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Kings through the Swedish history |
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Olof SkötkonungOlof Skötkonung where the son of Erik Segersäll. When Erik Segersäll had defeated Sven Tveskägg, and driven him from Denmark, Olof united with Sven in the battle against Olav Tryggvasson, (Norwegian king). TAfter Tryggvassons deth in the battle at Svolder Olof got parts of the area surrounding Trondheim, and the land between Svinesund and Göta älv. Hostilities arose between Olof Skötkonung and Olav Haraldsson (another norwegian king, also involved in the murder of Snorre Sturlusson). Olof was probably baptized before birth, and he remained christian until his death. The old norse religion has such power at the time that the country split after Eriks death, olof could therefor only claim to be king over Västergötland. He founded the first Biscopate in Skara. He was the first swedish ruler that made coins (Sgtuna coins).
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Anund JakobAnund Jakob was also known as 'Kolbränna', 'the man who make coal'. He lived around 1010 to 1050, and king of the Svea people. He was the son of Olof Skötkonung, who he replaced in 1022. Anund was christianed and had a truce with Olav Haraldsson of Norway. During Anund and Olofs times the very first Swedish coins where made (So called sigtuna coins). His nickname 'Kolbränna' comes from his method of punishing criminals, he burnt down their house. |
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Emund Gamle, Emund the oldEmund was a svea king who hels his regency (aproximately) between 1050-1061. He was son to Olof Skötkonung, but as he was born by his mistress he was not elected to king before Olofs 'real' son (Anund Jakob) died without heirs. It is likely that Emund acted as fellow regent as early as in 1047. Emund was in dispute with the archbishop of Bremen as he tried to instate a independent national church together with Osmundus, possibly the Rune master Åsmund Kårason, as an independent swedish arch bishop. In 1060 the priest in Bremen installes Adalvard the younger as bishop in Sweden in the county of Uppland. Adalvard was, however, driven out of the country by king Emund. In his day of power Emund was considered to be a well built and shapely figure with good spirits. He also had a reputaiton get things done. He was not however especially well thought of by Adam of Bremen probably cause of his church policy. Emunds son, Anund, was killed shortly before his fathers death. Emund probably died in Sigtuna.
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Valdemar Birgersson
Valdemar was the first king of the folkunga (wrongly named) family. After Birger Jarls death the brother starts their battle for power, a battle that would continue for two generations up to 1318. Valdemar has been pictured as a lighthearted figure with a healthy interest in beatyfull women :-). He was having an affair withi his brothers wife the fair princess Jutta of Denmark and she gave birth to a son. To make up Valdemar was forced to wander as a pilgrim to Rome. When he came home from his voyage his brothers (Magnus Ladulås and Erik made uprise together with some help from the danes. Valdemar was defeated at the battle of Hova in Västergötland. Valdemar never gave up his attempts to gain power, but to no avail. The battle was finalized in 1288 then he was taken prisoner at Nyköpingshus.
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Magnus Ladulås
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Birger Magnusson
Birger was taken by surprise and imprisoned at Håtuna gård (the so called Håtuna lek), outside Sigtuna. He was then imprisoned at Nyköpingshus. His danish and norwegian friends intervened and Birger was released. Sweden was now seprated in to three kingdoms run by each of the three brothers. At christmas 1317 Birger invited his two brothers (Erik and Valdemar) as guests to Nyköpingshus. On arrival they where imprisoned and executed. How they died is still not clear. Friends to the both dukes (Erik and Valdemar) started an uprise, and Birger was forced to flee to Denmark where he died in 1321. The historic picture of Birger is strongly influenced by the so called Erikskrönikan, written by Eriks supporters, In this chronicle Birger is depicted as weak and full of deceit.
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Magnus Eriksson
The main reason behind the wars where financial. Magnus had bought Skåne from denmark in 1332 for 34000 silver mark (roughly 3.5 million days of work in those days). He had also conducted two failed crusades against Russia. When fundings started to decline and no longer matched the expenses Magnus tried to expropriate farms beloging to the noblemens and the church. Needless to say they wasn't to thrilled about this idea. st Birgitta, who where related to several noble families, and affiliated with the church, started a campaign against Erik and his queen. The campaign, was even by the standards of the day, compratively dirty. Erik was accused of being homosexual (not a good thing in those days), and he soon earned a less than flattering nickname in the form of 'smek' (hmmm... Fondle?). His situation wasn't helped by the Plague that had a firm grip over the country. About one third of the population died in the plague, which of course reflected in the productivity of the farming. During his years he formed the universal state law and city law. They were ready in 1350. The need for a universal law across the country had risen as the landowners owned more and more land across the county borders. The laws inherrited a lot from the old Uplandslagen, and Östgötalagen, but it was also inspired by continental law. Slavery was finally abolished in 1335. Magnus died in sea wreckage in 1374. He had survived his son Erik (King of sweden) while his son Håkan survived for yet six years. |
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Erik Magnusson
Erik did an uprise against his father in 1356 and ruled on his own for short period of time, whereafter he made peace with his father. Shortly thereafter his son and wife died. According to rumours at the time they were killed in a plot against the royal family, a plot instigated by the princess Blanche of Namur, wife to Magnus Eriksson. This rumour is probably false, in all likelyhood they all died from the plague. |
