Protestantism in Sweden and Denmark - James Aitken Wylie
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it was provided that each k<strong>in</strong>gdom should be<br />
governed accord<strong>in</strong>g to its peculiar laws <strong>and</strong><br />
customs. When Christian II. ascended the throne of<br />
<strong>Denmark</strong> (1513), so odious was his character that<br />
the Swedes refused to acknowledge him as their<br />
k<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> appo<strong>in</strong>ted an adm<strong>in</strong>istrator, Steno<br />
Sturius, to hold the re<strong>in</strong>s of government.[6]<br />
Christian waited a few years to strengthen himself<br />
<strong>in</strong> <strong>Denmark</strong> before attempt<strong>in</strong>g the reduction of the<br />
Swedes. At length he raised an army for the<br />
<strong>in</strong>vasion of <strong>Sweden</strong>; his cause was espoused with<strong>in</strong><br />
the k<strong>in</strong>gdom by Trollius, Archbishop of Upsala,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Arcimboldus, the Pope's legate <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>dulgence-monger, who largely subsidized<br />
Christian out of the vast sums he had collected by<br />
the sale of pardons, <strong>and</strong> who moreover had<br />
<strong>in</strong>fluence enough to procure from the Pope a bull<br />
plac<strong>in</strong>g the whole of <strong>Sweden</strong> under <strong>in</strong>terdict, <strong>and</strong><br />
excommunicat<strong>in</strong>g Steno <strong>and</strong> all the members of his<br />
government.[7] The fact that this conquest was<br />
ga<strong>in</strong>ed ma<strong>in</strong>ly by the aid of the priests, shows<br />
clearly the estimate formed of K<strong>in</strong>g Christian's<br />
<strong>Protestantism</strong> by his contemporaries.<br />
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