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DENMARK (Danmark)
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See also:DENMARK (Danmark) , a small See also:kingdom of See also:Europe, occupying See also:part of a See also:peninsula and a See also:group of islands dividing the Baltic and See also:North Seas, in the See also:middle latitudes of the eastern See also:coast. The kingdom lies between 54° 33' and 570 45' N. and between 8° 4' 54" and 120 47' 25" E., exclusive of the See also:island of See also:Bornholm, which, as will be seen, is not to be included in the Danish See also:archipelago. The peninsula is divided between Denmark and See also:Germany (See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein). The Danish portion is the See also:northern and the greater, and is called See also:Jutland (See also:Dan. Jylland). Its northern part is actually insular, divided from the mainland by the Limfjord or Liimfjord, which communicates with the North See also:Sea to the See also:west and the See also:Cattegat to the See also:east, but this strait, though broad and possessing lacustrine characteristics to the west, has only very narrow entrances. The connexion with the North Sea See also:dates from 1825. The See also:Skagerrack See also:bounds Jutland to the north and north-west. The Cattegat is divided from the Baltic by the Danish islands, between the east coast of the Cimbric peninsula in the neighbourhood of the See also:German frontier and See also:south-western See also:Sweden.
There is little variety in the See also:surface of Denmark. It is uniformly See also:low, the highest See also:elevation in the whole See also:country, the Himmelbjerg near See also:Aarhus in eastern Jutland, being little more than 500 ft. above the sea. Denmark, however, is nowhere low in the sense in which See also: The landscape of the islands and the south-eastern part of Jutland is See also:rich in See also:beech-See also:woods, See also:corn See also:fields and meadows, and even the See also:minute islets are See also:green and fertile. In the western and northern districts of Jutland this See also:condition gives See also:place to a wide expanse of moorland, covered with heather, and ending towards the sea in low whitish-See also:grey cliffs. There is a certain See also:charm even about these monotonous tracts, and it cannot be DENMARK 23 said that Denmark is wanting in natural beauty of a quiet See also:order. Lakes, though small, are numerous; the largest are the Arreso and the Esromso in See also:Zealand, and the See also:chain of lakes in the Himmelbjerg region, which are drained by the largest See also:river in Denmark, the Gudenaa, which, however, has a course not exceeding 8o m. Many of the See also:meres, overhung with thick beech-woods, are extremely beautiful. The coasts are generally low and sandy; the whole western See also:shore of Jutland is a See also:succession of See also:sand ridges and shallow lagoons, very dangerous to See also:shipping. In many places the sea has encroached; even in the 19th See also:century entire villages were destroyed, but during the last twenty years of the century systematic efforts were made to secure the coast by groynes and embankments. A See also:belt of sand See also:dunes, from 500 yds. to 7 M. wide, stretches along the whole of this coast for about 200 M. Skagen, or the Skaw, a See also:long, low, sandy point, stretches far into the northern sea, di' iding the Skagerrack from the Cattegat. On the western See also:side the coast is bolder and less inhospitable; there are several excellent havens, especially on the islands. The coast is nowhere, however, very high, except at one or two points in Jutland, and at the eastern extremity, of Moen, where See also:limestone cliffs occur. See also:Continental Denmark is confined wholly to Jutland, the See also:geographical description of which is given under that heading. Out of the See also:total See also:area of the kingdom, 14,829 sq. in., Jutland, including the small islands adjacent to it, covers 9753 sq. m., and the insular part of the kingdom (including Bornholm), 5076 sq. m. The islands may be divided into two See also:groups, consisting of the two See also:principal islands Funen and Zealand, and the lesser islands attendant on each. Funen (Dan. Fyen), in See also:form roughly an See also:oval with an See also:axis from S.E. to N.W. of 53 in., is separated from Jutland by a channel not See also:half a mile wide in the north, but averaging ro m. between the island and the Schleswig coast, and known as the Little Belt. Funen, geologically a part of See also:southern Jutland, has similar characteristics, a smiling landscape of fertile meadows, the typical beech-forests clothing the low hills and the presence of numerous erratic blocks, are the superficial signs of likeness. Several islands, none of See also:great extent, See also:lie off the west coast of Funen in the Little Belt; off the south, how-ever, an archipelago is enclosed by the long narrow islands of Aero (16 m. in length) and Langeland (32 m.), including in a triangular area of shallow sea the islands of Taasinge, Avernako, Dreio, Turo and others. These are generally fertile and well cultivated. Aeroskjobing and Rudkjobing, on Aero and Langeland respectively, are considerable ports. On Langeland is the great See also:castle of Tranekjaer, whose See also:record dates from the 13th century. The See also:chief towns of Funen itself are all coastal. See also:Odense is the principal See also:town, lying See also:close to a great inlet behind the peninsula of Hindsholm on the north-east, known as Odense See also:Fjord. See also:Nyborg on the east is the See also:port for the See also:steam-See also:ferry to See also:Korsor in Zealand; See also:Svendborg picturesquely overlooks the southern archipelago; Faaborg on the south-west lies on a fjord of the same name; Assens, on the west, a port for the See also:crossing of the Little Belt into Schleswig, still shows traces of the fortifications which were stormed by See also: All these towns are served by See also:railways radiating from Odense. The strait crossed by the Nyhorg-Korsor ferry is the Great Belt which divides the Funen from the Zealand group, and is continued south by the Langelands Belt, which washes the straight eastern shore of that island, and north by the Samso Belt, named from an island 15 m. in length, with several large villages, which lies somewhat apart from the See also:main archipelago.
Zealand, or Sealand (Dan. Sjaelland), measuring 82 m. N. to S. by 68 E. to W. (extremes), with its fantastic coast-See also:line indented by fjords and projecting into long spits or promontories may be considered as the See also:nucleus of the kingdom, inasmuch as it contains the See also:capital, See also:Copenhagen, and such important towns as See also:Roskilde, Slagelse, Korsor, See also:Naestved and See also:Elsinore (Helsingor). Its See also:topography is described in detail under ZEALAND. Its attendant islands lie mainly to the south and are parts of itself, only separated by geologically See also:recent troughs. The eastern
coast of Moen is rocky and bold. It is recorded that this island formed three See also:separate isles in r coo, and the See also:village of Borre, now 2 M. inland, was the See also:object of an attack by a See also:fleet from See also:Lubeck in 1510. On Falster is the port of See also:Nykjobing, and from Gjedser, the extreme southern point of Denmark, communication is maintained with Warnemunde in Germany (29 m.). From Nykjobing a See also:bridge nearly one-third of a mile long crosses to Laa See also:land, at the west of which is the port of See also:Nakskov; the other towns are the See also:county town of Maribo with its See also:fine See also: The island of Bornholm lies 86 m. E. of the nearest point of the archipelago, and as it belongs geologically to Sweden (from which it is distant only 22 m.) must be considered to be physically an appendage rather than an See also:internal part of the kingdom of Denmark.
See also:Geology.—The surface in Denmark is almost everywhere formed by the so-called See also:Boulder See also:Clay and what the Danish geologists See also:call the Boulder Sand. The former, as is well known, owes its origin to the See also:action of See also:ice on the mountains of See also:Norway in the Glacial See also:period. It is unstratified; but by the action of See also:water on it, stratified deposits have been formed, some of clay, containing remains of See also:arctic animals, some, and very extensive ones, of sand and See also:gravel. This boulder sand forms almost every-where the highest hills, and besides, in the central part of Jutland, a wide expanse of See also:heath and moorland apparently level, but really sloping gently towards the west. The deposits of the boulder formation See also:rest generally on limestone of the Cretaceous period, which in many places comes near the surface and forms cliffs on the sea-coast. Much of the Danish See also:chalk, including the well-known limestone of Faxe, belongs to the highest or "Danian" subdivision of the Cretaceous period. In the south-western parts a succession of strata, described as the See also: Some parts of Denmark are supposed to have been finally raised out of the sea towards the close of the Cretaceous period; but as a whole the country did not appear above the water till about the close of the Glacial period. The upheaval of the country, a See also:movement See also:common to a large part of the Scandinavian peninsula, still continues, though slowly, north-east of a line See also:drawn in a south-easterly direction from Nissumfjord on the west coast of Jutland, across the island of Fyen, a little south of the town of Nyborg. See also:Ancient sea-beaches, marked by accumulations of seaweed, rolled stones, &c., have been noticed as much as 20 ft. above the See also:present level. But the upheaval does not seem to affect all parts equally. Even in historic times it has vastly changed the aspect and configuration of the country.
See also:Climate, See also:Flora, See also:Fauna.—The climate of Denmark does not differ materially from that of Great See also:Britain in the same See also:latitude; but whilst the summer is a little warmer, the See also:winter is colder, so that most of the evergreens which adorn an See also:English See also:garden in the winter cannot be grown in the open in Denmark. During See also:thirty years the See also:annual mean temperature varied from 43.88° F. to 46.22° in different years and different localities, the mean See also:average for the whole country being 45'14. The islands have, upon the whole, a somewhat warmer climate than Jutland. The mean temperatures of the four coldest months, See also:December to See also: The annual rainfall varies between 21.58 in. and 27.87 in. in different years and different localities. It is highest on the west coast of Jutland; while the small island of Anholt in the Cattegat has an annual rainfall of only 15.78 in. More than half the rainfall occurs from See also:July to See also:November, the wettest See also:month being See also:September, with an average of 2'95 in.; the driest month is See also:April, with an average of 1.14 in. Thunderstorms are frequent in the summer. South-See also:westerly winds prevail from See also:January to March, and from September to the end of the See also:year. In April the east See also:wind, which is particularly searching, is predominant, while westerly winds prevail from May to August. In the See also:district of See also:Aalborg, in the north of Jutland, a See also:cold and dry N.W. wind called skai prevails in May and June, and is exceedingly destructive to vegetation; while along the west coast of the peninsula similar effects are produced by a See also:salt mist, which carries its See also:influence from 15 to 30 M. inland. The flora of Denmark presents greater variety than might be anticipated in a country of such See also:simple See also:physical structure. The See also:ordinary forms of the north of Europe grow freely in the mild See also:air and protected See also:soil of the islands and the eastern coast; while on the heaths and along the sandhills on the See also:Atlantic side there flourish a number of distinctive See also:species. The Danish See also:forest is almost exclusively made up of beech, a See also:tree which thrives better in Denmark than in any other country of Europe. The See also:oak and ash are now rare, though in ancient times both were abundant in the Danish islands. The See also:elm is also scarce. The almost universal predominance of the beech is by no means of ancient origin, for in the first half of the 17th century the oak was still the characteristic Danish tree. No conifer grows in Denmark except under careful cultivation, which, however, is largely practised in Jutland (q.v.). But again, abundant traces of ancient extensive forests of See also:fir and See also:pine are found in the numerous See also:peat bogs which See also:supply a large proportion of the See also:fuel locally used. In Bornholm, it should be mentioned, the flora is more like that of Sweden; not the beech, but the pine, See also:birch and ash are the most abundant trees. The See also:wild animals and birds of Denmark are those of the rest of central Europe. The larger quadrupeds are all See also:extinct; even the red See also:deer, formerly so abundant that in a single See also:hunt in Jutland in 1593 no less than 1600 See also:head of deer were killed, is now only to be met with in preserves. In the prehistoric " kitchenmiddens " (kj okkenmodding) and elsewhere, however, vestiges are found which prove that the urochs, the wild See also:boar, the See also:beaver, the See also:bear and the See also:wolf all existed subsequently to the arrival of See also:man. The usual domestic animals are abundantly found in Denmark, with the exception of the See also:goat, which is uncommon. The sea See also:fisheries are of importance. Oysters are found in some places, but have disappeared from many localities, where their abundance in ancient times is proved by their See also:shell moulds on the coast. The Gudenaa is the only See also:salmon river in Denmark. See also:Population.—The population of Denmark in 1901 was 2,449,540. It was 929,001 in 18or, showing an increase during the century in the proportion of 1 to 2.63. In 1901 the average See also:density of the population of Denmark was 165.2 to the square mile, but varied much in the different parts. Jutland showed an average of only 109 inhabitants per square mile, whilst on the islands, which had a total population of 1,385,537, the average stood at 272.95, owing, on the one See also:hand, to the fact that large tracts in the interior of Jutland are almost uninhabited, and on the other to the fact that the capital of the country, with its proportionately large population, is situated on the island of Zealand. The percentages of See also:urban and rural population are respectively about 38 and 62. A notable movement of the population to the towns began about the middle of the 19th century, and increased until very near its end. It was stronger on the islands, where the rural population increased by 5.3 % only in eleven years, whereas in Jutland the increase of the rural population between 1890 and Igor amounted to 12.0%. Here, however, See also:peculiar circumstances contributed to the increase, as successful efforts have been made to render the land fruitful by artificial means. The Danes are a yellow-haired and See also:blue-eyed See also:Teutonic See also:race of middle stature, bearing traces of their kinship with the northern Scandinavian peoples. Their habits of See also:life resemble those of the North Germans even more than those of the Swedes. The in-dependent See also:tenure of the land by a vast number of small farmers, who are their own masters, gives an air of carelessness, almost of truculence, to the well-to-do Danish peasants. They are generally slow of speech and manner, and somewhat irresolute, but take an eager See also:interest in current politics, and are generally fairly educated men of extreme democratic principles. The result of a fairly equal See also:distribution of See also:wealth is a marked tendency towards equality in social intercourse. The townspeople show a See also:bias in favour of See also:French habits and fashions. The separation from the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which were more than half German, intensified the See also:national See also:character; the Danes are intensely patriotic; and there is no portion of the Danish dominions except perhaps in the West See also:Indian islands, where a Scandinavian See also:language is not spoken. The preponderance of the See also:female population over the male is approximately as 1052 to toe*. The male See also:sex remains in excess until about the twentieth year, from which See also:age the female sex preponderates in increasing ratio with advancing age. The percentage of See also:illegitimacy is high as a whole, although in some of the rural districts it is very low. But in Copenhagen 20 % of the births are illegitimate. Between the middle and the end of the 19th century the See also:rate of mortality decreased most markedly for all ages. During the last See also:decade of the century it ranged between 19.5 per thousand in 1891 and 15.1 in 1898 (17.4 in 1900). See also:Emigration for some time in the 19th century at different periods, both in its See also:early part and towards its close, seriously affected the population of Denmark. But in the last decade it greatly diminished. Thus in 1892 the number of emigrants to Transatlantic places See also:rose to 10,422 but in 1900 it was only 3570. The great bulk of them go to the See also:United States; next in favour is See also:Canada. Communications.—The roads of Denmark form an extensive and well-maintained system. The railway system is also fairly See also:complete, the See also:state owning about three-fifths of the total mileage, which amounts to some 2000. Two lines enter Denmark from Schleswig across the frontier. The main Danish lines are as follows. From the frontier a line runs east by See also:Fredericia, across the island of Fiinen by Odense and Nyborg, to Korsor on Zealand, and thence by Roskilde to Copenhagen. The straits between Fredericia and Middelfart and between Nyborg and Korsor are crossed by powerful steam-ferries which are generally capable of conveying a limited number of railway wagons. This system is also in use on the line which runs south fromRoskilde to the island of Falster, from the southernmost point of which, Gjedser, ferry-steamers taking railway cars serve Warnemiinde in Germany. The main lines in Jutland run (a) along the eastern side north from Fredericia by See also:Horsens, Aarhus, See also:Randers, Aalborg and See also:Hjorring, to Frederikshavn, and (b) along the western side from See also:Esbjerg by Skjerne and Vemb, and thence across the peninsula by See also:Viborg to Langaa on the eastern line. The lines are generally of See also:standard See also:gauge (4 ft. 82 in.), but there is also a considerable mileage of light narrow-gauge railways. Besides the numerous steam-ferries which connect island and island, and Jutland with the islands, and the Gjedser-Warnemiinde route, a favourite passenger line from Germany is that between See also:Kiel and Korsor, while most of the German Baltic ports have See also:direct connexion with Copenhagen. With Sweden communications are established by ferries across the Sound between Copenhagen and Malmo and See also:Landskrona, and between Elsinore (Helsingor) and See also:Helsingborg. The postal See also:department maintains a See also:telegraph and See also:telephone service. See also:Industries.—The main source of wealth in Denmark is See also:agriculture, which employs about two-fifths of the entire population. Most of the land is See also:freehold and cultivated by the owner himself, and comparatively little land is let on See also:lease except very large holdings and See also:glebe farms. The See also:independent small See also:farmer (bonder) maintains a hereditary See also:attachment to his ancestral holding. There is also a class of cottar freeholders (junster). Fully 74 % of the total area of the country is agricultural land. Of this only about one-twelfth is meadow land. The land under See also:grain crops is not far See also:short of one-half the See also:remainder, the principal crops being oats, followed by See also:barley and See also:rye in about equal quantities, with See also:wheat about one-See also:sixth that of barley and hardly one-tenth that of oats. See also:Beet is extensively grown. During the last See also:forty years of the 19th century See also:dairy-farming was greatly See also:developed in Denmark, and brought to a high degree of perfection by the application of scientific methods and the best machinery, as well as by the See also:establishment of See also:joint dairies. The Danish See also:government has assisted this development by granting See also:money for experiments and by a rigorous system of inspection for the prevention of See also:adulteration. The co-operative system plays an important part in the industries of See also:butter-making, poultry-farming and the rearing of See also:swine. Rabbits, which are not found wild in Denmark, are bred for export. Woods See also:cover fully 7% of the area, and their preservation is considered of so much importance that private owners are under strict See also:control as regards cutting of See also:timber. The woods consist mostly of beech, which is principally used for fuel, but pines were extensively planted during the 19th century. Allusion has been made already to the efforts to plant the extensive heaths in Jutland (q.v.) with pine-trees. Agriculture.—Rates and taxes on land are mostly levied ac-cording to a See also:uniform system of See also:assessment, the unit of which is called a Tonde Hartkorn. The Td. Htk., as it is usually abbreviated, has further subdivision, and is intended to correspond to the same value of land throughout the country. The Danish measure for land is a Tonde Land (Td. L.), which is equal to 1.363 See also:statute acres. Of the best ploughing land a little over 6 Td. L., or about 8 acres, go to a Td. Htk., but of unprofitable land a Td. Htk. may represent 30o acres or more. On the islands and in the more fertile part of Jutland the average is about 10 Td. L., or 131 acres. Woodland, See also:tithes, &c., are also assessed to Td. Htk. for fiscal purposes. In the island of Bornholm, the assessment is somewhat different, though the See also:general state of agricultural holdings is the same as in other parts. The selling value of land has shown a decrease in See also:modern times on account of the agricultural depression. A See also:homestead with land assessed less than 1 Td. Htk. is legally called a Huus or Sted, i.e. cottage, whilst a See also:farm assessed at 1 Td. Htk. or more is called Gaard, i.e. farm. Farms of between i and 12 Td. Htk. are called Bondergaarde, or See also:peasant farms, and are subject to the restriction that such a holding cannot lawfully be joined to or entirely merged into another. They may be subdivided, and portions may be added to another holding, but the homestead, with a certain amount of land, must be preserved as a separate holding for ever. The seats of the See also:nobility and landed gentry are called Herregaarde. The peasants hold about 73 % of all the land according to its value. As regards their See also:size about 30 % are assessed from 1 to 4 Td. Htk.; about 33% from 4 to 8 Td. Htk.; the remainder at about 8 Td. Htk. An annual sum is voted by See also:parliament out of which loans are granted to cottagers who See also:desire to See also:purchase small freehold plots. The See also:fishery along the coasts of Denmark is of some importance both on account of the supply of See also:food obtained thereby for the population of the country, and on account of the export; but the See also:good fishing grounds, not far from the Danish coast, particularly in the North Sea, are mostly worked by the fishing vessels of other nations, which are so numerous that the Danish government is obliged to keep See also:gun-boats stationed there in order to prevent encroachments on territorial See also:waters. Other Industries.—The See also:mineral products of Denmark are unimportant. It is one of the poorest countries of Europe in this particular. It is rich, however, in See also:clays, while in the island of Bornholm there are quarries of freestone and See also:marble. The factories of Denmark supply mainly See also:local needs. The largest are those engaged in the construction of engines and See also:iron See also:ships. The manufacture of woollens and See also:cotton, the domestic manufacture of See also:linen in Zealand, See also:sugar refineries, See also:paper See also:mills, breweries, and distilleries may also be mentioned. The most notable manufacture is that of See also:porcelain. The nucleus of this See also:industry was a factory started in 1772, by F. H. Milller, for the making of See also:china out of Bornholm clay. In 1779 it passed into the hands of the state, and has remained there ever since, though there are also private factories. Originally the Copenhagen potters imitated the See also:Dresden china made at See also:Meissen, but they later produced graceful See also:original designs. The creations of Thorvaldsen have been largely repeated and imitated in this See also:ware. See also:Trade-unionism flourishes in Denmark, and strikes are of frequent occurrence. See also:Commerce.—Formerly the commercial legislation of Denmark was to such a degree restrictive that imported manufactures had to be delivered to the customs, where they were sold by public See also:auction, the proceeds of which the importer received from the See also:custom-houses after a See also:deduction was made for the See also:duty. To this restriction, as regards See also:foreign intercourse, was added a no less injurious system of inland duties impeding the commerce of the different provinces with each other. The want of roads also, and many other disadvantages, tended to keep down the development of both commerce and industry. During the 19th century, however, several commercial See also:treaties were concluded between Denmark and the other See also:powers of Europe, which made the Danish See also:tariff more See also:regular and liberal.
