CHARLES XIV. (JOHN) (1763-1844), king of Sweden and Norway, born at Pau on Jan. 26, 1763, was the son of Henri Ber nadotte (1711-1780), procurator at Pau, and Jeanne St. Jean The family name was originally Deu Pouey, but was changed into Bernadotte in the beginning of the 17th century. Bernadotte's christian names were Jean Baptiste ; he added the name Jules subsequently. He entered the French army in 178o and first saw service in Corsica. On the outbreak of the Revolu tion his eminent military qualities brought him speedy promotion. In 1794 he was a brigadier attached to the army of the Sambre et Meuse, and after Jourdan's victory at Fleurus he was appointed a general of division. At the battle of Theiningen. 1796, he con tributed, more than any one else, to the successful retreat of the French army over the Rhine after its defeat by the archduke Charles. In 1797 he brought reinforcements from the Rhine to Bonaparte's army in Italy, distinguishing himself greatly at the passage of the Tagliamento, and in 1798 was sent as ambassador to Vienna, but was compelled to quit his post owing to the disturb ances caused by his hoisting the tricolour over the embassy. On Aug. 16, 1798, he married Desiree Clary (1777-186o), the daugh ter of a Marseille banker, and sister of Joseph Bonaparte's wife. From July 2 to Sept. 14, while Napoleon was in Egypt, he was war minister and in that capacity displayed great ability. About this time he held aloof from Bonaparte, but though he declined to help Napoleon in the preparations for the coup d'etat of No vember 1799, he accepted a place on the new council of State in Jan. 1800, and from April 1800 till Aug. 18, 1801, commanded the army in La Vendee. On the introduction of the Empire he was made one of the eighteen marshals of France, and from June 1804 to September 18o5 acted as governor of the recently-occu pied Hanover. During the campaign of 1805 Bernadotte with an army corps from Hanover co-operated in the great movement which resulted in the shutting up of Mack in Ulm. He was re warded for his services at Austerlitz (December 2, 1805) by the principality of Ponte Corvo (June 5, 1806) ; but during the campaign against Prussia in the same year, for not coming to the assistance of Marshal Davout in the battles of Jena and Auer stadt he was severely reproached by Napoleon, who did not wish it to be thought that he had not foreseen the engagement between Davout and the Prussian army at Auerstadt. In 18o8, as gov ernor of the Hansa towns, he was to have directed the expedition against Sweden, via the Danish islands, but the plan came to nought because of the want of transports and the defection of the Spanish contingent. In the war against Austria Bernadotte led the Saxon contingent at the battle of Wagram, on which occasion on his own initiative he issued an order of the day, con taining exaggerated and inaccurate compliments on the behaviour of his Saxon troops, which Napoleon at once disavowed.
Bernadotte, considerably piqued, thereupon returned to Paris, where the council of ministers entrusted him with the defence of the Netherlands against the English. In 1810 he was about to enter upon his new post of governor of Rome when on the sud den death of the crown prince of Sweden he was unexpectedly elected successor to the Swedish throne, partly because a large part of the Swedish army, in view of future complications with Russia, was in favour of electing a soldier, and partly because Bernadotte was very popular in Sweden owing to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners during the late war with Denmark. The matter was decided by one of the Swedish cour iers, Baron Karl Otto Morner, who, entirely on his own initiative, offered the succession to the Swedish crown to Bernadotte. Ber nadotte communicated Morner's offer to Napoleon, who treated the whole affair as an absurdity. Bernadotte thereupon informed Morner that he would not refuse the honour if he were duly elected. Although the Swedish Government, amazed at Morner's effrontery, at once placed him under arrest on his return to Sweden, the candidature of Bernadotte, which now had the em peror's sanction and active support, gradually gained favour there, the last obstacle was removed when he joined the Lutheran Church, and on Aug. 21, 1810, he was elected crown prince.
On Nov. 2, Bernadotte made his solemn entry into Stockholm, and on the 5th he received the homage of the Estates and was adopted by Charles XIII. under the name of Charles John. The new crown prince was very soon the most popular and the most powerful man in Sweden. The infirmity of the old king and the dissensions in the council of State placed the Government, and especially the control of foreign affairs, entirely in his hands. The blockade on trade with England, which Napoleon enforced on Sweden in 1811, had ruinous effects on the country, and the crown prince was placed in an embarrassing position. The occupa tion by Marshal Davout in 1812 of Swedish Pomerania hastened the rapprochement between Russia and Sweden. The keynote of Charles's whole policy was the acquisition of Norway in order to divert the popular ambition from the conquest of Finland, a policy which led him into many tortuous ways (see SWEDEN : History). At the conference with the Tsar at Alpo in 1812 it was agreed that Russia should assist Charles with his Norwegian proj ect; and in March 1813 a treaty was concluded with England by which Sweden was to send an army to take part in the campaign in north Germany, in return for subsidies for the conquest of Nor way. After the defeats of Lutzen and Bautzen, it was the Swed ish crown prince who put fresh heart into the allies ; and at the conference of Trachenberg he drew up the general plan for the campaign which began after the expiration of the truce of Plas witz. Though undoubtedly sparing his Swedes unduly, to the just displeasure of the allies, Charles John, as commander-in-chief of the northern army, successfully defended the approaches to Berlin against Oudinot in August and against Ney in September; but after Leipzig he went his own way, determined at all hazards to cripple Denmark and secure Norway. For the events which led to the union of Norway and Sweden, see SWEDEN : History and NORWAY : History. As unional king, Charles XIV. (who succeeded to that title in 1818 on the death of Charles XIII.) was popular in both countries. Though his ultra-conservative views were de tested, and as far as possible opposed (especially after 1823), his dynasty was never in serious danger, and Swedes and Norsemen alike were proud of a monarch with a European reputation. It is true that the Riksdag of 1840 meditated compelling him to abdi cate, but the storm blew over and his jubilee was celebrated with great enthusiasm in 1843. He died at Stockholm on March 8, 1844. His reign was one of uninterrupted peace, and the great material development of the two kingdoms during the first half of the 19th century was largely due to his energy and foresight.
See G. R. Lagerhjelm, Napoleon och Carl Johan under Kriget i Tyskland, 1813 (Stockholm, 1891) ; Johan Almen, Atten Bernadotte (Stockholm, 1893) ; Yngvar Nielsen, Carl Johan som han virkelig var (Christiania [Oslo), 1897) ; J. E. Sars, Norges politiske historia (Christiania, 1899) ; C. Schefer, Bernadotte roi (1899) ; Correspond ence inedite de l'Empereur Alexandre et de Bernadotte pendant l'annee 1812 (19o9) ; Sir Dunbar Plunket Barton, Bernadotte, The First Phase (1914) , Bernadotte and Napoleon 1763-1810 (1921) and Bernadotte, Prince and King (1925) ; S. Clason, Karl XIII. och Karl XIV. Johan (1923).