in the minds of his subjects. Margaret had possessed great tact in keeping the nobles under subjection, while she never lost their affection, and she had secured the goodwill of the clergy by her liberality to the Church and her deference to their counsels. Her greatest difficulties had been to reconcile the national jealousies of the three kingdoms, and although her policy in giving offices of trust to Danes in Sweden, and to Swedes in Denmark, had not proved as successful as she had hoped, and each people grumbled over the heavy taxes imposed upon themselves for the common benefit of the three kingdoms, no real opposition was ever offered to her authority, and as long as she lived peace was preserved in all the Scandinavian states. But after her death everything was changed. Erik might perhaps have made a respectable ruler over the small and half-uncivilized territory of his Pomeranian forefathers, but he was quite unfit to rule over a great empire. Although the master of three kingdoms, he could not assert his authority over one feeble vassal like the young Count of Holstein, and instead of attending to the affairs of his monarchy, he spent twenty-five years in an useless war to decide the terms on which that prince was to hold the Duchy of Slesvig, while the rest of his dominions were left at the mercy of his German favourites, many of whom were men of low birth, who knew nothing whatever of public affairs and could not even speak the language of the people.

King Erik was generally unsuccessful in his warfare, as he laid siege to strong fortresses, and attacked the enemy without plans of any kind and in a headstrong reckless manner; and wherever he made war he laid waste the country and burnt out the people, more like a fierce Pagan freebooter than a Christian king. Thus year by year his subjects learnt to despise and fear him more and more. He had treated the men of the island of Femern with great cruelty because they had sided with the Counts of Holstein, but his conduct instead of leading them to submit to his power, made them fight all the more fiercely, and when in 1426 they gave him battle at Immervad, and beat his troops, they had gone into the field singing loud enough for him to hear a song which ended with these words

"When the cow in her stall

Will give us flax to spin,
Then the king in his hall
May hope our land to win!"

Erik's Appeal to the Emperor.-A truce had been agreed upon in 1423 between Erik and the Holstein princes for a year, but before that term was out, seeing that he could not gain his point in any other way, he went to Germany, and laid his case before his cousin, the Emperor Sigismund. Judgment was given in his favour, and an order was issued by the Imperial Council to the Counts of Holstein to resign the Duchy of Slesvig within a limited time to the King of Denmark. But even then, when he may be said to have had everything in his own hands, instead of returning to Denmark, and forcing the Counts of Holstein to give up the Duchy to him, he set off on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At that time, although he was still master of three kingdoms, he could only afford to take a retinue of forty men and horses with him. On reaching Venice he found himself short of money, and having put on the dress of a serving-man, he, with a few followers, joined a Venetian trader and with him went to Jerusalem, where, however, he was recognized and taken captive by some Greeks, who would not set him free till they had obtained a heavy ransom for him.

Erik's English Queen.-During Erik's absence his Queen Philippa, the daughter of our Henry IV., did her best to keep order, and she is said to have entered into a treaty with the Hanse-traders and other German companies for bringing the coinage of Danish money into some order. Much trouble and confusion had arisen in the Northern kingdoms owing to the false weights which King Erik had allowed to be used in coining money during his reign. Queen Philippa induced the Councils of State of the three kingdoms to agree to her plan for settling the true value of the money, but as soon as King Erik returned, the old cheating began again, and during the rest of his reign money was coined in his mints which did not contain the proper quantity of gold and silver, and which therefore was looked upon with great distrust by the traders of other countries, and brought discredit upon himself and his people.

