Page "Charles XII of Sweden" Paragraph 39

Charles ' death marked the end of autocratic kingship in Sweden, and the subsequent Age of Liberty saw a shift of power from the monarch to the parliament of the estates.

Historians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries viewed Charles ' death as the result of an aristocratic plot, and Gustav IV Adolf, the king who refused to settle with Napoleon Bonaparte despite the latter's superiority, " identified himself with Charles as the type of righteous man struggling with iniquity " ( Roberts ).

Throughout the 19th century's romantic nationalism Charles XII remained a national hero, idealized as a heroic, virtuous young warrior king, and his fight against Peter the Great was associated with the contemporary Swedish-Russian enmity ( in the century following the king's death, Russia had through several wars won all of Finland from Sweden ).

Examples for the romantic heroization of Charles XII in several genres are Esaias Tegnér's song Kung Karl, den unge hjälte ( 1818 ), Johan Peter Molin's statue in Stockholm's Kungsträdgården ( unveiled on 30 November 1868, the 150th anniversary of Charles ' death ) and Gustaf Cederström's painting Karl XII: s likfärd (" Funeral procession of Charles XII ", 1878 ).

The date of Charles ' death was also chosen by a student association in Lund for annual torch marches starting in 1853.