Gustav Eriksson in Dalarna -a Winter's tale

Gustav Eriksson in Dalarna – A Winter’s Tale

Gustav Eriksson, or Gustav Vasa, is perhaps the best-known king of Sweden. One of the most written-about events in Swedish history is without doubt his flight to Dalarna in winter 1520–1521.

There, he rallied the people to a revolt against the newly crowned king of the union with Denmark, Christian II. What actually happened in Dalarna and how it happened, no one knows for certain today. Gustav Eriksson himself said what he wanted to say in the chronicle written by Bishop Peder Svart. But the stories about Gustav’s time in Dalarna did not begin to be written down until a century after his death, and each story surpassed the one before, although sometimes there is probably a grain of truth somewhere.

Here in “Gustav Eriksson in Dalarna – A Winter’s Tale”, traditional accounts are mixed with chronicles and facts. The winter’s tale is based on four monuments of Vasa which are managed by the National Property Board: the King’s Barn in Rankhyttan, Ornäs Loft, Isala King’s Barn and the Vasa Monument in Utmeland. The buildings are part of Sweden’s history and common heritage.

The King’s Barn in Rankhyttan, a winter’s day in February 2009 – 488 years and two months after Gustav Eriksson’s visit. Tradition has it that Gustav threshed grain here, as in several other places.

Gustav Eriksson – a man of the nobility Gustav Eriksson was probably born on the Rydboholm farmstead in Uppland on 12 May 1496. His father’s name was Erik Johansson and his mother was Cecilia Månsdotter. Today Rydboholm is a privately-owned stately home, but at the time it was his father’s main property. The couple owned vast lands and belonged to the nobility, which meant they were tax-exempt. In return they were to provide fully-equipped soldiers when the king so commanded.

Danish kings and the Swedish house of Sture Gustav Eriksson was born in a turbulent age. Since 1397, Sweden, Denmark and Norway had been in a union intended to create a more powerful Nordic region under a common king.

Denmark’s power was great and the union was periodically governed by Danish kings.

In Sweden, feelings ran high that the union should be abolished. The opposition was led by the “Sturar” who were named after the Sture family. Danish kings warred against Swedish Sturar, who when they won, took the throne as Sweden’s regents. First Sten Sture the Elder, then Svante Nilsson Sture and finally his son, Sten Sture the Younger.

Gustav Eriksson was brought up to be a Sture follower. His father Erik was an active councillor of the realm – and Sten Sture the Elder was his uncle. The regent Sten Sture the Younger was married to Gustav’s aunt and in 1514, Gustav attended his court. The previous year, Christian II had become King of Denmark and now wanted to rule Sweden too.

Christian II tried several times to conquer Sweden. In 1518, he lost the Battle of Brännkyrka and the parties agreed on a truce. Negotiations were to take place at a meeting where, for his own safety, Christian demanded hostages – and one of them was Gustav Eriksson.

The original of the painting of King Gustav was painted by Jakob Binck in 1542. Gustav Eriksson became King of Sweden in 1523 and reigned until 1560, when he died in Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm.

The prisoner of Kalø Betrayal, intrigue and violence were part of the power game of the age, and Christian never attended the meeting. The hostages, who had been guaranteed free passage, were taken by force to the king’s ship, which returned to Denmark. Gustav Eriksson was held prisoner in Kalø Castle, but managed to escape. In September 15 19, he arrived in Lübeck. There, in spring 1520, news reached him that Christian had defeated Sten Sture the Younger, who had been fatally wounded. Gustav sailed for Sweden and went ashore at Kalmar on 31 May. He began to search for followers for an uprising against Christian II, but without success.

The Stockholm Bloodbath On 4 November 1520, Christian II ascended to the throne and was crowned King of Sweden. He invited prominent people to the Coronation banquet, several of them former followers of the Sture family. The King promised them an amnesty, and that they need not fear for their safety. Relatives and close friends of Gustav Eriksson travelled there, as did his parents and two sisters. Gustav himself turned down the invitation because he did not trust the Danes.

After four days of revelry, the guests were sentenced, most of them to death. Gustav’s mother and sisters were transported to Denmark as prisoners, where his mother and one sister later died. His father was one of about 80 who were executed on Stortorget Square in Stockholm – an incident which has passed into history as the Stockholm Bloodbath. The remains of the defeated Sten Sture the Younger were dug up and burnt at the stake. Members of the Sture family were now in mortal danger and Gustav Eriksson had to flee for his life.

