Gustav III of Sweden
Encyclopedia
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick
and Queen Louise Ulrica
of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia.
A vocal opponent of, as he saw it, abuses by the nobility of a permissiveness established by parliamentarian reforms that had been worked out since the death of Charles XII
, he seized power from the government in a coup d'état
in 1772, ending the Age of Liberty and venturing into a campaign to restore royal autocracy
which was completed by the Union and Security Act in 1789, sweeping away most of the last pretences of Riksdag rule. As a bulwark of enlightened despotism, his expenditure of considerable public funds on cultural ventures contributed to his controversial majesty. Attempts to seize first Norway through Russian aid, then to recapture the Baltic provinces through a war against Russia were unsuccessful, although much of Sweden's former military might was restored. An admirer of Voltaire
, Gustav legalized Catholic
and Jewish presence in the realm and enacted wide-ranging reforms aimed at economic liberalism
, social reform and the abolishment, in many cases, of torture
and capital punishment
(although freedom of the press was curtailed).
Following the uprising in France towards monarchy
, Gustav pursued an alliance of monarchs aimed at crushing the insurrection and reinstate his French counterpart, Louis XVI, offering Swedish contributions as well as his leadership. He was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen claiming only to commit tyrannicide
, although later research has revealed more personal motives.
A patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature, Gustav founded several academies, among them the Swedish Academy
, created a National Costume
and had the Royal Swedish Opera
built. In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa
to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had helped to advance process in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.
Gustav, by the Grace of God, of the Swedes, the Goths
and the Vends
King, Grand Prince of Finland
, Duke of Pomerania
, Prince
of Rügen
and Lord
of Wismar
, Heir to Norway
and Duke
of Schleswig-Holstein
, Stormarn
and Dithmarschen
, Count
of Oldenburg
and Delmenhorst
, etc. etc.
and Carl Fredrik Scheffer; but he owed most perhaps to the poet and historian Olof von Dalin
.
The interference of the state with his education, when he was quite a child was however doubly harmful, as his parents taught him to despise the preceptors imposed upon him by the Estates of the Realm
, and the atmosphere of intrigue and duplicity in which he grew up made him precociously experienced in the art of dissimulation.
But even his most hostile teachers were amazed by the alliance of his natural gifts, and, while still a boy, he possessed that charm of manner which was to make him so fascinating and so dangerous in later life, coupled with the strong dramatic instinct which won for him his honourable place in Swedish literature.
On the whole, Gustav cannot be said to have been well educated, but he read very widely; there was scarcely a French
author of his day with whose works he was not intimately acquainted; while his enthusiasm for the new French ideas of enlightenment
was as sincere as, if more critical than, his mother's.
, Copenhagen
, on 1 October 1766 and in person in Stockholm
on 4 November 1766, Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark
. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temper; but still more to the interference of the jealous Queen Mother. The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf
(1778–1837), and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland (Drottningholm
, 25 August 1782 – Stockholm, 23 March 1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king requested the assistance of Adolf Munck
, reportedly because of anatomical problems both spouses possessed. Gustav's mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustav indulged in homosexuality
. The close personal relationships he formed with two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt
, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law implied as much in a diary. Professor Erik Lönnroth
of the Swedish Academy
has concluded that there is no factual basis for the assumption that Gustav III was homosexual.
faction
to summon an extraordinary diet
from which he hoped for the reform of the constitution
in a monarchical direction. But the victorious Hat party
refused to redeem the pledges which they had given before the elections. "That we should have lost the constitutional battle does not distress us so much", wrote Gustav, in the bitterness of his heart; "but what does dismay me is to see my poor nation so sunk in corruption as to place its own felicity in absolute anarchy."
He was an enthusiast of Sweden's national history, and proudly held in memory that he descended, through his paternal grandmother, from the House of Vasa
: from King Gustav I of Sweden
and from a sister of Charles X Gustav of Sweden
.
From 4 February to 25 March 1771, Gustav was in Paris
, where he carried both the court and the city by storm. The poets and the philosophers paid him enthusiastic homage, and distinguished women testified to his superlative merits. With many of them he maintained a lifelong correspondence. His visit to the French capital was, however, no mere pleasure trip; it was also a political mission. Confidential agents from the Swedish court had already prepared the way for him, and the Duke of Choiseul
had resolved to discuss with him the best method of bringing about a revolution in France's ally, Sweden. Before he departed, the French government undertook to pay the outstanding subsidies to Sweden unconditionally, at the rate of one and a half million livres annually; and Count de Vergennes
, one of the great names of French diplomacy, was transferred from Constantinople
to Stockholm
.
On his way home Gustav paid a short visit to his uncle, Frederick the Great, at Potsdam
. Frederick bluntly informed his nephew that, in concert with Russia and Denmark, he had guaranteed the integrity of the existing Swedish constitution, and significantly advised the young monarch to play the part of mediator and abstain from violence.
(parliament) with a speech which aroused powerful emotions. It was the first time for more than a century that a Swedish king had addressed a Swedish Riksdag in its native tongue. He stressed the need for all parties to sacrifice their animosities for the common good, and volunteered, as "the first citizen of a free people," to be the mediator between the contending factions. A composition committee was actually formed, but it proved illusory from the first, the patriotism of neither of the factions being equal to the puniest act of self-denial. The subsequent attempts of the dominant Caps to reduce him to a roi fainéant (a powerless king), encouraged him to consider a coup.
Under the sway of the Cap faction, Sweden seemed threatened with falling prey to Russia. It appeared on the point of being absorbed in that "Northern System" which the Russian vice-chancellor, Count Nikita Panin
, strove to bring about. It seemed that only a swift and sudden coup d'état
could preserve Sweden's independence.
At this juncture Gustav III was approached by Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten
, a Finnish nobleman, who had incurred the enmity of the Caps, with the project of a revolution. He undertook to seize the fortress of Sveaborg by a coup de main
, and once Finland was secured, to embark for Sweden, join up with the king and his friends near Stockholm
, and force the estates
to accept a new constitution from the untrammelled king.
The plotters were at this juncture reinforced by Johan Christopher Toll
, also a victim of Cap oppression. Toll proposed to raise a second revolt in the province of Scania
, and to secure the southern fortress of Kristianstad
. After some debate, it was finally arranged that, a few days after the Finnish revolt had begun, Kristianstad should openly declare against the government.
