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Cliffhanger omaghad!

Swedish independence? Norwegian victoglory? What shall it be?
 
Tough wars there, probably some kind of end to the Union. But a greater Danish empire may grow from it. Good job so far.
 
Cliffhanger omaghad!

Swedish independence?

You wish ;):D

Tough wars there, probably some kind of end to the Union. But a greater Danish empire may grow from it. Good job so far.

Thanks. I will post an update shortly.

Also, some changes were made to previous posts, mostly design-wise. Check it out, and don't miss the OP. It has a little spoiler...
 
Factbox: Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne​

To understand the fall of the House of Pomerania, we must first look at the internal structure of the Union, and the factors that challenged this structure. Since the Union Act of 1448, Denmark and Sweden had been one country, ruled by a king. The king was chosen by the Rigsråd, a council of nobles and bishops, who acted as representatives of the entire people. Apart from chosing the king, the Rigsråd also had the power to aprove or reject treaties, declarations of war and taxation. The king of Denmark-Sweden also carried the titles Duke of Estonia, Kurland, Pomerania and Mecklenburg, later Mecklenburg-Ruppin and Mecklenburg-Ruppin-Magdeburg, as well as those of Prince of Hamburg and Danzig. In all but name, these duchies and free cities were parts of the kingdom, although the Rigsråd had no formal authority in them. The territories of Vinland and Greenland were lands of the Crown, and thus personal property of the king. Norway was a seperate country ruled by a king.

According to the treaty of Kalmar, Norway and Denmark-Sweden had a shared foreign policy and a shared king, however the kingdom of Norway was nominaly a hereditary kingdom with its own Rigsråd. It would seem, that the combination of a hereditary Norwegian kingdom with an elective Danish-Swedish kingdom would be at odds with a common king of the two countries, but the Rigsråd traditionaly elected the oldest son or closest male relative of a late king as his successor, so the problem never had to be adressed. In order to be elected, the king of Denmark-Sweden had to negotiate a charter called a håndfæstning with the Rigsråd. In this charter the king would promise to uphold the privileges of the nobility. The håndfæstning always contained more or less the same elements, but would vary in specific rights and measures, depending on the composition of the Rigsråd, the situation in the realm at the time and the behaviour of the previous king. One important part of the håndfæstning was, that it always stated the right of the nobility to revolt if the king broke the håndfæstning.

politiskkort.jpg


This was the theoretical structure of the Union of Kalmar. However, in reality the power was distributed quite differently. The members of the Rigsråd mostly came from a dozen old Danish families, who owned large parts of the country, and combined with the estates of the church, the Rigsråd controled more land than the crown, at least within the kingdom. These very few, very rich families thus had enormous influence. In the duchies, the nobility had no formal power, and the crown owned most of the land. Still, large estates in the duchies were owned by Danish and Swedish nobility, who usualy had their exemption from taxation expanded to these estates through the håndfæstning. This meant, that the nobility, and especialy the few families who controled the Rigsråd, had a large influence on the income of the crown and on foreign policy. Even so, the crown was generaly powerful enough to force through its claims. Also, the right to revolt had little effect, as the royal armies were superior to the nobles, and in several cases the king would punish rebellion leaders, even after fighting them down.

The first signs of changes came with the declaration of war in 1549. The excuse for the war was a most probably falsified document detailing a plot against Christian II between on one side members of the courts of Lithuania and Krakow, including Christian’s brother Vilhelm, and on the other several members of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian noble families. This document was to serve two purposes, firstly it would make a good excuse for a war against Lithuania, and secondly it would miscredit some of the larger noble families, who opposed the kings attempt to give the peasants some of the rights that the burghers had acquired during the reign of Hans. The Rigsråd was split in the matter. One party, led by Hagen Rosenkrantz and Frederik Gyldenstierne, childhood friends of Christian, supported the war. Another dismissed it as unwaranted and unwise. This party was led by Peter Ulfeldt and Ulrik Thot, both of whom were first cousins to some of the accused nobles. It was then that Christian treathened to declare war as Duke of Estonia, where the Rigsråd had no power. Faced with this ultimatum, the majority of the Rigsråd agreed to the king’s demands, and the Union was thrown into the excruciating Nine Year War.

