Monarchy of Sweden This article is about the history, function and symbols Sweden has been a kingdom since prehistoric times. As of the Swedish monarchy as an institution. For a list of early as the 1st century, Tacitus wrote that the Suiones kings and queens regnant of Sweden, see List of Swedish had a king, but the order of succession up until King Eric monarchs. For a list of Swedish princes and princesses, the Victorious (died 995), is known almost exclusively past and present, see Swedish Royal Family. through accounts in historically controversial Norse sagas (see Mythical kings of Sweden and Semi-legendary kings ). The Monarchy of Sweden concerns the monarchical of Sweden head of state of Sweden,[3] which is a constitutional and Originally, the Swedish king had combined powers lim- hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.[4] The ited to that of a war chief, a judge and a priest at the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige) Temple at Uppsala (see Germanic king). However, there has been a monarchy since time immemorial. Originally are thousands of runestones commemorating common- an elective monarchy, it became an hereditary monar- ers, but no known chronicle about the Swedish kings prior chy only in the 16th century during the reign of Gustav to the 14th century (though a list of kings was added Vasa.[5] in the Westrogothic law), and there is a relatively small Sweden in the present day is a representative democracy amount of runestones that are thought mention kings: Gs in a parliamentary system based on popular sovereignty, 11 (Emund the Old), U 11 (Haakon the Red) and U 861 as defined in the current Instrument of Government (one (Blot-Sweyn). of the four Fundamental Laws of the Realm which makes About 1000 A.D., the first king known to rule both up the written constitution[6]). The role of the Monarch is Svealand and Götaland was Olof Skötkonung, but fur- to be a strictly ceremonial head of state, and have no part ther history for the next two centuries is obscure, with in the formal governance of the Realm.[7][8] The Monarch many kings whose tenures and actual influence/power is and the members of the Royal Family undertake a vari- unclear. The Royal Court of Sweden, however, does ety of official, unofficial and other representational duties count Olof’s father as Sweden’s first king. The power of within Sweden and abroad.[5] the king was greatly strengthened by the introduction of Carl XVI Gustaf became King on 15 September 1973 on Christianity during the 11th century, and the following the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf.[9] centuries saw a process of consolidation of power in the hands of the king. The king was traditionally elected from a favored dynasty at the Stones of Mora, and the people had the right to elect the king as well as depose him. The 1 History ceremonial stones were destroyed around 1515. In the 12th century, the consolidation of Sweden was Main article: History of Sweden still effected by dynastic struggles between the Erik and Sverker clans, which ended when a third clan married into the Erik clan and the House of Bjelbo was estab- lished on the throne. That dynasty formed a pre-Kalmar 1.1 Pre 16th century Union Sweden into a strong state, and finally king Magnus IV even ruled Norway and Scania. Following the Black Death, the union was weakened, and Scania was reunited with Denmark. In 1397, after the Black Death and domestic power strug- gles, Queen Margaret I of Denmark united Sweden, Den- mark and Norway (then including Finland and Iceland) in the Union of Kalmar with the approval of the Swedish nobility. Continual tension within each country and the union led to open conflict between the Swedes and the Danes in the 15th century. The union’s final disintegra- kunuki, i.e. konungi, the dative case for Old Norse konungr tion in the early 16th century led to prolonged rivalry be- (“king”). A runic inscription of the 11th century (U11) refers to tween Denmark-Norway and Sweden (with Finland) for King Håkan the Red. 1 2 1 HISTORY centuries to come. assessments per farm were adjusted to reflect ability to pay. Crown tax revenues increased, but more impor- tantly the new system was perceived as fairer. A war with 1.2 16th and 17th century changes Lübeck in 1535 resulted in the expulsion of the Hanseatic traders, who previously had had a monopoly on foreign trade. With its own burghers in charge, Sweden’s eco- nomic strength grew rapidly, and by 1544 Gustav con- trolled 60% of the farmlands in all of Sweden. Sweden now built the first modern army in Europe, supported by a sophisticated tax system and an efficient bureaucracy.