History of Denmark

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Medieval Denmark
)

Homann's map of the Scandinavian Peninsula and Fennoscandia with their surrounding territories: northern Germany, northern Poland, the Baltic region, Livonia, Belarus, and parts of Northwest Russia. Johann Baptist Homann (1664–1724) was a German geographer and cartographer; map dated around 1730.

The history of Denmark as a

Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time, thus making the Monarchy of Denmark the oldest in Europe.[1] The area now known as Denmark has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age
.

Denmark's history has particularly been influenced by its geographical location between the

Schleswig (a Danish fief) and Holstein
(a German fief).

Eventually, Denmark lost these conflicts and ended up ceding first

occupied by Nazi Germany, but was eventually liberated by British forces of the Allies in 1945,[2] after which it joined the United Nations. In the aftermath of World War II, and with the emergence of the subsequent Cold War, Denmark was quick to join the military alliance of NATO
as a founding member in 1949.

Prehistoric Denmark

The Scandinavian region has a rich prehistory, having been populated by several prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. During the ice age, all of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers most of the time, except for the southwestern parts of what we now know as Denmark. When the ice began retreating, the barren tundras were soon inhabited by reindeer and elk, and Ahrenburg and Swiderian hunters from the south followed them here to hunt occasionally. The geography then was very different from what we know today. Sea levels were much lower; the island of Great Britain was connected by a land bridge to mainland Europe and the large area between Great Britain and the Jutlandic peninsula – now beneath the North Sea and known as Doggerland – was inhabited by tribes of hunter-gatherers. As the climate warmed up, forceful rivers of meltwater started to flow and shape the virgin lands, and more stable flora and fauna gradually began emerging in Scandinavia, and Denmark in particular. The first human settlers to inhabit Denmark and Scandinavia permanently were the Maglemosian people, residing in seasonal camps and exploiting the land, sea, rivers and lakes. It was not until around 6,000 BC that the approximate geography of Denmark as we know it today had been shaped.

Denmark has some unique natural conditions for preservation of artifacts, providing a rich and diverse archeological record from which to understand the prehistoric cultures of this area.

Stone and Bronze Age

Stone Dolmen near Vinstrup, Nørhald. Built in the 3rd millennium BC.

The

Weichsel glaciation covered all of Denmark most of the time, except the western coasts of Jutland. It ended around 13,000 years ago, allowing humans to move back into the previously ice-covered territories and establish permanent habitation. During the first post-glacial millennia, the landscape gradually changed from tundra to light forest, and varied fauna including now-extinct megafauna appeared. Early prehistoric cultures uncovered in modern Denmark include the Maglemosian culture (9,500–6,000 BC); the Kongemose culture (6,000–5,200 BC), the Ertebølle culture (5,300–3,950 BC), and the Funnelbeaker culture
(4,100–2,800 BC).

Solvognen in Danish), a sculpture of the sun pulled by a mare. Scholars have dated it to some time in the 15th century BC and believe that it illustrates an important concept expressed in Nordic Bronze Age
mythology.

The first inhabitants of this early post-glacial landscape in the so-called

boar, red deer, and roe deer also began to abound.[6]

A burial from Bøgebakken at Vedbæk dates to c. 6,000 BC and contains 22 persons – including four newborns and one toddler. Eight of the 22 had died before reaching 20 years of age – testifying to the hardness of hunter-gatherer life in the cold north.[7] Based on estimates of the amount of game animals, scholars estimate the population of Denmark to have been between 3,300 and 8,000 persons in the time around 7,000 BC.[8] It is believed that the early hunter-gatherers lived nomadically, exploiting different environments at different times of the year, gradually shifting to the use of semi permanent base camps.[9]

With the rising temperatures, sea levels also rose, and during the Atlantic period, Denmark evolved from a contiguous landmass around 11,000 BC to a series of islands by 4,500 BC. The inhabitants then shifted to a seafood based diet, which allowed the population to increase.

Agricultural settlers made inroads around 3,000 BC. Many dolmens and rock tombs (especially passage graves) date from this period. The Nordic Bronze Age period in Denmark, from about 1,500 BC, featured a culture that buried its dead, with their worldly goods, beneath burial mounds. The many finds of gold and bronze from this era include beautiful religious artifacts and musical instruments, and provide the earliest evidence of social classes and stratification.

Iron Age

Gundestrup Cauldron
, with what some scholars interpret as Celtic depictions, exemplifies the trade relations of the period.

During the

peat bogs. Evidence of strong Celtic
cultural influence dates from this period in Denmark, and in much of northwest Europe, and survives in some of the older place names.

The

runic inscriptions date back to c. 200 AD. Depletion of cultivated land in the last century BC seems to have contributed to increasing migrations in northern Europe and increasing conflict between Teutonic tribes and Roman settlements in Gaul. Roman artifacts are especially common in finds from the 1st century. It seems clear that some part of the Danish warrior aristocracy served in the Roman army.[10]

Occasionally during this time, both animal and human sacrifice occurred and bodies were immersed in bogs. In recent times some of these bog bodies have emerged very well-preserved, providing valuable information about the religion and people who lived in Denmark during this period. Some of the most well-preserved bog bodies from the Nordic Iron Age are the Tollund Man and the Grauballe Man.

From around the 5th to the 7th century,

Germanic Iron Age
.

Middle Ages

Earliest literary sources

In his description of

Suithiod?) and expelled the Heruli and took their lands.[11]

The

Old English poems Widsith and Beowulf, as well as works by later Scandinavian writers — notably by Saxo Grammaticus
(c. 1200) — provide some of the earliest references to Danes.

Viking Age

herreder
" (marked by red lines).
Kingdom of Denmark
in the Middle Ages
Kongeriget Danmark
i middelalderen
8th century/ 936–1397
)
Religion

Other & non-Danish:

History 
• Formed
8th century
• Incorporated into the Kalmar Union
June 17 1397

With the beginning of the Viking Age in the 9th century, the prehistoric period in Denmark ends. The Danish people were among those known as

Vikings, during the 8th–11th centuries. Viking explorers first discovered and settled in Iceland in the 9th century, on their way from the Faroe Islands. From there, Greenland and Vinland (probably Newfoundland) were also settled. Utilizing their great skills in shipbuilding and navigation they raided and conquered parts of France and the British Isles
.

The Ladby ship, the largest ship burial found in Denmark.
The fortified Viking town of Aros (Aarhus), 950 AD.

They also excelled in trading along the coasts and rivers of Europe, running trade routes from Greenland in the north to

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The Danes conquered (terminated) all of these except for the kingdom of Wessex. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, emerged from these trials as the sole remaining English king, and thereby as the first English Monarch
.

In the early 9th century, Charlemagne's Christian empire had expanded to the southern border of the Danes, and Frankish sources (e.g. Notker of St Gall) provide the earliest historical evidence of the Danes. These report a King Gudfred, who appeared in present-day Holstein with a navy in 804 where diplomacy took place with the Franks; In 808, King Gudfred attacked the Obotrites and conquered the city of Reric whose population was displaced or abducted to Hedeby. In 809, King Godfred and emissaries of Charlemagne failed to negotiate peace, despite the sister of Godfred being a concubine of Charlemagne, and the next year King Godfred attacked the Frisians with 200 ships.

