Kalmar unionen flagga
From to , [ 1 ] it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark , Sweden then including much of present-day Finland , and Norway , together with Norway's overseas colonies [ b ] then including Iceland , Greenland , [ c ] the Faroe Islands , and the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland. The union was not quite continuous; there were several short interruptions.
Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states. However, their domestic and foreign policies were directed by a common monarch. Gustav Vasa 's election as King of Sweden on 6 June , and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later, marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union. The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy who sought to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League , a northern German trade league centered around the Baltic and North Seas.
Denmark in particular was in a power struggle with the League and had recently suffered a humiliating defeat in the Danish-Hanseatic War that allowed the League to become even more powerful. On the personal level, the union was achieved by Queen Margaret I of Denmark — Margaret succeeded in having her and Haakon's son Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark.
Margaret became regent of Denmark and Norway when Olaf died in , leaving her without an heir.
Kalmar Union Flag
One main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the perpetual struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility, which did not. Diverging interests especially the Swedish nobility 's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein gave rise to a conflict that hampered the union in several intervals starting in the s.
The Engelbrekt rebellion , which started in , led to the overthrow of King Erik in Denmark and Sweden in , as well as Norway in King Erik's foreign policy, in particular his conflict with the Hanseatic League, necessitated greater taxation and complicated exports of iron, which in turn may have precipitated the rebellion. The death of Christopher of Bavaria who had no heirs in ended a period in which the three Scandinavian kingdoms were uninterruptedly united for a lengthy period.
Christian of Oldenburg was king of Denmark — , Norway — and Sweden — Karl and Christian fought over control of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, leading Christian to seize Sweden from him from to before a rebellion led Karl to become king of Sweden again. After the death of Karl, Sweden was mostly ruled by a series of "protectors of the realm" riksföreståndare , with the Danish kings attempting to assert control.
First of these protectors was Sten Sture, who kept Sweden under his control until when the Swedish nobility deposed him. A peasant rebellion led Sture to become regent of Sweden again in This did not happen. Instead, Norway became a hereditary kingdom in a real union with Denmark. The ensuing union between Sweden and Norway lasted until , when prince Carl of Denmark , a grandson of both the incumbent king of Denmark and the late king of Sweden , was elected king of Norway.
According to historian Sverre Bagge, the Kalmar Union was unstable for several reasons: [ 9 ].
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The Kalmar Union
In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Personal union in Scandinavia. The Kalmar Union, c. None de jure Copenhagen de facto. Denmark Finland Iceland Norway Sweden.