_Period of Political Grandeur--Charles X. and Charles XI._
Charles X. was one of the most ambitious men ever placed upon a
throne, and Europe was soon to realize that a new war-lord was come.
His ambition, so long unsatisfied and secreted, burst forth with
uncontrollable strength, in compass only to be equalled by his rare
gifts of mind and heart. Charles Gustavus had suffered a good deal of
neglect, coldness and hatred, but when ascending the throne he seemed
to have forgotten all this. Oxenstierna died a few months after the
abdication of Queen Christine, deeply impressed by the magnanimity
and genius of the new sovereign. Charles Gustavus was one of the most
highly gifted of Swedish monarchs. He had a great deal of interest in
and rare discernment for the requirements of a peaceful development.
But reared in the most warlike of times, when a reputation could
be made only by winning so and so many “victorias” for the firm
establishment of a hero’s “gloire,” Charles Gustavus thought that only
the monarch favored by “Fama” would have the prestige to lead firmly
the fate of his people. He often expressed the wish to rest from his
campaigns in order to contemplate his work and make it beneficial to
his people, but such a rest he never gave himself time to enjoy during
his short and remarkable reign.
Charles burned with desire to gain fame in war, taking for pretext
that the king of Poland, by his repeated claims to the Swedish throne,
made peace treacherous and impossible. But such was the condition of
affairs that something must be done to quiet the malcontent people,
restore peace between the quarrelling classes, and reimburse the empty
state treasury. At a Riksdag in Stockholm, in 1655, a restitution was
proposed by the king and agreed to, according to which all estates
which in earlier times had been rendering dues to the direct support
of the court, army, fleet, or administration, should be confiscated to
the crown; also one-fourth of the estates given away since the death of
Gustavus Adolphus, and all estates fraudulently obtained. A committee
to enforce the restitution was appointed, to be presided over by the
able Herman Fleming. The restitution, far from radical in itself, was
not completely carried through, thanks to the opposing nobles. But it
proved effective for the moment, the king securing the goodwill of the
people, temporary quiet and means to carry on the proposed war, to
commence which Charles Gustavus received the somewhat reluctant consent
of the faithful people whose financial state was a most despairing
one. Charles X. thought in new conquests to find means to better their
condition. Shortly after his coronation he married Hedvig Eleonore of
Holstein-Gottorp.
John II. Casimir of Poland, the younger son of Sigismund, like
Vladislav, styled himself king of Sweden and had claims to Livonia.
For this he should be punished. It was not the original intention of
Charles X. to make himself king of Poland, but he was probably the
first who ever devised a division of that unhappy country. The success
of Charles X. was without a parallel. The strong fortresses were
captured, the armies surrendered and registered in Swedish service.
After two months Charles X. entered the old capital of Cracow, John
Casimir fled from his country, and, carried away by the frenzy of
success, Charles Gustavus had himself crowned king of Poland. West
Prussia was captured, and the elector of Brandenburg, who held East
Prussia in fief, and the duke of Courland were forced to become the
vassals of Sweden, in 1656.
But Charles X. had roused an enemy that few invaders, however great,
have been able to successfully encounter, the spirit of patriotism.
The Poles, enticed to revolt by the Catholic clergy, found a leader in
the noble Czarniecki, who commenced a war of liberation on the Swedish
usurper. King John Casimir returned, and armies were gathered. Charles
Gustavus was yet to do wonders of strategy, which aroused the amazement
and fear of all Europe, but he was glad, when finding a good excuse,
to extract himself from the affairs of Poland. In 1656 he defeated
Czarniecki at Golumbo, undertook the adventurous crossing of the river
of San, and captured, and recaptured, the capital of Warsaw. The “three
days’ battle of Warsaw” (18th-20th of July, 1656) is one of the most
famous in modern warfare, by which the reputation of Charles X., as one
of the greatest warriors of his time, was firmly established. Charles
X. had joined forces with the “great elector” of Brandenburg, who up to
the last moment was unwilling to risk a battle of 22,000 men against
an enemy twice as strong. Charles Gustavus was unyielding and turned
it into a great victory. But his position became precarious, Russia,
Germany, Holland and Denmark being hostile, joined by Brandenburg,
the ambitious “great elector” not being satisfied with the Swedish
supremacy in East Prussia. To save himself from the dilemma with
untarnished glory, Charles X. decided to fight Denmark, which country
had declared war without suspecting the possibility of an attack.
Lennart Torstensson, his master of strategy, had shown Charles X. how
Denmark was to be attacked. With an army of only 8,000, but consisting
of the choicest and most victorious troops in all Europe, Charles X.
hastened in rapid marches through Pomerania and Mecklenburg, recaptured
Bremen, and invaded through friendly Holstein all of Schleswig and
Jutland, defeating the larger but inexperienced Danish army and
capturing the strong fortress of Fredericia.
