On this day, July 21, 1831: Enthronement of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as the first King of the Belgians.

Tags

Belgium's National Day, George IV, George IV of the United Kingdom, King Leopold I of Belgium, King of the Belgians, King Philippe of the Belgians, Kingdom of Belgium, Leopold II of Belgium, Louis-Philippe of France, Louise Marie of Orleans, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Willem I of the Netherlands

Today is Belgium’s National Day. 🇧🇪

On this day, July 21, in 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (a maternal uncle of Queen Victoria and paternal uncle of her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) was sworn in as the first King of the Belgians.

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on December 16, 1790. He was the youngest son of Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

On May 2, 1816, Leopold married Princess Charlotte of Wales at Carlton House in London. Charlotte was the only legitimate child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and Caroline of Brunswick, daughter of Carl-Wilhelm-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and Princess Augusta of Great Britain (daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach). This meant that Princess Charlotte of Wales was second in line to the British throne.

Princess Charlotte of Wales

Princess Charlotte had been engaged Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange (later King Willem II of the Netherlands). This engagement came about through pressure from her father the Prince Regent. Princess Charlotte found the Hereditary Prince of Orange distasteful but after initially accepting him, Charlotte soon broke off the intended match in favor of Leopold. This resulted in an extended contest of wills between her and her father. Though the Prince Regent was displeased, he found Leopold to be charming and possessing every quality to make his daughter happy, thus approving of their marriage. The same year Leopold received an honorary commission to the rank of Field Marshal and Knight of the Order of the Garter.

The marriage ceremony was held May 2, 1816. On the wedding day, huge crowds filled London; the wedding participants had great difficulties in travelling. At nine o’clock in the evening in the Crimson Drawing Room at Carlton House, with Leopold dressing for the first time as a British General (the Prince Regent wore the uniform of a Field Marshal), the couple were married. The only mishap was during the ceremony, when Charlotte was heard to giggle when the impoverished Leopold promised to endow her with all his worldly goods.

On November 5, 1817, after having suffered a miscarriage, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.

Following a Greek rebellion against the Ottoman Empire, Leopold was offered the throne of an independent Greece as part of the London Protocol of February 1830. Though initially showing interest in the position, Leopold eventually turned down the offer on May 17, 1830. The role would subsequently be accepted by Prince Otto of Bavaria in May of 1832 who ruled until he was finally deposed in October 1862.

At the end of August 1830, rebels in the Southern provinces (modern-day Belgium) of the United Netherlands rose up against Dutch rule. The rising, which began in Brussels, pushed the Dutch army back, and the rebels defended themselves against a Dutch attack. International powers meeting in London agreed to support the independence of Belgium, even though the Dutch refused to recognize the new state.

In November 1830, a National Congress was established in Belgium to create a constitution for the new state. Fears of “mob rule” associated with republicanism after the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the example of the recent, liberal July Revolution in France, led the Congress to decide that Belgium would be a popular, constitutional monarchy.

Search for a monarch

Enthronement of King Leopold I of the Belgians

The choice of candidates for the position was one of the most controversial issues faced by the revolutionaries. The Congress refused to consider any candidate from the Dutch ruling house of Orange-Nassau. Some Orangists had hoped to offer the position to King Willem I or his son, Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange, which would bring Belgium into personal union with the Netherlands like Luxembourg. The Great Powers also worried that a candidate from another state could risk destabilizing the international balance of power and lobbied for a neutral candidate.

Eventually the Congress was able to draw up a shortlist. The three viable possibilities were felt to be Eugène de Beauharnais, a French nobleman and stepson of Napoleon; Auguste of Leuchtenberg, son of Eugene; and Louis, Duke of Nemours who was the son of the French King Louis-Philippe. All the candidates were French and the choice between them was principally between choosing the Bonapartism of Beauharnais or Leuchtenberg and supporting the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Louis-Philippe realized that the choice of either of the Bonapartists could be first stage of a coup against him, but that his son would also be unacceptable to other European powers suspicious of French intentions. Therefore Louis, Duke of Nemours refused the offer. With no definitive choice in sight, Catholics and Liberals united to elect Erasme Louis Surlet de Chokier, a minor Belgian nobleman, as regent to buy more time for a definitive decision in February 1831.

Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been proposed at an early stage, but had been dropped because of French opposition. The problems caused by the French candidates and the increased international pressure for a solution led to his reconsideration. On April 22, he was finally approached by a Belgian delegation at Marlborough House to officially offer him the throne. Leopold, however, was reluctant to accept at first.

Accession

On July 17, 1831, Leopold travelled from Calais to Belgium, entering the country at De Panne. Traveling to Brussels, he was greeted with patriotic enthusiasm along his route. The accession ceremony took place on July 21, on the Place Royale in Brussels. A stand had been erected on the steps of the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg, surrounded by the names of revolutionaries fallen during the fighting in 1830.

King Leopold I of the Belgians

After a ceremony of resignation by the regent, Leopold, dressed in the uniform of a Belgian lieutenant-general, swore loyalty to the constitution and became king. The enthronement is generally used to mark the end of the revolution and the start of the Kingdom of Belgium and is celebrated each year as the Belgian national holiday.

Second marriage

Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans

On August 9, 1832 King Leopold I of the Belgians married Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans, who was twenty-two years younger than the King, she was the eldest daughter of the future Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Louise and Leopold had four children, including Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico. Although never faithful to Louise, Leopold respected her and their relationship was a harmonious one.

Prince Louis Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium (July 24, 1833 – May 16, 1834)
King Leopold II of the Belgians (April 9, 1835 – December 17, 1909)
Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (March 24, 1837 – November 17, 1905)
Princess Charlotte of Belgium, (June 7, 1840 – January 19, 1927), consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.