The vexed question, of many centuries' See also:standing, concerning the claim of Denmark to See also:levy dues on vessels passing through the Sound (q.v.), was settled by the abolition of the dues in 1857. The commerce of Denmark is mainly based on See also:home See also:production and home See also:consumption, but a certain quantity of goods is imported with a view to re-exportation, for which the See also:free port and bonded 'warehouses at Copenhagen give facilities. In modern times the value of Danish commerce greatly increased, being doubled in the last twenty years of the 19th century, and exceeding a total of fifty millions See also:sterling. The value of export is exceeded as a whole by that of import in the proportion, roughly, oft to 1.35. By far the most important articles of export may be classified as articles of food of See also:animal origin, a group which covers the vast export trade in the dairy produce, especially butter, for which Denmark is famous. The value of the butter for export reaches nearly 40% of the total value of Danish exports. A small, proportion of the whole is imported chiefly from See also:Russia (also See also:Siberia) and Sweden and re-exported as of foreign origin. The production of See also:margarine is large, but not much is exported, margarine being largely consumed in Denmark instead of butter, which is exported. Next to butter the most important See also:article of Danish export is See also: Exports of less value, but worthy of See also:special See also:notice, are vegetables and See also:wool, bones and See also:tallow, also dairy. machinery, and finally See also:cement, the production of which is a growing industry. The classes of articles of food of animal origin, and living animals, are the only ones of which the exportation exceeds the importation; with regard to all other goods, the See also:reverse is the See also:case. In the second of these classes the most important export is home-bred horned See also:cattle. The trade in live See also:sheep and swine, which was formerly important, has mostly been converted into a dead-See also:meat trade. A proportionally large importation of timber is caused by the scarcity of native timber suitable for See also:building purposes, the plantations of firs and pines being insufficient to produce the quantity required, and the quality of the See also:wood being inferior beyond the age of about forty years. The large importation of coal, minerals and metals, and goods made from them is likewise caused by the natural poverty of the country in these respects. Denmark carries on its principal import trade with Germany, Great Britain and the United States of See also:America, in this order, the proportions being about 30, 20 and 16% respectively of the total. Its principal export trade is with Great Britain, Germany and Sweden, the percentage of the whole being 6o, 18 and to. With Russia, Norway and See also:France (in this order) general trade is less important, but still large. A considerable proportion of Denmark's large commercial fleet is engaged in the carrying trade between foreign, especially See also:British, ports. Under a See also:law of the 4th of May 1907 it was enacted that the metric system of weights and See also:measures should come into See also:official use in three years from that date, and into general use in five years. Money and Banking.—T he unit of the Danish monetarysystem, as of the See also:Swedish and See also:Norwegian, is the krone (See also:crown), equal to 1s. 13d., which is divided into Too ore; consequently 71 ore are equal to one See also:penny. Since 1873 See also:gold has been the standard, and gold pieces of 20 and to kroner are coined, but not often met with, as the public prefers See also:bank-notes. The principal bank is the National Bank at Copenhagen, which is the only one authorized to issue notes. These are of the value of to, 50, 100 and 500 kr. Next in importance are the Danske Landmands Bank, the Handels Bank and the Private Bank, all at Copenhagen. The ,provincial See also:banks are very numerous; many of them are at the same time savings banks. Their rate of interest, with few exceptions, is 31 to 4%. There exist, besides, in Denmark several mutual See also:loan associations (Kreditforeninger), whose business is the granting of loans on See also:mortgage. See also:Registration of mortgages is compulsory in Denmark, and the system is extremely simple, a fact which has been of the greatest importance for the improvement of the country. There are comparatively large institutions for See also:insurance of all kinds in Denmark. The largest See also:office for life insurance is a state institution. By law of the 9th of April 1891 a system of old-age See also:pensions was established for the benefit of persons over sixty years of age. Government.—Denmark is a limited See also:monarchy, according to the law of 1849, revised in 1866. The See also: The constitutional theory of the Folkething is that of one member for every 16,000 inhabitants. The See also:Faeroe islands, which form an integral part of the kingdom of Denmark in the wider sense, are represented in the Danish parliament, but not the other dependencies of the Danish crown, namely See also:Iceland, See also:Greenland and the West Indian islands of St See also: (I) Covering the islands of Zealand and lesser adjacent islands, Copenhagen, Frederiksborg, Holbaek, Soro, Praesto. (2) Covering the islands of Laaland and Falster, Maribo. (3) Covering Fiinen, Langeland and adjacent islets, Svendborg, Odense. (4) On the mainland, Hjorring, Aalborg, Thisted, Ringkjobing, Viborg, Randers, Aarhus, Vejle, Ribe. (5) Bornholm. The principal See also:civil officer in each of these is the Amtmand. Local affairs are managed by the Amstraad and Sogneraad, corresponding to the English county council and See also:parish council. These institutions date from 1841, but they have undergone several modifications since. The members of these See also:councils are elected on a system similar to that applied to the elections for the Landsthing. The same is the case with the provincial town councils. That of Copenhagen is elected by those who are rated on an income of at least 400 kroner (£22). The burgomasters are appointed by the crown, except at Copenhagen, where they are elected by the town council, subject to royal approbation. The See also:financial position of the municipalities in Denmark is generally good. The ordinary budget of Copenhagen amounts to about £1,100,000 a year. Justice.—For the administration of justice Denmark is divided into herreds or hundreds; as, however, they are mostly of small extent, several are generally served by one See also:judge (herredsfoged) ; the townships are likewise separate jurisdictions, each with a byfoged. There are 126 such local See also:judges, each of whom deals with all kinds of cases arising in his district, and is also at the head of the See also:police. There are two intermediary Courts of See also:Appeal (Overret), one in Copenhagen, another in Viborg; the Supreme See also:Court of Appeal (Hbjesteret) sits at Copenhagen. In the capital the different functions are more divided. There is also a Court of Commerce and See also:Navigation, on which leading members of the trading community serve as assessors. In the country, Land Commissions similarly constituted See also:deal with many questions affecting agricultural holdings. A peculiarity of the Danish system is that, with few exceptions, no civil cause can be brought before a court until an See also:attempt has been made at effecting an amicable See also:settlement. This is mostly done by so-called Committees of Conciliation, but in some cases by the court itself before commencing formal judicial proceedings. In this manner three-fifths of all the causes are settled, and many which remain unsettled are abandoned by the plaintiffs. Sanitary matters are under the control of a See also:Board of See also:Health. The whole country is divided into districts, in each of which a medical man is appointed with a See also:salary, who is under the See also:obligation to attend to poor sick and assist the authorities in medical matters, inquests, &c. The See also:relief of the poor is well organized, mostly on the system of out-See also:door relief. Many workhouses have been established for indigent persons capable of See also:work. There are also many almshouses and similar institutions.
See also:Army and See also:Navy.—The active army consists of a life guard See also:battalion and to See also:infantry regiments of 3 battalions each, infantry, 5 See also:cavalry regiments of 3 squadrons each, 12 See also: The navy consists of 6 small battleships, 3 coast See also:defence See also:armour-clads, 5 protected cruisers, 5 gun-boats, and 24 See also:torpedo See also:craft. See also:Religion.—The national or state church of Denmark is officially styled " Evangelically Reformed," but is popularly described as Lutheran. The king must belong to it. There is complete religious See also:toleration, but though most of the important See also:Christian communities are represented their See also:numbers are very small. The Mormon apostles for a considerable time made a special See also:raid upon the Danish peasantry and a few hundreds profess this faith. There are seven dioceses, Fiinen, Laaland and Falster, Aarhus, Aalborg, Viborg and Ribe, while the See also:primate is the See also:bishop of Zealand, and resides at Copenhagen, but his See also:cathedral is at Roskilde. The bishops have no See also:political See also:function by See also:reason of their office, although they may, and often do, take a prominent part in politics. The greater part of the pastorates comprise more than one parish. The benefices are almost without exception provided with good residences and glebes, and the tithes, &c., generally afford a comfortable income. The bishops have fixed salaries in lieu of tithes appropriated by the state. See also:Education and Arts.—The educational system of Denmark is maintained at a high standard. The instruction in See also:primary See also:schools is gratuitous. Every See also:child is See also:hound to attend the parish school at least from the seventh to the thirteenth year, unless the parents can prove that it receives suitable instruction in other ways. The schools are under the immediate control of school boards appointed by the parish councils, but of which the See also:incumbent of the parish is ex-officio member; See also:superior control is exercised by the Amtmand, the rural See also:dean, and the bishop, under the See also:Minister for church and education. Secondary public schools are provided in towns, in which moderate school fees are paid. There are also public See also:grammar-schools. Nearly all schools are day-schools. There are only two public schools, which, though on a much smaller See also:scale, resemble the great English schools, namely, those of Sorb and Herlufsholm, both founded by private munificence. Private schools are generally under a varying measure of public control. The university is at Copenhagen (q.v.). Amongst numerous other institutions for the furtherance of See also:science and training of various kinds may be mentioned the large See also:polytechnic schools; the high school for agriculture and veterinary See also:art; the royal library; the royal society of sciences; the museum of northern antiquities; the society of northern antiquaries, &c. The art museums of Denmark are not consider-able, except the museum of Thorvaldsen, at Copenhagen, but much is done to provide first-rate training in the fine arts and their application to industry through the Royal See also:Academy of Arts, and its schools. Finally, it may be mentioned that a sum proportionately large is available from public funds and regular See also:parliamentary grants for furthering science and arts by temporary subventions to students, authors, artists and others of insufficient means, in order to enable them to carry out particular works, to profit by foreign travel, &c. The principal scientific See also:societies and institutions are detailed under COPENHAGEN. During the earlier part of the 19th century not a few men could be mentioned who enjoyed an exceptional reputation in various departments of science, and Danish scientists continue to contribute their full share to the See also:advancement of knowledge. The society of sciences, that of northern antiquaries, the natural See also:history and the botanical societies, &c., publish their transactions and proceedings, but the Naturhistorisk Tidsskrift, of which 14 volumes with 259 plates were published (1861-1884), and which was in the foremost See also:rank in its department, ceased with the death in 1884 of the editor, the distinguished zoologist, I. C. Schibdte. Another extremely valuable publication of wide general interest, the Meddelelser om Gronland, is published by the See also:commission for the exploration of Greenland. What may be called the modern " art " current, with its virtues and vices, is as strong in Denmark as in See also:England. Danish See also:sculpture will be always famous, if only through the name of Thorvaldsen. In See also:architecture the prevailing See also:fashion is a return to the See also:style of the first half of the 17th century, called the Christian IV. style; but in this See also:branch of art no marked excellence has been obtained. (C. A. G.; O. J. R. H.) HISTORY Ancient.—Our earliest knowledge of Denmark is derived from See also:Pliny, who speaks of three islands named " Skandiai," a name which is also applied to Sweden. He says nothing about the inhabitants of these islands, but tells us more about the Jutish peninsula, or Cimbric See also:Chersonese as he calls it. He places the See also:Saxons on the See also:neck, above them the Sigoulones, Sabaliggoi and Kobandoi, then the Chaloi, then above them the 'Phoundousioi, then the Charondes and finally the Kimbroi. He also mentions the three islands called Alokiai, at the northern end of the peninsula. This would point to the fact that the Limfjord was then open at both ends, and agree with See also:Adam of See also:Bremen (iv. 16), who also speaks of three islands called Wendila, See also:Morse and Thud. The See also:Cimbri and Charydes are mentioned in the Monumentum Ancyranum as sending embassies to See also:Augustus in A.D. 5. The Promontorium Cimbrorum is spoken of in Pliny, who says that the Sinus Codanus lies between it and See also:Mons Saevo. The latter place is probably to be found in the high-lying land on the N.E. coast of Germany, and the Sinus Codanus must be the S.W. corner of the Baltic, and not the whole sea. See also:Pomponius See also:Mela says that the Cimbri and Teutones dwelt on the Sinus Codanus, the latter also in Scandinavia (or Sweden). The See also:Romans believed that these Cimbri and Teutones were the same as those who invaded See also:Gaul and See also:Italy at the end of the 2nd century B.C. The Cimbri may probably be traced in the See also:province of Aalborg, formerly known as Himmerland; the Teutones, with less certainty, may be placed in Thyth or Thyland, north of the Limfjord. No further reference to these districts is found till towards the close of the See also:migration period, about the beginning of the 6th century, when the See also:Heruli (q.v.), a nation dwelling in or near the See also:basin of the See also:Elbe, were overthrown by the Langobardi. According to See also:Procopius (Bellum Gothicism, ii. 15), a part of them made their way across the " See also:desert of the Slays," through the lands of the Warni and the Danes to Thoule (i.e. Sweden). This is the first recorded use of the name " Danes." It occurs again in See also:Gregory of See also:Tours (Historiae Francorum, iii. 3) in connexion with an irruption of a Gotish (loosely called Danish) fleet into the See also:Netherlands (c. 520). From this time the use of the name is fairly common. The heroic See also:poetry of the Anglo-Saxons may carry the name further back, though probably it is not very ancient, at all events on the mainland. According to See also:late Danish tradition Denmark now consisted of Vitheslaeth (i.e. Zealand, Moen, Falster and Laaland), Jutland (with Fyen) and Skaane. Jutland was acquired by Dan, the See also:eponymous ancestor of the Danes. He also won Skaane, including the modern provinces of Halland, See also:Kristianstad, Malmohus and Blekinge, and these remained part of Denmark until the middle of the 17th century. These three divisions always remained more or less distinct, and the Danish See also:kings had to be recognized at See also:Lund, Ringsted and Viborg, but Zealand was from time immemorial the centre of government, and Lejre was the royal seat and national See also:sanctuary. According to traditionthis dates from the time of Skioldr, the eponymous ancestor of the Danish royal See also:family of Skioldungar. He was a son of Othin and See also:husband of the goddess Gefjon, who created Zealand. Anglo-Saxon tradition also speaks of Scyld (i.e. Skioldr), who was regarded as the ancestor of both the Danish and English royal families, and it represented him as coming as a child of unknown origin in a rudderless See also:boat. There can be little doubt that from a remote antiquity Zealand had been a religious sanctuary, and very probably the See also:god Nerthus was worshipped here by the See also:Angli and other tribes as described in See also:Tacitus (Germania, c. 40). The Lejre sanctuary was still in existence in the time of See also:Thietmar of See also:Merseburg (i. 9), at the beginning of the 11th century. In Scandinavian tradition the next great figure is Fr6&e the peace-king, but it is not before the 5th century that we meet with the names of any kings which can be regarded as definitely See also:historical. In See also:Beowulf we hear of a Danish king Healfdene, who had three sons, Heorogar, Hrothgar and Halga. The See also:hero Beowulf comes to the court of Hrothgar from the land of the Gotar, where Hygelac is king. This Hygelac is undoubtedly to be identified with the Chochilaicus, king of the Danes (really Gotar) who, as mentioned above, made a raid against the See also:Franks c. 520. Beowulf himself won fame in this See also:campaign, and by the aid of this definite See also:chronological datum we can place the reign of Healfdene in the last half of the 5th century, and that of Hrothgar's See also:nephew Hrothwulf, son of Halga, about the middle of the 6th century. Hrothgar and Halga correspond to Saxo's Hroar and Helgi, while Hrothwulf is the famous Rolvo or Hr6lfr Kraki of Danish and Norse See also:saga. There is probably some historical truth in the See also:story that Heoroweard or Hiorvarbr was responsible for the death of Hr61fr Kraki. Possibly a still earlier king of Denmark was Sigarr or Sigehere, who has won lasting fame from the story of his daughter Signy and her See also:lover HagbarN. From the middle of the 6th to the beginning of the 8th century we know practically nothing of Danish history. There are numerous kings mentioned in Saxo, but it is impossible to identify them historically. We have mention at the beginning of the 8th century of a Danish king Ongendus (cf. O. E. Ongenpeow) who received a See also:mission led by St See also:Willibrord, and it was probably about this time that there flourished a family of whom tradition records a good deal. The founder of this line was See also:Ivarr Vi6f0mi of Skaane, who became king of Sweden. His daughter Auer married one Hroerekr and became the See also:mother of Haraldr Hilditonn. The See also:genealogy of Haraldr is given differently in Saxo, but there can be no doubt of his historical existence. In his time it is said that the land was divided into four kingdoms—Skaane, Zealand, Fyen and Jutland. After a reign of great splendour Haraldr met his death in the great See also:battle of Br$See also:valla (BravIk in Ostergotland), where he was opposed by his nephew See also:Ring, king of Sweden. The battle probably took place about the year 750. Fifty years later the Danes begin to be mentioned with See also:comparative frequency in continental See also:annals. From 777–798 we have mention of a certain Sigifridus as king of the Danes, and then in 804 his name is replaced by that of one Godefridus. This Godefridus is the Godefridus-Guthredus of Saxo, and is to be identified also with Gu6ro r the Yngling, king in Vestfold in Norway. He came into conflict with See also:Charlemagne, and was preparing a great expedition against him when he was killed by one of his own followers (c. 81o). He was succeeded by his See also:brother Hemmingus, but the latter died in 812 and there was a disputed succession. The two claimants were " Sigefridus See also:nepos Godefridi regis " and " Anulo nepos Herioldi quondam regis " (i.e. probably Haraldr Hilditonn). A great battle took place in which both claimants were slain, but the party of Anulo (O.N. See also:Ali) were victorious and appointed as kings Anulo's See also:brothers Herioldus and Reginfridus. They soon paid a visit to Vestfold, " the extreme district of their See also:realm, whose peoples and chief men were refusing to be made subject to them," and on their return had trouble with the sons of Godefridus. The latter expelled them from their kingdom, and in 814 Reginfridus See also:fell in a vain attempt to regain it. Herioldus now received the support of the See also:emperor, and after several unsuccessful attempts a See also:compromise was the memory of man. The few and peaceful traders who explored effected in 819 when the parties agreed to share the realm. those northern waters were careful never to lose sight of the In 82o Herioldus was baptized at See also:Mainz and received from the Saxon, Frisian and Frankish shores during their passage. Nor emperor a grant of Riustringen in N.E. See also:Friesland. In 827 he was communication with the west by land any easier. For genera-was expelled from his kingdom, but St Anskar, who had been sent tions the obstinately See also:heathen Saxons had lain, a compact and with Herioldus to preach See also:Christianity, remained at his See also:post. In impenetrable See also:mass, between Scandinavia and the See also:Frank See also:empire, 836 we find one Horic as king of the Danes; he was probably
