Kunglig Majestäts livgarde till fot
(His Royal Majesty's Life Guard on Foot)

The Swedish infantry was a formidable force during the Great Northern War and its most distinguished regiment was Charles XIIs own guard regiment, the Livgarde. This unit's elite status was acknowledged by their higher wages and hats laced with gold, silver and silk. It was also, with first 1 800 men and later 2 600 men, the by far largest regiment in the Swedish army. In each battle the Livgarde took the lead and in the battle line they held the place of honour furthest to the right.

The Livgarde has won numerous victories in most of Sweden's war but there is no doubt that its heydays were during the Great Northern War. Because in this war they took part in the landing at Humlebæk 1700, the battle of Narva 1700, the crossing of Düna 1701, the battle of Kliszow 1702, the siege of Thorn 1703 and the battle of Holowczyn 1708. However, after all these successes they suffered a crushing defeat at Poltava 1709 and only half of the Livgarde remained when the Swedish army surrendered at Perevolochna three days later. The Livgarde was restored after the disaster but the new guard would not experience any triumphs as the old one had done. Recruitment problems kept it as a garrison regiment in Stockholm until 1718 when it with almost full strength participated in Charles XII's last campaign in Norway.

Organisational history of the Livgarde 1618-1772

The original role of the Livgarde was to be the king's bodyguard and since kings in all ages have had bodyguards it is possible to trace the lineage of the Livgarde all the way to Gustav Vasa's rebellion in 1521. However, in practise there were several different guard regiments during Sweden's age of greatness (1611-1718), which for various reasons disappeared and were replaced by new regiments. To be exact there were four incarnations of the Livgarde during this period, created in turn by Gustav II Adolf, Kristina, Charles XI and Charles XII. The continuity that existed between these regiments was the small force that was always left in Stockholm to guard the palace while the rest of the regiment went on campaign.

The Drabant Corps that had protected the kings of the Vasa dynasty was in 1618 transformed into a company in a five year old mercenary regiment which Gustav II Adolf elevated to be "Konungens livregemente" (the King's Life Regiment). It would also be called Hovregementet (= the Court Regiment) or Gula regementet (the Yellow Regiment, after the colour of their uniforms). The original drabants retained however a special status by consisting of Swedes and being called the king's Livgarde (Life Guard). The rest of the regiment consisted of Germans. After participating in Gustav II Adolf's campaigns in Livonia, Prussia and Germany the regiment was split up after the battle of Lützen 1632. The Livgarde escorted the king's dead body to Stockholm and stayed there as a palace guard. The remaining part, which was now only called the Yellow Regiment, continued to fight in Germany and went 1635 into French service when its commander Bernhard of Weimar defected from the Swedish army.

The Livgarde Company in Stockholm, which 1638-44 had the colonel of Södermanland Regiment as its captain, was expanded during the war against Denmark 1643-45 to become an independent regiment of 20 companies. This incarnation of the Livgarde was however almost never together but usually distributed on different garrisons and theatres of war. This state of affairs did not change after the Peace of Westphalia 1648 when the Livgarde was reduced to 12 companies. After the death of Charles X Gustav in 1660 the Livgarde was split in a way that was similar to what happened in 1632. It was reduced to one company which served as a palace guard in Stockholm and eight companies which garrisoned Riga until 1672 and then Pomerania. The latter part came to be known as the German Guard and lived a life of its own. Finally in 1680 it formally ceased to be a part of the Livgarde when it was transferred to garrison Scania and Halland with the name Tyska livregementet till fot (German Life Regiment on Foot). It was transferred to the German provinces in 1709 and was lost 1715 when these fell to the enemy.

The king's bodyguard or Livgarde always included a number of mounted soldiers until september 1700 when Charles XII detached them to create the independent Drabant Corps. With this Livgardet till häst och fot (Life Guard on horse and foot) changes its name to Livgardet till fot. The mounted part of the history of the Livgarde is intended to be covered in a future page about Charles XII's Drabant Corps while this page is only focused on the much larger infantry part of the Livgarde.

