom he looked upon as his
+enemies. But in the end the brothers decided to
+accept the invitation and rode away towards Nyk&ouml;ping.
+When six miles distant they met a knight
+who advised them to go no farther, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You will cause yourselves and your friends
+much sorrow if both of you trust yourselves in the
+king's hands at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Valdemar indignantly replied to this that "there
+are too many who seek to breed disunion between
+the king and his brothers."</p>
+
+<p>The knight then rode off, saying no more, and the
+dukes rode into Sw&auml;rta, where they proposed to
+spend the night. To their surprise no preparations
+had been made for them, but a knight met them
+and saluted them in the king's name, adding that
+he earnestly requested them not to repose until
+they reached Nyk&ouml;ping, as his longing to meet them
+was so great that he could not rest until they
+arrived.</p>
+
+<p>On receiving this warm request they rode on,
+reaching Nyk&ouml;ping in the evening. The king advanced
+from the castle gate to meet them, greeting
+them in an affectionate manner, and taking each
+of them by the hands as he led them into the castle.
+They found a rich feast prepared for them, at which
+neither mead, wine, nor fair words were wanting.
+At length Duke Valdemar grew suspicious and said
+to his brother that they were drinking too much
+wine. But this was soon forgotten and the feast<a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>
+went on, Queen Martha showing herself very gay
+and lively and every one being full of the spirit of
+enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>It was late at night before the merrymaking
+ended and the dukes went to their rooms. The
+queen then said to their men, who had also been
+well taken care of:</p>
+
+<p>"Lodging has been prepared for you in the town,
+as there is not room enough for you in the castle."</p>
+
+<p>As they went out Chancellor Brunke stood at the
+gate, making sure that they had all gone, when he
+shut the castle gates behind them. Then he armed
+the servants and led them to the king. Birger,
+who seemed in some doubt, bade them to retire and
+turned to Sir Knut Johanson, asking if he would
+assist in making prisoners of the dukes.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not, my lord," said Sir Knut. "Whoever
+has counselled you to do this is leading you into
+a great treachery. What, would you deceive and
+murder your brothers who came here trusting in
+your good faith? The devil himself must be your
+tempter. Let who will be angry on this account, I
+will never help you in it."</p>
+
+<p>"Small care you have for my honor," said the
+king angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Little honor can <ins class="correction"
+title="'accure' in original">accrue</ins> to you from such an
+act," answered Sir Knut sturdily. "If you should
+carry out this design your honor will be less here-after."</p>
+
+<p>Two other knights warned the king against so
+treacherous a deed, but he was so displeased with
+their words that he ordered them to prison.<a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a></p>
+
+<p>Then he led his armed servants to the sleeping
+apartment of the dukes and broke open the door,
+the noise awakening the sleepers. Valdemar sprang
+up, and seeing armed men entering the room, he
+seized one of them and threw him down, calling
+on his brother for help.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use in resisting, brother," said Erik,
+seeing the room filling with armed men.</p>
+
+<p>The king now rushed in and called out savagely:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember Hatuna? It will not be
+better for you here than it was for me there, for
+you shall have the same fate, though it has tarried
+so long."</p>
+
+<p>Hatuna was the place where the king had previously
+been taken prisoner by his brothers, in
+somewhat the same treacherous manner. But they
+had not treated him with the same shameful cruelty
+with which he now treated them.</p>
+
+<p>They were taken barefooted deep into the tower
+and fastened in a dungeon, with a great chain on
+their legs, while their servants in the town were
+taken prisoners and locked up in one ward to the
+number of twenty, all their possessions being
+divided among their captors. This being done, the
+king clapped his hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"The Holy Ghost bless my queen! Now I have
+all Sweden in my hand!"</p>
+
+<p>When he set out soon afterwards on an errand of
+conquest, he left his brothers in the charge of a
+Livonian knight, who had evidently been bidden to
+treat them harshly, for he removed them to the<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>
+lowest dungeon and placed a beam upon their legs.
+They were fastened to the wall by thick iron round
+the throat and chains weighing one hundred and
+forty pounds were riveted on their wrists, the other
+end being fastened to the beam. When the chain
+was fastened upon Erik it was done with such violence
+that a piece of iron broke out, cutting him
+on the eye so that blood ran down his cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Their dungeon was at the bottom of the tower,
+where they lay on the bare rock, a pool of water
+lying between them. Their food was wretched, their
+clothing was wretched, and there was every indication
+that their wicked brother did not wish to have
+them leave that prison alive.</p>
+
+<p>But the cruel and treacherous king did not find
+it so easy to bring all Sweden under his rule. The
+news of his wicked act got abroad and spread
+through the land, exciting general horror and detestation.
+When he rode up to Stockholm to take
+possession he found it closed against him and the
+burghers made a sally against him, putting his
+forces to flight. It was the same way everywhere,
+the whole country rising against him. The wicked
+king now began to learn that the way of the transgressor
+is hard, and in his fury of disappointment
+he locked the door of the dungeon in which his
+brothers lay and threw the key into the stream,
+leaving them to die of starvation.</p>
+
+<p>But the poor victims were to be thoroughly
+avenged, for the people were implacable in their
+wrath, and in a short time had so environed the king<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>
+that the fortresses of Nyk&ouml;ping and Stegeborg were
+alone left to him, and both of these were besieged.</p>
+
+<p>Nyk&ouml;ping was soon so severely pressed that the
+garrison brought up the dead bodies of the dukes
+and laid them under a dais outside the castle, saying
+to the besiegers:</p>
+
+<p>"Your siege will now answer no purpose, for
+the dukes are dead and King Birger is heir to all
+the kingdom."</p>
+
+<p>"No one can hope to win an inheritance by
+murder," they replied. "We now serve as our
+ruler, Lord Magnus, Duke Erik's son."</p>
+
+<p>The bodies of the murdered dukes were carried
+to Stockholm, where they were buried with much
+ceremony. But the siege of the castle was continued
+until the garrison was forced to surrender.
+On obtaining possession of it the enraged people
+razed it to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Stegeborg, where Prince Magnus, King Birger's
+son, was in command, held out much longer. The
+king and queen, with Brunke, their confederate,
+were in Gothland, which province alone they held,
+and from which they sent a number of ships to
+Stegeborg with provisions and troops. These had
+no sooner appeared in the river Skares, however,
+than they were attacked and taken, leaving Prince
+Magnus as bad off as ever. When this news was
+brought to the king and queen they exclaimed in
+despair:</p>
+
+<p>"Where shall we turn now, since God has sent
+us such a misfortune?"<a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a></p>
+
+<p>Brunke, the cruel chancellor, volunteered to lead
+an expedition himself, saying that he would no
+more spare the dukes' people than they had spared
+the king's. Gathering some vessels, he had them
+strongly planked all around, and loading these with
+provisions and the remainder of the king's forces,
+he set out for Stegeborg.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the Skares the people attacked him
+with stones and other missiles, but he and his men
+protected themselves behind the planks. Seeing
+this, fire-rafts were sent off from the shore against
+the ships, and despite all that could be done to
+keep them off they drifted upon the vessels, setting
+three of them on fire, from which the flames spread
+to the others.</p>
+
+<p>Brunke and his men leaped overboard, hoping to
+escape by swimming, but they were all taken and
+Brunke and three of his chiefs sent to Stockholm,
+where they were soon afterwards beheaded. Stegeborg
+was now in a desperate state and was soon
+forced to surrender, on the condition that the life
+of Prince Magnus should be spared. This condition
+was not kept, notwithstanding the fact that he was
+innocent of his father's crime. The indignant
+people were not willing to leave any scion of their
+wicked king alive and the poor boy's head was cut
+off.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the unholy treachery of King Birger met
+with retribution. Sir Matts Kettilmundson, the
+brave knight who had shown such courage in Russia,
+was made Administrator of the kingdom and<a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>
+soon defeated a Danish army which had been sent
+to King Birger's aid. Then Birger and his wicked
+queen were obliged to flee to Sweden, where grief
+soon brought him to his death-bed. Queen Martha
+lived long, but it was a life made bitter by memory
+of her crimes and Heaven's retribution.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image210" id="image210"></a>
+<a href="images/p210.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p210_th.jpg"
+		alt="MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN."
+		title="MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y.<br />
+MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>
+<a name="QUEEN_MARGARET" id="QUEEN_MARGARET">
+</a><i>QUEEN MARGARET<br />
+AND THE CALMAR UNION</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>We have next to tell how the three kingdoms of
+Scandinavia, between which rivalry and hostility
+had often prevailed, became united into one great
+Scandinavian realm, under the rule of a woman, the
+great Queen Margaret. This was a very important
+event, as its results continued until our own day, the
+subjection of Norway, which was then achieved, not
+being broken until the early days of the present century.
+It is important to describe the various steps
+by which this union was brought about.</p>
+
+<p>From 930, when Harold Fair-Haired, the maker
+of Norway, died, until 1319, when a king known by
+the odd title of Haakon Longlegs followed him to
+the grave, the throne of Norway had been nearly
+always filled by some one of Harold's many descendants.
+But with the death of Haakon the male line
+of King Harold's descendants was finally broken,
+and only a woman remained to represent that great
+royal stock, Princess Ingeborg, the daughter of King
+Haakon. This fair maiden was promised in marriage
+while still a child to Duke Erik, son of the
+late king of Sweden. They were married in 1312,
+and on the same day Duke Valdemar, Erik's brother,
+married another princess of Norway, also named
+Ingeborg. About four years later a son was born
+to each of these happy couples, and King Haakon<a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>
+was full of joy, for he now felt that the old royal
+line was restored.</p>
+
+<p>One person was not pleased by the birth of these
+princes. This was King Birger of Sweden, who had
+long been at sword's point with his ambitious
+brothers and wanted the throne of Norway as well as
+that of Sweden to descend to his own son Magnus.
+He pretended to be pleased, however, for he had in
+mind a treacherous plot to destroy his brothers and
+their children and thus leave the way clear for his
+ambitious schemes. The steps he took to bring
+this about and their fatal end to his brothers and
+his son we have told in the previous tale. After
+the indignant people had driven King Birger from
+the throne the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway
+were left in a strange plight. Magnus, the son of
+Duke Erik and Ingeborg, was only three years old
+when his grandfather, the king of Norway, died.
+This left him the successor to the Norse realm.
+But the deposition of King Birger and the execution
+of his son left this royal infant the king of Sweden
+also, so that these two kingdoms became for the first
+time united, and this under the rule of a three-year-old
+child, with regents to govern in his name. But
+the two countries remained separate in everything
+except that they had now but one king.</p>
+
+<p>When King Magnus became old enough to act
+as monarch in reality, he took the government of
+both countries into his hands. But he proved unfit
+to govern either of them, being a weak and good-natured
+man, so anxious to please everybody that<a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>
+he pleased nobody. Born and brought up in Sweden,
+he knew little and cared less about affairs in Norway
+and the people of that country grew much incensed
+at his neglect of their interests. They made him
+promise, at a public meeting, to divide the two kingdoms
+between his two sons; Erik, the elder, to succeed
+him in Sweden, and Haakon, the younger, to
+be given the crown of Norway when he came of age.
+Events happened, as will be seen, to prevent this
+taking place and to combine all Scandinavia under
+one great queen.</p>
+
+<p>This is how it came about. King Magnus made
+a visit to Denmark, where it was arranged to marry
+Prince Haakon to Margaret, daughter and heir of
+the Danish king, Valdemar. This marriage took
+place in due time, and not very long afterwards
+both King Magnus and Prince Haakon died and
+Prince Erik was poisoned by his mother, who was
+a wicked woman and was angry because he opposed
+her in one of her base schemes.</p>
+
+<p>Thus as the death of King Birger had left the
+crowns of Sweden and Norway to a boy of three,
+the deaths here named left these crowns and that
+of Denmark also to another child, the son of Haakon
+and Margaret. This little fellow, Olaf by name,
+too young to appreciate how great he had become,
+did not live to enjoy his greatness. He died at the
+age of seventeen, leaving his royal rights to his
+mother Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to learn that the turbulent kingdoms
+named, the land of the sea-kings and the warlike<a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>
+barbarians of the north, each of which had
+needed the hand of a strong man to control them,
+all now fell under the sceptre of a woman, who
+at first reigned over Denmark and Norway and soon
+added Sweden to her dominion.</p>
+
+<p>But Queen Margaret was no weakling. She was
+a woman born to command, strong in mind and
+body, and more like a man than a woman. In
+Sweden, to which she quickly turned her attention,
+she had a bitter enemy in Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg,
+who had been declared king of that country
+after the death of King Magnus, and who also
+claimed the crown of Norway, being remotely
+related to its royal house.</p>
+
+<p>He bitterly hated Margaret, whom he called
+"Queen Breechless," and by other satirical and
+insulting names. Finally he took the bold step to
+call himself king of Denmark and Norway, a baseless
+claim which he proposed to enforce. He made
+a vow never to use a hat until he had driven out
+Margaret, and sent her a whetstone several yards
+long, advising her to use it to sharpen her scissors
+and needles instead of using a sceptre. He was
+much too hasty, as he had only a weak hold upon
+Sweden even, whose nobles did not like his habit
+of bringing in Germans to fill the posts of honor
+and were anxious to get rid of him.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore it came about that he found himself
+confronted by an army of Danes, Norsemen, and
+Swedes, and a battle followed in which Albrecht
+riding with his heavy cavalry upon a frozen marsh,<a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>
+broke through the ice and was taken prisoner. He
+was now in the power of Queen Margaret, who had
+at length the opportunity to repay him for his
+insults. To replace the crowns of Norway and
+Denmark, which he had sought to wear, she put
+upon his head a fool's cap, with a tail twenty-eight
+feet long, and repaid him for his insults and jests
+in other ways. After she had done her best to
+make him an object of laughter and ridicule she
+locked him up in a strong prison cell, where he was
+given six years to reflect on his folly.</p>
+
+<p>It took these six years for Margaret's army to
+subdue the city of Stockholm, which held out stoutly
+for Albrecht. She won it at last by setting him
+free with the proviso that he should pay a ransom
+of sixty thousand marks. In ease he could not
+provide it within three years he was to return to
+prison or surrender Stockholm. He did the latter
+and Margaret became mistress of Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>This able woman had now won a proud position,
+reached by none of the kings before her. She was
+ruler of the whole of Scandinavia, with its three
+ancient kingdoms. The triple crown was hers for
+the lifting, but she was not ambitious to wear it,
+and preferred to put it on the head of her grand-nephew,
+Erik of Pomerania, though she retained
+the power in her hands until her death in 1412.
+Representatives of the three kingdoms were summoned
+by her to a meeting at Calmar, where, in
+July, 1397, a compact uniting the three kingdoms
+under one ruler was drawn up and signed.<a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a></p>
+
+<p>This was the famous Calmar Union, which held
+Norway captive for more than four hundred years.
+From that time until the present century Norway
+had no separate history, though her people vigorously
+resisted any measures of oppression. In
+1536 this ancient kingdom was declared to be a
+province of Denmark, being treated like a conquered
+land; yet there was not a man to protest against the
+humiliation. The loss of national standing had
+come on so gradually that the people, widely scattered
+over their mountain land and absorbed in
+their occupations, scarcely noticed it, though they
+were quick enough to resent any encroachment upon
+their personal liberty and rights. There were outbreaks,
+indeed, from time to time, but these were
+soon put down and the Danish rule held good.</p>
+
+<p>This was not the case with Sweden, a more thickly
+settled and civilized land. The struggle of the
+Swedes for freedom continued for some seventy-five
+years and was finally accomplished in 1523. How
+this was done will be told in other tales. As for
+Norway, it was ceded by Denmark to Sweden in
+1814, and the people of that mountain land regained
+their national rights, with a free constitution,
+though ruled by the Swedish king. This union held
+good until 1905, when it was peacefully broken and
+Norway gained a king of its own again, after being
+kingless for more than five hundred years.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>
+<a name="HOW_SIR_TORD_FOUGHT_FOR" id="HOW_SIR_TORD_FOUGHT_FOR">
+</a><i>HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR<br />
+CHARLES OF SWEDEN</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the year 1450 and the succeeding period there
+was great disorder in the Scandinavian kingdoms.
+The Calmar Union was no longer satisfactory to
+the people of Sweden, who were bitterly opposed
+to being ruled by a Danish king. There were wars
+and intrigues and plots and plans, with plenty of
+murder and outrage, as there is sure to be in such
+troublous times. There was king after king, none
+of them pleasing to the people. King Erik behaved
+so badly that neither Sweden nor Denmark would
+have anything to do with him, and he became a
+pirate, living by plunder. Then Duke Christopher
+of Bavaria was elected king of Scandinavia, but he
+also acted in a way that made every one glad when
+he died. In those days there was a great nobleman
+in Sweden, named Karl Knutsson, who had a hand
+in everything that was going on. One thing especially
+made him very popular at that time, when
+a new king was to be elected. The spring had been
+very dry and there was danger of a complete failure
+of the crops, but on the day when Karl landed in
+Stockholm, May 23, 1450, there came plentiful
+rains and the people rejoiced, fancying that in some
+way he had brought about the change of weather.
+So, when the lords assembled to elect a new king,
+Karl received sixty-two out of seventy votes, while<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>
+the people shouted that they would have no other
+king. He was then crowned king as Charles VIII.
+There had been only one Charles before him, but
+somehow the mistake was made of calling him
+Charles VIII., and in later years came Charles IX.,
+X., etc., the mistake never being rectified.</p>
+
+<p>All this is in introduction to a tale we have to
+tell, that of a bold champion of King Charles. For
+the new king had many troubles to contend with.
+The king of Denmark in especial gave him much
+trouble, and the southern province of West Gothland
+was in danger of seceding from his rule. In
+this dilemma he chose his cousin, Sir Tord Bonde,
+a young but daring and experienced warrior, as
+the captain of his forces in that province. He
+could not have made a better choice, and the stirring
+career of Sir Tord was so full of strange and exciting
+events that we must devote this tale to his
+exploits.</p>
+
+<p>L&ouml;d&ouml;se, a stronghold of Gothland, was still held
+by the Danes, and Sir Tord's first adventure had to
+do with this place. On a dark, rainy, and stormy
+night he led a party of shivering horsemen towards
+the town, galloping onward at headlong speed over
+the muddy road and reaching the place before day-dawn.
+Utterly unexpectant of such a coming, the
+Danes were taken by surprise and all made prisoners,
+Sir Tord's men feeding luxuriously on the
+enemy's meat and wine as some recompense for
+their wet night's journey.</p>
+
+<p>Master of the place without a blow, Sir Tord<a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>
+found there a bag of letters, containing some that
+had to do with plots against the king. These letters
+he sent to King Charles, but they put him upon
+a new adventure of his own. One of the traitors
+was Ture Bjelke, master of Axewalla Castle, and
+Sir Tord, fancying that the traitor would be as
+welcome a present to the king as his letters, set
+out for the castle with thirty men.</p>
+
+<p>On arriving there Ture, not dreaming that his
+treason had been discovered, admitted his visitor
+without hesitation. The troopers were also permitted
+to enter, Sir Tord having told them to come
+in groups of five or six only, so as not to excite
+suspicion by their numbers.</p>
+
+<p>That night, while they sat at table, and just as
+the cabbage was being carried in, Sir Tord sprang
+up and seized Ture firmly by the collar, calling out
+that he arrested him as a traitor to the king. The
+knight's men sprang up to defend him, but Sir
+Tord's men attacked them with sword and fist, the
+matter ending in the men as well as their master
+being taken prisoners, and the castle falling into
+Sir Tord's hands.</p>
+
+<p>On receiving the letters, Charles laid them before
+the senate at Stockholm, but the traitors were men
+of such power and note, and there was so much envy
+and jealousy of Charles among the lords, that he
+dared not attempt to punish the plotters as they
+deserved, but was obliged to pardon them. As for
+Ture and his men, they managed to escape from
+the place where they had been left for safe keeping,
+and made their way to Denmark.<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a></p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image220" id="image220"></a>
+<a href="images/p220.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p220_th.jpg"
+		alt="GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI."
+		title="GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N.Y.<br />
+GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Sir Tord Bonde was kept busy, for
+King Christian of Denmark several times invaded
+the land. On each occasion he was met by the
+valiant defender of West Gothland and driven out
+with loss. On his final retreat he built a fortress
+in Smaland, which he called Danaborg, or Danes'
+castle, leaving in it a Danish garrison; but it was
+quickly attacked by Sir Tord with his men-at-arms
+and a force of armed peasantry and the castle taken
+by storm, the Danes suffering so severe a defeat that
+the place was afterwards known as Danasorg, or
+Danes' sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Tord, to complete his chain of defences, had
+built several fortresses in Norway, then claimed by
+King Christian as part of his dominions. He had
+with him in this work about four hundred men, so
+small a force that Kolbj&ouml;rn Gast, one of Christian's
+generals, proceeded against him with an army three
+thousand strong, proposing to drive the daring
+invader out of the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Weak as he felt himself, Sir Tord determined to
+try conclusions with the Danes and Norsemen, proposing
+to use strategy to atone for his weakness.
+One hundred of his men were placed in ambush
+in a clump of woodland, and with the remaining
+three hundred the Swedish leader marched boldly
+on the enemy, who were entrenched behind a line
+of wagons. Finding that he could not break through
+their defences, Sir Tord and his men turned in a
+pretended flight and were hotly pursued by the
+enemy, who abandoned their lines to follow the<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>
+flying Swedes. Suddenly Sir Tord turned and led
+his men in a fierce attack upon the disordered pursuers,
+falling upon them with such bold fury that
+he had two horses killed under him. At the same
+time the hundred men broke from their ambush,
+sounding their war-horns loudly, and fell on the
+flank of the foe, though they were so badly armed
+that they had no iron points on their lances.</p>
+
+<p>Confused and frightened by the double attack and
+the blare of the trumpets, the Norsemen broke and
+fled, crying out that "all the might of Sweden was
+in arms against them"; but they were pursued so
+closely that the leader and all his men were taken
+by the brave four hundred.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the bold and skilful Sir Tord defended
+the king's cause in those quarters, winning victories
+by stratagem where force was lacking and keeping
+off the attacks of the Danes by his watchfulness,
+bravery, and sound judgment; until men came to
+say, that his brave cousin was the king's chief support
+and that his secret enemies dared not undertake
+anything against him while he had so skilful
+and courageous a defender.</p>
+
+<p>There are two ways of disposing of a troublesome
+foe, one by fair and open warfare, one by treachery.
+As Sir Tord could not be got rid of in the former
+manner, his enemies tried the latter. J&ouml;sse Bosson,
+one of his officers, though born a Dane, had proved
+so faithful and won his confidence to such an extent
+that the valiant Swede trusted him completely,
+and made him governor of the fortress of Karlborg.<a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>
+He did not dream that he was nourishing a traitor
+and one capable of the basest deeds.</p>
+
+<p>During the warfare in Norway Sir Tord reached
+Karlborg one afternoon, proposing to spend the
+night there. He was received with much show of
+joy by J&ouml;sse, who begged him to take the repose he
+needed, promising to keep strict watch in the fortress
+during his stay there. Without a thought of
+danger Sir Tord went to the chamber provided for
+him. J&ouml;sse said the same to the followers of his
+guest, and as they were weary they were glad to
+go to their beds.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus disposed of his visitors, J&ouml;sse got his
+boats ready, loaded them with his most-prized
+effects, and then turned the key on the followers
+of his trusting guest, hid their swords, and even
+cut their bowstrings, so much was he afraid of
+the heroic soldier who had been his best friend.</p>
+
+<p>Then, axe in hand, he entered the room of Sir
+Tord. The sleeper, awakened by his entrance, raised
+himself a little in the bed and asked what he
+wanted. For answer the murderous wretch brought
+down his axe with so heavy a blow that the head
+of Sir Tord was cleft in twain to the shoulders.
+Then, taking to his boats, the assassin made his
+escape to the Danes, by whom his bloody act was
+probably instigated.</p>
+
+<p>With the death by treason and murder of the
+brave Sir Tord, the chief bulkwark of the realm of
+King Charles, this tale should end, but the later
+career of Charles VIII. is so curious a one that it<a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>
+will be of interest to make some brief mention of it.</p>
+
+<p>Never has king had a more diversified career.
+With the death of his brave defender, enemies on
+all sides rose against him, his great wealth and
+proud ostentation having displeased nobles and
+people alike. Chief among his enemies was the
+archbishop of Upsala, who nailed a letter to the
+door of the cathedral in which he renounced all
+loyalty and obedience to King Charles, took off his
+episcopal robes before the shrine of St. Erik, and
+vowed that he would not wear that dress again until
+law and right were brought back to the land. It
+was a semi-civilized age and land in which churchmen
+did not hesitate to appeal to the sword, and
+the archbishop clad himself in armor, and with
+helmet on head and sword by side, set out on a
+crusade of his own against the man he deemed an
+unworthy and oppressive king.</p>
+
+<p>He found many to sustain him, and Charles,
+taken utterly by surprise, barely escaped to Stockholm,
+wounded, on a miserable old horse, and with
+a single servant. Besieged there and unable to
+defend the town, he hid part of his treasures, put
+the rest on board a vessel, and while going on board
+himself was accosted by one of the archbishop's
+friends, who asked him:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you forgotten anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing except to hang you and your comrades,"
+was the bitter reply of the fugitive king.</p>
+
+<p>King Christian of Denmark was called in by the
+archbishop to take the vacant throne, Charles was<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>
+pronounced a traitor by his enemies, and for some
+years Christian ruled over Sweden. Then his
+avarice and the heavy taxes he laid on the people
+aroused such dissatisfaction that an insurrection
+broke out, Christian's army was thoroughly defeated,
+and he was forced to take ship for Denmark,
+while Charles was recalled to the throne and
+landed in Stockholm in 1464, a second time king
+of Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>This reign was not a long one. Christian, who
+had imprisoned the archbishop because he opposed
+the heavy taxation of the peasants, now sought
+his aid again and sent him with an army to Sweden.
+As a result Charles found himself once more shut
+up in Stockholm and was again forced by his
+enemies to resign the crown, being given instead of
+his kingdom the government of Raseborg Castle in
+Finland. And instead of having treasures to take
+with him, as before, he was now so poor that he
+could not pay a debt of fifty marks he owed in
+Stockholm. He expressed his state of poverty in the
+following verse:</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"While I was Lord of Fogelwich,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I was a mighty man and rich;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But since I'm King of Swedish ground<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A poorer man was never found."<br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But his career was not yet ended. He was again
+to sit on the throne. Friends arose in his favor,
+the people again grew dissatisfied with Danish rule,
+and the archbishop, his greatest enemy, died.<a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>
+Charles was recalled and returned from Finland, a
+third time standing on Swedish ground as king.</p>
+
+<p>He had still a hard fight before him. A Swedish
+nobleman, Erik Wase, sought to win the throne for
+himself, and Christian of Denmark sent a new army
+to Sweden; but by the aid of a brave young knight,
+Sten Sture, Nils Sture, his cousin, and some other
+valiant friends, all his enemies were overcome and
+thus, after years of struggle and a remarkably
+diversified career, he was at length firmly seated on
+the throne.</p>
+
+<p>But the unfortunate monarch was not long to
+enjoy the quiet which he had so hardly won. He
+fell seriously ill in May, 1470, and feeling that
+death was near, he sent for Sten Sture and made
+him administrator of the kingdom, with control of
+the castle of Stockholm. But he earnestly warned
+him never to seek for the royal power, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"That ambition has ruined my happiness and
+cost me my life."</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>
+<a name="STEN_STURES_GREAT_VICTORY" id="STEN_STURES_GREAT_VICTORY">
+</a><i>STEN STURE'S GREAT VICTORY<br />
+OVER THE DANES</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Historical tales have much to do with war and
+bloodshed, with rides and raids, with schemes and
+stratagems, with plunder and piracy, and with outrage
+and oppression. These are the things to which
+historians give the most space in their pages and
+which many readers find fullest of interest and
+excitement. In the present tale we have to do
+wholly with scenes of war, for we propose to tell
+the story of one of the most remarkable battles ever
+fought on Swedish soil.</p>
+
+<p>This is what led to it. After the death of Charles
+VIII. and the appointment of Sten Sture as administrator
+of the kingdom, Christian I. of Denmark,
+whom the brave Sture had driven away with his
+army, fancied that the way was open to him again,
+and that Sweden, without a king, was a ripe plum
+ready to drop into his mouth. He was to find it
+a sour plum, for in Sten Sture he had to deal with
+a man of notable ability, just and upright in his
+dealings, wise and prudent in government, and
+brave and skilful in war. He was a man who did
+not swear to keep his word, but who never broke it.
+"I promise by my three water-lilies" (the arms
+of the Stures) was his form of affirmation, but this
+simple promise was more to be trusted than the
+solemn oaths of many kings and potentates. The<a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>
+people loved and trusted him, and on the 1st of
+May, 1471, the late king's appointment was confirmed
+at a general diet of the people, which
+accepted him by acclamation as the administrator
+and captain-general of the realm.</p>
+
+<p>He soon had work cut out for him. Christian of
+Denmark equipped a great fleet and sailed to Stockholm,
+where he anchored in the harbor and opened
+negotiations with the Swedish senate, then the
+great source of power in the land. He promised to
+govern the kingdom in the way they might decide
+upon and be to them a mild and merciful father.
+While some of them were seduced by his specious
+promises, the majority had no fancy to make him
+their "father." But they made a truce with him
+until the matter could be decided, the Danes being
+allowed to buy provisions in the town, and on their
+side selling salt to the citizens, this being at that
+time very scarce in Stockholm.</p>
+
+<p>Thus matters went on for seven weeks, at the end
+of which time Christian concluded that the Swedes
+were playing with him, seeking to spin out the time
+until all his provisions would be consumed and
+winter with its storms would be at hand to destroy
+his fleet. As it began to appear that nothing was
+to be gained by peace, he resolved to try the effect
+of war, and on the 1st of September landed his
+army and laid his plans to besiege the city.</p>
+
+<p>His camp was pitched on the hill of Brunkenberg,
+near the city, connection being made with the fleet
+by a strong bridge built from the shore to an island<a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>
+in the harbor. Bulwarks and ramparts of earth
+were thrown up on the side next the town, and were
+mounted with cannon, with which he soon opened
+a bombardment. He enticed some of the Swedish
+peasants into his camp by promise of an abundance
+of salt, but his main army consisted of the Danish
+nobles and their troops and of German and Scottish
+soldiers of fortune, brave, stout, able warriors who
+exercised themselves daily in military sports and
+led a merry and careless life in camp, heedless of
+everything except pay and plunder.</p>
+
+<p>When the proud Danish king was told that Sture
+was collecting an army of peasants with which to
+fight him, he sneeringly said:</p>
+
+<p>"Herr Sten sneaks along ditches and dikes, but
+I shall punish my little gentleman with the rod like
+a child, and teach him to keep himself quiet."</p>
+
+<p>Threats were also made by the foreign mercenaries
+against the citizens, but these only served to
+rouse their anger and make them more resolute in
+the defence of the city.</p>
+
+<p>As for Herr Sten, he went on raising troops and
+driving out the Danes whom he found infesting
+the seaboard lands, not marching towards the city
+until he had got rid of all hostility in his rear. On
+his march he was met by his brave cousin, Nils
+Sture, with an army of the bold Dalmen of the
+north, and the united armies marched on to Jerfva,
+in the vicinity of the <ins class="correction" title="'beleagured' in original">beleaguered</ins>
+city.</p>
+
+<p>From this point Sture wrote to King Christian,
+offering him safe passage home, if he would leave<a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>
+Sweden without the need of blows; but he only
+roused the wrath of the king, who loudly swore:</p>
+
+<p>"By God's five wounds, I have not gone to so
+much trouble and expense to go home without finishing
+what I came for."</p>
+
+<p>All that could be done in the cause of peace had
+been done without avail, and events had reached a
+point in which the affair could be settled only at
+sword's point and cannon's mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It was the 10th of October, 1470. Long before
+the sun rose on that memorable day the Swedes of
+Sture's army were awake and busy preparing their
+arms for the coming fray, in which the mastery of
+their kingdom was to be decided. At an early hour
+the whole army was called to the solemn service of
+the mass, after which holy and impressive ceremony
+they refreshed themselves with a hasty meal and
+returned to their ranks ready for battle.</p>
+
+<p>Nils Sture was already on the march with a third
+of the army, secretly leading them around a clump
+of woodland with the purpose of attacking the
+Danish camp at Brunkenberg from the east. As
+the ranks of the main army formed for the attack,
+their brave leader was gratified to see a body of
+gallant horsemen, in shining armor, riding to join
+him. They were thirteen hundred in number, and
+had been sent from the town of Kungsholm.</p>
+
+<p>Advancing before his people, Sture spoke to them
+with few but telling words:</p>
+
+<p>"If you ever desire to enjoy peace and security
+in Sweden stand by me this day and cling one to<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>
+another. I shall do my part. I fear not the king
+nor his Danes and mercenaries, but gladly venture
+life and blood and all that I possess on the event
+of this battle. If you will do the same, lift up
+your hands."</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image230" id="image230"></a>
+<a href="images/p230.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p230_th.jpg"
+		alt="SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM."
+		title="SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>"That will we do with God's help," came the roar
+of response, followed by a great shout and wild
+clanging of arms. Immediately the advance began,
+the men singing the verse of a psalm written for
+the occasion. It was now the hour of eleven.</p>
+
+<p>King Christian and his army boldly awaited the
+assault, looking down from their commanding position
+on the Swedes, who came on heedless of the
+roar of guns and flight of arrows. Reaching the
+foot of the hill, they began its ascent, met as they
+did so by the Danes, who rushed down upon them
+with lance and sword. In a moment more the
+hostile lines met and the bloody work of war began.</p>
+
+<p>On the summit of the hill proudly waved the
+Danneborg, the sacred standard of Denmark. In
+the midst of the Swedes fluttered their country's
+flag, borne resolutely up the hill. Around these
+banners gathered the bravest of the champions,
+fighting with heroic fury&mdash;the Danes, under their
+ambitious king, fighting for glory and riches; the
+Swedes, under their patriot leader, striking for
+peace and freedom from foreign rule.</p>
+
+<p>While the battle was thus raging outside the town,
+Knut Posse, its governor, a skilful soldier, was not
+idle. He was not content to rest within the walls
+while his countrymen were fighting so vigorously<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>
+for his relief. The heat of the fight had left the
+bridge leading from the shore to the ships without a
+guard, and he sent some men in boats to row towards
+it and with saws and axes to sever the supports
+beneath it. This was successfully done and the
+men returned unseen.</p>
+
+<p>While this was being accomplished the warlike
+governor, seeing that the Swedes had been checked
+in their ascent of the hill, made a sally from the
+town with two thousand of the garrison, taking
+possession of the Danish fortifications in that quarter
+and setting them on fire. His position, however,
+could not long be held, for Sten Sture's troops had
+been driven down the hill and Christian was free
+to lead a heavy column against him, forcing him
+back with his handful of men. In the struggle,
+however, the bold governor advanced so vigorously
+upon the king, that he received a wound from
+Christian's own hand.</p>
+
+<p>While Knut Posse was thus being driven back
+into the town Sten Sture was seeking to infuse new
+spirit into his defeated people, telling them that
+"it would be to their eternal shame if they suffered
+themselves thus to be repulsed."</p>
+
+<p>Marshalling them into orderly ranks as quickly
+as possible he led them again towards the hill, and
+the battle recommenced with its old fire and vigor.
+Sture rode valiantly at their head, encouraging
+them with a display of heroic valor. While he
+fought on horseback, by his side ran a peasant
+named Bj&ouml;rn the Strong, who kept pace with the<a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>
+horse and at times ran before it, swinging his broad
+battle-axe with such strength that he opened a road
+for his leader to ride through. Though surrounded
+by enemies, the two held their own with the fiery
+energy of the berserkers of an earlier day, dispensing
+death while not receiving a wound.</p>
+
+<p>King Christian, on the other hand, showed himself
+not wanting in valor, keeping well in the front
+rank of his men. In the midst of the fight a ball
+struck him in the mouth, knocking out three of his
+teeth and so disabling him that he was carried fainting
+from the field. In the end the Swedes, who had
+borne their banner to the summit of the hill, where
+they looked in vain for the expected aid from Nils
+Sture and his men, were driven back again and a
+second time forced down the hill, the victorious
+Danes driving them well into the plain at its foot.</p>
+
+<p>Three hours of hard fighting had now passed and
+both armies were wearied. Trotte Karlsson, a
+Swedish renegade who had been fighting against his
+country in the ranks of its foes, seated himself on
+a stone to rest, taking off his helmet that he might
+breathe the fresh air. As he did so a ball from the
+Swedish ranks struck him between the eyes and
+he fell dead&mdash;a traitor fighting with strangers
+against his native land.</p>
+
+<p>Though twice beaten Sten Sture had no thought
+of giving up the fight. For some reason Nils Sture,
+who with the large force under his command had
+been depended upon to make a diversion in their
+favor, had not appeared. Bad roads had detained<a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>
+him and he was still struggling onward towards his
+assigned position.</p>
+
+<p>Looking around him, and satisfied that it was
+hopeless to dislodge the enemy from their post of
+vantage, Sten now attempted a diversion by sending
+a force to attack the troops stationed at the convent
+of St. Claire. The Danes on the hill, seeing the
+danger of this detachment, and thinking that they
+had thoroughly beaten off the Swedes, rushed down
+to the aid of those at the convent, and Sten, with
+the skill of an able commander, took advantage of
+this movement and at once marshalled his men for
+a third attack.</p>
+
+<p>They did not need much encouragement. Though
+twice beaten they were not dispirited, but rushed
+forward shouting: "Now the Danes come to us on
+equal ground! Let us at them and swing our
+swords freely!"</p>
+
+<p>Some bright streaks appearing on the sky, the cry
+ran through the ranks:</p>
+
+<p>"St. Erik is waving his sword over his people to
+aid them and point the way to victory."</p>
+
+<p>On the enemy they rushed, with a valor not
+weakened by their previous repulses, and Knut
+Posse, who had been watching the fight with keen
+eyes, made a fresh sally from the town. Soon the
+battle was on again with all its former fury, the
+Danes fighting at first for victory, then, as they
+were forced to give way, striking resolutely to defend
+their standard, the Danneborg. Knut Posse made
+a fierce onset upon the proud banner, but was not<a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>
+able to reach it until five hundred noble Danes, who
+gathered around it as a guard of honor, had fallen
+under the swords of the Swedes.</p>
+
+<p>When the Danes saw their great standard fall
+they gave way, but only with the intention to regain
+the height and defend themselves on its summit.
+It was at this critical juncture that Nils Sture
+appeared with his long-delayed troops and attacked
+the enemy from a fresh side. Before this unlooked-for
+and powerful force the Danes gave way in a
+panic, their ranks being broken and the fugitives
+rushing in wild flight down the hill to take refuge
+in their ships.</p>
+
+<p>Now the stratagem of Knut Posse became effective,
+the weakened bridge swaying and sinking under
+the multitude of fugitives who crowded it, plunging
+them by hundreds into the water. Others leaped
+into boats to row to the vessels, but these were so
+crowded that many of them sank, their occupants
+being drowned. In all, nine hundred men were
+drowned in the flight, while as many more who were
+not able to escape threw down their arms and surrendered.
+Christian succeeded in escaping with
+that portion of his army which had reached the
+ships, while Sten Sture marched in triumph into
+Stockholm with his victorious troops, there to be
+received with shouts of gladness, and with tears of
+joy by his wife Fra Ingeborg, who had been in the
+city and with the noble ladies of the place had
+prayed earnestly for victory while their friends and
+husbands fought.<a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a></p>
+
+<p>For four hours the battle had lasted. It was one
+of vast importance for Sweden, since it brought to
+that country many years of peace and repose. King
+Christian dared not attack the Swedes again and
+the country got on prosperously without a king
+under the able government of Sten Sture.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>
+<a name="HOW_THE_DITMARSHERS" id="HOW_THE_DITMARSHERS">
+</a><i>HOW THE DITMARSHERS<br />
+KEPT THEIR FREEDOM</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The name of Ditmarshers was given to the inhabitants
+of a broad, marshy region adjoining the
+district of Holstein on the Baltic shores of Germany.
+They were not pure Germans, however, but
+descendants of the ancient Frisian tribes who had
+long occupied the northwest parts of Germany and
+Holland and were known as far back as the times of
+the Romans for their courage and love of liberty.</p>
+
+<p>For age after age this people had shown the same
+bold spirit and made many a gallant stand against
+the princes who sought to subdue them. Geert the
+Great and other princes of Sleswick and Holstein
+had suffered defeat at their hands, and the warlike
+Valdemar III. of Denmark had been sadly beaten by
+them. At a much later date the Emperor Frederick
+had formally given the lands of the Ditmarshers to
+Christian I. of Denmark, to be joined to Holstein,
+but the marshmen declared that they were not subjects
+of Denmark and would not be given and taken
+at its king's will.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the year 1500 that the most striking
+event in the history of the Ditmarshers took place.
+King Hans, the son of Christian I., then ruled over
+Denmark and Norway and five years before had
+been crowned king of Sweden. It was due to his
+dealings with the bold sons of the marshes that he<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>
+lost the latter throne. This is the story of this interesting
+event.</p>
+
+<p>When Hans was made king of Denmark his
+ambitious brother Frederick, who had sought to
+obtain the throne, was made duke of Sleswick-Holstein,
+and called upon the Ditmarshers to pay him
+taxes and render homage to him for their lands.
+This they declined to do, not recognizing the right
+of the Emperor Frederick to hand them over to
+Denmark and to decide that the country which had
+belonged to their fathers for so many centuries was
+part of Holstein.</p>
+
+<p>Finding that he had tough metal to deal with in
+the brave marshmen, Frederick induced his brother
+Hans to invade their country and seek to bring them
+to terms. King Valdemar had done the same thing
+three centuries before, with the result of losing four
+thousand men and getting an arrow wound in his
+eye, but undeterred by this, if they knew anything
+about it, the nobles and knights, who were very
+numerous in the army led by Frederick and Hans,
+went to the war as lightly as if it were an excursion
+of pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Disdaining to wear their ordinary armor in dealing
+with peasant foes, they sought to show their contempt
+for such an enemy by going in their ordinary
+hunting costume and carrying only light arms. It
+was a piece of folly, as they were to learn. The
+marshmen fought like their fathers of old for their
+much-valued liberty, and the knights found they had
+no cravens to deal with.<a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a></p>
+
+<p>It is true that the royal troops took and sacked
+Meldorf, the chief town of the Ditmarshers, cruelly
+killing its inhabitants, but it was their only victory.
+It proved a lighter thing to get to Meldorf than to
+get away from it, and of the Danes and Germans
+who had taken part in the assault few escaped with
+their lives.</p>
+
+<p>It was the depth of winter, cold, bitter weather,
+and as the army was on its march from Meldorf to
+Hejde the advance guard suddenly found itself in
+face of a line of earthworks which the marshmen
+had thrown up in front of a dike. This was defended
+by five hundred Ditmarshers under their
+leader, Wolf Isebrand.</p>
+
+<p>The German guards rushed to the attack, shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"Back, churls, the guards are coming!"</p>
+
+<p>Three times they forced the marshmen to retreat,
+but as often these bold fellows rallied and came back
+to their works. In the midst of the struggle the
+wind changed, bringing a thaw with it, and as the
+troops struggled on, blinded with the sleet and
+snow that now fell heavily, and benumbed with the
+cold, the men of the marshes opened the sluices in
+the dike. Through the openings poured the waters
+of the rising tide, quickly flooding the marshes and
+sweeping everything before them.</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers soon found themselves wading in
+mud and water, and at this critical juncture the
+Ditmarshers, accustomed to make their way through
+their watery habitat by the aid of poles and stilts,<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>
+fell upon the dismayed invaders, cutting them down
+in their helpless dilemma or piercing them through
+with their long lances.</p>
+
+<p>The victory of the peasants was utter and complete.
+Six thousand of the invaders, nobles and
+men-at-arms alike, perished on that fatal day, and
+the victors fell heir to an immense booty, including
+seven banners. Among these was the great Danish
+standard, the famous Danneborg, which was carried
+in triumph to Oldenw&ouml;rden and hung up in the
+church as the proudest trophy of the victory.</p>
+
+<p>As for King Hans and his brother Duke Frederick,
+they barely escaped falling into the hands of
+the marshmen, while the estimate of the losses in
+money, stores, and ammunition in that dread afternoon's
+work was 200,000 florins.</p>
+
+<p>King Hans lost more than money by it, for he
+lost the kingship of Sweden. The nobles of that
+country, when the news of the disastrous defeat
+reached them, rose in revolt, under the leadership
+of Sten Sture, drove the Danes out of Stockholm,
+and kept his queen, Christina of Saxony, prisoner
+for three years. Hans had no more armies to send
+to Sweden and he was obliged to renounce its crown.</p>
+
+<p>Norway also rose against him under a brave
+leader, and his power over that country was threatened
+also. It was finally saved for him by his son
+Prince Christian, who used his power so cruelly
+after order was restored that he nearly routed out
+all the old Norwegian nobles.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, from his attempt to make the Ditmarshers<a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>
+pay taxes against their will, King Hans lost one
+kingdom and came near losing another. The only
+successful war of his reign was one against the
+traders of L&uuml;beck, who had treated him with great
+insolence. In a war which followed, the fleet of the
+L&uuml;beckers was so thoroughly beaten that the proud
+merchant princes were glad to pay 30,000 gulden
+to obtain peace. Then, having this one success to
+offset his defeat by the Ditmarshers, King Hans
+died.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>
+<a name="THE_BLOOD-BATH_OF" id="THE_BLOOD-BATH_OF">
+</a><i>THE BLOOD-BATH OF<br />
+STOCKHOLM</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The most cruel tyrant the northern lands ever
+knew was Christian II. of Denmark, grandson of
+Christian I., whose utter defeat at Stockholm has
+been told. For twenty-seven years Sweden remained
+without a king, under the wise rule of Sten Sture.
+Then Hans of Denmark, son of Christian I., was
+chosen as king, in the belief that he would keep
+his promises of good government. As he failed to
+keep them he was driven out after a four years' rule,
+as we have told in the last tale, and Sten Sture
+became practically king again.</p>
+
+<p>How Christian, who succeeded Hans as king of
+Denmark, and had shown himself a master of ferocity
+and bloodthirsty cruelty in Norway and Denmark,
+overcame the Swedes and made himself king
+of Sweden, is a story of the type of others which
+we have told of that unhappy land. It must suffice
+to say here that by force, fraud, and treachery he
+succeeded in this ambitious effort and was crowned
+king of Sweden on the 4th of November, 1520.</p>
+
+<p>He had reached the throne by dint of promises,
+confirmed by the most sacred oaths, not one of which
+he had any intention of keeping, and the Swedes
+might as well have set a wolf on their throne as
+given it to this human tiger. One thing he knew,
+which was that the mischief and disquiet in Sweden<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>
+were due to the ambition of the great lords, and
+he mentally proposed to ensure for himself a quiet
+reign by murdering all those whom he feared.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image242" id="image242"></a>
+<a href="images/p242.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p242_th.jpg"
+		alt="SKANSEN RIVER."
+		title="SKANSEN RIVER."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">SKANSEN RIVER.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Under what pretence of legality it could be done,
+and leave to him the appearance of innocence in
+the matter, was a difficult question. To attempt the
+bloody work with no ostensible motive might lose
+for him the crown which he had striven so hard to
+win, and in the dilemma he consulted with his confidential
+advisers as to what should be done.</p>
+
+<p>Some of them proposed that a quarrel and uproar
+between the Danes and Swedes in the town should
+be fomented, which the lords might be accused of
+bringing about. But there was danger that such a
+pretended quarrel might become a real one, and
+endanger his throne. Others advised that gun-powder
+should be laid under the castle and the
+lords be accused of seeking to blow up the king.
+But this was dismissed as too clumsy a device.</p>
+
+<p>Finally it was proposed to proceed against the
+lords as heretics, they having some years previously
+been excommunicated by the Pope for heretical
+practices. The king, indeed, had solemnly sworn to
+forget and forgive the past, but his cunning advisers
+told him that while he might speak for himself, he
+had no warrant to speak for the Church, the laws
+and rights of which had been violated. This pretext
+was seized upon by Christian with joy and he proceeded
+to make use of it in a way that every churchman
+in the land would have condemned with horror.</p>
+
+<p>On the 7th of November, the day after the coronation<a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>
+festivities ended, the king proceeded to put his
+treacherous plot into effect. A number of noble
+Swedes who had attended the festivities were
+brought to the castle under various pretences, and
+were there ushered into a large and spacious hall.
+With alarm they saw that the doors were closed
+behind them so that none could leave, though others
+might enter.</p>
+
+<p>When all were gathered Christian entered and
+took his seat on the throne, with his council and
+chief lords about him. Archbishop Trolle was also
+present as representative of the Church, but without
+knowledge or suspicion of the secret purpose of the
+king, who had brought him there to sanction by his
+presence the intended massacre.</p>
+
+<p>The charge which it was proposed to bring against
+the senators and lords was that of trespass against
+the <ins class="correction" title="'archepiscopal' in original">archiepiscopal</ins>
+dignity and to demand retribution
+for the same, and this charge was accordingly
+brought in the name of the Church. The king then
+turned to the archbishop and asked:</p>
+
+<p>"My Lord Archbishop, do you intend to have this
+matter brought to peace and friendship according
+to the counsel of good men or will you have it judged
+by the law?"</p>
+
+<p>Archbishop Trolle answered, "The offence being
+one against the Church, the cause of the accused
+should be judged by the Pope."</p>
+
+<p>This was a mode of settling the matter which by
+no means conformed with the king's intention, and
+he answered:<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a></p>
+
+<p>"This is a matter not to be referred to the Pope,
+but to be terminated at home in the kingdom, without
+troubling his Holiness."</p>
+
+<p>In this decision he was not to be shaken, knowing
+well that if the archbishop's proposal to refer the
+matter to the Pope were carried out his secret sanguinary
+purpose would be defeated. What he proposed
+was the murder of the lords, and he had
+no intention of letting the matter escape from his
+control.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Sten Sture, against whom the accusation had
+been chiefly directed, was dead, but his widow, the
+Lady Christina, was present, and was asked what
+defence she had to offer for herself and her husband.
+She replied that the offences against the archbishop
+were not due to Lord Sten alone, but were done with
+the approbation of the senate and the kingdom and
+she produced a parchment in proof of her words,
+signed by many of the persons present. Christian
+eagerly seized upon the incriminating document, as
+giving him a warrant for his proceedings and evidence
+against those whom he most hated and feared.</p>
+
+<p>All whose names were attached to it were brought
+up, one after another, there being among them
+several bishops, who had taken part in the matter
+on patriotic and political grounds, and a number of
+senators. Every one tried to excuse himself, but
+of the whole number Bishop Otto was the only one
+whose excuse was accepted. At the end of the examination
+all those accused were seized and taken from
+the hall, the whole number, senators, prelates, noblemen,<a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>
+priests and burghers, being locked up together
+in a tower, the two bishops among them being alone
+given a better prison. The true reason for proceeding
+against the churchmen was that they had
+been the friends of Sten Sture and might prefer
+their country to the king. The wicked tyrant, who
+in this illegal manner had sought to make the
+Church responsible for his bloodthirsty schemes, hesitated
+not to condemn clergy and laity alike, and
+ended the session by the arbitrary decision that all
+the accused were heretics and as such should die.</p>
+
+<p>Irreligious, illegal, and ruthless as had been this
+whole proceeding, into which the artful king had
+dragged the archbishop and sought to make him
+a consenting party to his plot, Christian had gained
+his purpose of providing a pretext for ridding himself
+of his political enemies, actual or possible, and
+proceeded to put it into execution in the arbitrary
+manner in which it had been so far conducted, regardless
+of protests from any quarter.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the city gates were closed, so that
+no one could enter or leave. Trumpeters rode
+round the streets in the early morning, proclaiming
+that no citizen, on peril of life, must leave his
+house, unless granted permission to do so. On the
+chief squares Danish soldiers were marshalled in
+large numbers, and on the Great Square a battery
+of loaded cannon was placed, commanding the principal
+streets. A dread sense of terrible events to
+come pervaded the whole city.</p>
+
+<p>At noon the castle gates were thrown open and a<a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>
+great body of armed soldiers marched out, placing
+themselves in two long lines which reached from the
+castle to the town hall. Between these lines the
+accused lords were led, until the Great Square was
+reached, where they were halted and surrounded by
+a strong force of Danish soldiers. Around these
+gathered a great body of the people, now permitted
+to leave their houses. Alarm and anguish filled
+their faces as they saw the preparations for a frightful
+event.</p>
+
+<p>On the balcony of the town hall now appeared
+Sir Nils Lycke, a knight newly created by the king,
+who thus addressed the agitated multitude:</p>
+
+<p>"You good people are not to wonder at what you
+now behold, for all these men have proved themselves
+to be base heretics, who have sought to destroy
+the holy Church; and moreover traitors to his
+Majesty the King, since they had laid powder under
+the castle to kill him."</p>
+
+<p>At this point he was interrupted by Bishop Vincent
+from the square below, who called out indignantly
+to the people:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not believe this man, for all he tells you is
+falsehood and nonsense. It is as Swedish patriots
+that we are brought here, and God will yet punish
+Christian's cruelty and treachery."</p>
+
+<p>Two of the condemned lords also called out to the
+people, beseeching them "never in future to let
+themselves be deceived by false promises, but one
+day to avenge this day's terrible treachery and
+tyranny."<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a></p>
+
+<p>Fearing an outbreak by the indignant people, if
+this appeal should continue, the soldiers now made
+a great noise, under order of their officers, and the
+king, who is said to have gloatingly witnessed the
+whole proceedings from a window in the town hall,
+ordered the execution to proceed, Klas Bille, an
+official, placing himself to receive the golden chain
+and ring of each knight before he was beheaded.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners implored that they might confess
+and receive the Holy Sacrament before they were
+slain, but even this was refused, and Bishop Matthew
+was led forth first. While he was kneeling, with
+clasped and uplifted hands, two horrified men, one
+of them his secretary, rushed impulsively towards
+him, but before they could reach the spot the fatal
+sword had descended and the good bishop's head
+rolled to their feet on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>They cried out in horror that this was a frightful
+and inhuman act, and were at once seized and
+dragged within the circle, where they would have
+suffered the fate of the victimized bishop had they
+not been rescued by some German soldiers, who
+believed them to be Germans.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Vincent next fell beneath the encrimsoned
+sword, and after him the senators, seven in
+number, and thirteen nobles and knights of the
+senate. These were followed by the three burgomasters
+of Stockholm and thirteen members of the
+town council, with fifteen of the leading citizens,
+some of them having been dragged from their houses,
+without the least warning, and led to execution.<a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>
+One citizen, Lars Hausson by name, burst into tears
+as he beheld this terrible scene, and at once was
+seized by the soldiers, dragged within the fearful
+circle, and made to pay by death for his compassion.</p>
+
+<p>With this final murder the executions for that
+day ended, the heads being set on poles and the
+dead bodies left lying where they had fallen. A
+violent rain that came on bore a bloody witness of
+the sanguinary scene into the streets, in the stream
+of red-dyed water which ran down on every side
+from the Great Square.</p>
+
+<p>On the next day Christian said that many had
+hid themselves who deserved death, but that they
+might now freely show themselves for he did not
+intend to punish any more. Deceived by this trick
+some of the hidden leaders made their appearance
+and were immediately seized and haled to the square,
+where the work of execution was resumed. Six or
+eight of these were beheaded, many were hung, and
+the servants of the slaughtered lords, who happened
+to come to the town in ignorance of the frightful
+work, were dragged from their horses and, booted
+and spurred as they had come, were haled to the
+gallows.</p>
+
+<p>The king's soldiers and followers, excited by the
+slaughter and given full license, now broke into
+many houses of the suspected, murdering the men,
+maltreating the women, and carrying away all the
+treasure they could find, and for some hours Stockholm
+seemed to be in the hands of an army that had
+taken the city by storm.<a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a></p>
+
+<p>For a day and night the corpses lay festering in
+the street, their bodies torn by vagrant dogs, and not
+until a pestilent exhalation began to rise from them
+were they gathered up and hauled by cartloads to
+a place in the southern suburbs, where a great
+funeral pyre was erected and the bodies were burned
+to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>As for the tyrant himself, his bloody work seemed
+to excite him to a sort of madness of fury. He
+ordered the body of Sten Sture the Younger to be
+dug from its grave in Riddarholm Church, and it
+is said that in his fury he bit at the half-consumed
+remains. The body of Sten's young son was also
+disinterred, and the two were carried to the great
+funeral pile to be burnt with the others. The
+quarter of the town where this took place is still
+named Sture, in memory of the dead, and on the
+spot where the great pyre was kindled stands St.
+Christopher's Church.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the famous, or rather the infamous,
+"blood-bath of Stockholm," which still remains as
+a frightful memory to the land. It did not end
+here. The dreadful work he had done seemed to
+fill the monster with an insatiable lust for blood.
+His next act was to call Christina, the widow of
+Sten Sture, to his presence. When, overwhelmed
+with grief and despair, she appeared, he sneeringly
+asked her whether she would choose to be burned,
+drowned, or buried alive. The noble lady fell fainting
+at his feet. Her beauty and suffering and the
+entreaties of those present at length softened the<a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>
+tyrant, but her mother was enclosed in a bag and
+thrown into the stream, though she was permitted to
+be drawn out by the people on their promise to the
+tyrant that he should have her great wealth. But
+she, with her daughter Christina and many other
+women of noble descent, were carried as hostages to
+Copenhagen and shut up in a dreadful prison called
+the Blue Tower, where numbers of them died of
+hunger, thirst and cold.</p>
+
+<p>The massacre was not confined to Stockholm;
+from there the executions spread throughout the
+country, and the old law of 1153 was revived that
+no peasant should bear arms, Danish soldiers being
+sent through the country to rob the people of their
+weapons. The story is told that some of them,
+enraged by this act of tyranny, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Swords shall not be wanting to punish the
+tyrant so long as we retain our feet to pursue and
+our hands to revenge."</p>
+
+<p>To this the reply was that "a hand and a foot
+might well be cut from the Swedish peasant; for
+one hand and a wooden leg would be enough for him
+to guide his plough."</p>
+
+<p>This report, improbable as it was, spread widely
+and caused a general panic, for so terrified were the
+people by the reports of Christian's cruelty that
+nothing seemed too monstrous for him to undertake.</p>
+
+<p>In December the tyrant prepared to return to
+Denmark, leaving Sweden under chosen governors,
+with an army of Danes. But his outgoing from the
+country was marked by the same sanguinary scenes.<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>
+He caused even his own favorite, Klas Hoist, to be
+hung, and two friends of Sten Sture being betrayed
+to him, he had them quartered and exposed upon
+the wheel. Sir Lindorm Ribbing was seized and
+beheaded, together with his servants. And, most
+pitiable of all, Sir Lindorm's two little boys, six
+and eight years of age, were ordered by the tyrant
+to be slain, lest they should grow up to avenge their
+murdered father.</p>
+
+<p>The scene, as related, is pathetic to the highest
+degree. The older boy was beheaded, and when the
+younger saw the streaming blood and the red stains
+on his brother's clothes, he said with childish innocence
+to the executioner: "Dear man, don't stain
+my shirt like my brother's, for then mamma will
+whip me."</p>
+
+<p>At these words the executioner, his heart softened,
+threw down the sword, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather blood my own shirt than yours."</p>
+
+<p>But the pathos of the scene had no effect on the
+heart of the tyrant, who witnessed it unsoftened, and
+called for a more savage follower to complete the
+work, ending it by striking off the head of the compassionate
+executioner. With this and other deeds
+of blood Christian left the land where he had sown
+deeply the seeds of hate, and the terrible "blood-bath"
+ended.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>
+<a name="THE_ADVENTURES_OF" id="THE_ADVENTURES_OF">
+</a><i>THE ADVENTURES OF<br />
+GUSTAVUS VASA</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the parish of Orkesta, in Upland, Sweden,
+there may be seen the remains of an old tower,
+now a mere heap of stones, but once the centre of the
+proud manor-seat of Lindholm. It was a noble and
+lordly castle, built of red bricks and grey granite,
+seated on a high hill between two lakes, and commanding
+a wide prospect over mountain, wood, and
+water. Here, in the year 1490, was born Gustavus
+Vasa, the son of Sir Erik and Lady Cecilia Vasa,
+and destined to win future fame as one of the
+greatest heroes of Sweden and the liberator of his
+native land.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of six the boy was sent to be educated
+at the court of Sten Sture, then the administrator
+and virtual king of Sweden. Here he was not
+spoiled by indulgence, his mode of life and his food
+were alike simple and homely, and he grew up with
+a cheerful spirit and a strong body, his chief pleasure
+being that of hunting among the rocks and forests
+with his companions, all of whom grew to love and
+admire him.</p>
+
+<p>King Hans, when monarch of Sweden in 1499, on
+a visit to Sten Sture noticed the boy playing about
+the hall and was much pleased by his fine and glowing
+countenance. Patting him on the head, he said:<a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a></p>
+
+<p>"You will certainly be a man in your day, if
+you live to see it."</p>
+
+<p>He afterwards, thinking of the high descent of
+the boy and that he might grow to be a future foe
+of Denmark, asked Sten Sture to let him take the
+lad to Copenhagen and bring him up in his court.
+The wise Lord Sten quickly fathomed the king's
+thoughts and answered that the boy was too young
+to be taken from his parents. He soon after sent
+him to his father, then in command at Aland.</p>
+
+<p>"The young wolf has slipped out of my net,"
+said King Hans in later years, when he was told of
+the splendid development of the boy as he grew
+to manhood.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of twenty-four he left the academy at
+Upsala, where he had been educated in the arts and
+sciences, and repaired to the court of Sten Sture
+the Younger, where he was soon a general favorite,
+loved for his amiable character and admired for
+his wit and vivacity. At that time the war by which
+Christian II. made himself master of Denmark was
+going on and young Vasa aided by his courage in
+winning victory on more than one hard-fought field.</p>
+
+<p>In 1518, during a negotiation between Sten Sture
+and Christian, then in sore straits in his fleet, the
+latter agreed to go ashore to confer with the Swedish
+leader if six gentlemen were sent on board his fleet
+as hostages. This was done, but before the conference
+took place a favorable change of wind
+changed the treacherous king's intention and he
+sailed off for Denmark with his hostages, all of<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>
+whom were imprisoned and held to secure the neutrality
+of their relatives in Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>Among these captives was young Gustavus Vasa,
+who, thus perfidiously taken, was cruelly confined.
+Finally, at the request of Herr Erik Baner, a distant
+relative of the Vasas, the young man was set free,
+Baner binding himself to pay a heavy penalty in
+money if he permitted him to escape. Thus it was
+that Vasa found a new home at Kall&ouml; Castle, in
+Jutland, where his deliverer lived, and where he
+was well treated and given much freedom.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not cause you to be strictly guarded nor
+put you in confinement," said good old Baner. "You
+shall eat at my table and go where you please, if you
+faithfully promise not to make your escape or journey
+anywhere without letting me know."</p>
+
+<p>To this the young man bound himself verbally
+and by writing, and was given liberty by his generous
+warder to go where he pleased within six miles of
+Kall&ouml;. At first he was always accompanied by an
+attendant, but as he won the old man's love and confidence
+he was suffered to go alone.</p>
+
+<p>But he could not forget the perfidy by which he
+had been made prisoner, and in 1519, when King
+Christian was preparing a great expedition against
+Sweden, the boasts of the young Danish nobles of
+what they proposed to do chafed his proud soul.
+Day and night his bitterness of spirit grew, and
+finally, as the time came for the expedition to set
+sail, he could bear it no longer but resolved to
+break his parole and escape to his native land.<a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a></p>
+
+<p>It was in the summer of 1579 that he set out,
+having dressed himself in peasant clothing. Starting
+in the early morning and avoiding the open
+roads, he made his way by by-paths, and at noon of
+the following day reached the town of Flensburg,
+where he fortunately met some Saxon traders driving
+a herd of cattle from Jutland to Germany. He
+joined these, and on September 30 reached the free
+town of L&uuml;beck. Here the authorities gave him
+permission to remain, with a warrant for his personal
+safety while in the town.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Sir Erik Baner had been wrathfully
+seeking him, and appeared in L&uuml;beck shortly after
+he reached there, complaining of his ingratitude for
+the good treatment given him, and threatening
+the senate of L&uuml;beck with Christian's enmity if
+they should protect one of his foes.</p>
+
+<p>Gustavus boldly answered that he was no lawful
+prisoner, but a man seized by breaking a solemn
+compact, and therefore that he had the right to
+set himself free. As for the six thousand riks-thalers,
+which Sir Erik had bound himself to pay,
+he would return them with interest and gratitude
+when he got home.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust to this," he concluded, "that I am in a
+free town, on whose word, when once given, I
+should be able to depend."</p>
+
+<p>This appeal won his case with the senate, and
+Sir Erik was obliged to return without his ward.</p>
+
+<p>But to make his way to Sweden, then torn and
+distracted by war, and the seas held by hostile<a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>
+craft, was no easy matter and he was forced to
+remain eight months in L&uuml;beck while his country
+was being rapidly subdued by its invaders. They
+were not idle months, for Gustavus learned much
+while there of political and industrial economy
+and the commerce and institutions of the Hanseatic
+League and its free towns, knowledge which became
+of much service to him in later years. In the end
+he succeeded in making his way to Sweden in a
+small trading vessel, and on the 31st of May, 1520,
+landed secretly on its shores, with nothing but his
+sword and his courage to sustain him against an
+enemy who had, step by step, subjugated nearly the
+whole land.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image256" id="image256"></a>
+<a href="images/p256.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p256_th.jpg"
+		alt="THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN."
+		title="THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.<br />
+THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Of the cities, only Stockholm and Calmar remained
+in the hands of the Swedes, and the latter,
+in which he had landed, seemed full of cowards and
+traitors. The place was not safe for a declared
+patriot, and he left it, making his way up the
+country. Here he learned with indignation how
+envy, avarice, and private feuds had induced many
+Swedes to betray one another to the enemy, and his
+efforts to exhort the people to unity and resistance
+proved vain. Most of them were weary of the war,
+and Christian had won over many of the peasants.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a gracious master to us," they said, "and
+as long as we obey the king neither salt nor herring
+will fail us."</p>
+
+<p>When Gustavus sought to win them over to
+more patriotic views they became angry and threatening,
+and in the end they assailed him with arrows<a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>
+and lances, so that he was obliged to make his
+escape. His position, indeed, became so critical
+that he was forced to disguise himself and proceed
+through forests and unsettled lands. Finally he
+reached the manor-house in which resided his sister
+Margaret and her husband, Sir Joachim Brahe.</p>
+
+<p>They received him with the highest demonstrations
+of joy, as they had feared that they would
+never set eyes on him again; but their delight in
+his presence was turned into consternation when
+they learned that he was there with the purpose of
+seeking to foment an insurrection against Christian,
+who had then made himself complete master
+of Sweden and was on the point of being crowned
+king.</p>
+
+<p>Joachim Brahe and his wife were at that time
+preparing to attend Christian's coronation at Stockholm,
+and were deeply disturbed by what seemed
+to them the mad purpose of the young patriot.
+Joachim offered to do his utmost to reconcile Gustavus
+to the king, and Margaret threw herself in
+tears and distress on his neck, beseeching him to
+desist from an undertaking which she felt sure
+would bring death to him and ruin to his whole
+family.</p>
+
+<p>But Gustavus was not to be persuaded, and on the
+other hand he warned Joachim against trusting
+himself in Christian's hands, speaking of him as a
+base wretch whom no one could trust. Joachim
+proved equally hard to move, and the three soon
+parted, Joachim and his wife for Stockholm&mdash;where<a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>
+death awaited him at the hands of the traitor
+king&mdash;and Gustavus for a place of concealment
+where he could foment his plans. During this
+interval he met the old archbishop, Jacob Ulfsson,
+who earnestly advised him to go to Stockholm and
+warmly promised to plead his cause with the king.
+But the fugitive knew Christian far better than
+the aged churchman and had no idea of putting
+his head within the wolfs jaws. Little did the
+good archbishop dream of the terrible tragedy that
+was even then taking place in Stockholm.</p>
+
+<p>The news of it came to Gustavus in this way.
+One day while out hunting in the vicinity of his
+hiding-place, he unexpectedly met the faithful old
+steward of his brother-in-law Joachim, who was so
+choked with grief on seeing him that he found it
+impossible to speak and could answer the young
+lord's question only with tears and gestures.
+Finally he succeeded in telling the fearful tale of
+that bloody day at Stockholm, the death under the
+executioner's sword of the father and brother-in-law
+of the horror-stricken listener, the imprisonment
+of his mother and sisters, and the fact that
+he would soon become a hunted fugitive, a high
+price having been set upon his head.</p>
+
+<p>Who can describe the bitter grief of the son and
+brother at these terrible tidings, the hot wrath of
+the patriot, the indignation of a true and honest
+heart! On that fatal day the young fugitive had
+lost all he loved and cherished and was made a
+hunted, homeless, and almost penniless outlaw.<a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>
+But his courage did not fail him, he could foresee
+the indignation of the people at the dastardly act,
+and he determined to venture liberty and life
+against the ruthless tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>A series of striking adventures awaited him,
+which it needed his utmost resolution to endure.
+He was then concealed at R&auml;fsn&auml;s, one of his paternal
+estates, but felt it necessary at once to seek
+a safer refuge, and collecting what gold and silver
+he could, he set out with a single servant for
+Dalarna. They had not gone far before they
+reached the ferry at Kolsund, which he crossed,
+leaving his man to follow. But the fellow, who
+had no faith in his master's project, took the opportunity
+to mount his horse and flee, taking with
+him the gold and jewels which had been entrusted
+to his care.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the act of treachery, Gustavus in all haste
+recrossed the ferry, and pursued the runaway so
+hotly that he leaped from his horse in alarm and
+hid himself in the woods. Recovering the horse
+and its valuable burden, the fugitive pursued his
+course, paying no further heed to the treacherous
+servant.</p>
+
+<p>It was late in November when Gustavus reached
+Dalarna. He was now completely disguised, having
+exchanged his ordinary dress for that of a peasant,
+cutting his hair round, wearing the round hat and
+short baize jacket of the countrymen, and carrying
+an axe on his shoulder in the fashion of peasant-lads
+seeking work. No one would have dreamed of<a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>
+his being the sole heir of the great house of the
+Vasas.</p>
+
+<p>His first service was with a rich miner named
+Anders Persson, in whose barn he threshed grain
+for several days. But his fellow threshers soon
+saw that he was not accustomed to the work and
+his general manner did not seem that of a common
+farm-hand, while one of the women caught the
+glimpse of a silk collar under his coarse jacket.
+These suspicious circumstances were told to the
+miner, who sent for Gustavus and quickly recognized
+him, for he had often seen him in former
+days at Upsala.</p>
+
+<p>Anders received him hospitably, but when he
+heard from him of the Stockholm massacre and
+his aid was requested in the liberation of the country,
+he grew alarmed. Fearing to entertain so
+dangerous a guest, he advised him to go farther
+north and to change his place of abode frequently.</p>
+
+<p>Accepting this advice, Gustavus set out for
+Orn&auml;s, but on his way, while crossing a newly
+frozen stream, the thin ice broke under him and
+he was plunged into the chilling water. Light
+and active, he soon got out again, drying his
+clothes and passing the night at the house of the
+ferryman.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching Orn&auml;s the next day, he went to the
+house of a former friend, but who now, unknown
+to him, had become connected by marriage with
+the Danes and was devoted to the interests of the
+new king. It was a critical situation for the friendless<a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>
+fugitive. His treacherous host craftily welcomed
+him and pretended to approve his purpose,
+in which he offered to assist him and to seek
+adherents to his cause among his neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>The guest was conducted to a garret at the top
+of the house and here, weary from his wanderings
+and gratified at having found a sympathizing
+friend, he lay confidingly down and was soon lost
+in slumber. Meanwhile Arendt, the treacherous
+host, sought a neighbor, Mans Nilsson, whom he
+told of the rich prize he had found and asked his
+aid in capturing him and gaining the high reward
+offered for him by the king. He was mistaken
+in his man. Mans hated treachery. But Arendt
+found others who were less scrupulous and in the
+early morning returned to his home heading twenty
+men, collected to aid him in the capture of his
+unsuspecting guest. To his utter surprise and
+dismay, on entering the garret to which Gustavus
+had been led he was nowhere to be found. He
+had unaccountably disappeared, and search as they
+could no trace of the fugitive was forthcoming.</p>
+
+<p>There was a woman concerned in this strange
+escape, which had happened thus. Barbara,
+Arendt's wife, though Danish in her sympathies,
+had a warm, romantic interest in Gustavus Vasa,
+and when she saw her husband, on his return from
+his visit to Mans Nilsson, drive past the house and
+in the direction of the house of the Danish steward,
+she suspected him of treachery and determined to
+save their too-confiding guest.<a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a></p>
+
+<p>Ordering Jacob, one of her men, to harness a
+sledge with all haste and secrecy and keep it in
+waiting behind the building, she sought the garret,
+woke Gustavus, and told him of his peril and of
+her desire to save him. Not venturing to bring
+him down into the house, she opened the window,
+and though it was eighteen feet from the ground,
+she aided him in his descent with a long towel,
+such as were then in common use. Gustavus then
+sprang into the sledge and was driven briskly off.</p>
+
+<p>Arendt, when he learned of how his expected
+victim had fled, was furiously angry with his wife,
+and, as we are told, never forgave her and refused
+ever to set eyes on her again.</p>
+
+<p>This was the most extreme danger that the
+fugitive patriot ever passed through, and at that
+interval his hope of freeing his country from the
+yoke of the foreigner seemed the sheerest madness.
+But other perils lay before him and only vigilance
+and good fortune saved him more than once from
+death or capture. Surrounded by foes and with
+scarce a friend who dared aid him in the whole
+district, his final escape seemed impossible.</p>
+
+<p>The friendly Barbara had advised him to seek
+Herr Jon, the priest of Sv&auml;rdsj&ouml;, and his driver
+took the road over the frozen Lake Runn, they
+ascending its banks in the smoke coming down
+from the Fahun copper mines, and about sunrise
+reaching a village on the northeast end of the lake.
+Jacob was unacquainted with the country beyond
+this point and Gustavus went to a house to inquire<a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>
+the way. As he was on the point of entering he
+saw within a miner, Nils Haussen, whom he knew
+to be a Danish partisan and who would have recognized
+him at sight. Quickly and without being
+seen, he turned behind the door and went towards
+another village beyond. Here he met a friendly
+smelter who agreed to guide him on the way.
+When they parted Gustavus gave him a silver
+dagger, saying gratefully:</p>
+
+<p>"If God helps me, seek me, and I will richly
+repay you for your aid."</p>
+
+<p>As night came on he sought quarters in a road-side
+cottage, and as he sat before the fire in the
+evening the good-wife said to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Young man, make me some pudding skewers,
+since you have nothing else to do."</p>
+
+<p>Gustavus laughingly replied that he would be
+glad to do so if he only knew how. This adventure
+has an interesting resemblance to that of King
+Alfred, when, hidden from the Danes in the swine-herd's
+hut, he let the good woman's cakes burn on
+the fire.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the parsonage of Herr Jon on the
+following day, he first went to the barn and helped
+the laborers to thresh, at the same time asking
+them what side their master took. Learning that
+he was no friend of the Danes, he made himself
+known to him and was graciously received, staying
+with him for three days.</p>
+
+<p>But this place soon became unsafe. One day
+Herr Jon's housekeeper entered a room where Gustavus<a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>
+was washing, the priest standing by, towel
+in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you holding the towel for this common
+fellow?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"That is none of your affairs," said the priest.</p>
+
+<p>But fearing that the woman would talk, he
+thought it best for his guest to seek a safer retreat,
+and sent him to Swen Elfsson, gamekeeper for
+the crown, who lived not far away.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Danish steward, who had been
+told by the treacherous Arendt of the character of
+his guest, had his agents out in search of the fugitive
+and some of them entered the cottage of the
+gamekeeper. At that moment the good-wife was
+about putting her bread in the fire, and Gustavus
+was standing by the hearth in his peasant's dress,
+warming himself. The men who entered inquired
+for the fugitive, but before answering the woman
+raised her bread shovel and struck Gustavus hastily
+on the back, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing here gaping at strangers?
+Have you never seen a man before? Pack yourself
+off to the barn and go on with your threshing."</p>
+
+<p>Never dreaming that the man who had been
+so angrily treated by a peasant's wife could be the
+young lord they sought, the steward's messengers
+left the house to continue their search elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>But the incident warned the gamekeeper that
+his guest was not safe anywhere in that vicinity,
+and to get him away unobserved he hid him in a
+large load of hay and drove off towards the forest.<a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>
+On the way some of the Danish scouts were met,
+and these, having some suspicion of Swen, began
+poking their lances through the hay. One of these
+wounded Gustavus in the leg, but he lay silent and
+motionless and the scouts soon went their way.</p>
+
+<p>But the cut on the concealed man's leg bled so
+freely that blood soon began to run from the cart
+and tinge the snow. Seeing this, Swen, fearing
+that the trail of blood might betray him, opened
+his knife and thrust it into the leg of his horse, so
+that if any one should perceive the blood stains
+he could assign this as their cause.</p>
+
+<p>He finally delivered his charge to the care of
+some loyal gamekeepers on the edge of the forest;
+but these, not considering their houses safe as
+hiding-places, took him into the forest, where he
+lay hidden for three days under a great fallen fir
+tree, they bringing him food and drink. Finding
+even this place insecure, he went deeper into the
+woods and sought shelter under a lofty fir tree which
+stood on a hill in the midst of a marsh. The place
+has ever since been called "The King's Height."</p>
+
+<p>Finally the effort of the Danish agents to find him
+relaxed and his faithful friends conducted him
+through the vast forests to R&auml;ttwik's Church, at
+the eastern end of the great Lake Silja.</p>
+
+<p>His perils were yet by no means at an end. He
+spoke of his purpose at this place to an assembly
+of the peasants and was pleased to find that they
+listened to him with willing ears. Having thus
+sown his first seed in favorable soil, he proceeded<a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>
+to Mora on the northern end of the lake, where
+the priest received him in a friendly manner. But
+he was being sought by the Danes in that district
+and the priest did not dare to hide him in his
+own house, but committed him to the care of a
+peasant named Tomte Mattes. As the search was
+becoming active he was concealed in a vaulted
+cellar, reached by a trap-door in the floor.</p>
+
+<p>He had not been long there when the Danish
+scouts, who were searching the whole district,
+reached the peasant's house, where they found his
+wife in the midst of her brewing of Christmas ale.
+As they entered, the shrewd woman turned a great
+tub over the trap-door, so that they did not perceive
+it, and thus for the third time the future king of
+Sweden owed his liberty and life to a woman's wit.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after that, at one of the Christmas festivals,
+as the men of Mora were leaving the church,
+Gustavus called them to him where he stood on a
+low mound beside the churchyard and addressed
+them in earnest tones, while they gazed with deep
+sympathy on the manly form of the young noble
+of whose sufferings and those of his family they
+were well aware.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke of the risk to his life that he ran in
+venturing to speak to them at all, but said that
+his unhappy country was dearer to him than life.
