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

by S. A. Dunham

|1351 to 1357.|

On his return to Denmark the king proceeded with as much zeal as before in the reforms he had meditated. Rigour was required, and he employed it; but it converted into enemies all whose evil deeds he chastised. This was the most formidable of the obstacles which impeded his career of improvement. A whole generation of anarchy had rendered the nobles impatient of all restraint; they sighed for their former impunity; and they hated a ruler who in the administration of the laws made no distinction between them and the meanest artisan. To humble this tyrant as they considered him, they renewed their alliance with the counts of Holstein; but it led to nothing at this time: these nobles had yet no need to renew the war with the king. Four years afterwards, however (in 1357), they joined the Jutland nobility, and the king, who marched to repel them, was defeated. But the check was of short duration; for in a few weeks he was the victor in his turn—Adolf, one of the counts, being left dead on the field. This was a useful victory: it enabled Valdemar to seize the other half of Fionia without payment of the mortgage. The following year he subdued Langeland, Alfen, Femeren. The second of them, which belonged to the duke of Sleswic he subsequently restored, security being given that the inhabitants would remain neutral in the contest between him and the house of Holstein. With that house, however, peace was soon made; but these alternations of war and peace are perpetual at this period.

|1357 to 1360.|

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.

|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.

|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.

|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.