Annotated bibliography

• Eisner, M. (2011) ‘Killing Kings. Patterns of Regicide in Europe, AD 600-1800’, The British Journal of Criminology, 51,3: 556-577.
• This study analyses regicides, and exposes time periods in which being a king was as dangerous to your life as being a modern-day soldier in a war.
• Friedeburg, R. von (ed.) (2004) Murder and Monarchy. Regicide in European History, 1300-1800, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• This volume combines several case studies of deposed European monarchs, and focusses especially on the before and after legitimation of killing a monarch.
• Kantorowicz, E. H. (1957) The king’s two bodies: A study in medieval political theology, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• This is a ground-breaking book on the understanding of kingship and the difference between the body politic and the body natural of a monarch.
• Schubert, E. (2005) Königsabsetzung im deutschen Mittelalter. Eine Studie zum Werden der Reichsverfassung, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht.
• Ernst Schubert used depositions in the medieval Holy Roman Empire to show their influence on constitution and political development.
• Turchetti, M. (2001) Tyrannie et tyrannicide de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
• This book gives an overview of the development on the discours of right of resistance, especially the question of killing tyrants, as well as on the question, what is a tyrant?

Reading List (for classroom use)

• Kossmann, E.H.; Mellink, A. F. (eds.) (1974) Texts concerning the revolt of the Netherlands, London, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• A source collection about the conflict between the Netherlands and their monarch, Philipp II.
• Zmora, H. (2001) Monarchy, Aristocracy, and the State in Europe, 1300-1800, London, New York: Routledge.
• This short introduction to the state-building process focusses on the role of the nobility, and expands on how the triangle between state, monarch and nobility led to the formation of different political cultures within pre-modern kingdoms.
• To Kill a King (UK, 2003)
• Presented as a recounting of the friendship between Oliver Cromwell (Tim Roth) and Thomas Fairfax (Dougray Scott) set to the background of the British civil wars and the regicide of Charles I (Rupert Everett), this movie actually provides a great introduction to the different competing political ideas of the civil wars, embodied by Cromwell for the radicals and New Model Army, Fairfax for the moderate parlamentarians, Charles I as usual for himself and Lady Fairfax (Olivia Williams) as representative of noble royalists.

Links

• BHO - British History Online
• Indispensable website for all things British - digitalized sources for the period 1300-1800 as well as helpful subject guides on different topics and their sources.
• Dansk biografisk Lexikon
• Complete digitalisation of the DBL, the Danish national biography, at project runeberg.
• danmarkshistorien.dk
• This portal on Danish history is edited and curated by the history department of Aarhus University. The portal offers short introduction to topics of Danish history from antiquity to the present as well as digitalisation of sources, e.g. the letter of deposition to Christian II.
• The Jacobite Heritage
• This private curated website is nonetheless one of the best platforms to find sources concerning the Glorious Revolution and its aftermath online and in full text. All entries have a short comment and bibliographical information of the print version.

Keywords

Depositions; Northern Europe; Political Culture; Consensual Rule; Rulership; Kalmar Union

Denmark; England; Norway; Scotland; Sweden

Birger Magnusson (Sweden); Charles I (England, Scotland); Charles VIII (Sweden); Charles IX (Sweden); Christian I (Denmark, Norway, Sweden); Christian II (Denmark, Norway, Sweden); Christopher II (Denmark); Edward II (England); Edward III (England); Edward IV (England); Edward V (England); Erik of Pomerania (Denmark, Norway, Sweden); Erik XIV (Sweden); Gustav I Vasa (Sweden); Haakon VI Magnusson (Norway, Sweden); Henri III (France); Henri IV (France); Henry IV (England); Henry VI (England); Henry VII (England); James I (Scotland); James VI/I (Scotland, England); James II/VII (England, Scotland); Jane Grey (England); John II (Denmark, Norway, Sweden); Louis XVI (France); Magnus VII/IV (Norway, Sweden); Mary I Stuart (Scotland); Mary I Tudor (England); Oliver Cromwell; Richard II (England); Richard III (England); Robert II (Scotland); Sigismund of Sweden (Sweden); Valdemar III (Denmark); Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl; William III (England)