The company which guarded the Royal Palace in Stockholm after 1660 (consisting both of foot soldiers and mounted drabants) represented the nucleus of the third incarnation of the Livgarde. When Charles XI came of age in 1672 he expanded the Livgarde to four companies and as a result of the Scanian War it was further expanded to twelve companies in 1676. This organisation (ten companies of 150 men and two companies of 200 men, a total of 1 900 men) would remain in place until the outbreak of the Great Northern War. All companies then became 150 men strong because 100 men were left in Stockholm as a palace guard when the Livgarde marched to war in April 1700. However, already in September the same year the Livgarde was yet again reorganised. Charles XII wanted to increase officer density by redistributing the privates on 18 companies, each with a strength  of 100 men. This organisation also included for the first time seperate grenadier companies, There were three of these and under the command of a grenadier major they formed a grenadier battalion. Ever since 1684 the Livgarde had had an increasing number of grenadiers and in 1703 this establishment was doubled to six companies. In 1702 the Livgarde had also been strengthened with three regular companies and since 1701 every company was 108 men strong. All this meant that from August 1703 the Livgarde had an establishement of 24 companies with 108 men each which formed four battalions (one of them a grenadier battalion). At full strength the Livgarde counted 2 592 men (not including the palace guard in Stockholm).

After the Livgarde had been annihilated in Ukraine 1709 Charles XII ordered it to be restored to its full strength. But for various reasons the recruitment to this fourth incarnation of the Livgarde went very slowly (read more about this below) and it was not until Charles XII's return to Sweden 1715 when it gained more momentum. It was a nearly complete Livgarde which participated in the Norwegian campaign 1718 but the king's death led to an unplanned retreat back to Sweden in the middle of the winter. The Livgarde was also unfortunate to be the last regiment marching home so all the food supplies that did exist along the route were empty when the Guardsmen arrived to them. The result was a disaster and one half of the small force of 795 men that managed to march back to Stockholm had to be discharged as unfit for military service. The Livgarde had to be reconstructed but its establishment was now reduced 18 companier (three of them grenadier companies) with a total strength of 1 800 men. This was an organisation which was to last throughout the Liberty Age (1719-1772). However, it was not until 1728 when it actually reached its official strength. The larger part of the Livgarde participated in both the war against Russia 1741-43 and Prussia 1757-62 but it did not see any major action. A more important event was instead the Livgarde's involvement in a planned coup in 1756 which was foiled when a drunken soldier revealed the plan and resulted in the forced retirement of its colonel.

The organisational changes were greater during the Gustavian Age (1772-1818) but these and the later periods are not covered here. Worth mentioning though is that the regiment was renamed to Svea Livgarde in 1792 and that the older shorter name was not reclaimed until a regimental merger occurred in the year 2000.

Recruitment of the Livgarde during the Reign of Charles XII

Together with the Artillery Regiment and the Adelsfana, the Livgarde was one of the few truely national regiments which collected its recruits from all over Sweden. However, the Livgarde consisted almost exclusively of ethnic Swedes. The guardsmen who came from Finland were for example concentrated to its Swedish speaking regions. And despite of the strong national character the main recruitment area can be localised to the central portions of Sweden (Svealand and Östergötland) from where about 75 % of the recruits came. The number of Stockholmers in the ranks was high but since most Swedes at this time lived on the country side their share was not higher than 9 %.

A guardsman had a wage of 36 daler in silver the year 1696 (to be compared with the 33 daler which soldiers received in other enlisted infantry regiments in proper Sweden). If he was promoted to underrotmästare (= vice filemaster) he would get 41 daler. A rotmästare (filemaster) received 50 and corporals got 63-66 daler. The lower NCO ranks (förare, furir & rustmästare) received 90 daler in silver as their yearly wage while the higher NCO ranks (fältväbel & sergeant) got 108. Lieutenants & ensigns earned 378 daler, captains 556, the major 1 242, the lieutenant colonel 1 306 and the colonel 2 056 daler. The income differences were enormous and even though the private guardsmen earned more than their colleagues they could not support a family on that wage. It was almost required that the soldier had a second job and/or a wife who also worked. Because the burdens of military service were light during peace time these second jobs could very well be the soldiers' primary occupation.

