History of Sweden Part II

By | August 25, 2021

Swedish monarchs

Swedish queens and kings (order and dates are uncertain in the oldest period)
Ynglings
Bjorn the old man about 882-910
Olof Ring 910-940
Erich VII. Segersäll (= the victorious) about 970-995
Olaf III. Skotkonung (= king of the lap) about 995-1022
An and Jakob about 1022-1050
Emund about 1050-1060
Stenkil family
Stenkil (Steinkjel) about 1060-1066
Hallsten (Halstan) 1067-1070
Inge I., d. Ä. 1079-1110
Philip (Philip) about 1110-1118
Inge II., D. J. (until 1118 co-regent) about 1110-1120
Raghvald Knaphövde around 1125
Sverker family, Erich family, opposing kings
Sverker I., d. Ä. about 1130-1156
Eric IX. , the Saint about 1156-1160
Magnus Henriksson about 1160-1161
Charles VII Sverkersson about 1161–1167
Knut Eriksson about 1167–1195 / 96
Sverker II. Karlsson about 1196-1208
Erich X. Knutsson about 1208-1216
Johann I. Sverkersson about 1216-1222
Eric XI. Eriksson 1222-1229
and 1234-1250
Knut Långe about 1229-1234
Folkunger
Birger Jarl (regent) 1248-1266
Waldemar Birgersson 1250-1275
Magnus I. Birgersson, called Ladulås (= barn castle) 1275-1290
Birger Magnusson 1290-1318
Magnus II. Eriksson 1319-1364
Eric XII. (Fellow king) 1356-1359
Håkon Magnusson 1362-1364
House of Mecklenburg
Albrecht 1364-1389
Union kings and their own rulers
Margarete 1389-1412
Eric XIII. from Pomerania 1397-1439
Christoph (Kristoffer) from Bavaria 1440-1448
Charles VIII. Knutsson Bonde
king 1448-1457
Opposing king 1464-1465
king 1467-1470
Christian I. 1457-1464 / 1471
Johann II (Hans) 1497-1501
Christian II 1520-1523
House Sture (Reichsverweser)
Sten Sture d. Ä. 1470-1497
and 1501-1503
Svante Nilsson Sture 1504-1512
Sten Sture d. J. 1512-1520
House Wasa
Gustav I. Eriksson Wasa
Imperial administrator 1521-1523
king 1523-1560
Eric XIV. 1560-1568
Johann III. 1568-1592
Sigismund III. Wasa 1592-1599
Charles IX
regent 1599-1604
king 1604-1611
Gustav II Adolf 1611-1632
Christine 1632-1654
House Pfalz-Zweibrücken
Charles X. Gustav 1654-1660
Charles XI. 1660-1697
Charles XII. 1697-1718
Ulrike Eleonore 1718 / 19-1720
House of Hessen-Kassel
Friedrich I. 1720-1751
Holstein-Gottorp house
Adolf Friedrich 1751-1771
Gustav III 1771-1792
Gustav IV Adolf 1792-1809
Charles XIII 1809-1818
Bernadotte House
Charles XIV. Johann 1818-1844
Oscar I. 1844-1859
Charles XV 1859-1872
Oscar II 1872-1907
Gustav V. 1907-1950
Gustav VI. Adolf 1950-1973
Charles XVI. Gustav since 1973

Kalmar Union

When Erich XIII. (in Denmark as Erich VII. and in Norway as Erich IV.) he ruled arbitrarily with the help of mostly German bailiffs; the rights guaranteed to the Swedes were violated, high taxes were a consequence of his wars against Holstein and the Hanseatic League. The Swedish peasants and miners rose against the inadequate taxes in 1434 under the leadership of Engelbrecht Engelbrechtsson and obtained the deposition of Erich XIII. (1439/40). Even though Sweden was later ruled several times by Union kings (1441–48, 1457–64, 1497–1501, 1520–21), this revolt initiated Sweden’s dissolution from the Kalmar Union. Under King Charles VIII Knutsson Bonde (1448-57, 1464-65, 1467-70) and the independent governments of the regent from the noble Sture continued this trend. In 1471 the attempt of the Danish King Christian I to forcibly convert Sweden into a union with Denmark and Norway failed with the battle on Brunkeberg (near Stockholm). The Sture party tried to represent the interests of the peasants and citizens and to improve relations with the Hanseatic League with the help of a four-tier union day. The “Stockholm Bloodbath” (1520, execution of noble followers of Sten Sture), with whichChristian II. of Denmark, who was crowned king in Stockholm in the same year, wanted to break the Swedish resistance against the Union, triggered an uprising under Gustav Wasa , who, after having been appointed imperial administrator in 1521, was elected king in 1523. The Kalmar Union ended with his kingship. – Who came to power with the support of Lübeck, Gustav Wasa with a hard hand brought together the powers that were still diverging in the country. With the introduction of the Reformation in 1527, he ordered the confiscation of church property and, with the reorganization of administration, state finances and national defense, created the foundations of the Swedish great power that his successors achieved.

Great power in the Baltic Sea region

According to neovideogames, Sweden not only had to secure itself against Denmark, which threatened the Swedish borders from the Sundlands and Norway, but also had to oppose Russian expansion in Finland and also try to counter the overwhelming economic strength of Lübeck. First, Sweden consolidated its political and economic independence in the three-crown war against Denmark, Poland and Lübeck (1563–70) and began a policy of expansion to the east: in 1561 Reval became Swedish, the conquests ofJohn III. (1568–92) and Gustavus II. Adolf (1611–32) brought large territorial gains in the east (confirmed in the Peace of Stolbowo on 3.1617).

Due to its success in the battle against Poland, including through his intervention (1630) of the Protestant princes on the part of the Thirty Years’ War brought Gustav II. Adolf of Sweden to the leading power in Northern Europe. After his death in the Battle of Lützen (1632) AG Graf Oxenstierna headed the guardianship government for Queen Christine .

In the Peace of Brömsebro (August 13, 1645) Sweden received Jämtland, Härjedalen and Halland, Gotland and Ösel from Denmark-Norway and achieved the exemption of its ships from the Sund tariff. In the Peace of Westphalia (October 24th, 1648) it was acquired by the ore monastery of Bremen, Verden, Western Pomerania (Swedish-Pomerania), a strip of land east of the Oder, Wismar, the island of Poel and the imperial estate.

In 1654 Christine ceded the government to her cousin, Karl X. Gustav from the Palatinate-Zweibrücken family. He sought to complete Gustav II Adolf’s work by eliminating Poland in the alliance with Brandenburg, against which a Russian-Polish-Danish coalition was formed (  1st Northern War, 1655-60). In the Peace of Roskilde (1658) Denmark lost Scania, Halland and Blekinge to Sweden. In the Peace of Oliva 1660 (supplemented by the peace treaties of Copenhagen 1660 and Kardis bei Dorpat 1661) the possession of almost all of Livonia, Estonia with Ösel and Schonens (against return of Trondheim and Bornholm to Denmark) was confirmed under the guarantee of the European powers Sweden. Since France supported Sweden to maintain the Westphalian peace system, the successor of Karl X. Gustav, Karl XI. (1660–97), involved in battles with Brandenburg-Prussia as an ally of Louis XIV in the Dutch-French clashes of 1672–79.

History of Sweden 2