List of Depositions in Northern Europe, 1300-1700

Scotland

• James I (1394-1437): James I from the house of Stewart became (uncrowned) king of Scotland in 1406 after the death of his father, Robert III. After spending the first 18 years of his reign in English imprisonment, James I returned to Scotland in 1424, and was crowned. Partly due to his long absence, and partly due to his centralising politics, James I spent most of his personal rule in conflict with diverse nobles of the realm, including his closest relatives. Combined with Scottish defeat at the English-held Roxburgh Castle, James I lost his political standing in Scotland. A conspiracy led by his uncle, Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, was responsible for his assassination at Perth (20/21 February 1437), but could not take over the government from James’s son and wife.
• Mary I (1542-1587, dep. 1567): Mary I from the house of Stewart succeeded to the Scottish throne barely a week old in 1542. Furthermore, as great-grand-daughter of Henry VII, Mary had a claim to the English throne, and since 1558 married to the dauphin of France, Francis (II), became queen consort of France 1559-1560. As queen regnant of Scotland since 1560, Mary managed mostly to navigate Scottish politics, but behaved unqueenly in the aftermath of her second husband’s murder (February 1567) and was forced to abdicate by a radical minority of Scottish lords. After escaping from Scottish prison and losing a battle in the ensuing civil war between the „king’s men“ and the „queen’s men“, Mary fled to England where she spent the rest of her life imprisoned. In 1586, she was accused of being involved in conspiracies and treason against the English queen, Elizabeth I. Mary was put on trial, convicted, and executed in February 1587. Further Readings: Fraser, Antonia: Mary Queen of Scots. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1969; Wormald, Jenny: Mary, Queen of Scots. A Study in Failure. London: George Philip 1988.
• James VII (1633-1701, dep. 1689): James VII of Scotland, also known as James II of England, followed his brother Charles II to the Scottish throne in 1685. Being a Catholic monarch over mostly Protestant subjects was one of the reasons why James was deposed during the events of the so-called Glorious Revolution. Most of these events occurred in England, and Scotland followed the English Declaration of Right with its Claim of Rights in April 1689. Moreover, since James never took the coronation oath in Scotland, this claim could refute his reign much more radical, and in fact, the Claim of Rights represents the only open deposition of an early modern monarch in Northern Europe.

