Swedish rebel, military boss and eventual folk hero. Often (inaccurately) mentioned as Viceroy of Sweden. Leader of the 1434 Engelbert Rebellion against King Eric the Pomeranian of the Kalmar Union of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He was a mine owner and a nobleman from Norberg in the historic Swedish province of Dalecarlia. His family originally came from Germany, having migrated to Sweden in the 1360s. Their coat of arms has three half-lilies formed in a triangle. Lord Engelbert was dissatisfied with offenses by Danish local bailiffs and their heavy royal taxation. In 1434 he started a rebellion supported by miners and peasants from his home area. He acted against the king's bailiff in West Aros, blamed for the distress in the mining community. The revolt grew into a massive force and swept the country. In 1435 Engelbert was appointed national Commander in Chief Rikshövitsman by a meeting of the Swedish Parliament in Arboga that has been considered the first such meeting in Swedish history. However, he was not able to master the Swedish nobility wanting to exploit the revolution. He was forced into the background when nobility and clergy decided to support Karl Knutsson (the future King Carl II of Sweden) who in 1436 supplanted Engelbert as Commander in Chief. He was then axed to death on an island later called Engelbrektsholmen in Lake Hjälmar by an aristocrat from nearby Göksholm Castle. Over the next few decades Engelbert became a national hero in folklore, depicted as a public protector and an opponent of royalty. His rebellion came to be seen as the start of a nationalist awakening in Sweden, which would triumph in the following century with King Gustav I of Sweden. Engelbert had no such ideas of his own, anachronistic at the time, but his rebellion did give peasants a voice in Swedish politics which they never lost thereafter. It caused the unity of the Kalmar Union to erode leading to the expulsion of Danish kings and forces from Sweden. Although later Danish kings regained influence over Sweden for almost another century, the rebellion had set a precedent for Swedish claims to sovereignty. There is no known contemporary image of Engelbert. Modern era statues of him are in Örebro, Stockholm, Arboga and Falun. Engelbrekt Parish and Church in Stockholm were named for him.