The state of feverish anxiety into which Aagé had been thrown, had called the colour into his cheek, and restored the appearance of health to his countenance. In the spacious apartment appropriated to the female inmates of the castle, where strangers were received, and where the household assembled on holidays before divine service, Aagé and Master Petrus were received by the aged mistress of the castle, who herself presented the guests their warm morning drink in cups of polished silver. At a large round table in the middle of the apartment, which was covered with a white fringed woollen table-cloth, sat the two German minstrels, with the smoking cups before them, in pleasant converse with the ladies. Ulrica questioned them, with curiosity, of their visits to foreign princes, in whose praise and exaltation Master Rumelant was as inexhaustible as he was unwearied in reckoning up all the honour he had gained by his lays with these "excellent lords, his august and most gracious patrons."
Margaretha also took part in the conversation with the strangers; but she was more modest in her queries. She was much more interested in their art than in the good fortune they had sought and obtained by it from the great. The solemn Master Poppé favoured her with a detailed account of the genius and lays of the famous Minnésingers, whose most flourishing period Master Poppé asserted could only be supposed by the ignorant to have passed away. He affirmed, on the contrary, that the noble art of minstrelsy had only now for the first time fully developed itself on higher themes,--in the praise of moral truth and seraphic beauty. Minstrels no longer repeated the monotonous praises of verdant May, or of the beauty of earthly females and vain loves, but now in the same, or even in a more regular measure, sang moral or religious themes and important theological dogmas. He could not, however, deny that the ancient love songs possessed a degree of pathos and animation which even his good friends Master Henrick Frauenlob and a certain Master Regenbogen, as well as the famous schoolmaster of Esslingen, with all their learning, vainly strove to attain. Meanwhile he deemed it very fortunate that, as princes and emperors no longer, as in former times, devoted themselves to the noble art of minstrelsy, now cultivated chiefly by the honest burgher class, there still were lords and princes, like the King of Denmark, to honour and encourage the art, and that the minstrel's lay yet resounded in knightly halls and in the apartments of noble ladies. He lauded the poetic spirit of the chivalrous poetry of Denmark, but still considered it, as well as the love songs, too vain and worldly; a charge which Margaretha took much to heart, although she readily admitted to the learned minstrel, that all the Danish ballads she knew and admired treated of love adventures; not a single one on scriptural or theological subjects.
When Drost Aagé entered the ladies' apartment, Margaretha rose to return his greeting, and observed, with some uneasiness, that he had thrown aside his sling. Her attention to Master Poppé's discourse was at an end, and she entreated him to excuse, that she, as an attendant on a wounded patient, had an occupation which could not be postponed. "Pardon me, Sir Drost!" she said to Aagé, and pointed to his unswathed arm. "This is not according to agreement; yet you seem to have the use of your arm," she added, when she perceived how easily he moved it. "The wound is healed in some sort. With caution you may use it, in moderation. But the stiff neck bandage----"
"That I shall wear in remembrance of you, until we meet again, noble maiden!" answered Aagé; "although I almost think it might be dispensed with. Within an hour I must leave the castle. That I am able to do so I owe to your skill and unwearied care. I think soon to see my noble master the king," he added, in a low voice, as he drew her to a recess in the window fronting the castle garden; "but the suitable time for effecting any thing towards your liberation is, alas! hardly come as yet."
"We ask no clemency from our earthly judges, but only that which is just and reasonable," answered Margaretha, with calm seriousness. "I should have thought all times were equally convenient to a good sovereign for hearing the justification of the innocent."
"It would grieve me deeply, noble Lady Margaretha!" said Aagé, "if my just-intentioned sovereign were for a moment to seem unjust in your eyes; but your case now appears dark and intricate to those who are not, as I am, acquainted with your pious sentiments and admirable conduct. It is known that the traitorous squire Kaggé was in your company--your unfortunate confidence in that miscreant brought suspicion on your innocence, and places you under a cloud; but, by the living Lord! I will justify you. If earthly justice is blind, the judgment of Heaven and my knightly sword shall surely open her eyes!"
"No, dear Drost!" exclaimed Margaretha, half alarmed; "if you will peril your precious life in any cause, let it be in that higher and more important one to which you have dedicated it, but not for the fate of two insignificant captives. To suffer injustice is, besides, surely not the greatest misfortune," she added, with a look of mildness and love, as she raised her long-fringed eyelids, and gazed through the window panes up to the clear heavens. "Do not hasten rashly for our sake; we will willingly wait for the Lord and for his appointed hour. When we think but on the injustice our Lord suffered for our sakes, we may surely bear our little cross throughout a short life for his sake. The blessing of Heaven be with you, noble Drost Aagé!" she continued; "heartfelt thanks for the kindness with which you have rendered our captivity imperceptible. We shall miss you very much. I shall, no doubt, forget how to play at chess; but what we have spoken together at the chessboard I can never forget. The sweet ballads you taught me I shall also remember; and when we maidens talk of Florez and Blantseflor, we will remember you also, and the quiet evenings by the hearth here, and all the beautiful tales of chivalry you told us. If the king comes hither in the spring, as they say, you will surely come with him?"
