28.3 Europe: a.d. 1301 to 1400  (Page 11/12)

Sweden

Magnus II became the Swedish king in 1319 at the age of three years, with his mother as regent and effective ruler. Through his mother Magnus also succeeded to the Norwegian crown and during a troubled period in Denmark actually gained Scania, Halland, and Bleking temporarily for Sweden. Even after he assumed the reign for himself, there was a definite weakening of the royal power and a rise of the aristocracy. The first meeting of the Riksdag, which included nobles and burghers, was in 1359. By 1363 Magnus was deposed and succeeded by Albert of Mecklenburg, who was always a tool of the nobility. They eventually dethroned him in 1388, calling in Margaret, already Queen of Norway and regent of Denmark, thus uniting all three countries. Officially she formed the Union of Kalmar in 1387 under the name of her grand-nephew and adopted son, Eric of Pomerania, but she retained the effective power. Additional Notes

Denmark

The successful reign of Eric Menved ended in 1320 by capitulation and Christopher II was elected, with limitations laid down by the nobility and clergy. In 1340 Christopher was driven from the throne by Gerhard, Count of Holstein. This was indicative of the dominance of the German Hansa towns in Danish politics at that time. From 1332 to 1340 Denmark was in a state of anarchy, with no king and actually ruled by German Counts from adjacent territories. The Scanian provinces across the sound placed themselves under the Swedish king, Magnus Smek, as a separate province. But then came Valdemar IV, the youngest son of Christopher, to take the throne as one of the greatest Danish kings. The Church was subordinated to the royal power and the nobles and towns were made to perform their military obligations as Valdemar reconquered the territories lost by his father, in wars with Sweden, Holstein and Schleswig. In 1361 he even took on the Hansa. Copenhagen was sacked but the Danes defeated the Hansa fleets in 1362 at Helsingborg.

Valdemar had been raised at the Imperial German court as a European man of fashion; his wife was a Schlesvig princess. Although not liked much by the Danes, he ruled efficiently. During his reign he sold Estonia to German nobles, then conquered the Goths of Gotland, an island in the Baltic which was actually a part of Sweden although controlled by the Hanseatic League. The second war with the Hansa occurred from 1368 to 1370 and this time the League was supported by Sweden, Norway, Holstein, Mecklenburg and even by some of the Danish nobles. Badly defeated, Valdemar accepted the Peace of Stralsund which again made the Hansa supreme in the Baltic. Valdemar's grandson, Olaf, ruled from 1376, under the regency of his mother, Margaret, until his death in 1387 when Margaret became queen, ruling also in Norway and Sweden. (See map, page 726)

Finland

After 30 years of being the battle field for war between Sweden and Russia, in 1323 a boundary treaty was drawn up and solemnized and Finland became a true province of Sweden, remaining so for the next 500 years.