However, the king’s action fell right into the gap between his theoretical autonomy as duke of Estonia and the actual influence of the Rigsråd. The institution of duchies had been erected during the 15th century to prevent nobles in the newly conquered areas from claiming seats in the Rigsråd. The Scandinavian nobles had never thought that it would or could be used to declare war without their consent. As the war dragged on and tensions within the Union began to rise, some of the nobles who originaly supported the war began to have second thoughts. Peasant uprisings meant less income from their estates, and several manorhouses were burned to the ground, including the Gyldenstierne family’s ancestral estate of Ågård in Jylland. Frederik Gyldenstierne, whose mother was a granddaughter of Christian I, became leader of the Peace party among the nobility. This party still acknowledged that the war was just, but also wanted it to end, as it was going into a stalemate. The members of this party were mostly the families who had large estates in the Duchies. Another party, the Frösöans, were opposed to the war because it was waged against a fellow Catholic king, and also opposed to the Tripple Alliance with Orthodox Muscowy and Reformed Poland. The Frösöans were mostly bishops and Norwegian nobles, who tended to be more staunchly Catholic than the Danish and Swedish nobles. Finaly, there was a much smaller party, which, for lack of better word, has been called Republicans, as they favored actual elections of kings from the nobility rather than mere appointments of the oldest male in the house of Pomerania. This party was led, among others, by members of the Ulfeldt and Thot families.

In the end, only a small part of the nobility supported the king, and for the first time in more than a century, the Joint Rigsdag assembled. This body was not specificaly mentioned in the Treaty of Kalmar, but it had been a semi-formal Council of the entire Union, where representatives of the greatest noble families in Norway, Sweden and Denmark would meet with the king to discuss matters concerning all three kingdoms. Since the breakup of the Union 1416, when Swedish nobles elected Karl Sture as king, the Joint Rigsdag had not been held, and even for the Rigsråd of Denmark-Sweden an actual meeting was rare, since most matters were more easily dealt with through letters. But in January of 1557, a Rigsdag was held in Stockholm. On the third day of the Rigsdag, it was proposed to release Christian II from his duties as king of Norway and Denmark-Sweden. This idea was extraordinary, as it was normaly understood, that the Rigsråd had the power to appoint, but not dispose of a king. What it meant for the Union of Kalmar, or even for the Duchies, which were not under the Rigsråd, was unclear, and the debates went on for weeks. Hagen Rosenkrantz, who was one of the last true supporters of the king, argued that according to Sebastian Sehested, the great theologian and author of “The Church and The King”, disobediance towards the king was a sin, which led some to percieve him as part of the Frösöan party, who supported Sehested’s theological dismissal of the Reformation. Frederik Gyldenstierne also supported the king, but ultimately failed in gaining support from his own Peace party to reject the resolution. On the 31st of January, 1557, Christian II was the first king of the Union, and of Denmark, to be removed from the throne. He fled the country for Pomerania, and later Germany, where he sought support for his cause. However, his first attempt, backed by a German alliance, only led to the inclusion of Bremen as the third free city of the kingdom, and a total loss of support outside of Pomerania.

In Stockholm, the debate soon turned to finding a new order of the Union. Without a king, the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark-Sweden had no Union, and the opinions on wether to elect a new king for both kingdoms, or even for Denmark and Sweden, were divided. For a time, civil war seemed to be the only solution, as the Republican party suddently had achieved its goals without having the power to keep up this achievement, and Norwegian nobles asked them selves if it was really in their best interest to oust a king that had payed more attention to their country than any other Union king since Vilhelm. It was then that Peter Ulfeldt, leader of the Republicans, came up with a solution that would shape the future of both kingdoms, but probably not in the way he had envisioned. He proposed Frederik Gyldenstierne, the strongest supporter of Christian and a descendant of the old kings through his mother, as new king of the Union. As all parties within Denmark-Sweden could support this proposition, Frederik Gyldenstierne was elected king, the first of the House of Gyldenstierne and the third king of that name.

