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mander gave him the name of "Swedish Lightning," and gained for him the reputation of being fully equal as a commander to his master, King Gustavus. In the campaign of 1642, the Swedes, under Torstensson, advanced upon Vienna, defied the armies of the emperor in his own states, and ended by gaining a brilliant victory at Breitenfeld over the Archduke Leopold and the great General Piccolomini, and taking Leipzig from the Imperialists. While completing arrangements for penetrating still further into Southern Germany, he was, however, recalled to Sweden by secret orders from the Council of State.

War with Denmark.-The cause of this sudden recall was the anxiety felt by the Swedish regents at the turn which affairs were taking in Denmark, where it was evident that King Christian IV. was preparing to make war on Sweden. To frustrate his designs, Torstensson, in obedience to his orders, left Moravia, and in an incredibly short time crossed the frontier and threw his troops into the Holstein lands, on pretence of requiring food and quarters for them. At the same time Gustaf Horn led an army into Skaania, and thus forestalled at all points, the Danes were forced to meet the Swedes as successful invaders, instead of carrying the war into Sweden as they had intended. We have seen in a former chapter how completely success remained with Sweden in this war, which ended with the peace, signed at Brömsebro in Bleking in 1645, by which the power of Denmark was severely shaken and her national spirit deeply humbled. After the Danish war, Torstensson made a fourth and successful campaign into the hereditary lands of the German emperor, and inflicted upon the Imperialists at Jaukowitz the worst defeat they had sustained during the war. This battle, which raged with great fury during the whole of an intensely cold and stormy day in February 1645, cost the emperor the lives of 4,000 of his best troops, and left in the hands of the victorious Swedes 4,000 wounded, including the chief commander, FieldMarshal Hatzfeld, and five generals, with twenty-six field pieces and seventy-seven standards. The victory of Jaukowitz placed the imperial throne in pressing danger, for Torstensson again penetrated into Austria and brought his troops within sight of

the walls of Vienna. At that moment, when everything seemed to favour the great Swedish commander, he was forced to retreat, for France had failed to send the reinforcements which alone could have enabled the Swedes to hold their own in the midst of the enemy's land, and the few troops brought to their aid by the Prince of Transylvania were so undisciplined that their presence was a hindrance rather than a help. Torstensson was, therefore, forced to fall back upon Bohemia, where in consequence of increased feebleness and suffering, he resigned the command, which was at once entrusted to Karl Gustaf Wrangel, another Swedish hero of great military renown.

The manner in which the Swedes had again and again carried their arms to the very gates of his palace made the emperor anxious for peace, and at length, after a delay of some time, the treaty of Westphalia put a final end, in 1648, to the fatal but glorious war between Sweden and Germany. The Swedes went out of this struggle, rich in glory and military renown, but poor in other respects, for the possession of Western Pomerania, with Rygen and Stettin, Weimar and Bremen, and the promise of five million rix dollars-which, moreover, were never all paid-were but poor returns for the eighteen years' sacrifice of life, peace, and money which these wars had cost the mother-country.

CHAPTER XXI.

SWEDEN FROM 1644 TO 1697. ·

Christina, successor of her father Gustavus Adolphus-Her bringing upHer classical learning-Her character-Her resemblance to her mother -Her favourites and her extravagant gifts to them-Disturbances in the country-The question of her marriage and the succession-Her choice of a successor Her coronation-Her reckless squandering of lands and money-Her foreign favourites-Bad habits of nobles-Disguised Jesuits-No money to supply her kitchen-Her abdication-Her conduct and manner of giving up the Crown-Succession of her cousin Charles of the Palatinate-Her departure--Her joy at crossing the frontierThe tales reported of her later life-Her change of religion-Her return to Sweden on the death of Charles X.-Retires to Rome-Her pursuits there-Her death-Oxenstjerna's death-The Queen's mother -Her character-Conduct and fate-Charles X. a soldier and conqueror-His wars and conquests-His wars with Denmark-His assault of Copenhagen-Slight success of Danes-Charles's mortification-His sudden death-The new dynasty begun in the person of Charles X.His character and education-His efforts to benefit his people-Regency for Charles XI.-The neglect of Regents-Indifference to young kingHis want of careful training-His mother-His character and conduct when he began to reign-His early love of amusement-His first experience of war-The defeat of Swedes in Germany-The bad condition of the army and fleet-The war with Denmark-Charles joins in General Peace of Europe-His attention to government-The Reduction of the old Crown Lands-The recovery of money from the late Regents -Use the money is put to-The conduct of Charles XI. to the nobility -His assumption of absolute power-His efforts to benefit the lower orders-The effects of a general famine-His death-Succeeded by his renowned son, Charles XII.

