Christian II of Denmark

Christian II (Nyborg, July 1, 1481 - January 25, 1559). King of Denmark and Norway (1513-1523), and of Sweden (1520-1521) under the Kalmar Union. He is the son of King John I of Denmark. He was the last monarch to rule the Kalmar Union, which included the three Norse kingdoms. In Sweden he was known as Christian the Tyrant.

Heir to the Kalmar Union and viceroy of Norway

Christian was born in Nyborg Castle, Denmark, son of King John I of Denmark and Christina of Saxony.

In 1487, Christian was chosen as heir to the throne of Denmark, in 1489 to that of Norway, and in 1497, to Sweden, the same year that his father conquered that country. In 1502, Christian himself led an army in Sweden against the rebels, and showed great skill in the military arts. In 1506 he was sent as viceroy to Norway; There he showed great toughness in his government and crushed an insurrection in 1508. In the city of Bergen he met the Dutch merchant Sigbrit Willoms and her beautiful daughter Dyveke in 1507 or 1509. Dyveke would become Christian's lover, and she would accompany him to Denmark.

King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein

King John I of Denmark died in 1513, and some Danish nobles rejected Christian and wanted to offer the crown to his uncle Frederick, but finally Christian was recognized as king, after having issued certain commitments that gave the nobility and the clergy an increase in their powers, while reducing the power of the king. Likewise, he had to recognize the people's right to take up arms if the king did not comply with what was established. In October 1513 he was created Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, where he would share power with his uncle Frederick. On June 11, 1514 he was crowned in Copenhagen, and on July 20 of the same year in Oslo. On July 12, 1515, he celebrated his nuptials with Isabella of Austria, daughter of Juana I of Castile and granddaughter of Emperor Maximilian I. Despite the claims of Maximilian I and his own family, Christian did not break off their relationship. with Dyveke.

In 1517 Dyveke died under strange circumstances, and the king blamed Torben Oxe, the keeper of Copenhagen Castle, for his death. Despite having no evidence against Oxe and the defense of him by the council and the queen herself, Christian executed him unceremoniously, which outraged the nobility.

The reconquest of Sweden

In the year 1517 a conflict broke out in Sweden between the regent Sten Sture the Younger and the archbishop Gustav Trolle; the first defended the independence of Sweden, while the second was a supporter of the Kalmar Union. This conflict was used by King Christian II of Denmark and Norway to intervene militarily and claim his right to the throne of Sweden. But his intentions were unsuccessful when he was defeated at the Battle of Brännkyrka; where, however, he managed to take six important Swedes prisoner, among whom was Gustavus Vasa, and imprison them in Denmark.

In 1519, Christian assembled a large army of mercenaries, and with the support of the pope, who had excommunicated Sten Sture and gave Christian the right to enter the war, he invaded Sweden again, in January of that same year.. Christian's army defeated the Swede at the Battle of the Ice at Åsunden, where Sten Sture himself was mortally wounded, and later at the Battle of Tiveden, after which Christian became master of all of Sweden. In March, Christian was recognized as sovereign by several Swedish nobles. The city of Stockholm was still defended by Sten Sture's widow, Cristina Gyllenstierna, who finally capitulated on September 5.

The Stockholm Bloodbath

After the victory, Christian returned to Denmark, but soon had to return to Sweden, where on November 4, 1519 he was crowned king by Archbishop Gustav Trolle. On the advice of Trolle himself and some other members of his council, Christian accused many followers of Sten Sture of heresy, whom he had imprisoned on November 8, 1519 without having allowed them the right to a legal trial, and immediately ordered that They would execute them, in what is known in history as the Stockholm Bloodbath. With these cruel actions, Cristián intended to show the execution of laws and rights, but in reality he sought to get rid of his opponents. Arguing that he was carrying out the pope's orders, he dedicated himself to persecuting, carrying out acts of violence and executing his critics throughout Sweden (including Finland). Around 600 people, including children, were victims of his cruelty. Cristina Gyllenstierna, along with other noble ladies, were imprisoned and sent to Denmark. For these actions, Christian was remembered in Sweden as Christian the Tyrant.

The rebellion of the Swedes

Soon a great popular discontent arose in Sweden that ended in an uprising in February 1521 whose objective was to expel Christian from the territory. In August of that same year, the rebels elected Gustavo Vasa as regent of the kingdom.

