While the engaged Polish Hussars and Cossacks drove the Russian and Swedish horse from the field, along with Horn and de la Gardie, Zólkiewski sent a fresh regiment of cavalry, his infantry and two guns against the center. Without cavalry protection and with their commanders absent, individuals and then whole units of mercenaries began to desert to the Polish side. Horn and de la Gardie recovered and made their way back to the front, but it was too late. A truce was called and terms negotiated. De la Gardie led less than 400 Swedish and Finnish troops back to Novgorod and thence to Estonia.
Zólkiewski pushed on to Moscow while the boyars rose up and deposed Shuiskij. On August 17, they chose Wladyslav to be tsar. A delegation was sent to Sigismund’s camp at the siege of Smoleüsk to propose the offer.
De la Gardie tried to salvage something from the defeat. First he made overtures to The Bandit, but the second Dmitry pretender was murdered in December 1610. Next he allied himself with a party developing to oppose Wladyslav called the National Rising. The new party endorsed Karl Filip for tsar in June 1611. Again it was Swede against Swedish-Pole in this Russian drama. However, the leader of the National Rising party was killed by some of his own Cossacks and the party disintegrated.
There was nothing left but to take what territory they could before Russia recovered. In March 1611 Kexholm finally fell to Swedish forces and on July 15 de la Gardie captured Novgorod. Sweden had taken some significant scraps, but Sigismund had the big prize, a grand united Slavic state, if he could consolidate his power.
Sigismund had an army in Moscow and the only organized party in the country had endorsed his son as tsar. And the Polish king was about to take Smoleüsk, the crown jewel of western Russia. It certainly looked like the Vasa progeny had won everywhere but in his native country.
Karl had won in Sweden, but had been bested in all other contests by his nephew. He had wars in Livonia and Russia, and in April 1611 he received a herald from Christian IV that Denmark was declaring war on Sweden. The Danish king had finally prevailed on his council to go to war. In the spring Danish forces crossed the border into Småland and attacked Kalmar. The town fell in May and the castle surrendered two months later before Karl could get there with an army. When he did arrive it was with too little and it was altogether too late. All he could do was try to prevent further loss of territory. With both armies going into winter quarters, Karl left the front for Stockholm, but fell ill before he could make it home. His health was failing rapidly.
In August of 1609 he had suffered a stroke which incapacitated him for several months and permanently affected his speech and hearing. He had taken Halley’s Comet in 1607 as an omen of his approaching end. At the Riksdag of 1610, he spoke with difficulty in broken sentences. Though he fought hard to retain his grip on the government, many individuals were shifting their allegiance to the Råd.
The council had become reinvigorated. The leadership which had lapsed with the death of Erik Sparre had refocused on Axel Oxenstierna when he became a member in 1609. Even Karl’s wife, Kristina of Holstein, made alliances with the new Råd leader and other members of the nobility while still queen.
On October 30, 1611, at Nyköping, on his way back from the war front in Småland, Karl died. He left to his son and heir, not yet seventeen years of age, a country deep in war with fronts in Russia, Livonia and now in Sweden itself. A Danish army was in control of a good share of Småland, including Kalmar, the strongest fortress in the country. The new king faced a possible family coalition of Sigismund and his son on the two Slavic thrones. This powerful combination could overwhelm Sweden and allow Sigismund to regain his Swedish throne.
Gustav Adolf was inheriting a country in mortal peril. Karl had worked hard with the characteristic Vasa stubbornness, paranoia and zeal. Without his father’s intuitive abilities, however, he had badly miscalculated in foreign affairs while making enemies of just about all classes in Sweden. Karl looked upon his son with great expectations. He saw in him the savior of the nation, a youth of uncommon abilities and potential. Karl hoped Gustav would succeed where he had failed and rescue the Swedish nation. The young Vasa would do all of that and much more. Indeed, Sweden was about to burst onto the world stage as a major European power.
12. Gustav Adolf’s Rise to Power
On October 30, 1611, at Nyköping, Södermanland, Karl IX of Sweden passed from this life. At his bedside, fittingly, were the two men destined to shape the future of the emerging young nation and propel it to a position of pre-eminence among European powers. The one, Gustav Adolf, not much more than a boy of 16 years, had already led troops in the field of battle. The other, Axel Oxenstierna, only 28, had established himself as leader of the Råd and the strength behind the aristocracy’s push to regain power in the Swedish government usurped by Karl’s secretaries.
