Page 45 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sweden

THE HIST OR Y OF SWEDEN  43

Karl XI’s Triumphs
The ceiling painting in Karl XI’s
gallery at the Royal Palace (see
p60) by the French artist
Jacques Foucquet (1693)
shows in allegoric form the
king’s victories at Halmstad,
Lund and Landskrona.

Karl X Gustav himself
Field Marshal Count Carl Gustav leads the Swedish army
Wrangel (see p133) of 17,000 men.
The Powerful Nobility
The nobility were very influential in
the Empire era and many
successful soldiers were ennobled.
The Banér family coat of arms from
1651 is adorned by three helmets
and barons’ crowns.

Karl X Gustav
Portrait of Karl X Gustav
(r. 1654–60) as a general. It was in
this role that he became known
throughout Europe during the final
phase of the Thirty Years War.
Crossing the Great Belt
When Denmark declared war on Sweden in autumn
1657, the Swedish army was in Poland. Marching
west, it captured the Danish mainland, but without
the navy was unable to continue to Copenhagen.
However, unusually severe weather froze the sea,
making it possible for the soldiers to cross the ice of
the Great Belt, and the Danes had to surrender.

Karl XII’s Pocket Watch
The warrior king’s watch­ Karl XII’s Last Journey
case dates from 1700. It After he was hit by a fatal bullet at Fred­
shows the state coat of rikshald in Norway (1718), the king’s body
arms, as well as those of the was taken first to Swedish territory then on
49 provinces that belonged to Uddevalla for embalming. Painting by
to Sweden at that time. Gustav Cederström (1878).

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