Viking raids along the coast of France and the Netherlands were large-scale. Paris was besieged and the Loire Valley devastated during the 10th century. One group of Danes was granted permission to settle in northwestern France under the condition that they defend the place from future attacks. As a result, the region became known as "Normandy" and it was the descendants of these settlers who conquered England in 1066.

The oldest parts of the defensive works of Danevirke near

Christianisation of Scandinavia
.

Danish monarchs' family tree).[15]

The Danes were united and officially Christianized in 965 AD by Gorm's son Harald Bluetooth (see below), the story of which is recorded on the Jelling stones. The extent of Harald's Danish Kingdom is unknown, although it is reasonable to believe that it stretched from the defensive line of Dannevirke, including the Viking city of Hedeby, across Jutland, the Danish isles and into southern present day Sweden; Scania and perhaps Halland and Blekinge. Furthermore, the Jelling stones attest that Harald had also "won" Norway.[16]

In retaliation for the

Hardecanute. A final attempt by the Norwegians under Harald Hardrada to reconquer England failed, but did pave the way for William the Conqueror's takeover in 1066.[16]

Christianity, expansion and the establishment of the Kingdom of Denmark

Often regarded as Denmark's "birth certificate", the large Jelling Stone announces the unification and Christianization of Denmark by Harald Bluetooth c. 980

The history of Christianity in Denmark overlaps with that of the Viking Age. Various petty kingdoms existed throughout the area now known as Denmark for many years. Between c. 960 and the early 980s, Harald Bluetooth appears to have established a kingdom in the lands of the Danes which stretched from Jutland to Skåne. Around the same time, he received a visit from a German missionary who, according to legend,[17] survived an ordeal by fire, which convinced Harald to convert to Christianity.

Bremen – at that time the archbishop of all of Scandinavia
.

The new religion, which replaced the old Norse religious practices, had many advantages for the king. Christianity brought with it some support from the Holy Roman Empire. It also allowed the king to dismiss many of his opponents who adhered to the old mythology. At this early stage there is no evidence that the Danish Church was able to create a stable administration that Harald could use to exercise more effective control over his kingdom, but it may have contributed to the development of a centralising political and religious ideology among the social elite which sustained and enhanced an increasingly powerful kingship.

head tax (Danish: nefgjald) had brought his people to the verge of rebellion. Canute took weeks to arrive where the fleet had assembled at Struer, but he found only the Norwegians
still there.

Canute thanked the Norwegians for their patience and then went from assembly to assembly (Danish: landsting) outlawing any sailor, captain or soldier who refused to pay a fine which amounted to more than a years harvest for most farmers. Canute and his housecarls fled south with a growing army of rebels on his heels. Canute fled to the royal property outside the town of Odense on Funen with his two brothers. After several attempts to break in and then bloody hand-to-hand fighting in the church, Benedict was cut down, and Canute was struck in the head by a large stone and then speared from the front. He died at the base of the main altar on 10 July 1086, where he was buried by the Benedictines. When Queen Edele came to take Canute's body to Flanders, a light allegedly shone around the church and it was taken as a sign that Canute should remain where he was.[citation needed]

The death of St. Canute marks the end of the Viking Age. Never again would massive flotillas of Scandinavians meet each year to ravage the rest of Christian Europe.

In the early 12th century, Denmark became the seat of an independent

bishop of Roskilde
, rebuilt the country.

Danish Empire and campaigns 1168-1227

During Valdemar's reign construction began of a castle in the village of Havn, leading eventually to the foundation of

Teutonic Knights for trade, territory, and influence throughout the Baltic. In 1168, Valdemar and Absalon gained a foothold on the southern shore of the Baltic, when they subdued the Principality of Rügen
.

In the 1180s,

Rani, monasteries like Eldena Abbey) and settlement (Danish participation in the Ostsiedlung). The Danes lost most of their southern gains after the Battle of Bornhöved (1227)
, but the Rugian principality stayed with Denmark until 1325.

  Conquered by Denmark in 1219 (Pomerania conquered in 1219, lost in 1227. Ösel purchased in 1559, lost in 1645)

In 1202,

Danish Estonia began. Legend has it that the Danish flag, the Dannebrog fell from the sky during the Battle of Lindanise
in Estonia in 1219. A series of Danish defeats culminating in the Battle of Bornhöved on 22 July 1227 cemented the loss of Denmark's north German territories. Valdemar himself was saved only by the courageous actions of a German knight who carried Valdemar to safety on his horse.

From that time on, Valdemar focused his efforts on domestic affairs. One of the changes he instituted was the feudal system where he gave properties to men with the understanding that they owed him service. This increased the power of the noble families (Danish: højadelen) and gave rise to the lesser nobles (Danish: lavadelen) who controlled most of Denmark. Free peasants lost the traditional rights and privileges they had enjoyed since Viking times.

The king of Denmark had difficulty maintaining control of the kingdom in the face of opposition from the nobility and from the Church. An extended period of strained relations between the crown and the Popes of Rome took place, known as the "archiepiscopal conflicts".

By the late 13th century, royal power had waned, and the nobility forced the king to grant a

Counts of Holstein
. The Holstein Counts gained control of large portions of Denmark because the king would grant them fiefs in exchange for money to finance royal operations.

Valdemar spent the remainder of his life putting together a code of laws for

Code of Jutland (Danish
: Jyske Lov) was approved at meeting of the nobility at Vordingborg in 1241 just prior to Valdemar's death. Because of his position as "the king of Dannebrog" and as a legislator, Valdemar enjoys a central position in Danish history. To posterity the civil wars and dissolution that followed his death made him appear to be the last king of a golden age.

The

Roman Catholic Church. Thousands of church buildings sprang up throughout the country during this time. The economy expanded during the 12th century, based mostly on the lucrative herring
-trade, but the 13th century turned into a period of difficulty and saw the temporary collapse of royal authority.

Count rule

Danish Estonia not shown on the map was under the protection of the Livonian Order
.

During the disastrous reign of

Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg, was assassinated in 1340, Christopher's son Valdemar
was chosen as king, and gradually began to recover the territories, which was finally completed in 1360.

The Black Death, which came to Denmark during these years, also aided Valdemar's campaign. His continued efforts to expand the kingdom after 1360 brought him into open conflict with the Hanseatic League. He conquered Gotland, much to the displeasure of the League, which lost Visby, an important trading town located there.

The Hanseatic alliance with Sweden to attack Denmark initially proved a fiasco since Danish forces captured a large Hanseatic fleet, and ransomed it back for an enormous sum. Luckily for the League, the Jutland nobles revolted against the heavy taxes levied to fight the expansionist war in the Baltic; the two forces worked against the king, forcing him into exile in 1370. For several years, the Hanseatic League controlled the fortresses on "

the sound
" between Skåne and Zealand.

Margaret and the Kalmar Union (1397–1523)

The Kalmar Union, c. 1400

Olaf II to rule the three kingdoms, but after his early death in 1387 she took on the role herself (1387–1412). During her lifetime (1353–1412) the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (including the Faroe Islands, as well as Iceland, Greenland, and present-day Finland) became linked under her capable rule, in what became known as the Kalmar Union
, made official in 1397.