Sadly, Queen Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis in the former Royal palace of Ostend on October 11, 1850 at the age of 38. Leopold was again a widower at the age of 59. The Queen’s body was brought to Laeken, and a memorial was erected in Oostende. She is buried beside her husband in Royal Crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

Photo of King Leopold later in life.

Leopold died in Laeken near Brussels on December 10, 1865, aged 74. His funeral was held on 16 December. He is interred in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Notre-Dame de Laeken, next to Louise-Marie. He was succeeded by his son, Leopold II, aged 30, who ruled until 1909.

The current King of the Belgians, Philippe, is Leopold I’s great-great-great-grandson.

Advertisements

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Birth of Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Tags

Albert I of Belgium, Cholera, Diptheria, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, House of Braganza, Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, Quen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves, Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Today in royal history: July 15, 1837 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the future Queen consort of Portugal, wife of King Pedro V of Portugal and the Algarves, was born.

Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

Princess Stephanie was born in Krauchenwies, Sigmaringen, on July 15, 1837, Stephanie was the eldest daughter of Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern, head of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and his wife Princess Josephine of Baden. Her maternal grandparents were Karl, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Emperor Napoleon I of France.

She was also a younger sister of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, older sister of King Carol I of Romania, and aunt of King Albert I of Belgium.

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern is not as well known to history as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire.

The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623 by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 by Friedrich Wilhelm IV following the abdication of its sovereign, Prince Carl, in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.

This photo shows King Pedro V and Queen Stephanie in the courtyard at Pena Palace near Sintra, around 1858. The picture was taken during the wedding festivities of Pedro and Stephanie.

Stephanie married King Peter V of Portugal and the Algarves by proxy on 29 April 1858 at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, where her eldest brother Leopold stood in for the groom. She was then married in person on 18 May 1858 at the Church of St. Dominic in Lisbon.

Pedro V, King of Portugal and the Algarves.

King Pedro V was the eldest son of Queen Maria II of Portugal and the Algarves and Prince Ferdinand a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháryeter was a member of the House of Braganza. As heir apparent to the throne, Pedro was styled Prince Royal and he was also the 19th Duke of Braganza.

Both bride and groom were a few months short of their twenty-first birthdays. Stephanie was received with much luxury and wrote home that the Portuguese understood luxury better than dignity. However she fell ill with diphtheria and died only a year later in Lisbon at the age of 22. During her short period as queen, she made herself a good name from the foundation of hospitals.

Stephanie, Queen of Portugal and the Algarves.

There were no children from this marriage. Her body was interred at the Braganza Pantheon inside the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.

Pedro never married again and died of cholera on November 11, 1861 at the age of 24. He was succeeded as King by his younger brother Luís.

On this date in History: July 13, 1889. Birth of Lady Louise Mountbatten, Queen of Sweden.

Tags

Crown Prince of Sweden, Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kings and Queens of Sweden, Lady Louise Mountbatten, Princess Louise of Battenberg, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Queen Louise of Sweden, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Louise of Battenberg at Schloss Heiligenberg, Seeheim-Jugenheim, on 13 July 1889 in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and By Rhine. Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who was Admiral of the Fleet in the United Kingdom, renounced his German title during World War I and anglicised his family name to “Mountbatten” at the behest of King George V. He was then created the first Marquess of Milford Haven in the peerage of the United Kingdom. From 1917, therefore, his daughter was known as “Lady Louise Mountbatten”. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, who was eldest daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Louise was a sister of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (Last Viceroy of India) and of Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She was also a niece of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.

Ludwig and Victoria of Battenberg with young Princess Louise.

In 1909, Louise received a proposal from King Manuel II of Portugal. Edward VII was in favour of the match, but Louise declined, as she wished to marry for love. In 1913, having been deposed in 1910, Manuel married Princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern in exile, but their marriage was childless. At the age of twenty, Louise became secretly engaged to Prince Christopher of Greece, but they were forced to give up their relationship for financial reasons. While living in exile more than 10 years later, he would wed the wealthy widow, Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds. After the death of Nancy Leeds Christopher married Princess Françoise d’Orléans in 1929. Princess Françoise d’Orléans was the second daughter of Jean d’Orléans, duc de Guise (an Orléanist pretender to the throne of France under the name Jean III) and his wife, the French Princess Isabelle of Orléans. Françoise’s brother, Prince Henri, Count of Paris, succeeded their father as the Orleanist pretender, under the name Henri VI.

In 1914, the 25 year old Louise and her mother visited Russia, and were invited to a trip down the Volga with their Imperial relatives. During her visit, Louise noted the influence of Rasputin with concern. The trip was interrupted by the sudden outbreak of World War I, and Louise’s father telegraphed for them to return immediately. They stayed in Sweden as guests of the Crown Princely couple (her future husband Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph and his then wife, Margaret of Connaught, who was also her first cousin once removed) at Drottningholm Palace, just one night before they returned to Great Britain.

Lady Louise Mountbatten.

Later during the war, while she volunteered as a nurse in Nevers, she began a relationship with Alexander Stuart-Hill, a Scottish artist living in Paris and they became engaged. Anticipating that her parents would be disappointed in her choice, Louise kept their engagement a secret.

Eventually, she confided in her parents, who were initially understanding, and invited Stuart-Hill for visits at Kent House twice. In fact, her family, referring to him as “Shakespeare” because of his odd appearance, found him “eccentric” and “affected”. Lacking resources, the engaged couple agreed to postpone marriage until after the war. But in 1918 Louise’s father explained to her that Stuart-Hill was most likely homosexual, and that a marriage with him was impossible.

