Chapter 4
A Troll in an Archbishop's Hat
“Wele wij alle forscreffne waga liff, halss etc. mot kong Hans, wor oppenbara fiendhe, oc affwaerie richesens skadhe oc forderff oc aldrig tiilstaedie sadanne affgiifft af richet, oss alle tiil skensszel...“
“We signatories will all risk our lives, necks etc. against king Hans, our manifest enemy and ward off damage and ruin to the country and never allow such taxes be put on the realm, which would shame us all...”
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Declaration by the Swedish council of the realm, 1510.
“De for then store hoffmod oc skade, han [Sten Sture the Elder] wor kæreste nådige herre, hans nådes fader, Danmarks Rige oc Indbyggere i langh tid giordt haffuer [...] tha welle vy fyllie hans nåde man aff hussæ medh wore største macht till landz eller van [...] oc ville være veluillige till ther fore for hans nåde at worre worth liff…”
“On account of the great arrogance and harm to which he [Sten Sture the Elder] has exposed our dearest most gracious lord, his grace’s father, the realm of Denmark and its inhabitants [...] we pledge to follow his grace all as one with our greatest strength at land and at sea [...] and in this we would be willing to risk our very lives for his grace...
”
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Declaration of the peasantry and burghers of Funen on their willingness to aid king Hans in his struggle to reclaim his Swedish crown, 1497.
The Coats of Arms of some of the more important Swedish noble houses at the turn of the 15th century. All credit to the exceptionally talented folk at Wappenwiki.
The Union of Kalmar had been in force for less than 50 years when the eastern part of the three state
collegatio began to drift away. The rising of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson and the Swedish peasantry against Erik of Pomerania in the late 1430s, not only led to the deposition of king Erik and the onset of a bitter struggle between the Danish and Swedish realms, but also meant that Sweden itself would face a period of deep political instability. Engelbrektsson had succeeded in severing the knot tying the union together for a time, but the seeds sown by queen Margaret proved to have sprouted deep roots as not everyone saw the sundering of the Kalmar project as a positive thing.
Consequently, Sweden saw two opposing parties coalescing around the union question. Representing the amalgamated power of the council of the realm, the high nobility and prelates of the Catholic church, the unionist party, unsurprisingly, favoured a continuation of the dynastic union.
To these men of quality, the union meant peace and prosperity. By keeping the three realms united under a single monarch, rivalry and conflict would be prevented, securing the free flow of commerce across the inter-Scandinavian border. Furthermore, the authority of the monarch would naturally be curtailed, as he would have to rely on the council of the realm to manage his vast conglomerate of states. Thus, it was not for nothing that those favouring the union proclaimed themselves to be the peace party, as peace was the surest mean to advance their political and economic agenda. To this assembly of noblemen the great House of Trolle came to the forefront during the last decades of the 15th century.
Opposing the council and its noble partisans were the so-called Sture-party which relied on support from the immensely powerful Swedish commoners and peasantry. Drawing their strength from the mining district of Bergslagen and the commercial centre of Stockholm, the Stures vehemently rejected the Nordic dynastic union and advocated the establishment of a strong, centralised and independent Swedish monarchy in its place. They were, to some extent, quite successful in their endeavours. The Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471 shattered the first attempt of the new Oldenburg kings to reassert the union, but the Stures found it no easier to limit the political power of the church and aristocracy than their royal counterparts in Copenhagen.
After king Hans’ successful subjugation of the Swedes in his war against Lübeck, Svante Nilsson of the House of
Natt och Dag[1] (who was related to the Sture family on his grandmother’s side) remained Lord Steward in preparation for renewed negotiations with the Danes on the future of the union. However, when he passed away in early January 1512 the old feud between the two Swedish parties flared up once more.
Sweden in the late middle ages. Eriksgatan
was the traditional route of royal acclamation undertaken by medieval Swedish kings. Full version here.
