Gustav Vasa – King of Sweden 1523 – 1560

Gustav Vasa – King of Sweden 1523 – 1560

Gustav Vasa was born in the year 1496, 12^th May. He was born in the Rydboholm castle. Gustav Vasa’s mother was Cecillia Månsdotter and father was Erik Johansson. His family was a noble family. In his younger years Gustav Vasa started many revolts against the Danish king Christian. The Danes then ruled Sweden. At the battle of Brännkyrka on 2 October 1518, he was among those captured and taken prisoner. He was held in Kalo castle in Denmark but managed to escape, returned by ship to the city of Kalmar on the southeastern coast of Sweden in May 1520. From there, he travelled all the way up to the province of Dalarna, in what was then northwestern Sweden.

There he tried to gather troops to topple the Danish government, but had little success initially. He also received help by troops from Leipzig in Germany. Gustav escaped through the province of Dalarna, fearing for his life if he was discovered by the Danish king's troops. In Mora he spoke to the people and tried to convince them to raise a levy and start a rebellion against King Christian of Denmark.

The men of Mora, at first, did not want to fight and Gustav headed toward Norway to seek refuge. At Sälen He was caught up by two brothers from Mora on skis. The men in Mora had changed their minds after hearing that the Danish rulers had decided to raise taxes, and they now wanted Gustav to lead the rebellion. Gustav’s troops soon attacked Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, and on 24 June 1523, they finally could march into Stockholm. Gustav Vasa was then King of Sweden until 1560 when he died.

In modern days people wanted to praise Gustav Vasa for his journey in Dalarna and since 1923, there is a cross country ski marathon in March every year in Dalarna to honor Gustav Vasa, the Vasaloppet http://www.vasaloppet.se/wps/wcm/connect/en/vasaloppet/start . It is the biggest ski marathon event in the world with around 15.000 skiers taking part every year. The cross country skiers start in Sälen and ski 90 kilometers to Mora.

Written by Nima, Filip, Bernardas, Carl and Robin