Yet the new position was as precarious as the one in Poland, and
Charles had to use all the skill of his diplomacy to save his little
army from an assault by inimical Europe. France and England seemed
unwilling to render him effective help. But when the elector of
Brandenburg, who had taken upon himself the leadership of Sweden’s
enemies, turned to the emperor, emphasizing the necessity of crushing
the Swedish power in one blow, he received the following surprising
answer: “The king of Hungary has no reason to be the enemy of the king
of Sweden.” Charles had reached a secret understanding with Austria. By
this move he gained time. Through what seemed almost a miracle, he was
not only to save his army but lead it on to victory after a strategic
deed, in originality and daring unique in the history of the world.
The year of 1658 commenced with severe frosts. Charles X. conceived the
daring plan of attacking the Danish isles by leading his army over the
frozen sounds. He concluded to cross the sound of Lille Belt, opposite
the islet of Brandsœ. His quartermaster-general, Eric Dahlberg, an
engineer of great genius, ascertained that the ice was safe. One frosty
winter morning, the 30th of January, the Swedish army, reinforced to
9,000 men, marched down on the ice, safely reaching Brandsœ at sunrise.
A Danish army, arranged in order of battle in the island of Funen,
was defeated. While crossing over to Funen, the ice cracked under two
squadrons of cavalry, those who followed not daring to proceed. The
king himself hurried past the dangerous place, pointing out a safe
course, and the troops followed him.
The most dangerous part remained to cross, the much wider sound of
Store Belt, in order to reach Seeland. Charles first thought of taking
the direct route of two miles, but commissioned Dahlberg to explore
the condition of the ice across to the smaller islands to the south.
Dahlberg did so, and said he would wager his head for its perfectly
safe condition. In enthusiasm, Charles clapped his hands exclaiming:
“Now, brother Frederic, we will converse in good Swedish!” In the
night between the 5th and 6th of February, the Swedish army marched
from Svendborg in Funen over the ice to Langeland. “It was terrible,”
wrote an eye-witness, “to march through the night over this frozen sea,
where the horses’ hoofs had thawed down the snow on the ice, which
was below two feet of water, and where we, in every moment, were in
fear of striking the open sea.” At dawn the army landed in Langeland.
During the rest for breakfast, frozen beer was chopped and distributed
in pieces to the soldiers. The march continued over the still wider
sound to Laaland, Eric Dahlberg in front, directing the march. Reaching
Grimsted in Laaland at three o’clock in the afternoon, and proceeding
to Nakskov, Charles Gustavus was met, at midnight, by the burgomaster
and council of said town, who surrendered its keys. The 9th of
February, the army stood in Falster, and a few days later was collected
at the captured castle of Vordingborg in Seeland. Peace was hastily
offered and agreed to on the 17th, and the treaty of peace signed
the 28th of February, 1658, at Rœskilde. The conditions were severe,
Denmark ceding the provinces of Scania, Halland, Bleking and Bohuslæn,
the whole district or diocese of Drontheim in Norway, and the island
of Bornholm, and agreeing to hold the Baltic closed to hostile fleets
with the help of Sweden. The last clause was a piece of a Scandinavian
policy devised by the Swedish king.
Charles X. now prepared to meet Brandenburg and Austria, once more
siding against Sweden. It was necessary to keep Holland out from
the Baltic, and when Charles X. found Denmark unwilling to keep the
conditions of the recent treaty on that point, the war-lord became
wrathful, dooming obnoxious Denmark to lose her very existence. But the
spirit of patriotism, which so often had saved Sweden in instances of
extreme danger, now sided with Denmark, as it had already sided with
Poland. King Frederic declared he would die like a bird in its own
nest, and roused the patriotism of the population of Copenhagen, which,
badly defended, was hurriedly fortified at the news of an intended
attack. Contrary to the advice of Eric Dahlberg, Charles X. made no
instantaneous attack, but commenced a siege, although he did not bring
with him the necessary means. The castle of Kronborg by Elsinore
was captured and its cannon used against Copenhagen. The greatest
enthusiasm prevailed in the Danish capital; the king slept in a tent by
the fortifications, and especially the students and Norwegian sailors
distinguished themselves by their valor and patriotism. Charles X.
found it impossible to take Copenhagen and retired to some distance
from the capital. What caused Charles to retire was the arrival of a
Dutch fleet. It had been met by the Swedish fleet, under command of
Charles Gustavus Wrangel, the hero of Fredericia and Kronborg. After
six hours of hard fighting the Dutch forced the entrance to the Sound.
