Hemming Gadh

Linköpinger bishop's hat in the 15th century

Hemming Gadh's Seal 1501

Hemming Olofsson Gadh (* around 1450 in Hossmo , Kalmar Len , Sweden ; † December 17, 1520 at Raseborg Castle ) was a Swedish clergyman and politician.

Life

He studied from 1471 at the University of Rostock and was there in the winter semester 1473/1474 Baccalaureus. After his return home he was Chancellor of the Bishop of Linköping and in 1479 was sent to Rome by the imperial administrator Sten Sture the Elder to represent Swedish interests at the Roman Curia in the lengthy process of the originally agreed Swedish morning gift from Queen Dorothea . (Queen Dorothea was to receive Värmland and Örebro , which Sten Sture did not want to hand over to the Danes.) The trial only ended when her son Johann became king and ended the trial. Gadh's most important task was to work against Denmark and the Union King . Soon after his return he was ordered to Rome again in 1481, where he stayed until 1500. He studied there, received his master's degree around 1485, a licentiate in canon law before 1492 and his doctorate between 1494 and 1496. In 1492 he became chamberlain to Pope Alexander VI. and in 1494 or 1495 absent canons in Linköping .

Because of his diplomatic dexterity, Gadh received many praisees in Sweden and the position of provost in Linköping. He had great influence with the common people, and he supported the Sture family to continue to occupy leading positions of power in Sweden, in order to wage war against Denmark by all means if necessary. When the uprising broke out, he joined Sten Sture the Elder and Svante Sture . He also drew personal benefits from this connection. He was elected Bishop of Linköping in January 1501 , but never received papal confirmation and episcopal ordination , probably because, through debt as he was, he had not applied for confirmation from the Pope within three months of paying annates . So he always remained an Electus . When Sten Sture died, Gadh made sure that Svante Sture became an imperial administrator. Under Svante Sture's government, it was Gadh who actually made politics. However, he had to contend with massive resistance from pro-union forces, especially the clergy with Archbishop Jakob Ulfsson at the helm and his later successor Hans Brask . Pope Julius II threatened him with the ban if he did not vacate the bishopric of Linköping. Despite this threat and a corresponding admonition from the Swedish Imperial Council , he remained in his office and was banned by Pope Julius in 1506 because he had continued to appropriate the income from the bishopric. Jacobus Arborensis, chosen by the Pope, never became bishop in Linköping. When the papal letter came, Gadh was engaged in fighting the Danes at Kalmar , which he directed from 1506 to 1509. The capture of Kalmar in 1506 gave him the opportunity to defy his opponents.

The peace of Copenhagen sought in 1509 was not what he wanted, and he did everything possible to break it. So he worked on the alliance between Sweden and Lübeck against King John I (King Hans). From 1510 to 1512 he was a Swedish agent in Lübeck. Svante Sture had died on his return, and under his successor, Sten Sture the Younger , the political situation changed to the disadvantage of Gadh; his influence waned considerably. In 1513 he finally lost the Diocese of Linköping , where Hans Brask became bishop. On the occasion of Christian II's negotiations with Sten Sture, Gadh and five other nobles were handed over as hostage to King Christian in 1518 and brought to Denmark by him. After a while Sten Sture suspected that Gadh was making common cause with the king and at the end of 1518 confiscated all of his property in Sweden. Despite this severe disappointment, there is no evidence, until Sten Sture's death, that Gadh changed his political stance on Denmark. Only then did the resistance against Christian II seem to him to be pointless. When King Christian came to Sweden with a large army in 1520, Gadh appeared as a staunch supporter of Denmark. So he called on the city of Stockholm to surrender to Christian II. But the king did not trust the former hater of Danes. He sent him to Finland on a diplomatic mission . After the bloodbath in Stockholm , Christian then sent messengers there to kill Gadh. So he was beheaded at Raseborg Castle on the orders of the king without investigation or judgment .

reception

Modern research establishes a connection between Gadh and the murder of the Bockstensmann in 1491.

literature

• Sten Carlsson: "Hemming Gadh". In: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon vol. 16 p. 708 .
• Arthur Stille: "Gadh, Hemming". In: Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon , Anden Utgave. Vol. 9. Copenhagen 1919. pp. 317-318.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Matriculation of the University of Rostock for 1471.
2. ^ Matriculation of the University of Rostock for 1473/1474.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Carlsson p. 708.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Silence p. 318.