a son of Godefridus. During his reign there was trouble with the emperor as to the overlordship of Frisia. In the meantime Herioldus remained on friendly terms with See also:Lothair and received a further grant of Walcheren and the neighbouring districts. In 85o Horic was attacked by his own nephews and compelled to share the kingdom with them, while in 852 Herioldus was charged with treachery and slain by the Franks. In 854 a revolution took place in Denmark itself. Horic's nephew See also:Godwin, returning from See also:exile with a large following of Northmen, over-threw his See also:uncle in a three days' battle in which all members of the royal house except one boy are said to have perished. This boy now became king as " Horicus junior." Of his reign we know practically nothing. The next kings mentioned are Sigafrid and Halfdane, who were sons of the great See also:Viking See also:leader Ragnarr See also:Loo'brok. There is also mention of a third king named Godefridus. The exact See also:chronology and relationship of these kings it is impossible to determine, but we know that Healfdene died in See also:Scotland in 877, while Godefridus was treacherously slain by See also: During these and the next few years there is mention of more than one king of the names Sigefridus and Godefridus: the most important event associated with their names is that two kings Sigefridus and Godefridus fell in the great battle on the Dyle in 891.
We now have the names of several kings, Heiligo, Olaph (of Swedish origin), and his sons Chnob and Gurth. Then come a Danish ruler Sigeric, followed by Hardegon, son of Swein, coming from Norway. At some date after 916 we find mention of one "Hardecnuth Urm " ruling among the Danes. Adam of Bremen, from whom these details come, was himself uncertain whether " so many kings or rather tyrants of the Danes ruled together or succeeded one another at short intervals." Hardecnuth Urm is to be identified with the famous Gorm the old, who married Thyra Danmarkarbbt: their son was Harold Bluetooth.
(A. Mw.)
See also:Medieval and Modern.—Danish history first becomes See also:authentic at the beginning of the 9th century. The Danes, the southern-most branch of the Scandinavian family, referred to by See also:Alfred (c. 89o) as occupying Jutland, the islands and Scania, were, in 777, strong enough to defy the Frank empire by harbouring its fugitives. Five years later we find a Danish king, Sigfrid, among the princes who assembled at See also:Lippe in 782 to make their submission to See also: There can be little doubt that the earlier of these expeditions were from Denmark, though the'term Northmen was originally applied indiscriminately to all these terrible visitants from the unknown north. The rovers who first chastened and finally colonized southern England and Normandy were certainly Danes.
The Viking raids were one of the determining causes of the establishment of the feudal monarchies of western Europe,
but the untameable freebooters were themselves finally See also:con- subdued by the Church. At first sight it seems curious
version of
theoanes. that Christianity should have been so slow to reach
Denmark. But we must bear in mind that one very
important consequence of the Viking raids was to annihilate the
geographical remoteness which had hitherto separated Denmark
from the Christian See also:world. Previously to 793 there See also:lay between
Jutland and England a sea which no See also:keel had traversed within
nor were the measures adopted by Charles the Great for the See also:conversion of the Saxons to the true faith very much to the liking of their warlike Danish neighbours on the other side. But by the time that Charles had succeeded in " converting " the Saxons, the Viking raids were already at their height, and though generally triumphant, See also:necessity occasionally taught the Northmen the value of concessions. Thus it was the desire to secure his Jutish kingdom which induced Harold Klak, in 826, to See also:sail up the See also:Rhine to See also:Ingelheim, and there accept See also:baptism, with his wife, his son Godfred and 400 of his See also:suite, acknowledging the emperor as his overlord, and taking back with him to Denmark the missionary See also: (94o–986) subdued German territory south of the p See also:Eider, extended the Danevirke, Denmark's great line of defensive fortifications, to the south of Schleswig and planted the military See also:colony of Julin or Jomsborg, at the mouth of the See also:Oder. Part of Norway was first seized after the united Danes and Swedes had defeated and slain King See also:Olaf Trygvesson at the battle of Svolde (l000); and between 1028 and 1035 Canute the Great added the whole kingdom to his own; but the See also:union did not long survive him. Equally short-lived was the Danish dominion in England, which originated in a great Viking expedition of King Sweyn I. The period between the death of Canute the Great and the See also:accession of Valdemar I. was a troublous time for Denmark. The k; gdom was harassed almost incessantly, and consotidamore than once partitioned,by pretenders to the See also:throne, non of the who did not See also:scruple to invoke the interference of the lctngdom neighbouring monarchs, and even of the heathen yard, the Wends, who established themselves for a time on See also:mars, the southern islands. Yet, throughout this See also:chaos, one 1121 557; ' thing made for future stability, and that was the tes growth and consolidation of a national church, which culminated in the erection of the archbishopric of Lund (c. 1104) and the consequent ecclesiastical independence of Denmark. The third archbishop of Lund was See also:Absalon (1128–1201), Denmark's first great statesman, who so materially assisted Valdemar I. (1157–1182) and Canute VI. (1182–1202) to establish the dominion of Denmark over the Baltic, mainly at the expense of the Wends. The policy of Absalon was continued on a still vaster scale by Valdemar II. (1202–1241), at a time when the German kingdom was too weak and distracted to intervene to See also:save its seaboard; but the treachery of a See also:vassal and the loss of one great battle sufficed to plunge this unwieldy, unsubstantial empire in the dust. (See VALDEMAR I., II., and ABSALON.) Yet the age of the Valdemars was one of the most glorious in Danish history, and it is of political importance as marking a turning-point. Favourable circumstances had, from the first, given the Danes the See also:lead in Scandinavia. They held the richest and therefore the most populous lands, and geographically they were nearer than their neighbours to western See also:civilization. Under the Valdemars, however, the ancient patriarchal system was merging into a more complicated development, of separate estates. The monarchy, now dominant, and far wealthier than before, rested upon the support of the great nobles, many of whom held their lands by feudal tenure, and constituted the royal Raad, or council. The See also:clergy, fortified by royal privileges, had also risen to influence; but See also:celibacy and independence of the civil courts tended to make them more and more of a separate See also:caste. Education was spreading. Numerous Danes, lay as well as clerical, regularly frequented the university of See also:Paris. There were signs too of the rise of a vigorous middle class, due to the extraordinary development of the national resources (chiefly the See also:herring fisheries, See also:horse-breeding and cattle-rearing) and the See also:foundation of See also:gilds, the See also:oldest of which, the Edslag of Schleswig, dates from the early 12th century. The bonder, or yeomen, were prosperous and independent, with well-defined rights. Danish territory extended over 60,000 sq. kilometres, or nearly See also:double its present area; the population was about 7oo,000; and i6o,000 men and 1400 ships were available for national defence. On the death of Valdemar II. a period of disintegration ensued. Valdemar's son, See also:Eric Plovpenning, succeeded him as king; but his near kinsfolk also received huge appanages, and Period of family discords led to civil See also:wars. Throughout the disintegra- 13th and part of the 14th century, the struggle raged See also:lion. between the Danish kings and the Schleswig See also:dukes; and of six monarchs no fewer than three died violent deaths. Superadded to these troubles was a prolonged struggle for supremacy between the popes and the crown, and, still more serious, the beginning of a See also:breach between the kings and nobles, which had important constitutional consequences. The prevalent disorder had led to general lawlessness, in consequence of which the royal authority had been widely extended; and a strong opposition gradually arose which protested against the abuses of this authority. In 1282 the nobles extorted from King Eric Glipping the first Haandfaestning, or See also:charter, which recognized the Danehof, or national See also:assembly, as a regular branch of the administration and gave guarantees against further usurpations. See also:Christopher II. (1319-1331) was constrained to grant another charter considerably reducing the See also:prerogative, increasing the privileges of the upper classes, and at the same time reducing the See also:burden of See also:taxation. But aristocratic See also:licence proved as mischievous as royal incompetence; and on the death of Christopher II. the whole kingdom was on the See also:verge of See also:dissolution. Eastern Denmark was in the hands of one See also:magnate; another magnate held Jutland and Fiinen in See also:pawn; the dukes of Schleswig were practically independent of the Danish crown; the Scandian provinces had (1332) surrendered themselves to Sweden. It was reserved for another Valdemar (Valdemar IV., q.v.) to reunite and weld together the scattered members of his heritage. Valde- His long reign (1340-1375) resulted in the re-establish-See also:mar IV., ment of Denmark as the great Baltic power. It is also 1340- a very interesting period of her social and constitutional 1375. development. This great ruler, who had to fight, year after year, against foreign and domestic foes, could, nevertheless, always find time to promote the internal prosperity of his much afflicted country. For the dissolution of Denmark, during the long anarchy, had been internal as well as See also:external. The whole social fabric had been convulsed and transformed. The monarchy had been undermined. The privileged orders had aggrandized themselves at the expense of the community. The See also:yeoman class had sunk into semi-See also:serfdom. In a word, the natural cohesion of the Danish nation had been loosened and there was no See also:security for law and justice. To make an end of this universal lawlessness Valdemar IV. was obliged, in the first place, to re-establish the royal authority by providing the crown with a regular and certain income. This he did by recovering the alienated royal demesnes in every direction, and from henceforth the annual landgilde, or See also:rent, paid by the royal tenants, became the monarch's principal source of revenue. Throughout his reign Valdemar laboured incessantly to acquire as much land as possible. Moreover, the old distinction between the king's private See also:estate and crown property henceforth ceases ; all such property was henceforth regarded as the hereditary See also:possession of the Danish crown. The national army was also re-established on its ancient footing. Not only were the magnates sharply reminded that they held their lands on military tenure, but the towns were also made to contribute both men and ships, and peasant levies, especially archers, were recruited from every parish. Everywhere indeed Valdemar intervened personally. The smallest detail was not beneath his notice. Thus he invented nets for catching wolves and built innumerable water-mills, " for he would not let the waters run into the sea before they had been of use to the community." Under such a ruler law and order were speedily re-established. The popular tribunals regained their authority, and a supreme court of justice, Det Kongelige Retterting, presided over by Valdemar himself, not only punished the unruly and guarded the prerogatives of the crown, but also protected the weak and defenceless from the tyranny of the strong. Nor did Valdemar hesitate to meet his See also:people in public and periodically render an account of his stewardship. He voluntarily resorted to the old practice of summoning national assemblies, the so-called Danehof. At the first of these assemblies held at Nyborg, Midsummer Day 1314, the bishops and councillors solemnly promised that the commonalty should enjoy all the ancient rights and privileges conceded to them by Valdemar II., and the See also:wise See also:provision that the Danehof should meet annually considerably strengthened its authority. The See also:keystone to the whole constitutional system was " King Valdemar's Charter " issued in May 136o at the Rigsmode, or parliament, held at Kalundborg in May 1360. This charter was practically an See also:act of national pacification, the provisions of which king and people together undertook to enforce for the benefit of the commonweal. The work of Valdemar was completed and consolidated by his illustrious daughter See also:Margaret (1375-1412), whose crowning achievement was the Union of See also:Kalmar (1397), whereby she sought to combine the three northern kingdoms The union into a single state dominated by Denmark. In any ofKaimar, 1397. case Denmark was See also:bound to be the only gainer by the Union. Her population was double that of the two other kingdoms combined, and neither Margaret nor her successors observed the stipulations that each country should retain its own See also:laws and customs and be ruled by natives only. In both Norway and Sweden, therefore, the Union was highly unpopular. The Norwegian See also:aristocracy was too weak, however, seriously to endanger the Union at any time, but Sweden was, from the first, decidedly hostile to Margaret's whole policy. Nevertheless during her lifetime the system worked fairly well; but her See also:pupil and successor, Eric of See also:Pomerania, was unequal to the burden of empire and embroiled himself both with his neighbours and his subjects. The Hanseatic See also:League, whose political ascendancy had been shaken by the Union, enraged by Eric's efforts to bring in the Dutch as commercial rivals, as well as by the establishment of the Sound tolls, materially assisted the Holsteiners in their twenty-five years' war with Denmark (1410-35), and Eric VII. himself was finally deposed (1439) in favour of his nephew, Christopher of See also:Bavaria. The deposition of Eric marks another turning-point in Danish history. It was the act not of the people but of the Rigsraad (See also:Senate), which had inherited the authority of the Growth of ancient Danehof and, after the death of Margaret, the power See also:grew steadily in power at the expense of the crown. of the As the government grew more and more aristocratic, nobles. the position of the peasantry steadily deteriorated. It is under Christopher that we first hear, for instance, of the Vornedskab, or patriarchal control of the landlords over their tenants, a system which degenerated into rank See also:slavery. In Jutland, too, after the repression, in 1441, of a peasant rising, something very like serfdom was introduced. On the death of Christopher III. without heirs, in 1448, the Rigsraad elected his distant See also:cousin, See also:Count Christian of See also:Oldenburg, king; but Sweden preferred Karl Knutsson (Charles " VIII."), while Norway finally combined with Den-See also:mark, at the See also:conference of See also:Halmstad, in a double election which practically terminated the Union, though an agreement was come to that the survivor of the two kings should reign over all three kingdoms. Norway, subsequently, threw in her See also:lot definitively with Denmark. Dissensions resulting in interminable civil wars had, even before the Union, exhausted the resources of the poorest of the three northern realms; and her ruin was completed by the ravages of the See also:Black Break-up of the Union. Death, which wiped out two-thirds of her population. Unfortunately, too, for Norway's independence, the native gentry had gradually died out, and were succeeded by immigrant Danish See also:fortune-hunters; native burgesses there were none, and the peasantry were mostly thralls; so that, excepting the clergy, there was no patriotic class to stand up for the national liberties. Far otherwise was it in the wealthier kingdom of Sweden. Here the clergy and part of the nobility were favourable to the Union; but the vast See also:majority of the people hated it as a foreign usurpation. Matters were still further complicated by the continual interference of the Hanseatic League; and Christian I. (1448–1481) and Hans (1481-1513), whose chief merit it is to have founded the Danish fleet, were, during the greater part of their reigns, only nominally kings of Sweden. Hans also received in See also:fief the territory of Dietmarsch from the emperor, but, in attempting to subdue the See also:hardy Dietmarschers, suffered a crushing defeat in which the national banner called " Danebrog " fell into the enemy's hands (r 500). Moreover, this defeat led to a successful See also:rebellion in Sweden, and a long and ruinous war with Lubeck, terminated by the peace of Malmo, 1512. It was during this war that a strong Danish fleet dominated the Baltic for the first time since the age of the Valdemars. On the succession of Hans's son, Christian II. (1513–1523), Margaret's splendid See also:dream of a Scandinavian empire seemed, finally, about to be realized. The See also:young king, a man Christian of character and See also:genius, had wide views and original 1/., /513- 1523. ideas. Elected king of Denmark and Norway, he suc- ceeded in subduing Sweden by force of arms; but he spoiled everything at the See also:culmination of his See also:triumph by the hideous See also:crime and blunder known as the See also:Stockholm See also:massacre, which converted the politically divergent Swedish nation into the irreconcilable foe of the unional government (see CHRISTIAN II.). Christian's contempt of See also:nationality in Sweden is the more remarkable as in Denmark proper he sided with the people against the aristocracy, to his own undoing in that age of See also:privilege and See also:prejudice. His intentions, as exhibited to his famous Landelove (National See also:Code), were progressive and enlightened to an eminent degree; so much so, indeed, that they mystified the people as much as they alienated the See also:patricians; but his actions were often of revolting brutality, and his whole career was vitiated by an incurable double-mindedness which provoked general distrust. Yet there is no doubt that Christian II. was a true patriot, whose ideal it was to weld the three northern kingdoms into a powerful state, independent of all foreign influences, especially of German influence as manifested in the commercial tyranny of the Hansa League. His utter failure was due, partly to the vices of an undisciplined temperament, and partly to the extraordinary difficulties of the most inscrutable period of See also:European history, when the shrewdest heads were at See also:fault and irreparable blunders belonged to the order of the day. That period was the period of the See also:Reformation, which profoundly affected the politics of Scandinavia. Christian II. had always subordinated religion to politics, and was Papist or Lutheran according to circumstances. But, though he treated the Church more like a foe than a friend and was constantly at war with the See also:Curia, he retained the See also:Catholic form of church See also:worship and never seems to have questioned the papal supremacy. On the See also:flight of Christian II. and the election of his uncle, See also:Frederick I. (1523–Frederick 1533), the Church resumed her See also:jurisdiction and every-1.,1523_ thing was placed on the old footing. The newly 1533. The elected and still insecure German king at first remained Reforma- neutral; but in the autumn of 1525 the current of thin. Lutheranism began to run so strongly in Denmark as to threaten to whirl away every opposing obstacle. This novel and disturbing phenomenon was mainly due to the zeal and eloquence of the ex-monk Hans See also:Tausen and his associates, or disciples, Peder Plad and See also:Sadolin; and, in the autumn of 1526, Tausen was appointed one of the royal chaplains. The three ensuing years were especially favourable for the Reformation, as during that time the king had unlooked-for opportunities for filling the vacant episcopal See also:sees with men after his own See also:heart,and at heart he was a Lutheran. The reformation movement in Denmark was further promoted by Schleswig-Holstein influence. Frederick's eldest son See also:Duke Christian had, since 1527, resided at Haderslev, where he collected See also:round him Lutheran teachers from Germany, and made his court the centre of the propaganda of the new See also:doctrine. On the other hand, the Odense See also:Recess of the loth of August 1527, which put both confessions on a footing of equality, remained unrepealed; and so long as it remained in force, the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishops, and, consequently, their authority over the " free preachers " (whose ambition convulsed all the important towns of Denmark and aimed at forcibly expelling the Catholic priests from their churches) remained valid, to the great vexation of the reformers. The inevitable ecclesiastical crisis was still further postponed by the superior stress of two urgent political events—Christian II.'s invasion of Norway (1531) and the outbreak, in 1533, of " Grevens fejde," or " The Count's War " (1534-36), The the count in question being Christopher of Oldenburg, count's great-nephew of King Christian I., whom Lubeck and war, her See also:allies, on the death of Frederick I., raised up 36 ' against Frederick's son Christian III. The Catholic party and the See also:lower orders generally took the part of Count Christopher, who acted throughout as the nominee of the See also:captive Christian II., while the See also:Protestant party, aided by the Holstein dukes and Gustavus See also:Vasa of Sweden, sided with Christian III. The war ended with the See also:capture of Copenhagen by the forces of Christian III., on the 