CHRISTIAN II, King of DENMARK. - Born 10 July 1481, died 25 Jan. 1559. Son of Hans, King of Denmark, and of Christina of Saxony, he was designated while still a child, in 1487, by the Rigsraad as successor to his father. Norway and Sweden, then united with Denmark as a result of the Union of Kalmar (1397), also recognized him as future sovereign in 1489 and 1499 respectively. In 1502 Sweden declared itself free of the union and elected Sten Sture the Elder, viceroy of the realm (riksförståndare). The Swedish events had repercussions in Norway, where an attempt was also made to break away from Denmark: King Hans therefore sent his son C. thither with full powers as co-regent and absolute sovereign. After his father’s death in 1513, C. became king. In 1515 he married Elizabeth of Burgundy, daughter of Philip the Fair of Castile and sister of the future Emperor Charles V. Once on the throne, C.’s first concern was to restore the union of the three Nordic kingdoms. He therefore set out to eliminate Swedish resistance. His task was eased by internal strife in that country: two parties contended for power, on the one hand the independents led by Sten Sture the Younger, on the other the unionists headed by Archbishop Gustavus Trolle. Having captured Stockholm in 1520, C. had himself crowned King of Sweden and on 8 Nov. gave a terrible warning to those who would oppose his sovereignty in the so-called Stockholm Bloodbath (Stockholms blodbad), which cost some 600 lives. The sentences had been carried out by accusing the culprits of heresy, because they had persecuted and maltreated Archbishop Trolle in the preceding years, but in reality King C. put to death representatives of both the unionist and the other party, including the bishops of Strängnäs and Skara. Returning to Denmark, C. began a series of reforms aimed at making his government absolute. His subjects finally rebelled and forced him to leave the kingdom: in 1523 he was succeeded on the throne by Frederick, Duke of Holstein. Having become a Protestant in 1524, C. vainly sought to regain the crown. In 1530 he abjured Lutheranism and with the help of Charles V prepared to reconquer his realm. Landing in Norway, he captured Oslo, but soon found himself in difficulties. King Frederick, allied with Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden, and with Lübeck, gained the upper hand, and C., who had come to Denmark to negotiate with the sovereign, was considered a prisoner for life and confined in the castle of Sønderborg. In 1546 he renounced all rights to the crown and obtained from the new King Christian III the castle of Kalundborg and the fief of Samsø.
Cruel and generous, Machiavellian and naive, C. cherished great ambitions without solid foundation. The restoration of the Union of Kalmar under an authoritarian and absolute leadership was too great a task for one man, and he could not but fail in his purpose.