CRISTIANO III, king of Denmark. — Born 12 Aug. 1503 at Gottorp, died 1 Jan. 1559 at Kolding. Owing to disagreements within the Rigsraad he was not immediately proclaimed king on the death of his father Federico I (1533), but the war begun by Lübeck for control of the Danish straits opened the way to the throne: thus C. began his reign in 1536. His sympathy for Lutheranism led him to follow the same path as Gustavo I Vasa, king of Sweden: the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, a measure deemed necessary in view of the grave economic and financial crisis besetting the country. The king therefore found himself in conflict with Carlo V, who supported the deposed C. II; only with the Peace of Spira (1544) did the emperor undertake not to give further aid to the former Danish sovereign. — See pl. LVII.
CRISTIANO III, RE DI DANIMARCA
BIBL.: V. Mollerup, Danmarks Riges Historie 1536-88, Copenhagen 1900, pp. 5-104.