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Harriet Earhart Monroe

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GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS II.

HISTORY OF THE
LIFE OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS II.

THE HERO-GENERAL OF
THE REFORMATION.

By HARRIET EARHART MONROE,

Author of "The Art of Conversation," "Heroine

of the Mining Camp," "Historical Lutheranism,"

"Washington—Its Sights and Insights."

PHILADELPHIA:

THE LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY.

Copyright, 1910, by

The Lutheran Publication Society.

PREFACE.

In giving this sketch of the life of Gustavus Adolphus, no attempt has been made to present a complete life of the great king.

It is a history difficult for young people to understand, and for that reason only the leading events of a most eventful life have been presented.

It was first written for a lecture and entertainment, after the manner of my other entertainments on Church epochs, to be illustrated by stereopticon views, with three dramatic interludes—the first representing the joy of the Swedish people on Gustavus coming to the throne; the second showing Gustavus taking leave of his Parliament and friends as he is about to embark on the Thirty Years' War; the third, an act called "The Women who Loved Him." The evening was to open and close with church processionals in the native peasant costumes of Sweden and other Protestant countries of Europe.

It has been deemed best to present the story in book form, which will differ somewhat from the original lecture and dramatic representations, for the reason that pictures do away with the necessity for many words.

With the earnest prayer that this history may stir other heroic souls to stand for God in life's difficult places this sketch is submitted.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

 

CHAPTER I.

 

Family of Gustavus Vasa

7  

CHAPTER II.

 

Childhood and Youth of Gustavus Adolphus

12  

CHAPTER III.

 

Gustavus as a Man

17  

CHAPTER IV.

 

Gustavus and His Kingdom

21  

CHAPTER V.

 

The Character of the King and His Times

28  

CHAPTER VI.

 

The Thirty Years' War

36  

CHAPTER VII.

 

The Thirty Years' War—Continued

44  

CHAPTER VIII.

 

Conditions in Sweden

53  

CHAPTER IX.

 

Gustavus in Germany

61  

CHAPTER X.

 

Gustavus in Germany—Continued

84  

CHAPTER XI.

 

Gustavus in Germany—Concluded

98  

CHAPTER XII.

 

End of a Valuable Life

115  

CHAPTER XIII.

 

Later History of the Thirty Years' War

132

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS II.

CHAPTER I.
FAMILY.

Gustavus Adolphus, the hero general of the Reformation, was born at the royal palace at Stockholm, Sweden, December 9th, 1594, a little more than one hundred years after the birth of Luther, nearly fifty years after his death, and five years before the birth of Cromwell.

Washington and Lincoln, as to date of birth, were only seventy-seven years apart; had Washington lived but nine years more, they would have been contemporary.

Washington may, in a sense, be said to have made this country, and Lincoln to have preserved it a united people. Just so Luther brought about the movement known as Protestantism, but it was given to this great king of Sweden, known as the Lion of the North, to preserve Protestantism from extinction on the continent of Europe, even as a little later it was given Cromwell to stop that curious movement toward Romanism which is even yet the puzzle of the historian.

Gustavus II. was the son of Charles, Duke of Sudermania, youngest son of Gustavus Vasa, who may be considered the founder of the Vasa family.

During the entire sixteenth century Sweden was torn by external wars and internal dissensions. Sweden, by the contract of Calmar, in 1397, had become a dependency of Denmark. A trade among rulers had made a brave people the reluctant subjects of an alien power. Gustavus Vasa conceived the project of freeing his country from Denmark. He made one ineffectual attempt, and after severe defeat, pursued by the oppressors, he fled to Delecarlia, whose citizens rallied about him, and, with the help of these sturdy and valiant mountaineers, the Danes were expelled from Sweden and his country was restored to liberty.

His grateful countrymen elected him king. Gustavus Vasa saw the moral degradation of his land, and brought disciples of Luther to the country to instruct in both religious and secular learning. Among the most distinguished of these was Olaüs Petri. Of course, the hierarchy of Rome and priests of Sweden made great opposition to any change.

Gustavus Vasa reduced the gospel to this simple message, which a child could understand, viz.: "To serve God according to His law; to love God above all; to believe in Jesus Christ as our only Saviour; to study and to teach earnestly the word of God; to love our neighbor as ourselves; to observe the ten commandments." He distinctly said that the Scriptures speak neither of tapers, nor palms, nor of masses for the dead, nor of the worship of saints, but that the Word of God, in many places, prohibited these things. He added, "The sacrament of the Lord's Supper has been given to us as a token of the forgiveness of sin, and not to be carried around in a gold or silver frame to cemeteries and other places."

Now, was not that a clear statement for a youth brought up a Catholic, whose thought heretofore had seemed only of war?

As in England, politics had a hand in expelling the old form of religion and bringing in the new, so it had an influence in Sweden.

Geijer, the great church historian of Sweden, says that the Roman Church at that time possessed two-thirds of the soil, and that the wickedness of the church was as great as its possessions. Like Henry VIII. of England, Gustavus Vasa needed the lands to enrich the crown and to secure the friendship of the nobles. He deeply hated priests because they were unionists, that is, they desired to keep the three Scandinavian countries under one crown, which would have left Gustavus crownless.

When dying, this great king wrote as his last message: "Rather die a hundred times than abandon the gospel." He pointed the way to glory for Sweden for generations yet unborn.

