Gustav (January 28, 1568 – February, 1607) was a Swedish prince, the son of

Eric XIV Eric XIV ( sv, Erik XIV; 13 December 153326 February 1577) was King of Sweden from 1560 until he was deposed in 1569. Eric XIV was the eldest son of Gustav I (1496–1560) and Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513–1535). He was also ruler of Es ...

and

Karin Månsdotter Karin Månsdotter (in English Catherine; 6 November 1550 – 13 September 1612) was first a mistress of King Eric XIV of Sweden and then briefly queen as his wife. Early life Karin was born in Stockholm to a soldier and later prison guard na ...

Biography

The infant Gustav was present at his mother's wedding to the King of Sweden in 1568 and at her coronation, together with his sister

Sigrid Sigrid is a Scandinavian given name for women from Old Norse ''Sigríðr'', composed of the elements ''sigr'' "victory" and ''fríðr'' "beautiful". Common short forms include Siri, Sigga, Sig, and Sigi. An Estonian and Finnish variant is Siiri ...

. The presence of the children was a way to demonstrate their new status: both of them were officially confirmed as legitimate, and Gustav and his sister were given all the privileges of a royal prince and princess. After his father's dethronement, Gustav was sent to live outside of Sweden in 1575, to protect him from King John III who feared that the supporters of Eric would try to deprive his son of the crown. Gustav came to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

where he lived in poverty and despair. At some time during his stay he became a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Ivan IV of Russia Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Iva ...

attempted to persuade Gustav to help him in his political ambitions around the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, but these attempts (which included both promises and several years' exile) failed. In August 1599 Gustav arrived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

for a proposed marriage to the Tsar Boris Godunov's daughter Ksenia. But there, he lived a self-indulgent life. As a result, the Tsar eventually broke off the engagement of his daughter. As compensation, the homeless Gustav received the principality of

Uglich Uglich ( rus, У́глич, p=ˈuɡlʲɪtɕ) is a historic town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River. Population: History The city was first documented in 1148 as ''Ugliche Pole'' (''Corner Field''). The town's name is though ...

, where he lived until the beginning of the reign of the

False Dmitry The generic name False Dmitry (also Pseudo-Demetrius, russian: Лжедмитрий, ''Lžedmitrij'') refers to various impostors who passed themselves off as the deceased Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia, the youngest son of Ivan the Terribl ...

, who ordered his arrest by the demands of his ally —

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

(cousin of Gustav and son of King John III) and sent him to

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

jail. After the death of the False Dmitry, the new tsar,

Vasili IV of Russia Vasili IV Shuisky (russian: Василий IV Иванович Шуйский, ''Vasiliy IV Ivanovich Shuyskiy'', c. 155212 September 1612) was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610 after the murder of False Dmitri I. His rule coincided ...

, released Gustav and sent him to live in the small city of Kashin,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Gustav Eriksson Vasa died in February 1607 in Kashin and was buried there February 22. He was in older history writing thought to have had four children with a certain Brita Karth and perhaps even have married her. This has however been refuted by modern historians.See for example Bengt Hildebrands article "Eldstierna" in ''Svenskt biografiskt lexikon'', vol. XIII (Stockholm 1950) and

Ulf Sundberg Ulf Eskil Erik Sundberg (born 29 September 1956) is a Swedish economist, historian and author of books and magazine articles. Sundberg was born in Stockholm, graduated '' Studentexamen'' at Whitlockska in 1976 and became a Master of Philosophy ...

: ''Kungliga släktband'' (Lund 2004) Gustav is the main character of the famous Polish novel "Gwiazda spadająca" by Jadwiga Żylińska.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gustav of Sweden, Prince 1568 births 1607 deaths Gustav 1568 Heirs apparent who never acceded House of Vasa Disinherited European royalty Sons of kings