CHRISTIAN IV, King of Denmark. - Born on 12 April 1577 at Frederiksborg, died on 28 February 1648 in Copenhagen. Son of Frederick II and of Sophia of Mecklenburg, he ascended the throne in 1596. After disagreements arose with Sweden over territorial and economic questions, C. declared war on that country in 1611. With the powerful fleet built in the first two decades of his reign, he laid siege to Kalmar. After this city and the island of Öland were conquered, through the mediation of James I of England peace negotiations were begun and concluded in January 1613 at Knaerød, which assured Denmark predominance in northern Europe.
Having intervened in the Thirty Years' War, C. was defeated by the imperial general Tilly at Lutter on the Barenberg (17 August 1626). After crossing the Elbe, the imperial forces seized Holstein, Schleswig and the Jutland peninsula. King C. was forced to sign the Peace of Lübeck (1629), after having refused at the meeting of Ulfsbaek the alliance of Gustavus Adolphus for a resumption of the struggle against the imperial forces. In 1643 C. found himself at war with Sweden. New mourning and destruction fell upon the country, and to these the Peace of Brömsebro (1645) put an end, whereby Sweden replaced Denmark as the leading power of the north. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest sovereigns the country has had, but his tenacious constructive work did not have lasting effects. He was declared an adversary of Catholicism, and in 1624 he decreed the death penalty for monks and priests who settled in the kingdom. - See plate LVII.
BibliographyJ. A. Fridericia, Danmarks Riges Historie 1585-1699, Copenhagen 1896-1902, pp. 5-286. On the meeting of Ulfsbaek cf. D. Schäfer, Die Zusamme
BIBL.: J. A. Fridericia, Danmarks Riges Historie 1585-1699, Copenhagen 1896-1902, pp. 5-286. On the meeting of Ulfsbaek cf. D. Schäfer, Die Zusammenkunft Gustav Adolph's mit Christian IV. von Dänemark zu Ulfsbaek 1629, in Preussische Jahrbücher, 105 (1901), pp. 39-62.
Furlani, Silvio. “Cristiano IV, re di danimarca.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, col. 912. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950. https://azioneromana.com/article/cristiano-iv-re-di-danimarca.
MLA
Furlani, Silvio. “Cristiano IV, re di danimarca.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. IV, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1950, col. 912. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/cristiano-iv-re-di-danimarca.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec4_cristiano_iv_re_di_danimarca,
author = {Furlani, Silvio},
title = {Cristiano IV, re di danimarca},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {IV},
pages = {912},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1950},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cristiano-iv-re-di-danimarca}
}
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