Gustav Vasa

Image above by Kevin from The Beginning at Last

Today, June 6 is the National Day of Sweden (or the Independence Day of Sweden). Gustav Vasa, or Gustav I, Sweden’s hero king and the father of modern Sweden, was elected king of Sweden on June 6th, 1523. This was after the Swedish War of Liberation from Denmark 1521 to 1523. Gustav rose to lead the Swedish War of Liberation following the Stockholm Bloodbath, where his father was executed.  Gustav Vasa or Gustav I was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. Since I am originally Swedish (now living in Texas) June 6 is a significant date for me.

In the picture there muscular man holding up crown | Gustav Vasa
This picture is how I imagine Gustav Vasa at his coronation. BTW this is a submission for Kevin’s No Theme Thursday
A bearded king and his queen are marching down the middle of beautiful large building, perhaps a cathedral or a castle | Gustav Vasa
This is how I imagine Gustav Vasa’s marriage to Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg on September 24th, 1531. This picture is also from Kevin’s No Theme Thursday

Depictions of Gustav Vasa

Kevin’s pictures above were, like I said, how I imagine Gustav Vasa. The depictions below might be closer to the truth.

Painting of Gustav Vasa with an interesting hairdo and wearing a large robe.
Painting of Gustav I Vasa. Fashion was somewhat different back in the day.
Gustav Vasa is wearing a big black robe and black beanie looking hat that is slanted on his head.
Portrait of Gustav Vasa (from Wikipedia Commons).

The Kalmar Union

In 1397 a union was formed between Denmark, Norway and Sweden called the Kalmar Union (Kalmar is a city a Sweden). The Kalmar Union came to be dominated by Denmark and there were occasional rebellions. During Gustav’s childhood, parts of the Swedish nobility tried to make Sweden independent. Gustav’s father Erik Johansson Vasa was part of that nobility.

Map showing Denmark, Sweden and Norway in purple. Iceland and Finland are also included.
The Kalmar Union. Finland was part of Sweden at the time. Ssolbergj, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

After some problematic interactions with Denmark and the Danish King Christian II, King Christian massacred 100 Swedish nobles, November 7-9, 1520, on Stortorget in Stockholm, including Gustav’s father. In 1521 Gustav led a rebellion (or a civil war) against Denmark, which ended in the deposition of King Christian II from the throne of Sweden, effectively ending the Kalmar Union. I can add that King Christian is called Christian the Tyrant in Sweden and Christian the good in Denmark.

Sweden and Denmark has had a complicated history that included a lot of hostilities and eleven wars, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the situation today. There hasn’t been a war between Sweden and Denmark in more than 180 years and Swedes and Danes get along very well. However, it is best not to bring up the past. That is probably true for marriages as well.

On the left, a fist with a yellow and blue flag. On the right, a fist with a red and white flag.
Denmark vs Sweden. The yellow and blue flag is the Swedish flag. Red and white is the Danish. Shutterstock Stock Photo ID: 1114320377 by Hasanov Jeyhun.

Gustav Vasa’s Burial Place

Gustav Vasa died on September 29, 1560, and is buried together with three of his wives (while only two are engraved) in the Cathedral of Uppsala. Uppsala is an old city north of Stockholm famous for its Viking graves/mounds. During the Viking era Uppsala was the religious center of Sweden. Later as Sweden became Christian it remained the religious center of Sweden, however, the Viking temple in old Uppsala was replaced by a Christian church. Uppsala hosts one of the most prominent Universities in the world and it also happens to be where I studied Engineering Physics.

The largest cathedral in Sweden, Uppsala Domkyrka. This is where Gustav I Vasa is buried. Gustav I is arguably Sweden’s most prominent king.
The largest cathedral in Sweden, Uppsala Domkyrka. This is where Gustav I Vasa is buried. Gustav I is arguably Sweden’s most prominent king.
Inside Uppsala Domkyrka
Inside Uppsala Domkyrka.
The tomb of Gustav I Vasa in Uppsala Domkyrka | Heavily decorated coffin shaped tomb placed in a large, decorated room filled with paintings.
The tomb of Gustav I Vasa in Uppsala Domkyrka. In the background is my son and his wife.

Photos from Sweden

Photo of a Leonberger standing on of a bench
I am a fan of Leonberger dogs, and this is a photo of the only Swedish Leonberger I met personally. Her name was Amie. We met her at an interesting place, at the top of a north Swedish mountain called Skule Mountain (Skull Mountain).
Three children sitting around a large table made of ice in a large room with columns of ice. There is an ice chandelier above the table.
One of the interesting tourist attractions in northern Sweden is the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi . The ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi is the first/original and largest ice hotel in the world. My kids at the lobby of the ice hotel in northern Sweden.