Before leaving, the Swedish king resolved to make a desperate effort
to capture Copenhagen, defended by 13,000 troops and by a patriotic
population, with his 8,000 Swedes. The attack was made in the night
of February 11, 1659, but the city, forewarned by traitors, tendered
the Swedes a warm reception, consisting of artillery fire, stones, and
scalding hot water. The Swedes lost 600 men and suffered their first
and only defeat under the command of Charles X.
The situation was grave. The Swedish army in Jutland was forced to
retire; the troops of 5,000 men in Funen were defeated and made
prisoners; a revolt took place in Bornholm, and the Danes recaptured
the district of Drontheim. The powers united in their efforts to force
Sweden and Denmark to a treaty of peace on the basis of the Rœskilde
stipulations. Charles still held his head high, declaring that he
would crush the fleets of the allies if they tried to interfere in
the affairs of the North, striking a sharply discordant note in the
concert of the powers. To Denmark he was willing to cede the district
of Drontheim, but prepared to occupy that of Akkershus instead, when he
was taken ill at the convening Riksdag at Gothenburg, dying February
11, 1660, in the palace erected by his friend Lennart Torstensson.
Charles X. Gustavus was one of the most remarkable men of his day,
whose wonderful deeds of bravery and genius caused amazement through
their brilliancy, and anxiety through their recklessness. At the first
glance his appearance gave no idea of the real man. He was short,
and of an unusually square and clumsy build, with a head of coarse
proportions. But there was the fire of genius in his sharp blue eyes;
under the black hair, and below the thin black mustache, there was a
mouth of firm and resolute lines. In the versatility of his endowment,
he stands as one of the first among Swedish kings, the rich gifts of
the Vasas and the Wittelsbachs being united in him. As a warrior he was
great, yet more of a tactician than a strategist. As a statesman his
views were almost as clairvoyant as those of his grandfather, Charles
IX., but he gave way to the impressions and impulses of the moment. He
failed to make the Baltic a Swedish inland lake, but gained for his
country the inestimable gift of a natural frontier to the east and
south, by the acquisition of Bohuslæn, Halland, Scania and Bleking,
provinces more valuable to Sweden than a whole empire south of the
Baltic.
_Charles XI._ was a child of four years at the death of his father;
his country at war with a world, and in a sorely afflicted condition.
In the will of Charles X., the queen-dowager, Hedvig Eleonore, was
named to preside over the government, with two votes, and the brother
of Charles X., the duke Adolphus John, was to take a seat with her as
Riksmarsk. This arrangement displeased the nobility, understanding that
it was directed against their influence, and they had the duke excluded
from the government. The lower Estates of the Riksdag sided with the
duke, but soon gave up his cause as they found that he was utterly
vain, quick-tempered, and without stability or genius. Lars Kagg, a
good warrior, was appointed Riksmarsk in his place. Herman Fleming,
the able state treasurer, was removed as disagreeable to the nobility,
his ill-health being taken as an excuse, and was succeeded by Gustavus
Bonde. Peter Brahe remained Riksdrotset, Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie
state chancellor, and Charles Gustavus Wrangel state admiral. Kagg died
in 1661 and was succeeded by Wrangel, Gustavus Otto Stenbock becoming
state admiral.
The first duty of the new government was to make peace for the bleeding
country. This was effected in 1660 through the treaties of Oliva and
Copenhagen, and in a most satisfactory manner, speaking high for the
diplomatic ability of the governing ones, but also of the ignorance of
the powers of the utter helplessness of Sweden, in great contrast to
her outward political grandeur. Poland ceded Livonia to Sweden, and
Denmark all the territory gained by Charles X., except the district of
Drontheim and the island of Bornholm, while Russia was satisfied with
the boundaries set by Gustavus Adolphus.
The government, with care and consideration, made the necessary
arrangements to have the new provinces intimately connected with the
country. Representatives were sent to the Riksdag of 1664, and the
University of Lund, in Scania, was founded in 1668. If to this is added
that a good deal was done to encourage art and science, principally
through Count Magnus de la Gardie, who was the Mæcenas of Sweden, the
meritorious deeds of the government during Charles XI.’s minority are
enumerated. The less that is said of it in addition, and of its leading
men, the better for these. They were men of some patriotism, but,
through their exceedingly aristocratic views and lack of stability,
unable to further the interests of their country, so badly in need
of reform. There was not one of them who possessed the abilities of
a statesman. They lived like princes in their counties, each holding
court and possessing various considerable castles, all the members
of the higher aristocracy upholding the same standard of luxury and
power, appointing clergymen and judges, founding towns, and discussing
the necessity of having mints and coins of their own. Magnus de la
Gardie, count of Leckœ, and married to a sister of Charles X., was
the greatest of these lords. Close to him came Peter Brahe, count of
Visingsborg, and Charles Gustavus Wrangel, count of Skokloster. The
barons approached the counts in their display of wealth. The lower
nobility, whose members often served at the courts of the great lords,
were not satisfied with this state of affairs. But in the contempt and
oppression in which they held the lower classes, they agreed with the
higher nobility, who made no secret of their intention to reduce the
peasants to slaves. The peasantry, suffering and neglected, became the
prey of a superstition which was shared by the more educated members of
society, accusations and legal executions of witches becoming numerous.
