Chapter I: Denmark.130 (4)

If Valdemar had ceded to Sweden the important province of Scania, he had done so either unwillingly, or with the resolution of recovering it whenever the opportunity should occur. That opportunity at length presented itself, and in a manner different from his anticipations. King Magnus became so unpopular, that he was compelled to resign the throne in favour of his son Eric. To regain it, he solicited aid from Valdemar; but the latter would promise none unless Scania were restored. The condition was a hard one; but the prize in view was of more importance; and in a treaty (1359) Magnus conceded the demand. At the same time, to draw closer the alliance between them, Margaret, daughter of Valdemar, then only six years old, was affianced to Hako king of Norway, another son of Magnus. In accordance with this treaty, Valdemar invaded Scania; and in a short time reduced most of the fortresses. From this career of conquest, however, he was recalled, for a moment, by an invasion of Femeren. The invaders were the counts of Holstein, the duke of Mecklenburg, and many nobles of Jutland, who were resolute in hastening the downfall of a stern master. This was a diversion effected by the counts to save Scania, in the preservation of which to the Swedish crown they had an interest. They were the allies of Eric, who had rebelled against his father Magnus; and their sister Elizabeth, in lieu of the Danish princess, was intended for Hako. The advantage lay with the king, who having forced his enemies to disband, returned to Scania, which he wholly seized. This he did without much difficulty, owing to a revolution in the internal state of Sweden. Eric, who had been associated with Magnus in the government, who was hostile to every thing Danish, who was the close ally of the counts of Holstein, fell a victim, we are told, to his own mother’s ambition. Magnus therefore resumed the sole direction of affairs, and the Danish interest again predominated. He was indeed enjoined by the states to defend Scania; but though he marched towards that province, he made no effort to arrest the progress of the Danes. On the contrary, he entered into a new alliance with them, and the projected union between Margaret and Hako was confirmed.

[Sidenote: 1360 to 1363.]

Magnus had again need of his ally’s assistance against his rebellious subjects. The inhabitants of Wisby, capital of the isle of Gothland, refused to pay the impost which he had laid upon them; and Valdemar, in obedience to his wish, sailed to chastise them. Wisby was one of the greatest ports in Europe; it was the magazine where the merchandise of the Baltic was kept. Of this much belonged to the Hanse Towns, especially to Lubeck. Immense was the booty which the Danish monarch seized in that town; but why he should plunder the subjects of his ally for his own benefit, is not easy to be explained. Whatever were his own reasons, he soon repented of his violence. The Swedes, indignant with their monarch whom they knew to have been the occasion of the disaster, shut him up in a fortress, called Hako of Norway to aid them, and declared war against Denmark. To obtain more assistance, they entered into alliance with the enemies of Denmark,—with the counts of Holstein, with the duke of Mecklenburg, and with the Hanse Towns, which were justly exasperated at the plunder of Wisby. The confederated powers put their armaments in motion, and soon reduced Copenhagen. Helsingburg in Scania was besieged, but Valdemar raised the siege and defeated the allied fleet with great loss. Vordingburg was next assailed, but with no better success; and other disasters soon rendered the allies anxious for peace, which was concluded at Lubeck in 1363. But it was of short continuance. There was a general meeting of deputies from all the towns of the Hanseatic League, above seventy in number; and the result of their deliberations was a new war. It was indeed evident, that unless that body secured the free transit of merchandise, there must be an end to all mercantile enterprise, and the worst days of piracy must be restored. Two armaments were soon equipped; and the number of assailants was increased by the adhesion of Denmark’s hereditary enemies. Valdemar, terrified, had recourse to negociations. Adolf, count of Holstein, he detached from the league by investing him with the isle of Femeren. The Hanse Towns he propitiated by commercial privileges. A truce was accordingly made, and the king was left to resume his intrigues in the North.

[Sidenote: 1362 to 1363.]

After the imprisonment of Magnus, who, however, was soon allowed to share in the government, Hako was the only hope of the Swedes: they crowned him in 1362, and then urged him to marry the sister of the counts of Holstein. But the breach of the contract between Margaret and Hako could not be so easily dissolved: it had been written and sealed with the necessary formalities, and under the sanction of an oath. Yet the Swedish states, regardless of these circumstances, sent an ambassador to Holstein to perform the marriage ceremony by proxy. It was celebrated with much pomp; and, soon afterwards, the new queen of Norway and Sweden embarked for her destination. The intelligence was a blow to Valdemar; but fortune enabled him to recover from it. A tempest cast the bride on the Danish coast; and she was conducted to the court, where the most flattering reception awaited her. A succession of feasts and entertainments blinded her for some time to the designs of Valdemar; but at length she perceived that with all the humour so studiously paid her, she was little better than a prisoner. But little did she suspect the deep game that was playing. During her stay at the court, which was protracted for many weeks, Hako was induced to visit the country and to solemnize his marriage with the princess Margaret. Great was the joy of the Danes at this event, and no less great the mortification of that numerous party in Sweden, which had prosecuted the alliance with Holstein. As Margaret was still very young, the marriage was not consummated for three years afterwards. But the advantage was gained; and Elizabeth, in despair, took the veil in a Swedish monastery.

