CHAP. VI.
During the whole day an anxious stillness prevailed in the town. Thecrowds indeed still continued to pour like a tide through the streets,but with order, and in silent expectation. The sun was about to set,and, as yet, no tidings had been received of the issue of the royalnegociation. Meanwhile, an unusual procession attracted the attentionof the restless and fickle populace. A funeral train proceeded past St.Clement's church down to the old Strand, but without chaunting andringing of bells, and without being accompanied by any choristers orecclesiastics. This procession consisted of a great number of foreignmerchants and skippers, and all the pepper 'prentices, who (severalhundreds in number, and clad in precise and rich mourning attire)followed two large coffins covered with costly palls of black velvet.The coffins were borne by Hanseatic seamen; over them waved the Rostockand Visbye flags. The train halted at the church of St. Nicholas. Theywould have pursued their way across the church-yard, and requested tohave a mass chaunted over the dead in the church; but this was denied.The bishop's servants shut the gates of the church-yard and forbade thecorpse-bearers to approach the church, or tread on consecrated ground,as one of the coffins they carried contained the body of a man who hadbeen slain in the ale-house at the draught board. Amid wrathfulmuttering against the hard-hearted prelatical government, theprocession proceeded past the outside of the church-yard wall to thequay on Bremen Island, where a number of boats with rowers, clad inwhite, received the coffins and the whole troop of mourners. Theylanded on the island, and here, where the Hanseatic merchants alonegoverned, the train burst forth into a solemn German funeral hymn,while the bodies of Berner Kopmand and Henrik Gullandsfar were carriedon board two Hanseatic vessels, which were to convey them to Christianburial in Rostock and Visbye. As soon as the ships were underweigh the funeral train was received in a large warehouse, where threeale-barrels and two keys over a cross were carved in stone over thedoor. Here the whole party of seamen and trading agents were served outof huge barrels of the famous Embden ale, the intoxicating propertiesof which soon changed the funeral feast into a wild and mirthfulcarouse. There was no lack either of wine or mead, and the large dishof salted meat, which was constantly replenished, increased the thirstof the funeral guests. The rabble who had followed the train throughthe streets, long remained standing on the beach and the quay to hearand watch the intoxicated pepper 'prentices, who here, with none butcountrymen and boon companions beside them, seemed determined toindemnify themselves for the restraint to which they were subjected inthe foreign town. Some wept, while they reeled, and held movingdiscourses on the mournful fate of the rich Berner Kopmand and HenrikGullandsfar, and on the mutability of all power and wealth in thisworld; while others sung drinking songs and piping love-ditties by wayof accompaniment to the pathetic funeral speeches.
At last, attention was withdrawn from these riotous revels by the cryof "The herald! The herald!" and the people thronged in dense crowdsdown towards the north gate. A herald with a large sheet of parchmentand a white staff in his hand, rode, accompanied by a halberdier and anumerous troop of horsemen, through the gate. The train halted at thecorners of all the streets, and at all the public squares; twotrumpeters on white horses made a signal for silence, whereupon theherald read aloud a treaty between the lord of the town, Bishop Johan,and the council and congregation of Copenhagen. The burghers admittedin this treaty that they had, as well in deed as in word, grosslymisbehaved towards their spiritual and temporal lord the bishop, andthat they had been implicated in an unlawful and criminal insurrection,the circumstances of which were enumerated. Meanwhile the bishoppardoned them these trespasses at the king's intercession, in returnfor which the deputies of the council and congregation promised, on thepart of the town and of the burghers, that each burgher shouldinstantly return to his duty, and obey all the laws and regulationswhich the bishop, "_with consent of the chapter_," had given orhereafter might give them, which they would publicly and solemnly swearto do at the council-house, with laying on of hands on the holyGospels. No one dared to protest against the validity of this treaty;as the herald displayed the round seal of the town with the threetowers, which was suspended to the document by a green silken string,together with the seal of the Copenhagen chapter.
As soon as the inhabitants of the town were informed of this treaty,and it was understood what had thereby been tacitly conceded to them,and with how much leniency this untoward affair had been adjusted,alarm and anxiety were succeeded by still greater and more generalsatisfaction; but the guild-brethren were displeased and murmured.
At the market-place without the east gate, where the herald had readthe treaty for the last time, the numbers of the mob which had followedthe procession through the town were considerably augmented, chiefly byday-labourers and ale-house frequenters, who felt that the treaty wasan obstacle to the disorder and licentious liberty for which the revolthad given them opportunity. Here discontent was openly manifested; andit was muttered aloud that the bishop after all had got justice ineverything, and that the burghers had suffered injustice. But a man nowstepped forward who was held in high esteem among these people; he wasa remarkably fat and sturdy ale-house keeper, with a large red nose anda pair of hands like bears paws; he was known as the greatest toper andbrawler in the town, and his tavern was the resort of the wildest andmost turbulent revellers. He mounted upon the great ale barrel whichstood before his door, and which served the house for a sign.
