The Thirty Years War, book 2 | Page 5

crown of Bohemia and the
Palatine Electorate; and death alone saved him from the danger of
closing his pacific reign by a war at home, which he never had courage
to maintain, even at a distance.
The domestic disturbances which his misgovernment had gradually

excited burst forth under his unfortunate son, and forced him, after
some unimportant attempts, to renounce all further participation in the
German war, in order to stem within his own kingdom the rage of
faction.
Two illustrious monarchs, far unequal in personal reputation, but equal
in power and desire of fame, made the North at this time to be
respected. Under the long and active reign of Christian IV., Denmark
had risen into importance. The personal qualifications of this prince, an
excellent navy, a formidable army, well-ordered finances, and prudent
alliances, had combined to give her prosperity at home and influence
abroad. Gustavus Vasa had rescued Sweden from vassalage, reformed
it by wise laws, and had introduced, for the first time, this
newly-organized state into the field of European politics. What this
great prince had merely sketched in rude outline, was filled up by
Gustavus Adolphus, his still greater grandson.
These two kingdoms, once unnaturally united and enfeebled by their
union, had been violently separated at the time of the Reformation, and
this separation was the epoch of their prosperity. Injurious as this
compulsory union had proved to both kingdoms, equally necessary to
each apart were neighbourly friendship and harmony. On both the
evangelical church leaned; both had the same seas to protect; a
common interest ought to unite them against the same enemy. But the
hatred which had dissolved the union of these monarchies continued
long after their separation to divide the two nations. The Danish kings
could not abandon their pretensions to the Swedish crown, nor the
Swedes banish the remembrance of Danish oppression. The contiguous
boundaries of the two kingdoms constantly furnished materials for
international quarrels, while the watchful jealousy of both kings, and
the unavoidable collision of their commercial interests in the North
Seas, were inexhaustible sources of dispute.
Among the means of which Gustavus Vasa, the founder of the Swedish
monarchy, availed himself to strengthen his new edifice, the
Reformation had been one of the principal. A fundamental law of the
kingdom excluded the adherents of popery from all offices of the state,
and prohibited every future sovereign of Sweden from altering the
religious constitution of the kingdom. But the second son and second
successor of Gustavus had relapsed into popery, and his son Sigismund,

also king of Poland, had been guilty of measures which menaced both
the constitution and the established church. Headed by Charles, Duke
of Sudermania, the third son of Gustavus, the Estates made a
courageous resistance, which terminated, at last, in an open civil war
between the uncle and nephew, and between the King and the people.
Duke Charles, administrator of the kingdom during the absence of the
king, had availed himself of Sigismund's long residence in Poland, and
the just displeasure of the states, to ingratiate himself with the nation,
and gradually to prepare his way to the throne. His views were not a
little forwarded by Sigismund's imprudence. A general Diet ventured to
abolish, in favour of the Protector, the rule of primogeniture which
Gustavus had established in the succession, and placed the Duke of
Sudermania on the throne, from which Sigismund, with his whole
posterity, were solemnly excluded. The son of the new king (who
reigned under the name of Charles IX.) was Gustavus Adolphus, whom,
as the son of a usurper, the adherents of Sigismund refused to recognize.
But if the obligations between monarchy and subjects are reciprocal,
and states are not to be transmitted, like a lifeless heirloom, from hand
to hand, a nation acting with unanimity must have the power of
renouncing their allegiance to a sovereign who has violated his
obligations to them, and of filling his place by a worthier object.
Gustavus Adolphus had not completed his seventeenth year, when the
Swedish throne became vacant by the death of his father. But the early
maturity of his genius enabled the Estates to abridge in his favour the
legal period of minority. With a glorious conquest over himself he
commenced a reign which was to have victory for its constant attendant,
a career which was to begin and end in success. The young Countess of
Brahe, the daughter of a subject, had gained his early affections, and he
had resolved to share with her the Swedish throne. But, constrained by
time and circumstances, he made his attachment yield to the higher
duties of a king, and heroism again took exclusive possession of a heart
which was not destined by nature to confine itself within the limits of
quiet domestic happiness.
Christian IV.