page_title: Battle of Haraker
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Haraker / Background
context_page_description: The Battle of Haraker was fought on 17 April 1464 at the village of Haraker, Västmanland, approximately 20 kilometers north of the city of Västerås in Sweden. The Swedish separatist army, under the command of the Bishop of Linköping, Kettil Karlsson, defeated King Christian I's Danish army.
context_section_description: The battle was part of a long series of conflicts and civil wars between unionists and separatists during the Kalmar Union era in the 15th century. The Danish King Christian I of the house of Oldenburg had ruled Sweden supported by the unionist party since 1457, with the deposed Swedish rival King Charles Canutesson, of the house of Bonde, living in exile in Danzig. However, there was widespread opposition to Christian's rule, and Christian travelled to Sweden to act against the rumours of Charles's imminent return. When the Archbishop of Uppsala, Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, acting as viceroy on behalf of King Christian during the King's stay in the Swedish province of Finland, gave in to tax protestors and postponed the collection of a ship tax from the peasantry of Mälardalen, King Christian had Jöns Bengtsson imprisoned and brought to Copenhagen on his return in August 1463.
  The news of the Archbishop's imprisonment caused an uprising among the peasantry of Mälardalen, led by the Archbishop's Oxenstierna and Vasa relatives in the high nobility. Peasant militia from Uppland marched on Stockholm, but were crushed by the unionist troops under the command of Lord High Constable Ture Turesson Bielke on Helgeandsholmen outside the northern gates of Stockholm, in the Battle of Helgeandsholmen on 21 August 1463.
  The young Bishop of Linköping, Kettil Karlsson of the Vasa family, took up arms and organised the uprising in Östergötland in the winter of 1463/1464, briefly laying siege to Stockholm before retreating in the face of Christian's army approaching from the south. He then travelled to Dalecarlia and Västmanland, where he gathered an army largely made up of peasant militia and Swedish separatist nobles, among them the future Regent of Sweden, Sten Sture the Elder.  In February Kettil Karlsson was named Captain-General and commander-in-chief by the separatists.  King Christian marched west from Stockholm and laid siege to Västerås Castle, which was held by Bishop Kettil's uncle, Nils Kristiernsson Vasa. With Kettil Karlsson's army gathering north of Västerås, Christian then marched north to meet the rebels.
  The Diarium Vadstenense's account of the events was likely recorded around the time of the death of Charles Canutesson in 1470, with the unknown author taking a strong stance for King Charles, while portraying the Danish King Christian as a greedy coward and the bishops, Kettil Karlsson and Jöns Bengsson, as traitorous schemers.
caption: King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Contemporary portrait at Frederiksborg Castle.
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