+He pointed out the persecution which Sweden had
+formerly endured from Danish kings, and of how
+they had robbed the country of its wealth.</p>
+
+<p>"The same times and the same misfortunes have
+now returned," he said. "Our land swims, so to<a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>
+say, in our own blood. Many hundred Swedish
+men have been made to suffer a disgraceful and
+unmerited death. Our bishops and senators have
+been cruelly murdered. I myself have lost father
+and brother-in-law," he continued, his eyes streaming
+with tears, "and the blood of all these martyrs
+cries for redress and retribution on the tyrant."</p>
+
+<p>The men of Dalarna, he said, had long been
+noted for their courage when their land was in
+danger. They were renowned for this in history,
+and all Sweden looked upon them as the firmest
+defenders of its liberties.</p>
+
+<p>"I will willingly join with you for our land's
+deliverance," he concluded, "and spare neither
+my blood nor my sword, for these are all the tyrant
+has left me to use in your cause."</p>
+
+<p>Many of the Dalmen heard him with cries of vengeance,
+but the most of them stood in doubt. They
+did not know Gustavus personally and had heard
+that Christian was cruel only to the great, but was
+kind and generous to the peasantry. They could
+not yet make up their minds what to do, and begged
+him to seek safer quarters for himself, since he
+was being everywhere diligently sought by his
+pursuers.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, his peril continued extreme and for
+some days he was forced to lie hidden under
+Morkarlely Bridge, near Mora Church, though it
+was in the dead of a Swedish winter. He was able
+at length to resume his journey, but it was with
+an almost despairing heart, for he could see no hope
+either for himself or for his country. His led way<a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>
+over mountains and through desolate valleys, his
+nights being spent in wayside sheds which had
+been built for the shelter of travellers. On he
+went, through forests filled with snow and along
+the side of mountain torrents, and finally came
+within view of the lofty mountains beyond which
+lay the sister kingdom of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>Never had patriot more reason to be disheartened
+than the unhappy and hunted fugitive, never
+had the hope of liberating an oppressed country
+seemed darker, and the fugitive would have been
+justified in abandoning his native land and seeking
+a refuge in the bleak hills of Norway. Yet the
+adage has often held good that it is the darkest
+hour before the dawn of day, and so it was to prove
+in his case. While he waited in that desolate
+quarter to which he had been driven, events were
+shaping themselves in his favor and the first rising
+took place against the Danes.</p>
+
+<p>The stirring speech of the young noble at Mora
+Church had not been made in vain. Many of those
+who heard it had been strongly taken by his manliness
+and his powerful language, and, strangely,
+the most deeply impressed of all was Rasmas Jute,
+a Dane who had served the Stures and was now
+settled in Dalarna.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing that a Danish steward had come to that
+quarter to seek the fugitive and was now at the
+house of the sergeant of Mora parish, he armed
+himself and his servants and fell on the steward
+unawares, the first to take arms for Gustavus being
+thus a man of Danish birth. Soon afterwards a<a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>
+troop of Danish horsemen, a full hundred in number,
+was seen marching over the frozen surface of
+Lake Silja. So numerous a body of soldiers was
+unusual in those parts, and suspecting that they
+were in search of Gustavus, and might do something
+to their own injury, the peasants began ringing
+the church bells, the usual summons to arms.</p>
+
+<p>The wind carried the sound far to the northward,
+and on hearing the warning peal the peasantry
+seized their arms and bodies of them were soon
+visible hasting down the hills towards Mora. The
+Danish troopers, on seeing this multitude of armed
+men, shut themselves in the priest's house. Here
+they were attacked by the furious Dalmen, who
+broke open the doors and rushed in. The terrified
+Danes now fled to the church and took refuge in
+its steeple, whither they were quickly followed.
+Only by dejected appeals and a promise not to
+injure Gustavus Vasa did they succeed in escaping
+from the tower, and the Dalmen, thinking that
+some of them might remain concealed in the narrow
+spire, shot their arrows at it from every side.
+For more than a hundred years after some of these
+arrows remained sticking in the old wooden spire.</p>
+
+<p>Dalarna being looked upon as a centre of Swedish
+patriotism, a number of the persecuted noblemen
+took refuge there, and those confirmed all that
+Gustavus had told the people. And when Lars
+Olssen, an old warrior well known to them, arrived
+and told them of the gallows which Christian had
+erected, of the new taxes he had laid on the peasantry,
+and of the report that he had threatened<a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>
+to cut a hand and a foot off each peasant, with
+other tales true and false, they were deeply stirred.
+When Lars learned that Gustavus had been there
+and what had passed, he reproached them for their
+folly in not supporting him.</p>
+
+<p>"Good men," he said, "I know that gentleman
+well, and tell you that if yourselves and all the
+people of the country are not to be oppressed and
+even exterminated Gustavus Vasa is the only one
+who has sense and knowledge enough to lead us and
+lay hand to so great a work."</p>
+
+<p>While they were talking another fugitive came
+from the forest, who confirmed all that Lars had
+said and gave them a full account of the blood-bath
+at Stockholm and of how the body of Sten Sture,
+their beloved leader, had been torn from the grave
+and dishonored.</p>
+
+<p>These stories filled their hearers with horror,
+terror, and fury; war and bloody retribution was
+their only cry; their hearts were filled with remorse
+that they had let Gustavus, their country's chief
+hope, depart unaided. Two of them, the fleetest
+snow-skaters of the region, were chosen to follow
+him and bring him back, and off they went through
+the forests, following his track, and at length finding
+him at S&auml;len, the last village in that section,
+and immediately at the foot of the lofty Norwegian
+mountains. A few words sufficed to tell him of the
+great change of feeling that had taken place, and
+with heart-felt joy Gustavus accompanied them
+back, to begin at length the great work of freeing
+his native land.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>
+<a name="THE_FALL_OF_CHRISTIAN_II" id="THE_FALL_OF_CHRISTIAN_II">
+</a><i>THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II.<br />
+THE TYRANT</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>It was in November, 1520, that Christian II.
+of Denmark was crowned king of Sweden. Norway
+was his as well and he was monarch of the whole
+Scandinavian world. He had reached the highest
+point in his career, but so great had been his cruelty
+and treachery that all men feared and no man
+trusted him and he was on the brink of a sudden
+and complete overthrow. The man who had worn
+the crowns of three kingdoms was to spend years
+within the narrow walls of a dungeon, with none
+to pity him in his misery, but all to think that he
+deserved it all and more. Barely has tyranny met
+with such retribution on earth, and the "Fall of
+the Tyrant" will serve as a fitting title to an
+impressive tale.</p>
+
+<p>So sudden and successful was the rebellion of
+the Swedes under Gustavus Vasa, that in the summer
+of the year after the massacre in the Great
+Square of Stockholm the Danes held only that
+city and a few other strongholds in Sweden. One
+after another these fell, Calmar and Stockholm in
+1523, and in June of that year Gustavus was chosen
+king of the land which his hand had freed. A
+young man still, he was at the beginning of a great
+and glorious reign.</p>
+
+<p>Before he became king, Christian, his great<a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>
+enemy, had ceased to reign. He had shown the
+same inhuman spirit in Denmark and Norway as
+in Sweden and had sown his whole dominion thick
+with enemies.</p>
+
+<p>This is the way his fall was brought about. In
+1522 he issued a code of laws for Denmark of a
+wise and progressive character, especially in freeing
+the peasantry from the slavish condition in which
+they had been held, they before being open to purchase
+and sale like so many brute animals. Christian
+declared that every man should be his own
+master and took steps to limit the power and
+wealth of the clergy and to improve the commerce
+of the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>These changes, while wise and important, were
+difficult to introduce against the opposition of the
+lords and the clergy and needed the hand of a
+prudent and judicious administrator. Such Christian
+was not. He undertook them rashly and
+endeavored to enforce them by violence. Even the
+people, whom the new laws so favored, were
+incensed by a great increase in their taxes. No
+one trusted him; every one hated and feared him.
+Even the monarchs of other countries detested
+him and would not aid him in his extremity.</p>
+
+<p>The details of the blood-bath in Stockholm had
+reached the ears of the Pope and he sent a legate
+to inquire into the atrocities committed under the
+implied sanction of the Church. As they were not
+to be concealed, Christian attempted to excuse
+them, and, driven to extremity, accused one of<a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>
+his chief favorites, Didrik Slagh&ouml;k, as the originator
+of the massacre.</p>
+
+<p>Slagh&ouml;k had just been named archbishop of
+Lund, but was brought to Copenhagen, examined
+under torture, condemned to death, and carried to
+the gallows and thence to a funeral pile on which
+he was burned alive, Christian leaving the town
+that he might not witness the cruel death of his
+late favorite.</p>
+
+<p>This cowardly sacrifice of his devoted friend and
+servant, instead of winning the favor of the people,
+redoubled their abhorrence of the bloodthirsty
+tyrant. Shortly afterwards the L&uuml;beckers invaded
+the kingdom, and Christian, not trusting his
+people, called in foreign soldiers to repel them.
+Needing money for their pay, he called a diet to
+meet on December 10, 1522. Few attended it,
+and in anger he called a new meeting for the following
+January.</p>
+
+<p>Before the date arrived rumors were set afloat
+that he intended to butcher the Danish nobles as
+he had done those of Sweden, that chains were
+being provided to secure them, and that he would
+have disguised executioners among his guards;
+also that new and heavier taxes were to be laid on
+the peasants.</p>
+
+<p>These rumors, widely circulated, incensed and
+frightened the nobility and a meeting was held
+by the nobles of Jutland in which they determined
+to renounce their allegiance to Christian and
+offer the crown to his uncle, Frederick, duke of
+Holstein.<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a></p>
+
+<p>Magnus Munk, one of these lords, was chosen to
+deliver their decision to Christian and sought him
+for this purpose. But it was far from safe to offer
+King Christian such a document openly, and Munk
+pretended to be making a friendly visit, conversing
+and drinking with the king until a late hour of the
+night. On rising to retire, he thrust into Christian's
+glove, which had been left on the table,
+the letter of renouncement of the Jutland nobles.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of going to bed, Munk hastened to the
+vessel in which he had come and sailed to Holstein,
+where he made to Frederick the offer of the
+crown. As may be imagined, there was little hesitation
+in accepting it.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning a page of the palace found
+the king's glove on the table and took it to him.
+On reading the letter which he found in it the
+tyrant was filled with fear and fury. He sent
+guards to seize Munk, but when told that he was
+not to be found, his terror grew intense. He knew
+not where to turn nor what to do. He might have
+gathered an army of the peasants, to whom he had
+just given freedom, to fight the nobles, but instead
+he wrote to the lords, abjectly acknowledging his
+faults and promising to act differently in the
+future.</p>
+
+<p>They were not to be won, no one trusting him.
+Then the terrified tyrant hurried to Copenhagen
+and rode round the streets, imploring the citizens
+with tears to aid him, confessing his errors and
+vowing to change his ways. Many of the people,<a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>
+unused to see a king in tears, were moved by his
+petitions, but no wise man trusted him, few came
+to his assistance, and the sedition rapidly gained
+strength.</p>
+
+<p>At length he took a desperate step. In the
+harbor lay twenty large warships, which he might
+have used for defence, but in his terror he thought
+only of flight. All the treasure he could lay
+hands on was carried to these vessels, even the
+gilt balls on top of the church spires being taken.
+Sigbrit, a detestable favorite, who had given him
+much evil counsel and dared not show herself to
+the enraged people, was carried on board in a
+chest and placed among his valuables. He, his
+wife and children, and a few faithful servants,
+followed, and on the 20th of April, 1523, he set
+sail from his native land in a passion of grief and
+despair. A violent storm scattered his ships, but
+the one that bore him reached Antwerp in safety.
+Sigbrit, who had crept from her trunk, sought to
+console him by saying that if he could no longer
+be king of Denmark he might at least become burgomaster
+of Amsterdam.</p>
+
+<p>Thus did this cruel and contemptible coward,
+who less than three years before had been unquestioned
+monarch of all Scandinavia, lose the crown
+he was so unfit to wear, and land, a despised fugitive,
+in a Dutch city, with but a handful of followers.
+His fall was thoroughly well deserved, for it
+was an immediate consequence of the detestation
+he had aroused by his deed of blood in Stockholm,<a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>
+and there was scarce a man in Europe to pity him
+in his degradation.</p>
+
+<p>It was a sad thing that the salutary laws he had
+promulgated in the last year of his reign came
+from so evil a source. Frederick was forced by the
+nobles to whom he owed his throne to abrogate
+them, and the code was even burned as "a dangerous
+book contrary to good morals." The peasants
+fell back into their former state of semi-slavery
+and for centuries afterwards failed to enjoy the
+freedom accorded to the people of their sister states
+of Norway and Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>In the years that followed the deposed king went
+from court to court of the German princes, seeking
+help to regain his throne, but meeting with
+scorn and contempt from some of them and refusal
+from all. He still retained much of the wealth
+of which he had robbed Copenhagen, and now, in
+despair of obtaining assistance, he took into his
+service a number of soldiers of fortune whom a
+treaty of peace had lately thrown out of employment.</p>
+
+<p>With these sons of adventure, twelve thousand
+in all, he ravaged Holland, which had recently
+afforded him refuge, doing so much mischief that
+he was at length bought off. The emperor, Charles
+V., then ruler over Holland and brother-in-law to
+the adventurer, paid him the fifty thousand gulden
+still due on his wife's dower and gave him twelve
+battle-ships in addition. The Dutch whom he was
+plundering helped in this as the easiest way to be<a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>
+quit of him, and, with a body of experienced troops,
+with funds and a fleet, the hope of winning back
+his old dominions arose in his soul.</p>
+
+<p>There were many malcontents then in Sweden,
+ready to aid him in an invasion, and the clergy
+and nobility of Norway, dissatisfied with Frederick's
+rule, subscribed large sums in money and
+plate for his aid. Finally, thus strengthened and
+encouraged, Christian set sail for the Northland
+with twenty-five ships and an army of eight thousand
+men.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for him the elements proved
+adverse, a violent storm scattering the fleet and
+sending nearly half of it to the bottom. He had
+only fifteen ships and a reduced number of men
+when, in November, 1531, he landed at Obslo,
+Norway.</p>
+
+<p>The nobles and people, however, discontented with
+Frederick's government and eager for a king of
+their own choice, declared for him and at a diet
+held at Obslo proclaimed him king, only a few
+nobles dissenting. These, however, held the
+strongest fortresses in the kingdom. One of these
+was Magnus Gyllenstierna, governor of Aggerhus.
+Against this stronghold Christian led all his force
+and might easily have taken it, for it was lacking
+in provisions, but for a stratagem by which Magnus
+saved himself and his fortress.</p>
+
+<p>He sent word to Christian that the place was
+too weak for him to attempt to hold and that he
+had seen the king's success with pleasure; but, to<a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>
+save himself from the imputation of cowardice,
+he begged leave for time to ask King Frederick
+for assistance. If none came before the 1st of
+May he would willingly surrender the place.</p>
+
+<p>Adept in deceit as Christian was, he this time
+suffered himself to be tricked. At the suggestion
+of Magnus a thousand men were sent from Denmark,
+and led by secret paths over mountains and
+through forests in all haste, throwing themselves
+into Aggerhus while Christian was watching the
+seas to intercept them. In a rage he hurried back
+to renew the siege, but the shrewd commandant
+was now strong enough to defy him.</p>
+
+<p>Ture J&ouml;nsson, one of the Swedish nobles who
+had joined Christian, led a portion of his forces
+against the fortress of Bohus, writing to its commandant,
+Klass Bille, a letter in which he set forth
+the great change for good which had come upon
+King Christian and begging him to side with his
+Grace. He closed in the manner customary in
+those days: "Commending you, with your dear
+wife, children, and friends, hereby to God's protection."</p>
+
+<p>On the next day he received the following
+answer:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Greeting suited to the season.</p>
+
+<p>"Learn, Ture J&ouml;nsson, that I yesterday received your
+writing with some of your loose words with which you
+sought to seduce me from my honor, soil my integrity and
+oath, and make me like yourself, which God, who preserves
+the consciences of all honest men, forbid. To the long<a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>
+and false talk which your letter contains, I confess myself,
+by God's providence to be too good to give you any other
+answer than this which my letter conveys. You have so
+often turned and worn your coat, and it is now so miserably
+thread-bare on both sides, that it is no longer fit to
+appear among the apparel of any honest man. No more
+this time, I commend you to him to whom God the Father
+commended that man who betrayed His only Son,</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><i>Ex Bohus.</i></p>
+
+<p>Sunday next before Lady-day, 1531."</p></div>
+
+<p>Klass Bille proved as good with an answer by
+balls and blows as by pen, and the Castle of Bohus
+defied all attempts to take it.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Swedish exiles were writing to
+their friends at home, and, elated by the capture
+of a Swedish fort, Christian marched his army
+towards the frontier, and made ready to invade
+the kingdom from which he had been driven two
+years before.</p>
+
+<p>But Gustavus and Frederick were not idle. They
+recognized the danger of this invasion and prepared
+to meet it, renewing their treaties that they
+might work loyally together. Gustavus wrote to
+his officers not to fight with Christian unless they
+were from four to six times as strong, as he wished
+to give him a reception that would cure him of
+all future desire to return to Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>The forces of Christian and Gustavus first met
+at Kungelf, where Christian looked with disturbed
+eyes on his antagonists as he saw them marching
+across a frozen river, among them three thousand
+men in armor of polished steel. Turning to Ture<a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>
+J&ouml;nsson, who stood beside him, he said wrathfully:</p>
+
+<p>"You said that there was not a man-at-arms in
+Sweden. What see you yonder? Do you think
+those old women?"</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Ture J&ouml;nsson's body was
+found lying headless in the street, whether thus
+punished by Christian for his lies or by some
+Swede for his treason, is not known.</p>
+
+<p>The war began with equal fortune at first to each
+side, but later fortune turned in favor of the Swedes,
+while food grew scarce in Christian's army, his
+foragers being beaten back wherever they appeared.
+Soon, with an army dwindled to two thousand men,
+he was forced to march back to Obslo.</p>
+
+<p>So far Gustavus's army had been fighting alone,
+and it was not until March, 1532, that some Danish
+ships of war arrived. But their coming soon ended
+the war. They burned Christian's vessels and reinforced
+Aggerhus, and in May sailed towards Obslo.</p>
+
+<p>Christian's hopes of success were now at an end.
+He had made his final effort and had failed. His
+men were forsaking him in troops and resistance
+to his foes became impossible. As a last resort he
+tried a crafty expedient, contriving to get some
+forged letters distributed in the Danish camp to
+the effect that twenty Dutch men-of-war, with five
+thousand troops, were coming to his aid.</p>
+
+<p>The Danish commander, alarmed at this report,
+hastened to conclude peace with him, on condition
+that all who had taken part in the rebellion should
+be pardoned. Christian was to cross to Denmark,<a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>
+and if he could not agree with Frederick was to
+be free to go to Germany, on giving a solemn oath
+never again to make any attempt on the three
+Scandinavian kingdoms.</p>
+
+<p>Before this treaty was confirmed messengers
+arrived from Frederick who discovered the condition
+of Christian to be hopeless and insisted on an
+unconditional surrender. But Knut, the Danish
+admiral, who had been given full power to act, took
+Christian on his ships and sailed with him to Denmark,
+where he insisted that the conditions he
+had made should be observed.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick and his council were in a strait. To
+let this tiger loose again was too dangerous, and
+finally some pretext for breaking the treaty was
+made and Christian was sentenced to a life imprisonment
+in the Castle of Sanderberg on the island
+of Femern. Frederick and his son were obliged
+to confirm this sentence by a written promise to
+the Danish nobles that they would never release
+the detested prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>When Christian learned that the convention had
+been broken he wept bitterly, lamenting that "he
+had fallen into the hands of men who cared neither
+for oaths, promises, nor seals."</p>
+
+<p>These complaints no one heeded. He was taken
+deep into the dungeons of Sanderberg Castle, and
+locked up in a dark and narrow prison vault destitute
+of every convenience, his only companion
+being a half-witted dwarf who had long been in
+his service. With the harshness common in those<a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>
+days, and which in his case was well deserved, the
+door of the cell was walled up, only one small
+opening being left through which he could receive
+the scanty allowance of food brought him, and a
+little barred window through which some sparse
+light could make its way.</p>
+
+<p>In this dreadful prison the captive remained
+twelve years without the slightest amelioration of
+its conditions. Then the door was opened and
+fresh air and other conveniences were allowed him,
+but a strict watch was kept up. Finally in 1549,
+five years later, it being believed that no harm could
+possibly come from an old man sixty-eight years of
+age, he was taken to Kallendborg Castle, where he
+was permitted to entertain himself by hunting or
+in any other manner he pleased. He lived ten
+years later, ending in 1559 a life whose misfortunes
+were a just reward for his faithlessness and
+cruelty in his day of power.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>
+<a name="THE_WEST_GOTHLAND" id="THE_WEST_GOTHLAND">
+</a><i>THE WEST GOTHLAND<br />
+INSURRECTION</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>Sweden never had a wiser or more judicious ruler
+than King Gustavus Vasa, but in that land of turbulent
+lords and ambitious mischief-makers the
+noblest and most generous of kings could not reign
+without secret plotting and rebellious sentiments.
+So it fell out in Sweden in 1529, after Gustavus
+had been six years on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The leader in this movement was one Ture J&ouml;nsson,
+a hoary old conspirator of great influence in
+West Gothland, where he and his ancestors had
+long been judges and where he was looked upon by
+the people as their lord and chief. By a decision
+of the court he was obliged to restore to the king
+certain property which he unjustly held, and he
+vented his feelings bitterly against the heretic and
+tyrant, as he called him. In fact, he hatched a
+conspiracy, which spread widely, through his influence,
+among the nobles of West Gothland.</p>
+
+<p>In Smaland there was much discontent with the
+teaching of the Lutheran doctrines and an outbreak
+took place, the king's sister and her husband
+being taken prisoners by the insurgents. These
+sent letters to Ture J&ouml;nsson in West Gothland, asking
+him to be their captain, and also wrote to East
+Gothland, inciting the people to rise and expel their
+monarch.<a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a></p>
+
+<p>Ture J&ouml;nsson had three sons, one of them a
+distinguished soldier in the king's service, while
+the second was a man high in the king's favor.
+The old rebel had high hopes of aid from these
+two, and wrote them letters inciting them to rebellion.
+But they were not to be drawn from their
+allegiance, and took the letters with unbroken seals
+to the king, promising to devote their lives to his
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>The third son, Herr G&ouml;ran, dean in Upsala, was
+of different mold and sentiment. Opposed to the
+king on religious grounds, he gathered a body of
+peasant runaways, a hundred in number, and,
+afraid to stay in his house, he took them to a
+wood in the neighborhood, felled trees for barricades,
+and laid up a supply of provisions in his
+impromptu fort.</p>
+
+<p>From there he proceeded to Bolln&auml;s, gathering
+more men and growing bolder, and fancying in
+his small soul that he was the destined leader of
+a great rebellion. But his valor vanished when a
+priest of the vicinity, named Erik, a man faithful
+to the king, called together a body of his parishioners
+and marched against the would-be insurgent.</p>
+
+<p>Dean G&ouml;ran was standing at a garret window
+when he saw these men approaching. At once, with
+a most unsoldierlike panic, he rushed in terror down
+stairs and fled through a back door into the forest,
+without a word to his men of the coming danger.
+The house was surrounded and the men made
+prisoners, the king's steward, whom they held captive,<a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>
+being released. Erik spoke to them so severely
+of their disloyalty that they fell on their knees
+in prayer and petition, and when he told them that
+the best way to gain pardon for their act was to
+seek and deliver their fugitive leader, they gladly
+undertook the task.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image285" id="image285"></a>
+<a href="images/p285.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p285_th.jpg"
+		alt="NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM."
+		title="NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The scared leader of rebels meanwhile was wandering
+in anguish and alarm through the wide wood,
+not knowing what to do. Coming at length to a
+large forest lake, he entered a little boat that he
+found and pushed off from land, thinking thus to
+be in greater safety.</p>
+
+<p>As he thus sat, lost in his unquiet thoughts, some
+of his late followers reached the lake and saw him.
+So absorbed was he in his bitter reflections that he
+failed to see other boats gliding out towards him,
+and they were close upon him before he perceived
+them. Then, leaping up in wild fright, he sought
+in his despair to jump into the water, but before
+he could do so some of the peasants had rowed up
+and seized him. In his bitterness of spirit he tore
+the gold chain from his neck and the rings from
+his fingers and flung them into the lake, resolved
+that they should not become the spoil of the king
+he hated.</p>
+
+<p>But Gustavus was not the man to trouble himself
+about such small fry of conspirators as this. The
+dean was taken to Upsala and thence to Stockholm,
+where he was kept in confinement, though with
+every comfort, until the rebellion incited by his
+father was quelled. Then the king, taking into<a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>
+account his brothers' loyalty and his own insignificance,
+freed him and restored him his property.
+He could well afford to be lenient to a rebel of
+his calibre.</p>
+
+<p>If this was all we had to tell, it would not be
+worth the telling, but the conspiracy in West Gothland
+went on and led to events of far greater interest.
+A born plotter, old J&ouml;nsson kept at his work,
+and to prevent any news of what was taking place
+from reaching the king, a guard of a thousand men
+was placed to watch the highway and stop all messengers.
+At the head of this guard was a priest
+called Nils of Hvalstad, a thorough hater of the
+king. To him the insurgents sent their letters, to
+be forwarded to those for whom they were intended.
+Such was the state of affairs, the designs of the
+plotters ripening while the king was in this way
+kept in ignorance of matters of such importance
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>Now we come to the dramatic means by which
+the king was advised of the plot. A scout was needed
+to pass the guards set by the rebels and bring word
+to Gustavus of what was going on in West Gothland,
+and for this purpose was chosen a young
+town-sergeant of Stockholm, so famed for boldness
+that the people called him Hans Hardy. He had
+been born in West Gothland and was familiar with
+the people and the roads of that province and was
+therefore well adapted for the work. He accomplished
+it in a manner much better than was
+expected.<a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a></p>
+
+<p>Making his way through forest paths and along
+little-frequented by-ways, he succeeded in crossing
+the river that bordered the province and passing the
+rebel outposts, making his way to his old home,
+where he spent several weeks with his relations,
+meanwhile secretly gathering the information
+needed.</p>
+
+<p>On his return he pursued a different course.
+Buying a quantity of West Gothland cheese, he
+went directly towards the ford of the Tiweden and
+so managed as to let himself fall into the hands
+of the guard, who brought him to their leader,
+Nils of Hvalstad.</p>
+
+<p>The rebel priest charged the seeming peasant
+roundly with being a spy, but the cunning fellow
+pretended to be very simple and bucolic, saying
+that it had been four years since he had been in
+Upland and he now wanted to go there and sell
+his cheese.</p>
+
+<p>Nils was not so easily to be hoodwinked, but
+bade his men take the supposed spy to the sergeant's
+house at Hofwa, where four men were set over him
+as guards. The pretended simpleton seemed well-enough
+pleased, eating and drinking freely, talking
+cheerfully of country affairs with his guards,
+and spending his money freely, so that the sergeant
+grew to like the jovial country lad.</p>
+
+<p>After a few days, however, Hans pretended to
+be sick, sighing and groaning as if in severe pain.
+Finally he took to his bed and seemed in such a
+sad state that they all pitied the poor cheesemonger<a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>
+and his guards often left him for hours alone,
+thinking his sickness was all the security that was
+needed.</p>
+
+<p>Hans Hardy had a purpose in this. He had discovered
+that Nils kept a box in a dark corner of
+the room and imagined that it might contain something
+of importance to him in his mission. In fact
+he had thrown himself in his hands for the purpose
+of fathoming his plots. One day, while left alone,
+he got up and examined the box, and to his joy
+found in it a number of letters from the chief conspirators,
+containing full evidence of their complication.
+Having read enough of them to gain an idea
+of their character, he put them back, shut the box,
+and pushed it again into its dark corner.</p>
+
+<p>Then he took to his bed once more and when his
+guards returned they found him moaning more
+sorely than before and seeming in such sad case
+that they thought him at the point of death. Pitying
+the poor fellow, they deemed it idle to watch
+him and went contentedly to their beds. The next
+morning, when they rose, the sick man had vanished
+and with him the box and its contents. Hans
+had got off with the precious burden into the forest,
+with whose paths he was thoroughly familiar, leaving
+his late guards his cheese for consolation.</p>
+
+<p>He reached Stockholm in safety with his budget
+of letters and took them to the king, who rewarded
+him liberally for his valuable service and bade him
+to keep it secret. This he did, and it was long
+before any one knew where Hans Hardy had been<a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a>
+or what had become of the lost letters. King Gustavus
+kept his counsel and bided his time.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the work of the conspirators went on,
+they going so far as to nominate a new king, their
+choice falling upon Mans Bryntesson, Ture J&ouml;nsson's
+brother-in-law, a handsome and eloquent
+young man, far more suitable in person than in
+mind for a king. He was soft, irresolute, and
+somewhat foolish, and when treated with royal
+honors by the conspirators, he began holding court
+with princely pomp, borrowing money from his
+friends for this purpose when his own was exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>Having gone so far with his plans, Ture called a
+convention of the people of the province to meet
+on Larfva Heath, saying that he had matters of the
+highest importance to lay before them. Here was
+a great plain, where the Gothlanders for ages had
+held their public meetings, and where Ture's summons
+brought together a goodly number.</p>
+
+<p>With the insurgent lords around him, and proud
+of his power and authority, Sir Ture now addressed
+the peasants, in full confidence of their support.
+His principal charge against the king was that he
+had accepted the Lutheran doctrines and wished to
+introduce a new faith into the country to the ruin
+of the common people.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he continued, "I have always understood
+that the good West Gothlanders have no mind
+to become Lutherans, but prefer to retain the old
+faith which their fathers and forefathers have had<a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>
+before them. If you will from this day renounce
+King Gustavus I will give you a mild and gracious
+sovereign, who will preserve for you your good old
+customs."</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Magnus followed with a brief address,
+after which Sir Ture, convinced from the intent
+silence of the peasants that they were with him,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Let him who gives his consent to take a new
+king stretch up his hands."</p>
+
+<p>To his consternation not a hand was lifted, while
+a threatening murmur was heard among the peasants.
+Neither the lords nor the bishop knew what
+to make of this. They had gone on with their
+plots without a dream that the people would not be
+with them. As for the newly chosen king, who had
+been eagerly waiting to receive their homage, he
+fell back white and trembling. At length two
+young peasants stood forth to speak for the people,
+one of them loudly declaring:</p>
+
+<p>"We have nothing to charge against King Gustavus,
+but owe him deep gratitude for having freed
+us from the cruel and tyrannical rule of King
+Christian, and kept the land in law and right as
+well as in peace and quiet. What you, good sirs,
+say of the new faith, we peasants can neither judge
+nor understand; perhaps it may not be so bad as
+fame reports. Change of rulers generally costs the
+peasants and the land dear, and we might by these
+means draw upon ourselves and our children long
+disquiet and disorder. It seems, therefore, best<a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>
+for us to remain in the faith and allegiance which
+we have sworn and promised to our lawful lord
+and master Gustaf Eriksson."</p>
+
+<p>These words had evidently the full approval of
+the people, to judge from their upstretched hands
+and their loud acclamations, and at once the courage
+of the conspirators fell to the ground. What to
+say or to do they knew not. They had foolishly
+gone forward with their plots without consulting
+the people and now found themselves in a sore
+dilemma. Instead of coming to their aid, as they
+had expected, there was reason to fear that the
+peasants would seize them and hand them over
+to the king. In his utter dismay Ture J&ouml;nsson
+faltered out:</p>
+
+<p>"My very good friends, I only wished by this
+trial to test your fidelity. None of the lords have
+a thought of deserting the king. A fortnight hence
+we hope to meet you here again, to consult further
+on our mutual interests."</p>
+
+<p>This ended the meeting on Larfva Heath. The
+peasants returned to their homes and the lords in
+dismay sought their castles. The bottom had suddenly
+dropped out from the rebellion and the conspirators
+were in a perilous position. War against
+the king was impossible, and in haste they sent a
+message to Nils of Hvalstad ordering him to break
+up the camp on the Tiweden and bidding him to
+come to them without delay.</p>
+
+<p>When he came they asked him what he had done
+with the letters which had been put in his care.<a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>
+Not daring to tell that they had been stolen, he said
+that he had burnt them on hearing of the result
+of the Larfva meeting. Another custodian of letters
+was also sent for and asked the same question. He
+had really sent his letters to the king, but he produced
+a budget of papers which he now threw into
+the fire, telling them that they might be at rest
+about these perilous papers, which could now never
+appear against them.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat relieved in their minds by this act,
+Mans Bryntesson, Ture Bjelke, and Nils Winge,
+three of the leading conspirators, decided to remain
+at home. To become wandering outlaws was too
+bitter a fate; they had not spoken at Larfva Heath,
+their letters were burnt, there was no evidence
+against them. But as for Ture J&ouml;nsson and Bishop
+Magnus, they had put themselves openly on record.
+The pretence that the meeting had been called to
+test the loyalty of the people would have no weight
+with a man like King Gustavus. To remain would
+be to risk their lives, and collecting their money
+and valuables they made all haste to set foot on
+Danish territory, Ture J&ouml;nsson finally to meet a
+tragical death in the invasion of Norway by the
+deposed King Christian, as described in the preceding
+tale.</p>
+
+<p>The embers of the rebellion were easily extinguished
+and the nation returned to its peaceful and
+satisfied condition, the officers of the king holding
+meetings with the malcontents and promising full
+pardon to those who would confess and renounce<a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>
+their disloyal acts. This offer of pardon was
+accepted by nearly the whole of the conspirators,
+the only ones who held out being Mans Bryntesson,
+the mock king, Nils Winge, and Ture Bjelke.
+Trusting to their letters having been destroyed
+they wrote to the king, saying that, as they felt
+entirely guiltless, they could not plead guilt and
+implore pardon, and thus put themselves under
+suspicion. They begged him to appoint a meeting
+at which their conduct could be investigated. This
+he agreed to, the 17th of June being fixed as the
+date.</p>
+
+<p>When the time came the three lords appeared
+before the appointed tribunal and were exhorted
+to confess their share in Ture J&ouml;nsson's rebellion.
+Mans Bryntesson answered for the three, boldly
+declaring:</p>
+
+<p>"We did not venture to set ourselves against
+Ture J&ouml;nsson on account of his great influence in
+the province; we often heard him speak disrespectfully
+of the king, but we bore with him in this for
+the sake of amusement, attributing it to his old age
+and childishness. But it can never be shown that
+we bore any share in his treason."</p>
+
+<p>"What will you venture that this cannot be
+proved against you?" asked the king.</p>
+
+<p>"Our neck to the sword and our bodies to the
+wheel, as the law exacts," they confidently replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care," said one of the counsellors. "Do
+not venture so much. Perhaps you may yet be
+found guilty."<a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a></p>
+
+<p>They replied by a haughty "No," and insisted on
+their innocence. Gustavus then spoke again, his
+gaze now stern and threatening:</p>
+
+<p>"Choose one of these two. Either to confess
+yourselves guilty and accept pardon, or to be tried
+and condemned according to law."</p>
+
+<p>"We choose to be judged according to the law,"
+they replied; "and if we be found partakers in this
+rebellion we will willingly suffer and pay for it, as
+may be adjudged against us."</p>
+
+<p>These words, and the stern dignity of the king,
+impressed all in the hall. Complete silence reigned
+and all eyes were fixed on his face. He gave a
+signal to his servants and two boxes were carried in.
+These were opened and a number of letters were
+produced. The king asked the culprits if they
+recognized these letters. This they stoutly denied.
+Then a number of them were read aloud and complete
+proof of their complicity in the rebellion
+was shown, the judges recognizing the hand and
+seal of the defendants.</p>
+
+<p>Pale and thunderstruck, they listened tremblingly
+to the reading of the fatal letters; then fell upon
+their knees, weeping and imploring mercy. Their
+repentance came too late. The king bade the council
+to examine into the matter at once and pronounce
+sentence. This was that the three criminals
+should suffer the fate which they had declared themselves
+ready to bear; they were condemned as
+traitors and sentenced to loss of life and estate.</p>
+
+<p>The trembling culprits were taken to a room<a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>
+above the school-house, locked in and a strong guard
+set before the door. Here they were left to the
+contemplation of their coming fate. Despairingly
+they looked around for some means of escape, and
+a shade of hope returned when they fancied they
+had discovered one. There were no bars to their
+window, but it was far above the ground. But
+beneath it stood a pear tree, so near the building
+that they thought they might leap into its branches
+and climb down its trunk to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Waiting until night had fallen, they prepared to
+make the effort, Mans Bryntesson being the first to
+try. He missed the tree and fell to the ground,
+breaking his leg in the fall. The others, seeing his
+ill fortune, did not venture to follow. In great
+pain he crept from the garden into an adjoining
+field. Here his strength gave out and he lay hidden
+in the half-grown rye.</p>
+
+<p>Missed the next morning, his trail through the
+grass was easily followed and he was found and
+carried back to prison. Soon after the prisoners
+were taken to Stockholm, where Mans Bryntesson
+and Nils Winge were beheaded and their bodies
+exposed on the wheel. Their estates, however, were
+restored to their widows and children. The third,
+Ture Bjelke, being less guilty, was pardoned, but
+was obliged to pay heavy penalties for his treasonable
+acts. And thus, with the death of these two
+criminals and the exile of two others, ended the
+West Gothland insurrection.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>
+<a name="THE_LOVE_AFFAIRS_OF" id="THE_LOVE_AFFAIRS_OF">
+</a><i>THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF<br />
+KING ERIK</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>We have written much of war and bloodshed; a
+chapter devoted to the lighter themes of courtship
+and marriage may here be of interest, especially
+as it has to do with the love affairs of princes and
+princesses, kings and queens, personages whose
+every movement are deemed by many worthy the
+world's attention.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Erik, the eldest son of King Gustavus,
+grew in due course of time to marriageable age
+and, as young men will, began to look about for a
+wife. His thoughts first turned towards the Princess
+Elizabeth, of England, then in the height of
+her youthful charms, of which exaggerated accounts
+were brought to the ardent young Swede.</p>
+
+<p>When Erik sought his father's consent to the
+suit, saying that it might bring him not only a
+lovely bride but the throne of two kingdoms, the
+prudent old monarch threw cold water on the
+project, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Even if Erik should gain Elizabeth, which I
+do not think likely, in view of her many suitors,
+it would be more to the harm than the profit of
+both kingdoms."</p>
+
+<p>But Erik, a high-tempered and passionate youth,
+with a tendency to something like madness, became
+so violent and determined that his father at length<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a>
+gave way and a lover's embassy was sent to England
+to ask for the fair lady's hand. But Princess
+Elizabeth was too much beset with lovers to accept
+any of them easily, and the embassy returned with
+the answer that the royal English maiden was in
+no haste to marry and considered an unmarried
+life the happier.</p>
+
+<p>In 1558 Queen Mary died and Elizabeth mounted
+to the throne which she was long to adorn. This
+added to Erik's passionate desire to win her. One
+of his agents, Dionysius Beurreus, remained in
+London, where he lived in great display, keeping
+open table at Erik's expense, and sending in all
+haste to the ardent prince every kind word which
+the crafty Elizabeth let fall. Credulous in his
+ardent passion, Erik now felt sure of winning the
+queenly maiden's hand, and sent a second embassy
+to England, his brother John going with it.</p>
+
+<p>Prince John was sumptuously equipped for the
+journey, the expenses of the courtship eating deeply
+into the king's revenues, and being added to by
+Erik's lavishness, for he was now so sure of the
+success of his suit that he ordered a hundred
+dresses of the most expensive and splendid kind to
+be made for him at Antwerp.</p>
+
+<p>When John reached London he was courteously
+received by the queen, but he found it impossible
+to bring her to a definite answer. If she ever
+married, of course she would be happy to win so
+charming a spouse as Prince Erik, but it was hard
+to marry a man she had never seen, and the idea of<a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a>
+marriage was not to her taste. In the end Elizabeth
+wrote to Gustavus begging him to seek another
+bride for his son, as she had decided to live unmarried.</p>
+
+<p>This should have ended the matter, but it did
+not. One of the lover's agents had said that the
+queen of England would never consent unless Erik
+in person were able to win her heart, and Prince
+John reported her as saying that, "though she had
+no desire for marriage, she could not answer what
+she might do if she saw Erik himself."</p>
+
+<p>Fired by the baits held out to his eager heart,
+Erik determined to go himself to England, but
+incognito, disguised as the servant of some foreign
+lord. Thus he would see and conquer the coy
+maiden queen. The warnings and expostulations
+of his friends failed to move him from this romantic
+project, but at length it reached the king's ears,
+and he strictly forbade the wild-goose project as
+hazardous and undignified. Erik, however, finally
+got his father's permission to visit England and
+make his suit to the queen in his own person. But
+there were many postponements of the journey,
+and when finally he left Stockholm to begin the
+voyage to England the shock of his departure threw
+the old king into a serious illness. That afternoon
+Gustavus went to bed, never to rise again, and
+before Erik had left the kingdom word was brought
+him that his father was dead. This definitely
+changed the situation and thus it came about that
+Erik never saw Elizabeth.<a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a></p>
+
+<p>The fact of his being king, indeed, did not put
+an end to his desire to possess the English queen.
+In 1561 he determined to visit her as a king, and
+on the 1st of September set sail. But the elements
+were not propitious to this love errand, a violent
+storm arising which forced the captains to run
+back to harbor. Then he decided to go overland,
+through Denmark, Holland, and France, but while
+he was laying his plans for this journey, an effort
+was made by certain love emissaries to turn his
+thoughts towards Mary Stuart, the widow of a
+French king and heiress of the throne of Scotland.
+He listened to these representatives and was so
+pleased with their description of Mary's charms
+that his single-minded devotion to Elizabeth was
+shaken.</p>
+
+<p>The loveliness of Mary Stuart was a strong
+inducement to the young king, but the high estate
+of Elizabeth was a greater one, and he did not
+cease his efforts to win her hand. Being told that
+the chief obstacle in his way was the handsome
+Earl of Leicester, he grew violently jealous of this
+favored courtier. He at first challenged him to
+mortal combat, but as this could not conveniently
+be carried out, he secretly bade his agent in London
+to hire an assassin to deal with the earl, promising
+protection and a rich reward to the murderer.
+This villainy the agent refused to perform, and
+Erik now, hoping to frighten Elizabeth to give
+him a favorable answer, spread a report in England
+that he was courting the Scottish queen. The effect<a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>
+was different from what he anticipated, for Elizabeth
+at once positively rejected his suit and all
+seemed at an end.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image300" id="image300"></a>
+<a href="images/p300.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p300_th.jpg"
+		alt="ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN."
+		title="ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>About this time a third lady fair came into the
+game. Erik was told of the charms and rare character
+of the Princess Renata of Lotringen, granddaughter
+of the late Christian of Denmark, and
+at once opened negotiations for the hand of this
+princess. At the same time the crafty Elizabeth
+pretended to relent and Erik was again on fire for
+her hand. Thus he had now three love projects
+under way, from two of which, those for Mary
+Stuart and Princess Renata, favorable answers were
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>But the volatile lover, before receiving these
+answers, had added a fourth string to his bow of
+courtships, having decided to propose for the Princess
+Christina of Hesse. By this time he had spent
+on his threefold courtship vast sums of money and
+had gone far towards making himself the laughing-stock
+of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Erik's new course of love did not run smooth.
+The fates seemed against him in his marriage
+projects. His first proposal for Christina, indeed,
+received a favorable reply and it was decided that
+the selected bride should arrive at
+<ins class="correction" title="'Stockhlom' in original">Stockholm</ins> in
+the following May, some eight months later. But
+other emissaries whom he sent in February were
+detained in Denmark, and on some weak pretence
+were seized and imprisoned, the whole being a ruse
+of King Frederick to prevent a marriage between<a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>
+Erik and the Princess of Hesse, of which for political
+reasons he did not approve. There was peace
+at that time with Denmark, but these events
+presaged war.</p>
+
+<p>May at length arrived and Erik equipped a fleet
+to meet the promised bride. There were twelve
+men-of-war, which were got ready for fighting if
+necessary, James Bagge, a famous seaman of those
+days, being admiral of the Elephant, with command
+of the fleet. The assigned purpose of the
+expedition was to bring the bride over from L&uuml;beck,
+but it is said that Admiral Bagge had secret orders
+to seek and attack the Danish fleet, and thus punish
+King Frederick for his treachery.</p>
+
+<p>The two fleets met on May 30 off Bornholm, and
+the Danish ship Hercules immediately opened
+fire. This fire was at once returned and a fierce
+fight ensued that lasted five hours, and resulted in
+the capture of the Hercules and two other ships
+and the flight of the rest. The Swedes now sailed
+on to L&uuml;beck, whence ambassadors were sent to
+Hesse to bring back the bride. They returned in
+two weeks without her, the excuse being that her
+trousseau was not ready. The truth was that the
+landgrave of Hesse was afraid to trust his daughter
+in the turbulent north, from which tidings of
+the naval battle had just come.</p>
+
+<p>This delay was fatal to Erik's hopes, mainly
+through his own fault. The first succeeding step
+was a request from the landgrave for a safe conduct
+for his daughter through Denmark. Frederick,<a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>
+who dreaded ill results from the marriage,
+refused this, and also refused to let ambassadors
+to Hesse pass through his kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>And now Erik spoiled all by his faithless versatility.
+On the 11th of October he sent an order to
+some agents of his in Germany to proceed to Hesse
+with a betrothal ring, worth six thousand thalers,
+for the princess. Four days later he wrote a letter
+to Queen Elizabeth, saying that his addresses at the
+court of Hesse had never been serious, and that he
+still loved and hoped to win her.</p>
+
+<p>Before this was sent actual war with Denmark
+had broken out, and to prevent the discovery of
+the letter, he concealed it in a stick and sent it by
+a secret messenger. This messenger was captured
+by a privateer and carried to Copenhagen; in some
+way his mission was suspected and the letter found;
+and the Danish king, in ecstasies at his discovery,
+despatched the incriminating love-missive immediately
+to the landgrave of Hesse.</p>
+
+<p>All was going well there when the letter arrived.
+The landgrave had favorably received Erik's emissaries
+and the prospects of their returning with
+the bride seemed fair, when the unlucky letter was
+put into his hands. It fell like a thunderbolt. In
+a rage at seeing himself and his daughter thus
+made sport of, the landgrave ordered the Swedes
+to leave the town before sunset, under peril of his
+high displeasure. This ended the suit for the fair
+maiden's hand, later ambassadors sent by Erik were
+dismissed with contempt, and through having too<a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>
+many irons in the fire at once the love-sick lord of
+Sweden found himself without a bride.</p>
+
+<p>His brother, Duke John, was more fortunate,
+though his courtship also led to war and his marriage
+brought him into dismal misfortune. Before
+completing the story of Erik's love affairs, the
+episode of John's matrimonial venture, with its dire
+results, may fitly be told.</p>
+
+<p>A marriage had long been arranged between Duke
+John and Princess Catharine, sister of King Sigismund
+of Poland. But obstacles arose and once
+more the course of true love did not run smooth.
+Sigismund had an older sister Anna, whom he
+wished married first; but this impediment was
+removed by an agreement that John's brother Magnus
+should marry Anna.</p>
+
+<p>Next the czar of Russia proposed for Catharine,
+but some dispute about the marriage contract
+brought about a refusal. The result was typical of
+the rudeness of the times. The Poles had always
+hated the Russians, and to show their contempt
+for them Sigismund had a white figure dressed in
+splendid garments and sent to the Russian court,
+in lieu of the looked-for bride. Mad with rage at
+this bitter insult, the czar invaded and cruelly
+ravaged Poland, the people, as is so often the case,
+being made to suffer for the quarrels and the folly
+of the kings. From that time forward the czar
+hated Sigismund and John, his fortunate rival.</p>
+
+<p>John also had difficulty in getting his brother's
+consent to go to Sigismund's court, and after he<a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>
+had set out an envoy was sent after him ordering
+him to return. But in disregard of this he went
+on, and was favorably received at the Polish court,
+being a handsome, courteous and cultivated prince.
+Catharine was highly pleased with him, but King
+Sigismund now repeated his demand that he should
+marry the elder sister.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, after many efforts to change the king's
+mind, he asked Catharine if she really desired to
+marry John. The princess blushed and was silent;
+but her sister spoke for her and implored their
+brother not to prevent her marriage with the man
+she loved.</p>
+
+<p>At this appeal he gave way and the marriage was
+quickly solemnized, for there was imminent peril
+of war between Sweden and Poland unless the affair
+was consummated. A body of Polish troops escorted
+the newly wedded couple into Livonia, lest the
+angry czar should seek to carry them off, and John
+reached Sweden with his bride.</p>
+
+<p>He was very ill received, by Erik's orders, and
+hastened to his own duchy, whence he sent an invitation
+to the king to attend his wedding banquet.
+The king came in another fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Angry at John for disobeying his orders, and
+fearing him as a possible aspirant for the throne,
+Erik cherished evil intentions against his brother.
+Suspicious and superstitious by nature, he had read
+in the stars the prediction that a light-haired man
+would deprive him of the throne, and this man he
+believed to be his newly married brother. He also<a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>
+fancied that John had secretly allied himself with
+Denmark and Poland, and there was soon open
+enmity between the brothers.</p>
+
+<p>The whole story of what followed is too long to
+be told here, but seeming evidence against John was
+obtained by the torture of some of his friends and
+he was attacked in his castle and taken prisoner
+after a two months' defence. Erik ordered his
+incarceration in a dungeon, but his wife was offered
+a residence with her ladies in one of the king's
+castles. If she wished to accompany him to prison
+she could take only two of her maids with her.</p>
+
+<p>When Catharine heard this she fervently exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather die than be separated from my
+husband," and fainted away.</p>
+
+<p>When she recovered she was asked what she
+intended to do. Taking her betrothal ring from
+her finger and holding it up, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Read what stands there."</p>
+
+<p>They saw engraved on it, "<i>Nemo nisi mors"</i>
+(none but death).</p>
+
+<p>"I will stand by it," said Catharine. And she
+did.</p>
+
+<p>The imprisoned dependents of John, all of whom
+had shared in his resistance to the king, were nearly
+all condemned to death and executed, more than a
+hundred bodies being exposed at once at the place
+of execution. That John would suffer the same fate
+was highly probable. His brothers, sisters, and
+other relatives implored Erik to let him live; his<a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a>
+enemies advised his execution; the king hesitated,
+and postponed his decision, finally deciding that
+John might live, but in perpetual imprisonment.
+He was mildly and kindly treated, however, and
+four years later, during a spasm of fraternal feeling
+in Erik, was released.</p>
+
+<p>We shall not tell the remaining story of King
+Erik, of his wars, his temporary madness, his violence
+and cruelty to some of the noblest of the
+sons of Denmark, his ruthless persecution and final
+murder of the Stures, descendants of one of the
+most famous families of Sweden and men who had
+played a great part in its history. It was the story
+of his love episodes with which we set out and these
+were not yet ended. Erik finally got a wife and a
+queen, though not a queen or a princess for a wife.
+Love instead of policy lay at the basis of his final
+courtship.</p>
+
+<p>This is the story of the final and real love affair
+of this suitor of princesses and queens. A soldier
+named Magnus, of peasant birth, who rose to the
+rank of corporal in Erik's life-guard, had a daughter
+named Katrina or Catherine, shortened to
+Karin, who as a child sat selling nuts in the market-place
+at Stockholm. Here Erik one day saw her,
+then about thirteen, and was so struck by her great
+beauty that he had her placed among the maids-of-honor
+of his sister Elizabeth.</p>
+
+<p>The pretty little Karin was quick to learn her
+duties, and in deportment was modest and very
+loveable. Her beauty also grew with her age, until<a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a>
+she became looked upon as the fairest of the fair.
+Erik thought her such and grew greatly attached
+to her, showing her much attention and winning
+her regard by his handsome face and kindly manner.
+In fact she grew to love him dearly and gave herself
+up entirely to him, a warm affection existing between
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Karin in time became everything to the king.
+He no longer sought for a bride in foreign courts,
+no other women had attraction for him, and at
+length, when the charming peasant girl had borne
+him a son, he determined to find a way to make her
+his queen. Those were days when it was not safe
+to meddle with the love affairs of a king. One
+unfortunate young man named Maximilian, who
+had loved Karin and sought her hand in marriage,
+one day intruded into the women's apartment of
+the palace, where he was seized. Erik, burning
+with jealousy, had him condemned on a false pretence,
+sewed up in a bag, and cast into the lake.</p>
+
+<p>After that no one dared interfere with the love
+episode of Erik and Karin. Men said she had
+bewitched him by a love-philter. Some of the
+courtiers who feared her influence upon the king
+sought to disgrace her, with the result that her
+intercession alone saved their lives from the incensed
+monarch.</p>
+
+<p>Erik's love for Karin never seemed to change.
+On beautiful summer afternoons, when he would
+sail with a merry party on Lake Malar, Karin was
+always of the party and the object of his tender<a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a>
+attention. As they rowed home at night he would
+sit beside her, contemplating the beauty of the
+starry northern skies and listening to the songs
+from the shore or from distant boats. These were
+executed by his orders, the words and music often
+being his. One of these songs, in which he praises
+his "Shepherdess," promises to love her forever,
+and bids her a "thousand good-nights," is still
+extant.</p>
+
+<p>The time at length came&mdash;this was after the
+period of his foreign wars and his insanity&mdash;that
+he asked permission of the legislative body to marry
+whom he pleased, at home or abroad. After this
+was given he privately married Karin, and subsequently
+determined upon a public celebration of his
+marriage and her coronation as queen. The chief
+families of the country were invited to the ceremony,
+but they neither came nor sent excuses.
+The coronation went on, notwithstanding, and the
+peasant's daughter Karin became queen of Sweden
+as Queen Catherine.</p>
+
+<p>Not alone by this marriage, but in a dozen other
+ways King Erik had made enemies and he was now
+near the end of his career. A rebellion soon broke
+out against him, headed by Duke John, who had
+some time before been liberated, and by his younger
+brother Duke Charles. Though Erik fought with
+skill and courage, the insurrection was successful,
+he being taken prisoner and losing the throne.
+John was chosen to succeed him as king.</p>
+
+<p>Erik spent the remainder of his life in prison,<a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>
+where he was far more harshly treated than John
+had been by him, his greatest consolation being when
+his wife and children were permitted to visit him.
+After eight years of this close confinement John,
+fearful of an attempt at the release of the captive,
+had him poisoned in his cell. Thus ended the career
+of the elder son of Gustavus Vasa. It was a fate
+which he had brought upon himself by the cruelties
+of his career.</p>
+
+<p>A few well-deserved words may well be given to
+Queen Catherine. She had never interfered in
+Erik's government, except to restrain him from
+cruelty. Her mildness of disposition won her favor
+on all sides, which was increased by her loving
+devotion to him while in prison. After his death
+she was granted an estate in Finland, and there she
+lived, loved and esteemed by all who knew her and
+winning the warm devotion of her children and
+grandchildren. She survived to a good old age,
+withdrawn but happy, and the memory of her virtues
+and benevolence still lives among the peasantry
+of the neighborhood of her abode.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a>
+<a name="GUSTAVUS_ADOLPHUS" id="GUSTAVUS_ADOLPHUS">
+</a><i>GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS<br />
+ON THE FIELD OF LEIPSIC</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>With the accession to the throne of Sweden in
+1611 of Gustavus Adolphus, grandson of Gustavus
+Vasa, that country gained its ablest king, and the
+most famous with the exception of the firebrand
+of war, Charles XII., of later date. For courage,
+judgment, administrative ability, generous devotion
+to the good of his country, and military genius this
+great monarch was unequalled in his time and won
+a renown which has placed his name in the roll of
+the great rulers of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The son of Charles IX., the third and ablest son
+of Gustavus Vasa to fill the throne, he was carefully
+educated in all the lore of his time and when a boy
+of sixteen won a brilliant victory over a Danish
+invading army. During the same year he ascended
+the throne, his father dying on November 30, 1611.</p>
+
+<p>During the preceding reigns Sweden had taken
+a prominent part in the affairs of northern Europe,
+having frequent wars with Russia, Poland, and
+Denmark, and the young king fell heir to these
+wars, all of which he prosecuted with striking
+ability. But a conflict soon broke out that threatened
+all Europe and brought Sweden into the field
+as the arbiter of continental destinies. This was
+the famous "Thirty Years' War," the greatest and
+most ferocious religious war known in history. Into<a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>
+it Sweden was drawn and the hand of Gustavus was
+potent in saving the Protestant cause from destruction.
+The final event in his career, in which he
+fell covered with glory on the fatal field of Lutzen,
+is dealt with in the German "Historical Tales."
+We shall here describe another equally famous battle
+of the war, that of Leipsic.</p>
+
+<p>It was in 1629, when Denmark was in peril from
+the great armies of Ferdinand II. of Austria, and
+Sweden also was threatened, that Gustavus consented
+to become the champion of the Protestants of northern
+Europe, and in June, 1630, he landed in
+Pomerania at the head of eight thousand men.
+Here six Scottish regiments joined him, under the
+Duke of Hamilton, and he marched onward, taking
+towns and fortresses in rapid succession and gaining
+large reinforcements from the German states.</p>
+
+<p>Three great leaders headed the Austrian armies,
+the famous Wallenstein, the able but ferocious Tilly,
+and the celebrated cavalry leader Pappenheim. All
+these skilled soldiers Gustavus had to face alone,
+but he did so with the support of the best-drilled
+army then in Europe, a body of soldiery which his
+able hands had formed into an almost irresistible
+engine of war.</p>
+
+<p>What spurred Gustavus to the great battle to be
+described was the capture by Tilly on May 20, 1631,
+of the city of Magdeburg, and the massacre of its
+thirty thousand citizens, men, women, and children.
+From this scene of frightful outrage and destruction
+Tilly failed to call off his men until the city lay in<a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a>
+ruins and its people in death. A tall, haggard, grim
+warrior, hollow-cheeked, and wild-looking, with
+large bright eyes under his shaggy brows, Tilly
+looked capable of the deeds of ferocity with which
+the world credited him.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image312" id="image312"></a>
+<a href="images/p312.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p312_th.jpg"
+		alt="STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS."
+		title="STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>While all Christendom shuddered with horror at
+the savage slaughter at Magdeburg, the triumphant
+Tilly marched upon and captured the city of Leipsic.
+Here he fixed his headquarters in the house of a
+grave-digger, where he grew pale at seeing the
+death's-head and cross-bones with which the owner
+had decorated his walls. These significant emblems
+may have had something to do with the unusual
+mildness with which he treated the citizens of that
+town.</p>
+
+<p>The cause of Protestantism in Germany was now
+in serious jeopardy and Gustavus felt that the time
+had come to strike a hard blow in its behalf. The
+elector of Saxony, who had hitherto stood aloof,
+now came to his aid with an army of eighteen thousand
+men, and it was resolved to attack Tilly at
+once, before the reinforcements on the way to join
+him could arrive. These statements are needful,
+to show the momentous import of the great battle
+of September 7, 1631.</p>
+
+<p>In the early morning of that day the two armies
+came face to face, Tilly having taken a strong and
+advantageous position not far from Leipsic, where
+he hoped to avoid a battle. But he was obliged,
+when the enemy began to move upon him, to alter
+his plans and move towards the hills on his left.<a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>
+At the foot of these his army was drawn up in a
+long line, with the artillery on the heights beyond,
+where it would sweep the extensive plain of Breitenfeld
+in his front. Over this plain the Swedes and
+Saxons advanced in two columns, towards a small
+stream named the Lober, which ran in Tilly's front.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent this crossing Pappenheim had early
+moved at the head of two thousand cuirassiers, a
+movement which Tilly reluctantly permitted, though
+strictly ordering him not to fight. Disregarding this
+order Pappenheim charged the vanguard of the
+Swedes, only to find that he had met an impregnable
+line and to be driven back in disorder. To check
+pursuit he set fire to a village at the crossing-point,
+but this had no effect upon the movement of the
+advancing troops nor his own disorderly retreat.</p>
+
+<p>The army of Gustavus was organized for the coming
+battle in the following manner. On the right
+the Swedes were drawn up in a double line; the
+infantry being in the centre, divided into small
+battalions that could be rapidly manoeuvred without
+breaking their order; the cavalry on the wings,
+similarly drawn up in small squadrons, with bodies
+of musketeers between; this being done to make a
+greater show of force and annoy the enemy's horse.
+On the left, at a considerable distance, were the
+Saxons.</p>
+
+<p>It was the defeat of Pappenheim which obliged
+Tilly to abandon his first strong position and draw
+up his army under the western heights, where
+it formed a single extended line, long enough to<a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a>
+outflank the Swedish army; the infantry in large
+battalions, the cavalry in equally large and unwieldy
+squadrons; the artillery, as stated, on the slopes
+above. The position was one for defence rather
+than attack, for Tilly's army could not advance
+far without being exposed to the fire of its own
+artillery. Each army numbered about thirty-five
+thousand men.</p>
+
+<p>These forces were small in view of the momentous
+nature of the struggle before them and the fact that
+two great generals, both hitherto invincible, were now
+to be matched in a contest on which the fate of the
+whole war largely depended and to which the two
+parties battling for the mastery looked forward
+with fear and trembling. But of the two, while
+Gustavus was cool and collected, Tilly seemed to
+have lost his usual intrepidity. He was anxious
+to avoid battle, and had formed no regular plan to
+fight the enemy when forced into it by Pappenheim's
+impetuous charge. "Doubts which he had
+never before felt struggled in his bosom; gloomy
+forebodings clouded his ever-open brow; the shade
+of Magdeburg seemed to hover over him."</p>
+
+<p>The lines being ready for action, King Gustavus
+rode to the centre of his front, reined in his horse,
+took off his hat, and with the sword in his right
+hand lowered to the ground, offered in a loud voice
+the following prayer:</p>
+
+<p>"Almighty God, Thou who holdest victory and
+defeat in the hollow of Thine hand, turn Thine eye
+unto us Thy servants, who have come from our<a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a>
+distant homes to fight for freedom and truth and
+for Thy gospel. Give us victory for the honor of
+Thy holy name. Amen!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, raising his sword and waving it over his
+head, he commanded:</p>
+
+<p>"Forward in the name of the Lord!"</p>
+
+<p>"God with us!" was the battle-cry as the Swedes,
+inspired by his words, prepared for the fatal fray.</p>
+
+<p>The battle, which had lulled after the defeat of
+Pappenheim, was now resumed with the thunder of
+the cannon, which continued for two hours, the west
+wind meanwhile blowing clouds of smoke and dust
+from ploughed and parched fields into the faces of
+the Swedes. To avoid this they were wheeled to face
+northwards, the movement being executed so rapidly
+and skilfully that the enemy had no time to
+prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>The cannonading ending, Tilly left the shelter of
+the heights and advanced upon the Swedes. But
+so hot was their fire that he filed off towards the
+right and fell impetuously upon the Saxons, whose
+ranks quickly broke and fled before the fierce
+charge. Of the whole force of the elector only a
+few regiments held their ground, but these did
+so in a noble manner that saved the honor of Saxony.
+So confident now was Tilly of victory that
+he sent off messengers in all haste to Munich and
+Vienna with word that the day was his.</p>
+
+<p>He was too hasty. The unbroken army of Sweden,
+the most thoroughly drilled body of soldiers then in
+Europe, was still to be dealt with. Pappenheim, who<a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a>
+commanded the imperial left, charged with his whole
+force of cavalry upon the Swedish right, but it
+stood against him firm as a rock. Here the king
+commanded in person, and repulsed seven successive
+charges of the impetuous Pappenheim, driving
+him at last from the field with broken and decimated
+ranks.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Tilly, having routed the small
+remnant of the Saxons, turned upon the left wing
+of the Swedes with the prestige of victory to animate
+his troops. This wing Gustavus, on seeing
+the repulse of his allies, had reinforced with three
+regiments, covering the flank left exposed by the
+flight of the Saxons.</p>
+
+<p>Gustav Horn commanded here, and met the attack
+with a spirited resistance, materially aided by the
+musketeers who were interspersed among the squadrons
+of horse. While the contest went on and the
+vigor of the attack was showing signs of weakening,
+King Gustavus, having put Pappenheim to rout,
+wheeled to the left and by a sharp attack captured
+the heights on which the enemy's artillery was
+planted. A short struggle gave him possession of
+the guns and soon Tilly's army was being rent
+with the fire of its own cannon.</p>
+
+<p>This flank attack by artillery, coming in aid of
+the furious onset of the Swedes, quickly threw the
+imperial ranks into confusion. Hitherto deemed
+invincible, Tilly's whole army broke into wild disorder,
+a quick retreat being its only hope. The only
+portion of it yet standing firm was a battalion of<a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a>
+four veteran regiments, which had never yet fled
+the field and were determined never to do so.</p>
+
+<p>Closing their ranks, they forced their way by a
+fierce charge through the opposing army and gained
+a small thicket, where they held their own against
+the Swedes until night, when only six hundred of
+them remained. With the retreat of this brave remnant
+the battle was at an end, the remainder of
+Tilly's army being then in full flight, actively pursued
+by the Swedish cavalry, which kept close upon
+their tracks until the darkness of night spread
+over the field.</p>
+
+<p>On all sides the bells of the villages pealed out
+the tidings of the victory, and the people poured
+forth in pursuit of the fleeing foe, giving short
+shrift to the unhappy fugitives who fell into their
+hands. Eleven thousand of Tilly's men had fallen
+and more than five thousand, including the
+wounded, were held as prisoners. On the other side
+the Saxons had lost about two thousand, but of the
+Swedes only about seven hundred had fallen. The
+camp and artillery of the enemy had fallen into
+the hands of Gustavus, and more than a hundred
+standards had been taken. The rout was so complete
+that Tilly had left with him only about six
+hundred men and Pappenheim less than fifteen
+hundred. Thus was destroyed that formidable
+army which had long been the terror of Germany.</p>
+
+<p>As for Tilly himself, chance alone left him his
+life. Exhausted by his wounds and summoned to
+surrender by a Swedish captain of horse, he refused.<a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a>
+In an instant more he would have been cut down,
+when a pistol shot laid low the Swede. But though
+saved in body, he was lost in spirit, utterly depressed
+and shaken by the defeat which had wiped out, as
+he thought, the memory of all his past exploits.</p>
+
+<p>Though he recovered from his wounds, he never
+regained his former cheerfulness and good fortune
+seemed to desert him, and in a second battle with
+Gustavus on the Lech he was mortally wounded,
+dying a few days later.</p>
+
+<p>As for Gustavus, he had won imperishable renown
+as a military leader. All Germany seemed
+to lie open before him and it appeared as if nothing
+could prevent a triumphant march upon Vienna.
+He had proved himself the ablest captain and tactician
+of the age, his device of small, rapidly moving
+brigades and flexible squadrons being the death-blow
+of the solid and unwieldy columns of previous
+wars. And his victory formed an epoch in history
+as saving the cause of Protestantism in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The emperor, in despair, called again into his
+service the disgraced and disgruntled Wallenstein,
+granting him extraordinary powers. But this
+great captain also was beaten by Gustavus on the
+field of Lutzen, where the career of the Swedish
+hero came to an untimely end. His renown as a
+great soldier will live long in history.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a>
+<a name="CHARLES_X_AND_THE" id="CHARLES_X_AND_THE">
+</a><i>CHARLES X. AND THE<br />
+INVASION OF DENMARK</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>When Charles X., nephew of Gustavus Adolphus,
+succeeded Christina, the daughter of Gustavus, on
+the throne, the "Thirty Years' War" was at an
+end, but new wars awaited the new king. Sweden
+had won large possessions on the southern shores
+of the Baltic and had become one of the leading
+powers of Europe. But Charles found these southern
+provinces hard to hold, having to battle for
+them with Russia and Poland.</p>
+
+<p>A worthy successor of his great uncle, Charles
+showed his warlike ability by a rapid march into
+Poland and the overthrow of its army by a three
+days' battle at Warsaw. But his progress was
+checked by a new and dark cloud which appeared
+upon the sky. Suddenly and unexpectedly, on the
+2d of May, 1657, Denmark declared war against
+Sweden, and at the same time an Austrian army
+invaded Poland with the purpose of aiding that
+kingdom and destroying the Swedish army.</p>
+
+<p>This double attack left Charles in a quandary.
+An able and experienced soldier, who had learned
+the trade of war in Germany during Queen Christina's
+reign, he was well fitted to deal with one
+foe, but could not readily cope with two widely
+separated ones. He therefore determined to abandon
+Poland, though leaving garrisons in its more<a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a>
+important cities, and devote his attention to Denmark.
+This Danish war had much in it of interest,
+and showed that the new Swedish king had been
+taught in the best school of the military art.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick III. of Denmark had declared war
+without making preparations for it, fancying that
+Charles would be forced to remain with his army
+in Poland and that he would have abundant time
+to act. He quickly learned his mistake. With an
+army of eight thousand well-trained veterans
+Charles marched at all speed from Poland, and a
+few months after war was declared stood with his
+compact little army on Denmark's shores.</p>
+
+<p>Taken by surprise, the Danish general, Bilbe,
+retreated hastily northward and the whole peninsula
+of Jutland was quickly overrun by the Swedes.
+Bilbe had much the larger army, but they were
+mainly raw recruits, and he dared not face the
+veterans of the Thirty Years' War. The Danes
+had projected an invasion of Sweden, for which
+they had been deliberately preparing, and were
+overwhelmed to find their army in retreat and a
+force of six thousand men closely besieged in the
+Fredericia fortress. A night attack by General
+Vrangel won this stronghold for the Swedes, with
+its garrison and a large amount of arms and
+provisions.</p>
+
+<p>So far the movement of Charles had been brilliantly
+successful, but his position was very dangerous.
+Enemies were advancing on him from
+various sides, a Polish army having invaded Pomerania,<a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"></a>
+an Austrian army having advanced into
+Prussia, while the elector of Brandenburg had
+joined his enemies. His ally, England, had promised
+to aid him with a fleet, but it failed to appear,
+and the situation was growing daily more critical.
+From his awkward position he was rescued by a
+combination of daring and the favoring influences
+of nature.</p>
+
+<p>The winter of 1658 proved extraordinarily cold.
+Never within the memory of man had such bitter
+weather been known. The sea that flowed between
+the Danish islands was tightly frozen, a natural
+bridge of ice connecting them with one another
+and the mainland. With bold resolution King
+Charles determined to cross to the island of Fyen.</p>
+
+<p>The enterprise was full of risk. The ice swayed
+perilously beneath the marching hosts. At places
+it broke. But the island shore was safely reached,
+the troops guarding it were beaten, and soon the
+whole island was in Charles's possession.</p>
+
+<p>But a more daring and perilous enterprise confronted
+the king. There was a broader arm of the
+sea to cross, the Great Belt, about twelve miles
+wide. The ice was examined and tested by the
+quartermaster-general, who said that he would
+answer with his life for its being strong enough
+to bear the army.</p>
+
+<p>King Charles heard this tidings with delight,
+clapping his hands energetically and exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Brother Frederick, we will converse with
+each other in good Swedish."<a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a></p>
+
+<p>Dahlberg, the quartermaster-general, testified to
+his confidence by riding at the head of the column
+over the wide field of ice, the army following in
+safety to the coast of Zealand. Meeting with no
+opposition, Charles and his army were soon near
+Copenhagen, whose fortifications were in bad condition,
+and the danger of losing his capital was so
+imminent that Frederick was glad to accept the
+severe terms of peace which Charles offered him.
+These included the surrender of half a dozen
+Danish provinces to Sweden and the independence of
+the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp from Danish control.
+Denmark had paid sorely for making a declaration
+of war with no preparation to carry it out.</p>
+
+<p>But Charles X. was so eager for war that in
+the end he lost most of what he had gained. He
+was full of schemes of conquest in Germany, but
+feared that Denmark might take advantage of his
+absence with his army to take revenge for her
+losses. The fleets of Holland were threatening the
+coasts of the Baltic Sea, and Charles sought to
+make a treaty with Denmark which would close
+this sea to foreign ships. Denmark refused to enter
+such an alliance and Charles thereupon determined
+to make a complete conquest of that kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Breaking without warning the treaty of peace
+he had recently made, he suddenly landed with an
+army on the coast of Zealand. By this unwarranted
+and stealthy assault he filled the souls of the Danes
+with the courage of despair, changed Holland from
+a secret to an open enemy, and lost the most of
+his former gains.<a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"></a></p>
+
+<p>The Danish people, threatened with the loss of
+their independence, flew to arms, determined to
+defend their country to the last extremity. Charles,
+his army being small, delayed his attack upon
+Copenhagen, which might easily have been taken
+by an immediate assault. When he appeared before
+it he found all its people converted into armed
+soldiers, while King Frederick declared that he was
+ready to die in his capital like a bird in its nest.
+Every soul in the city burned with patriotism, and
+nobles, burghers, and laborers alike manned the
+walls, while even women could be seen wielding
+spade and axe in the repair of the neglected defences.
+When the siege began the citizens made
+several successful sallies against their foes and
+hope arose in their breasts.</p>
+
+<p>But their position soon grew critical, the Swedes
+seizing the castle of Cronberg and other points
+commanding the Sound and pushing forward their
+lines until they had possession of the outer works
+of the city. The great weakness of the citizens lay
+in the absence of provisions, which grew so scarce
+that they would have had to surrender from sheer
+stress of hunger but for the activity of their allies.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch had enlisted in their cause, and a
+fleet sent from Holland under Admirals Opdam
+and DeWitte passed Cronberg and other fortifications
+held by the Swedes, met the Swedish fleet
+under Admiral Vrangel in the Sound and fought
+a bloody battle for the mastery. For six hours
+the thunder of cannon echoed from the neighboring<a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a>
+shores, then the Swedes were put to flight and a
+favoring wind bore the Dutch ships triumphantly
+to the beleagured city, bringing food and help to the
+half-starved defenders.</p>
+
+<p>Their coming saved Copenhagen. Charles, baffled
+in his efforts, drew back, and threw up works of
+defence ten miles from the city. Suddenly the tide
+of fortune had turned and began to run strongly
+against him. Into Holstein pressed an invading
+army of Austrians, Poles, and Brandenburgers. The
+Swedes were forced to evacuate Jutland. The
+newly won provinces were ready to revolt. Part of
+those held in Norway were taken by the Danes, and
+the Swedish garrison in the island of Bornholm
+was annihilated by a sudden revolt of the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>When winter came and the waters were closed
+by ice against invading fleets, the Swedish king
+determined to make a vigorous effort to take the
+city by assault. The attack was made on the night
+of February 10, 1659, Generals Stenbock and
+Spane leading a storming party against the fortifications.
+Fortunately for the people, they had
+information of the coming assault and were fully
+prepared for defence, and a desperate struggle took
+place at the walls and in the frozen ditches. The
+fire of a multitude of cannon served to light up the
+scene, and the attacking Swedes found themselves
+met with the frantic courage of men and women
+fighting for their homes. A shower of bullets and
+stones burst upon them, many women taking part,<a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></a>
+throwing burning brands, and pouring boiling tar
+upon their heads. In the end the Swedes were
+forced to draw back, leaving two thousand dead and
+wounded in the hands of their foes.</p>
+
+<p>Relinquishing his attack upon the city, Charles
+now turned furiously upon the small islands of
+Laaland, Falster, Moen, and Langeland, which had
+offended him by supplying provisions for the city,
+and subjected them to all the horrors of invasion
+by troops to whom every excess of outrage was
+allowed. Yet new misfortunes gathered round him,
+the peninsula of Fyen being taken by the allies of
+Denmark, while the Swedish troops near Nyberg
+were attacked and taken prisoners, their commander
+alone escaping in a small boat.</p>
+
+<p>The intervention offered by the neighboring
+powers was refused by the proud Swedish king,
+who, surrounded by dangers on all sides, now issued
+a call for a meeting of the estates of the realm at
+Gothenburg, while at the same time preparing to
+invade Norway as a part of the Danish dominions.
+At this interval he was suddenly taken sick and
+died soon after reaching Gothenburg. A treaty
+followed with the widowed queen, regent of Sweden,
+and Frederick preserved his realm, though not without
+loss of territory.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a>
+<a name="CHARLES_XII_THE_FIREBRAND" id="CHARLES_XII_THE_FIREBRAND">
+</a><i>CHARLES XII. THE FIREBRAND<br />
+OF SWEDEN</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>On the 27th of June, 1682, was born one of the
+most extraordinary of men, the Alexander of modern
+times, one of those meteors of conquest which
+have appeared at rare intervals in the history of
+the world. Grandson alike of Charles X. of Sweden
+and Frederick III. of Denmark, Charles XII. of
+Sweden united in himself all the soldierly qualities
+of his ancestors, his chief fault being that he
+possessed them in too intense a degree, being possessed
+by a sort of military madness, an overweaning
+passion for great exploits and wide-spread conquests.
+In his career Sweden reached its greatest
+height of power, and with his death it fell back
+into its original peninsular status.</p>
+
+<p>His daring activity began almost with his birth.
+At seven years of age he could manage a horse,
+and the violent exercises in which he delighted to
+indulge gave him the vigorous constitution necessary
+for the great fatigues of his later life, while
+he developed an obstinacy which made him a terror
+to his advisers in later years.</p>
+
+<p>Charles was extraordinary in the fact that he
+performed the most remarkable of his exploits
+before he reached the age of manhood, and in a just
+sense may be given the name of the boy conqueror.
+His mother died when he was eleven years of age<a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"></a>
+and his father when he was fifteen, his grandmother
+being appointed regent of the kingdom, with a
+council of five nobles for her advisers.</p>
+
+<p>Sweden, when he came to the throne, had risen
+to a high rank among the powers of Europe. In
+addition to its original dominion, it possessed the
+whole of Finland, the finest part of Pomerania,
+on the southern shores of the Baltic, and also
+Livonia, Carelia, Ingria, Wismar, Viborg, the
+Duchies of Bremen and Verden, and other realms,
+all of long possession and secured by conquest and
+treaty. But it had dangerous enemies with whom
+to deal, especially Peter the Great of Russia, then
+bent on bringing his barbarian dominions into line
+with the great powers of the continent.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the inheritance of the fifteen-year-old
+king, who quickly showed the material of which he
+was composed. One day in the first year of his
+reign, after reviewing a number of regiments, he
+was seen by his special favorite, Charles Piper, in
+a spell of abstraction.</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask your Majesty," said Piper, "of what
+you are thinking so deeply?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking," replied the boy monarch,
+"that I am capable of commanding those brave
+fellows; and I don't choose that either they or I
+shall receive orders from a woman."</p>
+
+<p>He referred in this irreverent and boastful
+speech to his grandmother, the regent.</p>
+
+<p>He was crowned on the 24th of December following
+his father's death, the ceremony being performed<a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"></a>
+by the archbishop of Upsala. But when
+the prelate, having anointed the prince in the customary
+manner, held the crown in his hand ready
+to put it upon the new king's head, Charles took
+it from his hand and crowned himself, his eyes
+fixed sternly upon the dismayed churchman. This
+act of self-willed insubordination was applauded
+by the people, who also received him with loud
+acclamations when he rode into Stockholm on a
+horse shod with silver and with a sceptre in his
+hand and a crown on his head. The oath of fidelity
+to his people, usual on such occasions, was not
+taken, and in fact Charles had no thought of being
+faithful to anything but his own ambitious designs
+and his obstinate self-will.</p>
+
+<p>He soon showed his unfitness for the duties of
+quiet government. The money collected by his
+father was quickly squandered by him, and with
+the eagerness of an untutored boy he plunged into
+every kind of daring amusement that presented
+itself, risking his life in break-neck rides, mock
+fights, bear hunts, and other dangerous sports and
+exercises. He also gave much attention to military
+man&oelig;uvres, his time being spent in all sorts of
+violent activities, with little thought to the duties
+of government, these being confided to his chief
+friend and confidant, Charles Piper.</p>
+
+<p>The tidings of the manner in which the new king
+of Sweden occupied himself spread to the neighboring
+monarchs, who, fancying that they had nothing
+to fear from a frivolous and pleasure-loving<a name="Page_329" id="Page_329"></a>
+boy, deemed this a good opportunity to recover
+some of the lands conquered from them by the preceding
+Swedish kings. A secret understanding to
+this effect was entered into by Frederick IV. of
+Denmark, King Augustus of Poland, and Peter the
+Great, czar of Russia, and the ball was opened early
+in 1700 by an invasion of Livonia on the part of the
+Polish king, while the Danes attacked Holstein-Gottorp,
+ruled by Charles's brother-in-law, taking
+Gottorp and laying siege to Tonnigen. Peter of
+Russia was the most dangerous of the three confederates,
+he being then full of the idea of introducing
+western civilization among his rude subjects
+and making Russia a sea power. To accomplish
+this he was eager to gain a foothold on the Baltic
+by the conquest of Finland.</p>
+
+<p>The kingly conspirators, who had begun war
+against Sweden without a declaration, little dreamed
+of the hornet's nest they were arousing. Filled
+with consternation, some of the Swedish councillors
+of state proposed to avert the danger by negotiation.
