Sture, Sten, << STOOR uh, STAYN >>, the Elder (1440?-1503) was a Swedish nobleman who was elected regent (temporary ruler) by the Swedish council after his uncle King Karl VIII Knutsson died in 1470. Sten ruled Sweden for most of the next 33 years but never sought the title of king for himself. He resisted attempts by Danish kings to claim the Swedish throne, and he later became a symbol of Swedish nationalism.
In 1471, Christian I of Denmark and Norway tried to claim the Swedish crown. He based his claim on an agreement of 1397 known as the Union of Kalmar that said Denmark, Norway, and Sweden would share the same monarch. Since the 1430’s, struggles between supporters and opponents of the union had resulted in a separate ruler in Sweden much of the time. But many Swedish nobles wanted the union to continue, and so they supported Christian. Sten overwhelmingly defeated Christian at the bloody battle of Brunkeberg near (now within) Stockholm in 1471.
Sten Sture encouraged economic growth in Sweden. In 1477, he founded the University of Uppsala, the first university in Scandinavia.
Sten’s greatest support came from peasants, miners, and townspeople. The nobles were divided into factions. In 1497, a group of nobles who resented Sten’s attempts to reduce their authority backed an invasion by King Hans, the son and successor of Christian I. The invasion succeeded, and the nobles made Hans king of Sweden. After Hans also tried to limit their power, they restored Sten as regent in 1501.
Sten Sture the Elder was born about 1440. After his death on Dec. 14, 1503, the council then chose his distant kinsman Svante Nilsson to serve as regent. Svante Nilsson’s son Sten adopted the name Sture because of his kinsman’s popularity and became known as Sten Sture the Younger. This later Sten ruled Sweden as regent from 1512 to 1520.
