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DD 491 •S68 K7

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WARS

BETWKEX THE AND .

»OR TllR

POSSESSION OF SCHLESWIG.

BV t>K()F. ADOLPHUS L. KOEPPEN

FROM THE "AMERICAN REVIEW" FOR NOVEMBER, U48.

— ;

WAKS BETWEEN THE DANES AND GERMANS, ^^^^

' Ay o FOR THE POSSESSION OF SCHLESWIG. > XV /

PART FIRST. li>t^^/

On feint d'ignorer que le Slesvig est une ancienne partie integTante de la Monarchie Danoise dont I'union indissoluble avec la couronne de Danemarc est consacree par les garanties solennelles des grandes Puissances de I'Eui'ope, et ou la langue et la nationalite Danoises existent depuis les temps les et entier, J)lus recules. On voudrait se cacher a soi-meme au monde qu'une grande partie de la popu- ation du Slesvig reste attacliee, avec une fidelite incbranlable, aux liens fondamentaux unissant le pays avec le Danemarc, et que cette population a constamment proteste de la maniere la plus ener- gique centre une incorporation dans la confederation Germanique, incorporation qu'on pretend medier

moyennant une armee de ciuquante mille hommes ! Semi-official article.

The political question with regard to the ic nation blind to the evidences of history, relations of the of Schleswig and faith, and justice.

Holstein to the kingdom of ,which The Dano-Germanic contest is still

at the present time has excited so great a going on : Denmark cannot yield ; she has movement in the North, and called the already lost so much that she cannot submit Scandinavian nations to arms in self-defence to any more losses for the future. The issue against Germanic aggression, is not one of a of this contest is of vital importance to her recent date. This dispute has for centuries she is already fighting for her existence. been the cause of destructive feuds, and Nor will her Northern brethren let her sink, during later years the subject of public nor Russia, who has pledged her guaranty discussions and violent debates, not only for the integrity of the Danish , among the parties more immediately in- permit its further dismemberment. On terested, but in the public and private as- the final settlement of this war may per- semblies in , and in a flood of haps depend the peace of Europe. And publications, all breathing hostility against yet it has excited but very little attention Denmark, and showing both a want of and sympathy in this country. The knowledge as to the points in dispute, and of Schleswig has generally been supposed a scornful disregard of the just rights of to stand in the same relation to Denmark that injured country. This old quarrel has as that of , and its inhabitants to now, by the general agitation in Europe, be true-born Germans, who were impa- suddenly taken its ancient form of a casus tiently waiting for the moment when they belli, by the open rebeUion of Holstein, might break loose from the small peaceful and the invasion of Denmark by the army kingdom in the North, and join the " glo- of the Germanic Confederation. The ille- rious destinies of the great united German gality, injustice, and violence of these pro- Fatherland." It has been said and re- ceedings are obvious to every observer peated that, since the late revolution in who, without prejudice, has followed the , the voice of the people has be- course of events. And yet have the am- come the voice of God,—that it has torn bitious authors of the sedition and the to shreds the worm-eaten scrolls of feudal attack, attempted to envelope themselves rights and treaties, and freely permitted the in an outward show of right ; the secret different tribes, German, Slavonic, and springs which moved the whole machinery Italian, to group, form, and constitute were left in the back-fjround, but still made themselves without any regard to kings their appearance now and then amidst the and cabinets. Let this principle be carried presumptuous confessions and boastful out where foreign governments have impos- prognostications which, all at once, have ed oppressive laws upon conquered nations, intoxicated the forty miUions of Germans whose history, development, and pros^^er- with hopes of conquest on land and sea, ity they have disregarded, and whose na- and thus made that pensive and philosoph- tionalities they have crushed. Such may. VOL. II. NO. V. NEW SERIES. 30 Wars between the Danes and Germans,

more or less, have been the conduct of essay with a picture of the present war, Russia in , and of Austria in . faithfully drawn up from authentic sources, But with regard to Denmark, her relations and direct communications both from Den- to the duchies have been entirely different. and Germany, Her paternal rule had ever truly respected the nationalities and rights of her subjects. Her present liberal-minded monarch, on his succession to the throne, had given a The peninsula of , known by free constitution, and such had been his the ancient Romans as the Chersonesus desire to allow equal privileges to every Cimbrica, is bounded on the east by the of his dominions, that he had pro- Kattegat, the little Belt, part and the Baltic ; posed to give to Schleswig and Holstein, and on the west by the . It is tliough the smaller population, the same divided from Germany by the river Eyder, representation and advantages which he and extending northward for two hundred conceded to his Danish people. The con- and seventy miles, terminates at the low cessions freely granted by the enlightened headland of Skagen. Its breadth from sovereign, from his own conviction, in the east to west is from thirty to ninety miles. midst of profound peace, and without a sign The middle part of this low peninsula, of disorder, had been hailed with universal nearly in its full length, consists of dreary satisfaction ; and afterwards, when violent heaths and moors, intermixed here and commotions began to shake all Europe, there with some patches of arable lands and the general vertigo reached Holstein, and good pastures for cattle and flocks of the majority of the people in Schleswig, sheep and goats. The northwestern coasts who had ever been sincerely attached to are low, sandy, and full of dangerous shoals. their mother-country, instantly stood for- The violent west wind, sweeping across ward, and in the most energetic manner that inhospitable region, impedes the protested against the separation, and the growth of forest trees, and renders the dreaded union with Germany. climate damp, cold, and disagreeable Looking from a distance upon the rapid throughout the year. Farther south, in course of events, and the steadfast opposi- Schleswig, the western coast consists of tion of all , united, with one meadow lands, [marskland,) which offer heart and hand, against the attacks and rich pastures, and are defended by dikes pedantic boastings of the German Parlia- against the swell of the North Sea. Quite ment, we may, through the dim vista of different is the character of the eastern futurity, with confidence proclaim the vic- part of the country. The shores of the tory of the righteous side ; and in the Baltic and Kattegat are hio-h and often mean time historically and impartially prove covered with fine forests. They sometimes that the cause of the Danes is as good as present romantic and picturesque scenery their swords—that the rebellion in Holstein from the many deep indentations of the sea, was brought about, not by the desire of the called fjorde, or friths, which for miles run mass of the people in the duchies, but by into the land, where they expand into exten- the ambition of a few ringleaders, directly sive sheets of water, and are bordered by supported by Friederich Wilhelm IV., the beautiful oak and beech woods ascending hare-brained King of , who by gradually to the tops of the hills. The means of kindling the flame of war in the largest frith is the Liim-Fjord, running North, and of promising the Germans a across the whole breadth of Jutland from flag and a fleet, flattered himself to avert the Kattegat to the North Sea, and making from his own guilty head the revenge of the northern part of it an island.* Its his exasperated subjects for the horrible banks are bleak and dreary ; the dark slaughters in his own capital. forests M'hich in the tenth and eleventh We shall now carry our readers to the centuries covered that hilly region, now shores of the Baltic, and going back to the only remain in Sailing Land, a small, beau- remote ages of feudality and chivalry, trace * The North Sea broke through the Ioav, sandy the origin and progress of the protracted coast near Lemvig, a few years ago, and united struggle between German and Scandina- with the Liim-Fjord by a breach, through which vian nationality, and then terminate this now small vessels can pass. ;

For the Possession of Schlesivig.

