CHRISTIAN II, King of Denmark. - Born July 1, 1481, died Jan. 25, 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 his father's successor. Norway and Sweden too, then united with Denmark as a consequence of the Union of Kalmar (1397), recognized him, in 1489 and 1499 respectively, as future sovereign. In 1502 Sweden declared itself dissolved from the union and elected Sten Sture the Elder, vicar of the realm (riksföreståndare). The Swedish events 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 co-ruler and absolute sovereign. After his father's death, in 1513, C. became king. In 1515 he married Elizabeth of Burgundy, daughter of Philip the Handsome of Castile and sister of the future emperor Charles V. Having ascended the throne, C.'s first concern was the reconstitution of the union of the three Nordic kingdoms. He accordingly set out to eliminate Swedish resistance. Intervention was made easier for him by the internal struggles 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 led by Archbishop Gustav Trolle. Having conquered Stockholm in 1520, C. had himself crowned king of Sweden, and on Nov. 8 gave a terrible warning to anyone who might wish to oppose his sovereignty with the so-called Stockholm bloodbath (Stockholms blodbad), which cost the lives of about 600 people. The sentences had been carried out by accusing the guilty of heresy, because they had persecuted and mistreated Archbishop Trolle in the preceding years, but in reality King C. sent to death representatives of both parties, among them also the bishops of Strängnäs and of Skara. Having returned to Denmark, C. began a series of reforms, tending to make his government absolute. In the end his subjects rebelled, and forced him to leave the kingdom: he was succeeded in 1523 on the throne by Frederick, 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 Charles V prepared for the reconquest of the realm. Having landed in Norway, he conquered Oslo, but soon found himself in difficulties. King Frederick, allied with Gustav Vasa, king of Sweden, and with Lübeck, gained the upper hand, and C., having come to Denmark to negotiate with the sovereign, was considered a prisoner for life, and shut up in the castle of Sønderborg. In 1546 he renounced every right 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. nourished great ambitions, without solid foundations. The reconstitution of the Union of Kalmar under an authoritarian and absolute leader was too great for one man alone, and he could not but fail in his aim.
Bibliography2 works
Silvio Furlani