The tomb of Margaret I in Roskilde Cathedral.

Her successor,

Eric of Pomerania
(King of Denmark from 1412 to 1439), lacked Margaret's skill and thus directly caused the breakup of the Kalmar Union. Eric's foreign policy engulfed Denmark in a succession of wars with the Holstein counts and the city of Lübeck. When the Hanseatic League imposed a trade embargo on Scandinavia, the Swedes (who saw their mining industry adversely affected) rose up in revolt. The three countries of the Kalmar Union all declared Eric deposed in 1439.

However, support for the idea of regionalism continued, so when Eric's nephew Christopher of Bavaria came to the throne in 1440, he managed to get himself elected in all three kingdoms, briefly reuniting Scandinavia (1442–1448). The Swedish nobility grew increasingly unhappy with Danish rule and the union soon became merely a legal concept with little practical application. During the subsequent reigns of Christian I (1450–1481) and Hans (1481–1513), tensions grew, and several wars between Sweden and Denmark erupted.

In the early 16th century, Christian II (reigned 1513–1523) came to power. He allegedly declared, "If the hat on my head knew what I was thinking, I would pull it off and throw it away." This quotation apparently refers to his devious and machiavellian political dealings. He conquered Sweden in an attempt to reinforce the union, and had about 100 leaders of the Swedish anti-unionist forces killed in what came to be known as the Stockholm Bloodbath of November 1520. The bloodbath destroyed any lingering hope of Scandinavian union.

Map of Denmark–Norway, c. 1780

In the aftermath of

Privy Council of Denmark had lost some of its influence, and that of Norway no longer existed. The two kingdoms, known as Denmark–Norway, operated in a personal union under a single monarch. Norway kept its separate laws and some institutions, such as a royal chancellor
, separate coinage and a separate army. As a hereditary kingdom, Norway's status as separate from Denmark remained important to the royal dynasty in its struggles to win elections as kings of Denmark. The two kingdoms remained tied until 1814.

Early Modern Denmark

Abraham Ortelius's 1570 map of Denmark including parts on the Scandinavian peninsula.

The Reformation

Hans Tausen was one of the first Lutheran preachers, and later a bishop, in Denmark.

The

Reformation, which originated in the German lands in the early 16th century from the ideas of Martin Luther (1483–1546), had a considerable impact on Denmark. The Danish Reformation started in the mid-1520s. Some Danes wanted access to the Bible in their own language. In 1524 Hans Mikkelsen and Christiern Pedersen translated the New Testament into Danish; it became an instant best-seller.[18]

Those who had traveled to Wittenberg in Saxony and come under the influence of the teachings of Luther and his associates included Hans Tausen, a Danish monk in the Order of St John Hospitallers. On Good Friday in 1525, Tausen used the pulpit at Antvorskov Abbey Church to proclaim Luther's reforms. His scandalized superiors ordered him out of Zealand and held him in the priory at Viborg under close confinement until he should come to his senses.[18]

Townspeople came to see the troublesome monk, and Tausen preached to them from the window of his cell. Within days Tausen's ideas swept through the town. The then radical ideas of Luther found a receptive audience. Tausen's preaching converted ordinary people, merchants, nobles, and monks and even the Prior grew to appreciate Tausen and ordered his release. Tausen preached openly: much to the consternation of Bishop Jøn Friis, who lost his ability to do anything about the Lutherans and retreated to Hald Castle.[18]

After preaching in the open air, Tausen gained the use of a small chapel, which soon proved too small for the crowds who attended services in Danish. His followers broke open a Franciscan Abbey so they could listen to Tausen, who packed the church daily for services. The town leaders protected Tausen from the Bishop of Viborg.[18] Viborg became the center for the Danish Reformation for a time. Lutheranism spread quickly to Aarhus and Aalborg.

Within months King Frederick appointed Tausen as one of his personal chaplains (October 1526) in order to protect him from Catholics. Tausen's version of Luther's ideas spread throughout Denmark. Copenhagen became a hotbed of reformist activity and Tausen moved there to continue his work. His reputation preceded him and the excitement of hearing the liturgy in Danish brought thousands of people out to hear him. With the kings' permission, churches in Copenhagen opened their doors to the Lutherans and held services for Catholics and for Lutherans at different times of the day.

At Our Lady Church, the main church of Copenhagen, Bishop Ronnow refused to admit the "heretics". In December 1531, a mob stormed the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, encouraged by Copenhagen's fiery mayor, Ambrosius Bogbinder. They tore down statues and side-altars and destroyed artwork and reliquaries. Frederick I's policy of toleration insisted that the two competing groups share churches and pulpits peacefully, but this satisfied neither Lutherans nor Catholics.

Luther's ideas spread rapidly as a consequence of a powerful combination of popular enthusiasm for church reform and a royal eagerness to secure greater wealth through the seizure of church lands and property. In Denmark the reformation increased the crown's revenues by 300%.

Dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church

Dissatisfaction with the established Catholic Church had already been widespread in Denmark. Many people viewed the tithes and fees — a constant source of irritation for farmers and merchants — as unjust. This became apparent once word got out that King Frederick and his son, Duke Christian had no sympathy with Franciscans who persistently made the rounds of the parishes to collect food, money, and clothing in addition to the tithes. Between 1527 and 1536 many towns petitioned the king to close the Franciscan houses.[19]

Frederick obliged by sending letters authorizing the closure of the monasteries, often offering a small sum of money to help the brothers on their way. With the royal letter in hand, mobs forcibly closed

Franciscan abbeys all over Denmark. They beat up monks, two of whom died.[19] The closure of Franciscan houses occurred systematically in Copenhagen, Viborg, Aalborg, Randers, Malmö and ten other cities; in all, 28 monasteries or houses closed. People literally hounded Franciscan monks out of the towns.[19]

No other order faced such harsh treatment. Considering how strongly many people felt about removing all traces of Catholic traditions from Danish churches, surprisingly little violence took place. Luther's teaching had become so overwhelmingly popular that Danes systematically cleared churches of statues, paintings, wall-hangings, reliquaries and other Catholic elements without interference. The only exceptions came in individual churches where the local churchmen refused to permit reform.

King Christian III carried out the Protestant Reformation in Slesvig, Holsten, Denmark and Norway.

Frederick I died in 1533; the Viborg Assembly (Danish: landsting) proclaimed his son, Duke Christian of Schleswig, King Christian III. The State Council (Danish: Rigsråd) on Zealand, led by the Catholic bishops, took control of the country and refused to recognize the election of Christian III, a staunch Lutheran. The regents feared Christian's zeal for Luther's ideas would tip the balance and disenfranchise Catholics — both peasants and nobles.

The State Council encouraged Count

Christian II (deposed in 1523). This resulted in a three-year civil war called the Count's Feud (Danish
: Grevens Fejde).

Count's Feud (1534–1536)

Armed rebellion by Catholic peasants led by Skipper Clement started in northern Jutland. Rebellion swept across Funen, Zealand and Skåne. Christian III's army soundly defeated an army of Catholic nobles at Svenstrup on 16 October 1534. Christian forced a truce with the Hanseatic League, which had sent troops to help Count Christopher. Christian III's army, under Johan Rantzau, chased the rebels all the way back to Aalborg and then massacred over 2,000 of them inside the city in December 1534.

