The Dalecarlian rebellions ( sv, Dalupproren) were a series of Swedish rebellions which took place in Dalarna in Sweden: the First Dalecarlian Rebellion in 1524-1525, the Second Dalecarlian Rebellion in 1527–1528, and the Third Dalecarlian Rebellion (also known as the Bell Rebellion) in 1531–1533. The rebellions were conducted by the peasantry of Dalarna against the Swedish monarch, King Gustav Vasa. Mutual reasons for all three rebellions were loss of support of Gustav I among the Dalecarlian peasantry because of the economic crisis, the increased royal power, and the unpopular

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and did not end definitively until the Uppsala Synod of 1593 and the following War against Sigismund, with ...

First Dalecarlian Rebellion

Economic crisis occurred after 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 ...

because of the trade monopoly the king had granted the Hanseatic Lübeck in exchange for their support in recapturing the capital during the war. The discontent was used by two Catholic priests, former Bishop Peder Jakobsson of Västerås, a follower of Sten Sture the Younger, and Knut Mickelsson, who opposed the inclinations of Lutheranism which the king had displayed as early as 1524, who stirred up the emotions against the king and for the Sture family in the province. In the spring of 1525, the Dalecarlians held a meeting and wrote a letter in which they complained of the foreign bailiffs and the imprisonment of Sten Sture's widow

Christina Gyllenstierna Christina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna of Fogelvik (Swedish: ''Kristina'' or ''Kerstin'': 1494 – January 1559, Hörningsholm Castle) was a Swedish noblewoman. She was married to the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger, and led the Swedish res ...

, and stated that they would renounce their fealty unless their demands were met. They reportedly contacted Søren Norby, who offered Christina marriage. The king managed to subdue the discontent by promising to meet their demands in May 1525, and the leaders fled to Norway. They were extradited in 1526, and executed through breaking wheel in February 1527.

Second Dalecarlian Rebellion

In 1527, the continuing discontent over the economic crisis, a new tax on Lübeck, and the Swedish Reformation, which was launched that year, unleashed the second rebellion in Dalarna, centered around the so-called ''

Daljunkern Nils Stensson Sture (1512 – 1526 or 1528), born 1512, was the eldest son and heir of Sten Sture the Younger. The so-called Daljunkern ('the Dale-Junker', i.e. the junker from Dalarna), the young leader of an unsuccessful rebellion against G ...

'' (The Youngster from Dalarna), who had come from Norway claiming to be Nils Stensson Sture, son of Sten Sture the Younger and

. This resulted in a feud between the Dalecarlian parishes, which were divided between their loyalties toward the king and the Sture family. The king called representatives of the rebels to negotiations in Uppsala in May 1527, and kept ongoing contacts with them. The Daljunkern left for Norway, but continued to support the rebels from there. In February 1528, the king led an expedition to the Tuna parish, summoned the peasantry at the church, and declared them rebels and outlaws with no right to decide whom to be monarch, and gave them the choice to present all taking part of the rebellion, or else all in the parish were to be executed. This resulted in the rebels being brought forth and executed on the spot, until the king decided for the end of the bloodbath and accepted to show mercy to the remaining rebels. In April, one of the leaders, Peder Grym, was publicly executed in the capital.

Third Dalecarlian Rebellion

In 1531, the Reduction of Gustav I of Sweden of the ongoing

and a new tax, where every parish were obliged to contribute with one of their church bells, resulted in a rebellion where rebels from several of the parishes killed and abused the kings bell collectors. In May, they offered to pay the worth of the bells in money, which the king accepted. At that point,

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 ...

was attempting to regain his throne, and the king was occupied elsewhere. In January 1533, he was free to deal with the rebellion. He summoned the Dalecarlians to a meeting, where he met them with an army, threatened them, fined them, extradited the bell tax with force, and arrested several of the leaders, Måns Nilsson, Anders Persson, and Ingel Hansson, and took them to the capital, where they were executed in early 1534.

Sources

* Daluppror i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1906) {{Catholic Church in Sweden Popular revolt in late-medieval Europe Peasant revolts Rebellions in Sweden Conflicts in 1524 1524 in Sweden Conflicts in 1525 1525 in Sweden Conflicts in 1527 1527 in Sweden Conflicts in 1528 1528 in Sweden 1531 in Sweden Conflicts in 1531 1532 in Sweden Conflicts in 1532 1533 in Sweden Conflicts in 1533 Counter-Reformation 16th-century rebellions Swedish Reformation Catholic rebellions Gustav I of Sweden

First Dalecarlian Rebellion

Second Dalecarlian Rebellion

Third Dalecarlian Rebellion

See also

Sources