Royal Regencies in Europe, 1400-1700

Introduction
“Regent” is a convenient general term to describe persons temporarily replacing the official sovereign of a major state who was either too young to govern, physically absent for a lengthy period, or undeniably insane. Such surrogate rulers might serve anywhere from a few months to more than twenty years, and their powers varied with the circumstances for appointing them; adult princes living abroad tried to retain as much personal authority as possible. In Renaissance and Early Modern Europe, such representatives were generally close relatives of the sovereign, uncles or mothers being the most common choices. Male regents might make themselves sovereigns, usually through violence; this occurred four times between 1483 and 1683 in states as different as England and Russia (a fifth regent married his employer’s daughter). Or they might suffer violence themselves; three of Scotland’s four regents were either murdered or beheaded between 1570 and 1581. Entrusting regencies to women prevented both usurpation and violence, and Renaissance Europe saw an increasing acceptance of women as suitable regents, particularly in France—Europe’s only major kingdom that completely prohibited female succession. While both traditional types of female regents—mothers of underage boys and wives of absent kings—continued to serve in this capacity, one also finds aunts, sisters, daughters, and even a grandmother governing major states in western Europe by the time John Knox published his notorious First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. However, there were limits to accepting women as regents. No wife or female kin ever became the official substitute for a mentally incapacitated ruler, and female regents seem rare throughout northern and eastern Europe; Knox’s Scotland had many extremely long royal minorities, but no female regents before 1513 or after 1560.
Comparative Studies
To say regencies have been understudied is a huge understatement. Although such temporary transfers of sovereignty are a necessary feature of hereditary states, political theorists seem uncomfortable with them and therefore avoid studying them. Both their individual situations and their official titles varied: until 1660, England preferred “Lord Protector,” a title also used in Russia in 1587; Sweden, often governed by regents, used riksförestandare, literally “representative of the realm.” Studies going beyond a single state remain rare. The only bilateral Franco-German comparison of the subject (Heckmann 2002) stops c. 1420. The only general comparative introduction (Corvisier 2002) comes from a French historian specializing in military history and is limited to regencies of minority, ignoring those due to physical absence or mental incapacity. The broadest exploration of female regents in Renaissance Europe (Wanegffelen 2008) conflates them with female sovereigns, whose legal authority was much greater; another comparative survey (Monter 2012) argues that female regents initiated novel claims for women’s capacities as rulers. An important contribution (Rabe and Marzahl 1987) discusses one sovereign, Emperor Charles V, who acquired three separate major states—the Low Countries, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire—between 1514 and 1519 and needed trustworthy representatives almost continuously for almost forty years. For such reasons, the remainder of this entry is organized around Europe’s major states, which offer different examples of substitute sovereigns.
Corvisier, André. Les régences en Europe: Essai sur les délégations de pouvoirs souverains. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2002.
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Only recent general survey of problem, based on 441 monarchical reigns in a dozen states from the 13th through the 20th century.
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Heckmann, Marie-Luise. Stellvertreter, Mit- und Ersatz-Herrescher: Regenten, Generalstatthalter, Kurfürsten und Reichsvikare in Regnum und Imperium vom 13. bis zum frühen 15. Jahrhundert. 2 vols. Warendorf, Germany: Falbusch, 2002.
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Richly detailed study comparing substitute rulers in Europe’s two most prestigious polities, the Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of France, from mid-13th century (Frederick II, St. Louis IX) until c. 1420 (“useless” monarchs, Wenceslaus and Charles VI).
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Monter, William. The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300–1800. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
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Suggests how female regents promoted female rule between 1500 and 1630, using eight examples in four states (pp. 94–122).
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Rabe, Horst, and Peter Marzahl. “‘Comme représentant nostre propre personne.’ The Regency Ordinances of Charles V as a Historical Source.” In Politics and Society in Reformation Europe: Essays for Sir Geoffrey Elton on His Sixty-fifth birthday. Edited by Tom Scott and E. I. Kouri, 78–102. London: Macmillan, 1987.
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Compares regency systems of a monarch with dispersed possessions requiring several substitutes, arguing that a stable system emerged after 1530.
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Wanegffelen, Thierry. Le pouvoir contesté: Souveraines d’Europe à la Renaissance. Paris: Payot, 2008.
