Editing Charles IX of Sweden (section)

==Rebel duke==
[[File:Carl IX of Sweden 1596 by H. Nützel.jpg|thumb|left|120px|''Duke Charles'' (as he then was called) in 1596 by H. Nützel]]

In 1568, he was the real leader of [[Uprising against Erik XIV|the rebellion against Eric XIV]].   However, he took no part in the designs of his brother [[John III of Sweden|John III]] against the unhappy king after his deposition. Charles's relations with John were always more or less strained. He was at least suspected of being implicated in the [[Mornay Plot]] to depose John III in 1574,<ref>Karin Tegenborg Falkdalen (2010). Vasadöttrarna (2). Falun: Historiska Media. {{ISBN|978-91-85873-87-6}}</ref> and was one of the alternative regents suggested by the conspirators of the [[1576 Plot]]. 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 Södermanland on the other. The nobility and the majority of the [[Riksdag of the Estates]] 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, steadfast [[Lutheran]] as he was, on the religious question he was immovable. The matter came to a crisis on the death of John III in 1592. The heir to the throne was John's eldest son, [[Sigismund III Vasa]], already king of [[Poland]] and a devoted [[Catholic]]. The fear that Sigismund might re-catholicize the land alarmed the [[Protestant]] majority in Sweden—particularly the commoners and lower nobility, and Charles came forward as their champion, and also as the defender of the [[House of Vasa|Vasa]] dynasty against foreign interference.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}

It was due entirely to him that Sigismund ''as king-elect'' was forced to confirm the resolutions at the [[Uppsala Synod]] in 1593, thereby recognizing the fact that Sweden was essentially a [[Lutheran]] Protestant state. Under the agreement, Charles and the Swedish Privy Council shared power and ruled in Sigismund's place since he resided in Poland. In the ensuing years 1593–1595, Charles's task was extraordinarily difficult. He had steadily to oppose Sigismund's reactionary tendencies and directives; he had also to curb the nobility which sought to increase their power at the expense of the absent king, which he did with cruel rigor.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}

Necessity compelled him to work with the clergy and people rather than the gentry; hence it was that the Riksdag of the Estates assumed under his regency government a power and an importance which it had never possessed before. In 1595, the Riksdag of [[Söderköping]] elected Charles regent, and his attempt to force [[Klaus Fleming|Klas Fleming]], governor of [[Finland]], to submit to his authority, rather than to that of the king, provoked a civil war.{{sfn|Bain|1911}} Charles sought to increase his power and the king attempted to manage the situation by diplomacy over several years, until fed up, Sigismund got permission from the Commonwealth's legislature to pursue the matters dividing his Swedish subjects, and [[War against Sigismund|invaded with a mercenary army]].

[[File:Albert Edelfelt - Duke Karl Insulting the Corpse of Klas Fleming.jpg|thumb|300px|''Duke Karl Insulting the Corpse of [[Klaus Fleming]]'' <small>(Painting by [[Albert Edelfelt]], 1878, Fleming's wife [[Ebba Stenbock]] on the right)</small>]]

In April 1597, after having subdued the [[Cudgel War]] and preparing to resist the expected invasion of Charles, Fleming died and was succeeded as governor by [[Arvid Stålarm the Younger]]. In August 1597, Charles and his army invaded Österland, took [[Åland]], which was the fief of her sister Queen Dowager Catherine, and besieged [[Turku Castle]]. Fleming was still not buried, and, according to [[legend]], Charles had the coffin opened to reassure himself that Fleming was indeed dead. After having identified the face of Fleming, he was to have pulled Fleming's beard with the words, "If you had been alive, your head would not have been safe", upon which Fleming's wife [[Ebba Stenbock]] replied, "If my late husband was alive, Your Grace would never have been here."<ref>Warburg, Karl (1881): [https://runeberg.org/warkonst/ ''Från vår konstverld: Taflor och skulpturer af svenska och finska konstärer i vår tid.''] Albert Bonniers förlag, Stockholm.</ref>

Despite some initial successes, Sigismund lost the decisive [[Battle of Stångebro]] and was captured. He was then forced to surrender several Swedish noblemen, whom Charles and the [[Riksdag of the Estates]] had named traitors. These noblemen were later executed in what became known as the [[Linköping Bloodbath]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Explore Linköping's historic quarters |url=https://visitlinkoping.se/en/link%C3%B6ping%E2%80%99s-historic-quarters |website=Visit Linköping |access-date=10 June 2020 |archive-date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330021447/https://visitlinkoping.se/en/link%C3%B6ping?s-historic-quarters |url-status=dead }}</ref> With Sigismund defeated and exiled—seen as both an outsider and a heretic by most of the Swedish nation—his formal deposition by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1599 served as both a natural vindication of Charles's actions and a retroactive legitimization of his claim to power. In the same session, the Riksdag named Charles as regent.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}

{{gallery
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|File:Duke Charles (Charles IX of Sweden), daler-type mint (thaler), 1583, perhaps minted in Heidelberg (unique piece) (cropped image).jpg|Duke Charles on a coin from 1583
|File:Mary of Sweden (1579), Carl IX Sweden & Christina of Sweden (1592) 1598.jpg|With his first wife [[Anna Maria of the Palatinate|Maria]] and second wife [[Christina of Holstein-Gottorp|Christina]] in 1598 by {{ill|Hieronymus Nützel|sv}}
|File:Schjerfbeck, Christina Banér rukoilee armoa puolisolleen.jpg|''[[Gustaf Banér|Kristina Banér]] Pleads for Her Husband'' <small>(Painting by [[Helene Schjerfbeck]], 1882, Charles IX on the right)</small>
}}