What really happened in Dalarna, where Gustav fled for his life? The facts are few, the traditions many, and the people of Dalarna told an account about Rankhyttan that went something like this:

In the land of Dala men – Rankhyttan and Ornäs Where could Gustav Eriksson flee to and, in addition to that, find others willing to rise up and overthrow Christian II? Perhaps the answer was obvious – to Dalarna – because “The Dane, the Jute, the Germans and the Devil all are afraid of Dalarna”. That was how the Dala men were described by Bishop Hemming Gadh, Gustav Eriksson’s history teacher and supporter of the Sture family.

An independent people The people of Dalarna had long shown their force and total independence. In 1464, they defeated the mounted troops of Christian I at Haraker near Västerås. They gave their support to the Sture family at the Battle of Rotebro in 1497 and fought against Christian II in 1520. Younger Sture supporters like Gustav Eriksson relied on support from Dalarna, but could not count on total collaboration. Several miner-farmers and farmers from Dalarna had in fact taken part in the tribute to Christian II at his coronation.

Anders Pedersson of Rankhyttan Perhaps Gustav had a certain Anders Pedersson of Rankhyttan in mind when on 25 November 1520, “at Saint Catherine’s time”, he left his father’s house Rävsnäs near Mariefred. They knew one another from their student days in Uppsala. Anders Pedersson of Rankhyttan owned a big farm and in the foundry on the estate his kinfolk, the Rank family, had for generations smelted copper ore from the Falun Mine. Copper was an important export, and a profitable one, and Anders Pedersson was an important man in Dalarna. Gustav Eriksson packed his sleigh and set off northwards. The winter road was open – it was make or break time.

The threshing barn in Rankhyttan has been restored many times, most recently in the late 1990s. Among other things, a new roof was put in place using traditional techniques. The inside of the barn bears numerous inscriptions.

“At the time of Saint Andrew (30 November) or somewhat later he came to the Bergslagen region, and there went first to Anders Pedersson in Rankhyttan, but without revealing himself and dressed as a peasant. A servant girl made it known to this Anders Pedersson that she had noticed him wearing a golden knitted shirt collar, by which Anders knew him”...

The words are from the chronicle of Bishop Peder Svart, which was written before Gustav died in 1560. The king certainly helped write his history. According to the chronicle, Anders of Rankhyttan gave Gustav “the best advice he could think of”, but Anders was himself in fear for his own safety and he asked Gustav to continue to Ornäs.

The threshing barn in Rankhyttan Despite his peasant disguise, Gustav did not manage to blend in – and the gold in his shirt was perhaps not the only reason.

In 1667, local tradition says that King Gustav did some threshing in the barn in Rankhyttan. He was probably not a complete novice at threshing, having been brought up the son of a landed farmer. He had at least seen others threshing.

We do not know whether Gustav did any threshing in the Rankhyttan Barn, but we do know that it stood there when he was there. The barn timbers have been dated by the yearrings – the trees were felled in winter 1493/1494. The barn has two rooms. The bigger one is where grain was stored, and the smaller one is for threshing. A flail was used to strike the stems and husks to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Rankhyttan Barn is today the biggest preserved mediaeval barn in Sweden. Without the Gustav Vasa tradition it would probably have disappeared long ago.

Closest to us, the barn where sheaves were stored. Behind the metre-high timber wall, threshing took place. In 1668, King Karl XII ordered that the building be maintained.

The homes of the tax-exempt miner-farmers Anders Pedersson of Rankhyttan was one of the tax-exempt miner-farmers. They carried out mining for precious metals and therefore did not have to pay tax on their farming. The taxexempt miner-farmers were found only where the precious metals – silver and copper – were extracted. A farmer who produced iron was called a “bergsman” – a mine-owner farmer. The metals from Bergslagen and Dalarna were Sweden’s main export commodities, but the preceding years’ wars had stopped the trade. The powerful Danish navy had blockaded the Swedish ports. But when Christian II became King of Sweden in 1520, the trade routes were again opened.

Stig Hansson of Ornäs Not far from Rankhyttan lay Ornäs, the farmstead of a tax-exempt miner-farmer. Ornäs is mentioned as early as 1368, but the large property of the miner-farmer was created at the end of the 15th century, through purchases and the merger of seven farms. The man behind the purchases was the wealthy Stig Hansson. He married into a miner-farmer family, had extraction rights in Falun Mine, traded in copper on a large scale and owned several farms in Dalarna and a stone house in Stockholm. In 1504, he also became a circuit judge in Dalarna.