"Perhaps," answered Aagé; "at any rate I will please myself with that hope. But where the king or his true knights will be in the spring it hardly lies in his power to determine, noble maiden. It is a dangerous and troublous time. May the Lord order all things for us for the best!"
"He will do so assuredly, and always, dear Drost!" said Margaretha, in a confiding and friendly tone, as she laid her hand on his right arm, which rested on the casement of the large window. "Even that which seems worst and most unfortunate to us turns out at last to be the best, if no sin be in it. This captivity, which a few weeks back appeared so terrible to me, hath notwithstanding been the happiest time I have passed since my father and mother died."
"Sweet Margaretha!" whispered Aagé, with subdued fervour, laying his left hand on hers, which still rested upon his right arm; "dare I hope I have the smallest share in that heavenly peace and joy which I daily see beaming from your meek and loving eyes? Your hope and peace are doubtless drawn from the fountain of Eternal Life; such joys come not to you from any human source."
"In every noble and pious heart assuredly there shines a ray from yon source of Eternal Life!" answered Margaretha; "though its deepest source be hid in the heart of the Redeemer, which bled for our sakes, that it might include every soul in its unfathomable depths of grace and commiserating love."
"Most precious of beings!" exclaimed Aagé, with overflowing emotion; "dare I hope that which I dare not utter?" He paused; then added, in a calmer tone, "Will you, then, really miss me at times, and sing the songs I taught you?"
"Indeed, indeed I will--but the stranger guest would talk with you, Sir Drost!" interrupted Margaretha, hastily, and blushing as she withdrew her hand. "As I told you," she added aloud, as she stepped forward with Aagé out of the recess, and vainly sought to hide her bashfulness and confusion; "the bandage round your neck you must keep on, and the sling to support your arm."
"If it is convenient to you. Sir Drost!" said Master Petrus, who had modestly approached, without interrupting his conversation with the fair maiden, "we might now perhaps conclude our affairs in your private chamber."
"I will attend you instantly, venerable Sir! Permit me but a parting word to the noble and hospitable hostess."
"And to me also, surely, Sir Drost! although we have never been exactly able to agree?" interrupted Ulrica, rising from the table, where Master Rumelant's panegyrics on his excellent lords and Mecænases already began to weary her.
After many reciprocal expressions of courtesy, which, however, were not wanting in sincerity and heartfelt goodwill, the Drost left the ladies' apartment with Master Petrus; but the object on which his eye lingered the longest was the fair Lady Margaretha. As it rang for mass in Vordingborg town, Drost Aagé, clad in complete armour, rode out of the castle gate at the head of two thirds of the garrison of the fortress. At the same time the lady of the castle drove to church with the two captive maidens. At the cross-road before the fortress Drost Aagé once more turned round and saluted the ladies in the car. He observed with pleasure a white veil waving from the car in the meek Margaretha's hand. The car was followed to church by Sir Ribolt, accompanied by the three strangers on horseback.
"Whither goes the Drost, with all those men-at-arms, Sir Ribolt?" asked Ulrica, inquisitively, as she put her head out of the car; "there is surely neither war nor rebellion here?"
"They go but to rid the land of the outlaws and other vagabonds," answered Sir Ribolt. "The assassin who attacked the Drost it seems hath been taken already," he added, in a careless tone, without recollecting the connection of the captive maidens with these turbulent and hated characters, and without remarking that the lively querist turned pale.
"What ails thee, sweet child? Canst thou not endure to sit backward?" asked the watchful mistress of the castle. "Come, change places with me; I can bear it."
"Ah, let me sit quiet!" sighed Ulrica, drawing her veil over her face. "Margaretha! Margaretha!" she whispered, clinging to her sister; "my dream! my dream! He is taken! His life is in peril!"
"Hush! hush! dearest sister!" whispered Margaretha; "it is but a rumour. We will now pray for him and for all sinful souls. See,--the blessed Lord still permits his mild sun to shine upon us all."
The car rolled past a troop of richly attired burghers on their way to church, who greeted the ladies with courtesy. Ulrica recovered herself, and nodded to them with a consequential air. They whispered together, and she conjectured that their talk was, doubtless, of her beauty and supposed high birth.
