The Danish Monarchy 1375-1389
Queen Margrethe I
Jan 3, 2009 Julie Refnov Mortensen
Margrethe was the sole surviving child of her father King Valdemar Atterdag, who succeeded in claiming lost land and recreating the kingdom kings before him had carelessly mortgaged away
King Oluf II
Before his death, Valdemar had promised the throne to the son of the Swedish king Albrecht of Mecklenburg, but his daughter had other plans. Margrethe had great influence on the nobility in both Sweden and Denmark and they would rather see the country under the rule of Margrethe and her husband than under Albrecht of Mecklenburg. In 1375 her son Oluf, then only 5-years-old, was elected king with Margrethe and Håkon as regents in charge.
When Håkon died in 1380, 10-year-old Oluf also became king of Norway.
Queen Margrethe I
In 1387, Oluf died unexpectedly at the age of 17 and his mother became the sole ruler of Denmark. She was given the title of ‘all powerful lady and mistress and the Kingdom of Denmark's Regent’. A year later Norway proclaimed Margrethe ‘Reigning Queen’.
It was rumored that because Oluf died so suddenly, he was surely poisoned and some suspected the Queen to be the one responsible for his death. But the plans she had for her son and the kingdom she later created for her grand nephew, suggest she was as surprised and devastated by the death of her son as was the rest of the country.
At the same time in Sweden, nobles were showing discontent towards their king, Albrecht of Mecklenburg. They secretly wrote Margrethe, summoning her for help and promising her the title of regent if she would rid them of their king.
In 1388 the Swedes agreed to Margrethe’s term and elected her ‘sovereign lady and ruler.’ In turn, Margrethe immediately sent an army to Sweden to attack Albrecht. In 1389 Albrecht was captured and imprisoned, securing Margrethe the power of Sweden.
In was expected that Margrethe was to choose a king to rule the three countries and in 1389 she picked her young grand nephew, Eric of Pomerania, to be king of Norway. Eric was the grandson of Margrethe’s late sister Ingeborg. He became Margrethe’s foster child, which left her free to raise and groom him into a strong king. In 1396 homage was paid to him in both Denmark and Sweden. To strengthen the power of the three countries the state councils signed a treaty in the town of Kalmar in 1397, creating what was to be known as the Kalmar Union. Eric, then 15-years-old, was crowned solemnly king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Margrethe was known as an intelligent woman and a wise politician and even though Eric a few years later became of age to rule the union on his own, it was Margrethe, who was considered the real ruler of the Kalmar Union until her death.
In 1412 Margrethe died of plague aboard a ship in the Flensburg Fjord.
For more on the history of the Danish Monarchy read: The Danish Monarchy-The Beginning and The Danish Monarchy 1389-1439, King Eric of Pomerania
Sources
www.kongehuset.dk
www.kongernesjelling.dk
www.nndb.com
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