tiful tract, well cultivated, and inhabited other Northmen, on their prancing sea- by a rich and laborious yeomanry. The horses, made the shores of Germany, lands on the eastern coast are very fertile France and England tremble at their ap- for several miles in the interior, and pro- proach. They ai-e still a brave, but a

duce an abundance of rye, wheat, barley, peaceful and quiet people ; they are labo- oats, beans, pease, rape-seed, and excellent rious and persevering, but extremely slow pulse and fruits. In many parts the and somewhat awkward in their manners. heaths are broken up and converted into They are hospitable and cheerful with their arable lands, agriculture being highly en- countrymen, but cold and retired towards couraged by the Danish government. Still foreigners, with whom they have but little the raising of cattle and horses supplies intercourse in their far-off and dreary the principal revenue of Jutland. The country. They are more fond of ease than

huge oxen are driven to the rich meadow- of show ; and consequently the people in lands of Holstein, where they are fattened Jutland are more comfortable than the and afterwards sold in and Ber- careless inhabitants of the sunny south. lin. In later years large exportations They are accustomed to substantial food, of oxen are made by sea to France and and make five meals a day; they are more England. The horses of Jutland and Hol- economical than industrious, and do not stein are strong, large, well-formed, and know or regret the refinements of foreio-u eminently fitted for war. countries. They are judicious observers Jutland is, by the small rivers Skod- and profound thinkers. They speak very borg-aa and Konge-aa, divided into North slowly, with a harsh and inharmonious pro- Jutland, containing 9,500 square miles, and nunciation, and are by their countrymen South Jutland, or Schleswig, 2,624 square on the Danish islands considered cunninrr

miles. The latter province is more fertile in calculating their own profit ; the proverb and better cultivated. Here the geest or is, " as sharp as a Jute." They are en- arable lands from the broken-up heaths dued with imagination, and possess tender amount to 700 square miles, the meadow- and beautiful national songs in their own lands 320, the forests 112, the moors 224, dialect. Though they are patient and and the barren heaths 450. North Jut- enduring, they can be roiised to the high- land has twelve more or less considerable est pitch of enthusiasm. They are strongly towns, and 550,000 inhabitants. Schles- attached to their king and country, but

' wig possesses six towns, among which are care nothing about politics or newspapers, the beautiful and well-built Schleswig, having been for centuries accustomed to standing in a pleasant and picturesque sit- the dull calm of an absolute government uation on the Schley, and the lively com- and yet they possess an independent feel-

mercial town of Flensborg ; the province ing of their own, and Avill not submit to containing 350,000 inhabitants. Schleswig harb.h or arbitrary treatment from their su- is bounded on the south by the German periors. The country people are generally duchy of Holstein, extending seventy middle-sized, short, fair-haired, of a gentle

miles from the Baltic to the North Sea, and and agreeable physiognomy ; their women forty-eight miles from the Eyder on the are pretty, with blue eyes and rosy cheeks, north, to the and the duchy of Lau- but as clumsy as their helpmates, clatter- enborg on the south. It contains 2,528 ing along on wooden shoes. square miles, with 440,000 inhabitants. This short sketch gives an idea of the peo-

Holstein is thus of smaller extent than ple and country in times past ; the eventful Schleswig, but more productive and better movements of late years have of course, in cultivated, and has a larger population. some degree, exerted their influence even as The Jutlander and the Schlcswiger are far as the distant shores of the Liim-Fjord. both of Scandinavian origin, and the mass In South Jutland, both the Danish and of the people have nearly the same gene- (Plat-tydske) dialects are in ral character, manners, and customs, ex- use. In 1837, Danish was spoken unmix- cept the greater liveliness and elasticity, ed in 116 parishes, with 113,256 inhabi-

which the Schleswiger has acquired by his tants ; in these districts Danish is the intercourse and intermixtuie with the language used not only in common inter- Germans. The Jutlanders are no longer course, but both in the churches and the bold and daring rovers, who with the schools. In 36 parishes, with 45,460 in- Wars between the Danes and Germans,

habitants, that language is generally time, A. D. 810, occupied in the conver- spoken, but the German is employed in sion and subjugation of the . The the churches and schools. Danish is like- Frankish emperor being continually har- wise spoken and understood in Tondern, assed by the fleets and armed bands of Flensborg, and the dioceses of Gottorp the Northmen on the coasts of Friesland, and Bredsted, with 36,000 souls ; so that and at the mouth of the Elbe, founded the Danish is still the mother tongue for strong castle of Hamaburg (Hamburg) on 194, 700 Schleswigers among the 350,000 its northern bank, and afterwards concluded which inhabit the duchy, thus forming a a tr.eaty with the successor of Godfred, decided majority. Hemming, according to which the Eyder Quite different is the deportment and should form the boundary between Den- character of the Holsteiner. He is tall mark and the Fiankish empire, and the and handsome, with auburn hair. He is Danes abandon all their conquests south economical and industrious, like the Hol- of that river. lander ; active and dexterous, ambitious Towards the close of the ninth cen- and quarrelsome. He is arbitrary and tury the Danish king, Gorm the Old, at imperious ; witty, lively, but proud and last succeeded in uniting the small inde- overbearing toward his inferiors. He is pendent states of the islands, and the main full of talent and capacity, but boastful, land of Jutland and , [Skaane,) in grandiloquent and selfish. The Holstein Southern , into a powerful king- cultivators own their lands and are a dom. He crossed the Eyder ; but enter- laborious, brave and intelligent people. ing into Nordalbingia, then a province of Their farms are exceedingly well kept, and the duchy of , his career of con- comfort and wealth are seen everywhere, quest was arrested. The German king, ^lie Holstein mariner is clever, bold and en- Henry I. the Fowler, with his German during, and sings his national German songs chivalry, defeated the wild Northmen and with the livehness and spirit of an Italian. established the or margraviate of Such is the character of the soil and Schleswig, between the Eyder and the the inhabitants of these three interest- Schley—the limes Danicus, as it is called ing provinces of the Danish monarchy. by the chroniclers, which now for nearly a century remained the battle-ground of the hostile Danish and Saxon borderers Tlie whole peninsula was in the remotest during their continual devastating forays.* times of the inhabited by But Canute the Great, during his inter- Jutes, Angles and Saxons. After the view with the Conrad maritime expeditions of the two latter the Salian, in Rome, in the year 1027, ob- ti'ibes to Britain, towards the middle of the tained the cession of this district, and thus fifth century of our era. Jutes and Frisians the limits of Denmark were restored such began to settle in the abandoned districts as they had been in the time of Charle- of Angeln or South Jutland, north of the magne. | The Saxon march, once more

Eyder ; while large swarms of Vendes, Obotrites, and other western tribes of the Slavonic nation, occupied the eastern * This German settlement beyond the Eyder coasts of Nordalbingia or Holstein, the is very doubtful. Some chroniclers ascribe it to seat of the Saxons on the Elbe. In the ; others with more probability to the Saxon (919—936.) Harald eighth century Denmark did not yet form Klak, a petty king of South Jutland, had been a united kingdom ; different sea-kings converted to so early as A. D. 826. ruled on the islands of the Baltic. God- The intrepid missionary of the North, Anscharius, fred, the king of Reit-Gothland or Jut- built the first chm-ch in Schleswig at that time, and sowed the first seed of Christian piety and land, advanced on the Eyder, where he love among the wild worshippers of Odin and the celebrated wall or of erected mound Freya. earth and stones called the Dannevirke f The existence of this treaty between the Ro- across the peninsula from the bay of the river man Emperor and the King of Denmark is con- Schley, [Slias-wylc or Schleswig,) westward firmed by a very ancient inscription : Eidora Romani terminus imperii, which for centuries to the North Eyder, to protect his Scan- stood over the Old Holstein Gate of Rendsborg. dinavian dominions from the inroads of the Tlais town was at that time the border fortress of conquering Franks of Charlemagne, at that Denmai-k, who possessed all the tolls and duties For the Possession of Sckkswig.

incorporated witli the rest of South Jut- Holland were invited into the country, a land, remained in immediate dependence bishopric was established in LUbeck, and upon the crown of Denmark. In this the brave proclaimed king of the whole period we find that the South Jutes Obotrites. Yet this sudden accession of or Schleswigers had their language, laws, power kindled the jealousy of King Niels and customs in common with their north- of Denmark, who considered the enterpris- em brethren, the Islanders and the [Sko- ing duke of the border province a danger- ningers or Danish inhabitants of Scania. ous competitor for the crown. He ordered The ancient division of the provinces into Knud Lavard to his court at Roeskilde in districts or shires, called Herreder and Zealand, where that excellent and unsus- Sysler, and the genuine Scandinavian pecting chief was waylaid in a wood by names of towns, villaofes and natural Magnus, the prince royal, and assassinated, scenery, down to the very banks of the in the year 1129. Eyder, give the most evident proof of the During the following reigns of Valdemar Danish nationality of the South Jutes. I., the son of Knud Lavard, and Knud VI., Yet the wars with the Slavonic and the Danish power became formidable and