+Charles, then a youth of eighteen and of
+whose real metal no one dreamed, listened to these
+words with a grave face, and then rose and spoke:</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, I am resolved never to begin an
+unjust war, nor ever to end a just one but by the
+destruction of my enemies. My resolution is
+fixed. I will attack the first that shall declare war
+against me, and having conquered him, I hope I
+shall be able to strike terror into the rest."</p>
+
+<p>The old councillors were surprised by the resolute<a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"></a>
+demeanor of the young king, who seemed suddenly
+transformed into a man before them. They
+little knew the boy. Familiar with the careers of
+Alexander and C&aelig;sar, he was inspired with the
+ambition to attempt the r&ocirc;le of a great conqueror
+and prove himself one of the world's ablest soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Forsaking his favorite sports, he set himself with
+intense energy to prepare for the war which had
+been precipitated upon him, and sent word to the
+Duke of Holstein that he would speedily come to
+his assistance, eight thousand men being at once
+despatched to Pomerania for this purpose. Instantly
+the natives were stirred up, Central Germany
+sending troops to reinforce the Danes, while
+England and Holland sent fleets to aid Sweden
+and seek to preserve the balance of power in the
+north.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the preliminary steps to Charles's
+first great campaign, one of the most remarkable
+in the whole history of war. On the 8th of May,
+1700, he left Stockholm, in which city he was never
+to set foot again. With a large fleet of Swedish,
+Dutch, and English vessels he proposed to attack
+Copenhagen, thus striking at the very citadel of
+Danish power. The assault began with a bombardment
+of the city, but, seeing that this was
+having little effect, Charles determined to attack it
+by land and sea, taking command of the land forces
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>A landing was made at the village of Humlebek,
+Charles, in his impatience to land, leaping into the<a name="Page_331" id="Page_331"></a>
+water, which came nearly to his waist, and wading
+ashore. Others followed his example, the march
+through the waves being made amid a shower of
+bullets from the enemy. Springing to land, the
+young king waved his sword joyously above his
+head and asked Major Stuart, who reached the
+shore beside him, what was the whistling sound
+he heard.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the noise of the musket balls which they
+are firing at your Majesty," said the major.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the very best music I ever heard," he
+replied, "and I shall never care for any other as
+long as I live."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, a bullet struck the major in the
+shoulder and on his other side a lieutenant fell
+dead, but Charles escaped unscathed.</p>
+
+<p>The Danes were soon put to flight and Charles
+made the arrangements for the encamping of his
+troops with the skill and celerity of one trained in
+the art of warfare, instead of a boy on his first
+campaign and to whom the whistle of a musket
+ball was a sound unknown. He showed his ability
+and judgment also by the strict discipline he maintained,
+winning the good will of the peasantry by
+paying for all supplies, instead of taking them by
+force in the ordinary fashion of the times.</p>
+
+<p>While the camp was being made and redoubts
+thrown up towards the town, the fleet was sent back
+to Sweden and soon returned with a reinforcement
+of nine thousand men, who had marched in haste
+to the shore and were drawn up ready to embark.<a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"></a>
+The Danish fleet looked on at this movement, but
+was not strong enough to interfere.</p>
+
+<p>The rapidity with which this invasion had been
+made struck the people of Copenhagen with terror
+and they sent an embassy to Charles, begging him
+not to bombard the city. He received them at the
+head of his guards, while they fell upon their knees
+before him. His ultimatum to the petitioners was
+that he would spare the city on the payment of
+four hundred thousand rix-dollars. They were
+also commanded to supply his camp with provisions,
+for which he promised they would be honestly paid.
+They did not dare refuse, and were very agreeably
+surprised when Charles kept his word and paid good
+prices for all he got.</p>
+
+<p>Charles now sent word to King Frederick that
+he had made war only to require him to make peace,
+and he must agree to act justly towards the Duke
+of Holstein or the city of Copenhagen would be
+destroyed and his dominions laid waste with fire
+and sword.</p>
+
+<p>Frederick, utterly taken aback by the warlike
+vigor of King Charles, was very glad to accept this
+proposal and thus to escape from the dangerous
+position in which he had placed himself, and the
+negotiations were driven through by Charles with
+the same abrupt energy he had shown in his military
+movements. In less than six weeks from the
+beginning of the war it was ended and the treaty
+made, a surprising achievement for the first campaign
+of an eighteen-year-old warrior. The treaty<a name="Page_333" id="Page_333"></a>
+was favorable to Frederick, Charles exacting nothing
+for himself, but demanding that the Duke of
+Holstein should be repaid the expenses of the war.</p>
+
+<p>The boy king had reason for haste, for the town
+of Riga, in his dominions, was being invested by a
+combined army of Russians, Poles, and Saxons.
+The treaty was no sooner signed than he sailed in
+all haste to its relief. It had made a gallant and
+nearly desperate defence under General Dahlberg,
+but the besiegers did not wait for the impact of
+Charles's army, hastily retreating and leaving the
+field open to him for a great feat of arms, the most
+famous one in his career.</p>
+
+<p>The town of Narva, in Ingermanland, was then
+invested by a great Russian army, sixty thousand&mdash;some
+say eighty thousand&mdash;strong, the Czar Peter
+being in supreme command, the Duc de Croy commanding
+under him. But the unskilled Russians
+had not proved very successful in the art of besieging,
+having failed for six weeks to take a city that
+was very poorly fortified and whose governor, Baron
+Herre, had but a thousand regular troops in his
+garrison.</p>
+
+<p>It was in mid-November, 1700, that the czar
+heard that the Swedish king had landed an army of
+about thirty-two thousand men, and was coming
+to the relief of Narva. Not content with his great
+force, Peter hurried forward a second army of
+thirty thousand men, proposing to enclose King
+Charles between these two hordes and hoping thus
+to annihilate him. He reckoned without his host.<a name="Page_334" id="Page_334"></a>
+Charles landed at Pernow and made a forced march
+to Reval, followed by his cavalry, fourteen thousand
+strong, but with only four thousand foot soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Marching, in his usual ardent manner, in the
+van of his army, he did not wait for the rear, making
+his way onward by nearly impassable roads and
+coming before the outposts of the supplementary
+Russian army with only eight thousand men. With
+apparently utter indifference to the vast disproportion
+in numbers, the Swedish firebrand rushed
+forward, the Russians, not dreaming of such mad
+temerity, being sure that he had his whole army
+behind him.</p>
+
+<p>The advance guard of the Russians, five thousand
+strong, was posted in a rocky pass where a body
+of a hundred resolute men might have checked
+the progress of an army, yet it fled in dismay before
+the onset of the Swedes. The twenty thousand men
+behind them shared their panic and joined in their
+flight, terror and confusion pervading the whole
+army. In two days' time Charles carried all their
+posts, winning what might have been claimed as
+three distinct victories, yet not delaying an hour in
+his advance. Having thus disposed of the army sent
+to intercept him, Charles marched with all speed
+to Narva, leaving his main army still far in the
+rear. With his eight thousand men, exhausted with
+their long march and their hard fight, he suddenly
+appeared before the czar's great force of sixty or
+eighty thousand men and one hundred and fifty
+cannon.<a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"></a></p>
+
+<p>Giving his weary men scarcely any time for rest,
+Charles advanced against the Russians with the
+impetuosity which had so far marked his career.
+A general warned him that the danger was very
+great.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" he replied. "Do you not think that
+with my eight thousand brave Swedes I may easily
+beat eighty thousand Russians?"</p>
+
+<p>Whether the general believed so or not, he did
+not venture any further remonstrances, and, at the
+signal of two musket shots and the war-cry of
+"With the aid of God!" the king and his handful
+of men marched forwards. It was now about mid-day
+on the 20th of November, 1700.</p>
+
+<p>A breach being made with their cannon in the
+Russian works, Charles led his men on with fixed
+bayonets, a furious snow-fall behind them driving
+full in the face of the enemy and making their
+position a very difficult one. After an engagement
+of three hours the entrenchments were stormed on
+all sides, the right wing of the Russians fleeing
+to the Narva and crowding the bridge with its
+retreating hosts. So dense was the mass that the
+bridge gave way beneath them, precipitating them
+into the stream, in which eighteen thousand of the
+panic-stricken wretches were drowned. The left
+wing then broke and fled in utter confusion, so
+many prisoners being taken that the best the captor
+could do was to disarm them and let them disperse
+where they would.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ended this extraordinary battle, almost<a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"></a>
+without a parallel in history and spreading the
+fame of the victor widely over Europe. For a boy
+little over eighteen years of age to achieve such
+a feat, defeating with eight thousand men an army
+of nearly a hundred thousand, raised him in men's
+minds to the level of the most famous conquerors.
+Unfortunately for himself, it redoubled his self-will
+and vanity, the adulation given him leading
+him into a course of wild and aimless invasion
+that brought upon him eventually misfortune and
+defeat and nearly ruined his kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Having disposed of two of the enemies who had
+plotted his destruction, in the following year
+Charles advanced against the third, King Augustus
+of Poland, led his victorious army into that kingdom,
+took Warsaw, its capital city, by storm, and
+in the battles of Klissov and Pultusk so thoroughly
+overthrew the forces of Augustus that he was
+forced to give up the throne of Poland and retire
+into his native dominion of Saxony, a Polish noble
+being proclaimed king in his place. The Swedish
+conqueror even pursued Augustus into Saxony,
+defeated his armies wherever met, and forced him
+at last to beg humbly for peace.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the first era of the brilliant career of
+the young Swedish firebrand of war, who in four
+years had utterly overthrown his enemies and won
+a reputation for splendid military genius which
+placed him on a level, in the opinion of the military
+critics of the age, with Alexander the Great, whom
+he had taken as the model of his career.<a name="Page_337" id="Page_337"></a></p>
+
+<p>But Charles had two great enemies with whom
+to contend, and as a result his later history was one
+of decline and fall, in which he lost all that he had
+won and remained for years practically a prisoner
+in a foreign land.</p>
+
+<p>One of these enemies was himself. His faults
+of character&mdash;inordinate ambition, inflexible obstinacy,
+reckless daring&mdash;were such as in the end
+to negative his military genius and lead to the
+destruction of the great power he had so rapidly
+built up. The other was Czar Peter of Russia. It
+was unfortunate for the youthful warrior that fate
+had pitted him against a greater man than himself,
+Peter the Great, who, while lacking his military
+ability, had the other elements of a great character
+which were wanting in him, prudence, cool judgment,
+persistence in a fixed course of action. While
+the career of Charles was one of glitter and coruscation,
+dazzling to men's imaginations, that of
+Peter was one of cool political judgment, backed by
+the resources of a great country and the staying
+qualities of a great mind. What would have been
+the outcome of Charles's career if pitted against
+almost any other monarch of Russia that one could
+name it is difficult to imagine. But pitted against
+Peter the Great he was like a foaming billow hurling
+itself against an impregnable rock.</p>
+
+<p>While it is not our purpose to tell the whole
+story of the exploits of Charles XII., yet his life
+is so interesting from the point of view of military
+history that a brief epitome of its remainder may
+be given.<a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"></a></p>
+
+<p>After his great victories Charles remained in
+Saxony, entertaining the throng of princes that
+sought his friendship and alliance and the crowd
+of flatterers who came to shine in his reflected glory.
+For six years in all he remained in Poland and
+Saxony, fighting and entertaining, while Peter the
+Great was actively engaged in carrying out the
+important purpose he had in mind, that of extending
+the dominion of Russia to the shores of the
+Baltic and gaining an outlet on the northern seas.
+As an essential part of his purpose he began to
+build a new city on the banks of the Neva, to serve
+as a great port and centre of commerce.</p>
+
+<p>It was long before Charles awakened to the fact
+that Peter was coming threateningly near to the
+Swedish territories, and when he finally realized
+the purpose of his great enemy and set out to circumvent
+it, he did so without any definite plan.
+He decided, as Napoleon did a century later, to
+plunge into the heart of the country and attack
+its capital city, Moscow, trusting by doing so to
+bring his enemy to terms. In this he failed as signally
+as Napoleon did in his later invasion.</p>
+
+<p>In June, 1708, with an army of forty-three thousand
+men, Charles crossed the Beresina and soon
+after met and defeated the Russian army near
+Smolensko. He considered this his most brilliant
+victory, and, as we are told by Voltaire, Peter now
+made overtures for peace, to which Charles, with
+the arrogance of a victor, replied, "I will treat
+with the Czar at Moscow."<a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"></a></p>
+
+<p>He never reached Moscow, but was constrained
+to turn southward to the Ukraine, where he hoped
+to gain the aid of the Cossacks, under their chief,
+Mazeppa, a bitter enemy of the czar. In this
+march his men suffered terribly, more than half of
+them dying from hunger and cold. He had met
+that same enemy which Napoleon afterwards met
+in Russia, a winter of bitter severity. In the spring
+he had only about eighteen thousand Swedes and
+about as many Cossacks under his command, but
+he persisted in his designs. During the wintry
+cold he had shared in the privations of his men,
+eating the same coarse food, while his only means
+of warming his tent was to have heated cannon
+balls rolled along the floor.</p>
+
+<p>The crisis came in the summer of 1709. Peter,
+who was keenly on the alert, had succeeded in winning
+to his side the Cossack chiefs, leaving Mazeppa
+without any followers. Then he intercepted the
+Swedish general Levenhaupt, who was marching
+with a new army to the aid of his king, and overwhelmed
+him with an immense force of Russians.
+Losing all his baggage and stores and more than
+half his men, Levenhaupt succeeded in reaching
+the king's camp with only six thousand battered
+and worn soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Charles had now only eighteen thousand men,
+and was in such sore need of food and clothing that
+he laid siege to the city of Pultowa, hoping to
+obtain supplies by its capture. Here he was met
+by Peter with an army three times his strength,
+and in the decisive battle that followed Charles<a name="Page_340" id="Page_340"></a>
+was wounded and his army utterly defeated, only
+three thousand escaping death or capture. Charles
+himself narrowly escaped the latter, and only by
+a hazardous and adventurous flight over the steppes
+reached the town of Bender, in the Turkish realm.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image340" id="image340"></a>
+<a href="images/p340.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p340_th.jpg"
+		alt="THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN."
+		title="THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.<br />
+THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Here the sultan, the bitter enemy of Russia,
+gave him refuge and treated him with much kindness,
+though he found the young Swede a very
+troublesome guest. In fact, at Charles's suggestion,
+the sultan went to war with Russia and got the
+czar into such a tight place that he only escaped
+by bribing the Turkish vizier.</p>
+
+<p>Infuriated at his enemy's escape, Charles became
+so violent and unruly that the sultan tried to get
+rid of him, giving him large sums of money to
+pay his debts and make preparations to leave.
+When Charles spent all this and asked for more
+the sultan grew so angry that he ordered the arrest
+of his troublesome guest. It needed an army of
+men to take him, for he locked himself in his house
+and fought furiously with the few hundred of men
+under his command. Many Turkish soldiers were
+killed and he was only captured by setting fire to
+his house and seizing him as he fled from the
+flames.</p>
+
+<p>The "Iron Head," as the Turks called him from
+his obstinacy, was guarded in a Turkish village for
+ten months by a force of Janizaries. Most of this
+time was spent in bed on pretence that he was
+dangerously ill. At the end of that time, finding
+that he could get no more help from the Turks, he
+resolved to escape. Accompanied by two persons<a name="Page_341" id="Page_341"></a>
+only, he rode in the incredibly short period of
+fourteen days from Adrianople through Austria,
+Hungary, and Germany, reaching the Swedish post
+of Stralsund on November 7, 1713. Doubtless the
+sultan was glad to hear of his escape, since he had
+borne with his restless and unwelcome guest for
+more than four years.</p>
+
+<p>When he came to the gates of Stralsund he presented
+himself to the guard under the name of
+Captain Peter Frisch. The guard was long in
+recognizing him, for he was haggard and worn in
+face and ragged and dirty in person, having never
+changed his clothes and rarely left the saddle, except
+to change horses, during his long and weary ride.</p>
+
+<p>His long and needless absence in Turkey had
+left Sweden exposed to its enemies and it had
+severely suffered, the greater part of its territory
+south of the Baltic being seized, while Sweden itself
+had been attacked by the Danes and Saxons and
+only saved by an army of peasants, so poorly
+equipped and clothed that they were nicknamed
+the "Wooden Shoes."</p>
+
+<p>As for Charles, his era of brilliant invasion was
+over and he was obliged to fight in self-defence.
+When he reached Stralsund it was under siege by
+an army of Russians, Saxons, and Danes. Taking
+command here, he defended it obstinately until the
+walls were blown up and the outworks reduced to
+ashes, when he went on board a small yacht and
+crossed the Baltic safely to Sweden, though a Russian
+admiral was scouring that sea to prevent his
+passage.<a name="Page_342" id="Page_342"></a></p>
+
+<p>A few words must suffice to complete the story of
+this remarkable man. He found Sweden largely
+depleted of men and money and in the new army
+which he sought to raise he was obliged to take
+boys of fifteen into the ranks. With these he proposed,
+in the cold winter of 1716, to invade Denmark
+by leading an army over the Sound to the
+Danish islands, but a thaw set in and put an end
+to this adventurous project.</p>
+
+<p>Then he invaded Norway, as a part of the Danish
+realm, and after some unsuccessful efforts, laid siege
+to the fortress of Frederikshald. Here the end of
+his strange career was reached. On the morning
+of December 11, 1718, while leaning over the side
+of a breastwork and giving directions to the men
+in the trenches, he was seen to stagger, his head
+sinking on his breast. The officers who ran to his
+aid found him breathing his last breath. A bullet
+had struck him, passing through his head and ending
+his remarkable career at the early age of thirty-six.</p>
+
+<p>With the death of this famous soldier ended the
+military glory and greatness of Sweden. As a
+result of his mad ambition and his obstinate persistence
+in Turkey, Sweden lost all the possessions
+won in previous reigns, losing them never to be
+regained. And with him also vanished the absolute
+rule of the Swedish kings. For with his death the
+nobles regained their lost influence and drew up
+a compact in which the crown was deprived of all
+its overruling control and the diet of the nobles
+became the dominant power in the state.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_343" id="Page_343"></a>
+<a name="THE_ENGLISH_INVADERS_AND" id="THE_ENGLISH_INVADERS_AND">
+</a><i>THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND<br />
+THE DANISH FLEET</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The Napoleonic wars filled all Europe with
+tumult and disorder, the far-northern realms of
+Norway and Sweden and the far-eastern one of
+Turkey alone escaping from being drawn into the
+maelstrom of conflict. Denmark, the Scandinavian
+kingdom nearest the region of conflict, did not
+escape, but was made the victim of wars with which
+it had no concern to a disastrous extent.</p>
+
+<p>Christian VII. was then the Danish king, but
+he was so feeble, both in mind and body, that the
+Crown Prince Frederick was made regent or joint-ruler
+in 1784, and was practically king until his
+father's death in 1808, when he came to the throne
+as Frederick VI. Count Bernstorf was minister
+of foreign affairs and kept Denmark at peace until
+his death in 1799, when troubles at once broke out
+between Denmark and England.</p>
+
+<p>It was a different state of affairs now from that
+far-off time of Canute and the vikings, when the
+Danes overran England and a Dane filled its throne.
+The tide had long turned and Denmark was an
+almost helpless victim in the hands of the great
+maritime island, which sought to control the politics
+of the whole continent during the terrible
+struggle with Napoleon.</p>
+
+<p>For some years the English made complaints<a name="Page_344" id="Page_344"></a>
+against Denmark, saying that it was carrying food
+and forage into French and German ports in defiance
+of the laws of neutrality. As these laws were
+of English origin the Danes did not feel inclined
+to submit to them, and after the death of Bernstorf
+Danish men-of-war were sent to sea to protect their
+merchant vessels.</p>
+
+<p>Quarrels and hostile feeling arose from this, but
+the crisis did not come until the summer of 1800,
+when Russia, Sweden, and Prussia formed a treaty
+for an "armed neutrality" and invited Denmark
+to join it. England at once took alarm. While the
+other nations were powerful enough to defy her,
+Denmark was poor and quite unprepared for warlike
+operations, and when, in the spring of 1801,
+a fleet under Admirals Parker and Nelson appeared
+on her waters she was by no means in readiness for
+such a demonstration.</p>
+
+<p>Taken by surprise as they were, however, the
+Danes had no thought of weakly submitting to
+this hostile movement, and did their best to prevent
+the English from passing the Sound. Their
+chief defence was the fortress of Cronberg, near
+Elsinore, where heavy cannon were mounted to
+command the narrow strait here separating Sweden
+and Denmark. But by closely hugging the Swedish
+coast Parker kept beyond the range of these guns,
+and in April, 1801, cast anchor in the harbor of
+Copenhagen. His fleet consisted of fifty-one vessels,
+twenty of them being line-of-battle ships.</p>
+
+<p>Alarmed by the coming of the fleet and taking<a name="Page_345" id="Page_345"></a>
+advantage of the delays in its movement, the Danes
+had made every possible preparation for a vigorous
+resistance. Strong batteries defended the city and
+an imposing array of heavily armed ships, drawn
+up behind a shoal, presented a formidable line of
+defence.</p>
+
+<p>Some delay took place, against the wish of the
+fiery Nelson, who was second in command of the
+fleet. Nelson was eager for an immediate attack,
+and finally Parker gave way and left the matter in
+his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson was in command of the Elephant, but
+finding that ship too large for the waters before
+him he removed his flag to the St. George and
+led the way to the attack with the smaller vessels
+of the fleet, Parker remaining at anchor some miles
+distant with the larger vessels.</p>
+
+<p>A fierce and bloody conflict ensued, lasting from
+four to five hours. Nelson closed on his foe by
+getting within the shoal, but he met with a stout
+and vigorous resistance, the Danish seamen, under
+their able commander Olfert Fischer, fighting with
+the daring for which their people had been noted
+in the far past. Three times the aged Fischer left
+one burning ship to hoist his flag on another, and
+several of the younger captains fought their ships
+against Nelson's larger vessels as long as the shattered
+hulks kept above water.</p>
+
+<p>So protracted and obstinate was the defence that
+Parker grew alarmed and signalled Nelson to
+retreat. This was the last signal to be thought of<a name="Page_346" id="Page_346"></a>
+by a man like Nelson and, clapping the glass to
+his blind eye, he said, "I really do not see the
+signal," and kept on fighting.</p>
+
+<p>Nelson was between two fires, that from the shore
+batteries and that from the ships, and though he
+destroyed the first line of the Danish defence and
+threatened the capital with serious injury, the batteries
+were not silenced and the English ships were
+suffering severely.</p>
+
+<p>He therefore sent an English officer on shore
+with a flag of truce, declaring that unless the Danes
+on shore ceased firing he would burn the ships in
+his hands without being able to save the crews,
+and pointing out that these crews were the worst
+sufferers, as they received a great part of the fire
+of both parties.</p>
+
+<p>A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon to
+permit of the prisoners being removed, and in the
+end the crown prince, against the wishes of his
+commanders, stopped all firing and agreed to discuss
+terms of peace. Thus ended a battle which
+Nelson said was the fiercest and best contested of
+the many in which he had taken part.</p>
+
+<p>The peace that followed lasted for several years,
+and Denmark, freed from connection with the hostilities
+existing in southern Europe, rapidly increased
+in trading activity. During these years,
+indeed, the Danes served as the commerce carriers
+for the other countries of Europe, and this prosperous
+state of affairs lasted till 1807, when new
+troubles arose and England repeated her violent
+act of 1801.<a name="Page_347" id="Page_347"></a></p>
+
+<p>The English government either had, or fancied
+it had, good grounds for suspecting that Denmark
+had joined Alexander of Russia in a treaty with
+France, and on the plea that the fleet of Denmark
+might be used in the cause of the French emperor,
+an array of fifty-four ships of war was sent to
+demand its immediate delivery to England.</p>
+
+<p>Denmark was taken more fully by surprise than
+before. Its army was absent in Holstein to guard
+against an attack which was feared from Germany,
+and Copenhagen was thus left without protection.
+General Peymann refused to comply with the preposterous
+demand of the English admiral, whereupon
+an army of thirty-three thousand men was
+landed and the city attacked by land and sea.</p>
+
+<p>For three days a fierce bombardment continued,
+and not until a large portion of the almost unprotected
+city was laid in ashes and the remainder
+threatened with like destruction did the general
+consent to admit the English troops into the citadel
+of Frederikshavn.</p>
+
+<p>The outcome of this brigand-like attack, which
+had nothing more definite than a suspicion to warrant
+it, and is ranked in history as of the same
+type with the burning of Washington some years
+later, was the seizure of the entire Danish fleet by
+the assailants. The ships carried off included
+eighteen ships-of-the-line, twenty-one frigates, six
+brigs and twenty-five gunboats, with a large amount
+of naval stores of all kinds.</p>
+
+<p>The act was no more warrantable than were the<a name="Page_348" id="Page_348"></a>
+viking descents upon England centuries before. The
+latter were the acts of barbarian freebooters, and
+England, in an age of boasted civilization, put
+herself in the same position. The Danes were
+nearly crushed by the blow and many years passed
+away before their bitter resentment at the outrage
+decreased.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image348" id="image348"></a>
+<a href="images/p348.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p348_th.jpg"
+		alt="KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK."
+		title="KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The political result of it was that Denmark
+allied herself with Napoleon, a measure which gave
+that unhappy land no small amount of trouble and
+distress and led in 1814 to the loss of Norway,
+which for four hundred years had been united with
+the Danish realm. Norway was handed over to
+Swedish rule, while England took for her share of
+the spoils the island of Heligoland, which she
+wanted to secure for the command of the Elbe.
+Thus the birds of prey gathered round and despoiled
+the weak realm of Denmark, which was to be
+further robbed in later years.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_349" id="Page_349"></a>
+<a name="A_FRENCH_SOLDIER" id="A_FRENCH_SOLDIER">
+</a><i>A FRENCH SOLDIER<br />
+BECOMES KING<br />
+OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The career of Napoleon, which passed over
+Europe like a tornado, made itself felt in the
+Scandinavian peninsula, where it gave rise to radical
+changes. In the preceding tale its effect upon
+Denmark was shown. While the wars which desolated
+Europe did not reach the soil of Sweden and
+Norway, yet these countries were deeply affected
+and their relations decidedly changed.</p>
+
+<p>The work began in 1808 in the obstinate folly
+of Gustavus IV., who defiantly kept up an active
+trade with England when Russia and Prussia had
+closed their ports against British ships. As a
+result Russia declared war against Sweden, sent an
+immense army into Finland, and after a desperate
+struggle compelled the Swedes to evacuate that
+region. In this way Sweden lost a great province
+which it had held for six hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>This was one result of a weak king's setting himself
+against the great powers of Europe. By his
+lack of political good sense and his obstinacy Sweden
+lost nearly half its territory and Gustavus lost his
+throne, for the bitter indignation of the Swedes
+against him was such that he was taken prisoner
+by conspirators and forced to sign a deed in which
+he renounced the throne of Sweden for himself and<a name="Page_350" id="Page_350"></a>
+his descendants. Not a hand was raised to help
+him and he spent the remainder of his life as a
+wandering exile.</p>
+
+<p>It was this series of events that in time brought
+a soldier of the French army to the Swedish throne.
+How this came about is well worth the telling.
+After the abdication of Gustavus, Duke Charles of
+Sodermanland was elected king as Charles XIII.,
+and as he had no children, a Danish prince was
+chosen to succeed him.</p>
+
+<p>But this heir to the throne, Charles Augustus by
+name, died suddenly the next year. The people
+believed he had been poisoned, and on the day of
+the funeral, suspecting the haughty old Count
+Fersen of his death, they seized him and in their
+fury literally tore him to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>It was now proposed to take the brother of the
+deceased prince as heir to the throne, but little
+could be done in those days without the Corsican
+emperor being consulted about it, and the young
+Baron M&ouml;rner was sent to Paris to inform Napoleon
+of what was proposed. The youthful envoy was
+an admirer of the conqueror, and thinking to please
+him he suggested that one of the French generals
+should be chosen to rule over Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon was highly gratified with the suggestion,
+but when the baron named Marshal Jean
+Bernadotte as his choice the emperor was much less
+pleased. He would much rather have chosen some
+one else, Bernadotte being too independent in
+character to please him. Difficulties were thrown<a name="Page_351" id="Page_351"></a>
+in the way, but M&ouml;rner obtained Bernadotte's consent,
+and by his argument that Sweden needed an
+able and experienced soldier to regain its old power
+the Swedish Ricksdag was brought over to his side.</p>
+
+<p>In the end Napoleon gave his consent, and the
+marshal was elected Crown Prince of Sweden.
+But the French emperor evidently doubted him
+still, for on parting with him he used these significant
+farewell words: "Go, then, and let us fulfil
+our several destinies." He had reason for his distrust,
+as the events of later years showed.</p>
+
+<p>This selection ranks with the remarkable instances
+of the mutations of fortune. The new crown prince
+had begun life as the son of a poor French lawyer and
+in 1780, at the age of sixteen, entered the army as
+a common soldier. When the wars of the Revolution
+began he had risen to the rank of a sergeant,
+which was as high as a man of common birth could
+rise in the old army of France.</p>
+
+<p>But he made rapid progress in the army of the
+Revolution, being a man of great courage and
+unusual military genius. Under Napoleon, whose
+discerning eye no soldier of ability escaped, Bernadotte
+became one of the most successful of the
+French generals, was made governor of a province,
+ambassador, and minister of war, and had much to
+do with winning the great victories of Austerlitz,
+Jena, and Wagram. Finally he was made a marshal
+of France and prince of Ponte Corvo in Italy.</p>
+
+<p>But Napoleon had doubts of him. He was too
+independent. He opposed the emperor's ambitious<a name="Page_352" id="Page_352"></a>
+plans and defended the liberties of the people, and
+was distrusted by the conqueror for other causes.
+The astute Corsican feared that he would not be
+the man to reduce Sweden to a province of France,
+and the event proved that Napoleon was right.</p>
+
+<p>It was in 1810 that Crown Prince Bernadotte,
+who adopted the name of Charles John as the title
+of his new rank, arrived in Sweden with his son
+Oscar. The people were delighted with his appearance.
+A handsome and imposing man, with black
+wavy hair, an eagle nose, keen, penetrating eyes
+and the manner of one accustomed to command,
+also a clear and eloquent speaker, polished in address
+and courteous in his dealings with all, they felt
+that in him they had a true king; while his reputation
+as one of the leading soldiers in Napoleon's
+great army gave them assurance that, if war should
+arise, their armies would be ably led.</p>
+
+<p>Sweden, when Bernadotte set foot on its soil, was
+in a helpless state of decadence, having become little
+better than a dependency of France. If ever it
+needed a strong ruler then was the time, but
+Charles XIII. was incapable as a monarch, and
+from the time of his landing the new crown prince
+ruled the country as though there were no king
+on the throne.</p>
+
+<p>He at once renounced Catholicism and was
+admitted into the Lutheran church, the state
+religion of Sweden. Proposing to consult the best
+interests of his new country and not to rule as a
+vassal of Napoleon, he was indignant when the<a name="Page_353" id="Page_353"></a>
+emperor ordered that Sweden should declare war
+against England. In the existing condition of the
+country he felt compelled to submit, but he secretly
+advised the British government that the declaration
+of war was a mere formality and not a gun was
+fired on either side.</p>
+
+<p>He also made a secret alliance with Alexander
+of Russia. None of these movements could be
+made public, for the Swedes were then fervent
+admirers of Napoleon and hoped by his aid to gain
+the lost province of Finland and win revenge upon
+Russia, their old enemy. Bernadotte saw farther
+than they, feeling that the inordinate ambition of
+Napoleon must lead to his downfall and that it was
+best for Sweden to have an anchor out to leeward.
+But all these political deals had to be kept from
+the knowledge of the Swedes.</p>
+
+<p>A change in public opinion came when Napoleon,
+suspecting the loyalty to him of his former marshal,
+heaped insults upon Sweden, and finally, in
+the beginning of 1812, invaded Swedish Pomerania,
+intending by this act to frighten the Swedes into
+submission. Instead, he exasperated them and lost
+their friendship, thus giving Bernadotte the opportunity
+he had awaited.</p>
+
+<p>"Napoleon has himself thrown down the gauntlet,
+and I will take it up," he said, and at once
+began to prepare for the struggle which he foresaw.</p>
+
+<p>With the incitement of the invasion of Pomerania
+the Crown Prince Charles John&mdash;Prince Karl
+Johan, as the Swedes called him&mdash;began active<a name="Page_354" id="Page_354"></a>
+preparations for war. The army was largely
+increased, new levies being raised and arms and
+equipment purchased, while alliances were made
+with foreign powers. It came as a surprise to the
+Swedes when the fact leaked out that it was not
+against Russia, but against France, that these warlike
+movements were being made.</p>
+
+<p>Napoleon now, seeing the state of affairs his
+injudicious act had brought about, sought to gain
+the friendship of Sweden, making alluring offers
+to his late marshal. His change of front came too
+late. Bernadotte had no confidence in him and
+came into closer relations with his enemies, encouraging
+the perplexed Alexander to a firm resistance
+against the French emperor in the great invasion
+threatened.</p>
+
+<p>Everyone knows the disastrous end of this invasion.
+When Napoleon was marching on Moscow
+Alexander and Charles John met at Abo and a
+treaty was formed in which Sweden was promised
+recompense for the loss of Finland in the acquisition
+of Norway, while a friendship sprang up
+between the two which lasted till the end of their
+lives.</p>
+
+<p>Events now moved rapidly. The Corsican conqueror
+entered Moscow. It was burned and he was
+forced to retreat. A terrible winter and hostile
+forces destroyed the Grand Army, only a handful
+of which escaped. Then came the death struggle
+in Germany of the greatest soldier in modern history.
+On every side his enemies rose against him<a name="Page_355" id="Page_355"></a>
+and in the spring of 1813 Bernadotte joined them
+with an army of thirty thousand Swedes.</p>
+
+<p>This army took part in the several battles that
+followed, and made its mark especially at Dennewitz,
+where Marshal Ney commanded the French.
+Bernadotte thought that the Prussians should bear
+the brunt of this battle, since Berlin was threatened,
+and for this reason he held the Swedes in
+reserve. But when the right wing of the Prussians
+was broken, Ney cheering his soldiers by shouting,
+"My children, the victory is ours!" he deemed it
+time to take a hand, and ordered General Cardell,
+his artillery chief, to support the Prussians.</p>
+
+<p>Cardell won the day by a brilliant stratagem.
+He ordered the caissons into line with the guns and
+deployed his regiments so that they bore the appearance
+of a division of cavalry, the mounted artillerists
+bearing down upon the French at a gallop, with
+drawn swords.</p>
+
+<p>Failing to see the guns, and thinking that they
+had only cavalry to deal with, the French closed
+their lines and with fixed bayonets awaited the
+Swedes. Suddenly the line halted, the guns were
+rushed forward and reversed, the men sprang to
+their pieces, and from a long line of frowning cannon
+poured a fiery hail of grape and canister that
+tore remorselessly through the solid ranks of the
+French. The results were awful: dead and dying
+strewed the ground; the survivors fled in confusion;
+that deadly volley turned the day in favor of the
+French, and Ney and his braves were forced to make
+a hasty retreat.<a name="Page_356" id="Page_356"></a></p>
+
+<p>In the great battle of Leipsic no section of the
+Swedish army but the artillery took part. When
+the English agent, Sir C. Stewart, sought by
+threats to drive Bernadotte into action, he haughtily
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you forget that I am Prince of Sweden and
+one of the greatest generals of the age?"</p>
+
+<p>Bernadotte was considering the uplifting of his
+new kingdom rather than the overthrow of his old
+master. He was saving his army for the campaign
+he proposed against Denmark. Of this campaign
+we need only say that it ended in the acquisition of
+Norway. The Danes were beaten and their king
+disheartened, and in the peace of 1814 he ceded
+Norway to Sweden, receiving Swedish Pomerania
+in exchange.</p>
+
+<p>For centuries Sweden had sought to absorb Norway,
+and now, by the action of this crown prince
+from a foreign land, the result seemed achieved.
+But the brave Norwegians themselves remained to
+be dealt with. They did not propose, if they could
+avoid it, to be forced into vassalage to the Swedes.
+A party arose in favor of the independence of
+Norway, a government was formed, and their
+Danish governor, Prince Christian Frederick, was
+elected king of Norway.</p>
+
+<p>It was a hasty act, which could not be sustained
+against the trained army of Sweden. Norway was
+poor, her population small, her defences out of
+order, her army made up of raw recruits under
+untried officers, yet the old viking blood flowed in<a name="Page_357" id="Page_357"></a>
+the veins of the people and they were bent on
+striking for their freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Bernadotte returned to Sweden in the summer
+of 1814 and at once led his army into Norway.
+Little fighting took place, the Swedish crown prince
+showing himself favorably disposed, and peace and
+union finally came, Charles XIII. of Sweden being
+elected king of Norway. Yet it was not as a subject
+nation, but as an independent and equal kingdom
+that Norway entered this union. All her old rights
+and privileges were retained and the government
+remained free from any interference on the part of
+Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>It was to the wisdom of Bernadotte that this
+result was due. An enforced union, he knew, would
+yield only hatred and bitterness, and to drive a
+brave people to the verge of despair was not the
+way to bring them into the position of satisfied
+subjects. Norway remained as free as ever in her
+history, dwelling side by side with Sweden, with
+one king over both countries.</p>
+
+<p>In 1818 the weak Charles XIII. died and the
+strong Bernadotte, or Charles John, ascended the
+throne as Charles XIV. The remainder of his
+reign was one of peace and growing prosperity, and
+when he died in 1844, leaving the throne to his
+son Oscar, the grateful people of Sweden felt that
+they owed much to their soldier king.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_358" id="Page_358"></a>
+<a name="THE_DISMEMBERMENT_OF" id="THE_DISMEMBERMENT_OF">
+</a><i>THE DISMEMBERMENT OF<br />
+DENMARK</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>The time once was when, as we have seen, all
+Scandinavia, and England also, were governed by
+Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great
+powers of Europe. Since that proud time the
+power of the Danish throne has steadily declined,
+until now it is but the shadow of its former self.</p>
+
+<p>A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced
+to yield Norway to Sweden. All its possessions
+on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was
+compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring
+islands, with the exception of the duchies of
+Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the peninsula.
+The time was near at hand when it was to
+lose these and more and be reduced to a mere fragment
+of its once great realm.</p>
+
+<p>The new trouble began in 1848, when the French
+revolution of that date stirred up all the peoples of
+Europe to fresh demands. North of Holstein lay
+the duchy of Sleswick, occupying the southern half
+of the peninsula, its inhabitants, like those of
+Holstein, being nearly all Germans. These duchies
+had long chafed under Danish rule, though for centuries
+they had formed part of Denmark, and now
+they made an eager demand for union with what
+they termed their true "Fatherland."</p>
+
+<p>A new king, Frederick VII., ascended the Danish<a name="Page_359" id="Page_359"></a>
+throne in January, 1848. In February the French
+revolution broke out. Almost instantly the duchies
+were in a blaze of revolt, and on the 23d of April
+a Danish army of eleven thousand men met one
+of nearly three times its strength, composed of
+the insurgents and German allies, and was defeated
+after a hard fight and forced to take refuge on the
+little island Als, where it was protected by Danish
+ships of war.</p>
+
+<p>This was the beginning of a struggle that continued
+at intervals for nearly three years, the great
+powers occasionally intervening and bringing about
+a truce. In 1849, the Danes gained some important
+successes, followed by a second truce. The
+most severe battle was that of July 24, 1850, when
+a Danish army nearly forty thousand strong
+attacked the insurgents and battle went on amid
+mist and rain for two days, ending in the triumph
+of the Danes.</p>
+
+<p>New successes were gained in September, Sleswick
+being fully occupied and Holstein invaded, when
+a strong Austrian army marched into the latter
+province and again the war was brought to an end.
+Sleswick was left under the Danish king, but a joint
+commission of Danes, Austrians, and Prussians was
+formed to govern Holstein until its relations to
+Denmark could be determined.</p>
+
+<p>For the thirteen years following all remained at
+rest. But in that year King Frederick VII. of
+Denmark died and immediately the eldest son of
+the Duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the<a name="Page_360" id="Page_360"></a>
+duchies, hastened into them and proclaimed himself
+as ruler, under the title of Duke Frederick
+VIII., of the united and independent province of
+Sleswick-Holstein.</p>
+
+<div class="ctr">
+<a name="image360" id="image360"></a>
+<a href="images/p360.jpg">
+	<img src="images/p360_th.jpg"
+		alt="THE BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK."
+		title="THE BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK."
+	/>
+</a>
+<p class="caption">Reproduced by permission of the Philadelphia Museum.<br />
+THE BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This impulsive act led to most important results.
+All the German powers to the south, large and
+small alike, supported the pretensions of the self-styled
+Frederick VIII., and before the end of the
+year Austrian and Prussian armies entered the
+province, which they proposed to hold until the
+claims of the house of Augustenburg should be
+definitely settled.</p>
+
+<p>This threw Denmark into a difficult position. If
+she wished to avoid dismemberment she must fight,
+and to fight against these two great powers seemed
+madness. Yet Prussia and Austria pressed one condition
+after another upon her, each more galling
+than the last. England, however, offered herself
+as umpire between the parties, strongly favoring
+Denmark. In consequence, fully expecting aid
+from England, a Danish army of forty thousand
+men crossed the border and attacked the Prussians.</p>
+
+<p>But England sent no aid and the Danes were
+forced to retreat and once more take refuge upon
+Als Island. As England showed no intention of
+helping them with armed assistance, despair followed
+the patriotic effort of the Danes, who were
+left single-handed to oppose their powerful foes.
+Yet in spite of their greatly inferior power they
+made a gallant defence, their courage and endurance
+winning the sympathy of those who looked on.<a name="Page_361" id="Page_361"></a></p>
+
+<p>Yet to struggle against such fearful odds was
+hopeless. The Prussians occupied one strong point
+after another until they had penetrated to the
+most northerly point of the peninsula. Then, to save
+his kingdom from utter destruction, Christian IX.
+gave way and accepted the terms offered him,
+agreeing to renounce all claims on the duchies of
+Sleswick-Holstein and Lauenburg and to abide
+by the decision of Prussia and Austria as to the
+future fate of these provinces.</p>
+
+<p>Thus were the weak dealt with by the strong, in
+the rude old fashion, and of its once proud dominion
+Denmark was left only the northern half of
+the peninsula, consisting of Jutland and its neighboring
+islands, a pocket kingdom of some 15,000
+square miles extent in lieu of its once great and
+proud dominion.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was not without satisfaction that the
+despoiled Danes looked on when their two powerful
+enemies, quarreling over the division of the spoils,
+sprang at one another's throats like two dogs snarling
+over a bone, a great war arising between Austria
+and Prussia over this question, at a cost far greater
+than the value of the provinces fought for.</p>
+
+<p>Prussia being the victor, the rights of Denmark
+and the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg alike
+were quietly laid aside and the matter settled by
+the absorption of the provinces into the German
+empire, Denmark being left to thank God that
+Bismarck did not decide to take the rest.</p>
+
+<hr class="major" />
+<h2>
+<a name="Page_362" id="Page_362"></a>
+<a name="BREAKING_THE_BOND" id="BREAKING_THE_BOND">
+</a><i>BREAKING THE BOND<br />
+BETWEEN<br />
+NORWAY AND SWEDEN</i>.
+</h2>
+
+<p>In the year 1388 the people of Norway chose the
+great Queen Margaret of Denmark for their ruler,
+and from that date until 1905, more than five
+hundred years later, the realm of the Norsemen
+continued out of existence as a separate kingdom, it
+remaining attached to Denmark until 1814, when
+it came under the rule of the king of Sweden. In
+1905 Norway broke these bonds and for the first
+time for centuries stood out alone as a fully separate
+realm. With a description of this peaceful revolution
+we may fitly close our sketches of the Scandinavian
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>During these centuries of union ill feeling
+frequently arose between the nations involved.
+Though the union with Denmark had been on
+terms of equality, the Danes in later years often
+acted towards Norway as though it were a subject
+country, at times creating great irritation in the
+proud sons of the sea-kings. It was the same with
+the Swedish union, the Swedes at times acting
+towards Norway as though it were a conquered
+country, won by the sword of Prince Bernadotte
+and subject to their will.</p>
+
+<p>This was a false view of the relations of the
+two countries. The act of 1815 states that "The<a name="Page_363" id="Page_363"></a>
+union is not a result of warfare but of free convention,
+and shall be maintained by a clear acknowledgment
+of the legal rights of the nations in protection
+of their mutual thrones." It further states
+that "Norway is a free, independent, indivisible,
+and inalienable kingdom, united with Sweden
+under one king."</p>
+
+<p>This must be kept in mind in considering the
+recent events. Norway was in no sense subject to
+Sweden, but had simply accepted the king of
+Sweden as its monarch. They were not one nation,
+but two nations under one king, being otherwise
+independent in every respect, each with its own
+constitution, its own parliament, and its own laws.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, Norway has had a constitution since
+1818, granted by Bernadotte when he came to
+the throne, while Sweden was not granted one
+until over forty years later. And while the constitution
+of Norway makes it the most democratic
+monarchy in Europe, that of Sweden gives much
+greater power to the throne. Thus the people of
+Norway for many years had reason to be well content
+with the situation, though they jealously kept
+watch over the preservation of their rights, and
+at times radical parties promoted an irritation that
+might have led to blows had it been sustained by
+the people at large.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty that led to their final separation
+was a commercial one. Norway has always been a
+country with the sea for its province, rugged and
+unproductive as compared with Sweden, but with<a name="Page_364" id="Page_364"></a>
+a long sea-coast inviting maritime pursuits. As a
+result, during the century its commerce grew much
+more rapidly than that of Sweden and it ended the
+century with a shipping three times as great. Its
+commercial interests thus made free-trade the
+economic doctrine of Norway, while protection
+became that of Sweden, and this was the wedge
+that in time forced the two countries asunder.</p>
+
+<p>In 1885 began the disagreement which led to
+separation twenty years later. In that year the
+king made the minister of foreign affairs responsible
+to the Swedish parliament, thus depriving
+Norway, as she claimed, of any important influence
+in foreign politics. Negotiations followed, but
+Sweden resisted, and irritation arose. Finally the
+question of a Norwegian minister of foreign affairs
+was dropped and only that of the right to a separate
+system of foreign consuls remained.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now very briefly epitomize the course of
+events. In 1891 Norway established a consular
+commission and made a strong demand for separate
+consuls to represent her interests in foreign ports.
+Violent quarrels with Sweden followed, but no
+agreement was reached. In 1898 the question
+became serious again, but still there was no agreement,
+and the same was the case when it came
+up once more in 1901.</p>
+
+<p>A new consular commission was appointed in
+1902, its report favoring the demands of Norway,
+and finally, in 1903, King Oscar gave his sanction
+to an agreement for separate consuls. But the<a name="Page_365" id="Page_365"></a>
+king's voice did not settle the question; it came
+before parliament, and after long consideration a
+decision was reached which avoided the point in
+dispute and announced principles which were
+declared in Norway to be in violation of its constitution
+and at variance with the king's sanction
+of 1903.</p>
+
+<p>This ended the negotiations. The incensed Norwegian
+legislators appointed a new cabinet to carry
+out the wishes of the people and a consular service
+law was passed. Events now proceeded rapidly.
+In February, 1905, King Oscar retired from active
+government on account of age and ill health, Crown
+Prince Gustavus being appointed temporary regent.
+On considering the subject he dissented from his
+father's opinion and offered the following proposition
+for a settlement of the question at issue:
+first, a common minister of foreign affairs; second,
+a separate consular service for each country, the
+consuls to be under the direction of the one foreign
+minister. This proposition was voted on favorably
+by the Swedish parliament and the main point
+in dispute seemed settled.</p>
+
+<p>But on May 27 King Oscar returned to the
+throne and immediately repudiated this action of
+his son and the parliament, vetoed the law for
+separate consuls passed in Norway, and when the
+cabinet of that country resigned in a body refused
+to accept their resignation.</p>
+
+<p>The crisis was now reached. A general wave of
+indignation swept through the realm of Norway.<a name="Page_366" id="Page_366"></a>
+The feeling of the people was shared by their
+legislators. Norway's only connection with Sweden
+was that they had the same king&mdash;but the Norwegians
+had no use for a king that would place
+the interests of one country in precedence of those
+of another. The decisive move was made on June
+7, when the Storthing&mdash;the parliament of Norway&mdash;announced
+itself as no longer in union with Sweden
+or under the rule of King Oscar, declaring that he
+had admitted that he was unable to govern Norway
+according to its constitution and therefore had
+ceased to rule as its king. The union flag was
+lowered from the government fortress in Christiania,
+where it had floated since 1814.</p>
+
+<p>In its address to the king the Storthing said
+that "the course of events has proved more powerful
+than the desire or will of individuals," but to
+show that good feeling existed towards Sweden,
+the king was requested to name a prince of his
+own house for the throne of Norway, who was to
+relinquish his right of succession to the Swedish
+throne.</p>
+
+<p>The die was cast. Would war result? Would
+Oscar seek to force Norway back into the Union as
+Bernadotte had done in 1814, when it rebelled and
+chose a king of its own? The occasion seemed
+critical. Oscar refused to abdicate, there was much
+talk of war, the Swedish Ricksdag&mdash;or parliament&mdash;disapproved
+of letting Norway depart in peace.
+If war had been declared the hope of Norway
+sustaining her independence was very doubtful, as<a name="Page_367" id="Page_367"></a>
+her population was only half that of Sweden and
+her army and navy much weaker. Yet there was
+sufficient doubt of the outcome to make all men
+hesitate.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the leading men of Sweden disapproved
+of the idea of war, thinking that hostilities
+were not called for and that Sweden's stake in the
+question was not sufficient to justify the attempt
+to hold Norway by force. A significant event at
+this juncture was the declaration of the powerful
+Socialist party in Sweden that they would not
+bear arms against their brethren in Norway. In
+this the Socialists made the first international
+declaration of their opposition to war.</p>
+
+<p>As the weeks passed on the war feeling cooled.
+Oscar withdrew his refusal to abdicate, and said:
+"Of little use would the Union be if Norway had
+to be forced into it." As regards the feeling of
+the people of Norway regarding separation, it was
+decisively shown on August 13, when a vote was
+taken upon the question. It resulted in 368,200
+votes in favor of to 184 against dissolution of the
+union.</p>
+
+<p>The chief question to be settled was that of the
+abolition of the frontier fortresses, of which Norway
+had a number on the border while Sweden
+had none. Norway held on to hers mainly from
+patriotic reasons, as several of them were of very
+ancient date and had great historic interest. The
+difficulty was finally settled by an agreement to
+dismantle the new portions and let the ancient ones
+remain.<a name="Page_368" id="Page_368"></a></p>
+
+<p>The final treaty of separation, as approved on
+September 23, 1905, covered the following points:
+1st. There was to be arbitration of all questions
+arising between the two countries. 2d. A neutral
+zone was to be established and all forts within this
+zone to be destroyed or made useless for war purposes.
+3d. The grazing rights of Swedish Laplanders
+in Norway were to be maintained. 4th.
+The laws of each country were to apply to the
+portion of waterways crossing each. 5th. No
+obstacle was to be placed on the commerce between
+the two countries.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the form of government of the
+new nation had before this arisen. The request to
+King Oscar for a descendant of his house had been
+at first refused. He subsequently reconsidered it
+and was willing to let his son Charles fill the
+vacant throne, but meanwhile it had been offered
+to Prince Charles of Denmark and accepted by him.
+The offer of the throne by the Storthing needed in
+democratic Norway to be confirmed by a vote of the
+people, and one was taken in October. The sentiment
+for a republic in Norway was supposed to be
+very strong, but the election resulted in a vote of
+four to one for a kingdom against a republic, and
+Charles of Denmark, grandson of King Christian,
+was formally chosen for the reigning monarch of
+the new kingdom. In compliment to the nation
+he chose for himself the national title of Haakon
+VII. and conferred on his son and heir the Norwegian
+name of Olaf.<a name="Page_369" id="Page_369"></a></p>
+
+<p>Formal offer of the throne was made to the new
+king at Copenhagen on November 20 by a deputation
+from the Norwegian parliament, King Christian
+accepting it for his grandson, and saying:</p>
+
+<p>"The young king does not come as a stranger
+to Norway, for he claims relationship to former
+Norwegian kings. Nor will the kingdom of Norway
+be strange to him, for everywhere in the land
+common recollections of the history of the kingdom
+and the history of his race will meet him."</p>
+
+<p>On the 25th of November the new monarch, with
+his wife, daughter of King Edward of England,
+made his formal entrance to Christiania, the capital
+of his new realm, where he was received with the
+highest demonstrations of joy. On their voyage
+from Copenhagen the royal pair were escorted by
+Norwegian, Danish, British, and German warships,
+while in their new realm elaborate preparations had
+been made for their fitting reception.</p>
+
+<p>At noon on November 27 Prince Charles was
+formally inaugurated king, as Haakon VII., before
+a distinguished assembly consisting of the
+highest state dignitaries, the diplomatic corps in full
+costume, and a brilliant concourse of men in uniform
+and women in court toilets. Entering the
+richly decorated Parliament house, surrounded by
+their suites, the king ascended the throne, the queen
+taking a seat by his side.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies were brief, consisting of the
+king's taking the oath to support the constitution
+of Norway, and pledging himself in a brief speech<a name="Page_370" id="Page_370"></a>
+"to exert all his will and strength to serve the
+Fatherland and promote its peace and happiness."
+An interesting feature of the ceremony was a
+despatch of congratulation from Oscar, late king
+of Norway, in which he said: "I beg that you
+be persuaded that every effort looking towards good
+relations between our two countries will be given
+a sympathetic reception on my part."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, after for five hundred and seventeen years
+standing empty, the throne of Norway was filled
+with a king of its own, and that old land, once
+more single and separate, swung back into the
+tide of the nations.</p>
+<p><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371"></a></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
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+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15)
+       The Romance of Reality. Scandinavian.
+
+Author: Charles Morris
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2007 [EBook #20549]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL TALES, VOL. 9 (OF 15) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:  Ten minor typographical errors have been
+                     corrected in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+                             Edition d'Elite
+
+                            Historical Tales
+                         The Romance of Reality
+
+
+                                   By
+                              CHARLES MORRIS
+
+_Author of "Half-Hours with the Best American Authors," "Tales from the
+                            Dramatists," etc._
+
+
+                            IN FIFTEEN  VOLUMES
+
+                                 Volume IX
+
+
+                                Scandinavian
+
+
+                         J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+                          PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
+
+
+
+
+               Copyright, 1908, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: From Stereograph Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y.
+OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO.]
+
+
+
+
+                         _CONTENTS_
+                                                        PAGE
+
+HOW KING ROLF WON HIS BRIDE                               9
+
+RAGNAR LODBROK AND HIS WIVES AND SONS                    19
+
+HAROLD FAIR-HAIRED FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY          31
+
+GORM THE OLD, DENMARK'S FIRST KING                       42
+
+ERIK BLOOD-AXE AND EGIL THE ICELANDER                    49
+
+THE SEA-KINGS AND THEIR DARING FEATS                     60
+
+HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE SONS OF GUNHILD                  69
+
+EARL HAAKON AND THE JOMSVIKINGS                          78
+
+HOW OLAF, THE SLAVE-BOY, WON THE THRONE                  89
+
+OLAF DETHRONES ODIN AND DIES A HERO                      98
+
+OLAF THE SAINT AND HIS WORK FOR CHRIST                  108
+
+CANUTE THE GREAT, KING OF SIX NATIONS                   121
+
+MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HAROLD HARDRULER                    132
+
+SVERRE, THE COOK'S SON, AND THE BIRCHLEGS               145
+
+THE FRIENDS AND FOES OF A BOY PRINCE                    160
+
+KING VALDEMAR I. AND BISHOP ABSOLON                     169
+
+THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF VALDEMAR II             176
+
+BIRGER JARL AND THE CONQUEST OF FINLAND                 186
+
+THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA                 196
+
+THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF KING BIRGER                 202
+
+QUEEN MARGARET AND THE CALMAR UNION                     211
+
+HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR CHARLES OF SWEDEN               217
+
+STEN STURE'S GREAT VICTORY OVER THE DANES               226
+
+HOW THE DITMARSHERS KEPT THEIR FREEDOM                  236
+
+THE BLOOD-BATH OF STOCKHOLM                             241
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF GUSTAVUS VASA                         252
+
+THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II. THE TYRANT                    271
+
+THE WEST GOTHLAND INSURRECTION                          283
+
+THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF KING ERIK                           296
+
+GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ON THE FIELD OF LEIPSIC               310
+
+CHARLES X. AND THE INVASION OF DENMARK                  319
+
+CHARLES XII. THE FIREBRAND OF SWEDEN                    326
+
+THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND THE DANISH FLEET               343
+
+A FRENCH SOLDIER BECOMES KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY      349
+
+THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK                            358
+
+BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN NORWAY AND SWEDEN             362
+
+
+
+
+                     LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                         SCANDINAVIAN.
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+THE OLD BRIDGE AT OEREBRO, ONE OF THE MOST
+    ANCIENT TOWNS OF SWEDEN.                   _Frontispiece._
+
+HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY                                35
+
+HOME OF PEASANTS, NORWAY                                   50
+
+BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD ABOVE ARE, SWEDEN         80
+
+A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND
+    PARENTS. BRIGSDAL, NORWAY                              95
+
+NORWEGIAN PEASANTS                                        115
+
+NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS                                  135
+
+LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS                                  165
+
+VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN                          190
+
+MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN                    210
+
+GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI                                    220
+
+SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM                                      230
+
+SKANSEN RIVER                                             242
+
+THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN          256
+
+NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM                       285
+
+ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN       300
+
+STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS                               312
+
+THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN                      340
+
+KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK                     348
+
+THE BOURSE, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK                           360
+
+
+
+
+_HOW KING ROLF WON HIS BRIDE._
+
+
+At one time very many centuries ago, we cannot say just when, for this
+was in the days of the early legends, there reigned over Upsala in Sweden
+a king named Erik. He had no son and only one daughter, but this girl was
+worth a dozen sons and daughters of some kings. Torborg she was named,
+and there were few women so wise and beautiful and few men so strong and
+valiant. She cared nothing for women's work, but was the equal of any man
+of the court in riding, fighting with sword and shield, and other
+athletic sports. This troubled King Erik very much, for he thought that
+the princess should sit in her maiden chamber like other kings'
+daughters; but she told him that when she came to succeed him on the
+throne she would need to know how to defend her kingdom, and now was the
+time for her to learn.
+
+That she might become the better fitted to rule, she asked him to give
+her some province to govern, and this he did, making her queen of a third
+of his kingdom, and giving her an army of stout and bold warriors. Her
+court was held at Ulleraker in Upland, and here she would not let any one
+treat her as a woman, dressing always in men's clothing and bidding her
+men to call her King Torborg. To fail in this would be at risk of their
+heads. As her fame spread abroad, there were many who came to court her,
+for she was at once very beautiful and the heiress of a great kingdom.
+But she treated all such with laughter and contempt. It is even said that
+she put out the eyes of some, and cut off the hands and feet of others,
+but this we do not like to believe. At any rate, she drove away those who
+troubled her too much with lance and spear. So it was plain that only a
+strong and bold man could win this warlike maiden for his wife.
+
+At that time King Goetrik who ruled in Gothland, a country in southern
+Sweden, had sent his younger son Rolf to be brought up at the court of
+his foster-brother King Ring of Denmark. His elder son Kettil he kept at
+home, but did not love him much on account of his pride and obstinacy. So
+it happened that when Goetrik was very old and like to die, he decided
+that Rolf, who was very tall and strong, and very fit and able, should
+succeed him, though he was the younger son. All agreed to this, even
+Kettil, so Rolf was sent for and made king of Gothland, which he ruled
+with skill and valor.
+
+One day Rolf and Kettil, who loved each other as brothers should, were
+talking together, and Kettil said that one thing was wanting to the glory
+and honor of Rolf's rule, and that was a queen of noble birth and goodly
+presence.
+
+"And whom have you in mind?" asked Rolf.
+
+"There is Torborg, the king of Upsala's daughter. If you can win her for
+wife it will be the greatest marriage in the north."
+
+To this advice Rolf would not listen. He had heard of how the shrewish
+Torborg treated her suitors, and felt that wooing her would be like
+taking a wild wolf by the ears. So he stayed unmarried for several years
+more, though Kettil often spoke of the matter, and one day said to him
+contemptuously:
+
+"Many a man has a large body with little courage, and I fear you are such
+a one; for though you stand as a man, you do not dare to speak to a
+woman."
+
+"I will show you that I am a man," said Rolf, very angry at these words.
+
+He sent to Denmark for his foster-brother Ingiald, son of King Ring, and
+when he came the two set out with sixty armed men for the court of King
+Erik in Upsala.
+
+One morning, about this time, Queen Ingerd of Upsala awoke and told King
+Erik of a strange dream she had dreamed. She had seen in her sleep a
+troop of wolves running from Gothland towards Sweden, a great lion and a
+little bear leading them; but these, instead of being fierce and shaggy,
+were smooth-haired and gentle.
+
+"What do you think it means?" asked the king.
+
+"I think that the lion is the ghost of a king, and that the white bear is
+some king's son, the wolves being their followers. I fancy it means that
+Rolf of Gothland and Ingiald of Denmark are coming hither, bent on a
+mission of peace, since they appear so tame. Do you think that King Rolf
+is coming to woo our daughter, Torborg?"
+
+"Nonsense, woman; the king of so small a realm would show great assurance
+to seek for wife so great a princess as our daughter."
+
+So when Rolf and his followers came to Upsala King Erik showed his
+displeasure, inviting him to his table but giving him no seat of honor at
+the feast. Rolf sat silent and angry at this treatment, but when Erik
+asked him why he had come, he told him courteously enough the reason of
+his visit.
+
+"I know how fond you Goths are of a joke," said Erik, with a laugh. "You
+have a way of saying one thing when you mean another. But I can guess
+what brings you. Gothland is little and its revenues are small and you
+have many people to keep and feed. Food is now scarce in Gothland, and
+you have come here that you may not suffer from hunger. It was a good
+thought for you to come to Upsala for help, and you are welcome to go
+about my kingdom with your men for a month; then you can return home
+plump and well fed."
+
+This jesting speech made Rolf very angry, though he said little in reply.
+But when the king told Queen Ingerd that evening what he had said she was
+much displeased.
+
+"King Rolf may have a small kingdom," she said, "but he has gained fame
+by his courage and ability, and is as powerful as many kings with a wider
+rule. You did not well to mock him."
+
+The next day Erik, thus admonished, begged Rolf's pardon, saying that the
+ale had made him speak foolishly, and thus he became reconciled with his
+guest. As for Rolf's desire to win his daughter, he would first have to
+gain Torborg's consent, which would be no easy matter. The king promised
+not to interfere but would do no more.
+
+Soon after this Rolf and his men arrived at Ulleraker, reaching there
+when the whole of Torborg's court were assembled in the great hall.
+Fearing a hostile reception, Rolf took wary precautions. He choose twelve
+of his stoutest men, with himself and Ingiald at their head, to enter the
+court with drawn swords in their hands. If they were attacked, they were
+to go out backward fighting, but they were bidden to conduct themselves
+like men and let nothing alarm them. The others remained outside, keeping
+the horses in readiness to mount.
+
+When the party entered the hall, Rolf at their head, all there were
+struck with his great size and noble aspect. No one assailed them and he
+walked up the hall, on whose high seat at the front he saw what seemed a
+tall and finely formed man, dressed in royal robes. Knowing that this
+must be the haughty princess whose hand he had come to seek, he took off
+his helmet, bowed low before her, and began to tell what brought him to
+her court.
+
+He had scarcely begun when she stopped him. She said that he must be
+joking; that she knew his real errand was to get food and that this she
+would give him; but he must apply for it to the chief of the kitchen,
+not to her.
+
+Rolf had not come so far to be laughed out of the court, and he sturdily
+went on with what he had to say, speaking to her as a woman, and
+demanding her hand in marriage. At this she changed her jesting manner,
+her cheeks grew red with anger, and springing up, she seized her weapons
+and called upon her men to lay hold upon and bind the fool that had dared
+affront their monarch. Shouting and confusion followed and a sharp attack
+was made on the intruders, but Rolf put on his helmet and bade his men to
+retire, which they did in good order. He walked backward through the
+whole hall, shield on arm and sword in hand, parrying and dealing blows,
+so that when he left the room, though no blade had touched him, a dozen
+of the courtiers lay bleeding. But being greatly overmatched, he ordered
+his men to mount, and they rode away unscathed.
+
+Back to West Gothland they went and told Kettil how poorly they had
+fared.
+
+"You have suffered a sore insult and affront at a woman's hand," said
+Kettil, "and my advice is that it be speedily avenged," but Rolf replied
+that he was not yet ready to act.
+
+Torborg had not taken the trouble to ask the name of her wooer, but when
+she learned who it was she knew very well that the matter had not reached
+its end and that her would-be lover would return stronger than before. As
+she did not want him or any man for husband she made great preparations
+for an attack, gathering a large body of warriors and having a wall of
+great strength and the finest workmanship built round the town. It was so
+high and thick that no battering ram could shake it, while water-cisterns
+were built into it to put out the fire if any one sought to burn it. From
+this we may judge that the wall was of wood. This done, Torborg made
+merry with her court, thinking that no lover in the wide world would now
+venture to annoy her.
+
+She did not know the kind of man she had to deal with in King Rolf. He
+had fought with men and fancied he was fit to conquer a woman. The next
+summer he had a battle with Asmund, son of the king of Scotland, and when
+it was over they became friends and foster-brothers and went on viking
+cruises together. Next spring Rolf armed and manned six ships and, taking
+Kettil and Ingiald and Asmund with him, set sail for Upsala. He proposed
+now to woo the warrior princess in another fashion.
+
+Queen Ingerd about this time dreamed again, her dream being the same as
+before, except that this time there were two white bears, and a hog which
+was small but spiteful, its bristles pointing forward and its mouth
+snarling as if ready to bite anything that came before it. And the bears
+did not look as gentle as before, but seemed irritated.
+
+She interpreted this dream to mean that Rolf was coming again to avenge
+the affront he had received, and that the fierce hog must stand for
+Kettil, of whose character she had been told.
+
+When Rolf now arrived King Erik received him with honor, and again agreed
+to remain his friend, no matter how stormy a courtship he might have.
+From Upsala he set out for Ulleraker and sent a herald to Princess
+Torborg, asking speech with her. She presented herself at the top of the
+wall, surrounded by armed men. King Rolf renewed his suit, and told her
+plainly that if she did not accept his proposal he had come to burn the
+town and slay every man within its walls.
+
+"You shall first serve as a goatherd in West Gothland before you get any
+power over me and mine," answered Torborg haughtily.
+
+Rolf lost no time in assailing the walls, but found them stoutly
+defended. The Swedes within poured boiling water and hot pitch on their
+assailants, threw down stones and beams, and hurled spears and arrows
+from the wall. For fourteen days the siege continued without effect,
+until the Goths, weary of their hard fighting and the mockery of the
+defenders, began to complain and wanted to return home. The townspeople
+derided them by showing costly goods from the ramparts and bidding them
+come and take them, and ridiculed them in many other ways.
+
+King Rolf now saw that he must take other measures. He had a cover
+constructed of boards and brushwood and supported by stout beams, making
+a strong roof which was set against the wall and defied all the boiling
+water and missiles of the Swedes. Under its shelter a hole was dug
+through the wall and soon the Goths were in the queen's citadel.
+
+To their surprise they found it empty. Not a soul was to be seen, but in
+every room they found well-cooked food and many articles of value.
+
+"This is a fine capture," said Kettil. "Let us enjoy ourselves and divide
+the spoil."
+
+"Not so," said Rolf. "It is a lure to draw us off. I will not rest till I
+have the princess in my power."
+
+They sought the palace through and through, but no one was there. Finally
+a secret passage was discovered, leading underground, and the king
+entered it, the others following. They emerged in a forest where they
+found Torborg and all her men and where a sharp battle began. No warrior
+could have fought more bravely than the man-like princess, and her men
+stood up for her boldly, but they gradually gave way before the onset of
+Rolf and his tried warriors.
+
+Rolf now bade Kettil to take Torborg prisoner, but not to wound her,
+saying that it would be shameful to use arms against a woman. Kettil
+sprang forward and gave the princess a sharp blow with the flat of his
+sword, reviling her at the same time with rude words. In return, Torborg
+gave him so hard a blow on the ear with her battle-axe that he fell
+prostrate, with his heels in the air.
+
+"That is the way we treat our dogs when they bark too loud," she said.
+
+Kettil sprang up, burning with anger, but at the same moment Rolf rushed
+forward and grasped the warlike princess in his powerful arms, so that
+she was forced to surrender.
+
+He told her that she was his prisoner, but that he did not wish to win a
+wife in the viking manner and that he would leave it to her father to
+judge what should be done. Taken captive in his arms, there was nothing
+else for her to do, and she went with him to Upsala, where King Erik was
+delighted at Rolf's success. As for the warlike princess, she laid down
+her arms at her father's feet, put on a woman's garments, and seemed glad
+enough to have been won as a bride in so warlike a manner and by so
+heroic a wooer.
+
+Soon after this the marriage took place, the festivities being the
+grandest the court could afford and lasting for fourteen days, after
+which Rolf and his followers returned home, his new queen with him. The
+sagas say, as we can well believe after so strenuous a wooing, that
+afterwards King Rolf and Queen Torborg lived a long and happy life.
+
+
+
+
+_RAGNAR LODBROK AND HIS WIVES AND SONS._
+
+
+The old sagas, or hero tales of the north, are full of stories of
+enchantment and strange marvels. We have told one of these tales in the
+record of King Rolf and Princess Torborg. We have now to tell that of
+Ragnar Lodbrok, a hero king of the early days, whose story is full of
+magical incidents. That this king reigned and was a famous man in his
+days there is no reason to doubt, but around his career gathered many
+fables, as was apt to be the case with the legends of great men in those
+days. To show what these tales were like we take from the sagas the
+marvellous record of Ragnar and his wives.
+
+In East Gothland in the ancient days there lived a mighty jarl, or earl,
+named Herroed, who was descended from the gods. He had a daughter named
+Tora, who was famed for her beauty and virtue, but proved as hard to win
+for a wife as Princess Torborg had been. She dwelt in a high room which
+had a wall built around it like a castle, and was called Castle Deer,
+because she surpassed all other women in beauty as much as the deer
+surpasses all other animals.
+
+Her father, who was very fond of her, gave her as a toy a small and
+wonderfully beautiful snake which he had received in a charmed egg in
+Bjarmaland. It proved to be an unwelcome gift. The snake was at first
+coiled in a little box, but soon grew until the box would not hold it,
+and in time was so big that the room would not hold it. So huge did it
+become in the end that it lay coiled in a ring around the outer walls,
+being so long that its head and tail touched.
+
+It got to be so vicious that no one dared come near it except the maiden
+and the man who fed it, and his task was no light one, for it devoured an
+ox at a single meal. The jarl was sorry enough now that he had given his
+daughter such a present. It was one not easy to get rid of, dread of the
+snake having spread far and wide, and though he offered his daughter with
+a great dower to the man who should kill it, no one for a long time
+ventured to strive for the reward. The venom which it spat out was enough
+to destroy any warrior.
+
+At length a suitor for the hand of the lovely princess was found in
+Ragnar, the young son of Sigurd Ring, then one of the greatest monarchs
+of the age, with all Sweden and Norway under his sway, as the sagas tell.
+Ragnar, though still a boy, had gained fame as a dauntless warrior, and
+was a fit man to dare the venture with the great snake, though for a long
+time he seemed to pay no heed to the princess.
+
+But meanwhile he had made for himself a strange coat. It was wrought out
+of a hairy hide, which he boiled in pitch, drew through sand, and then
+dried and hardened in the sun. The next summer he sailed to East
+Gothland, hid his ships in a small bay, and at dawn of the next day
+proceeded toward the maiden's bower, spear in hand and wearing his
+strange coat.
+
+There lay the dreaded serpent, coiled in a ring round the wall. Ragnar,
+nothing daunted, struck it boldly with his spear, and before it could
+move in defence struck it a second blow, pressing the spear until it
+pierced through the monster's body. So fiercely did the snake struggle
+that the spear broke in two, and it would have destroyed Ragnar with the
+venom it poured out if he had not worn his invulnerable coat.
+
+The noise of the struggle and the fierceness of the snake's convulsions,
+which shook the whole tower, roused Tora and her maids, and she looked
+from her window to see what it meant. She saw there a tall man, but could
+not distinguish his features in the grey dawn. The serpent was now in its
+death throes, though this she did not know, and she called out:
+
+"Who are you, and what do you want?"
+
+Ragnar answered in this verse:
+
+               "For the maid fair and wise
+               I would venture my life.
+               The scale-fish got its death wound
+               From a youth of fifteen!"
+
+Then he went away, taking the broken handle of the spear with him. Tora
+listened in surprise, for she learned from the verse that a boy of
+fifteen had slain the great monster, and she marvelled at his great size
+for his years, wondering if he were man or wizard. When day came she told
+her father of the strange event, and the jarl drew out the broken spear
+from the snake, finding it to be so heavy that few men could have lifted
+it.
+
+Who had killed the serpent and earned the reward? The jarl sent a mandate
+throughout his kingdom, calling all men together, and when they came he
+told them the story of the snake's death, and bade him who possessed the
+handle of the spear to present it, as he would keep his word with any
+one, high or low.
+
+Ragnar and his men stood on the edge of the throng as the broken head of
+the spear was passed round, no one being able to present the handle
+fitting it. At length it came to Ragnar, and he drew forth the handle
+from his cloak, showing that the broken ends fitted exactly. A great
+feast for the victor was now given by Jarl Herroed, and when Ragnar saw
+the loveliness of Tora, he was glad to ask her for his queen, while she
+was equally glad to have such a hero for her spouse. A splendid bridal
+followed and the victor took his beautiful bride home.
+
+This exploit gave Ragnar great fame and he received the surname of
+Lodbrok, on account of the strange coat he had worn. Ragnar and Tora
+lived happily together but not to old age, for after some years she took
+sick and died, leaving two sons, Erik and Agnar, who grew up to be strong
+and beautiful youths. Ragnar had loved her greatly and after her death
+said he would marry no other woman. Nor could he comfort himself at home
+but began to wander abroad on warlike voyages, that he might drive away
+his sorrow.
+
+Leaving Ragnar Lodbrok to his travels, let us take up the strange story
+of another fair maiden, who was to have much to do with his future life.
+She was named Asloeg and was the daughter of King Sigurd Fafnisbane, of
+Germany. Soon after she was born enemies of her father killed him and her
+mother and all of his race they could find. Her life was saved by Heimer,
+foster-father to her mother, who to get her away from the murderers had a
+large harp made with a hollow frame, in which he hid the child and all
+the treasure he could find.
+
+Then he wandered far as a travelling harper, letting the child out when
+they came to solitary woods, and when she wept and moaned silencing her
+by striking the strings of the harp. After long journeying he came to a
+cottage in Norway called Spangerhed, where lived a beggar and his wife.
+Seeing a gold bracelet under Heimer's rags, and some rich embroidery
+sticking from the harp, the beggar and his wife killed him during the
+night and broke open the harp. They found in it the wealth they sought,
+but the discovery of the pretty little girl troubled them.
+
+"What shall we do with this child?" he asked.
+
+"We will bring her up as our own, and name her Kraka, after my mother,"
+said his wife.
+
+"But no one will believe that ugly old people like us can have so fair a
+daughter."
+
+"Let me manage it," said the wife. "I will put tar on her head so that
+her hair will not be too long, and keep her in ragged clothes and at the
+hardest work."
+
+This they did and little Asloeg grew up as a beggar's child. And as she
+kept strangely silent, never speaking, all people thought her dumb.
+
+One day, when Asloeg was well grown, Ragnar Lorbrok came that way,
+cruising along the Norway coast. The crew was out of bread and men were
+sent ashore to bake some at a house they saw in the distance. This house
+was Spangerhed, where Kraka dwelt.
+
+She had seen the ships come up and the men land, and was ashamed to be
+seen by strangers as she was, so she washed herself and combed her hair,
+though she had been bidden never to do so. So long and thick had her hair
+grown that it reached to the ground and covered her completely.
+
+When the cooks came to bake their bread they were so surprised at the
+beauty of the maiden that they let the loaves burn while looking at her,
+and on being blamed for this carelessness on their return to the ship
+said they could not help it, for they had been bewitched by the face of
+the loveliest maiden they had ever gazed upon.
+
+"She cannot be as lovely as Tora was," said Ragnar.
+
+"There was never a lovelier woman," they declared, and Ragnar was so
+struck by their story that he sent messengers ashore to learn if they
+were telling the truth. If it were so, he said, if Kraka were as
+beautiful as Tora, they were bidden to bring her to him neither dressed
+nor undressed, neither fasting nor satisfied, neither alone nor in
+company. The messengers found the maiden as fair as the cooks had said
+and repeated the king's demand.
+
+"Your king must be out of his mind, to send such a message," said the
+beggar's wife; but Kraka told them that she would come as their king
+wished, but not until the next morning.
+
+The next day she came to the shore where the ship lay. She was completely
+covered with her splendid hair, worn like a net around her. She had eaten
+an onion before coming, and had with her the old beggar's sheep dog; so
+that she had fulfilled Ragnar's three demands.
+
+Her wit highly pleased Ragnar and he asked her to come on board, but she
+would not do so until she had been promised peace and safety. When she
+was taken to the cabin Ragnar looked at her in delight. He thought that
+she surpassed Tora in beauty, and offered a prayer to Odin, asking for
+the love of the maiden. Then he took the gold-embroidered dress which
+Tora had worn and offered it to Kraka, saying in verse, in the fashion of
+those times:
+
+               "Will you have Tora's robe? It suits you well. Her
+               white hands have played upon it. Lovely and kind was
+               she to me until death."
+
+Kraka answered, also in verse:
+
+               "I dare not take the gold-embroidered robe which
+               adorned Tora the fair. It suits not me. Kraka am I
+               called in coal-black baize. I have ever herded goats on
+               the stones by the sea-shore."
+
+"And now I will go home," she added. "If the king's mind does not change
+he can send for me when he will."
+
+Then she went back to the beggar's cottage and Ragnar sailed in his ship
+away.
+
+Of course every one knows without telling what came from such an
+invitation. It was not long before Ragnar was back with his ship and he
+found Kraka quite ready to go with him. And when they reached his home a
+splendid entertainment was given, during which the marriage between
+Ragnar and Kraka took place, everything being rich and brilliant and all
+the great lords of the kingdom being present. It will be seen that,
+though the Princess Asloeg pretended to be dumb during her years of
+youthful life in the beggar's cottage, she found her voice and her wits
+with full effect when the time came to use them.
+
+She was now the queen of a great kingdom, and lived for many years
+happily with her husband Ragnar. And among her children were two sons who
+were very different from other men. The oldest was called Iwar. He grew
+up to be tall and strong, though there were no bones in his body, but
+only gristle, so that he could not stand, but had to be carried
+everywhere on a litter. Yet he was very wise and prudent. The second
+gained the name of Ironside, and was so tough of skin that he wore no
+armor in war, but fought with his bare body without being wounded. To the
+people this seemed the work of magic. There were two others who were like
+other men.
+
+Since the older brothers, the sons of Tora, had long been notable as
+warriors, the younger brothers, when they grew up, became eager to win
+fame and fortune also, and they went abroad on warlike expeditions,
+fighting many battles, winning many victories, and gaining much riches.
+
+But Iwar, the boneless one, was not satisfied with this common fighting,
+but wanted to perform some great exploit, that would give them a
+reputation everywhere for courage. There was the town of Hvitaby (now
+Whitby, in Yorkshire, England), which many great warriors had attacked,
+their father among them, but all had been driven back by the power of
+magic or necromancy. If they could take this stronghold it would give
+them infinite honor, said Iwar, and to this his brothers agreed.
+
+To Hvitaby they sailed, and leaving their younger brother Ragnwald in
+charge of the ships, because they thought him too young to take part in
+so hard a battle, they marched against the town. The place was ably
+defended, not only by men but by two magical heifers, their charm being
+that no man could stand before them or even listen to their lowing. When
+these beasts were loosed and ran out towards the troops, the men were so
+scared by the terrible sound of their voices that Ironside had all he
+could do to keep them from a panic flight, and many of them fell
+prostrate. But Iwar, who could not stand, but was carried into battle
+upon shields, took his bow and sent his arrows with such skill and
+strength that both the magic heifers were slain.
+
+Then courage came back to the troops and the townsmen were filled with
+terror. And in the midst of the fighting Ragnwald came up with the men
+left to guard the ships. He was determined to win some of the glory of
+the exploit and attacked the townsmen with fury, rushing into their ranks
+until he was cut down. But in the end the townsmen were defeated and the
+valiant brothers returned with great honor and spoil, after destroying
+the castle. Thus it was that the sons of Kraka gained reputation as
+valiant warriors.
+
+But meanwhile Kraka herself was like to lose her queenly station, for
+Ragnar visited King Osten of Upsala who had a beautiful daughter named
+Ingeborg. On seeing her, his men began to say that it would be more
+fitting for their king to have this lovely princess for his wife, instead
+of a beggar's daughter like Kraka. Ragnar heard this evil counsel, and
+was so affected by it that he became betrothed to Ingeborg. When he went
+home he bade his men to say nothing about this betrothal, yet in some way
+Kraka came to know of it. That night she asked Ragnar for news and he
+said he had none to tell.
+
+"If you do not care to tell me news," said Kraka, "I will tell you some.
+It is not well done for a king to affiance himself to one woman when he
+already has another for his wife. And, since your men chose to speak of
+me as a beggar's daughter, let me tell you that I am no such thing, but a
+king's daughter and of much higher birth than your new love Ingeborg."
+
+"What fable is this you tell me?" said Ragnar. "Who, then, were your
+parents?"
+
+"My father was King Sigurd Fafnisbane and my mother was the Amazon
+Brynhilda, daughter of King Budle."
