THE HISTORY or NATIONS NORWAY SWCDLN DLNMARK ROLF KRAKE, SURROUNDED BY HIS SMAA-KONGARS, SKALDS, VIKINGARS, AND THE BERSERKER- GANG, HOLDS COURT AT LEI RE Painting by August Malmstrom THE HISTORY OF NATIONS HENRY CABOT LODGE ,Ph.D,LL.D,,EDITOR-lN-CHIEF NORWAY SWEDEN AND DENMARK by L.C OTTL Edited by EDWARD SAMUEL CORWIN.PhD Instructor in History Princeton University POLAR RESEARCH G T. SURFACE Research Fellow in Geography University of Pennsylvania Volume XVI Illustrated The H .W. Snow and Son Company C }i i c a 9? o mux I). M( )KKis ,^- cr)Mi'.\xy 'I! 1 1" II. w. S\"n\v \- sr)X rf)M]\\\Y THE HISTORY OF NATIONS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF HENRY CABOT LODGE, PL.D., L.L.D. Associate Editors and Authors ARCHIBALD HENRY SAYCE, LL.D., Prolcssor of Assyriology, Oxford Uni- versity SIR ROBERT K. DOUGLAS, Professor of Chinese, King's College, Lon- don CHRISTOPHER JOHNSTON, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Oriental History and Archaeology, Johns Hopkins University C. W. C. OMAN, LL.D.. Professor of ilistory, Oxford University THEODOR MOMMSEN, Late Professor of Ancient History. Uni- versity of Berlin ARTHUR C. HOWLAND, Ph.D.. Dcfjarlrnent of History, University of Penn- svlvania JEREMIAH WHIPPLE JENKS. Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Political Economy and Pol- itics, Cornell University KANICHI ASAKAWA, Ph.D., Instructor in the History of Japanese Civilization, Yale University WILFRED HAROLD MUNRO, Ph.D., Professor of European History. Brown University G. MERCER ADAM, Historian and Editor FRED MORROW FLING, Ph.D., Professor of Euroj^ean History, University of Nebraska CHARLES MERIVALE, LL.D., Latn nean of Ely. formerly Lecturer in FRANCOIS AUGUSTE MARIE MIGNET. History, Cambridge University Late Member cf the French Academy J. HIGGINSON CABOT, Ph.D., Dc;)aitmcnt of History, Wcllcsley College JAMES WESTFALL THOMPSON, Ph.D.. Department of History, University of Cliicago SIR WILLIAM W. HUNTER, F.R.S , Labc Dircctor-C.ei-.cral of Statistics in India SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, LL.D., Professor of Modern History. King's Col- lege, London GEORGE M. DUTCHER, Ph.D., Professor of HiUory, ^Vcslcyan University R. W. JOYCE, LL.D., Commissioner for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of Ireland ASSOCIATE EDITORS AND AUTHORS-Continued JUSTIN McCarthy, ll.d. Author and Historian AUGUSTUS HUNT SHEARER, Ph.D.. Instructor in History, Trinity College" Hartford W. HAROLD CLAFLIN, B.A., Department of History, Harvard Uni- versity PAUL LOUIS LEGER, Professor of the Slav Languages, C(5llege de France WILLIAM E, LINGLEBACH, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of European History, University of Pennsylvania BAYARD TAYLOR, Former United States Minister to Germany CHARLES DANDLIKER, LL.D., President of Zurich University SIDNEY B. FAY, Ph.D., Professor of History, Dartmouth College ELBERT JAY BENTON, Ph.D., Department of History, Western Reserve University SIR EDWARD S. CREASY, Late Professor of History, University Col- lege, London ARCHIBALD CARY COOLIDGE, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University WILLIAM RICHARD MORFILL, M.A., Professor of Russian and other Slavonic Languages, Oxford University CHARLES EDMUND FRYER, Ph.D., Department of History, McGill University E. C. OTTE, Specialist on Scandinavian History J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., President Royal Geographical Society ALBERT GALLOWAY KELLER, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the Science of So- ciety, Yale University EDWARD JAMES PAYNE, M.A., Fellow of University College, Oxford PHILIP PATTERSON WELLS, Ph.D., Lecturer in History and Librarian of the Law School, Yale University FREDERICK ALBION OBER, Historian, Author and Traveler JAMES WILFORD GARNER, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois EDWARD S. CORWIN, Ph.D., Instructor in History, Princeton Uni- versity JOHN BACH McMASTER. Litt.D., LL.D., Professor of History, University of Penn- sylvania JAMES LAMONT PERKINS, Managmi Editor The editors and publishers desire to express their appreciation for valuable advice and suggestions received from the following: Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D., Alfred Thayer Mahan, D.C.L., LL.D., Hon. Charles Emory Smith, LL.D., Professor Edward Gaylord Bourne, Ph.D., Charles F. Thwing, LL.D., Dr. Emil Reich, William Elliot Griffis, LL.D., Professor John Martin Vincent, Ph.D., LL.D., Melvil Dewey, LL.D., Alston Ellis, LL.D., Professor Charles H. McCarthy, Ph.D., Professor Herman V. Ames, Ph.D., Professor Walter L. Fleming, Ph.D., Professor David Y. Thomas, Ph.D., Mr. Otto Reich and Mr. O. M. Dickerson. vii CONTENTS PART T THE MYTHICAL NORTH AND THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS 400 c.c. 1047 -^i'- CHAPTER PAGE I. The Primitive North ...... 3 II. Sagas axd Eddas Medleval Chronicles . . 7 III. The Emergence of Denmark. 70 B. C.-936 A. D. . 16 R'. Christianity in the Far North. 700-1047 . . 25 V. PIarald Haarfager and Scandinavian Expansion 863-1030 ........ 34 VI. Kings and Heroes of the Ynglingar Line in Nor- way. 863-1047 . . . . . .51 PART II SCANDINAVIA IN THE ^HDDLE AGES. 1047-1520 MI. Rise of the Church in Denmark under the Estrhjsens. i 047-1 134 ..... 67 \'III. Denmark's Age of Glory under the \'aldemars 1 134-1286 ........ 80 IN. Norway and S\vi:di-:n heforf, the Union of Calmar 1093-1397 97 N. Denmark and the Union of Calmar. 1286-1412 , 110 XI. A Centl'ky of Danish Domination. 1413-1520 . 126 PART in THE PERIOD 01' ABSOLL'TE MONARCHY. 1520-1771 XII. GusTAVus \'asa and the Swedish Revoli'tion. 1520- i5^^o 147 XIII. The Rise (^f Sweden into European Prominence. i;6o-i6ii ........ 161 X CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XI\'. GusTAVu.-^ Adolpiius and the Thirty Years' War i()ii-i(j4S 175 XV. Denmark in Eclipse. 1513-1648 .... 189 XVI. Sweden's Advance in Acquisitions and Prestige 1644-1697 ........ 204 XVII. The Great Northern War and the Decline of Absolute Power, i 697-1 771 . . . .214 XVIII. Benevolent Despotism in Denmark. 1648-1771 . 230 PART IV MODERN SCANDINAVIA. 1771-1910 XIX. Scandinavia in the Age of Political Revolution 1771-1844 247 XX. Slesvig-Holstein. 1839-1885 ..... 265 XXI. Constitutional Government in the three King- doms. 1844-1910 ...... 277 POLAR RESEARCH I. Arctic Regions ........ 295 II. Antarctic Reihons . v").")- III. The Present Situation ...... 33S Bibliography .......... 345 Index .......... 353 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Rolf Krake HOLDS Court AT Leire (Photogravure) Frontispiece EN j Karl von Linne Hans Christian Andersen Viking Marauders Conversion of the Danes VaLDEMAR IV. SACKS WiSBY Abdication of Gustavus Vasa The Body of Gustavus Adolpiius Carried to (colored) ...... Christina, Queen of Sweden Charles XII. during the Battle of Poltava Assassination of Gustavus III. Oscar II., King of Sweden FACING PAGE 12 114 Sweden 184 204 220 248 278 TEXT MAPS Denmark in the Age of the Vikings Scandinavian Exploration before the XIth Century The Baltic Lands, early XIIth Century United Scandinavia, circa 1400 Theater of the Swedish Revolution The Baltic Lands, XVIIth Century Scandinavia. 1638-1815 Russia's Acquisitions on the Baltic . The Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein Arctic Regions ..... The Circumpolar Stations Farthest North (1906) A. \"r arctic J-ii'iGiOxXS .... ]*kaky\s Route 1908-1909 Farthest North (1910) PAGE 17 43 84 123 153 177 208 253 271 296 319 323 333 339 340 PART I THE MYTHICAL NORTH AND THE AGE OF THE VIKINGS. 400 B. C.-1047 HISTORY OF NORWAY, SWEDEN, AND DENMARK Chapter I THE PRIMITIVE NORTH THE ancient Greeks and Romans had what seem to us very absurd ideas of the region in the north of Europe; for they thought that it was made up entirely of ice, snow, mists, clouds, and darkness, but that far beyond the north wind there lived a race of so-called Hyberboreans or Outside North- winders! The fable had it that these Hyberboreans were mortals living in perfect peace with their gods and among themselves, and dwelling in such a rich land and under such bright sunny skies that fruits and grains ripened there without the care of the husband- man. Plenty abounded everywhere. No one suffered pain or illness of any kind, and, therefore, since the old men and women in that blessed land did not die, as elsewhere, from disease or weak- ness, those who grew weary of existence put a speedy end to their lives by throwing themselves headlong from some high cliff into the sea, which opened to receive them, and then gently closed over their bodies. By degrees, however, men began to doubt whether mortals could find such charming abodes upon any part of this earth, even if they were lucky enough to get beyond the north wind; and so the belief in Hyperboreans died out. The most ancient account, of any historical value at all, that we possess of the north is that which has come down to us in abbreviated form from Pytheas, a Greek astronomer or trader, who lived in Marseilles at the time of Alexander the Great. Pytheas was sent by his government to inquire into the position and char- acter of the lands to the north from which the Phoenicians were bringing away amber and other products not obtainable nearer home. Plis voyage along the western coast of Europe was an 4) SCANDINAVIA enterprise of remarkable boldness. Considering the scant facili- ties of navigation in that age, it is hardly to be wondered at that his narrative was considerably scouted by men of a later day. Despite the ridicule of Strabo and others, however, Pytheas must have been what, in these days, we should call a scientific traveler, and the little that we know of his labors makes us feel that, wdiatever the ancients may have thought of him, he has given us the report of a careful obser\^er. But more than this, some of the very features of his narrative that Pythcas's critics most discountenanced, and most relied upon to cast discredit upon his whole report, have for us the greatest verisimilitude, and. therefore, the greatest claims to credence. This is especially true of his account of Thule, the most northerly land that he touched, and described by him as an island. Here the nights at midsummer were only two or three hours long. Here, also, amber was cast up by tlie sea in such abundance that the inhabitants used it for fuel. Finally, he described an extraordinary phenome- non, whicli he calls pncumon Thalass'ws or " lung of the sea." Pncumon TJialassios was of neither earth, sea, nor sky, but a blend- ing together of all three; a something in which land, water, and air seemed to float and mingle together, producing a heavy girdle round the shore, along which the feet of neither men nor animals could make their way, nor boats be moved by oars or sails. For a long while this extraordinary thing excited the wonder of all who read or heard of Pytheas's account of it. But the wonder has ceased since it has been discovered that the " lung of the sea" was a common name among the Greeks for the jelly-fish or Medusa, numbers of which abound in the waters of the Mediter- ranean, and mn.-it have been well known to the people of i\lar- seilles. 1 fence it has been not unreasonably conjectured that I'ythcas, wi-hing fn describe to his friends at home the ajjpcarance of ice noriting on ihc waters of the ocean, which tliev had never seen, (onii)ar('(l it lo ilie shoals of jelly-nsli wliich fringed their -!iores iti a h"\'ing girdle of moving, white, half-li'ansparcnt matter. 'I liU'-, though the identity of Tluile was for many centuries '; matter ot wild S])cculation, assuming in the Middle Ages somc- Ihiiiq- of the im])ortance that speculation as to the source of the .\ile did hrfore Stanley's discovery, and though its exact location iiiu^t ])( conceded still to !>(> cr)njcc1ural. yet, on the basis of tho^e <'} |"irti..n^ ',\ I lis narralixe which Strabo and oIIum's ihonHit THE PRIMITIVE NORTH 5 most ridiculous, we may conclude that Pytheas reached the land he set out for, and that that land was a portion of what we to-day call Scandinavia, According to Pytheas, the natives of a land a little to the south of Thule thrashed the grain, of which they made bread, in large roofed-in-buildings, where it was carefully stored away under cover, *' because the sun did not always shine there and the rain and the snow often came and spoiled the crops in the open air." These people, moreover, enclosed gardens, in which were grown hardy plants and berries, which the}'- used for food. They kept bees, and made a pleasant drink out of the honey. They were very eager to trade with the foreigners who came to their shores for amber, but keen in making a bargain, and always ready and well able to fight, if they thought themselves ill-used. This picture of the people of northern Europe, about the time that Alexander the Great was making his conquests, or more than two thousand two hundred years ago, proves to us, therefore, that they were not mere savages, but had already learned many useful arts. Modern archaeology is able to supplement and fill out Pytheas's narrative at many points, but of especial interest are the religious relics of the primitive Scandinavians, Undoubtedly, tliese ancient folks were Shamanists, and their religious practices, if not those of the Baal-worshipers of the Old Testament, were at least very like them. Thus they let their young children, as well as their cattle and all that they held precious, be passed through the fire of a Moloch- like divinity. They set up images of the sun, which they repre- sented under different forms, as circles, wheels, pillars, and similar figures, and they used great metal kettles in their sacrifices, remains of which have been dug up in different parts of northern Europe, and are exactly like those described in I, Kings, c. vii., as being made by Hiram, the Syrian, for Solomon's Temple. Indeed, traces of this faith are still to be found outside Scan- dinavia ; for. till very recent times, the country people in some parts of Ireland and Scotland, and even of England, had the custom of celebrating the return of midsummer-night on June 24 by dancing together round a large fire liglited on some high hill, or running three times through the fire to secure the fulfillment of a wish. These midsummer-night dances, which were known in Britain as Beltanes, were nothing but the remains of an earlier form of Baal- worship, persisting lonii; after their real meaning had l)ccn forgotten. 6 SCANDI^A^IA In our word yule we have another vestige of the former worship of Baal, or the sun, for yule once meant wheel, and the yule-tide of the ancient Northmen was the winter solstice in Decemher, when the young men with loud cries rolled a large wheel down hill to celebrate the death of the old, and the birth of the new, year; a wheel being, in their eyes, an emblem of the year, or the sun. Long after Christmas Day had taken the place of the old yule-tide, and men had bcc<^me Christians, they still continued their Decem- ber wheel-runnings, without knowing why, but simply because their f(^refathers had di^ne it before them. Even November 5 is still celebrated throughout southern England with bonfires and the like, and not so much because " gunpowder plot and treason " were foiled on that day, as because of an unconscious reminiscence of the Druidical obeisance to fire. To the time of these primitive people and practices the archae- ologists give the name of the Bronze Age, because of the substance of the weapons and utensils that have been recovered from that re- mote ej)och. E.vcntually the people of the Bronze Age were dispos- sessed of their lands in Scandinavia by a people who used iron weapons, namely, one of the German tribes, who, even before the year 500 v,. c, had begun to crowd from the East into the vast region lying between the Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Europe, l^lie particular tribe of Germans who effected the conquest of Scan- dinavia were the northern Goths. This j)co])le. in the course of the second ccntiu'y v.. c, reached the southern shores of the 13altic. Gradurdly they forced their way up into what is to-day Denmark, and thence acrr)ss into sotithcrn Norway and Sweden. At the time when the Cimbri and Teutons, the advance guard and forlorn hope fif the German in\asif)n of Rome, were being encompassed and de- stroyed in nortlicrn Italy by the Consul ]\Iarius. the Goths A\'cre succcs.-fu]1\- con"i])leting their occupation of Scan(lina\-ia. A few. howc\er. of the ])rimitive tribes lying to the northeast, across the lialtic, remained com])aratively imaffectcd bv tlie ("lotliic invasion. Tlie.-e became the progenitors of the modern Lapps and l'"inns. Chapter II SAGAS AND EDDAS MEDIAEVAL CHRONICLES OUR sources of knowledge of the Scandinavian invaders, or ' Northmen, as we may now call them, are of two sorts : the accounts of contemporaries and the literary remains of the Northmen themselves. The German tribes beyond the Rhine and Danube were, from the time of Augustus, pressing the northern frontier of the Roman empire more tumultuously from year to year. Inevitably the interest of the Romans was directed north- ward, Tacitus, in his " Gcrmania/' treats of the barbarians in general, of their customs, religion, and political organization, and writes for a moral purpose, via., to emphasize German purity, in contrast to the laxity and viciousness which he felt sure foredoomed Rome to destruction. Several centuries later Jornandes, the Visi- goth, writes in crude and ungrammatical Latin a more particular account of his own people, close kindred of the Northmen, Much later still is King Alfred's translation of the historian Orosius, in his introduction to w'hich the great king reduces to writing his conversations with two travelers from Scandinavia, Wulfstan and Ohthere by name. Finally, a frail thread of real historical narra- tive may be gathered from the works of contemporary, but alien, chroniclers of the early Middle Ages. The Scandinavian sources are threefold : compilations, sagas, and runic inscriptions. First of the compilations is the great the- saurus of Danish myth and tradition, from the pen of a pious monk of the twelfth century, the learned Saxo, surnamed Gram- maticus. Saxo and his friend Svend Aagesen, encouraged by their patron Absalon, greatest of the primates of Denmark, set about to compose a history of their native country by collecting and writing out all the songs and tales that still lived among the peo])le. Of the sixteen books of this work, nine arc entirely mythical, even to tlie pretended lists of kings, but in furnishing' us a record of what the Danes themselves believed to be their early history, they afford indirectly material that is often of great historical value, 7 8 s r A X D I X A y I A ("cmparablc willi Saxo's c 'inpilalion is tlie curious work llial we owe to llie patriotic /cal of Jcliaiincs Mao-iius. Arclt1.)isliop of L'p- .^ala. in the sixteenth century. " The liistory of the (ioths and Swedes " is. howexer. of chstinctly less value, even as a storehouse of folklore, tlian the " History of Denmark." from which it is largely plagiarized, its narrative being vitiated by the futile en- deavors of its author to trace analogies between Scandinavian chronologv and that of the Bible. The absurdity of Johannes" enterprise became evident when the '' Iltiinskrin^la " was rendered available to Europeans Ijv the scholar, Resenius. in the seventeenth century. This remarkable book is a compilation of the sagas of the kings of X^'orway down to the thirteenth century, and the work of a remarkable man. Snorre Sturleson, who was one of the leading figures in Iceland about the year 1220. To him is also attributed the collectif Scandinax'ia in the eighth century, and transmitted trom generation to generation of sk.alds centuries before they were reduced to writing. The skalds came thus to constittite a ]:)rofes- -ion. who->e ftmction was partly that of entertainment of royalty r-ome "^ang their la}-s before the Bvzantine cm^ierors but cliietly tliat ot national historiographers. Their mar\-elous attainments in tlie art of recitation, th.eir sheer feats of memory excited the ad- nu'ration e\en of contemporaries. Thus it is recorded tliat one recited -ixty lays in a single night, yet declared that he knew as many nioi-c. Monarclis were eager to honor those who had it in then- jiowcr to ])er])etuate a rowal name witli fame or obloipiy or to leave it to -ink into obh'vion. Thus tliew elevated their coteries of d;ald> to the liighe-t oflices. gave them their daughters in mar- riage. ;.:!'l e; en emulaled tliem in their high calling. The Christian zeal ot M. ()]:\\. kMig of Xorway in the mi in tlic latter ' L;ivi-^e4\.;mibaii(l, " li'uslnirc (iciicrai'," \'ol, I [., p, ;\;j. 10 S C A N D I X A ^ I A guise that the Eddas present him The beautiful son of Bor, by the daughter of a Yotun, one of the primeval giants, he slew the most terrible of tiiese giants, Ynier by name, and from the huge carcass of his victim created the earth, which he set between Xifl- hcim, the rcahn (if iYo ])nr-r.cd tlie life tliey had loved best on earth, fought their battles o\-er again, li-;tencfl to tlie songs of past victories, and feasted ii'getlK'r witlicnt sorrow or ]iain to disturb them. Odin was sii])- ])o-cd to award his s];ecial fa\'ors to those warrinrs who br(jught ;';rii<'ns blood t'cud, and this in turn to the practice of ("'impounding with money and goods f(^r injuries indicted the \\ ergild. At the same time the piratical crafts of innumerable small chieftains were dn-olid.'iting into the considerable fleets of great leader-, who were willing to venture over seas on grand enterpri>es against the nations to the south. This is the age of the Vikings, tlie rc;il -t'a-ro\cr-. 'ITc v 11. Luminais SAGAS AND EDD AS 13 ments of particular Viking leaders will be recited; we may, how- ever, at the moment, consider in a general way the spirit or moral disposition of the northern invaders of the south, the motives that prompted their enterprises, and the results that came out of them for the Northmen themselves. What were the motives that impelled the Northmen to their enterprise? An expanding population at home in the face of an inefficient agriculture, taken together with the growing discontent of the jarls at the developing monarchies, may have suggested the idea of following the example of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and of seeking a home in regions outside Scandinavia. The idea of settlement, however, was comparatively late and arose out of the earlier expeditions, rather than caused them. The love which for a long time the early Northmen bore to their homes and to the religious customs and social habits of their country brought them, at the end of the short summer's cruise, back to the north, where they spent the winter months in repairing- their shattered barks, collecting fresh crews, planning new expeditions, and feast- ing among their kindred upon the rich plunder they had made on their latest voyage. Some writers, reluctant to look upon the Vikings, who pos- sessed so much innate nobility, as mere pirates, have ascribed to their raids the character of a pagan crusade, to which the worship- ers of Odin were startled by Charlemagne's attempt to Christianize Saxony by fire and sword. This motive, too, may have been pres- ent, but it was comparatively weak and never rose to distinct con- scious expression. What the Viking* sought was treasure. The amassing of treasure was, as we have seen, the one great service to Odin. The whole plot of the " NibclungciiUcd " turns on the pos- session of a mighty treasure, whose acquisition is of the character of a religious dutv, calling for heroic sacrifice ; the cosmologv of the Edda gives an important place to the treasures of the earth ; a northern myth represents gold as a witch, whom the gods souglit to burn, but only made more attractive by refining it. Thus, the Vikings visited the British coasts and sailed up tlie French rivers primarily for the purpose of pillage, but to pillage was a labor invested with religious sanction and bearing the approval of the Viking Alfadir. The dragon ship, rimmed round with battle shields and feel- ing its way through the fogs and mists of tiie norlh. well S}-mb(,li/:cs 14 SCANDINAVIA the mingled gloom and heroism of the Viking-. The Viking was courageous in battle beyond all description, but attending his cour- age was a deceit and treacliery to the foe that knew no ruth. His love of carnage amounted actually to spiritual exaltation. " We hewed with swords. We reddened our swords far and Avide. It was not like love play when we were splitting helms. IMightv was the onset. High rose the noise of spears. . . . They hewed with their axes. . . . Through the morning they fought, through the first watches and till afternoon. The field was aswim with blood." Slaughter had to the Scandinavian mind even something of humor about it. We hear of one of the leader's receiving the epithet Born " Child " because he had been so tender-hearted as to try to stop the sport of his followers, wlio were tossing young children into the air and catching them on their spears. The dominant intellectual mood of the Vikings, however, was not humor; rather it was the gloom of fatalism, tinged with re- ligious devotion. They felt the pathos of the brevity of life as compared with a great will to achieve. Said the Northumbrian chieftain : " O King, what is this life of man? Is it not as a spar- row's flight through the hall when one sits at meat of an evening in wintertide? Within is light and warmth and song; without cold, darkness, and icy rain. Then the sparrow flies in at one door, tarries a moment in the warmth, anil tlicn, flying forth frcjm the other door, vanishes again into the dark. Such, O King, seems the life of man." Yet the fact that life is transient does not lessen the duty of effort, rather it enjoins it. Says Beowulf, about to encounter the monster Grendel : "Each man nnist abide tlie end of his lifework; then let him that may work, work his doomed deeds ere night come." Though in the crid henx's, demons, and gods, all exce])t Odin, will go down before the ])o\vcrs of e\il. the noble soul will strive, unfaltering and undisnia}-ed. vSays tiie dying r.eowulf: ''Time's changes and clirmces I have al)ided ; held my own fairly. , . . So, for all tin's may I glad be ;it heart now, sick though T sit here, wounded with death-wounds!" "Jdfc wa.i built not on tlie hope of a hereafter, but on the proud self-conM-ionsiR"-^ of udIjIc souls."' The e.\])L'(litious of the \'ilsi;i, to the west the Xcjrse l. i:^ ccnnpri^ed of that group of islaiids between Sweden and continental Denmark which we know under tlie names or .Sjaelland, h'unen or Fyen, Laaland, Falster, Eangeland ; also, the i)ro\'inces of Skaania and Bleking, on the eastern or Swedish side of the .^ound, for these, in earlv times, formed part of tlie ]")ani-h monarchv, and for many ages after the iniro(hictip;p; to receive his pledge of iulelity. the latter wrenched awa}" th.e v^'capon and plunged it into lljartvar's heart. lie then met his own death at the hands of the men of Ocland, without uttering a cry or flinching a step. With Rolf fell al-o his twelve " Berserker," the bravest of the brave, taking their name from a practice they had of working th.emsclvcs u\) into a frenzy of rage before a battle, in the ci nu'se of which, oblix'inus alike of heat c)r cold, they usually stripj)ed t;iemsei\-es down to their Ixire s;irk-^, and went furiously plunging- at everything in sight, the " bcrscrkcr-n^tniL;;." Tike the ancient Greeks, the Northmen had a batlle-])lain on whicli, according to their best-loved mytlis. tlieir gods and go(l(k's>es shared the foinunes of war \vith mortal warriors. Soandina\-ia"s Troy was in l'".a-t (iiiiM.and. at I'.rawalla, near ilie i\i\-er llraa. I lere, witln'n ^ight of tlie ln.^tile lleets that lay ninijred in tlie Baltic, gods and nicn arc; said to ha\-e mingled in etlier mrjlivc than the usual one of i)illagc; so that Jiere. as in many cjiher instancs. it is altogether impossible to reconcile the accounts given by norllicrn and luiglish authorities in regard to the same ])ersons and evcnt^. Trntli and falsehood seem to be so intimately mingled in the earlv history nf the Danes and clii-onoliigy so thoroughly set at defiance, that it is hopeless to attem])t to make the narrative that Saxo gives us accord with accounts i)\ alien ciironiclers. llic red ]]istr)ry of Denmark !)egins when political consolida- tion ha-; gone far enough to afford leaders of veritable military e'q)cditions again-1 tbc l^-ankish monarchy to the south. Such a leader w,-^ ('h'Viu ik'u C.-mile. the Old. ^60-03^). of wlioni tlie EMERGENCE OF DENMARK 21 860-936 Prankish chroniclers have much to tell. Gorm is said to have been the son of a Norwegian chief of royal descent, Hardegon, or Hardeknnd, as some give his name, a fierce pagan warrior, who, wishing to better his fortune, had looked about him to see where there was a small kingdom to be gained by fighting for it. Luckily for himself he made choice of Leire, also called Ledra, in the fruit- ful Danish Islar.d of Sjaelland. The country was in a worse state than usual, which is saying a good deal, and Hardegon did not find it a difficult task to make himself master of it and to turn out the rightful king, young Siegric, who had only just recovered his throne from two earlier usurpers. The people seem to have been content with Hardegon and when he died received his son, Gorm, as their king, as a matter of course. If Leire had been only a small kingdom, like the many others states belonging to the smaa-kongar of the Danish Isles, Gorm might never, perhaps, have been heard of in history, and, certainly, would not have found it so easy to make himself king of all Den- mark. On the contrary, however, it was looked upon as one of the most sacred spots in tlie north, for it was there tliat great sacrifices to Odin v^ere ofi^ered at yule-tide, or, as some writers say, in early spring. At one or the other of these seasons the wor- shipers of the Alfadir came from every part of the north of Europe to participate in the ceremonies that were due and to offer gifts of silver and gold, precious stones, and costly stuffs to the twelve high priests of whom the King of Leire was ahva^'s the cliief. Such offerings as these could, of course, only be made by the very richest men, that is, by those chiefs wlio had been attended by the greatest fortune on tlieir pillaging expeditions against the people of Gaul. Germany, and Italy. But all persons, whether poor or rich, were expected to bring to Odin's temple a liorse, or a dog, or a cock, lor these animals were counted sacred to him, and were killed in large numbers to do him honor at his yearly festi\als. Every ninth year, moreover, still more solemn services were enacted, the culminating solemnity being, oftentimes, a human sacrifice. Thus young Gorm, from being merely brave, clever, and am- bitious, was able, by virtue of his post as chief pontiff, to become wealthy also, and to extend his dominions beyond the l^oundarics that his father liad c^tabli-^hcd. 22 S C A N D I N xV V I A 860-935 Before the close of his reign he had become king of all Den- mark ; not merely the ruler of a small kingdom, but the one monarch of Jutland, Slesvig, part of Holstein, Sjaelland, Fven, Falster, Laaland, and all the many other islands occupied by the Danes be- tween Germany and Sweden. ^Moreover, he controlled some por- tions of Xorwr.y and the Swedish provinces of Bleking and Skaania, which cnntin.ued for several hundred years after his time to be a part of Denmark. How he transformed his small state into a great kingdom no one knows. The writers of Danish history say tliat he did it by buying one bit of land, bartering for another, seizing upon one district and getting another given to him, and so on, but this does not make his success very clear to us. We know only this much, that Gorm the Old, who began life as the landless son of a poor, although nobly born Norwegian sea-rover, ended his days as king of a Denmark which was larger in tliat age than the Den- mark of our own times, and that a part of his good fortune is to be ascribed to the union in his own person of the functions of priest and king ()\'er a district in'iportant to pagan. Scandinax-ia. The tale of his achievements as a V^iking is more circumstantial. He went early on a cruise along the coasts of tlie JKiltic and even joined some of his countrymen in a hostile incursion into Gar- derike or Ivussia, where- they had made their v/ay to Smolensk and Kiev, pillaging and conquering as they went. Xcxt we hear of him in the year FS2 in Germany, where he was one of the chief captains of a band of daring Xorth.mcn who had entrenched th.cm- selves at a place called Aschloo on the River ^laas. I-^rom this place they sallied forth and laid waste everythin.g far and near, setting fire to ]\Iaestricht, Louvaine, and Tongern, from whose ruins their course might be tracked by the barren fields and burned homesteads on the roads to Julich and Aix-la-Chapclle. At tlic latter place tlicy stalled their horses in the beautiful cliai)el wliere the great C'!iand-\', ritlen bool-:, rmd e\'crv \-C'-Lment that tlicy teries of Triin, Stablo. and Malniedv, killed or EMERGENCE OF DENMARK 23 860-936 made captive some of tlie monks, and boldly bade defiance to the army which advanced toward Aschloo to destroy their entrench- ments. The emperor, Charles the Fat, had brought an enormous array of Prankish, Bavarian, Suabian, and Saxon troops against tliem. But, in the face of this overwhelming force, the Danes were able to persuade the emperor, on their promising that they would be baptized, not to strike a blow against them, but to pay them two thousand pounds of silver and gold. Having found how easy it was to blackmail his imperial highness, the Vikings simply repeated their tactics from time to time, remaining in safe quarters till they had secured such a large booty that it required two hundred ships to carry it away. Viking expeditions into the realms of Charles the Fat now be- came an extremely popular enterprise with the Danes, for Charles, with a fine instinct of hospitality, presently eiiacted that anyone who killed a Northman should haye his eyes put out, or even forfeit his life. The Danes wxre at first hardly able to credit the news of tin's maiwelous piece of legislation, but as events convinced them of its truth, their insolence became unmeasured ; twelve thousand pounds of silver now became the price of a very short peace. Finally, in the autumn of 885 a. d. Gorm and another great Viking leader, Siegfried, appeared before Paris vrith 700 vessels and 40,000 men. Passage up the Seine being refused them, they laid siege to the city for fifteen montlis, the unfortunate Parisians hav- ing been left to their own resources by their tardy and pusillanimous emperor. At last, in October, 886, Charles the Fat arrived with a great array; not to incur the perils of battle, however, but to follow once more the unhappy precedents of tlie previous years. In March, 887, the Vikings received seven hundred pounds of siU'^r and withdrew. In the meantime, French and Germans alike had grown weary of their feeble and ineffective rulers, and the latter had chosen a certain Arnulf king, while the election of the former had settled upon brave Count Odo of l\aris, vrlio had been the leader and mainstay of that city's resistance to the Northmen before Charles had arrived to lure the assailants away by a bribe. Their new rulers installed, affairs began to wear a different face. At the battle of Louvaine, in 89 t, the Norihnicn were tlioroughly trounced by /\rniilf, sixteen of tlieir ro}'.'d slnndards were caj)tnrc(l, and llieir leader, vSic'^'fried, Avas left on t'lc held, 'i'iic (jcrnian chroniclers 24 S C A X D 1 X A X I A 860-936 assert that the waters of the River Dyle were red with the blood of hundreds of thousands of slain Northmen, while but one man was missing from the German ranks when Arnulf. with beat of drum, called together his troops after the battle to hear the priests chant a Tc Dcum in celebration of the victory. Gorm the Old, however, managed to escape with a remnant of the X^'orthmen and eventually to make his way back to Denmark. It may be even conjectured that he was not greatly distressed at the timely taking off of rival leaders, since their failure made his success stand out the more sharply to followers, who demanded results of th.eir leader, and since the field was cleared at home for the further expansion of his sway from Leire. Chapter IV CHRISTIANITY IN THE FAR NORTH. ,700-1047 PERHAPS Charles the Fat's scrupulous demand that the pagan pillagers of his dominions should receive baptism, before he would hand over to them a Christian monarch's bribe, may be regarded as one step in the conversion of the Scan- dinavian north to Christianity. It was not. however, the first step. Nearly two hundred years before, Willibrod, the Anglo-Saxon, had ventured on a mission even as far north as Jutland. Shortly before 800 Charlemagne, having completed the conquest of the Saxons, founded the bishopric of Bremen. But the real hero of Scandinavian Christianity is Anscarius, the Apostle of the North. Louis le Debonnaire, the Pious, the lugubrious-minded son and successor of Charlemagne, permitted his vast empire to fall rapidly into decay. One consequence of this sorry process, as well as accelerating cause, was the exposure of the Prankish realm to the incursions of the pagan Northmen, a late example of which we had in Gorm's expedition against Paris. Turning from his self- inflicted flagellations and penances to the more real woes of his people, Louis conceived the characteristic idea that the conquest of the Invader should be by the cross, rather than by the sword. Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims. shared his monarch's views, and in an early year of the latter's reign, having secured the consent of the Pope, undertook in person to conduct a mission into the far north. Dismayed by the savagery of Slesvig', which was the remotest ret^-ion into which he penetrated, he presently re- turned to his see, accompanied, however, by a royal proselyte named Harald Klak, who, logetlicr with his family and followers, when the imperial court was reached, swore at the altar of St. Alban's church in Mainz to abjure paganism and to forsake the devil and all his works, together with " all the works and words of the devil, Thor and Odin and all the ungodly ones who are their helpers." The converts then received baptism, the emperor him- self and tlic empress, Judith standing sponsors. Upon the return of llarald to Jutland, which presently oc- 26 SCANDINAVIA 700-829 curred, Louis summoned a council of clergy and laymen to consider the problem of pushing to completion the work thus begun. For a long time, however, nothing was done-, since no one could be found audacious enough to venture amid such terrible heathen, while the emperor, on the other hand, was determined that mis- sionary service should be entirely voluntary, declaring that " in so great a work the laborers must go willingly and not because of compulsion." At last the emperor's cousin, Walo, abbot of Corvey. announced that he had discovered a young monk who was both willing and able to endure all hardships in the cause of Christ, who had long been blessed by holy dreams, and whose heart was set on thiC hope of earning for himself a martyr's crown of glory. " Send for this holy brother with all speed, good cousin," said Louis, vvhen he heard this report. Accordingly, the young monk was brought before the emperor who eagerly equipped him for his perilous venture and showed liim much honor. Of noble origin, Anscarius seems to have been, nevertheless, a man of deep humility, for he is said to have scrupled always to demand of the monks, subject to his direction, any menial service without sharing the burden with them. Of his intrepidity of char- acter there can be no doubt. In 827 he and a brother monk set sail for Slesvig, where, after undergoing many perils, they at last landed at riedeby. and at once began the work of conversion by purchasing young slaves, probably captives of war. and baptizing them. Their success Vv'as, however, of short duration, for hardly had they reached ITedeby when their royal patron was dispossessed of his throne and forced to flee to Oldenburg, whither Anscarius and his companion were compelled to follow him. abandoning their con- verts to the tender mercies of the triumpliant pagans. Meanwhile, another opportunitv presented itself for missionary labor in a yet more remote region than the one just closed to Chris- tianity. In 829 I'jjorn, King oi the Upper Swedes, dispatclied a letter composed in runic characters to ilic emjieror, im])loring Iiim to send s'^me Christian mf)nks into Sweden. Anscirius imme- diately uuflcrtook tlie mission, accompanying a carawm of nier- clirmts on it-^ w;iy to tlie annual fair at vSigtuna. Tn its ]);!ss,'ige of tlie i'altic the part}- v^as ;:tt;ickcd bv jiirrttcs, who ])lun'!crc(l them (>\ nio^t of llicir (Tfccts, includiii!.'; forlx- m:inuscri])t V'llrjncs of sacred litci"atiu"c, whicli the cin])('ni'' liad bc-lowcil ni)on .\ns(,-arius and his associates, and fmalK' ])Ut thern cmi shore, sick, hungry, and CHRISTIANITY 27 829-865 naked. In this wretched plight and not knowing- a word of the language, they made their way across lakes that seemed to them vast seas, through forests infested with bears and wolves, and over snow-covered mountains, till they reached the port of Birka, where they were well received by King Bjorn and his people and allowed to preach and to baptize all who wished to become Chris- tians. A rich Swedish noble even built a church for the converts, and Anscarius remained among the Svea for many months, con- verting and baptizing" a great number of persons. As soon, hov,'- ever, as he went away, the new religion fell into neglect, and when, in 853, he returned to vSweden, although he was given permission by the Ting allra Gota, the diet of the Goths, to expound Christian- ity for a time, the people were so fearful of bringing down the wrath of their gods upon their own heads if they listened to the new doctrine that presently Anscarius found it well to depart ; and for seventy years no Christian preacher appeared to challenge the right of Odin to the devotion of his worshipers. Several years previous to this episode, however, the emperor, well pleased with the success of Anscarius's initial mission, had founded the archbishopric of Hamburg, including the entire north, and had elevated Anscarius to the metropolitanate. At the same time Gregory IV. made him Papal legate to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, At this period Hamburg was but a poor fishing ham- let set in a pagan region, so that the archiepiscopal palace was only a hut, the cathedral a shed, and the archbishop himself was forced to eke out the scant revenues of his see by making nets and sails. Nor was this all. For about 845 a fleet of pagan Danes sailed up the Elbe and applied the torch to Hamburg. Later, however, Anscarius ventured into the heart of the Danish country, meeting with considerable success. But for the most part, except for the journey to Sweden, already mentioned, he spent his declining years till his death in 865 at Bremen, which was now a part of his own see and which was fairly secure from Viking raids. " acquiring a stock of personal sanctity by those acts of self-mortification whicli in that age were considered so meritorious. He was canonized by Papal authority, festivals were instigated in honor of his mem- ory, and churches built to perpetuate his name." ^ Also miraculous cures were ascribed to tlie virtues of his tomb. Thus Christianity was carried into the far north. The sac- rifice of the temple gave way to tlie incense of the cathedral. Tlie ^ Cricliton and W'lieaton, " Scandinavia," vol. I., p. 123. 28 S C A X D I N A A" I A 865-936 good demons or elves of the pagan faith became Cliristian angels, the evil spirit Loki became Satan, the hammer of Thor, the god of thunder and of war, became identified with the cross of Christ, while Christ himself took the place of Balder, whom Loki had treacherously slain. But this was not all at once. There were numerous pagan reactions, resulting in the conflagration of churches and the slaughter of missionaries. The uncurbed Northmen girded at the restraints imposed by the new faith. A Christian could not be a Viking. He must renounce the right of private feud, polyg- amy, the exposure of the newly born; and submit to other re- trenchments of previous license. This fact it is. rather than any great enthusiasm for pagan gods, which explains the opposition offered the Christian propaganda on the part of the jarls. On the other hand, the tenacity with which the peasantry, particularly of Norway, clung to the ancient beliefs must be regarded as genuine. Paganism was still a force to be reckoned with in the north, even in the last quarter of the eleventh century, when Adam of Bremen wrote. Returning now to Gorm the Old, in connection with the general theme of the conversion of Scandinavia, we find that while his queen, Thyra. whose popularity with the people is indicated by the fond epithet Danebod, was Christian. Gorm, on the other hand, continued to the day of his death a staunch pagan, and. it would appear from Saxo Grammaticus. a relentless persecutor of the new faith, wherever he found it outside the four walls of the queen's cha])el. He thus won the enmity of the chroniclers, who call him the " church's worm," and, what was more important, the hostility (jf Henry the Fowler, who seems to have wrested Slesvig from him and to have compelled him to admit Christian missionaries, among whom was Unni, Archbishop of Bremen, to his oilier dominions to restore the churches which he had allowed his pagan followers to dcstrov. and, lastlv, to agree that Prince Harald should be prim signed, that is, signed with the cross, a rite which vested the person undergoing it with the benefits of the new faith without requiring apostasy to the (^Id. In qT^C) r^orm died from grief, it is said, for the death of his son Knud. He was succeeded by his son, Harald Blaatand. or Blue Tooth," Vvho was believed by the people to have been the -IfaraUl caused two grave niouiuls. one of too feet and llie otlier of 50 feet in licic^ht, to be erected at Je!lin'4e, in tlie district nf l^ihe in Jutland, in Iionor CHRIS T I A N 1 T Y 29 936-975 murderer of his brotlicr. Tt seems certain that Harald was of a cruel and crafty nature. Tlius, when his ncpliew. Guld or Gold- Harald, demanded part of the king-dom in right of his father. Knud, Harald put him off by promising to help him conquer Nor- way. Afterward, having enticed the Norwegian king, Harald Graafell, to his court, on pretense of wishing to send cattle and corn into Norway, where there was a famine at the time, he in- duced Guld-Harald to slay him, but instead of fulfilling his prom- ises to his nephew, he sent for the Norw^egian traitor, Hakon Jarl. with whom he had formed a secret compact, and helped him to obtain Norway on condition that he should rule as a vassal to him of the Blue Tooth. Hakon Jarl at first paid the required taxes to Denmark and acknowledged Harald as sovereign in Norway, but when the Danish king, with characteristic treachery, refused to share with him, as he had promised to do, any of the treasure of Guld-Harald, wdio had now, also, met a violent death at his uncle's instigation, Hakon quarreled w'ith him, and proceeded to make effective a declaration of independence. Harald Blaatand was the first monarch of Denmark to profess Christianity openly. The initial circumstances of his conversion we have noted, but it was only toward the close of his reign that he allowed himself, together wdth his queen and his son Svend. to be publicly baptized by a German bishop, Poppo by name, who is reported by legend to have wrought some astounding" miracles and thereby to have effected the conversion of a host of Danes. Harald ver}^ early removed his court from Leire, whose powerful pagan associations he discreetly decided not to combat, to Roeskilde, where he erected a cathedral to the Trinity. Soon after his bap- tism bishoprics were established at Aarhus, Ribe, and Slesvig. Under color of his imperial authority Otto T. granted charters to the prelates of these sees, conferring- immunity from all payments and services to the Danish crown. Harald now determined to seize the episcopal lands, with the result that in 975 the emperor marched with a large army into Holstein, and through the treachery of Hakon Jarl, who had been called upon to aid the king, burned of liis fatlier Gorm and his mother Tliyra. This is recorded in runic letters upon a large stone that once stood on the lower mound, which is supposed to have enclosed the remains of the queen. Thc^e high motmds, which still exist, have been found to contain rooms, in which were stored away small silver and gilt cups and other things that might have been used by the king and queen in their everyday life. 30 S C A N D I N A V I A 975-985 the Dannevirke " and overran Slesvig and Jutland. Ilarald was forced to admit himself the cmi)cror's tributary and to agree to leave the three bishops unmolested. Svend, Harald's single surviving son, though he shared baptism v.ith his parents, was at heart thoroughly devoted to the old wor- shiip. Like many another prince in those times he had been sent to a warrior of renov.-n to recei\-e his military training. It was from his tutor, I'alnatoke, that Svend imbibed his paganism and his detestation of Christianity. Tiie parent, however, was not to be outdone by the teacher, but pkmned. if we are to believe Saxo Grammaticus, a re\-enge. which Ijccause of its calculated cruelty has given rise to one of the most famous t;des of folklore. According to Saxo, one day, when Palnatoke was boasting before the king of his skill in archery. Ilarald told him that, for all his boasting, he was confident there was one shot which he would not venture to attempt. The latter replied that there was no shot which he would not venture; whereupon, the king ordered him to slioot an apple off the head of his eldest son, Aage. i'al- natoke obeyed. The arrow entered the apple, and the boy escaped unhurt, but liis father, enraged at this and other proofs of Harald's cruel trcaciicry, became his sworn foe, vv'itlidrawing soon after to the little Island of W'ollin. in Pomerrmia. He gathered round him a band oi pagan Vikings and founded th.e brotherhood of Jcjm.-^bnrg, wh.ich for many years proved a frightful scc;urge to all the Christian lands adjoining the Paltic Sea, rmd reminds one for all the V\'orld of the West Indian pinaticad brotherhoods of the sev- enteenth century. Harald, after a lono- reign, during which he more tlian cjuce carried ships ajid men to X(-)rmandy to aid the young Dr.ke ]\ichard against tlic JM-ench king, died in 985 from the eftects (jf :i wouiid \\'hich he received in battle with Ids ]iagan son Svend arid I'a.lnatoke. It is reported that Svend himself slew his father on the battle'ield, wiiile l\alnatoke stood by. The old king's ;lcath did not, liowexcr, bring these men the good they had hoped from it. In^ie.'id. 't slirred up strife i)etwcen them, and to the end of hi.^ days Svciid, called Tveskaeg or " Cleft beard,'' had no worse ]i>cs than raln.-'.liiKc aiid the men of jrinisborg. "'riu' DaiMK-.irkr-. .. -trnni^ly fortifio] \vr:!!, nf c;irtl! ;in(I stnne, was built at tlu- (irilcr < ,i [y-.ryi] TIiM-a, i;i an interval of ono of (ionii's Vikin^j cxpedi- I1011-. it cx!r;,,lr(] fnai) tlu- Sclkrr >.'orr on tli<' Slic to Ilollin'-^'-tad 0:1 llic 'I ;( cm-, was from forty-live to seventy-live feet high, and took tliree years ia CHRISTIANITY '31 985-1035 The reign of Svend Tveskaeg, " the Cleft Bearded," marks the beginning of Denmark's great period. Svend himself defeated tlie Swedes, N^orwegians, and Wends, and as the Sv/e}a\ who invaded England he first eompelled Ethelred the Unready to pay the Danegeld, then drove him from the land, making himself master of the greater part of England. His death occurred suddenly at Gainsborough, in loizj.. His immediate successor was his younger son, Harald, who had reigned but four 3'ears, however, when his death brought another son, Knud, to the Danish throne. Already in the year 1014 Knud, " armed with a tliousand great ships," as .-Vdam of Bremen has it, had crossed tiie sea to Britain, and by the year 1018 had effected the conquest of the English monarchy, and, as Canute the Great, had founded the short-lived line of Danish rulers of that country. The story of this achievement belongs to English history; its results, hoAvever, were of immense importance to Denmpa-k. At the time of Knud's accession, of his 800,000 Danish subjects, 400,000 were still pagans. A Christian himself, Kiiud caused the Christian religion to be made the faith of the nation and the rem- nants of tlie worsliip of Odin to be extirpated from cill the provinces. In the settlement of the affairs of tlie church English bishops v/ere set over the Danish clergy. In every way Knud shovvcd his par- tiality for his Anglo-Saxon dominion, and liis eager acceptance of its arts and civilization. Workmen of every trade were brougiit from England and made the tutors of the Danes. In short, Knud made Denmark a second England. Nor vv^as the iniiuence of Anglo-Saxon civilization restricted to Denmark. For Knucl's suc- cessful wars in Sweden and Norway disseminated it throughout the entire north. When King Knud died, in 1035, the miaster of six so-calle^l Idngdoms namely England, Denmark, Sweden, Norv;ay, Scot- land, and Cumberland he was not more than thirty-six. This was an early age at which to have made so m;uiy conr[ucsts, for Denmark was the onJy one of his states that h.e had not gained for himself by force of arms; and when we rc-ul of :dl th.'it he did to improve the conrlition of his sui)jects, and of the (juiet anul order which reigned in hhigland imder him. ^ve caiUiot wonder " Holy Roman Hnipirc,'" p. 78, cigluh (.-dition. Chapter V HARAI.D HAARFAGER AND SCANDINAVIAN EXPANSION. 863-1030 WKDEN nnd Xorwny were very little known to the rest of the VvTirld before tlie h.ej^^innino- of the eleventh cen- tury. This may liave been due to their .(greater distance from civilized lands or to the rig'or of tlie climate, which closed their harbors frir mar.y months in tlie year and made those nigged parts of Scandinavia unattractive to strangers, or to both these things. Tlie D;mes were, in fact, for many ages the only one of the north- ern nati: ms known to Christian Europe, and although it is very ])robabie that Svs'er^es, and after a time Xorv/egians also, took part in the great Danish invasions of England and of the Frankish empire, they were all included by tlie people of those countries un- der tiiC corivmon name of Northmen, or Danes. And, as all the three riorthern nations continued to speak- tiie " P^ihisk tnnga" n)anish to--!gue), to follow the same forms of religion, and to evince tlie same spirit of ferocity, courage, ar.d daring long after tliey h.r.d separated and formed rlistinct kingdoms, it is little wonder that foreigners su])po-ed tiicm to be only one peo'ple. This idea v/as, moreover, not es'^cntird.lv incorrect, for in spite of their divi- sions into D'Ties, Swedes, and }\orwegians, the Northmen were op.ly one pe(^])le, tracing their descent from the same common Cotln'c f< irefritl^ers. who ]ym\ come from the far l^ast, and s])read thenT^elves (-ver the i.dands and the most fruitful coastlands of th,e k;r-h.ic. T'k^ Ciotlis i^.robakdv stayed in those more genial ])arts of .^(andina\-ia as li'Ug .is their leaders found ?\x\ro, enough for them- sc]\-('S and thcii' fnn:)\ver<. but whcri their nuniibers inc-reased, and "the -mall l-:inL;'-; " beg.a'.i fighting runong them:-cl\-cs and interfer- iii'^- \", i;'i ("icii other, iiyj vounger chiefs witii llie re-^tle^:>ness char- aclvn \\c 01 tli'di- i'are '-ct forih in search of new homes. !^(.me sucii 'lu-v-;, ii i^ ])ciic\rd, 1(' to the se!l!einfut of iIk; sonllieiai j.iarts (jf Swed.-n hy tl:c C-'iiJi-, frc.^i i'^'-r;, ^talniid, or the ! )anisli Islands. In the old :-,,.(.;!;, Ic'LM nd.. it is related that Odin founded EXPANSION 35 70 B, C.-10 A. D. the empire of the Svea, and built a great temple at a spot called Sigtuna, near Lake Maelar, in the present provin.ce of Upland, which was known by the Northmen under the name of the " lesser Svithjod " to distinguish it from that " greater Svithjod/' or Scythia, from which they believed that he had led his followers. According to the " Hcimskruigia," when Odin arrived from the Hellespont with his twelve pontiffs he found that a great part of the land was occupied by a people who, like himself, had come from Svithjod, but in such long past ages that according to tlicir own account no one could fix the time. These people, who called them- selves *' Gota," or " Gauta," Goths, and boasted that they had driven all the dwarfs, giants, and " Fenni " (the Finns and Lapps) of the country back into the mountains and dreary wastes, were so strong that Odin was forced to make a compact with their king, Gylfe, before he could settle in the land. But after tliese two great chiefs had proved each other's strength in a trial of magic, they lived together on friendly terms, and Sweclen was thenceforth di- vided into the two free nations of the " Svea." Swedes, and the " Gota," Goths. The Svea were governed after Odin's demise by his pontiffs, who had charge of his temple at Sigtuna ; and his tribe by degrees grew so much more powerful tlian the Gota that they were allov/ed to take the lead in all public matters, and their rulers were looked up to as chief kings by all tlie ''' smaa-kongar " of the Goths, as well as the Sv;edes. Some writers have offered the hypothesis that long after the first Gothic invaders brought his worship into Sweden, a second band of the same tribe came under a leader called by his name, who set up a newer form of faith which gained such hold over the minds of the people that in time they came to worship tl:e two Odins under one common faith. Other scholars believe that the}' have found evidences of a blond race existing aboriginally in southern Norway. If this supposed dis- covery is to be relied upon, the legend of Odin and Gylfe may sym- bolize the union of tliis primitive people with the Gothic invaders. At any rate the legend records tlie fact that primitive Sweden falls in.to two geographical divisions : Gotakmd and Svealand, the latter, the more northerly, being at first predominant. Like the Danes, the Swedes traced the descent of their early kings back to Odin, through his successor in Sweden, the jjontiff Njord, whose son l<"rcy-Yngve \vas the founder of tlic royal race of the Ynglingar. We are told that this prince, who built a great 'S6 S C A N D I N A V I A A. D.-623 A. D. temple to Odin on the ruins of the more ancient one of Sigtuna, and called it Up-Sala (or the High Halls), was so much beloved by his subjects that when he died his family did not venture to proclaim his death lest tumult should arise among the Svea, but laid his body within a carefully built stone mound, to which they continued for three years to carry all the gifts and annual offerings of the ])eoplc. They did not burn the body, according to their ancient custom, because it had been forett^dd that as long as Frey- ^'ngve stayed in Lesser Svithjod all would go well with the land ; but when they found at the end of three years that the seasons con- tinued to be good, they ventured to make known his death, and the people, in gratitude for all he had done for them on earth, placed him among their gods and prayed to him for peace and plenty. Frey-Yngve was counted as the last of the gods. His de- scendants continued to rule over the Svea for several generations till enmity sprang up among the different members of the royal house. Tlien the Ynglingar lost all power over the small kings of Sweden through the evil deeds of one of their race. Ingjald 111- raada, the " Bad Ruler." who drew upon himself the anger of the people by a deed of horror and treachery. He sent messengers to all those of his kinsmen who were " smaa-kongar," and begged tliat they would sliow their respect for the late king by attending the grave feast. Six of the small kings obeyed the summons, and were, ac- cording to ancient usage, invited to take their places on the high- scat at the end of tlie hall, which in the dwellings of the X(M-thmcn was alwa}'s reserved for the master of the house and his most honored guests. Ingjald. TtS the giver of the feast, sat on a low sto(jl at their feet, since it was not considered right for tlie heir to take his fatlicr"s seat till tlie grave feast was o\"er and tlie last toast had been drunk to tlie mcmorv of tlic dead. When his turn came to di-ink' ivn\n the hnr^n. or ''good-health" horn, he arose to his feet, and said lie claimed tlic riglit of making a sacred vow bet'ore lie drained the cv.]). Tlicreuiion. tlie feast being o\-cr, he caused tlie m'x kings to be seized and burned .alive, on the plea that the go(]< had con'^traincd him to swear that he would sacrifice them all in mcmr)ry of his father. The " Upsala l'>urning " did not go unavenged. Tn a second conflagration the king and his wicked drnightcr, Aax,-!, pcnMicd in the llames which they had thenT^elvcs kindled to e-cape from llie wratli ^f llieir encinie>. EXPANSION 37 630 -983 After these events the Svea would have no more of the Ynglingar for their kings, and Ingjald's children were driven out of the country. His eldest son Olaf, fearing the anger of the people, fled with a few companions beyond the mountains to the dense forests which then covered the border-land between tlie pres- ent Sweden and Norway, and began to clear the ground by burning the trees in order to make it fit for human habitation ; from this, he became known as " Traetelje," or the Tree-hewer, and the land which he cleared was thenceforth called Vermland, in memory of his having warmed it by setting fire to the great forests. Like his father, Ingjald, this prince also met his death by fire; for when some years afterward his people suffered from famine, they laifl the blame on Olaf and forced him to submit to be burned at the great sacrifice to Odin, in order that the god, in return for a royal victim, might avert the evil that had come upon them. Olaf's de- scendants passed over from Vermland into Norway and became the founders of that kingdom. Such are the accounts given of the rise of the Swedish and Norwegian monarchies in the legend known as the Ynglinga Saga, which was written down by scribes in Iceland from the old songs brought over to that country by the early settlers and handed down by them to their children, and through them to later generations. This and other sagas, which related to the rise of the royal races of Sweden and Norway, were no doubt based on real events, which in the course of time became intermingled with fables. We owe our knowledge of them to King Harald Haarfager, v;ho boasted of being an Ynglingar through his descent from Olaf 'I'raetelje, the Tree-hewer, and who, during the course of his long reign over Norway between the years 863 and 933, had the sagas relating to his supposed ancestors collected and recited before his court. The Swedes and the Norwegians retained their old faith much longer than the Danes, and tlie few glimpses which we catch froiii the sagas of their character and conduct in tliose early times evince small regard for human life. In Denmark human sacrifice was only very rareh' practiced, but in .Sweden, where they p.re said to have been enjoined as a religious duty by Frey-^higve, the first of the Ynglingar race, they appear to have been ver}' frequent. Wc even read of one Swedish king called Ane who tried to gain from Odin length of life from year to year by offering up one of his sons at each annual sacrifice to tlic god. According lo lliis saga, 38 S C A N D I N A A' I A 863-933 when nine of liis chiklren had thus been slain, the Svea, in spite of their (hxad of Ochn and of the king who was his high priest, rose in anger against Ane, and saved the tenth and last of his sons from sharing the fate of his bnnhers. Throughout all the north every king, as we have seen, was the pontiff or high priest t>f his people, and one of the most im- portant and sacred of his duties was to offer annual sacrifices within the temples of his kingdom, an office which gave some of the north- ern kings greater ])ower than others. Thus, in Denmark, as we have seen, where the chief temple to Odin was at Deire. or Ledra, in Sjaclland, Gnrm. as the ijontiff-king of that district, was looked up to by the neighboring small kings and ciribled to secure a strong influence (jver them which helped him greatly in his efforts to make himself king of all Denmark. It was tlie same in Sweden, where the Ynglingar, who had cli;irge of Odin's cliief temple at Upsala, were, from the first, the leading kings of the country. Ifilcewise, the kings oi Lund, in whose territories there was another imj)ortant shrine, early made themselves the leading chief- tains in Skaania. Indeed, one of these rulers, a certain Ivar \"\d- fadme, who is calculated to have lived in the scvenih century, plays a great part in the sagas of the Icelanders, f()r he is said to have conquered Sweden and Denmark, a large portion of the lands of the Saxons, rmd one-fifth of all England. But, on the (illicr hand. v^axo Grammaticu.s, the Danish historian, does ncl even mention his name among the rulers of Denmark, nor do Anglo-Saxon rec- ords make any reference to him. The Danes, ll(l^vcver, Sjjcak of him as the grandfather of their King Tlarald llildcland, ci whose defeat in his old age by the young Swedish king. Sigurd Ivin.if. at the battle of Brawdla, we have already spoken. In this, as in Citlicr periods of northern h.istory. the Icings and heroes of Denm.'irk ;uul Swcflcn are so intermingled that it is often im|)or.\ tlie Norwegians to make new settlements for tliem.-el\ e.s in foreign lands during the latter half of the ninth cen- tury wa> much sliniulaied by tlie state of pul)lic altairs in their own eountr)-. In .\'or\\a\-, as in the other Seandinaxian lands, the Count r}' had from the earliest times been di\ided into a great num- ber ol di.-^n"iet<, ruleil oxer b\- small kings, and ha\'ing each a sepai'ale Thing (.)r public assenibl}'. and a certain number of barks EXPANSION 41 863-933 and men-at-arms, with whicli to fight or to defend its own frontiers. Halfdan Svarte, a descendant of Olaf Traetclje, the " Tree-hewer,"' who hved in the middle of the ninth century, had conquered several of these petty chieftaincies and united them with his own in Vest- fold. He also made some laws for his growing realm which have come down to us and by which their author plainly lioped to super- sede the blood feud with the more orderly Wergild.^ Chiefly, how- ever, he is remarkable as the father of Harald Ilaarfager, " the beautiful haired," who succeeded Halfdan upon the latter's death by drowning in 863. Harald's role in Norwegian history is that of Gorm the Old in Danish history, but on the whole Harald's figure is much more definite than that of his contemporary. This does not mean, however, that legend has not attached itself to Harald's fame ; for we are assured that prodigies foretold his greatness, that the giant Dofre instructed him in the art of warfare, and th.-it at ten, his age when his father was drowned, he already p(;ssessed a prodigious number of accomplishments and titles to distinction. Somewhat later he resolved to make himself master of Nor\va\'. in proof whereof he took a solemn oath neither to cut nor comb his luxuriant yellow locks till he had subdued all the :;niaa-konp;ar of the land. iVccording to one tale, Harald was moved to his vovv' by his love for the beautiful Gyda, who responded to his advances with a haughty refusal to consider marriage with any but a real monarch. A more plausible explanation is that of ambition, or of desire for revenge upon the neighboring chiefs for their treacherous attempt to parcel out among- themselves Harald's dominions in_ his tender years, iV great number of victorious battles, the dimensions of which have not shrunken with the lapse of time, made Harald supreme throughout Vermland and Tellemark, and drove the now thoroughly consternated smaa-kongar into confecler^ition. Hie fate of Norway was decided in 872 by a great sea battle fought in Hafurstfjord, near present day Stavanger, where Harald abso lutely shattered the fleet oi his allied f(K\s. 1 le followcl u]) his \-ic- tory by im])Osing a heavy tax u[)on e\ery district in Norway, ;nul setting his ov/n friends over the different small kingiloms witli llic title (_)f jarls. The impartial sevcrit)' with wliich the king rnid liis oflicers caused good order to be enforced upon the rich .'ind jx-or ^ A fine or rnmpensalion, ranpjinf!^ in amoimf aix'oriliiio; In liie st;ilif)ns of liic' parties and tlu' injuri- inllictcd, llic payuu'iil that, ha\!iig crossed the sea. he went in V-'/O, to Walland (Gaul), where he cari'ied on war agaiii'-i the kin;j", and .at la-t g.ained for him-elf ,-i i;rrat iai-ldom which \\v lilicd wi;'' .\'( athnicn .'ind which on t!i.at .account w;is called .\ormandiet or .Vorm.andv. EXPANSION '1 00-1172 43 " From this stock came the jarls of Normandy, and, in course of time, also the kings of England, for Rolf's son William was the father of Richard, and this Richard had a son of his own name whose son Rolf, or Robert, was the father of William the Con- queror of England." According to northern traditions the Danes had as early as the fifth century made settlements in Scotland, but the Norwe- gians did not attack the country in any large numbers till the reign of Harald. In Ireland the northern Vikings were known under the name of " Lochlanach," and the lands from which they came under SCANDINAVIAN EXPLORATION BEfORUTHE ll'-CSHTUHY that of " Lochlin." The Irisli annals record the arrival in 852 of an " Olauf, King of Lochlin," to whom all the Northern Gat, or Strangers, submitted. He reigned in Dublin, while two other northern chiefs, Ivar and Sigtrygg, made small kingdoms for themselves at Waterford and Limerick. 'Die descendants of the Vikings continued, with many vicissitudes, to rule over those ])arts of Ireland till 1172, when the island was invaded by the luiglish. Even long after that time tlie former ])resence of the Northmen, or " Eastmen," as they were then called, could be traced in the laws and usages and the appearance of the ])eoi)le oT those districts. More intimately connected with the history of the Scandinavian U S ( A X D I N A \" I A 861-874 jieciples is tlie story of liow llarald ITaai'fa.q'cr's stern rule, by driv- ing- so many of liis subjects forlli in search of new homes, led to the discovery of Icehmd. Greenland, and X'inland. Iceland was first visited by a Swede, called Gardar, by a Xor- v.-egian X'adod. wlio named the country Snaeland ( Snowland). and by another X'orwegian known as Floki Rafn, who gave the island its present name. These three men all landed in Iceland between the years 86 1 and 868. and even passed many months at a time there, but it is nr)t certain who among them had the distinction to precede the others. On their return to Scandinavia they gave a dreadful account of the land, which according to their report had been cursed by the gods, and given over to the power of horrible giants who lived within caves and mountains where they kept up a never-ending strife in the midst of liquid ilre. boiling water, and melting' rocks. After this report some years passed before anyone cared to ventiuT ui)on anotlter visit to a country of which such an alarming account ccmld be given ; but when men began to feel the vreight ui llarald's harsh rule in X'orway. they remembered that Floki's com])anions had not thought so badly of the new land to the west as Floki had pretended to. Some of the old V^ikings indeed declared that any land must be better than the kingdom over which a liarald Haarfager ruled, while many of the poorer men in X'orv.'ay said that they did not care for the mountain giants, if only they might reach a s])()t where neither king ]ior jarl could lay hands upon them. So all who were able set s;iil in search of this free land in the far north (ji which they knew so little. One c>i the most im])ortant of the expeditions fitted out was that headed by Ingolf. the son of a Norwegian jarl. who had slain his f()e in a deadly combat known as JioIiii<^aiii^,~ and who. finding tliat King llarald meant to punish him according to the law. em- b.'irlx'd with rdl his family and hotisehold sl,'i\-e.~, reaching Iceland late in the autumn of the vear 874. The moment land lujve into \icw. Ingolf cast intf) ihe sea the consecrated ])t)^ts of his Norwe- gian h()U-e. \ owing th.at he would make his Immc \\liere\er tlie - lIoliiiL'ai c( iiicrnii ;i n^lit nn rm island niolm), and lliis niddc of fi^^Iitin.i^ v/a- one i,t' ilic ii'.o^t fatal practict-d by the Nortluncii. W'licn two nicn wanted to M-tile a fi'ia.rrc! by f'mhtin.i,'. it v.a'^ the custom in the Scandinavian lands for them to fjo to -'.iiv ^nialj and de-crted island where llicy nii.i^ht be free from intcrrnptinn, and they ofu-n fr)nLdit with sneli fury that both died from tlie woniuK which tliey liad j^iven each other. Thus a licilinKan^- came to be looked i;p"n a- i!i" !;!Ti-t-t of all -i!i;;lf combats. EXPANSION 45 874-880 waves and winds should cast tlicm ashore. Thev drifted awav. however, and for three years Ingolf, attended liy his slaves, con- tinued to seek for them, until at length the sacred door ])osts were found in a bay on the southwest of the island, where he fixed his abode, and began to build houses on the spot which, as Reykiavik, is to-day the chief town of Iceland. Ingolf may thus rank as the first settler on the island, but he was soon followed by so many other Norwegians of noble birth that in the course of a few years all the habitable parts of Iceland had been peopled by them and their followers, bringing with them to this new colony the usages and laws, the religion and language of the old country. Among the many sagas of Norway, there is one called the Eyrbyggja Saga, to which it is worth while to refer for the light it throws on certain contemporary northern customs. Jarl Thorolf-Mostrar-Skegg Avent to Iceland in 880, an outlaw. because he had refused to give up to the king's officer his piratical kinsman, Bjorn. Acting in accordance with the usages practiced in such cases by all great Norwegian settlers, he carried with him when he sailed from Norway with his family and slaves the image of the god Thor and the earth on which it had stood. together with the greater part of the woodwork of the shrine in which he had worshiped in his home. ^lany friends followed him, and when the vessels drev: near to the coasts of Iceland, Thorolf, as pontiff or chief priest of all who had come with hini, threw into the sea the columns of the temjde on Avliich the image of Thor Vv'as carved, and following these sacred objects they entered a bay which from its breadth he called '' Breida-Fjord." Here Thorolf landed and took formal possession of the country by walking round the lands he meant to occupy, and setting fire to the grass along the boundary line by means of a burning brand which he bore with him. He then built a large house with a shrine near it to receive the sacred columns, together with Thor's image and the conse- crated earth that he had brought from Norway. In the middle of the temple was a sanctuary or altar, on which was placed a sih'cr ring two pounds in weight, whicli was worn by th.e pontiff at all public meetings of the people of his district and was used to furnish the necessary sanction to an oath, so that the person who perjured himself after swearing upon Thor's ring was looked upon by the Northmen as the vilest of men. When Thorolf had provided his shrine with these sacred ob- 46 S C A N D I N A ^' I A 880-940 I'ccts and with the basins, knives, and other instruments used for makinc^ the sacrifices, he prepared niches in the walls of the build- ing- for the images of rniy other northern gods that the people might \visli to set up for worship. Xext he caused the space around the temple to be enclosed by rows of stones to prepare it for the annual Her jar-Thing-, or assize or assembly of the chiefs, wdiich according to the old ncjrth.ern usage was held in the open air within sight and sound of the sacrifices. The ground on which the members of the Thing held these meetings was considered as sacred as that on which the temple stood, and w'as not to be defiled by the shedding of blood in anger nor trodden by the feet of m.en carrying arms. In the center of the enclosure one spot was raised above the sur- rounding area. Here the jurors, witnesses, and compurgators were to stand forth on the occasion of a trial and to take a solemn oath in the ])reser.ce of all that they w-ould decide and speak accord- ing to truth, adding " so help me Frey, Njord, Thor, and the Almighty As [0 When Thor(jlf had thus prepared all things to the end that re- ligion and the laws might be observed in the new country, he divided the colony into three districts which owned him for head ])ontiff, but were ruled over by separate chiefs, each of whom within his own limits performed much the same ceremonial that Thorolf had performed for the whole island. The mode of government thus set up v.as kjUg followed and may even at the present day be traced in some matters appertaining to the administration of the laws of Iceland. In the space of sixty years after Thorolf's coming to Iceland all habitable ])arts of the island were occupied by settlers from Nor- way. After a time tlie pontiff chiefs found inconvenient the lack of a common high court of law, to which they could appeal in case of dis]nites. ar.d determined to remedy the c\-il. They therefore agreed to defer to tlie wisdom of a certain Ulfijot, a wise and hon- " Tile Ac-ir C-iii.Lnilnr A~. God) were fal)k'(l to Ikivc lived in " As^aard " nitavi-n), wlitiici; ilu-y crossed tlic hrid.i^'e "]?ifrost" (l\aiiil)o\v) to reacli " .\Iid:'r;:ird " (the |-'.artli). I'fvoiid the sea wliich encircUd Mid'^aard lay jMt;!iihri:u (.r tin- fiiaiit'^ l)\ve]lin,u;-place. The Ae>ir were hapjiy and at i)eaee till til! > made ac'i'iaiina.iicc \'.itli the .L,M'ants and ,t;iaiiten a trading v ^hi]). E X 1 A N S 1 O N 49 1000-1030 lie manned it with tliirty-five j^'ood scainen, and asked his fatlicr Erik to take the command. Erik the Red assented, but being an old man by that time and feeble, he went to the place of embarka- tion on horseback, when, his horse stumbling, he regarded it as a bad omen and declined to go on board, saying, '' I do not believe it is given me to discover more lands, and here I will abide." Leif, therefore, set sail without his father. Following the course which Bjiirne had taken, he reached after a time a long stretch of coast, at many points of which he and his men landed, and gathered delicious berries and other fruits which were un- known to some of them, but which seemed to Leif very like the fruits he had eaten in southern Europe when serving under Olaf Trygvasson. One day when Leif and some of his men had landed on the unknown coast, he lost sight of his father's servant, Tyrker, who was a German. Leif sought him for a long time in the woods, and at length found him gathering bright purple and red bunches of fruit, which tb.e man seemed overjoyed to have found. In his excitement he had forgotten tiie northern tongue which he had long used, and began to speak in his own South-German language, and it was some time before he could make his master and his companions understand that he had found grapes, of which in his native country men made wine. The Northmen spent the winter in this region, which Leif named " Vinland den Gode," or " Wine-land the Good,'' and which some authorities believe to have been the coast of ALassachusetts, or perhaps Nantucket Island. Afterward, first resuming for a time their cruise along the coasts farther south, they returned to Greenland and told their friends of all the strange lands they had seen. This happened about the year 1003 or 1004. During the next few years Leif and his brothers, Thorwald and Thorstein, made several voyages to the same sliores with a view to settling there, but the settlements were too small to resist the attacks of the natives, Skraelingar, or Bad Ones, as the Northmen called them, and so were one bv one cut off and the leaders killed. Both Thor- wald and Thorstein so perished, though Leif got back safely to Greenland. The latest notice of Vinland is to be found in the Eyrbyggja Saga, wherein it is related that in the last years of the reign of Olaf the Saint of Norway, who died in 1030, an Icelander named (indleif, in making a trading voyage to Iceland, was driven far tmpelling the king to exact vengence of the murderer by under- t.'iking a ])unitivc expedition against him, or by usurping the gov- ernment of some outlying portion of the realm, or by engaging in war upon one another. In this sort of enterprise Erik, surnamed I'lodoxe and not without reason was eminently successful. lie was also his father's favorite, and was made by him in his last years his associate in the government. Harald's intention was jjrobably to supersede the elective kingship with a strictly heredi- tary one. In this he seemed at first to have succeeded, for after his death in 933 Erik continued to rule alone, unchallenged by any, save two of his brethren, Olaf and Sigurd, and their united forces he f|uickly overthrew. However, his tyranny proved in- tolerable; in 938 a general uprising of the people drove him and his wicked Queen Gunhild to seek safety in England, whose king, .\ethclstan. immediately made him ruler of Xorthumbria. He was especially charged with the task of repelling pirates from the coast, but this did not i)revent Erik himself from making piratical descents upon the Scotti.-h coasts. The leader in the revolt against Erik was Harald's youngest son, Hakon. the ward of this same iVethelstan. "h^ears before, this HK)narch had sent a sword to Harald, but when the latter took the present. Aethclstan's ambassador had declared that by so doing- he had accepted vassalage of the English king. Harald was greatly wroth at this piece of craft, but was finally able to retort by send- ing 1 lakon to Acthelstan, who was commanded to educate the King of Xor\va}-"< bnsiard. Hakon was a credit to his tutor. A prose- lyte to C^liristianitw ]:)r)sses ^wYkv bretlircn to his side, he is an attractive tigui-e in an age V, Iiicli ahoniids in xinjence. Ilakon's jicrsMiial r|ualities. howe\'er, hardly won him the Nor- wegian crown. .\h)re impr)rtant v.'as his promise to restore allodial lands In \]]v ])(a~antry. Tin's ])rr)mise he carried (jut by his famous ( i\\]c Law, \\]icrcl)y lie entirely cli.anged Xorwcgian feudalism. Tht\iiig l.,;t lii-; fief, the king had aho hist his army. However, ^-^''"^vay^ cnernie-; were eliietly i)iratiea] and exlenial. At ihi- \er\- '-"'IK''-, iii'lced. l".--ik ];i. .