Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden

"Gustavus Adolphus" redirects here. For the college in Minnesota, see Gustavus Adolphus College.
For other Swedish royalty by this name, see Gustav Adolf of Sweden.
Gustav II Adolf

Gustavus Adolphus, attributed to Jacob Hoefnagel
King of Sweden
Reign 30 October 1611 – 6 November 1632
Coronation 12 October 1617
Predecessor Charles IX
Successor Christina
Born 9 December 1594
Castle Tre Kronor, Sweden
Died 6 November 1632(1632-11-06) (aged 37)
Lützen, Electorate of Saxony
Burial 22 June 1634
Riddarholmen Church, Stockholm
Spouse Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg
Issue Christina
House House of Vasa
Father Charles IX
Mother Christina of Holstein-Gottorp
Religion Lutheran

Gustav II Adolf (9 December 1594 – 6 November 1632, O.S.); widely known in English by his Latinised name Gustavus Adolphus or as Gustav II Adolph,[1] or as Gustavus Adolphus the Great (Swedish: Gustav Adolf den store, Latin: Gustavus Adolphus Magnus, a formal posthumous distinction passed by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1634); was the King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632 and is credited as the founder of Sweden as a Great Power (Swedish: Stormaktstiden). He led Sweden to military supremacy during the Thirty Years War, helping to determine the political as well as the religious balance of power in Europe.

He is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, with innovative use of combined arms.[2] His most notable military victory was the Battle of Breitenfeld. With a superb military machine with good weapons, excellent training, and effective field artillery, backed by an efficient government which could provide necessary funds, Gustavus Adolphus was poised to make himself a major European leader, but he was killed at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. He was ably assisted in his efforts by Count Axel Oxenstierna, the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden, who also acted as regent after his death.

In an era characterized by almost endless warfare, he led his armies as king from 1611 (at age 16) until his death in battle in 1632 while leading a charge—as Sweden rose from the status of a mere regional power to one of the great powers of Europe and a model of early modern era government. Within only a few years of his accession, Sweden had become the largest nation in Europe after Russia and Spain. Some have called him the "father of modern warfare",[3] or the first great modern general. Under his tutelage, Sweden and the Protestant cause developed a number of excellent commanders, such as Lennart Torstensson, who would go on to defeat Sweden's enemies and expand the boundaries and the power of the empire long after Gustavus Adolphus' death in battle.

He was known by the epithets "The Golden King" and "The Lion of the North" by neighboring sovereigns. Gustavus Adolphus is commemorated today with city squares in major Swedish cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Helsingborg. Gustavus Adolphus College, a Lutheran college in St. Peter, Minnesota, is also named for the Swedish King.

The Gustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW) of the Evangelical Church in Germany has as its object the aid of feeble sister churches, and commemorates the king's legacy. The GAW was founded on the bicentennial celebration of the battle of Lützen. Swedish royalty visited the GAW headquarters in Leipzig on the festivities of Gustavus Adolphus' 400th birthday, in 1994.[4]

Life

Bust of King Gustav Adolph on campus at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota

Gustavus Adolphus was born in Stockholm as the oldest son of Duke Charles of the Vasa dynasty and his second wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. At the time, the King of Sweden was Gustavus Adolphus' cousin Sigismund. The staunch Protestant Duke Charles forced the Catholic Sigismund to let go of the throne of Sweden in 1599, a part of the preliminary religious strife before the Thirty Years' War, and reigned as regent before taking the throne as Charles IX of Sweden in 1604. Crown Prince Gustav Adolph had Gagnef-Floda in Dalecarlia as a duchy from 1610. Upon his father's death in October 1611, a sixteen-year-old Gustavus inherited the throne (declared of age and able to reign himself at seventeen as of 16 December[5]), as well as an ongoing succession of occasionally belligerent dynastic disputes with his Polish cousin. Sigismund III wanted to regain the throne of Sweden and tried to force Gustavus Adolphus to renounce the title.