It was past midnight when Drost Aagé, with his troop of horsemen, drew near the Issefiord near Holbek. The weather was calm and frosty, the snow sparkled in the starlight winter night, the marshes and all the pools by the road side were frozen, but the ford was still open and passable. Holbek rather resembled a ruin than a town; instead of houses, there were now chiefly to be seen single walls and solitary hearths. Five years before the town had been plundered and nearly burnt down by the Norwegian fleet, in the feud with Marsk Stig and the outlaws. Some small houses, however, had been rebuilt. The church and the monastery of the Gray Friars stood unscathed, as well as the castle, which had been lately put in good repair by Junker Christopher, and which, it appeared, he now intended, despite the king's prohibition, to make as strong a fortress as Kallundborg.
By Aagé's side rode an elderly captain of horse, Sir Ribolt's brother, a silent, serious personage, whom the Drost informed by the way of what was here to be attempted. When they approached the town they halted, and had their horses rubbed down, while each horseman received his separate directions. They then rode slowly, and as quietly as possible, through the snow-covered streets of the town, and past the monastery, where all lay in profound slumber. At the castle also the inmates seemed to be reposing in the greatest calmness and security; even the warders on the battlements were asleep. They examined the castle narrowly on every side. There was not a light to be seen in the whole of the upper story; it was only from the knights' hall, opposite the ford, that a faint light gleamed from a window; and at the quay behind the castle lay a boat with a red sail, from which glimmered the light of a horn lantern. On the quay a fat knight, wrapped in a fox-skin pelisse, paced up and down, apparently waiting for some one; he often yawned, and rubbed his hands, while he looked up impatiently at the window from whence gleamed the solitary light. A rough-looking, one-eyed fellow, with a hideous and bloated visage, lay half asleep on the rampart.
"If thou fallest asleep, and drop'st into the ford, Kyste! thou wilt cheat the rope-maker of an hempen cord," said the fat knight, and laughed at his own wit.
"Ha, indeed! think ye the halter is so sure of me. Sir Pallé?" muttered the fellow; "you may well crack your jests, you are neither made to be drowned nor hanged; with your round carcass, you would swim like an ale barrel, and he who would hang you must risk his own neck."
"Well," answered Pallé, yawning, "mine is a very politic shape; thou and thy daring masters might need such an one. But what the devil has become of them? They are wrangling and consulting a confounded time together."
"It concerns high play, though, Sir Pallé," muttered the man, flapping his arms around his body to keep himself warm. "Had I but a good can of German ale at my side, of a surety I would keep my eyes open."
"If thou canst keep one eye open it deserves all honour, since thou hast not more by thee," jested the knight. "But what the devil is the junker about?" he continued, "to set me to watch here in frost and cold while he consults on weighty matters in his warm private chamber! Me, his right hand, and let into all his secrets! But tell me, Kyste, what means this secret nightly visit? The proud Niels Brock and Johan Papé I well know; they are two limbs of Satan, and I can easily divine what they would be at; but who was the third stranger thou broughtest hither,--yon little fellow, with the hump and the red mantle?"
"It is the Evil One himself, I almost believe," answered the deserter, and crossed himself; "a wizard at the least. I will be hanged if he understands not the black art. They call him wise Master Thrand; he has been condemned to fire and stake by the pope, and banished both by kings and emperors; but he snaps his fingers at them all--he laughs at the world's governors and rulers, and cares not for our Lord or our Lady, either, when he is on the seas. If he is right, then are we all fools together in Christendom, and should obey none other than him our master, who is within us and in all things; but that passes my understanding. He can be pious too when it serves his turn. I saw that when he kissed the archbishop's hand at parting, and took the letter of absolution, which truly he afterwards cast overboard--he is a good friend of Niels Brock, and can make gold, they say."
"Then would he might teach us and the junker that art!" said Pallé; "then it were sin should he be burned for a little touch of heresy--for that he will one day burn in the other world. But tell me, Kyste, if thou and thy masters come from Hammershuus, from the archbishop, how darest thou appear before the junker? The archbishop hath given him over, as well as the king, to the devil; and I must needs admit the junker hath been worse to him than ten devils."
"That's the great folks' business," answered Kyste. "I serve the man who pays best, and ask not of aught besides--had I known the archbishop brought not so much as a mark with him, and should lose all he expected from Skaane, the devil take me if I would have perilled my life for his sake."
"You had a rough passage, then, with him from Sjöborg?"
