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CHRISTIAN II

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 276 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHRISTIAN II . (1481-1550), See also:king of See also:Denmark, See also:Norway and See also:Sweden, son of See also:John (Hans) and See also:Christina of See also:Saxony, was See also:born at See also:Nyborg See also:castle in 1481, and succeeded his See also:father as king of Denmark and Norway in 1513. As See also:viceroy of Norway (15o6-1512) he had already displayed a singular capacity for ruling under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Patriotism, insight, courage, statesmanship, See also:energy,—these See also:great qualities were indisputably his; but unfortunately they were vitiated by obstinacy, suspicion and a sulky craftiness, beneath which simmered a very See also:volcano of revengeful See also:cruelty. Another peculiarity, more fatal to him in that aristocratic See also:age than any other, was his fondness for the See also:common See also:people, which was increased by his See also:passion for a See also:pretty Dutch girl, named Dyveke, who became his See also:mistress in 1507 or 1509. Christian's See also:succession to the See also:throne was confirmed at the Herredag, or See also:assembly of notables from the three See also:northern kingdoms, which met at See also:Copenhagen in 1513. The nobles and See also:clergy of all three kingdoms regarded with See also:grave misgivings a ruler who had already shown in Norway that he was not afraid of enforcing his authority to the uttermost. The Rigsraads of Denmark and Norway insisted, in the laaandfaestning or See also:charter extorted from the king, that the crowns of both kingdoms were elective and not hereditary, providing explicitly against any transgression of the charter by the king, and expressly reserving to themselves a See also:free choice of Christian's successor after his See also:death. But the See also:Swedish delegates could not be prevailed upon to accept Christian as king at all. " We have," they said, " the choice between See also:peace at See also:home and strife here, or peace here and See also:civil See also:war at home, and we prefer the former." A decision as to the Swedish succession was therefore postponed. On the 12th of See also:August 1515 Christian married See also:Isabella of See also:Burgundy, the See also:grand-daughter of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian. But he would not give up his liaison with Dyveke, and it was only the death of the unfortunate girl in 1517, under suspicious circumstances, that prevented serious complications with the emperor See also:Charles V.

Christian revenged himself by executing the See also:

magnate Torben Oxe, who, on very creditable See also:evidence, was supposed to have been Dyveke's murderer, despite the strenuous opposition of Oxe's See also:fellow-peers; and henceforth the king lost no opportunity of depressing the See also:nobility and raising plebeians to See also:power. His See also:chief counsellor was Dyveke's See also:mother Sigbrit, a born See also:administrator and a commercial See also:genius of the first See also:order. Christian first appointed her controller of the See also:Sound tolls, and ultimately committed to her the whole See also:charge of the finances. A bourgeoise herself, it was Sigbrit's See also:constant policy to elevate and extend the See also:influence of the See also:middle classes. She soon became the soul of a middle-class inner See also:council, which competed with Rigsraad itself. The See also:patricians naturally resented their supersession and nearly every unpopular measure was attributed to the influence of " the foul-mouthed Dutch sorceress who hath bewitched the king." Meanwhile Christian was preparing for the inevitable war with Sweden, where the patriotic party, headed by the freely elected See also:governor Sten See also:Sture the younger, stood See also:face to face with the See also:philo-Danish party under See also:Archbishop Gustavus See also:Trolle. Christian, who had already taken See also:measures to isolate Sweden politically, hastened to the See also:relief of the archbishop, who was beleagured in his fortress of Stake, but was defeated by Sture and his See also:peasant levies at Vedla and forced to return to Denmark. A second See also:attempt to subdue Sweden in 1518 was also frustrated by Sture's victory at Brankyrka. A third attempt made in 1520 with a large See also:army of See also:French, See also:German and Scottish mercenaries proved successful. Sture was mortally wounded at the See also:battle of B6rgerund, on the 19th of See also:January, and the Danish army, unopposed, was approaching See also:Upsala, where the members of the Swedish Riksrad had already assembled. The senators consented to render See also:homage to Christian on See also:condition that he gave a full See also:indemnity for the past and a See also:guarantee that Sweden should be ruled according to Swedish See also:laws and See also:custom; and a See also:convention to this effect was confirmed by the king and the Danish Rigsraad on the 31st of See also:March. But Sture's widow, See also:Dame Christina See also:Gyllenstjerna, still held out stoutly at See also:Stockholm, and the peasantry of central Sweden, stimulated by her patriotism, flew to arms, defeated the Danish invaders at Balundsas (March19th), and were only with the utmost difficulty finally defeated at the bloody battle of Upsala (See also:Good See also:Friday, See also:April 6th).

