The state of monarchy is the most supreme thing upon earth.

For kings are not only God lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne,

but even by God himself, they are called gods.

King James I of England.

Creedon is a catamunny When Sigisman Vassau was deposed by his uncle Charles in, and as he fled Sweden to hopefully resume the war from a secure base in Poland,

Henry IV of France was securing his country after finally making peace with the Spanish.

Hugh O'Neill was terrorising the English across Ireland, the Ottomans were carving with the Balkans for themselves,

and across the empires of Europe, war was being waged at huge financial cost.

The war taking place in Scandinavia, and indeed the major actors that took part in it, Sweden,

Poland, Russia, Denmark, and to an extent to the Holy Roman Empire, are often overlooked

by history in favour of states

elsewhere, or for their actions in other parts of Europe at the same time.

But it is important to understand the events taking place in North and East Central Europe,

just like it is important to understand the conditions of Europe, everywhere else.

I'll allow Peter H. Wilson, in his book we'll be drawing on heavily for the duration of this

special, to properly introduce the major players for the next significant portion of this episode,

primarily in the Baltic and Scandinavia.

Wilson's book is entitled Europe's Tragedy, A History of the Thirty Years' War, and the extract reads as follows.

Quote, Scandinavian involvement in the Thirty Years' War linked to central European problems

with a struggle for Baltic predominance. Like Spanish and French involvement, Swedish and Danish

participation helped prolong and widen the conflict rather than contribute directly

to its causes.

...