England

• Edward II (1284-1327): Edward II followed his father, Edward I, on the English throne after the latter’s death in 1307. Edward II was married to Isabella of France which later resulted in claims to the French throne by Edward’s successors and the Hundred Years’ War. The close relationship to favourites, particularly Piers Gaveston and, after Gaveston’s fall, exile, and execution, to both father and son, Hugh le Despenser (elder and younger), provoked the opposition of the magnates of the realm. The conflict between king with his favourites, and the magnates resulted in exile and execution of most favourites, civil war, and finally in the forced abdication by Edward II whereby Isabella of France played a pivotal role. After Isabella with Roger Mortimer and Prince Edward (III) invaded England, defeated the forces of the king, and imprisoned him, Edward II was forced to abdicate and his son, Edward III, crowned as English king.
• Richard II (1367-1400, dep. 1399): Richard II of England from the House of Plantagenet succeeded to the throne at the age of 10 in 1377, after his father, Edward the Black Prince, had already died before his grandfather, Edward III. During his minority, council with members of the aristocracy and the royal family, most notably his paternal uncle, John of Gaunt, reigned in his stead. Conflicts during Richard’s reign resulted from several factions at court fighting for influence. During this battle, Richard who had aligned himself with one faction of courtiers, had to sacrifice his favorites, and rule in the 1390s together with his former rivals. However, in 1397, Richard had recovered enough to push aside his rivals and rule without council. Many of them were executed, and Richard’s reign was described as a tyranny following 1397. In 1399, his cousin, the son of John of Gaunt, Henry of Bolingbroke invaded England under the pretense to claim his inheritance. During the fight with Henry, Richard was imprisoned, and Henry claimed the throne as Henry IV. Richard was forced to abdicate, and remained imprisoned. He died, probably starved to death, in February of 1400.
• Henry VI (1421-1471, dep. 1461 and 1471): Henry VI inherited the English throne before he reached his first birthday. During his reign, the war with France both reached its peak, and its end with England mostly pushed out of France (Hundred Years’ War). The difficult situation in foreign politics was mirrored in domestic politics with quarreling factions at court, uprising nobles, and finally civil war between supporters of the York and the Lancaster line going back to Edward III (Wars of the Roses). Since his early 30s, Henry suffered from mental illness, which supported Richard of York’s claim of misconduct in the war with France as well as misrule at home. During the civil wars, Henry was deposed after military defeat in 1461, and Richard’s son, Edward, took the throne as Edward IV. Henry was finally imprisoned. In 1470, he was for a short time restored due to factious struggle in the court of Edward IV. Henry’s second time on the throne, hardly more than a puppet of the Lancaster faction,  lasted about 6 Months. Edward IV managed to once again defeat the Lancaster section, Henry’s son was killed on the battlefield, and Henry died imprisoned under a once restored Edward IV.
• Edward IV (1442-1483, dep. 1470): Edward IV, son of Richard of York, deposed during the Wars of the Roses Henry VI from the Lancaster line, and based his own claim to the throne on his descend from Edward III. In 1461, after military defeats of the Lancaster faction, Edward was crowned as Edward IV. The Lancaster faction continued to have support in the North of England, but was all in all too weak to cause further danger to the throne, especially with Henry VI imprisoned. Edward IV was deposed during the continued Wars of the Roses by the Lancasters when at his own court conflicts between different noble families arose. Nonetheless, already about six months after his deposition, Edward could once again defeat the Lancasters on the battlefield, and restore himself to the English throne which he then kept until his death in 1483.
• Edward V (1470-c. 1483): Edward V, the son of Edward IV and heir apparent, succeeded to the throne of England after his father’s death on 9 April 1483. He was never coronated, and his short reign was dominated by his paternal uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who was protector during the minority of the king. On 19 May 1483, Edward V arrived in London and took his residence in the Tower. On 25 June 1483, Edward and his brother Richard were declared illegitimate by parliament, and consequently, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, inherited the throne as the next in line. During the summer of 1483, the two young boys, Edward and Richard, disappeared in the Tower and their fate remains unknown, although their unnatural death is highly suspected. They became known as the Princes in the Tower. 