In a round of this dynastic dispute, Gustavus invaded Livonia when he was 31, beginning the Polish-Swedish War (1625–1629). He intervened on behalf of the Lutherans in Germany, who opened the gates to their cities to him. His reign became famous from his actions a few years later when in June 1630 he landed in Germany, marking the Swedish Intervention in the Thirty Years' War. Gustavus intervened on the anti-Imperial side, which at the time was losing to the Holy Roman Empire and its Catholic allies; the Swedish forces would quickly reverse that situation.

Gustavus was married to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg,[lower-alpha 1] the daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and chose the Prussian city of Elbing as the base for his operations in Germany. He died in the Battle of Lützen in 1632. His early death was a great loss to the Lutheran side. This resulted in large parts of Germany and other countries, which had been conquered for Lutheranism, to be reconquered for Catholicism (via the Counter-Reformation). His involvement in the Thirty Years' War gave rise to the saying that he was the incarnation of "the Lion of the North", or as it is called in German "Der Löwe aus Mitternacht" (Literally: "The Lion of Midnight").

Issue

Name Born Died Notes
(Illegitimate) By Margareta Slots
Gustav
24 May 1616
Stockholm
25 October 1653
Wildeshausen
 Married Countess Anna Sofia Wied-Runkel and had issue.
By Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg (11 November 1599 – 28 March 1655)
A daughter
24 July 1621
Stockholm
 Stillborn, buried in Riddarholmskyrkan.
Christina
16 October 1623
Stockholm
21 September 1624
Stockholm
 Heiress presumptive to the thrones of Sweden and Denmark; buried in Riddarholmskyrkan.
A son
May 1625
Gripsholm Castle
 Stillborn, buried in Riddarholmskyrkan.
Christina
8 December 1626
Stockholm
19 April 1689
Rome
 Queen of Sweden (1632 – 1654), never married; buried in Basilica of Saint Peter.

Legacy as a general

The Lion of the North: Gustavus Adolphus depicted at the turning point of the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) against the forces of Count Tilly.

Gustavus Adolphus was an extremely able military commander.[6][7] His innovative tactical integration of infantry, cavalry, logistics and particularly his use of artillery, earned him the title of the "Father of Modern Warfare". Future commanders who studied and admired Gustav II Adolf include Napoleon I of France and Carl von Clausewitz. His advancements in military science made Sweden the dominant Baltic power for the next one hundred years (see Swedish Empire). He is also the only Swedish monarch to be styled "the Great". This decision was made by the Swedish Estates of the Realm, when they convened in 1633. Thus, by their decision he is officially, to this day, to be called Gustaf Adolf the Great (Gustavus Adolphus Magnus).

Gustavus Adolphus was the main figure responsible for the success of Swedish arms during the Thirty Years' War and led his nation to great prestige. As a general, Gustavus Adolphus is famous for employing mobile artillery on the battlefield, as well as very aggressive tactics, where attack was stressed over defense, and mobility and cavalry initiative were emphasized.

Among other innovations, he installed an early form of combined arms in his formations, where the cavalry could attack from the safety of an infantry line reinforced by cannon, and retire again within to regroup after their foray. Inspired by the reform of Maurice of Nassau he adopted much shallower infantry formations than were common in the pike and shot armies of the era, with formations typically fighting in 5 or 6 ranks, occasionally supported at some distance by another such formation—the gaps being the provinces of the artillery and cavalry as noted above. His artillery were themselves different—in addition to the usual complements of heavy cannon he introduced light mobile guns for the first time into the Renaissance battlefield.

These were grouped in batteries supporting his more linearly deployed formations, replacing the cumbersome and unmaneuverable traditional deep squares (such as the Spanish Tercios that were up to 50 ranks deep) used in other pike and shot armies of the day. In consequence, his forces could redeploy and reconfigure very rapidly, confounding his enemies.

Carl von Clausewitz and Napoleon Bonaparte considered him one of the greatest generals of all time; a sentiment agreed with by George S. Patton and others. He was also renowned for his constancy of purpose and the equality of his troops—no one part of his armies was considered better or received preferred treatment, as was common in other armies where the cavalry were the elite, followed by the artillery, and both disdained the lowly infantry. In Gustavus' army the units were extensively cross trained. Both cavalry and infantry could service the artillery, as his heavy cavalry did when turning captured artillery on the opposing Catholic Tercios at First Breitenfeld. Pikemen could shoot—if not as accurately as those designated musketeers—so a valuable firearm could be kept in the firing line. His infantrymen and gunners were taught to ride, if needed. Napoleon thought highly of the achievement, and copied the tactics.