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Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1521/1523-1560)Gustav was the son to the chanchellor Erik Johansson Vase which was nephew to Sten Sture d.ä. In 1519 Gustav Eriksson fled from his danish imprisonment and wen't to Lubeck. Half A year later he arrived to cape Stensö at Kalmar. On his farm Rävsnäs outside Mariefred he got the message that his father had been executed in 'Stockholms Blodbad'. Gustav immediately wen't to the county of Dalarna (Which is located in the south of Sweden) in an attempt to win the Sture friendly Dalapeoples support in a revolt against the 'Tyrant' king. he experienced quite a few adventures in among other places Rankhyttan, Ornäs, Svärdsjö, Isala, Rättvik, and Mora (not to mention his eventful trip in a hey wagoon), adventures which are almost mythical and highly unusual to be experienced by a king. With the help from the swedish population he managed to avoid the danish military. He made a speach in the litle town of Mora, but to his dismay he could not stir any greater support for his cause (Throwing out the danish ruler King Kristian) and decided to leave the country by going to Norway. Shortly after his departure more news about king Kristians crimes against the swedish population and the people of Mora decided to send a skier after Wasa (This was the start of the now world famous Wasa ski event). Wasa was caught in Sälen and he returned to Mora where he was elected to Hövitsman (1521) of the Dala county. He formed an army and departed south. At Brunbäck färja he defeated an army sent by king Kristian and soon thereafter he conquered the town Västerås (Västra Aros, the town where Asea Brown Boveri has it's headquarter). Here he made sure of the support from the Sture family and Bishop Brask (which at the time was the president of the presidie). He then let him self be rpoclaimed for regent in august 1521. One year later he turned to Lübeck for support against the danes, and at the end of the year lubeck had sent warships which blockaded stockholm. This in turn meant thast the danish fleet had been defeated. At a riksdag in Strängnäs in 1523 Vasa was elected king and on Midsummer eve the same hear he marched in to Stockholm. In the autumn of 1524 the question of the rule of Gotland (which at the time still belonged to denmark) was negotiated. At a meeting between the danish king Frederik and Gustav Vasa in Malmä, Vasa was of the opinion that Gotland should belong to sweden (and he had reinforced his opinion by a besiege of the town Visby on Gotland). The negotiator from Lubeck come to a different conclusion. The danes was in posession of Visby and therefore deemed rulers of Gotland. This was the start of a falling out between the Lubeck people and Vasa. Gustav Vasa had came to power as the heir of the Sture family. His selfproclaimed election to king did however make it perfectly clear that his interests did not include a reinstatement of the Sture line as the ruling family. Rather on the contrary, he sought new associates and friends in circles which formely had been working against the Sture family. At the time of the meeting between Vasa and Fredrik in Malmä the supporters for the Sture family gathered in Dalarna to gain support for a revolt against Vasa. The agitation got the desired effect and an uprise was on the way was beaten down and the leader where executed. This led to new riots led by someone called "Daljunkern" which claimed to be Nils Sture, son to Kristina Gyllenstierna. At Västerås Riksdag 1527 Vasa threatened to abdicate as a result on all the resitance which he had encountered during his regency. He left the Riksdag in anger but after a couple of days he was persuaded to take on the responsibility of ruling the country again. At this Riksdag Vasa took the first steps towards the accepting of the lutheran faith. Sweden had up to this point been strictly Catholic. He did this by Deciding that the surplus income to the church should go to the crown, the lords should regain their old estates (which in 1454 had been given to the church). But most important, he opened up for a swedish translation of the bible (Which up to then only had been available in Latin). It was also declared that 'The word of god would be preached with clarity and purity'. In practice this meant that the cermon should be held in swedish. A further implication of this is that Vasa seriously opened up for the lutheran faith as preached by Olaus Petri in sweden. The new testament was printed in swedish in 1526. Shortly after his crowning in Uppsala Cathedral in 1528 Gustav went to Stora Tuna where he delivered a short speach which quite flatly stated that the People of the Dala County either where with him or against him, and it would not be pleasent for them to be against him. He made point by executing some of the rebell leaders and forced the remaining population to take an oath where they promised no to work against him as king. The latin mass in Storkyrkan was abollished but it was allowed to hva mass in latin at other places. As a result of the crowns bad finances Vasa continued to rob the church of it's wealth. As a result he got more problems with revolts and rioting, this time with a religious motive. It started in Småland and continued in the county of Västergötland in 1529. Vasa immediately sent a letter to the revolting parts o the country where he stated that nothing would be removed from the churches and thathe lutheran faith would be declared heretical. This would not be the first time he would lie. At a Riksmöte in Strängnäs the rebell leaders where sentenced to death. Shortly thereafter Vasa begun to lust for the valuable church bells which where made of bronze. He confiscated all church bells in swedish churches, the priests had to choose between giving the bells to the crown or give an equivalent sum of money. The people of Dalarna now revolted for the third time, they killed a couple of sheriffs and took back their church bells. But when the king himself got to a Riksmöte in Uppsala the dala people lost thei nerve and pleade for pardon. In 1531 Lurentius Petri, brother to Olaus Petri, was elected archbishop, swedens first lutheran archbishop, and the