Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV John was a lawyer's son from Pau who rose from sergeant to marshal of France, was elected crown prince of Sweden in 1810 by a diet that wanted a soldier and thought Napoleon would like it, led a Swedish army against Napoleon at Leipzig, took Norway from Denmark as his price, and founded the dynasty that still reigns; he never learned the language. He was born Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in 1763, enlisted in 1780, and was a general by 1794, ambassador to Vienna, minister of war in 1799, and a marshal in the first creation of 1804; he had married Désirée Clary, whom Napoleon had jilted, and the two men never liked each other. He fought at Austerlitz and Wagram and was reprimanded at both, governed the Hanseatic towns, and in 1809 treated Swedish prisoners well, which the Swedes remembered when their king had been deposed and the heir they had chosen dropped dead of a stroke in 1810. A Swedish lieutenant went to Paris on his own initiative and asked him. The diet at Örebro elected him in August, he became a Lutheran and Charles John, and from the day he landed he governed for the old king. Napoleon's seizure of Swedish Pomerania in 1812 decided him. He met Alexander at Åbo, joined the coalition in 1813, commanded the Army of the North at Grossbeeren, Dennewitz and Leipzig with a caution the Prussians cursed, and instead of following into France turned on Denmark and at Kiel in January 1814 took Norway as compensation for Finland. The Norwegians declared themselves independent under a constitution at Eidsvoll and he fought a two-week war and then let them keep the constitution in a union of crowns. He became king in 1818 and reigned twenty-six years as a conservative in a country that had elected him for the opposite, quarrelling with the diet, keeping the peace, and beginning the Göta Canal. The liberal press called him Charles the Silent for the French he spoke in council. He died in March 1844 and his son Oscar succeeded; the family has held the throne since, and Norway left the union in 1905.
- Lived: 1763 CE – 1844 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: king, monarch, general
