ader with courage
to summon them to arms, and with perseverance to keep them in the
field. Possessing these traits beyond all others, Gustavus called his
people forth to war, and finally brought them through the war to
victory. This revolution extended over a period of seven years,--from
the uprising of the Dalesmen in 1521 to the coronation of Gustavus in
1528. It is a period that should be of interest, not only to the student
of history, but also to the lover of romance. In order to render the
exact nature of the struggle clear, I have begun the narrative at a time
considerably before the revolution, though I have not entered deeply
into details till the beginning of the war in 1521. By the middle of the
year 1523, when Gustavus was elected king, actual warfare had nearly
ceased, and the scenes of the drama change from the battle-field to the
legislative chamber. In this period occurred the crowning act of the
revolution; namely, the banishment of the Romish Church and clergy.

The history of the Swedish Revolution has never before been written in
the English language. Even Gustavus Vasa is but little known outside his
native land. Doubtless this is due in large measure to the difficulties
which beset a study of the period. It is not a period to which the
student of literature can turn with joy. One who would know Gustavus
well must traverse a vast desert of dreary reading, and pore over many
volumes of verbose despatches before he can find a drop of moisture to
relieve the arid soil. Sweden in the early part of the sixteenth century
was not fertile in literary men. Gustavus himself, judged by any
rational standard, was an abominable writer. His despatches are in
number almost endless and in length appalling. Page after page he runs
on, seemingly with no other object than to use up time. Often a document
covers four folios, which might easily have been compressed into a
single sentence. Such was the habit of the age. A simple letter from a
man to his wife consisted mainly of a mass of stereotyped expressions of
respect. Language was used apparently to conceal vacuity of mind. Toward
the close of the monarch's reign there was a marked improvement in
literary style, and some few works of that period possess real worth.
These have recently been printed, and as a rule have been edited with
considerable care. The king's despatches are also being systematically
printed by the authorities of the Royal Archives at Stockholm, a