elt joy Gustavus
accompanied them back, to begin at length the great work of freeing his
native land.

_THE FALL OF CHRISTIAN II. THE TYRANT._

It was in November, 1520, that Christian II. of Denmark was crowned king
of Sweden. Norway was his as well and he was monarch of the whole
Scandinavian world. He had reached the highest point in his career, but
so great had been his cruelty and treachery that all men feared and no
man trusted him and he was on the brink of a sudden and complete
overthrow. The man who had worn the crowns of three kingdoms was to spend
years within the narrow walls of a dungeon, with none to pity him in his
misery, but all to think that he deserved it all and more. Barely has
tyranny met with such retribution on earth, and the "Fall of the Tyrant"
will serve as a fitting title to an impressive tale.

So sudden and successful was the rebellion of the Swedes under Gustavus
Vasa, that in the summer of the year after the massacre in the Great
Square of Stockholm the Danes held only that city and a few other
strongholds in Sweden. One after another these fell, Calmar and Stockholm
in 1523, and in June of that year Gustavus was chosen king of the land
which his hand had freed. A young man still, he was at the beginning of a
great and glorious reign.

Before he became king, Christian, his great enemy, had ceased to reign.
He had shown the same inhuman spirit in Denmark and Norway as in Sweden
and had sown his whole dominion thick with enemies.

This is the way his fall was brought about. In 1522 he issued a code of
laws for Denmark of a wise and progressive character, especially in
freeing the peasantry from the slavish condition in which they had been
held, they before being open to purchase and sale like so many brute
animals. Christian declared that every man should be his own master and
took steps to limit the power and wealth of the clergy and to improve the
commerce of the kingdom.

These changes, while wise and important, were difficult to introduce
against the opposition of the lords and the clergy and needed the hand of
a prudent and judicious administrator. Such Christian was not. He
undertook them rashly and endeavored to enforce them by violence. Even
the people, whom the new laws so favored, were incensed by a great
increase in their taxes. No one trusted him; every one hated and feared
him. Even the monarchs of other countries detested him and would not aid
him in his extremi