Duke Charles (Karl)
, the eldest of the king's brothers, would thereupon be forced to hastily mobilize the garrisons of all the southern fortresses, for the ostensible purpose of crushing the revolt at Kristianstad; but on arriving before the fortress he was to make common cause with the rebels, and march upon the capital from the south, while Sprengtporten attacked it simultaneously from the east.
The entire revolutionary enterprise was underwritten with loans procured from the French financier Nicolas Beaujon
, arranged by the Swedish ambassador to France, Count Creutz
.
On 6 August 1772 Toll succeeded, by sheer bluff, in winning the fortress of Kristianstad. On 16 August Sprengtporten succeeded in surprising Sveaborg. But contrary winds prevented him from crossing to Stockholm, and in the meanwhile events had occurred which made his presence there unnecessary.
On 16 August, the Cap leader, Ture Rudbeck, arrived at Stockholm with the news of the insurrection in the south, and Gustav found himself isolated in the midst of enemies. Sprengtporten lay weather-bound in Finland, Toll was five hundred miles away, the Hat leaders were in hiding. Gustav thereupon resolved to strike the decisive blow without waiting for the arrival of Sprengtporten.
He acted promptly. On the evening of 18 August all the officers whom he thought he could trust received secret instructions to assemble in the great square facing the arsenal on the following morning. At ten o'clock on 19 August Gustav mounted his horse and rode straight to the arsenal. On the way his adherents joined him in little groups, as if by accident, so that by the time he reached his destination he had about two hundred officers in his suite.
After parade he reconducted them to the guard-room, which is located in the north western wing of the palace and it is where the Guard of Honour had, and has, its headquarters, and unfolded his plans to them. He told the assembled officers that:
"If you follow me, just like your ancestors followed Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, then I will risk my life and blood for you and the salvation of the fatherland!"
A young ensign then spoke up:
"We are willing to sacrifice both blood and life in Your Majesty's service!"
Gustav then dictated a new oath of allegiance
, and every one signed it without hesitation. It absolved them from their allegiance to the estates, and bound them solely to obey "their lawful king, Gustav III".
Meanwhile the Privy Council
and its president, Rudbeck, had been arrested and the fleet secured. Then Gustav made a tour of the city and was everywhere received by enthusiastic crowds, who hailed him as a deliverer. A special song was also composed by Carl Mikael Bellman called Toast to King Gustav!
On the evening of 20 August heralds perambulated the streets proclaiming that the estates were to meet at the Palace on the following day; every deputy absenting himself would be regarded as the enemy of his country and his king, and on 21 August, a few moments after the estates had assembled, the king in full regalia appeared, and taking his seat on the throne, delivered his famous philippic
, viewed as one of the masterpieces of Swedish oratory, in which he reproached the estates for their unpatriotic venality and license in the past.
Part of the speech by Gustav III to the Estates;
...have given birth to hatred, hatred to revenge, revenge to persecution, persecution to new revolutions which finally has passed into a period of disease, which has wounded and degraded the whole nation. The ambition and lust for glory in a few people has damaged the realm, and blood has been shed by both parties, and the result of this has been the suffering of the people. To establish their own power base, has been the rulers’ sole goal, often at the cost of other citizens, and always at the cost of the nation. In times when the law was clear, the law has been distorted, and when this was not possible, it was broken. Nothing has been sacred to a populace bent on hatred and revenge, and the lunacy has finally reached as far, so as one has assumed members of parliament to be above the law, them not having any other guidance than their own conscience. By this Freedom, the most noble of human rights, has been transformed by an unbearable aristocratic despotism in the hands of the ruling party, which in its self has been subdued by a few...
A new Constitution was read to the estates and unanimously accepted by them. The diet was then dissolved.
. Criminal justice became more lenient, the death penalty was restricted to a relatively short list of crimes (including murder), and torture was finally abolished in order to gain confessions, although "strict death penalty" was maintained.
He took an active part in every department of business, but relied far on extra-official counsellors of his own choosing rather than upon the senate
. The effort to remedy the widespread corruption that had flourished under the Hats and Caps engaged a considerable share of his time and he even found it necessary to put on trial the entire Göta Hovrätt, the superior court of justice in Jönköping
.
Measures were also taken to reform the administration and judicial procedures. In 1774 an ordinance was proclaimed providing for the liberty of the press, though "within certain limits". The national defences were raised to a "Great Power" scale, and the navy was so enlarged as to become one of the most formidable in Europe
. The dilapidated finances were set in good order by the "currency realization ordinance" of 1776.
Gustav also introduced new national economic policies. In 1775 free trade in grain
was promoted and a number of oppressive export tolls were abolished. The poor law
was amended, limited religious liberty was proclaimed for both Roman Catholics and Jews, and Gustav even designed and popularized a national costume
, which was in general use among the upper classes from 1778 until his death. (It is still worn by the ladies of the court on state occasions.) The king's one great economic blunder was the attempt to make the sale of alcohol
a government monopoly, which clearly infringed upon the privileges of the estates.
His foreign policy, on the other hand, was at first both restrained and cautious. Thus, when the king summoned the estates to assemble at Stockholm on 3 September 1778, he could give a highly positive account of his six years' stewardship. The parliament was quite obsequious towards the king. "There was no room for a single question during the whole session."
Short as the session was, it was quite long enough to open the eyes of the deputies to the fact that their political supremacy had departed. They had changed places with the king. He was now indeed their sovereign lord; and, for all his gentleness, the jealousy with which he guarded, the vigour with which he enforced the prerogative, plainly showed that he meant to remain so.
Even those who were prepared to acquiesce in the change by no means liked it. If the diet of 1778 had been docile, the diet of 1786 was mutinous. The consequence was that nearly all the royal propositions were either rejected outright or so modified that Gustav himself withdrew them.
Earlier in foreign affairs, however, and privately, Gustav had shown considerable interest in the American Revolution
and had this to say about it in October of 1776:
.
At the same time his foreign policy became more adventurous. At first he sought to gain Russian support to acquire Norway
from Denmark
. When Catherine II refused to abandon her ally Denmark, Gustav declared war on Russia in June 1788, while it was deeply engaged in a war with the Ottoman Empire
to the south. In embarking on a war of aggression without the consent of the estates, Gustav violated his own constitution of 1772 – which led to a serious mutiny, the Anjala Conspiracy
, among his aristocratic officers in Finland
. Denmark declared war in support of its Russian ally, but was soon neutralized through British
and Prussia
n diplomacy.