The Norwegian nobles and bishops, however, felt no obligation to chose the same king as the Danish-Swedish Rigsråd, and also held some distrust of Gyldenstierne, who had never set foot in Norway and was rumoured to have sympathy for the Grossoan Reformation. So instead, they offered their throne to Hagen Rosenkrantz, who became king of Norway under the name of Haakon VII. This has popularly been known as the Bergen Treachery, but in fact the election of Rosenkrantz as Norwegian king was probably the reason for the peaceful coexistance and continued alliance of Norway and Denmark-Sweden, as any other decision could well have resulted in a violent end to the Union.

In the Duchies, the situation was totaly unclear, as the Rigsråd on one hand could not force Christian to ceede his title of Duke, but on the other hand could elect a new king of Denmark-Sweden, who would then also be Duke of Pomerania, Estonia, Kurland and Mecklenburg-Ruppin-Magdeburg, Prince of Danzig and Hamburg. This confusion led to large revolts by the local nobles of the Duchies, who hoped to gain more power in their own homecountries, if not outright independence. In fact, the famous second attempt of Christian II to regain his throne involved a very shortlived Pomeranian kingdom, but apart from that and the Two-Year Republic of Finland, these issues were dealt with swiftly and brutaly by the joint force of the Crown and the Rigsråd. Christian II ended his days in a somewhat comfortable captivity on a royal estate in Pomerania. And with him, the House of Pomerania, which had ruled the Union of Kalmar for a 150 years, was history. Instead, the Houses of Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne would rule Norway and Denmark-Sweden respectively.
 
A very nice explanation of the internal developments of this "stronger" union and a equally nice hint at what could best be described as "Christian IV tendencies" in the foreign policy of Christian II.

Too bad about the end of the Dano-Norwegian union, but with Gyldenstierne's alleged support for the Reformation and the obvious dislike for this amongst the Norwegian estates, I'd predict we'll see combat amongst the two powers in this Scandinavian version of the Wars of Religion.


Oh and finally, awesome Shakespearean reference ;)
 
very nice description of these events.. I usually run and hide from large blocks of text in AARs but this was very enjoyable to read..
but that being said.. i think there is need of a declaration of war on...


England! haha (me no likey da english ha)
 
Haven't really been following but you are doing great work. Considering that I never thought someone could ever do anything useful with Denmark...:D
 
Haven't really been following but you are doing great work. Considering that I never thought someone could ever do anything useful with Denmark...:D

It could be worse, he could be trying to get Flemings and Walloons to work together....talk about IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!:D
 
A very nice explanation of the internal developments of this "stronger" union and a equally nice hint at what could best be described as "Christian IV tendencies" in the foreign policy of Christian II.

Too bad about the end of the Dano-Norwegian union, but with Gyldenstierne's alleged support for the Reformation and the obvious dislike for this amongst the Norwegian estates, I'd predict we'll see combat amongst the two powers in this Scandinavian version of the Wars of Religion.


Oh and finally, awesome Shakespearean reference ;)

Trust you of all people to see that Christian IV-reference :) :rolleyes:. I tried to make this Christian a combination of C4 and C2 in our time.

I think both Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne were pretty moderate Catholics. Mind you, Gyldenstierne was only rumored to have reformist tendencies, while Rosenkrantz was only percieved to be a Frösöan after using all means necessary to help his friend Christian II.

And well, if you're from Elsinore, how could you not use those two names for nobles betraying their friends?

great work! The explanation is top drawer and the map is very helpful! :D

Thanks. I'm glad the map was helpful, I guess the geography of Scandinavia is not exactly common knowledge.

very nice description of these events.. I usually run and hide from large blocks of text in AARs but this was very enjoyable to read..
but that being said.. i think there is need of a declaration of war on...


England! haha (me no likey da english ha)

Well, I'm glad you took your time. And that you liked it:)

Regarding England, I think you won't be disappointed.

Haven't really been following but you are doing great work. Considering that I never thought someone could ever do anything useful with Denmark...:D

Well, I hope I've got you on board. And I guess we'll have to see who has the largest empire come 1820. You're on, mister :D

It could be worse, he could be trying to get Flemings and Walloons to work together....talk about IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!:D

Now, let's not get into such wild speculations...
 
