Lords of the Danemark
Chapter I: Valdemar IV
Part 2: We Built this Kingdom (1357-1361)
Smoldering Peace
As we've discussed, Valdemar reacted very poorly to being shut out of Skane. He returned home in late autumn and prepared for what he termed 'retribution.'
Henning Podebusk remained on the
Rigsraadet despite his role in trying to forge a lasting alliance with Holstein. He continued to agitate in favor of taking back Osel from the Livonian Order and for awhile seemed confident of victory. He even forged an alliance with the Pomeranians which could be valuable in any extended war against the Baltic holy orders.
Innocent VI died after six years on the Papal throne in October. After a lengthy election Cardinal de Hautemer succeeded and took the name Pius II. De Hautemer, like his predecessor, was a Frenchman who ruled from Avignon and generally favored French policies. Also like Innocent VI, he supported the idea of
Reconquista and re-authorized Castile's holy crusade against the Granadan Emirate.
Christian was born in November. Two days later Helvig emerged from 'confinement' looking surprisingly well which only added to speculation concerning the boy's parentage. She replied by having Tove, Valdemar's mistress, assassinated before turning the child over to a wet nurse. Later on Podebusk quoted her:
Helvig of Slesvig said:
That woman had poisoned enough people.
Valdemar didn't publicly react. Indeed, he proved as indifferent a father and husband as always and spent his days planning his next war. Through the winter of 1357-58 he built support for an 'extended campaign,' though remained unclear about his opponent. Podebusk reiterated his arguments: Holstein could be a powerful ally and a conduit to Imperial politics. A fair number within the
Danehof were Holsteiners by birth or ancestry. Far better to settle in and rebuild or, failing that, to attack Osel and the Livonian Order. Osel Island could be used as a base for attacking Erik's holdings in Finland, while Holstein represented nothing but...
(A decision made easier because the Livonians are vassals of the Teutonic Order, so I wouldn't be able to peace them out separately.)
Retribution
Officially the war began over southern Jutland, an area ceded to Holstein by 12 year old Valdemar III in 1329 by force. Duke Gerhard of Holstein incorporated this area with Slesvig province. Now Valdemar IV claimed both by repudiating the 'false' treaty his predecessor signed and insisting Slesvig was part of his wife's dowry. Duke Niklas' allies included Mecklenberg as well as Erik Magnusson, who feared a strong Denmark reasserting their claims to Skane. This in turn brought in Magnus IV of Sweden who wanted to force his son's submission and saw nothing wrong with ignoring a treaty less than six months old.
Holger Krabbe
(F0 S1 M2 Sg0), who earned some notoriety in western Finland by actively seeking backup women, led the attack on Holstein. Valdemar himself stayed home, realizing chaos would result if he died before Christian was ready to take the throne. Instead, in a nod to the fuming
Danehof, he gave command of the northern army to one of their favorites. Torbald Knutzon
(F0 S2 M0 Sg1) was a mercurial soul with a gift for unpredictability. Armies plunged north and south while the Danish navy blockaded Mecklenburg to keep them out of the war.
Krabbe's five thousand men met at Aarhus in eastern Jutland. He then thrust into Slesvig and met Duke Niklas' army with militia holding the center and two thousand horse in reserve. Once Niklas' crossbowmen fired into the footsoldiers, Krabbe's nobles charged. Axemen boiled from the trees piercing the Holsteiners cutting off any retreat. The duke escaped to his fortress at Kiel and remained there for the duration of the war.
Knutzon received a surprise when he landed in Skane. He expected to find Erik's army or that of a vassal, numbering no more than one or two banners: Erik simply didn't have time to recover from the last war. Instead he found a full field army of German mercenaries under the command of 'Fredrik I', a Flem who claimed the Swedish throne by virtue of a distant relation to Birger Magnusson (r 1290-1318), Magnus IV's father who died in exile.
This was a much closer battle with little in the way of tactics. Infantry slammed into each other across a quarter of a mile while two thousand horse on each side milled about in the reserve awaiting their chance for glory. The Danes gained the advantage through superior numbers and greater ferocity: While mercenaries held back killing blows or hesitated in the hope of ransoming noble prisoners, Knutzon's men had no such qualms. A lucky thrust on the right flank pierced all the way to Fredrik's banner, and when it felt amidst the crush of soldiers the Germans lost their paymaster and will to fight. Survivors fled north to unlucky Kronoberg only to be ridden down by Swedish knights.