In May the Danish See also:

fleet arrived, and Stockholm was invested by See also:land and See also:sea; but Dame Christina resisted valiantly for four months longer, and took care, when she surrendered on the 7th of See also:September, to exact beforehand an See also:amnesty of the most explicit and See also:absolute See also:character. On the 1st of See also:November the representatives of the nation swore fealty to Christian as hereditary king of Sweden, though the See also:law of the land distinctly provided that the Swedish See also:crown should be elective. On the 4th of November he was anointed by Gustavus Trolle in Stock-holm. See also:cathedral, and. took the usual See also:oath to See also:rule the See also:realm through native-born Swedes alone, according to See also:prescription. The next three days were given up to banqueting, but on the 7th of November " an entertainment of another sort began." On the evening of that See also:day Christian summoned his captains to a private See also:conference at the See also:palace, the result of which was quickly apparent, for at dusk a See also:band of Danish soldiers, with lanterns and torches, See also:broke into the great See also:hall and carried off several carefully selected persons. By so o'See also:clock the same evening the See also:remainder of the king's guests were safely under See also:lock and See also:key. All these persons had previously been marked down on Archbishop Trolle's proscription See also:list. On the following day a council, presided over by Trolle, solemnly pronounced See also:judgment of death on the proscribed, as See also:manifest heretics. At 12 o'clock that See also:night the patriotic bishops of Skara and Strangnas were led out into the great square and beheaded. Fourteen noblemen,three burgomasters,fourteen See also:town-councillors and about twenty common citizens of Stockholm were then drowned or decapitated. The executions continued throughout the following day; in all, about eighty-two people are said to have been thus murdered. Moreover, Christian revenged himself upon the dead as well as upon the living, for Sten Sture's See also:body was dug up and burnt, as well as the body of his little See also:child. Dame Christina and many other See also:noble Swedish ladies were sent prisoners to Denmark.

It has well been said that the manner of this atrocious See also:

deed (the " Stockholm See also:Massacre " as it is generally called) was even more detestable than the deed itself. Christian suppressed his See also:political opponents under the pretence of defending an ecclesiastical See also:system which in his See also:heart he despised. Even when it became necessary to make excuses for his See also:crime, we see the same See also:double-mindedness. Thus, while in a See also:proclamation to the Swedish people he represented themassacre as a measure necessary to avoid a papal See also:interdict, in his See also:apology to the See also:pope for the decapitation of the See also:innocent bishops he described it as an unauthorized See also:act of vengeance on the See also:part of his own people. It was with his See also:brain teeming with great designs that Christian II. returned to his native See also:kingdom. That the welfare of his dominions was dear to him there can be no doubt. Inhuman as he could be in his wrath, in principle he was as much a humanist as any of his most enlightened contemporaries. But he would do things his own way; and deeply distrusting the Danish nobles with whom he shared his-See also:powers, he sought helpers from among the wealthy and See also:practical middle classes of See also:Flanders. In See also:June 1521 he paid a sudden visit to the See also:Low Countries, and remained there for some months. He visited most of the large cities, took into his service many Flemish artisans, and made the See also:personal acquaintance of Quentin See also:Matsys and Albrecht Dtirer, the latter of whom painted his portrait. Christian also entertained See also:Erasmus, with whom he discussed the See also:Reformation, and let fall the characteristic expression: " Mild measures are of no use; the remedies that give the whole body a good shaking are the best and surest." Never had King Christian seemed so powerful as on his return to Denmark on the 5th of September 1521, and with the confidence of -strength he at once proceeded recklessly to inaugurate the most sweeping reforms. Soon after his return he issued his great Landelove, or See also:Code of Laws.

For the most part this is founded on Dutch See also:

models, and testifies in a high degree to the king's progressive aims. See also:Provision was made for the better See also:education of the See also:lower, and the restriction of the political influence of the higher clergy; there were stern prohibitions against wreckers and " the evil and unchristian practice of selling peasants as if they were See also:brute beasts "; the old See also:trade See also:gilds were retained, but the rules of admittance thereto made easier, and trade combinations of the richer burghers, to the detriment of the smaller tradesmen, were sternly forbidden. Unfortunately these reforms, excellent in themselves, suggested the standpoint not of an elected ruler, but of a monarch by right divine. Some of them were even in See also:direct contravention of the charter; and the old Scandinavian spirit of See also:independence was deeply wounded by the preference given to the Dutch. Sweden too was now in open revolt; and both Norway and Denmark were taxed to the uttermost to raise an army for the subjection of the See also:sister kingdom. See also:Foreign complications were now superadded to these domestic troubles. With the laudable See also:object of releasing Danish trade from the grinding yoke of the Hansa, and making Copenhagen the great See also:emporium of the See also:north, Christian had arbitrarily raised the Sound tolls and seized a number of Dutch See also:ships which presumed to evade the tax. Thus his relations with the Nether-lands were strained, while with See also:Lubeck and her See also:allies he was openly at war. Finally See also:Jutland See also:rose against him, renounced its See also:allegiance and offered the Danish crown to See also:Duke See also:Frederick of See also:Holstein (January loth, 1523). So overwhelming did Christian's difficulties appear that he took See also:ship to seek help abroad, and on May 1st landed at See also:Veere in See also:Zealand. Eight years later (See also:October 24th, 1531) he attempted to recover his kingdoms, but a See also:tempest scattered his fleet off the See also:Norwegian See also:coast, and on the 1st of See also:July 1532, by the convention of Oslo, he surrendered to his See also:rival, King Frederick, and for the next 27 years was kept in solitary confinement, first in the See also:Blue See also:Tower at Copenhagen and after-wards at the castle of Kabendborg. He died in January 1559• See K.

P. Arnoldson, Nordens enhet och Kristian H. (Stockholm, 1899) ; See also:

Paul Frederik Barfod, Danmarks Historie fra 13z9 til 2536 (Copenhagen, 1885) ; Danmarks Riggs Historie, vol. 3 (Copenhagen, 1897—1905); See also:Robert Nisbet See also:Bain, Scandinavia, See also:chap 2 (See also:Cambridge, 1905). (R. N.

End of Article: CHRISTIAN II

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