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a. d ; 1471. . Steno the elder chosen guardian of the kingdom. ADMINISTRATION OF THE STURES. Danish invasion. Hostile movements. 71
CHAPTER VI.
STENO STURfi THE ELDER. KING JOHN. SUANTO STURfi. STENO STURfi THE
YOUNGER, AND CHRISTIAN THE TYRANT.
a. d. 1470—1520.
Through Engelbert the people had again risen to
be a power in the state, and the Union had become
identified with foreign domination. Charles
Canute-son, who could reap where he had not sowed,
profited by this state of things to win a throne ; yet his
example proved that in Sweden at this time one
might be all, but could not be king. While from
his career the chiefs of the house of Sture learned
not to grasp at a diadem, and to cleave with more
sincerity to the people, they on their side were
doomed to experience how difficult it becomes for
a party leader to rule, although he may be all,
without being king. Meanwhile the Union
nominally survived, still resting on the interest of the
magnates; till all these false relations were
snapped asunder by a Danish war of conquest
against Sweden, and the axe of Christian II.
drowned in blood even the name of the confedera
tion.
Steno Sture, called the elder, was son of the
councillor and knight Gustavus Anundson Sture’,
by king Charles Canutesou’s half-sister Bridget
Bielke’. He had first borne arms in the rising of
bishop Ketil Vasa against king Christian in 14(14 ;
afterwards, in conjunction with Nicholas Sture’6,
who, although of the same name, was of another
family, he had saved the tottering throne of
Charles Canuteson from overthrow in the last days
of that sovereign. He was distinguished for great
sagacity no less than for valor, " a skilful, cautious,
and free-minded lord, and therewithal prosperous
in his designs7 ;" marked out by many qualities as
the man of the people, yet influential also by his
connexions, especially with the brothers Axelson 8,
who were powerful both in Denmark and Sweden,
and now hostile to king Christian.
The town of Stockholm and the Dalecarlians,
between whom, according to one account, there
now subsisted a special alliance, which formed the
main-stay of the power of the Stures, immediately
acknowledged Steno Sture as administrator. The
people were generally on his side, and it is not
without grounds that the Rhyme-Chronicle makes
him say,
With Sweden’s commons grace and love were mine,
Though all the lords would not my banner join.
The council was divided ; as usual there was much
discussion as to the maintenance of the Union.
Eric Carlson Vasa and several exiled Swedish lords
of the old archbishop’s party had returned with
ships and men from Denmark, in order again to
dispute the crown with the expiring Charles
Canuteson. They were indeed put to flight by
Steno Sture’, but the dissensions continued, and the
kingdom remained nearly a year without any
acknowledged head, until at length the peasants, twelve
from every province, assembled of their own
authority in Upsala, and urged the council of state to
conclude upon some settlement among themselves,
seeing, they said, that " such discords could nowise
be endured in the land any longer 9." Thereupon,
not without renewed hesitations, Steno Sture was
chosen (May 1,1471,) administrator at
Arboga,principally by the voices of the peasants and burgesses,
but also with the concurrence of the greater
number of the council. The delivery into his
hands by Eric Axelson of the castles which he had
held, and also the declaration in his favour by the
new archbishop Jacob Ulfson, his foster-father,
and his friend in the first instance, doubtless mainly
contributed to this result.
King Christian himself now appeared before
Stockholm with a fleet of seventy ships. Proposals
of accommodation were made upon both sides.
To the arbitrement of commissioners chosen from
the councils of all three kingdoms, were to be
referred the questions in dispute between Christian
and Sweden, between the brothers Axelson and their
legitimate king, between the seceding Swedish
lords and Steno Sture’s party in the council. All
this was more than sufficient to hold the Danes in
play through a whole summer, for the only object
seems to have been to gain time. Neither Steno
Sture nor his friends appeared before the
commission upon the day appointed for its sitting.
The administrator had repaired to East-Gothland ;
Nicholas Sture had betaken himself to Dalecarlia,
to assemble forces from the more remote provinces,
for in the environs of the capital the partisans of
the Danes were most active. Eric Carlson Vasa,
and Trottd Carlson, of Eka, had already induced
the greater part of Upland to do homage to the
king. The peasants were allured to the Danish
camp by the cheap price of salt, the import of
which had been designedly prohibited, and many
remained under the royal standard. Steno Sture
was careful to keep his movements secret, and as
nothing was heard of him, the spirits of the Danes
6 Boece Stenson (Natt och Dag), councillor of state, and
father of Nicholas (Nils) Sture, married Catherine, daughter
of Steno Sture of Sleswick, of the Danish house, whose name
Nicholas assumed after his mother.
7 Lanrence Peterson.
8 There were nine brothers, sons of Eric Axelson Tott in
Denmark, of whom Eric Axelson, then feudatory of Finland,
married Elin Sture (aunt of Steno, not sister, as has been in-
accurately stated); and I war Axelson, feudatory of Gottland,
married Magdalene, daughter of CharlesCanuteson, an alliance
which had re-opened the throne to this king. Steno Sture
himself was married to Ingeborg, daughter of Ake Axelson.
Through the death of another brother, and the sequestration
of his fief, his family were brought into adverse relations
with King Christian, against whom in 1467 Iwar Axelson
had declared war.
9 Olave Peterson.
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