(];, xe's si^n- were- scttiim' out \r<:\n their KINGS AND HEROES 53 952-963 secure retreat among the Danish Islands with the in-tention of rav- aging the Norwegian coasts. Hakon accordingly divided the coast into districts, the inhabitants of each of which, in lieu of the former land tax, were to build and man one vessel of war and to maintain signal fires for the purpose of giving general warning whenever pirates should approach. By 952 Hakon was ready to pursue the pirates to their lair. He landed on the Island of Sjaelland and harassed the coast of Jutland. The result was unfortunate, for Hakon, by his incon- siderate measures, won the enmity of Harald Blaatand, while he failed to exterminate the pillaging sea-rovers. Consequently, the year following he was called upon to repel a Danish fleet from his coasts, and again in 955. On the latter occasion the stratagem of one of Hakon's jarls gave the victory to the Norwegian forces and secured peace for seven years. But in 963 Gunhild, Erik's widow, returned with a third Danish fleet and took Hakon by surprise. The king's meager force was defeated and he himself mortally wounded. He summoned his nephews and entreated them to spare further bloodshed and to rule justly in his place. When someone inquired whether he wished his body to be sent to England for burial, he answered, " No ; I have lived as a heathen and therefore I may not be buried as a Christian." These words refer to Hakon's great disappointment: his fail- ure to establish Christianity in his realm. About the year 950 he had imported a bishop and a number of priests from England, and had issued a prohibition against further sacrifices to the ancient gods. However, at a great annual Thing, held at Dron- theim, the bondar or yeomen, while expressing their gratitude for the restoration of allods and for tlie king's good order and justice, yet declared that they would never forsake the gods who had watched over their ancestors so many years; and plainly laid before Hakon tliese alternatives: either his desistance from all effort to introduce Christianity or tlicir rex'uU-. Sigurd Jarl, whose wisdom and prudence arc praised in tlie sagas, turned aside the anger of the people. Assuming the robes of a pontiff, which his rank entitled him to wear, Sigurd stepped into the midst of the assembly and said that the king had ordered him to officiate that day in his place, and on that account only had hesitated when the people appealed to liim. Then after consecrating tlie great ilrinl 0 king by the folk of Hronlheim, and prcs- KINGS AND HEROES 55 995-1000 ently throughout all Norway; such in brief is the course of Olaf's youth. The second point of resemblance between Olaf and the great Harald consists in the fact that both set for themselves a definite goal. But here a difference arises: Harald's ideal was the exten- sion of his royal power over a respectable dominion ; Olaf set out to make his realm Christian. The methods used in the two cases were not, however, essentially different, for the Norwegian bondar were stauncher, if anything, in their devotion to their ancient faith than they had been in the time of Hakon the Good, a thorough- going pagan reaction having supervened under the direction of Hakon Jarl. Again, too, it was the people of Drontheim with whom the would-be champion of Christianity had especially to deal ; and again, as in ITakon's case, the ominous temper of the Thing carried the day at first. But only temporarily, for Olaf soon got hold of a number of magnates of the Trondjer, and, confronting them with the alternative of being baptized in the new faith or being sacrificed in the old, speedily brought them around to a proper way of thinking. The peasantry developed a fearless spokes- man in a certain Jernskoeg, or Ironbeard, a Norvv'egian Thersites, whose unvarnished plainness of speech to the king himself affords one a vivid idea of the uproarious democracy of the time. Iron- beard, however, was soon disposed of, by a free broadax, devoted for the nonce to Olaf's interests. When, therefore, Olaf proceeded to hew down the image of Thor in the great temple of Drontheim, the awe-stricken populace liad no one among them to render articu- late their sense of the awful sacrilege. Heathendom now fell to the defense of the great jarls of Haalogaland. One after another the more important of these magnates fell into Olaf's hands, and were either baptized or tortured to death. Success was within Olaf's grasp, when he was suddenly confronted by a coalition of rebels at home and pretenders abroad, and of the monarchs of Den- mark and Sweden, Svend Cleft-beard and Olaf the Lap-king. This coalition was the work of Svend's queen, whom Olaf, years before, after having asked her hand in marriage, had jilted because she had refused Christian ba]:)tism. Probably Svend's enthusiastic pagan- ism had also something to do with the attack now hurled agaitist Olaf IVygvasson. On the other hand the Lap-king was either already Christian or about to become so; and there is alleged" to - li G. Gcijcr: " Ili^fcjrj- of llu' SwmU-s," 'riinuT's tr;ui>;:if:i,n, ji. 37 (18^5). 56 S C A N I) T N A \' I A 1000-1030 have been a treaty between bim and Svcnd. whereby both the pagan and the Christian proselyte agreed to aid tlic (hffnsion of the new reb'gion. Olaf Trygvasson, deserted by liis snbjects. was hope- lessly defeated in a great sea fight off S\x)!d on tlie Pomeranian coast. Seeing that all was lost, the despairing monarch leaped overboard in full armor and was seen no more. Xine days later his devoted queen Thyra had stai*ved herself. This was in tlie year looo. The allies partitioned Xorway between them, but their divided and distant authority was speedily put at defiance by the Norwe- gian jarls, who had Xorv.ay (piite at their beck and call for a num- ber of years. During this interval a pagan reaction ensued. The question may arise whether this was so great a calamity as one might suppose at first thought. Certainly Olaf Trygvasson's method of proselyting was barbaric rather than Christian, and if we are to judge from the case of Thangbrand. a priest imported from England, who was Olaf's cliief assistant in tlu's matter but who man- aged to find time for a number of piraticrd enterprises, the Chris- tian clergy was not an example in what we should regard as Christian living. Certain it is, too, that the whole contest between Heathendom and Christendom was translated l)y the ex]M)nents of the new worship into a contest between the gods of their faith, which was given a polytheistic interpretation, and the gods of the ancient faith, who having met defeat at the hands of their antag- onists were now- writhing in hell, and hence powerless to answer l^rayers. On the other hand, that the new faith demanded certain tilings in way of better conduct from its ])roselytes. ^ve have seen. Hiese may i)erhaps be summed up by saying that while the worship of Odin set up war and destruction as ideals, the new faith made I)eace its (jbject. This is why monarchs of ])oliiical runbition and insight, like Knud the Great and Olaf Trygvasson. so earnestly c]iampir)ncd Ciiristi;;nil\', both the doctrines and organization of which were forces of order and unity. .Such also was the \-iew of Olaf, tlie son of TIarald Groenske and great-grandson of llarald llaarfager, who ascended the X^'orwegian throne in 1015. In a word, Saint Olaf his canonization was r.nly local resumed the work of (')I;if 1^-yg\'a'^son. Again it was Denmark which stood in the way. h'or Knud the Great, though himself Christian, was ambitious to add Xorway to the rest of Jiis e\iensi\-e em])ire, and so did not scruple lo f;in the disc(jntent of Olaf's subjects into open KINGS AND HEROES 57 1030-1035 revolt. Olaf at first fled to the court of Jaroslav o Novgorod, but later, in 1030, ventured to return to Norwav, only to meet his death at the hand of his rebellious subjects at Stiklestad in Verdal. Yet what Olaf failed to accomplish by his life was brought about indirectly by his death. As mentioned above, Knud made his son Svend ruler of Norway in his stead. This young man was entirely under the domination of his Englisli mistress, Aelgifa. This was humiliation enough for the Norwegians who had assisted in Olaf's overthrow, but when Aelgifa set about to destroy the local independence of the great jarls, humiliation became calamity. By the new laws, the ideas of which were brought from Denmark, " it was enacted that no one should have the right to leave the country without the king's permission, and that confiscation of property should be the punishment for transgression. ]\Ian-slaying was like- \\ ise to be punished by confiscation. So also an inheritance coming to an outlawed man should go into the king's treasury. Ships, fish- eries, pasture land, nay, even the peasants' hearthstones, were taxed. Even the Christmas gifts wh.ich tlie peasants were to gi\e the king were fixed by lavv'. The Trondjers, looking about for a leader, now sent word to Bishop Grimkel, who upon Olaf's death had fled to Sweden, to return to his see. The cause of Christianity and opposition to foreign rule seemed thus to be identified, and this identification received A'ivid confirmation when Grimkel, discover- ing the burial spot of liis late patron, had the body, which he gave out was that of a saint, exhumed and brought to Drontheim to be reintombed, and to becf)me throughout the }.Iiddle -\ges the mecca of hosts of pilgrims seeking cure of soul and body from its miracu- lous virtues. Svend's power was quite at an end. though he re- mained nominal king of Norway till his father's death, when ^lag- nus. Olaf's illegitimate son, venturing from his residence at the court of Janislax', was gkullv welcomed by the Nor\\-egians to the the throne of his father. Tlie c^-cntial ixiints of ^Vlagnus's reign we ha\-e already reviewed in an earlier ciiaptcr. in connection with Denmark. Mention has .'ilrcadv been made of iho dearth of matei^ial re- garding early Sweden and Norwa}'. To a degree this deficiency is remedied bv the '"' I fcintskriiii^la." but af;cr the fall of the \'nglings even thi^ ^ mi 're and more in harming respecting tlic -i^ter state. I'roni An:-cariu-^. how- 58 S C A N D I N .V \ I xV 829-933 ever, who, it will be rememl)crccl, ventured into Sweden on two occasions in the second quarter of tlie ninth century, as the first missionary of Christianity to that reg'ion. wc hear of a certain Bjorn or Borca, descendant tlirougli Bjorn Jernside, or " Iron- side," of Regner Lodbrok, and ruler of a considerable realm centering about Upsala. Upsala was among the Svea what Leire was among the Danes and Drontheim among the Xorwe- gians. Here the king receixed the homage of the pe(j])le, stand- ing on the king's stone and within sigh.t of the hill whereon the temple of Odin had stood from the time of ]<'rcy-^"ngve. Here, too, the people met in their great yearly Thing to hear affairs of state discussed by their jarls and to join at times in th.e discussion; and to perform the annual great sacrifice to Odin, a ceremony in which the king of the region officiated as chief ])ontiff. It was the advantage of his situation, no dotibt. as well as his own prowess, which enabled Bjorn's descendant, Erik Sejrsael the Victorious to extend his sway toward the close of the tenth century, not only over the portion of Sweden which Gorm the Old had conquered, but, perhaps, temporarily over certain portions of Svend Tves- kaeg's more immediate realm. He also defeated the piratical brotherhood of Jomsborg in a great three days' battle off Tyrisval on the Swedish coast. Erik is declared by Adam of Bremen to have received Chris- tian baptism while in Denmark, but to have subsequently a])0Sta- tized. He thus left to his son and successor. Olaf Skiit-Konung. the " Lap-king." convert of the English Siegfred. the distinction nf being enrolled in th.e table of sovereigns appended to the ancient law of West Gothland, as the first Christian monarch of Sweden. Olaf was, however, much less aggressive in his Christianity tlian his Xorwegian contemporary and namesake, wliom he helped to overthrow at Svold. He discreetlv refrained from interference with the heathen worship of his subjects, and when the Svea in- formed him that they would not receive Christian teachers within their boundaries, he decided to confine his church building to the land of the W'c^t Goths, within whose territory he founded the bishopric of Skara the mr)thcr see of the north. 1 he age w.as. in fact, for ,all Scruidinavia. one of fierce democ- racy, whose ])o\ver no monardi could long withstand. I'A-en in his Cfmstant f]uarrels with N>)r\vay. Olaf had to con-^ent fmally to re- ceive wi-dom from his jjca.sant subjects. .\t this time, says Snorre KINGS AND HEROES 59 993-1022 Sturleson, the dominion of the Swedes embraced many provinces, each with its own law, its own court, and its own judge, lagman, who was chief of the yeomen and who responded for all when the king or jarl held a Thing wath the people. Chief of the lagmen was a certain Thorgny, esteemed for his ancestry and honored for his wisdom. To him, as February, the time of the great Thing, ap- proached, came certain envoys from Norway. Thorgny and Rag- wald Jarl were soon won to the cause of peace. The king, however, still bent on war, would not tolerate the mention of the Norse Olaf's name. Then uprose Thorgny before the peasantry, amid a great din of arms. " The kings of the Swedes," said he, " are now other- v.'ise minded than once they were. Thorgny, my grandsire, well remembered Erik Edmundson, king in Upsala, and was wont to tell of him, that while he was in his prime he marched eveiy sum- mer to the war, and subdued to his dominion Finland, Kyrialand, and the eastern countries far and wide. Yet did he never deal so haughtily that he would not endure discourse from those Avho had aught to propound to him. . . . Bjorn . . . was affable to his people. I myself freshly remember Erik tlie Vic- torious, for I was with him in many of his enterprises. He aug- mented the Swedish dominion, and warded it stoutly, yet was it easy to come to speech with him. But this king who is now will let none speak with him, and will hear naught but what is pleasing to himself. . . . His tributary lands he let slip from him, and yet would rule over Norway, a thing that no king of the Swedes before him has coveted, for which many must live in unpeace. \\lierefore, we peasants will, that th.ou, King Olaf, shouldst make up thy quarrel with Norway's king and give him thy daughter Ingegerd in marriage. If tliou wilt win back those lands in the east which belonged to thy kinsmen and parents, we will attend thee thither. But if thou heed not our words, we will set upon and slay thee, and will not suffer lawlessness and trouble at thy hands. I'^or so did our fathers before us; they threw five kings into a well that were puffed up with arrogance like thee. Now say forthwith what tliou wilt choose." ^ Olaf yielded for the nonce, ])ut seems to have subsequently violated his pledge to the people and to have given his daughter in marriage to Jaroslav of Novgorod, the later host of Olaf of Nor- way and of Magnus. This piece of treachery would certainly have cost the Lap-king his crown had it not hapjjcncd that tlie Svea in "Turner's translation of Gcijcr, "History of the Swedes." 60 S C A N D I N A \ I A 1022-1047 their jealousy of the men of West Gothlantl championed Olaf's cause wlien the Gota in 1022 attempted to set him aside. The upshot of the matter was that the Gota agreed not only to Olafs remaining king, but also to his son Anund's being made joint ruler with him. The peace with Norway was kept nevertheless, and when, two years later, Anund became sole ruler, he aided the Nor- wegian Olaf in the latter's unavailing defense of his realm against the victorious Knud. Anund also strengthened himself with sub- jects, we may imagine, by his neglect of the Christian worship. His successor, Edmund Gamle the Old went still farther, and, if we are to believe Adam of Bremen, actually persecuted Chris- tians, and was, in short, pcssiinus. With his death, in 1055. the line of Upsala kings, or Ynglingar, claiming descent from Odin, through Sigurd Ring, came to an end. Sweden was still pagan and remained so for nearly a century. This fact, itself the product in part of Sweden's remoteness from Christian Europe, operated together with this unfavorable geographical position, to perpetuate political immaturity in the northern realm. This, indeed, threat- ened to become stagnation akin to that of Iceland, where Christian polity was also very slow of establishment. The situation of Den- mark was quite otherwise, and her monarchs were in constant com- munication with Christian Europe. Ilarald Blaatand, forced t(^ pay tribute to Otto the Great, because he ventured to disregard the hitter's charters of immunity to certain bishoprics, must have discovered how much of the Saxon m(Miarch's ])(jwcr was due to his patronage of the church. Knud. returning from his pious pil- grimage t(^ Rome, where he witnessed tlic coronaticMi of the most powerful of all the Roman emperors. Conrad II., had the same less(;n brought home to him still more vividly, even if less forcibly. It was ine\Mtable, therefore, that Svcnd h^stridscn and his suc- cessors, making their imjKM^ird contemporaries their exemplars, should set al)out to remodel the primiti\'e constitution of the Danish realm along feudal and theocratic lines. 13y so doing, whatever evils ilic">- una\'oi(lal)ly Ijrought u[)on themseh'es and their people, they rai.-ed Denmark to the i)osition of ])reeminence in the Scandi- na\-ian world and even to a position of ])romincncc in feudal Ju- rope. This subject we shall deal with more fully hereafter. At present, let us trd 68 S C A N D I N A \ I A 1047-1076 Harald was slain at Stamford Bridge, and all danger from that source was thenceforth at an end. Apparently, however, Svend was now unable to shake off the habit of war, or perhaps he thought that he could succeed where Harald had failed. At any rate he sent a messenger in 1067 to William the Conqueror, asserting his right, as the heir and nephew of Knud the Greats to the English throne, and demanding tribute and homage. William's reply to his " friend and cousin " was considerate and politic for William was by no means secure as yet in his newly found royalty and was accom- panied with handsome gifts. Svend, however, was not to be thus turned aside, but two years later dispatched a fleet of 240 shipr to the English coast, under the command of his brother, Asbjorn. After the invader, aided by a considerable follovring of English rebels, had met with some successes in Xorthumbria, the Norman king grew apprehensive and determined to try again the efficacv of gifts. Asbjorn accepted the bribe, but derived little benefit from it, for the greater part of his fleet was wrecked on the return voyage and the traitor himself, though he escaped the sea, was driven into exile. The chief feature of Svend's reign was furnished by his eccle- siastical policy. Svend was very devout. His foundation of four bishoprics; the composition of his personal circle, which was almost exclusively of churchmen, one of whom at one time was Adam of Bremen; his delight in church history; his correspondence with the great Hildebrand ; his ready acceptance of the penances imposed upon him by the church, even to the impairment of his health all go to show this. But Svend was also a barbarian, and perhaps there is no more admirable scene in history than that in which S\'cnd takes the role of Theodosius and Bishop Vilhelm of Rocs- kilde tliat cjf Ambrose. The tale has it that once on a New Year's eve, when the king's scn-anls had been making merry in the hall of Roeskilde and drinking mucli more than was good for them, some among them so forgrit the rc>])Cft tliey (nved to their royal master that they began talking of his bad luck and want of coin-age in battle Svend, overhearing tlicir words, in which there was a great amount of truth, grew \-cry angrv. and, ])rct ending he had reason to susi)ect treason, ga\-e oi-ders thu'it llic scolTers should be seized and killed, which was done while the unfortunates were at matins t)n New ^' ear's Day. THEESTRIDSENS 69 1047-1076 Somewhat later in the morning Svend, clothed in his royal robes, came into the church and was about to enter the chancel when Bishop Vilhelm, who was preparing to celebrate high mass, barred his entrance. The king tried to push on, but the prelate thrust him back with the end of his crozier, denouncing him as a murderer, unworthy to enter the church which he had defiled with the blood of his fellow-creatures. The courtiers, on hearing Bishop Vilhelm's angry words, rushed upon him with drawn swords; but the king, struck by the truth of his reproaches, left the church, and, returning to the palace, changed his royal robes for the garb of a penitent. He then reentered the church porch, where, bareheaded and barefooted, he waited till the bishop came to receive his con- fession and give him absolution. Svend came for the third time to the church door, but on the final occasion he again wore his mantle of state and crown, and his procession to the altar was attended by a Te Deum. This ceremony was followed, three days later, by a contrite confession by the king before all the people of his murder and of his sincere repentance, in proof whereof he then and there bestowed upon the church a half hardc or hundred of land, said to comprise a portion of the present site of Copenhagen. A century later the same area was given by Axel or Absalon, Bishop of Sjaelland, to Valdemar I., and Axelborg, as the place had been called while it had ser^^ed as a castle for warding off the attacks of pirates, soon became known as the merchant-haven, or Kjobenhaven, or Co- penhagen. Svend's attitude toward the church was, however, not in- variably that of concession ; occasionally it was that of defiance. His great shortcoming was incontinence, and for this he did penance repeatedly, but when, upon the death of his queen, Gun- hild, he took to spouse his stepdaughter, and was informed that the marriage was within the forbidden degrees, he rebelled. Adal- bert, metropolitan of Bremen, whose spiritual sway extended over all Scandinavia, from Slesvig to America,^ and who recognized but two masters on earth, the emperor and Pope, and these grudg- ingly, eagerly seized upon the ojiportunity afforded to bring the Danish king to his knees. Menaced by Adall)ert with excommuni- cation, Svend retorted with a threat to attack Hamburg. The IF. C. Dahlniann : " CescJiichic vuii Dannemark." (Ed. of 1840.) Vol. I. p. 181 ff. 70 SCANDINAVIA 1047-1076 Pope no\v inten-ened in the quarrel and Svend consented, finally, ta divorce his relative, but at the same time demanded a separate archiepiscopal establishment for Scandinavia. Adalbert's diplomacy sufficed to ward off, for a few years, this blow at his project of a northern patriarchate, designed to rival tlie Holy See itself. As the former guardian of ITenry IV. of Germany, the great prelate now undertook an embassy for his imperial ward to the Danish king, with the idea of making the latter tlie emperor's ally against the Saxons. Eager to extend his dominions southward, Svend pledged his assistance against Henry's enemies wherever found on land or sea, and giving out that he was to undertake a cam- paign against the Poles, fitted out a magnificent armament, with which he ascended the Elbe. Discovering at last the real purpose of the expedition, Svend's followers refused to proceed. " The Saxons." said they. " have been our bulwark . . . how ter- rible would be their revenge." Indeed, tlie Saxon nation stood not only between Denmark and lieathendom, which was vanishing, but between the Danish monarchy and the ambitions of the emperor, which were waxing more extravagant every day. His reconciliation with Adalbert did not cause Svend to give over entirely the idea of a Scandinavian archbishopric, though he pressed the matter with less insistence and acrimony now. In- deed, his motive seems to have been a statesmanlike appreciation of the great value that the church, if under Scandinavian control, would prove to royal power. The well-nigh nationalized German church of the period v.ris an example before his eyes. He was act- ing consistently witii his mru'n ])urposc, therefore, when in 1075 he adroitly declined to receive h.is kingdom in fief from Gregory \'II.. his former corrcsjiondeiit Hildebrand, and to agree to the I)aymeirL of I'cter's ])cnce. though Gregory quite plainly hinted a Sc \vcii;id 1k' knDWii as Svend rif ik Glipping, and thus Denmark during the thousand years of her history has changed dynasties less frequently than almost any other country of Europe. 72 S C A N D I X A VIA 1030-1085 he wished to see placed on a less precarious foundation than that of vohmtary contribution. Here, however, he failed. " Give us," cried the angry peasants in the 1'hings. '* give us wliat fines you please; we will pay anything rather than leave to our children such a burden as these tithes you ask of us."' Looking in the same direction is Knud's bestcrwal of the jarldom of Sjaelland upon his brother, Erik, and in creating another brother, Olaf, Duke of Slesvig. But tlie latter measure was a serious error of policy, for, on the basis of the precedent thus set, the practice grew up of granting appanages in various parts of the realm to the royal princes. Slesvig in time became an hereditary appanage and was thus partially dissevered from the monarchy. Also, Knud's various acts effecting the enclosure of extensive areas of forest and excluding the svvine of the peasantry therefrom, and his attempt to make a royal monopoly of the right to fish in the bays, sounds, and fjords of the Danish coast, by impoverishing the lower free orders, reduced their importance in the nation and particularly in the Things, and thus diminished their ability to support the monarch against the local magnates. To his gifts as a statesman Knud added the prowess of a warrior. His initial enterprises were directed against the pirates to the east; meeting with considerable success on these expedi- tions, he next in 1085 determined to emulate the renown of the Great Knud by effecting the reconquest of England, the project, which, it will be remembered, Knud's father had attempted unsuc- cessfully eigliteen years previous. Knud's allies were his father- in-law. Count Robert of Elandcrs, and his brother-in-law, Olaf Kyrre, King of Norway, and, with their aid, a fleet of 1000 vessels was in time assembled in the Lymfjord. It never sailed ; again Xorman gold proved more valiant than Danish arms; and forced to witness the unaccountable defection of his commanders, the Duke of Slesvig among them, Knud, in exasperation and disgust, gave over his plan, dismissing his allies with costly l)resents. The sequence was even more tragic. Eor, seizing the occa- sion to punish his disloy.-d subjects, Knud levied a general capitation tax, the first of the sort in Danish histor}-, and ])lanne(l to divert a portion of it lo tlic coffers of the church. The levy started a rel>cllion in Vendx-^K-l, which soon swept over all Jutland. The king lied U) the [.^l.ind ni l'\en. Tliilher the rebels ])ursned him, THEESTRIDSENS 73 1086-1095 overtaking- him just as he was seeking- refuge with St. Alban's church at Odense. The citizens of the town now joined the angry Jutlanders, and a crowd closing round the church cried out: "Where is Knud, our god-forsaken king? Let him come forth and show himself! He has borne arms long enough against the rights and property of us Danes! It is full time we made an end of this I " The doors at last bursting under the blows of clubs and staves, the mob, now in a great state of frenzy, rushed into the church to the spot where the king was still kneeling before the altar. Knud had by him his two brothers, Benedict and Erik, and a few faithful followers, who were soon overpowered. " Now, King Knud, I will repay thee for stealing my cattle ! " cried a peasant. " Take that for robbing me of my oxen and horses ! " shouted another, as the mob rushed forward, striking vvildly at all within their reach. Benedict was cut down, and Knud himself fell pierced by a spear before the altap, without having raised a hand in self-defense. Canonized in the reign of Erik, who escaped the mob's fury. Saint Knud, the martyr, became the patron saint of Denmark throughout the Middle Ages, and at his tomb many miracles were wrought. Before Olaf, who was chosen Knud's successor because he was the son of Svend least likely to avenge his brother's assas- sination could take the throne he had to be ransomed from the Count of Flanders, who had been given the custody of him after his treason. Because of the protracted famine in this reign Olaf's subjects promptly tacked the epithet Hunger to his name. The clergy tried to persuade the people that the prevalent want and dis- tress were a direct visitation from God, for tlie murder of the pious Knud. " For seven years," they declared in their sermons. " they had seen dry springs and hot summers burn up the grain and straw, and wet autumns hinder the crop from ripening, wliile Christians elsewhere had bountiful crops and early harvests." How sincerely this representation was made it would be vain to attempt to say; at any rate the evidence shows that Germany, England, France, and Italy w'cre all afflicted with the same adverse seasons, that drought and flood alternated, tliat dcartli was general, that domes- tic animals sought the woods, and that cultiva.ted moors lai)sed back to their primitive wildncss. On tlie other hand, Olaf was not entirely undeserving of liis surname. I'^')r he had returned from his captivity with extravagant notions, and in the midst of the 74. SCANDINAVIA 1095-1103 general famine maintained a showier court than any of his prede- cessors had done. His death in 1095 went nnregretted. Erik, Knud's defender in St. Alban's clmrch. was now chosen king, and with his accession good seasons returned. Erik's sur- name. Ejegod, " Good for tlie I'ycs.'' is due. liowever, to his great personal beauty, fur he had the bhie eyes, the blond complexion, the long flowing hair which are ])raised by the folklore of the north as the distinctive l^adges of the noblest of the Vikings. Erik was also noted for his great strength of body, which was reputed equal to that of four ordinary men. his skill in warlike exercises, and his accomplishments in the eight arts of northern knighthood: riding, swimming, skating, seamanship, javelin-throw- ing, chess-playing, harp-inlaying, and versification. Ele also be- came a great linguist in the cr>urse of his pilgrimages, and prided himself on being- able to converse with all foreigners in their native tongue. Erik conducted a number of very successful punitive expedi- tions against the W'endish pirates and again destroyed then- stn^ng- hold at Jomsborg. lie is also said to have given his ])eo])le license to make reprisals upon these sea-robbers. l>ut as in Sx-end's and Knud's case, the chief interest in lu'ik's reign arises from his dealings with the church, "khis was the period (^f the great " in- vestiture conflict " between the empire and the Papacy, the issue in which lay between relati\'e rights of the emperor and the Pope with respect to the filling of \-acant bishoprics. .\ bishcip per- formed a dual role, tliat of vassal for his " temporalities *' or lands, and that of a minister of the church, in the exercise of spiritual fu;ictii''ns. 1"his distinction, which became the basis of the settlc- mcr.t of the quarrel by the Concordat of A\'orms in it 22. whereby the emperor ga\-e over the pretended right to in\-est a new biFlK!;\ the free choice of the cathedral chapter, with tlic symbols of b.is s])iritual ofiice. in return for the conijilcte reognitinn by the Po]!c of his right to grant or withhold in\-esturc in tlie temporalities ()\ the C]ii-C'i:>"! t ign(.)rcd. The cou^e- fjuence of i!;is failure to an.alyzc the issttc was that both ])arties In the C'iiitr. i\cr-v ui:ide extreme claims. The Scandinax'ian edition (if the fpiarrc'l w;;- i)riidnccd bv Archbishop Licmar's atlcmi)t to deny l-j'ik's couti- :1 of certain temporalilics of the church witlnii ! )cnniarl-;. k.rik. c-.Tonimunicaled, ai)pcak'd to Ponie and went tliither to iilcad hi- cau-e hi [)erson before Irban 11. lie was sue- THE E S T R I D S E N S 75 1095-1105 cessful, for though Urban was a zealous apostle of all Gregory VII. 's doctrine, he had little desire to see the dangerous metro- politanate of Bremen profit by an opportune espousal of a cause to which it had hitherto been quite faithless. Five years later, in the time of the pliable Paschal II., Erik now on a second visit to Rome obtained the great object of his father's ecclesiastical policy, an archbishopric for Scandinavia. Lund, in Skaania, became the seat of the new primate, whose jurisdiction extended over Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, Greenland, Vinland, and the Flebrides. The first incumbent was Adgar, a descendant of the famous Palnatoke. Erik's brilliant success on this occasion Is to be explained in part by the fact that he was now the brother of a saint ; for Urban II. had consented, on the occasion of Erik's first visit at the Papal capital, to Knud's canonization, which followed in iioi. In part it is to be explained by the primary cause of Erik's presence a second time at Rome. For Erik was now in the course of a pil- grimage to Jerusalem, in atonement for the murder of one of his servants, committed, Saxo assures us, in a frenzy caused by some stirring music. Erik's subjects had begged and implored their beloved monarch to remain at home, and had even offered to con- tribute a third of their substance to make up the king's blood-fine and to pay for the masses which he desired to purchase at Rome and Jerusalem for his victim's soul. Their entreaties were in vain, for the king, who had become imbued with the crusading spirit in his contact with the great Urban, the summoner of Europe to the first crusade, was determined to do penance for his crime in the approved method for conspicuous sinners. Neither he nor his queen, Botilda, who accompanied him, lived to enter the Holy City. Leaving Constantinople, where he had finally received regal entertainment from the Emperor of the East, though at first he was regarded with suspicion lest he should lead a revolt of the imperial guard of Norse Varingjar, Erik died soon after on the Island of Cyprus (1103). Botilda lived to enter the newly estab- lished kingdom of Jerusalem, but not the city itself. Not till two years after lu'ik's death was his successor choseti, for the people were reluctant to believe the sorrowful rep()rt and the magnates were profiting by the interregnum. In 1105 lu-ik's brother Niels was elected, the claims of lu"ik's sons being entirely ignored. Niels's long reign of thirty years was calamitous. Enable 76 SCANDINAVIA 1105-1134 to ward off the attacks of the Wends, whose king, Henry " of the Obotrites." retorted to Niels's demand of homage with an inva- sion of Slesvig, the weak monarch invested his vigorous nephew, Knud, who alone of Erik's three sons was loyal, with the virtual sovereignty of that part of the realm. Knud had been trained in arms at the court of Lothair. Duke of vSaxony. In 1125 Lothair became emperor, and in return for Knud's defense of the Holstein lands in conjunction with tliat of Slesvig bestowed upon him the title of the deceased Wendish king. These honors roused both the envy and apprehension of Niels's son. i\Iagnus, who began to fear for his own succession. The jealous prince was able to secure his father's cooperation in an act of treachery and horror. Knud was invited to spend the yule-tide at the royal castle at Roes- kilde, and. responding to the invitation in all good faith, brought with him but a small retinue of men-at-arms. The yule-week Knud passed in safety, but. as he was setting off on his return, he ^vas ambushed at Ringsted by a force set there by ^Magnus, and slain without being aft'orded any opportunity for a fair fight. This deed brought no good to IMagnus or his father, however, for as soon as Knud's brother. Erik, known afterward as Erik Emun, or the " Boaster,"' heard of the murder he tnade an ap- peal to the people at the Great Thing, and begged them to give him men and money to make war on his treacherous uncle. The Danes, as well as the men of the Slesvig and Holstein provinces, had always held the grave Knud Hlaford in great esteem. They therefore took up arms most willingly and Erik soon found himself strong enough to offer battle to the royal troops. The two armies met at Eodevig in Skaania. in the spring of 1 134. Prince Mag- nus was slain, and all the bishops and priests who had come upon the field with him were either killed or made captive. King Niels himself for the moment escaped falling in.to the hands of the victors, but in the hurry of his flight he let himself be persuaded to cross the P>clt to Slesvig. not thinlremcn of Xorbert, the great chamiiion of tlie celibacy of tlie secular clerg\' and the founder of the Canons Regular, the powers of the Arclil)islioj) of Lund were suspended by the l'(pe, and Xorhci't's swa_\' e\i)an(lcd to the dimensions of that of liis ])re(k'- cessor>. The op])osition of the Danish clergy to celibac}', nexcrlhc- less, per-i.-1c"(l, and, nearlv a century lalei", two hundred Juli>h jjrie^ts made formal mid solemn protest against the reform. About 115(3 the Liiglish cardinal, .\ic]i(jlas Lreakspcar, after- THEESTRIDSENS 79 1134-1150 ward Adrian IV., visited Scandinavia and erected the bishopric of Drontheim into an archiepiscopal see. The new primacy was vested with jurisdiction over Norway, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and the Isle of Man. Though it thus cut into the dominions of the Archbishop of Lund, who had been restored several years before to his dignities, it cannot have actually affected the revenues or power of the Danish primacy a great deal. The dimensions that these eventually at- tained we shall have occasion to show later. Chapter VIII DENMARK'S AGE OF GLORY UNDER THE VALDEMARS 1134-1286 KING NIELS'S assassination was followed by the acces- sion of Erik Emun, the late king's nephew. Erik was a brave warrior and succeeded in keeping the coasts free of the Wendish pirates, but his reign was marred by many atrocities. Eor example, he put to death his brother Ilarald Kesia, and his ten sons, and as the ally of Harald Gille. of Norway, he disgraced their joint victory over ]\Iagnus Sigurdson by frightfully mu- tilating ^Magnus upon his capture. Einally. in 1137 Eskil, Bishop of Roeskilde, seeking to make himself .Vrchbishop of Lund, put himself at the head of a revolt and ultimately brought about Erik's murder. Erik Lamb, nephew of Erik the Good, now came to the throne. He was a very feeble ruler. Eskil succeeded in making himself primate without even consulting the king. The Wends revived their piratical enterprises and Erik's subjects, forced to de- fend themselves, came to despise their king's monkish traits as much as they had hated his predecessor's tyranny. In 1147 Erik- died, and a three-cornered civil war of ten years' duration ensued between the adherents of Svend Erik, Emun's son ; Valdemar, son of Knud Hlaford ; and Knud, son of Niels. In the course of the struggle Svend and Valdemar in turn sought refuge and support from the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who forced them to rec- ognize anew the imperial pretensions over Denmark, wh.ich date from the time of Harald Blaatand. Eventually vSvcnd procured the murder of Knud through the agency of the primate, while Valdemar only barelv escaped becoming a victim of the arch- bishop's treachery. The war was brought to a ckise by a great battle near Viborg, in which .Svend w.'is slain and his armv defeated. The chief con^cf|ucncc of the great ci\i1 war is to be seen in the growth of the ])ower of the local magnates, among whom may be clas^^cd the great bishops, and the conse(|U(Mit reduction of tlie I)(Aver of the bcjndar or }e'imcn, a \ ast pro])ortion of wlujui emerged HO T H E V A L D E M A R S 81 1157-1182 from the struggle as serfs. Thus, when the Thing came together in 1 157 to discuss the question of choosing a king, only the nobles and bishops pretended to take part in the election, which resulted in the choice of Valdemar. There were significant changes also in the manner of proclaiming the new king which revealed how much power the higher orders had usurped in the last few years. Formerly, when a Danish king had once been chosen by the local Thing of his capital, it was customary for him to go from town to town, from hundred to hundred, and from province to province to show himself, and to receive the homage of his subjects. But Valdemar had, in the course of his attendance upon the emperor at iMerseburg in the days of the civil war, become thoroughly im- bued with the imperial notion. In lieu, therefore, of making the traditional progress, he caused himself to be anointed in the ca- thedral, decked wnth the robes of state, and vested with a golden scepter by the bishop. When Valdemar first came to the throne he found neither money, nor soldiers, nor trade, nor order in his kingdom. When he died he left to his successors a flourishing, well-defended, busy, and peaceful monarchy, to which he had added large tracts of land in the pagan regions adjoining the Baltic, where the Wends and Esthonians did homage to him and consented at last to receive Christian teachers and to renounce piracy. In his enterprises both of war and peace Valdemar could count upon the support of the church. His twenty and more expeditions against the heathen took on the character of crusades and as such appealed to a leading motive of the age. But more particularly was Valdemar indebted to the loyalty of Axel Hvide, the great Bishop Absalon of Sjaelland, who in 1177 succeeded Eskil as Arch- bishop of Lund, after the latter, brought to humiliation and disaster by a final treason, had retired to the monastery of Claravalle in France. Absalon is perhaps the greatest personality of medic-eval Scandinavia. At one time a student at the University of Paris, upon coming into the primacy he proceeded to introduce through- out Denmark the recently codified canon law. Pie asserted the right of cathedral chapters to choose bishops independently of the sovereign's wishes, and sul)ject only to the Pope's approval. The Cistercian monks whom Eskil had first summoned into Denmark found in Absalon a great friend and sup])orler, the monasteries of l^srom, Vilskol, Uingsted, and Oem being of his foundation. But 82 SCANDINAVIA 1157-1182 though a zealous churchman, Absalon was also a great statesman and willingly placed the resources both of his personal leadership and of his position as head of the Danish church at the disposal of Valdemar. He was also a brave soldier and skillful sailor. He liked nothing better than to stand on the deck of his own ship and command the seamen directly or to lead them on shore in a bold foray against the pagan foe. From his castle Axelborg, on the present site of Copenhagen, he kept a sharp lookout for pirates, and it was not often that his fortress was without a row of heads set up in testimony of the episcopal wrath against sea-robbers, and as a warning to others of the fate that awaited them if they should chance to fall i:ito his holiness's hands. Absalon it was who, in 1 169, headed the assault that made the Danes masters of Arcona. the supposedly impregnable capital of Rygen, and the seat of the great idol Svantcveit : but th.e shedding of blood being over, the militant bishop became the churcliman once more. For two days and tv^'O nights did the arduous task of baptizing the captives con- tinue, and ceased only when Absalon and liis assistants dropped down before the altar from sheer exhaustion. Toward the close of Valdemar's life a revolt of the peasantry br(')ke out in Skaania, due ]:)artly to the unaccustomed zeal of the king's officials in the collection of capitations, and partly to the severity with which the i)rimate himself exacted forced services of the serfs of the archiepiscopal domain. Absalon. finding that he couJd nr)t compel the |)ea-ants to obev his orders with the force that h.e himself had at hand, crossed the Sound and coming to the royal court at Vordingbcrrg in Sjaclland demanded that the king pro- ceed with his army to punish the recalcitrants. At first the king was (lis])fj-ed tf) favor the peasants, but when the ]:)rima.ie proved in.^istent he set sail for Ska.ania, declaring; tliat no one should e\'cr say ()i King Vcaldemar that he had friiled his friend .Absalon. F\-en }('t, hr)\ve\'er, Valdemar tried to ]-)rcvent bloodshed, l-'jut tlie pea.s- antry. already in battle arrav and armcil ^vith scytlics, axes, .and rlubs, \ie\vefl tlie royrd advances with suspicion. The archbi-hoi). inoreo\c'r, \\-as nndonlitC'lly anxious to i)ro\-oke a struggle. " This bcLjgarly rabbk\" sa.id lie, " is unwortiiv lo be cut down by tlie s\\ of ivFlcincn, we iiad bc^t hunt them ^viIh -wli;]) and la^-li." "^^ ai f'Wget, my go^d friend,'' said llie kindly king, ''that we arc d.caling with men and not with dogs." The battle was a li'iig and :-tubb(.rn one, n_ot\vilh-lan.ding tiie poor arms and humble ranlc THEVALDEMARS 83 1182-1202 of the bishop's foes, but it ended of course in a complete rout of the peasantry, one consequence of which was that Skaania became sub- ject to tithes until the Reformation. In the next year, 1 182. King- Valdemar died at the age of fifty- one, and, like many of his forefathers, was i^uried in tlie church at Ring-sted. Despite his severity in Skaania, he still retained the love of his people. As the funeral procession, headed bv Ahsalon, passed by, a crowd of peasants begged with tears and loud cries of grief to be allowed to carry the remains of their beloved king to his last resting place. When the archbishop began to read the service for the dead his voice failed Iiim and he too wept. " Denmark's shield and the pagan's scourge," he said had departed, and the country would soon be again overrun by the heathen ^Vends. The archbishop's melancholy predictions were not fulfilled, however, thanks in great part to the continuance of his own efficient administration of afi^airs. When, in 1184, Frederick Barbarossa demanded that Knud should appear at the imperial court at Ratis- bon and receive the crown of Denmark as a fief of the empire, the power and credit of the Danish monarchy were sucli that Knud was able to reply to the imperial envoy : " I am as much monarch in my own realm as the emperor is in his, and if he fancies that he should like to give away my crown, he had bett'^r find the prince bold enough to come and take it from me." Frederick, engrossed with Italian affairs, was quite unable to take up the gauntlet that had been cast down, but had to content himself with inciting the princes of Pomerania to undertake an invasion of the Danish Is- lands. The old archbishop went out and boldly attacked the intend- mg invaders before they liad hardly left their shores, destroyed 465 of the 500 ships they had assembled, and compelled Pomerania and the \\''ends to recognize in Knud " the king of the W^ends and other Slavs." The fame of Absalon's ex])loit became the subject of songs and tales in c\-cry part of Scandinavia and even among the Varingjar at ]\[iklagaard. Following the annexation of Pomerania, Knud made himself master of Framburg, FuIjccI'C, Ilolstein, Laucnburg. and Mecklen- burg. Finally, he turned his arms against the Fsthonians and Livonians. l^^r^m tliis time on, hcnvcver, his successes were less complete and he made but little real progress in the way of estab- lishing Christianity among these peoples. As long as the Danish troops were in the [)agan k'lnd.s Knud found it an easy matter to 84 SCANDINAVIA 1182-1202 compel the people to accept the rites of the church, but no sooner was his army withdrawn than the natives returned to their ancient practices. ^Moreover, his efforts were soon needed nearer at home, for the emperor had again succeeded in raising foes against him, this time in Denmark itself; and at the imperial instigation a very serious revolt was soon flaming forth in Slesvig. The object of this uprising was to set Vaklemar, Bishop of Slesvig and grandson of the assassin of Knud Hlaford, on the throne. The king's brother, a third Valdemar, had just been made governor of all south Jutland and to him was now given the task of putting down the Slesvig rebels, wliich he did quickly and thoroughly. i^)ishop Val- demar, taken captive, was thrown into tlie dungeon of Soborg castle and kept there many years, living, however, to achieve a complete revenge upon his namesake. Bishop Valdcmar's ally, Count Adolf (jf llolstein, was also thrown into Sol)org keep. Knud's last }cars were disturbed by a dis])ute with Tliilip Augus- tus of France, provoked by I'hilip's repudiation of liis (jucen, Ingc- borg, Knud's si;-lcr. Xot till tlie Poj^e himself. Innocent III., had repeatedly intervened in the (juarrel did I'hilip yield and bring to an end the danger of a war between the two monarchs. Knud died in tlie }ear j2c)j, liaxing been preceded to the gra\e a few months THEVALDE:\IARS 85 1202-1219 by the great Absalon, In the absence of descendants, he was suc- ceeded by his brother Valdemar, who was in northern Germany at the time of the king's deatli. So great had been Valdemar's suc- cess in this quarter that the princes of Holstein, Lauenburg, Pomerania, Rygen, and Mecklenburg, and the Hanse Leaguers con- vened at Liibeck to do him homage as their sovereign lord without waiting to learn upon whom the choice of the Danish estates had fallen. Valdemar II. immediately upon taking the throne proceeded to justify the bestowal upon himself of the surname Sejr, the Conqueror. He comipelled Adolf, Count Duke of Holstein, to give up his duchy and the adjoining lands to Albert of Orlamunde, who as the king's nephew already held Slesvig and now took the title of Duke of North Albingia. Valdemar next turned his attention to Pomerania. This was the period of the most powerful of all the Popes, Innocent III., when the unremitting struggle between the Papacy and the empire was highly kaleidoscopic. Denmark was at this moment a real factor in the world empire, and Valdemar's alliance was sought successively by Philip of Suabia, Otto IV., and Frederick II. in their struggle for the imperial crown. It was partly due to clerical influence directed by the Papal interest and partly to wise and statesmanlike distrust of German power in north- ern Europe that Valdemar finally cast in his lot with Frederick II., who was always willing to sacrifice his German interests to his Italian schemes, and who, in accordance with this policy, made over to the Danish king in 12 17, subject only to the paramount claims of the empire, all the territories north of the Oder and El1)e. Three years before this the Duke of Saxony, the ]\Iargrave of Branden- burg, the Archbishop of Bremen, and numerous other princes of northern Germany had formed a league for the purpose of checking the growth of Danish power along the Baltic coast. The combina- tion had proved futile and Frederick's concession simply recognized accomplished facts. Valdemar's success in Germany led him early in his reign to attempt to establish his sway over Norway and Sweden, but in neither kingdom did he meet with any enduring success. iMiiriUy, in 1 2 10, a signal defeat compelled him to withdraw his force,> from Sweden and to make peace with the Swedish king, Erik Knudsson, by giving the latter his sister in marriage. This was the time 01 the fourth crusade. Valdemar, a zealous son of the church, grc;itl^' 86 S C A N D I N A V I A 1219-1223 regretted his inability to join the thousands of liis subjects \vho were setting out for the Holy Land, in retribution wherefore he obtained, in 12 19, the Pope's special sanction for a crusade against the pagans of Esthonia. Armed with tlie Papal bull, which ga\-e him sovereignty of all the land he might conquer and con\-ert, \'aldemar entered upon his undertaking with an army of 60,000 men and a fleet of 1400 ships, such an array as Scandiiiavia had nc\"er before witnessed, and had soon completely overrun Esthonia. Tlie Danes found, however, formidable ri\'als in their work of proselyting in the Li\-onian Knights of the Sword, who claimed a monopoly of the missionary function in these regions, and a series of sharp battles had to be fought and much blood shed before it was settled which party might convert the heathen. The ])lain narrati\'e of these relig'ious wars in Esthonia was subsequently em- bellished with many marvels, one of winch relates to the first ap- pearanxe of the Dannebrog or national standard. -According to the myth, it descended from heaven v.'hile tlie ])rin.iate an.d .Vn- dreas Stmeson, the great Absalon's successor, were ]iraying for victory at the far-famed battle of \\'olmar. It is not improbable that the Pope may ha\'e sent a consccra.ted l);mner bearing " the \\'hite cross in a blood-red field "' as a token of his favor and that its sudden apj)earance when the Danes were beginning to wa\'er be- fore the pagan ranks ga\'e the \-ictory \vh.ich in kiter times was believed t*) have been the result of the primate's ])ra}crs. The kingdrjm of Denmark now included Denmark. Ilolstcin, Ditmar>h, Lauenburg, Schwerin, Mecklenburg, Rygen, Pomcrr.nia, I'^stlionia, Oesel, and sex'eral tracts of Ihais^ia and Courkmd. \''al- demar II. was now at the height of his glory, a glory. moreo\-er. which far smpassed that of any of liis predecessors. .\e\'erllie1e--<, it would be easy to exriggerale his actu.qva\ ]]']< tlnx-e yiiung sons into captivity. 'Jdie Pope granted tlie ])rayer, informing Count Henry that if he tried to ])ress his unjust claims a.gain-t tlie King of Denmark he would be excommunicated. Tlie nnf. iriunatc \'alileniar"s humiliations were not. however, even yet at an end. In i jjy th.e jieasants (jf the Ditiuarshes having re- fn-cd to jjay the tril)nte which the Danish crown had long claimed from thcni. made gi .od tlieir refusal by defeating the army that X'aldcmar led again-t tluMU. The king himself, struck to the grrjund \\itl; an arrow. e^ca])cd a second cai)tin'e onlv through the ' i III I; .ilk, . ':ial t'l n'lfiiit ti-lit (iiiiice^, was the unit of weight down to the introduction of ihu uiclric .-vrleni. THE VALDE MARS 89 1227-1241 timely aid of a German kniglit, who having been in Valclemar's service in former years, forgot the hostihty of the moment and con- veyed his old master helpless and bleeding to Kiel, there attended his wounds, and sent him on to his country palace at Vordingborg in Sjaelland. By the peace that succeeded the battle at Born- hoved, Ltibeck and the Hanse towns were formally accorded the autonomy which they had already usurped at the time of Valde- mar's captivity. The remaining fourteen years of Valdemar's reign were de- voted to the cares of government, of the preparation of a Jordebog or book of lands akin to the Doomsday book of William the Con- queror, and to the preparation of several codes of laws for the various provinces of the kingdom. " This statistical document (Librum Census Danicc), the greater part of which is still pre- served, throws much light on the internal economy of that country during the thirteenth century. The different provinces were divided into episcopal dioceses, amounting to eight in number; and these were again subdivided into parishes for ecclesiastical purposes, and small districts, each of which was to furnish a vessel and a cer- tain proportion of men for the defense of the kingdom, and the equipment of expeditions against the pirates or other public enemies. North Jutland comprehended the bishoprics of Ribe, Aarhus, Vi- borg, and Borglum, which together furnished 450 ships. South Jutland, or Slesvig, supplied an equal number, and was divided into 130 Styreshavne, or maritime districts. Fyen, with the smaller adjacent isles, Laaland and Langeland, constituted the diocese of Odense,'and were rated at 100 sail. The see of Roeskikle, compris- ing Sjaelland, with the islands of Aloen, Falster, and Rygen, con- tributed 120 vessels; Skaania, Halland, and Bleking furnished 150, and were subject to the Archbishop of Lund, whose jurisdiction extended also to Bornholm, Esthonia, and the other Danish pos- sessions on these coasts," 2 In 1 24 1 Valdemar laid the Jutish code before the Thing of Jutland, which met at Viborg, and before the Sjaelland Thing at Vordingborg. These laws, wliich had been revised by the learned Bishop Gunner, were soon extended to Slesvig and to l\vcn, and having thus taken on something of the cliar.'ictcr of :\ national code were continued in force for nearly .{^o yars, until (^n-istian V., in 1687, performed a genera! rrN'ision of Danish law, and evcMi then not all the provisions of V'aldenKir's famous code were set aside. - Crichton and Whcaton : " Scandinavia," vol. 1. p. 260. OO SCANDINAVIA 1241 As ill more ancient times, the peo])le continued to decide their (hs- piites hv reference to juries of whicli there seemed to liave been several \arietics: one consistini;" of "eight good men and true" cliosen by tlie king and another of tweh'e jurors ch(3sen by the community wlio were bouiid to tender an oatli to the royal bailiff that thev would determine the matters referred to them in accord- ance \vith " that ^\hich was most right cind most true." .Ml evidence offered before these juries was direct, the complainant supporting his accusation by his own oath and tliat of his compurgators, the defendant clearing himself if he was able 1)y direct counter- charges likewise supported by compurgators. The ordeal of battle h;i(l long since 1)een abolished as we have already seen: the ordeal of reddiot ircjii was now done away with. Besides the popular juries, the king's bailiff, as already indicated, had a part in the dis- ])ensing of justice. His principal function was. however, to see that the judgments of the juries were carried out, to preserve order, to receix'c oaths, and to make all preliminary arrrmgements for the assembly of tlie Thing which met in the oiien air within a s])ace enclosed wiihin li ring of stones a sheriff in short. The laws were lenient and most crimes could still be atoned for by money pay- ments, a portion of which went to the disadvantaged party and a portion to the king's bailifT. d'hrce days after the Jutish laws v.ere read and approved by the Thing of \'ordingborg, Valdemar died at the age of se\'entv-(v.ie. iiis memory has always been especially cherished b\' the Danes, who rightly regard him as the greatest of their conquerors p.nd his era tlie iuo.->t glorious of their liistory. ]]oth in his own time, and in tlie periofl immediateK' succeeding his death, Valdemar was looked u])on as tlie perfect model of a noble knight and a roval hero. To the [)rowe Margrele of IjoluMuia, whom the Dan.es in their fond admiraiM.n of her gentleness and beauty called Dagnicir, or the maiden i-l llie da}-. Tlie S(x'ond Av.as r.erangaria, daughter of King I^,''.]iclio \. ot I'ortu'.al. Dagmar long continued to be a sjjeci.'d ta\-oni'- \'. i;h the iidiiilc of I )enmark-, and the fame of her \'irtues \'va^- I-;(]>t ;ilu(' in uvmiv of the mo--t p()])ular of the /;(/r/;//'('T7'.s<'/-, when- '..( Iiiid her rr]irrseiitcd as a f;iir, fi'agile, golden-haired prin- ce-'^, LM'i'l'e rmd pure as a saint. According to one of these old THEVALDEMARS 91 1202-1241 ballads, as she lay on her death bed, and her chaplain urged her to confess, she could think of no sin but that of having decked herself in her best new bodice and plaited her long hair with bright ribbons before she went to mass. The tall, black-haired Berangaria, on the other hand, excited the greatest antipathy among her sub- jects, who translated her name into Bcngjocrd a vile woman. The superstitious peasants even believed that fierce cries of rage and terror might be heard from her tomb in Ringsted abbey by those who passed near it at midnight, while at the same moment softest strains of heavenly music floated over the neighboring grave of Dagmar. Dagmar left no descendants. Her son Valdemar, who had shared his father's captivity at Danneberg, and who had been crowned joint king with him when but six years old to secure the succession, died in 1231 at the age of twenty-three, from the wounds received while hunting. Shortly before this the prince's wife and son had been carried off by some sudden ailment, or pos- sibly by poisoning. At any rate, by these two untoward events, Berangaria's three sons, Erik, Abel, and Christopher, were brought successively to the Danish throne. Their reigns and those of their immediate successors constitute a century of humiliation for Den- mark that stands in pathetic contrast with the brilliant era of the two Valdemars. The monarchy is gradually stripped of its domain and for a time seems threatened with extinction ; the nation loses its independence, the people their freedom, while the bold spirit that once distinguished them is departed. Valdemar's excessive fondness for his children and a totally wrong conception of the character of the royal power lie at the basis of the terrible disasters which followed quickly upon his death. In order to make provision for his younger sons, he had given Slesvig to. Abel and Laaland and Falster to Christopher, while Bleking and Halland he had bestowed upon his grandson, Nikolaus. When, therefore, Erik became king, he found that little more than the title of royalty was left him ; for his brothers, on the plea that their father had given them full sovereignty over their respective lands, refused to do even feudal homage to the crown. The disputes which ensued when Erik tried to enforce his rights speedily plunged the land into civil war to the cost, of course, of the lives and property of tlie ]ieasantry ^vho needed most of all peace and the ()])p(')rtunity to till their fields. Besides his troubles with his brothers, L'Jik had numerous controversies with the counts 92 S C A N D I N A Y I A 1241-1259 of Holstein, the Swedes, Liibeck, and the clergy, and by levying a tax npon plows lo meet the extra expenses of an expedition into Esthonia he totally alienated the peasantry, who branded him, with hatred and derision, PloN'peng. ]u"ik's not very promising career was cut short by assassina- tion at the instigation of his brother Abel. Learning that the death of th.e king had been accomplished by his outlaw minions, Abel immediately sent off to the Danish Islands to offer himself to the people as their king. At the same time he took a solemn oath be- fore the Thing that he was guiltless of his brother's sudden taking off, and brought forward twenty-four nobles to swear to the truth of his word according to the ancient practice of compurgation. Compurgation, hov^'ever, and perjury did not deceive the nation, yet for the sake of the memory of Valdemar Sejr the Danes would not withhold the crown from his eldest living son. Accordingly, in 1250, Abel assumed the crown. He ruled but two years with benefit to his realm, it must be admitted when he himself w-as as- sassinated on the occasion of his retreat from an unsuccessful cam- paign against the Ditmarshers, who of late years had become very unruly. By a strange coincidence, almost at the very same time that Abel was murdered and Ins dead body left without burial in the Frisian marshes, the headless trunk of Erik was brought to the surface of the Slie by the shifting of the current, and the manner of his death became known be)-ond contradiction. The monks of Slesvig al)l)cy, who were the first to discover the body and recog- nize it as that of the late king, buried the remains near the spot w here tliey had been cast up. Soon a rejjort was spread abroad that miracles were being Avrought and marvelous cures being effected at h>ik"s tomb and for many decades the abbey derived large reve- inies fr(jm tlie ])ilgrims who Hocked thither. 'J"he \-iok'nt deatlis of hj'ik and .Abel discloses to a degree the dcch"nc into which the Danisli monarchy had sunk. It is, however, in the reign of their brother and successor, C"lna'sto])her, which lasted from i_'5-2 till 1259, that the various causes o])erating to the subversion of tlic- rov'al power and the decay of Danish su[)remacy in the noiali Itccoiiic resealed in all their dimensions. I'oi-ciHM^t I if ilie^e tauses was the discjrganization of the royal power ii-flf, wliicli had begun in the twelfth century with the practice lollowed by various nionarchs of dividing the realm among THEVALDEiVIARS 93 1252-1259 their sons. Civil war inevitably resulted from these partitionings, the princely appanages invariably attempting to transform them- selves into personal and hereditary fiefs. iVt the same time the hereditary descent of the crown from father to eldest son had never been secured. Some kings, for instance Valdemar Sejr, had at- tempted to insure the succession to their sons by having the latter crowned in advance, but these arrangements were generally thwarted by ambitious uncles or brothers. The crown thus never lost its elective character and since the days of Svend Estridsen and Bishop Absalon, when the peasantry's share in choosing a monarch became negligible, the election had been by the nobility. The natu- ral consequences of this arrangement became speedily evident, for though the choice must still be made from the royal family, yet competitors were usually numerous, and that one of the eligible rivals would be chosen therefore who was ready and willing to make the most liberal concessions to the electors. Christopher himself was chosen over the heads of Abel's several sons. The power of the clergy was increasing step by step with that of the nobility. Liberally endowed by the early Estridsens, the bishops had their own castles, courts, and vassals, and exercised without let or hindrance the rights of coinage and other regalian powers. Thus the Archbishop of Lund had thirty-six fiefs at his disposal, including the cities and towns of the Island of Bornholm, and the Bishop of Roeskilde controlled forty-three fiefs. These extensive domains began in the early days of Erik Plovpeng to set up the pretense that they were exempt from the royal impost. The dispute thus created between the king and his clergy became open warfare in Christopher's reign with all the episodes typical of that species of strife. In Erik I'lovpeng's reign, as we have seen, the city of Liibeck, situated on the German coast of the Baltic, was able to sustain an annoying contest with its alleged suzerain, the King of Denmark. Liibeck was, however, but one of a number of flourishing commer- cial cities that had come to occupy the former places of ambush of the Wendish pirates, as these blood-letting personages had been converted to a more civilized way of life and had become correct Christian merchants. After the battle of Bornhoved some of these cities, like Dantzig, founded by Valdemar I., and Stettin, had been lost to the empire. Others, including Liibeck, had continued to pay a nominal homage to the Danish monarch, but to them also had ^H S C A X D I N A V I A 1259 been accorded a generous measure of aiitonoiny. Thus their burgher classes were permitted as a distinct body of the state to send repre- .-entaii\cs to the (h"et, and in the way of local liberties to have their own courts of justice and to settle their affairs in civic or town councils ])resided over by a mayor or burgomaster, although every town still h.ad its royal bailiff, vested with certain judicial powers and with the duty of collecting certain dues for the cruwn. This grant, the work of Valclemar II.. being t)f a political order, was without particular, at least detrimental, effect upon Denmark proper. Certain conxessions extorted from Christopher by the men ui Liibeck, and afterv\-ar(l extended to the other Hanseatic towns without regard to their political allegiance, were, on the other hand, of commercial import and of very serious consequence. Thus the exemption of the Hanseatic merchants from the Sound tulls not only diminished the royal revenues, but, taken together with tlie cltjser communion of the German cities with southern I'^urope and the Mediterranean traffic, gave those cities a monopoly o'f th.e commerce of the Baltic and North Seas, and blighted for centuries the commerce of the Danish towns. Likewise, the con- cession t(j Cerr.ian fishermen of the privilege of pursuing herring from ilicir {'(nncranian beds into Danish waters seritjusly injured the Dani-h fisliing industry. 'J'lie situation in Denmark at the middle of the thirteenth cen- tury may be summed u]) thus: a jieasantry declining into serfage; a [)aini"ull}- dexeloping ijiu'gher class; a ])owerful territorial nobility rapidl}- (le\-e]o])ing out of thic old system of local magnates; an ecclc>i;i.-tical ord.er. rdso wielding great territorial ])o\vers. slowly abandoning its alliance with the monarchy and casting in its lot with the lay ni.icj'nates, against wliose aggrcs.sions the monarchy is no longer .:i ca]);;b1c defender. In short, a feudal and sacerdotal oligarchy i.< superseding the Dani-h monarchy, which indeed was al\\a\- a ir;,:I craft U])on a wild sea of ana.rch}'. Cjjncomitant with tli!> '.hange is a transformation in the character of ihe instru- niiniaiuir- of government. Th.e old local Things, tliough from tinn- to time ]]i('y .-;ill ,-i--crt them-el\e-, hax'e ^ieidefl in large part to ilic; diet, Adclinii;, or l)anneliof. which a.>>nines moi-e ar,d more the ri.uhi to Iniiii ii:(_- royal iii''l!:ili\c-. rmd in which, ihough the higher pea-ant ;\ m-ii! ri.-; irt .-c'ntati\es to it as late as the lifteenth century, the jMrlate.- and .^I'eai i..blfs ])rej)< nxlcrate. Of the s;inic essential cLaracier \,a~ tl.c more compact council of btate, though this body T H E V A L D E :\r A R S 95 1259-1283 a strong monarch conld hope to sway. Such, unfortunately for Denmark, were few and far between. It was also in Cln-istopher's reign that the series of Slesvig- Holstein wars began, which were to continue 600 years. South Jutland, or Slesvig, had always been a portion of Denmark, h.ad tlie same constitution, same laws, same customs: for it was onlv relatively late that German colonists entered it, and then tliev re- mained in the southern part. Howe-\-er, tlie practice of partitioning the kingdom among the sons of the reigning monarch was especially perilous when applied to Slesvig on account of the proximity of the Holstein princes. This was proved by the fact that the first act of these princes upon Christoplier's accession was to insist that he should confirm to his and tlieir young nephews all the rights over the duchy of Slesvig which Abel had claimed in Eric's lifetime as due to him in accordance with the intentions of Yaldemar Sejr. The conditions amounted practically to a demand that the independence of the duchy be recognized. Christopher refused, whereupon the Holsteiners made war on Denmark. After much fighting King Abel's son, Valdemar of Slesvig, was allowed to hold the duchy, but on what terms both parties purposely left to be settled at some other time. In the following reign the young king, being imprisoned to- gether with his mother, th.e queen-regent, by Erik, Valdemar of Slesvig's son, made an explicit pledge to recognize his captor's hereditary right to the ducliy. Subsequently escaping, however, he claimed immunity from the promise made under duress. Im- mediately he was haled before tlie imperial court at Ratisbon, b}' whose decision in 1283 Duke Erik's heir. Valdemar. was formally put in possessioui of Slesvig as a vassal of th.e empire, and not till one hundred and sixty years later did tlie Danish monarch recover the duch}-. Christopher ended his reign isi a struggle with Jakob Erland- sen, the primate, ^i man of great learning, v/ho had been a fellow- student at Rome of the Pope, Innocent I\\, and so devoted to the Roman Church that lie considered his duty as a subject np.uch less binding upon his conscience than liis oljligations as one oi tlie clergy. Christoplier Lhrcalened to c;ill the clergy to account for their exercise of scignorial rights rmd their defirmco of the royal ordinances. I'n-l.andsen, in rc.-]^on>e, dcckired that nn.E'^. the l-:ing ceased his attemjjts to curtail the ])ri\ ileges of the clerg}-, t'^c 96 SCANDINAVIA 1259-1286 kingdom should be laid under an interdict. This so enraged Christopher that he caused the primate to be seized in his own palace and carried, chained like a common felon, to one of the royal castles, an act which, as might have been expected, brought down the wrath of Rome upon the entire kingdom. Denmark was laid under interdict and a sentence of excommunication passed upon the king and all who had taken part in the seizure and ill-treatment of the primate. The people, however, at first paid little heed to these acts and as the clergy in Jutland and some of the islands refused obedience to the Papal decrees, the services of the church were still carried on in many parts of the kingdom. Christopher, emboldened by his success thus far, now determined to seize upon some of the crown lands held by the bishops, a resolution wdiich was thwarted only by his sudden death while he was receiving the communion in the catliedral of Ribe. Immediately the tale became current among the people that the king had died from the effects of a poisoned wafer given him by Arnfast, and when Arnfast was subserincntly elevated to the see of Aarhus the uncanny suspicion was not allayed. Christopher was succeeded by his ten-year-old scjn, Erik Clip- ping the " Blinker," the queen, Margaret of Pomerania. acting as regent. Almost her first act was to release the primate from his captivity. Erlandsen refused, however, to be reconciled with the royal family, but liastened to Rome to lay his case before Po])e Alexander IV^ In 1273 Erik consented to be mulcted of 15,000 silver marks, whereupon the interdict was removed, after having ')cen nominally in force fourteen years. Chapter IX NORWAY AND SWEDEN BEFORE THE UNION OF CALMAR. 1093-1397 O LAP'S son and successor, Magnus Barfod, who became king in 1093, greatly resembled his grandfather in char- acter and proclivities. He was speedily involved in a quarrel with the Swedish monarch regarding the boundary line of the two realms. The war that followed was brought to an end in iioi by Alagnus's marriage to the Swedish princess, Margrete, who, on that account, became known as Fred Kulla, or the " peace maiden." Alagnus now turned his arms against the western islands and Scotland, and, after forcing the natives of those places to pay him tribute, against the Isle of Alan and Anglesea, both of which he also subdued. His final enterprise was directed against Ireland. Having ventured too far inland with a small following he was cut off from his ships by a band of Irish peasants and he and all his men were slain (1103). It is said that Magnus was given his nickname because of his adoption of the Scottish kilt, which excited the ridicule of his subjects. Alagnus, undisturbed however, kept to the Highland dress to the end of his days. ]\Iagnus's three sons, Ejsten, Sigurd, and Olaf were chosen joint kings to succeed their father. Sigurd presently set out for the Holy Land with a large fleet, which he turned against the pirates of the Mediterranean. Subsequently making his way to Jeru- salem, he assisted in the capture of Sidon from the infidels. On his return he visited the Emperor Alexius at Constantinople, to whom on his departure overland for Norway he presented his fleet. Sigurd Jorsalafari returned to rule, for Olaf was now dead and Ejsten a negligible quantity. Pie did all he could to exalt the power of the clergy and to introduce the liturgy of southern Europe. He was also something of a legal reformer, abolishing many of the ancient forms of law and ordering that preference should be given to the ordeal of red-hot iron in the decision of doubtful cases. This jjractice turned out bad)}- for Sigurd himself, for it happened that toward the close of his life a claimant to the 97 98 S C A X D I N A y I A 1093-1262 throne appeared from Ireland and demanded diat the trnth oi liis claim, which was that he was the son of ^Magnus Barfod, should be su1)iectcd to the test which Sigurd had prescribed. The king ga\-e hi- consent, because he could not very well do otherwise, .and when the impostor, who called himself Harald Gille, went through tiie ordeal successfully, loyally owned him as brother and associate. Shortly afterward Sigurd died, leaving Harald Gille and his own son, Magnus, joint rulers. TliC former blinded the latter and next year was himself strangled in his l)ed at Bergen by a second Sigurd, who also claimed to be a son of Alagnus Barfod. The new imp(^stor. however, contented himself with tlie modest role of king-maker, and taking the blinded king, Magnus, from the ])rison into which he had been thrust, set him on the throne, Ir.it shfjrtly afterward botli Sigurd and Magnus were slain in battle with fL'u-ald Gille's adherents. A great many factions now sprang v/) in the rniarchy-rid;len country. The two most important were tiie Jjirkc-bciicnic, or " Birchlegs," from their birchbark sandals, (;r leggings, and the 1'ai.^'ciiic, or " Croziers," from the bagall or crozicr. (>i the founder of the party. Xicholaus, Bishojj of Oslo. d^lie leader of the Birchlegs was at first a certain Sverre, the son of a l)rushmal-;er of Drontheim, who had recci\'ed some in- struction to the en.d of beccmiing a priest, hie gave himself out to he a ^on of tlie first Sigurd, anrl In's successes against the numerous (aim.-mts to tiic tlirone were so considerable that in the year i 184 he was crowr,cd at Ikrgcn amid the acclamation f)f the peo])le. ihu tlie hil! of party strife was very brief and in 1202 Sverre died. \'."oi-n oi;t ]jy coi-i-tant warfare with the clerical faction, which was lie-'i'Ied 1)\- tlie .\rchl)i>]ioji of Drontheim and could always ctjunt on aid iro'ii I)cnm;trk. or at least on a safe retreat tlniher. Sverre's .~^n, [lal;nn III., reigned but two }-ears. Tlis sudden death at l'(Tgin in 1204 IS generallv attributed to poison mixed by his -'''1 'iiothcr. .\;;ngaret, drmglUer of .Saint \\v\k of Sweden. X"ever- theic--;, 'Ih' llirciih'g^ '-tih seemed to ha\-c controlled the succession. Gntt'.rni. a ^.OTiul-ori oi" S\erre. held the thnuie a few months. I- i''J-i hi-; (jcatli the crown went to Inge llaardsen, a ne])]iew of the "-'I"' !!! iiiairh. \\li.o cfiiiU'iided for thii"teen years with varying suc- <'- ', i;h ior.r or i'wc riwil-;. liis su.cc-e->;or was llak-on lY., who -' '^'' '''< \'-;i- r<-pic-(;itcd hv the Ihrcliiegs as a son of JLakon II F. In ti/c l',]ig re; on >'\ I lahon IV\, frdui IJ17 lo J j6j, Norway BEFORE THE UNION 99 1217-1262 emerged for the morxient into something hke Eriropean prominence. In his youth Hakon brought low one enemy after another, ending with Skule Baardsson, his father-in-law, whom h.e had made ruler of a third of his kingdom with the title of " Jarl of Xorwav," but who soon came to aim at nothing short of the roval power. In 1240 Skule caused liimself to be proclaimed king and advanced upon Drontheim at the head of liis partisans, among \v"l]om lie could reckon many of the great magnates of the realm. Tlie rebel army was completely defeated by Hakon at Oslo, and Skule himself was forced to seek refuge in a monastery, within whose walls he was shortly after murdered. Norway now enjoyed a greater degree of peace than it had experienced for a century before. Hakon displayed great ability in restoring order to his kingdom and his fame for valor and piety became European. Thus Louis IX. of France sent a special em- bassy to Norway to solicit Hakon's aid in a crusade, and the Pope urged him to take arms against the Emperor Frederick XL Hakon tactfully and sensibly refused to give ear to either project. Fie had, in fact, objects of ambition much nearer home. Tlie inhabitants of Iceland had enjoyed independence since the days of their initial settlement in the time of Harald Haarfager. They enjo}'e(l the sway of a system of laws Avith many features of exceptional humanity, but unfortunately among the great families of the island immemorial antagonisms subsisted v/hich kept the en.- tire populace involved in incessant and destructive warfare. Espe- cially ambitious was the powerful family of the Sturles, the chief representative of whom at this moment was Snorre Sturleson. Snorre had, as head of public affairs in Iceland, raised up a host of enemies by what was alleged to be his arrogant conduct. It happened, therefore, that Ilaktin. aware of his opportunity, de- termined to conquer Icekmd. He of course found no trouble in inciting the Icelanders to re\olt against their own chieftain. Long years of warfare ensued, but a.t I'lst in 1241, Snorre having Ijeeri murdered by his sf)n-in-law, all Iceland was brought completely under the control of Norway. The subjugatioii of Greenland shortly followed. Toward the close of his reign Hakon invaded Scotland witli a powerful fleet, intending to recover the l;;nds which the X')r- wegians had once held ni that regum. It is (|uite imjjossible lo harmonize the divergent accounts given of this event by Scoicii 100 S C A N D I N A V I A 1262-1387 and Xorwegian chroniclers. It seems, however, to be beyond dis- pute that King Alexander III. of Scotland surprised the Norwegians while they were conducting a landing on the coast of Ayr, and in a battle fought at Largs about 1261 so thoroughly defeated them that the small remnant of invaders was glad to take ship for the Orkneys. Here Hakon was seized with an illness of which he died in the spring of the year 1262 at Kirkwall. His son, ]\Iagnus, who had married a daughter of Alexander III., sold the Hebrides, according to the Norwegian account, to his royal father-in-law for a large sum of money. The Scotch rendition of the affair is that Magnus was forced to renounce all claims to the islands without any compensation whatever. Besides his title to fame as a con- queror. ]\Iagnus left behind the honorable name of Lagabaeter. or Law-betterer, in recognition of his collection and codification of the valuable portion of the old customary law. lirik, known as Praesthader or Priest-hater, ruled from 1280 to 1299. His epithet tells the story. He did not, in the least, suc- ceed in winning the love of his monkish chroniclers, being indis- posed to admit the right that the clergy claimed to immunity from taxation. He was, moreover, almost incessanth' at war with the Danes on account of his mother. Queen Ingeborg's dowry, which harl never been paid. He also had an interminable cpiarrcl with the Scotch on account of the heritage of his daughter, ]\Iargretc; also, many disputes with the Hansers, whose trading rights he patriotically tried to curtail. ]\Iost grievous of his misfortunes was a personal one, namely the death of his daughter, Alargrete, who died at sea while on her way to Scotland to lay claim to tlie tin-one on the death of her grandfather, Alexander 111. In the absence f)f male issue I'^rik was succeeded to the throne in I2()9 by his brcjthcr, Hakon, with the title of Hakon V. Upon tliis ruler's death in 1319 the infant Magnus of Sweden, son of liakon's daughter Ingeborg, was received as king by the peo})]c of Norway. This is the Magnus Smek of Swedish history. In 1350 ]\lagnus resigned the X'orwcgian throne to his second son, llakon, who had married Margaret of Denmark, and who now took the title of Hakon VT. in [375 ILakon's son Olaf, then but five years of age, was clio-en king of Denmark under the regency of his mother, Margaret. r])on liakon's death in i3(So the same arrangement was accepted l)y the ])e(j])le of Xorwav, to endure till Okif's death n .'387. Upon the death in 1056 of lulmund Ganile, the last of the BEFORE THE UNION 101 1056-1155 Ynglingjar whose control of the sacred precincts of Upsala con- stituted the chief title of the kings of Svithjod to their sway over the men of Gothland, a relentless struggle broke out between the two races. In the decade 1056 to 1066 the Gota had a Christian king, Stenkil, who seems .to have held sway finally over both the Svea and Gota, pagans and Christians. The centur}^ that followed his demise was, however, a period of turmoil and carnage to which both racial antagonism and religious animosity contributed. The cause of Christianity was barely kept alive by small groups of heroic monks who ventured to come up from Skaania from time to time to found churches, which were generally soon burned down by the heathen reactionaries. At one time, indeed, both Svea and Gota obeyed a pagan king, and, renouncing Christianity, united in sacrifice to Odin. At another time there was no king at all, the chief law-explainers or primitive justiciars ruling each in his own district. Sverker Karlsson was a Christian king and in his period, 1135-1155, the disorder in Sweden began to diminish. Sverker erected churches and monasteries, invited Cistercian monks to his realm, and even sent an embassy to the Pope, praying that bishops might be settled in Sweden and that a place might be chosen for the see of a primate, the primacy of the Danish Arclibishop of Lund being extremely irksome to the Swedes. In response, the Pope sent Cardinal Nicholaus Albinensis, later Adrian IV., the first and only English Pope, to Sweden to investigate the question of an archbishopric for that country. When, however, the Svea and the Gota were unable to agree upon the choice of a district for the primate's see, the best that the Pope's legate could do was to erect the Norwegian bishopric of Dronthcim into a metropolitanate and to assign Sweden to its jurisdiction. The Swedish monarch in return guaranteed the payment of Peter's pence to the court of Rome. Sverker's old age was troubled by civil wars in which his own son took a hostile part until he was murdered by some peasants whom he had outraged. Shortly after this event Sverker himself was assassinated by his own attendants, on tlie plea that he had shown himself incompetent and cowardly in dealing with the Danes, who were now assailing the Swedisli coasts. Erik Jed- vardsson was the choice of tlic Svea to succeed Sverker, and, tliough the Gota at first resisted Erik's autliorit}^, they, too, were finally 102 S C A N D I N A V I A 1150-1250 induced, partly by dint of diplomacy and partly by force, to ac- cept liim. The ancient saga tells us that King Erik the Saint laid three things to his heart: to build churches and to improve the services of religion, to rule his people according to law and right, and to overjwwer tlie enemies of his faith and realm. Resides h.is title as saint Erik has also the epithet " the la\v-p;iver." and as such he won the especial love and gratitude of the women of Sweden bv his n.umerous laws in their behalf. Henceforth every wife might claim equal power with her husband over locks, bolts, aiid bars. She had a legal claim to half his bed during his life, win'ch meant that she could not be ruthlessly divorced. Lastly, she was entitled to enjoy one-third of his substance after his death. Till Erik's time the worship of Odin had continued at Upsala. Xow, however, a primate's see arose at Gamla Upsala and the learned and ])']()us Menrik was appointed its lirst incumbent. Like the great Absalon a warrior as well as churcliman, and an enthusi- astic missionary in l)oth capacities. Henrik lost his life on a crusade against the pagan I'^inns. Erik hin":self owed his death to an inva- sion of upper Sweden by the Danish prince. Magnus LIen^ik^en. His virtues an.d jjiety secured him tlie love of his people, who, though he v/as never canonized. Vv'orshipcd him as their patron saint. Eor many years his remains were preserved in the cathedral at Lpsala and honored as holy relics, his arms were emblazoned on the nationrd flag of Sweden, and the figure of the sainted king still appears on tlic seal of the town of Stockholm. lu'ik. the first of t1ic Bondar. died in tt6o, and Erik Laespe, the last of thru rr'ce ('f kings, died in T250. The intervening century vas a periofl r)f wnr aiid assassination, and of misery for the whole Country. The onl}' class to prosper was the clergy and they were the only ones v^'ho did aught to mitigate the evil of the times. Lar- licularly did t!:c priestliood slri\-e in induce the jx'oplc to surrender their pagan pi'actices of indiscriminate di\orcc and llie exposure of infant^. Tt v. 