Editing Skövde (section)

===The 16th century until the Fire of 1759===
If the 15th century was marked by success, then the 16th century saw an emergent decline for the city. The main reason for this was the Reformation and the transition to the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran faith]]. They wanted to cleanse out all forms of idol worship in the form of saintly cults from the churches; these churches were emptied of treasures and relics, and Skövde itself did not escape.

Pilgrims ceased to travel here and a large part of the city's revenue disappeared practically overnight. King Gustav Vasa also had plans to move the city together with some other cities of the West Göta region to [[Lake Hornborga|Hornborgasjön]] ('Lake Hornborg') in order to build a great city.

In 1520 the first documented setback took place for Skövde. The Danish King, [[Kristian II]], undertook his third military campaign against Sweden. One of the Danish armies swept through [[Västergötland]] (Western Götland) and burned down Skövde, [[Falköping]], [[Skara]] and Bogesund (now [[Ulricehamn]]).

It was only in the 17th century that figures of how many people lived in Skövde could be estimated with any fair degree of certainty. For the year 1655, the city presented a census of 134 people, 34 farmers, 38 housewives, 12 sons, 3 daughters, 2 farmhands, 8 maids, 10 boarders, 14 boatmen, and 13 described as '63 years old', i.e. contemporary retirees. During the 1660s there was some growth, and in 1669 the city had a population of 168 people.<ref>{{cite book|last=Linde|first=Gunnar|title=Staden Skövde 1400 till 1759|year=1971|publisher=Strokirks Tryckeri AB|url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/1466455?vw=full}}</ref>

At the beginning of the 18th century, Skövde was one of the county's smallest towns. In 1700, the town has just 154 inhabitants, but only 50 years later had the population risen to 381. In 1770 the population had risen up to 500 people. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Swedish towns and country districts had to take care of prisoners of war captured by [[Karl XII|Karl XII's]] armies. It was the Saxons, Germans, Danes, Norwegians, Poles and Cossacks who lived in enforced internship in Skövde.

In 1708, there were up to 56 prisoners of war in Skövde. In the town hall's civil rules one can read that the number of prisoners was now so great that every citizen had to now take care of a prisoner. In 1718, there were up to 90 Danish prisoners, in other words, the number of prisoners of war came to dominate the small Skövde.

In 1746, [[Carl von Linné]] was out on his journey through [[Västra Götaland]], where he also visited tracts of Skövde. He talks in detail about the [[pollarding|pollarded]] meadows in Berg, [[Fagus sylvatica|beeches]] on Ingasäter and Mölltorp's [[alum]] works. When on 27 June he reached Skövde, he did not have much positive to say, 'Skövde town, quarter before six from Berg, was a very small spot, located on the east side of [[Billingen]], without any lake or particular feature, the houses were small, streets irregular and Cemetery on set with lovely boxes. This city has once been the seat of St. Helena.' His journey continued southerly, the next stop being [[Skultorp]]. Once again Linnaeus was compelled to share his experiences, describing women's hats, farmhands' courtship and the magnificent view from Skultorp's Nabbe.<ref>[http://www.skovde.se/Kultur/Museer--Konst/Stadsmuseum/Tidigare-utstallningar/Linne-i-Siofde-1746/ Skövde Museum, ''Linné i Siöfde 1746 '' (2007)] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120911013941/http://www.skovde.se/Kultur/Museer--Konst/Stadsmuseum/Tidigare-utstallningar/Linne-i-Siofde-1746/ |date=2012-09-11 }}</ref>

The year 1759 saw the destruction of central Skövde in a large fire. A block of old wooden houses are preserved, and together with a botanical garden, form the cultural reserve Helénsparken. The oldest house in the park, Helénsstugan ('Heléns cottage') is from the early 18th century.<ref>[http://www.skovde.se/Kultur-o-noje/Museer--Konst/Stadsmuseum/Helensparken/ Helénsparken-skovde.se] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415102413/http://www.skovde.se/Kultur-o-noje/Museer--Konst/Stadsmuseum/Helensparken/ |date=2012-04-15 }}</ref> Next to Hertig Johan's Torg ('Duke Johan's Square') is Saint Helena's Church and church park.