In 1923 Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, having been for three years the widower of Louise’s mother’s cousin Princess Margaret of Connaught, paid a visit to London and, to Louise’s surprise, began to court her. Although as a young woman Louise had said that she would never marry a king or a widower, she accepted the proposal of a man destined to be both. However, under Article 5 of the 1810 Swedish Succession Law, a prince of the Swedish royal house forfeited his right of succession to the throne if he “with or without the King’s knowledge and consent, married a private Swedish or foreign man’s daughter.”

Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph of Sweden with his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught and children.

Princess Margaret of Connaught.

Once the couple’s engagement was announced, there were lively discussions in the media about whether the bride-to-be was constitutionally eligible to become Sweden’s future queen. In response the Swedish Foreign Ministry, citing the law in question, clarified the term “a private Swedish or foreign man’s daughter” to mean “he who did not belong to a sovereign family or to a family which, according to international practice, would not be equal thereto” and announced that the Swedish government had “requested the British government’s explanation of Lady Louise Mountbatten’s position in this respect.” The Swedish Court announced that following the British government’s reply to its inquiry and the subsequent investigation into the matter, it had been determined that the Crown Prince’s choice of a future wife was in compliance with the succession law, and that she was of royal lineage, thereby concluding debate on the imminent nuptials.

On 3 November 1923, at age 34, Louise married Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, in the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace in the presence of King George V and members of both royal families.

Wedding of the Crown Prince of Sweden and Lady Louise Mountbatten.

In 1950, Louise became queen after accession to the throne of her husband. Louise is described as a true democrat at heart, and was therefore somewhat disturbed at being celebrated merely in her capacity of queen. In reference to the attention, she remarked: “People look at me as if I were something special. Surely I do not look differently today from how I looked yesterday!”

Louise disliked the strict pre-World War I protocol at court, retained during her mother-in-law’s era, and reformed it when she became queen, instituting new guidelines in 1954 which democraticised many old customs. In 1962, she abolished the court presentations, replaced them with “democratic ladies’ lunches”, to which she invited professional career women, a custom which was to continue under Princess Sibylla after her death. Louise also renovated and redecorated the interior of the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden and Queen Louise of Sweden

Louise was described as eccentric for royalty and temperamental; she could get very angry, but was said to possess a good heart, a great sense of humour, a sense of self irony and was able to distinguish between herself and her royal role. She could show her sympathies openly, and this was taken as a sign of her honesty. One courtier commented, “I would describe the queen as a ‘gentleman’. She would never avoid acknowledging her own mistakes”. Louise is described as a great lover and patriot of her new home country, and was often shocked by Swedish non-patriotic customs. She was a supporter of the political system and democracy in the form it had developed in Sweden and stated her opinion to her relatives that no other political system than the Swedish one had created such a happy development for any nation. Queen Louise also admired Swedish nature and in particular Swedish women, because of what she considered their natural dignity regardless of class, and remarked that she had never seen a country with less vulgarity than Sweden.

Queen Louise’s last official engagement was the Nobel Prize dinner in December of 1964, during which no one noticed that she was in fact already ill. Queen Louise died on 7 March 1965 at Saint Göran Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden, following emergency surgery after a period of severe illness. Queen Louise is buried beside her husband and his first wife, Crown Princess Margaret, in the Royal Cemetery in Solna north of Stockholm.

Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England: Part II.

Tags

Charles V, Duke of Northumberland, Duke of Suffolk, Edward VI of England, Holy Roman Empire, House of Tudor, King of Spain, Lady Jane Grey, Philip II of Spain, Privy Council, Queen Jane

After Jane was proclaimed Queen she refused to name her husband Dudley as king, because that would require an Act of Parliament. She would agree only to make him Duke of Clarence. This was all to the chagrin of her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberlan, who desired to be the power behind the throne.

The Duke of Northumberland faced a number of key tasks to consolidate his power after Edward VI’s death. Most importantly, he had to isolate and, ideally, capture Mary Tudor, the rightful heir, to prevent her from gathering support. As soon as Mary was sure of King Edward’s demise, she left her residence at Hunsdon and set out to East Anglia, where she began to rally her supporters. Northumberland set out from London with troops on July 14 with the intent to capture Mary. The Privy Council switched their allegiance and proclaimed Mary queen in London, on July 19.

The historical consensus assumes that this was in recognition of overwhelming support of the population for Mary. However, there is no clear evidence for that outside Norfolk and Suffolk, where Northumberland had put down Kett’s Rebellion; hence, where princess Mary sought refuge. Rather, it seems that Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel—whom Northumberland had arrested and detained twice as an ally of Somerset, before rehabilitating—engineered a coup d’etat in the Privy Council in Northumberland’s absence.

Jane is often called the Nine-Day Queen, although if her reign is dated from the moment of Edward VI’s death on July 6, 1553, her reign could have been a few days longer. On July 19, 1553, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower’s Gentleman Gaoler’s apartments, her husband in the Beauchamp Tower. The Duke of Northumberland was executed on August 22, 1553. In September, Parliament declared Mary the rightful successor and denounced and revoked Jane’s proclamation as that of a usurper.

Mary I, Queen of England and Ireland.

Trial and execution

Referred to by the court as Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford, Jane was charged with high treason, as were her husband, two of his brothers, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. Their trial, by a special commission, took place on November 13, 1553, at Guildhall in the City of London. The commission was chaired by Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Other members included Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby and John Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Bath. As was to be expected, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death. Jane’s guilt, of having treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch, was evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as “Jane the Quene”. Her sentence was to “be burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases” (burning was the traditional English punishment for treason committed by women). The imperial ambassador reported to Holy Roman Emperor Carl V, (King Carlos I of Spain), that her life was to be spared.