The Protestants captured Skipper Clement (1534), and later executed him in 1536. Christian III's mercenary troops put an end to Catholic hopes on Zealand and then Funen. Skåne rebels went as far as proclaiming Christian II king again. King

Malmø
, into surrender in July 1536. By the spring of 1536, Christian III had taken firm control.

State Lutheranism

Denmark became officially Lutheran on 30 October 1536 by decree of King Christian III, and in 1537 the reconstituted State Council approved the

state church
. All of Denmark's Catholic bishops went to prison until such time as they converted to Luther's reform. The authorities released them when they promised to marry and to support the reforms.

If they agreed, they received property and spent the rest of their lives as wealthy landowners. If they refused conversion, they died in prison. The State confiscated Church lands to pay for the armies that had enforced Christian III's election. Priests swore allegiance to Lutheranism or found new employment. The new owners turned monks out of their monasteries and abbeys. Nuns in a few places gained permission to live out their lives in nunneries, though without governmental financial support. The Crown closed churches, abbeys, priories and cathedrals, giving their property to local nobles or selling it.

The King appointed Danish superintendents (later bishops) to oversee Lutheran orthodoxy in the church. Denmark became part of a Lutheran heartland extending through Scandinavia and northern Germany. The Catholic Church everywhere in Scandinavia had sealed its fate by supporting hopeless causes: Christian II and the emperor Charles V in Denmark, Norwegian independence in that country, and in Sweden the Kalmar Union. Geographical distance also prevented them from receiving anything more than a sympathetic ear from Rome.

The 17th century saw a period of strict Lutheran orthodoxy in Denmark, with harsh punishments visited on suspected followers of either Calvinism or Huldrych Zwingli. Lutheran authorities treated Catholics harshly — in the fear that they might undermine the king, government, and national church. In a delayed result of the Reformation, Denmark became embroiled in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) on the Protestant side.

The loss of Eastern Denmark

The Dano-Norwegian Kingdom grew wealthy during the 16th century, largely because of the increased traffic through the Øresund, which Danes could tax because Denmark controlled both sides of the Sound. The trade in grain exports from Poland to the Netherlands and to the rest of Europe grew enormously at this time, and the Danish kings did not hesitate to cash in on it. The Sound duty was only repealed in the 1840s.

The Danish economy benefited from the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) in the Netherlands because a large number of skilled refugees from that area (the most economically advanced in Europe) came to Denmark. This helped to modernize many aspects of society and to establish trading links between Denmark and the Netherlands.

Denmark–Norway had a reputation as a relatively powerful kingdom at this time. European politics of the 16th century revolved largely around the struggle between Catholic and Protestant forces, so it seemed almost inevitable that Denmark, a strong, unified Lutheran kingdom, would get drawn into the larger war when it came. The Thirty Years' War went badly for the Protestant states in the early 1620s, and a call went out to Denmark–Norway to "save the Protestant cause".

King Christian IV, who was also a duke of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of his possessions in Holstein, decided to intervene in the conflict raging in northern Germany. The campaign ended in defeat, and Jutland was occupied by the imperial army of Albrecht von Wallenstein. In the Treaty of Lübeck, Christian made peace and agreed to not intervene in Germany again. The war in Germany had been very expensive and Christian IV saw no other recourse than to raise the Sound tolls. Unfortunately, this act pushed the Netherlands away from Denmark and into the arms of Sweden.

Torstenson War (1643–1645)

Denmark before 1645

In 1643, Sweden's armies, under the command of

Herjedalen and Älvdalen as well as the Danish islands of Gotland and Øsel. Halland went to Sweden for a period of 30 years and the Netherlands
were exempted from paying the Sound Duty.

Denmark before 1658
Treaty of Roskilde, 1658.
  Halland, previously occupied by Sweden for a 30-year period under the terms of the Peace of Brömsebro negotiated in 1645, was now ceded
  the Scanian lands and Bohus County were ceded
  Trøndelag and Bornholm provinces, which were ceded in 1658, but rebelled against Sweden and returned to Danish rule in 1660.

Nevertheless, Danes remember Christian IV as one of the great kings of Denmark. He had a very long reign, from 1588 to 1648, and has become known as "the architect on the Danish throne" because of the large number of building projects he undertook. Many of the great buildings of Denmark date from his reign. After the death of Christian IV in 1648, his son Frederick succeeded him.

Second Northern War (1655–1660)

In 1657, during the

lead his armies across the ice to invade Zealand
.

In the following

Holstein-Gottorp
was also tied to Sweden, providing a gateway for future invasions from the south.

But the Second Northern War was not yet over. Three months after the peace treaty was signed,

Charles X Gustav of Sweden
held a council of war where he decided to simply wipe Denmark from the map and unite all of Scandinavia under his rule. Once again the Swedish army arrived outside Copenhagen. However, this time the Danes did not panic or surrender. Instead, they decided to fight and prepared to defend Copenhagen.

March across the Belts
in 1658

and fighting continued into 1659.

Battle of Køge Bay in 1677

Terra Scania. The Netherlands
and other European powers accepted the settlement, not wanting both coasts of the Sound controlled by Denmark. This treaty established the boundaries between Norway, Denmark, and Sweden that still exist today. All in all, Sweden had now surpassed Denmark as the most powerful country in Scandinavia.

Absolutism

As a result of the disaster in the war against Sweden,

the former eastern provinces, the war ended in a bitter stalemate
.

Great Northern War (1700–1721)

A renewed attack during the Third Northern War (1700–1721) first resulted in the unfavourable Peace of Travendal, but after Denmark's re-entry into the war and Sweden's ultimate defeat by a large alliance, Sweden was no longer a threat to Denmark. However, the great powers opposed any Danish territorial gains, which meant the Treaty of Frederiksborg did not return the former eastern provinces to Denmark. Furthermore, Denmark was even forced to return Swedish Pomerania, held by Danish forces since 1715, to Sweden. Denmark now had no hope of recovering its lost provinces from Sweden. As noted earlier, the rest of Europe was simply against the Sound being controlled by a single nation ever again.

Unification process of Holstein

For most of the 18th century, Denmark was at peace. The only time when war threatened was in 1762, when the

Schleswig. Before any fighting could begin, however, he was overthrown by his wife, who took control of Russia as Tsarina Catherine II (Catherine the Great).[20] Empress Catherine withdrew her husband's demands and negotiated the transfer of ducal Schleswig-Holstein to the Danish crown in return for Russian control of the County of Oldenburg and adjacent lands within the Holy Roman Empire, an exchange that was formalized with the 1773 Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo
. The alliance that accompanied the territorial exchange tied Denmark's foreign policy to Russia's and led directly to Denmark's involvement in a series of wars over the succeeding decades.

With the suspension of the Danish diet, that body disappeared for a couple of centuries. During this time power became increasingly centralized in Copenhagen. Frederick's government reorganized itself in a much more hierarchical manner, built around the king as a focal point of administration. Crown officials dominated the administration, as well as a new group of bureaucrats, much to the dismay of the traditional aristocracy, who saw their own influence curtailed even further. The absolutist kings of Denmark were quite weak compared to their Swedish counterparts, and non-noble landlords became the real rulers of the country. They used their influence to pass laws that favored themselves.

