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ERIC %IV. (1533-1577), See also: An See also:army of 10,000 men was immediately sent by Eric to John's duchy of See also:Finland, and John and his See also:consort were seized, brought over to Sweden and detained as prisoners of See also:state in Gripsholm See also:Castle. But Eric did not stop here. His suspicion suggested to him that, if his own See also:brother failed him, the See also:loyalty of the See also:great nobles, especially the members of the See also:ancient See also:Sture See also:family, who had been notable in Sweden when the Vasas were unknown, could not be depended upon. The See also:head of the Sture family at this time was Count Svante, who had married a See also:sister of Gustavus Vasa's second wife, and had by her a numerous family, of whom two sons, Nils and Eric, still survived. The dark tragedy, known as the Sture murders, began with Eric XIV.'s See also:strange treatment of See also:young Count Nils, In 1566 he was summoned before a newly erected tribunal and condemned to death for See also:gross neglect of See also:duty, though not one of the frivolous charges brought against him could be substantiated. The death See also:penalty was commuted into a See also:punishment worse because more shameful than death. On the 15th of See also:June 1566 the unfortunate youth, bruised and bleeding from shocking See also:ill-treatment, was placed upon a wretched hack, with a crown of See also:straw on his head, and led in derision through the streets of Stockholm. The following See also:night he was sent a prisoner to the fortress of Orbyhus. A few days later he was appointed See also:ambassador extraordinary, and despatched to See also:Lorraine to resume the negotiations for Eric's See also:marriage with the princess Renata. Before he returned, however, Eric had resolved to marry Karin, or Kitty Mansdatter, the daughter of a See also:common soldier, who had been his See also:mistress since 1565. In See also:January 1567 Eric extorted a See also:declaration from two of his senators that they would assist him to punish all who should try to prevent his projected marriage; and, in the See also:middle of May, a Riksdag was summoned to Upsala to See also:judge between the king and those of the See also:aristocracy whom he regarded as his See also:personal enemies. Eric himself arrived at Upsala on the 16th in a See also:condition of incipient See also:insanity. On the 19th he opened See also:parliament in a speech which, as he explained, he had to deliver extempore owing to " the treachery " of his secretary. Two days later Nils Sture arrived at Upsala fresh from his See also:embassy to Lorraine, and was at once thrown into See also:prison, where other members of the nobility were already detained. On the following See also:day Eric murdered Nils in his See also:cell with his own hand, and by his See also:order the other prisoners were despatched by the royal See also:provost See also:marshal forthwith. These murders were committed so promptly and secretly that it is doubtful whether the estates, actually in session at the same See also:place, knew what had been done when, on the 26th of May, under violent pressure from Goran Persson, they signed a document declaring that all the accused gentlemen under detention had acted like traitors, and confirming all sentences already passed or that might be passed upon them. During the greater See also:part of 1567 Eric was so deranged that a See also:committee of senators was appointed to govern the. See also:kingdom. One of his illusions was that not he was king but his brother John, whom he now set at See also:liberty. When, at the beginning of 1568, Eric recovered his See also:reason, .a reconciliation was effected between the king and the duke, on condition that John recognized the legality of his brother's marriage with Karin Mansdatter, and her See also:children as the successors to the See also:throne. A See also:month later, on the 4th of See also:July, he was solemnly married to Karin at Stock-holm by the See also:primate. The next day Karin was crowned queen of Sweden and her See also:infant son Gustavus proclaimed See also:prince-royal. Shortly after his marriage Eric issued a circular ordering a See also:general thanksgiving for his delivery from the assaults of the See also:devil. This document, in every See also:line of which madness is legible, convinced most thinking See also:people that Eric was unfit to reign. The royal dukes, John and Charles, had already taken See also:measures to depose him; and in July the See also:rebellion See also:broke out in Ostergotland. Eric at first offered a stout resistance and won two victories; but on the 17th of See also:September the dukes stood before Stockholm, and Eric, after surrendering Goran Persson to the horrible vengeance of, his enemies, himself submitted, and re-signed the crown. On the 3oth of September 1568 John III. was proclaimed king by the army and the nobility; and a Riksdag, summoned to Stockholm, confirmed the choice and formally deposed Eric on the 25th of January 1569. For the next seven years the ex-king was a source of the utmost anxiety to the new See also:government. No fewer than three rebellions, with the See also:object of releasing and reinstating him, had to be suppressed, and his prison was changed See also:half a dozen times. On the loth of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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