Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

King Gustavus III of Sweden (r. 1771–92) was a so-called enlightened despot who not only ushered in an age of culture and prosperity in Sweden, but also imposed absolutism during a coup d'état in 1772. Previously, Sweden had been ruled by a parliamentary system under the Riksdag of the Swedish Estates. In 1792 Gustavus III was assassinated at a masquerade ball by a conspiracy of nobles angered by his absolutist stance. Gustavus III's son, Gustav IV Adolf (1778–1837; also known as Gustavus IV) ascended to the throne at age 14 in 1792 under the regency of his uncle Charles, duke of Södermanland. At age 18 he became the sole ruler of Sweden. Gustavus IV was a devout Christian; in 1796 he refused to marry the granddaughter of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, Alexandra Pavlovna, because she intended to continue worshipping in the Russian Orthodox Church. Gustavus IV was initially well liked, perceived as a down-to-earth, pious man, unlike his father. Yet he too became an intransigent, absolute monarch who claimed he would never again call a meeting of the Riksdag of the Swedish Estates after they opposed him in March and April 1800. Gustavus IV's ferocious hatred of France–because of the Jacobins and Napoleon , whom he considered to be the antichrist–coupled with his refusal to cooperate with the Riksdag and his failure to resolve Sweden's fiscal and agricultural crises led ... log in or subscribe to read full text