+
+"Do you ask me to believe that the daughter of these great people was
+named Kraka and brought up in a peasant's hut?"
+
+The queen now told him that her real name was Asloeg and related all the
+events of her early life. And as a sign that she spoke the truth, she
+said that her next child, soon to be born, would be a son and would have
+a snake in his eye.
+
+It came out as she said, the boy, when born, having the strange sign of
+which she had spoken, so that he was given a name that meant Sigurd
+Snake-in-Eye. So rejoiced was Ragnar at this that he ceased to think of
+Ingeborg and all his old love for Kraka, or Asloeg as she was now called,
+came back.
+
+The remainder of the lives of Ragnar and Asloeg and of their warlike sons
+is full of valiant deeds and magic arts, far too long to be told here,
+but which gave them a high place in the legendary lore of the north, in
+which Ragnar Lodbrok is one of the chief heroes. At length Ragnar was
+taken prisoner by King Ethelred of England and thrown into a pit full of
+serpents, where he died. Afterwards Iwar and his brothers invaded
+England, conquered that country, and avenged their father by putting
+Ethelred to death by torture. Iwar took England for his kingdom and the
+realms of the north were divided among his brothers, and many more were
+the wars they had, until death ended the career of these heroes of
+northern legend.
+
+
+
+
+_HAROLD FAIR-HAIRED FOUNDS THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY._
+
+
+To the far-off island of Iceland we must go for the story of the early
+days of Norway. In that frosty isle, not torn by war or rent by tumult,
+the people, sitting before their winter fires, had much time to think and
+write, and it is to Iceland we owe the story of the gods of the north and
+of the Scandinavian kings of heathen times. One of these writers, Snorri
+Sturlasson by name, has left us a famous book, "The Sagas of the Kings of
+Norway," in which he tells of a long line of ancient kings, who were
+descended from the gods. Here are some of their names, Aun the Old,
+Ingjald Ill-Ruler, Olaf the Wood-Cutter, Halfdan Whiteleg, and Halfdan
+the Swarthy. There were others whom we need not name, and of these
+mentioned the names must suffice, for all we know of them is legend, not
+truth.
+
+In those times there was no kingdom of Norway, but a number of petty
+provinces, ruled over by warriors who are spoken of as kings, but whose
+rule was not very wide. Most powerful among them was Halfdan the Swarthy,
+who was only a year old in 810 when his father was killed in battle.
+
+He lived for many years, and he and his wife Ragnhild had strange dreams.
+The queen dreamed that a thorn which she took out of her clothes grew in
+her hands until one end of it took root in the ground and the other shot
+up into the air. It kept on growing until it was a great tree, so high
+that she could barely see its top. The lower part of it was blood-red,
+higher up it was bright green, and the spreading branches were white as
+snow. So widely they spread that they seemed to shade the whole country
+of Norway.
+
+King Halfdan did not like it that his wife had such strange dreams and he
+had none. He asked a sage why this was so, and was told that if he wanted
+to have dreams as strange he must sleep in a pig-sty. A queer recipe for
+dreams, one would think, but the king tried it, and dreamed that his hair
+grew long and beautiful and hung in bright locks over his shoulders, some
+of them down to his waist, and one, the brightest and most beautiful of
+all, still farther down.
+
+When he told the sage of this dream, the wise man said it meant that from
+him was to come a mighty race of kings, one of whom should be the
+greatest and most glorious of them all. This great hero, Snorri tells us,
+was supposed to be Olaf the Saint, who reigned two hundred years later,
+and under whom Christianity first flourished in Norway.
+
+Soon after these dreams a son was born to the queen, who was named
+Harold. A bright, handsome lad he grew to be, wise of mind and strong of
+body and winning the favor of all who knew him. Many tales which we
+cannot believe are told of his boyhood. Here is one of them. Once when
+the king was seated at the Yuletide feast all the meats and the ale
+disappeared from the table, leaving an empty board for the monarch and
+his guests. There was present a Finn who was said to be a sorceror, and
+him the king put to the torture, to find out who had done this thing.
+Young Harold, displeased with his father's act, rescued the Finn from his
+tormentors and went with him to the mountains.
+
+On they went, miles and leagues away, until they came to a place where a
+Finnish chief was holding a great feast. Harold stayed there until
+spring, when he told his host that he must return to his father's halls.
+Then the chief said:
+
+"King Halfdan was very angry when I took his meat and ale from him last
+winter, and now I will reward you with good tidings for what you did.
+Your father is dead and his kingdom waits for you to inherit. And some
+day you will rule over all Norway."
+
+Harold found it to be as the Finn had said, and thus in 860, when he was
+only ten years old, he came to the throne. He was young to be at the head
+of a turbulent people and some ambitious men there were who sought to
+take advantage of his youth, but his uncle guardian fought for him and
+put them all down. Harold was now the greatest among the petty kings of
+Norway and a wish to be ruler of the whole land grew up in his soul.
+
+Here comes in a story which may not be all true, but is pretty enough to
+tell. It is to the effect that love drove Harold to strive for the
+kingdom. Old Snorri tells the story, which runs this way.
+
+King Erik of Hoerdaland had a fair daughter named Gyda, the fame of whose
+beauty reached Harold's ears and he sent messengers to win her for
+himself. But the maid was proud and haughty and sent back word:
+
+"Tell your master that I will not yield myself to any man who has only a
+few districts for his kingdom. Is there no king in the land who can
+conquer all Norway, as King Erik has conquered Sweden and King Gorm
+Denmark?"
+
+This was all the answer she had for the heralds, though they pleaded for
+a better answer, saying that King Harold was surely great enough for any
+maid in the land.
+
+"This is my answer to King Harold," she said. "I will promise to become
+his wife if for my sake he shall conquer all Norway and rule it as freely
+as King Erik and King Gorm rule their kingdoms. Only when he has done
+this can he be called the king of a people."
+
+When the heralds returned they told the king of their ill success and
+advised him to take the girl by force.
+
+"Not so," Harold replied. "The girl has spoken well and deserves thanks
+instead of injury. She has put a new thought into my mind which had not
+come to me before. This I now solemnly vow and call God to witness, that
+I will not cut or comb my hair until the day when I shall have made
+myself king of all Norway. If I fail in this, I shall die in the
+attempt."
+
+[Illustration: HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, NORWAY.]
+
+Such is the legend of Gyda and the vow. What history tells us is that the
+young king set out to bring all Norway under his rule and prospered in
+the great enterprise. One after another, the small kings yielded to his
+power, and were made earls or governors under him. They collected taxes
+and administered justice in his name. All the land of the peasants was
+declared to be the property of the king, and those who had been free
+proprietors were now made the king's tenants and were obliged to pay
+taxes if they wished to hold their lands. These changes angered many and
+there were frequent rebellions against the king, but he put them all
+down, and year after year came nearer the goal of his ambition. And his
+hair continued to grow uncut and uncombed, and got to be such a tangled
+mass that men called him Harold Lufa, or Frowsy-Head.
+
+There was one great and proud family, the Rafnistas, who were not easily
+to be won. To one of them, Kveld-Ulf, or Night-Wolf, Harold sent envoys,
+asking him to enter his service, but the chief sent back word that he was
+too old to change. Then he offered Bald Grim, old Night-Wolf's son, high
+honors if he would become his vassal. Bald Grim replied that he would
+take no honors that would give him rank over his father.
+
+Harold grew angry at this, and was ready to use force where good words
+would not prevail, but in the end the old chief agreed that his second
+son Thorolf might be the king's man if he saw fit. This he agreed to do,
+and as he was handsome, intelligent and courtly the king set much store
+by him.
+
+Not only with the Norway chiefs, but with the king of Sweden, Harold had
+trouble. While he was busy in the south King Erik invaded the north, and
+Harold had to march in haste to regain his dominions. But the greatest
+danger in his career came in 872, when a number of chiefs combined
+against him and gathered a great fleet, which attacked Harold's fleet in
+Halfrs-Fjord. Then came the greatest and hottest fight known to that day
+in Norway. Loudly the war-horns sounded and the ships were driven
+fiercely to the fray, Harold's ship being in the front wherever the fight
+waxed hottest. Thorolf, the son of Night-Wolf, stood in its prow,
+fighting with viking fury, and beside him stood two of his brothers,
+matching him blow with blow.
+
+Yet the opposing chiefs and their men were stout fighters and the contest
+long seemed doubtful, many brave and able men falling on both sides.
+Arrows hissed in swift flight through the air, spears hurtled after them,
+stones were hurled by strong hands, and those who came hand to hand
+fought like giants. At length Harold's berserkers--men who fought without
+armor, replacing it with fury of onslaught--rushed forward and boarded
+the hostile ships, cutting down all who opposed them. Blood ran like
+water and the chieftains and their men fell or fled before this wild
+assault. The day was won for Harold, and with it the kingdom, for after
+that fatal fray none dared to stand up before him.
+
+His vow accomplished, all Norway now his, Harold at last consented to the
+cutting of his hair, this being done by Ragnvald, the earl of Moere. The
+tangled strands being cut and the hair deftly combed, those who saw it
+marvelled at its beauty, and from that day the king was known as Harold
+the Fair-Haired. As for Gyda, the maid, the great task she set having
+been accomplished, she gave her hand to Harold, a splendid marriage
+completing the love romance of their lives.
+
+This romance, however, is somewhat spoiled by the fact that Harold
+already had a wife, Aasa, the daughter of Earl Haakon, and that he
+afterwards married other wives. He had his faults and weaknesses, one of
+these being that he was not faithful to women and he was jealous of men
+who were growing in greatness. One of the men whom he began to fear or
+hate was Thorolf, who had aided him so mightily in battle and long stood
+highest in his favor.
+
+Thorolf married a rich wife and grew very wealthy, living like a prince,
+and becoming profuse in his hospitality. He was gracious and liberal and
+won hosts of friends, while he aided the king greatly in collecting taxes
+from the Finns, who were not very willing to part with their money.
+Despite this service Harold grew to distrust Thorolf, or to hate him for
+other reasons, and the time came when this feeling led to a tragedy.
+
+Thorolf had been made bailiff of Haalogaland, and when Harold came to
+this province his bailiff entertained him with a splendid feast, to which
+eight hundred guests were invited, three hundred of them being the king's
+attendants.
+
+Yet, through all the hilarity of the feast, Harold sat dark and brooding,
+much to his host's surprise. He unbent a little at the end and seemed
+well pleased when Thorolf presented him with a large dragon ship, fully
+equipped. Yet not long afterwards he took from him his office of bailiff,
+and soon showed himself his deadly foe, slandering him as a pretext for
+attacking him on his estate.
+
+The assailants set fire to Thorolf's house and met him with a shower of
+spears when he broke out from the burning mansion. Seeing the king among
+them Thorolf rushed furiously towards him, cut down his banner-bearer
+with a sword blow, and was almost within touch of the king when he fell
+from his many wounds, crying: "By three steps only I failed."
+
+It is said that Harold himself gave the death blow, yet he looked sadly
+on the warrior as he lay dead at his feet, saying, as he saw a man
+bandaging a slight wound: "That wound Thorolf did not give. Differently
+did weapons bite in his hand. It is a pity that such men must die."
+
+This would indicate that King Harold had other reasons than appears from
+the narrative for the slaughter of his former friend. It must be borne
+in mind that he was engaged in founding a state, and had many disorderly
+and turbulent elements with which to deal, and that before he had ended
+his work he was forced to banish from the kingdom many of those who stood
+in his way. We do not know what secret peril to his plans led him to
+remove Thorolf from his path.
+
+However that be, the killing of the chief sent his father to his bed sick
+with grief, and he grew content only when he heard that the king's hand
+had slain him and that he had fallen on his face at his slayer's feet.
+For when a dying man fell thus it was a sign that he would be avenged.
+
+But the old man was far too weak to attack Harold openly, and was not
+willing to dwell in the same kingdom with him; so he, with his son Bald
+Grim and all his family and wealth, took ship and set sail for Iceland.
+But long he lingered on Norway's coast, hoping for revenge on some of
+Harold's blood, and chance threw in his way a ship containing two cousins
+of the king. This he attacked, killed the king's cousins, and captured
+the ship. Then Bald Grim, full of exultation, sang a song of triumph on
+the ship's prow, beginning with:
+
+               "Now is the Hersir's vengeance
+               On the king fulfilled;
+               Wolf and eagle tread on
+               Yngling's children."
+
+There were other chieftains who sought refuge abroad from Harold's rule,
+men who were bitterly opposed to the new government he founded, with its
+system of taxation and its strict laws. They could not see why the old
+system of robbing and plundering within Norway's confines should be
+interfered with or their other ancient privileges curtailed, and several
+thousand sailed away to found new homes in the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and
+Iceland.
+
+One of the chief of these, Rolf, or Rollo, son of the king's friend,
+Ragnvald of Moere, defied Harold's laws and was declared an outlaw. His
+high birth made the king more determined to punish him, as an example to
+others, and no influence could win forgiveness for Rolf the Walker, as
+men called him, saying that he was so tall and heavy that no horse could
+carry him.
+
+We must follow the outlaw in his journey, for it was one destined to lead
+to great events. Setting sail with a fleet and a large number of
+followers, he made his way to the coast of France, and fixed himself
+there, plundering the people for several years. Charles the Simple, king
+of France, finding that he could not drive the bold Norseman off, at
+length gave him a large province on condition that he would become a
+Christian, and hold his land as a vassal of the king. The province was
+given the name of Normandy, and from Rollo descended that sturdy race of
+kings one of whom conquered England in the following century. Thus the
+exile of Rollo led to events of world-wide importance.
+
+When the proud Norseman was asked to kiss King Charles's foot in token of
+fealty to him, he answered: "I will never bend my knee before any man,
+nor will I kiss any man's foot."
+
+He could hardly be persuaded to let one of his men kiss the king's foot
+as a proxy for him. The man chosen strode sturdily forward, seized the
+foot of the king, who was on horseback, and lifted it to his lips so
+roughly that the poor king turned a somersault from his horse. The
+Norsemen laughed in derision while the king's followers stood by grim and
+silent.
+
+But despite his unruliness at home, Rollo, when he got a kingdom of his
+own, ruled it with all the sternness of King Harold, hanging all robbers
+that fell into his hands, and making his kingdom so secure that the
+peasants could leave their tools in the fields at night without fear of
+loss. Five generations after him came to the throne William the
+Conqueror, who won himself the kingdom of England.
+
+To go back to Harold, the builder of the kingdom of Norway, we shall only
+say in conclusion that he built his rule on sure foundations and kept a
+court of high splendor, and died without a rebel in his realm in 933,
+seventy-three years after he succeeded his father as ruler of a
+province.
+
+
+
+
+_GORM THE OLD, DENMARK'S FIRST KING._
+
+
+In ancient times Denmark was not a kingdom, but a multitude of small
+provinces ruled over by warlike chiefs who called themselves kings. It
+was not until the ninth century that these little king-ships were
+combined into one kingdom, this being done by a famous chieftain, known
+by the Danes as Gorm den Gamle, or Gorm the Old. A great warrior he was,
+a viking of the vikings, and southern Europe felt his heavy hand. A
+famous story of barbarian life is that of Gorm, which well deserves to be
+told.
+
+He was the son of a fierce pagan of Norway, Hardegon, who was of royal
+blood, being a grandson of the half-fabulous Ragnar Lodbrok. A prince
+with only his sword for kingdom, Hardegon looked around for a piece of
+land to be won by fighting, and fixed upon Lejre, in the fruitful Danish
+island of Sjoelland, which was just then in a very inviting state for the
+soldier of fortune. Some time before it had fallen into the hands of a
+Swedish fortune-seeker named Olaf, who left it to his two sons. These in
+turn had just been driven out by Siegric, the rightful king, when
+Hardegon descended upon it and seized it for himself. Dying, he left it
+to his son Gorm.
+
+It was a small kingdom that Gorm had fallen heir to. A lord's estate we
+would call it to-day. But while small in size, it stood high in rank, for
+it was here that the great sacrifices to Odin, the chief Scandinavian
+deity, were held, and it was looked upon as one of the most sacred of
+spots. Hither at Yuletide came the devotees of Odin from all quarters to
+worship at his shrine, and offer gifts of gold and silver, precious
+stones and costly robes, to the twelve high priests of whom the king of
+Lejre was the chief. And every worshipper, whether rich or poor, was
+expected to bring a horse, a dog, or a cock, these animals being sacred
+to Odin and sacrificed in large numbers annually at his shrine. In the
+special nine-year services, people came in great numbers, and it is
+probable that on these occasions human sacrifices were made, captives
+taken in war or piratical excursions being saved for this purpose.
+
+As one may see, the king of Lejre had excellent opportunity to acquire
+wealth, and young Gorm, being brave, clever, and ambitious, used his
+riches to increase his landed possessions. At least, the Danish
+historians tell us that he began by buying one bit of land, getting
+another by barter, seizing on one district, having another given him, and
+so on. But all this is guess-work, and all we actually know is that Gorm,
+the son of a poor though nobly-born sea-rover, before his death gained
+control of all Denmark, then much larger than the Denmark of to-day, and
+changed the small state with which he began into a powerful kingdom,
+bringing all the small kings under his sway.
+
+The ambitious chief did not content himself with this. Long before his
+kingdom was rounded and complete he had become known as one of the most
+daring and successful of the viking adventurers who in those days made
+all Europe their prey.
+
+Early in his reign he made a plundering cruise along the shores of the
+Baltic and joined in a piratical invasion of Russia, penetrating far
+inward and pillaging as he went. We hear of him again in 882 as one of
+the chiefs of a daring band which made a conquering raid into Germany,
+intrenched itself on the river Maas, sallied forth on plundering
+excursions whose track was marked by ruined fields and burnt homesteads,
+villages and towns, and even assailed and took Aix-la-Chapelle, one of
+the chief cities of the empire of Charlemagne and the seat of his tomb.
+The reckless freebooters stalled their horses in the beautiful chapel in
+which the great emperor lay buried and stripped from his tomb its gilded
+and silvered railings and everything of value which the monks had not
+hidden.
+
+The whole surrounding country was similarly ravaged and desolated by the
+ruthless heathens, monasteries were burned, monks were killed or
+captured, and the emperor, Charles the Fat, was boldly defied. When
+Charles brought against the plunderers an army large enough to devour
+them, he was afraid to strike a blow against them, and preferred to buy
+them off with a ransom of two thousand pounds of gold and silver, all he
+got in return being their promise to be baptized.
+
+Finding that they had a timid foe to deal with, the rapacious Norsemen
+asked for more, and when they finally took to their ships two hundred
+transports were needed to carry away their plunder. The cowardly Charles,
+indeed, was so wrought upon by fear of the pagan Danes that he even
+passed the incredible law that any one who killed a Norseman should have
+his eyes put out and in some cases should lose his life.
+
+All this was sure to invite new invasions. A wave of joy passed through
+the north when the news spread of the poltroonery of the emperor and the
+vast spoil awaiting the daring hand. Back they came, demanding and
+receiving new ransom, and in 885 there began a great siege of Paris by
+forty thousand Danes.
+
+King Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part in this, and when Henry of
+Neustria, whom the emperor had sent with an army against them, was routed
+and driven back, it was Gorm who pursued the fugitives into the town of
+Soissons, where many captives and a great booty were taken.
+
+The dastard emperor again bought them off with money and freedom to
+ravage Burgundy, Paris being finally rescued by Count Eudes. In 891 they
+were so thoroughly beaten by King Arnulf, of Germany, that their great
+leaders fell on the field and only a remnant of the Norsemen escaped
+alive, the waters of the river Dyle running red with the blood of slain
+thousands.
+
+Gorm was one of the chiefs who took part in this disastrous battle of
+Louvaine and was one of the fortunate few who lived to return to their
+native land. Apparently it was not the last of his expeditions, his wife,
+Queen Thyra, taking care of the kingdom in his many long absences.
+
+Thyra needed ability and resolution to fitly perform this duty, for those
+were restless and turbulent times, and the Germans made many incursions
+into Sleswick and Jutland and turned the borderlands on the Eyder into a
+desert. This grew so hard to bear that the wise queen devised a plan to
+prevent it. Gathering a great body of workmen from all parts of Denmark,
+she set them to building a wall of defense from forty-five to
+seventy-five feet high and eight miles long, crossing from water to water
+on the east and west. This great wall, since known as the Dannevirke,
+took three years to build. There were strong watch-towers at intervals
+and only one gate, and this was well protected by a wide and deep ditch,
+crossed by a bridge that could readily be removed.
+
+For ages afterwards the Danes were grateful to Queen Thyra for this
+splendid wall of defense and sang her praises in their national hymns,
+while they told wonderful tales of her cleverness in ruling the land
+while her husband was far away. Fragments of Thyra's rampart still remain
+and its remains formed the groundwork of all the later border bulwarks of
+Denmark.
+
+Queen Thyra, while a worshipper of the northern gods, showed much favor
+to the Christians and caused some of her children to be signed with the
+cross. But King Gorm was a fierce pagan and treated his Christian
+subjects so cruelly that he gained the name of the "Church's worm," being
+regarded as one who was constantly gnawing at the supports of the Church.
+Henry I. the Fowler, the great German emperor of that age, angry at this
+treatment of the Christians, sent word to Gorm that it must cease, and
+when he found that no heed was paid to his words he marched a large army
+to the Eyder, giving Gorm to understand that he must mend his ways or his
+kingdom would be overrun.
+
+Gorm evidently feared the loss of his dominion, for from that time on he
+allowed the Archbishop of Bremen to preach in his dominions and to
+rebuild the churches which had been destroyed, while he permitted his son
+Harald, who favored the Christians, to be signed with the cross. But he
+kept to the faith of his forefathers, as did his son Knud, known as
+"Dan-Ast," or the "Danes'-joy."
+
+The ancient sagas tell us that there was little love between Knud and
+Harald; and that Gorm, fearing ill results from this, swore an oath that
+he would put to death any one who attempted to kill his first-born son,
+or who should even tell him that Knud had died.
+
+While Harald remained at home and aided his mother, Knud was of his
+father's fierce spirit and for years attended him on his viking
+expeditions. On one of these he was drowned, or rather was killed while
+bathing, by an arrow shot from one of his own ships. Gorm was absent at
+the time, and Thyra scarcely knew how the news could be told him without
+incurring the sworn penalty of death.
+
+Finally she put herself and her attendants into deep mourning and hung
+the chief hall of the palace with the ashy-grey hangings used at the
+grave-feasts of Northmen of noble birth. Then, seating herself, she
+awaited Gorm's return. On entering the hall he was struck by these signs
+of mourning and by the silence and dejection of the queen, and broke out
+in an exclamation of dismay:
+
+"My son, Knud, is dead!"
+
+"Thou hast said it, and not I, King Gorm," was the queen's reply. The
+news of the death had thus been conveyed to him without any one incurring
+the sworn penalty. Soon after that--in 936--King Gorm died, and the
+throne of Denmark was left to his son Harald, a cruel and crafty man whom
+many of the people believed to have caused the murder of his brother.
+
+
+
+
+_ERIK BLOOD-AXE AND EGIL THE ICELANDER._
+
+
+In the year 900 Harold the Fair-Haired, the famous monarch who made a
+kingdom of Norway, passed a law which was to work mischief for centuries
+to come. Erik, his favorite son, was named overlord of the kingdom, but
+with the proviso that his other sons should bear the kingly title and
+rule over provinces, while the sons of his daughters were to be made
+earls. Had the wise Harold dreamed of the trouble this unwise law was to
+make he would have cut off his right hand before signing it. It was to
+give rise to endless rebellions and civil wars which filled the kingdom
+with ruin and slaughter for many reigns and at last led to its overthrow
+and long disappearance from among the separate nations of the earth.
+
+A bold and daring prince was Erik, with the old viking blood in his
+veins. When only twelve years of age his father gave him five ships, each
+with a sturdy crew of Norsemen, and sent him out to ravage the southern
+lands, in the manner of the sea-kings of those days. Many were the
+perilous exploits of the young viking admiral and when he came back to
+his father's halls and told him of his daring deeds, the old king
+listened with delight. So fierce and fatal were many of his fights that
+he won the name of Blood-Axe, but for this his father loved him all the
+more and chose him to be his successor on the throne.
+
+[Illustration: HOME OF PEASANTS. NORWAY.]
+
+Before his father died Erik had shown what was in him, by attacking and
+killing two of his brothers. But despite all that, when the old king was
+eighty years of age he led Erik to the throne and named him as his
+successor. Three years later Harold died and Norway fell under the young
+sea-king's hand--a brave, handsome, stately ruler; but haughty, cruel,
+and pitiless in his wrath, and with the old viking wildness in his blood.
+
+He had married a woman whom men called a witch--cruel, treacherous,
+loving money and power, and with such influence over him that she killed
+all the good in his soul and spurred him on to evil deeds.
+
+Strange stories are told of the wicked Queen Gunhild. It was said that
+she had been sent to Finland to learn the arts of sorcery, in which the
+Finns of those days were well versed. Here Erik met her in one of his
+wanderings, and was taken captive by her bold beauty. She dwelt with two
+sorcerers, both bent on marrying her, while she would have neither of
+them. Prince Erik was a suitor more to her liking and she hid him in her
+tent, begging him to rescue her from her troublesome lovers.
+
+This was no easy task, for sorcerers have arts of their own, but Erik
+proved equal to it, cut his way through all the difficulties in his path
+and carried Gunhild away to his ships, where he made her his wife. In
+her he had wed a dragon of mischief, as his people were to learn.
+
+She was of small size but of wonderful beauty, and with sly, insinuating
+ways that fitted her well to gain the mastery over strong men. But all
+her arts were used for evil, and she won the hatred of the people by
+speaking words of ill counsel in her husband's ears. The treachery and
+violence he showed were said to be the work of Gunhild the witch, and the
+nobles and people soon grew to hate Erik Blood-Axe and his cruel wife,
+and often broke out in rebellion against them.
+
+His brothers, who had been made kings of provinces, were not ready to
+submit to his harsh rule, and barely was old King Harold dead before
+Halfdan the Swarthy--who bore the name of his grandfather--claimed to be
+monarch in Troendelag, and Olaf, another brother, in Viken. Death came
+suddenly to Halfdan--men whispered that he had been poisoned by the
+queen--but his brother Sigfrid took his place and soon the flame of
+rebellion rose north and south. Erik proved equal to the difficulty.
+Sigfrid and Olaf were in Tunsberg, where they had met to lay plans to
+join their forces, when Erik, whose spies told him of their movements,
+took the town by surprise and killed them both.
+
+Thus, so far, Erik Blood-Axe was triumphant. He had killed four of his
+brothers--men said five--and every one thought that Gunhild would not be
+content until all King Harold's brood except her own husband were in the
+grave.
+
+Trouble next came from a region far away, the frost-king's land of
+Iceland in the northern seas, which had been settled from Norway in the
+early reign of Harold the Fair-Haired, some sixty years before. Here
+lived a handsome and noble man named Thorolf, who had met Erik in his
+viking days. He was the son of the stern old Icelander Bald Grim, and
+nephew of the noble Thorolf who had been basely slain by King Harold.
+
+Bald Grim hated Harold and all his race, but Thorolf grew to admire Erik
+for his daring and made him a present of a large and beautiful ship. Thus
+Erik became his friend, and when Thorolf came to Norway the young prince
+begged his father to let him dwell there in peace. When he at length went
+home to Iceland he took with him an axe with a richly carved handle,
+which Erik had sent as a present to his father.
+
+Old Bald Grim was not the man to be bought over by a present. The hate he
+felt for Harold he transferred to his son, and when Thorolf set sail
+again for Norway his father bade him take back the axe to the king and
+sang an insulting song which he bade him repeat to Erik. Thorolf did not
+like his errand. He thought it best to let the blood-feud die, so he
+threw the axe into the sea and when he met the king gave him his father's
+thanks for the fine gift. If Thorolf had had his way the trouble would
+have been at an end, but with him came Egil, his younger brother, a man
+of different character.
+
+Stern old Bald Grim seemed born again in his son Egil. A man of great
+size, swarthy face, harsh of aspect, and of fierce temper, in him was the
+old, tameless spirit of the Norse sea-kings, turbulent, passionate,
+owning no man master, he bent his strong soul to no man's rule. Rash and
+adventurous, he had a long and stormy career, while nature had endowed
+him with a rich gift of song, which added to his fame. Such was the type
+of men who in those days made all Europe tremble before the Norsemen's
+wrath, and won dominion for the viking warriors in many lands.
+
+Thorold when in Norway before had gained powerful friends in the great
+nobles, Thore Herse and Bjoern the Yeoman. On this visit the brothers
+became Thore's guests, and Egil and Arinbjoern, Thore's son, became warm
+friends. The young Icelander's hot temper soon brewed trouble. Sickness
+kept him from going with Thorolf to the house of Bjoern the Yeoman, whose
+daughter, Aasgard, he was to marry; but he soon got well and went on a
+visit to Baard, a steward of the king. As fortune decreed he met there
+King Erik and Queen Gunhild.
+
+Egil was not the man to play the courtier and his hot blood was under
+little control. When Baard neglected him in favor of his royal visitor,
+he broke into such a rage that the queen, to quiet him, tried one of her
+underhand arts. She bade Baard to mix sleeping herbs with his beer.
+
+Suspecting treachery from the taste of the beer Egil flung his flagon to
+the floor, struck Baard dead in his fury, and, fleeing for his life, swam
+to an island in the neighboring stream. When men were sent to search the
+island and capture him he killed some of them, seized their boat, and
+made his escape.
+
+King Erik was furious, but Thore Herse got him to accept a money payment
+for Baard's death--as was then the custom of the land--and he agreed to
+let Egil dwell in Norway unharmed.
+
+This was not to the queen's liking. She was fond of Baard and was deeply
+incensed at Egil for his murderous act, and she stormed at the king for
+his mildness of temper till he broke out:
+
+"You are forever egging me on to acts of violence; but now you must hold
+your peace, for I have given my kingly word and cannot break it."
+
+Gunhild, thus repulsed, sought other means of revenge. A great feast of
+sacrifice to the old heathen gods was to be held at the temple of Gaule,
+and at her instigation her brother, Eyvind Skreyja, agreed to kill one of
+Bald Grim's sons. Finding no opportunity for this, he killed one of
+Thorolf's men, for which act Erik outlawed him.
+
+The remainder of the story of Egil's career is largely that of a viking,
+that is, a piratical rover, bent on spoil and plunder and the harrying of
+sea-coast lands. With Thorolf he took to the sea and cruised about in
+quest of wealth and glory, finally landing in England and fighting in a
+great battle under the banner of King Athelstan. He made his mark here,
+but Thorolf was slain, so Egil went back to Norway, married his brother's
+widow, and sailed for his old home in Iceland, which he had not seen for
+twelve years.
+
+Iceland was too quiet a land to hold the stirring sea-king long and news
+from Norway soon made him take ship again. Bjoern the Yeoman, his wife's
+father, had died, and Queen Gunhild had given his estate to Berg-Anund,
+one of her favorites. Storming with rage, he reached Norway and hotly
+pleaded his claim to the estate before the assembly or _thing_ at Gula,
+Erik and Gunhild being present. He failed in his purpose, the _thing_
+breaking up in disorder; and Egil, probably finding Norway too hot to
+hold him, went back to Iceland.
+
+If King Erik now fancied he was rid of the turbulent Icelander he was
+mistaken. Rankling with a sense of injury and borne onward by his
+impetuous temper, Egil was soon in Norway again, sought the Bjoern estate,
+surprised and killed Berg-Anund, and went so far in his daring as to kill
+Ragnvald, the king's son, who was visiting Berg. Carried to extremes by
+his unruly temper he raised what was called a shame-pole, or pole of
+dishonor, on a cliff top, to the king and queen. On it he thrust the head
+of a dead horse, crying out:
+
+"I turn this dishonor against all the land-spirits of this land, that
+they may all stray bewildered and none of them find his home until they
+have driven King Erik and Queen Gunhild out of this land."
+
+This message of defiance he cut in runes--the letters of the
+Northland--into the pole, that all might read it, and then sailed back to
+Iceland.
+
+Egil had not long to wait for his curse to take effect, for Erik's reign
+was soon threatened from a new source. He had not killed all his
+brothers. In the old days of King Harold, when near seventy years old, he
+had married a new wife, who bore him a son whom he named
+Haakon,--destined in later life to reign with the popular title of Haakon
+the Good. This boy, perhaps for his safety, had been sent to England and
+given over to King Athelstan, who brought him up almost as his own son.
+
+Erik had been four years on the throne when Haakon came back to Norway, a
+handsome, noble youth, kind of heart and gentle in disposition, and on
+all sides hailed with joy, for Erik and his evil-minded wife had not won
+the love of the people. Great nobles and many of the people gathered
+around Haakon, men saying that he was like King Harold come back again,
+gentler and nobler than of old and with all his old stately beauty and
+charm.
+
+The next year he was crowned king. Erik tried to raise an army, but none
+of the people were willing to fight for him, and he was forced to flee
+with his wife and children. Only a few of his old friends went with him,
+but among them was Arinbjoern, Egil's former friend.
+
+Sudden had been King Erik's fall. Lately lord of a kingdom, he had now
+not a foot of land he could call his own, and he sailed about as a
+sea-robber, landing and plundering in Scotland and England. At length,
+to rid himself of this stinging hornet of the seas, King Athelstan made
+him lord of a province in Northumberland, with the promise that he would
+fight for it against other vikings like himself. He was also required to
+be baptized and become a Christian.
+
+Meanwhile Egil dwelt in Iceland, but in bitter discontent. He roamed
+about the strand, looking for sails at sea and seeming to care little for
+his wife and children. Men said that Gunhild had bewitched him, but more
+likely it was his own unquiet spirit. At any rate the time came when he
+could bear a quiet life no longer and he took ship and sailed away to the
+south.
+
+Misfortune now went with him. A storm drove his ship ashore on the
+English coast at the mouth of the Humber, the ship being lost but he and
+his thirty men reaching shore. Inquiring in whose land he was, people
+told him that Erik Blood-Axe ruled that region.
+
+Egil's case was a desperate one. He was in the domain of his deadly foe,
+with little hope of escape. With his usual impetuous spirit, he made no
+attempt to flee, but rode boldly into York, where he found his old friend
+Arinbjoern. With him he went straight to Erik, like the reckless fellow he
+was.
+
+"What do you expect from me?" asked Erik. "You deserve nothing but death
+at my hands."
+
+"Death let it be, then," said the bold viking, in his reckless manner.
+
+Gunhild on seeing him was eager for his blood. She had hated him so long
+that she hotly demanded that he should be killed on the spot. Erik, less
+bloodthirsty, gave him his life for one night more, and Arinbjoern begged
+him to spend the night in composing a song in Erik's honor, hoping that
+in this way he might win his life.
+
+Egil promised to do so and his friend brought him food and drink, bidding
+him do his best. Anxious to know how he was progressing Arinbjoern visited
+him in the night.
+
+"How goes the song?" he asked.
+
+"Not a line of it is ready," answered Egil. "A swallow has been sitting
+in the window all the night, screaming and disturbing me, and do what I
+would I could not drive it away."
+
+At that Arinbjoern darted into the hall, where he saw in the dim light a
+woman running hastily away. Going back he found that the swallow had
+flown. He was sure now that Queen Gunhild had changed herself into a
+swallow by sorcery, and for the remainder of the night he kept watch
+outside that the bird should not return. When morning broke he found that
+Egil had finished his song.
+
+Determined to save his friend's life if he could, he armed himself and
+his men and went with Egil to the palace of the king, where he asked Erik
+for Egil's life as a reward for his devotion to him when others had
+deserted him.
+
+Erik made no reply, and then Arinbjoern cried out:
+
+"This I will say. Egil shall not die while I or one of my men remain
+alive."
+
+"Egil has well deserved death," replied Erik, "but I cannot buy his death
+at that price."
+
+As he stopped speaking Egil began to sing, chanting his ode in tones that
+rang loudly through the hall. Famed as a poet, his death song was one of
+the best he had ever composed, and it praised Erik's valor in all the
+full, wild strains of the northern verse.
+
+Erik heard the song through with unmoved face. When it was done he said:
+
+"Your song is a noble one, and your friend's demand for your life is
+nobler still. Nor can I be the dastard to kill a man who puts himself of
+his own will into my hands. You shall depart unharmed. But do not think
+that I or my sons forgive you, and from the moment you leave this hall
+never come again under my eyes or the eyes of my sons."
+
+Egil thus won his life by his song, which became known as the "Ransom of
+the Head." Another of his songs, called "The Loss of the Son," is held to
+be the most beautiful in all the literature of Iceland. He afterwards
+lived long and had many more adventures, and in the end died in his bed
+in Iceland when he was over ninety years of age. Erik died in battle many
+years earlier, and Gunhild then went to Denmark with her sons. She was to
+make more trouble for Norway before she died.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEA-KINGS AND THEIR DARING FEATS._
+
+
+From the word _vik_, or bay, comes the word viking, long used to
+designate the sea-rovers of the Northland, the bold Norse wanderers who
+for centuries made their way to the rich lands of the south on plundering
+raids. Beginning by darting out suddenly from hiding places in bays or
+river mouths to attack passing craft, they in the end became daring
+scourers of the seas and won for themselves kingdoms and dominions in the
+settled realms of the south.
+
+Nothing was known of them in the early days. The people of southern
+Europe in the first Christian centuries hardly knew of the existence of
+the race of fair-skinned and light-haired barbarians who dwelt in the
+great peninsula of the north. It was not until near the year 800 B.C.
+that these bold brigands learned that riches awaited those who dared
+seize it on the shores of France, England, and more southern lands. Then
+they came in fleets and spread terror wherever they appeared. For several
+centuries the realms of civilization trembled before their very name.
+
+"From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord deliver us!" prayed the
+priests, and the people joined fervently in the prayer.
+
+Long before this period the sea was the favorite hunting ground of the
+daring sons of the north, but the small chiefs of that period preyed upon
+each other, harrying their neighbors and letting distant lands alone. But
+as the power of the chiefs, and their ability to protect themselves
+increased, this mode of gaining wealth and fame lost its ease and
+attraction and the rovers began to rove farther afield.
+
+Sea-kings they called themselves. On land the ruler of a province might
+be called either earl or king, but the earl who went abroad with his
+followers on warlike excursions was content with no less name than king,
+and the chiefs who set out on plundering cruises became from the first
+known as sea-kings. Pirates and freebooters we would call them to-day,
+but they were held in high distinction in their native land, and some of
+the most cruel of them, on their return home, became men of influence,
+with all the morality and sense of honor known in those early days. Their
+lives of ravage and outrage won them esteem at home and the daring and
+successful sea-king ranked in fame with the noblest of the home-staying
+chiefs. We have seen how King Erik began his career as a viking and ended
+it in the same pursuit; how Rollo, a king's son, adopted the same
+profession; and from this it may be seen that the term was one of honor
+instead of disgrace.
+
+From all the lands of the north they came, these dreaded sons of the sea,
+from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark alike, fierce heathens they who cared
+nought for church or priest, but liked best to rob chapels and
+monasteries, for there the greatest stores of gold and silver could be
+found. When the churches were plundered they often left them in flames,
+as they also did the strong cities they captured and sacked. The small,
+light boats with which they dared the sea in its wrath were able to go
+far up the rivers, and wherever these fierce and bloodthirsty rovers
+appeared wild panic spread far around. So fond were they of sword-thrust
+and battle that one viking crew would often challenge another for the
+pure delight of fighting. A torment and scourge they were wherever they
+appeared.
+
+The first we hear in history of the sea-kings is in the year 787, when a
+small party of them landed on the English coast. In 794 came another
+flock of these vultures of the sea, who robbed a church and a monastery,
+plundering and killing, and being killed in their turn when a storm
+wrecked their ships and threw them on shore. As a good monk writes of
+them: "The heathen came from the northern countries to Britain like
+stinging wasps, roamed about like savage wolves, robbing, biting, killing
+not only horses, sheep, and cattle, but also priests, acolytes, monks,
+and nuns."
+
+The Norsemen had found a gold mine in the south and from this time on
+they worked it with fierce hands. Few dared face them, and even in the
+days of the great Charlemagne they ravaged the coast lands of France.
+Once, when the great emperor was in one of his cities on the
+Mediterranean coast, a fleet of the swift viking ships, known by their
+square sails, entered the harbor. Soon word was brought that they had
+landed and were plundering. Who they were the people knew not, some
+saying that they were Jews, others Africans, and others that they were
+British merchants.
+
+"No merchants they," said the emperor. "Those ships do not bring us
+goods, but fierce foes, bloody fighters from the north."
+
+The warriors around him at once seized their weapons and hurried to the
+shore, but the vikings had learned that the great emperor was in the city
+and, not daring to face him, had sought their ships and spread their
+sails again. Tears came to the eyes of Charlemagne as he watched them in
+their outward flight. He said to those around him:
+
+"It is not for fear that these brigands can do me any harm that I weep,
+but for their daring to show themselves on this coast while I am alive.
+Their coming makes me foresee and fear the harm they may do to my
+descendants."
+
+This story may be one of those legends which the monks were fond of
+telling, but it serves to show how the dread Norsemen were feared. France
+was one of their chief fields of ravage and slaughter. First coming in
+single ships, to rob and flee, they soon began to come in fleets and grew
+daring enough to attack and sack cities. Hastings, one of the most
+renowned of them all, did not hesitate to attack the greatest cities of
+the south.
+
+In 841 this bold freebooter sailed up the Loire with a large fleet, took
+and burned the city of Amboise, and laid siege to Tours. But here the
+inhabitants, aided, it is said, by the bones of their patron saint, drove
+him off. Four years later he made an attack on Paris, and as fortune
+followed his flag he grew so daring that he sought to capture the city of
+Rome and force the Pope to crown him emperor.
+
+For an account of this remarkable adventure of the bold Hastings see the
+article, "The Raids of the Sea-Rovers," in the German volume of
+"Historical Tales." In that account are also given the chief exploits of
+the vikings in France and Germany. We shall therefore confine ourselves
+in the remainder of this article to their operations in other lands, and
+especially in Ireland.
+
+This country was a common field for the depredations of the Norse rovers.
+For some reason not very clear to us the early vikings did not trouble
+England greatly, but for many years they spread terror through the sister
+isle, and in the year 838 Thorgisl, one of their boldest leaders, came
+with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, with which he attacked and
+captured the city of Dublin, and afterwards, as an old author tells us,
+he conquered all Ireland, securing his conquest with stone forts
+surrounded with deep moats.
+
+But the Irish at length got rid of their conqueror by a stratagem. It was
+through love that the sea-king was lost. Bewitched with the charms of
+the fair daughter of Maelsechnail, one of the petty kings of the land,
+he bade this chieftain to send her to him, with fifteen young maidens in
+her train. He agreed to meet her on an island in Loch Erne with as many
+Norsemen of high degree.
+
+Maelsechnail obeyed, but his maidens were beardless young men, dressed
+like women but armed with sharp daggers. Thorgisl and his men, taken by
+surprise, were attacked and slain. The Irish chief had once before asked
+Thorgisl how he should rid himself of some troublesome birds that had
+invaded the island. "Destroy their nests," said the Norseman. It was wise
+advice, and Maelsechnail put it in effect against the nests of the
+conquerors, destroying their stone strongholds, and killing or driving
+them away, with the aid of his fellow chieftains.
+
+Thus for a time Ireland was freed. It was conquered again by Olaf the
+White, who in 852 defeated some Danes who had taken Dublin, and then,
+like Thorgisl, began to build castles and tax the people. Two other
+viking leaders won kingdoms in Ireland, but Olaf was the most powerful of
+them all, and the kingdom founded by him lasted for three hundred and
+fifty years. From Dublin Olaf sailed to Scotland and England, the booty
+he won filling two hundred ships.
+
+The sea-rovers did not confine their voyages to settled lands. Bold ocean
+wanderers, fearless of man on shore and tempest on the waves, they
+visited all the islands of the north and dared the perils of the unknown
+sea. They rounded the North Cape and made their way into the White Sea as
+early as 750. The Faroe, the Orkney and the Shetland Islands were often
+visited by them after 825, and in 874 they discovered Iceland, which had
+been reached and settled by Irishmen or Scots about 800. The Norsemen
+found here only some Irish hermits and monks, and these, disturbed in
+their peaceful retreat by the turbulent newcomers, made their way back to
+Ireland and left the Norsemen lords of the land. From Iceland the rovers
+reached Greenland, which was settled in 986, and about the year 1000 they
+discovered North America, at a place they named Vinland.
+
+Such is, briefly told, the story of the early Norse wanderers. They had a
+later tale, of which we have told part in their conquest of Ireland.
+Though at first they came with a few ships, and were content to attack a
+town or a monastery, they soon grew more daring and their forces larger.
+A number of them would now fortify themselves on some coast elevation and
+make it a centre for plundering raids into the surrounding country. At a
+later date many of them ceased to pose as pirates and took the role of
+invaders and conquerors, storming and taking cities and founding
+governments in the invaded land.
+
+Such was the work of Thorgisl and Olaf in Ireland and of Rollo in
+Normandy. England was a frequent field of invasion after 833, which
+continued until 851, when King Ethelwulf defeated them with great
+slaughter. Fifteen years later they came again, these new invaders being
+almost all Danes. During all his reign Alfred the Great fought with them,
+but in spite of his efforts they gained a footing in the island, becoming
+its masters in the north and east. A century later, in 1016, Canute, the
+king of Denmark, completed the conquest and became king of all England.
+
+This is not the whole story of the sea-kings, whose daring voyages and
+raids made up much of the history of those centuries. One of the most
+important events in viking history took place in 862, when three brother
+chiefs, probably from Sweden, who had won fame in the Baltic Sea, were
+invited by the Russian tribes south of Lake Ladoga to come and rule over
+them. They did so, making Novgorod their capital. From this grew the
+empire of Russia, which was ruled over by the descendants of Rurik, the
+principal of these chiefs, until 1598.
+
+Other vikings made their way southward through Russia and, sailing down
+the Dnieper, put Constantinople in peril. Only a storm which scattered
+their fleet saved the great city from capture. Three times later they
+appeared before Constantinople, twice (in 904 and 945) being bought off
+by the emperors with large sums of money. Later on the emperors had a
+picked body-guard of Varangians, as they called the Northmen, and kept
+these till the fall of the city in 1453. It was deemed a great honor in
+the north to serve in this choice cohort at Myklegaard (Great City), and
+those who returned from there doubtless carried many of the elements of
+civilization to the Scandinavian shores.
+
+To some of these Varangians was due the conquest of Sicily by the
+Northmen. They were in the army sent from Constantinople to conquer that
+island, and seeing how goodly a land it was they aided in its final
+conquest, which was made by Robert Guiscard, a noble of Normandy, whose
+son Roger took the title of "King of Sicily and Italy." Thus it was that
+the viking voyages led within a few centuries to the founding of kingdoms
+under Norse rulers in England, Ireland, Sicily, Russia, and Normandy in
+France.
+
+
+
+
+_HAAKON THE GOOD AND THE SONS OF GUNHILD._
+
+
+We have told how King Haakon succeeded his brother, Erik Blood-Axe, on
+the throne, and how, from his kindly and gentle nature, people called him
+Haakon the Good. There were other sons and several grandsons of Harold
+the Fair-Haired in the kingdom, but the new king treated them with
+friendliness and let them rule as minor kings under him.
+
+He dealt with the peasants also in the same kindly spirit, giving them
+back their lands and relieving them of the tax which Harold had laid. But
+he taxed them all in another way, dividing the country into marine
+districts, each of which was required to supply the king, on his demand,
+with a fully equipped warship. Yet as this was for the defence of the
+country, the people did not look on it as oppressive. And as Norway had a
+long mountainous coast, and important events were often long in becoming
+known, he gave orders that the approach of an enemy should be made known
+by signal fires lighted all along the coast.
+
+Haakon made other wise laws, in which he took the advice of the ablest
+men of the kingdom. But now we have to speak of the most striking event
+in the new king's career. Norway at that time was a haunt of idolatry.
+Men worshipped Odin and a host of other gods, and there was not a
+Christian in the whole land except the king himself, who had been brought
+up in the new faith by his foster-father, King Athelstan of England.
+
+An earnest Christian, he looked with sorrow on the rude worship and
+heathen belief of his people, but not until he had been many years on the
+throne did he venture to interfere with it. Then, about 950, when he had
+won the love of them all, he took steps to carry out his long-cherished
+desire.
+
+Sending to England for a bishop and a number of priests, the king issued
+a decree in which the people were forbidden to make sacrifices to the old
+gods and ordered to accept the Christian faith.
+
+This came like a thunderbolt to the worshippers of the old gods. To bid a
+whole nation to give up at a word the religion which they had cherished
+from childhood and which their fathers had held for generations before
+them was too much to demand. The king brought together a concourse of the
+people and spoke to them of his wish and purpose, but they had no answer
+to make except that the matter must be settled by their legal assembly.
+
+When the _thing_, or assembly, was called into session, a great body of
+the people were present, for never had so important a question been laid
+before them. Earnest and imploring was the speech made by the king, in
+which he warmly asked them to accept the God of the Christians and give
+up their heathen idols of wood and stone.
+
+These words were followed by an angry murmur from the multitude, and
+many dark looks were bent upon the rash monarch. Then a peasant leader,
+Aasbjoern of Medalhus, stepped out from the throng and spoke:
+
+"When you, King Haakon, first called us here before you and we took you
+for our king, it was with deep gladness, as if heaven had opened to us.
+But was it liberty we gained, or do you wish to make thralls of us once
+more, that you ask us to give up the faith of our fathers and forefathers
+for the new and unknown one you offer? Sturdy men they were, and their
+faith did well for them and has done well for us. We have learned to love
+you well and have always kept and will always keep the laws made by you
+and accepted by us. But in this thing which you now demand we cannot
+follow. If you are so resolved upon it that your mind cannot be changed,
+then we shall be forced to part from you and choose a new chief who will
+support us in worshipping our fathers' gods. Choose, O king, what you
+will do, before this assembly has dispersed."
+
+So loud were the shouts of approval with which this speech was greeted
+that not a word could be heard. Then, when quiet reigned again, Earl
+Sigurd, who had spoken aside with Haakon, rose and said that the king had
+no wish to lose their friendship and would yield to their wishes. This
+was not enough to overcome the distrust of the peasants. They next
+demanded that he should take part in the sacrifices to be given and in
+the feast to follow. This he felt obliged to do, though he quieted his
+conscience by making the sign of the cross.
+
+When the next Yuletide sacrifice came Haakon was required to eat
+horse-flesh at the feast and this time was forbidden to make the sign of
+the cross when he drank the usual toasts to the ancient gods of Norway.
+This was a humiliation that cut the proud monarch deeply and it was with
+an angry soul he left, saying to his attendants that when he came back it
+would be with an army to punish those who had thus insulted his faith.
+Back he did not come, for new troubles were gathering around him.
+
+To learn the source of these troubles we must return to the story of Erik
+Blood-Axe and Gunhild, his wicked wife. After Erik's death that
+mischief-loving woman sought Denmark with her sons, who grew up to become
+brave warriors and daring viking rovers, infesting the coast of Norway
+and giving its king and earls all the trouble they could. At length,
+backed by Harold Bluetooth, the king of Denmark, their piratical raids
+changed to open war, and they invaded Norway, hoping to win their
+father's old kingdom for themselves.
+
+A crisis came in 955. In that year the sons of Erik appeared so suddenly
+with a large fleet that they took King Haakon by surprise. He had with
+him only a small force, the signal fires had not been lighted, and the
+enemy were close at hand before he could prepare to meet them.
+
+"What shall we do?" he asked his men. "Shall we stay and fight, or draw
+back and gather men?"
+
+The answer came from an old peasant, Egil Woolsack:
+
+"Often have I fought, King Haakon, with King Harold, your father. Whether
+the foe was stronger or weaker the victory was always his. Never did he
+ask his friends if he should run; nor need you, for we are ready to fight
+and think that we have a brave chieftain for our leader."
+
+"You speak well and wisely, Egil," said the king. "It is not my wish to
+run, and with your aid I am ready to face the foe."
+
+"Good words those!" cried Egil joyously. "It has been so long since I saw
+the flash of sword that I feared I would die in my bed of old age, though
+it has been my hope to fall in battle at my chieftain's back. Now will my
+wish be gained."
+
+To land came the sons of Erik, having six men to Haakon's one. Seeing how
+great were the odds, old Egil tried strategy, leading ten
+standard-bearers to a hidden spot in the rear of the hostile army and
+leaving them there in ambush. When the armies had met and the fighting
+was under way, he led these men up a sloping hill until the tops of their
+standards could be seen above its summit. He had placed them far apart,
+so that when the Danes saw the waving banners it looked like a long line
+of new troops coming upon them. With sudden alarm and a cry of terror
+they fled towards their ships.
+
+Gamle, their leader, was quick to discover the stratagem, and called on
+them to stop, that it was all a trick; but nothing could check their
+panic flight, and he was swept along with them to the beach. Here a stand
+was made, but Haakon rushed upon them in a furious attack in which old
+Egil had his wish, for he fell in the storm of sword blows, winning the
+death he craved. Victory rested on the king's banners and his foes fled
+to their ships, Gamle, their leader, being drowned in the flight.
+
+For six years after this the land lay at peace. King Haakon continued a
+Christian and many of his friends joined him in the new faith. But he was
+too wise and gentle to attempt again to force his belief upon his people
+and the worship of the heathen gods went on. All the people, nobles and
+peasants alike, loved their king dearly and he would have ended his reign
+in a peaceful old age but for his foes without the kingdom. This is the
+way in which the end came.
+
+In the summer of the year 961, when Haakon had been twenty-six years on
+the throne, he with many guests was at feast in the royal mansion of
+Fitje, in Hoerdaland. While at table a sentinel brought in the alarming
+news that a large fleet of ships was sailing up the fiord.
+
+By the king's side sat Eyvnid, his nephew, who was a famous scald, or
+bard. They rose and looked out on the fiord.
+
+"What ships are they, of friends or of foes?" asked the king.
+
+The scald replied in a verse, in which he sang that the sons of Erik were
+coming again.
+
+"Once more they take us unawares," said Haakon to his men. "They are many
+and we are few. Never yet have we faced such odds. The danger lies before
+you. Are you ready to meet it? I am loath to flee before any force, but I
+leave it to the wise among you to decide."
+
+Eyvnid sang another verse, to the effect that it would be ill counsel to
+advise a man like King Haakon to flee from the sons of Gunhild the
+sorceress.
+
+"That is a man's song," cried the king, "and what you say is what I
+wish."
+
+All around him the warriors shouted their war-cry, and while they ran for
+their weapons he put on his armor, seized his sword and shield, and
+placed on his head a golden helmet that shone brightly in the sun. Never
+had he looked more like a born king, with his noble and inspired
+countenance and the bright hair streaming down from under his helmet.
+
+The battle that followed was fierce and bloody. Harold, Gunhild's third
+son, commanded the invaders, who far outnumbered Haakon's small force.
+And now there was no Egil to defeat the foe by stratagem, but the battle
+was hand to hand and face to face, with stroke of sword and thrust of
+spear, the war-shout of the fighters and the death-wail of the fallen.
+
+King Haakon that day showed himself a true and heroic warrior. As the
+battle grew fiercer his spirit rose higher, and when Eyvnid the scald
+greeted him with a warlike verse, he answered with another. But the
+midsummer heat growing hard to bear, he flung off his armor and fought
+with only his strong right arm for shield. The arrows had now been all
+shot, the spears all hurled, and the ranks met hand to hand and sword to
+sword, in desperate affray.
+
+In the front rank stood the king, his golden helmet making him a shining
+mark for the warriors of the foe.
+
+"Your helmet makes you a target for the Danish spears," cried Eyvnid, and
+he drew a hood over it to hide its gleam. Skreyja, Harold's uncle, who
+was storming onward towards the king, now lost sight of him and cried
+out:
+
+"Where is the Norse king? Has he drawn back in fear? Is he of the golden
+helmet a craven?"
+
+"Keep on as you are coming, if you wish to meet the Norsemen's king,"
+shouted Haakon, throwing down his shield and grasping his sword with both
+hands, as he sprang out before them all. Skreyja bounded towards him and
+struck a furious blow, but it was turned aside by a Norse warrior and at
+the same instant Haakon's sword cleft the foeman's head down to the
+shoulders.
+
+This kingly stroke gave new spirit to the Norsemen and they rushed with
+double fury upon the foe, whom the fall of their best warrior filled with
+fear. Back to the beach they were pressed, many being slain, many
+drowned, a few only, Harold among them, reaching the ships by swimming.
+
+The Norsemen had won against fearful odds, but their king was in deadly
+peril. In the pursuit he had been struck in the right arm by an arrow
+with an oddly-shaped head, and do what they would, the flow of blood
+could not be stopped. It was afterwards said that Gunhild the sorceress
+had bewitched the arrow and sent it with orders to use it only against
+King Haakon.
+
+In those days it was easy to have men believe tales like that, but,
+witchcraft or not, the blood still ran and the king grew weaker. As night
+came death seemed at hand and one of his friends offered to take his body
+to England, after his death, that he might be laid in Christian soil.
+
+"Not so," said Haakon. "Heathen are my people and I have lived among them
+like a heathen. See then that I am laid in the grave like a heathen."
+
+Thus he died, and he was buried as he wished, while all men mourned his
+death, even his foes; for before breathing his last he bade his men to
+send a ship after the sons of Gunhild; asking them to come back and rule
+the kingdom. He had no sons, he said, and his daughter could not take the
+throne.
+
+Thus death claimed the noblest of the Norsemen, at once heathen and
+Christian, but in his life and deeds as in his death a great and good
+man.
+
+
+
+
+_EARL HAAKON AND THE JOMSVIKINGS._
+
+
+Chief among the nobles of Haakon the Good, of Norway, was Earl Sigurd of
+Hlade; and first among those who followed him was Earl Haakon, Sigurd's
+son. After the death of Haakon the Good, the sons of Gunhild became the
+masters of Norway, where they ruled like tyrants, murdering Sigurd, whom
+they most feared. This made the young Earl Haakon their bitter foe.
+
+A young man then, of twenty-five, handsome, able in mind and body, kindly
+in disposition, and a daring warrior, he was just the man to contend with
+the tyrant murderers. When he was born Haakon the Good had poured water
+on his head and named him after himself and he was destined to live to
+the level of the honor thus given him.
+
+It is not our purpose to tell how, with the aid of the king of Denmark,
+he drove the sons of Gunhild from the realm, and how, as the sagas tell,
+the wicked old queen was enticed to Denmark by the king, under promise of
+marriage, and by his orders was drowned in a swamp. Her powers of sorcery
+did not avail her then, if this story is true.
+
+Haakon ruled Norway as a vassal of Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, to
+whom he agreed to pay tribute. He also consented to be baptized as a
+Christian and to introduce the Christian faith into Norway. But a
+heathen at heart and a Norseman in spirit, he did not intend to keep this
+promise. After a meeting with the Danish king in which his baptism took
+place, he sailed for his native land with his ship well laden with
+priests. But the heathen in him now broke out. With bold disdain of King
+Harald, he put the priests on shore, and sought to counteract the effect
+of his baptism by a great feast to the old gods, praying for their favor
+and their aid in the war that was sure to follow. He looked for an omen,
+and it came in the shape of two ravens, which followed his ships with
+loud clucking cries. These were the birds sacred to Odin and he hailed
+their coming with delight. The great deity of the Norsemen seemed to
+promise him favor and success.
+
+Turning against the king to whom he had promised to act as a vassal, he
+savagely ravaged the Danish coast lands. Then he landed on the shores of
+Sweden, burnt his ships, and left a track of fire and blood as he marched
+through that land. Even Viken, a province of Norway, was devastated by
+him, on the plea of its being under a Danish ruler. Then, having done his
+utmost to show defiance to Denmark and its king, he marched northward to
+Drontheim, where he ruled like a king, though still styling himself Earl
+Haakon.
+
+Harald Bluetooth was not the man to be defied with impunity, and though
+he was too old to take the field himself, he sought means to punish his
+defiant vassal. Men were to be had ready and able to fight, if the prize
+offered them was worth the risk, and men of this kind Harald knew where
+to seek.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. BUSY FARMERS IN A HILLSIDE FIELD, ABOVE ARE. SWEDEN.]
+
+In the town of Jomsborg, on the island of Wollin, near the mouth of the
+Oder, dwelt a daring band of piratical warriors known as the Jomsvikings,
+who were famed for their indomitable courage. War was their trade, rapine
+their means of livelihood, and they were sworn to obey the orders of
+their chief, to aid each other to the utmost, to bear pain unflinchingly,
+dare the extremity of danger, and face death like heroes. They kept all
+women out of their community, lest their devotion to war might be
+weakened, and stood ready to sell their swords to the highest bidder.
+
+To this band of plunderers Harald appealed and found them ready for the
+task. Their chief, Earl Sigvalde, brought together a great host of
+warriors at a funeral feast to his father, and there, while ale and mead
+flowed abundantly, he vowed, flagon in hand, that he would drive Earl
+Haakon from the Norse realm or perish in the attempt. His viking
+followers joined him in the vow. The strong liquor was in their veins and
+there was no enterprise they were not ready to undertake. When their
+sober senses returned with the next morning, they measured better the
+weight of the enterprise; but they had sworn to it and were not the men
+to retreat from a vow they had taken.
+
+Erik, an unruly son of Earl Haakon, had fled from his father's court in
+disgrace and was now in Viken, and here the rumor of the vikings' oath
+reached his ears. At once, forgetting his quarrel with his father, he
+hastened north with all the men he could gather to Earl Haakon's aid,
+preceding the Jomsvikings, who were sailing slowly up the shores of
+Norway, plundering as they went in their usual fashion. They had a fleet
+of sixty ships and a force of over seven thousand well-trained warriors.
+Haakon, warned by his son, met them with three times their number of
+ships, though these were smaller and lighter craft. On board were about
+ten thousand men. Such were the forces that met in what the sagas call
+the greatest battle that had ever been fought in Norway.
+
+Soon the embattled ships met and the conflict grew fast and furious,
+hurtling weapons filling the air and men falling on all sides. Great was
+the carnage and blood flowed in streams on the fighting ships. Earl
+Haakon stood in the prow of his ship in the heat of the fight, arrows and
+spears whirling around him in such numbers that his shirt of mail became
+so torn and rent that he threw it off as useless. The high ships of the
+vikings gave them an advantage which told heavily against their
+antagonists, spears and arrows being poured down from their sides.
+
+In the height of the battle Earl Haakon disappeared. As the legends tell
+he went ashore with his youngest son Erling, whom he sacrificed to the
+heathen gods to win their aid in the battle. Hardly had he done this deed
+of blood when a dense black cloud arose and a violent hail-storm broke
+over the ships, the hail-stones weighing each two ounces and beating so
+fiercely in the faces of the Jomsvikings as nearly to blind them. Some
+say that the Valkyries, the daughters of Odin, were seen in the prow of
+the earl's ship, filling the air with their death-dealing arrows.
+
+Despite the storm and the supernatural terrors that they conjured up, the
+Jomsvikings continued to fight, though their decks were slippery with
+blood and melting hail. Only one coward appeared among them, their chief
+Earl Sigvalde, who suddenly turned his ship and fled. When Vagn Aakesson,
+the most daring of the Jomsvikings, saw this recreant act he was frantic
+with rage.
+
+"You ill-born hound," he cried, "why do you fly and leave your men in the
+lurch? Shame on you, and may shame cling to you to your death!"
+
+A spear hurtled from his hand and pierced the man at the helm, where
+Sigvalde had stood a moment before. But the ship of the dastard earl kept
+on and a general panic succeeded, all the ships in the fleeing earl's
+line following his standard. Only Vagn Aakesson and Bue the Big were left
+to keep up the fight.
+
+Yet they kept it up in a way to win them fame. When Earl Haakon's ship
+drew up beside that of Bue, two of the viking champions, Haavard the
+Hewer and Aslak Rock-skull, leaped on deck and made terrible havoc. In
+the end an Icelander picked up an anvil that was used to sharpen their
+spears and hurled it at Aslak, splitting his skull, while Haavard had
+both legs cut off. Yet the indomitable viking fought on, standing on his
+knees.
+
+The onset of the Jomsvikings was so terrific in this last fierce fight
+that the earl's men gave back, and might have been all slain had not his
+son Erik boarded Bue's ship at this crisis and made an irresistible
+charge. A terrible cut across the face severed Bue's nose.
+
+"Now," he cried, "the Danish maidens will kiss me no more."
+
+Seeing that all was at an end, he seized two chests of gold to prevent
+their capture by the victors, and sprang with them into the sea,
+shouting:
+
+"Overboard all Bue's men!"
+
+On Vagn's ship a similar fierce fight was taking place, ending only when
+all but thirty of the vikings were slain.
+
+Then a savage scene was enacted, one worthy only of those barbarous
+times. The captives were taken ashore and seated on a long log, their
+feet bound, their hands free. At the funeral feast in Sigvalde's hall
+Vagn had boasted that he would kill Thorkill Laiva, one of Erik's chief
+warriors, and this threatened man was now chosen as executioner.
+
+At the captives he rushed, with uplifted axe, and savagely struck off
+their heads, one after another. Vagn was to be left to the last, that he
+might suffer from fear, but instead of this he sat joking and laughing
+with his men. One of them sang and laughed so loudly that Erik asked him
+if he would like to live.
+
+"That depends on who it is that asks me."
+
+"He who offers has the power to grant. I am Earl Erik."
+
+"Then I gladly accept."
+
+Another made a pun which so pleased the earl that he, too, was set free.
+
+One of the captives had long, beautiful hair, and as Thorkill came near
+him on his bloody errand he twisted his hair into a coil and asked the
+executioner not to soil it with his blood. To humor him Thorkill asked
+one of the bystanders to hold the coil while he struck. The man did so,
+but as the axe came down the captive jerked his head aside so that the
+axe fell on the wrists of the coil-holder, both his hands being cut off.
+
+"Some of the Jomsvikings are still alive," laughed the captive.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Erik.
+
+"I am said to be a son of Bue."
+
+"Do you wish to live?"
+
+"What other choice have I?"
+
+At Erik's command he, too, was released.
+
+Angry at being thus robbed of his prey, Thorkill now sprang towards Vagn,
+determined that at least his special enemy should fall. As he came near,
+however, one of the men on the log threw himself forward in such a way
+that Thorkill stumbled over him and dropped his axe. In an instant Vagn
+was on his feet, seized the axe, and dealt Thorkill a deadly blow. His
+boast was kept; Thorkill had fallen by his hand.
+
+Erik saw the bold feat with such admiration that he ordered Vagn to be
+freed, and the prisoners who remained alive were also set free at his
+order.
+
+While this was going on Earl Haakon sat apart conversing with his
+chieftains. As they did so they heard a bow-string twang, and before a
+hand could be raised a keen-pointed arrow pierced the body of Gissur the
+White, one of the chiefs, and he fell over dead. The arrow had come from
+the ship of Bue the Big, and thither men ran in haste. What they saw was
+Haavard the Hewer, still standing on his knees, though his blood flowed
+freely.
+
+"Tell me," he cried, "did any one fall at the tree yonder?"
+
+"Yes; Gissur the White."
+
+"Then luck failed me, for that arrow was aimed for Earl Haakon."
+
+And he fell over on the deck, with death at his heart-strings. The viking
+had sent a herald on before, to announce his coming at Odin's court.
+
+It was Haakon who had ordered the murder of the captives, and Erik his
+son who gave life to so many of them. The time was near at hand when the
+earl was to meet the bloody fate which he had dealt out to others. Though
+Erik had done so much to help him in the battle, he was furious with his
+son for sparing the life of Vagn Aakesson. As a result they parted in
+anger, Erik going south again. Here Vagn joined him and from that day
+forward the two were warm friends and comrades.
+
+But Haakon fell into ways of vice as he grew older, and at length he did
+a deed that led him to a shameful death. He had his men bring by force
+to his palace the wife of a rich peasant, and sent them for another, who
+was famed for her beauty. Orm, her husband, refused to let her go and
+sent news of the outrage to all the peasants in the valley. From farm to
+farm flew the tidings, and the peasants, furious at the shameful deeds of
+the earl, seized their arms and gathered in a great band, which marched
+upon him at Medalhus.
+
+Earl Haakon was taken by surprise. He had not dreamed of a revolt and
+only a few men were with him. These he dismissed and fled for safety,
+only one man, his old servant Kark, going with him. Reaching the Gaul
+River in his flight, he rode his horse into a deep hole and left his
+cloak on the ice, so that his pursuers, finding the dead horse and the
+cloak, might think he was drowned.
+
+From there he sought the nearby home of Thora of Rimul, a faithful woman
+friend, told her of the hot pursuit and begged her to hide him from his
+furious enemies. The only hiding place she could provide was a deep ditch
+under her pig-sty, and in this filthy hole the great earl was hidden,
+with food, candles, and bedding. Then boards were laid over the ditch and
+covered with earth and upon this the pigs were driven.
+
+To Rimul the peasants soon came, filled with fury, and with them came a
+man of note who had just landed and was seeking to win the throne. This
+was Olaf, a great-grandson of Harold the Fair-Haired, whose claim to the
+crown of Norway was far better than that of Haakon. Thinking that Thora
+had hidden the fleeing earl the pursuers searched the whole place. The
+fugitive not being found, Olaf stood on a large stone near the pig-sty
+and called the peasants around him, loudly announcing that any man who
+should find and slay Earl Haakon would be given a large reward.
+
+His words were plainly heard in the damp and unpleasant underground den
+where Haakon sat shivering. He looked at Kark, the thrall, whose face
+showed that he, too, had heard the promise of reward.
+
+"What ails you?" asked the earl. "Your face changes from pale to dark and
+gloomy. Do you propose to betray me?"
+
+"No," said Kark.
+
+"We were born on the same night, and if one of us dies the other will
+soon follow," said the earl warningly.
+
+For a long time they sat, listening to the sounds above. At length all
+grew still and they felt that the night had come. Kark fell asleep, but
+the earl sat awake, watching him in deep distrust. The slumbering thrall
+tossed about as if in pain and the earl wakened him, asking of what he
+had dreamt.
+
+"I dreamed that you and I were on shipboard and that I was at the helm."
+
+"That means that you rule over both our lives. Therefore, Kark, you must
+be true and faithful to me, as duty bids you. Better days will soon come
+to us both and then you shall be richly rewarded."
+
+Again the thrall fell asleep and again he seemed to dream. The earl woke
+him again.
+
+"Of what did you dream?" he asked.
+
+"I dreamed that I was at Hlade and that Olaf Tryggvesson put a golden
+ring around my neck."
+
+"That means," said the earl, "that if you seek Olaf he will put a red
+ring [a ring of blood] around your neck. Beware of him, Kark, and trust
+in me. Be faithful to me and you will find in me a faithful friend."
+
+The night dragged slowly on. The earl dared not let himself sleep, but
+sat staring at Kark, who stared back at him. When morning was near at
+hand weariness lay so heavily on the earl that he could no longer keep
+awake. But his sleep was sorely disturbed by the terrors of that dreadful
+night. He tossed about and screamed out in distress and at length rose on
+his knees with the horrors of nightmare in his face.
+
+Then Kark, who had all night been meditating treachery, killed him with a
+thrust of his knife. Cutting off his head, he broke out of the dark den
+and sought Olaf, with the grisly trophy in his hand.
+
+Olaf heard his story with lowering face. It was not to traitors like this
+that he had offered reward. In the end, burning with indignation at the
+base deed, he ordered the thrall's head to be struck off. Thus Kark's
+dream, as interpreted by Haakon, came true. The ring put by Olaf around
+his neck was not one of gold, but one of blood.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW OLAF, THE SLAVE-BOY, WON THE THRONE._
+
+
+Many sons had Harold the Fair-Haired, and of some of them the story has
+been told. One of them, Olaf by name, left a son named Tryggve, who in
+turn had a son to whom he gave his father's name of Olaf. Wonderful was
+the story of this Olaf in his youth and renowned was it in his age, for
+he it was who drove the heathen gods from Norway and put Christ in their
+place. But it is the strange and striking adventures of his earlier days
+with which this tale has to deal.
+
+Prince Tryggve had his enemies and by them was foully murdered. Then they
+sought his dwelling, proposing to destroy his whole race. But Aastrid,
+his wife, was warned in time, and fled from her home with Thorold, her
+foster-father. She hid on a little island in the Rand fiord, and here was
+born the son who was afterwards to become one of Norway's most famous
+kings.
+
+The perils of Aastrid were not yet at an end. Gunhild, the sorceress
+queen, was her chief enemy, and when her spies brought her word that
+Aastrid had borne a son, the wicked old woman sought to destroy the
+child.
+
+The summer through Aastrid remained on the little isle, hiding in the
+weedy bushes by day and venturing abroad only at night. Everywhere
+Gunhild's spies sought her, and when autumn came with its long nights,
+she left the isle and journeyed with her attendants through the land,
+still hiding by day and travelling only under the shades of night. In
+this way she reached the estate of her father, Erik Ofrestad.
+
+The poor mother was not left in peace here, the evil-minded sorceress
+still pursuing her. A body of murderers was sent to seek for her and her
+son on her father's estate, but Ofrestad heard of their mission in time
+to send the fugitives away. Dressed as beggars, Aastrid and her child and
+Thorolf, her foster-father, travelled on foot from the farm, stopping at
+evening to beg food and shelter from a peasant named Bjoern. The surly
+fellow drove them away, but they were given shelter farther on by a
+peasant named Thorstein.
+
+Meanwhile the murderers were hot on their track. Not finding Aastrid at
+her father's house, they traced her to Bjoern's farm, where they were told
+that a handsome but poorly dressed woman, carrying a young child, had
+asked for help that evening. It chanced that a servant of Thorstein
+overheard this and when he reached home he told it to his master.
+Suspecting the rank and peril of his guests, Thorstein roused them from
+sleep with a great show of anger and drove them out into the night. This
+was done to deceive the servants, but Thorstein followed the weary
+fugitives and told them the reason of his act. He had driven them out to
+save them, he said, and he gave them a trusty guide who could show them
+the best hiding places in the forest. They found shelter for that night
+amid the tall rushes by the side of a small lake.
+
+When the troop of murderers reached Thorstein's house he set them astray
+on the wrong scent and he fed the fugitives in the forest until the
+murderous gang had given up the search. In the end he aided them to make
+their way to Sweden, where they took refuge with a friend of Prince
+Tryggve named Haakon the Old.
+
+Still the wicked queen did not let them rest in peace. Learning where
+they were, she sent two embassies to King Erik of Sweden, demanding the
+surrender of the mother and child. Each time Erik gave them permission to
+capture the fugitives if they could, saying that he would not interfere.
+But Haakon the Old was not the man to surrender his guests. In vain
+Gunhild's ambassador came to him with promises and threats. The dispute
+at length grew so hot that a half-witted servant seized a dung-fork and
+rushed at the ambassador, who took to his heels, fearing to have his fine
+clothes soiled. The angry thrall pursued him till he was driven off the
+estate, Haakon looking on with grim mirth.
+
+Such were the early days of little Olaf, whose life began in a series of
+adventures which were the prologue to a most stirring and active life.
+Few men have had a more adventurous career than he, his whole life being
+one of romance, activity and peril. He became a leading hero of the saga
+writers, who have left us many striking stories of his young life and
+adventures.
+
+Aastrid and her son remained with Haakon the Old until Earl Haakon came
+into power in Norway. As he was not of royal blood, she feared that he
+might seek to destroy all the descendants of old King Harold, and, in
+doubt if her present protector was strong enough to defend her, she
+decided to seek refuge in Russia, where her brother Sigurd had risen to a
+place of power.
+
+With this voyage young Olaf's later series of adventures began. The
+merchant ship in which they set sail was taken by a viking pirate craft,
+some of the passengers being killed and others sold as slaves. Thorolf
+and his young son Thorgills, with the boy Olaf, were sold to a viking
+named Klerkon, who killed Thorolf because he was too old to bring any
+price as a slave, but kept the boys, whom he soon traded away in Esthonia
+for a big ram. As for Aastrid, she was offered for sale at the
+slave-market, and here, despite her ragged and miserable plight, she was
+recognized by a rich merchant named Lodin. He offered to pay her ransom
+if she would become his wife. The poor woman, not knowing what had become
+of her son, was glad to accept his offer and returned with him to his
+home in Norway.
+
+To return to the story of the boy slaves, the man who had bought them for
+a ram, soon sold them for a coat and cape to a man named Reas. The new
+master put Thorgills to hard labor, but took a fancy to Olaf and treated
+him much more kindly, the young prince remaining with him for six years
+and growing up to be a handsome and sturdy youth.
+
+Sigurd Eriksson, Aastrid's brother, and the uncle of Olaf, was a man of
+prominence in Esthonia, and one day rode on business of King Vladimir
+through the town in which Reas lived. Here he saw some boys playing, one
+of whom attracted him by his manly and handsome face. Calling him to his
+horse's side, he asked his name.
+
+"Olaf," said the boy.
+
+Olaf! The name was significant to Sigurd, and a few words more taught him
+that the lad was his lost nephew. Seeking Reas, he offered him a good
+price for his two young slaves and took them home with him, bidding Olaf
+not to tell any one else who he was.
+
+The boy was now well-grown, active, and strong for his years. Walking one
+day about the town he saw before him the viking Klerkon who had killed
+old Thorolf, his foster-father. He had at the moment an axe in his hand
+and, with no thought but that of revenge on the murderer, he struck him a
+blow that split his skull and stretched him dead on the ground.
+
+The boy was in peril of his life for this impulsive deed. Death was its
+legal penalty, and a crowd quickly gathered who demanded that the boy
+murderer should be killed. His uncle heard of the act and ran in haste to
+his rescue, taking him to Olga, the queen, and telling her who he was,
+what he had done, and why he had done it.
+
+The queen looked at the beautiful and bright-faced lad and took a great
+fancy to him at sight. She took him under her protection, and gave him a
+training in the use of arms and warlike sports, such as beseemed the
+scion of a royal race. When twelve years of age King Vladimir, who
+esteemed the boy highly, gave him some armed ships and sent him out to
+try his hand in real war, and for some years he roved abroad as a viking.
+He also served the king well by conquering for him a rebel province.
+
+Olaf might have won high rank in Russia but for the enemies who envied
+him and who made the king fear that he would yet find a rival for the
+throne in the ambitious boy. Fearing trouble for her protege, Queen Olga
+advised him to leave the kingdom and he sailed for the land of the Wends,
+on the Baltic shores, where King Burislav received him as a distinguished
+young warrior. He did not tell who he really was, but went under the name
+of Ole the Russian, and as such married the daughter of the king, who
+fell in love with him for his valor and beauty. Many were the valiant
+deeds he did for King Burislav, with whom he stayed until the death of
+his wife, he being then twenty-one years of age.
+
+The young warrior now grew eager for new adventures, and in response to a
+dream determined to go to Greece and become a Christian. His dream
+served the cause of Christianity better than this, if the story is true
+that he sent a missionary bishop to Russia who converted both King
+Vladimir and Queen Olga to the Christian faith.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. A NORDFJORD BRIDE AND GROOM WITH GUESTS AND PARENTS. BRIGSDAL.
+NORWAY.]
+
+From Greece Olaf wandered to many countries, including France, Denmark,
+Scotland, and Northumberland, and his adventures were very numerous. He
+was twenty-five years of age when he reached England and here he met with
+an adventure of a new type. The Princess Gyda, sister of an Irish king,
+was a widow, but was still young and beautiful and had so many suitors
+that it was hard for her to choose between them. Among the most
+importunate was a warrior named Alfvine, a great slayer of men.
+
+So many were they and so much did they annoy the fair widow that at last
+she fixed a day when she would choose a husband from among them, and
+numbers of them came before her, all in their most splendid attire. It
+was a championship that attracted many lookers on and among them came
+Olaf with some of his companions. He was plainly dressed, and wore a fur
+hood and cape. Gyda stood forth and looked over her throng of lovers with
+listless eyes until at length she saw among the spectators the tall
+stranger with the hood of fur. She walked up to him, lifted the hood, and
+gazed long into his eyes. What she saw there riveted her fancy.
+
+"I do not know you," she said; "but if you will have me for a wife, then
+you are my choice."
+
+Olaf must have seen as much in her eyes as she had in his, for he warmly
+replied:
+
+"I know no woman who equals you, and gladly will I accept you."
+
+At once their betrothal was published, but Alfvine, burning with wrath,
+challenged the fortunate stranger to mortal combat. Fierce and long was
+the fight, but Norse blood and valor conquered and Gyda was enraptured
+with the courage and skill of her spouse. They were duly wedded and Olaf
+spent several years in England and Ireland, winning fame there as a
+doughty champion and growing ever more earnest in the Christian faith.
+
+In the chronicles of the time we are told much of the doings of the
+doughty Olaf, who won fame as the chieftain of a viking fleet, which in
+994 made many descents upon the English coast. In the end he landed in
+Southampton and fixed his winter quarters there, living upon the country.
