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88 A History of Sweden
The dissatisfaction with Denmark’s supremacy in the
Union was hardly noticeable, however, as long as Mar-
garet lived, for she was an able ruler and a noble char-
acter, who inspired respect. "Not soon will there be
born another woman like her," says an old chronicle.
Eric of Pomerania. It was different when her grand-
nephew, Eric of Pomerania, whom she had induced all
three kingdoms to choose as her successor, began his
reign after her death in 1412. Margaret had regarded
herself as a Dane, that was serious ;
Eric was a German
and acted as such, that was more dangerous. Again a
large number of Germans crowded into Sweden. They
came as the king’s bailiffs to rule the Swedish people.
This continued until at last Danes and Germans ruled
over nearly all the important parts of the kingdom.
It was then that the saying arose that the maxim of
the Union kings was : "From Sweden your food, from
Norway your clothing, from Denmark your defense."
Engelbert Engelbertsson. The Swedish lords were
indignant, but it was the Swedish miners and peas-
ants under the lead of the mine owner Engelbert
Engelbertsson that took action. When the king refused
to give ear to the complaints of his subjects against
the tyranny and extortion of his bailiffs, the miners
and peasants of Dalecarlia and Westmanland rose in
a body under Engelbert and drove the tormentors from
their strong castles. The peasantry in other provinces
joined in the uprising, and in four months the king-
dom was cleared of foreign bailiffs. To such power had
the peasantry now risen that Engelbert could compel
the great Swedish lords who sat in the king’s council
to renounce their allegiance to King Eric. And at the
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