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124

WAR OF THE DANES AND SWEDES.

[BOOK V. (October 5th).28 The contracting parties agreed to carry on the war against the King of Sweden till he should be compelled either to pay its expenses or to restore to Denmark Schonen, Halland, and Blekingen, to renounce the freedom of the Sound, and to abandon what he held in Pomerania to the Elector of Brandenburg; who, on his side, engaged to give up Wismar and the Isle of Rügen to the Danish King. The war now began by land and water, on which latter element the allies were supported by a small Dutch fleet. Frederick William, entering Swedish Pomerania, surprised the Isle of Wollin and took Wolgast by capitulation (November 9th); while the King of Denmark occupied Rostock and Damgarten and laid siege to Wismar, which surrendered December 15th. At the same time a Danish corps joined the allied army, under the Bishop of Münster, in the duchy of Bremen, and the united forces occupied several places in that district; which, as already related, had been assigned to Sweden at the Peace of Westphalia. The Bishop of Münster, the Dukes of Lüneburg, Zell, and Wolfenbüttel, the Elector of Brandenburg, and the King of Denmark had formed an alliance to eject the Swedes from Bremen and Verden, though ill agreed among themselves as to the division of the booty.

The war with Sweden had been undertaken much against the will of the Queen Dowager of Denmark, whose daughter, Ulrica Eleonora, had been united to Charles XI. in the summer of 1675. That young monarch, who was desirous of acquiring a military reputation, for which, however, he had no great talent, placed himself at the head of his army in 1676; and as he threatened to invade Zealand, Christian V. withdrew his troops from Pomerania and posted them in an entrenched camp near Kronenborg. The Danish admiral, Niels Juel, in conjunction with the Dutch fleet, seized the Island of Gothland; and Tromp, being named by Christian V. Admiral of Denmark, inflicted a terrible defeat on the Swedish fleet near Entholm on the coast of Blekingen (June 11th). In the same month Christian, at the head of 15,000 men, made a descent on Scania (or Schonen); but, being defeated at Halmstadt, was prevented from penetrating further into Sweden. In December a bloody battle was fought between the two kings near Lunden, the ancient capital of Schonen. Both parties claimed the victory, but the substantial success remained with the Swedes, as the King of Denmark was for a long time disabled from attempting any further enterprise. Meanwhile the Elector of Brandenburg had taken several places in Pomerania,

28 There is an extract of this treaty in Puffendorf, De Rebus Gest. Frid. Wilh., lib. xiii. § 43, p. 1010.

CHAP. IV.]

NAVAL VICTORIES OF THE DANES.

125

while in the Duchy of Bremen the allies had captured Stade, the last place which held out for the Swedes. As the Bishop of Münster and the Dukes of Lüneburg now manifested a desire to hold the Duchy of Bremen for themselves, Christian V. and Frederick William concluded a new and still closer alliance, Dec. 23rd 1676. By secret articles, the Elector guaranteed the Convention of Rendsborg, and engaged that the King of Denmark should obtain at least a fifth part of the territories of Bremen and Verden; while Christian, on his side, undertook that the Elector should receive satisfaction in those districts, in case he did not obtain it in Pomerania. Both pledged themselves not to surrender at a general peace the conquests which they had wrested from Sweden; and Christian promised to stand by the Elector in case he should be precipitated into a war with Poland.29

In the campaign of 1677, the Swedes had on the whole the advantage on land, and especially in the battle of Lanscrona (July 14th) Charles XI. inflicted a severe defeat on Christian V.; but, on the other hand, the Danes were victorious at sea. In June, Admiral Juel defeated the Swedish fleet off Rostock; and in the following month he gained a still more decisive victory over Admiral Horn in the Bay of Kiöge, when he took or sunk eleven ships of the line. The King of Denmark concluded the campaign by taking possession of the Island of Rügen, which, however, was again lost and recovered. The chief exploit of the Elector of Brandenburg was the capture, after a six months' siege, of Stettin, (December 26th), the constant object of his ambition.

