Battle of Västerås 1521
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1521 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Sweden | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Swedish War of Liberation | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 59.6333, 16.6167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Västerås (Swedish: Slaget om Västerås) was a battle in the Swedish War of Liberation that took place on Badelundaåsen, northeast of Västerås, Sweden on April 29, 1521. The Swedish troops, led by Gustav Vasa, defeated the Danish force, led by Didrik Slagheck, and conquered Västerås.
Gustav Vasa, who after going to Gästrikland and attempting to rally support for his rebellion, returned to Dalarna in early April and was informed of the victory in the Battle of Brunnbäck Ferry. He decided to continue onwards to Västerås. His troops had on April 23 made camp by Romfartuna Church, where the army was mustered. On April 28 they broke up and marched to Västerås, not knowing that a peasant army attempting to take the city Köping two days earlier had been defeated by the forces of Dridrik Slagheck, who had now arrived in Västerås. Gustav Vasa arrived on April 29 and began preparing a siege. They were spotted by Slagheck's troops and attacked, but managed to force the attackers into retreat.
No major victory was won and the Danish forces remained in the city for a month, making more, if failed, sorties against the besieging Swedish troops. On May 20 the Danish left the city, leaving only a small force in Västerås Castle and shipping away the other troops.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Västerås (revision 1370592790), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Swedish War of Liberation
- Battle of Brunnbäck Ferry 1521
- Battle of Falun 1521
- Conquest of Uppsala 1521
- Conquest of Kalmar 1523
- Conquest of Stockholm 1523
All 6 battles of the Swedish War of Liberation →
Browse more: battles in Sweden · Europe · Early modern battles