Military innovations

Engraving of Gustavus Adolphus

Gustavus Adolphus was a very forward thinking military man. He enthusiastically adopted a number of fairly new military innovations as the new standard for the Swedish army, which in the beginning came as a shock to his more conservative-minded opponents.

While Gustavus has been widely credited for re-emphasizing the shock role of European cavalry, his innovations were hardly new, Huguenot cavalry under Henry IV and Gaspard II de Coligny having fought in exactly the same fashion during the French Wars of Religion. As a matter of fact his opponent Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly also favored the same ferocious charges the Swedish cavalry would become famous for. Neither was the Swedish practice of integrating shot and horse, the so-called "commanded shot" a new one, with the Huguenot horsemen at the battle of Coutras having the same supporting shooters. What made the Swedish army unique in this regard was the fact that the use of "commanded shot" became the standard tactical doctrine of its horse, and this in turn was adopted by other armies of the period, including its Imperial opponents and that of the English Civil War.

Adolphus better deserved the credit of introducing a standard caliber light muskets to his infantry forces, replacing the previous mix of arquebus and heavy musket common in Imperial tercios. The shallower infantry formation of the Swedish brigade, much more conducive to massed firepower, was inspired by the work of Maurice. However Adolphus perfected the system and introduced the use of salvo fire, where two or three ranks of musketeers fired simultaneously, usually at point blank range, rather than one rank at a time counter marching as was common in that era. The 'Swedish salve' was much more effective at breaking the enemy's morale and repulsing cavalry charges than the earlier method.

Perhaps Adolphus’ greatest contribution however, was his work in field artillery. Equipping each of his brigades with up to 12 light regimental guns, he greatly increased the organic firepower of his infantry and for the first time allowed the artillery arm to play a role in the offensive instead of being a static spectator in a battle of maneuvers.

Military commander

Gustavus Adolphus' landing in Pomerania, near Wolgast, 1630
Gustavus Adolphus in der Schlacht von Lützen by Jan Asselijn
Gustavus Adolphus' body in Wolgast, on transfer to Sweden, 1633
Gustav Adolph's sarcophagus at Riddarholm Church

Gustavus Adolphus inherited three wars from his father when he ascended the throne: against Denmark, which had attacked Sweden earlier in 1611; against Russia, due to Sweden having tried to take advantage of the Russian Time of Troubles; and against Poland, due to King Charles's having deposed King Sigismund III, his nephew, as King of Sweden.

The war against Denmark (Kalmar War) was concluded in 1613 with a peace that did not cost Sweden any territory, but it was forced to pay a heavy indemnity to Denmark (Treaty of Knäred). During this war, Gustavus Adolphus let his soldiers plunder towns and villages and as he met little resistance from Danish forces in Scania, they pillaged and devastated twenty-four Scanian parishes. His memory in Scania has been negative because of that fear.[8]

The war against Russia (Ingrian War) ended in 1617 with the Treaty of Stolbovo, which excluded Russia from the Baltic Sea. The final inherited war, the war against Poland, ended in 1629 with the Truce of Altmark, which transferred the large province Livonia to Sweden and freed the Swedish forces for the subsequent intervention in the Thirty Years' War in Germany, where Swedish forces had already established a bridgehead in 1628.