29th of July 1536, and the triumph of so devoted a Lutheran sealed the See also:fate of the See also:Roman Catholic Church in Denmark, though even now it was necessary for the victorious king to proceed against the bishops and their See also:friends by a coup d'etut, engineered by his German generals the Rantzaus. The Recess of 1536 enacted that the bishops should forfeit their temporal and spiritual authority, and that all their property should be transferred to the crown for the good of the common-wealth. In the following year a Church See also:ordinance, based upon the canons of See also:Luther, See also:Melanchthon and See also:Bugenhagen, was drawn up, submitted to Luther for his approval, and promulgated on the 2nd of September 1537. On the same day seven " superintendents," including Tausen and Sadolin, all of whom had worked zealously for the cause of the Reformation, were consecrated in place of the dethroned bishops. The position of the superintendents and of the reformed church generally was consolidated by the Articles of Ribe in 1542, and the constitution of the Danish church has practically continued the same to the present day. But Catholicism could not wholly or immediately be dislodged by the teaching of Luther. It had struck deep roots into the habits and feelings of the people, and traces of its survival were distinguishable a whole century after the triumph of the Reformation. Catholicism lingered longest in the cathedral chapters. Here were to be found men of ability See also:proof against the eloquence of Hans Tausen or Peder Plad and quite capable of controverting their theories—men like Povl See also:Helgesen, for instance, indisputably the greatest Danish theologian of his day, a See also:scholar whose See also:voice was drowned amidst the clash of conflicting See also:creeds. Though the Reformation at first did comparatively little for education,' and the whole spiritual life of Denmark was poor and feeble in consequence for at least a See also:generation after- Effects of wards, the See also:change of religion was of undeniable, if the Re-temporary, benefit to the state from the political formation. point of view. The enormous increase of the royal revenue consequent upon the See also:confiscation of the property of the Church could not fail to increase the financial stability of the monarchy. In particular the suppression of the monasteries benefited the crown in two ways. The old church had, indeed, frequently rendered the state considerable financial aid, but such voluntary assistance was, from the nature of the case, casual and arbitrary. Now, however, the state derived a fixed and certain revenue from the confiscated lands; and the possession ' It is true the university was established on the 9th of September 1537, but its influence was of very See also:gradual growth and small at first. of immense landed property at the same time enabled the crown advantageously to conduct the administration. The See also:gross revenue of the state is estimated to have risen threefold. Before the Reformation the annual revenue from land averaged 400,000 bushels of corn; after the confiscations of Church property it averaged 1,200,000 bushels. The possession of a full See also:purse materially assisted the Danish government in its domestic administration, which was indeed See also:epoch-making. It enabled Christian III. to pay off his German mercenaries immediately after the religious coup d'etat of '536. It enabled him to prosecute See also:shipbuilding with such See also:energy that, by 1550, the royal fleet numbered at least thirty vessels, which were largely employed as a maritime police in the pirate-haunted Baltic and North Seas. It enabled him to create and remunerate adequately a capable official class, which proved its efficiency under the strictest supervision, and ultimately produced a whole series of great statesmen and admirals like Johan See also:Friis, Peder Oxe, Herluf See also:Trolle and Peder See also:Skram. It is not too much to say that the increased revenue derived from the See also:appropriation of Church property, intelligently applied, gave Denmark the See also:hegemony of the North during the latter part of Christian III.'s reign, the whole reign of Frederick II. and the first twenty-five years of the reign of Christian IV., a period embracing, roughly speaking, eighty years (1544-'626). Within this period Denmark was indisputably the leading Scandinavian power. While Sweden, even after the See also:advent of Gustavus Vasa, was still of but small account in Europe, Denmark easily held her own in Germany and elsewhere, even against Charles V., and was important enough, in '553, to mediate a peace between the emperor and Saxony. Twice during this period Denmark and Sweden measured their strength in the open field, on the first occasion in the " Scandinavian Seven Years' War " (1562-70), on the second in the " Kalmar War " (16'1-13), and on both occasions Denmark prevailed, though the temporary See also:advantage she gained was more than neutralized by the intense feeling of hostility which the unnatural wars, between the two kindred peoples of Scandinavia, left behind them. Still, the fact remains that, for a time, Denmark was one of the great powers of Europe. Frederick II., in his later years (1571-1588), aspired to the dominion of all the seas which washed the Scandinavian coasts, and before he died he was able to enforce the See also:rule that all foreign ships should strike their topsails to Danish men-of-war as a token of his right to rule the northern seas. Favourable political circumstances also contributed to this general See also:acknowledgment of Denmark's maritime greatness. The power of the Hansa had gone; the Dutch were enfeebled by their contest with See also:Spain; England's sea-power was yet in the making; Spain, still the greatest of the maritime nations, was exhausting her resources in the vain effort to conquer the Dutch. Yet more even than to felicitous circumstances, Denmark owed her short-lived greatness to the great statesmen and administrators whom Frederick II. succeeded in gathering about him. Never before, since the age of Margaret, had Denmark been so well governed, never before had she possessed so many political celebrities nobly emulous for the common good. Frederick II. was succeeded by his son Christian IV. (April 4, 1588), who attained his majority on the 17th of August 1596, at Denmark the age of nineteen. The realm which Christian IV. was at the ac- to govern had undergone great changes within the last cession of two generations. Towards the south the boundaries of Christian the Danish state remained unchanged. Levensaa and 15:, 1588. course of the 16th century the monarchical form of government was in every large country, with the single exception of See also:Poland, rising on the ruins of See also:feudalism. The great powers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries were to be the strong, highly centralized, hereditary monarchies, like France, Spain and Sweden. There seemed to be no reason why Denmark also should not become .a powerful state under the guidance of a powerful monarchy, especially as the See also:sister state of Sweden was developing into a great power under apparently identical conditions. Yet, while Sweden was surely ripening into the dominating power of northern Europe, Denmark had as surely entered upon a period of uninterrupted and apparently incurable decline. What was the cause of this See also:anomaly ? Something of course must be allowed for the superior and altogether extraordinary genius of the great princes of the house of Vasa; yet the causes of the decline of Denmark lay far deeper than this. They may roughly be summed up under two heads: the inherent weakness of an elective monarchy, and the See also:absence of that public spirit which is based on the intimate See also:alliance of ruler and ruled. Whilst Gustavus Vasa had leaned upon the Swedish peasantry, in other words upon the bulk of the Swedish nation, which was and continued to be an integral part of the Swedish body-politic, Christian III. on his accession had crushed the middle and lower classes in Denmark and reduced them to political insignificance. Yet it was not the king who benefited by this blunder. The Danish monarchy since the days of Margaret had continued to be purely elective; and a purely elective monarchy at that See also:stage of the political development of Europe was a mischievous anomaly. It signified in the first place that the crown was not the highest power in the state, but was subject to the aristocratic Rigsraad, or council of state. The Rigsraad was the permanent owner of the realm and the crown-lands; the king was only their temporary See also:administrator. If the king died before the election of his successor, the Rigsraad stepped into the king's place. Moreover, an elective monarchy implied that, at every fresh succession, the king was liable to be bound by a new Haandfaestning, or charter. The election itself might, and did, become a See also:mere formality; but the condition precedent of election, the See also:acceptance of the charter, invariably limiting the royal authority, remained a reality. This period of aristocratic rule, which dates practically from the accession of Frederick I. (1523), and lasted for nearly a century and a half, is known in Danish history as Adelsvaelde, or rule of the nobles. Again, the king was the ruler of the realm, but over a very large portion of it he had but a slight control. The crown-lands and most of the towns were under his immediate jurisdiction, but by the side of the crown-lands lay the estates of the nobility, which already comprised about one-half of the superficial area of Denmark, and were in many respects independent of the central government both as regards taxation and administration. In a word, the monarchy had to share its dominion with the nobility; and the Danish nobility in the '6th century was one of the most exclusive and selfish aristocracies in Europe, and already far advanced in decadence. Hermetically sealing itself from any intrusion from below, it deteriorated by close and See also:constant inter-See also:marriage; and it was already, both morally and intellectually, below the level of the rest of the nation. Yet this very aristocracy, whose claim to See also:consideration was based not upon its own achievements but upon the length of its pedigrees, insisted upon an amplification of its privileges which endangered the economical and political interests of the state and the nation. The time was close at hand when a Danish magnate was to demonstrate that he preferred the utter ruin of his country to any See also:abatement of his own See also:personal dignity. All below the king and the nobility were generally classified together as " subjects." Of these lower orders the clergy stood first in the social scale. As a spiritual estate, indeed, it had ceased to exist at the Reformation, though still represented in the Rigsdag or See also:diet. Since then too it had become quite detached from the nobility, which ostentatiously despised the teaching profession. The clergy recruited themselves therefore from the class next below them, and looked more and more to the European influence of Denmark, 1544-'626. the Eider still separated Denmark from the Empire. Schleswig was recognized as a Danish fief, in contradistinction to Holstein, which owed vassalage to the Empire. The " kingdom " stretched as far as See also:Kolding and Skedborg, where the " duchy " began; and this duchy since its amalgamation with Holstein by means of a common Landtag, and especially since the union of the dual duchy with the kingdom on almost equal terms in 1533, was, in most respects, a semi-independent state. Denmark, moreover, like Europe in general, was, politic-ally, on the See also:threshold of a transitional period. During the whole crown for help and See also:protection as they See also:drew apart from the gentry, who, moreover, as dispensers of patronage, lost no opportunity of appropriating church lands and cutting down tithes. The burgesses had not yet recovered from the disaster of " Grevens fejde "; but while the towns had become more dependent on the central power, they had at the same time been released from their former vexatious subjection to the local magnates, and could make their voices heard in the Rigsdag, where they were still, though inadequately, represented. Within the Estate of Burgesses itself, too, a levelling See also:process had begun. The old municipal patriciate, which used to form the connecting See also:link between the bourgeoisie. and the nobility, had disappeared, and a feeling of common civic fellowship had taken its place. All this tended to enlarge the political views of the burgesses, and was not without its influence on the future. Yet, after all, the prospects of the burgesses depended mainly on economic conditions; and in this respect there was a decided improvement, due to the increasing importance of money and commerce all over Eur'pe, especially as the steady decline of the Hanse towns immediately benefited the trade of Denmark-Norway; Norway by this time being completely merged in the Danish state, and ruled from Copenhagen. There can, indeed, be no doubt that the Danish and Norwegian merchants at the end of the 16th century flourished exceedingly, despite the intrusion and competition of the Dutch and the dangers to neutral shipping arising from the frequent wars between England, Spain and the Netherlands. At the bottom of the social See also:ladder lay the peasants, whose condition had decidedly deteriorated. Only in one respect had they benefited by the peculiar conditions of the 16th century: the rise in the See also:price of corn without any corresponding rise in the land-tax must have largely increased their material prosperity. Yet the number of peasant-proprietors had diminished, while the obligations of the peasantry generally had increased; and, still worse, their obligations were vexatiously indefinite, varying from year to year and even from month to month. They weighed especially heavily on the so-called Ugedasmaend, who were forced to work two or three days a See also:week in the See also:demesne lands. This increase of See also:villenage morally depressed the peasantry, and widened still further the breach between the See also:yeomanry and the gentry. Politically its consequences were disastrous. While in Sweden the free and energetic peasant was a salutary power in the state, which he served with both mind and plough, the Danish peasant was sinking to the level of a bondman. While the Swedish peasants were well represented in the Swedish Riksdag, whose proceedings they sometimes dominated, the Danish peasantry had no political rights or privileges what-ever. Such then, briefly, was the condition of things in Denmark when, in 1588, Christian IV. ascended the throne. Where so much was necessarily uncertain and fluctuating, there was See also:room for an almost See also:infinite variety of development. Much depended on the character and See also:personality of the young See also:prince who had now taken into his hands the reins of government, and for half a century was to See also:guide the destinies of the nation. In the beginning of his reign the hand of the young monarch, who was nothing if not energetic, made itself See also:felt in every direction. The harbours of Copenhagen, Elsinore and other towns were enlarged; many decaying towns were abolished and many new ones built under more promising conditions, including See also:Christiania, which was founded in August 1624, on the ruins of the ancient See also:city of Oslo. Various attempts were also made to improve trade and industry by abolishing the still remaining privileges of the Hanseatic towns, by promoting a wholesale See also:immigration of skilful and well-to-do Dutch traders and handicraftsmen into Denmark under most favourable conditions, by opening up the rich fisheries of the Arctic seas, and by establishing joint-stock chartered companies both in the East and the West Indies. Copenhagen especially benefited by Christian IV.'s commercial policy. He enlarged and embellished it, and provided it with new harbours and fortifications; in short, Denmark surrendered the islands of See also:Oesel and See also:Gotland First and the provinces of Jemteland and Herjedal (in terreo of territory. Norway) definitively, and Halland for thirty years. The freedom from the Sound tolls was by the same treaty also extended to Sweden's Baltic provinces. The peace of Bromsebro was the first of the long series of treaties, extending down to our own days, which mark the progressive shrinkage of Danish territory into an irreducible minimum. Sweden's appropriation of Danish soil had begun, and at the same time Denmark's power of resisting the encroachments of Sweden was correspondingly reduced. The Danish national debt, too, had risen enormously, while the See also:sources of future income and consequent recuperation had diminished or disappeared. The Sound tolls, for instance, in consequence of the treaties of Bromsebro and Kristianopel (by the latter treaty very considerable concessions were made to the Dutch) had sunk from 400,000 to 140,000 See also:rix-dollars. The political influence of the crown, moreover, had inevitably been weakened, and the conduct of foreign affairs passed from the hands of the king into the hands of the Rigsraad. On the accession of Frederick III. (1648–1670) moreover, the already Frederick
1648. See also:Ill., I648-
diminished royal prerogative was still further curtailed 1670. by the Haandfaestning, or charter, which he was compelled to sign. Fear and hatred of Sweden, and the never abandoned See also:hope of recovering the lost provinces, animated king and people alike; but it was Denmark's crowning misfortune that she possessed at this difficult crisis no statesman of the first rank, no one even approximately comparable with such competitors as Charles X. of Sweden or the " Great Elector " Frederick See also: On the other hand, if Denmark had emerged from the war with her See also:honour and dignity unimpaired, she had at the same time tacitly surrendered the dominion of the North to her Scandinavian See also:rival. But the war just terminated had important political consequences, which were to culminate in one of the most curious and Hereditary interesting revolutions of modern history. In the first monarchy place, it marks the termination of the Adelsvaelde, or estab- rule of the nobility. By their cowardice, incapacity, fished, egotism and treachery during the crisis of the struggle, 1660. the Danish aristocracy had justly forfeited the respect of every other class of the community, and emerged from the war hopelessly discredited. On the other hand, Copenhagen, proudly conscious of her See also:intrinsic importance and of her inestimable services to the country, whom she had saved from annihilation by her constancy, now openly claimed to have a voice in public affairs. Still higher had risen the influence of the crown. The courage and resource displayed by Frederick III. in the extremity of the national danger had won for " the least expansive of monarchs " an extraordinary popularity. On the loth of September 166o, the Rigsdag, which was to repair the ravages of the war and provide for the future, was opened with great ceremony in the Riddersaal of the castle of Copenhagen. The first See also:bill laid before the Estates by the government was to impose an excise tax on the principal articles of consumption, together with subsidiary taxes on cattle, poultry, &c., in return for which the abolition of all the old direct taxes was promised. The nobility at first claimed exemption from taxation altogether, while the clergy and burgesses insisted upon an See also:absolute equality of taxation. There were See also:sharp encounters between the presidents of the contending orders, but the position of the Lower Estates was considerably prejudiced by the dissensions of its various sections. Thus the privileges of the bishops and of Copenhagen profoundly irritated the lower clergy and the unprivileged towns, and made a cordial understanding impossible, till Hans See also:Svane, bishop of Copenhagen, and Hans See also:Nansen the burgomaster, who now openly came forward as the leader of the reform movement, proposed that the privileges which divided the non-See also:noble Estates should be abolished. In accordance with this proposal, the two Lower Estates, on the 16th of September, subscribed a memorandum addressed to the Rigsraad, declaring their willingness to renounce their privileges, provided the nobility did the same; which was tantamount to a See also:declaration that the whole of the clergy and burgesses had made common cause against the nobility. The opposition so formed took the name of the " Conjoined Estates." The presentation of the memorial provoked an outburst of indignation. But the nobility soon perceived the necessity of complete surrender. On the 3oth of September the First Estate abandoned its former standpoint and renounced its privileges, with one unimportant See also:reservation. The struggle now seemed to be ended, and the financial question having also been settled, the king, had he been so minded, might have dismissed the Estates. But the still more important question of reform was now raised. On the 17th of September the burgesses introduced a bill proposing a new constitution, which was to include local self-government in the towns, the abolition of serfdom, and the formation of a national army. It fell to the ground for want of adequate support; but another proposition, the See also:fruit of See also:secret discussion between theking and his confederates, which placed all fiefs under the control of the crown as regards taxation, and provided for selling and letting them to the highest See also:bidder, was accepted by the Estate of burgesses. The significance of this ordinance lay in the fact that it shattered the privileged position of the nobility, by abolishing the exclusive right to the possession of fiefs. What happened next is not quite clear. Our sources fail us, and we are at the See also:mercy of doubtful rumours and more or less unreliable anecdotes. We have a See also:vision of intrigues, mysterious conferences, threats and See also:bribery, dimly discernible through a shifting See also:mirage of tradition.
