by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

Karl IX, King of Sweden was the youngest of the ten children and the fifth of the five sons of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden and his second wife Margareta Leijonhufvud. Two of Karl’s elder brothers died in infancy, one was mentally disabled, and the eldest brother Johan III, King of Sweden succeeded his deposed half-brother Eric XIV. Karl was born on October 4, 1550, at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, on the site of the current Royal Palace of Stockholm. His mother’s constant pregnancies took a toll on her health and she died from pneumonia before Karl’s first birthday.

Karl had nine older siblings:

• Johan III, King of Sweden (1537 – 1592), married (1) Katarina Jagellonica of Poland, had three children including his successor Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden (2) Gunilla Bielke, had one son
• Katarina Gustavsdotter Vasa (1539 – 1610), married Edzard II, Count of East Frisia, had ten children
• Cecilia Gustavsdotter Vasa (1540 – 1627), married Christoph II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern, had seven children
• Magnus Gustavson Vasa, Duke of Östergötland (1542 – 1595), unmarried, mentally disabled
• Karl Gustavson Vasa (born and died 1544), died in infancy
• Anna Gustavsdotter Vasa (1545 – 1610), married Georg Johann I, Count Palatine of Veldenz, had eleven children
• Sten Gustavson Vasa (1546 – 1547), died in infancy
• Sofia Gustavsdotter Vasa (1547 – 1611), married Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, had six children but only one lived past infancy
• Elisabet Gustavsdotter Vasa (1549 – 1597), married Christoph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch, had one daughter

Karl had one elder half-sibling from his father’s first marriage to Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg:

• Eric XIV, King of Sweden (1533 – 1577), married Karin Månsdotter, his mistress, had two children before marriage and two children after marriage, Erik reigned for nine years until he was deposed by Karl’s eldest brother Johan III, King of Sweden.

Karl was not expected to become King of Sweden and was created Duke of Södermanland. In 1578, eighteen-year-old Karl visited Heidelberg in the Electorate of Palatinate, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and proposed to fifteen-year-old Maria of Palatinate-Simmern, daughter of Ludwig VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse. Karl decided to marry Maria because they were both devout Lutherans. Karl and Maria married on May 11, 1579, in Heidelberg. On July 29, 1589, Maria died after a long illness, aged 28, at Eskilstuna Castle in Eskilstuna, Södermanland, Sweden. She was buried at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Södermanland, Sweden.

Karl and Maria had six children but only one survived childhood:

• Margareta Elisabeth of Sweden (1580 – 1585), died in childhood
• Elisabeth Sabina of Sweden (1582 – 1585), died in childhood
• Ludwig of Sweden (born and died 1583), died in infancy
• Katharina of Sweden (1584 – 1638), married Count Palatine Johann Kasimir of Palitinate-Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, had eight children including Karl X Gustav, King of Sweden
• Gustav of Sweden (born and 1587), died in infancy
• Maria Sweden (1588 – 1589), died in infancy

On August 27, 1592, at Nyköping Castle in Nyköping, Södermanland, Sweden, Karl married Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, the daughter of Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and Christine of Hesse. Christina and Karl’s first wife Maria were first cousins through their mothers.

Karl and Christina had four children:

• Gustavus II Adolphus the Great, King of Sweden (1594 – 1632), married Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, had two daughters, only one survived infancy and succeeded her father as Christina, Queen of Sweden
• Maria Elisabet of Sweden (1596 – 1618), married her paternal first cousin Prince Johan of Sweden, Duke of Östergötland, no children
• Kristina of Sweden (1598 – 1599), died in infancy
• Karl Philip of Sweden (1601 – 1622), married morganatically Elizabet Ribbing, had one posthumous daughter

Karl’s brother Johan III, King of Sweden married the Roman Catholic Katarina Jagellonica of Poland, daughter of Sigismund I, King of Poland. As Queen Consort of Sweden, Katarina had much political influence and influenced her husband in many areas. However, her greatest influence was in religious policy. The Protestant Johan had clear Catholic sympathies, inspired by his Catholic wife Katarina, and this created issues with the Protestant Swedish clergy and nobility. Their son Sigismund Vasa was raised as a Catholic in the hopes that he would acquire the Polish crown in the future.

After the death of Stephen Báthory, King of Poland, who had no legitimate children, 21-year-old Sigismund Vasa was elected King of Poland in 1587. On November 17, 1592, Sigismund’s father Johan III, King of Sweden, died. Sigismund was granted permission by the Polish legislature to claim his inheritance as the rightful Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden. The Catholic Sigismund promised to recognize Lutheranism as Sweden’s state religion and was crowned at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden on February 19, 1594. However, many were suspicious of Sigismund’s promise to uphold Lutheranism when a papal nuncio was in the coronation procession.

When Sigismund returned to Poland in July 1594, Karl, Sigismund’s uncle, and the council were to govern in his absence. Because of the religious differences, Sigismund did not want to give his uncle and the council full government power. He appointed some council members who favored the Roman Catholic Church and would receive orders directly from him. In 1595, the Riksdag (legislature) gained control of the Swedish government and appointed the Lutheran Karl Regent of Sweden. Finally, on February  24, 1604, the Swedish Riksdag declared that Sigismund abdicated the Swedish throne, and his uncle Karl was recognized as the sovereign – Karl IX, King of Sweden. Sigismund had lost the Swedish throne but he reigned as King of Poland until he died in 1632.

Although Karl became King of Sweden in 1604, Karl and his wife Christina were not crowned King and Queen of Sweden until March 15, 1607, at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden. Karl’s seven-year reign was marked by almost constant warfare: the Polish-Swedish War (1600 – 1611), the Ingrian War with Russia (1610 – 1617), and the Kalmar War (1611–1613) with Denmark-Norway.

On October 30, 1611, at Nyköping Castle in Nyköping, Södermanland, Sweden, 61-year-old Karl IX, King of Sweden died. He was buried at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Södermanland, Sweden. Karl IX has a most unusual grave monument – a rider on a horse wearing gold armor placed over Karl IX’s family crypt. The gold armor was made by twelve of Stockholm’s most prominent goldsmiths. Christina survived her husband by fourteen years, dying at the age of 52, on December 8, 1625, at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Södermanland, Sweden, and was buried in the family crypt below her husband’s equestrian grave monument at Strängnäs Cathedral in Strängnäs, Sweden.

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Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. 2021. Karl IX. (Schweden) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_IX._(Schweden)> [Accessed 11 July 2021].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Charles IX of Sweden – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IX_of_Sweden> [Accessed 11 July 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Johan III, King of Sweden. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/johan-iii-king-of-sweden/> [Accessed 11 July 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden, King of Poland. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/sigismund-iii-vasa-king-of-sweden/> [Accessed 11 July 2021].
• Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Karl IX – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_IX> [Accessed 11 July 2021].