The administration and laws underwent "modernization" during this period. In 1683, the Danske lov 1683 (

weights and measures throughout the kingdom, and an agricultural survey and registry. This survey allowed the government to begin taxing landowners directly, moving it beyond dependence on revenue from crown lands
.

The population of Denmark rose steadily through this period, from 600,000 in 1660 (after the loss of territory to Sweden) to 700,000 in 1720. By 1807, it had risen to 978,000.

Changes in the agricultural economy

Attempts to diversify the economy away from agriculture failed. During this period, little industry existed, except for a very small amount in Copenhagen (population: 30,000). In the late 17th century a small amount of industry did develop, catering to the military. Denmark suffered in part because of its lack of natural resources. It had nothing much to export except agricultural products. The Netherlands bought the largest share of Denmark's exports. The landlords, only about 300 in number, nevertheless owned 90% of the land in the country.

Rural administration remained primarily the preserve of the large landholders and of a few law-enforcement officials. In 1733, low crop prices caused the introduction of

adscription
, an effort by the landlords to obtain cheap labor. The effect of this was to turn the previously free Danish peasantry into serfs. The adscription system tied rural laborers to their place of birth and required them to rent farms on the estates.

As rent, peasants were required to work the landlords' plots and could not negotiate contracts or demand payment for improvements made to the farm. Peasants who refused to rent a farm were subject to six years of military service. Danish agriculture was very inefficient and unproductive as a result, since the peasants had no motivation to perform anything more than the absolute minimum of work. Attempts to sell Danish grain in Norway failed because of its low quality compared to grain from the Baltic.

In the late 18th century, extensive agricultural reforms took place, involving the abolition of the old

open-field system
and the amalgamation of many smaller farms into larger ones. With the abolition of the adscription system, the military could now only obtain manpower through conscription. These reforms were possible because agricultural prices steadily rose in the second half of the century.

Throughout the 18th century, the Danish economy did very well, largely on the basis of expanded agricultural output to meet growing demand across Europe. Danish merchant ships also traded around Europe and the North Atlantic, venturing to new Danish colonies in the Caribbean and North Atlantic.

The Enlightenment and Danish nationalism

Denmark's social reformers Struensee and Brandt quartered and displayed on the wheel on 28 April 1772

New propriety and

personal liberty
. In the last 15 years of the 18th century, the authorities relaxed the censorship which had existed since the beginning of the 17th century. At the same time, a sense of Danish nationalism began to develop. Hostility increased against Germans and Norwegians present at the royal court. Pride in the Danish language and culture increased, and eventually a law banned "foreigners" from holding posts in the government. Antagonism between Germans and Danes increased from the mid-18th century on.

In the 1770s, during the reign of the mentally unstable Christian VII (1766–1808), the queen

saw open revolt
. The landlords feared that the reforms were a threat to their power, while the commoners believed that religious freedom was an invitation to atheism.

In 1772, Struensee was arrested, tried, and convicted of crimes against the majesty, his right hand was cut off following his beheading, his remains were quartered and put on display on top of spikes on the commons west of Copenhagen. The next 12 years were a period of unmitigated reaction until a group of reformers gained power in 1784.

Reforms

Denmark became the model of enlightened despotism, partially influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution. Denmark thus adopted liberalizing reforms in line with those of the French Revolution, with no direct contact. Danes were aware of French ideas and agreed with them, as it moved from Danish absolutism to a liberal constitutional system between 1750 and 1850. The change of government in 1784 was caused by a power vacuum created when King Christian VII took ill, and influence shifted to the crown prince (who later became King Frederick VI) and reform-oriented landowners. Between 1784 and 1815, the abolition of

universal education. In contrast to France under the ancien regime, agricultural reform was intensified in Denmark, civil rights were extended to the peasants, the finances of the Danish state were healthy, and there were no external or internal crises. That is, reform was gradual and the regime itself carried out agrarian reforms that had the effect of weakening absolutism by creating a class of independent peasant freeholders. Much of the initiative came from well-organized liberals who directed political change in the first half of the 19th century.[21]

Newspapers

Danish news media first appeared in the 1540s, when handwritten fly sheets reported on the news. In 1666, Anders Bording, the father of Danish journalism, began a state paper. The royal privilege to bring out a newspaper was issued to Joachim Wielandt in 1720. University officials handled the censorship, but in 1770 Denmark became one of the first nations of the world to provide for press freedom; it ended in 1799. In 1795–1814, the press, led by intellectuals and civil servants, called out for a more just and modern society, and spoke out for the oppressed tenant farmers against the power of the old aristocracy.[22]

In 1834, the first liberal newspaper appeared, one that gave much more emphasis to actual news content rather than opinions. The newspapers championed the Revolution of 1848 in Denmark. The new constitution of 1849 liberated the Danish press. Newspapers flourished in the second half of the 19th century, usually tied to one or another political party or labor union. Modernization, bringing in new features and mechanical techniques, appeared after 1900. The total circulation was 500,000 daily in 1901, more than doubling to 1.2 million in 1925. The German occupation brought informal censorship; some offending newspaper buildings were simply blown up by the Nazis. During the war, the underground produced 550 newspapers—small, surreptitiously printed sheets that encouraged sabotage and resistance.[23]

Colonial ventures

Map showing Denmark–Norway and its colonial possessions.

Denmark maintained a number of

Tranquebar
, or Trankebar, on India's south coast, in 1620.

In the

St John in 1718, and purchased Saint Croix from France in 1733. Denmark maintained its Indian colony, Tranquebar, as well as several other smaller colonies there, for about two hundred years. The Danish East India Company operated out of Tranquebar. The Danes also established themselves in the Gold coast and thought against other European powers like Sweden and the Netherlands there.

During its heyday, the Danish East Indian Company and the

British East India Company – and smuggled 90% of it into Britain, where it sold at a huge profit. Both of the Scandinavia-based East India Companies folded during the course of the Napoleonic Wars. Denmark also maintained other colonies, forts, and bases in West Africa, primarily for the purpose of slave
-trading.

19th century

Danish Unitary State
Helstaten (
Frederik VII
• 1863-1906
Christian IX
Prime ministers
(1848–1855)
Council Presidents
(1855–1864)
 
• 1848–1852
Adam Wilhelm Moltke
• 1852–1853
Christian Albrecht Bluhme
• 1853–1854
Anders Sandøe Ørsted
• 1854–1856
Peter Georg Bang
• 1856–1857
Carl Christoffer Georg Andræ
• 1857–1859
Carl Christian Hall
• 1859–1860
Carl Edvard Rotwitt
• 1863–1864
Ditlev Gothard Monrad
Historical era
Late Modern Period
• Established
1814
14 January 1814
1848–1851
• Disestablished
1864

The Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Copenhagen, 1801.

