, by General Gomez de Arteche
(3 vols.), in the _Historia General de Espana de la Real Academia de
la Historia_ (Madrid, 1892, &c.).

CHARLES IX. (1550-1611), king of Sweden, was the youngest son of
Gustavus Vasa and Margareto Lejonhufrud. By his father's will he got, by
way of appanage, the duchy of Sodermanland, which included the provinces
of Nerike and Vermland; but he did not come into actual possession of
them till after the fall of Eric XIV. (1569). In 1568 he was the real
leader of the rebellion against Eric, but took no part in the designs of
his brother John against the unhappy king after his deposition. Indeed,
Charles's relations with John III. were always more or less strained. He
had no sympathy with John's high-church tendencies on the one hand, and
he sturdily resisted all the king's endeavours to restrict his authority
as duke of Sodermanland (Sudermania) on the other. The nobility and the
majority of the _Riksdag_ supported John, however, in his endeavours to
unify the realm, and Charles had consequently (1587) to resign his
pretensions to autonomy within his duchy; but, fanatical Calvinist as he
was, on the religious question he was immovable. The matter came to a
crisis on the death of John III. (1592). The heir to the throne was
John's eldest son, Sigismund, already king of Poland and a devoted
Catholic. The fear lest Sigismund might re-catholicize the land alarmed
the Protestant majority in Sweden, and Charles came forward as their
champion, and also as the defender of the Vasa dynasty against foreign
interference. It was due entirely to him that Sigismund was forced to
confirm the resolutions of the council of Upsala, thereby recognizing
the fact that Sweden was essentially a Protestant state (see SWEDEN:
_History_). In the ensuing years Charles's task was extraordinarily
difficult. He had steadily to oppose Sigismund's reactionary tendencies;
he had also to curb the nobility, which he did with cruel rigour.
Necessity compelled him to work rather with the people than the gentry;
hence it was that the _Riksdag_ assumed under his government a power and
an importance which it had never possessed before. In 1595 the _Riksdag_
of Soderkoping elected Charles regent, and his attempt to force Klas
Flemming, governor of Finland, to submit to his authority, rather than
to that of the king, provoked a civil war. Technically Charles was,
without doubt, guilty of high treason, and the considerable min