Returning to Sweden, Gustav aroused popular indignation against the mutinous, aristocratic officers, ultimately quelled their rebellion, and arrested its leaders. Capitalizing on the powerful anti-aristocratic passions thus aroused, Gustav summoned a Riksdag early in 1789, at which he put through an Act of Union and Security
on 17 February 1789 with the backing of the three lower estates. This powerfully reinforced monarchical authority, even though the estates retained the power of the purse. In return, Gustav abolished most of the old privileges of the nobility.
Throughout 1789 and 1790 Gustav conducted the war with Russia, at first leaning towards disaster before successfully breaking a blockade by the Russian fleet in the Battle of Svensksund
on 9 July, regarded as the greatest naval victory ever gained by the Swedish Navy
. The Russians lost one-third of their fleet and 7,000 men. A month later, on 14 August 1790, peace was signed between Russia and Sweden at Värälä
. Only eight months before, Catherine had declared that "the odious and revolting aggression" of the king of Sweden would be "forgiven" only if he "testified his repentance" by agreeing to a peace granting a general and unlimited amnesty to all his rebels, and consenting to a guarantee by the Swedish diet ("as it would be imprudent to confide in his good faith alone") for the observance of peace in the future. The Treaty of Värälä
saved Sweden from any such humiliating concession, and in October 1791 Gustav concluded an eight years' defensive alliance with the empress, who thereby bound herself to pay her new ally an annual subsidy of 300,000 roubles.
Gustav now aimed at forming a league of princes against the revolutionary government in France, and subordinated every other consideration to this goal. His profound knowledge of popular assemblies enabled him, alone among contemporary sovereigns, accurately to gauge from the first the scope and bearing of the French Revolution
. He was, however, hampered by poverty and the lack of support from the other European Powers, and, after the brief Gävle
diet 22 January–24 February 1792, he fell victim to a widespread conspiracy
among his aristocratic enemies.
Soon upon entering, he was surrounded by Anckarström
and his co-conspirators Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. The king was easily spotted, mainly due to the breast star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim which glowed in silver upon his cape. The conspirators were all wearing black masks and accosted him in French with the words:
Anckarström moved in behind the King and fired a pistol-shot into the left side of his back. The King jumped aside, crying in French:
The King was immediately carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning, and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.
The king had not been shot dead, but was alive, and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected and on 29 March he finally died, his last words being:
Ulrica Arfvidsson
, the famous medium
of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction about it in 1786 when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence, but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and was in fact interrogated about the murder.
His historical essays, notably the famous anonymous eulogy on Lennart Torstenson
crowned by the Swedish Academy
, which he established in 1786, are full of feeling and exquisite in style, his letters to his friends are delightful. Every branch of literature and the arts interested him, every poet and artist of his day found in him a liberal and sympathetic protector.
Gustav was also active as a playwright. He is largely credited with creating the Royal Theatre, (Kungliga Teatern) , where his own historical dramas were performed, and he promoted the careers of many native singers and actor
s, among them the dramatic stars Fredrique Löwen
and Lars Hjortsberg
and the operatic stars Elisabeth Olin
and Christoffer Christian Karsten
, by letting them perform in his plays or in his commissioned operas, respectively. In 1773 he founded the Royal Swedish Opera
and the Royal Swedish Ballet
, under the umbrella of his Royal Theatre (Kungliga Teatern). A new opera house was built in 1775 and inaugurated in 1782, connected to the Stockholm Palace
by the Norrbro
bridge. Until 1788 also Drama
was performed in the opera house; Gustav III then founded a separate entity for drama, the Royal Dramatic Theatre
with a new building behind the Royal Swedish Opera
house.
He became a Freemason in 1780, and introduced the Rite of Strict Observance
into Sweden. That year, he named his brother, the Duke of Södermanland
(later Charles XIII), to the office of Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of Sweden. The Grand Lodge conferred upon him the title "Vicarius Salomonis" (Vicar of Solomon).
and Georg Joseph Vogler
as well as Joseph Martin Kraus
. All of them succeeded in the attempt to combine their musical origin with the national dramatic style which, sometimes, was overseen by the king (notably in the layout of the libretto
for the opera Gustav Wasa from 1786).
It was in the foyer of the opera house where King Gustav III met his fate: during a masquerade on March 16, 1792, he was shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström
, and died 13 days later. The assassination of Gustav III became the basis of an opera libretto by Scribe
, set by both Daniel Auber
in 1833 under the title Gustave III
, and, with the specifics changed by censorship
, by Giuseppe Verdi
in 1859 as Un ballo in maschera
(A Masked Ball).
It is widely agreed that the contribution and dedication of Gustav III to the performing arts in Sweden, notably the building of the theatre houses as well as the foundation of a national theatre company, has been crucial and vital to the Swedish culture up and until today.
The era of opera during his time is referred to today as the Gustavian Opera.
island of Saint-Barthélemy from France
, in exchange for French trading rights in Gothenburg
.
The island's capital bears up to the present the name Gustavia in honour of Gustav III. Though it was sold back to France in 1878, many streets and locations there still bear Swedish names. Also, the Swedish national arms, the three crowns along with the grey heron, still appear in the island's coat of arms.
, the Government of Gustav III agreed to sponsor William Bolts
's proposal for an equivalent colonisation venture in Nuyts Land (the south-western coast of Australia
). The war with Russia caused this venture to be abandoned.
Adolf Frederick of Sweden
Adolf Frederick or Adolph Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach....
and Queen Louise Ulrica
Louisa Ulrika of Prussia
Louisa Ulrika of Prussia was Queen of Sweden between 1751 and 1771 as the spouse of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden, and queen mother during the reign of King Gustav III of Sweden.-Background:...
of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia.
A vocal opponent of, as he saw it, abuses by the nobility of a permissiveness established by parliamentarian reforms that had been worked out since the death of Charles XII
Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII also Carl of Sweden, , Latinized to Carolus Rex, Turkish: Demirbaş Şarl, also known as Charles the Habitué was the King of the Swedish Empire from 1697 to 1718...
, he seized power from the government in a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in 1772, ending the Age of Liberty and venturing into a campaign to restore royal autocracy
Autocracy
An autocracy is a form of government in which one person is the supreme power within the state. It is derived from the Greek : and , and may be translated as "one who rules by himself". It is distinct from oligarchy and democracy...
which was completed by the Union and Security Act in 1789, sweeping away most of the last pretences of Riksdag rule. As a bulwark of enlightened despotism, his expenditure of considerable public funds on cultural ventures contributed to his controversial majesty. Attempts to seize first Norway through Russian aid, then to recapture the Baltic provinces through a war against Russia were unsuccessful, although much of Sweden's former military might was restored. An admirer of Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, Gustav legalized Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and Jewish presence in the realm and enacted wide-ranging reforms aimed at economic liberalism
Economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in giving all people economic freedom, and as such granting people with more basis to control their own lives and make their own mistakes. It is an economic philosophy that supports and promotes individual liberty and choice in economic matters and...