The long decades of peace came to an abrupt end during the Napoleonic Wars. Britain felt threatened by the Armed Neutrality Treaty of 1794, which originally involved Denmark and Sweden, and later Prussia and Russia. The British fleet attacked Copenhagen in 1801, destroying much of Denmark's navy. Denmark nonetheless managed to remain largely uninvolved in the Napoleonic Wars until 1807. The British fleet bombarded Copenhagen again that year, causing considerable destruction to the city. They then captured the entire Danish fleet so that it could not be used by France to invade Britain (as the French had lost their own fleet at Trafalgar in 1805), leading to the Gunboat War (1807–1814). The confiscation of the Danish navy was widely criticised in Britain.

In 1809 Danish forces fighting on the French side participated in defeating the anti-Bonapartist German rebellion led by

state was bankrupt. When in the same year the Sixth Coalition isolated Denmark by clearing Northern Germany of French forces, Frederick VI had to make peace. Accordingly, the unfavourable Treaty of Kiel
was concluded in January 1814 with Sweden and Great Britain, and another peace was signed with Russia in February.

The post-Napoleonic

Duchy of Lauenburg
and a Prussian payment of 3.5 million talers. Prussia also took over a Danish 600,000-taler debt to Sweden.

This period also counts as "the Golden Age" of Danish intellectual history. A sign of renewed intellectual vigor was the introduction of compulsory schooling in 1814. Literature, painting, sculpture, and philosophy all experienced an unusually vibrant period. The stories of Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) became popular not only in Denmark, but all over Europe and in the United States.[26] The ideas of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) spread far beyond Denmark, influencing not only his own era, but proving instrumental in the development of new philosophical systems after him. The sculptures of Thorvaldsen (1770–1834) grace public buildings all over Denmark and other artists appreciated and copied his style. Grundtvig (1783–1872) tried to reinvigorate the Danish National Church and contributed to the hymns used by the church in Denmark.

Nationalism and liberalism

Den Grundlovgivende Rigsforsamling
The Constitutional Assembly created The Danish constitution, 1860–1864 painting by Constantin Hansen.

The Danish

Landsting, elected by landowners. Denmark also gained an independent judiciary
.

Another significant result of the revolution was the

Tranquebar
in India, was sold to Britain.

The Danish king's realm still consisted of the islands, the northern half of the Jutland peninsula, and the Duchy of Schleswig in real union with the Duchy of Holstein.

Danish Infantry regiment in a fight with regiment "Martini". Contemporary illustration of the 1864 Second Schleswig War.

The islands and Jutland together constituted the kingdom, whereas the monarch held the duchies in personal union with the kingdom. The duchy of Schleswig constituted a Danish fief, while the Duchy of Holstein remained a part of the German Confederation.

Since the early 18th century, and even more so from the early 19th century, the Danes had become used to viewing the duchies and the kingdom as increasingly unified in one state. This view, however, clashed with that of the German majority in the duchies, also enthused by liberal and national trends, which led to a movement known as Schleswig-Holsteinism. Schleswig-Holsteinists aimed for independence from Denmark. The First Schleswig War (1848–1851) broke out after constitutional change in 1849 and ended with the status quo because of the intervention of Britain and other Great Powers.

Much debate took place in Denmark as to how to deal with the question of Schleswig-Holstein. National-Liberals demanded permanent ties between Schleswig and Denmark, but stated that Holstein could do as it pleased. However, international events overtook domestic Danish politics, and Denmark faced war against both Prussia and Austria in what became known as the Second Schleswig War (1864). The war lasted from February to October 1864. Denmark was easily beaten by Prussia and Austria, and obliged to relinquish both Schleswig and Holstein.

The war caused Denmark as a nation severe trauma, forcing it to reconsider its place in the world. The loss of Schleswig-Holstein came as the latest in the long series of defeats and territorial loss that had begun in the 17th century. The Danish state had now lost some of the richest areas of the kingdom: Skåne to Sweden and Schleswig to Germany, so the nation focused on developing the poorer areas of the country. Extensive agricultural improvements took place in Jutland, and a new form of nationalism, which emphasized the "small" people, the decency of rural Denmark, and the shunning of wider aspirations, developed.

Industrialisation

Industrialisation came to Denmark in the second half of the 19th century. The nation's first railroads were constructed in the 1850s, and improved communications and overseas trade allowed industry to develop in spite of Denmark's lack of natural resources. Trade unions developed starting in the 1870s. There was a considerable migration of people from the countryside to the cities.

Danish agriculture became centered around the export of dairy and meat products, especially to Great Britain. Instead of relying on German middlemen in Hamburg, the Danes opened new direct trade routes to England after the defeat by the Germans.[28] Lampke and Sharp argue that Denmark's success as in the dairy industry was not based on co-operatives, which came in the late nineteenth century. Instead leadership was in the hands of the landed, intellectual and political elites. They made land reforms, adopted new technologies, and started educational and trading systems. Together these made Denmark a major exporter of butter after 1850. Land reform enabled the growth of a middle ranking class of farmers. They copied the innovations pioneered by wealthy estate owners, and implemented them through newly formed co-operatives.[29]

Internationalism and nationalism have become very much part of the history of the Danish Labour movement. The Labour movement gathered momentum when social issues became associated with internationalism. Socialist theory and organisational contact with the First International, which linked labour movements in various countries, paved the way. Louis Pio emerged as the driving force. In 1871, following the bloody defeat of the Paris Commune, he started publishing socialist journalism. He campaigned strongly for an independent organisation of the workers under their own management, and organised a Danish branch of the First International. This became the foundation stone for the Social Democratic Party under the name of Den Internationale Arbejderforening for Danmark (The International Labour Association for Denmark). As a combination of union and political party, it adroitly brought together national and international elements.[30]

Pio saw internationalism as vital for the success of the workers' struggle: without internationalism, no progress. He pointed out that the middle classes cooperated across national frontiers and used nationalistic rhetoric as a weapon against the workers and their liberation.[31]

The Danish section started organising strikes and demonstrations for higher wages and social reforms.

Poul Geleff and Harald Brix, charged them and convicted them of high treason. The three left Denmark for the United States to set up the ill-starred and short-lived socialist colony near Hays City, in Ellis County, Kansas
.

Back in Denmark, the emerging political situation made possible by the new Danish door of independence alarmed many of the existing elites, since it inevitably

Easter Crisis of 1920
, no government since 1901 has ruled against a parliamentary majority in the Folketing.

Monetary union

Two golden 20 kr coins from the Scandinavian Monetary Union, which was based on a gold standard. The coin to the left is Swedish and the right one is Danish.

The

Scandinavist
political movement of the 19th century.

The union provided fixed exchange-rates and stability in monetary terms, but the member-countries continued to issue their own separate currencies. In an outcome not initially foreseen, the perceived security led to a situation where the formally separate currencies circulated on a basis of "as good as" the legal tender virtually throughout the entire area.

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought an end to the monetary union. Sweden abandoned the tie to gold on 2 August 1914, and without a fixed exchange rate the free circulation came to an end.

20th century

1901–1939

In the early decades of the 20th century the new

St. Thomas in the West Indies. The period also saw Denmark inaugurating important social and labour-market reforms, laying the basis for the present welfare state
.

Danish Constitution was not amended at that time, Danish monarchs have stayed out of politics since then. The end of the war also prompted the Danish government to finish negotiating with Iceland, resulting in Iceland becoming a sovereign Kingdom on 1 December 1918 while retaining the Danish monarch as head of state
.