Eric, the son and successor of Gustavus I., seems to have inherited the barbarous nature of some far-back ancestor. He indulged in dangerous and murderous folly. He proposed at the same time for the hand of Elizabeth, Queen of England, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, Princess Renee, of Loraine, and Christina, of Hessen, and after all that, married a peasant woman.

At last he was declared incapable and was imprisoned. This shortened his life. His children were excluded by law from the succession, and his brother John ascended the throne.

John had married Catherine Jagellon, daughter of Sigismund, king of Poland. She influenced her husband to admit the Jesuits to Sweden, and he made an effort to restore the Romish Church.

When the Swedes were converted to the Protestant faith it seems to have been a deep work of grace. They did not fluctuate in their faith. So now they withdrew their love and friendship from their king, whom they considered false to the faith he had promised to sustain.

At the death of John the states determined that their rights should not be invaded, so they forced from his son, Sigismund, a decree prohibiting any religion in Sweden except the Lutheran. Sigismund (who had become a Catholic to secure the throne of Poland) signed this decree with great bitterness of heart.

In spite of this decree, which he had evidently signed with mental reservations, he ordered a Catholic church to be built in each town in his kingdom. He further enraged his subjects by refusing to be crowned by a Protestant prelate, and accepted coronation at the hands of the Pope's nuncio. He surrounded himself by the nobles of Poland and the priests of Rome. These foreigners could scarcely appear on the streets without causing quarrels and bloody encounters.

In the midst of these disturbances he was recalled to Poland, of which he was also king, his father having secured his election by bribery, and he left Sweden never to return as a welcome king.

Duke Charles, youngest son of Gustavus Vasa, and uncle to Sigismund, was the only son of Gustavus Vasa who showed himself worthy of the noble inheritance to which he had been born. The troubles of the time, the dangers to Protestantism, caused him to listen to the loud call of the Estates to act as regent, or ruling king to this much distressed land.

The Augsburg Confession was again proclaimed, and all the Swedes present cried: "Our persons and our property, and all that we have in this world will be sacrificed, if it is necessary, rather than abandon the gospel." Diet after Diet approved of the administration of Duke Charles.

Four years after the departure of Sigismund he returned with five thousand troops of Poland to reclaim his crown. He was defeated, but the Swedes agreed to take him (because by heredity he had a just claim to the crown) as king if he would send away his foreign troops and properly administer the Lutheran form of religion.

But in a year he proved so unfaithful that he was deposed and sent back to Poland. His claim to the throne led to long-continued hostility between Poland and Sweden. On account of the claim of the Swedish Vasas and the Polish Vasas, brave men were to die, homes were to be desolated, and both lands were to have weeping widows and fatherless children for half a century.

In 1604 Charles was crowned king, the crown entailed to the eldest son, being Protestant, under a law that declared that any ruler who deviated from the Augsburg Confession should by that act lose his crown.

The heirs of Sigismund were by law forever excluded from the throne, and it was decreed that the king should forever make his home in Sweden.

CHAPTER II.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

During the stormy scenes described in the preceding chapter, Gustavus Adolphus was born. He was baptized on the 1st of January, 1595.

The child was brought up in an atmosphere of war. His father told him the story of Sweden's wars and of his own campaigns, to which the boy listened with enrapt attention.

In 1595 the Diet had closed the throne to every Catholic candidate. Charles IX., as the king was now called, was generous enough to assure the Estates that if any son of Sigismund should become a Protestant he should inherit the throne. He also made this reservation in his will, showing that he had the conscience of a Christian who desires to do justice, while Sigismund, as king of Poland, never failed to act on the principle that the end justifies the means.

The Finns, urged to rebellion by the king of Poland, proved to be troublesome subjects to King Charles. They submitted to his rule only after a bloody contest. The king took Gustavus, who was barely seven years old, with him on an expedition against the Finns. The ship became icebound and had to be abandoned. The child and his father continued their way on foot in the midst of the severities of a Russian winter. The exposure seems to have done them no harm.

On one occasion his father took him to visit the fleet at Calmar, and on being asked by an officer which vessel he preferred, he answered, "The 'Black Knight,' because it has the most guns."

The generosity for which he was so noted in later years began to show itself in his childhood. A peasant had brought him a handsome little pony from the island of Oeland. The good man said, "I want you to accept the pony as a gift; as a sign of my love and devotion to you." The young prince replied, "I am glad to have the horse, but I will pay you for it, as the gift would exceed your resources." The child gave the man all the money in his purse. The peasant was amazed at the amount of the money and at the child's great liberality.

His father, foreseeing that Gustavus would need to command people of different nationalities, saw that he had instruction in many languages, so that at the age of seventeen he spoke fluently the Swedish, Latin, German, Dutch, French and Italian languages, and could make himself understood in Russian and Polish. He afterward became proficient in Greek.

Special attention was given to the development of a symmetrical character, and everything possible was done to make him love the Lutheran faith.

The tendencies of both father and son are well illustrated by a letter, still extant, from King Charles to his son, as his farewell advice: "Above all fear God, honor thy father and mother, show for thy brothers and sisters a deep attachment; love the faithful servants of thy father and reward each one according to his merits. Be humane towards thy subjects, punish the wicked, love the good; trust everybody, though not unreservedly; observe the law without respect to person; injure no one's well-acquired privileges, if they are consistent with the law."

Character molded on such principles as these would certainly touch the sublimities.

