CRISTIANO II, king of DENMARK. — Born on 1 July 1481, died on 25 January 1559. Son of Hans, king of Denmark, and Cristina of Saxony, he was designated while still a child, in 1487, by the Rigsraad as his father’s successor. Norway and Sweden too, then united with Denmark as a result of the Union of Kalmar (1397), recognized him, respectively in 1489 and 1499, as their future sovereign. In 1502 Sweden declared itself released from the union and elected Sten Sture the Elder, regent of the kingdom (riksföreståndare). The events in Sweden had repercussions in Norway, where an attempt was likewise made to break away from Denmark: King Hans therefore sent his son C. there with full powers, as coregent and absolute sovereign. After his father’s death, in 1513, C. became king. In 1515 he married Elisabetta of Burgundy, daughter of Filippo the Fair of Castile and sister of the future Emperor Carlo V. Having ascended the throne, C.’s first concern was to reconstitute the union of the three Nordic kingdoms. He therefore resolved to eliminate Swedish resistance. Intervention was facilitated by internal conflicts in that country: two parties were contending for power, on the one hand the separatists, led by Sten Sture the Younger, and on the other the unionists, led by Archbishop Gustavo Trolle. After conquering Stockholm in 1520, C. had himself crowned king of Sweden, and on 8 November issued a terrible warning to anyone who might oppose his sovereignty with the so-called Stockholm Bloodbath (Stockholms blodbad), which cost the lives of approximately 600 people. The sentences had been carried out by accusing the culprits of heresy, because they had persecuted and mistreated Archbishop Trolle in the preceding years; in reality, however, King C. had representatives of both parties put to death, including the bishops of Strängnäs and Skara. On his return to Denmark, C. began a series of reforms intended to make his government absolute. His subjects finally rebelled and forced him to leave the kingdom: in 1523 he was succeeded on the throne by Federico, Duke of Holstein. Having become a Protestant in 1524, C. sought in vain to regain possession of the crown. In 1530 he abjured Lutheranism and, with the help of Carlo V, prepared to reconquer the realm. Having landed in Norway, he conquered Oslo, but soon found himself in difficulties. King Federico, allied with Gustavo Vasa, king of Sweden, and with Lübeck, prevailed, and C., who had come to Denmark to negotiate with the sovereign, was regarded as a lifelong prisoner and confined in Sønderborg Castle. In 1546 he renounced all rights to the crown and obtained from the new king Cristiano III Kalundborg Castle and the fief of Samsø.
Cruel and generous, Machiavellian and ingenuous, C. harbored great ambitions without firm foundations. The reconstitution of the Union of Kalmar under an authoritarian and absolute ruler was too great a task for one man, and he could not fail to founder in his purpose.