Sweden to raise fresh subsidies; but while engaged in strengthening his armies and fleets, he died suddenly of fever.—Charles X. was a ruler of great ability and unbounded ambition. He aspired to the sovereignty of the north of Europe. He purposed to extend the boundaries of Sweden from the gulf of Finland and Bothnia to the North sea; and according to the reports of the French ambassador, he cherished designs still more vast: when he had made himself master of the north, he would, like a second Alaric, descend upon Italy with a great army and navy, and bring Rome again under the power of the Goths. His life has been written by Pufendorf, De Rebus a Carolo Gustavo gestis (2 vols., Nuremberg, 1696); and in Swedish by Lundblad, who also translated the work into French (1825). He was succeeded by his infant son Charles XI. (born in 1655, died in 1697).
CHARLES XII., born in Stockholm, June 27, 1682, killed at the siege of the fortress of Frederikshald, Norway, Dec. 11, 1718. He was the eldest son of Charles XI. (1660-1697), a peaceful prince, who improved the internal condition of his kingdom, opened the succession to females, and left the crown with a full treasury to his son. Charles was well educated under the care of his father, and early acquired great facility in speaking French, German, and Latin; he had also a more than ordinary knowledge of history, geography, and mathematics, especially of the latter science; and it is said that his favorite work was Quintus Curtius's account of the victories of Alexander the Great, whose career his own so much resembled. He was but 15 years old when he was declared by the estates to have attained his majority, and succeeded to the throne (1697). At first he showed little inclination or aptitude for business, devoting himself mainly to bear hunting. But before he had been two years on the throne a league between Russia, Denmark, Saxony, and Poland was brought about by Patkul, a Livonian noble, who had been ill-used by Charles XI., and, flying to the Russians, had been condemned to death in contumaciam. Peter I. of Russia sent Patkul as his ambassador to Augustus of Saxony and Poland, and, taking advantage of the quarrel of Sweden with Livonia, occupied the shores of the gulf of Finland. Denmark had also been rendered hostile by the annexation of Schleswig-Holstein to Sweden, and the Danish troops invaded the territories of Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who had married Hedwig Sophia, the sister of Charles. Frederick repaired to Stockholm to demand the aid of Charles, who entered fully into the enterprise, obtained by the treaty of the Hague the aid of England and Holland, and assumed the initiative with great energy. In May, 1700, he embarked at Carlscrona for the island of Zealand, designing to attack Copenhagen with a fleet of 30 ships of the line, besides transports, assisted by a Dutch and English squadron. In his first engagement Charles gave evidence of the impetuous courage for which he was afterward distinguished; for, on nearing the place of disembarkation, he leaped into the sea, and was the first man on the enemy's soil. Copenhagen was bombarded by the fleets, and would have been invested and closely besieged, when further operations were terminated by negotiations, which had for their result the signing of a separate peace at Travendal (Aug. 8, 1700), Frederick IV. of Denmark deserting the coalition, and resigning Schleswig-Holstein to the house of Gottorp. In the mean time a Polish army had overrun Swedish Livonia, and laid siege to Riga, while Peter of Russia besieged Narva. The sword which Charles now drew was never again to be sheathed. From this time forth he affected the habits of an old campaigner; wine was banished from his board; coarse bread was often his only food, and he not unfrequently slept on the ground, wrapped in his heavy cloak. His dress, too, at a period when men of gentle birth paid the greatest attention to their apparel, and especially to the hair, was affectedly coarse and ultra-military. Without awaiting reinforcements, or losing any time, in the depth of winter he proceeded by forced marches across Livonia into Esthonia, where he attacked the Russian besieging army before Narva, with but 8,500 men against 50,000, and utterly defeated it, Nov. 30, 1700. Instead of following up his success, he turned aside to attack the Polish and Saxon armies, which were posted in a strong position on the Düna. On the first attack his men were repulsed with some loss; but rallying them in the middle of the stream, he reformed them in the channel of the river, and led them to a decisive victory. Shortly after this Augustus sent his mistress, Aurora von Königsmark, reputed the most beautiful woman in Europe, in the hope of entangling him in some intrigue; but Charles refused to see her. Another army was brought against him under the Saxon general Riese; but in vain, for Charles was everywhere victorious. At Kliszów, July 19, 1702, he gained another victory, which would have been decisive had not Charles been detained by a broken leg at Cracow, which delayed the campaign so much that, although he was closely pursued for four days by the Swedes under Rehnsköld, Augustus continually escaped, and afterward found a respite, owing to the invasion of Finland by the Russians, which required the whole attention of Charles till 1705. He thus wasted time in petty struggles with Poland and Saxony, allowing the young and growing colossus of the north to recuperate itself at its leisure, when he might have crushed the embryo power which in the end crushed himself. At this time, however, his thoughts seem to have been solely fixed on placing another king on the throne of Poland, young Sobieski having been surprised by Augustus at Ohlau in Silesia and carried into Saxony. Stanislas Leszcynski was