The mother of Gustavus Adolphus was a German princess of superior education for the times. A haughty queen, a strict disciplinarian, thereby developing in her son a quick and ready obedience to the laws of the family. Who would command must first learn to obey.

She much preferred her second son, Charles Philip, and, had Gustavus been less generous, or less noble, an unnatural jealousy might have divided the brothers, but the young Duke of Finland, as Gustavus was called, acted as though he thought his mother could do no wrong.

Gustavus had three teachers, each of whom left a strong impression upon his character—John Skytte, a man who had spent ten years in travel, Von Mörner, an accomplished, traveled man, and Count de la Gardie, a Swedish noble of a French family, who instructed Gustavus in fencing and in military tactics.

Gustavus had an attractive personality and won the abiding affection of his cousin, Duke John, the only one of Sigismund's sons who took the Swedish side of the religious and family quarrel. Duke John married the only sister of Gustavus, Mary Elizabeth, and proved a brother, indeed, after the death of King Charles. For the choice was left to the people and to the Estates as to whether they preferred John or Gustavus. At the sincere urgency of Duke John the young Duke of Finland, Gustavus, was chosen.

King Charles IX. began early to train his son in public affairs. When Gustavus was only ten years old his father kept him at his side at all cabinet meetings and in great public assemblies. He encouraged him to talk to officers from foreign countries in their own language. The king permitted him to ask questions on war, special battles and methods of governing, and the father was proud of the eager, precocious child, in whom he recognized a mental and spiritual power far beyond his own.

At the age of fourteen he was sent, with his mother, through northern Sweden, in order that he might become acquainted with the people of his own country. The king said, "You are only a boy, but listen to everyone who solicits your protection, help everyone according to your means, and dismiss no one without a word of comfort."

The gracious boy made many friends in this early journey, men who afterwards gladly gave life itself to forward his interests.

At the age of fifteen he was greatly disappointed because he was not permitted to lead an army against the Russians, but for once his father required him to remain at home to learn affairs concerning the internal and external policy of the Swedish government. But in 1611, at the age of seventeen, when Denmark had declared war against Sweden, he was permitted to command a body of troops. He was sent to deliver the town of Calmar which was besieged by the Danes. He was afterward joined by troops under Duke John and the king himself. On August 16th, 1611, the town and castle were surrendered by a commander who proved to be a renegade Swede whom King Charles had offended.

The king left the war in order to return to Stockholm to preside at the Diet. On his journey he was taken violently ill. When it was plain he could not recover Gustavus was sent for. The king gave the sorrowing boy his parting blessing, then laying his hand on the bowed young head, he said, in a voice full of conviction, "Ille faciet"—"This one will do it."

CHAPTER III.
GUSTAVUS AS A MAN.

Gustavus, the Grand Duke of Finland and Duke of Estland, as he was now called, did not at once assume the throne. The kingdom was for two months without a ruler.

The Diet was convened at Nyköping by the queen and by Duke John, who, with six lords of the Council, had administered the affairs of the government. On December 17th, 1611, the queen and Duke John, who was five years the elder, renounced before each of the assembled Estates all right and title to the throne of Sweden, and, although the age of twenty-four was considered the legal majority, Gustavus, though only eighteen, was declared of legal age, and the reigns of government were placed in his young hands.

He took the title of his father: "Elected king and hereditary Prince of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals." He chose for his chancellor, or Secretary of State, the wisest man of his realm, Axel Oxenstiern, only ten years older than himself.

Sweden had seen little of peace for fifty years. From the days of Gustavus I. endless war had prevailed. In the civil strife between rival branches of the same house, two kings had been overthrown. Gustavus inherited a blood-sprinkled throne, and, could he have foreseen it, was to be in almost perpetual warfare during his entire life.

To him came early the great passion which has made bad people good, and quite as often made good people bad. From early boyhood he had loved a girl, who became a handsome court lady, called Ebba Brahe. Her family were of the nobility, though not royal. It was from early youth his purpose to share his throne with the woman of his choice.

At Skokloster, Sweden, is preserved a fragment of their correspondence, including some most ardent letters from the young king. When he could not write to her, he sent the "forget-me-not" flower, which the girlish heart interpreted aright. He exhibited the symptoms of other lovers in writing sonnets to her, and at all times in seeking her society.

But his mother, Queen Christina, was a politician, and steadily set before him that it was his duty to strengthen his kingdom by marrying into a royal family which would become his friend in peace and his ally in war. On one occasion, when he was about leaving on a military campaign, the queen mother forced from him the promise that he would not write to Lady Ebba for two years. To this he agreed on the condition that, at the end of two years, all objection to their marriage would be withdrawn.

He had scarcely reached the seat of war until the old queen forced Ebba Brahe into a marriage with James de la Gardia, a polished noble gentleman, but not the choice of her young heart.

All through his life the heart of Gustavus turned with unutterable longing to the love of his youth. This is shown in several letters to his friend, Chancellor Oxenstiern.

We would like to believe that, at least up to his marriage, he remained the ideal lover, but truth compels us to say that he had a natural son, Gustav Gustavson, born in 1616, to a Dutch lady.

That was an age in which morality along sexual lines was unusual among royal men, but this one instance of immorality is the single instance that even the worst enemy of Gustavus can bring against his good name.