• Richard III (1485): Richard III, younger brother of Edward IV, came to the throne after having his nephews declared illegitimate in 1483. He was the last English king from the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty. The end of his reign marks the end of the Wars of the Roses. His reign was controversial due to the competing claims of the Lancaster and the York line, but even more due to the circumstances and rumours that he had his nephews killed. The rebellion led by the Lancasters and represented by Henry Tudor together with his uncle Jasper Tudor in 1485 managed to gain enough momentum to defeat Richard III. On 22 August 1485, the two opposing armies under Richard III and Henry Tudor met at the Battle of Bosworth Field in which Richard III was killed (the last king of England killed in battle). Richard III was never formally deposed. Nonetheless, his opponent Henry Tudor used his death in battle to declare himself king of England, becoming Henry VII and first of the Tudor dynasty on the English throne.
• Jane Grey (c. 1537-1554, dep. 1553): Lady Jane Grey was a great-granddaughter of Henry VII, and had therefore a claim to the English throne. When it became clear that the young king Edward VI (son of Henry VIII) might not live long enough to ensure dynastic succession, plans were hatched to prevent the succession of Edward’s half-sister, the catholic Mary Tudor. Especially a faction around John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, pushed towards changing the succession as already Henry VIII had done. Since the Tudor line did not offer any reliable succession (Edward’s half-sisters were declared illegitimate under Henry VIII, the Scottish line with Mary Stuart was excluded also under Henry VIII, and the line of Henry VIII’s younger sister Mary only had daughters), several marriages from the line of Mary with the faction around John Dudley were conducted. Jane Grey was the oldest to be married as such. She married Guildford Dudley. Even though the original plan was to hope for the (male) issue of these marriages, Edward’s health deteriorated quickly, and the passage in his testament “Lady Jane’s heirs” was changed to “Lady Jane and her heirs”, making Jane Grey heir apparent according to Edward’s testament. When Edward VI died on 6 July 1553, Dudley and the privy council kept it quiet, and tried to both ensure Jane’s succession and Mary’s imprisonment. Mary, however, was warned and fled to her estates in East Anglia. Jane was, nonetheless, proclaimed as queen on 10 July in London. From East Anglia, Mary organised a rebellion against this, and managed to gain popular support as well as the military edge. On 19 July, Mary was proclaimed queen in London, thereby deposing Jane Grey who was imprisoned in the Tower. Later rebellions against Mary’s rule, among them one with Jane Grey’s father as leading figure, finally forced Mary to execute Jane for treason, most probably because of fear that Jane Grey could be presented as alternative to her. Nonetheless, in death, Jane Grey became much more dangerous to Mary’s rule than she ever was in life due to John Foxe’s immortalisation as a Protestant martyr.
• Charles I (1600-1649): The second son of James VI/I became heir apparent after the death of his brother Henry in 1612. His reign is one of the most discussed topics in British history, and usually separated in his early reign (1625-1629), personal rule (1629-1639), and the British Civil Wars (1639-1649). His deposition is a direct result of the chaos of the civil wars, especially of the second British Civil War from 1648 and 1649. During these wars, a radicalisation of groups and ideas led to the spread of new ideas and possibilities when faced with the problem of a monarch refusing to negotiate anything. In the end, a radical core from the New Model Army pushed for the deposition and execution of Charles I who had in their opinion become “that man of blood”, i.e. responsible for at least the second civil war. The majority of the political elite did not have any other solution, although they showed their non-compliance with the New Model Army by leaving the political stage in winter 1648/49. During a trial in January 1649, Charles I was accused of treason and public enemy to the English people, and he was executed on 30 January 1649.  
• James II (1633-1701, dep. 1689): James II of England, also known as James VII of Scotland, followed his brother Charles II to the English throne in 1685. Being a Catholic monarch over mostly Protestant subjects was one of the reasons why James was deposed during the events of the so-called Glorious Revolution. In December 1688, James and his family went into exile to France, leaving political and social unrest in England. The English Convention Parliament took this as reason to declare the throne vacant, and offering it to James’s daughter, Mary and her husband, William III of Orange in the Declaration of Right in April 1689, effectively deposing James II.

