'THE DELUGE' (1655-1660) —When Sweden Overwhelmed Poland
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IMAGES: DARIUSZ CABALLERTOS-BLOGGER IMAGES: DARIUSZ Paintings by Dutch artist Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668) of Polish-Swedish “Deluge’”. Swedish soldiers in blue and yellow colors, Polish soldiers in red or crimson. (1655-1660) — When Sweden overwhelmed Poland ‘THE DELUGE’ By John Bechtel he 17th century is considered one of the most catastrophic in global rode, plunder was their pay. recorded history for warfare, religious hatred, famine, natural disasters, Serfs remained with the land when Freelance Writer and disease. In Europe, only three of 100 years were without war! The the property was bought, sold, traded, T30 Years War, from 1618 to 1648, is generally considered one of the most or confiscated. Peasants were equally depraved, barbarous, and useless conflagrations in the history of the world. poor but enjoyed greater autonomy Note to our readers: It was as if the world had just achieved adolescence with a horrific, terminal to relocate if they could find the Our story involves states that are case of acne. It was however, out of this boiling cauldron that Sweden rose as means to do so. All preferred to live known today as Germany, the Netherlands, one of the great powers of Europe, and simultaneously the Polish-Lithuanian near fortified castles behind whose Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Commonwealth, by far the largest state in Europe, began a long decline walls they could flee for protection Turkey and France. Complicating our task is and eventually disappeared from the map altogether. The story of this 17th if word arrived, again on horseback, the fact that during much of early modern century brings us some surprises, explains a lot about how we got here, and that trouble was on its way. Gangs history these nation-states were still in also reminds us of a dismaying truth: the political boundaries and place of bandits, marauders, and ordinary the process of formation and, except for names may have evolved, but human nature has not. We learn from history in murderers were distinguished from France, some were not well known by their our endless efforts to not repeat it. armies by the sheer numbers of the current names. We also need to note at In the early 17th century there was little centralized power, and in most latter, their orderly formations, and the outset that there are multiple spellings regions power was loosely based on land forcibly occupied by knights and their occasional possession of cannon for all of the place and people names, warrior leaders. Might made right, and the winners took all and hung on for knocking down walls of castles. such as Casimir and Kasimir, Khmelnitsky to their gains as long as they could. Mercenary armies fought wars, usually, Political identity and loyalty were and Chmielnicki, tsar and czar, Tatar and unpaid soldiers whose reward was plunder. Even today in all parts of the more directed to the leader of the Tartar, Hapsburg and Habsburg. Finally, a world there exists vast family wealth that has its origins in and is a vestige of military unit rather than unformed word of caution about dynastic names that conquest and pillage of foreign territories from bygone generations. or inchoate nationhood, and it was include Roman numerals: the numbers in Surprisingly, war did not interfere that much with daily existence in the not uncommon for a Frenchman to the names come from a variety of sources 17th century, the period that is the focus of this article. Life during war was lead an invasion into France, or a Pole SPAINFORUM MAP: Europe configuration at the beginning of the 17th century. and do not necessarily indicate any birth not that different from life in peace, except for the intensity and frequency of to participate in subduing Poland. order in the dynasty. So, Charles IX might theft, murder, rape, cruelty, torture, and famine. Even in peacetime, travelers Soldiering was a way to eat and Germanic people. There was little that wealth by the number of the peasants have lived after Charles X! Alternatively, could lose count of all the gallows with decaying corpses or wheels with broken survive, and for the lucky few, to be could be called patriotism. on their land. There was a built-in there might be more than one John III. For bodies they encountered on the road. People lived in small villages often vast rewarded with lands and peasants of For the nobles, the land was the incentive to invade neighboring areas this reason,I add the Roman numerals in distances from other communities. War was a lottery. News traveled very their own. When Sweden invaded the currency of wealth, because with as the only means to prosper. It was parentheses or leave them out altogether slowly, and existence would continue as usual—until it didn’t, and unknown Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in it came the peasants who tilled the incumbent on the nobles to protect if not necessary for