[4] Until recently, historians have asserted that Margaret, at the coronation of her nephew, signed a document providing, among other things, that the three kingdoms were thereafter to be governed by a single sovereign, to be elected alternately, if his predecessor died childless, by each kingdom; that, in case of war in one kingdom, both the others were to come to the rescue; and that each kingdom was to be governed strictly according to its own laws. As a matter of fact, Margaret signed nothing of the kind. The document which gave rise to this error is still to be seen in the Private Archives at Copenhagen. It is dated at Kalmar, July 20, 1397, purports to be the work of sixteen of the chief Swedish magnates, and declares that unless the terms which it contains are drawn up in six copies, signed by the king, the regent, the Cabinet, and others, there shall be no lawful union. These six copies, so far as we know, were never drawn up or signed. But unhappily the union had been already formed at the coronation a month before, and, seven days before, these very magnates with fifty-one other persons had attached their seals to an affidavit of allegiance to their new king. This affidavit, dated at Kalmar, July 13, 1397, is also still preserved in the Private Archives at Copenhagen. Both documents are printed in full in O. S. Rydberg's _Sverges traktater med främmande magter_, Stockh., 1877-1883, 2 vols. 8vo, vol. ii. pp. 560-585. [5] _Handl. till upplysn. af Finl. häfd._, vol. i. p. 187. [6] Svart, _Gust. I.'s krön._, p. 2, and Tegel, _Then stoormecht._, p. 3. Tegel makes this incident occur in the child's seventh year, in 1497. Here we have another proof that Tegel places the birth of Gustavus too early. If the child had been born in 1490, this incident could not have taken place till still later than his seventh year, for Hans did not become king till 1497. [7] _Kongl. och furstl. förlijkn._, pp. 383-384. [8] Tegel, _Then stoormecht._, p. 3. [9] In Reuterdahl, _Swensk. Kyrk. hist._, vol. iii. pt. ii. pp. 558-559, are two letters, dated at Rydboholm, from Erik and his wife to the regent, Svante Sture. [10] Svart, _Gust. I.'s krön._, p. 2. [11] Svart, _Gust. I.'s krön._, p. 2, and _Ährapred._, pp. 50-51. Tegel, _Then stoormecht._, p. 3, agrees that it was in 1509 that Gustavus was sent to Upsala, but seems to assert that he was admitted at once to the University. [12] C. A. Örnhjelm's _Diplomatarium_, a manuscript preserved in the Vitterh., Hist., och Antiq. Akad. at Stockholm. [13] Svart, _Gust. I.'s krön._, p. 2, and _Ährapred._, pp. 50-51. CHAPTER II. FIRST MILITARY ADVENTURES OF GUSTAVUS; A PRISONER IN DENMARK. 1514-1519.