King Eric and the Outlaws, Vol. 3
Page 15
CONCLUSION.
Among the crowd of knights and courtiers who waited the next morning inthe antechamber of Helsingborg castle to offer their congratulations tothe king and the young queen, were present two influential and wellknown persons, who had recently landed on the quay. The one was an agedpersonage of short stature, with an extraordinary degree of energy anddetermination in his stern yet animated countenance; he was therenowned statesman John Little, who had made so long a sojourn at theRomish court. A tall powerful man stood at his side, in a splendidknight's dress, with a roll of documents in his hand. He was the king'sformer master in arms, Drost Peter Hessel. They had both arrived fromRome, with important tidings for the king. They were instantlyadmitted, and those without heard that they were most joyouslywelcomed. Among the glad voices in the king's chamber were recognisedthose of the queen and the Drost's noble consort, the Lady Inge.
Close to the door of the antechamber stood Morten the cook, in hispilgrim's dress, with old Jeppe the fisherman and his daughter at hisside. He was regarded with curiosity. At first he appeared somewhatuneasy and dejected; but when the king was heard to speak withanimation, and in a tone of satisfaction, Morten drew himself upfearlessly, and paced up and down with an air of importance among thedistinguished assemblage.
The papers which Drost Hessel had under his arm contained proofs ofArchbishop Grand's treachery and connection with the outlaws; they werecopies of the same important documents which Junker Christopher, at thetime of the archbishop's imprisonment, had removed from the sacristychest of Lund and brought to Wordingborg. There the dexterous cook hadcontrived to possess himself of them shortly before he abetted thearchbishop's flight from Sjoeborg. His object had been to restore themto Grand; but as the archbishop had broken the promise he had made tohis deliverer while on the rope-ladder of freeing the king and countryfrom ban and interdict, Morten determined to retain these documents,and while on his pilgrimage to bring them to Chancellor Martinus andthe Danish embassy at Rome, where they mainly contributed to justify,or at least excuse the king's conduct towards Grand, and ultimately todepose him from the Archbishopric of Lund.
Morten was soon summoned to the king. When he returned he gaily threwaside his pilgrim's mantle, seized the pretty fishermaiden with the onehand and Jeppe with the other, and skipped with them down the hallstaircase, as a free and wealthy man, to celebrate his wedding atGilleleie.
Notwithstanding that the suit against Archbishop Grand, and thedangerous differences with the Romish see, were not adjusted untilafter the lapse of several years, and at the cost of considerablesacrifices, King Eric succeeded at length in obtaining the depositionof Grand, and the instalment of another and more peaceable prelate inthe archiepiscopal chair of Lund; in the person of the formerly dreadedIsarnus, who had now, however, learned from the fate of his predecessorhow to use his spiritual authority with moderation, and wiselyrefrained from all interference with state affairs. By the final treatywith the papal court the wanting dispensation of kindred was granted tothe king, and his marriage with the noble Princess Ingeborg of Swedendeclared to be perfectly valid.
Three weeks after the king's nuptials, the faithful Drost Aage wasagain seen at his side; but he was unalterably grave and pensive. Itwas not until some years afterwards that he was freed from the ban,together with the king. He never alluded to his journey with MarskStig's daughters. Some affirmed that he had only found the elder sisterin the prison-tower of Wordingborg, but that the younger had fled.Others insisted they had seen her among the masquers at Helsingborgcastle, on the evening of the king's bridal. It was also rumoured thatshe had been carried off by a merman. A ballad, relating this supposedadventure, has been preserved among the people. The merman was affirmedby some to have been the outlawed Kagge, who was shortly afterwardsseized and slain by the burghers at Viborg. Meanwhile the beautiful andpathetic ballad, which still preserves the memory of these sisters,bears witness to their having traversed Sweden as fugitives, and havingfound protection, for the first time, at the court of Norway. Accordingto this ballad the youngest of these exiled sisters was afterwardsmarried to a Norwegian prince; probably an illegitimate son of KingHaco.
This popular ballad, as well as many obscure traditions, and what thechronicles record of the latter part of the thirteenth century, bearstriking testimony to that troublous time, in which the unhappyconsequences of the last regicide in Denmark, hovered, like restlessdemons, over throne and country, and cast so deep a shade even over thehappiest days of the upright King Eric Ericson.
THE END.
[Footnote 1: Pebersvend (literally pepper 'prentice) is the term stilljocosely applied to elderly bachelors in Denmark.]
[Footnote 2: The name of a part of Russia in the middle ages.]