The government was not agreed between themselves upon many questions
and turned to the state council for support. The old privileged class
of councillors forced their influence upon the government, and the
position between the two became quite intimate, at the same time
difficult to define. The state council was as divided in its opinions
as the government, which fact had a disastrous influence upon state
politics and administration. Great negligence was shown in the various
departments, the records of receipts and expenditures being imperfect,
and a constant lack of funds existing. Forgery and thefts were
committed by high and low officials. Administrative orders were not
obeyed. The army and the navy suffered utter neglect.
During such a state of affairs the abominable practice of receiving
“subsidies” came into use. The government received, now from one
foreign power, now from another, a large sum of money to back its
respective interests with the military forces or the diplomatic
influence of Sweden. This practice, ignoble in itself, injured the
dignity of the state and had a demoralizing influence. Thanks to it,
Sweden sided sometimes against, but mostly with, France, her old ally,
who, in Count de la Gardie, had an enthusiastic friend. In 1662,
Sweden schemed with France for the election of a French prince as king
of Poland; in 1667, she formed, with England and Holland, a triple
alliance against France. Louis XIV. soon won back the friendship of the
government of Sweden, thus having this country as his only ally when
reaching the climax of his success. At last the Swedish promises to
send an army against the elector of Brandenburg were fulfilled. It was
under the command of the old and invalid Count Wrangel, and suffered
defeats at Ratenau and Fehrbellin, in 1675. These were of little
importance, or extension, in themselves, but they injured the prestige
of Sweden, so long supremely victorious on German soil, and caused
her enemies to combine their efforts in order to regain their lost
possessions.
Charles XI. was declared of age at seventeen, in 1672, when he himself
took charge of the government, yet for a few years standing under
the influence of Count de la Gardie. King Charles was, as a child,
physically weak, and the astrologers had prophesied that he would
die an infant. For this reason the queen-dowager, a very ordinary
woman, gave all her attention to have her son develop a strong and
sound constitution. The child was given its own way in everything,
casting aside books and rules for his individual pleasures. King
Charles grew up an ignorant self-willed and headstrong youth, who
delighted in hunting and reckless riding on horseback. His companions,
manners and language were not of the choicest order, and he remained
all his life shy and awkward in demeanor. From his thirteenth year he
was made acquainted with the routine of state affairs, but he lacked
the qualifications to grasp them in detail. He surrounded himself
with members of the lower nobility, but was well at ease only among
ministers, burghers and peasants. Charles XI. was all his life of an
unrestrained temper and an indomitable will, coming to the throne the
most ignorant king Sweden had had for centuries. But he was pious,
sincere and just, and his morals pure and severe. Through the hardest
of lessons, Charles XI. was to develop his great uncultivated gifts,
to become the liberator of his people and one of its most remarkable
rulers.
Sweden had to encounter many enemies after the battle of Fehrbellin,
and a chain of disasters followed, nearly crushing the young king under
their weight. Holland, Austria, Brandenburg and Denmark attacked the
Swedish possessions, which were all captured, one after the other.
Charles was not able to send reinforcements, the navy being in a
miserable condition, and when rejuvenated, through strenuous effort,
defeated by the excellent admirals Juel, of the Danish, and Tromp,
of the Dutch, navy. The treasury was empty, the administration in
disorder, and mistrust and strife reigned supreme. But the young king
showed that he wanted to be obeyed, and managed, by hard work, to
establish order, the Riksdag sacrificing means to organize the defence.
The Danes were successful in their first expeditions on land also,
their army having undergone a reorganization. King Christian V. marched
into Scania, while his general, Gyldenlœve, invaded Bohuslæn and
West Gothland. The hostile fleets captured the islands of Œland and
Gothland. Charles XI., in a sinister state of mind verging on despair,
at last had his army collected, and entered Halland, where Danish
troops were encountered and defeated at Halmstad. This gave courage to
the Swedes, who soon thought themselves invincible, when commanded by
the young king himself. Charles received reinforcements through peasant
troops, and was desirous to meet Christian in open battle. But the
Danish army in Scania retreated until forced to meet the enemy near
Lund. Here a bloody and decisive battle was fought, more than 8,000 men
being killed, and resulting in a victory for the Swedes, who took 2,000
prisoners, fifty-one cannon, and the whole hostile camp, December 3,
1676.
