Charles IX of Sweden

Charles IX (Karl IX) (October 4, 1550 – October 30, 1611), was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud. By his father's will he got, by way of appanage, the Duchy of Södermanland, which included the provinces of Närke and Värmland; but he did not come into actual possession of them till after the fall of Eric XIV of Sweden in 1569.

King Charles IX

Finally, the Riksdag at Linköping, February 24, 1600 declared that Sigismund and his posterity had forfeited the Swedish throne, and, passing over duke John, the second son of John III, a youth of ten, recognized duke Charles as their sovereign under the title of Charles IX. Charles's short reign was an uninterrupted warfare. The hostility of Poland and the break up of Russia involved him in two overseas contests for the possession of Livonia and Ingria, while his pretensions to Laponia brought upon him a war with Denmark in the last year of his reign. In all these struggles he was more or less unsuccessful, owing partly to the fact that he had to do with superior generals (e.g. Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Christian IV of Denmark) and partly to sheer ill-luck. Compared with his foreign policy, the domestic policy of Charles IX was comparatively unimportant. It aimed at confirming and supplementing what had already been done during his regency. Not till March 6, 1604, after Duke John had formally renounced his rights to the throne, did Charles IX begin to style himself king. The first deed in which the title appears is dated March 20 1604; but he was not crowned until March 15, 1607. Four and a half years later Charles IX died at Nyköping, October 30, 1611. As a ruler he is the link between his great father and his still greater son. He consolidated the work of Gustav I, the creation of a great Protestant state; he prepared the way for the erection of the Protestant empire of Gustavus Adolphus. Swedish historians have been excusably indulgent to the father of their greatest ruler. Indisputably Charles was cruel, ungenerous and vindictive; yet he seems, at all hazards, strenuously to have endeavoured to do his duty during a period of political and religious transition, and, despite his violence and brutality, possessed many or the qualities of a wise and courageous statesman.

Related Topics:
February 24 - 1600 - Russia - Livonia - Ingria - Laponia - Denmark - Jan Karol Chodkiewicz - Christian IV of Denmark - March 6 - 1604 - March 15 - 1607 - Nyköping - October 30 - 1611 - Gustavus Adolphus

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