Ancient History
Denmark is one of the Europe’s youngest countries. Only the granite rocks of the island of Bornholm are as old as the earth itself. The rest of the country is not particularly old.
Denmark’s first coastal inhabitants, who inhabited country more than 5.000 years before Christ, lived on oysters, fish, and seal-meat, and on the animals of the forrest.
Dolmens were the grave structures used in Denmark. Three stones and one on top. There are still a lot of them spread round the countryside.
Ships were known during the Bronze Age. Shipping was doubtless bound up with trade, but the ship was possibly also religious symbol.
When Celts started marching around Europe they forced their way into Greece, conquered Rome and in the south Central Europe, conquered the whole of Gaul and landed on British Isles. They never forced their way up to the North.
Trading with Celts was quite extensive.
The Vandals were in some way connected with North Jutland , in particular with that part of the country called Vendsyssel. They went south and traveled through France and settled in Andalusia (formerly Vandalusia) and from there over to Africa. And there they created the Vandalian Empire and conquered Rome.
On the other hand the Cimbrians and the Teutons came fresh from their northern villages. Teutons from Ty in Jutland and the CImbrians from Himmerland in Jutland.
Romans never penetrated properly into Germany and Scandinavia. After Rome felt, there was time of global migrations, but in Scandinavia they were local. Local tribes pushing each other out.
The Angles of South Jutland sailed westwards and, together with Saxons, occupied England. While the Saxons were Teutons, the Angles came from further north.
The Scandinavians had evolved their own form of writing, runic characters.
Islands such as Gotland and Bronholm became trading stations on route from Scandinavia to Baltic and further to Constantinople.
The Viking Age
The Viking age is generally said to have begun on June 8, 793, with the attack on Lindisfarne on the northeast of England.
What the world Viking really means, nobody knows. Probably “the men from the fjords”, for vik or vig, both in Danish and in Norwegian, means a little fjord or creek.
Soon they started settling. We can find them in Flanders and in England they created an independent Viking kingdom called “Danelagh”.
One of the secrets of the Viking Age was the ship.
Alfred the Great (871-901) was the man who was able to stop the incursions in England. He built a fleet and tried to stop Vikings before they reach England.
The King of France lost the whole of Normandy. He granted it to Rolf (or Rollo in French), one of Danish chieftains, in 911.
Regnar Lodbrog (his father was probably the King of Zealand) plundered Paris in 845.
Danish Viking Hastings sailed along the coast of France to Spain.
Swedes sailed up the Russian rivers and got as far as Black Sea.
Norwegian Vikings sailed to Iceland, onward to Greenland and thence to America, which they called Vinland. They also establish themselves permanently in Ireland and founded kingdoms.
Situation in Denmark changed. Danish King Harald Bluetooth (app. 935-985) was a son of Gorm the old. He gained control of whole Denmark and was actually king of Norway too. And he personally became converted to the Christian faith. His reign ended in war and his son’s fraction won. Sweyn Forkbeard was king from app 985 – 1014.
Sweyn attacked England again in 1003 and 1004, after Ethelred murdered all Danes outside the Danelagh on November 13, 1002. In 1007, Ethelred had to produce Danegeld for the fourth time (tax).
In 1013 Sweyn came to England again, Ethelred fled to Normandy, Sweyn become King of Denmark and England, he was installed as the “Caesar of the North”. He died next year. His son Canute was only eigthteen.
Ethelred son Edmund and Canute fought at Assandun and split the country between them. Edmund suddenly died, and Canute was proclaimed king in the whole country. Canute’s brother in Denmark also died and he became King of Denmark also. He was known as Canute the Great.
Canute died in 1035. His sons all claimed England throne. Hardicanute died and the mighty Danish Empire come to an end.
King Magnus of Norway became King of Denmark. But Sweyn, son of Canute’s sister Estrid (she was married to Ulf Jarl), came into the picture.