Here the war went into slow motion. Erik's vassals raised a small army easily crushed at Halland by 3,000 Swedes. Valdemar invested the rest of Skane and took back what was left of Helsingborg Castle in July. The Mecklenburgers stubbornly insisted on reparations for lost trade from the Danish blockade. Erik himself sieged Aland Island in the Gulf of Bothnia with two thousand men, while his fleet played cat-and-mouse with the much larger Swedish navy preventing a counterattack.
(Notice the Swedes don't have enough men to take Halland (Fort-2). This becomes important.)
Valdemar continued to run the war from Nyborg Castle and even took the time to look in on matters of state. He authorized a series of projects designed to begin reclaiming land along the Danish Archipelago from the sea.
(Land Enclosure) That winter news of the Lollard heresy spread to Denmark.
The Lollards (possibly from the Middle Dutch 'lollaerd' - mumbler) were generally followers of John Wyclif, though over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the term would mutate to first include all heretics, then through Middle English to 'loller' (lazy vagabond, idler, fraudulent beggar) in the sixteenth. In 1359 Wyclif was a scholar at Oxford University whose critical review of the Church led him to believe it was corrupt. Temporal wealth, he argued, was incompatible with and led men away from true spirituality. Priests who 'feigned a power higher than the angels' weren't truly a part of Christ's church. He argued for predestination and consubstantiation - that the spirit of Christ attended communion as opposed to transubstantiation - the belief that the bread and sacramental wine at communion
are the body and blood of Christ. He believed idolatry was everywhere, from the aforementioned transubstantiation to praying for the dead at 'roods and blind stones' and images of the crucifixion. Wars without some sort of special revelation were inherently evil, and certain crafts (goldsmiths and armorers for example) invited material sin.
In post-Plague Europe, with disease and famine rampant, taxes high, the gulf between the social classes wider than at any time since the Dark Ages and the rich doing everything in their power to remain so, anyone arguing the nobility or clergy were over privileged was inherently dangerous. The Popes at Avignon didn't move against Wyclif right away. Perhaps they hoped it would blow over, or it would give them an excuse to excommunicate hated England. Regardless, Valdemar wasn't taking chances and accepted a Portuguese cardinal's offer to coordinate his bishops' response. Teodosio de Faria
(Inquisitor 6) was a small, dark man who ruthlessly punished dissent. Those priests and scholars who showed dissatisfaction with Pius II soon found themselves cast out or tried in canonical courts.
In January 1359 Holstein and Skane surrendered. This let Valdemar begin the second phase of his plan, which was to simply drive Mecklenburg from the war. The Mecklenburgers had nothing he wanted, but he couldn't move soldiers to Finland without risking their breaking his blockade and sending reinforcements into Holstein. Through the winter five thousand men landed in Pomeranian then crossed towards Gustrow.
On March 1, Holger Krabbe arrived outside of Gustrow with three thousand men to find his way blocked by four thousand Germans under Johann von Mecklenburg. Mecklenburg proved to be a rash general and marched headlong into Krabbe's crossbowmen. Nonetheless they persevered leading to a general melee. After several hours Krabbe withdrew, but darkness prevented Mecklenburg from following up. On the next morning he found himself facing
two armies: Two thousand reinforcements appeared overnight and Krabbe launched a pincer attack. This time the Mecklenburger line buckled and Johann retreated to Schwerin.
By now Duke Niklas von Schauenberg of Holstein arrived at Vordingborg as a prisoner. At first he proved obstinate and insisted his 'army of lions' would spring forth and 'cut the head of the snake.' When no lions appeared and Slesvig surrendered in July, Schauenberg crumbled. Ultimately he agreed to the same terms Christopher II of Denmark had upon his restoration in 1329: House, meager salary, and the honor of playing puppet to Danish interests. With the Holstein matter decided, Johann of Mecklenburg agreed to peace weeks later.
(Apparently Schleswig was the Holstein capital for some reason. I would have settled for that province, since that's where my core is, but I couldn't ask for it. So I took it all. The Empire has so far not argued, perhaps because their capital wasn't in the Empire (though Holstein province IS.)
End of Prince Erik's Rebellion
With Holstein under Danish rule, Mecklenburg pacified and the fortresses in Scania under Danish control the front shifted, yet again, to Finland. The sole exception to this rule was Halland where the Swedes continued to force the nobles there to yield with no effect.
At this juncture Magnus IV asked Valdemar to send his fleet into the Gulf of Bothnia to blockade Erik's navy or perhaps force it into a foolish battle.
Magnus IV said:
All of Skane shall be yours (as previously agreed). (Erik's) ships shall also be yours. My banners will strike through Finland and end this.
