Moreover, the commanding political influence which Sweden had now won was considerably neutralized by her loss of moral prestige. On Charles X's accession in 1655, Sweden's neighbours, though suspicious and uneasy, were at least not adversaries, and might have been converted into allies of the new great power who, if she had mulcted them of territory, had, anyhow, compensated them for the loss with the by no means contemptible doisceur of religious liberty. At Charles X's death, five years later, we find Sweden, herself bled to exhaustion point, surrounded by a broad belt of desolated territory and regarded with ineradicable hatred by every adjacent state. To sink in five years from the position of the champion of Protestantism to that of the common enemy of every Protestant power was a degradation not to be compensated by any amount of military glory. Charles' subsequent endeavour, in stress of circumstances, to gain a friend by dividing his Polish conquests with the aspiring elector of Brandenburg was a reversal of his original policy and only resulted in the establishment on the southern confines of Sweden of a new rival almost as dangerous as Denmark, her ancient rival in the west.

In 1660, after five years of incessant warfare, Sweden had at length obtained peace and with it the opportunity of organizing and developing her newly won empire. Unfortunately, the regency which was to govern her during the next fifteen years was unequal to the difficulties of a situation which might have taxed the resources of the wisest statesmen. Unity and vigour were scarcely to be expected from a many-headed administration composed of men of mediocre talent whose contrary opinions speedily gave rise to contending factions. There was the high-aristocratic party with a leaning towards martial adventure headed by Magnus de la Gardie, and the party of peace and economy whose ablest representative was the liberal and energetic Johan Gyllenstierna. After a severe struggle, de la Gardie's party prevailed; and its triumph was marked by that general decline of personal and political morality, which has given to this regency its unenviable notoriety. Sloth and carelessness speedily invaded every branch of the administration, destroying all discipline and leading to a general neglect of business. Another characteristic of the de la Gardie government was its gross corruption, which made Sweden the obsequious hireling of that foreign power which had the longest purse. This shameful "subsidy policy" dates from the Treaty of Fontainebleau, 1661, by a secret paragraph of which Sweden, in exchange for a considerable sum of money, undertook to support the French candidate on the first vacancy of the Polish throne. The complications ensuing from Louis XIV of France designs on the Spanish Netherlands led to a bid for the Swedish alliance, both from the French king and his adversaries. After much hesitation on the part of the Swedish government, the anti-French faction prevailed; and in April 1668 Sweden acceded to the Triple Alliance, which finally checkmated the French king by bringing about the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. For the next four years Sweden remained true to the principles of the Triple Alliance; but, in 1672, Louis XIV succeeded in isolating the Dutch Republic and regaining his ancient ally, Sweden. By the Treaty of Stockholm on April 14, 1672 Sweden became, for the next ten years, a "mercenarius Galliae", in return for 400,000 crowns per annum in peace and 600,000 in war-time, to attack, with 16,000 men, any German princes who might be disposed to assist the Netherlands.

The Scanian War

In 1674 Louis XIV peremptorily called upon Sweden to fulfil her obligations by invading Brandenburg. In the course of May 1675 a Swedish army advanced into the Mark, but on June 18 was defeated at Fehrbellin, and hastily retreated to Demmin. The Fehrbellin affair was a mere skirmish, the actual casualties amounting to less than 600 men, but it rudely divested Sweden of her nimbus of invincibility and was the signal for a general attack upon her, known as the Scanian War.

In the course of the next three years her empire seemed to be crumbling away everywhere. In 1675 Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen were overrun by the Brandenburgers, Austrians and Danes. In December 1677 the elector of Brandenburg captured Stettin. Stralsund fell on October 15, 1678. Greifswald, Sweden's last possession on the Continent, was lost on November 5. A defensive alliance with Sobieski August 4, 1677 was rendered inoperative by the annihilation of Sweden's sea-power; the Battle of Oland, June 17, 1676; Battle of Fehmarn, June 1677 and the difficulties of the Polish king.

Two accidents at this crisis alone saved Sweden from ruin - the splendid courage of the young king who, resolutely and successfully, kept the Danish invaders at bay, and the diplomatic activity of Louis XIV. In March 1677 a peace congress began its sessions at Nijmwegen; and in the beginning of April 1678 the French king dictated the terms of a general pacification. One of his chief conditions was the complete restitution of Sweden. A strong Sweden was necessary to the accomplishment of his plans. He suggested, however, that Sweden should rid herself of her enemies by making some "small cession" to them. This Charles XI. refused to do, whereupon Louis took it upon himself to conclude peace on Sweden's account without consulting the wishes of the Swedish king. By this Treaty of Nijmegen, on February 7 and of St. Germain, on June 29, 1679. Sweden virtually received full restitution of her German territory. On September 2 by the Peace of Fontainebleau confirmed by the subsequent Peace of Lund, on October 4, 1679, Denmark was also forced to retrocede her conquests. It is certain that Sweden herself could never have extorted such favourable terms, yet the insufferable tutelage of France on this occasion inspired Charles XI with a personal dislike of the mighty ruler of France and contributed to reverse the traditional diplomacy of Sweden by giving it a strong anti-French bias.

