History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Vol. 2 (of 2)

by S. A. Dunham

|1340.|

When this prince ascended the throne, the prospect before him was gloomy: there was no monarchy; there were no revenues. Scania and Holland were in the hands of the Swedes; Fionia and Jutland were forcibly held by the counts of Holstein; Zealand and Laland obeyed another chief; and the rest of the isles had each its ruler who regarded it as his own estate to be inherited by his children. Even these were not the worst evils. The anarchy of so many years had caused the laws to be forgotten; the feeble were every where a prey to the strong; the poor were at war with the rich, the native with the foreigner; and nobody thought either of obedience to authority, or of paying the contributions rendered necessary by the wants of society.

|1340 to 1344.|

The two first objects of Valdemar were to make the laws respected, and to recover, one by one, by conquest or treaty, the domains which had been alienated. Without the former there could be no security; without the latter there could be no prosperity. To make the judges respected, he himself administered justice. Not for days only but for weeks and months in succession, he thus presided in the tribunals, both in the cities and in the rural towns. At the same time, he caused most of the nobles in whose vicinity he happened to be, to produce their titles to the domains which they held; and when these were not valid, he resumed the fiefs. Against Ingeborga, widow of duke Albert Porse, to whose rapacity we have already alluded, he instituted a suit, and recovered two lordships from her; but in the very court of justice he had his armed men—a proof that the judgment would be in his favour, and, in spite of all opposition, enforced. The firm demeanour of the monarch had a good effect on his people, who rose against their foreign oppressors, while the latter defended themselves with their accustomed valour. This desultory warfare raged for many years.

|1344.|

The recovery of several domains by justice, or force of arms encouraged the king to persevere in his efforts. But there were some parties against whom neither would avail—who were too powerful for either, and before them he could appear with money only. Where should he obtain it? He looked to Magnus, king of Sweden, who did not feel quite secure in the possession of Scania, and from whom he obtained 49,000 marks as the condition of for ever ceding that province to the northern kingdom. That one so patriotic as Valdemar should thus sanction the ruinous dismemberment of the monarchy, may well surprise us. But probably he reasoned thus:—“If the province be lost, let that loss be counterbalanced by other acquisitions: if it be not finally lost,—if circumstances should arise favourable to my recovering it,—let the fortune of war decide whether the purchase-money is to be returned or not.” Of that money he made a good use: he redeemed from count John of Holstein the isle of Falster, with many domains and castles in other parts; soon too he redeemed Vordengburg and the whole isle of Laland. By this means he increased his own power in the same degree that he weakened that of his enemies. There must, however, have been some concert between the two parties, since he received no molestation in his financial proceedings, and especially since in 1345 he was able to leave the kingdom to settle the affairs of Esthonia.

|1345 to 1348.|

In that country there was a revolt of the whole servile population against their lords, of whom most were Germans. The grand master of the Teutonic knights being requested to succour the local feudatories, consented to do so; but from his measures it was evident that he aimed at supplanting the Danish monarch. Valdemar sailed to the coast; but on his arrival he found that a truce had been signed between his own governors and the other party. From thence he proceeded to the Holy Land—probably in consequence of some vow—and this circumstance proves that his kingdom must have been in a more secure state than the chroniclers of the age would have us believe. By the pope he is said to have been censured for presuming to visit the holy places without the licence of the apostolic see. His absence, however, must have been short; for in the following year (1346) he was again in Esthonia. His motive for this second expedition may be inferred from the result; he sold that province to the Teutonic knights for 19,000 marks. This act has been much censured by historians; but to us it appears a wise one. The expense of maintaining that distant possession was greater than it was worth: troops could not be spared for it when every disposable man was required at home; and the money was necessary to pay some importunate demands, and to redeem another portion of the national domains. Well was that money employed; it enabled him to recover all the fortresses in Jutland and Zealand that had not been previously redeemed. In exchange for other possessions, he received from the counts of Holstein one half of Fionia and the town of Nyburg. This circumstance confirms what we have just mentioned—that the intervals of war were neither so frequent nor so long as those of peace; that he lived with the counts and his other rivals on terms much less hostile than from the strict language of the chroniclers we should be justified in believing.

|1348 to 1350.|

Another opportunity of replenishing his empty treasury was opened to Valdemar in the aid which he afforded to his brother-in-law the margrave of Brandenburg, son of the emperor Ludovic of Bavaria. For that aid he received the annual tribute which the city of Lubeck paid to the margrave’s family for the protection (or advocacy, as it was called during the middle ages) afforded by that family to the commerce of the inhabitants.