CRISTIANO IV, king of DENMARK. — Born on 12 April 1577 at Frederiksborg, died on 28 February 1648 at Copenhagen. Son of Frederick II and Sophia of Mecklenburg, he ascended the throne in 1596. After disputes with Sweden over territorial and economic matters, C. declared war on that country in 1611. With the powerful fleet established during the first two decades of his reign, he laid siege to Kalmar. After conquering this city and the island of Öland, peace negotiations were begun through the mediation of James I of England and concluded in January 1613 at Knaerød, securing Denmark’s predominance in northern Europe.
Having entered the Thirty Years’ War, C. was defeated by the imperial general Tilly at Lutter am Barenberge (17 August 1626). After crossing the Elbe, the imperial forces seized Holstein, Schleswig, and the Jutland peninsula. King C. was compelled to sign the Peace of Lübeck (1629), after having rejected at the Ulfsbaek conference Gustavus Adolphus’s alliance for a resumption of the struggle against the imperial forces. In 1643 C. found himself at war with Sweden. New bereavements and devastations befell the country, and the Peace of Brömsebro (1645) brought them to an end; by its terms Sweden replaced Denmark as the foremost power of the north. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest sovereigns the country had ever had, but his tenacious constructive work produced no lasting effects. He was declared an adversary of Catholicism and in 1624 decreed the death penalty for monks and priests who settled in the kingdom. — Vedi tav. LVII.