, social reform and the abolishment, in many cases, of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
(although freedom of the press was curtailed).
Following the uprising in France towards monarchy
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, Gustav pursued an alliance of monarchs aimed at crushing the insurrection and reinstate his French counterpart, Louis XVI, offering Swedish contributions as well as his leadership. He was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen claiming only to commit tyrannicide
Tyrannicide
Tyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant, or one who has committed the act. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good. The term "tyrannicide" does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict...
, although later research has revealed more personal motives.
A patron of the arts and benefactor of arts and literature, Gustav founded several academies, among them the Swedish Academy
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
, created a National Costume
Nationella dräkten
Nationella dräkten is a historic Swedish costume, designed by King Gustav III and introduced in 1778. It was designed for the nobility and the middle class with the intention of limiting rising consumption and import of luxury within fashion, which was considered a drain on the economy and...
and had the Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera
Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...
built. In 1772 he founded the Royal Order of Vasa
Order of Vasa
The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...
to acknowledge and reward those Swedes who had helped to advance process in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce.
Royal title
Gustav III was known in Sweden and abroad by his Royal Titles, or styles. These were:Gustav, by the Grace of God, of the Swedes, the Goths
King of the Goths
The title of King of the Goths was for many centuries borne by both the Kings of Sweden and the Kings of Denmark, denoting sovereignty or claimed sovereignty over the antique people of the Goths....
and the Vends
King of the Wends
The title of King of the Wends denoted sovereignty or claims over once-Slavic lands of southern coasts of the Baltic Sea, those otherwise called Mecklenburg, Holstein and Pomerania, and was used from 12th century to 1972 by Kings of Denmark and from ca 1540 to 1973 by the Kings of Sweden.The...
King, Grand Prince of Finland
Grand Prince of Finland
Grand duke of Finland, was from around 1580 to 1809 a title in use by most Swedish monarchs. Between 1809 and 1917, it was the official title of the head of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, who was the Emperor of Russia. The anachronistic female form of the title in English is usually Grand...
, Duke of Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts...
, Prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
of Rügen
Rügen
Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
and Lord
Lord
Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a prince or a feudal superior . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'by courtesy'...
of Wismar
Wismar
Wismar , is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of Lübeck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin. Its natural harbour, located in the Bay of Wismar is well-protected by a promontory. The...
, Heir to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, Stormarn
Stormarn
Stormarn is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Segeberg and Ostholstein, the city of Lübeck, the district of Lauenburg, and the city-state of Hamburg.-History:...
and Dithmarschen
Dithmarschen
Dithmarschen is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the state of Lower Saxony , and by the North Sea.-Geography:The district is located on the North Sea...
, Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
of Oldenburg
Oldenburg
Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
and Delmenhorst
Delmenhorst
Delmenhorst is an urban district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located 10 km/6 miles west of downtown Bremen with which it forms a contiguous urban area, whereas the city of Oldenburg is 25 km/15 miles to the northwest. The city has a total area of 62.36 km²...
, etc. etc.
Education
Gustav was educated under the care of two governors who were amongst the most eminent Swedish statesmen of the day, Carl Gustaf TessinCarl Gustaf Tessin
Count Carl Gustaf Tessin was a Swedish politician and son of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and Hedvig Eleonora Stenbock.-Life:Carl Gustaf Tessin was born in Stockholm...
and Carl Fredrik Scheffer; but he owed most perhaps to the poet and historian Olof von Dalin
Olof von Dalin
Olof von Dalin was a Swedish nobleman, poet, historian and courtier. He was an influential literary figure of the Swedish Enlightenment.-Background:...
.
The interference of the state with his education, when he was quite a child was however doubly harmful, as his parents taught him to despise the preceptors imposed upon him by the Estates of the Realm
Riksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
, and the atmosphere of intrigue and duplicity in which he grew up made him precociously experienced in the art of dissimulation.
But even his most hostile teachers were amazed by the alliance of his natural gifts, and, while still a boy, he possessed that charm of manner which was to make him so fascinating and so dangerous in later life, coupled with the strong dramatic instinct which won for him his honourable place in Swedish literature.
On the whole, Gustav cannot be said to have been well educated, but he read very widely; there was scarcely a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author of his day with whose works he was not intimately acquainted; while his enthusiasm for the new French ideas of enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
was as sincere as, if more critical than, his mother's.
Marriage
By proxy in Christiansborg PalaceChristiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace, , on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, is the seat of the Folketing , the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Danish Supreme Court...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, on 1 October 1766 and in person in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
on 4 November 1766, Gustav married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark
Frederick V of Denmark
Frederick V was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.-Early life:...
. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temper; but still more to the interference of the jealous Queen Mother. The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden also Gustav Adolph was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish...
(1778–1837), and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland (Drottningholm
Drottningholm
Drottningholm, literally "Queen's Islet", is a locality situated in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden, with 410 inhabitants in 2005....
, 25 August 1782 – Stockholm, 23 March 1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king requested the assistance of Adolf Munck
Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila
Adolf Fredrik, Count Munck af Fulkila was a Swedish and Finnish noble alleged to have been the biological father of King Gustaf IV Adolf.- Biography :...
, reportedly because of anatomical problems both spouses possessed. Gustav's mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustav indulged in homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. The close personal relationships he formed with two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt
Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt
Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt was a Finnish and Swedish courtier and diplomat. In Finland, he is considered one of the great Finnish statesmen. Born in Tarvasjoki, Finland, he was the great grandson of Charles XII of Sweden's general, Carl Gustaf Armfeldt...
, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law implied as much in a diary. Professor Erik Lönnroth
Erik Lönnroth
Erik Lönnroth was one of the most notable Swedish historians of the 20th century. He was a life member of the Swedish Academy from 1962 and member of various faculties.-Background:...
of the Swedish Academy
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
has concluded that there is no factual basis for the assumption that Gustav III was homosexual.