Magnus fought Wends and won. But Sweyn Estridson (or Ulfson) fought Magnus for the Danish throne. And in Norway his uncle Harald Hardradi was against him. He died young.
Harald Hadradi went on the expedition to England in 1066 and he died at Stamford Bridge.
In Denmark the Viking Age come to an end.
The Early Middle Ages
Vikings brought terror to England and the rest of the countries. And they brought Christianity back to the north from the west.
After Sweyn Estridson his sons, five of them, ascended the throne.
- Harald Hen – his reign ended quickly.
- Canute the Holy – he raised a fleet to attack England again, but before going there, the rebellion started at home and he was slayed by peasants.
- Oluf Hunger – he was King of Denmark for nine years.
- Eric Egode – the only god one. He went to Jerusalem on crusade and died in Cyprus.
- Niels – he ruled the country for thirty years. During this time the age of chivalry came to Denmark.
After Sweyn’s sons (Niels was still on the throne) there was Canute Lavard, son of Eric Egode and King’s Niels son Magnus. Magnus killed Canute and his brother Eric wanted revenge. He went to war againt Niels and Magnus. In 1134 they landed in Scania and Eric with his German army defeated them. Magnus was killed. King Niels was killed in Slesvig. Eric was now king. His nickname was Emune.
Eric was killed in Slesvig also by a Jutlandic nobleman named Black Plough. His nephew Eric Lamb took over. But he was not strong and the country started to fall apart. He was on the throne for nine years.
Three successors for Eric’s throne. Sweyn, Canute – son of Magnus (Niels’s son) and Valdemar, son of Canute Lavard. Sweyn killed Canute and Valdemar defeated Sweyn and become Denmark’s only king.
Valdemar sworn his allegiance to the German Emperor, Frederick I. He had Absalon at this side, the young bishop of Roskilde. They destroy Wends. Valdemar built a modern brick wall of fortresses in order to safeguard the country against surprises from the south. He suddenly died at Vordingborg Castle.
Valdemar’s son Canute took the reign (1182-1202), but it was Absalon who had the power. He was in conflict with the Emperor, and Emperor send Duke Bugislaw to go to war against Denmark.
Absalon built a new small town in the shores of Sound. Havn, meaning harbour or haven. It is Copenhagen now. His clerk Saxe wrote Denmark’s Chronicle. It was written in Latin. Norwegian and Icelandic sagas were describing history in local languages. Sweden has never possessed either a Snorre or a Saxe.
Canute VI died childless in 1202. He was succeeded by his brother Valdemar. Valdemar II was a politician. He married the daughter of the King of Bohemia, Dragomir. Her name changed in Dagmar. They had one son Valdemar the Younger. He also had a second wife.
In 1219 he send an expedition to Estonia with the whole Danish fleet. The battle of Lyndanisse decided the fate of Estonia, which there upon become Danish. It was during that battle that the king saw a blood-red flag bearing a white cross floated down a heaven. It was given the name Dannebrog. During that times Denmark acquired her national coat-of-arms, three blue lions on a gold background surrounded by nine red hearts. In Estonia, the town of Reval or Tallinn (Danish-town) was founded, and to this day it has the three lions in its coat-of-arms.
Valdemar the Younger made a law that was to apply to Jutland, Slesvig, and Funen. The Jutlandic Law was entacted at Vordingborg in 1241, and remained in force in Jutland and Funen until 1683.
Valdemar died the same year, 1241. Poetry has given him the name of Valdemar the Victorious.
His three sons Eric, Abel and Christopher were in line for succession. Abel become a king in 1250. But he only rule for two years and Christopher inherited the kingdom.
Christopher died in 1259. His son Eric was only 11 so Queen Margaret ruled the country for him. In 1282, King Eric was made to sign Denmark’s first Royal Charter (Danish Magna Carta). He was killed in 1286. His son was only 12 and he took the throne.
In 1319 Eric Menved died. His brother Christopher II became King. But country was in collapse. For eight years it was actually without a King.