breaking with the roman catholic church and the pope in rome was a fact. In the same year King Kristina II from Holland (the netherlands) to norway where he was celebrated as king. He challenged and won a small battle at hisingen (nowadays gothenburg) against a swedish army troop but redraw to norway. Here he finally was defetaed by king Frederiks army. In the autumn 1532 Vasa wen't to Kopparberget (in the county of dalarna) where he literally butchered the leaders of the earlier mentioned church bell uprise. He also cut the county in five parts (following the principle of gaining power by dividing). during the period 1534 - 1536 the so called 'grevefejden' took place. A revolution had taken place in Lubeck in 1531. This town was now governed by a lutheran movement which sought support from Denmark and Sweden in their attempt to crush the dominance which Holland had gained over the market in europe. The danish council which had the power after the death of Frederik I was, however, not inclined to give any suport. This made the lubeck army attack the danish state. Count Kristoffer of Oldenburg led the Lubeck army which soon had invade most of the danish soil. Unfortunately for the lubeck people they got in to a quarrel with Vasa which cam to Denmarks Aid. With combined forces they drove out the Lubeck army from Denmark. In 1535 the old constitution was reinstated, an event which marked he end of the Hansa period in Europe. In 1535 the queen (Katarina of Sachsen Lauenburg) died. One year later Vasa was remarried to Margareta Leijnhufvud. In the same year a conspiration against VAsa was revealed. The conspiracy was led by Anders Hansson. The assination was originally intended to be done with knifes, but after some consideration it was deiced to ge done with an explosion from a gun powder barrel placed under Vasa stool in Stirkyrkan. The plan was revealed when a discussion between the parties was overheard by a drunk sea captain which told his mistress. In a meeting in Örebro (1539) Swedens first law of succession was approved and the kingdom could now only be inherrited. At the same time the control of the parishes and the priests was strengthened considerably. In 1537 Gustav Vasa sent troopes to the county of Småland to punish the those which had taken part in the uprising 8 years earlier. New laws where imposed. Instead of breaking the will of the people of Småland these new actions and harrassments reinforced it. Many of the Småland farmers had to leave their farms a they could not pay the fines imposed on them. In leaving their farms they gathered in to small gangs which started to attack Vasa:s troops. In 1524 the 'forest thieves', as Vasa called them, attacked Södra Möre from the county of Blekinge, burnt down a couple of noble mens farms. The leader of the new revolt was named Dacke, Nils Dacke. Te upise spread through the county of Värend and a couple of sheriffs where murdered. Gustav Vasa answered with military force and sent a couple of hundred man to Växsjö. Dacke in turn managed to collect an army of about a thousand men, and then managed to gather yet another thousand men at Ingelstad where he forced king Vasas army, lead by Gustav Stenbock, to retreat to Bergkvara castle.Negotiations started, and an agreement achieved. Stenbock was allowed to leave the castle whereafter it was taken by the army led by dacke. When all of the county of Värend had joined Dacke Dacke received an invitation to come to royal castle in Stockholm to meet with the king. Despite a promise of free travel he rejected the offer (knowing his enemy well I guess :-). At the time Vasa did not have either the man power or the money to surpress the revolt he therefore was forced to try to find a solution by negotiations.The 8th November 1542 Nils Dacke and Gustav Vasa come to an understanding and peace was made. For the king this peace was just way gathering much needed time. He needed time to gather a new army, train them and collect money for their equipment. In the mean time he did all in his power to discriminate Dacke by simple propaganda. Like wise he tried to break the will of the farmer which constituted the bulk of the dacke army. In Februari 1543 Dacke and Vasa fought another battle at the town Vadstena. The battle was won by Dacke. After tge battle at Vadstena he besieged the town of Kalmar. HE did not, however, manage very well in Kamar. The men at Kalmar Castle made an outbreak and the Dacke army had to retreat. The decisive battle between the two stood in march 1543. Dacke was defeated but managed to flee but returned in June the same year. This time with a couple of hundred men in a little town called Högsby. Vasa, angered by his failure in killing Dacke sent every man he got in order to find and kill Dacke. After a intense hunt where Dacke at several occations managed to escape his followers he eventually got caught at the border of Blekinge. His corpse was brought to Kalmar where it was cut into four pieces and put on display as a deterent and warning for the people. Most of his family was killed and his farm in Konga was expropriated. In 1555 a war broke out between sweden and Russia, peace was made in 1557. The relationship with Denmark go continually worse, the unsolved question about the rule of Gotland and the danish monarchys claim for sweden was two big issues. Denmark provoked Vas by including the the swedish weapon 'three crowns' in the national Denish weapon. This, in Vasas eyes, was more or less a declaration of war. In his old age Gustav was constantly tormented by tooth ache, something which didn't exactly help up his already bad tempered nature. Things didn't get any better with his new queen (Katarina Stenbock) which he married in 1552, one year after the death of his former queen (Margareta). Katarina was 39 years younger and full of energy, and Gustav quite simply couldn't keep up. His sons Erik and Johan was held under close watch, but one of his daughter managed to put up a scandal of formidable measres in it's time when when she got nightly visit to her room by a young count Johan OstFiresland. As her brotehr, Erik learnt about the visits, he surprised the two and caught Joghan 'with his hoses barely on'. According to the tale Johan was castrated and sent back to Ostfriesland. Gustav Vasa died in 64 years old, 23 September 1560.
