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Description
Gustaf Eriksson Vasa's road to rebellion was a complex and source material wise questionable series of historical events that happened in Sweden shortly after the coronation of Danish king Christian II (1481-1559) as king of Sweden and the Kalmar Union and the Stockholm Bloodbath.

As seen in prior images about the year 1520 and the events that led to the downfall of the Kalmar Union, things weren't looking up at all for Sweden. While chancellor regent Sten Sture the younger (1492/1493-1520) had died on the ice of Malaren shortly after the battle of Bogesund (19th of January 1520) against Denmark, and his widowed wife Christina Gyllenstierna (1494-1559) was defending the capital of Stockholm, the young nobleman Gustaf Eriksson from the House of Vasa (1496-1560) was observing everything from afar in the German Hanseatic city of Lübeck.
Just the year prior, in 1519, he had been held as a diplomatic hostage at Kalø castle in Denmark on the orders of Danish king Christian II (1481-1559), who was now in hot pursuit of taking the Swedish crown and reuniting the Kalmar Union. In Lübeck, Gustaf came in contact with all the kind of stuff that had happened on the continent, such as Martin Luther's (1483-1546) new ideas about a reformed Christianity, and literary works, such as The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). But above all else, Gustaf made important contacts in Lübeck for potential military support. Unfortunately he failed on that part, as mercenaries crave that sweet sweet cash.
So, Gustaf, disgruntled as he was, turned back home to Sweden in May of 1520 with a ship sailing towards the city of Kalmar. From there it is quite unsure exactly what the hell he was doing. He was obviously not trying to support the above mentioned Christina Gyllenstierna in Stockholm, so what gives? We do know that he heard that a peace had been declared in September of 1520, and that he at the time was in the area around modern day Eksjö. Again, exactly what he was doing there is unknown.
In early November of 1520, Christian II was crowned as king of Sweden and held a massive coronation feast, where all of Sweden's high nobility was invited. We do know for a fact that members of the House of Vasa were invited, and while Gustaf absolutely refused to attend, his father Erik Johansson (1470-1520) did attend...probably the worst mistake of the old man's life, as just a few days afterwards he and about 80 more people were executed during the Stockholm Bloodbath. On top of that, his mother and sisters had been taken to Denmark as prisoners of Christian II. And just like that, Gustaf had lost everything. And he went absolutely livid.

What happened next is a bit, if not entirely, questionable...yeah, this term is very reccurring in this image. Thing is, most of our knowledge about Gustaf Eriksson Vasa's rise to power comes from a certain little piece of work called Peder Swart's Chronicle, which was allegedly also edited and supervised by Gustaf himself. You can definitely see why this is a questionable source, as it is probably filled to the brim with propaganda about "Gustaf good, Christian bad" and that kind of biased crap.
We do know that at the time of the winter of 1520, a bunch of rebellions sprung up across Sweden which were mostly brutally beaten down by Christian II...or specifically the arch bishop Gustaf Trolle (1488-1535) and Danish bishop Didrik Slagheck (unknown-1522), as Christian himself had left for the Neatherlands at the time.
Among these rebel leaders included Gustaf Eriksson Vasa, who at this time was on his way towards the region of Dalarna ("Which swas target of where they were and it was nice place and my friend lives there." - Quarter-Life: Halfway to Destruction). Dalarna region was famous throughout the late middle ages and the 15th century for its history of general disobediance and rebellion against the Danish kings. Aside from that, there were no royal castles in the area either, which automatically meant that neither were there any mercenary outposts. It was the perfect opportunity. And the right man in the right place can make all the difference in the world.
Around the time of the new year of 1521, Gustaf arrived at the city of Mora in Dalarna. According to the traditional history, Gustaf made use of his absolute best rhetorics, delivering an inspiring speech to rally the peasants and citizens of Mora to stand up and fight against the tyranny of the Danish king Christian, and finally break out Sweden from this god forsaken union that held them prisoners...clearly the peasants and citizens of Mora didn't care in the slightest. So Gustaf threw a hissy fit and decided to travel to Norway instead and try and instigate a rebellion there (probably).