'i< in this ])criod. a.lso. tint the monks, who came largely from |-".ngkmd. first taaiglit tl.e Swedes liow properly to lill tlie gronnd. to ])reprirc s.alt. to buiM v\v\ <>])era1e water mills, and to eon-truct rn-fl, rmd bridges. A great nu:ni)c-r of these monks met vi. '''lit de:it]!^. but their memorv has lingered e\-en to the pres- ent day in the dilT'Tc!-.! di-^tricts in vliieh the\- carried on their l'ib'ir<. Tim- t!'e pcMpic ,,f \\'e-;tmrninlan(i l-ing honored the lri>h David as a saint, v.hile i:i Socdernianland and Xorland the relics BEFORE THE UNION 103 1155-1250 of the English martyrs. Eothard, Askill, and Stephen, were for many ages cherished with greatest reverence. Denmark, of course, often seized tlie opportunity to meddle in the quarrels of the Bondars and Sverkers, extending asylum to the defeated princes of each party in turn. Thus Sverker Karlsson, hav- ing murdered all but one of the grandsons of Saint Erik, found refuge from the rage of the Swedish people at the court of Valde- mar IL, who lent him a fleet and an army. Sverker's defeat by his former subjects in \A'est Gothland in 1208 was a body-blow at the Danish conqueror's project of adding Sweden to his dominions. Indeed, Valdemar II. , in making peace with Erik Knuilsson, Saint Erik's surviving grandson, gave him his own sister, Rikissa, in m.arriage. Sweden was still a barbarous country, com^pared even with Denmark, It was related tliat when the young princess landed in West Gothland and found that tliere were no carriages of any kind, but that slie would have to make the long journey to her husband's court on horseback, she made bitter complaint, much to the disgust of the Sv\-edish women in attendance. " Our queens," they declared, " have n.ever yet been too weak to sit upon a horse." Rikissa had one son, Erik, surnamed Laespe, or '' the Halt." In 1222, upon the death of johan Sverkersson, tlie last of the Sverker line, this prince, the last of the Bondars, succeeded to the Swedish throne, his reign lasting till 1250. At the same time that the two ancient rival families of Sweden were declining in power a new and greater family was rising into aflluence and prominence, the Folkungar. to wliose chief, the rich and powerful Birger Brosa, King Erik had finally though much against his will granted the title of " Jarl of the Swedes and tlie Goths." The rank of jarl gave Birger much political power, at the sam.e time tliat his wealth enabled him to li\'e in a princely manner. Birger also courted the favor of the clergy with great success, by his championship of their claims to immunity, and he won the good-will of all devout churchmen by setting on foot a crusade against the pagan Finns. v.Fo were thus induced by fire and sword to renounce tlieir old. faith and receive baptism. Birger being absent from Sweden when Erik Eaespe died, the Swedish council of state tfjok adv;nitage of liis absence to choose his youthful son, Valdemar, king. This was the work of Ivar Bdaa, who was able tr) ansv.'cr the argument that Valdemar. as the son of Birger Jarl, would be entirely under the control of that am- 104. SCANDINAVIA 1250-1274 bitioiis chieftain, by showing- that Vaklemar's election was indeed the only choice which the jarl would not dispute. The young king was accordingly conducted to Upsala and presented at the Alora Stone to the people for their homage, and carried thence on his royal progress, or " Erik's course," which was completed before the jarl's return to Sweden. Birger's return to the kingdom was marked by loud complaints against the council and unavailing threats to induce the people to set aside his son's election on the ground that it was not according to the ancient law which required the jarl's assent to a royal elcc- tlou. " Who was the traitor who dared to elect a king in my absence?" demanded Birger of the first session of the Dannehof. "I was the man." responded the knight Ivar; "and if my choice does not suit you it is evident where alone we could have found a king more to your mind." " Whom would you choose," inquired l^iirger. "if you were to set my son aside?" "We would think about that." answered Tvar. " But there is no lack of choice. Sweden might find a king to suit her under tin's cloak of mine." The upshot of the matter was that Birger Jarl discreetly decided to let well enough alone and to take his place as chief seneschal at Valdemar's coronation at Linkoping. Indeed, from that time till his death, in 1266, the jarl was the real, though not the nom- inal, king of Sweden, which he ruled with a vigor and prudence exceptional in the annals of that country. He kept the nobles in check, encouraged knightly training, abolished the ordeal, and, abol- ishing the ancient maxim " where the cap comes in the hat goes out." cfjufcrred u])on (laughters a right of inheritance one-half that of sons. lie is also credited with having fcmndcd Stockholm; at any rate lie fortified it and raised it to the rank of an important stronghold, which thenceforth became one of the realm's cliief defense^ ag.ainst the attacks of Finnish pirates. The value of Birger's control of affairs is seen from the fact that as soon as liis Ihand was withdrawn, A^aldemar ruid his brothers, Duke ^lagnns and I'rince Erik, began to distract the realm with their cjuarrels. In the midst of these \\'d(lemar brought upon him- self tlie anger of the clergy by his practical divorce of his (|uecn, Sofia. \vho^c ])lacc was tak'cn bv her sister, the nun Jutta. To rid him-elf of the reproach of has'ing brought this twofold scandal u])on religion. V'aldemar. in i_'74, made by way of ])enance a j)il- grimage to l\()me. d'his gave Magnus, who acted as regent, and BEFORE THE UNION 105 1274-1290 Erik opportunity to take whatever measures their interests dictated. The next year with the aid of men and money furnished by the King- of Denmark, they compelled Vaklemar to flee his realm. The fugitive sought refuge in Norway at first, but venturing back shortly he was captured and imprisoned by Duke Magnus and forced to renounce the crown of Sweden in return for the lordship of East Gothland. Vaklemar subsequently withdrew to Denmark, but again returned to Sweden in 1288. Again seized by the order of his brother, he was from this time on kept under mild restraint in the castle of Nykoping until his death in 1302. His son, Erik, never made any attempt to regain the crown from his usurping uncle. In the meantime Magnus was proving himself an able ruler, putting down the revolts of his wealthy and unruly kinsmen of the Folkungar family, and perfecting the work which his father had begun of ridding the law of its obsolete and inequitable features. IMagnus owed his pseudonym Ladulaas, " Barnlock," to a law which he secured limiting the right of purv^eyance, a severe burden to the peasantry. " No Roman emperor could wish for himself a nobler appellation than Ladulaas," says the writer of the old Swedish chronicle, " and very few could have laid claim to it, for the epithet Ladubrott, ' Barnbreaker,' would fit most rulers much better." Tlie most important feature of i\Iagnus's legal reforms, however, connects itself with the transforma.tion, which the charac- ter of tlie old Swedish nobility had been long undergoing, from that of local magnates to that of a semi-feudal nobility of seiwice. Magnus now settled by definite legislation the kind of service that the crown might exact from each order in the state. Men were distinguished as Frcilse, " Free," and as Of raise, " not Free," the freedom in question beings merely exemption from taxation and having nothing to do with freedom of person or property. In return for their exemption from taxation, the class of Fralse had to furnish military service with horses, as well as men. against the king's enemies, whence the term niss-tjcjisf, Tn addition to their service on the field, the members of this nobility were expected to remain near the king's person at court, available for council and honcjrable ministrations to tlie royal comfort and dignity. Magnus himself kept a court of unprecedented brilliance for his realm and spent much time and energy in encouraging the practices of knighthood followed in southern l^urope. 1 Ic was also an un- 106 SCANDINAVIA 1290-1317 wcar}-ing champion of the church and clergy. In the course of his reign he founded five monasteries and bestowed large sums on various religious cstablisliments throughout his kingdom. At his deatli in 1290 his body at his own request was placed in the Fran- ciscan monastery of h.is own foundation in Stockholm. ' In the hM])c.' as he declared in his testament, 'that h.is memory might not pass away with the sound of his funeral bells.' M,'>.gnu> left three sons. Birgcr, Erik', and \"aldcmar. Birger. the eldest and tlie first to be made king, was but nine ycc'irs of age in 1290, but as long as his father's friend, ^Marshal Torkel Knuts- son. go\-erned for him all went well, "riie Finns, as in Birger Jarl's da}', were again brought under subjection to the Swedish crown, and under the sway of Ch.ristianity. A new and complete code f)f laws, based upon Magnus's reforms, was laid before the people at the Great Thing of 1295 and ajiproved by them, and many measures were taken for the development ()f the realm. This ^vas during the regency. /\s soon as Birger began to reign on his own responsibility things began to go awry. ,\nt!ci])ating Charles I.'s ingratitude to Strafford, almost th.e first act of the foolish young king was to hand over the faithful Torkel to be tried and con- demned for alleged treason. This measure Birger designed to conciliate his brothicrs. Xo sooner, howe\-cr, had lu-ik and A^alde- mar thus freed tliemselves from tlie \A-holcsonie restraint of the marshrd's iiifiuence in tlie state, than they seized the king himself and kept him in confinement till he had signed a trcat\' wherein' tl:cy were left to go\-ern their ]:)rovinccs as \-irlnal sovereigns. ]-.\-cn tliis concession flid not win their sunport for tlic mijnarcln'. l)Ut later on. in alliance with the king'^ nr Xorwav and nenmarlc, tlicy ])rocecded to lay waste tlieir l)i'ot!ier"s kingdom in c\"erv ]) gnc-t- to all'.v tlirir rv.iainc;s I0 take nj) (juarlrrs in ihc town, alleging wiih aj)ologie> llie >niallness of tlie ca.^tk'. The re(|ue>t BEFORE THE UNION 107 1317-1336 being complied with, the bridges of the castle were raised, the gates locked, and the two princes thrown in chains into the remotest dungeon. "At last!" cried the exultant king, "I have Sweden in my own hands.'' His words, however, were but an empty boast. A few months later the people o^* Nykoping arose in revolt to avenge the two princes, who had in' the meantime succumbed to the rigors of their confinement. The castle of Xvkoping was razed to the ground, and in 13 19, the revolt having become gen- eral, Birger, with his queen and daughter, fled to the Danish court, where his son, iMagnus, was already a refugee. The following year Magnus ventured back to Sweden, and, falling- into the hands of his foes, was publicly beheaded at Stockholm. This calamity brought Birger himself to the grave. He was buried at Ringsted abbey, the resting-place of many of the early Danish kings. In Sweden, in the meantime, the penple were rallying enthusi- astically to the following of Mats Ketilmundsson, who on mid- summer-day, 13 19, appeared before tlie assembly of the Thing at Upsala and persuaded the people to receive as king- Duke Erik's son, ]\Iagnus, an infant scarcely three years of age. The next year a number of the Swedisli nobility having undertaken an embassy to Norway to demand the homage of that kingdom for Magnus, who through his mother, Ingeborg, daughter of Hakon V., was really the nearest heir to the Norwegian crown, succeeded in their Cjuest and secured the organization of a council of state to govern the kingdom in Alagnus's name until he should obtain, his nicijority. The years immediately following se'em to l;ave been a prosperous era for both kingdoms. In the year 1332 representatives came from the provinces o;f Skaania, Ilalland, and BJeking, which had been pawned by Erik ^.lenved and Christoplier II. of Denmark to the Swedish council of state, off'eriiig- to take oaths of allegiance to King ]\Iagnus on behalf of tliemselvcs and tlieir countrymen, if only they might be united to the vSwedisli kingdom. Erom the Gulf of I'inland to the fjords of N(jr\vay, and to the Sound, llie entire north now owned Magnus's swaw Nut till i ^^j^^^'i. liowevcr, with the death oi IMats Ketilmundss(jn did Magnus's sole reign 1)c- gin. and then there was a sudden close to the long period of pros- perity. The young king and liis (jueen were governed by their own selfish desires for ])leasure and were entirely in the control of evil and designing favorites. Eurthermore, they found it hu- 108 SCANDINAVIA 1336-1360 possible to reside in one kingdom without exciting" the resentment and jealousy of the other. Thus things went from bad to worse. In the year 1350 the king's elder son, Prince Erik, putting himself at tlie head of the most powerful elements of the kingdom, formally demanded that the king and queen should exile their unworthy favorite, Bengl Algotsson. .\t the same moment the Norwegians asked to have Hakon, Magnus's second son, set over them as their independent ruler. Soon afterward Prince Erik, who was very popular, died under circumstances that gave rise to the suspicion that he had been poisoned by his mother, Queen Blanka. Three other causes for revolt were shortly added by Magnus : his sur- render to King Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark of the provinces of Skaania, Halland, and Picking, in return for a secret promise of aid against the Swedish Dannehof ; his marriage of his young son, Hakon, to ^Margaret of Denmark, another ruse of the crafty Dan- ish monarch; and his order compelling the exile of twenty-four of the most powerful nobles of Sweden. The exiles made haste to obey the order, but it was only to betake themselves to the court of Mecklenburg to offer the Swedish crown to Count Albert, son of King Magnus's only sister, Euphemia. The count accepted with joy, and landing in the autumn of the same year, 1363, on the Swedish coast, was at once chosen king by the (ircat Thing, which at the same time declared that both Magnus and Hakon had for- feited the allegiance of the people on account of their lack of good faith in their dealings with their subjects and their friendly conduct with the enemies of the kingdom. In a battle fought between the rival kings at ]"hik6])ing- in 1365 Magnus was taken capti\'e, and was Uitt set at liberty till 137T. In that year it was settled by a treaty between .Vlbert and Ilakon, that Mag'uus might enjoy certain rev- enues and reside at the Norwegian court, on condition that neiihcr he nor his son should make any attempt to regain the Swedish crown. Magnus Smek was partly the victim of circumstance, for it was in his unhappy reign in the decade between 1330 and 13^)0 that the lilack Death swe])t o\-er N(jrway .and Sweden. W'hat with its ra\-ages ;ind the incessant devastations of civil strife, many pc'ir- i.^hes were left almost clepupulated. .Vlbert of Mecklenburg had been chosen king by the nobles of Sweden under tlie impression that he would ])rove a mere pu])pet in their hands. They found, however, that he was less pliable than BEFORE THE UNION 109 1360-1385 they had fondly supposed. Their anger at their disappointment was aggravated by the new king's introduction into Sweden of a great crowd of German favorites, upon whom he proceeded to bestow ah the offices of state that he could lay his hands upon. A movement was now set on foot looking to the restoration of King Magnus. The support of the peasantry was secured by an appeal to the council of state, in which the nobility joined, praying for the relief of the lower orders from their heavy burdens. This role of defenders of the people fell in well with the systematic op- position of the nobility to the monarchy. It was, however, a mere pretext. In point of fact the nobles cared very little about the troubles of the peasantry. Their own petty grievances being tem- porarily allayed, they found it easy and convenient to forget their erstwhile championship of the popular cause. Indeed, the people lost all around. For King Albert, in looking about for outside sup- port, conferred upon the Hansers an extension of their already great privileges in trade, much to the detriment of Swedish commerce. Meanwhile, Albert still persisted in his irritating partiality toward his German favorites, and at last the council of state again roused itself to make protest. Albert was informed that if he wished to retain the Swedish crown, the higher offices of state and particularly the command of the royal fortresses must devolve upon Swedes. In 1371 a compromise was effected whereby the king chose Bo Jonsson, the richest and most powerful member of the Swedish nobility, to be, as the phrase ran, the king's " all-power- ful helper." Jonsson was vested with authority " over the royal courts, palace, lands, officers, and servants, and to choose the mem- bers of the council of state, when any should be removed by death, and in all things to enjoy regal power." As the Rhyming Chronicle has it: "Bo Jonsson ruled the land with the glance of his -eye." In fact, however, he showed himself either unable or unwilling to quell in any degree the license of the nobility or to put a stop to the private warfare which was rampant at the time. Bo Jonsson himself on one occasion followed an enemy, Carl Nilsson, into the church of the Franciscans at Stockholm and hacked him to pieces before the high altar. His death in 1385, followed as it was by a claim on the part of his heirs to his position in the state, gave the signal for the general civil war which had long been impending. This shortly led to the Danish con(|UCst. Chapter X DENMARK AND THE UNION OF CALMAR. 1286-1412 T F" A II F. downfall of the Hohenstaufen in the sixth decade of the thirteenth century marks the end of active pretensions on tlie pcirt of the empire over Denmark proper, though many voluntary acts of Danish sovereigns evidence the persistence of the imperial tradition down to the very beginning of the sixteenth century. The achievement of independence did not, however, check the decline into political insignificance which had begun under the sons of Valdemar II. and continued till the Union of Calmar. \n i2cSr) Erik Clipping was assassinated, bringing his son, Erik Alcnved, the " Hesitant,'' to the throne. The accession of the son was, in a number of ways, the counterpart of that of the father three decades before. Here again was a boy-king under the tutelage and regency oi a motlier who was unable to speak the language of the country. She was called upon to rule ; again a general defection among the nol)les and h.igher clergy ; again rebels laying waste the country. These latter were for the most part the regicides and their fol- lowers, who enjoyed the patronage of the Norwegian king, Erik Praesthader, They were thus powerful enough at first to seize several fortified places along the Danish coasts and upon adjoining islands, and frcmi these strongholds to spread their devastation with fire and sword for nearly a decade. \i last, however, the fidelity of a .-mail element of the nobility, headed by the learned chancellor, -Martinu? de Dacia, wlu^se fame was European, and the ability of tlie regent lu-'-;e]f, Agnes of f>ran MU'cc.-^. .'ind aficr he liad forced his br(jther Otto to re- 11' lUiicc ; li r!:iini to tlie tin-onc and to enter the monastic order of the ( iLT)ii:iii Kiiighl-, as {he price of his liberty, he had no other rival to fear. \ .'ildciiKir, ]il:c ! Icnrv V\\. of luigland. from the moment of his .-irc(- .i. ill till ihc d.'iy of liis deatli in 1375, made the acqui^itiou UNION OF CALMAR 115 1341-1375 of money the chief object of his poHcy, not because he cared to hoard weahh, but because he was eager to recover the lost crown lands that Erik Menved had pawned, and because he knew well that only by achieving financial independence could he hope to restore the decayed authority of the monarchy, which was now at its lowest ebb, against the disintegrating tendencies of the nobility. It is even said that Valdemar loved his wife, Princess Hedwig of Slesvig, only on account of lier dowry. At any rate, as soon as the money was in his possession he used it to redeem a large part of Jutland. Soon afterward, with the 19,000 silver marks which he got from the German Knights in return for the province of Esthonia, he recovered another large tract, lying also within the old Danish monarchy. The people were well pleased to watch the recovery of its domain by the crown as long as the king raised money without asking them for it. But when he began to levy taxes for the same purpose, owing to the evil lessons of the pre- vious years of habitual disorder they rose into rebellion. The civil wars dragged on desultorily for several years, being constantly rekindled and fanned into flame by numerous adjoining princes, who had a notion tliat the humiliation of Denmark meant their aggrandizement. At last, in 1360, the frugal Valdemar con- cluded that a more expeditious way to get money than by taxation would be to attack the rich Hanse town of Wisby on tlie Island of Gothland. He had no quarrel with the Hanse traders at tlie time; had, indeed, only just signed a treaty in whicli he had pledged himself to respect their rights and to give due notice if ever he meant to make war on any of their cities. These treaties, however, were no obstacle to Valdemar, Having set eyes on tlie stores of money, rich silks, furs, and other costly wares that were housed away in \A'isby to be sent on to the ports of the northern seas, he resolved to seize them. \\'ithout giving notice, therefore, he at- tacked the island with a great fleet, forced the Gothlanders to sub- mit, and made himself master of W'isb}-, riding into the town through a breach in the walls after tlie manner of the great con- querors of olden times. Then loading his ships with gold, silver and an immense booty of all kinds, he sailed b.'ick to Denmark in high glee, calling himself from that time fortii king of the Goths, as well as of the Danes. He was not left, however, to enjoy his success very long, for the Hansers and the Swedes were equally enraged, and, althougli 116 SCANDINAVIA 1341-1375 the latter did no more than threaten, the former made war in good earnest against Valdemar. When the German heralds came in great state to the castle of Vordingborg, where the king was then holding his court, and began to read aloud their formal notice of war, he made sport of them and bade them go back to the seventy- seven German towns in whose name they had come. It is said that Valdemar, to show his contempt for the traders, sent them a letter in rhyme of which the following was one of the least coarse and offensive verses : "If seventy-seven ganders Come cackling, come cackling at me ; If seventy-seven Hansers Come crowing, come crowing at me; Do you think I care two stivers? Not I ! I care not two stivers ! " The Germans were beaten both at sea and on land at the be- ginning of the war and Valdemar caused his prisoners to be shut up in one of the towers of Vordingborg castle, over which he set a gilt goose as an insult to the traders. These insults merely served to increase the bitterness of the German traders toward the Danes ; they proceeded to collect an overwhelming fleet; also to make com- mon cause with the counts of Holstein and with Albert of ]\Ieck- lenburg, who had private grievances of their own to avenge upon X^aldemar. The ITolstein princes were angry because tlie Danish king had seized their sister, the Princess Elizabeth of Ilolstein- Gottorp. as she was on her way to Sweden to marry Ilakon. heir to the Swedish and Norwegian crowns, and had kept her closely guarded in his own palace on the pretense that he was extremely solicitous for her health which was, he was sure, too delicate to allow her to cross the sea at that stormy season of the year. Valdcmar's real moti\-e had, of course, been a far different one; namely, to prevent the marriage of Elizabeth witli the Swed- ish prince, as he liad set his heart upon seeing his own little daugh- ter, ?\largaret. married to the future king of Sweden and Norway. When, therefore, tlie sin"]) in which Elizabeth was making tlie voy- age ran asliore rin tlie coast of Sjaclland, Valdemar was not slow to see liis o])])ortn,!n'L\-. Sending an urgent message to the King and Queen of .Sweden to beg that thev would bring their son to spend the ynlc-ti(lc witli him, he made all things ready, .and when they arrived he persuaded them to consent to the marriage of UNION OF CAL MAR 117 1341-1375 Prince Hakon with his daughter, Alargaret, and let the wedding- be celebrated at once; also, incidentally, to give up the bonds and charters by which Sweden held in pawn Skaania and the other Danish provinces, pledged by King Christopher. There was great rejoicing at Copenhagen in honor of the marriage, and feasting and jousting went on day after day for the entertainment of the Swed- ish princes. But before the close of all this merry-making Queen Blanka of Sweden was taken ill and died, whereupon King ]\Iagnus offered to take the Holstein princess to be his second wife, if he could be sure of getting her large dowry. The unfortunate Eliza- beth, refusing with anger to listen to the king's offers, dispatched secret messengers to inform her brothers of the shamicful manner in which she had been treated, and to entreat that they would avenge the wrongs she had suffered at King Valdemar's hands. These events had taken place soon after the Hansers' defeat by the Danes. When the former heard of the close alliance that their enemy had formed with Sweden and Norway they felt still greater anxiety for their safety and making great efforts to raise forces and excite enemies against the king before he could prepare another expedition similar to the one against Wisby, they soon had him beset by enemies on all sides. Valdemar did not see the greatness of his peril till it was too late, and when the counts of Holstein, eager to avenge the insult offered to their sister, induced several German princes to join them and the leaguers against the Danish king, he was forced, after a sh.ort but fierce war, to submit, and to secure terms of peace by giving up Skaania and the other old Danish provinces. These lands he had recovered, as we have seen, from Magnus Smek, and the Danes, who had rejoiced at their restoration to the Danish monarchy, were now equally mortified at their loss, while the council of state and the nobles made their king's misfortunes an excuse for refusing to aid in retrieving them. Valdemar, to defend himself, in 1368 withdrew from Denmark with his family to Germany, where he hoped to recruit aid from certain kinsmen. For more than four years Denmark remained without a king, and her people, either from im]:)0tence or slieer indifference, allowed the Germans and liolsteincrs to manage public affairs as they liked. So completely had the Hansers made themselves masters of the Danish kingclr)m tliat Valdemar had to buy peace and secure the right of resuming the regal power at terms dictated by these 118 SCANDINAVIA 1341-1375 traders. By the famous Treaty of Stralsimd of 1370 it was stipu- lated that the traders of the German Hanse League should have equal voice with the Danish nobles, prelates, and burghers in the election of the future kings of Denmark. During the remaining three years of his life Vaklemar had the good sense to refrain from all attempts to make war on his old enemies, and to devote himself to the good of his people. In spite, however, of all his efforts to benefit them, he never regained the esteem of his subjects, and in the songs and tales invented about him and repeated among the Danish peasants from one generation to the other, even till our own times, he is always spoken of as a hard, crafty prince, ready to bar- ter his very soul for money, and willing to sell the lives and comfort of those nearest to him to gratify his own ambition. The supersti- tious country people long continued to give proof of the fear and hatred in which this stern but able king had been held in his own times. Among all their national tales " Vaklemar the Bad " was made to play the part of Satan or one of his familiar spirits, and when in the winter night's storm they heard a sudden rush of wind and a howling of the tempest, they were wont to say that King Valdemar was driving his hounds with lash and spur through the air to the hunting grounds on Lake Esrom, which he was re- ported to have said would be dearer to him after death than heaven itself. Valdemar was surnamed Atterdag, " Again a day." in allu- sion to his favorite maxim that men should bide their time, and hope that if one day brought trouble another day would come in which a lost chance might be recovered, a precept that certainly describes, if it did not determine, his own conduct. The death, in 1374, of Henry, Duke of Slesvig, the last direct descendant of King Abel, had given Vaklemar tlie hope of bringing that much coveted province back to the crown : but before he could make formal claim of the duchy as a lapsed fief, he In'mself died suddenly at the age of sixty, AVith him ended tlie last direct male rep- resentative of the Vaklemars, and thus the two main branches of the Svend F.slridsen line of descent became extinct at the same time. Vaklcmar's only son had (h'ecl some years earlier, lea\-ing no family, and Iiis nearest male heirs were, therefore, the sons of his daughter'^. Ingcborg and Alargaret. Tlie elder of these i)rin- cesscs liad married Count AIl)ert of Mecklen])urg, and at Iier death had left a son, Albert. The younger of his daughters, Margaret, UNION OF CALMAR 119 1375-1387 had been given, as we have already seen, in marriage when quite a child to King Hakon of Norway, the son of Magnus of Sweden, and she, too, had a son, Olaf, ' The council of state and the nobles were divided in their opin- ions in regard to the claims of the late king's grandsons. Most persons felt that Albert of Mecklenburg, as the son of the late king's eldest daughter, had the best right to the throne, but the Danes, who detested all Germans, were especially distrustful of the Meck- lenburg family, because of the close alliance between those princes and Denmark's hereditary enemies, the counts of Holstein. For these reasons, and because the Danes had strong feelings of loyalty and affection toward the young Queen Margaret of Norway, they passed over the elder branch and gave the crown to her son, Olaf, who was proclaimed king in the same year, 1375. The little prince was only five years old at the time ; his parents, therefore, Hakon and Margaret, took the oaths for him, and signed in his name the charter which the nobles had exacted of Christopher II, In 1380, with Hakon's death, Norway and Denmark were again united under a single ruler, in the person of Olaf, whose regent was his mother. Queen Margaret, a woman of great capability and infinite tact. This arrangement continued until Olaf's death at Falsterbo in 1387. _ While Olaf's heart, embalmed in a silver shrine, was being conveyed across the Sound to Denmark, to be deposited in the abbey at Soro, Albert the Elder of Sweden was already addressing an appeal to the Danish people for their support to his pretensions to the Danish throne, as the uncle of Albert the Younger, the grand- son of Valdemar III. The Danes, however, had no ears for his arguments and demands, but ten days after Olaf's burial the Thing of Skaania made choice of " their dearly loved, high-born princess and lady Margaret, to be sole and independent ruler of Denmark." The Things of the islands and Jutland joyfully concurred in this choice, declaring that they took the unusual step of making a woman tlieir ruler, not because she was the nearest heir of her father, Valdemar III., but because of her well-tried merit and to her they did homage as to ' their true king and master.' Margaret's elec- tion was, therefore, rcmarkal)]c in two ways: for the initiative displayed by the provincial Tilings in the matter and because it resulted in placing a woman on tlic Danish throne. In the following year the Norwegians hjllowed the example 1^0 SCANDINAVIA 1383 of the Danes, and at the diet whicli met in 1388 at Oslo ^Margaret was proclaimed Queen of Xcjrway, wliile at her own behest her sister Ingeborg-'s son, Erik of Pomerania, whom she had already adopted, was chosen her successor. Altliough as long as she lived all power in both kingdoms rested in ^Margaret's hands, she pro- fessed to reign in Erik's name, during his clhldhood, and, when he was declared of age, caused him to take his place at her side on the throne, and tried in all ways to thrust him forward and make him appear the real sovereign. Her subjects seem, however, to have been well aware that it was to her alone that they owed the order which prevailed during her reign in Denmark and Norway. At the same time her fame soon spread far beyond the northern kingdoms. We are told by the writers of the great Chronicle of Eiibeck that " when men saw the wisdom and strength that were in this royal lady, wonder and fear filled their hearts. She made peace with old foes, and kept good order over her people, gaining to her side both nobles and peasants. Sh,e went from castle to castle and received the homage anrl faithful service of the great; she journeyed from province to province and looked well into mat- ters of law and right, until all obeyed and served her: justice v\"as done in the land, and e\'en the high-born sca-robijcrs, who so long had plagued the kingdom and defied the laws, were filled v;ith terror, and were glad to come forward and give surety in money for their future good conduct." The writers of the same chr(niicle who bear this testimony to ^Margaret's talents for ruling add that '* great marvel it is to think that a lady, who. when she began to govern f(3r her son. founrl a troubled kingdom, in wliich slie owned udt mr)ney nor credit enough to secure a meal without the aid f)f friends, had made h.erself so feared and loved in the short term of three months that notln'ng in all the land v/as any longer withheld from her and her srin." While Denmark and Norway were thus enjoying greater se- curity anrl '[uiet than either kingdom had knov/n for many genera- tion-, Swcflcn contiiuicd in an unsettled state un.dcr .Mbert tlie Elder of Mccklenljurg. Albert, although unable to govern ilie one king- dom that had ^o uncxpcctedlv been handed o\-er to him, was eager to secure Denmark a^ well, llis pretensions we have alreadv men- tioned, al-o the I'act that the Danes would not listen to them. An attempted iiiwa.-ion r,f the DamVh kingdom brought him onlv loss and disgrace, wherefore he concei\ed the q-rerUe.-t hatred fcjr the UNION OF CALM AR 121 1389 successful iVIargaret, whom he tried to bring into ridicule in every possible way. Tliis conduct on his part ar(Uised the royal lady's wrath and made her quite ready to give heed to those Swedish nobles who, soon after she became ruler of Denmark and Norway, had besought her to accept the crown of Sweden, and also to try to restore order in that kingdom as she had done in the other Scandi- navian lands. As soon as it was known that ^Margaret intended to take pos- session of Sweden, Albert raised an amiy of German mercenaries and prepared to take the field against her. The queen, in the mean- while, had collected a large force of Danes, under the command of Ivar Lykke; Norwegians, under the knight, Henrik Parrow: and Swedes, under Erik Kettlesson, The hostile armies met at Leahy, a little hamlet between P'alkoping and Jonkoping, on February 24, 1389. Here the greater number of Albert's German troops were cut down or drowned while the}'- were trying to force their way over the morasses, which lay between them and the queen's forces. Albert himself and his son, together with many knights, were taken captive before they could effect their escape from the boggy ground which gave at every step under their heavily weighted horses, and were led directly into the presence of the queen, who had awaited the result of the battle within the castle of Bohus. The rhyming chronicles of those times relate that King Albert had insulted the queen by sending her a long gown and an apron with a whetstone to sharpen her needles, and liad spoken of her as the " unbreeched king " and " the monks' wife " in allusion to the favor which she showed the prelates. The story continues that when Albert fell into her povv-er, she avenged herself for these insults by causing him to be dressed in a long gown, bib. and tucker, and by having a fool's cap put on his head with a tail dangling from it which was nineteen ells in length. Then, after getting her serv- ants to keep him on the rack till lie had promised to give orders that all the frontier castles should be surrendered to her, she had him and his son shut up in prison within the tower of Lindholm castle, where thev were given seven years to repent of their rudeness. Nearly all the castles of .Sweden, w'nich were held by the royal troops, opened their gates to Margaret without delay. Stockholm alone held out from year to }enr, until at last the queen agreed in release her prisr)ncrs on the paxTncnt of a ransom. This was, however, no mrmifestatinn of loyalt}- on the part of the Swedes, but 122 SCANDINAVIA 1389-1397 was due to the tenacious resistance of a band of Germans in the service of Albert. These men brought great misery upon the sur- rounding region by engaging the aid of a large number of their countrymen, known as the Vitalen or VictuaHng Brotherhood, be- cause their chief duty was to keep the town and fortress of Stock- holm well supplied with victuals. This pillaging commissariat cared very little how it performed its task or how heavily it taxed the poor country people to furnish what was needed. King Albert and his son,, in accordance with the treaty made with Queen Margaret on their behalf by the Hanse Leaguers and other German powers, were released in 1395 on payment of 60.000 marks of silver. The Hansers, who advanced this sum, took Stock- holm as a security for three years, at the end of which time the city was to be given up to the queen if the debts were not yet discharged. It is said that the women of ]\Iecklenburg sacrificed their gold and silver ornaments to enable the deposed king to repay the ransom, but Albert, with characteristic unscrupulousness, spent the money on his own pleasures and left Stockholm to fall into ]\Iargaret's hands. In the year 1396 she made a solemn entry into the Swedish capital, accompanied by Erik of Pomerania, who was presented to the people as their future king. Shortly afterward Erik was elected Margaret's successor at the ]\Tora Stone and a year later was crowned in great state at Calmar by the Archbishop of Lund and Upsala, and proclaimed King of the three northern monarchies. " And thus." says the chronicler who relates the circumstance. "was King Albert tortured in one night out of his two castles of Axewald and Rummelberg, and would by the like means have been robbed of a third, Orebro, if the governor, wlio was a German, had not defied Queen ]\rargaret's power and kept himself and his men shut up in the fort." The date of Erik's coronation was Margaret's birthday, July 20, 1397. One month previous Margaret had summoned an as- sembly of the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian nobles and clergy at Calmar in Smaaland. and from this asseml)]y liad issued tlie Calmar Act of L^'nion, a famous document in Scandinavian history and one regarding the validity of which tliere has been much con- troversy; for, tlioiigh signed by the queen and seventeen mem- bers of the councils of state of the several kingdoms, it was but imj)erfcctly published \(, tlie Scandinavian pennlc. on tlic occasion of Erik's coronation, it is, therefore, denounced In Swedish his- 1397 UNION OF CALIVIAR 123 torians as a usurpation surreptitiously foisted upon the people of their nation with only the merest color of legality. Says Geijer:^ " Its real contents were so little known in Sweden that we find among the Swedish claims on Denmark, in 1435, ^ demand that Sweden should be correctly informed of the true purport of the Act of Union. Our old chroniclers are entirely ignorant of the first convention, and are acquainted only with the more recent United Scandinavia , circa i4oo V'--- forms it assumed in consequence of tlie alterations and renewals which the conditions underwent." The Act of Union stipulated that the three kingdoms, between wliich peace and amity were thenceforth to prevail, should have one common monarch. Upon Erik's death, his son, or, if he had more than one, the same son, should succeed him in the three kingdoms. If he left only daughters, then the existing laws should (Icicrniine the succession. If he left no offspring, then the members of the council of state of the three 2 " History of the Sweden" (Turner's Iranslalion, 1845), vol. I., p. 62. 124 SCANDINAVIA 1397-1402 realms should meet together " and freely choose the person most worthy of the dignity." Tlie act expressly reserved to each king- dom its laws, customs, and council of state. Otlicr provisions of the act bound the three kingdoms to the alliances of each, deprived fugitive traitors from one kingdom of asylum in either of the others, and obligated all subjects of the Scandinavian monarch to take arms in the defense of any one of the three kingdoms. The project thus outlined is attractive in form and idea, and quite in harmony with the natural fitness of things. Fortunate it would have been could Scandinavia ha\"e entered the modern era a single consolidated state. The scheme of Scandinavian unity was, however, beset with insuperable difficulties from the outset. The realm was too extensi\'e, in those days of crude methods of transportation, to be readily traversed by the minions of a central authority. Such central authority, moreover, though temporarily reali;^ed in the vigorous personality of ]vlargaret. was not })erma- nently guaranteed in the face of the forces that feudal anarchy was able to recruit at any moment in any of the three kingdoms, l-'inally, tlie seeds of dissension were planted in the act itself, in th.e loose pro\-isions regarding the succession. Xevertheless. the Union ()i Calmar endured for over a century and a fjuarter, and was, during that ])erio(l. '' a bulwark of sccurit}- against foreign aggres- sion," the end for which ^Margaret, having in mind particularly Germans and Hansers and foreign intruders upon the Baltic, designed it. After Erik's coronation ^Margaret endeavored to withdraw more and more from the direction of afi'airs. with the idea of ac- customing Scandina\-ia to look upon the }'Oung king as sovereign in fact as well as name. In truth. howe\-cr. I'hdk's incapacity still kejit her tlie power behind the throne, ^'et T^rik was not without a certain kind of aijilit}-. being most erudite and accomplished for his age. His fatal deficiency was in good sense. TJke James T. of Englanrl. he was a '' wi.^e fool." al)ounding in obstinac}-. conceit, and arrffgancc. He also showed him.-elf most unappreciative of all that Margaret had dnuc for him, and committed several acts of a'^tonivling ingratitude .and callousness, the must glaring (;f which wa-. his c\ecutir)n. shortlv before tlie fjueen's death, of her old friend aiifl coun-clor. .Vbraham I>rodcr.-cn. l!ro(]er-en's death was due to kirik's ])i(|ue at his own lack of success in the war which he was now wauinu" with IIoEtein. The UNION OF CALMAR 125 1402-1412 deceased Count Gerhard VI. of Holstein had also held Slesvig by ^Margaret's concession. Upon his death in 1402 his widowed Countess Elizabeth had been compelled at first to seek aid from ^Margaret against her husband's brother, Duke Ilenrik of Osna- briick. Subsequently, however, Elizabeth's apprehensions lest Mar- garet intended to keep the Slesvig strongholds permanently gar- risoned induced her to make peace with her brother-in-law, and war upon the Danish forces in Slesvig. The war revealing Erik's mili- tary incapacity, -Margaret, in the spring of 1412, left Sjaelland in her ship Trinity, and, sailing for the coast of Slesvig, invited the Countess Elizabeth to confer with her. The royal ladies agreed upon a settlement which was looked upon as promising peace. Three days afterward ^Margaret died. " Death," says a Swedish writer, " made an end of Queen Margaret's life, but it could not make an end of her fame, which will endure through all ages. Under her hands the three kingdoms enjoyed a degree of strength and order, to which they had long been strangers before her time, and which neither of the three regained till long after her." She was, indeed, a ruler of no ordinary caliber. AMiile she kept the nobility in leash, she did it with such unerring tact as never to forfeit their affection. She secured the good-will of the clergy by her wise liberality to the church and her willingness to heed reasonable counsel. Even in combating the national jealous- ies of the three kingdoms, though her policy of bestowing offices of trust in Sweden upon Danes and vice versa may be open to question, yet her capability and essential good faith won the confidence of Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians alike. Chapter XI A CENTURY OF DANISH DOMINATION. 141 3-1 500 S]\IALL wonder that the withdrawal of Marg-aret's guiding hand was regarded with something- hke consternation by all Scandinavians, for by this time, despite ^Margaret's finesse, the limitations of the Pomeranian Erik had been quite com- pletely revealed. The fate that dogged Erik's footsteps for over a quarter of a century nearly the entire period of his reign, in fact was the Elolstein war. In 1413 he summoned the three sons of the late Count Gerhard to appear before him at Xyborg, not, however, to do homage for Sles^ig in accordance with the agree- ment of ^largaret and the Countess Elizabeth, but to rmswer to the charge of having taken arms against their feudal lord. Their fief in Slesvig" was, therefore, j'lronounced lapsed, despite the pro- testation of loyalty of Gerhard, the eldest of the TTol^tein princes. Though in the struggle that ensued Erik had at liis back the re- sources of the three kingdoms, all of which supported him loyally for years, and waged war uith the ruthlessness of a pagan free- booter, he made little headwa^' against his vassals, wlio were secretly subsidized by neighbcMM'ng German princes and cities. In 1418 Lu'ik lost I-"cmern. but the next year recovering it he signalized his suc- cess by frightful devastations, ^^vo years later the peasantry of the unfortunate isk'md revenged themselves at Tmmerx'ad. where the royal forces, numbering too.ooo. were entirely routed. The proverb grew up: "At Inimervad the Danes were driven to the de\-il,"" ^ and the men of I'emern sar:g: " W'l'.fii tl'c cow in Ikt stall W ill .L;i\c r.s flax Id spin, Thcp. tlir Kiiij-j in hi-- liall -May li(i];c fjur land to win!" Erik now, in T4-',v repaired to I'tula to lay his .^ide of tlie case before tlie l'".mpcvor Sigi-mund. jttdgment was gi\cn in liis la\-iir and an order \',a^ i~-iK-(l 1)\' tlie imperial council lo the Mol>lein ^ P. C. .SuKiiii--: "lli-!nr_v of Scandinas ia." ]>. ifiO. 12(i DANISH DOMINATION 127 1420-1435 princes to resign the duchy of Slesvig- witliin a hmited time to the King- of Denmark. But just as he seemed to have the whole situation well in hand, instead of returning to Denmark and en- forcing the imperial verdict, Erik set out for the Holy Land with a meager following of forty men and horses. On reaching Venice the master of three realms found himself penniless and in order to continue to Jerusalem liad to join a Venetian trader in guise of a serving man. The ill-starred enterprise ended with his being recognized and taken captive by some Greeks, who mulcted Erik's subjects of a good-sized ransom before they would give him up. It does not appear that this v/as a particularly good investment. At any rate, during his absence, Erik's queen, Philippa, daughter of Henry IV. of England, liad been ruling in his stead vvith more ability than he had ever displayed. Her principal achievement was to bring the Scandinavian coinage into temporary order and repute. Erik's return, however, resulted in recourse being promptly had to the good old policy of debasement. The Holstein trouble also again blazed forth. The Hansers, who were greatly vexed at the Sound tolls which Erik levied upon all vessels passing Copenhagen, were now open allies of the Holstein princes. In 1428 they at- tacked Bergen in Norway with a powerful fleet and having cap- tured the town, sacked it. Copenhagen was now invested, but Queen Philippa's courageous presence, in Erik's absence in Sweden, saved the place. Afterward Philippa met with a reversal at -sea. which so enraged Erik, now returned to Denmark, that he struck her, because of which insult she retired to a monastery. Fate avenged her, for Erik, meeting with reverse after reverse, in 1435 concluded the Peace of Vordingborg, by wliich Adolf of Holstein was to enjoy the duchy of Slesvig the remainder of his life and his suc- cessors for two years after his death. The Peace of Vordingborg was necessitated by the situation in Sweden, Vv-hich had risen in revf)lt. weighed down by taxes and burdens of all kinds, and badlv treated by King Erik's numerous functionaries. The leader c)i tlie rebels was a Dalesman, Engel- brccht Engelbrechtsson, wlio kindled the revolt in Dalekarlia and W'cstmannland. His ai)|)c,-d was respDudcd to l)y large numbers. The Swedes liad good cruise for hatred of King I'^rik, who had seldom troubled liimsclf to come :;mong tliem. seemingly caring for none ni his dominions execj)! Il^e l)anisli Islriuds, where he spent his ch.ildliood and }-f)uth. 3>i(jst hated of his ofTicers was V2S S C A N I) I N A V I A 1435-1439 the roval baiHlt. Jo?sen Ericksscm. or Jens Erichsen. as the Danes called him. who. among otlier crnel practices, if we are to credit the accusations brought against him, caused men to be hung up over blazing lircs. and women to l)e liarnessed to heax'ily laden wagons. Engelbrecht drew up a list of grievances setting forth, these and the many other wrongs that the Swedish people had suf- fered during the reign of King lu-ik. He then j^roceeded with his followers to Stockholm where he laid the fateful document be- fore the council of slate, praying them that they would restore to the kingdcim its ancient rights and depose Tv;ik. A\'hen the bishops and nobles, who were members ()f the council, bade him bear in mind the oath wdiich he, as well as they, had taken to honor and obey the king, Engelbrecht caught up one of the prelates by th.e neck arid, holding him otit of the window, threatened to throw him and all the others down into the armed crowd l^ciow unless tlicy would, without further delay, accede to the wishes of the nation. The council protested no further, but drawing up an act of deposition, pronounced Erik's Swedish subjects absolved from all allegiance to their faithless and negligent king. Eor the moment Erik found security in the mutual distrust of the nobility and the peasantry. Thus, in 1435, at the Diet of Ilolmstadt the nobles solemnly renewed their homage to the king, at the same time sti]:)ulating that all dignitaries of the kingdom, at least the governors of the royal castles at Stockholm, Calmar. and Xykoping should be Sv^-edes and in 1436 a second diet reaiJirmcd the Act of Union but with conditions also: Idie king* was to ]oass four months of each }ear in each of his realms showing the im- ])ortance of this question of residence; no war or other common cntcr])ri'C was to be undertak'en without the consen.t of the couiucils (>\ ihe tliTcc k'ingdoms. All this, howex'er, was only a tem])nrary o'idy in the general current of events. Within three years hh-ik liad 1' -t nrjt only his Swedisli realm, but also those of Denmark imd Xi M'way. 'Ihe un'on < ) the ])er)p]e and the nobles which \\".'i^ necessary bfi-rc tlic rc\-(ih r.i'-ainsi j'h'ik- ouid succeed, came ab(>ni ihnii;gh t'.c nii'i-'lcr (if l''ii',;]cbrc'cht l'jigc'lbreciitss!)n, the peasant leader, nd :'!( a]/'. ;a-y to tlie ])Mpiil;ii- cau.sc of Karl Knuds-on r.^ntko", .''- Swc'l:': u Ji!c au'l I'.iik's own apnniutee a.s mai'-hal I'f Swcilen. in the \car 1.139 ^'i*-' S\'.cdi.-li co-mril (;[ stale again ;)!( -himuiit 1 D A N 1 S II D O :\1 1 N A T I O N 129 1439-1440 the king's deposition, and the Danish council speecHly followed suit. At this moment King Erik was on his way to Gotliland, where he had intended to remain till his councils of state should submit to his wishes, and declare his young cousin, Bugislav of Pomerania, heir to the three kingdoms. When, however, he heard of the steps which his subjects had taken against him in his absence, he pre- pared to return to Denmark, threatening dire vengeance. But he was not allowed to land at a single port in his recent dominions. Funds failing him, he had recourse to piracy, but this turning out badly he at last retired to Pomerania, there to die in 1459 in pov- erty and neglect. Even before Erik's deposition had been accomplished the Dan- ish council of state had offered the regency to Christopher, son of Duke John of Bavaria and nephew of Erik himself by his only sister Catharine. The invitation to Christopher, though entirely the act of the nobility, was nevertheless at first a popular one, for the Bavarian prince had in earlier days often shown himself at the court of his uncle and had won universal good-will by the uncon- querable cheerfulness of manner which was his chief tempera- mental characteristic. This was in 1438 ; the next year, the revolt against Erik having succeeded, Christopher was crowned at Vi- borg and there received the homage of the nobles and great clergy. His coronation discovered in Christopher an innate appetite for crowns. Without pausing to settle the affairs of the kingdom he had just received, he turned immediately to scheme for the rest of the triple realm which he pretended to believe was his by the Union of Calmar. Yet there seemed initially little likelihood of his success. Norway was for the most part still loyal to Erik. Sweden favored the candidacy of Karl Knuclsson, Erik's marshal and regent in that country. Upon neither Norway nor Sweden did the Union of Calmar, even had these kingdoms given it their binding assent, impose any obligation to accept the arl)itrary choice of the Danish council of state. In 1440 the Swedish diet, con- vened at Arboga, solemnly decreed that th.e Union of Calmar should never be renewed and that no foreign king should ever again rule vSweden. Christopher, however, remained sanguine, and decided to use di]jlomacy, a necessary ])romisc coming easily to his constitutional ^()<)(] nature. The Swedisli clerg}' \\-erc first won over by a pleni- tude of concession tiiat wrolc Christopher down " llie bishop's i;30 SCANDINAVIA 1440-144b king^ " in the estimation of the bondar, and became valiant spokes- men in the canse they had just come from enlistin^s;- tliemselves ai^ainst. Knaidsson was pacified by the (Uichy of b^inland as an lierechta.rv ilef. tlie Ishmd of Oeland for a term of years; a kiri^-e sum of n:^,^,e^^ by waA- of mdemnity for his exjienditures as reg'ent of Sweden; and a written pri)mise from Christopher tliat he sliould never ])e called to account fnr such exi)enditures, nor for any of his acts as ref:^ent. Ch.ri^topher was chosen King of Sweden in 1440. and two years later Iving of Norway. 1 1 is young (|ueen, Dorothea of Brandenburg, was crowned Queen of Sweden in 1446. It was on this occa.^icni that Christojdier signalized his alliance with the clergy by pre>i(ling over the hrst heresy trial that Sweden had ever witnesserl. the victim of which, a half-witted peasant, was made to do juibhic penance for his unconsidered opinions. Christopher's three crowns brought him the due proportion of uneasiness. In IJenniark a revolt had broken out among the Jut- ish ])easantr\', in fa\'or of Erik, but really provoked by the unusual exactions of the new nnonarch. It s]:)eedi]y becacme tlie most for- nnidable and terril}lc agrarian uprising that Denmark had yet experienced. .\t one time the ]x.^as<-mt fcjrces numbered 35,000 and were cap^ibly led by a renegade nobleman, Ilenrik 'J'agesons. The royal forces were defeated in a battle; Aeske Brock, th.e king's general, and tweU'c n(>blemen were ca[)ture(l and put to deatli. .\ jacquerie now develi>])e(l: ever\-\vlicre tlie landlords were harried and slain, tlieir houses burned, llieir lands a])pr(j])riatetl. The threatened upheaval was finally averted by the defeat of the rebels at Aagard. The j-seasantry liad ti> jiay the hated tithes, to accord compensation to injured landlMJdcrs, cand to submit to even greater exactions than those that had prox'oked die rc\-()lt. In Sweden at this same period was a sexere famine, and con- sequently nuich indignation at the la\i>h waste of tlie court, which sijeiit inr.cli of its time at Stcjckliolm, and at the o\erfeeding of llic hor.-e^ in llie r-_\-al siables. Christopher \v;is (lul)bc(l the "bark- bread ami die " f-imine "' king; and a rumor -;)read among the si]])ei-lil ;Mn-^ tlia'i a certain man, wIkjsc piety enti'deil to credence anv ]):' :])he<-ics lie eli^-e to venture, liad foretold that Knudsson Vvonld be er.\-. i!c,l kin- at Cp-ala ; and that a cliild ha.d seen the cr(,\'.n -parkliiig mi I'le Swedidi M.'icbedi's brow. "The marshal ''"ght n, Ik :.wr l.in'_:," drr!;ire(l tlie Slockholmer<, who remembered the iiand-oiiie iavwi u\ die ex-ieueiit. "Our crown would better DANISH DOMINATION 131 1446-1448 suit him than that stumpy little German!" "The Swedes," com- mented the good-natured Christopher, " are a free-spoken people." Good nature had, however, its limit, especially in a ruler charged with the fundamental duty of protecting his subjects from outrage. But of this fact Christopher had not the least appreciation. On one occasion a body of Swedish nobles came to the Danish court at Viborg to complain that the coasts of Sweden were being laid waste by pirates, who were believed to be in the pay of the late king and to demand that they should be pursued and punished without mercy. " Well ! " answered the king, " it certainly is a pity that my uncle cannot find a more honest way of getting his living, but after robbing him of his three kingdoms, I do not think we ought to be very hard upon him if he snatches a dinner now and then without paying for it. A man cannot live on nothing, you know ! " The source of Christopher's sympathy with Erik was not im- probably his own impecuniousncss. Already he had disposed of most of the crown lands in Sweden, sometimes to two or more bid- ders, who w'ere left to settle betv;cen themselves the question of ownership. .Vt the time of his visit to Stockholm in 1446 he was easily prevailed upon by Knudsson's enemies to violate his pledges to the nobleman who was now in Finland, and to mulct him heavily on various pretexts. From this shabbiness the king de- scended next vear to slieer knaverv. Taking a leaf out of Erik's book, he dispatched sliips to waylay Dutch and English trading A-esscIs as they passed through tb.e Sound. A plan which he put in execution in 1448 was equally villainous, but les^s contemptible. On pretense of wishing to go on a pilgrimage to tlie church of Wils- nak in Brandenburg, he demanded a free passage for himself and retinue through the Flanse towns. His real object, however, w^as to attack and plunder the rich trading port of Liibeck, whither a number of German barons who were in league with him had as- sembled as if by chance, bringing witli tliem arms concealed in empty wine casks. The breaking out of a fire in the night, wdiich was mistaken by tlie Danes .nid tlieir fellow-conspirators for the signal of attack, saved tlic city, I'Or the citizens, on discovering liie treachery of tlicir guests, sounded l!ie alarm bells ^md, assem- bling in large numbers, drove tlie strangers out and forced Chris- topher tf) leave the harbor witli all his siiips and men. On reaching I lelsingborg the king found himself too ill to proceed further, and after a few days' suffering died from the bursting of a malignant 132 S C A N D I X A A' I A 1448-1450 tumor, which was attributed, according to the wont of those times, to poisoning. Christopher died without issue. leaving the councils of state again confronted with the task of discovering some prince of the royal blood to whom they might offer the three crowns. The Dan- ish council taking the initiative as usual, at once fixed upon Adolf, Duke of Holstein, hoping that by this choice they might again unite Slesvig with Denmark. But Duke Adolf, who had no chil- dren and loved his ease, refused the crown offered him. venturing, however, at the same time, to nominate his nephew. Count Chris- tian of Oldenburg, who, like himself, could trace his descent from the old royal Danish house through Rikissa, daughter of Erik Clipping. This nomination the Danish council at once accepted, and the young Oldenburg prince in turn accepted the council's offer. 3>Ioreover, Christian, upon his arrival in Denmark, made himself so highly agreeable to the young dowager. Dorothea, that she consented to their union, as soon as her term of mourning should be done with. This was a highly satisfactory arrange- ment to the council of state, as it had already begun to cudgel its brains over the question of refunding Dorothea's dowry, which, of course, had long since been squandered by the thriftless Christopher. In tlie meantime, Karl Knudsson had learned of his faithless sovereign's death and was returning to Sweden. In 1449 he en- tered Stockholm with a great array of troops and after a few months of riot and uproar was proclaimed king at the ?\lora Stone an:id a great tumult of popular approval. Soon afterward he was crowned with his wife at Upsala. The Norwegians also evinced a strong desire to take Karl for their king and sent mes- sengers to Christian of Oldenburg to announce that they were re- solved never again to submit to be ruled by a Danish monarch. ( hri-iinn ])rr,!nptly took up the chrdlenge, with the result that Nor- way. ui)f)n Karl's coronation at Drontheim. became, for the time. the batllegroTind of [he rival monarchs. The storv of the war is a somber tale of tlie l(j(;tings of mercenaries and the ignoble treason c>i leader-. As early as 145(3 the Norwegian council of slate trans- ferred its rdlcgianre io Clirislian. The Act of Union was renewed and Clir!>ti:in was crowned at Drontheim. ( lirihtian was now able I0 bring new resources to bear against Sweden, where al-(j discontent with Karl Knudsson was slowly DANISH D O ]\I I N A T I O N 133 1450-1463 accumulating, Karl invariably chose his officials from the lower orders, which, of course, gave rise to much bitter complaining on the part of the nobility. He alienated the clergy by securing the enactment of a statute invalidating deathbed gifts to the church. At last, in 1457, the archbishop, Jons Bengtsson, having with solemn state deposited his miter, staff, and pallium upon the high altar of the cathedral of Upsala, put on his armor, took sword in hand, and, advancing to the church door, he posted tliereon a declaration of w^ar against the king. Karl made only a faint at- tempt to resist the rebels, and finding, as the old chronicle of Olaus Petri says, that " his primate was in right good earnest and had no idea of playing at war," embarked in haste and secrecy by night with as much gold and silver as he could carry away with him, and betook himself to Dantzig, where he remained for seven years. The Sw^edish nobles whom Karl had driven into exile now returned. Stockholm, always the last bulwark of the royal power, surrendered w'ithin a month to the primate, though in Albert's time it had withstood a siege of se\'en years. Bengtsson now assumed the title of " Prince and Administrator of the Realm." Not for long, however, for on June 19, 1457, Christian was crowned at Upsala, " and at a congress of the councils of all three kingdoms held next year in Skara he obtained their conjoint guarantee for the succession of his son." ^ At first the peasants, against w'hose wnshes Christian had been made king, nevertheless acquiesced in the arrangement which had been effected. As the chronicle runs, " it first went well with the land under King Christian." But presently the face of affairs altered. " The king began to lay new taxes upon the country, and all who had any money were obliged to lend him large sums, of which they received nothing back. . . . [Thus] he drew on himself much ill-will throughout the kingdom, and his unfriends began to call him a bottomless pouch and said that he was a public spoiler, although he was otherwise a pious and good-natured man." In the year 1463 a report was spread abroad that Karl was about to return from his exile. Immediately the bondar beg'an ris- ing in great numbers all over the country and threatened to re- nounce their allegiance to Christian unless their burdens were removed. In order to restore quiet, the primate agreed to these demands, which, however, so enraged Christian that he ordered Bengtsson's arrest and catised llie words " llic .'irchbislio]) is a - E. G. Gcijcr: " History uf Sweden," vol. I. p. 69. 134. SCANDINAVIA 1463-1471 traitor "' to be written in large letters upon all the public buildings and churches of Stockholm. The peasants, on the other hand, look- ing upon tlie primate as a martyr in their cause, immediately took up arms and advanced toward the capital for his rescue. They were soon routed by the ^larshal Thure Thuresson, who gained for him- self the naiiic cf " tlie Peasants' Butcher,"' on account of his great severity. Of lliuresson it was said that he had spared neither air, water, nor L'lnd in his thirst for gold, as he had pulled the gilt wcat!ier-C()ck from the highest tower in Stockholm, broken down walls, and drained lakes in search of treasure. The peasants still kcjit up the struggle. In the winter of 1464 Christian himself appeared at the head of an army. But the peasants of Dalekarlia still defied him. Leading him by false information to advance into a thick wood in W'estmannland, they gave him battle, defeated him, and f(nTed him to return to Denmark without having gained a single foothold in Sweden. The shibboleth of the rebels now l:)e- came : " Sweden is a kingdom, not a farm or parish to be ruled over by bailifis. and we will have no Danish o\'crsccrs to plague us, but a true-born Swede for our king.'' The council of state had finally to yield to the popular clamor and in 1467 recalled the ex- iled Karl, who retained his throne, this time till his death, three years later. With his dying breath he commended the government of the kingdnm to his nephew, Sten Sture. at the same time ear- nestly pra}ing- him nc\-cr to attempt to gain the throne for himself. After some hesitation on the ])art of the council of state, Sten Sture was formally jrroclaimed regent and marshal of Sweden in the :~pring of 1471. Six months later King'- Christian I. of Denmark Landed near Stockliolm with a large army of German mercenaries wJK) b la.-tcd of the siiame which they would bring upon men and maidens throughout the land, while Christian in his contem])t for Sten .^t'/.rc ctllcd him a ' conceited ]mppy, who needed a sound thradiing to make Iiim know his right place.' But the result of the da_\ - l::.':li( at Ihun!^e])jerg, \\hcn Sten Sirire's ^\'ife and other n ilied d'lwn from tlie castle walls on the combatants b'''"Vv-, \'. : - \ci-y (I'lTfrciit fi'i lUi what the inwaders had ex])ected. 1 heir ( i;i;i\'c deicai freed .Sweden for some vears from further ''^''<''<-^ "ii ''he part i m" the Danes, Christian himself ne\'er again setting f' .'{ < iM S\'.-',-(]! -Ii -'.il. I he (III-" .iia-lc wliieli was rpioted with reference to the cause '^f Sweden'^, revolt agaiir-t Christian further recites that he used DANISH DOMINATION 135 1459-1471 the proceeds of his odious levies to buy " the land of Holstein from the Count of Schaumburg and his brother Count Gerdt." In 1459 the Count-Duke Adolf of Slesvig-ITolstein dying, his numer- ous kinsmen at once began to dispute among themselves as to the manner in which his heritage should be disposed of. King Chris- tian sent troops into Slesvig, and claimed the right of resuming control of the duchy on the ground that as Count Adolf had died without leaving any direct heirs in the male line, the fief had lapsed. These claims, the validity of which Sigismund had con- ceded a quarter of a century before, were not disputed, and Chris- tian had thus the good fortune to recover without bloodshed a province whose possession had for centuries been a subject of dis- pute between the kings of Denmark and the dukes who had held it. Not satisfied, however, with what he had thus easily obtained, Christian desired also to make himself master of Holstein, vvhich province was held at the present moment by its nobility and knight- hood, directly from the empire. Evidently, therefore. Christian could not hope to secure it unless he could induce these vassals to propose his investiture to the emperor. Of course, the individuals whose favor was thus solicited were sure to make the most of their opportunity, both in a pecuniary way and to make themselves al- most independent of their future ruler. The terms to which Christian rinally agreed were that in return for the title of count of Holstein the nobles and knights of the province and their heirs after them should be exempt from taxation by the Danish crown, and should not be called upon to give to the kings of Denmark any aids in money or men except of their own entire free will. Chris- tian also promised for himself and all his successors that the prov- inces of Holstein and Slesvig should remain forever united, and that on his death the electors should be free to choose a successor from among any one of his heirs, and were not to be bound to take the next king of Denmark to be count-duke of the united provinces. The Danes were indignant when they heard the terms on wln'ch the king had gained the empty title of ruler of Holstein. and their vexation was not lessened on finding that they were to be made answerable for his rash promise to pay off in money all other claims on his uncle's heritage. jVmong other claimants were the Count Otto of Scliaumljurg, tlie Count Gerdt. already mentioned, and also tlie king's tlnxe brothers, who each required 40,000 l;36 SCANDINAVIA 1471-1481 llnn'ns. l(i,^ether willi the one-third of tlie Oldenburg and Dclmen- horst i)atn'monv of tlicir family. The Danes, more loyal than the Sweden, after much grumblino- and delay paid their portion of the required sums of money to their king. But he. as usual, s])ent them on his own pleasures and left the poor Jutlanders to be pillaged by Count Otto's troops, and to buy off future attacks by heavy fines. Christian, in fact, like his predecessor, was invariably in need of monev. wherefore, the causes were many: an extravagant and pleasure-loving court, profitless progresses to the imperial court, senseless journeys to Rome to solicit the aid of Pope or emperor, a vain emulation of the ambitious courses of monarchs to the south, \\T,r in this age were employed in consolidating and extending their realms. Christian failed to recognize that the natural resources of his realm, mucli less the fiscal constitution of his govern- ment, forba.de imitatii'u of France. In consequence, he was inveter- ately impecunious, a " Stringless Purse,'' as the Danes called him, and was continually compelled not only to extraordinary levies that in.ipoverislied his people and to forced loans that discouraged thrift, but al^o to many transactions quite incompatible with the dignity '^f the kind of monarch he, in his empty-headed vanity, thought hiuT^elf. Thwp, he ke])L back all but 2000 florins of the 60,000 florins which he had Cf)llccted for the dowry of his daughter Mar- garet when she married James ITT. of Scotland in 1469. When the councilors of the y(jung Scottish king demanded the remain- der. Christian lianded over the Orkney and Shetland Isles to be lu'ld in ])awn and there they are to this day. Likewise, the funds which tlie Daiu'>h clerg}- \oted. in 1474, for the foundation of the I'niversity (>i Co])enliagen, went astray. Not till 1479 was tlie uni\er-;ity opened v.nd e\-cn tlien was so poorh- endo\\-ed as to re- main greatly circnmul)-t:!uce win'cli the Da.ui-h monarch \\'f)u](l not grant to those who cor.ld iuriu-h luni the wherewithal f(r vain glory. ]\lost serious of Mirh r^ir.ce-irnm v,-a> that to the TIanse Pcague, whereby the trader^ (U iiiai k-ac^uc v.c'-c gi\-eu a monrjjjol}- of the P)altic trade ami wvvv c]']\>' >wvw(\ 1 , exclude Dani-h vessels from Danish ports. What t".,!!y: lii il'^^i Ci-riqiau k. Iirst oi' the Oldeuburt'- line, which still DANISH D O M I N A T ION 137 1481-1497 holds the Danish throne, died and was succeeded by his eldest son Hans, both as king of Denmark and count-diike of Slesvig-Hol- stein, though not until Hans had assented to some very hard terms both in the kingdom and in the united provinces. Among the common people, however, Hans was a great favorite, preferring the customs of the country of his father's adoption and speaking its language like a native Dane. These characteristics apparently recommended him also to the Norwegians, wlio having no eligible native prince, made Hans their ruler soon after his accession to the Danish throne. Although Hans lo\'ed peace, the disturbed condition of his do- minions when he came to the throne, and the ambition of his brother, drew him into many wars during his long- reign. The queen-mother had always shown great partiality for her younger son. Prince Frederick, who was a German througli and through, and, not satisfied with securing for him, on the death of Christian. a promise from the nobles and prelates of Slesvig and Holstein that he should be proclaimed joint ruler over tlie duchies with his brother Hans, she obtained for him also the right of choosing which part of Slesvig he would hold as his own. 1die duchy had been divided in the year 1480 into two parts, the Segel^erg and the Gottorp lands, but after choosing the latter Frederick had grown dissatisfied with In's choice and been allowed by hJs brother to change it for the Segeberg- portion of Slesvig. This indulgence only made him bolder in asking greater favors and at last he demanded, as a right, that lie should be allowed to rule over the islands of Laaland, Falster, and ]\loen and be crowned joint king- over Norway. These demands were, however, too extravagant even for the indulger.t Hans. who. refusing to listen to his brother's request, called together a diet at Kallundborg, and with tlie full assent of the members formally rejected Frederick's pretensions, and threatened him, in case he should ever renew them, with the for- feiture of the lands which lie held in Slesvig. Prince Frederick was forced after this to be more circum- spect in his conduct, but his restless, donn'nant nature made him still the guiding mind of his brother's reign. Thus it was chieHv by his persuasions, but against the advice of the queen-mother, that the king resolved to gain the .Swedish throne bv force. Tic had for many years conteiiicd himself witli the jn-nmiscs of tlu-- vSwcdish regent and his council of state that thev would olTor him 138 SCANDINAVIA 1497-1500 the tlironc whenever they saw that the moment had arrived for proclainiinq- h:> autliority in the kinci^dom. Fourteen years passed without brinp-inq- King Hans the crown lie coveted At last, losing patience, at the instigation of Duke Frederick, he led a large army of (icrman mercenaries into Sweden. lie easily defeated Regent- ^[ar^llal Stcn Sture, who had alienated the Swedish nobility and could relv only upon the ])easantry of Dalekarlia. In 1497 the Swedish council of state proclaimed Hans king, both at Stockholm and Upsala. Into the former place he made his triumphal entry at the side of Sture himself. A conversation that took place be- tween the deposed marshal and the new monarch on this occasion well reveals where the support of each, the patriot leader and the alien conqu.eror. lay. The king asked Sture jocosely, '' If, like a faithful steward, he had prepared all things for his masters com- ing." Sture answered, pointing his finger at the Swedish nobles gathered round them, " They can answer that best, for they have (lone all the baking and brewing here to their own liking! "' King Hans was greatly affronted bv Sture's words and answered angrily, " And you, Sten Sture, have in the meanwhile left me an evil heritage in Sweden, f(;r tlie peasants, whom God made t(^ be our slaves, yr^u have raised into masters, and those \\'ho ought to be lords, you have tried to enslave."" On tlie other hand, we should bear in mind that Ilans's contr'.l of his own realm of Den- mark depended upon his popularity v^dth the peasantry. To this statement there is one exception. The inhabitants of the Ditmarsh.cs. which adjoined the Holstein lands, were not pure Germans, but belonged to tho-^e Frisian tribes occupying the nortlnve-tcrn parts of Germanv and Holland and the isiands near the S1c-\igd lolstein coasts, w'.in were descended from the ancient !ri-ii. known in the P.rimans for their braverv anrl lo\-c of freedom, d lie ^amc inrle])cn(\Mit s])irit had alwavs animated these people, and thc_\- h;id ar^'c after age made manv a gadl.'uit st.and against the neighboring ji^-inccs N\ho had attempterl to subdue them. Thus, although the !-",rn]icror Frederick' had formaHv gi\-en over their l.-inds to Ghri-tKin I. of Denmark to be jriincd with the Holstein territory, ihc M:iT-l:nien had refused I0 own themselves subject to tie ])o-,>,(T of l)c;-,nvM-l-. And \^ lie'i P'riiire Fre(keriek. as Duke of Sle-\ig IbFiein, called u])on the I )it!n;!r:diers to ])av taxes to him -'"'d t" ']> li'iinagi- for ilieir knids iliey simjily disregarded his ^-uniino)!^. DANISH DOMINATION 139 1500-150S In the winter of 1500 Frederick induced his brother, the king, to invade the marshes. The royal army, which was commanded by the king and the Duke of Slesvig-Holstein, was composed of an unusually large proportion of nobles and knights, who showed their contempt for their peasant foes by going into the attack clad in their ordinary hunting costumes and carrying only light arms. Meldorf, the chief town of the marshes, was taken and sacked and the inhabitants killed with great cruelty. The invading army then started for Heide on the afternoon of a cold winter's day, when they found their advance checked by a line of earthworks thrown up against a dyke near Hemmingstedt and defended by 500 Dit- marshers under their leader Wolf Isebrand. The royal German guard rushed to the attack, shouting, " Back, churls, the guards are coming ! " and three times forced the Marshmen to retreat, but they as often rallied. At that moment the wind changed, bringing a thaw with it, and as the troops were struggling on, blinded with the sleet and snow and benumbed with cold, tlie sluices were sud- denly opened by the peasants, when the water, driven on by the rising tide, soon covered the marshes and swept everything before it. Then the Ditmarshers, who were accustomed to make their way quickly through the marshes by the aid of their poles and stilts, threw themselves upon the invaders and cut them down or transfixed them with their long spears. Six thousand men perished in this way, the king and Duke Frederick themselves only narrowly escaping, and an immense booty to the value of 200,000 gulden fell into the hands of the victors, also seven banners, one of them the Danish national standard Dannebrog, which was carried in tri- umph to Oldenworden and hung up in the church as the supreme trophy of the victory. Hans's disaster in the marshes lost him Sweden and threatened his control of Norway. This time Sten Sture had the support of the Swedish nobles. Moreover, a general detestation of Danish rule existed in all parts of Sweden and among all classes. The sudden death of the Marshal Sten Sture, in 1503, was ascribed to poison, administered, it was alleged, by the order of Prince Fred- erick, and this occurrence greatly aggravated the bitterness of the Swedish attitude. When Hemming Gade, Bishop of Linkoping, addressed the people at Upsala after Sten Sture's death, he con- cluded his speech with these words : " Tlie Danes are a nation of murderers and thieves and have been so from all time, but let us 140 SCANDINAVIA 1503-1518 not despair, for the Almighty, who has saved seven parishes in the l^itmarshes ivom their hands, will not fail to rescue a whc^le king- dom ! " 1 ians appealed to bcjtli emperor and Pope to punish the rebels, but being unable to back up their anathemas and fulmina- tions with physical force of his own, he was soon compelled to resign his Swedish crown, which he never attempted to regain. At the death of Sten Sture, in 1503, his adopted heir, Svante Sture. was in accordance with his father's wishes made marshal and regent of Sweden. This knight w'as of a daring, frank nature. and it was said of him that he w^ould take no man into his service who winked at the stroke of a battleax, and that he w'oukl rather strij) his coat off his back than leave a friend and brother-warrior unrewarded. He cared more for his soldiers than for any other class of the nation, and as long as he governed Sweden there was nothing but war. He and Hemming Gade. who may be said to have ruled the land between them, seemed only to think how they might display their hatred toward Denmark, and although during this time there were constant meetings between the nobles of the two countries to settle their differences, neither people had any rest frcjm the hostile and ])iratical attacks of the other. The Hanse traders sided sometimes with the one and sometimes with the other party. Thus, in 1512, the Liibeckers. aggrieved at some concessions by Hans to Juiglish mercliants. allied themselves with the Swedes and fell upon the Danish ileet without warning. The Danish admirals, Soren Xorby and Otte Rud. however, gave their assailants such a thorough drubbing, that they were glad to get off by consenting to pay an indemnity of 30,000 gulden. That same year Svante of Sweden died and was succeeded by Sten Sture, " the ^^ounger." The following year Hans died. bringing his son Christian H. to the Danish throne. Sten was the noblest and best of the Sture race, and his efforts to reliexe the ])eoj)k- as far as he could from the t;ixes which weighed so hca\"!ly n]joii thern, rmd his gallant attempts to secure the freedom of the country, endeared him very greatlv to the .Sweiles. In 151S he defc-atcd the army which Christian H. had brought before the walls (tf Stockholm. After the battle Christian sought an interview with the regent, and demanded that se\'eral Swedish hostages should be -ent on bi'arfl a Danish ship of \var lo remain there until he had returned in ^afety fnMu the meeting. d"he regent agreed to this, and made eli')ice by their own consent of the bishop. Hemming DANISH n O iVI 1 N A T I N 141 1518-1520 Gade, and five other persons of noble birth, one of whom was young Gnstaf Eriksson Vasa, who had served in tlie recent war and borne the royal standard of Sweden in the battle of Stockholm. While the conference between the king and regent was going on, the Danish ship, at tlie king's orders, weighed anchor and sailed to Denmark, where the hostages were kept in prison on pretense that they were rebels. At the same time, Christian, returning to Copenhagen, induced the Pope to issue a bull laying Sweden under interdict and excommunicating Sten Sture and all who sided with him. A Danish army under the command of Otte Krumpe was sent into Sweden with orders to affix to all church doors through the land copies of these papal decrees. The Danes were defeated with great loss on the Aase Sound, but Sten Sture's death, in 1520, placed the kingdom completely at the mercy of the Danish monarch. At the close of the Middle Ages Denmark comprised Jut- land, the islands lying between Sweden and Denmark, Ilalland, Bleking, and Skaania on the Swedish coast, the greater part of Slesvig-Holstein, though the latter of these duchies was held per- sonally by the Danish sovereign in fief from the empire, and Nor- way. The population of this realm was about 1,500,000. The great majority of these folk were Danish. Holstein, however, was entirely German, and in the interval between the transfer of Slesvig to the counts of Holstein and Christian I.'s resumption of the overlordship of both duchies 1386- 1460 the process of Ger- manizing Slesvig had gone on with rapidity, and, indeed, did not cease at the latter date. German influence was not confined, however, to Slesvig- Holstein. It was rampant throughout Denmark itself in the fif- teenth century. In Erik of Pomerania, Clu-istopher of Bavaria, and Christian of Oldenburg, Denmark had three German mon- archs, the latter of whom was unable to speak the Danish tongue and ostentatiously flouted Danish customs. The unpatriotic ex- ample of the monarch was eagerly followed by a nobility anx- ious to emphasize its superiority to the general population. The Danish court was crowded with German courtiers or courtiers who had received their education in Germany. It was the Ger- man mercenary rather than the Danish trooper who made Danish rule seem alien and orlious to tlie Swedes. Danish public institu- tions were both consciously and unconsciously modeled after those 142 SCANDINAVIA 1500-1520 of Germany, whence came not only the forms, but even the nomen- clature of Danish feudalism and serfdom. In the hands of foreii^n princes the decline of the royal power continued. Hans's concessions to the nobility in 1481 made the council of state the sovereign authority of the state. The aggran- dizements of the clergy also continued. The church in 1500 held probably one-half the wealth of the realm, all of which vast hold- ings were entirely exempt from any service to the king. The domination of both clergy and nobility over the peasantry was most oppressive. All these dreary features had, however, their element of hope and their promise of betterment. The weakness of the monardi before the great orders of clergy and nobility made him look to the peasantry for support ; the nobility's affectation of German speech and German habit furnished the political move- ment with a patriotic motive ; the corruption of the clergy offered the new forces a definite enterprise, at once remunerative, on ac- count of the great wealth of the church, and patriotic. Upon the basis of the Reformation both tlie national church and the national monarchy of Denmark were to be established. Yet, notwithstanding that the future held in store much of good for Denmark, the age of her jn-edominance in Scandinavia was at an end, with the opening of the sixteenth century, and the mantle of her leadership in the north about to descend upon Sweden. vSweden at the close of the Middle Ages comprised Gothland ; vSvealand, bounded on the west by the western limits of Dalekarlia ; f lelsingcland ; an indefinite region in Lajjland, into which Swedish colonics were regularly proceeding; as also tliey were into Finland. Swedish sway over which stopped at the western boundaries of l\\rialc'lan(l ; Kslhonia, conquered in the time of Boijer Jarl, had been lost in 1346; Ilalland, Skaania, and Jjleking were still Dan- i-!i. Scattered over this vast area, in 1500, there were ])robal)ly fewer than f^)nc-half million people, but tlie jiojmlation was rapidly increasing in certain regions, particularly in Dalekarlia, whose mines were jn^t being o])encd up. Towns were few and um'm- portant. " Tn llie interior of the country, where they sprang up on tlie sites of ancient fairs; or at episcopal seats, many of the condiiioiis rc'(jnirc(l for their ])rosperity were wanting. \Visby, in Gothland, was for a long time rich and ])owerful, but might rather have been called a German than a Swedish town, and in all DANISH DOMINATION 143 1500-1520 German burghers were so numerous that down to 1470 one-half of the town magistrates were taken from among them." ^ This was due, of course, to the proximity of the main seat of the Hanse League, to which, as we have already seen, certain Swedish mon- archs like their Danish contemporaries made many spendthrift con- cessions. The promise of Sweden's position with reference to the Baltic trade was, however, one of the first facts to obtrude itself upon the minds of her patriotic rulers of the sixteenth century. With the extension of their realm over the Sound lands and the development of Swedish resources under their almost personal supervision, Sweden was destined to develop a commerce that long supported the great role she essayed on the Continent. But the most important reason for Sweden's relatively sud- den elevation into European prominence in the sixteenth century, apart from the opportunit}^ created by the Lutheran Reformation, is to be found in the superior political situation of the Swedish people at the opening of that century. At the beginning of the era of the Folkungar, the Swedish nobility was in rapid process of transition from its ancient character of an order of local mag- nates to that of a feudal nobility: the old nobility of birth, based on real or fictional kindred with the king, is superseded in the legisation of Magnus Ladulaas by a nobility of service to the king. Of course, even the ancient nobility had to a degree been a nobility of service, and its members had, in time of war, comprised a brotherhood of arms with the king; but the importance thus achieved was prevented from becoming the basis of an authority that might threaten popular rights by the popular elective judi- ciary which thus takes on a tribunicial character. The new nobil- ity of the Folkungar, on the other hand, inevitably took its con- stitution from the feudal age in which it arose. Its members arc vassals to the king; their services are largely military; their reward is a territorial fief, to whose inhabitants the vassal stands, not merely in the relation of landlord, but also of judge and royal representa- tive. What was to prevent the peasantry of Sweden from going the way that the Danish peasantry had gone a century earlier; from passing from loss of political power to loss of all freedom of property and person, and sinking into absolute serfdom? Yet this did not come about. " No one can deny," says Ccijcr, " that the pcojjle of Sweden best withstood that trial in which Norway lost its ])r)litical independence and Denmark the ''Geijcr: "History of Sweden," vol. I. p. 88. lU S C A N D I X A V I A 1500-1520 freedom of its people." It is true that the Swedish monarchy of the fourteenth century was preeminently a feudal monarchy ; that it was characterized by the ascendency of a military and clerical oligarcliy, which, where the law opposed its aggrandizements, often trampled under foot the behests of the law. and which, as for instance at Skara in 1332, confederated itself for the exclu- sion of the people from their customary participation in the affairs of the realm. Also, it is true that the Calmar Recess of 1483, which says " that every good man, clerical or laic, shall be king over his own dependents, except in matters which by law are com- mitted to the sovereign.'' presents, to all appearance, the picture of a com])letcly feudalized state. Nevertheless, the two great events of Swedish history at the close of the fifteenth century. 