It is time for our longest episode for over two years! Sorry if you like the shorter stories, there is too much madness with KKB to cover this time around. After the sad, untimely death of King Chris, the Swedes and the Danes disagree about who should be King of the Kalmar Union. There isn't even really any unanimous decision within Sweden either... As always, Norway is the odd one out and has to deal with the power hungry ambitions of the two main candidates... Let's get going! 

We're on the road again! We thought we had maybe neglected Östergötland a little, considering its importance to the story of Sweden, so during the summer we headed south and went on a bit of a trip.  We visited Linköping castle and cathedral, Vadstena Abbey and the island of Visingsö with its castles and woods. Taking our microphone for a ride, we look at these historical places and the important roles they've played in the story so far. A special thanks to everyone at the Vadstena Abbey and Monastery Museum for showing us around their great museum and even more thanks to Linn for singing for us during the visit!  As always you can check out our website www.aflatpackhistoryofsweden.com and find us on Facebook and Twitter (X). 

King Kristoffer is on the throne! Of Denmark at least... There will be some wrangling with the council first, before he can ascend the throne of Sweden and the Kalmar Union can once again be under the rule of one monarch. We dedicate an entire episode to the reign of Chris' namesake king, looking at who he was, what he did, and if the introduction of a new law code is really as boring as it may sound at first.

To arms, all guards to the battlements!  Castles have become increasingly important over the last century or so in our story and it is time we look into them in a bit more detail. How were castles built, what purpose did they serve and who worked and lived in them? We look into castles and fortresses in medieval Sweden and focus on a few examples to get a bit more colour on these unique locations in the storyline. 

It’s time for a surprise special episode, on a Friday no less! We’re so happy to have teamed up with Mikael from The Scandinavian History Podcast. We’ve both spent so much time recently talking about the Kalmar Union and so we thought that we would mark the 500th anniversary of Sweden leaving the Union (spoilers!) by looking into a crystal ball to see what might have happened had the Union survived any longer than it did. Was the collapse of the Kalmar Union even a good thing anyway? Check out Mikael’s podcast The Scandinavian History Podcast wherever you get your podcasts and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.