The New International Encyclopædia/Charles X. Gustavus

CHARLES X. GUSTAVUS (1622-60). King of Sweden from 1654 to 1660. He was born at Nyköping, November 8, 1622, the son of Catharine, eldest sister of Gustavus Adolphus, and of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (Deux Ponts). After studying at the University of Upsala, he traveled through France, Germany, and Switzerland, and joined the army of Torstenson (q.v.) in 1642. He fought at the battles of Jankau and Leipzig, and at the close of the Thirty Years' War was the representative of Queen Christina at the conference held subsequent to the Treaty of Westphalia. On the abdication of Christina he succeeded, June 16, 1654, to the throne of a kingdom in an almost bankrupt condition. In 1655 Charles invaded Poland, whose King, John Casimir, indulged in pretensions to the Swedish Crown, compelled the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William, to enter into an alliance with him, defeated the Polish army in a great battle at Warsaw (July 28-30, 1656) and overran the country, but retired when Russia and Austria prepared to assist the Poles, while the King of Denmark invaded the Swedish territories in Germany. He attacked Denmark in 1658, crossing the Little Belt on the ice, and secured for Sweden the provinces of Scania, Halland, and Bleking. Renewing the war in the same year, Charles laid siege to Copenhagen. The Dutch came to the assistance of the Danes and defeated the Swedish fleet, and in 1659 Charles had to abandon the siege. At the same time his forces were defeated in Pomerania by the Elector of Brandenburg, who had turned against him. Charles died in Gothenburg, February 13, 1660. Consult Geijer and Carlson, Geschichte Schwedens, Vol. IV. (Gotha, 1855-75).