CHAPTER XXX.

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Old Stockholm-High seats in church The ordeal of fire The Great Market-Story of the Blood-bath - Entry of Nils Sture Origin of Göran Pehrson-Garden of the Grand Governor Statue of Gustaf III.

OLD STOCKHOLM.

ENTERING a long narrow street, with lofty houses, in places almost touching, from which diverge small alleys narrower still, such as are found in Barcelona or the Vecchia Napoli, we wend our way. Across are suspended old signs, each one trying to overtop its neighbour;-signs of old ironwork richly gilt and painted; circles of vine-leaves, with pendent bunches of blue grapes, quaint in device, telling of Germany and Hanseatic cheatings. Midst the trailing leaves and tendrils you'll find hidden trappings and holsters of Charles XII.'s time, showing the tavern to have been a favourite resort with the troopers of his day. These houses have seen far better times; some are still gabled in the fashion of the sixteenth century.* Rich and

* One house, No. 34, remarkable for its staircase lined with old Dutch tiles, was built by the father of Charles X,'s gunstling Lindeborg. The old man on his death-bed answered to his confessor, "There are two things I will never own to anybody-how much I have spent in building my house, or the sums of money my son has cost me-for I am heartily ashamed of both." It was an expensive affair to be father to a

rare are the carvings round these portals, and 'tis amusing to those who know heraldry to make out the early possessors-Lejonhufvud, Thott, Gyllenhjelm, Ribbing, — names all historie; and as the dates are there, you may couple each building with tales of Swedish history. The shops are small-by no means remarkable. In the basket-sellers' lie heaps of small dolls, dressed as Dalkarls and Dalkullas. Near an old mansion, sculptured with the arms of Keith, comes a sort of Swedish "Temple "--brokers' and old-clothes shops - where perchance you may find a piece of faïence of the fabric founded by Louisa Ulrika. Next turn to the German church, all tombs, early reformers, and gilding, boasting the sole carillon in Sweden, rung daily by old custom at half-past eleven, to show the joy of the German colonists, who at that hour in old times received their letters. A cantankerous set were the burghers' wives-for ever fighting for pew and high seat at sermon; Queen Christina, shocked at such doings,

royal favourite. It must have been at this young gentleman's christening the master of the ceremonies arrived too late. The fate of the Lindeborg family depended upon an old lime-tree brought by an ancestor from Holland in a tin box, which stood, and maybe still stands, in Hunskin-gård, the family seat in Upland. Six months before the death of a member of this house, one of its wide-spreading branches (under which 500 men once stood) is found broken upon the ground. The list of the doomed consisting chiefly of women, nerves may have something to do with the matter, particularly as one châtellaine, on finding the broken branch, took to her bed and never rose again.

Built by King John, 1571, on the site of the splendid hall of the guild of St. Gertrude, in which Carl Knutson was hailed king, 1448. There were many charitable establishments attached to it till the Reformation. Then we read, "Our gracious lord and master's servants had the house free, among them Blasius Trumeter, our lord's cook."

ordained that each lady culprit should pay a fine equal to the sum collected in the church-bag the following Sunday.

Don't ask me where we are somewhere in Olympus -lost midst the habitations of Juno, Venus, Meleager, and the Muses; for all here is classical. Observe above that doorway the stone portrait of a man and woman kneeling, fastened by a long chain neck to neck, on each side of a blazing fire-" The Judgment of a Stockholm Solomon."

In that old house dwelt a man and his wife who mutually accused each other of crimes so atrocious, the judges in despair had the accused chained together with a collar round their necks, and placed on opposite sides of a burning stake, with orders that the one who pulled his adversary into the flames should be acquitted. A pile was lighted before this very portal— hate gave the woman strength; her husband, faint and exhausted, was almost done for, when in his agony he called to St. Lawrence-a good cry, for that saint, himself broiled on a gridiron, knows well the pains of fire. The prayer of the man was heard: with one convulsive struggle he tugged his wife into the flames, lay down quiet, panting and puffing, till she was burnt to ashes; then rising, walked off, with her collar dangling to his chain. In gratitude to St. Lawrence the good man caused this sculptured stone to be placed above his gateway.*

We now reach the Stortorg-a Swedish "Tower Hill;"-but all interest for minor victims is swamped by the great Blood-bath of Stockholm. The town

* Date 1521, corner of Kimstagatan, called Eldhasan.

house, from whence Christian, in his "Sprakbur,” † sat watching his victims fall one by one-has long since passed away.

