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140 III. THE ROMANIZED CHURCH (A.D. 11301389).
So deeply rooted was Vadstena in the affections of the
people that it lasted throughout the period of the Reforma
tion, and was not closed till 1595, by order of Duke Charles,
when it was a home of disaffection and conspiracy. The
other houses of the order had mostly disappeared, but four
still remain, Altomiinster in Bavaria, two in Holland, and
one, as I have said, in England. The houses at Valladolid
and elsewhere in Spain are revivals, not survivals.
During Birgitta s absence in Rome the reign of King
Magnus closed in Sweden with a period of great misery
and unpopularity. He returned from his Russian crusade,
as I have said, loaded with debt, only to meet the calamity
of the great plague of 1350 a plague which pressed with
special severity upon the clergy. A similar scourge ap
peared in 1360, which fell particularly upon the children.
Magnus was especially unpopular on account of his un
worthy favourite, Bengt Algotsson, and because of his re
trocession to Denmark of the provinces of Halland, Skane
and Blekinge, which had revolted to Sweden early in his
reign. His object, of course, was to purchase the support
of Denmark in his struggle with his son Eric and his sub
jects. He was deposed in 1363 by the party with whom
Birgitta was acting, and, after an imprisonment of some
years, he retired with his son Haco to Norway, where he
enjoyed a higher reputation than in Sweden. His sister s
son, Albrekt of Mecklenburg, was elected in his place, and
had a precarious tenure of the crown making himself very
unpopular by the number and character of his German
followers. During Albrekt s reign Sweden was practically
governed by a nobleman, Bo Jonsson Grip so called be
cause his arms were a Griffin s head who was lord over
two-thirds of the mainland and the whole of Finland, who
oppressed the country in the king s name. He bore the
title of Drotset, or Drots, which may be rendered steward,
or seneschal of the realm.23
After his death Albrekt tried
23
See Ducange : s.v. Drossatus, which is rendered in Latin
"
Dapifer
"
and "Dapifer," again "Seneschal." But
Steward" is the word used in the English translation of
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