Well, I hope I've got you on board. And I guess we'll have to see who has the largest empire come 1820. You're on, mister :D

You're playing IN vanilla and probably much more often then me so -> easy win for Salik. But I'll keep in touch. It actualy surprises me how low the view and post count of the thread is, it should be much higher.
 
It actualy surprises me how low the view and post count of the thread is, it should be much higher.


Probably not enough pictures for the "masses", though you would think it would be higher just with the quality!
 
Great AAR, although I do wish there were some more pictures so I wouldn't have to visualize everything. I love how you go through and talk about all the politics and complication about titles and claims, as I've always wished the Crusade Kings-esque massive title list was present in EU3... there's something very satisfying about having all the superfluous duchies and counties and claims on there. :D

My only question is how much effort you put into maintaining relations with Norway in order to inherit it outright. You ruled it in a union for so long - and have appeared to have had plenty of money for a while - that I constantly expected you to have a backstory about the Danish king permanently tying the Norwegian Crown to that of Denmark-Sweden. I understand that Sweden is harder to inherit because of their larger armies and higher bribe cost, but in my Kalmar Union game Norway was pretty easy to absorb. Did you not send them gifts to keep the relations at 200?

Anyway, thanks for the AAR and keep up the good work!
 
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But I'll keep in touch. It actualy surprises me how low the view and post count of the thread is, it should be much higher.

Probably not enough pictures for the "masses", though you would think it would be higher just with the quality!

Great AAR, although I do wish there were some more pictures so I wouldn't have to visualize everything. I love how you go through and talk about all the politics and complication about titles and claims, as I've always wished the Crusade Kings-esque massive title list was present in EU3... there's something very satisfying about having all the superfluous duchies and counties and claims on there. :D

I am flattered. Actually, I kind of figured it was due to the rather long break I took when I wrote my B.Sc., but the pictures are probably a good explanation too. My problem is, that I don't feel that I am good enough, or have the time, to make them myself and that I forget to take screenshots. I would rather not post pictures than post some that I don't think are good enough. But if it helps with a map like the one above, I guess I could spend some time on them, at the expense of regularity.

Well, maybe I'm getting some new readers here, so the next post will include some links to explain previous events...

My only question is how much effort you put into maintaining relations with Norway in order to inherit it outright. You ruled it in a union for so long - and have appeared to have had plenty of money for a while - that I constantly expected you to have a backstory about the Danish king permanently tying the Norwegian Crown to that of Denmark-Sweden. I understand that Sweden is harder to inherit because of their larger armies and higher bribe cost, but in my Kalmar Union game Norway was pretty easy to absorb. Did you not send them gifts to keep the relations at 200?

Anyway, thanks for the AAR and keep up the good work!

Well, I am not quite sure about how the game mechanics work on this, apart from the requirement of having positive prestige and 150+ relations (IIRC). I generally had about 200-relations with Norway, but my prestige was pretty low most of the time, though I kept it positive. I made all conquered provinces leave the empire due to roleplaying, which will cost you 2 prestige each time. I don't know if chances of inheritance rises with higher prestige?But then I had a succession war against Austria, which neither of us had any chance of winning, so that made my prestige go waaaay negative. And thus the end of the Union :(
 
Chapter XIX: Kådkarle var alle galne med køller*

Gyldenstjerne.png


Coat of arms of the House of Gyldenstierne

Frederik III Gyldenstierne was an elderly man of 50 when he was elected king of Denmark-Sweden by the Joint Rigsdag in 1557 (see Factbox: Rosekrantz and Gyldenstierne). His age was probably one of the reasons for his nomination by Peter Ulfeldt’s Republican party. In Frederik, they had found a candidate who was held in high esteem among those nobles who were loyal to Christian, who was known as a great warior and diplomat and who, most importantly, was likely to die before he could establish his son Christopher as his successor.

