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| Karl Knutsson | |
|---|---|
 Wood sculpture of Karl Knutsson by his contemporaryBernt Notke. Made posthumously (c. 1480s), but considered to have real likeness.[1][2] | |
| King of Sweden | |
| Reign | 20 June 1448 – 24 February 1457 9 August 1464 – 30 January 1465 12 November 1467 – 15 May 1470 |
| Coronation | 29 June 1448,Uppsala |
| Predecessor | Christopher |
| Successor | John (1497) |
| King of Norway | |
| Reign | 20 November 1449 – June 1450 |
| Coronation | 20 November 1449,Trondheim |
| Predecessor | Christopher |
| Successor | Christian I |
| Born | c. 1408 Ekholmen Castle,Veckholm,Uppsala |
| Died | 15 May 1470(1470-05-15) (aged 60) Stockholm Castle |
| Burial | Riddarholm Church, Stockholm |
| Spouses | |
| Issue among others... | Magdalena |
| House | Bonde |
| Father | Knut Tordsson Bonde |
| Mother | Margareta Karlsdotter Sparre av Tofta |
Karl Knutsson Bonde (c. 1408–1470), also known asCharles VIII and calledCharles I in Norwegian contexts, wasKing of Sweden (1448–1457, 1464–1465 and 1467–1470) andKing of Norway (1449–1450).
Karl Knutsson Bonde was born in October 1408 or 1409, atEkholmen Castle, the son of Knut Tordsson (Bonde), knight and member of theprivy council (riksråd), and Margareta Karlsdotter (Sparre av Tofta), the only daughter and heiress ofKarl Ulfsson, Lord of Tofta. His father Knut was first cousin ofErik Johansson Vasa's father. His first marriage, in 1428, to Birgitta Turesdotter (Bielke) (died 1436) gave him his daughter Christina. His second marriage, in 1438, toCatherine (Gumsehuvud, died in 1450) produced his second daughterMagdalena, who marriedIvar Axelsson (Tott). He also had two children by his third wife (and former mistress)Christina Abrahamsdotter, Anna and Karl. His father was said by contemporary legends to descend from a younger brother of KingErik the Holy. His mother, an important heiress, descended from JarlKarl the Deaf and consequently from some ancientFolkunge earls of Sweden, as well as fromIngegerd Knutsdotter, a daughter ofCanute IV of Denmark andAdela of Flanders.
In 1434, Karl became a member of thePrivy Council of Sweden and in October of the same year he assumed one of its most senior offices,Lord High Constable of Sweden, orRiksmarsk. Because of the growing dissatisfaction among theSwedish nobility with their king,Erik of Pomerania, Karl was in 1436 madeRikshövitsman, an office equating to Military Governor of theRealm, and finally replaced the king as an elected regent from 1438 to 1440, as the result of the rebellion byEngelbrekt Engelbrektsson. During Karl's brief regentship, the so-called Rebellion of David (a peasant rebellion) took place in Finland. Erik was forced to step down from the throne and in 1440Christopher of Bavaria was elected king ofSweden,Norway andDenmark. At the coronation of Christopher in September 1441, Karl was dubbed a knight and appointedLord High Justiciar of Sweden, orRiksdrots. In October he resigned as Lord High Justiciar and resumed his office as Lord High Constable. From 1442, he was the military governor,hövitsman, atViborg inFinland (Fief of Viborg).
Karl acquired extensive fiefs, for example in Western Finland. His first seat was in Turku. Soon, Christopher's government began to take back fiefs and positions and he was forced to give up thecastle of Turku. Karl's next seat was thecastle of Viborg, on Finland's eastern border, where he kept an independent court, taking no heed of Christopher and exercising his own foreign policy in relation to such powers in the region as theHanseatic League, the Russian city ofNovgorod and theTeutonic Knights in what are todayEstonia andLatvia.
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At the death of Christopher in 1448, without a direct heir, Karl was elected king of Sweden on 20 June, and on 28 June, he was hailed as the new monarch at theStones of Mora, not far fromUppsala, mostly due to his own military troops being present at the place, against the wishes of regents Bengt and Nils Jönsson (Oxenstierna). The Danish had in September 1448 electedChristian I as their new monarch. A rivalry ensued between Karl and Christian for the throne of Norway, which had also been ruled by Christopher, with both kings gaining support from various factions in the NorwegianCouncil of the realm. In 1449, a portion of the Norwegian council elected Karl as king of Norway, and he was crowned inNidaros Cathedral inTrondheim on 20 November. However, Christian also continued pursuing his claim to Norway. The Swedish aristocracy was reluctant to back Karl in a war against Denmark over Norway, and already in June 1450, he was forced to relinquish the throne of Norway in favour of Christian.
