November 30, 1718: Death of King Carl XII of Sweden

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Assassination, Carl XII of Sweden, Frederik III of Denmark and Norway, Peter the Great of Russia, The Great Northern War

Carl XII (June 17, 1682 – November 30, 1718), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Carl was the only surviving son of Carl XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder of Denmark. Ulrika Eleonora was the daughter of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway and his spouse Queen Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was given a strict upbringing under the supervision of her mother. She was taught several different languages, and was reportedly a good student in drawing and painting

Carl XII assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.

The fact that Carl was crowned as Carl XII does not mean that he was the 12th king of Sweden by that name. Swedish kings Erik XIV (1560–1568) and Carl IX (1604–1611) gave themselves numerals after studying a mythological history of Sweden. Carl was actually the 6th King Carl of Sweden. The non-mathematical numbering tradition continues with the current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, who is actually the 11th King Carl of Sweden.

In 1700, a triple alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony–Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate of Holstein-Gottorp and provinces of Livonia and Ingria, aiming to draw advantage as the Swedish Empire was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War.

Leading the Swedish army against the alliance Carl won multiple victories despite being usually significantly outnumbered. A major victory over a Russian army some three times the size in 1700 at the Battle of Narva compelled Peter the Great of Russia to sue for peace, an offer which Carl subsequently rejected.

By 1706 Carl, now 24 years old, had forced all of his foes into submission including, in that year, a decisively devastating victory by Swedish forces under general Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld over a combined army of Saxony and Russia at the Battle of Fraustadt. Russia was now the sole remaining hostile power.

Carl’s subsequent march on Moscow met with initial success as victory followed victory, the most significant of which was the Battle of Holowczyn where the smaller Swedish army routed a Russian army twice the size. The campaign ended with disaster when the Swedish army suffered heavy losses to a Russian force more than twice its size at Poltava. Carl had been incapacitated by a wound prior to the battle, rendering him unable to take command.

The defeat was followed by the Surrender at Perevolochna. Carl spent the following years in exile in the Ottoman Empire before returning to lead an assault on Norway, trying to evict the Danish king from the war once more in order to aim all his forces at the Russians. Two campaigns met with frustration and ultimate failure, concluding with his death at the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. At the time, most of the Swedish Empire was under foreign military occupation, though Sweden itself was still free.

This situation was later formalized, albeit moderated in the subsequent Treaty of Nystad. The result was the end of the Swedish Empire, and also of its effectively organized absolute monarchy and war machine, commencing a parliamentary government unique for continental Europe, which would last for half a century until royal autocracy was restored by Gustaf III.

Carl was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. As for his famous reluctance towards peace efforts, he is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the war; “I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies”. With the war consuming more than half his life and nearly all his reign,

Death

While in the trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress on 11 December (30 November Old Style), 1718, Carl was struck in the head by a projectile and killed. The shot struck the left side of his skull and exited from the right. He died instantly.

The definitive circumstances around Carl’s death remain unclear. Despite multiple investigations of the battlefield, Carl’s skull and his clothes, it is not known where and when he was hit, or whether the shot came from the ranks of the enemy or from his own men.

There are several hypotheses as to how Carl died, though none have strong enough evidence to be deemed true. Although there were many people around the king at the time of his death, there were no known witnesses to the actual moment he was hit. A likely explanation has been that Carl was killed by Dano-Norwegians as he was within reach of their guns. There are two possibilities that are usually cited: that he was killed by a musket shot, or that he was killed by grapeshot from the nearby fortress.

More theories claim he was assassinated: One is that the killer was a Swedish compatriot and asserts that enemy guns were not firing at the time Carl was struck. Suspects in this claim range from a nearby soldier tired of the siege and wanting to put an end to the war, to an assassin hired by Carl’s own brother-in-law, who profited from the event by subsequently taking the throne himself as Frederik I of Sweden, that person being Frederik’s aide-de-camp, André Sicre.

Sicre confessed during what was claimed to be a state of delirium brought on by fever but later recanted. It has also been suspected that a plot to kill Carl may have been put in place by a group of wealthy Swedes who would benefit from the blocking of a 17% wealth tax that Carl intended to introduce. In the Varberg Fortress museum there is a display with a lead filled brass button – Swedish – that is claimed by some to be the projectile that killed the king.

Another odd account of Carl’s death comes from Finnish writer Carl Nordling, who states that the king’s surgeon, Melchior Neumann, dreamed the king had told him that he was not shot from the fortress but from “one who came creeping.

Carl XII never married and fathered no children. He was succeeded by his sister Ulrika Eleonora, who in turn was coerced to hand over all substantial powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and opted to surrender the throne to her husband, who became King Frederik I of Sweden.