7'/.cr., the revolts against Danish power, headed by Engelbrecht Engelbrechtsson and by the Stures, were essentially popular movements. It should be noted in what sort of enterprise Engelbrecht and the Stures were engaged. They were resisting an alien dominaticMi, foi>ted upon vSweden by the Union of Calmar. Yet because it was an alien domination, which meant absentee rule, the Swedish no- bility preferred it to that of a Swedish monarch. Conse(|uently we find Engelbrecht and the Stures doing their utmost to effect a restoration of popular forces in the realm. The people of Sweden, its yeomanry, had never lost their voice in the election of a king. In all the writs issued for elective diets during the union are mem- tioned, "bishops, clerks, nobles, franklins (fralse), burghers, and tlie common yeomanry."' With the revival of the ancient associa- tions of yeomanry by Engelbrecht and the Stures, this right of rc])resentation was c^nce more rendered effective: not merely for tlic purjiovc of choosing a ruler, however, but for all the purposes (>\ a diet ol estates, which now indeed arose. In the work that tliev did in reanimating and reorganizing the ])(ipnlar forces of the Swedish ci in--titntion. hjigelbrecht .and the .^turc^ ])a\-e(l tlie \va\- for Cnstaxais \'a>a, the real founder of tlic new .Swedir^h nionarchv, which gave Sweden its "Glorious i:])Och." PART III THE PERIOD OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY 1520-1771 Chapter XII GUSTAVUS VASA AND THE SWEDISH REVOLUTION 1520-1560 CHRISTIAN 11, of Denmark, the only son of King- Hans and his queen, Christina of Saxony, was born at Nyborg in 1 48 1. As a prince he received a remarkable upbring-- ing, considering the fact that he had been early crowned joint king with, and snccessor to, his father, and was looked upon by most Danes as the rightful heir to the thrones of Norway and Sweden as well as to that of Denmark. The king and queen, who were often absent on long journeys to the different provinces of their kingdoms, in order to provide for their small son during these frequent absences from the Danish capital, removed him from the court and the care of their own attendants, and placed him in the house of a tradesman of Copen- hagen, named Hans Metzenheim Bogbinder, who, however, was a man of standing- in the city, a burgomaster and councilor of state. Subsequently the king- placed Christian in the hands of the Canon George Hinze, wlio, finding that he could not trust his vivacious ward out of his sight, kept him invariably with him, even when engaged in religious devotions. As Christian had a good ear for music, and a fine voice, the heir to the three kingdoms was soon singing in every choir in Copenhagen, much to the scandal of his royal parent when he learned of it. The king next applied to his kinsman, the Elector Joachim of Brandenburg-, to send to Denmark a tutor, at once learned and stern in the management of unruly youngsters. The erudite Master Conrad, whom Joachim presently dispatched to Denmark, fully answered tliesc require- ments, and from him Christian is declared to have acquired a fluency in Latin equal to that of any university professor of the times. But his love of fun remained irrepressible, and there is a story to tlie effect that when the king, who was a firm believer in Solo- mon's precept about tlie rod, found that his son was in the habit of bribing the palace watch to let him pass freely in and out, to join 147 148 SCANDINAVIA 1501 -1520 in the amusements of the citizens, he used a horsewhip so sharply on Christian's back and shoulders as to force him to his knees and to a promise of amendment. In 1 50 1 Hans sent Prince Christian into Norway as inde- pendent governor, or viceroy, of that kingdom, there to fulfill his apprenticeship in the art of government. Tt was in Norway that Christian first displayed the resolution of which he was capable, but which, unfortunately, was often tinged with cruelty. For although he ^vas only twenty years old at the time, he put down every attempt at rebellion with such dis- patch and sternness that in a short time almost every Norwegian noble or knight of eminence had been either killed or banished. He seems, in fact, from his boyhood to have had a hatred of the nobility generally, which he may have imbibed from his burgher guardian, to have avoided their society, and to have chosen his friends, as later he did his officers, from among the lower classes. He was still further estranged from the higher orders by the hard terms which the council of state imposed upon him as the })rice of his succession in 15 13. He had to surrender his judicial power entirely into the hands of the nobility, to resign his right to confer nobility, and to make other concession?, the total effect of which was to leave him practically no prerogative. Christian affixed his name to the so-called charter without murmur, because he knew that thus only could he secure the crown, and als(T because he was determined to treat the whole thing as a dead letter, as soon as the cr)urse of events would permit. Christian, however, decided to make the crown of Sweden the first object of his ambition. His cause was supported by Gus- t;if rrolle, the ]:)rimate of Upsala. and many others belonging to ilie ancient Swedish nobility, who. in their jealousy of the power (.iiioycd 1)}- the Sture family, were desirous, as of yore, of an alien and absentee sovereign. But the greater number of Swedes were Icvotcd {(' Sten Sture the younger, and from the moment of King ilrui-^'s death showed verv clearly that they would never submit willingly to the renewal of llanish rule. During the war which ^' on bri i!.;e out between Sture and the archbishop's party. Chris- tian ^cnt his armies year after year into the country, but gained no ] :i >\])i >]i\ there till i^Jd. That year, as we ha\-e seen, his general, <' )Uc |\ruiri]>c. in.;;]-c!iing alnng the frnzen streams and lakes. ga\-e llic Swede-i battle on the ice at Aasund. in \\'e>t Cjothland. Hie SWEDISH REVOLUTION 149 1520 Swedish army, taken unawares, was defeated and later dispersed, ^vhen it became known that Sten Sture was dead. Store's widow, however, closed the gates of Stockholm against the Danes until treachery on the part of the townspeople forced her to submit, when by the help of the Swedish bishops Christian was able to make himself master of the throne he had been so eager to obtain. In the autumn of 1520 Christian was crowned at Stockholm witii great pomp. All the Swedes who took part in the festivities held in honor of the coronation were charmed by the seeming graciousness and affability of the new king. At the very moment, however, when the Swedish nobles were congratulating themselves, the king's chief ofificers of state, the Westphalian, Didrik Slaghoek, and Jens Beldenak, bishop of Odense, stepped forward before Christian, seated in the midst of his court, and in the name of the primate, Gustaf Trolle, demanded reparation for the wrongs which it was pretended the archbishop had suffered at the hands of Sten Sture the younger, and his councilors. Christian, on pretense of upholding the dignity of the church, recjuired to know the names of all who had signed the act of deposition, which, as he well knew, had been passed in consequence of the primate's treason of former years. The document was produced, and all vvhose names were attached to it were arrested on the spot, although it was shown that they had acted merely in conformity with tlie orders of the national diet. The next morning the prisoners were brought before a court, composed of twelve ecclesiastics, who were all Swedes excepting Beldenak, and were asked one question only: whether men who raised their hands against the Pope and the Holy Roman Church were heretics? Forced to reply in the affirmative, they were told that they had passed judgment of death upon themselves. At noon on the same day. November 8, 1520, ninety persons, belonging chiefly to the nobility, but including a few burghers, were led forth into the great market place of .Stockholm, where, closely guarded by Danish troops, they were beheaded one by one before the eyes of the terror-stricken citizens. The first who suffered was Bishop ]\Iads of Strangnas, who, as the ax was falling, cried aloud, "The king is a traitor, and God will avenge this wrong!" When Erik Johansson Vasa, the father of future kings of Sweden, was led out, a messenger from Christian came to him to offer him l)ardon and grace. " Xo," he cried, " lor God's sake, let me die 150 SCANDINAVIA 1520 with all these honest men, my brethren! " and he, too, laid his heac upon the block A heavy storm of rain began falling at the close of this fright- ful butchery, and the blood streamed along the streets, and gurgled and splashed up from the muddy market place. Christian, turning his back on the ghastly spectacle, left Stockholm in full confidence that nothing would hinder the scheme he had nearest to heart, namely, the restoration of the bourgeoisie and peasantry to the posi- tion of mainstays of the monarchy, such as they had been in olden times. \i Jonkoping he ordered the ca]itain of the castle to be executed, together with his children, and at Xysala he caused the abbot and a number of his servitors to be drowned. The lov.cr orders, however, saw only the horror of these deeds and felt only fear and hatred for the man who had planned them, and who was known henceforth simply as " The Tyrant." It has been well said that the " Union of Calmar was drowned in the blood bath " of November 8, 1520, for from that day till the spring of 1523, when Gustaf Vasa was crowned king of Sweden, the Swedes never abated from their dctermmation to re- lease themselves from their Danish bonds. C/Ustaf ]u"iksson Vasa, who was l)orn in J^()f^, was tlie son of Erik Johansson, one of tlie victims in the bl.ood bath of Stockholm, and had been made captive and carried to Denmark by the orders of Christi;in when he came into the laltcr's custo'iy as a hostage. This king, known tc) foreigners as Gusta\'us, was called (Instaf by his own countrvmen. The name Vasa was nc\'cr used by Gustaf himself, nor had it belonged to any oi his ancestors, surnames nrjt having been ado])tcd bv the Swc^.lish r]o])lcs at that ])eriod. .Some writers have derived the name from the estate of Vasa in Ujjlaufl ; l)ut others, with apparently better reason, believe it to ha\-e been taken from the arms of the family, wln'ch. were a fascine (or wase) such as wm a price had been -el on his head. 1'he SWEDISH REVOLUTION 151 1520-1521 Swedish peasants themselves at first often threatened his Hfe, de- claring that they meant to be true to the king as long as " he left them herrings and salt enough for themselves and their families." But by degrees friends and supporters sprang up around him, and his confidence in his countrymen was seldom abused. Once he only escaped falling into the hands of the Danes by concealing himself under a load of hay, and when the soldiers thrust their spears into the mass and wounded him in the side, he still kept silence, while his faithful guide, to account for the ap- pearance of the blood which had trickled from his wound to the frozen, snow-covered road, cut his horse in the leg. The barn at Rankhytta in Dalekarlia, where he thrashed oats; the spot in the woods near Marnaas, where he lay three days and nights con- cealed under a felled pine trunk, and was fed by the peasants of the district ; and many other places rendered memorable by his labors, are still preserved and honored in Svv'eden. Even though the peasants refused to listen to the first public appeal which Gustaf made to them at the Mora Stone, they did not betray him ; and when soon after he had left the district at their request, the particulars of the blood bath were related to them by a noble of Upland, named Jon IMichelsson, they repented of their conduct, and wished Gustaf Eriksson among them once more. By Michelsson's advice they sent swift " skid " runners to seek Gus- taf. Following him night and day, the skaters finally came upon him at a mountain pass between Sweden and Norway, just as he was about to cross the frontier, and brought him back to IMora, where, at the King's Stone, peasants assembled from all the neigh- boring districts elected him to be their ''chief man in the king- dom." The superstitious country folk regarded it as a favorable omen that whenever Gustaf had addressed them the wind had blown from the north, which had always been looked upon in Sweden as a proof that " God would give the matter a good end- ing." Sixteen powerful men were chosen for Gustaf's bodyguard, and presently several lumdred Dalesmen had offered him their services as foot-followers. From these small beginnings of power the Swedish chroniclers date the commencement of Gustaf's reign, although the Danes and their adherents in Stockholm continued long after these events to regard him and his followers as rebels. In the S])ring of 1521 Gustrif suddenly made his a])pearance at the roval c(3p]jer mines above Kitwik, where he seized the money 152 S C A N D I X A \' I A isa belonging to the crown and t!ie warCvS of tlie Danish traders set- tled there, and carried off the royal bailiff, Christopher Olsson, whom he intrusted to the safekeeping of one of his faithful Dales- men. The money and goods he divided among his followers, who made their first flag from a piece of silk taken from the Danes. Snb?ef[iiently presenting himself before the miners while they were attending mass, Gustaf made them a long address, in which he de- f^jS "-^^^ "^"^n^,, fc^TME ATRC OF TM E "V. SWEDISH REVOLUTION tailed ilic evils that tlie Danes were working in the land, and b}- his fMrcc and cln.cv to meet the expenses of go\-ernnient, the nobles and prelates, wlio were the only ckisscs able \n cjiitribnte to that end, ha\ing made themscU'cs immune from ail taxation and service to tlie crown, except in case of toi-cign nna-inn. The ] lanse Leaguers, who had al-^o seciu'cd to thcmM-Krs entire freedom of trade in return for tlic services which tliev had rendered the Swedes against Denmark, jircs.-ed their c-iaim^ lor ijaymeni \,rr the arnT- and provi>i. n-- which they had f'arni-iied Gii-taf durnig hi-. >ie^e of StockJK^lm. Thus, whichever SWEDISH REVOLUTION 155 1523-1526 way the new ruler looked, financial difficulties seemed to oppose insurmountable obstacles to the attainment of order in the kingdom. Then it was that Gustaf determined to crush at one blow the power of the higher clergy, who had made themselves hateful to the peo- ple by their efforts to uphold the union with Denmark, and to re- lieve his own wants and those of the state at the expense of the church. The Reformation movement, now under way in Germany, cre- ated the opportunity. Already when the brothers Olaus and Lau- rentius Petri, who had studied at Wittenberg, had returned to Sweden in 15 19 and begun teaching the people Luther's doctrines, Gustaf had given them his support. He now appointed Olaus to a church at Stockholm, and made the younger brother professor of theology at Upsala, and soon afterward chose for his chancellor the provost, Laurentius Andreae, who had renounced Catholicism and who later translated the New Testament into Swedish. He also caused a public disputation to be held between the supporters of the old and the new dogmas, paying no attention to the Papal letter presented to him by Brask, Bishop of Linkoping, in which Adrian VL ordered a court of inquisition to be opened in every bishopric of Sweden for the punishment of heretics and the con- demnation of Luther's works. At this point the excesses of two Anabaptists named Knipperdolling and Rink, who, with their fol- lowers, set about destroying the images in the churches, produced considerable disturbances in Stockholm. Temporary discredit was thus placed upon the Reform movement, until Gustaf ordered the iconoclasts to be driven out of Sweden. Afterward, v/hen the peo- ple declared that they wished to keep to the faith of their fathers, Gustaf reassured them to the effect that he desired merely to purge the cliurch of its abuses. But already, avowing that " necessity has no law," he had begun his campaign against cluu'ch property, seeking out pretexts for reclaiming church lands, subjecting the bishops who protested to special humiliations and exactions, banish- ing- the primate, Johannes IMagnus, and finally, at the diet of Vad- stena, in January, 1526, appropriating two-thirds of the church tithes to be gathered that winter. " I^or," said the chancellor, " when we speak of the church's money, we mean the people's." ^ At length, Gustaf summoned the diet of Vesteraas, to discuss 1 " Tlie History of (aistavus Vasa. King of Sweden, with Extracts from his Correspondence," London, 1852, p. 128. 156 S C A N D I X A V I A 1526-1527 the entire relic^'ioiis question. It met June 24. 1527. The openinj^ address, uliicli was the kin.^'s. thougli it was read by the clian- cellor, is a highly important document and may profitably be repro- duced at some length.- 'Ihe king began by recalling the fact that he had offered to resign tlie regency at an early date in the revolt against the Danish king. ' Ijut finding that no one would under- take the office he had conducted it in God's name, and to the best of the ability which God had given him.' However, the completion of the revolt had necessitated expenditures which had obliged him to crave assistance from foreign lands, especially from Liibeck and the other Hanse towns. This debt still remained unliquidated. "After the surrender of Stockholm the nobles and people had chosen him king and promised him all loyal support and obedience ; and, though he had met great opposition, chiefly owing to the unsteadiness which the Swedes were wont to observe in regard to their princes, and for fear the same game would be played with him, as with others, yet, partly because he was then young, and l)elieved the oaths and promises which they made him on behalf of the whole kingdom, and partly because he thought that the Swedes, taught by past bitter experiences, would thenceforth avoid disunion and conspiracies, and not hastily attempt any change, he had given his consent of which he had often repented. Who could rule a ])eople that, as soon as a crime was punished, passed from hand to hand the signal for revolt ? " The Dalesmen were particularly prone to misprision of treason, to disloyal complaining, and to take an exaggerated view of their own privileges and im- ]:)ortance. " Swaggcrly [they] claim greater ])rivileges than others, as if, in comparison with them, they were serfs and slaves." Also ' they laid to his [Gustaf's] charge the dearness of salt, of corn, and cldth which he had done his best to cheapen as if he were a god, and c\-cr}-tliing were in his joower.' They complained that he had ])i11rigct of Christian II. of Denmark, the uprisings were put down with the greatest se\-crity. Unlike the iveformation SWEDISH REVOLUTION 159 1544-1560 in Denmark, the Reformation in Sweden was initially purely po- litical and meant not only the undoing of the clergy, but also of the nobility. The ccnmcil of state, or riksrag, was henceforth an acquiescent board of advisers for the king-. In 1544 Gustaf was able to fortify the royal power still further by securing a law mak- ing the throne hereditary in his family. From 1544 till the end of his life, Gustaf never desisted from his labors for the improvement of his kingdom, and so untiring was his industry and his determination to be master in all things that there was no subject, however trivial, that he did not consider and determine. He set the finances of the kingdom in such order that he left at his death a well-filled treasur}^, a standing army of 15,000 men, and a well-appointed fleet. He supervised everything in per- son, writing witli his own hand letters to the clergy in regard to the management of their houses and lands, and rating them soundly for any proceedings in their parishes of which he did not approve. He corresponded with the overseers of the royal mines and forests in regard to their expenses and the best methods of controlling the works under their care: with the nobles in regard to the proper manner in which they should rule their houses and families, plow their land, and tend their cattle; and with his own relations and personal attendants on the subject of their dress and domestic affairs. He exacted tithes to the utmost, but he kept the parisli priests well provided wath the means for extractirig- the greatest profit from the land which they were allowed to hold under the crown. Swedish trade owed its origin to Gustaf, and wlien lie found that the people living- at the seaports did not take an active part in the American and Indian trade, v/lrich he desired to encourage, he sent them harsh reproofs and threatened to come himself and see what they were doing-. Xo kind of business escaped his tireless attention. He enjoined it ripon master- Vv'(jrkmen., on. penalty of fine, to engage apprentices cind to teach tliem with care and patience. He drew up regulaticjns for the maintenance of greater cleanliness in the towns, and ordered roads to be made from north to soutli to penetrate the kingdom. He took pains to see that schools were maintained in the several ]):irishcs, .'ind ga\e a nv.w character to the university teaching at l'j)sala lie even caused a, new rhyming chronicle to be dravv-ii v.p, for the purpose, as he said, of " giving a true account of the events recorded by t!ie Danish chroniclers, and 160 S C A X U I X A \' I A ! 544 -1560 to sustain In the minds of his people the remembrance of the conckict of the Danes during their rule in Sweden." In every way Gustaf Vasa paved the way for the " Glorious Epoch " in Swedish history. Avhich ensued in the following cen- turv. He looked upon Sweden as his own. '' Vou think." he wrote to some peasants. " that becaus you have come into possession of your land by inheritance that you can use it as you choose ; we answer that we leave lands and houses in the possession of those who know how to use them properly otherwise they revert to us." Upon this theory was based his minute supervision of his j^ople's industries, his tireless personal efforts in the development of the national resources. Tn his treaty of alliance with Francis I. of France, negotiated in 1544. Gustaf wrote a new chapter in tlie history of Sweden's foreign relations. At that uKjment Sweden entered the European concert of powers. Finally, Gustaf began the organization of the Swedish army, which, in the seven- teenth century, was to become the most efficient military machine that Europe had cx'cr known. Gustaf was three times married. His first queen was Katli- crine of Saxe-Lauenburg. The issue of this marriage was the half- insane Erik. Knowing the violence and caprice of Erik's nature Gustaf determined to make his younger sons independent of their brotlier. Accordingly, by his will, he left, as hereditary duchies, l^nland to Johan the next in age. East Gothland to Magnus, and Soedermannland and \"crmland to hi? }"oungest son, Karl, who was then a child. Soon after the king had received the sanction of his council and the diet for this subdivision of the kingdom, he died in 1560 at the age of sixty-four, w(jrn out with the tremendous burden of his energetic rule. Tn accordance with the wishes which he had expressed, he was buried within the chancel of the cathedral cIuutIi of Upsala. Chapter XIII THE RISE OF SWEDEN INTO EUROPEAN PROMINENCE 1 560-161 1 ERIK XIV. of Sweden is a curious and picturesque cliaracter. At the time of his father's death he was about to start on a voyage to England to make a formal suit to Queen Eliza- beth, and had caused a considerable fleet and a number of men-at- arms to be given him, in order, as he said, that he might make a gallant appearance at the English court, though many suspected that he designed to seize upon the crown without waiting till it came to him by heritage. The news of Gustafs sudden death reached Erik while he was reviewing his ships and men at Elfs- borg. Disbanding his forces, he hurried l)ack to Stockholm and caused himself to be proclaimed king. He was at that time twenty- seven years of age, handsome, graceful, eloquent, accomjilished in manly exercises, a good linguist, able to write well in Latin, as well as in Swedish, and is reported to have been something of a poet, musician, painter, mathematician, and astrologer. But this prodigious list of accomplishments was offset by a strangely capricious disposition and by sudden and violent out- bursts of temper, which at times amounted to insanity. And if the young king was prodigal of his talents, he was even more prodi- gal of his resources. During the early }"ears of his reign he wasted in preparations for his coronation, ar.d in \'arious absurd missions in search of a wife, all the money that liis father had left in the treasury. Besides the regalia, which he ordered from London and Antwerp, and chests of jewels and ornaments of all kinds, he caused a number of strange animals, which liad never before been seen in Sweden, to be bnjught into the country, for the puljlic games with which he intended to amuse the people. We learn from the lists given of these animals that rabl)its were at that time unknown, or still uncommon, in Sweden, fen- they arc included, with lions and camels, among the rare and curious creatures to be exliibited. As soon as his coronation was o\'cr Erik resumed his i)repara- i(jl 162 SCANDINAVIA 1560-1569 tions for soliciting tlie hand of Onecn Elizabeth, to whom he sent amljassadors with costly gifts, among which we hear of eighteen piebald horses, and several chests of nncomed bars of gold and silver, strings of oriental pearls, and many valuable furs. He also furnished money to his envoy, Gyllenstjerna, with orders to bribe the luiglish councilors of state, and to " have the queen's favorite, Leicester. ])ut out of the way. even if it should cost lo.ooo rix dol- lars." During tlie preceding year his intentions toward the earl had been more honorai;le. for lie then directed Gyllenstjerna to inform Leicester that ' his king was ready to offer him battle in his own royp.l person cither in Scotland or France.' The English courtiers v;cre tlirown into great cor.sternation wiien they heard that King Erik had embarked with a great fleet from Sweden, with matri- monial designs upon their queen. But they might have spared them- sel\-es all their anxiety: for Erik, with a fickleness that had already begun to assume the character of mental aberrancy, suddenly gave (A'cr his plan of visiting England. At the same time he sent one messenger to Scotland to see if Queen ^^larv was as handsome as pe(jjjle reported; another with a betrothal ring to Princess Renata (if Lorraine, the gran.ddaughter of Christian IL of Denmark; and a tliird with a contract of marriage, already drav;n up, to the I'rinccss Christina of Llesse. for whose hand he had more than once sued. Lest Queen Elizaberh should feel herself aggrieved by these proceedings, lie sent anr/cl-ter emba'^sy to England to assure her tliat cares of state alone h.ad kept him away, and that he was not serious in his offer of marriage to the Hessian princess. The queen accepted iiis apologies .and k'ept his gifts, and so ended this Swedi-ii wooing, to the immense relief of Elizabeth and her advi>ers. V\']iile Erik was indulging in all this eccentricity and extrava- gance wars were breaking out in every quarter. Tlie most im- ])"rtant of these \vas the so-called Scandinavian !^e\ en A'ear>' War. which. r;ri:-ing out of the rix'.al ];retensions of F.rik and of h^rederick H. of Dcnm-irl: to include the crov/ns of the three northern nations m their (:i\-^ df nrni-^. was marked by great .atrocities on both ^idc-. 'I lie I),".nes were seldom the xa'ctors at sea. but. during the latter part fil tlie ^trugrde, ihev often met with signal successes on l'"i<] und( r iheir able general. D.'sr.iel R.antzau. His death, while lK'-a;'i;ig \'arl;er\;- in \zf\(). brought the war 1o a clo^'e. after it li.ad (<,.! 1j. ,i!i H SCANDINAVIA 1569-1575 keepers to put him out of the way if, in consequence of any attempt at his rescue, they might not be certain of being able to retain him in safe custody. I'^or two years no one could be found to act on the hint. At last, however, Johan found one Heinricksson willing to undertake the job. and Erik was poisoned, in the forty-fourth year of his age. His body was laid in a simple grave in the ca- thedral of \'esteraas, and covered with a stone bearing this in- scription in Latin from I. Kings, chapter ii., verse 15 : " The king- dom is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it w'as his from the Lord.'' Erik's \o\e for the humbly born Katherine ^Mannadatter had been so sincere that the common people ascribed it to sor- cery. She alone had ever had power to turn away his anger, and throughout his wretched captivity she never ceased to avail herself of every chance to give him assurances of her faithful love; and those, as he himself asserts in his numerous writings, were the only alleviations he had to his misery. Of their two children the elder, Sigrid. niarried early, when at the court of Johan's ([ueen, and became the ancestress of the ducal family. Thott. The younger, a son named Gustaf, after being sent out of Sweden in childhood and forced to earn his own living by teaching, was for a time kindly treated and helped by the Emperor Rudolph, under whose ])rotection he studied alchemy. His strange and checkered life. which has r)ften been made the subject of romance, was rendered more unhappy by the frequent attempts of the discontented in Sweden to set up his claims against his uncle Johan. Hence he was ne\cr suiYered to remain long in quiet, and wherever he went the .Swedish king's jealous suspicions followed him. At length he died in ir>o7 at rm obscure countrv place in Russia, worn out with ])'/\crty, disease, and insanity, induced by a too sedulous study of alclicmy and a^trologv. In all ilie ])r(;cce(lings against Erik, ihc name of Karl had invarialjjy been associated with tliat of Joh.an. but wlicn the insane king was irretrievably out of tlie way Duke Johan asserted his right to ])e cr(;\\nc(l S(jle ruler and began to evince such sus])icion of his }Ounger broilicr as to compel that prince to observe the greatest circumspection in his conduct. Jolian. ilr.ring his imprisonment, had been induced by his wife, Katcriiia jaL;L-llonica. wlio shared his dungeon, to ren(mnce J'rote.-tanli.-m and declare Iiiin>elf a Catholic, and during her life- RISEOF SWEDEN 165 1575-1585 time he never desisted from his efforts to reestabhsh the power of the Roman Church in Sweden. The death in 1573 of Laurentius Petri, the first Lutheran archbishop of Sweden, gave Johan the opportunity of testifying pubHcly the views which he had long- been trying secretly to promote. The new primate, Gothus, a weak and visionary man, was easily persuaded to give his sanction to a church ordinance for the restoration of monasteries, the veneration of saints, prayers for the dead, and the use of various prelatical ceremonies. Jesuits were sent for to lecture in Stockholm, but were expressly ordered to conceal their religion, and to hold dis- putations nominally in the defense of the Reformers. When Pope Gregory XIII. learned the acts of duplicity in which these Jesuit teachers had been engaged, he strongly condemned tlieir conduct, and enjoined upon the king boldly to proclaim his adhesion to the Church of Rome, and to use no further deceit in the matter. Some years later he even caused Fatlier Laurentius Norvegicus to be summoned before the general of the order of Jesuits at Rome, to answer for his conduct in pretending to uphold doctrines which he believed to be false. The liturgy which Johan had drawn up with a view to reconciling the new" with tlie old faith, and wliicli had been severely condemned by tlie Papal court, was known as Roda Boken, the red book. The king's determination to e:rforce this ritual on his subjects produced great clamor. Soon tliroughout Sw^eden the court of Duke Karl, who had refused to cillow it to be introduced in his provinces of Soedermanland, Xiirike, and Verm- land, became the recognized asylum for all persons threatened with persecution for their adhesion to the doctrines of the Reformers. The Pope's disapproval of Jolian's conduct and tlie death of his queen had the effect of estranging him completely from the Catho- lics, but, until his marriage in 15S5 with Gunilla Bjelkc, a young girl of sixteen, and daughter of the Lutheran councilor, Johan Bjelke, he insisted all the more vehemently upon the use of his own liturgy, punishing all ])reachers and teachers who (^pjjosed its adoption as " ignorant blockheads, obstinate asses, and wicked devils." Johan was a man of unstable will, pcjssesscd with extravagant ideas of his own dignity and of the dix'ine cliar^icter of the royal power, but his weakness and wmity made him most snsce])tib!c to flattery and therefore readily amenable to control by iliwoe aijun! his pers(jn. After his second marriage he identified himself \\i' >\-c 166 SCANDINxVVIA 1585-1589 and more with the interests of the Swedish nobles, the Bjelkes, Sparrcs, Bauers, and others, with whom he had become related. In his anxiety to secure the steadfast arlhesion of these and other powerful families he created new privileges of nobility, and be- stowed estates and certain manorial rights in connection with the title of count and baron, which had not hitherto belonged to them, thus undoing much of Gustaf Vasa's wholesome work. This unfriendly attitude toward the nobility did not endure, however. In 1587 Prince Sigismund, the only son of Johan and Katerina, was elected to the vacant throne of Poland. He was received by the Poles with every mark of respect and affection, but the cares of government and the independence of the nobles made the young king very soon regret that he had accepted the Polish crown and separated himself from his own family. King Job.an was equally regretful that he had allowed the prince to leave him, and. at a meeting held between them in 1589. father and son determined to renounce all claims to tlie throne of l-'oland. as soon as Sigismund's resignation could be accepted, ^fhis ])hrn. however, met with so mucli opposition among Johan's councilors and officers tliat the kings had to submit and return separately to tlieir respec- tive capitals. The Swedish king, enraged with his council, now caused the greater number of its members to be arrested, and called upon them to defend themselves on the charge of treason, while he eft'ected a complete reconciliation with his brother, Duke Karl, and resigned to him the chief power in tlie state. The disgraced coun- cilors, hj-ik Sparre, Thur Bjelke, and Stcn Bauer, were deprived of all their tenures of land and dignities, and although no act of treason could be proved against them they were kept in close con- finement till 1592. johan's reign was unfortunate in almost every respect, for while religious chTferences had been allowed to disturb the king- dom, tlic army -.md navy had been neglected, bad sc:i with Russia and Poland. Indeed, the one event oi this pericxl. bringing good fortune to Sweden, was ;i legacv from the reign of tlie in-ane hhak. zi.::., the f'eace of Stettin, whereby the dissolution of tlie nin'on of Denmark and Sweden wa-- f'Tnially recogin'zed, the riglit of botli kings to as-nme []]< iln-ee erowiis in the ro}-al arms was admitted, Sl^aania, iialland, and Hlrking were re-t(jred to Denmark, and Sv^eden was RISE OF SWEDEN 167 1589-1592 allowed to take Elfsborg 1)ack on the payment to Denmark of a fine of 150,000 rix dollars.^ During the reign of Johan we hear for tlic first time of the Russians as formidable neighbors and foes of Sweden. Before the accession in 1533 of Ivan IV., who was crowned tsar of ]\Tuscovy in 1545, the savage tribes of Paissia had hardly been heard of be- yond the boundaries of their indefinite dominiivns, but under that ferocious tyrant they began to make war on neighboring states. Ivan had, however, formed a sort of friendlv alliance with Erik XIV. of Sweden, who as a proof of his good-will had agreed to help the IMuscovite in securing for himself the wife of Duke Johan, Katerina Jagellonica. After Erik's abdication Russian envoys ap- peared at Stockholm to demand the person of Katerina, and the rage of the people, on learning the insult which had been thus ofi^ered to their queen, was so great that it required the personal interference of King Johan himself and of Duke Karl to prevent the envoys from being killed in the streets of Stockholm. They were, however, allowed to return to Russia, and in 1570 a Swedish em- bassy was sent to negotiate with Ivan in regard to the settlement of a boundary question. In total disregard of his pledges of safe conduct, the tsar treated these envoys with atrocious cruelty, and, after detaininq- them for two vears in confinement, sent them back to Sweden with the message that he intended to make himself master of Livonia. This was the signal for war, and, till Ivan's death in 1584, the people of Finland, Livonia, and the neighboring districts were subjected to the most fearful atrocities at the hands of their barbarous foes, wlio burned their prisoners alive and spared neither women nor children. Sweden also suffered heavily until the gallant French nobleman, Ponte de la Gardie, who commanded a troop of free lances in the Swedish service, gave a new turn to the course of events, and ti 'getlicr vritli the Swedish captains, Hen- rik and Klas Florn, recovered Livcjnia, and led his victorious army across the Russian frontier. l\':ui on iiis deathbed counseled his son Feodor to make peace v\"ith Sweden, whose military talent the Russians had learned to respect. Johan, liowever, refused to agree to any terms anrl thus entailed ujxm his kingdom dr.ring the rest of his reign the continuance of a costly and destrticti\'e war. Three years after Johan's death Duke Karl settled a favorable > A silver coin rani^'iii;^ in value between ?r.i5 and 60 cents, though usually worth a little over Si. 168 S C A N D I X A V I A 1592-159*. peace with Russia by which Esthonia and Narva were secured to Sweden, while Kexholm and some other places on the confines of Finland were rcstc>rcd to the tsar. Klas Idcniing-, the powerful governor general of I'inland, resisted the surrender of Kexholm, and it was not until 1597 that Sweden was able to carry out its part of the peace. Johan's death occurred in the autumn of 1592 at his palace in Stockholm. Karl at once assumed the direction of affairs until the wishes of Sigismund could be known. In this respect he was simply continuing to retain the power which had been confided to him by King Johan, three years before, but. foreseeing the policy that his Catholic nephew would probably pursue in regard to ques- tions of religion, he determined to settle the government of the Swedish church before Sigismund's arrival. A meeting of the clergy and representatives of the other orders of the state was. therefore, called at Upsala in 1593. in which, after prolonged and stormy discussion, the Augsburg Confession of Faith, adopted by tlic Lutherans of Germany, was recognized as the established cult of Swc('Cn. " Xow.*' said the president of the assemldy. " Sweden is as one man, and we have one God." The Swedes regard the adoption of the Upsala }vI6ta as one of the chief events in their religious history, as indeed it is. since it settled finally the dog- matic Ciiaracter of the Swedish Reformed Church. After great opposiu'on tlie Polish estates consented, on the oeath of Johan, to jicrmit Sigismund to return to S^veden. and \ote(l a sum of 200,000 gulden in order that he might accomplish the joiriTicy in the state beiitting his rank. After a tedious and '^tormv vovage from Dantzig. where Klas Fleming, the powerful g i\ crnor (vf Finland, met him with a squadron of Swedish vessels, Sigi^niu.iid and his (|uccn readied Stockholm in Scptem])cr, 1593. attcMi'lc'l Ijy a brilliant retinue of Polish gentlemen, and accom- prinic'l ]>y tliC Papal leg;ite. .\laia-S])ina. Duke Karl stood ready on t]:c castle bridge tf) welcome tlie young king, and b}- his side was .\l):v;l!r;in \ngcrnian!iiis, tlie n.ewly elected Lntlieran primate r)f l^wcdcn. wlsri-c foii'iner /.ealMiis op])osition to johan's litnrgv made hi- a])])C,,'u ance a^ unwelcome to the king and his friends as the sight of a l\(.]nrin prelate was distasteful to the Swedes. '1 hi-; (pi-od-- wa,^ ominous of th.e general situation: the diver- ^it\- of friiih would iidt down. I'd'rsl differences arose between the uncK' a!i'l nt-jdicw : aiid the duke, returning in haste to his own do- RISE OF SWEDEN 169 1593-1594 minions, left the council to manage as they best could a king who rarely summoned them into his presence and kept almost entirely to the society of his Polish friends and Jesuit admirers. Some of the Swedish nobles, as Klas Fleming and others, who were at feud with Duke Karl, attended the royal court, and a few even pro- fessed their adhesion to the king's religion ; but the majority of the people looked with vexation and distrust upon the Catholic cere- monials which were introduced into some of the Stockholm churches. On the occasion of a solemn mass for the repose of the soul of the late king, the Swedes and Poles came to blows and blood was shed wdthin the halls of worship. Foreign Jesuits and Swed- ish Lutherans preached against each other from the different pulpits of the capital. While Sigismund was refusing to ratify the reso- lutions of Upsala, or to confirm the election of Angermannus as primate of Sweden, the council were insisting upon these very points as the condition on whicli alone they would grant supplies for the king's coronation. Tlie estates assembled at Upsala for- bade the Papal legate to take part in any ]:)ublic ceremonial, and threatened the Jesuits \\'ith death if they entered within the cathe- dral doors, to which declaration Sigismund replied defiantly that it behooved the estates to learn the difference between an hereditary and an elective crown, and that his conscience forbade him to change his religion. As the monarch of an hereditary kingdom, professing a different faith from his own, lie would not, hovrever, he said, molest that faith unless the estates should refuse liberty of belief to those who shared his faith. In the spring of 1594 Sigismund met the estates at Upsala and was crowned with much ceremony in the cathedral church, but not until he had been forced by his uncle and the council to sign a charter confirming the religious liberty tb,at ]i;i(l l)ccii secured by the assembly at Upsala the previous year. Sigismund. witli his habitual weakness and insincerity, agreed to everything demanded of him at Upsala, yet almost as soon as lie reached Stocldiolm he began to evade all the obligations ulu'cli ho liad incurred. Cntlr- olic schools and cliurchcs were Ojiened, tlie I'rotestant services were interfered with, and the safety of tliose ulio atten(kMl tliem was .-o much endangered as to make it necessary to go armed I0 cliurch. Xo redress could be ()])taineondarkongen. On one- I '(':i'-'on, wlicn the widow of a clergyman was pro\ed to have had an iiiju^-lice done her in a lawsuit, he wrote the unjust judge that ui']e-< tlu; ])oor womrm at once received her rights. " a stick should ^onn be dancing the ]K)lka on his back." Charles encour- aged trade: in.'iecd by laving the foundation^ of the ])orts of Karl- stad in \'rrnilan1 Br 5W0Ftf of the rising power of Russia, and the danger to Sweden of having a neighbor on her flanks w'hose boundary line stretched from the Caspian Sea to the frozen ocean, he showed them on a map how. by the Peace of Stolbova, Russia was now com]:)letely shut out from the Baltic, " and that," he added, " we will hope, by God's help, may always prove too wdde a jump even for a Russian." The ground on which St. Petersburg now stands was then Swedish, and on the boundary line a stone was erected, on which were carved the three crowns of Sweden, surmounted by a Latin inscription : " Hifc rcg^ni posuit fines Giisfav Adolpluis Rex Siieomun, faiislo numine duret opus. Limifes positiau. 1617." ITS SCANDINAVIA 1619-1621 Gustavn? next turned his whole attention to the task of put- tin.q" the Swech'sh constitution upon a more definite basis, as his father had l)c.^un to do. In order that his subjects in all parts of the kin<;-dnui mioht have the opportunity of defending- their rights, he established {parliaments, or high courts, at Stockholm and Abo; proviiled for the annual summoning- of the diet, and left the four orders into which it was divided to consider and decide for them- selves, in separate assemblies, upon questions in which their re- s])cctive estates were specially interested. He divided the nobility into three classes, consisting- of counts, barons, or highest nobles, f)f the descendants of councilors of state, and men of noble descent witliout hereditary titles and lands; and ordered that they should meet in a house of lords or "knights' house,*' RiddarJius, on wh.ose books ^.11 entitled to a seat were to inscribe their names. He confirmed tlie noble orders in many of their privileges and immunities, but rendered such confirmation conditional upon the assured jjcrformance of services to the state. Moreover, the eleva- tion of the second and third classes to noble rank brought to the ci-o\vn the interested suj^port of many infiuential persons, who might (jtherv\-ise have remain.ed politically indifferent. Civil and military services were ])ut upon a permanent basis, and the two kinrls of power definitely separated. To facilitate the civil adminis- tration, it was divided among- five courts or colleges of state. The judiciary was ampliiied ar.d completed by a supreme court of a])])cal. the gola liofriiif, which sat at Jonkoping. In the great centralization ('f .authority, resulting both from these reforms and from the dominant [)ersonality of the king, local rights and govern- ment were not forgotten. Ikit with the reduction of the nobility to ri pii-iiion of ser\-ice, these .also had to be put on a new footing. The kingdom \vas dixided into liiii, or districts, each presided o\-er b\' a b.'iilifl or ma_\-or: and each town bv a chief magistrate. Idie ])rc-id('nt of thc-e magistrates, when .-issemblcd for consultation. \\a> tlie (iZ'rrs/ii/liiiUdr of Stockholm, l-^irst of .all. however. Gns- taxii- w.'is a warrior. I')y a carefullv dcxi-^ed svstcm of conscri])- tion. whicii the old-time juries of the hundreds were left to carry out. ']( arn;v ;mv1 iia\y were much augmented, .and were put under tlic- -;i-ir!(-i (liM-ipliiic in ]'.uroj)e. At the close of the 1"iiirtv ^'ears' \\;ir [()(). ()(,o men. -.f wlmm. ho\\e\-er, one-h.'ilf were mercen:iries. M. M .(1 nii'lci" Sw ( ^ '^jir.ang up in everv i)art GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS 179 1621-1629 of the kingdom. The Upsala University was enriched with valu- able mines and lands, formerly part of the king's personal domain. Several new trading ports, for example, the present Goteborg, were established. In 1624 William Usselinx, under Gustavns's patronage, founded the " South Company of Sweden," which, in 1638, erected Fort Christina, on tlie Delaware River, in America. New Sweden lasted but seventeen years, falling in 1655 to the Dutch, but the far-reaching character of Gustavns's enterprise is in- dicated. Gustavus had, moreover, tlie ability or the good fortune to secure the friendship and devotion of talented men in every department of the state, and at the moment when he set forth, in 1629, on his fatal but glorious campaign in Germany, his court was celebrated throughout Europe for the number of able mili- tary leaders and statesmen who surrounded the person of the king. After an interval of peace war broke out again in 1621 between Sweden and Poland, owing to the obstinacy with which Sigismund maintained his pretensions to the Swedish crown. Gustavus, per- sonally conducting the war, began by conquering Livonia and Karelia and the capture of Riga. He next advanced into Polish Prussia and gave battle at Egnen, on the Vistula, to Sigismund's troops and an army of imperialists. For it must be remembered that both the emperor, Ferdinand II., and the king of Spain, Philip III., were Sigismund's brothers-in-law. Egncn was Init the first of a series of brilliant victories which made Gustavus's fame as a general European. The emperor now began to awake to the pos- sible effect of Swedish victory u])on the religious struggle which had already begun in Germany, and to see in Gustavus's army a formidable menace to the supremacy of the Catholic ])arty. A large imperial army was thrown into Poland, and Gustavus found him- self involved in a new and greater war at a time when lie was especially anxious for peace. In this fourth and last of his Polish campaigns. Gustavus was often in great personal danger. Once he saved his life only by leaving liis hat and scabbard in tlie hands of the foes wlio had surrounded liim, in writing an account of which to his friend and chancellor, Oxenstierna, Gustavus remarked that he had " never been in a hotter bath." Once a ball carried off the sole of his riglit boot. On another occasion a shot struck him in (lie stomach. Tie had his horse shot from under him repeatedly and was forced to 180 S C- A X D I X A V I A 1629-1630 crawl out from among the dead and dying and fight on foot till another steed could be brought for him. After the battle of Stuhm, a truce for six years was signed at Altmark in 1C29 between Sweden and Poland, which left Livonia and parts of Polish Prus- sia in the hands of Gustavus. Gustavus now found himself free to furnish the aid wdiich he liad long promised to his Protestant allies in Germany, A general l^umpcan war seemed impending. All the other European powers which h.'id a(lo])ted the doctrines of the Reformation were aligning lhcm>cl\cs with the Protestant princes of the empire, while the Cathdiic states, excejjting France, whose attitude was determined hv special considerations, were casting in their lot with the emperor. Ghristian IV. of Denmark had helped the German Protestants to the best of his ability, but had been forced, when the imperialists, under W'allenstein, entered Slesvig and seized upon Jutland, to accept whatever terms of peace he could obtain. Gustavus's en- voys having been refused admission to the negotiations between Christian and W'allenstein at Liibeck, the Swedish monarch now deemed war inevitable with the emperor, whose enmity he had incurred by opening his kingdom as an asylum to all persecuted I'rcjtestants, and by receiving at his court his own outlawed kins- men, the dukes of ^Mecklenburg. Another factor in the case was the jealousy of W'allenstein, who at this moment rivaled Gustavus in h"uro])e;'-n ])rornincnce. At the moment of opening hostilities \\'ar;cn>i(jin contributed 35.000 rix dollars toward fomenting sedi- tion in Sweden. The great general of the imperialists was also eager t_^o. and laid before them an accoimt of the r)p])vcssion and misery to whicli thcii" brethren in religion were reduced, and the dangers \'.lii';li Hirea.lened Sweden miless the advance of Catholic ])ower I'onld 1)( c! <(], id. Lie then bade the assembled orders farewell and dranialiealK i-a'-iii''- hi- daughter. Christina, a child of fixe G U S T A V U S A D O L P II U S 181 1630-1631 years of age, in his arms, he commended her to their care and fideHty as the heiress to his crown. Each of the estates assured their monarch of their devotion. Thereupon intrusting the gov- ernment of Sweden to a council of ten, and appointing his brother- in-law, the outlawed Count Palatine, John Casimir, director-in- chief of all affairs connected with the levying of troops and othei' preparations for war, Gustavus embarked Avith his army, landing in Germany on midsummer-day, in 1630. He had with him only 15.000 men, but with this small army, trusting in his watchword, "' Cum Deo cl inclricihus aruiis;' he entered boldly upon the course he had elected. At first circum- stances aided him, for the overreaching ambition of V/allenstein had brought that remarkable man into disfavor with the emperor, while Cardinal Richelieu, alarmed at the rapidly rising power of the house of Hapsburg, had guaranteed by the Treaty of Barwiilde that as long as the Swedish king should keep an army of 30,000 men on foot against the imperialists, he should receive an annual subsidy from France of 400,000 rix dollars. Some of the lesser German princes also entered into immediate alliance with Gus- tavus. On the other hand, the electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, standing in awe of the emperor, iield aloof, and by the obstacles which they interposed to the advance of the Swedish forces prevented the relief of }vlagdcburg. which consequently, after a long and heroic defense, was comi^clled to submit to the forces of the Catholic League, and was fortliwith given over to a ruthless soldiery and reduced to a heap of ruins. This terrible disaster served to bring the Elector of Saxon}' to Gustavus's side. In 1 63 1 Breitenfeld was fought and won near Leipzig by the allied Swedish and Saxon forces. Tilly, till then undefeated, was com- pelled, despite his superior numbers, to f^ill back upon the Bavarian frontier near the Lech. Here, the following spring, he was again attacked by the Swedes and again defeated in a long and stubborn contest, in the course of which he himself was mortally wounded. The emperor now reluctantly resolved to recall the indispensable Wallenstein, who had presently enlisted to his standard every vaga- bond and soldier of fortune in Europe. The rawness of his recruits, however, forbade his offering battle ; as, on the other side, did the meagerness of Gustavus's forces. I'^or nine weeks the two armies lay encamped within sight of each other, outside the gales of \'iin\- bcrg. which Wallenstein had threatened and Gusla\us had has- 182 S C A X D I N A V I A 1631-1632 tened to protect. At length, liaving- failed in an assault on Wallen- stein's well-defended camp, and unable to brini^ Iiis wary foe into the open field, Gustavus withdrew to recruit his own sick and hung^ering' army, while the imperialist commander, quickly break- ing- up camp, threw his forces into the rich lands of Saxony, where they laid waste everything- before them, and the elector in his dis- tress had ag-ain to call ui)on the Swedes for assistance. Gustavus was at Neuburg, in Bavaria, with his queen when the news of W'allenstein's advance upon Saxony reached him. lie at once resolved to force his antagonist to meet him in the open field. Ordering all his troops to advance by forced marches to Erfurt, he joined them there on October 28, 1632, and rapidly made his final arrangements. On the morning of November i, after having passed the night in reading and answering dispatches, and in sending instructions to the council of Sweden, he t(wk lea\-e of his wife, whom he commended to the care of the Erfurt citizens, and set out in pursuit of his army, which had crossed the Saale on October 30. W'allenstein, not l)clieving that tiie king would venture a battle with his small force, aggregating but 12,000 in- fantry and 6500 horsemen, had gone into winter quarters at Liit- zen, after sending his general, Pappenheim. to Halle, to watch the movements of the Swedes. The surprise of the imperialists was great, therefore, when they found that the Swedish king had brought his army fr(m their quarters near Xiirnberg to tlie ])lain of Liitzen, and that, moreover, in an incredibly short time, although the autumn raiiis and the character of the ground seemed to make the ])assage rif both men and horses almost an impossibility. The greatest confu-ion ])rcvailcd in the im])eri;d carn]^. Orderlies were riding in all directions to recall scattered generals ;ind brigades. Soldiers were ke|)t at work throughout the night, throwing up entrenrlimcnts .along tlie main road between Eiitzen and Eei])zig. on the north side of which W'allenstein had drawn up his men in order of battle. W'JK'n Gustavus was informed by spies that tlie Geriu;uis were (juilc uii])rei)arcd U lie(l creature- had cr.-iwled fortli from their ruined huts or from the G U S T A V U S A D O L P H U S 183 1632 poor shelter of the leafless woods, and throwing themselves on their knees, had extended their hands to him in sui)plication. These spectacles had moved the humane monarch profoundly. " These people," said he, " worship me as a God ; I trust I may not be pun- ished for their idolatry." The morning- of November 6, 1632, dawned in so thick a mist that the two opposing armies could scarcely see beyond their re- spective vanguards, though these were so near that, in reconnoiter- ing, they found themselves face to face. At an early hour, the Swedish army, which was composed of many Scotch as well as German auxiliaries, engaged in prayer and sang Luther's hymn, "' Eine festc Burg ist tinscr Gott," after which Gustavus himself, in a loud voice, gave out his favorite hymn, " Jesus Christ imscr Heiland." Clad in his usual overcoat and without armor, which he had almost entirely discarded for Iiimself and his soldiers, he mounted his horse, and, riding- along tlie lines, addressed his Swedes and Finns in their native tongue, telling them that the enemy, who had so long evaded them, was now within their reach and exhorting- them to fight for their God, their country, and their king. " If you fight as I expect of you," he said in conclusion, " you shall have no cause to complain of your reward, but if you do not strike like men, not a bone in your bodies will ever find its way back to Sweden." To the Germans he spoke strongly and earnestly, calling upon them to follow him bravely, to " trust in God, and to believe that with His help they might that day gain a victory, which should profit them and their remotest descend- ants," " But if you fail me to-day," he added, " your religion, your freedom, your welfare in this world and the next are lost." Wallenstein, on the other hand, maintained a characteristic silence in the presence of his forces. Gustavus had expected to be reinforced by Duke George of Liineburg and the Elector of Saxony, who had both made great protestations of gratitude and devotion, and promised to bring their troops to his aid, but neither of tliem put in an appearance. The king, who himself commanded the right wing of his army, was foremost of all to advance upon the enemy. Waving his drawn sword above his head as the Swedes and Finns responded with the clash of arms and loud cheers to his address, he cried out, " Jesus, Jesus, let us fight tliis day for Tliy holy name," and giving the word of command, he .-idvanced, while tlie whole army, as eacli 184 SCAN 1)1 \ A^ I A regiment began to move, caught up the Swedisli watchword. " God with us." The enemy awaited the attack on tlic fartlier side of the road, skirted by deep ditches, and here tlie Swedish infantry were met with such overwhehning numbers that tliey wavered and fell back. On perceiving this, Gustavus. who had led his own division over the road, hastened at the head of a troop of his Smaaland cavalry to the help of the infantry. Before he could reach the road. however, the three brigades under Count Xiels Brahe, which formed the Swedish center, had advanced to the charge and had taken three batteries by storm, and had broken two f)f the enemy's squares. The king now charged at the head of his cavalry and was soon in the midst of the enemy, with only a few of his personal attendants near him, since the heavy mist, after partially clearing, had become so dense that his troop had not been able to see in which direction he had advanced. At that moment a pistol shot struck Gustavus's horse in the neck, a second shattered his left arm, and, while he was turning to beg the Duke of Lauenburg to helj) him from the field, as he was also wounded in the foot and unable to dismount, a ball entered his back and he fell from his horse, which, however, dragged him a short distance with one foot still in the stirrup. Dismay spread through the ranks of the Swedes when they saw the king's horse, with empty saddle and bleeding mane, galloping wildly along the road : but soon their terror changed to fury. De- manding eagerly of Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar to be led again to the assault, they bore down u})on the enemy, and after a llcrce struggle, which was ])rolonge(l till nightfall, achieved a brilliant victory, remaining masters of the field and ca])turing all of W'allen- stein's artillery and ammunition. The close of the battle had Ijcen the ficrrest. fc^r at the moment when Duke Bernhard thought that the day was won. I'apjjenheim a])peared on the field, and with frc^h troojjs renewed the attack npcn the wearied .Swedes. But t\en tliat une.\i)ected repul>e could UfA long retard the laUer"s victcjry, altiiougli it thinned the Swedish r;niks fearfnlly and left line uijiiii line of their troops l>'ing dead ti])on the grotuid in the order (.1 array, 'flic battle of Liitzen was won against double tlie vict'.r'.- tMrec-. At its clo>e u.ooo dead or wounded men lay upon tlie field. aniMiig the f(jrmer the m<,)narch of Sweden, 'flu- Ijody ot tlie dead king was carried to the rear tlie same night, and dejj(Asited in tlie church of the little village of Meuchen, where one > ^ Co o &0 i3 Co Co O Q O Cq ::^ til Co o O 5 * 5 a. GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS 185 1632-1634 of the attendant Swedish officers made a funeral address and the schoohnaster of the place read the prayer. Next morning it was borne in a rough deal coffin to Weissen- fels, and thence, after embalming, to the castle church of Witten- burg, where for a time it rested, being finally conveyed to Sweden under the guard of the 400 survivors of the Smaaland cavalry at whose head the king had fallen. In the summer of 1634 the re- mains were laid with great solemnity within the grave that Gus- tavus had caused to be prepared for himself in Riddarholm church. The day after the battle a heavy stone, known to the present day as the Schwedenstein, was dragged by some peasants, under the direction of the king's groom, Jacob Eriksson, from a neighboring height to mark the place where Gustavus fell ; but, unable to move it further, they left it wnthin forty paces of the exact spot beside the bank of a field, where it remained till it was replaced, in 1832, by the monument erected by the German people in grateful remembrance of their champion. Although the imperialists experienced a most decisive defeat at Liitzen, the joy of the Catholics on learning that their most dreaded foe was no more fully equaled the sorrow and appre- hension which the news of Gustavus's death spread through every Protestant country. In Gustavus the Swedes lost the noblest and greatest of their kings, and the world at large one of the bravest and most unselfish rulers that ever filled a throne. " Exalted by feel- ings of the most devoted piety, his soul was that of an apostle, and it is not only calumny, but a grave historical error to mistrust the sincerity of his declarations. In his eyes the victory of the Hapsburgs meant not only calamity for the world, but an outrage upon God himself, and in God's c|uarrel he armed, ready to perish for his faith, but certain that the Eternal covered him with His right hand." ' In person, Gustavus Adolphus recalled the type of man that the Northmen associated with the image of the brav- est and strongest of their early national hemes. He was tall and well made; of fresh ruddy hue. fair skin, and clear blue eyes, and with light yellow hair, ain])lc beard and bushy mustache, which gained for him among fijrcigncrs the name of the " Gold-king of the North." He had a longisli face, with a grave, earnest expres- sion, and there was a nitnral grace and dignity in his bearing and in all his movements, wliicli iiirtTased llie charm and attractiveness of his person and manncM-. ^Lavissc and Kamhaud, vol. V. p. 547. 186 SCANDINAVIA 1632-1642 Althougli many great plans which Gnstavus had formed for the benefit of his corehgionists perished with him, the fame of Sweden was well maintained for some time after his death by his generals and by his devoted friend and minister, Oxenstierna, one of the greatest personages of Swedish history, who induced the Protestant princes of south Germany to enter into an alliance with Sweden in 1633, and continued the alliance with France. At the same time. Oxenstierna, in concert with four other great officers of state, conducted the regency during the minority of Gustavus's only child, Christina, following in all respects the directions laid down by the king himself before he left Sweden. Tlie death of Gustavus, nevertheless, had its effect upon the fortune of Swedish arms in Germany, and when, in 1634, the brave but overhasty Gustaf Horn, in consequence of jealousy on the part of Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, nearly brought an inglorious defeat upon the Swedes at Nordlingen, where he was made captive, the north German princes began to withdraw from their alliance witli Sv^eden. and before another year the majority had followed the example set by the Elector of Saxony and made a humiliating peace witli the emperor. They seemed even to aim at expelling the Swedes from Ger- many: and although Richelieu sent an arm}- over the frontier to cooperate with tlie Swedish forces, he was an untrustwortliy ally at best. Idius after inducing Duke Bernhard to enter the service of I^Vance. the cardinal-minister, on the death of tliat n()i.)lcnian. !^uddenly in 1639, incorporated his troops in the h^rcnch army and employed tliem to conquer Alsace for France. Gustavus liad, how- ever, left otlier able commanders, who gloriously maintained his reputatirn. The disaster at Nordlingen was soon effaced by the \-ictory oi Johan Banner at W'ittstock, in Brandenburg. Not con- tent witli \h]< sign;il success. Banner pushed his way to tlie \-ery heart r)f German}-, threatened Vienna, a.nd stu'prised I\alislxtn. wiicrc lie wnuM Ivdvc captured the cm])eror and tlie members of the did. tlien luiMing its sittings, liad not a sudden tli.'iw come on and prevented llic i):;s>\ \\e;i!ar. len liini almost encircded 1)\- enemies. l^xen nnder tlie-e de-jjera'.e c;rcuin^tance>, he succeeded in safel\- accom- G U S T x\V U S A D O L P H U S 187 1642-1645 plishing a retreat to Halberstadt which is regarded as one of the most masterly in miHtary history, though it cost Banner his Hfe. Torstensson, upon whom, because of his skillful and rapid maneu- vers, was bestowed the name, " the Swedish Lightning," succeeded to the command. In the campaign of 1642 the Swedes, under this commander, advanced upon Vienna, defied the armies of the emperor in his own states, and concluded the campaign \vith a brilliant victory at Breitenfeld over the Archduke Leopold and the great Piccolomini, and the capture of Leipzig from the imperialists. While complet- ing arrangements for penetrating still further into southern Ger- many, Torstensson was recalled to Sweden by secret orders from the council of state. The cause of this sudden recall was the anxiety felt by the Swedish regents at the turn which affairs were taking in Denmark, whose king. Christian IV., it was evident was preparing to make war upon Sweden. To frustrate his designs, Torstensson left Moravia, and in an incredibly short time crossed the frontier and threw his troops into the Holstein lands, on pretense of requiring food and quarters for them. At the same time Gustaf Horn led an army into Skaania, Thus forestalled at all points, the Danes were forced to meet the Swedes as successful invaders, instead of carrying the Vv'ar into Sweden, as they had intended. By the peace, signed at Bromsebro in Bleking, in 1645, ^^^^ islands of Goth- land and Oesel and other Danish territories were handed over to Sweden in pledge of peace, for thirty years, after which they might be redeemed by Denmark. i\t the same time the Swedes secured complete exemption from all the long-established tolls in the Sound, and obtained a great diminution in these charges for their allies, the Dutch, After the Danish war Torstensson made a fourth successful campaign into the hereditary lands of the em- peror, and inflicted upon the imperialists at Jaukowitz the worst defeat they had sustained during the war. This battle, which raged with great furv during the wiic/ie of an intensely cold and stormy day in Feljruary, 1645, cost the emperor the lives of 4000 of his best troops, and left in the hands of the victorious Swedes 4000 wounded, including the chief commander. Field Marshal Hatzfeld, and fi\'e generals, with twenty-six field pieces and sev- enty-seven standards. Torstensson again penetrated into Austria and again brought his troops within sight of the walls of Vienna. 188 SCANDINAVIA 1645-1648 At this very moment, however, when everything seemed to be favor- ing the great Swedish commander, he was forced to retreat, for France had failed to send the reinforcements which alone could enable the Swedes to hold their ow'n in the midst of the enemy's land. Torstensson was, in consequence, forced to fall back upon Bohemia. There, because of increased feebleness and suffering, he resigned the command, which was at once intrusted to the already renowned Karl Gustaf Wrangel. In 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia brought the Thirty Years' War to a close, Sweden received Western Pomerania with Rygen, the Island of Wollin, the mouths of the Oder, Stettin, the bishopric of Verden, the archbishopric of Bremen, and Wismar in ]\Iecklen- burg; also an indemnity of five millions of rix dollars. The terri- tory gained, however, did not cease being a part of the empire, and the indemnity was never paid. Sweden emerged from tlie strug- gle, therefore, rich in military renown, but poorly remunerated for her sacrifices of the last eighteen years. It is impossible, more- over, to look upon Sweden's participation in the last period of the war in the same light as upon Gustavus Adolphus's part. Then Sweden, under a leader of most exalted piety, was fighting the battles of Protestantism, perhaps mistakenly, yet nobly. Subse- quently the Swedish government is too apparently the pensioner of France in the latter's war against the house of Austria. Chapter XV DENMARK IN ECLIPSE. 1513-1648 DESPITE the odium of the blood bath Christian 11. 01 Denmark was a wise and benevolent ruler, who carefully scrutinized every detail of civil life, and in otlier Vv^avs dis- played great capacity and enlightenment, lie not only caused several highly beneficial buvs to be passed in favor of tlie tracliur!; and v/orking classes of the country, but he sliowed hini>elf ai all times anxious to dilTuse education among the very meanest of his subjects, and was, in fact, the first king in northern Europe to open poor-schools in his dominions. In his earnest desire to i)ro- mote the educat'on of his people he even went so far as to order the burghers of Copenhagen and all other large cities in tlie three Scan- dinavian kingdoms, under ])enalties ''f h.eavy mone}' lines, to com- pel their children to learn to read. Vv-rite, and cij^lier ; ;ind to see that when they grew older the}' were instructed in sr.rne trade or otlier. He also caused better books to be prejiarcd and jv.antcd for ilie public schools, while he ordered tliat the children who were in- tended for the learned professions should not be boarded with un- tutored folk', lest in tlteir ea.rlier vears thev might be (an^lii \'iciiuis ])ractices which thc\' could ne\'er again I'orgei. lie iii;i(le ilie tirst attempt at establishing v. post throughout the country !)_\ r(.:cniit- ing a band of post runners, who both A\"inter and ::unr.ricr passe. 1 between Copenhagen and the cirief towns, carrying letters, fi^r which they were paid on the ba.sis 01 mileage, lie also caused wayside iniis to be erected at certain distances alr)ng ihe roads, and ordered that if travelers recei\-ed daniage on. :iccount ol the inijicr- fections of tlie public roads, the parishes in which the deiecllve highways lay should be comr)elicd to make re])aration. Me for- bade the nobles and higher clergy tlieir ancient ' strrniii ia'glit," rfcr., the alleged right to seize, as tliey had hitlierto (iono, ui)on wrecks; and when the l)isho])^ oi Jutland, who drew good inconi.es from this practice, laid complaints before him of tlieir heavy li'''--es, ISO 190 SCANDINAVIA 1516-1520 saying there was " nothing in the Bible against taking stranded goods." liis only answer was, " Let the lord prelates go back and Icarn the eighth commandment by heart." Likewise when the clergy begged that for the good of the church he should allow witches and wizards to be burned as in the olden times, and not be let off with a mere whipping as he had decreed, he asked them if they had ever read the sixth commandment? Christian created the Danish navy, wherewith he put down pirates on the Baltic and made the Hansers of Liibeck respect his authority. At the same time he restricted the commercial privi- leges of the Hansers and extended those of his own subjects. He endeavored to make Copenhagen the center of the Baltic trade and encouraged Dutch banking houses to come thither. He caused cciual weiglits and measures to be used in all towns. The growth of flowers and vegetables he made his chief diversion, and, to teach tlie Danes how to manage gardens and orchards, he sent by the advice of his queen, Isabella, sister of Emperor Charles V., for 1-^lemish gardeners, who were then the best in Europe. These men came to Denmark in 1516 and settled in Amagcr. a small island in the harbor of Copenhagen, which they soon transformed into a paradise, and where from that time forth they and their descend- ants lived. The Amager peasants still enjoy the rights that Chris- tian gave them, and even to the present day they retain the dress and habits of the Flemish homes of their forefathers, brightening up the old market-place of Copenhagen with their quaint, highly colored costumes, and supplying the citizens with tlie finest fruits, flowers, and vegetables that can be raised in the long cold winters and sliort hot summers of Danish Sjaelland. ]\Iost important of all, limvcver. were Christian's measures looking to the mitigation and gradual abolition of serfdom. Serfs were made no longer transferable with the soil; they might even elect to leave the serv- ice of a lord whose treatment of them they could show to have been uiiju-t. These were first steps in the restorati(m of a free peas- antry to Denmark-. Christian'h attention was early drawn to the Reformation mrn-emcnt. At liis ref[uest his uncle, Frederick the Wise of Sax- ony, in 1520 sent to Copenhagen a learned doctor named Martin Reinharrl, to preach tlie Gospel and expound Lutheran doctrines. As, however, the nev; preaclier could not speak Danish, lii^ seriudus had to be traii-],'iti-(l frdm ilu' Ccrnian before tliev could be undiT- DENMARK IN ECLIPSE 191 1520-1523 stood. The effect was not happy; the preacher's gestures, taken in conjunction with what sounded to his hearers hke nonsensical jargon, were grotesque and ridiculous. Indeed, the canons of a certain chapter caricatured the performance by dressing up a chikl and setting him to imitate the Lutheran theologian. King Chris- tian wrote again to his uncle, begging for another preacher, and asking whether Luther himself would not come to Denmark and settle a new Reformed Church for him. But the great Reformer had other things to do, though the famous Carlstadt visited Copen- hagen for a short period. But at this moment Christian's interest in the new faith seemed to lag, for he had learned that a Papal nuncio was coming to in- quire into the justice of the sentences upon which certain Swedish nobles had been put to death at Stockholm, He even recoiled to the extent of writing to the Pope to promise that he would punish all heretics infesting his kingdom. Lideed he seemed ready to pledge himself to almost any measure, if thereby he might ward off the anger of Rome, and in this object he succeeded. Yet the tide of Lutheranism continued to rise, nor did Christian make any genuine effort to stem it except to frame an ambitious program of clerical reform : clerical non-residence was to be prohibited, mon- asteries to be purged, the holding of private property by unmarried clerks to be forbidden, a modest carriage to be enjoined upon churchmen ; but most important of all, appeals to the Pope were to be abolished. The scheme had not yet been embodied in law when Christian was deposed. The nobility reposed no confidence in Christian IL, who in- variably took his advisers from the humbler ranks of society. Espe- cially did they resent the influence of Sigbrit, the mother of the king's beautiful mistress, Dyveke. They rightly felt that as long as she and her kindred, with their Dutch notions of freedom and equal rights for all classes, maintained their ascendency over the king, the special privileges of the nobility were in constant jeopardy. One day in April, of the year 1523, Christian found, in a glove which he was about to draw on, a crumpled paper, in which his nobles declared their purpose to call in his uncle, Duke Frederick of Holstein, to be king. Christian's courage failed him at the very moment when he stood in greatest need of energetic and audacious action, and, although the city of ( "oijcnliagen, together with the ! 9^^ S C A N D 1 N A V 1 A 1523-1532 peasants and burghers in all parts of Denmark and even of Xor- \\a^^ were in his favor, he lied in precipitation, settiny^ sail with his familv and all h.is bel(ini;;in,q- f tr Holland, where lie remained for -(_)me years cUid v.'here three years later his queen died amoni; her own i)e''j)le. Christian lost his throne for want ''of a petty a;id momeniai'y energy.'' Had he but remained rurujng his .subjects it is scarcely doubtful that he might ha\-e put down the rebellion. Un' even among- the Danish nobles he IkkI dcvoied fi-iend-^, and for iuan_y Axars his able commanders. Tlenrik (Ijo, S'"'rcn Xorby. and others made a bra\'e .'Uid capable stand for him. in Xorway. too. where Christian liinT-elf landed, in 1531, with an arm_\- of Dutch and Cerman. mercenaries, he was hailed vrith joy. .