Stockholm Bloodbath

The Stockholm Bloodbath, or the Stockholm massacre (Swedish: Stockholms blodbad, Danish: Det Stockholmske Blodbad), took place as the result of a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under the command of King Christian II. The bloodbath itself was a series of events taking place between November 7 and November 9 in 1520, climaxing on the 8th, when around 80-90 people (mostly nobility and clergy supporting the Sture party) were executed, despite a promise by King Christian for general amnesty.

Background

Political factions in Sweden

The Stockholm Bloodbath was a consequence of conflict between Swedish pro-unionists (in favour of the Kalmar Union, then dominated by Denmark) and anti-unionists (supporters of Swedish independence), and also between the anti-unionists and the Danish aristocracy, which in other aspects was opposed to King Christian.[1] The anti-unionist party was headed by Sten Sture the Younger, and the pro-unionist party by archbishop Gustavus Trolle.

Military interventions of King Christian

King Christian, who had already taken measures to isolate Sweden politically, intervened to help Archbishop Trolle, who was under siege in his fortress at Stäket, but he was defeated by Sture and his peasant soldiers at Vedila, and forced to return to Denmark. A second attempt to bring Sweden back under his control in 1518 was also countered by Sture's victory at Brännkyrka. Eventually, a third attempt made in 1520 with a large army of French, German and Scottish mercenaries proved successful.

Sture was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund, on January 19. The Danish army, unopposed, was approaching Uppsala, where the members of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates had already assembled. The senators agreed to render homage to Christian, on condition that he give a full amnesty for past actions and a guarantee that Sweden should be ruled according to Swedish laws and customs. A convention to this effect was confirmed by the king and the Danish Privy Council on March 31.

Sture's widow, Lady Christina Gyllenstierna, was still resisting in Stockholm with support from the peasants of central Sweden, and defeated the Danes at Balundsås on March 19. Eventually, her forces were defeated at the Battle of Uppsala (långfredagsslaget vid Uppsala) on Good Friday, April 6.[2]

In May, the Danish fleet arrived and Stockholm was attacked by land and sea. Lady Kristina resisted for four months longer, and in the beginning of autumn the tide of war started to turn in Kristina's favor. The inhabitants of Stockholm had a large supply of food and fared relatively well. Christian however, realized that his stockpile was dwindling and that it would spell doom to his army to keep the siege over the winter. Through Bishop Mattias, Hemming Gadh and other Swedes of high stature, Christian sent a proposal for retreat that was very advantageous for the Swedes. During a meeting on what is thought to be Beckholmen outside of Djurgården, Christian swore that all acts against him would be forgotten, and gave pardon to several named persons (including Gustav Vasa, who had escaped Denmark, where he had been held hostage). Lady Kristina would be given Hörningsholm and all Mörkön as a fief, and was also promised Tavestehus in Finland. When this had been written down on paper, the mayor of the city delivered the keys to the city on Södermalm and Christian held his grand entry. Shortly after, he sailed back to Denmark, to return in October for his coronation.[3]

Massacre

Stockholm Bloodbath

On November 4, Christian was anointed by Gustavus Trolle in Storkyrkan (Stockholm cathedral), and took the usual oath to rule the kingdom through native-born Swedes only. A banquet was held for the next three days.[4]

On November 7, the events of the Stockholm bloodbath began to unfold. On the evening of that day, Christian summoned many Swedish leaders to a private conference at the palace.

At dusk on November 8, Danish soldiers, with lanterns and torches, entered a great hall of the royal palace and took away several noble guests. Later in the evening, many others of the king's guests were imprisoned. All these people had previously been marked down on Archbishop Trolle's proscription list.

The following day, November 9, a council, headed by archbishop Trolle, sentenced the proscribed to death for being heretics; the main point of accusation was their having united in a pact to depose Trolle a few years earlier. However many of them were also leading men of the Sture party and thus potential opponents of the Danish kings. At noon, the anti-unionist bishops of Skara and Strängnäs were led out into the great square and beheaded. Fourteen noblemen, three burgomasters, fourteen town councillors and about twenty common citizens of Stockholm were then hanged or decapitated.

The executions continued throughout the following day (November 10). According to the chief executioner Jörgen Homuth 82 people were executed.[5]

It is said that Christian also took revenge on Sten Sture's body, having it dug up and burnt, as well as the body of his little child. Sture's widow Dame Kristina, and many other noble Swedish ladies, were sent as prisoners to Denmark.[6]

Aftermath

Christian justified the massacre in a proclamation to the Swedish people as a measure necessary to avoid a papal interdict, but, when apologising to the Pope for the decapitation of the bishops, he rather blamed his troops for performing unauthorised acts of vengeance.[7]

If the intention behind the executions had been to frighten the anti-unionist party into submission, it proved wholly counterproductive. Gustav Vasa was a son of Erik Johansson, one of the victims of the executions. Vasa, upon hearing of the massacre, travelled north to the province of Dalarna to seek support for a new revolt. The population, informed of what had happened, rallied to his side. They were ultimately able to defeat Christian's forces in the Swedish War of Liberation. The lasting irony of the Bloodbath is that an act which was intended to strengthen the position of the unionist party turned out to be the catalyst that permanently separated Sweden from Denmark.