Germanic tribes, rendered it necessary for threatening to all their neighbors. King the kings of Denmark to place a powerful Valdemar II., the Victorious, conquered commander in the border province, who, the of Holstein, which by a treaty, possessed of more independence and a in 1214, with the German Emperor Frie- strong army, might better secure the derich II., of , was incorpora- Danish frontiers towards Saxony. The ted with Denmark. He extended his noble-minded Knud Lavard, the son of feudal possessions in , and even King Erik the Good, was thus proclaimed attacked the distant Esthonia, where the the first duke (dux or Hertug) of South Danish crusaders, with the cross and the Jutland in 1102, and took up his resi- sword, introduced Christianity among the dence in (Schleswig) on the Slavonians, and swept the Baltic with their Schley, which had been erected into an numerous fleets. During this period of episcopal see. Crossing the Eyder, Duke seventy years (1157-122Y) of victories EjQud, in many arduous expeditions, van- and conquests, the external dominion of quished and converted the heathen Vagri- Denmark was raised to a higher splendor

ans, Obotrites, and Vendes ; he extended than it had ever attained since the reign his conquests as far as Pomerania, and of Canute the Great. The Danes were

forced the German of Saxony and the ruling nation of the North ; but their Holstein to recognize his rights over Vend- chivalrous conquests were soon to be lost land. by one of those sudden turns of fortune Holzatia (woody Saxoiiy) formed a part which are characteristic of those tm-bu- of the , belonging to lent times of the middle ages. King Val- the warlike house of Billungen, and con- demar, while hunting with his son on the sisted of Holstein Proper, Stormarn and island of LyOe, was taken prisoner by his the western district of the Ditmarskers. vassal. Henry of , and, In the year 1106, after the extinction of confined in a castle in , until that family, the Emperor Lothaire erected he by treaty ceded all the conquered ter- Holstein into a county, with which he in- ritories between the Elbe and the Eyder, vested Count Adolpli of Schauenborg, a including the county of Holstein, Vagrien, castle on the Weser, as a fief dependent on and the whole . The the German Empire. The Holstein king, on his return to Denmark, immedi- now assisted Knud Lavard in the reduction ately assembled a large array and crossed of the wild Slavonic tribes on the eastern the Eyder. But a powerful confederacy

coast ; new settlers from Germany and had been formed against him, between the counts of Holstein and Schwerin, the free on the river. In the fourteenth century, Rends- cities of Hamburg and Ltibeck, and the borg was ceded to the Counts of Schauenborg. primate of . In the bloody battle The inscription was taken down from the at Bornhoved, near in Holstein' gate in 1S06, on the dissolution of the German on the 22d of June, 1227, King Valdemar Empire, and is now deposited in the Eoyal Artil- lery Arsenal of the fortress. suffered a total defeat, and was forced to Wars between the Danes and Germans,

give up all his pretensions to the countries ambitious Holsteiner administrator of the south of the Eyder. kingdom, during the minority of the Valdemar II. died 1241, and the subse- prince. In return for these good offices quent civil war, which broke out among of his powerful uncle, Valdemar, who, at the pretenders to the crown, brought that time, (1326,) was only twelve years Denmark to the very brink of destruction. of age, bestowed the whole duchy of This principal cause of such a rapid de- South Jutland upon Count Gerhard as a cline, was not only to be ascribed to the hereditary fief, and, according to the Hol- haughty bearing and dangerous influence stein historians, signed an important act in of the rich and proud Catholic clergy and Lubeck, by which he declared Schleswig feudal , mostly of German origin, and Holstein to be eternally imited, and who had received fiefs in the kingdom, bound himself never to reclaim the duchy, but particularly to the pernicious practice or reunite it with the crown of Denmark. at that time, of investing the royal princes, Thus Ave have arrived at the first union or other relatives of the kings, with the of these two provinces, in the year 1326. duchy of South Jutland, {ducatus Tutice,) But it is fully evident from whatsoever as a fief dependent on the Danish crown. point we view the subject, that this act Abel, the younger son of Valdemar, who was without legality, and did not create had been invested with the duchy of those rights, which the haughty counts of

Schleswig, laid claim to this province, Holstein inferred from it. The guardian as a free and independent patrimonial in- could not lawfully accept a grant of his heritance against his elder brother. King own ward under age, the validity of which Erich Ploughpenning. Abel was defeat- he had to confirm himself. Nor could a ed, and forced to receive the investiture prince, chosen by a party of dissatisfied of the duchy as a personal fief, not heredi- nobles, dispose of an integral part of the

tary ; but he took revenge against his kingdom, quite contrary to the capitula- brother, by the assassination of the latter tion of rights [Haandfcestning) which his on the Schley in 1250. The civil dissen- ffuardian had signed in his name, and sions between the Kings of Denmark and without consent of the general elective their powerful vassals, the Dukes of South Diet of the kingdom—the Dannehqf. Jutland, who contended either for inde- Duke Valdemar was never crowned king

pendent dominion or hereditary tenure, of Denmark ; he is not numbered among

continued nearly without interruption ; but the monarchs of that country, and was though they often received aid from the shortly afterwards forced to give up all German counts of Holstein, beyond the his pretensions and retire to Schleswig. Eyder, they never succeeded in accom- The Holstein historians pretend that plishing their object. this document—this magna charta of The most distinguished of all the Hol- "Schleswig-Holstein," which they call stein counts, Gerhard the Great, of Rends- the Comlitutio Valdemariana, forms the borg, assumed, on the death of Duke very basis in the dispute between the Erich of South Jutland, the guardianship kings of Denmark and their German sub- of his young son Valdemar, in opposition jects in the duchies, by the guaranty to the demands of his uncle, King Christo- which it is supposed to give to the in- pher II. of Denmark, who laid claim to separability of the two provinces. But it that riofht. The kino- at the head of a is a highly remarkable fact that the exist- brilliant feudal army, entered the duchy ence of this document never has be^

and occupied the castle of Schleswig ; but proved ; no copy of it has ever been he shortly afterward suff'ered a signal de- found, and it may, therefore, with good feat by the Holstein count on the Heste- ground, be considered as altogether apocry-

berg ; in consequence of which the Danes phal. No mention whatever is made of evacuated the duchy and retreated to it in the original capitulation of Prince North Jutland. The nobility of the king- Valdemar, nor in the letter of feoffment, dom, being disgusted with Christopher, which Count Gerhard received in 1326, expelled him from the country, and, yield- by which the Danish Council of State ing to the intrigues of Count Gerhard, (Rigsraad) confirmed the investiture of called his ward, the young Valdemar South Jutland as a simple banner-fief Erikson, to the throne, and elected the [Fanekhn) of the Danish crown. Suppos- For the Possession of Schkswig,

ing even that such a document had existed, routed in every battle. Otho, the prince yet it remained without any influence on royal, defeated near Viborg, was carried a the rehitions of the kingdom ; no reference prisoner to the gloomy castle of Segeberg was ever made to it by the Holstein in Holstein. Valdemar, his younger bro- Counts during their disputes with Den- ther, lived an exile at the court of Bran- mark at that time, and the dukes of South denbui'g. The cruelty and exactions of Juthind continued to recognize the kings the foreign soldiery now became insup- of Denmark as their hxwful hege-. portable ; even the good-natured Jutes at Yet we shall presently see an attempt of last were roused to resistance, when Count the Holsteiners to re-establish this imagi- Gerhard, at the head of ten thousand Ger- nary constitution of Valdemar the Minor, mans, began devastating that unhappy in the concessions of Count Christian of country with fire and sword. But the hour Oldenborg, to his uncle, Count Adolph of of retribution had arrived. The Danish Holstein, in 1448, on which they, at the knight, Niels Ebbesen of Norreriis, on the present day, build all their pretensions to 18h of March, 1340, with sixty daring fol- their right of a "Schleswig-Holstein union." lowerSj'eiltered the castle of Randers, and

