Christian II

Christian II (1481-1559), king of Denmark and Norway (1513-1523) and of Sweden (1520-1523), the son and successor of King John (Hans; 1455-1513). A gifted but erratic ruler, who initiated many humane reforms and was a patron of culture and education, Christian sought to strengthen the monarchy by championing the lower and middle classes, but in so doing alienated the nobles, who still held the power to elect the king. Pressing his claim to the Swedish throne under the Union of Kalmar, Christian besieged and captured Stockholm in 1520, but when he followed his coronation there with mass executions of Swedish nobles, he earned for himself the epithet The Cruel and made it easy for Gustav Vasa to rebel and win the Crown in 1523. That same year the Danish nobles also rose against him, electing his uncle king as Frederick I. Christian then fled to the Netherlands, where he finally persuaded his brother-in-law, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, to help him raise a small army; with that force he landed in Norway in 1531. The year after, having made no gains, he was treacherously captured by his enemies and spent the rest of his life—27 years—in detention.