+He was finally bought off by King Ethelred with L10,000, which he divided
+among his men. He received confirmation in the Christian faith the same
+year, King Ethelred being present, and took a solemn vow, which he never
+broke, that he would never again molest England and her people.
+
+Olaf's name was no longer concealed and the fame of his deeds reached
+Norway, where they gave no small trouble of mind to Earl Haakon, who
+dreaded this young adventurer of royal descent, knowing well how much the
+people loved King Harold and his race. Haakon went so far as to try to
+compass his death, sending his friend Thore Klakka to Dublin, where Olaf
+then was, to kill him if he could, otherwise to entice him to Norway when
+he would himself destroy him.
+
+The latter Thore did, finding Olaf ready for any new adventure, and under
+Thore's treacherous advice he sailed with five ships and landed in
+Hoerdaland, where Haakon's power was the greatest, and thence sailed
+northward to Troendelag where the earl was and where he hoped to take him
+by surprise.
+
+Thore had represented that Olaf would find friends in plenty there, and
+much to his own surprise found that he had told more truth than he knew;
+for, as told in the last tale, the peasants were then in arms and in
+pursuit of the recreant earl. They gladly accepted Olaf as their leader,
+on learning who he was, and helped him in the quick and sudden downfall
+and death of Haakon, as already described.
+
+All the chiefs and peasants of the district were now summoned to meet in
+assembly and with one voice they chose Olaf Tryggvesson, great-grandson
+of the renowned Harold, as their king. All Norway confirmed their action
+and thus easily did the adventurer prince, who had once been a slave-boy,
+sold for half a fat ram, rise to the throne of Norway.
+
+
+
+
+_OLAF DETHRONES ODIN AND DIES A HERO._
+
+
+Earl Haakon was the last heathen king of Norway. Olaf, the new king, was
+a zealous Christian and was determined to introduce the new faith. And
+this was done not in the mild and gentle way in which Haakon the Good had
+attempted it, but with all the fierce fury of the viking spirit. Christ
+the White the Northmen called the new deity, but it was rather Christ the
+Red in Olaf's hands, for, while Christian in faith, he was a son of the
+old gods, Odin and Thor, in spirit.
+
+It is not the Christianizing of Norway that we have set out to tell, but
+as this is a matter of great importance some space must be given to it.
+Olaf, high spirited and impetuous, did by storm what he might not have
+been able to do by milder measures. He had little trouble in the south of
+Norway, where the Christian faith had been making its way for years, but
+in the north the old heathen spirit was strong, sacrifices to the gods
+were common, and the rude and cruel barbarism which the old doctrines
+favored everywhere prevailed. Here it was that Olaf had a strong fortress
+of heathenism to take by storm.
+
+In Troendelag was the temple of Hlade, ancient and grand, the stronghold
+of the Norse gods. Fierce and impulsive in his zeal, Olaf broke into this
+old temple, destroyed the altar, burned the idols, and carried away the
+treasure. At once the people were in arms, but the resolute king began to
+build a Christian church where the temple had stood and also a
+fortress-like residence for himself.
+
+In the end the peasants grew so fierce and warlike and were so backed up
+by a lusty chieftain named Ironbeard, that Olaf found himself obliged to
+promise to take part with them in the feast and sacrifices of the coming
+Yuletide.
+
+But before this time arrived he appeared again at Hlade and he now
+brought with him a strong fleet and numerous armed warriors. Many guests
+had been invited to meet him, and these were entertained until they were
+all royally drunk. Then the king said to them:
+
+"I have promised to sacrifice with you, and am here to keep my word. I
+propose to make a royal sacrifice, not of thralls and criminals, but of
+lords and chieftains, for thus we can best do honor to Odin."
+
+He then selected six of his most powerful opponents and said that he
+intended to sacrifice them to Odin and Frey, that the people might have
+good crops. The dismayed chiefs were instantly seized and were offered
+the alternative of being sacrificed or baptized. Taken by surprise, they
+were not long in deciding upon the latter, the king making them give
+hostages for their good faith.
+
+Soon after came the Yuletide and Olaf was present with a strong force at
+Moere, where the sacrifices were to be made. The peasants also came in
+force, all armed, with the burly Ironbeard as their leader. They were
+rude and noisy and it was some time before the king could make himself
+heard. Then he called on them all to accept baptism and acknowledge
+Christ the White in place of their bloodthirsty gods. Ironbeard haughtily
+replied that they were supporters of the old laws and that the king must
+make the sacrifices as all the kings before him had done.
+
+Olaf heard him through and said that he was there to keep his promise.
+Then, with many men, he entered the temple, leaving his arms outside as
+the law required. All he carried was a stout, gold-headed stick. Stopping
+before the statue of the god Thor, around which were rings of gold and
+iron, he raised the stick and gave the idol a blow so fierce and strong
+that it tumbled in pieces from its pedestal. At the same moment his
+followers struck down the other idols. The peasants, thunderstruck at the
+sacrilege, looked for support to Ironbeard, but the doughty warrior lay
+dead. He had shared the fate of the idols he worshipped, being struck
+down at the same moment with them. What to do the peasants knew not, and
+when Olaf told them they must either be baptized or fight they chose the
+former as the safest. The province of Haalogaland, still farther north,
+was dealt with in the same arbitrary fashion, those of the chiefs who
+refused baptism being put to death with torture. And in this fierce and
+bloody way the dominion of Christ the White was established in the land
+of the vikings. It was but a substitute for the heathen gods that was
+given them in such a fashion, and years had to pass before they would
+become true Christians.
+
+Much more might be said about King Olaf, his kindliness and winning
+manners in peace, his love of show and splendor, his prowess in battle
+and his wonderful skill with weapons. He could use both hands with equal
+effect in fighting, could handle three spears at once, keeping one always
+in the air, and when his men were rowing could run from prow to stern of
+the ship on their oars. But what we have chiefly to tell is the last
+adventure of the viking king and how death came to him in the heat of the
+fray.
+
+What became of his wife Gyda, the Irish princess, we are not told, but he
+had now a new wife, Thyra, sister of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, and
+it was to this queen he owed his death. She had large estates in Wendland
+and Denmark, from which she now received no revenues, and she fretted
+Olaf so by appeals, prayers, and tears to win back for her this property
+that he had no peace in his palace. The annoyance went on until the
+hot-tempered king could bear it no longer and he began to prepare for war
+abroad that he might gain peace at home.
+
+Word was sent out to the chiefs of the land, bidding them to join the
+king with the ships required by the laws of the kingdom. Among his own
+ships was one called the Short Serpent, and he had just finished another
+of great size and beauty which he named the Long Serpent. Never had so
+noble a ship been seen in the north. It was 112 feet long and had 104
+oars, while it could carry six hundred warriors, none being over sixty or
+under twenty years of age except the great bowman Thambarkskelver, who
+was but eighteen, yet was so skilful with the bow that he could shoot a
+blunt arrow through a hanging raw ox-hide.
+
+With sixty ships and as many transports Olaf sailed south to Wendland,
+where he was well received by his old friend King Burislav, whose
+daughter Geira had been his first wife. The Wend king royally entertained
+him and made a just settlement of Queen Thyra's estates, and Olaf
+prepared to sail homeward again. But dark clouds of war were gathering on
+his path.
+
+Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark was hostile both to Burislav and Olaf and the
+king of Sweden was leagued with the Danish king. To detain Olaf while
+they gathered their fleets, these kings employed Sigvalde, the cowardly
+chief of the Jomsvikings, who had fled from the battle with Earl Haakon,
+to visit and lure him into blind confidence.
+
+The treacherous viking succeeded. His smooth, soft ways won Olaf's heart
+and the open-minded king put complete trust in him. Sigvalde finally,
+after bringing about much delay by his false arts, engaged to pilot Olaf
+with his own fleet through the dangerous waters of the coast, and even
+induced him to divide his ships by sending part of them in advance.
+
+The traitor meanwhile kept in communication with King Sweyn and promised
+to lure Olaf away from his main force and lead him into the snare they
+were laying for him. Chief among the enemies of the Norse king was Earl
+Erik, the son of Earl Haakon, whom he was eager to avenge, and King Olaf
+the Swede, who was present with a fleet.
+
+With sixty or seventy ships of war these foes of Norway's king lay hidden
+behind the little island of Svolder, in Olaf's track. For a number of
+days they awaited him with impatience. At last Olaf's transports appeared
+within view of the leaders of the hostile fleet, who were posted at an
+elevated point on the land.
+
+The day was fair, the wind gentle and favorable, and the foremost ships
+sailed onward, seeing nothing of the foes. When King Sweyn saw among them
+a large and handsome ship he was sure it must be the Long Serpent, and
+said:
+
+"Olaf of Norway is afraid to-day, for he carries no dragon-head on his
+ship."
+
+"That is not the king's ship," said Earl Erik, "but that of Erling of
+Sole. I know it by its striped sails. Let it pass, for it will be better
+for us to have Erling out of the fray."
+
+On, one by one, came the Norse ships, sweeping proudly by, and at length
+Sigvalde's eleven ships came in sight. These, signalled from the shore,
+suddenly turned inward round the island, to the surprise of Thorkill
+Dyrdill, captain of the Crane, which followed in their wake. Seeing this
+fine ship, Sweyn grew eager for the fight and ordered his men on board in
+spite of Erik's warning that the time had not yet arrived.
+
+"Are you afraid of them?" sneered the Dane. "Have you lost all desire to
+avenge your father?"
+
+"Wait and you will see," retorted Erik. "Before the sun sets you will
+find who is most eager for battle, I, or you and your men."
+
+When Thorkill saw the treacherous act of Sigvalde and caught sight of the
+ambushed fleet, he let fall the sails of the Crane and awaited the coming
+of the king. Soon the Short Serpent came up, its gilded dragon-head
+shining brightly in the sunlight. Not long after the Long Serpent
+appeared, its golden prow glittering brilliantly as the sunbeams fell
+upon it. Those who saw it marvelled at its size and beauty and many
+beheld with dread the glittering array of swords and shields as it came
+sweeping onward.
+
+But the great body of King Olaf's ships had gone on without thought of a
+foeman and were now out of sight. Only eleven of them remained, and some
+of his captains advised him not to fight against such odds.
+
+"Down with the sails," he cried cheerily. "Bind the ships together. Never
+yet have I fled from battle and I will not do so now. God is my shield
+and I will flee from no foe. He is no king who lets fear put him to
+flight before his enemies."
+
+Yet his peril was deadly, as was evident when the fleet of more than
+sixty ships rowed out from its ambush against Olaf's eleven.
+
+"Who is the leader here before us?" he asked.
+
+"That is King Sweyn with his Danes," said one of the men.
+
+"Let them come on. Danes have never yet beaten Norsemen, and they will
+not to-day. But whose standards are those on the right?"
+
+"They are those of Olaf of Sweden."
+
+"The heathen Swedes had better have stayed at home to lick their
+sacrificial bowls. We need not fear these horse-eaters. Yonder to the
+left; whose ships are those?"
+
+"They belong to Earl Erik, the son of Earl Haakon."
+
+"Then we may look for hard blows from them. Erik and his men are Norsemen
+like ourselves, and he has reason not to love me and mine."
+
+While he spoke Queen Thyra, who was with him, came on deck. When she saw
+the desperate odds she burst into tears.
+
+"Do not weep," said Olaf. "You have got what was due in Wendland; and
+to-day I will do my best to win your rights from your brother Sweyn."
+
+King Sweyn came first into the fray, but after a stubborn fight was
+driven off with great carnage. Then the Swedes swarmed to the rescue, and
+a second hard battle ensued, in which the Norsemen were outnumbered ten
+to one. Yet Olaf, with shining helmet and shield and a tunic of scarlet
+silk over his armor, directed the defence, and gave his men such courage
+by his fierce valor that the victory would have been his but for Earl
+Erik.
+
+When Erik's great galley, the Iron Ram, came into the fight and Norse met
+Norse, the onset was terrific. Greatly outnumbered, worn out with their
+exertions, and many of them bleeding from wounds, the men in ship after
+ship were overpowered and these cut adrift, their defenders being slain.
+At length only the Long Serpent remained, and against it was driven the
+Iron Ram.
+
+There was little wind and the damage was not great, and soon the storm of
+spears and arrows was resumed. Einer Thambarkskelver, the famous bowman,
+saw Earl Erik in the prow of his ship screened by the shields of his men,
+and soon Einer's arrows were hurtling around him.
+
+"Shoot that tall bowman," said Erik to one of his own archers.
+
+An arrow sped and hit Einer's bow in the middle, breaking it in twain.
+
+"What is broke?" asked Olaf, hearing the sound.
+
+"Norway broke then from your hands, my king," said Einer.
+
+"Not so bad as that; take my bow and try what it is worth."
+
+Einer caught the bow, bent it double, and threw it back.
+
+"It is too weak," he said.
+
+Desperate was now the strait and no escape was possible. Olaf sent his
+spears hurtling on Erik's crowded deck, but he saw that his men were
+scarce able to hold their own.
+
+"Your swords bite poorly," he said. "Have your arms lost their strength?"
+
+"No," was the reply, "but our blades are dull and notched."
+
+The king ran forward, opened a chest, and flung out armfulls of bright,
+sharp swords.
+
+"Here is what will bite deeply," he said.
+
+But victory was now hopeless; the earl's men swept back the tired
+warriors; blood flowed from under the king's armor; all hands were bent
+against him, for he loomed above his men. Kolbjoern, a man who resembled
+the king, sprang to his side and helped him shrewdly in the fray.
+
+Still the stern combat went on, still the weapons flew, still men fell
+groaning, and as the king looked along his deck he saw that only eight
+men kept their feet besides himself and his companion. All was lost.
+Raising the shield above his head, he leaped over the ship's side.
+Kolbjoern followed and was picked up by the earl's men, who took him to be
+the king. As for Olaf, the hungry sea swallowed his form.
+
+Legend tells us, indeed, that he was rescued by a ship sent to his aid by
+Aastrid, Earl Sigvalde's wife, and that he made a pilgrimage to Rome and
+long afterwards lived as a hermit in the Holy Land. But that is one of
+the stories based on good wishes rather than sound facts.
+
+It was in the year 1000, when King Olaf was thirty-six years old, that
+this famous sea-fight took place. Queen Thyra felt that she had caused
+his death and could not be consoled. Erik treated her kindly and promised
+her the honors due to her high estate, but her heart was broken by her
+loss, and nine days afterwards she died.
+
+
+
+
+_OLAF THE SAINT AND HIS WORK FOR CHRIST._
+
+
+The story of Olaf the Saint, the Norse king who comes next into our view,
+illustrates the barbarous character of the heathen people with whom we
+are dealing. Few warriors in those days died in their beds, death coming
+to them in some more violent form. Olaf's grandfather, a son of Harold
+the Fair-Haired, was killed by his brother, Erik Blood-Axe, and his
+father was burned alive by a royal widow whom he sought to marry. Many
+wooers came to seek her hand and she got rid of them by setting on fire
+the hall in which they slept.
+
+"I'll teach these little kings the risk of proposing to me," said this
+viking widow.
+
+A proud little fellow was Olaf, hot of temper and bearing no opposition.
+He knew that he was of kingly birth, and despised his step-father Sigurd
+Syr, also a descendant of King Harold, but caring more for his crops than
+for the dreams of ambition. Once, when Olaf was ten years old, Sigurd
+sent him to the stable to saddle and bring out his horse. When he came
+out he led a big goat, on which he had placed the saddle.
+
+"Why do you do that?" he was asked.
+
+"Oh, the goat is good enough for him, for he is as much like a king as a
+goat is like a war-horse."
+
+The boy was only twelve when he began to take part in the cruises of the
+vikings, and in these quickly showed himself brave and daring. When he
+grew to a ripe age and found that the rule of Norway was divided between
+two young men, successors of the Olaf whose story we have last told, he
+determined to strike for the throne.
+
+The story of how he won the throne is interesting, but must be dealt with
+here very briefly, as we have rather to do with the story of how he lost
+it. Olaf was fortunate at the start, for he captured a ship on which Earl
+Erik, one of these boy kings, was sailing along the coast.
+
+A beautiful youth he was, tall and shapely, with silky golden hair which
+fell in long curls over his shoulders. Proud he was too, and answered his
+captor's questions with manly resolution.
+
+"Your luck has left you and you are in my power," said Olaf; "what shall
+I do with you?"
+
+"That depends on you," answered the fearless young earl.
+
+"What will you do if I let you go unharmed?"
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"Only this, that you leave your country and renounce your claim of
+kingship, and that you swear never to make war on me."
+
+To this young Erik agreed and sailed away to England to join his uncle,
+Canute the Dane, who was then king of both Denmark and England.
+
+With the other young king, Earl Sweyn, Olaf did not find his task so
+easy, since Sweyn fought for his rights in a naval battle in which he had
+forty-five ships and three thousand men, while Olaf had less than half
+that number of men and ships. Olaf won the battle by a shrewd stratagem.
+He told his men to act at first only on the defensive, holding back their
+weapons until the enemy had thrown away theirs.
+
+On came Earl Sweyn's fleet, fiercely attacking that of Olaf, a cloud of
+spears and arrows filling the air. As none came back from Olaf's men,
+their opponents fancied they were afraid, and rushed on them eagerly. But
+by this time their spears and arrows had grown scarce, and when a storm
+of these came from the opposite side they were taken by surprise and many
+of them killed. Wild with fear, they now sought to escape, and in the end
+their whole fleet broke and fled, leaving victory to the new king.
+
+Sweyn fled to Sweden, whose king promised him help to regain his kingdom.
+But he died before his plans were ripe and Olaf was left without a rival
+except the king of Sweden, who had won a part of Norway in a former
+battle and now held it. This source of trouble was settled by the Swedes
+themselves, who had no fancy for fighting to help their king's ambition,
+and forced him to agree to yield his claim and give his daughter Ingegerd
+to Olaf for wife. So by a marriage Olaf won the remainder of his kingdom
+and became ruler over all Norway; but not by marrying Ingegerd, for he
+chose instead her sister Aastrid.
+
+There is a pretty story told just here in the sagas, or historical tales
+of the Icelanders. Thus it reads: Sigurd Syr, who had married Olaf's
+mother Aasta, died in 1018, and Olaf came to her house to help in
+settling her affairs. She had three boys, Guttorm, Halfdan, and Harold,
+whom she brought into the hall to introduce to their half-brother, the
+king. Olaf put the two older ones on his knees and made so fierce a face
+at them that they ran away sadly scared. Then he took up little Harold
+and stared at him in the same way. The brave youngster was not so easily
+frightened as his brothers and stared back at the king. Then Olaf pulled
+his hair, but the daring youngster pulled his beard in exchange.
+
+"He will do," said Olaf, setting him down with a laugh.
+
+The next day the king and his mother watched the boys at their play. The
+older two amused themselves by building barns, in which they put toy cows
+and sheep; but Harold launched mock boats on a pond and watched them
+drift away.
+
+"What do you call them?" asked Olaf.
+
+"Ships of war," said the boy.
+
+"Good lad," answered the king; "the day will come when you will command
+real ships."
+
+Calling the boys to him, he asked Guttorm, the oldest, what he most
+wished for.
+
+"Land," said the boy.
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Enough to sow as much grain every summer as would cover the headland
+yonder."
+
+Ten large farms covered the headland in question.
+
+"And what do you most desire?" the king asked Halfdan.
+
+"Enough cows to cover the shores of the headland when they went to the
+water to drink."
+
+"So; one wants land and the other cattle; and what do you want, Harold?"
+
+"Men," said the boy.
+
+"How many?"
+
+"Enough to eat up in a single dinner all brother Halfdan's cows."
+
+"Come, mother," said Olaf, laughing; "you have here a chap in training to
+make himself a king."
+
+So it proved, for in later days Harold rose to be king of Norway.
+
+But now we have to tell from what the king gained his title of Olaf the
+Saint. It came from his warm endeavors to make Norway a Christian land.
+The former King Olaf had forced his people to be baptized, but the most
+of them were heathens at heart still and after his death many began to
+worship the old gods again. It was the second Olaf that made the
+Christian secure in the land, and this still more by his death than by
+his life.
+
+When he was still an infant the former King Olaf had baptized him and
+given him his own name, and the time came when his little namesake took
+up and finished his work. What most troubled the kings of Norway in that
+age was the power held by the tribal chiefs, who were difficult to
+control and ready to rebel; and this power came from the fact that they
+were not only chiefs, but were the priests of the old religion. As
+priest-kings their people followed them blindly, and no king could be
+sure of his crown while this system prevailed.
+
+Olaf, who had been brought up in the new faith, set himself earnestly to
+spread the true principles of Christ's teachings through the land and for
+years he worked at it earnestly. But he had hard metal to deal with. It
+is said that one chief, when about to be baptized, turned to the priest
+and asked him where were his brave forefathers who had died without being
+baptized.
+
+"They are in hell," said the priest.
+
+"Then hell is the place for me," answered the chief. "I would rather be
+there with Odin and my hard fighting and noble fathers than in heaven
+with cowardly Christians and shaven monks."
+
+This was the spirit of the chiefs. A heaven in which there would be no
+fighting and mead-drinking had no charms for them, and to live forever
+with the souls of men who had never drawn sword and struck blow was too
+dreary a prospect for their turbulent tastes.
+
+But Olaf was ardent in the new faith and persistent in his endeavors,
+travelling from end to end of the land in his efforts to break up the old
+idolatry. Here is one of the stories told of this missionary work of the
+king.
+
+He was then in Nidaros, whose peasantry, called Troenders, were said to be
+celebrating in secret the old pagan festivals and offering sacrifices to
+Odin and Frey for bountiful crops. When King Olaf came among them they
+took arms against him, but afterwards agreed to hold a public assembly
+and deal in that way with the religious question that was troubling the
+kingdom.
+
+On the day they met it was raining hard. When the king asked them to
+believe in the God of the Christians and be baptized, Dale Guldbrand,
+their leader, replied:
+
+"We know nothing of the being you speak of; a god whom neither you nor
+any one else can see. Now we have a god whom you can see every day,
+except a rainy day like this. If your god is so powerful, then let him
+arrange that to-morrow we shall have clouds but no rain."
+
+When they met again the next day the weather was what they had asked for,
+clouds but no rain. Bishop Sigurd now celebrated mass and preached to the
+people about the miracles which Christ had wrought when on earth. On the
+third day it was still cloudy. The people had brought with them a great
+wooden image of the god Thor, and their chief spoke as follows:
+
+"Where is your god now, King Olaf? You do not look so bold as you did
+yesterday, for our god, who rules over all things, is here now and
+scaring you with his fierce eyes. You scarce dare look at him, but you
+would be wiser to believe in the god that holds in his hand your
+destiny."
+
+"Your god does not frighten me," answered the king. "He is blind and
+deaf and cannot move from the spot where you have set him without he is
+carried. He will soon meet his fate. Look yonder to the east. There in
+the flood of light comes our God."
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN PEASANTS.]
+
+To the east all eyes were turned, and at that moment the sunlight burst
+from the clouds and spread over the scene. As it did so a sturdy warrior,
+at a signal from the king, sprang forwards and struck the idol so fierce
+a blow with his club that it was shattered to pieces. Out from its hollow
+interior sprang great rats, snakes, and lizards, which had grown fat on
+the food with which the idol had been fed daily.
+
+On seeing these loathsome things squirm from the interior of their god
+the peasants fled from the spot in a panic of fear, rushing to the river
+where their boats lay. But King Olaf, forecasting this, had sent men to
+bore holes in the boats so that they would not float. Unable to escape,
+the frightened peasants came back, quite downcast in spirit.
+
+"You see what your god is worth," said the king. "Has he eaten the bread
+and meat you fed him, or has it gone to fatten rats and snakes? As for
+the gold and silver you gave him, there it lies scattered. Take up your
+golden ornaments and hang them no more on worthless logs. Now I give you
+your choice: you shall accept the faith I bring you, or you shall fight
+for your own. He will win to whom his god gives the victory."
+
+The peasants were not prepared to fight, and therefore were obliged to
+accept baptism. Priests were sent to teach them the tenets of the new
+faith they had accepted, and Dale Guldbrand signified his honesty by
+building a church to the Christian deity. Other provinces were also won
+over to Christ, but there was one great and bold chieftain, Erling by
+name, and a sturdy heathen in his faith, who remained hostile to the king
+and a war between them became inevitable.
+
+While the king and the earl were making busy preparations to fight for
+their faiths, a warrior king and conqueror stepped in to take advantage
+for himself of the quarrel. This was King Canute, monarch of Denmark and
+England, who was eager to add Norway and Sweden to his dominions and make
+himself one of the most powerful of kings. He secretly sent presents to
+the discontented Norse chiefs and took other means to win them to his
+cause. It was not long before Olaf learned of these underhand doings, and
+he at once made an alliance with King Anund of Sweden, whose sister he
+had married, and whom he told that Canute would attack him if he should
+win Norway. In his turn, Canute sent ambassadors to King Anund, with
+splendid presents, hoping to win him over.
+
+Two candlesticks of gold were placed before him by the ambassadors.
+
+"Pretty toys those," said Anund, "but not worth enough to break me from
+my good friend Olaf."
+
+Then they brought forth a golden platter, of artistic finish and adorned
+with jewels. King Anund gazed at it with covetous eyes.
+
+"A handsome bit of work," he said; "but I will not sell King Olaf for a
+dish."
+
+Finally two magnificent rings were offered. King Anund laughed when he
+saw them.
+
+"Keen and shrewd is King Canute," he remarked. "He knows I love golden
+toys, but he does not know that I love honor better. I have known King
+Olaf since he was a boy; he is my friend and my sister is his queen. I
+will not forsake him to please your king."
+
+On hearing this, King Canute laid aside his plots and made a pilgrimage
+to Rome. During his absence his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf, rebelled
+against him and allied himself with Kings Olaf and Anund, who sent fleets
+to his aid. As it proved, King Canute was not the man to be caught
+napping. Back from his pilgrimage he travelled in haste and came near to
+capturing both the kings. They fled with all speed, pursued by him with a
+more powerful fleet, and went up a little river in southern Sweden, which
+they closed by a dam against their strong foe. Canute came soon after and
+found the harbor deserted and the river closed against him.
+
+That night orders were given by the kings to break the dam and the
+heaped-up water ran down in an immense flood on the Danish ships, doing
+them great damage and drowning many of the people on board. But no attack
+was made on the disabled fleet, for Earl Ulf now turned traitor to his
+allies and joined Canute with his ships, making him too strong to
+attack.
+
+This ended the war for the time, Canute returning to England. But he had
+won over many of the Norse chiefs by his bribes and the next year came
+again, sailing north to Nidaros, where the assembled chiefs, whom he had
+gained to his side, proclaimed him king of Norway. He appointed Earl
+Haakon, grandson of the famous Earl Haakon of a former tale, regent in
+his stead, and sailed away again.
+
+In this manner Olaf lost his kingdom, for with all the powerful chiefs
+sold to the great King Canute and supported by him, little hope remained.
+He kept up the struggle for a short time, but was soon forced to flee to
+Sweden, whence he made his way to Russia and to the court of King
+Jaroslov, who was his brother-in-law, for he had married Princess
+Ingegerd of Sweden, once affianced to Olaf.
+
+Thus easily had Norway been conquered by Canute, but it was not long to
+remain under Danish rule at this time. Olaf, it is true, never won the
+throne again, though he made a strong effort to regain it. In Russia he
+grew more and more given to religious thoughts, until he became looked
+upon as a holy man. This made him open to believe in visions, and when in
+a dream he saw the former King Olaf, who bade him to go back to Norway
+and conquer it or die, he did not hesitate.
+
+Word had been brought him that Earl Haakon was dead and Norway with no
+immediate ruler, and against the advice of Jaroslov he set out for his
+late kingdom, leaving his son Magnus at the Russian court.
+
+In Sweden the king gave him permission to gather recruits, but now his
+religious fanaticism stood in the way of his success. He would have none
+but baptized men in his army, and thus rejected many brave warriors while
+taking some known to be outlaws and thieves. On reaching Norway he showed
+the same unwisdom. He had but four thousand men under his command, while
+the army he was soon to meet numbered ten thousand. Yet Olaf rejected
+five hundred of his men because they were heathens and, thus weakened,
+marched to the unequal fray.
+
+"Forward, Christ's men, king's men!" was the battle-cry of Olaf's army as
+it rushed upon the foe. "Forward, peasant men!" cried the opposite army,
+charging under its chiefs.
+
+The king's men had the best of it at the opening, but the peasants held
+their ground stubbornly, and as the battle went on Olaf's ranks thinned
+and wavered. Finding the day going against him, he dashed forward with a
+small band of devoted men. One by one they fell. The standard changed
+hands again and again as its bearer was struck down. Olaf, severely
+wounded, stood leaning against a rock, when he was cut down by spear and
+sword. And strangely, at that moment, the sun began to grow blood-red and
+a dusky hue fell over the field. Darker and darker it grew till the sun
+was blotted out and terror filled the souls of the peasants, who saw in
+this strange darkness a token of the wrath of Olaf's God. But the eclipse
+came too late to save the king, who lay dead where he had fallen.
+
+Olaf was gone but tradition built a halo around his name. It was reported
+that miracles were wrought by his blood and by the touch of his lifeless
+hand. Tales of marvel and magic grew up about him, and he became a
+wonder-worker for the superstitious people. In time he grew to be the
+national hero and the national saint, and lives in history as Olaf the
+Saint, while his tragic death and his enthusiasm for the cause of Christ
+gave him a strong hold on the people's hearts and aided greatly in making
+Norway truly a Christian land.
+
+
+
+
+_CANUTE THE GREAT, KING OF SIX NATIONS._
+
+
+A famous old king of Denmark, known as Harald Blaatand or Bluetooth, had
+many sons, of whom only one, Svend or Sweyn, outlived him. While Harald
+was a Christian, Sweyn was a pagan, having been brought up in the old
+faith by a noble warrior Palnatoke, to whom his father had sent the boy
+to teach him the use of arms.
+
+When the king found that the boy was being made a pagan he tried to
+withdraw him from Palnatoke, but Sweyn would not leave his friend,
+whereupon the crafty king sought to destroy the warrior. We speak of
+this, for there is a very interesting story connected with it. Every one
+has read of how the Austrian governor Gessler condemned the Swiss peasant
+William Tell to shoot with an arrow an apple from his son's head, but few
+know that a like story is told of a Danish king and warrior four hundred
+years earlier. This is the story, as told for us by an old historian.
+
+One day, while Palnatoke was boasting in the king's presence of his skill
+as an archer, Harald told him that, in spite of his boasts, there was one
+shot he would not dare to try. He replied that there was no shot he was
+afraid to attempt, and the king then challenged him to shoot an apple
+from the head of his son. Palnatoke obeyed, and the apple fell, pierced
+by the arrow. This cruel act made Palnatoke the bitter foe of King
+Harald, and gathering around him a band of fierce vikings he founded a
+brotherhood of sea-rovers at Jomsborg, and for long years afterwards the
+Jomsborgers, or Jomsborg vikings, were a frightful scourge to all
+Christian lands on the Baltic Sea. In former tales we have told some of
+their exploits.
+
+It is said that Sweyn himself, in a later war, killed his father on the
+battlefield, while Palnatoke stood by approving, though in after years
+the two were bitter foes. All we need say further of these personages is
+that Sweyn invaded England with a powerful force in the time of Ethelred
+the Unready and drove this weak king from the island, making himself
+master of great part of the kingdom. He died at Gainsborough, England, in
+1014, leaving his son Knud, then a boy of fourteen, to complete the
+conquest. It is this son, known in England as Canute the Great, and the
+mightiest of all the Danish kings, with whose career we have to deal.
+
+England did not fall lightly into Canute's hands; he had to win it by
+force of arms. Encouraged by the death of Sweyn and the youth of Canute,
+the English recalled Ethelred and for a time the Danes lost the kingdom
+which their king Sweyn had won. Canute did not find a throne awaiting him
+in Denmark. His younger brother Harald had been chosen king by the Danes
+and when Canute asked him for a share in the government, Harald told him
+that if he wished to be a king he could go back and win England for
+himself. He would give him a few ships and men, but the throne of Denmark
+he proposed to keep.
+
+Nothing loth, Canute accepted the offer and the next year returned to
+England with a large and well appointed force, whose work of conquest was
+rapidly performed. Ethelred died and great part of England was
+surrendered without resistance to the Danes. But Edmond, Ethelred's son,
+took the field with an army and in three months won three victories over
+the invaders.
+
+A fourth battle was attempted and lost and Edmond retreated to the
+Severn, swiftly followed by Canute. The two armies here faced each other,
+with the fate of England in the balance, when a proposal in close accord
+with the spirit of the times was made. This was to settle the matter by
+single combat between the kings. Both were willing. While Edmond had the
+advantage in strength, Canute was his superior in shrewdness. For when
+the champions met in deadly fray and Canute was disarmed by his opponent,
+the wily Dane proposed a parley, and succeeded in persuading Edmond to
+divide the kingdom between them. The agreement was accepted by the armies
+and the two kings parted as friends--but the death of Edmond soon after
+had in it a suspicious appearance of murder by poison.
+
+On the death of Edmond, Canute called a meeting of the popular assembly
+of the nation and was acknowledged king of all England. Not long
+afterwards Harald of Denmark died and the Danes chose him, under his
+home name of Knud, as their king also. But he stayed in Denmark only long
+enough to settle the affairs of the Church in that realm. He ordered that
+Christianity should be made the religion of the kingdom and the worship
+of Odin should cease; and put English bishops over the Danish clergy. He
+also brought in English workmen to teach the uncivilized Danes. Thus,
+Dane as Canute was, he preferred the religion and conditions of his
+conquered to those of his native kingdom, feeling that it was superior in
+all the arts and customs of civilization.
+
+A great king was Canute, well deserving the title long given him of
+Canute the Great. Having won England by valor and policy, he held it by
+justice and clemency. He patronized the poets and minstrels and wrote
+verses in Anglo-Saxon himself, which were sung by the people and added
+greatly to his popularity. Of the poems written by him one was long a
+favorite in England, though only one verse of it now remains. This was
+preserved by the monks of Ely, since they were its theme. Thus it runs,
+in literal translation:
+
+               "Merrily sung the monks within Ely
+               When Canute King rowed by;
+               Row, knights, near the land,
+               And hear we these monks' song."
+
+It is said that the verse was suggested to the king when rowing with his
+chiefs one day in the river Nene, near Ely Minster, by the sweet and
+solemn music of the monastery choir that floated out to them over the
+tranquil water. The monks of Ely, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of
+King Canute, tell us that he had a strong affection for the fen country
+and for their church, and gave the following story in that connection. It
+is at once picturesque and humorous.
+
+One year, at the festival of the Purification, when King Canute proposed
+to pay his usual visit to Ely, the weather was very severe and all the
+streams and other waters were frozen. The courtiers advised the king to
+keep the holy festival in some other godly house, which he might reach
+without danger of drowning under broken ice, but such was his love for
+the abbot and monks of Ely that he would not take this advice.
+
+Canute proposed to cross the ice by way of Soham Mere, then an immense
+body of water, saying that if any one would go before and show him the
+way he would be the first to follow. The soldiers and courtiers hesitated
+at this suggestion, and looked at one another with doubt and dread. But
+standing among the crowd was one Brithmar, a churl or serf, who was
+nicknamed Budde, or Pudding, from his stoutness. He was a native of the
+island of Ely and doubtless familiar with its waters, and when the
+courtiers held back he stepped forward and said he would go before and
+show the way.
+
+"Go on then, in the name of our Lady," said Canute, "and I will follow;
+for if the ice on Soham Mere can bear a man so large and fat as thou
+art, it will not break under the weight of a small thin man like me."
+
+So the churl went forward, and Canute the Great followed him, and after
+the king came the courtiers, one by one, with spaces between; and they
+all got safely over the frozen mere, with no mishaps other than a few
+slips and falls on the smooth ice; and Canute, as he had proposed, kept
+the festival of the Purification with the monks of Ely.
+
+As a reward to the fat churl Brithmar for his service, he was made a
+freeman and his little property was also made free. "And so," the
+chronicle concludes, "Brithmar's posterity continued in our days to be
+freemen and to enjoy their possessions as free by virtue of the grant
+made by the king to their forefather."
+
+There is another and more famous story told of King Canute, one showing
+that his great Danish majesty had an abundant share of sound sense. Often
+as this story has been told it will bear retelling. The incident occurred
+after his pilgrimage to Rome in the year 1030; made, it is said, to
+obtain pardon for the crimes and bloodshed which paved his way to the
+English throne.
+
+After his return and when his power was at its height, the courtiers
+wearied him by their fulsome flatteries. Disgusted with their extravagant
+adulations he determined to teach them a lesson. They had spoken of him
+as a ruler before whom all the powers of nature must bend in obedience,
+and one day he caused his golden throne to be set on the verge of the
+sea-shore sands as the tide was rolling in with its resistless might.
+Seating himself on the throne, with his jewelled crown on his head, he
+thus addressed the ocean:
+
+"O thou Ocean! Know that the land on which I sit is mine and that thou
+art a part of my dominion; therefore rise not, but obey my commands, and
+do not presume to wet the edge of my royal robe."
+
+He sat as if awaiting the sea to obey his commands, while the courtiers
+stood by in stupefaction. Onward rolled the advancing breakers, each
+moment coming nearer to his feet, until the spray flew into his face, and
+finally the waters bathed his knees and wet the skirts of his robe. Then,
+rising and turning to the dismayed flatterers, he sternly said:
+
+"Confess now how vain and frivolous is the might of an earthly king
+compared with that Great Power who rules the elements and says unto the
+ocean, 'Thus far shalt thou go and no farther!'"
+
+The monks who tell this story, conclude it by saying that Canute
+thereupon took off his crown and deposited it within the cathedral of
+Winchester, never wearing it again.
+
+After his visit to Rome, Canute ruled with greater mildness and justice
+than ever before, while his armies kept the turbulent Scotch and Welsh
+and the unquiet peoples of the north in order. In the latter part of his
+reign he could boast that the English, the Scotch, the Welsh, the Danes,
+the Swedes, and the Norwegians were his subjects, and he was called in
+consequence "The King of the Six Nations," and looked upon throughout
+Europe as the greatest of sovereigns; none of the kings and emperors of
+that continent being equal in power, wealth and width of dominion to King
+Canute, a descendant of the vikings of Denmark.
+
+Canute spent the most of his life in England, but now and then visited
+his northern realm, and there are some interesting anecdotes of his life
+there. Though a devout Christian and usually a self-controlled man, the
+wild passions of his viking ancestry would at times break out, and at
+such times he spared neither friend nor foe and would take counsel from
+no man, churchman or layman. But when his anger died out his remorse was
+apt to be great and he would submit to any penance laid upon him by the
+Church. Thus when he had killed one of his house servants for some slight
+offense, he made public confession of his crime and paid the same
+blood-fine as would have been claimed from a man of lower rank.
+
+The most notable instance of these outbursts of uncontrollable anger was
+that in which he murdered his old friend and brother-in-law Ulf, who,
+after rebelling against him, had saved him from complete defeat by the
+Swedes, by coming to his rescue just as the royal fleet was nearly
+swamped by the opening of the sluices which held back the waters of the
+Swedish river Helge-aae. Ulf took Canute on board his own ship and
+brought him in safety to a Danish island, while leaving his men to aid
+those of Canute in their escape from the Swedes. Yet the king bore a
+grudge against the earl, and this was its cause.
+
+At one time Ulf ruled over Denmark as Canute's regent and made himself
+greatly beloved by the people from his just rule. Queen Emma, Canute's
+wife, wished to have her little son Harthaknud--or Hardicanute, as he was
+afterwards called in England--made king of Denmark, but could not
+persuade her husband King Canute to accede to her wishes. She therefore
+sent letters privately to Ulf, saying that the king wished to see the
+young prince on the throne, but did not wish to do anything the people
+might not like. Ulf, deceived by her story, had the boy crowned king, and
+thereby won Canute's ill-will.
+
+The king, however, showed no signs of this, nor of resentment against Ulf
+for his rebellion, but, after his escape from the Swedes, asked the earl
+to go with him to his palace at Roeskilde, and on the evening of their
+arrival offered to play chess with him. During the game Canute made a
+false move so that Ulf was able to take one of his knights, and when the
+king refused to let this move count and wanted his man back again the
+earl jumped up and said he would not go on with the game. Canute, in a
+burst of anger, cried out:
+
+"The coward Norwegian Ulf Jarl is running away."
+
+"You and your coward Danes would have run away still faster at the
+Helge-aae if I and my Norwegians had not saved you from the Swedes, who
+were making ready to beat you all like a pack of craven hounds!"
+ejaculated the angry earl.
+
+Those hasty words cost Ulf his life. Canute, furious at the insult,
+brooded over it all night, and the next morning, still in a rage, called
+to one of the guards at the door of his bed-chamber:
+
+"Go and kill Ulf Jarl."
+
+"My Lord King, I dare not," answered the man. "Ulf Jarl is at prayer
+before the altar of the church of St. Lucius."
+
+The king, after a moment's pause, turned to a young man-at-arms who had
+been in his service since his boyhood and cried angrily:
+
+"I command you, Olaf, to go to the church and thrust your sword through
+the Jarl's body."
+
+Olaf obeyed, and Ulf was slain while kneeling before the altar rails of
+St. Lucius' church.
+
+Then, as usual with King Canute, his passion cooled and he deeply
+lamented his crime, showing signs of bitter remorse. In way of expiation
+he paid to his sister Estrid, Ulf's widow, a large sum as blood-fine, and
+gave her two villages which she left at her death to the church in which
+her husband had been slain. He also brought up Ulf's eldest son as one of
+his own children. The widowed Estrid afterwards married Robert, Duke of
+Normandy, father of William the Conqueror, who in 1066 became master of
+England.
+
+King Canute died in 1035, at thirty-six years of age, and his son Harald
+reigned after him in England for four years, and afterwards his son
+Harthaknud, or Hardicanute, for three years, when England again came
+under an Anglo-Saxon king--to fall under the power of William of
+Normandy, a conqueror of Norwegian descent, twenty-four years later.
+
+
+
+
+_MAGNUS THE GOOD AND HAROLD HARDRULER._
+
+
+After the death of King Olaf the Saint, and after the Danes had for some
+years ruled over Norway, Olaf's son Magnus, who had been left in Russia,
+was brought to Norway and proclaimed king. The Danes had oppressed the
+people, and had put over them a woman and her son, and it was this that
+made the chiefs drive out the tyrants and put young Magnus, then a boy of
+ten years of age, on the throne.
+
+A curious thing then took place, one of those strange political
+somersaults which at times come in the history of nations. For as the
+Danes had lately ruled over Norway, now a Norseman came to rule over
+Denmark. Thus it was that this odd change came about.
+
+The great King Canute was dead and his son Hardicanute had succeeded him
+on the throne. This new king claimed Norway as his and prepared to fight
+for it. But the chief men in the two countries succeeded in making peace,
+with the agreement that if either of the kings should die without heirs
+the other should take his throne. A few years later Hardicanute died and
+Magnus was proclaimed king of Denmark. Thus, in the year 1042, the two
+kingdoms became united under a Norse king, a descendant of Harold the
+Fair-Haired.
+
+Magnus, as he grew up, showed an ugly and revengeful temper. Very likely
+some of those around him told the boy that he should avenge his father
+upon those who had rebelled against and killed him. One of these men was
+slain by his orders, others fled from the country, and many were made
+poor by the loss of their cattle. This made the people very angry, and
+they were ready to fight for just treatment when peace was brought about
+in another way, the hot-tempered Magnus being subdued by the power of
+song.
+
+One of the poets of the land--scalds they were called--made a song called
+the Lay of Candor, which he sang before the king. In it he warned him of
+the evil results of a revengeful spirit and told him of the duties he
+owed the people who had brought him to Norway and made him king. Magnus,
+who had now nearly reached the years of manhood, listened quietly to this
+song and afterwards sat long in deep thought. It had a wonderful effect
+on him, for it opened his eyes to the injustice of his course, and from
+that day he was a new man. All his plans of vengeance fled, he became
+kind and gentle and so mild and sweet in manner that he grew to be one of
+the best loved of kings. This may be seen in the name the people gave
+him, which was that of Magnus the Good.
+
+Now we must tell the rest of his story very rapidly. As the heir of
+Hardicanute he claimed to be king of England as well as of Norway and
+Denmark, and he might have tried to win the crown of England, then worn
+by Edward the Confessor, had he not been kept busy at home. In fact, he
+had to fight hard to keep the crown of Denmark, for Sweyn, a nephew of
+the great Canute, claimed it and a fierce war followed. Magnus was
+victorious in this war, and in one great battle, in which ten thousand
+soldiers were slain, it was his skill and courage that won the field.
+This display of personal bravery gave him a great name in the north.
+
+Now we must leave the story of Magnus for a time to take up that of
+another hero of the north. Those who have read the tale of Olaf the Saint
+will remember his amusing talk with his three little half-brothers, and
+how while the two elder had an ambition only for land and cows, Harold,
+the youngest, wanted men and ships, and Olaf prophesied that the boy
+would one day be a king.
+
+When Harold grew up the spirit of the boy was shown in the man. When only
+fifteen years old he fought in the battle in which King Olaf was killed,
+and received a severe wound. Then he became a wanderer, going first to
+Russia and then to Constantinople, where he became the captain of the
+Varangians, the body-guard of Norsemen kept by the Greek emperors. A
+large, bold, strong, and reckless champion, Harold gained a great name in
+the south. He fought against the Saracens and won much treasure; he
+fought in Sicily and captured many cities; he had adventures in love and
+war and many wonderful stories are told of his exploits. Then he came
+back to Russia and married Elizabeth, the daughter of King Jaroslov,
+love for whom had sent him abroad to win fame and riches.
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN FARM BUILDINGS.]
+
+Not long after this King Magnus, as he was sailing one day along the
+coast of Denmark, saw gliding along the most magnificent ship he had ever
+beheld. He at once sent men aboard to learn to whom the beautiful galley
+belonged, and they were met by a tall and handsome man, who said that he
+had been sent by Harold Sigurdsson, the uncle of King Magnus, to learn
+how the king would receive him. Magnus, who was then nineteen years old,
+sent word that he would gladly welcome his uncle and hoped to find in him
+a good friend. When they met the tall man proved to be Harold himself and
+Magnus was highly pleased with him.
+
+He was not so well pleased when Harold asked to be made king also, laying
+claim to half the kingdom. And Harold himself was not well pleased when
+one of the Norse chiefs said that if Magnus was to share the kingdom with
+him, he should divide his great treasure with Magnus.
+
+Harold replied hastily and haughtily that he had not dared death and won
+wealth that he might make his nephew's men rich. The chief answered that
+he and his friends had not won Norway from the Danes for the purpose of
+giving half of it to a stranger, and all the other earls and warriors
+agreed with him, so that Harold found that the apple which he wished to
+divide was not so easily to be cut.
+
+After that there was war and plundering and the cruel deeds that take
+place when the sword is drawn, and a year or two later Harold called an
+assembly of the people of one district of Norway and had himself
+proclaimed king. Magnus, who did not want to fight his father's brother,
+finally yielded to Harold's claim and agreed that they should both be
+kings; not to divide the realm, but both to rule over the whole country
+together. Thus it was that Harold won the prize which he had craved as a
+young child.
+
+Every one would say that a compact of this kind could not work well. A
+gentle, kindly, generous-hearted man like King Magnus was ill matched
+with a haughty, wealth-loving, tyrannical man like Harold. No doubt many
+bitter words passed between them, and the peasants were so incensed by
+Harold's oppression and extortion of money from them that they would have
+broken into open rebellion only for the love they bore King Magnus. The
+latter was often so incensed that he was tempted to put an end to the
+double kingship even if he had to remove his troublesome partner by
+violence.
+
+But this was not to be. One day, while out riding, his horse took fright
+and threw him, his head striking a stump. He was at first stunned, but
+seemed to recover. Soon afterwards he was taken sick with a violent fever
+and gradually sank, so that it became apparent that he would die. On his
+death-bed he decided that Sweyn, who had fought so hard to win from him
+the crown of Denmark, had a better right to that kingdom than Harold, and
+men were sent to inform him of his succession to the Danish throne. But
+he had barely closed his eyes in death when Harold sent other men to
+intercept these messengers. He proposed to keep Denmark for himself.
+
+The death of King Magnus without an heir left Harold the undisputed
+successor to the throne, as the only living descendant in the male line
+of Harold the Fair-Haired. Yet the people were far from pleased, for he
+had already shown a disposition to treat them harshly and they feared
+that a tyrant had succeeded to the throne. By his stern rule he gained
+several uncomplimentary titles, the English calling him Harold the
+Haughty, the Germans Harold the Inflexible, and the Northmen Harold the
+Hardruler. Yet he was able to hold his own over his people, for he was
+strong and daring, skilled in the art of war, and a man of unusual
+intellect. He was also a poet and won fame by his verses. He would sit up
+half the night with the blind scald Stuf Katson, to hear him recite his
+stirring songs.
+
+But if absolute ruler over Norway, Harold found Denmark slipping away
+from him. Sweyn had in him the blood of the race of Canute, and was no
+weakling to be swept aside at a king's will. Magnus had left him the
+kingdom and he was bent on having it, if his good sword could win and
+hold it. In this he was supported by the Danes, and Harold found that the
+most he could do was to make descents on the Danish coast and plunder and
+murder the innocent people.
+
+After this idle kind of warfare had gone on for a number of years and
+Harold found that all he had gained by it was the hatred of the Danes, he
+made an agreement with Sweyn to fight it out between them. They were to
+meet at the mouth of the Goetha Elv and whoever won in the battle was to
+be the king of Denmark. It was a kind of duel for a crown.
+
+But Sweyn tried to gain his end by stratagem. When Harold appeared with
+his fleet at the appointed place Sweyn and his ships were not to be seen.
+Harold waited a while, fuming and fretting, and then sailed south to
+Jutland, where he ravaged the coast, took and burned the city of Heidaby,
+carried away a number of women of high rank, and filled his ships with
+plunder. Then he turned homeward, with so little fear of the Danes that
+he let his ships widely scatter.
+
+The winds were adverse, the weather was foggy, and one morning while they
+lay at anchor by an island shore, the lookout saw a bright flash through
+the fog. The king was hastily called, and on seeing it cried:
+
+"What you see is the flash of the morning sun on the golden dragon-heads
+of warships. The Danish fleet is upon us!"
+
+The peril was imminent. It was hopeless to fight with the few ships at
+command. Only flight remained and that was almost as hopeless. The oars
+were got out in haste, but the ships, soaked and heavy from their long
+cruise, were hard to move, and as the fog lifted under the sun rays, the
+Danish fleet, several hundred strong, bore down swiftly upon them. The
+emergency was one that needed all the wit and skill of the king to meet.
+
+To distract the enemy Harold bade his men nail bright garments and other
+showy spoil to logs and cast them overboard. As these floated through the
+Danish ships many of them stopped to pick up the alluring prizes. He also
+was obliged to throw overboard casks of beer and pork to lighten his
+ships and these also were picked up. Yet in spite of all he could do the
+Danes gained on him, and his own ship, which brought up the rear, was in
+danger of capture.
+
+As a last resort the shrewd king had rafts made of boards and barrels and
+put on these the high-born women he held as captives. These rafts were
+set afloat one after another, and the pursuers, on seeing these hapless
+fair ones and hearing their wild appeals for rescue, were obliged to stop
+and take them up. This final stratagem succeeded and Harold escaped,
+leaving Sweyn, who had felt sure of capturing his enemy, furious at his
+failure.
+
+At another time, ten years and more later, Harold again fell into peril
+and again escaped through his fertility in resources. Having beaten his
+rival in a naval battle, he entered the long and narrow Lim fiord to
+plunder the land, fancying that Sweyn was in no condition to disturb him.
+He reckoned too hastily. Sweyn, learning where his foe was, gathered what
+ships he could and took post at Hals, the fiord being there so narrow
+that a few ships could fight with advantage against a much greater
+number.
+
+Though caught in a trap Harold was not dismayed, but gave orders to sail
+to the inner end of the fiord. He knew that it ended near the North Sea,
+only a narrow isthmus dividing them. Then, with great trouble and labor,
+he managed to have his ships dragged across the isthmus and launched on
+the sea waters, and away he sailed in triumph, leaving Sweyn awaiting him
+in vain.
+
+Finally, with the desire to bring this useless strife to an end, if
+possible, a new compact was made to meet with their fleets in the Goetha
+Elv and fight once more for the kingdom of Denmark. It was now 1062,
+thirteen years after the former battle. As before, on reaching the place
+designated, no Danish ship was visible. But it is difficult to credit
+what we are told, that Harold, after a vain wait, made the same error as
+before, dividing his fleet and sending the greater part of it home. With
+the remainder, one hundred and eighty ships strong, he sailed along the
+coast, and suddenly found himself in the presence of the Danes, with two
+ships to his one.
+
+This time Harold did not flee, but joined battle bravely with his enemy,
+the contest lasting through a whole night and ending in a complete
+victory over the Danes. It was a great victory, yet it brought Harold no
+advantage, for Sweyn did not keep to his compact--if he had made one--to
+surrender his throne, and the Danes hated Harold so thoroughly for his
+cruel raids on their land that they had no idea of submitting to him. Two
+years more passed on, and then Harold, finding that the conquest of
+Denmark was hopeless, consented against his will to make peace. In this
+way Sweyn, after many years of battling for his throne, forced his
+powerful antagonist to give up the contest and promise never to disturb
+him again.
+
+Two years after this peace was made, in the year 1066, King Harold took
+part in another adventure which brought his tyranny and his life to an
+end. It is worth telling for another reason, for it was connected with a
+great historical event, the conquest of England by William the Conqueror.
+For these two reasons it is very fitting that it should be told.
+
+King Harold of England, who was soon to fall on the fatal field of
+Hastings, had a brother, Earl Tostig, who, fired by ambition, set out to
+conquer that kingdom for himself. He went first to Denmark and tried to
+get King Sweyn to join him in the enterprise, but the prudent Sweyn told
+him that he had no desire to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Canute,
+but was quite content to dwell at home and rule his own kingdom.
+
+Then Tostig sought Norway, where he found King Harold far more ready to
+listen to him. So in September of that year, Harold sailed from Norway
+with the most powerful fleet and army that had ever left its shores.
+Counting what was added in the Orkneys and the force under Earl Tostig,
+it numbered about three hundred and fifty ships and thirty thousand men.
+Landing in Northumberland, a victory was won and the city of York taken.
+Then, leaving about one-third of the army to guard the ships, Harold and
+Tostig encamped at Stamford Bridge, seven miles from York.
+
+It was a warm day, there was no reason to fear danger, and the men
+lounged about without their arms. In this unwary state they found
+themselves suddenly face to face with a large army, led by the English
+King Harold, who had marched north in furious haste. Tostig, finding that
+they had been taken by surprise, advised a retreat to the ships, but
+Harold was not the man to turn his back to his foe, and decided to stand
+and fight, ordering the men to arm and prepare for battle. While they
+were gathering in ranks for the fray, a party of English horsemen rode up
+and asked if Earl Tostig was there.
+
+"You see him before you," said Tostig.
+
+"Your brother Harold sends you greeting and offers you peace and the rule
+of Northumberland. If he cannot gain your friendship for less, he will
+grant you one-third his kingdom."
+
+"Last year he had only scorn and disdain to offer me," replied Tostig.
+"But if I should accept his proposal, what has he to offer my ally, the
+king of Norway?"
+
+"He will grant him seven feet of English soil; or more if his length of
+body needs it."
+
+"If that is your best offer," said Tostig, "ride back and bid Harold to
+begin the battle."
+
+Harold of Norway had heard this brief colloquy, and as the English
+horsemen rode away asked Tostig who was the speaker.
+
+"That was my brother, Harold himself," answered Tostig.
+
+"I learn that too late," said Harold grimly.
+
+The battle that followed was hotly contested. It began with a charge of
+the English cavalry, which was repulsed, and was followed up fiercely by
+the Norsemen, who fancied the flight of the English to mean a general
+rout. In this way they broke their ranks, which the king wished to
+preserve until reinforcements could reach him from the ships. Forward
+rushed the impatient Norsemen, King Harold throwing himself into their
+midst and fighting with savage fury. His men seconded him, the English
+ranks wavered and broke before the fierce onset, and victory seemed
+within the grasp of the invaders, when an arrow pierced King Harold's
+throat and he fell in a dying state from his horse.
+
+His fall checked the onset, and the English king, hearing of his death,
+offered his brother an armistice. Tostig refused this and led his men
+back to the fray, which was resumed with all its old fury. But Tostig,
+too, was slain, and the king's brother-in-law, who arrived with
+reinforcements from the ships, met with the same fate. By this time the
+battlefield was covered with the bodies of the dead, and the Norsemen,
+dispirited by the loss of their leaders, gave way and retreated towards
+the ships, hotly pursued by their victorious foes. Of their great host
+only a small remnant succeeded in reaching the ships.
+
+Thus ended the great fight at Stamford Bridge, and with it the reign and
+life of Harold Hardruler, who fell a victim to his ambition and love of
+strife. For years thereafter the bones of men lay scattered widely over
+that field, for none stayed to bury the dead, the Norsemen fleeing in
+their ships, while news of the landing of William of Normandy called
+Harold hastily to the south--where he fell in the midst of the fighting
+at Hastings as Harold of Norway had fallen on Stamford Field. Harold's
+invasion of England was the last great exploit of the vikings of the
+north, and though Ireland was invaded later by a Norseland fleet, no
+foreign foe after the fatal days at Stamford and Hastings ever landed on
+England's shores.
+
+
+
+
+_SVERRE, THE COOK'S SON, AND THE BIRCHLEGS._
+
+
+In the year 1177 those people in Norway who loved a joke must have
+laughed to their hearts' content, when the tidings reached them that the
+son of a cook, followed by seventy ragged and half armed men, had set out
+to win the throne of the kingdom. Surely a more extraordinary and
+laughable enterprise was never undertaken, and the most remarkable thing
+about it was that it succeeded. A few years of desperate adventures and
+hard fighting raised the cook's son to the throne, and those who had
+laughed at his temerity were now glad to hail him as their king. How
+Sverre the adventurer won the crown is a tale full of adventure and amply
+worth the telling.
+
+No common man was Sverre and no common woman was his mother Gunhild, a
+cook in the kitchen of King Sigurd Mouth. Not handsome was she, but quick
+of wit and bright of brain. If the king had had his way the boy would
+have had a very short life, for he bade the mother to kill her child as
+soon as it should be born. Instead of consenting to this cruel mandate,
+she fled from the palace to a ship, which took her to the Faroe Islands,
+and here her son was born. She was then serving as milkmaid to Bishop
+Mathias.
+
+The little Sverre began his life with an adventure. When he was a few
+months old a man named Unas came from Norway to the islands, a smith or
+comb-maker by profession. But Gunhild suspected him of being a spy sent
+by King Sigurd to kill her son, and she hid the boy in a cavern, which is
+still called Sverre's Cave. He acted like a spy, for he followed her to
+the cave, found where she had hidden the child, and threatened to kill it
+unless she would marry him. Gunhild had no love for this dangerous
+stranger, but she dearly loved her little son, and with much reluctance
+she consented to marry Unas to save the babe's life.
+
+Such was the first event in the life of the later King Sverre. The
+new-married pair went back to Norway, for King Sigurd had died, but when
+the boy was five years old they returned to the Faroes, for Bishop
+Mathias was now dead, and Roe, the brother of Unas, had been made bishop
+in his stead.
+
+The little fellow was made to believe that he was the son of Unas, and as
+he grew up Bishop Roe took a great fancy to him, for he showed himself to
+be very bright and intelligent. There was no boy in the island his equal,
+so the good bishop had him educated for the priesthood and when he was
+old enough had him ordained in the lowest priestly grade.
+
+This was much against the wish of Gunhild, his mother, who had higher
+hopes for his future, and when he proudly told her that he was now a
+priest, and hoped some day to become a bishop, or even a cardinal, she
+burst into tears.
+
+"Why do you weep, mother?" he asked in surprise. "I do not know why you
+should hear of my honor with sorrow."
+
+"Oh, my son," she cried, "this is but a small honor compared to that to
+which you were born. I have not told you of the great station that is
+yours by right, but must now say that you are not the son of my husband
+Unas, but of King Sigurd of Norway, and you have as good a claim as any
+man living to the throne."
+
+This surprising revelation destroyed Sverre's peace of mind. All his
+ambition to rise in the priesthood was gone, the crown of a kingdom
+seemed to float in the air before him, and his thoughts by day and his
+dreams by night were fixed on that shining goal. The great hopes in his
+mind kept sleep from his eyes and after days of mental unrest he felt
+that life was worthless to him if his high ambition were not fulfilled.
+
+"Since I am born heir to the crown," he said to his mother, "I have as
+much right to it as any man, and I will strive at any cost to win it. I
+stake my life on this cast, for without it life to me has lost all its
+joy."
+
+Magnus, the king then on the throne, was not of royal birth. He was the
+son of Erling Skakke, a great and ambitious nobleman, who had killed
+every descendant of the royal house he could find to make his own son
+king. Of the boy who was destined to dispute his claim, the cook's son on
+the Faroes, he knew nothing, and when the bright youth landed in Norway,
+whether he had gone in spite of the protests of Bishop Roe, not a soul in
+the kingdom dreamed that a new claimant for the throne was in the realm.
+
+No one was likely to learn from Sverre until his plans were ripe. He was
+too shrewd and cautious for that. He wanted to feel the sentiment of the
+people, and was disappointed to find them all well satisfied with their
+king. Full of humor and a good talker, everybody he met was pleased with
+him, and when he talked with the men-at-arms of Erling Skakke they told
+him all they knew about the state of affairs. They were quite won over by
+this lively priest from the Faroes. He even made the acquaintance of
+Erling Skakke himself and got a thorough idea of his character.
+
+The cunning adventurer was feeling his way and found things not at all to
+his liking. To attempt, alone and with an empty pocket, to drive a
+favorite monarch from the throne, seemed the act of madness. But the
+ambitious youth had dreamed his dream of royal state and had no fancy for
+returning to a humble priesthood on the bleak Faroes.
+
+In Sweden, across the border, dwelt Earl Birger, who had married a sister
+of King Sigurd Mouth. To him Sverre went, told who he was, and begged for
+aid. The earl looked on him as an imposter and would have nothing to do
+with him. Then he sought Folkvid the Lawman, with whom lived his
+half-sister Cecilia, and told him the same story. Folkvid received him
+more graciously, but he had no power to make him king. But the rumor
+that a son of the late King Sigurd was in the land got abroad, and soon
+made its way to the ears of a band of rebels who hated the king.
+
+Here we must go back a step. All the people of Norway were not content
+with the new king. From time to time pretenders to the throne arose,
+hornets whom Magnus and his father Erling had some trouble in destroying.
+They had their following, and the malcontents gathered at last around
+Eystein Meyla (Little Girl), who professed to be the grandson of a former
+king. But all this last of the pretenders was able to do was to roam
+about in the wilderness, keeping himself and his followers from starving
+by robbing the people. They were in so desperate a state that they had to
+use birch-bark for shoes, and the peasants in derision called them
+Birkebeiner, or Birchlegs. Though little better than highwaymen, they
+were sturdy and daring and had some success, but finally were badly
+beaten by the king and their leader slain. They might have never been
+heard of again had not the greatest of the pretenders just then came to
+Norway.
+
+The rumor that a son of King Sigurd Mouth was in the land reached the
+ears of the handful of Birchlegs remaining and, learning where Sverre
+was, they sought him and begged him to be their chief. He looked at them,
+and seeing what dirty and ragged vagabonds they were, he told them that
+he had no fancy for being their leader, that there was no link of
+connection between them and him but poverty, and advised them, if they
+wanted a chief, to seek one of Earl Birger's sons, who, like himself,
+were of royal descent.
+
+The beggarly troop took his advice, but the earl's son would have nothing
+to do with them. By way of a joke he told them to go back to Sverre and
+threaten to kill him if he would not be their leader. They did so, using
+persuasions and possibly threats, and Sverre, seeing no hope of success
+among the great, finally consented to become the leader of this ragged
+band of brigands. Such was his first definite step on the road to the
+throne.
+
+In this humble fashion, the ambitious young prince, then about
+twenty-four years old, with empty hands and pockets and seventy ragged
+followers, began his desperate strife for the throne of Norway.
+
+From Vermeland, where his enterprise began, he led his forlorn seventy
+southward toward Viken, his party rolling on like a snowball and growing
+in size on its way, until it swelled to four hundred and twenty men. In
+spite of his protest, these vagabonds proclaimed him king and touched his
+sword to indicate their allegiance. But their devotion to his cause was
+not great, for when he forbade them to rob and plunder the peasants most
+of them left him. To test the remainder, he ordered them back to
+Vermeland and before they reached that region only the original seventy
+remained.
+
+Desperate was now the position of the youthful adventurer. He had
+declared himself a claimant for the throne and any one had the right to
+kill him. The peasants hated his robber band and he could get none to
+join him. They would rather have killed them all and thus earned the
+king's favor.
+
+Had young Sverre been a man of common mind his enterprise must now have
+reached its end. But he was a man of wonderful mental resources, daring,
+indefatigable, capable of bearing the most extreme reverses and rescuing
+himself from the most perilous situations. Followed by his faithful
+seventy, he wandered through the pathless mountain wilderness, hopeful
+and resourceful. His courage was unfailing. Often they had to live on
+bark and frozen berries, which were dug up from under the snow. At times
+some of his men, worn out with hunger and exposure, would drop lifeless
+on their barren paths; at times he had to sleep under his shield, as his
+only protection from the falling snow; but his heart kept stout through
+it all, and he chided those who talked of ending their misfortunes by
+suicide.
+
+As an example of his courage and endurance and his care of his men, we
+may tell the following anecdote. Once in his wanderings he came to a
+large mountain lake which had to be crossed. It could only be done on
+rafts, and the men were so exhausted that it proved desperate work to
+fell trees and build the necessary rafts. In time they were all
+despatched, Sverre boarding the last, which was so heavily laden that the
+water rose above his ankles.
+
+One man was still on the shore, so utterly worn out that he had to crawl
+to the water's edge and beg to be taken on, lest he should perish. The
+others grumbled, but Sverre would not listen to their complaints but
+bade them to take the man on. With his extra weight the raft sank till
+the water reached their knees. Though the raft threatened to go to the
+bottom Sverre kept a resolute face. A great fallen pine on the other side
+made a bridge up which the men clambered to safety, Sverre being the last
+to leave the raft. Scarcely had he done so when the watersoaked logs
+sank. The men looked on this as a miracle and believed more fully than
+ever that he would win.
+
+Now came the first success in his marvellous career. He had one hundred
+and twenty men on reaching the goal of his terrible journey, but here
+eighty men more joined him and with these two hundred followers he
+successfully faced a force of fourteen hundred which had been sent
+against him. With a native genius for warfare he baffled his enemies at
+every point, avoiding their onset, falling upon them at unexpected
+points, forcing them to scatter into separate detachments in the pursuit,
+then falling on and beating these detachments in succession. While he
+kept aware of their plans and movements, they never knew where to look
+for him, and in a short time the peasant army was beaten and dispersed.
+
+This striking success gave new courage and hope to the Birchlegs and they
+came in numbers to the place to which Sverre had summoned a body of
+twelve representatives from the province of Troendelag. These met and
+proclaimed him king of Norway. It was now the summer of 1177.
+
+The Birchlegs were hasty in supposing the beating of fourteen hundred
+peasants would bring success to their cause. Erling Skakke was still
+alive and active, and on hearing of the exploits of this new leader of
+rebels in the north, he got together a large fleet and sailed northward
+to deal with him.
+
+The new-proclaimed king was too wary to meet this powerful force and he
+sought refuge in the mountains again, leaving to Erling the dominion of
+the coast. And now, for two years, Sverre and his men led a precarious
+life, wandering hither and thither through the mountain wilderness and
+suffering the severest privations. He was like a Robin Hood of the
+Norwegian mountains, loving to play practical jokes on the peasants, such
+as appearing with his hungry horde at their Yuletide feasts and making
+way with the good cheer they had provided for themselves. He was obliged
+to forage in the valleys, but he took pity on the poor and more than once
+made the great suffer for acts of oppression.
+
+Everywhere he was hated as a desperate brigand; some believed him to be
+the devil himself. Naughty children were scared with the threat that the
+terrible Sverre would take them, and laundresses, beating their clothes
+at the river's brink, devoutly wished that Sverre's head was under the
+stone. Yet his undaunted resolution, his fights with the king's soldiers,
+his skirmishes with the peasants, and his boldness and daring in all
+situations, won him a degree of admiration even among those who feared
+and hated him.
+
+Thus for two years his adventurous career went on. Then came an event
+that turned the tide in his favor. Erling was still pursuing him and in
+June, 1179, was in the coast town of Nidaros, his son, Magnus, with him.
+In the harbor lay the fleet. The earl and the king were feasting with
+their followers when word was brought them that the Birchlegs were
+approaching.
+
+"I wish it was true," said the earl. "I should like nothing better than
+to meet that hound Sverre. But there will be no such good luck to-night,
+for I am told that the rascals have gone back to the mountains. You can
+go to bed in safety, for Sverre will not dare to trouble us when we are
+on the watch for him."
+
+To bed they went, sleeping heavily from their potations, and down on them
+came Sverre, who, as usual, was well informed about their situation.
+
+"Now is your time to fight bravely, and repay yourselves for your
+sufferings," he said to his men. "A fine victory lies before us. I shall
+promise you this. Any one of you who can prove that he has slain a
+liegeman shall be made a liegeman himself, and each of you shall be given
+the title and dignity of the man you have slain."
+
+Thus encouraged, the poorly-armed adventurers rushed down the hills into
+the town. One sturdy fellow who carried only a club was asked where his
+weapons were.
+
+"They are down in the town," he said. "The earl's men have them now. We
+are going there to get them."
+
+This they did. As they came on the warriors, hastily alarmed and heavy
+with their drunken sleep, flocked staggering into the streets, to be met
+with sword and lance. The confusion was great and the king had much
+trouble in rallying his men. Many chieftains advised flight to the ships,
+but the stout-hearted Erling was not ready for that.
+
+"It might be best," he said, "but I can't bear the thought of that
+brigand priest putting himself in my son's place."
+
+Leading his men outside the city, he awaited the attack. It came in
+haste, the Birchlegs falling furiously upon the much greater force before
+them. In the onset the earl was killed and his men were put to flight.
+The king, as he fled by, saw the bloody face of his father lying under
+the stars. He stooped and kissed him, saying:
+
+"We shall meet again, father, in the day of joy." Then he was borne away
+in the stream of flight.
+
+This decisive victory turned the tide of the war. The death of Erling
+removed Sverre's greatest opponent. King Magnus was no match for the
+priest-king, and the rebel force grew until the contest assumed the shape
+of civil war. Sverre no longer led a band of wanderers, but was the
+leader of an army.
+
+This was not the ordinary army recruited from the settled classes of
+society, but an army made up of the lower stratum of the people, now
+first demanding their share of the good things of life. Fierce and unruly
+as they were, Sverre knew how to control and discipline them. He kept his
+promise, as far as was possible, to reward his men with the honors of
+those they had slain, but charged them with the maintenance of law and
+order, punishing all who disobeyed his commands. This he could safely do,
+for they worshipped him. They had shared peril and suffering together,
+had lived as comrades, but through it all he had kept his authority
+intact and demanded obedience. Birchlegs they still called themselves,
+for they had grown proud of the title, and they named their opponents
+Heklungs, from the story that some of them had robbed a beggar woman
+whose money was wrapped in a cloak (_hekl_).
+
+For six years afterwards the war for dominion in Norway continued, the
+star of King Sverre steadily rising. In 1180 Magnus attacked his opponent
+with an army much larger than that of Sverre, but was utterly routed; and
+an army of peasants that came on afterwards, to kill the "devil's
+priest," met with the same ill success.
+
+Magnus now took refuge in Denmark, abandoning Norway to his rival, and
+from there he came year after year to continue the contest. In a naval
+battle in 1181, in which Sverre had less than half the number of ships of
+his opponent, his star seemed likely to set. The Birchlegs were not good
+at sea fighting and the Heklungs were pressing them steadily back, when
+Sverre sprang into the hottest of the fight, without a shield and with
+darts and javelins hurtling around him, and in stirring tones sang the
+Latin hymn, "Alma chorus domini."
+
+This hymn seemed to turn the tide of victory. Magnus, storming furiously
+forward at that moment, was wounded in the wrist as he was boarding a
+hostile ship. The pain caused him to pause and, his feet slipping on the
+blood-stained deck, he fell headlong backward, a glad shout of victory
+coming from the Birchlegs who saw him fall.
+
+Orm, one of King Magnus's captains, demanded what had happened.
+
+"The king is killed," he was told.
+
+"Then the fate of the realm is decided," he cried.
+
+Cutting the ropes that held the ships together, he took to flight,
+followed by others and breaking the line of battle. Leaping to his feet,
+Magnus called out that he was not hurt and implored them not to flee from
+certain victory. But the terror and confusion were too great, and Sverre
+took quick advantage of the opportunity, capturing a number of ships and
+putting the others to flight.
+
+The final battle in this contest for a throne came in 1184. It was one in
+which Sverre was in imminent danger of a fatal end to his career. Usually
+not easily surprised, he was now taken unawares. He had sailed up the
+Nore fiord with a few ships and a small force of men, to punish some
+parties who had killed his prefect. Magnus, afloat with twenty-six ships
+and over three thousand men, learned of this and pursued his enemy into
+the fiord.
+
+Sverre was caught in a trap. Not until he saw the hostile ships bearing
+down upon him had he a suspicion of danger. Escape was impossible. Great
+cliffs bounded the watery canon. He had but fourteen ships and not half
+his opponent's force of men. The Heklungs were sure that victory was in
+their hands. But when Sverre and his Birchlegs dashed forward and
+attacked them with berseker fury their confidence turned to doubt. Soon
+it began to appear that victory was to be on the other side. Before the
+furious onset the Heklungs fell in numbers. Many in panic leaped into the
+sea and were drowned, King Magnus among them. Till mid-night the hot
+contest continued, by which hour half the king's force were slain and all
+the ships captured. The drowned corpse of King Magnus was not found until
+two days after the battle, when it was taken to Bergen and buried with
+royal ceremony. His death ended the contest and Sverre was unquestioned
+king of the whole land.
+
+Shall we briefly conclude the story of King Sverre's reign? For twenty
+years it continued, the most of these years of war, for rebellion broke
+out in a dozen quarters and only the incessant vigilance and activity of
+a great king and great soldier enabled him to keep his throne and his
+life.
+
+After all his wars and perils, he died in his bed, March 9, 1202, worn
+out by his long life of toil and strain. Never before had Norway so noble
+and able a king; never since has it seen his equal. A man was he of small
+frame but indomitable soul, of marvellous presence of mind and fertility
+in resources; a man firm but kindly and humane; a king with a
+clear-sighted policy and an admirable power of controlling men and
+winning their attachment. Never through all its history has Norway known
+another monarch so admirable in many ways as Sverre, the cook's son.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FRIENDS AND FOES OF A BOY PRINCE._
+
+
+After the death of the great King Sverre tumult and trouble reigned in
+Norway. Several kings came to the throne, but none of them lived long,
+and there was constant fighting between the Birchlegs and the opposing
+party who called themselves Baglers. Year after year they kept their
+swords out and their spears in hand, killing one another, but neither
+party growing strong enough to put an end to the other. All this time the
+people were suffering and the country growing poorer, and a strong hand
+was needed at the helm of the ship-of-state.
+
+It was when King Inge, who was not of royal blood, and whose hand was not
+the strong hand needed, was on the throne, that new hope came to the
+people, for it was made known that they had among them a boy of kingly
+descent, a grandson of the noble Sverre. Men thought that King Sverre's
+line had died out, and there was great joy in their hearts when they
+learned that his son Haakon had left a son.
+
+This boy was born in 1203, son of the beautiful Inga of Varteig, whom
+King Haakon had warmly loved though she was not his wife. The little
+prince was named Haakon, after his father, but he was born in the midst
+of the Baglers, his father's foes, and the priest who baptized him bade
+Inga to keep his birth a strict secret, letting none outside her own
+family know that a new prince had come to the land.
+
+The secret was well kept for a time, but whispers got abroad, and Thrond,
+the priest, at length told the story to Erland of Huseby, whom he knew to
+be on the right side. Erland heard the news with joy, but feared peril
+for the little prince, thus born in the land of his enemies. Rumors were
+growing, danger might at any moment come, and though it was mid-winter, a
+season of deep snows and biting winds, he advised the priest to send the
+boy and his mother to the court of King Inge, offering himself to take
+them across the pathless mountains.
+
+The difficult journey was made in safety and the boy and his mother were
+kindly welcomed by the king, and joyfully greeted by the Birchlegs, who
+were strong in that district. Little Haakon was then less than two years
+old, and it is said that the old loyalists, who were eager to have a king
+of the royal blood, used in playfulness to pull him between them by the
+arms and legs, to make him grow faster.
+
+The Birchlegs were in fear of Haakon Galen, the king's brother, who was
+ambitious to succeed to the throne. Yet Earl Haakon took a great fancy to
+the helpless little child and seemed to love him as much as any of them.
+Thus the child prince, though in the midst of plotters for the throne,
+who would naturally be likely to act as his enemies, seemed protected by
+the good angels and brought safely through all his perils.
+
+Even when he was captured by the Baglers, when four years of age, they
+did not harm him, being possibly so taken by his infantile beauty and
+winning ways that they could not bring themselves to injure their little
+captive. In the end, after many fights and flights, in which neither
+party made any gains, the Birchlegs and Baglers grew tired of the useless
+strife and a treaty of peace was made between them, the king of the
+Baglers swearing allegiance to King Inge and becoming one of his earls.
+But new trouble was brewing for the youthful prince, for in 1212, when he
+was eight years old, a compact was made that none but those of legitimate
+birth should succeed to the throne. As his mother had not been a legal
+wife, this threatened to rob little Haakon of his royal rights.
+
+In doing this the plotters were like some politicians of the present day,
+who lay plans without consulting the people. They did not know how strong
+the sentiment was in favor of the old royal line. One of the old
+Birchlegs, on hearing of this compact, was bitterly angry. He had made
+frequent visits to the young prince, whom he loved and admired, but on
+his next visit he pushed away the playful lad, roughly bidding him
+begone.
+
+Haakon reproachfully asked, "What have I done to make you so angry?"
+
+"Go away from me," cried Helge, the veteran; "to-day you have been robbed
+of your right to the crown and I have ceased to love you."
+
+"Who did that and where was it done?"
+
+"It was done at the _Oere-thing_ [the Assembly at Oere], and those who
+did it were King Inge and his brother Earl Haakon."
+
+"Then you should not be angry with me, my kind Helge, nor be troubled
+about this. What they did cannot be lawful, for my guardian was not there
+to speak on my side."
+
+"Your guardian! Who is he?" asked Helge.
+
+"I have three guardians, God, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Olaf," said the
+boy solemnly. "To their keeping I give my cause, and they will guard me
+against all wrong."
+
+The old man, at this declaration, caught the boy in his arms and kissed
+him.
+
+"Thanks for your wise words, my prince," he said. "Words like those are
+better spoken than unspoken."
+
+These words show that the little fellow was coming to think for himself
+and had an active and earnest mind. In fact, he was so precocious and
+said such droll things as greatly to amuse the king and those around him.
+Here is one of his sayings, spoken in a spell of cold weather when the
+butter could not be spread on the bread. The prince bent a piece of bread
+around the butter, saying:
+
+"Let us tie the butter to the bread, Birchlegs." This was thought so
+smart that it became a proverb among the Birchlegs.
+
+Soon after this Earl Haakon died and the little fellow, who had hitherto
+lived in his house, was taken to the king's court, where he was treated
+like a prince. The king was growing feeble from sickness and he loved to
+have the boy with him, finding his talk very amusing and entertaining.
+Soon after this he also died, Prince Haakon then being fourteen years
+old.
+
+Though Earl Haakon, the king's brother, who had hoped to be king, died,
+as we have said, before him, there was another brother named Skule who
+was quite as ambitious and of whom the Birchlegs were much afraid. A
+body-guard of these faithful warriors took charge of the boy as soon as
+King Inge was dead, with orders to follow him day and night.
+
+Earl Skule at once began to plan and plot to seize the throne, and in
+this he was supported by the archbishop, but in spite of them the
+Birchlegs proclaimed Haakon king and Skule had to yield to the strong
+sentiment in his favor. As for the noble then called king by the Baglers,
+he too died just at this time and left no children, so that the way was
+clear for the boy king, and Haakon soon sailed to the south with a large
+fleet and took possession of Viken and the Uplands, the chief dominions
+of the Baglers.