The first glint of light is a See also:letter, dated the 23rd of September, from Frederick III. to Svane and Nansen, authorizing them to communicate the arrangements already made to reliable men, and act quickly, as " if the others gain time they may possibly gain more." The first step was to make sure of the city See also:train-bands: of the garrison of Copenhagen the king had no doubt. The headquarters of the conspirators was the bishop's See also:palace near Vor Frue church, between which and the court messages were passing continually, and where the document to be adopted by the Conjoined Estates took its final shape. On the 8th of October the two burgomasters, Hans Nansen and Kristoffer See also:Hansen, proposed that the realm of Denmark should be made over to the king as a hereditary kingdom, without prejudice to the privileges of the Estates; whereupon they proceeded to See also:Brewer's See also: On the 13th of October it signed a declaration to the effect that it associated itself still with the Lower Estates in the making over of the kingdom, as a hereditary monarchy, to his See also:majesty and his heirs male and female. The same day the king received the official communication of this declaration and the congratulation of the burgomasters. Thus the ancient constitution was transformed; and Denmark became a monarchy hereditary in Frederick III. and his posterity. But although hereditary See also:sovereignty had been introduced, the laws of the land had not been abolished. The monarch was specifically now a See also:sovereign over-See also:lord, but he had not been absolved from his obligations towards his subjects. Hereditary sovereignty per se was not held to signify unlimited dominion, still less See also:absolutism. On the contrary, the magnificent See also:gift of the Danish nation to Frederick III. was made under See also:express conditions. The " Instrument " drawn up by the Lower Estates implied the retention of all their rights; and the king, in accepting the gift of a hereditary crown, did not repudiate the implied inviolability of the privileges of the donors. Unfortunately everything had been left so vague, that it was an easy matter for ultra-royalists like Svane and Nansen to ignore the privileges of the Estates, and even the Estates themselves. On the 14th of October a See also:committee was summoned to the palace to organize the new government. The discussion turned mainly upon two points, (I) whether a new See also:oath of See also:homage should be taken to the king, and (2) what was to be done with the Haandfaestning or royal charter. The first point was speedily decided in the affirmative, and, as to the second, it was ultimately decided that the king should be released from his oath and the charter returned to him; but a rider was added suggesting that he should, at the same time, promulgate a Recess providing for his own and his people's welfare. Thus Frederick III. was not left absolutely his own See also:master; for the provision regarding a Recess, or new constitution, showed plainly enough that such a constitution was expected, and, once granted, would of course have limited the royal power. It now only remained to execute the resolutions of the committee. On the 17th of October the charter, which the king had sworn to observe twelve years before, was solemnly handed back to him at the palace, Frederick III. thereupon promising to rule as a Christian king to the See also:satisfaction of all the Estates of the realm. On the following day the king, seated on the topmost step of a lofty See also:tribune surmounted by a baldaquin, erected in the midst of the principal square of Copenhagen, received the public homage of his subjects of all ranks, in the presence of an immense concourse, on which occasion he again promised to rule " as a Christian hereditary king and gracious master," and, " as soon as possible, to prepare and set up " such a constitution as should secure to his subjects a Christian and indulgent sway. The ceremony concluded with a See also:grand banquet at the palace. After See also:dinner the See also:queen and the clergy withdrew; but the king remained. An incident now occurred which made a strong impression on all present. With a brimming See also:beaker in his hand, Frederick III. went up to Hans Nansen, drank with him and drew him aside. They communed together in a low voice for some time, till the burgomaster, succumbing to the influence of his potations, fumbled his way to his See also:carriage with the assistance of some of his civic colleagues. Whether Nansen, intoxicated by See also:wine and the royal favour, consented on this occasion to See also:sacrifice the privileges of his order and his city, it is impossible to say; but it is significant that, from henceforth, we hear no more of the Recess which the more liberal of the leaders of the lower orders had hoped for when they released Frederick III. from the obligations of the charter. We can follow See also:pretty plainly the stages of the progress from a limited to an absolute monarchy. By an act dated the loth Establish- of January 1661, entitled " Instrument, or pragmatic ment of See also:sanction," of the king's hereditary right to the king-absolute doms of Denmark and Norway, it was declared that rule. all the prerogatives of majesty, and " all See also:regalia as an absolute sovereign lord," had been made over to the king. Yet, even after the issue of the " Instrument," there was nothing, strictly speaking, to prevent Frederick III. from voluntarily conceding to his subjects some share in the administration. Unfortunately the king was See also:bent upon still further emphasizing the plenitude of his power. At Copenhagen his advisers were busy framing drafts of a Lex Regia Per petua ; and the one which finally won the royal favour was the famous Kongelov, or " King's Law." This document was in every way unique. In the first place it is remarkable for its See also:literary excellence. Compared with the barbarous macaronic See also:jargon of the contemporary official language it shines forth as a masterpiece of pure, pithy and original Danish. Still more remarkable are the See also:tone and See also:tenor of this royal law. The Kongelov has the highly dubious honour of being the one written law in the civilized world which fearlessly carries out absolutism to the last consequences. The monarchy is declared to owe its origin to the surrender of the supreme authority by the Estates to the king. The See also:maintenance of the indivisibility of the realm and of the Christian faith according to the See also:Augsburg See also:Confession, and the observance of the Kongelov itself. are now the sole obligations binding upon the king. The supreme spiritual authority also is now claimed; and it is expressly stated that it becomes none to crown him; the moment he ascends the throne, crown and See also:sceptre belong to him of right. Moreover, See also:par. 26 declares guilty of lese-majeste whomsoever shall in any way usurp or infringe the king's absolute authority. In the following reign the ultra-royalists went further still. In their eyes the king was not merely autocratic, but sacrosanct. Thus before the See also:anointing of Christian V. on the 7th of June 1671, a ceremony by way of symbolizing the new autocrat's humble submission to the Almighty, the officiating bishop of Zealand delivered an oration in which he declared that the king was God's immediate creation, His vicegerent on See also:earth, and that it was the bounden duty of all good subjects to serve and honour the See also:celestial majesty as represented by the ki11g's terrestrial majesty. The Kongelov is dated and subscribed the 14th of November 1665, but was kept a profound secret, only two initiated persons knowing of its existence until after the death of Frederick III., one of them being Kristoffer See also:Gabel, the king's chief intermediary during the revolution, and the other the author and custodian of the Kongelov, Secretary Peder See also:Schumacher, better known as See also:Griffenfeldt. It is significant that both these confidential agents were plebeians. The revolution of 166o was certainly beneficial to Norway. With the disappearance of the Rigsraad, which, as representing the Danish crown, had hitherto exercised sovereignty Effects of over both kingdoms, Norway ceased to be a subject the revolt:. principality. The sovereign hereditary king stood in See also:don of exactly the same relations to both kingdoms; and 1660. thus, constitutionally, Norway was placed on an equality with Denmark, united with but not subordinate to it. It is clear that the majority of the Norwegian people hoped that the revolution would give them an administration independent of the Danish government; but these expectations were not realised. Till the cessation of the Union in 1814, Copenhagen continued to be the headquarters of the Norwegian administration; both kingdoms had common departments of state; and the common See also:chancery continued to be called the Danish chancery. On the other hand the condition of Norway was now greatly improved. In January 1661 a land commission was appointed to investigate the financial and economical conditions of the kingdoms; the fiefs were transformed into counties; the nobles were deprived of their See also:immunity from taxation; and in July 1662 the Norwegian towns received special privileges, including the See also:monopoly of the lucrative timber trade. The Enevaelde, or absolute monarchy, also distinctly benefited the whole Danish state by materially increasing its reserve of native See also:talent. Its immediate consequence was to throw open every state See also:appointment to the middle classes; and the middle classes of that period, with very few exceptions, monopolized the See also:intellect and the energy of the nation. New See also:blood of the best quality nourished and stimulated the whole body politic. Expansion and progress were the watchwords at home, and abroad it seemed as if Denmark were about to regain her former position as a great power. This was especially the case during the brief but brilliant administration of See also:Chancellor Griffenfeldt. Then, if ever, Denmark had the See also:chance of playing once more a leading part in inter-national politics. But Griffenfeldt's difficulties, always serious, were increased by the instability of the European situation, depending as it did on the ambition of See also: In these circumstances it was as difficult for Denmark to remain neutral as it was dangerous for her to make a choice. Denmark An alliance with France would subordinate her to in the Sweden; an alliance with the Netherlands would expose Great her to an attack from Sweden. The Franco-Swedish Northern alliance left Griffenfeldt no choice but to accede to the See also:tear. opposite league, for he saw at once that the ruin of the Netherlands would disturb the See also:balance of power in the north by giving an undue preponderance to England and Sweden. But Denmark's experience of Dutch promises in the past was not reassuring; so, while negotiating at the See also:Hague for a renewal of the Dutch alliance, he at the same time felt his way at Stockholm towards a commercial treaty with Sweden. His Swedish mission proved abortive, but, as he had anticipated, it effectually accelerated the negotiations at the Hague, and frightened the Dutch into unwonted liberality. In May 1673 a treaty of alliance was signed by the See also:ambassador of the States-General at Copenhagen, whereby the Netherlands pledged themselves to pay Denmark large subsidies in return for the services of io,000 men and twenty warships, which were to be held in readiness in case the United Provinces were attacked by another enemy besides France. Thus, very dexterously, Griffenfeldt had succeeded in gaining his subsidies without sacrificing his See also:neutrality. His next move was to attempt to detach Sweden from France; but, Sweden showing not the slightest inclination for a rapprochement, Denmark was compelled to accede to the anti-French league, which she did by the treaty of Copenhagen, of January 1674, thereby engaging to place an army of 20,000 in the field when required; but here again Griffenfeldt safeguarded himself to some extent by stipulating that this provision was not to be operative till the allies were attacked by a fresh enemy. When, in December 1674, a Swedish army invaded Prussian Pomerania, Denmark was bound to intervene as a belligerent, but Griffenfeldt endeavoured to postpone this intervention as long as possible; and Sweden's anxiety to avoid hostilities with her southern See also:neighbour materially assisted him to postpone the evil day. He only wanted to gain time, and he gained it. To the last he endeavoured to avoid a rupture with France even if he See also:broke with Sweden; but he could not restrain for ever the foolish impetuosity of his own sovereign, Christian V., and his fall in the beginning of 1676 not only, as he had foreseen, involved Denmark in an unprofitable war, but, as his friend and See also:disciple, Jens See also:Juel, well observed, relegated her henceforth to the humiliating position of an See also:international catspaw. Thus at the peace of See also:Fontainebleau (September 2, 1679) Denmark, which had See also:borne the brunt of the struggle in the Baltic, was compelled by the inexorable French king to make full restitution to Sweden, the treaty between the two northern powers being signed at Lund on the 26th of September. Freely had she spent her blood and her treasure, only to emerge from the five years' contest exhausted and empty-handed. By the peace of Fontainebleau Denmark had been sacrificed to the interests of France and Sweden; forty-one years later she was sacrificed to the interests of See also:Hanover and See also:Prussia by the peace of Copenhagen (1720), which ended the Northern War so far as the German powers were concerned. But it would not have terminated advantageously for them at all, had not the powerful and highly efficient Danish fleet effectually prevented the Swedish government from succouring its distressed German provinces, and finally swept the Swedish fleets out of the northern waters. Yet all the See also:compensation Denmark received for her inestimable services during a whole decade was 600,000 rixdollars! The bishoprics of Bremen and See also:Verden, See also:tile province of Farther Pomerania and the isle of Riigen which her armies had actually conquered, and which had been guaranteed to her by a whole catena of treaties, went partly to the upstart electorate of Hanover and partly to the upstart kingdom of Prussia, both of which states had been of no political importance whatever at the beginning of the war of spoliation by which they were, ultimately, to profit so largely and so cheaply. The last ten years of the reign of Christian V.'s successor, Frederick IV. (1699-1730), were devoted to the See also:nursing and development of the resources of the country, which had suffered only less severely than Sweden from the effects r-rderickof the Great Northern War. The court, seriously pious, 1730. much for education. A wise See also:economy also contri- buted to reduce the national debt within manageable limits, and in the welfare of the peasantry Frederick IV. took a deep interest. In 1722 serfdom was abolished in the case of all peasants in the royal estates See also:born after his accession. The first act of Frederick's successor, Christian VI. (1730-1746), was to abolish the national See also:militia, which had been an intolerable burden upon the peasantry; yet the more pressing agrarian difficulties were not thereby surmounted, CVhriLst ao" 1730- as had been hoped. The price of corn continued 1746. to fall; the migration of the peasantry assumed alarming proportions; and at last, " to preserve the land " as well as to increase the defensive capacity of the country, the national militia was re-established by the See also:decree of the 4th of February 1733, which at the same time bound to the soil all peasants between the age of nine and forty. Reactionary as the measure was it enabled the agricultural interest, on which the prosperity of Denmark mainly depended, to See also:tide over one of the most dangerous crises in its history; but certainly the position of the Danish peasantry was never worse than during the reign of the religious and benevolent Christian VI. Under the peaceful reign of Christian's son and successor, Frederick V. (1746-1766), still more was done for commerce, industry and agriculture. To promote Denmark's carrying trade, treaties were made with the See also:Barbary States, See also:Genoa and See also:Naples; and the East Indian Trading See also:Company flourished exceedingly. On the other hand the condition of the peasantry was even worse under Frederick V. than it had been under Christian VI., the Stavnsbaand, or regulation which bound all See also:males to the soil, being made operative from the age of four. Yet signs of a coming amelioration were not wanting. The theory of the physiocrats now found powerful See also:advocates in Denmark; and after 1755, when the See also:press censorship was abolished so far as regarded political economy and agriculture, a thorough discussion of the whole agrarian question became possible. A commission appointed in 1757 worked zealously for the See also:repeal of many agricultural abuses; and several great landed proprietors introduced hereditary leaseholds, and abolished the servile tenure. Foreign affairs during the reigns of Frederick V. and Christian VI. were left in the capable hands of J. H. E. See also:Bernstorff, who aimed at steering clear of all foreign complications and preserving inviolable the neutrality of Denmark. This he succeeded in doing, in spite of the Seven Years' War and of the difficulties attending the thorny Gottorp question in which Sweden and Russia were equally interested. The same policy was victoriously pursued by his nephew and pupil Andreas Bernstorff, an even greater man than the See also:elder Bernstorff, who controlled the foreign policy of Denmark from 1773 to 1778, and again from 1784 till his death in 1797. The period of the younger Bernstorff synchronizes with the greater part of the cV/!hristlan 1766- long reign of Christian VII. (1766-1808), one of the 1808. most eventful periods of modern Danish history. The king himself was indeed a semi-idiot, scarce responsible for his actions, yet his was the era of such striking personalities as the brilliant See also:charlatan See also:Struensee, the great philanthropist and reformer C. D. F. See also:Reventlow, the ultra-conservative Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, whose mission it was to repairthe damage done by Struensee, and that generation of alert and progressive See also:spirits which surrounded the young crown prince Frederick, whose first act, on taking his seat in the council of state, at the age of sixteen, on the 4th of April 1784, was to dismiss Guldberg. A fresh and fruitful period of reform now began, lasting till nearly the end of the century, and interrupted only by the brief but costly war with Sweden in 1788. The emancipation of the peasantry was now the burning question of the day, and the whole matter was thoroughly ventilated. Bernstorff and the Frederick V., 1746-.1766. crown prince were the most zealous advocates of the peasantry in the council of state; but the honour of bringing the whole peasant question within the range of See also:practical politics undoubtedly belongs to C. D. F. Reventlow (q.v.). Nor was the reforming principle limited to the abolition of serfdom. In 1788 the corn trade was declared free; the See also:Jews received civil rights; and the See also:negro slave trade was forbidden. In 1796 a special ordinance reformed the whole system of judicial See also:procedure, making