Nyköping Banquet

1317 Christmas celebration in Sweden

The Nyköping Banquet (Nyköpings gästabud) was King Birger of Sweden's Christmas celebration 11December 1317 at Nyköping Castle in Sweden. Among the guests were his two brothers Duke Valdemar and Duke Eric, who later that night were imprisoned and have been assumed to have subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle.

The dukes Valdemar and Eric, brothers of King Birger, had earlier staged a coup against the king (Håtuna games). After the intervention of the Danish and Norwegian kings, a settlement was reached in 1310 and Sweden was divided among the brothers into three sovereign states.

The dukes were imprisoned in the castle's dungeon. They knew that no mercy would be forthcoming from Birger so they had their wills drawn up after five weeks. These documents, dated 18January 1318, survive today. Soon thereafter, both dukes died in the dungeon, according to tradition by drawn out starvation. According to legend, King Birger threw the keys to the dungeon into the Nyköping river. A large medieval key was indeed found during the 19th century near the castle. King Birger, however, had misjudged the political situation in the country. A rebellion broke out in 1318 against his rule, and he was forced to flee to Gotland, whence he soon had to continue his flight to Denmark.

Following a year of regency by his mother Duchess Ingeborg, the three year old son of Duke Eric, Magnus (IV), was elected King in 1319 at the Stone of Mora in Uppland. King Birger's son Magnus resisted forces that tried to take Castle Nyköping but was defeated and fled with the senechal Brunke. They lost a sea action and were captured and executed in Stockholm in 1320. Brunke was executed on a sandy ridge which has since been known as the Brunkeberg Esker; the heir apparent was decapitated on the Isle of the Holy Spirit where the Riksdag Building is today. The deposed king Birger died in 1321 in exile in Denmark. Thus, of the royal family, there remained only the old queen mother Helvig of Holstein, (widow of Magnus Ladulås), the exiled Queen Martha, the young king Magnus IV (son of the late Duke Eric), his sister Euphemia, their mother Ingeborg and her cousin Duchess Ingeborg of Öland (widow of Duke Valdemar).