Ture Turesson (Bielke)

Ture Turesson (Bielke) (1425–1489/1490) was a Swedish statesman and military commander and a prominent leader of the unionist party during the Kalmar Union period. He was a Privy Councillor and Castellan of Axvall Castle during the reign of separatist King Charles Canutesson, before defecting to the unionist side in 1452, spending several years in exile in Denmark. He was appointed Lord High Constable of Sweden, Castellan of Stockholm and Kalmar and Captain-General during the reign of King Christian I, and commanded the unionist forces during several major battles during the turbulent 1460s, before surrendering to Sten Sture the Elder's separatists in 1472. During his later years he was Lawspeaker of the province of Öland.

Ture Turesson belonged to the Bielke noble family, one of the oldest and most influential noble families in Sweden. He was born in 1425, as the son of the recently deceased Lawspeaker and Privy Councillor Ture Stensson (Bielke) by his widow from his second marriage, Margareta Eriksdotter Krummedige, daughter of the Danish Steward of the Realm, Erik Segebodsen Krummedige. He was raised in the household of his stepfather Kristiern Nilsson (Vasa), Lord High Steward of Sweden and a leader of the unionist party in the high nobility. Although connected to the separatist leader, Charles Canutesson, by the marriage of his half-sister Birgitta Turesdotter to Charles, his family strongly opposed Charles' separatist movement. His stepfather's opposition caused Charles Canutesson's men to arrest Kristiern Nilsson in January 1439 at the family estate of Revelsta, injuring Ture Turesson's mother. Charles had the family holdings confiscated. Kristiern Nilsson was later reinstated in his offices by the Danish unionist King Christopher of Bavaria, but died in Vyborg in 1442 after a compromise had been negotiated.

Ture Turesson was knighted at the coronation of Charles Canutesson as King of Sweden in 1448, and is mentioned as Privy Councillor in 1450. In the same year he was appointed Castellan of Axvall Castle by King Charles, a strategically important royal castle near Skara in western Sweden. A conflict arose over the inheritance of the family estate in Kråkerum after Erik Turesson (Bielke), Ture Turesson's half-brother, died without issue in 1450. Ture Turesson quickly acted to secure the estate for himself, but in 1451 King Charles ruled in favour of his own son-in-law Erik Eriksson (Gyllenstierna), another claimant through his marriage to Erik and Ture Turesson's niece. Erik Eriksson seized the estate, which caused Ture Turesson to accuse the King of ruling in the case despite having a strong conflict of interest.

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