Later reception and propaganda

The Stockholm Bloodbath precipitated a lengthy hostility towards Danes in Sweden, and thenceforth the two nations were almost continuously hostile toward each other. These hostilities, developing into a struggle for hegemony in the Scandinavian and North German area, lasted for nearly three hundred years. Memory of the Bloodbath served to let Swedes depict themselves (and often, actually regard themselves) as the wronged and aggrieved party, even when they were the ones who eventually took the political and military lead, such as the conquest and annexation of Scania until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.[8]

Christian the Tyrant and Christian the Good

The event earned Christian II the nickname of Kristian Tyrann (Christian the Tyrant) in Sweden which he has retained till this day.[9] It is a common misconception in Sweden that King Christian II, contrarily, is bynamed Christian den Gode ("the Good") in Denmark, but this is merely a myth.[10] Christian II was, however, a popular monarch among the peasantry of both countries in his lifetime. According to Swedish historian and professor, Gunnar Richardson, this myth was first presented in Swedish textbooks and promoted by Swedish authors such as Alf Henrikson. Richardson wrote: "Why has this myth become so widespread and beloved in Sweden? The answer is simple: it fulfills both an ideological and didactic function. In the history education of schools and in the education of teachers you will hardly find any more rewarding matter in order to show the presence of nationally and ethnocentrically oriented history writing".

According to Danish historians, no bynames at all have been given to Christian II in Danish historical tradition. In an interview with Richardson in 1979, Danish historian Mikael Venge, author of the article about Christian II in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon said: "I think you ought to protest the next time the Swedish radio claims anything so utterly unfounded that could be understood as if the Danes approved of the Stockholm bloodbath." Even today, tourist guides in Stockholm spice up their guiding of the old town (Gamla Stan) with the news about Christian II's "rehabilitation" back in Denmark.[11]

In fiction

The event is depicted in the 1901 novel Kongens Fald (The Fall of the King) by Nobel-laureate Johannes V. Jensen.[12] The Stockholm Bloodbath forms a large part of the 1948 historical novel The Adventurer (original title Mikael Karvajalka) by the Finnish writer Mika Waltari. The events are depicted as seen by Mikael Karvajalka, a young Finnish man who is in Stockholm at the time.[13] A number of references to the Stockholm Bloodbath appear in Freddy's Book (1980) by American novelist John Gardner.[14]

In 2005 a book connected with these events appeared. Namely Bruden fra Gent (translated in Nl. De Gentse Bruid, The Bride From Ghent) written by the Danish writer Dorrit Willumsen. It illuminates the life of Christian the Second seen from his relationship with his mistress, the Dutch Dyveke, and his wife Isabella of Austria, sister of Charles the Fifth.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jens Aage Poulsen (2007). Det Historiske Overblik (in Danish). Gyldendal Uddannelse. pp. 102–. ISBN 978-87-02-05665-5. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Bent Syse (2003) Långfredagsslaget: en arkeologisk historia (Uppsala: Upplandsmuseets) ISBN 91-85618-71-3
  3. ↑ Alf Henriksson (1966) Svensk Historia ISBN 91-0-047053-8
  4. ↑ Henrikson, Alfand Erikson, Hasse (1979) Storkyrkan: en svensk krönika (Stockholm: Bonnier) ISBN 91-0-042947-3
  5. ↑ Lars Ericson Wolke. Stockholms Blodbad, Stockholm 2006, page 141
  6. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, 1911, Christian II
  7. ↑ Lauritz Weibull. Nordisk historia. Forskningar och undersökningar. Del III. Från Erik den helige till Karl XII, Stockholm 1949, p. 160-163
  8. ↑ Frost, Robert I (2000) The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558-1721 (Harlow:Pearson Education Limited) ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4
  9. ↑ Bengt Liljegren (2004). Rulers of Sweden. Historiska Media. p. 67. ISBN 978-91-85057-63-4. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Rikke Agnete Olsen (2004). 41 fortællinger om folk i fædrelandets historie (in Danish). Lindhardt og Ringhof. p. 149. ISBN 978-87-595-2373-5. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Gunnar Richardson, "Kristian II - Tyrann eller den gode?", Dagens Forskning, 2002-05-13. (in Swedish; link currently dead, 23 May 2009)
  12. ↑ Dansk litteraturs historie: 1870-1920. Gyldendal A/S. 2009. pp. 672–. ISBN 978-87-02-04184-2. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  13. ↑ The New York Times Book Review. Arno Press. 1950. p. 9. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  14. ↑ Book Review Digest. H.W. Wilson Co. 1980. p. 435. Retrieved 6 July 2013.

Sources

External links

Coordinates: 59°19′30″N 18°04′15″E / 59.32500°N 18.07083°E