_The Union with Denmark--Christian I. (1450-1481)_
After the death of King Christopher, the Swedes elected Carl Knutsson
Bonde king of Sweden, while the Danes elected Count Christian of
Oldenborg, at the age of twenty-two, because he was heir to Schleswig
and Holstein, and it was generally desired to have Schleswig reunited
with Denmark. In the Norwegian Council of State there was dissension.
The regent, Sigurd Jonson, the commander at Bergen, Olaf Nilsson, and
the commander at Akershus, Hartvig Krumedike, who was from the duchy
of Holstein, wanted to elect the Danish king, Christian, who was
remotely related to the old Norse kings, while another more popular
party, led by the Archbishop, Aslak Bolt, preferred the Swedish king,
Carl Knutsson. The council finally elected Christian, at Oslo, in
the spring of 1449; but, after his return to Nidaros, the archbishop
declared the election void, not having been voluntary, and joined the
people of the Throndhjem country and the Uplands in inviting King
Carl to come to Norway. With a mounted force of five hundred men,
King Carl proceeded through Vermeland and Solver to Hamar, where he
was proclaimed king of Norway, October 25, 1449, and a month later he
was crowned in Throndhjem by the archbishop. Early in 1450, however,
when King Carl attempted to capture Oslo, he was defeated, and an
armistice was arranged. The archbishop died shortly afterward, and,
at a meeting in Halmstad, in May, 1450, between Swedish and Danish
magnates, the Swedish delegates, in the name of King Carl, relinquished
all claims to Norway. Thus, when Christian came to Norway in the
summer, he was acknowledged by everybody, and was crowned in Throndhjem
on Saint Olaf's day, July 29, 1450. He then went to Bergen, where, on
the 29th of August, 1450, a closer union between Norway and Denmark
was concluded. The main provisions of the agreement were: 1. That
both countries were hereafter to be united in brotherly love, neither
country being the superior of the other; 2. That each country should be
governed by native-born officials, and enjoy their own laws, liberties
and privileges; 3. That both countries should henceforth remain under
one lord and king forever; 4. When the king died the councils of both
kingdoms were to meet at Halmstad and elect a new king from among the
late king's legitimate heirs.
Thus the house of Oldenborg acquired the throne of Norway and continued
to rule the country for three hundred and sixty-four years.
For several years there was war between Kings Carl and Christian, and
in this war Norway was also involved. In 1452 King Carl invaded Norway
with an army and captured Throndhjem; but he was afterward driven back
across the frontier by the commander in Bergen, Sir Olaf Nilsson.
The German merchants (Hansa, Hanseatic League), who, after the war
under King Erik, had returned to Bergen, had become more powerful
and insolent than ever before. They drove the citizens of the town
away from the wharves and continually increased their own number by
importations. The commander, Olaf Nilsson, was very severe with the
Germans, and made them pay heavy taxes. They complained to the king,
and, as he feared that the Hansa might aid his enemy, King Carl, he
removed Olaf. The latter now set out as a pirate against the Hansa
towns, and captured several of their ships at sea. He also succeeded
in capturing the Swedish fort, Elfsborg, at the mouth of the Gaut
River, and offered it to the king if he were reinstated as commander at
Bergen. This offer was accepted, and Olaf returned to Bergen. Enraged
at this, the Germans armed themselves to the number of over 2,000,
intent upon killing the commander. Olaf sought refuge in the cloister
of Munkeliv, where his friend, Bishop Thorleif, tried in vain to
appease the Germans. They burned the cloister, killed the bishop--who
came out carrying the Sacrament--and three other priests, besides Olaf
Nilsson and his brother, with families and children; in all, sixty
people. This was the 1st of September, 1455. The king, who needed the
help of the Hansa towns, neither would nor could punish this great
crime. But the Pope placed the murderers in the ban of the church, and
compelled them to pay heavy fines for the murder of the bishop and to
rebuild the cloister.
Internal dissensions in Sweden, involving a struggle between the king,
the bishops and the nobility, resulted in the expulsion of Carl and the
acceptance of Christian as the king of Sweden. Thus the three countries
again became united under one king (1457), and the next year the state
councils promised that, after the death of Christian, his son Hans was
to be king of all three countries. But King Christian made himself
hated by his oppression, and when he caused the imprisonment of the
powerful archbishop, Jens Bengtson Oxenstierna, the latter's nephew,
Ketil Carlsson Wasa, bishop of Linköping, swore that he would not put
on his bishop's robes until his country had been rid of its oppressor,
and he kept his word. Carl was recalled, and died, as king of Sweden,
in 1470, after several unsuccessful attempts by Christian to regain the
Swedish crown. In 1471 Christian was defeated in battle at Brunkeberg
(now a part of Stockholm) by King Carl's nephew, Sten Sture, whom the
Swedes had elected regent. After that King Christian made no further
attempts to recover Sweden.
King Christian was a reckless spendthrift, and was always financially
embarrassed. The annual tribute for the Hebrides, which Scotland was to
pay to the king of Norway according to the peace made with King Magnus
the Law-Mender, had not been paid for some time, and King Christian
in vain demanded payment. In order to settle the matter peaceably
it was arranged that Christian's daughter Margaret was to marry the
Scotch king, James III., and her dowry was fixed at 60,000 gulden.
As Christian could not raise this amount, he obtained the consent of
the Norwegian Council of State to pawn the Orkneys for 50,000 gulden,
besides remitting the tribute for the Hebrides. Not being able to pay
the balance, he also, without consent, pawned the Shetland Isles. Thus
these ancient dependencies were lost to Norway, for they were never
redeemed, although each new king solemnly promised to do so.
King Christian died May 21, 1481, at the age of fifty-five years, and
lies buried at the Cathedral of Roskilde.