The Battle of Stegeborg took place in a meadow near

Stegeborg Castle Stegeborg Castle is a ruined castle in St Anna parish, Söderköping, Östergötland, located on an island in a narrow sound at the bay of Slätbaken. Brief history The oldest part of the castle is a square brick tower in the southeast corn ...

, Sweden on September 18 (N.S.), or September 8 (O.S.), 1598.Frost, R.I., 2000, The Northern Wars, 1558–1721, Harlow: Pearson education Limited, p.45. It is part of the so-called

War against Sigismund The war against Sigismund ( sv, Kriget mot Sigismund) was a war between Duke Charles, later known as King Charles IX of Sweden, and Sigismund, who was at the time the King of both Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (that is, the K ...

, in turn part of the Polish–Swedish Wars.

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it ''Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

, King of Poland and Sweden, tried to put down a rebellion by Duke Charles. The armies of King Sigismund III Vasa and Prince Charles met near the Stegeborg. The king's mercenaries easily stopped the untrained troops of the prince. The Polish cavalry attack broke Charles' army causing panic, during which they suffered heavy losses. Contrary to the opinion of Zamoyski, the king decided to stop the attack (his goal was to acquire the Swedish crown, not extermination), allowing the withdrawal of Swedish troops. In the long run, this proved to be a mistake, as the Swedish rebels regained the initiative and defeated Sigismund at the

battle of Stångebro The Battle of Stångebro, or the Battle of Linköping, took place at Linköping, Sweden, on 25 September 1598 (O.S.) and effectively ended the personal union between Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that had existed since 1592. ...

. This effectively led to the end of the

Polish–Swedish union The Polish–Swedish union was a short-lived personal union between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Sweden between 1592 and 1599. It began when Sigismund III Vasa, elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, was c ...

References

1598 in Europe

Stegeborg Stegeborg Castle is a ruined castle in St Anna parish, Söderköping, Östergötland, located on an island in a narrow sound at the bay of Slätbaken. Brief history The oldest part of the castle is a square brick tower in the southeast corn ...

1598 in Sweden War against Sigismund {{Sweden-hist-stub