it cheaper and more expeditious; while the See also:toll ordinance of the 1st of February 1797 still further extended the principle of free trade. Moreover, until two years after Bernstorff's death in 1797, the Danish press enjoyed a larger freedom of speech than the press of any other absolute monarchy in Europe, so much so that at last Denmark became suspected of favouring Jacobin views. But in September 1799 under strong pressure from the See also:Russian emperor See also:Paul, the Danish government forbade anonymity, and introduced a limited censorship. It was Denmark's obsequiousness to Russia which led to the first of her unfortunate collisions with Great Britain. In 1800 the Danish government was persuaded by the See also:tsar to accede to the second Armed Neutrality League, which Russia had just concluded with Prussia and Sweden. Great Britain retaliated by laying an See also:embargo on the vessels of the three neutral powers, and by sending a considerable fleet to the Baltic under the command of See also:Parker and See also:Nelson. Surprised and unprepared though they were, the Danes, nevertheless, on the 2nd of April 1801, offered a gallant resistance; but their fleet was destroyed, their capital bombarded, and, abandoned by Russia, they were compelled to submit to a disadvantageous peace. The same vain endeavour of Denmark to preserve her neutrality led to the second breach with England. After the peace of See also:Tilsit there could be no further question of neutrality. See also:Napoleon had determined that if Great Britain refused to accept Russia's See also:mediation, Denmark, Sweden and See also:Portugal were to be forced to close their harbours to her ships and declare war against her. It was the intention of the Danish government to preserve its neutrality to the last, although, on the whole, it preferred an alliance with Great Britain to a league with Napoleon, and was even prepared for a breach with the French emperor if he pressed her too hardly. The army had therefore been assembled in Holstein, and the crown prince See also:regent was with it. But the British government did not consider Denmark strong enough to resist France, and See also:Canning had private trustworthy See also:information of the designs of Napoleon, upon which he was bound to act. He sent accordingly a fleet, with 30,000 men on board, to the Sound to compel Denmark, by way of security for her future conduct, to unite her fleet with the British fleet. Denmark was offered an alliance, the complete restitution of her fleet after the war, a See also:guarantee of all her possessions, compensation for all expenses, and even territorial aggrandizement. Dictatorially presented as they were, these terms were liberal and even generous; and if a great statesman like Bernstorff had been at the head of affairs in Copenhagen, he would, no doubt, have accepted them, even if with a wry See also:face. But the prince regent, if a good patriot, was a poor politician, and invincibly obstinate. When, therefore, in August 1807, See also:Gambier arrived in the Sound, and the English plenipotentiary See also:Francis See also: (1839—1848), the agitation fora free constitution, both in Denmark and the duchies, continued to grow Constitu- tion in strength, in spite of press prosecutions and other agi al agitation. repressive measures. The rising national feeling in Beginnings Germany also stimulated the separatist tendencies ofthe of the duchies; and " Schleswig-Holsteinism," as y°oistse nig` it now began to be called, evoked in Denmark the Question, counter-movement known as Eiderdansk-politik, i.e. the policy of extending Denmark to the Eider and obliterating German Schleswig, in order to save Schleswig from being absorbed by Germany. This See also:division of national sentiment within the monarchy, complicated by the approaching extinction of the Oldenburg line of the house of Denmark, by which, in the normal course under the Salic law, the succession to Holstein would have passed away from the Danish crown, opened up the whole complicated Schleswig-Holstein Question with all its momentous consequences. (See SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION.) Within the monarchy itself, during the following years, " Schleswig-Holsteinism " and " Eiderdanism " faced each other as rival, mutually exacerbating forces; and the efforts of succeeding governments to solve the insoluble problem broke down ever on the rock of nationalist See also:passion and the interests of the German powers. The unionist constitution, devised by Christian VIII., and See also:pro- unionist mulgated by his successor, Frederick VII. (1848—1863), constituon the 28th of January 1848, led to the armed inter- tion of vention of Prussia, at the instance of the new German 1848, and parliament at See also:Frankfort; ; and, though h with the help Prussia. of Russian and British See also:diplomacy, the Danes were ultimately successful, they had to submit, in 1851, to the government of Holstein by an international commission consisting of three members, Prussian, See also:Austrian and Danish respectively. Denmark, meanwhile, had been engaged in providing herself with a parliament on modern lines. The constitutional rescript of the 28th of January 1848 had been withdrawn in favour of an electoral law for a national assembly, of whose 152 members 38 were to be nominated by the king and to form an Upper House (Landsting), while the remainder were to be elected by the people and to form a popular chamber (Folketing). The Bondevenlige, or See also:philo-peasant party, which objected to the king's right of nomination and preferred a one-chamber system, now separated from the National Liberals on this point. But the National Liberals triumphed at the general election; fear of reactionary tendencies finally induced the Radicals to accede to the wishes of the majority; and on the 5th of June 1849 the new constitution received the royal sanction. Denmark and Great Britain in the Napo.. iconic Wars. Denmark after 1815. At this stage Denmark's foreign relations prejudicially affected her domestic politics. The Liberal Eiderdansk party was for Germany dividing Schleswig into three distinct administrative and the belts, according as the various nationalities predomin- Danish ated (language rescripts of 1851) ,but German sentiment duchies. was opposed to any such settlement and, still worse, the great continental powers looked askance on the new Danish constitution as far too democratic. The substance of the notes embodying the See also:exchange of views, in 1851 and 1852, between the German great powers and Denmark, was promulgated, on the 28th of January 1852, in the new constitutional decree which, together with the documents on which it was founded, was known as the Conventions of 1851 and 1852. Under this arrangement each part of the monarchy was to have local See also:autonomy, with a common constitution for common affairs. Holstein was now restored to Denmark, and Prussia and See also:Austria consented to take part in the conference of See also:London, by which the integrity of Denmark was upheld, and the succession to the whole monarchy settled on Prince Christian, youngest son of Duke William of Schleswig-Holstein-See also:Sonderburg-Gliicksburg, and husband of See also:Louise of See also:Hesse, the niece of King Christian VIII. The " legitimate " See also:heir to the duchies, under the Salic law, Duke Christian of Sonderburg-Augustenburg, accepted the decision of the London conference in consideration of the purchase by the Danish government of his estates in Schleswig. On the and of October 1855 was promulgated the new common constitution, which for two years had been the occasion of a fierce contention between the Conservatives and the Constitu- Radicals. It proved no more final than its predecessors. Lion of 1855. The representatives of the duchies in the new common Rigsraad protested against it, as subversive of the Conventions of 1851 and 1852; and their attitude had the support of the German powers. In 1857, Carl Christian Hall (q.v.) became See also:prime minister. After putting off the German powers by seven years of astute diplomacy, he realized the impossibility of carrying out the See also:idea of a common constitution and, on the 30th of March 1862, a royal See also:proclamation was issued detaching Holstein as far as possible from the common monarchy. Later in the year he Constitu- introduced into the Rigsraad a common constitution tion of for Denmark and Schleswig, which was carried through 1863 and and confirmed by the council of state on the 13th of accession November 1863. It had not, however, received the of Chris- ro al assent when the death of Frederick VII. brought Elan IX. the " See also:Protocol King " Christian IX. to the throne. Placed between the necessity of offending his new subjects or embroiling himself with the German powers, Christian See also:chose the remoter evil and, on the 18th of November, the new constitution became law. This once more opened up the whole question in an acute form. Frederick, son of Christian of Augustenburg, ref using to be bound by his See also:father's engagements, entered Holstein and, supported by the Estates and the German diet, proclaimed himself duke. The events that followed: the occupation of the duchies by Austria and Prussia, the war of 1864, gallantly fought by the Danes against overwhelming odds, and the astute diplomacy by which See also:Bismarck succeeded in ultimately gaining for Prussia the seaboard so essential for her maritime power, are dealt with elsewhere (see SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION). For Denmark the question was settled when, by the peace of See also:Vienna (October 30, 1864), the duchies were irretrievably lost to her. At the peace of See also:Prague, which terminated the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Napoleon III. procured the insertion in the treaty of See also:paragraph v., by which the northern districts of Schleswig were to be reunited to Denmark when the majority of the population by a free See also:vote should so desire; but when Prussia at last thought See also:fit to negotiate with Denmark on the subject, she laid down conditions which the Danish government could not accept. Finally, in 1878, by a separate agreement between Austria and -Prussia, paragraph v. was rescinded. The salient feature of Danish politics during subsequent yearswas the struggle between the two Tings, the Folketing or Lower House, and the Landsting, or Upper House of the Rigsdag. This contest began in 1872, when a com- tiona Const/t / bination of all the See also:Radical parties, known as the struggles " United Left," passed a vote of want of confidence in Den- against the government and rejected the budget. r8:6'*. since Nevertheless, the ministry, supported by the Landsting, refused to resign; and the crisis became acute when, in 1875, J. B. Estrup became prime minister. Perceiving that the coming struggle would be essentially a financial one, he retained the ministry of finance in his own hands; and, strong in the support of the king, the Landsting, and a considerable minority in the country itself, he devoted himself to the double task of establishing the political parity of the Landsting with the Folketing and strengthening the national armaments, so that, in the event of a war between the European great powers, Denmark might be able to defend her neutrality. The Left was willing to vote 30,000,000 crowns for extraordinary military expenses, exclusive of the fortifications of Copenhagen, on condition that the amount should be raised by a property and income tax; and, as the elections of 1875 had given them a majority of three-fourths in the popular chamber, they spoke with no uncertain voice. But the Upper House steadily supported Estrup, who was disinclined to accept any such compromise. As an agreement between the two houses on the budget proved impossible, a provisional financial decree was issued on the 12th of April 1877, which the Left stigmatized as a breach of the constitution. But the difficulties of the ministry were somewhat relieved by a split in the Radical party, still further accentuated by the elections of 1879, which enabled Estrup to carry through the army and navy defence bill and the new military penal code by leaning alternately upon one or the other of the divided Radical groups. After the elections of 1881, which brought about the reamalgamation of the various Radical sections, the opposition presented a united front to the government, so that, from 1882 onwards, legislation was almost at a standstill. The elections of 1884 showed clearly that the nation was also now on the side of the Radicals, 83 out of the 102 members of the Folketing belonging to the opposition. Still Estrup remained at his post. He had underestimated the force of public See also:opinion, but he was conscientiously convinced that a Conservative ministry was necessary to Denmark at this crisis. When therefore the Rigsdag rejected the budget, he advised the king to issue another provisional financial decree. Henceforth, so long as the Folketing refused to vote supplies, the ministry regularly adopted these makeshifts. In 1886 the Left, having no constitutional means of dismissing the Estrup ministry, resorted for the first time to negotiations; but it was not till the 1st of April 1894 that the majority of the Folketing could arrive at an agreement with the government and the Landsting as to a budget which should be retrospective and sanction the employment of the funds so irregularly obtained for military expenditure. The whole question of the provisional financial decrees was ultimately regularized by a special resolution of the Rigsdag; and the retirement of the Estrup ministry in August 1894 was the immediate result of the compromise. In spite of the See also:composition of 1894, the animosity between Folketing and Landsting continues to characterize Danish politics, and the situation has been complicated by the division of both Right and Left into widely divergent groups. The elections of 1895 resulted in an undeniable victory of the extreme Radicals; and the budget of 1895–1896 was passed only at the last moment by a compromise. The session of 1896–1897 was remarkable for a rapprochement between the ministry and the " Left Reform Party," caused by the secessions of the " Young Right," which led to an unprecedented event in Danish politics—the voting of the budget by the Radical Folketing and its rejection by the Conservative Landsting in May 1897; whereupon the ministry resigned in favour of the moderate Conservative Horring See also:cabinet, which induced the Upper House to pass the budget. The elections of 1898 were a fresh defeat for the Conservatives, and in the autumn session of the same year, the Folketing, by a crushing majority of See also:Convention of 1852. Prusso-Danish War of 1864, and cession of the duchies. 85 to 12, rejected the military budget. The ministry was saved by a mere accident—the See also:expulsion of Danish See also:agitators from North Schleswig by the German government, which evoked a passion of patriotic protest throughout Denmark, and united all parties, the war minister declaring in the Folketing, during the debate on the military budget (January 1899), that the armaments of Denmark were so far advanced that any great power must think twice before venturing to attack her. The chief event of the year 1899 was the great strike of 40,000 artisans, which cost Denmark 50,000,000 crowns, and brought about a reconstruction of the cabinet in order to bring in, as minister of the interior, See also:Ludwig Ernest Bramsen, the great specialist in See also:industrial matters, who succeeded (September 2-4) in bringing about an understanding between workmen and employers. The session 1900-1901 was remarkable for the further disintegration of the Conservative party still in office (the See also:Sehested cabinet superseded the Horring cabinet on the 27th of April 1900) and the almost total See also:paralysis of parliament, caused by the interminable debates on the question of taxation reform. The crisis came in 1901. Deprived of nearly all its supporters in the Folketing, the Conservative ministry resigned, and King Christian was obliged to assent to the formation of a " cabinet of the Left " under See also:Professor Deuntzer. Various reforms were carried, but the proposal to sell the Danish islands in the West Indies to the United States fell through. During these years the relations between Denmark and the German empire improved, and in the country itself the cause of social See also:democracy made great progress. In January 1906 King Christian ended his long reign, and was succeeded by his son Frederick VIII. At the elections of 1906 the government lost its small absolute majority, but remained in power with support from the Moderates and Conservatives. It was severely shaken, however, when Herr A. See also:Alberti, who had been minister of justice since 1901, and was admitted to be the strongest member of the cabinet, was openly accused of nepotism and abuse of the power of his position. These charges gathered See also:weight until the minister was forced to resign in July 1908, and in September he was arrested on a See also:charge of See also:forgery in his capacity as director of the Zealand Peasants' Savings Bank. The ministry, of which Herr Jens Christian Christensen was head, was compelled to resign in October. The effect of these revelations was profound not only politically, but also economically; the important export trade in Danish butter, especially, was adversely affected, as Herr Alberti had been interested in numerous dairy companies. LITERATURE The present language of Denmark is derived directly from the same source as that of Sweden, and the See also:parent of both is the old Scandinavian (see SCANDINAVIAN See also:LANGUAGES). In Iceland this See also:tongue, with some modifications, has remained in use, and until about T roo it was the literary language of the whole of Scandinavia. The influence of Low German first, and High German afterwards, has had the effect of See also:drawing modern Danish constantly farther from this early type. The difference began toshow itself in the 12th century. R. K. See also:Rask, and after him N. M. Petersen, have distinguished four periods in the development of the language, The first, which has been called Oldest Danish, dating from about Iron and 1250, shows a slightly changed character, mainly depending on the system of inflections. In the second period, that of Old Danish, bringing us down to 1400, the change of the system of vowels begins to be settled, and masculine and feminine are mingled in a common gender. An indefinite article has been formed, and in the conjugation of the verb a great simplicity sets in. In the third period, 1400-1530, the influence of German upon the language is supreme, and culminates in the Reformation. The See also:fourth period, from 1530 to about 168o, completes the work of development, and leaves the language as we at present find it. The earliest work known to have been written in Denmark was a Latin See also:biography of Knud the See also:Saint, written by an English monk sElnoth, who was attached to the church of St See also:Alban in Odense where King Knud was murdered. Denmark produced several Latin writers of merit. Anders Sunesen (d. 1228) wrote a long poem in hexameters, Hexaemeron, describing the creation. Under the auspices of Archbishop Absalon the monks of Soro began to compile the annals of Denmark, and at the end of the 12th century Svend See also:Aagesen, a cleric of Lund, compiled from Icelandic sources and oral tradition his Compendiosa histbria regum Daniae. The great Saxo Grammaticus (q.v.) wrote his Historia Danica under the same patronage. It was not till the 16th century that literature began to be generally practised in the See also:vernacular in Denmark. The oldest laws which are still preserved date from the beginning of the 13th century, and many different collections are in existence.' A single work detains us in the 13th century, a See also:treatise cn medicines by Henrik Harpestreng, who died in 1244. The first royal See also:edict written in Danish is dated 1386; and the Act of Union at Kalmar, written in 1397, is the most important piece of the vernacular of the 14th century. Between 1300 and 1500, however, it is sup-posed that the Kjaempeviser, or Danish See also:ballads, a large collection of about 500 epical and lyrical poems, were originally composed, and these form the most See also:precious See also:legacy of the Denmark of the middle ages, whether judged historically or poetically. We know nothing of the authors of these poems, which treat of the heroic adventures of the great warriors and lovely ladies of the chivalric age in strains of artless but often exquisite beauty. Some of the subjects are borrowed in altered form from the old See also:mythology, while a few derive from Christian See also:legend, and many deal with national history. The language in which we receive these ballads, however, is as late as the 16th or even the 17th century, but it is believed that they have become gradually modernized in the course of oral tradition. The first attempt to collect the ballads was made in 1591 by Anders Sorensen Vedel (1542-1616), who published loo of them. Peder Syv printed Too more in 1695. In 1812-1814 an elaborate collection in five volumes appeared at Christiania, edited by W. H. F. Abrahamson, R. Nyerup and K. M. Rahbek. Finally, Svend See also:Grundtvig produced an exhaustive edition, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser (Copenhagen, '853-1883, 5 vols.), which was supplemented (1891) by A. Olrik. In 1490, the first See also:printing press was set up at Copenhagen, by Gottfried of Gemen, who had brought it from See also:Westphalia; and five years later the first Danish See also:book was printed. This was the famous Rimkronike3; a history of Denmark in rhymed Danish See also:verse, attributed by its first editor to Niels (d. 1481), a monk of the monastery of Sorb. It extends to the death of Christian I., in 1481, which may be supposed to be approximately the date of the poem. In 1479 the university of Copenhagen had been founded. In 15o6 the same Gottfried of Gemen published a famous collection of See also:proverbs, attributed to Peder Laaie. Mikkel, See also:priest of St Alban's Church in Odense, wrote three sacred poems, The Rose-See also:Garland of See also:Maiden See also:Mary, The Creation and ' Collected as Samling af gamle danske Love (5 vols., Copenhagen. 