Charles XI of Sweden

Charles XI (Karl XI) (November 24, 1655 – April 5, 1697) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death. He was the only son of Charles X of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp.

Under guardian rule

Charles was born in the palace at Stockholm. His father, who died when the child was in his fourth year, left the care of his education to the regents whom he had appointed. So shamefully did they neglect their duty that when, at the age of seventeen, Charles XI attained his majority, he was ignorant of the very rudiments of state-craft and almost illiterate. Yet those nearest to him had great hopes of him. He was known to be truthful, upright and God-fearing; if he had neglected his studies it was to devote himself to manly sports and exercises; and in the pursuit of his favourite pastime, bear-hunting, he had already given proofs of the most splendid courage.

Foreign affairs

It was the general disaster produced by the speculative policy of his former guardians which first called forth his sterling qualities and hardened him into a premature manhood. With indefatigable energy he at once attempted to grapple with the difficulties of the situation, waging an almost desperate struggle with sloth, corruption and incompetence. Amidst universal anarchy, the young king, barely twenty years of age, inexperienced, ill-served, snatching at every expedient, worked day and night in his newly-formed camp in Scania to arm the nation for its mortal struggle, in the Scanian War.

The victory of Halmstad (August 17, 1676), when Charles and his commander-in-chief Simon Grundel-Helmfelt defeated a Danish division, was the first gleam of good luck, and on December 4, on the tableland of Helgonabäck, near Lund, the young Swedish monarch defeated Christian V of Denmark, who also commanded his army in person. After a ferocious contest, the Danes were practically annihilated. The Battle of Lund was, relatively to the number engaged, one of the bloodiest engagements of modern times. More than half the combatants (8,357, of whom 3,000 were Swedes) actually perished on the battle-field. All the Swedish commanders showed remarkable ability, but the chief glory of the day indisputably belongs to Charles XI. This great victory restored to the Swedes their self-confidence and prestige.

In the following year, Charles with 9,000 men routed 12,000 Danes at the Battle of Landskrona. This proved to be the last pitched battle of the war, in September 1678 Christian V evacuated his army back to Zealand. In 1679 Louis XIV of France dictated the terms of a general pacification, and Charles XI, who bitterly resented "the insufferable tutelage" of the French king, was forced at last to acquiesce in a peace which at least left his empire practically intact.

Sweden's weak economy didn't favour wars, even if Sweden was very successful in conflicts, conscription was hated by the peasants and mercenaries drained government revenue. Therefore, Charles made up the Dividing system; one region would contribute one citizen for warfare and supply him in peacetime.

Domestic affairs

Charles devoted the rest of his life to the gigantic task of rehabilitating Sweden by means of a reduction, or recovery of alienated crown lands, a process which involved the examination of every title deed in the kingdom, and resulted in the complete readjustment of the finances. But vast as it was, the reduction represents only a tithe of Charles XI's immense activity. The constructive part of his administration was equally thorough-going, and entirely beneficial. Contrary to popular belief, he was not solely responsible for the strengthening of the Swedish state. Charles XI had numerous advisors, many who came from German or Baltic noble families, which were behind several reform projects during the king's rule. Finance, commerce, the national armaments by sea and land, judicial procedure, church government, education, even art and science emerged recast from his shaping hand. Charles XI died on April 5, 1697, in his forty-first year. On May 6, 1680, he had married Ulrike Eleonora (1656 - 1693), daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark (1609-1670) and whose death in July 1693 produced a shock from which Charles would never recover.

After Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus Charles XI was perhaps, the greatest of all the kings of Sweden. His modest, homespun figure has indeed been unduly eclipsed by the brilliant and colossal shapes of his heroic father and his meteoric son; yet in reality Charles XI is far worthier of admiration than either Charles X or Charles XII. He was in an eminent degree a great master-builder. He found Sweden in ruins, and devoted his whole life to laying the solid foundations of a new order of things which, in its essential features, has endured to the present day.

Children

He had seven children, of whom only three survived him, a son Charles, and two daughters, Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp and grandmother of Tsar Peter III, and Ulrike Eleonora, who ultimately succeeded her brother on the Swedish throne.

Hedwig Sophia (1681-1708)
King Charles XII (1682-1718)
Gustav (1683-1685)
Ulrich (1684-1685)
Friedrich (1685-1685)
Carl Gustav (1686-1687)
Queen Ulrika Eleonora (1688-1741)

References

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Charles XI of Sweden

Under guardian rule

Foreign affairs

Domestic affairs

Children

See also

References