1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:05,240 Speaker 1: Before we begin on the podcast today, just a quick 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: note of housekeeping. If you want to support the show, 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: we're over on Patreon, Patreon dot com, slash Noble Blood Tales, 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: where I release episode scripts and where I do mini 5 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: series is discussing mostly fictitious television shows based on royals. 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: Right now, I'm going through the old c W show 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: Rain episode by episode, So join the Patreon if that 8 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: interest to you. We also have merch at the website 9 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: df t b a dot com. We're selling pins, mugs, 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,599 Speaker 1: We had totes. They might have sold out, but all 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: that's very exciting. And then one more announcement, I am 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: leading a pilgrimage to England this April through this amazing 13 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: company called common Grounds, and it's a pilgrimage where we're 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: talking about Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, which I'm just like 15 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: absolutely thrilled to. There's a link in the episode description 16 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: if you're interested. I think there might still be a 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: few slots left. So if you're interested in joining me 18 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: and traveling throughout England and talking about Mary Shelley and 19 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: Frankenstein this spring, yeah, look into that. I think that'll 20 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: be really exciting. So, without further ado, here's the episode 21 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: m Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion 23 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: is advised. It was a spring morning when a stranger 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: appeared straggling out of the woods on the outskirts of 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: the small Swedish village of odin Sala. The man was filthy, 26 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: wearing peasant clothes that fit poorly. They looked borrowed or stolen. Still, 27 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: even though the man looked like a beggar, there was 28 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: something familiar in his countenance, his blue eyes, his long, 29 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,919 Speaker 1: red blonde beard. A whisper carried itself through odin Sala 30 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: faster than a horse could run. This stranger wasn't a 31 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,960 Speaker 1: vagabond or a peasant. He was King Eric the four, 32 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: the King of Sweden. Eric had been missing for three days, 33 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: ever since he ran off into the woods after what 34 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: had happened at Uppsala Castle. Had the King been raving 35 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: like a madman lost in the woods for three days straight, 36 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: or had he disguised himself as a peasant on purpose, 37 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,800 Speaker 1: trying to invent a new life for himself. For years, 38 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: there had been rumors that the King's behavior was verging 39 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: on erratic that he was prone to mental instability. But 40 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,239 Speaker 1: in May of fifteen sixty seven, those rumors would reach 41 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: a crisis point. King Eric would stain his soul with 42 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: murder and there would be no coming back for him. 43 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: Somehow word got to the capital that the king had 44 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: appeared in odin Sala, and the king was brought back 45 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: to Stockholm, where he was bathed, stripped out of his 46 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: rough peasant clothing, and redressed in the finery befitting of 47 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: a monarch. He still wasn't talking much sense. His servants 48 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: and advisers were scared to speak with him. Instead, they 49 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: brought in his stepmother and then his mistress to help 50 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: soothe him, to try to get him to explain what 51 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: had happened. All Eric could do was beg for forgiveness. Please, 52 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: please forgive me, he said, over and over again. Heads 53 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: of state caused people's deaths all the time. Wars are 54 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: fought in their names, sentences carried out for their justice, 55 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: but those deaths are indirect. In his madness, King Eric 56 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: would go one step further. He had imprisoned a group 57 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: of nobles, a powerful rival family, on largely false charges, 58 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: but merely containing them wouldn't soothe the nagging voice in 59 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: Eric's head, the paranoia and fear that had calcified into 60 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: a cancer. On May sixty seven, Eric went into the 61 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: cell where the nobleman Neil Store was being kept. Niels 62 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: was on his knees in prayer, already King. Eric raised 63 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: a dagger and stabbed him, and then Eric went to 64 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: the next cell over where Niel's father was imprisoned. Eric 65 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: raised the knife again and brought it down, whispering the 66 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: entire time, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. I'm Danis Schwartz, 67 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: and this is noble blood. The trope of royal madness 68 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: is common and recurring, both in his dry and in 69 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: popular culture. Mad seems to be one of those words 70 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: that's used, like eccentric, to provide a euphemistic sheen to 71 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: mental illness when someone is wealthy or powerful. Princess Alexandra 72 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: of Bavaria believed she had swallowed a grand piano made 73 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: of glass, and that it