More unfortunate to Sweden than these intrigues was the fact that King John in his son Christian had an able warrior and a great organizer. Prince Christian put down a revolt in Norway against Danish oppression, entering West Gothland with a superior army. The Unionists assembled to force the regent to abdicate, but he firmly refused to do so. A rebellion seemed imminent, Lord Svante hastening to Westeros to confer with the people of the mining districts. Shortly after the opening of the meeting, Lord Svante died quite suddenly, after a stroke of paralysis, in January, 1512. The council of state selected Eric Trolle, a learned but unfit man of the Unionists, to succeed Lord Svante. But the popular opinion condemned him, and the council was forced to choose Svante’s son as his successor. _Sten Sture the Younger_ was barely nineteen years of age at his father’s death. Knighted when only five, he early distinguished himself as a warrior, winning fame for his chivalric spirit and noble character, and, like his illustrious namesakes, his father and grandfather, becoming the idol of the people. And he deserved their idolatry. More resembling his grandfather in the sweetness of his disposition than his sterner predecessors, he was as great a warrior as his father, to which he joined the sagacity and power of self-control characteristic of the elder Lord Sten. As a youth, he was made regent of a country in war, distress and peril. He was called away by death when only twenty-seven, leaving behind the memory of not one evil deed to soil the glory of his fair name, although continually placed in trying and dangerous positions of strife, rivalry, envy and rebellion. He made his will respected by high and low with a temperance in spirit and methods worthy of the highest admiration and the devoted love of the people. The young Lord Sten had a tender heart for the lowly and the suffering, never fearing to wring their rights from the oppressors, whosoever they were. He took great interest in the pursuits of peace, during the intervals allowed by his successful exploits in war. In spite of the plague and other contagious diseases, which, together with the destruction of war, ravaged the country, he left it in a better condition than he received it. In many ways more farseeing than his contemporaries, his name will live on for centuries as one of the most beloved in Swedish history.