 sten sture the elder (sten sture den Ã¤ldre; 1440 â 14 december 1503) was a swedish statesman and regent of sweden from (1470â1497 and 1501â1503). ==background== he was born around 1440, the son of gustav anundsson of the sture family and birgitta stensdotter bielke, half-sister of the future charles viii. he was married to ingeborg tott, niece by marriage of magdalen of sweden, in 1467; she was a renaissance personality interested in theology and science and seemed to have had some importance in the intellectual development during his reign, but the marriage remained childless. according to genealogical research, sten sture's father descended from king sverker ii of sweden (both through family of vinga and through family of aspenÃ¤s). == first regency ==  sture came to power after the death of charles viii and consolidated his position through the victory of brunkeberg. for a quarter of a century he ruled sweden making the regency almost an office in its own right. he was supported by the peasantry and the lower nobility, wisely playing them out against the high-ranked nobility and managing a clever act of balance towards the danish demands of reunion. at the battle of brunkeberg in 1471, he triumphed against swedish and danish forces in the support of christian i. this victory elevated sture to the position of a national savior. the sculpture st. george and the dragon created by the german sculptor bernt notke in storkyrkan in stockholm was raised to commemorate the battle. in 1493, the danish and norwegian king, hans (also called john i), formed an alliance with ivan iii of russia against sten sture. from 1495 to 1497, sten successfully repelled a russian invasion of finland. however, he subsequently fell out with the majority of the swedish nobility, most prominently svante nilsson, and the swedish [[
1440_births 1503_deaths 15th-century_Swedish_people 16th-century_Swedish_people Medieval_Finland Regents_of_Sweden Rulers_of_Finland Swedish_nobility