Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ARMFELT, GUSTAF MAURITZ, COUNT (1757–...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 575 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ARMFELT, GUSTAF MAURITZ, See also:COUNT (1757–1814) , son of See also:Charles II.'s See also:general, Carl Gustaf Armfelt, was See also:born in See also:Finland on the 31st of See also:March 1757. In 1774 he became an See also:ensign in the See also:guards, but his frivolity provoked the displeasure of Gustavus III. and he thought it prudent to go abroad. Subsequently, however, (r78o) he met the See also:king again at See also:Spa and completely won the monarch's favour by his natural amiability, intelligence and brilliant social gifts. Henceforth his See also:fortune was made. At first he was the maitre See also:des plaisirs of the See also:Swedish See also:court, but it was not See also:long before more serious affairs were entrusted to him. He took See also:part in the negotiations with See also:Catherine II. (1783) and with the Danish See also:government (1787), and during the See also:Russian See also:war of 1788–90 he was one of the king's most trusted and active counsellors. He also displayed See also:great valour in the See also:field. In 1788 when the Danes unexpectedly invaded See also:Sweden and threatened See also:Gothenburg, it was Armfelt who under the king's directions organized the Dalecarlian levies and led them to victory. He remained absolutely faithful to Gustavus when nearly the whole of the See also:nobility See also:fell away from him; brilliantly distinguished himself in the later phases of the Russian war; and was the Swedish plenipotentiary at the conclusion of the See also:peace of Verela. During the last years of Gustavus III. his See also:influence was See also:paramount, though he protested against his See also:master's headstrong championship of the Bourbons. On his deathbed Gustavus III.

(1792) committed the care of his See also:

infant son to Armfelt and appointed him a member of the See also:council of regency; but the See also:anti-Gustavian See also:duke-See also:regent Charles sent Armfelt as Swedish See also:ambassador to See also:Naples to get rid of him. From Naples Armfelt communicated with Catherine II., urging her to bring about by means of a military demonstration a See also:change in the Swedish government in favour of the Gustavians. The See also:plot was discovered by the regent's spies, and Armfelt only escaped from the See also:man-of-war sent to Naples to seize him, with the assistance of See also:Queen See also:Caroline. He now fled to See also:Russia, where he was interned at See also:Kaluga, while at See also:home he was condemned to See also:confiscation and See also:death as a traitor, and his unjustly accused See also:mistress Magdalena RudenschOld was publicly whipped to gratify an old grudge of the regent's. When Gustavus IV. attained his See also:majority, Armfelt was completely rehabilitated and sent as Swedish ambassador to See also:Vienne (18oz), but was obliged to quit that See also:post two years later for sharply attacking the See also:Austrian government's attitude towards See also:Bonaparte. From 1805 to 1807 he was See also:commander-in-See also:chief of the Swedish forces in See also:Pomerania, where he displayed great ability and retarded the See also:conquest of the duchy as long as it was humanly possible. On his return home, he was appointed commander-in-chief on the See also:Norwegian frontier, but could do nothing owing to the ordres, contre-ordres et desordres of his lunatic master. He would have nothing to say to the revolutionaries who in 1809 deposed Gustavus IV. and his whole See also:family. Armfelt was the most courageous of the supporters ofthe See also:crown See also:prince Gustavus, and when Bernadotte was elected resolved to retire to Finland. His departure was accelerated by a See also:decree of See also:expulsion as a conspirator (1811). Over the impressionable See also:Alexander I. of Russia, Armfelt exercised almost as great an influence as See also:Czartoryski, especially as regards Finnish affairs. He contributed more than any one else to the erection of the See also:grand-duchy into an autonomous See also:state, and was its first and best See also:governor-general.

The See also:

plan of the Russian defensive See also:campaigns is, with great See also:probability, also attributed to him, and he gained Alexander over to the plan of uniting See also:Norway with Sweden. He died at Tsarskoe Selo on the 19th of See also:August 1814. See See also:Robert Nisbet See also:Bain, Gustavus III. vol. ii. (See also:London, 1895) ; Elof See also:Tegner, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt (See also:Stockholm, 1883–1887). (R. N.

End of Article: ARMFELT, GUSTAF MAURITZ, COUNT (1757–1814)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ARMET (diminutive of Fr. arme) 		[next]
ARMIDALE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries