of the highest qualities of a statesman. In 1471 he again defeated Christian I. at the great battle of Brunkebjārg which materially strengthened his position in Sweden. In 1483 he was obliged to acknowledge Hans of Denmark and Norway as king; but the strife of factions enabled him to hold his own till the arrival of Hans in Sweden in 1497. His position had in the meantime been weakened by a ruinous war with Russia. He succeeded, however, in annexing Öland to Sweden. After the terrible defeat of Hans by the Dithmarschers in 1500 Sture was a second time elected regent, holding that office till his death.
2. Svante Sture (d. 1512) is mentioned as a senator in 1482. He was one of the magnates who facilitated King Hans's conquest of Sweden by his opposition to Sten Sture the Elder. Subsequently, however, he was reconciled to the latter and succeeded him as regent. He was by no means so imposing a figure as his predecessor, though, like him, Svante in his later years patriotically resisted the Danish claim of sovereignty. He died suddenly at Vesterås Castle.
3. Sten Sture, commonly called Sten Sture the Younger (1492-1520), the son of Svante. After his father's death he was elected regent by the majority of the lesser gentry to the exclusion of the candidate of the high aristocratic faction, Erik Trolle, whence the inextinguishable hatred of the two families. In 1513 the aged archbishop of Upsala, Jakob Ulfsson, resigned in favour of Gustaf Trolle, son of Erik Trolle, who was elected by the cathedral chapter and recommended to the pope by the regent on condition that the new archbishop should do him homage. Unfortunately these two masterful young men (Trolle was twenty-seven, Sture barely twenty-three), who represented respectively the highest ecclesiastical and the highest civil authority in Sweden, were only too prone to carry on the family feud. On the return of Trolle from Rome he refused to do homage to the regent till all his enemies had been punished, and allied himself with Christian II. of Denmark, who hastened to the archbishop's assistance when Sture besieged Trolle in his stronghold at Stäke (1516). Nevertheless Sture not only defeated Christian II. at Vedla, but took and razed Stäke to the ground, and shut up the archbishop in a monastery at Vesterås. A riksmöte, or national assembly, held at Stockholm in 1517, declared unanimously that Sweden would never recognize Trolle as archbishop because he had defied the regent and brought the enemy into the land. The war with Denmark was then vigorously resumed. On Midsummer Day 1518 Christian II. appeared before Stockholm with his fleet and landed an army, but was again defeated by Sten Sture at Bränkyrka. An attempt of the papal legate Arcimboldus to mediate between the two countries at Arboga (Dec. 1518) failed. In 1520 Christian, with a regular army, and armed with a papal bull excommunicating Sture, again invaded Sweden. The armies clashed near Börgerund on Lake Aarunden (Jan. 19). At the very beginning Sture was hit by a bullet and his peasant levies fled to the wild mountainous regions of Tiveden where they made a last desperate but unsuccessful stand. The mortally-wounded regent took to his sledge and posted towards Stockholm, but expired on the ice of Lake Mälar two days later, in his 27th year.
See Sveriges historia, vol. i. (Stockholm, 1877-1878); K. O. Arnoldson, Nordens Enhet och Kristian II. (Stockholm, 1899). (R. N. B.)
STURGE, JOSEPH (1793-1859), English philanthropist and politician, was the son of a farmer in Gloucestershire. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and refused, in his business as a corn factor, to deal in grain used in the manufacture of spirits. He went to Birmingham in 1822, where he became an alderman in 1835. He was an active member of the Anti-Slavery Society, and made a tour in the West Indies, publishing on his return an account of slavery as he there saw it in The West Indies in 1837 (London, 1837). After the abolition of slavery, to which, as Lord Brougham acknowledged in the House of Lords, he had largely contributed, Sturge started and generously supported schemes for benefiting the liberated negroes. In 1841 he travelled in the United States with the poet Whittier to examine the slavery question there. On his return to England he gave his support to the Chartist movement, and in 1842 was
candidate for Nottingham, but was defeated by John Walter, the proprietor of The Times. He then took up the cause of peace and arbitration, to support which he was influential in the founding of the Morning Star in 1855. The extreme narrowness of Sturge's views was shown in his opposition to the building of the Birmingham town-hall on account of his conscientious objection to the performance of sacred oratorio. He died at Birmingham on the 14th of May 1859. He married, first, in 1834, Eliza, daughter of James Cropper; and, secondly, in 1846, Hannah, daughter of Barnard Dickinson.
See Henry Richard, Memoirs of Joseph Sturge (London, 1864); John (Viscount) Morley, Life of Richard Cobden (London, 1881).
STURGEON (Acipenser), the name given to a small group
of fishes, of which some twenty different species are known,
from European, Asiatic and North American rivers. The
distinguishing characters of this group, as well as its position
in the system, are dealt with in the article Teleostomes. They
pass a great part of the year in the sea, but periodically ascend
large rivers, some in spring to deposit their spawn, others later
in the season for some purpose unknown; only a few of the
species are exclusively confined to fresh water. None occur in
the tropics or in the southern hemisphere.
Sturgeons are found in the greatest abundance in the rivers of southern Russia, more than ten thousand fish being sometimes caught at a single fishing-station in the fortnight during which the up-stream migration lasts. They occur in less abundance in the fresh waters of North America, where the majority are caught in shallow portions of the shores of the great lakes. In Russia the fisheries are of immense value. Early in summer the fish migrate into the rivers or towards the shores of freshwater lakes in large shoals for breeding purposes. The ova are very small, and so numerous that one female has been calculated to produce about three millions in one season. The ova of some species have been observed to hatch within a very few days after exclusion. Probably the growth of the young is very rapid, but we do not know how long the fry remain in fresh water before their first migration to the sea. After they have attained maturity their growth appears to be much slower, although continuing for many years. Frederick the Great placed a number of them in the Görland Lake in Pomerania about 1780; some of these were found to be still alive in 1866. Professor von Baer also states, as the result of direct observations made in Russia, that the Hausen (Acipenser huso) attains to an age of from 200 to 300 years. Sturgeons ranging from 8 to 11 ft. in length are by no means scarce, and some species grow to a much larger size.
Sturgeons are ground-feeders. With their projecting wedge-shaped snout they stir up the soft bottom, and by means of their sensitive barbels detect shells, crustaceans and small fishes, on which they feed. Being destitute of teeth, they are unable to seize larger prey.
In countries like England, where few sturgeons are caught, the fish is consumed fresh, the flesh being firmer than that of ordinary fishes, well flavoured, though somewhat oily. The sturgeon is included as a royal fish in an act of King Edward II., although it probably but rarely graces the royal table of the present period, or even that of the lord mayor of London, who can claim all sturgeons caught in the Thames above London Bridge. Where sturgeons are caught in large quantities, as on the rivers of southern Russia and on the great lakes of North America, their flesh is dried, smoked or salted. The ovaries, which are of large size, are prepared for caviare; for this purpose they are beaten with switches, and then pressed through sieves, leaving the membranous and fibrous tissues in the sieve, whilst the eggs are collected in a tub. The quantity of salt added to them before they are finally packed varies with the season, scarcely any being used at the beginning of winter. Finally, one of the best sorts of isinglass is manufactured from the air-bladder. After it has been carefully removed from the body, it is washed in hot water, and cut open in its whole length, to separate the inner membrane, which has a soft consistency, and contains 70% of glutin.