\t th:'t ver}' moment, however, hi-^ uncle^ Frederick, made a treat}' \\ ith Sv/eden .and Liibeck, both of wliich powers dreaded Christian's rctmai t') Denmark. By their joint forces the unhai^py king's troop> V, er': defeated, and at last, in 1532. on a promise of safety, lie g'avc himself up to h.is uncle's commander. Knud Gylclensjerne. who. h(!we\"er. in-tead of setting' him at li!)ertA'. as he had ])roniised. carried hiiu to the ca.stle of Sonderborg" (n\ th.e Tsl'i^ul Al-. and liad liini ci'U'lnod in a dark dungeon beneath, the tov;er. In th.i- wretched ])']-' /ii, to which hghit and air could ])enctra.te (^nly through a small grated Vvindiow, that served at the s.ame time for the pass;ig'e of the >La;uy fo(jd gi\-en to him. Christian ST)ent se\"entecn A'ea.rs of his hi'"e. with a h.'df-witted Xorv/egian dwarf for his sole comi)anion. ' )n i;:e death, of h'rederick f. his son, Christian HI.. sho,wed a w i-li to relea-c th.e un]ia])py capti\'e, on condition of his ])iedging' iiim-elf to rciiie tf) Cermany. But the Danish nobles were still lo') imich in dre;id of Christian H. to suffer him to be set at libcrt}'. liicieupon the com])a-sionate king' h.ad hi^ my.al ])risotier remo\-ed ;o !\al]uiidbrrg' caslle, where he \\,as permitted to pass tlie last '<.]] yeai'- ti;Mi Ik ''! i)ic >!ii(,- i'-ini:ij!\ ret:' incik'd with Rome, and wa-^ rei-Mgni/cd ''}' b"t!i \'i]:<- : -.xl cii'iKM'! ! ;i^ the riglitfnl .,vn h('\(,nd ijcrik IX'erything eni])ha-i/('d his di-penilciicr ; n .11 ']]' !] ])-]\'.y. ilie iirdates. a.nd Xorn'nw To ilie-^''. r'ifM, re;-] -t;nit '' > !C(-.~i. ^n lirul |,i kc made. Xorwa\- \\a- made a DENMARK IN E (^ L I P S E 1 93 1[;20-1532 free elective inonarchy. The Reformed preachers were expelled from the towns, and were forbidden to preach the doctrines of Luther, or e\cn to read the Bible to the people. The appointment of any but bishops of noble birth was prohibited. Christian TI.'s poor-schools Mere closed: newly printed books of the vcrnacnlar were burned: the old restrictions of serfdom were reimp(~scd. as extensively as possible. It was proclaimed abroad by the nobility with the royal sanction " to be contrary to mtirahiv '' to attempt to elevate those " wliom God meant to be slaves." The least successful item of Frederick's policv of reaction was his attempt at first to check the Reformation. Evidences of the new enthusiasm abounded everywhere. TTermann Tast. a leanved priest of Husum in Jutland, stood forth in the year 1520 in the market place of that town and expounde'l many passages of Scrip- ture to the people in accordance with tlie new teachinp; of the Ger- man Reformers. A few years later another prie:it. Hans Tanscn. aptly called the " Danish Lutlier," preached at \h'borg- with such force against tlie Church of Rome tliat the Danish clergy iook- alarm, and tried by all mean^ in their ])Ower to silence this learned and dangerous man, but each time that he wns in.iprisoncd In- Ins bishop the people flew to arms and clamored till they secured liis freedom. .\t "Alalmo, Klaus Alortcn^en, a cooper, jjreaclied in tlie o|)cn air until the people phiced one o^ the clinrches at ]n"s rlispo-vJ. Ai lengtli, ill I53f\ the b;n-ghcrs in Ctipenhagen and the otlier large Danish to\vns began in their tn.rn seriously to ill-treai: tb.e monks and to destroy tlie images and ./rnaments of tlie churchc-:. until soldiers were sent to repress tlic riots. Tn the meantime, ii- 1524, a translation of the Xew TpsL;Mncnl ;nio Danish liad been published at .\nt.verp by I bans Mil^kelsen, a ]e:n-ne(l man who liad left liis all to follow C'u'istian 11., and in 1529 a second and bctier version was given to the Danes l)y tlieir countryman. Jvristen Peder- sen, the " Father of DanisJi Literature."" wh,o also transla.ted I'ic l-'salms into lOrmish. Li x'.iin did tlie Koman clergy call s\-n(jds 10 decide ^\hat was to be done 10 e\t;i"|):i!c IJ-.e-c dorlriiies. In y.i'm, too, flid tliev appeal \(i I'rcderirlc. who was now in\'o1\'ed in a ciuiir- rel with ]\>])Q Cleiuent \'iL ai)our tlie tilling of llie arcliln'-dioprie of Lund. At l;is1. in Angn-t, J 521'), the king tool^ matters into his own hands vnf] conHrmed the el:::Iec wliich llie cluaptrr of Lnnd Ii.'.d made, in accni-dan.ce with a I'ap:'.! bull of 17,50). ! lencci. Tih. no nan,i-h bi-hops souglit I\ip;d >'. .;ilirnia1 i< )ii. .\ \(ar l.iliT. in an.wv-r 194 SCANDINAVIA 1532-1536 to the clergy's protest against the impunity of Lutheran preachers. Frederick declared that faith is free and that each man must follow liis conscience. The Danish church was free of Rome; that it would soon be Lutheran, was certain. In 1533 Frederick L died, and for three years the "Count's Feud.*" or war waged by Count Christopher of Oldenburg in the interest of the captive Christian TL, distracted Denmark. Christo- pher found allies in the burghers of Copenhagen, ]Malmo, and Liibeck. At the same time the nobility and clergy were divided on tiie question of the succession. The former championed the cause of Christian TIL, Frederick's eldest son, and Duke of Slesvig- ITolstein; the latter desired to see the younger prince, Hans, on the throne, since, being a mere boy, he might yet be won over to the ancient faith, while Christian had already shown himself by liis policy in Slesvig-Holstein to be a vigorous and enthusiastic Lutheran. The war was determined by Gustaf Vasa's alliance with the Danish estates.. While Gustaf was whipping the Lii- i)eckers. Prince Christian's commander, Johan Rantzau. was dis- ])osing of Count Christopher. August 6, 1536, Christian TTT., hav- ing been already proclaimed in the islands, entered Copenhagen in triumph. The clergy were not mistaken in foreboding that with Chris- tian TTL's accession their day had come. The new monarch's f^^t act was to summon tlie council of state, and to engage the members of that body to support him in the execution of the plans which he laid before them for extinguishing the Roman Church in Denmark. On one and the same dav all bishops were placed under arrest, and those who refused to pledge tlicmselves not to oppose the king's ])rogramine were put in confmement. Li the autumn of 1536 a Great Tiling, or general diet, called at Copenhagen pr<')claimed the Luth- eran failli to be the established belief of Denmark. The Roman Catholic bi.-!u.j)s were deprived of their rank, titles, and share in the gfjvcrnmcnt. All the possessions of the church were forfeited t') i1h' crown. I'hc Lutheran clergy, who were placed at the head of tlic- iK'w (linrrh, were known at first as "overseers." Onl\' afterwaril ''i(l tlicy regain the title of "bishop." Fvery parish was allowed I0 c'lioo-e iis own ])astor, or vicar; the vicars were left to choose tlicw ])i-o\-o^-t; and tlie ])rovosts in their turn were free to m.alcc r!;r,i\>. ,,) tlK-ir own o\-ere f'jlk were refusing, as usual, lo pa.y certain taxc> alleged to Ijc due ihe Holstein princes, and partly becrui>e he wa> a.nxious lo wijie out the disgrace which the Danes h;id suffered under his great-uncle. King Hans, and his grandfather, k'rederick 1.. when, they liaal attacked tlie Marshmen in the year j 500. The ,n:iui;di and Holstein armie.^. tunounling to -'o.r)00 men, were under tlie command of the (jld Count Johan Ka.ntxau. By h\> >l:']U and ;icti\it}". notw ithstauding the desperrUc manner in which tlic }^lar-hmcn and e\cn their \vi\-es and daughters resisted the ad- xan.cc of flic in\ader^. tbe camjxaign was brouglit to a close in le.-,> than a niomii b\- their complete sul)jecti()n. i buing received the l^'Hiagc <] _;oH.)o Ditmar.-hers at I Icidc, the \oung Danish king ic tni'iicd in IrinnirJi to (Copenhagen in i 3*'in. I lis ii'ifia! -ncce-,- made I'h'cderi'-!: conrideiu in the strength 'n hi- o\. :i p'.ver -.'.wd ])row-css. Wh'thont heed to the con>e([uence.-. o'!- ''!' " . he ',: 'Ui ;: :;K'd to bear the three northern crowns ni the nai''in,:i! .-;;iii!!:M'd "<(. ni \ ;ii::-!( M'y lirMUght him into contro\-er-\- with hhak \l\h. v.\\'-. \', :::; rn]]:i] ;;:-c-um])iio]i ;ind with no preten-e nf righl whai CU-1-, w,-!- doii.M- ])ix'riyely t!ie .^ame thing. 1 low 'h.-'i-! I'oir- ihe ^<-'':UMni,-'\ i::!i Sew:! ^"car-" War was to both, partic-. we ha\-e al- ^"^'dy ni''n;i led. 'Ihe .Swedes, ho\ve\-er. sulTerefl !e--> than the I 'ane-, .e i" ' in -' :' i \ a-a. had left his kn'ngd(.im in so pro^-perons a state !h:!t the\- the peoi^le m|' I '' nina!-|a \ehe;c ihe King'- |im\\(t wa- entir(>l\ eripplci h\- .ai D l: n m a k k I N Kc i, j i' s i: i\y\ 1560-1570 avaricious and unpatriotic nobility. Xc\eri!iclcss. the peace wliicli was concluded between the two countries at Stctiin. in 1570, was on the whole very favorable to Denmark. In return for giving- up her pretensions to Sweden, which could never have been established, she secured her own rights o\'er Norway and recovered Skaanin, Halland, and Bleking. The remainder of LYederick's reign was prosperous, thanks to his able minister. I^eder Oxe, who restored L.d\c his :'d'K::do|]. I ' exeii moia- se\'erely treated, Ijeing oi"deredl to ica\r \]]c kaigdom on ;u-c-ount oi h.aviiig ]jreached wh:U was conflcnned a.- " ilie damnabk' !ua'e.-_\ that by Clod's grace even healhc'i.-^ might \)v sa\od." XnotluT pa,- tor. !\-ar Barthelsen. deemed Innr^df ioa-tunale in ha\ in;^ !hc sen tence (.)f death, which had [)ee!i parl oi lae ba])ti-ma! '-erx ice. ill ijn- -a.-ile m)' iImh"^ h v\ciild -ccni ihrrc Ci^dd -<-;iivci; li.r, c 198 SCANDINAVIA 1570-1588 been any great progress in learning, which was, moreover, much fettered by severe laws against liberty of the press. Nevertheless, during Frederick's reign, numerous public institutions were estab- lished in various quarters of the kingdom, the schools of Soro and Skovskl(jster were opened, and learned men were patronized, pro- vided they were orthodox Lutherans. One of the most distin- guished of these was Anders Sorensen Vedel, to whom Frederick committed the labor of composing a new history of Denmark. Though Vedel never completed his task, in setting about it he translated the Latin history of Denmark of Saxo Grammaticus, and collected all the ancient ballads and songs which, under the name of kaempeviser, were still current in Denmark. To this period, also, belongs Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer, w-ho had early in life secured the respect and admiration of the learned men of his times by his writings on the " New Star," ^ which had sud- denly appeared in the heavens in 1572, and then, after continuing visible for eighteen months, had disappeared. Frederick II. always exhibited great interest in Tycho's researches and to enable him to pursue his obsen'ations unmolested, bestowed upon him the little Island (jf Hven, near Coi)enhagen. Flere Tycho built a great obser\-atory, known as Uranienborg, remarkable in those times for the number of ingenious instruments which it contained, many of Tycho's own contrivance, and for the subterranean observatory at- tached to it. in which, through a narrow slit far above the obser\-er's head, the stars might be seen in broad daylight. When King Frederick died, Tycho Brahe's relations, who belonged to the oldest nobility and had long resented his devotion to scientific research as a reproach to their rank, used all their inHuencc with the regents to bring- him under suspicion of treason and heresy; and, at length, to escape im[)ris()nment as a traitor or a madman, he was forced into voluntary exile. At the earnest inxitation of the I'^.mi)eror Rudolph II. (if (Jcrmany, he settled in 159^ at Prague, where he (lied, in 1^)01, while engaged \\ith his friend Kepler in composing from his numerous cbscrvations at Uranienborg those astronomical tables which are to-day known as the kudol])hine. The name of In'cIio Hralie is to be linked with th(;se of Co])ernicu.s. Kcj)ler, and .\ewt(jn in any account of the rise of modern astronomy from the >y-,tcin^ of Piolcmy and Ilipparchus. '"/'( .\.>:'ii S'rUii." p',ilili-lu-'l in 1572 iii a separate paper. l)Ut afterward DENMARK IN ECLIPSE 199 1588-1606 When Frederick II.- died, in the year 15SS, liis son and suc- cessor, Christian IV., was but eleven years of age. According to the will of the late king, his queen, Sophia of ^Mecklenburg, was to act as regent for her son till the latter attained the age of eighteen, but the council of state refused to confirm the regency and ap- pointed four members of their own body to conduct the affairs of the government, and to have charge of the person of the young king. They also decreed that Christian's minority should continue till his twentieth year, and drew up a code to regulate the inter- course of the young king with his self-constituted guardians. These, however, turned out to be able and patriotic men, under whose conscientious direction Christian became an accomplished prince. Thus, he early displayed great talent for mathematics and mechanics, and, while care was taken by the chancellor, Xiels Kass, to provide him with competent teachers in these and allied branches of learning, his love for the sea was developed by another of his guardians, Chief Admiral Peder Munk. who caused a miniature frigate to be built expressly for his ward, upon the lake adjoining the royal palace of Skanderborg, and where expert sailors taught Christian how to manage his toy man-of-war, and shipbuilders instructed him in all the details of their craft. Christian paid a visit to England in 1606 to his sister Anne, who had married James I., and we are told that he took his young nephews, the princes Henry, Charles, and James, for a cruise with him in the Channel, on board the TrcfoldigJicd, or Trinity, for which he had himself constructed the model. There seems to have been a great deal of feasting and merry-making during this visit, and James I.'s courtiers are said to have expressed their astonishment at the cjuantity of beer and wine that the royal guest had been able to imbi])e. They were, however, even more astonished at the accomplishments of this northern monarch, who spoke many languages with equal facility, could fence and fight, ride and drive, and swim with the best of them, and who seemed to know something oi every subject, asked questions about everything he saw, was well ac(|uainlc(l with the science of his times, and was com])ctent to ])lan a shij), a churcli, or a palace. Christian very ])ossibly inherited some of his \'ersatiliiy -The memory of Frederick 1 1, of Denmark and liis liighly Kin^'d Queen Sophia possesses a special ir.tert'st to ]'>.i<;Iishmen, since as the parents of Anne, wife of James I. of JCnj^hmd and VI. of Scotland, they rank among tlie direct ancestors of Edward VJl. .'.'(Ml S ( A \ 1) 1 .\ A \' I A 1005-1623 .Mid i-\c of knowledo-e fr' on liis niLitlicr, Sophia of Meclxlcn- l)iirL;'. \\hn was ?aiil to 1ia\-c bcon ilie mo-t Icirned f|iicen (n of numcr.ni-^ l)!"i(l!:^-e^, fMrtit^cations. and other mean< of ri.'dional comm.u.nication, rnid defen. irhmen in theii" several craft<. aided ma-tcr tradesmen in estal)li>hinL; nianufactoric- rmd worl<^hop<, and em];-' yri] men -lulled in sciciK-e to sui^crinteivl !ho roA'al -ih;er and c^'pocr mine> 'a f^("u"\\"a\'. rmd to aih,u>^e die in-p^-'t' "'; -u th^' crown h,n(N, wi;ods, ao ' lake;-. Ifis lo\-c of dis])la\- and ta:~te i^^r building- tended Lfreruiy n> the unorov-ement rnal emhelHdun^iit of hi- c;ipit;d. rmd the -jjlendid ca-:ko (,f k'redrirl-:!^ irj^ and Ih -rMMii^ iri^ near C'pCiihai^un, to;;c/du'!- wi'h tla- i\ouud d'M\vcr, ihc Ihya! if uciiaia;^ and rrie ra- ' w o churches whicli ha\-e e-caped die munerriu- i^reat ['wr^ and hmnhardment-- of the iutcrx'enin;?^- ceuiurie^, >till aUe-^l da- aid-!-- da" ,md creain-^- ;L^-eni:i- (,f dd- kinc^-, who in mo-i >.'<( Iduv^lf inrnishcd die models, and jdnns from lii:'. own Cf! r'.-'h ' cnua-e-, with paTar -ap'acitv uii-n the uuk of re- \ i^:;^a' thr 'a',''- ot i a nriiarh raal ah ir\\ai v. and < a m:d .'iai:' ii D E X M A R K I N E (" L 11' S J-: f>01 1623-1643 the instruction suited to their rank before thev left their own eouu- try to travel abruad for amusement. His cou>ta;":t cii'ierivor. li.ow-- ever, to lessen the power of tlie noljies over tiieir -erfs. audi cheek their encroachments on the ri.q-Jits <^{ ilie crown, made I'im un!)0])u- lar with the higher classes, vhn liiwrirled :,!> proiect^ at everv possible turn, and took vengeance for his lio.-Lilin' i^ iheir im- muities a.nd ])rivileges by vvithholding the monc\- >nn;)hcs wlijcli he required. E-pecially was this true in die TJiirty Vr;ir<' \\ ir, ICarh- in the year 1625 the Protestant princes ni iM;ith CJie;ii and "lillv-, who, adcr lad- ing" was-tc every Protestant di-lrict of souihem ( le^anj.nv. had thrown, their arniics into Pomerania. In resjwnse lo the appeal of his Protestand brctlu'cn, Cliristian led a large number ol truops into German}', and for three years perforn:ed \'a'iant -e'-\ ice in the cause of thiC Protestant princes in Pomerania. die ?\larkl:mds. and larunswick, but wlu'le he was fighting abrc;!-;] Ills enemies were earr}-ing the war iuito Ids own ccjup.tr\', biio'ing an.d phandcrin.g wherever they appeared. Duke hd-edericiv lid of liol-tein and Slcr^vig had opened those provinces to Walleiistein, and in denan.ce (jf Cliristian, whose vassal he was, had surrendered t^ the imj)er!ai general every fortress in tlie two i)ro\inces. At la-t, in 1629, Christian decided to withdraw frciin the ricnnan war. l.U- the Treat}' of Liibeck he pledged himself ne\'er au'ain to take up arms for the German ]-h'(_)te?tant princes rigaiut tiic emj)eror. \\]v>. in return for thi< pledge, restored to Christian die lands his generrd:. had -eized. The Danish mijiiarclds wiLh'lr;;\\'?l fro'in the Germa.n \wir wa-. in part, delerndned by the dilapidated cou'dd-n oT ]]]<. cxvhe(iuer: but in part it ^\as induced b}" gr()wing apprehension id Gn-^ta\'u< Adol]diu>"s intentions on the Continenl. i'dtom \f>2(} U. o'i.pv dm date of Torsien-sotds in\-a a fuiile clo:av Wy die r-urreno-i' o: Sfnnid toll^, -t'luiialed in ihat ]):irt. joo.noo r\s dojkirs \v( tl I'-n annualb; to the Dani-ii w-d'C-incr. Yd. vdaai die old king in id- perplc:-dt}' tried V) :-ecnre funds ii}' ronimutnig Inn' a m- ;:.>- pay- ment 0. ': o-r\dce \\\{h n:. n nnd ^i-!'-^,; .Pi- fr. .m dio iiMU'd'y. ['' council of nriic ihrc! { en- 'd n^ n''--- o\-(t 'a-; -011- mi die -wi-v -^ \i [. 202 S C A N D I N A A' I A 1643-1648 and elect a prince of the Holstein-Gottorp family to be his successor."^ After the loss of his first queen, Anna Katherina of Branden- burg, in 1 612, Christian had married Kristine ]Mnnk, a lady of noble but not royal lineage, to whom, being unable to make her queen, he gave the title of Countess of Slesvig-Holstein. The king lived for many years happily with this lady, but later became dis- trustful of her and caused her conduct to be made the subject of a judicial inquiry before his council, the outcome of which was the lady's banishment to Jutland. The highly gifted Eleanor Kristine, who married a Danish nobleman, Korfitz Ulfeld, and, together with her ambitious husband, exerted a very great influence over the king during his declining years, was one of the numerous issue of this connection. Christian IV. died in 1648. With the Danish people his mem- ory has been cherished with devoted loyalty from one generation to another, and they look upon him as the greatest king since the time of the Valdemars, ascribing the good of his reign to himself and the evil to the nobles, by whom he was held in such galling bondage. The century and a quarter lying between the revolution of Gustaf Vasa and the Treaty of Westphalia closes with certain definite things accomplished and certain otlier things indicated. The coronation of Gustaf Vasa meant the end of tlie Union of Calmar. though the demise of that pact was not formally recognized till the Peace of Stettin, nearly a half-century afterward. V,y the action of the diet of Copenhagen, in 1563, Norway became incorporated 3 It wac :n the course of the war of 1643-1645 that Christian, wliile coni- nianding the fleet from his own ship Trcfoldighcd or Trinity, lost an eye and was otherwise severely injured hy the splinter of a mast, wliich struck him in the face as he was giving the word of command, 'i'hc king, who was then upwards of seventy years old, continued, neverthclc-s. to direct the movements of his fleet, and remained on deck till tlie increasing darkness forced the Swedes to take shelter in the Ray of Kiele. off the Island n\ Femern. 1"he following day he drew a line of ships across the entrance of the hay. and lea\ing his admiral, I'cder Grdt, to watch the Swedish fleet, returned to Copenhagen to <;ci-k the rest which he so much needed. To Christian's great mortification. Ci.alt allowed the Swedes to escape, an act of carelessness which the unfortunate adnu'ral had 10 expi.ate with his life. King Christian's pergonal valor in this engagement had heen made the subject of a poem hy Ewald, who died in T7R1. and wa. one < .f the greatest Danish writers of lyrics. This song, beginning with the word- ' King Christian Ar,<^(\ bcMd.' the high mast," has been si-t to music and I- n-fd :i tiic ii.-itiourd anthem of Drnmark. DENMARK IN ECLIPSE 203 1648 as a province of Denmark. The Upsala IMota of 1593 meant that Scandinavia was irretrievably Protestant and irretrievably Lutheran. But more than a half-century before that date both the Danish and Swedish churches had been nationalized, their property con- fiscated to the crown, their clergy deprived of political rank. In Sweden the Reformation had meant a complete regrouping of the political forces of the realm. The legislation of Charles IX. and Gustavus i\dolphus, taking cognizance of this fact, established the constitution of Sweden on a new basis : an hereditary monarchy, served and advised by a nobility of various grades and by the peasant and burgher orders. Only in respect to certain phases of legislative power does the Swedish monarch, after 1629, fail of absolute power. In Denmark, on the other hand, the Reformation enhanced both the wealth and power of the lay magnates. The desperate straits in which the Danish monarchy found itself ne- cessitated the coup of Frederick III. Owing to the superior posi- tion of its rulers, whose tremendous genius was afforded full and free play, Sweden not only eclipsed Denmark in the period under discussion, but emerged from the Thirty Years' War one of the chief military powers of Europe. Already, however, the fatal rivalry of Russia had revealed itself c Between 1520 and 1540 tl:c monopoly of the Hanseatic towns was broken. Forthwith Scan- dinavian industry, commerce, and town-life began an uninterrupted development. Chapter XVi s\vki)i:n"s advance in ACouisrriONS and PRESTK^K. i6.]4-T6..,7 TUvfS TIa.X. ilio .,ii]v ch:l\ (.f (^n^lMvns Adolnlui;^. nuained [lie ;iLC nf c ii'jlitccn ill 1 t'.i 1 ;!:i(l ])VL'';in 1m rule c^n lioi' own c ^^_-<^ rc--|i' iisil-ihiy. Slic li.'u! iiiliei'ileil iiinci! o! lii-r fathers Irilc'iit .[]}<] WA< |)er!i:ii,i- I'le iiw-^i learned rnid a,eci;rni)1i>^ied w'inian (n an epi/Cii *m" learned wrnncn. She had, in faet. reeei^a'd I'le cdn- <;:;i,.n Ml" a man naiika- die initlci!! of the Ic-arned Pi-ofcs.-ir Mallhiaaa W hen -lir eainc In die linaa.ie she had read 'i'luievdidcs and F'rilx'hins in die oricdna.h eould write rnid spea.k Eatin, InTneh. Hennan. mad se\-erai ' idler h'inr;na,q'e-\ r.nd ^\^s fa.miliar with the the.i^iiQ-v and ])hii'>.~' ,1)h}' taiii;']it in the tmix-ersilies nt that a,Q"e. She pnsses.-cd niai'lsefl taste for the fine arts a.nd U^r the ]nirsin"t of -eienee. She encf )ui"a;^'ed seieniifie men <'it her cnin't and s])ent monev. e\'en in ])r- Mhi^-.'ili'w in rewa.rdinc;' artistic merit of all kinds. krom an c-ar1y a,u(.- -lie di^pla.ycd crreat penetrat iiai and in^ii^T;! into the Ciiaraeie'"- a:,d mi^tixa- nf odiei" jjer-nns, and re\'ca!ed a fascina- iK'!! (<\ manner wiiic;i \\"i'>!i the coreidLiiee and de\a)tinn (,\ t!i,i-i,' ahnnt her i)ersMn. I kit as a dan^'erniis olVsei \i> her many si)kndid (inaiides she hail a.l! l';e wa\'wardness. eapia'ee. re.-tle-p]a np 'nlM iriiaif-, t:a: a!"i^t: 'crai > hein;.;" led h\- \\e' ( )xen-tirrna. and da- d-'ni '.'yaS. widi whnm t'le pneen sided, hv inhan S'':\M*(.'. 'i'lie ':>"_'. -* r;aj''":i'd I'- maiiiKiin dieir inde!)eni!(ai>a' nniiri- the Muiiro-:- ;p' ' a ; .;( !i, i|)|c-.. raid llie ])ea dc nnwcr whie'i die r.o-eal (ni^taf \disa liad yraninl ihem, hnt wla-h lii- na.vc-,.wr^. e-peeiall\- ( insla\a;s Adnlphn-, liad ]>. de-rees ;'-id a h/ r;]-c-;i)i-ci-iht (h 'fhe Inn-'dnin \\a> m a fi'vinrii! and eivil \'.ar citnc'l ';'-\di';hl( . At 'die ^aanu- lime lla' CMnnnl Wi'-- nrpan:^' liie (|';' ,-' ,a:aa'', . .\\ leii'^di. ader dmwiiu; ^pa'al lahielania- In I'-n idta' die ;Mc'-!.n;; ai .-al, (ini-aiiKi j)rni), !-.e(l jur ei-ndn, kaid (iii-iai (.1 die 1 'alaliiiaie. ,ar; her 'aieee-^sni ; hut. when ])ressed \)y m , !^^ lis; HV^ ;:- j^ii^ niRis'ii \A, i.)Ii:i;n m- swkiik.v (i;orn 1 (._(.. I'iril i n.S'l I S W E D E N ' S AD \ A N C E 205 1654 the council and by the prince himself to give him her hand, slie would only bind herself so far as to declare that she would take no other for her husband. After much opposition, therefore. Karl Gustaf was declared successor to the throne in the event of the queen's having no children of her own. Soon after this provi- sional settlement of the succession, Christina w^as crowned amid unparalleled display and ceremony. The dissensions in the diet continued none the less, being greatly aggravated, in fact, by the queen's profuse wastefulness and her reckless squandering of the property of the crown upon her favorites. Lands and titles and patents of nobility w^re scattered broadcast among all classes so that during the reign the Riddarlnis was augmented by thirty-two new counts and barons, and by the admission of the representatives of 428 newly ennobled families, including the court tailor, Jan Holm, who assumed the proud name of Eeijonkrona. The same baronies were so often disposed of by sale that the matter was taken up by the council in 165 1, when the clerk of a chancery secretary was publicly beheaded for having sold forty-two false patents. Meanwhile, under the influence of Don Antonio Pimentelli, Spanish ambassador at her court, and her French physician, Bourde- lot, Christina became more and more engrossed by frivolous pur- suits. Singers, actors, dancers, and jugglers were invited to Stock- holm and soon the queen herself took part in the plays and ballets performed at the palace. Cromwell's representative, the Puritan Whitelocke, has left us a lively, if somewhat prejudiced, report in his journal of the pleasures and practices of the Swedish cour- tiers when he w'cnt to Upsala in 1654. Thus, he expresses his surprise and reprobation at the spectacle created by nobles going along the streets on a Sunday, singing boisterously and at last kneeling down in the market-place and drinking the queen's health with loud huzzahs.^ Among the numerous foreigners who flocked into Sweden were Jesuits in disguise, who came in the hope of converting Queen Christina, perhaps invited by herself: for, al- though she continued while on tlie throne ])ul)licly to ])rofess Lutheran doctrines, she expressed great interest in the history of Catholicism, and in 1655 made a formal declaration of her ;i(lhc- sion to the faith of tlie Roman Church. Her extravagance ex- hausted all sources of income, and twice the ro}-al kitclien had to ^Whitelocke: "A Jourii;il cif the Swedi-^h Ijiihas.-y in th" years 1C53 and 1654," Morton's edition. London, 1855, vol. J. pp. 401 ff. 206 S C A N D I N A V I A 1654-1655 be closed for want of money, and the queen's servants were forced to beg a dinner for themselves and their royal mistress. Early in the year 1654 Christina informed her council of her fixed resolution to give up the throne, and at a diet held in May at Upsala the terms of abdication were settled. After much dis- cussion it was agreed that she was to hold Oeland, Gothland, Oesel, and other districts, with a revenue of 240,000 rix dollars. On the morning of June 6 the final ceremony was accomplished. The queen came forth from her apartments with the crown on her head, wearing her coronation robes over a simple white dress, and bearing in her hands the globe and scepter. Taking her stand before the throne in the great hall of the palace at LJpsala, she made farewell speeches to her council and the crown prince; at the close of v.hich she walked down the steps of the dais with a firm tread and laid aside the regalia one by one. All present were moved at tlie spectacle, and even men were seen to shed tears as they watched the young queen cast aside all the signs of royalty. At that mo- ment the old companions of lier father, who had watched faithfully over her in her childhood, forgot their causes for vexation with their charge in their grief at the step she was taking. In the afternoon of the same day the crown prince was proclaimed, and crowned in the presence of the diet at the cathedral, and on the following day Christina left Upsala. Twelve ships of war were lying ready off Calmar to convey her and her retinue from Sweden, but instead of embarking from tliere, she passed through Halmstad and crossed the Sound to Denmark, proceeding thence on her travels through Germany and the Low Countries. She took only four Swedes with her, having dismissed all the rest of her suite, and when she reached a little brook, which then formed part of the lx)undary line between Sweden and the Danish territories of Skaania, she got out of her carriage and springing liglitly over the stream, ex- claimed : '' At last I am free! and out of vSweden, to which I hope T may never return.'' Thus, strangely and dramatically, did Queen Christina pass from among her people. Her change of religion and the curious tales whicli were from time to time brought 10 Sweden of her mode of h'fe estranged more and more her former subjects. She was at fir^t received with the greatest respect and enthusiasm in the Catholic CMUiitries that -^]K visited, but here. too. her eccentric condurt. hei" enntemijt Un- all feminine j)ursnits. her constant want SWEDEN'S ADVANCE 207 1655-1658 of funds, and her disregard of the laws of the lands in which she took up her abode, made her in time an unwelcome and troublesome guest, one prince after the other forcing her to depart from his dominions. At the death of her cousin and successor, Charles X., she returned to Sweden and claimed the crown for herself, but neither then nor in 1667, when she renewed her pretensions, would the council encourage her, and, after a final futile attempt to gain the vacant throne of Poland in 1668. she resigned all schemes of ever reigning again, and retired to Rome, where she spent the closing years of her life in the society of learned men, and in the indulgence of her taste for collecting rare books and costly w'orks of art. There she died in 1689 at the age of sfxty-three. The short reign of Charles X., from 1655 to 1660, was a time of great disorder in Sweden. To obtain money to carry on the government, Charles was forced to exact from the nobles the resti- tution of one-fourth of the crown lands which had been granted to them under former rulers, and to keep down the restless discon- tent w'hich had sprung up under the late queen, he resolved to engage the people in active war. But it was not without difficulty that he obtained the consent of the diet to make the necessary preparations, and for a time the question remained undetemiined whether the arms of Sweden should be turned against Denmark or Poland. The Danish traitor, Korfitz Ulfeld, strongly urged the advisability of attacking Denmark, w-hose unprotected condition was well known to him, but the ill-timed demand of the Polish king, John Casimir, to be proclaimed the true heir to Christina's throne drew the initial attack upon Poland. Charles X. was born to be a soldier and a conqueror. The success and rapidity with which he overran all Poland and crushed the Polish army in a three days' engagement at Warsaw in 1656 showed liim a worthy pupil and successor of his famous uncle, the great Gustavus. But it was easier for him to make conquests than to keep them. The Russians, jealous of the increasing power of Sweden, immediately entered the war on the side of the Poles, attacking Livonia and Esthonia. At the same moment an imperial army advanced to assist the Poles, who, infuriated at the excesses of the Swedish soldiers, had risen 71 masse against them. Charles, seeing the expediency of extricating himself from his dangerous situation, retre:^ted in Januarv-. 1658, across the frozen Belt and fell upon l^enmnrk- iM-cderick TTT. having indi-crcctly 208 S C A X D I N A \' I A 1658 joined tlie general alliance against Sweden. The short war that followed was one of the most disastrous in Danish history. It was brought to a close by the humiliating Peace of Roeskilde, which was written out by the traitor, Korfitz Ulfeld. By this pact Denmark surrendered to Sweden Drontheim and Aggerhus in Norway, the cld Danish provinces of Skaani:i, Hal- land, and Bleking, besides the islands of Lcsso. Anhalt. Femern. and Bi-rniiolm. rnul tlie lan(!< of llie 1 )iti'narshcs. I-'rcderick was al:Mi <'ihh"gcd to }ie!d to Sweden rinc-iialf of all Sound lulls and twcUc sliip- of war. and In pa\- the Swedish Ixing's bi-Milicr-in-law, Du1^c l''rcdcrick ill. of I [o] -tcin-Gutlorp, a large monctar}- indemnity for tlic damage done l!ic (hike's fortresses. The tiiial Inmiiliatiou ^va^ ridded wlicii (,'liarlc- X. iu-i-ted on llie re>litulion to L'lfcld of all his f(jrfciu'd land-, in i)i';iniark' and the l;!jc!-atii 'ii <;f ]'"rederick of I ioJ~iein-G'.itiorp from all furtlier oljligations to tlie Danish king. S W K I) K N ' S A 1) ^ A N (' i: S09 1658-1660 Despilc these alnio.^t unlimited coiicessicins, Cluiiles X., who was undonbtetlly bent upon wiping out the L\inis!i monarcliv, re- newed the war no fewer tlian five times in t!ie interval of tlie vears 1 658- 1 660. At the close of 1658 Copenhag-en itself was on the point of surrender. At this moment, h.owcver, a Dutch fleet under Admirals Opdam and De A\'itte forced its way throus^h the op- posing Swedish fieet lying in the Cattegat and brought food and help to the starving citizens. Charles now determined to take the city by assault, and on the night of February lo-ii, 1659, his generals, Stenbock and Sparre, led a storming party against the fortifications of Copenhagen. The citizens, who had received warn- ing of the intended assault, were, however, well prepared to defend themselves, and, after a desperate conflict, in which many women participated, by throwing burning brands and boiling tar on the heads of tlie assailants, the Swedes had to fall back, leaving 2000 dead and w^ounded in the hands of the Danes. Relinquishing his attack on Copenhagen for the moment, the Swedish king turned his attention to the small islands (^f Laaland, Falster, 3-1 oen, and Langeland, which, in expiation of the ofi'ense of having supplied the capital with provisions, were overrun and subjected to all the horrors of invasion by troops to whom every excess and license were allowed. King Frederick showed both fortitude and sagacity in the fearful position in which he found hini>elf placed. At la-i he succeeded, by his earnest representations to foreign powers, in securing the intervention of France. Fngland. and Holland. A conference, held at The Hague, dispatched a Dutch ileet under .^d- miral de Ruyter to the aid of the oppressed D.-uies. By his hel]) the Danish king was enabled to embark an anny. composed of Danes and allied troops, for the relief of l')cn. where they obtained decided advantages over tlie .Sv^cdisli c<^'r.manders, the Count Pala- tine of Sulzbach and Count Stenbock. Charles nrjw decided to direct the war ;!ga!nst Xorv;ay. and for this purpose called together the diet at Goteborg. and demanded new troops and fresh subsidies. Fven wliile the estates were sitting the king was seized of a sudden ihness. to wliich he succumbed in mid- winter, 1660, at the age of th.irty-cight. With Ch.arles X. a new dynasty tliat of the Palatinate ^as- cended tlie Swedish throne, but. altluiugh he w:is the son o,f ';, Count Palatine, John Casimir, he can scarcely be reckoned a for- eign prince, for he had been l)ronght up in Sweden ;'.nd was ilu.r- 5210 S C A N D I X A \ I A 16^81060 oughly Swedish in speech, habits, and modes of thinking. His mother, Katerina, the only sister of Gustavus Adolphus, had been careful to educate him in a manner that might fit him for ruling over Sweden, as she had from his childhood cherished the hope that he would marr}- his royal cousin. He was a man of sound sense and strong will, and possessed great capacity for ruling, but his insatiable thirst for war so thoroughly absorbed his time and attention that he was not able to effect any considerable insti- tutional improvements for his people in the course of his short reign. By the few reforms which he brought about, however, he manifested anxiety to extend the resources of the working classes by introducing and encouraging manufactures, while he helped to augment the national credit by introducing something like order into the national finances. By the early death of Charles X., Sweden was again brought under regency, for Charles XI. was only four years old when he became king. By the will of his father, his mother, Hedwig Eleanore of Holstein-Gottorp, and his uncle. Duke Johan, were ap- pointed members of the council of regency, whicli also included Magnus de la Gardie, his uncle by marriage. But the chief officers of state, objecting to the presence of so many members of the royal family, tried to set aside the will of the late king, on the ground that a woman could not legally sit at the council board, and that Duke Jolian, as a German-born prince, was also ineligible. Tlie diet, however, confirming all the provisions of the royal will, the regency was carried on in the form which Charles had prescribed, bnt in sucli a spirit of mutual ill-will among the members that the interest of tlie kingdom was generally defeated in tlie furtherance of private grudges. Every department (jf the government suffered from nii-management, the army and navy were neglected, the defenses cjf the frontier fell into decay, and tlie ])ublic servants went unpaid. Tlie regency took one commendable step, however : it brouglit tlie late king's numerous wars to a close by a series of treaties most adw'iiitageous to Sweden. Bv the Peace of Oliva -so-called from the mona-tery near Dantzig, within whose walls it was signed - John Ga'-imir fore\er abandoned the pretensions of the Polish house to ihr ihroiic I if Sweden, as well as his claims upon Esthonia and Livonia. \'>y the Peace of Co])enhagen, the same year 1660 Denmark fore\er surrendererl the southern part of the Scandinavian SWEDEN'S ADVANCE 211 1660-1675 peninsula, which had been already ceded by the Peace of Roes- kilde, but recovered Drontheim and Bornholm. By the Peace of Kardis (1661) Sweden and Russia made reciprocal surrenders of territory. In consequence of these numerous treaties, Sweden's g-reat army was now without employment, and of this fact the regency availed themselves in order to relieve their financial difficulties. The " pride of Sweden " was split up into contingents, which were let for hire to various European powers. The regency also began the policy of systematically accepting subsidies from various mon- archs, particularly from Louis XIV., a vicious practice which ul- timately reduced Sweden to a mere pawn of the house of Bourbon, and cornipted root and branch her government and administration. Meantime, the young king grew to maturity, receiving no very careful education, for the queen-mother was a woman of meager mental capacity who neither cared for, nor knew anything of, in- tellectual pursuits, but concerned herself almsot exclusively about her son's physical health. Charles, arriving at his eighteenth year, was declared of age, and, upon the resignation of the regency, be- gan to reign of his own initiative. During tlie opening years of his reign the young ruler, along with a formidable will of his own, displayed a great distaste for business, which only time overcame. Riding, hunting, fencing, and the companionship of other youtlis engrossed his attention, while for his councilors he had but distrust and suspicion. On the other hand, he was of a devout turn of mind, and of blameless conduct, if we are to judge from the silence upon this point of his many bitter critics of a later day. In 1674 Louis XIV., in conformity with the secret treaty which the regents had concluded with him two years before, called upon Charles to lend aid against certain |)rinccs of the empire. Charles sent an army into Germany, which advanced without oppo- sition into the heart of Brandenburg, but before the allies could effect a junction in the Rhinelands the (ireat Elector was u|)on the Swedes at Eehrbellin. The Swedish losses were n(^t excessive, but the result of their defeat was to encourage the ancient rivals of that kingdom, and early in 1675 both Holland and Denmark declared war upon Charles. For fifteen years Sweden had enjoyed uninterrupted and neg- lectful peace. Accordingly, when the young king entered ui)on the war that now confronted him. he speedily found that both his tleet 21J2 S C A N 1) 1 N A VIA 1675-1680 and his military defenses were in great decay. The consequence was that the Danes, under their great admiral. Xiels Juel. and snp]iorted by a Dutch squadron, easily defeated the Swedish ileet off Oeland. burning many of its vessels and sinking others. On land the contest was less one-sided. In 16^6 Charles de- feated the Danes in a most sanguinary battle on the snow-C()\-ered hills of Lund, though at the cost of half his own army. In Ger- many the Swedish forces fought gallantly, but with little success, under Otto Konigsmark. Charles gladly \\-elcomc(l the generaJ peace which 1679 brought, l^y the Treaty of St. Germains Swetlcn. recoyered Pomerania, while all Swedish and Danish conquests were mutually renounced. At the same time. Charles XI. marricil the Danish princess. Ulrica Eleanora, whose gentle influence and con- stant endeayor to maintain friendly relations between the two northern kingdoms made h.er subjects regard her as a second iMX'd Kulla. or " peace maiden." Charles XL now began in good earnest to set his kingdom in order. In tlie stern j)olicy which he pursued toward the higher nobility he was mainly inlluenced by the counsels of his devoted friend, the able Johan Gyllenstjerna, who. t(\gether with his chief supporters, Klas hdeming and Erik Lin(lsk(")l'l. m;ide a thorough i'ive>tigation into the conduct of ex'ery dei)arlmcnt of state. Among other disclosures, their inc|uiries brought to liglit the ;dnio--L hope- less condition of the royal finances. There was absolutely no mone_\' al the king's (lisf)o';al. while nearly a.ll the ci'own lands whicli had been squandered by Christina still remained in the hands of their ])urcliascrs. In \-ie\v f)f this situation, C'harle^ made a direct aj)i)eal to the nation.al estates. \\'ith their con>c!it the former regein> and councilors were called ui)on in i6(So to refinid fve million -ilx'cr do'lars, wliich the}' had wn rngfully api)ri n)iL'iie(l. Tiie e-^tatcs Tiller grauicd lo Ch.arles tlie right of " Kcduction." as it wri> c::iU'd, namelw tlic i)o\\-er to " diTiw^ bad: " some i'\ llic crown lands vLich had bc-cn wanlonlv alienated by former ru'ers 'fhis mcas- I'rc, wliieh wa- at fir.-t re>tricled to estates ac(juircd within tlie j)rc'\-iou^ tliirtx- \iar,->. and to onl\" a fourth part of tlie land^ in fjue-tion, led ;:i inc course of time b\- llie sex'erii}' with which it \\a- uUim;itci\- cr, 1. iiwd to the inipo\ crishnient of noble families oivc the \\e::';hH ' if Sweden. Tlin<, e\en ("onnt Magnus de la Cardie, v h 1 w;;- I'c !;::d):[nd of ( 'ji:i"ae-'":s aunt, llie Princt'^^ .Mai"ie f"u])hr' .-iiie. w :i - ^lej): w c'L n al! he Mw ned. :[\\i\ l"' 'ixed t^ di-in'-- all SWEDEN'S ADVANCE 213 1680-1697 his servants. But the king, who had a great deal of iron in his makeup and deeply resented the former arrogance of his nobility, manifested no compassion for the sufferers, and never paused till he had thoroughly crushed their power and reduced the national estates to the condition of a mere chamber of ratification, summoned only to approve and confirm the royal acts. At length, the estates, in 1693, proclaimed him absolute sovereign king, " who had the power and right to rule his kingdom as he pleased." Thus, King Charles XL of Swed. 1 became an absolute sov- ereign by a bloodless revolution, and, it may be added, that he used his power for the good of liis people. He spent the money which the regents had been forced to refund in paying off some of the national debt, and in making many important improvements, lie put the army and fleet on a war footing, granted land to his sol- diers, who in time of peace were thus converted into useful citi- zens, and took stringent measures to give a Swedish character to the old Danish provinces of Skaania and Bleking: wlii]e he so thoroughly crushed the power of the independent nol)1cs nf Livonia and the Baltic provinces of Sweden that many of these ancient families preferred exile to the restrictions imposed upon them. The Swedisli church was also brought r.nder a new code and made more distinctly a factor in the general education of the people tlian had before been the case. This, at least, was Charles's ideal for his people, among v/hom, Vvith all his liarshness. lie Wc'is a popular king. On the journeys which, in his eager quest of infor- mation, he made through all parts of his dominions witli tiie pur- pose of seeing and judging for himself of thic real condition (d his subjects, he entered freely into their amusements and listened patiently to the numerous petitions and complaints laid before him. The last years of his reign were afilicted with an almost total failure of the crops and a murrain among the cattle, which are said to have led to the starvation of nearly 100,000 ])ersons, nt^twilli- standing the measures which the king caused to be taken in their relief. After a long and painful illness, Charles XI. died in ify-)/ at the age of forty-two, having survived his queen only a few months, and leaving tlnxc children, the eldest of whom succeeded him under the title of Charles Xil. Chapter XVII THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR AND THE DECLINE OF ABSOLUTE POWER. 1697-1771 CHARLES XL in his will and testament ordered that a reg'ency be appointed in the interval of his heir's minority. The national estates, however, reverting in thought, un- doubtedly, to the corruption and incompetence of the last regency. forthwith declared Charles XIL of age, though, in fact, he was but fifteen years old. Nor was the young ruler in the 'east dis- mayed, but summoning the various estates to do him homage, with his own hands he placed his crown upon his head, thus pronouncing both his conviction of the unqualified nature of his authority, and the independence of his personal character. The latter he also manifested by the reluctance with which he took advice from his council of state. Only the words of his favorite, Karl Piper, had much weight with him. luill Hedged in his man's obstinacy, Charles, none the less, by his mofle of life, revealed his youth's immaturity. Very soon he had squandered the funds that his father had laboriously accumu- lated. Xor did he stop short with his fortune, for he was as ready I'j cx])osc his life in all sorts of breakneck sports, jousts, and bear Ininls. Tlie consequence of this youthful exuberance of spirit was destined to be international, for it conduced to an erroneous estima- linn of CJiarlcs's capacity on the j)art of certain neighboring nion- arch--. three of whom, Charles's own cousin, Frederick IX. of Denmark, Tsar Peter of Russia, and Augustus IL, King of Poland and I'dector of Sax(^ny. came to the conclusion that the time was rii)e I'or the paiiition of Swedish dominions. The plot was re- vealed, wlien, early in 1700. Augusttts invaded Lix'onia, while the Danes attacked Charles's brother-in-law. the Duke of Holstein- Cottor]), and. after taking Gottorp, laid siege to Tonningen. Charles XII. was not yet out of his teens, but he evinced neither sm-j)ri'-e nor p.anic at the treachery of his supposed friends and :il!;e-. XhandnniiiL;- hii-(,-\cr lii- youthful pastimes for the better G R E A T N O R 1^ HER X W A K ^1 5 1700 sport of war, he turned to repel the danger that threatened his throne and his people. Dispatching an army of Swedes and Lnne- burghers to the relief of Tonningen, he, at the same time, applied to William of Orange for naval assistance. The War of the Spanisli Succession was impending. Loath to see the Swedes return to their old-time intimacy with the house of Bourbon. William im- mediately complied with a fleet of Dutch and English vessels, which, being joined by the Swedish fieet, proceeded to bombard Copenhagen. This enterprise meeting with but indifferent success. Charles determined on a land attack, and, with this end in view, effected a landing at Humelebek. As he led his men ashore, tlie water surged about him and the enemy's bullets whistled past him : " This," he exclaimed. " is the very best music I have ever heard, and I shall care for no other as long as I live." His display of bravado, however, was less astounding than the natural talent that he revealed from the outset for solving the more difficult prob- lems of warfare. He moved his troops with celerity and encamped them with expedition ; he maintained a degree of discipline that in that day and age of the world w^as all but unheard of; tlic Sjaelland peasants, upon whom he quartered his troops, received with astonishment, which was none the less genuine because it was grateful, pay for provisions and provender, which they had already resigned themselves to be deprived of by force. Most marvelous of all, however, were the tremendous exer- tions of which he was personally capable. A companion in arms in later years, Prince Maximilian of Wurtemberg,^ relates that, on one occasion, the king and he, after riding i8o miles in twenty-four hours, suddenly found their way barred by a large lake. " After searching about for some time they found at last the hollowed-out trunk of a tree which served the rude fishermen of tliese parts as a boat. Charles at once jumped into it. seized tlie paddles, and bade the prince sit behind and hold the horses by the bridles as they swam after them. When they got into the middle of the lake, and were out of sight of land, the horses grew so restive that they nearly upset the boat, and for some hours the king and prince were in extreme peril; and tliis was only one of mruiy simil.ir escapades." Seeing his capital invested by land and water, Frederick of Denmark agreed to a peace. Charles now turned to the relief of Riga, whose garrison under Dahlbcrg was maintaining a gallant 1 R. Nislx-t Bain: '' Charles \ll," (Heroes of llic Nations), p. r.^o. ^UG SCA^DIXA^IA 1700-1704 (ivi'dL-e against an army of L'oks, Kussian>, aiul Saxons. Triuniph- iii!^' a;_;a.in, Charles next advanced into Ingermannland, toward Xarw'i, before ^vhich an arm\' of Oo,ooo Russians commanded by the Due de Croy had sat d(nvn. Here Charles performed the most brilliant feat of his career of arms. Advancing with but 8000 men. by seemingly impassable roads, he attacked his vasth' more numer(_)us. btit undisciplined, foe in their trenches. So precipitate was the tlight of the Russians that 18,000 of them were drowned in the Xarva, and so many were made prisoners by the Swedes that Charles, after disarming them, gave them their liberty, in despair (jf maintaining them. Charles XII. h:id now repelled every invader from his do- minions and had disclosed a proclivity for sheer fighting that was a standing admonition to all others who may have meditated in- vasion. It were well had he rested content with having effected so much. Rut the adulation that mankind could n(^t withhold from his astountling genitis did not lessen the self-will of the \'(.)ung monarch ; and success bred a desire for revenge upon those who had held him in low esteem; moreover, in Charles's estimation war was neither more nor less than the most joyous and glorious of exercises. Turning southward in 1701, he adwanced into Poland, took Warsaw by storm, and from the field of Klissov drove Augus- tus into his hereditary dfjminions of Saxony. In 1703 he captured Thorn and Danizig. ^'et. despite the favor.able. ]:iosition in which these successes left him, Charles was still obdurate in the luatter of a peace. Having had to resist the blandishments of the famous Aurora Rouigsmarck, one of the I'olish king's numerous mistresses, whom .\ngustus had sent to wheedle Ids fearful antagonist into a peace, at the beginning of the vear, Charles had now come to regard war as the necessary vindication of his manly honor. It v.as in vain, therefore, that the faithful Karl Riper ])rcsented an elaborati: mcnujrial, in August, vehemently urging peace. L'harles was bent on dethroning Augustus, l^ut even if he did bi"ing this about, I'iper pcrlincntl}' intpn'red, could he keep h\- own candidate on the ^hjjpery Polish throne? Was it not ab-urd. the memorialist jjcr^i-ted. to continue a profitless foreign, war, while the Russians were ravaging Swedi-h territorx'? |-"inal!\', did it becunie a Chris- tian ni .uai'ch \n nianife-t such \-in(licii\ encss again-t a ioe who oltercii rc]j;ii-atiMn and ^1 night forgi\eness ? The king's response was to a])])i/int I'iper chan(,;e!lor of L'p^ala L'nl\'ersity. GREAT XORTIIEKX WAR 217 1704-1706 To his field-secretary, Hermelin, he disclosed his proc^ramme : - " We have ten years yet to fight with the Poles, and then twenty years more of fighting with the Rnssians." *' In that case," replied the secretary, " those of your majesty's soldiers who happen to sm*- vive at all will certainly be well disciplined." Ills majesty granted they would, and rejoined: "Well, soldiers ought to be well dis- ciplined, ought they not?" In February, 1704, Charles procured the deposition of Augus- tus by the diet of Warsaw and the election of Stanislaus Leczinski, the Voivad of Posen, to the Polish throne. But the following Au~ gust the deposed monarch was back at Warsaw, at llie head of a powerful army of Russians and Saxons. Horn, ilie Swedish com- mander of the citadel, was compelled to surrender, and Stanislaus himself narrowly escaped capture. Charles, meanwhile, was sub- jugating southern Poland. No sooner, ho\^evcr, did he learn oi Augustus's arrival than he set off at headlong speed, first for the Polish capital and then in pursuit of Augustus, who was already in retreat when Charles set out. Traver.-ing its last three hundred and sixty miles in nine days, the Swedish army overtook the Saxons at Punitz. Augustus's commander, Schulenberg, had an advantage in numbers of nearly three to one, but lie was utterly defeated and was glad to avail himself of nightfall to continue his fiight. Charles, pursuing his foe some distance into Silesia, returned shortly to Ravitz on the Saxon frontier. In Se].)tember, 1705, Stanislatis was crowned at Warsaw and a treaty of alliruice, directed against Russia and the Saxon elector, was effected l)et\\een Charles and the Polish republic. The court of iierlin also proffered an alliance, but these overtures Ch.'irles liritightily rejected. Thus nine months of military inactivity ])assc(l. In the late autumn of 1705 Charles overran Pithuania, and, early in January. 1706, shut up a Russian army in Grodno. -\t the l)e!test of h.is terrified ally, the ts;u-. Augus- tus again restitncd arms and was tcrrii)ly ]xinishe(l for his presump- tion by kehnskiold at i'^ran^tadt. The Saxon elector, in despair, now disbanded his army and retired into (fracow. Fn Augtist, 1706, Charles, again at the head of the tiir'tcd Swedish forces, cros.-ed the X'istula into Saxon}'. The descent of the x'ictorii >ns Swcfiish arnix- ni)on Ihe cinpii'e j)r(M,lnced the grealest i'oii-lei"ii:ttlon in !fur'.p{.-. The \\ :ii- (.1 ihc S[anish Surccssion \\a> now ;it U.-, iiciglii. I\aitge! imi \\\c mhi/ side were hjigland, I'lc cinijire, I lolland, and S,!\(i_\: nii the - I-t. Xi-bcL Baiu: " CliarK> Xll." (IJerue, ul ilic Naliuiu-j, i). 1 lu. iilH S C A N D I N A V I A 1706-1707 otlier, France and Spain. True, Marlborough had achieved a great victory over Villeroi. at Ramillies, in May. and a few days after Charles's irruption into Saxony, Eugene had defeated the French at Turin. Yet, how easily might victory still be snatched from the uncertain grasp of the allies, if Charles XII. should choose to remember and honor Sweden's traditional friendship for France! Throughout the autumn, winter, and .spring of 1 706-1 707 the Swedish monarcli. now the arbiter of Europe, kept a rude war- rior's court at Altranstadt. near Leipzig, for the most polished embassies of Europe. The great Marlborough himself came hither in April. 1707. to secure by diplomacy, and by bribes if need be, what he had won by a military genius more consummate even than that of the Swedish king. Ushered into the presence of Charles, the duke presented a letter from his queen, and said : " Had not her sex prevented it. she would have crossed the sea to see a prince admired by the whole universe. T am in this particular more happy than the queen, and I wish I could seiwe some campaigns under so great a general as your majesty, that I might learn what 1 yet want to know of the art of war." ^ Charles, visibly pleased by this splendid llattery, expressed his utmost regard for the interests of the grand alliance. However, "he would do nothing to the prejudice of the Protestant religion." Marlborough, taking the cue thus offered, argued dexterously to show that the grand alliance, in defending the balance of power, was also fighting to I)revent the destruction of religious liberty, a contention apparently confirmed by the action of the Emperor Joseph I. in according lib- erty of wrirship to his I'rotestant Silesian subjects. On other matters Charles ])reser\ ed his usual imperturbability and tacitur- nity. To small ])ur])ose. however, it would seem, for so confident \\;i> MarllK)rr)ugh that he had penetrated the Swedish king's design u> turn liis ;irnis next against the tsar, that he proffered not tlie '^uggc-tion of a bribe, but thriftily i)ockete(l the corruption fund hini>cli. [.ater. an cniis>ary from L(uu'> X\T., a Swiss merchant, l.oui.- having foreseen tlie futilit}' of a conspicious embassy, suc- ceeded, liy dint (jf persistent endeavor, in penetrating the close cordon ot o])posing enn"ssaries and agents about Charles's person. The Swedish king, however, was absolutely deaf to every project .'.if alliance with the monardi who had revoked the Edict of Nantes "W. r'oxc: ' >!(-ninir- of \ho Dnkc nf M.irlborough," vol. II. pp. 45-46. ' Ivl of (P^H) GREAT NORTHERN WAR 219 1707-1708 and had authorized the atrocities of the Dragonnadcs. The un- successful legate got his revenge by writing down a very circum- stantial and unlovely account of the filthy attire and generally slovenly appearance of the " Cynosiu'c of mankind." ^ Finally, in September, 1707, Charles consented to the Peace of Altranstadt with Augustus. Augustus abdicated the Polish crown to Stanislaus, abjured his alliance with the tsar, and de- livered the tsar's plenipotentiary. Patkul, to Charles, who had him broken on the wheel, beheaded, and quartered. The king of Sweden thus sated his desire for vengeance ; but not one single substantial advantage did his kingdom glean from this peace to recompense her for years of w^asted revenues. In the meantime the tsar had been improving the immunity which he had enjoyed since Narva, disciplining his armies and indomitably renewing his project of securing an outlet for his people upon the Baltic. In both Ingermannland and Livonia, two Swedish provinces, he had secured a foothold, despite the feeble efforts of the undersized garrisons that Charles had left in those regions to opp(xse his advance ; and on the banks of the Neva was lavishly expending the lives alike of his own subjects and of his prisoners of war, in laying the foundations of the capital wliicli to-day bears his name. When Charles broke camp in the spring of 1708 the course that he took was characteristically bold and devoid of calculation. He could not think of himself assuming the defensive. Accord- ingly, instead of starting for the scene of Peter's aggressions, he set out for Moscow. At the same time he struck an alliance with Ivan Mazeppa, a hetman of the Ckranian Cossacks, who promised a force of 30,000 men. In order to get into communication with Mazeppa Charles w-as soon compelled to change his line (.f march for the Ukraine. The difficulties of the route were tremendous, but at first it seemed as if nothing could impede the advance of the Sw^edes. At Holovin, on the Dnieper, they gave the Russians ])itched battle and routed them. \\'ithout waiting for his general, Leven- haupt, who was to have joined him with rcinforcemcuts from Courland, Charles pushed coniidently on, (;nly pausing in his in- sane march when the excessive cold forced him to go i)ito winter This document was but recently brought to light by the hitc Cahriel .Svveton. U20 S C A N D I X A V I A 1708-1709 tjuarters. The season was more llian commonly severe even for lliat climate, and the Swedes suffered greatly from hunger and cold. Charles shared cheerfully in their privations, eating the same coarse food as his men, often contenting himself with moldy hread and keeping the frost out of his tent by having heated can- non balls rolled along the f^oor. In the meanwhile, the tsar, who was not so inexpert as Charles wished to believe, caused the coun- try through which the Swedes would have to make their retreat to be laid waste, fortified all the passes, and used his influence over the Cossack chiefs so well that they all fell away from ^lazeppa, who had to flee from his own revolted soldiers and take refuge in the Swedish camp. To complete the misfortunes of the king, Levenhaupt was met and overpowered 1)y an immense army of Russians while on his way to join the main arm}', and although he kept u]) a desperate defense for two days, he lost all his baggage and stores and more than half of his men and reached the Swedish lines with a battered remnant of 6000 men. Hunger and disease subsequently reduced the total army to 18,000 men. With this small force Charles laid siege to Poltava, where he hoped to find the food and clothing of which he stood in such scH^e need. The tsar and his minister, ]\Ienshikov, were, however, ad- vancing with 55,000 men to the relief of the place, and soon the two armies lay encamped within sight (jf each other. The Swedes awaited the attack, but finding that the tsar would not venture the first move, Charles resolved to take the Russian entrenchments by assault. Having been badly wounded in the foot during a ])re- \ious skirmish, he had to be carried into battle in a litter a dis- l)iriting circumstance considering the peculiar (juality of Charles's military talent, which com])rised dash of leadershi]^ rather than real strategy. Rut as if this were not enough, Charles himself ag- gravated the situation by setting his generals, Levenhaupt and Kehnskiold, by the ears by reversing their ranks. Thus, after their initial charge had borne the Russians before it, the Swedes became iiivcjlved in cr^ifusion on account of contradicting (jrders, after which the mere numbers of the enemy sufficed to crush them. l\chn>kio](l was sfxjii taken jjrisoner and a great part of his division caj^tured. Levenhaupt held out for a few days, but was ultimately comjtcllcd to surrender the remnant of the army. Charles him- self had at lir^t thought to remain loyally with his men atul share tlieir fate, but final!}-, yielding to the imi^ortunities of his attendaiUs, GREAT NORTHERN WAR 221 1709-1711 allowed himself to be placed in a litter and borne over the steppes to Bender, in Turkish dominions. The defeat at Poltava, which took place on June 27, 1709. was a signal to all the enemies of Charles to take up arms against his prostrate kingdom, A new league was formed between Fred- erick of Denmark and Augustus of Saxony, who were backed by the power of Prussia and Russia; and before the close of 1709 Sweden was assailed by hostile armies on all her frontiers. The only man who at that moment displayed both the will and the skill to defend his countr}' was General ^Magnus Stenbock, who had gone to the Ukraine with the king, but in consequence of ill-hcaUii had returned to Sweden, where he held tlic post of governor of Skaania. By his indefatigable activity and energy he contrived to recruit and drill 15,000 peasant lads, who, although badly armed and clad only in tattered sheepskin coats or coarse woolen jackets, proved themselves intrepid soldiers and more than a match for the well-equipped and veteran regiments which Frederick IV. had thrown into Skaania, and which met presently with such utter dis- comfiture at the hands of the " ^Yooden Slioes " that only half their numbers succeeded in reaching the Danish ships in safetv. All this while Charles, who was still at l>ender. was trying his hand at diplomacy with the purpose of stirring up new enemies against the tsar. Peter, by his evident anxiety to secure a Black Sea port at the expense of the Turks, contributed to the same end, and, in the year 1710, Poniatowski, Charles's agent, who pos- sessed a notable ascendency over the Sultan Ahmed III., was able to induce the latter to dispatch an arm}-, under the Grand Vizier Mohammed, against Peter. Peter, by no means yet a master of the art of war. was soon floundering Iielpless enough in tlie marshes of the Pruth, entirely at the mercy of In's foe. Only the intrepidity of Catherine. fVter's wife, and the future tsaritsa, who in the last desperate moment bribed the grand vizier with a huge quantity of jewels and gold, all that she could scrape to- gether in the Russian camp. sa\-c(l tlic Russian army from a great calamity. As it was, liowever, the vizier consent cJ to an immediate peace, exacting onl}- the restoration of Azow ("liarles XII. 's chagrin was boundless, but to his velicmeut ])roU'-^ ^ his avaricious and treacherous ally was al)le lo resjjond that " noi all princes were able to remain permanently away from ilicir dominions." ^>22 S C A \ D I X A V I A 1711-1715 The position of the Swedisli kiiii;- now Ijecanic g-alling in the extreme both to himself and to his host. 11ie snhan Avishod to he rid of him, and gave him large sums of money wlierewith to settle his accounts and make the necessary preparations to depart, but Charles spent the money in other ways and asked for more. The sultan then ordered his arrest, but when the Turkish officers at- tempted to take him he barred the doors of his house at \^-irnitz, and shutting himself in with a few hundred men, defended himself against a whole army. Many Turks were shot down in the affraw but the house having been fired, Charles was seized while escaping from the flames and, after a desperate struggle, was overpowered and carried by main force to a village near Adrianople, called De- motica. Here he remained for a long time in sullen inactivity, closely guarded by the Turkish janissaries, who called him, be- cause of his obstinacy, " Demiirbasch "the Iron Head. For ten months he remained imprisoned and generally in bed on the pre- tense that he was dangerously ill. When he found that he could obtain no further aid from Turkey he resolved upon making his escape. Accompanied b}' only two persons he succeeded in the incredibly short time of fourteen days in riding from Adrianople through Hungary, Austria, and Germany to the Swedish port of Stralsund in Pomerania, before whose gates he presented himself on November 7, 1714. under the name of Captain Peter Frisch. The guard did not at first recognize the king, for he had not once changed his clothes and had scarceh' left his saddle night or day since he had made his escape, excepting to exchange one wearied horse for another and fresher animal. While Charles had been shut up in a Turkish prison engaged in frivolous disputes with his guards, his enemies in the north had been dismembering his k'ingdom : Russia stri\-ing to secure the whole of Swedish Pomerania, while George I. of luigland had as- sumed p(5Ssession of Bremen and Verden, which the Danes had seized and sold to him. A Danish fleet under I'ordenskiold was at the same time ravaging the Swedish c'jasts. while an allied army of Saxons and Danes under Frederick William \\as investing StraFund. Charles signalized his return by taking command of the bcleagured garrison, defending the i)lace till the walls were blown up and the outworks reduced to ashes. lie then crossed the Faltic, landing safely in Skaania, although Torrlenskiold was scouring the .-cas to ])re\ent his jjassage. The king now took u]) GREAT NORTHERN WAR 223 1715-1718 his abode at Lund, both because he ^vi^he(l to ]je near the seat of war. and also because he did not care to return to his capital till he had retrieved his fortunes. His presence in the country, how- e^-er, forced the nobles to refrain from any further attempts to secure peace,, and imparled new courage to the lower classes, who. in their love and devotion to their idolized king, were readv to risk their all at his behest. But men fit for service w^ere scarce in the land, and there was no money. Accordingly Charles proceeded to impress lads of fifteen into the ranks, while his minister. Gortz. contrived to raise funds by putting th,e coinage on a copper basis and selling to foreigners all the silver taken from the royal mines. During the severe winter of 1716. the Sound being frozen over. Charles determined to lead an army into Sjaelland and to invade the Danish Islands, but a thaw intervening, Denmark escaped. He now directed his attack against Xorwav. advancing upon Christiania; but meeting with more opposition than he had calculated upon, he fell back and laid siege to the fortress of Frederiksten. near Frederikshald. Xo better success awaited him there, however, for the citizens under the guidance of the brothers Peder and Hans Kolbjornsson. setting fire to their town, drove the Swedes out of their quarters, and at length forced them to give up the siege. At this moment of disaster the war seemed likely to take on an entirely new character. I^'eter the Great, dissatisfied with his allies and repulsed in his attem])t to enter into an arrangement witli the I-'rench regency, felt that he could best secure the con- quests which he had made at Charles XH.'s expense by assisting the latter against his other foes. .\t the moment of Charles's re- newal of tlie in\-estment of Freclerik>hald. with an army of 30.000. his minister, Gortz, who had already entered into alliance \villi Alberoni. lilizabeth Farnese's minister of state, was scheming with the tsar at Aaland a hostile combinatifjn against the rest of norlh- ern F.in-o])e. All tliese plans prm-ed futile, however, when on the morning of Deceml)er 11. \j\^. Chai-les XU. was struck down by a cannon shot bebnx' the Swedish trenches at h^-ederikshald. The most renowned of Scandinavian kings was but thirty-six at the moment of his deaifi. W ith him perished the militar_\- greatiie^^ of his kingdom and the absolute j)o\\fi- of die .S\s'edish nionareh}-, the former i>-i\ine' \\'a\- \i< the ri^ini?' i/reatne^^ i^\ Prn>si,-i analtic provinces of itself cut the revenues of the realm in hall: with the di-:>ap])earance of commerce this half declined to a }-et smaller fraction, a jjrocess which addition:d and more onerous irnyiosts only ha-tcnod. I'lie r. ''.-nl ...'K-o;;ei" -n'Tcctled. however. G R E A 1^ X R T H E R N AV A R ^>f>5 1718-1720 in revenging itself completely upon the nation at Iari;c when Gortz brought the coinage to a copper basis. Industrial recuperation seemed impossible. At the moment of entering upon his fatal career, as he was leaving Sweden, Charles had charged the Kniglits" House Rid- darhiiss with the public administration, but, in excess of jeal- ousy for his absolute prerogative, bestowed upon this body only a minimum of discretion and no power of initiation. His imprison- ment at Bender was, therefore, of nnore than ordinary consequence from a governmental standpoint. The outcome of the exigencies of the situation w\as the very thing that Cliarles had thought to guard against: for the Knights were fairly compelled to assume and exercise the prerogative. The Knights' House gave, however, small promise of remaining the residence of sovereigntv. Charles's absence was making the question of the succession more important every day, and since he was without either sons or brothers, and there was therefore no legal licir, the settlement of tins question would devolve upon the diet. It is true that Ch.arles had two sis- ters, and that by the legislation of Charles IX. females might in- herit the throne. But another law required that the marriage of an heir to the throne must be made only with the consent of the diet, a requirement with which both Charles's sisters. Hedvig Sofia and Ulrica, the latter the wife of Frederick of Hesse, had failed to comply. The diet was, therefore, as far as the strict letter of the law went, perfectly free to choose between Ulrica and Hedvig Sofia's heir, Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. or, perhaps, to pass them both by. Charles's necessities upon his return, the unpopularity of his alien minister, Gortz, and finally the monarch's intestacy, still further fortified the position of the anti-monarchical aristocracy. Ulrica was given the crown January, 1719. but was compelled to consent to govern " according to the will of the diet." and in token of her good faith to acquiesce in the execution of Gortz on trumped-up charges. The act of ]\Iav 2. 1720, is the landmark that sets off the new regime. In February Ulrica had, with the permission of the diet, transferred the royal power to her husband, who thereupon became Frederick T. of Sweden. By the act in question the new king with- drew all claims to absolute power Komin^a forsuknni the mon- archy was made elective again, and the supreme authority was, m word, conferred upon the diet; in fact, howexer, it jjassed to a yet 2526 S C A N D I N A V 1 A 1720-1738 more oligarcliical, though less unwieldy body, a secret commitice composed of fifty nobles, twenty-five of the clergy and twenty-fi\c burq;liers. tlic fourth estate beins;- entirely ignored. ^'et the defects of the new constitution were not at first a])- parent. Tliis was the epoch wlicn the idea of benevolent mon- archy lield sway in Europe: the time when the pursuit of peace and c(>mmcrcc comprised the pcjlicy of natit)ns wearied by a half century of war. In England, \\'alpole was the great peace minister; in Erance, Elcury; in Sweden, Arvid Horn, Charles XII. 's old com- mander. Horn began his chancellorsliip by establishing friendly relations with Russia and giving assurances of Sweden's continued good-will for England. The Peace of Xystad. between Russia and Sweden 1721 terminated a series of treaties wherein are em- b(j(Iied the final results of Charles XII. 's wars. Hanover became the possessor of Bremen and V^erden : Prussia obtained the eastern half of Swedish Pomerania. with the islands of Rygen and Usedom and the towns of Stettin and Dantzig ; Erederick of Denmark was permitted to sever Slesvig from the holdings of Charles XU.'s ;dly, the Duke of Holstein. and to incorporate it with Denmark; Augus- tus of Saxony again became king of Poland ; and, most important of all, Russia obtained Tngermannland. Esthonia. Eivonia. and Karelia, and subsequently, in 1729, \^iborg also. The worst fears of Gustavus Adolphus had been realized: Russia had become the leading Baltic power and a standing menace to the independence of Sweden. In return for these sacrifices abroad, Sweden saw her trade expanded under the benevolent patronage of the government ; i;i- du^>try reorganized; skilled foreign workmen encouraged to settle in tlie Country; new agricultural products introduced, most important of which was the ]ir)tato that antidote of famine; the lav/s codi- fied: administration systematized; and taxation lightened. I'or- tunaie Jiad it been for Sweden had the course of events been allovcd to continue in the cliannel devised by Horn and his fol- lowers, tlie Na!i;i!ossc}', the " Xight Caps." .Such was not to be the ca-e. Iiowex'er. Op])cjsed t(_) Horn's cautious policy of ])cace ai^d internal develo])ment was the remnant of the faction of tlie diet winch had un.^uccessfully espoused lled\-ig Sofia's claims to the throne. V>y \~_'^,^ \]]\< faction had become a pf'Werfu.l ]iarty. the llatlttr, the "llal-."" under the leadership i>i Count <^ivllenborg. '1 he languaL'.e \\-x^\ by the Hats was that of denunciati(jn of the GREAT NORTHERN WAR ^>27 1738-1741 Peace of Nystad, of reminiscence of Sweden's departed j^randeur. of gratitude to France. Its real motive was greed for more French gold, of which its members' pockets were already full. The meet- ing of the diet of 1738 turned out to be a remarkable event. From 1736 a war had been going on between Turkey, on the one side, and Russia and i\ustria on the other. A considerable, if not the complete, dismemberment of the Ottoman empire was presaged. This, however, would have been entirely to the detriment of France, whose faithful bulwark against the empire the infidel had been since the day when Francis L shocked Christian Furope by appearing in alliance with Suleiman the ^Magnificent, and whose practical monopoly of the rich commerce of the Levant rested upon Turkish concessions. To Fleury, therefore, who was still bent upon keeping France out of war, occurred the brilliant idea of fighting the battles of the most Christian monarch " bv procura- tion." The members of the Swedish diet proved most responsi\e to the efforts of Saint-Severin, the French ambassador at Stock- holm. Of the 700 members of that body, only 100 rejected the bribes offered them.'"' The coup d'etat thus brought about was com- plete. Horn gave way to Gyllenborg, who became chancellor. The Night Caps were excluded from the secret committee. Sweden entered into a close alliance with France, whereby the latter was to pay the former an annual sum of 300,000 crowns for the rehabilita- tion of the Swedish army and navy. Sweden was now but the pawn of i'rancc on the international chessboard. France's next step was to bring about a rapprocJic- mcnt between Sweden and Turkey. IMajur Malcolm Sinclair un- dertook the mission to Constantinople, but while on his way thither was murdered, presumably at the instigation of the tsaritsa's gov- ernment. At the same moment (T739) tlie Peace of Belgrade brought the Russo-l'urkish war to a close in a manner most dis- appointing to the Russians, but it freed Russia's hands to seek com- pensation at tlie expense of Sweden. ^Moreover, llic War of the Austrian Succession, breaking out in 1740. with l-'rederick the (ireat's invasion of Silesia, iM-ancc was confronted with a great temptation to expand at tlie ex])cnse of the 1 lapsljurgs, Fleury's policy went by the board, and Louis X\'., entering into the Treaty of Nymphenberg (Alay, 1741 ) for tlie dismembernicnt of Austria, was quite willing to sacrifice Sweden to Russia foi- tlie nonce, so lenig as the latter were kc])t < erupied. The Swedish fnree^, lakin,-" ' Anlim- Iln--nll: ' Tin- r.;!laiuT ..i I'.nsvr." p. ij| (i.^-K).) 228 SCANDINAVIA 1741-1764 the initiative, met with swift disaster. The occupation of Finland by the Russians was followed by a terrible defeat of the Swedes at Vilnianstrand, and by the capitulation of the Swedish army at rielsing-fors. To appease the exasperated nation, the cowardly Hat government consented to the execution of Levenhaupt and Buddenbrock. ATeanwhile French diplomacy at St. Petersburg had brought the Princess Elizabeth to the throne and had made Bestuzhev her minister of state. A negotiation between Sweden and Russia was begun at St. Petersburg, in 1742, through the pretended mediation of Chetardie, the French ambassador. In l)oint of fact, Chetardie was doing his utmost to discourage Russian demands and to confront the tsaritsa's government with a close alliance composed of Sweden, Denmark, and Turkey. These in- trigues were revealed to Bestuzhev when a letter from the French envoy at Constantinople to Chetardie fell into his hands. Che- tardie was forced to leave St. Petersburg; the Russian attack upon Sweden was renewed ; the domination of the Flats was brought to a close; and, by the humiliating Treaty of Abo 1743 Sweden purchased her independence by surrendering' eastern h'inland, to the Kiumen River, to Russia ; by guaranteeing the succession to the Swedish throne to Adolph l^^redcrick of TTolstein-Ciottorj-) ; and by accepting- the temporary protection of a Russian army against I )anish invasion. The period of Adolph Frederick's reign, 1751-1771. may be briefly characterized as one of further decline of the royal jiower. The king- was the mere puppet of the council and the nobles: the regal office existed only in name. An attempt of the patriotic Ih^rn and ('(Auit Brahe to bolster the throne, in 1756, brought these leaders In the scaffold and exposed the king and his queen. Fouisa Flrik-a of I'russia. to still other humiliations. The council, again in llic leash of I'rcnch gold, drew Sweden into the Seven ^'ears* War against h^rederick the Great. Sweden was promised P(Mne- rania, but the Peace of Hamburg- between Prussia and Sweden (May. 17^)-') was based on the sfaliis quo ante bclluin. Indeed, so contempt i!)]e a part did Swedish arms play in the great strug- gle that kredcrick the Great sarcastically o1)served, when called \\\)on to sign the Treaty of Hamburg, that " he was not aware that he had been at war with Sweden." The Hats now gave way to the Xight Cajis, ruid, in I7f')4, I'^rance. who, between the years 1 7 V'^ ;ind IT'"'!, IkkI ^Mibsidizcd Sweden to IJit' anionni iif qn.- GREAT NORTHERN WAR 2!