November 30, 1718: Death of King Carl XII of Sweden.

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Carl XI of Sweden, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick I of Sweden, Frederick of Hesse-Cassel, Kingdom of Sweden, The Great Northern War, Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden

Carl XII (June 17, 1682 – November 30, 1718) was the King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Carl XII was the only surviving son of Carl XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder, the daughter of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway and his spouse Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Carl XII assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.

King Carl XII of Sweden, aged 15.

In 1700, a triple alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony–Poland–Lithuania and Russia launched a threefold attack on the Swedish protectorate of Holstein-Gottorp and provinces of Livonia and Ingria, aiming to draw advantage as the Swedish Empire was unaligned and ruled by a young and inexperienced king, thus initiating the Great Northern War.

Carl never married and fathered no children of whom historians are aware. In his youth he was particularly encouraged to find a suitable spouse in order to secure the succession, but he would frequently avoid the subject of sex and marriage. Possible candidates included Princess Sophia Hedwig of Denmark and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp – but of the latter he pleaded that he could never wed someone “as ugly as Satan and with such a devilish big mouth”.

Carl was an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician, credited with introducing important tax and legal reforms. As for his famous reluctance towards peace efforts, he is quoted by Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the war; “I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies”.

Carl XII of Sweden

Death.

While in the trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress on November 30, 1718, Carl was struck in the head by a projectile and killed. The shot struck the left side of his skull and exited from the right. The shock of the impact caused the king to grasp his sword with his right hand, and cover the wound with his left hand, leaving his gloves covered in blood.

The definitive circumstances around Carl’s death remain unclear. Despite multiple investigations of the battlefield, Carl’s skull and his clothes, it is not known where and when he was hit, or whether the shot came from the ranks of the enemy or from his own men. There are several hypotheses as to how Carl died, though none can be given with any certainty. Although there were many people around the king at the time of his death, there were no known witnesses to the actual moment he was struck.

A likely explanation has been that Carl was killed by the Dano-Norwegians as he was within easy reach of their guns. There are two possibilities that are usually cited: that he was killed by a musket shot, or that he was killed by grapeshot from the nearby fortress.

From the autopsy of Charles XII in 1917

More sinister theories claim he was assassinated: One is that the killer was a Swedish compatriot and asserts that enemy guns were not firing at the time Carl was struck. Suspects in this claim range from a nearby soldier tired of the siege and wanting to put an end to the war, to an assassin hired by Carl’s own brother-in-law, who profited from the event by subsequently taking the throne himself as Frederick I of Sweden, that person being Frederick’s aide-de-camp, André Sicre. Sicre confessed during what was claimed to be a state of delirium brought on by fever but later recanted.

It has also been suspected that a plot to kill Carl may have been put in place by a group of wealthy Swedes who would benefit from the blocking of a 17% wealth tax that Charles intended to introduce. In the Varberg Fortress museum there is a display with a lead filled brass button – Swedish – that is claimed by some to be the projectile that killed the king.

He was succeeded by his sister Ulrika Eleonora, who in turn was coerced to hand over all substantial powers to the Riksdag of the Estates and opted to surrender the throne to her husband, who became King Frederick I of Sweden, the son of Karl I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Maria Amalia of Courland.

Election of Count Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel to the Swedish Throne, March 24, 1720.

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Abdication, Charles XII of Sweden, Frederick of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, Russia, Russian Empire, The Great Northern War

On this date in History: Election of Count Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel to the Swedish Throne by the Swedish Estates, March 24, 1720.

King Friedrich of Sweden

Ulrica Eleanor of Sweden (January 23, 1688 – November 24, 1741) was the youngest child of King Carl XI of Sweden and Ulrica Eleanora of Denmark.

In 1702, a marriage to the future King George II of Great Britain was suggested, but was postponed, and in the end nothing came of it. Duke Johann-Wilhelm of Saxe-Gotha was given permission by her brother, King Carl XII of Sweden to court her, but the marriage plans were interrupted after he engaged in a duel with Anders Lagercrona in the presence of the monarch. In 1710, she received a proposal from Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel. The negotiations were handled by her favorite and confidante Emerentia von Düben. The marriage was supported by her grandmother Hedwig Eleonora, as the Queen Dowager thought this would force Ulrica Eleonor to leave Sweden for Hesse, increasing the chances for the son of Ulrica Eleonor’s elder sister, Carl of Holstein-Gottorp, to become heir to the throne. The engagement was announced on January 23, 1714, and the wedding took place March 24, 1715. During the wedding, her brother Carl XII remarked: “Tonight my sister is dancing away the crown.”

Ulrica Eleanor, Queen Regnant and Queen Consort of Sweden.

