d answer from his Majesty." While this wrong still rankled in
the prelate's breast, his ire was further kindled by the monarch's
evident intention to rob the Church of several of her chief estates. As
an entering wedge Gustavus had pastured his soldiers' horses on the rich
but fallow lands belonging to the monasteries, and in some cases the
officers had been billeted in the monasteries themselves. Against this
practice Brask protested, and received this soothing answer: "When you
say that this mode of billeting cripples the service of God, you are
right, provided his service consists in feeding a body of hypocrites
sunk, many of them, in licentiousness, rather than in providing
protection for the common people. As to your assertion that the
monasteries were not founded by the crown, and hence are not subject to
our dominion, we will look into the matter, though our humble opinion is
that the monasteries were originally bound to pay taxes to the crown."
The argument which the monarch strove to make was this: Those
monasteries which were founded by individuals comprised estates held by
the donors in consideration of military service to be rendered to the
crown; and so soon as the military service ended, the tenure by which
the lands were held no longer existed, and the crown once more became
entitled to the lands. It is difficult to feel that the monarch's view
was right. In countries where there is no written law, all controversies
must be determined by the law of custom, and it is certain that for
centuries Swedish subjects had been allowed to dedicate for religious
purposes the property which they held by military tenure of the crown.
With Gustavus it appears that custom was of little moment. The
monasteries were wealthy, and could be encroached upon without directly
injuring the people. He resolved, therefore, as soon as possible to
confiscate their property, using a plausible argument if one was ready;
otherwise, to close their doors by force.[136]

In May, 1525, the king found pretext for interfering with the Dominican
monks of Vesteras. That order numbered among its brothers a very large
proportion of Norwegians; and one of them had assumed the generalship of
the order in Sweden, contrary to the mandates of the king. This seemed
an opportunity to play the patriot and at the same time secure a footing
in the monastery. So Gustavus wrote to the Swedish vicar-general and
declared: "We understand that the conspiracy in