ndize himself. He therefore was prepared to
listen impartially to the arguments on every side, and as papal legate
to use his authority in favor of the highest bidder. Now, it required
little sagacity to see that Trolle, whose cause the king of Denmark had
commissioned him to urge, but who was at this time stripped of his
prerogatives and in prison, could offer small reward; and from the king
of Denmark he had already received quite as much as he had reason to
expect. Moreover, it appeared from the experience of the last two years
that Christiern's hopes of Sweden were likely to result in air. Sture
was to all appearances the rising star, and on him the crafty legate
resolved to fix his hopes. There seemed no valid reason, however, for
deserting Christiern. It would be better so to trim his sails as to
receive any emoluments that might be forthcoming from either party. He
therefore approached the regent under the guise of mediator. The regent
received him kindly, and covered him with honors and rewards. In the
winter of 1518-1519 a meeting was held at Arboga at which the case of
Trolle was laid before the legate. The outcome of it was that Trolle
formally resigned his archbishopric and was restored to freedom. Shortly
after, on the 5th of February, we find the legate reappointing the old
archbishop, Ulfsson, to the post. Just why this course was taken it is
impossible to state with certainty. But the reasons which led to it may
easily be surmised. Ulfsson was a man of wealth, with few enemies and
many friends. He was, next to Trolle, the choice of the Upsala Chapter
and of Christiern, and he had already some time before been asked by
Sture to reassume the post. To one of Arcimboldo's compromising temper
it is not strange that Ulfsson should have seemed a person whose favor
it was desirable to win.[33]

Meantime the king of Denmark was not idle. He still clung to the strange
infatuation that the people of Sweden might be persuaded to accept him
as their king, and almost while in the act of seizing the Swedish
hostages instructed Arcimboldo to beg the regent for a friendly
conference. This wild proposal Sture treated with the contempt which it
deserved. He wrote to Christiern a straightforward letter in which he
refused to deal further with him, and demanded that the hostages be
immediately returned. Christiern of course did not comply. On the
contrary, he continued his warlike preparations, and throughout the
whole of th