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ERIK XIV (1560-1568)At the time of his fathers death Erik, son to Gustav Vasa, intended to go to England in order to propose to queen Elisabeth. His fathers death made this trip impossible and forced him to go back to Stockholm in order to supervise his fathers funeral and take over the rule. In 1561 Erik was crowned in Uppsala. Ath the same time swedens first Barons and Counts where appointed. More or less immediately a fight begun between the brothers, Johan and Karl. The fight between the brothers concerned their respective authorities and power spheres. At a riksdag in Arboga Erik managed to limit his brothers influence. As soon as these difficulties had been handled he restarted his plan on going to england to propose to the Queen. Is 1561 his fleet started of to england, but as it happened his ships where forced to separate at Skagen as they encountered bad weather. This forced him to abort his mission and return home again. One of his first decisions after he gained his crown was to create a new central court, a court wit common lawyers as co workers. This court was dubbed 'the kings committe'. The leading position in the commitee was held by Jöran Persson, a man in his thirties. He had studied in Wittenberg and he had been recomended by Filip Melanchton, Martin Luthers right hand. As prokurator and head attorney Jörans influence was greatly improved. As friend to the king he had good possibilities to influence the judgement in 'the kings committe', a commite where even the simplest offence could result in a death sentence. The baltic countries had since long been ruled by the German Order, an order which had been weakened at the same rate as Russia and Poland had gained stability and strength. As a result the field was free for Russia, Poland, Denmark and Sweden to invade and conquer these countries. The interest in conquering these countries stemmed from old and classic reasons, strategy and trade. Both Sweden and Denmark had an interest to gain control over the countries as they where important from trading point of view, furthermore the control of these countries would enhance both Swedens an denmarks position against the powerfull Hansa trading union. Russia, on the other hand, had a strong interest in gaining control of these states as they provided a coast with harbours towartds the baltic sea. As anyone can see, Russia suffers from a serious shortage of places to build harbours (and in these times all major transportation of goods where done by ships). Poland where at the time a relatively powerful state and therefore hade it's own ambition grow and conquer other countries. In 1558 the Russian had invaded Narva and thereby conquered their first major seaport/trading town at the coast of the Balic Sea. Russia being a relatively large and powerfull state (and aggressive) was now considered a serious threat to the nordic countries. Erik decided to intervene in the situation. Admiral Hon was sent (on royal demand) to Estonia to offer protection for the People of the town of Reval. They gladly accepted the swedish offer, the rest of the country soon followed. MOst of Estonia now lay under the controll of Sweden. Duke Johan, which resided in Åbo, perfomed a foreign policy of his own when he supported Poland and against his brother Erik:s will engaged the the polish king:s sister, Katarina Jagellonica. Jöran Persson now accused Johan fo high treason, Johan was sentenced to death but was pardoned and put in arrest at Gripsholms castle. Between 1563 - 1570 Sweden was at war with Denmark. The war had many causes, among the more important ones where: The control of the baltic and the fact that Eric had included the danish weapon in the swedish (Just as the King Kristian had done at Wasas regncy), The Danes managed to conquer the area around the mouth of Göta älv (Nowadays the area around the town Göteborg). Swedens was thereby cut of from the sea in the west. However, the Swedish military forces managed to take more or less full control of the baltic sea, much thankt to the admirals Bagge and Horn which proved to be competent in their roles as leaders of he swedish navy. The war at land was blood and rutheless and large areas of the swedish countryside was badly ransacked for anythig of value which could support the armies. Within the higher ranks of the noble families the disapointment with Eriks rule became more and more obvious. Erik was of course well aware of the situation and therefore allways expected somekind of treason from them. Rather than wait out he choosed to act. In may 1567 his enemies (or rather the ones which he thought was his main enemies) had been gathered at the Svartsjö castle on the order from the king. They where arrested and accused for crimes against the king as they arrived to the castle. After some vey obscure trails in Uppsala everyone of the accuesed was found guilty and they where therefore sentenced to death. Erik which by this time had shown symptoms on mental illnesses now made a more and more unstable impression on his surroundings. Plagued by feelings of guilt he visited Svante Sture in the prison and tried to make friends with him. After some time in the prison cell Erik suddenly went to the neigbouring cell where Nils Sture was imprisoned. Erik Murdered Nils Sture and then disapeared, wandering the countryside for four days. Every prisoner (except two) was murdered in their cells by the kings soldiers. The kings regret for the murder on the Sture family didn't exactly improve his mental health, and he was now not able to rule the kingdom anymore. Jöran Persson was blamed for the killings of the prisoners and was thrown in to jail at the same time as duke Johan was pardoned and could leave his castle. At the end of 1567 the king had regained his health. Since the summer (the same year) the king had been married to Karin Månsdotter, which he now wanted to be crowned as Queen of Sweden. The crowning of Karin (which wasn't of noble birth) didn't improve the allready tense relationships between the king and the noble families. The Noble gentlemen could not tolerate that a daughter to a simple soldier was to be crowned queen of sweden. The duke Johan used the oportunity and put himself in the frontline on a revolt against the king. He gained support, both from the noble families, and from the lower social classes, but most important, from the army. Jöran Persson was left to Johan, which tortured him to death at Brunkeberg. Negotiation between King Erik and the duke started, and resulted in Eriks resignation from the title in 29:september, 1568. After eight years in different prisons Erik XIV died at Örbyhus after having eaten poisoned pea soup with pork (according to the tale), the year was 1577.
