Sture

Sture (Swedish: [ˈstʉ̌ːrɛ]) was a name borne by three distinct but interrelated noble families in Sweden in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.

It was originally a nickname, meaning 'haughty, proud' (compare the Swedish word stursk[1] and the Old Norse and Icelandic personal name Sturla), but later became a surname.

He made no attempt to have Karl Karlsson crowned king, but nor did he seize the throne himself, and instead continued to rule the kingdom as regent for the next thirty-two years, albeit with an interruption in the period 1497-1501.

Gotland subsequently became the principal base for the Vitalienbrüder, German privateers hired by the Mecklenburgers to harass Scandinavian shipping.

To make matters even more confusing, Nils's Natt och Dag ancestors were linked by marriage to the Sture (Sjöblad) family.

As such he was one of the leaders of the 1497 rebellion which deposed Sten as regent and invited in King Hans of Denmark to rule Sweden instead, thereby restoring the Kalmar Union.

The younger Sten ruled Sweden for eight years before being defeated and killed by Christian II of Denmark at the Battle of Bogesund.

In their absence, a nobleman called Gustav Eriksson Vasa led a successful rebellion against Christian and declared himself King of Sweden in 1523.

One of Bengt's descendants, Sten Arfvidsson (1681–1730), was an officer in the Swedish Army during the Great Northern War, rising to the rank of Major-General and marrying a daughter of the prominent statesman Carl Piper.

However, more recent historians have instead tended to stress the fact that factional allegiances were often unstable, and seem to have depended more on personal relationships and political circumstances rather than social station or a fixed ideological outlook.