Denmark

• Christopher II (1276-1332, dep. 1326): Christopher was the younger brother of the Danish king Eric VI who died without issue. Even though Christopher was already excluded from the throne due his opposition against Eric VI earlier, he was elected to the throne in 1320. For his election by the Danish magnates, Christopher had to sign an electoral capitulation, the first one in Danish history. At the time of his reign, Denmark suffered from high debts due to several wars. Christopher was therefore indebted to German and Danish magnates, making them the real power in the realm. Attempts to gain power back into royal hands and further expansive wars led to the opposition of the magnates, and finally to the deposition of Christopher II and his replacement with the 12-year-old Valdemar, Duke of Schleswig and ward of the greatest debtor of Christopher II, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg, Gerhard III. Nonetheless, due to the continued power struggle between the Danish and German magnates, Christopher regained the Danish throne in 1329. His second reign was, however, mostly dominated by his debtors and even partly spend imprisoned. He died as Danish king in 1332.
• Valdemar III (1314-1364, dep. 1329): Valdemar was the Duke of Schleswig as Valdemar V since 1325. He was drawn as a (minor) rival king into the struggle for power between Christopher II and the Danish and German magnates in the 1320s. His election as king of Denmark in 1326 was also the deposition of Christopher II. His deposition 3 years later also was caused by this power struggle in which Christopher II regained the Danish throne once again. Valdemar was compensated with fiefs and remained the only Danish king who did not use his claim to the throne after his deposition. He returned to Schleswig where he ruled until his death.
• Eric VII of Pomerania (1381/82-1459, dep. 1439): Eric VII of Denmark was the first king of the Kalmar Union. Due to a dynastic crisis among the royal families of all Scandinavian kingdoms, he was de jure king under his grand-aunt Margaret since 1396 in Denmark. After her death in 1412, Eric VII ruled also de facto. The power struggle between Danish magnates and the crown continued under his rule, and escalated over the question of his successor. The childless Eric wanted to install his cousin Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania while the Danish magnates preferred someone without an own power base in the region. In the end, Eric left Denmark for Gotland, and the Danish council deposed him and elected his nephew, Christopher of Bavaria. Eric remained on Gotland where he fought with piracy against the Baltic trade. In 1449, he succeeded Bogislaw as duke of Pomerania where he died in 1459.
• Christian II (1481-1559, dep. 1523): Christian was the last king of the Kalmar Union which came to an end after his depositions in all three Scandinavian realms. In Denmark, he followed his father John to the throne in 1513 after already being vice-roy in Norway since 1506. His peasant- and burgher-friendly policies together with his ignorance of the Danish clergy and aristocratic council led to several conflicts with the Danish elite. Furthermore, his wars against Sweden to realise his claim to the Swedish throne were costly, and his finance and economic policies threatended traditional allies of the aristocratic trade, the Hanseatic League. His preference for foreign and often base-born counsellors was a further reason for aristocratic opposition against him. In 1522, a majority of the Danish population, esp. in Jutland, rebelled against him, and – due to the electoral form of monarchy in Denmark – renounced their allegiance and offering it to Christian’s uncle, Frederick of Holstein. In April 1523, Christian left with a few of his supporters Denmark to win foreign support in the Low Countries and elsewhere, which meant, however, that Frederick and the rebells now had free reign. The coronation of Frederick was at the same time the official deposition of Christian II. From his exile, and later imprisonment in Denmark, Christian and his children continued to play a role in Danish politics, but he never regained the throne.

Norway

• Eric III of Pomerania (1381/82-1459, dep. 1442): Eric III of Norway was the first king of the Kalmar Union. Due to a dynastic crisis among the royal families of all Scandinavian kingdoms, he was de jure king under his grand-aunt Margaret since 1389 in Norway. After her death in 1412, Eric VII ruled also de facto. The power struggle between the Danish and Swedish magnates and Eric did not include Norway in the beginning. However, due to the continued absence of Eric from Norway after his depositions in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, and pressure on the Norwegian council from the other two realms, Eric was also deposed in Norway in 1442, and Christopher of Bavaria was recognized as king.
• Charles I (1408-1470, dep. 1450): After the death of Christopher of Bavaria, the Swedish council elected Karl Knutsson as king of Sweden. In 1449, the Norwegian council followed the Swedish election even though the Danish council had elected Christian of Oldenburg. Charles I (as he was numbered in Norway) was crowned in Norway, in Trondheim, on 20 November of 1449. However, Christian of Oldenburg tried to enforce his claim as Kalmar Union king also to the throne of Sweden and Norway, and Charles had to concede the Norwegian throne to him in 1450.
• Christian II (1481-1559, dep. 1524): Christian was the last king of the Kalmar Union which came to an end after his depositions in all three Scandinavian realms. He was vice-roy in Norway since 1506, and became king both in Denmark and Norway after the death of his father John in 1513. In the beginning of his reign, his close relationship  with the Norwegian arch-bishop Erik Valkendorf and his peasant- and burgherfriendly policies led to a broad acceptance in Norway. When Christian II had to fight against uprisings in Sweden since 1520 and in Denmark since 1521, Norway kept quiet. And the council and population continued to support him even after Christian had to go into exile in spring 1523. Only in August of 1524, after the new Danish king and the councils put more pressure on Norway, did the Norwegian council renounce their allegiance to Christian and accepted Frederick I as king of Norway. Even though, when Christian finally gained enough support to sail with a merchant army to Scandinavia, landing in Norway first, he was immediately hailed as king in Oslo by the Norwegians. However, since his army was reduced by a storm, and he did not manage to capture important holdings of the Danes in Norway, this last attempt to regain his thrones failed. Christian II was imprisoned in Denmark, but continued to play a role in Scandinavian politics as a political alternative until his death in 1559.