The rebellion of Thomas Wyatt the Younger in January 1554 against Queen Mary I’s marriage plans with Felipe II of Spain sealed Jane’s fate. Her father, Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his two brothers joined the rebellion, and so the government decided to go through with the verdict against Jane and Guildford. Their execution was first scheduled for 9 February 1554, but was then postponed for three days to give Jane a chance to convert to the Catholic faith. Mary sent her chaplain John Feckenham to Jane, who was initially not pleased about this. Though she would not give in to his efforts “to save her soul”, she became friends with him and allowed him to accompany her to the scaffold.

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, by the French painter Paul Delaroche, 1National Gallery, London.

On the morning of February 12, 1554, the authorities took Guildford from his rooms at the Tower of London to the public execution place at Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. A horse and cart brought his remains back to the Tower, past the rooms where Jane was staying. Seeing her husband’s corpse return, Jane is reported to have exclaimed: “Oh, Guildford, Guildford.” She was then taken out to Tower Green, inside the Tower, to be beheaded.

According to the account of her execution given in the anonymous Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, which formed the basis for Raphael Holinshed’s depiction, Jane gave a speech upon ascending the scaffold:

“Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen’s highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day.”

While admitting to action considered unlawful, she declared that “I do wash my hands thereof in innocence.” Jane then recited Psalm 51 (Have mercy upon me, O God) in English, and handed her gloves and handkerchief to her maid. The executioner asked her forgiveness, which she granted him, pleading: “I pray you dispatch me quickly.” Referring to her head, she asked, “Will you take it off before I lay me down?”, and the axeman answered: “No, madam.” She then blindfolded herself. Jane then failed to find the block with her hands, and cried, “What shall I do? Where is it?” Probably Sir Thomas Brydges, the Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower, helped her find her way. With her head on the block, Jane spoke the last words of Jesus as recounted by Luke: “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Jane and Guildford are buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula on the north side of Tower Green. No memorial stone was erected at their grave. Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, was executed 11 days after Jane, on 23 February 1554. Her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, married her Master of the Horse and chamberlain, Adrian Stokes, in March 1555 (not, as often said, three weeks after the execution of the Duke of Suffolk). She was fully pardoned by Mary and allowed to live at Court with her two surviving daughters. She died in 1559.

On this date in History: July 10, 1553. Lady Jane Gray is proclaimed Queen of England. Part I

Tags

Duke of Northumberland, Edward VI of England, House of Tudor, Kings and Queens of England, Lady Frances Brandon, Lady Jane Gray, Lord Guildford Dudley, Privy Council, Thomas Seymore

Lady Jane Grey (c. 1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage)and as “the Nine Days’ Queen”, was an English noblewoman and de facto Queen of England and Ireland from July 10 until July 19, 1553.

Lady Jane Grey was the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Frances Brandon, the second child and eldest daughter of Princess Mary, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. Princess Mary was King Henry VIII’s younger sister. Jane had two younger sisters, Lady Catherine and Lady Mary; through their mother, the three sisters were great-granddaughters of Henry VII, grandnieces of Henry VIII, and first cousins once removed of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.

Lady Jane Gray

The traditional view is that she was born at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire in October 1537, while more recent research indicates that she was born somewhat earlier, possibly in London, in late 1536 or in the spring of 1537.

Jane received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek and Hebrew with John Aylmer, and Italian with Michelangelo Florio. Through the influence of her father and her tutors, she became a committed Protestant and also corresponded with the Zürich reformer Heinrich Bullinger. Jane preferred book studies to hunting parties and regarded her strict upbringing, which was typical of the time, as harsh.

In early February 1547, Jane was sent to live in the household of Edward VI’s uncle, Thomas Seymour, who soon married Henry VIII’s widow, Catherine Parr. Jane lived with the couple until Catherine’s death in childbirth in September 1548. Lady Jane acted as chief mourner at Catherine Parr’s funeral; Thomas Seymour showed continued interest to keep her in his household, and she returned there for about two months before he was arrested at the end of 1548. Seymour’s brother, the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, felt threatened by Thomas’ popularity with the young King Edward. Among other things, Thomas Seymour was charged with proposing Jane as a bride for the king.

Edward VI, King of England and Ireland.

In the course of Thomas Seymour’s following attainder and execution, Jane’s father was lucky to stay largely out of trouble. After his fourth interrogation by the King’s Council, he proposed his daughter Jane as a bride for the Protector’s eldest son, Lord Hertford. Nothing came of this, however, and Jane was not engaged until the spring of 1553, her bridegroom being Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. The Duke, Lord President of the King’s Council from late 1549, was then the most powerful man in the country. On May 25, 1553, the couple were married at Durham House in a triple wedding, in which Jane’s sister Catherine was matched with the heir of the Earl of Pembroke, Lord Herbert, and another Katherine, Lord Guildford’s sister, with Henry Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon’s heir.

The Third Succession Act of 1544 restored Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, to the line of succession, although they were still regarded as illegitimate. Furthermore, this Act authorised Henry VIII to alter the succession by his will. Henry’s will reinforced the succession of his three children, and then declared that, should none of them leave descendants, the throne would pass to heirs of his younger sister, Mary, which included Jane. For unknown reasons, Henry excluded Jane’s mother, Frances Grey, from the succession, and also bypassed the claims of the descendants of his elder sister, Margaret, who had married into the Scottish royal house and nobility.

Both Mary and Elizabeth had been named illegitimate by statute during the reign of Henry VIII after his marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn had been declared void.

Lady Jane Gray

When the 15-year-old Edward VI lay dying in the early summer of 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary was still his heir presumptive. However, Edward, in a draft will (“My devise for the Succession”) composed earlier in 1553, had first restricted the succession to (non-existent) male descendants of Frances Brandon and her daughters, before he named his Protestant cousin “Lady Jane and her heirs male” as his successors, probably in June 1553; the intent was to ensure his Protestant legacy, thereby bypassing Mary, who was a Roman Catholic. Edward’s decision to name Jane Grey herself was possibly instigated by Northumberland.