In 1428 the Hansers and other Germans made an attack on Copenhagen, which did not succeed owing to the able means of defence taken by Queen Philippa. At length, in 1435, Erik was forced to make peace with Holstein and give up the Duchy of Slesvig to Count Adolf, the only one of the princes of the family who had outlived the long war. The three kingdoms had all suffered much during this great struggle, but Sweden seems to have been the most weighed down by taxes and burdens of all kinds, and was so badly treated by King Erik's servants and officers, that it was no wonder the people were easily led to revolt against his power. The chief leader of the rebels was an honest Dalesman, called Engelbrecht Engelbrechtsson, who, being anxious to free his country, had gone through the districts of Dalekarlia and Westmannland, stirring up the people against the king. At his appeal they rushed to arms and followed him in large bands. The Swedes had good cause for their hatred of King Erik, who seldom troubled himself to come amongst them, and who seems to have cared for none of his dominions except the Danish Islands, where he had spent his childhood and youth. The most hated of his officers was the royal bailiff, Jossen Ericksson, or Jens Erichsen, as the Danes call him, who, amongst other cruel deeds laid to his charge, was accused of having caused men to be hung up over blazing fires, and women to be harnessed to heavily-laden waggons. Engelbrecht drew up a deed in which he set forth a list of these and many other wrongs that the Swedish people had suffered during the reign of King Erik, and, taking this paper with him, he marched with a large band of followers to Stockholm, where he laid it before the Council of State, praying them that they would restore to the kingdom its old rights, and depose Erik. When the bishops and nobles, who were members of the Council, bade him bear in mind the oath which he, as well as they, had taken to honour and obey the king, Engelbreckt without saying another word caught up one of the prelates by the back of his neck, and holding him out of the window, threatened to throw him and all the others down into the armed crowd below, unless they would, without further delay, fulfil the wishes of the nation. After that the Council did as

he required, and drew up and signed a deed which set forth that since King Erik had broken his oath to the Swedish nation, they would no longer serve him as his subjects.

Nobles side with Erik.-The nobles, however, had no liking for the peasants, and in their hatred of this class they overlooked much that they did not approve of in the king, and leaving the former to shift for themselves, they agreed in 1436 to a new act of union with Denmark and Norway, and renewed their homage to Erik. If this prince had been less false and changeable, he might have kept his Swedish crown, for the Swedes had a great respect for their rulers, and were never very eager to oppose the authority of those who were set over them. But nothing seemed to teach King Erik that honesty is always the best policy; and he so often broke faith with his subjects, that at last they no longer felt any scruples in breaking faith with him. He had chosen a young Swedish nobleman, called Karl Knudsson Bondar, to be marshal or viceroy of Sweden, and to govern the kingdom for him. And for a short time he seemed to act openly and fairly by him, but very soon Knudsson found out that Erik had planned his disgrace and ruin, and as he was fond of power and not much more loyal to his word than the king, he at once began to lay schemes for gaining the crown for himself. About this time Engelbreckt Engelbrecktsson was murdered by one of the marshal's friends, and the peasants, who had no other leader in whom they trusted, were then easily gained over by Karl Knudsson, and made to renounce their allegiance to King Erik. The Swedish Council of State also took up Karl's cause, and proclaimed him King of Sweden, after deposing Erik in the year When the Danes heard of what the Swedes had done, 1439. they also declared that they would no longer have Erik of Pomerania for their king.

At that moment King Erik was on his way to Gothland, where he had intended to remain tiil his Councils of State should submit to his wishes, and declare his young cousin, Bugislav of Pomerania, heir to the three kingdoms. When he heard of the steps which his subjects had taken against him in his absence, he prepared to return to Denmark, threatening to punish their conduct with extreme severity.

But he was not allowed to land at any port, and when all his money was spent and he failed to gain funds by piracy, he went to Pomerania, where he spent the last ten years of his life in neglect and even poverty, and died in 1459 without ever having set his foot again on any of his former dominions.

PART II.

THE OLDENBURG LINE BEGINS.

Christopher, 1439-1448. In the year 1438, the Danish Council of State, after declaring that King Erik had forfeited all claim to the allegiance of the Danes, offered the crown to his nephew, Christopher, son of Duke John of Bavaria and of Catherine of Pomerania, only sister of the late king. This young prince joyfully agreed to all the terms proposed by the Council, and on his first arrival in Denmark, he contented himself with the title of regent of the kingdom, and pledged himself to govern according to their advice, but he soon took the title of king, and in 1439 he was crowned at Viborg, in Jutland, where the nobles and clergy did homage to him. The ancient laws of the land required that the peasants should take an equal part with the higher classes in the choice of the king, but this branch of the nation had sunk so low that the Councils of State no longer thought of consulting them in any way. Yet although they were not allowed to have any share in offering the crown to Christopher of Bavaria, they were well pleased to have him for their king, for in the earlier visits which he had made to his uncle's court he had gained the goodwill of the nation at large, and by his easy temper, cheerfulnesss and general kindness of manner, had made himself a great favourite among the Danes.

As soon as Christopher was crowned king of Denmark, he began to strive to secure the thrones of Sweden and Norway, and left public affairs in the Danish kingdom to be settled by the Council of State, while he turned his mind to win over the Swedes and Norwegians. At first there seemed little chance