Christopher 11. , in the mean time, re- slew the count in the midst of his numer- turned from his retreat in Mecklenburg, ous mercenaries. Piince Valdemar Chris- and the Danes flocked round him with topherson now returned from Germany, hopes to escape from German oppression. and succeeded by his prudence, persever- He regained his crown, and young Valde- ance, and eminent political talents, in re- mar Erikson, renouncing his ephemeral deeming nearly all the alienated and mort- dignity, returned to his duchy of South gaged provinces of the kingdom. He was Jutland, which Count Gerhard surrender- less successfid in his exertions to recover ed to him. But the weak and despicable South Jutland. The male line of Abel's Christopher II., encompassed by enemies descendants became extinct in 13Y5. on all sides, not only recognized the suc- The old wary King Valdemar III. had cession of the Counts of Schauenborg to foreseen this important event, and a Dan- the Danish banner-fief of South Jutland, ish army immediately entered the duchy in case of the death of Valdemar without and occupied its principal towns. But male heirs, but, in his pecuniary distress, the Holstein Count, Iron- Henry, the chival- mortgaged the whole of North Jutland to rous son of the great Gerhard, was still Count Gerhard for a sum of money, and more prompt. He took possession of the the islands to Count John of Itzehoe. castle of Gottorp and was attacking the These chieftains immediately occupied the Danes, when the news of the death of Danish provinces thus surrendered to King Valdemar, at Vordingborg in Zea- them, with their wild bands of German land, again suspended the war. His noble- hirelings and adventurers. Poor, dis- minded daughter, Margaretha, the Semira- tracted Denmark had never found herself mis of the North, ofoverned the king-doms in greater distress. Her prelates and of Denmark and in the name of nobles fawned on the high-plumed foreign- her son Oluf Hakonson, and being pressed

ers ; her industrious citizens and brave by a disastrous war with the overbearing yeomanry were ahke oppressed by their Hanseatic confederation, and desiring the countrymen and enemies, and treated as aid of the Counts of Holstein, she, at if they were serfs. Her nationality seem- an assembly of the Danish nobility, at ed on the point of perishing beneath that Nyborg, in 1380, bestowed upon tl>e

of the Germans ; her political power was Count Gerhard of Rendsborg, t^e son ©f on the eve of a total dissolution. King Iron-Henry, the much disputed duchy of Christopher died broken-hearted on the South Jutland, as a banner-fief of the Dan-

Island of Falster in 1333 ; the province of ish ci-own, to remain indivisible in the Scania rose in arms, slaughtered the Ger- hands of onl}^ one of the counts, Avho, as man condotlieri, and united with Sweden. a Danish vassal, had to perform the usual Yet the Holsteiners, with their active and feudal military service to his liege-. ambitious chief. Count Gerhard, one of the The act did not expressly state whether

greatest warriors of the age, still possess- the fief was pei-sonal or hereditary ; and ed all the mainland. Attempts at insur- the Danish kings demanded the repetition of rection were made, but the Danes were the oath of allegiance at every succession. ;

Wars between the Danes and Germans,

This sacrifice of the most beautiful It is very interesting to observe the same province of the kingdom had been forced uncertainty about the relations between on the queen by the internal distraction the duchies and Denmark, in the writings and political weakness of Denmark ; and of the historians of the fifteenth century, although she afterwards succeeded in as among the diplomatists and politicians placing the crowns of the three Scandina- of the present day. It appears, never- vian nations on her head by the celebrated theless, that the principal point in dispute Calmarian union in 1396, yet the favorite on the part of the vassals at that time scheme of her life was the reunion of the Vfas their refusal to render feudal homage duchy of South Jutland with the kingdom and military aid to their liege-lord. How- of Denmark. Circumstances seemed in ever .this might have been, certain it is, her favor. The warlike Duke Gerhard, the that when the imperial umpire demanded first who assumed the title of Duke of the production of all the former documents Schleswig, had perished in battle against and acts of feoffment, setting forth the the Ditmarskers, in 1404. His sons Henry, claims of the Counts of Holstein to the Adolph and Gerhard, were minors, and duchy, Henry of Schauenborg could only the youngest still unborn. refer to the vague expressions of the act of Queen Margaretha, by her consummate 1386 and point to his good sword for the skill in employing persuasion and force rest of the evidence. The imperial sen- alternately, might perhaps have seen her tence was pronounced on the 28th of Jvme, exertions crowned with success ; but her 1424, according to which the emperor, as death in 1412, and the violence and indis- the chosen umpire of both parties, having cretion of her unworthy nephew, Erik of consulted the prelates, knights, professors Pomerania, who inherited her triple crown, and lawyers of the Roman Empire, re- " kindled a most bloody and untoward solved : that the whole of South Jutland twenty years' war with the young dukes, with the city of Schleswig, the castle of which fill the most disgraceful pages in Gottoi'p and other towns, the Danish the annals of D'enmark. Though Erik wood {Danisch Wold,) the island of Als, disposed of the united armies and fleets of and the coast district of the Friesians, with the whole north, that dastard and indolent all rights and privileges, had ever belonged king was foiled in every attempt to repos- to the king and kingdom of Denmark sess himself of Schleswig. In 1420, a likewise that the Counts Henry, Adolph Danish army of nearly a hundred thou- and Gerhard, neither had possessed nor did sand men suffered a terrible defeat at Im- possess any hereditary right to the duchy." mervad ; and Flensborg, the only city still By that sentence, the constitution of Duke occupied by the king, was on the point of Valdemar of 1326, if ever it had ex- surrendering to the gallant Duke Henry, isted, was then declared invalid, and and his Hanseatic allies, when both the Schleswig was pronounced an appurte- contending parties were invited to appear nance of the Danish realm. Henry, in- before the throne of the German Emperor dignant at the apparent injustice of the Sigismund, who offered himself as umpire imperial decision, solemnly protested, and in this odious dispute. King Erik at appealed to the Pope. But Martin V., once accepted the invitation, and departed feeling himself in a difficult position be- for Germany. The young Counts of Hol- tween the council of Constanz and the stein, on the conti'arj^ preferred the prose- Emperor, and intimidated by a missive cution of the war, until at last Henry, from the latter, in which he advised him to yielding to the exhortations of the clergy, confine his attention to ecclesiastical affairs, presented himself at the Imperial Court contented himself with exhorting the at Buda in Hungary, in 1424. Here he Counts of Holstein to pious submission, and found a splendid assembly of German to peace with Denmark, princes and Madjar magnates, as assessors, Both parties then returned to the north, attending on the decision of the emperor. and the war in Schleswig was carried on King Erik and his Danish nobles, sure of with renewed strength. In 1427, Count gaining their cause, had already left Hun- Henry fell before Flensborg; but his warlike gary, and undertaken a pilgrimage to the brother Adolph contimied the contest with Holy Land. extraordinary energy and success. Ham- For the Possession of Schkswig.

burg, Liibeck and other powerful Hanseatic enborg-Rendsborg became extinct, and the cities, supporting Holstein with their fleets, duchy of Schleswig of course escheated to desolated the coasts of Denmark, and ru- the crown of Denmark, which the king ined her commerce. The greatest dissat- ought immediately to have taken possession isfaction with the incapacity of the king of. The county of Holstein, on the con- prevailed throughout the kingdoms of the trary, being a German fief, apparently Calmarian union. Erik was deposed, and devolved on the nearest agnate heirs of the first act of his successor, Christopher the lateral line of Schauenborg-Pinneberg, the Bavarian, was the recognition of the who already, in the year 1396, by a treaty, hereditary rights of the house of Schauen- had secured its succession. The princes borg to the duchy of Schleswig. At the of the family of Oldenborg, however, Danish diet in Colding, in 1439, the Duke were more nearly related to the defunct Adolph, kneeling down before his liege- Count of Holstein than the house of Schau- lord, on his throne, surrounded by the enborg-Pinneberg, but only as coynates. coui't and nobiUty, took the oath of alle- Some historians, in defence of such direct giance, and received from the hand of the rights of King Christian to the succession king the banner of investitiu'e. of Holstein, mention that several instances The Calmarian union still existed, but it were on record in the German states of

had become a mere phantom ; the arro- that time, where the merely cognate heirs gance of the prelates and nobles, the sub- inherited. Thus a contemporary chroni- jection of the people, and the total want of cler of Lubec, who continues the chronicle political liberty and public opinion in that of Detmar from 1401 to 1472, and whose age of ignorance and oppression, did not work, even by the historians of Holstein permit the development of a confederacy themselves, is pronounced to be of the among the Scandinavian nations, which highest authority, says, " that the nobles otherwise would have promoted their civ- of Holstein rejected altogether this plea ilization, happiness, and power. Denmark of a family compact between the two lines had not gained by her doubtful union with of the house of Schauenborsj, as the coun-

