, vol. ii. pp. 31-39; and _Kon. Gust. den Foerstes
registrat._, vol. i. pp. 271-281 and 327-328.

[100] Johannes Magni, _Hist. pont._, p. 75; Svart, _Gust. I.'s kroen._,
p. 92; and _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 117-119 and
135-148.

[101] _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 151-155 and 157-159.
There is preserved among Brask's documents of this period a
proclamation, purporting to be issued by Gustavus, forbidding the sale
of Lutheran tracts within the realm. _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol.
xvii. pp. 159-160. No reference, however, is made to it in other
writings; and as it is clearly contrary to all the monarch's later
views, it is certain that it did not emanate from him. Probably it was a
mere concept drawn by Brask in the hope that it would meet with royal
favor.

[102] _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 162-164.

[103] _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol. xvii. pp. 205-216 and 220-223.

[104] _Handl. roer. Skand. hist._, vol. xiii. pp. 48-50 and 52-54, and
vol. xviii. pp. 234-236 and 237-239; and _Kon. Gust. den Foerstes
registrat._, vol. i. pp. 231-233 and 306-309.

CHAPTER VI.

RELIGIOUS DISCORD AND CIVIL WAR. 1524-1525.

Riot of the Anabaptists.--Contest between Olaus Petri and Peder
Galle.--Marriage of Petri.--Conspiracy of Norby; of Christina
Gyllenstjerna; of Mehlen; of Sunnanvaeder.--Attitude of Fredrik to
Gustavus.--Proposition of Gustavus to resign the Crown.--Norby's
Incursion into Bleking.--Surrender of Visby.--Flight of
Mehlen.--Fall of Kalmar.

By the autumn of 1524 the whole of Sweden was in a ferment of
theological dispute. When Gustavus returned from the congress of Malmoe
to the capital, he found the people in a wild frenzy of religious zeal.
The turmoil was occasioned mainly by the efforts of two Dutchmen,
Melchior and Knipperdolling, who had renounced their respective callings
as furrier and huckster to spread abroad the teachings of a new
religious sect. The history of this strange movement has been so often
told that it is hardly necessary to waste much time upon it here. It
originated doubtless in the stimulus that Luther's preaching had given
to religious thought. As so frequently occurs, the very enthusiasm which
the Reformers felt for things divine led them to disregard their reason
and give their passions undivided sway. One of the chronicles puts it:
"Wherever the Almighty builds a church, the Devil comes and builds a
chape