Review: Memoirs of a Cavalier by Daniel Defoe

Daniel Dafoe's Memoirs of a Cavalier relates the story of an unnamed cavalier who left England in search of an adventure in the early 17th century and ended up fighting in Gustavus Adolphus' army against the Holy Roman Empire. After the Swedish king's death, he returned to England and took part in the civil war. These two wars form the first and second half of the novel. As it is, this review only concerns the first half of this novel, because that is the part of history that is the focus of my interest.

Attending the Hakkapeliitta Fair

The first weekend of August was once again the time to visit the Hakkapeliitta Fair - an event commemorating the Finnish light cavalry that served in the Swedish army under King Gustavus Adolphus during the 30 Years War in the early 17th century. It is practically the only occasion when we can put on our cavalier costumes and not get strange looks when we walk outside our apartment.

The Sword of Gustavus Adolphus

(Updated in 2014 with a photo, in 2017 with information about The Girl King film)

In my previous entry, I took a look at the rapier of Gustavus Vasa, who was the king of Sweden in the 16th century. The topic of this short info piece is the sword of Gustavus Adolphus (or Gustav II Adolf), who ruled Sweden in the early 17th century and modernised the country from a backwards state into one of the greatest powers of the era, rivalling those of France, Spain, England and The Holy Roman Empire.

The Sword of Gustavus Vasa

Because of my interest in swords in general and in the early 17th century specifically, I've always had a certain fondness for rapiers. The title image of this blog entry depicts one of the rapiers of Gustavus Vasa, who was the king of Sweden in the 16th century and pretty much created Sweden by uniting the country under his rule and ridding it of Danish influence.