Especially the weak electorate of Brandenburg was torn apart by a quarrel between the Protestant and Catholic parties. The Brandenburg minister and diplomat Baron Samuel von Winterfeld influenced Gustavus Adolphus to support and protect the Protestant side in Germany. When Gustavus Adolphus began his push into northern Germany in June–July 1630, he had just 4,000 troops. But he was soon able to consolidate the Protestant position in the north, using reinforcements from Sweden and money supplied by France at the Treaty of Bärwalde. After Swedish plundering in Brandenburg (1631) endangered the system of retrieving war contributions from occupied territories, "marauding and plundering" by Swedish soldiers was prohibited.[9] Meanwhile, a Catholic army under Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly was laying waste to Saxony. Gustavus Adolphus met Tilly's army and crushed it at the First Battle of Breitenfeld in September 1631. He then marched clear across Germany, establishing his winter quarters near the Rhine, making plans for the invasion of the rest of the Holy Roman Empire.

In March 1632, Gustavus Adolphus invaded Bavaria, a staunch ally of the Emperor. He forced the withdrawal of his Catholic opponents at the Battle of Rain. This would mark the high point of the campaign. In the summer of that year, he sought a political solution that would preserve the existing structure of states in Germany, while guaranteeing the security of its Protestants. But achieving these objectives depended on his continued success on the battlefield.

Gustavus is reported to have entered battle without wearing any armor, proclaiming, "The Lord God is my armor!" It is more likely that he simply wore a leather cuirass rather than going into battle wearing no battle protection whatsoever. In 1627, near Dirschau in Prussia, a Polish soldier shot him in the muscles above his shoulders. He survived, but the doctors could not remove the bullet, so from that point on, he could not wear iron armor; two fingers of his right hand were paralyzed.[10]

Death

The Battle of Lützen (November 6, 1632) was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but the Protestant alliance lost one of its most important leaders which caused the Protestant campaign to lose direction. Gustavus Adolphus was killed when, at a crucial point in the battle, he became separated from his troops while leading a cavalry charge on this wing.

Towards 1:00 pm, in the thick mix of gun smoke and fog covering the field, the king was separated from his fellow riders and suffered multiple shots. A bullet crushed his left arm below the elbow. Almost simultaneously his horse suffered a shot to the neck that made it hard to control. In the mix of fog and smoke from the burning town of Lützen the king rode astray behind enemy lines. There he sustained yet another shot in the back, was stabbed and fell from his horse. Lying on the ground, he received a final, fatal shot to the temple. His fate remained unknown for some time. However, when the gunnery paused and the smoke cleared, his horse was spotted between the two lines, Gustavus himself not on it and nowhere to be seen. His disappearance stopped the initiative of the hitherto successful Swedish right wing, while a search was conducted. His partly stripped body was found an hour or two later, and was secretly evacuated from the field in a Swedish artillery wagon.

After his death, Gustavus's wife initially kept his body, and later his heart, in the castle of Nyköping for over a year. His remains (including his heart) now rest in Riddarholm Church in Stockholm.

Aftermath

In February 1633, following the death of the king, the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates decided that his name would be styled Gustav Adolf the Great (or Gustaf Adolf den Store in Swedish). No such honor has been bestowed on any other Swedish monarch before or since.

The crown of Sweden was inherited in the Vasa family, and from Charles IX's time excluded those Vasa princes who had been traitors or descended from deposed monarchs. Gustavus Adolphus' younger brother had died ten years before, and therefore there was only the King's daughter left as a female heir. Maria Eleonora and the king's ministers took over the government on behalf of Gustavus Adolphus' underage daughter Christina upon her father's death. He left one other known child, his illegitimate son Gustav, Count of Vasaborg.

Alternative views

The German Socialist Franz Mehring wrote a biography of Gustavus Adolphus with a Marxist perspective on the actions of the Swedish king during the Thirty Years' War. In it, he makes a case that the war was fought over economics and trade rather than religion. The Swedes discovered huge deposits of copper, which were used to build brass cannon. The cottage-industrial growth stimulated an armaments industry.

In his book "Ofredsår" ("Years of Warfare"), the Swedish historian and author Peter Englund argues that there was probably no single all-important reason for the king's decision to go to war. Instead, it was likely a combination of religious, security, as well as economic considerations.

Image of King Gustav Adolph on a wall of Stockholm Palace.

