6 C 26 



DEN M A R K. 



History. 



^ohn elect- 

 ed king of 

 Sweden. 



Treaty of 

 commerce 

 with Eng- 

 land, 

 A. D. 149C 



Rebellion 

 of ihe 



Srwede?. 



the states of Sweden did not seem disposed to proceed 

 to the election of a sovereign, the senate of Denmark, 

 in conjunction with that of Norway, sent deputies to 

 hold a diet at Helmstadt, and invited the Swedes to do 

 the same. At first the Swedes started many objections 

 and difficulties, but ultimately they agreed to acknow- 

 ledge John as their king, on condition that, to the ar- 

 ticles of the union of Calmar, the following should be 

 added : " That three senators of each kingdom should 

 assemble every year to treat of such affairs as should con- 

 cern the common interest of the three kingdoms ; and 

 that this assembly should be held successively one year 

 at Kongsbakke ; another at Leedese ; and the third at 

 Konselle;" places which, though in the neighbourhood 

 of each other, were situated in the three kingdoms. 

 The states of Holstein and Sleswick objected to con- 

 tinue under the dominion of the king of Denmark, and 

 John was obliged to agree to a compromise, by which 

 his brother Frederic shared with him the authority 

 over these provinces. In 1490, John concluded a treaty 

 of commerce with Henry the Seventh of England, by 

 which their respective subjects obtained full liberty of 

 free traffic with one another, on paying the usual duties 

 on the merchandise which they sold. The English also 

 bound themselves to pay the duties of the Sound, and 

 engaged always to sail through this passage, and not 

 through either of the Belts, except they were forced by 

 a tempest ; and in this case, they were to pay at Ny- 

 borg, the same duties which they would have paid in 

 the Sound. The English merchants, by this treaty of 

 commerce, were also permitted to have consuls in the 

 principal maritime towns of Denmark and Norway. 

 In 1499, John convoked an assembly of the states of 

 Sweden at Upsal, for the purpose of having his oldest 

 son, Prince Christian, elected his successor. The states 

 agreed to this proposal, and bound themselves, in the 

 most formal and solemn manner, not to elect any other 

 prince after the death of John, but his son Prince Chris- 

 tian. Scarcely was this agreement entered into, before 

 the Swedes were in open rebellion ; and having joined 

 the discontented party in Norway, two formidable ar- 

 mies took the field against their sovereign. To oppose 

 these, John sent a large force into Norway, under the 

 command of his son Christian, now 20 years of age : 

 this kingdom was soon reduced to obedience, upon 

 which Christian marched into Sweden, attacked the 

 rebel army, and defeated it. On this occasion, the cruel 

 and vindictive character of this prince first displayed it- 

 self; he behaved towards his prisoners in the most bar- 

 barous manner, so as to shock his own army, and again 

 drive the Swedes into rebellion. Being convinced that 

 they could now expect no mercy if they were conquer- 

 ed, the Swedes fought with the most determined and 

 persevering bravery ; and in order to remove one of 

 the principal causes of their former misfortunes, they 

 elected an administrator to govern the kingdom, who 

 carried on the war against John with various success. 

 Treaties were repeatedly made and broken by the con- 

 tending parties ; the Swedes expressing a wish to sub- 

 mit whenever they were hard pressed, and being again 

 incited to resistance by the administrator, when they 

 had recovered from their difficulties. In these wars 

 with John, they were generally assisted by the people 

 of Lubeck, who excelled in maritime affairs. Towards 

 the end of the year 1510, a desperate engagement took 

 place between the Danish and Lubeck fleets, in which 

 the latter were worsted ; the advantage thus gained by 

 John, was, however, in some degree balanced by the 

 success of the Swedes, who in 1511 took Bomholm. 



In 1512, upon the death of the administrator, Sweden 

 became a prey to domestic convulsions ; and the peo- 

 ple of Lubeck, tired of the war, took this opportunity to 

 make peace with John. The Swedes, alarmed at this 

 defection of their ally, agreed to appoint a congress, at 

 which peace was concluded, on one of these three con- 

 ditions, that Sweden should acknowledge John, or his 

 son, for its sovereign ; or that it should pay a tribute of 

 50,000 merks. 



A short time before the death of John, which hap- 

 pened in the latter end of the year 1513, he was invi- 

 ted to enter into a league with James IV. of Scotland, 

 and Louis XII. of France, against Henry VIII. of 

 England ; this invitation John was prudent enough not 

 to accept ; but as he did not wish to irritate the kings 

 of Scotland and France by his refusal, he merely replied, 

 that as James demanded speedy succours, and proposed 

 to attack England immediately, he could not comply 

 with this demand, since his senate, without whose con- 

 sent he could not come to a resolution of such great 

 consequence, were not with him, and he could not as- 

 semble them soon enough for the succours to arrive in 

 good time. 



The education of Christian II. who succeeded 

 John, had not been sucli as to qualify him for the 

 throne ; he was boarded, during his infancy, Avith a ci- 

 tizen of Copenhagen, and afterwards with a clergyman 

 of that city ; who frequently took him into the great 

 church to sing in the choir, with several young men of 

 very low condition, who were his fellow-boarders. His 

 learning was entirely neglected for several years, till at 

 length he was put under the care of a preceptor from 

 Brandenburgh, who taught him a little Latin. In his 

 temper he was naturally irritable and violent, and this 

 disposition was cherished, instead of being counteracted, 

 by his being permitted to form connections, in his 

 early age, with the most abandoned characters. The 

 king, his father, was for a long time ignorant of his ex- 

 cesses, debauchery, and cruelty ; and when he was in- 

 formed of the manner in which his son conducted him- 

 self, his habits were so firmly fixed, that neither admo- 

 nition nor chastisement produced any effect upon him. 

 With all these faults, however, he was naturally coura- 

 geous ; and upon the rebellion breaking out in Nor- 

 way and Sweden, he displayed considerable talents for 

 military affairs ; but, as has been already mentioned, 

 the victories which he gained by his skill and courage, 

 were rendered almost entirely fruitless by his subse- 

 quent tyranny and cruelty. 



Such was the character of Christian II. wh-m he as- 

 cended the throne ; no good was anticipated from it, 

 and he soon gave unequivocal proof that his public 

 conduct would be unprincipled and ferocious: his 

 chief counsellors were his mistress and his drunken 

 companions, people of the lowest rank, and of the 

 most profligate manners. The states of Denmark were 

 60 apprehensive and alarmed, that they offered the 

 crown to Frederic, duke of Holstein, the brother of the 

 late king ; but the offer was, at this time, not accept- 

 ed ; and the states, afraid of the vindictive spirit of 

 Christian, kept it a profound secret, and acknowledged 

 him king of Denmark and Norway, after he had 

 bound himself to confirm the liberties and privileges 

 of the two countries. At the assembly which was 

 convoked on this occasion, deputies from Sweden were 

 present ; but they had not power to choose Christian 

 king of Sweden ; and by their representations on their 

 return to their own country, induced the states . of 

 Sweden to declare openly against this prince, and to 



History. 



Death Of 

 John, 

 A.D. 157 



Christian. 

 II. succeeds 

 his father. 



Sweden it- 

 clares 

 against 

 Chriiiiaitt 



