Charles IX of Sweden

Charles IX, born in 1550 and dead in 1611, was a Swedish prince who ruled as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. The youngest son of Gustav I, he led the Protestant opposition to his nephew Sigismund III, who held the thrones of both Sweden and Poland, and governed as regent before the Riksdag recognized him as sovereign. As a military leader he commanded the artillery at the conquest of Varberg in 1565 at the age of fifteen, led the rebellion against Erik XIV in 1568, and defeated Sigismund at the Battle of Stangebro. His reign was one of uninterrupted warfare, including the Polish-Swedish War of 1600 to 1611, the Ingrian War and, in his final year, the Kalmar War with Denmark-Norway. At Kircholm in 1605 he narrowly escaped after his horse was shot, and his forces often faced superior generals such as Jan Karol Chodkiewicz.