The Children of Adam and Eve

He was the founder of the Swedish royal house of Vasa and creator of an
independent Sweden.

Gustav was educated at the University of Uppsala. As a Young man he
entered the army, and from 1518 to 1519 he fought against Christian II,
king of Denmark, who had invaded Sweden to regain the throne that the
Danes had lost in 1501. Gustav was taken hostage but managed to escape. He
was still a fugitive when he heard of Christian's massacre of his father
and other nationalist Swedish nobles in Stockholm in 1520. With an army of
peasants, Gustav led a successful revolt (1521-23) and drove the Danes out
of Sweden. His victory resulted in the dissolution of the Union of Kalmar,
which in 1397 had placed Sweden and Norway under the Danish crown. Gustav
was administrator of the kingdom from 1521 to 1523, when the Riksdag, or
national assembly, elected him king. He strengthened his political hold
and restored order by introducing the Reformation into Sweden. The Roman
Catholic Church had supported Christian II, and Gustav used this as an
excuse for stripping the Church of political power and confiscating its
property. In 1527 he made Swedish Bishops subject to royal power, and in
1529 he proclaimed Lutheranism the state religion. He joined with Norway
in 1537 to defeat the German city of L? making Sweden economically
independent of the Hanseatic League. Gustav created a Strongly united
state by introducing a sound financial administration, strengthening
manufacturing, trade, and agricultural interests, and increasing the
military forces. In 1544 he made the Swedish crown hereditary through his
line, the house of Vasa.