LINKPING

city and capital of stergtland ln (county), southeastern Sweden, on the Stng River near its outflow into Rox Lake. The site has been settled since the Bronze Age. During the Middle Ages it attained commercial importance and was surpassed as a cultural and religious centre only by Uppsala and Lund. Several important diets were held there during the reign of Gustav I Vasa. In 1598 at Linkping the battle against King Sigismund III Vasa preserved the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden and secured the Swedish throne for the Vasa dynasty. Two years later four of Sigismund's partisans were beheaded on Stora Torget (Main Square), an event known as the Linkping Massacre. After a fire in 1700 the city declined. Industrial development came with the building of the Gta and Kinda canals and the StockholmMalm railway. The city is a rail junction, with aircraft, freight car, and automobile industries. The University of Linkping, affiliated with the University of Stockholm, was founded in 1970. Pop. (1989 est.) mun., 119,167.