Trophies of Karl XI

Charles XI, also Carl XI, Karl XI (1655 – 1697) was King of Sweden during a period of Swedish history known as the Swedish Empire, from 1660 until his death. Created by: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Dated: 1680

In 1677, Karl XI (Charles XI, also Carl XI) of Sweden decided to collect all the flags and stands that were won as trophies in war. The purpose was to preserve the memory of these victory signs, even if the banners and flags themselves would be destroyed by age. The work was commissioned to an artist. It was Olof Hoffman who came to spend the rest of his life painting all of the thousands of flags and stands that were stored in the Arsenal.

Two hundred years later, the entire trophy collection was moved temporarily in the Nordic Museum while the Riddarholm Church, where it is normally kept, was renovated.

The war historian Johannes Petrelli then took the opportunity to account for the entire collection and hired a number of artists to depict the flags that came about after Olof Hoffman's death or which Petrelli believed had been incorrectly depicted.

The images are bound in 30 volumes, which belong to the collections of the War Archives but are deposited in the Archives of the Army Museum.

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1914