Journey through History along the Route of King Charles XII of Sweden

As a child growing up in independent Ukraine, I learned in school about the collaboration between Swedish king Charles XII (Swedish: Karl XII) and Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa, who wanted to get rid of Russia's rule on the left bank of the Dnepr river in Ukraine. But it became the biggest defeat in Great Northern War. 

In the book "Karolinerna" (The Charles Men, 1897–1898), a series of historical portraits of the King of Sweden and his cavalier, famous Swedish writer Verner von Heidenstam tells the story about the times when Charles XII was fighting for his Northern empire. The author portrays the events in a beautiful neo-romantic style, which brings you back 300 years into a whole another atmosphere, but at the same places we all know today: from Sweden across the Baltic Sea, through Ukrainian rivers and plains to Turkish cities on the south, and back through northern Germany to Norway, where the story ends. I love the Ukrainian edition of this book and want to tell you more about it and the same route I traveled, imagining the events described by Verner von Heidenstam.

"Mazepa and Charles XII" by Gustaf Cederström, 1880. Photo: wikipedia.org

Karolinerna

Verner von Heidenstam studied arts, traveled, and wrote poetry, but he became famous for his novels, which brought him membership in the Swedish Academy in 1912 and Nobel Prize in 1916. Recently, I wrote about another Swedish author who won the Nobel Prize in literature - Selma Lagerlöf.

In the 1890s, Verner von Heidenstam paid attention to Swedish national history, packing it in the beautiful form of historical novels, and giving his readers a time-traveling experience. That was a period when many Swedish cultural figures portrayed historical events, such as a well-known series of paintings by Gustaf Olof Cederström related to the time of the Great Northern War, which we use to perceive today as the art illustrations of that period. 

Before working on the book, Verner von Heidenstam traveled in the wake of Charles XII in the spring of 1896 to Constantinople, Bender, Poltava, Moscow, and Saint Petersburg. The book was planned as a two-part novel about the Swedish warrior king and his army.

The book "Karolinerna" consists of individual stories, which make one solid piece together. It shows the war through the eyes of many real historical characters, such as generals, politicians, priests, etc. Verner von Heidenstam never agreed with naturalism in literature. Still, this novel is full of historical details and true-to-life characters - not heroes, but people fighting their enemies and fortune.

Someone may say that author makes Charles XII a hero, but I would call it a very superficial judgment, considering how he depicts all the consequences his decisions led to. In the novel, King Charles is a human being, complicated and honorable, but at the same time, it is the image of the tragic greatness of a man fighting against fate. His army follows him through every challenge; some die, and some are held prisoner by Russians in faraway Siberia. In the same way, as Gustaf Olof Cederström painted his portraits, Verner von Heidenstam portrays people of that time in their daily routine or military campaigns when the Great Northern War raged in Europe.

Events in the book cover the period between Charles XII's ascension to the throne and his death in 1718. Most of that time, he spent abroad, and no one could convince him to return. He wanted to save the country while it was falling apart, and every neighbor was against him.

This book stimulates imagination and curiosity. You can't stop googling more about the characters you imbued with sympathy. And find that almost all of them were real historical figures! I was impressed by the research the author did for this book. 

"Karolinerna" by Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish edition

Ukraine in the Great Northern War

The book and the events it described aroused interest in Ukraine after its publishing because it was our shared history with Sweden. In 1908, three of the stories were translated into Ukrainian by Ivan Franko - a famous Ukrainian writer, poet, journalist, and literary critic. Then came several other translations of the stories, and the translation of the whole novel was published in 2015 (this edition is now available in Malmö City Library).

"The Charles Men" by Verner von Heidenstam, Ukrainian edition in Malmö City Library

The book shows only a few episodes of the Ukrainian-Swedish collaboration: negotiation between Charles XII and Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa through a Bolgarian priest, the Battle of Poltava, and evacuation to the Ottoman town of Bender. 