"It is altogether right and reasonable, my excellent friends andcustomers!--my honest and highly esteemed fellow burghers!" he shouted,with his powerful well-known voice, and a round oath. "The bishop hathbut got justice for appearance sake; he is, besides, the lord of ourgood town, and hath a right to require that one should drink one's alein peace, and pay every man that which is his. When he will grant uswhat we need both for soul and body, we have surely nought to complainof. When he lets priests sing mass for you, and me tap good ale for youfrom morn till even, and somewhat past at times--then he is, by mysoul! as excellent a bishop and lord as we can ask for, and I will paywithout grumbling my yearly tax. For soul and salvation ye need nothereafter to fear, comrades! That matter the king hath taken uponhimself, like an honest man. Heard ye not what he promised usyesterday, and what there stood in the treaty? _Without consent of thechapter the bishop_ can command us nothing, and praised be the chapter!They are a wise set: they will just as little deny you absolution everyday, for your little bosom sins, as I would deny you what you maystand in need of and can pay for on opportunity! Let rascals andguild-brothers grumble as they may!" he continued, as he clenched hisbroad fist, "we will keep those fellows in check;--I will wager adrinking match to-day, with every honest man, to the king's and thebishop's prosperity; but those who would stir up strife and wranglingbetween us peaceable people shall feel our fists. Come in now,comrades! and get something to keep up your hearts! Long live the king!and our lord the bishop besides!"
"Long live the king and the bishop!" cried a great number of theinfluential tavern-keeper's friends and customers; and the malcontentsslunk off.
"They come! they come! The king and bishop are here!" was now echoedfrom mouth to mouth,--and the crowd again poured in through EastStreet, towards the quarter where all the butchers of the place hadtheir dwellings, and where some murmurs against the treaty had alsobeen heard. Every burst of dissatisfaction was meanwhile kept down bythe opposite feeling which prevailed among the town's most influentialburghers, and yet more by the spectacle of the king's entry, and of thecrushed pride and dejected deportment of the little bishop Johan. Withdowncast eyes and manifest signs of fear, this prelate rode, with hisecclesiastical train, at the king's right hand, through his own town,guarded by Count Henrik of Mecklenborg, and the knight-halberdiers. Theking met everywhere with a favourable reception; the bishop wasreceived with no demonstrations of welcome, but there was order andpeace;--no agitator dared to scoff at him by the king's side, andno voice of discontent was heard. The process
ion stopped at thecouncil-house, where the treaty was solemnly ratified.
The public tranquillity was thus restored. The dignity of theprelatical government was upheld, and the arrogance of the insurgentssubdued. The turbulent guild-brethren had dispersed, and there was noreason to apprehend a fresh outbreak of the revolt, as the burghersthemselves, with the permission of the bishop, had agreed with theprovost's men and the bishop's retainers to observe the treaty andprevent all disturbances. Despite this apparent victory, the bishop wasnotwithstanding extremely pensive and taciturn. The king's generousprotection appeared to have confounded him, and he seemed to experiencea feeling of painful humiliation, by the side of his temporalprotector. The revolt, and the danger which had menaced his life, hadtaught him to know his own powerlessness. The king had indeed treatedhim, while at Sorretslov castle, as a distinguished guest, but withcold courtesy, without even giving vent to his displeasure by asingle word; it was those words only in the treaty relating to thebishop's dependence on the assent of the chapter, which the king hadordered to be inserted, in an emphatic tone (with the approval of thegeneral-superior there present), and in a voice of command, whichadmitted of no contradiction. The bishop of Roskild, lately soconfident and haughty, who a few days since sat between a cardinal andan archbishop in his fortified castle, and had, for the first time,issued the exasperating church interdict in his own town, was nowforced to acknowledge, in silent anger, that since, the cardinal'sdeparture, the banishment of the archbishop, and his having himselfbeen subjected to the scoffs of the lowest rabble, he would be able tomaintain the authority of the church in Denmark only so far as theDanish clergy considered it expedient, and as the king himself wouldsupport ecclesiastical government.
During the whole of the transaction at the council-house, the bishopwas quiet and dejected. The king treated him here also with coldcourtesy. His looks were stern and grave; another important and seriousmatter seemed to have weighed on his heart since he heard the lastwords of the archbishop to Count Henrik.