In his first years on the throne, Frederik was heavily dependant on the Rigsråd. He had very little support among the common people, and most of the royal army was still tied up in Lithuania, so he could only watch as the peasants of Skåne, Fyn and Jylland rose in revolt. Open revolts in the Danish corelands were a very rare occurence, and should probably be attributed to a combination of war exhaustion and the feeling, that the nobles had made a coup d’etat against a king who had righteously tried to take away some of their privileges. After all, the nobility owed their status to the fact, that they were the ones who gave their lives to protect the country in wars, so when the sons of peasants were sent instead, should the nobles not ceede their power? In the German duchies and Finland, local revolts also broke out against the ongoing war and the new regime. Pomeranian and German peasants and burghers felt for the first time, that the institution of duchies made them second-class citizens, seeing how they were not represented at the Joint Rigsdag, and joined arms with the local nobles. The already amputated union was bleeding under its constitutional crisis

Externally, Haakon VII Rosenkrantz had his oldest son, aptly named Haakon, married to a daughter of the king of Lithuania. The Frösöan nobles in Norway were pulling towards a Catholic alliance, but this movement was cut short when Lithuania collapsed in 1558 (see Chapter XVIII: All Things Must Pass). Imediately after the colapse of Lithuania, in April, Christian II made his first attempt at reclaiming his throne. Backed by the Imperial Court in Madrid, a coalition of Thüringia, Lithuania, Bremen, Bavaria and Trier declared war on Denmark-Sweden with the expressed purpose of restoring the House of Pomerania to the Two Thrones. Faced with this, the Norwegian nobles chose to join the war in order to keep their newly won independence. The coalition never became much of a treat, and the war ended with Bremen being annexed as the third free city of the Danish-Swedish realm, but the war in it self changed the entire situation. While the citizens of the duchies found new hope in the prospect of Christian II’s return, the citizens of the kingdom turned against him for trying to sell the kingdom to the Emperor. Frederik became the new symbol of the Scandinavian indepence-movement (see, among others, Chapter VII: The Holy Roman Emperor ). And in Norway, the Frösöans were weakened by the fact that two Catholic bishops and their allies in Lithuania had fought against a free Norway. Instead, the Norwegian court turned towards Denmark, and Haakon’s daughter Kirsten was married to Christopher Gyldenstierne, an act that tied the two new royal houses of Scandinavia together.

In Finland, a rise in national sentiment started after the Joint Rigsdag. Many of the local nobles had not been invited, even though Finland was part of the kingdom. This, and a general feeling of alienation towards the court in Copenhagen, led to the Finish Spring of 1560, in which several large cities were taken over by the nobles, who refused to pay taxes or follow orders from Copenhagen. With the German coalition-war still going on, the revolt was left unchecked, and on the 1st of November 1560, the Finnish Republic was declared in Neva. Soon, however, the war ended, and troops could be relocated to Finland, where a sudden and brutal end was put to the lives of the leading nobles and their republic. In April 1562 all of Finland was reconquered for the Danish-Swedish crown.

To finance the wars against Christian II and the Finnish Republic, the province of Podlasia was sold to the still weak kingdom of Poland in 1560, but within a year, Poland inherited the throne of Ukraine and beat Krakow in a war, thus incorporating most of the former Southern Lithuania. In this Polish Annus Mirabilis, the small ally of Denmark went from the brink of destruction to being the new great power of Central Europe, dragging Denmark-Sweden into wars against Hungary and Bohemia. The Frösöan fraction within Denmark-Sweden was sceptic towards a great Reformed country to the South, but Frederik insisted on staying allied with the Poles to counter the treat from the even greater Reformed power of Austria. With support from local Catholic nobles, Christian II reemerged in the middle of this debate and declared himself as king of Pomerania. He argued, that since the Rigsråd had no authority in Pomerania, he was still the legal duke of said realm, and was forced by the circumstances to protect it against an aggressive, Reformed neighbourgh. This second attempt was even more shortlived, and Christian was put in custody on a royal estate in Pomerania, where he lived to his death at the old age of 82 in 1589.

When the war against Hungary ended in 1567, the Union was experiencing peace for the first time in 18 years. During the long struggle, the internal structures of the Union had been shuffled. The Treaty of Kalmar was cancelled and the authority of the nobles had suffered severe blows. Christian II had gone from being loved by the common people to be given the epithet “Tyrant” everywhere but in Pomerania, and Frederik III, elected as a transition figure on the way to a noble republic, was the new champion of the people. His son, Christopher Gyldenstierne, enjoyed immense popularity in both realms. But the nobles who had put his father on the throne were not prepared to see one dynasty replace by another. In the popularity of the Gyldenstierne family, and in the still smouldering resent for the nobility, the Republican party saw a possible end to the days of the Rigsråd. An end they were prepared to fight.