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Mentions twenty-four female regents serving throughout western Europe between 1470 and 1650, indexed on pp. 451–456.
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France
While strictly prohibiting female sovereignty, Europe’s most populous kingdom experienced several maternal regencies by foreign-born queens (Cosandey 2000) and we possess both an excellent long-range survey of French regencies (Crawford 2004) and a study of contrasting maternal styles (Muhlstein 2001). Female regents appeared frequently between the early Renaissance (Matarasso 2001) and the Baroque (Grell 2009, Kleinman 1985). The most-studied among them, Catherine de’ Medici (Wanegffelen 2005), has a separate Oxford Bibliographies article (Catherine de’ Medici), but the “other Medici woman” boasts the most detailed recent biography (Dubost 2009).
Cosandey, Fanny. La reine de France: Symbole et pouvoir, XVe-XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Gallimard, 2000.
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Thorough analysis of the cultural and political role of French queens from c. 1490 to the Revolution, including a final section on regencies.
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Crawford, Katherine. Perilous Performance: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.
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In-depth comparisons of four lengthy regencies in France between 1560 and 1720, three female and the final one male.
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Dubost, Jean-Franois. Marie de Médicis: La reine dévoilée. Paris: Fayard, 2009.
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Thousand-page well-researched study.
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Grell, Chantal, ed. Anne d’Autriche: Infante d’Espagne et reine de France. Paris: Perrin, 2009.
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Well-done Franco-Spanish collaboration.
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Kleinman, Ruth. Anne of Austria, Queen of France. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1985.
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Best English-language study of last female French regent.
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Matarasso, Pauline M. Queen’s Mate: Three Women of Power in France on the Eve of the Renaissance. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2001.
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Includes two regents: an older sister, Anne of France (1483–1491), and a mother, Louise of Savoy (1525–1527).
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McCartney, Elizabeth. “The King’s Mother and Royal Prerogative in Early Sixteenth-Century France.” In Medieval Queenship. Edited by John Carmi Parsons, 117–141. New York: St. Martin’s, 1993.
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Excellent discussion of medieval precedents used to justify Louise of Savoy’s two maternal regencies for her absent son.
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Muhlstein, Anka. Reines éphèmeres, mères perpetueles: Catherine de Médicis, Marie de Médicis, Anne d’Austriche. Paris: Albin Michel, 2001.
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Contrasts modes of (mis)managing mother-son governmental relationships.
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Wanegffelen, Thierry. Catherine de Médicis: Le pouvoir au feminine. Paris: Payot, 2005.
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The best recent French biography, emphasizing specific difficulties of female rule in France.
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England
The exact opposite of France, 16th-century England had fifty years of female monarchs but no maternal female regents; two of Henry VIII’s wives served briefly in 1513 and 1544 (Kames 1999). Instead, a national custom of royal uncles named as “Lords Protector” functioned during the Wars of the Roses (Wolffe 2001); it survived the murderous scandal of 1483 (Hisshon 2011) and reappeared with the next royal minority in 1547, during which one Lord Protector was beheaded (Loach 1999, Alford 2002). Only after Oliver Cromwell’s quasi-royal behavior in the interregnal 1650s (Sherwood 1997) did “Regent” replace “Lord Protector.”
Alford, Stephen. Kingship and Politics in the Reign of Edward VI. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511495663Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Most recent sketch of the construction of an underage “godly prince” who believed his own propaganda.
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Hisshon, David. Richard III. London and New York: Routledge, 2011.
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Useful introduction to the Uncle from Hell, a regent who usurped England’s throne from a twelve-year-old heir in a month.
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Kames, Susan E. Katherine Parr: The Making of a Queen. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 1999.
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Best treatment of Henry VIII’s second regent during his second invasion of France, thirty-one years and five wives after his first, but excluded from stepson’s regency.
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Loach, Jennifer. The Reign of Edward VI. Edited by George Bernard and Penry Williams. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
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Useful posthumously published study of substitute rulers for Henry VIII’s underage heir, both of whom (Protector Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland) were beheaded.
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Sherwood, Roy. Oliver Cromwell: King in All but Name, 1653–1658. New York: St. Martin’s, 1997.