remained intact inside her, threatening 74 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: to shatter at any moment. Charles the Fourth in France 75 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: was said to have suffered from the glass delusion as well, 76 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,239 Speaker 1: believing that his own body parts were made of glass 77 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: instead of flesh. The stories of madness are seemingly endless, 78 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: and I've covered a fair share of them on this 79 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: podcast already. There's George the Third in England, who babbled 80 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: for days straight, Ludwig the Second in the hills of 81 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,280 Speaker 1: southern Germany, who spoke to portraits as though they were 82 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:55,920 Speaker 1: his dining companions, Carlotta, the ill fated Empress of Mexico, 83 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: and of course there's the Spanish princess known to popular 84 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: his story predominantly as Juana la Loca. Inbreeding is a 85 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: favorite armchair explanation for the prevalence of royal madness that 86 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: the family trees of Europe were so entangled that mental 87 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: illness as a genetic trait spun its away around royal 88 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 1: families the same way the prominent Habsburg chin did, or 89 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: the way hemophilia would after Queen Victoria. A few writers 90 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: throughout history have suggested that it actually might be the 91 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: pressures and privileges of being a royal itself that causes 92 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: a mind to teeter away from sanity. It's a theory, 93 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: and not a very scientific one, mind you, known as 94 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: Caesar madness, the notion that unchecked power could give rise 95 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: to paranoia and megalomania. But whatever the cause of the 96 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: madness to come, there weren't any clues that it would 97 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,840 Speaker 1: emerge at all. When Eric was a young prince, Eric 98 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: was the oldest son of King Gustav the First, sometimes 99 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: known as Gustav Vasa in many ways. Gustavasa is considered 100 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: to be the father of modern Sweden. It was under 101 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: his authority that Sweden broke from the Catholic Church and 102 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: began to establish itself in earnest as a Protestant power. 103 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: Eric was an excellent student, a quick study in languages, history, 104 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: and math. His mother had died when he was still 105 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: an infant, and his father had two more sons, John 106 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: and Charles, by his second wife. Eric would be tutored 107 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: alongside his younger brother John, the pair of them wheedling 108 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: each other, trying to show off for their esteemed tutor, 109 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 1: the French Calvinist scholar Dionysus Bureaus. In addition to the 110 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: basic school subjects that one might have expected a young 111 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: prince to study, Eric also learned astrology, a fundamental tool 112 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: in any monarchs arsenal in the sixteenth century, when it 113 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: came to trying to predict the future. There was one 114 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: astrological prediction that's stuck with Eric for his entire life, 115 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: that he would be undone by a fair headed man. 116 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: A worrying prediction and also not a very specific one, 117 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: considering that our young prince was living in Sweden, where 118 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: fair headed men are pretty much a krona a dozen. 119 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: The sense that his crown might be taken away from 120 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: him was the central concern in Eric's life. One of 121 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 1: the most important things he could do in terms of 122 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:45,240 Speaker 1: solidifying his power was making an advantageous marriage. Eric set 123 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: his sight on Queen Elizabeth, the first in England. His 124 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 1: requests for her hand in marriage were numerous. He started 125 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: before she even ascended to the throne, back when she 126 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: was just the sister of the Catholic Queen Mary, but 127 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 1: then he continued asking after Elizabeth became a Queen of 128 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: England in her own right. Eric sent multiple envoys to Elizabeth, 129 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: and he sent along a beautiful, full length portrait of 130 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: himself wearing a dashing orange outfit that I imagine he 131 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:23,520 Speaker 1: believed would send Elizabeth swooning. After two unsuccessful ambassador missions 132 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: to secure the marriage, Eric sent his younger half brother, John, 133 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: a Duke to England to plead his case in person. 134 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,959 Speaker 1: Elizabeth had been stringing Eric along in the most polite terms, 135 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: never outright rejecting him, just in case his proposal might 136 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: serve a useful purpose when it came to leverage later on. 137 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: But eventually, even diplomatic Elizabeth had to be straightforward, writing 138 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: perhaps one of the most scorchingly devastating letters in history. 139 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: Translated from the Latin, it reads, A letter truly yours, 140 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: both in the writing and sentiment, was given to us 141 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:10,079 Speaker 1: on December by your very dear brother, the Duke of Finland. 