As the realm was still reeling from the devastating war with king Hans, the unionist party seized the opportunity to capitalise on the prevailing war weariness and sought to proclaim one of their own Lord Steward. Another Sture at the helm of the stewardship would mean continued warfare with the Oldenburg monarchs, they argued. Consequently, the council of the realm had the former churchman Erik Trolle declared Lord Steward at a meeting at Arboga in early 1512. Erik boasted strong unionist credentials as his father had been the most prominent domestic adversary of the elder Sture. Additionally, two of his sisters had respectively married the prominent Danish councillor and admiral of the realm, Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and the Swedish councillor of the realm, Nils Bosson Grip who had been a fervent supporter of king Hans.
For a time it seemed as if the pro-union party had managed to secure the realm and wrest control from the Stures. Lord Svante’s son, Sten, and a cabale of his late father’s partisans, however, refused to acknowledge the peace party’s candidate and declined the council’s request to hand over the royal castles in their possession, thus retaining their economic and military advantage. As spring bloomed that very same year, Sten Svantesson travelled extensively throughout Sweden and put his case directly to the commoners and peasantry whilst penning letters to the various fief-holders throughout the realm. By March, Svantesson had secured the loyalty of Öster and Västergötland, Dalarna and the stout mountain men of Bergslagen.
Around the time of midsummer, Svantesson had gathered a considerable force of armed peasants and regular troops, at whose head he showed up for a supposedly conciliatory meeting in Stockholm. As the city and its castle welcomed the forces of the Sture party, the unionists camped at the Franciscan monastery on Riddarholmen (the Knights’ Islet). Despite ongoing negotiations between the two parties, tensions began to soar. On the night of the first of July 1512, a rumour suddenly arose claiming that the partisans of the council were preparing to storm the city and execute Sten Svantesson and his chief supporters. Fuelled by the presence of some drunken partisans of the Stures a full blown riot erupted with hundreds of armed peasants and men-at-arms marching towards the aristocratic encampment.
However, the councilar forces had been alerted of the impending danger and under the command of Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud the knights, squires and sworn men of the high nobility had formed up in plate and mail with swords drawn and crossbows aimed at the approaching enemy. Stalled by this show of force the would-be attackers fell back in order to reassert their positions.
The appearance of the venerable archbishop of Uppsala, Jakob Ulvsson Örnfot, at the scene seemed to have poured some quantity of oil over the troubled waters, and by all accounts it seemed as if the potentially catastrophic riot had been nipped in the bud. However, just as tensions were about to deflate, someone, somewhere on the island loosened a crossbow bolt, severely injuring one of the Sture partisans.
The shot was returned by the attackers and soon carnage reigned on the waters of Riddarholmen. The disorderly, somewhat drunken and leaderless group of Sture partisans were crashed against the shields of the outnumbered unionists like waves upon rocks, suffering dozens of casualties before retreating
[2]. Although there is no proof in the source material of either sides premeditating the hostilities on the Knight’s Islet, the deep divide between the two sides was considerably enlarged. Furthermore it wouldn’t prove to be the last time Svantesson would be incapable of controlling his fervent supporters.
As morning came, smoke was still gushing in over the city whilst the passages to the island were besieged by Sture troops. Having been alerted to the scene, young Svantesson mobilised his entire force and rode out to confront Erik Trolle himself. Hopelessly outnumbered, Trolle caved in. The council of the realm might have been able to stave off an unruly mob, but they stood no chance of resisting the assembled might of the Sture pretender, let alone contending the many castles and cities proclaiming him regent.
Consequently, on the 23rd of July 1512, Sten Svantesson was proclaimed Lord Steward and immediately afterwards began to style himself as Sten Sture, taking the hallowed name of his great-grandmother. He was only 19 years of age
[3].
Vädersolstavlan (The Sun Dog Painting) is the oldest preserved depiction of the city of Stockholm in colour. The city’s strategic location at a point where Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic Sea led to it prospering by way of trade with the Hanseatic cities. Consequently, Stockholm had deep economic and cultural ties to mercantile hubs such as Lübeck and Danzig. By the turn of the 15th century the city had a sizeable German population.
