Kalmar Union

The Kalmar Union^[a] was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523,^[1] it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including much of present-day Finland), and Norway, together with Norway's overseas colonies^[b] (then including Iceland, Greenland,^[c] the Faroe Islands, and the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland).

Kalmar Union Kalmarunionen
1397–1523
The Kalmar Union, c. 1400
Status	Personal union
Capital	None (de jure) Copenhagen (de facto) 55°40′N 12°34′E
Common languages	Official use: Middle Danish, Old Swedish, Middle Norwegian, Renaissance Latin Also spoken: Middle Icelandic, Old Faroese, Norn, Greenlandic Norse, Middle Low German, Finnish, Sami, Greenlandic, Karelian
Government	Personal union
Monarch
• 1397–1442a	Eric of Pomerania (first)
• 1513–23b	Christian II (last)
Legislature	Riksråd and Herredag (one in each kingdom)
Historical era	Late Middle Ages
• Inception	17 June 1397
• Engelbrekt rebellion	1434–1436
• Stockholm Bloodbath	November 1520
• Gustav Vasa elected as King of Sweden	1523
• Denmark-Norway was established.	1523
Area
• Total	2,839,386 km2 (1,096,293 sq mi)
Currency	Mark, Örtug, Norwegian penning, Swedish penning
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Denmark Kingdom of Norway Kingdom of Sweden Denmark–Norway Kingdom of Sweden
Margaret I ruled Denmark 1387–1412, Norway 1388–1389, and Sweden 1389–1412 Christian II ruled Denmark and Norway 1513–1523; Sweden 1520–1521

The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions. Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states. However, their domestic and foreign policies were directed by a common monarch. Gustav Vasa's election as King of Sweden on 6 June 1523, and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later, marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union.^[2] Formally, the Danish king acknowledged Sweden's independence in 1524 at the Treaty of Malmö.

Inception

The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy who sought to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League, a northern German trade league centered around the Baltic and North Seas. Denmark in particular was in a power struggle with the League and had recently suffered a humiliating defeat in the Danish-Hanseatic War (1361-1370) that allowed the League to become even more powerful. On the personal level, the union was achieved by Queen Margaret I of Denmark (1353–1412). She was a daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark and had married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, who was the son of King Magnus IV of Sweden, Norway and Scania. Margaret succeeded in having her and Haakon's son Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376, Olaf inherited the crown of Denmark from his maternal grandfather as King Olaf II, with his mother as guardian; when Haakon VI died in 1380, Olaf also inherited the crown of Norway.^[3]

Margaret became regent of Denmark and Norway when Olaf died in 1387, leaving her without an heir.^[4] She adopted her great-nephew Eric of Pomerania the same year.^[5] The following year, 1388, Swedish nobles called upon her help against King Albert.^[6] After Margaret defeated Albert in 1389, her heir Eric was proclaimed King of Norway.^[4] Eric was subsequently elected King of Denmark and Sweden in 1396 under the banner of the House of Griffin.^[4] His coronation was held in Kalmar on 17 June 1397.^[7]

One main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the perpetual struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility, which did not.^[8]

The Union lost territory when Orkney and Shetland were pledged by Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the dowry of his daughter Margaret, betrothed to James III of Scotland in 1468.^[9] The money was never paid, so in 1472 the islands were annexed by the Kingdom of Scotland.^[10]

Internal conflict

Diverging interests (especially the Swedish nobility's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that hampered the union in several intervals starting in the 1430s. The Engelbrekt rebellion, which started in 1434, led to the overthrow of King Erik (in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, as well as Norway in 1442).^[11] The aristocracy sided with the rebels.^[11]

King Erik's foreign policy, in particular his conflict with the Hanseatic League, necessitated greater taxation and complicated exports of iron, which in turn may have precipitated the rebellion.^[11] Discontent with the nature of King Erik's regime has also been cited as a motivating factor for the rebellion.^[11] King Erik also lacked a standing army and had limited tax revenues.^[11]