When the Guard was overseas during the Great Northern War it was intended that the recruitment was to be managed in such a way that each provincial governor had a quota which they should recruit and send to the Livgarde. But the first contingent of the governors recruits was far from the desired size and not all of them met the requirement for service in the Livgarde. Of the 510 men which the governors were to recruit only 250 of them were actually added to the ranks in 1701 and not rejected at arrival. The recruitment was thereafter centralised and this task was given to lieutenant colonel Åke Rålamb. But the numbers did not increase and in 1702 only 285 recruits arrived, followed by 190 men in 1703, 118 men in 1704 and 156 men in 1705. The 1706 contingent (which arrived in 1707) consisted of 117 men and the 1707 contingent was 203 men strong. The 1708 contingent which arrived too late to Riga to join the main army consisted of 332 men which were called back to Sweden in 1709. Rålamb managed to recruit 79 men to the 1709 contingent before he lost this assignment to the interim commander of the restored Livgarde.

Since the recruits were not sufficient to fill the ranks of the growing Livgarde, the King arranged for soldiers to be transferred from other regiments. One company each from Tyska, Svenska and Drottningens livregemente were ordered by the King in October 1701 to be transferred to the Livgarde (these regiments garrisoned fortresses in Scania and the Swedish west coast). In 1703 one battalion each from Uppland and Östgöta-Södermanland 3-männing regiments were merged with the Livgarde (the former also included soldiers from the provinces of Dalarna and Västmanland. Finally during the Russian campaign in 1708 the rest of these 3-männing regiments together with Småland and Närke-Värmlands 3-männing regiments were merged with the Livgarde.

Strength of the Livgarde during the Great Northern War. Nominal strength in blue and effective strength in red.
The period 1707-09 is missing because the source material was lost in the capitulation at Perevolochna. The lines are
broken for the year 1718 because the company that was left in Stockholm is not included in the second half of that year.

When the remnants of the Livgarde field regiment capitulated in at Perevolochna 1709 there were, counting the palace guard (120 men strong since 1702) and the existing recruits, a force of about 600 guardsmen in Stockholm. These were organised into new companies and the work to restore the Livgarde began. However, the recruitment progressed at a slow pace and the organsiation consisted of just twelve companies for a long time. It certainly did not help that the plague in 1710 killed 60 % of the then 1 000 men strong Guard. Only 419 men remained at the muster in June 1711  and among them there were several palace guards who had been to old for field service already in 1700 (these men included a 90-year old man who was discharged the following year). Some of the difficulties with the recruitment can be explained by the fact the lega (the amount of money the recruit was given directly when he signed the contract) was only 20 daler of silver, which made the Livgarde less attractive compared to other regiments. The men who recruited for the Livgarde had to compete with all the rotebönder (farmers tasked with recruiting one infantry soldier) and rusthållare (men tasked with recruiting one cavalryman and horse) who at the same time were searching for recruits to restore the provincial regiments. The conditions in the soldiers market thus required (according the regimental commander Ribbing) a lega of at least 33.33 daler in silver. This request of raising the lega was however rejected by the royal council on the ground of the poor financial state of the Crown.

But even though the low lega was a significant factor, an important reason to why progress was so slow was also a lack of initiative in the aging governor of Stockholm City, Knut Posse, who was in charge of the recruitment for the Livgarde. All this changed when Charles XII returned to Sweden and it did not take long time until the Livgarde was nearly complete. But this work too was to be destroyed because of circomstances beyond the Livgarde's control. This time an ill prepared retreat during the winter of 1718-19 that marked the definitive end to Sweden's Age of Greatness

Regimental Commanders and Battles

Below is a list of the Livgarde's regimental commanders during Sweden's Age of Greatness and the Liberty Age. It also includes all the battles which the regiment participated in during this period. Green colour represents victories, red colour defeats and black colour indecisive battles.

