THE REASONS That Moved His Majesty The KING of DENMARK, &c.  
As liege Lord of the dukedom of SLESWIG, To Sequester the Duke of Holstein Gottorps Part thereof.  
Printed in the Year 1676 / 7.   

The Reasons that moved his Majesty the King of Denmark, &c. as liege Lord of the dukedom of Sleswig, to Sequester the Duke of Holstein Gottorps part thereof.  
IT is manifestly known to the world, that the duchy of Sleswig hath been these many Ages a Fee of the Crown of Denmark, and that the Duke of Sleswig( who by virtue of an especial Agreement made at Attensee, 1561. aclowledge the same) as often as there was occasion of renewing the Fee, were bound to receive the Investiture from that Crown accordingly till 1658. after the Peace held at Rotshild, the late Duke of Gottorp( who during the War between Denmark and Sweden held continual correspondence with the King of Sweden, and supplied him with all things to the utmost of his Power) contrary to the ancient Unions and hereditary Compacts, contrary also to the Duty he( in respect of the said Fee of Sleswig) ought to the King of Denmark, took the advantage of the Oppression the King( his Liege Lord) then lay under, to encroach upon him, and so brought it to pass, that the King of Sweden( notwithstanding the fine Provinces of Sconen, Blaking, Halland, Trunthyme, Bahuse, Bornholme, and other considerable advantages, which now he had gotten by the Treaty of Peace) obliged the King of Denmark also to renounce to the said Duke of Holstein his Right and Title to the Fee of the said duchy of Sleswig, and besides to grant him the Bailewick of Swabestad, and the abbey of Sleswig, with such other Conditions as were very disadvantageous to the Crown of Denmark, and merely upon that occasion the King of Sweden continued his Forces in Denmark and those Parts a long time after the Term agreed on in the said Treaty of Peace,( the Duke of Holstein constantly raising one scruple or other to cause delays) whereby the Crown of Denmark sustained irreparable damages and Injuries.  
Now whereas we might have conceived no other hopes then that the Princely House of Holstein Gottorp upon such considerable advantages( which they by the favour of the Swedish Arms had wrested from the King of Denmark during his extreme Calamity as aforesaid) would have entertained no other Intentions or Counsels, then to maintain with him a sincere and faithful Correspondency for the future; yet immediately after,( viz. 1660.) when the Peace between the two Kings was re-established, the quiter contrary appeared; for this present Duke of Holstein Gottorp entred into a very strict League with Sweden, whereby it was amongst other things Agreed, that whensoever any new quarrel should arise between the two Northern Crowns and those Dukedoms, even Danish part of them do in time oblige themselves to sit still, so that nothing be commanded by them to the disadvantage or prejudice of the King or Crown of Sweden, then the Swedes shall forbear to trouble them with their Forces or otherwise; by which the Duke sought nothing else then to debauch and seduce, not only all the Gentry in those dukedoms,( who are tied by Oath and Allegiance to the King of Denmark as well as the Duke of Holstein) but also his Majesties own proper subjects, from their duty, whereby they are obliged to hazard their lives and fortunes for him as their lawful and natural Prince, to the end that he might compass those sinister designs, which afterwards by all his actions appeared most clear and palpable.  
For although his Majesty of blessed Memory( as an undoubted pledge of his good will and affection) married the Princess his Daughter to this Duke, thereby to lay a sure foundation of a good understanding between the Royal and Princely house, and also to draw the Duke off from those dangerous intrigues, whereto he was observed inclinable contrary to his own interest; for those Transactions then passing at Gluckstad being designed for no other end, then to renew the old Unions and hereditary Compacts, all former errors and misapprehensions between them, together with all their Circumstances were fully debated and removed; Yet all this was so far from proving effectual, that the Duke still persisted in his pernicious Conduct, and for a beginning( contrary to the Transactions aforesaid) withstood all Proposals, how friendly and reasonably soever, in matters concerning the Limits and other differences about the Bailiwick of Tundern, but would rather leave all undetermined to beget further Disputes and errors.  