Verner von Heidenstam explains the idea of this alliance from the point of adventurous nature of both leaders - Charles XII and Ivan Mazepa. While the Swedish king was young and ambitious, Ukrainian Hetman, in his almost 70, was brave enough to stand up against the Russian tsar. The writer calls Ukraine the "Mazepa's adventure state" (Swedish: äventyrarvälde), and Ivan Mazepa - "the knight landowner" (Swedish: den ridderlige godsägare), who, as opposed to the Swedish King, cares about his money and trunks with treasures. According to Heidenstam, Mazepa promised to bring 30 000 Cossacks, but only 4 000 joined the Swedish army, and more than half of them fled after the Russian tsar announced an amnesty. Along with other reasons, such as the cold winter and King's injury, all these led to the dramatic defeat of the Swedish army in Poltava.

The author didn't mention that after that, Cossacks remained the allies of the Swedes, and after the death of Mazepa in Bender, Pylyp Orlyk was chosen as a Hetman in exile. Later, Orlyk wrote the first state constitution in Europe. In 1715 Cossacks with the Hetman arrived in Sweden. And today, the original of the first Ukrainian constitution (in the Latin language) is in the National Archives of Sweden.

In the wake of Charles XII's Army in Southern Sweden

Here are a few historical places to visit for those who are passionate about history and interested in the Great Northern War:

• Landscrona Castle - the place where the Great Northern War began back in 1700 when 18 y.o. King Charles XII and his army departed to Denmark's island of Zealand in response to the Denmark-Norwey attack against Sweden's ally Holstein-Gottorp. It was a short and successful campaign.
• Helsingborg - one of the oldest Swedish cities located in the narrowest part of Öresund. On March 10, 1710, the Swedish army led by Magnus Stenbock defeated a Danish force. The battle took place to the north-east of the city, and the beautiful monument of Magnus Stenbock is installed at the square in front of Helsingborg's city hall. Also, it is a beautiful town with a wide beach and a view of Zealand.
• Stavstensmonumentet - the memorial sign at the coast near Trelleborg city where Charles XII landed at 5 a.m. on December 13, 1715 when he returned to his homeland after being away for 15 years. Just imagine stormy winter weather on the Baltic coast and ships under enemy shelling...
• Charles XII-house in Lund - the historical building in Lund's city center where the king lived in 1716-1718. Walking around this beautiful old town is a pure pleasure and diving into history.

View of the beautiful Landskrona Castle, spring 2023

A moat by the Landskrona Castle, spring 2023

Statue of Magnus Stenbock in Helsingborg near the City Hall

Stavstensmonumentet - memorial sign at the coast where Charles XII landed when he came back to Sweden in 1715

The memorial plaque on Charles XII's house in Lund, Stora Södergatan 22B

My route

I read this book in January 2021, right before the war in Ukraine. Since I have always been interested in history, the tension in our country made me read more about war and related events. We lived in Odesa, 40 km from the Moldova border and Bender city (now it is part of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic - Moldova's territory occupied by Russia). So the nearest way for us to cross the border after the beginning of the war was into Moldova, and we drove just past Bender, where the Swedish army stayed 300 years ago after the defeat in Ukraine. 

Then we needed to get to Montenegro, and our route ran through Northern Greece, which was the Ottoman empire 300 years ago, where Swedish king and his army were imprisoned for several years after Bender. When we decided to go to Sweden, we needed to cross Europe from South to North and get to the shortest ferry crossing on the Baltic Sea - from Rügen to Ystad. We made 2 000 km up North, stopped for the night in beautiful Stralsund, and then crossed the sea just like King Charles XII did in 1715 with his remnants of the army and Ukrainian government in exile. 

Honestly, it was a coincidence, we didn't plan to repeat their path, and furtherover, we didn't expect the war to force us to leave our home and travel such a way across Europe.

But it was not the end of my trip in the wake of King Charles XII. After two months in a village, we moved to Lund - the city where Charles lived in 1715-1718. And the street we lived was named after him 🙂

Considering all these coincidences, I decided to know more about that period in Swedish history. I read the book once again, found other places of that events, and I still continue my research, discovering new details and hoping to make a shorter trip back home when the war ends because, as Verner von Heidenstam writes in his book: "Glöm aldrig, att vägen hem är gen."

Stralsund, Germany, March 2022

So here I am on the Swedish coast while the war is happening in Ukraine in the XXI century.

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