Chapter 3 - King Christian I, 1489 - 1500
Christian I may have lacked the battlefield genius of his predecessors, but between the strong nation they left for him and his ruthless foreign policy he secured more territory for Denmark during his short reign than both of them combined.
Many of Christian's contemporaries decried his ruthless cruelty. Modern historians credit it both for the effectiveness of his expansionist policies and the unrest he suffered at home.
Realpolitik was Christian I only priority during his reign. He pursued his ruthless expansionist agenda, containment against Muscovy, and suppression of unrest at home at the expense of the decency and cultural patronage of his predecessor.
Christian I began his reign with a radical overhaul of Danish foreign relations, largely at the expense of Frederik's Diplomatic Corps. He abandoned his alliance with Scotland, proclaiming them traitors and enemies of Denmark for their seizure of Orkney, sent diplomats east in an effort to check the rise of Muscovy, and established a more belligerent foreign policy.
As soon as he could fabricate the slimmest reason for war, Christian invaded England. He made it clear that he had ambitions to bring the whole of Great Britain under his control, and a weakened England with few allies made easy pickings. The English blue water navy, although crippled by loss of ports in the past few decades, still easily outclassed Denmark's. Thus Danish forces would be split during the campaign. Danish troops focused on invading England from the Danelaw, while Norwegian and Swedish troops defended Scandinavia from invasion through Jutland as well as naval landings. As it turned out, Swedish troops were reluctant to defend Danish soil, a sign of things to come. Danish forts in Jutland, held, however, and Schack's army in England smashed the English army and occupied the country over the course of about two years.
During the war, Christian's French ties helped him bring thousands of French soldiers into the Danish military - soldiers that he would badly need in the near future.
In the ensuing peace, Christian demanded the eastern Midlands and East Anglia, expanding the Danelaw across the entire east coast of England.
With the large quantities of English land now under Danish rule, the suggestion was put forth that an Englishman should perhaps be set up as heir apparent. This proposal was soundly rejected by Christian, who, in response, married a local noblewoman to improve his own ties to Denmark.
If Christian I survives to take the throne, he will be the first Danish king in nearly a century (Since Queen Margarette) to possess Danish ancestry.
With that business out of the way, and just over a year after concluding peace with England, Christian took the realm to war once again. This time, he planned to make good on Danish claims in Estonia in order to form a buffer against Russian encroachment, while at the same time giving him an opportunity to invade Scotland without hurting his relationship with France, to whom Scotland was allied.
The wars are exceptionally one-sided, although Christian earned the ire of his Swedish subjects for allowing Livonian troops to press into Finland and even Sweden proper while he was busy in Scotland. In the end, though, the outcome was inevitable due to the balance of forces and Christian's ability to to defeat the Livonian-Scotish alliance in detail. He made separate peace with Scotland, claiming the marches, reclaiming Orkney, and adding the Hebrides to Norway. He also forced Scotland to annul their alliance with France, opening the door to future direct conquests.
The Livonian order ceded northern Estonia and the island of Osel.
Just before the conclusion of this war in 1496, grave news was received from the British Isles - a massive rebellion in East Anglia and a second in the Scottish Marches Just as Danish troops arrived in England to begin quelling the rebellion, news arrived that the Swedish lords were supporting a pretender to the Swedish throne. It seemed Christian's empire might be falling apart. Finally, to make matters worse, the Estonians were not happy about their new overlords either, and used the distraction to rebel almost as soon as they were conquered [well, not really. But each of these rebellions happened while the previous was still ongoing; also screenshot of Scottish revolt missing, sorry].
The revolts on the Isles are readily crushed within the year, but Christian recognizes that he needs to better fortify the southern Danelaw, prompting the construction of new castles in Oxford and Derby.
The situation in Sweden and Estonia was, as it turned out, similarly straightforward. Concentrated rebellions might have posed a threat to Christian's power, but rebel forces were spread out and unable (and probably unwilling) to cooperate with one another. As a result, although most enjoyed early success, they were defeated in detail over the course of several years. That is not to say that Denmark made it through unscathed. By the end of the campaign Danish manpower reserves were entirely exhausted, unless Christian would be willing to slacken recruitment standards.
Christian would not live to see his triumph, however. On May 27th, 1500, he was struck by a stray arrow while leading the siege against the rebel occupied fortress in Estonia, leaving his wife Dorothea as regent for their 9 year old son.
Dorothea doesn't have much time to rule. What will her short reign hold for Denmark? Will she continue her husband's conquests? Or try to use the time to regroup and rebuild to leave her son with a strong nation?
Here is the situation in Europe.
Danish court.
Danish Diplomacy.
Danish technology.
Danish military.
[Question to readers - I'm inclined to treat regencies as term-limited monarchs and ask for input and role play them the same way. That said, since the rule is guaranteed to be short, I wonder whether you as readers are still interested in guiding them? I appreciate that those of you who have made monarch posts have let others guide subsequent monarchs, but you are, of course, always welcome to post for a new monarch later no matter how many you have posted for in the past, and this is doubly true of regents. If you are not as interested in regents, however, then I'm happy just to play them through or count them toward their ward's reign. I would also be willing potentially to allow regents to attempt to seize power in their own right, not in game (I'm not sure that's possible?), but via some off-screen dice rolling followed by console commanding. What do you all think of those four options? 1) treat them like all other monarchs 2) Just play them 3) count them toward their ward's reign [so in this case we'd just describe Christian II and pretend Dorothea is basically acting as he would] 4) Try to do something special with regencies, at least for the highly ambitious ones, that might have them stick around longer.]
