Sunday, August 12, 2018

Children of a lesser tyrant?





Amazon actually sells a painting of 16th century Danish king Christian II´s children (yes, the one above), so obviously I had to post some remarks on this... 

Christian II was the king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden during a turbulent period of the 16th century. In Sweden, he is known as Christian the Tyrant, since he had the independent-minded Swedish nobility massacred in the 1520 “Stockholm Bloodbath”, an event so gruesome that it wouldn't even make it onto “Game of Thrones”. The pro-Danish faction of the nobility proved unpopular with the plebs, however, and Christian was subsequently overthrown by Gustav Vasa, whose coronation as king of Sweden on June 6, 1523 is still celebrated as our “independence day”.

Christian returned to Denmark were, curiously, he became known for an anti-nobility and pro-peasant/pro-middle class stance, making him one of the most loved monarchs in the country's history. However, he was never called “Christian the Good” in Denmark. That's an invention by Swedish propagandists! I use to believe it myself once, because…well, everyone around here believes it. It's ironic that this Lannister-like monstrosity actually *was* pretty good on his own native turf in Copenhagen. But then, that's Renaissance politics, yes?

This, apparently, is a painting showing the Tyrant's cute little children.

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