NORWAY DURING THE KALMAR UNION.
Olaf was succeeded both in Denmark and Norway by his mother, Margaret,
who became reigning queen. The real heir to the Norwegian throne was, in
accordance with the law of succession, the Lord High Steward (Drost)
Haakon Jonsson, a grandson of Agnes, an illegitimate daughter of Haakon
Longlegs. But he did not possess the power to assert his claim against
Margaret, who, by skilful intriguing, had induced the archbishop,
Vinald, and the majority of the clergy to take her side. The Norwegian
Council of Regency, in which the partisans of the queen likewise
preponderated, seemed ready to do any thing which she demanded, and even
yielded to her wish in pledging themselves to choose her grand-nephew,
Erik of Pomerania, as her successor (1388). In accordance with this
promise they declared Erik, during the following year (1389), king of
Norway, under the guardianship of Margaret, until he should reach his
majority.
The ambitious queen now turned her attention to Sweden, where she had a
bitter and determined foe in Albrecht of Mecklenburg. He was remotely
related to the royal house of Norway, and therefore believed himself to
be the nearest heir to the throne. He was boiling over with animosity
toward Margaret, whom he called "Queen Breechless," and never referred
to, except with opprobrious epithets. As this kind of harmless
ammunition produced no effect, however, he boldly assumed the title of
king of Denmark and Norway, and prepared to enforce his claim. But he
had reckoned without his host, when he supposed that the Swedes would
support him in this enterprise. The Swedish nobility, which possessed
greater power than the king, had long been dissatisfied with Albrecht,
because he had surrounded himself with Germans, to whom he had given
fiefs and posts of honor. They had long desired to rid themselves of
him, and when Margaret made overtures to them, they seized the
opportunity to accomplish their purpose. In February, 1389, Albrecht had
to confront a united Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian army. The battle,
fought at Falkoeping, in Vestergoetland, was fraught with great results.
Albrecht, who was unacquainted with the region, ventured with his heavy
cavalry out upon a frozen marsh, fell through, and was taken prisoner.
Margaret had him now in her power and determined to make him pay the
penalty for the liberty he had taken with her name. Instead of the crown
of Denmark, which he had meant to wear, she put upon his head a fool's
cap with a tail 28 feet long, and mocked him mercilessly. He was then
imprisoned in the castle of Lindholm, in Skaane, where he spent six
years.
After the battle of Falkoeping Margaret's army met with no resistance in
the southern provinces; but Stockholm had to be subjected to a long
siege, during which it suffered greater depredations from internal than
from external foes. Bloody feuds between two contending parties raged
within the city. A brotherhood of pirates, the so-called Vitalie
Brethren, furnished the citizens with provisions, thereby delaying their
surrender. These pirates had for the nonce entered into an alliance with
Rostock and Wismar, two cities of Mecklenburg, which sympathized with
the imprisoned Albrecht. In the end Stockholm was forced to open its
gates to Queen Margaret, in accordance with a compromise which was
concluded in 1395. Albrecht was to pay a ransom of sixty thousand marks,
and in case of his failure to provide this sum, within three years, he
should either return to his prison or surrender Stockholm. He chose to
do the latter.
Margaret had now reached the goal of her desires. She was the ruler of
the whole Scandinavian race. She might have placed the triple crown upon
her head, but preferred to secure this proud prize to her nephew, Erik
of Pomerania, by having him crowned while she was yet alive. To this end
she summoned representatives of the three kingdoms to a meeting in
Kalmar, where a draft was made for a constitution, upon which the union
was to be based. Although the document was signed by the Norwegian,
Swedish, and Danish magnates present, it was scarcely legally binding
upon their countrymen. It bears the date of July 20, 1397, and contains
the following stipulations:
1. The three kingdoms were to be eternally united under one king.
2. If the king died without issue, the magnates of the three kingdoms
should come together and peaceably elect a successor.
3. Each kingdom should be governed in accordance with its own laws and
customs; but if one of the kingdoms was attacked, the two others should,
in good faith, assist in its defence.
4. The king and his councillors from the three kingdoms should have the
right to enter into foreign alliances, and whatever they agreed upon
should be binding upon the three countries.
