Siege of Åbo (1563)
| Siege of Åbo | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the conflicts between Eric XIV and John III | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Forces under Eric XIV |
 Forces under John III | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Eric XIV Klaus Fleming Henrik Klasson Horn[1] |
John III (POW) Catherine Jagiellon (POW) Klas Andersson  | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Unknown | Åbo garrison | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Several thousand |
1,200 in the beginning 350 in the end | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | 850 killed or deserted | ||||||||
The siege of Åbo (1563) was a siege of Åbo by the royal army under Eric XIV against his brother, John III, in 1563.
Background
[edit]Tensions between Eric XIV and John III
[edit]In Stockholm, the brothers, Eric XIV and John III were competing in who could have the most prestigious court. In the end, the court in Åbo had a more international atmosphere. Catherine Jagiellon, John III's wife, had proven to be a threat to the Swedish government since she was a Catholic and from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Swedish government had begun seeing the Commonwealth as a Swedish enemy and had forbidden John from marrying her, however, this had been refused by John, which led to the parliament announcing him as a traitor and sentencing him to death.[2][3][4]
Siege
[edit]In the spring of 1563, open conflict broke out between Eric XIV and John III, with Eric beginning the siege in the summer.[5][6] Eric's royal army, which consisted of a few thousand,[3] besieged Åbo with all its "court ladies, monks, and dwarves".[2] John's army, which consisted of around 1,200 men,[3] defended the castle with firebombs, which were sacks filled with burning tar,[2] and the royal army finished surrounding the castle on August 3 when it occupied Korpolaisberget with a storm. The cannon fire from the royal army also heavily damaged the castle walls, leading to the defenders quickly being forced to surrender on August 12.[3] Johns's army had been reduced to a mere 350 soldiers after a majority of it had been killed or deserted.[3]
Aftermath
[edit]Plundering
[edit]After the capitulation, both John and Catherine were taken prisoner.[7] The royal troops also plundered the already damaged Åbo, with more soldiers doing the same to gardens belonging to John III's family.[3]
Conspiracy
[edit]
A contemporary report from the time says that one of the royal officers, Anders Nilsson, received an order to murder John. When Hogenskild Bielke and other higher-ranking officers entered John's room, Anders was standing among them with a secret blade in his hand, however, before he had a chance to carry out the murder, he was taken out of the room by Klas Boije.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ "Ansedel Henrik Klasson Horn af Kanckas".
- ^ a b c Chrispinsson, John (2011). Den glömda historien : om svenska öden och äventyr i öster under tusen år [The forgotten history: Swedish fates and adventures in the east for a thousand years] (in Swedish). Norstedts förlag. pp. 25–26. ISBN 9789113025247.
- ^ a b c d e f g Wolke, Lars Ericson (2015-02-03). Johan III: En biografi (in Swedish). Svenska Historiska Media Förlag AB. ISBN 978-91-87031-93-9.
- ^ "BLF". www.blf.fi. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
- ^ Lahtinen, Anu (2018), "Tough Times, Tough Measures: Widows as Heroic Entrepreneurs", Women in Business Families, Routledge, doi:10.4324/9781315206295-3, ISBN 978-1-315-20629-5, retrieved 2024-04-13
- ^ "I ett stycke svensk historia". Fotosidan (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
- ^ clipboard, Text-Lars Ericson Wolke 23 maj 2019 URL copied to (2019-05-23). "Krigarkung med religiösa grubblerier". Populär Historia (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-04-13.
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