Christian III of Denmark
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| Christian III | |
| By the grace of God, King of Denmark, Norway, the Wends and the Goths, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, Stormarn and Dithmarschen, Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst[1] | |
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| Reign | 1534 - 1559 (Denmark) 1537 - 1559 (Norway) |
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| Coronation | 12 August 1537, Copenhagen |
| Born | August 12, 1503 |
| Birthplace | Gottorp |
| Died | January 1, 1559 (aged 55) |
| Place of death | Koldinghus |
| Buried | Roskilde Cathedral |
| Predecessor | Frederick I |
| Successor | Frederick II |
| Consort | Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (1511-1571) |
| Issue | Anna (1532-1585) Frederick (1534-1588) Magnus (1540-1583) Johann (1545-1622) Dorothea (1546-1617) |
| Royal House | House of Oldenburg |
| Father | Frederick I (1471-1533) |
| Mother | Anna of Brandenburg (1487-1514) |
Christian III (August 12, 1503 – January 1, 1559), king of Denmark and Norway, was the son of Frederick I of Denmark and his first consort, Anna of Brandenburg.
His earliest teacher, Wolfgang von Utenhof, who came straight from Wittenberg, and the Lutheran Holsatian Johann Rantzau, who became his tutor, were both able and zealous reformers. In 1521 Christian travelled in Germany, and was present at the Diet of Worms, where Luther's arguments profoundly intrigued him. On his return he found that his father had been elected king of Denmark in the place of Christian II, and the young prince's first public service was the reduction of Copenhagen, which stood firm for the fugitive Christian II. He made no secret of his Lutheran views, and his outspokenness brought him into conflict, not only with the Catholic Rigsraad, but also with his cautious and temporizing father. At his own court at Schleswig he did his best to introduce the Reformation, despite the opposition of the bishops. Both as stadtholder of the Duchies in 1526, and as viceroy of Norway in 1529, he displayed considerable administrative ability, though here too his religious intolerance greatly provoked the Catholic party. There was even some talk of passing him over in the succession to the throne in favour of his half-brother Hans, who had been brought up in the old religion. On his father's death 1533 Christian was next year proclaimed king at the local Viborg Assembly (Danish:landsting).
The Danish State Council (Danish:rigsraad) dominated by the Catholic bishops and nobles refused to accept Duke Christian as king and turned to Count Christopher of Oldenburg in order to restore the staunch Catholic Christian II to the throne. The two year civil war called the Count's Feud (Danish:Grevens Fejde) between Protestant and Catholic forces 1534- 1536 would change the course of Denmark's history. Christian III found his support among the nobles of Jutland. Count Christopher had the support of most of Zealand, Scania, the Hanseatic League, and the peasants of northern Jutland and Funen. Count Christopher was proclaimed regent at the Ringsted Assembly (Danish:landsting) and at the St Liber's Hill Assembly in Scania, Christian II was proclaimed king again.[1]
1534 brought a peasant uprising under Skipper Clement in northern Jutland. Peasants began burning manor houses and pillaging the holdings of Catholic nobles. As the army swept south, thousands of peasants joined Clement. An army of nobles and their men assembled at Svendstrup and suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the peasants. Realizing his hold on the throne was in imminent danger, Christian III negotiated a deal with the Hansa States which allowed him to send his trusted advisor Johan Rantzau north with an army of German mercenaries. Clement and his army fled north taking refuge inside the walls of Aalborg. In December Rantzau's forces stormed the city and breached the walls. In the following days 3000 people were massacred, and the city plundered by the Germans. Clement managed to escape the slaughter, but was apprehended a few days later. He was tried and beheaded in 1535. His body was cut apart and placed on a sty, a lead crown was placed on Clement's spiked head.[2]
With Jutland more or less secure, Christian next focused on gaining control of Scania. He appealed to King Gustav Vasa for help in subduing the rebels. Vasa immediately obliged by sending two armies to ravage central Scania and Halland. The peasants suffered a bloody defeat at Loshult. The Swedes moved against Helsingborg Castle which surrendered in January 1535. Helsingborg was burned to the ground in retaliation.[3]
Rantzau moved his army to Funen and defeated Count Christopher's army at Øksnebjerg in June 1535. Count Christopher's forces held out in Malmø and Copehagen until July 1536 when they surrendered after several months of siege by Christian II's forces. When they capitulated, Christian III was firmly on Denmark's throne, and the Catholic forces in Denmark subdued.
