King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 3 Read online

  CHAP. V.

  When the sun rose over the Sound, signs of cheerful animation andactive stir were already perceptible in the village of Sorretslov,while the bishop's town still lay shrouded in fog, ensconced behind itstrenches and palisades, and seemed to slumber after the wild revels ofthe preceding night. Peasants were seen removing cattle on thepastures, between the village and the northern gate of the town. Thegrooms of the king's household were riding the horses to water from thefarms and meadows of the royal castle, at the large pool in the midstof the village; but around the pasture near Sorretslov lake, where theking's trained tournament-steeds had grazed, two grooms were running indespair, vainly seeking the fine horses which were entrusted to theircharge.

  "Help us, St. Alban! and all saints!" cried the younger groom. "If theMarsk comes home he will slay us, at the least."

  "And the king!" groaned the other--"the king will be wrath; and that iseven far worse. We must find them though we should have to run to theworld's end. Come!"--They sprang away over hedge and ditch, where theysaw the dew brushed off from the grass, and fresh traces of gallopinghorses' feet on the meadow; at last they recognised the well-knowntrained step of the steeds on the road between the two lakes, and weresoon far away.

  It was a fine spring morning;--the king was, as usual, stirring at anearly hour. Accompanied by Count Henrik, he had mounted the flat-roofedtower of the castle, from whence there was an extensive and nobleprospect over the whole adjacent country. Count Henrik had beenrequired, circumstantially to repeat his account of the flight of thecardinal and the archbishop, and the very different greeting of theprelates. The king was grave, but in good spirits; even the last threatof the archbishop had not discouraged him.

  "With God's blessing," he said with emphasis, "I await my chiefhappiness from the hand of the Almighty, and the heart of my piousIngeborg, but neither from the mercy of the pope nor the archbishop.Were my hope and success in love really sin and ungodliness, nodispensation could ever sanctify it before Heaven and to myself."--Hepaused, and gazed with a calm and enthusiastic look on the rising sun,and a heartfelt prayer seemed as it were to beam from his bright eye."My deadly foe went hence alive," he continued;--"well! I have nowperformed my promise to him. I let him 'scape hence alive. More nonecan ask of a frail mortal; but it is the last time I promise peace andrespite of life to the enemy of my soul. So long as the Lord grants melife and crown the presence of Grand shall never more infect the air Ibreathe."

  "This insurrection was quite opportune for us, my liege," observedCount Henrik, with a confidential smile--"the foe you came hither tobanish hath been as good as stoned out of this country by the brisk menof Copenhagen, on their own responsibility."

  "That _I_ asked them not to do," answered the king, with proudeagerness; "had I willed to use temporal power, against myecclesiastical foes here, I should not have needed the help of amutinous mob. The town hath suffered wrong; but mutiny is, and everwill be, mutiny; and, _as such_, deserving of punishment, whether ithappens to suit my convenience or not. I consider the conduct of thebishop and council to be arbitrary and illegal," he continued. "I hateban and interdict as I do the plague, as is well known; but it shallnot therefore be believed I favour revolt and rebellion against anylawful authority. It was well done to force the locked churches. NoRoskild bishop shall place bars and bulwarks between us and our Lord;but it was not for the Lord's sake they besieged the bishop's castle:their devotion was also very moderate; it was more like howling wolvessinging 'credo,' than christianly-baptized people. Had you seen, withme, the riots yesterday evening, in St. Nicholas church. Count Henrik!you would hardly take on yourself the defence of these insurgents."

  "I rode past St. Nicholas church-yard in the night, my liege!" answeredCount Henrik. "What was doing there pleased me but little, it is true.It seemed as though a crowd of spirits moved among the graves, in themoonshine: there was a strange muttering. I heard shouts and prayers,which sounded to me like curses. It was St. Erik's Guild brethren, whowere chaunting prayers, it was said, and taking counsel against thebishop. Those good people I will no longer defend; there must be wildfanatics and turbulent spirits among them. But chastise them not toohardly, in your wrath, my liege!--even though you should now be forcedto lend a helping hand to prelatical government. When the Lord'sservants shut the Lord's house themselves, and hinder all orderlyworship, it is surely no wonder that the plain man seeks to edifyhimself as well as he can in his own way: a mixture of defiance andferocious fanaticism with this species of devotion is inevitable, butwhose is the blame, your grace? Where God's word is silent, the evilone instantly sends forth his priests among the people, and drives themmad."

