ves, and what
they needed was a powerful protector to adjust their various disputes.
Later this need of a protector became still more urgent, when Germany
and France fell under different rulers, and the German Empire began to
be threatened by the monarchy across the Rhine. Rome, by reason of her
spiritual supremacy, was the arbiter to whom the northern nations
naturally turned, and she found ready recompense for her services in the
treasures poured generously into her lap. Such was the basis of the Holy
Roman Empire. But by the beginning of the sixteenth century all this had
changed. Germany was no longer weak. Her little principalities had
become cemented together under an emperor well able to repel every
invasion of the French. Society had made vast progress, not only in its
comforts, but in its demands. Rome, on the other hand, had lost her
prestige. In Italy, where the brutality and licentiousness of the popes
were open to every eye, people had long since lost all reverence for the
Church. This feeling did not spread readily across the Alps; but it came
at last, and at a moment when Germany no longer needed aid. A nation
guarded by the strong arm of Maximilian could ill brook new levies to
feed the extravagance of its decrepit ally, and the infamous practices
of Tetzel served as a timely pretext to shake off the burdensome
alliance of the papal see. The abuses of popery were little more than a
war-cry, while the real struggle of the Reformation was against the
political supremacy of Rome.

In Sweden, more than in almost any other land, the Reformation was a
political revolt. Indeed, it may well be called a political necessity.
At the moment when Gustavus Vasa was elected king, Sweden was on the
verge of bankruptcy. The war just passed had drained the resources of
the country, and left her heavily involved in debt. The principal
creditor was Lubeck. Precisely how much had been borrowed from that town
it is impossible to determine, though it is certain the total amount
fell not far short of 300,000 Swedish marks.[74] One payment of about
17,000 Swedish marks Gustavus had made in 1522.[75] This of course was a
mere drop in the bucket, and other devices were necessary to relieve the
general distress. One favorite device, to which allusion has been
already made, consisted in a debasement of the currency. That device,
however, had soon lost its savor, and the coin which in 1522 Gustavus
had issued for an oere and a half,