1821-1827). 2 Henrik Harpestraengs Laegebog (ed. C. Molbech, Copenhagen„ 1826). 3 Ed. C. Molbech (Copenhagen, 1825). Human Life, which came out together in 1514, shortly before his death. The popular Lucidarius also appeared in the vulgar tongue. These few productions appeared along with innumerable works in Latin, and dimly heralded a Danish literature. It was the Reformation that first awoke the living spirit in the popular tongue. Christiern See also:Pedersen (q.v.; 1480–1554) was the first man of letters produced in Denmark. He edited and published, at Paris in 1514, the Latin See also:text of the old chronicler, Saxo Grammaticus; he worked up in their present form the beautiful half-mythical stories of Karl See also:Magnus (Charlemagne) and Holger Danske (Ogier the Dane). He further translated the See also:Psalms of See also:David and the New Testament, printed in 1529, and finally—in See also:conjunction with Bishop Peder Palladius—the See also:Bible, which appeared in 1550. Hans Tausen, the bishop of Ribe (1494-1561), continued Pedersen's work, but with far less literary talent. He may, however, be considered as the greatest orator and teacher of the Reformation movement. He wrote a number of popular See also:hymns, partly original, partly See also:translations; translated the See also:Pentateuch from the See also:Hebrew; and published (1536) a collection of sermons embodying the reformed doctrine and destined for the use of clergy and laity. The Catholic party produced one controversialist of striking ability, Povel Helgesen' (b. c. 1480), also known as See also:Paulus Eliae. He had at first been inclined to the party of reform, but when Luther broke definitely with the papal authority he became a See also:bitter opponent. His most important polemical work is an answer (1528) to twelve questions on the religious question propounded by Gustavus I. of Sweden. He is also supposed to be the author of the See also:Ski by See also:Chronicle,2 in which he does not confine himself to the duties of a mere annalist, but records his personal opinion of people and events. Vedel, by the edition of the Kjaempeviser which is mentioned above, gave an immense stimulus to the progress of literature. He published an excellent See also:translation of Saxo Grammaticus in 1575. The first edition of a Danish Reineke See also:Fuchs, by Herman Weigere, appeared at Lubeck in 1555, and the first authorized Psalter in 1559• Arild Huitfeld wrote Chronicle of the Kingdom of Denmark, printed in ten volumes, between 1595 and 1604. There are few traces of dramatic effort in Denmark before the Reformation; and many of the plays of that period may be referred to the class of school comedies. Hans Sthen, a lyrical poet, wrote a morality entitled Kortvending (" Change of For-tune "), which is really a collection of monologues to be delivered by students. The See also:anonymous Ludus de Sancto Kanuto a (c. 1530) which in spite of its See also:title, is written in Danish, is the earliest Danish national See also:drama. The See also:burlesque drama assigned to Christian Hansen, The Faithless Wife, is the only one of its See also:kind that has survived. But the best of these old dramatic authors was a priest of Viborg, Justesen See also:Ranch (1539–1607), who wrote See also:Kong Salomons Hylding (" The Crowning of King See also:Solomon ") (1585), Samsons Faengsel (" The Imprisonment of See also:Samson "), which includes lyrical passages which have given it claims to be considered the first Danish See also:opera, and a See also:farce, Karrig Niding (" The Miserly Miscreant "). Beside these works Ranch wrote a famous moralizing poem, entitled " A new See also:song, of the nature and song of certain birds, in which many vices are punished, and many virtues praised." Peder Clausen4 (1545–1614), a Norwegian by See also:birth and education, wrote a Description of Norway, as well as an admirable translation of Snorri Sturlason's Heimskringla, published ten years after See also:Clausen's death. The father of Danish poetry, Anders Kristensen Arrebo (1587–1637); was bishop of Trondhjem, but was deprived of his see for immorality. He was a poet of considerable genius, which is most brilliantly shown in an See also:imitation of Du Bartas's Divine Semaine, 1 See Povel Eliesens danske Skrifter (Copenhagen, 1855, &c.), edited by C. E. Secher. 2 See Monumenta historiae Danicae (ed. H. Rordam, vol. i., 1873). 2 Ed. Sophus Birket See also: Kingo had a charming See also:fancy, a clear sense of form and great rapidity and variety of utterance. Some of his very best hymns are in the little See also:volume he published in 1681, and hence the old period of semi-articulate Danish may be said to close with this eventful decade, which also witnessed the birth of See also:Holberg. The other great hymn-writer was Hans Adolf Brorson (1694-1764), who published in 1740 a great See also:psalm-book at the king's command, in which he added his own to the best of Kingo's. Both these men held high posts in the church, one being bishop of Funen and the other of Ribe; but Brorson was much inferior to Kingo in genius. With these names the See also:introductory period of Danish literature ends. The language was now formed, and was being employed for almost all the uses of science and See also:philosophy. Ludvig Holberg (q.v.; 1684–1754) may be called the founder of modern Danish literature. His various works still retain their freshness and vital attraction. As an historian his style was terse and brilliant, his spirit philosophical, and his data singularly accurate. He united two unusual gifts, being at the same time the most cultured man of his day, and also in the highest degree a practical person, who clearly perceived what would most rapidly educate and interest the uncultivated. In his thirty-three dramas, sparkling comedies in prose, more or less in imitation of See also:Moliere, he has left his most important See also:positive legacy to literature. Nor in any series of comedies in existence is decency so rarely sacrificed to a desire for popularity or a false sense of wit. Holberg founded no school of immediate imitators, but his stimulating influence was rapid and general. The university of Copenhagen, which had been destroyed by See also:fire in 1728, was reopened in 1742, and under the auspices of the historian Hans See also:Gram (1685-1748), who founded the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences, it inspired an active intellectual life. Gram laid the foundation of See also:critical history in Denmark. He brought to bear on the subject a full knowledge of documents and sources. His best work lies in his annotated See also:editions of the older chroniclers. In 1744 See also:Jakob Langebek (1710–1775) founded the Society for the Improvement of the Danish Language, which opened the field of See also:philology. He began the great collection of Scriptores rerum Danicarum medii aevi (9 vols., Copenhagen, 1772–1878). In See also:jurisprudence Andreas Mier (1690–1739) represented the new impulse, and in See also:zoology Erik Pontoppidan (q.v.), the younger. This last name represents a lifelong activity in many branches of. literature. From Holberg's See also:college of Soro, two learned professors, Jens Schelderup Sneedorff (1724–1764) and Jens Kraft (1720-1765), disseminated the seeds of a wider culture. All these men were aided by the generous and enlightened patronage ' See Fr. W. See also:Horn, Peder Syv (Copenhagen, 1878). e See A. C. L. See also:Heiberg, Thomas Kingo (Odense, 1852). of Frederick V. A little later on, the German poet See also:Klopstock settled in Copenhagen, bringing with him the See also:prestige of his great reputation, and he had a strong influence in Germanizing Denmark. He founded, however, the Society for the Fine Arts, and had it richly endowed. The first See also:prize offered was won by Christian Braumann Tullin (1728-1765) for his beautiful poem of May-day. Tullin, a Norwegian by birth, represents the first accession of a study of external nature in Danish poetry; he was an ardent disciple of the English poet See also:Thomson. Christian Falster (1690-1752) wrote satires of some merit, but most of his work is in Latin. The New Heroic Poems of Jorgen Sorterup are notable as imitations of the old folk-literature. Ambrosius Stub 1 (1705-1758) was a lyrist of great sweetness, born before his due time, whose poems, not published till 1771, belong to a later age than their author. The Lyrical Revival.—Between 1742 and 1749, that is to say, at the very See also:climax of the personal activity of Holberg, several poets were born, who were destined to enrich the language with its first group of lyrical blossoms. Of these the two eldest, See also:Wessel and See also:Ewald, were men of extraordinary genius, and destined to fascinate the See also:attention of posterity, not only by the brilliance of their productions, but by the suffering and brevity of their lives. Johannes Ewald (q.v.; 1743-1781) was not only the greatest Danish lyrist of the 18th century, but he had few rivals in the whole of Europe. As a dramatist, pure and simple, his See also:bird-like See also:instinct of song carried him too often into a See also:sphere too exalted for the stage; but he has written nothing that is not stamped with the exquisite quality of distinction. Johan Herman Wessell (1742-1785) excited even greater hopes in his contemporaries, but left less that is immortal behind him. After the death of Holberg, the affectation of Gallicism had reappeared in Denmark; and the tragedies of See also:Voltaire, with their See also:stilted See also:rhetoric, were the most popular dramas of the day. Johan Nordahl Brun (1745-1816), a young writer who did better things later on, gave the See also:finishing See also:touch to the See also:exotic absurdity by bringing out a wretched piece called Zarina, which was hailed by the press as the first original Danish tragedy, although Ewald's exquisite Rolf Krage, which truly merited that title, had appeared two years before. Wessel, who up to that time had only been known as the See also:president of a See also:club of wits, immediately wrote Love without Stockings (1772), in which a See also:plot of the most abject triviality is worked out in strict accordance with the rules of French tragedy, and in most pompous and pathetic Alexandrines. The effect of this piece was magical; the Royal See also:Theatre ejected its See also:cuckoo-brood of French plays, and even the See also:Italian opera. It was now essential that every performance should be national, and in the Danish language. To supply the place of the opera, native musicians, and especially J. P. E. See also:Hartmann, set the dramas of Ewald and others, and thus the Danish school of See also:music originated. Johan Nordahl Brun's best work is to be found in his patriotic songs and his hymns. He became bishop of See also:Bergen in 1803. Of the other poets of the revival the most important were born in Norway. Nordahl Brun, Claus Frimann (1746-1829), Claus See also:Fasting (1746-1791), who edited a brilliant aesthetic See also:journal, The Critical Observer, Christian H. Pram3 (1756-1821), author of Staerkodder, a romantic epic, based on Scandinavian legend, and Edverd Storm (1749-1794), were associates and mainly See also:fellow-students at Copenhagen, where they introduced a style peculiar to themselves, and distinct from that of the true Danes. Their lyrics celebrated the mountains and See also:rivers of the magnificent country they had left; and, while introducing images and scenery unfamiliar to the inhabitants of monotonous Denmark, they enriched the language with new words and phrases. This group of writers is now claimed by the Norwegians as the founders of a Norwegian literature; but their true place is certainly among the Danes, to whom they primarily appealed. They added 1 His collected works were edited by Fr. Barford (Copenhagen, 5th ed., 1879). 2 Wessel's Digte (3rd ed., 1895) are edited by J. Levin, with a See also:biographical introduction. 3 A biography by his friend, K. L. Rahbek, is prefixed to a selection of his poetry (6 vols., 1824-1829).nothing to the development of the drama, except in the person of N. K. Bredal (1733-1778), who became director of the Royal Danish Theatre, and the writer of some mediocre plays. To the same period belong a few prose writers of See also:eminence. See also:Werner Abrahamson (1744-1812) was the first aesthetic critic Denmark produced. Johan Clemens Tode (1736-1806) was eminent in many branches of science, but especially as a medical writer. Ove See also:Malling (1746-1829) was an untiring See also:collector of historical data, which he annotated in a lively style. Two historians of more definite claim on our attention are See also:Peter Frederik Suhm (1728-1798), whose History of Denmark (11 vols., Copenhagen, 1782—1812) contains a mass of original material, and Ove Guldberg (1731-1808). In See also:theology Christian Bastholm (1740-1819) and See also:Nicolai Edinger Balle (1744-1816), bishop of Zealand, a Norwegian by birth, demand a reference. But the only really great prose-writer of the period was the Norwegian, Niels Treschow (1751-1833), whose philosophical works are composed in an admirably lucid style, and are distinguished for their See also:depth and originality. The poetical revival sank in the next generation to a more See also:mechanical level. The number of writers of some talent was very great, but genius was wanting. Two intimate friends, See also:Jonas See also:Rein (,76o-1821) and Jens Zetlitz (1761-1821), attempted, with indifferent success, to continue the tradition of the Norwegian group. Thomas Thaarup (1749-1821) Was a fluent and eloquent writer of occasional poems, and of homely dramatic idylls. The early death of Ole Samsoe (1759-1796) prevented the development of a dramatic talent that gave rare promise. But while poetry languished, prose, for the first time, began to flourish in Denmark. Knud Lyne Rahbek (1760-1830) was a pleasing novelist, a dramatist of some merit, a pathetic elegist, and a witty song-writer; he was also a man full of the literary instinct, and through a long life he never ceased to busy himself with editing the works of the older poets, and spreading among the people a knowledge of Danish literature through his See also:magazine, See also:Minerva, edited in conjunction with C. H. See also:Pram. Peter Andreas Heiberg (1758-1841) was a political and aesthetic critic of See also:note. He was exiled from Denmark in company with another sympathizer with the principles of the French Revolution, Malte See also:Conrad See also:Brunn (1775-1826), who settled in Paris, and attained a world-wide reputation as a geographer. O. C. Olufsen (1764-1827) was a writer on See also:geography, zoology and political economy. Rasmus Nyerup (1759-1829) expended an immense energy in the compilation of admirable works on the history of language and literature. From 1778 to his death he exercised a great power in the statistical and critical departments of letters. The best historian of this period, however, was Engelstoft (1774-1850), and the most brilliant theologian Bishop Mynster (1775-1854). In the annals of modern science Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) is a name universally honoured. He explained his inventions and described his discoveries in language so lucid and so characteristic that he claims an honoured place in the literature of the country of whose culture, in other branches, he is one of the most distinguished ornaments. On the threshold of the romantic movement occurs the name of Jens See also:Baggesen (q.v.; 1764-18a6), a man of great genius, whose work was entirely independent of the influences around him. Jens Baggesen is the greatest comic poet that Denmark has produced; and as a satirist and witty lyrist he has no rival among the Danes. In his hands the difficulties of the language disappear; he performs with the utmost ease extraordinary tours de force of style. His astonishing talents were wasted on trifling themes and in a fruitless resistance to the modern spirit in literature. Romanticism.