Editing Gustav Vasa (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Gustav I of Sweden outdoor relief 2013 Stockholm Palace.jpg|thumb|left|Image of King Gustav Vasa on a wall of [[Stockholm Palace]]]]
In Sweden, Gustav Vasa is considered to rank among the country's greatest kings, arguably even the most significant ruler in Swedish history.{{says who|date=April 2025}} Having ended foreign domination over Sweden, centralised and reorganised the government, cut religious ties to Rome, established the Swedish Church, and founded Sweden's hereditary monarchy, Gustav Vasa holds a place of great prominence in Swedish history and is a central character in Swedish nationalist narratives. He is often described as a founding father of the modern Swedish state. Historians have nonetheless noted the often brutal methods with which he ruled, and his legacy, though clearly of great and lasting importance, is not necessarily viewed in exclusively positive terms.

Many details of Gustav Vasa's historical record are disputed. In 19th-century Swedish history a folklore developed wherein Gustav was supposed to have had many adventures when he liberated Sweden from the Danes. Today, most of these stories are considered to have no other foundation than legend and skillful propaganda by Gustav during his time. One such story states he was staying at a close friend's farm to rest for a day during his escape from the Danish army. As he was warming himself in the common room, the Danish soldiers got a tip from one of the farmhands that Gustav was in his landlord's farmhouse. The Danish soldiers burst into the farmhouse and began searching in the common room for someone that would fit Gustav's description. As one of the soldiers came close to check him, the landlady suddenly took out a baker's [[Peel (tool)|peel]] and started to hit Gustav, {{citation needed span|scolding him as a "lazy farm boy",|date=October 2022}} and ordered him to go out and work. The Danish soldier found it amusing and did not realise this "lazy farm boy" was actually Gustav, who managed to slip away from danger and escape death. There are many other stories about Gustav's close encounters with death, however it is questionable if any of his adventures really happened or were dramatised by Gustav; regardless of whether they happened or not, his adventures are still told to this day in Sweden.

Gustav's memory has been honoured greatly, resulting in embroidered history books, [[commemorative coin]]s, and the annual ski event [[Vasaloppet]] (the largest ski event in the world with 15,000 participants). The city of [[Vaasa]] in Finland was named after the royal house of Vasa in 1606. 18th century playwrights and librettists used his biography as the source for some of their works, including the 1739 ''Gustavus Vasa'' by [[Henry Brooke (writer)|Henry Brooke]] (the first play banned under the [[Licensing Act 1737]], due to [[Robert Walpole]]'s belief that the play's villain was a proxy for himself) and the 1770 ''[[Gustavo primo, re di Svezia]]''. The name ''Gustavus Vasa'' was also given to [[Olaudah Equiano]], a prominent [[Black British people|Black British]] [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionist]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/equiano_olaudah.shtml|title=Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797)|website=History|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=19 September 2022}}</ref>

Gustav used to be portrayed on the 1,000 [[Swedish krona|kronor]] note, until he was replaced by [[Dag Hammarskjöld]] in June 2016.<ref>http://www.riksbank.se/sv/Sedlar--mynt/Sedlar/Nya-sedlar/1000-kronorssedel/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115191947/http://www.riksbank.se/sv/Sedlar--mynt/Sedlar/Nya-sedlar/1000-kronorssedel/ |date=15 January 2018 }} The Official Swedish National Bank entry on the new 1000 SEK note</ref> Gustav has been regarded by some as a power-hungry man who wished to control everything&nbsp;— the Church, the economy, the army and all foreign affairs. Nonetheless, in doing this he also managed to unite Sweden,{{cn|date=April 2025}} where individual provinces held strong regional power.{{cn|date=April 2025}} He also laid the foundation for Sweden's professional army that was to make Sweden into a regional superpower in the 17th century.