Gustav I Vasa

King of Sweden (r. 1523-1560)

• Born: May 12, 1496
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: September 29, 1560
• Place of death: Stockholm, Sweden

Gustav created and strengthened the Swedish monarchy, asserting control over both the church and the nobility. He established Sweden as an important secondary power in Europe.

Early Life

Gustav Eriksson Vasa (VAH-saw) was the son of a minor Swedish noble, Erik Johansson Vasa, and his wife, Cecilia Mansdotter av Eka. However, as a close relative of Sweden’s regent, Sten Sture the Younger (r. 1512-1520), Gustav was reared at the royal court and educated at the University of Uppsala. He participated in the war against Denmark, in 1518, before being sent by his cousin Sten to that nation as a hostage for Sweden’s good behavior. Months later, he escaped and made his way to the northern German Hanseatic city of Lübeck, where he was sheltered by friends. In hiding at Lübeck, Gustav missed Sten’s death and the Stockholm Bloodbath, the execution by the Danes of nearly ninety nobles, including Gustav’s father and many members of his family.

Sweden’s situation in 1520 was far from promising. Its nobles and Catholic bishops dominated the country, and neither welcomed the thought of a strong monarchy. Since 1397, both groups had embraced the Union of Kalmar with Denmark, allowing the Danish king to direct but not to rule Sweden. The death of the last of the Stures and the Stockholm Bloodbath, leaving scores dead and many others imprisoned, transferred the upper hand to Denmark and endangered the position of the nobles and the bishops.

Sweden was further compromised by a weak economy and a lack of allies. Copper, iron, and timber were the primary exports and much in demand, but their sale depended on relations with Lübeck, the Hanseatic League, the Danes, the Dutch, Prussia, and Russia. Lacking an army and navy, Sweden could not hope to defend its independence, its place in the Baltic Sea, or its produce. Furthermore, the Stockholm Bloodbath seemed to undercut the immediate will of the upper classes to resist Denmark.

Gustav, returning from Lübeck to find most of his family either dead or in prison, saw the need to quickly strike back. He raised a rebellion among the peasants and copper miners, an insurrection that rallied most Swedes to his support. The Danes were driven from the country, the Union of Kalmar abrogated, and in 1521 Vasa was selected as regent by the National Assembly, or Riksdag. Two years later, he became Sweden’s monarch.

Life’s Work

Sweden’s new king was just twenty-seven. Although Gustav I Vasa was known for his common sense, his judgment of character, and his ability to focus on the most important issues in any discussion, he was also known to be cautious. In a reign filled with betrayals, he moved slowly but determinedly and always with an almost single-minded intention of making Sweden into a Baltic power. As a monarch, he was shrewd, wise, and a tough taskmaster, and he continually oversaw his servants either through direct contact or long, detailed correspondence. He diligently sought servants as faithful to the task at hand as himself and rewarded them accordingly. Yet, he had no particular loyalty to those who disagreed with him after his policy was set, and he always vigorously repaid real or imagined insults. His temper was widely known, but it seldom influenced his decisions.

The first twenty years of his reign, from 1523 to 1543, gave little chance for planning. As king, he was expected to live on his own resources, but he was provided with far less than defense and maintenance required. As a result, he lost the island of Gotland to the Danes in 1524 and a defensive alliance with Lübeck, necessitated by the need for other trade outlets and the extensive debts owed to that city. To defend the realm, the king resorted to higher taxes, forced loans, and the confiscation of estates. He was forced to hire mercenaries and to build two fleets one for shallow-water fighting and one for battles within the Baltic. He was not safe even at home: peasant revolts, frequently supported by local churches and bishops, followed from 1524 to 1528, 1531 to 1532, and most seriously from 1542 to 1543.

These rebellions identified the weakness of the monarchy and forced Vasa to turn to the Riksdag to either remedy his inadequate income and powers or accept his abdication. In 1527, after a personal appeal by the king, the Assembly granted Gustav virtual control over the church and its considerable revenues. All church fortresses were surrendered to the Crown, and the king was permitted to determine ecclesial salaries, duties, and financial reserves, including whether individual churches or monasteries should continue to exist. While confiscated monies or fines went directly to the royal treasury, the king and his nobles divided discontinued properties. In addition, since the monarch now had power over the bishops and the church, the church began utilizing more pliable and supportive ministers and secretaries, including Lutherans, to gradually displaced Catholic churchmen. While the nobility shared in the largess, its part was much smaller than that of the king, and the reduction of traditional land grants more than compensated for any land that the nobles were given.

