GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS UNION (Gustav-Adolf-Stiftung, Gustav-Adolf-Verein, Evangelischer Verein der Gustav-Adolf-Stiftung), a society formed of members of the Evangelical Protestant churches of Germany, which has for its object the aid of feeble sister churches, especially in Roman Catholic countries. The project of forming such a society was first broached, in connexion with the bicentennial celebration of the battle of Liitzen, on the 6th of November 1832; a proposal to collect funds fora monument to Gustavus Adolphus having been agreed to, it was suggested by Superintendent Grossmann that the best memorial to the great champion of Protestantism would be the formation of a union for propagating his ideas. For some years the society was somewhat limited in its area and operations, being practically confined to Leipsic and Dresden, but at the Reformation festival in 1841 it received a new impulse through the energy and eloquence of the Hofprediger Zimmermann of Darmstadt, and in 1843 a general meeting was held at Frankfort-onthe-Main where no fewer than twenty-nine branch associations, belonging to all parts of Germany except Bavaria and Austria, were represented. The want of a positive creed on the part of the Union tended from the first, however, to make many of the stricter Protestant churchmen doubtful of its probable usefulness; though on the other hand its purely negative attitude in relation to Roman Catholicism secured for it the sympathy of the masses. At a general convention held in Berlin in September 1846 a keen dispute arose about the admission of the Königsberg delegate Rupp, the founder of the “Free Congregations”; his exclusion, which was carried by a majority, called forth many energetic protests, and at one time it seemed likely that the society would ...

GUSTAVUS I. (c. 1496-1560), king of Sweden, commonly known as Gustavus Vasa, the surname being derived from the family arms, which were a bundle or sheaf, is justly celebrated as the founder of modern Sweden; he delivered it from the yoke of Denmark, introduced the Reformation, established law and order, and laid the foundation of its industrial prosperity. His family name was Ericson; he was born about 1496 of a noble bouse; and he was related to the powerful family of Sture. Gustavus was at a very early age called upon to suffer for his country. Sweden was still joined to the other Scandinavian kingdoms under the union of Calmar, Denmark being the leading state. Sweden was a reluctant member of this union, and King Christian of Denmark was obliged to maintain his supremacy with a high hand. In an expedition to Stockholm this king treacherously carried off the young Gustavus and other nobles as hostages to Denmark. After being detained in Jutland for above a year, Gustavus managed to escape in disguise to Lübeck, and the great Hanse town, ever jealous of the power of Denmark, furnished him with the mea∏3 of returning to Sweden, where he landed in 1520. He had now formed the resolution to deliver his country from the oppression of the Danes. He went about from place to place trying to incite the people to revolt, but on all hands he met with apathy and even resistance. For some time his life was in extreme danger; he was hunted by the Danish authorities, and worked in disguise on the farms and in the mines of Dalecarlia. The barn in which he threshed corn is preserved as a state monument. He was on the point of fleeing over the hills into Norway, when tidings came of the Blood-bath of Stockholm, in which ninety of the nobles and leading men of Sweden, including the ...

GUSTAVUS II., or Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), the hero of Protestantism in the Thirty Years’ War, and the first king of Sweden who played a great rôle in European history, was the grandson of Gustavus Vasa, and the son of Charles IX. He was born at Stockholm in 1594, and received an excellent education. As we learn from his friend and chancellor Oxenstierna, he gained in his youth “a complete and ready knowledge of many foreign languages, so that he spoke Latin, German, Dutch, French, and Italian as purely as a native, and besides had some foretaste of the Russian and Polish tongue.” Even during his busier years, after ascending the throne, it is said that he was fond of reading the great work of Grotius, De Jure Belli et Pacis ; also that he knew Greek, preferring Xenophon as a military historian to any other. He was introduced to the business of government at an early age; when he was only ten, his father required his presence at meetings of council and at the audiences given to foreign ambassadors. This early experience was needed; for, his father dying in 1611, he ascended the throne of Sweden in his eighteenth year. His position was a difficult one; after fifty years of civil strife, Sweden had lost the strong and compact organization which it had received from Gustavus Vasa; the finances were exhausted, the nobles were discontented, and the spirit of the people had declined. Abroad, Sweden was surrounded with enemies, Denmark, Russia, and Poland being in a state of chronic hostility with it....

