A Flatpack History of Sweden

It's time for another special episode! We're dedicating an entire episode to the life and cultural impact of eels, an animal that we've already seen play a part in Swedish history. We'll get better aquainted with the world's (potentially) oldest eel, who spent his life in a well in southern Sweden, go on a Freudian search for the eels' reproductive parts and hear about the time Åsa went into what she calls an eel coma. 

An old, hurting and angry Gustav Vasa is plodding towards his end. Before he goes though, there's still time for a war with Russia and getting his affairs (and funeral!) in order. We look back at a reign that changed Sweden for good and go through all the multiple faces of this quite unique king!

Gustav Vasa was a powerful, stubborn and angry man, but he did have also time for a family, when he wasn't shouting at his German advisors that is. This time we take a look at his wives, his children and all the various marriage alliances he managed to arrange for himself and them. There's also some home education he organises for everyone! 

Gustav Vasa has decided he needs to reform how Sweden is run. He enlists the help of a number of clever German civil servants who have some ideas on how to build up an administration and end the King's shouting. However, if Gustav Vasa is your boss, you can count on one thing; You won't stay in his good books for long!

Just when you thought Gustav Vasa was safe on his throne and their couldn't possibly be more rebellions, there's time for at least one more! And this is the biggest one yet! Famous eel-snatcher Nils Dacke leads rebells in Småland who are not onboard with Gustav's way of running the country. 

Check out our new YouTube video, in which Chris' vists Visby and talks about the 1361 battle!

Edit: Enjoy a special early release due to us pressing the wrong button...! 

Even though he's been on the throne for a decade at this point, Gustav Vasa is still not sitting entirely comfortably as 1534 comes around. That's because an old enemy has risen from the ashes of political oblivion and is attempting to take back his lost Kingdoms. This time Kristian the Tyrant returns! 

Gustav Vasa's religious reforms didn't go unopposed. The Church and even ordinary Swedes showed their opposition to the changes the King wanted to make in a number of ways, including getting extremely angry about the removal of of local church bells. This time we look at all the ways in which the process of the Reformation in Sweden didn't exactly always win the full throated approval of the people. 

The ideas of a revolutionary German monk cause some ripple effects even as far away as Sweden. Gustav Vasa sees an opportunity to take advantage of these new ways of thinking about Christianity and moves to limit the power of the Swedish bishops and starts a process of Reformation throughout the Kingdom. Protestantism is here! 

Gustav Vasa is now embarking on his journey as King of Sweden. First up is making the country complete again by sending troops to Gotland, where there are also some fancy looking rocks! Back on the mainland, far from everyone is happy with the new King and a series of revolts break out. How will Gustav deal with them? 

Åsa also wants a disclaimer put in here to say that she had nothing to do with the blooper at the end of the episode...

And check out some Raukar here!

Becoming King after a couple of decades of civil war, you can forgive Gustav Vasa for maybe needing a bit of a recap about what kind of country he had just become the King of and what state it was in. So, in this episode, we step into the eyes of Gustav Vasa as he takes a look around to see what Sweden looked like in 1523, and what problems he has to deal with first!