+
+By the wise policy of the young king and his advisers the Baglers were
+made his friends and the next year they were fighting with the Birchlegs
+against the Slittungs or Ragamuffins, who were made up of robbers,
+tramps, and wandering vagabonds of all kinds, thousands of whom had been
+set adrift by the civil war.
+
+But Haakon's worst foe was Earl Skule, who continued his plots and
+intrigues, and who was supported by the clergy, these saying they had
+doubts if the boy was really the son of the elder Haakon and grandson of
+King Sverre. Such things were not in those days usually settled in courts
+of law, but by what was called the ordeal, one form of which was to walk
+barefoot over red-hot irons. If not burned the accused was thought to
+have proved the justice of his cause.
+
+[Illustration: LINKOPING FROM TANNEFORS.]
+
+For a king already in possession of the throne to submit to such a demand
+and humble himself by thus trying to prove who he was, was a thing never
+done before and an old peasant gave vent to the general sentiment in
+these words:
+
+"Who can show in history a case of the sons of peasants prescribing terms
+like these to an absolute king? It would be wiser and more manly to bear
+another kind of iron--cold steel--against the king's foes, and let God
+judge between them in that way."
+
+But Inga, the king's mother, declared that she was ready to endure the
+ordeal and Haakon consented to it. Earl Skule now felt sure of
+succeeding, not dreaming that the ordeal could be gone through without
+burning, but to make more sure, he bribed a man to approach Inga and
+offer her an herb which he said would heal burns.
+
+The plot was discovered by the faithful Birchlegs and Inga warned of it;
+for to use such herbs would make the test invalid and subject Inga and
+her son to opprobrium. But all that Skule and his fellow-plotters could
+do proved of no avail, for Inga passed through the ordeal unhurt and
+triumphantly proved, in the legal system of that day, the justice of her
+cause. How red-hot iron was prevented from burning is a matter which we
+cannot discuss, and can only say that this ordeal was common and many are
+said to have gone through it unscathed.
+
+We set out in this story to tell how the child Haakon passed through all
+the perils that surrounded him and grew up to become Norway's king. Here
+then we should end, but for years new perils surrounded him and of these
+it is well to speak. They were due to the ambitious Earl Skule, who made
+plot after plot against the king's life, and was forgiven again and again
+by the noble-minded monarch.
+
+King Haakon's friends sought to put an end to this secret plotting by
+arranging a marriage between the young monarch and Earl Skule's still
+younger daughter Margaret. But this did not check him in his plots, and
+he finally set sail for Denmark to try and get aid from King Valdemar. He
+was ready to agree if the kingdom were won to reign as a vassal of the
+Danish king; but when he got there no such king was to be found. He had
+been captured in battle five days before, and was now with his son in a
+prison at Mecklenburg. The disappointed plotter had to sail home and
+pretend to be the king's friend as before.
+
+For years Skule's plots went on. He took the field against a new horde of
+rebels called the Ribbungs, but he took care never to press them too
+closely, and they long gave the king trouble. For more than twenty years
+Skule thus continued to plot and plan, the king discovering his schemes
+and pardoning him more than once, but nothing could cure him of his
+ambitious dream.
+
+In the end, when he was nearly fifty years old, he succeeded in having
+himself proclaimed king and in sending out bands of warriors who killed
+many faithful friends of King Haakon. He tried to conceal his purpose
+until he had gathered a large force, but one man escaped the vigilance of
+his guards and brought word of the treachery to Haakon. The latter,
+seeing that he must check this rebellion if he wished to sit safely on
+his throne, at once took to his fleet, sailed southward with the utmost
+speed, and rowed, under cover of a fog, up the Folden fiord to Oslo,
+where the rebel was. He had been carousing with his followers the night
+before and the wassailers were roused from their drunken sleep by the
+war-horns and ran out to see the king's ships driving in towards the
+piers.
+
+The rebels were quickly scattered, but Skule escaped, and at length was
+traced to the woods, where he was wandering with a few friends. The
+friars of a monastery took pity on them and hid them in a tower,
+disguised with monkish cowls. Despite their disguise they were traced to
+their hiding place, and when the friars refused to give them up the
+pursuers set fire to the tower. Driven out by the smoke and heat, Skule
+stepped from the gate, holding his shield above his head and saying:
+
+"Strike me not in the face; for it is not right to treat warriors thus."
+
+In a minute more he lay dead, slain by Birchleg swords.
+
+The next act in King Haakon's reign was to have himself crowned king, and
+thus to rid himself of the blot on his claim to the throne. After some
+negotiations with the Pope, a cardinal was sent from Rome, the ceremony
+being performed with much pomp and ceremony, and followed with the most
+magnificent feasts and festivities Norway had ever seen.
+
+From this time on King Haakon ruled as a wise, noble and powerful
+monarch, making his strength felt by his great fleet and setting Norway
+high among the nations of the north. He died at length in 1263, loved by
+his people and respected by all outside his realm.
+
+
+
+
+_KING VALDEMAR I. AND BISHOP ABSOLON._
+
+
+The most brilliant period in the history of Denmark was that of the
+reigns of the Valdemars, and especially of Valdemar I. and his sons,
+whose names and memories are still cherished in that kingdom, the Danes
+regarding them as the greatest and best monarchs they ever had.
+
+There were wretched times in Denmark before 1157, when Valdemar came to
+the throne, and his early years were passed in the midst of civil wars
+and all kinds of sorrows and troubles. When the new king was crowned and
+began the business of governing, he found little to govern with. There
+were no money, no soldiers, no trade, no order in the kingdom, everything
+being at so low an ebb that he found it necessary, as some writers state,
+to secure support from Germany by recognizing the Emperor Frederick
+Barbarossa as his suzerain and doing homage to him as a vassal in 1162.
+But this ceremony did not entail upon him any of the usual duties of a
+vassal, and was more of an ordinary alliance than a formal act of
+submission.
+
+Yet poor as was the state of Denmark when Valdemar came to it as king,
+when he died he left it a flourishing, busy and peaceful country, to
+which he had added great tracts of land on the pagan shores of the
+Baltic, whose people he forced to give up their heathen practices.
+
+During his reign Valdemar made as many as twenty expeditions against
+these piratical peoples, gradually subduing them. At first, indeed, he
+showed very little courage, and found so many reasons for turning back
+before meeting the foe, that the sailors looked upon him as a coward, and
+once he overheard one of them say with a laugh, that the king was "a
+knight who wore his spurs upon his toes, only to help him to run away the
+faster."
+
+This made him very angry, but on speaking of it to his foster-brother,
+Axel Hvide,--afterwards Bishop Absolon,--he found that the feeling that
+he lacked the courage of a warrior was general. This contempt made him so
+ashamed that from that time on he faced danger bravely and was never
+again known to turn back from any risk.
+
+Though Axel became a bishop, he had begun life as a soldier and was
+throughout life bold and daring, a man who loved nothing better than to
+command a ship or to lead his men in an assault against some fierce band
+of sea robbers. From his castle Axelborg, on the site of the later city
+of Copenhagen, he kept a keen lookout for these pirates and sought
+manfully to put an end to their plundering raids.
+
+The war against the Baltic heathens continued until 1168, when it ended
+in the capture of the town of Arcona, on the island of Rygen, and the
+destruction of the great temple of the Slavic god Svanteveit, whose
+monstrous four-headed image was torn down from its pedestal and burned in
+the presence of its dismayed worshippers.
+
+The taking of this temple is an event of much interest, for it was due to
+the shrewdness of a young Danish soldier, who circumvented the heathens
+by a clever stratagem.
+
+While the army lay encamped on the island beach, below the town of
+Arcona, this man noticed that the high cliffs on which the temple was
+built were honeycombed by many deep holes, which could not be seen from
+the ramparts above, but were quite visible from the beach below. One day
+it occurred to him that by making use of these holes he could roast the
+pagan worshippers out of their nests, and he arranged with some of his
+fellows to carry out his plan.
+
+Gathering such dry straw and small sticks as they could collect, the
+soldiers pretended to be playing at a game of pitch and toss, which if
+seen by the sentinels on the ramparts above would not seem suspicious to
+them. In this way they caused much of the straw and sticks to lodge in
+the holes in the steep cliff. Then, by using spears and stones for a
+ladder, one of them climbed for a distance up the steep rock wall and set
+fire to some of the inflammable rubbish in the holes.
+
+The effect was stupendous. The flames spread from hole to hole, creeping
+up the face of the rock until the wooden spikes and palings at its
+summit were in a blaze. This took place unseen by the pagans, who first
+took the alarm when they saw flames circling round the great mast from
+which floated the banner of their god.
+
+Before they could take any steps to extinguish the flames, and while they
+stood in a panic of apprehension, the Danes, headed by Bishop Absolon,
+rushed to the assault and succeeded in taking the town.
+
+There was nothing left for them but to accept baptism, on which their
+lives depended, and the worthy bishop and his monks were kept busy at
+this work for the next two days and nights, the bishop desisting only
+when, half blind from want of sleep, he dropped down before the altar
+that had been set up beside the fonts, where the converts were received
+and signed with the cross.
+
+The work of baptism done, King Valdemar caused the huge wooden idol of
+the god to be dragged amid martial music to the open plain beyond the
+town, where the army servants chopped it up into firewood. In this work
+the new converts could not be induced to take part, for, Christians as
+yet only in name, they feared some dread revenge from the great
+Svanteveit, such as lightning from heaven to destroy the Danes.
+
+The Christians of that age were quite as superstitious, for they declared
+that when the image was being carried out of the temple gates, a horrible
+monster, spitting fire and brimstone, burst from the roof and leaped with
+howls of wrath into the sea below, which opened to receive it, and
+closed over its head with billows of smoke and flame.
+
+Valdemar died in 1182, after making such friends of his people and doing
+so much for them, that when the funeral procession, headed by Bishop
+Absolon, drew near the church of Ringsted, where the burial was to take
+place, it was met by a throng of peasants, weeping and lamenting, who
+begged the privilege of carrying the body of their beloved king to his
+last resting place.
+
+When the bishop began to read the service for the dead his voice failed
+him and he wept and trembled so much that he had to be held up by some of
+the assistant monks. After all was over the people went away in deep
+grief, saying that Denmark's shield and the pagans' scourge had been
+taken from them and that the country would soon be overrun again by the
+heathen Wends.
+
+But Absolon kept a firm hand upon the reins of state, and when the young
+Prince Knud, Valdemar's son, was proclaimed king at the age of twenty
+everything was in order. Knud proved as good and gallant as his father,
+holding Denmark bravely against all foes, and when the Emperor Barbarossa
+sent to him to appear before the imperial court at Ratisbon and do homage
+for his crown, he returned a defiant answer.
+
+The position of Denmark had greatly changed since Valdemar had obeyed
+such a summons, and when the envoy of the emperor brought him the
+imperial command, he sent back the following proud reply:
+
+"Tell your master that I am as much monarch in my own realm as the kaiser
+is in his, and if he has a fancy for giving away my throne, he had better
+first find the prince bold enough to come and take it from me."
+
+This ended all question of the vassalage of Denmark, but the emperor
+never forgot nor forgave the insult and took every opportunity in after
+years to stir up strife against Denmark. In 1184 he incited the pagan
+princes of Pomerania to invade the Danish islands with a fleet of five
+hundred ships. But they had old Bishop Absolon to deal with, and they
+were so utterly routed that when the fog, which had enabled the Danes to
+approach them unseen, cleared away, only thirty-five of their ships were
+able to keep the sea.
+
+This victory made Knud ruler over all Pomerania and part of the kingdom
+later known as Prussia, and he added to his title that of "King of the
+Wends and other Slavs." He went on adding to his home kingdom until the
+dominion of Denmark grew very wide.
+
+That is all we need say about King Knud, but it must be said of Bishop
+Absolon that he was a wise patron of knightly arts and historical
+learning and encouraged the great scholar Saxo Grammaticus to write his
+famous "History of Denmark," in which were gathered all the old Danish
+tales that could be learned from the skalds and poets and found in the
+monasteries of the age. Absolon, who had loved and cared for the princes
+Knud and Valdemar since their childhood, died in the year 1201 and King
+Knud followed him a few years later, leaving the throne to his brother
+Valdemar.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF VALDEMAR II._
+
+
+Prosperous and glorious was the kingdom of Denmark under Valdemar II. in
+the early part of his reign, though misery was his lot during many years
+of his life. By his victories he won the title of "Sejr," or "the
+conqueror," and his skill and goodness as a ruler won him the love of his
+people, while the Danes of to-day look upon him as one of the best and
+noblest of their kings. He was long regarded by them as the perfect model
+of a noble knight and royal hero, and his first queen, Margrete of
+Bohemia, was called by the people "Dagmar," or "Day's Maiden," from their
+admiration of her gentleness and beauty. In many of their national songs
+she is represented as a fair, fragile, golden-haired princess, mild and
+pure as a saint, the only sin she could think of to confess on her
+death-bed being that she had put on her best dress and plaited her hair
+with bright ribbons before going to mass. While the Danes thus regard the
+memory of Queen Dagmar, they have no words too bad to use in speaking of
+Valdemar's second queen, the black-haired Berangaria, whose name became
+with them a by-word for a vile woman.
+
+But Valdemar's tale is largely one of sorrow and suffering and rarely has
+monarch had to bear so cruel a fate as was his during many unhappy years
+of his life.
+
+Valdemar was the son of Valdemar I., and brother of King Knud, for whom
+as a prince he fought bravely, putting down the Sleswick rebels, who had
+been stirred to rebellion by the German emperor, and conquering his
+enemy, Count Adolf of Holstein. Succeeding his brother Knud in 1202, his
+first exploit was the conquest of Pomerania, which Knud had won before
+him. This was now added to the Danish dominions, and in 1217 the German
+emperor of that date granted to him and the future kings of Denmark all
+the territories north of the Elbe and the Elde. Thus Valdemar was made
+master of a great part of northern Germany and ruled over a wider
+dominion to the south than any Danish king before or after.
+
+His success in the south led him to attempt the conquest of the north,
+and armies were sent to Norway and Sweden with the hope of winning these
+kingdoms for the Danish crown. In this effort he failed, but in 1219 his
+zeal for the Church and love of adventure led him to undertake a great
+expedition, a crusade against the heathens of Esthonia.
+
+Gathering an army of sixty thousand men and a fleet of fourteen hundred
+ships, a mighty force even for the small craft of that day, he quickly
+made himself master of that stronghold of paganism, great numbers of the
+people consenting to be baptized. But here he found a new and unexpected
+enemy and had to fight fiercely for the privilege of carrying the cross
+of Christ to the heathen Esthonians.
+
+His new enemies were the Knights of the Sword, of Livonia, who declared
+that the duty of converting the pagans in that region belonged to them,
+and that no other Christians had the right to interfere. And from this
+ensued a war in which fierce battles were fought and much blood was shed,
+for the purpose of deciding who should have the privilege of converting
+the heathen. It is doubtful if ever before or since a war has been fought
+for such a purpose, and the heathens themselves must have looked on with
+grim satisfaction to see their enemies cutting each other's throats to
+settle the question as to who had the best right to baptize them.
+
+In one of the battles with the heathens, while Bishop Andreas, the
+successor to Bishop Absolon, was praying on a high hill with uplifted
+hands for victory, there suddenly fell down from heaven the Danneborg,
+the national standard of Denmark. At least, that is what legend tells us
+of its appearance.
+
+It is held to be much more probable that this banner, bearing a white
+cross on a blood-red field, was sent by the Pope to Valdemar as a token
+of his favor and support, and that its sudden appearance, when the Danes
+were beginning to waver before the pagan assaults, gave them the spirit
+that led to victory. The result, in those days of superstition, naturally
+gave rise to the legend.
+
+When Valdemar returned a victor from Esthonia, having beaten alike the
+pagans and the Livonian knights, and bearing with him the victorious
+Danneborg, he was at the height of his glory, and none dreamed of the
+terrible disaster that awaited him. He had made enemies among the German
+princes, and they conspired against him, but they were forced to submit
+to his rule. Some of those whose lands he had seized did not hesitate to
+express openly their hatred for him; but others, while secretly plotting
+against him, pretended to be his friends, shared in his wars and his
+courtly ceremonies, and were glad to accept favors from his hands.
+
+One of those who hated him most bitterly, yet who seemed most attached to
+him, was the Count-Duke of Schwerin, a man who, alike from his dark
+complexion and his evil disposition, was known in his own country as
+"Black Henry." The king had often been warned to beware of this man, but,
+frank and open by nature and slow to suspect guile, he disregarded these
+warnings and went on treating him as a trusty friend.
+
+This enabled Count Henry to make himself familiar with Valdemar's habits
+and mode of life. He secretly aided certain traitors who cherished evil
+designs against the king; but when he found that all these plots failed
+he devised one of his own which the king's trust in him aided him in
+carrying out.
+
+In the spring of the year 1233 Valdemar invited his seeming friend to a
+two days' hunt which he proposed to enjoy in the woods of Lyoe, but the
+count sent word that he regretted his inability to join him, as he had
+been hurt by a fall and could not leave his bed.
+
+His bed just then was his horse's saddle. The opportunity which he
+awaited had come, and he spent the night scouring the country in search
+of aid for the plot he had in view, which was no less than to seize and
+hold prisoner his trusting royal friend. He knew the island well, and
+when his spies told him that the king and his son Valdemar had landed at
+Lyoe with a small following of huntsmen and servants, Black Henry prepared
+to carry out his plot.
+
+The king's first day's hunt was a hard one and he and his son slept
+soundly that night in the rude hut that had been put up for their use. No
+one thought of any need of guarding it and the few attendants of the king
+were scattered about, sleeping under the shelter of rocks and trees.
+
+Late that night Count Henry and his men landed and made their way
+silently and cautiously through the tired sleepers to the royal hut,
+which he well knew where to find. Quietly entering, they deftly gagged
+the king and prince before they could awake, and before either of them
+could raise a hand in resistance sacks of wool and straw were drawn over
+their heads, so closely as nearly to choke them, and strong bonds were
+tied round their legs and arms.
+
+Thus thoroughly disabled, the strong king and his youthful son were
+carried through the midst of their own people to the strand and laid
+helplessly in the bottom of the waiting boat, which was rowed away with
+muffled oars, gliding across the narrow sound to the shore of Fyen. Here
+waited a fast-sailing yacht to which the captives were transferred, sail
+being set before a favoring wind for the German coast.
+
+The next morning, when the king's attendants were searching for the
+missing king, he and his son, still bound and gagged, were landed on a
+lonely part of the sea-shore, placed on awaiting horses, and tightly
+secured to the saddles, after which they were hurried on at full gallop,
+stopping only at intervals to change the armed escort, until the castle
+of Danneberg, in Hanover, was reached.
+
+This castle had been loaned by its owner to Count Henry, he having no
+stronghold of his own deemed secure enough to hold such important
+captives. So roughly had they been treated that when the bonds were
+removed from Prince Valdemar, who resembled his mother Dagmar alike in
+his beauty and her feebleness, the blood flowed from every part of his
+body. Yet, without regard to his youth and sufferings, the cruel captor
+shut up him and his royal father in a cold and dark dungeon, where they
+were left without a change of clothing and fed on the poorest and
+coarsest food.
+
+This, many might say, was a just retribution on King Valdemar, for years
+before, when as a prince he had put down the rebellion in Sleswick, he
+had seized its chief leader, his namesake Bishop Valdemar, and kept him
+for many years in chains and close confinement in the dungeon of Soeborg
+Castle, and had later subjected Count Adolf of Holstein to the same fate.
+Bishop Valdemar had been released after fourteen years' imprisonment at
+the entreaty of Queen Dagmar, and was ever after one of the most bitter
+enemies of the Danish king.
+
+But though a bishop and count might be thus held captive, it is difficult
+to conceive of a powerful monarch being kept prisoner by a minor noble
+for three long years, despite all that could be done for his release.
+Nothing could give a clearer idea of the lawless state of those times.
+King Valdemar and his son lay wearing the bonds of felons and suffering
+from cold and hunger while the emperor and the Pope sought in vain for
+their release, threatening Black Henry with all the penalties decreed by
+empire and church for those who raised their hands against a prince.
+
+The shrewd captor readily promised all that was asked of him. He would
+release his captives without delay. Yet he had no intention to keep his
+word, for he knew that Rome and Ratisbon were too far from Danneberg to
+give him serious cause for alarm, especially as the other nobles of
+northern Germany were prepared to help him in keeping their common enemy
+in prison.
+
+As for Denmark itself, the people were infuriated and eagerly demanded to
+be led to the rescue of their beloved king; yet Valdemar's sons were
+still young, all the kinsmen of the royal family had been banished or
+were dead, and there was no one with the power and right to take control
+of public affairs.
+
+For some time, indeed, the fate of the king remained unknown to the
+people. Valdemar's nephew Albert, Count of Orlamunde, was on his way to
+Rome when the news of the king's capture reached him. He immediately
+turned back, collected an army, and gave battle to the German princes who
+were helping Count Henry to defend Danneberg. But his hasty levies were
+defeated and he taken prisoner, to be thrown into the same dungeon as the
+royal captive.
+
+Finally King Valdemar, seeing no other hope of release, agreed to the
+terms offered by Black Henry, which were that he should pay a ransom of
+45,000 silver marks, give him all the jewels of the late Queen Berangaria
+not already bestowed on churches and monasteries, and send him a hundred
+men-at-arms, with horses and arms for their use. For assurance of this he
+was to send his three younger sons to Danneberg to be kept in prison with
+Count Albert until the money was paid.
+
+These terms agreed to, the king and prince were set free. Valdemar at
+once hastened to Denmark, which he found in a fearful state from its
+having been three years without a head. Humbled and crushed in spirit,
+finding all his dominions in Germany set free from their allegiance and
+all the kingdoms won by his valor lost to Denmark, he scarcely knew what
+steps to take. The ransom demanded he was unable to pay and he grieved at
+the thought of subjecting his young sons to the fate from which he had
+escaped. In his misery he wrote to the Pope, asking to be released from
+the oath which had been exacted from him to let his children go into
+captivity.
+
+The Pope, full of pity for him, sent a bishop to Count Henry, telling him
+that if he tried to enforce the demand exacted under durance from the
+king of Denmark, he should be deprived of the services of religion and be
+heavily fined by the papal power for his cruel and unrighteous act. Thus
+called to account for his treachery and wickedness, Black Henry was
+forced to forego the final cruel exaction of his traitor soul.
+
+Misfortune, however, pursued Valdemar. When in 1227 the peasants of
+Ditmarsh refused to pay the tribute they had long paid the Danish crown,
+the insult to his weakness was more than the king could endure. He
+marched an army into their lands, but only to find himself defeated and
+four thousand of his men killed by the rebels, who were strongly aided by
+the German princes of Holstein, and especially by Count Adolf, his former
+captive. He himself was wounded in the eye by an arrow which struck him
+to the ground, and would have been captured a second time but for the aid
+of a friendly German knight.
+
+This foeman had been formerly in Valdemar's service, and when he saw his
+old royal master helpless and bleeding, he lifted him to his saddle and
+carried him to Kiel, where his wounds were healed, means being then found
+to send him back to his kingdom.
+
+Valdemar remained on the throne for fourteen years afterwards, but these
+were years of peace. War no longer had charms for him and he devoted
+himself to the duties of government and to preparing codes of law for the
+provinces of his kingdom. In that age there were no general laws for the
+whole country.
+
+The laws of Valdemar continued in force for four hundred and fifty years,
+and in 1687, when Christian V. framed a new code of laws, some of the old
+ones of Valdemar were retained. In them the old custom of the ordeal was
+set aside, being replaced by the system of the jury, one form of which
+consisted of "eight good men and true" chosen by the king, and another of
+twelve men chosen by the people. The laws were lenient, for most crimes
+could be atoned for by money or other fines. Three days after the last of
+these codes was approved Valdemar died, at the age of seventy-one,
+leaving three sons all of whom in turn ruled after him. His son Valdemar,
+who shared his imprisonment, had died long before.
+
+
+
+
+_BIRGER JARL AND THE CONQUEST OF FINLAND._
+
+
+Birger Jarl, who became one of the great men of Sweden about 1250, rose
+to such importance in the early history of that kingdom that one cannot
+pass him by without saying something about his career. Sweden was then a
+Christian kingdom and had been for many years, for the religion of Christ
+had been preached there, as the sagas tell, four centuries earlier. But
+heathenism prevailed until long afterwards, and it was not until the days
+of King Stenkil, who came to the throne in 1061, that an earnest effort
+was made to introduce the Christian worship. Finally paganism completely
+died out, and when Birger came to the throne Sweden had long been a
+Christian realm.
+
+But paganism still had a stronghold in Finland, and when Bishop Thomas, a
+zealous churchman, of English birth, proclaimed that the Christians
+should have no intercourse with the pagans in Finland or even sell them
+food, the Finlanders became so incensed that they invaded the Christian
+country and put the people to death with frightful tortures. Their
+cruelties created terror everywhere and Bishop Thomas fled to Gothland
+where, crazed with horror at the result of his proclamation, he soon
+died.
+
+King Erik was then on the throne of Sweden, but Birger, the son of a
+great earl of Gothland, became a famous warrior, and as the king had no
+sons he made Birger a jarl, or earl, and chose him as his heir. One of
+the exploits by which Birger had won fame was the following. The town of
+Luebeck, in North Germany, was closely besieged by the king of Denmark,
+who had cut it off from the sea by stretching strong iron chains across
+the river Trave, on which the town is situated. He thus hoped to starve
+the people into surrender, and would have done so had not Birger come to
+their rescue. He had the keels of some large ships plated with iron,
+loaded them with provisions, and sailed up the river towards the
+beleaguered city. Hoisting all sail before a strong wind, he steered
+squarely on to the great chains, and struck them with so mighty a force
+that they snapped asunder and the ships reached the town with their
+supplies, whereupon the Danish king abandoned the siege. This story is of
+interest, as these are the first iron-plated ships spoken of in history.
+
+By this and other exploits Birger grew in esteem, and when the Finns
+began their terrible work in the north he and the king summoned the
+people to arms, and the old warlike spirit, which had long been at rest,
+was reawakened in the hearts of the Swedes. The Pope at Rome had
+proclaimed a crusade against the Finns, promising the same privileges to
+all who took part in it as were enjoyed by those then taking part in the
+crusades to the Holy Land, and on all sides the people grew eager to
+engage in this sacred war.
+
+Then there was brushing and furbishing on all sides; ancestral swords,
+which had long hung rusting on the walls, were taken down and sharpened
+anew; helmets and cuirasses were burnished until they shone like silver
+or gold; tight-closed purses were opened by those who wished to aid the
+cause of Christ; and old ships were made ready for the waves and new ones
+launched. Rosy lips were kissed by lovers who would never kiss them
+again, and loud was the weeping of the maidens and mothers who saw those
+they loved setting out for the war, but they consoled themselves as best
+they could by the thought that it was all for the glory of God. Men of
+Sweden had gone to the crusades in Palestine, but here was a crusade of
+their own at home, and all were eager to take part in it.
+
+A great fleet was got together and set sail under the command of Birger
+Jarl. Its course lay up the Gulf of Bothnia, and where it came to land
+Birger erected a great wooden cross as a sign that he had come for the
+spread of the Christian faith. From this the place was called Korsholm.
+
+The heathen Finns knew of his coming and had gathered in great numbers to
+defend their country against its invaders, but nothing could stay the
+fury of the crusaders, who were incensed with the cruelties these
+barbarians had committed, and drove them back in dismay wherever they met
+them, Birger Jarl showing the greatest skill as a leader. He made public
+a law that all who became Christians should be protected in life and
+property, and within two years he succeeded in introducing Christianity
+into that country--perhaps more in appearance than reality. At any rate
+he built forts, and settled a colony of Swedes in East Bothnia, and thus
+did much towards making Finland a province of Sweden.
+
+While this was going on King Erik the Lame died (in 1250). As he left no
+heir there were many pretenders to the crown. The fact that Birger had
+been named by the king two years before was lost sight of, and it looked
+as if there would be civil war between the many claimants. To prevent any
+such result a powerful noble named Iwar hastily summoned an assembly and
+through his influence Valdemar, Birger Jarl's son, was chosen as king.
+This was all done so quickly that it was completed in fourteen days after
+Erik's death.
+
+When the news of this hasty action reached Birger in Finland he was very
+angry, and hastened home with all speed, bringing with him the greater
+part of his army. He was highly displeased that he had not himself been
+named king, as had been promised, instead of a boy, even if the boy was
+his son. Calling together those who had made the choice of Valdemar, he
+hotly asked them:
+
+"Who among you was so bold as to order an election during my absence,
+though you knew that King Erik named me Jarl and chose me for his heir?
+And why did you choose a child for your king?"
+
+Iwar answered that it was he that ordered the election and said:
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. VILLAGE LIFE AND HOMES IN SWEDEN.]
+
+"Though you are indeed most worthy to wear the crown, you are advanced in
+years and cannot live to rule us as long as your son."
+
+This answer brought another angry outbreak from Birger and Iwar again
+said:
+
+"If you do not like this, do with your son what you please. There is no
+fear but we shall be able to find another king."
+
+For a time Birger sat in moody silence, and then asked:
+
+"Who then would you take for your king?"
+
+"I also can shake out a king from under my cloak," was Iwar's haughty
+answer.
+
+This threw the Jarl into a dilemma. The faces of the people present
+showed their approval of what Iwar had said, and at length, fearing that
+if he resisted their action the crown might be lost both to himself and
+his son, he gave in to their decision.
+
+To give dignity to the occasion, he took steps to have his son crowned
+with much magnificence, and shortly after sent his daughter Rikissa with
+great pomp and a rich dower to the frontier of Norway, where she was met
+by the king of that country and was married with stately ceremony to his
+son. The next year Birger's mother died, and as there was a prophecy that
+her family would remain in power as long as her head was up, he had her
+buried upright, being walled up in a pillar in Bjelbo Church so that her
+head should never droop.
+
+Birger Jarl belonged to a great family called the Folkungers, who long
+held all the power in Sweden, and many of whom had been aspirants for the
+throne. These were so angry at being deprived of what they had hoped for
+that they determined to take the throne by force, and their leaders went
+to Denmark and Germany, where they collected a large army. When they
+landed in Sweden many of the people of that country joined them, and
+though Birger had also a large force he began to fear the result.
+
+He therefore sent his chancellor, Bishop Kol, to ask for a personal
+interview with the leaders of the opposite force, with solemn promises of
+safety. Yielding to the bishop's persuasions, the chiefs accompanied him
+across the river that separated the two armies. Then Birger did a
+dastardly act. No sooner had the chiefs come within his power than he had
+them seized and beheaded on the spot as rebels.
+
+Thus fell a number of the leading men of Sweden, and, the leaders fallen,
+Birger attacked and easily dispersed their army, sparing the Swedes, but
+cutting to pieces all the Germans that could be overtaken. Thus he added
+greatly to the power of his family, but by an act of treachery and
+perjury for which Archbishop Lars laid upon him a heavy penance. As for
+Bishop Kol, who had been made the innocent agent in this shameful deed,
+he never read mass again, and finally resigned his office and left his
+country, journeying as a pilgrim to the Holy Land in expiation for his
+involuntary crime. He never found peace and rest until he found them in
+the grave.
+
+Birger Jarl by these means rose to be the mightiest man in the north. His
+son was king of Norway, his daughter was queen of Sweden, and his
+daughter-in-law was a princess of Denmark, for when Valdemar became
+twenty years of age he sought and won for his bride the beautiful Danish
+Princess Sophia. The marriage was one of great pomp, a great hall being
+built for the occasion, where the courtiers appeared in new-fashioned
+dresses of rich stuffs, and there were plenty of banquets, games, dances,
+and even tilts and tournaments, all conducted according to the noblest
+custom of the times.
+
+Birger himself had a queen for his wife, having married the dowager Queen
+Mechthild of Denmark, and to increase his importance he assumed the title
+of duke, never before borne in Sweden. But many of the peasants called
+him king, since he governed the kingdom and was married to a queen. But
+meanwhile poor Bishop Kol was dying of grief for the deed of shame into
+which this proud lord had led him.
+
+Shall we here tell an interesting and romantic story about one of
+Birger's brothers? He was a judge in East Gothland, his name being Bengt,
+and had fallen deeply in love with a damsel named Sigrid, whose family
+was not rich nor great, though she herself was so beautiful that she was
+widely known as Sigrid the Fair.
+
+Duke Birger was not pleased with the idea of such a match, thinking the
+girl, though of noble birth, of far too lowly rank to mate with a member
+of his family. But in such things Judge Bengt had a will of his own and
+he married Sigrid without Birger's consent. This so displeased the proud
+jarl that he sent Bengt a cloak, half of which was made of gold brocade
+and the other of coarse and common baize. This was in token of the
+difference in rank of the families of Bengt and Sigrid and a significant
+hint that he should separate from his new wife.
+
+But Bengt was equal to the situation. He covered the coarse half of the
+cloak with gold, pearls and precious stones so as to make it more
+valuable than the other, and this he sent to his brother with no other
+answer. This only irritated Birger the more, and he sent back the
+message, "that he would speak with his brother face to face about this
+affair," adding some harsh words which were also repeated to Bengt.
+
+Then, soon after this, the angry jarl saddled his horse and rode with a
+large company to Ulfasa, where Bengt lived. When the judge saw the jarl's
+train near at hand he fled from his house to the woods, leaving his wife,
+whom he had carefully instructed how to act, to meet his irritated
+brother.
+
+When the angry jarl rode into the court, fully prepared to call his
+erring brother severely to account, he was surprised to see the fairest
+woman he had ever beheld come forward to meet him. She was adorned with
+the most costly robes and precious ornaments she could command and
+everything had been done to enhance the charm of her beauty. Stepping
+forth before the jarl, who gazed at her with astonishment, she bowed low
+and welcomed him with all honor and courtesy.
+
+So astonished was Birger with the charming vision that he sprang from his
+horse and seized Sigrid in his arms, saying, "Had my brother not done
+this I should have done it myself."
+
+Leading him to the house, she entertained him with the best cheer, and
+Bengt being sent for to the wood, the two brothers were fully reconciled.
+Such an effect have the charms of a fair woman over the pride and passion
+of men.
+
+A few words must serve to finish the story of Birger Jarl. The greatest
+and most valuable service of his reign lay in the new laws he gave the
+country and his doing away with many of the old barbarian customs to
+replace them with the customs of civilization.
+
+Before this time it was the common practice for the relatives of a
+murdered man to avenge him on the family of the murderer, thus giving
+rise to long and bloody feuds. This custom Birger forbade, ordering every
+one to seek redress for injury at the courts of justice. He also passed
+four Laws of Peace, viz.: for the Peace of the Church, of Women, of
+House, and of Assize.
+
+Every one was forbidden to assault another in the church or the
+churchyard or on the way to or from church. Whoever did so was declared
+outlawed, and if the assailed man killed his assailant he was held free
+from blame or revenge. This was the Peace of the Church.
+
+Another ancient custom was to carry away a desired bride by force,
+without her consent or that of her parents, a fight often arising in
+which the bride's father and brothers were killed. Or on the way of an
+affianced pair to church the same outrage might take place, the
+bridegroom being often killed. This, too, was forbidden under penalty of
+outlawry, the new law being that of Peace for Women.
+
+To promote general security he forbade, under the same penalty, the
+attacking of any man, his wife, children, or servants, within his house
+or on his property. This was the Law of Home-peace or House-peace. All
+violence was in like manner forbidden to any one going to or attending an
+assembly of the people, this being the Peace of Assize.
+
+Birger Jarl improved the laws in many other ways and made Sweden a far
+more civilized country than it had been before his time. Another of his
+useful acts was the founding of the city of Stockholm, which before his
+day was a mere village on an island, but which he made a stronghold and
+city, inviting that commerce to which its situation so excellently
+adapted it. This was one of the most important acts of Birger Jarl, who
+died soon afterwards, not living to see the rapid growth in importance of
+his new city.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA._
+
+
+In the last tale it was told how Birger Jarl subdued the Finns and
+brought then to give up their heathen practices and accept Christianity.
+But this refers only to the section of Finland bordering on the Baltic
+Sea. Farther east the Finns were pagans still, worshipping idols and
+living a savage life in their vast forests, and bitterly hating the
+Christians. At times they would come in hordes out of their wild
+woodlands and attack the settled people, killing them in the most cruel
+way their distorted fancies could contrive.
+
+They had two chief deities, Jumal, the great good one, and Perkel, the
+great evil one, and these were supposed to meet in fierce encounters in
+which they would throw each other over high mountains. The people kept
+wooden images of these deities in their huts, and had also open places in
+the forest, with a stone on the centre of each, on which they made
+sacrifices to their divinities. When a Karelian, as these people were
+called, came to within a fixed distance of the sacrificial stone, he took
+off his cap and crawled up to it silently, making sacrifices there of the
+bones and horns of elk and reindeer. In case of danger they would
+sacrifice goats, cats and cocks, sprinkling their idols with the blood of
+these animals.
+
+At that time, shortly before the year 1300, Birger, heir to the throne of
+Sweden, was very young, and the country was under the rule of Torkel
+Knutson, regent of the kingdom and a wise and energetic man. Exasperated
+by the cruelties committed by the Karelians on the Christians, he
+determined to put a stop to them and sailed to Finland with a strong
+army. Against this force the pagan foresters could not make head and they
+were soon obliged to submit. A fort with a strong garrison was built at
+Wiborg to keep them in order, and the churchmen who went with the
+expedition strove to convert them.
+
+It is not with these savage woodsmen, however, that we are concerned, but
+with the Russians, with which people the Swedes now first came into
+warlike contact. The forest Russians of that day were as savage as the
+Finns and as hard to deal with. They came to the help of the Karelians in
+this war, and to punish them the regent took Castle Kexholm, their chief
+stronghold, and left in it a garrison under Sigge Lake. It was this that
+brought on the first war between the Swedes and the Russians, some of the
+events of which are so interesting that it is worth telling about.
+
+After the Swedes had held Kexholm for some time their food supply ran
+very low, and as no aid came from home many of them wished to abandon the
+fort. This Sigge Lake would not listen to. He had been left there to hold
+the place and did not intend to give it up. But only the bravest of his
+men remained with him, the others leaving under pretext of sending food
+and reinforcements from home.
+
+Neither men nor supplies arrived and the Russians, learning of the state
+of affairs, gathered in multitudes around the fort, laying close siege to
+it. In the end, after a brave resistance lasting many days, food became
+so scarce that the Swedes dared not stay any longer and they determined
+to try and cut their way through the besiegers.
+
+The gates were thrown open and Sigge rushed out at the head of his
+company, with such force and fury that for a time it seemed as if they
+would succeed. But they were weakened by semi-starvation and in the end
+the swarming Russians killed them all but two, who alone made their
+escape and carried the news of the disaster back to Sweden.
+
+The regent was greatly distressed at the loss of the brave men whom he
+had left so long without support. It was too late to save their lives but
+he felt it his duty to avenge them. To do so he set sail with another
+army, making his way up the river Neva, the stream on which the city of
+St. Petersburg was afterwards built. No enemy was seen and the regent
+landed on an island in the river, where he built a strong fort which he
+named Landscrona, furnishing it plentifully with provisions.
+
+The Russians, when they found what was being done, were infuriated. A
+great multitude of them, thirty thousand in number, gathered on the Neva
+and made a vigorous effort to burn the Swedish fleet, sending rafts down
+the stream on which were great heaps of blazing wood. But the regent
+caught these by iron chains which he stretched across the stream, holding
+the fire-floats until they burned out.
+
+This effort failing, the Russians made a fierce attack on the fortress,
+with such savage violence that though many of them fell the others would
+not give up the assault. But so strong and so well defended was the place
+that they failed in this also, and in the end were obliged to retreat,
+leaving great numbers of dead behind them. Then a young and brave knight
+in the garrison, named Matts Kettilmundson, made a sortie against the
+Russians and drove them back in panic flight, many more of them being
+killed.
+
+Shortly after this a party of Russian cavalry, one thousand strong,
+appeared in the edge of a wood, not far from the fort, their armor
+gleaming brightly in the sunlight. While the garrison were looking at
+them from the walls, the brave knight Matts Kettilmundson asked
+permission of the regent to ride out against them, saying that "he would
+venture a brush with the bravest among them."
+
+The regent having consented, the daring fellow put on his armor and had
+his horse led through the gate. Leaping on it he rode out, and when he
+had passed the moat, turned back to his friends who lined the wall.
+
+"Strive to live happily," he said, "and do not be troubled about me, for
+it depends on God in heaven whether I shall return with a captive foe or
+fail to return at all."
+
+He then rode boldly on and sent an interpreter to the Russian lines,
+challenging the bravest of the Russians to fight with him for life, goods
+and freedom. It must be borne in mind that those were the days of
+chivalry and knight-errantry, when such adventures and challenges were
+common things and good faith was kept with those who made them. So no
+force or treachery was attempted against the daring knight, although we
+should hardly have looked for knightly deeds and chivalrous ways in the
+Russia of that day.
+
+However, as the story goes on to say, the Russian king appealed in vain
+for a knight to try conclusions with the Swedish champion. Not a man in
+the troop was ready to make the venture, and Sir Matts sat his horse
+there all day long waiting in vain for an antagonist. As evening
+approached he rode back to the fortress, where every one congratulated
+and praised him for his courage. The next morning the Russians had
+disappeared.
+
+Soon after this, the army growing weary and longing for home, the regent
+set sail down stream, leaving three hundred men and abundant supplies in
+the fort, under a knight named Swen. But as contrary winds detained the
+fleet Sir Matts landed with a strong party of horsemen and made long
+raids into the country, gathering much booty, with which he returned to
+the ships. Then the army continued its way home, where it was received
+with much joy.
+
+But the garrison in Landscrona did not find their lot much better than
+had the former garrison in Kexholm. The new walls were damp and the
+advancing summer brought hot weather, so that their provisions began to
+spoil. As a consequence scurvy and other diseases broke out and many of
+the men died. Some of those who remained wished to send home for help,
+but others objected to this, saying that "they preferred waiting for help
+from heaven and did not wish to trouble the regent, who had enough to
+attend to at home."
+
+When the Russians gathered around the fort to attack it, as they soon
+did, only twenty men in the garrison were fit to bear arms in defence.
+These could not properly guard the walls and the Russians steadily
+advanced, all losses being made up from their great numbers, until in no
+great time the walls were taken. The Swedes retired to their houses,
+continuing to fight, but as the Russians set fire to these, the governor
+and some others threw down their arms, offering to surrender. They were
+at once cut down by the assailants.
+
+The few who remained alive now took refuge in a stone cellar, where they
+defended themselves manfully; and refused to submit until the enemy had
+offered them their lives. Then they yielded and were carried as captives
+into the country, the fortress being razed to the ground. Thus, in the
+year 1300, ended the first war between Russia and Sweden. The Swedes
+fought well and died nobly, but they lost their lives through the neglect
+of their countrymen and rulers.
+
+
+
+
+_THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF KING BIRGER._
+
+
+When the events narrated in the last tale took place, there were three
+young princes in the kingdom, Birger, Erik and Valdemar, Torkel, the
+regent, ruling in their name. But when the princes grew up Birger, the
+oldest, was crowned king, the other two becoming dukes. But very early in
+Birger's reign there arose many complaints about the conduct of his
+brothers, who showed themselves haughty and insubordinate. The ill-blood
+in time grew to such an extent that the king dismissed his brothers from
+his presence, giving them until sunset to leave.
+
+"After that," he said, "if you shall fall into my hands, it will go ill
+with you."
+
+This gave rise to bitter enmity and the two dukes gave King Birger no end
+of trouble, there being war between them three times in succession,
+bringing the country into a miserable state. During the second war King
+Birger was taken prisoner by his brothers, but he was afterwards set free
+under the promise that he would no more disturb Sweden, a third part of
+which was left under his rule.
+
+He did not intend to keep his word, but was no sooner set free than he
+sought aid from his brother-in-law, the king of Denmark, and invaded the
+kingdom with a Danish army. This was the third war above spoken of. It
+ended without the king gaining anything but the third of the kingdom,
+which had already been promised to him. After each of these wars the
+brothers became reconciled, and lived for a time peacefully in their
+dominions, but they laid such heavy taxes on the people to support their
+extravagant courts that great misery prevailed.
+
+After the last outbreak all remained quiet for nearly ten years, and the
+dukes thought that their brother was friendly towards them, not dreaming
+that his heart was full of hate and treachery.
+
+In 1317, when Duke Valdemar made a journey to Stockholm, which was in his
+section of the kingdom, he stopped at Nykoeping to visit his brother
+Birger, whom he had not seen for a long time. Birger met him with a great
+show of friendliness, making him welcome in every way. Queen Martha was
+equally kind, and Valdemar was highly pleased with these tokens of
+regard. Before he left the queen complained to him that it gave her great
+pain that Duke Erik avoided his brother, saying that God knew she loved
+him as much as if he were her own brother.
+
+After spending the night with them Valdemar rode away very well pleased.
+His men were equally pleased, for they had been well entertained. On
+leaving Stockholm he went to Erik's home in Westmoreland, who told him
+that he had just been invited to visit Birger's court, and asked if he
+thought it safe to make such a visit.
+
+Valdemar said he had no doubt of it, telling of what a pleasant visit he
+had made. Erik, however, had doubts, being distrustful of the queen and
+Chancellor Brunke, whom he looked upon as his enemies. But in the end the
+brothers decided to accept the invitation and rode away towards Nykoeping.
+When six miles distant they met a knight who advised them to go no
+farther, saying:
+
+"You will cause yourselves and your friends much sorrow if both of you
+trust yourselves in the king's hands at the same time."
+
+Valdemar indignantly replied to this that "there are too many who seek to
+breed disunion between the king and his brothers."
+
+The knight then rode off, saying no more, and the dukes rode into Swaerta,
+where they proposed to spend the night. To their surprise no preparations
+had been made for them, but a knight met them and saluted them in the
+king's name, adding that he earnestly requested them not to repose until
+they reached Nykoeping, as his longing to meet them was so great that he
+could not rest until they arrived.
+
+On receiving this warm request they rode on, reaching Nykoeping in the
+evening. The king advanced from the castle gate to meet them, greeting
+them in an affectionate manner, and taking each of them by the hands as
+he led them into the castle. They found a rich feast prepared for them,
+at which neither mead, wine, nor fair words were wanting. At length Duke
+Valdemar grew suspicious and said to his brother that they were drinking
+too much wine. But this was soon forgotten and the feast went on, Queen
+Martha showing herself very gay and lively and every one being full of
+the spirit of enjoyment.
+
+It was late at night before the merrymaking ended and the dukes went to
+their rooms. The queen then said to their men, who had also been well
+taken care of:
+
+"Lodging has been prepared for you in the town, as there is not room
+enough for you in the castle."
+
+As they went out Chancellor Brunke stood at the gate, making sure that
+they had all gone, when he shut the castle gates behind them. Then he
+armed the servants and led them to the king. Birger, who seemed in some
+doubt, bade them to retire and turned to Sir Knut Johanson, asking if he
+would assist in making prisoners of the dukes.
+
+"I will not, my lord," said Sir Knut. "Whoever has counselled you to do
+this is leading you into a great treachery. What, would you deceive and
+murder your brothers who came here trusting in your good faith? The devil
+himself must be your tempter. Let who will be angry on this account, I
+will never help you in it."
+
+"Small care you have for my honor," said the king angrily.
+
+"Little honor can accrue to you from such an act," answered Sir Knut
+sturdily. "If you should carry out this design your honor will be less
+here-after."
+
+Two other knights warned the king against so treacherous a deed, but he
+was so displeased with their words that he ordered them to prison.
+
+Then he led his armed servants to the sleeping apartment of the dukes and
+broke open the door, the noise awakening the sleepers. Valdemar sprang
+up, and seeing armed men entering the room, he seized one of them and
+threw him down, calling on his brother for help.
+
+"There is no use in resisting, brother," said Erik, seeing the room
+filling with armed men.
+
+The king now rushed in and called out savagely:
+
+"Do you remember Hatuna? It will not be better for you here than it was
+for me there, for you shall have the same fate, though it has tarried so
+long."
+
+Hatuna was the place where the king had previously been taken prisoner by
+his brothers, in somewhat the same treacherous manner. But they had not
+treated him with the same shameful cruelty with which he now treated
+them.
+
+They were taken barefooted deep into the tower and fastened in a dungeon,
+with a great chain on their legs, while their servants in the town were
+taken prisoners and locked up in one ward to the number of twenty, all
+their possessions being divided among their captors. This being done, the
+king clapped his hands, saying:
+
+"The Holy Ghost bless my queen! Now I have all Sweden in my hand!"
+
+When he set out soon afterwards on an errand of conquest, he left his
+brothers in the charge of a Livonian knight, who had evidently been
+bidden to treat them harshly, for he removed them to the lowest dungeon
+and placed a beam upon their legs. They were fastened to the wall by
+thick iron round the throat and chains weighing one hundred and forty
+pounds were riveted on their wrists, the other end being fastened to the
+beam. When the chain was fastened upon Erik it was done with such
+violence that a piece of iron broke out, cutting him on the eye so that
+blood ran down his cheek.
+
+Their dungeon was at the bottom of the tower, where they lay on the bare
+rock, a pool of water lying between them. Their food was wretched, their
+clothing was wretched, and there was every indication that their wicked
+brother did not wish to have them leave that prison alive.
+
+But the cruel and treacherous king did not find it so easy to bring all
+Sweden under his rule. The news of his wicked act got abroad and spread
+through the land, exciting general horror and detestation. When he rode
+up to Stockholm to take possession he found it closed against him and the
+burghers made a sally against him, putting his forces to flight. It was
+the same way everywhere, the whole country rising against him. The wicked
+king now began to learn that the way of the transgressor is hard, and in
+his fury of disappointment he locked the door of the dungeon in which his
+brothers lay and threw the key into the stream, leaving them to die of
+starvation.
+
+But the poor victims were to be thoroughly avenged, for the people were
+implacable in their wrath, and in a short time had so environed the king
+that the fortresses of Nykoeping and Stegeborg were alone left to him, and
+both of these were besieged.
+
+Nykoeping was soon so severely pressed that the garrison brought up the
+dead bodies of the dukes and laid them under a dais outside the castle,
+saying to the besiegers:
+
+"Your siege will now answer no purpose, for the dukes are dead and King
+Birger is heir to all the kingdom."
+
+"No one can hope to win an inheritance by murder," they replied. "We now
+serve as our ruler, Lord Magnus, Duke Erik's son."
+
+The bodies of the murdered dukes were carried to Stockholm, where they
+were buried with much ceremony. But the siege of the castle was continued
+until the garrison was forced to surrender. On obtaining possession of it
+the enraged people razed it to the ground.
+
+Stegeborg, where Prince Magnus, King Birger's son, was in command, held
+out much longer. The king and queen, with Brunke, their confederate, were
+in Gothland, which province alone they held, and from which they sent a
+number of ships to Stegeborg with provisions and troops. These had no
+sooner appeared in the river Skares, however, than they were attacked and
+taken, leaving Prince Magnus as bad off as ever. When this news was
+brought to the king and queen they exclaimed in despair:
+
+"Where shall we turn now, since God has sent us such a misfortune?"
+
+Brunke, the cruel chancellor, volunteered to lead an expedition himself,
+saying that he would no more spare the dukes' people than they had spared
+the king's. Gathering some vessels, he had them strongly planked all
+around, and loading these with provisions and the remainder of the king's
+forces, he set out for Stegeborg.
+
+On entering the Skares the people attacked him with stones and other
+missiles, but he and his men protected themselves behind the planks.
+Seeing this, fire-rafts were sent off from the shore against the ships,
+and despite all that could be done to keep them off they drifted upon the
+vessels, setting three of them on fire, from which the flames spread to
+the others.
+
+Brunke and his men leaped overboard, hoping to escape by swimming, but
+they were all taken and Brunke and three of his chiefs sent to Stockholm,
+where they were soon afterwards beheaded. Stegeborg was now in a
+desperate state and was soon forced to surrender, on the condition that
+the life of Prince Magnus should be spared. This condition was not kept,
+notwithstanding the fact that he was innocent of his father's crime. The
+indignant people were not willing to leave any scion of their wicked king
+alive and the poor boy's head was cut off.
+
+Thus the unholy treachery of King Birger met with retribution. Sir Matts
+Kettilmundson, the brave knight who had shown such courage in Russia, was
+made Administrator of the kingdom and soon defeated a Danish army which
+had been sent to King Birger's aid. Then Birger and his wicked queen were
+obliged to flee to Sweden, where grief soon brought him to his death-bed.
+Queen Martha lived long, but it was a life made bitter by memory of her
+crimes and Heaven's retribution.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. MORNING GREETINGS OF NEIGHBORS, SWEDEN.]
+
+
+
+
+_QUEEN MARGARET AND THE CALMAR UNION._
+
+
+We have next to tell how the three kingdoms of Scandinavia, between which
+rivalry and hostility had often prevailed, became united into one great
+Scandinavian realm, under the rule of a woman, the great Queen Margaret.
+This was a very important event, as its results continued until our own
+day, the subjection of Norway, which was then achieved, not being broken
+until the early days of the present century. It is important to describe
+the various steps by which this union was brought about.
+
+From 930, when Harold Fair-Haired, the maker of Norway, died, until 1319,
+when a king known by the odd title of Haakon Longlegs followed him to the
+grave, the throne of Norway had been nearly always filled by some one of
+Harold's many descendants. But with the death of Haakon the male line of
+King Harold's descendants was finally broken, and only a woman remained
+to represent that great royal stock, Princess Ingeborg, the daughter of
+King Haakon. This fair maiden was promised in marriage while still a
+child to Duke Erik, son of the late king of Sweden. They were married in
+1312, and on the same day Duke Valdemar, Erik's brother, married another
+princess of Norway, also named Ingeborg. About four years later a son was
+born to each of these happy couples, and King Haakon was full of joy,
+for he now felt that the old royal line was restored.
+
+One person was not pleased by the birth of these princes. This was King
+Birger of Sweden, who had long been at sword's point with his ambitious
+brothers and wanted the throne of Norway as well as that of Sweden to
+descend to his own son Magnus. He pretended to be pleased, however, for
+he had in mind a treacherous plot to destroy his brothers and their
+children and thus leave the way clear for his ambitious schemes. The
+steps he took to bring this about and their fatal end to his brothers and
+his son we have told in the previous tale. After the indignant people had
+driven King Birger from the throne the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway were
+left in a strange plight. Magnus, the son of Duke Erik and Ingeborg, was
+only three years old when his grandfather, the king of Norway, died. This
+left him the successor to the Norse realm. But the deposition of King
+Birger and the execution of his son left this royal infant the king of
+Sweden also, so that these two kingdoms became for the first time united,
+and this under the rule of a three-year-old child, with regents to govern
+in his name. But the two countries remained separate in everything except
+that they had now but one king.
+
+When King Magnus became old enough to act as monarch in reality, he took
+the government of both countries into his hands. But he proved unfit to
+govern either of them, being a weak and good-natured man, so anxious to
+please everybody that he pleased nobody. Born and brought up in Sweden,
+he knew little and cared less about affairs in Norway and the people of
+that country grew much incensed at his neglect of their interests. They
+made him promise, at a public meeting, to divide the two kingdoms between
+his two sons; Erik, the elder, to succeed him in Sweden, and Haakon, the
+younger, to be given the crown of Norway when he came of age. Events
+happened, as will be seen, to prevent this taking place and to combine
+all Scandinavia under one great queen.
+
+This is how it came about. King Magnus made a visit to Denmark, where it
+was arranged to marry Prince Haakon to Margaret, daughter and heir of the
+Danish king, Valdemar. This marriage took place in due time, and not very
+long afterwards both King Magnus and Prince Haakon died and Prince Erik
+was poisoned by his mother, who was a wicked woman and was angry because
+he opposed her in one of her base schemes.
+
+Thus as the death of King Birger had left the crowns of Sweden and Norway
+to a boy of three, the deaths here named left these crowns and that of
+Denmark also to another child, the son of Haakon and Margaret. This
+little fellow, Olaf by name, too young to appreciate how great he had
+become, did not live to enjoy his greatness. He died at the age of
+seventeen, leaving his royal rights to his mother Margaret.
+
+It is interesting to learn that the turbulent kingdoms named, the land of
+the sea-kings and the warlike barbarians of the north, each of which had
+needed the hand of a strong man to control them, all now fell under the
+sceptre of a woman, who at first reigned over Denmark and Norway and soon
+added Sweden to her dominion.
+
+But Queen Margaret was no weakling. She was a woman born to command,
+strong in mind and body, and more like a man than a woman. In Sweden, to
+which she quickly turned her attention, she had a bitter enemy in Duke
+Albrecht of Mecklenburg, who had been declared king of that country after
+the death of King Magnus, and who also claimed the crown of Norway, being
+remotely related to its royal house.
+
+He bitterly hated Margaret, whom he called "Queen Breechless," and by
+other satirical and insulting names. Finally he took the bold step to
+call himself king of Denmark and Norway, a baseless claim which he
+proposed to enforce. He made a vow never to use a hat until he had driven
+out Margaret, and sent her a whetstone several yards long, advising her
+to use it to sharpen her scissors and needles instead of using a sceptre.
+He was much too hasty, as he had only a weak hold upon Sweden even, whose
+nobles did not like his habit of bringing in Germans to fill the posts of
+honor and were anxious to get rid of him.
+
+Therefore it came about that he found himself confronted by an army of
+Danes, Norsemen, and Swedes, and a battle followed in which Albrecht
+riding with his heavy cavalry upon a frozen marsh, broke through the ice
+and was taken prisoner. He was now in the power of Queen Margaret, who
+had at length the opportunity to repay him for his insults. To replace
+the crowns of Norway and Denmark, which he had sought to wear, she put
+upon his head a fool's cap, with a tail twenty-eight feet long, and
+repaid him for his insults and jests in other ways. After she had done
+her best to make him an object of laughter and ridicule she locked him up
+in a strong prison cell, where he was given six years to reflect on his
+folly.
+
+It took these six years for Margaret's army to subdue the city of
+Stockholm, which held out stoutly for Albrecht. She won it at last by
+setting him free with the proviso that he should pay a ransom of sixty
+thousand marks. In ease he could not provide it within three years he was
+to return to prison or surrender Stockholm. He did the latter and
+Margaret became mistress of Sweden.
+
+This able woman had now won a proud position, reached by none of the
+kings before her. She was ruler of the whole of Scandinavia, with its
+three ancient kingdoms. The triple crown was hers for the lifting, but
+she was not ambitious to wear it, and preferred to put it on the head of
+her grand-nephew, Erik of Pomerania, though she retained the power in her
+hands until her death in 1412. Representatives of the three kingdoms were
+summoned by her to a meeting at Calmar, where, in July, 1397, a compact
+uniting the three kingdoms under one ruler was drawn up and signed.
+
+This was the famous Calmar Union, which held Norway captive for more than
+four hundred years. From that time until the present century Norway had
+no separate history, though her people vigorously resisted any measures
+of oppression. In 1536 this ancient kingdom was declared to be a province
+of Denmark, being treated like a conquered land; yet there was not a man
+to protest against the humiliation. The loss of national standing had
+come on so gradually that the people, widely scattered over their
+mountain land and absorbed in their occupations, scarcely noticed it,
+though they were quick enough to resent any encroachment upon their
+personal liberty and rights. There were outbreaks, indeed, from time to
+time, but these were soon put down and the Danish rule held good.
+
+This was not the case with Sweden, a more thickly settled and civilized
+land. The struggle of the Swedes for freedom continued for some
+seventy-five years and was finally accomplished in 1523. How this was
+done will be told in other tales. As for Norway, it was ceded by Denmark
+to Sweden in 1814, and the people of that mountain land regained their
+national rights, with a free constitution, though ruled by the Swedish
+king. This union held good until 1905, when it was peacefully broken and
+Norway gained a king of its own again, after being kingless for more than
+five hundred years.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR CHARLES OF SWEDEN._
+
+
+In the year 1450 and the succeeding period there was great disorder in
+the Scandinavian kingdoms. The Calmar Union was no longer satisfactory to
+the people of Sweden, who were bitterly opposed to being ruled by a
+Danish king. There were wars and intrigues and plots and plans, with
+plenty of murder and outrage, as there is sure to be in such troublous
+times. There was king after king, none of them pleasing to the people.
+King Erik behaved so badly that neither Sweden nor Denmark would have
+anything to do with him, and he became a pirate, living by plunder. Then
+Duke Christopher of Bavaria was elected king of Scandinavia, but he also
+acted in a way that made every one glad when he died. In those days there
+was a great nobleman in Sweden, named Karl Knutsson, who had a hand in
+everything that was going on. One thing especially made him very popular
+at that time, when a new king was to be elected. The spring had been very
+dry and there was danger of a complete failure of the crops, but on the
+day when Karl landed in Stockholm, May 23, 1450, there came plentiful
+rains and the people rejoiced, fancying that in some way he had brought
+about the change of weather. So, when the lords assembled to elect a new
+king, Karl received sixty-two out of seventy votes, while the people
+shouted that they would have no other king. He was then crowned king as
+Charles VIII. There had been only one Charles before him, but somehow the
+mistake was made of calling him Charles VIII., and in later years came
+Charles IX., X., etc., the mistake never being rectified.
+
+All this is in introduction to a tale we have to tell, that of a bold
+champion of King Charles. For the new king had many troubles to contend
+with. The king of Denmark in especial gave him much trouble, and the
+southern province of West Gothland was in danger of seceding from his
+rule. In this dilemma he chose his cousin, Sir Tord Bonde, a young but
+daring and experienced warrior, as the captain of his forces in that
+province. He could not have made a better choice, and the stirring career
+of Sir Tord was so full of strange and exciting events that we must
+devote this tale to his exploits.
+
+Loedoese, a stronghold of Gothland, was still held by the Danes, and Sir
+Tord's first adventure had to do with this place. On a dark, rainy, and
+stormy night he led a party of shivering horsemen towards the town,
+galloping onward at headlong speed over the muddy road and reaching the
+place before day-dawn. Utterly unexpectant of such a coming, the Danes
+were taken by surprise and all made prisoners, Sir Tord's men feeding
+luxuriously on the enemy's meat and wine as some recompense for their wet
+night's journey.
+
+Master of the place without a blow, Sir Tord found there a bag of
+letters, containing some that had to do with plots against the king.
+These letters he sent to King Charles, but they put him upon a new
+adventure of his own. One of the traitors was Ture Bjelke, master of
+Axewalla Castle, and Sir Tord, fancying that the traitor would be as
+welcome a present to the king as his letters, set out for the castle with
+thirty men.
+
+On arriving there Ture, not dreaming that his treason had been
+discovered, admitted his visitor without hesitation. The troopers were
+also permitted to enter, Sir Tord having told them to come in groups of
+five or six only, so as not to excite suspicion by their numbers.
+
+That night, while they sat at table, and just as the cabbage was being
+carried in, Sir Tord sprang up and seized Ture firmly by the collar,
+calling out that he arrested him as a traitor to the king. The knight's
+men sprang up to defend him, but Sir Tord's men attacked them with sword
+and fist, the matter ending in the men as well as their master being
+taken prisoners, and the castle falling into Sir Tord's hands.
+
+On receiving the letters, Charles laid them before the senate at
+Stockholm, but the traitors were men of such power and note, and there
+was so much envy and jealousy of Charles among the lords, that he dared
+not attempt to punish the plotters as they deserved, but was obliged to
+pardon them. As for Ture and his men, they managed to escape from the
+place where they had been left for safe keeping, and made their way to
+Denmark.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. GRIPSHOLM CASTLE, MARI.]
+
+Meanwhile Sir Tord Bonde was kept busy, for King Christian of Denmark
+several times invaded the land. On each occasion he was met by the
+valiant defender of West Gothland and driven out with loss. On his final
+retreat he built a fortress in Smaland, which he called Danaborg, or
+Danes' castle, leaving in it a Danish garrison; but it was quickly
+attacked by Sir Tord with his men-at-arms and a force of armed peasantry
+and the castle taken by storm, the Danes suffering so severe a defeat
+that the place was afterwards known as Danasorg, or Danes' sorrow.
+
+Sir Tord, to complete his chain of defences, had built several fortresses
+in Norway, then claimed by King Christian as part of his dominions. He
+had with him in this work about four hundred men, so small a force that
+Kolbjoern Gast, one of Christian's generals, proceeded against him with an
+army three thousand strong, proposing to drive the daring invader out of
+the kingdom.
+
+Weak as he felt himself, Sir Tord determined to try conclusions with the
+Danes and Norsemen, proposing to use strategy to atone for his weakness.
+One hundred of his men were placed in ambush in a clump of woodland, and
+with the remaining three hundred the Swedish leader marched boldly on the
+enemy, who were entrenched behind a line of wagons. Finding that he could
+not break through their defences, Sir Tord and his men turned in a
+pretended flight and were hotly pursued by the enemy, who abandoned their
+lines to follow the flying Swedes. Suddenly Sir Tord turned and led his
+men in a fierce attack upon the disordered pursuers, falling upon them
+with such bold fury that he had two horses killed under him. At the same
+time the hundred men broke from their ambush, sounding their war-horns
+loudly, and fell on the flank of the foe, though they were so badly armed
+that they had no iron points on their lances.
+
+Confused and frightened by the double attack and the blare of the
+trumpets, the Norsemen broke and fled, crying out that "all the might of
+Sweden was in arms against them"; but they were pursued so closely that
+the leader and all his men were taken by the brave four hundred.
+
+Thus the bold and skilful Sir Tord defended the king's cause in those
+quarters, winning victories by stratagem where force was lacking and
+keeping off the attacks of the Danes by his watchfulness, bravery, and
+sound judgment; until men came to say, that his brave cousin was the
+king's chief support and that his secret enemies dared not undertake
+anything against him while he had so skilful and courageous a defender.
+
+There are two ways of disposing of a troublesome foe, one by fair and
+open warfare, one by treachery. As Sir Tord could not be got rid of in
+the former manner, his enemies tried the latter. Joesse Bosson, one of his
+officers, though born a Dane, had proved so faithful and won his
+confidence to such an extent that the valiant Swede trusted him
+completely, and made him governor of the fortress of Karlborg. He did
+not dream that he was nourishing a traitor and one capable of the basest
+deeds.
+
+During the warfare in Norway Sir Tord reached Karlborg one afternoon,
+proposing to spend the night there. He was received with much show of joy
+by Joesse, who begged him to take the repose he needed, promising to keep
+strict watch in the fortress during his stay there. Without a thought of
+danger Sir Tord went to the chamber provided for him. Joesse said the same
+to the followers of his guest, and as they were weary they were glad to
+go to their beds.
+
+Having thus disposed of his visitors, Joesse got his boats ready, loaded
+them with his most-prized effects, and then turned the key on the
+followers of his trusting guest, hid their swords, and even cut their
+bowstrings, so much was he afraid of the heroic soldier who had been his
+best friend.
+
+Then, axe in hand, he entered the room of Sir Tord. The sleeper, awakened
+by his entrance, raised himself a little in the bed and asked what he
+wanted. For answer the murderous wretch brought down his axe with so
+heavy a blow that the head of Sir Tord was cleft in twain to the
+shoulders. Then, taking to his boats, the assassin made his escape to the
+Danes, by whom his bloody act was probably instigated.
+
+With the death by treason and murder of the brave Sir Tord, the chief
+bulkwark of the realm of King Charles, this tale should end, but the
+later career of Charles VIII. is so curious a one that it will be of
+interest to make some brief mention of it.
+
+Never has king had a more diversified career. With the death of his brave
+defender, enemies on all sides rose against him, his great wealth and
+proud ostentation having displeased nobles and people alike. Chief among
+his enemies was the archbishop of Upsala, who nailed a letter to the door
+of the cathedral in which he renounced all loyalty and obedience to King
+Charles, took off his episcopal robes before the shrine of St. Erik, and
+vowed that he would not wear that dress again until law and right were
+brought back to the land. It was a semi-civilized age and land in which
+churchmen did not hesitate to appeal to the sword, and the archbishop
+clad himself in armor, and with helmet on head and sword by side, set out
+on a crusade of his own against the man he deemed an unworthy and
+oppressive king.
+
+He found many to sustain him, and Charles, taken utterly by surprise,
+barely escaped to Stockholm, wounded, on a miserable old horse, and with
+a single servant. Besieged there and unable to defend the town, he hid
+part of his treasures, put the rest on board a vessel, and while going on
+board himself was accosted by one of the archbishop's friends, who asked
+him:
+
+"Have you forgotten anything?"
+
+"Nothing except to hang you and your comrades," was the bitter reply of
+the fugitive king.
+
+King Christian of Denmark was called in by the archbishop to take the
+vacant throne, Charles was pronounced a traitor by his enemies, and for
+some years Christian ruled over Sweden. Then his avarice and the heavy
+taxes he laid on the people aroused such dissatisfaction that an
+insurrection broke out, Christian's army was thoroughly defeated, and he
+was forced to take ship for Denmark, while Charles was recalled to the
+throne and landed in Stockholm in 1464, a second time king of Sweden.
+
+This reign was not a long one. Christian, who had imprisoned the
+archbishop because he opposed the heavy taxation of the peasants, now
+sought his aid again and sent him with an army to Sweden. As a result
+Charles found himself once more shut up in Stockholm and was again forced
+by his enemies to resign the crown, being given instead of his kingdom
+the government of Raseborg Castle in Finland. And instead of having
+treasures to take with him, as before, he was now so poor that he could
+not pay a debt of fifty marks he owed in Stockholm. He expressed his
+state of poverty in the following verse:
+
+               "While I was Lord of Fogelwich,
+               I was a mighty man and rich;
+               But since I'm King of Swedish ground
+               A poorer man was never found."
+
+But his career was not yet ended. He was again to sit on the throne.
+Friends arose in his favor, the people again grew dissatisfied with
+Danish rule, and the archbishop, his greatest enemy, died. Charles was
+recalled and returned from Finland, a third time standing on Swedish
+ground as king.
+
+He had still a hard fight before him. A Swedish nobleman, Erik Wase,
+sought to win the throne for himself, and Christian of Denmark sent a new
+army to Sweden; but by the aid of a brave young knight, Sten Sture, Nils
+Sture, his cousin, and some other valiant friends, all his enemies were
+overcome and thus, after years of struggle and a remarkably diversified
+career, he was at length firmly seated on the throne.
+
+But the unfortunate monarch was not long to enjoy the quiet which he had
+so hardly won. He fell seriously ill in May, 1470, and feeling that death
+was near, he sent for Sten Sture and made him administrator of the
+kingdom, with control of the castle of Stockholm. But he earnestly warned
+him never to seek for the royal power, saying:
+
+"That ambition has ruined my happiness and cost me my life."
+
+
+
+
+_STEN STURE'S GREAT VICTORY OVER THE DANES._
+
+
+Historical tales have much to do with war and bloodshed, with rides and
+raids, with schemes and stratagems, with plunder and piracy, and with
+outrage and oppression. These are the things to which historians give the
+most space in their pages and which many readers find fullest of interest
+and excitement. In the present tale we have to do wholly with scenes of
+war, for we propose to tell the story of one of the most remarkable
+battles ever fought on Swedish soil.
+
+This is what led to it. After the death of Charles VIII. and the
+appointment of Sten Sture as administrator of the kingdom, Christian I.
+of Denmark, whom the brave Sture had driven away with his army, fancied
+that the way was open to him again, and that Sweden, without a king, was
+a ripe plum ready to drop into his mouth. He was to find it a sour plum,
+for in Sten Sture he had to deal with a man of notable ability, just and
+upright in his dealings, wise and prudent in government, and brave and
+skilful in war. He was a man who did not swear to keep his word, but who
+never broke it. "I promise by my three water-lilies" (the arms of the
+Stures) was his form of affirmation, but this simple promise was more to
+be trusted than the solemn oaths of many kings and potentates. The
+people loved and trusted him, and on the 1st of May, 1471, the late
+king's appointment was confirmed at a general diet of the people, which
+accepted him by acclamation as the administrator and captain-general of
+the realm.
+
+He soon had work cut out for him. Christian of Denmark equipped a great
+fleet and sailed to Stockholm, where he anchored in the harbor and opened
+negotiations with the Swedish senate, then the great source of power in
+the land. He promised to govern the kingdom in the way they might decide
+upon and be to them a mild and merciful father. While some of them were
+seduced by his specious promises, the majority had no fancy to make him
+their "father." But they made a truce with him until the matter could be
+decided, the Danes being allowed to buy provisions in the town, and on
+their side selling salt to the citizens, this being at that time very
+scarce in Stockholm.
+
+Thus matters went on for seven weeks, at the end of which time Christian
+concluded that the Swedes were playing with him, seeking to spin out the
+time until all his provisions would be consumed and winter with its
+storms would be at hand to destroy his fleet. As it began to appear that
+nothing was to be gained by peace, he resolved to try the effect of war,
+and on the 1st of September landed his army and laid his plans to besiege
+the city.
+
+His camp was pitched on the hill of Brunkenberg, near the city,
+connection being made with the fleet by a strong bridge built from the
+shore to an island in the harbor. Bulwarks and ramparts of earth were
+thrown up on the side next the town, and were mounted with cannon, with
+which he soon opened a bombardment. He enticed some of the Swedish
+peasants into his camp by promise of an abundance of salt, but his main
+army consisted of the Danish nobles and their troops and of German and
+Scottish soldiers of fortune, brave, stout, able warriors who exercised
+themselves daily in military sports and led a merry and careless life in
+camp, heedless of everything except pay and plunder.
+
+When the proud Danish king was told that Sture was collecting an army of
+peasants with which to fight him, he sneeringly said:
+
+"Herr Sten sneaks along ditches and dikes, but I shall punish my little
+gentleman with the rod like a child, and teach him to keep himself
+quiet."
+
+Threats were also made by the foreign mercenaries against the citizens,
+but these only served to rouse their anger and make them more resolute in
+the defence of the city.
+
+As for Herr Sten, he went on raising troops and driving out the Danes
+whom he found infesting the seaboard lands, not marching towards the city
+until he had got rid of all hostility in his rear. On his march he was
+met by his brave cousin, Nils Sture, with an army of the bold Dalmen of
+the north, and the united armies marched on to Jerfva, in the vicinity of
+the beleaguered city.
+
+From this point Sture wrote to King Christian, offering him safe passage
+home, if he would leave Sweden without the need of blows; but he only
+roused the wrath of the king, who loudly swore:
+
+"By God's five wounds, I have not gone to so much trouble and expense to
+go home without finishing what I came for."
+
+All that could be done in the cause of peace had been done without avail,
+and events had reached a point in which the affair could be settled only
+at sword's point and cannon's mouth.
+
+It was the 10th of October, 1470. Long before the sun rose on that
+memorable day the Swedes of Sture's army were awake and busy preparing
+their arms for the coming fray, in which the mastery of their kingdom was
+to be decided. At an early hour the whole army was called to the solemn
+service of the mass, after which holy and impressive ceremony they
+refreshed themselves with a hasty meal and returned to their ranks ready
+for battle.
+
+Nils Sture was already on the march with a third of the army, secretly
+leading them around a clump of woodland with the purpose of attacking the
+Danish camp at Brunkenberg from the east. As the ranks of the main army
+formed for the attack, their brave leader was gratified to see a body of
+gallant horsemen, in shining armor, riding to join him. They were
+thirteen hundred in number, and had been sent from the town of Kungsholm.
+
+Advancing before his people, Sture spoke to them with few but telling
+words:
+
+"If you ever desire to enjoy peace and security in Sweden stand by me
+this day and cling one to another. I shall do my part. I fear not the
+king nor his Danes and mercenaries, but gladly venture life and blood and
+all that I possess on the event of this battle. If you will do the same,
+lift up your hands."
+
+[Illustration: SKURUSUND, STOCKHOLM.]
+
+"That will we do with God's help," came the roar of response, followed by
+a great shout and wild clanging of arms. Immediately the advance began,
+the men singing the verse of a psalm written for the occasion. It was now
+the hour of eleven.
+
+King Christian and his army boldly awaited the assault, looking down from
+their commanding position on the Swedes, who came on heedless of the roar
+of guns and flight of arrows. Reaching the foot of the hill, they began
+its ascent, met as they did so by the Danes, who rushed down upon them
+with lance and sword. In a moment more the hostile lines met and the
+bloody work of war began.
+
+On the summit of the hill proudly waved the Danneborg, the sacred
+standard of Denmark. In the midst of the Swedes fluttered their country's
+flag, borne resolutely up the hill. Around these banners gathered the
+bravest of the champions, fighting with heroic fury--the Danes, under
+their ambitious king, fighting for glory and riches; the Swedes, under
+their patriot leader, striking for peace and freedom from foreign rule.
+
+While the battle was thus raging outside the town, Knut Posse, its
+governor, a skilful soldier, was not idle. He was not content to rest
+within the walls while his countrymen were fighting so vigorously for
+his relief. The heat of the fight had left the bridge leading from the
+shore to the ships without a guard, and he sent some men in boats to row
+towards it and with saws and axes to sever the supports beneath it. This
+was successfully done and the men returned unseen.
+
+While this was being accomplished the warlike governor, seeing that the
+Swedes had been checked in their ascent of the hill, made a sally from
+the town with two thousand of the garrison, taking possession of the
+Danish fortifications in that quarter and setting them on fire. His
+position, however, could not long be held, for Sten Sture's troops had
+been driven down the hill and Christian was free to lead a heavy column
+against him, forcing him back with his handful of men. In the struggle,
+however, the bold governor advanced so vigorously upon the king, that he
+received a wound from Christian's own hand.
+
+While Knut Posse was thus being driven back into the town Sten Sture was
+seeking to infuse new spirit into his defeated people, telling them that
+"it would be to their eternal shame if they suffered themselves thus to
+be repulsed."
+
+Marshalling them into orderly ranks as quickly as possible he led them
+again towards the hill, and the battle recommenced with its old fire and
+vigor. Sture rode valiantly at their head, encouraging them with a
+display of heroic valor. While he fought on horseback, by his side ran a
+peasant named Bjoern the Strong, who kept pace with the horse and at
+times ran before it, swinging his broad battle-axe with such strength
+that he opened a road for his leader to ride through. Though surrounded
+by enemies, the two held their own with the fiery energy of the
+berserkers of an earlier day, dispensing death while not receiving a
+wound.
+
+King Christian, on the other hand, showed himself not wanting in valor,
+keeping well in the front rank of his men. In the midst of the fight a
+ball struck him in the mouth, knocking out three of his teeth and so
+disabling him that he was carried fainting from the field. In the end the
+Swedes, who had borne their banner to the summit of the hill, where they
+looked in vain for the expected aid from Nils Sture and his men, were
+driven back again and a second time forced down the hill, the victorious
+Danes driving them well into the plain at its foot.
+
+Three hours of hard fighting had now passed and both armies were wearied.
+Trotte Karlsson, a Swedish renegade who had been fighting against his
+country in the ranks of its foes, seated himself on a stone to rest,
+taking off his helmet that he might breathe the fresh air. As he did so a
+ball from the Swedish ranks struck him between the eyes and he fell
+dead--a traitor fighting with strangers against his native land.
+
+Though twice beaten Sten Sture had no thought of giving up the fight. For
+some reason Nils Sture, who with the large force under his command had
+been depended upon to make a diversion in their favor, had not appeared.
+Bad roads had detained him and he was still struggling onward towards
+his assigned position.
+
+Looking around him, and satisfied that it was hopeless to dislodge the
+enemy from their post of vantage, Sten now attempted a diversion by
+sending a force to attack the troops stationed at the convent of St.
+Claire. The Danes on the hill, seeing the danger of this detachment, and
+thinking that they had thoroughly beaten off the Swedes, rushed down to
+the aid of those at the convent, and Sten, with the skill of an able
+commander, took advantage of this movement and at once marshalled his men
+for a third attack.
+
+They did not need much encouragement. Though twice beaten they were not
+dispirited, but rushed forward shouting: "Now the Danes come to us on
+equal ground! Let us at them and swing our swords freely!"
+
+Some bright streaks appearing on the sky, the cry ran through the ranks:
+
+"St. Erik is waving his sword over his people to aid them and point the
+way to victory."
+
+On the enemy they rushed, with a valor not weakened by their previous
+repulses, and Knut Posse, who had been watching the fight with keen eyes,
+made a fresh sally from the town. Soon the battle was on again with all
+its former fury, the Danes fighting at first for victory, then, as they
+were forced to give way, striking resolutely to defend their standard,
+the Danneborg. Knut Posse made a fierce onset upon the proud banner, but
+was not able to reach it until five hundred noble Danes, who gathered
+around it as a guard of honor, had fallen under the swords of the Swedes.
+
+When the Danes saw their great standard fall they gave way, but only with
+the intention to regain the height and defend themselves on its summit.
+It was at this critical juncture that Nils Sture appeared with his
+long-delayed troops and attacked the enemy from a fresh side. Before this
+unlooked-for and powerful force the Danes gave way in a panic, their
+ranks being broken and the fugitives rushing in wild flight down the hill
+to take refuge in their ships.