Christopher’s youngest son Valdemar who took the throne at the end was raised in Germany. He was known as Valdemar the Evil. In that time plaque took 1/3 of the Danish population. The Scania provinces were still under Swedish King.
He married one of the daughters Margaret to Magnus’ (Smek) son Hakon, who was king of Norway.
Valdemar returned Scania and attacked the Island of Gotland and won in 1361.
Hanseatic League had strong position in Gotland, Bergen, Stockholm. They were threatened by Valdemar’s actions but their fleet was defeated when they meet with Valdemar’s in the Sound.
Valdemar died in 1375. Margaret his daughter came back from Norway, with her five year old son Oluf. Hakon her husband died five years later and she took over the rule of Norway. Since Hakon was the son of Magnus Smek of Sweden, Oluf claimed also Sweden throne. But he died suddenly. But Danish army defeated Swedish at Falkoebing in Sweden and the whole Sweden expect Stockholm agreed to submit to Margaret’s rule.
Margaret adopted Eric of Pomerania and summoned the famous convention of Kalmar in 1397. The Kalmar Union lasted, with intervals, until 1523. Then Sweden finally broke away. But in Norway it lasted until 1814, when it was disrupted by England.
On the death of his foster-mother in 1412, Eric was 30 years old. He was co-regent with Margaret from 1401.
He built a very modern square castle called Krogen. This is now Kronborg Castle at Elsinore (Helsinbor). He was married to Philippa, the daughter of Henry IV of England.
He was succeeded by his nephew Christopher of Bavaria. He only reigned for nine years until 1448.
The Later Middle Ages
Count Christian of Oldenburg was next in line. But his claim in Sweden was challenged. Danish army was beaten by Sten Sture’s troops.
In 1460 King Christian was elected as successor in both Holstein and Slesvig. The result was an arrangement that those two regions are indissolubly linked.
Christian’s daughter Margaret was married of to King James III of Scotland. And Christian gave James the Norwegian island of Shetland and Orkney.
In 1481 Christian died. His son Johannes, or Hans, was already a King of Denmark and Norway. He also was crowned King of Sweden. Union was again live.
But the defeat of Hans army by peasants in Ditmarshes. They were Frisians. Now the rebellion started also in Sweden and in 1502 Stockholm failed.
The Union was shattered and Sten Sture was once more the regent in Sweden.
Hans’ son Christian was co-regent in Norway. His base was Bergen. He got involved with a Dutch girl Dyveke and her mother Sigbritt. Mother become his adviser.
Christian II returned to Denmark after Hans’ death.
Danes again took the Sweden – their army defeated Sten Sture the Younger’s army.
Celebrating the win in Stockholm, the party became an execution of Swedish nobles. Known as the Stockholm Bloodbath in November 9, 1520.
Gustav Vasa from Sweden was in prison in Denmark, but he went back to Sweden and started a rebellion. In few years he was crown the King of Sweden.
From the Reformation until the Death of Christian IV
Duke Frederick was Christian’s uncle, who divided Holstein and North Slesvig between him and King Hans, was now at long last King of Denmark himself. King Christian in exile constituted a permanent threat.
Christina became affected by Luther’s teaching. In 1531 he landed in Norway and began to lay siege to Akershus Castle near Oslo.
Christian II agreed to meet Frederick, but eventually he was captured and spend 17 years as a prisoner at Soenderborg.
A young student named Hans Taven, a native of Funen, came home to Denmark from Wittenberg and preach the Reformation in Viborg. He also went to Copenhagen and won many supporters there.
The transition to the new Church had not been legally completed by the end of Frederick I’s reign. He died in 1533. His son Duke Christian was lutherite and crowned a king. He was now King Christian III.
One reason why the Reformation proceeded more or less peacefully in Denmark was that the country had other things to think about.
A large army from Lubeck landed in Zealand under Countr Christopher of Oldenburg. They fight in the name of captive Christian II. The fight was know as the Count’s War.