142 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: And while we perceive therefore in the zeal and love 143 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,680 Speaker 1: of your mind towards us is not diminished, yet in 144 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: part we are grieved that we cannot gratify your Serene 145 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:26,199 Speaker 1: Highness with the same kind of affection, And that indeed 146 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: does not happen because we doubt in any way of 147 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: your love and honor. But as often we have testified, 148 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,959 Speaker 1: both in words and in writing, that we have never 149 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: yet conceived a feeling of that kind of affection towards anyone. 150 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: We therefore beg your Serene Highness again and again that 151 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: you be pleased to set a limit to your love 152 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: that it advanced not beyond the laws of friendship for 153 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: the present, nor disregard them in the future. I have 154 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: always given both to your brother, who is a most 155 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: excellent prince and deservedly very dear to us, and also 156 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 1: to your ambassador. Likewise the same answer, with scarcely any 157 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 1: variation of the words, that we do not conceive in 158 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: our heart to take a husband, but highly commend the 159 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: single life, and hope that your serene Highness will not 160 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:25,119 Speaker 1: longer spend time in waiting for us. Of course, Elizabeth 161 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: referring to herself as we and us is a prime 162 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: example of using the royal we. She's only referring to herself. 163 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: But even after this letter, Eric still wasn't deterred. He 164 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: decided to make the arrangements to go visit England in 165 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: person himself. Surely if Elizabeth saw him, his handsome long 166 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: beard in the Swedish style, his excellent fashion, surely then 167 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: she would understand just how excellent of a match the 168 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: pair of them would make. Luckily for Elizabeth, Eirik's plans 169 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:09,920 Speaker 1: were curtailed. As he was making final arrangements to travel 170 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,000 Speaker 1: to England, Eirik's father died, which meant that he Eirik 171 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,959 Speaker 1: was now the king of Sweden. Eric took the regnal 172 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: name Eirik the fourteenth, even though there had not been 173 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: thirteen previous king Erik's of Sweden. He took that number 174 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 1: from the semi fictitious History of Sweden written by Olaus Magnus, 175 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,680 Speaker 1: which traced the glorious Swedish monarchy back to Magog, the 176 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: grandson of Noah. So, as you can imagine, it's closer 177 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: to mythology than fact. But it's great pr not to 178 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:49,320 Speaker 1: be just the seventh Eirik, as was more likely, but 179 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:54,559 Speaker 1: the fourteenth merely the next in a long and illustrious lineage. 180 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: One of his first moves as the newly crowned King 181 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: Erik the fourteenth was to summon representatives of all of 182 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: the estates of Sweden together in a Riksdag, a legislative 183 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: body almost like a parliament. The purpose of Eric's political 184 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: move was simple, to curtail the authority of his two 185 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: half brothers, the royal Dukes, and to minimize the role 186 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: of the nobility altogether. Instead of surrounding himself with the 187 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: usual quadre of noblemen, Eric selected one man, a commoner 188 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: named Gore and person who would go on to become 189 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:35,119 Speaker 1: his closest adviser, and some would argue the Machiolvellian political 190 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: presence behind Eric's entire reign. Eric had some reason to 191 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: be suspicious of noblemen. His half brother John had married 192 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: a Polish princess without Eric's permission, which gave John powerful leverage. 193 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: That was the sort of thing that could give someone 194 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: the power to overthrow Eric and to make matters worse 195 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: for the king. He was still unmarried, though he had 196 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: an number of illegitimate children by mistresses. Bastards did no 197 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 1: good when it came to having an heir to the throne. 198 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: It makes a monarch all the more unstable if he 199 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:15,960 Speaker 1: can't establish a clear cut dynasty. Eric tried proposing not 200 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: just to Queen Elizabeth, but to princesses and queens all 201 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: over Europe, including to Elizabeth's rival and cousin, Mary, Queen 202 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: of Scots, all to no avail. The only woman that 203 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: Eric seemed to be able to establish any real relationship 204 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: with was a Swedish commoner, a woman named Karen Man's daughter. 205 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 1: Karen was the daughter of a corporal, and the way 206 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: the legend goes, she was selling nuts in a Christmas 207 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: marketplace when the king, strolling through town, saw her and 208 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: couldn't look away. The selling nuts in a marketplace story 209 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: is almost certainly fictitious. More grounded sources say that she 210 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: was a servant in the household of the king's face 211 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: ever at court musician, and that she was serving the 212 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: king as a waitress while he was drinking with his friend. 