Count Axel Oxenstierna came from one of the great magnate families of Sweden having extensive land holdings in Södermanland and Uppland. The family name, combining the words for ox and forehead, can be traced back to the middle 14th century. The young count’s ancestors had long played a major role in Swedish politics, dominating the government, along with the Vasas, in the mid–15th century. Among these power brokers were Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, archbishop of Sweden, who with Kettil Karlsson Vasa, martial bishop of Linköping, controlled the throne, making and breaking kings at will. There was Sten Kristiernsson Oxenstiena, involved in the Gustav Trolle affair of 1516 and Gustav Oxenstierna, Råd member and supporter of Erik Sparre against Duke Karl.
Axel was born in Fånö, Uppland, and like so many other young noblemen of his time was sent to Germany for an education, to Rostock, Jena and Wittenberg. Upon his return to Sweden in 1603 his family arranged his appointment as kammarjunker (assistant to the king) to Karl IX. As part of his duties he served a diplomatic mission to Mecklenburg. During his absence he was appointed to the Råd and upon his return quickly became the recognized leader of the nobility’s movement to regain political power. It was he that Kristina, the queen, turned to when Karl IX’s health and grasp on power began to fail. By the time of the king’s death Axel had already become one of the most powerful men in Sweden.
In habit Oxenstierna was austere, using pomp and ostentatiousness only when required to impress foreign courts or visiting dignitaries. By inclination he was a constitutionalist, a disciple of Erik Sparre believing in a limited monarchy constrained by a sagacious, benevolent aristocracy. Here his views would collide with an equally strong personality in King Gustav, who would demand unfettered power. Likewise, in international affairs the two would conflict. Gustav held bold visions of a league of northern Lutheran nations and a union of Protestant German states where Axel’s allegiance was to Sweden alone. He would work tirelessly for his country, putting her interests first. In politics and economics he was brilliant, perhaps a genius. The French cardinal Richelieu would say of him, he was “an inexhaustible source of well-matured counsels.”1 Few times in history have countries been blessed with such a statesman.
The other notable at the king’s bedside as Karl’s life ebbed away was his eldest son and heir apparent to the throne. Only in his mid-teens, Gustav Adolf had already shown signs of his ability as a warrior and leader of men.
Gustav was a soldier’s general. At a little over six feet, he was tall for his time, a big man, powerfully built. He had a formidable reputation as a hand-to-hand combatant. He led his troops from the front. Like Alexander of Macedon he was often in the very thick of the heaviest fighting. And like the ancient warrior king he would receive his share of battle wounds. He carried Stonewall Jackson’s belief that God would protect him until it was his time to die. Riding into the teeth of cannon and musket fire or trundling through the streets of Stockholm in a carriage, it was all the same to him. As with the great Civil War general, this attitude would cut short an essential commander’s career before the war was won.
Gustav was born December 9, 1594. At the time Karl, then forty-four, was duke of Södermanland. By chance t
he family had been visiting the national capital instead of residing at the duchy seat of Nyköping when he was born. Gustav’s mother, Kristina of Holstein, was Karl’s second wife. Only a daughter, Katarina, survived from Karl’s first union; all other children had died at birth or in early childhood.
It is ironic that Gustav’s godfather was Erik Sparre, then chancellor, leader of the Råd and an adherent supporter of Karl at that time. Within months Sparre would change allegiance to Sigismund and eventually be imprisoned, then executed by Karl.
Gustav’s mother also had ties to Sigismund. As a girl the young Swedish prince had courted her, sending her gifts as tokens of his troth. When Sigismund took the throne of Poland in 1587 (Kristina was then fourteen), the match was favored by Sigismund’s sister Princess Anna and by his aunt Elizabeth of Mecklenburg. However, there were religious and political problems.