Sweden

• Birger Magnusson (1280-1321, dep. 1318): Birger Magnusson, son of the Swedish king Magnus III, inherited the throne when he was 10 years old. His younger brothers, Erik and Valdemar, however, tried both to establish more independent realms in Sweden which eventually led to civil war between the three brothers. In the so-called Håtuna Games in 1308, an feast at the royal estate in Uppland, Birger was imprisoned by his brothers, and only released after political pressure from the Danish king. Afterwards, Birger was nominally king, and the civil war between the brothers continued. In another feast, the Nyköping Banquet in 1317, Birger could revenge his imprisonment when he captured Erik and Valdemar. The younger brothers were probably starved to death which led their supporters to oust Birger from the realm in 1318. His son was executed in Sweden, and Erik‘s three-year old son Magnus (IV) was elected as new king in 1319.
• Magnus IV (1316-1374) and Haakon (1340-1380) (r. 1319/1362-1364): Magnus IV of Sweden was elected to the throne of Sweden after the civil wars between his uncles Birger Magnusson (king of Sweden, dep. 1318) and Valdemar and his father Erik, and after the exile or deaths of them. He was also hereditary king of Norway due to his maternal grandfather being the Norwegian king Haakon V. In 1331, Magnus came of age and ruled both realms in a personal union. This personal union led to some conflicts, particularly with the Norwegian council, after Magnus was only crowned in Stockholm for both realms. These conflicts between king and Norwegian council were resolved in 1343 with Magnus’ younger son, Haakon, becoming king in Norway (despite Norway as heritage monarchy having primogeniture while Sweden was an elective realm), and Magnus’s older son, Erik, becoming king of Sweden after Magnus’ death, thus ending the personal union. Since Erik died in 1359 before his father, in the end, this did not work out. In 1360, the Danish king declared war against Sweden and re-conquered Scania which Magnus had claimed a few decades earlier due to the weakness of the Danish realm at this time. This war which led to severe losses of Swedish territory, finally led to the deposition of Magnus and his co-regent Haakon in 1364 in which Albert of Mecklenburg (to whom parts of the Swedish council fled and asked for support) ousted Magnus and Haakon from Sweden. Both Magnus and Haakon continued to rule over Norway, for the moment ending all personal unions between the Scandinavian realms.
• Albert (c. 1338-1412, dep. 1389): Albert of Mecklenburg-Schwerin supported the Swedish rebells against the kings Magnus IV and Haakon, and with his army ousted them from the Swedish realm. In exchange, he was elected king in 1364. However, support for the ousted kings was still strong in Sweden, and the first years of Albert’s reign were characterised by civil war. In the on-going conflicts between several nobles and land-owners of the realm, Albert was most of the time more of a puppet king. Nonetheless, his policies of establishing German officials led to severe resistance, especially in Western Sweden. Finally, when the Scandinavian political situation had changed, some of the dissatisfied nobles turned to Margaret of Denmark and Norway for help against Albert. With her armies, Albert was defeated in February 1389, and Margaret elected as foremost woman of the realm (never coronated as queen), forming the basis for the Kalmar Union. Albert was first imprisoned but later released (1395) and returned to Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Unlike most of all other deposed Swedish kings, Albert formally abdicated in 1405.
• Eric XIII of Pomerania (1381/82-1459, dep. 1434, 1439): Eric XIII of Sweden was the first king of the Kalmar Union. Due to a dynastic crisis among the royal families of all Scandinavian kingdoms, he was de jure king under his grand-aunt Margaret since 1396 in Sweden. After her death in 1412, Eric VII ruled also de facto. His reign started the long-term struggle of parts of the Swedish society against the Kalmar Union, even more against Danish rule. In 1434, Erik was deposed for the first time in Sweden due to the rebellion from and in Dalarna under Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, but could restore his rule after the assassination of Engelbrekt in 1436. The general problem of Danish rule, and of the role and influence of the Hanseatic League remained though, and in 1439 – combined with the dynastic conflict in Denmark, Erik was also deposed in Sweden. Still, the idea of the Kalmar Union prevailed at first, and Sweden elected together with Denmark Christopher of Bavaria as union king.
