Samuel Łaski's expedition to Stockholm[1][2] was an expedition organized by Samuel Łaski who, together with his 12 soldiers, captured Stockholm on August 31, 1589. However, after the defeat of King Sigismund III in the Battle of Stångebro on October 4, Łaski had to leave the city.
| Capture of Stockholm | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of War against Sigismund | |||||||||
 Sigismund's journey between 1598 and 1599 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Swedish separatists | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Samuel Łaski | Unknown | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 12 men | Unknown | ||||||||
Background
editAt the end of July, Łaski, returning from Sweden, arrived in Oliwa. He was already there with a mercenary army of about 5,000 soldiers, composed mainly of Scots, Germans and Hungarians, and with a fleet of nearly a hundred ships, but without any significant combat power. The weakness of Sigismund III's fleet made it difficult to prepare an appropriate expedition plan. Initially, the plan was to march through Pomerania and Denmark to Sweden.[3]
Łaski, who made contact with the supporters king's in Finland and was rightly afraid of Charles of Suderman's superiority at sea, advised a quick, roundabout march through Ducal Prussia and Livonia, and then joining the Finnish troops.According to Łaski, only after the royal army had been strengthened by joining the Finnish monarch supporters , an attack on Stockholm from the land side should have been launched. However, the voices of the king's Swedish advisors prevailed and they supported the sea expedition. At that time, Łaski still demanded that the expedition be sent directly to Stockholm, but the Swedish senators triumphed again, who persistently demanded that Kalmar be taken over, considering it the key to southern Sweden.[3]
Indeed, in early August, the king boarded ships with his army on the Hel Peninsula and sailing along the mainland near Blokinge and the island of Hanö, he reached the vicinity of Kalmar, which surrendered to him on August 10. Sigismund III owed this success primarily to the fact that Charles's naval forces were tied up by the Finns in the fight near the Allaic Islands. However, the Finns, alone and deprived of help from Sigismund, suffered defeat. The capture of Kalmar by the royal army was a great success, but Sigismund wasted it, because instead of moving directly on Stockholm, he lost two weeks of invaluable time on agitation against the Suderman and negotiations with the envoys of the German princes, who acted as mediators between the two quarreling Vasas.[3]
Capture of Stockholm
editCharles managed to drive the Finnish governor Arwid Stälarm away from Stockholm and block the path of the royal land expedition to the capital, while Sigismund's fleet was dispersed by a storm. Łaski, who was on board one of the king's ships, did not lose his enthusiasm to fight Charles despite so many failures. He gathered a handful of survivors,[4] reached Stockholm and took over the capital castle on 31 August.[4][5] Łaski managed to gather about 500 people there. He gained the support of the townspeople, summoned the king's Klas Bielke to the capital and ruled with him in the king's name.[4]
Aftermath
editThe success of Łaski was undoubtedly the result of a fortunate accident. However, it could have had very serious consequences had Sigismund taken swift and decisive action. But Sigismund’s procrastination and the pressure from his Swedish advisors, who were constantly fearful of fratricidal bloodshed, led to the defeat of the royal army in the Battle of Stångebro (October 3 and 4) and to the disgraceful settlement in Linköping (October 8), which effectively stripped Sigismund of the remnants of his power in Sweden. These events also forced Łaski to leave Stockholm, where he had managed to stay quite a long time, until 4 October 1598.[6]
References
edit- ^ Krzysztof Tyszkowski, Z dziejów wyprawy Zygmunta III Wazy do Szwecji w roku 1598 (relacje i diarjusze), lviv, 1927
- ^ Herman Lindquist, Wazowie. Historia burzliwa i brutalna, Warsaw 2018
- ^ a b c Mincer 1975, p. 167-168.
- ^ a b c Mincer 1975, p. 168.
- ^ Frost, Robert I. (2014). The northern wars: war, state and society in northeastern Europe, 1558 - 1721. Modern wars in perspective. London New York: Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4.
- ^ Mincer 1975, p. 169.
Bibliography
edit- Mincer, Franciszek (1975). Działalność polityczna Samuela Łaskiego na terenie Prus Książęcych [Political activity of Samuel Łaski in the territory of Ducal Prussia] (in Polish).