tice of the realm,
and to him lay an appeal from every decision rendered by a provincial
magistrate. Such, in brief, was the constitution of Sweden when first
known in history.

Christianity, first preached in Sweden about the year 830, brought with
it a diminution of the people's rights. When the episcopal dioceses were
first marked out, the people naturally kept in their own hands the
right to choose their spiritual rulers, who were designated
_lydbiskopar_, or the people's bishops. But in 1164 the Court of Rome
succeeded in establishing, under its own authority, an archbishopric at
Upsala; and by a papal bull of 1250 the choice of Swedish bishops was
taken from the people and confided to the cathedral chapters under the
supervision of the pope. As soon as the whole country became converted,
the piety of the people induced them to submit to gross impositions at
the hands of those whom they were taught to regard as God's
representatives on earth. In 1152 the so-called "Peter's Penning" was
established, an annual tax of one penning from every individual to the
pope. Besides this, it became the law, soon after, that all persons must
pay a tenth of their annual income to the Church, and in addition there
were special taxes to the various bishops, deans, and pastors. A still
more productive source of revenue to the Church was death-bed piety,
through which means a vast amount of land passed from kings or wealthy
individuals to the Church. By a law of the year 1200 the clergy were
declared no longer subject to be tried for crime in temporal courts; and
by the end of the thirteenth century the Church had practically ceased
to be liable for crown taxation. It requires but a moment's thought to
perceive how heavy a burden all these changes threw on the body of the
nation.

Simultaneously with the spread of Christianity still another power began
to trample on the liberties of the people. This was the power of the
sword. In early times, before civilization had advanced enough to give
everybody continuous employment, most people spent their leisure moments
in making war. Hence the Swedish kings, whose duty it was to keep the
peace, could accomplish that result only by having a large retinue of
armed warriors at their command. The expense which this entailed was
great. Meantime the crown estates had continually increased in number
through merger of private estates of different kings, through crown
succession to estates of foreig