Jacob
De la Gardie was born in
Reval (today
Tallinn),
Estonia (then part of the
Swedish Empire), as a son of
Pontus De la Gardie and
Sofia Johansdotter Gyllenhielm, the illegitimate daughter of King
John III of Sweden. His mother died giving birth, and his father perished two years later in
Narva. From his age two onward, Jacob was raised in the Vääksy () manor,
Kangasala,
Finland (then part of
Sweden proper) by his grandmother
Karin Hansdotter, the mistress of King John III. As a young adult, De la Gardie was held prisoner in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for four years, together with
Carl Gyllenhielm. After being released, De la Gardie took part of the
Dutch Revolt as a volunteer. In 1606–1608, De la Gardie served under the Dutch general
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. Impressed with the Dutch way of waging war, De la Gardie began introducing Dutch methods into the Swedish army upon his return to the service of Sweden.
Prelude to the Jacob de La Gardie Campaign The
Tsardom of Russia had been experiencing the
Time of Troubles (1598–1613) since the death of Tsar
Feodor I in 1598, causing widespread
political instability and a violent
succession crisis for the title of
Tsar of Russia by usurpers known as the
False Dmitris. In 1605, in the prelude to the
Polish–Russian War, the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth unofficially invaded Russia in support of
False Dmitry I against the unpopular crowned tsar
Boris Godunov, seeking to exploit the country's weakness for their own gain. Godunov died in June 1605 and was replaced by False Dmitry I, whose popularity among the Russian populace declined rapidly during his reign, and the Polish withdrew when he was eventually murdered during an uprising in
Moscow in May 1606. Despite this, Russia's instability continued to the near-total
breakdown of order, prompting the Polish to invade again in 1607 in support of the new usurper,
False Dmitry II. In 1609, the Tsar of Russia at the time,
Vasili IV, approached King
Charles IX of Sweden to form a
military alliance against False Dmitry II and the Polish occupiers. The two signed the Treaty of
Viborg (Finnish:
Viipuri), in which Russia ceded
Kexholm County and the strategic
Korela Fortress to Sweden in exchange for military support. Although officially the Swedish-Russian alliance was not ratified before July 1609, already in the early spring of 1609 Sweden gathered for this mission to the city of
Viborg in Finland (then part of Sweden) c. 5,000 soldiers, consisting mainly of Finns. A Swedish offensive heading towards
Moscow – via
Novgorod – began from
Viborg on 11 March 1609. The operation became known as
De la Gardie campaign. It was a joint
military campaign by the
Tsardom of Russia and
Sweden during the
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618), a.k.a.
Polish–Muscovite War or the
Dimitriads, lasting officially from April 1609 to 4 June 1610. A combined Russo-Swedish army of about 10,000 soldiers set out from
Novgorod in April 1609 and marched towards Moscow, defeating rebel forces and relieving the
Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra on their way. The De la Gardie campaign was successful against False Dmitry II, dispersing his court in
Tushino, a former village and town to the north of
Moscow, where Dmitry II maintained an alternative court, challenging the authority of Vasili IV. On 12 March 1610, the Russo-Swedish army broke the rebel siege of Moscow and conquered the city. In June 1610, De la Gardie and Prince
Dmitry Shuisky – an uncle and rival of
Skopin-Shuisky (who was poisoned at the behest of his uncle) – departed from Moscow, in order to lift the
Polish-Lithuanian Siege of Smolensk. The campaign ended with most of De la Gardie's forces defecting to the Polish hetman
Stanisław Żółkiewski at the
Battle of Klushino, causing a defeat to De la Gardie's alliance on 4 June 1610. After this, De la Gardie's remaining army returned to
Viborg during that summer. In 1617, De la Gardie became the chief Swedish negotiator at the
Treaty of Stolbovo that ended the Ingrian War, whereby the
Swedish Empire was able to secure important territorial concessions from Russia, effectively closing off Russia from access to the
Baltic Sea. From July 1619 to 1622, De la Gardie was Governor of the
Swedish Estonia. In 1626, he purchased an estate with a
medieval castle in
Haapsalu, in modern-day
Estonia. His time as governor of Estonia was followed by a time as Governor-General of
Livonia in 1622–1628 (conquered by the
Swedish Empire in 1621, and referred to as
Swedish Livonia in 1629–1721). After 1621, De la Gardie took part in the
Polish–Swedish War (1621–1625) against his mother's half-brother, King
Sigismund III of Poland (a former king of Sweden), in
Livonia, but he was recalled after serving as commander in chief between 1626 and 1628. De la Gardie was an advocate of peace with
Poland and acted as one of the Swedish negotiators at the
Truce of Stuhmsdorf in 1635.
Member of the Privy Council De la Gardie became a member of the
Swedish Privy Council in 1613. In 1620, he became
Lord High Constable and, as such, he was later one of the five regents ruling Sweden during Queen Christina's minority (1632–44). His
pacifist and pro-
French and pro-Polish attitudes often put him at odds with
Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, who led Sweden's war effort in the
Thirty Years' War after the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632. As De la Gardie supported many of Oxenstierna's other policies, eventually the two leaders reconciled after Oxenstierna's return to Sweden in 1636. Although the Marshal's Office came under criticism that year, De la Gardie continued to operate effectively, making large profits from leasing royal revenues and from loans to the crown.
Family life In 1618, De la Gardie married
Ebba Brahe, the love of young Gustavus Adolphus. His marriage with Ebba produced 14 children, seven of whom lived to maturity. None of her children are believed to have been fathered by King Gustavus Adolphus. • Pontus De la Gardie (1619–1632). • Christina De la Gardie (1620 – d. in infancy). • Sophia De la Gardie (1621 – d. in infancy). •
Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622–1686),
Lord High Chancellor of the
Privy Council of Sweden. • Brita De la Gardie (1624 – d. in infancy). • Gustaf Adolph De la Gardie (1626 – d. in infancy). •
Maria Sofia De la Gardie (1627–1694); married
Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna, nephew of regent
Axel Oxenstierna. •
Jakob Kasimir De la Gardie (1629–1658); married
Ebba Sparre, intimate friend of
Queen Christina of Sweden. • Pontus Frederick De la Gardie (1630–1692). • Christina Catharine De la Gardie (1632–1704); married
Gustaf Otto Stenbock, mother of
Magnus Stenbock. • Johann Karl De la Gardie (1634 – d. in infancy). • Birgitta Helena De la Gardie (1636 – d. in infancy). •
Axel Julius De la Gardie (1637–1710),
Field Marshal and
Governor-General over
Estonia. • Ebba Margaretha De La Gardie (1638–1696).
Death and legacy , a town named after De la Gardie. Count Jacob De la Gardie died in Stockholm in 1652 and is buried in the
Veckholm Church in
Uppsala County,
Sweden. The town of
Jakobstad in Finland is named after him. A shopping mall in Old
Tallinn is named
De la Gardie in honor of him. During the
Ingrian War, the Finnish soldiers nicknamed their commander
Laiska-Jaakko ("Lazy Jacob"), due to the unusually lengthy six-year occupation of Novgorod. This name is still widely remembered in Finland. The siege was thus recorded in a folk verse:
Lähti suvi, lähti talvi, vaan ei lähde Laiska-Jaakko. ("The summer left, the winter left, but Lazy Jacob does not leave.") ==References==