r of Charles VIII. is so curious a one that it will be of
interest to make some brief mention of it.

Never has king had a more diversified career. With the death of his brave
defender, enemies on all sides rose against him, his great wealth and
proud ostentation having displeased nobles and people alike. Chief among
his enemies was the archbishop of Upsala, who nailed a letter to the door
of the cathedral in which he renounced all loyalty and obedience to King
Charles, took off his episcopal robes before the shrine of St. Erik, and
vowed that he would not wear that dress again until law and right were
brought back to the land. It was a semi-civilized age and land in which
churchmen did not hesitate to appeal to the sword, and the archbishop
clad himself in armor, and with helmet on head and sword by side, set out
on a crusade of his own against the man he deemed an unworthy and
oppressive king.

He found many to sustain him, and Charles, taken utterly by surprise,
barely escaped to Stockholm, wounded, on a miserable old horse, and with
a single servant. Besieged there and unable to defend the town, he hid
part of his treasures, put the rest on board a vessel, and while going on
board himself was accosted by one of the archbishop's friends, who asked
him:

"Have you forgotten anything?"

"Nothing except to hang you and your comrades," was the bitter reply of
the fugitive king.

King Christian of Denmark was called in by the archbishop to take the
vacant throne, Charles was pronounced a traitor by his enemies, and for
some years Christian ruled over Sweden. Then his avarice and the heavy
taxes he laid on the people aroused such dissatisfaction that an
insurrection broke out, Christian's army was thoroughly defeated, and he
was forced to take ship for Denmark, while Charles was recalled to the
throne and landed in Stockholm in 1464, a second time king of Sweden.

This reign was not a long one. Christian, who had imprisoned the
archbishop because he opposed the heavy taxation of the peasants, now
sought his aid again and sent him with an army to Sweden. As a result
Charles found himself once more shut up in Stockholm and was again forced
by his enemies to resign the crown, being given instead of his kingdom
the government of Raseborg Castle in Finland. And instead of having
treasures to take with him, as before, he was now so poor that he could
not pay a debt of fifty marks he owed in Stockholm. He expressed his
sta