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{{Short description|Union between
{{No footnotes|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox former country
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=== Prelude ===
After the death of John III, his son [[Sigismund III Vasa|Sigismund]] became heir to the throne of Sweden. Sigismund at that time was already the [[Royal elections in Poland|elected]] King of Poland, and had so been
In Sweden, he encountered a serious problem due to his religion, as Sigismund was a devoted [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]], and most of the Swedish population (including Charles) had converted to [[Lutheranism]]. There were fears that Sigismund, if elected king, would support the Catholics against the Protestants. At this period Duke Charles and his Protestant friends were clearly outnumbered by the supporters of Sigismund. Nevertheless, immediately after King John’s death, a [[synod]] summoned to [[Uppsala]] by Duke Charles rejected the new liturgy and drew up an anti-Catholic confession of faith, March 5, 1593. [[Holy Scripture]] and the three primitive creeds were declared to be the true foundations of Christian faith, and the [[Augsburg confession]] was adopted, on January 9, 1594, in [[Uppsala]]. Sigismund was confronted by the representatives of the [[Lutherans]] and the lower [[nobility]]. Pressured by the political situation, and amidst the turmoil which included Sigismund's Catholic entourage and their Lutheran opponents, he eventually agreed on February 19, to guarantee [[religious freedom]] to the Protestants, and forbade the Catholics from public demonstrations of their faith and from holding high offices.
=== Union ===
The agreement of 19 February seemed to have calmed the situation; Sigismund was crowned in the [[Cathedral of Uppsala]] and became the [[king of Sweden]]. The [[Kingdom of Sweden]] was now in a [[personal union]] with [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland–Lithuania]]. In July, Sigismund left Sweden in the hands of the regency council and returned to Poland. Sweden was to be ruled jointly by the [[Privy Council of Sweden]] and Sigismund's uncle Duke Charles.
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In 1598, the Sejm gave Sigismund the go-ahead to wage a military campaign against his opponents in Sweden; however it refused to give him significant support. Sigismund's army was composed mostly of [[mercenaries]] (Germans and Hungarians), supported by a relatively small Polish force (although with some [[artillery]]).
[[War against Sigismund|Sigismund's campaign]] was poorly planned. He was unable to coordinate his troop movements with his supporters, particularly Fleming who was supposed to attack Charles from Finland. After initial successes (the taking of [[Kalmar]] and [[Battle of Stegeborg|defeating]] Charles' troops at [[Stegeborg]]), Sigismund's forces were defeated on September 25, 1598, at the [[Battle of Stångebro]], (also known as the battle of Linköping). Sigismund was captured and forced to hand over some of his followers such as the [[Chancellor of Sweden]], [[
=== Aftermath ===
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== Geography ==
At the time of the union, the coastline of Poland stretched from Pomerania in the southwest to [[Pärnu]] in the northeast (modern-day Estonia). The Swedish coastline stretched from [[Brömsebro]] in the west, around the northern part of the Baltic, down to [[Pärnu]]. Thus the time of the Polish–Swedish union was unique in that the [[Baltic Sea]] effectively became an internal sea of this superstate. A somewhat similar situation exists as of 2024, in that the Baltic Sea is now surrounded by NATO, with the sole exception of [[Kaliningrad]] and [[St. Petersburg]].
== See also ==
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