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1!)8
Condemnation of the accused.
Executions. HISTORY OF THE SWEDES. Banishment of many nobles
of the king’s party.
[1599-
the lords had continued their treasonable proceed-
ings, broken their engagements contracted with the
duke, iind the statutes of Soderkceping, plotted
against the duke’s weal, honour, and life, and at
last brought foreign armies against their country.
Their private letters to wives and connexions were
used in evidence. In spite of this no proof ap-
peared against Hogenskild Bielke’, although the
duke swore by heaven and earth " that the old fox
was the real cause of it all ^." His violent expres-
sions were accompanied by applause and murmur.s
from the numerous throng wliich usually attended
the diets of Charles; whence he was called the pea-
sant-king. Clas Bielke, Eric Leyonhufvud, George
Posse, and Christian Horn fell on their knees, con-
fessed themselves guilty, implored and obtained
pardon. The remaining lords said, that they hei-e
perceived only parties in the case, not judges, and
made protest. The duke replied, and the protest
was overruled. The functionaries sitting on the
bench, the officers, bailiffs, and jurisconsults first
gave their opinions
i
in reference to the charge.
It was for the capital punishment, and was adopted
by the unnoble estates, and held valid against the
more lenient verdict of tlie nobility. The only point
wherein the estates did not yield to the duke was,
that they insisted that the sentence should be en-
rolled in his chancery 2. On the 17th March it was
promulgated, and the estates engaged by the act of
the diet to defend the same against the whole world.
Neither the intercessions of the bishops^, nor the
near connexion of the accused with the royal
family, nor the prostrations and tears of their wives,
and twenty-two of their children, who were pre-
sent, could obtain a commutation of their sentence.
Charles quitted Linkoping, having given orders for
the execution of the sentence. On the 20th Mai’ch
of the year IGOO, Gustave Baner, Eric Sparre, Steno
Baner, and Thur^ Bielke were beheaded in the
market-place of Linkoping. Their demeanour in
their last moments made a deep impression. They
spoke to the people, asserted their innocence, and
all met death with tranquillity, especially the three
last named. After them suffered Bennet Fack, a
sexagenarian warrior, who was a Catholic. The other
prisoners(excepting the paralytic Hogensldld Bielke)
were also led forth, and obliged to see the blood of
their friends poured out. Their lives were then
granted them, and they .were reconducted to prison.
Yet the persecution was not appeased by this sacri-
9 Account of the judgment which was passed in king
Charles IX.’s time by a portion of the people, and the greatest
part of the estates. Palmskiild Collections. Actaadhisto-
riam Caroli IX. v. ii.
’
Humble, poor, and submissive opinion of the officers,
bailiffs, and lawyers. Ibid.
2 For what is requested by the estates, that the prologue
to the judgment and answer to the grounds wherewith the
council of state had excepted to the court (exceperat forum),
should be enrolled in the duke’s chancery, the same cannot
be, and cometh too nigh liis princely grace, as if the estates
themselves knew not how to answer what they had done
with free and good conscience. March 12, 1600. Reg.
3 Note of Christina Baner to her sister, on the mournful
lotof their father the high marshal Gustave Baner. Appendix
to the Rhyme Chronicle of Charles IX. p. 359.
-> " An unheard-of treason of Hogenskild Bielkfe, his brother
Clas, Christian Classon Horn, and several others of the no-
bility, clergy, burgesses, and peasants, has been discovered;
that not only the troopers of Upland (long devoted to Sigis-
mund) had intended to shoot us dead and pass over to the
fice. The courageous Arvid Stalarm, already twice
condemned to death, who is said to have jestingly
remarked at Linkoping,
" the lords of the council,
now made happy, will be wondering what has be-
come of me, since I have not followed them to hea-
ven," x-eceived his freedom in 1602, on the interces-
sion of the Finnish nobility, and afterward was
even appohited to a coiumand in Livonia. But after
the unsuccessful assault on Wittenstein in 1604, the
following year he was again accused and condemned,
kd out to death, but reconducted to prison, where
he died. At the same diet of 1605, convoked on
occasion of a conspiracy against the duke *, the old
and feeble Hogenskild Bielke’ was again placed be-
fore the tribunal of the estates, aud condemned to
death for expressions which betrayed deep hatred
against Charles and his house. Sitting on a chair,
he was carried to the place of execution, and the
head having been struck off, which his chamberlain
vainly sought to protect from maltreatment, was
set up over the south gate of Stockholm. After he
had seen his two brothers fall by the headsman’s
sword, and himself endured a long imprisonment,
the third brother, Clas Bielke, once the richest
man in Sweden of that day, went into exile with his
wife and children and three nephews. The same
fate of banishment also fell upon the counts Axel
Leyonhufvud and Eric Brahe, who had themselves
sat on the bench at Linkoping, on Gustave Brahe
brother of the latter^, on five Stenbocks, four
Sparre’s, six Gyllenstiernas, seven Posses, two Rib-
bings, two Boudes, two Flemings, one Torstenson,
one Horn ^. Other members of the old families
saw the cause of their country in that of Charles, or
at least sought and enjoyed his protection. In 1604
the property of the exiles was declared forfeited to
the crown, unless they appeared to make answer
before the tribunal.
" And seeing that the children,"
it is said in the statute of tlie diet, "soon for-
get their father’s offences, if they have not a
daily remembrancer, therefore shall no one of the
sons of the condemned lords ever be capable, with-
out especial grace, of sitting in the council of the
realm, or other high places of trust ;
all their
children, who shall again plot to transform the
kingdom of Sweden into an elective monarchy
shall, when they come to an age at which they can
undei’stand the design of their parents, be punished
like these as traitors ;
if they discover the offences
of their parents, they shall enjoy their property."
enemy at the time of our being in Livonia, but also plotted
how we might be betrayed, with wife and child, into the
enemy’s hands. And no doubt there are many in this realm
who are participant in the same treason, so that, since it is
impossible for us in such sort to assume a government, or
let ourselves be crowned king, we would rather dwell among
bears and wolves, and take our sustenance where we can,
than among a people that heeds neither oath nor truth.
Therefore are we constrained to convene you to a diet ;
and
as we have no other matter to handle with you than what
regards the said treason, ye need fear no more new imposts
than what have been granted in Norrkoping (namely, in the
previous year, 1604)." Writ of summons by Charles to the
diet of March 8, 1603. Reg.
5 Son of the high steward Peter Brahe, who died in 1590,
in disgrace with king John. Two other sons, Magnus and
Abraham, were of the duke’s party.
6 Duke Charles’ Slaughter-Bench, the most famous of the
many violent pamphlets against Charles, printed in 1617,
but very rare. The author was George Nilson Poss6 of
Siogeras.
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