[Sidenote: 1363.]

This marriage deserves especial consideration from one circumstance;—it led to the union of the crowns between Denmark and Norway,—a union which has continued unbroken to our own days. For a considerable period too it occasioned a junction of the three kingdoms which constitute Scandinavia. Many obstacles, however, intervened, before it could be effected; and indeed there was no hope of such a result at the time of its celebration. So indignant were the Swedes at it, that they declared the throne vacant, and elected Albert of Mecklenburg to rule over them. Hako, like his father, therefore, lost the crown; but these circumstances can be detailed only in the chapter devoted to Swedish history.

[Sidenote: 1364, 1365.]

The next year was passed by Valdemar abroad, in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, and France. Why he should abandon the kingdom at so critical a period has exercised the ingenuity of historians; but none of their conjectures are satisfactory; and his motions must remain shrouded in mystery. On his return, after an absence of ten months, he found his own kingdom as tranquil as Sweden was stormy. In the latter there were two parties—that which adhered to Magnus and Hako, and that which had invited Albert to ascend the throne. The former, numerically inferior, had obtained succour from Norway and Denmark, and, with this aid, had made an irruption into the provinces which held for Albert. A battle ensued, in which Magnus was made prisoner; but Hako, though desperately wounded, contrived to escape. But Valdemar recruited his party; and by his arms, no less than his intrigues, reduced Albert to such perplexity, that he was compelled, whatever the price, to propitiate the formidable Dane. Overtures were accordingly made to Valdemar by the kinsmen of Albert; and he received them with eagerness. They were, however, delusive; not one of the promises made was executed, or intended to be executed.

[Sidenote: 1367 to 1370.]

The influence of Albert, and of his connections, proved more disastrous to Valdemar than he could have expected. His own subjects, especially those of Jutland, who were in league with the counts of Holstein, again broke out into open rebellion. They were aided by the king of Sweden (Albert), by the duke of Mecklenburg, by the Hanse Towns, and by other enemies of Denmark. The most extraordinary circumstance is, that at this very period, when the monarchy was menaced within and from without, Valdemar again left the kingdom to pass several months abroad! Was his intention to interest the emperor and the pope in his behalf? Such has been the opinion of writers. Others, again, have attributed his departure to a formidable conspiracy, the object of which was darkly seen by him. The subject must remain in mystery. The hypothesis of a conspiracy, however, derives some confirmation from the fact, that after his departure the Hanseatic Towns, the counts of Holstein, and Albert of Sweden, made simultaneous attacks on different parts of the kingdom, and with some degree of success. In 1370, however, the minister to whom Valdemar had confided the affairs of the realm made peace with all the enemies of Denmark.

[Sidenote: 1370 to 1375.]

The same year Valdemar returned, and the same year too witnessed the extinction of the ducal line of Sleswic, which, as we have before related, originated in Abel, king of Denmark. To recover the duchy was the object of Valdemar, long before duke Henry’s death; and when that event arrived, his measures were so well taken, that in a few weeks most of the fortresses were in his possession. But the counts of Holstein urged their claim, in virtue of the agreement between their father, Gerard, and the duke of that period. They did not, however, immediately proceed to hostilities, nor was it their fortune to measure swords with Valdemar, while busily occupied in the internal reforms which he had so long contemplated, he saw that war was inevitable; and in this apprehension he besought pope Gregory XI. to interfere in his behalf—to teach his subjects obedience, and his enemies moderation. The pope, in his reply, professed his willingness to espouse the royal cause; but before his interference could be availing, Valdemar was no more. He died through his confidence in a quack, whose medicines he took. By his queen, Hedwige, he had six children, four of whom preceded him to the tomb. The survivors were two daughters—Ingeburga, married to Henry duke of Mecklenburg, and the celebrated Margaret, afterwards queen of the North.

[Sidenote: 1375.]

Valdemar was the first Danish monarch that styled himself king of the _Goths_. The assumption was occasioned, either by the conquests which he made in Gothland (they were very temporary), or by the diversions which Albert, to preserve his alliance, proposed to make, and, in fact, did make, in that province.

OLAF III.

1376–1387.

[Sidenote: 1375, 1376.]