Christian III also changed Norway’s status. He introduced the Reformation into Norway by law. Norway was now a province not a kingdom anymore.
In 1559 both Christians died – Christian III and Christian II.
Christian’s III son Frederick II became the King. He was to prove Denmark’s Renaissance King par excellence. He attacked Sweden, where Gustav Vasa’s son Eric XIV of Sweden ruled. The Seven Years war weakened both countries. Frederik supported Tycho Brahe. He was given the island of Hven – in the middle of Sound. He send expeditions to Greenland. They were not successful. Above all he loved wine.
When Frederik died his son Christian was still a child. When he reached 19 years in 1596, he was crowned as Christian IV.
During that time Sweden’s history was developing along Shakespearian lines. Erix XIV was a dreamer and he was imprisoned at the end. His brother took a throne and later the third brother take it.
Christian embarked upon the Kalmar War. Some Scottish mercenaries were involved in this war under the command of colonel Monnichhofen and colonel Ramsay. They caused some havoc in Romsdalen. But Norwegian peasant decided to take revenge at Kringen, in Gudbrandsdalen.
Christian build strong naval arsenal at Copenhagen. He built a Stock Exchange. He took Hven from Tycho.
His sister married King James I of England.
He went to Thirty Years War and was defeated at Lutter am Barenberg by Tilly. After that Sweden entered into Thirty Year War under Gustav Adolphus.
Sweden was now strong and their army under general Torstensson marched into Jutland. Torstensson War was lost by Danes. With Treaty of Broemsebro in 1645, Gotland and Oesel were given back to Sweden.
The Wars against Sweden & The Absolute Monarchy
Christian IV’s second son Frederick III was the next king. He fought with Sweden’s king Charles X. He lost and in Roskilde Denmark he signed the most expensive peace treaty in the entire history of the country. The provinces Halland, Scania, Blekinge and the island of Bornholm were handed to Sweden.
Frederick decided to introduce absolute monarchy in Denmark and Norway.
The next ruler was Frederik’s son Christian V.
Another war with Sweden was the Scanian War from 1675 to 1679.
Frederick IV (1699-1730) – Christian’s son came to the throne in 1599. He was 28 at that time. He formed alliance with two other ruler of similar age. Peter the Great of Russia and Agustus the Strong of Poland. They wanted to de-throne the 17 year old boy Charles XII from Sweden.
Charles was winning against them for almost ten years. But then he was defeated by Peter in 1709 at Poltava. He runed to Turkey. But he later come back. But he soon died.
Peace only came in 1721. But it come at the cost. The European powers didn’t want Denmark to control both side of the Sound.
In 1500 the Norwegian and Danes lost the contacts with the Greenlanders. Hans Egede and his wife Gertrude Rank, set out to Greenland and the contact was established again.
Danish Rococo
Christian VI took over in 1730 after Frederick’s death. After him came his son Frederick V (1746-1766). His biggest threat was Russian and Catherine the Great.
In 1766 Frederick’s son Christian VII married Caroline Matilda, daughter of the English Prince of Wales, Prince Frederick Ludvig.
The King’s Court physician, a German named Friedrich Struensee, began to make his presence felt at Court. He forced king to give him all the power. He set German as main language. By 1772 he was seized and imprisoned.
After Struensee’s fall a Dane named Guldberg headed Danish politics. But not for long. The Crown Prince Frederick took over government in 1784 and ruled for 55 years.
The Wars against England
Bernstorff was a good foreign minister. He died in 1797.
In 1801 England sent a fleet into Danish territorial waters under Admiral Parker and Rear-admiral Nelson. The Battle of Copenhagen was a disaster for Danes in 1801. Danes could not count on Russians any more since Czar Paul died and Czar Alexander I was pro-English.
