Sture

A modern depiction of Sten Svantesson (Sten Sture the Younger), together with the arms of the two previous Sture regents, Sten Gustafsson (Sten Sture the Elder) and Svante Nilsson.

Sture (Swedish: [ˈstʉ̌ːrɛ]) was a name borne by three distinct but interrelated noble families in Schweden in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. It was originally a nickname, meaning 'haughty, proud' (compare the Swedish word stursk and the Old Norse and Icelandic personal name Sturla), but later became a surname. Particularly famous are the three regents (Swedish: riksföreståndare) from these families who ruled Sweden in succession during the fifty-year period between 1470 and 1520, namely:

• Sten Sture the Elder, reigned 1470–1497 & 1501–1503
• Svante Nilsson, reigned 1504–1512
• Sten Sture the Younger, reigned 1512–1520

The Sture families are remembered in the names of Sturegatan ('Sture Street') and Stureplan ('Sture Square') in central Stockholm, by the Sten Sture Monument in Uppsala, and by Sture Cheese, which is produced by a dairy from Sävsjö (Småland), close to Sten Sture the Younger's castle at Ekesjö.

Sture (Sjöblad)

Arms of the Sture (Sjöblad) family

The first Sture family to emerge is known in Swedish historiography as Sture (Sjöblad) to differentiate it from later families with the name Sture, as its coat of arms bore three seeblätter (stylised water lilies), known in Swedish as sjöblad. The earliest known member of the family was Anund Sture, a landowner from Västergötland who is first attested in 1310. He seems at the time to have been a loyalist of King Birger, but later defected to his brother and rival Erik Magnusson. After Erik's death, Anund served his son, King Magnus Eriksson.

Anund's great-great-grandson, Gustaf Algotsson Sture, lived a century later. Around 1438 he married Birgitta Stensdotter, a member of the Bielke family and half-sister to the powerful Marshal of the Realm, Karl Knutsson Bonde, who ten years later declared himself King of Sweden as Karl VIII.

Gustaf and Birgitta had a single son, Sten Gustafsson Sture, known retrospectively as Sten Sture the Elder to distinguish him from a later Sten Sture (for whom see below). He was one of his uncle King Karl's strongest supporters, and upon Karl's death in 1470 he was named regent (Swedish: riksföreståndare) and guardian to the king's infant son Karl Karlsson. Sten's position was initially shaky, but he quickly established his authority by defeating a Danish invasion at the Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471. He made no attempt to have Karl Karlsson crowned king, but nor did he seize the throne himself, and instead continued to rule the kingdom as regent for the next thirty-two years, albeit with an interruption during the years 1497-1501. He did not have any children, and so the Sture (Sjöblad) family died with him when he passed away in 1503.

Sture (Spets Nedifrån)

Arms of the Sture (Spets Nedifrån) family

The second Sture family is known in Swedish historiography as Sture (Spets Nedifrån), 'tip upward', as its coat of arms resembles a spearhead pointing upwards.

This family originates with Nils Sture, a landowner from Halland (then part of Denmark) who is attested in 1377 and 1392.

Nils's son, Sven Sture, was appointed by Queen Margaret to command her forces on Gotland in either 1395 or 1396. However, soon afterward he betrayed her and turned the island over to Erik Albrektsson, son of her archenemy Albert of Mecklenburg. Gotland subsequently became the principal base for the Vitalienbrüder, German privateers hired by the Mecklenburgers to harass Scandinavian shipping. In 1398 the Teutonic Order, frustrated that their ships were also being attacked by the pirates, decided to deal with the problem by invading Gotland. Sven Sture escaped with a group of Vitalienbrüder and established a new pirate base at Faxeholm in Hälsingland, but later that year he accepted a pardon from Queen Margaret and settled peacefully in Småland. Sven does not seem to have had any sons, and so the Sture (Spets Nedifrån) line died with him. However, he did leave a daughter, Katarina, who married Bo Stensson of the Natt och Dag family.

