Axel Erik Roos

Axel Erik Roos

Axel Erik Roos (born May 25, 1684 in Årnäs , Västergötland , † December 14, 1765 in Lövås , Dalsland ) was a Swedish baron and most recently lieutenant general and governor.

Life

Axel Erik Roos was born in 1684 as the son of Carl Gustav Roos on his father's farm in Arnäs. He died at the age of 81 on December 14, 1765 on his farm in Lövås in Dalsland, where he is also buried. Lövås farm is located on a hill about one kilometer southeast of Gestad Church , which was built in 1801. The old cemetery and the church of the municipality of Gestad used to be on the place where this monument stands.

Military career

At the age of 16, Axel Erik Roos started working as a page for the Swedish King Karl XII. on. In 1694 he was assigned to the Södermanland Regiment as an ensign . In this regiment he took part in the Battle of Klissow and the Battle of Fraustadt . He is slightly wounded in both battles.

In 1707 he was made a lieutenant and transferred to the Närke-Värmland regiment, which at that time was under the command of his father. In 1708 he was made a body satellite and accompanied the king to Bender . During Bender's scuffle, Roos was distinguished by great bravery. With his body he protected the king and thereby saved his life. For his services he was appointed adjutant general to his majesty in 1713 and was given command of a Skåne cavalry regiment. In 1715 Roos joined the Stralsund defense troops . He is wounded again during this siege .

In the years of the Northern War Roos was by Charles XII. assigned several times with dangerous and secret tasks. On one of these trips he was captured by the Danes in 1716. But he managed to escape from captivity and escape to Skane. In 1718 he took part in the siege of the Frederikshald fortress , where King Charles XII. was shot.

In 1725 he was promoted to major general of the cavalry and at the same time commander of the Nyländer and Tavestehus Dragoons . In 1728 he was also given command of the Dragoons in Bohuslän .

Roos was wounded sixteen times during the Carolinian campaigns.

After his time as military commander, he was appointed governor of the Älvsborgs län administrative district in 1740 . In parting he was given the rank of lieutenant general and the pension of governor.

estate

Church to Gestad

Axel Erik Roos gave a very detailed report on Bender's scuffle in a document . He gave these personal memories of the battle to the Swedish Queen Ulrika Eleonora . His stories were printed several times, the first time in 1757.

These stories are very meaningful and are kept in the Reich Archives. It was said of Roos: "His whole life has been a chain of virtue, honor and heroism." As a personality he was the consummate hero of the Carolinians.

Esaias Tegnér wrote his poem Axel and it is believed that Axel Erik Roos was meant by it. This Axel was a true Carolinian soldier, a true hero of many battlefields and of the scuffle at Bender. It is very likely that he saved the king's life back then. It is known that the king had great confidence in him and he called him the rose . Roos was almost always near the king during the campaigns.

The noble Roos family is now extinct. Axel Erik's sword and spurs were kept in Gestad church for almost 200 years. A few years ago they were stolen from a burglary and never found again.

literature

• Axel Erik Roos . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 355 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).