Christian unsuccessfully requested the support of his brother-in-law, Emperor Charles V. On the other hand, the Hanseatic city of Lübeck harbored resentments against Christian because he had supported Dutch trade in Scandinavia to the detriment of the Hanseatic League, in addition to seeking Danish commercial supremacy in the Baltic. In 1521, Christian planned the creation of a large Commercial Company that covered all of Scandinavia and would have its headquarters in the Netherlands, which unleashed the anger of those from Lübeck, who decided to support the Swedish rebels and go to war against Denmark in 1522. Relations with his uncle Frederick were not going well either, but in August 1522 Christian reconciled with him, after renouncing his rights as Duke of Holstein, a title that had been granted to him the previous year by Emperor Charles V.

Reforms in Denmark

In Denmark the king also had numerous dislikes. In addition to his cruel methods, he had appointed the Dutchwoman Sigbrit Willums as his advisor. After the death of her daughter Dyveke in 1517, Sigbrit took full charge of the administration of the kingdom's finances. In the king's absences during the war in Sweden, she Sigbrit, together with Queen Elizabeth, took part in the government and significantly increased taxes. Likewise, Christian confronted the clergy, as he tried to impose his favorites in the episcopal sees, as well as restrict the great privileges and wealth that the monks had. In 1529 he received German teachers in order to propagate the Protestant Reformation in Denmark. The Germans were not successful and soon left the country.

The reforms that Christian imposed against the Danish clerical class produced discontent. In December 1522 he had to call an assembly in Kalundborg to try to reach an agreement. But the bishops of Jutland and some nobles had gone ahead and previously met in Viborg, where they agreed to banish the king and seek the support of his uncle, Frederick. Cristián promised to convene the creation of a public parliament, where merchants and peasants could bring their complaints so that they could be examined and resolved. The conspirators, without waiting for Christian's summons, sent him a letter revoking his mandate on January 20, 1523.

The exile

Christian decided to take his troops out of Jutland, without facing his opponents, which caused the desertion of those who supported him to continue on the throne. On March 26, 1523 in Viborg, Frederick was named the new king of Denmark. Christian's laws were publicly burned and considered "harmful to good morals." Without resisting his overthrow, Cristián left Copenhagen on April 13 along with his family and his closest supporters, heading for the Netherlands, hoping to find support. The cities of Copenhagen and Malmö remained loyal to Christian and awaited his return, but they fell in 1525.

In the Netherlands and Germany, Christian and his wife sought help to regain power, but their relationship with Lutheranism prevented any negotiations with Emperor Charles V. At the end of 1524, the family moved to Lier, in Brabant, where Isabel died on January 19, 1526. In 1530 Christian converted again to Catholicism, in order to reconcile with the emperor. Thanks to this action, in the autumn of 1531 Christian was able to gather an army and a fleet that would sail from the Netherlands to Norway. Unfortunately the expedition suffered the loss of 10 of the 25 ships. Despite the vicissitudes, Christian managed to land on the Norwegian coast and attack the castle of Akershus. However, he had the whim to invade the Swedish province of Västergötland. This error was taken advantage of by the Danish troops of Frederick I, who with their allies from Lübeck managed to defeat Christian's troops in Norway and take him prisoner. Federico offered to meet him in Copenhagen and grant him his release, as well as a pension for his maintenance.

Confinement

Christian's release was not well received by the council of Denmark, nor by the king of Sweden, Gustavus Vasa, nor by Lübeck. Under pressure, Frederick reneged on his promise and Christian was imprisoned in Sønderborg Castle on July 30, 1532, where he lived in relative freedom until King Frederick's death. After Frederick's death, when it was decided that Christian could return to the throne, he was imprisoned in a tower of the castle, accompanied only by a soldier. The election of Christian III in 1540 as the new king eased the captivity, and Christian II, in 1546, expressly renounced his and his descendants' rights to the throne of Denmark and Norway. In 1549, when he was already 68 years old, he was transferred to Kalundborg Castle, where he would live peacefully until the end of his days. He died on January 25, 1559, three weeks after the death of King Christian III. He was buried in the Church of St. Canute, in Odense, where the mortal remains of his wife, Queen Elizabeth of Austria, were transferred in 1883.

Family

With Isabel of Austria (1501-1526) he had six children:

1. John, prince of Denmark (1518-1532).
2. Maximilian (1519).
3. Philip (1519-1520).
4. Dorotea de Denmark (1520-1580), who married in 1534 with the Duke Frederick II.
5. Cristina de Denmark (1521-1590), who married in 1534 with Count Francesco Sforza of Milan, and in 1541 with Count Francisco I de Lorena.
6. A last male child (1523).