In the following year Sweden suffered two defeats at sea, through the
hands of Juel, but won another victory on land, at Landskrona, when the
Danes lost 3,000 men.
While Charles XI. fought with the courage of despair, Louis XIV. was
supremely victorious over his enemies, soon appearing as the dictator
of Europe, when peace was made at Nimwegen, in 1679. Finding Charles
XI. resolved not to cede any of his territory, King Louis took a
similar standpoint in his behalf, but contemptuously neglected to let
the Swedish ambassadors take any active part in the deliberations.
Louis XIV. made peace with the emperor, Brandenburg and Denmark
on behalf of Sweden, which country only ceded a small part of East
Pomerania to Brandenburg. Charles XI. deeply felt the insolence of the
benevolent dictator, and forced Christian V. to sign a treaty of peace
at Lund, in 1680, as if Louis XIV. had no part in it. An agreement was
made that Charles XI. should marry the sister of Christian V., the
beautiful Ulrica Eleonore. Through her gentleness, piety and great
benevolence, she soon acquired fame as one of the noblest queens of
Sweden. Ulrica Eleonore led a quiet life, seldom being seen at court,
where the vain and despotic queen-dowager held the first place. She
was never able to win the affection of her consort until during her
last illness. King Charles then, for the first time, understood what a
treasure he had held unappreciated at his side, and watched over her
with infinite care, bringing peace and sunshine into her last days.
After her death, in 1693, the king became a prey to deep sorrow and
remorse, which threw added gloom over his dark countenance. The queen
had been active in upholding a good relation between the Scandinavian
countries, often bitterly opposed by the queen-dowager, in the
interests of Holstein.
When peace was made, Charles XI. immediately took action in the matter
of reform. He saw his country at the verge of utter ruin and the crown
unable to help it. The peasants were losing their rights, one by one,
and five-sixths of the crown lands were in the possession of the
nobles. Brought up in ignorance and isolation, finding rottenness and
incapability everywhere, it was no wonder that the king became strongly
imbued by the spirit of absolutism, which pervaded all Europe. He
followed the example of the monarchs of France and Denmark, learning
from them how, by secret agitation and pressure, to make the lower
classes fervently appeal to him to take the absolute power in his
hand. His principal adviser was _John Gyllenstierna_, a man of old,
celebrated stock, but belonging to the lower nobility. Gyllenstierna
was one of the greatest and most patriotic statesmen of his day. He
first attracted attention as a champion of the lower nobility against
the great lords for the restitution of crown lands. Raised to dignities
and a high station, he never changed his position to the aristocrats
in power, who thought they could win him over by favors. Seeing
the absolute impossibility of reform, with the help of the nobles,
Gyllenstierna turned to the king, whose whole confidence he won,
inspiring him with plans of a Scandinavian peace policy, and a reform
through the destruction of the aristocracy. Gyllenstierna died after
having brought to the king his bride, a union which was the work of
this able statesman.
The Riksdag was convoked to meet October 5, 1680. Everything commenced
quietly. No royal proposition was made; but a strong agitation had been
set in motion among the four Estates, the three lower ones sending in
a petition to make the royal power absolute, to have a restitution
of crown lands made, and the government, during the king’s minority,
brought to answer for their acts. Similar requests were sent up
from the nobility, after many stormy scenes at the Riddarhus. Thus,
toward the end of the Riksdag, with the petitions in, came the royal
propositions which, when accepted, in one blow crushed the aristocracy,
as a ruling class, and the antiquated state council, as an institution,
and established the absolute power of the king.
According to the resolutions of this memorable Riksdag, which marks a
new era in Swedish history, a “grand commission” was selected which
fulfilled its duties with the greatest severity. The members of the
former government and state council were made responsible for their
administration, and themselves, or their heirs, sentenced to pay
smaller or larger sums. Two-thirds of the whole amount was afterward
given up, but the fines were nevertheless great. Count Nils Brahe,
the heir of both Peter Brahe and Charles Gustavus Wrangel, and the
wealthiest man in Sweden, had to pay something like $600,000 in fines,
an immense sum in those days, and was reduced almost to poverty. The
restitution department, assisted by two commissions, did equally
thorough work under the pressure of the king. Ten counties and seventy
baronies, with a great number of other crown lands of various classes,
were confiscated. It cost the higher nobility dearly; Count Magnus
de la Gardie, the all-powerful favorite of three monarchs, lost his
immense wealth and died on a little estate left him, with one single
servant out of his former princely retinue. The work of restitution was
carried on without cruelty or injustice.
