House of Vasa

House of Vasa Vasaätten Wazowie
Royal house
Royal canting coat of arms of Vasa, depicting a withy, the meaning of its name
Country	Sweden Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Tsardom of Russia
Estates	Sweden Poland Finland Lithuania Estonia Latvia
Titles	King of Sweden (1523–1654) King of Poland (1587–1668) Grand Duke of Lithuania Tsar of Russia (1610–1613) (titular 1613–1634) Grand Duke of Finland
Founded	1523 (1523)
Founder	King Gustav I of Sweden
Final ruler	Sweden: Christina (1632–1654) Poland and Lithuania: John II Casimir (1648–1668)
Dissolution	Extinct in the agnatic line 1672 (1672)
Deposition	Sweden: 1654 (1654) (abdication) Poland and Lithuania: 1668 (1668) (abdication)
Ethnicity	Swedish Polish Lithuanian Austrian German

Sweden: Christina (1632–1654)

Sweden: 1654 (1654) (abdication)

The House of Vasa (Swedish: Vasaätten, Polish: Wazowie, Lithuanian: Vaza) was an early modern royal house founded in 1523 in Sweden, ruling Sweden 1523–1654, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1587–1668 and the Tsardom of Russia 1610–1613 (titular until 1634). Its agnatic line became extinct in Poland with the death of King John II Casimir of Poland in 1672.

The House of Vasa descended from a Swedish 14th century noble family, tracing agnatic kinship to Nils Kettilsson (Vasa) (died 1378), fogde of the castle Three Crowns in . Several members held high offices during the 15th century. In 1523, after the abolishment of the Kalmar Union, Gustav Eriksson (Vasa) became King Gustav I of Sweden and the royal house was founded. His reign is sometimes referred to as the beginning of the modern state of Sweden, along with the foundation of the Protestant Church of Sweden during the Protestant reformation as a result of the King's break with the Roman Catholic Church, usurping its property on Swedish soil. Yet, his son, King John III of Sweden, married a Catholic Polish Queen Catherine Jagiellon, eventually spreading the House of Vasa to Poland.