Sweden ; she felt the more deeply her re- cil of the land had never sanctioned or cent loss, and all her eflforts tended towards confirmed it ; and with regard to the in- the recovery of her alienated possessions heritance of the Holstein fief, they recog- on the main land. The Danish nobility, in nized that King Christian and his brothers compliance with this feeling, after the were nearer in respect to the succession, sudden death of King Christopher the Ba- than the more distant Westphalian branch varian, in 1448, sent a deputation to Duke of the house of Schauenborg-Pinneberg, Adolph of Schleswig-Holstein, to offer as they were sister's children of Count him the crown of Denmark. The Duke Adolph, and in their land, the female line was at the time only forty -five years of (Spindle-side) might inherit as well as distinc- age ; but being without children, and pre- the male line (Sword-side)." A ferring the quiet retirement of his present tion seems thus to have existed in the suc- position, to the cares and vicissitudes cession between the great or banner-fiefs, awaiting him on the throne of the warring {Jeuda vexilli, Fanelehn,) and the minor kingdoms, he declined the proffered honor, fiefs of the German Empire ; inasmuch but directed the attention of the Danes to as in the former the inheritance was limit- his young sister's son, Count Christian of ed to male keirs, while in the latter \he fe- Oldenborg, whom he himself had educated male line partook of the same right. Hol- and tenderly loved. Count Christian ac- stein, being originally a dependent fief of cepted the crown, and became the founder the duchy of Saxony, and not a feudum of the present of Denmark, in the vexilli of the Empire, the direct right of year 1448. King Christian to the succession of this Eleven years after this event, 1459, duchy might have been justly insisted

Adolph of Schleswig-Holstein died. His upon at the time ; which goes directly elder brother, Henry, had lived unmarried, against the late assertion of Prussia with and perished in his thirtieth year; the regard to both duchies, " that only the younger, Gerhard, died suddenly on the agnates were admitted to the inheritance." Rhine, in 1433, without legitimate issue. The great question, however, as to whe- Thus the house of the Counts of Schau- ther Schleswig, an ancient and important —

10 Wars between the Danes and Germans,

province of Denmark, should, be at last in- the votes. In this manner King Christian corporated with the kingdom and separated gained his object, but not withoiit great from Holstein, or again become imited with sacrifices, which through his whole reign the latter, by a new investiture of the king, pressed hard on the kingdom of Denmark. was now to be determined. But a new He settled his patrimonial of Ol- difficulty had unexpectedly been created denborg and Delmenhorst on his younger by the fact that the Duke Adolph, brother, with forty thousand florins. The moved perhaps by his old rancor towards Counts of Schauejiborg received an indem- Denmark, against whom he had spent his nification of four hundred and thirty thou- youth in hard fighting, and still more by sand florins, the county of Pinneberg, his natural desire to preserve the close and several other possessions. The pre- union of his two beautiful states, had per- lates and nobles secured their most exten- suaded his young nephew, Christian of sive privileges, throwing all the burdens of Oldenborg, when the crown of Denmark the commonwealth on the more numerous was offered to him in 1448, to renounce his and industrious classes of the citizens and right to Schleswig, and to promise that, peasants. On his actual election to the according to the constitutio Valdemariana, duchies he declared by a charter of rights the duchy of Schleswig and the kingdom of [HaandfcEstning) dated the 5th of March, Denmarknever should be united again under 1460, which the Holstein historians con- the same sceptre, and that the duchy of sider as a renewal of the Valdemarian Con- Schleswig-Holstein should remain forever stitution, that the estates of Schleswig and and ever undivided ewich tosammend Holstein were to remain inseparable ; that ungedelt. they had of their own free will, without This curious Low German document of any regard to his being King of Denmark, Count Christian of Oldenborg is dated 2Sth chosen him for their Duke and Count, that of June, 1448, more than a year before his they likewise after his death were entitled coronation at Copenhagen as King of Den- to elect his successor from among his chil- mark on the 28th October, 1449. It had no dren, or in case of his having no issue, from validity, because Count Christian could not among his lawful heirs, and that if he should give away any territory or rights of the leave but one son to succeed him on the kingdom of Denmark, the crown of which throne of Denmark, the estates should have he did not wear ; nay, he could not even do the right to choose some other chief, pro- so after he had been crowned kmg, except vided only he were of the kin and lineage with the consent of the states in a general of the deceased. daimehof or diet. This renunciation and The future position of Schleswig for promise of the young Count may therefore several centuries was now decided. A few be considered null and void. years later, in 1474, Holstein was erected We said that Christian, as a cognate into a duchy, and though Schleswig remain- heir, had lie right to the succession in Hol- ed a Danish fief, which did not belong to the stein in 1459. His ambition however in- empire, it now entered by its relation to Hol- cited him to go any length in order to stein into a more intimate intercourse wnth acquire both the estates, Holstein as well Germany. The mass of the people still as Schleswig, and to unite both with the spoke Danish, as they do to this day, but the kingdom in spite of his own renunciation all-powerful nobility, by intermarriages in of 1448. Instead, therefore, of drawing the sister duchy, and the clergy, by the in the escheated fief of Schleswig, and in- great spiritual movement in the south, be- corporating it wj^h Desmark, he did not came more and more Germanized. Withia enforce that right, but simply offered him- half a century, the diet in Schleswig began self as a candidate for the free election of to be held in the Low- German dialect. In the Schleswig and Holstein nobility. Thus the times of the , the Lutheran he placed himself on a level with the indi- translation of the Bible in the High-Ger- gent counts of Schauenborg-Pinneberg, well man language was still nearly unintelligi- knowing that the large sums he had by ble to the great majority of the common underhand means distributed amono- the people, both in Holstein and Schleswig, avaricious prelates and nobles, and the yet by the mighty influence of the Ger- powerful influence of the family of Rant- man civilization from the south, and the zau, would procui'e him the majority of indifference of the Oldenborg kings, who For the Possession of Schkswig. 11