A second restitution was to follow. The propositions were arranged at
the Riksdag of 1682, in the same way as in 1680. This time the lower
nobility was to suffer. All crown lands rendering less than $600 a
year of income had been spared; now these were confiscated, without
exception. In 1686 followed another blow. The dividends on the state
loans were reduced, and a stipulation made that holders of bonds must
refund what they, up to that date, had received above the new schedule.
The same principle was applied in the redemption of mortgaged state
lands. These new harsh measures were enforced with a great deal of
severity, with incidental cases of injustice. The king showed clemency
only to certain parties in stringent need. The discontent of the nobles
caused many of them to leave the country, as, for instance, Count Otto
William von Kœnigsmarck, son of the conqueror of Prague, and himself
the valiant defender of Pomerania against the hostile allies. Their
example was followed by many nobles of Livonia, the measures of the
restitution entirely crushing the nobility of that province, while its
peasants, who were slaves, gained their liberty, and had every reason
to bless the Swedish government.
The power of absolutism grew steadily stronger. The king decided all
matters alone, and prepared in advance the measures he proposed to the
Riksdag, of whose sanction he was as independent as of that of the
old state council. All officers and institutions were also changed in
name from “state” to “royal” servants and instruments. The university
professors were instructed to impress the students with the necessity
and divine rights of an absolute ruler. The nobles were alone in their
discontent. The other classes, especially the peasants, looked with
satisfaction and approval on the work which crushed the enemies of
their liberty and prosperity, and submitted willingly to the absolute
power because it was in the hands of a patriotic king.
Charles XI. used the revenues of the restitutions principally for
the reorganization of army and navy. For the former he reintroduced
a system which Gustavus Adolphus had applied, the so-called
_Indelningsverk_ (work of division), which, elaborated upon and firmly
established by Charles XI., became the foundation of the Swedish army
system. The whole country was divided into small sections, which were
each to support an infantry soldier, or a seaman, and larger ones to
support a cavalry soldier. This soldier received a hamlet with earth
to till within his section, paying for it by work to the farmers or
squires, while these paid for his equipment. In times of war the state
paid his expenses. This changed the troublesome army element into
useful members of state in times of peace. The officers were given
small estates by the crown for their support. The army consisted, at
the death of Charles XI., of 65,000 men, well equipped. On the coast of
Bleking extensive navy yards were built by Count Hans Wachtmeister and
Eric Dahlberg, in a new town called Carlscrona. At great expense, the
best fleet ever under Swedish command was constructed by Wachtmeister,
who enjoyed the full confidence of the king. His excellent means
wherewith to conduct a successful war, Charles XI. used to maintain
a dignified peace, of which his country was badly in need. Bengt
Oxenstierna held the reins of diplomacy, which had no attraction for
Charles XI. The old alliance with France was broken off and close
connections with William of Orange established for the maintenance of
peace. Sweden regained its prestige, rising to a power whose support
was sought by all. When William became king of England, Sweden was a
member of the alliance against Louis XIV., but contributed to the great
European war only a few thousand soldiers, according to agreement,
preserving, together with Denmark, an armed neutrality. Charles XI.
lived to the proud moment when the powers selected Sweden as an arbiter
in the deliberations for peace in Riswick, a worthy satisfaction gained
over the earlier insolence of Louis XIV.
Charles XI. improved the administration by filling the offices of
the excellent institutions with excellent men. This he obtained by
enforcing the necessity of obeying orders, supplying officials of all
ranks, from the lowest upward, with new regulations which must be
obeyed, also regulating their salaries. Sweden never had a greater
lover of law and order than Charles XI., and he used his absolute
power in their interests, trying to remold the old laws to suit modern
requirements, and having a new church law, a masterpiece in its line,
introduced. The church itself and its men had in Charles XI. an
interested friend. New catechism, hymn book and ritual were prepared,
and a new translation of the Bible completed, being published after
his death. Commerce and mining industries were encouraged, while
agriculture improved with the improvement of the financial conditions
of the peasants. Charles XI. was not only a “peace king,” but a
“peasant king,” who was ardently devoted to the improvement of the
education and financial circumstances of the country population. He was
of broadly democratic inclinations, finding his delight in moving among
the humble and lowly as one of them. The peasants, who had been brushed
aside by the great and powerful, were now brought to the front and took
an active and important part in the affairs of state. Charles ruled
over them with a stern husbandry, and asked great sacrifices of them
for the maintenance of an armed defence; but no king has accomplished
more in their true interest than he, or remains more clearly in their
memory and traditions. He travelled continually through the country,
avoiding the places where he would be received with ceremony, stopping
in the houses of the farmers, and enjoying heartily what comfort these
offered. In his appearance he was far from prepossessing. His features
were not devoid of beauty, but gloomy; his figure strong and vigorous,
but not impressive. Through an accident while hunting he became
slightly lame. Although dearth and hard times set in during the last
years of his reign, causing terrible losses of life through hunger
and prostration, he could plainly tell the beneficent results of his
administration. Charles XI. took the reins of state when disastrous
war ravished a country which seemed doomed to destruction. He left it
reformed, reorganized, rejuvenated and prosperous at his death, in 1697.
