Nils Dacke was the leader of a 16th century peasant revolt in
Småland' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small lands...
, southern
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
called the
Dacke WarDackefejden was a peasant uprising led by Nils Dacke in Småland, Sweden, in 1542 against the rule of Gustav Vasa. Dacke and his followers were dissatisfied with the heavy burden of the taxes, the introduction of lutheranism and the confiscations of the churches property...
(Swedish:
Dackefejden), fought against the Swedish king Gustav Vasa. It was the most widespread and serious
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
in Swedish history and almost toppled the king.
Gustav Vasa had come to power at the head of a
peasantA peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists...
army in 1523. He had established Sweden's independence from
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and made
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
the national religion.
Nils Dacke was the leader of a 16th century peasant revolt in
Småland' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small lands...
, southern
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
called the
Dacke WarDackefejden was a peasant uprising led by Nils Dacke in Småland, Sweden, in 1542 against the rule of Gustav Vasa. Dacke and his followers were dissatisfied with the heavy burden of the taxes, the introduction of lutheranism and the confiscations of the churches property...
(Swedish:
Dackefejden), fought against the Swedish king Gustav Vasa. It was the most widespread and serious
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
in Swedish history and almost toppled the king.
Background
Gustav Vasa had come to power at the head of a
peasantA peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists...
army in 1523. He had established Sweden's independence from
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and made
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
the national religion. Småland found itself on the border between Sweden and Denmark and was hard hit by Vasa's ban on cross border trade. In addition, the hard-handed way the church was reformed and the increasing tax burden led to much dissatisfaction among the poor peasants. Already in 1536, Nils Dacke was tried at a local court for killing a
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
: according to court records he was fined 10 oxen.
The Dacke War
The uprising started in June 1542 with the assassination of more sherrifs and tax collectors. Gustav Vasa underestimated the military prowess of the peasants and sent his German
mercenariesA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
to quell the revolt. The
landsknechtLandsknechts were European, most often German, mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of the European Renaissance.-Etymology:The term is from German, Land "land,...
s were however unsuited for battle in the rugged forests and suffered heavy losses. Dacke had devised defensive tactics which allowed the peasants to use their steel
crossbowA crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a siege engine resembling a crossbow in mechanism and appearance.Crossbows historically played a...
s with devastating effect. Dacke's successes helped spread the revolt over all the southern
provinceA province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Roman provinces:The word is attested in English since c.1330, deriving from Old French province , which comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to the sphere of activity which a...
s of Sweden. The situation was so serious that the king was forced to sue for peace and a one-year
ceasefireA ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces.-World War I:On December 24, 1914,...
was signed on November 8. During the ceasefire Dacke was the de facto ruler of southern Sweden and received (and declined) offers of foreign support. He reinstated the ceremonies of the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
and reopened the cross border trade in the areas under his control.
The king broke the ceasefire in January 1543 and sent a new and larger army into the rebellious area. Royal propaganda had been spread to win over the population and turn them against Dacke. Nils Dacke himself had become overconfident after earlier successes and met the Royal army in a
pitched battleA pitched battle is a battle where both sides choose to fight at a chosen location and time and where either side has the option to disengage either before the battle starts, or shortly after the first armed exchanges....
in March. The trained soldiers fighting on their own terms shattered the peasant army and Dacke was severely wounded himself. After this defeat the rebellion was all but over and Dacke became an
outlawAn outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" declared the subject to be "Caput gerat lupinum" , and it followed not only that, since the subject was no longer human, he had no legal...
.
Death
He was shot and killed in 1543 on the border between the then-borders between Sweden and Denmark (nowadays southern Swedish provinces Småland and
Blekinge' is one of the provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Skåne and the Baltic Sea.Blekinge consists of 5 municipalities; Karlskrona, Ronneby, Karlshamn, Sölvesborg and Olofström....
), while trying to escape from the king's mercenaries.
Dacke was
executed posthumouslyPosthumous execution is the ritual or ceremonial mutilation of an already dead body.-Examples:* Leonidas of Sparta was beheaded and crucified following his death in the battle of Thermopylae....
and his bodyparts were sent for public display in larger communities that had supported him during the rebellion. Gustav Vasa ordered the annihilation of Dacke's entire family, but was milder against those who had given themselves up. Thus, the unity of the realm was restored.
As a result of the war the king was henceforth more careful when dealing with his subjects. The reliance on foreign mercenaries in the army was reduced in favour of
soldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s of Swedish extraction (many of which were recruited in Småland) and this laid the foundation for Sweden's military successes in later wars.