From the council-house the whole procession rode to St. Mary's church,where, besides the customary Ave, a Te Deum was sung on occasion of thetreaty. The king then immediately rode back to Sorretslov, from whencehe purposed to set out on his journey the following morning. Thebishop, with the abbot of the Forest Monastery, and the otherecclesiastics, accompanied him (in compliance with customary courtesy),besides the deputies of the town and the burghers.
The bishop desired not to return to Axelhuus ere every trace of hostileattack on the castle was effaced, and the humiliating insurrectionforgotten. He purposed to accompany the king, the following day, toRoskild, where some disturbances had taken place on the occasion oftheir rulers' attempt to enforce the interdict.
The bishop was thus, in some sort, houseless on this evening, andaccepted, as an attention which was his due, the king's invitation tohim and his train to take up their quarters for the night at hiscastle, where all who had accompanied the king were also invited to afestive supper.
The sun had just set as the train reached Sorretslov, and Count Henrikproposed to the king that they should now, ere it grew dark, inspectthe bishop's charitable institution at St. George's hospital, forlepers and those who were sick of pestilential disorders, since it laybut a stone's throw from the castle. At this proposal the bishop, andthe abbot of the Forest Monastery, became evidently uneasy; but thiswas remarked by no one except Count Henrik, who watched them closely,and had on their account proposed aloud this plan, which he readilyconjectured the king would reject.
"It is top late. Count! and I have guests besides," answered the king."If you desire it, inspect the hospital yourself, and describe theestablishment to me! I know it doth honour to the bishop'sphilanthropy!--although I should have deemed it more fitting had thatlazzaretto been erected elsewhere. That there is no one sick of theplague there at the present moment I know," Count Henrik bowed insilence, and instantly rode, with a couple of young knights, acrossSorretslov meadow, towards the hospital.
"Permit me to accompany you. Sir knights! I desire also to see thispious institution," said the abbot of the Forest Monastery,endeavouring to overtake them on his palfrey; but they heard him not,and ere the abbot reached St. George's hospital. Count Henrik stoodalready in the chamber of the sick, gazing with a look of sharpscrutiny on a man who seemed to sleep, but whose head was so closelymuffled that he might be considered as masked. On the upper part of thesick man's forehead the beginning of a large scar was visible. "What isthe name of this man?" inquired Count Henrik, in a stern tone, of thealarmed and embarrassed brethren of St. George.
"No one knows him, gracious sir!" answered the guardian; "he wasbrought bruised and wounded hither yesterday, by two stranger canonsfrom the town; they had found him half dead on the beach: we wereforced instantly to lay a plaster over his whole face and we cannot nowremove it without endangering his life."
"As I live! it is the outlawed Kagge," said Count Henrik, and all gaveway in consternation. "You have housed and healed a regicide,"continued the count; "they who brought him hither were traitors: allare such who hide an outlaw."
"Outlaw or not, here he hath peace to die or recover, if it be the willof the Lord and St. George;--that shall not be denied him by any kingor king's servant," said an authoritative voice behind them, and thetall abbot of the Forest Monastery stood in the door-way of thechamber. "No tyrant's hand reaches unto this sanctuary of compassion,"continued the prelate. "I command you, brother-guardian, and everycharitable brother who here serves St. George, I command ye, in thename of the bishop, and our heavenly Lord, to cherish this sick man asyour redeemed brother, without fear of man, and without asking of hisname and calling in the world! Perhaps he now suffers for his sins; butof that the All-righteous must judge: if he hath fallen by the hand ofDivine chastisement he will indeed soon stand before his Judge; in suchcase, pray for his soul, and give him Christian burial! but if he ishealed by the help and prayers of man, or by the merits and miracles ofany saint, then let him wander forth free in St. George's name, whetherhe goes to friend or foe--whether he goes to life and happiness in theworld, or to ignominy and death on the scaffold--ye are set here toheal and comfort;--to wound and vex the wretched, there are tyrantsenough in the world."
