Talk:Charles XI of Sweden
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Removed: "His cruelty earned him the name of Charles the Peoplemurderer in Scania." What is the source of this statement, which I never have heard of? Den fjättrade ankan 23:10, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
Removed: "Charles XI was however very harsh to the local population of occupied Scania, only 20 years earlier a Danish heartland, and in his diary it can be read that he had plans on deporting the population to Balticum." What is the source of this statement? Den fjättrade ankan 23:20, 26 May 2004 (UTC)
- I put those sentences there, and my source was susning.nu. I can understand that you want a more reliable source; I'll try to see if I can find one. That statement needs a better and larger context anyway. ✏ Sverdrup 10:55, 27 May 2004 (UTC)
- an addition:
- I do however defend the inclusion of this information, since we have a policy of NPOV. Still today swedish history classes and textbooks are very POV, and not a good single source for a NPOV Wikipedia article. ✏ Sverdrup 11:03, 27 May 2004 (UTC)
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- NPOV does not mean presenting myths or factoids as facts. I don't agree that "swedish history classes and textbooks are very POV", at least not in a Swedish nationalist way, on the contrary, they are mostly NPOV, especially regarding nationalism. Most current Swedish historians are Marxists, anti-nationalistic, and anti-royalistics, and does not try to conceal cruelties of Swedish kings, on the contrary they try to exaggerate them. This talk about "Charles the Peoplemurderer" is never heard of. To me it sounds very much like the myth about Christian the Good. Den fjättrade ankan 18:50, 27 May 2004 (UTC) (Som finner det mycket märkligt att diskutera svenska förhållanden med en annan svensk på engelska. Jag tror knappast att någon annan än svenskar bryr sig om denna artikel. Men det är ju på engelska Wikipedia, så då måste man ju skriva på engelska.)
The statement has been reinserted, only high swedes from Stockholm or other northern parts try to deny the true history of Charles XI, the man hailed wrongfully as a hero up north is most certainly not down south, last evidence of this statement is the Scanian objections to the Swedish 500kr bill which had Charles XI's picture portrayed, calling him ' Charles Peoplemurderer'
Gentlemen, I do not believe "peoplemurderer" is a proper English word. I have failed to find it in any dictionary I own. The English word for "folkmord" is "genocide". Presumably, you can indicate the person making it by calling him "genocider". Concerning Charles XI's treatment of rebels supporting the Danish king in Nothern Skåne, he acted with very harsh, even terroristic counter-guerilla methods (such as holding entire villages responsible for acts of rebels in the vicinity and executing captured rebels in cruel ways). However, as far as I can make out this was entirely within the conventions of warfare at that time. As far as Charles XI was concerned, nominally Swedish people working for the Danish king were rebels and traitors and did not even enjoy the limited right granted to prisoners of war at that time. Most monarchs of this era facing a peasant rebellion would have used methods fairly similar to the ones used by Charles XI during the Danish war. -Sensemaker
[edit] Charles XI and domestication of moose
Long ago in various UseNet threads a few people came forward with the information that this king had sponsored an effort to domesticate moose for military use, presumably as attack cavalry - with sharpened horns, good for pack burdens, and potentially aggressive in the field; also twice the size of a war horse). Apparently they turned out to be useful for messengers only, and the project fell through because there weren't enough of them, and they're hard to breed in captivity...and according to the trivia section of the Moose article there were worries that they'd allow thieves and other criminals to outrun law enforcement types using only horses. Does anyone here know where a cite or further details for this would be found?Skookum1 02:01, 18 November 2006 (UTC)