213 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: But however they met, the King was besotted. She became 214 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: the King's mistress and was granted a room at court, 215 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: a significant wardrobe and servants. It was a small scandal, 216 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: the King making such a show about a woman with 217 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: such little pedigree. She must be a witch, people said 218 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: around the palace. How else could you explain how entranced 219 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: the King seemed by her all of a sudden. According 220 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: to one story, Karen Man's daughter was actually engaged to 221 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: another man before she caught the king's eye. She wisely 222 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: dumped her fiancee, but he reappeared sneaking into the palace 223 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: after Karen was elevated to her new chambers. He begged 224 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: her to come run away with him. The ex fiancee 225 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: was caught and brought before the King, who sentenced him 226 00:15:55,440 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: to be executed. But even if Karen made the King 227 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,920 Speaker 1: incredibly jealous, when they were together, she seemed to bring 228 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: out the best in him, calming him down, grounding him. 229 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: I've noticed that people tend to write about Eric like 230 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: he's King Kong. In one famous portrait of the King 231 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: and Karen, she's an angelic figure with long blonde hair, 232 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: wearing a white dress, leaning over Eric's right shoulder, while 233 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: the scheming Goren person hovers over the King's left shoulder, 234 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: a symbolic angel and devil of the King's decision making. 235 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: It was around this time, in fifteen sixty three that 236 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: the King's mental illness began to become more pronounced. He 237 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: would make arbitrary decisions, snap at people, become randomly violent, 238 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: and this period was marked by a profound paranoia that 239 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: the nobles were plotting against him, especially the nobles in 240 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: the powerful Steward family. The Store family patriarch was a 241 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: man named Savante Stenson Store. His wife, Martha, was the 242 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: sister of the King's second wife, the mother of Eric's 243 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: half brothers and apologies in advance for this incredibly confusing 244 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:21,159 Speaker 1: family tree. Martha was also the aunt of the former 245 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:25,399 Speaker 1: king's third wife, which, if you're constructing the mental map 246 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,639 Speaker 1: in your head, means that, yes, the king married a 247 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,120 Speaker 1: woman who died, married another woman who died, and then 248 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:36,800 Speaker 1: married that second woman's niece. The details of the family 249 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: tree don't matter as much as the larger fact that 250 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: the Store family was powerful and deeply entrenched in Swedish nobility, 251 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 1: and Savante's oldest son, Niels, was their shining golden boy. 252 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,400 Speaker 1: The golden boy part was literal. Niels had light blonde hair. 253 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: Eric had never forgotten the prediction that he would be 254 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: usurped by a blond man. He became convinced that it 255 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 1: was Niel's steward. In fifteen sixty six, Eric had Nail's 256 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: arrested and accused of treason for a vague and all 257 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: but made up claim that he was quote neglecting his 258 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,800 Speaker 1: duties by not having some peasants properly working at the 259 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: fortress port of Verin. Niels was forced to stand trial 260 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,640 Speaker 1: before the High Court, and with Gore on Person standing 261 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 1: as chief prosecutor, Niels was found guilty and sentenced to death. 262 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: Sentencing him to death sounds a little bit more dramatic 263 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: than it actually was. When Eric became king, he replaced 264 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 1: most of the nobles on the High Court with commoners 265 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: who were loyal to him, and of course he installed 266 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: his right hand man, Gore in Person as chief prosecutor. 267 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 1: In the five years between fifteen sixty two and fifteen 268 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: sixty seven, the High Court sentenced over three hundred people 269 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: to death, but almost every one of those sentences were commuted. 270 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: Torture was only allowed to be used on people who 271 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: were already sentenced to death, so that sentence was something 272 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 1: of a loophole. Sentencing someone to death meant that you 273 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: could torture them to get whatever information you wanted out 274 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: of them, and then you would naturally commute the sentence. 