The death of Christopher of Bavaria (who had no heirs) in 1448 ended a period in which the three Scandinavian kingdoms were uninterruptedly united for a lengthy period.^[11] Karl Knutsson Bonde ruled as king of Sweden (1448–1457, 1464–1465 and 1467–1470) and Norway (1449-1450). Christian of Oldenburg was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). Karl and Christian fought over control of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, leading Christian to seize Sweden from him from 1457 to 1464 before a rebellion led Karl to become king of Sweden again.^[11] When Karl died in 1470, Christian tried to become king of Sweden again, but was defeated by Sten Sture the Elder in the 1471 battle of Brunkeberg outside Stockholm.^[11]

After the death of Karl, Sweden was mostly ruled by a series of "protectors of the realm" (riksföreståndare), with the Danish kings attempting to assert control. First of these protectors was Sten Sture, who kept Sweden under his control until 1497 when the Swedish nobility deposed him. A peasant rebellion led Sture to become regent of Sweden again in 1501. After his death, Sweden was ruled by Svante Nilsson (1504–1512) and then Svante's son Sten Sture the Younger (1512–1520).^[11] Sten Sture the Younger was killed in the 1520 Battle of Bogesund when the Danish king Christian II invaded Sweden with a large army.^[11] Subsequently, Christian II was crowned King of Sweden, and supporters of Sten Sture were executed en masse in the Stockholm Bloodbath.^[11]

Swedish War of Liberation

After the Stockholm Bloodbath, Gustav Vasa (whose father, Erik Johansson, was executed) travelled to Dalarna, where he organized a rebellion against Christian II.^[11] Vasa made an alliance with Lübeck and successfully conquered most of Sweden.^[11] He was elected King of Sweden in 1523, effectively ending the Kalmar Union.^[11] After the Northern Seven Years' War, the Treaty of Stettin (1570) saw Frederick II renounce all claims to Sweden.^[12]

End and aftermath

One of the last structures of the Union remained until 1536/1537 when the Danish Privy Council, in the aftermath of the Count's Feud, unilaterally declared Norway to be a Danish province. This did not happen. Instead, Norway became a hereditary kingdom in a real union with Denmark.^[13][14] Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries, until it was transferred to Sweden in 1814. The ensuing union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when prince Carl of Denmark, a grandson of both the incumbent king of Denmark and the late king of Sweden, was elected king of Norway.^[15]

According to historian Sverre Bagge, the Kalmar Union was unstable for several reasons:^[9]

• The power of national aristocracies.
• The varied effects of the Kalmar Union's foreign policy on the three kingdoms. For example, attempted expansions into Northern Germany may have served Danish interests, but was costly to Swedes who had to pay higher taxes and were unable to export iron to the Hanseatic League.
• Geography complicated control of the union in the event of rebellion.
• The large territorial size of the union complicated control.
• Denmark was not strong enough to force Norway and Sweden to stay within the union.

Gallery

The Kalmar Union monarchs were:

• 
  Queen Margaret
• 
  King Eric
• 
  King Christopher
• 
  King Christian I
• 
  King John ("Hans")
• 
  King Christian II

See also

• List of Kalmar Union monarchs
• Scandinavian royal lineage chart for the time around the founding of the Kalmar Union

Notes

1. Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish: Kalmarunionen; Finnish: Kalmarin unioni; Icelandic: Kalmarsambandið; Latin: Unio Calmariensis
2. Norway retained none of its prior possessions, however. Christian I pledged the Northern Isles to Scotland as insurance for his daughter's dowery in 1468; the dowery was not paid, and the islands transferred to perpetual Scottish sovereignty in 1470. After the Union's dissolution, all remaining overseas possessions brought into the Union by Norway became property of the Danish monarch, who retained ownership following the transfer of the Kingdom of Norway from the Danish crown to Swedish crown (discussed in further detail below) after the Napoleonic Wars.
3. Nominal possession: Norway claimed suzerainty over the island prior to the Union's formation, but it had long since ceased exercising any administrative control over the European settlements there. No direct contact took place between Greenland and the Kalmar Union during the latter's existence.