"Yes, you may well say that;--we were hard put to it ere we got him housed. We were obliged to run in under Hveen; and we lay with our life in our hands a whole day and two nights at Saltholm.--They were chasing us every where with barks and those confounded fishing smacks; but the fog and the bishop's prayers helped us that once. We sailed, in peril of our lives, in a howling storm, to Kaasebjerg, and by the time we reached Hammershuus we were half perished with cold and hunger; and what got we for our pains? Mad Morten the cook got a bishop's letter for a pilgrimage. I and Olé Ark got a dry blessing with three wizened fingers, and a fresh absolution for ten years' sins. It may have its use;--I never slight God's gifts; but such like gifts help little to fill purse and stomach. Of course," he added, "we have now leave to seek our bread where we can find it, and plunder our Lord's and the archbishop's enemies till our dying day, without having a hair singed in purgatory for it; but----"
"Content thyself, Kyste; it will be a livelihood, nevertheless," interrupted Pallé. "But if thy new masters side with the archbishop I cannot imagine what the devil they want here--the junker and the archbishop agree together like cat and dog."
"As I said, that's the great folks' business," answered the deserter. "What they have plotted with the archbishop at Hammershuus I can't tell; but could they patch up an agreement for the junker with Master Grand, and get the ban done away, he would have nought against it, I trow; and one service is as good as the other. If the junker gets into a scrape with the king, he will need a prop; and if the king goes to the wall, the junker perhaps will get uppermost, and may help his friends again. But that concerns not me; matters may turn out as the foul fiend pleases for aught I care, so long as there are good oars to be had, and something to lay one's hands on. But what was that noise? Heard ye not horses tramp on the other side of the castle?"
"Dream'st thou, Kyste? Who would visit the castle so late?" said Pallé, listening anxiously.
"Here I have my masters. Now any one may come that Satan pleases," said the deserter, and ran towards the vessel.
Two tall men, in ample grey mantles, and with hoods over their heads, accompanied by a little hump-backed personage, in a red cloak, came forth from a secret door in the castle wall, and passed over a small drawbridge which was let down over the outer castle moat. They hasted down to the quay, where they greeted Sir Pallé by a silent nod, and, without uttering a word, entered the vessel, which instantly pushed off from the shore, and set sail. Sir Pallé shook his head thoughtfully, and looked after them as he listened, and thought he heard a distant noise of arms and horses' hoofs without the castle gate. He hasted over the small drawbridge before which he had stood on guard, and drew it up hastily behind him. He then passed quickly through the private door into the castle.
On the opposite side of the outer fortification stood Drost Aagé with his horsemen, who, according to his orders, had led their horses slowly, and one at a time, over the half-completed drawbridge, which as yet could not be drawn up. The strongly secured castle gate was shut, and they had knocked several times, apparently without being heard by any one. "Who is there?" at last said a drowsy voice from the battlement over the gate. It was the watchman or warder of the castle, who now stood up, with a long spear in the one hand, and an alarm horn in the other.
"Sleep'st thou at thy post, watch?" called Aagé, in a stern tone; "seest thou not it is the king's men who would enter? Haste! let the porter open to us instantly.--This is the new garrison."
"New garrison! That know we nought of here," muttered the warder. "I shall have to blow the horn, then, as the junker hath commanded."
"A single sound costs thee thy life, fellow!" menaced the Drost. "Where the king himself commands no junker hath a word to say."
"The Lord bless you, if that be true, noble sir!" said the warder, joyfully; "I shall then not have to ride the wooden horse to-morrow because I slept?"
"Haste thee! or we force the gates."--To Aagé's surprise, the castle gate was opened without demur in a few minutes. The troop presently filled the castle yard. Guards were immediately stationed at all the entrances, as well as on the towers and the battlements on the wall surrounding the fortress. This was done hastily, and with as little noise as possible. The sound of so many horses' hoofs and clashing weapons had, notwithstanding, awakened all the inhabitants of the castle, who peeped in dismay out of the windows and loopholes, ignorant into whose hands it had fallen. But the Drost now ordered three trumpeters to call together all the unarmed household servants, with all the men-at-arms in the castle. He announced to the warder and the household, in the king's name, that they were released from their duties here in the junker's service; and that the king for the present had taken possession of the castle himself. Those who would enter his service, and swear fealty to him, might remain; the rest were at liberty to withdraw, and serve the junker at his other castles and estates. On hearing this proclamation fear was suddenly changed into general rejoicing, "Long live the king!" re-echoed from mouth to mouth. There was not a single domestic who hesitated to change masters; and many expressions and exclamations were heard which showed how little Junker Christopher had understood to win the good will of his dependants. As soon as the new force had garrisoned all the posts, Drost Aagé, with the remainder of his troop, entered the castle. The steward was the first person who appeared. He was a taciturn personage, of short stature, with a half German accent. He delivered the keys of the castle to the Drost, and seemed to share in the general satisfaction; but as soon as he had installed his unexpected guests he vanished, and did not again make his appearance.