Edward VI personally supervised the copying of his will which was finally issued as letters patent on 21 June and signed by 102 notables, among them the whole Privy Council, peers, bishops, judges, and London aldermen. Edward also announced to have his “declaration” passed in parliament in September, and the necessary writs were prepared.

The King died on July 6, 1553, but his death was not announced until four days later. On July 9, Jane was informed that she was now queen, and according to her own later claims, accepted the crown only with reluctance. On July 10, she was officially proclaimed Queen of England, France and Ireland after she had taken up secure residence in the Tower of London, where English monarchs customarily resided from the time of accession until coronation.

On this date in History: Election of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway on July 4, 1534.

Tags

Bogislaw the Great, Bogislaw X of Pomerania, Elective Monarchy, Jutland, King Christian II of Denmark, King Christian III of Denmark, King Frederick I of Denmark, King Hans II of Sweden, King Hans of Denmark, Protestant Reformation, Roman Catholic

At this point in its history Denmark was then an elective monarchy in which the nobility elected the new king (from among the sons or close male relatives of the previous monarch), who had to share his power with the nobility.

When King Hans I-II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden died on February 20, 1513 a group of Jutish nobles had offered Prince Frederik of Denmark the throne, (the brother of King Hans) but he had declined, rightly believing that the majority of the Danish nobility would be loyal to his nephew Prince Christian, who was elected King of Denmark on July 22, 1513 as King Christian II.

Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Christian II was born at Nyborg Castle in 1481 as the son of King Hans and his wife, Christina of Saxony, daughter of Ernst, Elector of Saxony and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Other than his descent from the House of Oldenburg (the first king of Denmark of the House of Oldenburg was his grandfather Christian I of Denmark) Christian II descended, through Waldemar I of Sweden, from the House of Eric, and from Catherine, daughter of Inge I of Sweden, as well as from Ingrid Ylva, granddaughter of Sverker I of Sweden.

In 1521 King Christian II seemed very powerful upon his return to Denmark after his re-conquest of Sweden in an attempt to maintain the Kalmar Union. On November 1, 1521 the representatives of the Swedish nation swore fealty to Christian II as hereditary king of Sweden, though the law of the land distinctly provided that Sweden was an elective monarchy.

With confidence and strength, Christian II at once proceeded recklessly to inaugurate the most sweeping reforms, such his great Code of Laws which were in direct defiance of the Charter governing Denmark at that time. Christian II’s reforms, however, suggested the actions not of an elected ruler, but of a tyrannical monarch by divine right. Jutland finally rose against him, renounced its allegiance, and offered the Danish crown to Christian’s uncle, Duke Frederik of Holstein, on January 20, 1523.

King Frederik I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

King Frederik I was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation. As King of Norway, Frederik is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never crowned King of Norway. Therefore, he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway.

The future King Christian III was the eldest son of King Frederik I of Denmark, and Anna of Brandenburg (daughter of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg and Margaret of Thuringia). In 1514, when he was just ten years old, Christian’s mother died. Four years later, his father remarried to Sophie of Pomerania (1498–1568, 20 years old), a daughter of Bogislaw X “the Great”, Duke of Pomerania and the Polish princess Anna Jagiellon.

The young Prince Christian’s first public service after his father became king was gaining the submission of Copenhagen, which stood firm for the fugitive, King Christian II. As stadtholder of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig in 1526, and as viceroy of Norway in 1529, the future Christian III displayed considerable administrative ability.

King Frederik I died on April 10, 1533 and his eldest son was elected as King Christian III of Denmark and Norway on July 4, 1534. His election was seen as a landmark event for all of Denmark and Norway. It took place in St. Søren’s Church (Sankt Sørens Kirke) in the town of Rye in eastern Jutland. Although hesitant, Christian accepted the election and was cheered at a meeting in Horsens on August 18, 1534, where he declared that he would, like his predecessors, sign a håndfæstning (charter), although with a reform of ecclesiastical affairs, i.e. the implementation of the Protestant Reformation in Denmark and Norway.

King Christian III of Denmark and Norway.

However, the election of Christian III was not without its issues. The Rigsraad, dominated by Roman Catholic bishops and nobles, refused to accept Christian III as king and turned to Count Christopher of Oldenburg in order to restore the exiled Christian II to the Danish throne. Christian II had supported both the Roman Catholics and Protestant Reformers at various times. In opposition to King Christian III, Count Christopher was proclaimed regent at the Ringsted Assembly (landsting), and at the Skåne Assembly (landsting) on St Liber’s Hill (Sankt Libers hög) near Lund Cathedral. This resulted in a two-year civil war, known as the Count’s Feud (Grevens Fejde) from 1534–36, between Protestant and Catholic forces.

King Christian III of Denmark and Norway

Among the supporters of Christian III were Steward of the Realm, Mogens Gøye (ca. 1470–1544). Mogens Gøye was a Danish statesman and the Royal councillor of several Danish Kings. Gøye was among the originators of the meeting in Rye Church between eight Jutlandic members of the Council and the four Jutlandic bishops.

Members of the lesser nobility had also turned up – presumably on Mogens Gøye’s initiative – but had to stay outside the church. The lengthy discussion about the election eventually made them lose patience, and they forced their way into the church and demanded to know who opposed the election of Prince Christian. After that, the opponents finally gave up. Ove Bille, Bishop of Aarhus, wept when he signed the request for the Protestant Christian III to become king, realising that it would mean his own downfall.

On this date in History: July 2, 936. Death of Heinrich The Fowler, King of East Francia and German History Part I.