In the

Landsting, Stauning had to co-operate with some of the right-wing parties, making the Social Democrats a more mainstream party. He succeeded in brokering an important deal in the 1930s which brought an end to the Great Depression
in Denmark, and also laid the foundation for a welfare state.

Denmark joined the League of Nations in 1920 and during the interwar period was active in promoting peaceful solutions to international issues. With the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany during the 1930s, the country found itself in a very precarious situation. Berlin refused to recognize its post-1920 border with Denmark, but the Nazi regime was preoccupied with more important matters and did not make any issue of it. The Danes tried unsuccessfully to obtain recognition of the border from their neighbor, but otherwise went out of their way to avoid antagonizing Germany.

Second World War

Christian X
became a powerful symbol of national sovereignty. This image dates from the King's birthday, 26 September 1940. Note the lack of a guard.

In 1939, Hitler offered nonaggression pacts to the Scandinavian nations. While Sweden and Norway refused, Denmark readily accepted. When WWII began that fall, Copenhagen declared its neutrality. Nevertheless, Germany (so as to secure communications for its invasion of Norway) occupied Denmark on 9 April 1940, meeting limited resistance. British forces, however,

plebiscite
, Iceland declared its independence on 17 June 1944 and became a republic, dissolving its union with Denmark.

The Nazi occupation of Denmark unfolded in a unique manner. The Monarchy remained. The conditions of occupation started off very leniently (although the authorities banned Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti (the Communist party) when the Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941), and Denmark retained its own government. The new coalition government tried to protect the population from Nazi rule through compromise. The Germans allowed the Folketing to remain in session. Despite deportations of nearly 2,000 of its members, the police remained largely under Danish control, and the German authorities stayed one step removed from the population. However, the Nazi demands eventually became intolerable for the Danish government, so, in 1943, it resigned and Germany assumed full control of Denmark. From that point, an armed resistance movement grew against the occupying forces. Towards the end of the war, Denmark grew increasingly difficult for Germany to control, but the country remained under occupation until near the end of the war. On 4 May 1945, German forces in Denmark, North West Germany, and the Netherlands surrendered to the Allies. On 5 May 1945, British troops liberated Copenhagen. Three days later, the war ended.

Denmark succeeded in smuggling most of its Jewish population to Sweden, in 1943, when the Nazis threatened deportation; see Rescue of the Danish Jews. Danish doctors refused to treat German citizens fleeing from Germany. More than 13,000 died in 1945 from various causes among them some 7,000 children under five.[34]

Post-war

In 1948, Denmark granted home rule to the Faroe Islands. 1953 saw further political reform in Denmark, abolishing the Landsting (the elected upper house), colonial status for Greenland and allowing female rights of succession to the throne with the signing of a new constitution.

Although not one of the war-time United Nations, Denmark succeeded in obtaining a (belated) invitation to the UN Charter conference, and became a founding member of the

European Community, the predecessor of the European Union, and Denmark became a member on 1 January 1973. Since then, Denmark has proven a hesitant member of the European community, opting out of many proposals, including the Euro, which the country rejected in a referendum in 2000.[36]

21st century

Denmark went through some of its most serious post-war crises in the early 21st century, such as

Copenhagen attacks in 2015, and with COVID-19 pandemic (Including Deltacron hybrid variant) in between January 2020 and March 2022, which has been further damaged economy and met with both national and international acclaim.[citation needed
]

In 2001, the Folketing agreed to enter the

A total of 43 Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan since the first deployment in 2002.

Venstre leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen won the 2001, 2005, and 2007 Folketing elections and formed a new government and was in his first few months challenged after the Social Democrat prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen admitted defeat. Eight years later, he resigned from his office in April 2009 due to upcoming as the NATO Secretary-General, and then Lars Løkke Rasmussen will be sworn in as prime minister in his first term from 2009 to 2011.[41]

In the 2011 Folketing elections, the incumbent centre-right coalition led by Venstre lost power to a centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats, making Helle Thorning-Schmidt the country's first female prime minister. The Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party became part of the three-party government. The new parliament convened on 4 October 2011.[42]

In 2015, Lars Løkke Rasmussen won the Folketing election and formed a new twice government and was in his second office. Although the ruling Social Democrats became the largest party in the Folketing and increased their seat count, the opposition Venstre party was able to form a minority government headed by Lars Løkke Rasmussen with the support of the Danish People's Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party.[43] Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen held the office between 2009 and 2011, and again between 2015 and 2019, with backing from the Danish People's Party (DF).

In the

Red–Green Alliance, the Faroese Social Democratic Party and the Greenlandic Siumut, won 93 of the 179 seats, securing a parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, the incumbent governing coalition, consisting of Venstre, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People's Party whilst receiving outside parliamentary support from the Danish People's Party and Nunatta Qitornai, was reduced to 76 seats (including the Venstre-affiliated Union Party in the Faroe Islands). Following the 2019 general election the Social Democrats, led by leader Mette Frederiksen, formed a single-party government with support from the left-wing coalition.[44] Frederiksen became prime minister on 27 June 2019.[45]

Then-Crown Prince Federik with his wife Mary in 2015.

In the November 2022 snap general election, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats remained the biggest party with two more seats, its best result in two decades.[46] The second biggest was the Liberal Party (Venstre), led by Jakob Ellemann-Jensen. The recently formed Moderates party, led by two-time former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, became the third-biggest party in Denmark.[47] In December 2022, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen formed a new coalition government with her Social Democrats and the Liberal Party and the Moderates party. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen became deputy prime minister and defence minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen was appointed foreign minister.[48]