Many of Christian's contemporaries decried his ruthless cruelty. Modern historians credit it both for the effectiveness of his expansionist policies and the unrest he suffered at home.
Realpolitik was Christian I only priority during his reign. He pursued his ruthless expansionist agenda, containment against Muscovy, and suppression of unrest at home at the expense of the decency and cultural patronage of his predecessor.
Christian I began his reign with a radical overhaul of Danish foreign relations, largely at the expense of Frederik's Diplomatic Corps. He abandoned his alliance with Scotland, proclaiming them traitors and enemies of Denmark for their seizure of Orkney, sent diplomats east in an effort to check the rise of Muscovy, and established a more belligerent foreign policy.
As soon as he could fabricate the slimmest reason for war, Christian invaded England. He made it clear that he had ambitions to bring the whole of Great Britain under his control, and a weakened England with few allies made easy pickings. The English blue water navy, although crippled by loss of ports in the past few decades, still easily outclassed Denmark's. Thus Danish forces would be split during the campaign. Danish troops focused on invading England from the Danelaw, while Norwegian and Swedish troops defended Scandinavia from invasion through Jutland as well as naval landings. As it turned out, Swedish troops were reluctant to defend Danish soil, a sign of things to come. Danish forts in Jutland, held, however, and Schack's army in England smashed the English army and occupied the country over the course of about two years.
During the war, Christian's French ties helped him bring thousands of French soldiers into the Danish military - soldiers that he would badly need in the near future.
In the ensuing peace, Christian demanded the eastern Midlands and East Anglia, expanding the Danelaw across the entire east coast of England.
With the large quantities of English land now under Danish rule, the suggestion was put forth that an Englishman should perhaps be set up as heir apparent. This proposal was soundly rejected by Christian, who, in response, married a local noblewoman to improve his own ties to Denmark.
If Christian I survives to take the throne, he will be the first Danish king in nearly a century (Since Queen Margarette) to possess Danish ancestry.
With that business out of the way, and just over a year after concluding peace with England, Christian took the realm to war once again. This time, he planned to make good on Danish claims in Estonia in order to form a buffer against Russian encroachment, while at the same time giving him an opportunity to invade Scotland without hurting his relationship with France, to whom Scotland was allied.
The wars are exceptionally one-sided, although Christian earned the ire of his Swedish subjects for allowing Livonian troops to press into Finland and even Sweden proper while he was busy in Scotland. In the end, though, the outcome was inevitable due to the balance of forces and Christian's ability to to defeat the Livonian-Scotish alliance in detail. He made separate peace with Scotland, claiming the marches, reclaiming Orkney, and adding the Hebrides to Norway. He also forced Scotland to annul their alliance with France, opening the door to future direct conquests.
The Livonian order ceded northern Estonia and the island of Osel.
Just before the conclusion of this war in 1496, grave news was received from the British Isles - a massive rebellion in East Anglia and a second in the Scottish Marches Just as Danish troops arrived in England to begin quelling the rebellion, news arrived that the Swedish lords were supporting a pretender to the Swedish throne. It seemed Christian's empire might be falling apart. Finally, to make matters worse, the Estonians were not happy about their new overlords either, and used the distraction to rebel almost as soon as they were conquered [well, not really. But each of these rebellions happened while the previous was still ongoing; also screenshot of Scottish revolt missing, sorry].
The revolts on the Isles are readily crushed within the year, but Christian recognizes that he needs to better fortify the southern Danelaw, prompting the construction of new castles in Oxford and Derby.
The situation in Sweden and Estonia was, as it turned out, similarly straightforward. Concentrated rebellions might have posed a threat to Christian's power, but rebel forces were spread out and unable (and probably unwilling) to cooperate with one another. As a result, although most enjoyed early success, they were defeated in detail over the course of several years. That is not to say that Denmark made it through unscathed. By the end of the campaign Danish manpower reserves were entirely exhausted, unless Christian would be willing to slacken recruitment standards.
Christian would not live to see his triumph, however. On May 27th, 1500, he was struck by a stray arrow while leading the siege against the rebel occupied fortress in Estonia, leaving his wife Dorothea as regent for their 9 year old son.
Dorothea doesn't have much time to rule. What will her short reign hold for Denmark? Will she continue her husband's conquests? Or try to use the time to regroup and rebuild to leave her son with a strong nation?
Here is the situation in Europe.
Danish court.
Danish Diplomacy.
Danish technology.
Danish military.
[Question to readers - I'm inclined to treat regencies as term-limited monarchs and ask for input and role play them the same way. That said, since the rule is guaranteed to be short, I wonder whether you as readers are still interested in guiding them? I appreciate that those of you who have made monarch posts have let others guide subsequent monarchs, but you are, of course, always welcome to post for a new monarch later no matter how many you have posted for in the past, and this is doubly true of regents. If you are not as interested in regents, however, then I'm happy just to play them through or count them toward their ward's reign. I would also be willing potentially to allow regents to attempt to seize power in their own right, not in game (I'm not sure that's possible?), but via some off-screen dice rolling followed by console commanding. What do you all think of those four options? 1) treat them like all other monarchs 2) Just play them 3) count them toward their ward's reign [so in this case we'd just describe Christian II and pretend Dorothea is basically acting as he would] 4) Try to do something special with regencies, at least for the highly ambitious ones, that might have them stick around longer.]
