had
been decoyed by the fulsome promises of their ruler into the trap which
he had laid. The noose was already tightening around their necks. Before
them, on the throne hallowed by memories of former rulers, sat their
tyrant, grim and lowering. Not a trace of mercy was visible in his
features. Through a long pause, awful in its uncertainty, they waited,
the cold sweat fast gathering on their brows. At length the pause was
ended. Archbishop Trolle, chuckling at the near prospect of his revenge,
stepped forward and addressed the throne. He began by portraying in
ardent language the sufferings he had undergone. He declared that the
cathedral at Upsala had been plundered while he was being besieged in
Staeket. He dwelt at great length on the wrong which had been done him in
the destruction of his castle. He drew attention to the conspiracy
entered into against him by certain of the magnates, and their united
oath never again to recognize him as archbishop. Finally, he denounced
the conspirators by name, and called upon the king to visit them with
the punishment which they deserved. At this Christina was summoned
before the throne and asked for an explanation of her husband's conduct.
She was at first struck dumb with terror; then, recovering herself, she
pleaded that her husband had been no more guilty than the other
conspirators, as would appear from the document which they all had
signed. Christiern, learning for the first time of this document,
demanded that it be produced. When this was done, and the king had
examined it to his heart's content, he gave it to his clerk to copy, and
called on each of the signers in turn to answer for his act. Christiern
with his Cabinet then withdrew, leaving the patriot leaders in the great
hall guarded by a body of Danish soldiers. At dusk two Danish officers
entered with lanterns, "like Judas Iscariot" says a contemporary, and
the doomed magnates were led out to the tower and thrown into prison to
await the morn. When day broke, Christiern ordered the trumpets sounded
and proclamation made that no citizen should leave his house. About noon
the condemned patriots were led from their dungeons to the Grand Square,
and huddled together beneath the platform on which they were to bleed.
The citizens had by this time been permitted to leave their houses and
had gathered around the foot of the scaffold, from which they were
addressed in soothing language by several of the Danish Cabinet, whose