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Abstract
The personal union between Norway and Sweden, established in 1319, has received little interest by historians, and is usually seen as terminated in 1363, if not earlier. But it was, in fact, an important factor in Scandinavian politics all the way until the establishment of the Kalmar Union under Queen Margrete in 1389. Important parts of western Sweden stayed in the union with Norway, which gave the now Norwegian-based old Swedish dynasty an important bridge-head and opened for contacts between Margrete and Swedish oppositionals. The territorial uncertainty along the western Swedish border also played a part when the Swedish lords opted for a union with Denmark and Norway.
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Notes
1 I am grateful to my colleague Liesbeth Geevers for a fruitful discussion on an early draft of this article.
2 The spelling of names of historical actors varies between the Scandinavian languages and some also traditionally have their name translated into English. I will use the modern name forms which are most commonly in use in the country in which the person was most active or is most associated with, thus Queen Margrete (Danish) rather than Margareta (Swedish) or Margreth (English), King Håkon rather than Håkan, King Olav rather than Oluf, and so on.
3 Lönnroth, Sverige och Kalmarunionen, 10.
4 For example Imsen and Sandnes, Norges historie 4, 298–304; Hørby, Velstands krise, 291–4.
5 Enemark, Fra Kalmarbrev til Stockholms blodbad, 17–23, with references to previous authors.
6 Larsson, Kalmarunionens tid, 27.
7 Opsahl, ‘Til noreghes vil jak ey’.
8 Blom, Norge i union, 1–2. There is no corresponding work on the union from a Swedish perspective.
9 Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 29–46.
10 Christensen, Kalmarunionen.
11 There is also reason to mention Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hand, but despite its subtitle (‘The Quest for Power in the Nordic area ca. 1365-1389’), it focuses on Denmark and its north German connections.
12 A recent example of the latter is Aronsson, Löfte, tvist och försoning, who, in his account of ‘Nordic princely conflicts, 1300-1375’, 147–50, doesn’t even mention the union.
13 The north German scene is well covered in Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd. See also Tägil, Valdemar Atterdag och Europa, which shows the extensive European network of the Danish king.
14 ‘Folkungar’ was a name given in the early modern period to the dynasty starting with Birger Jarl in the middle of the 13th century. It is based on a misunderstanding, as in reality they were a group hostile to Birger Jarl.
15 On the politics of the 1310s, see Rosén, Striden mellan Birger Magnusson och hans bröder.
16 The most thorough study of the Swedish-Norwegian union is Blom, Norge i union. See also Nordberg, I kung Magnus tid; Tunberg, Sveriges historia, 181–269; Carlsson, Medeltidens nordiska unionstanke, 16–35; Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 42–94. A good overview of Norwegian history of the period, including its Nordic connections, is given in Moseng et al., Norsk historie.
17 South Halland actually belonged, since the late 1320s, to his mother’s, Duchess Ingebjørg’s, still under-aged children in her second marriage. On the complicated political history of Halland in the 14th century see Wiking-Faria, ‘Norra Hallands många landbyten’; Wiking-Faria, ‘Hallands historia under 1000 år’, 118–21.
18 Hørby, Velstands krise, 185–96.
19 On the Scanian-Swedish union, see Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 48–55; Andersson, Skånes historia, 123–47; Wetterberg, Skånes historia, 557–69.
20 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 50–1.
21 Norges historie 15, map 56B.
22 Imsen and Sandnes, Norges historie 4, 45.
23 Harrison, Sveriges historia, 269; Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 77.
24 Strömberg, De svenska resande kungarna, 111.
25 SDHK 4906. For Swedish documents, I use the Main Register of the Swedish Diplomatarium (Svenskt diplomatariums huvudarkiv, SDHK) and the numbers given there. These sources are available at https://sok.riksarkivet.se/SDHK, where references to printed editions of the sources are also given. In a few cases late in my period, there are only short summaries in the SDHK; here, I refer to printed editions instead.
26 SDHK 4932.
27 Blom, Norge i union 1, 137.
28 The traditional view in, for example, Taranger, Norges historie 3:1, 75–6; Imsen and Sandnes, Norges historie 4, 41–8; discussions of the state of research in Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 61–4, 271; Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 51–3.
29 Blom, Norge i union 1, 146–9.
30 Blom, Norge i union 1, 137.
31 Blom, Norge i union 1, 137.
32 SDHK 4938, SDHK 4939.
33 ‘pro firmiore pacis federe inter filios suos et regna Noruegie et Swecie securius conseruando’; SDHK 4932.
34 On the desire for peace as a main objective in the agreements of the time, see Aronsson, Löfte, tvist och försoning.
35 ‘vera […] concordia’; ‘perpetue pacis tranquillitas’; SDHK 4906.