Stig Hansson had supported the Sture family, but changed sides when Christian II became king in 1520.

Barbro Stigsdotter and Aren Pedersson Peder Svart’s Chronicle recounts that Gustav Eriksson made his way to Ornäs: “Gustav was minded to go to Aren Pedersson at Ornäs”...Aren occurs also under the name Arent Persson. He was married to Barbro Stigsdotter, Stig Hansson’s daughter. Aren belonged to the nobility, a family named Örnflycht, and was born near Gustav Eriksson’s childhood home Rydboholm. Both were born in the 1490s – and perhaps they were acquaintances?

The Ornäs Loft with a view of Ösjön, part of Lake Runn. The lake links the settlements of Ornäs and Rankhyttan. The steps of the Ornäs Loft lead to the King’s Room and the bed in which Gustav is said to have slept.

According to the chronicle, Gustav trusted Aren “and revealed himself to him. But Aren spoke to him good words, and promised he might be there without danger.” To ask the advice of others, Aren went by sleigh to Måns Nilsson in Aspeboda.

Måns thought that Aren should not get involved, but should let Gustav travel on. Then he turned and went to his brotherin-law Bengt Brunsson. The sleigh passed Ornäs and Barbro realised where her husband was heading: ...”she then was so virtuous that she gave warning to Gustav, got him a horse, and a sleigh and urged him hurry to Herr Jon of Svärdsjö who also had studied with him in Uppsala.”

Friend or foe?

Bengt Brunsson had been a bailiff of Sten Sture the Younger in Dalarna, but when Christian II became king he changed sides, as did his father-in-law Stig Hansson. It could not have been easy to say who was friend or foe in December 1520. Many people looked to see which way the wind was blowing. Peder Svart also wrote: “so came to Ornäs Bengt and Aren together at the head of 20 men, minded there to seize him (Gustav) by the throat.” But they were too late, because Barbro had already intervened.

Gustav Eriksson had many renowned abilities, one of which was his excellent memory. However, it is debatable whether it was Aren who betrayed Gustav in Ornäs. Once Gustav Eriksson came to power, he in fact rewarded Aren with enfeoffments in the form of land, and in 1534 Aren became a circuit judge in Bro in Uppland. As for Aren’s father-in-law on the other hand, Gustav had him executed in 1522. Stig Hansson probably lived at Ornäs, perhaps with his daughter’s family, and the man in the house always has a big say in things.

According to popular accounts written down from the 1660s on, Gustav Eriksson fled from Ornäs through the loft latrine.

True or false? Well, necessity is the mother of invention...

A late mediaeval loft When Gustav visited Ornäs, the farmstead had a new loft. It was built using timbers which had been felled in winter 1503/1504. The lower floor was for storage and the upper floor, the loft, was for guests. The building lacked fireplaces and therefore had no fire that could ward off evil spirits. All the openings were therefore provided with magic symbols. The iron fittings on the doors were given geometric patterns, the walls had a sun cross and the small loft windows were in the shape of crosses. To this day, mediaeval protective magic and building skills can be seen in the Ornäs Loft – Ornässtugan.

Museum and aquavit cellar Jacob Brandberg was born at Ornäs in 1692 and in the mid18th century he had the loft renovated. He replaced the roof, dressed the walls with wooden shingles, painted everything red, built the spiral stairs to the gallery, which was repaired, and had bigger windows put in. Finally, he furnished the loft with exhibits and Sweden’s first rural museum was opened.

In 1825, most of the buildings on the property were moved slightly higher up on the promontory, where today they form Stora Ornäs. The loft and a building that Brandberg had built remain here however.

In 1828 Carl Gustaf Calleberg was born – a crofter’s son who had a dream when he was young – he would one day own Stora Ornäs. He went to Uppsala, worked his way up to innkeeper and among other things bought the restaurant Flustret.

By the 1880s, he owned Stora Ornäs, which included the Ornäs Loft. Innkeeper Calleberg had an idea which was very much in tune with the times. He bought aquavit in barrels, which he kept in the cellar under the Ornäs Loft. He bottled the aquavit as “Ornäs Aquavit” and served it in his establishments in Uppsala.