In her 52nd New Year's speech on the last day of 2023, Queen

Danish monarch since Eric III in 1146.[49] On 14 January, 52 years to the day after Margrethe ascended the throne, Frederik X was proclaimed king of Denmark.[50]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ http://madmonaco.blogspot.com/2010/06/oldest-monarchy.html http://www.royalinsight.net/content/danish-monarchy-overview Archived 2012-10-15 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ The remote Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea was liberated by Soviet forces of the Allies. This led to some political turmoil and conflict, occasionally resurfacing in modern times.
  3. ^ "Koelbjergkvinden fra Danmark" (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2005-03-06. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  4. ^ "Koelbjerg Woman". Bodies of the Bogs. Archeology Magazine. 1997. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Koelbjerg". og Fund Fortidsminder (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  6. ^ Jensen 2003:12–18
  7. ^ Jensen 2003:24
  8. ^ Jensen 2003:32
  9. ^ Jensen 2003:34
  10. .
  11. on 2001-06-08.
  12. ^ Logan 2005, p. 184.
  13. ^ Zoega, Georg (1797-01-01). De origine et usu obeliscorum (in Latin). Typis Lazzarinii Typographi Cameralis. p. 338. gormus senex.
  14. ^ Torfaeus, Thormodus (1711-01-01). Thormodi Torfæi ... Historia rerum Noruegicarum in quatuor tomos diuisa. In qua, præter Noruegiæ descriptionem, primordia gentis, instituta, mores, incrementa; ... & inprimis heroum ac regum, tam ante qvàm post monarchiam institutam, successiones, eorumque domi juxta ac foris gesta, cumque vicinis gentibus commercia; genealogia item, chronologia, & qvæcunque ad regni Norvegici illustrationem spectant, singula ex archivis regiis, & optimis, qvæ haberi potuerunt, membranis, aliisque fide dignissimis authoribus, eruta, luci publicæ exponuntur. Cum prolegomenis & indicibus necessariis: Thormodi Torfæi Historiae rerum Noruegicarum pars tertia, continens ea quæ à tempore introductæ in Noruegiam christianæ religionis ad initium usque regni Suerreris acta sunt (in Latin). ex typographeo Joachimi Schmitgenii.
  15. ^ a b "The Royal Lineage – The Danish Monarchy". kongehuset.dk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  16. ^ a b Staff. Saint Brices Day massacre, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
  17. ^ Adam of Bremen, History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen, trans. Francis J. Tschan (New York, 2002), pp. 77–78.
  18. ^
    Dansk Biografiske Lexicon
    (in Danish). Gyldendal. pp. 100–114. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  19. ^ a b c Krønike om Gråbrodrenes Udjagelse
  20. ^ Tytler Woodhouselee, Lord Alexander Fraser (1823). Elements of General History, Ancient and Modern. H. Hill. pp. 428–429. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  21. ^ Henrik Horstboll, and Uffe Ostergård, "Reform and Revolution: The French Revolution and the Case of Denmark, Scandinavian Journal of History (1990) 15#3 pp 155–179
  22. ^ Thorkild Kjærgaard, "The rise of press and public opinion in eighteenth‐century Denmark—Norway." Scandinavian journal of History 14.4 (1989): 215–230. He stresses the role
  23. ^ Kenneth E. Olson, The history makers: The press of Europe from its beginnings through 1965 (LSU Press, 1966) pp 50 – 64, 433
  24. . Retrieved 25 September 2020. moreover, Greenland, which by 1800 was already described as a colony.
  25. .
  26. ^ Sven Hakon Rossel, ed. (1996). Hans Christian Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World. Rodopi. pp. 52–54.
  27. ^ Neville A.T. Hall, and B. W. Higman, Slave Society in the Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 1992).
  28. ^ Markus Lampe, and Paul Sharp, "How the Danes discovered Britain: the international integration of the Danish dairy industry before 1880." European Review of Economic History 19.4 (2015): 432-453 [Lampe, Markus, and Paul Sharp. "How the Danes discovered Britain: the international integration of the Danish dairy industry before 1880." European Review of Economic History 19.4 (2015): 432-453. online].
  29. ^ Markus Lampe, and Paul Sharp, A Land of Milk and Butter: How Elites Created the Modern Danish Dairy Industry (2018).
  30. ^ Harald Lövaas, The trade union movement in Denmark (European Trade Union Institute, 1987).
  31. ^ Peder Tabor, "The Oldest Social-Democratic Press in the World." Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands) 9.2 (1963): 157–164.
  32. ^ David Greasley, "A Tale of Two Peripheries: Real Wages in Denmark and New Zealand 1875–1939." Scandinavian Economic History Review 54.2 (2006): 116–136.
  33. ^ From silver standard to gold standard Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2008-08-05
  34. ^ Manfred Ertel. A Legacy of Dead German Children Spiegel Online, 16 May 2005
  35. S2CID 145403585
    .
  36. ^ "Denmark says no to the euro". the Guardian. 29 September 2000.
  37. ^ "Denmark mourns its tsunami dead". 2 January 2005.
  38. ^ "Mary from the start: Thailand: tsunami memorial". Mary from the start. 19 April 2014.
  39. ^ "Beautiful Danish Memorial in Thailand". Scandasia. 16 April 2005.
  40. ^ https://www.dr.dk/undervisning/samfundsfag/tidslinje-krigen-i-afghanistan (in Danish). Retrieved 2017-11-06
  41. ^ "Rasmussen named new Danish PM". The Irish Times. 5 April 2009.
  42. ^ "Danes vote for their first female prime minister". the Guardian. 15 September 2011.
  43. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche (19 June 2015). "Record gains for anti-immigration party in Denmark | DW | 19.06.2015". DW.COM.
  44. ^ "Denmark's new leader joins Nordic swing to left". BBC News. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  45. ^ "Frederiksen prepares to take over as new Danish prime minister". The Local Denmark. 27 June 2019.
  46. ^ "Denmark: Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats win the best result in 20 years". The Progressive Post. 8 November 2022.
  47. ^ "Denmark election: Centre-left bloc comes out on top". BBC News. 2 November 2022.
  48. ^ "Danish PM picks right-leaning rivals as key ministers in new government". Reuters. 15 December 2022.
  49. ^ "Abdication". www.kongehuset.dk. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  50. ^ Bryant, Miranda (14 January 2024). "Denmark's King Frederik X takes throne after Margrethe abdicates". The Guardian.
  1. ^ "The controversies over the nature of the Rus and the origins of the Russian state have bedevilled Viking studies, and indeed Russian history, for well over a century. It is historically certain that the Rus were Swedes. The evidence is incontrovertible, and that a debate still lingers at some levels of historical writing is clear evidence of the holding power of received notions. The debate over this issue – futile, embittered, tendentious, doctrinaire – served to obscure the most serious and genuine historical problem which remains: the assimilation of these Viking Rus into the Slavic people among whom they lived. The principal historical question is not whether the Rus were Scandinavians or Slavs, but, rather, how quickly these Scandinavian Rus became absorbed into Slavic life and culture."[12]

Further reading

Political history

  • Barton, H. A. Scandinavia in the Revolutionary Era, 1760–1815 (Minneapolis, 1986)
  • Bregnsbo, Michael. "The motives behind the foreign political decisions of Frederick VI during the Napoleonic Wars." Scandinavian Journal of History 39.3 (2014): 335–352.
  • Campbell, John L., John A. Hall, and Ove Kaj Pedersen, eds. National Identity and the Varieties of Capitalism: The Danish Experience (Studies in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict) (2006)
  • Etting, Vivian. Queen Margrete I, 1353–1412, and the Founding of the Nordic Union (Brill, 2004) online edition
  • Gouges, Linnea de (2014) From Witch Hunts to Scientific Confidence; The Influence of British and Continental Currents on the Consolidation of the Scandinavian States in the 17th Century (Nisus Publications).
  • Jespersen, Leon. "Court and Nobility in Early Modern Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of History, September 2002, Vol. 27 Issue 3, pp 129–142, covers 1588 to 1650
  • Jonas, Frank. Scandinavia and the Great Powers in the First World War (2019) online review
  • Munck, Thomas. "Absolute Monarchy in Later 18th-century Denmark: Centralized Reform, Public Expectations, and the Copenhagen Press" Historical Journal, March 1998, Vol. 41 Issue 1, pp 201–24 in JSTOR
  • Munck, Thomas. The peasantry and the early absolute monarchy in Denmark, 1660–1708 (Copenhagen, 1979)
  • Jensen, Niklas Thode; Simonsen, Gunvor (2016). "Introduction: The historiography of slavery in the Danish-Norwegian West Indies, c. 1950-2016". .

Culture and religion

Economic and social history

Relations with Germany

Historiography, memory, teaching

In German

External links