  "Ay indeed! those are true words. Count! It is usually the fault of theshepherd when the flock strays. Spiritual government is a matter I darenot much intermeddle with, but this I have promised, and I shallhonestly keep my promise: every church door in the country which theywould hereafter shut, I will cause myself without further ado to beforced with the staff of the spear; and every priest or bishop whohinders my, or my people's lawful and orderly devotion, I banish fromstate and country, as I have banished Archbishop Grand--let the popeexcommunicate me a thousand times over for it! Look! in this I amagreed with my brave and loyal people, and with these rather too briskCopenhageners. What I here tell you, I cannot give any one under signand seal," he added, "but I will whisper it in confidence into the earof every Danish bishop and future archbishop; none shall say, however,I side with rebels. If authority is to be used, that is my affair; butthere _shall_ be peace and order here. I will uphold the rights ofevery lawful authority, whether it be spiritual or temporal, ourhighest rights, as God's children, and the rights and authority of thecrown, unimpaired."

  The king was silent--his cheek glowed, and an expression of fervidenergy beamed in his countenance, as he turned from the fair spectacleof the rising sun, and looked out upon the fog-enveloped town, thechurch towers of which glittered in the dawn of morning. He now openeda letter and a small packet, which a skipper from Skanoer had broughthim from Drost Aage. He read the letter with attention. It contained anaccount of the Drost's meeting with the Hanseatic merchants and ThrandFistlier at Kjoege, and at Skanoer fair, as well as of the disturbancewhich had been caused by this mountebank, and the Hanseatic forgers;and also how the Drost, partly to save the artist's life, had beenunder the necessity of sending him prisoner to Helsingborg. In thepacket was one of Master Thrand's optic tubes, and some polishedglasses, which Aage had bought at Skanoer fair, and which he nowpresented to the king as extraordinary rarities. In the letter, Aagehad not been able to conceal his suspicion of the wonderful mountebank,and the singular uneasiness which this man's operations and expressionshad caused him.

  Count Henrik also, had lately received and read a secret epistle fromthe Drost, in which Aage conjured him to caution the king respectingthe captive Icelander, and above all to keep a watchful eye on whoeverapproached him. "Trust not the junker!" Aage wrote, "God forgive me ifI do him injustice! Kagge is alive and under convoy of the foreignmerchants, who threatened the king at Sjoeborg; Helmer and my bravestsquire are in their power. The revenge of the outlaws is unwearied.Stir not from the king's side! watch over his life, while I care forhis happiness."

  "Truly! my good Drost Aage is a strange visionary," said the King,shaking his head with a smile, as he tried the glasses with a feelingof wonder at the power of these instruments; "my much-loved Aage isready to side with the ignorant mob, and regard the fruits of the noblearts and sciences as the work of the evil one."

  "How! my liege!" asked Count Henrik, in surprise.

  "That good friend of mine is still somewhat weak both in mind and body;"continued the king, "he is afraid our whole fair world will perish,because here and there people get their eyes opened, and learn to seethings better and more justly in nature. The Lord knows what new dangerhe can now be dreaming of from this artist. Just look here. Count!" Theking reached Henrik the optic tub
e. "It is one of the discoveries ofthe great Roger Bacon, the wise English monk we have heard so muchof--a skilful Icelander hath arrived here in the country, who hathknown him, and learned the art from him. These kind of things he bringswith him; he is said to understand many wonderful arts, and knowssecrets in nature which may be of importance, as well in war as in thegeneral advancement of the country; Aage, I suppose, means only weshould be cautious and not trust him over much. I will see and knowthat man; he certainly doth honour to our northern lands, and he shallnot have visited me in vain;--now what say you, Count? Such glass eyesmay be useful, I think, both for a king and a general, when he shouldtake a wide survey!"

  "Noble! astonishing!" exclaimed Count Henrik, "the town, the river, thewhole of Solbierg, seem as near as if close at hand."

  "And a skilful coiner, and a rare judge of metals, is this Icelanderbesides," resumed the king with satisfaction, as he glanced over theletter, "he is just the man we need, now that the land is inundatedwith the false coin of the outlaws; if he were in league with my foes,as Aage fears, he would hardly venture into my sight; as yet no enemyhath faced me, unpunished. He is reported to hold many erring opinionsin matters of faith; but what is that to me? If he be a heretic, somuch the worse for himself; in what concerns temporal things he is apt,I must confess."