However, as his clever play to his family’s traditional base of support goes to show, the younger Sture was no youthful amateur. In 1510 he had received much praise for his conduct on the battle decks of the Hanseatic fleet as it scourged the Danish shores and he had even fought in a pitched battle against the later Christian II outside the walls of Bohus in Norway.
Still, although a settlement had been reached with the council, the cleavages in Swedish society had deepened after the Battle on the Riddarholm. A testament to this is the fact that even at the conciliatory feast at Stockholm castle, the two sides came to blows. Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud got into a heated argument with Gustav Kristersson Vasa over the fighting on the island and mortally wounded him with his sword
[4]. Leijonhufvud fled the city and took sanctuary at a nearby Dominican monastery. The remaining bishops and temporal councillors soon scattered, fearing the retribution of the victorious Sture.
The younger Sture, however, did not retaliate and proved to be rather magnanimous in his triumph. Leijonhufvud was passed over as fief-holder at any important castles and forced to pay compensation to Vasa’s family, but was not harmed in any other way. Feeling secure in his command over the realm, the new Lord Protector began a tour of his provinces and worked to tighten his grip over the country even further.
In the summer of 1513 another reprieve was agreed upon with the Danes whether the Swedes would accept Christian II’s as their king or pay the stipulated tribute. Sten Sture the Younger, however, had no intention of accepting either terms. The extension of the truce between the two halves of the Kalmar Union would serve as the cover from under which the Lord Protector would strive to undo the knots tying the union together. By 1514 he had begun to formulate claims on the Norwegian border province of Bohus as well as other alleged grievances against Christian II.
It was then, in the moment of the Sture party’s apparent triumph that a new player entered the stage.
Archbishop Jakob Ulvsson Örnfot as depicted in the church of Yttergran, approximately 50 km from Stockholm. Ulvsson's resignation paved the way for the entrance of the Stures' most deadly enemy upon the political stage of late medieval Sweden.
In the autumn of 1514, the archbishop of Uppsala, Jakob Ulvsson Örnfot, had proclaimed his intention to resign his high office. After 45 years of service in the church and sickened by the bloody power struggle between the two pro and anti union forces, the 80 years old Ulvsson was in declining health. As his successor, he nominated the 26 year old Gustav Trolle, son of the deposed Lord Steward Erik and newly elected dean of the bishopric of Linköping
[5].
Having finished his studies at the University of Cologne
[6], the younger Trolle had speedily relocated to Rome when he learned of his chances of succeeding to the archbishopric and was thus eminently placed to further his own candidacy at the very knee of the holy father. Despite the support of both the incumbent archbishop and, grudgingly, Sten Sture the Younger, the papal court made slow process of accepting Trolle and only endorsed him the in the autumn of 1515. However, when the pope finally gave the young prelate his nod of approval he also bequeathed on him three important boons. First of all, Trolle received the power to place a person or persons under interdict, denying them the right of partaking in mass and receiving communion. Secondly, he was granted papal mandate to equip and maintain 400 men-at-arms for his own defence. If his personal forces would not suffice, he was, thirdly, given the right to request assistance from the head of the temporal authorities: i.e. the king, Christian II.
This was, of course, unacceptable to the Younger Sture. Gustav Trolle’s fanatical hatred of the new Lord Steward’s family was well known and his new papal-given powers were seen as a dire threat to the Stures’ political programme of enforcing a strong central authority. Furthermore, as the peace with Denmark expire, the prospect of Trolle inviting Christian II into the country if the Swedish spiritual and temporal authorities were to come to blows sent a chill down the spine of every anti-union magnate.