^y 1764-1771 cx)0,ooo livres, '' discontinued these aids. By way of retort the Swedish diet, which came to a close October ii, 1766. passed a resolution forbidding- the king- to listen to any proposition look- ing to a reestablishment of the system of union between France and Sweden^ Choiseul, Louis XVI/s minister, now devised a " new system." The flagging spirits of the Patrioirs Chapcaux were to be revived by the same methods by which the party had been created. This was necessary, since the Bonnets were in the pay of England and Russia. Moreover and this was the innova- tion the newly created patriotism was to be utilized in a coup d'etat restoring the power of the king. Sweden, it w\as obvious, could never become any considerable make-weight in the European balance of power as long as her government was the sport of factions. In 1771 Vergennes came to Stockholm to carry through the new programme. The same year Adolph Frederick died. ^'Flassan: " Histoire raisonncc dc la diplomatic francaise," vol. VI, p. 57O. ' Loc. cit., p. 580. Chapter XVIII BENEVOLENT DESPOTISM IN DENMARK, 1648-1771 THE Denmark contemporary with successors of Gustavus Adolphns presented little or nothing to excite the wonder or admiration of foreign nations. In proportion as Sweden monoi)olized the attention of Iiurope and made the great powers value her alliance, Denmark had continued to fall away from her former reputation. Internally there was a similar de- cline, for when her Christian IV. died, in 164S. baftled by the nobles in all his efforts to benefit his kingdom, and crushed under the weight of their tyranny, it seemed as if Denmark must inevi- tably sink into the condition of an oligarchy, and that monarchy should cease to ha\-e even a nominal existence in that kingdom. Some months elapsed after the death of Christian TV. before the council would formally elect his son Frederick to the throne. Only at the close of the year did the nobles offer to ])roclaim him king of Denmark, on condition that he sign the charter which they submitted. The terms which they imposed were harder than any ever before imposed upon a candidate for the Danish throne, but Frederick, seeing no present way of escape, agreed to them, and thus found himself a mere puppet in the hands of his council, without whose consent he could not leave the countr}', make peace or war, or exercise any administrative function of importance. While Frederick and his ambitious queen. Sofia Amalia, were thus re- duced to figureheads in the state, the Idfclds. by their wealth and ])ower, were able to eclipse the court both in the magnificence of their entertainments and in the number of their attendants. These circumstances it was, as well as tlie beauty, wit, and accomplish- ments of bJeanor Kristine Ulfeid. the king's sister, which, by arousing the jealousy of the queen, made her determined not to rest lill she had procured the downfall of these hruighty rivals of her f>\vn royrdly. I'lt'cld's conduct in negotiating the |)eace with I [ojland. by wliicli the Dutch were allowed to escape the Sound dues on the payment of a sum of mone\'. and his adniiiiistratinii I'M) U E N E VOLE N T D E ^ V C) T I S M 231 1659-1660 of the finances under the late king, afforded the queen her oppor- tunity. The unfortunate noble, feeling- it indiscreet to await the formahties of a trial, fled, with his family, from Copenhagen by night, and after wandering extensively in Holland and elsewhere, went finally to Sweden, where, as we have seen, he became an insistent and vindictive counselor of war upon his native land. It would be impossible to conceive a more hopeless position than the one in which King Frederick III. of Denmark found him- self, in 1660, at the close of the war with Sweden, an account of which was given in a previous chapter. The kingdom was laid waste, the treasury was empty, and the monarchy on its last legs, when King Frederick, in his great need, called together a meeting of the estates in Copenhagen, and laid before them a true account of his necessities. The nobles, as usual, tried to shift all responsi- bility from themselves to the other orders of the state, and ap- pealed to their special privileges of exemption from taxation. This unworthy conduct roused the anger of the burghers, who were alive to the fact that it was owing to them alone that the king- dom had not been subjugated by the Swedish king in the late war. Accordingly, when the nobles refused to contribute anything toward defraying the expenses of the siege, the town council of Copenhagen, headed by the burgomaster, Hans Nansen, made an appeal to the king for a curtailment of the privileges of the nobles. The clergy under the guidance of the learned and ambitious court preacher, Bishop Svane. seconded their proposals, and joined with them in a demand for an inquiry into the terms u])on which the crown fiefs were held, with the ultimate intention of having tenures held gratuitously canceled and disposed of to the higliest bidder, without regard to rank. \\'hile these proceedings were taking ])lace within the hall of assembly, the gates ni tlic city were closed by order of Hans Xansen. and a strong civic guard drawn around the doors of the building. The nobles, taken by surprise, and find- ing that several influential members of their (nvn body had gone over to the side of the burghers, receded from their refusal to ])ay the taxes. When, however, Xansen and Svane next pro])0';ed to make the crown hereditary in the descendants of the king, whether male or female, they opposed the motion with bitter cxj^rcssions of dissent. This important measure was nevertheless p.assed bv the burghers and clergy at another meeting of the diet, held on October 8, and when the nobles still withheld their assent, tliey UM S C A N D I N A V I A 1660-1665 were informed that every door of exit was held by troops and that the whole of the city guard was ready to rush to arms on the first sound of the alarm bell. Under these circumstances the nobles found themselves forced to submit, and on October i8, 1660, Fred- erick III. received the homage of the several orders of the state as hereditary king of Denmark. Frederick III. w'as a silent, cautious man, who knew how to keep his ow^n counsel, and while he appeared to be wholly igno- rant of, and indifferent to, all that was being done by his partisans, Svane and Nansen, he had in fact cooperated with them from the first through his secretary, Gabel ; and when he once found himself master of his kingdom, he rtsented the slightest attempt to circum- scribe his powers. Gabel had had the finesse to propose that the question of the form of government which the king ought to ob- serve under the changed condition of the monarchy should be left for discussion till the next meeting of the diet. This proposal being agreed to, Frederick took care to prevent all future opposi- tion by bribery or force. Thus he commanded tlie university rep- resentative. Professor Villum Lange, to absent himself from the assembly, as he had been known to express the opinion that Den- mark, like all other civilized monarchies, ought to have a written constitution of its own. At the same time the queen and court party labored assiduously to put down all opposition, and the re- sult of their combined efforts was to secure a large number of signatures among the nobles, clergy, and burghers of the different j)rovinces to a charter which proclaimed the absolute independence of the hereditary sovereignty settled upon the king and his heirs. Thus, by a swift and bloodless revolution, the fundamental princi- ])le of the Danish kingship was entirely transformed and one of the most strictly bound elective monarchies in the world was converted into tlie most absolute hereditary state in Christendom. With I'Tederick III.'s acquisition of independent ])ower a new system of administration was introduced into Denmark, the coun- cil of state giving way to six " colleges " or oflkes for tlie transac- tion f)f home and foreign affairs. These changes and all the im- l)ro\emcnts mrulc in tlie conduct of the universities and of military and naval affairs rmd finance, were mainly flue to the able counsels i>f the king's secretary, Peder Schumacher (Count Griffenfeld), a man of huniblc origin, who by his talents raised himself to the posi- ti(*n of most powerful minister of the crown, both under Frederick BENEVOLENT DESPOTISM 233 1665-1670 and his son, Christian V. After being- created a count of the em- pire, and receiving every mark of confidence and distinction in the power of the king to bestow upon him, the jealousy of his many enemies at court brought about his ruin. Being accused of treason, he was condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted at the scaffold to close imprisonment for life, and for eighteen years Count Griffenfeld was kept in confinement, being liberated only the year before his death in 1699; yet Denmark never had a greater nu'nister nor one who met more unworthy returns from all the benefits he conferred upon his country. Frederick used the extraordinary powers of which he became so suddenly possessed with great moderation, for the most part. The few acts of cruelty that mar his reign seem to have been instigated by his vindictive queen. At one point, however, his policy was seriously defective : he paid small heed to the genuine grievances of his peasantry. Their frequent appeals for a mitiga- tion of the heavy burdens and forced ser\'ices by which they were oppressed met with no consideration whatever from the king. Tlie power of the nobles over this class had not been interfered with when they lost many of their long-established prerogatives, and so completely were they in the power of their masters that, in ac- cordance with the Danish game laws, the lord of the manor might still put out the eyes of the peasant who shot a deer on his lands. or might even hang him. In Norway the peasantry never sank to so low a condition as in Denmark, although after the final union of the two kingdoms, when Danish nobles began to obtain fiefs and secure a footing in the country, the subjects of this ancient mon- archy lost many of their rights under the careless rule of their Danish kings. Christian V., who succeeded his father, Frederick III., in 1670, was the first king to mount tlie Danish thrcMic without having to agree to some compact or other derogatory to liis authority. Christian's first thought after his accession was to create a l)ril]iant court after the fashion of that of " Ic Grand Monavquc." But many of the heads of the noblest families in Denmark had with- drawn themselves from the capital, wliere tliey no longer exercised the influence which they had enjoyed in former times, and were endeavoring to show their indifi'erence to the court by remaining on their own lands. The young king resolved, therefore, to create a new order of nobih"t\', nnjre brllli;int an<1 disiingni^iifd tlian the 2in SCANDINAVIA 1670-1679 old. Previous to this time hereditary titles were unknown among the Danish nobihty. but Christian \\. whi) was thoreuighly German in all his feelings, now, by one absolute decree, established all the titles and grades of rank recognized among the higher classes of Ger- many; and soon his court was filled with counts and barons, wdio, on the payment of certain fees, had obtained with tlie newly adopted rank many seignorial rights which had never been exer- cised by the older nobles of Denmark. The latter now saw them- selves supplanted at court, and in the service of the state, by a band of German adventurers, who had procured their dignit}- by money and not birth. All the ceremonials and rigid etiquette of \'crsailles were adopted by the Danish king, and, to complete his new system of courtly favor, two orders of knighthood were estab- lished known as the Dannebrog and the Elephant, in the former I if which a white ribbon was u-cd and in the latter a blue one. The expenses of the court rose far ab()\"e any hitherto known in Denmark. In fact it was the difficulty of finding money to gratify his love of dis]ilay rmd the unpalatable a(h"ice which Grif- fcnfeld ga\'e Christian, in regard to the necessity for retrenchment, that first brought that minister into disfa\-or with his sovereign. His counsel that Christian should remain neutral in the war which had broken out, in 1^)75. between France .and Tlolland, irritated the young kin.g still more. who. thirsting for distinction, rushed into the conllict and took up arms with the emperor and Elector of Tirandenburg against Louis XI\". Hv this .alliance Denmark was brruight intc) hostilities with Sweden, which was tlic staunch .ally of l''rance, and soon the province of Sk.a.ani.a became the scene of wrir. 'fhe two young northern kings. Christi.an of Denmark .and Charles XI. of Sweden, commanded in jK-r-ou wjicn their armies met .at Lund in 1676. Christian w.as unable to -secure a footh OKI ii'V iliough success generally attended the Dani>h tlcet, as Griffen- frli\ had foreseen. Denmark could effect nothing against the ally of IVance. Fn 1679, when Louis XI\^. had concluded secret treaties w ith the emperrjr and with Holland and Brandenburg, there was no a]'trnati\e for Christian l)ut to accede to the peace prop^iscd h}- tlie Irench king by which, all that had l)cen taken by Denmark fr"in Sweden had to be restored to the Latter power. Denmark, there- lore, gained nothing by this costlv war, except military experii-nee and tlie perfecticHi (;f her ,armv and navv. As soon as peace was concluded with l''r.ancc, the finance nun- B E X E V O L E X 'V 1) E S T T T S Af 235 1679 -1699 ister, Sigfrid von Pless, hired some of the troops to the Enghsh king to be used against the Irish, and others to the emperor for his wars against the Turks. But this short-sighted pohcy, while it drained the country of some of her best men for only a small number returned to their homes brought meager returns to the depleted treasury. On the death of the king, in 1699, the state was found to be hampered with a debt of more than one million rix dollars, notwithstanding the flourishing condition of trade. During this reign the eminent Danish astronomer, Ole (Olaus) Romer, did good service to his country by the improve- ments which he was able to institute in the coinage and in the regulation of the weights and measures, by repairing the public roads and the planting of mile posts and sign posts. While hold- ing the place of chief of the police department of Copenhagen he also organized an excellent system of lighting the streets, estab- lished an efficient nightwatch and a fire brigade, and furnished plans for the construction of better fire engines than any that had yet been in use. He was at a later period named chancellor of the exchequer, and an assessor of the supreme court of justice, and was engaged for seven years in compiling a great land book, in which all land was assessed, in 1684, on the basis of a certain mode of measurement known as Hartkorn Standard. The bigotry of the king and of the court clergy was the means of depriving Denmark of the labors of many thousands of Huguenots, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Xantes, in 1685, petitioned for leave to settle in the country. This was sternly refused, and hence these industrious men carried their skill to other lands, where no obstacles stood in the way of a profession of tlie doctrines of Calvin. The condition of the peasants was made sf) much worse by the creation of the numerous countships anil l)aronies of the new system of nobility, which gave the holders full power over llie serfs upon their lands, that many of the younger men left the country. At length a law was passed decreeing that all bondar who did not marry and remain settled on the estate to which they belonged should be enrolled as soldiers, while any peasant who left his master's service without leave might be sent to the hulks to work in irons for a year. The consequence of these cruel meas- ures was that the poor fell into a state of dependence scarcely better than slavery, while the land was only half cultivated, rnul the owners became im[)overished. ^36 SCAN D I N A V I A 1699-1721 On the death of Christian V., in 1G99, after a reign of nearly thirty years, his eldest son was proclaimed king- under the title of Frederick IV. This prince, who, in the latter part of his life, showed great capacity for ruling and considerable practical knowl- edge of all the details of government, had been so neglected by his father in his childhood and youth that he had not even been taught to spell or to express himself correctly, and had never been per- mitted to take any part in public affairs until within a few days of Christian's death, when the old king, either because he was too feeble to resist, or because he repented of his unworthy conduct to his son, now twenty-eight years of age, summoned him for the first time to take his place at the council board. Frederick's first measure after his coronation was to plunge the kingdom into an unnecessary war with Sweden by pouncing upon the territories of Duke Frederick IV. of Gottorp, the near kinsman and close ally of the young Swedish king, Charles XII. The Danish king had been deluded by the youth and inexperience of his cousin, but he was soon undeceived. In his treaty of peace with his namesake Frederick insured the latter hereditary sov- ereignty over his duchy. The final status of Holstein-Gottorp was not yet settled permanently, however. In 1702 Duke Frederick IV. died. Count Gortz, one of the members of the council of regency, together with the widowed ducliess, Hedvig Sofia, sister of Charles XII., ruled the state during the minority of the young duke, Charles Frederick, Gortz, who afterward, as prime minister of Charles XII. of Sweden, did all in his power to bring about the ruin of the Danish monarchy, was resolved upon separating the province entirely from Denmark. He roused the anger of King I'^rederick by causing certain public notices, which referred to the joint government of the king and the young duke, to be issued in the name of the latter only. Later he had the duke's name printed in the same type as the king's instead of having the royal signa- ttire, as was usual in such cases, struck off in larger letters. This frivolous dispute, known as the " type quarrel," gave rise to more serious disagreements and led in 1721 to the entire overrunning of the duchy of IIolstein-Gottorp by the Danish forces. By the Treaty of Nystad, of that same year, Slesvig was parted from Holstein and reunited to the Danish crown lands, from w^hich it had been sep;iratcd since 1386, the time of Margaret of Pomerania. The internal rule of Frederick IV. of Denmark was marked BENEVOLENT DESPOTISM ^37 1710-1723 by industry, common sense, and moral rectitude in striking con- trast to that of his father. By his careful economy in his court and in the various departments of the government, Frederick suc- ceeded, notwithstanding the cost of the long war with Sweden and the extravagant tastes of his queen, Louisa of INIecklenburg, who prompted the erection of magnificent palaces, both at Fredericks- borg and Fredensborg, in reducing to a small sum the national debt left behind by Christian V. Besides, tlie reign of Frederick was visited by several public calamities, which called for the prompt and liberal aid of the state. In 1710 a frightful pestilence cut off 25,000 people in Copenhagen alone, and, in 1728, a destructive fire laid waste two-thirds of the city, costing the lives of many of the citizens and reducing to ashes many of the principal buildings, among others the magnificent University Library, with most of its rich stores of oriental manuscripts and other valuable works. In 1 717 an inundation destroyed large tracts of the rich pasture lands of the Ditmarshers. In all these nationl misfortunes l-'red- erick evinced the greatest liberality toward the sufferers and took means to relieve their distress to the utmost of his power. 1 Ved- erick was also the first sovereign wlio endeavored to extend a knowledge of the Gospel to his heathen colonial subjects by or- ganizing missions for their conversion and instruction. In 1705 the missionary Ziegenbalg was sent by him to the Danish trading station at Tranquebar, in India, to teach the Hindoos, and in 1721 Hans Egede, with his wife, went to Greenland to preach to the natives, who, since the Black Death in 1350, had been apparently forgotten by the mother country. Frederick caused the town of Godthaab to be founded in 1721 and a Greenland trading com- pany to be incorporated in 1723, and thus this long-neglected colony was reopened to the rest of the world. Frederick also devoted considerable attention to his fleet and was well repaid by the able body of seamen which the Danish navy possessed at the close of his reign. The gallant deeds of his brave admiral, Peder Vessel, better known as Tordcnskiold (Thunder- shield), recall, by their daring success and extraordinary character, the memory of tliose northern sea-kings of old, whose names, like his own, were a shield to their friends and a thunderbolt to their foes. Frederick unfortunately followed tlie j)rccedcnt set by numerous impecunious monarchs of the time and let out for hire his armies to other princes who needed and could afford to pay i>38 S C A N D I N A V I A 1723-1737 for foreign auxiliaries. Thus 12,000 Danes were lent to England for ten years, to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession, while 8000 swelled the ranks of the imperialists at the same time, and the money which they too often purchased with their lives was used by the king to pay off the arrears of an old debt due Holland. Frederick IV. tried to improve the condition of the peasantry by abolishing serfdom. These measures, however, failed largely of efficacy because of the organization of a country militia, which the great landowners were called upon to maintain at their own expense, and which they filled up by forcing into the ranks any of their peasants whom they wished to be rid of or to punish for insubordination. His measures for the education of the poorer classes were more immediately successful. At his death, in 1730. free schools had been so generally opened in all parts of his king- dom that no sovereign of those times numbered so large a pro- portion of educated persons among his subjects as did the Danisli king. The reign of Christian VI. was remarkable chiefly for iis peculiar un-Danish and pronouncedly German character. Tlie queen, Sophia \Iagdalena of Kulmbach-Bayreuth, who. in her dislike for everything Danish even tried to prevent tlie crown prince being taught his native tongue, exerted her great influence over the king in filling all offiices of trust W'ith Germans, and in ban- ishing from the court the language and usages of the country. She had also a fatal mania for building, which led her to pull down one palace only to erect another on some site that ])leased her bet- ter. Thus she demolished the noble castle of Axelhus in Copen- hagen, which Frederick IV. had restored and enlarged at great expense, and substituted for it the enormous building known as Christiansborg, which cost near 3.000,000 rix dc^llars, and was seven years in building. Likewise, to gratify a whim of hers, a beautiful hunting ])alace was erected at Hirschholm, nn a j)icce of swampy land, but the foundations soon gave way and the house had to be ])u]led down. While the queen was thus indulging her expensive hobby, the king was introducing a system of bigotry and pietism to which Denmark had hitlierto been an entire stranger, and which soon con- ducted into the kingdom the most dej^lorable hypocrisy and intol- erance. A general clinrch inspection college was established in i/^y. which ma}- he regarded as a Protestant court of infjin'silion. BENEVOLENT D E S P T I S ]^I 239 1737-1751 for the duties of its directors consisted ia taking cognizance of the doctrines and lives of all preachers and teachers in the kingdom, watching over the proper performance of church ser^ices, and in- specting all works that passed through the Danish press. Heavy penalties were inflicted, and severe reproofs were publicly given from the pulpits in accordance with the decisions of this inquisi- torial tribunal. Neglect of attendance at church was punished by money fines, or, in default of payment, by the long-disused i)enalty of standing in the stocks, which were for that jnu-pose erected be- fore every church door. All public amusements were forl)idden, together with recreations such as riding or driving on a Sunday : all the old national games and festivities were put down as " tilings offensive to God and injurious to the workingman." A royal decree was drawn up for the maintenance of household piety and domestic virtue in Iceland, in which the islanders were warned to abstain from reading idle stories, and so-called sagas which were not " seemly for a Christian soul's entertainment and were a cause of offense to the Holy Ghost." The result of these coercive meas- ures was to create great dissensions in churches and families, and to give rise to a party who, in spite of all restrictions, showed utter indifference to religion and tried by ridicule to bring the pietists into discredit. When, by the death of Christian YL, in 1746, his eldest son, Frederick V., ascended the throne, all the ordinances of the for- mer reign were annulled, and brilliancy and liberty \\ere restored to the court under the direction of the good-humored king and his lively queen, Louisa, daughter of George II. of luigland. The royal couple, by their youth, beauty, and affability, won the hearts of tlie people, and the nation at large rejoiced without concealment at their release from the puritanical thraldom in which the late king had held them. At first the reaction seemed harmless and even beneficial, and, as knig as Queen Louisa lived, the amuse- ments of the court were kept within the bounds of moderation, but after her death, in 1751, and v^-hen another queen, Juliana Maria of Brunswick, had taken her j^Iace, greater luxury began to prevail, and in the attempt to imitate the sumptuous habits oi the French, the Danish royal family were led to incur expenses for which the ordinar\- resources of the crown were quite inadc(|natc. Frederick himself, toward the clo'^e ';f his life, fell into incliriety, which^ coupled with his easy gond-nature, often ma42 SC A N 1) I N A VI A 1771-1772 orders," signed only by himself, which had the same weight as if they had been royal decrees bearing the sovereign's signature. Strnensee's extraordinary talents, h'beral ideas, and great ca- ])acity for business, joined to his rapid and unhesitating decision in fonning a judgment, enabled him to introduce new and better sys- tems of government into many of the departments of the public service. He improved the routine of the law courts, organized police and sanitar}- reforms, established freedom of the press, and made much-needed retrenchments in the expenses of the court and of all the public offices. On the other hand, his indolent conduct, his contempt for all the observances and doctrines of religion, his ignorance of the language and habits of the country over which he ruled, his headstrong haste in effecting changes, and the sus- picion that he was making himself and his friends rich at the ex- pense of the working classes, who wxmt heavily oppressed with taxes, all concurred in raising a host of enemies against him in every rank of the community. The queen-dowager and her son, the so-called *' Hereditary Prince." Frederick, watched the min- ister's rapid rise with fear and indignation. \\'hen, therefore, on the occasion of some disturbances among the sailors in the docks, Struensee gave evidence of want of personal courage and presence of mind, they thought the moment favorable to join forces with Count Rantzau-Ascheberg and others, who had been estranged from him by his arrogance. A plot was soon hatched. On the in'ght of January i6, 1772, the conspirators forced their way into the king's bedroom, and by their representations regarding the (|ueen's conduct and her intimacy with Struensee, obtained Chris- tian's signature to an order for her arrest and that of the minister and of Brandt. The unhappy Caroline ^Matilda, who only three hours before had closed a court ball in a dance with Prince Freder- ick, was awakened out of her sleep bv an armed guard, who com- manrled her to rise and dress herself in all haste for a journey. 'I he same night she was conveved in a closed carriage to the caslle of CrDnborg. near Flsinore, without being allowed t(^ see her two children, the elder nf whom, the Crown Prince Frederick, was only three years old, and the younger, a daughter, still .an infant in arms. After a Formal dca] ')f separation had passed between llie king and herself she was removed from Cronborg through the in- llucnre of her brother. King George TH. of Fngland. and conveyed in an Fji<7lisli man of- war to Zclle. in Hanover, where she lived BEN E V () LENT D E S F T T S "SI 24J3 1772 until her death, in 1775, engaged in works of diarity among the poor and sick, Strnensee and Brandt had. in the meantime, been condemned to death for treason, and sentenced to lose their right hands before they were beheaded, which sentence was pubh'cly executed outside the gates of Copenhagen, on April 28, 1772; but beyond tliese two victims this eventful revolution was free from bloodshed. The king's constantly increasing feebleness of mind and body left him a mere tool in the hands of the queen-dowager and her son, who, in fact, although not in name, ruled the kingdom till the year 1784, when the Crown Prince Frederick attained the legal major- ity of sixteen, and at once claimed the right of acting as regent or joint ruler with his father. During the period of his minority the affairs of the state had been for the most part in the hands of the hereditary prince's friend. Count Ove Hogh Guldberg, who had been a chief agent in bringing about the downfall of Struensee, and whose policy was in every respect tlie ojiposite of that of the minister whom he had ruined. Under Guldberg all the kuvs, whether good or bad, that had been passed under Struensee's min- istry were set aside. The use of the Danish language was encour- aged. The German influence in the country was checked by the appointment to the public service of only nati\-e born or naturalized subjects of Denmark. Less commendable was the issue of vast quantities of paper money which threw both the public and private finances into frightful disorder and disturbed both the peace and the credit of the nation for many years. It may be well to summarize the principal events of the i)erio(l lying between the Treaty of Westphalia and the accession of Gus- tavus in. to the Swedish throne. In 1660 I'^rederick HI. estal)- lished absolute monarchy in Denmarl: and in i6c)3 Charles XI. accomplished practically the same result in .Sweden. Hie ac]n'e\-e- ment of Charles XL, how^ever. barely survived tlie reign of his successor, while that of Frederick III. was destined to endure for nearly two centuries and a half. The Treaty of Xystad. tlie chief event of the period under review, affecting tlie international status of the two nations, was a triumph for Denm.ark and a defeat for Sw-eden. The charter of 1720 gave over the latter pcnver to an oligarchy once more, the fatuous and corrtipt policy of uhici!. after Arvid Florn's death, not only accelerated the decline o\ Sweden's prestige, but greath' ham])ered .Swedish i)articipation in the ct care to what extent Sweden was dismembered, 'fliis humiliat- ing insult roused the S])irit of Ikrnackitte. '' Napoleon." he ex- claimed. " has himself thrown down the gauntlet, and I will take it up!" In April, 1812. Bemadotte signed a secret treat}' with the h^mperor Alexander of Ivussia, at .\!)o. Swed.cn reir;unced all claims to Finland and joined the last coalition against N;ipo]eon. In return she was promised Norway, since Denmark was the French emperor's ally. Alexander also hinted that I'ernadoiie might hope for all of Denmark, or even for the I'rench crown. when Na])oleon should finally be dethroned. ]5y the treaties of Kiel and X'ienna. 18(4. tlie conrlitions of tlie 'freaty of Abo were carried cnit. In addition. .Sweden rccei\-ed, in exchange for her I'omeranian territories. 4.800,000 rix dollars, witli which sum she was able entirely to li(|uid;ite her national clebl. To return to Deumarl:. it \vill be remembered th.'it in 1784 tlie crown ])i-ince cl.-imed liis niajoritv and as>rinied tlie right to rule jointly with liis father, the imbecile Christian \dl. ddie first act (jf the >'oniig prince was {*> dismiss Count (inldi)crg and his part}', and recall ( "ount Andre.'is Peter i'ernsLorf. the former minister of f(jreign affairs, wIkj had s(;me vears before retired fr( 'in the ])ublic service in coiise([uence of diCerenccs with the re.-t of the ccjuncil. POLITICAL REVOLUTION '266 1788-1801 After 1792 almost every other state in Europe found itself forced to participate in the wars of the revolution. The Danes, however, during this period enjoyed a remarkable degree of prosperity, owing to the condition of armed neutrality which the prudent and cautious Bernstorf was able to maintain, and which now enabled Denmark to carry her trade to all the principal mercantile ports of the Baltic and German oceans. But the trading ]:iart of the com- munity was not unique in its prosperity. In 1788 a law was passed giving the peasantry complete freedom from all the bonds of serf- dom that still lingered on from the ^Middle Ages. In order to pre- vent undue license on the part of the younger ])easants, the measure was not to come into full force till 1800 for those who were under thirty-six years of age at the time of its first enactment. The slave trade was also declared illegal at this period in all the Danish West Indian Islands, and the example thus set by Denmark, in 1792, was soon followed by England and other European powers. As long as Count Bernstorf li\-ed causes for strife between Denmark and England had been repressed, but not with.out diffi- culty, for the English entered repeated protests against the Danes engaging in the transportation of food and forage into French and German ports. Wdien, therefore, after Bernstorf 's death, in 1799, Danish men-of-war were sent to sea to convoy merchant vessels, open hostilities ensued. The first quarrel was smootlied over for the time: but in iSoo, wlien Russia. Sweden, and Prussia formed the Northern ^.laritime League and invited Denmark to join it, England took alarm, and dispatched a fleet under Admirals Parker and Nelson to tlie Catlegat. The Dar.es. wholly unprepared for such a step, yet did their best to pre\'ent the English from passing the Sound. But Parker's fleet of fifiy-one sliips, including twenty iine-of-battle ships, was an overwiielining force. By keeping close to the Swedisli coast it got clear of tiie lieavy cannons of Elsinore. at the mouth of the narrow strait between Sweden and Denmark, and cast anclior in th.e hr.rb(>r of C()])enhagcn on April i, 1801. T!ic next morning, SIn'ove I'uesday, Xelson attacked the Danish defenses. Th.en follov/cd a fierce and bloody engagement of five h(jurs" durati(,n, A\l]ich cn(lcd (ii-in;;- he woifld burn tlie j)arii-li '^liij;- in. In-; liand- ex en lliongli !ic s.'irriliced tlieir crews. The crown prince, against tlie wi.--hes and advice of his command- 056 S C A N D I X A A" I A 1801-1808 ers, consented to discuss terms of peace. Thus ended a battle of which Xelson said that it was the most fiercely contested of the hundred and five engagements in wliich. he liad taken part. The Danish seamen, under their bra\e and able commander, Olfert Fischer, fought with the daring for which their nation had in for- mer ages been noted. Three times the aged admiral left one burn- ing ship to hoist his flag on another, while several of the younger captains among them Lassen, Risbrich, and Villemoes fought their ships against larger vessels as long as the shattered hulks remained afloat. The death of the Emperor Paul, and the new alliance made by his son and successor. Alexander, with England, put an end to the comi)act of armed neutrality which had given rise to this un- fortunate war. Denmark now enjoyed a few years of peace, and her trade, b(jth in the Xew and Old World, rose to a degree of activity which it had ne\'er before attained. The Danes were, in fact, the great trading agents for all the other countries of Europe, which were all more or less engaged in war with h'rancc. This prosperous condition of affairs was, however, rudely disturbed, in 1807, ^vhen the English governmciit. believing that Denmark had entered into a treaty with X'apoleon and the lunperor Alexander of Russia, now X'apoleon's ally, or at least fearing that the Danish monarch would be compelled to follow the dictates of tlicsc two autocrats, sent fifty-four ships of war, under Admiral Gami)icr, to demand the immediate delivery of the Danish fleet intci English safekeeping, in order to prevent its use in the cause of the French emperor. Tlie demand came inopportunely for the Danes, as the royal family and nearly all the Danish army Avere in tlolstcin, where the crown prince had reason to fear that an attack was de- '^igncd from the fiermc'in frontier. Copenhagen was thus left in an unprotected state. W'licn the commandant of tlie city, ricneral I'cymann, refused to cnm])lv Avith the demands o^ the f-jigh":di admiral, 33,000 men v^cre landed, under General Cathcart. and the town formallv att.'icked by lan.d :\u<\ sea. A crncl Ixmibardmcnt of three days Icxclcd 1 '"^'oo hon>cs, laid a large iKulion of tlie cit}' in a-lu'-, and at last fnr/ed General Pex-mann to admit the I-aiglish tro(.])s int'j tlie citadel of I-'rederik'shav-n. The result of this attack', \\!ii(di the Danes lool^ed njion a> a Avrmion act of piracv, nnworthv a ,';'re;it na\-al jiower. a\:!s tlie seixnix' b\' tlie l>rilish of iS >hi]is of 'lie line, ji fi i'.r;'ic-, ^ l)i-i':^-. and j^ c'liiboats. besides an immense P O L I T I (' A L H i: V O L f^ T I N 257 1808-1613 amount of naval stores of every kind. Danish naval power was crushed by the blow, and a generation passed away before the fatal wrong to which the nation had been subjected was forgiven. On the night of Alarch 13, 1808, Christian VIL's useless life came to a close, and he was succeeded by his son and regent as Frederick VI. WHiatever may have been the new monarch's esti- mate of the situation, public sentiment speedily compelled him to ally himself with Napoleon. But the remedy was worse than the disease. Danish trading ships were nowhere safe from the attack of British men-of-war. It is estimated that before the restoration of peace upward of 1200 Danish merchantmen, valued, together with their cargoes, at 30,000,000 rix dollars, had been conliscated. On the pretense of supporting Denmark against an invasion by the Swedes, and aiding her in recovering her old Swed- ish provinces. Napoleon sent an army of 30,000 men, under Gen- eral Bernadotte (Prince of Ponte Corvo), into Slesvig-Holstein, where they remained over a year without striking a single blow in Denmark's behalf. The cost and disturbance which the presence of such a body of foreign soldiery necessarily occasioned were greatly aggravated by their want of discipline and the discontent of the men themselves. Among them were 14,000 Spaniards, un- der the command of the Alarquis de la Romana, who, during the whole of his sta)- in the Danish peninsula, was engaged in in- trigues to escape from the service of the French emperor and unite with the English. When the news arrived that Napoleon had deposed the King of Spain and placed his brother Joseph on the throne of that countr)-, the long-brooding discontent of the Spanish troops broke into open rebellion, and the country was soon afterward called upon to witness a civil war among its self- appointed defenders. A squadron of English ships, which had been sent to cooperate with the Spanish detachment in the Danish provinces, succeeded in taking large numbers on board from Jut- land and the Island of Langeland, wliile the few regiments which were unable to escape were disarmed by the Danes and kept as prisoners of war. Bernadotte withdrew his forces, thereby per- mitting the English to pounce upon i\nhalt and so secure control (jf the passage between Denmark and Norway. At the same time the government of In-ederick VL formed the desperate resolution of meeting the heavy debts wliich they had incurred in this unfor- tun;ite war by issuing 14-' millions of paper notes, which were 258 SCANDINAVIA 1813-1818 Speedily circulated at one-sixth of their face value. This measure undoubtedly averted the bankrnj)tcy tliat seemed inevitable, but it ruined the chief trading- and banking- liouses in Denmark, and created the acutest distress in a]m(i>l ex'ory rank of the |)0])ulatit)n. The Danisli Idng's policy was throughout weak and vacillating-. After a series of humiliations and disappointments lie found him- self compelled, in 1814, to agree to the Peace of Kiel. In accord- ance with the terms of this treatv. as was above noted, Denmark was forced to give Norway to Sweden, and to acce])t in exchange Swedish Pomerania and Ivygen, which, however, were at once ceded to Prussia in return for Pruicnburg and the payment of two millions f;f rix drjllars. England rcfjuircd for herself the cession of Helig(;land, to secure the command of the I'^lbe ; and, thus bereft of all lier most valual)le points of defense, Denmark was forced in join tlie allies, r^inrdlv T^'redcrick was compelled to seek admission to the Congress of \^ienna, not as an independent sovereign, but as a member of tlie fierman confederation in his capacity as duke of ]b)lstcin tUid Lauenburg. The years succeeding the Congress (jf X'ienna^ were for Scan- dinavia, as for the rest of Ein"0])e, years r)f material rccui)eration, and (jf jjoliticrd de\'elopment, under the inlluence of tlie dogmas of the revrjlution. In I'SiS Bernadotte ascended the Swedish thrf^ne as Charles XIV., or, as his subjects designated him, Karl Johan. In his earlier days Pcrnadotte IkuI been a fierce republican, \"ociferatin.g- his theories to the \-er\' face of Na.])oleiin, wliose coronation as emperor his scruples would Uiot permit him to attend. Indeed, the stor}' is told that, long- years after he 1)ecame a mon- arch himself, his cor.rt ph\-sician found the words " .1 Ixis Irs Rois " and " Jlz'c la Rrpubliijiic " tattoed o-n tlie arm of his dislinguished ])atient. Such sentiments v.ere, lio\vc\-er, no longei represeniatix-e of the burgher-king's cfuivictions. k'rom \ear to year his recollec- tion of ihe cxce--es ()f the I'rench l\c\-olution iiicrea-cd in \i\idncss, his distru-t of ])r)])ular enthusiasms becrune accenluated, his dis- inclination to favor .any extension of ])()liiic;il Ireedoni became more ])i"onounced. 1'oo large a ])art of his career b.ad bi mi >^])ent in the role of a commander of coliorts, \\"h(,'>c word w;i^ l,iw, lo achnit now of aii\' toleration I'U his ])art of interlerence with In-. administrati'ju. lie con-uhed his CT.ncil, indeed, but for ad\ice, /),/, ].:i\]~r :;:,,1 t; mi;! ai:7-~('"i-:- A]-<> SciLMioh'.- : " I'olilical lli-t(jryof J-'.i;ri pc since 1814," ch. XVJlf. ( .Macvaiu-'s Iraii-lalionJ. POLITICAL REVOLUTION 259 1818-1843 not direction. Even the word of his influential favorite, Magnus Brahe, was not preponderant. Nevertheless, in a country where the aristocracy was as strong as it was in Sweden in 1818, where nine years before it had suc- ceeded in transforming the absolute despotism into a limited mon- archy, the royal will was not allowed to work itself out entirely without let or hindrance, now that peace had succeeded war, and opposition could again assert itself without peril to the state. By 1818 the strict legitimist party, that had at first opposed the notion of a French dynasty, had entirely vanished before the evidences that the adopted prince royal had given of his great capacity and of his fidelity to Sweden. The opposition that met Karl Johan in the diet of 1818 and 1823 was, on the contrary, a liberal opposi- tion, whose platform was the supersession of the antiquated estates by a representative parliament similar to that of France and Eng- land, and the transformation of the council of state into a respon- sible ministry. The re\-olutionary enthusiasm of 1830 greatly strengthened the Swedish o])position, which now spread beyond the legislative chambers and began to use the public press. A cer- tain Crusentolpe attackecl tlie government with audacity and viru- lence. .-Vnother journalist, Hierta by name, founded the Afton- hladct and dewoted its pages entirely to political agitation. Karl Johan suppressed tlie obstreperous sh.eets and prosecuted their mu- tinous editors relentlessly. Tlie agitation grew none the less, and Karl Johan, however obstinate, knew wlien to yield as well as when to fight. In 1840 lie gave his sanction t(5 an act of the diet reor- ganizing the council of state into a departmental ministry, such as had Ijecn established in Denmark, nearly two centuries before, under Frederick II L 1,'ndcr the new arrangement, which still obtains, tlicre are seven services foreign affairs, navy, defense, finance, justice, education, and interior cacli in charge of a min- ister. Decisions are made by ihe ministry ;is a body, then receive the royal sanction, and finally the signature of the head of the particular department to wliich tJie subject nnritter falls. Despite the frequently outrageous character of the opposition, his own alien birth, ]'i> ign(Vi-;mce of In's subjects' language, and his h.orror of clic'ingc, Karl Jolian cclel)ratc(l the twenty-fifth anniver- sary of his acce-.if.n to the Sv^cdi.-li tln'one on l"el)ruary 5, 1843, amid manv evidences (;f general rcg;ird. 'i'lie political agitators, knowing that his reign Vw'is now near its close, and hoping for much 260 S C A N D I N A V I A 1818-1844 from the liberality of his heir's sentiments, were content to abide their time. In ]\Iarch, 1844, Karl Johan died. In the days of his soldiering- for France he had married Desiree Clary, the bewitchint^ daughter of a Marseilles silk merchant, and once the betrothed of the great Bonaparte himself. By the marriage there was one son, who now ascended the throne as Oscar I. Karl Johan's rule was a period of great internal development for Sweden. Industry, agriculture, and commerce, reviving, at- tained dimensions hitherto unknown. Between 1821 and 1840 the customs receipts more than doubled. Roads, bridges, and canals, the greatest of which was the famous Gothia Canal, connecting the North and Baltic Seas, and completed in 1832. rendered the coun- try accessible in everv (juarter. The employment of steam as- sisted the process, thrmgh it was not till the next reign that the era of railroad building seriously began. Public education w^as greatly expanded. Already in i8ti an agricultural college had been founded; in 1821 a school of mines was established; the law of 1842 inaugurated the national system of i)arochial schools and brought elementary education within the reach of all orders. Cer- tain reforms were made despite royal opposition, such as the estab- lishment of new tribunals and the improvement of the prison system. Tn otlier wa}-s, however, as. for instance, by the riiainte- nance of the alliance with Russia and ]Deace with Europe, and by the negotiation of numerous commercial treaties, the king and his ministers actively aided the general development. For more than four hundred years Norway had been united with Denmark, spoken the same language and read the same lit- erature ; that she should resist transference to Sweden, an alien ])Ower, was naturrd. The recently revi\cd sentiment of patriotism, howexer, wliicli in 1810 had found expression in the formation of a " Society for tlie Promotion of Norwegian Interests," and in snbscri])tions for a Norwegian university, transformed the resist- ance into an effort to raise Norway once more to the station of .'ui inrlependent nation, rather than sim])l\- to maintain tlic Danisli cormection. The Danish viceroy. Prince Christian I-'rederick, at once identined liimsclf with the ])atriotic cause. Convoking a diet of elected representatives and officeholders at Eidsvold, he was elected king (jf Norway by that body. May \y, 1814. The diet, at the f the struggle with Napoleon. Karl Johan's government immediately tor)k a hand in effecting an industrird and commercial re\'i\-al in iItc povcrt\'-strickcn land. Tn t8t8 an industrird schotil A\-as founded at C'liristiania. Norway shared with Sweden, of course, tlie bcnent of tlic nnmcrotis commercial treaties to which reference has been ni.ade. In the course of a few years Norway c:une to own a qn:M"U-r of ihc' merchant marine ff Europe. The number of landowner- incri^i^ed between the vears 1814 and. 1835 from 45,r)r)0 t'l 105,000. Shiortlv after the close of the \\:\v a bank of Xorw<'i\- \\;,- t -talKidied, the paid-u]) ra])ital of wliich wa-^ ])rocured by tax.-.li' n. Tlii- led to a rising in 1S18, which, however, was soon ])ni d'lwii. 'i he refonn, togclhcr with the reduction of tlie a--iii\ to onrdiali. and bountiful har\e>ts, S(j(jn broiiijiit i)rospcritv. POLITICAL REVOLUTION 263 1818-1838 The public debt, which was very large in 1815, was entirely liqui- dated by 1850. In Denmark the establishment, in iSiS, of a national bank, wholly independent of the state, was the first step toward a better condition in the monetary system. By degrees trade and confi- dence in the resources of the country revived, and a proper and fair proportion of silver money came to replace the former worthless paper notes of the government. The more prosperous condition of the people soon led them to interest themselves in the manage- ment of public affairs. So decided a character had this newly awakened feeling assumed by the time of the revolutionary move- ments of 1830, that King Frederick, to avert any untoward results, but entirely in opposition to his ov\'n consen-ative principles, pro- claimed the establishment of consultative chambers in the spring of 1831. The nation seized with eagerness upon this opportunity of asserting their rights, and poured forth their gratitude to the king in the most enthusiastic manner. The same year the new assemblies were opened: one for the islands at Roeskilde, one for Jutland at Viborg", one for Slesvig" in the town of Sles\'ig, and one for Holstein at Itzehoe. To these chambers were to be submitted for consideration and approval all lavs affecting the personal con- dition of the citizens of the respective provinces, and all projects of taxation. The finances of tlie kingdom became the first object of consideration for the new chambers. These bodies, not satisfied with the amount of information accorded them on tlie subject of the disposal of the revenue, petitioned the king for leave to appoint a committee of inquiry into the working of the financial depart- ments of the government. But Frederick had apparently repented of his easy compliance with liberalism, and tlie demand was vetoed, In the meanwhile tlie question of the freedom of the press liad begun to excite the minds of men of all ch'isses. The king and his chief friends, taking speedy alarm at the free discussion of ])n1)lic matters, which now, for the first time, filled the ]);ipers, and unal^Ie the rescind the rights of free speech granted to tlie memljcrs of the different chambers, determined to im])i)sc restrictions on the press. The first decisive step taken by th.e government was to interdict tlie further publication of Focdrclaiu/ct, a weekly ])ai)er, conducted l)y the learned C. X. David, professor of ])olilic;d economy in tlie University of Ccjpenhagen. Dr. David was Ijronglit before tlic law courts on tlie cliaru'e of seditious writing, but to the universal 264 S C A X 1) J N A \ I A 1838-1844 jtiy ui the liberal party, and to llie extreme annoyance of the gov- ernment, which deprived him, in the following year (1S36), of his chair, was acquitted. In the midst of a ttu'moil of strong political feeling Frederick VI. died, in 1839, after a rule of fifty-five years, leaving behind the memory of a well-meaning Ijut feeble ruler, whose thoroughly patriotic love of his country and his people made him personally dear to all classes of his subjects, despite tl"re many blunders and shortcomings of his administration. The years 18 14 and 1844 mark the birth time and the coming to maturity of a new generation of Scandinavians, who never par- ticipated in the slaughter of brother Scandinavians, who never wit- nessed a war of Swedes against Danes or of either against Xor- wegians. Old jealousies waned: old rivalries relaxed; the fraternal feud that had endured Sd manv centuries came to an end, su]v l)lanted by a feeling of patriotism to all Scandinavia. The mon- archs them.'^fh-es. espcciallv Karl Johan and 0 ua- the C(;nsideration f)f scientific, literary, and other interests, and by urging exchanges of courtesies by the universities and cr)lleges of the th.ree n;iti(jns. .Vt the time of the Crimean A\'ar Prince Oscar hoisted his admiral's flag over the first allied fleet of Swedish. ]')anish. and Norwegian vessels that had ritlden the seas since the days of the \'iking-. At the close of th.e war. in con-e(juence tcin subjccf^. Oscar. ;is we shall see. sent troops 1') liie aii -er\icc. To tin's sentiment o\ ]~'an-.Scandina\-iam"sm if so it may be called i> to be ret"erred in ])art the great literarv outburst of this ])eriod. In .'^weden. Tegncr, Slagnelius, and Runeberg (the latter bum 111 ! inland but .Sweden's greatest poet), t'ound their themes in ancient Xi.r-c lii.^iory; Oehlenschl;iger, the I'ounder nf the Dani>li drama, had rcconr-e to the same fountain of insijirati' in ; also \\ ergrland and \\'clha\-en in Xorway. In the>e same }e;irs Deijer wV'lv lii-t'ir) ; |-<,_oell)(.]-o- wrought his sculpture; and lierzelius. the chemi-', -inod at ilie -ummit of scientific eminence in ITu'ope. Chapter XX SLESVIG-HOLSTEIN. 1839-1885 FREDERICK VL, leaving no male lieir, was succeeded by his cousin, under the title of Christian VTII. 1'hc acces- sion of this prince to the throne \\as hailed with joy l)v the entire Danish nation, who believed tliat in hitn tlicy would find a ruler of liberal and advanced views. Tlieir expecta- tions were, however, only partially realized. For altlioui^h King Christian was a man of talent, of literary aptitudes, of erudi- tion, and was well informed in all the political (luestions of the day. he yet displayed from the moment of his accession a resolute determination to stand by the ancient prerogative of the crown, and a most disheartening reluctance to ])ledge himself to measures of reform. Despite the fact that Cliristian effected many improvements in the government, reduced the national (lel)t froni 124 to 104 millions rix dollars, encouraged the promotion of learn- ing and extension of schools, and impressed a new and mf;rc enlightened spirit upon the public institutions of the country, tlic people remained dissatisfied, the press, in defiance of restriction ruid severe penalties, gave circulation to works ot a violent char;icter. and the relations bet\veen the monarcli and the legislati\'e cham- bers became yearly more and more impossiiile. The most important cause of ]~)anisli dissatisfaction with Chri:;- tian was afforded by his vacillating, and from the Danish stand- point unpatri()tic, course in the vS]es\-ig-i{olstein matter. The Holy Roman empire had come to an cud in i8;)h. l)ut the (ier- manic confederation of J815 \\';is heir to its ])retensions, or rather, to its right to make ])retensions. The position ()f ilolstein as a member of the confeder.'ition ^\as. ho\\(.'\-er. ])lain. Tt had nc\-cr been united to E)enmark Iw more than i)crsonal union. -and tlu;n a^ a separate fief from the empire. AbircMner. >!nce th.e Srdic l;i\\ had ceased to regulate succession to the I)ani.di throne in llie tinio oi Frederick III., wdn'le it continued to regulates i!ie succc->-ion i:i certain districts of Jiolstcin, the line of personal connection w:;- 266 S C A X D I N A V I A 1157-1460 liable to be dissevered at any moment with respect to those dis- tricts. The case of Slesvic^ and the rest of Holstein. on the other hand, it may be \vell to review. It will be recalled that, in the reign of Xiels, Knnd Illaford took possession of Slesvig". and that when Knud himself became king", his son. Valdemar, became first dnke of Slesvig-. W'ddemar's accession, in 1157, united the duchy tem- porarily to the kingdom, but Knud \'I. ag;iin detached it for his son, A'aldemar, whose accessicni to the Danish throne again effected a brief union of the duchy and the kingd'uu. In 12 18, however, \'al(lcmar handed over the duchy to Erik as did Erik to Abel in 1232. Abel's usuriiation, in 1250. brought about a third reunion of the realm, but for only four years. For when, at Abel's death, his brother, Christ(vpher. came to the throne, his son, Valdemar, be- came (hike of Slesvig and founrled a line that endured till 1375. 'Jdie Constitntio J'aldcinariana of 1326 had, in the meantime, guar- anteed th.e divorce of the duchy and the realm; so that, at the ex- tinction of the \'aldcmarian family, Slesvig'. instead of escheating to the crown, was allowed to jxass to Count Gerhard \l. of Hol- stein in, August 15, 138*^) llie origin of Slesvig-1 lolstcin. This, however, was the mr)mcnt of tlie L'nion of Calmar. E.rik of Pomerania's more ambitious rmd capable successors were u.nwilling to see their alriKst imperial dominion clipped in any direction. Ac- cordingly. Cicrh.ard's s(.)n and successor, Adolf VII. of Holstein, had to fight Denmark thirty years before he was invested witli Slesvig. Hardly had he triumphed wlien he Irimsclf was offered the Danisli crown. It will be remembered tliat he declined tiie offer, ijut nominated his nc])]iew and jiresumptive heir, CTirisiian (if Oldenburg, for tlie h.onor. Christian became king of Denmark in 1448, a'Kl twe]\'e \-ears k'lter, upon tlie death o\ his uaicle, was cho.-cn dul;e of Slesvig and count of Holstein by the c-tatc,-^ at Ribe. We now come upon a document of great iinporl;Mice from tlie standpoint of some subserpient history. Christian I. swore tat Kibe to maintain \u ])er])etm't\- tlie miion and indi\idnality of the country and tlie (!uc:i\-, and to conserve their respectixe hbcriies. lA'ci-y }"ear a diot wa- to be conx'ened at !')ornh("i\ ed for Mol-'ein, and another, ho" .'^k'sxig, at Crnelio\'ed. The consent of t!iese bodies was to lie -'ii!glit to ;ill imi)o-ts and all declar.'ition'^ of war. Jn the ab-ence oi i!n; kin;.;", llic ;!dinini>tralion of the two ri';.;ions was to lall lo a conlmi.-^^ion of twelve, consisting of the ])i.--!iop,-> (,1 Lubcck S L E S V I G - H O I. S T E I N 267 1460-1806 and Holstein and ten delegates. Just 396 vears later, and in the very midst of the struggle which we arc here chronicling, Dahl- mann, the eminent German historian, whose " History of Den- mark " we have cited on numerous occasions, discovered, in the course of his researches at Preetz, the original draft of Chris- tian I.'s long- forgotten pact. Immediately the document was seized upon by the pro-German party of south Slesvig and heralded abroad as the unalterable charter of " German liberties " in the duchies. It was argued that inasmuch as Holstein was admittedly not an integral part of the Danish realm, then neither was Sles- vig; that since Holstein was a member of the German confedera- tion, then so should Slesvig be rightfully; that since the Salic rule of succession still held for Holstein, so also it should for Slesvig. To say the least, this argument ignored a good deal of inter- vening history. In 1544 there took place between the sons of Frederick I. a division of the possessions of the house of Olden- burg. Christian III. founded a line of Danish kings: Adolph I. founded the line of Gottorp. In i5cSi a second partition was made by the two branclies of the house of Oldenburg: that of IHensburg (August 15, 1581). By this treaty, Slesvig and Holstein hotli fell to the Gottorp prince, but Slesvig remained a Danish fief, while Holstein remained a German. It is true that l^rederick III., third of the line of Gottorp dukes, WTung- a recognition of his sovereignt)- in Slesvig from Denmark by the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. But the half century of war that followed resulted, with the overthrow of Charles XII., in the triumph of the Danjsh king. In August, 1/21, Frederick IV. of Denmark was recognized by the Slesvig diet as sole sovereign of the duchy. By tlie Treaty ui Copenh;igen of 1767 Catherine II. of Russia renounced her son's claims ui)on Holstein, as heir to one bnmcli of the Gottorp line, and Christian VII. novv' acquired the entire Gottorp tide. In 1806, upon the dissolution of the Holy Ivoman empire, tlic union of Holstein to the Danish monarchy was affirmed, though certain indefinite rights of collateral heirs were reserved, d'lie 'Freaty of Vienna trans- ferred Lauenburg to Denmark, and reafiirmcd the ])anish mon- arch's position as duke of Holstein. Ijoth Holstein and l_.auenburg were recognized as mcmljcrs of the German confederation. The pro-German deductions from Christian I.'s pact with the estates at Ribe, in 1460, seem, therefore, In'gluy a])snrd. 'Jlie legal phase of the situaticHi was, hcnvever, in 1844. very minor. The ^G8 S C A N D I N A A' I A 1806-1844 crux of the difficulty consisted in the fact that the population of Slcsvio-Holstein. except in certain districts of tlie former, was largely German, and that their institutions had, in the course of a louQ- process, which we have noted from time to time, become Ger- man also. Xow. so long as the Germans as a race possessed no national yearning-s. the union of the duchies in the Danish mon- archy had not been looked upon as a g-ricvance. But the War of Liberation, of 1813. had altered this general condition by creating a general reviwal of German patriotism. Xext year had followed Denmark's loss of Xorway and a consequent imposition by the Dan- ish gd\ernment of additional burdens upon the population of Sles- vig-Holstein. In 1830 the pro-German cause was given an organ tor the establishment, in consequence of the revolutionary move- ments of that year, of provincial estates in both Slesvig and Hol- stein. Finally, in 1844. came Dahlmann's discover}-. The disrup- tionists now stood a})parcntly on the ground of ancient rights. Returning nov^- to Christian VIII.. the leaders of the German j^arty in Sles\-ig-Ho]stcin were the queen's brothers. Cliristian of Augustenburg and Ih'ince I'rederick of Xocr. When, therefore, Chri>tian. in 184-'. cle\-atcd tlie latter to the rank of stadholder and comm.andcr-in-chief in .'^Icsvig-ITolstein and jnade him presi- dent C)f the go\-ernment of the duchies, his action naturallv created considerable distrust among the ]iatriotic. or ]")ro-Danish, party, wliich became positi\'e consternation wlien, without the warrant of nepotism that may ha\e attaclied to the appointment of the ])rince. the posts of chancellor and foreign secretary for the duchies were bestowed upon ('onnts Ji')sci:)h and Ileinrick Reventlow Criminil, the de\'oted friends and crinfidants of the .Augustenburg prince. In the indignation of tlie moment, violent and angry remonstrances inundated the king from every f|uarter of Jutland and the [Danish I>land<. The press became obstreperous and the royal minister-^ resigned. The German ])art}-. on the other hand, wa-^ corres])ond- ingly elated at these reiterated jM^oofs of royal fax'or. At the fol- lowing meeting of the estates at .Slesvig, in .Vo\-ember. 1844, ihe >^ere>-ionij-ts were eml)r)ldenc(l to ]">ro])ose that steps >liould be taken for tlie admi'^sion r)f .Slesvig into the German confederation, in anticijjation df which the u-e of the Danish language was to lie suppre~~ed in the duchies, .and the Danish flag, the Dannebrog. was to be replaced by the sjiecial flag for the united state of Sles- \ iL:--lIobtein. S L E S \' I G - H O L S T E I N 269 1844-1848 Again ang-ry remonstrances flowed in upon the king-, urging condign punishment for the treason done the language and the ilag of the kingdom. At first Christian appeared to liesitate. The candor of the disruptionists. liowever, could permit no douht as to their intentions. In 1846 King Christian published the "open royal letter," declaring Slesvig an organic part of the Danish realm, and governed by the same rule of succession. Aloreover. as to those portions of Holstein where a different rule of succession jm'c- vailed, he would spare no effort to preserve the unity of the mon- archy. At the same time he refused to receive protests from the provincial estates of Slesvig-Holstein, and soon after deprived Prince Frederick of the important posts which the latter had been intrusted with in 1842. This remained the situation of affairs till January 20, 1848, when Christian VIII. , dying, was succeerled by Frederick VII., the last of tlie male line of his house. Frederick VII. 's initial act was to publish a liberal constitu- tion. The significance of this document, in connection with the Slesvig-Holstein question, is that it treated all parts of the mon- archy as on the same footing. At this very moment the " h^ebru- ary Revolution " was occurring in Paris and transmitting the revo- lutionary impulse to e^'ery quarter of Furope. A public meeting at Altona demanded the establishment of a separate constitution for Slesvig-Holstein and the admission of Slesvig into the Ger- man confederation, which demands were immediately drafted into resolutions by the provincial estates and forwarded to the king at Copenhagen. Frederick, in his reply, admitted the right of Holstein, as a member of the German confederation, to be gnided bv the decrees of the h'rankfort diet, but declared that he had neither " the power, right, nor wish " to permit Slesvig to enter the confederation. At the same instant a popular move- ment at Copenhagen brought into power a thoroughly Danish ministry, pledged to the fc^rmal and ex])licit incor])oration of Sles- vig with Denmark. Ihit even before this the Holsteiners, without awaiting the king's reply, had taken matters into their own hands. Prince Frederick of Xoer had gained over the garrison of the castle of Rendsburg by circulating a re])ort tliat Coi)enhagen was in a state of siege and h'rederick VH. a prisoner. A provisional gov- ernment had been formed at Kiel; the Duke of Augustcnbiu-g had gone to Berlin to demand aid from King Frederick William IV. This mission was successful. The Prussian king, hard 270 S C A N D I N A VIA 1848-1849 pressed by his people, wlio had become mocnlated with tlic revolu- tionary virus and were demanding" ctmstitutional liberty, was eais^er enough to appear in the rule of defender of German liberties in Holstein. The diet of Frankfort, ex])ressin_o- the universal will of Germany, demanded that Slesvig, as the sister state of Hol- stein, should enter the confederation. Immediately the envoy who represented the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein quitted h^rankfort, and a state of war ensued between Denmark on the one side and Prussia and the German confederation on the other. ^Military operations had already begun; the Danes had met the Holstein army near FIcnsborg and had forced it to fall back. Before they could follow up their advantage, however, the insur- gents received strong- reinforcemen-ts of German tr(3(^ips under Generals W'rangel and Halkett. On April 23, 1848, a stubborn con- test was fought near Slesvig Ijetween the allied armies, amounting to 28.000 men. and tlie Danish army, under the command of Gen- eral Hedemrmn. The Danes, numbering only ti.oc^'O. and uujm-o- vided Avith tlie more modern weapons of their Cjcrman antagonists, were forced, after a gallant stand, jirdlongcd through the wliole day. to retreat to the little I.-l'md of Als, where they could lie under cover of the l^anish ships of the line and recruit their forces. Tn the meantime General \\'rar,gel advanced inland into Jutland. where he attempted to collect fou.r million rix dollars as indemnity for the damage inilicted on his army and on Cierman ship])ing' by the Danish na\-y. Before he could enforce his deniands. howe\-er. he received carders from the Prussian C(nu't to retire south of the little strerun known as the Konge-aae, in wS]es\-ig. d'his sudden and unexpected mo\-ement v.ris the result of Russian intervention, which the I'russian mr)narch was not in a position to dviv. At the same moment King Oscar (jf Swcd.en . P)y this truce it was stipulated that tlie acts of the jjri-jvi^ional go\-crnment of the insurgents should be rc])udi;ited and that the duchies ^hoqild be go\-ernfd till the conch!:-ion of the war by fi\e .Slc.-\ig and lloFtein comnn'-^siouers. chosen conjointlv by the kings of l'ru--ia and Denmai'k. Ihe truce wa^ i Augustenburg, took up a stroirg jjosition at Istcd. near Slcsvig. II1C duke, in the meanwhile, as-sumcd the tiilc (jf sover- eign of the provinces, and made constant appeals to tl:e i)C'i])]e. In the character of a wronged prince, about to fight for In's own and their independence against an oppressive tyrant. The Daiii>]i army, numbering 27,000 men, under Gener.al Krogh, attacked tlie insurgents Jul}' 24. On that and the following day. in the midst of rain and hca\"y mist, a deci^i\-e battle was fought at Istcd, whicli ended in the retreat of W'illisen, and in the occupation, by the tri- umphant Danes, of Slcsvig and the old Danish frontier defense-, the Danne\irl\]u Ihtlslein battalion lacing nearl_\- wiped (^ut. At this point thi' ficrnian confederate goxTriiment. in consCf|uencv of the d'real}- "f Ohniit/. l)Ctween Pru--ia rutfl An^tri.a, iiilcrfercd, and sent 4(>.nrgent army was disbrnnlei], .-iinl a JMJnt Danidi, (hais'^ian. and Austrian comnn's- sion wa< a,p])i >inicd 1.1 ^o\(tii IhTicin till it- rcl;iti<>ns ti^ l^enmark could be dcliiicd. while Slvs\ ii' \\a- left under the control of the SL E S V I G - II L S T E I N ^iTii 1850-1S63 Danish king to be (iccill with as lie and his advisers nii^:;-ht determine. B}^ the London protocol of Ani^ii^l j, 1850. the powers. Avith the exception of Prnssia, declared for tlie same rule of succession for all parts of the DanisJi state. By the Treaty of London of May 8, 1852, to which Prussia also g-ave its assent, Duke Christian of Glucksburg- was made heir presumptive to the Danish throne, since the reigning line would become defunct with the demise of Frederick VII. At the same time the Duke of Augustenburg re- nounced his pretensions to the succession in Slesvig-Holstein in consideration of an indemnity from the Danish monarch. Thus, while the continuance of the Slesvig-Holstein estates was stipulated and Holstein's rights as a member of the German confederation, under the Treaty of 181 5, were reiterated, the integrity of the dominions of the King of Denmark was essentially maintained, and the Slesvig-Holstein question was seemingly at an end. Xo so, however. The imi)ulse of German nationalitv and Prussian ambitions were still to be reckoned with. Relying on the apparent sentiment of the powers in favor of Denmark's integrity, l-h-ederick VII. resumed his attemjjts to assimilate Slesvig-Holstein to the rest of his realm. In October, 1855, the king granted his Danish subjects a new constitution and extended it to the duchies and the work of superseding* German institutions with Danish began with considerable vigor, perhaps with some harshness. At any rate, bitter complaints reached the diet of Frankfort, which forthwith renewed its old-time threats of armed inter\cntion in behalf of German rights. In Xovember, 1855, Frederick con- sented to exclude Holstein from the operation of the national con- stitution. By this time, however, tbe population (^f Slesvig was also clamoring for autonomy, and, in 1861, the Prussian govern- ment announced its support of Slesvig's course. lA'cn the British government, thus far an advocate of Denmark's integrity, urged a separate administration for Slesvig-Holstein. That tlie Danes would never yield this point, confident as they were of British back- ing, was made plain by tlie royal manife: to of >darch 30, 1863. On October i the diet at I^rankfort decreed federal execution against the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein. Xoxember 15 King Frederick died. Immediately the eldest son of the Huke of Augus- tenburg, who had never sanctioned his father's renunciations of the family pretensions, ha'^tened into the duchies and assumed the title J>T4- S C A X D I N A \ I A 1863-1864 of Duke Frederick VIII. of the united and independent province of Slesvig-Holstein. while Sax(Mi and Hanoverian troops entered the latter duchy as mandatories of the diet. At this point Bismarck, ahxady tlie ]eaer\ed. At tlie same time he did not withdraw his demands of 1861 for the concession by the Danish government of autonomy to Slesvig; but. by a piece of diplomacy of marvelous dexteritv. lie brougiit tlie Pmperor of Austria o\-er to the belief that the diet of P'rrmkfort was su]i])orting a revolutionary movement in the duchies. Of course Austria and Prussia could have no commerce with revolutions, and wliile the cause of Sles\-ig must not suffer, it must be ])romoted only by d.ealings with legitimate authority. Idic Austrian and Prussian ultimatum demanding autonomy for Sles\-ig being reiectcd by Christian IX., the troops of these powers entered Slesvig bY^bru- ru-y I, 1864. There was no alternative left Denmark but to ])reparc for Avar. .V Danish army of 40,000, under General de Meza. was sent U) defend tlie 1 )annc\'irke. The success. Ir.wevcr, of the Auslriaai contingent of the iinTiding forces in their oj'crations against the center of tlie i)ani>h arm\-. comjK'lled the latter to fall back' \\\u ,u the fortified ])o-;t of Dybbel. llerc for some weeks the Prussians were field in check-, wiiile the Austriaiis adw'.iiced norihward into Jutland. At lenglli, on April 18, aflcr sexcral liours wf hea\v boni- bardment. Ihe line- of [)\-bbel v.ere taken b\- -iMrni ami tlie I )anes comjielled to v.-itlidra.w acr(i>^ the .^oujid into Al-. ."-^oi'ii tlie allien. de-j)ite the unfaiiing gallantry of the ])aiii>h defen-e. were in jjos- se-^ioii of the entii-e pci!iii>nla to llic L\mfjor(l. SLESVIG-HOLSTEIN 275 1864-1866 In the meantime, finding that neither England, France, nor Sweden interfered in its behalf, the Danish government consented to discuss terms of peace. The Prussian envoy, Bernstorf, at first proposed that Slesvig-Holstein should be recognized as an inde- pendent state, the question as to whether Christian IX. or some other prince should be its ruler to be deferred to future negotia- tion. The Danish representative replied that his government could not recognize the independence of the duchies even on the condition of personal union. Austria and Prussia now demanded that Sles- vig-Holstein should be constituted a separate and independent state under Frederick of Augustenburg. The English government se- cured a modification of the proposition, however, much to the favor of Denmark, to which the northern districts of Slesvig were to remain attached in absolute sovereignty. Even yet the Danes held off, entertaining vain hopes of English assistance. At last the forces on the Island of Als were overthrown. In order to save his monarchy from complete dismemberment. Christian IX. was now compelled to accept the terms offered by tlie Peace of Vienna, which was signed October 30, 1864. King Christian renounced all claims on the duchies of Lauenburg, Plolstein, and Slesvig, and pledged himself to abide by whatever decision Austria and Prussia might make in regard to the future disposal of these provinces. Ostensibly, Bismarck had carried on the war in behalf of the Slesvig-Holsteiners, and, latterly, in behalf of Frederick of Augus- tenburg; in reality, he fought for the consolidation of Germany about Prussia, and under the house of Hohenzollern. When, therefore, at the conclusion of the war, he offered the sovereignty of Slesvig-Holstein to the Augustenburg prince, it was on the con- dition that Kiel, well-fitted to become a great naval station, should be handed over to Prussian control, that certain strategical posi- tions along the Slesvig-Holstein frontier should be likewise surrendered into Prussian hands, and that the entire naval and mili- tary resources of the duchies should l)c made subject to the com- mand of the Berlin government. Botli Frederick .-nid the Austrian emperor united to veto this astounding ])r()position. By the C(mi- vention of Gastein, of August, 1865, Eauenburg was made over to Prussia in full sovereignty, Slesvig received a Prussian ad- ministration, and Holstein an Austrian. Xext year, however, occurred the Six Weeks' War and the terrible Austrian defeat at Sadowa. By the Treaty of Prague, signed July 26, 1866, Prus- 276 SCANDINAVIA 1866-1833 sia's sovereignty in Slesvig-Holstein was at last completely estab- lished. Though a clause of the treaty, inserted at the instance of Napoleon III. provided that north Slesvig should be restored to Denmark unconditionally if the population should so determine by a plebiscite; this stipulation, with Prussia's triumph and Na- poleon's downfall in 1870, proved totally illusive, and, in 1878 Austria agreed to the cancellation of the clause. The inhabitants of north Slesvig have never ceased to show their discontent by electing protesting deputies to the reichstag. The Prussian gov- ernment has retorted by persecuting Danish patriots and forbidding the use of tlie Danish language. In 1885 sixteen girls were fined for singing Danish patriotic songs and a bookseller was similarly mulcted for having offered for sale a book whose covers bore the Danish ccjlors. The war of 1864 effected two things: it brought to a close a struggle that had been going on in various guises for o\'er six cen- turies ; it brought to the ]3.'mish frontiers a formidable power that would be notliing loath, morcnver, t(j extend its sway to the tide waters of the Cattcijat and the North Sea. Chapter XXI CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN THE THREE KINGDOMS. 1844-1910 OSCAR I. was forty-five years of apfe wlien he ascended the Swedish throne. His popularity with his suhjects was immense; he was known both as a pliilanthropist, interested in prison reform, and as a pohtician of the most enhght- ened views. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that for years the demise of Karl Johan and the accession of Oscar to the crown had been impatiently awaited by the Swedish people. It was in. an- ticipation of this happy event that the opposition consented to with- hold its hand after the reforms of 1840 and to give the aged incumbent of the throne an ovation on tlie twenty-fifth anniversary of his accession. The question before the government was still the one brought forward by the liberals of 181 5. z'iz-., the transforma- tion of the diet into a popular representative parliament to which the royal ministers should be res])onsible. 'l^Iiat tliis programme was destined to speedy realization everybody believed in 1844 conserv- atives and liberals alike and this belief v\-as greatly strengthened when the new monarch proceeded to dismiss his father's ministers and to put liberals in their places. In 1846 a constitutional com- mission was appointed by th.c government, ^\!lich next year laid its project before the diet : the estates were to be replaced by a bicameral parliament; the members of the lower chamber were to be elective; tliose of the upper chamber parti}- elcctixe and ])artly appointive by the crown. At this point. howe\er, the theoretic obstinacy of radicalism, its characteristic inability at adaptation or compromiise, began to obtrude itself. 1"he reform was not thor- ough-going enough. Ultra-liberals gl;;dly united with their dear- est foes, the ultra-conservatives, to defeat the royal project. In ]\Iarch, 1848, revolutionary uprisings occurred in Stockholm, in imitation of the Parisian frenzy (jf the month bcfort', and consid- erable blood was spilled. The king Vvas still hopeful and oi)en : with his own hancl he penned an amendment to the scheme of the -217 278 SCANDINAVIA 1S48-1866 preceding year, making all the members of the proposed upper chamber elective. The election, however, was to be indirect and far from democratic. For the smaller municipalities twentv-five local assemblies or Landsthings were to elect each a representative. The larger cities were to have one representative, chosen by elec- toral delegates, for every 30,000 of population. The basis of suf- frage for both the Landsthings and the electoral delegations remained, morccn-cr, the ancient feudal one, whereby it often hap- pened that a single individual cast more than half the entire vote of a community. The retention of such an anachronism, asserted the lil^erals, did little to correct the undemocratic character of the diet, in which the system r)f voting by orders enabled 27,000 men to counterbalance 2.500,000. The king's benevolence was again rebuffed. Alonarchs of liberal })olitical opinions are, however, pe- culiarly apt to undergo a revulsion of feeling, especially in the presence of an unappreciative radical party, which shows itself dis- posed to ride a free horse to death. In his speech proroguing the diet, September 4, 185 1, Oscar informed that body that he would lay before it no more plans of constitutional reform, lie limited the a[)plication of his words, however, to piu'ely political reform; for he subsequently gave his assent to measures increasing the freedom of the press, and, in 1858, approved a grant of religious t(jleration. In 1857 King Oscar's health compelled him to commit the administration to the charge of the crown prince. Two years later he died. By his queen, Josephine of Lcuchtenburg, granddaughter of the I'jnprcss J(jsephine, he left one dauglitcr and four sons, tw(.) of wliom, Cliarles and Oscar, successively ascended the throne. Cliarles XV. was a monarch with a singularly open mind, unending tact, great shrewdness in tlie judgincr.t of men, and ha])py rcs])on.-!\-eness to the deeper mcjtivcs and aspirations of his peo])le. To him and his excellent ministers, preeminent anions- whom \v;is P.aron l)e Heer, it fell to complete the reform presaged by his father's earlier policy. The project of reffvrm was, at hr-t. blcjcked by tlu' clergy and the nobility. On December 7, 1<'^C'5. however, e\en the noliiliiy was constrained to yield to the king's representa- tions and to gi\e its consent to a ])lan wliicli had Ik-ch relerred to the diet more tliaii tlu'ee years before. I'.y th.r " C'l 'n.-lilulion of iNrif)" the i-ik-'lag l)ecame a bicameral 1egi>latni-e, witli an upi)er house, composed oi representatives chosen inv nine years, accord- CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 279 1866-1883 ing to the scheme of 1848, and a lower house of deputies ch.oscn for three years one for every 40,000 inhabitants in rnral districts, one for every 10,000 inhabitants of cities. Legislatively the two chambers were put on a basis of parity, but in case of disagreement with respect to the budget, it was provided that they should unite and vote as a unicameral legislature. The members of the upper chamber serve wdthout pay, those of the lower house are salaried. The franchise for the election of the lower house, or as in some of the rural districts of electors for the purpose, was limited by a property qualification, so that the qualified voters, in 1899, were but one-third the total male adult population, and only 6.7 per cent, of these exercised their franchise. Two parties immediately appear in the riksdag: the govern- ment party and the Landtmanna part}^ or agrarians; the former urging mih'tary reform on the Prussian model just come into vogue on account of Sadowa the latter urging fiscal reform that would relieve the landed proprietors of their burdens. A parlia- mentary commission, appointed in 1872, reported on the necessity of botli projects. The same year Charles XV. died, bringing his brother. Oscar IT., to the throne. The new king tried minister after minister of the conservative or governmental party, all of whom, however, failed when they attempted any concrete legisla- tion, on the basis of the report of 1872, and most of whom got tiirough tlieir budgets only l^y dint of uniting the two chambers. At last, in 1883, the king turned to Count Posse, the agrarian leader, and it seemed for the moment as if Sweden, by the volun- tary act of its monarch, was to liave a cabinet government respon- sible to the popular chamber. Ilie factious character of the o])po- sition defeated the consummation. Count Posse w-as deserted by his own party on the military issue, and tiie king relinciuished him the follov.ing A-ear, but chose as his successor anotlicr agrarian. In 1885 the agrarians were again united, and the election of that year which had to be repeated on account oi alleged illegality put tliem so overwhelmingly in contn^l of the lower chaml^er th.'it any but an agrarian government's bud.gct was an impossil:)ilily. A compromise measure resulted. I'y tlie act of ALay 9 thirty per cent, of the land tax (rrnndskailcrna w;is written off, liberal grants vvx-re begun for the fortification of northern Sweden and tlie army and navy, and the annurd period of drill for the national militia was extended from thirty to forty-two days. 280 S C A X D I X A V I A 1880-1894 Meanwhile the ah'L^nnient of paiLies hafi begun to change and new ({uestions had begun to arise. In iSSo a branch of the agra- rian party, in consequence of Bismarck's introduction of the protec- tive system into Germany th.e year before, began to demand a corn law, imposing a protective duty upon tlie importation of grain. As the idea made headway in the agrarian ranks the urban repre- sentatives in the lower ciiamber, who were becoming more and more numerous in consequence of tlie expansion of commerce, took up the defense of free tnide. In 1888 the protectionists were overwlielmingly in control in the ui)per chamber. In the second chamber the twenty-two freetraders from StcKkholm were dis- qualified by the fact that one of tlieir number had tailed to pay his taxes a few years before, and their o]iponcnts were seated, thus giving the chamber to the protectionists, who now got through their programme. Tlieir victory. Iiowcver, tiacl been too much a mat- ter of accident to stand in its original dimensions. In 1892 the pro- tectionists still lield tlie upper chamber, but freetraders were in possession of the lower chamber. I'lie former were glad there- fore, to accept a compromise from the hands of their opponents whereby the remnants of the old land tax were abolished, to be replaced by excise and an income tax, and the corn duties were greatly reduced. Almost from the very outset the urban wing of the opposition after the agrarians became the government, in 1884 manifested socialistic tendencies. They wished the government to set aside a fund for workingmen's insurance and old age pensions ; they de- manded state contril)utions to the municipal schools and work houses, and subventions to the slijppnig trade; they wanted an eight-hour day for labor; and, finally, they demanded universal suf- frage. It is about this last questiini th.at political contrcwersy and conllict have centered for the last decade. In 1893 tlie agitators in belialf of tini\-ersal suffrage laid a j)etition. bearing 200.000 signa- ture-^, bclore llie king, and summoned a ])eo])lc's ]iarli;nnent. folk- riksdu'^, to Stockh(jlm. The movement alarmed the now cion of tlie Aci Ksion had gi\cn. their a>-cnt to ])ro]3()sitions that meant a con.-iderahle f\tcn>ion of the ])urpo:-cs of tlie union and the ])o\vcrs of the dual monarch. Im- metliaieh' a ])atrii.tic democratic ])arl\' wa> toinncd, ur.dcr tlie Icad- er-liip of jiilian !"'\'eri!ru]), to re^-i'-t ;my diminution of Xorwcgian liberties. Tiii> di'l not me;in roistance to a.ll ch:i;ige, ho->.\e\cr. The con-'ituii ni of Xorwaw, framed as it wa^ in iNiJ,. was ha-cd on the thci)r\' of ihc reparation of ilic ])owers oi g()\crnniL-nt. The king wa-. tln'rcfi aw an ni(U'])cndent cxccnlixc. and tlic cal)inct council re.-pi;n>ihle U) the .--torthing on!}- for it:i own ad\icc, not Jor CONSTITUTIONAL GOVE R N Yi E N T 283 1872-1885 the king's decrees. Moreover, in 1814 the storthing exphcitly refused to accord the cabinet council the right to withhold counter- signature of the royal decrees, declaring that the king ought not to be deprived of all his privileges. iMnally, the constitution of 1 8 14 did not allow the members to attend the debates of the stor- thing. Now, however,, in 1872, the new democratic party deter- mined to throw o^erboard what they had declared to be antiquities of the constitution, and to make Norway a parliamentary state. A bill was speedily passed authorizing the ministers to attend the sessions of the storthing. Charles saw what the measure looked to : namely, ministerial responsibility and the restriction of the royal choice to the leaders of the majorit}' the democratic party. Of course he vetoed it. Tlie bill repassed in 1S77 and again in 1880, receiving- each time the royal veto. i\t this last passage, by the " resolution of June 9," the storthing declared that the measure was now a law conformable to the constitution. The king, how- e\'er. advised by tlie law faculty of Christiania University, and by his Norwegian ministers of the conservative party, held his ground, his contention and that of his advisers being simply that while the royal veto was merely suspensive of ordinary legislation, it was absolute with reference to measures the effect of which would be to transform the Norwegian constitution, and, therefore, to alter en- tirely the character of the dual monarchy. \\'hatever may ha\'e been the validity of this argument, the storthing soon found the means to carry its point. By the Norwegian constitution the knvcr house of the storthing elects the u])per house, and from this in turn the high court of justice is, for tlie most part, taken. The elec- tion of 1882 the lower liouse liolds fov three ye;irs was over- whelmingly democratic. Th.e king's opponents were able, there- fore, to reconstitute the high court of justice, to bring the king's ministers to trial for giving " evil cour.scl " and to secure tlieir condemnation. Oscar now yielded. In 1884 he asked Svenlru]). the leader of th.e democratic left, to form a ministry. Norway had secured a ])arliament;M"v go\eniment, and liad estal.ihshed tlie right of the storthing to enact amendments 10 the .