Battle of Stångebro 1598
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1598 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Sweden | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | War against Sigismund | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 58.4136, 15.6342 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
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 formed in 1592. In the battle, an army of somewhere between 8,000 and 12,000 commanded by Duke Charles defeated a mixed force of roughly 5,000 and 8,000 men consisting of an invading army of mercenaries in the king's employ and diverse but poorly co-ordinated supporting Swedish noblemen's forces commanded by King of both Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sigismund III Vasa, who was acting to maintain and restore his personal union against anti-Catholic forces in Lutheran Sweden. The Swedish king's general Constantin fought at the western bridge.
The battle was the beginning of the seven decades long Polish–Swedish Wars, which eventually destroyed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, at the time, arguably the largest nation state in Europe and also led to fall of Swedish Empire in 1721. Like the Thirty Years' War which also involved Sweden, under the surface, the dynastic struggles were rooted firmly in religious strife between Protestants and Roman Catholics during the ongoing European wars of religion.
Sigismund was captured during the battle, but as the Polish–Lithuanian crowned head of state, was allowed to return to the commonwealth.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Stångebro (revision 1376201164), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the War against Sigismund
- Battle of Stegeborg 1598
- Battle of S:t Mårtens 1599
All 3 battles of the War against Sigismund →
Browse more: battles in Sweden · Europe · Early modern battles