+
+Now the stratagem of Knut Posse became effective, the weakened bridge
+swaying and sinking under the multitude of fugitives who crowded it,
+plunging them by hundreds into the water. Others leaped into boats to row
+to the vessels, but these were so crowded that many of them sank, their
+occupants being drowned. In all, nine hundred men were drowned in the
+flight, while as many more who were not able to escape threw down their
+arms and surrendered. Christian succeeded in escaping with that portion
+of his army which had reached the ships, while Sten Sture marched in
+triumph into Stockholm with his victorious troops, there to be received
+with shouts of gladness, and with tears of joy by his wife Fra Ingeborg,
+who had been in the city and with the noble ladies of the place had
+prayed earnestly for victory while their friends and husbands fought.
+
+For four hours the battle had lasted. It was one of vast importance for
+Sweden, since it brought to that country many years of peace and repose.
+King Christian dared not attack the Swedes again and the country got on
+prosperously without a king under the able government of Sten Sture.
+
+
+
+
+_HOW THE DITMARSHERS KEPT THEIR FREEDOM._
+
+
+The name of Ditmarshers was given to the inhabitants of a broad, marshy
+region adjoining the district of Holstein on the Baltic shores of
+Germany. They were not pure Germans, however, but descendants of the
+ancient Frisian tribes who had long occupied the northwest parts of
+Germany and Holland and were known as far back as the times of the Romans
+for their courage and love of liberty.
+
+For age after age this people had shown the same bold spirit and made
+many a gallant stand against the princes who sought to subdue them. Geert
+the Great and other princes of Sleswick and Holstein had suffered defeat
+at their hands, and the warlike Valdemar III. of Denmark had been sadly
+beaten by them. At a much later date the Emperor Frederick had formally
+given the lands of the Ditmarshers to Christian I. of Denmark, to be
+joined to Holstein, but the marshmen declared that they were not subjects
+of Denmark and would not be given and taken at its king's will.
+
+It was in the year 1500 that the most striking event in the history of
+the Ditmarshers took place. King Hans, the son of Christian I., then
+ruled over Denmark and Norway and five years before had been crowned king
+of Sweden. It was due to his dealings with the bold sons of the marshes
+that he lost the latter throne. This is the story of this interesting
+event.
+
+When Hans was made king of Denmark his ambitious brother Frederick, who
+had sought to obtain the throne, was made duke of Sleswick-Holstein, and
+called upon the Ditmarshers to pay him taxes and render homage to him for
+their lands. This they declined to do, not recognizing the right of the
+Emperor Frederick to hand them over to Denmark and to decide that the
+country which had belonged to their fathers for so many centuries was
+part of Holstein.
+
+Finding that he had tough metal to deal with in the brave marshmen,
+Frederick induced his brother Hans to invade their country and seek to
+bring them to terms. King Valdemar had done the same thing three
+centuries before, with the result of losing four thousand men and getting
+an arrow wound in his eye, but undeterred by this, if they knew anything
+about it, the nobles and knights, who were very numerous in the army led
+by Frederick and Hans, went to the war as lightly as if it were an
+excursion of pleasure.
+
+Disdaining to wear their ordinary armor in dealing with peasant foes,
+they sought to show their contempt for such an enemy by going in their
+ordinary hunting costume and carrying only light arms. It was a piece of
+folly, as they were to learn. The marshmen fought like their fathers of
+old for their much-valued liberty, and the knights found they had no
+cravens to deal with.
+
+It is true that the royal troops took and sacked Meldorf, the chief town
+of the Ditmarshers, cruelly killing its inhabitants, but it was their
+only victory. It proved a lighter thing to get to Meldorf than to get
+away from it, and of the Danes and Germans who had taken part in the
+assault few escaped with their lives.
+
+It was the depth of winter, cold, bitter weather, and as the army was on
+its march from Meldorf to Hejde the advance guard suddenly found itself
+in face of a line of earthworks which the marshmen had thrown up in front
+of a dike. This was defended by five hundred Ditmarshers under their
+leader, Wolf Isebrand.
+
+The German guards rushed to the attack, shouting:
+
+"Back, churls, the guards are coming!"
+
+Three times they forced the marshmen to retreat, but as often these bold
+fellows rallied and came back to their works. In the midst of the
+struggle the wind changed, bringing a thaw with it, and as the troops
+struggled on, blinded with the sleet and snow that now fell heavily, and
+benumbed with the cold, the men of the marshes opened the sluices in the
+dike. Through the openings poured the waters of the rising tide, quickly
+flooding the marshes and sweeping everything before them.
+
+The soldiers soon found themselves wading in mud and water, and at this
+critical juncture the Ditmarshers, accustomed to make their way through
+their watery habitat by the aid of poles and stilts, fell upon the
+dismayed invaders, cutting them down in their helpless dilemma or
+piercing them through with their long lances.
+
+The victory of the peasants was utter and complete. Six thousand of the
+invaders, nobles and men-at-arms alike, perished on that fatal day, and
+the victors fell heir to an immense booty, including seven banners. Among
+these was the great Danish standard, the famous Danneborg, which was
+carried in triumph to Oldenwoerden and hung up in the church as the
+proudest trophy of the victory.
+
+As for King Hans and his brother Duke Frederick, they barely escaped
+falling into the hands of the marshmen, while the estimate of the losses
+in money, stores, and ammunition in that dread afternoon's work was
+200,000 florins.
+
+King Hans lost more than money by it, for he lost the kingship of Sweden.
+The nobles of that country, when the news of the disastrous defeat
+reached them, rose in revolt, under the leadership of Sten Sture, drove
+the Danes out of Stockholm, and kept his queen, Christina of Saxony,
+prisoner for three years. Hans had no more armies to send to Sweden and
+he was obliged to renounce its crown.
+
+Norway also rose against him under a brave leader, and his power over
+that country was threatened also. It was finally saved for him by his son
+Prince Christian, who used his power so cruelly after order was restored
+that he nearly routed out all the old Norwegian nobles.
+
+Thus, from his attempt to make the Ditmarshers pay taxes against their
+will, King Hans lost one kingdom and came near losing another. The only
+successful war of his reign was one against the traders of Luebeck, who
+had treated him with great insolence. In a war which followed, the fleet
+of the Luebeckers was so thoroughly beaten that the proud merchant princes
+were glad to pay 30,000 gulden to obtain peace. Then, having this one
+success to offset his defeat by the Ditmarshers, King Hans died.
+
+
+
+
+_THE BLOOD-BATH OF STOCKHOLM._
+
+
+The most cruel tyrant the northern lands ever knew was Christian II. of
+Denmark, grandson of Christian I., whose utter defeat at Stockholm has
+been told. For twenty-seven years Sweden remained without a king, under
+the wise rule of Sten Sture. Then Hans of Denmark, son of Christian I.,
+was chosen as king, in the belief that he would keep his promises of good
+government. As he failed to keep them he was driven out after a four
+years' rule, as we have told in the last tale, and Sten Sture became
+practically king again.
+
+How Christian, who succeeded Hans as king of Denmark, and had shown
+himself a master of ferocity and bloodthirsty cruelty in Norway and
+Denmark, overcame the Swedes and made himself king of Sweden, is a story
+of the type of others which we have told of that unhappy land. It must
+suffice to say here that by force, fraud, and treachery he succeeded in
+this ambitious effort and was crowned king of Sweden on the 4th of
+November, 1520.
+
+He had reached the throne by dint of promises, confirmed by the most
+sacred oaths, not one of which he had any intention of keeping, and the
+Swedes might as well have set a wolf on their throne as given it to this
+human tiger. One thing he knew, which was that the mischief and disquiet
+in Sweden were due to the ambition of the great lords, and he mentally
+proposed to ensure for himself a quiet reign by murdering all those whom
+he feared.
+
+[Illustration: SKANSEN RIVER.]
+
+Under what pretence of legality it could be done, and leave to him the
+appearance of innocence in the matter, was a difficult question. To
+attempt the bloody work with no ostensible motive might lose for him the
+crown which he had striven so hard to win, and in the dilemma he
+consulted with his confidential advisers as to what should be done.
+
+Some of them proposed that a quarrel and uproar between the Danes and
+Swedes in the town should be fomented, which the lords might be accused
+of bringing about. But there was danger that such a pretended quarrel
+might become a real one, and endanger his throne. Others advised that
+gun-powder should be laid under the castle and the lords be accused of
+seeking to blow up the king. But this was dismissed as too clumsy a
+device.
+
+Finally it was proposed to proceed against the lords as heretics, they
+having some years previously been excommunicated by the Pope for
+heretical practices. The king, indeed, had solemnly sworn to forget and
+forgive the past, but his cunning advisers told him that while he might
+speak for himself, he had no warrant to speak for the Church, the laws
+and rights of which had been violated. This pretext was seized upon by
+Christian with joy and he proceeded to make use of it in a way that every
+churchman in the land would have condemned with horror.
+
+On the 7th of November, the day after the coronation festivities ended,
+the king proceeded to put his treacherous plot into effect. A number of
+noble Swedes who had attended the festivities were brought to the castle
+under various pretences, and were there ushered into a large and spacious
+hall. With alarm they saw that the doors were closed behind them so that
+none could leave, though others might enter.
+
+When all were gathered Christian entered and took his seat on the throne,
+with his council and chief lords about him. Archbishop Trolle was also
+present as representative of the Church, but without knowledge or
+suspicion of the secret purpose of the king, who had brought him there to
+sanction by his presence the intended massacre.
+
+The charge which it was proposed to bring against the senators and lords
+was that of trespass against the archiepiscopal dignity and to demand
+retribution for the same, and this charge was accordingly brought in the
+name of the Church. The king then turned to the archbishop and asked:
+
+"My Lord Archbishop, do you intend to have this matter brought to peace
+and friendship according to the counsel of good men or will you have it
+judged by the law?"
+
+Archbishop Trolle answered, "The offence being one against the Church,
+the cause of the accused should be judged by the Pope."
+
+This was a mode of settling the matter which by no means conformed with
+the king's intention, and he answered:
+
+"This is a matter not to be referred to the Pope, but to be terminated at
+home in the kingdom, without troubling his Holiness."
+
+In this decision he was not to be shaken, knowing well that if the
+archbishop's proposal to refer the matter to the Pope were carried out
+his secret sanguinary purpose would be defeated. What he proposed was the
+murder of the lords, and he had no intention of letting the matter escape
+from his control.
+
+Lord Sten Sture, against whom the accusation had been chiefly directed,
+was dead, but his widow, the Lady Christina, was present, and was asked
+what defence she had to offer for herself and her husband. She replied
+that the offences against the archbishop were not due to Lord Sten alone,
+but were done with the approbation of the senate and the kingdom and she
+produced a parchment in proof of her words, signed by many of the persons
+present. Christian eagerly seized upon the incriminating document, as
+giving him a warrant for his proceedings and evidence against those whom
+he most hated and feared.
+
+All whose names were attached to it were brought up, one after another,
+there being among them several bishops, who had taken part in the matter
+on patriotic and political grounds, and a number of senators. Every one
+tried to excuse himself, but of the whole number Bishop Otto was the only
+one whose excuse was accepted. At the end of the examination all those
+accused were seized and taken from the hall, the whole number, senators,
+prelates, noblemen, priests and burghers, being locked up together in a
+tower, the two bishops among them being alone given a better prison. The
+true reason for proceeding against the churchmen was that they had been
+the friends of Sten Sture and might prefer their country to the king. The
+wicked tyrant, who in this illegal manner had sought to make the Church
+responsible for his bloodthirsty schemes, hesitated not to condemn clergy
+and laity alike, and ended the session by the arbitrary decision that all
+the accused were heretics and as such should die.
+
+Irreligious, illegal, and ruthless as had been this whole proceeding,
+into which the artful king had dragged the archbishop and sought to make
+him a consenting party to his plot, Christian had gained his purpose of
+providing a pretext for ridding himself of his political enemies, actual
+or possible, and proceeded to put it into execution in the arbitrary
+manner in which it had been so far conducted, regardless of protests from
+any quarter.
+
+The next day the city gates were closed, so that no one could enter or
+leave. Trumpeters rode round the streets in the early morning,
+proclaiming that no citizen, on peril of life, must leave his house,
+unless granted permission to do so. On the chief squares Danish soldiers
+were marshalled in large numbers, and on the Great Square a battery of
+loaded cannon was placed, commanding the principal streets. A dread sense
+of terrible events to come pervaded the whole city.
+
+At noon the castle gates were thrown open and a great body of armed
+soldiers marched out, placing themselves in two long lines which reached
+from the castle to the town hall. Between these lines the accused lords
+were led, until the Great Square was reached, where they were halted and
+surrounded by a strong force of Danish soldiers. Around these gathered a
+great body of the people, now permitted to leave their houses. Alarm and
+anguish filled their faces as they saw the preparations for a frightful
+event.
+
+On the balcony of the town hall now appeared Sir Nils Lycke, a knight
+newly created by the king, who thus addressed the agitated multitude:
+
+"You good people are not to wonder at what you now behold, for all these
+men have proved themselves to be base heretics, who have sought to
+destroy the holy Church; and moreover traitors to his Majesty the King,
+since they had laid powder under the castle to kill him."
+
+At this point he was interrupted by Bishop Vincent from the square below,
+who called out indignantly to the people:
+
+"Do not believe this man, for all he tells you is falsehood and nonsense.
+It is as Swedish patriots that we are brought here, and God will yet
+punish Christian's cruelty and treachery."
+
+Two of the condemned lords also called out to the people, beseeching them
+"never in future to let themselves be deceived by false promises, but one
+day to avenge this day's terrible treachery and tyranny."
+
+Fearing an outbreak by the indignant people, if this appeal should
+continue, the soldiers now made a great noise, under order of their
+officers, and the king, who is said to have gloatingly witnessed the
+whole proceedings from a window in the town hall, ordered the execution
+to proceed, Klas Bille, an official, placing himself to receive the
+golden chain and ring of each knight before he was beheaded.
+
+The prisoners implored that they might confess and receive the Holy
+Sacrament before they were slain, but even this was refused, and Bishop
+Matthew was led forth first. While he was kneeling, with clasped and
+uplifted hands, two horrified men, one of them his secretary, rushed
+impulsively towards him, but before they could reach the spot the fatal
+sword had descended and the good bishop's head rolled to their feet on
+the ground.
+
+They cried out in horror that this was a frightful and inhuman act, and
+were at once seized and dragged within the circle, where they would have
+suffered the fate of the victimized bishop had they not been rescued by
+some German soldiers, who believed them to be Germans.
+
+Bishop Vincent next fell beneath the encrimsoned sword, and after him the
+senators, seven in number, and thirteen nobles and knights of the senate.
+These were followed by the three burgomasters of Stockholm and thirteen
+members of the town council, with fifteen of the leading citizens, some
+of them having been dragged from their houses, without the least warning,
+and led to execution. One citizen, Lars Hausson by name, burst into
+tears as he beheld this terrible scene, and at once was seized by the
+soldiers, dragged within the fearful circle, and made to pay by death for
+his compassion.
+
+With this final murder the executions for that day ended, the heads being
+set on poles and the dead bodies left lying where they had fallen. A
+violent rain that came on bore a bloody witness of the sanguinary scene
+into the streets, in the stream of red-dyed water which ran down on every
+side from the Great Square.
+
+On the next day Christian said that many had hid themselves who deserved
+death, but that they might now freely show themselves for he did not
+intend to punish any more. Deceived by this trick some of the hidden
+leaders made their appearance and were immediately seized and haled to
+the square, where the work of execution was resumed. Six or eight of
+these were beheaded, many were hung, and the servants of the slaughtered
+lords, who happened to come to the town in ignorance of the frightful
+work, were dragged from their horses and, booted and spurred as they had
+come, were haled to the gallows.
+
+The king's soldiers and followers, excited by the slaughter and given
+full license, now broke into many houses of the suspected, murdering the
+men, maltreating the women, and carrying away all the treasure they could
+find, and for some hours Stockholm seemed to be in the hands of an army
+that had taken the city by storm.
+
+For a day and night the corpses lay festering in the street, their bodies
+torn by vagrant dogs, and not until a pestilent exhalation began to rise
+from them were they gathered up and hauled by cartloads to a place in the
+southern suburbs, where a great funeral pyre was erected and the bodies
+were burned to ashes.
+
+As for the tyrant himself, his bloody work seemed to excite him to a sort
+of madness of fury. He ordered the body of Sten Sture the Younger to be
+dug from its grave in Riddarholm Church, and it is said that in his fury
+he bit at the half-consumed remains. The body of Sten's young son was
+also disinterred, and the two were carried to the great funeral pile to
+be burnt with the others. The quarter of the town where this took place
+is still named Sture, in memory of the dead, and on the spot where the
+great pyre was kindled stands St. Christopher's Church.
+
+Such was the famous, or rather the infamous, "blood-bath of Stockholm,"
+which still remains as a frightful memory to the land. It did not end
+here. The dreadful work he had done seemed to fill the monster with an
+insatiable lust for blood. His next act was to call Christina, the widow
+of Sten Sture, to his presence. When, overwhelmed with grief and despair,
+she appeared, he sneeringly asked her whether she would choose to be
+burned, drowned, or buried alive. The noble lady fell fainting at his
+feet. Her beauty and suffering and the entreaties of those present at
+length softened the tyrant, but her mother was enclosed in a bag and
+thrown into the stream, though she was permitted to be drawn out by the
+people on their promise to the tyrant that he should have her great
+wealth. But she, with her daughter Christina and many other women of
+noble descent, were carried as hostages to Copenhagen and shut up in a
+dreadful prison called the Blue Tower, where numbers of them died of
+hunger, thirst and cold.
+
+The massacre was not confined to Stockholm; from there the executions
+spread throughout the country, and the old law of 1153 was revived that
+no peasant should bear arms, Danish soldiers being sent through the
+country to rob the people of their weapons. The story is told that some
+of them, enraged by this act of tyranny, said:
+
+"Swords shall not be wanting to punish the tyrant so long as we retain
+our feet to pursue and our hands to revenge."
+
+To this the reply was that "a hand and a foot might well be cut from the
+Swedish peasant; for one hand and a wooden leg would be enough for him to
+guide his plough."
+
+This report, improbable as it was, spread widely and caused a general
+panic, for so terrified were the people by the reports of Christian's
+cruelty that nothing seemed too monstrous for him to undertake.
+
+In December the tyrant prepared to return to Denmark, leaving Sweden
+under chosen governors, with an army of Danes. But his outgoing from the
+country was marked by the same sanguinary scenes. He caused even his own
+favorite, Klas Hoist, to be hung, and two friends of Sten Sture being
+betrayed to him, he had them quartered and exposed upon the wheel. Sir
+Lindorm Ribbing was seized and beheaded, together with his servants. And,
+most pitiable of all, Sir Lindorm's two little boys, six and eight years
+of age, were ordered by the tyrant to be slain, lest they should grow up
+to avenge their murdered father.
+
+The scene, as related, is pathetic to the highest degree. The older boy
+was beheaded, and when the younger saw the streaming blood and the red
+stains on his brother's clothes, he said with childish innocence to the
+executioner: "Dear man, don't stain my shirt like my brother's, for then
+mamma will whip me."
+
+At these words the executioner, his heart softened, threw down the sword,
+crying:
+
+"I would rather blood my own shirt than yours."
+
+But the pathos of the scene had no effect on the heart of the tyrant, who
+witnessed it unsoftened, and called for a more savage follower to
+complete the work, ending it by striking off the head of the
+compassionate executioner. With this and other deeds of blood Christian
+left the land where he had sown deeply the seeds of hate, and the
+terrible "blood-bath" ended.
+
+
+
+
+_THE ADVENTURES OF GUSTAVUS VASA._
+
+
+In the parish of Orkesta, in Upland, Sweden, there may be seen the
+remains of an old tower, now a mere heap of stones, but once the centre
+of the proud manor-seat of Lindholm. It was a noble and lordly castle,
+built of red bricks and grey granite, seated on a high hill between two
+lakes, and commanding a wide prospect over mountain, wood, and water.
+Here, in the year 1490, was born Gustavus Vasa, the son of Sir Erik and
+Lady Cecilia Vasa, and destined to win future fame as one of the greatest
+heroes of Sweden and the liberator of his native land.
+
+At the age of six the boy was sent to be educated at the court of Sten
+Sture, then the administrator and virtual king of Sweden. Here he was not
+spoiled by indulgence, his mode of life and his food were alike simple
+and homely, and he grew up with a cheerful spirit and a strong body, his
+chief pleasure being that of hunting among the rocks and forests with his
+companions, all of whom grew to love and admire him.
+
+King Hans, when monarch of Sweden in 1499, on a visit to Sten Sture
+noticed the boy playing about the hall and was much pleased by his fine
+and glowing countenance. Patting him on the head, he said:
+
+"You will certainly be a man in your day, if you live to see it."
+
+He afterwards, thinking of the high descent of the boy and that he might
+grow to be a future foe of Denmark, asked Sten Sture to let him take the
+lad to Copenhagen and bring him up in his court. The wise Lord Sten
+quickly fathomed the king's thoughts and answered that the boy was too
+young to be taken from his parents. He soon after sent him to his father,
+then in command at Aland.
+
+"The young wolf has slipped out of my net," said King Hans in later
+years, when he was told of the splendid development of the boy as he grew
+to manhood.
+
+At the age of twenty-four he left the academy at Upsala, where he had
+been educated in the arts and sciences, and repaired to the court of Sten
+Sture the Younger, where he was soon a general favorite, loved for his
+amiable character and admired for his wit and vivacity. At that time the
+war by which Christian II. made himself master of Denmark was going on
+and young Vasa aided by his courage in winning victory on more than one
+hard-fought field.
+
+In 1518, during a negotiation between Sten Sture and Christian, then in
+sore straits in his fleet, the latter agreed to go ashore to confer with
+the Swedish leader if six gentlemen were sent on board his fleet as
+hostages. This was done, but before the conference took place a favorable
+change of wind changed the treacherous king's intention and he sailed off
+for Denmark with his hostages, all of whom were imprisoned and held to
+secure the neutrality of their relatives in Sweden.
+
+Among these captives was young Gustavus Vasa, who, thus perfidiously
+taken, was cruelly confined. Finally, at the request of Herr Erik Baner,
+a distant relative of the Vasas, the young man was set free, Baner
+binding himself to pay a heavy penalty in money if he permitted him to
+escape. Thus it was that Vasa found a new home at Kalloe Castle, in
+Jutland, where his deliverer lived, and where he was well treated and
+given much freedom.
+
+"I shall not cause you to be strictly guarded nor put you in
+confinement," said good old Baner. "You shall eat at my table and go
+where you please, if you faithfully promise not to make your escape or
+journey anywhere without letting me know."
+
+To this the young man bound himself verbally and by writing, and was
+given liberty by his generous warder to go where he pleased within six
+miles of Kalloe. At first he was always accompanied by an attendant, but
+as he won the old man's love and confidence he was suffered to go alone.
+
+But he could not forget the perfidy by which he had been made prisoner,
+and in 1519, when King Christian was preparing a great expedition against
+Sweden, the boasts of the young Danish nobles of what they proposed to do
+chafed his proud soul. Day and night his bitterness of spirit grew, and
+finally, as the time came for the expedition to set sail, he could bear
+it no longer but resolved to break his parole and escape to his native
+land.
+
+It was in the summer of 1579 that he set out, having dressed himself in
+peasant clothing. Starting in the early morning and avoiding the open
+roads, he made his way by by-paths, and at noon of the following day
+reached the town of Flensburg, where he fortunately met some Saxon
+traders driving a herd of cattle from Jutland to Germany. He joined
+these, and on September 30 reached the free town of Luebeck. Here the
+authorities gave him permission to remain, with a warrant for his
+personal safety while in the town.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Erik Baner had been wrathfully seeking him, and appeared in
+Luebeck shortly after he reached there, complaining of his ingratitude for
+the good treatment given him, and threatening the senate of Luebeck with
+Christian's enmity if they should protect one of his foes.
+
+Gustavus boldly answered that he was no lawful prisoner, but a man seized
+by breaking a solemn compact, and therefore that he had the right to set
+himself free. As for the six thousand riks-thalers, which Sir Erik had
+bound himself to pay, he would return them with interest and gratitude
+when he got home.
+
+"I trust to this," he concluded, "that I am in a free town, on whose
+word, when once given, I should be able to depend."
+
+This appeal won his case with the senate, and Sir Erik was obliged to
+return without his ward.
+
+But to make his way to Sweden, then torn and distracted by war, and the
+seas held by hostile craft, was no easy matter and he was forced to
+remain eight months in Luebeck while his country was being rapidly subdued
+by its invaders. They were not idle months, for Gustavus learned much
+while there of political and industrial economy and the commerce and
+institutions of the Hanseatic League and its free towns, knowledge which
+became of much service to him in later years. In the end he succeeded in
+making his way to Sweden in a small trading vessel, and on the 31st of
+May, 1520, landed secretly on its shores, with nothing but his sword and
+his courage to sustain him against an enemy who had, step by step,
+subjugated nearly the whole land.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. THE FAMOUS XVI. CENTURY CASTLE AT UPSALA, SWEDEN.]
+
+Of the cities, only Stockholm and Calmar remained in the hands of the
+Swedes, and the latter, in which he had landed, seemed full of cowards
+and traitors. The place was not safe for a declared patriot, and he left
+it, making his way up the country. Here he learned with indignation how
+envy, avarice, and private feuds had induced many Swedes to betray one
+another to the enemy, and his efforts to exhort the people to unity and
+resistance proved vain. Most of them were weary of the war, and Christian
+had won over many of the peasants.
+
+"He is a gracious master to us," they said, "and as long as we obey the
+king neither salt nor herring will fail us."
+
+When Gustavus sought to win them over to more patriotic views they became
+angry and threatening, and in the end they assailed him with arrows and
+lances, so that he was obliged to make his escape. His position, indeed,
+became so critical that he was forced to disguise himself and proceed
+through forests and unsettled lands. Finally he reached the manor-house
+in which resided his sister Margaret and her husband, Sir Joachim Brahe.
+
+They received him with the highest demonstrations of joy, as they had
+feared that they would never set eyes on him again; but their delight in
+his presence was turned into consternation when they learned that he was
+there with the purpose of seeking to foment an insurrection against
+Christian, who had then made himself complete master of Sweden and was on
+the point of being crowned king.
+
+Joachim Brahe and his wife were at that time preparing to attend
+Christian's coronation at Stockholm, and were deeply disturbed by what
+seemed to them the mad purpose of the young patriot. Joachim offered to
+do his utmost to reconcile Gustavus to the king, and Margaret threw
+herself in tears and distress on his neck, beseeching him to desist from
+an undertaking which she felt sure would bring death to him and ruin to
+his whole family.
+
+But Gustavus was not to be persuaded, and on the other hand he warned
+Joachim against trusting himself in Christian's hands, speaking of him as
+a base wretch whom no one could trust. Joachim proved equally hard to
+move, and the three soon parted, Joachim and his wife for
+Stockholm--where death awaited him at the hands of the traitor king--and
+Gustavus for a place of concealment where he could foment his plans.
+During this interval he met the old archbishop, Jacob Ulfsson, who
+earnestly advised him to go to Stockholm and warmly promised to plead his
+cause with the king. But the fugitive knew Christian far better than the
+aged churchman and had no idea of putting his head within the wolfs jaws.
+Little did the good archbishop dream of the terrible tragedy that was
+even then taking place in Stockholm.
+
+The news of it came to Gustavus in this way. One day while out hunting in
+the vicinity of his hiding-place, he unexpectedly met the faithful old
+steward of his brother-in-law Joachim, who was so choked with grief on
+seeing him that he found it impossible to speak and could answer the
+young lord's question only with tears and gestures. Finally he succeeded
+in telling the fearful tale of that bloody day at Stockholm, the death
+under the executioner's sword of the father and brother-in-law of the
+horror-stricken listener, the imprisonment of his mother and sisters, and
+the fact that he would soon become a hunted fugitive, a high price having
+been set upon his head.
+
+Who can describe the bitter grief of the son and brother at these
+terrible tidings, the hot wrath of the patriot, the indignation of a true
+and honest heart! On that fatal day the young fugitive had lost all he
+loved and cherished and was made a hunted, homeless, and almost penniless
+outlaw. But his courage did not fail him, he could foresee the
+indignation of the people at the dastardly act, and he determined to
+venture liberty and life against the ruthless tyrant.
+
+A series of striking adventures awaited him, which it needed his utmost
+resolution to endure. He was then concealed at Raefsnaes, one of his
+paternal estates, but felt it necessary at once to seek a safer refuge,
+and collecting what gold and silver he could, he set out with a single
+servant for Dalarna. They had not gone far before they reached the ferry
+at Kolsund, which he crossed, leaving his man to follow. But the fellow,
+who had no faith in his master's project, took the opportunity to mount
+his horse and flee, taking with him the gold and jewels which had been
+entrusted to his care.
+
+Seeing the act of treachery, Gustavus in all haste recrossed the ferry,
+and pursued the runaway so hotly that he leaped from his horse in alarm
+and hid himself in the woods. Recovering the horse and its valuable
+burden, the fugitive pursued his course, paying no further heed to the
+treacherous servant.
+
+It was late in November when Gustavus reached Dalarna. He was now
+completely disguised, having exchanged his ordinary dress for that of a
+peasant, cutting his hair round, wearing the round hat and short baize
+jacket of the countrymen, and carrying an axe on his shoulder in the
+fashion of peasant-lads seeking work. No one would have dreamed of his
+being the sole heir of the great house of the Vasas.
+
+His first service was with a rich miner named Anders Persson, in whose
+barn he threshed grain for several days. But his fellow threshers soon
+saw that he was not accustomed to the work and his general manner did not
+seem that of a common farm-hand, while one of the women caught the
+glimpse of a silk collar under his coarse jacket. These suspicious
+circumstances were told to the miner, who sent for Gustavus and quickly
+recognized him, for he had often seen him in former days at Upsala.
+
+Anders received him hospitably, but when he heard from him of the
+Stockholm massacre and his aid was requested in the liberation of the
+country, he grew alarmed. Fearing to entertain so dangerous a guest, he
+advised him to go farther north and to change his place of abode
+frequently.
+
+Accepting this advice, Gustavus set out for Ornaes, but on his way, while
+crossing a newly frozen stream, the thin ice broke under him and he was
+plunged into the chilling water. Light and active, he soon got out again,
+drying his clothes and passing the night at the house of the ferryman.
+
+Reaching Ornaes the next day, he went to the house of a former friend, but
+who now, unknown to him, had become connected by marriage with the Danes
+and was devoted to the interests of the new king. It was a critical
+situation for the friendless fugitive. His treacherous host craftily
+welcomed him and pretended to approve his purpose, in which he offered to
+assist him and to seek adherents to his cause among his neighbors.
+
+The guest was conducted to a garret at the top of the house and here,
+weary from his wanderings and gratified at having found a sympathizing
+friend, he lay confidingly down and was soon lost in slumber. Meanwhile
+Arendt, the treacherous host, sought a neighbor, Mans Nilsson, whom he
+told of the rich prize he had found and asked his aid in capturing him
+and gaining the high reward offered for him by the king. He was mistaken
+in his man. Mans hated treachery. But Arendt found others who were less
+scrupulous and in the early morning returned to his home heading twenty
+men, collected to aid him in the capture of his unsuspecting guest. To
+his utter surprise and dismay, on entering the garret to which Gustavus
+had been led he was nowhere to be found. He had unaccountably
+disappeared, and search as they could no trace of the fugitive was
+forthcoming.
+
+There was a woman concerned in this strange escape, which had happened
+thus. Barbara, Arendt's wife, though Danish in her sympathies, had a
+warm, romantic interest in Gustavus Vasa, and when she saw her husband,
+on his return from his visit to Mans Nilsson, drive past the house and in
+the direction of the house of the Danish steward, she suspected him of
+treachery and determined to save their too-confiding guest.
+
+Ordering Jacob, one of her men, to harness a sledge with all haste and
+secrecy and keep it in waiting behind the building, she sought the
+garret, woke Gustavus, and told him of his peril and of her desire to
+save him. Not venturing to bring him down into the house, she opened the
+window, and though it was eighteen feet from the ground, she aided him in
+his descent with a long towel, such as were then in common use. Gustavus
+then sprang into the sledge and was driven briskly off.
+
+Arendt, when he learned of how his expected victim had fled, was
+furiously angry with his wife, and, as we are told, never forgave her and
+refused ever to set eyes on her again.
+
+This was the most extreme danger that the fugitive patriot ever passed
+through, and at that interval his hope of freeing his country from the
+yoke of the foreigner seemed the sheerest madness. But other perils lay
+before him and only vigilance and good fortune saved him more than once
+from death or capture. Surrounded by foes and with scarce a friend who
+dared aid him in the whole district, his final escape seemed impossible.
+
+The friendly Barbara had advised him to seek Herr Jon, the priest of
+Svaerdsjoe, and his driver took the road over the frozen Lake Runn, they
+ascending its banks in the smoke coming down from the Fahun copper mines,
+and about sunrise reaching a village on the northeast end of the lake.
+Jacob was unacquainted with the country beyond this point and Gustavus
+went to a house to inquire the way. As he was on the point of entering
+he saw within a miner, Nils Haussen, whom he knew to be a Danish partisan
+and who would have recognized him at sight. Quickly and without being
+seen, he turned behind the door and went towards another village beyond.
+Here he met a friendly smelter who agreed to guide him on the way. When
+they parted Gustavus gave him a silver dagger, saying gratefully:
+
+"If God helps me, seek me, and I will richly repay you for your aid."
+
+As night came on he sought quarters in a road-side cottage, and as he sat
+before the fire in the evening the good-wife said to him:
+
+"Young man, make me some pudding skewers, since you have nothing else to
+do."
+
+Gustavus laughingly replied that he would be glad to do so if he only
+knew how. This adventure has an interesting resemblance to that of King
+Alfred, when, hidden from the Danes in the swine-herd's hut, he let the
+good woman's cakes burn on the fire.
+
+Reaching the parsonage of Herr Jon on the following day, he first went to
+the barn and helped the laborers to thresh, at the same time asking them
+what side their master took. Learning that he was no friend of the Danes,
+he made himself known to him and was graciously received, staying with
+him for three days.
+
+But this place soon became unsafe. One day Herr Jon's housekeeper entered
+a room where Gustavus was washing, the priest standing by, towel in
+hand.
+
+"Why are you holding the towel for this common fellow?" she asked.
+
+"That is none of your affairs," said the priest.
+
+But fearing that the woman would talk, he thought it best for his guest
+to seek a safer retreat, and sent him to Swen Elfsson, gamekeeper for the
+crown, who lived not far away.
+
+Meanwhile the Danish steward, who had been told by the treacherous Arendt
+of the character of his guest, had his agents out in search of the
+fugitive and some of them entered the cottage of the gamekeeper. At that
+moment the good-wife was about putting her bread in the fire, and
+Gustavus was standing by the hearth in his peasant's dress, warming
+himself. The men who entered inquired for the fugitive, but before
+answering the woman raised her bread shovel and struck Gustavus hastily
+on the back, exclaiming:
+
+"What are you doing here gaping at strangers? Have you never seen a man
+before? Pack yourself off to the barn and go on with your threshing."
+
+Never dreaming that the man who had been so angrily treated by a
+peasant's wife could be the young lord they sought, the steward's
+messengers left the house to continue their search elsewhere.
+
+But the incident warned the gamekeeper that his guest was not safe
+anywhere in that vicinity, and to get him away unobserved he hid him in a
+large load of hay and drove off towards the forest. On the way some of
+the Danish scouts were met, and these, having some suspicion of Swen,
+began poking their lances through the hay. One of these wounded Gustavus
+in the leg, but he lay silent and motionless and the scouts soon went
+their way.
+
+But the cut on the concealed man's leg bled so freely that blood soon
+began to run from the cart and tinge the snow. Seeing this, Swen, fearing
+that the trail of blood might betray him, opened his knife and thrust it
+into the leg of his horse, so that if any one should perceive the blood
+stains he could assign this as their cause.
+
+He finally delivered his charge to the care of some loyal gamekeepers on
+the edge of the forest; but these, not considering their houses safe as
+hiding-places, took him into the forest, where he lay hidden for three
+days under a great fallen fir tree, they bringing him food and drink.
+Finding even this place insecure, he went deeper into the woods and
+sought shelter under a lofty fir tree which stood on a hill in the midst
+of a marsh. The place has ever since been called "The King's Height."
+
+Finally the effort of the Danish agents to find him relaxed and his
+faithful friends conducted him through the vast forests to Raettwik's
+Church, at the eastern end of the great Lake Silja.
+
+His perils were yet by no means at an end. He spoke of his purpose at
+this place to an assembly of the peasants and was pleased to find that
+they listened to him with willing ears. Having thus sown his first seed
+in favorable soil, he proceeded to Mora on the northern end of the lake,
+where the priest received him in a friendly manner. But he was being
+sought by the Danes in that district and the priest did not dare to hide
+him in his own house, but committed him to the care of a peasant named
+Tomte Mattes. As the search was becoming active he was concealed in a
+vaulted cellar, reached by a trap-door in the floor.
+
+He had not been long there when the Danish scouts, who were searching the
+whole district, reached the peasant's house, where they found his wife in
+the midst of her brewing of Christmas ale. As they entered, the shrewd
+woman turned a great tub over the trap-door, so that they did not
+perceive it, and thus for the third time the future king of Sweden owed
+his liberty and life to a woman's wit.
+
+Shortly after that, at one of the Christmas festivals, as the men of Mora
+were leaving the church, Gustavus called them to him where he stood on a
+low mound beside the churchyard and addressed them in earnest tones,
+while they gazed with deep sympathy on the manly form of the young noble
+of whose sufferings and those of his family they were well aware.
+
+He spoke of the risk to his life that he ran in venturing to speak to
+them at all, but said that his unhappy country was dearer to him than
+life. He pointed out the persecution which Sweden had formerly endured
+from Danish kings, and of how they had robbed the country of its wealth.
+
+"The same times and the same misfortunes have now returned," he said.
+"Our land swims, so to say, in our own blood. Many hundred Swedish men
+have been made to suffer a disgraceful and unmerited death. Our bishops
+and senators have been cruelly murdered. I myself have lost father and
+brother-in-law," he continued, his eyes streaming with tears, "and the
+blood of all these martyrs cries for redress and retribution on the
+tyrant."
+
+The men of Dalarna, he said, had long been noted for their courage when
+their land was in danger. They were renowned for this in history, and all
+Sweden looked upon them as the firmest defenders of its liberties.
+
+"I will willingly join with you for our land's deliverance," he
+concluded, "and spare neither my blood nor my sword, for these are all
+the tyrant has left me to use in your cause."
+
+Many of the Dalmen heard him with cries of vengeance, but the most of
+them stood in doubt. They did not know Gustavus personally and had heard
+that Christian was cruel only to the great, but was kind and generous to
+the peasantry. They could not yet make up their minds what to do, and
+begged him to seek safer quarters for himself, since he was being
+everywhere diligently sought by his pursuers.
+
+In fact, his peril continued extreme and for some days he was forced to
+lie hidden under Morkarlely Bridge, near Mora Church, though it was in
+the dead of a Swedish winter. He was able at length to resume his
+journey, but it was with an almost despairing heart, for he could see no
+hope either for himself or for his country. His led way over mountains
+and through desolate valleys, his nights being spent in wayside sheds
+which had been built for the shelter of travellers. On he went, through
+forests filled with snow and along the side of mountain torrents, and
+finally came within view of the lofty mountains beyond which lay the
+sister kingdom of Norway.
+
+Never had patriot more reason to be disheartened than the unhappy and
+hunted fugitive, never had the hope of liberating an oppressed country
+seemed darker, and the fugitive would have been justified in abandoning
+his native land and seeking a refuge in the bleak hills of Norway. Yet
+the adage has often held good that it is the darkest hour before the dawn
+of day, and so it was to prove in his case. While he waited in that
+desolate quarter to which he had been driven, events were shaping
+themselves in his favor and the first rising took place against the
+Danes.
+
+The stirring speech of the young noble at Mora Church had not been made
+in vain. Many of those who heard it had been strongly taken by his
+manliness and his powerful language, and, strangely, the most deeply
+impressed of all was Rasmas Jute, a Dane who had served the Stures and
+was now settled in Dalarna.
+
+Hearing that a Danish steward had come to that quarter to seek the
+fugitive and was now at the house of the sergeant of Mora parish, he
+armed himself and his servants and fell on the steward unawares, the
+first to take arms for Gustavus being thus a man of Danish birth. Soon
+afterwards a troop of Danish horsemen, a full hundred in number, was
+seen marching over the frozen surface of Lake Silja. So numerous a body
+of soldiers was unusual in those parts, and suspecting that they were in
+search of Gustavus, and might do something to their own injury, the
+peasants began ringing the church bells, the usual summons to arms.
+
+The wind carried the sound far to the northward, and on hearing the
+warning peal the peasantry seized their arms and bodies of them were soon
+visible hasting down the hills towards Mora. The Danish troopers, on
+seeing this multitude of armed men, shut themselves in the priest's
+house. Here they were attacked by the furious Dalmen, who broke open the
+doors and rushed in. The terrified Danes now fled to the church and took
+refuge in its steeple, whither they were quickly followed. Only by
+dejected appeals and a promise not to injure Gustavus Vasa did they
+succeed in escaping from the tower, and the Dalmen, thinking that some of
+them might remain concealed in the narrow spire, shot their arrows at it
+from every side. For more than a hundred years after some of these arrows
+remained sticking in the old wooden spire.
+
+Dalarna being looked upon as a centre of Swedish patriotism, a number of
+the persecuted noblemen took refuge there, and those confirmed all that
+Gustavus had told the people. And when Lars Olssen, an old warrior well
+known to them, arrived and told them of the gallows which Christian had
+erected, of the new taxes he had laid on the peasantry, and of the report
+that he had threatened to cut a hand and a foot off each peasant, with
+other tales true and false, they were deeply stirred. When Lars learned
+that Gustavus had been there and what had passed, he reproached them for
+their folly in not supporting him.
+
+"Good men," he said, "I know that gentleman well, and tell you that if
+yourselves and all the people of the country are not to be oppressed and
+even exterminated Gustavus Vasa is the only one who has sense and
+knowledge enough to lead us and lay hand to so great a work."
+
+While they were talking another fugitive came from the forest, who
+confirmed all that Lars had said and gave them a full account of the
+blood-bath at Stockholm and of how the body of Sten Sture, their beloved
+leader, had been torn from the grave and dishonored.
+
+These stories filled their hearers with horror, terror, and fury; war and
+bloody retribution was their only cry; their hearts were filled with
+remorse that they had let Gustavus, their country's chief hope, depart
+unaided. Two of them, the fleetest snow-skaters of the region, were
+chosen to follow him and bring him back, and off they went through the
+forests, following his track, and at length finding him at Saelen, the
+last village in that section, and immediately at the foot of the lofty
+Norwegian mountains. A few words sufficed to tell him of the great change
+of feeling that had taken place, and with heart-felt joy Gustavus
+accompanied them back, to begin at length the great work of freeing his
+native land.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II. THE TYRANT._
+
+
+It was in November, 1520, that Christian II. of Denmark was crowned king
+of Sweden. Norway was his as well and he was monarch of the whole
+Scandinavian world. He had reached the highest point in his career, but
+so great had been his cruelty and treachery that all men feared and no
+man trusted him and he was on the brink of a sudden and complete
+overthrow. The man who had worn the crowns of three kingdoms was to spend
+years within the narrow walls of a dungeon, with none to pity him in his
+misery, but all to think that he deserved it all and more. Barely has
+tyranny met with such retribution on earth, and the "Fall of the Tyrant"
+will serve as a fitting title to an impressive tale.
+
+So sudden and successful was the rebellion of the Swedes under Gustavus
+Vasa, that in the summer of the year after the massacre in the Great
+Square of Stockholm the Danes held only that city and a few other
+strongholds in Sweden. One after another these fell, Calmar and Stockholm
+in 1523, and in June of that year Gustavus was chosen king of the land
+which his hand had freed. A young man still, he was at the beginning of a
+great and glorious reign.
+
+Before he became king, Christian, his great enemy, had ceased to reign.
+He had shown the same inhuman spirit in Denmark and Norway as in Sweden
+and had sown his whole dominion thick with enemies.
+
+This is the way his fall was brought about. In 1522 he issued a code of
+laws for Denmark of a wise and progressive character, especially in
+freeing the peasantry from the slavish condition in which they had been
+held, they before being open to purchase and sale like so many brute
+animals. Christian declared that every man should be his own master and
+took steps to limit the power and wealth of the clergy and to improve the
+commerce of the kingdom.
+
+These changes, while wise and important, were difficult to introduce
+against the opposition of the lords and the clergy and needed the hand of
+a prudent and judicious administrator. Such Christian was not. He
+undertook them rashly and endeavored to enforce them by violence. Even
+the people, whom the new laws so favored, were incensed by a great
+increase in their taxes. No one trusted him; every one hated and feared
+him. Even the monarchs of other countries detested him and would not aid
+him in his extremity.
+
+The details of the blood-bath in Stockholm had reached the ears of the
+Pope and he sent a legate to inquire into the atrocities committed under
+the implied sanction of the Church. As they were not to be concealed,
+Christian attempted to excuse them, and, driven to extremity, accused one
+of his chief favorites, Didrik Slaghoek, as the originator of the
+massacre.
+
+Slaghoek had just been named archbishop of Lund, but was brought to
+Copenhagen, examined under torture, condemned to death, and carried to
+the gallows and thence to a funeral pile on which he was burned alive,
+Christian leaving the town that he might not witness the cruel death of
+his late favorite.
+
+This cowardly sacrifice of his devoted friend and servant, instead of
+winning the favor of the people, redoubled their abhorrence of the
+bloodthirsty tyrant. Shortly afterwards the Luebeckers invaded the
+kingdom, and Christian, not trusting his people, called in foreign
+soldiers to repel them. Needing money for their pay, he called a diet to
+meet on December 10, 1522. Few attended it, and in anger he called a new
+meeting for the following January.
+
+Before the date arrived rumors were set afloat that he intended to
+butcher the Danish nobles as he had done those of Sweden, that chains
+were being provided to secure them, and that he would have disguised
+executioners among his guards; also that new and heavier taxes were to be
+laid on the peasants.
+
+These rumors, widely circulated, incensed and frightened the nobility and
+a meeting was held by the nobles of Jutland in which they determined to
+renounce their allegiance to Christian and offer the crown to his uncle,
+Frederick, duke of Holstein.
+
+Magnus Munk, one of these lords, was chosen to deliver their decision to
+Christian and sought him for this purpose. But it was far from safe to
+offer King Christian such a document openly, and Munk pretended to be
+making a friendly visit, conversing and drinking with the king until a
+late hour of the night. On rising to retire, he thrust into Christian's
+glove, which had been left on the table, the letter of renouncement of
+the Jutland nobles.
+
+Instead of going to bed, Munk hastened to the vessel in which he had come
+and sailed to Holstein, where he made to Frederick the offer of the
+crown. As may be imagined, there was little hesitation in accepting it.
+
+The next morning a page of the palace found the king's glove on the table
+and took it to him. On reading the letter which he found in it the tyrant
+was filled with fear and fury. He sent guards to seize Munk, but when
+told that he was not to be found, his terror grew intense. He knew not
+where to turn nor what to do. He might have gathered an army of the
+peasants, to whom he had just given freedom, to fight the nobles, but
+instead he wrote to the lords, abjectly acknowledging his faults and
+promising to act differently in the future.
+
+They were not to be won, no one trusting him. Then the terrified tyrant
+hurried to Copenhagen and rode round the streets, imploring the citizens
+with tears to aid him, confessing his errors and vowing to change his
+ways. Many of the people, unused to see a king in tears, were moved by
+his petitions, but no wise man trusted him, few came to his assistance,
+and the sedition rapidly gained strength.
+
+At length he took a desperate step. In the harbor lay twenty large
+warships, which he might have used for defence, but in his terror he
+thought only of flight. All the treasure he could lay hands on was
+carried to these vessels, even the gilt balls on top of the church spires
+being taken. Sigbrit, a detestable favorite, who had given him much evil
+counsel and dared not show herself to the enraged people, was carried on
+board in a chest and placed among his valuables. He, his wife and
+children, and a few faithful servants, followed, and on the 20th of
+April, 1523, he set sail from his native land in a passion of grief and
+despair. A violent storm scattered his ships, but the one that bore him
+reached Antwerp in safety. Sigbrit, who had crept from her trunk, sought
+to console him by saying that if he could no longer be king of Denmark he
+might at least become burgomaster of Amsterdam.
+
+Thus did this cruel and contemptible coward, who less than three years
+before had been unquestioned monarch of all Scandinavia, lose the crown
+he was so unfit to wear, and land, a despised fugitive, in a Dutch city,
+with but a handful of followers. His fall was thoroughly well deserved,
+for it was an immediate consequence of the detestation he had aroused by
+his deed of blood in Stockholm, and there was scarce a man in Europe to
+pity him in his degradation.
+
+It was a sad thing that the salutary laws he had promulgated in the last
+year of his reign came from so evil a source. Frederick was forced by the
+nobles to whom he owed his throne to abrogate them, and the code was even
+burned as "a dangerous book contrary to good morals." The peasants fell
+back into their former state of semi-slavery and for centuries afterwards
+failed to enjoy the freedom accorded to the people of their sister states
+of Norway and Sweden.
+
+In the years that followed the deposed king went from court to court of
+the German princes, seeking help to regain his throne, but meeting with
+scorn and contempt from some of them and refusal from all. He still
+retained much of the wealth of which he had robbed Copenhagen, and now,
+in despair of obtaining assistance, he took into his service a number of
+soldiers of fortune whom a treaty of peace had lately thrown out of
+employment.
+
+With these sons of adventure, twelve thousand in all, he ravaged Holland,
+which had recently afforded him refuge, doing so much mischief that he
+was at length bought off. The emperor, Charles V., then ruler over
+Holland and brother-in-law to the adventurer, paid him the fifty thousand
+gulden still due on his wife's dower and gave him twelve battle-ships in
+addition. The Dutch whom he was plundering helped in this as the easiest
+way to be quit of him, and, with a body of experienced troops, with
+funds and a fleet, the hope of winning back his old dominions arose in
+his soul.
+
+There were many malcontents then in Sweden, ready to aid him in an
+invasion, and the clergy and nobility of Norway, dissatisfied with
+Frederick's rule, subscribed large sums in money and plate for his aid.
+Finally, thus strengthened and encouraged, Christian set sail for the
+Northland with twenty-five ships and an army of eight thousand men.
+
+Unfortunately for him the elements proved adverse, a violent storm
+scattering the fleet and sending nearly half of it to the bottom. He had
+only fifteen ships and a reduced number of men when, in November, 1531,
+he landed at Obslo, Norway.
+
+The nobles and people, however, discontented with Frederick's government
+and eager for a king of their own choice, declared for him and at a diet
+held at Obslo proclaimed him king, only a few nobles dissenting. These,
+however, held the strongest fortresses in the kingdom. One of these was
+Magnus Gyllenstierna, governor of Aggerhus. Against this stronghold
+Christian led all his force and might easily have taken it, for it was
+lacking in provisions, but for a stratagem by which Magnus saved himself
+and his fortress.
+
+He sent word to Christian that the place was too weak for him to attempt
+to hold and that he had seen the king's success with pleasure; but, to
+save himself from the imputation of cowardice, he begged leave for time
+to ask King Frederick for assistance. If none came before the 1st of May
+he would willingly surrender the place.
+
+Adept in deceit as Christian was, he this time suffered himself to be
+tricked. At the suggestion of Magnus a thousand men were sent from
+Denmark, and led by secret paths over mountains and through forests in
+all haste, throwing themselves into Aggerhus while Christian was watching
+the seas to intercept them. In a rage he hurried back to renew the siege,
+but the shrewd commandant was now strong enough to defy him.
+
+Ture Joensson, one of the Swedish nobles who had joined Christian, led a
+portion of his forces against the fortress of Bohus, writing to its
+commandant, Klass Bille, a letter in which he set forth the great change
+for good which had come upon King Christian and begging him to side with
+his Grace. He closed in the manner customary in those days: "Commending
+you, with your dear wife, children, and friends, hereby to God's
+protection."
+
+On the next day he received the following answer:
+
+    "Greeting suited to the season.
+
+    Learn, Ture Joensson, that I yesterday received your writing with
+    some of your loose words with which you sought to seduce me from my
+    honor, soil my integrity and oath, and make me like yourself, which
+    God, who preserves the consciences of all honest men, forbid. To the
+    long and false talk which your letter contains, I confess myself,
+    by God's providence to be too good to give you any other answer than
+    this which my letter conveys. You have so often turned and worn your
+    coat, and it is now so miserably thread-bare on both sides, that it
+    is no longer fit to appear among the apparel of any honest man. No
+    more this time, I commend you to him to whom God the Father
+    commended that man who betrayed His only Son,
+
+    _Ex Bohus._
+
+    Sunday next before Lady-day, 1531."
+
+Klass Bille proved as good with an answer by balls and blows as by pen,
+and the Castle of Bohus defied all attempts to take it.
+
+Meanwhile the Swedish exiles were writing to their friends at home, and,
+elated by the capture of a Swedish fort, Christian marched his army
+towards the frontier, and made ready to invade the kingdom from which he
+had been driven two years before.
+
+But Gustavus and Frederick were not idle. They recognized the danger of
+this invasion and prepared to meet it, renewing their treaties that they
+might work loyally together. Gustavus wrote to his officers not to fight
+with Christian unless they were from four to six times as strong, as he
+wished to give him a reception that would cure him of all future desire
+to return to Sweden.
+
+The forces of Christian and Gustavus first met at Kungelf, where
+Christian looked with disturbed eyes on his antagonists as he saw them
+marching across a frozen river, among them three thousand men in armor of
+polished steel. Turning to Ture Joensson, who stood beside him, he said
+wrathfully:
+
+"You said that there was not a man-at-arms in Sweden. What see you
+yonder? Do you think those old women?"
+
+The next morning Ture Joensson's body was found lying headless in the
+street, whether thus punished by Christian for his lies or by some Swede
+for his treason, is not known.
+
+The war began with equal fortune at first to each side, but later fortune
+turned in favor of the Swedes, while food grew scarce in Christian's
+army, his foragers being beaten back wherever they appeared. Soon, with
+an army dwindled to two thousand men, he was forced to march back to
+Obslo.
+
+So far Gustavus's army had been fighting alone, and it was not until
+March, 1532, that some Danish ships of war arrived. But their coming soon
+ended the war. They burned Christian's vessels and reinforced Aggerhus,
+and in May sailed towards Obslo.
+
+Christian's hopes of success were now at an end. He had made his final
+effort and had failed. His men were forsaking him in troops and
+resistance to his foes became impossible. As a last resort he tried a
+crafty expedient, contriving to get some forged letters distributed in
+the Danish camp to the effect that twenty Dutch men-of-war, with five
+thousand troops, were coming to his aid.
+
+The Danish commander, alarmed at this report, hastened to conclude peace
+with him, on condition that all who had taken part in the rebellion
+should be pardoned. Christian was to cross to Denmark, and if he could
+not agree with Frederick was to be free to go to Germany, on giving a
+solemn oath never again to make any attempt on the three Scandinavian
+kingdoms.
+
+Before this treaty was confirmed messengers arrived from Frederick who
+discovered the condition of Christian to be hopeless and insisted on an
+unconditional surrender. But Knut, the Danish admiral, who had been given
+full power to act, took Christian on his ships and sailed with him to
+Denmark, where he insisted that the conditions he had made should be
+observed.
+
+Frederick and his council were in a strait. To let this tiger loose again
+was too dangerous, and finally some pretext for breaking the treaty was
+made and Christian was sentenced to a life imprisonment in the Castle of
+Sanderberg on the island of Femern. Frederick and his son were obliged to
+confirm this sentence by a written promise to the Danish nobles that they
+would never release the detested prisoner.
+
+When Christian learned that the convention had been broken he wept
+bitterly, lamenting that "he had fallen into the hands of men who cared
+neither for oaths, promises, nor seals."
+
+These complaints no one heeded. He was taken deep into the dungeons of
+Sanderberg Castle, and locked up in a dark and narrow prison vault
+destitute of every convenience, his only companion being a half-witted
+dwarf who had long been in his service. With the harshness common in
+those days, and which in his case was well deserved, the door of the
+cell was walled up, only one small opening being left through which he
+could receive the scanty allowance of food brought him, and a little
+barred window through which some sparse light could make its way.
+
+In this dreadful prison the captive remained twelve years without the
+slightest amelioration of its conditions. Then the door was opened and
+fresh air and other conveniences were allowed him, but a strict watch was
+kept up. Finally in 1549, five years later, it being believed that no
+harm could possibly come from an old man sixty-eight years of age, he was
+taken to Kallendborg Castle, where he was permitted to entertain himself
+by hunting or in any other manner he pleased. He lived ten years later,
+ending in 1559 a life whose misfortunes were a just reward for his
+faithlessness and cruelty in his day of power.
+
+
+
+
+_THE WEST GOTHLAND INSURRECTION._
+
+
+Sweden never had a wiser or more judicious ruler than King Gustavus Vasa,
+but in that land of turbulent lords and ambitious mischief-makers the
+noblest and most generous of kings could not reign without secret
+plotting and rebellious sentiments. So it fell out in Sweden in 1529,
+after Gustavus had been six years on the throne.
+
+The leader in this movement was one Ture Joensson, a hoary old conspirator
+of great influence in West Gothland, where he and his ancestors had long
+been judges and where he was looked upon by the people as their lord and
+chief. By a decision of the court he was obliged to restore to the king
+certain property which he unjustly held, and he vented his feelings
+bitterly against the heretic and tyrant, as he called him. In fact, he
+hatched a conspiracy, which spread widely, through his influence, among
+the nobles of West Gothland.
+
+In Smaland there was much discontent with the teaching of the Lutheran
+doctrines and an outbreak took place, the king's sister and her husband
+being taken prisoners by the insurgents. These sent letters to Ture
+Joensson in West Gothland, asking him to be their captain, and also wrote
+to East Gothland, inciting the people to rise and expel their monarch.
+
+Ture Joensson had three sons, one of them a distinguished soldier in the
+king's service, while the second was a man high in the king's favor. The
+old rebel had high hopes of aid from these two, and wrote them letters
+inciting them to rebellion. But they were not to be drawn from their
+allegiance, and took the letters with unbroken seals to the king,
+promising to devote their lives to his cause.
+
+The third son, Herr Goeran, dean in Upsala, was of different mold and
+sentiment. Opposed to the king on religious grounds, he gathered a body
+of peasant runaways, a hundred in number, and, afraid to stay in his
+house, he took them to a wood in the neighborhood, felled trees for
+barricades, and laid up a supply of provisions in his impromptu fort.
+
+From there he proceeded to Bollnaes, gathering more men and growing
+bolder, and fancying in his small soul that he was the destined leader of
+a great rebellion. But his valor vanished when a priest of the vicinity,
+named Erik, a man faithful to the king, called together a body of his
+parishioners and marched against the would-be insurgent.
+
+Dean Goeran was standing at a garret window when he saw these men
+approaching. At once, with a most unsoldierlike panic, he rushed in
+terror down stairs and fled through a back door into the forest, without
+a word to his men of the coming danger. The house was surrounded and the
+men made prisoners, the king's steward, whom they held captive, being
+released. Erik spoke to them so severely of their disloyalty that they
+fell on their knees in prayer and petition, and when he told them that
+the best way to gain pardon for their act was to seek and deliver their
+fugitive leader, they gladly undertook the task.
+
+[Illustration: NORWEGIAN CARRIAGE CALLED STOLKJAEM.]
+
+The scared leader of rebels meanwhile was wandering in anguish and alarm
+through the wide wood, not knowing what to do. Coming at length to a
+large forest lake, he entered a little boat that he found and pushed off
+from land, thinking thus to be in greater safety.
+
+As he thus sat, lost in his unquiet thoughts, some of his late followers
+reached the lake and saw him. So absorbed was he in his bitter
+reflections that he failed to see other boats gliding out towards him,
+and they were close upon him before he perceived them. Then, leaping up
+in wild fright, he sought in his despair to jump into the water, but
+before he could do so some of the peasants had rowed up and seized him.
+In his bitterness of spirit he tore the gold chain from his neck and the
+rings from his fingers and flung them into the lake, resolved that they
+should not become the spoil of the king he hated.
+
+But Gustavus was not the man to trouble himself about such small fry of
+conspirators as this. The dean was taken to Upsala and thence to
+Stockholm, where he was kept in confinement, though with every comfort,
+until the rebellion incited by his father was quelled. Then the king,
+taking into account his brothers' loyalty and his own insignificance,
+freed him and restored him his property. He could well afford to be
+lenient to a rebel of his calibre.
+
+If this was all we had to tell, it would not be worth the telling, but
+the conspiracy in West Gothland went on and led to events of far greater
+interest. A born plotter, old Joensson kept at his work, and to prevent
+any news of what was taking place from reaching the king, a guard of a
+thousand men was placed to watch the highway and stop all messengers. At
+the head of this guard was a priest called Nils of Hvalstad, a thorough
+hater of the king. To him the insurgents sent their letters, to be
+forwarded to those for whom they were intended. Such was the state of
+affairs, the designs of the plotters ripening while the king was in this
+way kept in ignorance of matters of such importance to him.
+
+Now we come to the dramatic means by which the king was advised of the
+plot. A scout was needed to pass the guards set by the rebels and bring
+word to Gustavus of what was going on in West Gothland, and for this
+purpose was chosen a young town-sergeant of Stockholm, so famed for
+boldness that the people called him Hans Hardy. He had been born in West
+Gothland and was familiar with the people and the roads of that province
+and was therefore well adapted for the work. He accomplished it in a
+manner much better than was expected.
+
+Making his way through forest paths and along little-frequented by-ways,
+he succeeded in crossing the river that bordered the province and passing
+the rebel outposts, making his way to his old home, where he spent
+several weeks with his relations, meanwhile secretly gathering the
+information needed.
+
+On his return he pursued a different course. Buying a quantity of West
+Gothland cheese, he went directly towards the ford of the Tiweden and so
+managed as to let himself fall into the hands of the guard, who brought
+him to their leader, Nils of Hvalstad.
+
+The rebel priest charged the seeming peasant roundly with being a spy,
+but the cunning fellow pretended to be very simple and bucolic, saying
+that it had been four years since he had been in Upland and he now wanted
+to go there and sell his cheese.
+
+Nils was not so easily to be hoodwinked, but bade his men take the
+supposed spy to the sergeant's house at Hofwa, where four men were set
+over him as guards. The pretended simpleton seemed well-enough pleased,
+eating and drinking freely, talking cheerfully of country affairs with
+his guards, and spending his money freely, so that the sergeant grew to
+like the jovial country lad.
+
+After a few days, however, Hans pretended to be sick, sighing and
+groaning as if in severe pain. Finally he took to his bed and seemed in
+such a sad state that they all pitied the poor cheesemonger and his
+guards often left him for hours alone, thinking his sickness was all the
+security that was needed.
+
+Hans Hardy had a purpose in this. He had discovered that Nils kept a box
+in a dark corner of the room and imagined that it might contain something
+of importance to him in his mission. In fact he had thrown himself in his
+hands for the purpose of fathoming his plots. One day, while left alone,
+he got up and examined the box, and to his joy found in it a number of
+letters from the chief conspirators, containing full evidence of their
+complication. Having read enough of them to gain an idea of their
+character, he put them back, shut the box, and pushed it again into its
+dark corner.
+
+Then he took to his bed once more and when his guards returned they found
+him moaning more sorely than before and seeming in such sad case that
+they thought him at the point of death. Pitying the poor fellow, they
+deemed it idle to watch him and went contentedly to their beds. The next
+morning, when they rose, the sick man had vanished and with him the box
+and its contents. Hans had got off with the precious burden into the
+forest, with whose paths he was thoroughly familiar, leaving his late
+guards his cheese for consolation.
+
+He reached Stockholm in safety with his budget of letters and took them
+to the king, who rewarded him liberally for his valuable service and bade
+him to keep it secret. This he did, and it was long before any one knew
+where Hans Hardy had been or what had become of the lost letters. King
+Gustavus kept his counsel and bided his time.
+
+Meanwhile the work of the conspirators went on, they going so far as to
+nominate a new king, their choice falling upon Mans Bryntesson, Ture
+Joensson's brother-in-law, a handsome and eloquent young man, far more
+suitable in person than in mind for a king. He was soft, irresolute, and
+somewhat foolish, and when treated with royal honors by the conspirators,
+he began holding court with princely pomp, borrowing money from his
+friends for this purpose when his own was exhausted.
+
+Having gone so far with his plans, Ture called a convention of the people
+of the province to meet on Larfva Heath, saying that he had matters of
+the highest importance to lay before them. Here was a great plain, where
+the Gothlanders for ages had held their public meetings, and where Ture's
+summons brought together a goodly number.
+
+With the insurgent lords around him, and proud of his power and
+authority, Sir Ture now addressed the peasants, in full confidence of
+their support. His principal charge against the king was that he had
+accepted the Lutheran doctrines and wished to introduce a new faith into
+the country to the ruin of the common people.
+
+"Now," he continued, "I have always understood that the good West
+Gothlanders have no mind to become Lutherans, but prefer to retain the
+old faith which their fathers and forefathers have had before them. If
+you will from this day renounce King Gustavus I will give you a mild and
+gracious sovereign, who will preserve for you your good old customs."
+
+Bishop Magnus followed with a brief address, after which Sir Ture,
+convinced from the intent silence of the peasants that they were with
+him, said:
+
+"Let him who gives his consent to take a new king stretch up his hands."
+
+To his consternation not a hand was lifted, while a threatening murmur
+was heard among the peasants. Neither the lords nor the bishop knew what
+to make of this. They had gone on with their plots without a dream that
+the people would not be with them. As for the newly chosen king, who had
+been eagerly waiting to receive their homage, he fell back white and
+trembling. At length two young peasants stood forth to speak for the
+people, one of them loudly declaring:
+
+"We have nothing to charge against King Gustavus, but owe him deep
+gratitude for having freed us from the cruel and tyrannical rule of King
+Christian, and kept the land in law and right as well as in peace and
+quiet. What you, good sirs, say of the new faith, we peasants can neither
+judge nor understand; perhaps it may not be so bad as fame reports.
+Change of rulers generally costs the peasants and the land dear, and we
+might by these means draw upon ourselves and our children long disquiet
+and disorder. It seems, therefore, best for us to remain in the faith
+and allegiance which we have sworn and promised to our lawful lord and
+master Gustaf Eriksson."
+
+These words had evidently the full approval of the people, to judge from
+their upstretched hands and their loud acclamations, and at once the
+courage of the conspirators fell to the ground. What to say or to do they
+knew not. They had foolishly gone forward with their plots without
+consulting the people and now found themselves in a sore dilemma. Instead
+of coming to their aid, as they had expected, there was reason to fear
+that the peasants would seize them and hand them over to the king. In his
+utter dismay Ture Joensson faltered out:
+
+"My very good friends, I only wished by this trial to test your fidelity.
+None of the lords have a thought of deserting the king. A fortnight hence
+we hope to meet you here again, to consult further on our mutual
+interests."
+
+This ended the meeting on Larfva Heath. The peasants returned to their
+homes and the lords in dismay sought their castles. The bottom had
+suddenly dropped out from the rebellion and the conspirators were in a
+perilous position. War against the king was impossible, and in haste they
+sent a message to Nils of Hvalstad ordering him to break up the camp on
+the Tiweden and bidding him to come to them without delay.
+
+When he came they asked him what he had done with the letters which had
+been put in his care. Not daring to tell that they had been stolen, he
+said that he had burnt them on hearing of the result of the Larfva
+meeting. Another custodian of letters was also sent for and asked the
+same question. He had really sent his letters to the king, but he
+produced a budget of papers which he now threw into the fire, telling
+them that they might be at rest about these perilous papers, which could
+now never appear against them.
+
+Somewhat relieved in their minds by this act, Mans Bryntesson, Ture
+Bjelke, and Nils Winge, three of the leading conspirators, decided to
+remain at home. To become wandering outlaws was too bitter a fate; they
+had not spoken at Larfva Heath, their letters were burnt, there was no
+evidence against them. But as for Ture Joensson and Bishop Magnus, they
+had put themselves openly on record. The pretence that the meeting had
+been called to test the loyalty of the people would have no weight with a
+man like King Gustavus. To remain would be to risk their lives, and
+collecting their money and valuables they made all haste to set foot on
+Danish territory, Ture Joensson finally to meet a tragical death in the
+invasion of Norway by the deposed King Christian, as described in the
+preceding tale.
+
+The embers of the rebellion were easily extinguished and the nation
+returned to its peaceful and satisfied condition, the officers of the
+king holding meetings with the malcontents and promising full pardon to
+those who would confess and renounce their disloyal acts. This offer of
+pardon was accepted by nearly the whole of the conspirators, the only
+ones who held out being Mans Bryntesson, the mock king, Nils Winge, and
+Ture Bjelke. Trusting to their letters having been destroyed they wrote
+to the king, saying that, as they felt entirely guiltless, they could not
+plead guilt and implore pardon, and thus put themselves under suspicion.
+They begged him to appoint a meeting at which their conduct could be
+investigated. This he agreed to, the 17th of June being fixed as the
+date.
+
+When the time came the three lords appeared before the appointed tribunal
+and were exhorted to confess their share in Ture Joensson's rebellion.
+Mans Bryntesson answered for the three, boldly declaring:
+
+"We did not venture to set ourselves against Ture Joensson on account of
+his great influence in the province; we often heard him speak
+disrespectfully of the king, but we bore with him in this for the sake of
+amusement, attributing it to his old age and childishness. But it can
+never be shown that we bore any share in his treason."
+
+"What will you venture that this cannot be proved against you?" asked the
+king.
+
+"Our neck to the sword and our bodies to the wheel, as the law exacts,"
+they confidently replied.
+
+"Take care," said one of the counsellors. "Do not venture so much.
+Perhaps you may yet be found guilty."
+
+They replied by a haughty "No," and insisted on their innocence. Gustavus
+then spoke again, his gaze now stern and threatening:
+
+"Choose one of these two. Either to confess yourselves guilty and accept
+pardon, or to be tried and condemned according to law."
+
+"We choose to be judged according to the law," they replied; "and if we
+be found partakers in this rebellion we will willingly suffer and pay for
+it, as may be adjudged against us."
+
+These words, and the stern dignity of the king, impressed all in the
+hall. Complete silence reigned and all eyes were fixed on his face. He
+gave a signal to his servants and two boxes were carried in. These were
+opened and a number of letters were produced. The king asked the culprits
+if they recognized these letters. This they stoutly denied. Then a number
+of them were read aloud and complete proof of their complicity in the
+rebellion was shown, the judges recognizing the hand and seal of the
+defendants.
+
+Pale and thunderstruck, they listened tremblingly to the reading of the
+fatal letters; then fell upon their knees, weeping and imploring mercy.
+Their repentance came too late. The king bade the council to examine into
+the matter at once and pronounce sentence. This was that the three
+criminals should suffer the fate which they had declared themselves ready
+to bear; they were condemned as traitors and sentenced to loss of life
+and estate.
+
+The trembling culprits were taken to a room above the school-house,
+locked in and a strong guard set before the door. Here they were left to
+the contemplation of their coming fate. Despairingly they looked around
+for some means of escape, and a shade of hope returned when they fancied
+they had discovered one. There were no bars to their window, but it was
+far above the ground. But beneath it stood a pear tree, so near the
+building that they thought they might leap into its branches and climb
+down its trunk to the ground.
+
+Waiting until night had fallen, they prepared to make the effort, Mans
+Bryntesson being the first to try. He missed the tree and fell to the
+ground, breaking his leg in the fall. The others, seeing his ill fortune,
+did not venture to follow. In great pain he crept from the garden into an
+adjoining field. Here his strength gave out and he lay hidden in the
+half-grown rye.
+
+Missed the next morning, his trail through the grass was easily followed
+and he was found and carried back to prison. Soon after the prisoners
+were taken to Stockholm, where Mans Bryntesson and Nils Winge were
+beheaded and their bodies exposed on the wheel. Their estates, however,
+were restored to their widows and children. The third, Ture Bjelke, being
+less guilty, was pardoned, but was obliged to pay heavy penalties for his
+treasonable acts. And thus, with the death of these two criminals and the
+exile of two others, ended the West Gothland insurrection.
+
+
+
+
+_THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF KING ERIK._
+
+
+We have written much of war and bloodshed; a chapter devoted to the
+lighter themes of courtship and marriage may here be of interest,
+especially as it has to do with the love affairs of princes and
+princesses, kings and queens, personages whose every movement are deemed
+by many worthy the world's attention.
+
+Prince Erik, the eldest son of King Gustavus, grew in due course of time
+to marriageable age and, as young men will, began to look about for a
+wife. His thoughts first turned towards the Princess Elizabeth, of
+England, then in the height of her youthful charms, of which exaggerated
+accounts were brought to the ardent young Swede.
+
+When Erik sought his father's consent to the suit, saying that it might
+bring him not only a lovely bride but the throne of two kingdoms, the
+prudent old monarch threw cold water on the project, saying:
+
+"Even if Erik should gain Elizabeth, which I do not think likely, in view
+of her many suitors, it would be more to the harm than the profit of both
+kingdoms."
+
+But Erik, a high-tempered and passionate youth, with a tendency to
+something like madness, became so violent and determined that his father
+at length gave way and a lover's embassy was sent to England to ask for
+the fair lady's hand. But Princess Elizabeth was too much beset with
+lovers to accept any of them easily, and the embassy returned with the
+answer that the royal English maiden was in no haste to marry and
+considered an unmarried life the happier.
+
+In 1558 Queen Mary died and Elizabeth mounted to the throne which she was
+long to adorn. This added to Erik's passionate desire to win her. One of
+his agents, Dionysius Beurreus, remained in London, where he lived in
+great display, keeping open table at Erik's expense, and sending in all
+haste to the ardent prince every kind word which the crafty Elizabeth let
+fall. Credulous in his ardent passion, Erik now felt sure of winning the
+queenly maiden's hand, and sent a second embassy to England, his brother
+John going with it.
+
+Prince John was sumptuously equipped for the journey, the expenses of the
+courtship eating deeply into the king's revenues, and being added to by
+Erik's lavishness, for he was now so sure of the success of his suit that
+he ordered a hundred dresses of the most expensive and splendid kind to
+be made for him at Antwerp.
+
+When John reached London he was courteously received by the queen, but he
+found it impossible to bring her to a definite answer. If she ever
+married, of course she would be happy to win so charming a spouse as
+Prince Erik, but it was hard to marry a man she had never seen, and the
+idea of marriage was not to her taste. In the end Elizabeth wrote to
+Gustavus begging him to seek another bride for his son, as she had
+decided to live unmarried.
+
+This should have ended the matter, but it did not. One of the lover's
+agents had said that the queen of England would never consent unless Erik
+in person were able to win her heart, and Prince John reported her as
+saying that, "though she had no desire for marriage, she could not answer
+what she might do if she saw Erik himself."
+
+Fired by the baits held out to his eager heart, Erik determined to go
+himself to England, but incognito, disguised as the servant of some
+foreign lord. Thus he would see and conquer the coy maiden queen. The
+warnings and expostulations of his friends failed to move him from this
+romantic project, but at length it reached the king's ears, and he
+strictly forbade the wild-goose project as hazardous and undignified.
+Erik, however, finally got his father's permission to visit England and
+make his suit to the queen in his own person. But there were many
+postponements of the journey, and when finally he left Stockholm to begin
+the voyage to England the shock of his departure threw the old king into
+a serious illness. That afternoon Gustavus went to bed, never to rise
+again, and before Erik had left the kingdom word was brought him that his
+father was dead. This definitely changed the situation and thus it came
+about that Erik never saw Elizabeth.
+
+The fact of his being king, indeed, did not put an end to his desire to
+possess the English queen. In 1561 he determined to visit her as a king,
+and on the 1st of September set sail. But the elements were not
+propitious to this love errand, a violent storm arising which forced the
+captains to run back to harbor. Then he decided to go overland, through
+Denmark, Holland, and France, but while he was laying his plans for this
+journey, an effort was made by certain love emissaries to turn his
+thoughts towards Mary Stuart, the widow of a French king and heiress of
+the throne of Scotland. He listened to these representatives and was so
+pleased with their description of Mary's charms that his single-minded
+devotion to Elizabeth was shaken.
+
+The loveliness of Mary Stuart was a strong inducement to the young king,
+but the high estate of Elizabeth was a greater one, and he did not cease
+his efforts to win her hand. Being told that the chief obstacle in his
+way was the handsome Earl of Leicester, he grew violently jealous of this
+favored courtier. He at first challenged him to mortal combat, but as
+this could not conveniently be carried out, he secretly bade his agent in
+London to hire an assassin to deal with the earl, promising protection
+and a rich reward to the murderer. This villainy the agent refused to
+perform, and Erik now, hoping to frighten Elizabeth to give him a
+favorable answer, spread a report in England that he was courting the
+Scottish queen. The effect was different from what he anticipated, for
+Elizabeth at once positively rejected his suit and all seemed at an end.
+
+[Illustration: ARMORY AND COSTUME HALL OF THE ROYAL MUSEUM, SWEDEN.]
+
+About this time a third lady fair came into the game. Erik was told of
+the charms and rare character of the Princess Renata of Lotringen,
+granddaughter of the late Christian of Denmark, and at once opened
+negotiations for the hand of this princess. At the same time the crafty
+Elizabeth pretended to relent and Erik was again on fire for her hand.
+Thus he had now three love projects under way, from two of which, those
+for Mary Stuart and Princess Renata, favorable answers were returned.
+
+But the volatile lover, before receiving these answers, had added a
+fourth string to his bow of courtships, having decided to propose for the
+Princess Christina of Hesse. By this time he had spent on his threefold
+courtship vast sums of money and had gone far towards making himself the
+laughing-stock of Europe.
+
+Erik's new course of love did not run smooth. The fates seemed against
+him in his marriage projects. His first proposal for Christina, indeed,
+received a favorable reply and it was decided that the selected bride
+should arrive at Stockholm in the following May, some eight months later.
+But other emissaries whom he sent in February were detained in Denmark,
+and on some weak pretence were seized and imprisoned, the whole being a
+ruse of King Frederick to prevent a marriage between Erik and the
+Princess of Hesse, of which for political reasons he did not approve.
+There was peace at that time with Denmark, but these events presaged war.
+
+May at length arrived and Erik equipped a fleet to meet the promised
+bride. There were twelve men-of-war, which were got ready for fighting if
+necessary, James Bagge, a famous seaman of those days, being admiral of
+the Elephant, with command of the fleet. The assigned purpose of the
+expedition was to bring the bride over from Luebeck, but it is said that
+Admiral Bagge had secret orders to seek and attack the Danish fleet, and
+thus punish King Frederick for his treachery.
+
+The two fleets met on May 30 off Bornholm, and the Danish ship Hercules
+immediately opened fire. This fire was at once returned and a fierce
+fight ensued that lasted five hours, and resulted in the capture of the
+Hercules and two other ships and the flight of the rest. The Swedes now
+sailed on to Luebeck, whence ambassadors were sent to Hesse to bring back
+the bride. They returned in two weeks without her, the excuse being that
+her trousseau was not ready. The truth was that the landgrave of Hesse
+was afraid to trust his daughter in the turbulent north, from which
+tidings of the naval battle had just come.
+
+This delay was fatal to Erik's hopes, mainly through his own fault. The
+first succeeding step was a request from the landgrave for a safe conduct
+for his daughter through Denmark. Frederick, who dreaded ill results
+from the marriage, refused this, and also refused to let ambassadors to
+Hesse pass through his kingdom.
+
+And now Erik spoiled all by his faithless versatility. On the 11th of
+October he sent an order to some agents of his in Germany to proceed to
+Hesse with a betrothal ring, worth six thousand thalers, for the
+princess. Four days later he wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth, saying
+that his addresses at the court of Hesse had never been serious, and that
+he still loved and hoped to win her.
+
+Before this was sent actual war with Denmark had broken out, and to
+prevent the discovery of the letter, he concealed it in a stick and sent
+it by a secret messenger. This messenger was captured by a privateer and
+carried to Copenhagen; in some way his mission was suspected and the
+letter found; and the Danish king, in ecstasies at his discovery,
+despatched the incriminating love-missive immediately to the landgrave of
+Hesse.
+
+All was going well there when the letter arrived. The landgrave had
+favorably received Erik's emissaries and the prospects of their returning
+with the bride seemed fair, when the unlucky letter was put into his
+hands. It fell like a thunderbolt. In a rage at seeing himself and his
+daughter thus made sport of, the landgrave ordered the Swedes to leave
+the town before sunset, under peril of his high displeasure. This ended
+the suit for the fair maiden's hand, later ambassadors sent by Erik were
+dismissed with contempt, and through having too many irons in the fire
+at once the love-sick lord of Sweden found himself without a bride.