\orwegian constitu- tion in the manner prescribed by the act ui the union for ordinary legi.-^lation. We now tiu'n to tlie third ])hase of the union contro\'ei-sy. Nothing was deternu'ncd in 1814 with reference to the conduct of the foreign affairs of the dual monarchy. Down to 1885, how- 284. S C A N I) I X A \' I A 1885-1899 ever, these were, as a matter of fact, in the cliarge of the Swedish minister of foreign affairs, who. after 1835. acted in consultation, it will be remembered, with the Norwegian minister of .state at Stockholm, and who always represented the monarch of the union. But in 1885 tliis arrangen.ient underwent an important change in consequence of political developments in Sweden. By an amend- ment to the Swedish constitution of that year the prime minister of the cabinet council entered the ministerial council for foreign affairs, the idea being to reni! )ns of wai" were. In i\\t'\"er, speedily di>-i])ated wlici! lie ling, in ojicning the ril'sdag, urged peace. A special ccjiiiniiiiec of tlie ril-tlig, ap[jijinted to consider the ques- CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 287 1905 tion, reported two conditions upon wliich Norway ought to be allowed to depart the union in peace: First, tliat the dissolution of the union be formally requested by a new stnrtliino-. elected on that issue, or in consequence of a favorable plebiscite; second, that cer- tain matters of common interest to the two countries be determined by negotiation and treaty. " l"he maintenance of the union by force," declared the report, " would make it a source of weakness instead of strength." The riksdag, after a stormy session, adopted the report unanimously on July 27. On the same day the storthing voted a referendum. Tliis was completed August 13, after a dex- terous campaign for independence into which the noted Bjornst- jerne Bjornson is said to have " flung himself with all the fuiy of a berserker " ; 368,200 votes were cast, for the dissolution of the union and 184 against it. The negotiations demanded by Sweden resulted in the Karl- stad agreement of September 23. The independence of Norway was recognized ; a neutral zone, fifteen kilometers wide, was estab- lished each side of the common frontier; the demolition of all fortifications within the neutral zone was arranged for; also the dismantlement of the old Norwegian fortifications at Fredriksten, Gyldenloeve, and Overbjerget ; pasturage was granted in common to the Lapps of both countries for tlieir reindeer until 1917; it was agreed that neither couritry sh.oukl place prohibitive export or im- port duties upon commodities, nor create any ok'Staclcs of any sort to the free passage of g(_)ods througli its dominions, nor levy higher duties upon the goods of the citizens of the other than upon tliose of its own; finally, by a provision which bids fair to niarl^ a stej") in the history of internation.al law, it vra.s stipulated, v.c>': cviily that all future disputes between the two countries, except those affecting "the independence, integrity, or vital iiUcrcsts of citiK^r." s'lould be referred to Tlie Hague Court, Inn, a.lso, thait the (;uc:-t;ivn as to whether any given disi)u.LC docs invoKe one or ivo^re ol' [hose i)oints should likewise be referred to that trilfunal. The agi-ccnicnt was accepted bv the storthing October o and by the riks'lag four days later. In tlie nieanlinie, though dicre laal been at f:\->i ::^r]v.Q. talk of a republic, the N-rwcgian throne, uj^on whic-h no native ])ri!ice had sat for over fi\e hundred }a.-ar-. had been inforn.i.-illy ten- dered to Prince Charle-, second snn 01 ('n)Uii I'rince I'hederick of Denmarl:, aaid on Oct(-iier 19 word caiue ihal liie c'Tci- wdiM be accei)ted. The l(aanal tender and acccj)iaii';e tot)k place al 288 S C A N D I N A V I A 1905-1910 Copenhagen on November 20. The coronation of the new monarch, who has taken the title of Haakon VII., occurred in June, 1906. It is perhaps natural that Americans should feel something of regret that Norway, the completest democracy on earth, a community of j)easants for the most part, but one remove from poverty in large part, should have chosen to call in a foreign prince to institute the expensive heraldry of constitutional monarchy. Tile new king was born August 3, 1872, married ]\Iautl, third daughter of King Edward VII. Their eldest son. Prince Olaf. Crown Prince, was born July 2, 1903. Like Sweden, the history of Norwa}' has been peaceful and uneventful since the accession of the new ruler. He is proving to be the right man for the people he governs, and they are developing internally under him. Re- cently, the most important occurrence in the country's history was the death of its patriot, poet dramatist, novelist and reformer, who had borne so large a part in securing the separation of Norway from Sweden, Bjornstperne Bjornson, on April 26, 1910, at Paris. He had been taken to that city in the preceding November for special treatment, but all the skill oi the famous medical men was unavailing. So deeply was his loss felt that when news of it was received at Christiania, a banquet given by the foreign minister to the ministers and the storthing, was immediately adjourned, King Haakon himself being the first to suggest this mark of re- spect. The Norwegian warship Norge bore the body of Bjorn- stjerne Bjornson to Christiania, and royal honors were accorded it. Oscar II. of Sweden lived into old age, celebrating with his wife, Queen Sophia, their golden wedding, June 6, 1907. In August of that same year, in order to cement friendly relations ^vith the United Stales, he sent Prince W'ilhelm of Sweden to the latter country, where, on August 28, he visited President Roosevelt at Oyster Bay. This revered old king passed away on December 8, i'>07, being succeeded by Cuslav \'., born June ii, 1858. He mar- ried i'riticcss \'ictoria, dauglucr of i-'rcflerick. Grand Duke of Baden. The Crown Prince, dustav Arlolf, Duke of Scania, was born N'A-cnibcr tt, 1882. and inarried l^rincess ?\Iargarct ^'ictoria, dauglUcT f/f rrincc Arthur, Duke of Connaughl, their eldest son being (lusla\- Adolf, born April 22, i9or). 'jdic new king is simple in tastes and haliits, almost his first act being to order the abolisli- mcnt of the pr)inpfms ccrcniom'cs whicdi had attended the openin.t;^ of parliament, so tliat when this hndy convened January 8. 1008, the new rulei- \va;~ x'l-elconied by Iiis governing house.- with strict CONS T I T V r I X A L CO \' E R X M E N T 289 1905-1910 simplicity. The reign of King Gustav V. has not been marked with any unusual events, the countr}^ being prosperous, the people contented, and the government disposed to grant additional liber- ties as there is public demand for them. A popular measure of this kind was passed February 13, 1909, providing that all in- habitants of the country, over twenty-four, be entitled to a vote, with proportional representation in parliament. Christian VIII. of Denmark was a thorough autocrat; Fred- erick VII., on the other hand, was entirely sympathetic with the demand of his people for a constitutional government, and to the day of his death made laudable resistance to all counsels to despotic courses. Nevertheless he found it necessary to conform his con- duct to the exigencies of his conflict with the duchies, wherefore the "Constitution of '55" was less liberal in some respects than the one Avhich he had granted at the outset of his reign. It happened, therefore, that, in 1865, the war with Germany being over, and the disposition of Slesvig-Holstein finally settled as far as Den- mark was concerned, Danish liberals began to clamor for the "Constitution of 1849." Christian IX. consented to restore it with one important modification : the upper chamber of the bicameral riksdag, the landthing, instead of being elective, was to be com- posed permanently of sixty-six propertied members, who were to be chosen every eight years, twelve by the king and fifty-four by indirect election at the hands of large property holders. This change was opposed vigorously by the liberals, and not till 1866 was the new constitution promulgated. The other features of the "Constitution of '49" remained : the lower chamber, the folkething, was to be chosen for three years : its members were to be re- apportioned from time to time in 1902 there were 114; the right of suflfrage fell to all male citizens thirty years of age not criminals, paupers, or servants resident with their empl(->yers. Moreover, religious and civil liberty were guaranteed by a number of pro- visions, securing the right of association, of public assembly, the freedom of the press from censorship and lialjility only to the law, the writ of habeas corpus, jury trial, the comparative independence of the judiciary. Until 1872 the conservative government controlled a majority in both chambers. That year, however, the broad suffrage put the liberal left in power. This party, like its counterpart in the Swedish lower chamber, was constituted predoniinanily of frugal, even j)ar- 290 S C A N D I N A V I A 1872-1910 siminioiis, agriculturist?, who beheld public expenditure with lamentation. Moreover, under the leadership of Berg, a remark- able parliamentarian and one of the most enlightened exponents of democracy that modern Europe has seen, it speedily laid down the programme of compelling the king to choose his ministers from the majority in the popular chamber. The king, on the other hand, kept his conservative minister, Estrup, and urged an ambitious naval and military increase and defensive fortification. Till 1875 the folkething confined itself to protest and agitation, and rather tamely voted the budget on the ministry's terms. That year, however, it plucked up courage to refuse the budget. This audacious course must necessaril}^ have brought the king to his knees, it would seem, since article 49 of the constitution forbids the collection of any impost without the authorization of the riksdag. Article 25, however, says that "the king may, in case of urgency, when the riksdag is not in session, decree provisional laws."' To this article the king and his ministers now had re- course. The regular rejection of the budget and the ecpially regu- lar decree of a pro\'isional budget, upon the adjournment of the chambers, now became the order of procedure of Denmark's pre- tended constitutional government. IMoreover, King Christian did not confine himself, as Bismarck liad done in a sin:iilar struggle with the Prussian diet, between the years 1862 and 1866, to pro- midgate the items of the last authorized budget, but added what- ever other items he saw fit. In 1870, the left, owing to the entrance of socialistic elements within its fold, became divided. The government took advantage of the opportunity to get its provisional budgets confirmed and to secure the sanction of the folkething to its extensive scheme of fortification of Copenhagen. In 1885, however. Berg and his adherents Vv'ere again in cr)iitrol in the popular chamber. The gov- ernment retorted upon the country by promulgating, not only pro- vi.-i'inal budgets, but measures in.crea-ing the police, restricting the C'.r.stitntional rights of freedom of speech, and the press, and of a-.-cmljling, and authorizing arbitrary imprisonment the first victim fif which was Berg himself. T^nt again the left, becoming now urban ratluT than rur.'d, the workingman's l)arty, rather than llinf of ihe i)ca -i^ilry, fell into dis.-en^idu and schism. At the same ti'iio. [800. it 1'--1 t^c Icadi'r.'-hip of llcrg by dealh. 15y with- drawing many of its :ir];itrary enactments of the [previous year. CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 291 18r2-1890 the government was again able to get its budget voted regularly and constitutionally. In 1894 Estrup retired. Next year the democratic left was a majority once more, and the fight for a re- sponsible ministry was renewed destined to a Iiappv outcome this time. At the close of the session of 1900 the eight most prominent members of the governmental party in the lands ihiiig withdrew their allegiance to the ministry and formed themselves into an op- posing section. The position of the king was nov/ untenal)le. In July, 1901, he accepted a liberal ministry. After a struggle of three decades, during which despotism had vainly tried to conceal its real lineaments beneath a mask of constitutional form, Denmark had won a parliamentary government. "It was no longer enough," said Professor Deuntzer, the new prim.e minister, "that the nation, through the legislature, influenced the passing of laws, but the application and carrying out of them must be intrusted to men who enjoy the confidence of the nation," i. e., a responsible ministry. In the midst of their political conflicts Swedes^ Norwegians, and Danes have continued to produce v/riters of European reputa- tion. The era has also been one of great material prosperity and development for all three nations. In its foreign relations the Danish government has of late years shown a disposition to draw away from the old Russian connection and to seek friendly rela- tions with Germany. Sweden also has inclined to a German con- nection. But more recently apprehensions have found cx])rcssion in certain quarters that the kaiser's real purpose, in 1905, in dis- puting France's claims to a unique position in I\Torocco was to elicit from Europe a general recognition of the principle, "Spcci;:! interests, special rights," or at least a precedent fortifying that principle; and that what seemed defeat for Germany in the subse- quent Algeciras conference was really a victory, tlie eventful fruit of which will be German paramountcy in Denmark and Holland. On the other hand, the present weak condition, of Russia precludes either danger or assistance from that quarter. I'lie wisest foreign policy for all the Scandinavian powers and at the same tirnc ;i perfectly feasible one would seem to be a triple alliance of llic north, backed by the British fleet. The rclation>hi-p l)ctwccn llic new Norwegian house and the British ro}-al family, as well as more solid reasons, would assure Britisli resist aiicc to any ]>lan whereby a recuperated Russian fleet would find a depot and harbor 292 SCANDINAVIA 1901-1906 on the Norwegian coast. In the second place the present motive of British policy seems to be to checkmate Germany at every turn, and certainly, if it came to defending the integrity of Denmark, this policy would have the alarmed public opinion of Europe back of it. Finally, looking at the matter simply from the standpoint of the Scandinavian nations, a close defensive alliance would be one step more toward that Pan-Scandinavian federation which has long been a cherished project of Scandinavian patriots, and wdiich the divorce of Sweden and Norway, removing as it does all causes for mutual irritation, can but hasten. Alread}^ Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have one system of coinage, and many financial and commercial regulations in common, and at this very moment a tri- national commission is engaged in arranging a common civil code for the three countries. The death of King Christian occurred on January 29, 1906, at the great age of eighty-eight years. As the oldest of European monarchs, and as the father of the Queen of England, the King of Greece, and the Empress Dowager of Russia, and the grandfather of the new king of Norway, Christian was fittingly known as the "patriarch of Europe." A zealous defender of his prerogative almost to the day of his death. Christian was, in point of view and character, an eighteenth-century benevolent monarch of the best type. ]\Iany anecdotes illustrate his parental fondness for his people, particularly the peasant folk, with whom he delighted to mingle incognito, and wdiose regard he never forfeited, even in the midst of his struggles with their representatives. He is suc- ceeded to the throne by his eldest son, a man sixty-two years old, and generally credited with great experience and tact. He rules as Frederick V^HI. In concluding a word should be said with reference to Iceland, still the colony of Denmark and long since the only important por- tion of outlying .Scandinavia. Tn 1874 the island, hitherto gov- erned by a patriarchal system, received a constitution and a single legislative chamber, largely elective in make-up. She still con- tril)utcd to the Danish exchequer, however, until 1S93, when she received a second chamber to her legislature and financial inde- pendence. Hie completion of the telegraph cable between the Shetland Inlands and Iceland, in 190^). brought the latter country within the reach of all parts of the wr)rl(1. and increased the value of it accordingly. POLAR RESEARCH By George Thomas Surface, M. Sc. Research Fellow in Geography, University of Pennsylvania, Professor of Geography in Emory and Henry College u POLAR RESEARCH Chapter I ARCTIC REGIONS NDER the comprehensive geographical term. Polar Re- gions, we must include those ont-of-way ends of the earth to adopt a loose phraseology in keeping with our in- complete knowledge of the subject at this time the countries of ice and snow centered around the respective poles of the earth, and bounded by geographical imaginary lines, the Arctic and Ant- arctic Circles. But although imaginar3\ these circles are not arbi- trary. By reason of the mathematical certainty with which the sun's beams trace their limit of twenty-tliree and a half degrees around each polar center, they seiwe admirably for designation in a region where neither political nor other civilized boundaries can be referred to with accuracy. These regions of barrenness, of ice-covered lands and ice- bound seas, uninhabited for the most part, and largely devoid even of animal or vegetable life, have long been centers of scientific and commercial interest. As usual, commerce must wait for grop- ing science to lead the way; but commerce directs the way to be opened, and the fact that all of the great maritime nations are grouped in the northern hemis])here destined the Arctic region for earlier research and exploration. The frozen waters of the Arctic merge so completely with the great liighways of the maritime countries of Europe and America that tlicir exploitation was sure to follow closely on the discovery of t]ic latter. 1'his cstal)hs]icd a new trading country on the western shore of the great ocean. The wliale and the seal fisheries lured advcntrirous mariners fartlicr and fartlier north, and tluis inaugnrated the great era of Arctic exploration. For the proper following of the history of rescarcli in llie north ])olar regions il is necessary to review mentally (lie ])hysieal 295 ^m P O L A K \i E S E A R ( " II features of thai region, so far as they are known to us. 'I'he Arctic Circle, which is described at latitude 66 degrees and 32 minutes north, or 1408 geographical miles from the polar center, forms a ring passing through the northernmost portions of America, Europe, and Asia, so that the shores of these continents form a fringe within the polar regions. The water spaces intervening are Davis and Bering Straits and the north Atlantic Ocean. This circle is barely tangent to the northern coast points of Iceland, that little island which has been known to history since the eighth century, and which has played so important a part in the ])rogress and de- \C']opn"ient of luirope. The southern triangle of Greenland, the great Arctic island, is cut through by this .Arctic Circle. L'or a long time our meager kncnvledge of Greenland was practically limitCfl to the s(jull!crn triangle, the interior being an unknown waste of snow and ice. i'eary, in itant to llic nortli of P.ritain ; in a region where there was no longer any (h'stinction between air and earth and sea, but a mixture of the; ihiec, wliieh he nai'vely compared to the gelatinous niolhisc known as the I'liJuco iiuiriiris. 298 P O L A R R E S E A R C H In such a region he declared land travel or navigation of the " Sluggish Sea " \vas entirely impossible. The hardy Pytheas as- serted that he himself had seen this triune substance, but relied upon others for the remainder of liis information. The unknown land to the north of Britain was probably no other than the Shetland Islands, in latitude 60 degrees north, and thus some 450 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It is evident from a passage in Pliny,^ and other classic writers, that Pytheas was greatly interested in the phenomena of night and day in the Arctic regions. Pliny states that he recorded the days at the summer solstice as twenty- four hours long, with nights of the same duration at the time of the winter solstice. Pytheas believed this Thule to be situated under the Arctic Circle, and his descriptions from hearsay would apply quite accu- rately to Arctic conditions. At the same time, his knowledge of astronomy was so considerable that he might easily have stated what he believed to be mathematically correct, supposing the voyager to travel toward this most northerly portion of Europe, or, indeed, of the known world. But Pytheas is careful not to claim tliat his statements are based upon personal knowledge. In 84 a. d., when the Romans succeeded in rounding the northern point of Britain, and visited the Orkney Islands, they " caught sight also of Thule " (" Dispccta est ct Thule," says Tacitus), though this could only apply to the Shetland Islands. On the other hand, Pytlieas, in describing land distant six days' voyage from Britain, really indi- cated a far more northern latitude, as evidenced by liis exaggerated idea of the whole extent of that island, whicli lie aflirmed was more than 40,000 stadia (4000 geographicad miles) in circumfer- er.cc. But even if the Shetland Islands was the Thule of Pytheas, they are not the I'ltima Thule of our day, which is practically as mucli a mystery to us a.s v.'as Pytheas's " uttermost cud of the earth " to the ancient world. Thule is also t!ic na,mc trsed bv a chronicler n.amed Dicuil, an Iri^h monk-, writing in the early ])art oi the nintli century. lUit in ti!c ca.-e (jf Dicuil the evidence is clear that the island of Iceland is real!}- rcferrcfl to, for this longer .and more remote island was certainly \isited by thr)sc " ser|nesterc(l persons," the Irish (_\i]dees, long bcfoi'c it was discovered by the Xorthmcn. Dicuil's in- Formatifjn is related as coming from (jtlier n'Ktnks \\lio had dwelt in Thule for se\cral months at a time, and rep(jrted there v/as no darkness at the summer solstice. ^ Pliny, " llislnria Naturalis," iv. 16, 104 A R C T I C R E G I O N S 299 Alfred of England, in his translation of Orosins, alludes to the voyages of Other and Wulfstan, from the narratives as given by Other himself; and from the evidence it seems probable that this explorer rounded the North Cape and reached the coast of Lap- land as early as the ninth century. As to Iceland, following the settlement in the island of the little colony of Irish Culdees, long before its discovery by the Scandinavians in 850 a. d., there came across the seas from Norway and the Western Isles colonists, who. in the latter half of the ninth century, quickly spread their hold- ings over the best lands in the island. It appears that by 11 00 it had about 50,000 inhabitants of Teuton stock, with some admixture of Celtic blood. In their isolated situation at the chill extremity of the known world, surrounded by the most extreme disadvantages of climate and situation, these settlements maintained their existence independently for a thousand years. Of untold value to the histo- rian are the ancient chronicles preserved as historical fossils in Ice- landic literature, and the Icelandic language itself, allowing for natural changes, is claimed by philologists to represent in a living form the speech of our earliest Teutonic ancestors. The chiefs, who. resisting the centralization of the head-kings, had led their kinsmen and dependents across the North Sea and established new home- steads there, naturally retained their positions as leaders, acted as priests at feasts and sacrifices, and presided over the moot or Thing. When disputes betvreen neighboring homesteads arose, as they were sure to do, the Constitution of Ulfliot was devised, this being about 930 A. D. It provided for a central moot for the whole island. The law for this central moot or Al-thing was modeled on that of the Gula-moot in Norway. In 964 certain reforms in the organ- ization of the island were devised by Thord Gellir, but after the early part of the eleventh century little constitutional change was made for two centuries, during which period the great houses monopolized the chieftains and used tlieir power for subservient ends. But, in 1271, the old common law was discarded and the new Norse Code took its place. Icelandic sagas provide data for vivid pictures of the old life. The island was pastoral, the people depending on their herds for clothing and food. Hay, self-sown, was llic only crop, and tliis, with shepherding, fishing, and fowling, afforded ()CCU])ation for the summer months. Spring was marked by feasts and moots; the Al-thing was in summer; marriage and funeral gathcrnigs 300 P O I. A R RES F. A R C II marked the fall, and the yule feast broke the drearv' inonotony of the long- Icelandic winter. Chieftain and thrall had nmch in com- mon, sharing- the comforts and inconveniences of a life rude at its best. In the days of paganism it seems that the great chief governed ;;; abscufia, remaining at the court of the Norway king: but Christianity, which was introduced about looo. brought changes, and visits to the continent grew less and less frequent. In the same way. the first to make permanent settlement on the shores of Greenland were the hardy Norsemen, and it is certain that in their coasting voyages along the glacier-covered island they ]ienetrated beyond the Arctic Circle. In the summer months, when the Norse settlers at Brattleid and Einarsfjord carried on their seal hunting, thev must have gone far within the Arctic Circle. In latitude y^ degrees north a runic stone fa model of the stolen original being still preserved at Copenhagen) has been found in a cairn, and internal evidence places its inscription at about 1235. Still another early expedition is generally accepted by scholars to have been made about 1266, reaching /-, degrees and 46 minutes north, in Barrow Strait. It is evident that the ordinary hunting grounds of these Norsemen of the Sea were in latitude 73 degrees, to the north (>i the modern l^anish town of Upernavik. In the fol- lowing century the black death broke out in Europe and the far- off settlements in Greenland seem to have been lost sight of. No trace oi communication with Norway is found after 1347, and it is suj^posed that the colonists perished two years later in an attack by Skrellings or Eskimos, who came down upon them out of the white north. As a natural consequence to the discovery of the New World m 1.^92. came increasing knowledge of the great ocean which separated it from the (jld. AForeover, the impenetrable continent blocking the navigator's path to the west, led commercial inter- cuts to seek' still another route to the coveted Indies. Sebastian r.'ihfjt wa< directly concerned in an expedition fitted out in ATay, 1553, under .Sir Hugh AA'illoughby and Richard Chancellor, "for the search and disco\er\- of the northern parts of the world, to <')])(,'n a wdx :\]\(\ passage to our men, for travel to new and unknown kingdoms." r,nt this exj)edition was as ill-fated as any concerning which we ha\e infrjrmation. Willoughby reached Nova Zembla, or rather sighted tlie coast of Gooseland ; but attempting to winter in a harbor of [.apland, he and his sixty-two men. representing the ARCTIC REGIONS 301 company of two of the three ships forming- the expedition, suc- cumbed to scurvy that disease which for centuries was destined to destroy the white man essaying existence in tlie polar regions: Chancellor reached Archangel, and on the invitation of Czar Ivan; to whom couriers had carried tlie news of his arrival, journeyed to jMoscow. where he succeeded in making arrangements for future commercial intercourse with Russia ; or. as it was then more com- monly called, Muscovy. On his safe return a charter was granted to the " Association of Merchant Adventurers." of which Cabot was the head. Stephens Burrough, in 1556, and Arthur Pet. in 1580, each under the Muscovy Company, succeeded in reaching and exploring the Waigat, the name then given to the strait leading into the Kara Sea. Jackman, the companion of Pet. wintered in a Norwegian port, from which he sailed in the spring, but was never heard of again. These were the first vessels from western Europe to succeed in navigating the ice of the Kara Sea. All these were efforts to open up a passage in the northeast. Meanwhile, in the spring of 1576. Frobisher. aided by ^^Tichael Lot. a merchant, sailed with two small vessels, the Gabriel and Michael. neither of which was over 25 tons, intent on seeking a passage to the northwest. The Michael deserted in midocean. and the Gabriel continued alone. Land was sighted in July, which by reason of its height Frobisher christened Queen Elizabeth's b^orc- head. On the next day, July 21, he entered the strait called by his name. Frobisher s specimens of mica-schist produced great excite- ment on his return. They were thought to show traces of gold and expeditions were quickly fitted out to seek this ore. These expeditions were failures in the achie\-ement of their purpose, but to Frobisher must be credited two new items of geographical knowledge: namely, that there existed at least two wide openings on the American coast leading westward, in latitudes 60 degrees and 63 degrees north. It is interesting to note what Sir ?\]artin Frobisher wT(jte as to this search for the northwest passage: " It is the only thing in the world that is left yet undone whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate." So mucli for the sixteenth-century i)oint of view. In 1585, John rX'ivis. an exjjert seaman and a man of scien- tific mind, set out in quest of this northwest passage. He made three voyages, aided by "' adventurous merchants." It is clear now that Frobisher never saw Greenland, so that Davis was the lirst 302 POLAR RESEARCH to visit the west coast after the old Xorse colonies there had been abandoned. As to how lie regarded it may be judged from the name he gave it " The Land of Desolation," and he quaintly describes the " loathsome view of the shore and irksome noyse of the yce," which " bred strange conceite amongst us." Davis penetrated Gil- bert's Sound, where the Danish mission of Godthaab was after- ward established, and crossed the strait now known by his name. In this third voyage he passed up this strait to latitude 'J2 degrees and 41 minutes north, where he gave the name Sanderson's Hope to a precipitous island of granite which projected out of the open waters. Davis returned convinced that passage could be made through a " great sea, free, large, very salt and blue," which he described as opening out to the north, Tn 1595 he published " The World's Hydrographical Description," but his reports were at variance with Frobisher's. and caused the confused narrative and map which the Venetian Zeni had published in 1558 to be more puzzling to cartographers than before. The commercial value of a northern route to China and India early impressed the merchants or Holland the more, undoubtedly, since the Sjjanish and Portuguese sought to monopolize the water route by way of the African continent. In a quarter of a century after Chancellor's opening up of Archangel Bay, the Dutch had established trade relations there, and with Kola. In 1594 certain Amsterdam merchants, inspired by Peter Plancius, a learned geograi)her, sent out a vessel of 100 tons under W'illem Barents. The name of Barents is distinguished in the history of the search f()r a northern water route to the Orient, for his expedition was, ])erhaps, the most successful of the early \-oyages. Carlscn, in 1 871, after ;i period of 274 years, found relics of this expedition. In'irenls left Ilollruid in June. 1594, to find a nortlieast route to China, and returned after tracing the coast of Xo\-a Zembla north- eastward to ilie Orange Islands, latitude ^y degrees north. A seconfl exjicdition made an unsuccessful attcmj)t to enter the Kara Sea. In May, 1596. the third and most important expedition \vas sent out by tlie cit\' of Amsterdam, consisting of two shijjs with Jacob ! locmskercl-: and Corncliszoon Riji in command. The vessels !~c])aratcd at .^]jit>:bergen. and I5arents. wlio accompanied I locms- kcrck- as ])iloi, directed the course of his \esscl around Nova Zeinjjla. I!nl at !ccha\-en the ship was frozen in. and helpless months of suftei-iiiL!" folKnved. Manv c^f the crew died fr(jrn the ARCTIC REGIONS 303 intensity of the cold. At last, in June. 1597. the survivors set out in separate boats for the mainland. Barents was among those who succumbed, but the survivors reached Lapland in safety, and found the other vessel. This was the first time an cxpcdition'had endured a winter in Arctic seas. Barents lost his life, but his last expedi- tion was one of the most important of all tliat had been made to the unknown Arctic frontier, since it ascertained the terrific pres- sure of the ice pack upon the north coast of Xova Zembla, and proved the existence of open water. I-'rom Barcnts's vovages can be directly traced the Dutch wdiale fisheries, destined to liavc such important effect in stimulating Arctic exploration. After Chancellor's voyage and successful negotiations with Russia there had arisen, as vre have seen, the famous ]\Iuscovy Company. It was this company, togetlver with associations of London merchants inclined to science or enterprise, which continuetl their efforts to find the coveted northern passage. The East India Company also sent out an expedition under Caiptain \\\aymouth in 1602, but his attempt to realize the sanguine hopes of Davis proved a failure. It is in the service of the ]\Iuscovy Company that we firid the beginning of that brief record of tlie four years known of tlie life of Henry Hudson. In ]\Iay. 1607, Hudson was sent out in the iMuscovy Company's ship Hopeful, in quest of a northeast passage to the Spice Isles. Hudson, on his first recorded voyage, discovered the most northern knovrn point of the east coast of Greenland, in latitude 73 degrees, and named it '' Hold v.dth Hope." He examined the long edges of accumulated icefioe strctclnng from Greenland to Spitzbergen, and reached a latitude of 80 degrees and 23 minutes. He then turned back and readied England after an absence of four and a half months. TTudson's secon.d expedi- tion for the Muscovy Company vras in 1608. when lie examined the ice-front between Spitzbergen pierce his way through, the 'W'aigat, or Kara Strait, being dMi- \'inced that this w-ould bring- him Vvithin e.'is.y ;iccess of the Pacific Ocean. In ]^darch of the following }'car the intrcjiiil I-jiglisliinan again set out with two ships, the CJoo/J Hah,' vavA I fa'f Mo'Ui, tin's time in the em])loy of the Dutch k!:;-! India C<)m])any. B.ut although he again reached Xova Zeml)l;;, his crew nn'tinicil in terror, and the Waigat ])assage '.vas lu.t altcinptrd. '!'l:c (,'oihl Hope returned to .\msterdam, v.hilc (lie Half Mann niidicd o.n 804* POLAR RESEARCH across the Atlantic. But Hudson's important discoveries in the lower latitudes have no Arctic interest, except that they exploded the theory that a great strait would be found leading through the American continent somewhere about latitude 40 degrees. In April of 1610 Henry Hudson again set sail, his expedition being under the auspicies of an association of Englishmen who still held faith in the feasibility of a northwest passage. By June 10, 1610, Hud- son had reached the strait which now bears his name. Three months were spent exploring the great inland sea of 400,000 square miles, which we know as Hudson Bay. The vessel was frozen hard and fast in the ice early in Xovember, and the months that followed were fraught with great suffering, since provisions lessened daily and mutinous warnings increased with each added hardship. ]Month by month slowly and drearily passed until late in June, 161 1, when a ])ortion of the s^iip's crew mutinied openly, seized Hudson, his son. and seven disabled companions, put them off in the ship's small boat and set them adrift, to what new agonies of body and mind can only be conjectured, since no one of the ma- rooned party was ever heard of again. Early accounts of the voy- ages of Henry Hudson may be read to this day, both in English and in Dutch, and it is to tlie annals of the Dutch and English whaling trade that we must look for practically all of the information respecting the country of the polar seas which the next one hun- dred and fifty }-ears were able to give. The hoped-for route to the Spice Isles remained a mystery, but the commercial instinct of both the Englisli and the Dutch was not slow' to fasten upon a new and prrifitable inrhistry. such as .Arctic whaling sjjeedil}' grew into. l^he voyages of Hudson may be said to have led immediately to the vSpitzbergen whale fisheries. The four voyages of Poole, from if)()'/ to 1612, and those of Eotlicrby. Baffin, Joscpli, and Ivlgc, were all in furtherance of this profitable business, though resulting in important gcogr.aphical knowledge. 1^o the west, in- formatifMi was incrca'^cd bv the sudden ruixiet}' of the Danish kings for the aliandoncd ci)lonv in Greenland. In 1605. under Christian TV., an c\])C(lition of tlircc ships \-isitcd Circcnland's western coast and other expeditirm'^ followed the next year, rcsultful of much interesting information, but rcsultless in discovering the lost colony. F.ngli-h expeditions unrler .Sir Thomas ButtcMi (1612. 1013), and Captain '';il)l)(,iis ([614), bctrayerl tlic persistence of the mer- chant associations of London. In i6r:;. Robert Bvlot and William ARCTIC REGIONS 305 Baffin made many valuable observations in the ncu'thwest Arctic. In 1616, they sailed beyond Sanderson's Hope and around the channels of Baffin Bay, naming points, sounds, and islands after various munificent promoters and friends of the expedition. But the discovery of the great channel or bay which bears his own name w^as the most important result of Baffin's voyage. Baffin was a skillful navigator, and as a scientific man was the equal of Davis. His magnetic observations are of value to this day, and he was one of the earliest navigators to make use of astronomy in fixing longitude at sea. Hudson Bay was also the field of explorations for a London e,xpedition sent out under Luke Fox in 1631, and one from Bristol, under Captain James, sailed the same year. In 1670, an associa- tion under the name of the Hudson Bay Company was incorporated, and developed a lucrative fur trade in that region. Indeed, from now on through the next century, the enthusiasm for adventure and discovery gave way to commercial enterprise, which stepped in to reap the profits, but incidentally planted permanent settle- ments in these inhospitable regions of the north. Fleets of whal- ing ships, both English and Dutch, now annually sought the Spits- bergen seas, primarily for profit, but to Frederick ]\Lartens (1671), and the Van Keulens, father and son (1700-1728), we are indebted for real contributions to geographic science. The Dutch whale fisheries flourished until late in the century, forming " a splendid training school for the seamen of the Netherlands." Tlie English, the great rivals of the Dutch, carried their period of prosperity in this industr}^ well into the nineteenth century, and English whaling captains accomplished much as scientific observers, as the work of Captain Scoresby, who made seventeen voyages to Spitzbergen, still testifies. Some account must be taken of Russian energy, also. As early as 1648 Russian ex- plorers had outlined great extents of coastline, among them being Elise Bush and the Cossack, Simon Deshnev, who passed through the strait afterward named for Bering. Tcholyuskin, in 1735, got as far as jy degrees 25 minutes north, and eight years later, with sledges, reached the most northern point of Siberia, at latitude yy degrees and 41 minutes. A Dane, Captain Vitus Bering, was ser.t out by Peter the Great in 1725, and in 1728 discovered from the Asiatic side the strait now named for him. On a later expedition Bering discovered the peak, Mount St. Elias, which he named. Ihit 306 POLAR RESEARCH shipwreck and the inevitable scourge of scurvy put an end to this expedition, Bering himself dying in December, 1741. Liakhov, in 1770, visited the Siberian Ocean and explored its archipelago. Liakhov was a merchant, and his venture resulted in a grant from the Empress Catherine to dig for fossil ivory. Other ivory hunters followed, in the early part of the nineteenth century, Samkiv, Sirovotskov, and Bjelkov. being most notable among them. But from the last quarter of the eighteenth century, polar exploration came to be recognized more and more as a scientific project. The English government commissioned Phipps's expedition in 1773, which reached latitude So degrees and 48 minutes, north of the central portion of the Spitzbergen archipelago. Here they found further progress barred, the edge of the ice-pack measuring 24 feet in thickness. Captain Cook was commissioned, in 1776. to search for a northwest or a northeast passage, and two years later he reached Ca})e Prince of Wales, the western extremity of America. England and luirope. being in revolution, found little time for polar explorations, but in i8t8, by the influence of Sir John Bar- row, traveler, scientist, and statesman, then secretary of the Admi- ralty Board, the old Parliamentary acts of 1743 and 1776, which had offered a reward of 20.000 ($100,000) for the achievement of the northwest passage, and of 5000 ($25,000) for the approach of 89 degrees, were modified into proportioned awards for 83 de- grees, 85, 87, and 88 degrees, reserving to 89 degrees the full allotment of the previous reward. This enactment proved a great encouragement, offering, as it did, more promising expectation of reward for ])ractical endeavor. The favorable observation of Captain Scoresby in 181 7 had had its influence, and in April, 1818, two vessels under Captain David Buchan and Lieutenant John Franklin v/crc sent out to pursue the Spitzbergen route, only to be turned back disabled. Another ex])edition which Barrow had planned by Baflln's old route of \()if) hrtd more succc>s, howex'cr. Lieutenant b^dward i'arry of this expedition was commissioned the following year to make anrahcr attempt. Beyond Melville IVninsula (or Island) be was checls'ed by tlie ice-])ack. Parry exercised extreme care and br(jught hi^ coin]jany safely through the dangers of an Arctic winter. Ilis \( --cN returned, to I'jigland in the fall of 1830, and late in the '=pi-ii!g of llie next }-ear he sel out on bis second vo}-age. T!ii> jj.'irly winter^'l i.n the eoa.>f of the newly disco\'ered MeK-ifle A R C T I C R E G I O N S 307 Peninsula, 66 degrees and 1 1 minutes north, but the next year was spent in latitude 69 degrees and 20 minutes, at Igloolik, among the Eskimos, from whom the explorers were able to gather much in- teresting and some valuable information. Parry discovered the channel leading from the head of Hudson Bay and named it Fury and Hecla Strait, after the two twin-fitted vessels Fury and Hccla. ^Meanwhile the non-success of the Spitzhcrgen expedition had not diminished the confidence of scientific men in the fitness of Franklin for the prosecution of polar research, which now had become a subject of national interest. In 1819, for cooperation with Parry in Lancaster Sound, he was put in command of an expedition to Rupert's Land and the northern shores of America. None of this great region had been touched except at two points by Hearne, an agent of the Hudson Bay Company, and by Alac- kenzie, a member of the Northwest Fur Company, stationed at Chip Euyn. The expedition landed at York Factory, and proceeded to the Great Slave Lake. It was cared for during the first winter on the Saskatchewan by the Hudson Bay Company ; but the second was spent in " barren ground," dependent on such game and fish as could be secured. The following summer the party discovered Coppermine River and surveyed some 550 miles of seacoast. At a point which their leader called "' Turnagain " they started on their return. The suffering of Franklin and his party was intense, but the survivors succeeded in reaching York Factory, having made a circuit of 5550 miles. In 1825, acting in concert with Beechy in Bering Strait and Parry again in Lancaster Sound, Franklin established his base at Fort Franklin, on Great Bear Lake. Franklin explored the ]\Iac- kenzie River, reaching its mouth in 1826, and coasted westward; while his companion, Richardson, examined the sliore to the east. They returned in 1826, Franklin having reached ivclnrn Reef, 70 degrees and 26 minutes north, and Rich.ardson liaving followed the coast of the American continent through 20 degrees of longitude and 2 degrees of latitude, and made many geographical, geological, and botanical observations on the way. The experiences of Captain Franklin in Polar America led directly to Parry's undertaking an expedition in \'^2j to find tlic North Pole by sledge, traveling over the ice by way of Spitzbcrgcn. This was the first attempt to reach tlic pole witli runner-mounted boats and sledges, instead of navigation. Parry left Sjjitzbergen 308 POLAR RESEARCH in June, and traveled to a little beyond latitude 8i degrees, but the crevassed ice, treacherous snow-pits, and his own heavy and cumbersome equipment retarded the advance of the expedition over the pack sea. The thawing- of the ice masses, the yielding crust, and strong southerly current combined against their progress, so that after four days they found themselves only one mile furdier north, though a distance of fully twenty-three miles had been covered. Parry's journal records his discouragement, but years afterward, in writing to Sir John Barrow, he reviewed the con- ditions and expressed confidence that a similar pedestrian expedi- tion, starting from Spitzbergen as early as April, would find it possible to make even thirty miles a day over the solid ice. Parry's plan for such a polar search has never been followed as yet, though a number of reasons would indicate the open Spitzbergen route to be more promising than west Greenland or the North American island fringe. That the latter route is far more im- practicable of penetration by vessels, the experience of Kane (1853), Hayes (1860), Hall (1871), and Xarcs (1875) would go to show, while Parry's narrative of his Spitzbergen experience records that in the middle of August a ship might have sailed to latitude 82 degrees practically without touching ice. The geog- rapher. Dr. Petermann, believed in the probability of this open polar sea, and enthusiastically advocated the Spitzbergen route for \essel-expc(liti()ns of polar research. Certainly, the prospects for success, with strongly built steamers instead of sailing vessels, and otherwise modern equipment, is much accentuated. From this time on to 1836 it would seem that the Admiralty were, for the time, discouraged at the unsuccessful efforts to m;ikc the northwest passage. But in 1829 another expedition as a jjrivate enterprise, set out for polar America with a "' paddle- stcamcr," under Captain John Ross and James Ross, his ne])hew. This was tlie first, and as it then proved, an unsuccessful, attempt to adopt steam ])Ower for Arctic cx])lorations. Ross was absent five years searching the American Arctic seas. It is now known that he practical!}- accomplished the northwest passage without realizing it, reaching tlic northernmost point of the American continent. The i)ro1ractcd absence of the Ross party told up(^n public feeling. TIk- liriti-Ji government, in 1832, contributed towaranklin's 310 POLAR RESEARCH vessels were the Erebus and the Terror, just then released by the return of Sir James Ross from the south polar seas. This ill- fated expedition numbered 129 men. Up to July 12 dispatches reported their progress. On that date they had reached the Whale Fish Islands in Baffin Bay; a whaling captain spoke with them on July 26 while they were moored to an iceberg awaiting an open- ing to sail on to Lancaster Sound. After this almost three years of silence followed, marked by growing agitation in Eng- land regarding the fate of the party. But not until 1848 were search expeditions fitted out by the British government. Ross, Richardson, and Rae all gave their cooperation, but the search of 1848-1849 was without the least success. In 185 1 Dr. Rae renewed operation under the Hudson Bay Company. He left Fort Con- fidence in April, and with two men traveled on foot to the Polar Sea at the Coppermine. On this expedition Rae reached Wollas- ton Land, never before visited by a white man. Rae joined his boat party at Kendall River, passed Deane Strait, and commenced examination of the east coast of Victoria Land, reaching Cape Princess Royal on August 6. Leaving the boat, he traveled thence on foot, arriving at his farthest north, on August 12, at 70 degrees and 3 minutes, longitude loi degrees and 25 minutes west, within 50 miles of the spot where the vessels of Franklin had been aban- doned three years and four months before. Thus Rae. following Franklin, made the nearest approach to the sea-passage of the northwest. But Rae was unable to cross Victoria Strait, and so missed recovering the Franklin records on King William Land. On his return he found at Parker Bay the fragment of a flagstaff, identified as belonging to the Franklin squadron. It was destined that the indefatigable Rae should find the first direct evidence of the Franklin expedition's fate, though not until 1854. At Boothia some Eskimos recounted how, in what would have been the spring of 1850, about forty white men were seen dragging a boat southward on tlie west shore of King A\'i11iam Land. Later that spring some thirty-five bodies of men were fcmnd by the T'lskimos. The identification was certain wlien silver was produced bearing the Franklin crest, and afterward many other relics were found. In 1855, Anderson, while acting for the Hud- son Bay Company, came upon various articles rccognizal)le as ])e- longing to tlie cx])C(lition, winch, the h^kimos said, had been taken from the white men's boat. Anderson's report confirmed Dr. Rae's ARCTIC REGIONS 311 determination of the fate of the Frankhn expedition, and the British Admiraky, after rewarding Dr. Rae and his companions, relaxed from further investigation. The sea search thus far had been even less resultful than the search by land. The first Pacific squadron, the Plover and the Herald, had been sent out in 1848 to meet Franklin with supplies at Bering Strait. The Enterprise, under Collinson, and the Investi- gator, under McClure, were sent also to Bering Strait in 1850. More persistent were the efforts made by way of the Atlantic. Ross's expedition we have already recounted. In 185 1 the British Admiralty had sent out two expeditions, and private means launched a third. American interest and sympathy equipped a fourth. A fifth was furnished by Lady Franklin. Other expeditions followed in 1 852-1 853 resulting in many interesting and important addi- tions to geographical knowledge, though unsuccessful in their search for the Franklin party. The fate of the expedition had indeed been settled long since, but settlement of the detail facts, and especially the one fact of the death of Sir John Franklin, remained a hope which his wife could not relinquish. Without government help, but with some friendh assistance, she exhausted her limited means in fitting out a small screw steamer, the Fox, which McClintock and Hobson volunteered to command. It was this determined expedition which finally orought back to the world the record of Franklin's practical accomplishment of the northwest passage, with the few details of his own and liis gallant companions' fate. Franklin died on June II, 1847, o^ board the Erebus, both boats having been ice-bound since September 12, 1846, and the ships were deserted in April of the following year. Officers and crew, numbering 105 men, started overland for Back's Fish River, only to perish by the way. The record found in a cairn at Point Victory, coins and some other relics, are all that are left of the expedition, save for the world-wide significance of its results and the pathos of the tragic end. The geogra])hical results of the search for Franklin were very rich. The ice-shrouded Arctic archipelago was explored, and 4000 to 5000 square miles of the earth's area was mapped out with ap- proximate accuracy, together with about 70CXD miles of coast. More and more public attention was attracted by the Franklin search ; and with each new observation the Arctic seas advanced in scien- tific interest. 312 POLAR RES E A R C II The Grinnell expeditions, the first under American direction, had their origin in the Frankh'n search. Henry Grinnell. a Xew York merchant, in 1850 equipped two vessels, the Advance and Rescue. The expedition was under the command of De Haven Griffith, and included Dr. Kane. The party reached Beechey Island on August 27, and examined the Franklin winter quarters, but returned the same year with practically nothing accomplished, ex- cept the discovery of Grinnell Land. In 1853, Grinnell, in con- junction with George Peabody. sent out another party in the Advance, Dr. Kane in charge. The chief object of this expedition was the thorough exploration of Smith Sound, the northern outlet of Baffin Bay. The Advance was stopped by ice in latitude 78 degrees 45 minutes north, thus practically reaching the entrance. Here was registered in the winter of 1854. the lowest temperature ever recorded by man, 100 degrees below zero. Kane's observa- tions of the coast brought to knowledge many astonishing facts. He estimated the coast cliffs at from 800 feet to 1200 feet elevation, with an ice-foot eighteen feet thick resting on the beach. The party wintered at Van Rensselaer Harbor, and the following spring accomplished some interesting and valuable work. Kane discovered the Humboldt glacier, projecting from the seacoast. and explored its face, which is one hundred miles in breadth. Scurvy and lack of supplies put an end to these investigations. The party were forced to abandon the Advance in Alay, 1855. With difficulty they made their way to the Danish settlement of L'pernavik, where they took refuge, and were rescued by Lieutenant Hartstine, who had been sent out in relief. Kane chronicled the experiences of both this and the i)revious Grinnell expedition, and produced a narrative of such dramatic interest as to stimulate public enthusiasm for further ])olar research. Dr. Hayes, one of Kane's party, was also convinced of the existence of an open polar sea. Hayes solicited subscriptions for a new expedition, and returned to the Arctic in i860. He reached a latitude of 81 degrees and 35 minutes, by way of Smith Sound, but did not find the navigable sea. One of the most interesting of the earlv American explorers was Charles Hall, a Cincinnati newspai)cr man. HaH's life reads like a romance. Starting in the world with only a common school education, he tried various occupations, from blacksmithing to en- graving. As a journalist, he followed the progress of the Franklin r.earch, and soon was fired with an ambilion to i^o himself to the ARCTIC REGIONS 313 polar regions. A popular subscription furnished him with a modest equipment, and in i860 he set out, having secured passage on a whahng vessel. Hall tried the plan of domesticating himself with the Eskimos, and in the course of his life with them traveled over a considerable section of Arctic country. This first expedi- tion (1860-1862) resulted in no new traces of the Franklin party, but historically, an even more important relic was found on the Countess of Warwick Island, the remains of a stone house which Frobisher had built in 1578. Hall's second expedition (1864- 1869), which included a regular scientific exploring party, wasted much time looking for Eskimo aid, but by indomitable per- sistence at length reached the Franklin line of retreat at Todd Island, south of King William Land. Here a human thigh bone was picked up. Later a skeleton was found on the mainland. Hall diligently collected scraps of Eskimo evidence respecting the country, and the passage of Franklin's men, most of it seemingly re- liable, and a great deal of it confirmatory of previously accumulated data. He also succeeded in getting together a quantity of Franklin relics. The human skeleton found on the mainland is believed to be that of Lieutenant Le Viscomte of the ship Erebus. Hall's evidence accounts directly for the end of seventy-nine of the re- treating number, leaving twenty-six to reach the coast of the main- land, only to perish there at last, if, indeed, they ever got beyond ^^lontreal Island. Incidental to the sentimental and historical pur- pose of Hall's expedition, some important geographical work was accomplished, and the gap in the continental outline between Parry's farthest point and that reached by Dr. Rae was filled in. Tlic third expedition sailed in the United States ship Polaris in 1872. It reached latitude 82 degrees 16 minutes north. Hall met his death on tliis expedition, and a year later his companions, while attempting to return, were rescued from a floating raft of ice after a harrowing experience of 186 days. The expedition in 1875 under Sir George Nares, one of the niost famous of British explorers, took this same course. A pedestrian party under ]\Iarkham reached ?>t^ degrees 20 minutes to the north of Grinne]! Land, northwest Greenland. They found no Eskimos beyond the parallel 8r degrees, and reported the greatest cold experienced as y2 degrees below zero. Westward of the great Arctic group, the ice which stretches for a vast unknf)\vn space northward has never been traversed by 314 POLAR RESEARCH any vessel. Navigators have onl}'- attempted to follow along its edge, measuring its enormous thickness and massive floes. No- where does it come into contact with the warming waters of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, and only narrow, often tortuous, chan- nels connect it with other Arctic seas, and the narrow and shallow strait of Bering prevents egress of blocks of ice in that direction. This ice accumulation is what Sir George Nares calls descriptively the " Palaeocrystic Sea." Floating down from the north through IMcClintock Ctennel (McClure Strait), the loosened blocks of ice are sure to strike upon the northwest coast of King William Land, forming a pateocrystic stream from ^Melville Island, and abso- lutely blocking any farther advance by ship. It was this forma- tion that defeated Franklin's quest. Had Franklin, indeed, suspected that King ^^'illiam Land was an island, and turned to the north, he might have reached the western coast by that route and gained the channel which follows the nortiiwestern continental shore. At least this supposition is reasonable, though what new problem might have confronted him there, considering the varia- bility of Arctic conditions, can only be surmised. Still another Franklin search party was sent out in 1879, and again the expedition was one from the United States. Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka and three companions comprised the exploring corps. Their object was to examine closely the west coast of King William Land during the summer, while the coast would be most open. Provided with Eskimos and dogs, but with only one month's provisions, they left winter quarters at Chesterfield Inlet, Hudson Bay, in April. This light equipment gave them great advantage, and in that season they found reindeer and other game quite plenti- ful. Schwatka and his comjianions crossed over to King \\''il]iam Land in June, haviiig replenished their stores at Montreal Island. The west shore of the island was examined in detail for traces of the h>anklin party, even to its northern extremity, but little was discovered. .'\ medal which had belonged to Lieutenant Irving of the Terror was ])icked u]) and sonic Ix-ncs hchicxcd to be his were brought back and interred at l^dinhnnj,)!. Schwatka's j)arty cxjierienced tlie intense cold of 70 degrees below zero, within iwo degrees of tlie extreme frigidity reported by Narcs for northern Greenland. Meanwhile the h'uropean Arctic had been recei\ing jironounccd attention. The S])it/.bergen fi>heries had long x'ielded \'ery acctu'ate ARCTIC REGIONS 315 knowledge of those far north but readily accessible lands of the polar world. Indeed, it is interesting and surprising to note the relative accomplishments of whaling vessels and official expeditions during the earlier years of polar research. Buchan's and Franklin's farthest north were 80 degrees 34 minutes, assuming that Buchan did not reach a higher latitude during that last mysterous voyage from which he never returned. This record of 80 degrees 34 minutes was reached in July in " open sea " near Spitzbergen. But already in the colder season of May that unrivaled sea captain, Scoresby, had reached 81 degrees 30 minutes on longitude 19 de- grees east of Greenwich, on the border of the great northern pack. What the earlier Norwegian fishing captains accomplished we do not know, for only recently have their voyages been scientifically noted by Professor ]\Iohn. Captain Carlsen circumnavigated the Spitzbergen group in 1863, and Tobiesen sailed round Northeast Land the following year. Altman and Nils Johnsen visited Wiche Land (discovered by Captain Edge in 1617) in 1872. More ex- tended voyages, reaching Nova Zembla, have been made more or less regularly since 1869, and Carlsen in that year crossed the Kara Sea and passed down the Siberian coast to the mouth of the River Obi. Nova Zembla itself was circumnavigated in 1870, As many as sixty Norwegian vessels found their way to Barents Sea in 1870, and Carlsen, in 1871, reached the old Barents winter quarters. He found the structure still standing after almost three hundred years, and collected some extremely interesting and well- preserved relics. As a field for scientific observation. Spitzbergen was selected by seven Swedish expeditions in the comparatively short period from 1856 to 1872. All of these contributed to the net results. In 1864 Nils Nordenskiold, whose name is still prominent among modern scientific explorers, made a careful examination of the Spitzbergen archipelago. One of the most remarkable exploits in the history of exploration was his inland journey through Greenland. Ac- companied by Dr. Berggren and two Greenland companions, Nor- denskiold succeeded in advancing over this ])erlious region for a distance of thirty miles from Auleitsivikjord, where he reached an elevation of 2200 feet above the sea. Xordcnskiold had already shared in six previous Arctic expeditions, when he hazarded the famous venture uf navigating the seas along the northern coast of Siberia in search of that nortlicast ])assage which had bafiled the 316 POLAR RESEARCH Dutch sea captains of old. Nordenskiold had already penetrated the Kara Sea, and had named the excellent harbor of Port Dickson after the munificent patron of the expedition. A year later (1875) a sec- ond voyage covered the same course with equal success. Norden- skiold believed that Arctic conditions thus twice experienced could fairly be relied upon. In 1878 he started out in the Vega, the venture now being jointly supported by the Gothenburg merchant Dickson, a wealthy Siberian, Sibiriakov, and the King of Sweden. The rate of progress made by the Vega is interesting. Leaving Port Dick- son on August 10, the vessel in nine days rounded Tchelyuskin, the most northern point of the Asia-European continent. Thence steering southeast in an open and shallow sea (in reality over a continental shelf), on August 27, the mouth of the Lena River was passed. The vessel reached the meridian 173 degrees 20 minutes west of Greenwich by the last of September, but was then frozen in. A winter of valuable research among the aboriginal tribe on the mainland followed, and extended expeditions were made inland from the shore. The Vega w-as kept prisoner until midsummer of the following year. In July, 1879, she renewed her progress and in two days passed Bering Strait. Thus, by untoward circumstances the expedition had barely failed (or, by peculiarly fortunate conditions it had almost succeeded) in making the north- east passage during one season of the year. The Vega pursued her way down the Pacific to Japan and on September 2. 1879, sailed into the harbor of Yokohama. Thus it had taken three hundred and twenty-five years to accomplish the task one of the greatest world- navigation problems which Captain Willoughby set out to per- form in 1554. It should be remembered that the northeast passage includes the long northern coast of Asiatic Siberia, in itself a distance of 10,000 miles. Considerable exploration of that vast reach of conti- nent known as the Russian Siberian waste has been undertaken by the country most concerned. Put. as yet, the knowledge of Siberian lands and seas is limited, and has largclv been supple- mented by the independent research of ex]:)lorers of other nation- alities. Arctic Siberia, like Arctic America, presents a vast " tundra " region, or treeless waste, outlined irregularly on the south by stunted forest lands. Tlic soil still preserves fossil re- mains that record a more equable climate in early geologic times. Fossil ivory beds and masses of rich and commercial ores arc ARCTIC REGIONS 317 known to lie waiting in the earth, while millions of fur-bearing animals in the lower latitudes make this a region of incalculable possible wealth. But the inhospitable nature of the climate, and the rivers all flowing to the more inhospitable seas, make difficult the commercial problem of transportation. Yet even under such conditions, Siberia, since its conquest by Ivan, has vielded rich re- turns, mostly in valuable furs. Conquered by the freebooter Cossack, Yermak Timodajev, in 1578, it was accepted by Ivan the Terrible as the price of his pardon. Permanent Russian settlements were founded at Tjumen and Tobolsk before the close of the sixteenth century, and as early as 1830, led by covetousness for the rich furs exhibited by savage traders, the Cossacks had pene- trated as far as the Lena River. A few years later a Cossack trader sailed down the Lena, levying a tribute of peltries, and reached its western mouth. From the Arctic Sea he ascended the Olekma in 1638, discovered the Tana, and in 1639 reached the Tchendema to the east. It is hardly profitable for the present purpose to follow the history of these early explorations, which were imdertaken chiefly by traders. In 1734 there opened up a new era in the history of Siberian discovery, and for the first time scientific expeditions were sent out, mainly for the more accurate investiga- tion of the Arctic Siberian coast. But these eighteenth-century expeditions have been noted in connection with the northeast passage. Early in the next century Lutke, a Russian captain, examined the west coast of Nova Zambia as far as Cape Xassau, 1821-1824. The New Siberia Inlands, dis- covered in 1770 by a Russian merchant named Liakhov. were surveyed by Lieutenant Anjou as early as 1821. who found the ice to the north so thin as to hazard any pedestrian excursion, and an open sea extending beyond for twenty or thirty miles. Baron Wrangeil, also in the Russian service, made similar investi- gations between Cape Tchelogskoi and the mouth of the Kolyma. All efiforts at extended investigation from the coast were invariably stopped by the thinness of the ice. ]\Iiddendorf (1843) '^'^'^'^s com- missioned for further inspection of tlie Cape Tchdyuskin region and found open water off the shore in the summer of the same year. This practically completed the Russian survey by land of the Siberian Arctic, but no vessel up to that time had rounded the extreme northern point and the passage of the northeast Arctic seas, from the month of the Yenisei to the month of the Lena, 318 POLAR RESEARCH had not yet been solved. Some work has been undertaken by equipment. In 1902, Baron von Toll, a rich Siberian, attempted Russians in the last half century, under government and private on his own account to explore the New Siberia Islands off the coast. Von Toll has not been heard from, but his party is supposed to be safe. In 1875 a revolution in scientific polar research was brought about almost entirely by an address of Lieutenant Cliarles Wey- precht of the Austro-Hungarian navy before a German scientific body. \\''eyprecht, in company with Lieutenant Payer, who was in charge of the sledging, had made some examinations of condi- tions around Nova Zembla in 1872, contemplatory to making the northeast passage. Weyprecht and Payer passed two winters in latitude 79 degrees and discovered another island group, which they named Franz Josef Land. In April. 1874, they undertook a third Arctic journey to explore MdClintock Island. Abandon- ing their ship, the Tcgctthoff, they attempted to beat a retreat, dragging their provisions, stored in small boats, on sledges. For three months they traversed the ice-pack of the polar sea. reaching the edge at last in latitude yy degrees 40 minutes north, and launched their fragile boats August 14. Fortunately, after two weeks, they were picked up b}' a Russian sailing vessel which brought them safely to Vardo. \\'cyprecht embodied the results of his Arctic experiences in various important scientific works, and in an address made a strong plea that instead of these miscellaneous, spasmodic efforts, a united attempt should be made by all of the nations interested in scientific advance. Tie outlined a system of cooperation by which expedi- tions and stations established in the polar world could be mutually hel])ful, eliminating the question of commercial or national rivalry', and all wr)rking together purely in the interests of science and the elucidation of the many physical problems to which a knowledge of pr)lar crtnditions alone affords the clew. In 1879 there resulted the International Geogra])hical Con- gress, which convened in Hamburg for the discussion of polar question^. Tn the winter of 1882 TWeyprecht died at Micliel- stadt the year before) stations of relief and supplies were estab- li'^hed both in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, according to tlie plan of the TTamburg Congress, and of a snl)se(jiicnt one held at I'ern, whicli afforded a system of circumpolar cor)])eration. As ARCTIC REGIONS 319 expressly stated, the chief purpose was to make accurate meter- ological and magnetic observation. The station estabHshed by the United States under Lieutenant Adolphus Greely, in latitude 8i degrees 44 minutes north, on the east coast of Grinnell Land, was one of the earHest. This station, on Lady Frankhn Bay, Grinnell Land, was the farthest north of any, and was named Fort Conger, after the United States senator w^ho had championed the movement. Amply equipped and carefully selected as to its members, it was destined to make some extraor- dinary geographic exploration, and collected much valuable data in addition to important weather observation. Dr. Octave Pavy made a pedestrian and sledge expedition to the extreme northern i)oint of Grinnell Land, along the eastern coast, while other parties cxpk^-ed the interior. Lockvvood and P.rainard, two other members, crossed over to Greenland, rmd on May 5, i8.ci out. A collier vessel had already been 322 P O L A R R E S E A R C H sent to Greenland. Peary reached Cape Sabine in mid-August. 1905, the voyage so far successful, but with the real difficulty of the expedition ahead of him, in pushing his stoutly-built vessel to tlie farthest possible point north before establishing quarters. The waters of the sea to the north of Sabine are especially difficult of ice navigation, and completely baffled Xansen's vessel in 1902. Such a point would bring the explorer about seventy miles nearer the Pole than even the most northern station in Franz Josef Land. This would still leave about 500 miles for the " dash," in all a journey of 1000 miles to be made in a favorable season lasting less than 100 days. An average of about twelve miles would then be necessary, regardless of the condition of the ice. the party's equipment, or their personal fatigue. Peary relied upon Eskimos and dogs for his transportation. The first message from Peary was the following dispatch dated Plopedale, Labrador, via Twillingate, Newfoundland, November 2, 1906: " The Roosevelt wintered on the north coast of Grant Land, somewhat north of the Alert winter quarters. Went north with sledges February, via Heckla and Columbia. Delayed by open water between 84 and 85 degrees. Beyond 85, six days. Gale dis- rupted ice, destroyed caches, cut off communication with supporting bodies and drifted due cast. Reached 87 degrees 6 minutes, north latitude, over ice drifting steadily eastward. Returning ate eight dogs. Drifted eastward, delayed by open water, reached north coast Greenland in straitened conditions. Killed musk oxen and re- turned along Greenland coast to sliip. Two sup]K)rting parties driven on north coast Greenland. One rescued bv me in starving condition. After one week recuperation (jn Roosci'dt, sledged west, completing ncjrth coast of Grant Land, and reached other land near looth meridian. Homeward vovage was incessant battle with ice. storms, and head winds. Roosevelt magnificent ice fighter and sea boat. No deaths or illness in expedition. Pl-AKY." Later statcmcnis fr(jm the commander varierl only in this, that they filled ou! the details of the exjjcdition ;is to dates and the hard- ships. The Rii(isr7\-l! was able to make its \vay north to the coast of Grant LaiKl. \'vi!irh was somewhat farther north than Peary ARCTIC REGIONS expected to be able to push his ship, and nearer the Pole than any other ship had been in American waters. Here, 82 degrees J/ minutes north latitude, winter quarters were established and prepa- rations for the dash for the Pole were hastened forward. These were completed by February 7, and Peary set out. Other parties, as relief parties, also went out under charge of Captain Bartlett, Dr. Wolfe, R. G. ^Nlaroin, J. Clarke, and 3>I. Ryan. The first part FARTHEST NORTHS 1906 of the journey was accomplished under favorable conditions, then came storms, but still Peary went northward nnlil he reached S7 degrees 6 minutes, or only about 20 1 miles from the I'ole. There he planted the American tlag, and h;iving er^tp.blishcd a new record turned southward. Put before he started (n\ the return, the food supply had aluKjst given out. ;nid when t!ie Kooscz'cH \v;is reached, only three dogs out of the ..riginal seventeen were leit. 't having been necessary to cat the others, although the l^^skimos h;id 324, POLAR RESEARCH shot about 300 musk oxen and 50 deer. On the return the party encountered a severe snowstorm which lasted over a week and during which they completely lost their bearing. In all, Peary was absent from the ship 117 days. Then after a week's recuperation, he sledged westward to a gap of about fifty miles left unexamined in the coast line of Grant Land between the exploration of the Xares expedition of 1875-1876 and of the Norwegian expedition of 1901. This he completed, and going still further westward discovered a new land near the looth meridian. On July 4, 1906, the Roosevelt started on her homeward voy- age which was an " incessant battle with ice, storms, and head winds." Two blades of the propeller were broken away Ijy tlie ice. Then the coal supply ran out, and, although the vessel was schooner rigged, sails were useless, and it was impossible to make more than a knot an hour. On October 15, Hebron was reached and a small supply of wood obtained. Then at Nain and Hopedalc they got more wood and, at the latter place, a few tons of coal. It was at Hopedalc, also, that Peary was enabled to send his first message to civilization, November 2, 1906. "Well did Peary deserve the credit and the reward of being the most successful Arctic explorer that had yet faced the frozen north. Xotwith.^landing he failed in 1906 in his great purpose of reaching the i'olc, he contributed a great service to geographic science in that lie ga\-c accurate information with reference to a large territory which had been entirely an unknown blank upon the majis up to that time. Alcanwliile. in the Arctic seas of the eastern hemisphere enterprise Iiad not been lacking. It is hardly i)ossible in sliort comjiass to clironicle the achievements of all the intrepid explor- ers of all nations, who, in tlie ])erio(l of the last quarter of the nine- teenth century, have laid Arctic sacrifices on the allar of scientific attainment. Certainly it would be impossi1)lc to do them full jus- tice, Dutch, knglish, American, Swedish, Norwegian, and German activity in ])(jlar re-carcli marked tlie years from 1S70 to i^K]. In (S'j.2 Iwoxcning Swedish naturalists, Pjorling and Kalstennius. left St. jollify for Siiiith Sound. Tliev were insufiiciently equipped, and arc kn(r\vn t'l ha\c been in a C(jndition bordering on des]:)eration when they set out in a small boat, Octoljcr 1 _', for Cape karaday, I-,!!c-n;crc Land. 'f races of them were subse(|uently found on ARCTIC REGIONS 325 Carey Island, where their vessel had been driven ashore in August. But this discovery was made after two years had elapsed, and their fatCj so easy to surmise, has never been definitely settled. But the explorations of recent years were culminated by the accomplishments of the Norwegian, Fridjof Nansen. Nansen, as early as 1882, two years after graduating from the University of Christiania, joined an expedition in a sailing vessel bound for the Arctic regions. In 1888 he made that remarkable journey across Greenland, being the first to track tlie pathless curvature of the Greenland ice-cap. The Norwegian Storthing then voted 200,000 kroner for an expedition to the North Pole under Nansen, and on June 24, 1893. he set out from Christiania. Nansen's vessel, the Fram {i. e., Forzcard, named by Mrs. Nansen, who " had the courage to remain behind"), was one of 170 tons, especially constructed so that it would be lifted up instead of crushed by the pressure of the ice-pack, and equipped with provisions for five years. Peary's expeditions had already established the possibility of such a protracted sojourn in the Arctic, with proper equip- ment and sanitary precautions. Nansen's plan was a startling, though thoroughly natural and scientific one; namely, to take ad- vantage of the North Siberian current, which he believed to flow from Bering Strait across the Pole toward the Atlantic, and to abandon his vessel's course to this natural drift for a period of sev- eral years. That such a trans-polar current exists is based upon the evidence that driftwood, supposed to come from Alaska, is every year cast upon the east Greenland coast, and relics of the ill-fated American vessel Jcannettc, which was crushed in the ice in June, 1881, ofi^ the Siberian coast, were picked up eleven hundred days later on the shores of southwest Greenland. The question of polar currents, being the key to so many problems of the general circulation of the waters of the globe, is an interesting subject for consideration. 'Jdie waters of llic surl'acc cooling, become heavier, and sink to take up their course southward as undercurrents, and at last commingle with the warm e(iuatorial waters flowing northward. These novthward-ilowing, warmer- surface currents are deflected in part by the rotation of the earth, and in part by the friction of the colder waters. They assume a northeastern or eastern direction, while the cold, soutliward-flow- ing undercurrents take a southwestern and western direction. Volumes of fresh water are poured out into the Arctic basin by 326 POLAR RESEARCH the great rivers draining the lands of the northern hemisphere. With practically no evaporation, and much precipitation, a light surface strata is formed in the polar seas, exercising a tendency to spread over the comparatively denser waters from the south. Thus polar surface currents southward flowing are found, such as tliat which Xansen now proposed to test, passing along the east coasts of Greenland and Labrador, with a decidedly westerly course produced by the rotation of the earth. On September 22 the Fram, in latitude 78 degrees 45 minutes, north of the Xew Siberian Islands, began its trip toward the Pole. In ]\Iarch, 1895, the ice-clipped vessel being then in latitude 83 degrees and 59 minutes, Xansen and Lieutenant Johanson set out with sledges and dogs to advance still farther toward the Pole. A month later, on April 8, 1895, they reached 86 degrees and 14 minutes on longitude 95 degrees east of Greenwich, con- stituting an advance of 2 degrees and 50 minutes over any pre- vious explorers, and only 250 miles from the Pole. But now they found that the ice pack on which they traveled was itself drifting with a soutlicrnly trend. ^Making for Franz Josef Land, they wintered there in a cave hut, subsisting on bear and walrus. In the spring of 1896 they set out southward to Spitzbergen, travel- ing over the ice. In June, X'^ansen reached Franz Josef Land, in desperate straits, but fortunately met with members of anotlier party the Jackson-IIarmsworth expedition, which had also started out in 1894, but which were provided with a liberal equipment. Xansen and Jackson returned to Norway in the Jackson-liarms- worth supi)ly vessel, the IVin'dward. In the same month the I'nnii had arrived at Hammerfest, X'^orway, the most nortlicrn town in luu-ope. Tlie Fnun reached as far as latitude 85 degrees 57 minutes in her drift with the ice, two years after abandoning her course to the natural current. X^o land had been sighted north of latitude 8j degrees, l)ut open water was found in latitude 83 degrees and 14 minutes Ton longitude 14 degrees east of Greenwich). The fram li;id made lier j^erilous venture with marked success, and returned uninjured to Xorway, with her crew in jjcrfect health. Xan-en's most important discovery related to the very deep ice-co\cre(l ocean or Arctic Sea north of Franz Josef Land and the Spit/Jjcigcn grou]), in longitude T40 degrees east to 10 degrees east of Gic'cnwicli. 'Ilie temperature of tlie waters i)roved relatively warm i;i the (k']jths uf the ocean, and it possessed a rich animal A R C T I C R E G I O N S 327 life. The discovery of this deep water, where formerly there was behaved to be only a shallow sea, forces a new geological view of the Asiatic-European continent, showing as it does the existence of a ''drowned plain," or continental shelf, extending northward from the Asiatic-European land mass. The edge of this shelf would indi- cate what the geologist would call the true continent-margin, and the conclusion points to a comparatively recent geological period for the submerging of this great northern plain, now a marine plateau. Thus Xansen's discovery gave a new trend to speculation as to the northern physiography of the earth in earlier geological periods. Nansen's research coordinated as it were the mis- cellaneous items of information already pigeon-holed by science, producing a uniform general knowledge, limited, of course, but utilizable as a working hypothesis and well substantiated so far as it went. The prestige of the Spitzbergen route remained undiminished and a new method of polar research was soon to be attempted. Con- way, in 1896-1897, had explored the interior of Spitzbergen. and for the first time crossed that island group. Xathors completely circled that archipelago and fixed its geographical relations to Franz Josef Land. On July 11, 1897, some Swedish experi- menters, Andree, an engineer, and Drs. Strindberg and Fraenkel. ascended in a balloon from the north of the Spitzbergen group, and started on their mysterious aerial voyage in search of the Pole. Pigeon messages received soon afterward established their direc- tion of progress for two days to have been northeasterly, but this was the last information to reach the civilized world. In the winter of 1899-1900 an Italian venture under the Duke of Abruzzi, in the Stella Polaris, established favorable quarters north of Franz Josef Land. Cagni, one of the staft', the Duke of Abruzzi unfortunately being unable to go. undertook a sledge journey from this base, and actually distanced Xansen's record, reaching 86 degrees 33 minutes 49 seconds north. This same region was the field of American explorations in ^Cj02. preparing the way, but not immediately resultful. In 1898 the Frani had again set out on a polar voyage, this time under Captain vSvcrdru]), and in an expedition, lasting until 1902, exj)lorcd the American archipelago, and contributed important scientific results rcspecling the Sir John Franklin area, west of Smith .Sound. A scientific expedition sub- sidized by the French Academy of Science followed in 1903. The 328 POLAR RESEARCH Ziegler expedition in the America set out from Trondhjem, Nor- way, for Franz Josef Land the same summer, and in the autumn a Canadian party left HaHfax in the Neptune. Of these, the Ziegler expedition was by far the most important. William Ziegler. an American, was the generous and intelligent supporter of this Arctic endeavor to reach the Pole by way of the European Arctic Ocean. Ziegler's previous experiment with the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition of 1901, which visited Rudolf Land, Nansen's old hut_, and Greely's Island, but practically accomplish- ing nothing, had not deterred him from this, an equally resulllcss, venture. Anthony Fiala, who had distinguished himself in the first Ziegler party sent out. was given command of the second, which, in June, 1903, left I'rondhjem, in the strong slcam whaling vessel America. Conditions were unusually laxorahle and the party established themselves at Tcplitz Bay, Crown Prince Rudolf Lruid, which gave them a latitude of 81 degrees 50 minutes north from which to work. This ]K)int was reached in August. 