Linköping Bloodbath
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The Linköping Bloodbath on Maundy Thursday 20 March 1600 was the public execution by beheading of five Swedish nobles captured during the Battle of Stångebro in September of 1599. The five were advisors to the Catholic Polish king Sigismund III Vasa or just political opponents of Duke Charles (Karl IX) who were accused of treason during the aftermath of the events deposing the Polish-Lituanian king as the rightful legal monarch of Sweden by his uncle Duke Charles IX of Sweden; a champion of the protestant cause, of Lutheran Sweden, and the father of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
King Sigismund had earlier been crowned the rightful king of Sweden after giving assurances that he would not act to aid the Catholic cause in Sweden during those late sixteenth century years of mounting religious turmoil during the counter-reformation, which agreement he came to violate, kicking off a civil war in Sweden. After trying to manage the Swedish situation from afar, Sigismund invaded with a mercenary army after receiving permission from the Polish legislature, but after an initial success, Sigismund's forces were defeated on 25 September 1599, at the Battle of Stångebro, (also known as the Battle of Linköping).
In the event, the king was captured and forced to deliver a number of Swedish noblemen whom the protestant opposition considered traitors to Sweden. Most prominent among these Swedish senators was the Chancellor of Sweden, Erik Sparre, though Sigismund was permitted to return to Poland. The dynastic religious friction and it's impact upon the crown of a major principality was one of the earliest pre-cursors to the multifaceted struggle known as the Thirty Years' war, which is dated as beginning just over a decade later. These events also initiated the seven decades long wars between Sweden and Poland, known as the Polish-Swedish wars.
Most of the convicted noblemen were captured during the Battle of Stångebro in September of 1599 which was won by Sigismund's adversary duke Charles IX of Sweden. Charles was in 1595 named as regent of the Swedish crown, and he had been active in opposing the catholic cause in Sweden. He had, as well, been lobbying for the crown at his nephews expense since before he was crowned King of Sweden. Eight noblemen were eventually sentenced to death by a 153 man court put together by duke Charles and the Swedish the Riksens ständer (Estates of the Realm), but three of them were pardoned.
- Those noblemen executed on March 20th, 1600 were:
- 1. Erik Sparre— the Chancellor of Sweden and a senator in the Riksens ständer
- 2. Ture Bielke— a senator in the Riksens ständer
- 3. Gustav Banér— a senator in the Riksens ständer and father of Gustavus the Great's Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér
- 4. Sten Banér— a senator in the Riksens ständer
- 5. Bengt Falck— a senator in the Riksens ständer
[edit] Aftermath
Sigismund, who was allowed to return to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, did not relinquish his desire to regain the throne of Sweden. This attitude led to a series of Polish-Swedish wars, that culminated during the reign of his son, John II Casimir of Poland, with the giant Swedish invasion of Poland known as the Deluge, ending the golden age of the . On 24 July 1599, the Riksens ständer (Riksdag) in Stockholm officially dethroned Sigismund and named Charles IX Vasa as regent, and the Polish-Swedish union was dissolved after barely seven years of existence. Subsequently, Charles IX of Sweden was named by the Riksens ständer as the new King of Sweden in 1604, and the crown would pass to Gustavus the Great, who established his early military reputation as one of histories greatest generals in campaigns during the early years of the Polish-Swedish wars. Indirectly, the religious conflict in Sweden lead to the Swedish Empire as Gustavus and his generals became militant in the cause of protestants in
