The history about Kung Gosta a.k.a. Gustav Vasa
Sweden was at the beginning of the fifteenth century ruled by the Danish King Kristian II also named ”Kristian the tyrant”. The young nobleman Gustav Eriksson Vasa was in 1517 taken as a prisoner and kept in a Danish castle. During 1520 he managed to flee via Lübeck and arriving to Sweden just as Kristian started a massacre in Stockholm. Gustav lost during the massacre his parents, sisters, uncles and a brother in law.
Gustav started a route northwards to incite the people to revolt against Kristian. Many stories are told about his adventures to escape from the Danish soldiers chasing him. On Christmas morning in 1520 Gustav was talking to the people in Mora just outside the church. However the people didn’t belive his stories concerning the Stockholm massacre so Gustav had to continue his voyage, now towards Norway.
During that time official reports confirming Gustav’s stories arrived to Mora and in a hurry two skilled skiers were sent after him. They catched up with him in Sälen and together they went back to Mora where the revolt was planned. In 1522 the Danish King was beaten and Gustav was elected King of Sweden.
400 years later in 1922, celebrating this memory the ski-race Vasaloppet was created and carried through from Sälen to Mora 90 km along the track where Gustav is said to have been skiing back to Mora. Popularly in our region Gustav Vasa was named Kung Gösta.