+
+His brother, Duke John, was more fortunate, though his courtship also led
+to war and his marriage brought him into dismal misfortune. Before
+completing the story of Erik's love affairs, the episode of John's
+matrimonial venture, with its dire results, may fitly be told.
+
+A marriage had long been arranged between Duke John and Princess
+Catharine, sister of King Sigismund of Poland. But obstacles arose and
+once more the course of true love did not run smooth. Sigismund had an
+older sister Anna, whom he wished married first; but this impediment was
+removed by an agreement that John's brother Magnus should marry Anna.
+
+Next the czar of Russia proposed for Catharine, but some dispute about
+the marriage contract brought about a refusal. The result was typical of
+the rudeness of the times. The Poles had always hated the Russians, and
+to show their contempt for them Sigismund had a white figure dressed in
+splendid garments and sent to the Russian court, in lieu of the
+looked-for bride. Mad with rage at this bitter insult, the czar invaded
+and cruelly ravaged Poland, the people, as is so often the case, being
+made to suffer for the quarrels and the folly of the kings. From that
+time forward the czar hated Sigismund and John, his fortunate rival.
+
+John also had difficulty in getting his brother's consent to go to
+Sigismund's court, and after he had set out an envoy was sent after him
+ordering him to return. But in disregard of this he went on, and was
+favorably received at the Polish court, being a handsome, courteous and
+cultivated prince. Catharine was highly pleased with him, but King
+Sigismund now repeated his demand that he should marry the elder sister.
+
+Finally, after many efforts to change the king's mind, he asked Catharine
+if she really desired to marry John. The princess blushed and was silent;
+but her sister spoke for her and implored their brother not to prevent
+her marriage with the man she loved.
+
+At this appeal he gave way and the marriage was quickly solemnized, for
+there was imminent peril of war between Sweden and Poland unless the
+affair was consummated. A body of Polish troops escorted the newly wedded
+couple into Livonia, lest the angry czar should seek to carry them off,
+and John reached Sweden with his bride.
+
+He was very ill received, by Erik's orders, and hastened to his own
+duchy, whence he sent an invitation to the king to attend his wedding
+banquet. The king came in another fashion.
+
+Angry at John for disobeying his orders, and fearing him as a possible
+aspirant for the throne, Erik cherished evil intentions against his
+brother. Suspicious and superstitious by nature, he had read in the stars
+the prediction that a light-haired man would deprive him of the throne,
+and this man he believed to be his newly married brother. He also
+fancied that John had secretly allied himself with Denmark and Poland,
+and there was soon open enmity between the brothers.
+
+The whole story of what followed is too long to be told here, but seeming
+evidence against John was obtained by the torture of some of his friends
+and he was attacked in his castle and taken prisoner after a two months'
+defence. Erik ordered his incarceration in a dungeon, but his wife was
+offered a residence with her ladies in one of the king's castles. If she
+wished to accompany him to prison she could take only two of her maids
+with her.
+
+When Catharine heard this she fervently exclaimed:
+
+"I would rather die than be separated from my husband," and fainted away.
+
+When she recovered she was asked what she intended to do. Taking her
+betrothal ring from her finger and holding it up, she said:
+
+"Read what stands there."
+
+They saw engraved on it, "_Nemo nisi mors"_ (none but death).
+
+"I will stand by it," said Catharine. And she did.
+
+The imprisoned dependents of John, all of whom had shared in his
+resistance to the king, were nearly all condemned to death and executed,
+more than a hundred bodies being exposed at once at the place of
+execution. That John would suffer the same fate was highly probable. His
+brothers, sisters, and other relatives implored Erik to let him live;
+his enemies advised his execution; the king hesitated, and postponed his
+decision, finally deciding that John might live, but in perpetual
+imprisonment. He was mildly and kindly treated, however, and four years
+later, during a spasm of fraternal feeling in Erik, was released.
+
+We shall not tell the remaining story of King Erik, of his wars, his
+temporary madness, his violence and cruelty to some of the noblest of the
+sons of Denmark, his ruthless persecution and final murder of the Stures,
+descendants of one of the most famous families of Sweden and men who had
+played a great part in its history. It was the story of his love episodes
+with which we set out and these were not yet ended. Erik finally got a
+wife and a queen, though not a queen or a princess for a wife. Love
+instead of policy lay at the basis of his final courtship.
+
+This is the story of the final and real love affair of this suitor of
+princesses and queens. A soldier named Magnus, of peasant birth, who rose
+to the rank of corporal in Erik's life-guard, had a daughter named
+Katrina or Catherine, shortened to Karin, who as a child sat selling nuts
+in the market-place at Stockholm. Here Erik one day saw her, then about
+thirteen, and was so struck by her great beauty that he had her placed
+among the maids-of-honor of his sister Elizabeth.
+
+The pretty little Karin was quick to learn her duties, and in deportment
+was modest and very loveable. Her beauty also grew with her age, until
+she became looked upon as the fairest of the fair. Erik thought her such
+and grew greatly attached to her, showing her much attention and winning
+her regard by his handsome face and kindly manner. In fact she grew to
+love him dearly and gave herself up entirely to him, a warm affection
+existing between them.
+
+Karin in time became everything to the king. He no longer sought for a
+bride in foreign courts, no other women had attraction for him, and at
+length, when the charming peasant girl had borne him a son, he determined
+to find a way to make her his queen. Those were days when it was not safe
+to meddle with the love affairs of a king. One unfortunate young man
+named Maximilian, who had loved Karin and sought her hand in marriage,
+one day intruded into the women's apartment of the palace, where he was
+seized. Erik, burning with jealousy, had him condemned on a false
+pretence, sewed up in a bag, and cast into the lake.
+
+After that no one dared interfere with the love episode of Erik and
+Karin. Men said she had bewitched him by a love-philter. Some of the
+courtiers who feared her influence upon the king sought to disgrace her,
+with the result that her intercession alone saved their lives from the
+incensed monarch.
+
+Erik's love for Karin never seemed to change. On beautiful summer
+afternoons, when he would sail with a merry party on Lake Malar, Karin
+was always of the party and the object of his tender attention. As they
+rowed home at night he would sit beside her, contemplating the beauty of
+the starry northern skies and listening to the songs from the shore or
+from distant boats. These were executed by his orders, the words and
+music often being his. One of these songs, in which he praises his
+"Shepherdess," promises to love her forever, and bids her a "thousand
+good-nights," is still extant.
+
+The time at length came--this was after the period of his foreign wars
+and his insanity--that he asked permission of the legislative body to
+marry whom he pleased, at home or abroad. After this was given he
+privately married Karin, and subsequently determined upon a public
+celebration of his marriage and her coronation as queen. The chief
+families of the country were invited to the ceremony, but they neither
+came nor sent excuses. The coronation went on, notwithstanding, and the
+peasant's daughter Karin became queen of Sweden as Queen Catherine.
+
+Not alone by this marriage, but in a dozen other ways King Erik had made
+enemies and he was now near the end of his career. A rebellion soon broke
+out against him, headed by Duke John, who had some time before been
+liberated, and by his younger brother Duke Charles. Though Erik fought
+with skill and courage, the insurrection was successful, he being taken
+prisoner and losing the throne. John was chosen to succeed him as king.
+
+Erik spent the remainder of his life in prison, where he was far more
+harshly treated than John had been by him, his greatest consolation being
+when his wife and children were permitted to visit him. After eight years
+of this close confinement John, fearful of an attempt at the release of
+the captive, had him poisoned in his cell. Thus ended the career of the
+elder son of Gustavus Vasa. It was a fate which he had brought upon
+himself by the cruelties of his career.
+
+A few well-deserved words may well be given to Queen Catherine. She had
+never interfered in Erik's government, except to restrain him from
+cruelty. Her mildness of disposition won her favor on all sides, which
+was increased by her loving devotion to him while in prison. After his
+death she was granted an estate in Finland, and there she lived, loved
+and esteemed by all who knew her and winning the warm devotion of her
+children and grandchildren. She survived to a good old age, withdrawn but
+happy, and the memory of her virtues and benevolence still lives among
+the peasantry of the neighborhood of her abode.
+
+
+
+
+_GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS ON THE FIELD OF LEIPSIC._
+
+
+With the accession to the throne of Sweden in 1611 of Gustavus Adolphus,
+grandson of Gustavus Vasa, that country gained its ablest king, and the
+most famous with the exception of the firebrand of war, Charles XII., of
+later date. For courage, judgment, administrative ability, generous
+devotion to the good of his country, and military genius this great
+monarch was unequalled in his time and won a renown which has placed his
+name in the roll of the great rulers of mankind.
+
+The son of Charles IX., the third and ablest son of Gustavus Vasa to fill
+the throne, he was carefully educated in all the lore of his time and
+when a boy of sixteen won a brilliant victory over a Danish invading
+army. During the same year he ascended the throne, his father dying on
+November 30, 1611.
+
+During the preceding reigns Sweden had taken a prominent part in the
+affairs of northern Europe, having frequent wars with Russia, Poland, and
+Denmark, and the young king fell heir to these wars, all of which he
+prosecuted with striking ability. But a conflict soon broke out that
+threatened all Europe and brought Sweden into the field as the arbiter of
+continental destinies. This was the famous "Thirty Years' War," the
+greatest and most ferocious religious war known in history. Into it
+Sweden was drawn and the hand of Gustavus was potent in saving the
+Protestant cause from destruction. The final event in his career, in
+which he fell covered with glory on the fatal field of Lutzen, is dealt
+with in the German "Historical Tales." We shall here describe another
+equally famous battle of the war, that of Leipsic.
+
+It was in 1629, when Denmark was in peril from the great armies of
+Ferdinand II. of Austria, and Sweden also was threatened, that Gustavus
+consented to become the champion of the Protestants of northern Europe,
+and in June, 1630, he landed in Pomerania at the head of eight thousand
+men. Here six Scottish regiments joined him, under the Duke of Hamilton,
+and he marched onward, taking towns and fortresses in rapid succession
+and gaining large reinforcements from the German states.
+
+Three great leaders headed the Austrian armies, the famous Wallenstein,
+the able but ferocious Tilly, and the celebrated cavalry leader
+Pappenheim. All these skilled soldiers Gustavus had to face alone, but he
+did so with the support of the best-drilled army then in Europe, a body
+of soldiery which his able hands had formed into an almost irresistible
+engine of war.
+
+What spurred Gustavus to the great battle to be described was the capture
+by Tilly on May 20, 1631, of the city of Magdeburg, and the massacre of
+its thirty thousand citizens, men, women, and children. From this scene
+of frightful outrage and destruction Tilly failed to call off his men
+until the city lay in ruins and its people in death. A tall, haggard,
+grim warrior, hollow-cheeked, and wild-looking, with large bright eyes
+under his shaggy brows, Tilly looked capable of the deeds of ferocity
+with which the world credited him.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.]
+
+While all Christendom shuddered with horror at the savage slaughter at
+Magdeburg, the triumphant Tilly marched upon and captured the city of
+Leipsic. Here he fixed his headquarters in the house of a grave-digger,
+where he grew pale at seeing the death's-head and cross-bones with which
+the owner had decorated his walls. These significant emblems may have had
+something to do with the unusual mildness with which he treated the
+citizens of that town.
+
+The cause of Protestantism in Germany was now in serious jeopardy and
+Gustavus felt that the time had come to strike a hard blow in its behalf.
+The elector of Saxony, who had hitherto stood aloof, now came to his aid
+with an army of eighteen thousand men, and it was resolved to attack
+Tilly at once, before the reinforcements on the way to join him could
+arrive. These statements are needful, to show the momentous import of the
+great battle of September 7, 1631.
+
+In the early morning of that day the two armies came face to face, Tilly
+having taken a strong and advantageous position not far from Leipsic,
+where he hoped to avoid a battle. But he was obliged, when the enemy
+began to move upon him, to alter his plans and move towards the hills on
+his left. At the foot of these his army was drawn up in a long line,
+with the artillery on the heights beyond, where it would sweep the
+extensive plain of Breitenfeld in his front. Over this plain the Swedes
+and Saxons advanced in two columns, towards a small stream named the
+Lober, which ran in Tilly's front.
+
+To prevent this crossing Pappenheim had early moved at the head of two
+thousand cuirassiers, a movement which Tilly reluctantly permitted,
+though strictly ordering him not to fight. Disregarding this order
+Pappenheim charged the vanguard of the Swedes, only to find that he had
+met an impregnable line and to be driven back in disorder. To check
+pursuit he set fire to a village at the crossing-point, but this had no
+effect upon the movement of the advancing troops nor his own disorderly
+retreat.
+
+The army of Gustavus was organized for the coming battle in the following
+manner. On the right the Swedes were drawn up in a double line; the
+infantry being in the centre, divided into small battalions that could be
+rapidly manoeuvred without breaking their order; the cavalry on the
+wings, similarly drawn up in small squadrons, with bodies of musketeers
+between; this being done to make a greater show of force and annoy the
+enemy's horse. On the left, at a considerable distance, were the Saxons.
+
+It was the defeat of Pappenheim which obliged Tilly to abandon his first
+strong position and draw up his army under the western heights, where it
+formed a single extended line, long enough to outflank the Swedish army;
+the infantry in large battalions, the cavalry in equally large and
+unwieldy squadrons; the artillery, as stated, on the slopes above. The
+position was one for defence rather than attack, for Tilly's army could
+not advance far without being exposed to the fire of its own artillery.
+Each army numbered about thirty-five thousand men.
+
+These forces were small in view of the momentous nature of the struggle
+before them and the fact that two great generals, both hitherto
+invincible, were now to be matched in a contest on which the fate of the
+whole war largely depended and to which the two parties battling for the
+mastery looked forward with fear and trembling. But of the two, while
+Gustavus was cool and collected, Tilly seemed to have lost his usual
+intrepidity. He was anxious to avoid battle, and had formed no regular
+plan to fight the enemy when forced into it by Pappenheim's impetuous
+charge. "Doubts which he had never before felt struggled in his bosom;
+gloomy forebodings clouded his ever-open brow; the shade of Magdeburg
+seemed to hover over him."
+
+The lines being ready for action, King Gustavus rode to the centre of his
+front, reined in his horse, took off his hat, and with the sword in his
+right hand lowered to the ground, offered in a loud voice the following
+prayer:
+
+"Almighty God, Thou who holdest victory and defeat in the hollow of Thine
+hand, turn Thine eye unto us Thy servants, who have come from our
+distant homes to fight for freedom and truth and for Thy gospel. Give us
+victory for the honor of Thy holy name. Amen!"
+
+Then, raising his sword and waving it over his head, he commanded:
+
+"Forward in the name of the Lord!"
+
+"God with us!" was the battle-cry as the Swedes, inspired by his words,
+prepared for the fatal fray.
+
+The battle, which had lulled after the defeat of Pappenheim, was now
+resumed with the thunder of the cannon, which continued for two hours,
+the west wind meanwhile blowing clouds of smoke and dust from ploughed
+and parched fields into the faces of the Swedes. To avoid this they were
+wheeled to face northwards, the movement being executed so rapidly and
+skilfully that the enemy had no time to prevent it.
+
+The cannonading ending, Tilly left the shelter of the heights and
+advanced upon the Swedes. But so hot was their fire that he filed off
+towards the right and fell impetuously upon the Saxons, whose ranks
+quickly broke and fled before the fierce charge. Of the whole force of
+the elector only a few regiments held their ground, but these did so in a
+noble manner that saved the honor of Saxony. So confident now was Tilly
+of victory that he sent off messengers in all haste to Munich and Vienna
+with word that the day was his.
+
+He was too hasty. The unbroken army of Sweden, the most thoroughly
+drilled body of soldiers then in Europe, was still to be dealt with.
+Pappenheim, who commanded the imperial left, charged with his whole
+force of cavalry upon the Swedish right, but it stood against him firm as
+a rock. Here the king commanded in person, and repulsed seven successive
+charges of the impetuous Pappenheim, driving him at last from the field
+with broken and decimated ranks.
+
+In the meantime Tilly, having routed the small remnant of the Saxons,
+turned upon the left wing of the Swedes with the prestige of victory to
+animate his troops. This wing Gustavus, on seeing the repulse of his
+allies, had reinforced with three regiments, covering the flank left
+exposed by the flight of the Saxons.
+
+Gustav Horn commanded here, and met the attack with a spirited
+resistance, materially aided by the musketeers who were interspersed
+among the squadrons of horse. While the contest went on and the vigor of
+the attack was showing signs of weakening, King Gustavus, having put
+Pappenheim to rout, wheeled to the left and by a sharp attack captured
+the heights on which the enemy's artillery was planted. A short struggle
+gave him possession of the guns and soon Tilly's army was being rent with
+the fire of its own cannon.
+
+This flank attack by artillery, coming in aid of the furious onset of the
+Swedes, quickly threw the imperial ranks into confusion. Hitherto deemed
+invincible, Tilly's whole army broke into wild disorder, a quick retreat
+being its only hope. The only portion of it yet standing firm was a
+battalion of four veteran regiments, which had never yet fled the field
+and were determined never to do so.
+
+Closing their ranks, they forced their way by a fierce charge through the
+opposing army and gained a small thicket, where they held their own
+against the Swedes until night, when only six hundred of them remained.
+With the retreat of this brave remnant the battle was at an end, the
+remainder of Tilly's army being then in full flight, actively pursued by
+the Swedish cavalry, which kept close upon their tracks until the
+darkness of night spread over the field.
+
+On all sides the bells of the villages pealed out the tidings of the
+victory, and the people poured forth in pursuit of the fleeing foe,
+giving short shrift to the unhappy fugitives who fell into their hands.
+Eleven thousand of Tilly's men had fallen and more than five thousand,
+including the wounded, were held as prisoners. On the other side the
+Saxons had lost about two thousand, but of the Swedes only about seven
+hundred had fallen. The camp and artillery of the enemy had fallen into
+the hands of Gustavus, and more than a hundred standards had been taken.
+The rout was so complete that Tilly had left with him only about six
+hundred men and Pappenheim less than fifteen hundred. Thus was destroyed
+that formidable army which had long been the terror of Germany.
+
+As for Tilly himself, chance alone left him his life. Exhausted by his
+wounds and summoned to surrender by a Swedish captain of horse, he
+refused. In an instant more he would have been cut down, when a pistol
+shot laid low the Swede. But though saved in body, he was lost in spirit,
+utterly depressed and shaken by the defeat which had wiped out, as he
+thought, the memory of all his past exploits.
+
+Though he recovered from his wounds, he never regained his former
+cheerfulness and good fortune seemed to desert him, and in a second
+battle with Gustavus on the Lech he was mortally wounded, dying a few
+days later.
+
+As for Gustavus, he had won imperishable renown as a military leader. All
+Germany seemed to lie open before him and it appeared as if nothing could
+prevent a triumphant march upon Vienna. He had proved himself the ablest
+captain and tactician of the age, his device of small, rapidly moving
+brigades and flexible squadrons being the death-blow of the solid and
+unwieldy columns of previous wars. And his victory formed an epoch in
+history as saving the cause of Protestantism in Germany.
+
+The emperor, in despair, called again into his service the disgraced and
+disgruntled Wallenstein, granting him extraordinary powers. But this
+great captain also was beaten by Gustavus on the field of Lutzen, where
+the career of the Swedish hero came to an untimely end. His renown as a
+great soldier will live long in history.
+
+
+
+
+_CHARLES X. AND THE INVASION OF DENMARK._
+
+
+When Charles X., nephew of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded Christina, the
+daughter of Gustavus, on the throne, the "Thirty Years' War" was at an
+end, but new wars awaited the new king. Sweden had won large possessions
+on the southern shores of the Baltic and had become one of the leading
+powers of Europe. But Charles found these southern provinces hard to
+hold, having to battle for them with Russia and Poland.
+
+A worthy successor of his great uncle, Charles showed his warlike ability
+by a rapid march into Poland and the overthrow of its army by a three
+days' battle at Warsaw. But his progress was checked by a new and dark
+cloud which appeared upon the sky. Suddenly and unexpectedly, on the 2d
+of May, 1657, Denmark declared war against Sweden, and at the same time
+an Austrian army invaded Poland with the purpose of aiding that kingdom
+and destroying the Swedish army.
+
+This double attack left Charles in a quandary. An able and experienced
+soldier, who had learned the trade of war in Germany during Queen
+Christina's reign, he was well fitted to deal with one foe, but could not
+readily cope with two widely separated ones. He therefore determined to
+abandon Poland, though leaving garrisons in its more important cities,
+and devote his attention to Denmark. This Danish war had much in it of
+interest, and showed that the new Swedish king had been taught in the
+best school of the military art.
+
+Frederick III. of Denmark had declared war without making preparations
+for it, fancying that Charles would be forced to remain with his army in
+Poland and that he would have abundant time to act. He quickly learned
+his mistake. With an army of eight thousand well-trained veterans Charles
+marched at all speed from Poland, and a few months after war was declared
+stood with his compact little army on Denmark's shores.
+
+Taken by surprise, the Danish general, Bilbe, retreated hastily northward
+and the whole peninsula of Jutland was quickly overrun by the Swedes.
+Bilbe had much the larger army, but they were mainly raw recruits, and he
+dared not face the veterans of the Thirty Years' War. The Danes had
+projected an invasion of Sweden, for which they had been deliberately
+preparing, and were overwhelmed to find their army in retreat and a force
+of six thousand men closely besieged in the Fredericia fortress. A night
+attack by General Vrangel won this stronghold for the Swedes, with its
+garrison and a large amount of arms and provisions.
+
+So far the movement of Charles had been brilliantly successful, but his
+position was very dangerous. Enemies were advancing on him from various
+sides, a Polish army having invaded Pomerania, an Austrian army having
+advanced into Prussia, while the elector of Brandenburg had joined his
+enemies. His ally, England, had promised to aid him with a fleet, but it
+failed to appear, and the situation was growing daily more critical. From
+his awkward position he was rescued by a combination of daring and the
+favoring influences of nature.
+
+The winter of 1658 proved extraordinarily cold. Never within the memory
+of man had such bitter weather been known. The sea that flowed between
+the Danish islands was tightly frozen, a natural bridge of ice connecting
+them with one another and the mainland. With bold resolution King Charles
+determined to cross to the island of Fyen.
+
+The enterprise was full of risk. The ice swayed perilously beneath the
+marching hosts. At places it broke. But the island shore was safely
+reached, the troops guarding it were beaten, and soon the whole island
+was in Charles's possession.
+
+But a more daring and perilous enterprise confronted the king. There was
+a broader arm of the sea to cross, the Great Belt, about twelve miles
+wide. The ice was examined and tested by the quartermaster-general, who
+said that he would answer with his life for its being strong enough to
+bear the army.
+
+King Charles heard this tidings with delight, clapping his hands
+energetically and exclaiming:
+
+"Now, Brother Frederick, we will converse with each other in good
+Swedish."
+
+Dahlberg, the quartermaster-general, testified to his confidence by
+riding at the head of the column over the wide field of ice, the army
+following in safety to the coast of Zealand. Meeting with no opposition,
+Charles and his army were soon near Copenhagen, whose fortifications were
+in bad condition, and the danger of losing his capital was so imminent
+that Frederick was glad to accept the severe terms of peace which Charles
+offered him. These included the surrender of half a dozen Danish
+provinces to Sweden and the independence of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
+from Danish control. Denmark had paid sorely for making a declaration of
+war with no preparation to carry it out.
+
+But Charles X. was so eager for war that in the end he lost most of what
+he had gained. He was full of schemes of conquest in Germany, but feared
+that Denmark might take advantage of his absence with his army to take
+revenge for her losses. The fleets of Holland were threatening the coasts
+of the Baltic Sea, and Charles sought to make a treaty with Denmark which
+would close this sea to foreign ships. Denmark refused to enter such an
+alliance and Charles thereupon determined to make a complete conquest of
+that kingdom.
+
+Breaking without warning the treaty of peace he had recently made, he
+suddenly landed with an army on the coast of Zealand. By this unwarranted
+and stealthy assault he filled the souls of the Danes with the courage of
+despair, changed Holland from a secret to an open enemy, and lost the
+most of his former gains.
+
+The Danish people, threatened with the loss of their independence, flew
+to arms, determined to defend their country to the last extremity.
+Charles, his army being small, delayed his attack upon Copenhagen, which
+might easily have been taken by an immediate assault. When he appeared
+before it he found all its people converted into armed soldiers, while
+King Frederick declared that he was ready to die in his capital like a
+bird in its nest. Every soul in the city burned with patriotism, and
+nobles, burghers, and laborers alike manned the walls, while even women
+could be seen wielding spade and axe in the repair of the neglected
+defences. When the siege began the citizens made several successful
+sallies against their foes and hope arose in their breasts.
+
+But their position soon grew critical, the Swedes seizing the castle of
+Cronberg and other points commanding the Sound and pushing forward their
+lines until they had possession of the outer works of the city. The great
+weakness of the citizens lay in the absence of provisions, which grew so
+scarce that they would have had to surrender from sheer stress of hunger
+but for the activity of their allies.
+
+The Dutch had enlisted in their cause, and a fleet sent from Holland
+under Admirals Opdam and DeWitte passed Cronberg and other fortifications
+held by the Swedes, met the Swedish fleet under Admiral Vrangel in the
+Sound and fought a bloody battle for the mastery. For six hours the
+thunder of cannon echoed from the neighboring shores, then the Swedes
+were put to flight and a favoring wind bore the Dutch ships triumphantly
+to the beleagured city, bringing food and help to the half-starved
+defenders.
+
+Their coming saved Copenhagen. Charles, baffled in his efforts, drew
+back, and threw up works of defence ten miles from the city. Suddenly the
+tide of fortune had turned and began to run strongly against him. Into
+Holstein pressed an invading army of Austrians, Poles, and
+Brandenburgers. The Swedes were forced to evacuate Jutland. The newly won
+provinces were ready to revolt. Part of those held in Norway were taken
+by the Danes, and the Swedish garrison in the island of Bornholm was
+annihilated by a sudden revolt of the inhabitants.
+
+When winter came and the waters were closed by ice against invading
+fleets, the Swedish king determined to make a vigorous effort to take the
+city by assault. The attack was made on the night of February 10, 1659,
+Generals Stenbock and Spane leading a storming party against the
+fortifications. Fortunately for the people, they had information of the
+coming assault and were fully prepared for defence, and a desperate
+struggle took place at the walls and in the frozen ditches. The fire of a
+multitude of cannon served to light up the scene, and the attacking
+Swedes found themselves met with the frantic courage of men and women
+fighting for their homes. A shower of bullets and stones burst upon them,
+many women taking part, throwing burning brands, and pouring boiling tar
+upon their heads. In the end the Swedes were forced to draw back, leaving
+two thousand dead and wounded in the hands of their foes.
+
+Relinquishing his attack upon the city, Charles now turned furiously upon
+the small islands of Laaland, Falster, Moen, and Langeland, which had
+offended him by supplying provisions for the city, and subjected them to
+all the horrors of invasion by troops to whom every excess of outrage was
+allowed. Yet new misfortunes gathered round him, the peninsula of Fyen
+being taken by the allies of Denmark, while the Swedish troops near
+Nyberg were attacked and taken prisoners, their commander alone escaping
+in a small boat.
+
+The intervention offered by the neighboring powers was refused by the
+proud Swedish king, who, surrounded by dangers on all sides, now issued a
+call for a meeting of the estates of the realm at Gothenburg, while at
+the same time preparing to invade Norway as a part of the Danish
+dominions. At this interval he was suddenly taken sick and died soon
+after reaching Gothenburg. A treaty followed with the widowed queen,
+regent of Sweden, and Frederick preserved his realm, though not without
+loss of territory.
+
+
+
+
+_CHARLES XII. THE FIREBRAND OF SWEDEN._
+
+
+On the 27th of June, 1682, was born one of the most extraordinary of men,
+the Alexander of modern times, one of those meteors of conquest which
+have appeared at rare intervals in the history of the world. Grandson
+alike of Charles X. of Sweden and Frederick III. of Denmark, Charles XII.
+of Sweden united in himself all the soldierly qualities of his ancestors,
+his chief fault being that he possessed them in too intense a degree,
+being possessed by a sort of military madness, an overweaning passion for
+great exploits and wide-spread conquests. In his career Sweden reached
+its greatest height of power, and with his death it fell back into its
+original peninsular status.
+
+His daring activity began almost with his birth. At seven years of age he
+could manage a horse, and the violent exercises in which he delighted to
+indulge gave him the vigorous constitution necessary for the great
+fatigues of his later life, while he developed an obstinacy which made
+him a terror to his advisers in later years.
+
+Charles was extraordinary in the fact that he performed the most
+remarkable of his exploits before he reached the age of manhood, and in a
+just sense may be given the name of the boy conqueror. His mother died
+when he was eleven years of age and his father when he was fifteen, his
+grandmother being appointed regent of the kingdom, with a council of five
+nobles for her advisers.
+
+Sweden, when he came to the throne, had risen to a high rank among the
+powers of Europe. In addition to its original dominion, it possessed the
+whole of Finland, the finest part of Pomerania, on the southern shores of
+the Baltic, and also Livonia, Carelia, Ingria, Wismar, Viborg, the
+Duchies of Bremen and Verden, and other realms, all of long possession
+and secured by conquest and treaty. But it had dangerous enemies with
+whom to deal, especially Peter the Great of Russia, then bent on bringing
+his barbarian dominions into line with the great powers of the continent.
+
+Such was the inheritance of the fifteen-year-old king, who quickly showed
+the material of which he was composed. One day in the first year of his
+reign, after reviewing a number of regiments, he was seen by his special
+favorite, Charles Piper, in a spell of abstraction.
+
+"May I ask your Majesty," said Piper, "of what you are thinking so
+deeply?"
+
+"I am thinking," replied the boy monarch, "that I am capable of
+commanding those brave fellows; and I don't choose that either they or I
+shall receive orders from a woman."
+
+He referred in this irreverent and boastful speech to his grandmother,
+the regent.
+
+He was crowned on the 24th of December following his father's death, the
+ceremony being performed by the archbishop of Upsala. But when the
+prelate, having anointed the prince in the customary manner, held the
+crown in his hand ready to put it upon the new king's head, Charles took
+it from his hand and crowned himself, his eyes fixed sternly upon the
+dismayed churchman. This act of self-willed insubordination was applauded
+by the people, who also received him with loud acclamations when he rode
+into Stockholm on a horse shod with silver and with a sceptre in his hand
+and a crown on his head. The oath of fidelity to his people, usual on
+such occasions, was not taken, and in fact Charles had no thought of
+being faithful to anything but his own ambitious designs and his
+obstinate self-will.
+
+He soon showed his unfitness for the duties of quiet government. The
+money collected by his father was quickly squandered by him, and with the
+eagerness of an untutored boy he plunged into every kind of daring
+amusement that presented itself, risking his life in break-neck rides,
+mock fights, bear hunts, and other dangerous sports and exercises. He
+also gave much attention to military manoeuvres, his time being spent
+in all sorts of violent activities, with little thought to the duties of
+government, these being confided to his chief friend and confidant,
+Charles Piper.
+
+The tidings of the manner in which the new king of Sweden occupied
+himself spread to the neighboring monarchs, who, fancying that they had
+nothing to fear from a frivolous and pleasure-loving boy, deemed this a
+good opportunity to recover some of the lands conquered from them by the
+preceding Swedish kings. A secret understanding to this effect was
+entered into by Frederick IV. of Denmark, King Augustus of Poland, and
+Peter the Great, czar of Russia, and the ball was opened early in 1700 by
+an invasion of Livonia on the part of the Polish king, while the Danes
+attacked Holstein-Gottorp, ruled by Charles's brother-in-law, taking
+Gottorp and laying siege to Tonnigen. Peter of Russia was the most
+dangerous of the three confederates, he being then full of the idea of
+introducing western civilization among his rude subjects and making
+Russia a sea power. To accomplish this he was eager to gain a foothold on
+the Baltic by the conquest of Finland.
+
+The kingly conspirators, who had begun war against Sweden without a
+declaration, little dreamed of the hornet's nest they were arousing.
+Filled with consternation, some of the Swedish councillors of state
+proposed to avert the danger by negotiation. Charles, then a youth of
+eighteen and of whose real metal no one dreamed, listened to these words
+with a grave face, and then rose and spoke:
+
+"Gentlemen, I am resolved never to begin an unjust war, nor ever to end a
+just one but by the destruction of my enemies. My resolution is fixed. I
+will attack the first that shall declare war against me, and having
+conquered him, I hope I shall be able to strike terror into the rest."
+
+The old councillors were surprised by the resolute demeanor of the young
+king, who seemed suddenly transformed into a man before them. They little
+knew the boy. Familiar with the careers of Alexander and Caesar, he was
+inspired with the ambition to attempt the role of a great conqueror and
+prove himself one of the world's ablest soldiers.
+
+Forsaking his favorite sports, he set himself with intense energy to
+prepare for the war which had been precipitated upon him, and sent word
+to the Duke of Holstein that he would speedily come to his assistance,
+eight thousand men being at once despatched to Pomerania for this
+purpose. Instantly the natives were stirred up, Central Germany sending
+troops to reinforce the Danes, while England and Holland sent fleets to
+aid Sweden and seek to preserve the balance of power in the north.
+
+Such were the preliminary steps to Charles's first great campaign, one of
+the most remarkable in the whole history of war. On the 8th of May, 1700,
+he left Stockholm, in which city he was never to set foot again. With a
+large fleet of Swedish, Dutch, and English vessels he proposed to attack
+Copenhagen, thus striking at the very citadel of Danish power. The
+assault began with a bombardment of the city, but, seeing that this was
+having little effect, Charles determined to attack it by land and sea,
+taking command of the land forces himself.
+
+A landing was made at the village of Humlebek, Charles, in his impatience
+to land, leaping into the water, which came nearly to his waist, and
+wading ashore. Others followed his example, the march through the waves
+being made amid a shower of bullets from the enemy. Springing to land,
+the young king waved his sword joyously above his head and asked Major
+Stuart, who reached the shore beside him, what was the whistling sound he
+heard.
+
+"It is the noise of the musket balls which they are firing at your
+Majesty," said the major.
+
+"That is the very best music I ever heard," he replied, "and I shall
+never care for any other as long as I live."
+
+As he spoke, a bullet struck the major in the shoulder and on his other
+side a lieutenant fell dead, but Charles escaped unscathed.
+
+The Danes were soon put to flight and Charles made the arrangements for
+the encamping of his troops with the skill and celerity of one trained in
+the art of warfare, instead of a boy on his first campaign and to whom
+the whistle of a musket ball was a sound unknown. He showed his ability
+and judgment also by the strict discipline he maintained, winning the
+good will of the peasantry by paying for all supplies, instead of taking
+them by force in the ordinary fashion of the times.
+
+While the camp was being made and redoubts thrown up towards the town,
+the fleet was sent back to Sweden and soon returned with a reinforcement
+of nine thousand men, who had marched in haste to the shore and were
+drawn up ready to embark. The Danish fleet looked on at this movement,
+but was not strong enough to interfere.
+
+The rapidity with which this invasion had been made struck the people of
+Copenhagen with terror and they sent an embassy to Charles, begging him
+not to bombard the city. He received them at the head of his guards,
+while they fell upon their knees before him. His ultimatum to the
+petitioners was that he would spare the city on the payment of four
+hundred thousand rix-dollars. They were also commanded to supply his camp
+with provisions, for which he promised they would be honestly paid. They
+did not dare refuse, and were very agreeably surprised when Charles kept
+his word and paid good prices for all he got.
+
+Charles now sent word to King Frederick that he had made war only to
+require him to make peace, and he must agree to act justly towards the
+Duke of Holstein or the city of Copenhagen would be destroyed and his
+dominions laid waste with fire and sword.
+
+Frederick, utterly taken aback by the warlike vigor of King Charles, was
+very glad to accept this proposal and thus to escape from the dangerous
+position in which he had placed himself, and the negotiations were driven
+through by Charles with the same abrupt energy he had shown in his
+military movements. In less than six weeks from the beginning of the war
+it was ended and the treaty made, a surprising achievement for the first
+campaign of an eighteen-year-old warrior. The treaty was favorable to
+Frederick, Charles exacting nothing for himself, but demanding that the
+Duke of Holstein should be repaid the expenses of the war.
+
+The boy king had reason for haste, for the town of Riga, in his
+dominions, was being invested by a combined army of Russians, Poles, and
+Saxons. The treaty was no sooner signed than he sailed in all haste to
+its relief. It had made a gallant and nearly desperate defence under
+General Dahlberg, but the besiegers did not wait for the impact of
+Charles's army, hastily retreating and leaving the field open to him for
+a great feat of arms, the most famous one in his career.
+
+The town of Narva, in Ingermanland, was then invested by a great Russian
+army, sixty thousand--some say eighty thousand--strong, the Czar Peter
+being in supreme command, the Duc de Croy commanding under him. But the
+unskilled Russians had not proved very successful in the art of
+besieging, having failed for six weeks to take a city that was very
+poorly fortified and whose governor, Baron Herre, had but a thousand
+regular troops in his garrison.
+
+It was in mid-November, 1700, that the czar heard that the Swedish king
+had landed an army of about thirty-two thousand men, and was coming to
+the relief of Narva. Not content with his great force, Peter hurried
+forward a second army of thirty thousand men, proposing to enclose King
+Charles between these two hordes and hoping thus to annihilate him. He
+reckoned without his host. Charles landed at Pernow and made a forced
+march to Reval, followed by his cavalry, fourteen thousand strong, but
+with only four thousand foot soldiers.
+
+Marching, in his usual ardent manner, in the van of his army, he did not
+wait for the rear, making his way onward by nearly impassable roads and
+coming before the outposts of the supplementary Russian army with only
+eight thousand men. With apparently utter indifference to the vast
+disproportion in numbers, the Swedish firebrand rushed forward, the
+Russians, not dreaming of such mad temerity, being sure that he had his
+whole army behind him.
+
+The advance guard of the Russians, five thousand strong, was posted in a
+rocky pass where a body of a hundred resolute men might have checked the
+progress of an army, yet it fled in dismay before the onset of the
+Swedes. The twenty thousand men behind them shared their panic and joined
+in their flight, terror and confusion pervading the whole army. In two
+days' time Charles carried all their posts, winning what might have been
+claimed as three distinct victories, yet not delaying an hour in his
+advance. Having thus disposed of the army sent to intercept him, Charles
+marched with all speed to Narva, leaving his main army still far in the
+rear. With his eight thousand men, exhausted with their long march and
+their hard fight, he suddenly appeared before the czar's great force of
+sixty or eighty thousand men and one hundred and fifty cannon.
+
+Giving his weary men scarcely any time for rest, Charles advanced against
+the Russians with the impetuosity which had so far marked his career. A
+general warned him that the danger was very great.
+
+"What!" he replied. "Do you not think that with my eight thousand brave
+Swedes I may easily beat eighty thousand Russians?"
+
+Whether the general believed so or not, he did not venture any further
+remonstrances, and, at the signal of two musket shots and the war-cry of
+"With the aid of God!" the king and his handful of men marched forwards.
+It was now about mid-day on the 20th of November, 1700.
+
+A breach being made with their cannon in the Russian works, Charles led
+his men on with fixed bayonets, a furious snow-fall behind them driving
+full in the face of the enemy and making their position a very difficult
+one. After an engagement of three hours the entrenchments were stormed on
+all sides, the right wing of the Russians fleeing to the Narva and
+crowding the bridge with its retreating hosts. So dense was the mass that
+the bridge gave way beneath them, precipitating them into the stream, in
+which eighteen thousand of the panic-stricken wretches were drowned. The
+left wing then broke and fled in utter confusion, so many prisoners being
+taken that the best the captor could do was to disarm them and let them
+disperse where they would.
+
+Thus ended this extraordinary battle, almost without a parallel in
+history and spreading the fame of the victor widely over Europe. For a
+boy little over eighteen years of age to achieve such a feat, defeating
+with eight thousand men an army of nearly a hundred thousand, raised him
+in men's minds to the level of the most famous conquerors. Unfortunately
+for himself, it redoubled his self-will and vanity, the adulation given
+him leading him into a course of wild and aimless invasion that brought
+upon him eventually misfortune and defeat and nearly ruined his kingdom.
+
+Having disposed of two of the enemies who had plotted his destruction, in
+the following year Charles advanced against the third, King Augustus of
+Poland, led his victorious army into that kingdom, took Warsaw, its
+capital city, by storm, and in the battles of Klissov and Pultusk so
+thoroughly overthrew the forces of Augustus that he was forced to give up
+the throne of Poland and retire into his native dominion of Saxony, a
+Polish noble being proclaimed king in his place. The Swedish conqueror
+even pursued Augustus into Saxony, defeated his armies wherever met, and
+forced him at last to beg humbly for peace.
+
+Such was the first era of the brilliant career of the young Swedish
+firebrand of war, who in four years had utterly overthrown his enemies
+and won a reputation for splendid military genius which placed him on a
+level, in the opinion of the military critics of the age, with Alexander
+the Great, whom he had taken as the model of his career.
+
+But Charles had two great enemies with whom to contend, and as a result
+his later history was one of decline and fall, in which he lost all that
+he had won and remained for years practically a prisoner in a foreign
+land.
+
+One of these enemies was himself. His faults of character--inordinate
+ambition, inflexible obstinacy, reckless daring--were such as in the end
+to negative his military genius and lead to the destruction of the great
+power he had so rapidly built up. The other was Czar Peter of Russia. It
+was unfortunate for the youthful warrior that fate had pitted him against
+a greater man than himself, Peter the Great, who, while lacking his
+military ability, had the other elements of a great character which were
+wanting in him, prudence, cool judgment, persistence in a fixed course of
+action. While the career of Charles was one of glitter and coruscation,
+dazzling to men's imaginations, that of Peter was one of cool political
+judgment, backed by the resources of a great country and the staying
+qualities of a great mind. What would have been the outcome of Charles's
+career if pitted against almost any other monarch of Russia that one
+could name it is difficult to imagine. But pitted against Peter the Great
+he was like a foaming billow hurling itself against an impregnable rock.
+
+While it is not our purpose to tell the whole story of the exploits of
+Charles XII., yet his life is so interesting from the point of view of
+military history that a brief epitome of its remainder may be given.
+
+After his great victories Charles remained in Saxony, entertaining the
+throng of princes that sought his friendship and alliance and the crowd
+of flatterers who came to shine in his reflected glory. For six years in
+all he remained in Poland and Saxony, fighting and entertaining, while
+Peter the Great was actively engaged in carrying out the important
+purpose he had in mind, that of extending the dominion of Russia to the
+shores of the Baltic and gaining an outlet on the northern seas. As an
+essential part of his purpose he began to build a new city on the banks
+of the Neva, to serve as a great port and centre of commerce.
+
+It was long before Charles awakened to the fact that Peter was coming
+threateningly near to the Swedish territories, and when he finally
+realized the purpose of his great enemy and set out to circumvent it, he
+did so without any definite plan. He decided, as Napoleon did a century
+later, to plunge into the heart of the country and attack its capital
+city, Moscow, trusting by doing so to bring his enemy to terms. In this
+he failed as signally as Napoleon did in his later invasion.
+
+In June, 1708, with an army of forty-three thousand men, Charles crossed
+the Beresina and soon after met and defeated the Russian army near
+Smolensko. He considered this his most brilliant victory, and, as we are
+told by Voltaire, Peter now made overtures for peace, to which Charles,
+with the arrogance of a victor, replied, "I will treat with the Czar at
+Moscow."
+
+He never reached Moscow, but was constrained to turn southward to the
+Ukraine, where he hoped to gain the aid of the Cossacks, under their
+chief, Mazeppa, a bitter enemy of the czar. In this march his men
+suffered terribly, more than half of them dying from hunger and cold. He
+had met that same enemy which Napoleon afterwards met in Russia, a winter
+of bitter severity. In the spring he had only about eighteen thousand
+Swedes and about as many Cossacks under his command, but he persisted in
+his designs. During the wintry cold he had shared in the privations of
+his men, eating the same coarse food, while his only means of warming his
+tent was to have heated cannon balls rolled along the floor.
+
+The crisis came in the summer of 1709. Peter, who was keenly on the
+alert, had succeeded in winning to his side the Cossack chiefs, leaving
+Mazeppa without any followers. Then he intercepted the Swedish general
+Levenhaupt, who was marching with a new army to the aid of his king, and
+overwhelmed him with an immense force of Russians. Losing all his baggage
+and stores and more than half his men, Levenhaupt succeeded in reaching
+the king's camp with only six thousand battered and worn soldiers.
+
+Charles had now only eighteen thousand men, and was in such sore need of
+food and clothing that he laid siege to the city of Pultowa, hoping to
+obtain supplies by its capture. Here he was met by Peter with an army
+three times his strength, and in the decisive battle that followed
+Charles was wounded and his army utterly defeated, only three thousand
+escaping death or capture. Charles himself narrowly escaped the latter,
+and only by a hazardous and adventurous flight over the steppes reached
+the town of Bender, in the Turkish realm.
+
+[Illustration: From stereograph, copyright by Underwood and Underwood,
+N.Y. THE RETURN OF CHARLES XII. OF SWEDEN.]
+
+Here the sultan, the bitter enemy of Russia, gave him refuge and treated
+him with much kindness, though he found the young Swede a very
+troublesome guest. In fact, at Charles's suggestion, the sultan went to
+war with Russia and got the czar into such a tight place that he only
+escaped by bribing the Turkish vizier.
+
+Infuriated at his enemy's escape, Charles became so violent and unruly
+that the sultan tried to get rid of him, giving him large sums of money
+to pay his debts and make preparations to leave. When Charles spent all
+this and asked for more the sultan grew so angry that he ordered the
+arrest of his troublesome guest. It needed an army of men to take him,
+for he locked himself in his house and fought furiously with the few
+hundred of men under his command. Many Turkish soldiers were killed and
+he was only captured by setting fire to his house and seizing him as he
+fled from the flames.
+
+The "Iron Head," as the Turks called him from his obstinacy, was guarded
+in a Turkish village for ten months by a force of Janizaries. Most of
+this time was spent in bed on pretence that he was dangerously ill. At
+the end of that time, finding that he could get no more help from the
+Turks, he resolved to escape. Accompanied by two persons only, he rode
+in the incredibly short period of fourteen days from Adrianople through
+Austria, Hungary, and Germany, reaching the Swedish post of Stralsund on
+November 7, 1713. Doubtless the sultan was glad to hear of his escape,
+since he had borne with his restless and unwelcome guest for more than
+four years.
+
+When he came to the gates of Stralsund he presented himself to the guard
+under the name of Captain Peter Frisch. The guard was long in recognizing
+him, for he was haggard and worn in face and ragged and dirty in person,
+having never changed his clothes and rarely left the saddle, except to
+change horses, during his long and weary ride.
+
+His long and needless absence in Turkey had left Sweden exposed to its
+enemies and it had severely suffered, the greater part of its territory
+south of the Baltic being seized, while Sweden itself had been attacked
+by the Danes and Saxons and only saved by an army of peasants, so poorly
+equipped and clothed that they were nicknamed the "Wooden Shoes."
+
+As for Charles, his era of brilliant invasion was over and he was obliged
+to fight in self-defence. When he reached Stralsund it was under siege by
+an army of Russians, Saxons, and Danes. Taking command here, he defended
+it obstinately until the walls were blown up and the outworks reduced to
+ashes, when he went on board a small yacht and crossed the Baltic safely
+to Sweden, though a Russian admiral was scouring that sea to prevent his
+passage.
+
+A few words must suffice to complete the story of this remarkable man. He
+found Sweden largely depleted of men and money and in the new army which
+he sought to raise he was obliged to take boys of fifteen into the ranks.
+With these he proposed, in the cold winter of 1716, to invade Denmark by
+leading an army over the Sound to the Danish islands, but a thaw set in
+and put an end to this adventurous project.
+
+Then he invaded Norway, as a part of the Danish realm, and after some
+unsuccessful efforts, laid siege to the fortress of Frederikshald. Here
+the end of his strange career was reached. On the morning of December 11,
+1718, while leaning over the side of a breastwork and giving directions
+to the men in the trenches, he was seen to stagger, his head sinking on
+his breast. The officers who ran to his aid found him breathing his last
+breath. A bullet had struck him, passing through his head and ending his
+remarkable career at the early age of thirty-six.
+
+With the death of this famous soldier ended the military glory and
+greatness of Sweden. As a result of his mad ambition and his obstinate
+persistence in Turkey, Sweden lost all the possessions won in previous
+reigns, losing them never to be regained. And with him also vanished the
+absolute rule of the Swedish kings. For with his death the nobles
+regained their lost influence and drew up a compact in which the crown
+was deprived of all its overruling control and the diet of the nobles
+became the dominant power in the state.
+
+
+
+
+_THE ENGLISH INVADERS AND THE DANISH FLEET._
+
+
+The Napoleonic wars filled all Europe with tumult and disorder, the
+far-northern realms of Norway and Sweden and the far-eastern one of
+Turkey alone escaping from being drawn into the maelstrom of conflict.
+Denmark, the Scandinavian kingdom nearest the region of conflict, did not
+escape, but was made the victim of wars with which it had no concern to a
+disastrous extent.
+
+Christian VII. was then the Danish king, but he was so feeble, both in
+mind and body, that the Crown Prince Frederick was made regent or
+joint-ruler in 1784, and was practically king until his father's death in
+1808, when he came to the throne as Frederick VI. Count Bernstorf was
+minister of foreign affairs and kept Denmark at peace until his death in
+1799, when troubles at once broke out between Denmark and England.
+
+It was a different state of affairs now from that far-off time of Canute
+and the vikings, when the Danes overran England and a Dane filled its
+throne. The tide had long turned and Denmark was an almost helpless
+victim in the hands of the great maritime island, which sought to control
+the politics of the whole continent during the terrible struggle with
+Napoleon.
+
+For some years the English made complaints against Denmark, saying that
+it was carrying food and forage into French and German ports in defiance
+of the laws of neutrality. As these laws were of English origin the Danes
+did not feel inclined to submit to them, and after the death of Bernstorf
+Danish men-of-war were sent to sea to protect their merchant vessels.
+
+Quarrels and hostile feeling arose from this, but the crisis did not come
+until the summer of 1800, when Russia, Sweden, and Prussia formed a
+treaty for an "armed neutrality" and invited Denmark to join it. England
+at once took alarm. While the other nations were powerful enough to defy
+her, Denmark was poor and quite unprepared for warlike operations, and
+when, in the spring of 1801, a fleet under Admirals Parker and Nelson
+appeared on her waters she was by no means in readiness for such a
+demonstration.
+
+Taken by surprise as they were, however, the Danes had no thought of
+weakly submitting to this hostile movement, and did their best to prevent
+the English from passing the Sound. Their chief defence was the fortress
+of Cronberg, near Elsinore, where heavy cannon were mounted to command
+the narrow strait here separating Sweden and Denmark. But by closely
+hugging the Swedish coast Parker kept beyond the range of these guns, and
+in April, 1801, cast anchor in the harbor of Copenhagen. His fleet
+consisted of fifty-one vessels, twenty of them being line-of-battle
+ships.
+
+Alarmed by the coming of the fleet and taking advantage of the delays in
+its movement, the Danes had made every possible preparation for a
+vigorous resistance. Strong batteries defended the city and an imposing
+array of heavily armed ships, drawn up behind a shoal, presented a
+formidable line of defence.
+
+Some delay took place, against the wish of the fiery Nelson, who was
+second in command of the fleet. Nelson was eager for an immediate attack,
+and finally Parker gave way and left the matter in his hands.
+
+Nelson was in command of the Elephant, but finding that ship too large
+for the waters before him he removed his flag to the St. George and led
+the way to the attack with the smaller vessels of the fleet, Parker
+remaining at anchor some miles distant with the larger vessels.
+
+A fierce and bloody conflict ensued, lasting from four to five hours.
+Nelson closed on his foe by getting within the shoal, but he met with a
+stout and vigorous resistance, the Danish seamen, under their able
+commander Olfert Fischer, fighting with the daring for which their people
+had been noted in the far past. Three times the aged Fischer left one
+burning ship to hoist his flag on another, and several of the younger
+captains fought their ships against Nelson's larger vessels as long as
+the shattered hulks kept above water.
+
+So protracted and obstinate was the defence that Parker grew alarmed and
+signalled Nelson to retreat. This was the last signal to be thought of
+by a man like Nelson and, clapping the glass to his blind eye, he said,
+"I really do not see the signal," and kept on fighting.
+
+Nelson was between two fires, that from the shore batteries and that from
+the ships, and though he destroyed the first line of the Danish defence
+and threatened the capital with serious injury, the batteries were not
+silenced and the English ships were suffering severely.
+
+He therefore sent an English officer on shore with a flag of truce,
+declaring that unless the Danes on shore ceased firing he would burn the
+ships in his hands without being able to save the crews, and pointing out
+that these crews were the worst sufferers, as they received a great part
+of the fire of both parties.
+
+A suspension of hostilities was agreed upon to permit of the prisoners
+being removed, and in the end the crown prince, against the wishes of his
+commanders, stopped all firing and agreed to discuss terms of peace. Thus
+ended a battle which Nelson said was the fiercest and best contested of
+the many in which he had taken part.
+
+The peace that followed lasted for several years, and Denmark, freed from
+connection with the hostilities existing in southern Europe, rapidly
+increased in trading activity. During these years, indeed, the Danes
+served as the commerce carriers for the other countries of Europe, and
+this prosperous state of affairs lasted till 1807, when new troubles
+arose and England repeated her violent act of 1801.
+
+The English government either had, or fancied it had, good grounds for
+suspecting that Denmark had joined Alexander of Russia in a treaty with
+France, and on the plea that the fleet of Denmark might be used in the
+cause of the French emperor, an array of fifty-four ships of war was sent
+to demand its immediate delivery to England.
+
+Denmark was taken more fully by surprise than before. Its army was absent
+in Holstein to guard against an attack which was feared from Germany, and
+Copenhagen was thus left without protection. General Peymann refused to
+comply with the preposterous demand of the English admiral, whereupon an
+army of thirty-three thousand men was landed and the city attacked by
+land and sea.
+
+For three days a fierce bombardment continued, and not until a large
+portion of the almost unprotected city was laid in ashes and the
+remainder threatened with like destruction did the general consent to
+admit the English troops into the citadel of Frederikshavn.
+
+The outcome of this brigand-like attack, which had nothing more definite
+than a suspicion to warrant it, and is ranked in history as of the same
+type with the burning of Washington some years later, was the seizure of
+the entire Danish fleet by the assailants. The ships carried off included
+eighteen ships-of-the-line, twenty-one frigates, six brigs and
+twenty-five gunboats, with a large amount of naval stores of all kinds.
+
+The act was no more warrantable than were the viking descents upon
+England centuries before. The latter were the acts of barbarian
+freebooters, and England, in an age of boasted civilization, put herself
+in the same position. The Danes were nearly crushed by the blow and many
+years passed away before their bitter resentment at the outrage
+decreased.
+
+[Illustration: KRONBERG CASTLE ON THE SOUND, DENMARK.]
+
+The political result of it was that Denmark allied herself with Napoleon,
+a measure which gave that unhappy land no small amount of trouble and
+distress and led in 1814 to the loss of Norway, which for four hundred
+years had been united with the Danish realm. Norway was handed over to
+Swedish rule, while England took for her share of the spoils the island
+of Heligoland, which she wanted to secure for the command of the Elbe.
+Thus the birds of prey gathered round and despoiled the weak realm of
+Denmark, which was to be further robbed in later years.
+
+
+
+
+_A FRENCH SOLDIER BECOMES KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY._
+
+
+The career of Napoleon, which passed over Europe like a tornado, made
+itself felt in the Scandinavian peninsula, where it gave rise to radical
+changes. In the preceding tale its effect upon Denmark was shown. While
+the wars which desolated Europe did not reach the soil of Sweden and
+Norway, yet these countries were deeply affected and their relations
+decidedly changed.
+
+The work began in 1808 in the obstinate folly of Gustavus IV., who
+defiantly kept up an active trade with England when Russia and Prussia
+had closed their ports against British ships. As a result Russia declared
+war against Sweden, sent an immense army into Finland, and after a
+desperate struggle compelled the Swedes to evacuate that region. In this
+way Sweden lost a great province which it had held for six hundred years.
+
+This was one result of a weak king's setting himself against the great
+powers of Europe. By his lack of political good sense and his obstinacy
+Sweden lost nearly half its territory and Gustavus lost his throne, for
+the bitter indignation of the Swedes against him was such that he was
+taken prisoner by conspirators and forced to sign a deed in which he
+renounced the throne of Sweden for himself and his descendants. Not a
+hand was raised to help him and he spent the remainder of his life as a
+wandering exile.
+
+It was this series of events that in time brought a soldier of the French
+army to the Swedish throne. How this came about is well worth the
+telling. After the abdication of Gustavus, Duke Charles of Sodermanland
+was elected king as Charles XIII., and as he had no children, a Danish
+prince was chosen to succeed him.
+
+But this heir to the throne, Charles Augustus by name, died suddenly the
+next year. The people believed he had been poisoned, and on the day of
+the funeral, suspecting the haughty old Count Fersen of his death, they
+seized him and in their fury literally tore him to pieces.
+
+It was now proposed to take the brother of the deceased prince as heir to
+the throne, but little could be done in those days without the Corsican
+emperor being consulted about it, and the young Baron Moerner was sent to
+Paris to inform Napoleon of what was proposed. The youthful envoy was an
+admirer of the conqueror, and thinking to please him he suggested that
+one of the French generals should be chosen to rule over Sweden.
+
+Napoleon was highly gratified with the suggestion, but when the baron
+named Marshal Jean Bernadotte as his choice the emperor was much less
+pleased. He would much rather have chosen some one else, Bernadotte being
+too independent in character to please him. Difficulties were thrown in
+the way, but Moerner obtained Bernadotte's consent, and by his argument
+that Sweden needed an able and experienced soldier to regain its old
+power the Swedish Ricksdag was brought over to his side.
+
+In the end Napoleon gave his consent, and the marshal was elected Crown
+Prince of Sweden. But the French emperor evidently doubted him still, for
+on parting with him he used these significant farewell words: "Go, then,
+and let us fulfil our several destinies." He had reason for his distrust,
+as the events of later years showed.
+
+This selection ranks with the remarkable instances of the mutations of
+fortune. The new crown prince had begun life as the son of a poor French
+lawyer and in 1780, at the age of sixteen, entered the army as a common
+soldier. When the wars of the Revolution began he had risen to the rank
+of a sergeant, which was as high as a man of common birth could rise in
+the old army of France.
+
+But he made rapid progress in the army of the Revolution, being a man of
+great courage and unusual military genius. Under Napoleon, whose
+discerning eye no soldier of ability escaped, Bernadotte became one of
+the most successful of the French generals, was made governor of a
+province, ambassador, and minister of war, and had much to do with
+winning the great victories of Austerlitz, Jena, and Wagram. Finally he
+was made a marshal of France and prince of Ponte Corvo in Italy.
+
+But Napoleon had doubts of him. He was too independent. He opposed the
+emperor's ambitious plans and defended the liberties of the people, and
+was distrusted by the conqueror for other causes. The astute Corsican
+feared that he would not be the man to reduce Sweden to a province of
+France, and the event proved that Napoleon was right.
+
+It was in 1810 that Crown Prince Bernadotte, who adopted the name of
+Charles John as the title of his new rank, arrived in Sweden with his son
+Oscar. The people were delighted with his appearance. A handsome and
+imposing man, with black wavy hair, an eagle nose, keen, penetrating eyes
+and the manner of one accustomed to command, also a clear and eloquent
+speaker, polished in address and courteous in his dealings with all, they
+felt that in him they had a true king; while his reputation as one of the
+leading soldiers in Napoleon's great army gave them assurance that, if
+war should arise, their armies would be ably led.
+
+Sweden, when Bernadotte set foot on its soil, was in a helpless state of
+decadence, having become little better than a dependency of France. If
+ever it needed a strong ruler then was the time, but Charles XIII. was
+incapable as a monarch, and from the time of his landing the new crown
+prince ruled the country as though there were no king on the throne.
+
+He at once renounced Catholicism and was admitted into the Lutheran
+church, the state religion of Sweden. Proposing to consult the best
+interests of his new country and not to rule as a vassal of Napoleon, he
+was indignant when the emperor ordered that Sweden should declare war
+against England. In the existing condition of the country he felt
+compelled to submit, but he secretly advised the British government that
+the declaration of war was a mere formality and not a gun was fired on
+either side.
+
+He also made a secret alliance with Alexander of Russia. None of these
+movements could be made public, for the Swedes were then fervent admirers
+of Napoleon and hoped by his aid to gain the lost province of Finland and
+win revenge upon Russia, their old enemy. Bernadotte saw farther than
+they, feeling that the inordinate ambition of Napoleon must lead to his
+downfall and that it was best for Sweden to have an anchor out to
+leeward. But all these political deals had to be kept from the knowledge
+of the Swedes.
+
+A change in public opinion came when Napoleon, suspecting the loyalty to
+him of his former marshal, heaped insults upon Sweden, and finally, in
+the beginning of 1812, invaded Swedish Pomerania, intending by this act
+to frighten the Swedes into submission. Instead, he exasperated them and
+lost their friendship, thus giving Bernadotte the opportunity he had
+awaited.
+
+"Napoleon has himself thrown down the gauntlet, and I will take it up,"
+he said, and at once began to prepare for the struggle which he foresaw.
+
+With the incitement of the invasion of Pomerania the Crown Prince Charles
+John--Prince Karl Johan, as the Swedes called him--began active
+preparations for war. The army was largely increased, new levies being
+raised and arms and equipment purchased, while alliances were made with
+foreign powers. It came as a surprise to the Swedes when the fact leaked
+out that it was not against Russia, but against France, that these
+warlike movements were being made.
+
+Napoleon now, seeing the state of affairs his injudicious act had brought
+about, sought to gain the friendship of Sweden, making alluring offers to
+his late marshal. His change of front came too late. Bernadotte had no
+confidence in him and came into closer relations with his enemies,
+encouraging the perplexed Alexander to a firm resistance against the
+French emperor in the great invasion threatened.
+
+Everyone knows the disastrous end of this invasion. When Napoleon was
+marching on Moscow Alexander and Charles John met at Abo and a treaty was
+formed in which Sweden was promised recompense for the loss of Finland in
+the acquisition of Norway, while a friendship sprang up between the two
+which lasted till the end of their lives.
+
+Events now moved rapidly. The Corsican conqueror entered Moscow. It was
+burned and he was forced to retreat. A terrible winter and hostile forces
+destroyed the Grand Army, only a handful of which escaped. Then came the
+death struggle in Germany of the greatest soldier in modern history. On
+every side his enemies rose against him and in the spring of 1813
+Bernadotte joined them with an army of thirty thousand Swedes.
+
+This army took part in the several battles that followed, and made its
+mark especially at Dennewitz, where Marshal Ney commanded the French.
+Bernadotte thought that the Prussians should bear the brunt of this
+battle, since Berlin was threatened, and for this reason he held the
+Swedes in reserve. But when the right wing of the Prussians was broken,
+Ney cheering his soldiers by shouting, "My children, the victory is
+ours!" he deemed it time to take a hand, and ordered General Cardell, his
+artillery chief, to support the Prussians.
+
+Cardell won the day by a brilliant stratagem. He ordered the caissons
+into line with the guns and deployed his regiments so that they bore the
+appearance of a division of cavalry, the mounted artillerists bearing
+down upon the French at a gallop, with drawn swords.
+
+Failing to see the guns, and thinking that they had only cavalry to deal
+with, the French closed their lines and with fixed bayonets awaited the
+Swedes. Suddenly the line halted, the guns were rushed forward and
+reversed, the men sprang to their pieces, and from a long line of
+frowning cannon poured a fiery hail of grape and canister that tore
+remorselessly through the solid ranks of the French. The results were
+awful: dead and dying strewed the ground; the survivors fled in
+confusion; that deadly volley turned the day in favor of the French, and
+Ney and his braves were forced to make a hasty retreat.
+
+In the great battle of Leipsic no section of the Swedish army but the
+artillery took part. When the English agent, Sir C. Stewart, sought by
+threats to drive Bernadotte into action, he haughtily replied:
+
+"Do you forget that I am Prince of Sweden and one of the greatest
+generals of the age?"
+
+Bernadotte was considering the uplifting of his new kingdom rather than
+the overthrow of his old master. He was saving his army for the campaign
+he proposed against Denmark. Of this campaign we need only say that it
+ended in the acquisition of Norway. The Danes were beaten and their king
+disheartened, and in the peace of 1814 he ceded Norway to Sweden,
+receiving Swedish Pomerania in exchange.
+
+For centuries Sweden had sought to absorb Norway, and now, by the action
+of this crown prince from a foreign land, the result seemed achieved. But
+the brave Norwegians themselves remained to be dealt with. They did not
+propose, if they could avoid it, to be forced into vassalage to the
+Swedes. A party arose in favor of the independence of Norway, a
+government was formed, and their Danish governor, Prince Christian
+Frederick, was elected king of Norway.
+
+It was a hasty act, which could not be sustained against the trained army
+of Sweden. Norway was poor, her population small, her defences out of
+order, her army made up of raw recruits under untried officers, yet the
+old viking blood flowed in the veins of the people and they were bent on
+striking for their freedom.
+
+Bernadotte returned to Sweden in the summer of 1814 and at once led his
+army into Norway. Little fighting took place, the Swedish crown prince
+showing himself favorably disposed, and peace and union finally came,
+Charles XIII. of Sweden being elected king of Norway. Yet it was not as a
+subject nation, but as an independent and equal kingdom that Norway
+entered this union. All her old rights and privileges were retained and
+the government remained free from any interference on the part of Sweden.
+
+It was to the wisdom of Bernadotte that this result was due. An enforced
+union, he knew, would yield only hatred and bitterness, and to drive a
+brave people to the verge of despair was not the way to bring them into
+the position of satisfied subjects. Norway remained as free as ever in
+her history, dwelling side by side with Sweden, with one king over both
+countries.
+
+In 1818 the weak Charles XIII. died and the strong Bernadotte, or Charles
+John, ascended the throne as Charles XIV. The remainder of his reign was
+one of peace and growing prosperity, and when he died in 1844, leaving
+the throne to his son Oscar, the grateful people of Sweden felt that they
+owed much to their soldier king.
+
+
+
+
+_THE DISMEMBERMENT OF DENMARK._
+
+
+The time once was when, as we have seen, all Scandinavia, and England
+also, were governed by Danish kings, and Denmark was one of the great
+powers of Europe. Since that proud time the power of the Danish throne
+has steadily declined, until now it is but the shadow of its former self.
+
+A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced to yield Norway to Sweden.
+All its possessions on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was
+compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring islands, with
+the exception of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the
+peninsula. The time was near at hand when it was to lose these and more
+and be reduced to a mere fragment of its once great realm.
+
+The new trouble began in 1848, when the French revolution of that date
+stirred up all the peoples of Europe to fresh demands. North of Holstein
+lay the duchy of Sleswick, occupying the southern half of the peninsula,
+its inhabitants, like those of Holstein, being nearly all Germans. These
+duchies had long chafed under Danish rule, though for centuries they had
+formed part of Denmark, and now they made an eager demand for union with
+what they termed their true "Fatherland."
+
+A new king, Frederick VII., ascended the Danish throne in January, 1848.
+In February the French revolution broke out. Almost instantly the duchies
+were in a blaze of revolt, and on the 23d of April a Danish army of
+eleven thousand men met one of nearly three times its strength, composed
+of the insurgents and German allies, and was defeated after a hard fight
+and forced to take refuge on the little island Als, where it was
+protected by Danish ships of war.
+
+This was the beginning of a struggle that continued at intervals for
+nearly three years, the great powers occasionally intervening and
+bringing about a truce. In 1849, the Danes gained some important
+successes, followed by a second truce. The most severe battle was that of
+July 24, 1850, when a Danish army nearly forty thousand strong attacked
+the insurgents and battle went on amid mist and rain for two days, ending
+in the triumph of the Danes.
+
+New successes were gained in September, Sleswick being fully occupied and
+Holstein invaded, when a strong Austrian army marched into the latter
+province and again the war was brought to an end. Sleswick was left under
+the Danish king, but a joint commission of Danes, Austrians, and
+Prussians was formed to govern Holstein until its relations to Denmark
+could be determined.
+
+For the thirteen years following all remained at rest. But in that year
+King Frederick VII. of Denmark died and immediately the eldest son of the
+Duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the duchies, hastened into them and
+proclaimed himself as ruler, under the title of Duke Frederick VIII., of
+the united and independent province of Sleswick-Holstein.
+
+[Illustration: Reproduced by permission of the Philadelphia Museum. THE
+BOURSE, COPENHAGEN. DENMARK.]
+
+This impulsive act led to most important
+results. All the German powers to the south, large and small alike,
+supported the pretensions of the self-styled Frederick VIII., and before
+the end of the year Austrian and Prussian armies entered the province,
+which they proposed to hold until the claims of the house of Augustenburg
+should be definitely settled.
+
+This threw Denmark into a difficult position. If she wished to avoid
+dismemberment she must fight, and to fight against these two great powers
+seemed madness. Yet Prussia and Austria pressed one condition after
+another upon her, each more galling than the last. England, however,
+offered herself as umpire between the parties, strongly favoring Denmark.
+In consequence, fully expecting aid from England, a Danish army of forty
+thousand men crossed the border and attacked the Prussians.
+
+But England sent no aid and the Danes were forced to retreat and once
+more take refuge upon Als Island. As England showed no intention of
+helping them with armed assistance, despair followed the patriotic effort
+of the Danes, who were left single-handed to oppose their powerful foes.
+Yet in spite of their greatly inferior power they made a gallant defence,
+their courage and endurance winning the sympathy of those who looked on.
+
+Yet to struggle against such fearful odds was hopeless. The Prussians
+occupied one strong point after another until they had penetrated to the
+most northerly point of the peninsula. Then, to save his kingdom from
+utter destruction, Christian IX. gave way and accepted the terms offered
+him, agreeing to renounce all claims on the duchies of Sleswick-Holstein
+and Lauenburg and to abide by the decision of Prussia and Austria as to
+the future fate of these provinces.
+
+Thus were the weak dealt with by the strong, in the rude old fashion, and
+of its once proud dominion Denmark was left only the northern half of the
+peninsula, consisting of Jutland and its neighboring islands, a pocket
+kingdom of some 15,000 square miles extent in lieu of its once great and
+proud dominion.
+
+Yet it was not without satisfaction that the despoiled Danes looked on
+when their two powerful enemies, quarreling over the division of the
+spoils, sprang at one another's throats like two dogs snarling over a
+bone, a great war arising between Austria and Prussia over this question,
+at a cost far greater than the value of the provinces fought for.
+
+Prussia being the victor, the rights of Denmark and the claims of the
+Duke of Augustenburg alike were quietly laid aside and the matter settled
+by the absorption of the provinces into the German empire, Denmark being
+left to thank God that Bismarck did not decide to take the rest.
+
+
+
+
+_BREAKING THE BOND BETWEEN NORWAY AND SWEDEN._
+
+
+In the year 1388 the people of Norway chose the great Queen Margaret of
+Denmark for their ruler, and from that date until 1905, more than five
+hundred years later, the realm of the Norsemen continued out of existence
+as a separate kingdom, it remaining attached to Denmark until 1814, when
+it came under the rule of the king of Sweden. In 1905 Norway broke these
+bonds and for the first time for centuries stood out alone as a fully
+separate realm. With a description of this peaceful revolution we may
+fitly close our sketches of the Scandinavian countries.
+
+During these centuries of union ill feeling frequently arose between the
+nations involved. Though the union with Denmark had been on terms of
+equality, the Danes in later years often acted towards Norway as though
+it were a subject country, at times creating great irritation in the
+proud sons of the sea-kings. It was the same with the Swedish union, the
+Swedes at times acting towards Norway as though it were a conquered
+country, won by the sword of Prince Bernadotte and subject to their will.
+
+This was a false view of the relations of the two countries. The act of
+1815 states that "The union is not a result of warfare but of free
+convention, and shall be maintained by a clear acknowledgment of the
+legal rights of the nations in protection of their mutual thrones." It
+further states that "Norway is a free, independent, indivisible, and
+inalienable kingdom, united with Sweden under one king."
+
+This must be kept in mind in considering the recent events. Norway was in
+no sense subject to Sweden, but had simply accepted the king of Sweden as
+its monarch. They were not one nation, but two nations under one king,
+being otherwise independent in every respect, each with its own
+constitution, its own parliament, and its own laws.
+
+In fact, Norway has had a constitution since 1818, granted by Bernadotte
+when he came to the throne, while Sweden was not granted one until over
+forty years later. And while the constitution of Norway makes it the most
+democratic monarchy in Europe, that of Sweden gives much greater power to
+the throne. Thus the people of Norway for many years had reason to be
+well content with the situation, though they jealously kept watch over
+the preservation of their rights, and at times radical parties promoted
+an irritation that might have led to blows had it been sustained by the
+people at large.
+
+The difficulty that led to their final separation was a commercial one.
+Norway has always been a country with the sea for its province, rugged
+and unproductive as compared with Sweden, but with a long sea-coast
+inviting maritime pursuits. As a result, during the century its commerce
+grew much more rapidly than that of Sweden and it ended the century with
+a shipping three times as great. Its commercial interests thus made
+free-trade the economic doctrine of Norway, while protection became that
+of Sweden, and this was the wedge that in time forced the two countries
+asunder.
+
+In 1885 began the disagreement which led to separation twenty years
+later. In that year the king made the minister of foreign affairs
+responsible to the Swedish parliament, thus depriving Norway, as she
+claimed, of any important influence in foreign politics. Negotiations
+followed, but Sweden resisted, and irritation arose. Finally the question
+of a Norwegian minister of foreign affairs was dropped and only that of
+the right to a separate system of foreign consuls remained.
+
+Let us now very briefly epitomize the course of events. In 1891 Norway
+established a consular commission and made a strong demand for separate
+consuls to represent her interests in foreign ports. Violent quarrels
+with Sweden followed, but no agreement was reached. In 1898 the question
+became serious again, but still there was no agreement, and the same was
+the case when it came up once more in 1901.
+
+A new consular commission was appointed in 1902, its report favoring the
+demands of Norway, and finally, in 1903, King Oscar gave his sanction to
+an agreement for separate consuls. But the king's voice did not settle
+the question; it came before parliament, and after long consideration a
+decision was reached which avoided the point in dispute and announced
+principles which were declared in Norway to be in violation of its
+constitution and at variance with the king's sanction of 1903.
+
+This ended the negotiations. The incensed Norwegian legislators appointed
+a new cabinet to carry out the wishes of the people and a consular
+service law was passed. Events now proceeded rapidly. In February, 1905,
+King Oscar retired from active government on account of age and ill
+health, Crown Prince Gustavus being appointed temporary regent. On
+considering the subject he dissented from his father's opinion and
+offered the following proposition for a settlement of the question at
+issue: first, a common minister of foreign affairs; second, a separate
+consular service for each country, the consuls to be under the direction
+of the one foreign minister. This proposition was voted on favorably by
+the Swedish parliament and the main point in dispute seemed settled.
+
+But on May 27 King Oscar returned to the throne and immediately
+repudiated this action of his son and the parliament, vetoed the law for
+separate consuls passed in Norway, and when the cabinet of that country
+resigned in a body refused to accept their resignation.
+
+The crisis was now reached. A general wave of indignation swept through
+the realm of Norway. The feeling of the people was shared by their
+legislators. Norway's only connection with Sweden was that they had the
+same king--but the Norwegians had no use for a king that would place the
+interests of one country in precedence of those of another. The decisive
+move was made on June 7, when the Storthing--the parliament of
+Norway--announced itself as no longer in union with Sweden or under the
+rule of King Oscar, declaring that he had admitted that he was unable to
+govern Norway according to its constitution and therefore had ceased to
+rule as its king. The union flag was lowered from the government fortress
+in Christiania, where it had floated since 1814.
+
+In its address to the king the Storthing said that "the course of events
+has proved more powerful than the desire or will of individuals," but to
+show that good feeling existed towards Sweden, the king was requested to
+name a prince of his own house for the throne of Norway, who was to
+relinquish his right of succession to the Swedish throne.
+
+The die was cast. Would war result? Would Oscar seek to force Norway back
+into the Union as Bernadotte had done in 1814, when it rebelled and chose
+a king of its own? The occasion seemed critical. Oscar refused to
+abdicate, there was much talk of war, the Swedish Ricksdag--or
+parliament--disapproved of letting Norway depart in peace. If war had
+been declared the hope of Norway sustaining her independence was very
+doubtful, as her population was only half that of Sweden and her army
+and navy much weaker. Yet there was sufficient doubt of the outcome to
+make all men hesitate.
+
+Many of the leading men of Sweden disapproved of the idea of war,
+thinking that hostilities were not called for and that Sweden's stake in
+the question was not sufficient to justify the attempt to hold Norway by
+force. A significant event at this juncture was the declaration of the
+powerful Socialist party in Sweden that they would not bear arms against
+their brethren in Norway. In this the Socialists made the first
+international declaration of their opposition to war.
+
+As the weeks passed on the war feeling cooled. Oscar withdrew his refusal
+to abdicate, and said: "Of little use would the Union be if Norway had to
+be forced into it." As regards the feeling of the people of Norway
+regarding separation, it was decisively shown on August 13, when a vote
+was taken upon the question. It resulted in 368,200 votes in favor of to
+184 against dissolution of the union.
+
+The chief question to be settled was that of the abolition of the
+frontier fortresses, of which Norway had a number on the border while
+Sweden had none. Norway held on to hers mainly from patriotic reasons, as
+several of them were of very ancient date and had great historic
+interest. The difficulty was finally settled by an agreement to dismantle
+the new portions and let the ancient ones remain.
+
+The final treaty of separation, as approved on September 23, 1905,
+covered the following points: 1st. There was to be arbitration of all
+questions arising between the two countries. 2d. A neutral zone was to be
+established and all forts within this zone to be destroyed or made
+useless for war purposes. 3d. The grazing rights of Swedish Laplanders in
+Norway were to be maintained. 4th. The laws of each country were to apply
+to the portion of waterways crossing each. 5th. No obstacle was to be
+placed on the commerce between the two countries.
+
+The question of the form of government of the new nation had before this
+arisen. The request to King Oscar for a descendant of his house had been
+at first refused. He subsequently reconsidered it and was willing to let
+his son Charles fill the vacant throne, but meanwhile it had been offered
+to Prince Charles of Denmark and accepted by him. The offer of the throne
+by the Storthing needed in democratic Norway to be confirmed by a vote of
+the people, and one was taken in October. The sentiment for a republic in
+Norway was supposed to be very strong, but the election resulted in a
+vote of four to one for a kingdom against a republic, and Charles of
+Denmark, grandson of King Christian, was formally chosen for the reigning
+monarch of the new kingdom. In compliment to the nation he chose for
+himself the national title of Haakon VII. and conferred on his son and
+heir the Norwegian name of Olaf.
+
+Formal offer of the throne was made to the new king at Copenhagen on
+November 20 by a deputation from the Norwegian parliament, King Christian
+accepting it for his grandson, and saying:
+
+"The young king does not come as a stranger to Norway, for he claims
+relationship to former Norwegian kings. Nor will the kingdom of Norway be
+strange to him, for everywhere in the land common recollections of the
+history of the kingdom and the history of his race will meet him."
+
+On the 25th of November the new monarch, with his wife, daughter of King
+Edward of England, made his formal entrance to Christiania, the capital
+of his new realm, where he was received with the highest demonstrations
+of joy. On their voyage from Copenhagen the royal pair were escorted by
+Norwegian, Danish, British, and German warships, while in their new realm
+elaborate preparations had been made for their fitting reception.
+
+At noon on November 27 Prince Charles was formally inaugurated king, as
+Haakon VII., before a distinguished assembly consisting of the highest
+state dignitaries, the diplomatic corps in full costume, and a brilliant
+concourse of men in uniform and women in court toilets. Entering the
+richly decorated Parliament house, surrounded by their suites, the king
+ascended the throne, the queen taking a seat by his side.
+
+The ceremonies were brief, consisting of the king's taking the oath to
+support the constitution of Norway, and pledging himself in a brief
+speech "to exert all his will and strength to serve the Fatherland and
+promote its peace and happiness." An interesting feature of the ceremony
+was a despatch of congratulation from Oscar, late king of Norway, in
+which he said: "I beg that you be persuaded that every effort looking
+towards good relations between our two countries will be given a
+sympathetic reception on my part."
+
+Thus, after for five hundred and seventeen years standing empty, the
+throne of Norway was filled with a king of its own, and that old land,
+once more single and separate, swung back into the tide of the nations.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Historical Tales, Vol. 9 (of 15), by Charles Morris
+
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