Åbo Bloodhbath

1. Åbo Åbo Bloodbath Bloodbath The Åbo Bloodbath (Swedish: Åbo blodbad) of 10 November 1599 was a public execution in the Finnish town of Turku (Åbo), then part of the Kingdom of Sweden, in the context of the War against Sigismund and the Club War. Sweden was by then in the final phase of a civil war, with one faction supporting king Sigismund III Vasa, who also was king and Grand Duke of Poland-Lithuania, and another faction supporting duke Charles of Södermanland, the later Charles IX, Sigismund's paternal uncle. After winning the upper hand in the dispute, Charles crushed the last resistance to his rule, particularly in Finland, while Sigismund had already retreated to Poland. Text Wikipedia / slidshowAnders Dernback

2. Åbo Bloodhbath The forces opposing Charles in Finland were led by Arvid Stålarm and Axel Kurck (Kurk), who both became Charles' prisoners after the surrender of Åbo castle and further strongholds. Together with other prisoners, including two sons of Finland's previous commander Clas (Klaus) Fleming, they were tried by a jury speedily assembled from Charles' followers, and sentenced to death. Fleming's sons and twelve others were then beheaded in Åbo's Town Hall square, while Stålarm and Kurck were sent to Linköping where they were tried and condemned again along with other captured opposition leaders. Yet, Stålarm and Kurck also survived the subsequent Linköping bloodbath.

3. Trial Among the judges were the nobles Count Mauritz Leijonhufvud, Count Magnus Brahe, Svante and Nils Turesson Bielke of Salstad, and admiral Joakim Scheel; also the burghers Mickel Krank, Nils Torkelsson, Rantala Hans and Klas Thomasson. The tribunal sentenced to death a number of the indicted on 9 November. Fourteen of those were executed on 10 November in Åbo's Town Hall Square, where they were led in a procession from their prison in Åbo castle. The first to be beheaded was Johan Fleming, son of Clas (Klaus) Fleming, whose last words according to Yrjö Koskinen were a farewell to his friends and a statement about his innocence and the bloodthirst of duke Charles. Michael Roberts says that Charles "permitted himself the private luxury" of executing Johan in person. While this is not mentioned by Koskinen, he nevertheless reports a dispute between Johan and Charles before the executions took place, where Johan had upset Charles by remaining loyal to "his god and his king.

4. Koskinen also says that Johan's half-brother Olof Klasson wanted to follow Johan immediately to have their blood mixed, but that he was not permitted to do so as his execution was scheduled to be the fifth. In addition to Johan Fleming and Olof Klasson, the following persons were executed: the nobles Sten Fincke of Peipot, Hartvig Henriksson of Wuoltis, Krister Mattsson Björnram, Mikael Påvelsson Munck of Nuhiala and Nils Ivarsson furthermore the knektehöfvitsmannen Sigfrid Sigfridsson, Jakob Möl, Hans Jänis, Eskil Jakobsson, Herman Hansson and others. Some people, like one of the Fleming's military unit's lieutenant Hans Osara from Hämeenkyrö, been executed year or two after the Åbo Blootbath. Arvid Stålarm and Axel Kurck, who had likewise received death sentences, were instead carried to Linköping only to be tried again in what led to the Linköping bloodbath, where they were again condemned to death but reprieved.

5. Turku Castle, dating from the 13th century, is the largest surviving medieval building in Finland, and one of the largest surviving medieval castles in Scandinavia.