The cellar protruding from under the Ornäs Loft has two vaulted rooms, in one of which was the drinking well. The late mediaeval dating of the cellar and the Ornäs Loft make them unique of their type in Sweden.

To Svärdsjö and Isala Gustav Eriksson was in a hurry to leave Ornäs with his sleigh and accompanying servant. It is nevertheless a little strange that the 20-man gang of pursuers did not catch up with them.

The winter roads crossed Lake Runn, everyone knew that, and had Gustav and the servant taken another route, the sleigh tracks would have revealed it. Perhaps Aren never returned with 20 malicious men from Christian’s bailiff Brunsson? Gustav certainly spiced up his story in Peder Svart’s chronicle to appear the invincible king he had become. Åkers Farm sausage sticks What did Gustav do after his visit to Ornäs? There is nothing about the journey itself in the chronicle, nor about what Gustav did, apart from resting, during the week he stayed with the vicar, Herr Jon of Svärdsjö. People in the region, however, had stories to tell about Gustav when it was time to write them down, almost 150 years later. And in time, the “gaps” were filled in.

When Gustav had crossed the ice of Lake Runn, he came ashore at Skutudden and continued to the Korsnäs smelteries.

There, he asked the way to Herr Jon. On the way to Svärdsjö he stopped at Åkers Farm in Bengtsheden, now demolished, where he was given a room for the night. Thanks to his disguise, no one recognised Gustav. The farmer’s wife asked him to do a favour, “you don’t look all that busy, traveller, can’t you do me some sausage sticks?”. Gustav replied,”My good woman: I am not acquainted with sausage sticks”.

Gustav’s disguise worked well, as long as nobody asked the nobleman from Uppland a question that he would need to answer!

Peder Svart’s Chronicle says nothing at all about the time between Ornäs and Rättvik, but tradition makes up for that.

The bleeding horse, however is a legend from Roman times.

Faraway Isala Gustav realised the best way to find out who was friend or foe.

At the home of Herr Jon of Svärdsjö he immediately joined the servants and helped with the threshing in the barn, in order to “find out Herr Jon’s intentions”. That is the traditional version at least. It was clear that Jon was not a friend of the Danes and Jon helped Gustav get to a more out-of-the-way place – Isala.

“King Josta threshed here” Isala King’s Barn is a threshing barn and dating has shown that the oldest timbers were felled in 1483/1484. The building has been renovated several times, for example rotten beams and the roof have been replaced. In 1757 it was still possible to see an inscription on a beam, now gone. It said “Kung Josta har tröskat här” (King Josta threshed here).

The traditional account of the threshing barn in Isala had been written down almost exactly a century earlier. The account tells of Gustav coming to Sven Nilsson in Isala, and when King Christian’s men asked about him, Sven sent him off to work, threshing in a barn. Sven treated him like a servant and his wife beat him on the back with a bread peel. Christian’s men suspected nothing – nobody could treat a nobleman like that.

“Sven of Iselie” It is not always possible to tell fact from fiction in these stories, but there really was a Sven of Isala. It so happens that none less than King Gustav mentioned him in a letter in 1524.

And a few years later, he even wrote to “Sven i Iselie”. Sven can be traced up to 1557, when he was working as a carpenter at Falun Mine.

Isala King’s Barn and the monument ordered by King Gustav III. It was completed in 1795, three years after the King’s death. The memorial stone in dark brown porphyry was supplied by Elfdalen porphyry works.

In the national interest In the 17th century, Sweden became a great power in Europe.

The country armed itself, not only its soldiers but also grandiose castle façades and manor houses, and the nation created a glorious past.

In the 1660s, the state financed the publication of the grand opus “Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna” and established a historical institution – Antikvitetskollegium. Professor Johannes Loccenius participated in both “projects”, and in 1662 published “Sveriges äldre historia” (The Early History of Sweden). He wrote down verbal tradition, and Gustav Eriksson’s heroic escapades in Dalarna became known. In 1666, when Antikvitetskollegium began to document the historic accounts from the region, further accounts about Gustav in Dalarna came to light. They led to a declaration in 1668 that the threshing barns in Isala and Rankhyttan were national monuments. The Ornsä Loft already had that status by then.

The monument of King Gustav III Interest in Gustav’s time in Dalarna was first awoken by his sons, after which the descendants took over. Gustav’s greatgrandson, the future King Karl X Gustav, visited Ornäs in 1632.

