The legacy started by Gustav I was continued by his sons, who didn't always agree with his ways – or each other's. Owing to his shift from an elective to a hereditary monarchy, the House of Vasa ruled Sweden for more than a century.
Erik: The chosen king, reigned 1560 – 1569
Erik was the eldest son of Gustav Vasa, and his only child with his first wife Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg. He was thus first in line to the throne. He was born at Tre Kronor in 1533, and when his mother died less than two years later, his father remarried. Erik grew up with eight half-siblings. He was educated alongside his brother Johan, four years his junior, and had an aptitude for languages, mathematics and history.
In 1557, Erik was granted fiefdoms in Kalmar, Kronoberg and Öland, and he became the Duke of Kalmar. His relationship with his father became strained due to Erik's mighty ambitions to gain an influential foreign wife – he offered his hand to several royals including Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Renata of Lorraine and Anna of Saxony. Gustav needn’t have worried, however; sadly none of Erik's offers were accepted.
Upon his father's death in 1560, Erik was crowned Erik XIV[[1]] – and he promptly limited the power of his half-brothers, Johan and Karl, through the Articles of Arboga. He also, ironically, had a tense relationship with the nobility, and one of his chosen advisors had previously almost been executed by his father Gustav I.[[2]]
In his paranoia, not only did he have Johan tried for high treason, he also accused Nils Svensson Sture of the same – and four years later, personally stabbed him, while ordering the executions of other members of the Sture family in an event known as the Sture Murders.
During his reign, Erik XIV expanded into the Baltics, and was involved in the Livonian War and the Northern Seven Years’ War. 1563 was a turning point, seeing a more ruthless and violent ruler, traits often attributed to his “insanity"[[3]]. Erik had a heated rivalry with Johan, as well as the Sture family that his father had been closely allied with. In his paranoia, not only did he have Johan tried for high treason, he also accused Nils Svensson Sture of the same – and four years later, personally stabbed him, while ordering the executions of other members of the Sture family in an event known as the Sture Murders.