Sture (Natt och Dag)

Arms of the Natt och Dag family, also borne by the Sture line descended from Nils Bosson Sture

Bo and Katarina's son, Nils, assumed the surname Sture after his maternal grandfather (i.e. Sven Sture (Spets Nedifrån)), and is therefore known as Nils Bosson Sture. He thus founded a third Sture line, but nevertheless continued to use the Natt och Dag arms. He and his descendants are therefore considered by genealogists to be an offshoot of the Natt och Dag rather than a continuation of the Sture (Spets Nedifrån) line. To make matters even more confusing, Nils's Natt och Dag ancestors were linked by marriage to the Sture (Sjöblad) family. Thus Nils Bosson Sture and Sten Sture the Elder were distant cousins (Sten's great-grandmother Märta Bosdotter Natt och Dag was also Nils's great-aunt), but their shared surname of Sture came from unrelated ancestors. Nils supported his distant relative Sten in his fight against the Danes during the 1470s, but the two men later became estranged, and by the time of his death Nils was one of the leading members of the unionist opposition within Sweden.

Nils's son Svante rejected the surname Sture, instead simply styling himself 'Svante Nilsson'. This may have been a gesture of opposition to Sten Sture, to whom he was initially hostile as his father had been. As such he was one of the leaders of the 1497 rebellion which deposed Sten as regent and invited in King Hans of Denmark to rule Sweden instead, thereby restoring the Kalmar Union. Hans, however, alienated Svante and other erstwhile opponents of Sten by his clumsy attempts to play the different Swedish factions off against each other in order to increase his own power, and in 1501 Svante helped Sten to foment a rebellion which led to the expulsion of Hans's troops and Sten's restoration as regent. After Sten died in 1503, Svante succeeded him as regent, and ruled Sweden until his own death a decade later.

Svante Mauritzson Sture (1587-1616), the last of the Stures.

By the time Svante died he had become unpopular within Sweden, and his son, Sten Svantesson, initially struggled to rally sufficient support to take over as regent. To attract additional support he revived the Sture surname in order to associate himself with the memory of Sten Sture the Elder, and thus he is known to history as Sten Sture the Younger. In the end the younger Sten did successfully become regent like his namesake and father had each been before him, but in 1520 he was faced with a massive Danish invasion and was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bogesund by Christian II of Denmark.

Sten's sons, Nils Stensson and Svante Stensson, were both children at the time of their father's death, and were evacuated by his followers to Poland. In their absence, a revolt was mounted against Christian within Sweden, led by a nobleman called Gustav Eriksson Vasa, who declared himself king in 1523. As for the exiled Sture brothers, it appears that Nils Stensson died in Poland, but an apparent impostor, the so-called Daljunker, appeared in Sweden in 1527 and led a rebellion against Gustav. The revolt was crushed, and the Daljunker fled to Rostock, where Gustav arranged to have him killed. As for Svante, he was able to return to Sweden and become a prominent member of Gustav's court. Gustav died in 1560, and his eldest son succeeded him as King Erik XIV. Erik soon became suspicious of Svante, whom he believed was plotting to usurp the throne, and in 1567 he had Svante and several of his sons arrested and then personally killed them in a violent outburst known to history as the Sture Murders.

One of Svante's sons, Mauritz, managed to avoid King Erik's suspicions due to his youth. He later had a son called Svante, but Svante Mauritzson failed to have children of his own, and so the last Sture family died with him in 1616. However, the main Natt och Dag line, descended from Nils Bosson Sture's uncle Bengt Stensson Natt och Dag, survives to the present day.

Sture Party

The Entry of Sten Sture the Elder into Stockholm, Georg von Rosen (1864).

Sten Sture the Elder, Svante Nilsson and Sten Sture the Younger are often known collectively as 'the Stures' (Swedish: Sturarna), even though Svante never used the surname himself and seems to have considered himself a Natt och Dag rather than a Sture. The faction within Swedish society which supported the three regents in their efforts to maintain de facto Swedish independence from the Kalmar Union are known to historians as the Sture Party (Sturepartiet) or the Sture Men (Swedish: Sturemän), though neither term was used at the time.

Marxist historiography saw the conflict between the Sture Party and Swedish unionists as a class struggle between a generally unionist aristocracy and Church on the one hand, and a separatist-leaning peasantry and bourgeoisie on the other, with the latter social groups forming the backbone of the Sture Party. However, more recent historians have instead tended to stress the fact that factional allegiances were often unstable, and seem to have depended more on personal relationships and political circumstances rather than social station or a fixed ideological outlook.

See also

• Sture Murders
• List of Swedish rulers

Sources

• "Sture" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Sture" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).