In the Provincial Diets held annually in the Dukedoms of Holstein and Sleswig, particularly in those held a little before this present War, when the eminent danger of the conjuncture required Contributions from those States, the Duke constantly thwarted the business with his sinister Counsels, and flattered the States, either by a direct opposition or silence, representing the Taxes proposed as intolerable, although his Majesty( as by his accounts then laid before them did appear) demanded none but such as were absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the Garrisons in those Dukedoms, the moiety whereof, the Duke however very readily accepted, and employed the same, not for the defence of the Country( for which end they were raised) but to his own private use. Against which sinister dealing, whatever his Majesty alleged, or in any other matters concerning their joint Government upon occasion of any doubt remonstrated to him,( though in very friendly and moderate terms) yet all was termed intolerable Innovations and encroachments and things that ought not to be suffered, &c. with many other expressions uttered in a managing way, by which the Duke sufficiently discovered what his Aim was, and what his Majesty was to expect from him upon the Warlike preparations, then making by the Swedes in Germany, which appeared the more clearly, seeing he( contrary to the assurance given by him in Writing as well as personally) not only receded from the agreement made at Copenhagen concerning the Counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, and confirmed by his Manual Stipulation, but also was continually Treating in private with the Swedish Ministers and the City of Hambourgh, till he at last went personally to Stockholm and renewed his Engagement with that Crown( which had already begun to disclose its hostile designs against that Empire) and at the same time seconded and supported the Negotiation then on Foot, between the said Crown and the City of Hambourgh, which at last ended in a certain Treaty very prejudicial to the Empire; and that which gave a greater suspicion of those things, was, that the Duke( contrary to his Duty, upon the account of their joint Government and ancient Union, grounded upon so many hereditary Compacts) never gave any notice of the said Treaty to his Majesty, but kept all so private, that he denied to have had any Treaty at all with Sweden, or that he knew any thing of what had been Negotiated with Hambourgh.  
Now His Majesty at that very time being much pressed by his Allies to assist them against Sweden, according to a particular League long before concluded with them upon that occasion, and finding himself as well in Honour as Conscience obliged to make good his said Engagement, judged it very necessary ere he proceeded, to leave all things sure behind him against any Intestine Commotion, and to that end chiefly to take care, that all the differences and disputes that were between him and the Duke, might be entirely composed. In order whereunto His Majesty the last year, when he and the Duke met at Rensbourgh, caused the Duke to be fully acquainted with the Reasons which in that dangerous Conjuncture, justly moved him to suspect him, and to secure himself against his Designs; which wrought so much upon the Duke, that he not only protested it was his Resolution perpetually to maintain a good understanding with his Majesty for the future, but also, as a further assurance thereof, caused the Fortress Tonningen immediately to be surrendered to His Majesty. He then likewise by a certain Treaty renewed and confirmed the ancient Unions and hereditary Compacts aforesaid, whereby( amongst other things) he obliged himself within a year and a day to receive of his Majesty the Investiture of the Dukedom of Sleswig in the same manner and form as his Princely Ancestors had done; all which the Duke offered with such readiness, that long after his Majesties return to Copenhagen, he in a Letter, written with his own hand, declared his Joy and Satisfaction, that the former Amity between the Royal and Princely houses was thus happily re-established. But because the Duke had once before been seduced from his true Interest to Erroneous courses, by the sinister suggestions of some of his Counsellors, His Majesty justly feared they would again by their pernicious Counsels, put him upon some contrary Resolutions( as indeed it afterward happened beyond all expectation) and therefore to prevent the same, he thought it very necessary to cause them( being also his undoubted lawful and natural Subjects and Vassals) to be particularly bound to him by a very strict Obligation in Writing, to demean themselves upon all occasions, as his Loyal Subjects and Vassals, and never to presume to seduce the Duke to any thing that might be prejudicial or obstructive to the said renewed amity and good correspondence.  
