The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Kings
Falehagen - 1st July
Today we drove from Stockholm to Motala, a town located in central Sweden mid way between Stockholm and Gothenburg. It is a lakeside recreation and holiday destination however after one minute of being out of the car I was attacked by mosquitoes so until I find the insect repellent there will be no recreation for me.
Our three stopping points today were Nykoping, Norrkoping, Linkoping which translates to Newmarket, Northmarket and Linmarket (bit like LynnMall, but not). The three cities were once important trading places between the 13 -17th centuries as they were accessible by water. Today all three towns remain large transport and manufacturing centres.
Nykoping
Nykoping has a 12th century castle which has a chequered history of feuding kings and siblings.
Because of wars, fires and interfamily feuds, the castle had long periods of being unoccupied resulting in it being left to ruin.
It didn’t help that in the 17th century the stone was nicked to build Stockholm Palace – it’s not like there is a shortage of stone in Scandinavia.
We attempted a geocache based around this symbolic key near the castle. King Birgir and his two brothers with the help of Norway and Denmark were always having power struggles to rule various parts of Sweden.
The King decided he’d had enough so locked his brothers in the dungeon and when their men tried to overpower him he fled and threw away the key.
The brothers died, assumedly of starvation, and the king was pursued and dispensed of, along with many others.
Norrkoping
In medieval times Norrkoping was a textile mill town as the settlers took advantage of the falls and rapids of the river.
Nothing of the medieval period remains today as in the 17th century several battles of the 7 Years War took place here, again feuding battles for power between kings.
Norrkoping was decimated again in the 18th century during the Russian Pillage.
We visited the Carl Johan gardens, so many parks, buildings and bridges etc feature the name of King Carl Johan. In Sweden he is known as Karl XIV Johan or Charles XIV Johan, very confusing, but it gets worse.
Carl was actually born in France as Jean Bernadotte, on arrival in Sweden his named evolved to Jean Baptiste Jules which translated to Swedish as Johan Baptist Julius. He later took the name Karl after his adopted father King Karl XIII.
He did a lot of good things for Sweden, was a hands on military man and loved by the Swedes ever though he couldn’t speak Swedish.
Linkoping
The photo above is actually of Norsholm on the Gota Canal. Linkoping was a big city and finding a car park near the gardens wasn’t easy so we skipped town. Today Linkoping is known for its university and high-technology industry for example Saab Aerospace, Streaming technology for Netflix and Spotify, etc. Historically Linkoping is known for the Linkoping Bloodbath, where in the 16th century King Sigismund III aided the Cause of the Catholics after promising he wouldn’t, his Uncle Charles challenged him in battle and won thereby dethroning Sigismund. Charles became the new king and went about executing all the people that supported Sigismund and the Catholics, as you did in those times.
Motala and Falehagen
King Gustav Vasa had a manor house in Motala and grazed horses in Falehagen I’m not aware he did any executing, but Roger did.
In 2023 we had to shop for a mouse in France to replace the 2022 NZ edition, today we had to shop for a 2024 Swedish mouse as the 2023 French edition was executed and disemboweled, I assumed because there were parts left over following surgery and its temporary reconstruction.
[ED – Obviously the extra part wasn’t needed to reconstruct a working mouse which has now been retired]
Today’s ABBA tribute is ‘The King has Lost his Crown’ (1979) for all the crazy kings of Sweden who inherited the throne by birthright and instead of running the country went off on power-trips, executing anybody in their way.
Disaster and disgrace
The king has lost his crown
Suddenly
He’s clumsy like a clown
The world is upside down
The king has lost his crown