no longer stand, and on the 22d
of September despatched Sunnanvaeder to the king, adding, with the
mendacity of a child, that he had detained him in Norway only in order
that he might not flee. Gustavus, with grim humor, thanked him for his
solicitude, and begged him now to return all other refugees. Sunnanvaeder
was kept in jail till the 18th of February, 1527. He was then brought
before a tribunal consisting of the entire Chapter of Upsala, two
bishops, and a number of laymen. The king produced some sixty letters
written by the traitor, establishing his conspiracy beyond the shadow of
a doubt. He was condemned at once, and executed the same day outside the
Upsala walls. Three days later, his accomplice, Knut, was similarly put
to death in Stockholm. Thus ended a conspiracy which had cost the
monarch infinite annoyance, and which during a period of three years had
been a constant menace to the realm.[126]

What most annoyed the king at this time was the importunate demands of
Lubeck. Ever since Gotland, in the summer of 1525, had fallen into the
hands of Lubeck, Gustavus had appreciated the necessity of keeping the
Hanseatic town in check. So early as August of that year the monarch
wrote Laurentius Andreae: "You have advised us to cling to Lubeck and
place no confidence in the Danes, since they have always played us
false. We are not sure, however, that even Lubeck can be trusted, for we
have no certainty what she has in mind, especially as she is sheltering
in Gotland that outspoken traitor, Mehlen." The Swedish envoys, who had
arrived in Lubeck too late to meet the Danes, as had been agreed in
Malmoe, seem to have reached no terms with Lubeck, and, when they
returned to Sweden in September, Gotland was in Lubeck's hands, and
Lubeck had announced her purpose of defending Mehlen. Her strongest hold
on Sweden lay in the fact that Sweden was still her debtor in a very
large amount. Early in 1526 this burden had become so great that the
Cabinet passed an act decreeing that two thirds of all the tithes
accrued for the year just ended should be surrendered by the Church to
meet the nation's debt. The announcement of this levy made Lubeck for
the moment more importunate than before. Believing that the money would
soon be pouring in, she kept her envoys constantly dogging the monarch's
steps, and in the month of April Gustavus wrote: "Our creditors will
scarce permit us to leave the castle-gate." They were, therefore, as
gr