Tags

Duke of Saxony, Henry the Fowler, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of East Francia, Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Lothringia, Kingdom of West Francia, Otto the Great, Treaty of Verdun

Heinrich The Fowler (876 – July 2, 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the elected king of East Francia (Germany) from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king, he established the Ottonian Dynasty of kings and emperors, and he is generally considered to be the founder and first king of the medieval German state, known until then as East Francia. An avid hunter, he obtained the epithet “the Fowler” because he was allegedly fixing his birding nets when messengers arrived to inform him that he was to be king.

Born in Memleben, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt, Heinrich was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Heinrich of Franconia and Ingeltrude and a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne. In 906 Heinrich married Hatheburg of Merseburg, daughter of the Saxon count Erwin. She had previously been a nun.

Heinrich I The Fowler King of East Francia

The marriage was annulled in 909 because her vows as a nun were deemed by the church to remain valid. She had already given birth to Henry’s son Thankmar. The annulment placed a question mark over Thankmar’s legitimacy. Later that year he married Matilda, daughter of Dietrich of Ringelheim, Count in Westphalia. Matilda bore him three sons, one called Otto, and two daughters, Hedwigand Gerberga, and founded many religious institutions, including the Quedlinburg Abbey where Henry is buried. She was later canonized.

Heinrich’s father, Otto I, Duke of Saxony died in 912 and was succeeded by Heinrich. The new duke launched a rebellion against the king of East Francia, Conrad I of Germany, over the rights to lands in the Duchy of Thuringia. They reconciled in 915 and on his deathbed in 918, Conrad recommended Henry as the next king, considering the duke the only one who could hold the kingdom together in the face of internal revolts and external Magyar raids.

Kingdoms of West Francia, Lothringia and East Francia

Henry was elected and crowned king in 919. He went on to defeat the rebellious dukes of Bavaria and Swabia, consolidating his rule. In 935 Heinrich planned an expedition to Rome to be crowned as Holy Roman Emperorby the Pope, but the design was thwarted by a hunting accident near the royal palace of Bodfeld in the autumn of 935 that severely injured him.

Heinrich prevented a collapse of royal power, as had happened in West Francia, and left a much stronger kingdom to his successor Otto I. Henry died of a stroke on July 2, 936 in his royal palace in Memleben, one of his favourite places. He was buried at Quedlinburg Abbey, established by his wife Matilda in his honor.

Flag of The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation.

German History can be confusing. Terms such as Kingdom of the Franks, Kingdoms of East and West Francia, Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany and King of the Romans are often bantered about as if there is no difference between them. In the next coming weeks I will begin a series on German history to sort out all this confusion!

This date in History: June 27, 1743. George II of Great Britain leads troops at the Battle of Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession.

Tags

Battle of Dettingen, Elector of Bavaria, Elector of Hanover, Frederick the Great, George II, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII, Holy Roman Empire, King Frederick II of Prussia, King George II of Great Britain, Pragmatic Sanction, War of the Austrian Succession

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) involved most of the powers of Europe over the issue of Archduchess Maria Theresa’s succession to the Habsburg Monarchy.

The immediate cause of the War of the Austrian Succession was the death of Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI (1685–1740) and the inheritance of the Habsburg Monarchy, often collectively referred to as ‘Austria’ (see Map).

Europe after the Treaty of Vienna (1738), Habsburg Monarchy in gold

Background

The 1703 Mutual Pact of Succession between Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and his sons Archduke Joseph and Archduke Carl agreed that if the Habsburgs became extinct in the male line, their possessions would go first to female heirs of Joseph, then those of Carl. Since Salic law excluded women from the inheritance, this required approval by the various Habsburg territories and the Imperial Diet.

Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I died in 1711, leaving two daughters, Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia and his brother Carl succeeded his elder brother as Holy Roman Emperor Emperor Carl VI, King of Bohemia (as Carl II), King of Hungary and Croatia, Serbia and Archduke of Austria (as Carl III).

Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI

Carl VI became the last male Habsburg in the direct line. In April 1713, he issued the Pragmatic Sanction, permitting female inheritance but then placing his own hypothetical daughters ahead of Joseph I’s. It’s interesting to note that at this juncture Carl suspected he wouldn’t have any male heirs.

On August 1, 1708, the future Holy Roman Emperor Carl VI married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest daughter of Ludwig-Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen.

When Carl’s daughter Maria Theresa was born in 1717, ensuring her succession dominated the rest of his reign. In 1719 Carl VI required his nieces Maria Joseph and Maria Amalia to renounce their rights in Maria Theresa’s favour in order to marry Friedrich-August of Saxony and Carl-Albert of Bavaria respectively. Carl VI hoped these marriages would secure his daughter’s position since neither Saxony or Bavaria could tolerate the other gaining control of the Habsburg inheritance but his actions undermined the logic of the settlement.

A family issue became a European one due to tensions within the Holy Roman Empire, caused by dramatic increases in the size and power of Bavaria, Prussia and Saxony, mirrored by the post 1683 expansion of Habsburg power into lands previously held by the Ottoman Empire. Further complexity then arose from the fact that the theoretically elected position of Holy Roman Emperor, which had been held by the Habsburgs since 1437, would be lost by the Habsburgs after the death of Emperor Carl VI.

Bavaria and Saxony refused to be bound by the decision of the Imperial Diet, while in 1738 France agreed to back the ‘just claims’ of Carl-Albert of Bavaria, despite previously accepting the Pragmatic Sanction in 1735. Attempts to offset this involved Austria in the 1734-1735 War of the Polish Succession and the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739, and it was weakened by the losses incurred. Compounded by the failure to prepare Maria Theresa for her new role, many European statesmen were sceptical that the Austrian lands could survive the contest that would follow Carl VI death, which finally occurred on October 20, 1740.

Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungry and Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria

Immediately after her accession, a number of European sovereigns who had recognised Maria Theresa as heir broke their promises. Elector Carl-Albert of Bavaria, married to Maria Theresa’s deprived cousin Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, coveted portions of her inheritance. Maria Theresa did secure recognition from King Carlo-Emmanuel III of Sardinia, who had not accepted the Pragmatic Sanction during her father’s lifetime, in November 1740.

In December the War of the Austrian Succession began when King Friedrich II of Prussia invaded the Duchy of Silesia and requested that Maria Theresa cede it, threatening to join her enemies if she refused. Maria Theresa decided to fight for the mineral Rich province.

Elector Carl-Albert of Bavaria invaded Upper Austria in 1741 and planned to conquer Vienna, but his allied French troops under the Duc de Belle-Isle were redirected to Bohemia instead and Prague was conquered in November 1741. So Carl-Albert was crowned King of Bohemia in Prague (December 19, 1741) when the Habsburgs were not yet defeated. He was unanimously elected “King of the Romans” on January 24, 1742, also with the vote of King George II of Great Britain (in his capacity as the Imperial Elector of Hanover) and became Holy Roman Emperor Carl VII upon his coronation on February 17, 1742.

Holy Roman Emperor Carl VII, Elector of Bavaria

One important battle of the War of the Austrian Succession was the Battle of Dettingen which took place on June 27, 1743 at Dettingen on the River Main, Holy Roman Empire. The British forces, in alliance with those of Hanover and Hesse, defeated a French army under the duc de Noailles. King George II of Great Britain, Imperial Elector of Hanover, commanded his troops in the battle, and this marked the last time a British monarch personally led his troops on the field. The battle straddled the river about 18 miles east of Frankfurt, with guns on the Hessian bank but most of the combat on the flat Bavarian bank. The village of Dettingen is today the town of Karlstein am Main, in the extreme northwest of Bavaria.

King George II of Great Britain at the Battle of Dettingen.

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Imperial Elector of Hanover.

On this date in History: June 22, 1658. Birth of the future Ludwig VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Tags

Georg II of Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt, Holy Roman Empire, Ludwig VII of Hesse-Darmstadt, Royal Succession

On this date in History: June 22, 1658. Birth of the future Ludwig VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. He was the grandson of the reigning Landgrave Georg II, who was the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1626 – 1661. His father Ludwig (VI) was the eldest of three sons of Landgrave Georg II and his wife Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

Ludwig VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Ludwig VII’s mother was Maria Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, daughter of the Duke Friedrich III of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and his wife Marie Elisabeth of Saxony. Ludwig VII succeeded his father as Landgrave on April 24, 1678, but he only ruled for 18 weeks and four days dying on August 31, 1678 from a viral infection. He died unmarried and without an heir and was therefore succeeded by his half brother Ernest-Ludwig as the Landgrave, who was the son of Ludwig VI an his second wife Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

On this date in History: June 17,1397. Establishment of the Kalmar Union.

Tags

Albert of Mecklenburg, Albert of Sweden, Eric of Pomerania, Kalmar Union, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden, Margrethe I of Denmark, Union of Kalmar, Waldemar IV of Denmark

The Kalmar Union was a personal union from 1397 to 1523 that joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden (then including most of Finland’s populated areas), and Norway, together with Norway’s overseas dependencies (then including Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the Northern Isles). Legally, the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic and foreign policies being directed by a common monarch.

One main political motives for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its eventual 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. Diverging interests (especially the Swedish nobility’s dissatisfaction with the dominant role played by Denmark and Holstein) gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals from the 1430s until its definitive breakup in 1523, when Gustav Vasa was elected as king of Sweden.

After 1523 the Kingdom of Norway continued to remain a part of the Kingdom of Denmark under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries, until its dissolution in 1814. Norway was then United with Sweden with this union lasting until 1905, when a grandson of the incumbent King Christian IX of Denmark, Prince Carl of Denmark, was elected as King Haakon VII of Norway; his direct descendants still reign in Norway.

Inception

The union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the German Hanseatic League. The force behind the Kalmar Union was Margrethe I of Denmark (1353–1412).

Margrethe I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Margrethe I of Denmark was a daughter of King Waldemar IV of Denmar and Helvig of Schleswig. (Helvig of Schleswig was the daughter of Eric II, Duke of Schleswig, and Adelaide of Holstein-Rendsburg, and the sister of Waldemar V, Duke of Schleswig. Her date of birth is not known, but she and her brother were children at the time of her father’s death in 1325, and she is estimated to have been born in around the year 1320).

Margrethe I of Denmark married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, who was the son of King Magnus IV of Sweden, Norway and Scania. In 1375 Margrethe succeeded in having her son Olaf recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark despite the claims of her elder sister’s Ingeborg’s husband, Duke Heinrich III of Mecklenburg, and their son Albert. Margrethe insisted that Olaf be proclaimed rightful heir of Sweden, among his other titles. In 1376 Olaf inherited the crown of Denmark as King Olaf II, upon the death of his maternal grandfather, King Waldemar IV of Denmark, with his mother as guardian. When his father, King Haakon VI of Norway died in 1380, Olaf also inherited the crown of Norway as King Olaf IV.

Margrethe became regent of Denmark and Norway when her only child, King Olaf II-IV of Denmark and Norway, died in 1387, leaving her without an heir. That same year she adopted her great-nephew, Bogislav, and his sister Catherine of Pomerania (grandchildren of Duke Heinrich III of Mecklenburg). Bogislav changed his name to Erik

Meanwhile in Sweden…

In 1363, members of the Swedish Council of Aristocracy, led by Bo Jonsson Grip, had been banished from Sweden after a revolt against King Magnus IV who was unpopular with the nobility. Members of the Swedish Council of Aristocracy arrived at the court of Mecklenburg where the nobles requested that Albert of Mecklenburg launch an invasion of Sweden. Albert was supported by several German dukes and counts and several Hanseatic cities in Northern Germany. Stockholm and Kalmar in Sweden, with large Hanseatic populations, also welcomed the intervention.