— With the beginning of the 19th century the new light in philosophy and poetry, which radiated from Germany through all parts of Europe, found its way into Denmark also, In scarcely any country was the result so rapid or so brilliant. There arose in Denmark a school of poets who created for them-selves a reputation in all parts of Europe, and would have done honour to any nation or any age. The splendid cultivation of metrical art threw other branches into the shade; and the epoch of which we are about to speak is eminent above all for mastery over verse. The See also:swallow who heralded the summer was a German by birth, Adolph Wilhelm See also:Schack von Staffeldt1 (1769–1826), who came over to Copenhagen from Pomerania, and prepared the way for the new movement. Since Ewald no one had written Danish lyrical verse so exquisitely as Schack von Staffeldt, and the depth and scientific precision of his thought won him a title which he has preserved, of being the first philosophic poet of Denmark. The writings of this man are the deepest and most serious which Denmark had produced, and at his best he yields to no one in choice and skilful use of expression. This sweet song of Schack von Staffeldt's, however, was early silenced by the louder See also:choir that one by one broke into music around him. It was Adam Gottlob See also:Ohlenschlager (q.v.; 1779–'85o), the greatest poet of Denmark, who was to bring about the new romantic movement. In 1802 he happened to meet the young Norwegian Henrik See also:Steffens (1773–1845), who had just returned from a scientific tour in Germany, full of the doctrines of See also:Schelling. Under the immediate direction of Steffens, Ohlenschlager began an entirely new poetic style, and destroyed all his earlier verses. A new epoch in the language began, and the rapidity and matchless facility of the new poetry was the wonder of Steffens himself. The old Scandinavian mythology lived in the hands of Ohlenschlager exactly as the classical See also:Greek religion was born again in See also:Keats. He aroused in his people the slumbering sense of their Scandinavian nationality. The retirement of Ohlenschlager comparatively early in life, left the way open for the development of his younger con-temporaries, among whom several had genius little inferior to his own. See also:Steen Steensen Blicher (1782—1848) was a Jutlander, and preserved all through life the characteristics of his sterile and sombre fatherland. After a struggling youth of great poverty, he published, in 1807–1809, a translation of See also:Ossian; in 1814 a volume of lyrical poems; and in 1817 he attracted considerable attention by his descriptive poem of The Tour in Jutland. His real genius, however, did not lie in the direction of verse; and his first See also:signal success was with a story, A Village See also:Sexton's See also:Diary, in 1824, which was rapidly followed by other tales, descriptive of village life in Jutland, for the next twelve years. These were collected in five volumes (1833–1836). His masterpiece is a collection of short stories, called The See also:Spinning Room. He also produced many national lyrics of great beauty. But it was Blicher's use of See also:patois which delighted his countrymen with a sense of freshness and strength. They felt as though they heard Danish for the first time spoken in its fulness. The poet Aarestrup (in 1848) declared that Blicher had raised the Danish language to the dignity of Icelandic. Blicher is a stern realist, in many points akin to See also:Crabbe, and takes a singular position among the romantic idealists of the period, being like them, however, in the love of precise and choice language, and hatred of the mere common-places of imaginative writing.2 Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (q.v.; 1783–1872), like Ohlenschlager, learned the principles of the German romanticism from the lips of Steffens. He adopted the idea of introducing the Old Scandinavian element into art, and even into life, still more earnestly than the older poet. Bernhard Severin See also:Ingemann (q.v.; 1789–1862) contributed to Danish literature historical romances in the style of See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott. Johannes Carsten See also:Hauch (q.v.; 1790—1872) first distinguished himself as a disciple of Ohlenschlager, and fought under him in the strife against the old school and Baggesen. But the master misunderstood the disciple; and the harsh repulse of Ohlenschlager silenced Hauch for many years. He possessed, however, a strong and fluent genius, which eventually made itself heard in a multitude of volumes, poems, dramas and novels. All that Hauch wrote is marked by great qualities, and by distinction; he had a native bias towards the mystical, which, however, he learned to keep in See also:abeyance. 1 See F. L. Liebenberg, Schack Staffeldts samlede Digte (2 vols., Copenhagen, '843), and Samlinger til Schack Staffeldts Levnet (4 vols., '846-1851). 2 Blicher's Tales were edited by P. Hansen (3 vols., Copenhagen, '871), and his Poems in 187o. Johan Ludvig Heiberg (q.v.; '791–1860) was a critic who ruled the world of Danish See also:taste for many years. His mother, the Baroness Gyllembourg-Ehrensvard (q.v.; '773—1856), wrote a large number of anonymous novels. Her knowledge of life, her sparkling wit and her almost faultless style, make these short stories masterpieces of their kind. Christian Hviid Bredahl (1784–186o) produced six volumes of Dramatic Scenes3 (1819–1833) which, in spite of their many brilliant qualities, were little appreciated at the time. Bredahl gave up literature in despair to become a peasant farmer, and died in poverty. Ludvig Adolf Bodtcher (1793–1874) wrote a single volume of lyrical poems, which he gradually enlarged in succeeding editions. He was a consummate artist in verse, and his impressions are given with the most delicate exactitude of phrase, and in a very fine See also:strain of See also:imagination. He was a quietist and an epicurean, and the closest parallel to See also:Horner in the literature of the North. Most of Bodtcher's poems deal with Italian life, which he learned to know thoroughly during a long See also:residence in See also:Rome. He was secretary to See also:Thorwaldsen for a considerable time. Christian See also:Winther (q.v.; '796–1876) made the island of Zealand his loving study, and that province of Denmark belongs to him no less thoroughly than the See also:Cumberland lakes belong to See also:Wordsworth. Between the latter poet and Winther there was much resemblance. He was, without compeer, the greatest See also:pastoral lyrist of Denmark. His exquisite strains, in which pure imagination is blended with most accurate and realistic descriptions of scenery and rural life, have an extraordinary charm not easily described. The youngest of the great poets born during the last twenty years of the '8th century was Henrik See also:Hertz (q.v.; 1797–1870). As a satirist and comic poet he followed Baggesen, and in all branches of the poetic art stood a little aside out of the main current of romanticism. He introduced into the Danish literature of his time inestimable elements of lucidity and purity. In his best pieces Hertz is the most modern and most See also:cosmopolitan of the Danish writers of his time. It is noticeable that all the great poets of the romantic period lived to an advanced age. Their prolonged literary activity—for some of them, like Grundtvig, were busy to the last—had a slightly damping influence on their younger contemporaries, but certain names in the next generation have special prominence. Hans Christian See also:Andersen (q.v.; 1805–1875) was the greatest of modern fabulists. In 1835 there appeared the first collection of his See also:Fairy Tales, and won him a world-wide reputation. Almost every year from this time forward until near his death he published about See also:Christmas time one or two of these unique stories, so delicate in their See also:humour and pathos, and so masterly in their simplicity. Carl Christian Bagger (1807–1846) published volumes in 1834 and '836 which gave promise of a great future,—a promise broken by his early death. Frederik Paludan-See also: Liebenberg.
Antiquity, and the translator of many of the sagas. See also: Mention must also be made of two dramatists, Peter See also:Thun Feorsom (1777-1817) ,who produced an excellent translation of Shakespeare (1807-1816), and Thomas Overskou (1798-1873), author of a long series of successful comedies, and of a history of the Danish theatre (5 vols., Copenhagen, 1854-1864). Other writers whose names connect the age of romanticism with a later period were See also:Meyer Aron See also:Goldschmidt (1819-1887), author of novels and tales; Herman Frederik Ewald (1821-1908), who wrote a long series of historical novels; Jens Christian Hostrup (1818-1892), a writer of exquisite comedies; and the See also:miscellaneous writer Erik Bogh (1822-1899). In zoology, J. J. S. Steenstrup (1813-1898); in philology, J. N. See also:Madvig (1804-1886) and his disciple V. See also:Thomsen (b. 1842); in antiquarianism, C. J. Thomsen (1788-1865) and J. J. Asmussen Worsaae (1821-1885); and in philosophy, Rasmus Nielsen (1809-1884) and Hans Brochner (1820-1875), deserve mention. The development of imaginative literature in Denmark became very closely defined during the latter half of the 19th century. The romantic movement culminated in several poets of great eminence, whose deaths prepared the way for a new school. In 1874 Bodtcher passed away, in 1875 Hans Christian Andersen, in the last week of 1876 Winther, and the greatest of all, Frederik Paludan-Muller. The field was therefore left open to the successors of those idealists, and in 1877 the reaction began to be felt. The eminent critic, Dr Georg See also:Brandes (q.v.), had long foreseen the decline of pure romanticism, and had advocated a more See also:objective and more exact treatment of literary phenomena. Accordingly, as soon as all the great See also:planets had disappeared, a new See also:constellation was perceived to have risen, and all the stars in it had been lighted by the See also:enthusiasm of Brandes. The new writers were what he called Naturalists, and their sympathies were with the latest forms of exotic, but particularly of French literature. Among these fresh forces three immediately took place as leaders—Jacobsen, See also:Drachmann and See also:Schandorph. In J. P. See also:Jacobsen (q.v.; 1847-1885) Denmark was now taught to welcome the greatest artist in prose which she has ever possessed; his See also:romance of See also:Marie Grubbe led off the new school with. a production of unexampled beauty. But Jacobsen died young, and the work was really carried out by his two companions. Holger Drachmann (q.v.; 1846-1908) began life as a marine painter; and a first little volume of poems, which he published in 1872, attracted slight attention. In 1877 he came forward again with one volume of verse, another of fiction, a third of travel; in each he displayed great vigour and freshness of touch, and he rose at one leap to the highest position among men of promise. Drachmann retained his place, without rival, as the leading imaginative writer in Denmark. For many years he made the aspects of life at sea his particular theme, and he contrived to rouse the patriotic enthusiasm of the Danish public as it had never been roused before. His various and unceasing productiveness, hisfreshness and vigour, and the inexhaustible richness of his lyric versatility, early brought Drachmann to the front and kept him there. Meanwhile prose imaginative literature was ably sup-ported by Sophus Schandorph (1836-1901), who had been entirely out of sympathy with the idealists, and had taken no step while that school was in the ascendant. In 1876, in his fortieth year, he was encouraged by the change in taste to publish a volume of realistic stories, Country Life, and in 1878 a novel, Without a Centre. He has some relation with See also:Guy de See also:Maupassant as a close See also:analyst of modern types of character, but he has more humour. He has been compared with such Dutch painters of low life as See also:Teniers. His talent reached its height in the novel called Little Folk (188o), a most admirable study of lower middle-class life in Copenhagen. He was for a while, without doubt, the leading living novelist, and he went on producing works of great force, in which, however, a certain monotony is apparent. The three leaders had meanwhile been joined by certain younger men who took a prominent position. Among these Karl Gjellerup and Erik Skram were the earliest. Gjellerup (b. 1857), whose first works of importance date from 1878, was long uncertain as to the direction of his powers; he was poet, novelist, moralist and biologist in one; at length he settled down into line with the new realistic school, and produced in 1882 a satirical novel of See also:manners which had a great success, The Disciple of the Teutons. Erik Skram (b. 1847) had in an written a solitary novel, Gertrude Coldbjornsen, which created a sensation, and was hailed by Brandes as exactly representing the " See also:naturalism " which he desired to see encouraged; but Skram has written little else of importance. Other writers of reputation in the naturalistic school were Edvard Brandes (b. 1847), and Herman See also:Bang (b. 1858). Peter Nansen (b. 1861) has come into wide notoriety as the author, in particularly beautiful Danish, of a series of stories of a pronouncedly sexual type, among which Maria (1894) has been. the most successful. Meanwhile, several of the elder generation, unaffected by the movement of See also:realism, continued to please the public. Three lyrical poets, H. V. Kaalund (1818-1885), Carl Ploug (1813-1894) and Christian Richardt (1831-1892), of very great talent, were not yet silent, and among the See also:veteran novelists were still active H. F. Ewald and Thomas See also:Lange (1829-1887). Ewald's son Carl (1856-1908) achieved a great name as a novelist, but did his most characteristic work in a series of books for See also:children, in which he used the fairy See also:tale, in the manner of Hans Andersen, as a vehicle for See also:satire and a theory of morals. During the whole of this period the most popular writer of Denmark was J. C. C. Brosboll (1816-1900), who wrote, under the pseudonym Carit Etlar, a vast number of tales. Another popular novelist was Viihelm Bergsoe (b. 1835), author of In the See also:Sabine Mountains (1871), and other romances. Sophus Bauditz (b. 185o) persevered in composing novels which attain a wide general popularity. Mention must be made also of the dramatist Christian Molbech (182I-1888). Between 1885 and 1892 there was a transitional period in Danish literature. Up to that time all the leaders had been united in accepting the naturalistic See also:formula, which was combined with an individualist and a radical tendency. In 1885, however, Drachmann, already the recognized first poet of the country, threw off his See also:allegiance to Brandes, denounced the exotic tradition, declared himself a Conservative, and took up a national and patriotic attitude. He was joined a little later by Gjellerup, while Schandorph remained stanchly by the side of Brandes. The See also:camp was thus divided. New writers began to make their See also:appearance, and, while some of these were stanch to Brandes, others were inclined to hold rather with Drachmann. Of the authors who came forward during this period of transition, the strongest novelist proved to be Hendrik Pontoppidan (b. 1857). In some of his books he reminds the reader of Turgeniev. Pontoppidan published in 1898 the first volume of a great novel entitled Lykke-Per, the biography of a typical Jutlander named Per Sidenius, a work to be completed in eight volumes. From 1893 to 1909 no great features of a fresh kind revealed themselves. The Danish public, grown tired of realism, and satiated with pathological phenomena, returned to a fresh study, of their own national characteristics. The cultivation of verse, which was greatly discouraged in the eighties, returned. Drachmann was supported by excellent younger poets of his school. J. J. Jorgensen (b. 1866), a Catholic decadent, was very prolific. See also:Otto C. Fonss (b. 1853) published seven little volumes of graceful lyrical poems in praise of gardens and of farm-life. Andreas Dolleris (b. 185o), of Vejle, showed himself an occasional poet of merit. Alfred Ipsen (b. 1852) must also be mentioned as a poet and critic. Valdemar Rordam, whose The Danish Tongue was the lyrical success of 1901, may also be named. Some attempts were made to transplant the theories of the symbolists to Denmark, but without signal success. On the other hand, something of a revival of naturalism is to be observed in the powerful studies of low life admirably written by Karl Larsen (b. 186o). The drama has long flourished in Denmark. The principal theatres are liberally open to fresh dramatic talent of every kind, and the great fondness of the Danes for this form of entertainment gives unusual See also:scope for experiments in halls or private theatres; nothing is too See also:eccentric to hope to obtain somewhere a fair See also:hearing. Drachmann produced with very great success several romantic dramas founded on the national legends. Most of the novelists and poets already mentioned also essayed the stage, and to those names should be added these of Einar Christiansen (b. 1861), See also:Ernst von der Recke (b. 1848), Oskar See also:Benton (b. 1856) and Gustav Wied (b. 1858).
In theology no names were as eminent as in the preceding generation, in which such writers as H. N. Clausen (1793—1877), and still more Hans See also:Lassen See also:Martensen (1808—1884), lifted the prestige of Danish divinity to a high point. But in history the Danes have been very active. Karl See also: About 188o several of the younger historians formed the See also:plan of combining to investigate and publish the sources of Danish history; in this the indefatigable Johannes Steenstrup (b. 1844) was prominent. The domestic history of the country began, about 1885, to occupy the attention of Edvard Holm (b. 1833), O. Nielsen and the veteran P. Frederik Barfod (1811—1896). The See also:naval histories of G. Liitken attracted much notice. Besides the names already mentioned, A. D. Jorgensen (1840--1897), J. Fredericia (b. 1849), Christian Erslev (b. 1852) and Vilhelm Mollerup have all distinguished them-selves in the excellent school of Danish historians. In 1896 an elaborate composite history of Denmark was undertaken by some leading historians (pub. 1897—1905). In philosophy nothing has recently been published of the highest value. Martensen's Jakob Bohme (1881) belongs to an earlier period. H. See also:Hoffding (b. 1843) has been the most prominent contributor to See also:psychology. His Problems of Philosophy and his Philosophy of Religion were translated into English in 1906. Alfred See also:Lehmann (b. 1858) has, since 1896, attracted a great deal of attention by his sceptical investigation of psychical phenomena. F. Ronning has written on the history of thought in Denmark. In the See also:criticism of art, See also:Julius Lange (1838—1896), and later Karl Madsen, have done excellent service. In literary criticism Dr Georg Brandes is notable for the long period during which he remained pre-dominant. His was a steady and stimulating presence, ever pointing to the best in art and thought, and his influence on his age was greater than that of any other Dane.
(2 vols., 1873–1876) by E See also:Collin; Chr. Bruun, Bibliotheca Danica
(3 vols., 1872–1896) ; Bricka, Dansk biografisk Lexikon (1887–1901) ; J. Paludan, Danmarks Literatur i Middelalderen (Copenhagen, 1896) ; P. Hansen, Illustreret Dansk Literaturhistorie (3 vols., 1901–1902) ; F. W. Horn, History of the Scandinavian North from the most ancient times to the present (English translation by Rasmus B. See also: See also:Schweitzer, Geschichte der Skandinavischen Litteratur (3 pts., See also:Leipzig, 1886-1889), forming vol. viii. of the Geschichte der Welt See also:DENNIS litteratur. See also Brandes, Kritiker og Portraiter (187o) ; Brandes, Danske Ditgere (1877); Marie Herzfeld, See also:Die Skandinavische Litteratur and ihre Tendenzen (See also:Berlin and Leipzig, 1898) ; Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, Essays on Scandinavian Literature (London, 1895); See also:Edmund See also:Gosse, Studies in the Literature of Northern Europe (new ed., London, 1883) ; Vilhelm Andersen, Litteraturbilleder (Copenhagen, 1903) ; A. P. J. Schener, Kortfattet Indledning til Romantikkus Periode i Danmarks Litteratur (Copenhagen, 1894). (E. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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