275 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,880 Speaker 1: So Niels to her sentence of death was almost immediately 276 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: reduced to merely humiliation. Nils was forced to wear a 277 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,719 Speaker 1: crown made of straw, and he was paraded through the 278 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:40,399 Speaker 1: streets of Stockholm in a broken down carriage so that 279 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: passers by could shout and throw things at him. During 280 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 1: his procession, Nils was still bleeding from torture. The idea, 281 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 1: insofar as King Eric had an idea, was to so 282 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,280 Speaker 1: humiliate Neil Store that no one would ever see Neil's 283 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: as a plausible rival again, and Nils would also sir 284 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 1: as an example to the other nobles who might want 285 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: to undermine the king. The idea backfired completely. Neil Store's 286 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:13,240 Speaker 1: punishment only further reminded the nobles how irrational and arbitrary 287 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 1: the King could be. It united the nobles against him. 288 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: The king probably sensed that the Store family was whispering 289 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,719 Speaker 1: and having secret meetings behind his back. At one point, 290 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: the King sent Neil Store post humiliation to try to 291 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: negotiate a marriage treaty with Princess Nada of Lorraine. Like 292 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,399 Speaker 1: all of the kings would be marriages. It failed, but 293 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: the King got wind that maybe Nils had sabotaged him 294 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:46,199 Speaker 1: on purpose, and so gathering evidence against the nobles. The 295 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: King announced that there was going to be a Reeks 296 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: dog in Upsala, which naturally all of the nobles would 297 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: have to attend. As they were making their way from 298 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: Stockholm to Upsala, Eric invited several prominent nobles to joy 299 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 1: in him at spart Show Castle. They came expecting to 300 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: be hosted by the King and his court. Instead, it 301 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: was in ambush. The nobles were arrested and tried before 302 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: the High Court. Those who fell for the trap were 303 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: Neil Store's brother Eric Store, Nils father Spante Store, Abraham 304 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: Sen Book, Stan Banner, Ivor Iverson, and Stan Ericsson. The 305 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: Reichstag was postponed. The ambush noblemen were sentenced to death 306 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: and sent to be imprisoned at Upsala Castle. A few 307 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: days later, Neil Store was arrested in Lorraine and brought 308 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: to Psala Castle to join his brother and father. The 309 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: delayed Reichstag eventually assembled, although for obvious reasons, it included 310 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,400 Speaker 1: a smaller representative of nobles than normal. Eric was planning 311 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,199 Speaker 1: on getting the Reichstag to discuss the sentencing of the 312 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,639 Speaker 1: accused nobles, but when he stood up to speak before 313 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: the assembly, he realized he had lost the notes he 314 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:12,199 Speaker 1: had prepared for his speech. Fumbling, he wasn't able to 315 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: speak at all. Meanwhile, Savante's wife, Martha, the sister of 316 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:20,360 Speaker 1: the former queen, was desperate to try to figure out 317 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: how to get her family out of this terrible, unjust situation. 318 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: She and her daughter Anna came to Sparta to try 319 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: to get an audience with the king, but they were 320 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: turned away, not just rejected, but placed under house arrest 321 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: with guards in the nearby village. Martha kept trying to 322 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: figure out what was going on. She begged Karen Man's daughter, 323 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: the voice of reason in the King's ear, to intervene 324 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,159 Speaker 1: on her behalf to ask the king to release the 325 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: stores who hadn't done anything wrong. Martha eventually made her 326 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: way Topsala Castle and met with Karen, who was able 327 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,439 Speaker 1: to offer her reassurances that Eric promised her that he 328 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: wouldn't hurt the prisoners, but the king's promise didn't seem 329 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: to mean much. The King began acting erratically, stalking up 330 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: and down the hallways of Upsala Castle where the prisoners 331 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:18,159 Speaker 1: were being kept, sometimes seeming angry, sometimes apologizing. At one point, 332 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: the King entered Sponte's door's cell, where he fell to 333 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: his knees begging for Sponte's forgiveness. I promise, the King said, 334 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 1: this will all be handled and there will be a 335 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:41,959 Speaker 1: full reconciliation. There wasn't. On May twenty fourth, fifteen sixty seven, 336 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: in what might be characterized as a man estate, the 337 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: King ran into the chamber where they were keeping Niel's stour. 338 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 1: The King had a dagger drawn when he saw Niels, 339 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:58,520 Speaker 1: he shouted, so there thou art thou Trader. Allegedly, Niels 340 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: was reading a prayer book at the time. He had 341 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: only moments from when he saw the king coming at 342 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: him to proclaim his innocence to pray for forgiveness, but 343 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: the King ignored him. King Eric stabbed Nail's store until 344 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: he was dead. Eric's hand still shaking, still covered in blood, 345 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: but still gripping the knife. Eric stood and went next 346 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,399 Speaker 1: door into the room where Spante's door Nails as father 347 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: was imprisoned. The King fell to his knees before the 348 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 1: man for the second time, while Spante slowly absorbed what 349 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,920 Speaker 1: had happened, the shouting he had heard the king before him, 350 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: covered in blood the knife. I'm sorry, the King said, 351 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, but I can never expect to you 352 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 1: to be able to forgive me for killing your son, 353 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: And then before Svante could react, King Eric stabbed him 354 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: as well. Leaving the room, Eric let the bloody dagger 355 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: fall to his side, but he kept it in his hand. 356 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: He turned to the head guard, a royal provost marshal, 357 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: kill all of the other prisoners he ordered, except Harsten. 