Gustav I of Sweden
Volume 1 | Issue 4 - Leaders
Article by Cecilia Rehn. Edited by Liam Geoghegan. Additional Research by Ellie Veryard.
It is impossible to not think of monarchs when the subject of historical leaders comes up. Leaders of countries, armies, people’s hearts and of course rebellions.
In the British educational system the Tudors are heavily over-represented, and none more so than Henry VIII – a leader as famous for his marriages as for his policies. During the same historical period another leader took to the stage, in my own native Sweden. Remembered as both a liberator and a tyrant, the monarch Gustav I seized the Swedish throne from the Danes in 1523. During his reign, Protestantism was introduced and monasteries dissolved, his enemies were harshly executed and his popular support was at times close to nonexistent. Yet today he is remembered as “the father of the nation” and his story takes on a mythical quality in Swedish folk memory.
The story begins (arguably) in 1520, when the Danish ruler Christian II was about to be crowned King of Sweden, as his forces had successfully ventured north leaving the Swedes no choice but to surrender. Christian II’s coronation was to go down in Swedish history as one of the bloodiest nights ever in Stockholm. On the 7th of November 1520, the new king invited around 80 members of the Swedish nobility, as well as several important figureheads in politics and commerce, to his castle to celebrate the occasion. As the evening unfolded, the Danish king revealed his agenda and dashed the Swedish hopes of peace and unity. Instead, after dinner, the King announced his bloodline’s consequent right to the Swedish throne and promptly declared to his stunned spectators that they were suspected traitors and their trials would begin that very same night. The whole evening was a trap, and it had been effectively executed.
The guests were kept imprisoned in the castle for a couple of days, and the majority of them were killed. The 8th of November 1520 is known as “Stockholm’s Blood Bath”, and historians often cite accounts mentioning bloodstained streets and decapitated heads in barrels. Among those beheaded was Gustav Vasa’s father, Erik.
The young noble’s life was also in danger, as he too shared his father’s patriotic views and was considered a traitor in the new king’s mind. Gustav Vasa fled north to a region called Dalarna where he knew he could find supporters for his cause. Most of his family had been imprisoned and he was sought throughout the land by the Danes. The rural regions in the north of the country were populated mostly by farmers eager to support the charismatic young noble who was determined to fight for an independent Sweden.
The history books are riddled with accounts of Gustav Vasa’s flight across Sweden, chased on skis through villages in the north. The Danes persued him extensively, and questionable yet undeniably popular accounts about how the future King of Sweden hid in haylofts, narrowly avoiding capture surfaced and have refused to die. Historians today question many of these accounts, finding it hard to distinguish accounts from farmers from the official propaganda released by the monarch himself. Today, the world’s largest cross-country skiing competition is held on the same route the king fled on, and it attracts athletes from across the globe.
Gustav Vasa successfully evaded capture and led the Swedes to victory. Christian’s forces retreated, especially once German troops were sent in support of the Swedish rebels. The new King was crowned on June 6th 1523, and Sweden has remained independent since.
His reign (1523-1560) was filled with ups and downs. His relations with the Pope deteriorated as he refused to allow the pro-Danish Archbishop to return to Sweden, and his replacements were not accepted by the Catholic Church. Instead Gustav Vasa appointed a Lutheran Archbishop, and Protestantism was introduced as the country’s new religion. The Bible was translated, based heavily on Martin Luther’s version.
Modern revisionist historians such as Lars-Olof Larsson have questioned how popular Gustav truly was, especially after his brutal crushing of a rebellion in the south, as well as his radical religious reforms. However, there is an academic agreement on the power of the king’s official propaganda – he had paintings commissioned telling the story of his rise to power and he enjoyed the dramatics of it all. June 6th officially became Sweden’s national holiday, and in popular culture, references to Sweden’s “father” are rife.
Whilst I was learning all about Henry VIII, my fellow Swedish students were being taught all about his Swedish contemporary, and what shape the Protestant Reformation took further north. However Gustav Vasa was perceived by his countrymen in the sixteenth century, it is safe to say that today he is viewed as a hero, a true leader who inspired a defeated country to rise up and take back what was rightfully theirs.