John III of Sweden (1537–1592)
Born 1537 CE, died 1592 CE.
John III (Swedish: Johan III; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He ascended the Swedish throne after successfully rebelling against his older half-brother Erik XIV. He is mainly remembered for his attempts to close the gap between the newly established Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Catholic Church, as well as his conflict with and possible murder of his brother. John was also, quite autonomously, the Duke of Finland from 1556 to 1563. In 1581, he assumed the title Grand Duke of Finland. His first wife was Catherine Jagiellon of the Polish–Lithuanian ruling family, and their son Sigismund eventually ascended both the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish thrones. He ended the Northern Seven Years' War, but instead, Sweden was drawn into the 25 Years' War with Russia, where minor gains were eventually made. He worked for closer relations with Poland. John III was interested in religion and culture.
Text from the Wikipedia article John_III_of_Sweden, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.