In 1684, his son King Karl XI went to Isala and donated 10 riksdaler to the upkeep of the barn.

In 1787, Gustav III ordered a hereditary medal of merit for the descendants of Sven of Isala. It was engraved by J. C. Hedlinger and cast at the Royal Mint. He placed a monument at the barn: “Gustaf Ericsson, pursued by enemies of the nation, by providence called to save the land of our fathers. His sixth generation descendant, Gustav III, raised this monument”.

At the same time, 1786, King Gustav III, a patron of the theatre, commissioned the play “Gustaf Wasa”. It was the first time in history that the name Gustav Wasa was used.

Many have visited the national monuments – a certain “AFM” was in Isala King’s Barn in 1868. However, the oldest graffiti in the Ornäs Loft is from 1597; the photograph alongside shows “S.N.” in the late mediaeval door.

Mora and Utmeland Gustav was “pursued by the enemies of the nation”. Tradition speaks of Danish soldiers, but none was ever in Dalarna. After Isala, Gustav travelled to Rättvik, where for the first time he appeared openly. He spoke to the farmers and asked them to consider the Danish tyranny. The men of Rättvik said they were willing to put up resistance against the Danes, but first wanted to ask the other parishes. Then Gustav went to Mora and spoke with them. All according to Peder Svart’s Chronicle. “…and there beat him to death” After the speech in Rättvik, the chase was on for Gustav. Henrik van Melen, bailiff of Västerås Castle district and Dalarna, heard of Gustav’s doings and ordered his followers in Dalarna to catch or kill Gustav. They were not Danish, but Swedish men like Stig Hansson and Bengt Brunsson, known from the Ornäs drama. At the same time, van Melen sent his deputy bailiff, Nils Västgöte, up to Dalarna.

However, there was a Dane in Dalarna, Rasmus Jute, and “he made his way to Gustav and stretched out his hands. And when they realised the reason for Nils Västgöte’s visit, they approached him when he lay in the home of Jon Koffre, the constable in Mora, and there beat him to death.”

Tomt Farm in Utmeland The chronicle recounts that Rasmus Jute helped Gustav kill King Christian’s bailiff. That is probably why Gustav was kept hidden in a cellar at Tomt Farm in Utmeland, just outside Mora – that is at least if one can believe the legend that was written down in 1707. The building to which the cellar belonged had however disappeared by 1780.

The Vasa monument in Utmeland was built over the cellar where according to legend Gustav was kept hidden after the murder. Höckert’s painting shows Tomt-Margit helping Gustav hide.

Gustav’s speech in Mora The chronicle tells that after the murder of Nils Västgöte, at Christmas, Gustav spoke to the common people in Dalarna, asking what they thought of the Danes. If they wanted to be “their own men”, then Gustav could lead them. But the answer that Gustav received was not “pleasing”; the men of Mora sided with King Christian. “So Gustav left Mora for West Dalarna.”

King Christian’s procession News of what had happened in Dalarna reached Christian II at Christmas time when he was in Vadstena. Since the beginning of December, the King had been travelling through Sweden, in accordance with tradition to be confirmed as king by the chief judges in the provinces.

His procession was a bloody affair. In Norrköping, Linköping, Vadstena and Jönköping, the king ordered the execution of those who had previously supported Sten Sture. In Jönköping, Christian learned that his war chest was almost empty.

He broke off the procession and travelled to Copenhagen.

Christian marked his departure by executing the monks of Nydala Monastery – and in the historical records of the monks he is called a “tyrant”.

Regretful men of Dalarna The news of Christian’s executions also reached the farmers of Mora and according to the chronicle they began to weep.

They dispatched some skiers who travelled night and day through the forest until they found Gustav, “way up in Lima”.

By the middle of January 1521, Gustav was back in Mora, where he was chosen as leader of East and West Dalarna. The men of Dalarna had now heard other dismal news. Christian had ordered his bailiffs all over Sweden to disarm all farmers and levy an extra tax – to meet the king’s acute needs.

Gustav Eriksson left Mora, but not on skis, of which he knew little. In 1593, a vicar wrote in a letter that Gustav travelled on “skarbågar” – snow shoes.