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Describes the many royal prerogatives and customs used by England’s final “Lord Protector” during England’s lengthy interregnum (1649–1660).
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Wolffe, Bertram. Henry VI. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
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Posthumous republication of 1981 study of England’s most “useless” king, whose forty-year inability to govern satisfactorily—first because of minority, then incompetence, and finally insanity—almost made him a saint.
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Scotland
Here, royal minorities cover almost sixty years between 1400 and 1600, and Scotland’s last three monarchs before the personal union with England (1603) inherited as babies. Nevertheless, Scotland had few memorable regents, and none were women until 1513. Mary Queen of Scots had two long-serving Francophile regents (Franklin 1995, Ritchie 2002); her son’s had four Anglophiles, three of whom met violent deaths (Lee 1953, Hewitt 1982).
Franklin, David Byrd. The Scottish Regency of the Earl of Arran: A Study in the Failure of Anglo-Scottish Relations. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1995.
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Studies the ineffective first regent for Mary Queen of Scots, who ended as a French duke.
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Hewitt, George R. Scotland under Morton, 1572–80. Edinburgh: J. Donald, 1982.
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An administrative study of Scotland’s last regent, beheaded in 1581.
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Lee, Maurice. James Stewart, Earl of Moray. New York: Columbia University Press, 1953.
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Classic biography of James VI’s uncle and his first regent, who was murdered in 1570.
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Ritchie, Pamela. Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548–560: A Political Career. East Linton, UK: Tuckwell, 2002.
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Scotland’s second and more successful female regent.
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German Empire
In a region with over a hundred hereditary principalities, recent scholarship has highlighted mostly widows (Wunder 2002) governing middle-sized states for underage sons, including during the hectic Reformation era (Wiesner 2000). Hesse, unusually rich in female regencies, has been exceptionally well studied (Puppel 2004, Carsten 1959, Meise 2002, Helfferich 2003). Male regents, although more common, have received less attention; one exception (Petersohn 1963) examines the twenty-five-year regency for a mentally dysfunctional Prussian duke who outlived both this surrogate and his Hohenzollern successor. Joint regencies—an even less studied phenomenon—also seem to have persisted longer here than elsewhere in Europe. As late as 1609, two rival claimants jointly attempted to govern the unified Rhineland duchy of Cleves-Jülich-Berg-Mark, which had been under a de facto regency for the previous dozen years because of its childless ruler’s insanity (Midelfort 1994).
Carsten, F. L. Princes and Parliaments in Germany from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.
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On pp. 150–159, studies quarrels between the widowed duchess Anna of Mecklenburg, sole regent of Hesse from 1514 to 1519, and the provincial Estates.
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Helfferich, Tryntje Bronwin. “‘The Scepter Rests Well in the Hands of a Woman’: Faith, Politics, and the Thirty Years War.” PhD diss., University of California Santa Barbara, 2003.
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Studies the regency of Amalia Elisabeth of Hesse-Kassel (1637–1650), who played a role in negotiations ending the Thirty Years War.
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Meise, Helga. “‘Habe ich die Politica bei H. Richter angefangen’: Herrschaftsalltag und Herrschaftsverständnis der Landgräfin Elisabeth Dorothea von Hessen-Darmstadt.” In Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung in der frühen Neuzeit: Geschlechter und Geschlecht. Edited by Heide Wunder, 113–134. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2002.
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A ten-year regency (1668–1678) chronicled by a meticulous record-keeper.
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Midelfort, H. C. Erik. Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
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Superb study of changing therapies for the surprisingly frequent cases of mentally incompetent princes in major German states (including Prussia), but uninterested in regency arrangements.
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Petersohn, Jürgen. Fürstenmacht und Ständetum in Preussen während der Regierung Herzog Georg Friedrichs, 1578–1603. Würzburg, Germany: Holzner-Verlag, 1963.
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Polish-appointed regent for a mad prince, who outlived him and another regent from Brandenburg before dying in 1618.
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Puppel, Pauline. Die Regentin: Vormundschaftliche Herrschaft in Hessen 1500–1700. Frankfurt: Campus, 2004.
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Combines legal overview of regencies in the Holy Roman Empire with survey of four long-serving female regents in one region.
