Charles XII. was of an enigmatic character, which attracts, through its strength and superiority over his contemporaries, but which is repulsive through its tenacity, unyielding sternness and inaccessibility to reason or persuasion. His moral greatness has won admiration. It had its limitations, but was superior to the standards of his time. His ideals were pure and lofty, but, through lack of contact with the realities and facts of life, only assumed a tragic grandeur, without proving beneficent to mankind. His faults were such that his education and experience as an absolute monarch aggravated them. Charles XII. was the most remarkable man of his age and one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived. He was also a great general, although the proper balance between the soldier and the field marshal, perhaps, was to some extent lacking. The influence of his personality and example had a miraculous effect upon his soldiers. He suffered his one great defeat in open battle when wounded, suffering, and not able to exert his usual influence to its full extent. Charles XII. has been idolized by his countrymen of all ages, who in him have recognized an impersonation of all their chief national virtues, with a few of their national faults, enlarged into the image of a patriotic hero of almost supernatural grandeur. The Swedish people were forced to accept absolute power as a salvation from the impending thraldom of oligarchy. In Charles XII. it saw to what a climax of abuse this power could attain, even in hands which were deemed righteous and free from stains. With Charles XII. the political grandeur and the absolute monarchy of Sweden came to an end, although attempts to restore both were to be made. A new phase of her development, with new improvements and new evils, commenced with the reign of Ulrica Eleonore. CHAPTER XIV _Period of Liberty--The Aristocratic Republic_