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Birgitta and Norway

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Birgitta and Norway chapter 3 Birgitta and Norway 3.1 Towards Nordic Union in the Fourteenth Century: Royalty and the Nobility During Birgitta’s lifetime and the following five centuries, Norway was in a state of union, first with Sweden and then with Denmark.1 The kingdoms of Sweden and Norway were united in 1319 when the three-year-old Magnus Eriks- son (1316–1374) succeeded his grandfather King Hákon V (1270–1319) in Nor- way and was almost simultaneously elected king of Sweden by the Swedish nobles.2 At first he was too young to govern, so his mother, Ingeborg, and later the Swedish council of the realm (rikesins raþ) ruled on his behalf. Magnus himself was regent from 1332 until 1364, when he was deposed by his brother- in-law, Albrekt II Duke of Mecklenburg (c. 1318–1379), whose son, Albrekt III (“the Younger”; c. 1338–1412), was subsequently elected king. Norway, how- ever, had been ruled by Magnus’ son, King Hákon VI (1340–1380), since 1355. In 1363, Hákon married the king of Denmark’s daughter, Margrete Valdemars- datter (1353–1412), thus forging an alliance between the two kingdoms. The principal aim of this alliance was to crush aristocratic resistance in Sweden and lend support to Magnus Eriksson. However, when Magnus was deposed by the Swedish nobility in a revolt almost immediately after the creation of this Dano-Norwegian alliance, there ensued a period of dynastic struggle between the two royal houses for the kingdoms of Scandinavia. Aged five, Margrete and Hákon VI’s son, Olaf (1370–1387), inherited the Danish throne upon Valdemar Atterdag’s death in 1375. Just four years later, when Hákon VI died, he became king of Norway, and thus Denmark and Norway were united under one crown 1 On these unions, see Koht 1956; Bagge and Mykland 1987, 11–82; Authén Blom 1992; Grinder- Hansen et al. 1996; Ulsig 2003; Olesen 1996. 2 Magnus Eriksson was the son of Hákon V’s daughter, Ingeborg (1301–1361), and the king of Sweden’s brother, Erik Magnusson (1339–1359). Erik Magnusson, who appears as the hero in Erikskrønikan, made full use of his Norwegian connections in creating his own “empire” from provinces in Norway (Båhus), Sweden (Västergötland, Värmland, and Dalsland), and Denmark (northern Halland), and also in leading an uprising of the nobility against his own brother, King Birger (1280–1321), leading to his removal and the election of his son, Magnus Eriksson, as king of Sweden. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2016 | doi: 10.1163/9789004304666_004 32 1 background and ruled by Margrete acting as regent. During the 1380s, Margrete tried to win the kingdom of Sweden, at first for her son, then for herself, and finally for her sister’s grand-son, Erik of Pomerania (1381/82–1459). In 1389, Albrekt III was defeated and captured, and seven years later, Erik of Pomerania was crowned in Kalmar as king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.3 This royal Union of Kalmar had, however, been preceded by a long period of increasing cooperation between the aristocratic families of Scandinavia. Indeed, the fourteenth century in Scandinavia is marked by a growing self- awareness amongst the nobility that stretched beyond national boundaries. During the evolution from feudalism to monarchy,Danish, Swedish and Norwe- gian nobles pulled together to protect their own interests rather than those of the king4—at a national level the nobility had already been instrumental in the overthrow of a king; now they began to act transnationally. The glue that held these inter-Scandinavian aristocratic bonds together was marriage—by mar- rying the daughters of noblemen in neighbouring countries noblemen were able to acquire lands and interests across national borders.5 These interests could then be inherited by (or sold to) other “foreigners” without the involve- ment of the local population or the king of that country. Birgitta thus lived through a time when her own class was gaining power, challenging the rule of the monarch, and cooperating with their peers across national borders.6 It is no wonder that many of Birgitta’s revelations concern the nobility.7 However, the late fourteenth century was not a period of expansion for the Norwegian nobility. A decline in their power began with the Black Death in 1349–1350 that wiped out approximately two thirds of the noble families of Norway, either directly through the disease or through the subsequent years of 3 Margrete’s close links with the Birgittine movement had almost certainly helped her gain the Swedish crown for Erik; see Etting 1996, 251. 4 This reached a climax in the following century when, in August 1476 and again in August 1482, a special programme for aristocratic union was formulated at Kalmar (Olesen 1996, 40–41). These programmes aimed at limiting the monarch’s power and strengthening the influence of the nobility. 5 Similar developments were taking place elsewhere in Europe; for example, extensive inter- marriage between the Polish and Lithuanian nobility (resulting in the union of Poland and Lithuania under Władysław V Jagiełło in 1386), and the nobility of England and Scotland around the time of Edward I. As mentioned above, Erik Magnusson, through his aristocratic connections, was able to create his own small “multinational” empire out of territories in Nor- way, Sweden, and Denmark. 6 Gilkær 1993, 177–192. 7 See especially Libri I “prologus”, 29, 55–56; II 8–12, 20; III 27; IV 36, 74; Ex. 56..
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