Rivahy of Siueden and Denmai'k 3 1 7 



back something of what his predecessors had lost, the 

 nobles conspired his overthrow, and he was shot at a 

 masked ball by Ankerstrom, one of their number. The 

 nobility themselves were divided into two parties, 

 fiercely opposed, like the English Whigs and Tories of 

 the last century. They went by the names of the Hats 

 (Hattar) and Nightcaps (Nattmossor). 



The one thing constant in Scandinavian history 

 during these later centuries was the enmity between 

 Sweden and Denmark. Towards the end of the seven- 

 teenth century Denmark recovered somewhat from 

 the position to which it had been reduced by Gus- 

 tavus Adolphus and his immediate successors. In the 

 war between Louis xiv. and Holland, as Sweden was 

 the ally of the French, Denmark joined the Dutch, 

 and the armies of the two Scandinavian countries 

 (under Christian V. and Charles xi.) met at Lund in 

 1676. It was Frederick iv. of Denmark who provoked 

 the hostility of Charles xil. ; and Denmark and Sweden 

 were again at war, almost continuously from a.d. 1709 

 to 1720. After this, there is nothing worth recording 

 in Danish history till the French Eevolution, and the 

 wars which sprang therefrom, which affected every state 

 in Europe. In one respect, Denmark anticipated 

 the French Eevolution by the liberation, in 1788, of 

 the peasant class from the oppressive taxes and services 

 to which it had become liable. 



At the beginning of the revolutionary war, Denmark 

 preserved a neutral attitude, a condition of armed 

 neutrality, in which she protected her own merchant 

 fleet, and carried goods to countries of either party. 

 This condition of things was viewed with a very evil 



