The Nordic ”Tomte” or ”Nisse” has no really good translation to English. The closest might be hobgoblin, elf or gnome. But since it is a specific Nordic creature, I will call it Tomte. The Swedish…
Up until early spring 1543, everything had seemingly gone Nils Dacke’s way. Since midsummer the previous year, he had led the largest and most successful peasant revolt ever in Swedish history, known as the Dacke…
After the introduction of Nils Dacke and the beginnings of the revolt, let’s turn to the rebellion that bears his name. The king, Gustav Vasa, was not particularly worried about the news of a revolt…
The picture above is a reconstruction of Nils Dacke, a suggestion of what he might have actually looked like. It is based on what is said to be an contemporary image of him, painted originally…
Although peasants indeed had been a driving force – and the most important military force in Engelbrekt’s rebellion – noblemen had been involved and with time taken over the movement. The first true peasants’ revolt…
Engelbrekt, the leader of the rebellion, was dead. With his death, the fragile unity amongst the rebel leaders was gone. Karl Knutsson Bonde became the sole Captain of the armed forces and managed to outmanouver…
This is the second part of the story of the Engelbrekt Rebellion, read the first part here. The truce that Engelbrekt and king Erik had negotiated didn’t last very long. The king continued to appoint…
This is the story of one of the most famous and – initially – succesful peasants’ revolts in Nordic History – The Engelbrekt Rebellion in the 1430s. In the 15th century, the Nordic countries were…
In history, the plight of the common people is often overlooked. Except when ordinary people had enough, and with weapons in hand stood up to their oppressors. We can glimpse them in the history books,…
In the last post about Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, we learned that her daughter, Kristina, was taken from her by her enemies in the Privy Council, who ruled Sweden while Kristina was a minor. For…