A guard in a dark blue uniform wearing a golden helmet and a gun in standing in front of a booth in front of a big brick castle.
Sweden has a king (Carl XIV), and he owns a couple of big castles. This is my kids with the guard in front of the Winter Castle in Stockholm.
My photo of Drottningholm castle taken from the garden, a very large garden.
Drottningholm, one of the Royal Palaces in Sweden. It was built in the 1660’s and inspired by Versailles.
A photo of the Vasa Ship taken from below.
A photo of the Vasa ship from the bottom floor. My son is standing on the right in a green and black shirt.
This is a photo of a well-dressed 8-member royal family.
The Swedish Royal family. The two people in the middle are Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Bernadotte. To the right of the king is the future monarch of Sweden princess Victoria and to the left of Queen Silvia is her husband. The others are their other two children and their spouses.
Yellow and Blue Swedish flag | Gustav Vasa
Finally, the Swedish Flag (Wikimedia Commons). All other photos above are mine

Other Scandinavian Posts

To see the Super Facts click here

Unknown's avatar

Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

41 thoughts on “Gustav Vasa”

  1. Fascinating post, Thomas!

    I’m going to go out on a limb and assume the famous Swedish warship Vasa was named for Gustav Vasa, right?

    Happy Swedish Independence Day.

    (And…it’s the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy…or…in French, Normandie.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Alex. The 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy is the more famous of them, but if you are Scandinavian you know both. I believe that the Vasa ship (or Wasa ship, as it was spelled back then) was named after the Vasa dynasty. It was Gustav Vasa’s grandson Gustav II Adolph Vasa who built the Vasa ship, well his engineers and builders did. The reason it sank was partially Gustav II’s fault because he kept asking them to add gold and cannons making it top heavy. By the way, about V versus W, both have the same sound V in Swedish and in the past it was more common to use W instead of V so originally the the name of the king was Gustav Wasa. Same thing with my name Wikman. It is frequently spelled Vikman but our family kept the old spelling.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Patricia. About Swedish historical fiction I would suggest The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg. It is a story about a family (and friends) who emigrated to Minnesota sometime around 1840 – 1850. It is based on real events but a fictional novel nonetheless. They made a movie out of this book that is available on Amazon. For a children’s book I would suggest the Vasa Pig about a pig who survived when the vasa warship sank, but it is a little bit scary with all the people drowning, so maybe the “Emil i Lönneberga” books by Astrid Lindgren.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you so much Robbie. You are right, it all depends on the point of view. I’ve grown up hearing about Christian the Tyrant and then I found the Danes call him Christian the Good, and I thought that was funny. I am sure he must have done something good that the Danes liked.

      Like

      Reply

  5. Lulu: “I bet up on top of a mountain is a fine place for a Leonberger! No fear of chilly winds for them!”
    Java Bean: “Ayyy, the Swedish Royal Family looks a lot nicer than the American Royal Family …”
    Charlee: “We haven’t got an American Royal Family.”
    Java Bean: “Are you sure about that?”

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Ha ha Lulu, Java Bean and Charlee, you are funny. I was amazed by the fact that the Leonberger’s owner got her to the top. There is a path, but it is long and steep. Well I guess I am impressed that the Leonberger did it. Thank you for your comment on the Swedish Royal Family Java Bean but Charlee is right, there is no American Royal Family, not yet, I should say the Swedish Royal Family have no political power. In fact they are expected to keep mum about politics. I guess you can say that all Swedes except the Swedish Royal Family have free speech rights.

      Like

      Reply

  6. I would say don’t give them any ideas, but they already have ideas … (That was me, not the animals. Stupid WordPress is leaving comments as them again even though it swears to high heaven I’m logged in as myself and it shows my avatar in the comment box.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Fascinating, Thomas. I loved reading this post and seeing your children through the years. I’ve never been to any of the Scandinavian countries, but I’ve always wanted to visit. Thank you for sharing as you have.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Really interesting post. I don’t know much about Sweden or Swedish history despite predominantly learning European history throughout my school years. So, I’m always excited to read posts like this one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Thanks for sharing a slice of Swedish history with us Thomas. I’m always fascinated at history. That ice hotel was amazing! A lovely tribute to your birth country. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

        1. Ha ha you are right, but they often put some reindeer hide on furniture and beds. Right before the trip I showed my son a photo of an ice toilet at the ice hotel. After seeing that he wanted to cancel the trip. I explained to him that they had real toilets. That was just ice-art.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  18. Pingback: NTT Showcase: 6/5/25 – The Beginning At Last

  19. “King Christian is called Christian the Tyrant in Sweden and Christian the good in Denmark.”

    😆 Two sides to every story!

    History is a fascinating (to me, anyway) subject and I enjoyed learning more about Scandinavia. Thanks also for the tour of your beautiful homeland! The Ice Hotel must have been a unique experience. A little chilly, though! 🧊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Yes imagine my surprise when we visited a museum in Denmark and they had an exhibit on Christian II (that’s Christian the Tyrant) and they called him Christian the Good. I expected the Danish not to have the same opinion of Christian II as the Swedes, but Christian the Good. That was too much.

      The kids loved the Ice Hotel, my wife not so much. She left the room in the middle of the night and walked out and into the wooden and warm building next doors.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment