In a previous blog entry we have talked about the close and not always friendly relations between the Scandinavian kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway during the Middle Ages. One of the most important periods of these relations was the so-called Kalmar Union , which meant the unification of the three kingdoms under a single crown. This union was made possible especially through the efforts of one woman:Queen Margaret of Denmark.
Born in 1353, Margaret was the daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark and Queen Helvig, who had provided the county of Jutland as a marriage dowry. At the age of six she was betrothed to King Haakon VI of Norway, who in turn had aspirations to the Swedish throne occupied by her father Magnus Eriksson. The wedding took place in April 1363 in Copenhagen, but shortly afterwards Haakon's claims to the Swedish throne suffered a serious setback when his father was deposed by Swedish nobles who offered the crown to Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg.
Margarita, who was only ten years old when the wedding took place, continued her education in Norway until she was old enough to consummate her marriage. As a result of her union with Haakon, a son was born in 1370, whom they called Olav. From that moment on, events accelerated.
In 1375 Margaret's father, Valdemar IV of Denmark, died with no living male descendant. A difficult situation arises concerning the election of his successor. Margarita appears before the assembly of the kingdom and renounces her rights in favor of her son Olav. In front of them, the Duke of Mecklenburg, also the king's grandson and son of Margarita's older sister, Ingeborg, is running as a candidate.
It is unknown how the negotiations went, but eventually the assembly chooses Olav to inherit his grandfather's crown. And in 1380 she also wears the crown of Norway when her father and husband of our protagonist, Haakon VI of Norway, died. From that moment on, Margarita became the main adviser to her young son and the de facto ruler of both kingdoms. As such, she highlights her decision to approach positions with the Hanseatic League, a traditional rival of the Danes, who had been suffering attacks from Swedish ships.
Another twist came when her son Olav died in 1387 without a male descendant. If she wanted to maintain her position of power, Margarita had to act quickly. And she did that. She managed to get both Denmark and Norway to grant her the title of Sovereign Lady and Guardian of the Kingdom and she adopted as her son the grandson of her sister, Erik of Pomerania. As a consequence of this adoption, Erik succeeded Olav as King of Denmark and Norway. Margarita continued to play the role of de facto ruler of both kingdoms.
But our protagonist didn't stop there. She took advantage of the discontent of the Swedes with her king of her Albrecht of her, she got an important group of nobles to grant her in 1388 the same title that she had received in the other two kingdoms and she put herself at the head of the rebellion against the Swedish monarch. A year later, at the battle of Falkoping, the troops led by Margarita defeated those of Albrecht. He was taken prisoner and kept in captivity until he agreed to relinquish his rights to the throne and win the surrender of the city of Stockholm, which had refused to surrender to the Danes. Erik of Pomerania was sworn in as monarch of Sweden, uniting under his scepter the crowns of the three Norse kingdoms.
However, it was exclusively a de facto union, not a legal unification of the three states. Margarita then devoted herself firstly to consolidating royal power against that of the nobility (she came to prohibit the construction of castles that were not royal property and depended on the crown) and secondly to try to legally strengthen the union between the three Scandinavian kingdoms.
As a consequence of his efforts, a historic meeting was held in the city of Kalmar in 1397, in which the unification of the three kingdoms was agreed upon and the proclamation of Erik of Pomerania was ratified as king of Norway, Denmark and Sweden and the unification of the three kingdoms into one.
Margarita is considered the main architect of the Kalmar Union and she remained a leading figure for the rest of her life in the foreign and domestic politics of the Scandinavian kingdoms. She organized the marriage of King Erik with Philippa, daughter of Henry IV of England, but at the same time managed to keep the Kalmar Union out of the conflict between England and France (the Hundred Years' War). She also consolidated the finances of the kingdom and allocated significant amounts to charity, especially aimed at the most disadvantaged women and victims of war conflicts, to whom she left a large sum in her will.
He continued to work to consolidate the peace of his kingdom, especially regarding the difficult relations with the Hanseatic League and the county of Schleswig-Holstein until his death on October 28, 1412 aboard his ship in Flensborg Fjord. The mortal remains of Margarita I were initially buried in the cathedral of Sorø, but not without controversy and without the opposition of the monks of this city they were transferred in the fifteenth century to Roskilde, in whose cathedral they have rested ever since.
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The Kalmar Union would last, with ups and downs, until 1523 in the case of Sweden and until 1814 in the case of Norway… but that's another story.
Featured Image| Royalty guide
Palle Lauring:A history of Denmark .