1. The three countries were always hereafter to have the same king.
2. One king was to be elected by authorized delegates from the three countries.
3. The countries were to help each other against foreign foes.
4. Each country was to be governed by its own laws.
Queen Margaret died at Flensborg, October 27, 1412, aged fifty-nine years, leaving the government in the weak hands of King Erik.
In the union Denmark soon assumed the position of the chief country. In Sweden and Norway the people complained that the revenues of the countries went to pay the expenses of the war with the Counts of Holstein about Schleswig, although this war, which lasted for twenty-six years, concerned only Denmark. The counts received aid from the Hansa towns, which hated King Erik, because he encouraged the Dutch trade with the northern countries. In 1427 he defeated the Hanseatic fleet in Oere Sound, and in 1428, when they tried to attack Copenhagen, the city was saved by his brave queen, Philippa of England. She armed the citizens and the peasants, and the Germans were obliged to withdraw. The final outcome of the war was, however, that King Erik had to cede Schleswig to Count Adolph of Holstein by the peace at Vordingborg (1435).
Norway had occasion to feel the effects of King Erik’s weakness. The inhabitants of Finmark and Halogaland were attacked by Russians and other enemies from the northeast, who did great damage and abducted men and women, and the town of Bergen was left defenceless against the attacks of the daring Victualia-Brethren. Thus in 1428 the pirate from Wismar, Bartholomew Vot, came to Bergen with six hundred men, just as the English traders were waiting there for the vessels from Northern Norway to bring herring, stock-fish and other goods. The Englishmen, believing that the whole fighting force of the Hansa towns was coming, hastened aboard their ships and took flight. The bishop of Bergen, who was seized with a similar fear, left everything behind for the enemy and fled with the Englishmen. The robbers then went ashore and plundered the town. At the bishopric they forced the iron doors to the book-room and took away all the books, besides many other valuables. As the traders from the north arrived with their full cargoes, the booty of the pirates became so much larger, as they took possession of their fish, furs and other goods. This success encouraged the robbers to renew their attack on Bergen next year, when they again plundered the bishopric, and then laid a great part of the town in ashes.
In all three countries the people were dissatisfied with King Erik; he coined bad money, levied new taxes, and appointed foreigners, especially Germans, to the chief offices. In Sweden the first uprising started. The peasants in Dalarne twice sent the gallant Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson to Denmark to complain of the cruel prefects, but he could obtain no redress. On his return he placed himself at the head of a rebellion, which spread itself to the whole country. Engelbrekt was murdered (1435); but in his place Carl Knutsson Bonde became the leader of the rebellion and regent.
In Norway the people followed the example of the Swedes. The peasants in Viken revolted under Amund Sigurdson Bolt, captured Oslo, and drove some of the Danish and other foreign officers out of the country. In a proclamation issued, after this uprising, by the Norwegian Council of State, calling upon the people to be loyal to King Erik (1436), the council promised to request the king in the future not to appoint foreigners to the high offices unless they had married into Norwegian families.
In Denmark also the people complained of the heavy taxes and the many Germans who were imported and given high positions. Wearied of all these complaints, and taking with him his mistress, Cecilia, the money left in the treasury, and a number of important documents, King Erik left the country and took up his residence on the island of Gotland, where he had a fortified castle (1438). Shortly after this he was formally deposed in Denmark and in Sweden, while in Norway they still, for a time, remained loyal to him. As regent in Norway, during his absence, the king appointed the influential Norwegian, Sigurd Jonson. The latter descended from a powerful old family; he had inherited Biarkoe, Giske and other estates, and was the richest man in the country. For ten years King Erik lived in his castle in Gottland, supporting himself by piracy, but was finally driven away by the Swedes. He returned to his native country, Pomerania, where he ended his long but inglorious life in 1459.