Now, here's the onion. Traditionally, it is written that Gustaf took skiis towards Norway. But let us not forget a single tiny little but very significant detail...why in the ever living hell would he do that? He's a nobleman! He'd not take the skiis like some common peasant! Personally, I find it much more believable that he'd take the horseback towards Norway, if he even headed in that direction in the first place. And it's not like we have any other sources to compare this event to, other than Peder Swart's chronicle and whatever after-construction that appeared during the centuries afterwards, even so late as the early 20th century!
With that rant out of the way, we can establish that Gustaf was on his way away from Mora in his usual dissapointed manner. But soon enough, he was caught up by men of Mora, who had suddenly changed their mind. Christian II had recently came out with some new legislation that didn't suit the peasants of Dalarna well in the slightest; New taxes would be commissioned, the peasants were to abandon their free usage of weapons in peacetime as well as wartime and, on top of that, the trading route of iron and copper (which were huge industrial assets in Dalarna region) were to be transported through Denmark, so that the Danish could cash in on the transport. So, with these news in mind, the Mora peasants speeded to catch up with Gustaf, did so, and asked him to lead the rebellion.
And rebellion it was. These separate rebellions across the entirety of Sweden soon found a leader in the hot tempered 25 year old Gustaf Eriksson Vasa and in the city of Vadstena he was elected as Chancellor regent on the 23rd of August 1521. The war against Christian II could begin.

During the oncoming two years, Gustaf's rebellion would face success after success until he finally took Stockholm on the 17th of June 1523. Shortly afterwards, Gustaf was elected king of Sweden and became Gustaf I Vasa. Christian II in the meantime was forced to abdicate from the Danish crown due to some stupid drama in Denmark...clearly that guy had a tenacity to piss off everyone.
Was Gustaf any good as a ruler? Yes and no. Yes, as he was a modern renaissance man with wits and knowledge to make the backwards semi-late-medieval kingdom into a powerful state so shortly after breaking out of the Kalmar Union. No, as he was, very much like Christian II, an exceptionally cruel and harsh ruler who didn't hesitate in the slightest to brutally beat down rebellions, tax the population and commit mass executions.

This is not a story about good people. You all should have learned that already.

Description
Gustaf Eriksson Vasa's road to rebellion was a complex and source material wise questionable series of historical events that happened in Sweden shortly after the coronation of Danish king Christian II (1481-1559) as king of Sweden and the Kalmar Union and the Stockholm Bloodbath.

As seen in prior images about the year 1520 and the events that led to the downfall of the Kalmar Union, things weren't looking up at all for Sweden. While chancellor regent Sten Sture the younger (1492/1493-1520) had died on the ice of Malaren shortly after the battle of Bogesund (19th of January 1520) against Denmark, and his widowed wife Christina Gyllenstierna (1494-1559) was defending the capital of Stockholm, the young nobleman Gustaf Eriksson from the House of Vasa (1496-1560) was observing everything from afar in the German Hanseatic city of Lübeck.
Just the year prior, in 1519, he had been held as a diplomatic hostage at Kalø castle in Denmark on the orders of Danish king Christian II (1481-1559), who was now in hot pursuit of taking the Swedish crown and reuniting the Kalmar Union. In Lübeck, Gustaf came in contact with all the kind of stuff that had happened on the continent, such as Martin Luther's (1483-1546) new ideas about a reformed Christianity, and literary works, such as The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527). But above all else, Gustaf made important contacts in Lübeck for potential military support. Unfortunately he failed on that part, as mercenaries crave that sweet sweet cash.
So, Gustaf, disgruntled as he was, turned back home to Sweden in May of 1520 with a ship sailing towards the city of Kalmar. From there it is quite unsure exactly what the hell he was doing. He was obviously not trying to support the above mentioned Christina Gyllenstierna in Stockholm, so what gives? We do know that he heard that a peace had been declared in September of 1520, and that he at the time was in the area around modern day Eksjö. Again, exactly what he was doing there is unknown.
In early November of 1520, Christian II was crowned as king of Sweden and held a massive coronation feast, where all of Sweden's high nobility was invited. We do know for a fact that members of the House of Vasa were invited, and while Gustaf absolutely refused to attend, his father Erik Johansson (1470-1520) did attend...probably the worst mistake of the old man's life, as just a few days afterwards he and about 80 more people were executed during the Stockholm Bloodbath. On top of that, his mother and sisters had been taken to Denmark as prisoners of Christian II. And just like that, Gustaf had lost everything. And he went absolutely livid.