Count Henrik looked in astonishment at the dignified prelate, who spokewith authoritative firmness, and really seemed actuated by pious zealand compassion; a transient flush passed over the countenance of theproud warrior; it seemed as though he blushed at having persecuted thismiserable being, who appeared unable to move a limb, and looked moredead than alive. "In the name of the Lord and St. George," he said,stepping back, "fulfil your duty to the criminal as unto my saint, andthe saint of all knights! I require not you nor any one to bemerciless; but this I will say once again, you shelter an outlawed anddishonoured traitor. You must yourselves be answerable for theconsequences." He cast another glance at the object of his suspicions,who lay immovable, and without any discernible expression in hisfrightful and shrouded countenance. The count then quitted thehospital, and allowed the abbot to precede him. On the way back to theking's castle he exchanged not a word with the ecclesiastic, who,haughty and silent, gazed on him with a triumphant mien. Count Henriksaid nothing of his discovery to the king; he was not, indeed,perfectly certain that he had not been mistaken; but during the wholeevening he was in an unusually silent and thoughtful mood. The unhappycriminal now appeared to him so wretched and insignificant that hebegan to regard all dread of such a foe as contemptible. At the eveningrepast the king principally conversed with the deputies of the counciland the burghers of Copenhagen. It was the first time they sat at thetable with the king and their ruler the bishop, and at the commencementof the repast appeared somewhat abashed by this unwonted honour. Theking repeated his commendation of the loyalty and bravery of theCopenhageners in Marsk Stig's feud, and the war with Norway; hepromised them compensation for every loss they might sustain hereafterfor his and the kingdom's sake, so long as the outlaws disquiet
ed thecountry, and soon contrived to induce the plain, straight-forwardcitizens to express themselves freely and frankly respecting theadvantages and disadvantages of their town in regard to its tradeand commerce. They thanked the bishop and the king for their wisetown-laws, and for the many liberties and privileges which the townalready enjoyed; but they hesitated not to mention how important itmight be for the public revenue if the monopolies of the towns could becurtailed, and the burghers allowed at least the same privileges asthose granted to foreigners.
"Truly! I have long thought of that," said the king; "this matterdeserves to be thought upon. I shall await further proposals andconsideration of the subject from your Lord the bishop and yourassembled council."
Great joy was manifest in the countenances of the burgers at thisspeech; but the bishop appeared little pleased with the king's zealousinterest in the town and its concerns. The conversation between theecclesiastics from Axelhuus was reserved and laconic. The king himselfwas often silent and abstracted; at times he appeared striving torepress the expression of his wrath against the bishop, and the abbot,who he knew, was one of the most devoted friends of Grand. After therepast the burghers took a cheerful and hearty farewell of the king,whom they once more thanked for the rescue and peace of their goodtown; after which they returned to Copenhagen, with high panegyrics onthe king's mildness and favour. Count Henrik and the knights repairedto the chess-table in the upper hall, and Eric remained almost aloneamong the ecclesiastics. With an air of mysterious confidence the abbotand the provincial prior drew closer to the bishop, whose authority anddrooping courage they strove to sustain in the king's presence.
The two ecclesiastics who had principally conducted the treaty, and hadimpartially defended the rights of the bishop, as well as the libertiesof the people, kept nearest the king, and strove furthermore to preventevery outbreak of his anger against the friends of the banishedarchbishop: they were the provincial prior of the Dominicans, MasterOlans (who, as the king's counsellor in this important affair, hadaccompanied him from Wordingborg), and the general-superior of theCopenhagen chapter, who belonged to the bishop's train, but wassecretly devoted to the king, and had even dared to protest against theinterdict. To these personages the king, shortly before retiring torest, addressed a question which had been weighing on his heart thewhole day, and which he seemed desirous should be answered in thepresence of the bishop, ere he retired to rest.
"Tell me, venerable sirs," said Eric, "how far the canonical lawreasonably extends with regard to marriage within the ties ofconsanguinity, and how far the dispensation of the church can really beconsisted as necessary, according to the law of God, when therelationship is so distant that it is hardly remembered?"
"It is a prolix and difficult question, your grace," answered thegeneral-superior of the chapter, evasively, with a dubious side-glanceat the bishop and the abbot of the Forest Monastery. "I must crave sometime for reflection in order to answer it rightly."
"If the prevailing senseless law is followed," said the aged provincialprior in a firm tone, and with an undaunted glance at the attentiveprelates, "almost every computable degree of relationship may be animpediment, and may call for an indulgence; but when this is carriedout too far I believe the church's holy father will agree with me thatsuch an extreme doth but uselessly burden the conscience, just as italso may lightly become a subject for scoffing and scandal, instead ofbeing a means of edification to Christian and reasonable persons. Ifone were to be consistent in these matters, no marriage would at lasttake place in Christendom without dispensation from the papal see,seeing that all persons are kindred in the flesh, inasmuch as they alldescend from old Adam and Eve."
"That is precisely my own opinion," said the king, with a smile ofsatisfaction; "it would take a tolerably long reckoning.--What is_your_ opinion of this, pious Bishop Johan?"