GUSTAVUS III. (174G-1792), king of Sweden, succeeded his father Adolphus Frederick at the age of twenty-five. He was in Paris when his father died, and was an enthusiastic admirer of everything French. His manners were popular; he was brave, resolute, and eloquent. At the beginning of his reign he found the royal power completely overshadowed by the nobles, who in the council virtually dictated the government of the country, and had involved it in frequent disturbance and disgrace. A revolt, contrived for the purpose by one of his adherents, gave Gustavus a pretext for marshalling his guards, whom he won over and employed to make a complete change iu the constitution. As the nobles were disliked by the people, they were obliged to submit. Surrounded by soldiers, the diet accepted the new form of government, by which the entire administrative power including taxation was entrusted to the king. In many respects Gustavus made an excellent use of his great power; he improved the army and navy, reformed the administration of justice, abolished torture, and built hospitals. But his foolish aping of French fashions, and his dream of reviving the knightly exercises and accomplishments, led him into great extravagance. His arbitrary attempt to introduce a national dress, as well as the conversion of brandy, the national drink of Sweden, into a royal monopoly, lost him his popularity. In 1788 in his campaign against Russia, several nobles, officers of his army in Finland, refused to carry on the war because it had not been sanctioned by the estatés. Angry at this Gustavus summoned the hardy DalecarlianS to his aid, deprived the nobles of their exclusive privileges, and made his power absolute. He continued the Russian war with great bravery and even success till the peace of ...

GUSTAVUS IV. (1778-1837), king of Sweden, wasson of the preceding. He was only fourteen years of age when his father was cut off, and his uncle Duke Charles acted as regent during the minority. Gustavus early gave proof of an obstinate strength of will and of a highly-wrought temperament bordering on insanity. Thus he went to St Petersburg, according to agreement, to marry a granddaughter of the empress Catherine, and the whole court was assembled for the ceremony. The bridegroom however did not appear, and the company dispersed after waiting several hours. Gustavus had drawn back at the eleventh hour, refusing to sign the marriage treaty because it bound him to grant his future queen the free exercise of her religion. He spent his whole reign under the mastery of a fixed idea, that Napoleon was the Great Beast spoken of iu the Apocalypse; and he joined the great coalition of 1805 against the conqueror. In this war Swedish Pomerania was occupied by the French. Even after Tilsit, Gustavus prosecuted the war with unbroken resolution. Sweden suffered fearfully by this obstinacy of the king; the Russians conquered Finland; the Danes invaded the southern provinces; his English allies, wearied of his irrational obstinacy, left him to his fate. Sweden also grew sick of his wrong-headed policy. The officers of the army conspired against him. He was dethroned and detained in captivity, while his uncle Duke Charles was elected to the crown (1809). After the new arrangements had been made, he was banished with the assurance of a considerable income. Under the name of Colonel Gustavson he passed a wandering life abroad, dying at St Gall in 1837.

GÜSTROW, the chief town of the Wendian circle of the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Northern Germany, is situated on the Nebel and on the railway from Lübeck to Stettin, 20 miles south of Rostock. The principal buildings are the castle, erected in the middle of the 16th century, now used as a workhouse; the cathedral, dating from the 13th century, and lately renovated, containing many fine monuments and possessing a square tower 100 feet high; the town-hall, dating from the 16th century; the court-houses, the music hall, and the theatre. Among the educational establishments are the ducal gymnasium, which possesses a library of 15,000 volumes, the town real-school, the city school, the trade school, and four female schools. The town is one of the most prosperous in the dukedom, and has breweries, foundries, tanneries, sawmills, brandy distilleries, and manufactories of tobacco, glue, candles, and soap. There is also a considerable trade in wool, corn, wood, butter, and cattle, and an annual cattle show and horse races are held. Population (1875), 10,923.

Güstrow was a place of some importance as early as the 12th ^en-ι∏ι∙y, and in 1219 it became the residence of Prince Henry Burewin 11., from whom it received Schwerin privileges. From 1556 to 1695 it was the resilience of the dukes of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. In 1628 it was occupied by the imperial troops; and Wallenstein resided in it during part of the years 1628 and 1629.