  "If he be a Leccar brother, as Drost Aage thinks, then beware of him,my liege!" observed Count Henrik. "I thought that sect was banished inall Christian lands, and in Denmark also, on account of their dangerousopinions."

  "On account of opinions, I have never banished any living soul," saidthe king: "for ought I care, every man may think and believe what hewill, provided he obeys but the laws of the land, and seduces not thepeople to insurrection and ungodliness. One description of madmen Ionce banished, however--it is true," he added, recollecting himself:"what they called themselves I have now forgot; but the madness Iremember well enough--they were self-appointed priests, without aconsecrated church or true doctrine. They scoured the country round,and preached both to high and low, and would, in short, have made usall heathens. They denied both our Lord and our blessed Lady, and allthe saints and martyrs besides; they would have nought to do eitherwith church or pope; and in fact, just as little with kings andprinces, or any temporal government; they zealously affirmed that weshould obey our Lord only--but when it came to the point, their Lordwas but their own ignorant and perverted will. From such mad doctrinewe may well pray our Lord to preserve us and all Christian lands."

  "But that is exactly, as far as I know, the creed of the Leccarbrethren," observed Count Henrik. "We have chased the sect fromMecklenborg also, and the pope hath doomed them to fire and faggot."

  "You are right, they are called Leccarii in Latin," answered the king:"the holy father's caring for their _souls_, by burning their _bodies_,suits me just as little as his excommunicating, and giving us over tothe devil. That mistakes may be made in Rome we are all agreed. If thelearned Icelander belongs to yon sect, he must doubtless decamp," headded, "and that I should be sorry for; but I must hear it fromhimself, ere I will believe it; it is inconceivable to me how madnessand learning can dwell together in one brain."

  "Look once again, my liege!" said Count Henrik, handing the optic tubeto the king. "Yonder comes a boat up the canal towards St. George'shospital; if I am not mistaken it is steered by a couple of clerks;perhaps the bishop would now vouchsafe us tidings, and put up with yourprotection."

  From St. George's lake flowed a broad rivulet, which bounded thepasture ground of Sorretslov and divided it from the meadows of thevillage of Solbierg. This rivulet, which widened into a canal, floweddown under the west gate of the town, and ended its course in theCatsound. Between the stream and the town of Sorretslov lay St.George's Hospital. A large boat came slowly up the river, in which theforms of two men, attired in black, were discernible. They rowed withunsteady strokes of the oar, and with great exertion, against thestream. The boat put ashore at the pasture ground opposite St. George'shospital. The sable-clad personages sprang out of the boat and drew iton land. The king and Count Henrik thought they recognised thearchbishop's confidential friends, Hans Rodis and the canon Nicolaus,and paid close attention to their proceedings. A large loose sail wastaken from the boat, from under which four ecclesiastics rose up, oneafter another, and stepped on shore. They looked around on all sideswith caution, and proceeded along a by-path, with slow and uncertainsteps towards the royal castle. They were all four soon recognised. Itwas the domineering little Bishop Johan, with the haughty abbot fromthe forest monastery, accompanied by the provincial prior, and theinspector of the Copenhagen chapter. They seemed to have secretly takenflight from Axelhuus in the morning fog, to place themselves under theking's protection, and perhaps to demand the help of arms against themutinous town.

  When the king recognised them he became grave, and fell into a reverie.He reached the optic tube to Count Henrik, and seated himself insilence on a bench on the southern side of the tower, whence he had aview of the town and the north gate. Count Henrik remarked that the twosuspicious-looking canons had yet another person in the boat, whom theycarried on shore; he appeared to be either sick or dead, and wasclosely shrouded in a mantle. The canons looked around on all sides,and bore, seemingly with doubtful and anxious steps, the sick or deadman up to St. George's Hospital, where they were instantly admitted.Count Henrik considered their conduct most suspicious; he determined,however, not to name it to the king; and resolved to examine himselfinto the affair, and to inspect the hospital that very day.

