Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First part - II. The Swedish People - 1. Survey of its History. By E. Svensén, Author, Stockholm - The Catholic Period (1060/1523)
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SURVEY OF ITS HISTORY.
77
nations together, was continually put aside by the Danes, who chose the king
themselves, and then tried to force his acceptance upon the two other nations. Then
there arose in Sweden two parties, one in favour of the Danish kings, and the
other a national party, which desired to hand over the government of Sweden to
Swedes — forming a kind of provisional administration and bearing the name of
»Protectors of the Realm». At the head of the latter party there were often
members of the two Sture Families, and they looked for support to the peasantry
of Sweden.
The great national
awakening, which thus
rallied the Swedish people
to fight against the Union,
powerfully contributed to
the development of the
culture and social
conditions of the country. The
peasant had incessantly
to defend his own liberty,
and that of his country,
weapon in hand, and it
followed therefore, as
natural consequences, both
that he successfully
retained the seat and vote
he had previously had in
the Riksdag (or
Parliament), and also that the
influence of the Estate
of the Peasants at these
meetings was often the
predominating one. With
this secure basis for their
power, the Stures were,
so to say, uncrowned
kings, and under their
hands the fabric of the
Swedish commonwealth
was built up on an
ancient national foundation.
For the most part, they
were also able to bid
defiance to the Danish kings,
even when the latter received the help, as not unfrequently happened, of an
important part of the Swedish Nobility, and of the Church.
After the last Protector of the name of Sture, or Sten Sture the Younger,
lost his life in 1520, in a battle against King Christian II, the last-named
monarch once more succeeded in restoring the Union. But in consequence of the
mad deeds, which began with the »Massacre of Stockholm», and occasioned several
hundreds of the best men of Sweden to be treacherously put to death, he made
his rule so detested that, in a few months, the whole of Sweden was again in a
state of insurrection. This time it was the renowned Gustavus Vasa who placed
himself at the head of the rising to attain liberty, and with the successful
completion of the war, and the proclamation, in 1523, of Grustavus Vasa as King
of Sweden, the days of the Kalmar Union were past for ever.
Kalmar Castle.
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