The fencing master of the Swedish king Charles XII, Didrik von Porat, published a fencing manual called
Didrik von Porat (originally named Diedrich Porath) hailed from Mecklunburg in the Germanies. The family moved to Sweden and Diedrich was eventually ennobled there for his work as the court fencing-master for two consecutive kings (Karl XI and XII).
Kristofer's son, Kristofer, was the academy fencing master at the universities of Lund and Uppsala and apparently led a pretty wild life.
Diederich's three sons were also fencing masters, one in Lund, one in Åbo and later Uppsala, and the last one also in Uppsala. A grandson, Karl Kristofer von Porat was the fencing master of Uppsala University between 1795-1812.
There are several military men during the 18th, 19th and 20th century with the name Didrik von Porat. Karl Didrik von Porat who, born in 1811 was a known swordsman at the time.
Karl XII was the only surviving son of King
Karl XI of Sweden and
Ulrika Eleonora the Elder, and he assumed the crown at the age of fifteen, at the death of his father.
He left the country three years later to embark on a series of battles overseas. These battles were part of the
Great Northern War and many of them were fought against
Great Northern War.
Karl XII was a skilled military leader and tactician. However, although he was also skilled as a politician, he was reluctant in making peace. Karl is quoted by
Voltaire as saying upon the outbreak of the Great Northern War, "I have resolved never to start an unjust war but never to end a legitimate one except by defeating my enemies." Although Sweden achieved several large scale military successes early on, and won the most battles, the Great Northern War eventually ended in Sweden's defeat and the end of the
Swedish Empire. The early successes can be attributed both to competent military leadership aswell as an efficient war administration (born out of the need to counter the lack of manpower with efficient recruiting, putting virutally the entire Swedish population to the disposal of the king in wartime) and a fatalistic protestantism amongst the Swedish soldiers, which together with harsh discipline gave the Swedish armies notable high morale.
Exceptional for abstaining from
alcohol and women, Karl XII felt most comfortable during warfare. Contemporaries report of his seemingly inhuman tolerance for pain and his utter lack of emotion. The king brought Sweden to its pinnacle of prestige and power through his brilliant campaigning and victories, although the Great Northern War eventually ended in Sweden's defeat and end of the Swedish Empire. Karl XII was killed in 1718 while campaigning in Norway, it is to this day unclear wether he was shot by a Norwegian or a war weary Swede.