The bishop appeared confused, at the half-jesting tone with which theking asked his opinion; he was not prepared for this, and seemed towish just as little to tread on the heels of papal authority, as todare at this moment to rouse the anger of the king--he stammered out afew words, and strove to evade a decided declaration.
"Permit me, venerable brother! To answer this question," began theabbot, with a proud and collected deportment:--"an example will bestexplain the case," he continued, addressing himself to the king; "nocase is more in point than that of your grace's relationship to youryoung kinswoman, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden."
"Truly!" exclaimed the king, with a start, "you use no circumlocution,Sir Abbot! you go straight to the point. It suits me best, however. Letus keep to that example! I am more, every way, interested in it than inany other!"
"Ere the church can bless your meditated marriage union with this yourhigh-born relative," continued the abbot, with calm coldness, "the holyfather's dispensation and indulgence are altogether necessary, and thison a two-fold account; pro primo,--because of the tie of relationshipby marriage; and pro secundo,--because of the taint of relationship byblood. As regards the first point, royal sir! the aforesaid PrincessIngeborg's uncle, Count Gerhard of Holstein, is, as is well known, byhis marriage with your most royal mother, the dowager Queen Agnes, yourgrace's present step-father. Count Gerhard's fatherly relationship, aswell to that noble princess, as to your Grace! causes an almostbrotherly and sisterly connection between you and the youngprincess;--and marriage between brother and sister, or between thosewho may be considered as such, is sternly forbidden by every law of Godand man----"
"You have made us out brother and sister in a trice; it is a singularway of bringing people into near relationship," interrupted the king,"yet pass but over the relationship by marriage, with my stepfather'sniece, venerable sir!--there is not a single drop of the same bloodtherein. Nought but a near and actual blood relationship do Iacknowledge to be so real a hindrance that it can only be removed byGod's vicegerent upon earth."
"Your grace is right in some respects," answered the abbot, "inasmuchas it _is_ the tie of blood, which in this instance constitutes thesin, and makes every marriage union between relations, which hath notbeen sanctified by the indulgence of the church, an unholy act, adeadly sin, and a damnable connection."
"Ha! do you rave?" cried the king: his brow flushed; anger glowed inhis cheek and on his lofty brow, but he subdued his rising ire. "Ifterrible words, without truth or reason, had power to slay the soul, Ishould long since have been spiritually murdered," he continued in alower tone. "Now, say on, Sir Abbot!--how near reckon you, then, theblood relationship, which, according to your bold assertion, may plungeme into deadly sin, and into a gulf of horror and ignominy, if I awaitnot a permit from Rome to perpetrate such crime?"
"It is easy to reckon up the degrees of forbidden affinity," answeredthe abbot, with imperturbable coolness. "The high-born PrincessIngeborg is, as is known, a legitimate daughter of King Magnus, who wasa legitimate son of the high-born Birger Jarl, whose consort, the ladyIngeborg, was a legitimate daughter of King Eric the tenth, whose QueenRegize was, lastly, a legitimate daughter of your grace's departedroyal father's--father's--father's father;--ergo, the princess is agreat-great grandchild of your grace's grandfather's departed royalfather, Waldemar the Great, of blessed memory!"
"Perfectly right, grand-children's grand-children's children then, ofmy great-great grandfather--a near relationship, doubtless!" said theking, bursting into a laugh. "I now wish you a good and quiet night,venerable and most learned sirs!" he added, apparently with a lightenedheart, and with a cheerful and determined look: "I never rightlyconsidered the matter before; now it is perfectly clear to me; I cansleep as quietly as in Abraham's bosom, when I think on the sin which I,with mature deliberation and full resolve, purpose to perpetrate assoon as possible. I could wish no one among you may ever have a heaviersin on his conscience." So saying, he bowed with a smile, and departed.
The king's eager talk with the ecclesiastics had attracted theattention of Count Henrik and his companions, who had approached, andheard the subject of the
conversation. On the king's laughinglyrepeating the abbot's calculation, some of the young knights hadlaughed right heartily also. The abbot was crimson with rage. "It isthe mark of eye-servants," he said aloud, "to vie with each other inlaughing at what their gracious lords consider to be absurd, eventhough such merriment doth but disgrace them and their short-sightedmasters. This scoffing and contempt shall be avenged, my brother," hewhispered in the bishop's ear, with a significant look. The bishopstarted, and looked anxiously around; he winked at his incensedcolleague, and observed aloud, that it was high time to retire to rest,and bid good-night to all discord and worldly thoughts. The master ofthe household now appeared with a number of torch-bearers, and theknights, as well as the ecclesiastics, repaired to the chambersassigned to them, in the knights' story in the western wing of thecastle.
King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 3 Page 6