358 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: The guards obliged. Niels and Spante's store were already dead. 359 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: But the guards killed the remaining noblemen imprisoned in Upsala Castle. 360 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: Two men were spared, Sten Axelsson and Sten Ericsson, because 361 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: they were both named Sten, and none of the guards 362 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: were sure which of them the king had been referring to. 363 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 1: The king wandered outside the castle, still manic, covered in blood, 364 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: holding the dagger. His old tutor, Dionysus Barris, found him 365 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: and tried to calm the king down, but the king 366 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: was long gone. He shoved off his tutor. Kill him too, 367 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: he said to the guards, and they obliged. From there 368 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: the king wandered into the woods, where he disappeared for 369 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaker 1: three days, only to reappear later dressed as a peasant 370 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:06,639 Speaker 1: in a nearby village. The guards at Uppsala were ordered 371 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: to keep the deaths a secret, and so they still 372 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,160 Speaker 1: stood guard and still received food deliveries and gifts from 373 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: the prisoners families, as if there were still men in 374 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: the cells. It's likely that the Reichstag in session didn't 375 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,120 Speaker 1: know on Ma when Gore in Person arranged for them 376 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: to sign to the fact the nobles had been traders 377 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: and should be sentenced to death, that they were all 378 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: already dead. Person was covering the king's tracks, retroactively turning 379 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: the murders into executions. After the king was brought back 380 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: to Stockholm, no one dared speak to him or hold 381 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: an audience with him. It was only the king's final stepmother, 382 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: his father's third wife, who was brave enough to approach him. 383 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: She was the first person to be granted an audience. 384 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: Upon seeing the dowager Queen, the cousin of several of 385 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: the men who had been killed, Eric fell to his 386 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: knees and wept. He begged her for forgiveness and began 387 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: working with her immediately on establishing some sort of settlement 388 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:13,280 Speaker 1: for the families of the men. The two Stints who 389 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,640 Speaker 1: had been spared were released, and Sfante's wife Martha soon 390 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: arrived to help negotiate the reconciliation. The king agreed that 391 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: there had been a quote venomous person who had advised 392 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 1: him to do the executions, meaning really they were all 393 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: the fault of gore on Person. That would be enough 394 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: later on for the senators who would later be appointed 395 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: to hold power. As Eric's faculties continued to slip, gore 396 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,360 Speaker 1: on Person would be arrested and found guilty of percolation. 397 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: And perjury. Although the senators wouldn't execute him, they would 398 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: merely imprison him in case the king recovered his senses. 399 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:56,240 Speaker 1: But for the time being, Eric was still the king, 400 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,160 Speaker 1: and whether it was madness or love, he turned all 401 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: of his attention to his mistress, Karen Man's daughter, doing 402 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: everything he could to marry her legitimately and to legitimize 403 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: the two children that he already had by her, even 404 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:16,359 Speaker 1: though she was a full commoner. The two were married 405 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:21,360 Speaker 1: morganatically in secret December nine, fifteen sixty seven, and then 406 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: married officially in the next year. Karen had warned the 407 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: dowager Queen that Eric was planning on killing his two stepbrothers, 408 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: the Dukes, and perhaps wisely, they both stayed away from 409 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: the wedding, but Eric and his half brother John were 410 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: able to reconcile. Eric forgave him for any past transgressions 411 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 1: as long as he recognized that the marriage between the 412 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 1: King and Karen was fully legitimate, and as long as 413 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 1: John honored their son Gustavus as the next king. John agreed, 414 00:28:52,520 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 1: although I wonder if an eye roll was implicit the 415 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: King's attempts to legitimize his commoner wife, whom he elevated 416 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: to queen with the name Cuterina, Madnu's daughter would be 417 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: the final nail in the coffin of his reputation. Though 418 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: Karen was kind and I'm sure people liked her as 419 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: a person, she was a commoner, a bar wench. It 420 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: was as sure a sign of lunacy as anything the 421 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: King had done trying to pass her off as a 422 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: rightful queen. For her part, Karen seemed aware of the 423 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: tricky position that the king had put her in, and 424 