[Footnote 3: Frode according to the Icelandic historians, the thirdking of Denmark, surnamed "The Peaceful," although he seems rather tohave deserved the title of "The Victorious," as he is said to havebrought Sweden, Hungary, England, and Ireland under his sway. Thehistory of Frode as related by the marvel-loving Saxo Grammaticus,contains, as might be expected from the writer and the age, no slightmixture of fable.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 4: Snorro Sturlesen, born 1178, died 1241, the author of the"Heims Kringla," or the history of the Norwegian kings, and thecompiler of the Younger Edda, also called "Snorro's Edda." The ElderEdda is the compilation of Saemund Frode, or "the learned," whowas born in Iceland, 1054, and died a priest at Odde, in his 78th year.Both the Eddas are collections of religious and mythic poems, and thechief sources whence the knowledge of the northern mythology isderived. The Elder Edda was first known in the middle of the 17thcentury. It has been translated into Danish by Professor FinnMagnussen.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 5: Snorro Sturlesen, the Norwegian historian, thus pourtraysthe character of this monarch,--"King Olaf was a noble prince,possessed of shining virtues and great piety. When driven by Knud(Canute the Great) from Norway, and compelled to take refuge withJarislaf of Moscow, he bore his exile with patience, and spent his timein prayer and acts of devotion. While in this situation his peace ofmind was only disturbed by the apprehension lest the Christian faith,which he had so carefully implanted in Norway, should suffer from thekingdom having passed into the hands of other rulers, and it waschiefly on this account that he made an attempt to regain his crown,and with that purpose once more repaired to Norway, where he wasreceived by many good and true men who desired his return, and wereready to sacrifice their lives in his service. The armies of Canute andOlaf met at Sticklestad in the year 1030. Ere the engagement began,Olaf addressed his troops in a pious and touching discourse. He orderedthem to make use of one common watchword, and shout when they attackedthe enemy, 'On! Christian men! Chosen men! Kings men!' The battle wasfought with equal bravery and obstinacy on both sides, but at last Olafwas slain by one of his own traitorous subjects, who had deserted toCanute's army. Vide _Holberg's Hist. of Denmark_, vol. i.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 6: An old Danish ballad entitled "King Birger and hisbrothers," records the crimes of the former, and the melancholy fate ofthe Swedish dukes. After years of strife between the brothers, Swedenwas at last partitioned off into three kingdoms, and possessed threesovereigns and three distinct courts. In 1317, King Birger invited hisbrothers to visit him at the castle of Nykioping, on the plea ofrenewing the fraternal intercourse which had been so unhappilyinterrupted, and the dukes unsuspectingly accepted the king'sinvitation. On the evening of their arrival, however, after beingreceived with the greatest cordiality by the king, and sumptuouslyentertained, they were seized by his order, bound hand and foot, andthrown into the dungeon of the castle. This act of treachery soonbecame known, and the king, fearing the interference of the people inbehalf of the dukes, fled from the castle, having first thrown the keysof the dungeon into the deepest part of the river, and given ordersthat the doors of the dungeon should not be opened until he returned.On his departure Nykioping was inst
antly besieged, and crowds flockedthither from all quarters, but ere the castle was taken the dukes hadexpired. Eric died on the third day of his captivity, from the woundshe had received in defending himself against his captors; but Valdemarlived till the twelfth day without food.--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 7: Holberg thus relates the fate of this able and uprightstatesman:--"After a long period of civil war and discord, the feudbetween King Birger and his brothers was at last accommodated, throughthe mediation of their mutual counsellors; but on the conclusion of thetreaty, the Swedish dukes did their utmost to bring Thorkild Knudseninto discredit with the king, to whom he was represented by them ashaving been the instigator of the disturbances which had prevailedthroughout the country, as well as having stirred up strife among themembers of the royal family, and as having abused the confidence of thecrown. King Birger, who was glad of any pretext for escaping the blamehe himself deserved, turned his back upon his faithful servant, andpermitted him to be brought to trial. Thorkild ably defended hisrightful cause, but his innocence and eloquence were of no avail. Hehad been marked out as a victim, was doomed to death as a traitor, andbeheaded at Stockholm in the year 1306. It was not without difficultythat his friends obtained permission to inter the body in consecratedground. Thorkild's treacherous foe, Drost Johan Brunke, continued hiscareer of political intrigue until the year 1318, when he and hispartizans were seized in the king's absence, by the opposite faction,and put to death. Brunke's body was exposed on the wheel on a hillwithout the city, which since that time has borne the name of Brunke'sHill." Vide _Holberg's Hist. of Denmark_, vol. i.--_Trans_.]
[Footnote 8: The subject of the ballad of Ribehuus is the taking of thecastle of Ribe, which had fallen into the hands of the outlaws duringthe minority of Eric, by a party of fifty loyal knights, headed byCount Gerhard and Drost Hessel. In the middle ages it was not unusualfor the knights to join in the public festivities of the burghers. Atone of these, the king's knights took the opportunity of joining adance by torch lights to be led according to usage through the streetsup to the castle. The ballad describes the long row of dancers, asbeing kept in a straight file by a chain of wreathed green leaves androses. Each knight held a lady in his left hand and a lighted torch inthe right, their drawn swords being carefully concealed under theirscarlet mantles. The castle bridge was lowered and the gates thrownopen to admit the dancers by permission of the commandant, who in a fewminutes found himself a prisoner, and the castle (which was whollyunprepared for the attack) in the hands of King Eric's adherents. Theballad concludes as follows;--
"Thus danced we into the castle hall, With unsheathed sword 'neath scarlet pall, The castle it is won! Ne'er saw I before a castle by chance, Won by rose-wreaths and the knightly dance, For young Eric the feat was done!"--_Translator_.]
[Footnote 9: Bohemia.]
[Footnote 10: Rosmer. An allusion to an old Danish ballad, the hero ofwhich is called "Rosmer the Merman."--_Translator_.]
London: Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.