This was the famous Kalmar Union, which might have been a blessing to
the brother kingdoms, but which to two of them, at least, became a
curse. At first sight, it seemed a rational arrangement which promised
success. The three nations were so closely akin, that they understood
without effort each other's languages, which were but slight
modifications of the same original tongue. If the forces which had been
wasted in mutual wars and rivalries could have been combined for mutual
help and common purposes, the kingdom of Scandinavia would have risen in
prosperity and strength and would have taken a place among the European
powers. Under a wise and far-sighted policy, the society of the three
kingdoms could have been gradually amalgamated, its similarities and
common interests emphasized, its differences slowly obliterated. If the
kings of the Union had had the slightest conception of the task that was
presented to them, and had been capable of viewing themselves apart
from their Danish nationality, such results might have been achieved.
But they were, with a single exception, utterly destitute of political
ability and foresight. They were determined to raise the Danish to the
position of a dominant nationality and to reduce Norway and Sweden to a
provincial relation. Hereby they aroused again the ancient jealousies.
They sent a troop of Danish and German nobles to prey upon the latter
countries, which they seemed to regard as conquered territory. The
Swedes complained of their being obliged to pay taxes, in order to
defray the expenses of Danish wars, and they were vehement in their
denunciation of the extortion of the Danish officials who plundered
their provinces like Roman proconsuls.
[Illustration: QUEEN MARGARET.]
The Norwegians were preliminarily disposed to be more patient, chiefly
because they lacked spokesmen, the remnants of their old nobility being
too powerless to assert themselves against the Danes. Nor can it be said
that, during Queen Margaret's life, the conditions were intolerable. She
died, however, in Flensborg (1412) aged 59 years, leaving her wide
dominions in the feeble hands of Erik of Pomerania.
Erik had inherited from Margaret a war with the dukes of Sleswick, which
lasted for twenty-five years, exhausting the resources of his realm and
completely revealing his incapacity for government. The Swedes grumbled
at the taxation which the war necessitated, and rebelled under the
leadership of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson. A Danish prefect, Joesse
Eriksson, had been guilty of great cruelty to the peasants in Dalarne,
taking their horses and oxen from the plow, hitching their pregnant
wives to hay-loads, and horribly maiming all who dared to complain.
Engelbrekt went twice to Denmark and asked the king to remove this
malefactor, but was the first time put off with promises and the second
time bluntly rebuffed. He then placed himself at the head of a
rebellion, which spread from Dalarne over the whole kingdom. In Norway a
similar, though less formidable, revolt broke out under Amund
Sigurdsson Bolt (1436), who likewise sought to obtain redress against
the Danish magistrates. The king, however, who saw his advantage in
allowing considerable latitude to his creatures, wearied of the eternal
complaints, and, carrying with him whatever money was left in the
treasury, took up his residence in a fortified castle on the island of
Gottland (1438). He was now formally deposed both in Denmark and Sweden,
while in Norway the regent, or governor, Sigurd Jonsson, continued for a
while to conduct the government in his name. When it became generally
known, however, that the king had become a pirate, the Norwegians, too,
revoked their allegiance (1442). For ten years Erik lived in his castle
in Gottland, supporting himself by piracy, but was finally driven away.
He then returned to Pomerania, where he died in 1459.
During the reign of this unworthy king, the city of Bergen was twice
sacked and partly burned by the Vitalie Brethren, who murdered the
citizens, plundered the churches and the episcopal residence, and
carried away a rich booty.
With the tenacious fidelity peculiar to their race, the Norwegians
adhered to the cause of Erik, even after he himself had abandoned it.
They had, however, no choice but to recognize as his successor his
nephew, Christopher of Bavaria, who had already been proclaimed king in
Denmark and Sweden. In the latter country Charles Knutsson Peasant
(Bonde), who, after the murder of Engelbrekt, had become the leader of
the rebellion, and later regent, had vainly endeavored to break the
Union. The clergy made common cause with Christopher, and were
instrumental in securing his election.
Christopher was a jolly and good-natured man, who had no aptitude for
affairs of state. When the Swedes complained of the piracy of Erik of
Pomerania, he answered merrily: "Our uncle is sitting on a rock; he,
too, must earn his living."
He deserves, however, as far as Norway was concerned, the credit of good
intentions. He made an effort, though a futile one, to deprive the
Hanseatic cities of their monopoly of trade, by giving equal privileges
to the citizens of Amsterdam. The League was then less formidable than
it had been, owing to the successful rivalry of the Dutch in other
markets. It is difficult to say what the issue of the struggle would
have been, if Christopher had lived. Death overtook him in 1448, when he
was but thirty-two years old.
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