The earlier regimental commander Knut Posse was as governor of Stockholm city responsible for the restoration of the Livgarde 1709-1714.

The official victory names that are missing from the list above are "The Liberation War 1521" and "Svensksund 1790". Also note that of the battles fought during the period of 1618-1635 only Lech and Lützen are officially recognised as victory names for the Livgarde. The probable reason for this is that the Yellow Regiment fought these battles without participation from the part of the regiment that in 1632 was sent back to Stockholm and from which the present Livgarde descends from. The landing at Humlebæk is also not included among the official victory names.

Livgarde Uniforms during the Great Northern War

When the Livgarde marched to war in April 1700 they wore uniforms that had been issued in 1695. Although Charles XII had decreed a new uniform for his Guard in 1699 (see image to the right) it would not be until 1704 before the first model 1699 uniforms were issued to the Livgarde. Then at last could the 3-männing soldiers, who had been added to the Guard in 1703, receive new proper Livgarde uniforms instead of the red Saxon coats (captured in the battle of Kliszow) which they had been forced to wear because of a shortage of uniforms. As a part of the preparations for the Russian campaign new model 1699 uniforms were manufactured in Saxony and issued in April 1707. But when the Livgarde was to be restored after the battle of Poltava, the War College decided for a less expensive uniform. The model 1709 uniform was then worn by the Livgarde for the remainder of the war. Charles XII did however decree a new uniform model in 1716, similar to the one from 1699, but it was never issued to the Guard. During the Norwegian campaign of 1718 the shortcomings were so great that most of the Guard was dressed in coats of vadmal (work clothes made of coarse wool, usually grey) and old worn and patched uniforms.

The written descriptions of the Livgarde uniforms below are collected (and translated) from Lars-Eric Höglund's book "Stora nordiska kriget 1700-1721" and the pictures are taken from Göte Göransson's and Alf Åberg's book "Karoliner". I have added extra information from other sources in red text.

Note that the Livgarde grenadiers did not wear grenadier caps, they only had ordinary tricornes

Uniforms Issued in 1695

NCOs: Hat with silver lace. Blue coat with silver lace on the sleeves and cuffs. Leather vest with silver lace, blue breeches, blue stockings. Blue cloak with yellow lining and gold-in-silver lace.
Pipers and drummers: Hat with lace. Blue coat and blue vest with lace. Blue breeches and yellow stockings. Belt and drum bandolier with lace.
Privates: Hat with lace. Blue coat with pewter buttons, yellow lining and cuffs. Blue breeches, yellow stockings. Blue cloak with yellow lining. White neckcloth with blue ribbon until 1697 when the ribbon was abolished and the (now probably blue) neckcloth henceforth tied in the back.

Uniforms Issued in 1704 and 1707 (m/1699)

Officer: Hat with wide gold lace. Blue cloak with blue lining and collar. Gold lace on collar, frant and along the slit at the backside as well as guilded buckles. Coat of blue cloth, guilded buttons, blue cuffs and lining edged with thin gold lace and also decorated with wide gold lace along the buttonholes. Vest of blue cloth, decorated as the coat. Blue breeches, blue stockings, gloves with gold lace (for regimental officers also with gold fringe). Belt covered with blue linen and with gold lace. Guilded hilt with a tassel made of gold thread.
NCOs: Hat with silver lace. Blue cloak with yellow lining and collar and silvered buckles. Silver lace on the collar, front and along the slit at the backside. Blue coat with pewter buttons, blue lining, cuffs and collar, buttonholes decorated with silver thread, silver lace on sleeves and collar. Vest of buck skin, decorated as the coat, blue breeches, blue stockings. Belt covered with blue linen and with silver lace. Sword tassel made of blue silk and silver thread.
Pipers and drummers: Hat with lace in gold-silver-silk (Gold, silver, blue?). Blue piecoat with pewter buttons, decorated along the buttonholes with blue and yellow lace. Blue coat with guilded buttons, yellow lining and cuffs, laced with G-S-S. Blue vest, decorated as the coat. Blue breeches, yellow stockings. Belt and drum bandolioer with lace in G-S-S.
Privates: Hat with lace in G-S-S. Blue cloak with yellow lining and collar. The collar laced with G-S-S. Blue coat with pewter buttons, yellow lining, cuffs, and collar. Leather vest, blue breeches and yellow stockings. Corporals had their buttonholes embroidered with acanthus leaves in yellow silk. The vests and breeches issued in 1707 were yellow and the neckcloth was black.

