Nydala Abbey Bloodbath ( Swedish: ''Blodbadet i Nydala kloster'') in

Nydala Abbey Nydala Abbey ( sv, Nydala kloster) was a Cistercian monastery in the province of Småland, Sweden, near the lake Rusken. Although the abbey ceased to operate in the 16th century, its church was renovated and converted into a Protestant church durin ...

, Sweden, on 2 February 1521 was the execution of the abbot and several monks at Nydala Abbey performed by the Danish army on the orders of

Christian II of Denmark Christian II (1 July 1481 – 25 January 1559) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke ...

during their way back to Denmark from the

Stockholm Bloodbath The Stockholm Bloodbath ( sv, Stockholms blodbad; da, Det Stockholmske Blodbad) was a trial that led to a series of executions in Stockholm between 7 and 9 November 1520. The event is also known as the Stockholm massacre. The events occurred af ...

during the

Swedish War of Liberation The Swedish War of Liberation (1521–23; sv, Befrielsekriget, lit=The Liberation War), also known as Gustav Vasa's Rebellion and the Swedish War of Secession, was a rebellion and a civil war in which the nobleman Gustav Vasa deposed King Chri ...

. The Bloodbath was used by the Swedes to portray Christian II as an evil tyrant during the Swedish War of Liberation, as it was said that the monks were executed without cause or trial by the king. In practice, however, the monks may have been executed because they had cooperated with the Swedes against Danish domination, and as Christian II is confirmed to have been in Denmark the following day, he was most likely not present in Nydala when his army executed the monks.

References

* Palle Lauring: Fejder og reformation. Köpenhamn 1963. {{coord missing, Sweden 1521 in Europe 1521 in Sweden Massacres in Sweden Political history of Sweden Conflicts in 1521 16th century in Sweden 16th-century executions by Denmark Swedish War of Liberation