On November 28th, 1620, in the great palace of Stockholm, Gustavus was married to Eleanor Marie of Brandenburg. The marriage was one of great pomp, and Gustavus recognized his duty to the state by marrying into a strong Protestant royal family, and he also recognized his duty as a Christian to be a true husband and a good man.

The young queen brought a large dower which greatly assisted the war fund, but the marriage precipitated another war with Poland.

The marriage was a fairly happy one, as royal marriages go, but the happiness of the family was clouded by a dead child being the first born of the union. This great affliction Gustavus seems to have borne with a truly Christian spirit. The following year a similar event occurred, so that the royal family feared for the succession. At last, in 1632, after being married twelve years, he was permitted to hold a living child in his arms.

As he lavished upon her his paternal caresses, he said, "God be praised! I hope this daughter may be as good to me as a son. May God who has given her preserve her to me."

The life of this princess, whose history will be given later, proved that what we pray too earnestly for, almost as it were forcing the hand of God, may be given in answer to persistent requests, but the gift is to our undoing. Like Hezekiah's prolonged life, the boon was given in answer to prayer. Hezekiah's continued life proved to be full of anguish, and Manasseh, one of the curses of Judah, was born to him. If only we could pray: "O Lord, withhold, if not for my permanent good and Thy ultimate glory."

No woman ever dishonored her parentage more than this daughter, known in history as Queen Christina of Sweden.

This short history is to deal so much with the history of Gustavus Adolphus, the hero general of the Reformation, that we have condensed, for the most part, the history of his loves and domestic life into this one chapter. Before leaving the subject, we would remind you that Queen Eleanor Marie always acted as regent when Gustavus was absent on his campaigns. She seems to have ruled wisely. After the death of Gustavus she generously sent a portrait of the man they both loved so much to Lady de la Gardia.

CHRISTINA,

Daughter of Gustavus Adolphus II.

CHAPTER IV.
GUSTAVUS AND HIS KINGDOM.

We have now these two young men, Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstiern, his chancellor, sitting down to play the game of war against all the powers of northern Europe. The stake was the national existence of Sweden.

Buckle thinks that, given the time, the man may be predicated. But the times did not produce Jesus Christ. Nero was the natural product of that period. Gustavus Adolphus, like Luther, was a special soul sent of God to be the incarnation of spiritual force against the evil and awful indifference of a corrupt age.

First, he enlarged the place of his generous cousin, Duke John, who doubtless had foreseen the great period of war before them, and gladly had placed the responsibility in the abler hands of Gustavus.

Then the young king pursued the war with Denmark until the King of Denmark renounced his claim to the Swedish crown. It took him two years to secure this concession. During these two years he enlarged the rights of his people, stirred the patriotism of the peasantry, won the affections of the nobility of Sweden, and unified his people into a strong nationality. When Gustavus Vasa introduced the doctrines of the Reformation into Sweden the inhabitants were a rude people, but fifty years of instruction on the part of the clergy and independent thinking on the part of the people had greatly changed this state of affairs.

The revival of learning and the Reformation which caused an active study of theology and literature, had greatly pushed forward the intellectual standing of Germany. Lutheranism has always been a scholarly faith; it was born in universities, and never took on the severities or iconoclasms of Calvinism.

Sweden now kept all that was brilliant, attractive and energizing in the ideas of the Reformation, and gave to the Lutheran faith a new impetus, so that in the time of Gustavus Adolphus the aristocracy of Sweden were among the most cultivated people of all Europe.

As in Scotland the Reformation changed the very nature of the entire nation, so now it did the same for Sweden, with this difference, that the Scots followed the doctrines of Calvin, which stripped religion of its æstheticism and made it severe and to some degree forbidding, while the Lutheranism of the Swedes beautified their lives, stirred their æsthetic taste and improved their intellects, so that from that day to this Sweden has been regarded as a scholarly country, and has produced its fair share of literary and scientific men and women, beside many great inventors, and artists of world-wide renown.

The personality of Gustavus had much to do with his success. He had a fine physique. In his youth he was of slender figure, pale, fair complexioned, long-shaped face, fair hair, with a touch of red in it, and a tawny, pointed beard. Every inch of his fine, tall body was trained by the judicious use of athletics and out-door exercise. He radiated health, which of itself made him magnetic.

His tinge of red showed the impetuosity of his nature, which often had to be restrained by the great Chancellor Oxenstiern. "If my heat did not put a little life into your coldness we should all freeze up," said the king on one occasion. The chancellor replied, "If my coldness did not assuage your majesty's heat, we should all burn up," whereat the king laughed and acknowledged that his temper was rather quick and his patience less than he would like.

No sketch of the great king and of his success would be complete without understanding his two chief advisers. Queen Elizabeth once heard that a courtier had said, "It is not the queen who is great, but her counsellors." The queen replied, "Well, who made them counsellors?" Gustavus had the quality of appreciating greatness in others, of supplementing his own talents with theirs, and of not being jealous.

Axel Oxenstiern was born at Fano, in Upland, June 16th, 1583. His family traced their lineage back to the thirteenth century, and had intermarried with both the Danish and Swedish royal families. His father died in 1597, and he was sent by his judicious mother to a German university. This gave him Swedish and German as colloquial tongues, and he became so proficient in Latin that he could use it equally well with either.

Latin had for many centuries been the language of the learned, in which people of different lands could converse intelligibly. The people of Europe needed no Esperanto while they were proficient in Latin.