  The town was by no means so tranquil as was supposed. The nocturnalassemblage in the churchyard of St. Nicholas had not dispersed untilnear daybreak. The bishop's men had heard wild threats of fire andmurder, and taunting speeches against their master. A new and bloodyoutbreak of the insurrection was feared whereupon the bishop had notdeemed it advisable to await the dawn of day at Axelhuus, although itwas probable that he most unwillingly took refuge with the king, who heknew was incensed at the enforcement of the interdict.

  The bishop's stern protest against the demi-ecclesiastical assembliesof the guild-brethren of St. Canute, had rendered that fraternity hisbitterest and most dangerous foes. During the shutting of the churches,the devotion of the guild-brethren, which was almost always blendedwith fanaticism and intemperance, had assumed a wild and desperatecharacter. They were charged with the most licentious impiety, it wasbelieved there were atheists and Leccar brethren among them, who soughtto sever them from the church and from Christendom, as well as fromburgher-rule and obedience. A secret dread of the extravagancies andgloomy deportment of these persons prevailed among the best-informedand better class of burghers, who, however, had themselves, onaccount of the shutting of the churches, made common cause with theguild-brethren, and deemed a general revolt against prelatic tyranny tobe necessary.

  Ere the sun had dispersed the thick morning mist which lay overthe town, the burghers of Copenhagen thronged in crowds to thecouncil-house, where they assembled a council, though it was not theusual day of meeting.

  Meanwhile, mattins were performed in all the churches in the town, andno priest dared any longer to observe the interdict. All the churcheswere unusually crowded, but no disturbances took place. It was onlyfrom the stone-built houses, where St. Canute's and St. Eric'sguild-brethren had rung their bells ere daylight, and were nowperforming their morning's devotions, before full goblets and withlocked doors, that wild cries and sounds of tumult proceeded. As soonas early mass was ended, a great procession passed through North Streetand through the north gate. It was the deputies of the town andcouncil, who had drawn up at the council-house a long list ofcomplaints against the bishop, and as long a justification of therecently-suppressed insurrection. This document they now intended topresent to the king, as they were willing to enter into any treaty withthe spiritual Lord of the town, which their sovereign might considerjust and reasonable. A continually increasing crowd accompanied thisprocession. None of the guild-brethren were to be s
een among thedeputies of the town; but a number of these gloomy agitators soonjoined themselves to the train, and sought to excite suspicion in thepopulace respecting this negotiation of peace. The guild-brethren,meanwhile, seemed at variance among themselves; the king's presence hadstruck terror into many, and their wild plans of overthrowing allspiritual and temporal rule lacked concert and counsel. Hardly had theyquitted their guild houses ere the provost's men and the bishop'sretainers, assisted even by the burghers, took possession of thesebuildings, and stationed guards before them. The dispersion of thisdegenerate and dangerous fraternity was now become one of the mostearnest wishes of the council and burghers.

  The king had not left the tower of Sorretslov when the throng hastenedforward towards the village and his unfortified castle, in thedirection of the southern gate; while the bishop and the threeprelates, with their slow and dubious pace, had not as yet reached theapproach from the by-path to the western castle gate. Count Henrik'sattention had been wholly engrossed in watching the tardy and undecidedmovements of the ecclesiastics, and the king had been so lost inthought that he did not observe the crowd until the distant murmur ofmany thousand voices reached his ear. He rose hastily, with a quickglance on both sides, and appeared wroth, but undecided only for amoment. "The gate shall be barred. Count! the black snails shall bebrought up here!" he exclaimed impetuously in a loud voice to CountHenrik, pointing to the ecclesiastics below, who again paused on theby-path, and seemed to hesitate. "Let them be brought to my privatechamber instantly, even though it should be by force. They are myprisoners."

  Count Henrik started.

  "Look!" continued the king, pointing towards the village and the road."They flock out hither by thousands; but, by all the holy men! whoeverdisturbs the peace of the royal castle shall be chastised as hedeserves. Ride to meet the throng. Count! announce my will to them--saytheir bishop is in my power. Every fitting proposition I will listento; but every agitator shall instantly be banished; whoever obeys notshall be punished as a rebel."

  "Now I understand you, my liege," said Count Henrik, and instantlydeparted.