Uniforms Issued after the Battle of Poltava (m/1709)

NCOs: Hat with silver lace. Blue cloak with silver lace on the collar. Blue coat with silvered brass buttons, blue lining and cuffs, buttonholes edged wioth blue cloth, adorned with silver lace. Leather camisole with pewter buttons, blue breeches, blue stockings. Belt with silvered buckle.
Pipers and drummers: Hat with silk lace. Blue piecoat with pewter buttons and yellow lining. Blue coat with pewter buttons, yellow lining, cuffs and collar. Blue vest, blue breeches and yellow stockings. Coat and vest decorated with 53 ell lace in G-S-S.
Privates: Hat with lace. Blue cloak with yellow lining and collar with silk lace. Blue coat with pewter buttons, yellow lining, cuffs and collar, The corporals' coats had yellow lace along the buttonholes. Vest and breeches of yellow cloth, and yellow stockings.

Livgarde Colours during the Great Northern War

The images above are taken from Lars-Eric Höglund's book and show how the Livgarde's company colours looked like. The motif consists of the king's cypher supported by two lions in a white field covered with crowns. At the top there is a Latin motto. The colour to the right is the model that was established in 1686 and issued for the first time in 1691 when the Guard received 11 company colours and one colonel's colour. The colonel's colour was different in such a way that it instead of the king's cypher had the Swedish coat of arms as its motif (compare with the picture of the drum at the bottom of this page). The colour to the left is an older model which was issued in 1680 and thus replaced in 1691, where after they were given to the Livgarde's present regimental commander Bernhard von Liewen as a gift. But when the Livgarde was reorganised into 18 companied in September 1700 it found itself in need of more colours. Charles XII then asked von Liewen to return the six of the old colours that were in the best condition. But Charles XII's Livgarde would not carry colours from 1680 for a very long time. Because these likely did not arrive to the Livgarde earlier than the autumn of 1701 and a brand new set of m/1686 colours was manufactured in Stockholm during the winter of 1701-02. Among these 18 new colours, three of them were intended for the grenadier companies that had been created in September 1700 and were decorated with flaming grenades in the corners. However, the grenadier colours would not be put in use until November 1702 when they were issued to three newly created regular companies. Apparantly the king had decided that grenadier companies should not carry colours. This had been the case already in the previous year when Charles XII wrote to the War College 29 October 1701 and mentioned that "in grenadier companies no colours are used", and nothing suggest that this was changed when a further three grenadier companies were created in August 1703.

During the Russian campaign soldiers from disbanded 3-männing regiments were used to fill the ranks in the Livgarde. In the battle of Poltava the Livgarde battalions carried the old 3-männing colours together with their own 18 colours. The exact number of 3-männing colours in this battle is not known but they were generally red with provincial coat of arms in the upper inner corner. The only exceptions were the Småland 3-männings who carried yellow colours (and at least two of these had the coat of arms of the city of Jönköping in the upper inner corner).

When the Livgarde was to be restored after the battle of Poltava new m/1686 colours were manufactured and delivered in 1710 and 1716, the latter were made of damask. Because all colours in the set from 1702 were lost in Ukraine in 1709 all surviving m/1686 colours kept in Sweden should either belong to the set from 1710/16 or the one from 1691. Rudolf Cederström has described these preserved Livgarde colours in the following manner:

295. Colour. Flag: originally a height of  216 cm, present width 143 cm.; of white taffeta, upon painted in gold, the same on both sides, Charles XI's cypher, large double C underneath large closed crown with red lining; the cypher is supported by two crowned lions med red tongues;  on the bottom small scattered open crowns; along the upper edge on the inner side HINC PRÆMIA [BELLI •], on the outer [HINC] PRÆMIA BELLI •; Attached with strongly domed, guilded nails and satin ribbon in white and yellow, which continues tightly wound about the staff 38 cm. below, attached with nails going in a spiral. Staff: length 265 cm.; diametre on the top 3 cm., below the flag 3,5 cm.; of pine, painted white.
     Of the flag about half remains, relined on tulle; painting well preserved; the flag taken from the staff, which is cut off below; finial is missing. Colour at the  Livgarde, probably older than 1686.

