Inception The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy who sought to counter the influence of the
Hanseatic League, a northern German trade league centered around the Baltic and North Seas. Denmark in particular was in a
power struggle with the League and had recently suffered a humiliating defeat in the
Danish-Hanseatic War (1361-1370) that allowed the League to become even more powerful. On the personal level, the union was achieved by Queen
Margaret I of Denmark (1353–1412). She was a daughter of King
Valdemar IV of Denmark and had married King
Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, who was the son of King
Magnus IV of Sweden, Norway and
Scania. Margaret succeeded in having her and Haakon's son
Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376, Olaf inherited the crown of Denmark from his maternal grandfather as King Olaf II, with his mother as guardian; when Haakon VI died in 1380, Olaf also inherited the crown of Norway. Margaret became regent of Denmark and Norway when Olaf died in 1387, leaving her without an heir. She adopted her great-nephew
Eric of Pomerania the same year. In 1388, Swedish nobles called upon her help against King
Albert. After Margaret defeated Albert in 1389, her heir Eric was proclaimed King of Norway. One main impetus for the union's formation was to block German expansion northward into the
Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the perpetual struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility, which did not. The Union lost territory when
Orkney and
Shetland were
pledged by
Christian I, in his capacity as King of Norway, as security against the payment of the
dowry of his daughter
Margaret, betrothed to
James III of Scotland in 1468. The money was never paid, so in 1472 the
Kingdom of Scotland annexed the islands.
Internal conflict Diverging interests (especially the
Swedish nobility's dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and
Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that hampered the union in several intervals starting in the 1430s. The
Engelbrekt rebellion, which started in 1434, led to the overthrow of King Erik (in Denmark and Sweden in 1439, as well as Norway in 1442). The aristocracy sided with the rebels.
End and aftermath One of the union's last structures remained until 1536/1537, when the
Danish Privy Council, in the aftermath of the
Count's Feud, declared Norway a Danish province. In practice, Norway kept its status as a separate kingdom and its own laws, but its council and other central institutions were dissolved, and it became politically subordinate to Denmark. This
Denmark–Norway union lasted nearly three centuries, until Norway was
ceded to Sweden in 1814. The later
Swedish–Norwegian union lasted until 1905, when Prince
Carl of Denmark was elected king of independent Norway. According to historian Sverre Bagge, the Kalmar Union was unstable for several reasons: • The power of national aristocracies. • The varied effects of the Kalmar Union's foreign policy on the three kingdoms. For example, attempted expansions into Northern Germany may have served Danish interests, but was costly to Swedes who had to pay higher taxes and were unable to export iron to the Hanseatic League. • Geography complicated control of the union in the event of rebellion. • The large territorial size of the union complicated control. • Denmark was not strong enough to force Norway and Sweden to stay within the union. ==Gallery==