As Eric the Priest-hater left no heirs male, he was succeeded by his brother Hako V. (1299–1319), whom he had created duke of Norway, and who had been admitted to some share in the government. One of his first objects was to resume the negotiations with Denmark; but through the intrigues of the men who were implicated in the murder of Eric Glipping, the signature of the treaty was delayed until 1308. His transactions with Sweden are more important, since they led to a temporary union between the two crowns. His daughter Ingeburga became the wife of Eric, brother of Birger, king of Sweden. When Eric was barbarously murdered by his own brother, Hako armed to revenge the death of his son-in-law. After a war of some duration, Birger was compelled to abdicate, and Magnus, the son of Ingeburga, was elected in his place. As Hako had no heirs male, and females could not inherit, Magnus became the heir of the Norwegian throne, to which he succeeded on the death of Hako.
|1319.|
Under this prince, who died in 1319, Norway was not so powerful as it had been under his father: just as in his father’s time it was not to be compared with what it had been under the domination of Hako IV. With this monarch indeed ended the greatness of the kingdom: from his time to the union of the crown with that of Denmark, there was a continued decline in the national prosperity. This decline cannot, as some historians have asserted, be attributed to the cessation of piratical expeditions; for in truth they had ceased long before the reign of Hako IV., or even of Swerro. A better reason is to be found in the wars between the kingdom and Denmark—wars which thinned the population, diminished the national revenues, and aimed a fatal blow at the national industry. A second is the monopoly of trade by the Hanseatic Towns. The vessels of that league had long frequented the coasts of Norway; Swerro had favoured them; Hako IV. in 1250 had conferred upon them exclusive privileges; Magnus VI. had established the foreign merchants in his dominions, especially at Bergen. Hako also exempted them from many of the imposts to which they were subject in other countries. These avaricious strangers did not benefit the country. Where two people trade, both cannot be gainers. The advantage was entirely in favour of these foreigners, who absorbed a traffic which ought to have been divided into many channels, and by their monopoly excluded the natives from other markets. In this respect, we must condemn the short-sighted policy of Hako, or rather perhaps the engrossing disposition of the league. But another reason may also be assigned for the decline of the national prosperity—the increase of luxury—the creation of artificial wants. The cardinal bishop of Sabina[[168]] had expressed surprise at the condition of the people: he had found, not merely the comforts, but the luxuries of life. After the visit of that dignitary, the evil was not mended. The monarchs were fond of displaying a splendour which richer and more extensive kingdoms could not well support; and as the example of the court is sure to be followed by all who visit it, we may form some notion of the progress which luxury made amongst the people.
|1319 to 1387.|
On the death of Hako, as we have already intimated, the throne of Norway fell to his grandson Magnus VII. (1319–1343), king of Sweden. In 1343 Magnus resigned the Norwegian sceptre to his son Hako VI. (1343–1380). This prince, as we have before observed, married the daughter of Valdemar IV., king of Denmark, and died in 1380. He was succeeded in both thrones by his infant son Olaf (the fifth of Norway, the third of Denmark), on whose death both Denmark and Norway were ruled by queen Margaret.
At this period the close connection between the three northern kingdoms can be explained only by reverting to the history of Sweden.
CHAPTER III.[[169]]
SWEDEN.
1001–1389.
OLAF.—EMUND I.—EMUND II.—STENKILL.—INGE I.—PHILIP.—INGE II.—SWERKER I.—CHARLES.—ST. ERIC.—INTERNAL TROUBLES.—BIRGER JARL.—VALDEMAR I.—MAGNUS I.—BIRGER.—MAGNUS II.—ERIC IV.—ALBERT OF MECKLENBURG.—UNION OF SWEDEN WITH DENMARK.
In Swedish history the chronological difficulties of which we had so much reason to complain in the former volume, are scarcely fewer even now that we are advanced into the eleventh century. Most writers give different lists of kings down to the twelfth century. The reason of this difference is two-fold: there were sometimes two kings reigning at the same time, the one over the Goths, the other over the Swedes; and sometimes each of these people had two, who divided the homage of the people.