Revisiting the collapse of the Hospitaller priory of Dacia in Late Medieval Scandinavia (1429‒1493)

The Hospitaller priory of Dacia was one of the richest and most influential religious institutions in Medieval Scandinavia. Despite this, scholarship dealing with the Order’s Scandinavian history has been sparse, especially with regards to the latter part of the Middle Ages. While the Dacian relationship with the Order at large during the period has been covered in previous research, the institutional developments, power struggles and eventual breakdown of the priory itself have only received a cursory treatment. In this article, I revisit the collapse of relations between the Danish and Swedish branch of the Order, focusing on the violent ousting of prior Olaus Nicolai in the 1460s. By introducing previously overlooked sources, I present both a new understanding about how the breakdown of relations occurred, as well as an unique insight into the Scandinavian Hospitallers and their changing political relationship to both the Kalmar Union and the Grand Master on Rhodes.