PART I.

THE ONLY SWEDISH QUEEN-REGNANT.

Christina, 1644-1654.-CHRISTINA, the only child and successor of Gustavus Adolphus, had been brought up by her

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aunt, Katerina, the Princess Palatine, until the death of the latter in 1639, and in the year 1644, when she reached the age of eighteen, the regency was absolved, and she began to rule in her own name. She had inherited much of her father's talent, and was perhaps the most learned and accomplished woman of her times. She had received the education of a man, and under the tuition of the learned Professor Matthiæ, she became an elegant scholar, and when she came to the throne she had read Thucydides and Polybius in the original, could write and speak Latin, French, German, and several other languages, and was familiar with the theology and philosophy taught in the universities of that age. She had great taste for the fine arts and for the pursuits of science, but while she encouraged scientific men at her court, she also spent money too recklessly in rewarding artistic merit of all kinds. From an early age she showed great penetration and insight into the characters and motives of other persons, and had a fascination of manner which won the confidence and devotion of those about her person. But as a dangerous drawback to her many splendid qualities, she had all the waywardness, caprice, restlessness of mind, fickleness and love of display for which her beautiful mother, Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg, had been noted. She lavished crown lands and the money of the state upon favourites, amongst whom the young and handsome Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie was the most noted. This nobleman, a son of the great general, De la Gardie, was sent on a costly embassy to Paris, and when the aged Chancellor, Oxenstjerna, and other experienced councillors remonstrated against his extravagance, the young queen declared that she would be held responsible for all his actions, besides which she gave him lands, which brought him an annual income of 80,000 rix dollars.

In the meanwhile the national Estates had been split up into parties, the aristocrats being led by Axel Oxenstjerna, and the democrats, with whom the queen sided, by Johan Skytte. The clergy struggled to maintain their independence under the oppressive patronage of the nobles, and the peasants agitated to recover some of the power which the great Gustavus Vasa had granted them, but which his successors had by degrees

taken from them. The kingdom was in a ferment, and a civil war seemed to be unavoidable. The council urged upon the queen to marry, and her cousin, Karl Gustaf of the Palatinate, entreated her to fulfil the promise which she had given him in earlier years of choosing him for her husband. At length, after showing great reluctance to consider the question of her marriage and the succession to the throne, she proposed him for her successor; and when pressed by the council and by the prince himself to give him her hand, she would only pledge herself so far as to declare that she would not make any other man her husband. After much opposition, Karl Gustaf was declared successor to the throne in the event of the queen having no children of her own, and when she had carried this point, she made magnificent preparations for her own coronation, and was crowned with more state than had as yet been seen in Sweden.

Christina's extravagance.-The few years of Christina's reign after her solemn coronation were disquieted by continued dissensions in the diet, attempts at revolts, and by a general distress, which was greatly increased by her profuse wastefulness and her reckless squandering of the property of the crown. As early as the year 1648 she had conceived the idea of abdicating, but being hindered by her old friends and councillors, she deferred carrying out her wishes till 1654. During that interval her conduct was such as to leave her people but little cause to regret the step she had resolved to take. Lands and titles and patents of nobility were scattered abroad among all classes, so that during her reign the Riddarhus was augmented by 32 new counts and barons and by the admission of the representatives of 428 freshly ennobled families, including the court tailor, Jan Holm, who assumed the proud name of Leijonkrona. The same baronies were so often disposed of by sale, that the matter was taken up by the council in 1651, when the clerk of a chancery secretary was publicly beheaded for having sold forty-two false patents.

Under the influence of the new favourites, Don Antonio Pimentelli, Spanish ambassador at her court, and her French physician, Bourdelot, Christina became more and more absorbed in frivolous pursuits; and finding the cares of govern

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