During the year 1678, the marked superiority of the Danish fleet compelled the Swedes to keep in port, and consequently no actions took place at sea. In the autumn the Elector took Stralsund and Greifswald (November). But while he was engaged in the siege of the latter place, a body of 16,000 Swedes, under Fieldmarsal Horn, Governor of Livonia, suddenly invaded the Duchy of Prussia, and penetrated as far as Insterburg. It was thought that the despotism which Frederick William had exercised towards the Prussians would have rendered them discontented, and anxious to throw off the yoke; and it was as much from the apprehension of such an occurrence, as with a view to defend the place against the Swedes, that the Elector despatched in all haste General Görzke with 3000 men to Königsberg. He himself, early in 1679 and during a severe frost, proceeded by forced marches against the Swedes, with a chosen body of about 4000 foot and 6600 horse. The progress of the infantry was assisted " Dumont, t. vii. pt. i. p. 325 sq. Secret articles in Puffendorf, Ib.

p. 1074.

126

LOUIS XIV. DICTATES A PEACE.

[Book V. with sledges, and the Frische Haff and Kurische Haff, two large bays, or friths, in the neighbourhood of Königsberg, were crossed on the ice; the army marching in this way ten or twelve leagues a day. Frederick William overtook the Swedes, who had been already worsted near Tilsit by his advanced guard, at the village of Splitter, which lies at a short distance from that town, completely defeated them, and pursued them to Bauske, about forty miles from Riga. Marshal Horn was captured, and of his 16,000 men not above 1500 found their way back to Riga, so great had been their suffering from cold and hunger as well as from the sword.

The victories of Frederick William and Christian V. were, however, destined to be fruitless. They were deserted by their allies, and Louis XIV., who now gave law to Europe, made it a point of honour to secure the Swedes in the possession of those territories which had been assigned to them by the Peace of Westphalia. Already in August 1678, the Peace of Nimeguen had been concluded between France and the United Netherlands; and in the following February the Emperor Leopold, who viewed with a jealous eye the successes of the Elector of Brandenburg, acceded to the treaty without waiting for the consent of the States of the Empire. The conditions offered by Louis were not, indeed, disadvantageous to the Empire; only he insisted that the northern allies should restore to Sweden all their conquests; and Leopold, by a particular treaty with Charles XI., engaged that this should be done, as well as that the Duke of Holstein Gottorp should be maintained in all his rights of sovereignty against the Crown of Denmark. Nothing now remained for the Elector of Brandenburg but to obtain the best terms he could from the all-potent Louis, the patron of the beaten Swedes; especially as his allies, the Dukes of Lüneburg, had acceded to the general pacification shortly after the Emperor, by the treaty of Zell, Feb. 5th 1679, by which they engaged to restore to Sweden all that portion of the Duchy of Bremen which they had occupied, and to take no further part in the war. This example was soon after followed by the Bishop of Münster.30 All Frederick William's proposals to the French Court for retaining Pomerania were treated with brutal contempt, and Louvois even threatened that a French army should march to Berlin. The great Elector condescended to address an humble letter to the French monarch, and offered to place the greater part of his conquests in Louis's hands on condition of retaining the rest; 31 but without effect. The French division, under Marshal Créqui, 30 Dumont, t. vii. pt. i. p. 391 and p.

399.

s1 May 16th 1679. See Hist. des Négoc. de Nimégue, t. ii. p. 208. (Paris, 1680.)

CHAP. IV.] TREATIES OF FONTAINEBLEAU, LUNDEN, ETC. 127

cantoned in the Duchy of Clèves, having entered Westphalia, and threatening an invasion of Brandenburg, Frederick William found himself compelled to sign the Treaty of St. Germain-enLaye (June 29th 1679), by which he agreed to restore to the Swedes all his conquests, retaining however the district which they had possessed beyond the Oder, except the towns of Damm and Golnow; the latter to be redeemed by the Swedes for 50,000 rixdollars. By a secret article, Louis XIV. promised to give the Elector 300,000 crowns, as compensation for the damage he had suffered from the occupation of the French troops, if the Elector consented to renew their ancient alliance.32