This view is supported by German historian Johannes Burkhardt, who writes that Gustavus entered the 30 Years War exactly 100 years after the publication of the Confessio Augustana, the core confession of faith of the Lutheran Church, and let himself be praised as its saviour. Yet Gustavus' own "manifesto of war" does not mention any religious motivations at all but speaks of political and economical reasons. Sweden would have to maintain its integrity in the face of several provocations and aggressions by the Habsburgian Empire. The manifesto was written by scholar Johann Adler Salvius in a style common of the time that promotes a "just war". Burkhardt argues that traditional Swedish historiography constructed a defensive interest in security out of that by taking the manifesto's text for granted. But to defend Stockholm, the occupation of the German Baltic territories would have been an extreme advance and the imperial Baltic Sea fleet mentioned as a threat in the manifesto had never reached more than a quarter of the size of the Swedish fleet. Moreover, it was never maintained to challenge Sweden but to face the separatist Netherlands. So if ruling the Baltic Sea was a goal of Swedish strategy, the conquests in Germany were not a defensive war but an act of expansion. From Swedish Finland, Gustavus advanced along the Baltic Sea coast and eventually to Augsburg and Munich and he even urged the Swiss Confederacy to join him. This was no longer about Baltic interests but the imperial capital of Vienna and the alpine passes that were now in close reach of the Swedish army. Burkhardt points out that the Gothic legacy of the Swedes, coalesced as a political program. The Swedish king was also "Rex Gotorum" (Latin: King of the Goths), and the list of kings was traced back to the Gothic rulers to construct continuity. Prior to his embarkment to northern Germany, Gustavus urged the Swedish nobility to follow the example of conquests set by their Gothic ancestors. Had he lived longer, it would have been likely that Gustavus had reached out for the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire.[11]

Politics

Gustav Adolf Grammar School in 2007

Gustav II Adolf's success in making Sweden one of the great powers of Europe, and perhaps the most important power in the Thirty Years' War after France and Spain, was due not only to his military brilliance, but also to important institutional reforms in Sweden's government. The chief among these reforms was the institution of the first Parish registrations, so that the central government could more efficiently tax and conscript its populace.

Gustav II Adolf's politics in the conquered territory of Estonia also show progressive tendencies. In 1631 he forced the nobility to grant the peasants greater autonomy. He also encouraged education, opening a school in Tallinn in 1631, today known as Gustav Adolf Grammar School (Estonian: Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium)[12] On 30 June 1632, Gustav II Adolf signed the Foundation Decree of Academia Dorpatensis in Estonia, today known as the University of Tartu.[13] With policies that supported the common people, the period of Swedish rule over Estonia initiated by Gustav II Adolf and continued by his successors is popularly known by Estonians as the "good old Swedish times" (Estonian: vana hea Rootsi aeg).[14]

On 27 August 1617, he spoke before his coronation, and his words included these:

I had carefully learned to understand, about that experience which I could have upon things of rule, how fortune is failing or great, subject to such rule in common, so that otherwise I would have had scant reason to desire such a rule, had I not found myself obliged to it through God’s bidding and nature. Now it was of my acquaintance, that inasmuch as God had let me be born a prince, such as I then am born, then my good and my destruction were knotted into one with the common good; for every reason then, it was now my promise that I should take great pains about their well-being and good governance and management, and thereabout bear close concern.[15]

Timeline

King Gustav Adolph and Queen Mary Eleanor
Gustav II Adolf in Polish 'delia' coat, painting by Matthäus Merian, 1632

A history of Gustavus Adolphus' wars was written by Johann Philipp Abelin.

Legacy

GAW Flag in the Protestant church of Sopron, Hungary

Gustavus Adolphus Day is celebrated in Sweden, Estonia and Finland each year on 6 November, the day the king died at Lützen. One of the traditions on this day is the Gustavus Adolphus pastry. In Finland, the day is also called "the Swedish day".

The Gustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW), a society under the roof of the Evangelical Church in Germany, has for its objects the aid of feeble sister churches. Its responsible for the taking care of the Diasporawork of the EKD and has separate branches internationally. The organization in Austria is still called the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. The project of forming such a society was first broached in connexion with the bicentennial celebration of the battle of Lützen on November 6, 1832; a proposal to collect funds for a monument to Gustavus Adolphus having been agreed to, it was suggested by Superintendent Grossmann that the best memorial to the great champion of Protestantism would be the formation of a union for propagating his ideas. It quickly gained popularity in German. The lack of political correctness received some criticism however, the organization uses GAW as its brand in the meanwhile. The Swedish royalties have been visiting the GAW headquarters in Leipzig on the 400th birthday of Gustav Adolf 1994.[16]

Ancestors

Gustavus Adolphus's ancestors in three generations

 
 
 
 
 Erik Johansson (Vasa)
 
 
 Gustav I of Sweden (Vasa)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cecilia Månsdotter (Eka)
 
 
 Charles IX of Sweden (Vasa)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Erik Abrahamsson (Leijonhufvud)
 
 
 Margaret Leijonhufvud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ebba Eriksdotter (Vasa)
 
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
 
 
 
 
 
 Frederick I of Denmark
 
 
 Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sophie of Pomerania
 
 
 Christina of Holstein-Gottorp
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
 
 
 Christine of Hesse
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Christine of Saxony
 

In popular culture

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ See Wedding of Gustav II Adolf and Maria Eleonora.

References

  1. ↑ David Williamson in Debrett's Kings and Queens of Europe ISBN 0-86350-194-X pp. 124, 128, 194, 207
  2. ↑ In Chapter V of Clausewitz' On War, he lists Gustavus Adolphus as an example of an outstanding military leader, along with: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Alexander Farnese, Charles XII, Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte.
  3. ↑ Dodge, Theodore Ayrault (1890). Gustavus Adolphus: A History of the Art of War from Its Revival After the Middle Ages to the End of the Spanish Succession War, with a Detailed Account ... of Turenne, Conde, Eugene and Marlborough. Boston and New York: Da Capo Press Inc. ISBN 978-0-306-80863-0.
  4. ↑ GAW Chronicles (in German)
  5. ↑ Otto Wilhelm Ålund in Gustaf II Adolf ett trehundraårsminne Bonniers 1894 p. 12
  6. ↑ David Williamson in Debrett's Kings and Queens of Europe ISBN 0-86350-194-X London 1988 p. 128
  7. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica ISBN 0852293399, 1979, p. 502
  8. ↑ Roberts 1992, p. 33.
  9. ↑ Prinz, Oliver C. (2005). Der Einfluss von Heeresverfassung und Soldatenbild auf die Entwicklung des Militärstrafrechts. Osnabrücker Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte (in German) 7. Osnabrück: V&R unipress. pp. 40–41. ISBN 3-89971-129-7. Referring to Kroener, Bernhard R. (1993). "Militärgeschichte des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit bis 1648. Vom Lehnskrieger zum Söldner". In Neugebauer, Karl-Volker. Grundzüge der deutschen Militärgeschichte (in German) 1. Freiburg: Rombach. p. 32.
  10. ↑ Kuosa, Tauno (1963). Jokamiehen Suomen historia II. Sata sotaista vuotta ("Everyman's Finnish History II: Hundred Warlike Years") (in Finnish). Helsinki: Werner Söderström Publishing Ltd.
  11. ↑ Burkhardt, Johann. "Ein Gotenkönig als Friedenskaiser? (lit.: A King of Goths as Emperor of Peace?)". Damals (in German). Vol. 42 no. 8/2010. Abstract in German.
  12. ↑ "Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium – Ajalugu". Gag.ee. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  13. ↑ "Facts about the History of the University of Tartu – University of Tartu". Ut.ee. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  14. ↑ "Kas vana hea rootsi aeg oli ikka nii hea, kui rahvasuu räägib?". Ekspress.ee. Retrieved 2011-01-05.
  15. ↑ Tal och skrifter av konung Gustav II Adolf, Norstedts, Stockholm, 1915, pp. 58–59, translated by Jacob Truedson Demitz
  16. ↑ GAW Chronicles (in German)

Bibliography

External links

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Gustav II Adolf
Born: 9 December 1594 Died: 6 November 1632
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Charles IX		 King of Sweden
1611–1632 		Succeeded by
Christina
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