Erik Dahlberg
Encyclopedia
Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh (10 October 1625 – 16 January 1703) was a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 engineer, soldier, and field marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

, called the "Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...

 of Sweden".

Life

Erik Dahlbergh was born of peasant stock in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, but rose to the level of titled nobility due to his military abilities. His early studies involved the science of fortification and as an engineer officer. Orphaned at an early age, Erik's studies qualified him as a scribe
Scribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...

 and in 1641 he found employment with Gert Rehnskiöld, the senior accountant for Pommern and Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

. During his six years he was taught the fundamentals in draughtsmanship and stood out for his ability to draw. While learning these skills, he also intensely studied mathematics, architecture, perspective and map drawing.

In 1650, the military command dispatched Dahlbergh to Frankfurt to recoup war indemnity awarded to Sweden following the end of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

 and the Treaty of Westphalia. Dahlbergh contacted the publishing firm of Merian
Merian
Merian may refer to* Matthäus Merian the Elder , Swiss-German engraver and publisher* Maria Sibylla Merian , naturalist and scientific illustrator* Christoph Merian , Swiss banker, businessman and rentier* Merian C...

 and provided topographical maps. In 1635 Matthäus Merian the Elder initiated the Theatrum Europaeum, a series of contemporary chronicles published until 1732. Both works, the Theatrum Europaeum and the topographical prints, were continued following the death of Mattheus Merian in 1650 by his sons and stepsons.


In his military career, Dahlbergh saw service in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. As adjutant-general and engineering adviser to Charles X of Sweden, he had a great share in the famous crossing
March across the Belts
The March across the Belts was a campaign between 30 January and 8 February 1658 during the Second Northern War where Swedish king Karl X Gustav led the Swedish army from Jutland across the ice of the Little Belt and the Great Belt to reach Zealand...

 of the frozen Belts
Great Belt
The Great Belt is a strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen . Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries from the late 19th century until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98.-Geography:The Great Belt is the...

, and at the sieges of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and Kronborg where he directed the engineers during the Northern Wars
Northern Wars
Northern Wars is a term used for a series of wars fought in northern and northeastern Europe in the 16th and 17th century. An internationally agreed nomenclature for these wars has not yet been devised...

. In spite of his distinguished service, however, Dahlbergh remained an obscure lieutenant-colonel for many years. His patriotism, however, proved superior to the tempting offers. Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 tried to induce him to enter the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 service, when, in that age of professional soldiering, the offer was completely acceptable.

His talents were eventually recognized and, in 1676, he became director-general of fortifications for the Swedish crown. As director, Dahlbergh rendered distinguished service over the next twenty-five years in attack as in the Scanian War
Scanian War
The Scanian War was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark-Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish provinces along the border with Sweden and in Northern Germany...

. In Helsingborg
Helsingborg
Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

 in 1677, he was a key operative in the Great Northern War
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...

 at Dunamünde, and in 1700 he was instrumental in the defence of the two sieges of Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

. His work in repairing the fortresses of his own country earned for him the title of the "Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...

 of Sweden," and he was also the founder of the Swedish engineer corps. He retired while in the rank of field marshal in 1702 and died the following year.

In modern times, Erik Dahlbergh was best known for compiling the impressive collection of drawings called "Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna
Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna
Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, or Ancient and Modern Sweden, is the title of a large work of engravings, collected by Erik Dahlbergh in the middle of the 17th century...

", or Ancient and Modern Sweden, published 1660-1716, and assisted Samuel Pufendorf in his "Histoire de Charles X Gustave". He wrote a memoir of his life (to be found in Svenska Bibliotek, 1757) and an account "Of the campaigns of Charles X". (ed. Lundblad, Stockholm, 1823). The German influence reveals itself in his work; adopting the Teutonic
Teutons
The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...

 theme of glorification to Sweden's leaders, cities and peoples.

Appointments

  • Governor of Jönköping County
    Jönköping County
    Jönköping County is a county or län in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The capital is Jönköping.- Provinces :...

     (1687–1693)
  • Governor-General of Bremen-Verden
    Bremen-Verden
    Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden , were two territories and immediate fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged and gained Imperial immediacy in 1180...

     (1693)
  • Field Marshal (1693)
  • Governor-General of Livonia
    Swedish Livonia
    - Swedish infantry and cavalry regiments:Infantry regiments:* Garnisonsregementet i Riga * Guvenörsregementet i Riga * Livländsk infanteribataljon I...

     (1696–1702)

External links

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