Gustav Vasa had made many changes since ascending the throne in 1523. The most profound was of course the reformation – turning the country from Catholicism to Lutheranism and changing centuries old traditions and belief…
Have you ever heard of New Sweden? Long before the mass-emigration from Sweden to North America in the 19th and 20th centuries, there was the short-lived colonial project of New Sweden, 1638 – 1655. The…
We left the last post just when a new rebellion against Danish king Christian II was about to start – the rebellion that would become the Swedish war of independence. To be fair, there were…
During his imprisonment in Denmark, Gustav Vasa heard of plans of a new military campaign against Sweden. According to his chronicler, Gustav became so distressed by this that he escaped in 1519, “with God’s help”. …
Throughout history, many women have participated in combat disguised as men. Research from England and the Netherlands shows that there were hundreds of such cases in the army between the 1500s and 1800s, and there…
In this theme of Women and War, we explore the lives of women during war. In previous posts we have explored life on campaign, and life as prisoner of war. Let’s turn to the women…
In a previous post, we focused on life on campaign for women. Now, we’ll take a look at how that life changed over the centuries. In a Scandinavian context, military campaigns prior to the 17th…
One risk women who took part in military campaigns took, was being taken prisoner of war. This is the story of Lovisa von Burghausen, who was exposed to just that. Lovisa was born in 1698…
In this series of Women and War, it is time to tell the tale of the ordinary women who followed the armies on campaign. When we read about historical military campaigns, they exclusively focus on…
The last peasant revolt in this theme took place in Norway (then part of Denmark) between 1786 – 1787, and has been named after it’s leader, Christian Lofthuus. At this time, discontent simmered among the…