Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [11]
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The Swedish Parliament was reformed in 1866 to be a bicameral system, which lasted until 1971 when it was reformed yet again and became unicameral.
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For an incredible glimpse into this period, track down Sweden’s 17th-century royal warship Vasa (commissioned by Gustav II in 1625), now in Stockholm’s Vasamuseet.
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PEAK & DECLINE OF THE SWEDISH EMPIRE
The zenith and collapse of the Swedish empire happened remarkably quickly. During the harsh winter of 1657, Swedish troops invaded Denmark across the frozen Kattegatt, a strait between Sweden and Denmark, and the last remaining parts of southern Sweden still in Danish hands were handed over at the Peace of Roskilde. Bohuslän, Härjedalen and Jämtland were seized from Norway, and the empire reached its maximum size when Sweden established a short-lived American colony in what is now Delaware.
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Although not history textbooks, Vilhelm Moberg’s four novels about 19th-century Swedish emigration are based on real people, and bring this period to life. They’re translated into English as The Emigrants, Unto A Good Land, The Settlers and The Last Letter Home.
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The end of the 17th century saw a developing period of enlightenment in Sweden; Olof Rudbeck achieved widespread fame for his medical work, which included the discovery of the lymphatic system.
Inheritor of this huge and increasingly sophisticated country was King Karl XII (1681–1718), an overenthusiastic military adventurer who spent almost all of his reign at war: he managed to lose Latvia, Estonia and Poland, and the Swedish coast sustained damaging attacks from Russia. Karl XII also fought the Great Nordic War against Norway throughout the early 18th century. A winter siege of Trondheim took its toll on his battle-weary army, and Karl XII was mysteriously shot dead while inspecting his troops – a single event that sealed the fate of Sweden’s military might.
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LIBERALISATION OF SWEDEN
During the next 50 years, parliament’s power increased and the monarchs became little more than heads of state. Despite the country’s decline, intellectual enlightenment streaked ahead and Sweden produced some celebrated writers, philosophers and scientists, including Anders Celsius, whose temperature scale bears his name; Carl Scheele, the discoverer of chlorine; and Carl von Linné (Linnaeus), the great botanist who developed theories about plant reproduction (Click here).
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QUEEN KRISTINA
Queen Kristina (1626–89) lived an eccentric and eventful life. Her father, Gustav II, instructed that the girl be brought up as though she were a prince, then promptly went off and died in battle, leaving his six-year-old successor and his country in the hands of the powerful Chancellor Oxenstierna.
Kristina did indeed receive a boy’s education, becoming fluent in six languages and skilled in the art of war. Childish spats with Oxenstierna increased as she grew older; after being crowned queen in 1644, she delighted in testing her power, defying him even when he had the country’s best interests at heart.
Envious of the elegant European courts, Kristina attempted to modernise old-fashioned Sweden. One of her plans was to gather leading intellectuals for philosophical conversation. She’s often blamed for the death of Descartes, who reluctantly obeyed her summons only to die of pneumonia in the icy north.
Kristina’s ever-erratic behaviour culminated in her abdication in 1654. After handing over the crown to her beloved cousin Karl X Gustav, she threw on men’s clothing and scarpered southwards on horseback. Kristina finished up in Rome, where she converted to Catholicism.
Contrary, curious and spoilt, and accused of murder and an affair with one of the Pope’s cardinals, bisexual, rule-bending Kristina was a fascinating and frustrating character who was too huge and colourful to do justice to here.