Before Trolle had even returned to his native Sweden, the Sture response materialised. The archbishopric’s castle, Almarestäket, was situated at a strategically significant position on lake Mälaren. From its impressive walls, the defenders not only commanded the economically important road towards Enköping and Bergslagen, but were also in a position to dominate the sea route between Stockholm and Uppsala, the temporal and spiritual centres in Sweden. Deeming such a fortress to be too important to leave in his opponent’s position, Sten Sture demanded the archbishop surrender the castle.
For a man of such pride and ambition as Gustav Trolle, such a demand was ludicrous. He was the defender of the holy catholic church in Sweden, the spiritual equal of the Lord Steward, the natural heir to the pro-union party and he had no desire to hand over his most impressive military asset. Despite the ardent efforts of the rest of the council of the realm, the political power struggle between the two young men soon escalated into open warfare as both sides feuded with each other. In the summer of 1516 Sture troops stormed the city of Nyköping, which had been held by Steen Oxenstierna, a noble associated with the Peace Party
[7]. As the forces of the Lord Steward approached the fortifications, they were met with scorn and disdain from the garrison who openly proclaimed their loyalty to the king in Copenhagen by drinking toasts to his health in full view of the besiegers. However, the Lord Steward’s men made short work of the defenders and Oxenstierna was taken in irons to Stockholm where he soon began to denounce his allies as traitors in league with the Danes.
Based on Oxenstierna’s testimony, the Younger Sture struck against his other enemies. The old archbishop, Ulvsson, was placed under house arrest whilst the former Lord Steward Erik Trolle and many other members of the aristocracy were imprisoned alongside Oxenstierna in Stockholm.
By October 1516, the Stures finally felt secure enough to move against Almarestäket. Seeing the troops of the Lord Protector in front of his wall whilst his remaining allies, friends and family were taken away to an uncertain life in prison, one would think the young archbishop would have had ample opportunity to consider caving in. However, Gustav Trolle refused to do so. He dauntlessly paced the battlements whilst giving good cheer to his beleaguered garrison and denouncing any of the besiegers who came within earshot for persecuting him and the church. Indeed, his position was not at all as grim as one would’ve thought. The canons and deacons of Uppsala remained loyal, whilst dissatisfaction amongst the nobility over the Lord Steward’s wanton imprisonment of his political adversaries increased by the day.
Furthermore, even though it seemed that no help would be forthcoming from the domestic enemies of the Lord Steward, Trolle had other strings on his bow.
He had invoked his papally ordained right to request temporal assistance in the defence of the church by writing Christian II in Copenhagen and begged him to come North and protect the church with all his power and might.
The king, he would soon discover, was all too happy to oblige.
Author's Note:
Whew! Almost two months without an update! Life's been happily busy for me lately: I went to see my girlfriend's family in the Low Countries, participated in a seminar where I presented the findings of my BA-paper and got two new jobs! Besides, for some reason, it was really difficult writing this update. Consequently, thoughts and criticisms are very much appreciated! Also, do people like the 15/16th century Scandinavian quotes? Or would you prefer the to see only the English translations?
Footnotes:
[1]Meaning Night and Day
[2]This ALMOST happened in OTL. Only the presence of cooler heads prevented the stand-off from turning into a battle. Everything else up to this point is OTL.
[3]I’ll refer to Sten Svantesson as Sten Sture the Younger from this point on.
[4]This happened too in OTL, only the quarrel was over something else and Vasa didn’t die. I have a hard time finding out exactly which Vasa this guy was and what his relation to the Gustav Vasa is. Erik Abrahamsson Leijonhufvud had married a Vasa noblewoman in january 1512, so this encounter really strikes home how deep the division in the Swedish nobility was. Any help would be appreciated.
[5]As OTL. The Archbishop of Uppsala and the bishop of Linköping were the most prestigious and powerful ecclesiastical titles in late medieval Sweden.
[6]As I mentioned in the prologue, Northern Germany was primarily the place where Scandinavian churchmen studied.
[7]And by all accounts a pretty dishonest person.