[10] At the death of King Gustav I in 1560, he was succeeded by his oldest son Eric XIV. His reign was marked by Swe- den’s entrance into the Livonian War and the Northern Seven Years’ War, and combined effects of Eric’s de- veloping mental disorder and his opposition to the aris- tocracy, leading to the Sture Murders in 1567 and the imprisonment of his brother John (III), who was mar- ried to Catherine Jagiellon, sister of King Sigismund II of Poland.[11] In 1568 he was dethroned and succeeded by John III. In domestic politics John III showed clear Catholic sympathies, inspired by his queen, creating fric- tion with the Swedish clergy and nobility. He reintro- duced several Catholic traditions previously abolished, and his foreign policy was affected by his family connec- tion to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where his eldest son had been made King Sigismund III in 1587.[n 3] Following the death of his father, Sigismund tried to rule Sweden from Poland, leaving Sweden under the control of a regent — his paternal uncle (Gustav I’s youngest son) Gustav I, portrayed here in 1542 by Jakob Binck, legally created Charles (IX) — but was unable to defend his Swedish the hereditary monarchy and organized the Swedish unitary state. throne against the ambitions of his uncle. In 1598 Sigis- mund and his Swedish-Polish army was defeated at the Catholic bishops had supported the King of Denmark, Battle of Stångebro by the forces of Charles, and he was Christian II, but he was overthrown in a rebellion led by declared deposed by the Estates in 1599. nobleman Gustav Vasa, whose father had been executed In 1604, the Estates finally recognized the regent and de at the Stockholm bloodbath. Gustav Vasa (hereinafter re- facto ruler as King Charles IX. His short reign was one ferred to as Gustav I) was elected King of Sweden by the of uninterrupted warfare. The hostility of Poland and the Estates of the Realm, assembled in Strängnäs on 6 June breakup of Russia involved him in overseas contests for 1523. the possession of Livonia and Ingria, the Polish–Swedish Inspired by the teachings of Martin Luther, Gustav I War (1600–1611) and the Ingrian War, while his preten- used the Protestant Reformation to curb the power of sions to claim Lapland brought on a war with Denmark [n 4] the Roman Catholic Church. In 1527 he persuaded the (Kalmar War) in the last year of his reign. Estates of the Realm, assembled in the city of Västerås, Gustavus Adolphus inherited three wars from his father to confiscate church lands, which comprised 21% of the when he ascended to the throne. From 1612, when Count country’s farmland. At the same time, he broke with Axel Oxenstierna was appointed Lord High Chancellor, the papacy and established a reformed state church: the which he remained until Gustavus Adolphus’s death, the Church of Sweden.[n 1] Throughout his reign, Gustav I two men struck a long and successful partnership and suppressed both aristocratic and peasant opposition to complemented each other well: In Oxenstierna’s own his ecclesiastical policies and efforts at centralisation, words, his “cool” balanced the King’s “heat”.[12][13] The which to some extent laid the foundation for the mod- war against Russia (the Ingrian War) ended in 1617 ern Swedish unitary state. Legally Sweden has only been with the Treaty of Stolbovo, which excluded Russia a hereditary monarchy since 1544 when the Riksdag of from the Baltic Sea. The final inherited war, the war the Estates, through Västerås arvförening, designated the against Poland, ended in 1629 with the Truce of Alt- sons of King Gustav I as the heirs to the Throne. [n 2] mark, which transferred the large province of Livonia to Tax reforms took place in 1538 and 1558, whereby mul- Sweden and freed the Swedish forces for subsequent in- tiple complex taxes on independent farmers were sim- tervention in the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, where plified and standardised throughout the district and tax Swedish forces had already established a bridgehead in 1.2 16th and 17th century changes 3 man conquests (Bremen-Verden and Swedish Pomerania) that were made.[n 7] After having decided not to get mar- ried, Christina abdicated the throne on 5 June 1654, in favor of her cousin Charles Gustav[n 8], went abroad and converted to Roman Catholicism. The Lion of the North: King Gustavus Adolphus depicted at the turning point of the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) against the forces of Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly. Charles XI at the Battle of Lund in 1676. Painting by David 1628. Brandenburg was torn apart by a quarrel between Klöcker Ehrenstrahl. the Protestants and the Catholics. When Gustavus Adol- phus began his push into northern Germany in June–July The Estates elected Charles X Gustav as their new King 1630, he had just 4,000 troops.