Notwithstanding all this, his Majesty soon found, that the Duke had not only made great complaints to his Imperial Majesty of the aforesaid Treaty, concluded at Rensbourgh, and desired his assistance, that it might be made voided, and all things reduced to the condition, in which they were before, but also did not scruple to tell the world in his Printed papers, that he had merely been forced to the said Treaty, and whatsoever he had then been acting at Rensbourg, &c. though the Treaty itself and the aforesaid Letters, written with his own Hand, make the contrary most evidently appear.  
Now the better to prevent the Dukes destructive Counsels and Reflections, and that the end might not prove worse than the beginning, his Majesty caused the Fortress Tonningen to be demolished( the rather seeing he had not bound himself to restore it, and that the keeping it would have proved very chargeable, and yet would have been a burden instead of a defence or security to the Country) And because the said Counsellors, contrary to the said Obligation, had again Entertained dangerous Intrigues and Correspondence against his Majesties Honour and Interest,( as the Original Letters that are in his Majesties hands do testify) and were found to have again seduced the Duke unto his former insufferable deportment: His Majesty for the obstruction of their further mischievous practise and contrivances, ordered them to be committed to sure Custody.  
And whereas for the intended prosecution of the War in Sconen, his Majesty judged his personal Presence there very requisite, but that in the Interim the term agreed on at Rensbourgh for the Dukes receiving the Investiture for the duchy of Sleswig would expire, he was pleased to sand him notice of his said intention, and minded him of receiving the Investiture before his Departure, &c. to which the Duke returned no positive answer, but under divers pretences went about to frustrate his Majesties expectation with tergiversations and delays, till at last upon his Majesties kind admonitions, and after he was already in Sconen, and the said Term expired, he in a Letter declared his consent thereunto, and for the Execution of the Act of the Investiture, offered to dispatch some of his counsellors to any place that his Majesty should please to appoint, who at length after much delay attended at Copenhagen accordingly. But notwithstanding, upon the question they moved, whether in matters concerning the Act of Investiture, they were not to follow the Rules prescribed in the Treaty of Ottensee; His Majesty declared to them, That although he had good reason not to tie himself so strictly to that Treaty in this case, yet that all men might see, he expected from the Duke no more then what from time to time had been usual, and by his Princely Ancestors constantly been done, and what the Duke himself in the Treaty at Rensbourgh had covenanted to do, His Majesty was willing to acquiesce, and content himself with the observation of the said Treaty of Attensee, &c. yet the said Counsellors were so far from being induced to receive the said Investiture, that before His Majesty came back from Sconen,( whither the Invasion of the Swedes had called him) they under pretence of going to fetch more perfect Instructions from the Duke, went from thence re infecta, and never returned.  
Now, whereas his Majesty not only by such continual delays, but also by some Original Letters and other Papers( intercepted in the late Action with the Enemy in Sconen) sufficiently perceived, That it was not the Dukes intention ever to procede to the effectual receiving of the said Investiture, according to his Duty, but only that he went about to gain time, utterly to make voided the Rensburgh Agreement, and also by his Plots and devices( which, through the singular Providence of God, were happily discovered by the seizing of the said Letters and Papers) to draw all sorts of Mischiefs and Dangers upon his Majesty, and to that end held continual correspondence at Hambourg with the Swedish Ministers, and other disaffected persons, contriving and carrying on secret Counsels and Designs; His Majesty in fine, found himself inevitably obliged to think on other remedies for the preservation of his Royal Prerogatives, and to cause the Dukes part of the duchy of Sleswig to be sequestered, of which he has already given him notice, and to the end, that he and the whole world may understand how unwillingly his Majesty proceeds to such Resolutions, and how joyful he would be to see the Duke return to better thoughts, hath set him a new Term for his effectual receiving of the said Investiture, though with this express warning, that if he shall again slight this kind offer, his Majesty then ought not to be blamed, if the Feudatory Laws shall led him to deprive th● said Duke of that Fee itself.  
By the premises it clearly appears that his Majesty in this affair has constantly used the greatest moderation imaginable, and has forborn to proceed to the said Sequestration and further extremities, till he found himself without all hopes of reducing the Duke by amicable means to what he had Voluntarily obliged himself by Treaties, and what he was invited to by his own interest, as aforesaid.   
FINIS.