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Wiesner, Merry. “Herzogin Elisabeth von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1510–1558).” In Deutsche Frauen der frühen Neuzeit. Edited by Kerstin Merkel and Heide Wunder, 39–48. Darmstadt: Primus, 2000.
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A Reformation heroine, prolific writer, and regent for a son who turned Catholic.
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Wunder, Heide. “Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung: Geschlechter und Geschlecht.” In Dynastie und Herrschaftssicherung in der frühen Neuzeit: Geschlechter und Geschlecht. Edited by Heide Wunder, 9–27. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2002.
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Overview of the dynastic guardianship aspect of regency favoring maternal authority in the German Empire.
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Spain
From the early 15th century, Aragon experienced an unusually long female regency (Earenfight 2010). Shortly after the unification of Aragon and Castile under their “Catholic kings” Ferdinand and Isabella, a unified Spain experienced significant regency governments (Rummel 1999, Perez 1970), which continued under Emperor Charles V (Marzahl 2004, Baños-García 2005). Habsburg Spain needed its last important regency with its final monarch (Mitchell 2013).
Baños-Garcia, Antonio Villacorta. La Jesuita. Barcelona: Ariel, 2005.
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Fine study of Europe’s youngest female regent who served both her father and her brother (1554–1559).
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Earenfight, Theresa. The King’s Other Body: Maria of Castile and the Crown of Aragon. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.
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Excellent study of the longest female regency in 15th-century Europe, when the childless wife of an Aragonese king governed his multiple Iberian possessions from 1432 to 1453 while he remained in Naples, establishing his rule over southern Italy.
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Marzahl, Peter. “Communication and Control in the Political System of Emperor Charles V: The First Regency of Empress Isabella.” In The World of emperor Charles V, Proceedings of the Colloquium, Amsterdam, 4–6 October 2000. Edited by Wim Blokmans and Nicolette Mout, 83–96. Amsterdam: Royal Academy of Sciences, 2004.
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Covers Charles’s absence from 1529 to 1533, when his wife “keeps good order in everything, but has no experience or knowledge of these countries” (p. 86).
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Mitchell, Silvia Z. “Habsburg Motherhood: The Power of Queen Mariana of Austria.” In Habsburg Women in Early Modern Europe. Edited by Anne J. Cruz and Maria Stampino, Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2013.
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Covers a twelve-year regency (1665–1676).
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Perez, Joseph. La révolution des “Comunidades” de Castille (1520–1521). Bordeaux, France: Institut d’Études Ibériques et Ibéro-Américaines de l’Université de Bordeaux, 1970.
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Classic analysis of the most serious rebellion against any regency government in Early Modern Europe, in this case headed by a non-noble foreign cleric, Adrian of Utrecht.
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Rummel, Erika. Jiménez de Cisneros: On the Threshold of Spain’s Golden Age. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1999.
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Brief English-language study of key Castilian regent after death of Philip (1506–1516) and Ferdinand (1516–1517), based on his leading modern Spanish biographer, José Garcia Oro, El cardinal Cisneros: Vida y empreses, 2 vols. (Madrid: Instituto Francisco Suarez del C.S.I.C., 1992–1993).
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Savoy-Piedmont
Italy’s most important hereditary state, Savoy-Piedmont, became a duchy in 1416 and a kingdom in 1713 (Ricuperati and Varalla 2009). Like France, it excluded female succession but experienced lengthy female regencies between the late 15th (Brocard 1999) and the 17th century (Biraghi and Pollone 1991, Oresko 2004, Naldi 2011).
Biraghi, Giuliana Brignelli, and Maria Bianca Denoyé Pollone. Chrestienne de Francia, Duchessa di Savoia, Prima Madama Reale. Cavallermaggiore, Italy: Gribaudo editore, 1991.
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Well-researched, unannotated study of Regent of Savoy for two sons (1637–1648), remaining influential until her death (1663).
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Brocard, Michèle. Yolande de France: Duchesse de Savoie: Soeur de Louis XI. Yens sur Morges, Switzerland: Editions Cabédita, 1999.
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Regent for both her epileptic husband Amadeo IX and their eldest son (1472–1478).
