The Swedes were more fortunate in their resistance to this blood-thirsty tyrant. After the death of Steen Sture the Elder (1503), they elected Svante Nilsson Sture regent, and after his death, his son, Steen Sture the Younger. These brave and patriotic men conducted the government with wisdom and energy, and succeeded in maintaining themselves against the power of the Danes during the remainder of the reign of King Hans. Christian II. (1513-1523, d. 1559), was forced, on mounting the throne, to grant a charter to the nobility, which nearly deprived him of all power. The rule of the nobles had by this time become so great a curse, both in Denmark and Norway, that any measure for its curtailment seemed justifiable. Their principle of government was that of hawks in a poultry-yard. Whatever the citizens undertook for their advancement was checked by the interference of the privileged classes; commerce and industry were discouraged, lest the bourgeoisie should gain power enough to assert itself. The peasantry were given absolutely into the barons' power, and their degradation was made complete by the so-called "right of neck and hand," which Christian II. granted as the price of his crown. By this concession the nobles acquired the right to sentence and punish their peasants at their own discretion, without the intercession of the courts. The king, however, felt the humiliation of this concession scarcely less than its victims. He determined to prepare himself for a life and death struggle with the nobility; and with this in view strove to increase his power. He secured foreign alliances and married the wealthiest princess in Europe, Isabella, sister of the German Emperor Charles V. In order to reach that summit of power from which he should be able to crush the refractory magnates he deemed it important to regain the crown of Sweden, and at Bogesund he defeated Steen Sture the Younger, who fell in the battle (1520). The latter had had a bitter enemy in the wily archbishop, Gustavus Trolle, who made common cause with Christian, and crowned him king of Sweden. The archbishop thought this a good chance to avenge himself upon his enemies, of Steen Sture's party, and at his instigation Christian executed fifty of the most eminent men in Sweden, among whom were two bishops, thirteen members of the Council of Regency, and many brave citizens.