and the people were practically forced to acquiesce. Even had
the people possessed a real voice in the election, their influence would
have been far less than formerly, since here they had but four
representatives from each county against the entire class of magnates,
whereas originally every landowner, whether magnate or peasant, had an
equal vote. During the minority of this king the power of the Cabinet
made rapid strides. He was forced to borrow from them enormous sums of
money, for which he mortgaged nearly all the royal castles; so that when
he came of age he was thoroughly under the dominion of the Cabinet. He
struggled hard, however, to shake off his shackles, and with some
success. Among other things, he passed a law which was intended to
restore to the people at large their ancient right to choose their
kings. This law provided that whenever a king was to be chosen, each
provincial magistrate, with the assent of all landowners in his
province, should select twelve men, who on a day appointed were to meet
in general diet with all the magistrates, and choose the king. Unhappily
this law was never followed, though the king by whom it was enacted
struggled hard to maintain the people's rights. In 1359, after a series
of internal disorders, his Cabinet compelled him to call a meeting of
all the magnates in the realm; but in addition to the magnates he
summoned also delegates from the peasantry and burghers, evidently with
a view to gain their aid in curbing the insolence of the Cabinet. This
was the second general diet. From this time forth the king did all he
could to strengthen the people, until at last he banished a number of
his chief opponents. They thereupon, in 1363, offered the crown to
Albert of Mecklenburg, who by their aid succeeded in overthrowing the
king and getting possession of the throne. For a time now the Cabinet
had things nearly as they wished. In 1371 they forced the king to grant
them all the royal estates as fiefs, and to declare that on the death of
any one of them his successor should be chosen by the survivors. This
astounding grant the Cabinet owed chiefly to the influence of their
chancellor, Bo Jonsson, who had done more than any other to set Albert
on the throne; and to him were granted as fiefs all the royal castles.
In 1386 he died, leaving all his fiefs, by will, to the chief magnates
of the land. Against this Albert ventured to protest. He called in a
large number of his German coun