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Naldi, Carlo, ed. Maria Giovanni Battista di Savoia-Nemours: Memorie della Reggenza. Turin, Italy: Centro Studi Piemontesi, 2011.
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Annotated translation of contemporary French text by a close collaborator, highly favorable.
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Oresko, Robert. “Maria Giovanna of Savoy-Nemours (1644–1724): Daughter, Consort, and Regent of Savoy.” In Queenship in Europe, 1660–1815. Edited by Clarissa Campbell Orr, 16–55. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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The second Madama Reale, regent from 1675 to 1684.
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Ricuperati, G., and F. Varalla, eds. In assenza del re: Le reggenti dal XIV al XVII secolo (Piemonte ed Europa). Florence: Olschki, 2009.
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Despite its title, contains useful information on Savoy-Piedmont but little else.
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Low Countries United, 1482–1567
After the death of the only child of its last “great Duke” in 1482, the Burgundian inheritance in present-day Benelux experienced a tumultuous twelve-year regency under the prince’s Habsburg father (Wiesflecker 1971). After becoming emperor, Maximilian later made his daughter regent for his grandson (Bruchet 1927, Cauchiès 2003). After 1516, these lands were ruled almost continuously by the sovereign’s close female relatives (Gorter-van Royen 1995, Federinov and Docquier 2008, de Iongh 1967).
Bruchet, Max. Marguerite d’Autriche, Duchesse de Savoie. Lille, France: Danel, 1927.
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Best-documented biography, despite its age.
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Cauchiès, Jean-Marie. “Marguerite d’Autriche, gouvernante et diplomate.” In L’itinérance des seigneurs (XIVe-XVIe siècle). Edited by Agosto Paravicini Baglioni, Eva Pibiri, and Denis Reynard, 353–376. Lausanne, Switzerland: Universite de Lausanne, Faculte des Lettres, 2003.
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The best starting point for studying Margaret’s two regencies.
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de Iongh, Jane. Madama: Margaretha van Oostenrijk hertogin van Parma en Piacenza, 1522–1586. Amsterdam: Querido, 1967.
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Fullest biography of Philip II’s only female regent (1559–1567), whose tenure ended in turmoil.
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Federinov, Bernard, and Gilles Docquier, eds. Marie de Hongrie: Politique et culture sous la Renaissance aux Pays-Bas: Actes du colloque tenu au Musée royale de Mariemont les 11 et 12 november 2005. Morlanwelz, Belgium: Musée royale de Mariemont, 2008.
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Exceptionally rich collection of studies stemming from an international conference in 2005.
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Gorter-van Royen, Laetitia V. G. Maria van Hongarije, Regentes der Nederlanden. Hilversum, The Netherlands: Verloren, 1995.
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Pioneering study based on Habsburg family correspondence, which she is editing
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Wiesflecker, Herman. Kaiser Maximilian I. Vol. 1. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1971.
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Standard survey of first regent of the Habsburg Netherlands, acting as guardian for his son Philip “the Handsome” (1482–1494).
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Low Countries Divided, 1567–1700
Under the male Governors-General serving Philip II (Soen 2011) harsh policies soon provoked a major rebellion (Maltby 1983), with its northern provinces forming a separate state in 1579 amidst a brutal civil war (van der Essen 1933–1937). After an interlude of delegated sovereignty under a former Governor-General from 1598 to 1621 (Duerloo 2012), the “loyal” provinces were again ruled by Governors-General, starting with the autonomous ruler’s widow (Sanchez 2009).
Duerloo, Luc. Dynasty and Piety: Archduke Albert (1598–1621) and Habsburg Political Culture in an Age of Religious Wars. Farnsworth, UK: Ashgate, 2012.
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Excellent study of Philip II’s favorite nephew, whom he named regent of both Portugal (1583–1593) and then the Habsburg Netherlands (1595–1598) before promoting to joint sovereign on his deathbed.
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Maltby, William. Alba: A Biography of Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Third Duke of Alba, 1507–1582. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
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Best English-language study of first Spanish regent of the Netherlands (1567–1573).
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Sanchez, Magdalena S. “Sword and Wimple: Isabel Clara Eugenia and Power.” In The Rule of Women in Early Modern Europe. Edited by Anne J. Cruz and Mihoko Suzuki, 64–79. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009.
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Emphasizes the widowed Infanta’s exceptional powers (e.g., right to name ambassadors) while Governor-General of the Low Countries.
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Soen, Violet. “Philip II’s Quest: The Appointment of Governors-General in the Netherlands, 1559–1598.” Bijdragen en Medelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 126 (2011): 3–29.
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Emphasizes their dynastic qualifications.
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van der Essen, Léon. Alexandre Farnèse, prince de Parme, Gouverneur-général des Pays-Bas (1545–1592). Vols. 2–3. Brussels: Librarie Nationale d’Art et d’Histoire, 1933–1937.
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Monumental study of most famous regent of the Habsburg Netherlands during a critical period (1578–1592).
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Portugal
Sixteenth-century Portugal experienced a lengthy minority regency (1557–1567) by a grandmother and a great-uncle (Themudo Banarata de Azevedo 1992). During its personal union with Spain from 1580 to 1640, it was governed by various regency arrangements, with its last viceroy (and only woman) being overthrown by a coup d’état in 1640 (Schaub 2001). After regaining its independence, it needed another long regency for an incompetent heir, whose younger brother imprisoned him, married his ex-wife, and inherited his throne (Marcal Lourenco 2010).
Marcal Lourenco, Maria Paula. D. Pedro II o Pacífico (1648–1706). Lisbon, Portugal: Temas e Debates, 2010.
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Excellent study of cadet who became regent 1668–1683 after imprisoning his older brother and marrying his divorced wife.
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Schaub, Jean-Frédéric. Le Portugal au temps du Comte-Duc d’Olivares, 1621–1640: Le conflit de juridictions comme exercice de la politique. Madrid: Casa de Velzquez, 2001.
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The complex viceregal system, headed 1634–1640 by Philip II’s granddaughter Margaret of Savoy, widowed Duchess of Mantua.
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Themudo Banarata de Azevedo, Maria do Rosario. As regencias na Menoridade de D. Sebastião. 2 vols. Lisbon, Portugal: Impr. Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1992.
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Compares the regencies of his grandmother, D. Catalina (1557–1562) and his great-uncle, Cardinal Enrique (1562–1567).
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Russia
Between the death of Ivan the Terrible and the ascension of Peter the Great, the Muscovite “Third Rome” experienced two notable regencies. The holders bore very different titles, a male “Protector” and a female “Great Pious Sovereign Tsarevna and Great Princess.” Both attempted to make themselves Tsars; the man succeeded (Pavlov 2006) but the woman failed (Hughes 1990).
Hughes, Lindsay. Sophia: Regent of Russia, 1657–1704. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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Superb study of Russia’s first female regent (1682–1689), sister and half-sister of joint (but not fully autonomous) sovereigns, literally governing from behind the throne.
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Pavlov, A. P. “Fedor Ivanovich and Boris Godunov (1584–1605).” In The Cambridge History of Russia. Vol. 1. Edited by Maureen Perrie, 264–286. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521812276Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Excellent brief survey of Russia’s most famous elected regent (1585–1598), who became its elected Tsar after deaths of Ivan’s descendants.
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Sweden
After being governed by native aristocratic regents almost half the time during the Scandinavian Union of Kalmar (1397–1523), the restored kingdom of Sweden experienced three long regencies that helped prepare its relatively early transition to a constitutional monarchy in 1718. The first, from 1599 to 1604, substituted a paternal uncle, who finally claimed the throne himself, for an absent king of Poland (Roberts 1968a). Two subsequent regency councils for underage monarchs lasted much longer: the first, led by Axel Oxenstierna, raised Gustavus Adolphus’s daughter and fought the Thirty Years War from 1632 to 1644; the second, formally headed by his mother, protected Charles XI’s inheritance from 1660 to 1672 (Roberts 1968b).
Roberts, Michael. The Early Vasas, 1523–1611. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968a.
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Contains a detailed account (pp. 320–452) of the various types of regencies exercised by the future Charles IX between 1592 and 1604.
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Roberts, Michael, ed. Sweden as a Great Power, 1611–1697. London: Edward Arnold, 1968b.
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Translates and edits regency charters for Christina (1634) and Karl XI (1660). See especially pp. 16–28, 49–80.
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