Politics of an heir apparent
Gustav first intervened actively in politics in 1768, when he compelled the dominant CapCaps (party)
The Caps were a political faction during the Age of Liberty in Sweden. The primary rivals of the Caps were known as the Hats. The Hats are actually responsible for the Caps' name, as it comes from a contraction of Night-cap, a name used to suggest that the Caps were the soft and timid party...
faction
Political faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
to summon an extraordinary diet
Diet (assembly)
In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is mainly used historically for the Imperial Diet, the general assembly of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, and for the legislative bodies of certain countries.-Etymology:...
from which he hoped for the reform of the constitution
Constitution of Sweden
The Swedish Constitution consists of four fundamental laws :* The 1810 Act of Succession * The 1949 Freedom of the Press Act * The 1974 Instrument of Government * The 1991 Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression...
in a monarchical direction. But the victorious Hat party
Hats (party)
The Hats were a Swedish political faction active during the Age of Liberty . Their name derives from the tricorne hat worn by officers and gentlemen. They vied for power with the Caps. The Hats, who ruled Sweden from 1738 to 1765, advocated an alliance with France and an assertive foreign policy,...
refused to redeem the pledges which they had given before the elections. "That we should have lost the constitutional battle does not distress us so much", wrote Gustav, in the bitterness of his heart; "but what does dismay me is to see my poor nation so sunk in corruption as to place its own felicity in absolute anarchy."
He was an enthusiast of Sweden's national history, and proudly held in memory that he descended, through his paternal grandmother, from the House of Vasa
House of Vasa
The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden 1523-1654 and of Poland 1587-1668. It originated from a noble family in Uppland of which several members had high offices during the 15th century....
: from King Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....
and from a sister of Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Charles X Gustav of Sweden
Charles X Gustav also Carl Gustav, was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. After his father's death he also succeeded him as Pfalzgraf. He was married to Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, who...
.
From 4 February to 25 March 1771, Gustav was in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he carried both the court and the city by storm. The poets and the philosophers paid him enthusiastic homage, and distinguished women testified to his superlative merits. With many of them he maintained a lifelong correspondence. His visit to the French capital was, however, no mere pleasure trip; it was also a political mission. Confidential agents from the Swedish court had already prepared the way for him, and the Duke of Choiseul
Étienne François, duc de Choiseul
Étienne-François, comte de Stainville, duc de Choiseul was a French military officer, diplomat and statesman. Between 1758 and 1761, and 1766 and 1770, he was Foreign Minister of France and had a strong influence on France's global strategy throughout the period...
had resolved to discuss with him the best method of bringing about a revolution in France's ally, Sweden. Before he departed, the French government undertook to pay the outstanding subsidies to Sweden unconditionally, at the rate of one and a half million livres annually; and Count de Vergennes
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes was a French statesman and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1774 during the reign of Louis XVI, notably during the American War of Independence....
, one of the great names of French diplomacy, was transferred from Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
On his way home Gustav paid a short visit to his uncle, Frederick the Great, at Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
. Frederick bluntly informed his nephew that, in concert with Russia and Denmark, he had guaranteed the integrity of the existing Swedish constitution, and significantly advised the young monarch to play the part of mediator and abstain from violence.
Coup d'état
On his return to Sweden Gustav III tried to mediate between the bitterly divided Hat and Cap parties. On 21 June 1771, he opened his first Riksdag of the EstatesRiksdag of the Estates
The Riksdag of the Estates , was the name used for the Estates of the Swedish realm when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King...
(parliament) with a speech which aroused powerful emotions. It was the first time for more than a century that a Swedish king had addressed a Swedish Riksdag in its native tongue. He stressed the need for all parties to sacrifice their animosities for the common good, and volunteered, as "the first citizen of a free people," to be the mediator between the contending factions. A composition committee was actually formed, but it proved illusory from the first, the patriotism of neither of the factions being equal to the puniest act of self-denial. The subsequent attempts of the dominant Caps to reduce him to a roi fainéant (a powerless king), encouraged him to consider a coup.
Under the sway of the Cap faction, Sweden seemed threatened with falling prey to Russia. It appeared on the point of being absorbed in that "Northern System" which the Russian vice-chancellor, Count Nikita Panin
Nikita Ivanovich Panin
Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first eighteen years of her reign. In that role he advocated the Northern Alliance, closer ties with Frederick the Great of Prussia and the establishment of an advisory privy...
, strove to bring about. It seemed that only a swift and sudden coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
could preserve Sweden's independence.
Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten
Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten was a Swedish and Finnish officer and politician, and half-brother of Georg Magnus Sprengtporten.In his twelfth year he chose the profession of arms, and served his country with distinction...
, a Finnish nobleman, who had incurred the enmity of the Caps, with the project of a revolution. He undertook to seize the fortress of Sveaborg by a coup de main
Coup de main
A coup de main is a swift attack that relies on speed and surprise to accomplish its objectives in a single blow. The United States Department of Defense defines it as:The literal translation from French means a stroke or blow of the hand...
, and once Finland was secured, to embark for Sweden, join up with the king and his friends near Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, and force the estates
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
to accept a new constitution from the untrammelled king.
The plotters were at this juncture reinforced by Johan Christopher Toll
Johan Christopher Toll
Count Johan Christopher Toll , Swedish statesman and soldier, was born at Mölleröd in Scania Count Johan Christopher Toll (1 February 1743 – 21 May 1817), Swedish statesman and soldier, was born at Mölleröd in Scania Count Johan Christopher Toll (1 February 1743 – 21 May 1817), Swedish...
, also a victim of Cap oppression. Toll proposed to raise a second revolt in the province of Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
, and to secure the southern fortress of Kristianstad
Kristianstad
Kristianstad is a city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 35,711 inhabitants in 2010.-History:The city was founded in 1614 by King Christian IV of Denmark, the city's name literally means 'Town of Christian', as a planned city after the burning of the town of Vä...
. After some debate, it was finally arranged that, a few days after the Finnish revolt had begun, Kristianstad should openly declare against the government.
Duke Charles (Karl)
Charles XIII of Sweden
Charles XIII & II also Carl, , was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 until his death...
, the eldest of the king's brothers, would thereupon be forced to hastily mobilize the garrisons of all the southern fortresses, for the ostensible purpose of crushing the revolt at Kristianstad; but on arriving before the fortress he was to make common cause with the rebels, and march upon the capital from the south, while Sprengtporten attacked it simultaneously from the east.
The entire revolutionary enterprise was underwritten with loans procured from the French financier Nicolas Beaujon
Nicolas Beaujon
Nicolas Beaujon was a wealthy French banker at the Court of King Louis XV. The portrait of Nicolas Beaujon seen here was painted by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun in 1784.-Youth and Early Career:...
, arranged by the Swedish ambassador to France, Count Creutz
Gustaf Philip Creutz
Count Gustaf Philip Creutz , was a Swedish statesman, diplomat and poet. He was born in Finland and after concluding his studies at the Royal Academy of Turku he received a post in the Privy Council Chancery at Stockholm in 1751. Here he met Count Gyllenborg, with whom his name is indissolubly...
.
On 16 August, the Cap leader, Ture Rudbeck, arrived at Stockholm with the news of the insurrection in the south, and Gustav found himself isolated in the midst of enemies. Sprengtporten lay weather-bound in Finland, Toll was five hundred miles away, the Hat leaders were in hiding. Gustav thereupon resolved to strike the decisive blow without waiting for the arrival of Sprengtporten.
He acted promptly. On the evening of 18 August all the officers whom he thought he could trust received secret instructions to assemble in the great square facing the arsenal on the following morning. At ten o'clock on 19 August Gustav mounted his horse and rode straight to the arsenal. On the way his adherents joined him in little groups, as if by accident, so that by the time he reached his destination he had about two hundred officers in his suite.
After parade he reconducted them to the guard-room, which is located in the north western wing of the palace and it is where the Guard of Honour had, and has, its headquarters, and unfolded his plans to them. He told the assembled officers that:
"If you follow me, just like your ancestors followed Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, then I will risk my life and blood for you and the salvation of the fatherland!"
A young ensign then spoke up:
"We are willing to sacrifice both blood and life in Your Majesty's service!"
Gustav then dictated a new oath of allegiance
Oath of allegiance
An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to monarch or country. In republics, modern oaths specify allegiance to the country's constitution. For example, officials in the United States, a republic, take an oath of office that...
, and every one signed it without hesitation. It absolved them from their allegiance to the estates, and bound them solely to obey "their lawful king, Gustav III".
Meanwhile the Privy Council
Privy Council of Sweden
The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...
and its president, Rudbeck, had been arrested and the fleet secured. Then Gustav made a tour of the city and was everywhere received by enthusiastic crowds, who hailed him as a deliverer. A special song was also composed by Carl Mikael Bellman called Toast to King Gustav!
Gustafs skål
"Gustafs skål", literally Toast to Gustaf, is a song written by Carl Michael Bellman as a salutation to King Gustaf III of Sweden, following the coup d'etat in 1772, which made himself an autocrat and ended the parliamentary Age of Liberty. The king very much liked the song and informally it came...
Philippic
A philippic is a fiery, damning speech, or tirade, delivered to condemn a particular political actor. The term originates with Demosthenes, who delivered several attacks on Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC....
, viewed as one of the masterpieces of Swedish oratory, in which he reproached the estates for their unpatriotic venality and license in the past.
Part of the speech by Gustav III to the Estates;
...have given birth to hatred, hatred to revenge, revenge to persecution, persecution to new revolutions which finally has passed into a period of disease, which has wounded and degraded the whole nation. The ambition and lust for glory in a few people has damaged the realm, and blood has been shed by both parties, and the result of this has been the suffering of the people. To establish their own power base, has been the rulers’ sole goal, often at the cost of other citizens, and always at the cost of the nation. In times when the law was clear, the law has been distorted, and when this was not possible, it was broken. Nothing has been sacred to a populace bent on hatred and revenge, and the lunacy has finally reached as far, so as one has assumed members of parliament to be above the law, them not having any other guidance than their own conscience. By this Freedom, the most noble of human rights, has been transformed by an unbearable aristocratic despotism in the hands of the ruling party, which in its self has been subdued by a few...
A new Constitution was read to the estates and unanimously accepted by them. The diet was then dissolved.
Between constitutionalism and absolutism
Gustav worked towards reform in the same direction as other contemporary sovereigns of the age of enlightenmentAge of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. Criminal justice became more lenient, the death penalty was restricted to a relatively short list of crimes (including murder), and torture was finally abolished in order to gain confessions, although "strict death penalty" was maintained.
He took an active part in every department of business, but relied far on extra-official counsellors of his own choosing rather than upon the senate
Privy Council of Sweden
The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...
. The effort to remedy the widespread corruption that had flourished under the Hats and Caps engaged a considerable share of his time and he even found it necessary to put on trial the entire Göta Hovrätt, the superior court of justice in Jönköping
Jönköping
-Notable people:*Lillian Asplund, RMS Titanic survivor*John Bauer, illustrator, painter*Amy Diamond, singer*Agnetha Fältskog, ABBA*Carl Henrik Fredriksson, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Eurozine*Anders Gustafsson, kayaker, Olympian...
.
Measures were also taken to reform the administration and judicial procedures. In 1774 an ordinance was proclaimed providing for the liberty of the press, though "within certain limits". The national defences were raised to a "Great Power" scale, and the navy was so enlarged as to become one of the most formidable in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The dilapidated finances were set in good order by the "currency realization ordinance" of 1776.
Gustav also introduced new national economic policies. In 1775 free trade in grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
was promoted and a number of oppressive export tolls were abolished. The poor law
Poor Law
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...
was amended, limited religious liberty was proclaimed for both Roman Catholics and Jews, and Gustav even designed and popularized a national costume
Nationella dräkten
Nationella dräkten is a historic Swedish costume, designed by King Gustav III and introduced in 1778. It was designed for the nobility and the middle class with the intention of limiting rising consumption and import of luxury within fashion, which was considered a drain on the economy and...
, which was in general use among the upper classes from 1778 until his death. (It is still worn by the ladies of the court on state occasions.) The king's one great economic blunder was the attempt to make the sale of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
a government monopoly, which clearly infringed upon the privileges of the estates.
His foreign policy, on the other hand, was at first both restrained and cautious. Thus, when the king summoned the estates to assemble at Stockholm on 3 September 1778, he could give a highly positive account of his six years' stewardship. The parliament was quite obsequious towards the king. "There was no room for a single question during the whole session."
Short as the session was, it was quite long enough to open the eyes of the deputies to the fact that their political supremacy had departed. They had changed places with the king. He was now indeed their sovereign lord; and, for all his gentleness, the jealousy with which he guarded, the vigour with which he enforced the prerogative, plainly showed that he meant to remain so.
Even those who were prepared to acquiesce in the change by no means liked it. If the diet of 1778 had been docile, the diet of 1786 was mutinous. The consequence was that nearly all the royal propositions were either rejected outright or so modified that Gustav himself withdrew them.
Earlier in foreign affairs, however, and privately, Gustav had shown considerable interest in the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and had this to say about it in October of 1776:
- It is such an interesting drama to see a nation create itself, that I – if I now had not been who I am – would go to America to follow up close every phase in the emergence of this new republic. – This perhaps is America’s century. The new republic, which hardly has a population put together better than Rome had to begin with, may perhaps take advantage of Europe some day, in the same manner as Europe has taken advantage of America for two centuries. No matter what, I cannot help but admire their courage and enthusiastically appreciate their daring.
