Nils Dacke, already fugitive for having killed…

Nils Dacke, already fugitive for having killed a sheriff in 1536, leads the mainly Catholic peasants of the province of Småland in southern Sweden in June 1542 in rebellion against the anti-Catholicism and harsh tax collection policies of Sweden’s King Gustavus Vasa.

Vasa had himself had come to power at the head of a peasant army in 1523, establishing Sweden's independence from Denmark and making Protestantism the national religion.

Småland, which found itself on the border between Sweden and Denmark after the dissolution of the Kalmar Union in 1523, has been hard hit by Vasa's ban on cross border trade.

The powerful Swedish noble Svante Sture rebuffs the rebels’ offer of support in gaining the Swedish throne, refusing involvement in the civil war.

The rebels assassinate a number of sheriffs and tax collectors.

Gustav, underestimating the military prowess of the peasants, sends small expeditions of his German mercenaries to quell the revolt.

The landsknechts are however unsuited for battle in the rugged forests and suffer heavy losses.

Dacke has devised defensive tactics which allow the peasants to use their steel crossbows with devastating effect; his successes help spread the revolt over all the southern provinces of Sweden.

The situation is so serious that the king is forced to sue for peace and on November 8th a one-year ceasefire is signed.

During the ceasefire Dacke is the de facto ruler of southern Sweden and receives (and declines) offers of foreign support.

He reinstates the Catholic Church and reopens the cross border trade in the areas under his control.

Gustavus simultaneously reinforces his troops in Småland.