Uprising and victory A force of 16 young men formed Gustav’s guard and by 13 February 400 men had joined them. The uprising against Christian had begun, but by April it had still not reached south of the Dalälven river. Christian sent troops to crush the uprising, but they retreated once they had run into the men of Dalarna at Brunnbäck ferry. Gustav himself was not present. He never took part in the battles.

Gustav Eriksson went from strength to strength; he was declared regent in August 1521 and king in 1523. He then ruled in his own way and stifled rebellion through executions. In Dalarna at the Tuna Council in 1528, several men of Dalarna were beheaded. The same thing happened at Kopparberget in 1533. Anders Pedersson of Rankhyttan and Måns Nilsson of Aspeboda were arrested and executed in 1534.

The age of monuments At the end of the 19th century, national romanticism flourished in Sweden. Gustav’s adventures in Dalarna were couched in the romantic view of history. To honour the “father of the homeland”, monuments were raised at every place that could be linked to Gustav.

The Vasa monument in Utmeland was solemnly inaugurated on 29 September 1860, the 300th anniversary of Gustav’s death. The building was designed by architect Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander of the Academy of Arts. A surrounding frieze shows 24 shields bearing Sweden’s provincial coats-of arms.

Inside the monument, there are twelve shields bearing the names of those who according to tradition helped Gustav. Three big paintings hang there, painted by King Karl XV, Edward Bergh and Johan Fredrik Höckert.

The best known monument is the Vasaloppet ski race, which goes in the wrong direction however. The men who overtook Gustav on skis went from Mora to Sälen. Ernst Alm from Norsjö in Västerbotten was the first winner of Vasaloppet. The year was 1922, the winning time 7h 32min 49sec.

The heraldic vase of Gustav Eriksson’s family crowns the monument. Nobody knows with certainty what the vase symbolises, but it is the origin of the name Vasa.

Vasa monuments in Dalarna The map shows all the Vasa monuments in Dalarna. The National Property Board manages: 1. The King’s Barn in Rankhyttan 2. The Ornäs loft/ Ornässtugan 3. Isala King’s Barn and 4. The Vasa monument in Utmeland.

5. Brunnbäck ferry. The monument where Gustav Vasa’s men under the command of Peder Svensson defeated Christian’s soldiers in 1521.

6. The lime tree in Månsbo. A lime tree at Storforsen rapids. Gustav Vasa is said to have tethered his horse to a silver staple in the tree.

7. The King’s Spring in Olshyttan. A spring where Gustav Vasa is said to have drunk water.

8. Lodstöparbo. Monument to Barbro Stigsdotter, who is said to have been born here. She was probably born in Jönshyttan, which her father owned.

Jönshyttan was destroyed in the 17th century.

9. Torsång village hall. Monument to Gustav Vasa, who almost drowned when crossing the ice. He dried his clothes in a cabin on the ferry man’s property.

10. The pork cellar in Olsbacka, Aspeboda. Monument to Måns Nilsson on the site of his farmhouse.

He was executed in 1534 for rebelling against King Gustav. It is said that Måns burned the ”Pork Cellar” into the rock using the fat of 150 pigs as fuel.

11. Morbygden. Building with loft that was moved here from Svärdsjö. They say that Gustav spent the night in the rectory, to which the loft belonged, in December 1520. However, the loft is no older than the 17th century.

12. Skutudden at the Korsnäs smelteries. A split boulder on the shore of Lake Runn. Gustav is said to have gone ashore here after crossing the ice on his way from Ornäs to Svärdsjö.

13. The twelve- or seven-mile forest. Monument to Gustav Vasa, erected in the Dean’s park in Svärdsjö. Danish soldiers were looking for Gustav and asked a man how big the forest was. He answered

7 or 12 Swedish miles, which discouraged the Danes, who turned back. The “forest” was only a clump of trees.

14. Närbo låga at Marnäs. Monument to Gustav Vasa. He is supposed to have travelled from Isala to Marnäs in a cart full of hay that was pierced with spears by Danish soldiers. Gustav was wounded and nursed at Närbo låga, a fallen pine.

15. The King’s Mound. Monument to Gustav Vasa.

The hiding place at Närbo pine was not safe, so Gustav was taken here instead, deep into the forest.

16. Svenskskär Island in Lake Ljugaren. Boulder with memorial plaque. Tradition says that the ride in the haycart crossed Lake Ljugaren and that Gustav hid here until the bleeding stopped.