The Period of Political Grandeur in Swedish history falls within
the epoch of the history of art which has been called _Barocco_, an
unbalanced offspring of the Renaissance, and a style characterized by
great complicity, pretensions and ambitions, a renaissance in wigs
of formidable proportions. After the great victories of the Thirty
Years’ War, it seems as if the interchange of influences between art,
literature, science, politics and religion was increased. The whole era
becomes a Barocco period of bombast and chauvinism, the climax being
reached in the form of the absolute monarchy of the age.
In Sweden, as elsewhere, there was no lack of men of ability and
brilliant genius; but, influenced by the spirit of their time, the
works of most of them were bombastic and chauvinistic, like the
artistic and political aspirations of the era. The artists were, as
were at first the scholars, mostly foreigners. The native and imported
scholars were characterized by great learning and versatility, but
abused their genius by Utopian theories and vainglorious dreams, and
violated the laws of history and sound research.
Olof Rudbeck was not only the most learned and brilliantly gifted
scholar of his day, but his genius also embodies the eccentricities
of the period in gigantic outlines. He was born at Westeros, in 1630,
his father being the learned bishop, Johannes Rudbeckius. As a boy, he
gave evidence of rare artistic and mechanic talents. He made drawings
of exquisite designs, constructed clock mechanisms of wood, and was a
skilled musician. His character was proud and violent. At sixteen he
was through with his college course and ready to enter the university.
The youth could not stand the change from his coarse jacket and fur
coat into a coat of broadcloth with buttons such as the students wore,
and was for his overbearing manner punished by his severe father with
an additional year of college work. At the University of Upsala he
caused from the start great surprise by his knowledge in all subjects.
He devoted his attention chiefly to natural science, which, in that
day, was a neglected study, and soon excelled his professors.
At twenty, Rudbeck made a scientific discovery of great importance,
which caused a stir in the whole learned world. By his discovery and
theory of the lymphatic ducts, the blood circulation of the human body
received a satisfactory explanation. Before the circle of scholars
which surrounded Queen Christine, Rudbeck was allowed to demonstrate
his anatomical discoveries, in 1652. Queen Christine, who earlier had
been an admirer of his beautiful voice and musical abilities, loaded
him with praise and gave him the means for a journey abroad. Rudbeck
returned, in 1660, to Sweden, and was appointed professor of medicine
at the University of Upsala. He planned the first botanic garden in
the country, donating it to the university. He had illustrations made
of the native plants and commenced a learned work on botany. The first
hall of anatomy was erected according to his proposition. As rector
of the university, he established several important reforms, in spite
of opposition, but supported by the chancellor, Magnus Gabriel de la
Gardie, who was his friend and protector. To the stupendous mastery of
all sciences, Rudbeck added a skill and cleverness in various branches
of practical activity which made him carry, with honor, the nickname of
“master at all trades.” He was an excellent financier, who succeeded
in restoring the sound economy of the university. He built a fish
pond, from which the tables of the learned professors were regularly
supplied with fish. A book store and a book-printing establishment
were erected by him, and for a time run at his expense. He repaired
windmills, built houses, provided the university town with water works
and street pavement, also arranging its postal service. Rudbeck was one
of the finest composers and singers of his day, conducting the musical
exercises at the university. He made fireworks and compasses for the
Swedish navy, built fountains and organs, was a good poet and painter
and an excellent etcher and drawer.
Rudbeck does not owe his great renown to his mastery of any of these
trades, arts or sciences, nor to any discovery, reform or invention by
his versatile genius. It was his monumental work, “Atland or Manheim,”
generally called “The Atlantica,” which made him world-famous. For
centuries one had believed in the statement made by Jordanes, and
based upon traditions current among his people, that the Goths who
conquered Rome had migrated from the North, and that their ancestors,
from the remotest period, were inhabitants of Sweden. Johannes Magnus
constructed a line of Swedish kings, beginning with Magog, the son of
Japhet, on the basis of which the sons of Gustavus Vasa, Eric XIV.,
and Charles IX., had accepted their high ordinals. In the time of
Rudbeck it was considered a supremely praiseworthy effort to glorify
the fatherland by strengthening its claims to a high antiquity.