Ere the day had dawned, Drost Aagé was again on horseback, and, with the half of his troop of horse, quitted Holbek castle, and took the road to Kallundborg. Sir Ribolt's brother remained as commandant, with strict orders not to open the gates to any one, or give up the castle to the junker, ere he had the king's warrant and seal for so doing.
"Sir Drost," said an old horseman, as they rode out of the still slumbering town, amid its ruins and deserted sites, "was it then your own order that we might not stop any one who would out of the castle; and that none, under pain of death, might lift a hand against the high-born junker, if he was on the spot?"
"That was the king's command to us all," answered the Drost.
"Then I now know that I was right, even though I did let rogues and traitors slink off," continued the horseman. "I stood on guard at the gate of the back court. Sir Drost, and I saw three men in disguise lead their horses out of the stable. They disappeared through the rampart gate close to the ford, and the Lord only knows what became of them. My comrades thought we should have stopped and seized them, for they stole so strangely away, and looked around them on all sides; but I said, 'No! it is a criminal act if we touch them,' and we let them 'scape. The one was assuredly the little German who was forced to give you the keys; the other was a fat fellow, who could hardly waddle away; but the third was a tall stern man; he swore, and laid about him, at every step. I could almost take my oath it was the junker himself. He was hardly twelve paces from me when he caught a sight of me, and shyed off, as it were.--He led his horse over the dunghill, that he might not come too near us, I suppose; but then the hood fell back from his neck, and I saw the long black hair you know of; it is as rough as a horse-tail. No one in the country has such dark unsightly hair as the junker. But, as I say, we let him go, and budged not from the spot.--The king himself will know how to chastise him, thought I."
"Good!" exclaimed the Drost; "thou hast behaved as was thy duty--as to the rest, what is between the king and his brother concerns not us, and still less whether the junker's hair be fine or coarse." He then spurred his horse, and proceeded at a brisk trot, without stopping.
Ere Drost Aagé, with his horsemen, reached Kallundborg, the king approached the town, with the greater part of his chivalry, and a more numerous troop of horsemen and spearmen than he was ever wont to take with him when about to visit his vassals or one of his castles. It was noon. The horses foamed with hard riding. The troop halted at St. George's Hospital, upon the high hill just without the town.
The report of the king's arrival had preceded him. It had excited great alarm in the whole neighbourhood, and had especially thrown the burghers of Kallundborg into a state of anxious suspense. Their devotion to the king, and fear of his wrath, placed them in a most dangerous position with regard to their stern deputed master, Junker Christopher, and his warlike commandant at the castle. Disquieting and contradictory reports respecting a difference between the king and his brother had already for some time been in circulation, but no one knew the real state of the case. As Lord of Samsöe, Holbek, and Kallundborg, Junker Christopher exercised an almost royal authority wherever he had troops and fortresses under his command. Latterly he had been often seen in Kallundborg, where he had assembled a considerable garrison at the castle, and, to the dismay of the burghers, had put the fortifications opposite the town and the land side into such a state of defence as if the breaking out of a dangerous civil war might daily be expected. Some weeks back admittance had been refused at the castle to Marsk Oluffsen, who, with a small troop of men-at-arms, had demanded to enter in the king's name. From this refractoriness towards a royal ambassador it was thought the most serious results were now to be apprehended. The prince himself went night and day to and from Kallundborg; now with a large armed train on horseback, and now by sea with the armed vessels which constantly plied between Samsöe and Kallundborg, and conveyed both men-at-arms and provisions to the fortress. No one knew whether Junker Christopher was personally present at the castle at the time when the report of the king's arrival threw the whole town into commotion; but it was observed with dismay that the drawbridge was raised, and that serious preparations were making to repel an attack.
The king halted at the head of his numerous train on the hill, and caused his white steed to be rubbed down while he looked down thoughtfully upon town and castle. At his right hand was the brave young Margrave Waldemar of Brandenborg, who had deferred his homeward journey, and accompanied the king on this expedition, to take leave of his good friend Junker Christopher, and, if possible, to avert the storm which menaced him. At the king's left hand was seen his energetic general, Count Henrik of Mecklenborg, who now, next to Drost Aagé, seemed the king's most confidential friend. The troops watered their horses at the pond by the chapel of the Holy Cross. All the cripples of St. George's Hospital came out to see the king, and the numerous fraternity of St. George, or demi-ecclesiastical attendants on the sick, vied with each other in offering refreshments to him and his train. The thronging and curious crowd kept, however, at a respectful distance from the king and the two stranger lords.