36 Blom, Norge i union 2, 402–5.
37 See e.g. Bjørkvik, Folketap og sammenbrudd, 141–3 (map on p.143).
38 Blom, Norge i union 2, 389 (quotation), 431–46.
39 The civil war is depicted in detail in Sjöstedt, Krisen inom det svensk-skånska väldet; see also Norborg, I kung Magnus tid, 219–140.
40 SDHK 7171.
41 Sjöstedt, Krisen inom den svensk-skånska väldet, 32–7.
42 Blom, Norge i union 2, 670–1.
43 ‘filio nostro et fratri suo charissimo domino Haquino Dei gratia Norvegiæ regi’; SDHK 7171.
44 Blom, Norge i union 2, 378.
45 In all probability, Håkon was elected at the traditional site close to Uppsala in February 1362, as he calls himself King of Sweden for the first time in a letter issued in Uppsala 15 February, sealed by many Swedish lords; SDHK 8082.
46 Norberg, I kung Magnus tid, 283–4.
47 Norberg, I kung Magnus tid, 301–2.
48 Engström, Bo Jonsson, 63–86; Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 81–4; Norberg, I kung Magnus tid, 301–10.
49 Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd, gives a detailed account of the Mecklenburgs’ quest for power in the Nordic countries; he interprets the whole period until the coming of the Kalmar union as a fight for domination in Scandinavia between the Danish royal house and the Mecklenburgs.
50 SDHK 7011.
51 SDHK 7010. As Sjöstedt, Krisen inom det svensk-skånska väldet, 146, states, they could claim a certain hereditary right to South Halland as they were descendants of Duchess Ingebjørg, their maternal grandmother. Since Bengt Algotsson was expelled, South Halland was without duke.
52 Engström, Bo Jonsson, 83, note 13. On the continuing Norwegian rule of these western Swedish provinces, especially Dalsland, see Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna 1356-1397. Del 1’; Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna 1356-1397. Del 3’.
53 Several castellans seem to have remained loyal to Magnus and Håkon for a long time; Narve Ingevaldsson at Åbo still defended the castle against Albrekt in 1365. Engström, Bo Jonsson, 85.
54 SDHK 8933.
55 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 86–7; Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd, 24–6; Tägil, Valdemar Atterdag och Europa, 282–8.
56 On the Danish hold on parts of Västergötland, see Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 67, 69–70.
57 Albrekt never managed to get hold of north and north-west Västergötland or of Värmland; the town of Lödöse was taken back by the Bjälbo dynasty after 1366; the castle of Axvall changed hands several times. Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 77; Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna. Del 1’, 164–9 on the strongholds held by the old dynasty.
58 Tunberg, Sveriges historia, 285–8; Engström, Bo Jonsson, 158–74.
59 There are two, partly different, accounts of the peace treaty, both in SDHK 9992, but they agree on giving Magnus an area in western Sweden.
60 E.g. in negotiations with the Hanse 1372, SDHK 10256; also SDHK 10180 of the same year.
61 Fritz, Land, hus och län 2, 67.
62 Blom, Norge i union 2, 435–9.
63 Norberg, I kung Magnus tid, 321.
64 ‘Magnus et Haquinus Dei gracia regnorum Swecie et Noruegie reges’; SDHK 20371.
65 SDHK 10953. Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna. Del 3’, 240–3, gives more examples of Håkon’s de facto rule of western Sweden.
66 SDHK 11544.
67 Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna. Del 3’, 265–6.
68 Blom, Norge i union 2, 7969, 810–11.
69 Gillingstam, ‘(Puke) Erik Kettilsson’.
70 Diplomatarium Norvegicum (DN) vol. 8 no 199, vol. 2 no. 459. The Norwegian diplomatarium is available at http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_felt.html. On Erik Kettilsson’s close relation to the old dynasty, see Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna. Del 1’, 169–79.
71 Blom, Norge i union 2, 796–9, 810–11.
72 Engström, Bo Jonsson, 68 n. 55; SDHK 12376. Several of the Swedes in the service of King Håkon married into the Norwegian high aristocracy and stayed in Norway; Schott, Les conseiller, 199–201.
73 ‘regis Norwegie et Swecie conciliarii’ DN vol. 8 no. 119.
74 Blom, Norge i union 2, 794.
75 Andersson, Skånes historia, 149–51.
76 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 87–9, 96–103; Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 76–7.
77 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 98.
78 Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 74–7.
79 Erslev, Dronning Margrethe, 75.
80 It is not unlikely that his death, as Hammeland has suggested, was caused by a wound or an illness contracted during the campaign in Sweden the same year. Hammeland, ‘Västra Sverige och folkungarna. Del 3’, 269.