From 1451, Sweden and Denmark were in state of war against each other. Because of devastating warring, a growing opposition against Karl emerged among the nobility in Sweden. The strongest opponent was the Swedish church which opposed his efforts to concentrate royal and secular power. Other opponents were the family group ofOxenstierna and theHouse of Vasa, which had been on the opposing side in the election of king and lost.
During the next 20 years, Karl was deposed twice, only to regain the throne and reign three times (1448–1457, 1464–65, 1467–1470).
In 1457,a rebellion took place, led byArchbishop Jöns Bengtsson (Oxenstierna) and a nobleman,Erik Axelsson Tott. Karl went into exile to Danzig (Gdańsk). The two leaders of the revolt took the regentship, and organized the election ofChristian I of Denmark as king (firstly in Turku, then in Stockholm).
In 1463, King Christian quarrelled with the Archbishop because of his taxation policies. The Archbishop was imprisoned, which resulted in a rebellion by his relatives, and led to Christian being driven out of Sweden. Karl was recalled by the rebels and returned at the head of a force of German and Polish mercenaries. Upon arrival in Sweden, he found himself at war with the Archbishop, and after anew rebellion in the winter of 1464–1465, he was again exiled. In 1467, the regent Erik Axelsson Tott, now having reverted to support Karl Knutsson, once more had him crowned. He then reigned for three years, sharing power with the Riksråd, until his death in Stockholm in May 1470.
With his wife Birgitta Turesdotter (Bielke), Karl had:
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With his wifeCatherine, he had:
With his mistressChristina Abrahamsdotter, he had:
Karl was survived by only one son, born of Christina Abrahamsdotter, whom he married on his deathbed. Though she was recognized as queen, the Swedish government did not allow the suddenly legitimized boy to succeed him, but appointed one of their number,Sten Sture the Elder (who was Karl's nephew), as regent.
Karl Knutsson was the second Swedish king by the name of Karl (sometimes anglicized asCharles).Charles VIII is a posthumous invention, counting backwards fromCharles IX (r. 1604–1611) who adopted his numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden. Six others beforeCharles VII are unknown to any sources beforeJohannes Magnus's 16th century bookHistoria de omnibus gothorum sueonumque regibus, and are considered his invention. Karl Knutsson was the first Swedish monarch of the name to actually use a regnal number asKarl II (later retrospectively renumbered VIII), on his wife's tombstone (1451) atVadstena.[3]
Karl represented a growing nationalist tendency among the Swedish aristocracy which tried first to subjugate the other Scandinavian countries under Sweden but soon focused on dissolving theKalmar Union. In the next century, when the union was finally dissolved, he received some respect as an early champion of Swedish independence.
Karl's fight for power and kingship was more successful than his experience thereof. He allegedly recognized this himself and described his life in a brief poem:
When I was Lord of Fågelvik, (pronounced:foegle-veek)
Then I had wealth and might unique.
But once I was King of the Swedish land,I was a poor and unhappy man.[4]
Karl's great-granddaughterChristina Nilsdotter Gyllenstierna was married toSten Sture the Younger whose regentship represented similar values: nationalism and Swedish independence.
Though the Bonde family, not descendants of Karl Knutsson himself but just his collateral relatives, remained prominent among the Swedish nobility and in politics into the 20th Century, Karl's own descendants did not ascend nor inherit any thrones until Prince Christian zu Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg becameChristian IX of Denmark in 1863. Karl's descendants have since ascended the thrones of Norway, Greece and Great Britain, Brunswick, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Romania and Russia Empire together with Grand Duchy of Finland. Nicholas II was the first direct descendant on the Finnish throne.[citation needed]
His distant direct descendant,Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, married the Hereditary Prince of Sweden in the 20th century, and with the accession of Sibylla's son,Carl XVI Gustav, Karl Knutsson's blood returned to the Swedish throne.
Media related toCharles VIII of Sweden at Wikimedia CommonsKarl Knutsson Born: 5 October 1408 Died: 15 May 1470 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Christopher | King of Norway 1449–1450 | Vacant Title next held by Christian I |
| King of Sweden 1448–1457 | ||
| Vacant Title last held by Christian I | King of Sweden 1464–1465 | Vacant |
| Vacant | King of Sweden 1467–1470 | Vacant Title next held by John II |
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