Claes Sparre

Claes Sparre von Sövdeborg , count since 1719 , (born January 6, 1673 in Biby in the municipality of Gillberga ( Södermanland ), † April 25, 1733 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish admiral .

family

Claes Sparre von Sövdeborg was the son of Admiral Gustaf Adolph Sparre and Elizabeth Anna, nee Stjernsköld. He was a nephew of Field Marshals Axel Sparre and Erik Sparre af Sundby .

On August 20, 1699 Sparre married the 17-year-old Sofia Louisa Soop (1682-1745). Together they had 16 children, including:

• Hans Carl Sparre (1704–1770), Swedish Vice Admiral and Knight of the Order of the Sword
• Erik Arvid Sparre (1707–1775), Swedish Schoutby Night and Knight of the Order of the Sword
• Eva Charlotta Sparre (1711–1779), ⚭ Count Hans Georg Mörner , Swedish colonel
• Rutger Axel Sparre (1712–1751), Swedish court marshal and director of the Swedish East India Company
• Johan Sparre (1715–1791), Swedish lieutenant general , senior adjutant and knight of the Order of the Sword
• Sofia Lovisa Sparre (1717–1766), ⚭ Heinrich Jakob Hildebrand, Swedish Chamberlain
• Friedrich Sparre (1723–1747), Swedish court manager
• Ulrika Eleonora Sparre (1724–1747), ⚭ Anders Johan von Höpken , President of the Swedish firm

In 1719, Sparre was in the ennobled . From then on he was allowed to call himself Count Cleas Sparre von Sövdeborg. This name is derived from Sövdeborg Castle , which he had acquired through marriage.

Military career

Sparre began his military career in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in 1691 . He resigned as a lieutenant colonel in 1696 and returned to his native Sweden.

In Swedish service, he was appointed Schoutby Night , the Dutch name for a rear admiral , just one year later in 1700 . In the same year he took part in the conquest of the island of Zealand . As a Schoutby night he used his flag on the ship of the line Wenden .

In 1705 he took part in the attacks on the island of Kotlin at the side of Admiral Cornelius Anckarstjerna . In 1709 he was appointed Vice Admiral , 1710 Holmadmiral and 1712 Admiral. In 1715 he was elected chairman of the Admiralty Council.

He was the commander of the Swedish fleet in the naval battle of Jasmund (1715) . In this sea battle Sparre lost to the Denmark-Norway fleet . The Swedish navy had with this defeat for supremacy in the southern Baltic region lost. The Swedish troops could no longer be supplied with supplies. As a result, the Swedes were expelled from Pomerania and Mecklenburg .

In 1719 he was appointed to the Swedish Imperial Council and appointed President of the Admiralty. In the following time Sparre worked as head of the Admiralty in Karlskrona , the naval center of Sweden. Despite his best efforts, he could not prevent the Russian fleet from plundering the eastern coastal areas again and again. Even his recruitment of the English admiral John Norris , who with his knowledge assisted the Swedes in the fight against Russia, did not bring the desired success.

After the death of Karl XII. and at the end of the Great Northern War he remained President of the Admiralty until 1727. In 1727 he was forced to resign from his presidency in favor of Admiral Count Carl Hans Wachtmeister .

literature

• Sparre Klaes . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 26 : Slöke – Stockholm . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1917, Sp. 584 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
• August Ludwig von Schlözer: Swedish biography. Part II. Leipzig 1768, p. 233 ff.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sparre Klaes . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 26 : Slöke – Stockholm . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1917, Sp. 584 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} August Ludwig von Schlözer: Swedish biography. Part II. Leipzig 1768, p. 233 ff.