Friedrich (April 28, 1676 – April 5, 1751) was the son of Carl I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and Princess Maria Amalia of Courland. On May 30, 1700 he married his first wife, Louise Dorothea, Princess of Prussia (1680–1705), daughter of Friedrich I of Prussia (1657–1713) and Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Kassel(1661–1683). Louise Dorothea died in childbirth in December 1705. After his marriage to Ulrica Eleanor he was then granted the title Prince of Sweden, with the style Royal Highness by the estates, and was prince consort there during Ulrica Eleonor’s rule as queen regnant from 1718 until her abdication in 1720. He is the only Swedish prince consort there has been to date

On December 11, 1718, while inspecting trenches close to the perimeter of the fortress, King Carl XII of Sweden was shot, struck in the head by a projectile and killed. After Ulrica Eleanor received the news of the death of her brother, she immediately declared herself monarch in Uddevalla by stating that she had inherited the throne. The council was taken by surprise and did not contest this. She took control over the affairs of state and had Georg Heinrich von Görtz and his followers removed from power. The “Hesse Party” secured Ulrica Eleonor’s succession to the throne.

King Carl XII of Sweden

Ulrica Eleanor and Friedrich gained the support of the Riksdag who wanted to end the absolute monarchy established in 1680 and reinstate parliamentary rule. On 15 December 1718, she declared that though she had inherited the throne, she did not intend to keep the Carolinian absolutism but agreed to reinstate the older system. The war council was determined to abolish absolutism and the right to inherit the throne, but was willing to acknowledge her as an elected monarch. Their opinion was supported by the majority of the Assembly of the Estates. Ulrica Eleanor was forced into agreeing to abolish absolute monarchy and the right to inherit the throne, both for her and for her contestant, her nephew Carl-Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

After having agreed to sign the new constitution as monarch, she was elected queen on January 23, 1719. On February 19 she signed the Instrument of Governm, thereby securing the support of the Estates to not give the throne to her nephew and competitor. She was crowned in Uppsala Cathedral March 17, 1719 and made her formal entrance into Stockholm as monarch on April 11, that same year.

Ulrica Eleonor supported the political ambitions of her consort, and from the beginning, she wished for him to become her co-monarch, in the fashion of William III and Mary II of England, Scotland and Ireland. However, this was not permitted by the Riksdag. One reason being that co-reigning had been forbidden in Sweden since the 15th century. There was also opposition in the Riksdag to the influence of Emerentia von Düben and her siblings over the affairs of state.

Her difficulty in respecting the constitution and trouble in getting along with the Riksdag, as well as her way of continuously discussing state affairs with her husband, did however make the Riksdag willing to replace her with Frederick as sole monarch if she abdicated, an idea that had the support of Frederick. On February 29, 1720, after having again been denied a co-monarchy, Ulrica Eleonor abdicated in favour of her husband on the condition that she should succeed him if he should die before her. This condition of her abdication in fact granted her place as the heir to the Swedish throne until her death.

King Friedrich of Sweden, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.

Queen Ulrica Eleanor often spoke of the abdication as the great sacrifice of her life. Her husband Friedrich succeeded her on March 24, 1720, and this succession was confirmed by the Riksdag. It was the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary.

The defeats suffered by Carl XII in the Great Northern War ended Sweden’s position as a first-rank European power. Under Friedrich this had to be accepted. Sweden also had to cede Estonia, Ingria and Livonia to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, in 1721.

Friedrich was a very active and dynamic king at the beginning of his 31-year reign. But after the aristocracy had regained power during the wars with Russia, he became not so much powerless as uninterested in affairs of state. In 1723, he tried to strengthen royal authority, but after he failed, he never had much to do with politics. He did not even sign official documents; instead a stamp of his signature was used. He devoted most of his time to hunting and love affairs. His marriage to Queen Ulrika Eleonora was childless, but he had several children by his mistress, Hedvig Taube.

Friedrich became Landgrave of Hesse only in 1730, ten years after becoming King of Sweden. He immediately appointed his younger brother Wilhelm governor of Hesse.

As Landgrave, Friedrich is generally not seen as a success. Indeed, he did concentrate more on Sweden, and due to his negotiated, compromise-like ascension to the throne there, he and his court had a very low income. The money for that very expensive court, then, since the 1730s came from wealthy Hesse, and this means that Friedrich essentially behaved like an absentee landlord and drained Hessian resources to finance life in Sweden.

His powerless reign in Sweden saw his family’s elimination from the line of Succession after the parliamentary government dominated by pro-revanchist Hat Party politicians ventured into a war with Russia, which ended in defeat and the Russian tsarina Elizabeth demanding Adolph-Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp to be instated following the death of the This occurred when Friedrich of Sweden died on April 5 1751. Friedrich was succeeded as Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel by his younger brother as Wilhelm VIII.