Valdemar IV said:
(I) agree with your proposal, however there will be a delay. I intend to send men to Karelia and points west. As you say, let us end this.
Helping to end Erik's rebellion made sense, but in Podebusk's writings he suggests an alternative reason for Valdemar's delay. As long as Eric's navy remained active in the Gulf, nine thousand Swedes hoping to counterattack through Aland Island remained in place. This prevented Magnus from reinforcing the siege at Halland and perhaps reincorporating it into his kingdom. It also served as revenge for Magnus' betrayal two years earlier.
(The Swede navy is one province south. It's a predictable cycle: The Swede army moves towards Aland. The Sverige navy blocks the strait. The Swede navy comes out to intercept. The Sverige navy goes back to port. Swedes do the same and move their army. It might be a little gamey that I didn't use my navy to stop Erik's, but given Valdemar's desire for revenge and probable understanding of how war works in 'his' world, I could understand his hesitation.)
Karelia surrendered to Holger Krabbe in December. He then marched westward towards Uusimaa and encountered Inge Oxenstierna.
Oxenstierna was another pretender. He enjoyed Magnus IV's covert support in overthrowing his son and ruling Erik's domain. This would make Oxenstierna the most powerful nobleman in Sweden, though records suggest Magnus had no intent of honoring his end of the agreement. Following Erik's capture or death, Magnus planned to cut off Inge's support and take back his kingdom in the resulting chaos.
Inge squandered his subsidies on buying backup women of his own however, and could only muster two thousand mercenaries and Finn locals when Krabbe appeared. On April 28, 1360 they fought in -10 degree weather (+10 deg F) and snow where Inge's lighter troops lost their advantage in mobility. After two hours he crushed Inge's army resulting in several hundred prisoners.
Torbald Knutzon arrived on the Finnish west coast in June and destroyed two of Erik's armies in rapid succession. It was a foolish, desperate campaign. The first attack was to involve a second army arriving from Aland, but the Danish navy finally appeared in the Gulf to block Erik's transports. Therefore one thousand men arrived to fight Torbald's three and were annihilated. Another thousand, perhaps planned as decisive reinforcements, arrived two days later and suffered the same fate. Resistance collapsed.
Erik saw he couldn't win and so negotiated with his father. On August 10, 1360 they agreed to an antebellum peace with Erik once more his father's 'loyal and favored' son and liege lord to all of Scania and Finland.
(White Peace) Magnus sent Valdemar an urgent letter glowing with praise and asking him to honor the truce and return his armies to Denmark. The king's response was terse and perhaps translates best in modern vernacular.
Valdemar IV said:
Instead he sent fresh levies to siege Halland and opened negotiations with Erik, who refused to consider giving up all of Skane.
By terms of agreement between father and son, Magnus should have intervened. Technically Erik was his vassal though he didn't pay tribute, scutage, or provide troops. Magnus didn't want to risk war with his aggressive neighbor however, and instead summoned Erik to Stockholm to work out a compromise.
What happens next is unclear. On his deathbed Erik accused his mother, Blanche of Namur, of poisoning him and his wife. Doctors believed it to be the plague and later scholars examining their records agree. The end result was Erik's death and Swedish unification. It would take years for Magnus to put down the last rebellions related to his son's aborted legacy.
This left Skane. With Helsingborg and Blekinge under Danish control and with an army nearby to enforce those claims there wasn't much point in arguing about those. Halland was a more sensitive issue, as Magnus himself annexed it during the darkest years of Christopher's reign. Local officials feared Swedish retribution as well as the taxes that set off Erik's rebellion in the first place and appealed for Danish protection. Valdemar curtly informed Stockholm that any lasting peace must include Halland. Magnus agreed.
(Obviously a scripted event, though what triggered it I'm not sure. Historically Erik died in 1359. Skane and Blekinge immediately became mine while Viipuri in Karelia reverted to Sweden. Halland was initially Swedish, but at the beginning of November Sweden 'honored the agreement' which shifted ownership to me. Normally I'm not crazy about scripted events: It's useful for teaching history and I didn't mind it so much in EU2, but EU3 is another story. This one is probably necessary though to prevent Sweden from being nerfed.)
The agreement left Denmark as one of the strongest powers in northern Europe. In twenty years Valdemar took his kingdom from virtual extinction to dominance over the Baltic trade and completely erased the shameful aspects of his father's reign. Denmark now controlled all three straits between the Baltic and North Seas.
All that remained was Valdemar's restive nobles as well as peasants increasingly insecure and unhappy. Winning the war wasn't quite enough. If Denmark was to survive and prosper, he'd also have to win the peace.
Denmark, January 1361