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.