With Valdemar III. ended the male line of the dynasty founded by Sweyn, the nephew of Canute the Great. Who was to succeed him? As we have before related, he left two daughters only; viz. Ingeburga, wife of Henry, duke of Mecklenburg, and Margaret, the consort of Hako, king of Norway. As there was no example in the North of female succession, the electors must turn either to some collateral branch of the family, or to the sons of those princesses,—unless indeed they did what they might easily have done, and what many indeed professed to do, viz. make choice of a foreign house. The greater number, however, decided for preserving the sceptre in the ancient house, and without regard to the collateral branches. The choice therefore rested between the issue of Ingeburga and that of Margaret; viz. between Albert of Mecklenburg, and Olaf of Norway. The former was the eldest daughter, and Albert was much older than Olaf, yet merely a child; but the feeling of the states seemed to run in favour of the latter. In the first assembly nothing was effected; in the interval between it and the convocation of the next, Margaret was not inactive. Her intrigues, her presents, her promises, and above all the fact that Olaf was the heir of the Norwegian throne, and consequently that there would be a union of the two kingdoms, determined the question in his favour. In this decision too, dislike of Sweden had some share; for Albert was nearly connected with the king who had been elected the successor of Magnus. On this occasion, there was no general meeting of the states; and those of each province voted separately. Jutland, with its three orders, viz. the nobles, the clergy, the burghers and rich peasants, set the example. It was followed by Scania; and the rest, constrained by their preponderating influence, joined with them.

[Sidenote: 1376.]

The promises of the queen to which we have alluded were not dissimilar from those which Christopher II. had made. In the name of her son (he was but five years of age), she guaranteed to the clergy all their rights, immunities, and privileges. No benefice should be held by a layman. No foreigner should become a dignitary. No bishop or any other ecclesiastic should be arrested, exiled, or deprived of his revenues, without the previous sentence of an ecclesiastical judge only. Abbots, friars, and rectors, were to be dependent only on the bishop, their lawful superior. The nobles and not the crown were to receive the fines inflicted on the rural inhabitants within their respective districts by any secular judge, when those fines fell below a certain amount, according to the custom of the province: in some provinces the maximum was three, in others nine marks; when it exceeded three or nine, it went indisputably to the crown. The king was to undertake no war without the consent of his senators, the prelates, and some nobles of the realm. No man in holy orders should be invested with any temporal employment. No man should be executed unless he had been judicially convicted, or caught _flagrante delicto_ in some matter worthy of death. Even if he had been sentenced by the tribunals, one month and a day should be allowed him to flee from the kingdom! The peasants should not be compelled to repair the royal palaces, without the sanction of the senate. The king should not build on any other domain than his own, without the consent of the owner. The property of no man should be confiscated, even judicially, unless he were proved guilty of high treason, or had borne arms against his country. Foreign merchants might trade freely throughout the kingdom, and should be subject to no other tax or impost than such as were already sanctioned by custom. The great assizes should, according to ancient custom, be held annually on the feast of St. John the Baptist. No officer of justice should cite any one before a foreign tribunal—that of Norway, for instance—but every man should be amenable to the local jurisdiction alone.

[Sidenote: 1376.]

Such were the chief provisions of the capitulation between Margaret and the people. They have been severely condemned by the national historians, as trenching on the just prerogatives of the crown. But surely they do not all merit the censure. Some of them are in the highest degree salutary. That indeed which allowed the nobles to enjoy the fines levied on their vassals, or more correctly freemen (subject, however, to many vassalitic obligations), was censurable; but it was common in most other countries where feudal tribunals existed. Two or three of those which concerned the clergy are also reprehensible; but they were sanctioned by the canon law, and were as obligatory in other places as in Denmark. The greatest defect of this capitulation is that too much influence was left to the nobles. But how should Margaret be condemned for sacrificing to the aristocracy, when aristocratic privileges were predominant every where else?

[Sidenote: 1376 to 1380.]

The election of Olaf could not fail to exasperate the party of Albert. The head of the house of Mecklenburg called in the emperor Charles IV. to interfere in behalf of his grandson: he flew to arms, and persuaded his son Albert, king of Sweden, to join him; and he brought the courts of Holstein into the same league. These counts, in the event of Albert’s succession, were to have Sleswic, Alfen, and Langeland. On her part, Margaret was not idle. She too obtained allies, among whom were the dukes of Pomerania, the hereditary enemies of the Mecklenburg family. The result justified her policy. A formidable armament sailed against the coasts, and she was prepared to meet it. The elements, however, fought for her: the armament was dispersed or destroyed; and the enemy consented that the great subjects of dispute should be laid before arbitrators. This was to acknowledge Olaf _de facto_ sovereign of Denmark, whatever the concessions expected from him in return. Whether this arbitration ever took place is not very clear: there are no records of it; yet there is some reason to suspect that it did, and that from the period in question the house of Mecklenburg was excepted from all homage for the lordship of Rostock. What confirms the inference is, that for some years the realm was undisturbed by foreign enemies, and the regent left at liberty to pursue her course of policy. That course was a judicious one. She drew closer the connection between Denmark and the Hanseatic Towns; she courted the clergy; she was gracious to the barons; she endeavoured to remove all subjects of discord, and to bind all orders of the people to her government.