Kristina was a devout Lutheran and her country, Holstein, an active Protestant state. Her mother, also named Kristina, was from Hesse, an even more belligerent leader of German Protestantism leaning toward Calvinism. Sigismund, trying hard to consolidate power in his new country, could ill afford a marriage with a reform minded princess from a state quarreling with the emperor. He needed alliances with the Hapsburgs, not conflict. After years of dallying, Sigismund settled on the Archduchess Anna of Austria, whom he married in 1592. Kristina and Karl were married later the same year. Six months after Gustav’s birth in Stockholm, Wladyslav, a Swedish-Polish prince, was born in Krakow.
There can be little doubt that some animosity resulting from the broken relationship between Sigismund and Kristina was passed on to Gustav from his mother. She would also have provided him with a thorough knowledge of political events in northern Germany and her view of the German Reformation. These connections with Germany would play an important role in Gustav’s life and, therefore, in the history of Sweden.
In fact, the first correspondence of record from Gustav was to Friedrich, count of Palatinate, in 1602. The young Gustav writes to the German aristocrat, about his own age, that he has heard of his intellectual talents and princely virtues. He proposes a pledge of good relations as has existed between their fathers. The count, who later became famous in history as the Winter King (Friedrich V of Bohemia), replied in kind. The paths of these two historical figures would cross and re-cross until even their deaths would nearly coincide.
Gustav made his first foreign visit in 1600, accompanying his family to Estonia where Karl took personal command of the army fighting his nephew and Poland. The royal family stayed in Reval and even Weissenstein before it was captured by the enemy. Gustav would certainly have had close contact with soldiers and civilians involved in the war, providing an early introduction to military matters and the soldering arts.
On their trip home the Vasa family nearly met with disaster. They were part of a large fleet that left Reval in the autumn of 1601 which ran into packice in the Gulf of Finland barring their way. Several ships were sunk. The family did make landfall in Finland and spent Christmas at Åbo Castle. The royal party finally made it to Stockholm in March 1602, traveling by sleigh around the Gulf of Bothnia in the winter months. This trip would give Gustav first hand experience of severe winter conditions in the remote northern parts of the realm.
Like his grandfather, stories are told about Gustav’s youth, though they have a little less the aura of legend about them. Three anecdotes recorded by Gyllenhielm, Gustav’s half-brother, are among those familiar to Swedish schoolchildren. On one occasion Duke Karl is on an outing with young Gustav and some friends. Gustav’s companions warn him not to enter a particular patch of bushes as “there were adders there.”2 The royal prince replies, “Give me a stick; I’ll kill them!”3 His proud father quipped, “Did you think he would be frightened?”4
Another time Gustav is at Kalmar port where the Swedish war fleet is docked. The young prince is asked which ship he likes the best. Gustav points to the Black Knight. When asked why, he replies, “Because it has the most guns.”5
On another occasion a peasant from Öland brought Gustav a pony of the type bred on that island. The little prince thanked the man, then said, “I shall pay you for the horse, for I imagine you could do with some money.”6 Gustav paid the delighted peasant on the spot. These stories were meant to portray the young prince as generous, courageous, and of high moral standards even as a child.
Gustav’s early education was from his mother. He learned to speak German almost as early as Swedish and could read and write in his mother’s tongue before he was proficient in his own.
At the age of eight, shortly after the family’s return to Stockholm from Finland, Gustav received a formal instructor, one Johan Skytte. Though the son of a peasant, he was considered, at 25, one of Sweden’s leading intellectuals. Two years into his calling as royal tutor he produced Sweden’s first printed treatises on teaching entitled A Brief Instruction in Such Arts and Virtues as a Prince Shall Practice and Use Who Would Anon Rule Land and People Prosperously. It provided guidance such as, God gives power to the ruler whose duty it is to protect and care for the people. But understand that people are ever changing and often disloyal. A prince must know the military arts and lead in battle (the warrior king). Always maintain patience and control while dealing with your council and don’t trust advisors who are yes men.
Part of the education, of course, was religious and in this Skytte was generally orthodox Lutheran. Later Skytte was assisted in his princely instruction duties by an older and somewhat eccentric talent named Johan Bure. This often brooding individual had an original and inquiring mind that stimulated Gustav’s curiosity and admiration. He was the greatest runic expert of his day and reveled in the ancient sagas which appealed to the young prince’s taste for old Swedish history. Bure would become one of Gustav’s confidants and as king Gustav would seek his advice in later years.