Oxenstiern studied theology as thoroughly as if he expected to enter the ministry. Religion was the absorbing thought of good people during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was recalled to Sweden by Charles IX., who recognized his great ability, and sent him on several diplomatic missions. At the age of twenty-six he was made house guardian of the royal children, and the head of the regency, which, in case of the king's death, might cause him to be called to govern the realm during the minority of the heir-apparent.

Among the first acts of the young king was to appoint Oxenstiern chancellor. From this time during the entire life of the king, this great man became one of the chief factors in ruling Sweden. He was a true friend, never failing to restrain or reprove the impetuous, strong-minded, strong-natured boy-king. Oxenstiern was a man of action, and was as little given to "lying around among the shavings" as Gustavus himself.

But the king had another counsellor of a totally different type, and that was John Skytte, a fine scholar and a great traveler, who had acted first as the tutor of Gustavus; and later became a counsellor. The king made him a senator, and in 1629 made him governor-general of Livonia.

It is very amusing to read some of the letters which passed between the governor and his king at this time. The governor apologizes for certain things not being accomplished, Gustavus calls him a man of theories, and declares, "I expect results and not explanations."

Returning now to the direct history of Gustavus Adolphus, in July, 1621, Sigismund having denied even the title of king to Gustavus, and having sent strenuous threats of punishment to the Elector of Brandenburg for permitting his sister to marry him, Gustavus sailed from Elfsnabb Harbor with one hundred and fifty sail, manned by fourteen thousand soldiers, for the purpose of conquering Livonia. At Pernau he was joined by General de la Gardia with five thousand Finns.

In August, Riga was surrounded, and on September 15th, it surrendered to the Swedish forces. In October, Mittau, the capital of Courtland, was entered, and the season being too far advanced, the army went into winter quarters. After an eight years' bloody campaign Gustavus, with his brave army and his experienced generals, conquered Sigismund, the unrelenting enemy of the Swedish Vasas.

The war between the two branches of the house of Vasa extends from 1600 to 1660. Gustavus felt that in his war with Poland, from 1621 to 1629, he was not fighting for his crown alone, but that he was facing the great struggle of Protestantism against the Catholic reaction. This war really should be regarded as part of the Thirty Years' War.

Queen Eleanor, as the wife of Gustavus was now called, suffered much during this war, for she felt that Sigismund's attitude to the Elector of Brandenburg for permitting her marriage to her greatly-beloved husband had much to do with the awful sorrows of the time. The queen went several times to see the king while he was absent, always carrying with her money, food and reinforcements. On one occasion she came suddenly upon him, clasping him in her arms, exclaiming: "Now, Gustavus the Great, thou art my prisoner."

Gustavus took pains to assure her that the war was now far beyond the question of their marriage, or even his title to the throne. He made plain to her that Sigismund, a Roman Catholic prince, who had the Pope for master, the Hapsburgs for allies, the Jesuits for advisers, should not and could not be permitted, even though it cost much in blood and money, to set up any claim to the throne of a Lutheran country.

In our own land it was the small Indian wars which trained our ancestors to be the nation of warriors who successfully fought England in the Revolution. So Gustavus Adolphus, his great generals and his brave troops, had training in small wars for that part of the Thirty Years' War which was to make him the most prominent figure of his century.

Besides the wars with Denmark and with Poland, he also had a short campaign (in which he took several Prussian towns) with Brandenburg, the vassal and ally of Poland, although, like Sweden, a Lutheran country, so he had really the practical experience of three wars before entering that which gives him and his country their place in history.

The life of Gustavus was now even more precious to his subjects than at his coronation, because his brother, Duke Charles Philip, had died childless, January 25th, 1622.

He was a youth of great promise and of lovely spirit. On one occasion, when he was ill, he wrote home: "My brother is so attentive and takes so much pains to entertain me that I almost forget my 'illness.'" The death of this prince was a severe stroke to the Dowager Queen Christina, who had always loved him more than she had loved her gifted elder son.

CHAPTER V.
THE CHARACTER OF THE KING AND OF HIS TIMES.

Under the stress of war, trial and great exposure of his life, the piety of Gustavus Adolphus became more marked. On his long campaigns he read and studied the Bible. He said: "I seek to fortify myself by meditations upon the Holy Scriptures." No one ever studied God's word, that is able to make us wise unto salvation, without also gaining worldly wisdom, and perceptibly increasing in moral beauty of character.

He regarded his high position as a great trust, given to him by his God. He was not actuated by a love of conquest, but felt that the defence of his throne and of his country also meant the protection of the Protestant faith. He waged war to bring about peace.

He repressed all acts of vengeance among his soldiers, he tolerated no licentiousness, and upheld religion and good morals in the camps of his army. Divine service was held morning and evening, at which time the king and the whole army knelt before God, asking His blessing and guidance.

He was a strict disciplinarian, but banished the bastinado, which not only punished but degraded men. He took counsel with his generals, and made no important move without consulting the Estates of his kingdom.

His physical strength was very great. Once when ordered to bed for fever by his physician, in the Russian campaign, he went to fencing with one of his officers. This caused such profuse perspiration that his disease was cured.

God seemed to visibly protect his life, even as we think He did the life of General Washington. During the campaign against Poland, a bullet struck the place that he had just left. At another time his garments were spattered with blood from men who fell at his side. Again, a bullet went through his tent just above his head.