Albert was proclaimed King of Sweden and officially crowned on February 18, 1364. The coronation took place at the Stones of Mora. A fragment still remains of the stone commemorating the occasion called the Three Crowns stone. This is the earliest known example of the use of the three crowns as a national symbol for Sweden.

Background on Albert of Mecklenburg

Albert was the second son of Duke Albert II of Mecklenburg and Euphemia Eriksdotter, the daughter of Duke Erik Magnusson of Södermanland and sister of King Magnus IV-VII of Swede-Norway. Albert married Richardis of Schwerin, daughter of count Otto of Schwerin. Queen Richardis died in 1377 and was buried in Stockholm.

In 1384 he inherited the ducal title of Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as Albert III and united it with Sweden in a personal union. Albert based his claims on the Swedish crown upon two family ties: his mother was the sister King Magnus IV-VII of Sweden-Norway whose paternal grandfather was King Magnus III of Sweden. Albert claimed first place in the Swedish order of succcession after the dethronement or deaths of all of the children of Magnus IV; and through a Swedish princess Christina, a daughter of King Sverker II who was King of Sweden from 1196 to 1208.

Albert of Sweden deposed

Albert kept the crown of Sweden for another 19 years, but most of western Sweden did not support his reign. When he attempted to introduce reduction of the large estates of the Swedish nobility, he lost his support in Stockholm. In 1389, facing a loss of landholdings and wealth, the Swedish nobility turned to Margrethe of Denmark widow to plead for help in getting rid of Albert. Queen Margrethe sent troops to Sweden and in February 1389, they defeated Albert at the Battle of Åsle.

Albert was captured, deposed and sent to Lindholmen Castle in Scania, where he spent the next six years imprisoned. He was released after 16 days of peace negotiations in 1395, during which he agreed to either give up Stockholm within three years, or pay large sums in retribution to Margrethe. When the three years were up, Albert’s (then) only son Eric had died after ruling Gotland in Sweden for a short time as instigated by his father, and Albert chose to give up Stockholm rather than pay the fine. In 1398 the agreement came into force, granting Margrethe possession of Stockholm.

At a conference held at Dalaborg Castle in March 1388, after Margrethe’s defeat of Albert, the Swedes were compelled to accept all of Margrethe’s conditions, elected her “Sovereign Lady and Ruler”, and committed themselves to accept any king she chose to appoint. Albert, who had called her “King Pantsless” returned from Mecklenburg with an army of mercenaries. On February 24, 1389, the decisive battle took place at either Aasle or Falan near Falköping. General Henrik Parow, the Mecklenburger commander of Margrethe’s forces, was killed in battle, but he managed to win it for her. Margrethe was now the omnipotent mistress of three kingdoms.

The defeated Albert married as his second wife Agnes of Brunswick-Lüneburg the daughter of Duke Magnus II of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1373) and Catharine of Anhalt-Bernburg (d. 1390). Albert continued to reigned as Duke Albert III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin until his death, seven months before Margrethe’s in 1412. He finally and formally abdicated his Swedish throne in 1405, but until then still styled himself King of Sweden and his second wife Queen Agnes. His tomb is in the Doberan Minster in Bad Doberan, Germany.

Kalmar Union: 1397-1523.

In 1389 Margrethe proclaimed her great-nephew Erik of Pomerania as King Erik III of Norway (1389–1442). In 1396 he was proclaimed as King Erik VII of Denmark King and Erik XIII of Sweden (1396–1434, 1436–39) On June 17, 1397, Erik was crowned a king of the three Nordic countries in the cathedral of Kalmar. At the same time, a union treaty was drafted, declaring the establishment of what has become known as the Kalmar Union (Kalmarunionen). Queen Margrethe however, remained the de facto ruler of the three kingdoms until her death in 1412. Erik was ultimately deposed from all three kingdoms of the union, but in 1449 he inherited one of the partitions of the Duchy of Pomerania and ruled it as duke until his death.

Ambiguities concerning titles of Margrethe of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

In Denmark Margaret was called “sovereign lady and lord and guardian of the entire kingdom of Denmark” (Norway and Sweden later bestowed on her similar titles). This special, double-gendered title bestowed upon the holder the power and authority of a man (lord), of a woman (sovereign lady) and of the gender-neutral guardian. Later, when Erik was elected King of Norway in 1392, she renounced this title in Norway, and in 1396, when he was crowned as King of Denmark and Sweden, she stopped the use of this title altogether, although she continued as Regent.

She only styled herself Queen of Denmark in 1375, usually referring to herself as “Margrethe, by the grace of God, daughter of Waldemar IV, King of Denmark” and “Denmark’s rightful heir” when referring to her position in Denmark. Her title in Denmark was derived from her father King Waldemar IV of Denmark. Others simply referred to her as the “Lady Queen”, without specifying what she was queen of, but not so Pope Boniface IX, who in his letters styled her “our beloved daughter in Christ, Margrethe, most excellent Queen of Denmark, Sweden and Norway”.

When she married Haakon VI of Norway in 1363, he was co-King of Sweden, making Margrethe Queen Consort, and despite being deposed, they never relinquished the title. In theory, when the Swedes deposed Albert of Mecklenburg in 1389 simply restored Margrethe to her original position as Queen Consort. Margrethe held these titles from March 1363 to 28 October 1412, she was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. She acted as Queen Regnant of Denmark, although in those days it was not the Danish custom for a woman to reign.