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JOHAN III (1569-1592)JOhan was recognised as king at the riksdag in 1569. The priviligies for the noble mens where enhanced as thanks for the support which Johan had received. Counts and Barons where now given estates with priviliges which could be inherrited from generation to generation. Duke Karl became one of swedens most powerfull men, only second to Johan III, when he was liberated from the restrictions which had been applied during the reign of Erik XIV. Peace was made with denmark in Stettin 1570 and in the same year war broke out against Russia. Ivan:s embassy in Stockholm had been plundered during the revolt against Erik XIV. The Tsar the complained to Johan III, which tried to keep the peace with Russia. Four delegates where sned to Russia to meet with the Tsar and discuss the matter. The tsar refused to accept them, he reffered them to the ståthållare which by the russian was considered to be on level with the Swedish king. This could of course not be accepted by the swedish delegates. They refused to meet with the governor and demanded a meeting with the Tsar himself. This angered the governor so much that he imprisoned the swedish ambasadores. For three years they where kept in prison before the russians considered themself to have got heir revenge on the raiding of the Russian embassy in Stockholm. During this time several letters between the russian Tsar and the swedish king was exchanged, letters where the two was competing with each other in ways of degrading their oponent with words. In 1581 the town of Narva was conquered and the two canons "Galten" and "Suggan" was taken. In 1577 a new church service was approved, the new ceremoniel was more like the old catholic one which had been replaced by the lutheran ceremoniel at Gustav Vasa regency. This new order wasn't liked in the lutheran wing in the Swedish church, and their resistance was great. Duke Karlm which was calvinist, di not approve either. He did not accept the new ceremonies in the land which he ruled. Ther same year the pope sent the jesuit orden secretery to sweden in an attempt to gain support for a new catholic church. The rsistance from the Lutheran wing was gradually hardening, but the fight was done silently and without bloodshed. However, the crack between Johan on on hand and Karl on the other where beginning to deepen, something which led to a more independent rule for Karl in his own territory. 1583 Katarina Jagellonica died and a couple of years later Johan marrid the sixteen year old Gunilla Bielke. Johans relatives did not approve the marriage, and his brother Karl even refuse to come to the wedding. As a result the relationship between Karl and Johan got so tense that the risk for a civil war was overwhelming. But after some tense months with a lot of negotiations the crisis could be solved in a peacefully manner. 1578 an election for a new king was held in poland. Johan spointed his son, Sigismund, as one of the candidates. Sigismund, which was nephew to the deceased polish king, as well as the natural candidate for the swedish throne, was elected as king of Poland. In 1592 Johan III got sick and died at Stockholms castle.
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Sigismund (1592-1599)As Sigismund was of catholic faith the protestantic wing of th swedish church feared a catholic politic. On initiative on Duke Karl a meeting took place in Uppsala in 1593. At the meeting the red book was thrown out and the Augbursg confession was approved. The protestantic faith was now permanented in Sweden. Later the same year Sigismund arrived to Stockholm. He was asked to accept the decisions made in Uppsala, to the diaspointment of the swedish church he instead begun to fix his mothers catholic chapel in stockholm castle and drottningholm. Finally he held caholic services at riddarholmskyrkan. Sigismund was crowned in in Uppsala in 1594. Karl came to the crowning with a 3000 men large army, an army which acted as an persuading argument and Sigismund was forced to accept the protestantic faith. Before sigismund left sweden he gave the power to Duke Karl and the council. In order to not give to much power to the duke, Sigismund apointed six county governors which was responsible only to king Sigismund. Duke Karl tried in vain to gain the position of regent. Needless to say Karl wasn't satisfied with playing the second violin after Sigismund, and he soon managed to oumanouvre the six county governors, one after another. The noble mens in the council, however, feared the growing power which Duke Karl got. As a result Karl was forced to find support in other social classes (Ständer). At a Riksdag in Söderköping in 1595 he was appointed regent. One of his first actions after his election was to elliminate the few remaining leading catholics in the country. He went to the Vadstena convent, took everyhing of value and declared it to belong to the crown. He also started something of a protestantic version the inquisition where every form av catholic ceremoniel was to be exterminated from the swedish church. In 1596 Sigismund wrote a letter to Karl where he declared the decision in Söderköping to be illegal, and he relived the duke from further responsibilities within Sweden. The same year the 'Klubbe' war was fought in Finland, a war where Klas Flemming, regent of Finland and one of Karls migtiest enemies, brutally fought down a revolt among the farmers. The revolt and the brutal solution came as god send to duke Karl which skilfully manouvred to gain more support in order to remain Regent. Sigismund, which now definitivly slowly was losing the control, now sent military troops in order to restore his control. After some small battles, the last one at Stångebro, a peactreaty was achieved. Shortly after the peace was made Sigismund left the country and Karl could continue with the eliminations of possible competition in his search for power. in 1600 a trial was held against, among other, five of Sigismunds most influential council members and suporters. THey where sentenced to (surprise) deatch and the penalty was carried out in Linköping in what would be named as Linköpings blood bath.
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Karl IX (1600/1611)When Sigismund had returned to Poland the unfinished business in Estonia was once again raised. The Polish army was also on the move (With a, I presume, somewhat annoyed) Sigismund as leader. Karl went to Reval in order ro lead the armament and meet the polish army. The swedish army entered Livland but was forced back by the Poles. Karl returned to Sweden where he was apointed king of Sweden. Karl continued to elliminate possible enemies in all social classes in sweden and a new council was formed. In 1603 Karl IX issued interimistic priviligies for the town of Göteborg, which was situated at Hisingen. The building of Göteborg continued in good pace, much thanks to the Immigrated people from Holland. Unfortunately the danish army burnt down the whole town in 1611. Valloner and Finns began to immigrate in the beginning ht the 17:th century. A commision with the goal to revise the law in sweden was appointed, but the work was abandoned and instead Kristoffers law was choosen together with selected parts from the book of moses in the bible. This harsh and unforgiving law where people could be sentenced to death for relatively minor ofences was to be valid until 1734. 1607 Karl was crowned in Uppsala. In 1609 he was forced to abort his Eriks gata when news of unrest in the east reached him. Swedish troops was sent Russia, and they conquered Keksholm and Novogorod in 1611. By this time, however, he king took ill in Nyköpingshus. As an extra addon sweden was at war with Denmark, Kalmar Castle had allready fallen when Karl had an heart attack and died the October 30 1611. The war against Denmark had it's cause in Karl IX ambitions to extend his influence to the Nordic sea as well as the old problems in the baltic sea area. In the end the war was to be about the Kalmar region. A war, which for the moment would be won by the Denish forces...