  The king's command was immediately put into execution. With great fearand dismay, the bishop and his three ecclesiastical companions beheld atroop of horsemen gallop out of the castle towards them, while a willowhedge hid the main road and the concourse of people from their sight,and they still stood close to the meadow gate, debating whether theyhad not acted with precipitation, and were not about to encounter astill greater danger here than that from which they had fled.

  "Treachery!" cried the bishop, drawing back. "I feared it would be so.Fools that we are to trust to the generosity of an excommunicatedtyrant! Now we may all fare as did Grand, and may come to rot alive inhis dungeons."

  "I will answer for the king's justice, even should he imprison us,"said the general superior of the chapter.

  "Ha! you betray me! you side with the tyrant! _you_ counselled me tothis step."

  "Look, my brother!" cried the abbot of the forest monastery, pointingin dismay to the right, where but a single-fenced meadow separated themfrom the road and the concourse of people which now came in view. "Thewhole town is flocking hither. They have spied us--hear how they howland bluster! They are springing over hedge and ditch towards us. Let usthank God and our guardian saint for the king's horsemen; it is betterafter all to fall into the hands of one tyrant than into those of athousand."

  At this moment the king's horsemen surrounded them, and saluted themwith courtesy. "Follow us, venerable sirs," said their leader, a briskyoung halberdier. "We have orders to bring you to the king's castle."

  "In the name of the Lord and all the saints we accept the king'sconvoy!" said the bishop, looking around with uneasiness, while hischeeks glowed, and he seemed but half to trust to this unexpected safeconduct.

  "The bishop! the bishop! Seize him! stone him!" shouted a whole crowdof the excited rabble, who, headed by some guild-brethren, had quittedthe burgher procession, and ran, with weapons and stones in theirhands, over the meadow towards the ecclesiastics.

  "Back, countrymen!" shouted the leader of the horsemen, brandishing hissword. "We lead him captive to the king."

  "Captive! the bishop captive!" exclaimed the insurgents with joyousshouts. "That's right!--long live the king!--to the dungeon withGrand's friends and all king-priests!"

  "Captive!" repeated the bishop, clasping his hands; "ha, thepresumptuous traitors!"

  "Compose yourselves, venerable sirs," said the young halberdier, in alowered tone. "I obey the commands of my sovereign; if you refuse tocomply I shall be compelled to use force; but whether you are theking's guests or his prisoners you will assuredly be treated as beseemsyour rank and condition."

  The ecclesiastics were soon within the gates of the king's castle, andlooked doubtfully at each other, as one door after another was withmuch deference shut behind them, and they stood at last in anxiousexpectation in a vaulted chamber, which, with its high windows and thelittle iron-cased door, which was also secured behind them, bore agreater resemblance to a prison than an apartment destined for thereception of guests. There was no want, however, of furniture orcomfort; there were writing materials as well as both edifying andentertaining books. It was the king's private chamber.

  The deputies of the burghers and counsel started almost in as greatdismay as the bishop and his clerical companions, when they beheldthemselves surrounded on a sudden by royal halberdiers and horsemenbefore the castle gate. The captain of halberdiers dismissed thehalf-armed mob, who had followed the procession with shouts and threatsagainst the bishop, and with frequent acclamations for the king, onoccasion of his having (according to report) thrown the bishop intoprison.

  "In the name of my liege and sovereign!" called Count Henrik, onhorseback, as he waved his hat, "the castle is open to the deputies ofthe loyal burghers; but every one who bears arms here, or combines tocause riot and uproar disturbs the peace of the king's castle, and isguilty of treason. Your lord bishop is at this moment in the king'spower, but he is also his guest and under his protection. Every insultto the bishop here is an insult to the ruler of the land. The king willjudge justly, and negociate a peace between you and your lord. Ere thesun goes down the result of his mediation shall be made known. Now,back! all here who would not pass for rebels!"

  The restless crowd returned silent and downcast to the town. Thearrogant bravado of the insurgents that they had the king on theirside, had been suddenly put down. Their confidence in his presumedwrath against the bishop, and his partiality to the burghers ofCopenhagen, appeared to have given way to a reasonable apprehension ofhis justice and known severity. It even seemed to them no good signthat the bishop, in his distress, had sought shelter at the royalcastle--and the guild-brethren muttered that when it came to the push,the powerful and the great ever sided together after all; even thoughthey were deadly foes at heart, and that every thing was visited uponthose of low degree whether they were guilty or not.