Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [10]
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GAMMELSTAD
During the 13th century the pope increased the number of fast days, during which only fish could be eaten. This resulted in the rich Gulf of Bothnia fishing grounds becoming of great interest to the rest of Europe, and meant profit for whoever controlled the area.
With the northern border between Sweden and Russia insecure after the Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323, the Swedish crown secured control of northern Bothnia by handing over its river valleys as fiefs to noblemen from central Sweden. In 1327 Luleå was named for the first time in connection with such an enfeoffment and, in the 1340s the region became a parish of its own, with separate chapels in Piteå and Torneå.
By the end of the 14th century, Luleå Old Town (today’s Gammelstad) was the centre of a parish stretching from the coast to the mountains along the Lule and Råne rivers. The Luleå farmers prospered during the economic boom of the Middle Ages and a stone church was built in the 15th century.
In 1621 Luleå was granted a town charter, but its development progressed very slowly. This proved to be rather fortunate because by 1649 the previously navigable channel from the archipelago had become too shallow and it was necessary to move the whole city to a better harbour, the present northern harbour of the current Luleå City. The church, the church village and the surrounding buildings became Luleå Old Town (Gammelstad).
Gammelstad church is the largest medieval church in Norrland and the only one with a reredos worthy of a cathedral and choir stalls for a whole consistory.
The church village developed because parishioners had to travel considerable distances to attend church, and required overnight accommodation. Today, Gammelstad is the largest church village in Sweden.
There are two historical walks around Gammelstad: the church walk and the town walk, which can each be done in approximately one hour. See the section on Luleå, Click here, for details.
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In 1523, Sweden seceded from the union and installed Gustav as the first Vasa king: he was crowned on 6 June, now the country’s national day.
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VASA DYNASTY
Gustav I ruled for 37 years, leaving behind a powerful, centralised nation-state. He introduced the Reformation to Sweden (principally as a fundraising exercise): ecclesiastical property became the king’s, and the Lutheran Protestant Church was placed under the crown’s direct control.
After Gustav Vasa’s death in 1560, bitter rivalry broke out among his sons. His eldest child, Erik XIV (1533–77), held the throne for eight years in a state of increasing paranoia. After committing a trio of injudicious murders at Uppsala Slott, Erik was deposed by his half-brother Johan III (1537–92) and poisoned with pea soup at Örbyhus Slott. During the brothers’ reigns, the Danes tried and failed to reassert sovereignty over Sweden in the Northern Seven Years’ War (1563–70).
Gustav’s youngest son, Karl IX (1550–1611), finally had a chance at the throne in 1607, but was unsuccessful militarily and ruled for a mere four years. He was succeeded by his 17-year-old son. Despite his youth, Gustav II Adolf (1594–1632) proved to be a military genius, recapturing southern parts of the country from Denmark and consolidating Sweden’s control over the eastern Baltic – the copper mine at Falun financed many of his campaigns (Click here). A devout Lutheran, Gustav II supported the German Protestants during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). He invaded Catholic Poland and defeated his cousin King Sigismund III, later meeting his own end in battle in 1632.
Gustav II’s daughter, Kristina, was still a child in 1632,