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Gustav II Adolf (1611 -1632)
Gustav II Adolf was at his fathers death (Karl XI) not yet of age. But by signing an insurance which limited his powers he got permission to take on the rule of Sweden. The council now got a greater influence over the ruling of sweden, something which lessened the antagonism between the king and the high nobility. In 1612 Axel Oxenstierna, Gustav Adolfs gifted chamberlain, was appointed chanchellor. When order was restored and and he had secured his power Gustav Adolf wnet out in the war against the danes. He started his military campaign in northern Skåne where he burned a large number of churches, castles and strongholds. He was almost killed in an accident in Västra Göinge where his horse wen't through the ice of a lake and the king fell in to the water in full armor. He was saved and the campaign continued. The danish army wasn't to succesful in their war against Gustav Adolf. Allthough no major battles where fought the swedes managed to keep the danes occupied with minimal losses to their own army. Instead the danish king tried to use his nvay in order to strike a decisive blow against the swedes, a strategy which showed to be fruitless. The war more or less died of it self and a peace treaty was signed in Knäred (1613) without terriotoriell losses to either party. Älvsborgs Stronghold, which had fallen and now belonged to the danes, had to be bought back (Älvsborg lösen) for the second time around. Sweden was now forced to retreat from the arctic ocean. The danish king also got the right to include the three crowns in his national coat of arms. After the peace treaty was signed king Gustav Adolf was free to start a new military campaign with full force. This time his target was Russia, a russia weakened by both war against it's neighbours and a civil war within the nation. In the Peace made at Stolbova in 1617 Russia was forced to give away Ingermanland and western Karelia. Thereby Russia was cut off from the baltic sea. In Sweden Svea hovrätt (svea court of appeal) had been established in 1614 and at the riksdag in örebro it new regulations concerning religious freedom was taken. The catholic faith was now forbidden, anyone who didn't not follow the lutheran faith would be considered a traitor to the state. Swedens first parliament act was also established at the same time. According to this act the four upper classes where supposed to individually give response on th propositions which the king made. They could not give propositions themselves, instead they had the possibility to give complaints to the king. The relationships between the upperclasses and the king was now better than ever. The relationship between the king and the noble man Axel Oxenstierna was especially good, allthough their personalities differed greatly. The money to buy Älvborgs stronghold was taken from th ewhole swedish people. Everyone from the chamber maid to the noble men had to pay their share. However, the stronghold was not bought with this money. Instead the money was used to buy cuper from Falu koppargruva (the world's oldest corporation), cupper which then was sold on the continent with a thirty percent profit. At the same time sweden begun to dominate the iron trade in europe. The iron Manufacturing, lead by people like Louise de Geer (which was one of the most influential industrial leaders in sweden at the time) Sweden started to actively recruit foreign iron workers from all over the continent. Especially people from the netherlands became popular in the swedish iron works (so called Valloner). In 1620 Gustav Adolf felt it was time to get himself a wife. He went to Germany where he carefully choosed among the princesses which where available. He had to be careful in order to get a good party, it was not just a question of marriage, he had to consider the implications of his marriage in the whole. Which realtives did he get? How influential where they and so on. After sme carefull considerations He choosed Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. The wedding was celebrated in Stockholm the same year. King Gustav:s love from his youth, Ebba Brahe, had been found to be unworthy by Gustav:s mother (Kristina). The marriage can not be considered to have been especially happy, allthough they where blessed with a daughter, Kristina. Sweden was still a comparatively poor country, a country which did not have the means to have a standing professional army. After the peace in Stolbova Gustav started to reorganize the army. The military was now restructured towards relaying on conscriptions. The farmers where divided in groups of ten, where the ten:th farmer where supposed to be a soldier. These soldier was collected in regiments. The Swedish Army now became one of the best in europe, both in training and when it came to the equipment. In 1621 Gustav Adolf sailed to Riga which was conquered. After this conquest he continued further in to Livland. Johannes Rudbeckius, Bishop in Västerås 1619-, lay the foundation of the famous Swedish national registration when he ordered the swedish priest to keep books over the local populations, their marriages, off spring and other notable facts. The central administration was reorganized, a reorganisation which gave us europes most modern and efficient central adminstration. The council, whose members where apointed by the king, became the core of the government. Each of the five insittutions was run by an high official. The local government (over the counties) where also reorganized, in the new oranisation the old order with a county sheriff was reinstated. As the sales of cupper to the rest of the continent declined sharply Gustav was forced to create a monetary standard, based on cupper, in 1624. As most of the swedish states income came from cupper and Iron sales the swedish economy almost wen't bancrupt, especially as sweden also was involved in wars. As a result Gustav was forced to to take drastic measures. One of them was to rent out the right to take in taxes from the people to businessmen(!). In 1625 Gustav Adolf returned to Livland where he personally lead his military forces in the battle of Wallhof where a polish cavallry was defeated. In the summer he went further south, down to Ostpreussia, where conquered several towns (which of course was not especially popular in the area). In the battle of Dirschau he was badly wounded by a bullet which hit him the throat. The thirty years war had started in Prague, 1618, with a protestantic revoulution against Kaiser Ferdinands when he tried to reestablish the catholic church. Gustav followed the war closely, and sought contact with the protestantic forces in Germany. Through the war in preussia he he had control over the polish foreign trade in the baltic sea area at the same time as hecould follow the events in the War