Standalone short: twice Denmark seized Gamla Älvsborg, twice Sweden ransomed it back — the second time for a million riksdaler that nearly broke the country. Leif + Margareta.
Twice, the Danes stole this castle. [pause] And twice, Sweden bought it back — the second time for a sum that nearly broke the whole country. This is the story of the most expensive piece of ground in the kingdom: Älvsborg.
The first time was 1563. To get its sea-gate back, Sweden agreed at the peace of Stettin to pay a hundred and fifty thousand riksdaler — and invented its very first tax on wealth to do it, every household made to hand over a tenth of all it owned.
And then it happened again. In 1612 the Danes took it a second time — and the peace of Knäred set the price at one million riksdaler. Paid over six years, with Dutch loans and the copper of Falun. For a few desperate years, this one castle was simply the most expensive ground in Sweden.
Here is the sting in the tale. The grand old castle they had bled themselves white to keep [pause] was already obsolete. Within fifty years, Sweden would tear it down with its own hands — and start again, on an island, downstream.