themselves spoke the German at the com-t dynasty, quite contrary to the spirit of the of Copenhagen, the Danish lost gromid, principle of nnity expressed in the act of and the Hio-h- German at last framma the 1460, which in this manner was abolished victory, became the language of the pul- de facto by the Schleswig and Holstein pit, of the bar, and of tlie national assem- states themselves. blies. The university of was erected in Christian I. died in 1441, and left two 1665, and the young Schleswigers as well sons by his Queen Dorothea—Hans, who as the Holsteiners, having received their ed- was elected King of Denmark, and Fred- ucation at that institution, extended their erik, at that time only ten years of age. ti"avels to Germany, in order to finish their The ambitious queen dowager, desiring studies and bring German literature and her younger son, Prince Frederik, to be science back to their native countries. elected in the duchies, succeeded by her Nor were the commercial relations with intrigues in delaying the final decision of the Hanseatic confederation less influential the states for nine years, when at last, in in alienating the Schleswigers from their 1490, both the royal brothers were elect- Danish brethren. The naval establish- ed, and a very remarkable division of the ments [Styrishavne) of the victorious Val- two provinces took place. Instead of de- demars, who with their Danish fleets claring King Hans of Denmai-k Duke of subjected all the southern coasts of the Schleswig, and his brother Frederik Duke Baltic, and extended their feudal dominion of Holstein and vassal of the Germanic over Esthonia, Pomerania and Riigen, had Empire, the states now divided both duch- ogone to ruin durinaro the ci^^l wars of the ies between both the princes. King Hans ^ ^ ^ fouz'teenth century. The eighty-five cities obtained the northern district of Haders- of the rich and powerful Hansa had for leben, the city of Flensborg, the island of nearly two centimes possessed the entire Als, as belonging to Schleswig, and the commerce of the Baltic and northern seas, western and southern parts of Holstein, and by their exclusive rights and privile- with Rendsborg, Gluckstad, Itzehoe, Sege- ges, kept the Scandinavian Idngs in the most berg, Oldesloe and the promontory of abject bondage to a commercial aristoc- Heiligenhafen,—which all formed the pos- racy. Iso wonder, then, that Hamburg, sessions of the Royal or Segeberg line of Liibeck, and Bremen had become the succession. His younger brother Frederik schools and places of general resort of the united the Schleswig districts of Gottorp, active mariners of Schleswig and Holstein. Tondern and Apenrade, with Kiel, the Ivincr Christian I. of Oldenboro- ha\dno- eastern parts of Holstein and the island of thus, in 1460, been elected Duke of Schles- Femern, and thus established the Ducal n ig and Holstein, it might have been sup- or Gottorp line. In this manner the Sege- posed that the great question about the berg line possessed six different districts duchies had at last been solved ; but most of both ducliies inclosed or iirtermingled unhappily for the tranquillity and welfare with the four portions belonging to that of the Danish monarchy, new divisions of Gottorp ! This most untoward sub- followed thu-ty years later (1490) which division of the two Danish and German at different periods, for nearly two cen- fiefs, afterwards gave rise to the fatal de- turies and a half, were the causes of dy- nomination of " a duchj of Schleswig- nastic dissensions, foreign invasions, and Holslein," which, although a political nul- incalculable distress and misery in the lity, has nevertheless been the cause of whole monarchy. Although the crown interminable complications and dissensions, of Denmark continued elective for two and mainly contributed to the present hundred years (1460—1660) after the unjust and iniquitous invasion of Denmark accession of Christian I., it descended by the Germanic confederation. Disputes nevertheless as regularly from father to soon arose between the brothers ; the son, as if it had been hereditary. But in ambitious Frederik laid claims to the in- the duchies, where the nobihty [Ritter- vestiture of fiefs in Denmark and Norway, schaft) alone formed the states, this oli- which were refused by the diet, who de- garchy simultaneously elected diff"erent clared that Denmark was a free and indi- descendants of the house of Oldenborg, visible elective kingdom.o Such a refusal and the lands thus became divisible and exasperated the duke in the highest de- subdivisible among distinct lines of the rcree. He imited with the Hanseatic cities 12 Wars between the Danes and Germans,

against his brother, and taking advantage promised the king that he woidd take Dit- of the unruly spirit of the Swedes, he even marsk even if it was chained to heavenitself. attempted by flattery and promises to be Thus the best appointed army Denmark elected their king. A civil war would no had ever sent forth, consisting of thirty doubt have broken out with King Hans, if thousand combatants, advanced through a feud against the Ditmarskers in Holstein the low marshes against the six thousand had not caused the brothers to unite their armed herdsmen, who in vain had de- forces against the common enemy. manded the aid of the cities on the Elbe. The Ditmarskers, a people of Saxon de- On the 13th of February, the Danes occu- scent inhabiting a small fertile district pied the open town of Meldorf, which had between the Elbe and the Eyder, in that been abandoned, and only the aged and the part of Holstein which faces the Western defenceless fell victims to the wild soldiery ocean, had during several centuries lived of the time. But their cruelty and pre- in perfect independence. They formed a sumption met with the justest chastisement. commonwealth, which was governed by Animated by despair,'and resolved to perish bailiffs and aldermen, and united by the in the cause of their liberty, this handful love of freedom, they had maintained of people, led on by the heroic Wolf Ise- themselves in this situation against all brand, occupied a small fort situated on aggression. At the conquest of Holstein an eminence between Meldorf and Hem- by King Valdemar the Victorious, they ingsted. The royal army had to pass on followed the Danish banner ; but during a narrow and swampy road, hemmed in the bloody battle of Bornhoved in 1227, on both sides by ditches and marshes. they, by treacherously attacking the Danes While the Saxon infantry advanced, they in their rear, caused their total overthrow. were received by a destructive fire from the This treachery was rewarded by the counts batteries on the hill. They lost their com- of Holstein with perfect independence, and mander, and falling back in disorder upon although Count Gerhard afterwards at- the Danish chivalry, they were furiously tempted to subdue them, they defeated attacked on all sides by the light-armed and slew him, foiled all subsequent in- Ditmarskers, who, on their long spears, vasions, and obtained from the German with dexterity jumped over the ditches Emperor the privilege of being placed be- and began an indiscriminate slaughter on neath the protection of the archiepiscopal the defenceless flanks of the crowded col- see of Bremen. Nor would those poor umn. Three hundred and sixty nobles of and brave herdsmen and fishermen have the most distinguished families in Den- been disturbed in their tranquillity, if they mark and the duchies, and more than had not, like the Swiss on the , rely- fifteen thousand troops, perished on the ing on their victories, become troublesome battle-field. The king himself escaped aggressors on their neighbors. King Chris- with difficulty. The old Dannebrog, the tian I. had already resolved their reduction, Danish banner from the times of the Valde- and having represented them to the Em- mars, was lost together with all the cannon, peror Friederich III. as a set of lawless arms, and an immense baggage. The Dit- and unruly rovers, he received permission marskers, pursuing the retreating army, to make the conquest of their territory. made devastating incursions into Holstein, But he died, and his sons would perhaps which forced the king, by the mediation of have left the Ditmarskers to themselves, if the Hanseatic cities, to recognize their in- they had not taken an active part in the dependence. dispute between Duke Frederik and the King Hans died in 1513, and was suc- Hanseatic cities of LUbeck and Hamburg, ceeded by his spirited, but violent and and destroyed the ducal depots and cus- cruel son, Christian II., who immediately tom-houses on the island of Helgoland. on his accession called together the states The king and the duke now resolved the of Schleswig and Holstein to a general war. The brilliant feudal array of Den- diet in Flensborg, in order to be elected mark and the duchies assembled in Hol- duke of the royal share in the duchies. stein during the winter of 1500, and was The states assembled ; but before they strengthened by six thousand mercenary swore allegiance to the king, they demand- Saxon lance-knechts, commanded by the ed the confirmation of all their privileges haughty condottiere Junker Slents, who and rights, and certain restitutions to Duke ;

For the Possession of Schleswig. 13

Frederik, which King Hans, in 1503, had disastrous division. _ The king, and hia engaged to make to his brother. The brothers Hans and Adolph, received dif- young king, nourishing a deep-rooted ferent districts both of Schleswig and Hol- hatred against the powerful nobiUty, stein, with their castles, convents and whom he, as a , had already towns, which were denominated after the with the axe and the sword almost annihi- principal residences. The king's share lated in Norway, and whose exorbitant was called that of Sonderborg. Duke privileges he intended to circumscribe in Hans obtained Hadersleben, and Adolph, Denmark, refused the demands of the Gottorp. The younger brother Frederik states. Serious discussions now arose became bishop of Hildersheim in 1551. and both px-elates and nobles declared that The ducal claims to the possession of if the kinor did not confirm all their rio^hts Hamburg and the territory of the Dit- and claims, they would immediately elect marskers, and many privileges and taxes, his uncle Frederik as their only sovereign remained in common ; for every one of duke. Chiistian II., knowing the ambition the dukes possessed the full of that prince, and fearing the general dis- in his own priucipaUty, though he recog- satisfaction in Sweden, yielded at the time nized the emperor as his liege-lord for he deferred his intended reforms, acknow- Holstein. Yet the royal brothers, on their ledged the rights of the oligarchy, and presenting their homage to the king, re- received their homage as Duke of Schles- fused to perform the usual military service wig and Holstein. Yet the enmity be- for Schleswig as a Danish banner-fief ; act- tween the two princes continued, and was ing upon the illegal pretension of the old fomented by the disloyal and treacherous dukes of South Jutland, that the duchy conduct of Christian towards his uncle. was a frank-fee exempted from every feo- The horrible slaughter of the Swedish dary duty. Years passed on in violent nobility in Stockholm on the 8th of No- disputes, and at last, when the ceremony vember, 1520, and the subsequent rebel- of investiture was to take place at the lion of the Danish nobles in 1523, decided general assembly at Colding, in 1547, in the fate of Christian the Tyrant. He fled the presence of the king, the dukes on a to Gennany, and Frederik, being called to sudden refused ; a tumult ai'ose, the cere- the Danish throne, immediately took pos- mony was suspended, and the princes, session of all the royal castles in the duch- mounting their horses, hurried off in dis- ies, which thus were united a second time. gust. But King Christian did not yield, They remained undivided till the year and though he lived nearly in the same