At Dantzig seven boats were to take a redoubt. Gustavus commanded one of them and was shot in the abdomen. He wrote the Estates: "The engagement was a warm one, and I was wounded, but not unto death. I hope in a few days to resume my command."

His recklessness in danger greatly distressed his friends, and they sent Oxenstiern to ask him not to expose his life again in battle. Gustavus answered: "As yet no king has lost his life by a bullet, moreover, the soldier follows the example of his leader, and a general who shrinks from danger will never cover himself with glory. Cæsar was always to be found in the front rank, and Alexander moistened each battlefield with his blood."

He was wounded three months later in a battle in Prussia against his brother-in-law, the Duke of Brandenburg. On this occasion he wrote home: "We met the enemy on foot and horseback, and our artillery made such execution that we thought we had put him to flight, but God would not have it. When we were about to dislodge him, a musket ball struck me at the shoulder near the neck, and was the chief cause of our losing the battle. I thank God in my misfortune for the hope of speedy restoration to health."

Now the officers of his army remonstrated, through Oxenstiern, and entreated him not to expose his person, calling his attention to the importance of his life to his country. He replied: "My friends, I cannot believe my life is so essential as you seem to think, for should the worst befall me, I am fully convinced that God would watch over Sweden as He has done hitherto. As God has made me king, I dare not permit myself to be frightened or to be actuated to my own advantage. Should, in the vicissitudes of war, death be my lot, how can a king fall more honorably than in the contest for God and His people?"

Even the surgeon rated him soundly for exposing his life. He replied: "Ne sutor crepidam!" "Everyone to his trade."

During the war with Poland, Austria sent against the Swedish an army of eight thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, under the famous Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland. Gustavus asked him what motive actuated Austria to meddle between two foreign countries. Wallenstein insolently answered, "The emperor, my master, has more soldiers than he wants for himself, he must help his friends."

Gustavus meant to take Spelter, in Marienburg, which he had conquered from the Prussians. One of his generals was prematurely attacked by the Imperial forces, and his division seemed near destruction, when Gustavus hastened to his assistance. In the midst of rout and loss, he was in danger of being made a prisoner by one of the enemy's cavalry. His hat was knocked off and a sword grazed his head. On the other side he was seized by the arm, when a Swedish dragoon killed his assailants, and led the king's horse to another part of the field.

Gustavus was deeply grateful to God for sparing his life, and more than once said in substance: "God has given me a crown, not to dread or rest, but to devote my life to His glory and to the happiness of my subjects."

Wherever he went he expelled the Jesuits, and required the governors of the conquered countries to restore to the Protestants the places of worship which the Catholics had taken from them. He admonished the Protestant clergy to preach the plain gospel, to administer the communion, using both bread and wine, and he insisted that the clergy should see that the people led honest, godly lives, consistent with the faith they professed.

He provided that a synod should meet each year to consult as to church affairs, in order to provide common schools for the people, and also for the higher education of the youth of the country.

The following great principles, showing that Sweden was in advance of other nations in securing the rights of the citizen, and limiting the rights of the crown, were incorporated in the king's oath, and placed on the statute books. No one should be apprehended or condemned upon a mere assertion, or without knowing his accuser and being brought face to face with him in a fair trial.

No man was to be degraded from office without a fair trial. The land's law provided that, without the consent of the people, neither a law should be made, nor a tax imposed, without the consent of the council and of the Estates. It took the combined authority of Duke John (during his life), of the council and of the Estates, to endorse the wish of the king to make war, peace, a truce or an alliance with a foreign nation. Think how this law safeguarded the rights of the people in a century when great absolutism prevailed.

Under Gustavus the council was reinstated in its position as mediator between king and people, as the Estates deprecated their being burdened with too frequent Diets or Congresses.

The oath taken by Gustavus had eliminated that part which forbade the king to alienate or diminish the property of the crown. One of the first things Gustavus did was to sell the gold and silver plate and all the jewels of the royal family he could obtain. Many of the nobility did the same to provide money for his wars.

The winters of Sweden are long, and the roads at that time were bad, and, of course, no railroads existed, so that it was no wonder the people of the realm disliked being frequently convened, aside from the great expense of such convocations. Among the demands of the nobility at the accession of Gustavus was that, before each Diet, they should be made acquainted, with the great matters to be discussed, in order that they might consider them at leisure and without influence from others, also that they might hold neighborhood conclaves and come to decisions, so that all need not attend the Diet.

Afterward the presence of military officers at the Diet was ascribed to Gustavus Adolphus.

In 1664 the knights and nobles, long after the death of the king, say, "Among other benefits of his reign, he gave us the deputies of the army for our assistance, who, without votes of their own, have stood so that, in conjunction with the councillors of state, we have been able to balance the other orders."

Axel Oxenstiern remarks: "The presence of the military, though having no votes, strengthened the nobility at the Diets where every nobleman, come to lawful years, was bound to give attendance."

The spirit of militarism pervaded all Sweden at that time. The writers of the period speak disparagingly of "old lords reared away from war in easy lives, who are no soldiers, and have in their councils only a heap of economists and literates." With such a spirit among the people, and with a king who felt called of God to stop the extermination of Protestants, was it any wonder, with the deck cleared for action, and the wars for his crown ended, that both he and his people should feel called to study, not local, but European conditions, and to inquire, "What is our duty in the premises?"