1903, after a voyage of little difficulty. Camp was established on shore, but in November, while a considerable store of provisions was still on board, the America was crushed in the ice, and eventually drifted away rmd was lost. In the spring oi the following year Fiala made his attempt to advance toward the Pole, but covered only a few miles before an accident com])clled his return. A seccmd start was made almost immediately, but the ice was in bad condition, and Fiala was com- ])cl]ed to give that season's project u]). hiala was lircd wilh enthusiasm to reach the coveted 90 degrees, or at least to estab- lish a new farthest north record, and iiupatientlv awaited passage of the winter darkness. On March 16, 1904, ])ro\isionc(l for loodaxs, he set out with men and dogs, but the best etfort of the party tuade only a few miles a day over the rough hununocks and treach- erous snow ])ockels. 1die ice floe was continual!\- breaking up, in\ <'H-C(junt of the ])luMioinenal lenipcrature of 34 degrees al)o\-c zero. Mctore six day- of such niisadx-entiu'c, the " d.'ish for tlic Tole," had degencr.'ited into a game of crossing from ice-cake to ice-cake, .and it was diffienlt to fnd blocks large enough to bear the whole of the smrdl exploi-jiig ])arty. 1'hey hardlv adwaneed a dozen nn'les in six da}'s. At tlie end of th;it time tlie wlink> project was aban- doned until colder weather should ])ro\'i(le conditious more favorable. 'J'hese disappointing details were not learned until the return A R C T I C R E G I N S 329 of the expedition in 1905. ^Meanwhile, in 1904, Zie.c^ler had twice sent Champ in charge of rehef expeditions, which each time failed to reach Franz Joseph Land, and returned to Norway. In 1905 Ziegler purchased a powerful whaler, the Terra Nova, and again fitted out a search party with Champ at the head, but just before the vessel sailed from Xorway Ziegler died, having given as his last command, " Don't come back until you have rescued those boys." Champ on this trip did rescue " the boys," finding them scattered along the coast at various posts, short of provisions, but still sound. In 1904 the Norwegian Captain Ronald Amundsen set out in a small sailing sloop, his object being to locate anew the north magnetic pole. This had been discovered by Ross in 1832 on the southeast triangle of Boothia Felix, but it was supposed to have traveled a few degrees east, about a thousand miles from the pole of the earth's axis of revolution, since Ross had fixed its co- ordinates. Amundsen, with a handful of men, and the Gj'oa, a vessel of only 47 tons, succeeded in making the northwest passage, as well as in accomplishing the declared object of his expedition. Enter- ing Lancaster Sound from Baffin Bay, in June of 1903, the Nor- wegian captain followed Parry's old route of 1S19, and reached King William Land, that region forever associated wiih the sad fate of Franklin's men. This was the field for his scientific endeavors in locating the north magnetic pole. Amundsen's survey included the coast and waters off western Boothia, south to King William Land, and as far west as Victoi-ia T-and. He collected much data res])ecting the phenomena of magnelic variation, in- clination, and intensity, and sent the results to Nansen, hermetically sealed in a metal tube. This survey accomplished, Amundsen resumed his course in the little single-stick vessel, the Gjoa. iM-om Victoria Strait he reached tlie channel leading westward between the Arctic .Vrchipelago and the American mainland the route discov- ered by the Franklin party, though not credited t(^ them until many years of search had collected the pitiful tokens of their line of travel. The GjlJa is the first to accomplish, without serious diniculty, the northwest passage. It fijjlowed the iM-anklin course, and avoided the hardships of ]\lcChu-c's more northcrnly course. Here, it may be said, the comparatively shallow water (indicating in the western hemisphere also a continental shelf), insures in summer an open 330 P L A R R E S E A R C H sea, since drifting fragments from the polar pack ground farther out. Moreover, the coast is "tundra" land, or bare, and being low, has no glacial formation to fill the channels with icebergs. He arrived at the mouth of the Mackenzie River in Septem- ber, 1905, and found some whalers there, who were caught in the ice. They told him that the political situation was strained between Norway and Sweden, and, being anxious to learn what had happened, as well as to hear from his family, he determined to march south to the Yukon telegraph station at Eagle City. It was a 700 mile trip on snowshoes, and had only been made once or twice before by trappers. With Captain Magg of the whaler Bonanza, he set out. Four weeks later (December 5, 1905) they arrived at their destination. The people could not believe that he had made the trip from Europe via the Arctic Ocean, or that he had come from the mouth of the Alackenzie on snowshoes. In connection with the International Commission for the Ex- ploration of the Northern Seas, the Duke of Orleans organized an expedition to the Arctic in 1905. For this purpose he tried unsuccessfully to secure Nansen's famous and sturdy vessel, the Fram, but had to content himself with the Bclgica. When the International Geographic Congress met at Brussels in 1905, it reported favorably on international cooperation in efiforts to reach the North Pole and Arctic efforts in general. Captain Cagni, of the Italian expedition under the Duke of Abruzzi, reached in a pedestrian trip 86 degrees 33 minutes 49 seconds north, or within 237 miles of the Pole. The record of the other leading explorers in their northern penetration is as follows: Nansen, in April, 1896, 86 degrees 14 minutes: Peary, in April, 1902, 84 degrees 17 minutes; Greely, in May. 1882, 83 degrees 24 minutes; Nares, in May, 1876, 83 degrees 20 minutes; Parry, in July, 1827, 82 degrees 45 minutes; Hall, in August, 1870, 82 degrees II minutes; Payer, in April, 1874, 82 degrees 5 minutes; Wellman, in 1898, 82 degrees. It is interesting, but not conclusive, to note that Cagni's and Nansen's "fartliest" were each made by way of Franz Josef Land, while I^eary, Greely, Nares, and TTall all made their records in the western hemisj)here. The TIarris')n Fxperlition, under command of A. H. Harrison, left Atliabasco Pandinf^. July 22, 1905, bound for the Mackenzie Delta, the chief purpose being to explore the ]\arry Archipelago. 'ARCTIC REGIONS 331 The Anglo-American Arctic Expedition, under command of Cap- tain Ejnar Mikkelsen, sailed from Victoria, B, C, May 20, 1906, on board the schooner Duchess of Bedford, the purpose being to make tidal observations along Alaska and Banks land, geological, ethnographical and zoological collections among the western Parry Islands, and meteorological observations as well as endeavoring to discover new islands as a western extension of the Parry Archi- pelago. The Danish Expedition, under L. Mylius Erickson, sailed from Copenhagen, June 24, 1906, on board the Denmark, with intention of going to the east coast of Greenland and exploring the region between Cape Bismarck and Independence Bay. All these expeditions succeeded in adding to the general knowledge of the Arctic regions, but discovered nothing startling or unexpected. An expedition that commanded more than ordinary interest during 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908, was one commanded by Walter Wellman, who, after several voyages by sea, decided it was possi- ble to reach the pole with an airship. Extensive preparations were made at the expense of Victor Lawson, of the Chicago Record- Herald. Every modern invention, including wireless telegraphy, was installed, but after several abortive attempts in 1907 and 1908, Mr. Wellman was forced to abandon his project. Chapter II ANTARCTIC REGIONS ^S successive expeditions reach and surpass preceding records, /~\ the incentive of emulation comes into greater and greater jL JL account. The declared " impossible " has been over and over accomplished through persistence, increase of knowledge, and at times (it must be confessed) through unusually favorable condi- tions, which in the variable Arctic regions are entirely accidental, /vs Sir \Y. Martin C(inway suggests, the exploration of the Arctic regions will probably be more thorough if the fortunate discovery of the North I'ole is postponed for manv years. Scientific in- terest has nt)t abated since Sir John Frobisher expressed as his view that the discovery of the polar passage was the " one thing left in the world " ! The commercial motive, it is true, died with the whale industry, but the spirit of adventure and the flame of science are yet alive in the world. And when, in that time to be. all we may know of the northern cap within its radius of 23 degrees and 2t coast of Mctoria Land the ice-pack is only ten to twenty feet high. At Cape Adare was found a shelving beach \'.-ith a penguin rtxjkery in imdisturbed possession, and no glacier iiiovenicnt to the sea. lUit surmises and calculations, alike specida- live, make tlie icc-caj) C)f extraordinary thickness toward the Pole, ("roll ex'cn g')ing so far as to estimate its dej^th as possildv twelve to twenty-four mile";. But could ice of this thickness exist? .At ctTlain ])oini> in (irc-enland it is estimated to be above 6.fK)() fcrt, and where llie ice slu-c1 is so thick the temperature at the bottom is prob;d)l\- near the niching point on account of the earth's inter- nal heat, and the pre.-^.^ure of the ice mass. ANTARCTIC E E I X S 337 While the South Pole has not yet been reached, Lieut. Ernst H. Shackleton, commander of the British Antarctic Expedition, came within ill miles of it, January 9, 1909. The expedition set sail from Torquay, England, August 7, 1907, and from New Zea- land, January i, 1908, on the barkentine Nimrod. The magnetic South Pole was located at 72:25 latitude, 154 east longitude. On December 8, 1908, new mountain ranges were discovered, trending south southwest, and more than 100 peaks were also discovered. The party suffered terribly from the cold and from dysentery, which necessitated a return to the ship at Hutpoint, which was reached JMarch 4, 1909. The conditions at the South Pole are materially different from those existing at the North Pole, judging from Lieut. Shackleton's own report, which is as follows: "The geographical South Pole doubtless is situated on a pla- teau from 10,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea level. The altitudes of the new mountains ranged from 3,000 to 12,000 feet, approximately. Violent blizzards in altitudes 88 degrees showed that if a polar calm exists it must be in a small area or not coincident with the geographical pole." Upon his return, Lieut. Shackleton was awarded the same gold medal recently conferred upon Commander Peary, by the Geographical Society at Berlin. A new expedition, with Lieut. Shackleton in command, is now being formed, and if he is able to profit by his former experience, his next trip should result in the dis- covery of the South Pole. It is possible that Commander Peary will accompany Lieut. Shackelton on this next expedition, and give him the benefit of his own experience. The Antarctic Polar Record to date is as follows: 1814. Capt. Cook 71*15 1823. Capt. Weddell 74:i5 1842. Borchgrevink 77 '49 1898. De Gerlache 71 ^3^^ 1900. Borchgrevink 7^'-S^ 1902. Capt. Scott 82 :i7 1909. Lieut. Shackleton 88:23 within in miles of the pole. Chapter III THE PRESENT SITUATION 4k FTER 300 years of fruitless effort, the North Pole was /\ discovered, April 6, 1909, by Commander Robert E. X j^ Peary. His last and successful expedition left New York City July 6, 1908, bound for Sydney, N. S., in the Arctic steamboat, Roosevelt, equipped for a two-year voyage. Commander Peary brought to bear the experience of a quarter of a century on his selection of supplies and equipments, realizing that it was a lack of them which had prevented his reaching the pole on his last trip. The ship was in command of his former captain, R. A. Bartlett of Newfoundland, and the crew was gathered from the same province. The scientists who accompanied the expedition were: Prof. Ross G. Marvin, who alone died on the trip; D. D. McMillan, George Borup and Dr. J. W. Goodsell, Reaching Sydney, July 17, the real journey was begun, and after a successful voyage Cape York was reached August i. After encountering some difficulty from the ice floes, the Roosevelt was finally established in winter quarters at Cape Sheridan, Grant Land, September I. Here the little party made extended prepara- tions for the long, dark winter, the commander knowing how neces- sary it was to keep his party in good health and spirits. While provisions were taken on land and shelter constructed to provide against accident, the steamer was lived in, not only by the com- mander and his crew, but by the eskimos whom he had brought with him. One of the serious difficulties that began to confront Commander Peary as early as November i, was the dying of his dogs. Upon them so much depended that he exhausted every effort to save them, but lost many in spite of all his efforts. At last, after the tiring wait, on February 22, Commander Peary left the Roose7rIt to begin his march for the goal toward which he had struggled for twenty-five years. On March i, 1909, Commanfjer Peary left Cape Cohnnbia with several supporting par- ties of white men and eskimos. His equipment consisted of nine- 338 THE PRESENT STTUATTON 139 teen sleds and 133 dogs. Captain Bartlett led the first supporting party; Goodsell and McMillan also commanded others, but on March 14 they were sent back to Cape Columbia. Matthew Hen- sen, who had accompanied Commander Peary upon several former voyages, was chosen to go ahead for the advance work. His physi- cal strength and ability to manage the dogs made him the best man for this work, and he was with Commander Peary on the final dash for the pole. On March 22 they passed the record of 86:14 made by Fridjof Nansen ; on March 23, 86:34 of the Abruzzi expedition, and on March 24, 86:38 was reached. Captain Bartlett was once more in the lead when the expedition left 86:38, but soon thereafter he was sent back. Commander Peary, Henson and four eskimos going on alone. In starting out on this last march, Commander Peary carefully selected his provisions, taking along enough for forty days, and he had with him only the best of the remaining dogs. 340 POLAR RESEARCH They made from fifteen to twenty-five miles a day, passing the 88 parallel, April 2 ; the 89 parallel April 4, and April 6, the 90 parallel was reached. In speaking of this Commander Peary de- clares that he was too exhausted to experience any great emo- tions, aside from the satisfaction which must come of a long at- tempted task completed. He spent about thirty hours making his observations and resting for the return trip, then having left the flag of his country behind him, he set out to rejoin his com- Farthest North ^ panions. Commander Peary csta1)lishcd beyond any doubt the fact that there is no land within the 90 parallel. The vast expanse of ice extended on every side. Fortunately the weather favored the taking of observations, so that he did not have to delay, but started back on A])ril 7. In spite r)f their fatigue, the return trip was made without any serious accident^, anrl Commander TVary reached Cape Columbia, April 23. I'our days later he arrived at Cape Sheridan, to be met THE PRESENT SITUATION 341 with the news that Ross G. Marvin had met his death by drowning on April lo. As soon as the Roosevelt was clear of the ice, the expedition set sail from Cape Sheridan, leaving July i8, reaching Indian Harbor, September 5. From there Commander Peary cabled word to the United States of his success. His arrival in the United States on September 2^ was made an occasion of paying him distinguished honors. On October 20, Commander Peary sub- mitted his data to the committee appointed by the National Geo- graphical Society for that purpose, and after it had carefully con- sidered it, report was made November 3, that the records corrob- orated Commander Peary's claims. The following day the Na- tional Geographical Society adopted the following resolutions: "Whereas, Commander Robert E. Peary has reached the North Pole, the goal sought for centuries ; "Whereas, This is the greatest geographical achievement that this society can have opportunity to honor; therefore, "Resolved, That a special medal be awarded to Commander Peary. "Resolved, That the question of whether or not any one reached the pole prior to 1909 be referred to the committee on re- search, with instructions to recommend to the board of managers a sub-committee of experts who shall have authority to send for papers or make such journeys as may be necessary to inspect original records, and that this action of the society be communi- cated at once to those who may have evidences of importance." The society awarded Commander Peary a special gold medal, and further bestowed a medal upon Captain Bartlett. The necessity for examining into other records to determine whether Commander Peary was the first to reach the pole, was occasioned by a claim made by Dr. Frederick A. Cook, on Septem- ber I, 1909, that on April 21, 1908, he had reached the pole. He had left Gloucester, Mass., July i, 1907, in the schooner yacht John R. Bradley. He and a store of supplies were latulcd a little north of Etah late in August. Here he wintered with a white man named Rudolph Francke. Dr. Cook claimed to have made the final dash to the pole with two eskimos. Coming back, he spent the winter at Cape Spardo, from whence on February 18, 1909, he pushed on southward, arriving at Copenhagen, September 4, where he was enthusiastically received. After liis arrival in the United States, September 21, he went over the country lecturing. The ;U2 POLAR K E 8 E A R C H controversy over his claims and those of Commander Peary was bitter, but the matter was finally decided by the University of Copenhagen, to which Dr. Cook had submitted his records, that they did not substantiate his contention of the discovery of the pole. After dispatching his secretary with his records. Dr. Cook disappeared, and thus far, in ^lay, 1910, his whereabouts are not known. Commander Peary is now lecturing in Europe, and everywhere he is meeting with the distinguished honor that is his due. During the first week in May he visited Berlin, where he was decorated with the gold medal of the German Geographical Society, which is the highest honor within their gift. The Polar Record to 1910 is as follows: 1827. Parry 82 :45 1871. Hall 82:11 1874. Peyer 82 :o5 1876. Nares 83 :2o 1879. DcLong 77:15 1891. Peary 83 :24 1896. Nanscii 86 :i4 1898. Wcllman 82 : 1900. Abru;^zi 8^1 -,2;^ 1900. Cazni '^^^'33 1902. Peary 84 : 17 1904. Fiala 83 :i3 1906. Peary 87 :o6 1909. Peary 90 : ( Pole.) During 1909, Count Zcpj)clin began preparations to try and discover the ])ole with one of his airships. I'his i)roject met with the approval of the German emperor, but nothing definite resulted of the plans. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY A very full bibliography of Scandinavia, such as would interest the special- ist or serious student, cataloguing all important works in English, is already available from the labors of Thorvold Solberg of the Library of Congress, and appears as an appendix to Horn's important " History of the Scandinavian North" (translated by Anderson, S. C. Griggs & Company, Chicago, ^883). But such a list would be bewildering to the general reader. Moreover, the years since Solberg's list have added to the literature of the subject many interesting and very valuable books. The titles below include practically all recent publications of any note, besides making a general selection from the older standard works dealing with the Scandinavian people. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY Alberg, A. " Gustavus Vasa and his Stirring Times." London, 1883. Popular, readable. Allen, C. F. " Haaiidhog i Faedrelaiidets Historic." Copenhagen, 1863. Bain, F. W. " Christina, Queen of Sweden." London, 1889. Bain, R. N. "Gustavus III and his Contemporaries." 2 vols. London, 1894. "Charles XII and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire." ("Heroes of the Nations" series.) London, 1895. " Scandinavia." Cambridge, 1905. This important work is a political history of Denmark, Norway and Sweden dtiring the years 1515-1900. Boyesen, Hjalmar H. '" The Story of Norway." New York, 1892. An excellent general history of Norway, with emphasis on the dramatic phases. Preserves an interesting narrative style. Chapman, B. " Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War." London, 185G. Oat of print, but standard. Dahlman, F. C- " GcscJiichtc z'on Danemark hia zur Reformation, mit Iiihegriff van Norivep,cn und Island." 3 vols. Hamburg, 1840-1843. A standard work on Denmark, but deals exclusively with the events of the Middle Ages. Dodge, Lt.-Col. Tlieodore A. "Gustavus Adolphus." Boston. Du Chaillu, l^aul. " The Viking Age." 2 vols. New York. As (Ic^crilifcl in the author's sub-title this book deals with the early hi'-tory, maniiers and customs of the ancestors of the luiglish-speaking nations. Dunham. .S. A. " History of Denmark, Sweden and Norway." 3 vols. London, 1840. Long the standard general history in k'nglish. Dysing, Job. " Kongerigct Nurgr." Christiana, 1890. 345 346 BIBLIOGRAPHY Eden, Nils. '" Sweden for Peace ; the Programme of Sweden in the Union Crisis." 1905. Fahlbeck, P. " Coiistitutioii Siicdiusc I't Ic raylemaitayisinc Modcrnc." Paris, i(j05. Flitcher, C. R. L. " Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle of Protestantism for Existence." ("Heroes of tlie Nations" series.) New York, tSqi. A very readable and sympathetic discussion of its subject, containing also an unusually good introductory chapter on the early history of Scandi- navia. Fryxell, Anders. " The History of Sweden." Edited by Mary Howitt. 2 vols. London, 1844. Translated from the Swedish. Popular, but deals only with Sweden before 1612. This is an " out of print "' book though one of standard literary value. Gallenga, Antonio. '' The Invasion of Denmark in 1864." 2 vols. London, 1864. Geijer, E. J., and Carlson, F. F. " Geschichtc ScJizvcdais." 5 vols. Gotha, 1844-1875.. The most important history of Sweden, but unfortunately out of print in the original and not yet accessible in English. Gosch, Charles A. " Denmark and Germany since 1815." London, 1862. An important work dealing with the events preceding the Slesvig-Hol- stein War. Pro-Danish in sympathies hut on the whole not unjust. Hover, M. " Kcnningariket Svcri^c." 4 vols. Stockholm, 1875-1884. Of standard value on Scandinavian history. Keary, C. I'. " The Vikings of Western Christendom." New York, 1891. .'\ good historic account of the formative period of the Scandinavian peo- ples, affording a view of their relation to the rest of luirope in the eighth and ninth centuries. Laing, Samuel. "The Heimskungla or Chronicles of the Kings of Norway." Translated from the Icelandic of Snorri Sturlasson. 3 vols. London, 1844. Originally written in the twelfth or thirteenth century this chronicle is close to the events it describes. The earliest traditions are recorded in the form of a collection of sagas, the chronicler filling in the narrative down to his own wild tinit-s. The work has been translated into various language^. The edition by i^aing contains a very \aluable introduction. Maurer, Konrad. "Island von seiner ersten luitdeekung Ins cn)n Untergaitge des J-reistaates." Munich, 1874. Con>idered the best single book on Iceland. Montelius. Prof. Oscar. " Civilization of Sweden in Heathen Times." New York, i88. A good tnatment of the early history, with map and many illustrations. Monteliii-, ( )., I lildebrand, II., and others. " Sz'eriges I listeria fra)i iildsta Yid till z-(ira l)ari,\" Christian;!, l885-i8(;4. Ryilfi-is, A. " Kuiiung Uskar II uJi S:-en^es I-'tdk." Stockholm, i8(>7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 Sars, J. E. " Udsigt over den Norske Historic." 2 vols. Christiana, 1877. Saxo-Grammaticns. First Nine Books of the " Danish History." Translated by Oliver Elton. London, 1894. With notes by F. York Powell on the sources, methods and lore of Saxo (twelfth and thirteenth centuries.) Schefer, Charles. " Les Etats Scandinaves de 1815 a 1847; dc 1848 h 18/0; de 1870 a nos jours." Paris, 1898- 1899. These constitute volumes X-XII of the great " Histoirc Generate'' Seignobos, Charles. '' Political History of Contemporary Europe." New York, 1897. Important to consult for the portion dealing with Scandinavian affairs. Sidgwick, Charles (Mrs. Arthur). "The Story of Norway." ("Historical Handbooks" series.) London, 1890. Popular in style. Stevens, Dr. J. L. " The History of Gustavus Adolphus and his Time." London, 1885. Thomas, Margaret. " Denmark Past and Present." London, 1902. Thomsen, Vilhelm. " The Relations Between Ancient Russia and Scandi- navia." London, 1877. Lectures delivered at the Taylor Institution, Oxford, in May, 1876. Trench, Archb. R. C. " Gustavus Adolphus in Germany." London, 1886. Watson, Paul B. " The Swedish Revolution under Gustavus Vasa." Boston, 1889. Contains an exhaustive bibliography. Weitemeyer, H. " Denmark." London, 1891. A general treatment, including the history, topography, language, literature, art and culture of the Danes. Wheaton, Henry. " History of the Northmen, or Danes and Normans, from the Earliest Times to the Conquest of William of Normandy. London. Wheaton was American Charge d'Affaires at Copenhagen. His work makes use of good authorities and has an established rank of importance. Wilson, T. B. "History of the Church and State in Norway." London, 1903. Worsaae, J. J. A. " The Danes and Northmen in England, Scotland and Ire- land." London, 1852. Translation of the report of the commission appointed by Christian VIH of Denmark to investigate the historical remains, memorials, etc., of Danes and Norwegians in the British Isles. TRAVEL AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION Anderson, Rasmus B. " Norse Mythology." 2d Ed. Chicago, 1878. An interesting and valuable summary containing all the mytlis and Eddas carefully systematized and interpreted, with introduction and convenient vocabulary and index. Asbjornsen, P. C. and Moe, J. "Norse Folke-og Huldre-cventyr eg Folkesagn" C-opcnhagen, 1879. A collection of Norwegian folk-tales. Baring-Gould, Sabine. " Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas." London, 1873. One of the best popular modern descriptions of Iceland. Rather more detail and voluminous in its information than tlie general reader requires on its limited subject, but written in an interesting, readable style and excellent for general reference. 348 BIBLIOGRAPHY Boyeseii, li. H. "Essays on Scaiulinavian Literature." New York, ]S()5. Kradshaw, J. "" Norway: Its Fjords, Fjelds and I'asses." London, 1896. Broehner, Jessie H. " Danish Life in Town and Country." London, IQ03. Attractively written and affords the reader an excellent idea of the Danes from every point of view. Brown, Dr. J. C. " People of Finland in Archaic Times." Chapman, .-Xhel. " Wild Norway." London, 1807. With chapters on Spitzber,i,HMi, Denmark, etc. Curtis, W. E. " Denmark, Norway and Sweden." Akron, O., ic)03. An interesting volume, well illustrated, presenting a general view of these countries as they appear to-day. Du Chaillu, Paul. " The Land of tlie ^^lidniglit Sun." New York, i88j. " The Land of the Long Night." New York, 1900. Accounts of journeys in the north countries, profusely illustrated and sup- plied with maps. Forbes, James D. " Norway and Its Glaciers." London, 1853. Accomit of a visit in 1851. Maps and color plates add interest to the text, lieidenstam, O. G. von. " Swedish Life in 'i'own and Country." New York, 1904. Furnishes a complete picture (if the social and political life of Sweden to- day. Chapters on early art and culture, literature, education, modern art, etc., etc., valuably supplement the description of the people and their country. Horn, I\ W. "llistorj' of the Literature of the Scandinavian North." 1884. Translated by R. B. Anderson. This buok also contains a bibliography of the important books in the luiglish language relating to the Scandinavian countries prepared by 'ih.orvald Solberg. Ilylten-Cavallius, G. O. " U'iireiid ocJi U'iiidanic." 2 vols. Stockholm. 1808. A contribution to the folk lore of Sweden, e>i)ecially rich in superstitions and charm-;. Ilyne, C. J. C. "Through Arctic Lapland." London, 1899. Jungman. B. "Norway." New York. 1005. A siunptuous volume descri])tive of travels in Norway. Kennedy, E. B. "Thirty Sea-^ous in .Scandinavia." London, 1903. Kounv and Fischer." Norway." Christian:i. 1900. Lee, J. A. ' Peaks and Pines." London, 1890. Maurer. Konrad. " Is!a)idisclir I'olkasLV^cii dcs (jc^^rmcart i^c'sajiiinclt iind vcr- dcntsrhl." Leip-ic, i860. Extremely valuable on the popular traditions of the North and the general study of modern folk-lore. Aliillcr, .S. C). " Xordischc AUcrtumskiindr." Strassburg, 1897. Liiportant for ethnologic reference. " Xik demands exile of, 108 Altin;in: explorations of, 315 Altmark, 'I'ruce of (r()_'i)), 180 Altranstadt, Peace of (1706), 219 333 354 INDEX Amaper: sketch of the peasants of, IQO Amundsen, Ronald : explorations of, Anderson : finds relics of the Franklin expedition, 310 Andreae, Jacob: influence of, 197 Andreae, Laurentius (Lars Anderson) : made chancellor, 155 Andreas Suneson, Archbishop of Lund : at the battle of Wolmar, 86 Andree, Karl Theodor : attempts to find the North Pole, ^r] Ane, King of Sweden : the legend of, Angermannus. Abraham: his relations with Sigismund, 168 Anglo-American Arctic Expedition _ (1906), 2>Z^ Anjou : explorations of, 317 Ankerstrom, Johan Jacob: assassinates Gustavus, 249 Anne of Denmark, Queen of England : Christian IV visits, 199 Anscarius, Saint, the Apostle of the North : sketch of, 26, 58 Anund, King of Sweden : reign of, 60 Arcona : assault of (1169), 82 Arnfast, Bishop of Aarhus: sketch of, 96 Arnulf, Holy Roman Emperor: defeats the Northmen, 22, Asbjorn Estridscn : invades England, Association of ^Merchant Adventurers: founded, 301 Aucrstadt: battle of (1806), 251 Aug-burg Confes'^ion of J^'aith : recog- nized as the cult of Sweden, iC)8 August, Elector of Saxon}-: favors Jacob Andreae, 197 Augu'-tus CH) the Strong, King of Po- land : in the Great Xorthcrn War, 214, 221; deposition of, 217; regains hi- throne, 226 Au.-^tcrlitz: battle of CTSn5), 251 Axel Hviflc: see Absalon, Archbishop of Lund P. !';iard on, Skulc Jarl of Xorway : de- feat '.f. O'l I'.ack, Sir George; cxjjlorations of. 308 Baftin, William : explorations of, 304, 305 Balleny: explorations of, 3,34 Bank of Norway: established, 262 Bank of Denmark: established, 263 Banner, Johan : in the Thirty Years' War, 186 Barcntz, William : explorations of, 302 Barrow, Sir John: influences Parlia- ment to offer a reward for polar discoveries, 306 Bartenstein, Treaty of (1807), 251 Barthelsen, Ivar : persecution of, 197 Barwalde, Treaty of (1631), 181 Bauer, Sten : punishment of, 166 Beldenak, Jens, Bishop of Odense : provokes the blood bath of Stock- holm, 149; at Brunnbak. 153 Belgrade, Peace of (1739), 227 Bellingshausen : explorations of, 2)Z2) Benedict: death of, 'Jt, Bengtsson, Jons, Archbishop of Upsala: rebellion of, 133 Berangaria, Queen of Denmark: the jewels of, 88; sketch of, 90 Berg, Christian Paulsen: leads the liberals, 289 Bergen: captured by the Jianscrs, 127 Bering, Vitus: expIoraticr>erkcrs : legend of the, 18 Berzeliu^, Jcjlian Jacob, Baron: sketch of, J^ Bestu/liev, Count Alexis Petrovitch : nlini^try of, 228 Birchlegs ( P.irke-benerne ) : the party of the, ()8 P>irgir, King of Sweden: reign of, loO i'.irgcr Hno; .-t, jarl of the Swedes and the ( iotli - : carerr of, 103 liiscoe : explurations of, 334 INDEX 355 Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von : in the Slesvig-Holstein con- troversy, 274 Bjiirne: voyage of, 48 Bjelke, Count: plots to assassinate Gus- tavus, 249 Bjelke, Gunilla: marriage of, 165 Bjelke, Thiir: punishment of. 166 Bjelkov: explorations of, 306 Bjorling: explorations of, 324 Bjorn (I) Jernside, King of Sweden: the legend of, 20 Bjorn II, King of Sweden: his appeal for missionaries, 26; mentioned by Anscarius, 58 Bjornson, Bjornstjerne : fights for Nor- way's independence, 287 Black Death, The: in Greenland, 48; in Norway and Sweden, 108 BlanKa, Queen of Denmark : death of, 117 Blanka, Queen of Sw^eden and Norway : sketch of. 107 Blood Bath, The, 150 Bogbinder, Hans Metzenheim : guar- dian of Christian, 147 Bonaparte. Joseph : placed on the throne of Spain, 257 Bondar : line of the. 102 Boniface VIII, Pope: his relations with Denmark, 112 Borchgrcvink, C. E. : explorations of, 334 Bornhoved: battle of (1227), 80 Botilda, Queen of Denmark : in the first crusade, 75 Boultiaux : associated with the Well- man Expedition. 340 Bourdelot: favorite of Christina, 205 Brahe, Count: death of, 228 Brahe, Magnus : favorite of Charles (XIV) John, 259 Brahe, Count Niels : at the battle of Liitzen, 184 Brahe, Tycho : sketch of, 19S Brainard, David Leggc : explorations of. 319 Brandt, I'Jievold vnn : career of, 241 Brask, Hans, Bishop of Linkoping: ignored by Gustavus Vasa, 155; at tlic diet of Vesteraas, 157 Bravalla: battle of, 18 Breakspear, Nicholas: see Adrian IV, Pope Breitenfeld: battles of (1631), 181; (1642), 187 British National Antarctic Expedition (1901), 334 Brock, Aeske: in the Danish revolt, 130 Brodersen, Al)raham : execution of, 124 Bromsebro, Peace of (1645), iS?. 201 Bronze Age: Scandinavia in the, 6 Bruce, William Speirs : explorations of, 336 Brunkcbjcrg: battle of (1471), 134 Brunnbak: battle of (1521), 153 Bruno, Guillaume Marie Anne: occu- pies Swedish Pomcrania, 251 Buchan, David : explorations of, 306 Buddcnbrock, General: execution of, 228 Billow, General : in the Slesvig-Hol- stein War, 271 Burrough, Stephen: explorations of, 301 Bush, Elise : explorations of, 305 Button, Sir Thomas : explorations of, 304 Bylot, Robert: explorations of, 304 Ci Cabot, Sebastian : his expedition to the Arctic regions, 300 Cagni : explorations of, Z-l Cahnar: taken by Gustavus Vasa, 154; siege of (1611), 176 Cahnar, Union of, 122 Cahnar Recess of 1483, 144 Cahnar War, The (1611), 174 Calvinists : in Denmark, 197 Canute the Great: sec Knud (II) the Great, King of Scandinavia and Britain Carlscn : circumnavigates the Spitz- l)ergen group, 315 Carlstadt, Andreas Rudolph: visits Copenhagen, 191 Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway: sketch of, 241 Cathcart, William Shaw. J^'irl of: at the bombardment of Copcn!)agen, Catlicrine (TI) the Great, Empress of ' P'or references not found under (;, look under K, 356 INDEX Russia: renounces her claim to Holstein, 240, 267 ; her relations with Sweden, 248 Chancellor, Richard : his expedition for the exploration of the Arctic regions, 300 Charcot: explorations of, 336 Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor: founds the bishopric of Bremen, 25 Charles {III) the Fat, Holy Roman Emperor : his relations with the Northmen, 23 Charles (HI) the Simple, King of France: liis treaty with Rolf, 15 Charles IX, King of Sweden: invested with Soedermannland and Verm- land. 160; helps to depose Erik. 163; favors the Reformers, 165 ; regent of Sweden, 168, 170; reign of, 171; death of, 174 Charles (X) Gustavus. King of Swe- den: declared heir presumptive, 204; reign of, 207; death of, 209 Charles XI, King of Sweden : acccs'^ion of, 210; prciclaimed absolute king, 213, 243 Charles XII, King of Sweden: acres- sion of, 213; at Bender, 221; re- turns to the north, 222; death of, 223 Charles XIII, King of Sweden and Nor\va\- : regency of, 249; acces- sion of, 252; proclaimed joint ruler of Sweden and Norway, 261 Charles (XIV) John (Jean Bai)ti-te Jules Bernadotte ), King of Sweden .'uid Norway: his campaign in Jut- land, 251, 257; chrisen as i)rincc royal of Sweden, 254; reign of, 251S ; growth of Sweden under. 2^0 Cliarles XV, King of Sweden and Nor- way : reign of, 278 Cliarjis h'rcfierick, Duke of Ilolstein- Cottfirp: minority of, 236 ( 'barter of 131'), r 13 ( 'li('i;irdir, Joachiin Jai-f|uei Trotti, Marr|ui^: ucgotiation-. of, 228 ( hoi'-cul, f-.ticnnc b'ranrois, Due de : his poHcy in .S\\ rdLii, jj'j Cbn^i.-ui 1. King (,i Denmark: acces- -iou of, i3j; deat'.i of. [36; his re- latioii^ with Sle,\ i- I iMl-tein, 2(>h CIiri>tian If, King of iJenniark and Norway : education of, 147 ; made viceroy of Norway, 148; crowned King of Sweden, 149; flees from his realm, 154; reign of, 189; deposition and imprisonment of, 192 Christian III, King of Denmark and Norway: removes Christian II to Kallundborg, 192; reign of, 194; death of, 195 Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway : his wars against Sweden, 176, 187; in the Thirty Years' War, 180. 201 ; reign of, 199 Christian V, King of Demnark and Norway : reign of, 233 ; death of, 236 Christian VI, King of Demnark and Norway : reign of, 238 Christian VII, King of Denmark and Norway: reign of, 240; death of, 257; his relations to Slesvig-flol- stein, 267 Christian VIII, King of Denmark: reign of, 265 Christian IX, King of Denmark: made heir presumptive. 273; I'ismarck recognizes his claim on Slesvig- Holstein, 274; death of, 291 Christian, Duke of Augustenburg : in the Slesvig-1 lolstein controversy, 2(j8, 272; renounces his pretensions. Christian Augustus, Prince of August- enburg: proposed as Danish king, 252; death of. 253 Christian Frerlerick, King of Norway: elected king, 260 Christina, Queen of Sweden: com- mended to the diet. 180; reign of, 204; abdication of, 20() ; reclaims the throne, 207 Christina, l-^jrt : erected by the Swedes (^(>^^), 170 C'bristianits- : in the far ue)rtb. 25 Cliri-to])Iier 1. King e)f Deuniaik: in- \'e-ted with I.aaland and b'als'er, 91 ; reign of, 02 Christopher 11, King of Denmark: I)awns Danish i)ro\ inco-, 107 ; sketch of, im; arce>>iou of, 113; deposition and death of, 113 Christopher (III) of r.avaria. King of INDEX 357 Denmark : chosen king of Sweden and Norway, 129; death of, 132 Christopher, Count of Oldenburg: in the Count's Feud, 194 Cistercian Monks : in Denmark, 81 ; in- vited to Sweden, loi Clair-sur-Epte, Treaty of (911 A. d.), 15 Clary, Desiree : sketch of, 260 Clement VII, Pope: his relations with Frederick I of Denmark, 193 Cluna : explorations of, 334 Coalitions against France: first (1792- 1797), 249; third (1805), 251; fourth (1806-1807), 251 Colardeau, Paul : member of the Well- man Expedition, 341 Concordat of Worms (1122), 74 Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor: Knud at the coronation of, 60 Conrad, IMaster: tutor of Christian, 147 Constitutio V^aldemariana, 266 Constitution of 1866, The, 278 Continental System : Gustavus defies, 251 _ Conwaj-, Sir William IMartin : explora- tions of, 327 Cook, James : his explorations in the Arctic, 306; his explorations in the Antarctic, 332 Copenhagen (Axelborg) : foundation of, 69; defended by Philippa, 127; siege of (1658), 209; bombardment of (1700), 215; battle of (1801), 255; taken by the English (1807), 256 Copenhagen, Treaties of: (1660), 210, 231; (1767). 267 _ Copenhagen, University of: founded, 136 Coppermine River : discovered, 307 Count's Feud, The, 194 Crimean War: Scandinavia in the, 2^14, 286 Criminil, Count Heiiirick Revcntlow: made foreign secretary of Slcsvi;^- llolstein, 268 Criminil, Count Joseph Revcntlow : made chancellor of SIes\'ig-nr)l- steiTi, 268 Croy, Charles Eugene, Due de : at the battle of Narva, 216 Croziers (Baglerne) : the partv of the, 98 Crusades, The : first, 75 : fourtli, 85 Crusentolpe, ]\Iagnus Jacob : attacks the Swedish government, 259 D Daeia, Martinus de : chancellor of Den- mark, no Dagmar, Queen of Denmark : sketch of, 90 Dahlberg, Erik: defends Riga, 215 Dahlmann, Friedrich Christoph : his historical investigations, 267 Danish I-lxpeditiou (1906), 339 Danish Revolution, The (1660), 232 Dan (I) Mykillati, King of Denmark: the legend of, 17 Dan (II) Mykillati, King of Denmark: the legend of, ij Dannebrog: the origin of the, 86 Dannebrog, Order of the. 234 Daimcskjold-Samsoc, Count: exile of, 241 _ Dannevirke : description of the, 30 note Dantxig: taken by the Swedes (1703), 216 David, C. N. : arrest of, 263 Davis, John : explorations of, 301 Dcase : explorations of. 309 Denmark: legendary history of, 16; consolidation of, 20, 22 ; Adam of Bremen's description of. 61 ; under the Estridsens, O7 ; under the Val- dcmars, 80; at the close of the Middle Ages, [41 ; Svi-cden dis- solves union with, 154: benevolent despotism in, 230; in the age of political revolution, 247; constitu- tional government in. 2S8 Deshnev, .SiuTm : e\4iloralions of, 305 Deuntzer, rrofe>sor: mini;.tr_\' of, 290 1 )iruil : writes of Thnlc, jgS Ditmarshers (Marsluncn ) : revolt of the, 138; lu'ederick II at war with the, rof) Dmitri, The False: Sweden aids Vas- sili Shuiski against. 173 Dorothea of Br;in(U'iibur!.j, Queen of IX'umark: crowiud O-iren of Swe- den, 130; marries Christian, J 32 358 INDEX Dyhbcl: battles of (1849), 271; (1864), Erik (II) Emun. King of Denmark: ^74 avenges the death of his brother, Dyvcke : mistress of Christian II of 76; reign of, 80 Denmark, 191 Erik (III) Lamb, King of Denmark: reign of, 80 Erik (IV) Ploopcng. King of Den- E mark : reign of, 91 ; his relations with Slesvig, 266 East India Company, Dtitch : sends out Erik (V) Clipping, King of Denmark: Henry Hudson, 303 accession of, 96; death of. no Ebbeson, Niels: frees Deimiark. 113 Erik (VI) Alenved, King of Dcmnark : ICbbo, Archbishop of Rheims: the mis- pawns Danish provinces, 107; ac- sion of, 25 cession of, no Eddas, The: main treatment, 7 Erik (VII) of Pomerania, King of Edges : exploration of, 304 Denmark, Norway and Sweden : F2dmund Gamlc. King of Sweden: reign chosen to succeed [Margaret, 120; of, 60; death of. 100 coronation of, 122; reign of, 126; Edward the Confessor. King of Eng- deposition of, 129 land: accession, of. 3^ Erik (I) BlodiJxe, King of Norway: Edward VII, King of fircat I'-ritain and career of. 52 Ireland and limperor of India: an- Erik (II) Praesthader, King of Nor- cestors of, 70 way: reign of. 100; patronizes Dan- Egede, Hans: his labors in Greenland, ish rebels, no 48, 237 Erik Edmundson, King of Sweden: the ]'"ginus, ]!i>hop of Dalby : sketch of, 62 legend of, 59 E.i^men : battle of (]62]), 179 Erik Sejrsael, King of Sweden: the l-^-jnar: driven into exile. 42 legend of, 58 Ejsten, King of Dcmnark: chosen king, Erik (I or IX) Jedvardsson. Saint, 97 King of Sweden : reign of, loi Elephant, Order of the, 234 Erik (H or X) Knufisson, King of Elizabeth, Qu"en of Ijigland: Erik Sweden: defeats Valdemar Sejr, XIV solicits the hand of. i6r 85; marriage of, 103 liiizabeth, Princess oi 1 lolstein-Got- Erik (111 or Xl) Laespe, King of lorj) : sketch of, T16 Sweden: death of. 102, 103 I'^lizabeth, Cf)unte>.-^ of Hol.-icin: makes Erik (IV or XII), King of Sweden, war ujion iJanes. 125 co-rulcr with ]\lagnus II.: career I'.lizabeth I'etrovna. I'"nipre>s of Rus- of. 108 sia: acccs'-ion of. 228 Eric (XIII) of Pomerania, King of Ennna, Queen of bjigland: influence Sweden: see I'>ik (VII) of Pome- of, 32 rania. King of Denmark, Norway Iviulcrby Land: discovered, 334 and Sweden l-Jig"Ibreclit--on, I'nijjelbrerlu : leads Erik XIV, King of Sweden: accession Swcdi-b revolt, 127 of, 161; deposition of, 163; death I".n;.;ril)re{-lii^';oii, Olaf. Archbi-hop of of. 164 Dronthcim: death of, 196 b'rik. Duke of Slesvig: conhrmed in his T''.nkoiiing : battle of ('r3ri5), lo!-' duchy, 93 i'.riik-fn. L. Myluis: connnanrls the I'.rik, son of I'irgcr Jarl : his quarrels i)aiii-h Lxjiedition. 339 with V.aldemar. 104 i'.ra k- -(in. Jos'-en (Jens !".riclianz Josef Land : discovered, 318 Fredericia: battle of (1849), 271 Frederick (I) Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor : his relations with Den- mark, 80, 83 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor: seeks an alliance with Denmark, Frederick I, King of Denmark and Norway: made Duke of Slesvig- Holstcin, 137; Christian discovers plot in favor of, 191; reign of, 192; death of, 194 Frederick II, King of Denmark and Norway : in the Seven Years' War, 162; reign of, 196 Frederick III. King of Denmark and Norway: joins alliance against Sweden, 207; reign of, 230. 243 Frederick IV, King of Denmark and Norway : aids Hans Egede. 48 ; in the Great Northern War. 214. 221; reign of, 236; death of, 23S; his re- lations with Slesvig^Holstein. 267 Frederick V, King of Denmark and Norway: reign of. 239 Frederick VI, King of Denmark au'l Norway: joint ruler with his fatlicr. 243; reign of. 257; establishes con- sultative chambers, 263 ; death of, -64 Frederick VII, King of Denmark : 0,-ia Cardie, Count Mrmnus de la: a mcm- b( r III t!u- crnuifil of regenc\-, 210: iiiiiHuii'i duiicut of, Jij ( i,-!; dif, 1 '' ,iitc dc la : hi . cani]>ai'-;us ;ig.aiu t l\u-ia. K17, 173 (iastein, Conveuti'm of (18(^5), 275 Gecr. Baron Louis Gerhard de : minis- try of, 278 Geijer. Erik Gustaf: quoted on the Act of Union, 123; sketch of, 264 Gellis, Thord : reforms of, 290 George 1, King of Great Britain: as- sumes possession of Bremen and Vcrdcn, 222 George, Duke of Liineburg: fails Gus- tavus Adolphus, 183 Gerdt. Coimt : his claims on Holstein, Gerhard III (Black Geert). Count of Holstein: in Denmark. 113 Gerhard VI, Duke of Slesvig-Holstein : death of, 125 ; in the Slesvig-Hol- stein controversy. 266 Gerhard VII. Count of Holstein: pro- tests his loyalty, 126 Gerlache : explorations of. 334 German Confederation : Frederick VI a member of the. 258 German Knights, Order of the: Otto enler<. 114 Gibbons: explorations of. 304 Gjo, Henrik: supports Christian II of Denmark, 192 Godarcl, L'niis: builds the Wellman air- ship, 340 Godthaab: foundation of, 2t,7 (jodwine, b'arl of the We-t Saxons: bribes 1 larthaknud, ,->,,'^ Garm den (lamle, King of Denmark : career of, 20; his aversion to Chri,>- tianity, 28 Gfjrtz, (ieorg Heinrich vmu : policy of, 22Ti[ execution of, 225: in tlie Hol- >tein-t;ottMr]) difticulty. 2j,U G('iteborg: fdundation of, 172; relief of ( [78S). 248 Goth-; their conquest of Scandinavia, 6; -settlement of, 34 (jothus, Arclibishop of .Sweden: acces- sion of, 1O5 Clottorp: taken by the Danes, 214 Gonpil ; a--oriated with the Welhn.in Expedition, 340 Grand, Johan, Arclibi>hop of Lund: ac- count of. III (irr,!\, Ailolpbus Wa-dn'ngtoii : e-.t:d)- lislies llie Cnited State- jxilar st.i- tion. 311,) (Greenland: settlement of, 47; brought INDEX 361 under the control of Norway, 99; reopened to the world, 237; visited by Davis, 301 Gregory IV, Pope : makes Anscarius Papal legate, 2^ Gregory (VII) Saint (Hildebrand), Pope : his relations with Svend Estridsen, 68, 70 Gregory XIII, Pope : his relations with Sweden, 165 Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count: career of, 232 Griffith, DeHaven : commands Arctic expedition, 312 Grimkel, Bishop : recalled to Norway, 57 Grinnell, Henry : sends out Arctic ex- peditions, 312 Grinnell Land: discovered, 312 Gudleif: account of his voyage to Vin- land, 49 Gudrod, Prince : mission of, 42 Guilds : in Denmark, ']'] Guldberg, Count Ove Heogh : ministry of, 243 ; dismissal of, 254 Guld-IIarald : sketch of, 29 Gule Law, The: promulgated by Hakon, 52 Gunhild, Queen of Norway : sketch of, 52, 54 Gunner, Bishop : revises Valdemar's code of law, 89 Gustaf, son of Erik XIV : sketch of, 164 Gustaf Adolf: see Gustavus (II) Adol- phus. King of Sweden Gustavus (I) Vasa, King of Sweden: sent as a hostage to Denmark, 141 ; career of, 150; accession of, 151; proclaimed king by the diet, 154; at the diet of Vesteraas, 156; reforms of, 159; death of, 160 Gustavus (II) Adol[)lms, King of Sweden : early life of, 175 ; reign of, 176; death of, 184 Gustavus HI, King of Sweden: reign of, 247 ; assassination of, 249 Gustavus (IV) Adolphus, King of Sweden : reign of, 250 ; forced to abdicate. 252 Guthrum, King of East y\nglia: his treaty with Alfred the Great, 15 Guttonn, King of Norway : reign of, 98 Gyda : sketch of, 41 Gyldensjerne, Knud : takes Christian II prisoner, 192 Gylfe, King of the Goths : the legend of, 35 Gyllenstjerna, Johan : aids reform in Sweden, 212 H Ilafurstfjord: battle of (872 a.d.), 41 Hagerup, G. F. : ministry of, 285 Hakon (I) the Good, King of Norway: career of, 52 Hakon (II) Jarl, King of Norway: secures the throne, 29; reign of, 54 Hakon III, King of Norwav: reign of, 98 Hakon IV, King of N^orway : reign of, 98 Hakon V, King of Norway: reign of, 100 Hakrm VI, King of Norway: Magnus resigns the throne to, 100; marriage of, 108, 117 Hakon VII, King of N^orwav: accession of, 288 ?Ialfdan, Prince : mission of, 42 Halfdan Svarte, King of Norway : reign of, 41 Halkett, General : in the Slesvig-Hol- stein \\'ar, 270 Hall, Charles : explorations of. 312 Hamburg, Peace of (1762), 228 Hans, King of Denmark and Norway: reign of, 137; proclaimed king of Sweden, 138; resigns the Swedi.-;h crown, 140 Hans, son of Frederick I of Denmark: sketch of. 194 Hanse League: acknowledges Valde- mar (11) Sejr, 85; Albert bestows privileges on the, 109; at war with Vakleniar IV of Demuark, 115; Christian gives a monopoly of trade to, 136; presses claims against Gustavus Vasa, 154 Hanse Towns: accorded autonomy, 89 llarald (1) Hildetand, King of Den- mark: at the battle of Bravalki, 19 Harald (H) lilaataud. King of Den- 362 INDEX mark: accession of, 28; his enmity to Ilakoii, ^,3 ; pavs tribute to Otto, JIarald III, King of Denmark: reign of, 31 Ilarald (IV) Ilejn, King of Denmark: reign of, 71 Ilarald (I) Haarfager, King of Nor- way : Scandinavian expansion un- der, 34; collects sagas, 37; reign of. 41, 51 Harald (II) Graafell, King of Norway: reign of, 54; death of, 29 Harald (III) Haardrade, King of Nor- way: accession of, ;is: ravages Denmark, 67 ; death of, 68 Harald (IV) Gille, King of Norway: defeats IVIagnus Sigurdson, 80; career of, 98 llarrild Klak, King of Slesvig: the conversion of, 25 Harald Kesia : death of. 80 Hardegon (Hardeknud), King of Leire : career of, 21 Harold (I) Harefo(Jt, King of Eng- land : reign of, 32 Harrison I-'.xpedition, The (1905), 338 Ilarthaknud, King of Denmark and England : reign of, 32 Hartsline : rescues the Kane expedition, 312 Hats (Hattar): party of, 226 Hatzft^ld, .Alarshal: at the battle of Jaukowitz, 187 Haye>, I>aac I-rael: explorations of, 312 Hearne, Samuel: explorations of, 307 Hebrides, The: Magnus Lagabaeter scll-^, 100 Hedt-mann, General: in the Slesvig- 1 lol-t'-in War, 270 i fedvig Sofia, Duchess of Holstein- GcAlori): her claim on tlie Danish thrdiir, -125; regency of, 23^) iicdv.'ig. (Jiuin of I )i-nni;irk : uiarririge of, 11) licdwig Idtauori; of Hohtein-f iottorp. Or,! (11 of .Sweden: a member of the co'uir;] I ,\ rciicncy, 210 I leimskrhrjjii. Tlu:: account (jf, 8; 'I'lot'd, ,',5. 57 I Icinriik- -on : poi-tjiis i'.rik, 164 Hellichr.i.-. ( .-ipKiiu : n.\oil of, 247 Ilelsingfors : Swedes capitulate at. 228 Hemmingen, Niels: persecution of, 197 llemmingstedt : battle of (1500), 139 llenrik, Duke of Osnabriick : makes war on Elizabeth of Holstein, 125 Henrik, Archbishop of Upsala: career (T, 102 Henry (I) the Fowler, Holy Roman limperor : his relations with Gorm den Gamle, 28 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor: seeks assistance of Svend Estridsen, 70 Henry IV. King of France: assassina- tion of, 174 Henry, King of the Obotrites : his quar- rel with Denmark, 76 Henry, the Iron Count of Holstein: avenges his father's death, 114 Henry, Bishop of Lund: sketch of, 62 Henry, Count-Duke of Scluverin : the treachery of, 86 ] lenry, Duke of .Slesvig: death of, 118 HeruK-lin: Charles XII discloses his plans to, 217 Hersey, Henry B. : member of the W'ellman h^xpedition, 341 Hcrvieu, Gaston: member of the Well- man h'xpedition, 341 Hierta: founds the Aftonhladct, 259 Hildehraud: see Gregory VH Hinze, George: guardian of Christian, 147 Hjartvar: the treachery of, 18 Hobson: searches for Franklin. 311 Hoemskerck, Jacob: explorations of, 302 Holberg, Ludwig von: Bernstorf co- operates with. 240 Hoik, Courit : a favorite of Christian VH of Denm.ark. 241 Holm. Jan (Leijonkrona) : ennobled, -'<'5 1 1 ()h)v^aii:^: description of. 44 nutc \ loliu^tadt. Diet of ( 1435), 128 Holovin : liattle of (1708). 210 Holstein War: h'.rik in the. 126 HoiK^rius II. Pope: his fjuarrel with Denm.ark. 78 Horn, ("ount ; plots to assassinate CjUS- taMir-, 240 Horn, Count Arvid l>ernar(l : -urren- d(Ts Warsaw, 217; ministry of, 226; death of, 228 INDEX 363 Horn, Evert: his campaign against Russia, 173 Horn, Gustaf: at the battle of Nord- lingen, 186; his campaign against Denmark, 187 Horn, Henrik: his campaign against Russia, 167 Horn, Klas : his campaign against Rus- sia, 167 Hother: slain by Stoerkodder, 18 Hudson, Henry : explorations of, 303 Hudson Bay Company : incorporated, 305 Huguenots : Denmark refuses an asy- lum to the, 235 Hvitsek, King of Jutland : the legend of, 20 Hyperboreans (Outside Northwind- ers) : the fable of the, 3 Iceland : the settlement of, 44, 299 ; brought under the control of Nor- way, 99; receives a constitution, 291 ; visited by the Irish Culdecs, 298 Immeroad : battle of (1421), 126 Independence Bay : discovered, 296, 320 India : Denmark sends missionaries to, 237 Inge Baardsen, King of Norway : reign of, 98 Ingeborg, Queen of Denmark : the dowry of, 100 Ingeborg, Queen of France : Philip's re- pudiation of, 84 Ingeborg, Countess of iMecklenburg: marriage of, 118 Ingegerd, daughter of Olaf Skat- konung: marriage of, 59 Ingjald Illraada, King of Sweden: the legend of, 36 Ingolf: settles in Iceland, 44 Innocent III, Pope: intervenes between Knud and Philip, 84 International Geographical Congress : (1879), 318 _ Investiture Conflict, The, 74 Isabella, Queen of Denmark: intro- duces Flemish gardener-;, igo Isebrand, Wolf: leads the Ditmarshtrs, 139 Isted: battle of (1850), 272 Ivan IV, Tsar of JMuscovy; his rela- tions with Sweden, 167 Ivar, King of Waterford : establishes his kingdom, 43 Ivar Blaa : secures the election of Val- demar, 103 Ivar Benlos, King of Northumbria: the legend of, 20 Ivar Vidfadme, King of Denmark: the legend of, 38 Jackman : explorations of, 301 Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, 326 James I, King of England : relations of Charles IX with, 174; Christian IV at the court of, 199 James : explorations of, 305 Jaroslav the Great, Grand Prince of Russia: befriends Saint Olaf, 57; marriage of, 59 Jaukowitz: battle of (1645), 1S7 Jena: battle of (1806), 251 Jernskoeg (Ironbeard) : champions the old belief, 55 Joachim, Elector of Brandenburg: sends tutor for Christian, 147 Johan (i) Sverkersson, King of Swe- den : death of. 103 Johan II, King of Sweden: see Hans, King of Denmark Johan III, King of Sweden: invested with Finland, 160; deposes his brother, 163; reign of, 164; death of, 168 Johan, Duke of Fast Gothland : refuses the Swedish crown, 171 ; regent oi Sweden, 176 Johan, Duke of 1 lolstein-Gottorp : a nK'ml)cr of tlie council of regency, 210 Johan^on, Iljalmar: accompanies Nan- sen, 326 John (11) Casimir, King of Poland: claims tlie tlirone of Sweden, 207; abandon> his preten-;i(jiis, 210 John Casimir, Coiuit Palatine of Zwei- briickcn : dircctor-in-chicf in Swe- den, 181 364 INDEX Johnsen, Nils: explorations of, 315 Jomsborg, Brotherliood of: founding of, 30; defeated by Erik Sejrsael, Jonsen, Rane : execution of, no Jonsson, Bo : his rule in Sweden, 109 Junsson, Ture : at the diet of Ves- teraas, 158 Jordebog: description of the, 8g Jornandes : his account of the Visi- goths, 7 Joseph : explorations of. 304 Judith, Holy Roman Empress : stands sponsor for Harald Klak. 25 Juel, Esger, Archbisliop of Lund: ap- pointment of, 112 Juel, Niels: defeats the Swedes, 212 Juliana Alaria of Bnniswick, Queen of Denmark and Norway : sketch of, 239. 241 Jutta: Valdemar marries, 104 Kalstennius: explorations of, 324 Kane, Elisha Kent: explorations of, 312 Kardis, Peace of (1661), 211 Karl IX, King of Sweden: see Charles IX Karl Gustaf of the Palatinate: see Charles (X) Gustavus Karl Johan : see Charles X Karl Kniuls;^on, King of Sweden: joins the popular cause, 128; proclaimed king, 132; driven from Sweden, 133; recall of, 134 Karl Philip, Prince of Sweden: de- clared Rus>ian heir-presumptive, 173; Gustavus Ad(jlphus champinns the claim of, 177 Karlstad: foiuidation of, 172 Karlstad Agrrrinent (lOoC)), 287 Ka^:^, Xifis: his relation^ willi Chris- tian IV of Denmark, kk) Katerina, Countess Palatine: educates Charles X of Denmark, 210 Kateriu:i Jrigtlloiiici, (Jui-cu of Sweden: favor- the Catholic C"hnrch, 1(14 Kemp: (.-xiilMralion- of, 334 l-'.cpler, joii.iun : his relalicjus with 'I'ycho I'.ralie, loS ' I'oi riicrci.iLi not found Kerguelen, Yves Joseph de : explora- tions of, 332 Ketilmundsson, Mats : persuades the people to accept Magnus Smek, 107 Kettlesson, Erik: leads the Swedish forces, 121 Keidens, Van : aids geographic science, 305 Kexholm : surrender of (1597), 168 Kiel. Treaty of (1814), 254"! 258 Kli>sov: battle of (1702), 216 Knaerad. Treaty of (1613). 176 Knights" House: see RiddarJius Kni])perdolling. Bernhard: excesses of, 155 Knud, son of Gorm den Gamle : death of, 28 Knud (II) the Great, King of Scandi- navia and Britain: reign of, 31; adds X"t)rway to his empire, 56 Knud (IV), Saint, King of Denmark: reign of, 71; death of, J^i Knud V, King of Denmark: his strug- gle for the throne. So Knud VI, King of Demnark : reign of, 83; his relations to Slesvig, 2(>6 Knud Illaford, King of the Obotrites : career of. 76, 266 Kolbjornsson, Hans: defends Frederik- sten, 223 Kolbjornsson, Peder : defends Frederik- sten, 223 Kolding: the relief of (1849), 271 KcJnigsmark, Otto : his campaign in Ciermany, 212 Konigsmarck, Aurora: her relations with Charles XH of Sweden, 21^) Kri^tina of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden: marriage of, 174 Krogh, General: in the Sle>vig-i lol- stein War, 272 Krum])e, Otto: riMumands the Danish army, 141, 148 Lapps: the progenitors of the moilern, (j; driven out by the Colh-, 35 I.ange, Villuni : at the diet of Copen- hagen. 232 un.lcr K, hyok under C I N D K X 365 Larg?: battle of (en. 1261), 100 Lassen, Captain : at the battle of Copen- hagen, 256 Leahy: battle of (1389), 121 Lech: battle of the (1632), 181 Leif Eriksson : introduces Christianity into Greenland, 47; discovers Vin- land, 49 Leipzig: capture of (1642), 187 Leopold, Archduke : at the battle of Breitenfeld, 187 Levenhaupt, Adam: his campaign in Russia, 219 ; execution of, 228 Liakhov : explorations of, 306 Liberation, War of (1S13), 268 Liemar, Archbishop of Bremen : his quarrel with Erik Ejegod, 74 Lindskold, Erik : aids reform in Sweden. 212 Livonian Knights of the Sword : tlieir dispute with Valdemar (II) Scjr, 86 Liwenthaal, Alexander : associated with the Wellman Expedition, 340 Lockwood : explorations of, 319 London, Treaty of (1852), 273 Lot, ]\Iichael : aids Frobisher, 301 Lotliair (II) the Saxon, Holy Roman Emperor: honors Knud Illaford. 76 Louis (I) the Pious. Holy Roman lun- peror : his efforts to convert tlie Northmen, 25 Louis (IV) the Bavarian, Holy Roman Emperor: Valdemar IV at the court of, 114 Louis (IX), Saint, King of France: solicits Hakon's aid, 99 Louis XIV, King of France: his re- lations with Sweden, 211, 218; Den- mark takes up arms against, 234 Louis XV, King of France : enters the Treaty of N'ymphenberg, 227 Louisa of England, Queen of Denmark and X^orway : sketch of, 239 Louisa of Mecklenburg, Queen of Den- mark and Norway : extravagance of,_ 237 Louvaine: l^attle of (891 a.d.), 23 Liiheck : attacked by Christopher, 131 Liibrck, Chronicle of: quoted, 120 Liibeck, Treaty of (1629), 201 l/.md: battle of (1676), 212 Lutheran Cliurch: esta1)!is]ied in Den- mark, 194 Lutke. h'edor Peirovitch : explorations of. 317 Liitzen: battle of (1632). 182 Lykke. Ivar: leads the Danish forces. 121 M jMcClintock, Sir Francis Leopold: searches for Franklin, 311 AlacKenzie, Sir Alexander: explora- tions of, 307 Mads, Bishop of Strangniis : execution of, 149 Magnus (I) the Good, King of Norway and Denmark : secures the Danish throne, 33 ; secures the Norwegian throne, =,y Magnus (HI) Barfod, King of Nor- way : reign of, 97 Magnus (IV) Sigurdson, King of Nor- way : defeat of, 80 : reign of, 98 ]\Iagnus (VI) Lagabaeter, King of Nor- way : reign of, 100 IMagnus (VII) Smek. King of Norway: see Magnus fll) Smek. King of Sweden and N'orway Magnus (I) Ladulaas. King of Sweden: his quarrels with Valdemar, 104; reign of. T05 Alagnus (11) Smek, King of Sweden and X'orway : his reign in Norway, 100; reign of, 107; compelled to re- nounce the ihrnnr, 108 Magnus, son of l')irger of Denmark: death of, 107 Magnus, son of Niels of Denmark: sketch of. 76 Magnus. Duke of b'ast Gothland : in- vested with his ducln-, 160; insanity nu 163 Magnus. Johannes. Archbi-^hop of Up- sala: his " History of the Goths and Swedes." 8 ]\Iaguus. Ilenrik'^cn. Prince of Den- mark: in\a(]cs Sweden, 102 Alala-.Spina, (iermanicus de: in Sweden, M;ill<'t. Paul Henri: in Denmark. 2(0 MaluK"), Truce of fiHjS), 270 Alannadatlt-r, Katlirrinc : skctcli of, 163, ii66 INDEX Margaret, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden: marriage of. lOO, 117; reign of. 119; death of, 125 Margaret of Pomerania, Queen of Den- mark : becomes regent. 96 Margaret, daughter of Saint Erik : ac- cusations against, 98 Margrete of Bohemia : see Dagmar, Queen of Denmark Margrete of Norway, Queen of Scot- land : sketch of, 100 Margrete of Sweden, Queen of Norway: marriage of, 97 Maria of the Palatinate, Queen of Sweden: marriage of, 174 Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg, Queen of Sweden : character of. 204 Markham, Sir Clement Robert : ex- plorations of, 313 Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of : his relations with Charles XI T of Sweden, 218 jMarshmen (Ditmarshers) : origin of the, 138 Marta, Queen of Sweden : plots to de- stroy the princes, 106 Martens, Frederick : aids geographic science, 305 Matthiac. Johan, Bishop of Striingniis : educates Christina, 204 Maximilian, Prince of Wurtemborg: with Charles XII of Sweden, 215 Mazeppa, Ivan : his alliance with Charles XII of Sweden. 219 Meldorf: the sack of (1500), 139 Menshikov, Prince Alexander Danilo- vitch : at the battle of Poltava, 220 Meza, General de : in the Slesvig-llol- stein War. 274 Michelsen, Christian: the king refuses the resignation of, 286 Michelsson, Jons: influences the Swed- ish peasants, 151 Middendorf: explorations of, 317 Midsunde: ^iege of (1850). 272 Mikkelsen. llans: publishes a Danish New 'i'estament, 103 Mikkelsen, Niels; j)ersecution of, 197 Mohammed, Clrand Vi/ier: defeats Peter the Cireat, 221 Moltke, f.cneral : in tlie Slesvig-IIul- ^te^n War, 271 Moore. Sir John: aids Sweden, 251 Moritz, Landgraf of Hesse: Charles IX's relations with, 172 Morncr, Baron Karl Otto: mission of. 253 Mortensen, Klaus: preaching of. 193 Moss, Convention of (1814), 261 Munk, Kristine, Countess of Slesvig- Holstein : sketch of, 202 Munk, Peder: his relations with Chris- tian IV of Denmark. 199 N Nadod : visits Iceland, 44 Nansen, Fridjof: explorations of, 325 Nansen, Hans: at the diet of Copen- hagen, 231 Napoleon (I) Bonaparte, Emperor of the French : Gustavus IV's attitude toward, 250; his relations to Sweden, 253; his relations to Den- mark. 257 Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), Emperor of the French: in the Slesvig-Holstein controversy, 276 Nares, Sir George : explorations of. Narva: battle of (1700), 216 Nathors: explorations of, ;^27 Nelson, Horatio, Viscount : at the bat- tle of Copenhagen, 255 N^ew Siberia Islands: discovered, 317 Newnes, Sir George: sends out Ant- arctic expedition, 334 Nibclungcnlicd, The: account of. 9. 13 Nicholaus, l^ishop of Oslo: founds the Croziers. 98 Nicholaus Albinensis: see Adrian IV. Pope Niebnhr. Kar.^tens : Bcrnstorf sends to Arabia, 240 Niels I, King of Detmiark : reign of, /S ; death of. yy Night Caps (Nattmosser) : partv of, 226 Nikol.ius, grandson of Valdemar II: invested with Bleking and Holland, 91 Nilsson. Carl: death of, lof) Nissa River: battle of the (1064), 67 INDEX 367 Njord, King of Sweden: the legend of, 35 Norbert, Archbishop of Bremen : his sway extended over Denmark, 78 Norby, Soren (Sevcrin) : defeats the LiJbeckers and Swedes, 140; in the Swedish Revohition, 153; supports Christian II of Denmark, 192 Nordenskiold, Nils : his explorations in the Arctic, 315; his explorations in the Antarctic, 336 Nordlingen: battle of (1634), 186 Normandy: the original foundation of, IS, 42 Northeast Passage: accomplished, 316 Norroena Mai : the language of Scan- dinavia, 8 Northern Maritime League, 250 Northern War, The Great (1700-1721), 214 Northmen : sources of knowledge of the, 7; the character of their ex- peditions, 13; ravage Germany and France, 22; efforts to Christianize the, 25 ; in Russia, 39 ; settle in Normandy, 42; discover Vinland, 49 Norvegicus, Laurentius : summoned to Rome, 165 Norway : legendary history of, 2>7 i un- der the Ynglingar, 51; Adam of Bremen's description of, 63 ; before the Union of Calmar, 97; at the close of the Middle Ages, 141; made a free elective monarchy, 192 ; made a dependency of Denmark, 196; in the age of political revolu- tion, 247 ; independence of, 287 Norwegian Question, The, 261, 281 Nova Zcmbla : discovered, 301 ; circum- navigated, 315 Novgorod: taken by the Swedes (1611), 173 Nymphenberg, Treaty of (1741), 227 Nystad, Peace of (1721), 226 O Odin, King of Denmark : the le<2;end of, 9, 17 Odo (Endes), King of France: the election of, 23 Oehlenschlager, Adam Gottlob: sketch of, 264 Oeland: battle of (1676), 212 Ohthcre : his conversations with Alfred, 7, 40 Olaf (I) Hunger, King of Denmark: made Duke of Slesvig, 72; reign of, 7Z Olaf II, King of Denmark and Norway: reign of, 100, 119 Olaf (I) Trygvasson, King of Norway: reign of, 54 Olaf (II) Saint, King of Norway: his influence on ancient customs, 8; reign of, 56 Olaf (III) Kyrre, King of Norway: forms an alliance with Knud, 72 Olaf IV, King of Norway: chosen joint king, 97 Olaf V, King of Norway: see Olaf V, King of Denmark and Norway Olaf (I) Tractelje, King of Sweden: the legend of, 2)7 Olaf (II) Skiit-Konung, King of Swe- den : defeats Olaf Trygvasson, 55 ; reign of, 58 Olaf, Prince of Norway: defeated by Erik Blodoxe, 52 Olauf, King of Dublin : career of, 43 Oliva, Peace of (1660), 210 Olmiitz, Treaty of (1S50), 272 Opdam, Admiral : relieves Copenhagen, 209 Orkney Islands : visited by the Romans, 298 Orosius : Alfred's translation of, 7, 299 Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway : accession of, 260; in the Slesvig- Holstein controversy, 270; reign of, 277 Oscar II, King of Sweden: reign of, 279 Oslo, Diet of (1388), 120 Ostmanni : ravage the British coast, 16 Other : voyages of, 299 Otto (I) the Great, Holy Roman Em- peror: the charters of, 29 Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor: seeks an alliance with ]])enmark, 85 Otto, Prince of Denmark : a prisoner in Holstein, 114 Otto, Count of Scliaumburg: his claims on Holstein, 135 368 INDEX Oxe, Peder : sketch of, 197 Oxcnstierna, Count Axel : in the Thirty Years' V\'ar, 186; leads the aristo- crats, 204 P, Q Palnatoke : career of, 30 Pan-Scandinavianism : the sentiment of, 2G4, 282 Pappenheim, Gottfried Heinrich, Count of: in the Thirty Years' War. 182 Paris: siege of (SS5-886 a.d.), 23 Parker, Sir Hyde: at the battle of Copenhagen, 255 Parrow, Henrik: leads the Norwegian forces, 121 Parry, Edward : explorations of, 306, 307 Paschal II, Pope: grants a Scandi- navian archbishopric, 75 Patkul, Johan Reinhold : execution of, 219 Patriotic Democratic Party : formed, 282 Paul I, Emperor of Russia : death of, 256 Pary, Octave: explorations of, 319 Payer. Julius von: explorations of, 318 Peabody, George : aids Arctic expedi- tion, 312 Peary, Robert E. : discovers Indepen- dence Bay, 296; explorations of, 320 Pecklin, Count: plots to assassinate Gustavus, 249 Pedersen, Kristen : sketch of. 193 Persson, Goran : death of, 1G3 Pet, Arthur: explorations of, 301 Peter (I) the Great, Emperor of Rus- sia : in the Great Northern War, 214. 219; sends out Bering, 305 Peter III, Emperor of Russia: his re- Iritifjus v/ith Deiunark, 240 Peter 1 Land : discovered, 333 }'etri, Laurtnlius: Gusta\-us Vasa sup- port-, 155; (Icatli of, 165 i'etri. (Jlan-:: Gustavus Vasa supports, I. '5 I'cNinanu, (jcnerrd : defends Copen- lia,i;iii, j^G Philip (ilj Angu'-tn-, King of b'rance : his dispute with Knud, 84 Philip, Duke of Suabia : seeks an al- liance with Denmark, 85 Philippa, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden : sketch of, 127 Phipps : exploration of, 30O Piccolomini, Prince Octavio : at the bat- tle of Breitenfeld, 187 Pimentelli, Antonio: favorite of Chris- tina, 205 Piper, Karl, Count: favorite of Charles XIV of Sweden, 214; urges peace, 216 Plancius, Peter: promotes expedition of Barentz, 302 Pless, Sigfrid von: hires out the Danish army, 235 Polar Research, History of, 293 Poltava: battle of (1709), 220 Pomerania : annexed to Denmark. 83 Poniatowski : influences the sultan against Russia, 221 Poole: explorations of, 304 Poppo, Bishop : baptizes Svend, 29 Posse, Count Arvid : ministry of, 279 Prague, Treaty of (1866), 275 Pruth, Peace of the (1711), 221 Punitz: battle of (1704), 217 Pytheas : his account of the north, 3, 297 _ Queen Elizabeth's Forehead: discov- ered, 301 R Rae, John : explorations of, 309 Ragwald Jarl : won to the cause of peace, 59 Ramillies: battle of (1706), 218 Rantzau, Daniel : in the Seven Years' War, 1G2 Rantzau. Count Johan: defeats Christo- pher of Oldenburg, 104 ; his cam- paign in Ditmarsh, 196 Rantzau-Ascheberg, Schack Karl, Count: his relations with .Struen- sec, 241 Reduction: Charles XIV granted the right of, 212 Reformation, Tiie : in Sweden, 155; in Driunark, 190. 203; in Norway, 106 Reguir Lddbrog, King of Denmark: the legend of, 19 INDEX 369 Rehnskiold, Carl Gustaf, Count of: at the battle of Franstadt, 217; at the battle of Poltava, 220 Reinhard, Marthi: preaches in Copen- hagen, 190 Resenius : services of, 8 Reuterholm, Gustaf Adolf, Baron: pro- motes a Russian alliance, 250 Rhyming Chronicle : quoted, 109 Ribbing, Count Adolf Ludwig: plots the assassination of Gustavus, 249 Richard (I) the Fearless, Duke of Normandy: Harald Blaatand aids, 30 Richardson : explorations of, 307 Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal and Duke of: his treaty with Sweden, i8l Riddarlius: Gustavus Adolphus inrai- gurates the, 178; augmentation of the, 205; Charles XII charges with the public administration, 225 Riga : captured by the Swedes, 179 ; siege of (1700), 215 Riji, Corneliszoon : explorations of, 302 Rikissa, Queen of Sweden : marriage of, 103 Rink: excesses of, 155 Risbrich, Captain : at the battle of Copenhagen, 256 Robert (I) the Frisian, Count of Flan- ders : forms an alliance with Knud, 72 Roda Boken, 165 Roeskilde, Peace of (1658), 208 Rognvald, Jarl of Maere : sketch of, 42 Rolf (Rollo), Duke of Normandy: his treaty with Charles the Simple, 15; sketch of, 42 Rolf Krake, King of Denmark: the legend of, 18 Romana, Marquis de la: in Slesvig- Holstein, 257 Romer, Ole (Olaus) : sketch of, 235 Ross, Sir James : his explorations in the Arctic, 308; his explorations in the Antarctic, 333, 334 Ross, John : explorations of, 308 Rud, Otte : defeats the Lubeckers and Swedes, 140 Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor: protects Gustaf, 164; patronizes Tycho Brahe, 198 Runcberg, Johan Ludwig: sketch of, 264 Runes : description of, 9 Rurik: settles in Russia, 39 Russia: the Varingjar settle in, 39 Russo-Japanese War (1904), 2S6 Russo-Turkish War (1736-1739), 227 Ruyter, Alichel Adriaanszoon de : his campaign against the Swedes, 209 Rye, General : in the Slesvig-Holstein War, 271 Sadowa: battle of (1866), 275 Saemund : sketch of, 8 Sagas, The : main treatment, 7 ; Yng- lingar, 37; Eyrbyggja, 45, 49 St. Germains, Treaty of (1679), 212 St. Knud's Guild, 76 Saint-Severin : negotiations of, 227 Samkiv : explorations of, 306 Sanderson's Hope : discovered, 302 Saxo Grammaticus: his "History of Denmark," 7, 17 Scandinavia, History of: the primitive north, 3 ; sagas and eddas medi- aeval chronicles, 7; the emergence of Denmark, 16 ; Christianity in the far north, 25; Harald Haarfager and Scandinavian expansion, 34 ; kings and heroes of the Ynglinger line in Norway, 51; rise of the church in Denmark under the Estridsens, 67; Denmark's age of glory under the Valdemars, 80; Norway and Sweden before the Union of Calmar, 97; Denmark and the Union of Calmar, no; a cen- tury of Danish domination, 126; Gustavus Vasa and the Swedish Revolution, 147; the rise of Sweden into European prominence, 161 : Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War, 175; Denmark in eclipse, iSg; Sweden's advances in acquisitions and prestige, 204 ; the Great Northern War and the de- cline of absolute power, 214; be- nevolent despotism in Denmark, 230; Scandinavia in the age of 370 INDEX political revolution, 247; Slcsvig- Holstein, 265 ; constitutional gov- ernment in the three kingdoms, 267 Schimmelmann, Count : ministry of, 240 Sclilegel, Johann Heinrich: in Den- mark, 240 Schleppegrell, General : in the Slesvig- Holstein War, 271 Schley, Winfield Scott: rescues the Greely party, 320 Schulenberg, Johan Alatthias, Count : at the battle of Punitz, 217 Schumacher, Peder : see Griffcnfcld, Pcder Schumacher. Count Schwatka, Frederick : commands Frank- lin search party, 314 Scoresby, William : exploration of, in Arctic seas, 315 Scotland: invaded by Hakon, 99 Scott, R. F. : commands P)ritish Na- tional Antarctic Expedition, 334 Scottish Antarctic Expedition (1903), Seven Years' War, 228 Seven Years' War, Scandinavian, 162, 196 Siberia: sketch fjf, 317 Sidon : Sigurd Jorsalafari at the cap- ture of, 97 Siegfried : at the siege of Paris. 23 Siegric, King of Lcire : driven from his throne. 21 Sigbrit: influence of. 191 Sigismund, Holy R(jman Emperor: Erik appeals to. 126 Sigisnnmd (III) Vasa. King of Poland and Sweden: elected to the throne of Poland, 166; his reign in Sweden, 168; deposed from the throne of Sweden, 171 : at war with Guslavus Adolphu-. 179 Sigrid, (laughter of J'Irik XIV: sketch of, 164 Sigtrygg, King of T.inicrick: e-^tabli^hcs his kingdom. 43 Sigurrl, King of SlX Sigurd Jarl: at tlie Drontheim Thing, 53 Sigurd Jorsalafari, King of Denmark : career of, 97 Sigurd Ring, King of Deimiark : at the battle of Bravalla, 19 Simpson, Thomas : explorations of, 309 Sinclair, Malcolm: murder of, 227 Sineus : settles in Russia, 40 Sirovotskov : explorations of, 306 Six Weeks' War, 275 Skandersborg: battle of (1841). 114 Skiold. King of Denmark: the legend of, 17 Skioldungs : founders of the dynasty of, 9 Skraelingar: attacks of the, 49 Skytte, Johan : educates Gustavus Adol- phus, 175; leads the democrats, 204 Slaghoek, Didrik : provokes the blood bath of Stockholm, 149; regent of Sweden, 152 Slesvig: burned by Ilarald Haardrade, 67; Olaf invested with, '/2; incor- ]iorated with Denmark, 226, 236; battle of ( 1H48), 270 Slesvig-llolstein : Kuud lllaford in- vested with. 76; bestowed on Al- bert, 85; its union with Denmark, 135: the Iii.Uory of. 265 Slesvig-iiolstcin Wars: lirst, 95; 1412, 124; 1848, 270; 1864, 274 Snn'tli, ?^laxwell ].: number of the Welhnan Expedition, 341 Smith. William: his discoveries in the Antarctic. t,?i3 Snorre Sturleson : sketch of. 8, 99 Sofia. Queen of Sweden: divorce of. 104 Sofia Amalia, Queen of Denmark and Xorw.ay : the position of, 230 Sonunar. ?^Iagnus. P)i>hop of Str;ingn;is: at the diet of \''ester;ias. 158 Sophia of ]\lecklenl>u.rg. Queen of Den- mark and Norway: sketch of, I09. 200 Soijhia Magattle of (150^), 170 Stanislaus (I) Leczinski. King of INDEX 371 Poland : his election to the throne of Poland, 217 Steen, Johannes Wilhelm Christian : government of, 285 Stenbock, INIagnus : at the siege of Copenhagen, 209; defeats the Danes, 221 Stenkil, King of Sweden: reign of, loi Stettin, Peace of (1570), 166 Steg, Marshal: death of, no Stockholm : foundation of, 104 ; battle of (15 18), 140; the blood bath of (1520), 149; taken by Gustavus Vasa, m4 ; revolutionary uprisings in (1848), 277 Stoerkodder. King of Denmark: the legend of, 18 Stolbova, Peace of (1617), 177 Strabo : his ridicule of Pytheas, 4 Stralsund : Charles XII defends, 222 Stralsund, Treaty of (1370), 118 Strindberg, Dr. : attempts to find the North Pole, 2,2-7 Struensee, Johan Frederick, Count von : career of, 241 Stuhm: battle of (1629), iSo Sture, Sten : proclaimed regent of Sweden, 134; defeated by Ilans, 138; death of, 139 Sture, Sten, the Younger: becomes re- gent of Sweden, 140; his war with the archbishop's party, 148; death of, 141 Sture, Svante : made regent of Sweden, 140 Sturleson, Snoore : see Snoore Sturle- son Succession, War of the Spanish, 215, 238 Svane, Hans, Bishop of Sjaelland: at the diet of Copenhagen, 231 Svend (I) Tveskacg, King of Den- mark: baptism of. 29; his detesta- tion of Christianity. 30 ; reign of, 31 ; defeats Olaf Trygvasson. 55 Svend (II) Estridscn, King of Den- mark: befriended by Magnus the Good, ^z ' his ecclesiastical policy, 60, 68 ; reign of, 67 Svend (III) lu'ik. King of Denmark: his struggle for the throne. 80 Svend, King of Norway, son of Knud the Great: reign of, 32, S7 Svend Aagescn : see Aagesen, Svend Sverdrup : explorations of, 327 Sverdrup, Johan : leads the patriotic democratic party, 282 Sverker Karlsson, King of Sweden : reign of, loi, 103 Sverre, King of Norway : career of, 98 Svold : battle of (1000), 56 Sweden : legendary history of, 34 ; Adam of Bremen's description of, 63 ; before the Union of Calmar, 97; revolts against Erik. 127; at the close of the Middle Ages, 142; dis- solves the union with Denmark. 154; rises into European promi- nence, 161 ; her relations with France, 227; in the age of political revolution, 247; constitutional gov- ernment in, 277 Swedish Revolution (1520-1560), 147 Sweyn, King of Denmark: see Svend Tveskacg, King of Denmark Tacitus, Cornelius: his account of the barbarians, 7 Tagesons, Ilenrik : in the Danish re- volt, 130 Tasman, Abel Janez : explorations of, 332 Tast. Hermann : preaching of, 193 Tausen, Hans: preaching of, 193 Tcholyuskin : explorations of, 305 Tcgner, Esaias : sketch of, 264 Thangbrand : his mission in Norway, 56 Thomas, Junker : sketch of. 154 Thorgny : compels Olaf Sk;it-Konung to yield, 59 Thorlcif the Wise: his knowledge of law. 47 Thorn: taken by the Swedes (1703"), 216 Thorolf-Mostrar-Skcgg: the saga ac- count of his settlement of Iceland, 45 _ _ Thorstcin F.riksson : in Vinland, 49 Thorwald j-'riksson : in Vinland, 49 1'liule: Pytlica^'s account of, 4, 297 Thuresson, Thure (the Peasant's Butcher) : cruelties of, 134 372 INDEX Thyra, Queen of Denmark : sketch of, 28 Thvra, Queen of Norway : death of, Tilly, Johann Tscrclaes, Count of : in the Thirty Years' War, 181, 201 Tilsit, Treaty of (1807), 251 Tjumen: founded, 317 Tobiesen : explorations of, 315 Tobolsk: founded, 317 Toll, Baron von: explorations of, 318 Tonningen : siege of (1700), 214 Tordenskiold, Peder Vessel : seeks Charles XII of Sweden, 222; sketch of, 237 Torkel, Knutsson : regency of. 106 Torstensson, Lennart, Count of Ortala: in the Thirty Years' War, 187; re- signs the command, 188 Trolle, Gustaf, Archbishop of Upsala : supports Christian II of Denmark, 145; supports Didrik Slaghoek, 152 Truvor: settles in Russia, 40 Tulliot, Henri: associated with the Wcllman Expedition, 340 Turin: taken bv Prince Euyene (1706), 218 Type Quarrel, The, 236 Tyrisval: battle of (983 a.d.), 58 U Ulfeld, Eleanor Kristinc: sketch of, 202, 230 Ulfeld, Kocfitz : influence of, 202; at the Swedish cor.rt, 207; ilees from Denmark, 230 E'lfilas, Saint: his (jotliic gospels, 9 l'ltlif)t, C'liisliuition of (030 A. d. ), 290 Ultljot: studies the laws of Norway, 4^' I'llcrup: battle nf CrS49), 271 Ulrica, Queen of Sweden: accession of, 225 Ulrica f'^lcanora of Denmark, Queen of Sweden : marriage of, 212 Utiion, Act r.f ( iXr:; ), -Jii Uimi, Arrlibihhop of Uremen : mission of, 28 UY'-ala P>urning, The, 36 Upsala Alota: adoption of, 168 Uranienborg: description of, 198 Urban II, Pope: his relationship with Erik Ejegod, 74 Usselinx, William : founds the South Company of Sweden, 179 Vadstena, Diet of (1526). 155 Valdemar (I) the Great, King of Den- mark : his struggle for the throne, 80; reign of, 8i; his relations with Slesvig, 266 Valdemar (II) Sejr, King of Denmark: subdues the Slesvig revolt, 84; reign of, 85; aids Sverker Karlsson, 103; death of, 90; his relation to Slesvig, 266 Valdemar (III) Atterdag, King of Denmark : his relations with Mag- nus Smek, 108; reign of, 114 Valdemar, King of Sweden : reign of, 103; forced to renounce the crown, 105 Valdemar, Prince of Denmark: taken captive by Henry of Schwerin, 87; death of, 91 Valdemar, Prince of Sweden : plots of, 106 Valdemar, Duke of Slesvig, son of iCrik : confirmed in his duch}', 95 Valdemar. Duke of Slesvig: placed on the l^anish throne. 113 Valdemar, Duke of Slesxig. son of Abel : retains his duchy, 95. 266 Valdemar, Bishop of Slesvig: revolt of, .S4 Varberg: siege of (1569). 162 Varingjar (Varings) : expeditions of the. 3Q Vasa. Gustaf E.riksson: see Gustavus (\) Vasa Vasa, E,rik Johansson : execution of, U9 Vedel, Anders S(")renson : sketch of, 198 Verela, Treaty of ( [700). 240 Vergennes. (h.arlt's (ir;i\'ier. Ci)unt de : in Stockholm. 220, 247 Vessel, Peder: see Tordenskiold, Pcdcr Ve-^^el Vesteraas: battle of (1521), 153 INDEX 373 Vesteraas, Diet of (1527), IS5 Vesteraas Recess (1527), IS^ Viborg: battle of (ii57), 80 Victoria Land : discovered, 333 Victualing (Vitalen) Brotherhood, The, 122 Vienna, Congress of (1814-1815), 258 Vienna, Treaties of: (1814), 254; (181S), 267; (1864), 275 Vikings : age of, 12 ; in Northumbria, 20; in Russia, 22; lay siege to Paris, 23; in Ireland, 43; settle Ice- land, 44 Vilhelm, Bishop of Roeskilde : his re- lations with Svend Estridsen, 68 Villemoes, Captain : at the battle of Copenhagen, 256 Villeroi, Frangois de Neuville, Due de: defeated at Ramillies, 218 Vilmanstrand : battle of (i74i)> 228 Vinland : the discovery of, 49 Vogg: fivenges the death of Rolf Krake, 18 Vohaire (Frangois Marie Arouet) : his estimate of Charles XII of Sweden, 224 Vordingborg, Peace of (143S), 127 w Wallenstein, Albrecht Eusebius von, Duke of Friedland, Mecklenburg and Sagan: in the Thirty Years' War, 180, 201 Walo, Abbot of Corvey: introduces Anscarius to the emperor, 26 Walpole, Robert, Earl of Orford : ministry of, 226 War of 1643-1645, 202 note War of Clubs (Klubbekriget), 170 Warsaw: battle of (1656), 207; taken by the Swedes (1702), 216 Waymonth : explorations of, 303 Weddell : explorations of, 333 Wedmore, Treaty of (879 a.d.). iS Welhaven, Johan Sebastian Cammer- meycr : sketch of, 264 Wellman, Walter : explorations of, 339 Wellman Airship Expedition, 339 Wends : description of the, 39 ; ravages of the, 67; invade Slesvig, 76; con- version of the, 81 Wergeland, Ilcnrik Arnold Thaulow : leads the patriotic party, 262, 264 Wergild: description of the, 12, 41 note, 71 West Indian Islands, Danish : slave trade declared illegal in, 255 Westphalia, Treaty of (1648), 188 Weyprecht, Charles : aids scientific polar research, 318 Whitelocke, Bulstrode : at the court of Christina, 205 Willses, Charles : explorations of, 334 William (I) the Conqueror, King of England : Svend Estridsen de- mands tribute of, 68 William (III) of Orange, King of England : aids Sweden, 215 Willibrod : the mission of, 25 Willisen, Wilhelm : in the Slesvig-Hol- stein War, 272 Willoughby, Sir Hugh : his expedition for the exploration of Arctic re- gions, 300 Wisby: captured by Valdemar IV (1361), 115 Witte, Cornelius de : relieves Copen- hagen. 209 Wittstock: battle of (1636), 186 Wollaston Land : discovered, 310 Wolmar: battle of (1219), 86 Wrangel, Count Karl Gustaf: in the Thirty Years' War, 188 Wrangel, Count Friedrich Heinrich Ernst: in the Slesvig-Holstein controversy, 270 Wrangell, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von : explorations of, 317 Wulfstan : his conversations with Al- fred, 7, 40; voyages of, 299 Wynecken. General : in the Siesvig- Holstcin War, 271 X, Y, Z Ynglingar: founder of, 35; kings and heroes of, 51 Ziegenbalg: his missinn in India, 237 Ziegler, William: supports polar expe- dition, 22'S y S p. ^5 - 3 '8 Sec v^ r < s r -2 5 a s 1^. ^ r" s. r "~ - i c o 5 r- (1 . - 1 y r T .1^ ^~ r ^ o w ^ .^^