Christian III, King of Denmark

CRISTIANO III, king of DANMARK. — Born on 12 August 1503 at Gottorp, died on 1 January 1559 at Kolding. Owing to disagreements that arose within the Rigsraad, he did not immediately become king upon the death of his father Federico I (1533), but the war initiated by Lübeck for control of the Danish straits opened the way to the throne for him: thus C. began his reign in 1536. His sympathies for Lutheranism led him to follow the same course as Gustavo I Vasa, king of Sweden: the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, a measure deemed necessary given the grave economic and financial crisis in which the country found itself. The king therefore found himself in conflict with Carlo V, who supported the deposed C. II: only with the Peace of Speyer (1544) did the Emperor undertake to give no further support to the former Danish sovereign. — Vedi tav. LVII.