CHAPTER XVIII.

DENMARK FROM 1559 TO 1648.

Christian III. of Denmark followed by Frederick II.-The Ditmarsh campaign-The Danish victory at Hejde-The Danish and Swedish kings both assume the three crowns in their arms-The war that sprang up from this assumption-Bad fortune of the Danes-Peace favourable to Denmark-Frederick's intolerance in religion-The persecution of Calvinists-The great men of this reign-Vedel and the KæmpeviserTycho Brahe, his island observatories - His merits-His fateChristian IV.-His minority-His amusements in his boyhood-His love of the sea-His visit to his English relations-The report of King James's courtiers-Christian's talents and acquirements-His war with Sweden and the Imperialists in Germany in the Thirty Years' Wai-The superiority of the Swedes-Gallantry and death of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden-Christian's jealousy of the Swedes-Fresh wars with Sweden-Conduct of the Danish nobles and Council of StateChristian's valour-He loses an eye in battle-The national anthem of Denmark-Kirstine Munk and her fate-Eleanore Kirstine Ulfeld and her husband-Their influence over King Christian-His death-The love of the Danes for this king.

WAR BETWEEN

PART I.

SWEDEN AND DENMARK.

Frederick II., 1559-1588.-CHRISTIAN III. of Denmark, who died in 1559, was succeeded by his eldest son, Frederick II. As soon as he had been proclaimed king, this young monarch took part with his uncles, the Counts Hans and Adolf, in an incursion into the lands of the Ditmarshers, who had excited their anger by refusing to pay certain taxes claimed from them by the Holstein princes. The king entered all the more readily

into his uncles' plans because he was anxious to wipe out the disgrace of the defeat which the Danes had suffered under his great-uncle, King Hans, and his grandfather, Frederick I., when they attacked the Marshmen in the year 1500.

The Danish and Holstein armies, amounting to 20,000 men, were under the command of the old Count Johan Rantzau, and by his skill and activity the campaign was brought to a close in less than a month by the complete subjection of the Marshmen, notwithstanding the desperate manner in which they and even their wives and daughters tried to resist the advance of the invaders. The young Danish king returned in triumph to Copenhagen in 1560, after having received the homage of the 4,000 survivors of the great defeat inflicted by the royal troops on the Ditmarshers at Hejde. His coronation took place as soon as he had pledged himself to a new and stringent compact with the nobles, who secured to themselves the sole right of selling fish and cattle to home and foreign traders, and obtained many other advantages in addition to their old privileges, which were all confirmed to them. His early success had made Frederick confident in the strength of his own power; and without regard to consequences he continued to bear the three northern crowns in the national standard of Denmark, which, as we have seen, brought him into disputes with the young King of Sweden, Erik XIV., who with equal vanity and with no pretence of right whatever, had done precisely the same thing in regard to the Swedish arms, and joined the Danish and Norwegian colours to his own.

We have read in a former chapter of the war which sprang up between the two nations, chiefly in consequence of this act of foolish vanity on the part of their respective sovereigns, and we have also seen how disastrous this Seven Years' Northern War proved to both parties. The Swedes, however, suffered less than the Danes, for Gustaf Vasa had left his kingdom in so prosperous a state, that they did not feel the burdens of war as much as the people of Denmark, where the king's power was entirely crippled by the nobles, who often withheld men and money from their sovereign at the very moment that he most needed them. Besides the trivial question as to the right of bearing the three northern crowns on the national arms, the

more important one of the King of Denmark's claim to the sovereignty of Slesvig and Holstein had been in part the cause of the war; for Frederick, to evade dividing those provinces with his brothers, who claimed the right of governing independently of the King of Denmark, had given the island of Oesel and Courland as an equivalent to his younger brother Magnus. This prince was for a time supported by the influence of the Russian tyrant, Ivan Vasilievitsch II., but when Ivan, with his usual caprice, sided with Erik of Sweden, who had sent an army into Livonia to maintain the supremacy which he claimed for Sweden in those lands, Magnus was deprived of all his possessions. Soon after these events, and partly in consequence of them, war broke out between Sweden and Denmark in 1563. The Danes in the course of this contest were generally unsuccessful at sea, although they had very able commanders; and until the old generals, Otte Krumpen and Johan Rantzau, took the place of Count Gunther of Schwartzburg in the command of the army, they were almost equally unlucky by land, for the German count left his troops inactive while he busied himself in sending to Germany the herds of cattle that he had driven off the rich Holstein and Slesvig lands in which he lay encamped. In 1565 Krumpen and Rantzau gave a new turn to the war, and during the three years that they continued their aggressions in Sweden they defeated one Swedish army after the other, and laid waste a great part of Vestgotland, Smaaland, and Ostgotland. King Erik of Sweden, in his rage and mortification, visited every defeat on his soldiers as well as on their leaders; at one time ordering a number of men-at-arms to be cut down in his presence, and at another hanging up an unsuccessful commander before the eyes of his soldiers. In return for the damage done by the Danes in Vestgotland, he caused the old Danish province of Blekingen to be so cruelly laid waste that there were only a few poor peasants left in it, and when these unhappy men begged humbly for the king's protection, he said he did not want Danish traitors but true-born Swedes for his subjects; and he forthwith sent a notice to the men of Smaaland that "they might go and take what they could find in the Blekingers' homes."

