to the Swedish nobles who had joined the royal retinue: “That these know best who stand there behind you. They have it all both baked and brewed.” Later the king remarked: “Lord Sten, it is a bad inheritance you have bequeathed on me in Sweden; the peasants whom God created slaves you have made into lords, and those who should have been lords you try to make slaves.” At his coronation in Upsala, the king bestowed knighthood upon many Swedish nobles (something that had been beyond Lord Sten’s authority to do), upon his return to Denmark appointing Lord Sten to take the reins of government with three state councillors at his side. King John’s reign in Sweden was of short duration. He failed to return the island of Gothland to the Swedish crown and lost his prestige through an unsuccessful war in Ditmarschen. Svante Sture, who had not been dealt with according to his expectations, declared war upon the king and joined Lord Sten, who was in an unenviable position and glad to shake off the Union with Denmark, which he did, in 1501, when made regent for the second time. With a peasant army siege was laid to the castle of Stockholm, held by the energetic Queen Christine, who capitulated after a heroic struggle. Three days later King John appeared with an army, but returned, seeing that he came too late. Lord Sten retained Queen Christine at Vadstena for some time, later escorting her to the Danish frontier. Upon his return he was taken ill and died suddenly at Jœnkœping, December 14, 1503. With him the older or original line of the Sture family became extinct. Lord Sten was the greatest ruler since Margaret, and his rule, being of a more patriotic and democratic tendency, was of greater benefit to Sweden than hers. _Svante Sture_ succeeded Sten. He was of the younger Sture line, the son of the noble patriot, Nils Bosson, who in the time of Charles VIII., as the friend of Engelbrekt and Bishop Thomas, had taken stand against the archbishop and the nobles, backed by the Dalecarlians, who adored him. Lord Svante was a very quick-tempered man, which led him into the conflict with Lord Sten. Unlike the regent and his own father, he never had experienced what Danish oppression meant, which accounts for his unwise decision in joining the Unionists. The war with Denmark lasted eight of his nine years of reign, which proves him an able soldier and a stanch patriot. His position from the start was less favorable than that of his predecessor, who could reign in the glory of his early victory at Brunkeberg.