What happened next is a bit, if not entirely, questionable...yeah, this term is very reccurring in this image. Thing is, most of our knowledge about Gustaf Eriksson Vasa's rise to power comes from a certain little piece of work called Peder Swart's Chronicle, which was allegedly also edited and supervised by Gustaf himself. You can definitely see why this is a questionable source, as it is probably filled to the brim with propaganda about "Gustaf good, Christian bad" and that kind of biased crap.
We do know that at the time of the winter of 1520, a bunch of rebellions sprung up across Sweden which were mostly brutally beaten down by Christian II...or specifically the arch bishop Gustaf Trolle (1488-1535) and Danish bishop Didrik Slagheck (unknown-1522), as Christian himself had left for the Neatherlands at the time.
Among these rebel leaders included Gustaf Eriksson Vasa, who at this time was on his way towards the region of Dalarna ("Which swas target of where they were and it was nice place and my friend lives there." - Quarter-Life: Halfway to Destruction). Dalarna region was famous throughout the late middle ages and the 15th century for its history of general disobediance and rebellion against the Danish kings. Aside from that, there were no royal castles in the area either, which automatically meant that neither were there any mercenary outposts. It was the perfect opportunity. And the right man in the right place can make all the difference in the world.
Around the time of the new year of 1521, Gustaf arrived at the city of Mora in Dalarna. According to the traditional history, Gustaf made use of his absolute best rhetorics, delivering an inspiring speech to rally the peasants and citizens of Mora to stand up and fight against the tyranny of the Danish king Christian, and finally break out Sweden from this god forsaken union that held them prisoners...clearly the peasants and citizens of Mora didn't care in the slightest. So Gustaf threw a hissy fit and decided to travel to Norway instead and try and instigate a rebellion there (probably).

Now, here's the onion. Traditionally, it is written that Gustaf took skiis towards Norway. But let us not forget a single tiny little but very significant detail...why in the ever living hell would he do that? He's a nobleman! He'd not take the skiis like some common peasant! Personally, I find it much more believable that he'd take the horseback towards Norway, if he even headed in that direction in the first place. And it's not like we have any other sources to compare this event to, other than Peder Swart's chronicle and whatever after-construction that appeared during the centuries afterwards, even so late as the early 20th century!
With that rant out of the way, we can establish that Gustaf was on his way away from Mora in his usual dissapointed manner. But soon enough, he was caught up by men of Mora, who had suddenly changed their mind. Christian II had recently came out with some new legislation that didn't suit the peasants of Dalarna well in the slightest; New taxes would be commissioned, the peasants were to abandon their free usage of weapons in peacetime as well as wartime and, on top of that, the trading route of iron and copper (which were huge industrial assets in Dalarna region) were to be transported through Denmark, so that the Danish could cash in on the transport. So, with these news in mind, the Mora peasants speeded to catch up with Gustaf, did so, and asked him to lead the rebellion.
And rebellion it was. These separate rebellions across the entirety of Sweden soon found a leader in the hot tempered 25 year old Gustaf Eriksson Vasa and in the city of Vadstena he was elected as Chancellor regent on the 23rd of August 1521. The war against Christian II could begin.

During the oncoming two years, Gustaf's rebellion would face success after success until he finally took Stockholm on the 17th of June 1523. Shortly afterwards, Gustaf was elected king of Sweden and became Gustaf I Vasa. Christian II in the meantime was forced to abdicate from the Danish crown due to some stupid drama in Denmark...clearly that guy had a tenacity to piss off everyone.
Was Gustaf any good as a ruler? Yes and no. Yes, as he was a modern renaissance man with wits and knowledge to make the backwards semi-late-medieval kingdom into a powerful state so shortly after breaking out of the Kalmar Union. No, as he was, very much like Christian II, an exceptionally cruel and harsh ruler who didn't hesitate in the slightest to brutally beat down rebellions, tax the population and commit mass executions.

This is not a story about good people. You all should have learned that already.