Geijer, _Geschichte Schwedens_, ii. p. 58.
Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 303. Seckendorf, _Hist. Luther_, p. 835.
Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, pp. 11-13.
‘Sie entfärbten sich, zeigten ihre Bitterkeit im Gesichte,’ &c.—Schinmeier, _Lebensbeschreibungen_, p. 69. Gerdesius, _Ann._ iii. p. 305. Geijer, ii. p. 60.
[Sidenote: Secret Meeting Of The Bishops.]
The bishops and the rest of the ecclesiastics went out of the castle disquieted, fretful, indignant, and determined to resist the designs of the king with all their might. Consequently they arranged to meet secretly early in the morning of the following day, in the church of St. Egidius. They got there by stealth without being perceived, and concealed themselves in the remotest corner of the church, and there, beneath its vaults, began the conventicle of the priests. ‘What can be the motive,’ they asked each other, ‘of the scandalous affront to which the king subjected us in the presence of all the states of the kingdom?’ Bishop Brask, as suffragan of the primate, absent at the time, spoke: ‘The unworthy proceeding of which we have been the victims is assuredly the cover of detestable schemes. But the king cleverly dissembles his intentions. He is surrounded by men tainted with Lutheranism, and they flatter and mislead him. He means to take away from the clergy their privileges, their liberties, and their possessions, and to add strength to heresy. Under the specious title of defender of the country, he usurps absolute authority; and unless we oppose his projects, we shall find ourselves despoiled of our castles and fortresses, and of the share which we have in the government of the kingdom. How can I tell that we shall not be deprived likewise of our religion?‘[444] The bishop of Strengnaes in vain represented to his colleagues that they ought not to provoke so great a prince, who had won by his own merit the love of all Sweden: in vain did he declare that for his own part he was quite ready to surrender his strong castle. Brask, inflamed with wrath, exclaimed, ‘Do you assume to dispose of the possessions of the Church as if they were your own patrimony? Will you deliver them up to a heretical prince? You talk like a courtier rather than like a bishop.’ Then cursing the king, he declared that resistance must be offered, and even by force, if the law should be powerless. ‘We must bethink ourselves,’ he said, ‘of the oath which we took at our consecration. Let us act with a vigor truly episcopal. It is better that we should lose court favor by our courage than gain it by our feebleness!’ Those present then exclaimed, ‘We swear to defend the privileges of the clergy, and to extirpate heresy.’ This oath was not sufficient. The energetic bishop of Linkoping demanded that an engagement should be made in writing; and he drew up a declaration, which they all signed. They swore to keep the secret; and lest the document should fall into the hands of the king, they concealed it under a tombstone in the church, and there it was found fifteen years later. This proceeding ended, the conspirators went clandestinely out of the church as they had gone in, and made preparation for the Reichstag.