"Your grace will find the whole is some absurd mistake," said the young margrave, in a light and careless tone, as he sprang off his horse, and adjusted his rich attire. "At all events, it is assuredly nothing more than a mistaken sense of honour in the junker, or rather in his commandant here, and the brave Marsk Oluffsen; that excellent man hath an altogether peculiar talent of offending every one, without dreaming of doing so himself. That you must yourself have observed. Such persons one can but employ to plague both friend and foe. I am fond of being mediator between kinsmen and kind friends," he continued, gaily--"there is nothing like drinking to a reconciliation after every quarrel, and then all goes on merrily.--I know the junker's wine cellar at the castle here; it is almost better than any prior's; if he willed not to open it to your sharp spoken Marsk, he hath perhaps but wished to reserve it for dearer guests."
"The Lord grant we may have come hither to a friendly feast, Sir Margrave!" answered the king, solemnly, and in a low tone, while his gaze dwelt on the beautiful winter landscape which lay outstretched before him. The sun beamed brightly on ford and town. The castle rose proudly, with its round towers and high battlements, behind the shining copper roof of the Franciscan monastery. Esbern Snaré's five Gothic church spires pointed boldly towards the heavens from the ancient church of St. Mary, while furthermost, and near the ford, the sea tower proudly reared its head. "If my brother can justify himself," continued the king, "he will surely now not shun my sight, but come to greet me according to duty and fealty."
"But he surely expects you not--he is perhaps out hunting, or roving from one domain to another," said the margrave. "The noble junker's blood is thick.--I have counselled him to be ever on the move, in order to drive away melancholy fancies. I have often deplored that his magnanimous hankering after action and distinction hath as yet no decided object, and so often disturbs the balance of his princely mind, giving occasion to even his nearest friends and kindred to misjudge him."
"If I see aright, noble king!" said Count Henrik, shading his eyes with his hand from the sunshine, "yonder comes a crowd of people towards us from the town. It must be the burghers, who would show you their loyalty and devotion."
"Hum! they were also leagued against the Marsk," said the king. "The people are loyal to me personally--this I know, that were I to pass through the country as a leprous beggar, no burgher or peasant would shut his door upon me. In the eyes of many, no doubt, I seem a leper, since the bishop's ban," he added; "yet I am every where met with affection. It is only my brother who turns his back upon me, and refuses me obedience in this time of need."
"The noble junker is surely not here," resumed the margrave, "or he would certainly never delay to crave your pardon for his commandant's rashness, and to lead us to his well-appointed table--he hath put the fortifications of the castle in excellent repair, I perceive--were I in your grace's place I would thank him for that," he continued. "Kallundborg is an important spot in time of war, and a good harbour for your fleet."
"For that very reason no vassal should presume to shut the castle on the lawful ruler of the land, or his generalissimo," answered the king. "I cannot but commend your endeavours to excuse my erring brother, Sir Margrave," he added, abruptly; "and be assured, if he can be acquitted,--if he can only give me his princely word that he hath had no share in this contumacy,---he needs not that a stranger should plead for him, where a brother is his liege and judge."
The margrave bowed courteously, and was silent, while he passed his hand over his brow, and appeared desirous to hide a look of annoyance.
"Will your grace speak to the burghers now?" asked Count Henrik; "they seem timidly waiting for permission to approach you."
"They have it of course, count; let them come hither."
Count Henrik rode to meet the lingering burgher crowd, and soon returned to the king, accompanied by the burgomaster, and twelve of the oldest burghers of the town, who, clad in their holiday attire, and with their heads uncovered, reverently greeted their sovereign. After several salutations, the burgomaster somewhat bashfully and humbly began his address. "Most mighty liege and sovereign! your grace's august presence--this poor town's joy at seeing your most royal grace----"
"Is not very great," interrupted the king; "say it out at once, burgomaster, and speak without a long-winded preamble! You fear there may be bounds to my most royal grace this time, and that I mean to call you to strict account for the reception my Marsk hath met with here."
"Your princely brother, our strict master, the junker, had ordered his commandant at the castle"--stammered the burgomaster.
"I speak not now of what he hath or hath not commanded his servants," interrupted the king. "Such contumacy he himself, or his commandant, shall answer for. But who enjoined you to refuse obedience to my ambassadors?"
"The commandant, in the junker's name, and in your own, my liege," answered the burgomaster--"although we could not consider the behest as lawful, or obey it, when the Marsk, with your authority, enjoined us the reverse, after a short demur, what he demanded was even granted him, and his people, though it came to cost us all dear."
"What!" interrupted the king, with vehemence, "have ye since been chastised because you obeyed my orders?"
