No. 50 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden
BORN 1594, KILLED IN ACTION 1632.
Full length. Drab leather coat, grey and gold embroidered sleeves, and trunk hose. High drab boots. Helmet with grey and drab feathers on the table beside him.
The son of Charles IX., King of Sweden, by Christina of Holstein, and grandson of the great Gustavus Vasa. He ascended the throne when only fifteen, and at that early age showed great capacity for government, and discrimination in the choice of his ministers. But his education and tastes led him to a military career; he engaged in wars with Denmark, Muscovy, and Poland with wonderful success, and he then entered into an alliance with the Protestant powers of Germany against the Emperor of Austria, and was the hero of the Thirty Years’ War, the friend and comrade-in-arms of all those brave spirits whose names live for ever in the pages of Schiller, and the memory of all lovers of religion and valour.
After a series of brilliant campaigns, where he appeared to bear a charmed life, Gustavus Adolphus fell at the battle of Lützen. It was said of him, ‘He died with the sword in his hand, the word of command on his tongue, and the victory in his anticipation.’
When surrounded by enemies, his page tried to hide the rank of his royal master, but the hero exclaimed, ‘I am the King of Sweden, and I seal with my blood the Protestant faith and the liberties of Germany.’ Then he called on the God he had served so well, and with the name of his beloved Queen on his lips he expired. The body was instantly stripped, for every one was anxious to possess some relic of Gustavus Adolphus; but his noble and commanding form, though divested of all the trappings of royalty, caused it to be recognised amid the heaps of less eminent slain.
In appearance the King of Sweden was fair, his eyes were light blue, but most expressive, his features aquiline, his complexion florid. All his portraits resemble each other so nearly that we cannot but feel familiar with the personal aspect of this great and good man. He was idolised by his friends, subjects, and comrades. His death seems to have stricken down the unfortunate King of Bohemia, who loved him dearly, and on all the Protestant princes it fell like a thunderbolt. He cultivated the arts and sciences, and improved the social position of Sweden, although so often absent on foreign campaigns. By his beloved and beautiful wife, Maria Elenora, Princess of Brandenburgh, Gustavus left an only daughter, the famous Christina, who succeeded her father on the throne of Sweden; but after reigning about twenty years she abdicated.