17. Rättvik church. Monuments to Gustav Vasa, who is said to have spoken to the people on the church hill.

18. Sjurberg. A store moved here, where Gustav is supposed to have spent the night. However, the store is from the 17th century.

19. Mora. Gustav Vasa statue by Anders Zorn, who was born in Utmeland in 1860. Here near the church and Bell Pit, Gustav spoke to the people before continuing to West Dalarna.

20. Kättbo. Monument at Kättbo Chapel, raised to commemorate Engelbrekt and Lars from Kättbo. It is said that they were the men who caught up with Gustav and brought him back to Mora.

21. The King’s Cellar. The cellar at Risberg summer pasture where Gustav is said to have hidden.

22. The Vasa Stone in Sälen. A monument on a hill where according to legend Gustav Vasa looked out over Dalälven river and the landscape before continuing across the border into Norway.

23. Olnispa Farm in Sälen. Gustav is said to have been sleeping here when the skiers reached him and persuaded him to return to Mora. But the building is more recent than the 16th century.

22 23

Älvdalen

Sälen

Evertsberg

21

Oxberg

The Vasa Monument in Utmeland

Lima

19 4

Mora

60,9941 N / 14,5495 E

20

Malung

Th

Legend:

Gustav Vasa’s route in Dalarna, according to Peder Svart’s Chronicle

The Vasaloppet route, 90 km.

Summertime hiking trail and nature reserve

Distance, approx: Rankhyttan–Ornäs, 20 km Ornäs–Isala, 45 km Isala–Utmeland, 110 km GPS coordinates: according to SWEREF 99/ WGS 84

16 18

Rättvik

17

15 14 13 3

Leksand

Isala King’s Barn 60,7704 N / 15,9437 E

Falun

11 Borlänge 10 he Ornäs Loft/Ornässtugan 2 60,5070 N / 15,5530 E 9 Da l äl

12 1

The King’s Barn in Rankhyttan 60,4761 N / 15,7199 E

ven

r iv er

7

8 Hedemora

Avesta

6

5

Easy reading about Gustav Eriksson in Dalarna Gustav Eriksson was born in 1496 and died in 1560.

He was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death.

Today he is often called Gustav Vasa – the last name, Vasa, is Gustav’s family name.

Gustav and his family were very rich and powerful.

They helped decide how Sweden was to be run.

Some years, Danish kings ruled Sweden, and Gustav and many others were against this.

In 1520, Denmark’s Christian II became King of Sweden.

He had many of his opponents killed, for example Gustav’s father.

Gustav was afraid that he would be killed too and he ran away to Dalarna, where he hoped to find help.

Gustav wanted to get rid of Christian and become king himself.

Gustav arrived in Dalarna in December 1520.

Friends helped him in several places, like Rankhyttan, Ornäs, Isala and Utmeland.

To this day, there are houses where they say Gustav hid from enemies who were trying to catch him.

This brochure has cartoon strips about Gustav.

They tell of what may have happened to him, based on stories from the 1660s.

We do not know everything that happened to Gustav in Dalarna, But we do know that he got the men of Dalarna on his side.

And that he got rid of Christian and became king himself.

Visit Rankhyttan, Ornäs, Isala and Utmeland, and look inside the houses where they say Gustav has been.

In this brochure you can see fine pictures of all the places.

National Proper ty Board +46 (0)8-6967000 www.sf v.se

Text & layout: Hugin & Munin Kulturinformation. Photography: Åke E:son Lindman. Photograph of King Gustav: Uppsala University Art Collection. Illustrations: Ulf Ragnarsson. Translation: ELEX, Pajala. Printing: Intellecta Infolog, 2009.

Tradition is change. Sweden has many buildings and environments of great value to its national cultural history. Each one is part of the nation’s history and its future.

The National Property Board aims to make all Swedes proud of these national treasures – palaces and royal parks, theatres, museums, embassies, and property comprising one seventh of the total land mass of Sweden. All are owned by the Swedes collectively, and the duty of the Board is to administer them in the best possible way.

Our task is not only to maintain the soul and character of each building, but also to adapt them to present day needs and uses for the benefit and enjoyment of tenants and the general public alike. Just as important as passing on the history behind existing buildings is the creation of new buildings worthy of the future.

We are therefore commissioned by the Swedish government to carry out new building projects which in various ways are representative of our nation.

We also administer state-owned forests and land in a sustainable manner so as to preserve bio diversity and maintain reindeer pasture lands for the benefit of future generations.