The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden, by law a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. There have been kings in what now is the Kingdom of Sweden for more than a millennium. Originally an elective monarchy, it became a hereditary monarchy in the 16th century during the reign of Gustav Vasa, though virtually all monarchs before that belonged to a limited and small number of political families which are considered to be the royal dynasties of Sweden.
The Early Vasa era is a period that in Swedish and Finnish history lasted between 1523–1611. It began with the reconquest of Stockholm by Gustav Vasa and his men from the Danes in 1523, which was triggered by the event known as the Stockholm Bloodbath in 1520, and then was followed up by Sweden's secession from the Kalmar Union, and continued with the reign of Gustav's sons Eric XIV, John III, John's son Sigismund, and finally Gustav's youngest son Charles IX. The era was followed by a period commonly referred to as the Swedish Empire, or Stormaktstiden in Swedish, which means "Era Of Great Power".
During the 17th century, despite having scarcely more than 1 million inhabitants, Sweden emerged to have greater foreign influence, after winning wars against Denmark–Norway, the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its contributions during the Thirty Years' War under Gustavus Adolphus helped determine the political, as well as the religious, balance of power in Europe.
The Time of Troubles, or Smuta, was a period of political crisis in the Tsardom of Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I, the last of the Rurik dynasty, and ended in 1613 with the accession of Michael I of the House of Romanov.
The war against Sigismund was a war between Duke Charles, later known as King Charles IX of Sweden, and Sigismund, who was at the time the king of both Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lasting from 1598 to 1599, it is also called the War of Deposition against Sigismund, since the focus of the conflict was the attempt to depose the latter from the throne of Sweden. The war eventually resulted in the deposition of Sigismund, the dissolution of the Polish-Swedish Union, and the beginning of an eleven-year war.
The Ingrian War between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia lasted between 1610 and 1617. It can be seen as part of Russia's Time of Troubles and is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duke on the Russian throne. It ended with a large Swedish territorial gain in the Treaty of Stolbovo, which laid an important foundation to Sweden's Age of Greatness.
The Swedish–Novgorodian Wars were a series of conflicts in the 12th and 13th centuries between the Novgorod Republic and medieval Sweden over control of the Gulf of Finland, an area vital to the Hanseatic League and part of the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones, but before the 14th century there is no knowledge of official crusade bulls issued by the pope.
The Third Swedish Crusade to Finland was a Swedish military expedition against the pagan Karelians from 1293 to 1295 in which the Swedes successfully expanded their borders eastwards and gained further control of their lands in Finland.
The Polish–Swedish War (1600–1611) was a continuation of struggle between Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over control of Livonia and Estonia, as well as the dispute over the Swedish throne between Charles IX of Sweden and Sigismund III of Poland. After skirmishes, sieges and battles often aborted by Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, a truce was signed until the later invasion by the Russians.
Vsevolod Mstislavich Monomakh, the patron saint of the city of Pskov, ruled as Prince of Novgorod in 1117–32, Prince of Pereslavl (1132) and Prince of Pskov in 1137–38.
Colonel Samuel Cockburn was a Scottish soldier in the service of Sweden who sometimes took the role of (generalfältvaktmästare) a temporary role akin to a major general, but not a fixed rank. He was born around 1574 in Scotland. He entered Swedish service in 1598 where he participated in the Swedish civil war between Sigismund Vasa and his uncle Duke Karl, later Karl IX.
Novgorodian Land was one of the largest historical territorial–state formations in Russia, covering its northwest and north. Novgorod Land, centered in Veliky Novgorod, was in the cradle of Kievan Rus' under the rule of the Rurikovich dynasty and one of the most important princely thrones of the era. During the collapse of Kievan Rus' and in subsequent centuries, Novgorod Land developed as the Novgorod Republic: an autonomous state with republican forms of government under the suzerainty of the great princes of Vladimir-Suzdal. During the period of greatest development, it reached north to the White Sea, and in the east it spread beyond the Ural Mountains. It had extensive trade relations within the framework of the Hanseatic League and with the rest of Rus'. Muscovy conquered the Novgorod Republic in 1478, and annexed it in 1578, although Novgorod Land continued to exist as an administrative unit until 1708.
The siege of Pärnu took place between February 28 and March 2, 1609 during the Polish–Swedish War (1600–1611).
Events from the year 1568 in Sweden
The Livonian campaign against Rus' was a military campaign that lasted from 1240 to 1242, and was carried out by the Teutonic Knights of the Livonian Order with the aim to conquer the lands of Pskov and Novgorod and convert them to Catholicism.
The siege of Pskov between 9 August and 27 October 1615 was the final battle of the Ingrian War. Swedish forces under Gustav II Adolf laid siege to Pskov, but were unable to take the city.
The siege of Gdov was part of the Time of Troubles and an episode of the Ingrian War.
The Capture of Novgorod by the Swedes was an event of the Time of Troubles, which entailed the Swedish occupation of Novgorod from July 1611 until its return to the Russian Kingdom in the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617.
Wigund-Jeronym Trubecki or Yuri Nikitich Trubetsky as he was called earlier in Muscovy was the Prince of Trubetsk from 1611 to 1634, preceded by Symeon Iwanowicz Perski Trubecki, succeeded by Piotr Trubecki, and Aleksander Trubecki. Yuri Nikitich Trubetsky was also a boyar and equestrian of False Dmitry II. After emigrating to Poland, and restoring The Principality of Trubetsk, he converted to Catholicism, and took the name Wigund-Jeronym Trubecki.
The siege of Oreshek (1611–1612) was the Swedish capture of the fortress of Oreshek after an eight-month siege during the Ingrian War of 1610–1617.