296 (86). Colour. Flag: originallyy a height oh 178 cm., present width 136 cm.; of white taffeta, upon painted in gold, the same on both sides. Charles XI's cypher, large double C underneath large closed royal crown with pearls in silver and red lining; the cypher is supported by two crowned double tailed lions with red tongues; along the upper edge on silver base, on the inner side DIL[ECTUMQUE] DEO [NULLA RUINA PREMIT], on the outer [DILECTUMQUE DEO NU]LLA [RUINA PRE]MIT; on the bottom small scattered open crowns; attached with guld ribbon and guilded nails. Staff: length 350 cm.; diametre on the top 3,4 cm., below the flag 3,6 cm.; of pine, painted dark brown; right underneath the flag covered 18 cm. below with white taffeta, attached with four rows of nails and gold ribbons.
     The flag very broken, in older time patched; consists only of loose pieces relined on tulle; of the inscription only two fragments remain; taken from the staff and again nailed to the same, but obliquely and with longer flag than before, marks from the old nails still visible (and from them have the measurements been taken); finial missing. Colour at the Livgarde according to Charles XI's regulation of 17 March 1686. A deviation from the model drawing kept in the War Archive is that the inscriptions has been painted on a silver base and not directly on the flag. Those fragments listed under the following number probably belonged to a colour of the same set as this one.

These two colours corresponds to those that are depicted on the images above. Number 297 in Cederström's list of colours only consists of two fragment of the edge contained the Latin motto (which appears to be identical to number 296). The all together two different mottos that are known for the Livgarde have the following meaning:

DILECTUMQUE DEO NULLA RUINA PREMIT
(The one chosen by God fear no defeat)

HINC PRÆMIA BELLI
(Hence the rewards of war)

(The image above to the right is a colour sheet intended to be used for Prince August's 40 mm miniatures.)

Apart from the above mentioned numbers Rudolf Cederström also describes number 294 as a Livgarde colonel's colour which he thinks is older than 1686. The staff for that colour is brown polished. Finally he goes through the numbers 297-301 which have a provenance in S:t Petersburg. Few details are mentioned for these but number 301 measures: "height 152 cm., present width 76 cm.".

The only Livgarde colours that were lost during the Great Northern War was the set from 1702 which captured by the Russians at Poltava and Perevolochna 1709. These colours were stored in Moscow and they were destroyed in the Kremlin fire of 1737. That set was stitched on white "grein de Neapole croisse", i.e. silk from Naples woven in small diagonal patterns. For a more thorough description of the colours taken by the Russians at Poltava see Bertil Wennerholm's book "Emporterade troféer".

Drums and Polearms

The Guard's drums were in 1699 blue but otherwise had the same appearance as the colours. Just like with the colours the colonel's company was different by having the Swedish coat of arms on their drums instead of the royal cypher. The image which is drawn by Göte Göransson and taken from his and Alf Åberg's book "Karoliner" shows how the colonel's company's drums looked like.

At the same time the Guard officers were supposed to be armed with 5 ell (= almost 3 metre) long half-pikes with brown shafts. The NCOs were armed with halberds with unpainted shafts. Unfortunately I have no information about the colour of the privates' pikes. But considering the information for officers and NCOs as well as the fact that Rudolf Cederström notes that  the staff of colour number 294 was brown polished and number 296 was painted dark brown, the pikes were most likely brown, either because they were painted or because they were of unpainted wood.

Back to the Campaigns of the Swedish Army.