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142 A History of Sweden
ether Baltic lands. Many an exploit had these knights
performed in their conflict with the heathen peoples.
But when these conflicts ceased, the zeal and ardor of
the knights relaxed. They now thought only of pleas-
ure and lived dissolute lives. About the middle of the
sixteenth century wild Russian forces invaded the
country. There was now no power of resistance left.
Some of these lands sought help from Poland and oth-
ers from Sweden. Esthonia, whose capital, Reval, was
Protestant, placed herself under Sweden in 1561, for
her people feared both the Greek Orthodox Russians
and the Roman Catholic Poles. But the Polish king,
who took Livonia, sought to drive the Swedes from
Esthonia. Thus began a war between Sweden and Po-
land, which, though interrupted by several peace trea-
ties and truces, was to continue for a hundred years.
The first war ended with Sweden in possession of Es-
thonia. But the efforts of Charles IX to conquer Li-
vonia failed.
Wars with Russia. The Russians, too, threatened the
Swedish possessions along the eastern shores of the
Baltic. During John’s reign their wild hordes invaded
Esthonia and ravaged the country. The Swedish gar-
rison in one of the fortresses was captured, and the
men were bound and roasted to death. But the Swedes
soon gained the upper hand.
A new war having broken out in the time of Charles
IX, the brave Jacob de la Gardie led his troops all the
way to Moscow. But a mutiny arose among his men,
most of whom were of foreign enlistment With a
band of 400 loyal men marching across the immense
wastes of Russia, he succeeded in reaching his home in
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