While the thoughts and plans of Gustavus were ripening for action in Germany, for a few short months he devoted himself to the business of his kingdom.

In 1627 the king organized a company for work in America.[1] He sent a small fleet to the West Indies. He encouraged emigration to a New Sweden, which extended from the mouth of the Delaware to Trenton, New Jersey.

1.  See Bryant's History of the United States, Vol. I., page 469.

In 1624 the Swedish West India Company had been formed, with the hope of enriching Sweden and lessening local taxation.

In 1638 two Swedish vessels entered Delaware Bay and founded New Sweden. They built a fort at what is now Wilmington, Delaware. The most interesting relics yet remaining of that company are the Old Swedes Church, in Wilmington, Delaware, and the Gloria Dei Church, in Philadelphia, in the southern section of the city. They constitute lasting memorials of the great Swedish king. Unfortunately these two famous historical buildings have passed out of the possession of the Lutheran Church. The Swedes had small colonies and strong churches from the mouth of the Delaware to Trenton, New Jersey. New Sweden existed under that name for seventeen years, when it was incorporated in the William Penn possessions.

The Swedes lost their language in America, but kept their sturdy Christianity. Their fair dealings with the Indians prepared the way for William Penn to have the name of founding a colony in peace, for which the Swedes should receive much of the credit.

Gustavus also devoted himself to the improvement of Stockholm, now one of the most beautiful cities of the world. It is often called the Venice of the North, being situated on a group of nine islands, connected by picturesque bridges. Its streets are wider than those of Venice, and the canals have none of the vile odors of the southern city.

Sweden has been called Sweden ever since people inhabited its territory. At different periods it has been united to Norway and Denmark, under the same ruler. It has never been invaded or conquered, or had its boundaries changed by a foreign power.

CHAPTER VI.
THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.

From the time of the abdication of Charles V. of Germany the country had, for about sixty years, enjoyed comparative peace. Luther's translation of the complete Bible had appeared in 1634. Nearly one hundred years had been given the plain people to study the word of God, to see what Christ said and what Paul preached, and to compare them with the doctrines of the Church as set forth by the priests of Rome.

The work of Luther was destructive as well as constructive. He tore down what was false in the worship of God. The greater part of the constructive work of his life was formulated in the Augsburg Confession.

The Diet of Augsburg met in the city of Augsburg in 1530. It consisted of leading divines of both Protestant and Catholic faith, and of the princes who upheld the Reformation.

The Protestants set before the emperor, Charles V., on June 25th, 1530, their doctrines in a remarkable document known as the Augsburg Confession, or the Augustana. It is the plain statement of the doctrines of the Lutheran Church the world over, and is the basis from which all other Protestant confessions are largely taken.

Then followed twenty-five years of the successful propagation of the doctrines of the Reformation, and the purified faith was accepted not only in Germany, but in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands and in England and Scotland.

The Council of Trent, the eighteenth Ecumenical Council of Rome, met near the time of Luther's death. If it had been called in 1520, when Luther entreated for the calling of an Ecumenical Council to correct the abuses existing in the Church, it is quite possible that Luther would not have come out of the Church of Rome. If King George III. of England had yielded, even in part, to the prayer of the colonists, what is now the United States would probably have remained a colony of Great Britain.

The Council of Trent remained in somewhat interrupted session for over eighteen years. It was called with some idea of coming to some understanding with the Protestants, and of bringing them back into the Catholic Church. The Protestants paid little or no attention to the call, and the Council contented itself with reforming some of the abuses within the Church, and reformulating the doctrines of Rome.

The reform party at the Council of Trent demanded "wine as well as bread in the sacrament for the laity, schools for the poor, church hymns, preaching and Communion in the language of the people, a better catechism, reform in convents (some of which were mere houses of immorality), and the right to marry for the priests." The papal power called this rank heresy, and the entire council from beginning to end was a disgraceful spectacle. A few subordinate improvements on church discipline were granted, but no important reformation of church affairs, and the farce ended by an exultant proclamation calling down curses on the heretics.

From that day to this it has been Trent versus Augsburg. These two great councils were the most important events of the mediæval period. It is quite possible that the common people did not understand the bearing of the new religious thought, but the great statesmen of Europe saw that what is now called the Dark Ages had passed forever.

"The Protestants," says Ranke, "guided by the Scriptures, retraced their steps with ever-increasing firmness toward the primitive forms of faith and life. The Catholics, on the contrary, confronted with unflinching opposition and repelled with determined hostility whatever could recall the idea of Evangelical doctrines."

At the beginning the Thirty Years' War may be called a religious quarrel, but it soon became for the house of Hapsburg a scramble for personal aggrandizement. Ferdinand II. fought for territory, power and money, and he hoped, by recovering all the property which had belonged to the Catholic Church before the Reformation, he would attain these three objects. He followed this idea, although the formal edict was not announced for several years. It was his intention to break down all princes, both Catholic and Protestant, of the smaller German States, to incorporate Denmark, Holland and Italy (the old dream of Charles V.) into one great empire, and thus restore the old German-Roman Empire. It was a fine opportunity for self-aggrandizement under the guise of fighting for his church.

It was not to the interest of France to have the house of Hapsburg further aggrandized. God used this jealousy and ambition to further the work of the Reformation, so that France, through Cardinal Richelieu, became the ally of Gustavus Adolphus, and furnished a monthly stipend for paying Protestant soldiers, but even more valuable to the cause was the information and advice of this great Catholic ally. It was now believed that Richelieu[2] even hoped for a confederacy of the smaller German States and free cities under the protectorate of France.

