Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Later Catholic Period in Sweden - D. Administration of Torgils Knutsson
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Torgils Knutsson 73
vited his brothers to visit him at the castle of Nykop-
ing, where he was then holding court. The two princes
accepted the invitation and were received with every
mark of friendship. They were assigned a sleeping
apartment in the castle, but on the plea of lack of room,
their retainers were to find quarters in the city. When
the last of them had left the castle, the bridges were
raised and the gates locked. The two princes were now
at the mercy of their brother. The door of their room
was burst open, and the king with an armed force en-
tered. The two princes were put in chains. The king
stared wildly at them and hissed, "Do you remember
Hatunaleken? This game will not be better for you."
He ordered them to be placed in the lowest dungeon
of the castle and to be chained to the wall. This out-
rage was called the Nykoping Banquet (Nykopings
gastabud) .
Birger’s Flight and Death. When Birger had thus
carried out the plot he had brooded over for eleven
years, he clapped his hands in glee and shouted, "Now
I have Sweden in my hand." But, "Who ill contrives
at ill arrives." The adherents of Eric and Waldemar
gathered, and advanced against Nykoping. Birger fled
and finally took refuge in Denmark. But when the res-
cuers broke open the doors to the dungeon, they found
the prisoners dead, most likely from starvation. The
rescuers, in their rage, put to death Birger’s young
son, Magnus, though he was wholly innocent of the
father’s crime. "God knows," he exclaimed when in-
formed that he must die, "that it was against my will
that Duke Eric and Duke Waldemar should so lose
their lives. Now I am to die, but why? God grant
A History of Sweden. 6.
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