* Sorry, I had to use this sometime. It doesn’t translate well, but it means something like “coy lads were all crazy with clubs”. So there it is for all you Scandinavians
 
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"coy lads were all crazy with clubs"

That adequately describes the one Scandinavian person I know... :rofl:

Nice work, sir! :D

Thanks. It's the only Danish sentence in the otherwise Latin annals of a monastery from the 13th century. I found it hilarious when I first read it.

did i read correctly.. there are hints towards government reform more drastic then replacing one king with another?!

Yes. Those nobles are soon going too far, as you will see in the next update.


This one is a little experiment, I hope you'll like it
 
Source: King Hagen and Lord Christopher also The Greatest King We Never Had

A folksong concerning the Dalby Murder in 1567

King Frederik had him so fine a son
King Hagen had him one too
The first one he dwelled in Lund, the fair
The other in Akershus
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


King Hagen says to Frederik
Your son is dear to me
And Little Kirsten, my hearts delight
A bride to him should be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


He got on his horse and he rode and he rode
He rode unto Akershus
And there he found young Kirsten to be
The fairest lady of all
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


She turned around all dressed in white
Her sisters dressed in green
And every town that they came through
Took her to be some queen
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Along to Lund came Lord Hagen too
Her brother, brisk and bold
And him along with young Christopher
A fair sight to behold
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


While sitting in the wedding hall
Feasting on so fine a meal
Come a herold to look for Lord Hagen, himself
A grim look on his face
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


What news have you brought unto me, young Thomas
What news have you brought unto me?
I've come to tell thee, thy father is dead
You are now our king to be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Says Hagen to Lord Christopher
Come, ride to Norway with me
And in sit by my side at Christiansborg
My chancelor to be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Says Christopher to his brother-in-law
Your wish is dear to me
But still my heart to Lund is bound
And king in Denmark I'll be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Then send me your son to raise when he's born
While mine shall stay with thee
And when they once shall rule our lands
In friendship that will be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Then Hagen he rode unto Christiansborg
There he stayed in splendor and wealth
And Christopher sat in Lund so fair
The greatest king to be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Says Christopher to king Hagen, the Brave
Come, spend the yuletide with me
In Lund, your son, young Hagen so fine
His father wishes to see
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


King Hagen he sailed to Lund, the fair
His court, they sailed with him
And noone so fine as Christopher him self
To rise and bid him in
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


They sitting at the feast so fair
Christopher says to the king
Come ride with me to Dalby Forrest
Were doe and deer run free
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Fair Kirsten says to her brother, so bold
And to her husband just
I'm afraid if you go, you'll never return
The wolves they roam so free
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


They got on their horses and rode and rode
The rode to Dalby Skov
And there in a cabbin, they chose to stay
The wind and snow to flee
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


At midnight came a Malmö page
With him came a Dalby serf
And in the cabin, they stepped so bold
The king and lord to slay
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


The Malmö page was standing by
With a knife ground keen and sharp
Between the long ribs and the short
He pierced lord Christophers heart
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


The Dalby serf was standig too
With an axe clutched in his hands
And with so foul a hate in his heart
He cleft the young kings head
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


In burning the cabin from which they fled
And leaving none but the walls
They left in the fire, to burn to ashes
The best king we never had
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


Lord Christopher he is dead and gone
Young Harald lives today
Without the nobles to leech on the land
The best king he will be
Now Wolves and Oxen
Roam the land


This song became widely popular in Norway and Denmark-Sweden after the Dalby Murder on Christopher Gyldenstierne and Haakon VIII The Brave in 1567. Notice that Hagen is the Danish form of Haakon. The Wolves and Oxen of the chorus probably refer to the noble families Ulfeldt and Oxe, who were blamed for the murder. The wedding between Christopher Gyldenstierne and Kirsten Rosenkrantz took place in 1559.

In 1570, after the Common Rigsråd, the hereditary monarchy was installed, with the ten year old Harald Gyldenstierne as heir to the throne of his grandfather. With this, the power of the nobles diminished, and the king held almost absolute power in what has been called Administrative Monarchy.