House of Vasa

The House of Vasa experienced one of the most turbulent existences of the pre-modern era throughout its short presence. When the Catholic King of Poland Sigismund III inherited the Swedish throne in 1592, a dynastic conflict erupted between members of the house, as Sweden by then was predominantly Protestant. Compounding matters was Poland’s recently adopted system of Golden Liberty, which ensured egalitarian privileges to the szlachta noble class, granting them disproportionate influence over the house’s policies. Following the brief-lived Polish-Swedish union, Sweden came under the rule of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, which, in tandem with Russia, declared war on the Polonized Vasas in the Deluge. By the 1600s, the House of Vasa found itself at the heart of the infamous Thirty Years' War with the Holy Roman Empire. Amidst this conflict, the streak of military successes and sociocultural achievements of King Gustavus Adolpus of Sweden earned him the nickname “the Lion of the North” and laid much of the foundation of modern Swedish national pride.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.