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Kalmar Union

(Encyclopedia)Kalmar Union, combination of the three crowns of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, effected at Kalmar, Sweden, by Queen Margaret I in 1397. Because the kingship was elective in all three countries, the uni...

Banér, Johan

(Encyclopedia)Banér, Johan yo͞oˈhän bänârˈ [key], 1596–1641, Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years War. He served (1626–29) in Poland and Russia and accompanied (1630) Gustavus II of Sweden to German...

Tilly, Johannes Tserklaes, count of

(Encyclopedia)Tilly, Johannes Tserklaes, count of yōhänˈəs tsĕrkläsˈ tĭlˈē [key], 1559–1632, general in Bavarian and later imperial service during the Thirty Years War. A younger son of a noble family o...

Oxenstierna, Count Axel Gustafsson

(Encyclopedia)Oxenstierna, Count Axel Gustafsson äkˈsəl go͝osˈtäfsən ŭkˈsənshĕrˌnä [key], 1583–1654, Swedish statesman. Named chancellor in 1612, he was the actual administrator of Sweden because Gus...

Fersen, Count Hans Axel

(Encyclopedia)Fersen, Count Hans Axel, 1755–1810, Swedish soldier and diplomat; son of Count Fredrik Axel Fersen. He entered (1779) the French service, was aide-de-camp of comte de Rochambeau in the American Revo...

Pappenheim, Gottfried Heinrich, Graf zu

(Encyclopedia)Pappenheim, Gottfried Heinrich, Graf zu gôtˈfrēt hīnˈrĭkh gräf tso͞o päˈpənhīm [key], 1594–1632, German military leader, imperial field marshal in the Thirty Years War. A convert to Roma...

Carl XVI Gustaf

(Encyclopedia)Carl XVI Gustaf: see Charles XVI Gustavus. ...

Christian III

(Encyclopedia)Christian III, 1503–59, king of Denmark and Norway (1534–59). At the death of his father, Frederick I, his election was delayed because he was a Lutheran. The German city of Lübeck invaded Denmar...

Fersen, Count Fredrik Axel

(Encyclopedia)Fersen, Count Fredrik Axel frāˈdrĭk äkˈsəl fĕrˈsən [key], 1719–94, Swedish politician and soldier. He served (1743–48) in the French army and retired as brigadier general. As lieutenant g...

George William

(Encyclopedia)George William, 1597–1640, elector of Brandenburg (1619–40). Mild and irresolute, he was a Calvinist, yet he ruled a Lutheran people. He failed to turn the strategic position of Brandenburg to adv...