• Charles VIII (1408-1470, dep. 1457, 1465): Charles from the house of Bonde was a member of the Swedish council since 1434 (under Erik of Pomerania and Christopher of Bavaria). During the rebellion of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, he was formal regent of the realm, de facto being interim ruler until Erik of Pomerania could once again restore his influence. Under the reign of Christopher, Charles kept a separate court in his territories in Finland from which he also conducted an own foreign policy. Thus, in 1448 after the death of Christopher, Charles was the prime candidate as Swedish king, and he was elected by the council in 1448. However, the Danish king Christian I had due to the conditions of the Kalmar Union also a claim to the throne. The wars with Denmark as well as the disagreements between the Swedish nobility, church, and magnates led to growing dissatisfaction with Charles and hence to his deposition in 1457. In 1464, Charles could regain the throne after Christian I proved to be not more able to keep any kind of consensus among the Swedes. Nonetheless, the conflict – this time between council and archbiship – remained, and since Charles VIII could also not resolve it, he was once again deposed in 1465. In 1467, this conflict was mostly resolved, and Charles could once again return from his exile. He then ruled for the rest of his life in close alliance with the council.
• Christian I (1426-1481, dep. 1464): After the early death of Christopher of Bavaria, Christian from the house of Oldenburg was elected to the throne of Denmark. Under the terms of the Kalmar Union, he should have also been elected to the thrones of Norway and Sweden, but they already elected a rival king, Charles VIII. Even though Christian I could realise his claim to the Norwegian throne in 1450, Sweden remained loyal to Charles VIII until 1457. Due to internal conflicts among the Swedish nobility and magnates, Charles VIII was deposed, and Christian I installed as Swedish king, for a short time being king of all three Scandinavian realms. In 1464, the anti-union faction once again called back Charles VIII and deposed Christian I. Despite several attempts, Christian could never regain the Swedish throne, but he remained king of Norway and Denmark until his death in 1481.
• John II (1455-1513, dep. 1501): John II of Sweden, also known as Hans of Denmark, was one of the kings during the Kalmar Union. As this union was already in question in Sweden since the 1430s, and the foremoste Danish monarchs were consequently often deposed, John also did not automatically inherit the Swedish throne after the death of his father Christian I in 1481. Even though a meeting in Halmstad in 1483 with all three Scandinavian councils should have ensured the election to all union thrones, the Swedish council did not turn up, thus delaying John’s election in Sweden. The Swedish regent, Sten Sture the Elder (since 1470) managed to delay electing John to the throne until a foreign conflict with Russia under Ivan III put more pressure on him. John could use Sture’s weakened position, and (together with the Swedish union-party) realised his claim to the throne in 1497. However, after his alliance with Ivan III and his promises of Swedish territory were revealed, the council once again turned against him, Sten Sture the Elder (who was still an important member of the council) and a few others denounced their allegiance, and the rest soon followed. In 1501, the Danish forces were ousted from the Swedish realm once more. However, the general conflict remained unsolved, and Sweden formally a part of the Kalmar Union.
