Posted on 11/03/2006 3:41:29 PM PST by WesternCulture
On the 6th of November, Sweden and Gothenburg in particular remembers perhaps its most famous and successful King: Gustav II Adolf, who reigned from 1611 until his death in 1632.
Monday will be the 374th anniversary of his death (aged just 37) on the battlefield in Lützen in Germany during the Thirty Years War. He is the only Swedish King to have been honoured with the title The Great (Den Stora) and the anniversary of his death is an official Swedish flag day.
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Gustav II Adolf is widely regarded as having laid down much of the apparatus of the modern Swedish state, including the postal service and newspapers as well as founding universities and building key transport links. He was also a much admired strategic general, apparently one of Napolean Bonapartes heroes, and led many successful campaigns as part of the anti-Hapsburg alliance.
On the day of his death, he was riding an unfamiliar horse and struggling with his vision partly because of the mist and smoke from the gunpowder, but also because he needed glasses and could not wear them in battle. During the battle, he and a handful of loyal followers rode deep into the enemys midst and became separated from the rest of their troops.
After sustaining a shot to the arm, Gustav II Adolf fell from his horse and was found by a group of Croatian cavalrymen. They tried to take him prisoner but were unable to lift him, so instead they shot him in the head and ran a sword through his breast.
News of his death took a month to reach Stockholm. After his body was returned to the capital, his widow retained his body (and, for a while, just his heart) for over a year. The remains, including the heart, are now kept in Stockholms Riddarholmskyrkan, and his armour can be seen at the Livrustkammaren in the Royal Palace.
During his reign Gustav II Adolf founded a number of towns, among them the modern Gothenburg, and he is particularly celebrated in Swedens second city. There had been previous attempts to build a strategic settlement in the area, but these had resulted only in losing it to the Danes and watching it go up in smoke.
Legend has it that in 1621 Gustav II Adolf stood on the hill which now looks down over Ullevi and pointed below him, saying, Där skall staden ligga (There shall the city lie). These words have since become an important part of Gothenburgs history the resulting city, built largely by Dutch workers appointed by the King, remained Swedish and grew increasingly important over the following centuries.
Gothenburg leaders began discussing the idea of a monument to commemorate their founder as early as 1832, but efforts to honour the King proved almost as complex and troubled as his life had been. By 1845 the city had raised enough money to commission a statue of Gustav II Adolf, which was built in Italy but only completed two years later than expected. Finally ready to be shipped to Sweden, the monument suffered another setback when the ship carrying it to Gothenburg sank off the coast of Heligoland.
Although the statue was recovered and offered for sale to Gothenburg, the price demanded by the islanders was too high and another statue was commissioned. It was not installed until 1854, when it was placed in Stora Torget (now renamed Gustav Adolfs Torg). The statue depicts the King pointing towards the city and is now one of Gothenburgs most famous landmarks.
In todays Gothenburg, most residents remember their heroic founder by eating him in cake form. In the 1880s, a bakery located at what is now the Dubliners pub on the corner of Östrahamngatan and Kungsgatan, created a special form of cake which came to be known as Gustav Adolfsbakelse. The cakes depicted a silhouette of the king, now usually rendered in chocolate or marzipan, and the tradition for Gothenburg bakeries to sell these on the 6th of November continues today.
"It would be interesting to speculate what would have happened if Charles had not been wounded at Poltava. They were 30,000 against what? about 90,000, supply lines cut, had almost no powder, attacked and still almost beat the Russians. Another Swedish soldier king!
I can't even imagine what the survivors endured in their years of captivity in Peter the Great's Russia.
"Every time this happens, I get the sense in my mind of wishing to survive a very, very long march back home - in resemblance to the survivors of Charles the XII:s crusade against Russia."
I believe you! The Germans have a word,(you probably know it) "sehnsucht," a deep, almost mystical longing for something, something that is probably in the past, something that you can only enter into with your knowledge and imagination.
I sometimes have a feeling like this when I see pictures of northern forests and lakes, a desire to return to that place, or some place like it. Oh Well."
Personally, I believe that genes have some sort of memory - and I know there are scientists around the globe who share this idea.
Perhaps I'm wrong, maybe it all boils down to vivid imagination.
But, let's forget about geneticts for a while.
Let's honor Western Civilization, Freedom and The achievements of the brave people of which we are children!
From all true Europeans (Yes, We exist!) to the United States of America:
WE SALUTE YOU BROTHERS!
Concerning the cake:
Here's the background (in swedish):
Gustav Adolfsbakelse är en särskild bakelse till minnet av Gustav II Adolfs dödsdag den 6 november 1632. Bakelsen skapades 1880 av konditorn Carl Bräutigam på konditoriet Bräutigams på hörnet Östra Hamngatan/Kungsgatan i Göteborg, Sverige.
Bakelsen känns igen på en silhuett av Gustav II Adolf som pryder den. Bakelsens innehåll kan variera vilket även silhuetten, som ofta är gjord i marsipan eller choklad, kan göra. Modell för silhuetthuvudet av hjältekonungen är en gipsfigur som Curt Arnhult, som öppnade konditori i Göteborg på 1890-talet, köpte av en kringresande försäljare.
