The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus VasaWatson, Paul Barron
History
The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa
Watson, Paul Barron
Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden, 1496-1560; Sweden -- History -- Gustav I Vasa, 1523-1560
Clearly enough this meeting would not satisfy a hungry people. In fact
apparently it added to their rage, and we find the people of Dalarne at
this time drawing up a long list of grievances to be laid before the
king. Their first and weightiest complaint was that certain rich men,
stewards of the king, had bought up all the grain in their district, and
had made a corner in it so that the poor man could not get enough to
eat. Further than this, they protested against the king's practice of
admitting into the kingdom all sorts of foreigners, "who have put their
heads together to ruin the common people." This vehement lament aroused
Gustavus to the gravity of his position, particularly as he learned that
Sunnanväder was inciting the people to rebel. Hoping to quiet matters,
he despatched his messengers to all parts of the kingdom with soothing
words. He endeavored in every way to impress upon the people that the
high price of food was due entirely to the war between the emperor and
the King of France; and as to the repudiation of the "klippings," of
which some people had complained, he asserted that he had thereby
suffered far greater injury than his people. Sunnanväder's conspiracy
was the thing that caused him most anxiety, and on the 9th of December
he addressed the Dalesmen on that theme. "Dear friends," he suavely
wrote, "report has reached our ears that Sunnanväder has gone among you
with plots to throw the kingdom into strife once more. We beg you in the
name of God give him no heed. He has made statements about us, we are
told, which are absolutely false; among others, that we are about to
restore Trolle to his archbishopric,--the man who deprived us of father
and mother and threw our kingdom into ruin. As we have called a diet to
be held in January, to investigate these charges among other things, we
request you at that time or earlier to send representatives from every
parish to judge between us; and we hereby promise the said Sunnanväder
safe-conduct to and from Stockholm for this investigation. You may make
this proclamation to him; and if he will not come, you may know that he
is false.... Further, since we are informed that you are suffering from
great lack of salt, we have just despatched to you between ten and
twenty cargoes of salt to relieve your want."[99]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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