[Sidenote: 1380 to 1386.]

In 1380, Hako, the husband of Margaret, who was greatly her senior, paid the debt of nature. Olaf therefore, still a child, became king of Norway. But Hako was also the rightful heir to the Swedish throne, and these rights Margaret determined to secure in favour of their legitimate heir, her son. This indeed was the great, the constant, object of her policy: she had united two kingdoms, and she would now add a third. The mortification of the Swedish king was great. He feared lest the strength of the two hostile kingdoms should be consolidated, and become fatal to himself. To avert this result, he had recourse to hostilities, during the absence of Olaf and his mother in Norway (1381). Though he effected some mischief, he made little impression on that country. Two years afterwards, he made a second attempt, but was compelled to retreat. In 1385, both Olaf and his mother repaired thither to confirm the people in their fidelity, and to gain their attachment by such marks of favour as sovereigns can bestow.

[Sidenote: 1386.]

In regard to the counts of Holstein, Margaret had more trouble than with Albert of Sweden, or the prince of Mecklenburg. These counts, as we have often intimated, looked to Sleswic as their lawful inheritance; nor had they relinquished their hope of succession after the reversion of the fief to the crown through the default of issue in Henry the late duke. To the surprise of many, count Gerard, grandson of the celebrated prince of that name, was formally invested by Olaf with that important fief. In dismembering (for the act was no better) so important a limb of the Danish body, there was certainly much impolicy; but the act is neither so surprising nor so censurable as some historians assert. In fact there are strong reasons for it. Gerard, the representative of his house, had, according to feudal law, a good claim to the succession. Its justice, therefore, would have weight, not merely with the allies of his house, but with all Germany. Policy, however, more than justice, influenced the queen-mother in this important step. Was it nothing to separate the interests of the Holstein count from those of the Mecklenburg dukes? She well knew the efforts which Albert of Sweden had made, and was making, to secure the active assistance of the former. Besides, most of her subjects, and all her noble subjects, looked upon the count as hardly used by his exclusion from his birthright; and they were not without apprehension that, if left as a precedent, it might operate to their own disadvantage. But the strongest of all reason is, that the count was already _de facto_ duke of Sleswic. Soon after the death of Valdemar III., he had, with the aid of his allies, occupied it by force; and as the people were attached to his government, who was to dispossess him? Certainly to do so was not in the power of the queen-mother, or of her son. But though the standard—the ordinary symbol of infeudation—was delivered by Olaf to the count, and homage done in return, no letters-patent were expedited on the occasion. Why? Because there was a dispute as to the conditions of the tenure by which the fief was to be held. Gerard wished to hold it on the same footing as his celebrated ancestor, viz. without the obligation of military service; but from that wish Margaret dissented. The subject, therefore, was left undecided, and it gave rise, as we shall perceive in the ensuing volume, to much effusion of blood. Connected with this count Gerard is one circumstance worthy of notice: his sister Hedwige married Theodric count of Oldenburg; and from that union sprung Christian I., king of Denmark, founder of the illustrious family which now sits on the throne.

[Sidenote: 1387.]

One year after this important investiture, Olaf, whose constitution had always been feeble, paid the debt of nature. As he was only in his seventeenth year, he left no issue, and indeed was never married. Again, therefore, was the male line extinct; and Margaret only could rule, unless (what nobody contemplated) a foreign house should be called to the succession. The queen-mother had so obvious an interest in the event, that by some people she was suspected of having quietly removed her son to reign in his place. The suspicion, indeed, was an absurd one: there was not the shadow of a foundation for it; but it suited popular credulity; and it enabled, as we shall hereafter show, a false Olaf to deceive a considerable portion of the multitude. The Franciscans contend that the king, influenced by piety alone, relinquished his worldly grandeur, and retired to a house of their order in Italy, where he died in all the odour of sanctity.

By this monarch’s decease Margaret became sovereign of both Denmark and Norway; and from this period down to the nineteenth century, both crowns were united on the same brow. Henceforth the fortunes of both are inseparable. Our next care must be to give a summary of Norwegian events prior to this union.

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