Christian V., relying on an article in the treaty between the Dukes of Lüneburg and France, by which the former had stipulated that no troops were to march through their dominions had at first thought of continuing the war; but a French division under the Duke of Joyeuse having, in spite of this engagement, entered the Danish counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, Christian hastened to make his peace, by signing the Treaty of Fontainebleau, September 2nd 1679. By this treaty Christian engaged to restore all his conquests to Sweden, and to reinstate the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in his sovereignty, according to the Treaties of Roskild and Copenhagen.33 But an obscurity in the wording of this last article subsequently gave occasion to new disputes.

The Peace of Fontainebleau between France and Denmark was soon followed by that of Lunden, between the latter Power and Sweden (Sept. 26th). Sweden recovered all that she had lost; and, on the 7th of October, the two Powers signed a defensive alliance for a term of ten years.34 Thus Sweden, through the aid of France, concluded, without any loss of territory, a war which had threatened her with dismemberment. Her losses, nevertheless, both moral and material, were very considerable. Her military glory, acquired by the victories of Gustavus Adolphus and Charles X., had been entirely eclipsed; her finances were exhausted, her navy almost ruined; and it had been demonstrated that, without the help of France, she was scarcely a match for the other northern Powers.

The peace was immediately followed by a revolution in the Swedish Government. The exhausted state of the finances required a reform in the administration, which was loudly demanded by all

"Dumont, t. vii. pt. i. p. 408; Puffendorf, De Rebus gestis Friderici Wilh., lib. xvii. § 77 sqq., and p. 1093.

Cf.

Mignet, Succ. d'Espagne, t. iv. p. 699 sqq. 33 Dumont, t. vii. pt. i. p. 419.

Ibid. pp. 425, 431.

128

SWEDISH CROWN MADE ABSOLUTE.

[Book V. classes of the nation, the nobility alone excepted, who enriched themselves out of the public revenue. Charles XI., moreover, was desirous of relieving himself from dependence on French subsidies, and in these views he was encouraged by Benedict Oxenstiern, who had had some violent altercations with the French minister, Colbert de Croissy, and had conceived in consequence a strong hatred of France. Charles now dismissed the chancellor, Count Magnus de la Gardie, the head of the French party, and gave his office to Oxenstiern. At the same time he removed other ministers whom he suspected of being more devoted to the Council of State than to himself. A Diet having been assembled in Stockholm (1680), the chamber of the nobles was surrounded by soldiers under pretence of a guard of honour, and the three lower estates-the clergy, the peasants, and the burgher-class-passed a resolution investing the King with absolute power. It was declared that he was bound by no form of government; that he was responsible to nobody for the measures he might adopt; and he was even empowered to direct and regulate the constitution and form

of government by his last Will. As the army was entirely devoted to Charles, the nobles found themselves compelled to accept this constitution.

During another Diet assembled in October 1682, a decree was issued that all ministers of finance during the King's minority should make good the losses which the kingdom had suffered in that period. The five high offices of state were no longer filled up; the Council of State was converted into a Royal Council, nominated by and dependent on the King. A Commission was appointed to inquire into the administration of the crown lands since the year 1632; and all donations, as well as all crown leases, were revoked, the holders of the latter being reimbursed the sums which they had actually paid. This measure was called the "Reduction." The province of Livonia was the chief sufferer by it, where nearly fivesixths of the whole landed estates of the province were adjudged to the crown.35 This unjust and violent measure, which deprived a great number of families of their patrimony, was further aggravated by the imposition of a tax amounting to a fourth part of the revenues of the nobles. A deputation from Livonia having warmly protested at Stockholm against these proceedings, and having resorted to steps offensive to the Court, were criminally indicted and condemned to death as rebels (1694). This penalty was commuted, as regards three of the deputies, for perpetual im

"De Bray, Essai Crit. sur l'Hist. de la Livonie, ap. Koch and Schoell, Hist. des Traités, t. xiii. p. 156.

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