Charles Albert

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

born in 1798, ascended the throne of Sardinia in 1831. Till 1848 he had devoted himself to the internal economy of his kingdom and welfare of his subjects, but in that year of revolution he at once declared for liberal principles, and heading the Italian movement, led his army into Lombardy to support the Venetians, Lombards, Modenese, and other states who had thrown off the Austrian tyranny. At first he was successful in several encounters, but suffering a signal defeat at the hands of Marshal Radetzky, his power rapidly declined, the battle of Novara deciding his political influence, and, after about a year of further hostilities, he abdicated in favor of his son, Victor Emanuel, and retiring to Portugal, died there in 1849. CHARLES II., King of Spain, succeeded his father, Philip IV., in 1665. In his reign, Spain, which for nearly three centuries had held the foremost rank in Europe as a great military nation, reached the highest point of its greatness, and began rapidly to decline both in influence and glory, bu , but such was the tige attached to its name and past prestige history, that it had long become powerless before it ceased to be respected. Charles died in 1700, bequeathing his throne to the Duke d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. of France, an act which led to the long and calamitous "War of the Spanish Succession." CHARLES IV., King of Spain, born in Naples, in 1748. He succeeded his father, Charles III., in 1788, and was governed by Manuel Godoy, Prince of Peace, the lover of his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, and an instrument of Napoleon I. In 1808 he abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand, but Napoleon, having both father and son in his power at Bayonne, obliged Ferdinand to restore the crown to his father, who was, in his turn, persuaded to relinquish it to Napoleon. Charles died in Rome, in 1819. CHARLES XII., King of Sweden, 1682 was born in Stockholm, June 27, , declared of age by the estates on the death of his father, in 1697. To his jealous neighbors this seemed a favorable time to humble the pride of Sweden. Frederick IV. of Denmark, Augustus II. the Czar Peter I. of Rusof Poland, and sia concluded an alliance which resulted in war against Sweden. With the aid of an English and Dutch squadron the Danes were soon made to sign peace, but Augustus of Saxony and Poland, and the czar were still in the field. Rapidly transporting 20,000 men to Livonia, Charles stormed the czar's camp at Nerva, slaying 30,000 Russians and dispersing the rest, Nov. 30, 1700. Crossing the Dwina he then attacked the Saxons and victory. Following up gained a decisive vi this advantage he won the battle of Clissau, drove Augustus from Poland, had the crown of that country confer conferred on Stanislaus Leczinsky, and dictated the conditions of peace at Altranstädt in Saxony in 1706. In September, 1707, the Swedes left Saxony, Charles taking the shortest route to Moscow. At Smolensk he altered his plan, deviated to the Ukraine to gain the help of the Cossacks, and weakened his army very seriously by difficult marches through a district exill supplied with provitremely cold and ill sions. In this condition, Peter marched upon him with 70,000 men, and defeated him completely at Pultawa. Charles fled with a small guard and found refuge and an honorable reception at Bender, in the Turkish territory. Here he managed to CH persuade the Porte to de Russia. The armies met o of the Pruth (July 1, 17 1711), an seemed nearly ruined when his w Catharine, succeeded in bribing the grand vizier, and procured a peace in which the interests of Charles were neglected. The attempts of Charles to rekindle a war were vain, and after having spent some years at Bender he was forced by the Turkish government to leave. Arrived in his own country in 1714, he set about the measures necessary to defend the kingdom, and the fortunes of Sweden were beginning to assume a favorable aspect when he was slain by a cannonball as he was besieging Frederikshall, Nov. 30, 1718. CHARLES XIII., King of Sweden, born in 1748, was the second son of King Adolphus Frederick. In the war with Russia, in 1788, he received the command of the fleet, and defeated the Russians in the Gulf of Finland. After the murder of his brother, Gustavus III., in 1792, he was placed at the head of the regency, and gained universal esteem in that position. The revolution of 1809 placed him on the throne at a very critical period, but his prudent conduct procured the union of Sweden with Norway, Nov. 4, 1814. He adopted as his successor Marshal Bernadotte, who became king on the death of Charles, Feb. 5, 1818. CHARLES XIV., King of Sweden and Norway (1814-1844), originally Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, born at Pau, France, Jan. 26, 1764, the son of a lawyer. He entered the French army in 1780 as a common soldier; became an ardent partisan of the Revolution, and i fought his way up to the command of a division in 1794, and a marshal's baton in 1804. He distinguished himself greatly in the German campaigns in 1796 and the year after under the eye of his great chief himself in Italy. In 1799 he was minister of war, and for his conduct at Austerlitz was named in 1805 Prince of Pontecorvo. In the campaigns of 1806 he commanded the first army corps. After Jena he pursued the Prussians to Halle, cut off the reserve under the Prince of Württemberg, next pursued the redoubtable Blücher to Lübeck, and compelled him to surrender, Nov. 7. He received the command of the French troops in north Germany and Denmark, and led the Saxon troops at Wagram in the war against Austria. He had never been liked or trusted, however, by Napoleon, whose jealousy and dislike now became so apparent that Bernadotte left the army in disgust, and returned to Paris. He was afterward sent by the CHARLES D'ORLÉANS ministerial council to oppose the British, who had landed at Walcheren, but meantime the breach between the emperor and him grew wider. In 1810 he was elected crown prince and heir to the throne of Sweden. Almost the only condition imposed on him was that of joining the Protestant Church. He changed his name to Charles John; and the health of the Swedish king, Charles XIII., failing in the following year, the government came almost entirely into his hands. He refused to comply with the demands of Napoleon, which which were opposed to the interests of Sweden, particularly as to trade with Great Britain, and was soon involved in war with him. He took part in the great and final struggle of the allies with Napoleon at Leipsic, but showed much reluctance to join in the invasion of France, and was tardy in his progress southward. There seems good reason to believe that the French throne was within his own ambition, and that his disinclination to act against his native country was due as much to policy as to patriotism. He became King of Sweden on the death of Charles XI XIII., in 1818, and won for himself the character of a wise and good king. Education, agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and great public works, as well as the military strength of the kingdom, were promoted by his He died March 8, 1844, and was care. succeeded by his son Oscar. CHARLES D'ORLÉANS (shärl'dorlā-än'), a French nobleman and poet, son of Louis d'Orléans, born May 26, 1391. He was the grandson of Charles V. of France, and the father of Louis XII. He was taken prisoner at Agincourt, and kept in captivity in England from 1415 to 1440, when he was ransomed. He wrote a number of lyrics while in prison and after his return to France. At Blois, where he held his court, he gathere gathered together together the chief took French writers of his time, and part with them in poetical tournaments, in one of which François Villon competed successfully. His light and graceful lyrics are the last flowering of the courtly poetry of the Middle Ages; they show no trace of the modern spirit which appears so strongly in the works of his contemporary, Villon. His favorite themes are love and the springtime; his favorite form is the rondel, with two rhymes, of which he is considered the chief master, as Villon is of the ballade and Voiture of the rondeau. He died in 1465.