1544 ; during which period King Chris- dissensions with his brothers as the un- tian III., the son of Frederik I., had gov- happy Erik Plough-penning had done, erned them in the name of his younger three hxmdred years before, he still vindi- brothers, Hans, Adolph, and Frederik. cated the right of the Danish crown. Another favorable opportunity had thus Adolph of Holstein- Gottorp, a prince of presented itself to the Danish Council for a hot and impetuous temper, again turned reclaiming the ancient Danish province of his arms an^ainst the courao-eous Ditmarsk-

South Jutland, and by uniting it with ers, who, ever since the terrible defeat of Denmark, to establish anew the old Scan- King Hans, had enjoyed uninterrupted dinavian frontier of the Eyder—or at least, possession of their independence. Chris- by adopting the advice of the distinguished tian III., however, who wished to rule in general, John de Rantzau, at once to de- tranquillity over his dominions, succ ;eded clare the right of in the in preserving peace till his death in 1559. duchies. This principle had at that time But his son and successor, Frederik IL, already been introduced with success into was more willinc: to enter into the desio-ns and Mark-. But the of his uncle, being afraid of his conquering

Danish oligarchs, says a native historian, the whole territory and keeping it to him- were more intent upon fortifying their self. The king, with his Danish army, castles and extending their farms, on buy- therefore joined the duke's, and better ing and selling their poor serfs, who were care was now taken to insure success. no better than slaves, than on securing the The conflict was long and bloody ; but the welfare of their king and country. The intrepidity of the Ditmarskers could not Council consented to another still more prevail against the mihtary knowledge and 14 Wars between the Danes and Germans,

discipline of their enemies. The Danes The decision of Odensee, though not were commanded by the old Count John satisfactory to Denmark, did at least settle the head of one of the noblest Rantzau, two important points : the obligation on families of Holstein, to whose military tal- the part of the dukes to renew the in- ents the house of Oldenborg was highly in- vestiture, and the recognition of the mili- debted for its victories and grandeur. tary service, which though in itself insig- Adolph too was a prince of uncommon nificant, still formed the strong link between bravery and skill, who fought in the hot- the duchy of Schleswig and the kingdom. test of the battle, and thrice rallied his The ceremony took place on the 3d of troops, whom the desperate valor of the May, 1580, on the large square of Oden- enemy had forced to give ground. After see, where the royal throne had been erect- a violent struggle the victory declared for ed. The three dukes at the same time laid the Danes ; it was as complete and de- their hands on the banner of Dannebrog, cisive as they could wish. All the towns and swore the usual allegiance to their surrendered the and forts ; vanquished sued liege-lord as faithful vassals. A few months for peace, which was granted them. They later, the Hadersleben hne became ex- paid homage to the King of Denmark as tinct by the death of Duke Hans the elder. their lawful sovereign, and took the oath All the possessions were now equally of perpetual fidelity to him and his succes- divided between Duke Adolph of Holstein- sors. They paid the expenses of the war, Gottorp and the King^ while the subdivis- and delivered up the standards and mili- ions which entailed so many evils on the tary trophies taken from King Hans. duchies were put a stop to, in 1608, when Though the victors in apparent concord the right of primogeniture was established divided the conquered territory, yet the in the ducal part, and, in 1650, extended dispute about the investiture of Schleswig to the royal province. still continued. As no party would yield, Christian IV. reigned with a strong the decision of that odious question was hand, and taught the dukes to respect to the Elector of Saxony, the referred the feudal rights of Denmark ; but tre- Landgrave of Hesse, and the Duke of mendous events were forthcoming, which Mecklenburg, as umpires. In May, 1579, once more overturned the old relations, the sentence was given at the Congress of and at last subjected them to the de- Odensee. Schleswig was to be considered cision of the sword. In 1618 the ter- as a hereditary military fief of Denmark, rible thirty years' war broke out between with which the king was bound to invest the Protestant and Catholic parties in the dukes of the Oldenborg family. The Germany, and King Christian IV., as king was to consult the dukes about ques- chief of the Low-Saxon circle, entered tions of war and peace, and they then Germany with his Danish aiToy. By the pledged themselves to render him military treachery of his Saxon allies he was de- service as their liege-lord, ^lih. forty knights feated in the bloody battle of Lutter am and eighty foot-soldiers ! This ridiculous Baremberg, in 1626, and the imperial act was then signed by the plenipotentia- General Wallenstein, pursuing the retreat- ries of the foreign princes, the vassals, and ing king, overran the duchies and all the the sagacious Council of Denmark. The mainland of Denmark with his wild bands. states in the duchies showed far more res- The Duke of Holstein- Gottorp then broke olution and perseverance in the mainte- his allegiance and declared against the nance of their rights. They refused in king, and though he lost all his possessions 1563 to recognize the sovereignty of the in the course of the war, they were re- Duke Hans, the younger brother of King stored to him by the treaty of Lubeck, in Frederik II., on whom he settled the prin- 1629, between the Emperor and the King cipality of Sonderborg, on the island of of Denmark. The hatred between the Als, nor did the descendants of this line reigning lines had become inveterate. The ever succeed in obtaining the recognition of Duke again united with Sweden, and Carl that dignity to this day.^' Gustav, crossing the belt on the ice, during the winter, 1658, forced Frederik III., the * present Duke of The Sonderborg-Augusten- son and successor of Christian IV., in the borg, and his brother Prince Noer, who have taken treaties of Roeskilde and Copenhagen, the arms against their cousin, King Frederik VII. of Denmark, are the direct offspring of that family. same year, to concede to the Duke and ;

For the Possession of Schkswig. 15

his descendants the sovereignty and sii- quests, secured the duchy of Schleswig as preme dominion of the Gottorp division of a permanent and inalienable possession by Schleswig. The feudal dependence on the strongest guaranty of Sweden, Denmark was thus abohshed in the Hol- England and France.* stein- Gottorp dynasty, but continued with By letter patent of the 22d of August, its mihtary service and other duties in the 1721, the inhabitants of the conquered ter- lateral lines of Sonderborg, and the intro- ritory were called upon to do homage to duction of a hereditary succession in Den- Frederik IV. as their lawful sovereign, mark, in 16G0, strengthened the ties be- and the two districts of Apenrade and Got- tween the larger or royal part of the torp were incorporated with that part of duchy and the kingdom. the duchy, which previously had belonged The revolution of 1660 forms a new period to the Danish crown. The estates of in the . It overturned Schleswig took the oath of allegiance to the old elective constitution, with its pow- the king and his hereditary successors, ac- erful oligarchical council of state, [Rigs- cording to the lex regia, at the castle of raad) and the extravagant privileges of the Gottorp, on the 4th of September, 1721. nobility. The king, according to the new The junior branches of the house of Old-

lex. regia, (Kongelov,) became the most ab- enborg, the Dukes of Augustenborg and solute monarch in Europe, and the succes- Glucksborg, who did not possess any sion of the crown was settled both on sovereign rights, gave their oath in writing. the male and female descendants of the In the letter patent and the formulary for Oldenborg dynasty. The duchies did not the oath of allegiance, the king expressly subscribe the new act of sovereignty, or mentions Schleswig as an integral part of renew their oath of allegiance, nor did they the crown of Denmark, from which it had directly take any part in those transacctions been torn away in disastrous times, and the lex regia, however, distinctly expresses declares it henceforth eternally to be in- the leading principles, which remain as the corporated as a part of the kingdom. This guiding rule for the question about the rela- declaration is definite, but it was not com- tions of Schleswig to the kingdom. In its pletely executed. King Frederik IV. did

