Söderköping is a
locality and the seat of
Söderköping Municipality
Söderköping Municipality () is a municipality in Östergötland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Söderköping.
The present municipality was created in 1971-1973 when the former ''City of Söderköping'' in two ste ...
,
Östergötland County
Östergötland County () is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the northeast. It also has a ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
with 6,992 inhabitants in 2010.
Söderköping is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a
''town''.
Statistics Sweden
Statistics Sweden ( ; SCB, ) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsibilities include:
* developin ...
, however, only counts
localities with more than 10,000 inhabitants as towns. Söderköping is about 15 km southeast of the city of
Norrköping
Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...
.
History
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632
N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...
became king of both Sweden and the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
in a
personal union
A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...
upon his election to the Swedish throne in 1592 amidst much controversy and religious strife. The
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
and Catholic
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
were in full swing and at odds everywhere in Europe in the day. Subsequently, in 1593, he signed an agreement to guarantee religious freedom to the Protestant majority of Sweden and to pacify the Protestant concerns overall by all sects and the religion-generated unrest in the country settled down for a time once the agreement was in place, but it came to rise refreshed and stronger in 1594 because of Sigismund's actions.
In 1595 the
Riksdag of the Estates assembled at Söderköping (consequently sometimes known as the ''Riksdag of Söderköping'') and elected Duke
Charles IX of Sweden
Charles IX, also Carl (; 4 October 1550 – 30 October 1611), reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I () and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric XIV and of ...
as regent of Sweden in place of his Catholic nephew Sigismund—though it did not formally depose Sigismund—because he had violated his agreement as king-elect and that of 1593 with the
Uppsala Synod and had instead championed Catholic
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
measures, appointed Catholics to high offices and established catholic schools during this religiously volatile era—all in violation of his agreement with the Synod in 1593. The renewed controversy came to a head in 1594, resulting in the Riksdag setting aside his authority, and the whole history of Sigismund with his claim on the Swedish throne became a succession of trigger events leading to the subsequent seven decades of dynastic warfare known as the
Polish–Swedish wars. He was formally deposed by the Riksens ständer at Linköping, 24 February 1600, which declared he had abdicated his throne. The same Riksdag approved the
execution of eight of Charles IX's opponents in the Swedish nobility as allies of King Sigismund.
In the early middle-ages it was the most important port in Sweden at the confluence of the Storån and Lillån rivers trading mainly with Lubeck, principally in salt, textiles, butter and beer. Silting eventually led to its demise as a trading centre. Söderköping stands at the eastern end of the
Göta Canal, a 390-km long canal opened in 1832 to connect
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
to the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
by inland waterway.
Sights
Two churches built in the early 13th century are located near the city center,
St. Lawrence's Church and
Drothem Church
Drothem Church () is a medieval Lutheran church in Söderköping, Sweden. The church dates back to the end of the 13th or the 14th century and is one of two surviving medieval churches in Söderköping, the other being St. Lawrence's Church, Söd ...
.
Today Söderköping is visited by foreign tourists taking boat tours of the
Göta Kanal and is a popular destination for residents of the area. An ice cream shop on the banks of Göta Kanal, Smultronstället, is a well-known attraction. Many adventurers gather in Söderköping as several climbing routes are right in the city centre and the archipelago is just a few miles away. In autumn every year is ''Söderköpings gästabud'' arranged, a medieval festival.
See also
*
Söderköping Process
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soderkoping
Municipal seats of Östergötland County
Swedish municipal seats
Populated places in Söderköping Municipality
Market towns in Sweden