bined
enemies shrank from attacking him, whereupon he assumed the offensive by
attacking Norway in 1717, and again in 1718, in order to conquer
sufficient territory to enable him to extort better terms from his
enemies. It was during this second adventure that he met his death. On
the 11th of December, when the Swedish approaches had come within 280
paces of the fortress of Fredriksten, which the Swedes were closely
besieging, Charles looked over the parapet of the foremost trench, and
was shot through the head by a bullet from the fortress.

See Charles XII., _Die eigenhandigen Briefe Konig Karls XII._ (Berlin,
1894); Friedrich Ferdinand Carlson, _Sveriges Historia under
Konungarne af Pfalziska Huset_ (Stockholm, 1883-1885); Robert Nisbet
Bain, _Charles XII. and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire_ (London
and Oxford, 1895); _Bidrag til den Store Nordishe Krigs Historie_
(Copenhagen, 1899-1900); G. Syveton, _Louis XIV et Charles XII_
(Paris, 1900); Daniel Krmann, _Historia ablegationis D. Krmann ad
regem Sueciae Carolum XII._ (Budapest, 1894); Oscar II., _Nagra bidrag
till Sveriges Krigshistoria aren 1711-1713_ (Stockholm, 1892); Martin
Weibull, _Sveriges Storhedstid_ (Stockholm, 1881). (R. N. B.)

CHARLES XIII. (1748-1818), king of Sweden and Norway, the second son of
Adolphus Frederick, king of Sweden, and Louisa Ulrica, sister of
Frederick the Great, was born at Stockholm on the 7th of October 1748.
In 1772 he co-operated in the revolutionary plans of his brother
Gustavus III. (q.v.). On the outbreak of the Russo-Swedish War of 1788
he served with distinction as admiral of the fleet, especially at the
battles of Hogland (June 17, 1788) and Oland (July 26, 1789). On the
latter occasion he would have won a signal victory but for the
unaccountable remissness of his second-in-command, Admiral Liljehorn. On
the death of Gustavus III., Charles, now duke of Sudermania, acted as
regent of Sweden till 1796; but the real ruler of the country was the
narrow-minded and vindictive Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm (q.v.), whose
mischievous influence over him was supreme. These four years were
perhaps the most miserable and degrading in Swedish history (an age of
lead succeeding an age of gold, as it has well been called) and may be
briefly described as alternations of fantastic jacobinism and ruthless
despotism. On the accession of Gustavus IV. (November 1796), the duke
became a mere cipher in politics till t