Stockholm Bloodbath

[1] The events occurred after the coronation of Christian II as the new king of Sweden,[2] when guests in the crowning party were invited to a meeting at Tre Kronor castle.

Archbishop Gustav Trolle, demanding economic compensation for things such as the demolition of Almarestäket's fortress, questioned whether the former Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger and his supporters had been guilty of heresy.

[citation needed] King Christian, who had already taken measures to isolate Sweden politically, intervened to help Archbishop Trolle, who was under siege in his fortress at Stäket.

The senators agreed to render homage to Christian, on condition that he give a full amnesty for past actions and a guarantee that Sweden should be ruled according to Swedish laws and customs.

[5] Sture's widow, Lady Kristina, was still resisting in Stockholm with support from the peasants of central Sweden, and defeated the Danes at Balundsås on 19 March.

During a meeting on what is thought to be Beckholmen, outside of Djurgården, Christian swore that all acts against him would be forgotten, and gave pardon to several named persons (including Gustav Vasa, who had escaped from Denmark, where he had been held hostage).

[7] On 4 November, Christian was anointed by Gustavus Trolle in Storkyrkan Cathedral and took the usual oath to rule the kingdom through native-born Swedes only.

At dusk on 8 November, Danish soldiers, with lanterns and torches, entered a great hall of the royal palace and imprisoned several noble guests.

[10] Christian justified the massacre in a proclamation to the Swedish people as a measure necessary to avoid a papal interdict, but, when apologising to the Pope for the decapitation of the bishops, he blamed his troops for performing unauthorised acts of vengeance.

Memory of the Bloodbath served to let Swedes depict themselves (and often, actually regard themselves) as the wronged and aggrieved party, even when they were the ones who eventually took the political and military lead, such as the conquest and annexation of Scania until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.

In an interview with Gunnar Richardson in 1979, Danish historian Mikael Venge, author of the article about Christian II in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon said: "I think you ought to protest the next time the Swedish radio claims anything so utterly unfounded that could be understood as if the Danes approved of the Stockholm bloodbath."