As the young prince was only ten years of age when this second northern crown was placed upon his head, it was of course necessary to choose some one to govern in his name; and the great skill Queen Margaret had shown in ruling Denmark for her son now made the Norwegian people entrust the regency, with full regal powers, to her during the minority of her son. Olaf's death in 1387, at the age of seventeen, and before he had begun to exercise any authority in the state, seemed for the moment to threaten the peace of the kingdom. But the confidence which the nation had learnt to place in Queen Margaret led the Council of State, without any long delay, to follow the example set by the Danes, in begging her to retain the regal power, and continue to rule the kingdom with the. rank of an independent sovereign. She was solemnly proclaimed Queen of Norway at Oslö in 1388, and from that time till her death in 1412, the Norwegians had little reason to repent of their choice, for while she kept the country free from enemies abroad, she caused the laws to be carried out with equal justice against rich and poor, and brought the kingdom into a condition of peace and order, which it had not known for ages. Her popularity in Norway led the Norwegian Council of State to agree to the plans which she had most at heart in regard to the choice of a successor, and the union of the three northern kingdoms under one sovereign; although in both these important matters the wishes and hopes of the nation at large were entirely opposed to her own. Yet so great was the influence of Margaret, that while she lived the Norwegians allowed themselves to be governed by Erik of Pomerania, for whom she had secured the three northern crowns, conjointly with herself; and after her death, in respect for her memory, they long continued true to him, although by his folly and weakness he had forfeited all claim to their respect and loyalty.

PART III.

THE TRIPLE-CROWNED QUEEN.

Margaret, 1387-1397.-Before we close this chapter we must enter somewhat more fully into the story of Olaf's death, and the events which led his subjects to choose Queen Margaret to succeed him. Olaf had died suddenly in 1387, while staying with Queen Margaret at Falsterbo, and the common people, as was often the case in that age, supposed that he had been poisoned, while many years afterwards her enemies spread a report that he had not died in his youth, as was supposed, but had been carried away out of Norway by his mother's orders. This absurd story led to a plot being formed against her in the year 1402, when an impostor appeared at Danzig, who gave himself out to be King Olaf, but the falseness of his claims was soon brought to light; and he was given up to the queen, who caused him to be burnt in the market-place at Falsterbo.

The real Olaf, of whose death there was no doubt, had received a solemn funeral at Lund in Skaania, after having lain in state for some days, wrapped in his royal robes, and wearing the crown on his head, while his heart, embalmed and enclosed in a silver shrine, was carried across the Sound to Denmark, where it was deposited in the abbey church at Sorö. As soon as Olaf's death was known, Albert the Elder, King of Sweden, appealed to the Danish people for their support, and as the heir of his nephew, Albert the Younger, grandson of Valdemar III., demanded the crown of Denmark, but the Danes paid no attention to his demands, and ten days after Olaf had been laid in his grave, the Thing of Skaania made choice of "their dearly loved, high-born princess and lady, Margaret, to be sole and independent ruler of Denmark." The Things of the Islands and of Jutland fully concurred in this choice, and all agreed in declaring that they had taken the unusual step of choosing a woman instead of a man to be their ruler, not so much because the Lady Margaret was the nearest heir of her

father, the late King Valdemar III., but chiefly on account of her great, many, and well-tried merits. "They then did homage to her as their "true king and master," promising to serve and obey her all their days, unless she of her own accord should wish to give them a king to rule over the land.

