Christiern the Second was perhaps the worst king that ever disgraced the Danish throne.  It is difficult to find any thing estimable or admirable in his character; he had neither the moderation of a Pisistratus, the talents of a Caesar, nor the political prudence of an Augustus.  He succeeded his father John in 1512, and declared war against Sweden, in which he was assisted by Trolle.  Having made a descent on the coast, he was repulsed by Steen Sture, and reduced to extremities.  Wishing to treat with Sture, he demanded hostages for his safety; some of the principal nobles were sent to him in that quality, and among them Gustavus Vasa.  With these he immediately sailed away, and on his return, confined them in the castle of Copenhagen, excepting Gustavus, who was committed to the custody of Eric Banner.  He made a second attack upon Sweden, and, after the death of Steen Sture, was crowned King of Sweden.  Under false pretences, he put to death the whole Swedish senate, and exercised innumerable barbarities on the townsmen and peasants.  (Puffendorff, passim.) Being afterwards expelled from Denmark by his uncle Prince Frederick, and from Sweden by Gustavus Vasa, after many fruitless attempts to regain possession of either kingdom, he was at last seized by Frederick, August 2, 1532, and confined in the Castle of Coldinger, where he died some years after.

27.

    ’Twas morn, when Christiern, &c.

This poem begins in January, 1521, immediately before the introduction of Gustavus in the assembly of Mora.

41.

    ——­ Upsal’s haughty Prelate ——­

Gustavus Trolle, son of Eric the rival of Steen Sture, was sent when young to Rome (where it is supposed he learned the art of political finesse), and was there consecrated Archbishop of Upsal by Leo the Tenth.  On his return to Sweden, he treated with great haughtiness Steen Sture, who came to congratulate him on his elevation.  He joined in Christiern’s attempts on Sweden, and, being convicted of treason by the assembled Swedish States, retired from his archiepiscopal throne to a monastery.  On the successes of Christiern, however, he quitted his retirement, and, regardless of his oaths of abdication, resumed his former office.  His forcible deposition was one of the pretexts for the massacre of Stockholm.  He opposed Gustavus Vasa in his patriotic endeavours, and once circumvented the hero with a troop of Danes, so that he narrowly escaped with his life.  Vasa, however, soon retorted the same stratagem on his enemy; and he was at last obliged to retire into Denmark, where he with difficulty escaped death from the resentment of his master.  A wound, received in an engagement with the troops of Christiern the Third, terminated the existence of one of the most restless caballers, and most accomplished statesmen, of his time.

119.

    Otho.

Otho Crumpein, one of the most celebrated generals of the North, was employed by Christiern in his war with Steen Sture, and gained many signal victories over the Danes; and afterwards, by his master’s orders, invested Stockholm.  He was at length removed to Denmark by the tyrant, who was jealous of his talents.