References

1. Gustafsson, Harald (September 2006). "A STATE THAT FAILED?: On the Union of Kalmar, Especially its Dissolution". Scandinavian Journal of History. 31 (3–4): 205–220. doi:10.1080/03468750600930720. ISSN 0346-8755.
2. Sampson, Anastacia. "Swedish Monarchy – Gustav Vasa". sweden.org.za o. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
3. Karlsson, Gunnar (2000). The History of Iceland. p. 102.
4. "Margaret I | queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
5. "Erik VII | king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
6. "Sweden – Code of law | history – geography". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
7. "Kalmar Union | Scandinavian history". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
8. For a somewhat different view see "The Union Of Calmar —Nordic Great Power Or Northern German Outpost?". Politics and reformations: communities, polities, nations, and empires essays in honor of Thomas A. Brady, Jr. Studies in Medieval and Reformation traditions. Leiden: Brill. 2007. pp. 471–472. ISBN 978-90-04-16173-3.
9. Bagge, Sverre (2014). Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. pp. 260–268. ISBN 978-1-4008-5010-5.
10. Nicolson (1972) p. 45
11. Bagge, Sverre (2014). Cross and Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation. Princeton University Press. pp. 251–259. ISBN 978-1-4008-5010-5.
12. Bain, Robert Nisbet (1905). Scandinavia: A Political History of Denmark, Norway and Sweden from 1513 to 1960. Adegi Graphics LLC. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-543-93900-5.
13. Moseng, Ole Georg (2003). Norges historie 1537–1814. Universietsforlaget AS. p. 27. ISBN 978-82-15-00102-9.
14. Nordstrom, Byron (2000). Scandinavia since 1500. University of Minnesota Press. p. 147. ISBN 0-8166-2098-9.
15. "Jubilee". Time. 8 December 1930. p. 1. Archived from the original on 13 August 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2008.

Further reading

• Albrectsen, Esben, ed. (1997). Danmark-Norge. 1: Fællesskabet bliver til / af Esben Albrectsen. Oslo: Univ.Forl. ISBN 978-87-500-3496-4.
• Carlsson, Gottfrid (1945). Medeltidens nordiska unionstanke (in Swedish). Geber.
• Christensen, Aksel Erhardt (1980). Kalmarunionen og nordisk politik 1319-1439. København: Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-00-51833-9.
• Enemark, Poul (1979). Fra Kalmarbrev til Stockholms blodbad: den nordiske trestatsunions epoke 1397-1521. Temahæfter i Nordens historie. København: Nordisk ministerråd : Gyldendal. ISBN 978-87-01-80611-4.
• Gustafsson, Harald (20 October 2017). "The Forgotten Union: Scandinavian dynastic and territorial politics in the 14th century and the Norwegian-Swedish connection". Scandinavian Journal of History. 42 (5): 560–582. doi:10.1080/03468755.2017.1374028. ISSN 0346-8755.
• Harrison, Dick (2020). Kalmarunionen: en nordisk stormakt föds. Lund: Historiska media. ISBN 978-91-7789-167-3.
• Helle, Knut; Kouri, E. I.; Olesen, Jens E., eds. (2003). The Cambridge history of Scandinavia. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47299-9. OCLC 53893623.
• Politics and reformations: communities, polities, nations, and empires essays in honor of Thomas A. Brady, Jr. Studies in Medieval and Reformation traditions. Leiden: Brill. 2007. ISBN 978-90-04-16173-3.
• Kirby, David (2014). Northern Europe in the Early Modern Period: The Baltic World 1492-1772. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-90214-0.
• Larsson, Lars-Olof (2003). Kalmarunionens tid: från drottning Margareta till Kristian II (2. uppl ed.). Stockholm: Prisma. ISBN 978-91-518-4217-2.
• Roberts, Michael (1986). The early Vasas: a history of Sweden, 1523-1611. Cambridge: Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31182-3.

External links

• Media related to Kalmar Union at Wikimedia Commons
• The Kalmar Union – Maps of the Kalmar Union