19th article it enjoins the kingto secure, en- not realize his first intention of incorpo- tire and undivided, under the Danish crown, rating Schleswig as a province. It re- not only the realms of Denmark and Nor- mained a separate hereditary duchy, en- way, with all the provinces and islands joying its ancient privileges, but by its belonging to them, but moreover all pos- participating in the regulations of the lex sessions which may be acquired by the regia of 1665, it now followed the cognate sword, or other legal titles, and thus ex- succession of Denmark. In accordance presses the indivisibility of the kingdoms with the new relations into which Schles- and all other possessions which belonged wio^ thus entered in 1721 with the kinor- to Denmark in 1665. The grand-son of dom, the arms of the duchy were quartered King Frederik III. at last found an oppor- with those of Denmark Proper; " and so," tunity to realize this principle by uniting says the excellent historian. Professor and incorporating the whole duchy of Christian Molbech, "after a partial sepa- Schleswig in 1720. The hostile relations ration this fertile and important province between the house of Holstein- Gottorp again became an organic and indivisible and the crown of Denmark continued part of the state." during the i-emainder of tlie seventeenth And yet was the possession of Schles- century, and on the breaking out of the wig far from being undisturbed. Den- between Sweden, Rus- sia, Brandenburg and Denmark, Duke * " His Britannic Majesty agrees to guaranty and to maintain and to continue in peaceful posses- Charles Frederik of Holstein-Gottorp, sion that part of the duchy of Schleswig -which his who liad taken side with Charles XII. of Danisli Majesty has in his hands, and to defend the Sweden, lost all his possessions in Schles- same in the best manner possible, against all and wig. They were conquered by King every one who may endeavor to disturb liim therein, Frederik IV. and his Danish army in 1713, either directly or mdirectly." Treaty between Denmark and Great Britain of the 26th of July, and at the general peace that followed the 1720. The treaty with Sweden is dated June the death of Charles XII. in Norway, 1718, 14th, and that with France August 18th, the Denmark, giving up all her other con- same year. 16 Wars betweefi the Danes and Germans,

mark had to carry on the contest for more ceded to it in return by the King of Den- than fifty years. The threatening storm mark. The completeness of the cession came no longer from Sweden—which, van- of Schleswig on the part of Russia is still quished and weakened during the disas- more evident, when compared with her trous wars of Charles XII., had now exchange of the counties of Delmen- for a time retreated from the great politi- horst and Oldenborg for the Gottorp share cal theatre—but from the more dangerous of Holstein. According to the former Russian Empire. The duke Charles Fred- treaty, Schleswig is ceded to the King of erik had taken his residence in Kiel, in Denmark and his royal successors, while Holstein, where he strenuously protested the latter mentions only King Christian against the cession of Schleswig. He soon VII. and his brother. Prince Frederik,

after married Anne Petrowna, the daugh- with their male heirs ; thus declaring that ter of Peter the Great, and became thus, Russia reserved her rights to Holstein on supported by Russia, a formidable enemy the extinction of the male descendants of to Denmark. Yet the prudent Christian the reigning dynasty.* VI., the son and successor of Frederik By these treaties and later settlements IV., found the means to frustrate the war- with the lateral lines of Augustenborg like schemes of the duke, without any and Beck, the house of Oldenborg came rupture with that power. More imminent at last into undisputed possession both of seemed the war in 1762, when, on the Schleswig and Holstein. The latter duchy, death of the Empress Elizabeth, Peter III., though a German fief, was incorporated the son of Charles Frederick, succeeded with the kingdom of Denmark in 1806, on her on the throne of Russia. The first act the dissolution of the German empire, in of his reign was a declaration of war against consequence of the victories and conquests Frederik V. of Denmark. As the head of of the Emperor Napoleon. But at the the house of Holstein- Gottorp, he renewed in 1815, Holstein again his claims to the ceded part of Schleswig. entered into connection with the Germanic Immense armaments were undertaken in confederation. King Frederik VI., as

Denmark ; a fine fleet of sixty men-of-war duke of Holstein, obtained a vote in the was sent cruising in the Baltic, and an diet of Frankfort, and bound himself to army of seventy thousand combatants was join the federal army with a contingent of advancing upon the Russians in the envi- three thousand five hundred troops. rons of Wismar, when the news of the At the general peace in 1815, all the revolution at St. Petersburg, the violent different nations, which formed the coah- abdication and murder of Peter, put a sud- tion against France, had been the gainers. den stop to the military demonstrations. Denmark alone, as the faithful ally of the Catherine II., his successor, did not prose- Emperor Napoleon, had been almost crush- cute the quarrel of her hot-headed hus- ed under the weight of accumulated dis- band.*' She recalled the Russian troops asters, and from a flourishing kingdom of from Mecklenburg and concluded a treaty the second rank, with a numerous army, a with Denmark, which was confirmed by gallant navy and extensive commerce, she her son, the Emperor Paul, in 1Y73, in ac- had then, in her isolated position, dwindled cordance with which, the house of Hol- down to a small state, of a third or fourth stein- Gottorp forever renounced all claims rank among the victorious nations around upon Schleswig, and by a second treaty of her. Her capital had been burnt ; her the same date, exchanged its possessions fleet carried ofi"; her colonies, credit and and rights in the duchy of Holstein for the commerce nearly destroyed—and to crown counties of Oldenborg and Delmenhorst, all, Norway had been surrendered to the Swedes, who at that time were still her enemies. Norway, which for nearly four * Mr. D'Israeli, M. P., said in his speech on the 19th of April last, in the House of Commons: centuries and a half had been united to her, " When Russia was about to invade Denmark, and the latter having applied to this country, * This important fact demonstrates that the England signified her intention to carry out the Russian emperor, as a direct descendant of the provisions of her guaranty, and in consequence Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp, has a nearer claim to of that notification, Russia did not invade Schles- the duchy of Holstein, than the Duke and Prince wig." of Augustenborg. •• —

For the Possession of Schkswig. 17

and whose people bore in origin, language, Frankfort deputy Welcker has lately had history and manners, the closest affinity to the gi"eatest difficulty in persuading the the Danes, was now violently severed from quiet and industrious Lauenborgers that her sister kingdom. Denmark received, by these ti'eaties are null and void, and that way of compensation, but a very imperfect they, as Germans, belonging to the com- one, and on her part very reluctantly, an- mon glorious fatherland, ought to take up other small slice of German territory, cut arms against their Danish liege lord. away with the large carving knife of the Such were the relations between Den- Congress of Vienna, from the newly mark and the duchies of Schleswig, Hol- liberated people of Germany, in the duchy stein and Lauenborg in 1815. There did of Lauenborg. The circumstances which not at that time exist any party spirit, any brought that German duchy under the Schleswig-Holstein separatistic tendencies, Danish crown are very remarkable. When which might have prognosticated any hos- King Frederik VI. was obliged by the tile conflict between the two diflferent na- treaty of luel, in 1814, to cede the kingdom tionahties of the monarchy. of Norway to the crown of Sweden, the That movement began later, and origi- king of that coimtry, on his pai't, offered as nated not with the people, but with the an mdemnity to the King of Denmark and nobility die Ritterschaft—and the swarm his successors, the duchy of Swedish of German employees, forming a bureau- Pomerania and the principality of Riigen, cracy, who by the ambitious intrigues of with seventy-five and a half German square the princes of Augustenborg, were led to miles, and 160,000 inhabitants. hope that by a final rupture with Denmark, Pnissia now stood forward and demand- they might deprive her both of Schleswig ed the cession of these maritime provinces, and Lauenborg, and thus form an inde- proposing to give Denmark an equivalent pendent state of their own, which, by its territory, which it did not possess. But in important maritime position on the Baltic order to fulfil its promise, Prussia then per- and the North Sea, might, as they said, suaded the King of Hanover—George III. become the handle of the sword, which of Great Britain—to cede the duchy of Saxe- Germany was to throw into the scales of Lauenborg, with nineteen German square fate on the Northern Seas. miles, and 45,000 inhabitants. The poor A second article on this interesting sub- Lauenborgers remained six days Pi-ussian ject, so little understood in general, will subjects, and were then, on the 4th of give an account of the recent revolutionary Jime, 1815—"in perpetuity, with full movements in the duchies, and the events sovereignty and proprietary right''—trans- of the war consequent thereon. ferred to the King of Denmark. The

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