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Charles XI (Karl XI) (November 24, 1655 – April 5, 1697) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death. He was the only son of Charles X of Sweden and Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp.
Under guardian ruleCharles was born in the palace at Stockholm. His father, who died when Charles was four years old, left the care of his education to the regents whom he had appointed. At the age of seventeen, when Charles XI attained his majority, he devoted himself to sports and exercises, including the pursuit of his favourite pastime, bear-hunting, and appeared ignorant of the very rudiments of state-craft and almost illiterate. According to many contemporary sources, the king was considered poorly educated and therefore not qualified to conduct himself effectively in foreign affairs.[1] Charles was thus dependent on his advisors and diplomats, mainly because he had no foreign language skills beside German and therefore could not interact with the foreign envoys, but also because he was ignorant of the world outside the borders of Sweden.[2] Foreign affairs
The victory of Halmstad (August 17, 1676), when Charles and his commander-in-chief Simon Grundel-Helmfelt defeated a Danish division, was the first gleam of good luck for him, and on December 4, on the tableland of Helgonabäck, near Lund, the Swedish monarch defeated Christian V of Denmark, who also commanded his army in person. The Battle of Lund was, relative to the number engaged, one of the bloodiest engagements of modern times. More than half the combatants (8,357, of whom 3,000 were Swedes) actually perished on the battle-field. All the Swedish commanders showed ability, but the chief glory of the day have been attributed to Charles XI. In the following year, Charles with 9,000 men routed 12,000 Danes at the Battle of Landskrona. This proved to be the last pitched battle of the war, in September 1678 Christian V evacuated his army back to Zealand. In 1679 Louis XIV of France dictated the terms of a general pacification, and Charles XI, who is said to have bitterly resented "the insufferable tutelage" of the French king,[citation needed] was forced at last to acquiesce in a peace which at least left his empire practically intact. Sweden's weak economy didn't favour wars, even if Sweden was very successful in conflicts, conscription was hated by the peasants and mercenaries, and drained government revenue. Therefore, Charles initiated a dividing system; each region would contribute one citizen for warfare and supply him in peacetime. Domestic affairs
Charles XI, like Gustav Vasa and Gustavus Adolphus, has sometimes been described in Sweden as the greatest of all the Swedish kings, unduly eclipsed by his father Charles X and his son Charles XII. In nationalistic lore, he is often depicted as a modest, homespun figure, and a master-builder who found Sweden in ruins and devoted his whole life to laying a solid foundations of a new order which, in its essential features, has endured to the present day, with the exception of absolute monarchy. ChildrenHe had seven children, of whom only three survived him, a son Charles, and two daughters, Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp and grandmother of Tsar Peter III, and Ulrike Eleonora, who ultimately succeeded her brother on the Swedish throne.
See also
References
cs:Karel XI. da:Karl 11. af Sverige de:Karl XI. (Schweden) et:Karl XI es:Carlos XI de Suecia eo:Karolo la 11-a (Svedio) fr:Charles XI de Suède it:Carlo XI di Svezia he:קארל האחד עשר, מלך שבדיה nl:Karel XI van Zweden ja:カール11世 (スウェーデン王) no:Karl XI av Sverige nn:Karl XI av Sverige pl:Karol XI Szwedzki pt:Carlos XI da Suécia ru:Карл XI (король Швеции) fi:Kaarle XI sv:Karl XI zh:卡尔十一世
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