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The King and the Cosmos: The King's Body as Text in Johannes Ofeegh's "Berättelser om k. Gustaf I:s sista stunder och död" (1561)

IN 1557, GUSTAV VASA, King of the Swedes, Goths, and Wends, had ruled his kingdom for nearly forty eventful years. He was feeling old and sickly, and he worried endlessly about the security of his realm, his dynasty, and his legacy. His anxiety was compounded by the ill tidings that seemed to arrive at his court with ever-increasing frequency from every corner of his kingdom. In 1556, a comet burned through the heavens (Ofeegh 1905, 127), (1) and the deaths of a number of the king's closest friends and prominent contemporaries soon followed (Ofeegh 1905, 127). Not long afterwards, a series of disasters struck the most important of the royal residences: barns burned, castle walls collapsed, and royal servants and livestock lost their lives (Ofeegh 1905, 127). Suddenly, catastrophes and dark omens seemed to multiply endlessly throughout the realm. Strange voices cried out from the earth or whispered in the skies (Ofeegh 1905, 128-31). Ghostly flames burned ominously in the air above Stockholm. News arrived from Finland that the herring were dying in such numbers that it was impossible for ships to reach land. From the north messengers brought word that thousands of reindeer, rabbits, and foxes were dying without any apparent cause. Not even the kingdom's bears were spared. All of nature seemed to be touched by the bony hand of death (Ofeegh 1905, 130). The king's chaplain, Johannes Ofeegh, recorded that the king received news of these tidings and dire portents with resignation. To each ensuing disaster the old king had the same reply: "Det galler mig till etc" [This is about me] (Ofeegh 1903, 122). It was as though the realm of Sweden were growing sick and the king with it. Day by day the king's body seemed to grow weaker, and he was tormented by all manner of physical disorders. Finally, early in the morning of September 28, 1560, as he lay in the Castle of the Three Crowns, attended by his queen, Katerina Stenbock, members of the royal council, and his chaplain Johannes Ofeegh, the king died (Ofeegh 1905, 153). GUSTAV VASA, FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY Gustav Eriksson Vasa was born in 1496 (Svalenius 1963, 14) (2) to one of Sweden's most powerful noble clans. (3) At the time of Vasa's birth, Sweden was a member of the centuries-old Kalmar Union and technically a possession of the king of Denmark, but in reality the Union king's power in Sweden was negligible. Real power was exercised by a coalition of the most powerful Swedish nobility, which included members of Gustav Vasa's family (Lindkvist and Agren 1985). When Christian II succeeded to the Danish throne in 1513 he resolved to change this state of affairs and to place the Swedish kingdom solidly under his control. He invaded Sweden at the head of an army; by the fall of 1520 he had decisively defeated the Swedish resistance and began negotiations for the surrender of Stockholm, the last fortress in Swedish hands. Christian II, like many of his contemporaries, was a prince of the type that later generations would label Machiavellian. In the initial negotiations with his rebellious subjects, the king presented himself as merciful and mild, and when terms for peace were concluded, they included a grant of general amnesty to the defenders of the city as well as the members of the church and nobility who had resisted his rule. With the surrender complete and peace secured, Christian entered Stockholm in triumph on November 4, 1560 and proceeded to the cathedral, where he was duly anointed and crowned by hereditary right king of Sweden (H. Hildebrand 1898, 6-7; Paladan-Muller 1874, 285-97). As was traditional, the newly crowned king of Sweden immediately celebrated his coronation feast in the caste of the Three Crowns. The coronation festivities provided an excellent opportunity for Christian to complete the reconciliation between himself and his new subjects and, at first, it seemed to his guests that this was exactly what he proposed to do. But to their horror, it was revealed that the celebration and the promised peace would be exceptionally short-lived. …