acher and asked him what excuse he offered for violating the ancient
customs of the Church. To this the culprit answered that he was ready to
defend his conduct in open court, and prove that the laws of God should
not be sacrificed to the laws of men. The king then wrote to Brask and
assured him that if Petri should be shown to have done wrong, he should
be punished. The king's own prejudices are manifest in the words with
which his letter closed. "As to your assertion," he said, "that Petri's
act has placed him under the ban, it would seem surprising if that
should be the effect of marriage,--a ceremony that God does not
forbid,--and yet that for debauchery and other sins which are
forbidden, one should not fall beneath the ban.... In making this charge
concerning Petri, you appear elated at the opportunity thus given you to
censure me." This last insinuation the bishop strenuously denied. "God
knows," he wrote the king, "that I have acted for your welfare in this
matter, as well as for my own. What joy I or any other could feel in my
present age and infirmity, I leave to God. Petri has sent me an apology
for his act. It is full of words, but void of sense. I shall see to it,
however, that it gets an answer."[108]

These stormy scenes within the Church were but the echo of what was
going on outside. As the autumn advanced it became each day more clear
that Fredrik had victimized the king at Malmoe. The Swedish army had
retired from Gotland, and Norby with his horde of pirates remained _in
statu quo_. Brask, who had the interests of Sweden constantly at heart,
was the first person to suspect foul play. So early as December 9 he
told a friend his fears had been aroused. Gustavus, if he had
suspicions, kept them dark. He opened correspondence with Norby, hoping
to inveigle him into a conference in Stockholm. Norby, however, knew the
trick himself. The weather was such, he answered, that he could not
come. Some few weeks later Gustavus wrote to Mehlen that the promises
made to him at Malmoe had not been fulfilled. He also sent his messengers
to Denmark denouncing Norby's course. But all this time his
communications with Norby were filled with warm assurance of
respect.[109]

The truth was, Norby cherished a project far more ambitious than either
Fredrik or Gustavus could suppose. In January, 1524, the brave
Christina, widow of the young Sten Sture, had returned to Sweden after
her long captivity in Denmark. The same ambit