"We complain not, my liege, and least of all of your august kindred, and the ruler you have given us--whatever injustice we have suffered is but trifling, in comparison of our sorrow and shame if we have brought upon us the displeasure of our noble liege and sovereign."
"You have suffered injustice for your loyalty to me--could I then be wroth with you, brave burghers?" said the king, with sudden emotion. "By all the holy men! were I so, I should not longer deserve one loyal and devoted heart among ye. The injustice ye have suffered shall be atoned for--we are come hither to call to account for what here hath been done--where is the junker?"
"We know not, most mighty king!"
"Where is his commandant, then? Why comes he not hither to receive us?"
"He affirms he hath received commands, my liege, which are so hard to believe that we dare not name them."
"What! Who dares command here when I am present?" exclaimed the king, with vehemence. "Yet, no; it is impossible," he added, more calmly, and restrained his impatience. "The man must be sick or mad. Ride to the castle, Count Henrik, and announce my coming! I will stay the night here with my knights and an hundred men--you will care for the rest of the men-at-arms, burgomaster!"
Count Henrik was instantly in motion, and rode down with a small train towards the castle.
"Mighty king!" resumed the burgomaster, in a timid tone; "my life, and the lives and property of my fellow burghers are at your service and the country's; but be not wrath with us, my liege, for what it lay not in our power to hinder! The castle gate is locked, the draw-bridge raised, men-at-arms and balista are posted on the outer walls, and the commandant hath announced to us that he hath orders to fire the town with burning stones within twenty-four hours from the moment it is beleaguered by your men-at-arms."
"Doth he rave?" exclaimed the king. "Well, then, away with all grace and mercy--we will see who is master here.--To horse, my men! You stand under our royal protection, brave burghers!" he said to the burgomaster and elders of the town. "If a straw is scorched over your heads for my sake it shall dearly be atoned for! Every rebel and traitor I will strictly punish, however high he may carry his head."
"Honour to the king! to Eric, the youthful king!" shouted the burgomaster, waving his hat; and this well known acclamation (derived from a national ballad) was re-echoed by the whole burgher troop, amid the waving of caps and hats.
"Now place, good people!" ordered the king, reining in his steed. "I will see who dares to lock the gate through which we would enter."
"Permit me to detain your grace one moment," said the Margrave of Brandenborg, who had again vaulted into his saddle, and now rode hastily up to the king, with his head uncovered. "Ere you take any compulsory step, I wish, as an impartial friend both of yours and your princely brother, to have a minute's conversation with you without witnesses."
"Well, that shall not be denied you. Sir Margrave--Aside, my friends!"
All withdrew to some distance and the margrave remained in the same respectful attitude, with his high-plumed hat in his hand. "Your noble brother hath honoured me with a confidence and friendship which makes it my duty to plead his cause in his absence--what hath already been done, and hereafter may be done, against your will, hath undoubtedly the appearance of contumacy and treason: but it is impossible it should be according to your noble brother's wish or order, for that,--(pardon me this expression,)--for that I count him to be at least too wise. Of our inmost heart and mind, He who knoweth the heart of man alone can judge--I will stand security for Prince Christopher in this matter, until he can stand forth in person before you to justify himself. I offer my services to seek him out, and bring him to you. He must certainly be at Holbek castle, or at Samsöe--Will you promise me so long to delay every compulsory measure, and at the utmost only to beleaguer the castle?"
"Well, Sir Margrave! for twenty-four hours I will await him, but not an hour longer. Till to-morrow at this time I will restrain my just wrath, and with sheathed sword wait without the gate which hath been presumptuously shut before mine eyes. But ere I hear another ave from the pious Franciscans here--the castle shall be in my power; that I vow, by all the holy men! as surely as I am lord here, and would be called king in Denmark."
"It is agreed, then, your grace!" answered the margrave, with spirit, after a moment's deliberation. "If I stand not within twenty-four hours with your brother acquitted before your sight--then let yon fair castle mount up in smoke and flames--or take it with a storming hand! Count Henrik hath no doubt a strong desire to show you his prowess and generalship. Then I shall have done what lay in my power, and shown you both, as I trust, that you have had a friend for your guest."
"You have my word for it, Sir Margrave! I shall owe you thanks if your good purpose succeed. See you how the shadow yonder falls from the middle spire upon the cloister roof--It marks the bounds of my patience to-morrow. The Lord and our holy Lady be with us all!" So saying, Eric waved his right hand, and saluted the margrave, as he spurred his horse, and rode forward at the head of his troop of warriors. The king and his knights now rode down the hill in the direction of the castle, while Margrave Waldemar, with his little train of German and Danish men-at-arms, proceeded at full gallop on the road to Holbek.