Gustav’s education extended to practical statesmanship, history and law. Particular emphasis was placed on languages. According to Oxenstierna the young prince had “a thorough knowledge and perfect command of many foreign tongues, so that he spoke Latin, German, Dutch, French and Italian like a native, understood Spanish, English and Scottish and had besides some notion of Polish and Russian.”7 He was still studying Greek in 1627. Latin was important as the international language of diplomacy and much of the day’s military theory was written in Spanish.
As for politics, his education was along practical lines. From age ten on he attended council meetings and the Assemblies of the Estates with his father. When given an opportunity the prince always sided with the king. Until his father’s death Gustav’s support for Karl was unwavering.
In temperament Gustav seems to have had some of the Vasa traits of violent temper and mood swings, but in Gustav these troublesome characteristics were kept in check by well developed habits of self-control. The prince also exhibited a sense of humor and cheerful disposition lacking in others of his line. He did, however, have the Vasa strong will and hot-blooded temperament.
At fifteen years of age he announced he would no longer be “controlled.” He slacked off in his studies and turned to card playing, hunting, military exercises and female court society. He became known as a marksman and good horseman. Peasants of the Mälar district spoke of his generosity when he stayed with them on his hunting trips.
Gustav’s interest in some of the ladies of the Swedish court was countered with an all out attempt by his family to find him a bride of suitable stature. The houses of Brandenburg, Saxony and Württemberg were considered, but the focus of the search soon settled on the court of James I of England whose daughter Elizabeth was available. Johan Skytte and Gustav Stenbock, the Swedish embassy to the English court, encouraged such an arrangement though they had no authority to make a formal proposal.
The English king favored the match as there were few eligible Protestant princes of marriageable age at the time. James abhorred the suggestion of his queen that their daughter should marr
y the very Catholic Spanish prince. Shortly after the Swedish embassy left England, James announced to his brother-in-law, the Danish king, that Karl IX had proposed marriage between Gustav and his daughter.
Christian IV, seething with animosity toward Karl and his northern policy, quickly passed word to his sister, Queen Ann. James’s wife did all she could to discourage any prospects of carrying through such a marriage. Her efforts were aided by the outbreak of open hostilities between Denmark and Sweden in the Kalmar War which, indeed, put an end to the marriage negotiations. While Gustav was leading troops in one battle after another, other suitors were found for the English princess. Elizabeth and Gustav’s stars were to cross again though the two were destined never to meet.
As Gustav plunged more and more into war and affairs of state, Elizabeth found a match in the young Friedrich, count of Palatinate, the same Friedrich Gustav had written to as a child. The count appeared to be a prospect for the throne of Bohemia. Indeed, the English court was not disappointed as the Bohemians did name Friedrich V king following their revolt against the Hapsburgs in 1619. However, the Winter King’s reign was cut short by the Battle of White Mountain and soon after even the Palatine was taken from him.
In 1632, in the midst of the Thirty Years’ War while the exiled royal pair was in The Hague, Elizabeth gave birth to their second son, who she insisted be named Gustav Adolf. Friedrich was visiting Gustav’s headquarters deep in Germany at the time making plans for recovery of his lost domains. These prospects died at the Battle of Lüzen and within days the former count and once king followed his prospective benefactor to the grave. Little Gustav Adolf survived for only nine years; his mother, Elizabeth, lived another thirty.
Of overriding importance to Karl IX was his son’s education in the military arts. In this Skytte saw to it that Gustav had a thorough background including Caesar, Vegetius, Aelian and Frontinus. In terms of modern warfare his tutor steered the prince toward the Dutch tactical methods used successfully against Spain and the Dutch style of fortifications perfected by Simon Stevin. Prince Maurice of Orange served as his model general. Gustav had met Count John of Nassau when the famous general had led Swedish forces in Estonia and conferred again with him years later while on his German campaign. The young prince never missed an opportunity to listen to and converse with visiting military experts and his father’s generals. Of special use was instruction received from Jakob de la Gardie upon his return after serving several years under Prince Maurice.
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