in germany even more closely. The commander for Kaiser Ferdinands forces, Albrecht von Wallenstein had taken most of Jylland and northern Germany, and he had intentions to establish a naval base in Stralsund. Gustav, together with danish forces, managed to defend the city successfully. As a result, sweden now was drawn in to the war. In 1629 Gustav managed to sign a truce with Poland. He also managed to get support from the higher classes and the council in order to let his military forces land in Pommern, which he did midsummer 1630. The swedish forces managed to take and hold the whole area around the mouth of the river Oder. The following year Gustav and Georg Of Sachsen with combined forces managed to defeat Tillys forces in the battle of Breitenfeld. Gustav continued further south and collided once more with forces lead by Tilly at the River lech (in Bayern, south of germany). Here Gustav defeated Tilly once more, and Tilly was so badly wounded that he died. Gustav continued his campaign and could without further resistance take Münich. Wallstein, which had been relieved from his duty after the loss at Stralsund, was given a new chance. He got orders to organize a new army. At Nürnberg king Gustav tried to (unsuccessfully) storm Wallensteins military camp. As Wallenstein left the camp and travelled north with his army so did Gustav. Gustav waited for a possibility to finally crush the German forces. The opportunity arose when Wallenstein divided his forces and let a part of them. Under the command of field marshall Pappenhiem Wallenstein let some of his forces go to attack on the town of Halle. The swedish army marched against Lützen but was delayed due to the autumn rains which made it hard to travel on the bad roads. At Rippachbäcken, seven kilometers from lützen, the swedish army stayed for the night. The following morning, the 6:th of November 1632, they continued their march. At the time a heavy fog was clouthing the surroundings of lützen. The fog made it impossible for any advanced troup movements and the army had to halt once again. When the fog finally started to disappear they found themselves to stand more or less eye to eye with their enemy. Wallenstein had taken cover behind the road which led between Lützen and Leipzig. In the middle he had his infantry and artillery, on the sides he had positioned his cavallry and musqeteres (?). The swedish forces immediately attacked and marched against the enemy in two lines with the infantry in the middle. The right side of the swedish army was met with high losses and Gustav Adolf wen't there to lead the attack himself. At the same time Pappenhiems troops arrived from Halle and acted as an reinforcment for Wallensteins army. During the advancement Gustav was hit by a bullet in his arm. As he was about to redraw from his position he when again was hit with a bullet and he fell of his horse. A german soldier, Leubelfing, Tried to help the king but as he in vain tried to lift up the king on his horse he was killed by a knife stab. The king was killed by a bullet through the head. He was left on the battlefield among the other dead. However, under the command of Bernhard of Weimar the swedes could (after some strategic retreats) win the battle. Wallenstein had to redraw from the battle field. The reasoning behind Gustav Adolfs actions on the battlefield still remains a matter of debate. Officially the Thirty years war was about religious matters, in practice all sorts of reasons, as allways, lay behind it all. Religion was surely one of the reasons. The catholic church feared (rightly) that their influence and worthly power would diminish, the local rulers in the north of europe was in general in favor for the protestantic faith as it gave them more liberties in relation to the old catholic church. On the other hand, weak rulers, sought the help of the catholic church in order to defend their own priviligies. Objectively (well, at least as objectively as one can bee) Gustav Adolf has been found to be a 'true'defender of the protestantic faith, as he grew older he became more and more unreasonable against the catholics. But the religious and politicals motive need not be mutually exclusive. At the time of his death he had an unspoken ambition to become kaiser over Germany. He reasoned that the protestantic faith only could be protected with a big influence in Germany, the ultimate reason for his involvements in the war was for the sake of the protestantic faith. But the ultimate goal for himslef was full control over the baltic sea and the consolidation of Swedens power in northern europe. Gustav Adolf II was burried in Riddarholms kyrkan (Stockholm) 1634.
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Carl XIV Johan
His birth name was Jean Baptiste Bernadotte and was born in Pau, province of bearn in southern france (which formely had belonged to Navarra), in 1763. He was the son the lawyer Henri Bernadotte. After short period of juridical studies he was recruited to the regiment Royal -la-Marine at Corsica. After a brilliant career (see above), he was visited by the swedish royal courier Lietunant Carl Otto M”rner. M”rners message was clear, Jean was offered an oportunity to become the heir of the old and childless king Karl XIII. The procedure was somewhat odd, M”rner did not have the authority to give such suggestions, but according to himself he had the confidence of "a party of many". Arriving home M”rner managed to sell his idea of proclaiming Bernadotte as heir to Karl XIII, Bernadotte was elcted in th elate autumn of 1810. At november second he marched in to Stockholm where he swore his oath to the old king who adopted him under a new name, Carl Johan. The new crown prince started his rule more or less immidiately as the old king suffered from light senility. Allthough a former soldier in the napolean armies Carl Johan didn't have much sympathy for the french leader, rather on the contrary. The crack between Napoleon and Carl Johan had begun already when Carl was minister of war in france. As the crown prince of sweden he therefore begun a foreign politic which was based on the theory that the napoleon wars sooner or later would face defeats. When Napoleon begun to plan his war against Russia by conquering the swedish county of pommern, the breakdown between Carl Johan and Napoleon was complete. Carl Johan signed a treaty with Russia. In the treaty Carl Johan promised to actively support Russia in the war against Napoleon, as a payback Carl Johan would be helped in his effort in regaining control over Norway. To be able to give the russians the helpdes they needed a new system of conscription was formed (Beväringsystemet). Every man between 20 and 25 had to be trained in the army regularly. The Napolean adventures in Russia ended in catastrophy for the french. As a result frances enemies took the chance to unite to