In the morning of November 8th, a solemn procession of convicts started from the castle to the grand square, hedged in by soldiers and executioners. The bishops Mattias of Strengnæs and Vincentius of Skara, in their ecclesiastical robes, came first, followed by thirteen noblemen and thirty-one town councillors and burghers of Stockholm. In the square, a Danish councillor of state from the porch of the court-house asked the masses not to be frightened. The archbishop, he said, had three times on his knees implored the king that justice should be done. Bishop Vincentius replied with great courage that the king had committed treason against the Swedes and called down divine punishment on him for such deeds. Two of the Swedish nobles followed the bishop with short addresses, admonishing the people not to believe in false letters and promises and to put down such tyranny as soon as within their power. King Christian, who from a window of a house facing the square looked down on the spectacle, now gave a sign for the executions to commence. First the bishops, then the state councillors, nobles and burghers were beheaded, among whom were two brothers of Christine Gyllenstierna and the father and brother-in-law of Gustavus Ericsson Vasa. Many burghers were captured in the street, or in their homes, and brought in to be executed, others being killed on the spot. Not less than eighty-two persons were that day executed, the number being increased during the following days by people killed in various ways. Olaus Petri, the reformer, who was an eyewitness, in his history gives a graphic description of the terrible scenes. He adds: “Yes, this was a horrible and cruel murder, such as no other prince who carried a Christian name ever committed before.” The corpses were burned, the remains of Lord Sten and one of his sons being taken from their graves and thrown into the flames. Christine Gyllenstierna, and the mother and sister of Gustavus Vasa, were with several other ladies carried to Copenhagen and thrown into a miserable dungeon. The mass murder has been called the Carnage of Stockholm, but it was extended also to Finland--where Dr. Hemming Gad was executed at Raseborg--and to the provinces. Christian marked his return through the Swedish mainland to Copenhagen by executions and mass murder everywhere; six hundred are estimated to have been killed through his order during his short stay in Sweden. Archbishop Trolle had taken a terrible revenge, and Christian thought he had crushed forever the stubborn Swedish resistance. But through this excess of cruelty the Union became insupportable, and the Swedish people resolved to throw off forever the connection with any foreign ruler. In the woods of Dalecarlia a man was hiding who soon was to step forward to lead the work of liberation and independence. CHAPTER VIII _Revolution and Reformation--Gustavus Vasa_