Forest Brigands

a pejorative term used by the gentry in reference to participants of the peasant revolt of 1542–43 in Småland (southeastern Sweden).

The rebels (their leader was the peasant Nils Dacke) demanded abolition of prohibitions on border trade with Danish regions, tax reductions, and restoration of Catholic worship. The armies of King Gustavus I Vasa suppressed the revolt with difficulty in early 1543.