Sture murders

The Sture murders (Swedish: Sturemorden) took place in Uppsala, Sweden, on 24 May 1567. Five imprisoned Swedish nobles, three of them members of the influential Sture family, were killed by King Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards while the king was in a state of serious mental disorder. The nobles had been charged with conspiracy against the king, and some had previously been sentenced to death. Erik's former tutor, who did not belong to this group, was also killed when he tried to calm the king after the initial killings.

The killings followed years of conflict between Erik XIV and the Swedish aristocracy. During the 1560s, while Erik led campaigns in the Livonian War and the Northern Seven Years' War, his secretary Jöran Persson took charge of administration and effectively displaced the Privy Council. The high court was used to press financial and war-related demands and to torture nobles for information; because torture required a prior death sentence to be legal, the court sentenced more than 300 people to death between 1562 and 1567, often reducing the penalties later. Erik grew especially suspicious of Nils Svantesson Sture, whom he feared might claim his throne, and on 15 June 1566 Nils was forced to ride through Stockholm wearing a crown of straw.

In July 1566 several influential nobles met near Stockholm, deepening the king's fear of conspiracy. In January 1567, under torture, the king's page Gustaf Ribbing accused several nobles of sabotaging Erik's marriage plans. Erik summoned a riksdag at Uppsala in May 1567. On the way, several magnates were invited to Svartsjö Castle, where they were arrested and tried before the high court; Abraham Stenbock and Ivar Ivarsson were sentenced to death, and the court signaled willingness to sentence Svante Sture as well. The prisoners were then moved to Uppsala Castle.

Erik arrived at Uppsala on 16 May 1567 and collapsed on 19 May as the sentences were to be endorsed. On 22 May he wrote to Svante Sture rejecting the treason charges. On 24 May, after visiting Svante Sture's cell and begging forgiveness, Erik returned, drew his dagger and stabbed Nils Sture, then ordered the guards to kill the remaining prisoners except one named Sten. Svante Sture, Nils Sture, Erik Sture, Abraham Stenbock and Ivar Ivarsson were killed; two prisoners named Sten were spared because the guards were unsure which the king meant. The tutor Dionysius Beurreus was also killed.

Erik wandered the woods and was found at Odensala on 27 May. A settlement later declared the victims innocent, awarded compensation, and blamed the king's secretary. An uprising led by Erik's brothers deposed him in January 1569, and he died in 1577. The clothes worn by the three Sture victims are displayed in Uppsala Cathedral.