Nordic History - Kalmar Union and Medieval Sweden

Vocabulary flashcards covering medieval Swedish society, social classes of peasants, key historical figures, and the history of the Kalmar Union based on lecture notes.

Frälsebonde

A peasant who cultivated land owned by the nobility.

Kyrkobonde

A peasant who cultivated land owned by the church.

Kronobonde

A peasant who cultivated land owned by the state or the king.

Skattebonde

A peasant who owned their own land and paid tax.

Heliga Birgitta

A Swedish noblewoman, religious leader, and saint who founded the Bridgettine Order (Birgittinorden) in the 1300s.

Nyköpings gästabud

A 1317 banquet where King Birger invited his brothers Erik and Valdemar to Nyköping, after which they were imprisoned and starved to death.

Hansan

An alliance of trading cities around the Baltic Sea and North Sea that controlled much of the trade in Northern Europe and posed a commercial and military threat to the Nordic region.

Albrekt av Mecklenburg

The Swedish king whose noblemen were dissatisfied with him, sparking internal power struggles prior to the formation of the Kalmar Union.

Drottning Margareta

The daughter of Denmark's king and wife of Norway's King Håkan Magnusson, who became ruling queen of Denmark and Norway, claimed the Swedish throne, and created the Kalmar Union in 1397.

Kalmarunionen (1397–1521)

A union formed in 1397 uniting Sweden, Norway, and Denmark under Queen Margareta to strengthen the countries politically and economically against external enemies like German princes and Hansan.

Engelbrektupproret (1434–1436)

A 1434 rebellion in Sweden against the Danish union king, caused by high taxes and dissatisfaction with bailiffs (fogdar) and the king.

Riksföreståndare

A regent who governed Sweden whenever the union king was not present in the country or actively ruling.

Gustav Vasa

The Swedish leader under whom the Kalmar Union was dissolved in 1521 and Sweden became an independent kingdom again; served as Riksföreståndare from 1521–1523 and King from 1523–1560.

Post-1523 Nordic Political Realms

From 1523 to the early 1800s, the Nordic region consisted of two realms: Sweden, and Denmark (which included Norway and Iceland).