GUSTAF III (1746-1792, from 1771 King of Sweden)

Letters Patent Signed, in Swedish with translation, the King's titles include "Heir of Norway and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein", appointing "Senior Lieutenant ... Our beloved the Noble and Honourable Johan Gustaf Haegerflycht", (1736-1805, later General), to be "Staff-Captain in the Company of Colonel the Baron Armfeldt, Knight, of Our Artillery at Stralsund", in place of Petter Bernhard Piper, "proposed to Us in humble obedience in consideration of his service faithfully performed and of constant and manifest satisfaction", awarding him the salary until further notice, all to be implemented by "the appropriate person", countersigned 'Carl Nadenstierna', embossed stamp duty of 18 daler plus 50%, good papered seal with Royal arms, 2 sides folio and conjugate blank, Stockholm Castle, 17th February small defect in conjugate blank

Gustaf III succeeded to a Sweden torn by party strife, but by gaining the Army's support worked a bloodless revolution (September 1772) which made him a strong but constitutional sovereign. In 1775 he himself commanded the troops mobilised on the Norwegian frontier, but war with Denmark was averted. Sweden prospered - indeed it has been called her 'Golden Age' - under Gustaf's treaties with Russia and Denmark (1780, the famous 'armed neutrality'), with the new U.S.A. (1783) and with France. However, the old noble families resented their loss of power, and following the war with Russia to defend Finland (1788), conspiracies were hatched, and finally Gustaf was assassinated. Himself a brilliant speaker, he wrote for the theatre, laid the foundation of the Stockholm Museum with statues, pictures and medals bought during his visit to Rome (1783), and founded the Swedish Academy (1786).
Lt.-Gen. Baron Fromholt Armfelt, 1721-1797, came from a famous military family, being a son of Carl Gustaf Armfelt, 1666-1736, and great-uncle of Gustaf III's favourite Gustaf Mauritz (1757-1814). Fromholt served in the Seven Years' War as a Captain in Marshal Saxe's regiment of dragoons, then transferred (1758) to the Artillery. From 1764 he was at Stralsund in Hither (West) Pomerania, opposite the southern tip of Sweden, held by Sweden 1628-1815.

Item Date:  1773

Stock No:  16602      £625

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