finally cruch Napoleon. Sweden was one of these states, a state which contributed with over 30,000 men which was a part of the northern army, an army led by Carl Johan. The decisive battle was fought at Leipzig, a battle which lasted for three days and ended with victory for the allies. After the victory Carl Johan immediately attacked Denmark, former allied to France. His war against Denmark ended satisfactorily and Denmarks King Frederik VI had to give up Norway, the Kiel peace treaty in 1814. The norwegians didn't like the agreement and refused to surrender on the terms given in the Kiel treaty. Instead they tried to establish their own state. In the summer 1814 Karl therefore invaded norway and thereby forced the norwegians to accept the Moss convention where the norwegians had to acknowledge the swedish state as their government. After the death of Karl XIII (the 5th of February 1818) Carl Johan officially became king of sweden, the fourteenth king with the name Karl. The numbering system of the swedish kings needs a more detailed explanation, when one studies the swedish history you will not find 14 king with the name Karl. This is due to King Gustavs sons beliefs in the Swedish historian Johannes Magnus book 'Historia de omnibus gothorum sueonumque regibus' (printed in 1553). According to Johannes Magnus the swedish history begun at the Flood with Jafets son Magog. Counting from this biblical event many men with the name Karl and Erik had passed as king of the swedish people, and this is the explanation behind the somewhat odd numbering in the swedish royal family. According to this scheme swedens first real king, Erik Segersäll would have been either Erik IV, VI, VII depending on how yo count earlier names as ancestors to the swedish throne. In the same manner Karl Sverkersson would have the number VII and Karl Knutsson Bonde would have VIII, and thus we reach Carl XIV Johan. When Carl Johan entered the throne this was the start of one of the longest peace periods for a country in the world. SInce his time Sweden has not been part of an armed conflict. A fact which at time can be attributed to pure luck (we where lucky during the second world war for example) but to an extent this fact can be traced from Carl Johans policy and motto 'Peace is the only honorable goal for a wise and enlightened government'. At two occassions during the reign of Carl Johan Sweden was near an open conflict with our neighbours. The first occassion concerned the payment of a part of the danish national debt (which sweden had promised to pay int he Kiel peace treaty) and the second had to do with a disagreement about terriotorial issues with Norway (the so called 'Varanger frågan'). Both of these crisis ended happily however. Carl johan also proved himself to be just as skilled and able in the domestic department as he was in foreign politics. He changed the rule for the press (which up till then had been pretty free) so that certain information could be prohibited from printing (the so called 'indragningsrätten'). These new rules was created as a protections for Carl Johans foreign Politics. The rules gave the chanchellor of the court power to redraw any litterasture which was cosidered to be harmful for the swedish politics. Art, litterature and science reached new heights in this era of the swedish history. In 1810 the Karolinska institute was founded (a hospital) and in 1812 the Agriculture academy. Wallin, Tegner, Geijer, Atterbom and Stagnelius where all great swedish poets which lived during this period. They where all representatives for the new romanticism era which had reached our country and become a new trend among the learned. A new national romantic movement flourished, the so called Götiska förbundet, a movement where such person as Tegner and Geijer participated. The ideal which followed from the movement was also an important factor for the conservative views which was predominant in the political life of the time. Carl XIV Johan did respond to the demand of change which the evolvement of the society brought, but the reforms ordered where allways carried outin a slow and cautious manner, somethings which prevented fast and radical changes. As a side result large parts of the population was excluded from any real power. A united opposition to the king was first formed in the parliament in 1823. The opposition accused the king for arbitrary conduct and disrespect for the constituion. They demanded that the freedom of press should be reinstated and that commerce and handicraft should be deregulated. The Julky revolt in Paris, 1830, strenghtend the opposition and the leaders, Lars Johan Hierta, Magnus Jacob Crusenstolpe among others) started to question and critisize the political system with a totalitarian leader, and not least the influece which the count Magnus Brahe had as friend to the king. During 1834-1835 the battle between the government and the liberal opposition started to grew. Crusenstolpe begun to openly attack the governement and the policy which it applied, calling it 'degrading for the true interests of the country'. During the following years he continued his attacks, among otherthings he published a montly journal called 'Ställningar och förhållanden, behandlade i bref', a journal aimed to expose any wron doing on the governments behalf. Needless to say Crusenstolpe wasn't to popular with the king which accused him for crimes against the majesty, Crusenstolpe was sentenced to three years imprisonment. the 20th of July 1838 he was brought to Vaxholm ästning (a fortress outside Stockholm), the same day riots broke out in the town of stockholm. In 1840-41 the liberal opposition gained strength in the parliament, they now attacked the king personally and demanded his resignation in favour of his son, Oscar I which was considered to be a more apropriate monach for the new age. The opposition had considerably successes, not least in the financial area. They managed to cut down on the military expenses and the salaries to the cabinet ministers. Instead they choosed to spend money on education, the legal system and public roads and communications. As a result all the cabinet ministers resigned, something which helped the opposition to activate an old suggestion which was meant to reform the parliament in whole. The parliament now had to accept the suggetsion without alterations. The reform splitted the Royal court in seven departments, justice-, foreign affairs-, civil-, financial- and ecklesiastik departments. Each of the departments was headed by cabinet minister. At the same time the jobs as court chanchellor, secretary of state and general adjutant was removed. In 1842 the public school was made mandatory for the people of sweden, the so called 'Folkskolestdagan'. Carl XIV Johan Died the 8th of March 1844 at the age of 81.
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