keep up with larger amounts of expensive hired mercenaries, which explains the swinging of power and quickly changes of the situation, during the course of the proceedings. The costs were significant and after Christian III's victory with Gustav Vasa's Sweden as ally 1536 in Count's Feud in Skåne and Denmark, the money was gone, the Catholic Church's and the Hanseatic League's influence in the Nordic countries was over. Rebellion 1521 The war started in January 1521 when Gustav Vasa was appointed hövitsman (commander) over Dalarna by representatives of the population in the northern part of the province. After Gustav Vasa sacked the copper mine of Stora Kopparberget and the town of Västerås, more men joined his army. In 1522, the Hanseatic city of Lübeck allied with the Swedish rebels. After the capture of Stockholm in June 1523, the rebels effectively controlled Sweden, and on 6 June Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden in the town of Strängnäs. By September, Swedish Finland was also controlled by Gustav Vasa's supporters. By the Treaty of Malmö signed on 1 September 1524, Sweden seceded from the Kalmar Union. Gustav's role in the war against Christian II was initially as one of several rebel leaders, active in different parts of the country, and the war that eventually made him king was only partially initiated and led by him. The fact that historiography has often used the term "Gustav Vasa's war of liberation" is thus mainly due to the results of the war - Gustav Vasa as king of an independent Sweden - rather than to its initial driving forces and course. Current research also clearly shows that Gustav himself did not lead any military operations but left this to associates with greater experience of war. Dalarna The details of Gustav Vasa's activities in Dalarna 1520 are largely unknown, as there are very few sources. The most comprehensive of them is written during Gustav's reign by his close associate, the bishop of Västerås Peder Andreæ Swart and is seen by some historians as more or less dictated by Gustav himself. In 1520, Gustav Vasa traveled to the Swedish province of Dalarna, disguised as a farmer to avoid detection by King Christian's scouts. In December, Gustav Vasa arrived in the city of Mora, where he asked the peasantry for their help in his revolt against Christian II. The peasants refused his request, so Gustav Vasa decided