Rudbeck, the remarkable savant and able poet, got his head turned by
the political grandeur of his country. He had in his youth read the
story of Atlantis, found in Plato. Rudbeck undertook to prove, in
“The Atlantica,” that the lost island, with its ancient ideal state
from which the gods of antiquity were supposed to hail, was identical
with Sweden. The work, in four large volumes, was written in Swedish
and Latin of parallel columns. The first volume was printed in 1675,
Rudbeck having made the types himself. In Sweden the work was greeted
with an enthusiasm which had no bounds. The second volume was published
by funds which Charles XI. with great generosity placed at the author’s
disposal. The third volume was dedicated to the youthful Charles XII.,
a true child of the chauvinistic epoch, who hailed the book with
delight. The fourth volume was in press when Upsala was destroyed by
fire, in 1702. The aged Rudbeck led the battle against the ravaging
element, by supreme exertions saving the university halls, at the
expense of his home, his press and manuscripts, and the rest of the
town. Rudbeck died in the autumn of the same year.
The elaborate construction which Rudbeck had completed by means
of ingenious deductions and learned guesswork succumbed with the
political grandeur of Sweden. “The Atlantica,” which once had its
place beside the Bible on the tables of the mighty ones, was ridiculed
and forgotten. On the continent of Europe, where similar books had
been written in Germany and Holland, making for these respective
countries similar claims, “The Atlantica” was at first received with
surprise and admiration, later with doubt and criticism. The work, in
spite of its mistakes, proved a foundation for archæological research,
which gradually was developed into a science. In order to support the
boldest and most impossible theories, the almost unparalleled power
of combination of an eminent genius has brought together material
which for the first time gave the suggestion of relationship between
the Teutonic and the classical languages of Greece and Rome. Rudbeck
was also the first to point out the unmistakable resemblance of the
Old Norse and classical mythologies, as to the origin of which modern
scholars have reached no absolute certainty, but radically different
conclusions. The importance which Rudbeck placed upon popular customs
and traditions was too great, but it has favorably influenced later
students of ethnography and folk lore.
If Rudbeck had limited himself to the demonstration that Sweden has
been not the cradle of all races, but the original home of the Teutonic
branch of the Aryan race, he might have been able to offer a theory,
the truth of which modern science lacks, and forever may lack, the
resources to disprove.
Rudbeck had not been entirely without opponents in Sweden. The most
noted among them was John Peringskiold, who criticised the opinion
expressed by Rudbeck that the Runes were the oldest alphabet of the
world. Peringskiold was a fine Icelandic scholar, and the first editor
of Snorre Sturleson’s “Heimskringla.”
A typical and highly valuable illustrated work from this period is
the “Svecia Antiqua et Hodierna,” by Eric Dahlberg, the renowned
quartermaster of Charles X. The text, written by Dahlberg and
translated into Latin by several scholars, was never published, the
magnificent engravings not before 1716. The latter give an impressive
portrayal of architectural Sweden during the reigns of the three
Charleses, but are not quite reliable, as some of the castles and
palaces in this work are provided with additions and embellishments
which were never more than projected.
There is no family who has wielded a greater influence over the Swedish
church than that of Benzelius. The founder of the house, Eric Benzelius
the Elder, and three of his sons were archbishops of Sweden, and two
of his grandsons bishops of the state church. The first Archbishop
Benzelius, born in 1632, was the son of a peasant, and took his name
from the farm of Bentseby, of Lulea parish, in Norrland, where he was
born; he and the three of his seven sons who were archbishops refused
to be ennobled, the other members of the family adopting the name of
Benzelstierna. The earlier generations of the family produced men of
great talent and power, to whom the third one, although consisting
of able men, could not be compared. The influence of this family in
matters of religion, science and culture was strongly felt during the
period of more than one century. The most remarkable member was Eric
Benzelius the Younger, one of the most learned, active and patriotic
men ever born in Sweden. Like the other members of the family, he
perfected his education at foreign universities and made the personal
acquaintance of Leibnitz, Thomasius, Malebranche, and other celebrated
scholars. He was a historian, literary critic and philologist of
merit, writing a history of Sweden and preparing an edition of Codex
Argenteus, published in London after his death. He was highly
appreciated by Charles XII., and was a friend of Polhem and Swedenborg,
being married to a sister of the latter. Eric Benzelius was appointed
archbishop, but died, in 1742, before he had entered office.