This letter was written by Luther on the 28th September, 1532. Frederick, who was not hard-hearted, could not but be touched by it. But reasons of state were in this case opposed to Christian motives; and there are considerations which may be put forward in excuse for the imprisonment of his nephew. It was not within the power of the king to do what he liked with regard to Christian. The king was in ill health; he felt greatly the need of rest, and he knew that he should never have a tranquil moment so long as his antagonist was at large. But these circumstances were no palliation of the rigorous treatment adopted towards the prisoner. Reasons of state were in this case opposed to Christian reason; and the former generally win the day in this world. Frederick was to be blamed for permitting treatment so severe to be dealt out to his brother’s son. He did not, however, take vengeance on the allies of Christian, the Dutch, although he had at first intended to close the Sound to their ships. An event had occurred which still further secured the crown to the younger branch of the family. Prince John, the only son of Christian, who had been a pupil of the famous Cornelius Agrippa, and of whom the highest hopes were entertained, died at Ratisbon at the age of fourteen. In him the elder line became extinct. [Sidenote: Death Of Frederick.] Frederick, long threatened with a decline, had taken up his abode for the sake of quietness in the castle of Gottorp, near Schleswig, his favorite seat. At the moment of Christian’s entrance into his prison, the time was not far off when Frederick must quit his throne. In the spring of 1533, on the 10th of April, Thursday in Passion Week, he died, at the age of sixty-two. All good men deplored his death.[327] They proclaimed him a ‘wise, merciful, and virtuous prince.’ They recalled to mind the moderation which he had displayed in the religious discussions, and the freedom which he had allowed to conscience; and if the usual kindness of his character had been wanting in the treatment of Christian, they attributed it only to the force of circumstances, to the illness which rendered it impossible for him to direct details, and to the influence of the leading men. He left four sons: Prince Christian, of whom we have spoken; Adolphus, who took the title of duke of Holstein-Gottorp from the castle in which his father died, and who became the founder of a younger line from which sprang the imperial family now reigning in Russia;[328] Frederick who became bishop of Schleswig and afterwards of Hildesheim; and John, the youngest. It is of the eldest and the youngest sons of this house that we have now to take notice. Footnote 280: Munter, iii. p. 230. Footnote 281: _Historia ejectionis monachorum e Dania_, in Pontoppidanus, _Ann._ ii. p. 821. Footnote 282: ‘Her haffive . . Klawemaal. En rett christelig Fadzon, &c.—Wiborg, 1528. Munter, iii. p. 233. Footnote 283: Munter, iii. p. 250. Footnote 284: