Charles XII

king of Sweden, son of Charles XI., a warlike prince; ascended the throne at the age of 15; had to cope with Denmark, Ru ia, and Poland combined against him; foiled the Danes at Copenhagen, the Ru ians at Narva, and August us II. of Poland at Riga; trapped in Ru ia, and cooped up to spend a winter there, he was, in spring 1709, attacked by Peter the Great at Pultowa and defeated, so that he had to take refuge with the Turks at Bender; here he was attacked, captured, and conveyed to Demotic a, but escaping, he found his way miraculously back to Sweden, and making peace with the Czar, commenced an attack on Norway, but was killed by a musket-shot at the siege of Fried rick shall; "the last of the Swedish kings"; "his appearance, among the luxurious kings and knights of the North" at the time, Carlyle compares to "the bursting of a cataract of bombshells in a dull ballroom" (1697-1718).