In the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 France and Russia decided that Denmark and Norway should close the ports to English ships. Napoleon sent an army to make sure of it. England sent a fleet to Copenhagen and they destroyed the Danish fleet. But not all. Crown Prince was now with Napoleon and Denmark and England were in open war from 1807-1814.
Denmark joined Napoleon fight against Sweden and they deposed their king. Sweden had to surrender Finland to Russia. At one point one of Napoleon’s general Bernadotte accepted leadership of Sweden and broke with Napoleon.
Sweden than went for Norway. They won, but were not able to incorporate it into Sweden.
The seven years of war costed Denmark its fleet, Norway and crushed maritime trade.
The war was over and the 439-year union with Norway was gone.
Denmark was still left with Greenland and Faroe Island and some small trading stations around the world. In 1792 they forbided slave trading. The first country in the world.
The Final Years of the Absolute Monarchy
Frederick VI died. His cousin Christian (who lost Norway and give her free constitution) became Christian VIII. He died soon.
The Constitution, The Slesvig Wars
Christian VIII’s son Frederick VII was neither loved nor admired.
A Schleswig-Holstein revolutionary government was set up. It was nothing extraordinary that Holstein wish to pursue in German sympathies, but a document signed in 1481 now took on the character of a time-bomb. It was in order to retain Slesvig that Denmark went to war against the revolutionary that had been mobilized. During the foregoing years the southern part pf Slesvig had gradually become Germanized.
The decisive battle was at Isted Heath on July 25, 1850 and Slesvig and Holstein became Danish once more.
On June 5, 1849, the new constitution was agreed upon. Folketing was a two chambers assembly. All Danish men aged 30 and above were granted the right to vote. Absolute monarchy was overthrown.
Denmark was not able to bind Slesvig any closer to herself. Northern part spoke Danish, southern German.
Frederick had no sons. Prince Christian of Glucksburg was accepted as heir to the Danish throne.
Eric of Pomerania introduced the Sound Dues in 1429, but the maritime nations had enough and the Sound Dues had been canceled after 428 years.
Defeat and Revival
On November 1863 Denmark incorporated Slesvig into Denmark. The Duke of Augustenborg reacted with support of Otto von Bismarck. And Austria also joined in. On February 1, the combined Austro-Prussian army under command of General Wrangel crossed the border at River Eider.
A compromise was suggested. Slesvig was to be split in two. But at the end Denmark was forced to accept a peace treaty in Vienna at which she surrendered all three duchies – Slesvig, Holstein and Lauenborg – to Austria and Prussia.
After the defeat Denmark started to revive the country. The country’s agricultural effort was diverted into other type of produce than cattle and corn. The focus was on quality farm products. Fishing industry vas modernized. The ship-building industry began to assert itself.
The Danish royal family was involved in different situations. Christian IX’s daughter Alexandra became Queen of England marrying Edward VII. His second daughter Dagmar became Empress of Russia marrying Alexander III. When Sweden-Norwegian union was dissolved Christian IX’s grandson was elected King and crowned in 1906 as Haakon VII.
The World Wars & Denmark today
After the WWI the north Slesvig returned to Denmark. Only the big town of Flensborg become Germanized and stayed in Germany.
In 1924 the Danish Social Democratic Party managed to obtain the government.
During the WWII Hitler marched through Denmark to Norway on April 9, 1940. Norway decided to fight, and Nazi supported Quisling was installed by Hitler to rule there. Christian X stayed in Denmark, but his brother Haakon had no alternative but to abandon Norway.
Sweden was not involved in WWII.
Denmark’s ambassador to the United States declared that since his government was not in a position to act freely, he placed Greenland under US protection in Denmark’s name.
Danish resistance was formed and sabotages were the tool to fight Nazi. But there was also repercussions from Germans.
During the war Iceland terminate the union between two countries.
King Christian X died in 1947 and was succeeded by his son Frederick IX. He died in 1972 and had no sons. His daughter Margret succeeded him.
Denmark and Norway became members of NATO.