Master Olaf, in his 'Chronicle,' tells how Lykke harangued the people, saying, Christian had yielded to the thrice reiterated prayer of Archbishop Trolle to do justice on his enemies. First was led out Bishop Vinceslaus, who in earlier days had greatly supported the king. Bishop Matts of Strengnäs came next; then on in turn all that was noblest in Sweden. Erik Wasa the king would have spared, but he bent down his head with the rest. § The bodies were rifled of their knightly

* Now replaced by the modern Börsen: till 1766 the merchants of Stockholm had no exchange.

In after times the Kåken, or whipping-pole, stood on the Stortorg. A German burgomaster, who had quarrelled with a syndic of Lubec, caused the statue of his enemy to be cast in bronze, and placed upon the top. "But," says the chronicler, "Nemesis divina" did not overlook the insult; and many of the burgher's descendants got hard stripes under the pole their ancestor had decorated.

† Balcony.

Sigbrit and her two bishops, Didrik Slagheck, the barber, and Jöns Bettenoch, an ex-shoemaker, concocted the Blood-bath between them: “Get rid of the nobles," said they, “and the peasants will quietly become good Danish subjects." Archbishop Trolle was little more than a cat's-paw: he murmured disapproval till it was whispered if he did not support the motion his own head might become loose on his shoulders. The "bath" over, the widows of the deceased burgesses were called upon to give up their keys. The king granted them the houses they lived in as widows' thirds. When Master Olaf and his brother Lars saw their master, Bishop Matts, led out, they rushed forward to his aid, but too late, his head had fallen. A soldier who had known them at Wittenberg declared them to be Germans and not Swedes. Master Olaf counted and saw fall ninety-four heads on that day. What is the Blood-bath when compared to the 70,000 persons made away with by our own Tudor savage, Henry VIII.?

§ The sword of Erik Wasa hangs in the Royal Klädskammar. The inscription engraved upon it bears reference to the fate of the fine old noble who so well acted up to the principles he professed: "Inter

rings and chains, the heads placed on pikes, all save that of Bishop Vinceslaus, who, on account of his former services, had his placed between his legs! Master Olaf, an eye-witness, continues his story:-"This murder was bad enough, yet the king not only killed the bodies, but also endangered the souls of the victims, allowing them no priestly comfort, treating them worse than robbers. One, Lambert the barber, was hurried away while shaving a customer. Lasse Hassen stood weeping at the sight; his tears were not of long durationthe soldiers dragged him into the lines, and there was an end of him. A heavy rain fell; the gutters ran with mingled blood and water. The heads were placed in barrels, and the corpses, together with those of the Stures, dragged forth from their graves, were burnt on one funeral pyre; a chapel was later raised above the spot, where now stands the church of St. Catherine.†

From this sickening deed-for good oft comes from

arma silent leges "-in war-time the laws are silent; "Nec temere, nec timide;" "Constanter et sincere." Again, "Fortune aids the persevering in valour-those who are proud in death." Erik died proudly. The persevering valour of his son gained a crown for himself and lineage. The sole correct list of the victims of the Blood-bath is said to be preserved among the archives of Count Stenbock.

* Archbishop Trolle caused to be dragged up from his grave a prebend who had affronted him when alive, setting a bad example Christian was only too happy to follow.

In a very early engraving of the Blood-bath the carts are seen toiling up hill, with mitred heads peeping out of the barrels.

Copies of some old paintings once at Gripsholm depicting the life of Christina Gyllenstierne are in the royal library. The likeness of Christian is preserved. The heroine is represented as a widow, clothed in bright yellow, a colour still used in Dalarne as mourning by the peasants. When Queen Catherine of Aragon died, the "queen of Henry VIII." wore yellow for her mourning, at which some historians are indignant.