Frederick's Intolerance.-The peace which was concluded between the two countries at Stettin, in 1570, was on the whole very favourable to Denmark, since in return for giving up her pretensions to Sweden, which could never have been established, she secured her own rights over Norway, Skaania, Halland, and Blekingen. The remaining part of the reign of Frederick II. was prosperous, while he left public affairs under the direction of his able minister, Peder Oxe, who restored order in the finances, encouraged learning and trade, and did what he could to improve the condition of his serfs. To him his countrymen are indebted for the introduction of many fruits, vegetables, and flowers, hitherto unknown in Denmark, while he also stocked the lakes and streams with carp and other fish. Frederick was an able, well-disposed man, and in most respects he agreed readily to all that his minister proposed for the national welfare. He was, however, intolerant in matters of religion, and especially opposed to the doctrines of Calvin, whose adherents were persecuted with the greatest severity through the influence of the Lutheran divine, Jacob Andreæ, professor at Tübingen, who had been sent to Denmark by Frederick's brother-in-law, the Elector August of Saxony, to advise the Danish king in regard to questions of faith. At his suggestion twenty-five articles of belief were drawn up, to which everyone who wished to reside in the Danish territories was compelled to give his adhesion. Persecution prevailed in every part of the Danish territories, and fell with almost equal severity on the clergy and the laity. Among the former, the most distinguished victim of the king's intolerance was Nils Hemmingen, the friend and pupil of Melancthon, who held the chair of theology in the University of Copenhagen, and who was deprived of his office and interdicted from teaching on account of his presumed leaning towards some of the doctrines of Calvin. The pastor Niels Mikkelsen was even more severely treated, being ordered to leave the kingdom on account of having preached what was condemned as "the damnable heresy that by God's grace even heathens might be saved." Another pastor, Ivar Berthelsen, had to think himself very fortunate in having the sentence of death which had been passed upon him commuted into a long

imprisonment, on account of his having omitted to read the words of the renunciation of the devil, which formed part of the baptismal service.

The great men of this reign.—In this state of things there could scarcely be any great progress in learning, which was moreover also much hindered by severe and foolish laws against liberty of the press; but nevertheless during this reign many public institutions were established in different parts of the kingdom; the schools of Sorö and Skovskloster were opened, and learned men were encouraged, provided they proved themselves orthodox Lutherans. One of the most distinguished of these was Anders Sörensen Vedel, to whom Frederick committed the labour of drawing up a new History of Denmark. Vedel never completed this task, although in connection with it he translated the Latin History of Denmark, written by the old monk of Sorö, Saxo Grammaticus, and collected all the national ballads and historical songs which were still current in Denmark, and which were generally included under the name of Kæmpeviser. These compositions, which are far more ancient than the art of printing, had been handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another, and are of the greatest importance, because in many cases they are our only sources of information in regard to many highly interesting events in the history of Denmark. Another and a far more widely celebrated man belonging to this period was Tycho Brahe, the great astronomer, who had early in life secured the respect and admiration of the learned of his times by his writings on the "New Star," which had suddenly appeared in the heavens in 1572, and then after continuing to shine for eighteen months had ceased to be visible. Frederick II. always showed great interest in Tycho's researches, and to enable him to pursue his observations unmolested, he bestowed upon him the little island Hven, near Copenhagen. Tycho built a great observatory, known as Uranienborg, and remarkable in those times for the number of ingenious instruments which it contained, and for the subterranean observatory attached to it, in which through a nar

De Nova Stella: published in 1572 in a separate paper, but afterwards included with other treatises in one volume, Progymnasmata.