Absolute monarchy
The Riksdag of 1786 marks a turning-point in Gustav's history. Henceforth he showed a growing determination to rule without a parliament; a passage, cautious and gradual, yet unflinching, from semi-constitutionalism to semi-absolutismEnlightened absolutism
Enlightened absolutism is a form of absolute monarchy or despotism in which rulers were influenced by the Enlightenment. Enlightened monarchs embraced the principles of the Enlightenment, especially its emphasis upon rationality, and applied them to their territories...
.
At the same time his foreign policy became more adventurous. At first he sought to gain Russian support to acquire Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. When Catherine II refused to abandon her ally Denmark, Gustav declared war on Russia in June 1788, while it was deeply engaged in a war with the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
to the south. In embarking on a war of aggression without the consent of the estates, Gustav violated his own constitution of 1772 – which led to a serious mutiny, the Anjala Conspiracy
Anjala conspiracy
The Anjala conspiracy of 1788 was a scheme by disgruntled Swedish officers to end Gustav III's Russian War of 1788–90. Declaring Finland an independent state was part of the plot, although it is disputed what importance the conspirators connected to that aspect.- Rising anger against the king...
, among his aristocratic officers in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. Denmark declared war in support of its Russian ally, but was soon neutralized through British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n diplomacy.
Returning to Sweden, Gustav aroused popular indignation against the mutinous, aristocratic officers, ultimately quelled their rebellion, and arrested its leaders. Capitalizing on the powerful anti-aristocratic passions thus aroused, Gustav summoned a Riksdag early in 1789, at which he put through an Act of Union and Security
Act of Union and Security
The Union and Security Act , alternately Act of Union and Security was proposed by king Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag of 1789. It was a document, adding to the Swedish Constitution of 1772 new provisions and divisions of power...
on 17 February 1789 with the backing of the three lower estates. This powerfully reinforced monarchical authority, even though the estates retained the power of the purse. In return, Gustav abolished most of the old privileges of the nobility.
Russo–Swedish War (1788–1790)
Battle of Svensksund (1790)
The Battle of Svensksund was a naval battle fought in the Gulf of Finland outside the present day city of Kotka on 9 July 1790. The Swedish naval forces dealt the Russian fleet a devastating defeat that resulted in an end to the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–90...
on 9 July, regarded as the greatest naval victory ever gained by the Swedish Navy
Swedish Navy
The Royal Swedish Navy is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet – as well as marine units, the so-called Amphibious Corps .In Swedish, vessels of the Swedish Navy are given the prefix "HMS," short for Hans/Hennes...
. The Russians lost one-third of their fleet and 7,000 men. A month later, on 14 August 1790, peace was signed between Russia and Sweden at Värälä
Treaty of Värälä
The Treaty of Värälä was a treaty signed in Värälä, Elimäki Municipality, Finland, between Russia and Sweden . It was signed on August 14, 1790 and concluded the Russo-Swedish War...
. Only eight months before, Catherine had declared that "the odious and revolting aggression" of the king of Sweden would be "forgiven" only if he "testified his repentance" by agreeing to a peace granting a general and unlimited amnesty to all his rebels, and consenting to a guarantee by the Swedish diet ("as it would be imprudent to confide in his good faith alone") for the observance of peace in the future. The Treaty of Värälä
Treaty of Värälä
The Treaty of Värälä was a treaty signed in Värälä, Elimäki Municipality, Finland, between Russia and Sweden . It was signed on August 14, 1790 and concluded the Russo-Swedish War...
saved Sweden from any such humiliating concession, and in October 1791 Gustav concluded an eight years' defensive alliance with the empress, who thereby bound herself to pay her new ally an annual subsidy of 300,000 roubles.
Gustav now aimed at forming a league of princes against the revolutionary government in France, and subordinated every other consideration to this goal. His profound knowledge of popular assemblies enabled him, alone among contemporary sovereigns, accurately to gauge from the first the scope and bearing of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. He was, however, hampered by poverty and the lack of support from the other European Powers, and, after the brief Gävle
Gävle
Gävle is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 71,033 inhabitants in 12/31 2010. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland , having received its charter in 1446 from Christopher of Bavaria.-History:It is believed that the name Gävle...
diet 22 January–24 February 1792, he fell victim to a widespread conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
among his aristocratic enemies.
Assassination
A masked ball took place at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on 16 March 1792. Gustav had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that contained a threat to his life, but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it, and, after dining, left his rooms to take part in the masquerade.Soon upon entering, he was surrounded by Anckarström
Jacob Johan Anckarström
Jacob Johan Anckarström was a Swedish military officer who was convicted and executed for regicide. He was the son of Jacob Johan Anckarström the Elder. He served as a captain in King Gustav III's regiment between 1778 and 1783...
and his co-conspirators Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. The king was easily spotted, mainly due to the breast star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim which glowed in silver upon his cape. The conspirators were all wearing black masks and accosted him in French with the words:
- Bonjour, beau masque ("Good-day, fine mask")
Anckarström moved in behind the King and fired a pistol-shot into the left side of his back. The King jumped aside, crying in French:
- Ah! Je suis blessé, tirez-moi d'ici et arrêtez-le ("Ah! I am wounded, take me away from here and arrest him!")
The King was immediately carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning, and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.
The king had not been shot dead, but was alive, and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected and on 29 March he finally died, his last words being:
- Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott ("I feel sleepy, a few moments rest would do me good")
Ulrica Arfvidsson
Ulrica Arfvidsson
Anna Ulrica Arfvidsson was a professional Swedish fortune-teller during the reign of Gustav III of Sweden. She was commonly known as Mamsell Arfvidsson.-Biography:...
, the famous medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction about it in 1786 when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence, but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and was in fact interrogated about the murder.
Contributions to culture
Although he may be charged with many foibles and extravagances, Gustav III is regarded one of the leading sovereigns of the 18th century being fond of performing and visual arts as well as literature.His historical essays, notably the famous anonymous eulogy on Lennart Torstenson
Lennart Torstenson
Lennart Torstenson, Count of Ortala, Baron of Virestad , was a Swedish Field Marshal and military engineer.-Early career:He was born at Forstena in Västergötland - he always wrote his name Linnardt Torstenson...
crowned by the Swedish Academy
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
, which he established in 1786, are full of feeling and exquisite in style, his letters to his friends are delightful. Every branch of literature and the arts interested him, every poet and artist of his day found in him a liberal and sympathetic protector.
