order to get the help of the Emperor, he formally ab- 1 CHRISTIAN III. AND BUGENHAGEN. 173 fused over the kingdom. Books and tracts in exposition and defense of it, as well as the Bible in the vernacular tongue, were everywhere circulated. The Lutherans who, in 1530, presented their Confession of Faith in forty-three Articles, acquired the preponderance in the land; but in consequence of the pledges of Frederic at his accession, the bishops were not deprived of their power. His death, in 1533, led to a combined effort on their part to abrogate the recent ecclesiastical changes and restore the exclusive domination of the old religion. They accordingly refused to sanction the election of Christian III., Frederic's eldest son, who had been active in establishing Protestantism in the Duchies; until their consent was compelled by the attempt of the Count of Oldenburg, a Protestant, to restore the deposed Christian II., whom they still more feared and hated. By Christian III., whose admiration for Luther had been first kindled at the Diet of Worms, where this prince was present, the authority of the prelates was abolished, at a Diet at Copenhagen, in 1536, and the Reformation universally legalized. The bishops were forced to renounce their dignities. A constitution for the Danish Church was framed, and submitted to Luther for his sanction. Bugenhagen, a prominent friend of the Saxon Reformer, came into the kingdom, on the King's invitation, and, in 1537, crowned him and his Queen, and perfected the new ecclesiastical arrangements. Bishops, or superintendents, were appointed for the dioceses, and formally consecrated to their offices by Bugenhagen himself, "ut verus episcopus," as Luther expressed it. The University of Copenhagen was reorganized, and other schools of learning established in the various cities. This final triumph of Protestantism in Denmark was connected with events of peculiar interest in the history of the Reformation. The Lutheran doctrine had quickly 1 See Ranke, Deutsch. Gsch., iii. 270 seq., 406 seq. penetrated into every place where the German tongue was spoken. The cities of Northern Germany, the members of the old Hanseatic league, gave it a hospitable reception. The strong burgher class in these towns lent a willing ear to the preachers from Wittenberg. The Hansa, at the period of its greatest prosperity, in the fourteenth century, comprised in its confederacy all the maritime towns of Germany, together with Magdeburg, Brunswick, and other intermediate places; and exerted a controlling influence in the Scandinavian kingdoms. It was weakened by the separation of the Netherlands, after 1427. The great value of the trade of the northern kingdoms, of the products of their mines and fisheries, made it of the highest importance to Lübeck, the leading city of the Hansa, to keep its commercial and political supremacy. Christian II., the brother-in-law of Charles V., was withstood in his attempt to subdue the northern nations by the Lübeckers, by whom Gustavus Vasa was assisted in gaining the throne of Sweden. The cities which, like Hamburg and Magdeburg, had a magistracy that was favorable to the Protestant doctrine, received the new system without any serious political disturbance. But in some other towns, as Bremen and Lübeck, the acceptance of Lutheranism was attended by changes in the government, which were effected by the burghers, and were democratic in their character. The new Burgomaster, at Lübeck, Wullenweber, whom the revolution had raised to power, negotiated a treaty of alliance with the English King, Henry VIII. The great object of Lübeck was to keep the trade between the Baltic and the North Sea in its own hands. But the situation in Denmark, after the death of Frederic I., was such that Lübeck reversed its attitude and espoused the cause of the exiled King, Christian I. The Lübeckers found that they could not longer count upon the coöperation of Denmark in their commercial policy, and that DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS. 175 Christian III., of Holstein, could not be enlisted in support of their hostile undertakings against Holland. Hence, they put forward the Count of Oldenburg as a champion of the banished sovereign. Malmö, Copenhagen, and other cities of Denmark, as well as Stralsund, Rostock, and other old cities of the Hansa, at once transformed their former municipal system, or gave to it a democratic cast, and joined hands with Lübeck in behalf of Christian. II., whose measures, when he was on the throne, had looked to an increase of the power of the burgher class. The confederate cities established their alliance with England, and gained to their side, a German prince, Duke Albert of Mecklenburg. This combination had to be overcome by Christian III., before he could reign over Denmark. His energetic efforts were successful; and with the defeat of Lübeck, the democratic or revolutionary movement, the radical element, which threatened to identify itself with the Reformation, was subdued. Sweden contributed its help to the attainment of this result. Wullenweber himself was brought to the scaffold. The principle of Luther and his associates, that the cause of religion must be kept separate from schemes of political or social revolution, was practically vindicated. In Münster, this principle had to be maintained against a socialist movement in which the clergy were the leaders. In Lübeck, it was political and commercial ambition that sought to identify with its own aspirations the Protestant reform. Christian III. was a Protestant; his triumph, and that of his allies, did not weaken the Protestant interest, although it subverted a new political fabric which had been set up in connection with it. The reception of Protestantism in Norway was a consequence of the ecclesiastical revolution in Denmark. Christian III. was at first opposed in that country; but, in 1537, the Archbishop of Drontheim fled, with the treasures of his Cathedral, to the Netherlands, and Nor way was reduced to the rank of a province of Denmark. In Iceland, Protestantism gained a lodgment through similar agencies, although the Bishop of Skalholt, who had been a student at Wittenberg, was an active and influential teacher of the new doctrine. As early as 1519, two students who had sat at the feet of Luther in Wittenberg, Olaf and Lawrence Petersen, began to preach the evangelical doctrine in Sweden. The Reformation prevailed, however, through the political revolution which raised Gustavus Vasa to the throne. Christian II. of Denmark was supported in his endeavors to conquer Sweden, by papal edicts, and by the coöperation of the archbishop, Gustavus Trollé. The Swedish prelates were favorable to the Danish interest. Gustavus Vasa, a nobleman who was related to the family of Sturé, which had furnished several administrators or regents to Sweden prior to its conquest by Christian II., undertook to liberate his country from the Danish yoke, and succeeded in his patriotic enterprise. He was favorable to the Lutheran doctrine, and was the more inclined to secure for it the ascendency, as he coveted for his impoverished treasury the vast wealth which had been accumulated by the ecclesiastics. He appointed Lawrence Andersen, a convert to Lutheranism, his chancellor; Olaf Petersen he made a preacher in Stockholm, and Lawrence Petersen a theological professor at Upsala. Plots of the bishops in behalf of Christian II. naturally stimulated the predilection of Gustavus for the Protestant system. A public disputation was held in 1524, by the appointment of the king, at Upsala, in which Olaf Petersen maintained the Lutheran opinions. The pecuniary burdens which Gustavus laid upon the clergy excited disaffection among them. Finally, at the Diet of Westeras, in 1527, the controversy was brought to a crisis. Gustavus threatened to abdicate his throne if his demands were not complied with. The |