as
any living man, and shall do our utmost to promote the Christian faith."
Every one could see that this assertion was intended to persuade the
Dalesmen to pay the newly levied tax. As the effort proved without
avail, the monarch called a general diet to be held on the 9th of June,
the object being, as he declared, to put an end to the dissension that
had arisen in divine affairs. Later, the diet was postponed to June 15,
and, to appease the Dalesmen, was ordered to be held in Vesteras, a
city that was near their province.[153]

Before the day appointed for the diet, a long list of their grievances
was drawn up by the Dalesmen and sent to Stockholm to the king. To these
complaints Gustavus issued a reply, in which he strove to pacify the
malcontents and thus obtain their presence at the diet. The complaints
themselves are somewhat trivial, but the monarch's answer is important
as an instance of his peculiar power in avoiding discord without
directly compromising his affairs. To their murmur at the abolition of
the mint in Vesteras, and the scarcity of coins of small denominations,
he answered that the mint was closed because the mines adjacent were no
longer worked; so soon as the mines in question should be opened he
would reinstate the mint, and moreover he would please them by issuing
small coins. As to the complaint of heavy taxes, the Cabinet were
responsible for that. He would say, however, that he did not contemplate
any further tax. The practice of billeting in the towns and monasteries
was made necessary by the paucity of land about the royal castles, but
this necessity he hoped would not exist much longer. The charge of
reducing the number of monasteries and churches he denied. He had not
closed a single monastery except Gripsholm, which was the property of
his father and had been made a monastery against his father's will. To
the ludicrous charge that he was planning to restore Archbishop Trolle,
he made a flat denial. One thing, he said, was certain,--those who
favored Trolle favored Christiern; he could scarce be charged with that.
Finally, the Dalesmen complained of Luther's teachings, particularly the
doctrines that were taught in Stockholm and the practice of allowing
Swedish chants and hymns. To this he could say only that he had ordered
nothing to be preached except the Word of God; and as to Swedish chants,
he could see no reason for punishing in Stockholm what was permitted in
all other portions of