reader comprehension. armed men showed up on horses in your village to rape, kill, and burn the mid-17th century, most of their ground and fed everyone else. The their peasants in exchange for their everything they couldn’t steal, to the ground. Regardless of in whose name they soldiers were Prussians and other hired nobles counted and compared their (Continued on page 18) 1^ FALL 2018 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | FALL 2018 1& (Continued from page 17) Keeping wealth within noble families ended up in prison in Sweden, with superheated embers burst into flames labor; this was the unarticulated social was inevitable. By the early 1600s, the John being tried for treason. While in in an orgy of bloodletting that came to contract. Peasants generally accepted greatest of these was the Hapsburg prison Catherine gave birth to a son, be known as the Thirty Years War. their lot in life, and envy of others was Empire, based in Austria and which Sigismund (III, of course). Historians credit King Gustavus limited to those in one’s social class. reached to Spain, Portugal, parts of John was freed by the nobles, Adolphus with establishing Sweden as Fear, habit and predictability were the the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, whereupon he deposed and imprisoned a world power, and he became famous opioids that made servility sustainable. Germany and the current Czech his brother Eric, and became king with his military victories in Europe’s Republic, parts of northern and all of Sweden, to continue the Vasa Thirty Year War, from 1618 to 1648. The rise of royal families of southern Italy, Chile, Peru, Brazil, line. His wife Catherine exerted He is considered the father of modern By the early 1600s, Europe had a and Mexico. The Austrian Hapsburgs considerable influence in Swedish warfare, Sweden’s warrior king. When population of perhaps forty million were Catholic and they competed foreign affairs, had her own chapel, he rose to power at the age of 16, peasants and only a few hundred with the Italian Roman Catholics for and maintained her own staff including Sweden was engaged in three different noble families. Marriages between control of territory and influence. The monks and priests. She initiated a wars simultaneously. such families were used to consolidate Catholic Church was divided, and their counter reformation in Sweden, even land ownership and power, and Protestant enemies were equally divided, attempting (and failing) to convert her unsurprisingly, the supply of potential between the Lutherans and Calvinists. husband to Catholicism. As a matter of fact, after Catherine died, John married PHOTO: WWW.EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: mates was limited. There were WWW.EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: familial connections between all the Sweden King Gustav Vasa I Queen Catherine, wife of John III an ardent Protestant. royal families on the continent, and Sweden became a modern state Sigismund (III) was raised a marriages within immediate family about 1523, beginning with Gustav strict Catholic by his mother and his members were so common that cousins Vasa, also known as Gustav (I), the most trusted advisors were Jesuits were also in-laws. You were expected to founder of the House of Vasa, and (the Roman Catholic Society of mate within your class. who broke Sweden’s relationship with Jesus). Already an heir apparent to Peasant loyalties attached to family the Roman Catholic Church. Gustav’s the Swedish throne, Sigismund was names, and so the family names of son, Eric (XIV), acceded to the elected by the Polish-Lithuanian Bourbon and Hapsburg meant more Swedish throne. Eric’s brother John’s Commonwealth to be their king. A few than France and Austria. Palaces (III) greatest achievement seems to years later, when he also inherited the provided not only protection for the have been his marriage to Catherine, Swedish crown, Sigismund sought to masses, but also emphasized the social a strong-willed Polish Catholic and return Sweden to the Catholic Church, distance between classes. Nobility and the sister of the then king of Poland, and he briefly succeeded in creating a personal union between Sweden and WWW.EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: royalty benefitted by the cultivation Sigismund (II). Eric was very opposed King Gustavus Adolphus of adoration and otherworldly to their marriage because of Catherine’s the Commonwealth. If the political mystification; they may not have been religion. The couple set up house in map of that time had endured to King Gustavus was justifiably proud gods, but they were next in line. Their Turku, Finland, where John was the this day, Sweden, by whatever name, of his achievements, and he had an ostentation and comings and goings autonomous ruler, and she became would extend from the northern Baltic eye to his place in history and began PHOTO: WWW.EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: provided distractions for the masses of the Duchess of Finland.