At this point, the king slowly started to extend his authority over land and revenues. Churchmen were exiled or displaced, and their support for dissidents and rebellion all but ceased. The addition of properties and revenues to the royal exchequer enabled the Crown to respond more quickly to the crises of 1531 and 1542 and to mount a more aggressive foreign policy against Denmark. It also permitted Gustav to ignore the impending crisis between Protestants and Catholics in Germany.

By 1544, with his greatest challenge in hand, the king was free to enjoy the security, control, and authority that he had sought for twenty-one years. With his opponents at home and abroad either dead or dispersed, Gustav solidified his position and that of his family by a second appeal to the Riksdag. He requested higher taxes to replace unreliable soldiers in the army and the affirmation of an oath of supremacy that effectively guaranteed hereditary succession.

As in 1527, the Riksdag concurred. In the case of the king’s death, all fortress commanders and the army were to pledge immediately allegiance to Gustav’s eldest son, Erik, the defender of the realm. In the meantime, mercenaries and militia, men of questionable trustworthiness, were to be replaced by a national Swedish army. Every twenty peasants were expected to supply a soldier, and even though most of these were allowed to remain at home on call after training, some were to garrison the king’s fortresses. The training of these men and its national nature would soon make the Swedish army one of the best on the Continent. With a better army at his back and firm support for his heir, the king now collected the new and heavier taxes necessary to pay for the changes and for suitable increases to his fleet. Having been caught so frequently unprepared in the earlier part of his reign, he now had the money, soldiers, and ships to cope with future emergencies.

Capital improvement, however, was no longer restricted to the military but extended to the economy as a whole. Iron, copper, and timber, long the nation’s chief exports, brought limited returns as raw materials. Gustav was advised that these amounts could be increased, almost doubled, if Sweden could refine these products further. Accordingly, in the 1550’s Gustav invested in iron foundries that could convert ore, the typical export, into pure bars. By 1560, the king was the chief ironmaster in the country and was using his newfound iron to make his own weapons. Infusions of capital into the copper industry, although not as effective in the short run, would show similar results under Erik XIV. Gustav also invested heavily in his estates, now numbering more than nine thousand farms, and allowed peasants to occupy marginal or waste lands so that they might one day become taxpayers. He further imported craftspeople to supply hard to get goods at a cheaper price and housed them in large workshops throughout the kingdom, where they worked directly for Sweden.

His death in 1560, even though it once again shifted the direction of his policy toward the outside world, did little to stop his ideas and plans. The Succession Pact of 1560 fully recognized the inheritance of his family in the person of Prince Erik, and dukedoms were provided for his younger sons Johan, Magnus, and Karl. Erik, with his father’s permission and encouragement, sought Elizabeth I of England for his bride in order to increase the trade ties between the two nations.

Significance

Gustav I Vasa forced the Swedish nation to accede to a strong monarchy. The nobility permitted him to rule, and they compromised the church, its land, and its wealth to protect their own. He established an army and a navy, improved the mining of raw materials, encouraged manufacturing, and laid the foundation for the Swedish administrative state.

His improvements were basic and could not elevate Sweden from the status of a secondary power, but the dynasty that he guaranteed would refine his work, conquer most of the Baltic region, and dominate Northern Europe until 1721.

Bibliography

Oakley, Stewart P. War and Peace in the Baltic, 1560-1790. New York: Routledge, 1992. Considers the state of the Baltic region from the end of Gustav’s reign through 1790.

Roberts, Michael. The Early Vasas: A History of Sweden, 1523-1611. London: Cambridge University Press, 1968. Overall, the best and most complete source available on the king. An excellent account of his economic and religious policies.

Roberts, Michael. Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden, 1611-1631. 2 vols. London: Longmans, 1953-1957. Focuses on the long-term impact of Gustav’s accomplishments.

Roberts, Michael. On Aristocratic Constitutionalism in Swedish History, 1520-1720. London: Athlone Press, 1966. Looks at Gustav’s relationship with the nobility and defining the monarchy in Sweden.