Count Carl Gyllenborg (7 March 1679 – 9 December 1746) was a Swedish statesman and author.
Biography
He was born in Stockholm, the son of Count Jacob Gyllenborg (1648–1701). His father was a Member of Parliament and of the Royal Council, who served as Governor of Uppland from 1689 to 1695.
After serving in the
Polish War, he was sent to London as secretary of legation. There, he married the Jacobite
Sara Wright. In 1715, he was made minister plenipotentiary, and two years later was imprisoned for five months because of his participation in the plot to reinstate the
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a dynasty, royal house of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and later Kingdom of Great Britain, Great ...
. In 1723, he was appointed Councilor of State, and in 1738 Chancery President (), that is both Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.
Whilst in this office, he founded the
Hattparti or Hattar ('Hat' Party), which instigated the disastrous
Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743)
The Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743 (also known as The War of the Hats) was instigated by the Hats, a Swedish political party that aspired to regain the territories lost to Russia during the Great Northern War, and by French diplomacy, which soug ...
, resulting in the loss of
Kymmenegård. He was successively chancellor of the universities of
Lund
Lund (, ;["Lund"](_blank)
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...
(1728) and
Uppsala
Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Loc ...
(1739), was a patron of letters and art, and wrote several poems and the first Swedish comedy, ''Den svenska Sprätthöken'' (1740). His ''Letters . . . Relating to a Design to Raise a Rebellion on His Majesty's Dominions, to be Supported by a Force from Sweden'', were published in French and English (1717).
He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of London
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...
in 1711.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gyllenborg, Carl
1679 births
1746 deaths
Swedish dramatists and playwrights
Swedish male poets
Politicians from Stockholm
18th-century diplomats
18th-century Swedish politicians
18th-century dramatists and playwrights
Ambassadors of Sweden to the United Kingdom
Swedish male dramatists and playwrights
18th-century Swedish poets
Age of Liberty people
Fellows of the Royal Society
18th-century Swedish male writers
Poets from Stockholm