GUSH-CHALAB
1036 GUSTAVUS-ADOLPH. SOCIETY
in many cases, disobedience to the government, and principles incompatible with a civilized form of gov- ernment. See Linss, Das Ilandbuch Guri/'s und die christlkhe Ethih (Frieberg, 1869). (A. J. S.) Gush-Chalab. See Gisciiala. Gustavus I, Vasa, the first Protestant king of Sweden, was born at Lindholm, Sweden, May 12, 149G. He descended, both on the paternal and maternal side, from noble Swedish families, and his original name was GusUmis Eiicssnn, since he was the son of the councillor Eric Johansson. From 1512 he was educated for a statesman at tlic court of the Swedish adminis- trator, Sten Sture. In 151G and 1517 he toolt an act- ive part in the war against the Danes, but was treach- erously made a prisoner by the Danish king, Christian II, and carried to Denmark. lie escaped in Septem- ber, 1519, landed iu Sweden in May, 1520, aroused the peasants of Dalecarlia to a revolt against the Danish rule, and was proclaimed Ijy them head of their own and other communes of Sweden. The forcible abdi- cation of Chi-istian II put an end to the Scandinavian union, and the Swedish Diet of Strengniiss proclaim- ed Gustavus as king. Being a decided adherent of the Reformation of Luther with whom he carried on a correspondence, Gustavus declined to be crowned by the hands of the Roman Catliolic bishops, and post- poned his coronation, which did not take place until 1528. In 1530 he formally joined the Lutheran Church, the cause of which he promoted with great eagerness, and even severity, crippling the power of the Roman Catholic clergy by enormous imposts and finalh' (1514) forcing the Luthe:an doctrines upon all his subjects. Like many other Protestant princes of that time, he arrogated to himself an undue influence upon the Church, assuming in 1540 the highest authority in ecclesiastical matters, -and thus burdening Sweden with the. pernicious system of an oppi-essive and even intolerant state-churchism. By an act of the Diet of Westeriis the crown was declared hereditary in his male descendants. On the whole, Gustavus was one of the best and wisest princes of his time. "He had found Sweden a wilderness, devoid of all cultivation, and a jjrej- to the turbulence of the people and the ra- pacity of the nobles ; and, after fortj' years' rule, he left it a peaceful and civilizad realm, with a full ex- chequer, and a well-organized army of 15,000 men, and a good fleet, which w-ere both his creations. He promoted trade at home and abroad. Every profes- sion and trade received his attention and fostering care, and schools and colleges owed their revival, af- ter the decay of the older Roman Catholic institutions, to him. He made commercial treaties with foreign nations, and established fairs for foreign traders. In his reign roads and bridges were made in every pai"t of the country, and canals begun, one of which has only recently been brought to completion. In his re- lations with his subjects Gustavus was firm, and some- times severe, but seldom imjust, except in his dealings tovvards the Romish clergy, whom he despoiled with something like rapacity of all their lands and funds. To him tlie various tribes of Lapps were indebted for the diffusion of Christianity among them by Lutheran missionaries, while the Finns owed to him the first works of instruction. Bibles and hymn-books printed in their own language. Gustavus was methodical, just, moral, and abstemious in his mode of life; an able administrator; and, with the exception of a ten- dency to avarice, possessed few qualities tliat are un- worthv of esteem" (Chambers, Cjclopxdki). He died Sept. 29, 15G0. (A. J. S.)
Gustavus II, At)OLrncs, king of Sweden, w%as the grandson of Gustavus I (q. v.) by his youngest son, Charles IX, at whose death be succeeded to the throne of Sweden, (instavus, wlio had been' strictly brought up in the Lutheran faith, had at first to quell some disorders at home, arising from the disputed suc-
cession of his father (third son of Gustavus Yasa), who had been elected king on the exclusion of his nephew Sigismund, king of Poland (son of John III, the sec- ond son of Gustavus Vasa), whose profession of the Roman Catholic religion made him obnoxious to the Swedisli people, and virtuallj'^ annulled his claims to tlie crown. He reconciled the Estates by making them many concessions, ended the war with Denmark, in 1G12, unsuccessfulh', but obtained from the Czar ia 1G17, by virtue of the treaty of Stolbowa, several places, and renounced all claims to Livonia. The numerous exiles who, during the reign of his father, had tied to Poland, were permitted to return, and thus he thwarted the intrigues of the Polish king Sigis- mund. In 1620 he built Gothenburg anew, and found- ed or renewed sixteen other towns. He was eagerly intent upon enlarging the powers of the sovereign by reducing those of the Estates. In 1621 he was in- volved in a war with Poland, and gained Livonia and Courland, and carried the war into Prussia. Several revolts in Sweden, which broke out in consequence of the heavy taxes, were promptlj' quelled. In the sum- mer of the j'ear 1G30 he went to German}' with an arm}' of about 15,000 men to support the Protestants in the war against the emperor, having remitted the charge of the government and the care of his infant daughter Christina to his chancellor Oxenstiern. Af- ter carrying on the war triumphantly for two }'ears [see Thirty Years' War], he fell at Lutzen, Nov. G, 1G32. Although Gustavus was eminently a war- like king, he made many salutary changes in the in- ternal administration of his countrv, and devoted his short intervals of peace to the promotion of commerce and manufactures. He was pre-eminently religious, and his success in battle is perhaps to be ascribed not only to a better mode of warfare, and the stricter dis- cipline which he enforced, but also still more to the moral influence which his deep-seated piety and his personal character inspired among his soldiers. The spot Wiiere he fell on the field of Liitzen was long marked by the Schu-edenstein, or Swede's Stone, erect- ed by his servant, Jacob Fricsson, on the night after the battle. Its place has now been taken by a npble monument erected t'^ his memory by the German peo- ple on the occasion of the second centenary of the bat- tle held in 1832 Other monuments were erected be- tween Coswig and Goertz (1840), and at Bremen (1853). A statue made by logelberg was set up at Gothen- burg in 1854. In 1832 Protestant Germany establish- ed in his honor an association for the support of poor Protestant congregations. See Gustavus Adolphus Society. Biographies have been written, among others, by Rango (Lpz. 1824), Sparfeld (Lpz. 1844), Gfrorer (3d ed. Stuttg 1852), Frevxell (Germ, transl. Lpz. 1852), Helbig (Lpz. 1854), Flathe {Gustav Adolf n. der dreusJnjdhr. Kricff, Dresd. 1840 sq., 4 vols.), H. W. Thiersch (Nordlingen, 1868)- and Droysen (vol. i, Leips. 1869). (A. J. S.)