Conquest of Uppsala

Conquest of Uppsala
Part of Swedish War of Liberation
Date 19 May 1521 Location Uppsala, Sweden Result Swedish victory, Uppsala captured by Swedish rebels
Belligerents
Sweden	Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Jöns Olofsson † Lars Eriksson	Bengt Bjugg

The Conquest of Uppsala (Swedish: Erövringen av Uppsala) was a part of the Swedish War of Liberation that took place on 19 May 1521. After defeating a Danish counter-attack outside Västerås, sent two of his military commanders, Jöns Olofsson and Lars Eriksson, to take control of the western province of Uppland. After passing through the hundreds of Simtuna and Torstuna, Jöns Olofsson was met by local Danish commander Bengt Bjugg and his forces, who defeated the rebels and killed Olofsson.

Lars Eriksson had by then reached Enköping, where he met Bjugg, and forced his troops on a retreat to Uppsala. The Danes had yet no clear view of the rebellion's full scope, and did not believe that Uppsala would be attacked any time soon. The Swedish peasant army attacked on the night between the 18th and 19th of May, after the mass of Eric the Saint had been celebrated in the city, catching the Danish forces by surprise. The archbishop's resident was attacked and soon taken. Bengt Bjugg managed to escape to Stockholm, but within soon died of an infected arrow wound.

The peasant army's victory was only temporary. Shortly after Gustav Vasa left his camp outside Västerås and headed to Uppsala, three weeks after the city's conquest, the local archbishop made an attack, forcing Gustav to flee. He was almost captured by the pursuing enemy by Läby ford. However, he managed to rally more troops and by the time of Midsummer the same year he had pushed back the Danish governmental forces.

References

• Sundberg, Ulf (1998). "Befrielsekriget 1521-1523". Svenskt Militärhistoriskt Bibliotek (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-11-20.