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.