Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/810

 DENMARK

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DENMARK

in 1443 removed the residence of the Danish kings from Roskilde to Copenhagen. Though a German by birth, he tried to check trie power of the Hanseatic League, but did not succeed. He met with an un- timely end in 1448.

Immediately the weak bond which had united Sweden and Denmark was rent. In the former king- dom Charles Knutsson was raised to the throne; in Denmark and in Norway Count Christian of Olden- burg, the husband of Christopher's widow, and with him the house of Oldenburg, succeeded to the sover- eignty. A feud sprang up between the countries. In 1452 the Swedes ravaged Skane; the following year the Danes sought revenge, but in vain. A conspiracy among his nobles drove Knutsson from Sweden, which was subdued by Christian. During the latter's reign the union between Holstein and Schleswig, which was later to have such disastrous consequences for Denmark, became an acknowledged fact. Chris- tian's rule over Sweden was only nominal. Internal troubles made it illusory, and after the battle of Brunkeberg, near Stockholm, he was obliged to evac- uate the kingdom. Even in his own State he was hated for his extravagance. He deserves credit, how- ever, for founding the University of Copenhagen (1479). His son Hans succeeded him in Denmark, while Frederick remained Duke of Holstein. The former was also acknowledged King of Sweden and Norway (1483), but with notable restrictions. Thus, in Sweden, the regent Sten Sture was the actual ruler imtil an unlucky campaign against the Russians drew on him the contempt of the people. King Hans thereupon recovered his authority, but maintained it only for a short time, as Bishop Hemminggad of Lin- koping succeeded in arousing his countrymen against the foreigner. King Hans died before he was able to overpower the rebels. His son Christian II relied on the middle class, tried to break the power of the no- bles, and in repeated expeditions against the Swedes, succeeded in crushing their resistance (1521). But his excessive cruelty towards the Swedish leaders caused the Swedes to rise unanimously against him. Gustavus I (Gustavus Vasa) not only drove the Danes out of the Swedish provinces, but moreover invaded their country. Christian's efforts in favour of the peasantry led to a conspiracy among the nobles. With their aid his uncle Frederick seized the reins of government, and even forced his nephew to flee to a foreign countrj' (1523). After the former's death the Hanseatic League made an attempt to restore Chris- tian to the throne. He conquered, indeed, the greater part of his countrj-, but the activity of Gustavus Vasa, on the one hand, and the combined action of the no- bility on the other, soon changed the condition of affairs. In spite of this. Christian III, son of the de- ceased Frederick, could take Copenhagen only after a siege of twelve months (1536).

Under King Frederick, the teachings of Luther had already struck root in Denmark, but they did not en- tirely prevail either here or in Norway until the reign of his son. Immediately after the capture of Copen- hagen the bishops were imprisoned, the churches con- fiscated, the monks and nuns expelled, and a new form of worship introduced (see above). Instead of the relatively mild rule of the bishops, the country now suffered under the galling tyranny of the nobles, who kept the lion's share of the ecclesiiistical property and reduced the peasantry to helpless helots. Despite these facts, partial Protestant writers .still laud Chris- tian III as the benefactor of his people, a.s a noMo and godly man; Scandinavian historians blame liim only for introducing too many Germans and for sharing Schleswig-Holstein with his brothers. He died in 1559. His successor, Frederick II, was a very warlike character. His four-years' war with Sweden, in which the countries on the Baltic took part, ended in the barren Treaty of Stettin (1570). Christian IV, his

son, and recognized as the heir apparent during the lifetime of his father, succeeded him, though a minor (1588), but did not enter upon the government till 1596. During his long life (he died in 1648) he left nothing undone to perfect the administration of the country and to increase its power. He advanced trade and industry, founded colonies in India and sup- plied them with missionaries. He established higher institutions of learning, and did everything in his power to improve the condition of the peasantry. Hostile complications with Sweden began anew. They ended with the Peace of Knarod, which proved favour- able to Denmark. As Duke of Holstein the king be- longed to the Estates of the lower Saxon circle. These relations to North Germany obliged Christian to take an active part in the Thirty Years' War. His hesita- tion was his bane. When, in spite of the repeated warnings of Tilly, the general of the Catholic League, he did not discontinue his military preparations, Tilly crossed the Weser with his troops (June, 1625). After some minor engagements and long manceuvrings, a decisive battle was fought near Lutter (27 Aug., 1626), which ended in the total defeat of Christian. Wallen- stein, Tilly's successor, changed the defensive into an offensive war. He fought his way into Holstein, stormed Rendsburg, Flensburg, and subdued the whole of Jutland. Nothing remained to the king but to retreat to the islands, and he was forceil to conclude the relatively favourable Treaty of Ltibeck. The sub- sequent thirteen years of peace so restored Denmark's military strength that in 1643 it could resist honour- ably, if not successfully, the unjust attack of its Swedish neighbour. The peace of Bromsebro never- theless demanded fresh sacrifices from the imhappy kingdom (1645). Hardly ten years had elapsed, when the Swedes fell again upon Christian's successor, Frederick III, without any previous declaration of war. King Charles X (Gustavus) marched 8,000 picked Swedish troops into Jutland and, profiting by an unusually hard frost, which had covered the straits between the Danish islands with a thick crust of ice, crossed over to Zealand. He forced the capital to surrender and the king to accept the peace of Ros- kilde (1658), by which Denmark forever lost the prov- inces of Sk&ne, Halland, Blekinge, Bohusliin. Not content with these successes, Charles immediately re- gretted his leniency towards King Frederick, embarked at Kiel, and landed again on Zealand. Too weak to storm the capital at once, he w:is compelled to wait and in the meantime behold his adversary's active measures of defence. A Dutch fleet also approached, forced its way through the Sound, brought troops and provisions to the defenders, and obliged the Swedes to erect a fortified camp. Meanwhile an auxiliary army, consisting of Poles, Austrians, and Brandenburgers, drove the Swedish garrisons out of Jutland. More- over, the population of the newly acquired provinces assumed a menacing attitude; on Bornholm all the Swedes were slain in one night. Nevertheless Cliarles Gustavus did not give up the siege of (Copenhagen, and in Februarj', 1659, undertook a night attack which was repelled by the heroism of the besieged. Soon after, the allies crossed over to Fiinen and captured the Swedish garrison. The early death of the Swedish king (13 Feb., 1660) preserved Denmark from im- pending ruin; the guardians of the Swedish heir ap- parent, then only five years of age, were content that the Peace of Copenhagen (1660'> guaranteed them the possession'of the newly acquired territory with the e.x- ception of Bornholm and a few Norwegian districts. These disastrous years had one good effect on the Danish people: the clergy, middle classes, and peas- ants upheld their king; liis crown was declared heredi- tary, and with their help he anniliilated the power of the nobility and secured for hhnself absohite author- ity. The government was altered [n meet the needs of the times; the taj£ system was regulated, and the