emporaries. But he would do things his own way; and deeply
distrusting the Danish nobles with whom he shared his powers, he sought
helpers from among the wealthy and practical middle classes of Flanders.
In June 1521 he paid a sudden visit to the Low Countries, and remained
there for some months. He visited most of the large cities, took into
his service many Flemish artisans, and made the personal acquaintance of
Quentin Matsys and Albrecht Duerer, the latter of whom painted his
portrait. Christian also entertained Erasmus, with whom he discussed the
Reformation, and let fall the characteristic expression: "Mild measures
are of no use; the remedies that give the whole body a good shaking are
the best and surest."

Never had King Christian seemed so powerful as on his return to Denmark
on the 5th of September 1521, and with the confidence of strength he at
once proceeded recklessly to inaugurate the most sweeping reforms. Soon
after his return he issued his great _Landelove_, or Code of Laws. For
the most part this is founded on Dutch models, and testifies in a high
degree to the king's progressive aims. Provision was made for the better
education of the lower, and the restriction of the political influence
of the higher clergy; there were stern prohibitions against wreckers
and "the evil and unchristian practice of selling peasants as if they
were brute beasts"; the old trade gilds were retained, but the rules of
admittance thereto made easier, and trade combinations of the richer
burghers, to the detriment of the smaller tradesmen, were sternly
forbidden. Unfortunately these reforms, excellent in themselves,
suggested the standpoint not of an elected ruler, but of a monarch by
right divine. Some of them were even in direct contravention of the
charter; and the old Scandinavian spirit of independence was deeply
wounded by the preference given to the Dutch. Sweden too was now in open
revolt; and both Norway and Denmark were taxed to the uttermost to raise
an army for the subjection of the sister kingdom. Foreign complications
were now superadded to these domestic troubles. With the laudable object
of releasing Danish trade from the grinding yoke of the Hansa, and
making Copenhagen the great emporium of the north, Christian had
arbitrarily raised the Sound tolls and seized a number of Dutch ships
which presumed to evade the tax. Thus his relations with the Netherlands
were strained, while with Luebeck and her allies he wa