The riksrad, convoked to meet on 30 October, declared on the following day that Christian was lawful heir to Sweden. On 4 November he was crowned at Stockholm.
When the festivities had lasted for some days, a complaint from the restored archbishop, Gustav Trolle, was produced. In it the prelate asked on behalf of himself, his predecessor and the bishop of Vasteras that a number of notorious heretics — notably the late Sten Sture and his widow — should be punished for their crimes, in particular for the imprisonment of Trolle himself and the demolition of Staket. During further negotiations Christina Gyllenstierna produced the confederation charter of 23 November 1517, but only the bishop of Linkoping could prove that he had sealed it under pressure.
It was obvious that the confederates were heretics; not only had they fought against and deposed an archbishop, but they had promised each other to contest excommunication or interdict, that is the very authority of the Church. Furthermore, a proven violator of the Church incurred anathema, and according to Swedish law was liable to death, if he did not reconcile himself with the Church within a certain time. On the other hand, heresy, too, implied ipso facto anathema.
The definition of the confederates as notorious heretics dispensed Christian from keeping the promised amnesty; it would also allow him to confiscate property belonging to those convicted. Even persons who had collaborated with Christian (for example, Bishop Matthew of Strangnas and Hemming Gad) were executed because they had agreed to the confederation. Nevertheless, Christina Gyllenstierna and her mother were pardoned, suffering only imprisonment rather than execution.
The total number of victims in the ‘massacre of Stockholm’ (Stockhotms Blodbad) on 8 November and the following days was about eighty-two; others were executed later. Cruel as it was, the Blodbad was no lawless slaughter. Its illegality is to be sought elsewhere, because in some cases people were executed although their guilt had not been well established.
It is impossible to identify the instigator of the Blodbad: Christian must share responsibility with the bishops who were plaintiffs or served as experts. All four bishops in the latter group witnessed the experts’ declaration with a seal and not merely their signet ring; in all likelihood they had been prepared in advance.
One of Christian’s Swedish hostages, Gustav Vasa, had succeeded in escaping from his Danish captivity in 1519. After visiting Lubeck, he returned to Sweden in the spring of 1520; by the end of the year he was calling the people to revolt. In January 1521 he was elected commander of the region of Dalarna, defeating Gustav Trolle in Uppland, while the people of Dalarna beat back Christian’s governor of Stockholm castle. The insurgents’ victories showed that their movement had to be taken seriously. Aristocrats rallied to their cause, and in August, 1521, Gustav Vasa was elected riksforestandare.
In 1522, the important castles of Kalmar, Stockholm and Alvsborg, as well as those in Finland, were still controlled by Christian’s commanders. With Hanseatic naval assistance, Gustav Vasa now conquered the castles, and entered Stockholm after his election as king of Sweden on 6 June 1523.
In the meantime revolt had also broken out in Denmark; on 21 December a confederation was formed with the purpose of offering Duke Frederik of Schleswig-Holstein the throne. At the end of the year Lubeck agreed to furnish troops for an attack on Denmark in Duke Frederik’s name. On 20 January 1523, the rebellion was formally proclaimed at the landsting at Viborg, and on 29 January Frederik accepted the Danish crown. He invaded Jutland and was acclaimed at Viborg on 26 March. In April, Funen surrendered without fighting, and on 13 April Christian and his family left for the Low Countries. During the coming months one commander after the other gave up his castle to Frederik, who now tried to win over to his side those loyal to Christian by a combination of pressure and bribery.
Copenhagen capitulated on 6 January 1524; in August 1523 Frederik had sealed his Danish handfastning, but was crowned only one year later. In Norway, the rigsrad revoked its allegiance to Christian, when it had ascertained Frederik’s willingness to accept its claims; he was accordingly elected on 23 August 1524.
Why did Christian’s rule collapse so quickly and at the moment when he seemed to be at the height of his power? No doubt his campaign to win Sweden had strained his finances to the utmost. Furthermore, when that country had been conquered, he alienated the Hanseatic towns with an audacious plan for a Nordic trading society. Its purpose was the collection of goods from all parts of the Nordic countries as well as from Russia; they should be offered for sale through the company’s factory in western Europe (probably in the Low Countries) where the necessary goods for importation could be obtained. Lubeck’s trade would thus be confined to the Baltic, and Swedish iron would no longer be taken to Danzig and re-exported on westbound ships. If Hanseatic international trade (outside the Baltic) were to survive, Christian’s project had to be stopped. Consequently, the Hansa supported the Swedish revolt, and Lubeck took sides with Duke Frederik. For Lubeck, Christian’s trading society was as dangerous as had been King Erik’s alliance with Poland—Lithuania a century earlier.
Christian had carried out many reforms, notably two important statutes (1522) for the Danish towns and countryside respectively. All exports of cattle to Germany should pass through Ribe; similarly, corn from the Danish provinces was to be exported by way of Copenhagen, Elsinore, Landskrona or Malmo. Clearly, the intention was to make Denmark into a furnisher to the Netherlands, as the corn trade was to be concentrated along the international sailing route through the Sound. Moreover, urban government was remodelled and although the government had had to accommodate the aristocracy and the clergy for political reasons, many new laws changed the daily life of peasants and burgesses. Reforms were sometimes necessary, but too many enforced during a short period provoked a reaction and led to revolution. Consequently, Christian’s statutes were abolished as soon as he went into exile in 1523.