Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold, commonly referred to as Tordenskjold, was a Norwegian nobleman and flag officer who spent his career in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the rank of vice-admiral for his services in the Great Northern War. Born in the Norwegian city of Trondheim, Peter Wessel travelled to Copenhagen in 1704 and eventually enlisted in the navy.
Portrait by Balthasar Denner (1719)
Drinking each other's health. The end of the fight with the De Olbing Galley.
Statue of Tordenskjold in Trondheim.
Tordenskjold-brand matchbox
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII or Carolus Rex, was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.
The 15-year-old Charles in 1697 as king of the Swedish Empire
Monument to Charles XII in Stockholm, with Charles pointing towards Russia. Stockholmers call this statue "the lion among four pots" ("Lejonet mellan fyra krukor") referring to the mortars. This contrasts with a nearby statue of Charles XIII, which has lions similarly arranged; that statue is known as "the pot among four lions" ("Krukan mellan fyra lejon"), referring to a Swedish slang expression for a klutz.
Charles XII and Mazepa at the Dnieper River after Poltava by Gustaf Cederström
From the autopsy of Charles XII in 1917