• Christian II (1481-1559, dep. 1523): Christian was the last king of the Kalmar Union which came to an end after his depositions in all three Scandinavian realms. In Sweden, he could realise his claim to the throne in autumn of 1520 after the death in battle of his rival, the regent Sten Sture the Younger. Sture’s widow, Christina Gyllenstierna, who held Stockholm for a long time over the summer of 1520 after the Swedish council had already surrendered, finally open the doors for promises of amnesty. However, after his coronation on 4 November 1520 in Stockholm, Christian together with the Swedish archbishop Gustav Trolle (a pro-Unionist) accused and executed more than 80 people from the opposition, including two bishops and several nobles and burghers. Many noble women were sent as prisoners to Denmark. This event, known as Stockholm Bloodbath, led to the unification of Sweden against Christian II, and a young men from the lower nobility, Gustav Vasa, brought together the opposition. He was chosen as regent in 1521, and under his leadership, Sweden could in the next two years expel the Danish forces. The coronation of Gustav Vasa to Swedish king on 6 June of 1523 marks the end of the Kalmar Union, and the beginning of the modern Swedish kingdom.
• Erik XIV (1533-1577, dep. 1569): Erik was the only child of Gustav I’s first marriage with Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg. From the second marriage of Gustav with a Swedish noble, he had ten half-siblings, eight who reached adulthood. The three sons of this second marriage all received already during Gustav’s lifetime huge fiefdoms in the realm which should be subordinated under the crown. However, after Gustav’s death in 1560, the oldest half-brother of Erik, John (III), more and more conducted his own foreign policies, in particular with Poland which whom Sweden struggled for influence in Livonia. Aside from the wars in Livonia, Sweden also was at war with Denmark since 1563, forcing Erik to fight on two fronts. During these times of war, conflicts between Erik, his half-brothers, and the council arose, especially over the question of the autonomy of the fiefdoms, and over Erik’s trust in non-noble counsellors. In 1567, Erik suffered more and more from bouts of madness, once killing several imprisoned nobles and fleeing into the woods. In 1568 when he married his non-noble mistress officially, making her queen of Sweden, his half-brothers and parts of the magnates rebelled against him, and finally deposed him officially in the parliament of 1569. He was imprisoned since September 1568, and died under suspicious circumstances in 1577, probably of arsenic poisoning. His oldest half-brother, John III, was elected as king of Sweden.  
• Sigismund (1566-1632, dep. 1599): Sigismund was the only son of John III and Catherine Jagellonica of Poland. In 1587, Sigismund was elected to the throne of Poland-Lithuania, opening the possibility for a Swedish-Polish personal union after his inheritance of the Swedish throne. Since Sweden was a mostly Lutheran realm, and Poland-Lithuania mostly Catholic, this idea was contested from both sides. When Sigismund inherited the Swedish throne in 1592, his paternal uncle, Charles (IX), therefore rallied the clergy as well as huge parts of the population to a church meeting in Uppsala in 1593 where Sweden was declared Lutheran, and it was prohibited for a Catholic to hold office. Although Sigismund accepted this declaration, he immediately afterwards installed Catholic nobles as his governors in Stockholm and elsewhere. Furthermore, due to his duties as king of Poland-Lithuania (and his obligations to the Polish-Lithuanian parliament), Sigismund only spend a year in Sweden after his inheritance (1592/93), and once again a few months in 1598, when Charles pushed for more influence and managed to bring large parts of the population on his side. In the end, Sigismund lost a battle against Charles and left for Poland-Lithuania, leaving the Swedish conflicts unresolved. Consequently, the Swedish parliament deposed him in 1599, and Charles became regent though not king (he accepted the crown in 1604). Until the assassination of Gustav III in 1792, Sigismund’s was the last deposition in Sweden.

Related Chapters

Charlotte Backerra: Personal Union, Composite Monarchy, and “Multiple Rule” (See Chapter 6)

Matthias Range: Dei Gratia and the “Divine Right of Kings”: Divine Legitimization or Human Humility? (See Chapter 8)

Joanne Paul with Valerie Schutte: The Tudor Monarchy of Counsel and the Growth of Reason of State (See Chapter 39)