2.  See Cambridge Modern History, Vol. IV.

Reviewing for a moment the past, we shall remember that Charles V. was succeeded by his brother, Ferdinand I., who reigned from 1556 to 1564. Maximilian II., his son, was lenient to the Protestants, and ruled from 1564 to 1576. It was during his reign, in 1572, the St. Bartholomew massacre occurred in Paris, in which Catherine de Medicis and her son, Charles IX., caused the murder of over fifty thousand Huguenots, as the Protestants were called in France. The massacre continued three days and nights.

Pope Gregory XIII., on hearing the news, openly expressed his joy at "the glorious event," caused public thanksgiving to be made, and had a coin struck in commemoration of this vile sin. This event gave warning to the Protestants that Rome would take advantage of whatever opportunity offered to destroy Protestantism.

During the great war Rudolph II. ruled Germany from 1576 to 1612, Mathias from 1612 to 1619, followed now by Ferdinand II. Louis XIII., the creature of his minister, Cardinal Richelieu, who, though a churchman, always put the State before the Church, was the ruler of France. He was followed by Louis XIV., whose mother, Queen Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin ruled till the majority of Louis XIV. The kings of England were James I., from 1603 to 1625, and Charles I., from 1625 to 1649. The Popes were Paul V., Gregory XV., Urban VIII. and Innocent X.

The Catholics now formed a strong league. The Protestants already had a weak union.

Mathias, during a reign of seven years, had favored the Catholics, and caused Ferdinand, one of the most cruel Catholics who ever lived, to be elected king of Hungary and Bohemia.

The election of Ferdinand was a great blow to Bohemia, and the new king lost no time in trying to destroy all the Protestants in his kingdom. Protestants were persecuted as criminals, and when they appealed to the law of the land, the Jesuits replied that Ferdinand's election as king of Bohemia canceled all laws in favor of Protestants.

"Novus rex, nova lex." This they declared was what was meant by the Reservatum Ecclesiasticum in the Augsburg Treaty of Peace. The clause stipulated that the people of each State should follow the religion of the ruler of the State. It is true the clause was there, but modified by two things:

1st. Cities were excepted.

2d. The Evangelical princes had not agreed to the clause and had protested against it.

Ferdinand's action as king, of course, made an insurrection. How could it fail to do so?

The Emperor Mathias became frightened and fled to Vienna, after appointing a regency of four Catholics and three Protestants. The Protestant regents sent a petition to the Emperor, and the Catholic regents at the same time sent a report. Mathias ordered the implicit and instant obedience of the Protestants.

While the seven regents were assembled in an upper room in the palace at Prague to announce the Emperor's decision, Count Thurn, chief of the Protestant party, entered the room with a company of armed men. He demanded of each Catholic regent, "Did you advise the Emperor's arbitrary reply?" Two of them answered evasively, the other two said, "Yes, we did." At this point the four Catholic regents were seized and pitched out of the windows from the third story. They fell on a great heap of barnyard manure and were not killed. But by this the Protestants took the responsibility of saying, "By this act we pitch out of our lives the Pope of Rome, the King of Bohemia and the Emperor of Germany."

The Emperor was in feeble health and desired to make peace, but Ferdinand dissuaded him, and sent an army against these Protestants. The army was driven by Count Thurn and his men to the very gates of Vienna, and were only there turned back by the regular army of Austria.

The winter was coming, and no provision having been made for the Protestant army, the force returned to Prague.

This was to the Thirty Years' War what the firing on Fort Sumter was in the Civil War, or the skirmish at Lexington to the Revolutionary War.

Just after this Mathias died and Ferdinand, king of Bohemia, became Ferdinand II., Emperor of Germany. He, with his Jesuits, determined to retake all property which before the Reformation belonged to the Catholic Church.

In many places all the people had become Protestants, and the church having been built by the money of either themselves or their ancestors, the churches had been used for nearly one hundred years for Protestant services. Americans can understand the situation by thinking how it would be and what would happen if England should now demand that all property owned by the Crown before the Revolutionary War should be restored.

Ferdinand II. was now to force a war upon his subjects which left Europe a great cemetery. During the Thirty Years' War the population of Europe was reduced from sixteen millions to less than six million people. Thirty-five thousand towns and villages were destroyed.

Three-fourths of the population perished in Bohemia, partly by the sword, but also by pestilence and famine, and many emigrated. The question had resolved itself into this, "Shall we permit Protestantism to be forever exterminated?" It took all this sorrow of destruction of property and of human life to bring about political toleration between Protestant and Catholic States.

For thirty-three years Germany seems to have been blind to what was going on around her. The intellectual impetus given by the Reformation made the theological strife between Lutherans and Calvinists bitter and absorbing.

Large districts both south and west of them had been forced back under the dominion of the Church of Rome, and the Germans did not interfere. They had done but little for the Dutch in their desperate fight against the Spanish Hapsburgs and Romanism, so that William of Orange, in bitterness of heart, had said, "If Germany remains an idle spectator of our tragedy, a war will presently be kindled on German soil which will swallow up all the wars which have gone before it." That war was now on.

"No, true freedom is to share

All the chains our brothers wear,

And with heart and hand to be

Earnest to make others free."