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: she was more than aware of the public's feelings towards her. 425 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: In a letter to the King's sisters, her new sisters 426 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: in law, she referred to herself not as queen, but 427 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: as Eric's quote chosen queen language that couches herself with humility, 428 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: a phrase that seems to imply, yes, I also know 429 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: that this is a little out of the ordinary. After 430 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 1: the wedding, Eric issued a circular to be disturbed me 431 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: did among the people giving thinks that he had been 432 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: delivered from the assaults of the devil, saying, in short, 433 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: that he was no longer mad. The problem with the writing, however, 434 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,480 Speaker 1: was that madness was visible in every sentence. It was 435 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: finally time for his brothers to depose him, which they 436 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: did fairly easily. The king won two victories against the rebels, 437 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: but by September of fifteen sixty eight they captured Stockholm, 438 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: and King Eric surrendered both his crown and Gore in person. 439 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,479 Speaker 1: John was declared to be King John the Third, and 440 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: he basically immediately ordered that Gore in person be executed 441 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: a very slow death by torture and then eventually beheading. 442 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: The former King Eric was imprisoned alongside his beloved commoner 443 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 1: wife Karen in a series of castles. The only known 444 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: portrait we have of Karen, the first commoner Queen of Sweden, 445 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,600 Speaker 1: is from this period. It's a scribble of her that 446 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: the king did a sketch while in prison. Karen and 447 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:11,760 Speaker 1: the King had two more children, who died as infants 448 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: in the terrible conditions of captivity. After that, the new 449 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: king kept Karen imprisoned separately to prevent her from having 450 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 1: more children who might become a threat to the new 451 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: royal line. In his diary, Eric wrote, they took my 452 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: wife from me. Eric spent two more years imprisoned alone 453 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: before he died in autopsy centuries later confirmed what had 454 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: long been rumored he had been poisoned by arsenic. According 455 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: to legend, the arsenic came in his final meal of 456 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: peace soup. In the end, it was a fair haired 457 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: man who deposed him. His brother John was blonde. That's 458 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: the sad story worry of Eric, King of Sweden. But 459 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear about 460 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 1: what happened to Karen Man's daughter and their children. After 461 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 1: the King's death, Karen Man's daughter was released from imprisonment. 462 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:24,760 Speaker 1: No longer seen as any real threat, she was given 463 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: an estate in Finland where she was allowed to live 464 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,160 Speaker 1: for the rest of her life, and she was well liked. 465 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: They're making friends, especially among the peasantry. When there would 466 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: be a peasant rebellion years later, they wouldn't plunder her estate. 467 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 1: Karen and Eric's daughter, SIGRed, became a lady in waiting 468 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 1: to the new King's daughter her cousin, and she would 469 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:50,320 Speaker 1: eventually marry two Swedish noblemen. Karen and Eric's son, however, 470 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,479 Speaker 1: would have a much more challenging life. Though secret had 471 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: been allowed to stay with Karen in prison, their son Gustavus, 472 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: was taken from her, sent to be educated by Jesuits 473 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: in Poland. There's only one confirmed meeting of Karen getting 474 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,920 Speaker 1: to see her son again, in fifteen ninety five in Estonia. 475 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: Gustavus had become a Catholic. He didn't recognize his mother, 476 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:19,160 Speaker 1: and he had forgotten how to speak Swedish. She only 477 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: knew it was her son at all because she recognized 478 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:26,719 Speaker 1: his birthmarks. He was poor, wearing ragged clothes working as 479 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: a mercenary. Karen did her best to try to give 480 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,000 Speaker 1: her son money to try to provide for him, to 481 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,840 Speaker 1: try to persuade the Swedish king to allow her son 482 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: to return to his home country, but the government refused. 483 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: Gustavus was banished for life. It was too big of 484 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: a risk to have the son of a deposed king 485 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,960 Speaker 1: in the country. Gustavus remained a vagabond, dying alone in 486 00:33:51,080 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: Central Russia in sixteen o seven. Noble Blood is a 487 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from 488 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. The show is written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. 489 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: Executive producers include Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. 490 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:17,479 Speaker 1: The show is produced by rema il Keali and Trevor Young. 491 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales, 492 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:23,279 Speaker 1: and you can learn more about the show over at 493 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 1: Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I 494 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 495 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.