The triumph of so fanatical a reformer as Christian III would bring about an end to Catholicism in Denmark, but Catholics still controlled the Council of State. Christian ordered the arrest of three of the bishops on the State Council by his German mercenaries (August 12, 1536). Luther wrote to the king congratulating him on his success. Christian's debt for the Count's Feud was enormous and confiscating the immense property of the bishops immediately enabled him to pay down the debt his creditors. The ultimate gainers by the confiscation were the nobles.[4]
Frederik's Protestant enthusiasm swept Denmark toward the establishment of the Danish Lutheran Church as the national church of Denmark (Danish:Folkekirke). This occurred officially on 30 October 1536 when the reconstituted State Council adopted the Lutheran Ordinances which outlined church organization, liturgy, and accepted religious practice. Monasteries, nunneries, priories were closed and the property taken by the crown. Vast tracts of land were handed out to Frederik's supporters. Superfluous churches were closed, cathedral schools terminated, and recalcitrant priests turned out of their parishes. Catholic bishops were imprisoned until they agreed to marry and give up their privileges. Most submitted after years of imprisonment. Some refused to accept church reforms and died in prison.[5]
The circumstances under which Christian III ascended the throne exposed Denmark to the danger of foreign domination. It was with the help of the gentry of the duchies that Christian had conquered Denmark. German and Holsatian noblemen had led his armies and directed his diplomacy. A mutual confidence between a king who had conquered his kingdom and a people who had stood in arms against him was not attainable immediately, and the first six years of Christian III's reign were marked by a contest between the Danish Rigsraad and the German counsellors, both of whom sought to rule "the pious king" exclusively. Though the Danish party won a signal victory at the outset, by obtaining the insertion in the charter of provisions stipulating that only native-born Danes should fill the highest dignities of the state, the king's German counsellors continued paramount during the earlier years of his reign. The ultimate triumph of the Danish party dates from 1539, the dangers threatening Christian III from the emperor Charles V and other kinsmen of the imprisoned Christian II convincing him of the absolute necessity of removing the last trace of discontent in the land by leaning exclusively on Danish magnates and soldiers. The complete identification of the Danish king with the Danish people was accomplished at the Herredag of Copenhagen, 1542, when the nobility of Denmark voted Christian a twentieth part of all their property to pay off his heavy debt to the Holsatians and Germans.
The pivot of the foreign policy of Christian III was his alliance with the German Evangelical princes, as a counterpoise to the persistent hostility of Charles V, who was determined to support the hereditary claims of his nieces, the daughters of Christian II, to the Scandinavian kingdoms. War was actually declared against Charles V in 1542, and, though the German Protestant princes proved faithless allies, the closing of the Sound against Dutch shipping proved such an effective weapon in King Christian's hand that the Netherlands compelled Charles V to make peace with Denmark at the diet of Speyer, on May 23, 1544. The foreign policy of Christian's later days was regulated by the peace of Speyer. He carefully avoided all foreign complications; refused to participate in the Schmalkaldic war of 1546; mediated between the emperor and Saxony after the fall of Maurice of Saxony at the battle of Sievershausen in 1553, and contributed essentially to the conclusion of peace. King Christian III died on New Year's Day 1559 and was interred in Roskilde Cathedral.
A strong sense of duty, genuine piety, and a cautious common-sense coloured every action of his eventful life. The nation he left behind was perhaps the best proof of his statesmanship. He found Denmark deeply divided; he left her stronger, more unified, and wealthier than she had ever been before.
[edit] Family and children
Christian married Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1525 and had the following children:
- Anna of Denmark (1532–1585). Consort to Augustus, Elector of Saxony.
- Frederick II (1534–1588).
- Magnus, King of Livonia (1540–1583).
- Johann II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plon (1545–1622).
- Dorothea of Denmark (1546–1617). Consort to William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and mother to George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
[edit] Ancestry
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Dietrich of Oldenburg | ||||||||||||
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Christian I of Denmark |
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Helvig of Schauenburg | ||||||||||||
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Frederick I of Denmark |
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John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach | ||||||||||||
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Dorothea of Brandenburg |
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Barbara, Duchess of Anhalt | ||||||||||||
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Christian III of Denmark |
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Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg | ||||||||||||
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John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg |
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Margaret of Baden | ||||||||||||
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Anna of Brandenburg |
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William III, Duke of Luxembourg | ||||||||||||
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Margaret of Thuringia |
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Anne of Habsburg | ||||||||||||
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[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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Christian III
Born: August 12, 1503 Died: January 1, 1559 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Frederick I |
King of Denmark 1534-1559 |
Succeeded by Frederick II |
| King of Norway 1537-1559 |
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