Footnote 1: "Marsk," a military title, corresponding in some degree to our field marshal. This office, however, comprises civil as well as military duties, the marsk being also one of the principal ministers of state.
Footnote 2: The private wrongs committed by Eric the Seventh, surnamed Glipping, against his Marsk, Stig, a nobleman of high rank, had rendered him his deadly foe. Stig headed a band of conspirators on the 22d of November, 1286, disguised as Franciscan monks, and murdered him while asleep in a barn at the village of Finnerup, where he had taken refuge from their pursuit. The king's chamberlain, a kinsman of Marsk Stig, conducted the assassins to the place where the king lay concealed.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 3: Waldemar the Victorious was Eric Menved's great-grandfather.
Footnote 4: Drost, the prime minister of state in Denmark in the middle ages; all state ministers however, in that age, were required to serve in the field as well as in council. When the Drost was present, he superseded the Marsk in the command of the army.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 5: Junker (pronounced Yunker) was the title of the sons of the kings of Denmark in the middle ages, corresponding to that of Infant in Spain.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 6: Baron Holberg supposes that the word "carline" (kierlinge in Danish) had its origin in the easy victories obtained by the Northmen over the French, or Carlines, the subjects of Charles the Bald: the word carline or kierlinge now signifying in Danish an old woman, and applied in derision to the fainthearted of the other sex.--Translator.
Footnote 7: Esrom Lake, situated about eight English miles from Elsinore, is a fair specimen of the placid lake scenery of Zealand. The monastery is still in part in a habitable state.
Footnote 8: "Axel and Valborg," one of the gems of Scandinavian poetry. The interest of the poem turns on the separation of the hero and heroine (who had been betrothed from childhood) by an interdict of the church, on the plea of the parties standing within a forbidden degree of affinity to each other. This affinity, however, consisted merely in having one common godmother. Circumstances like these, however trivial, were frequently made available by the church for the extension of its power, and the furtherance of its secular interests.
Footnote 9: Flynderborg, the castle at Elsinore, of which no vestiges now remain. Its site was not far from that of the present castle of Cronberg.
Footnote 10: At this period the Hanseatic merchants were absolute masters of the whole trade of the Baltic. The Danish fleet was in a reduced state, and the Hanse were therefore under the necessity of guarding the seas themselves, for the security of their trade. This was peculiarly the case during the disturbed reign of Eric Glipping, when the northern pirate, Alf Erlingsen, infested the Danish seas. This is the subject of a ballad still preserved among the Danish peasantry,--
"The German men they sailed up the sound,
With meal and with malt sailed they,
But Erlingsen's ships there to meet them they found,
And theirs he took all for his prey."
In the time of Eric Glipping the Hanse had no less than thirty armed vessels stationed in the sound at Elsinore.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 11: Carl the German.
Footnote 12: The Kareles were a heathen tribe of Livonia, conquered by the Swedes, under the command of Marsk Torkild Knudson.
Footnote 13: A characteristic exclamation of King Eric, who according to Holberg, scrupled making use of a stronger expression, even in confirmation of the most solemn engagements.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 14: In the early ages of Denmark the people bore an important part in the affairs of government, a fact of which there are traces at this day in the Norwegian constitution, in which the peasantry as a class are represented. The people at large decided on war or peace, nor was any royal decree considered valid until it had obtained their consent. Every town had its own "Ting," or place of assembly, in the open air; a large flat stone, placed in the centre of a circle of upright ones, served as a platform for the speakers. In these assemblies the peasants discussed, not only public affairs, but decided on all private differences, &c. Saxo Grammaticus blames King Svend Grathé for neglecting to attend these meetings of the people. In such assemblies the king was not permitted to take his leave until he had greeted even the meanest of his subjects, and sent a friendly greeting to his family. The English reader may perhaps require to be reminded of these facts, in order fully to perceive that Jeppé is a representative of his class in that age.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 15: Dyrendal, the name of Roland's sword, afterwards used for swords in general by the Danes. Scandinavian warriors esteemed their swords above all other treasures. If a sword had done good service, it was distinguished by some epithet expressive of the deeds it had achieved. The sword of King Hagen of Norway was called "quærn bider," or mill-stone biter, from having cut through a mill-stone. If the owner of such a sword had no immediate descendants, it was buried beside him in his grave.--Translator's Note.
Footnote 16: King Glipping, so called from his twinkling eye.
Footnote 17: Fragment of an old Danish ballad.
Footnote 18: A valuable collection of historical documents made by King Eric, called Congesta Menvedi.
Footnote 19: Sveno Agonis, a Danish historian contemporary with Saxo Grammaticus.