81 Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 286–90. There are several good biographies of Margrete, dealing with her role as king-mother and regent: Erslev, Dronning Margrethe; Koht, Drottning Margareta; Linton, Margareta; Haug, Margrete. The personal union was, of course, foreseen already when the Danes chose Olav as king, as he was heir of Norway.
82 Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 67, 75.
83 Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 74.
84 SDHK 9872; ‘regina Scocie et Norwegie’, SDHK 39716.
85 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 108; ‘Norrigis, Danmarckis och Goute konning’, DN vol. 21 no. 163.
86 A good, recent account of ‘göticism’ is Stobaeus, ‘Göticismen och dess rötter’.
87 Stobaeus, ‘Göticismen och dess rötter’, 292. An example is a treaty between King Valdemar and the counts of Holstein of 1365, in which Valdemar is styled ‘der denen der wenden vnde der gothen konyng’, SDHK 8728.
88 ‘Olauus dei gracia Danorum Sclauorum Gothorumque rex’, Diplomatarium Danicum vol. IV:1 no. 40. The title was continuously in use, se e.g. a letter of 1378, SDHK 11222.
89 DN vol. 21 no. 169 (1381 or 1382), DN vol. 21 no. 170 (1383), DN vol. 21 no. 171 (1383 or 1384).
90 Tunberg, Sveriges historia, 306–8; Andersson, Skånes historia, 153–6.
91 Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 79–85.
92 Andersson, Skånes historia, 154, 152 about the inclination of some of the Scanian lords towards the Mecklenburgs; also noted by Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd, 150, 168.
93 See the list of Norwegian councillors in Schott, Les conseillers, 470–2. Although Schott’s thesis deals with the councillors in the Nordic realms from 1375 and onwards, she only starts in 1380 for Norway; that is why the Swedish councillors of Håkon VI are not present in her lists.
94 Haug, Margrete, 132.
95 ‘Dacie Norwegie Slaurorum Gothorumque rex et verus heres Swecie’, DD IV:2 no. 580.
96 ‘war erfname des rykes to Zweden’, DD IV:2 no. 575; on the dating of these documents, see Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 278 note 4.
97 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 108.
98 Magnus Erikssons landslag, eds Åke Holmbäck and Elias Wesén, Konungabalken IV, 4.
99 Tunberg, Sveriges historia, 309–17; Sällström, Aristokrati och hierarki, 1–15.
100 Haug, Margrete, 149–50.
101 Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 110–16; Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd, 279–83, on the Danish side of the process.
102 E.g. Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 109; Haug, Margrete, 149; Bøgh, Sejren i kvindens hånd, 172–3.
103 Sällström, Aristokrati och hierarki, 15.
104 Löfquist, Om riddareväsen, 262–3.
105 SDHK 15869.
106 ‘van den twen koningriken, alse Norweghen unde Dannemarke’.
107 Sverges traktater vol. 2, no. 411a.
108 Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 69–70.
109 Tunberg, Sveriges historia, 310.
110 Sällström, Aristokrati och hierarki, 9.
111 Fritz, Hus, land och län 2, 69.
112 There is a rich literature on Margrete’s steps to power in Sweden; see, with references to earlier works, Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 90–2.
113 Schück, Rikets brev och register, 201–2; Wiktorsson, ‘Var utfärdades den s.k. Dalaborgstraktaten?’.
114 According to an attested copy from the following year, Sverges traktater vol. 2, no. 411 a.
115 Schück, Rikets brev och register, 201–7.
116 The document in Sverges traktater vol. 2, no. 412.
117 E.g. Erslev, Dronning Margrethe, 157–9; Lönnroth, Sverige och Kalmarunionen, 12–13; Christensen, Kalmarunionen, 117; Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til, 91.
118 There are good accounts of the history of the Kalmar Union, e.g. Larsson, Kalmarunionen; Albrectsen, Fællesskabet bliver til.
119 A brief overview that focuses on the dissolution of the union is Gustafsson, ‘A State that Failed?’.
120 This bridgehead function is also underlined by Opsahl, ‘Til noreghes vil jak ey’, 34.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Harald Gustafsson
Harald Gustafsson is professor of history at Lund University, Sweden. A main research interest of him is state formation and political culture in the late medieval and early modern period, especially in the Nordic area. Among his publications in this field can be mentioned Political Interaction in the Old Regime. Central Power and Local Society in the Eighteenth-Century Nordic States (1994), Gamla riken, nya stater. Statsbildning, politisk kultur och identiteter under Kalmarunions upplösningsskede 1512–1541 (2000), ‘The Eighth Argument. Identity, Ethnicity and Political Culture in Sixteenth-Century Scandinavia’, Scandinavian Journal of History vol. 27 (2002), Makt och människor. Europeisk statsbildning från medeltiden till franska revolutionen (2010), and Nordens historia. En europeisk region under 1200 år (3rd ed., 2017). [email: [email protected]]