Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark - James Aitken Wylie
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
course.[4]<br />
The other bishops were not so tolerant. On<br />
return<strong>in</strong>g to their homes they commenced a sharp<br />
persecution aga<strong>in</strong>st the Protestants <strong>in</strong> their several<br />
dioceses. In Malmoe <strong>and</strong> Veiis, the metropolitan<br />
Tobernus Billeus proscribed the preachers, who<br />
had labored there with great success. These cities<br />
<strong>and</strong> some others were threatened with<br />
excommunication. At Viborg the Romish bishop,<br />
George Frisius, left no stone unturned to expel the<br />
Reformers from the city, <strong>and</strong> ext<strong>in</strong>guish the<br />
<strong>Protestantism</strong> which had there taken root <strong>and</strong><br />
begun greatly to flourish. But the Protestants were<br />
numerous, <strong>and</strong> the bold front which they showed<br />
the bishop told him that he had reckoned without<br />
his host.[5] Not <strong>in</strong> the towns only, but <strong>in</strong> many of<br />
the country parts the Protestant assemblies were<br />
put down, <strong>and</strong> their teachers driven away. Beyond<br />
these severities, however, the persecution did not<br />
advance. The ulterior <strong>and</strong> sterner measures to<br />
which these beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs would most assuredly have<br />
led, had time been given, were never reached.<br />
<strong>Denmark</strong> had not to buy its Reformation with the<br />
173
Change language