Charles XI

The remainder of the reign of Charles XI is remarkable for a revolution, in which the government of Sweden was transformed to a semi-absolute monarchy. The king emerged from the war convinced that if Sweden were to retain her position as a great power she were to radically reform constitute – her whole economical system, and, above all, circumscribe the predominant and mischievous influence of an aristocracy which thought far more of its privileges than of its public duties. He felt that he could now draw upon the confidence and liberality of the lower orders to an unlimited extent, and he proceeded to do so.

The Riksdag which assembled in Stockholm in October 1680 began a new era of Swedish history. On the motion of the Estate of Peasants, which had a long memory for aristocratic abuses, the question of the recovery of the alienated crown lands was brought before the Riksdag, and, despite the stubborn opposition of the magnates, a resolution of the Diet directed that all countships, baronies, domains, manors and other estates producing an annual rent of more than a certain amount per annum should revert to the Crown. The same Riksdag decided that the king was not bound by any particular constitution, but only by law and the statutes. Nay, they added that he was not even obliged to consult the Privy Council, but was to be regarded as a sovereign lord, responsible to God alone for his actions, and requiring no intermediary between himself and his people. The Privy Council thereupon acquiesced in its own humiliation by meekly accepting a royal brief changing its official title from Riksrad (council of state) to Kungligt rad (royal council) – a visible sign that the councillors were no longer the king's colleagues, but rather his servants.

Thus Sweden had become an absolute monarchy like Denmark had, but with this important difference, that the right of the Swedish people, in parliament assembled, to be consulted on all important matters was recognized and acted upon. The Riksdag, completely overshadowed by the throne, was during the reign of Charles XI of Sweden to do little more than register the royal decrees; but nevertheless it continued to exist as an essential part of the machinery of government. Moreover, this transfer of authority was a voluntary act. The people, knowing the king to be their best friend, trusted him implicitly and cooperated with him cheerfully. The Riksdag of 1682 proposed a fresh Reduction, and declared that the whole question of how far the king was empowered by the law of the land to bestow fiefs, or, in case of urgent national distress, take them back again, was exclusively his majesty's affair. In other words, it made the king the disposer of his subjects' temporal property. Presently this new principle of autocracy was extended to the king's legislative authority also, for, on December 9, 1682, all four estates, by virtue of a common declaration, not only confirmed him in the possession of the legislative powers enjoyed by his predecessors, but even conceded to him the right of interpreting and amending the common law.

The recovery of the alienated crown lands occupied Charles XI for the rest of his life. It was conducted by a commission which was ultimately converted into a permanent department of state. It acted on the principle that the titles of all private landed estate might be called in question, inasmuch as at some time or other it must have belonged to the Crown; and the burden of proof of ownership was held not to lie with the Crown which made the claim, but with the actual owner of the property. The amount of revenue accruing to the Crown from the whole "Reduktion" is impossible to estimate even approximately; but by these means, combined with the most careful management and the most rigid economy, Charles XI contrived to reduce the national debt by three quarters.

These operations represent only a part of Charles XI's gigantic activity. Here we have only space sufficient to glance at his reorganization of the national armaments. Charles XI re-established on a broader basis the reorganization of the "indelningsverk" introduced by Charles IX – a system of military tenure whereby the national forces were bound to the soil. Thus there was the rust hail tenure, under which the tenants, instead of paying rent, were obliged to equip and maintain a cavalry soldier and horse, while the knekthallare supplied duly equipped foot soldiers. These including soldiers were provided with holdings on which they lived in times of peace. Formerly, ordinary conscription had existed alongside this indelning, or distribution system; but it had proved inadequate as well as highly unpopular; and in 1682 Charles XI came to an agreement with the peasantry whereby an extended distribution system was to be substituted for general conscription. The Swedish Royal Navy, of even more importance to Sweden if she were to maintain the dominion of the Baltic, was entirely remodelled; and, the recent war having demonstrated the unsuitability of Stockholm as a naval station, the construction of a new arsenal on a gigantic scale was simultaneously begun at Karlskrona. After a seventeen years' struggle against all manner of financial difficulties, the twofold enterprise was completed. At the death of Charles XI Sweden could boast of a fleet of forty-three three-deckers, manned by 11,000 men and armed with 2,648 guns, and one of the finest arsenals in the world.