Gustav was also active as a playwright. He is largely credited with creating the Royal Theatre, (Kungliga Teatern) , where his own historical dramas were performed, and he promoted the careers of many native singers and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, among them the dramatic stars Fredrique Löwen
Fredrique Löwen
Fredrica Löf, also known as Fredrique Löwen was a Swedish stage actress...
and Lars Hjortsberg
Lars Hjortsberg
Lars Hjortsberg was a Swedish actor. He is often called the greatest male actor in his country in the 19th century; he and Emilie Högquist are the best known Swedish actors from the first half of that century.- Biography :...
and the operatic stars Elisabeth Olin
Elisabeth Olin
Elisabeth Olin was a Swedish opera singer and a music composer. She is referred to as the first Swedish Opera prima donna. She was a court-singer . She was the first female member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music...
and Christoffer Christian Karsten
Christoffer Christian Karsten
Christoffer Christian Karsten was a Swedish opera singer, sometimes called the greatest male opera singer in Swedish history...
, by letting them perform in his plays or in his commissioned operas, respectively. In 1773 he founded the Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera
Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...
and the Royal Swedish Ballet
Royal Swedish Ballet
The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this field; he also founded the Royal Swedish Opera and the...
, under the umbrella of his Royal Theatre (Kungliga Teatern). A new opera house was built in 1775 and inaugurated in 1782, connected to the Stockholm Palace
Stockholm Palace
The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. . Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen , in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm...
by the Norrbro
Norrbro
Norrbro is an arch bridge over Norrström in central Stockholm. It extends north from the northern front of the Stockholm Palace passing over Helgeandsholmen in front of the parliament building, Riksdagen, and from there over to Gustaf Adolfs torg...
bridge. Until 1788 also Drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
was performed in the opera house; Gustav III then founded a separate entity for drama, the Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
with a new building behind the Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera
Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...
house.
He became a Freemason in 1780, and introduced the Rite of Strict Observance
Rite of Strict Observance
The Rite of Strict Observance was a Rite of Freemasonry, a series of progressive degrees that were conferred by the Order of Strict Observance, a Masonic body of the 18th century....
into Sweden. That year, he named his brother, the Duke of Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
(later Charles XIII), to the office of Grand Master for the Grand Lodge of Sweden. The Grand Lodge conferred upon him the title "Vicarius Salomonis" (Vicar of Solomon).
Opera
Notable opera composers under Gustav's reign were the three originally German artists Johann Gottlieb NaumannJohann Gottlieb Naumann
Johann Gottlieb Naumann was a German composer, conductor, and Kapellmeister.- Life :...
and Georg Joseph Vogler
Georg Joseph Vogler
Georg Joseph Vogler, also known as Abbé Vogler , was a German composer, organist, teacher and theorist.Vogler was born at Pleichach in Würzburg...
as well as Joseph Martin Kraus
Joseph Martin Kraus
Joseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
. All of them succeeded in the attempt to combine their musical origin with the national dramatic style which, sometimes, was overseen by the king (notably in the layout of the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
for the opera Gustav Wasa from 1786).
It was in the foyer of the opera house where King Gustav III met his fate: during a masquerade on March 16, 1792, he was shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström
Jacob Johan Anckarström
Jacob Johan Anckarström was a Swedish military officer who was convicted and executed for regicide. He was the son of Jacob Johan Anckarström the Elder. He served as a captain in King Gustav III's regiment between 1778 and 1783...
, and died 13 days later. The assassination of Gustav III became the basis of an opera libretto by Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
, set by both Daniel Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
in 1833 under the title Gustave III
Gustave III (opera)
Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué is an opéra historique or grand opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
, and, with the specifics changed by censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, by Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
in 1859 as Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
(A Masked Ball).
It is widely agreed that the contribution and dedication of Gustav III to the performing arts in Sweden, notably the building of the theatre houses as well as the foundation of a national theatre company, has been crucial and vital to the Swedish culture up and until today.
The era of opera during his time is referred to today as the Gustavian Opera.
Saint-Barthélemy and Gustavia
It was under King Gustav III that Sweden gained in 1785 the small CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island of Saint-Barthélemy from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, in exchange for French trading rights in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
.
The island's capital bears up to the present the name Gustavia in honour of Gustav III. Though it was sold back to France in 1878, many streets and locations there still bear Swedish names. Also, the Swedish national arms, the three crowns along with the grey heron, still appear in the island's coat of arms.
- See also: Slave trade under King Gustav III.
Plan to colonise Australia 1786-1787
Just at the time when the British were preparing to colonise Botany BayBotany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
, the Government of Gustav III agreed to sponsor William Bolts
William Bolts
William Bolts was a private merchant of Dutch origin known for his book, The Considerations on Indian Affairs , which detailed the exploitation and despoiling of Bengal by the East India Company and its officials which began shortly after the Battle of Plassey in 1757.-Biography:Bolts came to...
's proposal for an equivalent colonisation venture in Nuyts Land (the south-western coast of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
). The war with Russia caused this venture to be abandoned.
Ancestors
See also
- History of SwedenHistory of SwedenModern Sweden started out of the Kalmar Union formed in 1397 and by the unification of the country by King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. In the 17th century Sweden expanded its territories to form the Swedish empire. Most of these conquered territories had to be given up during the 18th century...
: Absolute Monarchy in Sweden, Swedish slave tradeSwedish slave tradeThe Swedish slave trade occurred in the early history of Sweden, and again during the 17th century, around the time Swedish overseas colonies were established in North America and in Africa . It remained legal until 1813.... - Carl Michael BellmanCarl Michael Bellmanwas a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....
: Gustafs skålGustafs skål"Gustafs skål", literally Toast to Gustaf, is a song written by Carl Michael Bellman as a salutation to King Gustaf III of Sweden, following the coup d'etat in 1772, which made himself an autocrat and ended the parliamentary Age of Liberty. The king very much liked the song and informally it came... - Joseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
: RiksdagsmusikenRiksdagsmusikenRiksdagsmusiken, or the Riksdag Music, is a suite of music composed by Joseph Martin Kraus, for the grand opening, in 1789, of the Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden. King Gustav III of Sweden wanted to convince the parliament to go along, especially fund, his ongoing war... - Culture of SwedenCulture of SwedenSwedish culture has been described as Lutheranism, trade unionism, and self-reliance, aspects that have been associated with Swedish mentality....
- List of successful coups d'état