In the following year the Norwegians followed the example of the Danes, and at the diet which met in 1388 at Oslö, Margaret was proclaimed Queen of Norway, and by her own wish the little prince, Erik of Pomerania, grandson of her sister Ingeborg, was chosen as her successor. Margaret had adopted this boy soon after her son's death, and from the moment that the little prince, who was only five years old at the time, came to Denmark from his home in Germany, she acted towards him in all respects as if he had been her own child, causing him to be treated with the greatest respect by her officers and attendants, and to be instructed in all the learning and accomplishments befitting a prince. By her special desire, the Danes acknowledged the little Erik as her successor on the throne of Denmark; and when she had secured to him the heritage of the Danish and Norwegian crowns, she seemed to feel as if she were merely to govern as a regent for him. Although as long as she lived all power in both kingdoms rested in her hands, she professed to reign in Erik's name during his childhood; and when he was declared of age, she caused him to take his place by her side on the throne, and tried in all ways to push him forward and make him appear to be the real sovereign. Her subjects seem, however, to have been well aware that it was to her alone to whom they owed the order which prevailed during her reign in Denmark and Norway, while her fame soon spread far beyond the northern kingdoms. We are told by the writers of the great Chronicle of Lübeck, that "when men saw the wisdom and strength that were in this royal lady, wonder and fear. filled their hearts. She made peace with old foes, and kept good order over her people, gaining to her side both nobles and peasants. She went from castle to castle, and received the homage and faithful service of the great; she journeyed from province to province, and looked well into matters of law and of right, until all obeyed and served her; justice was

done in the land, and even the high-born sea-robbers, who so long had plagued the kingdom and defied the laws, were seized with terror, and were glad to come forward and give surety in money for their future good conduct." The writers of the same chronicle who bear this testimony to Margaret's talents for ruling, tell us that "great marvel it is to think that a lady, who, when she began to govern for her son found a troubled kingdom, in which she owned not money or credit enough to secure a meal without the aid of friends, had made herself so feared and loved in the short term of three months, that nothing in all the land was any longer withheld from her and her son."

PART IV.

SWEDEN UNDER A QUEEN.

Margaret receives a third Crown.-While Denmark and Norway were thus enjoying greater security and quiet than either kingdom had known for many generations, Sweden continued in an unsettled state, owing to the discontent of the people with the king, Albert the Elder of Mecklenburg, whom they had themselves chosen to replace their former feeble ruler, Magnus Smek. Albert, although unable to govern the one kingdom that had so unexpectedly been put under him, was eager to secure Denmark as well; and when his nephew Albert the Younger, grandson of Valdemar III. died, he had, as we have seen, pretended that this young prince's claims on the Danish crown had passed to him. He found, however, that the Danes would not listen to his pretensions, and that his attempted invasion of the Danish kingdom had only brought loss and disgrace upon himself, which made him conceive the greatest hatred for the successful Margaret, whom he tried to bring into ridicule in every possible way. This conduct on his part roused the Queen's anger against him, and made her the more ready to listen to those Swedish nobles who, soon after she became ruler of Denmark and Norway, had come to entreat that she would accept the crown of Sweden, and try to restore order in that kingdom as she had done

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in the other Scandinavian lands. It was a pity that Queen Margaret had not contented herself with the two crowns which were already hers, for three were surely too much for any woman, especially as the greater number of her predecessors had found it no easy matter to bear the burden of one northern crown.

As soon as it was known that Margaret intended to take possession of Sweden, Albert raised an army of hired German troops, and prepared to take the field against her. She in the meanwhile had collected a large force, consisting of Danes, under her general, Ivar Lykke; Norwegians under the knight, Henrik Parrow; and Swedes, under Erik Kettlesson; and in the first battle which was fought between them the Swedish king was completely defeated. The hostile armies met at Leahy, a little hamlet between Falköping and Jonköping, on the 24th February, 1389, where the greater number of Albert's German troops were cut down or drowned while they were trying to force their way over the morasses, which lay between them and the queen's forces. Albert himself and his son, together with many knights, were taken captive before they could make their escape from the boggy ground which gave way under their heavily-weighted horses; and being led into the presence of the Queen, who had awaited the result of the battle within the castle of Bohus, the unhappy father and son were made to atone on the rack and by a long imprisonment for the many insulting words and acts of which they had been guilty towards Margaret.

Albert punished for his insults.-The rhyming chronicles of those times relate that King Albert had insulted the Queen by sending her a long gown and an apron, with a whetstone to sharpen her needles, and had spoken of her as the "unbreeched king" and "the monks' wife," in allusion to the favour which she showed the prelates, and had tried in every way to bring ridicule and discredit upon her. It is said that when Albert fell into her power, she avenged herself for these insults by causing him to be dressed in a long gown, bib and tucker, and by having a fool's cap put on his head with a tail dangling from it which was nineteen ells in length. Then after letting her servants keep him on the rack till he had promised to give