Roughly it translates like this:
Step 1: Use a lot of marsipan and chocolate in order to make this wonderful cake.
Step 2: Teach your children that in in other countries people enjoy life
Step 3: Teach your children that in in this country life is built.
One day, The whole of the World will be Swedish.
Just for the record, while I like Volvo for their historic utility and value:
the worst piece of junk I have EVER had to deal with was designed & prototyped in Sweden and only worked after we brought the design to the USA and rehashed from top to bottom.
(I tried but could not find a European company to even attempt that task)
Also, the 'businessmen' who ran the Swedish company were the most arrogant (pls note) and the least businesslike bunch I dealt with in thirty years.
I did, however, enjoy the years I dealt with the resulting set of Swedish lawyers; they had the only sense of humor I found that side of Finland.
and does this Jesus have a Body? And what function does that Body serve? (these are rhetorical questions, I am not interested in a debate).
"By the way, Glad to find out University of Gothenburg is helping people. In fact, I once studied there (Theory of Science, Economical History as well as Corporate Management). Great place!"
I have not traveled to Gothenberg, but have seen a lot of photos from around the harbor area (The twisty building!). I like water and harbors. It looks like an interesting place.
We wrote to the Univ. Gothenberg in the early 1990s regarding my daughter's condition (Rett Syndrome). They did not find any direct link to the condition in known Rett populations in Sweden. Thats OK. A negative result still holds scientific value.
Anyway, have a good evening!
Actually, you did not answer my questions.
I knew you would not, which is why I tried to discourage you.
Your question about who the body of Christ is has nothing to do with your claim that catholicism saves. You were trying to deflect the topic.
Again, it's rhetorical. I discourage you from answering again because you won't or cannot.
Oh, come ON man!
Is what I said such a threat that you see it as a "trap?"
OK. Let me "obfuscate" some more. Perhaps you can secretely ruminate about the questions I've asked.
Eternity: is it future, present, past, or all the above?
As a Swedish-American Lutheran, I am proud to call Gustavus Adolphus "the Great" (den Store)! He is a hero of both Sweden and Lutheranism!
Gustavus Adolphus was a great man, but he was no perfect saint. As a young man he fathered a child out of wedlock. But as King David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, so the young king of Sweden was admonished by his court chaplain, Johannes Rudbeckius. And Gustavus seemed to take it to heart, in repentance, faith, and amendment of life.
Gustavus Adolphus was a committed Lutheran, a devout and energetic man. He was troubled to see Lutheran and Protestant lands in Europe being retaken by the Catholic emperor, encroaching northward toward Sweden. This is why he intervened in the Thirty Years War. And if not for his daring German campaign (1630-32), all might have been lost. On June 25, 1630--100 years to the day after the Augsburg Confession--Gustavus Adolphus set anchor off the coast of northern Germany.
The Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) turned the tide. A monument there today reads, "Gustavus Adolphus, Christian and hero, at Breitenfeld saved religious liberty for the world."
Gustavus Adolphus made sure that his troops had regular religious services. And so, on the morning of November 6, 1632, before heading into the Battle of Luetzen, the king and his men sang two hymns by Luther, "A Mighty Fortress" and "May God Bestow on Us His Grace." Then they sang what has come to be known as, "Gustav Adolf's Battle Hymn," written by the king's chaplain, Johannes Fabricius. In Swedish the hymn is entitled, "Förfäras ej, du lilla hop; we have it in our English hymnals (in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) as "O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe" (TLH 263/LSB 666) or "Do Not Despair, O Little Flock" (LW 300).
On the campus of Concordia Seminary here in St. Louis, there is a plaque that tells what happened that day: "This Archway is Dedicated to the Memory of GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, King of Sweden, who gave his life that the Lutheran Reformation might live. Died at the battle of Luetzen, 1632. 'Förfäras ej, du lilla hop!'"
But would King Gustav II Adolf recognize the Sweden of today? Hardly! How the mighty have fallen! Gustav Adolfs own battle hymn, "Förfäras ej, du lilla hop," is not even included in the current Swedish hymnbook! Too "militant," I suppose. The three things with which I most associate Gustav Adolf--nationalism, Lutheranism, and militarism--all are definitely out of favor in modern-day Sverige.
However, there are glints of sunlight breaking across the gray Swedish sky. A more conservative government has just come to power. And confessional Lutheranism is not dead yet in Sweden. There are some brave pastors and laymen there--I know many of them--still contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. Gustavus Adolphus would be proud of these developments. If you look for them, there are some exciting things happening in Sweden.
It's totally interesting to me to read about Gustavus Adolphus because this part of my Lutheran history is quite lacking.
Happy Gustavus Adolphus Day to you and all you beautiful and handsome blond Swedes!
Leni
When Gustav Adolf set out in 1630 he said: "The greatness of our fatherland and of God's Church, which therein abideth, are things well worthy that for their sakes we should endure hardships, yea, even death itself. . . . Not lightly nor wantonly am I about to involve myself and you in this dangerous war. God is my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own ambition. The oppressed states of Germany call loudly for aid, which by God's help we will give them."
Leni
Others had taken a step in that direction before American's founders...
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